RCMP Act changes will give top Mountie more powers

Vic Toews is announcing changes to the RCMP Act that gives the force greater power to discipline orfire officers who give the force a bad name. I’m trying to bite my tongue and hold back the instinctive cynicism. Vic Toews is about as trustworthy and credible as Peter McKay. Not very.

Vic Toews was the one that pushed a bizarre bill that was drastically over reaching. He had the audacity to say if you oppose the bill you support pedophiles. Then he later admits he never actually read the bill and claimed he was surprised by some of it’s over reaching content permitting warrantless surveillance of someone who has not been suspected of committing a crime.

At first glance, the whole idea of giving any corporation more power to discipline and discharge it’s employees is concerning. Especially when that organization as well as the political party proposing the power grab has been plagued with a longstanding history of abusive bullying within it’s command culture.

RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson had made an appeal for changes to the RCMP Act in his frustration of dealing with the public disgrace that keeping the Alberta wing nut on strength and transferred him to BC. That officer should have been fired. If he worked in the private industry he would have been fired. Blaming some review board for keeping him on when that was the recommendation given them was rather absurd.

My point is and was then, that no changes to the act were needed to fire that freak. In reality, the RCMP faced legal liability for his past, present and future conduct for not obeying the law and firing him.

The question is, how can we take the Harper government seriously when they say they want to end bullying in the RCMP when they clearly applaud it and endorse it. Harper fires whistle blowers. How do we know he’s not going to take this new power to fire whistle blowers to sweep the problem under the carpet without actually dealing with it?

Nevertheless, one thing in the act that appears to be a step forward is the creation of a CivilianReview and Complaints Commission. This is needed. Even Jim Chu supported such a body in BC. Notwithstanding my distain and mistrust of the Christy Clark government, one thing they did do that was good was create a civilian body to oversea police complaints in British Columbia. It would appear that this new RCMP Act would do the same thing federally which would be a step forward. So let’s hope for the best and prepare for the worst. Right now I’m feeling a little hey Mr. Tambourine man won’t you play a song for me.