A couple of Different Approaches to Bullying

NOT MY PRIME MINISTER

As if the RCMP didn’t have enough problems.
The force recently had to hire Reid Morden, the former CSIS head to take a close look at the RCMP’s work environment after several of the senior Federal cops complained that Harper’s handpicked commissioner was acting like more than a bit of an a-hole.

Now they have removed the RCMP officer who was in charge of the Canadian Firearms Program which oversees the gun registry. The action comes just weeks before Parliament resumes debate of the Conservative bill that attempts to do away with the national long-gun registry. Timing is everything.

The Canadian Police Association is asking why Cheliak would be removed from the post shortly before he was supposed to give a presentation on firearms strategy at the annual meeting of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police later this month. He was also going to receive an award for his work at the conference. The RCMP say Cheliak is welcome to attend to receive the award but he may not take part in conference meetings.

When the PMO lays down the law to the RCMP I guess the expected response is “How high Mr. Harper, Sir?”

These right wingers don’t like anyone who doesn’t see the world quite the way they do and they have been working hard to make sure everyone on the payroll understands.

Things are a bit different on the Veteran’s Affairs front. As the federal ombudsman, Pat Stogran, a retired infantry officer, has spent the last three years advocating better treatment for Canada’s wounded veterans. It was only recently however that he got a real sense how screw up this government really is when it come to their handling of claims made by disabled veterans.

But the only realized the enormity of the battle he was fighting after a recent conversation with a civil servant who watches over the government’s purse. He said at a press conference “I was told … that it is in the government’s best interests to have soldiers killed overseas rather than wounded because the liability is shorter term.” The former senior military officer was shaken to the bone by the comment. “After two and a half years in this job it would be tough for me to say to a young person, ‘You know what? You want to join the Canadian Forces.’”

Stogran also circulated a 2002 Canadian Alliance political pamphlet in which then-leader Stephen Harper promises to defend Canadian soldiers the way that they have defended the country.

Rather that act the government most likely will just wait until Stogran’s term expires in November and until the media forget who he is. Until that point he has made it clear he intends to continue to expose this shameful treatment of Canada’s veterans by the Harper government and he will be urging Canadians to speak up for change. “These are your sons and daughters, your brothers and sisters. The time is now to do something about it. Make sure this government understands that this must stop.”

Meanwhile Prime Minister Harper and his band of flunkies continue to drop in the pools. The latest figures show that 70% of Canadians do not support this government.

So wake up Iggy, Jack and Giles. Give the bugger the boot this fall while we still recognize this country.