Evidence of meeting #7 for Public Safety and National Security in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was information.
5:15 p.m.
Conservative
Stockwell Day Conservative Okanagan—Coquihalla, BC
I'm trying to do that.
It was untenable that people would continue to be required to comply when the situation was in a mess. So we said, look, we want to fix the situation, and until it's fixed, you will have until May 17, 2007, to comply with the law. Period.
5:20 p.m.
Liberal
5:20 p.m.
Conservative
5:20 p.m.
Liberal
Maria Minna Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
Okay, I'll ask very quickly.
First, can you tell me if we know the number of murders or homicides committed by long guns, aside from the ones we already know about? And second, was the system in such a mess that we needed to suspend it and give amnesty in order to allow for long guns to continue to be registered?
5:20 p.m.
Conservative
Stockwell Day Conservative Okanagan—Coquihalla, BC
The first question is an administrative one, the answer to which I don't know. I'll let my officials address that if they've got the numbers. And the second one is clearly a policy question.
5:20 p.m.
Liberal
5:20 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
I don't have the answer to your first question on murders. We can get you that information, Madame Minna.
5:20 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Garry Breitkreuz
Thank you.
Ms. Freeman, or Monsieur Ménard, do you have any questions?
Ms. Freeman, do you have a question?
5:20 p.m.
Bloc
Carole Freeman Bloc Châteauguay—Saint-Constant, QC
With regard to the Chabanel project, an astounding 22,500 kilos of hashish were recently seized. This operation, which was carried out last May, was a resounding success. It had very special logistics. This monumental drug bust was carried out abroad.
I would like to know if you think that it would be good for the RCMP to go on intervening abroad in this way. We were told that this was a big opening performance, but I think that some 10 years ago, in Thailand, there was an intervention that went wrong. This may not be the first. Could you answer this question?
5:20 p.m.
Conservative
Stockwell Day Conservative Okanagan—Coquihalla, BC
It was an extraordinary situation. However, had there not been another breaking story about terrorists last weekend, this story would have made all headlines.
In any other news environment, if it had not been for the appropriate and understandable headlines generated by this effort on terrorism--this is a huge story--it would have been a stand-alone headline-filled story that that amount of drugs was seized. It got somewhat buried--and I understand that--by the other headlines.
But it also shows that as focused as we are on making sure terrorism does not become a reality and terrorist acts do not take place in Canada--and it was proven that we have the ability to do that--at the same time the RCMP and other police forces were continuing their efforts on many other fronts, including this one. I'll ask the commissioner if this was the biggest in history, but it was an operation that involved surveillance and was in play for quite a period of time and was then successfully executed. It shows the capacity of our intelligence and RCMP forces at a time when they were also focused on other things.
I don't know if that was a record seizure, Commissioner, but you may want to comment further on that.
5:20 p.m.
Commissioner, Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Thank you, Honourable Minister. This really is a record seizure of hashish.
Ms. Freeman, I would like to comment on what you said. This is not the first time that we have gone abroad, we have been doing this for some years now.
5:20 p.m.
Bloc
Carole Freeman Bloc Châteauguay—Saint-Constant, QC
We heard that this was the first time. I was very surprised because we knew about what had happened in Thailand some 10 years ago.
5:20 p.m.
Commissioner, Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Just like terrorism, organized crime is global in nature. Sometimes, you have to go abroad. Seizures are made with the help of other countries that work with us. This is what we did in this case, it was a joint operation. We were helped by several agencies both in Canada and abroad, and we are very proud of our success.
5:20 p.m.
Bloc
Carole Freeman Bloc Châteauguay—Saint-Constant, QC
Are you intending to carry out more such operations? This was an astounding success, but it is very resource intensive. Are you going to go on doing this on a regular basis...
5:20 p.m.
Commissioner, Royal Canadian Mounted Police
You are right, it is very resource intensive. This is why we are trying to pool our resources more efficiently. Sometimes we have to close down some offices and redeploy resources to other parts of the country, so that we can pursue these organizations and make these seizures as we have done, as a service for Canada.
5:20 p.m.
Bloc
Carole Freeman Bloc Châteauguay—Saint-Constant, QC
What would be the estimated cost of this kind of activity abroad?
5:25 p.m.
Commissioner, Royal Canadian Mounted Police
It can go into millions. These operations are very expensive, Ms. Freeman.
5:25 p.m.
Bloc
Carole Freeman Bloc Châteauguay—Saint-Constant, QC
They could well be very expensive. Do you have a column in your budget with a heading “not expensive”, and that has figures in it?
5:25 p.m.
Commissioner, Royal Canadian Mounted Police
These are federal resources. Thanks to the government, we had a budget increase, which allows us to carry out more...
5:25 p.m.
Bloc
Carole Freeman Bloc Châteauguay—Saint-Constant, QC
Here's my question: do you have a budget for your activities abroad?
5:25 p.m.
Commissioner, Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Not directly, because we have an overall budget.
5:25 p.m.
Bloc
Carole Freeman Bloc Châteauguay—Saint-Constant, QC
So I can gather that nothing has been specifically set aside for activities abroad?
5:25 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Garry Breitkreuz
I was going to give Mr. Norlock another question, but I think we're completely out of time.
I'd like to thank our witnesses for the information they have given us today. I appreciate their coming to the committee.
Thank you, Mr. Minister and all of the people for the meeting.
For the rest of you, if you could just remain for a minute, we want to decide whether we're going to meet Monday.
Monsieur Ménard, you had interrupted the meeting. Do you wish to discuss your issue on Monday?