The New Mounties and Reefer Madness

Maintiens Le Droit... "Uphold the law". It's the official motto of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and, until recently, the reliable code of constable conduct. They're stern words from a sterner era. Most military and police units in our nation's history preferred to use Latin phrases on their badges but when John A. Macdonald deployed N.W.M.P. troopers to quell the Louis Riel's rebellious Metis, the Mountie motto was French. So it remains, as does the "iconic" red serge tunic.

Here in B.C., with a boring provincial election underway, at least one party is advocating something novel - the cancellation of long standing Federal policing contracts and the reinstatement of the old B.C. Provincial Police. Jane Sterk, leader of the B.C. Green Party added that little gem to the Green plartform, along with a banning of Tasers. The predictable response of Gordon Campbell, Liberal party boss was "The fact of the matter is the RCMP is the provincial police force and it does an extremely good job across the province." Gordo will never discuss any idea which his own policy wonks did not originate. A pity that, because if the gold plated security component of the 2010 Olympics Budget shows us anything, it is that the real cost of federal troopers is unsustainable in the 21st Century.
You'll find a taste of the bitter truth reported in todays SUN: "Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit has announced it will pay $79.8 million for three cruise ships to house about 5,000 security personnel in Vancouver during the 2010 Games."
This doctored image, created by Taylor Rivard for his "Proud Smoke" cannabis webpage , depicts the RCMP insignia modified to reflect the current hiring policy of Canada's national police force.

One of the most popular Vancouver news stories last week was a piece written by Chad Skelton for the SUN [April 13]. It described Mr. Amyn Dharamshi, the inept ex-Mountie who lost his fat wallet back in 2005, which contained his RCMP ID, a baggie of marijuana, a package of Zig Zag cigarette papers and his "RCMP student-loan documents". (Who even knew there was such a thing an RCMP student loan!) The tattling tale, sans photo of course, was the delight of the Internet. Dharamshi was "suspended with pay"and used the appeals process for four years (on salary) before finally resigning. What I found astounding was not that he smoked dope or lied about it, but that he tried to implicate his brother, whom he claimed had "borrowed his wallet for a few days". There was an avalanche of opinion-posting when the story appeared, but the Net-signature is fast evaporating, and soon you will need the Wayback Machine to excavate the bones.

The wretched Dharamshi story must be assessed in combination with a CBC report which was published two weeks earlier, because the two are directly related. I say "published," but hasten to add that it was completely ignored by other media. An internal memo acquired by the CBC has revealed that RCMP recruiters will now "permit consideration of mitigating factors in all cases of criminal activity, which may include drug trafficking, etc." In other words we are living in a country where the heavily armed illegal drug industry has the upper hand, but also where the national police cannot manage to find recruits who have lived a life without illegal substances.

Screen shot of the March 27th CBC story revealing that RCMP recruiters no longer plans to exclude all drug users from serving on the force.


I have a big problem with the current decline in RCMP culture. Watering the vintage to serve a self absorbed population is unacceptable. I for one have never used any illegal drug, including marijuana, and I am proud of having lived my life with no more serious encounter with the police than a few speeding tickets. Quite frankly, we should be able to expect that an officer who approaches the car window has a character equal to, if not exceeding our own. That is not too much to ask. The RCMP and the poll-addicted politicians have to understand that if they lose the trust and cooperation of my generation, it matters not if they regain physical control of the streets. We have a thousand subtle or subversive ways of expressing our dissatisfaction with public employees who have lost their way. All of them legal.

A crowd of 5000 (VPD estimate) gathered in solidarity for National Pot Smoking Day, the "420" protest in Vancouver, held on Monday afternoon. The banner reads "HELP MAKE CANNABIS THE LOWEST POLICE PRIORITY". Clearly that was the case, as uniformed VPD officers politely observed the happy assembly.

TV Video of yesterday's "420 protest" was broadcast at noon today and it was obvious that the happy crowd was dragging extra hard on their cannabis in order to produce an impressive cloud of smoke. Bravo! Perhaps they could be persuaded to re-assemble and perform the feat at the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Olympics. Now that is a stunt which would garner their cause some "World Class" media coverage, and for only a half hour of effort. They already know the VPD and RCMP will not intervene. Legal precedent is truly a modern marvel.

