RCMP Has Scrapped Nearly 5,000 Vehicles Since Auction Ban Following NS Mass Shooting

An RCMP vehicle is parked in front of RCMP headquarters in Montreal, on March 7, 2024. The Canadian Press/Christinne Muschi

The RCMP has scrapped thousands of vehicles in its fleet following new federal auction rules imposed over public safety concerns following the 2020 Nova Scotia mass shooting.

Since Jan. 1, 2021, the RCMP has scrapped or crushed 2,470 vehicles of various makes, while 137 others were sold, according to an Inquiry of Ministry document released on Nov. 1 and obtained by Blacklock’s Reporter. An additional 2,396 vehicles are currently in storage, awaiting similar disposal.

The figures were released by the government in response to an order paper filed by Conservative MP Kelly McCauley, who asked for details on the number of RCMP surplus vehicles scrapped since January 2021.

Cabinet announced a moratorium on the sale of decommissioned RCMP vehicles in 2021 following a mass shooting in Nova Scotia, in which the killer, Gabriel Wortman, posed as an RCMP officer. Wortman approached victims dressed in an RCMP uniform and drove a copycat police car.

A 2023 inquiry concluded that Wortman had bought four decommissioned police vehicles through GCSurplus, the Government of Canada’s online auction site.

“The perpetrator also purchased various items outside GCSurplus which he used to transform one of the decommissioned vehicles into a replica of an RCMP cruiser,” said the Mass Casualty Commission Final Report.

Questions from McCauley on the scrapping of RCMP surplus vehicles were also directed to Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC), which manages the sales of goods for federal agencies. In response, PSPC reported that it has sold 147 RCMP vehicles since 2021, along with several boats, totalling just over $1 million in value.

The discrepancy in the number of vehicles sold, as reported by the RCMP and PSPC, is largely due to the use of different internal reports, the police force explained in the Inquiry document.

Prior to the moratorium on sales, the RCMP said that it had auctioned 1,500 used vehicles annually, noting that the force has “the largest law enforcement land fleet in North America, consisting of approximately 12,000 on-road vehicles,” according to a 2022 Review of the RCMP Vehicle Decommissioning Process.

The Inquiry document said a total of 393 Ford Explorers have been scrapped since 2021. Among them, 16 had sold for an average of $6,045 prior to the moratorium. A total of 281 Chevrolet Tahoes were scrapped, with 20 sold for an average of nearly $7,600 each at auction.

Former Public Safety Minister Bill Blair said when announcing the suspension of police vehicle auctions that it was an interim measure.

“During this moratorium, the Government of Canada and the RCMP will examine the policies that are currently in place and work towards long-term solutions that further ensures these vehicles are not improperly outfitted or otherwise misused,” he said.