James McNulty (Vancouver Province) – As RCMP miscues in Metro Vancouver pile higher than a fresh shipment of Tasers, the case for a regional police force replacing municipal Mounties has never been stronger.
Yet there was nary a peep about it in the civic election; the issue remained locked-down for RCMP-contracted mayors and councils.
When the topic is put before local Royal Canadian Mounted Politicians, the Stepford Wife gene kicks in: “We love our Mounties,” they chant in unison.
The quote is not made up, but taken directly from the mouths of Premier Gordon Campbell, former solicitor-general John Les, and Coquitlam Mayor Maxine Wilson.
Investigative author Paul Palango details it all in his devastating new exposé, Dispersing The Fog, Inside the Secret World of Ottawa and the RCMP (Key Porter).
“No place is more devoted to the cult of the Mounties than British Columbia,” writes Palango. “The governors of the province seem hypnotized by the red serge.”
This despite the fact that RCMP answer to Ottawa; Mountie-contracted municipalities have no police boards. And “beyond reach of our (provincial) law ministers is ‘E’ Division, a burgeoning paramilitary force . . . ,” former judge Wally Craig wrote in 2005.
In the long, choppy wake of Robert Dziekanski’s death by RCMP Taser, other suspect Mountie-related fatalities, and dubious value in contract policing, Palango says “political support for the force seems inexplicable.”
Part of it stems from contracting municipalities’ addiction to Ottawa’s 10-per-cent subsidy, but Palango says the value-for-money argument is largely myth once higher RCMP costs-per-officer, lower training standards and “federal” police work are factored in.
Local political support for Horsemen also stems from coziness with hard-lobbying RCMP brass, turf wars, and sheer laziness in avoiding the regional organization.
Angus Reid polls show the public supports a Metro Vancouver regional police force, the B.C. Chamber of Commerce supports it, and provincial Attorney-General Wally Oppal has long favoured amalgamation.
But Premier Gordon Campbell conspicuously left Oppal out of the solicitor-general’s job of supervising police, leaving that to Les and now John Van Dongen, whose lack of enthusiasm for regionalization matches that of
federal ministers closely guarding their empire.
After a year of RCMP stalling on answers to the Dziekanski tragedy, it was laughable to hear RCMP Commissioner William Elliott ask the public last week for “patience,” claiming that his force is “anxious” to participate in the Taser inquiry.
This off-key musical ride must end. While the mayors and Campbell avoid regionalization, NDP leader Carole James has accurately accused the Liberals of foot-dragging and argues Victoria must engineer a solution.
She should make it a key NDP plank in May’s provincial election, and let Lower Mainlanders vote on it.
And where does McNulty figure on getting the men and women of the Metro Police force? Same place the RCMP got its manpower in some cases like the BC Prov Police, they amalgamated them into the fold. Forces in BC cannot fill their rosters now, so you will have to hire all the RCMP now here. They will be part of the Vancouver Police union? They make more than the RCMP and have better overtime and benefits packages as well.
As for Dziekanski, you can thank the BC govt for deciding to throw in a two stage inquiry in the middle of the mix and disrupt the holding of the inquest, and causing the Crown to drag its feet on charge approval blaming it on some missing report that does nothing to change the facts. Inquiries belong after all is said and done in the regular course of events so that may also be subject of scrutiny.
Crackerjack reporting once again. No balance, no study, no insight, all bloated personal opinion. Shameful service to the readers.
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