Almost two years after the Mounties imposed a moratorium on the sale of its decommissioned vehicles, the police force has released an internal audit that uncovered a series of shortcomings.
The report was written in response to two cases of people in Nova Scotia using former R-C-M-P vehicles to impersonate police officers, including the April 2020 mass shooting that killed 22 people.
The review — dated July 2022 — found there was inconsistent evidence in RCMP files to prove vehicles had been fully decommissioned before their sale by G-C-Surplus — the federal disposal authority.
As well, the review found that some of the vehicles sold through G-C-Surplus had some markings and equipment that could identify them as former law enforcement vehicles.
Nova Scotia RCMP warn that Cybercrime and Online Scams have been on the rise.
There are gift card, pre-paid credit card and crypto currency scams — so if you receive a phone call or e-mail requesting a payment by form of gift card, it’s almost certainly a scam.
Fraudsters often sound legitimate and make the situation appear to be urgent, which is a pressure tactic to try and catch you off guard and give you the least amount of time to think about the transaction.
If you don’t know who the person is or if you have doubts, do not pay them.
This scam also applies to crypto payment requests. There are also remote access scams.
With these scams you receive a pop-up on your electronic device or a phone call from a company to say your device is infected with a virus.
Police say it’s likely a trick for the scammer to install malware on your device and steal personal information such as bank information.
The federal minister of natural resources says Nova Scotia has limited options to meet its goal of getting off coal asides from the Atlantic Loop megaproject.
The loop is a proposed five-billion-dollar project where the provincial utilities and governments collaborate with Ottawa to transmit more Hydro-Quebec and Labrador power into the region.
Emera — the parent company of Nova Scotia Power — says it’s pressing pause on its participation because of a rate hike cap being imposed by the Tory government.
However, Jonathan Wilkinson says that he sees the conflict between Emera and the province as a “bump in the road” to overcome, and he remains committed to the idea.
The Nova Scotia government says it’s begun a new project to collect race-based data on the healthcare system to ensure it’s more equitable and responsive to the needs of communities.
It says residents now have the option of providing race and language information when they renew their health card, but the information can also be provided at any time online or by phone.
The province says participation in the Fair Care Project is voluntary and the information will not be used to identify individuals and will not appear on Nova Scotia health cards.
Health Minister Michelle Thompson says the government knows there are inequities in healthcare and it needs information on where the weaknesses are to change that.
The Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation says its second quarter earnings were up 5.7 per cent from a year earlier to 82.8-million dollars — partly due the opening of three new cannabis stores.
The Crown corporation says total sales jumped 5.2 per cent to 239.4-million dollars in the quarter running from July 3rd to October 4th.
It says wine sales saw the biggest increase at 14.6 per cent, followed by ready-to-drink products at 13.1 per cent.
Cannabis sales increased 8.3 per cent to 28.8-million dollars.
