MOUNTIES TO GET $420M TO FIGHT DRUGS,ORGANIZED CRIME
Result Of Lobbying Efforts: Five-Year Spending Plan Outlined In Secret
Documents

OTTAWA - The federal government is planning to give the RCMP an extra
$420-million over the next five years to help the Mounties fight both
organized crime and international drug trafficking.

The cabinet plans to give the RCMP, which has 14,000 employees and an
existing $1.9-billion annual budget, an extra $61-million each fiscal
year between 2000 and 2005 to help fight organized crime across
Canada, according to secret documents outlining the spending plans.

The Mounties will also get an additional $23-million in each of the
next five years to finance efforts to disrupt international drug
trafficking, the documents show.

The total five-year spending plan amounts to $305-million for
organized crime fighting and $115-million for anti-drug efforts to be
given to the RCMP beginning April 1, 2000, and to continue until the
end of 2005. The office of Lawrence MacAulay, the Solicitor-General,
declined to comment.

The funding plans were drawn up a month after the cabinet was handed a
secret $1-million management consultant's report that assessed the
effectiveness of the RCMP's national policing activities and its
financial management.

The National Post sought a copy of the consultant's report under the
Access to Information Act. However, the Treasury Board, which
commissioned the study, rejected the request on Friday and declared
the report a cabinet secret.

Throughout this year, the RCMP has been plagued by a spate of
embarrassing media reports about severe financial constraints on its
operations.

In the House of Commons on Friday, Chuck Cadman, a British Columbia
Reform MP, (Surrey North) said the Liberals are responsible for "the
RCMP funding crisis."

Mr. Cadman told the Commons that budget cuts were preventing the RCMP
from subjecting its own police officers to annual testing in the
proper use of firearms.

"The largest RCMP detachment in Canada is in my riding and my
constituents are fed up with this. How much longer is the government
prepared to jeopardize the safety of police officers and Canadians?"

Mr. MacAulay made no mention of the government's funding plans. He
responded: "I do not believe anyone in this House would question the
competence of the RCMP."

The RCMP has long complained that its investigations across Canada
have been hampered by a lack of funding. During the summer:

- - the National Post revealed that Quebec Mounties were ordered to stop
recruiting paid informants to help investigations; particularly
organized crime and drug investigations. The force ran out of money to
pay informers six months into their fiscal year;

- - many investigators were unable to use wiretaps to gather essential
evidence because the force couldn't afford the computer time and cost
of transcribing the tapes;

- - victims of white-collar crimes in the Kelowna area of British
Columbia were told by Mounties they were defrauded and had legitimate
complaints, but that the RCMP simply would not investigate their cases
because it had insufficient funds;

- - in Ottawa, the RCMP didn't have enough cash to have a Mountie in
scarlet tunic on a horse in front of Parliament, a popular tourist
attraction. Another federal agency, the National Capital Commission,
raised the money.

In early fall, the RCMP for the first time appointed a deputy
commissioner to co-ordinate all its anti-organized crime efforts, a
move aimed at convincing the government that the Mounties felt the
problem was serious.

The officer appointed was Deputy Commissioner Guiliano (Zack)
Zaccardelli, who did not return phone calls.

However, in an interview not long after he was appointed, the veteran
said the Liberals could no longer ignore the issue of the force's
resource problems. He said the RCMP was "looking for substantial sums"
to bolster its anti-organized crime activities.