Behold a Red Rider

"The Mounted Police are mounted again," the Toronto Star trumpets today in its report on the triumphant return to Parliament Hill of two of Canada’s most picturesque agents of the state, RCMP musical ride retirees Hector and Ike, and their scarlet-clad human handlers. Two years ago, the RCMP ordered the pair confined to a corral over safety concerns, but this year, they came up with a classically Canadian solution: One Mountie on horseback, and another on the ground. "If somebody gets too near (Hector) or a child goes under him, something could happen," trainer Sgt. Jerry Mayo explained. "Now we have someone to say, `Okay, don’t stand there.’ "

Toronto Star