Sidelined Mountie Tells Parliament of Commissioner’s “Abuse”

Raf Souccar said outgoing RCMP commissioner brought the force’s morale to a new low, but denied leaking reports about him to the media.

Testifying before the Public Safety committee Tuesday, Deputy Commissioner Raf Souccar tried to shed some light on the mess at the top of the RCMP. Souccar was stripped of his responsibilities last October after a power struggle with Commissioner William Elliott, who announced last week he will step down this summer. Souccar admitted that he told senior bureaucrats that Elliott was abusive and many officers had problems with his management style, but he denied attempting to lead a mutiny against the commissioner or going to the media about trouble on the force. A CBC report on Elliott stirred national controversy. Elliott is the first civilian commissioner of the RCMP, and was tasked with reforming the broken management of the force.