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A Safer Canada: Building a Stronger Canada in a Modern World

Canada is admired the world over as a safe, law-abiding society. We cherish our safety and security and we must keep it that way. We are also proud of the role Canada plays across the globe, restoring and protecting the peace. To that end, Budget 2007 significantly enhances Canadians’ security at home, and ensures Canada plays an even more effective leadership role in world affairs in three key strategic areas:

Defence

This Government recognizes the sacrifices and contributions of Canadian soldiers. Canada also owes a debt of gratitude to our veterans, who have fought for our freedom and protected the peace. That is why Budget 2007 makes important investments such as:

• Accelerating the implementation of the Canada First defence plan so that the Canadian Forces will receive $175 million in 2007–08.


• Earmarking $60 million per year to bring the environmental allowances paid to soldiers serving in Army field units in line with those provided to members of the Navy and Air Force.


• Providing $10 million per year to establish five new Operational Stress Injury Clinics to assist Canadian Forces members and veterans dealing with stress injuries related to their military service and provide improved support for their families.


• Investing $19 million in 2007–08 and $20 million thereafter to establish the Veterans’ Ombudsman and ensure that services for veterans meet the standards set out in a new Veterans’ Bill of Rights.

Public Security

One of the things visitors to Canada often comment upon is how safe and secure they feel in Canada, and the Government is taking action to help keep it that way. Budget 2007 takes important steps to help prevent crime and to ensure that the security, intelligence and corrections systems are strong through initiatives such as:

• A new National Anti-Drug Strategy with $64 million over two years to crack down on gangs, combat illicit drug production such as grow-ops and methamphetamine labs, prevent illicit drug use and treat illicit drug dependency.


• Providing an additional $6 million per year to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) to protect children from sexual exploitation and trafficking.


• Taking action to crack down on white-collar crime by appointing a senior expert advisor to the RCMP to help develop and guide the implementation of a plan to improve the effectiveness of the Integrated Market Enforcement Teams.


• Improving front-end screening of first-time firearms licence applicants with $14 million over two years.


• Strengthening the security of Canada’s diplomatic missions abroad with an investment of $11 million over the next two years to enhance the critical infrastructure of our embassies and consulates.


• Investing $80 million over two years to make the Canadian Security Intelligence Service’s operations more effective.


• Providing the Correctional Service of Canada with $102 million over two years to begin updating its infrastructure, equipment and programming, pending the results of a panel review.


• Providing $1 million over two years to the Canadian arm of the International Association of Fire Fighters to help implement a hazardous materials training program.


• Providing $10 million over the next two years to support the Canadian Police Research Centre’s work in science and technology in policing and public safety.

International Assistance

Canadians take pride in our role in reducing global poverty and contributing to international peace and security. Increasing the amount of resources that we make available for international assistance is a key element of that effort. Budget 2007 supports these goals by:

• Confirming our Budget 2006 commitment to double international assistance by 2010–11 from 2001–02 levels. This will bring Canada’s total international assistance to $4.1 billion in 2007–08 and $4.4 billion in 2008–09.


• Laying out a three-point program for enhancing the focus, efficiency and accountability of Canada’s international assistance efforts.


• Providing $200 million in additional support for reconstruction and development in Afghanistan, with a focus on new opportunities for women, strengthened governance, enhanced security and combatting illegal drugs.


• Investing $115 million initially and up to $230 million over time in the innovative Advance Market Commitment, led by Canada, Italy and the United Kingdom, to create a pneumococcal vaccine, which is expected to save more than 5 million lives in the developing world by 2030.


• Providing a tax incentive for companies to participate in international programs for the donation of lifesaving medicines, such as those to combat AIDS and tuberculosis, to the developing world.

Overview

Advantage Canada, one of the key building blocks of Budget 2007, proudly proclaimed that Canada is fully assuming our role in world affairs, with the best economic footing of any of the Group of Seven (G7) economies. This confidence in the future reflects the qualities of hard work, imagination and the entrepreneurial spirit of our people. These qualities, coupled with Canadians’ compassion and commitment to international peace and security, define Canada to the rest of the world. These qualities will allow us to respond to the changes taking place in the world economy and in global affairs—changes that present tremendous opportunities for Canadian leadership, but also pose significant challenges. Advantage Canada committed the Government to meeting those challenges head-on.

The foundations for building a stronger Canada in a modern world were laid in Budget 2006, which invested $1.9 billion over two years to ensure the safety of our communities, to secure our borders, strengthen our financial system and increase our preparedness to address public health threats. Budget 2006 also committed to invest $5.3 billion over five years in the Canadian Forces to implement the Canada First defence plan, announcing funding of $400 million in 2006–07 and $725 million in 2007–08. In addition, steps were taken to ensure the effectiveness of Canada’s international assistance to developing nations. Budget 2007 builds on these initiatives to enhance Canadians’ security at home, and ensure Canada plays an even more effective leadership role in world affairs.

