Article content

Less than a week after the October terror attack on Parliament Hill, as many as nine police cars converged on a black SUV veering erratically down a major Ottawa thoroughfare.

Pulling the vehicle over, the officers confirmed the suspicions of 911 callers: The man behind the wheel was indeed visibly intoxicated.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Diplomatic Immunity: In Ottawa there are as many as 6,000 residents who are effectively above the law Back to video

If the driver were a Canadian citizen, his licence would be given a three-month immediate suspension and his car impounded for a week. If convicted, he would face a $1,000 fine and a one-year driving suspension.

But the 32-year-old driver flashed a badge: He was a Saudi Arabian diplomat with full diplomatic immunity. The police drove him to the embassy, towed his car and made a phone call to the Department of Foreign Affairs. (The Department did not respond to National Post requests over whether the diplomat faced any additional consequences.)

There are quirks to any capital city: Motorcades, recession-proof employment, an unusually vibrant singles scene. But the strangest side of Ottawa — and among its least visible — is the fact that it has as many as 6,000 residents who are effectively above the law. As a city filled with secretaries, drivers, nannies and teenagers who can technically break the rules with abandon, Ottawa is actually surprisingly well-behaved.