Mr. Speaker, this is an very interesting and important issue. I thought I would have time to discuss it during my speech, but I am glad to be asked about it.
It must be realized that it takes money to conduct investigations and to be fully prepared to make arrests. This implies, among other things, electronic surveillance. We may also have to pay informants, something which is costly. The police may have to conduct investigations and shadow people. All sorts of very important things are necessary to conduct investigations effectively and the costs are in the millions of dollars.
Sometimes, as will be the case in Montreal with the trial, a special courthouse must be built.
There are also attorneys who are not very pleased. They feel that they are underpaid and if we want them to continue to do a good job, we will have to put more money into this.
The police is no longer present in Canada's ports and harbours, but containers full of goods keep entering the ports of Montreal and Quebec City. It seems that all sorts of things can be found in these containers. The same goes for Vancouver.
It is very important to realize that the government must be logical and consistent. Canada is a very large country and we have the longest boundary. The St. Lawrence River, the gulf and the estuary are used to smuggle all sorts of things. The government talks about investing $200 million in this, but it also wants to eliminate jobs in the RCMP and so on. The government will have to sit down, be reasonable and consistent and allocate the necessary budgets. The amount of $200 million per year seems a minimum.