Mr. Chairman, I wish to thank Mrs. Bonsant for her question. She said that we received a new mandate following 9/11. As I tried to explain earlier, our mandate did not change after 9/11 but it was changed after the 1970s. Justice MacDonald's report itself clearly mentioned that the RCMP had an important role to play in criminal investigations.
What are we doing today? What have we been doing since September 11? We have simply continued to fulfill our mandate. There have been some legislative changes to make a crime of certain actions. Parliament has passed new laws. If a crime is committed, we must investigate. This is what we did. Our mandate has not changed. The agency which was created after the MacDonald Inquiry Commission still exists and this won't change. We work very well with it. Our mandate is still the same. We launch an investigation only if a crime has been committed. A terrorist act is a crime. If a bomb explodes here or in another country, a policy agency must investigate. We need the help of intelligence agencies and this is what occurs. This cooperation must exist.
As I said earlier,who has investigated the criminal acts, the crimes committed by extremists in Bali, Madrid and in England? It was the local police, the national police. This is what we do and this is what we shall continue to do. We are going to protect Canadians. Our mandate has not been changed. Laws have been passed. If Parliament passes a law, we must enforce it. This is the only thing that has changed; not our mandate.