RCMP 'USED AS A POLITICAL TOOL'

Most Lower Mainland residents will agree that marijuana grow-ops, and
the ugly behaviour they spawn, are a blight on their community. They
also know our supposed justice system is woefully weak-kneed when it
comes to nailing druggies.

But that doesn't excuse the Big Brother way in which Mission district
city hall has been stepping clumsily into the breach.

Mission's anti-grow-op strategy, in which it dinged homeowners who had
outsized hydro bills thousands of dollars in inspection fees, was
fundamentally flawed -- as the B.C. Civil Liberties Association and
others pointed out.

Now, the district has compounded that public relations fiasco by
calling in the Mounties to hound those allegedly involved in leaking
embarrassing information about that strategy from secret council meetings.

The RCMP won't say exactly why they had to seize two computers from
blind Mission district Coun. Jenny Stevens and three others from
former councillor Ron Taylor.

But it's pretty clear the "breach of trust" probe stemmed from vocal
opposition by Taylor and Stevens to the discredited inspection initiative.

No one likes a tattletale. And it's obvious Mission Mayor James Atebe
and others at city hall are unhappy about the way their money-spinning
anti-grow-op approach has backfired, only months from the civic
elections. So it's understandable that they would want to get back at
those they suspect of ratting them out to the media.

"The RCMP are being used as a political tool," Taylor told me
Thursday. And, in the absence of contrary information, I agree.

The fact is, as Taylor pointed out earlier to Province reporter Susan
Lazaruk, Mission council "leaks like a sieve."

And as the civil liberties association noted, there are frequent
allegations that Mission and other metro municipalities are misusing
in-camera meetings intended for sensitive personnel, legal and
real-estate matters to discuss topics they don't want to debate in
public.

I couldn't reach Atebe Thursday. But the current controversy reminds
me of the foofaraw at Vancouver City Hall in the fall of 2008 over a
humongous leak about the sorry state of financing for the Olympic
Village housing project.

The police were called in, not because the media leak was inaccurate,
but because the ruling Non-Partisan Association was livid with the way
the information was, well, killing its re-election chances.

Predictably, once the new Vision Vancouver-dominated council was sworn
in, the police probe went nowhere, as did a costly investigation by
top lawyer Richard Peck.

And all those howls of outrage by aggrieved councillors glossed over
the key issue -- namely that, as far as the public was concerned, a
leak was badly needed.

For too long, council had kept ratepayers in the dark. Besides, as I
said then, this is the Internet age. Everything gets leaked. Key
decisions are no longer the exclusive preserve of a cabal of bullying
good ol' boys.

We do not live in a police state. And persecutions of those who may
have fed, or been fed, juicy tidbits from secret council discussions
are as distasteful as they are counter-productive.

We need fewer in-camera discussions, more watchdogs of councils'
activities . . . and a far better-informed electorate.