Public Safety Committee on Oct. 23rd, 2025

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood—Rouge Park, ON]

Mr. Caputo, if you want the correct answer, I would invite you to ask Ms. O'Gorman—

[Frank Caputo, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Nicola, BC]

You're the minister. The buck stops with you, Minister.

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood—Rouge Park, ON]

You're citing—

[The Chair, Liberal, Jean-Yves Duclos]

I'm sorry. We'll have to stop. The time is up anyway.

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood—Rouge Park, ON]

Mr. Chair, if I may, we're here to provide concrete answers to legitimate questions that both the opposition and—

[The Chair, Liberal, Jean-Yves Duclos]

That's understood, Minister Anandasangaree, but the time is over for this particular intervention. There will be other interventions.

Let me turn now to MP Ehsassi.

[Ali Ehsassi, Liberal, Willowdale, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister, for once again having made yourself available. This is the second time in the course of the past few weeks, so thank you for being here with all of your officials.

Minister, you were talking about the interactions you've had with U.S. authorities. You've had many meetings. You recognize full well how important it is that we adopt a co-operative attitude with our southern neighbours.

How would you characterize the spirit during these meetings? Do you find that professionals are speaking to each other and that we're doing a good job of addressing some of the challenges that are important not only to us but to our southern neighbours as well?

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood—Rouge Park, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Ehsassi, for that very important question.

We've had a number of very important interactions at the political level through my predecessors, Minister Leblanc and Minister McGuinty. They've had ongoing conversations with border czar Tom Homan. I was able to pick up on those conversations when I was appointed in May. We had a really good engagement in Washington this summer with AG Bondi and her officials. Very recently, in London at the Five Eyes, we had a full day with Secretary Noem, her officials and her senior team.

This is on top of regular engagements operationally with the folks who are at the table, including our fentanyl czar, CBSA President O'Gorman, the commissioner and Dan Rogers, who is not here today as he hasn't been called for today's meeting.

I can categorically say that we have had a very strong relationship. It's one that speaks to the many decades, over 150 years, of relationship that's been nurtured.

We have some irritations right now. At every single occasion, we have identified fentanyl to be an issue that is shared by Canada and the U.S. I often cite that every community in Canada is impacted by the fentanyl crisis and so are the Americans.

However, we know the common denominator of fentanyl inflow to Canada or to North America is not from each other but from overseas. We have common ground to fight that. Some of the measures we've taken, including additional tools of law enforcement, will ensure that we do.

I would say it's very positive.

Mr. Brosseau, maybe you could highlight some of your more recent conversations.

[Kevin Brosseau, Commissioner of Canada’s Fight Against Fentanyl, Privy Council Office]

Indeed, Mr. Chair, the tone and nature of the discussions that colleagues at the table and I have had over the course of the last number of months has been extremely productive in reaching that element of collaboration that is, in fact, building on a foundation of trust and co-operation decades long.

[Ali Ehsassi, Liberal, Willowdale, ON]

You would sum it up as very constructive and very focused, and we're moving forward on priorities that are important to both of our respective countries. Is that correct?

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood—Rouge Park, ON]

Yes, that's correct.

I would go back to the statement President Trump made when Prime Minister Carney was in D.C. on the last occasion, when he said essentially that issues of fentanyl moving north to south had been drastically reduced.

[Ali Ehsassi, Liberal, Willowdale, ON]

Thank you.

Now I will ask the commissioner a question.

Commissioner, as you know, it was quite regrettable that this week we heard some comments from the Leader of the Opposition, which, if I may, questioned the integrity of the RCMP.

I'm not quite sure whether you've had ample opportunity to provide some commentary so we all have a better sense as to what your thoughts are with respect to individuals in Parliament who question the integrity of the RCMP.

[Commissioner Michael Duheme, Commissioner, Royal Canadian Mounted Police]

I said what I said last Thursday at the press conference. Again, I invite Mr. Poilievre to meet with the key leaders of the organization and learn about the organization, because I find myself very fortunate to be the commissioner of such a wonderful organization filled with great people.

[Ali Ehsassi, Liberal, Willowdale, ON]

Could you tell us if the Leader of the Opposition has been receptive and whether he has seen to it that he meets with your senior officials?

[Commr Michael Duheme]

I have not heard back.

[Ali Ehsassi, Liberal, Willowdale, ON]

You haven't heard anything back.

[Commr Michael Duheme]

No.

[Ali Ehsassi, Liberal, Willowdale, ON]

Okay, thank you.

That concludes my questions, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Jean-Yves Duclos]

Thank you, MP Ehsassi.

Mrs. DeBellefeuille, you have the floor for six minutes.

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to the witnesses for being here today.

You're well supported, Minister. It's always a pleasure to see gender parity. There are senior women who have managed to rise through the ranks in government.

I've asked you this question before, but I'll ask it again. You committed to consulting the opposition parties before appointing the commissioner of the soon-to-be-established office of the national counter-foreign interference coordinator. You've repeated that publicly.

However, my party hasn't been consulted so far about the candidates. You promised to announce the appointment on September 15. However, today is October 23.

When are you going to consult with the opposition parties, and when are you going to appoint the commissioner to head that office?

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood—Rouge Park, ON]

Thank you for the question.

I have made a number of commitments along these lines. Initially, my expectation was we would have a name to be shared with the opposition before Parliament convened. In my last appearance, which I believe was last week, I repeated those comments, and that still stands. We do have a name, and we look forward to presenting that name to the opposition and doing the consultation.

On our end, it will be coming forth in short order.

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

Thank you.

Can you confirm that the RCMP's budget will be cut by 2% as part of the budget reduction effort that the Minister of Finance announced to all the agencies and departments?

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood—Rouge Park, ON]

We have. I believe I did confirm that as part of the comprehensive expenditure review, there is a 2% target for Canada Border Services Agency and 2% for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Notwithstanding those reductions, they're both still getting an additional 1,000—CBSA as well as RCMP—personnel.

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

As for the RCMP budget reduction, a figure of $98 million seems to have been floating around. That represents a significant cut for an agency that has to deliver results and ensure the security of our border. I don't know if cutting the RCMP's budget by $98 million is a good idea.

I also want to talk to you about another reduction that was announced. You want to give more power to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the CBSA, for example. However, in the context of Bill C‑2, you agree that the budget of the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency, or NSIRA, should be reduced by 15% over three years.

Don't you find it odd to reduce NSIRA's resources and clip its wings, when it is supposed to conduct investigations to ensure that the RCMP and the CBSA are doing their oversight work?

I find that a bit inconsistent. I'm really disappointed to learn that the government isn't very interested in the fact that agencies related to national security are losing their capacity to investigate and review files.

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood—Rouge Park, ON]

The comprehensive expenditure review is a very important undertaking by the Prime Minister. He has asked every single department to work with our officials to come up with areas of low, medium and high risk so that an assessment could be made.