Canada's Happiest City - The Tao of Canadian propaganda.

Those who know me well usually dismiss me as a pessimist. Actually, I am just a garden variety cynic. At my age I find it near impossible to trust any message without turning it over to determine point of origin. But then, some propaganda is counterfeit. You can't trust the hallmark or the shipping label. Sadly, we live in a world where almost all communication is loaded with deceit. I mean, everyone is his or her own propagandist, are they not?
Shouldn't we be smart enough, we individual products of the "greatest public education system yet conceived," to know when we have it good? If everything is so rosy why then do four levels of government annually squander millions of our tax dollars in an agitating attempt to convince us that we live in the greatest city (or town), in the greatest province, and the greatest country in the world? I don't have to be persuaded to reach for a juicy red apple. Do you?

I live in B.C. That's significant because we have four levels of government out here; three tiers are elected and one is appointed. All four entities tax us and all four generate good news messages. That's a heap of propaganda capability!

I think about the hyped messages a lot, especially as we are now in the run-up to the super-duper Olympics extravaganza scheduled for 2010 - a party which I will not attend, but a bill which I will be paying for until the year I die. I thought about MESSAGE a lot over the weekend because of a news story on Friday which reported the results of a Canadian "happiness poll". I came out to B.C. in 1981 and noticed straight away that public messages did not match many of my experiences. After being subjected to 25 years of thought shaping and other forms of social engineering, I thought I was the only one tuning OUT the messages. But I was wrong.

"Canada's most satisfied citizens found in Saint John, N.B." (CanWest News Service), December 29, 2007 [Link] Saint John! That's the city I was born into, raised and educated in. And it's also a city which hardly ever makes the news out here on the left coast. So what gives? Why was Vancouver ranked eleventh on the "happy" list? Was this just a sneaky propaganda handout from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency ? Well no. The lead researcher on the project was John Helliwell, an economist employed here at the University of B.C. and a fellow actually born in Vancouver. A rare boast!

It turns out that Canada's great multi-cultural centres are wonderful engines of commerce, but our smaller cities, which tend to be mono-cultures, are the places where people are more content with their lives. Well, I am no liar. I admit that cultural makeup is just one factor making Saint Johners more content than Vancouverites. But this is a blog, not a book. ...Hell, many in S.J. would rankle at the suggestion that they live in a mono-culture. Everything is relative. My wife, a Taiwanese, is a devout Tao and did not enjoy her brief life in Saint John. She does not share my nostalgia.

Rather than bitch about the barrage of propaganda, I guess I'll arm myself for the good fight... with more sustained and careful reading and listening.

The City of Saint John is not a topic which jumps to the lips of the average Vancouverite or... scarcely anyone on this coast. They will simply sneer at the implications of this charming little poll. Still, Helliwell's research is global in nature and these people do love to ponder anything smacking of GLOBALIZATION. He has their ear when he compares their town to any "World Class" rival. It remains to be decided if Dr. Helliwell is a "world class" economist, but his report on Canada's happiest cities added a little zest to the conversation in our household over Christmas.

Postscript : on Multiculturalism, or why Middle and Upper Class Canadian communities may register low for "Happiness" - I shouldn't have to add, but I will, that my views are tempered by careful reading, and are not merely a reaction to news stories. If you are interested enough to dig into the subject of our national self image and the forces actively shaping it, there is plenty to read. When I studied at U.B.C. in 1983 we used a textbook called TEACHING ISSUES IN A CANADIAN CONTEXT (OISE 1982) which first opened my eyes to Trudeau's winning formula for innovating a nation without a cultural centre. In the early days, indoctrination of teachers involved getting beyond mere understanding of multiculturalism to genuine acceptance of the imperative. We are now there. After a lifetime of watching teachers in the wild, their behavior confirms they are the most effective political cadres in the country. Volunteer constituency workers may get out the vote but its the public schools which pattern young minds, and many of the "paradigm shifts" on the horizon (techno/political) will not fit the template we like to call "Canadian identity".

Exibit C - The largest mono-culture on the planet - People's China - aggressively planning for and budgeting a confrontation with the largest multi-culture - the United States. When "C-Day "comes, it's going to confuse the hell out of Canadian "nationalists" who prepared for their retirement but not for cultural extinction.

