Royal Canadian Mounted Police May 22nd, 2013

Mr. Speaker, over the past few months Canadians have heard extremely disturbing reports about the conduct of some RCMP officers over the past number of decades. That is why our government made it clear that we would work closely with the commissioner of the RCMP to take action and restore pride in Canada's national police force. That is why I introduced the enhancing RCMP accountability act that would strengthen the RCMP's ability to deal with these matters. Unfortunately, the NDP voted against it and put nothing in its place.

Questions on the Order Paper May 21st, 2013

Mr. Speaker, Public Safety Canada did not incur any costs related to the National Geographic television program “Border Security: Canada’s Front Line”.

With regard to (a), the production takes place at no extra cost to the CBSA’s front-line operations. For season one of the production, the CBSA incurred an internal cost of less than $60,000, primarily for salary dollars for the required administrative support, including on-site oversight within one region. Season two will be twice the number of episodes and involve more than one region. As such, the CBSA has estimated internal costs to be approximately $160,000 for the required administrative oversight.

There is no exchange of monies between the production company and the CBSA. ¸

With regard to (b), the costs noted in part (a) relate to the CBSA providing administrative support such as regional on-site filming oversight to ensure privacy and operational security during production.

With regard to (c), there are three multimedia agreements between the CBSA and Force Four Productions related to the documentary series, one to govern the production of the demonstration reel and a separate one for each of the first and second seasons in which the CBSA has participated. The multimedia agreements detail the working relationship, responsibilities and requirements of each party and outline the precautions necessary to safeguard Canadian laws as well as CBSA employees, facilities, operations and procedures.

Further, the agreement stipulates that while editorial control rests with the production company, the CBSA will review the content of each episode before airing to verify that operational, legal and privacy considerations are met.

With regard to (d)(ii), no incremental costs were incurred by the CBSA for negotiating, researching or communicating the government’s participation in the documentary series.

Questions on the Order Paper May 21st, 2013

Mr. Speaker, section 347 of the Criminal Code is not an offence that falls solely under the RCMP mandate. It is an offence that is also reported to and investigated by the local police force. The RCMP is the police of jurisdiction in many smaller communities across the country, but not usually the police of jurisdiction in the larger urban municipalities.

In the RCMP’s former records management system, called “Police Information Retrieval System”, PIRS, section 347 of the Criminal Code is mapped to a general violation code called “Other Criminal Code” along with a multitude of other offences.

A manual case-by-case analysis of all these files would be required in order to provide a complete and accurate response to all parts of this question. Such an analysis cannot be completed within the time available, as a significant amount of time and resources would be required in order to do so.

Questions on the Order Paper May 9th, 2013

Mr. Speaker, as of March 25, 2013, the sale of the Crown land owned by CSC located on Frontenac Institution in Kingston, Ontario, has yet to be finalized. Therefore, CSC is unable to respond to the question, pending the completion of the sale.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police May 7th, 2013

Mr. Speaker, as I understand it, the officer indicated that he wanted to testify and there was nothing stopping that officer from testifying. I do not know why that member is making this up. Again, it is a type of statement that individual makes in order to ensure that their story is told.

However, I do not involve myself in the day-to-day operations of the RCMP. In fact, we introduced the enhancing RCMP accountability act to help govern the RCMP. That member voted against it.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police May 7th, 2013

Mr. Speaker, as I understand it, there was no attempt made to stop that individual from testifying.

Issues with respect to human resources and the management of the RCMP are the responsibility of the Commissioner. I do not involve myself in the day-to-day operations of the RCMP. However, we introduced the enhancing RCMP accountability act to ensure that the Commissioner has the tools to modernize the RCMP. Shockingly, the NDP, and that member specifically, voted against that act.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police April 29th, 2013

Mr. Speaker, that party indicated that our tough on crime approach would increase the cost of the construction of prisons by $19 billion. In fact, it was $500 million. That member, I know, opposes any measure to hold prisoners or criminals accountable through the utilization of prisons. We take a very different approach than that member does to keeping Canadians safe.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police April 29th, 2013

Mr. Speaker, if the member has any concerns about the RCMP in her riding, she can either bring those concerns to me or she can deal with the RCMP directly.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police April 29th, 2013

Mr. Speaker, the Commissioner of the RCMP will meet with whom he chooses when he chooses. It is also appropriate that he approve meetings of his staff.

The appropriate place for parliamentarians to interact with officials, RCMP or otherwise, is at parliamentary committees. If that member has concerns relating to the RCMP, I would encourage her to bring them to me.

However, let me be clear. None of this impacts the ability of any member to speak with his or her local RCMP or law enforcement on other local matters.