Steven Blaney

[Public Safety, March 31st, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I hope the member has listened to the many witnesses. Here is one to whom I would like him to pay attention.

Bill C-51, and this is an important reminder, is directed against Islamist jihadists to prevent them from achieving their stated objective of carrying out terrorist threats against the west, including Canada. Our country is facing a serious threat.

—the measures proposed in Bill C-51 to deal with the nature of threats Canada faces are quite rightly and urgently needed....

That was professor Salim Mansur from Western University in Ontario.

[Questions on the Order Paper, March 31st, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, with regard to (a), the RCMP is currently finalizing the implementation of the countering violent extremism, CVE, program components and anticipating that the program will be fully operational in late 2015. The RCMP has started to provide CVE training to front-line law enforcement across Canada.

With regard to (b) and (e), the CVE mandate is part of the public engagement program that has eight full-time employees operating on a budget of $1.1 million. Throughout the course of the year, additional resources were pulled from various divisions and national headquarters for an additional $2 million. As a result, in fiscal year 2014-15, the RCMP is projecting total expenditures of $3.1 million on its CVE mandate.

With regard to (c), 18 RCMP members have received training through the program. In addition, 12 police officers from outside agencies have received training, from the Toronto Police Service, Vancouver Police Department, Calgary Police Service, Edmonton Police Service, Service de police de la Ville de Montréal, Sûreté du Québec, Service de police de la Ville de Québec, Peel Regional Police, the Ontario Provincial Police and Ottawa Police Service. The RCMP also supported and facilitated the counter terrorism information officer program training for 400 front-line Toronto Police Service officers. The counter terrorism information officer workshop delivery has also been leveraged to provide awareness of radicalization to violence. These workshops, a fixture of the RCMP’s counter terrorism training for nearly a decade with over 1,800 individuals trained to date, provide training to law enforcement and first responders to detect signs of radicalization to violence, build overall terrorism awareness and help serve as a basis for future terrorism prevention program training. In 2014-15, over 647 officers were trained through the workshops, significantly increasing the number of RCMP officers trained in how to detect signs of radicalization.

With regard to (d), (f) and (g), the RCMP CVE program is not aimed at specific individuals or communities. It is designed to work with individuals who have been identified by law enforcement based on a number of pre-determined, unbiased and objective criteria that are grounded in research, or by the community itself. The RCMP works with all its diverse communities and does not focus on specific communities based on their ethnic background or religious faith. The RCMP is committed to building trust with all of the communities it serves to share mutual concerns and develop collective solutions.

With regard to (h), in keeping with its mandate, the RCMP undertakes comprehensive national security outreach efforts to work directly with individuals, families, communities and as such, the CVE does not have a designated duration timeline.

[Public Safety, March 30th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, as I have said, our government is open to reasonable amendments to ensure that the anti-terrorism bill achieves its objective, which is to protect Canadians while also strengthening their rights and freedoms.

As for oversight, Canada should be proud of its model, and this bill contains a number of provisions that strengthen both the monitoring mechanisms as well as the oversight mechanisms, including threat reduction.

I invite my colleague to read part 4 of the bill, which gives the review committee expanded powers in that area.

[Public Safety, March 30th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, again, let me tell the member and those who are listening to us that keeping our streets and communities safe is our priority. I am proud to stand with a government that has done so much not only to keep our streets safe, but also to take care of victims. We have done that by increasing our investments with respect to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. We have invested in crime prevention. We also want to protect Canadians against a terrorist threat.

Let me say that this government is committed to ensuring that the RCMP has sufficient resources to keep Canadians safe.

[Public Safety, March 30th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, once again, I thank my hon. colleague. He has given me an opportunity to remind those who are listening to us that this Conservative government has increased by one-third the financial resources for the RCMP. Why? Because we believe it is important to ensure that it has efficient resources, not only the resources but also the tools, especially when we are facing a terrorist threat. That is why here and abroad this government is standing up for Canadians and protecting them.

[Public Safety, March 30th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for referring to a specific table, and I would like to give him an overall picture of the situation.

Since coming to power, the Conservative government has increased the budget of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police by over one-third.

Unfortunately, my colleague and the Liberal Party did not support these increases. However, I can assure the House that we will continue to ensure that our police forces have the resources they need to protect Canadians and carry out their mandate.

[Public Safety, March 30th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, while we have increased the budget or the RCMP by one-third, we did not get the support of the opposition.

Keeping our streets and communities safe is our priority. While training and procurement are matters that fall under the direct review of the RCMP, our government supports Canada's law enforcement agencies with legislative tools such as Bill C-51, which the NDP are not willing to give to our RCMP officers, and resources.

Will the New Democrats stand up for the RCMP? Where is the NDP when talking of public safety and security?

[Public Safety, March 30th, 2015]

It is amazing to hear, Mr. Speaker, the NDP using excuses not to support a bill that has common sense measures to protect Canadians against the terrorist threat we face, a terrorist threat we have seen in Ottawa, we have seen in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, in Copenhagen, in Paris, in Sydney.

This is a serious matter. I count on the committee to come up with good proposals and amendments that would strengthen the bill, strengthen our protection, our right, but, more important, keep us safe from the terrorist threat we now face.

[Public Safety, March 30th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, the Government Operations Centre plays a vital, critical role for our country because it monitors events that could have catastrophic consequences, such as floods, earthquakes and fires. It was created in 2004 and is responsible for coordinating all government operations. Clearly, Bill C-51 does not cover those activities

Still, I would like to invite my colleague to avoid looking for excuses for not putting effective mechanisms in place to protect Canadians.

[Public Safety, March 30th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I have confidence that the committee will improve the bill with reasonable amendments that will make it better and provide greater protection for Canadians.

I would like to quote a former Supreme Court justice, John Major, who said that better information sharing could have prevented the Air India tragedy.

We have to take concrete measures. Sharing information is part of that. Protests are not subject to that information sharing.