Julian Fantino Should Resign
The time has come for OPP Commissioner (not retired) Julian Fantino to be summarily dismissed. The National Post is today reporting that Commissioner Fantino will have to face charges of influence peddling for a threatening email he sent to some Caledonia politicians regarding a protest march over the handling of a Native land claim dispute:
….Commissioner Fantino warned the politicians not to support anti-occupation protests. The Comissioner[sic] wrote that he would hold the county accountable for any injuries suffered by OPP officers during protests by a group known as “Caledonia Wake Up Call.”
He also warned that he would advise the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services not to renew the OPP’s contract with Haldimand County for policing once it expired if councillors supported the protest group…
As an OPP Commisioner should know, it is a violation of Section 123 (2) of the Criminal Code of Canada “to influence or attempt to influence a municipal official in municipal activities by means of threats.” Remarkably, a previous Justice of the Peace, David Brown, refused to issue a summons against Fantino on this count because “he could not determine whether the threats influenced the politicians acting in their official roles,” as if the actions of the politicians dictate whether an “attempt to influence” occured.
The charge is, as noted, a criminal code offense and as such, Fanino should step down while the court process takes it’s course. It is simply unacceptable that the head of a police force be under criminal charge. However, this occurrence is not Fantino’s first controversy, and his resignation should be demanded immediatly by Premier McGuinty.
A few days ago, in relation to the same land claim in Caledonia, the Province and OPP settled a lawsuit from a couple who alleged the OPP neither served nor protected them when the Native land claim landed in their backyard.
In other OPP news, an Ontario street racing law, which Commissioner Fantino requested be enacted, has twice been ruled unconstitutional: who knew in Ontario the Police can’t write the law, enforce the law, and pass sentence? Not Julian Fantino, that’s for sure. Fantino’s response to the twice bitten law: Constitution, Shmonsitiution. Two constitutional challenges, two rulings against the law, yet Fantino’s OPP continue to lay charges.
The law of Ontario applies to Julian Fantino, and Dalton McGuinty needs to demand his resignation to remind him of that fact.
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