h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

When I first visited Canada quite a few years ago it was quite odd seeing regular cops in regular uniform driving in a car and then seeing RCMP on the car and realising that they were Mounties. I remember being disappointed to see them in regular uniform and realised that they were just like regular cops.

sorry for the disappointment, matnichol.

What you must remember, however, is that from its inception the NWMP/RCMP has been a civilian police force (granted with certain paramilitary additions due to the nature of their initial jurisdiction). The red serge uniform was chosen for a single, specific purpose: to enable the First Nations in the North West to easily distinguish these white men from the hated blue-uniformed U.S. Cavalry from south of the Medicine Line. With the expansion of the RCMP's role to the rest of the country, and with the settlement of the boundary in the West, this very important reason for the red serge vanished and the RCMP settled into a more simple and practical daily uniform and the red serge was retained in a place of honour as the ceremonial dress uniform.

In any case, you can safely bet that during the March West and while patrolling the vast areas the early detachments had responsibility for, the Mounties would rarely have been terribly careful about conforming to the spit and polish of the Musical Ride.