The top RCMP officer, director general of the firearms program, has been quietly replaced after nine months on the job. Unlike the Conservative government, Marty Cheliak is been long time defender of the long-gun registry. The official reason of his removal is that he does not currently meet the linguistic requirements of the position. It means that he is no bilingual as required for the position. If it is truth that the language was the main reason for replacement, than how is it possible that this guy even got his job nine months ago when he did not meet requirements for this position?

Who will probably be a new bilingual head of the registry? Pierre Perron, who is the head of RCMP's criminal intelligence division, will get this place, CBC informed. He is described as very good officer; however he has not much experience with the Canadian firearms program and long-gun registry, analysts say.

The opposition suspects that all this castling is the result of a political interference of the conservative government. There is no evidence but a lot of suspicion. Most of all the timing is suspicious. The political battle about the long-gun registry is not over yet; the crucial vote is expected to be on September 22. Until that day, there will be a lot of lobbing and a lot of discussion about the issue among the all parties, because it is very difficult to predict, what the outcome will be. Moreover, Marty Cheliak openly supported the existence of the long-gun registry, he started to mobilize police to stand up and demand the long-gun registry. According to him it is a tool, which is desperately needed by police and for safety of Canadians.

No matter what the Harper's government is saying, it is hard to believe that the replacement of the head of Canadian Firearms Program is not a political matter but an internal RCMP affair.

Miroslava Hospodarova

Photo: ISIFA