Mr. Garfield Dunlop (Simcoe North): My question is also for the Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services.

Interjections.

The Speaker: Order.

Mr. Dunlop: Jeez, it's unbelievable. Maybe he can't even hear me.

Minister, in today's announcement you claim that 500 of the new officers will be assigned duties related to youth crime, guns and gangs, organized crime, dangerous offenders, domestic violence and protecting children from Internet luring and child pornography. I'm not trying to make this mean-spirited in any way, but how many of the 500 officers will be allocated to the Ontario Provincial Police for specialized duties such as drug enforcement, and is the 100% cost per OPP officer included in your announcement of the $35 million? I'm wondering, will there be any of that allocated to the OPP?

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Hon. Mr. Kwinter: I thank the member for the question and I thank him for being at the press conference. It was very nice of him to be there.

Interjections.

Hon. Mr. Kwinter: The program, as we have outlined it, is going to provide 500 police officers for community policing and 500 police officers for six areas of crime prevention.

We didn't just dream this up; this was done in consultation with police services boards, police chiefs and the associations. This was a requirement and a need that they saw that had to be addressed.

Section 10 municipalities, over 50% of the municipalities in Ontario, have OPP policing, and if they choose to participate in this program for their OPP officers, they're free to do that.

Mr. Dunlop: I appreciate your acknowledging that I was out at the press conference, Minister.

You announced, at the end of the fiscal year last year, $30 million in training for fire departments. In this announcement, you allowed fire departments a great deal of flexibility in how they spend those allocations. It appears that the promise of 1,000 new police officers is dragging on and on. It started last September, and now we're having another announcement today asking for more detail. I'm just wondering why you're not showing more trust in the police by giving them the same kind of flexibility in the police services and in the OPP that you gave to the fire departments.

Hon. Mr. Kwinter: The answer is very simple: For the first time since 1982, a government has provided funding for firefighters. We provided one-time funding -- and I stress "one-time funding" -- totalling $30 million. Every single fire service got money based on their population, one-time, and that's how it was done.

This is a totally different type of program. We will be funding this in perpetuity. We have to make sure that we understand what police services are going to participate. They have told us where they want their officers, and that's why we've designed that program that way. But once we make that commitment, we will continue it in perpetuity in the same way that we have continued the community policing program that you initiated. Your program was supposed to last five years. We've extended it in perpetuity. Just last week, I sent out $30 million to police services in Ontario.

Mr. Dunlop: In a media scrum this morning, you said, "Municipalities have to tell us, once they see the parameters, what the uptake is going to be." The problem I have, Minister, is that in your platform announcement you just announced 1,000 new police officers. I know you've turned it into a municipal type of partnership where they will be funding a certain percentage -- up to $30,000 per officer.

My question is, with all these specific areas that you outlined, like child pornography, gang violence and grow-op operations etc., do you plan on expanding the number of officers in the Ontario Provincial Police to accommodate those divisions of the OPP so they can do their job as well?

Hon. Mr. Kwinter: First of all, I want to correct the member. The amount is not $30,000 per officer; it's close to $35,000 an officer. We actually provided a 12% increase over the previous program that was put in place by your government.

The OPP is currently doing an outstanding job. I can tell you that under section 10, as I said, they provide policing in over 50% of the communities in Ontario. They will be able to access that through the municipalities that they have contractual arrangements with. The main thing about this program is, we are putting 1,000 new police officers on the streets, and we are putting them in areas where the police, the police services boards and the municipalities themselves have identified that they need help.