Good afternoon, everyone. This is meeting number 20 of the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security on Tuesday, January 31, 2012.
Before we begin, I want to welcome all members of this committee back to work here in this new session. Happy new year. I know we are all looking forward to a very productive session.
In our second hour today we will take time to have committee business. It's been on the agenda, and we will have it.
In our first hour today, pursuant to a motion brought forward by Monsieur Chicoine, which we passed before the Christmas break, we're meeting with Canada's new Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Our committee wants to provide a warm welcome to Commissioner Robert Paulson.
Welcome here.
He has appeared before our committee in the past, and we are very pleased to have him appear again here today in his new role of commissioner.
Congratulations on that appointment, Mr. Commissioner. We certainly wish you all the best moving forward in this new role.
My understanding is that Mr. Paulson has no opening statement and that he wants to provide as much opportunity as possible for each one of us to ask questions. So we will proceed into the first round of questioning, starting with the parliamentary secretary, Ms. Hoeppner, for seven minutes.