Agenda for Excellence for Major Events

In November 2004, United States’ President George Bush made his first visit to Canada and started off in the nation’s capital. While he was there, President Bush held meetings at the Parliament Buildings with Prime Minister Paul Martin, visited the Conference Centre, and had a State Dinner at the Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, Québec.

Joining Bush on his visit was First Lady Laura Bush, Secretary of State Colin Powell and Condoleezza ­Rice—Powell's soon-to-be replacement.

The Ottawa Police Services had a clear mandate with such high profile visitors, which was to secure the route President Bush’s motorcade would take from the airport to downtown and then back again the next day, keep the streets around his meeting locations and hotel clear, provide crowd control, and lend additional support for the United Sates Secret Service as required. For their part the Ottawa Police Services issued the following statement at the time. “Our goal is simple: to create the conditions for peaceful protest while ensuring the safety and security for everyone concerned - the President, his entourage, the public, demonstrators and the police. It will be done so under the professionalism and expertise of the members of the Ottawa Police and within the adopted Ottawa Police policy of the Agenda for Excellence for Major Events.”

To enable them to meet the demands placed on them, Ottawa Police Services personnel were joined by Police Officers from a number of other communities from as far away as Toronto and including the RCMP and OPP. The radio equipment from these other police forces was not compatible with the Ottawa frequencies and so Glentel / Time MCI was asked if they could help. Even though it was only a couple of days before the event Glentel / Time MCI was able to temporarily provide several hundred radios, spare batteries, chargers, earpieces, and speaker microphones so that crowd control officers could coordinate their activities.

As Inspector Brian McGarvey said later, “The supply of the radios and the ongoing communication went off without a hitch and is a testament to the professionalism of the Glentel / Time MCI staff. In spite of very short notice Glentel / Time MCI were able to meet all of our requirements, provide their normal very high level of service to us, and even had technicians on call for us 24 hours a day for this specific event." He went on the say "Glentel / Time previously provided us with a very unique system solving an interoperability issues for us and allowing us to communicate with OPP officers in our area, and Time even managed to get out and test all of that equipment in preparation for the visit to ensure there were no hiccups.”

We here at Glentel / Time MCI always try to stay focussed on our customer needs and this is just another example of the highly dedicated and motivated individuals who are part of the Glentel family. Please feel free to call us with your own service and/or communications challenge so that we can demonstrate our commitment to you also.