Bobbies stampede to Calgary, not to Ottawa

Apparently there's no cop life like it in Alberta (via Norman's Spectator):

Jeff Locke spent 14 years in the Metropolitan police; the ex-marine was in the riot squad, the surveillance team and the counter-terrorism branch. But on Wednesday, the 45-year-old veteran could be found drinking a carrot, apple and ginger smoothie in a shopping mall in Calgary, Alberta, western Canada.

He wasn't on holiday. He was at work, patrolling the shops and shiny skyscrapers alongside another British officer, Kevin Whitley. All morning there had been no crimes to foil - though one man did ask for directions - but the pair seemed blissfully happy, not to mention well-loved. "No joke, around 10-15 times a day, a member of the public comes up to me and tells me what a good job I'm doing," said Locke. "In 14 years working for the Met, I think that happened twice."

They are not the only British police officers keeping Calgary free from crime. For the past 18 months, the city has been aggressively recruiting British bobbies with its "UK experienced officer campaign". A significant proportion of the new officers patrolling Calgary have British accents - of the 50 extra policemen and women the force was told to recruit last year, 48 came from the UK.

When the 58-strong class of 2008 touch down later this year, nearly 10% of Calgary's entire force will be British...

But otherwise Canada is hardly a preferred destination for Brits:

...of the 207,000 Britons who emigrated in 2006, 31,457 went to Australia, compared with 6,542 to Canada, of whom 1,118 went to Alberta...

Those bobbies sure won't be coming to Ottawa, given our city's strong (and unnecessary) bilingualism policy--details here. In 2006 75% of residents spoke English at home, and only 10% French. Moreover, only 13,000 spoke French only.

Nonetheless, over the next decade our city government will become ever-more francisized. Why?

Mark C.

Posted by markc at March 25, 2008 10:26 PM