Public Safety committee  Right: interfering with liberties is the whole idea of prison. I just want to make that point clear—

Public Safety committee  Can I go back to another point, that you and I believed—

Public Safety committee  Thank you, Chair. Could I just go back to something that you affirmed, which was that you believed that the minister could not issue a specific directive on a specific person, right?

Public Safety committee  In 2001, I actually was a member of the Ontario legislature—a cabinet minister, in fact, in the Harris government—and I recall in that year that there was a prisoner who was being transferred. He was a murderer of a police officer, I believe in Sudbury, being transferred to a fac

Public Safety committee  Is there any evidence that the minister has received that advice, sir?

Public Safety committee  I believe my time is over, but thank you very much for your answers.

Public Safety committee  Thank you, Chair. It's great to be back. Congratulations, Madam Kelly, on your appointment. I just want to go over a bit of familiar ground. You have acknowledged that under section 6 of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, you serve under the direction of the ministe

Public Safety committee  Is it safe to say that ministers historically, and this minister, certainly has the power to issue directives to the commissioner regarding conditions of confinement?

Public Safety committee  Well, a yes or no would be perfect, actually.

Public Safety committee  Okay. That's good to know, because historically I can think of various ministers, such as Minister Day, who issued a directive regarding first degree murderers spending a certain amount of time in maximum security, or Minister Toews, who issued a directive banning the practice of

Public Safety committee  However, it is true, based on some of the other examples I gave, that a direction crafted and issued by a minister could carve out, let's say, a child killer in the system, and say that those people in the system have to be in a maximum security situation and confinement for a pe

Public Safety committee  Absolutely. Do you recall Minister Day issuing a directive requiring first degree murderers to spend a certain amount of time in maximum security?

Public Safety committee  No worry. Stockwell Day is getting a bit old now. However, the point is that you can issue a directive on a specific class of individuals within the system and require them to be in maximum security for a period of time. That's the point I'm making.