I'm not taking that long.
I know how this works. The RCMP is very much like the military and there are SOPs. This is a failure of leadership. They are normally supposed to be briefing their people. If they have new people on the Hill, then they're supposed to get briefed and know who is who. To Mr. Lukiwski's point, they should have a handbook on hand in case they don't recognize an MP. In this day of security threats, you can understand why the average cop on the street is trying to be vigilant. Nobody wants to let the bad guy through. But the fault lies with the leadership. There are standard operating procedures, SOPs, that they follow in coordination with the Ottawa police. Clearly that fell apart.
I don't expect the Ottawa police to recognize all MPs. When you are off the parliamentary precinct, whether you are wearing this pin or not, you are subject to the laws of all of Canada, for speeding tickets and things like this. In the parliamentary precinct where the RCMP have primacy, they are supposed to understand the standard operating procedures and what is supposed to happen. In the military, the leadership was responsible for periodic safety briefings, for example. Kevin may remember this.
Safety briefings are an annual thing, but probably on the Hill you would want to do them more frequently. You would have your briefing, go through the checklist and say, “These are the things you have to do, this is a privilege the MPs have, this is how they do it. If you can't recognize them, here is a book with a current list of MPs.” In fairness, anybody could locate a pin like this, right?
I understand some of the challenges the guy in the street would have. I don't disagree with having the commissioner in here. This was agreed to once; a course of action was laid out. It has been forgotten and not followed through. He needs to be hauled up on a carpet.
The way they work is also with written statements, as in the military. The witness gives a written statement saying, “here it is, this is what happened, such and such a date, this person, that person, that action”. It just helps corroborate the entire scene.
I think you are absolutely right that we have to address this issue, but at the end of the day I don't think we have to spend an exhaustive amount of time on it. This is something that I think lies with the leadership. When the leadership is called in.... I'll tell you, when the commissioner is here I don't think this is going to happen a third time. I think they will get a grip on it and put procedures in place. They should be mandated to have a quarterly briefing as to what happens in different scenarios: MP on the Hill, MP on the Hill with an entourage, MP on the Hill with a world leader, whatever. It's pretty simple stuff to put together. They've been through all these scenarios. They know them.
When they get new people on the Hill, somebody has to show him the ropes and give him that briefing. If that doesn't happen, you can't fault that one constable, he is trying to do his job, he just didn't understand the ramifications of what he stopped you from doing.
In fairness to them, I think we should all carry our ID cards and our pins, ideally.
If they don't they need to be briefed ahead of time on the rules, especially if somebody assumes a new post on the Hill, they should be briefed immediately when they arrive. That's it. That's all.