Mr. Speaker, I listened with interest to the hon. member for South Shore speak about the issue of incarceration. I guess it will not have much effect in terms of incarceration.
I would interested in probing the member further on that subject given that it is obviously part of the justice system. There will have to be agreements in place to house the inmates who are convicted for more than two years, hopefully as close as possible to their homes so that it will enhance the prospects for rehabilitation.
The Conservative Party certainly has a long history of building prisons. The one that comes to mind right away is the one that the former Conservative prime minister from Quebec built in his riding. I think it was the Port Cartier prison.
Does the hon. member have any other thoughts with respect to how incarceration issues will be dealt with? He seems to have displayed some expertise on the subject given his comments this afternoon.
I do not know if the hon. member has the information available, but I would like to know the number of inmates we might be talking about that are generated from the actions of the court system. If he could provide some information on that it would be helpful.
The member also mentioned that if these amendments were successful in terms of the application of the one court system to the eastern Arctic the people in the western Arctic would be looking with interest at the experiment, if that is what we want to call it.
Does the hon. member have any information with respect to what sort of political pressure is currently being exerted by the people in the western Arctic with respect to how quickly they would want such a system implemented?
I would appreciate if the hon. member for South Shore could enlighten the House with respect to those issues.