Section 1: Peter MacKay (Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough, PC) -- Oct. 14, 2004
Section 1: Peter MacKay (Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough, PC) -- Oct. 14, 2004
Please note:
I have not put the excerpts in blockquotes because of length. However, certain quotations within will be set off with blockquotes. Also, I have inserted italicized subheadings as an aid.
Public security -- Lack of funding, Dismantling of nine RCMP detachments across Quebec, Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, Marine security-Coast Guard (Will budget move with it from DFO?), items from the Auditor General's report to be released this fall, Gun Registry, Digitization-fingerprinting and iris identification
"The Auditor General's report coming this fall is expected to focus on the government's ability to handle civil disasters and threats from terrorists and organized crime. According to a news report, officials in the Office of Critical Infrastructure Protection and Emergency Preparedness say the audit will show that the office is not adequately prepared to deal with a large scale national disaster or terrorist attack."
[. . . . Bill C-6] is really enabling legislation for the creation of the new Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness.
[. . . . ] The government is somewhat delayed in bringing about this enabling legislation.
[. . . The] bill takes the core responsibilities of the Department of Solicitor General, the Office of Critical Infrastructure and Emergency Preparedness, and the National Crime Prevention Centre, as well as establishing that the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness is the person to whom “entities for which the minister is responsible”, such as the RCMP, CSIS, Correctional Service Canada, National Parole Board, the Canadian Firearms Centre and the Canada Border Services Agency, report through to Parliament.
Clearly the Conservative Party supports the efforts to coordinate these departments and bring about a greater synergy and cooperation within the ranks. This of course is with one notable exception and that is the continuation and extension of the Canadian Firearms Centre which remains one of the biggest frauds ever perpetrated by a government on an unsuspecting public. We know that the billion dollars [This was amended to $2-billion below.] that continues to rise has no connection to public safety. It has not been borne at all in any statistical format nor in any way been connected to public safety. That money. . . would be better spent by putting it into front line policing, helping with victims' agencies and the creation of a victims' ombudsman office with a budget directly tied to that of the correctional investigator. . . . .
The bill. . . could have been introduced last winter. . . . . election. . . delayed until today.
This problem is not one of style or substance.
It is simply a matter I guess of the Prime Minister rushing to shut down the inquiry that was going on into the sponsorship scandal.
The Conservative Party believes that there has to be better coordination in the area of safety, security and intelligence agencies.
[. . . . We] support the general thrust of the legislation to establish under one department these agencies dealing with national security.
[. . . . ] Just last month the Canadian police chiefs called upon the federal government to convene a summit with the provinces, municipalities and all levels of police to determine a national strategy to improve the country's response to disasters and terrorism.
[. . . ] a need to coordinate [. . . . ]
(1700)
Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police
Chief Edgar MacLeod, president of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, said that the federal government needs to take the lead in defining policing since local police budgets are becoming increasingly stretched to the limit. Chief MacLeod also noted that local police budgets not only deal with community matters but with threats of a global nature, including terrorism and organized crime.
RCMP Cutbacks--Dismantling of nine detachments across Quebec and Organized Crime
That again leads to a comment with respect to the cuts that we have seen to the RCMP in the province of Quebec. This has serious implications, particularly when it comes to the area of drug enforcement.
[Translation]
I was dismayed to see the RCMP move forward with the dismantling of nine detachments across Quebec, when the government publicly stated that fighting organized crime was a priority.
Last April, the minister's national security policy stated that, organized crime is increasingly becoming part of a globalized network and that “a number of terrorist movements have advanced their activities by developing links with organized crime”.
One can assume, therefore, that the closure of these detachments by the government will signal to organized crime that it should move to the places the RCMP has left..
Ports, Disbanding of Ports Police, Marine Security-Coast Guard (Will the Coast Guard budget move with it from DFO?)
[. . . . ] marine security. We believe that the disbanding of the ports police under the Liberal government should never have happened. This has left our ports and coastal communities particularly vulnerable.
