Mr. Speaker, the RCMP has a long-standing reputation for providing Canadians with policing services at the federal, provincial, territorial and municipal levels in over 750 detachments across the country. The government has made a significant investment in the RCMP on the federal side, as well as by meeting our contracts with the provinces. Indeed, the RCMP is now recognized internationally as a modern, sophisticated police force.
We provide the RCMP with a spending authority of almost $3 billion. In fact, since 1999-2000, the RCMP's annual spending authority has increased by about $850 million, from just under $2 billion to more than $2.8 billion.
The funding provided permits the RCMP to fulfill its obligations under the various police services agreements. Under these agreements, the provinces are responsible for the appropriate level of policing service in consultation with the commanding officers. The provincial police services agreement includes a cost share formula, 70% provincial, 30% federal.
Since 1999-2000, the RCMP has been authorized to spend an additional $505 million amount for the provision of contract policing services, an increase on the federal side alone of $225 million.
For the upcoming fiscal year, we will support the RCMP with additional spending authority of $88 million and more than 500 new officers for contract policing services. The federal share of this increase is $33 million, with the remainder being paid by our contract partners.
The RCMP is also a responsible partner with the provinces. The force addresses vacancies in consultation with the provinces and municipalities for detachments across Canada on a continuing basis. In fact, the RCMP is processing requests for more than 180 additional contract officers in Alberta and 142 new municipal police officers in British Columbia. In addition, the RCMP continuously works with provincial governments and municipalities to address resource issues.
In Saskatchewan there are currently 1,100 RCMP members providing contract policing services.
The RCMP is committed to ensuring that necessary resources are available and allocated to fulfill its policing requirements.
As has been previously indicated in this House, the RCMP's Depot Division in Regina, Saskatchewan is training a record number of cadets this year. In comparison with the 586 newly hired RCMP members in 2001-02, the RCMP has hired well in excess of that number of regular members every year since: in 2002-03, 649; in 2003-04, 839; and a total of 850 regular members to be hired in 2004-05.
In addition, the RCMP is currently conducting a review of all recruiting processes to identify strategic improvements to its recruiting program to ensure that the RCMP continues to meet its law enforcement commitments.
There is strong public support from local and national public health and community safety organizations and workers for all aspects of the firearms program. This government is committed to providing the RCMP with the tools it needs to do their work. This speaks directly to the reference to the Canadian Firearms Registry. The registry is an important tool for the RCMP. It queries it on average 2,000 times a day.
The Canada Firearms Centre costs have been coming down for several years. In 2004 the government announced improvement to the firearms program and measures to control costs, with a commitment to the centre's annual funding of approximately $85 million starting next fiscal year, including a cap of $25 million on registration related costs. This is half of what the funding of the centre was in 2000-01. In fact, there have been major improvements in terms of the organization of the firearms centre and the firearms program in recent years.
In addition, the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police and the Canadian Professional Police Association support the licensing of all firearms owners and the registering of all firearms. Indeed, the police association passed a motion in 2004 saying just that.