ect

ON the eve of a federal
election, hastily called
by 2 prime minister
who may well be more
mistrusted by this
nation than Brian
Mulroney was at hi

. lowest ebb, Canadians
are faced with a choice
between the same old
thing or a chance for
something new.

There seems lite doubt
the upcoming election will be
won or lost in rural Ontario.
This stands true for both the
Liberals of Jean Chretien and
the Canadian Alliance of
Stockwell Day. Equally clear is
the battle the Libs will have

© for the few seats they current-

_lv hold in Western Canada.

Nowhere is this more likely

:. to be a bloodbath than in the
- siding of Edmonton West, fer-
tile Day territory, currently
held by Justice Minister Anne
MeLellan, whose record of

: inaction is really quite stun-

ning. -

MeLellan has established

» herself as a loyal Chretien lap-

~ dog, and her only aceomplish-
ment in office,

=~ be called an accomplishment,
“is her nurturing into lite Allan

Rock’s hated gun control leg:

_islation.. At a cost to the tax-

payer of $547 million and

counting, the legislation does

» precious little to actually con-

+ trol illegal use of weapons and

everything to increase an

“already bloated bureaucracy.

; It also, incidentally,

wires almost 500 RCMP
of cers to work it.
‘Considering the shortage of

_RCMP officers on the front

“lines, this merely compounds

~ the lunacy of the legislation.

‘2 Af it is this record she will
go to the vorers with, her
1,100 seat majority is in trou--
ble. Indeed, the newly-nomi-

ated Alliance candidate in
her riding, Betty Unger, said

lly Saturday, “I'm a fictle
prised ac their arrogance.

“Do they really think peo-

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crime and
punishment

ple have such short memo-
ries,” she asked. Yes, Betty,
I'm afraid that is exactly what
the Liberals are counting on.

But what is really striking
about a fall election is that it is
totally unnecessary just over
three years into a five-year
mandate. The Liberals feave
their much-vaunted new
Young Offender’s Act on the
order paper. Then there is
their claimed tough stand on
organized crime.

Last year, the Standing
Committee on Justice and
Human Rights formed ‘a sub-
committee on organized
crime in response to things
like the biker wars in Quebee
anong other areas of concern.
They travelled all around the
country hearing from police
officers and others who inves-
tigate organized crime. They
even, smarmily, asked for pro-
tection from the RCMP in the
wake of the shooting of
Montreal crime reporter,
Michel Auger, so sensitive,
they claimed, their hearings
were.

~ They were supposed to
hear from Brian McAdam, the
former Foreign Services offi-
cer whose investigations were
the impetus for the
Sidewinder probe, inexplicably
killed by the brass of CSIS
despite the protests of many
CSIS and RCMP investigators

involved. The same investiga -
tors iater accused the Prime
Minister's Office of stepping
in and ordering the investiga:
tion shut down. Bur he has
been caneciled for some rea-
son. Abo scheduled to present
to the sub-committee is
Vancouver Police Officer Jim
Fisher, who has just returned
feom a three-year secondment
as the Asian Crime intelli-
gence coordinator for
Criminal Intelligence Services
Canada.

But, with an election call,
the sub-committce, which was

due to report to the House of

Commons on Oct. 31, dies a
slow death. Along with it, 90
does all the information it col-
lected. No report will ever be
written. It will be like it never
happened.

Rv calling an election this
fall, Chretien accomplishes
several things. He forces Day
to the polls before the

Alliance is ready with a full
slate of nominations and
betore the new leader of the
Alliance gets to inake his mark
in the Commons,

He kills the Young
Offender’s Act, which was
heading fora showdown with
Bloc MPs and the govern-
ment of Lucien Bouchard. He
gets to capitalize on the bet-
ter-than-expected surpluses by
introducing a so-called “mini-
bundget™ stealing the Alliance's
thender on tax cuts.

He also minimizes the
expected damaging Auditor
General’s report on the $0-
called billion-dollar hoondog-
gle bv the HRDC ministry.
An election call so soon after
the report is released, means
neither the PM nor Jane
“Dough” Stewart will have to
face the Opposition’s wither-
ing daily fire in the
Commons. Chretien is also
betting the election will focus

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Wednesday, October 18, 2000 — North Shore News - 7

the media on other matters.
Tragically, he is probably cor-
rect.

But, most imporzantly, he
silences the sub-committee,
the only remaining entity
which could damage him, in
the face of the allegations of
political interference in the
Sidewinder fiasco.

Le “tit Jean, the fice guy

Al carnvicos
tully wareanty
approved

iberals embarrassment

from Shawinigan, has dene it
again. But unlike his so-cailed
political mentor, Pierre
Trudeau, Chretien has no
vision for this country. His
only raison d'etre is power at
all costs.

All that remains is to see
whether the country decides
that cost is too high.

— Th night @direct.ca

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