LOOK TO THE CHARTER

This is war.

If the people of Canada give a damn about our country, we must launch an all-out war against the mushrooming organized crime that's undermining our nation.

And I'm not saying this just because a digging, courageous Canadian newspaper reporter was shot five times in the back this past week in Montreal. Miraculously, he survives.

The cowardly shooting attack came the day after reporter Michel Auger had published a story in Le Journal de Montreal, detailing a turf war between motorcycle gangs that has resulted in 150 deaths in the past six years. He cited names and detailed crimes -- especially in the highly lucrative drug-trafficking business.

Auger is a 56-year-old newsman who spent the past 30 years of his distinguished career waging a relentless battle to expose crime -- especially organized crime. He was a "digging" reporter before such often-thankless, time-consuming work became glamourized and elevated to "investigative reporting" by the Watergate affair in the U.S.

Over the years, his life had been threatened in anonymous phone calls and such. He had learned to take precautions -- changing private phone numbers, driving different routes home, keeping his private life very private.

I sympathize greatly with him because I did a fair amount of "digging" reporting myself into organized crime back in the 1960s and 1970s. And I remember just about every time I published stories citing the activities and names of crime bosses, I or my wife would receive a threatening call.

The message was clear: "No matter how many times you change your private number or address -- we can find you."

So what do you do? Back off, as many "reasonable" people might do? Or stubbornly push on, as some of us more pigheaded types did?

Auger pushed on, time after time. And, increasingly rare in today's media world, he was backed by his paper and his revealing, hard-hitting stories were published.

They described the activities of the older Italian Mafia led by such types as Vic Cotroni and Paul Violi, both later bumped off. And he told about mob money lenders, such as Willie Obront. In later years, he warned about the new crime gangs resulting from Canada's weak, wide-open immigration system -- Colombian, Chinese, Russian, Vietnamese, etc.

In recent years, the emphasis was on the increasingly powerful biker gangs, such as the all-out, homicidal turf war between the Hells Angels and the Rock Machine.

This month, even a federal government (Quebecer Jean Chretien's regime) report warned that the bikers war will soon spread to Ontario.

In other words, organized crime in Canada is increasing and spreading. So why can't the police grab the gang leaders -- and nail the officials and others they bribe and intimidate?

Yes, there's too often a lack of will by some of the politicians who have benefitted from financial and other support from organized crime. Especially after crime money gets laundered and crime bosses start owning legit businesses.

But one of the big stumbling blocks is something that some of us warned about when it was drawn up by a previous Liberal government of Pierre Trudeau.

It's the Charter of Rights and Freedoms that lawyers defending criminals have been hugely successful in using to prevent crime bosses from being prosecuted. Among other things, it has a clause about "freedom of association" that stops police from charging crime bosses, including biker gang leaders, with belonging to a gang or biker club.

However, there is a "notwithstanding" clause that the Chretien government could easily invoke to override the charter.

So we do have a solution. But will Chretien act?

Canadians who give a damn should go all-out to demand he use the "notwithstanding" clause.

Then, the police can go after these scum who are making big, big money tearing down our country. The blood of battler Michel Auger must not have been spilled in vain.