Dirk Meissner, Victoria, B.C. (Canadian Press) – A political analyst says the death of a Polish immigrant after a confrontation with the RCMP at Vancouver’s airport last month could garble the Conservative government’s tough-on-crime message.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservatives — and B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell’s centre-right Liberals — see policing as largely about fighting crime, says Prof. Dennis Pilon of the University of Victoria political science department.
Both governments count on it to get votes, he said.
But the death of Robert Dziekanski last month, with his final moments depicted on a notorious video recorded by another traveller at the airport, has heightened mistrust of the RCMP.
“Now, it’s ‘Wait a minute. The police didn’t seem to do what’s right. Is there accountability and was this fairly handled?’ ” said Pilon.
“It creates a real difficulty, particularly for parties whose politics is tough on crime. They ideologically fall into a camp that says we should give the police a great deal of latitude.”
The federal Tories’ and B.C. Liberals’ traditional pro-police stance likely played a part in what some are calling a slow response to the Taser issue despite the public uproar, said Pilon.
Phone lines between Ottawa and Victoria hummed last weekend as the federal and B.C. governments pondered how to handle the massive fallout from 40-year-old Dziekanski’s death on Oct. 14, 10 hours after he landed to start a new life in Canada with his mother, a Kamloops, B.C., resident.
Solicitor General John Les said he was in touch with Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day almost to the moment the provincial government called a public inquiry.
The solicitor general, who has been under fire after initially saying the police and coroner’s investigations were enough, insists no deals were made between the two governments on how to handle the two-party inquiry.
It not only will look into the circumstances of Dziekanski’s death but also examine the policy governing the user of Tasers by police in British Columbia.
“I talked to Mr. Day several times, including (Monday), before we publicly announced the public inquiry,” Les said.
Officials in Day’s Ottawa office said British Columbia contacted the minister about its plan for an inquiry and Day pledged his support for the probe, including ensuring the co-operation of the RCMP and the Canada Border Services Agency.
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