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Sleuth is sure you have heard of that old saying: "Good things come to those who wait." That may not be the right thing to say these days if you know a member of the former Moncton Police Force. Sleuth's eyes and ears among the boys and girls in blue have whispered the former MPF union and the provincial government have finally reached a deal in their long-standing pension dispute.

You may recall the MPF patrolled Metro's streets until Jan. 19, 1998, when a tri-community contract with the RCMP came into force. The switch from municipal policing to RCMP left a sour taste among many long-time MPF members, even those who were hired into the new federal force.

When municipal officers joined the RCMP, many were forced to pay in extra money because what they had been contributing to their municipal pensions was not enough to pay for RCMP pensions. An RCMP officer and an MPF officer with the same years of service had drastically different pensions waiting for them on Golden Handshake Day.

The case has been lobbed back and forth between lawyers for the MPF police union and the province for the last 10 years. Sleuth hears a deal was finally reached behind closed doors this week. But that doesn't mean the MPF officers are celebrating. The deal means they will have to contribute sizeable amounts to top up their pensions. As one long-time officer told this old gumshoe: "The only people who got rich off this deal were the lawyers."

***

Ex-Premier Frank McKenna has certainly been in the news this week.

Frankie, who now spends his days a deputy chairman of the TD Bank when not standing at a podium before hundreds of people, had two audiences of note in the last seven days.

On Tuesday, he was speaker at a national literacy conference in Saint John, where he pointed out there is a bottom line cost to business for an illiterate workforce. On Thursday, he brought out the "cut taxes" speech to a business crowd in Halifax.

For the past few summers, Frank has held an exclusive mini think-tank at the Fox Harb'r Golf Resort in Tatamagouche, N.S. He's brought in Bill Clinton, George Bush Sr. and many other political luminaries to break bread, raise a toast and discuss how to fix our world.

Sleuth hears from a top-level secret source that one of the bigwigs flying into Fox Harb'r this summer will be U.S. presidential candidate John Edwards. Handsome John has dropped out of the presidential race but remains a big catch for McKenna.

Edwards, former North Carolina Senator and 2004 Democratic vice-presidential candidate, now heads the One America Committee which works to end poverty in the land to our south.

Sleuth hears Frank is now working on getting a big-name Republican star to join the late July party.

***

Scuttlebutt in the national capital has it that the timing of General Rick Hillier's resignation as the chief of our Armed Forces may have a lot to do with the next federal election timing. Not because the general's knack for speaking his mind actually got him in hot water, but rather because he just may be harbouring a few political ambitions of his own.

What better star candidate for the Conservative Party in another tight race? Sounds improbable with the way Hiller rubbed the political brass the wrong way? Sleuth's sources in Ottawa say this rumour should not be discounted even if right now it's just a, you might say, general rumour. . .

***

There's been lots of talk in recent weeks about the Beijing Olympics and whether the world should protest China's handling of Tibet by either boycotting the games or not sending our top political representatives.

Sleuth has heard an even better idea.

Canada has made honourary citizens of only four people in our history: South African President Nelson Mandela, Holocaust hero Raoul Wallenberg, Burmese pro-democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi and the Dalai Lama.

What if Stephen Harper decided our official representative in Beijing should be the Dalai Lama, our latest honourary citizen? Can you imagine the faces of the Chinese hosts over that!

There's an online petition supporting exactly that and Sleuth understands it was begun by a New Brunswicker. You can find it at www.ipetitions.com/petition/CanadaOlympics/?e

***

Metro Moncton will see the grand opening of two big new businesses next week.

The fancy new BMW-Mini dealership on Ferdinand Boulevard in Dieppe takes place on Monday. Owned by the Lounsbury Co. Ltd., the dealership will be the only one of its kind in New Brunswick.

Meanwhile, for all of you green thumbs itching to get gardening this spring, news is that Green Village, the big new garden centre/greenhouse outfit will open its doors on Lewisville Road before the end of April.

***

And finally . . .

Perhaps our sterling crop of MLAs and cabinet ministers do need a pay raise.

Why else would a certain former cabinet minister and current member of the legislature be seen shopping the other day at Value Village?

Too bad this government member's search for bargains doesn't extend to public spending in the capital!

* Have you heard the latest gossip? Do you know some juicy rumours? Sleuth wants to know. Send your best info to sleuth@timestranscript.com, fax it to 859-4904, or drop it off to Sleuth c/o The Times & Transcript, 939 Main St., Moncton.