Anne McLellan

[Border Security, October 31st, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I wish the hon. member would not believe everything he reads in the papers. He should have been with me this morning before the Senate Committee on National Security and Defence, where the president of the CBSA, Alain Jolicoeur, and I responded to these allegations. Mr. Jolicoeur made it absolutely plain that the allegations as they appeared in the paper were false.

I can reassure everyone that the CBSA is a 21st century modern border service agency that is intelligence-led and driven.

[Border Security, October 27th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, if the hon. member wants some figures, here are some figures. In budget 2005 we allocated an additional $500 million to the CBSA. In fact, we are hiring 270 new front line officers. Let me reassure the hon. member that we have approximately 12,500 full time employees at the CBSA and over 80% of them are directly in the field securing our border.

If anybody should get the facts straight around here, it is the hon. member.

[Border Security, October 27th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, as the Prime Minister has already referenced, the Mayor of Toronto, David Miller, and Chief of Police Bill Blair both indicated in August of this year that 50% of firearms used in crimes came here from the United States.

What we need to focus on here is the actual conversation that took place between the Prime Minister, myself and the Secretary of State. That conversation was about the shared challenge of making sure our border is secure and the shared challenge of stopping gun smuggling so that the people of Toronto and all over North America are safer.

[Public Safety, October 26th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, there is absolutely no contradiction between the Prime Minister and myself, nor the Prime Minister and myself and Condoleezza Rice. We all agree that gun smuggling is a problem and that it is a shared problem, which is what I have said.

In response to the hon. member's question, I would hope we all know that gun crime on the streets of cities like Toronto is about more than the smuggling of guns. We have to look at the root causes of crimes. We have to look at whether we have the right laws in place.

[Tourism, October 25th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, let me reassure the hon. member that we have been discussing this issue with our American counterparts from the moment Congress indicated that it wanted such a legislated response in relation to biometric secure identity documents.

In fact, the Minister of Foreign Affairs has taken this matter up with the secretary of state. I have talked to my colleague, Michael Chertoff, about this. Our officials are working with U.S. officials in the department of homeland security. Clearly, we want a solution that works for both sides of the border. We have indicated our deep concern, as have others, with this initiative if it is to go ahead.

[Border Security, October 25th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, we have increased funding dramatically for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The RCMP in fact works as part of the integrated border enforcement teams, working with agencies at all levels on this side of the border and with its counterparts in the United States. In fact, that program is being evaluated right now, but so far has proven to be one of the most remarkable shared law enforcement border incentives that we have taken up in decades.

The CBSA is a new agency with new personnel and new resources, all committed to--

[Public Safety, October 25th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister and I last evening had the opportunity to discuss the shared challenge of illegal guns with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. In fact, we had a very constructive discussion around the fact that it is a shared challenge. We are working together, but there is more that we need to do together. On all sides we have reconfirmed our commitment to do that work together.

[Softwood Lumber, October 24th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, let me be absolutely clear here. There should be no misunderstanding that the $3.5 billion that has been finally adjudicated, we have been clear we will settle for nothing less than the $3.5 billion back. When the $1.5 billion is finally adjudicated, we anticipate that we will win that adjudication once and for all and we will get that $1.5 billion back.

The Prime Minister has been absolutely clear—

[Softwood Lumber, October 24th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker—

[Hazardous Materials Information Review Act, October 21st, 2005]

moved that Bill S-40, An Act to amend the Hazardous Materials Information Review Act, be read the first time.

(Motion agreed to and bill read the first time)