Liberals must be transparent with Canadians when security is at risk

OTTAWA – The NDP is calling on the Liberal government to come clean with Canadians and explain what they are doing to resolve network failures that have prevented RCMP officers from properly doing their job. The RCMP Commissioner has said that network computer outages prevent officers from connecting to the system, sometimes for up to 11 hours, which puts Canadians and officers at risk.

“The Commissioner has said these network failures could have catastrophic consequences and we need to know how the Minister plans on addressing these failures immediately to protect Canadians," said NDP Public Safety Critic, Matthew Dubé. “The fact is that the RCMP’s ability to do its job was hampered for a significant period of time. Canadians need to know that this government is taking action, especially when it involves their security.”

A letter sent by the Commissioner to Minister Goodale included examples of IT failures that disrupted every officer’s BlackBerry, affected dispatching, and prevented the RCMP and 240 other police forces from accessing the Canadian Police Information database.

"We already knew Shared Services was a boondoggle and now the RCMP Commissioner has said IT failures have increased by 129 percent in the last five years," said NDP Public Services and Procurement Critic, Erin Weir. “The Minister of Public Services must be transparent with Canadians and immediately provide answers. How long has this government known about these problems? Canadians have a right to know if their security is at risk and Canadians need to know what the Minister has done to fix the situation.”