Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for St. John's East for his fine speech and for his indication that the NDP will be supporting the bill at second reading.
I want to ask him something specifically about the importance of this legislation. In the province of British Columbia and in Newfoundland as well RCMP officers in many of our communities are the only police force. In my riding of Nanaimo—Cowichan the RCMP is the only police force there. I also understand that in many of our communities, and again this is the case in my community, we often have difficulty in filling the vacancies for RCMP officers. The bill currently before us may help in some of that recruitment and retention.
I wonder if the member could comment first of all on some of the challenges he sees with recruitment and retention of RCMP officers, but also how the implications in Bill C-10, which roll back that agreement, will contribute to some challenges for the RCMP in recruiting the members that many of our communities rely on. Rural and remote communities are often not the first community of choice. If we cannot make sure that RCMP officers are treated fairly with their wages and pensions, we are going to have increasing difficulties. I wonder if the member could comment on that.