Haldimand-Norfolk MPP Toby Barrett says he believes OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino attempted to intimidate him with a letter earlier this year after Barrett criticized policing in the
The letter from Fantino marked the second time in less than two years the outspoken police boss has raised the hackles of local politicians through his private correspondence. Last year, he threatened to pull the OPP out of
Barrett said he received the Fantino letter in February after he was quoted in the media stating the OPP was ignoring illegal acts by native protesters. The interview with the National Post was published Feb. 13.
While Barrett said he wasn't at liberty to disclose the content of Fantino's missive, he suggested the OPP boss was trying to muzzle him through intimidation.
"I believe it was an attempt to intimidate, which didn't work," he said in a phone interview last week.
Barrett said he has continued to press for more police presence in the Haldimand-Norfolk area.
Although Fantino's letter is more than six months old, Barrett referred to it for the first time last week in a press release about other attempts to intimidate him, particularly with respect to his tough stand on native land claims issues.
"As those involved will know, intimidation has been one of the strategies attempted by a number of players over the past 2 1/2 years," he stated in the Aug. 28 release.
"As for me: have attempts been made? The answer is yes ..."
In the next paragraph, he mentioned receiving a native eviction notice at his home, being cited in a $250-billion native lawsuit and receiving a critical letter from Fantino.
"Are these attempts to intimidate? You be the judge," he stated. "As for me, I have a job to do ... I have only one agenda -- the agenda of 100,000 people I represent. Threats don't change that."
OPP Inspector Dave Ross, deputy director of corporate communications, said he couldn't release the letter, either. He suggested the letter was written to explain the OPP's role in maintaining the peace and public safety during the "complex" land claims negotiations.
"We reject any assertion that there was any attempt on the part of the OPP to intimidate anybody," he stated.
He declined, however, to comment on the language Fantino used in an e-mail to Haldimand county council last year.
Fantino had taken umbrage over the remarks of a Haldimand councillor, who he felt could jeopardize the safety of his officers by further inflaming the volatile situation in
In a toughly worded missive, he said he would hold the councillor and Haldimand council accountable if any of his officers were injured as a result of the councillor's statements, would support lawsuits against these parties and recommend that the solicitor general terminate the OPP's policing contract with Haldimand county.
Haldimand Mayor Marie Trainer said Fantino has since backed down from that tough stand, but she took his words as threatening at the time.
But now that she knows him better, she said she wonders if the tough talk is just part of his personality.