Budget renews concerns about RCMP
May 4, 2006. 01:00 AM
JAMES TRAVERS
Is there enough proof in the first Conservative budget to accuse the RCMP of playing politics in the last federal election? No, but there's enough circumstantial evidence to warrant independent investigation of the connections between the iconic police force and the politicians who honour it publicly and mutter about it privately.
Those who recall the turning point in the winter campaign will also recognize a pattern that begins with nagging suspicion and ends in surprising consequences.
Stirred to inquisitiveness by a stock market surge and an NDP complaint, the RCMP wrote an unusual letter confirming its investigation into allegations that the cabinet's income trust decision was leaked.
Now fast forward now to this week and Stephen Harper's politically deft effort to keep promises that helped bring Conservatives to power.
Among the Prime Minister's security commitments is a generous $198 million to allow the RCMP to recruit and train 1,000 extra officers for duties more onerous, if not as theatrical, as the delightfully folkloric Musical Ride.
That dotted line connection between election and budget only intrigues conspiracy theorists if it weren't for the force's long record of getting muck on its boots.
From the distant past of burning Quebec barns and the costly '90s Airbus fiasco to the still pungent effluent from the sponsorship scandal and the Maher Arar affair, the RCMP carelessly mixed the gene pools of Inspector Clouseau and Sergeant Preston.
Remarkably, that hasn't done all that much damage to an image reinforced by a zillion postcards, plastic riders and Mountie knickknacks. In a country that often seems held together by Tim Hortons and hockey, the RCMP remains a chest-puffing example of something Canada has that the world wants.
No one is more sensitive to that star power than politicians. Perhaps it's what is in their closets or simply national pride, but parliamentarians tumble over each other defending the Horsemen.
To be fair, that was not Harper's budget motive. Getting tough on crime is a Conservative priority and there is a compelling case for giving what is largely a provincial contract police force the resources needed to focus on its federal responsibilities — fighting organized and white-collar crime while protecting internal security.
Those are tough jobs. The RCMP can't do them well if it's seen — and it is — as politicized. Far from being just the daft fantasy of the left, that's the conclusion of an April report by the righter-than-right Fraser Institute.
Along with other RCMP judgment errors, author Barry Cooper points to the 1997 APEC summit and the RCMP's willingness to accept crowd control orders from Jean Chrétien's administration as proof of lost independence. That's unacceptable for what Cooper correctly identifies as a "guardian" institution that, like the Armed Forces and courts, must stand above politics.
Where it stands now is the shadow of doubt. It has yet to offer a convincing explanation for has been interpreted as either a stunningly overt or breathtakingly naïve intervention in a federal election.
What's particularly puzzling is that it moved so fast to respond to NDP critic Judy Wasylycia-Leis in a letter that was certain to become public during an overheated winter campaign.
And what's almost as puzzling is that months after the investigation no one has been charged or cleared.
That uncertainty helped keep former finance minister Ralph Goodale out of the Liberal leadership race and is continuing a worry for candidate Scott Brison as he tries to distance himself from an indiscreet income trust e-mail to a financier friend.
But that's not what's most troubling.
After this week's budget, taxpayers as well as voters and concerned citizens have even more reason to demand a full exposure of RCMP actions.
Those reasons are only reinforced by a national capital consensus that, for a policeman, Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli is an usually skilled and determined politician.
Getting answers won't be easy. Protected from intrusive oversight, the RCMP launders its linen internally. It's possible Harper's government will wisely edge the RCMP closer to its origins as a federal police force.
But it can't be credible until it convinces the country that it stayed on the election sidelines.
About the only thing Canada needs less than another inquiry is a police force that is so revered, so untouchable, that it can freely play politics.
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James Travers's national affairs column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
jtraver@thestar.ca.
