Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The first comment I want to make is that programs have to be targeted. We would like to rehabilitate people who are in prison, but we also want them to be able to make full use of their talents in society.
There are not many prisoners who move, after their period of incarceration, to work on farms. We're already recognizing, as a committee, that it's very challenging to enter farming. Prisoners face the same challenges, if not bigger ones. Basically I'm saying that we should be developing skills and talents for them to actually fit into a trade or a line of work once they leave prison, and not many of them go into farming.
The second thing is that it's not free to the correctional system. They must purchase, maintain, update, and overhaul farm equipment. There's a lot of money tied up just in the capital costs of running a prison farm, and there are six of them. It's a program that costs money. That money can be used to better fund other programs and to support better programs.
The third thing I want to say is that Mr. Easter mentioned that all surrounding farms will lose because of this, but I actually think they will gain because of this. The prisoners are working on prison farms and they probably consume most of what they produce. If those farms were not there, the prison would be buying local produce, supporting farms in the surrounding area. So I want to correct that, because I don't believe that was an accurate statement that Mr. Easter made.
Chair, there are a number of reasons that it's not considered to be in the best interest to move ahead or to continue with prison farms.
Thank you.