The Grabher Case

There has been a news story about a fight in Nova Scotia about a personalized license plate.

Lorne Grabher had a license plate which read GRABHER for 26 years.

In response to one complaint, the Nova Scotia department of transportation revoked Mr. Grabher's license plate.

This is wrong on many levels

Grabher is his name This isn't some joke or attempt to skirt boundaries. His intent is obvious and the license plate is appropriate.

Precedent had been established There is a major difference between seeking a new custom plate and a plate that has been there for 26 years. Any common sense would say that there was no issue for 26 years, and the previous decision to allow the plate should stand. Even if you wouldn't issue that plate today for a new application, any application of common sense would be to let the longstanding decision to issue the plate to stand.

Too bad CTV wouldn't do their jobs as journalists and use freedom of information to expose the one person who got her panties in a bunch and originally complained about the license plate.

I see the Transportation Minister Geoff MacLellan was reelected. That is unfortunate. The voters should have booted him out of office. As minister he is ultimately responsible for the department. It's his job to overrule the bureaucracy when they make a mistake, as they did in this case. The civil service works for the minister, not the other way around. Very disappointing that MacLellan, faced with a choice of who to disappoint, would throw an honourable man like Lorne Grabher under the bus to instead accommodate troublemaker activists and busybodies.