[. . . ] That again leads to a comment with respect to the cuts that we have seen to the RCMP in the province of Quebec. This has serious implications, particularly when it comes to the area of drug enforcement.
[Translation]
Halifax, Montreal and Vancouver, [. . . ] the government has very much neglected smaller ports throughout the country, leaving coastal communities and therefore our very country vulnerable.
[. . . If ] someone wants to bring anything from child pornography to a nuclear bomb into the country, it will happen on the water. [. . . . ] coastal area. . . undefended. . . . . cuts to the Coast Guard and to our navy.
[. . . . ] in the city of Halifax, for example, there was a container stolen from the port. [. . . . ]
The Port of Yarmouth manager, Dave Whiting, recently stated that Yarmouth has spent approximately $80,000 on security systems and equipment. This is the municipality of Yarmouth. It is an international port. [. . . . ] Ottawa does not seem to be concerned where the money will come from when it comes to payment for security.
The Port of Mulgrave, in the Strait of Canso, [. . . . is] the largest and deepest ice-free port in North America, yet it does not enjoy the support of the federal government.
In another bill introduced in the House we see that the Coast Guard will be going back to the Transport Canada department from Fisheries and Oceans. This was an ill-conceived idea in the first instance. This will enable the Coast Guard to focus on its operational responsibilities relating to pleasure craft, safety, marine navigation services, pollution prevention and navigable water protection. [. . . . ] their job is to protect people, not fish.
(1705)
[. . . . ] The Coast Guard, as we have seen with other departments, has been asked to do more and to patrol larger areas, and yet its budget, when it was transferred to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, did not follow it. [. . . . ] I am hopeful it will receive the adequate funding it deserves. What is not clear, as I said, is whether this budget will follow. [. . . ] recall that [. . . ]
The merger of the Coast Guard with DFO was difficult and painful. Funding for both departments was significantly reduced in 1994 as a result of Program Review and the integration of two organizations with different structures and corporate cultures added significantly to the challenges faced. In the view of the Committee, the transfer of the Coast Guard to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans has been disastrous for the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard has virtually disappeared within DFO. The combined fleet has been reduced almost to half its pre-merger strength. [all party Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans, spring, 2004]
[If one were of a suspicious nature, one might think that some people do not want a coast guard funded and poking their noses into "business". Is it because they might find something? ]
[. . . . ] the average age of a Coast Guard vessel is over 20 years. Almost half the existing vessels now have less than five years of useful service left.
[. . . "] Lack of funding has hampered our security forces and our military for years”.
Auditor General's report items--to be released 2004, autumn
[. . . . ] Auditor General. . . . machines were being purchased to take fingerprints and electronically process those digital fingerprints, but no funding had been allocated to the electronic processing of this material. . . . there does not seem to be the adequate follow-through to utilize this type of information.
It is poor planning, clearly, with more emphasis on the publicity for the implementation of this type of process than the practical application of it. [. . . . ]
The Auditor General [. . . . ] Departments and agencies are still unable to share information and their systems are not able to communicate with each other. [. . . . ]
. . . Auditor General found that the watch lists used to screen entrants to Canada were not consistently accurate and that the current information about 25,000 Canadian passports lost or stolen is not yet available to front line officers. [. . . . ]
The Auditor General's report coming this fall is expected to focus on the government's ability to handle civil disasters and threats from terrorists and organized crime. According to a news report, officials in the Office of Critical Infrastructure Protection and Emergency Preparedness say the audit will show that the office is not adequately prepared to deal with a large scale national disaster or terrorist attack.
(1710)
The Senate Standing Committee on National Security and Defence -- some findings
[. . . ] The Senate Standing Committee on National Security and Defence has also released several documents and reports on Canada's ability to defend itself against terrorism. . . . these are a few of the findings of the report.
First: Many municipal representatives did not know of the role of the federal Office of Critical Infrastructure Protection and Emergency Preparedness (OCIPEP), or felt that the agency was simply not doing its job.
Second: Health Canada has placed emergency supply caches across the country to be used in crises--but the vast majority of first responders don't know where the caches are located or what they contain. Nor have they been consulted about what they should contain.
