Finance Committee on June 5th, 2012
Evidence of meeting #70 for Finance in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site.) The winning word was chair.
A recording is available from Parliament.
On the agenda
MPs speaking
Also speaking
- Gordon Boissonneault Senior Advisor, Economic Analysis and Forecasting Division, Demand and Labour Analysis, Economic and Fiscal Policy Branch, Department of Finance
- Sue Foster Acting Director General, Policy, Appeals and Quality, Service Canada
- Margaret Strysio Director, Strategic Planning and Reporting, Parks Canada Agency
- Stephen Bolton Director, Border Law Enforcement Strategies Division, Public Safety Canada
- Michael Zigayer Senior Counsel, Criminal Law Policy Section, Department of Justice
- Garry Jay Chief Superintendent, Acting Director General, HR Workforce Programs and Services, Royal Canadian Mounted Police
- Jeff Hutcheson Director, HQ Programs and Financial Advisory Services, Coporate Management and Comptrollership, Royal Canadian Mounted Police
- Darryl Hirsch Senior Policy Analyst, Intelligence Policy and Coordination, Department of Public Safety
- Ian Wright Executive Advisor, Financial Markets Division, Financial Sector Policy Branch, Department of Finance
- Nigel Harrison Manager, Legislative and Parliamentary Affairs, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
- David Lee Director, Office of Legislative and Regulatory Modernization, Policy, Planning and International Affairs Directorate, Health Products and Food Branch, Department of Health
- Anthony Giles Director General, Strategic Policy, Analysis and Workplace Information Directorate, Department of Human Resources and Skills Development
- Bruno Rodrigue Chief, Income Security, Federal-Provincial Relations and Social Policy Branch, Department of Finance
- Gerard Peets Senior Director, Strategy and Planning Directorate, Department of Industry
- Suzanne Brisebois Director General, Policy and Operations, Parole Board of Canada, Public Safety Canada
- Louise Laflamme Chief, Marine Policy and Regulatory Affairs, Department of Transport
- Judith Buchanan Acting Senior Manager, Labour Standards Operations, Human Resources and Skills Development Canada
- Mark Hodgson Senior Policy Analyst, Labour Markets, Employment and Learning, Department of Finance
- Stephen Johnson Director General, Evaluation Directorate, Strategic Policy and Research Branch, Department of Human Resources and Skills Development
- James McNamee Deputy Director, Horizontal Immigration Policy Division, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
- Graham Barr Director General, Transition Planning and Coordination, Shared Services Canada
5:20 p.m.
Conservative
5:20 p.m.
Director, Border Law Enforcement Strategies Division, Public Safety Canada
Two months.
5:20 p.m.
Conservative
Shelly Glover Saint Boniface, MB
I've been a police officer for 18 and a half years. That is an incredible record of success, which adds to the fact that we need to collaborate more. It would enhance the safety and security of our borders, etc.
I also know that witnesses have testified in support of this bill. Some aboriginal communities have been concerned about the smuggling of contraband and that kind of thing. I believe this will alleviate some of their concerns as well, particularly when they have suspects crossing their borders who are engaged in this kind of criminal behaviour, coming into their towns, bringing these illegal substances, these illegal drugs, into areas where their children, their grandchildren, their loved ones are being affected.
It is imperative that we proceed. I'm in complete disagreement with the NDP position that this needs to be studied further. It's been studied quite a bit. As Mr. Bolton has indicated, the results were extremely positive when a pilot was done. I think it's important that the committee move to support this unanimously. This is imperative to the safety and security of Canadians. I absolutely do not understand the position taken by the NDP on this, and I would suggest that they would want to support this unanimously, given the long history of study on it and given the success we've seen.
Thank you.
5:25 p.m.
Conservative
5:25 p.m.
Liberal
Scott Brison Kings—Hants, NS
Mr. Chair, while it's true that the government introduced this division as stand-alone legislation, Bill C-60, back in 2009, they did not bring it forward for second reading and it was never debated in the House. The bill was reintroduced a year later as Bill S-13, but again, at the time it was not a priority bill for the government and it died on the order paper.
This is the first time these legislative changes have come up for debate in the House. It does require more consideration, and frankly, to say that these were considered under different legislation, under different parliaments in the past, does not reflect the reality that we do have a different Parliament, and the makeup of the current Parliament is quite different from the makeup of the last Parliament. We have new members of Parliament who have a fiduciary responsibility to oversee legislative changes.
It's not enough to say that we considered these in previous parliaments. The people spoke in the last election, much to my chagrin in some ways, but the reality is that a different Parliament was chosen by the Canadian people, and as such this Parliament—the current members of Parliament of all parties—has a responsibility to ensure full oversight. I think this is not enough, and that we ought to have engaged and enabled the members of the current Parliament to have more time as they do their jobs at the appropriate committees and to provide oversight on these legislative changes.
5:25 p.m.
Conservative
5:25 p.m.
NDP
Guy Caron Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC
I have a question for the witnesses.
To begin, Mr. Zigayer, Mr. Bolton and Mrs. Glover, welcome again. As far as I remember, when we asked you questions the first time, you mentioned that the treaty had been signed some time ago, a few years, and that some attempts had been made to put it into law, whether it was through the Senate or the House of Commons.
Approximately how long ago was that? For how long has there already been at least a rough draft of the bill prepared already?
June 5th, 2012 / 5:25 p.m.
Michael Zigayer Senior Counsel, Criminal Law Policy Section, Department of Justice
The treaty was signed in 2009.
5:25 p.m.
NDP
5:25 p.m.
Senior Counsel, Criminal Law Policy Section, Department of Justice
It was Bill C-60 that was subsequently tabled. I seem to think that a prorogation occurred just before that.
5:25 p.m.
NDP
5:25 p.m.
Senior Counsel, Criminal Law Policy Section, Department of Justice
Then we were at the stage of completing the study of Bill S-13 in the Senate when there was the election last year.
5:25 p.m.
NDP
5:25 p.m.
Senior Counsel, Criminal Law Policy Section, Department of Justice
5:30 p.m.
NDP