Lieutenant
Governor of British
Columbia's License Plate

As
a Parliamentary democracy the nominal head of British Columbia
is not the Premier (as leader of the largest party in the
Legislature) but is, in fact, the Lieutenant Governor (LG),
who fills the role of representative of Her Most Excellent
Majesty, the Queen of Canada in the Province of British
Columbia. |
It
is the Lieutenant Governor that personifies the Crown; is
both the apex and the unifying link in the constitutional
and political structure of the province; and, accordingly,
takes precedence over everyone in British Columbia except
the Sovereign! |
Despite
being the constitutional source of state power in British
Columbia, the LG's role has evolved over time to where it
is now a largely symbolic one confined to being a goodwill
ambassador on behalf of the Province. |
While there
are undoubtedly many obligations put upon the LG to ensure
not only the proper functioning of the government, but
to fulfil an arduous ceremonial role on behalf of the
province, it is not without its own interesting set of
perquisites. |
As
I like to point out to some of my American friends, whereas
many US states have the established tradition of awarding
plate No. 1 to the Governor, in BC our LG is not even required
to use a license plate (ha-ha!). |
Yet, as anyone
who has lived in Victoria knows, official trips by the
LG are generally not an occasion for anonymity as their
is usually some underlying formality to the outing (i.e.
opening Parliament, shuttling dignitaries, etc ...). So,
in order to distinguish the LG's car, a "die-struck
plaque" of the Lieutenant Governor's Crest is attached
to a blank base-plate and affixed to the official vehicle
(as shown below): |
This
crest is manufactured by
Pressed Metal Products Ltd. of Vancouver
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The
Lieutenant Governor's License Plate |
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In
terms of design, the Crest represents the British Columbia
shield of arms surrounded by a circlet of 10 gold stylized
maple leaves representing the 10 Provinces of Canada. Above
the shield is a St. Edward’s Crown, signifying the
Sovereign’s representative in the Province. As
will be described below, this particular design has been
in use since 2008. |
Of
note, despite not having to obtain a license plate, the
LG's car is, nevertheless, registered with ICBC and has
been issued a standard passenger plate on the Flag Graphic
base (HTJ-496) that is kept within the vehicle. It is assumed
that this has been done for insurance and liability issues
in case the vehicle was ever to be involved in an accident
outside of official use. |
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Previous
Lieutenant Governor License Plate Designs |
Historically,
it is unclear when it was first prescribed that the LG need
not worry about attaching a license plate to their vehicle. |
It
is known that, until 1938, any ordinary citizen could apply
for plate number one, but that after this date No. 1 was
reserved for the official government car used for transporting
dignitaries and the Premier (please see the page on Personalized
plates for more info). |
When
the numbering of plates was switched over to the alpha-numeric
series in 1970, AAA-001 was reserved for the LG. |
Moreover,
when the Flag Graphic was introduced in 1985/86, it has
been rumoured that the first 100 plates went to "dignitaries",
and that the practice of the LG receiving the first plate
in the series was only ceased in the late 1990s during the
term of Garde Gardom (1995-2001). |
So, I would
suggest that there is strong reason to suspect that the
LG did have the first plate in the Flag series (i.e. LAA-001),
and that when this plate was removed from the LG's car,
its replacement was a plate comprised of a large die-struck
British Columbia Coat of Arms on a black base (which is
not all that dissimilar to the plate currently in use):
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This
emblem is manufactured by
Pressed Metal Products Ltd. of Vancouver
(see image of LG's golf cart below).
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The Lieutenant Governor's License Plate |
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ABOVE: The Lieutenant-Governor's Vehicle in 2003 and AT RIGHT:
The Lieutenant-Governor's Vehicle in 2016.
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This
particular style was used through 2008 before being replaced
by the current "Crest" plate. While it is not
known what prompted the switch, it is assumed to be related
to a desire to bring a consistent approach to the "branding"
of the LG's office. |
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Shown at left is the LG's plate 13 years after the photo taken above (circa 2003). If it is still the same plate (which is not clear), it is starting to get a little weathered and has lost much of its spit-and-polish.
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At left, the LG appears to have gone "Rogue", as in cruising around the province in a Nissan Rogue.
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A wholly understandable desire!
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The
Lieutenant Governor's Golf Cart |
In certain instances, golf carts required to use a public highway must be registered with ICBC and display the proper “Restricted” vehicle licence plate (such as the cart shown below at right), which is identifiable by its unique colour scheme and use of either an ‘AT’ prefix or (as of 2010) an ‘X’ suffix. |
Not so with the Lieutenant Governor, as the official golf cart (shown below at right) is equipped with a similar crest as found on the other official vehicles: |
Personalized Plates? |
An odd sight at the 2022 Throne Speech; the LG showing up in her Nissan Rouge but inplace of the Coat of Arms that has been seen in the past was a personalized license plate with the slogan "LTGOV2", which leads us to believe there is possibly a "LTGOV" and "LTGOV1"? |
We can only speculate as to why the change, but in our opinion, and as much as we like vanity plates, it is common and beneath the office of the Queen's representative. If our LG is to have a regular type of plate, we would rather see something like what Saskatchewan has done: |
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© Copyright Christopher John
Garrish. All rights reserved.
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