Thank you, Mr. Chair.
My thanks to the witnesses for coming and being here once again. What would a session of Parliament in the public safety committee be without a visit from our friends at Corrections?
Mr. Head, you know where I come from. I live in the village of Warkworth, which is basically home to Canada's largest federal penitentiary. At least it's the largest currently. It's a medium-security prison, and the situation there has changed from what it was 15 or 20 years ago. It's a much more dangerous place in which to work for our men and women who are there to protect our society, our inmates, and themselves.
I appreciate that in your evidence you mentioned that we look to other countries, such as the United Kingdom, Norway, and Sweden. This committee not too long ago visited the United Kingdom, Norway, and many prisons across this country with a view to looking at mental illness and addiction in our prisons. We in this country think Norway is a very advanced society. Still, it's a different society. You can do some comparisons, but it is different. I was surprised and proud to learn that about 60% of their programs come from this country.
So while we always need to look for better ways, the rest of the world looks at our correctional system as one of the best on the planet. So I want to thank you and the men and women who work with you to make that happen.
One of the things we seem to leave out when we talk about addictions is the addiction to tobacco. Am I correct in the assumption that cigarettes are still the currency of choice within our correctional system?