Families of victims in N.S. mass shooting 'disheartened' after military 'police-style' vehicles spotted up for auction

Military selling decommissioned police cars A month after feds supposedly banned sale of old police cars in Canada, the military is selling them. Bruce Frisko reports.

HALIFAX — Less than a month after Canada's public safety minister announced decommissioned police cars would no longer be sold in surplus government auctions, similar vehicles are still for sale from the military.

Surveillance video captured over 13 hours last April not only depicts Gabriel Wortman's movements, but why his violent rampage went on so long.

With his fully functioning replica police car, Wortman was able to move relatively freely between communities, and he did -- at least for a time.

When word got out that similar decommissioned cruisers were still being sold in surplus auctions, the feds moved to shut it down.

"I have directed the RCMP to suspend the sale of all of their surplus vehicles until this matter can be resolved," said federal Public Safety Minister Bill Blair said last month.

RCMP vehicles largely disappeared from the site immediately, but CTV News has learned the Canadian military is still unloading its surplus the same way and some of the vehicle are indistinguishable from those used by police.

That includes a couple of SUVs and a classic police cruiser - a Ford Taurus.

All of them are listed as having "police-style trim."

In a statement to CTV News, families of five of the victims say they're disappointed and deeply concerned by the news.

"We learned the hard way how easy it was for one man to create an exact replica of a current RCMP vehicle," they write. "This loophole the government has found to sell these vehicles is a slap in the face to the victims, the families, our province, and our country. We are calling on the government to discontinue the sale of all vehicles with police trim."

Robert Pineo, the lawyer representing most of the families in a civil suit, says this is the last thing they needed as the one-year anniversary of the mass shooting approaches.

"They're very disheartened," said Pineo. "They took Minister Blair at his word that there would be a moratorium."

Nova Scotia Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Houston said the scope of the ban needs to be broadened.

"I think we need to keep figuring it out," Houston said. "What's the vehicle that could confuse somebody and let's not contribute to that vehicle being on the road."

The families called on the federal government and all of its agencies and departments to effectively carry out the ban Blair put in place for the RCMP.

'23 beautiful souls'

"We are calling on the government to discontinue the sale of all vehicles with police trim," they wrote. "If this can’t be done in honour of 23 beautiful souls we urge them to consider doing it for the safety of the general public. We must learn something from last April’s tragedy. This is a huge step backwards when we were just starting to go forward."

Wortman had a three-car fleet of decommissioned police cars, including one that went up in flames in the driveway of his former home in Portapique.

Just last month, RCMP arrested a man in Antigonish for allegedly impersonating a police officer and pulling people over. Police say he, too, was driving a decommissioned police car he purchased legally.

For the time being, it appears close copies are still available to anyone with the money who's willing to place a bid.

Blair's office sent CTV News a statement on Tuesday saying the moratorium he announced "covers surplus vehicles from all RCMP divisions across the country."

It went on to say "questions about other federal agencies should be directed to the relevant department."

Blair told CTV News on Tuesday that with so many similar looking cars available for sale, the measures need to go deeper to protect the public from impersonators.

"I think what is necessary (is) we need to ensure there is appropriate regulation to prevent someone for dressing those cars up as a police vehicle for using emergency lighting equipment the decaling of those vehicles all the things that have been used to misuse those vehicles and misrepresent them," Blair said.

Blair says those are the recommendations he is looking at implementing.

When contacted the Department of National Defense said "public services and procurement" is responsible for handling the sale of surplus vehicles.

"We have requested that these items be removed from the GC Surplus site until further notice, while we determine the way ahead for the disposal of our police vehicles," a spokesperson for the Department of National Defence wrote in an e-mail.