State of Canada's Policing Services

Canadians have a long tradition of supporting our police forces. The RCMP is a national symbol and Canadian trust in a our police forces is what separates us from the US. We tough gun laws and when we need assistance we depend on our police forces. Historically, Canada's police forces have served us well but recently scandals have rocked all of Canada's major policing organizations and shaken are trust in those whose are supposed to be protecting and serving us.

The recent resignation of the RCMP Commissioner is just a small part of the problems effecting policing organizations. Canada's police forces have failed to adapt to new realities. First, organized crime is more tempting than ever to work for. Second, police forces have become increasingly politicized. Police forces should not be lobbying for new powers and they often have taken the same side of far-right politicians who want less restrictions on police and allowing police officers alone to use their discretion when dealing with law-breakers without having to face any consequences.

These attitudes give some police officers the excuse to abuse their power. It is the kind of abuse that uses over aggressive force to make arrests. It is also the kind of abuse that misrepresents Canadians like Arar, who are deported to countries like Syria because of their mistakes.

The abuse is also happening in the higher ranks where police forces are close-knit organizations that don't communicate their mistakes to the public. This secrecy forces the truth to be revealed only through public commissions. The recent RCMP scandal is just one scandal that garnished mainstream national media coverage and all police forces need more citizen oversight of their organizations to make them accountable without having to rely solely on public inquiries.

Delegates Support The Pundits Choice

Very few would have predicted that Paul Martin's successor would have been standing right behind him when he announced his successor.

Stephane Dion has been one of Canada's best cabinet ministers but the majority of Canadians believed he never would have ran because he never showed interest in the top job before Paul Martin resigned. Dion seemed to be to much of a good guy who didn't have the ambition to fight for the leadership.

But he proved everyone wrong. He made a run for the leadership after several pundits (Coyne and Hebert) made a pitch for Dion to run. He never earned an endorsement from an influential liberal. (Dallaire, Dhalla, Axworthy, Trudeau, Cauchon, Goodale, Campbell, McCallum, Keeper, or Cotler) During the convention Bob Rae was winning the support of all the candidates. (Volpe, Brison, and Dryden) But Dion won the support of the people.

It was clear to everybody that the Martin/Chretien rivalry was reincarnated between the top two candidates Ignatieff (Martin) and Rae (Chretien).

Dion represents the hard-line federalism of Trudeau/Chretien. He is untouched by the sponsorship scandal and is Harper's intellectual foil. But his major weakness is his English and lack of charisma. He is also the third straight Liberal Leader from Quebec. He is not perfect but has the right ingredients to come one of our great Prime Ministers. He can prey on Harper's weaknesses. Dion is a strong advocate against global warming and can quickly restore the Liberal Party's dominance in Quebec.

I will wait to see how Dion adapts to his new role as leader. I am still saddened by the Liberals lack of support for Dryden. Dryden was urged to drop out early but he hung on because he wanted represent a strong nationalist presence within the Liberal party. That view is currently unrepresented by any of Canada's major parties. Canada's Liberal party has turned reactionary and has mainly reacted to events rather than initiating new changes. Dryden initiated new changes through a national daycare program and would have introduced more through his "Big Canada" platform. I can only hope that the new liberal leader will plagiarize Dryden's platform and implement some of Dryden's policy idea of First Nation's advancement and Educational advancement.