Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Good morning to you and to the honourable members. I'm pleased to appear before you today to consult you on the criteria we propose to use to find the next commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
I have with me Mr. Graham Flack, the associate deputy minister at Public Safety Canada, whom you've already met.
Section 5 of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act sets out the statutory requirements related to the appointment of the commissioner by the Governor in Council. Governor in Council--or GIC--appointments are those made by the Governor General on the advice of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada as represented by cabinet.
The government is committed to competency-based, open and transparent selection processes for Governor in Council positions. The Prime Minister has set out his expectations with respect to GiC appointments in Accountable Government – A Guide for Ministers and Ministers of State.
The guide states that "it is essential that all appointees be well qualified, and senior government appointees must be chosen through a process that ensures broad and open consideration of proposed candidates."
Further, it specifies that an important aspect of the appointment process is the desire to ensure that Governor in Council appointments reflect Canada's diversity in terms of linguistic, regional, and employment equity representation, and that all GIC appointments are subject to an assessment process and rigorous background and other checks prior to appointment.
The new RCMP commissioner will be appointed in accordance with the act and in a manner consistent with the practices introduced by the government to improve the transparency and rigour of the appointment system. This guidance was laid out for ministers in 2009 in a document entitled “A Guide to Managing the Governor in Council Appointments Process”.
Mr. Chairman, I do have a copy of the guide in both official languages that I would be pleased to provide for the committee should you so wish.