Suspended with or without pay

The David Doel saga highlights the contentious and ongoing debate over whether Ontario police boards or Chiefs of Police should be able to suspend officers without pay. As Kate Carnegie reports, the provincial government says it’s reviewing the policy.

Ontario is the only province in Canada where it is mandatory for police officers to be suspended with pay. Not even a Police Chief or the Ontario Police Association has a say in individual cases. News that a high ranking Hamilton police officer was suspended with pay for four years has people like PC Justice Critic Steve Clark talking: I really think the Minister needs to do to a review of the system and look at some of these complaints that are coming out of cities like Hamilton.

Public Safety Minister Madeleine Meilleur says her government is looking into complaints: “I know we are the only province with that so there is more we need to do assessment on it’s a request and we are looking into it.”

Ontario’s Chiefs of Police have lobbied for a change in the law which would allow them to decide if an officer should be paid while suspended.

McMaster Associate Professor Peter Graefe says he’s not surprised at the lack of political involvement in the debate: “In the 1990’s, the Conservative Party of Ontario was quite clear that it was courting the police vote and the Liberal Party as a result in power has been unwilling to challenge that.”

To put this all in perspective, the average Canadian makes roughly $880 dollars a week or $46,000 dollars a year. Last year, David Doel raked in just over $138,000 without working a day.

Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath: “With this situation, people shake their heads in dismay and so is the Chief of Police and rightfully so.”

Peter Graefe: “They see police officers getting raises they see them getting special treatment that they wouldn’t get in their jobs so they are suspicious of that.”

Hamilton police chief Glenn de Caire says the Chief should have the the authority to make the discretionary decision if a suspended officer should receive pay. He says he will be taking his case forward to Queen’s Park and wants to see legislative change.