You knew last night that it was Alberta PC premier Alison Redford who signed-off or even ordered the RCMP to break into people’s homes in High River to seize any fire-arms (see here) they found when her campaign manager popped up on Twitter:
Notice the word “weapons” and that he is “sad” that they will be returned.
Carter represents the anti-gun faction within the PC government which we now know is led by Redford:
Premier Redford defends the police as she stands Thursday afternoon in the Cargill plant north of this town of 13,000.
“I think what we need to understand is these are exceptional circumstances,” says the premier, adding the gun snatching move was talked about for other places.
“In an emergency situation we need to have our police ensuring there is law and order.” (see here)
Instead of ensuring the RCMP are patrolling High River to keep peoples’ property safe, Redford uses them as a political tool to further her Liberal agenda.
Update: Public Safety Minister Vic Toews’ spokesperson defends the RCMP
“We have been advised that during the course of searching for individuals unable to make their way to safety, the RCMP discovered firearms that were insecurely stored. Those firearms will be held safely by the RCMP and will be returned to their owners as soon as possible,” said Andrew McGrath, spokesman for the Ministry of Public Safety. (see here)
Toews should immediately resign or fire his spokesperson if it was determined he was not speaking for the minister.
BC Blue: One BC Conservative's view on it all... 
June 28, 2013 at 6:57 AM
There was law and order, at least there was until the RCMP and Redford’s liberal goons showed up.
June 28, 2013 at 7:38 AM
Yep,have to agree,Stan. And I bet many of those guns are never returned to their rightful owners.
I doubt the RCMP had a clerk going house-to-house with them recording every gun’s serial number and the address it was taken from,so many Albertans are about to be victimized twice.
June 28, 2013 at 8:00 AM
What else did the RCMP take?
Were they looking for Granny under a bed or in a closet?
June 28, 2013 at 8:11 AM
Because Granny was reported missing right?
June 28, 2013 at 8:41 AM
Has the war measures act been declared? If any of those firearms TAKEN were not registered will the owners be charged?
How much mucking about the private homes did these officers do to find the fire-arms?
June 28, 2013 at 8:43 AM
Matt Gurney: The RCMP picked a bad time to seize people’s firearms http://natpo.st/17HGDSR
June 28, 2013 at 8:48 AM
Will some insubordinate reporter ask Justin Trudeau his opinion of this?
Might as well get his comments on record.
June 28, 2013 at 8:55 AM
Where is Trudeau?
June 28, 2013 at 9:36 AM
Apparently getting ready to go Stampeding.
June 28, 2013 at 2:14 PM
Where is the Trudeau toddler….he is looking for a white hardhat and a shirt that shows more arm muscle than Laureen Harper pics have shown.He will be along shortly with his CBC groupies.
June 28, 2013 at 9:37 AM
Ezra asks a good question, why is the RCMP barricading citizens from going home and seizing guns only in Danielle Smith’s riding?
June 28, 2013 at 9:59 AM
This is Danielle Smith’s riding, leader of the “far right” (sic) Wildrose Alliance Party and the opposition leader in the Alberta legislature. She is considered a heretic to the so-called progressive “conservative ” Party. High River is her home. It is also home to Laureen Harper’s father, Dennis Teskey age 74, a stay behind in town pumping water from 4 other homes: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Harper+relative+fights+flood+waters/8560270/story.html
He hasn’t left High River that I’m aware of…..yet. My kind of dad. I imagine that with time he’ll run out of fuel for that genset for those sump pumps, because nobody is allowed in to give him a hand. Thanks to Alberta Emergency Services and the RCMP, oh and Allison Redford. Yet the cops drive about town in boats with impunity. Checking things out. Why not bring along a can of gas and some P-nut butter sandwiches for him, on your “patrols”?
Strange, Turner Valley and Black Diamond, nor Calgary were subjected to door to door searches by police for firearms…..or were they more selective in their searches? We’ll never hear, I’m sure. Not now. This is just Allison’s way of saying: “Thanks for voting the way you did, High River”.
June 28, 2013 at 11:08 AM
Don’t know if it’s true, but there is a storyout that Lauren Harper is home and aiding relief efforts.
June 28, 2013 at 10:37 AM
Damages to houses and punitive damages need to assessed against those responsible, through court if possible, or through the legislature. Write your MP and MPP to request the RCMP budget be slashed by at least $5,000,000 to reflect the damages done to the properties and rights of the residents of High River.
Hit bureaucrats in the pocketbook; the only thing they understand
June 28, 2013 at 11:21 AM
I can understand SOMEWHAT if the homeowners were not there and the RCMP’s motivation was to make sure that these guns didn’t fall into looter’s hands, and then returning them to the owner’s later. However, on the other hand, if they are not letting owners return to their own homes to do it themselves, if they are using the information from a registry that is SUPPOSED to be cancelled, that is very troubling.
They sure as hell better reimburse owners for the damage they caused securing those guns. The law can’t, on one hand, compel owners to secure their guns, then on the next hand, destroy the gun’s storage and NOT reimburse them for it.
June 28, 2013 at 7:04 PM
There were no looters as the RCMP were there to ensure there were none.They had no business taking these firearms or god knows what else they took.They were there to protect the properties from looters and they themselves became the looters.On whose orders were they following? And why only this town?
