Public Safety committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair and committee members, for the invitation and the opportunity to speak again about the proposed legislation that's before us today. The legislation speaks to the modernization of Canada's federal witness protection program. It is well recognized t

Public Safety committee  I'm not sure I understand the total distinction, but I think the only comment I was trying to make in the opening remarks was on the differences between the federal and provincial programs. The more serious cases tend to be those that are much longer in terms of the need to pro

Public Safety committee  No, there is not.

Public Safety committee  We went out in two rounds of consultations. After the SECU report of 2008, we went out to the provinces. We went to all provinces regardless of whether or not they had a provincial program in place, and we spoke to them about the recommendations made by the committee. Also, for

Public Safety committee  There are currently five, so it's Ontario and Quebec and then the three prairie provinces, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. My understanding is that the City of Montreal has one as well.

Public Safety committee  There were three important recommendations coming out of Air India, and obviously the first one was the independence. Certainly I think the Air India commission of inquiry recommended an independent body to manage terrorist protectees. We just felt that the program was best manag

Public Safety committee  Yes. When we went out it was for fairly extensive discussions, and the department went out, obviously, with our colleagues at the RCMP. We did that over a period of time. The genesis of Bill C-51 is the product of the better part of a number of years of going out and consulting w

Public Safety committee  I'm not sure Bill C-51 will protect us against the particular cases you mentioned, but I think the efficiencies are primarily driven in the bill around what Assistant Commissioner Shean has said. The efficiencies lie in the integration of the provincial programs into the federal

Public Safety committee  Actually, the RCMP has been doing that for all cases. They currently do that, and they will do that moving forward.

Public Safety committee  Yes, you are correct. In terms of the provinces that had a program, their programs were working well. I don't think it made a lot of sense to force a national program onto the provinces. Having said all of that, at the end of the day we've come up with a good solution in terms of

Public Safety committee  I think primarily the independence of the function itself has been well-suited in the RCMP for over 25 years. I think that at the end of the day, when we looked at whether or not an independent body was required, we didn't think that was necessary. Given the changes that have be

Public Safety committee  I would have to agree with the observations of my colleague at the RCMP. This is an ongoing and iterative sort of process. I think the bill before us allows the flexibility for the RCMP, which is managing the program, to adapt to that. Assistant Commissioner Shean has mentioned

Public Safety committee  Thank you for the opportunity. I would just say that we think Bill C-51 is going to make the program more effective and secure, and in that way we're very supportive of the bill itself.

Health committee  I would like to thank the chair and committee members for inviting me to speak to you on prescription drug abuse and its impact on public safety. My department is responsible for the Enforcement Action Plan, which is a part of Canada's National Anti-Drug Strategy. This responsib

Health committee  Mr. Chair, thank you. First of all, in my reference to the increasing trends we're seeing in pharmaceuticals, prescription drugs, a lot of that is just what we see in terms of investigations. In new cases coming before public prosecutions, etc., we see an increase. Those are the