QUESTION PERIOD — Ministry of Public Safety
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
April 21, 2026
Good afternoon, minister. Contract policing by the RCMP is provided through Police Service Agreements, or PSAs, which are negotiated between the federal government, provinces and municipalities. The current agreements expire on March 31, 2032. In much of rural Canada, the RCMP is the police force. In Saskatchewan, the RCMP is responsible for over 99% of the total area and 45% of the total population of the province.
Municipal and provincial governments need to plan decades into the future. When will the federal government announce what is next for the RCMP?
Senator, thank you for that quite important question. I’ve already outlined the road map to our provincial and territorial partners. We had a federal-provincial-territorial meeting in Kananaskis in October of last year. I met with my public safety counterparts as well as the ministers of justice, and it was clearly iterated there that we are ready to negotiate the contract renewal. Renewals are not automatic, as you are aware. Renewals will require a discussion of the core terms.
We’ve done a great deal of work on the back end in terms of preparation for those discussions. Over the coming months, we will be at the point where discussions will commence.
Thank you for that.
