Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day says there's no crisis in the ranks of the RCMP despite allegations of corruption at the highest levels.
Day appeared on CTV's Question Period on Sunday and countered the suggestion that Canadians are losing faith in the national police force.
"I don't agree it's in crisis. I agree there are some problems being talked about and we're going to get to the bottom of that quite quickly," Day said.
"This is a force of some 25,000 men and women across the country, renowned throughout the world for what they do and how they do it. They do their job well, and with integrity, but some problems have come up."
The RCMP has grabbed headlines in recent months over its involvement with the case of Syrian-born Canadian Maher Arar. He was deported to Syria in 2002 by the U.S., based on misleading information provided by the RCMP to the U.S.
And just this week, the RCMP suspended a senior Mountie in charge of human resources, as more details emerged of alleged fraud in the force's pension system.
Day said a probe of the pension fund and insurance plan allegations, and an alleged cover-up of the internal investigation, will result in a public report within eight to 12 weeks.
He said the alleged corruption is not system wide, but is confined to a small group of individuals.
"However, if there are other issues that come up through this investigation process, then we will want those dealt with and they will be dealt with," Day said.
He also pointed out that the Ottawa Police Service was asked to investigate allegations in 2004, and came back with a view that there was not enough evidence to support the allegations of criminal activity.
"But we do believe that there were things done that were inappropriate. We want those brought fully to light," Day said.
The opposition has called for a full public inquiry into the allegations. Day has refused, and explained on Question Period that doing so could extend the investigation by up to several years.
Instead he said there will be a public investigation.
"If we move immediately to a public investigation, which is what we're doing, which will require a public report both to myself and to the president of the treasury board and, of course, to parliament, we can get the answers a lot more rapidly."
Ron Lewis, a former RCMP staff sergeant who made many of the allegations about alleged fraud in the force's pension system when he testified at the Public Accounts Committee, also appeared on Question Period on Sunday.
Lewis, who pushed for years for a full inquiry, said the recent measures are a step in the right direction but there are still many questions remaining.
"Well, it's a good start. Now, there's some details that are unknown yet. We don't know who's to be appointed. We don't know the legislative framework and the powers of the investigator for this inquiry," Lewis said.
"But it's going down the right road. We have parliamentarians onboard now. All parties are in agreement. So that's the first positive sign I've seen in almost six years."
