Mike McCormack

Mike McCormack is a Canadian gun control advocate, president of the Toronto Police Association and member of the board of the Canadian Police Association and former police officer. He is a vocal supporter of the Canadian gun registry, using the usual repertoire of misinformation and ad hominem against those who disagree with him.

While presenting himself as a credible expert in both law enforcement and public safety, McCormack's past record does not indicate such.

History

Mike McCormack is the son of former Toronto police Chief (1989-95) William McCormack Sr. He joined the Toronto police force in the late 1980s. Three of his four siblings also chose careers in policing.

McCormack's brother, William Jr., has been accused of shaking down club owners in the entertainment district. He and several others were charged criminally May 4, 2004 with corruption, including influence peddling and breach of trust. One of his co-accused, George Kouroudis, was a police constable who also ran a club called Lotus in the entertainment district.

In October 2009, McCormack was elected president of the Toronto Police Association (the city's police union) with a narrow margin of 106 votes. He had lost a previous bid in 2006.

Allegations of misconduct

In 2004, he was charged with corruption and discreditable conduct under the Police Act for allegedly helping a friend, Jeffrey Geller — a drug-addicted used-car salesman with known mob ties — get back his licence to sell cars. He was cleared.

In March 2009, another charge for discreditable conduct was dropped. The charge stemmed from allegations he secretly taped conversations with the late Toronto Star reporter, John Duncanson.

John Duncanson

On September 25, 2010, he was convicted of insubordination while a member of the police service, for running the name of former Star reporter John Duncanson (an award-winning journalist who specialized in covering police corruption) through three law enforcement databases in January 2008. Some of the stories Duncanson wrote involved McCormack’s brother, William Jr., who, along with one-time union head Rick McIntosh, had been indicted on corruption charges for allegedly soliciting and accepting bribes from nightclub owners in Toronto’s Entertainment District. Those charges were stayed when Justice Bonnie Croll ruled the two men’s right to a fair trial had been breached by the Crown’s excessive delays in bringing the matter forward.

While McCormack maintained that he’d checked the databases to see if Duncanson was “wanted or should be in court,” Supt. Jane Wilcox, who also presided over McCormack’s Police Act hearing, pointed out McCormack had not consulted the two databases that would have information about outstanding warrants and court dates: “His stated reason... is incongruent with common sense, logic and his subsequent actions.”

	When the references were made to previous police officers abusing the database, they were doing it for their own friends or families whereas in this instance Mr. McCormack’s brother was involved in a corruption allegation and McCormack was using the database to keep track of John and his whereabouts. John was living in fear because McCormack would know where to find him. What would John think? I think there’d be a small degree of satisfaction, knowing that it was recognized that (McCormack) did perform searches outside his jurisdiction. But, honestly, John would be worried shitless after this — that they would come get him.
— Kelly Duncanson, widow of John Duncanson

Duncanson was not alive to participate in the hearings, having died in January 2009.