During the 1970 October Crisis, the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) kidnapped and killed Quebec cabinet minister Pierre Laporte.
Hurt by the criticism, the RCMP Security Service began a pattern of illegal activities in an attempt to prevent any similar incidents from occurring in the lead up to and during the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal.
[1] The cause of the McDonald Commission was accidental; a former RCMP member on trial for bombing a private residence offered in his defence that he had done much worse things while serving on the RCMP Security Service, including having broken into the press office used by left-wing Quebec groups to steal membership lists.
[1] The McDonald Commission examined a number of allegations made against the RCMP, including its theft of the membership list of the Parti Québécois, several break-ins; illegal opening of mail; burning a barn in Quebec[2] where the Black Panther Party and Front de libération du Québec were rumoured to be planning a rendezvous; forging documents; and conducting illegal electronic surveillance.
Its principal recommendation was to remove responsibility for national security from the RCMP and assign it to a new civilian spy agency.