I think it is time that Justin the
Good sat down for a serious heart to heart with his No. 1 policeman, RCMP
Commissioner Bob Paulson.
The Commish is a political train
wreck waiting to happen. He’s been close to running off the rails several times
now, causing his political bosses some embarrassment.
His latest public relations
disaster was last week in a speech to the Vancouver Board of Trade where he
noted that it is reasonable for the public to expect police officers to be held
to a higher standard.
Later, he drew some laughs when he
told about vacationing in British Columbia and being stopped for speeding by
one of his own officers. B.C. is one of those provinces where RCMP do highway patrol.
He related how shocked the officer
was when he realized he had pulled over his boss. Chuckles all around and that
was the end of the amusing anecdote - until a reporter asked the obvious
question: did he receive a speeding ticket?
“Oh, that was just a story I made up,” the
commissioner replied.
Questioned
further, he reversed himself and said the story was true. Pressed harder on
whether he received a ticket, he said he didn’t want to talk about it, then
admitted he did not.
You have to be
awfully dim, or having a really off day, to think that story could be told
without anticipating the obvious follow-up questions. It shows bad judgment on
the commissioner’s part.
Paulson is
building quite a history of bad judgment. The news media often refers to his
shoot-from-the-lip style. He has been dressed down by three different federal
public safety ministers, the department to which he reports, since his
appointment in late 2011.
In 2012 he apologized
and repaid the federal government $912, the cost of having on-duty RCMP honour
guard assigned to his wedding.
Documents
obtained recently by journalists reveal that Paulson had to issue another
apology in 2012. The government ordered him to apologize to a subordinate for
intimating and demeaning behaviour.
Staff Sgt. Tim
Chad of B.C. complained to Paulson after the commissioner distributed a video
lecture to all detachments on needed improvements and getting rid of the
force’s bad apples.
"We are not all
a bunch of screw-ups but it is evident we are all being lumped into that
category and we are not valued and trusted," Chad wrote in an email.
Paulson replied that
Chad is “living under a rock” and that his complaints “reveal an ill-informed
arrogance” that is “at the heart of what ails us.”
Another B.C. officer
then complained that the commissioner’s response to Chad was “aggressive,
insulting, arrogant, condescending and immature.”
The government
obviously agreed and then-public safety minister Steven Blaney ordered Paulson
to apologize.
Ralph Goodale, the latest public safety minister,
has said nothing about Paulson’s most recent judgment misadventure, but no
doubt is watching closely.
Back in February, Goodale told Paulson that he
wants to see a plan to end “toxic
workplace behaviour” in the RCMP. That came after reports of alleged bullying,
sexual touching and nudity at the Canadian Police College in Ottawa.
Goodale also has asked the RCMP
watchdog to take a new look at bullying and harassment within the RCMP. The
watchdog earlier reported that the RCMP needs swift, effective action on
complaints about bullying and harassment.
Paulson was in trouble with
another public safety minister, this one Vic Toews who was replaced by Blaney.
Toews ordered Paulson in 2012 to rewrite an action plan to address findings of
gender bias in the RCMP.
That’s a lot of serious sit-downs
with your bosses. The next one might be with the boss of them all, the prime
minister. Trudeau, when he appointed Goodale told him he wants an RCMP
workplace that is free from harassment and sexual
violence.
No doubt he is not
amused at Paulson’s stumbles, and he likely is becoming impatient. He should
be. Paulson has had fours years to change the RCMP. He boasts of some success,
but it clear that he has done nothing to change his own style.
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