Public Safety committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I'm going to shoot into an eight- to ten-minute window. I certainly am, with my colleague, pleased to be here with you today. Mr. MacDonald is my director of strategic policy and research. I would first like to take a few minutes to talk about the conducted energy weapon and our role in providing advice to the Minister of Public Safety on this issue.

Public Accounts committee  I can't comment on that, but you asked if at least we could put factors up, and I wouldn't want to weigh.... But normally with agencies such as an intelligence agency or an organization like a police force, you may in fact be carrying out investigations. And the issue they're whistle-blowing on may in fact disclose things dealing with investigations that are going on.

Public Accounts committee  Actually, I want to thank you for your engagement and interest in the topic. I appreciated appearing here.

Public Accounts committee  What would be the issues that they would want to bring up by way of whistle-blowers?

Public Accounts committee  I just want to point out that I believe in the province of Quebec they have a procedure where the clock doesn't run. What you run into sometimes with code of conduct offences is that they're also criminal--

Public Accounts committee  Well, whether or not there are criminal charges. So you have to let the criminal charge process run its course before you do the other. I believe they have a process where the clock does not start to run if there's an ongoing criminal investigation.

Public Accounts committee  There's no doubt that the architecture has to be looked at to make it more relevant to the modern world. I think the present commissioner is probably wrestling with that. I think there is a world of difference between bringing in a 28-year-old or 29-year-old person to the Depot and making them a police officer, and bringing in an 18-year-old who lives in a paramilitary structure.

Public Accounts committee  Again, I'll allow Ms. Heafey to speak to her own experience; I've had excellent cooperation from the RCMP since my appointment in October 2005. What I pointed out earlier is that you have to establish your credibility and you have to establish your value-added to it in terms of a process, but it's working well.

Public Accounts committee  They don't have to respond to me. I just put that up as a--

Public Accounts committee  Any response would be a public response. No. I mean, it's there. I've been thanked for my copy. I'm not Parliament; you're Parliament. It is there to assist the public debate.

Public Accounts committee  I didn't expect a response. I've just shared my views.

Public Accounts committee  I'll talk very briefly about the three cases, because I normally don't go public until I go public with my document. One of the three dealing with Mr. Ian Bush is coming to its conclusion, and I hope to have a report imminently in that regard. The Vanderhoof file is turning out to be a little more complex and has taken a bit more time.

Public Accounts committee  No, I don't believe these things are mutually exclusive. Every structure has a person within the organization who is trusted, to whom someone can go who has a concern about an ethical issue, a conflict of interest, or something like that, because ADR, alternative dispute resolution, and things like that are preferable, depending on what the issue is--an independent voice, as long as the person has some moral character and fibre and is prepared to discharge the job, and is allowed to do it.

Public Accounts committee  If he had come in May 2005, he wouldn't have come to me; he would have come to my predecessor. I started in October 2005. I checked before coming over to see if anyone ever did file a complaint with us, and my complaints intake group indicated they had no complaints filed with us with reference to this particular subject matter.

Public Accounts committee  Obviously you're referring to the task that I think Mr. Brown has been assigned, which is to come up with some type of governance structure. I think we're dealing with multiple things when we deal with an organization such as a police force. Through the history of the country, which obviously comes out of the British tradition, the Attorney General function and the policing function are recognized as having a special status in law in terms of the independence that we expect to flow from them, and certainly in my more than 33 years in public safety issues, every minister I've dealt with has been cognizant of the need to maintain the integrity of that function.