Plans and Priorities for 2006/2007

Minister’s Message

I am pleased to take this opportunity to provide Parliament with my first Report on Plans and Priorities as Minister of Public Safety. 

The Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada is part of the Portfolio of Public Safety, which includes the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Canada Border Services Agency, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, the Correctional Service of Canada, the National Parole Board, and three review bodies. 

Canadians are rightfully proud of a tradition of community safety and security. Working collectively in an integrated fashion, the Department and the Portfolio Agencies are dedicated to protecting Canadian families and their communities, to secure our borders and to increase our preparedness to address public health threats.

To help meet these safety and security needs, the recent Budget 2006 provides $1.4 billion over two years to protect Canadian families and communities, to secure our borders and to increase our preparedness to address public health threats. Funding is being provided to the Portfolio for such initiatives as increasing the number of police officers on the street; preventing youth crime with a focus on guns, gangs and drugs; arming border officers and eliminating “work-alone” posts; and, enhancing our capacity to deal with catastrophes and other emergencies.

An additional focus will be on Canada's trading relationship with the United States, the largest and most comprehensive in the world. A safe, reliable and secure border is critical to Canada's continued economic and social prosperity. I will continue to work closely with my United States colleagues on facilitating the cross-border travel of people and low risk goods and ensuring that Canadians receive fair and equal treatment at border crossings.

I am confident that the Public Safety Portfolio will fulfill its mandate of ensuring a just and safe society which both protects Canadians from threats to personal safety, and maintains the rights and freedoms on which our open society depends.

The Honourable Stockwell Day, PC, MP 
Minister of Public Safety