Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his senior minister in charge of the RCMP are having to fend off some very personal criticism -- from a slain Mountie's family -- of their decision to name a civilian to head the force.
Harper rejected a plea for a change of heart that came directly from the parents of Brock Myrol, one of four officers murdered by a gunman in 2005 near Mayerthorpe, Alta.
Keith and Colleen Myrol made the stinging remark that the appointment of civil servant William Elliott sends a message that RCMP officers are good enough take a bullet in the service of their country, but not good enough to become commissioner.
"We all have tremendous compassion and sympathy for those who lost loved ones in Mayerthorpe,'' Harper said Tuesday on CHQR radio in Calgary.
"At the same time ... the government has to have a professional, independent, arm's-length hiring process for this kind of appointment. We don't make a political appointment.
"There are pros and cons to having someone from the upper ranks of the RCMP, given some of the difficulties of the past few years.''
The Tory government went outside RCMP ranks to appoint the force's first civilian commissioner in history. Elliott is a career bureaucrat and a lawyer. He has never served in law enforcement.
The move has been controversial inside and outside the RCMP. Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day sent an e-mail to members asking them to give Elliott a chance and work alongside him.
Day said Tuesday that he wanted to let RCMP members know how he felt and that Elliott's appointment was recommended by an independent committee. He pointed out it's not the first time he's sent e-mails to the rank and file.
"I understand how many RCMP families feel but he has a strong background in security and policing,'' Day said in his constituency in Kelowna, B.C.
"We think it's all going to lead to positive changes and a force that continues to be recognized around the world for its integrity.''
Day also said a woman who is married to an RCMP officer stopped him in Kelowna to thank him for sending the e-mail.
"It would have been strange to go through all of the process of looking at incredible candidates including incredible candidates from the RCMP itself and then say No to both the search committee that did the work and the final selection committee,'' Day said.
"To say No to their unanimous recommendation would not have been wise. ''
The force has been plagued by scandal recently, including the case of Maher Arar, who was wrongly branded a terrorist and sent to Syria, where he was tortured. Former commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli resigned in part over the RCMP's role in the case.
More recently the force's culture was described as ''horribly broken'' after an investigation into mishandling of the RCMP pension fund.
The Mounties have also been accused of political interference for announcing in the middle of the last election campaign a criminal investigation into whether the Liberal finance minister's office had leaked changes to Canada's income trust laws.
On Tuesday, Harper said Elliott's appointment sends the message that "there's going to be big changes in the RCMP and big changes in the management structure.''
He also described the e-mail sent by Day as typical of the minister's style.
"Stock does typically communicate with RCMP and other public servants. This is something he does on a fairly regular basis, where he sends out things and tells them what the government's doing and how proud generally the government is of the work they do.''
Harper dismissed opposition criticism that Elliott is too close to government as "strange.''
"He's been a public servant for 15 years, promoted through the ranks by the Liberals up to and including being the personal and national security adviser to Prime Minister Martin, so I think it's a bit late to claim that he's a partisan.''
