From ArriveCAN to SNC-Lavalin, new scrutiny of Ottawa’s regulators raises questions about whether the RCMP and federal oversight bodies have become politically neutered. (The Bureau)

Canada’s federal lobbying commissioner and the RCMP are under new scrutiny from a national transparency watchdog demanding to know whether the lobbying regulator has concealed rulings in nine violations that were referred to the Mounties — and later quietly sent back without prosecution — in a wide range of cases from the ArriveCAN procurement imbroglio to the explosive SNC-Lavalin affair, in which a former attorney general told the RCMP they could look at criminal obstruction charges.

The allegations relate to testimony now before a Parliamentary ethics committee, which has revived long-standing concerns from critics about Canada’s politically appointed watchdogs — and about the RCMP itself.

Framing his most pointed suggestion — that the RCMP may be politically neutered ...

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