GUYSBOROUGH – COVID-19 has scuppered many plans and delayed others, including getting a driver’s licence this spring. As the third wave of the pandemic retreats, approximately 4,000 road tests are being rescheduled across the province.
Kevin Mitchell, a representative of the Registrar of Motor Vehicles, told The Journal June 22 that road tests will return on July 21 in Canso.
Mitchell said, “We cancelled all of our appointments because of COVID and we are in the process of rebooking everything … We are asking everybody not to call in to book a new road test until we get those cancellations rescheduled. We’re estimating we will have everybody rebooked and schedules reopened around the first of August. It is going to take us a little while to get through this backlog.”
Road tests are scheduled in Canso on a once-a-month basis.
The Registry of Motor Vehicles office in Guysborough, located in the basement of the municipal building on Pleasant Street, will open on June 29. Operations had been temporarily unavailable due to the spike in COVID-19 this spring.
MLA for Guysborough-Eastern Shore-Tracadie Lloyd Hines said, “Everything is returning to ‘normal’ and that will enable us to start redelivering that service to the area. It was definitely missed … we were caught in the COVID jam there. I am really happy to say that it’s resuming on June 29.”
Hines said of the return of these two services to the Municipality of the District of Guysborough, “This is the kind of work that an MLA does; it is difficult for government to maintain its reach into the rural parts of Nova Scotia at all times. My job is to make sure that we’re getting our fair share of services that are going around and that there’s some equity in the delivery of these services.
“Especially when it comes to highway issues -- it’s so important -- access to driving and highways in rural areas, because there is no option at the present time for any other form of transportation. You have to have a vehicle and your license. And having young people become drivers means … they become an extra helper in the household and are able to help their elderly grandparents,” he added.