If you like to read, and can find it, try Tony Wilden's THE IMAGINARY CANADIAN, Pulp Press 1980. I highly recommend a brilliant piece of analysis by Prof. Rachel Nash of T.R.U. here in B.C. It is entitled "Legalizing Multiculturalism: Changes in Discourse, Changes in Attitude", TEXTUAL STUDIES IN CANADA 13/14 Canada's Journal of Cultural Literacy. She articulates what many of us who took Orwell's message to heart, have long understood about "debate" in a ballot box democracy. You are already winning the argument when the opponent is forced to use your grammar, your vocabulary and is constrained by your limits on time. A counterpoint, and a quick read which I often use in tutorials, is The Myth of Canadian Diversity (G&M, June 13, 1994). The three great myths it defines are easy for anyone to remember. The piece is found in a writing text called CANADIAN CONTENT, 4th Ed.

2010 Olympics - Are they as Corrupt as the 1976 Montreal Olympics?

Corruption comes in many forms… influence peddling, insider trading, cushy bonuses, pilfering, fixed contracts, big lies, dishonored promises. It comes as no surprise then to read in today’s Vancouver SUN that the elected government of B.C. continues to find creative ways to shovel fresh bales of our money into the 2010 Olympics incinerator. We now learn that ICBC, the vehicle licensing monopoly, has decided to become an “Official Supporter” of the 2010 Winter Games. ICBC’s fee to play in the Games? “15 – 50 million in cash and/or services”. The precise amount is currently a secret. This means that a whole raft of ICBC executives will be getting free Olympics tickets. You don’t believe it? Than how else explain why only 70% of Olmpics tickets will be offered for sale to the public? There are so many crooks lining up for free tickets that 30% are being held back to pass out to Olympics “Supporters” and “Friends of the Games”. How many suckers who pay hundreds of dollars for their seats will appreciate that the happy fellow sitting next to you got in for free?

Since “history repeats itself,” I thought I should read a little about the highly corrupt 1976 Montreal Olympics, to get a leg up on the RCMP investigations which will begin in 2010. The best book on the subject was THE BILLION DOLLAR GAME : Jean Drapeau and the 1976 Olympics, written by Nick Auf der Maur. Amazing to tell, but this book isn’t profiled on the Internet. Yesterday I bought a copy of my own. The book is an eye opener, and possibly an indication of the scope of the scandal which will follow Vancouver’s 2010 Games. The most interesting chapter covers OPERATION HERMES, a series of more than 40 police raids on the construction companies building the venues. The Olympics Village contract went to a figure involved with the Mafia in Quebec, but the dictatorial mayor of Montreal, in concert with Quebec justice officials used their influence to prevent any criminal charges being laid before the Olympic Games had been staged.

The principle Mafia figure involved in 1970s Olympics construction was Guiseppe (Joe) Zappia, a fellow with one foot in construction, another in politics and both hands on the cash. Incredibly, Zappia was in so tight with Quebec’s political elite that he accompanied Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa’s delegation to meetings with the Shah of Iran in October 1975. They flew on separate planes of course, but Zappia was there in Teheran. Quebec companies, already bloated with Montreal boodle, were salivating over the contract to build the Olympic Village for the proposed 1984 Teheran Games.

When the RCMP and Quebec police investigations got too hot Joe Zappia did what many crooks do – he became a political candidate. In 1976 he became a contender for the leadership of the federal Progressive Conservative Party. (This tactic is a time honoured tradition out here in B.C., especially in the South Asian and Chinese communities. Not so much among the local Italians, unless I’m mistaken.) The Tories were stunned and had to work fast to keep Zappia out of the race. Auf der Maur’s book was published in 1976 but a few journalists continued to dog Zappia, who has always maintained his position in the Cosa Nostra. He was finally charged with Olympics construction fraud but the case dragged on till 1988 when he was acquitted “after two key witnesses died before testifying at his trial”. Reclaiming his Canadian passport, Zappia moved back to Italy and set up a new construction company. What else? At the age of 80 he was still at it. In 2005 he was arrested by the Italian police, charged with money laundering in relation to a $7 billion dollar public works project – the new bridge to link Sicily to the Italian mainland.

That's a history lesson. Get ready for the news.