Mr. Garfield Dunlop (Simcoe North): My question today is for the Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services. Since February 28, the OPP have had a presence in Caledonia 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The officers at Caledonia have been dispatched from detachments right across our province, and many of them are from detachments that are under municipal policing contracts. As you know, many of the municipal contract forces are already understaffed. Minister, how are you preparing to compensate the municipalities for the use of their officers who are working full time at Caledonia today?

Hon. Monte Kwinter (Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services): I thank the member for the question. I'm sure he realizes that the responsibility of the deployment of officers is in the hands of the commissioner and her senior staff. I have been assured by the commissioner that all of their responsibilities have been covered and that they have adequate provisions to make sure that they can deal with the situation in Caledonia without in any way impacting their responsibilities in other areas of the province.

Mr. Dunlop: Minister, a week ago I asked you what was the daily cost to the OPP to have officers in Caledonia. At that time you didn't provide me with the answer, and I thought that was an answer you would have at the tips of your fingers. I am told by reliable sources that the accommodation cost alone to have officers in Caledonia is $100,000 per week. In other words, since February 28, the OPP have likely absorbed accommodation costs alone in the range of close to $1 million.

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Minister, with salaries, overtime, vehicles, accommodation and administration costs, I believe that Caledonia has cost the taxpayers of Ontario and the Ontario Provincial Police budget somewhere in the range of $8 million. If you're not prepared to help the municipalities, are you prepared to go back to the cabinet table and find the millions of dollars for the unexpected costs that the OPP have been subjected to at Caledonia?

Hon. Mr. Kwinter: The member, with all due respect, is wrong. The OPP have a global budget. They don't go out and hire new people to deal with a particular situation. So their budget is the same regardless of whether those people are in Caledonia or whether they're somewhere else, as long as they have the coverage, which they do. The only time that would change is if they had to go out because they needed additional resources. To this point, they have indicated to me that they don't. So there's no additional cost; it has just been reallocated within the province. They have assured me that the requirements to police the various communities under their contractual obligations are being carried out.