Announcement of enhanced funding under the National Anti-Drug Strategy for Chemical Detection by the CBSA

Speaking Notes for the
Honourable Stockwell Day
Minister of Public Safety

Lansdowne, Ontario
January 17, 2008
As delivered

Thank you, Rick [Richard Dykstra, MP for St. Catharines] for your warm welcome.

Ladies and gentlemen, you will not find stronger advocates in the House of Commons than my colleagues, Rick and Minister Nicholson, when it comes to safety, security and concerns about proper reforms to our criminal justice system.

I would also like to acknowledge the strong policing in this area, represented by Chief Southall [W.E. Southall, Chief of Police, Niagara Regional Police Service] and others. The chief has been to Parliament Hill and is very articulate about areas of concern related to effective policing, law enforcement and keeping communities safe and secure. Chief, thank you for your commitment.

I'm always impressed when I have the opportunity to be at one of our border locations, to see our officers at work. These are the men and women who actually make this happen. They are a line of dedicated and courageous people from coast to coast.

Every day they are out there to do the combination of two things.

On the one hand, make sure that our borders are efficient, that travel flows smoothly and that commerce gets across our borders in an effective, smooth and rapid way.

But at the same time, they are there to make sure that dangerous individuals and dangerous products – be it drugs, illegal firearms and other types of contraband – don't make it across the border.

I'm always impressed with their level of dedication and commitment. They have to be sharp and alert at all times. They have to let people know they are welcome to come into Canada, but they must also be able to send the signal that if people are planning to harm our communities – be it through drugs or gang activity, or illegal activity of any kind – they are going to stop them.

And that is what this announcement is about today. The Prime Minister announced the National Anti-Drug Strategy not long ago. More than 63 million dollars were committed to this Strategy, as it focuses on enforcement when dealing with illegal drug activity but also on the awareness, education, prevention and treatment sides of this issue.

About two thirds of those funds are committed to awareness, education and reaching out to people at risk, such as young people and families at risk. It is about making them aware of the dangers of drug activity and telling them that there are options and alternatives.

Today, I'm very pleased to announce 3.3 million dollars that will be going towards a particular operation of the Canada Border Service Agency that deals with illegal drug activity coming into our country.

What we are talking about is increasing the capability in the laboratory, that is to say the scientific aspect, and then bringing the technology right here to the borders so that certain types of the most dangerous drugs can be more easily detected.

We are sending a strong message to people who buy drugs, saying that you support an industry that brings death and devastation to so many lives.

To people who are addicted to drugs, we are saying reach out. There is help for you.

And to people who sell drugs, we are saying we are not standing idly by while you destroy the lives of youth, people across Canada and communities. You will be facing mandatory jail time if you are contemplating a life of that type of crime. Minister Nicholson is going to elaborate on that in a few minutes.

Drugs harm our youth, our communities and people throughout the country and we are convinced that we can address the level of crime through the methods you will see today. What we are doing is sending the signal that with increased scientific capability, our agents will be able to sort out the precursors that are coming across our borders.

Precursors are the types of chemicals that are used in legitimate pharmaceutical drugs, but they can also be used in the manufacture of methamphetamines, and other types of destructive drugs that are so quickly addictive and so devastating on the lives of the people who are trapped into using them.

Research is going to have a great effect and give us a great advantage in determining which of these precursors are intended for proper use.

Specific initiatives will focus on the improved collection and analysis of information on precursor chemical shipment importations; the development of intelligence products that will be available to CBSA officers and other accredited law enforcement agencies; as well as policy and program development work relative to the precursor threat.

In addition, laboratory scientists will be providing technical support to validate suspected precursor chemicals, and research will be conducted to develop tools and instrumentation that can be used to properly sample and identify the large diversity of precursor chemicals at Canada's ports of entry.

I'm very pleased to make this announcement and again, I just want to say a sincere thank you to our border officers across the country for their dedication. They are taking a stand with us and making sure that Canadians and our communities are safe.

Thank you so much for being here and for your attention today.