Dispersing the Fog: Inside the Secret World of Ottawa and the RCMP

Dispersing the Fog is an unprecedented and explosive report compiled from an investigation into the politics and justice system of Canada, focusing primarily on the relationship between governments of Canada since the 1980s and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Until recently, no institution in Canada has enjoyed such admiration and respect as the Mounties. They were beloved. They were trusted. They were respected.

From its humble beginnings in 1874, the Mounties have evolved into a hugely complex police force with almost 16,000 officers and nearly 10,000 civilians with an annual budget of $4 billion. There is no police service in the world like it, and for good reason. For more than 35 years the RCMP has found itself mired in a seemingly unending litany of organizational, legal and political controversies, the kinds of scandals that would have ruined a similar-sized corporation.

How did it all go so wrong?

In Dispersing the Fog, Paul Palango provides answers to questions that have long simmered in the consciousness of Canadians. Why was Ottawa so anxious to settle in the Maher Arar case? What were the roots of the Income Trust scandal that helped to get Stephen Harper elected Prime Minister of Canada? Was Brian Mulroney an innocent victim of biased journalists in the ongoing Airbus imbroglio? Why did governments cover up the truth in Project Sidewinder, a joint RCMP-CSIS investigation?

Palango builds on the powerful and influential arguments made in his first two RCMP books, Above the Law and The Last Guardians, to show Canadians why they should be concerned about the RCMP, its mandate, its performance and its relationship to governments and politics.

No other author knows the subject matter better than Palango. Dispersing the Fog is not just a book about the RCMP, but a story about the political and justice systems in general and a wake-up call for any Canadian concerned about the security and integrity of the country.

Dispersing the Fog is an elegant, thorough and conclusive debunking of the many myths of the RCMP and the Canadian way of policing. It shows clearly how the federal and provincial governments have encouraged and nurtured the RCMP over the past three decades for their own political purposes. It takes the reader on a step-by-step, virtually invisible process whereby one prime minister after another toyed or parried with the RCMP in pursuit of his own respective agenda.

In our post-9/11 world, Dispersing the Fog addresses the role played by RCMP leaders, politicians and the media, who have all collectively failed to recognize and address the very real and articulate concerns of Canadians from coast to coast who have long questioned the ability or willingness of the RCMP to carry out its duties.

No one who cares about democracy and the health of the country`s guardian institutions can afford to ignore this book.

CORRECTION

Dispersing the Fog written by Paul Palango and published by Key Porter in 2008 incorrectly identified Julie Van Dusen as the source of a question posed by a member of parliament at the ethics committee into the Mulroney-Schreiber affair. Ms. Van Dusen reported on the proceedings but was not the source of any questions.

Key Porter and Paul Palango apologise for this mistake.

PAUL PALANGO was born in Hamilton, Ontario and earned a degree in journalism from Carleton University. He has worked at the Hamilton Spectator (1974-1976), covered the Toronto Blue Jays in their first season for the Toronto Sun (1977), and worked at the Globe and Mail from 1977 to 1990 as City Editor and National Editor -where he was responsible for the supervision of investigative journalism done by Globe reporters across the country. In 1989, on behalf of the Globe and its staff, he was selected to accept the Michener Award from then Governor-General Jeanne Sauve. After leaving the Globe , he worked as a freelancer, writing a city column for eye weekly magazine in Toronto for almost five years. In 1993, he began work as a fraud investigator for a leading forensic accounting firm, which allowed him to see the justice system from a unique perspective. In that capacity, he traveled extensively around North America investigating fraud, including an arson investigation in Saskatchewan, in which he helped the Mounties there focus on the likely perpetrator, who eventually was convicted and went to prison. He has worked on investigations for the Fifth Estate- including a case involving links between Hamilton mobsters and then Deputy Prime Minister Sheila Copps-as well as investigative journalist pieces for Saturday Night, MacLean''s, Elm Street, Canadian Business and Hamilton Magazine , among others. His books include, Above The Law (McClelland & Stewart) and The Last Guardians (McClelland & Stewart 1998).