Opposition leaders criticize Higgs for removing top RCMP officer in 2021

Opposition leaders say new information about the 2021 departure of the highest-ranking Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officer in New Brunswick is another example of Premier Blaine Higgs blaming others for his own lack of leadership.

CBC News revealed this week that J Division Commander Larry Tremblay expressed concerns about the Higgs government’s vision, which “blurs the lines between politics and policing,” in a July 2021 letter.

The provincial government requested Tremblay’s removal from office, leading to his retirement from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) later that year.

“This is another example of the prime minister having political influence where he shouldn’t be,” Liberal Leader Susan Holt said Monday. “We need our public safety leaders in the RCMP to be independent, and their work needs to be clear and transparent.

“This is another example of Higgs’s lack of leadership.”

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Susan Holt and David Coon expressed concern over a 2021 letter from former New York City Mounted Police Deputy Commissioner Larry Tremblay citing political interference.

Green Party Leader David Coon agreed.

“It’s more of the same,” he said, accusing Higgs of believing he was “everybody’s boss. That didn’t surprise me at all.”

Then-Public Safety Minister Ted Flemming requested Tremblay’s removal from office in a letter dated July 15, 2021, citing a provision of the province’s police agreement with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).

A man in a police uniform — CBC News obtained a letter that Larry Tremblay, once the highest-ranking mounted police officer in New Brunswick, wrote in 2021. (Ed Hunter/CBC)

Flemming told then-RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki that he did not believe Tremblay would step up the fight against drug crime in the province.

In a July 26 letter to Lucca, Tremblay said police were combating drug crime but the province had never made it a priority.

Instead, the Higgs government had a “different vision” for police independence, Tremblay said, and the force must remain “independent and free from influence”.

A spokesperson for the Department of Public Safety declined to comment on the letter obtained by CBC News. The RCMP also declined to comment.

Under the police contract, the province can set targets for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) as a provincial police force, but operational decisions are the responsibility of the unit itself.

Tremblay did not point to specific examples of blurred lines between politics and policing in his letter, but said there are differences between the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the province on issues such as the relationship between the Crown and Indigenous people and how to handle legal protests.

Holt and Coon agreed with policing expert Christian Leuprecht, a professor at the Royal Military College, that a provincial police commission — similar to those in Saint John and Greater Moncton — would ensure police independence.

medium shot of a man with white hair wearing a suit — As stated in the letter, there were differences of opinion on certain issues between the Blaine Higgs government and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. (Radio-Canada)

Coon said this model is already being used in other parts of Canada and is a good idea.

“To have buffers between politicians and those who provide public services… I think that has been raised many times.”

The Green Party leader said Higgs’s top-down, hands-on approach was a continuation of former prime minister Brian Gallant’s governance.

Holt said the public’s concerns about crime are real, and instead of taking real action to address it in 2021, Higgs decided to look for someone to fire — just as he has done when problems flared in other areas, such as health care.

“It seems the prime minister has no answers, so he has started looking for someone to blame,” she said.