Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - November 23, 1981, Winnipeg, Manitoba Bourassa quote irks Legal team Montreal up lawyers for ramp officers charged with a Vari Ety of illegal acts in Quebec Are consid ering asking that a contempt of court citation be issued against former que Bec Premier Robert in an interview published Bourassa denied asking the ramp to help him conduct Security clearance checks on Quebec government employees suspected of sympathizing with the parti he was responding to testimony by John former chief of the ramps Security who said Demers Bourassaw personal emissary told him the Premier did not Trust most of people in his Arthur one of five ramp defence lawyers said saturday is personally very upset that Bourassa chose to make statements out of he said he would be meeting with the other lawyers today and that the request for a contempt of court Cita Tion would be Winnipeg free november 1981 9 ramp revenge has Ottawa rattled mounties Biggs reloads after wounding liberals with testimony Marx Kryn i t startles opening Salvo Montreal Chi How Are you doing Good to see you u was like old boys week at an exclusive private school last week when John Starnes and about 20 other Active and former ramp Security service officers got together in a Mon Treal although 17 of them face charges of committing illegal acts during the forces fight against Quebec separa tis terrorism in the Early the mood was upbeat because the ramp was on the the target their political masters who they said had knowingly pushed them so hard for information and action that they had no Choice but to break the the big gun was John Starnes the former Canadian ambassador to West Germany who was pressed into service As Security service chief Between 1970 and 1973 of the most turbulent periods for Canadas secret police nation since John Macdonald set up the country first intelligence unit in Starnes an articulate and Charm ing Man who talks about planting microphones As casually As other canadians talk about planting lettuce seeds quietly when he was called As the defences Star but the softness of his words belied the explosive information he was Dis closing about what he described As the Trudeau governments attempts to turn the Security service into a political police Force serving the Liberal Starnes said he almost resigned in 1971 after one Runin with Marc la Londe a powerful Ottawa figure who was prime minister Trudeau Princi pal Secretary at the Lalonde was head of a to secret political intelligence group operating out of Trudeau office and the privy Council office Starnes said was using the Liberal party apparatus in Quebec to defeat separa Starnes said he was and resisted when he was asked to share Security information about the parti quebecois with Lalonde it was called the Vidal group after one of its leading Claude a former director of the company of Young the shadowy Vidal group was run Ning an extensive informer network in Quebec Junior colleges and unions to report on pm sympathize Starnes held firm and was relieved when he was told soon after that Trudeau had backed Down from the showdown and would not order him to hand Over he said Lalonde had also asked him in late to help former Liberal Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa set up a provincial Intelli gence despite doubts he harboured about the Wisdom of setting up a Security opera Tion that would fall into pm hands if they were Starnes help Bourassa set up his controversial Polit ical Security service which amassed files on thousands of Quebe cers suspected of pm by weeks the political Torpe does launched by Starnes found their target in now Energy lashed out at the ramp and said it had already lost its cred the court Case resumes tomorrow and top liberals Are holding their breath until then hoping the ramp has had its fill of what one Federal lawyer at last weeks hearing de scribed privately As the forces vengeance after Ottawa decision to take the Security service away from the held 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his reaction to the Mcdonald report on ramp wrongdoing when he appears tomorrow before the commons jus Tice i Kaplan announced in late August that the government was adopting the reports Central recommendation that a civilian Security intelligence Agency be formed to replace the ramp Security he appointed Frederick a Justice depart ment to head the Agency and opposition maps Likely will seek a Progress report from Kaplan and Gibson about the judge David after a fou year inquiry into the concluded the paramilitary Force was incapable of making the adjustments needed to Deal More effectively with National Security he suggested another study be commissioned to bring about Basic changes inthe ramp mentality and noting All police forces have the same and similar he made it Clear change is in the he enunciated the thin Edge oath wedge doctrine if police Are allowed to break minor they will soon break major ones in the of Kaplan rejected that approach As legalistic and said police Arent Ordinary citizens when it comes to breaking the Law As Long As police Are acting in the line of lawbreaking is not he told reporters he had instructed nervous mounties that they could engage with impunity in High Speed police state the phrase police state has been used increasingly this year As a result of behaviour by the ramp and other police the wedge apparently has been driven deeply in some two policemen Are on trial for second degree murder after the death of a 26yearold father of two following a High Speed in Saint charges of perjury have been made against 16 policemen following an inquiry into the alleged beating of prison ers following a disturbance at the City in where the police commission found evidence of brutality in police repression on stators on referendum 17 mounties Are facing trial on charges ranging from burning a barn to theft of parti quebecois membership the de Fence is that they were obeying government in Toronto allegations of racism and brutality against the police have become Philip Berger of Toronto testified 19 patients apparently had been smothered or burned with All maintained the injuries were caused by lawyers say such methods Are More or less condoned by the courts and since no matter How the police gain their evidence trickery or torture it is admissible in Mcdonald recommended strongly that judges be Able to exclude evidence gained through such meth in this he police would be discouraged from using brutal shortcuts on brutality supported police strongly oppose any such saying it would allow criminals to go free on but criminal lawyers close to the system say More controls Are in a typical letter to the editor this Walter Fox of Toronto characterized Canadian criminal Law As thoroughgoing and giving enormous Power to the state and its Fox observed that canadians support brutality because they believe it is aimed at criminals and never will be used against of As soon As one of us or a member of our family is we want All the rights that we see on american the problem is that we cant run two Legal one for us and one for people we dont so we Are pre pared to have the tougher believing that we personally will never get caught up in that what the sessions of the commons Justice committee this week will really be All Kaplan has lobbied for Cabinet removal of a moratorium on writs of open writs giving mounties broader search and seizure Powers in drug cases than police have in murder or robbery Kaplan surprised even the ramp when he also urged an end to suspension of use of High school informants in drug the Mcdonald report recommended police be Given broader Powers to open look into confidential government files and enter but Mcdonald said such Powers should be subject to political and judicial a wealthy appeared to Wel come the proposals for broader police but he seemed to reject the protections against abuse that Mcdonald observed Svend nip Justice critic in the commons in afraid that he is going to adopt All the bad things and leave out All the Gocs ;