With me this morning is a trio of tried and tested former practitioners of the craft of politics, all of them well known for the intention to the substantive matters of good government and public policy.

First off is the Hon. John Manley, senior counsel at the law firm of McCarthy Tetrault but best known to Canadians as the minister of everything during nearly a decade in Cabinet, including industry, finance, foreign affairs and deputy prime minister.

Also joining us is Professor Doug McArthur, the distinguished Fellow in Public Policy at Simon Fraser University. And before that, deputy minister to two premiers in British Columbia.

“But whether it’s really effective [on its own] in reducing the harm organised crime causes if these people are still running business from prison . . . is the question.”

Osborne, a diminutive twinkly character, sits like a spider at the heart of the Soca empire. The agency is still little known: partly because its work (much of it covert) is shrouded in secrecy; partly because public relations have been low profile; and partly, too, because it is relatively new.

Soca came into being in April 2006 when it was set up as Britain’s answer to the FBI, aimed at taking on the £40 billion organised crime industry.