Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Solicitor General.
In British Columbia the RCMP represents the largest portion of police protection. Bill C-17 froze pay and movement within the increment pay grid for two years. Last year the RCMP worked over 600,000 hours of unpaid voluntary overtime equalling $20 million. Fifteen hundred officers met to say quite angrily that this overtime is over if the freeze continues.
Would the Solicitor General please tell this House how he proposes to make up the 600,000 hours while still protecting the community at the highest possible level?