Drivers going the distance due to backlog of driving tests in Ontario
Drivers going the distance due to backlog of driving tests in Ontario
KITCHENER -
The line to take a driver’s test in Ontario is especially long.
Kitchener resident Kaitlyn Banton had three cancellations for her G2 test caused by lockdowns and took months trying to rebook locally.
“When we were looking, it was about early November or mid-October [for the next test locally],” she said. “So we decided to take the matter into our own hands and drive to Timmins.”
Banton went on the nearly eight our drive with her Mom last week and passed the test.
“We were willing to go anywhere because I didn’t want to pay insurance for my car to sit in the driveway,” she said.
The province resumed in-car driving tests on June 14, but there is now a backlog of over 420,000 cancelled road tests that have been piling up since March of last year.
“The website would often crash because there would be so many people in the same boat,” said Banton. “You would see a slot come up and it would be gone in seconds.”
Gail Marrier, the owner of Treadz Driving Academy in Kitchener, says some of her students have had their road tests cancelled five times, and that it will be a while until DriveTest centres are caught up.
“If we were to login right this second to try and book a road test we’re probably looking at early next year,” she said.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Transportation adds that more than $16 million has been invested in increasing road test capacity at all DriveTest centres across the province.
The money will help hire 167 additional driver examiners.
The ministry is also opening up six temporary DriveTest centres to offer road testing seven days a week in areas where demand is the highest.
Frozan and Abdul Aziz Karimi drove from Mississauga to Kitchener to rebook their test in person just in hopes of taking it this year.
“I think it’s understandable because of the pandemic,” said Frozan. “We cannot blame anyone.”
U.S. President Joe Biden is using his State of the Union address Tuesday night to call on Republicans to work with him to 'finish the job' of rebuilding the economy and uniting the nation as he seeks to overcome pessimism in the country and navigate political divisions in Washington.
After raising interest rates eight consecutive times, Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem told an audience in Quebec City on Tuesday that inflation is showing signs of 'turning the corner' and that the coming year 'will be different.'
The federal government is pledging to increase health funding to Canada's provinces and territories by $196.1 billion over the next 10 years, in a long-awaited deal aimed at addressing Canada's crumbling health-care systems with $46.2 billion in new funding.
While much of internet is still buzzing about the wonders of ChatGPT, a Toronto-based technology and visual effects company is making its own splash in Hollywood using artificial intelligence.
As negotiations continue between premiers and the federal government, former Quebec premier Jean Charest is criticizing the feds' string-attached approach to health-care funding, stating that Ottawa should not be in the business of operating health-care systems.
We may soon be able to detect humidity levels, respiratory changes or a too-wet diaper, all with a new type of sensor — one created by drawing with a pencil on specially-treated paper.
An Ontario man is being accused of changing his name, profession and life story multiple times to potentially more than 100 women online before leaving some out thousands of dollars.
A 24-year-old man now linked to an unusual string of crimes that kept the Dallas Zoo on the lookout for missing animals told police that after he swiped two monkeys from their enclosure, he took them onto the city's light rail system to make his getaway, court records show.
Balloons and drones were among 768 reported UFO sightings in Canada last year, according to Winnipeg-based researcher Chris Rutkowski, who also found that eight per cent of all cases remained unexplained.
A special weather statement is in effect for most of the southern Ontario. A strong low pressure system will bring rain that is heavy at times to London-Middlesex and surrounding areas beginning early Thursday morning.
A River Canard, Ont. woman has solved part of a mystery she uncovered while decluttering her home last month. A woman who goes by the name of JoJo reached out to CTV News Windsor last week in an attempt to identify several anonymous war time photographs along with several postcards she found in a box dating back to the 1940s.
Two people have died in a serious single-vehicle crash in Kingsville, a third person was injured and transported to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The Huntsville man charged in connection with a boat crash that claimed the life of a swimmer in Muskoka last summer has been identified by his family as 26-year-old Zack Foyston.
An Ontario man is being accused of changing his name, profession and life story multiple times to potentially more than 100 women online before leaving some out thousands of dollars.
There is a new sign of financial issues with an Ottawa construction company that suddenly closed, leaving customers with unfinished projects unable to recoup their losses.
An Ontario man is being accused of changing his name, profession and life story multiple times to potentially more than 100 women online before leaving some out thousands of dollars.
The federal government is pledging to increase health funding to Canada's provinces and territories by $196.1 billion over the next 10 years, in a long-awaited deal aimed at addressing Canada's crumbling health-care systems with $46.2 billion in new funding.
Meaghan Maloney of London, Ont. said she was driving on her way to work, along Highway 401, in her 2023 Nissan Rogue when the sunroof shattered without warning.
The federal government is pledging to increase health funding to Canada's provinces and territories by $196.1 billion over the next 10 years, in a long-awaited deal aimed at addressing Canada's crumbling health-care systems with $46.2 billion in new funding.
Quebec interim Liberal leader Marc Tanguay says that in wanting to close Roxham Road to prevent irregular entry of asylum seekers into Quebec, the Parti Québécois and its leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon are behaving like Donald Trump.
A former medical student who claims he fatally shot a fellow student in self-defence during a drug deal in Halifax denied Tuesday he planned to kill the man and steal the marijuana he was carrying.
Retirement is bittersweet for a Nova Scotia doctor who says she feels like she has abandoned the 2,000 patients she has been caring for because she was not able to find a doctor to replace her.
The federal government is pledging to increase health funding to Canada's provinces and territories by $196.1 billion over the next 10 years, in a long-awaited deal aimed at addressing Canada's crumbling health-care systems with $46.2 billion in new funding.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith expressed her concerns with the federal government's proposed 'just transition' legislation directly to the prime minister on Tuesday, saying she hopes the two can find some common ground.
If Alberta accepts Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s federal health proposal, it would see, on average, $2.5 billion over the next 10 years, in line with population growth.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith expressed her concerns with the federal government's proposed 'just transition' legislation directly to the prime minister on Tuesday, saying she hopes the two can find some common ground.
The pending megathrust earthquake known as the "Big One" has been a source of worry on B.C.'s South Coast for years – but some scientists are even more concerned about the potential impact of smaller quakes closer to Metro Vancouver.
