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-M
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 embarassing
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 useof
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 British Columbia-Kelowna area- 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.