The Ford government refuses to renew the license plate online, instead it will be done automatically

The Ontario government plans to remove the requirement for drivers in the province to re-register their license plates online each year, instead making the process automatic.

Premier Doug Ford made the surprise revelation at a press conference Tuesday morning to announce legislation that would require the incoming government to hold a referendum before introducing a provincial carbon tax.

Both measures will be included in an omnibus bill that will be introduced to the Legislature next week, Ford said. He could not say when the revised number plate registration system would come into effect.

A provincial government official told CBC Toronto that automatic re-registration applies to owners of vehicles in good standing, meaning they have no outstanding fines for infractions. Traffic law.

Transport Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria will announce more details of the plan at a press conference later this week, the official said.

Ford's government scrapped the $120 license plate registration fee in 2022, and since then, law enforcement officials say they have to remember to update drivers every year. The Toronto Star reported Monday that there are more than one million expired license plates on Ontario roads.

The upcoming bill is called The act of doing it — a nod to Ford's 2022 campaign slogan — also includes measures to “build on the government's commitments to date to streamline major infrastructure projects and housing approvals,” the province said.

The pending legislation comes ahead of the release of the 2024 provincial budget, which must be tabled by the end of March.

Ford uses the ad to visit Crombie

Ford used a press conference in Mississauga to take several shots at Ontario Liberal leader Bonnie Crombie, who was recently mayor of the city and who recent polls suggest could pose a threat to Ford's Progressive Conservatives in the next election.

Since Crombie came out on top in the Liberal leadership race in the fall, Ford and his team have often attacked the leader of the third-placed party instead of spending time talking about the official opposition NDP.

Ford called Crombie the “queen of the carbon tax”, suggesting she supported it when she was a federal Liberal MP. Ford is the tongue-in-cheek parrot used in computer attack ads against him.

In a statement, Crombie repeatedly referred to Ford as “Desperate Doug” and said he was trying to distract Ontarians from “failures, flip-flops and scandals.”

“Let's be clear: Doug Ford is dragging Ontario backwards faster to enrich his well-connected insiders than to come up with his own climate plan. He's costing Ontario families real money by denying proven programs like electric vehicle rebates, energy conservation, energy efficiency programs and incentives. Crombie said.

“If he wanted to listen to Ontarians, he would have held a referendum before selling off our health care system, Greenbelt and Service Ontario,” he continued.

The carbon pricing referendum legislation would refer to provincial measures, not the federal carbon pricing system that came into effect in Ontario after the Ford government scrapped the previous provincial Liberal government's cap-and-trade program.