Canadian voters are still trying to get used to a New Democrat leader campaigning to the political right of the Liberals. And they hardly expected Thomas Mulcair to play the law and order card. In a direct steal of a Conservative campaign promise in 2008, Mulcair has promised to renew a Conservative program. He is offering $250 million over the next four years to train up to 2500 front-line police officers across Canada.
It should be noted that Mr. Mulcair made the promise in Surrey, B.C. where there has been increased gun violence over the past four years. The Conservatives were well aware of the Surrey problem and had not offered a solution.
But the solution of both Conservatives and NDP is wrong anyway.
Maybe Surrey needs more front-line officers. And maybe it needs them right away. That does not mean that Squamish, B.C. has the same problem nor does Kapuskasing, Ontario. In the usual NDP-way, Mulcair and his brain trust are throwing money at a problem that they do not understand.
One of the very important trends we are seeing in policing today is the better utilization of uniformed, front-line officers. These are people trained in law enforcement, they are given the responsibility of bearing arms and they are not the people you need in many law enforcement call-outs today. We need more expertise on community relations, by-law enforcement, mental health situations, family relations, seniors’ advocates and many other problems of urban living in which uniformed police need not and should not be involved. And the more we develop these resources, we can have uniformed officers devoted to more appropriate situations.
But there is Thomas Mulcair sprouting the Harper law and order line. After all, if it has worked for Stephen Harper, why should the NDP not give it a try?
And that is all we need. The Harper/Mulcair solution means we can have more uniformed officers to kettle innocent citizens when out for a walk in their community. We can have uniformed officers demanding of peaceful people of the wrong colour to give an account of themselves. We can shoot and kill innocent people because they are mentally ill. We can brutalize our citizens and teach them to fear those who are supposed to protect and serve them.
One thing we know for sure: Tommy Mulcair has a lot to learn.
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Copyright 2015 © Peter Lowry
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