Thank you, Chair.
A number of the points have been made, but what has to be clear here is that the announced independent investigator has nowhere near the powers that we have invested in us, here in this public accounts committee. He doesn't have the ability—and everyone here is aware of this—to call the same people we have an ability to call. The people who would come before him don't have the parliamentary privilege that people who come to testify before us have. It allows people to be a lot more forthcoming in their evidence.
Let's remember who the victims are. We know that ultimately the victims are the Canadian public and trust in the institution, but let's not forget the people directly impacted by this who have suffered tremendously for their fortitude and backbone, the rank and file—some of them senior officers--of the RCMP.
We really need to have an opportunity also in this committee to address a number of issues: to show that the will of Parliament will not be undermined, that people treat it with utmost seriousness when they come to testify under oath in front of this committee.
We represent Parliament and the will of the people, and there are allegations of perjury and contempt of Parliament. That's one issue that needs to be addressed.
The other issue is that we're also the committee of financial accountability. We have to make sure that once that report is written we have all the evidence and can make absolutely sure that every penny that was misappropriated from the RCMP pension and insurance funds is returned.
We also have to make absolutely sure that we have all the evidence, so that we can, in a full report, provide recommendations to make sure that the administrative problems that have been identified are rectified. It was stated in some of the testimony that no matter what checks you put in place, if there is a will to circumvent, then people will circumvent.
What we've clearly seen, and we need to get to the bottom of this, is that there are fundamental issues in how the RCMP Act is structured. We need to address these administrative accountability issues as well.
Thank you.