Crime is the issue

By Dan Hilborn
Published Nov. 16, 2005


Statistics and lies. The two words seem to go together in the 2005 civic election campaign and the rhetoric is only heating up as election day looms closer.

Mayor Derek Corrigan is demanding a formal apology from Team Burnaby candidate Mark Hilford this week after the Coquitlam resident repeated his claim that the mayor was not telling the truth about the closure of the RCMP training facility between 1998 and '99.

"Mr. Hilford particularly and Team have gone about a calculated campaign to mislead the public," Corrigan said Tuesday morning. "He was making light of it and ridiculing the closure. I found the way he approached it to be offensive.

"It wasn't a political disagreement. It was an attempt to ridicule me," Corrigan said. "The way he handled himself was not very dignified and the fact is he is totally wrong. I think it's another indication of how cavalier they are with the truth."

In a press release issued from the mayor's office on Monday afternoon, Corrigan pointed to statements made by current Conservative Party deputy leader Peter Mackay and former B.C. Attorney General Ujjal Dosanjh as evidence that the facility did indeed close.

The Vancouver Sun reported on Tuesday morning that its own newspaper files indicate the facility was temporarily closed.

But Hilford was unrepentant and repeated his claims, made publicly at the Capitol Hill all-candidate debate last week, that he spoke to an employee at the training centre who insisted the facility was never closed.

"The Regina training centre was never closed and the RCMP have confirmed that to us," Hilford said.

"We're right and he's wrong." Hilford said of the mayor. "He should apologize. Why can't he pick up the phone and call the RCMP training facility? Instead, he quotes Hansard. Hansard isn't evidence. Hansard is worthless."

Hilford's comments were backed up by Team Burnaby mayoral candidate Andrew Stewart, who said that party organizers spoke to Staff Sgt. Paul A. Marsh, a senior media relations officer for the RCMP in Ottawa, who told them that the training facility was never closed.

"They were always training officers," Stewart said. "They may have had declines, but they were still training and filling positions."

The debate is one of several 'he said-she said' arguments between the two parties on the issue of crime. Corrigan is also dismissing claims that Burnaby has a higher crime rate than Surrey, as alleged on Team's bright red billboard signs.

Pointing to a verbal report given to the Nov. 10 community policing advisory committee, Corrigan said third quarter crime statistics for Burnaby have dropped 17 per cent since the same period last year, and are now lower than both Surrey and Vancouver.

Corrigan also repeated his earlier assertion that Burnaby's crime rate was higher last year because of the changes in the way the city RCMP detachment reported crime, and the fact that there was a targetted enforcement campaign in the Edmonds area.

But Hilford said the Team Burnaby statistics are more accurate than the community policing committee report, because their numbers were taken directly from the official 2003 crime statistics posted on the Ministry of the Solicitor General website.

"The statistics we're working from are the official audited numbers," Hilford said. "The mayor's numbers are unofficial and unaudited numbers which he hasn't released."

And Hilford refused to say that Team made a mistake when they claimed that council 'voted' for a hiring freeze at the RCMP, when in fact no such vote took place.

"It's a rhetorical question," Hilford said of the alleged vote. "The fact is the BCA has been in power for 18 years and they're responsible for the number of police in Burnaby. They can't blame it on anyone else. They decided 241 officers was enough when, in fact, it was not enough."

Corrigan also said that he's not happy with the general tenor of Team's campaign.

"I think their tactics are gross and they're demeaning to the city," Corrigan said. "What I'm hearing in response is how disgusted people are with the Team campaign and how they think it's damaging the city and the city's reputation.

"That's the response I'm getting from people, they think it's an embarrassment. I think they (Team) are very much underestimating the intelligence of the citizens of this city. I think if people look at our track record and history. I don't think they're going to fall for this line that the sky is falling.

"I don't care how much they play Chicken Little, I don't think the public is going to buy it."