N.S. retiree cites ‘vulgar’ government ads in bid to get licence plate back
HALIFAX — A Nova Scotia retiree who is fighting to regain a personalized licence plate after it was deemed unacceptable says governments allow many potentially offensive phrases and names, and anonymous complainers should not be able to take his good name from him.
The provincial government withdrew Lorne Grabher’s licence plate — it reads simply, “Grabher” — after officials agreed with a complainant that it was a “socially unacceptable slogan.”
In an affidavit filed this month in support of his constitutional challenge of the decision, Grabher cited Halifax Water transit ads headlined “Our minds are in the gutter,” “Powerful sh*t,” and “Be proud of your Dingle,” the last one a reference to a prominent waterfront tower.
“In my view, it is glaringly arbitrary and hypocritical for government to engage in such vulgar expression, when I am prohibited from displaying my surname on a licence plate,” he says in the affidavit, filed in Nova Scotia Supreme Court.