QUESTION PERIOD — Public Safety

Government leader, British Columbia’s Lower Mainland is facing a spiralling extortion crisis. Your government’s response has been lacklustre at best. Just yesterday, Surrey police charged three foreign nationals after an extortion-related shooting this past Sunday. This is a culmination of 10 years of failed Liberal policies on public safety and immigration. Leader, why isn’t your government committing more police resources to B.C.’s Lower Mainland to help address this growing crisis?

Yes, I have information specifically on the Surrey situation, and I’ve been told that arrests have been made as recently as this morning in that specific case. I know that the RCMP is providing more manpower, and we have police forces that are working on tackling everything related to the Surrey situation. We are well aware of that situation. Unfortunately, I can’t find the specific answer, but I have it with me here. We are aware of that situation, and we are working on it quite seriously.

It is absolutely a growing crisis, but while extortion and gun crime run rampant in British Columbia, your government’s gun confiscation program continues to waste public money by targeting law-abiding, licensed firearm owners, including my husband. Would you not agree that the $750‑million price tag on this program, opposed by more than half of the provinces, would be better spent strengthening law enforcement, border security and security vetting in our immigration system?

I will go back to the Surrey situation; I have the information now. The government has provided significant resources to specifically fight extortion on top of other criminal justice reinforcements, including $4 million in federal funding to bolster the B.C. Extortion Task Force — which is what your question was aiming at — and $1 million to support victims alongside the Government of British Columbia.

As I mentioned, I can confirm that arrests have been made as recently as this morning. I think four people have been arrested —

I’m sorry, Senator Moreau.