Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I thank the witnesses for appearing on very short notice and also for waiting at the beginning of the meeting for us to get started.
I have to say at the outset that I think this is a terrible bill and I really have to be convinced otherwise.
You started at the beginning of your presentation by giving a very strong explanation for why we need the international transfer of offenders and how it has served an important public safety function. One of the concerns I have is with this notion that we should give the minister carte blanche, that however the minister wakes up and feels in the morning, he should be able to do whatever he wants regarding an international transfer of an offender. That's aside from the fact that it's quite arbitrary, because it's now entirely in the minister's hands.
The second problem I have is that these people--and correct me if I'm wrong--are coming back to Canada. The question is, are they coming to a Canadian prison, serving a Canadian sentence, being rehabilitated in a Canadian jail, and, when they come out, having a Canadian record? Or are they spending their time in a foreign jail, potentially with no rehabilitation, potentially in much worse situations, and then after a time in a federal prison, being deported back to Canada, much more dangerous than they were before?
I'm trying to understand how something that has been successful, that has been an important tool of public safety, is enhanced by giving the minister very arbitrary powers to make decisions for which he isn't to be held accountable.