Mr. Speaker, for over a decade, there has been an automated external defibrillator, or AED, in the trunk of every cruiser in the Ottawa Police Service, 145 in total. In 2012, this resulted in nine successful saves of heart attack victims. In 2013, eight lives were saved. That is an average of one life saved per every 17 AEDs annually.
AEDs purchased in bulk cost less than $1,000 apiece. That means it would cost only $5 million to place an AED in every one of Canada's 5,600 RCMP cruisers and less than $4 million to place an AED in every one of the 4,000 cruisers of the Ontario and Quebec police forces.
Now let us do some math. At one life saved per 17 AEDs, these 9,000 units could save over 500 lives each year. Since an AED lasts 10 years, we could save 5,000 lives over the next decade at a cost of $2,000 per life.
Saving lives has never, ever been cheaper, so let us make this happen.