In one of his final moves as prime minister, Trudeau argues for bold RCMP reform
Outgoing leader pitching an RCMP solely focused on federal policing, like national security and terrorism
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is using some of his final hours in office to call for a drastic and controversial shakeup to one of the country's most emblematic institutions: the RCMP.
In an exclusive interview, Trudeau laid out why he believes the Mounties should get out of the boots-on-the ground policing they provide in provinces across the country and instead shift focus to challenges like national security, violent extremism and terrorism, money laundering, cybercrime and organized crime — including fentanyl rings.
"We know we have an extraordinary institution. But I know from having seen it that the RCMP is strained — we've all seen it — in dealing with the level of threats and the new reality of a much more dangerous world," he told CBC News.
The prime minister is putting out a white paper later Monday that outlines a gutsy — and controversial — vision for the RCMP to focus solely on federal policing priorities.
Prime
Minister Justin Trudeau is shown at Canada House in London on March 2.
The outgoing leader says he has been thinking about RCMP reform 'for
probably 20 years.' (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)
As it stands, the RCMP also serves as the police of jurisdiction in most provinces, three territories, 150 municipalities and about 600 Indigenous communities.
The prime minister's proposal would see the police service eventually end its contracts, which reports have said soak up resources and funding to the detriment of its federal policing wing.
Trudeau argued that the "gap between doing necessary front-line enforcement in a rural community across the Prairies or in the North, to going after the evilest cybercriminals you can imagine who are threatening our kids" is so vast, it's "maybe not the best use of our resources."
"As politicians, as leaders, we have a responsibility to step back and say, 'But is this fit for purpose in the 21st century?'" he said.
Government has long faced pressure to reform RCMP
The crux of the white paper — a report outlining the government's proposal for legislation or explaining a political issue — is not new.
Calls to reform the RCMP have been mounting for years — perhaps never as intense as after the 2020 mass shooting in Nova Scotia that left 22 people dead, the worst in Canadian history.
The resulting public inquiry denounced the RCMP response to the crisis on almost every level and called for radical change.
In 2023, a special intelligence and security committee warned Trudeau's government that it needed to give urgent attention to federal policing or risk seeing national security files fall through the cracks.
A
memorial to one of the victims of the April 2020 mass shooting in Nova
Scotia. A gunman killed 22 people in a murderous rampage in Portapique
and several other communities. (Liam Hennessey/The Canadian Press)
The timing of the paper, coming the day after the federal Liberal Party elected its next leader and in the final days before Trudeau vacates the job he's held for nine years, will likely garner criticism.
"I have been trying to do this since the very beginning. So this isn't me trying to jam something out the door," he said, when asked about the timing of the proposal.
"This is me realizing that we're at a moment where we have to bring Canadians, all Canadians, into this conversation."
Trudeau didn't answer whether he's discussed his vision with his successor, saying following through on his vision would likely trace multiple mandates of different prime ministers.
The white paper is a guide to move forward, but following through would require a legislative overhaul, a new training academy, budget updates and rounds of negotiation.
He argued that this blueprint is for a future prime minister, "if they want to take national security seriously, if they want to build on the responsibility of keeping Canadians safe."
Proposal not supported across the board
Previous iterations of the idea to ditch contract policing haven't received across-the-board support, and Trudeau's proposal will likely find detractors with the RCMP's union, the National Police Federation, and with some provinces.
While places like Alberta have discussed ditching the Mounties over the years, and cities like Surrey, B.C., already have, others say the cost to go it alone is too high.
Under the RCMP's existing contract agreements, provinces and territories pay 70 per cent of the cost of the RCMP's services and the federal government covers the rest.
The agreements are set to expire in 2032. The white paper suggests that might be a good transition point and calls on the provinces to start thinking of their needs and solutions "now."
RCMP business model has to change, says commissioner"I think, quite frankly, that 70-30 split — and the fact that the federal government delivers $800 million worth of value of policing that the provinces don't pay for every year — is something that we're looking to fix anyway," Trudeau said.
The prime minister said that could mean provinces going it alone or, for example, having an Atlantic police force or an agency covering all of the Prairies.
The white paper, which was shared with CBC News before its public release, says the government should work with the territorial leaders and Indigenous partners to "define a new policing model to support fair access to adequate and effective policing services that reflect their unique needs and circumstances."
The outgoing leader said he's not saying how long this process should take or how the provinces should pivot but that the conversation needs to happen.
"Every time one of those comes up, it's like, 'Oh, well, the RCMP will be diminished.' Well, no, the RCMP with the stetsons and the Musical Ride and the history and the bison — but also that extraordinary international reputation of which Canadians should be proud and can be proud — should be equipped with people," he said.
The shakeup is personal for Trudeau, who, as he pointed out, was raised surrounded by the RCMP when his father was prime minister.
"I was raised on the Mad Trapper of Rat River stories, Mounties always get their man, this idea of the Mounties as something that is iconic and core to who Canada is," he said.
"One of the things I wanted to do when I got elected prime minister was make sure that the RCMP structures and capacities and abilities were worthy of the incredible men and women who serve."
Trudeau's final day in office is not yet clear, but he told reporters last week he would transition to his successor in the coming days.
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Trudeau government made dozens of appointments after announcing he'd resign
Many will only take effect after the next federal election
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government has stacked agencies and Crown corporations with dozens of future appointments and early appointment renewals, many of which would only go into effect weeks and months after the next election.
