A tough cop-out

Image: Trudeau Sitting Down for Canada


A tough cop-out

but someone's gotta do it.


Tyee: An RCMP Investigation Could Sink Trudeau. Here’s Why It Won’t Happen

• Liberal insiders says a criminal investigation before the election could snuff the party’s re-election hopes.

Historical precedence:

• The Sponsorship Scandal: Martin asked Justice John Gomery to head up a public inquiry into how the sponsorship program was handled... Five days later, Martin promised to resign if there was evidence that he knew about fraud in the program.

Where do politicians learn to talk that way? Surely he knew whether he knew or didn't know about the fraud in the program. If the people who run this country see a difference between fact and evidence of fact, it's no wonder there's such a growing lack of respect for political entities.

In similar fashion, regarding the missing and murdered aboriginal women, Trudeau stated: "we accept the finding that this was genocide". That's like saying, well, if you say so, but ...

He's also saying "was" as if it were in the past and not still going on. And did he dare to use the royal "we"?

On Martin's heels came Harper:

• Harper's government introduced the Accountability Act ... to crack down on unethical actions and make government transparent.
• But Gomery said ... he was disappointed that the government hasn't resolved some problems, pointing for example how deputy ministers are appointed. "The Accountability Act isn't an answer to my report," Gomery told CBC Newsworld. "They seem to have dropped into something of a black hole in Ottawa."

[See: Canada's current Deputy Ministers]

By the time everybody's forgotten what Martin said (above) out comes a damning statement against him. From the CBC:

• In September 2006, Gagliano published his "version of the truth" in his autobiography called Les corridors du pouvoir (The Corridors of Power). He maintained his innocence and said he was a scapegoat for the Martin government. 

But again, the wording is vague. The whole Martin government?  Or just Martin himself? By this time, did anybody care about or even recall the Sponsorship Scandal?  Stephen Harper was PM and his government was only "Accountable" for current misdeeds; most of them, anyway.

The Tyee continues with regard to Trudeau:

• ... my guess is that the RCMP will not open a criminal investigation into its political masters. For one thing, it could never be completed before the election, given the number of cabinet ministers, senior government officials and corporate players who would have to be interviewed.
• It would also be impossible to keep such an investigation secret, and Trudeau would be seriously hurt by leaks from any probe. RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki doesn’t want to end up like Giuliano Zaccardelli, facing accusations of interference in the electoral process.

See what comes first? The "electoral process".  Not "Accountability".  Who'd have thought the RCMP were, well, cowards?

• The likely outcome is that the RCMP will make a terse statement sometime soon announcing that the Trudeau government’s actions in the SNC-Lavalin case do not rise to the level of a crime. But even that public relations exit strategy comes at a price.
• There is enough evidence available to the public, thanks to Dion’s report, that giving Trudeau a pass on a criminal investigation will leave Canadians facing disturbing questions.

If the decision is taken not to investigate, will it be based on what Trudeau personally did or did not do, or on the office he holds?  Is there a dictum somewhere that sitting PM's don't have to be accountable, especially when running for re-election?

Are certain people more equal before the law than others?  Sorry; dumb question.  If the RCMP are unwilling or not free to uphold the law, then maybe it's time they rode off into the sunset.

But, if you look up the Gov't of Canada's pages on Policing - "Learn how we are keeping Canadians safe" (especially Canadian politicians, and except for a couple of thousand missing First Nations females) you'll see it's a glowing advertisement for the RCMP.

They are IN baby; the Government loves them; they are a political entity in themselves, with all of the subterfuge implied, and they're not going away.

Despite that it's a sad indictment of the RCMP that the CBC is doing the investigating of the missing and dead women.

Related on YYC: Canada's Eugenics Program