Louis Sebert

Can I have a different chair?

---Laughter

The business case will be worked on and be produced for the fall, and we will be examining that issue, as I indicated.

I have to say that all of the police activity, Mr. Chair, is not driven by the number of calls. I think the police do a certain number of patrols in the community, just somewhat irregularly for reasons that are pretty obvious, but not necessarily in response to a call. It is a mixture, really. Obviously, they will respond to calls, have to determine the seriousness and how to respond, but my understanding is they make patrols to the communities, even if there is not a specific event or complaint. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

-- ability, and therefore costs have been rolled into with PPSA, the federal government. Thank you.

Yes, I do.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Well, that's something that is really going to be determined by us. Clearly, that is a model that is more complex and expensive, I imagine, but it certainly is a possibility. I believe it was mentioned at the Caucus retreat in August. I'm not certain whether there was a consensus in the room as to where to go with that; certainly, that is being examined. The question is how complicated might that be. Cost is always an issue also. So, ultimately, that will be a determination that is made by the House. Thank you.

Mr. Chair, I am not certain that we drill down to that level of numbers in dealing with the RCMP. To a large extent, we rely on their good sense in allocating funds. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Is the Member talking about the $1,000 item?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This information is publicly available. We simply feel that a formal registry would be overly cumbersome.

Yes. Last year at this point, Mr. Chair, of course, we were working on our mandate, and we made a commitment to develop legislation within two years to establish the independent Office of the Ombudsman. The Department of the Executive actually is developing a legislative proposal for spring, late spring, perhaps early summer 2017. Again, there was a series of issues that had to be determined, the scope of it, whether the Ombudsman could initiate investigations on his own, so those issues are being examined. A legislative proposal will come forward by the early summer. Thank you.

Mr. Chair, we are always working with the RCMP to provide better service. It may be that the nature of the complaints is different. Perhaps the complaints in one community were very serious, and the ones in the other community were less serious. I do know that the number of patrols to the smaller communities is determined not necessarily by the size of the community but probably the number and nature of the complaints. Thank you, Mr. Chair.