Mr. Speaker, I think my colleague will agree that the crime rates in this country are far too high, and that is why I think Canadians were very hopeful when the government announced that it would be hiring 1,000 new RCMP officers.
However, we have recently learned that of the 1,000 RCMP officers the government claimed it was hiring, only 750 of them are actually going to be frontline officers; 250 of them are going to be civilian support employees. It gets better. The government, under its early retirement incentive, laid off over 300 civilian employees from the RCMP. The government says it is hiring 250 more employees, but it has let go 300 employees and is bringing in only 750 frontline officers.
This is an investment illusion under the government. Why is it failing to protect our streets, by underinvesting in police?