Top Mountie says he's keen on Ottawa's plan for a 'separate and distinct' federal policing unit

A looming shakeup in how the RCMP's federal policing wing tackles national security files can't come fast enough for the country's top Mountie.

"If I had a magic wand, I'd want it in place by tomorrow," Commissioner Mike Duheme said in an interview airing soon on Rosemary Barton Live.

Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc recently wrote to his provincial counterparts signalling Ottawa plans to make federal policing "separate and distinct" from the RCMP's boots-on-the-ground policing obligations in the provinces and territories.

A government source with knowledge of the plans told CBC News the separate federal policing institution will receive dedicated funding, resources and members.

"We want to dive a little bit deeper into federal policing and see how we can strengthen it," Duheme said.

The change appears to be a response to mounting calls to reform the country's largest police service.

The RCMP's federal policing side — which investigates foreign interference, terrorism and other threats to national security, along with high-level organized crime and cybercrime — has been losing regular members over the last decade in order to fill vacancies in the contract policing section.

Mounties in federal policing who are posted to detachments to address gaps in provincial policing are often not replaced, undermining the work of the federal policing unit.

Last year, the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians issued a report saying the RCMP's federal policing mandate is hindered by resource issues and competing demands from the contract policing side.

Federal policing is not "as effective, efficient, flexible or accountable as it needs to be to protect Canada and Canadians from the most significant national security and criminal threats," the committee warned. 

It urged the government to review the relationship between federal policing and the RCMP's contract obligations. 

Outside of Ontario and Quebec, the RCMP provides front-line policing services through contract agreements with the provinces and territories.

Under those agreements, which expire in 2032, provinces and territories pay 70 per cent of the cost of the RCMP's services and the federal government covers the rest. Municipalities pay between 70 and 90 per cent of their contract costs, depending on their size.

In a letter to B.C. Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth, LeBlanc said he envisions "an end-state for federal policing that is separate and distinct from the RCMP contract policing mandate."