Public Safety Committee on Feb. 12th, 2026

[Marcus Powlowski, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

Is this the policy of the RCMP that they give the power to the individual jurisdiction to be able to restrict their officers from leaving?

[Brian Sauvé]

Well, the commanding officer of the division obviously has control over their manpower and how they deliver under their provincial police service agreement, or municipal police service agreement or municipal police unit agreement, depending on the province or the jurisdiction.

[Marcus Powlowski, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

Wouldn't RCMP command be able to override that and make it a rule to say, no, the individual commanders cannot restrict their people moving to other positions?

[Brian Sauvé]

Well, that's a good question for the commissioner.

[The Chair, Liberal, Jean-Yves Duclos]

That's too bad because we now have to move to a different MP, and in this case, it will be Madame DeBellefeuille.

Mrs. DeBellefeuille for two and a half minutes.

[Claude DeBellefeuille, Bloc, Beauharnois—Salaberry—Soulanges—Huntingdon, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

We are here to ask questions about and debate the clauses in Bill C‑15 that affect you. As you know, the government has already increased pensions by 10% for seniors aged 75 and over. However, it has not done so for seniors aged 65 to 74, thereby creating two classes of retirees.

Do you feel that this also creates inequities for veterans and RCMP officers with regard to pensions?

Based on my understanding of Bill C‑15, it does not affect veterans, only RCMP members, even though they currently fall under the same rules.

Have I understood correctly?

[Brian Sauvé]

Yes.

In the future, there will be three types of veterans: RCMP members, veterans, veterans discharged post-2006 and veterans discharged pre-2006.

RCMP members seem to be classified as veterans discharged post-2006. There will therefore be two groups: post-2006 veterans and pre-2006 veterans.

[Claude DeBellefeuille, Bloc, Beauharnois—Salaberry—Soulanges—Huntingdon, QC]

Basically, the government is supposed to look after the common good. It is supposed to meet the needs of its people.

I cannot understand why it wants to create division between veterans who receive a disability pension and those in the RCMP. I cannot understand the rationale behind this.

Do you have any assumptions as to why we are discussing legislation today that will change the lives of RCMP officers?

I just do not understand. Can you speculate? Is it just about saving money?

[Brian Sauvé]

Here is my assumption.

“They didn't think it through.”

As I suggested in my opening remarks, we could include a grandfather clause for everyone receiving a disability pension until January 1, 2027. The new rules would come into force after January 2027.

[Claude DeBellefeuille, Bloc, Beauharnois—Salaberry—Soulanges—Huntingdon, QC]

Can you propose any amendments we could make to the bill? We will have to prepare a report and submit our recommendations to the Standing Committee on Finance.

Basically, you are proposing that we include your recommendation on the grandfather clause in our report.

Is that correct?

[Brian Sauvé]

That's correct.

We were talking about it this morning. No doubt, we could propose some amendments or recommendations for you to consider in your debate on Bill C‑15.

[Claude DeBellefeuille, Bloc, Beauharnois—Salaberry—Soulanges—Huntingdon, QC]

Okay.

Is—

[The Chair, Liberal, Jean-Yves Duclos]

Thank you very much, Mrs. DeBellefeuille. I am sorry to have to interrupt you again.

Mr. Lloyd for five minutes.

[Dane Lloyd, Conservative, Parkland, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Sauvé, for being here.

As I've said in regard to members who put themselves in harm's way to protect communities in Tumbler Ridge and everywhere else across the country, our thoughts are with them and their families.

I want you to talk more about your privacy concerns in regard to the legislation we're talking about today. Can you elaborate on that?

[Brian Sauvé]

I can.

For those who are not aware, Veterans Affairs Canada is considered to be the WSIB, if you will, for members of the RCMP. If you're talking about a workers' compensation regime for a municipal or provincial police officer, it's a separate government agency. WSIB Ontario is not the OPP. If I make an application to WSIB Ontario, they may seek information from my employer to confirm the police car accident or whatever, but they're not necessarily going to share medical information with my employer. That is the trend around the world.

What we see here is the fear that Veterans Affairs Canada is going to allow the sharing of personal medical information with the RCMP, whether it be percentage of disability, treatment reports from psychologists, medication that's been prescribed, prognoses of betterment or diagnoses. This information could then be used by the RCMP in an occupational setting to make determinations about a member's future as a police officer.

[Dane Lloyd, Conservative, Parkland, AB]

Would that be available to all members?

[Brian Sauvé]

It would be.

[Dane Lloyd, Conservative, Parkland, AB]

There was a recent article this week about the Minister of Public Safety committing to maintain the RCMP's current structure of contract policing for those provinces that want to continue with it. There are, however, concerns about the funding being provided to the RCMP to fulfill its federal policing mandate and its many other mandates.

With current and projected funding levels, are you confident that the RCMP can carry on with all these duties effectively?

[Brian Sauvé]

I think we have to establish that we're moving in the right direction. I've spoken about the 1,000 new personnel, who should all be police officers or sworn members of the RCMP. That's a move in the right direction.

Is it enough? No. We will continue to advocate for more. If you go back to the Senate report on the RCMP, or even to the report we did last year, we should probably have 3,000 more to effectively do what we do.

It's a step in the right direction, and we'll continue to press for better.

[Dane Lloyd, Conservative, Parkland, AB]

With my remaining time, can you elaborate more on the proposed changes to the RCMP disability pension?

[Brian Sauvé]

Which one is it? The sharing of medical information is one. The indexation proposal is the second one.

[Dane Lloyd, Conservative, Parkland, AB]

It's the proposal on the indexation.

[Brian Sauvé]

It's my understanding—the way I read this—that currently indexation decisions annually on those who receive a disability pension are based on two formulas. It's the greater of either the CPI or the federal wage growth formula—whichever one is higher annually is applied.

The proposal here is that effective January 1 next year only CPI would apply to all—even those who are already retired and in receipt of a Veterans Affairs disability benefit. That could impact future wage growth or future pension growth over time.

[Dane Lloyd, Conservative, Parkland, AB]

My apologies for not researching this myself. Over the past five years, which one has grown at a greater level, the wages or the CPI?

[Brian Sauvé]

I believe they've used the federal wage growth formula six times in the last 20 years.