Paul Palango

Dispersing the Fog

Sujets: 
RCMP, Sidewinder report, China, Paul Palango
Scores: 
3
Dispersing the Fog
Dispersing the Fog

Inside the Secret World of Ottawa and the RCMP

Paul Palango is the author of three authoritative books about the RCMP. His latest, Dispersing the Fog, is an expose of the relationship between politics and the justice system in Canada since the 1980s. Anyone who cares about the rule of law in Canada will find this book an extraordinary eye-opener.

Paul Palango
Paul Palango

China-watchers will be especially interested in the references to Project Sidewinder, the ill-fated inquiry triggered by whistleblower Brian McAdam's discovery in the early 1990's that the Canadian immigration system in Hong Kong had been infiltrated by organized crime. Hundreds of Chinese triad members were having their criminal records expunged from the mission's computers so that they could migrate to Canada and set up shop here.

New Book on the RCMP

Sujets: 
RCMP, Sidewinder report, Paul Palango, Jean Chretien
Scores: 
0

Nov 15th, 2008

Paul Palango
Paul Palango

The National Post recently published two excerpts from Dispersing the Fog: Inside the Secret World of Ottawa and the RCMP, by Paul Palango.

1) New Man On Top
13 November 2008 – National Post
When he took over the RCMP, Giuliano Zaccardelli acquired more power than just about anyone else in Canada...

2) The Perfect Trap
14 November 2008 – National Post
Less than a week into his new job, Giuliano Zaccardelli lured Jean Chretien into a confrontation. Then he presented the PM with an offer he could not refuse...

The Perfect Trap

Sujets: 
RCMP, Sidewinder report, China, Paul Palango, Giuliano Zaccardelli, Jean Chretien
Scores: 
2

Less than a week into his new job, Giuliano Zaccardelli lured Jean Chretien into a confrontation. Then he presented the PM with an offer he could not refuse

Paul Palango
Paul Palango

Paul Palango,  National Post 
Published: Friday, November 14, 2008

Newly appointed RCMP commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli refused to elaborate on the "sophisticated criminal organizations" he referred to in his inaugural Sept. 7, 2000 press conference. But many reporters knew what he was referring to: Project Sidewinder, the joint RCMP- CSIS investigation that had begun eight years earlier following discoveries of irregularities at the Canadian consulate in Hong Kong.

As investigators followed the trail, they became concerned about the apparent links between the Chinese government, Chinese criminal triads, and leading Canadian business leaders and politicians. There were leads that investigators were eager to pursue back to Canada, but the controversial on-and-off investigation had been wound up without charges years earlier in puzzling circumstances. Yet it would not die.

New Man On Top

Sujets: 
RCMP, Sidewinder report, Paul Palango, Giuliano Zaccardelli, Jean Chretien
Scores: 
0

When he took over the RCMP, Giuliano Zaccardelli acquired more power than just about anyone else in Canada

Paul Palango
Paul Palango

Paul Palango,  National Post 
Published: Thursday, November 13, 2008

During the summer of 2000, prime minister Chretien was looking for a new commissioner of the RCMP to replace Philip Murray, who was retiring after five years on the job. Chretien had not been a fan of Murray or the RCMP. There had been plenty of bad blood. The RCMP had been poking around in some areas the prime minister considered touchy, and Chretien had returned the favour by starving the force of money.

The various candidates for the commissioner job were invited to Chretien's cottage in Quebec to meet the boss. There would be no confirmation hearings or public examination of the candidates. Neither Parliament, the RCMP nor the public would have input in the matter. Since 1984, after the last reform of the RCMP, the commissioner had been made a deputy solicitor-general, appointed by and serving at the pleasure of the prime minister.

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