I will gladly point out once again—and take a chainsaw to the soapbox made of toothpicks—that the three worst years of prison escapes were under the Conservative government. They happened during the Harper years. What I'm hoping is that we actually focus on finding solutions for victims and not on trying to paint a government as soft on crime when members of the government that had the worst record on crime are sitting right in front of me. It is the Conservatives.
I also want to say that I hope whatever we do moving forward in this study builds upon what we already know based on the testimony we received from Commissioner Anne Kelly. A question posed by my colleague Mr. Bittle was this: “Would it be a legal order for the minister to interject in the specific transfer of an individual?” She responded, “My understanding is that the minister does not have a role. It's very much an operational decision.” I hope that we build on that because we've established it. We have that testimony on record.
I hope we also build on the question that I posed to Commissioner Kelly: With the security surrounding a maximum-security prison and a medium-security prison, is one more secure than the other? Her response was no. I actually went out and visited several prisons to confirm this on my own, to witness it on my own, so that's been confirmed.
What I hope we do with the motion proposed by the Conservatives and the amendments, which I support, by my colleague Madam Michaud is build on what we've learned, actually look for solutions to have better outcomes for victims in this country and not let this become political theatre, which it looks like the Conservatives would like it to be.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.