Mr. Garfield Dunlop (Simcoe North): My question today is to the Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services. Yesterday the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police sent a strong message to those of us here at Queen's Park. As a community safety issue, they do not want the government of Ontario to upload our parole board to the people who send convicts to Wonderland. Minister, will you now agree that it's time to listen to our community safety leaders? Will you stand in the House today and assure Ontarians that our parole system will not be turned over to the soft-on-crime Martin Liberals?

Hon. Monte Kwinter (Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services): I thank the member for the question. Just to put it in context -- I keep delivering this message to the people in the opposition, but they don't seem to understand it; the former minister doesn't understand it -- at the present time there are 56,000 male offenders who are in the community under supervision. We have, in that group, 130 people who are on parole. That represents a quarter of 1% of the total number of people who are under community supervision. We have 130 people, and we are looking at seeing whether or not this is the most effective way of doing it: Do you have a whole establishment, the Ontario Parole and Earned Release Board, looking at it, or should we transfer it to the federal parole system? We haven't made that decision, but certainly, if you take a look at the numbers, and we're only dealing with a quarter of 1%, it is our responsibility --

The Speaker (Hon. Michael A. Brown): Thank you, Minister. Supplementary.

Mr. Dunlop: I have looked at the numbers. I have learned that the allocated funds to operate the Ontario Parole and Earned Release Board is $2.2 million for this year. In a document dated April of this year, Correctional Services Canada indicated the projected cost of the added responsibilities of case preparation and offender supervision has been estimated to be $10 million annually and another $1.6 million for the National Parole Board. The cost will be a staggering $11.6 million, or $9 million-plus more than the cost to operate our provincial parole system now.

Minister, there is only one taxpayer. Even if you don't consider community safety to be a priority, will you at least consider the taxpayer and let this foolish idea die once and for all?

Hon. Mr. Kwinter: I actually welcome that inclusion into the equation, because it's something we're aware of. I'm glad you've gone off the tack of saying that we're releasing murderers into the community and doing all of these things if we do this.

We are looking at doing exactly what we hope we can do, which is to determine whether or not it's more cost-effective to do it the other way, whether it's more effective. In all of our deliberations, the overriding factor is community safety. So when we examine all the issues, which is something we are doing, we will make a determination and we will do it in the best interests of the people of Ontario.