Good morning. I call this meeting to order.
Welcome to meeting number 22 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs. The committee is meeting today to continue its work on the operational security of the parliamentary precinct along Wellington and Sparks Street.
I would like to welcome the following witnesses in the first half of the meeting: Steve Bell, interim chief of the Ottawa Police Service; Michael Duheme, deputy commissioner, Royal Canadian Mounted Police; and Luc Beaudoin, director, Service de police de la Ville de Gatineau.
We are not here to duplicate the work of other committees, so I will remind you of the wording of the motion we agreed to:
That pursuant to Standing Order 108(3)(a)(i) and (ii), the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs undertake a study on expanding the federal jurisdiction for the operational security of the Parliamentary Precinct to include sections of Wellington St. and Sparks St.; that the study consist of no less than five meetings; and that the committee report its findings with recommendations back to the House of Commons.
I will also take a moment to remind all colleagues that we will try to adhere to the amount of time we have for questions, comments and responses. Whenever the response is longer, I will provide that time back to our colleagues to ensure the time is not taken away from you. This is so we can be mindful of the work the interpreters do. If we can refrain from interrupting each other, it would be greatly appreciated.
I will also remind all members that we would appreciate all comments be made through the chair. To our guests, as well, we always address comments through the chair.
We will now start by welcoming Chief Bell for opening comments.
I'll remind you that your comments should be no more than five minutes, so if you can keep them to less than five minutes, it would be greatly appreciated.
Please go ahead, Chief Bell.