It goes on to state that the department:
* leaves emergency preparedness up to individual federal departments and agencies. So nobody is in charge of ensuring that whatever disaster occurs, the central government continues to function.
[. . . . Recall] the Prime Minister's Office virtually operating in the dark when the great electrical failure of the summer of 2003 occurred. [. . . . ]
States the report at page 26:
* Inadequate federal funding is at least partially responsible for shortages of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear protection equipment.
The report also states at pages 30 to 33:
Canadians have been hit by several national disasters in recent years. Each time lessons are learned about which types of resources work best and what went wrong. Yet there is no centralized system for collecting and sharing “lessons learned.”
The report goes on to say:
* While the RCMP, which handles police duties in most provinces, can be seconded to help in emergencies, there is no formal arrangement to provide provincial police assistance in Canada's two biggest provinces--Ontario and Quebec.
Many municipal administrators of first response units told us thatthe federal and provincial governments seem confused about which level of government is responsible for helping authorities prepare for major emergencies. Either that or they are passing the buck to avoid financing improvements.
When major emergencies occur, it is imperative that Canadian broadcasters help spread the word about what is happening and what citizens should do to be protecting themselves. Yet there are no regulations requiring broadcasters to interrupt regular programing to assist during emergencies.
This is fairly damning information. . . and both the Auditor General and the Senate committee. . . are impartial bodies [. . . .] there remains much to be done.
Chief Julian Fantino of the metropolitan Toronto Police Service has highlighted the need for greater attention to and greater coordination with municipal levels of policing. . . . ensuring that information is shared and action is taken on these important files. [. . . . ]
Hon. Roy Cullen (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, Lib.):. . . the closure of RCMP detachments in Quebec.
. . . an operational matter that is within the purview of the RCMP.[. . . . ]
The same rationalization took place in Ontario just a few years ago.[. . . .]
(1720)
Gun Registry
Mr. Peter MacKay: [. . . I] disagree with my colleague opposite.
As we all know, the gun registry was touted by the then minister, Allan Rock, at a cost to Canadians of $3 million. That is but a wisp compared to what it has ballooned to now. I fundamentally disagree that there is no nexus whatsoever between public safety and this boondoggle related to the gun registry.
With respect to the closure of police detachments in the province of Quebec, my simple answer is hire more police. The police are not to blame for the fact that they have to now consolidate in certain detachments, just as it is not the navy's fault when they are forced to make very difficult decisions operationally because of budget cuts.
If we take money that is being frittered away in the gun registry, if we did away with some of the scandalous programs like the sponsorship scandal, the HRDC boondoggle, the purchase of government jets against the recommendations of the Chief of Defence Staff, if we did away with some of these absolutely heinous wastes of public money and put it into front line policing and national security, the navy and the RCMP would not be forced to make these very difficult decisions which involve downsizing and closing detachments. It shows a distinct lack of respect and commitment to rural Canada. Time and again that is where the hits and the cuts occur.
Digitization
Mrs. Cheryl Gallant (Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, CPC): [. . . The] digitizing of fingerprints and that this has not really proceeded in the manner in which it was supposed to due to underfunding.
[. . . Would] the elimination of the gun registry free up the necessary funding so this initiative could be put forth that would help the safety and security of the nation?
Mr. Peter MacKay: [. . . . ] It was $2 billion that was flushed away by the useless gun registry.
[. . . ] the practicalities . . . . The type of technology that is used for fingerprinting and iris identification can be extremely useful if properly implemented.
The problem with something like a gun registry, as sophisticated as we might try to make it, is criminals do not register their guns. They do not participate in the program. [. . . . ] Just as we cannot expect them to provide accurate information to Revenue Canada for tax purposes, they are not about to register their guns.[. . . . ]
[. . . . That] technology is useful if it is properly funded and implemented and actually has a nexus to security. Identification of iris and fingerprints and that type of human data is very useful. [. . . . ] If the information is accurate, useful and can save lives, I say do it. The gun registry does not do any of that.
