Months after the provincial government began collecting on hundreds of thousands of unpaid fare evasion fines, the results are less than impressive.
Of the $30 million in outstanding tickets, some $1 million has been collected so far, according to government figures.
“It’s just not acceptable,” said Harry Bains, NDP transportation critic. “The laws are there, they’re just not being enforced. Something is wrong with that picture.”
Last year, it became clear that there was no legal authority to collect unpaid fare evasion tickets, the provincial government gave itself new powers, including sending unpaid tickets to collections, refusing to issue drivers licenses to scofflaws, and possibly sending tickets to court.
The government also vowed to go back as many as 10 years to collect unpaid fines.
“We can reach back on debts owed, actually, and we intend to do that,” said Blair Lekstrom, who was transportation minister at the time.
There were 245,000 unpaid tickets, with a total cost of $30 million dollars. The province hoped to collect millions. Collection began last fall.
Transportation Minister Mary Polak said the government is still perusing fare-dodgers, adding that the final piece of legislation was deposited as an order in council Wednesday.
Polak warned people who had not paid that they would be found.
“They need to know that we have put the appropriate pieces of regulation in place,” said Polak. “They are not going to be able to get away with it forever.”
