(This column was published in the North Shore News on June 9, 2004)
The tale of two letters
By Leo Knight
I'M not sure which letter raised my ire more, the "last word" from North Vancouver City Mayor Barbara Sharp on the issue of extra policing costs for events such as the Hose Reel Festival, or the shot taken in last Friday's North Shore News by former North Vancouver provincial court judge Jerome Paradis at comments made by Conservative MP Ted White in his campaign brochure about the Young Offenders Act.
Sharp says there "was a great deal of ink spilled" over the issue of extra policing at this year's Hose Reel Festival. She then goes on loquaciously to ensure more ink is spilled on her mental meanderings.
This whole episode started when the North Vancouver RCMP advised city council that the extra policing costs for this year's festival would amount to an additional $25,000.
Sharp was quoted saying something about the city already paying for policing as if the regular complement of police officers would be able to deal with their routine Saturday calls along with the problems created from the festival which hosts a 2,000-person beer garden.
North Vancouver RCMP Cpl. Tom Seaman then wrote a letter to the editor to the News outlining his experience policing the festival over the years, his concerns about safety and danger, and his surprise at the mayor's remarks.
Seaman's superior, Supt. Gord Tomlinson, then apologized to the mayor for Seaman's remarks in a letter to the editor published on May 7, a day before this year's Hose Reel Festival.
In Sharp's letter published last Wednesday, she said, "We look forward now, after what had been a regrettable communication failure to working towards a solution with the North Vancouver RCMP on how to ensure the North Shore can continue with all its wonderful community festivals that residents and others throughout the GVRD love to attend throughout the year."
What the mayor fails to reveal to you within her rambling attempt at an explanatory letter is the temper tantrum she had after Seaman's letter was published. She complained to the RCMP which made its way to high levels of the federal police force.
I think that her sense of outrage to this matter is astounding.
The RCMP tried to minimize the situation and placate a mayor who I think is filled with her own sense of self-importance.
Seaman is a good cop and a credit to the police force in North Vancouver. He has served overseas in a war zone and has been decorated with a commendation.
Seaman was active in the school liaison program in North Vancouver, working with kids in our schools trying to prevent those who start to show signs of straying from the straight and narrow from doing just that. By all accounts, he was successful.
He lives and raises his family in the community.
Two months ago, he was to be transferred to provincial headquarters to the media liaison section.
Tomlinson, who has done his level best to placate Sharp, successfully made a case to the head of the RCMP in British Columbia, Bev Busson, to keep Seaman in North Vancouver, arguing his importance to the detachment.
Now, because Seaman wrote a letter to the editor criticizing Sharp, she is pressing her case for his transfer.
Seaman has demonstrated a clear value to the community of North Vancouver in the years he has been associated to it as a resident for more than 10 years and as a police officer. I think that Sharp has shown that she is just another politician with an over-inflated sense of self-worth in this matter.
The RCMP should hold firm on this and not cave to the mayor's unreasonable suggestion about transferring Seaman.
On Friday, former judge Paradis, who spent a career on the bench after being appointed under the NDP government of Dave Barrett, authored a letter to the editor criticizing White for his comments saying the youth justice system needs to be overhauled.
Paradis noted that White, who as a sitting MP should know better, erroneously refers to the Young Offenders Act which no longer exists and was replaced in 2002 with the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
The former judge calls White predictably negative and takes a shot at him suggesting he knows nothing about the youth criminal legislation as it stands on the books.
The only thing predictable in this is the stand the gone-but-not-lamented judge took.
Paradis was one of the weakest judges ever to grace the bench in North Vancouver until he finally retired, sparing the good citizens of the North Shore of any more of his ideologically driven decisions.
I should say in this that I'm not a big fan of White.
I want a political leader to analyze a situation and make a decision, come what may, and take that position to Ottawa.
White is a believer in getting a consensus from his constituents then riding that position into Parliament.
While we differ in the style we perceive our representatives should purvey, White's position relative to the way we treat young offenders in this country is bang on.
Paradis is, as usual, wrong.
He concludes his letter saying he'll decline the opportunity to provide a donation for White, his MP, or to put a sign on his lawn.
I may be way off base in this, but somehow, I don't think White's campaign was relying on a leftist has-been to hang his electoral hopes upon.
But I could be wrong.
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Tom Seaman's letter to the Editor Hose Reel sucks up police time
Supt. Gordon Tomlinson’s letter to the Editor North Van's top cop apologizes
Mayor Barbara Sharp’s Letter to the Editor Mayor views police charge as tip of the iceberg
Jerome B. Paradis' letter to the Editor MP's platform predictably negative