Ford government's blue licence plates officially scrapped, 'Yours to Discover' is back

Blue design still posed visibility issues under certain lighting conditions, premier’s office says

CBC.ca
May 7, 2020

Premier Doug Ford's redesigned blue licence plates are officially dead, and white embossed plates with the "Yours to Discover" slogan are back.

Ford's office confirmed the news in an email statement, blaming visibility issues under "very specific lighting conditions."

Police officers and the public alike sounded the alarm after the blue plates were rolled out, warning in some conditions they were near impossible to read. Toronto city officials, meanwhile, confirmed the plates couldn't be read by photo radar systems the province just allowed.

"After thorough testing by law enforcement and other key stakeholders, we are following their advice and will not be moving forward with the new plate for passenger vehicle use," said Ivana Yelich, a spokesperson for Ford.

Ford himself, speaking with reporters at his daily COVID-19 update, said the plates "honestly have not been top of mind in the last few days."

The premier vowed there will be no additional cost to taxpayers for the change, but offered no additional details about the arrangement reached with the manufacturer.

"I'm just not ready to put any more resources toward this," he said.

Earlier this year the province had been looking at ways to salvage its blue design, but that's now stopped, Yelich said.

However, the new white plates have been improved to fix issues with the plastic coating peeling off over time.

The province says about 145,000 of the blue plates were distributed. Currently, the government is urging Ontarians not to go to Service Ontario to replace their plates unless it's absolutely necessary.