The hon. member for Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston.
House of Commons Hansard #350 of the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was liberals.
House of Commons Hansard #350 of the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was liberals.
The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès) Liberal Alexandra Mendes
The hon. member for Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston.
Scott Reid Conservative Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON
Madam Speaker, my intervention is about corrections but I have to correct something that the hon. member just said a second ago, that our emissions were down 8%. Our emissions were up several thousand per cent last year, 2023, because our forests were on fire. We became the world's third largest emitter. The lousy forestry practices of the government are a substantial contributor to that ecological catastrophe.
I am here to follow up on a question I raised on September 27 regarding a conflict of interest in which cows have been purchased from members of an advisory group styled “prison farm advisory panel” in Joyceville, Ontario. This panel was set up by the Liberals as a first step in fulfilling their 2015 election promise to reopen the prison farm at Joyceville, which at that time had recently been shut down. The minister's approval of the panel's request to include cows in their plan for a reopened prison farm was contingent on the panel's assurance that this would be an achievable goal at “no extra cost” within the farm's original $4.3-million budget.
However, following a litany of errors, the costs of constructing the cow barn have ballooned to $16 million. Thus, it is no exaggeration to say that in order to create a situation in which these cows would be purchased and thereby financially benefit the members of the advisory panel, it has been necessary to spend many millions of dollars that would not have been spent had the project actually been about what it was supposed to be about, which was providing job training to inmates.
The entire reason for reopening the farm, the entire ostensible reason, was that the newly elected Liberal government rejected Corrections Canada's rationale for shutting down the farm. The rationale was that, in the form in which it then existed, the prison farm was not teaching marketable job skills to inmates and thus was not helping them to reintegrate into the community. The Liberals brushed this reasoning aside.
Immediately following the 2015 election, the then-minister of public safety, Ralph Goodale asked Corrections Canada to outline options and recommendations for reopening the prison farm.
In a November 2015 briefing note, the CSC responded that prison farms did not enhance offender employment. CSC pointed out that prison farms are actually counterproductive. They actually lead to less employment and more recidivism because they direct financial resources away from more effective offender training programs. CSC was particularly opposed to reintroducing dairy operations. Instead, CSC recommended that if a prison farm program did have to be opened, it should have minimal start-up costs, no expensive equipment or infrastructure, and must at a minimum break even.
To achieve these goals, CSC recommended small plot farming in lucrative specialty crops, such as lavender and garlic, which former inmates would be able to grow in small amounts with limited capital investment and to sell at venues such as farmers' markets that are open to someone with a history as an offender.
All of this was ignored and, at present, the plan is to hand this $16-million barn over to McGill University. The barn will be staffed by four people, none of whom will be inmates. CSC has identified only two offender positions related to the dairy research and this is in basic data entry. Otherwise, prisoners will gain only generic soft skills from doing groundskeeping tasks such as whipper-snipping. These are activities that prisoners were already engaged in before this project came along.
Why has so much money been spent on something that will achieve so little to prevent recidivism—
The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès) Liberal Alexandra Mendes
The hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety.
Jennifer O'Connell LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety
Madam Speaker, the Government of Canada remains committed to evidence-based policy that is informed by experts. That is why a prison farm advisory panel was established back in 2017. The panel works to bring together agricultural and farming leaders, among others, to provide informed recommendations on program ideas and how we can better protect our communities through offender rehabilitation.
Regarding the claims being made, there has been no preferential treatment or conflict of interest. All decisions have been open and transparent and made to ensure the value for money for Canadians.
CSC works to support local farmers and local communities where the penitentiary agriculture program operates. All cattle are chosen specifically based on criteria such as their health, age, size and production capacity, as well as overall costs. At no point is a vendor selected based on who the seller is, and procurement costs are always determined based on fair market value.
CSC has a long history of supporting local farmers. For example, in 2011, following the closure of CORCAN farm operations at the Collins Bay and Joyceville institutions, CSC signed leave and licence agreements so local farmers could use the lands for agricultural purposes. Today, farmland is being maintained and utilized through the penitentiary farm program, which has included rebuilding land and crop production and incorporating environmental considerations and opportunities in planning and utilization.
I am proud to note that CSC is recognized as an international leader in the development and delivery of correctional interventions. The penitentiary agriculture program helps federal inmates gain employment skills to find meaningful employment in the community, which enhances reintegration and reduces recidivism.
