Tories reject calls for RCMP corruption inquiry

Last Updated: Wednesday, May 30, 2007 | 7:07 AM ET

Tales of harassment, spying and investigative coverups within the RCMP do not need to be heard before a public inquiry, the Conservative government said Tuesday, reasoning such an inquiry would be too costly and take too long when problems should be fixed now.

The government is standing firm on its decision after lawyer Bill Gilmour came forward with a list of allegations from RCMP officers about corruption among senior employees.

Opposition MPs in the House of Commons demanded on Tuesday that a public inquiry look into the new wave of accusations, which include nepotism and forgery of financial documents, illegal electronic spying of lower-ranked officers, and harassment of gay officers.

One incident the officers want to testify about mentions the alleged blocking of an RCMP investigation into officers accused of abusing young boys at a New Brunswick youth centre.

But when pressed about the allegations, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said the government's priority should be on looking ahead and taking action immediately to improve the complaints process.

"You're going to see changes, Mr. Speaker, to the way complaints are reviewed," Day said. "And we need to do that quickly, we need to do that effectively. We don't need to wait two or three years and spend millions of millions of dollars for answers we have now."

Day added that the government would soon appoint a new commissioner to address the problems.

The Toronto Star reported on Tuesday that Gilmour had sent a letter to an unnamed Conservative MP saying his clients wanted to air their stories at a public inquiry or at the parliamentary committee currently looking into the RCMP's mismanagement of millions of dollars of the force's pension fund.

As many as a dozen current and former Mounties reportedly want to come forward.

Liberal MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj, who is on the panel examining the pension scandal, said he saw no reason the parliamentary committee should not listen to what the anonymous would-be whistleblowers have to say.

"We're a committee of accountability — not just financial but administrative accountability," he said. "So we should be looking at this."

But Conservative MP John Williams, who also sits on the committee, said he has no time for allegations made by anonymous officers hiding behind a lawyer.

"I have no facts, I don't know what they have, I don't know what they want, I don't know why they should come here," he said. "Therefore I can't support them coming here."

So far none of the officers have come forward to explain the allegations. Gilmour said the officers fear retribution and want protection by parliamentary privilege.