Implementing the Canada First Defence Plan

Over the past year, the Department of National Defence has made significant progress towards the implementation of the Canada First defence plan to strengthen Canada’s independent capacity to defend our national sovereignty and security. The transformation and expansion of the Canadian Forces are underway. The procurement of major equipment has progressed with the approval and announcement of the acquisition of joint support ships, a medium-sized logistics truck fleet, medium- to heavy-lift helicopters, as well as enhanced strategic and tactical airlift capability.

Budget 2007 accelerates the implementation of the $5.3-billion, five-year Canada First defence plan. Through this plan, the Canadian Forces will receive $3.1 billion over the next three years.

Table 6.1
Canada First Defence Plan (Budgetary Basis)¹ (millions of dollars)

	2007–08	2008–09	2009–10	Total
Budget 2006	725	1,000	1,400	3,125
Budget 2007	175	0	-175	0
Canada First defence plan implementation	900	1,000	1,225	3,125
1 The cost of major capital equipment is spread over its life, so the annual budgetary amounts include only a portion of the full capital cost. As was the case with the budgetary increases provided last year, the full cost of capital acquisitions will be provided on a cash basis in the years they are acquired.

This Government recognizes the important contribution of Canadian Forces members to both Canada and broader international peace and security. Members of the Canadian Forces must often work under dangerous and challenging circumstances in Canada and other parts of the world. The extent of these dangers and challenges has most recently been reflected in the experiences of Canadian Forces members serving in Afghanistan.

Canadian Forces members who are exposed to hazards and difficult conditions in their daily work are provided with "environmental allowances," which are in addition to their salaries. Budget 2007 provides $60 million per year to enhance the Field Operations Allowance given to soldiers serving in Army field units to ensure their environmental allowances are in line with those provided to members of the Navy and Air Force. This means that soldiers in Army field units will receive an allowance of at least $285 per month served.

The enhanced Field Operations Allowance builds on another measure implemented by Canada’s New Government, the Allowance for Loss of Operational Allowance, announced in December 2006. Until recently, Canadian Forces members who were injured and returned from military operations such as Afghanistan stopped receiving their operational allowances. The Allowance for Loss of Operational Allowance provides payments equivalent to the operational allowance to injured military personnel until the end of their planned deployment.

Strengthening Services for Veterans and Their Families

Canada owes a debt of gratitude to the men and women who have fought for our freedom, and to those who are serving in the Canadian Forces today to preserve what we as a nation hold dear. Canada has an obligation to ensure these men and women have the programs and services they need. The introduction of the New Veterans Charter in April 2006 addressed many issues that modern-day Canadian Force veterans and their families said were important to them while preserving the programs and services that assist war service and other veterans. Veterans and their families continue to face challenges that need to be addressed.

Operational Stress Injury Clinics and Support for Families

The Canadian Forces have been deployed in a number of international operations where they are placed in harm’s way. On a daily basis, these men and women face high levels of stress, while their families must cope with extended periods of separation, and in unfortunate cases with the serious injury or death of a loved one.

Budget 2007 provides for five new Operational Stress Injury Clinics to be located across the country to assist Canadian Forces members and veterans dealing with stress injuries related to their military service. It will also ensure that the families of Canadian Forces members and veterans receive critically timed interventions, social support and counselling services when they face difficult adjustments due to military-related service. The new clinics and family services will help an additional 1,500 Canadian Forces members, veterans and their families receive the services they need each year, and will be particularly helpful to those returning from Afghanistan and other areas of conflict. Budget 2007 will provide $9 million per year to establish the new clinics and $1 million per year to support families of Canadian Forces members.

Veterans’ Ombudsman and Bill of Rights

Canada’s New Government is demonstrating its ongoing commitment to veterans and their families by appointing a Veterans’ Ombudsman, who will ensure that the services delivered by the Department of Veterans Affairs meet the standards of service set out in a new Veterans’ Bill of Rights. The new Bill of Rights outlines the rights of Veterans Affairs clients to the following:

• To be treated with respect, dignity, fairness and courtesy.


• To have someone with the veteran when he/she deals with Veterans Affairs.


• To receive benefits and services as set out in service standards.


• To make a complaint and have the matter investigated, if the veteran feels that his/her rights have not been upheld.

In addition, services to veterans will be strengthened to ensure that these services are delivered in a timely manner and meet the standards in a new Bill of Rights, and that concerns raised by the Ombudsman are addressed without delay.

