RCMP dealing with management 'issues': memo

SeniorRCMP officers, including Commissioner William Elliott, say they are working through their issues, following complaintsabout Elliott's management style, according to an internal memo.

The memo, obtained by CBC News, is signed by Elliott and other top RCMP officers, including deputy commissioners Tim Killam and Raf Souccar. Killam and Souccar were amongthose whocomplained tothe public safety ministerand to the Prime Minister's Office about Elliott's conduct.

The memo, sent to the force, states that the senior brass is "working through the issues underlying the complaints."

In it, Elliott and the others say they welcome the workplace assessment of the force that Public Safety Minister Vic Toews has ordered to be done by an independent adviser and that they will co-operate "fully and with candor."

"We are part of the RCMP family. As with any family, there are occasions where we have difficulties," the memo says.

CBC News first reportedthis weekthat some officers have accused Elliott of being verbally abusive, closed-minded, arrogant and insulting. One complaint described an enraged Elliott throwing papers at an officer.

The Opposition Liberals weighed in on the issue on Wednesday, saying Prime Minister Stephen Harper triggered the current "chaos" by naming a civilian tohead the force.

Liberal MP Scott Brison said the prime minister is "in hiding" at a critical time whenleadership is needed to fix the force.

"Mr.Harper appointed a civilian to head up the RCMP and should be accountable for the chaos caused by that appointment," Brison told reporters in Ottawa on Wednesday.

"It ought to have been obvious to the Harper government that appointing a civilian to head up the RCMP was a recipe for disaster."

Toews seeks 'quick resolution'

Toewscalled all the people involved"very competent individuals" and noted theforce has been going through "some pretty dramatic changes."

The RCMP has facedstrong criticismfollowingthe damning conclusionsfrom separate public inquiries into the death of RobertDziekanski and the 1985 Air India bombing.

"I know both the commissioner and I know the others involved who have brought forward the complaints," Toews said. "Irespect all of them, andI think what I want to see is a quick resolution of this issue in a mature manner."

But Brison said Toewsmust have been aware therewas a problemamong the ranks of the Mounties butdidn't act until the complaints became public.

Elliott a 'man of extremes': former deputy

Former senior deputy RCMP commissioner Bill Sweeney defended the officers who spoke out, saying many feltthe commissioner's behaviour was "inconsistent" with thecourteous, respectfulconduct front-line officers are expected to maintain.

Sweeney said members of theforce were criticized in 2006 for not speaking outafter reports emergedabout former commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli's management style.

"Today we find a cadre of senior officers who are acting, I believe, with the most honourable intentions, saying, 'We're in a situation that we find intolerable and we feel compelled to raise it and to deal with this head on and not to ignore it and quietly go about our business,'" the recently retired Sweeney told the CBC's Alison Crawford in an interview on Wednesday.

While hecalled Elliott a "strong advocate" for manyissuesfacing the force, Sweeney also spoke ofthecommissioner's"rather unique" management style and refused to comment on their working relationship.

"He's a man of extremes," Sweeneysaid of Elliott. "He's extremely dedicated.He's extremely intelligent and committed to the task at hand, but sometimes he pays less attention to the conduct that others find offensive and have complained about."

Last year, Elliott attended a $44,000 course in Arizona that dealt with behavioural barriers to success.

He subsequently acknowledged to employees in a memo that he learned his actions "can and did have unintended, sometimes negative impacts."

Elliott, the first civilian to lead the Mounties, was appointed bythe prime ministerin July 2007 after Zaccardelli resigned over his conflicting testimony at the Maher Arar inquiry.

At the time, then-Liberal public safety critic Sue Barnes decried the appointment,labelling Elliott a "Conservative political insider" who was "intimately involved" with Zaccardelli's testimony.

But Elliott, who previously served as national security adviser to Prime Minister Paul Martin,also received high praise from a former Liberal cabinet minister, David Collenette.