Justice committee  Let me start with the last part of your question first, on what kind of a relationship we have. We have a very good relationship with the provincial attorneys general. I just came back from a meeting in Moncton, of what we call the federal-provincial-territorial heads of prosecu

Justice committee  When we do these prosecutions, we're assisted by the modern war crimes unit of the Department of Justice. This is also true of what I'll call regulatory offences. For example, Fisheries and Oceans has a unit at Justice, with lawyers experienced in that area. Perhaps Fisheries and

Justice committee  We are doing the same work as the former Federal Prosecution Services. Nova Scotia and, just recently, Quebec, established a Director of Public Prosecutions position. This is a decision that the legislative assemblies of these two provinces made. Here, in Canada, it is important

Justice committee  No, not at the federal level. I think that in Nova Scotia, it was decided in 1990, following the Marshall case, to set up the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. In Quebec, I don't think that the same problem occurred, but this decision was made all the same. This is a

Justice committee  The director is the Attorney General's delegate. The director will make the decision, among other things, whether or not to institute or uphold prosecutions and to appeal.

Justice committee  The Assistant Deputy Attorney General or, in some instances, the attorneys themselves used to make such decisions.

Justice committee  Our workload is quite significant nevertheless. For the year 2005-06, our attorneys were working on just under 50,000 cases. For Canada, that is quite a high figure.

Justice committee  Ultimately, yes, but according to the legislation, this responsibility now lies with the director. Should the director want to intervene in a case, he must express his intent in a written notice, which must then be published in the Canada Gazette.

Justice committee  Yes.

Justice committee  No, our service is not involved in choosing the director. The Department of Justice is managing this process.

Justice committee  I would like to thank you for inviting us, Ms. Proulx, Mr. Fortin and myself, a second time in order to explain our main estimates for 2007-08. I'm hopeful we'll be able to answer all your questions this morning. With that, I'll leave the floor open to you to ask your questions

Justice committee  I will begin by telling you what we do. You mentioned that we prosecute under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. Section 2 of the Criminal Code, in addition to defining the role of the Attorney General, indicates the sections where we are the Attorney General. In a case of

Justice committee  Yes.

Justice committee  No, but I can describe the circumstances under which we turn to legal agents.

Justice committee  Our practice is somewhat different from that of the Department of Justice. We have 16 regional offices throughout Canada. Over 700 legal agents work for us.