MASSACRE CHANGES POLITICAL TONE

Deaths of RCMP Officers Fuel Tough Talk Against Crime, Overwhelm Other Issues

It might yet become a huge political issue in the spring session of
the Alberta Legislature, but nobody is willing to talk about it --
yet.

The murder of four RCMP officers in Mayerthorpe is still too fresh,
too confusing, too horrific. But the Alberta Liberals have already
subtly suggested they're waiting to pounce on the government.

On Thursday, when word first reached the floor of the Assembly about
an "incident" involving the RCMP and gunfire near Mayerthorpe, Liberal
Bruce Miller expressed his respect and concern for the police. Then
added: "Now is not the time to talk about issues that we must face in
the future, like the underfunding of our police service in Alberta and
dealing with gangs."

Was underfunding an issue in this shooting? Or gangs?

Everybody has a theory. Almost nobody has the facts. Grief is clouding
the air. Put them all together and you get the makings of an uneven
political debate. That can be a dangerous thing. Emotionally driven
debate is the political equivalent of running with scissors.

About all we know for sure as I write this is that four officers were
slaughtered. One police officer murdered is a tragedy. Four is a
calamity. Something, somewhere in the system failed. And that makes it
political.

Already politicians at the provincial and federal levels are talking
about getting tougher on crime.

"I am more committed than ever towards the dismantling of organized
crime in every region of this province. In the immediate future I will
be presenting a strategy to my government colleagues that will address
this issue," said Alberta Solicitor General Harvey Cenaiko, a former
police officer himself who looks and sounds like he hasn't slept a
wink since he got word of the shootings.

Some politicians are calling for tougher laws on guns or marijuana.
But was a marijuana grow op the catalyst here? How do you stop
criminal cop-haters from getting guns?

Federal Liberals gathered in Ottawa for their first policy convention
in five years heatedly debated the government's marijuana
decriminalization legislation. At the same time, some politicians are
wondering if legalizing marijuana would be a way to put the grow ops
out of business.

Everything seemed much simpler and more innocent just a few days ago
when the big issues were the use of government aircraft, more money
for post-secondary education and the grizzly bear hunt.

As recently as Wednesday morning, we all thought the United States
border would be reopening to live Canadian cattle this coming Monday.
Premier Ralph Klein was planning to attend an "Open the Border
Celebration" today in Cochrane.

On Wednesday afternoon, a U.S. judge bolted the border shut before it
even had a chance to open. Klein complained about the politically
driven unfairness of it all. Of course, we have our man in Washington,
former energy minister Murray Smith, who is referred to now as our
"envoy" to the U.S. capital. But what he is doing, or what he can do,
is still a bit of a mystery.

What isn't a mystery is the level of animosity developing in the
legislature between the government Conservatives and the lone Alliance
MLA, Paul Hinman. On Thursday, the Conservatives refused to give
Hinman unanimous consent to respond to Klein's ministerial statement
on the border closure to Canadian beef. In the past the Conservatives
have allowed opposition MLAs without official party status to respond
to ministerial statements as a courtesy.

But Hinman is neither well liked nor well respected by many government
members. Some accuse him of showboating and want him taken down a peg.
Others are still upset he defeated Broyce Jacobs, an MLA popular in
the Tory caucus.

They are not sympathetic to Hinman's fight for more time in question
period. Hinman will be lucky to get one question a week because he's
deemed to be a simple MLA with no party status. Hinman wants one
question a day. The opposition Liberals and New Democrats would be
happy to see Hinman get more floor time because the right-wing
Alliance is more a threat to the government than it is to the
centre-left parties.

Interestingly, there was a simmering debate among Tory MLAs earlier
this week whether it's better for them to keep Hinman on a short leash
or give him enough rope in question period to hang himself with his
right-wing views.

That debate seems like something out of a different era -- a time when
the $7-billion BSE crisis seemed to be coming to an end and four RCMP
officers had yet to pay a visit to what seemed to be a quiet farm near
Mayerthorpe.