June 28, 2013 at 2:11 PM
Story is now that the guns were in secure storage – in gun safes in the owners’ basements. Told to evacuate, owners move their guns to upper levels of their houses, lock houses, and leave. Then the police break in and find guns.
June 28, 2013 at 2:15 PM
Anything else missing from those homes will be blamed on the rcmp. Wonder if they thought of that.
June 28, 2013 at 2:26 PM
Don’t see how looters could have got to the guns since the RCMP have blockaded the town and won’t let in even High River residents.
June 28, 2013 at 3:08 PM
This is an outrageous violation of Albertans basic civil liberties as I see it. The police can’t just randomly break into peoples homes for whatever reason they like.I mean it’s not surprising that a UN control freak “progressive” like Redfraud would order such a violation to happen in the first place, but this is going too far. Obviously, Redfraud and her gestapo have used the floods as an excuse to loot private homes in what I see as a clear violation of citizens basic civil liberties. What else did the RCMP find while they were looting and snooping through peoples private property… Did they use the LGR, which was supposed to be destroyed? Insult to injury! If a flood or some other natural disaster happens again people now know that their property will not be safe from the Government forces so you’re better off NOT evacuating. Absolutely outrageous!
June 28, 2013 at 4:52 PM
This comment at SDA bears reposting:
“I am phoning my MP today and will be asking them to advise how many firearms have been seized from the Cumberland House Indian Reserve as they have been evacuated as well. I suggest you do the same.
Posted by: BigDaddyTisdale on June 28, 2013 4:26 PM |”
I’d bet the farm that not ONE of the RCMP entered any house on that Reserve.
Even if they did,and found guns lying all over the place,the Indians were exempted from the Firearms Act,so they wouldn’t have a law to enforce.
June 28, 2013 at 7:13 PM
I agree and will bet all my belongings and life savings that no search for nor confiscation of firearms took place there. I must also admit that I am fed up with agenda-driven busybodies calling firearms weapons. Just about anything can become a weapon with the right intent.
June 29, 2013 at 1:33 AM
Illegal search and seizure. Plain and simple. I live/reside in Vancouver and do not own firearms. The law is there to protect everyone, and “justice is blind” ensures that basic rights are there to protect those whom we don’t necessarily agree with, because in another situation, it may be OUR rights that need protecting. police of the future may be looking for something arbitrarily defined as “illegal” that is present in our own house, that they take issue with and feel compelled to confiscate in the name of “public safety”.
The role of the police/military was to secure the town of High River. Seeing that residents were not allowed in themselves, never mind outsiders, I fail to see how searching “house to house” accomplished anything at all. Any resident in distress would have long-ago called for help from the top floor of their house. Having established a perimeter around the town, and cordoned off access to the town, it is a red-herring to justify breaking into selected households in the name of “public safety”, with the exceedingly weak explanation of looking for trapped or injured individuals, and the conveniently confiscating legally-owned firearms that have been brought up from safe storage in the residents’ basement, up into the upper reaches of a home prior to evacuation. The public safety argument is pure, unadulterated bullshit.
Police are bound by rules, and are sworn to uphold the law. If a peace officer is so dense as to have broken the law in order to justify “doing his duty” or worse, “I was just following orders”, then those police officers have abdicated their moral mandate to act as peace officer. It’s one matter when a joe-citizen doesn’t know what is and isn’t the law, but when the police trample on the rights of a fellow Canadian (enshrined in the Charter to boot), it harms us all.
I hope the residents of High River who had their personal property confiscated without warrant, band together and sue the RCMP in a class-action suit, and push for a judicial judgement or determination over the ILLEGALITY of what the RCMP did under the guise of a “public emergency”. This is just thuggery under cover of a badge.
June 29, 2013 at 6:00 AM
Great comment
June 29, 2013 at 7:59 AM
It’s too dumbfounding to stop talking about their actions. I call it pillage, they pillaged the homes to romp around looking for firearms. If that’s part of their job description we need protection from them. Where is our government on this one?
June 29, 2013 at 8:09 AM
Which part of the government? Toews agrees with the RCMP and the PMO ie Harper doesn’t…
June 29, 2013 at 9:58 AM
Who’s the boss?
June 29, 2013 at 9:12 AM
[…] the Alberta PCs backed the RCMP seizing peoples’ legal property (see here) and now are banning the media from accompanying High River residents on their government escorted […]
June 30, 2013 at 8:30 AM
[…] the RCMP and Alberta Redford government are trampling on the residents’ rights (see here and here) I started wondering where the Conservative MP was when it came to sticking-up and fighting for […]
July 1, 2013 at 10:02 AM
If it comes out that Redford actually authorized the RCMP to search and seize firearms (not weapons) and that the RCMP were seizing secured firearms from secured enclosures then one must question if us Canadians truly have rights? This just sounds similar to what my Grand Parents experienced in Germany more than 70 yaers ago….. They immigrated to Canada to feel safe and not be controlled by the Government. The RCMP really needs to regain Canada’s respect as for the 1st time in my life I am not proud of our National Police Force and as far as Redford goes well she once again is showing she has little respect for the common folk….
July 8, 2013 at 10:07 PM
Sad day to see the Canadian military drawn in with the RCMP searching people’s private homes. A mans home is his castle, flood or no flood. Question in fact: How many persons and pets did the RCMP actually rescue in their mission?
It appears that the full boat they were riding around in could not accommodate any victims.