Glen Korstrom
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Nov 26/99) - Yellowknife Registries will take responsibility for motor vehicle services from Quickmail Plus as of Jan. 29.

The service involves providing driver's licenses and registering vehicles.

Yellowknife Registries is a division of TC Enterprises, the company that owns Boston Pizza and the Executive Hotel.

"The coffee bar will be open in about a month," said Yellowknife Registries manager Trula Keefe about an additional component of the new office across the street from Boston Pizza.

"We want to provide good customer service in a comfortable environment."

Instead of standing in a line, as happened at the previous contractor, Quickmail, the new office will provide three sectioned-off desks to provide more comfort.

"The pressure to uphold government regulations, and at the same time please the general public, was a daily challenge and was pivotal in our decision to terminate this contract," said Chris Chenkie, who is president of Canex North Ltd. of which Quickmail Plus is a division.

Quickmail's contract was set to expire in April 2000 but Quickmail Plus management requested an early termination of the contract.

"Staff training is a big issue. It's the same with staff turnover. Money wasn't really an issue with (wanting out of the contract). For the contract itself, there was a little bit of money to be made at it."

The new service will be available six days a week and have provision for visa and debit cards.

The contract is for three years.

"We want to ensure that the public has all these services available to them," said Gary Walsh, the deputy registrar of motor vehicles.

Walsh said the GNWT privatized the service in Yellowknife in April 1997 -- the same time that the Department of Transportation started a service fee program to pay the contractor.

Yellowknife was the last office in the NWT to be privatized.

The cost for a driver's license is $60 plus the $8 service fee and $.58 GST on the service fee.

"In the near future, motor vehicles will be introducing an identification card for those people who have never had any official form of identification," Walsh said.

"We currently have an age of majority card that will be discontinued."

Walsh said people will be eligible to own a driver's licence or an identification card but not both.