The farms at the Joyceville and Collins Bay institutions provide on-the-job and vocational training that relates to the agricultural industry, but is also transferable to other industries to help support offenders in their reintegration. Research dating back to earlier than 2014 has found that inmates who participate in the CORCAN employment programs while incarcerated are more likely to be granted parole and more likely to get a job in the community. As we know, offenders who find jobs in the community are three times less likely to reoffend. Programs such as those offered by the penitentiary agriculture program contribute to safer communities across the country.
I would like to thank members of the panel, who have helped contribute to the success of these farms.
Scott Reid Conservative Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON
Madam Speaker, is the parliamentary secretary denying that members of the panel sold cattle to the prison farm program, which is an obvious conflict of interest?
Jennifer O'Connell Liberal Pickering—Uxbridge, ON
Madam Speaker, it should be noted that when the Conservatives decided to use non-evidence-based approaches to our criminal justice system, it was the community that came together and formed a co-op to preserve the lineage of these cows, knowing full well that a government that cared about safer communities would one day be re-elected and could hopefully reinstate the lineage of these cows back into the community. The community supported this work. It is only the Conservatives who stand in this place and tell the community that they know better. We know that when offenders receive vocational training, it reduces recidivism.
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Madam Speaker, today is the first anniversary of the horrible October 7 terrorist attack on Israel. One year later, we continue to grieve with the families who lost loved ones and with the survivors of sexual and other forms of violence who carry the scars of that terrible day. We continue to demand the release of the many hostages who remain captive. We need to bring them home.
My grandmother was a Holocaust survivor. Growing up and learning about the Holocaust, I was always haunted and perplexed by the images of Holocaust victims. It is with these images in mind that Jews today fight back against those who try to kill them. It is good, right and necessary that peoples and nations defend themselves. While self-defence can be morally complicated and necessarily involves the making of difficult distinctions, it remains absolutely necessary for a people with the will to survive.
At the root of this conflict is the aggression sponsored by the Iranian regime. This regime is pursuing a threefold strategy in the Middle East: to demonize Israel, to thwart regional peace efforts and to use the struggle with Israel as cover to colonize Arab states through terrorist proxies. This strategy responds to significant strides that have been made in the pursuit of peace between Israel and its Arab neighbours. It is wrong to suppose some inevitable antagonism between Jews and Muslims or between Israel and Arab states. Israel has, in fact, normalized relations and is actively collaborating with a growing number of regional partners.
However, in response to this collaboration, Iran's regime seeks to unite Israel's remaining opponents and use them for colonial expansion against other regional rivals. While Israel is the primary rhetorical enemy, Iran and its proxies are also waging a campaign to destroy and subjugate other states in the region, starting with Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen. These, along with the Gaza Strip, are now places where the regime ruthlessly suppresses its opponents and stages attacks against Israel that are aimed at undermining regional peace efforts and creating further opportunities for the Iranian regime's expansion.
We have good reason to believe that the Iranian regime specifically wanted the October 7 attacks and directed them in order to create the conditions in which the expansion of the Abraham Accords, particularly the expansion to include Saudi Arabia, would be much more difficult. Given this context, the Iranian regime will not accept a ceasefire as long as its strategy continues to advance its real objective, which is the subjugation of its Arab neighbours. The real path to peace, therefore, runs through the weakening of the capacity of the Iranian regime; the strengthening of popular movements against the regime, inside Iran and elsewhere; and the strengthening of engagement with regional players who have an interest and a capacity to make and enforce regional peace. These are things that we have long called for.
More than six years ago, the House passed my motion calling for the listing of the IRGC as a terrorist organization. While this has now finally happened, the failure to act for so long gave the regime extensive runway to continue to operate, recruit and fundraise here on Canadian soil. Much damage has already been done as a result of this senseless delay. In government, Conservatives would take swift action against the Iranian regime and its proxies. That action would be in support of the people of Israel, the Palestinian territories, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Afghanistan and Iran itself, all of which have been victims of this terrorist regime. We reject doctrines that demonize whole peoples, and we call for the liberation of all peoples from Iranian domination. The Iranian regime is the greatest threat to the sovereignty and self-determination of peoples in the region.
