Ottawa (Canadian Press) - Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day says the RCMP will change the way it handles public disclosure of sensitive information such as the income trust probe that sparked a storm in the last federal election.
Day, fielding questions in the Commons, said the reforms urged by Paul Kennedy, the force’s civilian watchdog, will be put in place “right away.”
That was stronger than RCMP Commissioner William Elliott’s response to the report. He merely thanked Kennedy for his advice and said the Mounties were looking at the issue.
Kennedy found that former commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli personally decided to release information during the last campaign about a criminal investigation involving the former Liberal government.
The RCMP watchdog urged that, as a general rule, the Mounties refrain from such action in future. The only exception, he said, would be a case where publicity can be justified on clear public interest grounds.
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