Debates of June 5th, 2025

Main Estimates, 2025-26

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood—Rouge Park, ON]

Madam Chair, back in December we committed to $1.3 billion in new investments to secure the border. Part of that is the hiring of 1,000 new RCMP and CBSA officers. There are currently 10,000 frontline officers who protect our border, and our intention is to strengthen that not just with personnel, but also with modern technology, including drones and including Black Hawk helicopters. We have three of them that are secured across Canada. There is the training and the personnel required to manage a 9,000-kilometre border. It is one of the largest borders in the world, and it is something that has often not been defended, but we are in a moment in history when we need to strengthen the resources. That is exactly what we are doing.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Madam Chair, finally I would ask, in regard to the first question with respect to the Canadian Police Association, if the minister can just give a sense of the type of support there is from outside the House, obviously from Canadians, but also from so many others who are behind the bill. Why is it so important we pass it?

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood—Rouge Park, ON]

Madam Chair, I did highlight some of this in my earlier speech.

The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police is in support, as are the Canadian Police Association, the Canadian Centre for Child Protection and Leah West in The Globe and Mail, someone who writes a fair bit on national security. There are many more Canadians, organizations and parliamentarians who are supporting the bill.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands—Rideau Lakes, ON]

Madam Chair, my questions will be directed through you to the Minister of Public Safety.

How many frontline CBSA officers are posted to the Canada-U.S. border?

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety]

Madam Chair, there are 10,000 frontline officers, both CBSA and RCMP, who are deployed to secure our border.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands—Rideau Lakes, ON]

Mr. Chair, I will be splitting my time with three of my colleagues.

How many CBSA officers, serving on the front line, are posted at the Lansdowne and Johnstown ports of entry?

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood—Rouge Park, ON]

Mr. Chair, I will be able to get that information for my colleague.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands—Rideau Lakes, ON]

Mr. Chair, how many net new frontline CBSA officers will be serving at the land borders between Canada and the U.S. as a result of the minister's bill?

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood—Rouge Park, ON]

Mr. Chair, with an investment of $1.3 billion we are making toward the border, we will have 1,000 CBSA and 1,000 new RCMP officers to secure the border.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands—Rideau Lakes, ON]

Mr. Chair, by what date will they be at their posts?

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood—Rouge Park, ON]

Mr. Chair, we will be able to provide those operational details to the member in short order.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands—Rideau Lakes, ON]

Mr. Chair, how many shipping containers are scanned on a monthly basis at the Canada-U.S. border?

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood—Rouge Park, ON]

Mr. Chair, again, I will be able to provide that information to my colleague at a later date.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands—Rideau Lakes, ON]

Mr. Chair, are there scanners at the ports of entry at Johnstown and Lansdowne to scan containers or trucks at the border?

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood—Rouge Park, ON]

Mr. Chair, for operational reasons, I probably should not be answering that question.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands—Rideau Lakes, ON]

Mr. Chair, I would encourage the minister to get either numbers or some information, or we could both go to those ports of entry and take a look for ourselves, to see the lack of infrastructure to scan the cans that are coming across the border at those two locations.

How many firearms have been seized at the land borders between Canada and the United States?

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood—Rouge Park, ON]

Mr. Chair, there have been a number of seizures of firearms in different operations. There was Operation Blizzard, which was completed recently. There was an earlier seizure of a number of firearms. I do not have the exact number, but in terms of—

[The Assistant Deputy Chair, Conservative, John Nater]

The hon. member for Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands—Rideau Lakes.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands—Rideau Lakes, ON]

Mr. Chair, how many containers entering Canada have been found to contain fentanyl, smuggled guns—

[The Assistant Deputy Chair, Conservative, John Nater]

The hon. Minister of Public Safety.

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood—Rouge Park, ON]

Mr. Chair, we will be able to provide that information to my colleague.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands—Rideau Lakes, ON]

Mr. Chair, how many additional containers would be scanned as a result of the bill?

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood—Rouge Park, ON]

Mr. Chair, the bill is not looking specifically at scanning. It is a much broader bill—

[The Assistant Deputy Chair, Conservative, John Nater]

The hon. member for Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands—Rideau Lakes.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands—Rideau Lakes, ON]

Mr. Chair, the government is spending $342 million a year to collect legally registered firearms from licensed, trained and tested hunters, farmers and sport shooters.

How much money is being dedicated specifically to interdicting firearms at the border?