Here in Canada, the principal concern that I hear from many Jewish and Muslim leaders is about security. For everyone, Canada feels less safe than it once did. Foreign interference, attacks on different communities, the dramatic rise in anti-Semitism and an increase in crime in general leave many people feeling that they are a long way from home. While working for peace and justice everywhere, we must place the highest priority on the security of all people here in Canada.
Jennifer O'Connell LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety
Madam Speaker, before beginning my remarks, I would like to acknowledge that today is the one-year anniversary of the terrorist organization Hamas's launching a horrifying attack against Israel. Our government stands with Jewish people and Israelis on this painful anniversary, and we will not relent until every last hostage is returned home.
As the member opposite knows, on June 19, our government listed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, IRGC, as a terrorist entity under the Criminal Code. The Iranian regime has consistently displayed a complete disregard for human rights both inside and outside Iran, as well as a willingness to destabilize the international rules-based order.
Listing the IRGC builds on the Government of Canada's broader efforts to ensure that there is no impunity for Iran's unlawful actions and its support of terrorism. The decision to list IRGC through the Criminal Code listing regime sends a strong message that Canada will use all tools at its disposal to combat the terrorist activity of the IRGC conducted both unilaterally and in knowing association with listed terrorist entities such as Hezbollah and Hamas.
As a now-listed entity, the IRGC meets the definition of a terrorist group under Canada's Criminal Code. As an immediate consequence of this listing, Canadian financial institutions, such as banks and brokerages, are required to immediately freeze the property of the listed entity. It is a criminal offence for anyone in Canada and Canadians abroad to knowingly deal with property owned or controlled by a terrorist group. As my hon. colleague knows, listing the IRGC is one of the tools the government has used to limit the threat posed by the Iranian regime and to call out its undermining of peace and stability in the region.
We have been and remain resolute in our determination to hold the Iranian regime accountable for its support of terrorism and systemic human rights abuses. The government holds Iran accountable for its actions with a wide suite of additional tools, including listing key entities and proxy actors in Iran's so-called “Axis of Resistance” under the Criminal Code terrorist-listing regime.
Since 2012, Canada has continuously upheld the listing of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps force as a terrorist entity. The force is Iran's primary tool for terrorist operations in providing arms, funding and paramilitary training to other terrorist groups, including the Taliban, Hezbollah, Hamas and the Palestine Islamic Jihad, as well as other destabilizing forces, like the Houthi, which continues to attack civilian ships in the Red Sea.
Again, Canada imposes various measures against Iran and its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. It has been and continues to be sanctioned under the Special Economic Measures Act, SEMA, which explicitly targets IRGC, its leadership, and several suborganizations, including the IRGC air force and air force missile command.
Since October 2022, Canada has imposed 17 rounds of SEMA sanctions targeting 155 individuals and 89 entities at all levels of Iran's security, intelligence and economic apparatus, including on April 24 listing Iran's minister of defence. All told, 446 Iranian individuals and entities have had their Canadian assets frozen under SEMA.
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Madam Speaker, I would also like to comment on the Iranian regime's role in fomenting violence in Sudan. Sudan is in the midst of the worst humanitarian crisis in a generation, and the Iranian regime's support for one of the belligerents fighting in that terrible civil war is contributing to the crisis. Estimates are that over 2.5 million people will die in Sudan this year. To put that in perspective, that is more than the entire population of the Gaza Strip.
The horrors in Sudan and how other actors are fuelling that conflict desperately need more attention from the House, from the government and from governments throughout the world. This is another example of the Iranian regime's sowing violence and discord around the world. The member mentioned that six years after the House voted to list the IRGC as a terrorist organization, the Liberals finally did it. My question is simple: Why did it take so long?
Jennifer O'Connell Liberal Pickering—Uxbridge, ON
Madam Speaker, as I mentioned in my earlier comments, the listing of the IRGC organization was just one of the tools in the tool box, and in fact, Canada had already initiated a number of measures.
The member opposite is correct: The situation in Sudan is truly tragic. It is precisely why the government continues to take all of the necessary actions to destabilize terrorist entities here at home and abroad. We will continue to do this work and list additional individuals where needed. We have various tools, as I have laid out: not only listing but using our SEMA sanctions and our special economic measures through that act.
The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès) Liberal Alexandra Mendes
The motion to adjourn the House is now deemed to have been adopted. Accordingly, the House stands adjourned until tomorrow at 10 a.m., pursuant to Standing Order 24(1).
(The House adjourned at 8:35 p.m.)