Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister, for appearing before our committee today.
Minister, I'm having a problem as we sit through committees and we hear witness after witness after witness, whether from policing or those who are involved in crime prevention, those who are on the front lines of making our community safer, telling us that this government's heading in the wrong direction. They say we're headed towards the American example of hugely over-bloated prisons that cost billions and billions of dollars more in money, and in every jurisdiction where it's tried it's been proven that not only does it cost a huge amount of money, but it actually makes communities less safe. In fact, it was just within the last couple of weeks that we heard from government-funded research that said the direction of this government was taking us to a place that would cost billions of dollars more and make us less safe.
So if all of the research that we are hearing says this government is taking us down an American example that has failed, and failed miserably, I would want to know what evidence, what specific fact-based information you're using to come to the conclusion that the approach you're taking in these issues is going to be anything but a disaster.