Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

MPI replaces faulty drivers' licences

An error on about 45,000 Manitoba driver’s licences re­sulted in a question mark placed where an accented ‘e’ should have been.

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An error on about 45,000 Manitoba driver’s licences re­sulted in a question mark placed where an accented ‘e’ should have been. (SUPPLIED)

MANITOBA Public Insurance has replaced about 45,000 drivers' licences after an alert motorist found a misspelled word in French.

MPI spokesman Brian Smiley said the Crown auto insurer sent letters to each licence holder last month telling them replacement licences would be mailed to them at no cost. The mistake was a question mark replacing the letter é in the word numéro.

Smiley said the mistake was caused by a software glitch between MPI and Saskatchewan Government Insurance, which prints Manitoba drivers' licences. The cost to MPI to replace the licences was about $90,000.

"We've gone to great lengths to ensure it won't happen again," Smiley said, adding the mistake won't impact Autopac rates.

The matter came up in question period Tuesday at the Manitoba legislature.

Tory MPI critic Cliff Graydon said the error is a symptom of how poorly MPI is being managed by the Doer government.

Graydon (Emerson) noted the province's new enhanced identity cards are another mistake. The cards were brought in earlier this year as a passport alternative to meet new U.S. travel requirements taking effect this June. To date, fewer than 1,500 Manitobans have applied to get a new identity cards, a far cry from the 100,000 people MPI and government officials first projected a year ago.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition April 29, 2009 A2

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