OTTAWA – New Democrat Public Safety Critic Don Davies (Vancouver-Kingsway) is welcoming a report by Liberal Senators that outlines ways to improve leadership, accountability and morale at the RCMP.

“I’ve been working in Parliament for months to secure long-overdue changes to the RCMP,” said Davies. “So far the government has failed to act, despite calls from the NDP, other opposition parties and independent agencies. We hope that this position paper from these Senators will finally show that Canadians are concerned about reform in the RCMP.

“The RCMP has recently faced some serious challenges,” said Davies. “To improve public confidence in the police and to bolster morale within the force, we have identified five key improvements that need to be made.”

New Democrats have been calling on the government to:

• Implement full civilian oversight of the RCMP, and independent investigations into allegations of police wrongdoing;
• Improve the leadership within senior RCMP management;
• Halt the closure of rural detachments, and increase staffing levels to at least three members in all detachments;
• Honour the contractual wage increases that the Conservative government cancelled;
• Allow RCMP members to engage in collective bargaining, if they wish.

Davies points out that the Harper Government has simply continued the Liberal tradition of making partisan political appointments to suppress criticism and ensure their political interests are protected.

“New Democrats believe that the public interest must come first. That’s why we are calling for urgent action to improve officer morale and strengthen leadership and accountability at the RCMP.”