Nova Scotia town looking to off-load armoured vehicle donated by Peter MacKay
NEW GLASGOW, N.S. — Members of the police force in New Glasgow, N.S., were all smiles in 2014 when Peter MacKay, the local MP and then defence minister, arranged for the Canadian military to give them a decommissioned light-armoured vehicle, free of charge.
Four years later, the town’s police chief says the imposing, 10-tonne vehicle — complete with a rotating turret — was never really put to good use, and he confirmed that town officials have decided to give it away.
“We really have not had any use for that since we’ve had it,” regional police chief Eric MacNeil said in an interview Wednesday. “Could we have done without it? Yes.”
The six-wheeled Cougar, first built by General Dynamics in London, Ont., in the late 1970s, was used by the Canadian military until 2005. The fleet has since been retired, and some vehicles were given to other police forces, including those in Edmonton and Windsor.