New Brunswick moves to eliminate renewal stickers on licence plates

Sam Farley · CBC News

· Posted: Nov 05, 2025 4:04 PM EST | Last Updated: November 5

With a caller licence sheet change, New Brunswick volition nary longer beryllium stuck successful the past.

If approved by the legislature, New Brunswick volition articulation astir different Canadian provinces and territories successful eliminating licence sheet renewal stickers. 

The stickers, which conveyance owners present bargain each twelvemonth to renew their registration, would spell by the wayside.

This is hardly caller successful Canada. Out of the country’s 13 provinces and territories, lone New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and Nunavut are inactive utilizing stickers.

“We're truly catching up with the remainder of Canada close now,” said Aaron Kennedy, curate liable for Service New Brunswick, which oversees conveyance registrations. 

“It's 2025. We unrecorded successful a integer property and stickers look a small antiquated.”

Even without the stickers, New Brunswick drivers would inactive request to renew their registrations online oregon successful person, and would person the enactment to people retired a impervious of registration papers to support successful their conveyance erstwhile they renew.

Aaron Kennedy, the curate for Service New Brunswick, says getting escaped of the stickers is simply reflects an effort to support up with the times. (Silas Brown/CBC)

Renewal reminders for conveyance owners volition beryllium disposable by message oregon text, a quality merchandise said.

While Kennedy admitted that the quality to visually spot that a conveyance is expired volition beryllium lost, helium said constabulary inactive person the quality to tally licence plates to cheque they're up to date.

He brushed disconnected the thought that radical would beryllium little apt to renew now.

“I deliberation New Brunswickers are mostly law-abiding citizens, and I deliberation they privation to bash the close happening and registering one’s conveyance is portion of that,” Kennedy said.

WATCH | New Brunswick ‘catching up’ with remainder of Canada, curate says:

The determination distant from stickers volition use to licence plates for each types of vehicles successful the province, including off-road and commercialized vehicles.

The licence sheet stickers are not to beryllium confused with centrifugal conveyance inspection stickers that spell connected windshields, which are not affected astatine each by the announcement. 

When the Northwest Territories stopped issuing stickers successful 2015, it sent drivers a blank, achromatic sticker to screen the dated sticker, truthful constabulary successful different provinces oregon states wouldn’t deliberation a sheet was expired aft the alteration happened.

CBC News tried to inquire Service New Brunswick whether it planned a akin determination but has not received a response. 

This isn’t the archetypal clip New Brunswick has made changes to licence plates successful caller years. In 2019, the Progressive Conservative authorities removed the request for beforehand licence plates.

If passed by the legislature, the request for stickers would beryllium removed successful the spring, the authorities said. 

New Brunswick licence plates person utilized stickers since 1963, erstwhile 'Picture Province' was inactive utilized arsenic a promotional slogan. (Sam Farley/CBC)

Stickers person been portion of New Brunswick licence plates for implicit 60 years. 

The state began issuing licence plates successful 1911 and, until the 1960s, motorists needed to get a marque caller sheet each year.

Stickers were introduced successful 1963, erstwhile the sheet inactive bore Picture Province arsenic a slogan, and person been utilized ever since. 

The alteration is apt to person small interaction connected constabulary operations, according to the RCMP.

Spokesperson Matthew LeBlanc-Smith said RCMP presumption it arsenic much of an administrative alteration than an operational one.

“It does not interaction however RCMP officers behaviour their duties, arsenic our members person agelong been managing out-of-province vehicles without issue,” LeBlanc-Smith said successful an email. 

“It's precise overmuch concern arsenic usual.”

He went connected to accidental that each RCMP vehicles successful the state are equipped with onboard computers to let officers to verify registrations successful existent time.