Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thanks through you to the witnesses for appearing today.
I'll start off by saying that I hope this committee doesn't descend into the political stuff that I just heard a few minutes ago. There has been a 26% increase in CBSA officers. Some border crossings have three vehicles a day, so you have to rationalize where you put the CBSA officers.
We talk about federal responsibility concerning crime. The federal government makes criminal law in this country. Does that mean that it's responsible for paying for all the criminal enforcement?
Let's look at our Constitution; it lays down quite specifically whose responsibilities lie where. But in modern times we realize that by acting together in a cooperative stance—and I'm talking about federal, provincial, and municipal governments—we get a lot more done. And so, when in this country a few years ago we saw the need for extra police officers, because there was a need and we recognized the need, we worked with our provincial and municipal counterparts and brought in a temporary fund to assist in the recruitment and training of new officers. Note the word “assist“ there. When we as a government were faced with requests from municipal governments for additional funding, we made permanent the gas tax, so municipalities get from the federal government, now every year, a guaranteed amount of money.
So let's get out of that. What I'd like to talk about in the economics of policing is not that we need more money, because there is a limit; there is a limit to how much the taxpayer can pay. When I look within Ontario, I see that in some municipalities up to 50% of the municipal budget is as a result of public safety costs.
I'm very impressed, quite frankly—and that's why I was hoping Chief Liu could be here—with some of the innovative ways the Cobourg police department has met some of the challenges they have.
Chief Liu, you talked about the criminal background checks and how you've been able to modernize them and to help with policing costs. I am hoping you can go a little bit further into that.
I also notice the increased usage in police forces in Ontario—it's no secret that for 30 years I was a police officer—of volunteers and auxiliary police officers, especially at parades, to do those jobs that can be done by trained auxiliary police officers. Cobourg is a community that has a lot of events; almost every weekend there's some kind of festival, or something is going on to enhance the life of that community. I've seen how the police have been innovative, using Segways and ATVs.
Chief, could you talk to us about new and innovative ways that you have been able to look for additional sources of income within your budget? You mentioned BlackBerrys and how modern technology has assisted your department in doing more efficiently the job that you have to do.