Peter Van Loan

[Canada-U.S. Border, June 1st, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I have to refresh the hon. member on the history of the western hemisphere travel initiative. It was actually adopted by the Americans, not while the Conservatives were in government but rather while the member's party was in government.

Does the House know how many Liberals went to Washington to make their case to Congress, to make their case to the Senate and the House of Representatives? Zero. Not one. There was not one word. They did not even know it was happening.

When we became government, we achieved a number of extensions on implementation. We managed to get flexibility with an enhanced driver's licence as an alternative travel document. We have done a lot to make it easier for trade to flow across our border.

[Questions on the Order Paper, May 6th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, Public Safety Canada has provided the following reply:

In regard to a) Senior members of the Task Force on Illicit Tobacco Products met collectively on three occasions between May 7, 2008 and March 1, 2009; May 14, 2008; June 12, 2008; August 6, 2008.

Members of the Task Force also met on July 2, 2008 with first nations leaders from the Akwesasne, Kahnawake, Six Nations and Tyendinaga communities.

Working-level officials from task force member departments and agencies are also in contact through meetings and/or conference calls, often on a weekly or more frequent basis, to share information and discuss illicit tobacco related issues and possible solutions.

In regard to b) The task force is resourced through existing reference levels. No new personnel or financial resources have been allocated to the work of the task force.

In regard to c) The task force is continuing its analysis of potential options that may be pursued to complement the RCMP contraband tobacco enforcement strategy that was also announced on May 7, 2008.

In regard to d) On July 2, 2008, task force members met with first nations leaders from the Akwesasne, Six Nations, Kahnawake and Tyendinaga communities. The task force members and first nations leaders in attendance agreed to work together in developing possible solutions.

On December 5, 2008, the chair of the task force met with the Grand Chief of the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne, and a follow-up meeting is planned for this spring.

The task force has created an email address for receiving input from all interested groups, including first nations and non-governmental organizations. Task force members also consult bilaterally with their respective stakeholders.

[Questions on the Order Paper, May 5th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, the reply from Correctional Service Canada is as follows:

With regard to a) the province struck a capital planning committee to discuss the replacement of Her Majesty's Penitentiary and invited Correctional Service Canada’s, CSC, participation.

(i) A number of meetings were held between the capital planning committee and the consulting firm engaged by the province to develop a design concept. The province also engaged a consultant to carry out a site impact analysis study in respect of the location of the replacement for Her Majesty's Penitentiary. The respective ministers responsible for corrections have met and exchanged letters on a number of occasions during the past year.

(ii) The regional administrator policy and planning of the Atlantic region is CSC’s representative on the provincial capital planning committee.

(iii) No discussions with the Department of Finance and/or Treasury Board Secretariat in respect of financing a new prison for Newfoundland and Labrador have occurred.

With regard to b) (i) (ii) (iii) CSC is unable to answer the specific questions for part (b) of the parliamentary question as they fall under the responsibility of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

[Health, April 29th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, it is the practice of our Canada Border Services officers to screen all individuals arriving in Canada for the purpose of assessing their health, that includes assessing them for symptoms.

Right now they are on particular alert for symptoms of human swine influenza in people arriving from Mexico. In the event where they assess that symptoms are demonstrated by someone, quarantine officers from the Public Health Agency of Canada get involved and the appropriate steps are taken.

[Correctional Service Canada, April 28th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, as I said, the agricultural operations of Correctional Service Canada lose $4 million a year. They are not viable that way and they are not viable as rehabilitation either. As any farmer knows, and I know there are not too many over in the Liberal caucus, setting up a farm these days requires millions in capital. This is not what a prisoner typically has when he or she leaves prison.

As a result, virtually none of the prisoners who go through the correctional farms end up with employable skills. We want rehabilitation that gives people skills so that they can become working members in society, not so that they are left without the skills to get a job and reoffend as a result.

[Correctional Service Canada, April 28th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, let me correct the hon. member on a few of his facts. First, the prison farms are not profitable. They lose $4 million a year. That may be how a LIberal government might run the country on a profitable basis. It would like to do that because it likes to raise taxes, not us. We prefer to run things on a more balanced basis.

In terms of employability skills, the prison farms are set up on a model of agriculture that really reflects the way it worked in the days of the old mixed farm in the 1950s. Today, capital has replaced labour, which is why virtually none of the inmates who work on the prison farms end up with employable job skills and makes them more likely to reoffend when they re-enter the community. That is bad for our communities.

[Canada-U.S. Relations, April 27th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, we are taking action. We work very closely with our partners, including the Americans, in trying to combat terrorism.

However, I have news for the hon. member. There are real terrorist threats. That is why we just had a prosecution in this very city, the first ever successful prosecution under the Anti-terrorism Act of Momin Khawaja, convicted of assisting and making detonators, in touch with the London bombers.

These threats are real. We have to be vigilant against them and we are being vigilant against them. We will not turn a blind eye against these threats. We will protect Canadians and we will do what is necessary to ensure their safety.

[Canada-U.S. Relations, April 27th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, what we chuckle about is the fact that some people are so ill-informed as to perpetuate the myth and some people are so ill-informed and so uninterested in advancing Canada's interests that they continue to want to feed the myth all the time.

That is what the hon. member wants to do, but we prefer a different approach, where we work co-operatively with the Americans, both to educate them, as is the case with Senator McCain, who needs to get a bit of education on the issue, and the 9/11 commission report is a good place for him to look, but also to look at the considerable steps we have taken as a country to secure our borders and to become more secure against terrorism. We have had successes.

We have had two successful prosecutions against terrorists here with Momin Khawaja, with the Toronto 18. We are taking action to make Canada secure.

[Justice, April 27th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I, too, remember Chuck as a venerable and determined fighter for the cause of victims, a tireless champion, and his early passing was a great loss to his family and to all Canadians.

Our government believes that for too long the justice system has all but ignored the experience of victims, their concerns and their interests, which is why we have decided to take action to rebalance our justice system to take them into account.

We have taken action on things like establishing an ombudsman for victims. We have included victims in National Parole Board hearings. We have provided video conferencing for their involvement. We are doing other things to provide online services and more. We are taking the side of victims, not criminals.

[Public Safety, April 27th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, the function of the RCMP in most of British Columbia is local policing, which is pursuant to a contract with the Province of British Columbia. British Columbia actually pays 90% of the cost of that policing and the federal government pays 10% to reflect the federal policing share.

Similarly, that is the case with this database. When the province of British Columbia wants it to work effectively in British Columbia for local policing, we need to acknowledge that it makes a bit of sense, which is why we want to see the closest integration to combat crime as effectively as possible in British Columbia for British Columbians.