Overview: Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security—Supplementary Estimates (B), 2024 to 2025 (December 3, 2024)
Scenario note
Background
SECU will be studying the 2024 to 2025 Supplementary Estimates (B) on Tuesday, from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm. Supplementary Estimates (B) were tabled on .
Officials will appear for the entirety of the meeting from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm. The Minister of Public Safety will appear for the second hour of the meeting from 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm alongside officials.
The SECU motion regarding Supplementary Estimates (B) reads as follows:
The tabling of the Supplementary Estimates (B) for the fiscal year 2024 to 2025, the committee invite the Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions, and Intergovernmental Affairs to testify on the Supplementary Estimates (B) by no later than the end of the current supply period.
General information
Date:
Time: 11:00 am to 1:00 pm
Location: Room 425, Wellington Building, 197 Sparks Street
Witnesses (appearing from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm):
Canadian Security Intelligence Service
- Daniel Rogers, Director
- Jérome Laliberté, Chief Financial Officer and Deputy Director of Administration
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
- Michael Duheme, Commissioner
- Samantha Hazen, Chief Financial Officer
Canada Border Services Agency
- Erin O'Gorman, President
- Ryan Pilgrim, Vice-President and CFO
Correctional Service of Canada
- Anne Kelly, Commissioner, Correctional Services Canada
- France Gratton, Acting Senior Deputy Commissioner
- Tony Matson, Assistant Commissioner and Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Services
Parole Board of Canada
- Joanne Blanchard, Chairperson, Parole Board of Canada
- Claudine Legault, Chief Financial Officer
Appearing (12:00 pm to 1:00 pm):
Honourable Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Public Safety
Opening remarks
The Chair will invite the Minister of Public Safety to deliver opening remarks at the beginning of the second hour of the meeting (12:00 pm to 1:00 pm). Deputy heads have also been asked to provide two to five (2 to 5) minute opening remarks at the beginning of the first hour of the meeting. PS confirmed two (2) minute opening remarks will suffice.
Rounds of questioning
At the Chair's discretion, questions from committee members will proceed as follows:
- First round: 6 minutes for each party in the following order: CPC, LPC, BQ, NDP
- For the second and any subsequent rounds: CPC, 5 minutes; LPC, 5 minutes; BQ 2.5 minutes and NDP 2.5 minutes; CPC, 5 minutes ; LPC, 5 minutes
President's opening remarks
Thank you Mr. Chair.
I would like to outline the funding that has been included for the CBSA in these Supplementary Estimates.
As part of a 2021 commitment to recapitalize port infrastructure, the CBSA received approval to rebuild up to 24 land border ports of entry with a budget of $481 million.
These investments will improve the border crossing experience for travellers, provide border services officers with upgraded infrastructure and technology, and support safety and security.
The CBSA is receiving $23.1 million in these Supplementary Estimates B in order to finish planning and start the construction program at the St-Bernard-de-Lacolle port of entry.
Thus far, three small ports have been completed, including the Fraser, British Columbia, Bloomfield, New Brunswick, and Ste-Aurélie, Quebec, ports of entry.
Two other ports of entry are in progress, those being St-Bernard-de-Lacolle, Quebec, and Wild Horse, Alberta.
The government's National Action Plan to Combat Auto Theft outlines steps we are taking to disrupt, dismantle and prosecute organized crime. It builds upon the successes and collaborative efforts with our provincial, territorial, municipal and industry partners following the National Summit on Combatting Auto Theft held in .
The first quarterly update of the Action Plan was released on .
To date in 2024, the CBSA has intercepted more than 2,100 stolen vehicles, which already surpasses last year's number of 1,806.
We work very closely with police of jurisdiction, coordinating our efforts, conducting joint operations and sharing information in a joint intelligence group.
The $30.8 million being accessed in the supplementary estimates includes money to enhance our intelligence capacity, put border officers at the railyards in the Greater Toronto Area, increase the number of export exams we undertake, and assess new technologies, among other things.
