Canadian licence plate designs and serial formats

In Canada, licence plate numbers are usually assigned in ascending order, beginning with a starting point such as AAA-001. Thus, someone familiar with the sequence can determine roughly when the licence plate was issued. After Ontario's transition to an ABCD-123 format in 1997, plates were issued in ascending order starting with AAAA-001. It took close to ten years to exhaust the supply of plate numbers with A as the first digit. In late 2006, plates with B as the first digit were assigned, and have continued from there sequentially. Plates with C as the first digit have been spotted in Ottawa and Toronto as of August 2016.

Main article: Vehicle registration plates of Canada

The gradual increase in the use of letters in the serials of licence plates has given rise to an increased possibility of unintentional profane or inappropriate words or messages arising from the use of sequential alphanumeric combinations. Thus, numbering sequences generally exclude certain combinations of letters or numbers that would be potentially offensive. Jurisdictions' attention to excluding offensive combinations varies widely, however. In 1986, Waldale, a Canadian licence plate manufacturer, due to a production error, produced an entire batch of New Brunswick plates that began with the letters ASS. The plates were issued, and were unofficially scrapped, but many found their way into the collectors' black market.

From 1971 to 1975, Manitoba's licence plate bore the slogan "Sunny Manitoba: 100,000 lakes" [1] but was changed to "Friendly Manitoba", possibly due to conflict with Minnesota's "10,000 lakes" slogan.

Designs and serial formats
Province/Territory Description Slogan Serial format Image
Alberta red on non-reflective white "Wild Rose Country" ABC-1234
British Columbia blue on reflective white with screened provincial flag / yellow and white mountain scene with the 2010 Olympic symbol screened "Beautiful British Columbia" AB1 23C, 2014 to 2023, (Passenger Cars)[2]

AB 1234 (Passenger Trucks)
Manitoba dark blue on white with screened graphic landscape "Friendly Manitoba" ABC 123
New Brunswick red on reflective white with provincial wordmark and rainbow design N/A ABC 123
Newfoundland and Labrador blue on reflective white with provincial wordmark N/A ABC 123
Northwest Territories screened nature scene, shaped like a polar bear "Spectacular Northwest Territories" 123456
Nova Scotia blue on reflective white with screened image of the Bluenose "Canada's Ocean Playground" ABC 123
Nunavut blue and white with the aurora borealis and a polar bear, includes the territory's name written in both Latin characters and Inuktitut syllabics N/A 123 456
Ontario white on reflective, two-hue blue with white stylized trillium separator and white crown placed bottom right[3][4] "A Place to Grow" ABCD 123
"En plein essor"
"Open for Business" (commercial) AB 12345
"Ouvert aux affaires"
green on reflective white with screened graphic of white trillium; for hydrogen and plug-in electric vehicles[5] "Green Vehicle" GVAB 123
"Véhicule écologique" VEAB 123
Prince Edward Island light brown on reflective white with photo of Province House on the left "Birthplace of Confederation" 12 3AB
"Berceau de la Confédération"
Quebec dark blue on reflective white "Je me souviens" (I Remember) A12 BCD
green on reflective white with electric vehicle pictogram on the lower left side (for electric vehicles)[6]
Saskatchewan green on reflective white with screened wheat graphic "Land of Living Skies" 123 ABC
Yukon black on white with screened miner image "The Klondike" ABC12
Department of National Defence - All provinces and territories black on reflective white with "Canada" on top flanked by two red maple leaves N/A 12345

Plate Types and Serial Formats No Longer Issued But Still Valid
Province/Territory Description Slogan Serial format Image
Alberta red on reflective white "Wild Rose Country" ABC-123
red on non-reflective white
British Columbia blue on reflective white with screened provincial flag "Beautiful British Columbia" ABC 123 (Passenger Cars 1985 to 2001) and 123 ABC (Passenger Cars 2001-2014)

1234 AB (Passenger Trucks)
Manitoba Friendly Manitoba
New Brunswick red on reflective white with provincial wordmark none ABC-123
red on reflective white with provincial wordmark and rainbow design "Be...in this place - Être...ici on le peut'" ABC 123
Newfoundland and Labrador red and blue embossed on white none ABC-123
red on reflective white with screened Viking ship graphic "A World of Difference" ABC 123
red on reflective blue/white with screened Cabot graphic "Celebrate 500 Years" ABC 123
red on reflective white with screened provincial flag graphic none ABC 123
Northwest Territories none
Nova Scotia blue on white "Canada's Ocean Playground" ABC 123
Nunavut none
Ontario blue on white with embossed crown separator "Keep It Beautiful" ABC 123
blue on white with embossed crown separator "Yours to Discover" ABC 123

123 ABC
blue text on reflective white with screened crown separator (license plates issued to commercial vehicles are issued plates with black text on reflective white) "Yours to Discover" 123 ABC
blue on reflective white with screened crown separator (commercial vehicles: black on reflective white) "Yours to Discover" ABCD 123 (1997 - Passenger)

AB1 234 (1995 - Commercial)

234 1AB (1996 - Commercial)

AB 12345 (2011 - Commercial)
"Tant à Découvrir"
Prince Edward Island green on white with embossed provincial crest none ABC 123
red on reflective white with screened Anne of Green Gables graphic "Home of Anne of Green Gables" AB 123
green on reflective green/white/blue background with screened Confederation Bridge graphic "Confederation Bridge" AB 123
green on reflective green/white/blue background with screened Province House graphic "Birthplace of Confederation" AB 123
Québec dark blue on reflective white "Je me souviens" 123A456
ABC 123
123 ABC
Saskatchewan green on reflective white with screened wheat graphic Land Of the Living Skies” ABC 123
Yukon none

See also
  • U.S. license plate designs and serial formats

References
  1. Manitoba
  3. "Ontario's new licence plates hit the road: Here's what you need to know". toronto.ctvnews.ca. February 3, 2020.
  4. "Accueil véhicules". Ministère des Transports (in French). Le gouvernement de l'Ontario. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
  5. "Ontario gets new green licence plates". CBC. 2009-11-02. Retrieved 2009-11-07.
  6. "Electric Vehicles". SAAQ. Archived from the original on 2012-07-08. Retrieved 2012-07-26.
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