Toronto News

Police Association does Stephen Harper imitation

The Toronto Police Association (TPA) seems to have a lot more in common with the Conservative Party of Canada than just similar views on law and order issues. Since the work-to-rule campaign began last month, TPA president Dave Wilson is looking more and more like Stephen Harper, leader of the Federal Conservatives. And if Wilson wants to come out on top in the association’s negotiations with the Toronto Police Services Board (TPSB), this is not a good thing.

With the sponsorship scandal and now the release of the Gomery Commission’s first report, Stephen Harper could have never been given a more ideal situation. The Natural Governing Party is ripe for the pickings and has been since Gomery first began hearing evidence. But Harper, whose party is in a statistical tie with the Liberals, simply cannot take advantage of the strong hand that he has been dealt. Since the Gomery Commission began examining Liberal theft and corruption, the Conservatives should have had the numbers to form a majority government. But the way things stand now, Paul Martin will just offer a few more goodies (look for tax cuts to be announced next week) and the Liberals will have a good chance to stay in power. If not, the most that Harper can hope for is a Tory minority.

In a similar vein, Wilson and the Toronto Police Association could not have gone into their work-to-rule campaign in a better position. The public were angry when the left wing TPSB, doing Mayor David Miller’s bidding, refused to renew the contract of Julian Fantino, the extremely popular police chief. And while labour negotiations are usually about how much more the employees can get, the current negotiations surround such issues as the TPSB wanting cops to work some hours for no pay and want to reduce the force’s retention pay. Fighting to retain what they have can hardly be considered greedy. Unlike many other unions, the police come across as totally reasonable in their demands.

Added to this is the fact that the issue of violent crime is at the top of Torontonians’ concerns as the number of deaths and injuries from illegal handguns reach record levels. The violent crime supports the contention of the police that they deserve to be the best paid police officers in Canada.

But during the course of the campaign, Wilson has made a couple of really questionable moves that indicate, much like Stephen Harper, he may not be able to take advantage of the what is a highly favourable situation.

It’s one thing to have police officers pull motorists over for committing an infraction and then giving them a warning instead of a ticket. That’s a discretion that police have always had. To most law abiding citizens who commit minor traffic violations, a warning is as good as a ticket when it comes to deterring bad driving. And we all know that traffic tickets are just as much a cash grab for the city as they are about safety on our streets. It was a good tactic to hit the city where it hurts.

But it is a completely different matter to stop and detain a motorist for and then hand out pamphlets and tell them about the Association’s bargaining position. This not only smacks of police state tactics but it plays right into the hands of the cop-haters on council and the TPSB to whom any amount of civilian oversight is never enough.

At last week’s rally at Nathan Phillips Square, about 150 police officers showed up in uniform despite the fact that they had no permission to wear their uniforms. The rules clearly state that officers can only wear their uniforms while on duty or going to and from work; in all other cases, officers must apply to the chief for permission. Wilson whined that this rule is illegal and unconstitutional because the officers have freedom of speech (actually, it’s freedom of expression since uniforms usually don’t speak, but let’s not split hairs). The uniform is a symbol of authority and the power of the state and again, Wilson seems not to appreciate the difference between the function of police in a democratic society and a police state. And the notion that police officers somehow have a constitutional right to wear their uniforms at protest rallies and presumably at the ballet.

The worst thing about the way that Wilson handled the uniformed officers was that he allowed Police Chief Bill Blair to be decisive and to show leadership. Let’s face it; it’s hard to come across as a strong leader when you’re sitting around holding hands with David Miller and Pam McConnell and singing a lively rendition of Kumbaya. Wilson has done a good job of making management look good.

Dave Wilson, much like Stephen Harper, was given an almost perfect set of circumstances to work with and is proceeding to blow it.

Arthur Weinreb is an author, columnist and Associate Editor of Canada Free Press. His work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Men's News Daily, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck and The Rant. Arthur can be reached at: aweinreb@rogers.com

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