Ottawa: RCMP will not conduct roadside inspections in Nova Scotia
HALIFAX (OCT. 7, 2002) — Ottawa has turned down a request by the Nova Scotia government to replace provincial commercial vehicle inspectors with RCMP officers.
Federal Solicitor General Laurence MacAulay, in a letter to the provincial attorney general Michael Baker, said having RCMP officers conduct roadside safety checks would be beyond the scope of the provincial police services agreement.
The move was supported by the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union, which called the government’s request “the latest move in a six-year process of reducing staffing at the province’s weight scales and mobile unit patrols.”
In 1996 there were more than 50 officers employed to enforce truck safety and issue permits. Today there are about 30. Under the province’s proposal, 11 mobile vehicle compliance officers would have seen their jobs transferred to the RCMP, the union said.
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