Thank you, Mr. Chair.
The existing contracts with the provinces, territories, and municipalities have something referred to as a contract advisory committee. We have been working with the provinces and territories to put in place a much more significant capacity for provinces and territories to have a say in the functioning of these contracts. These are big contracts. They're expensive for provinces and expensive for the federal government and they cover 20 years.
The discussions around the contract management committee--there have been many and I've had the opportunity to participate myself in many of these--have focused on how we can make sure that key decisions around the functioning of the RCMP in those jurisdictions, the costs, because the provinces and territories bear 70% of the costs, as well as the overall plans moving forward, and that they know what those plans are..... They have an opportunity to provide input and at times directly to the commissioner or whomever so their considerations can be fully taken into account. So for example, on the area of accommodation, which is probably a very good one, detachments, housing, and everything in that jurisdiction...a chance to see what the capital plan looks like and a chance to have input into the design of these buildings, and making sure the costs are reasonable as well. We're all trying to contain costs at a time of restraint.
As well, we're also building mechanisms for dispute resolutions, should we actually arrive at that.