Well, the minister has, and we can't believe him. He has never provided the evidence.
In any event, whether or not they go to work on another farm here is not the point. They come out understanding farm skills, understanding farm operations, with skills in terms of punctuality, teamwork, etc., so that they can work in another job. That in itself is important.
I think the real issue here, in terms of why these particular prison farms are closing.... I might say, Mr. Chair, that the 2007 study, “A Roadmap to Strengthening Public Safety”, is the only study that has been done and released, and it never even referenced the prison farm. As in so much of what this government does, they move ahead on perceptions and assumptions without any real evidence. That's what we're seeing here again.
I think the real point...and the Minister of Public Safety said it in response to an order paper question tabled on October 6 on what the plans were for the land on which the prison farms currently reside. The answer was, and I quote, “Future additional capacity needs may make it necessary for some of the land to be used for prison constructions.” In an interview with The Globe and Mail, Peter Van Loan stated on October 16, “It wouldn't be prudent to dispose of the land if you may have potential plans in the future to build super regional prisons.”
So the real objective here, Mr. Chair, in closing down these prison farms, which give rehabilitative effect to inmates, which give training and skills in terms of farming, which teach a lot of skills in terms of teamwork, etc.... I think the real impact is that the government doesn't care about that. They might want to sell some of the land as an asset to cover the deficit they're driving this country into. They may want to use some of the land to build a super-prison, so we can throw more people in jail without the rehabilitative impact that provision farms can provide. That's really the whole thrust of this government.
As the Minister of Public Safety said, and it's indicative of the government as a whole in terms of everything from their agriculture policy to everything else, they really don't believe.... As Mr. Van Loan said, “We felt that money could be more adequately redirected to programs where people would actually gain employable skills...”. It's just another insult to the farming community.
For all those reasons, Mr. Chair, I believe we should do this study. I do expect the government members will likely vote against it, because if there's one thing about these government members, it's that they don't want to find out the facts.
Thank you very much.