Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Minister, we've referenced subsection 5(1) of the RCMP Act a few times here. It provides for the appointment of a commissioner “who, under the direction of the Minister, has the control and management of the Force”.
I appreciate, and you stated, that you understand the line between your former role as minister of public safety and the commissioner of the RCMP, but I think the wording of this act is sufficiently vague to allow it to be open to interpretation. We know that previous federal governments have gotten in trouble with direction of the RCMP. There are examples, like the previous Chrétien and Diefenbaker governments.
We have examples in Canada, like Ontario's Police Services Act and the Manitoba Police Services Act, where they do specify that the board shall not give the chief of police any kind of operational decisions. They took the time to put in the specificity of that language.
We have jurisdictions abroad, like the South Australia Victoria Police Act, which goes on to specify all of the matters where the minister may not give the police directions, including “enforcement of the law” and “investigation or prosecution of offences”.
There are examples, legislatively, around the world where jurisdictions have taken the time to add more specificity to the law.
My question to you, sir, is, would you support an effort to add that kind of specificity to subsection 5(1), so ministers of public safety in the future understand clearly where the difference lies between their role and the commissioner of the RCMP's role? Would you support efforts to add specificity, as we do have examples, not only here in Canada, but abroad?