Murphy's Logic: Government action takes too long

It’s now been almost four months since the Commission into the 2020 Nova Scotia mass murder presented its final report to the federal and provincial governments. It was a sweeping indictment of the RCMP’s response during and after the murders. Its strong words prompted a commitment to strong action by the RCMP and its political masters.

But as so often happens, the months are now quickly slipping by with little evidence of concrete action.

We are told these things take time - but in this country, they take too much time.

It took far too long - and growing public pressure — to get this inquiry appointed and even then, it was less than the royal commission it should have been.

The hearings took months to complete, the report took months to write and now it’s taking months to get action.

It’s now more than three years since the murders.

It’s been even longer – six-and-a-half years - since Afghanistan veteran Lionel Desmond killed three members of his family, and then himself, and five years since the appointment of a judicial inquiry into why. Even with the delays attributed to COVID-19, that’s too long.

Ironically, the presiding judge has just been replaced - even though he says he was just weeks from presenting his findings. That guarantees an even further delay.

Parkinson’s Law states that work expands to fill the time allotted for its completion. We need to tighten the timelines for inquiries, final reports, and action.

It is important to take a reasonable amount of time to get important things right.

But it’s not reasonable to make those who lost their loved ones - and the general public - wait literally years for answers and action.