Justice Committee on May 27th, 2010

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I'm delighted to hear that. Not being a regular member of the committee, I wasn't aware of it. That explains the hour thing; I was wondering why it was only an hour for the whole meeting.

Minister, thanks for being here today.

In your letter of May 25 to Mr. Fast, the chair of the committee, and responding to questions from members of the committee from a previous visit, I see that Mr. Ménard asked you to name the last criminology study or research report that you read.

I'm wondering why you couldn't have given a straight answer. What you said instead was, “I can advise that...we take a broad look at research work...that we hear from victims and victims groups”. Obviously you've got your own ministerial staff, you've got a huge department that reads. People there obviously read all kinds of reports. But I think it was a fair question, and I think you could have said, well, I can't remember the last one I read, or I haven't read them, or whatever.

[Rob Nicholson, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

I actually misunderstood what he said. I thought he was asking in terms of the department, what the department was doing, and so I answered in sort of a general way at the time.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

But your letter, sir, says, in number 3--

[Rob Nicholson, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

Exactly--as I was informed afterwards.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

But your letter says, and you signed it, “Mr. Ménard asked me to name the last criminology study/research report I had read.”

[Rob Nicholson, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

That's right. Yes.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

I would think that when you reviewed this letter before signing it, you would have said, wait a minute, this isn't the correct answer to what I was asked.

[Rob Nicholson, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

Let me start again, Monsieur Regan.

When Monsieur Ménard asked the question, I misunderstood what he said at the time before the committee. I thought he was referring to what the Department of Justice was doing in terms of studies or having a look at that. I was informed later that he asked me what the last thing was that I read, whether it was the Queen's Quarterly, the McGill Law Journal, or the various other studies that we were getting.

They told me afterwards that what he had said was specific to me, it wasn't specific to the department. So when we wrote the letter to Mr. Fast as chairman of this committee, we certainly clarified what it was and went back.

Again, I didn't understand the question at the time, and we made it very clear.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

I can see why at the time, if you didn't understand, you would have talked about the department then or something, but I don't see why... I mean, a lay person reading this letter says to themselves, wait a minute, he's been asked one question and he answers another one in the letter on paper.

I still don't understand, but let's move on from that.

Could you tell us the percentage increase in your department's budget in this fiscal year versus the 2009-10 fiscal year?

[Rob Nicholson, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

Yes, we have that for you. It's going from about $689 million to about $712 million this year, Mr. Regan.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

You don't have the percentage of that increase at the moment.

[Rob Nicholson, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

We can figure that out for you.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

One of the other questions I'd like to ask about is the percentage increase in your 2009-10 budget as the result of supplementary estimates. What was the change in that from your original?

[Rob Nicholson, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

We'll get that for you.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Okay.

Could you outline the top item that resulted in additional spending in the 2010-11 estimates?

[Rob Nicholson, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

I'm sorry; again?

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Could you outline the top items, the largest spending items, that resulted in additional spending in the 2010-11 estimates?

[Rob Nicholson, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

Yes, we can do that for you. There is an increase for the support for the victims of crime; increases in cyber security; the investigative powers of the 21st century's refugee reform. Some of the increases are as a result of our collective agreements with our staff. All of these make up the major parts of the increases for this year.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Were there any major items that resulted in reductions in this year's estimates from the last year, and if so, could you tell us what key programs were affected?

[Rob Nicholson, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

There are some. I can give you a list. A number of them are fairly small contributions, some to a number of national organizations that aren't making a request any more or have decided, for whatever reasons, not to pursue a particular program. We can supply those for you as well.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

I'd appreciate that.

My colleague Mr. Bagnell has some questions, Mr. Chairman, if we have time.

[The Chair, Conservative, Ed Fast]

You have only 15 seconds left.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

He has brilliant questions. I'm sure they'll be very short.

[The Chair, Conservative, Ed Fast]

We'll give you an extra 15 seconds next time around.

Monsieur Lemay, for five minutes.

[Marc Lemay, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Before I start, I would like to ask a question to the chair. If I understand correctly, we will study the supplementary estimates (A) and the minister will come back to explain the supplementary estimates for the year 2009-2010. Is that correct?