Mr. Chair, the minister tells us that, with the RCMP, we can count on a safer working environment. She speaks of priority and strategy, threats from other countries and from terrorism, and what the RCMP officers do in the community.
All of these things sound good in the House, but we must not lose sight of the fact that the minister has closed nine RCMP detachments in Quebec. That is important because these nine are close to the border, and as a result the border is no longer secure. We have evidence to prove that. Three committees of the Standing Committee on Justice, Human Rights, Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness have addressed the question of whether these detachments ought really to be closed or whether they should be kept open. The committee's response was as follows:
That the Committee recommend to the government that the RCMP immediately stop reassigning personnel in Quebec in order to keep the nine detachments in Quebec open, and that it maintain a critical mass of eight officers per detachment.
That seems clear to me. Why does the minister not recognize this? She ought to acknowledge that the Standing Committee on Justice, Human Rights, Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness has made some unanimous recommendations. The minister feels that the RCMP commissioner is right and that the detachments should be closed. In three weeks, 17 vehicles sailed through the Lacolle border post, one of them a bus. The Lacolle detachment is, moreover, the one with the most officers on duty. There are 50 officers on rotation in the Lacolle area.
Why are these small detachments being closed. Why are there not more staff? Why is there no longer anyone to protect the elderly and everyone in each riding where detachments have been closed down?