Thank you for your question.
As you know, the security of Parliament is under the supervision of the Speaker of the House and the Speaker of the Senate. I was pleased to learn that they recently decided to merge their two services.
Wherever we are moving forward in terms of security there are three guiding principles that have to guide us and, I would suggest, to guide the Speakers in their moving forward and our willingness to fully support them. As you know, for the security of the precinct, this role is played by the RCMP. It is important that we have a unified command, so that whenever something happens there is a flow of information. This is the very first important principle, that we have a unified command.
The second important aspect of this strategy is that we have a leadership that is fully aware of the full capability and the capacity of security. This is why there has been a very productive discussion with the Speaker. We already have seen a major improvement on the Hill.
At this point in time I must stress that the threat that was considered was mostly a car and vehicle threat. Now we need to consider that pedestrians could also be considered as a potential threat. That's why there has already been an improvement and an adjustment to the security.
So a unified command and interoperability among the different forces.... It does not really matter what colour the uniform is. What matters is that these individuals are all working together under the same direction and applying the safety rules and securing the access to this very important place. This is the House of the people. We understand that and this certainly has to be considered, but also in the meantime people have to be protected, whether it's people inside or outside Parliament. This is how we are moving forward.
I must tell you, as you can tell there have been major improvements and we will support the two Speakers in their willingness to move forward and increase the security of the Hill, both for visitors and those who work here and for parliamentarians as well, who obviously have a privileged access to this place.