On discrepancies

CBC's report on the commendation given to Saskatoon Police Service for helping to prevent "embarrassment" for Stephen Harper points out another detail which looks to deserve some significant follow-up, as the police look to have been far more restrictive in handling the CAPP protesters than they normally are in protecting VIPs. Here's the Chief of Police:

Chief Clive Weighill said Saskatoon police don't want people to get too close.

Police Chief Clive Weighhill of Saskatoon says officers have to ensure VIPs are safe.Police Chief Clive Weighhill of Saskatoon says officers have to ensure VIPs are safe. (CBC)"Our job is to prevent anybody who wants to exercise their freedom of speech not to get too close to a VIP," he said. "That's all our job is."

When asked how close was too close, Weighill responded, "Within arm's-reach or possible harm's reach."

But he also said there isn't a handbook of rules for such situations.

In contrast, here's how the CAPP protesters were actually treated:

Goldie said protesters were kept across the street from the hotel for most of their demonstration and were never in a position to do harm.

"We were shouting slogans and that sort of thing, trying to get attention, but nothing outside of the normal run of a protest," he said.

Now, it would seem fairly obvious that had the police wanted only to avoid "harm" to Harper, they could just as easily have cleared a single path for him while allowing the protesters to stay in front of the hotel. And it's not hard to draw a connection between the city policy instead corralling the protesters much further away than they could possibly justify from the standpoint of preventing harm, and the RCMP offering its commendation for sparing Harper the "embarrassment" of a peaceful protest.

Of course, that raises the question of who exactly made the decision that Saskatoon's police should be serving Harper's interests rather than those of the public. But from the response so far, it doesn't look like either the Saskatoon Police Service or the RCMP will come out unscathed.