one of at least four ministers who have had their government vehicles stolen<\/a> in recent years.<\/p>\nAccording to an incident report filed after the event, the vehicle was stolen on July 11, 2024, and eventually recovered. When officers were able to get it back, the interior had been severely damaged, with repair work estimated at over $20,000.<\/p>\n
Soon after the theft, Kerzner\u2019s staff started sending regular messages to the civil servants who look after government vehicles, complaining about the rental the minister had been given and asking if they could get a new car.<\/p>\n
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\u201cIs it possible to order the Minister a new car and use this one for the fleet service?\u201d one staffer wrote in August 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe rental was sufficient for a couple of weeks on short-notice but we require a more permanent solution. We have concerns about costs with the rental car and that the size doesn\u2019t meet our ongoing requirements.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\tMinister demanded larger car\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
What followed was a series of messages between Kerzner\u2019s staff and civil servants in which the minister appeared to reject several replacement vehicles, including a Nissan Pathfinder and VW Atlas.<\/p>\n
Early in the process, Kerzner\u2019s staff made it clear he wouldn\u2019t accept any vehicle with fewer than three rows and eight seats for his official government car.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you know off the top that any of these models are not 3-rows that seat 7-8 passengers, feel free to remove them from consideration,\u201d one message read.<\/p>\n
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It\u2019s not clear why Kerzner would need to carry eight passengers in his government vehicle.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tA Chevrolet Suburban (left) with three rows of seats parked in front of a two-row Jeep Cherokee at Queen\u2019s Park.\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tIsaac Callan \/ Global News\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Another email underscored the ask.<\/p>\n
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\u201cCan you please do a search for a new Toyota Grand Highlander and any of the others you listed below which have a third row?\u201d one of Kerzner\u2019s advisers wrote. \u201cI believe, for example, the Hyundai Palisade has a third row.\u201d<\/p>\n
As they considered alternatives, Kerzner\u2019s staff also tried to work out what additions could be made to any new vehicle.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you have the specs for Minister Kerzner\u2019s current Grand Highlander?\u201d one wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe mentioned to me that his Grand Highlander has some customizations and I\u2019m curious how it compares to the Nissan Pathfinder that Holman found.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Global News asked Kerzner\u2019s office why the minister needed a three-row vehicle, but they did not address the question.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\tKerzner directly involved in push for answers\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Delays in delivering parts for the stolen, damaged Toyota Grand Highlander saw the replacement process drag on through the summer and into the fall.<\/p>\n
As weeks turned into months, the requests from the solicitor general\u2019s staff grew more urgent, referencing his desire to resolve the issue.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Minister is in the office tomorrow, so ideally searches are concluded today,\u201d one email read.<\/p>\n
A few days later, Kerzner intervened directly, asking for a Microsoft Teams call with the civil servants in charge of fleet vehicles.<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you available at 3pm for a Teams call? Minister Kerzner had a few questions on the vehicle available and options for his current Highlander,\u201d a staffer wrote. \u201cMight be easier for him to ask you directly.\u201d<\/p>\n
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An email sent the next day suggested the call went ahead as planned.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\tCar returned, broken into again\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Sometime toward the end of October, after a series of delays in parts and repairs, Kerzner\u2019s Toyota Grand Highlander was rehabilitated.<\/p>\n
Then, someone tried to steal it again.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to start off by thanking you for all the help with getting the Minister\u2019s car fixed,\u201d an email from one staffer to the government\u2019s fleet services on Oct. 31, 2024, began.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to let you know that the car was broken into last night in an attempt to steal it. It being towed to the shop where it was just fixed. (The driver) will be getting a rental car in the meantime.\u201d<\/p>\n
The estimated repair bill for the second incident was $18,790.88, taking the total cost over a matter of months to more than $39,000.<\/p>\n
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Days later, staff began to ask again for alternatives to the rental vehicle Kerzner had been given.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile we appreciate the additional 30-days on the loaner, having the loaner until November 6th would be an untenable situation,\u201d they wrote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The minister in charge of law and order in Ontario insisted on a three-row replacement government vehicle and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":623397,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,13403,44,13404,714],"class_list":["post-623396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-ford-government","tag-news","tag-ontario-politics","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=623396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623396\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/623397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=623396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=623396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=623396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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