These are the main items in these Supplementary Estimates for the CBSA.
Mr. Chair. I am happy to respond to the Committee's questions.
Minister's speech on the Public Safety portfolio's Supplementary Estimates (B), 2024 to 2025
Monsieur le président, chers collègues,
I'd like to begin my remarks, by congratulating you Mr. Chair, on your recent election and what will no doubt be your successful stewardship of this Committee.
En mars dernier, quand j'ai témoigné devant ce comité pour discuter de mon mandat, nous avons parlé du travail accompli par le gouvernement pour arrêter les criminels qui tentent d'introduire clandestinement des drogues et des armes dans notre pays, ainsi que des efforts déployés pour lutter contre le vol de voitures.
Nous avons discuté de l'ingérence étrangère et de la nécessité de présenter et d'adopter un projet de loi visant à doter le Service canadien du renseignement de sécurité (SCRS) d'outils modernes pour protéger le Canada et les Canadiens.
Depuis ce temps les organismes chargés de l'application de la loi au Canada ont fait beaucoup de progrès.
Au cours des deux dernières années, l'Agence des services frontaliers du Canada a intercepté plus de 13 tonnes de drogues illégales aux points de passage terrestres dans tout le pays. En 2023, l'ASFC a saisi plus de 900 armes à feu prohibées et plus de 27 000 armes.
En , les forces de l'ordre partout au pays ont participé à une opération nationale visant à réprimer la fabrication et le trafic d'armes à feu fantômes.
Environ 440 armes à feu, traditionnelles et imprimées en 3D, et 52 imprimantes 3D ont été saisies.
Cette opération a rendue été possible en raison des nouvelles dispositions relatives aux armes fantômes contenues dans le projet de loi C-21.
As well, in October of this year, Federal Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Investigators took down the largest, most sophistical drug lab in Canada.
The combined fentanyl and precursors seized at this facility could have amounted to over 95 million potentially lethal doses of fentanyl entering our communities or being exported abroad.
On the auto theft front, the Border Services Agency has intercepted more than 2,000 stolen vehicles in railyards and ports to date this year – already exceeding last year's total.
Early national trends for 2024 show a 17 per cent decline in auto thefts.
Additionally, In October of this year, the RCMP took the unprecedented step of releasing findings with respect to the involvement of agents of the Government of India in serious criminal activity on Canadian soil.
Due to that announcement, and subsequent actions taken by the Government, there has been, to quote the Commissioner of the RCMP, a "significant reduction" to the public safety threat posed.
Additionally, in the supplementary estimates before you, our government is investing $16 million to support the RCMP's foreign interference-related criminal investigations.
Those same estimates show CSIS' budget increasing by more than $53 million this year.
While detailed breakdowns of CSIS expenditures are classified, I can say that the tools available to CSIS have been strengthened and modernized with the passage of Bill C-70.
This crucial funding will ensure CSIS can continue to keep Canadians safe from threats, such as violent extremism and foreign interference.
Should these estimates pass, the CBSA's budget will be 42% greater than it was under the previous Conservative Government.
CSIS' budget will have increased 48% compared to 2014, and under our stewardship the RCMP will be receiving 101% more funding to do their important work than they did under Prime Minister Harper.
These investments, and the results that are being achieved, attest to our government's commitment to public safety.
Last year, our government proposed a $637 million increase to the budgets of our public safety department and agencies.
This year, it is over $2 billion.
In 2023, our honourable Conservative colleagues chose to vote against this increased spending.
I hope this year will be different.
Investments found in these supplementary estimates will combat auto theft, advance the work the government is doing to address foreign interference, provide support to those experiencing violent hate, and keep communities from Malahat to Medicine Hat to Moncton safe.
Monsieur le président, notre gouvernement continuera à faire des investissements responsables pour assurer la sécurité de notre pays.
J'espère que nous pourrons compter sur le soutien de tous les parlementaires afin d'adopter rapidement les budgets supplémentaires des dépenses.
Je vous remercie de votre attention.
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