House of Commons photoLost his last election, in 2019, with 34% of the vote.
Public Safety March 22nd, 2016
Mr. Speaker, here at home the Canadian police services and security services are vigilantly doing their job every day. Obviously on a day like this when they redouble their efforts to ensure that Canadians are safe, they have examined the threat level in this country, as they do on a continuous basis. They have determined, to this point in time, there is no reason for adjusting that threat level. It remains at medium where it has been since October 2014.
Public Safety March 22nd, 2016
Mr. Speaker, during the election campaign, the commitment was very clear that we would do everything in our power to make sure that our security and police services were effective in keeping Canadians safe and, at the same time, that Canadian values, rights, and freedoms were thoroughly and properly respected. There is no contradiction between those two positions.
Questions on the Order Paper March 11th, 2016
Mr. Speaker, the RCMP accesses data from various records management systems that each require a varied search methodology to retrieve the requested information. Given the current time constraints, the RCMP is unable to provide the requested information as it would require a considerable amount of resources and time.
In addition, the RCMP records management systems are “incident” based. There are a number of animal cruelty-related offences that exist within the record management systems. Any of the animal cruelty-related “offences” on any “incident” that exist on the RCMP’s records management systems may not be the only offence related to the incident. If a charge were laid or recommended in relation to the incident, a manual review would be required of every “cleared by charge” occurrence to ensure that the animal cruelty-related charge was in fact the one laid.
Finally, given that the requested data is for the year 2015, it is expected that the vast majority of these offences would not yet have cleared the provincial court systems and, as such, no reliable disposition information would yet be recorded.
Questions on the Order Paper March 9th, 2016
Mr. Speaker, with regard to (a) through(d), between December 2009 and December 2015, neither CSC nor any other party of which CSC is aware proposed, conducted, or concluded any evaluation specifically on the efficacy of the Integrated Police and Parole Initiative, or IPPI.
With regard to (e)(i), the decision to conclude the IPPI was based on the results of a national consultation that took place in 2013 with the stakeholders of the intelligence program. Fiscal constraints within CSC generated the impetus for this consultation, including pressure associated with the deficit reduction action plan and the need to contribute to the government’s efforts to balance the budget. A decision to conclude the IPPI by April 1, 2015, was announced in October 2014.
With regard to (e)(ii), the decision was made in order to contribute to the government’s efforts to balance the budget and the need for CSC to assess its intelligence functions within the context of fiscal restraint. CSC made determinations about which intelligence functions were the most critical in ensuring that CSC was able to deliver on its public safety mandate. This review guided the decision to conclude the program.
With regard to (e)(iii), between December 2009 and December 2015, neither CSC nor any other party of which CSC is aware conducted any evaluation specifically on the efficacy of the IPPI.
With regard to (e)(iv), the total net cost savings from the conclusion of the IPPI was $600,000 annually.
With regard to (e)(v) and (e)(vi), while there are no plans to reintroduce the IPPI at this point, CSC will continue to work closely with police agencies to maintain partnerships and ensure public safety. More specifically, in 2008-2009, with the provision of integrity funding, CSC established community security intelligence officer, CSIO, positions across the country to enhance community intelligence capacity. Given that the CSIOs are responsible for the planning, coordination, and administration of CSC’s community security intelligence program, CSIOs continue to act as the primary point of contact for police agencies and other partners concerning intelligence-related issues. Furthermore, the preventive security and intelligence program continues to provide decision-makers with reliable and timely intelligence and information on potential threats within the offender population. Since the conclusion of the IPPI, CSC has continued to productively engage with law enforcement on community intelligence issues, the recapture of offenders who have gone unlawfully at large, and offender release planning through effective information sharing and consultation in order to deliver the best possible public safety results for Canadians.
Public Safety March 7th, 2016
Mr. Speaker, we indicated in the election platform, and it is in my mandate letter, that we will work with provinces, communities, and organizations across the country to develop a new system of community outreach and effective counter-radicalization initiatives in order to make sure that we build strong individuals in strong communities, defending the very best of Canadian values.
We will move on that expeditiously.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police February 24th, 2016
Mr. Speaker, our election platform provided a clear mandate to ensure that the RCMP is indeed a healthy workplace. Sexual harassment is never acceptable.
On February 4, I asked the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP to undertake a comprehensive review of RCMP policies and procedures to evaluate the implementation of recommendations against harassment, which were made by that commission in 2013.
Instances of harassment must be met with comprehensive, transparent investigations, strong discipline, support for victims, and action to ensure a safe and respectful environment going forward.
Public Safety February 24th, 2016
Mr. Speaker, the system we have put in place was designed with the best expertise in Canada, and I am very pleased to say that the commissioner of the RCMP, the director of CSIS, and the president of the CBSA have all said, on their own volition, that they believe the system is thorough and satisfactory and that it is accomplishing the Canadian objective, to get this humanitarian project done and get it done properly and safely. That is in fact the case.
Public Safety February 24th, 2016
Mr. Speaker, the system that is in place to protect security in relation to the Syrian refugee project has been designed by the Department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, with the expert advice of the CBSA, the RCMP, and CSIS. They have done their job exceptionally well, and at the end of the project when we have all of the information about how successful it has been, we will be happy to share that with the House.
Public Safety February 22nd, 2016
Mr. Speaker, the impact of this book by Pickton is painfully traumatic for the victims. All Canadians share in that grief. Canadians also expect Amazon to respond quickly and sympathetically to this outrage, which I understand it has done this afternoon.
The Correctional Service is investigating the source of the manuscript. We will be examining all those who have assisted in any way in this odious enterprise.
Justice February 17th, 2016
Mr. Speaker, the hon. gentleman makes a specific reference to Surrey. I can assure him that the commitment made of the number of officers to be added to that detachment will be honoured by this spring, on target, as planned originally.
I will also tell him that our platform included a very useful suggestion for a new fund to work through the provinces and with local police forces across the country to combat the awful scourge of guns and gangs, and drugs. We are being very proactive on this file.