Mr. Chairman, we would add the six positions to the 217. Let me say, across the board and throughout the country the RCMP are hard pressed to train enough officers to make sure that we have enough officers to fill the vacancies and the needs that the provinces and territories have. They have an ambitious plan that they are rolling out to try to be better able to do that. We're hopeful that they'll be able to do that because it is certainly one thing to create the position and to get the funding, but it's also very difficult to staff positions throughout the country. I think in addition to that national reality, we are also faced with the fact that Public Works Canada has decided that they are not going to subsidize housing for RCMP and that RCMP will have to pay market rates for housing, making it, as we go forward here, more and more expensive for officers to locate in the North. That is something that we are very concerned about and something that we are taking that discussion to the federal level to try to appeal to them and have them recognize that that would be probably, we think, too onerous for northern jurisdictions. We know that officers have a choice in where they're going to be located and we think that will hurt our vacancy rate over time if that's the case. But that is what they are planning to do, and we're certainly working to see if there can be some special recognition of our challenges and the cost of housing in the North for officers. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Brendan Bell on Item 16: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
In the Legislative Assembly on February 21st, 2006. See this statement in context.
Item 16: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 16: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
February 20th, 2006
Page 1195
See context to find out what was said next.