Vic Toews

[Questions on the Order Paper, May 21st, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, section 347 of the Criminal Code is not an offence that falls solely under the RCMP mandate. It is an offence that is also reported to and investigated by the local police force. The RCMP is the police of jurisdiction in many smaller communities across the country, but not usually the police of jurisdiction in the larger urban municipalities.

In the RCMP’s former records management system, called “Police Information Retrieval System”, PIRS, section 347 of the Criminal Code is mapped to a general violation code called “Other Criminal Code” along with a multitude of other offences.

A manual case-by-case analysis of all these files would be required in order to provide a complete and accurate response to all parts of this question. Such an analysis cannot be completed within the time available, as a significant amount of time and resources would be required in order to do so.

[Questions on the Order Paper, May 9th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, as of March 25, 2013, the sale of the Crown land owned by CSC located on Frontenac Institution in Kingston, Ontario, has yet to be finalized. Therefore, CSC is unable to respond to the question, pending the completion of the sale.

[Royal Canadian Mounted Police, May 7th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, as I understand it, the officer indicated that he wanted to testify and there was nothing stopping that officer from testifying. I do not know why that member is making this up. Again, it is a type of statement that individual makes in order to ensure that their story is told.

However, I do not involve myself in the day-to-day operations of the RCMP. In fact, we introduced the enhancing RCMP accountability act to help govern the RCMP. That member voted against it.

[Royal Canadian Mounted Police, May 7th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, as I understand it, there was no attempt made to stop that individual from testifying.

Issues with respect to human resources and the management of the RCMP are the responsibility of the Commissioner. I do not involve myself in the day-to-day operations of the RCMP. However, we introduced the enhancing RCMP accountability act to ensure that the Commissioner has the tools to modernize the RCMP. Shockingly, the NDP, and that member specifically, voted against that act.

[Royal Canadian Mounted Police, April 29th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, that party indicated that our tough on crime approach would increase the cost of the construction of prisons by $19 billion. In fact, it was $500 million. That member, I know, opposes any measure to hold prisoners or criminals accountable through the utilization of prisons. We take a very different approach than that member does to keeping Canadians safe.

[Royal Canadian Mounted Police, April 29th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, if the member has any concerns about the RCMP in her riding, she can either bring those concerns to me or she can deal with the RCMP directly.

[Royal Canadian Mounted Police, April 29th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, the Commissioner of the RCMP will meet with whom he chooses when he chooses. It is also appropriate that he approve meetings of his staff.

The appropriate place for parliamentarians to interact with officials, RCMP or otherwise, is at parliamentary committees. If that member has concerns relating to the RCMP, I would encourage her to bring them to me.

However, let me be clear. None of this impacts the ability of any member to speak with his or her local RCMP or law enforcement on other local matters.

[Public Safety, April 23rd, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, the first job of any government is to keep Canadians safe from those to wish to harm us, and this is a responsibility our government takes very seriously.

Terrorism is not an academic issue that only impacts other countries around the world; there is a very real threat to Canada.

I would like to thank the Muslim community for its co-operation with law enforcement, and I would like to thank the RCMP, CSIS and our security agencies, including agencies in the United States and particularly the FBI, for their good work to keep us all safe from those who wish to harm us.

[Public Safety, April 17th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for the question.

I want to express my deepest sympathies to the families of those who lost their lives in this horrific crime as well as those were injured.

Canada condemns these senseless acts of violence. We stand ready to assist our American neighbours in any way we can.

I also want to assure Canadians that our authorities are at a heightened state of vigilance, and we are assisting Canadians on the ground. CBSA and the RCMP are working to ensure that Canadians are kept safe from those who wish to harm us.

[Questions on the Order Paper, April 15th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, maintaining appropriate infrastructure that fits the needs of a first-class, modern correctional system is key to public safety.

On April 19, 2012, the government announced it will close operations at two sites: Kingston Penitentiary and the Regional Treatment Centre in Kingston, Ontario, and Leclerc Institution in Laval, Quebec. These are aging facilities with infrastructure that does not lend itself well to the challenges of managing the institutional routines of today's complex offender population. The decommissioning of this aging infrastructure will enable CSC to achieve cost savings while ensuring public safety.

Meanwhile, CSC has been working to add more than 2,700 beds to men's and women's facilities across Canada within existing institutions. These institutional expansions will provide a more effective, efficient and sustainable physical infrastructure.

Details on infrastructure renewal at the Correctional Service of Canada are available at http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/about-us/006-0008-eng.shtml.

Budget 2012 was clear; the government has not built a single new prison since 2006 and has no intention of building any new prisons.