Procedure and House Affairs Committee on May 11th, 2017

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

Mr. O'Beirne, you're on.

[Supt Mike O'Beirne, Acting Director, Parliamentary Protective Service]

Thank you very much, Chair, and the committee. Again, thank you for inviting us here.

I'd like to provide a few comments in advance of the next portion, just to provide context to the discussion.

As you know, the creation of the PPS, following royal assent on June 23, 2015, was the bringing together of three organizations that had remained separate for almost a hundred years. The separation saw, at times, essentially three security agencies operationalizing the same plan or the same visit, whether it was a budget day or a presidential visit. In effect, that turned into three agencies trying to carry out 100% exactly the same plan. We saw that many of the things these three agencies had were different—everything from training, terminology, and policies to, in some cases, equipment or firearms. Each agency was operating as though it had 33% of the plan or the information.

The PPS was created and mandated to provide, as part of its protective operations, scanning and access control, that 100% overarching security piece that would provide a seamless operating picture and security service to all of Parliament, on the grounds and within the precinct.

As you know, the PPS is governed trilaterally. I report directly to the Speakers of the Senate and the House of Commons for all policy and administrative guidance, and to the Commissioner of the RCMP with regard to operations.

I will now start to tie this into the events of March 22 now. As I mentioned on Tuesday, the bringing together of the PPS has seen the conglomeration of all PPS members into quite a significant force. We're divided into five operational divisions, integrated operations, and a unified command system.

I mention this because the integration that we've undergone has been exemplified in critical areas of the PPS, in that we have a fully integrated intelligence team, a fully integrated planning team, and a fully integrated training team, whereas all of these were previously separate. We're moving to a fully integrated MRT. There was a discussion here earlier today about the RCMP communicating with the VSF. In that regard, the vehicle screening facility is a fully integrated portion of the PPS. It has our detection specialists working there. It has uniformed members from the former House of Commons and former Senate services, and also some members of the RCMP, so that is a fully integrated portion.

I'd like now to move, Chair, to the presenting of the slides. If I may, at this point, I would recommend that we go back in camera.

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

Okay.

We'll suspend for a minute and go back in camera.

[Proceedings continue in camera]