Evidence of meeting #37 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 40th Parliament, 3rd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was summit.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Director General, Policing Policy Directorate, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
Thank you very much. To make sure I fully understand your question, did you refer to the contribution agreement with Alberta?
Conservative
Chris Warkentin Conservative Peace River, AB
Pardon me. If I did, I meant Ontario. I guess my own province is on my brain.
Director General, Policing Policy Directorate, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
Thank you very much.
As per the security cost framework policy, there is a requirement to enter into contribution agreements, consistent with the transfer-of-payment policy of the Government of Canada with respect to putting in place security arrangements with the municipal and provincial security partners. That's a process of negotiation in which one begins by sharing with them the terms and conditions, and thus the eligible expenses associated with the policy, and then negotiating the contribution agreements with the individual security partners, the seven partners that I mentioned earlier.
Depending on the amounts of those agreements, they are signed by different individuals, depending on the delegated authorities within the department. We have agreements that range from the neighbourhood of $10,000 or $15,000 to $144 million. The $144 million agreement, for example, with the Toronto Police Service was signed by the Minister of Public Safety.
Digging through my notes here, I could give you the dates upon which all of those agreements were signed with each of the seven jurisdictions, or--
Conservative
Chris Warkentin Conservative Peace River, AB
So the OPP security agreement, the contribution agreement, was signed by the Liberal provincial minister, Bartolucci. Is that correct?
Director General, Policing Policy Directorate, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
I'd have to confirm that. I'm looking through my notes. I wouldn't want to waste your question time, but--
Conservative
Chris Warkentin Conservative Peace River, AB
Sure.
My understanding is that there were two different agreements signed, one that related to the G-8 and one that related to the G-20, both of which were signed earlier this year, one in March and one in June. There has been an assertion by members opposite, including I guess some misunderstanding by even our chair, that was brought forward in the House of Commons yesterday related to these contribution agreements. There are some on the opposition benches who would state and have stated that there was a blank cheque written to the then commissioner of the OPP. Can you confirm if there was or was not a blank cheque written to the commissioner of the OPP?
Director General, Policing Policy Directorate, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
I can confirm that there was no blank cheque written to the commissioner of the OPP.
Conservative
Chris Warkentin Conservative Peace River, AB
I appreciate that.
There has been another conspiracy theory being developed on the opposition benches. According to this theory, the fact that the details of the spending of the OPP have not yet been disclosed has something to do with politics. Can you state for the record what the deadline is for having all those receipts turned into the federal government and if we have or have not come to that deadline yet?
Director General, Policing Policy Directorate, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
In the case of the OPP, this proceeds through two contribution agreements with the Government of Ontario. These agreements were entered into at the Government of Ontario's request, because they involved other services, for example emergency management services, that went beyond the purview of the OPP. Both of those agreements, as you correctly noted, are with the Government of Ontario.
There is a capacity within the security cost framework policy to make both interim and final payments. In the case of Ontario, there has already been an interim payment of approximately $6 million. Two other interim payment claims have been received from the Government of Ontario, and they are currently being audited by Audit Services Canada. We expect in the near future to be able to make payments based on those audits.
As to a final payment to Ontario and all the security partners, the deadline for the submission of all invoices is December 1.
Conservative
Chris Warkentin Conservative Peace River, AB
After December 1, we as a committee can expect to see details of that spending. Is that right?
Director General, Policing Policy Directorate, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
That information would be provided to the department and will be immediately shared with Audit Services Canada, which would conduct the audits. Once these audits have been looked at and a final payment has been issued, we would be in a position to share that information.
Conservative
Chris Warkentin Conservative Peace River, AB
Would you be at liberty to table with this committee the two different agreements that we have spoken about as they relate to the OPP and the G-8 and G-20?
Director General, Policing Policy Directorate, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
As the Minister of Public Safety has stated, the goal has been to be as transparent as possible with Parliament in regard to security cost estimates. My understanding—and I would have to confirm this with the legal services group in our department—is that there are certain limitations on sharing that agreement with another provincial government. However, I will look into this, and to the extent that these documents can be shared, we will make them available.
Conservative
Chris Warkentin Conservative Peace River, AB
I appreciate that.
Have you been able to determine the dates of those two agreements?
Director General, Policing Policy Directorate, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
As you correctly noted, there were two agreements, the first on March 10 and the second on June 23.
Director General, Policing Policy Directorate, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
That's correct.
Conservative
Chris Warkentin Conservative Peace River, AB
Then the G-20 followed.
It is our government's belief that it is absolutely essential that there be full transparency as it relates to the cost of the G-8 and G-20.
We appreciate this testimony. Members of this committee would be interested in the texts of those agreements. If you are at liberty to provide that information to our committee, I hope you will make the agreement available to us.
Director General, Policing Policy Directorate, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
I have made that undertaking, and I'll endeavour to carry it out.
Conservative
Chris Warkentin Conservative Peace River, AB
I appreciate that.
Have the payments that have been made thus far been audited?
Director General, Policing Policy Directorate, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
Absolutely. No payment can be made until there is an audit.
Conservative
Chris Warkentin Conservative Peace River, AB
Might we be able to see portions of those expenditures as they now stand, or do we have to wait until the deadline, when all final payments have been made, to see the details of this spending?
Director General, Policing Policy Directorate, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
I believe the intention was to wait until the entire process had been completed and share full information at that time.
Conservative
Chris Warkentin Conservative Peace River, AB
Representatives of the OPP have been here and confirmed to this committee that they expect the final total of their expenditures to come in quite a bit under their original spending estimates.
