I've been spending some time and Canada and visited your British Expats website in order to clarify something to do with driving.
Unfortunately your earlier thread or a few years ago seems to be at variance with what the authorities tell me even though the thread clearly states that what was stated in the WIKI was cleared with them.
I am being asked for an International Driving licence when the thread and other prople agree that the IDL is a waste of time unless you need it to deal with a language other than French or English.
Can anyone please help me establish the REAL situation in Alberta with regard to visitors.

The previous thread states as follows:
Visitors
If you are a visitor in Alberta, you may drive for up to 12 months on a valid driver's licence that was issued outside of Canada.
If your foreign licence is in English or French, it does not have to be accompanied by an International Driving Permit. There has been some debate about this on the BE forum, but the matter seems to have been settled by consultation of ALBERTA REGULATION 320/2002 Traffic Safety Act OPERATOR LICENSING AND VEHICLE CONTROL REGULATION. (See Part 1, Division 1, International licence.)



[edit] International Driving Permit (IDP)
If your foreign driver's licence was issued in a language other than English or French, it must be accompanied by an International Driving Permit (IDP), which translates your driver's licence into several foreign languages, including English and French.
Note that an IDP is a supplement to a standard driver's licence, and is valid only when it's accompanied by a standard driver's licence.
You cannot exchange an IDP for an Alberta driver's licence.
If you are visiting Alberta from outside Canada and need an IDP because your foreign driver's licence was issued in a language other than English or French, you may drive in Alberta for up to 12 months using the IDP in conjunction with your valid home jurisdiction licence.

Huh?

Not that I have all the answers, but a few more details might help to clarify your situation and result in better answers for you:

- Who is asking you for the IDL?

- For what purpose(s) is the IDL required by this person/entity?

- Do you, as a driver, meet the conditions required to be a fully licensed class 5 driver in Alberta, or are you licensed to drive something other than a class 5 vehicle?

An insurance company that my Canadian partner uses is asking every year for an IDL n order to add me as a driver.
The Alberta government office is saying also that I need one.
You ask "for what purpose does this entity require and IDL?" I can only assume that like the Alberta Government they think that it's a useful document. I fail to understand why either party would think that sight of an IDL actually means anything but I guess they don't understand how easy it it to get one and that it's just a piece of cardboard issues only after sight of the actual driving licence.
Yes I'm a fully licenced driver.
The original clarification stated that a visitor can drive in Canada for 3 months but theafter requires an IDL - why I have no idea. The insurance company however wants one to cover 12 months even though I am only a visitor and am never here for more than one or two months.
I would have bought a car and motorcycle here 10 years ago if all of this wasn't such an issue.
This current thread started becasue of the original Wiki on this site which stated that an IDL is not necesary if the DL is in English or French and that this had been ratified by someone at the government link quoted.
Thanks for your interest.

The wiki is correct in that it is primarily for immigrants, you are not an immigrant so the wiki doesn't apply to you. The difference is your status, you're not a permanent resident or here on a Temporary Work Permit. You are a visitor.

The government can't give you an Alberta drivers license because you are a visitor so don't meet the requirements for one. They also don't really have any way of checking how long you're here for it could be two months or six months, so they want you to have something that is valid for longer than the three months thus the requirement for the IDL.

Same likely applies for the insurance company, they likely will only add you on an annual basis again requiring the IDL. Even though you're only here for short periods they only have your word for that.

That's exactly the reason, and will continue to be the stipulations until such time as you may change your status. I've held a British, Quebec, Military, and Ontario driving licence at one time or another, depending on where I happened to live, or what was required of me at the time. When I was questioned about and International Driving Licence, I simply took one as a means to expedite matters. Technically, I didn't happen to need one, but it would have taken weeks if not months to prove. Getting an IDL was far less bother.