A CBC News analysis of order-in-council appointments made since Jan. 6, when Trudeau announced he would step down as prime minister, found 88 future appointments — some scheduled to go into effect as late as November.
Orders in council do not require parliamentary approval.
Some are for part-time positions that pay modest per diems, but others are for senior executives or advisers making more than $200,000 a year.
While a handful of the future appointments are only scheduled to last a few months, most would last years — with two set to last seven years. Most have been appointed "on good behaviour," which means a future government would have to prove that they were guilty of bad behaviour in order to remove them before the expiry date of their appointment.
While some of those benefiting from the future appointments have ties to the Liberal Party, many others do not.
Overall, Trudeau's government made far more appointments during this period than it has in past years. According to the government's order-in-council database, between Jan. 6 and March 11, Trudeau's government made 231 appointments, compared with only 123 for the same period in 2024.
Every single vacant Senate seat has also been filled. Barring resignations, the next vacancy will occur on May 14 when Conservative Senator Don Plett is scheduled to retire.
In 2015, when it was revealed that Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government made 49 controversial future appointments and reappointments in its dying days, newly appointed Liberal House Leader Dominic LeBlanc described them as "an abuse of process."
He sent a letter on behalf of Trudeau, calling on 33 of the 49 who received appointments that went into effect after the election to decline the role.
Thursday, LeBlanc's office referred all questions about the Trudeau government's future appointments to the Prime Minister's Office.
Trudeau's office has not yet responded to questions from CBC News.
Prime minister-designate Mark Carney's office has not responded either to questions about whether they were consulted about the Trudeau government's last-minute future appointments or whether they have agreed to make any appointments on the Trudeau government's behalf once Carney is sworn into office.
Pace of appointments quickened after resignation
In 1984, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau recommended more than 200 patronage appointments be made. His successor, John Turner, not only didn't cancel the appointments but made 70 of his own — decisions that dogged him during the election campaign that brought Brian Mulroney's Progressive Conservatives to power.
The flurry of last-minute appointments by Trudeau's government is in sharp contrast with the problems it has had over the years filling vacancies — often leaving large numbers of vacant order-in-council positions or appointees continuing in their positions long after the end dates of their mandates.
For example, in August 2023, 416 positions — nearly a quarter of order in council appointments — were vacant or occupied by someone whose mandate was past its end date.
Those appointments are sometimes made a few days or even a few weeks in advance. Between Jan. 6 and March 12, many were made several weeks or months in advance.
For example, Donald Obonsawin still had two years in his mandate as a trustee of the Canadian Museum of Nature. He was promoted to vice-chair of the board of trustees, effective May 18, for four years.
Jonathan Goldbloom's previous appointment as a member of the board of Via Rail was set to expire on March 24, 2026. On March 7, he was given a new appointment to chairman, effective April 12, for five years.
Former Liberal cabinet minister Pierre Pettigrew's appointment as chair of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada was set to expire on July 1. On Feb. 17, he was handed his third appointment to the position, for three years effective July 1.
The same day, Pettigrew's fellow board member, Lisa De Wilde, was given an early reappointment, effective July 4 for three years.
Two members of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's board of directors, Sandra Mason and William Tam, were also given future appointments on Feb. 17 for five-year terms, effective June 1.
The longest future appointments — seven years — were both made by Justice Minister Arif Virani who appointed Carol Shirtliff-Hinds as deputy director of public prosecutions, effective April 14, and Christopher Sutton as accessibility commissioner of the Canadian Human Rights Commission, effective May 5.
The minister who made the largest number of future appointments was Steven MacKinnon, minister of employment, workforce development and labour. During the period analyzed, MacKinnon made 26 future appointments, many of them to the Social Security Tribunal (SST) or the Employment Insurance Board of Appeals.
MacKinnon's office defended the appointments, saying they are a "standard and necessary practice to ensure stability" and are "open, transparent and merit-based."
"Most of the reappointments and appointments are for the Social Security Tribunal, an independent body, which plays a crucial role in ensuring that Canadians have access to fair and timely decisions on matters like employment insurance, the Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security," his office said in a statement.
"All appointments and reappointments to the SST are made upon the recommendation of the chair who is responsible for the operations of the tribunal."
The minister with the second-largest number of future appointments was David McGuinty with 14, many of them to the Parole Board of Canada. Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge was third with 11 future appointments.
Overall, 18 of the 37 members of Trudeau's cabinet made future appointments, including Trudeau who made five appointments to positions that take effect in the future, including two that take effect in November.
Conservative Opposition House leader Andrew Scheer was quick to criticize the Trudeau government's future appointments.
"It comes as no surprise that in the dying days of the prime minister holding office, Liberals have been caught helping their Liberal insider friends with plush posts and appointments," Scheer wrote in a statement.
"Even as the Carney-Trudeau Liberals kept Parliament shuttered during a crisis to focus on their internal struggles for power, they still managed to help their friends and put themselves first."
Scheer's statement was silent on the future appointments made in the dying days of the Harper government.
Scheer also questioned Trudeau's commitment to make the Senate independent and non-partisan, saying most senators appointed by Trudeau have been Liberals.
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Trudeau wants RCMP focused solely on federal policing
From: National Police Federation <communications@npf-fpn.com>
Date: Tue, Mar 11, 2025 at 12:08 PM
Subject: RCMP Members are Proud to Have Canada’s Back. Thank You for Having Theirs | Membres de la GRC sont là pour vous aider. Merci de les aider en retour.
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