Prime Minister
John Diefenbaker
Prime Minister
Lester B. Pearson
Prime Minister Trudeau
Prime Minister Joe Clark
Premier of BC
Premier of Saskatchewan
Premier Robert Bourassa
Premier Joey Smallwood
Provincial Legislature
(Optional plate; regular issue is red/white)
Member of Legislative Assembly
(Never issued)
Territorial Commissioner
Stuart Hodgson
Deputy Commissioner
Yukon Territorial Commissioner
In this chapter we shall cover plates issued to high goverment officials (the Prime Minister, the Premiers and Lt-Governors).A short introduction to Canadian political system would help in appreciating the special license plates.
The Prime Minister is the head of our country and resides in the Nation's Capital, Ottawa. The Legislative Assembly sits in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill. It consists of all elected Members of Parliament (MPs) of various parties, across the country, including the Federal Cabinet (MPs appointed by the Prime Minister to head up varous ministries). The Senate is similar to that in the US, except they are not elected, but rather appointed.
The Premiers are the political leaders of their respecive provinces and usually reside in the capital of that province. They also have Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs) sometimes referred to as Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs). The Permier appoints ministers to head up various functions, wh The two Territories have too small a population to support the standard polical infrastructure, so for this reason their leaders are referred to as commissioners.
Canada is a Commonwealth country and thus maintains close ties with Britain. The representatives to the Crown (the Queen of England) are the Lt. Governor and Governor General. These are appointed, not elected positions. The Governor General resides in Ottawa whereas the Lt. Governor is the representative for that particular province.
Canada throughout its history, in general, has not issued distinctive plates for the higher political offices. Usually the lower numbers are reserved for such people in office. Today, many politicians would rather not draw attention while on the road and therefore go with a normal series passenger plate. Lt-Governors, on the other hand, have more often opted for special plates; some of which carry the insignia of a large crown.
Politicians at the Provincial level would be assigned special plates by the Province, those at the Federal Level receive special plates from Ontario. Unlike many countries, our federal capital is not in a separate jurisdiction but simply within a county in Ontario. Hence Federal politicians who reside in Ottawa will receive Ontario plates.
The Prime Minister of Canada has received an Ontario license plate with a number of his own choosing. For example John Diefenbaker chose 2000, Lester Pearson chose 2400 (because of the address of the Prime Minister's Residence at 24 Sussex Drive) and Pierre Trudeau went with 1800. Nowadays the license CAN-001 is reserved for the PM. However some PMs preferred not to use it for security reasons. Joe Clark in his brief tenure in power chose an ordinary passenger combination as shown.
Premiers usually opted for the lowest possible number out of the regular series. Number combinations such as 1, 1000, AAA-001, 1A1, AA1 are typically "low numbers" however one needs to be famliar with the numbering system of that province to know what the lowest number truly was.
The Governor General's official car carries the Governor General's insignia of a lion rather than a license plate, but most provinces have issued special plates for the Lt. Governor. Some of these have large images of a Crown and are quite beautiful.
Other plates have been issued for the Royal Family while on tour in Canada. Usually all cars within the motorcade would get special plates. The plates issued for the Queen (then Princess) Elizabeth tour in 1951 feature a coat of arms and the year (no provincial desgination). Royal visits (Lady Diana / Prince Charles and the Queen) have been featured on Ontario plates. The NWT has issued plates with crowns whenever the Royal Family visited there. Since there are known plates for 1970, 72, 73 and 81 it seems they visited there quite often!
Lt-Gov - Alberta
(year matches number)
Lt-Gov - Manitoba, 1980s
Lt-Gov Ontario (4th car)
Lt-Gov of New Brunwick
(two styles)
Lt-Gov - NS
Lt-Gov - PEI
Lt-Gov - Nfld
Royal Visits
Princess (now Queen) Elizabeth
cross Canada Tour.
Royal Visit - NWT
Royal Visits 1982 & 1984
Royal (dignitary) visit to PEI
Eastern Canada Premiers
New England Governor's
Annual Conference
1980 - Vergennes Vermont
1991 - PEI