Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Gargan is correct. If your licence plate was dirty, under this section you would be prohibited from operating your vehicle. There is a very narrow defence of impossibility of compliance with the law in extreme circumstances. It is a very, very narrow defence, that would be difficult for the average driver to invoke. For example, a snowstorm, a mud storm or getting a lot of mud on your licence plate wouldn't be sufficient to raise this defence, because you could always stop every ten miles to clean it up.
Mr. Gargan is correct, the way the section is currently worded, you would have to have a clean licence plate.