Mr. Speaker, the member speaks of a national strategy. There is one. That strategy is found in the very elements I described today, namely working together with provincial and territorial governments, helping to finance from all levels of government the construction of appropriate facilities, and a continuous review of the guidelines. The member speaks about national standards. I suggest that those guidelines are national standards.
The member goes a step further and says to legislate them, have them in a federal statute. I assume she would say that if the statute is not complied with, the offender would face a criminal sanction. I assume she is referring to the criminal law power.
The member has failed to demonstrate whether the provinces are supportive of that approach or whether it would help. She makes a leap of logic by asserting in the House that which she does not know, namely that the problems in Battleford arose because we did not have federal legislation. A commission of inquiry has just been announced. It will look into the question of causality. I would be very much surprised if the problem were caused because of the lack of federal legislation. I suggest that we shall find it was something far more local and practical than that.
It is one thing to have federal legislation and another thing to follow through, to have the facilities in place, operate them, and maintain them to ensure that we produce the result we want. Everyone in the system has to do their part for it to work well.