Madam Speaker, I have listened with some interest to the hon. member. I think the comments he makes about the police in this country are important.
I agree with him that the job of the police and the RCMP is difficult. They have to exercise great care in making difficult judgments. Clearly the RCMP are answerable to Canadians through things such as the public complaints commission. If Canadians do not have faith in the process of this commission because there is not a level playing field or even if that perception is there—and I think the evidence in this debate is that it is—even if the process exonerates the members of the RCMP, is it not then unfair to those members of the RCMP to have them come out of a public inquiry that already appears to be tainted?
Would it not go further to help the interests of those police members if the students were given independent legal counsel so that if the public complaints commission found that there was no wrongdoing, then that finding may well be beyond reproach? However, to leave it on an unlevel playing field as it currently is will surely prejudice any outcome, thereby harming the RCMP members themselves.