Whatever happened to Gordon Chong? The former right wing councillor and current chairman of the newly minted Greater Toronto Services Board seems to have switched sides when it comes to police.
..."I never thought I would write this, but four recent months spent on the Toronto Police Services Board confirmed my growing concern that some police officers regard civilian accountability as a nuisance to which they only have to pay lip service," Chong lamented in a recent full-page Comment piece in the Sunday Sun.
"At times distaste--even contempt--for civilian authority is barely concealed as, for example, the intimidating police presence and the conduct of some uniformed cops at the old City Hall courthouse during the bail hearing involving the four officers charged with manslaughter in the death of Otto Vass.
"I say this regrettably because, on the whole, Toronto has a good police service. Policing is an essential, difficult and at times extremely dangerous job. Strong community and political support for our police is essential."
Chong believes that civilian control of police is "the hallmark of a free and democratic society".
A noble principle that got hijacked somewhere along the way by the far left, who use that very ideal as a method of getting their activists a first foot in the door.
From his privileged perch on Sunday Sun pages, Chong wrote there is no more influential 'single interest group' in policing today than the Toronto Police Association, headed by its aggressive union president, Craig Bromell.
"Bromell, of Operation True Blue fame, is the man who once said you could call him a bully. During one briefing to the (police services) board, Bromell bluntly stated: 'My only job is to protect police officers.'
"Fine, But who in authority is attacking them unjustly," wrote Chong.
"Mike Harris? Mel Lastman? Norm Gardner? Julian Fantino? Who?"
The answer, of course, is Councillors Jack Layton, Olivia Chow, Pam McConnell and vociferous activists in the anti-police/anti-establishment movement, including members of the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP).
Chong, in his recent full-page criticism could include himself in the category of "Who is attacking (the police) unjustly?"
Anti-police activists have managed to politicize the notion of civilian control of police.
In 1992, members of the Coalition Against Police Violence (CAPV) went looking for incidents of police violence by interviewing 454 anonymous homeless individuals, of whom they said 45 claimed police assault. Though none of these incidents was in any way verified, the group then marched to the Police Services Board, where they demanded sweeping changes in police training, supervision and regulation.
As Our Toronto reporter Janus Raudkivi wrote at the time: "Would unsubstantiated information gathered by individuals, lacking objective credibility or professional credentials be considered for a hearing in any other forum?"
Back in those days, Susan Eng was board chair. and her two rubber stamps Laura Rowe and Father Lombardi, made up the board's majority. CAPV's Street Health Report not only received a full hearing, but Police Chief Bill McCormack was instructed to report back on the group's recommendations.
The chief disagreed with the recommendations and a month later the brigade returned, indignant that they had not been taken seriously.
“This survey was conducted by reputable individuals, experienced on the streets, and able to tell if someone was lying," argued Cathy Crowe, director of Street Health.
Crowe, wife of outspoken police critic, the former Metro Coun. Roger Hollander, was accompanied by members of OCAP, the group that in years to come was to hobble police horses at the now infamous Queen's Park riot.
In the passing years nothing much has changed with the agenda of anti-police activists, who still find fertile ground in anti-cop members of council like Olivia Chow.
No one, of course, knows this better than former city councillor Gordon Chong.
Chong's criticism of Bromell for stating bluntly to the police services board: "My only job is to protect police officers," is patently ludicrous.
If only councillors elected to public office were as blunt in protecting city taxpayers.
It is only rumoured that Chong would like policing brought under the auspices of the Greater Toronto Services Board of which he is current chairman.
In getting his Sunday Sun piece published, it could only have helped that Chong shares the same opinion as editor Lorrie Goldstein and columnist Heather Bird on the conduct of some uniformed cops at the bail hearing involving the four officers charged with manslaughter in the death of Otto Vass.
But the truth is that the former Councillor Gordon Chong is, and has always been, something of a person of privilege where the anti-TPA Toronto Sun is concerned.
Chong is the handpicked protege of former Sun publisher Paul Godfrey, who went a long way in managing the councillor's career. In the departure of Godfrey, Chong maintains close ties with former Toronto Sun editor, now editorial columnist John Downing.
Whatever happened to Gordon Chong?
To repeat the words of his own intro in the Sunday Sun piece, "I never thought I would write this", but Chong who once found the publisher of this newspaper as an ardent admirer, has taken the well-trodden path of many other politicians before him: Gordon Chong has become just another fatcat.
Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com
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