Evidence of meeting #166 for Public Safety and National Security in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was cbsa.
A video is available from Parliament.
4:20 p.m.
President, Canada Border Services Agency
Thank you.
We get about 200 leads a year, which result in about 50 investigations. The additional funds that we're going to be receiving will help us to deal with some of the more complex cases and overall increase our capacity to pursue these investigations and hopefully stop the problem.
4:20 p.m.
Liberal
Ruby Sahota Liberal Brampton North, ON
Can you elaborate on the leads?
Do clients of these consultants call CBSA and report them?
4:20 p.m.
President, Canada Border Services Agency
It could be a variety of different sources that we catch wind of. Sometimes it's our own analysis in terms of working with the Immigration and Refugee Board, if they see something suspicious. It could be a number of different ways that we would be apprised of somebody who is worthy of an investigation.
4:20 p.m.
Liberal
4:20 p.m.
President, Canada Border Services Agency
Ultimately, they could face criminal charges.
4:20 p.m.
President, Canada Border Services Agency
If it were a criminal offence, then it would depend on whether or not we did something with the RCMP. It depends on the nature of the outcome of the investigation.
4:20 p.m.
Liberal
Ruby Sahota Liberal Brampton North, ON
Okay.
Is this increase for the first time, or is this the regular amount that's usually allocated?
4:20 p.m.
President, Canada Border Services Agency
No. This is an increase of $10 million over five years, so it's actually around $2 million a year, if I remember the profile correctly. It's just, as I say, to increase our capacity, because we are starting to see a bit more and, as I said, there's the complexity of some of these cases representing multiple clients and trying to sift through that information and focus our efforts better.
4:25 p.m.
Liberal
Ruby Sahota Liberal Brampton North, ON
Okay.
Recently, Minister, we've heard so much news in Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick about flooding. How much of your budget has been spent on mitigating the effects or dealing with the aftermath of the flooding that has occurred?
4:25 p.m.
Liberal
Ralph Goodale Liberal Regina—Wascana, SK
We can actually get you a statement of the DFAA, disaster financial assistance arrangements, payments over the course of the last number of years. It really is instructive. I would be glad to supply that information to the committee, because it shows that the losses covered by DFAA in the last six years, mostly for floods and wildfires, are larger than the amount the program spent in all the previous years, going right back to 1970.
4:25 p.m.
Liberal
Ralph Goodale Liberal Regina—Wascana, SK
Something obviously is happening with the climate and with the incidence of wildfires and the incidence of floods in the last number of years. The pace has accelerated dramatically.
4:25 p.m.
Liberal
4:25 p.m.
Liberal
Ruby Sahota Liberal Brampton North, ON
Have the criteria changed as to under which conditions the government would be funding, or is it mostly just due to climate change and these events occurring more often?
4:25 p.m.
Liberal
Ralph Goodale Liberal Regina—Wascana, SK
It is a larger number of incidents that tend to be more serious and more expensive with every passing year. The criteria are essentially the same. In fact, a few years ago, the previous government adjusted the funding formula so that the provinces would pay for a larger portion before the federal share would kick in, and that would tend to reduce the amount that the federal government would be paying because the cost-sharing formula was adjusted a bit. Despite that, the volume of federal payments is higher because the losses are larger.
You can just think of the spectacular ones, such as the flooding around High River, Alberta, a few years ago. I think that was the most expensive flood in Canadian history. Fort McMurray in northern Alberta had the most expensive fire disaster in Canadian history. That was followed by two very expensive years in British Columbia.
We're also having serious issues this spring, with the floods a few weeks ago in Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick, and now, in the last week or so, with the fires at Pikangikum First Nation in northwestern Ontario, and in northern Alberta. I think that it's about 11,000 people now who are evacuated in northern Alberta, and the entire community at Pikangikum is in the process of being evacuated.
It is a very serious problem. Climate change has its consequences, and they are growing more serious.
4:25 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal John McKay
We're going to have to leave it there.
We're getting close to the end, but I think Mr. Eglinski might have a couple of minutes to ask a question if he wishes to.
4:25 p.m.
Conservative
Jim Eglinski Conservative Yellowhead, AB
Not that lucky this time....
Thank you to all the witnesses, and congratulations, Brian, on your recent promotion.
4:25 p.m.
Voices
Oh, oh!
4:25 p.m.
Conservative
Jim Eglinski Conservative Yellowhead, AB
Minister, as you are aware, we did a public safety report on rural crime. My Alberta colleagues and I did quite an extensive round table consultation throughout the province. People are very concerned not only in Alberta but also in Saskatchewan. I understand that you heard from some of their mayors about the shortage of RCMP. Crime increased by about 30% in rural Canada versus in urban.
What really alarms me is that I just looked at the RCMP 2018-19 plan, and it has your manpower progressions over the last five years up to the year 2019-20. Actually, the law enforcement program is calling for a reduction in police officers from 1,366 to 1,319. These are just the manpower numbers. You are increasing the overall strength of the force by 1,033, and you're increasing the administration by 460. Your increase is only about 0.6%, 0.1%, 0.2%, 0.2% over the next few years. The attrition rate has to be 10 times that number.
How are you going to provide policing? How can you tell the people in rural Canada, whether in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, B.C. or Alberta, where that policing is going to come from? Are you going to look at your contract to look at strengthening those numbers? The numbers you have here show that you don't have the manpower.
4:30 p.m.
Liberal
Ralph Goodale Liberal Regina—Wascana, SK
I'll ask the deputy commissioner to respond to that as well.
Mr. Eglinski, I would just point out that we have tripled the capacity of new recruits coming out of the Depot training academy in Regina, with over 1,100 compared to a much smaller number earlier. Also, if I remember correctly, the number last year of new people going into Saskatchewan was about 135, which was a significant increase. This coming year about 90 new officers will be going into that particular region.
Part of your answer is that we're increasing the capacity of training at Depot to generate officers more rapidly. As you know, you can't do this overnight. You want to be sending officers who are fully trained and qualified to do the job of protecting Canadians. It's a serious business, and we are accelerating the recruits.
The commanding officers in both Alberta and Saskatchewan have also taken initiatives in the last two to three years to deploy officers based more on criminal intelligence so that they're being deployed more strategically than was perhaps previously the case.
I note that both the Attorney General of Saskatchewan and the commanding officer in Alberta have observed that in the last year they've actually seen an improvement in the crime statistics.