Louis Sebert

Certainly, Mr. Speaker, this is a complex issue. Of course, the federal government deals with criminal law, and marijuana will be decriminalized July 1, 2018. We will be soliciting advice, as I mentioned, from the various communities. There are communities that are self-governing, and it is going to be very interesting to hear their input which we are seeking and will reflect, likely in our legislation, as it may be, that certain self-governing bodies, local laws, may actually override our own. These are important issues. We will be discussing those with the various communities and governments...

Mr. Chair, we would like to think that our decisions are evidence-based. After all, we did go out and commissioned a very extensive report on this program, which suggested certain changes, which after a good deal of consideration, were incorporated into the new RFP. We then went out, and unfortunately, there were not any bidders. Therefore, we had to look further afield to make sure the program continues. As to evaluating the program, of course we will be evaluating the program, and perhaps I could have Ms. Gardiner expand on my answer. Thank you.

Thank you. I think I will need to speak to the procurement office before I make any obligations in that regard. I, myself, have not seen the contract. I'm not certain whether there are certain elements in it that are confidential or proprietary, so that's my answer. Thank you.

I don't want anybody to think that a decision was made irrationally. After all, we went out for an evaluation report. This matter has been brought up several times in the House, so there is a very careful evaluation prepared. On the basis of that evaluation, an RFP was issued. There were no responses. We then went out to NGOs, so I am quite confident that we have conducted this whole process properly. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Yes, Mr. Speaker, the working group has been working on a series of principles, and these will be taken out on the road for public consultation in the regional centres, and also at least several of the smaller communities. There are certain principles that we are acting upon, as follows: restricting youth access to cannabis and the protection of young people from promotion and enticements to use cannabis; legislation to allow adults to possess and access regulated quality controlled legal cannabis; to discourage drug impaired driving; to protect workers and the public from drug impairment in...

Well, we were disappointed when we did not receive a response to our RFP from the Tree of Peace or from other possible providers. Therefore, it was necessary to seek other avenues to make sure that this very important program would continue to be delivered. Therefore, we went out to NGOs that we thought would have the capacity to deal with this type of contract. Ultimately, the John Howard Society stepped forward, and that is how they ended up with the contract. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Yes, after there were no responses, positive responses to the RFP, we did approach certain NGOs, and amongst those was the John Howard Society. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Such a change would be an almost complete change in the program, which is meant for those not in custody, either serving prisoners or on remand. Now, that is not to say there are not programs to assist those who are in custody. There are such programs, but they have a different focus. The whole point of this program was to assist those not in custody. There are programs for those in custody, and programs for those not in custody. I imagine it would be very difficult to integrate those two programs and, in fact, that is not what A New Day is all about. It is voluntary for...

Mr. Chair, of course, we are always hoping to work with community organizations. We are, of course, always interested in hearing what the clients have to say. The whole point of this exercise is to review the, the very expensive review, that took place, that was tabled in the House in November was to the effect that not that the program was broken in any way but that it could be improved. Ultimately, that improvement is for the clients. We're hoping as we move forward the program having become more flexible that we will be able to better serve those clients that wish to avail themselves to the...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I wonder if I could defer that question to Ms. Gardiner. Thank you.