Public Accounts committee  One of the recommendations that was made in the review panel's report was for the government to look at mandatory testing of all offenders coming into the federal correctional system. That doesn't occur right now, because that requires legislative change. So our practice has be

Public Accounts committee  We're still looking at or assessing the information. We are, as I indicated in my opening comments, going to look at issues as they relate to local purchases, that is, at a local supply. We know, for example, that we have some issues.... I'll just use Kingston as an example. As i

Public Accounts committee  At the time of the audit, those would have been a variety of programs, ranging from substance abuse programs to some violence prevention programs. They weren't curtailed outright; what happened is that there would not necessarily have been as many programs running in a given fisc

Public Accounts committee  Again, as a result of the infusion of moneys through Budget 2007-08, and as a result of some re-investment through the strategic review process, we're actually in a position now to expand programs in some key areas—not in every single area, but in some key areas, particularly pro

Public Accounts committee  Mr. Chair, I'm extremely confident that we'll be able to achieve the plan. It's not a plan that's going to be accomplished in one or two years; many elements of it will take us several years to implement. It truly is a major transformation of our organization from every aspect:

Public Accounts committee  We've had what we've called post standards—now we call them deployment standards—in Correctional Services Canada going back to the early 1980s. They have not been updated as frequently as they should have been over the last several years. As the Auditor General has pointed out, w

Public Accounts committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, for that question. We're doing several things. To start off, Mr. Chair and committee members, if you have taken an airplane from anywhere to anywhere more than once, you pretty well know the routine you go through in terms of getting into the waiting area

Public Accounts committee  That's right. Yes.

Public Accounts committee  It'll be done over the next four years. We're using the next couple of years to do the planning for stopping the operations of those farms and replacing those operations with other rehabilitative programs for offenders, such as employment skills building and trades programs.

Public Accounts committee  The biggest reason is that although there are skill sets that offenders are learning by working on the farm, they're not necessarily conducive to the current labour market needs out there. We're trying to help offenders find jobs and keep jobs out there that are more current with

Public Accounts committee  I think part of the response is that it's not that we weren't monitoring the amount of overtime that was being spent. What the Auditor General pointed out, rightfully, was that when we noticed the trend, we were not necessarily taking the concerted action that we should have to t

Public Accounts committee  I'll just give you an example, the riot that occurred at Mountain Institution last year. It was a major riot, which saw several buildings destroyed, cells destroyed, an inmate murdered during the process of the riot. We had conditions in which it was not easy to contain or mainta

Public Accounts committee  That was definitely a contributor to the overtime billed during that period of time.

Public Accounts committee  I don't think it's a question that the organization didn't know what its costs were. We knew how much we were paying for rations. We know at any given time how much we pay in salaries for staff who work in the kitchens. We know how much we pay for inmate allowances and pay for th

Public Accounts committee  That I'd have to check.