The proposed changes ensure that all veterans and their families will receive the services to which they are entitled when they need them, and that they are provided with dignity and respect.

Budget 2007 provides up to $5.3 million in 2007–08 and $6.3 million thereafter to establish the Veterans’ Ombudsman and an additional $13.7 million per year to enhance services to veterans as well as to respond to any issues identified by the new Ombudsman.

Keeping Canadians Secure

One of the things visitors to Canada often comment upon is how safe and secure they feel in Canada. Compared to many other countries, Canada is very safe and secure. Budget 2007 takes important measures to help prevent crime and ensures that the security, intelligence and corrections systems are strong.

Canada’s New Government continues to deliver on what is important to Canadians—the safety and security of their families and communities. The Government will introduce a new National Anti-Drug Strategy by making strategic investments in enforcement, prevention and treatment related to illicit drug use. It will also implement a more extensive front-end screening process to prevent firearms from getting into the hands of people who are legally ineligible.

Ensuring the security of Canadians, whether at home or abroad, is also a key priority for the Government. To successfully advance Canada’s interests in a more complex and sometimes dangerous world, the Government will invest to strengthen the physical security of our missions abroad. These investments will focus on enhancing the critical infrastructure of Canada’s foreign missions in order to ensure the security of Canadian interests abroad.

The Government is setting aside funding for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the Correctional Service of Canada in order to help these organizations address some of their key operational, program and infrastructure issues. The Government is also investing to help ensure that Canada’s firefighters and other first responders have the training they need to safely and effectively respond to hazardous material emergencies, including those involving chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear materials, and that our police forces have access to the latest knowledge, tools and technologies.

National Anti-Drug Strategy

The introduction of a new National Anti-Drug Strategy is an important commitment of Canada’s New Government that is being supported in Budget 2007. This new strategy covers three priority areas, with common objectives, to combat illicit drug production, prevent illicit drug use and treat illicit drug dependency. This new approach will result in a more focused program for dealing with illicit drug use.

The investment of $63.8 million over two years will build on existing programs and initiatives ($385 million per year) that are being refocused to create a new National Anti-Drug Strategy. This new strategy places particular emphasis on additional actions to combat the illicit production and distribution of drugs, to address gaps in preventing illicit drug use, to create awareness of illicit drugs and their negative effects, particularly among youth, and to treat and rehabilitate those with drug dependencies. Together, these three initiatives form a focused approach to reducing the supply of and demand for illicit drugs, as well as addressing the crime associated with illegal drugs, leading to safer and healthier communities.

Combatting Illicit Drug Production and Distribution

Budget 2007 provides $21.6 million over the next two years to support law enforcement in combatting the illegal use of drugs. Canada’s New Government is working closely with the provinces, territories and law enforcement partners to ensure that officers have the tools they need to significantly reduce illegal drug production and distribution operations. Officers will also be able to tackle the organized crime elements behind them, including gangs, thereby stemming the supply of illicit drugs. Increased enforcement activities will proactively target illicit drug producers, such as marihuana grow operations and clandestine methamphetamine labs, and gangs. Funding will enhance the capacity of the criminal justice system to investigate, interdict and prosecute offenders. The Government is also committed to ensuring that strong and adequate penalties are in place for serious drug crimes.

Preventing Illicit Drug Use

Budget 2007 invests $10 million over the next two years to implement a national prevention campaign aimed at youth and their parents. The objective of the campaign will be to help decrease the prevalence of drug use among youth. To do this, the campaign will raise awareness and knowledge about drugs and their negative effects. It will also give parents the tools they need to talk to their children about drug use.

Treating Illicit Drug Dependency

Budget 2007 provides $32.2 million over two years to support treatment services that will address substance abuse. This will include the development and implementation of innovative projects that will support programming for First Nations and Inuit populations and support provinces and territories in filling critical treatment gaps. Funding will also be used by the Department of Justice to support extra-judicial diversion and treatment programs for youth offenders with drug-related problems at the various stages of the criminal justice system. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police will implement new tools to refer youth at risk to treatment programming. The Canadian Institutes of Health Research will develop new treatment models for crystal methamphetamine use.

Protecting Children From Sexual Exploitation

As mentioned in Chapter 3, Budget 2007 invests an additional $6 million per year for the protection of children. These funds will be used to strengthen current activities in combatting the sexual exploitation and trafficking of children.

Fighting White-Collar Crime

As mentioned in the "Entrepreneurial Advantage" section of Chapter 5 and in a companion document entitled Creating a Canadian Advantage in Global Capital Markets, a senior expert advisor to the RCMP will be appointed to help develop and guide the implementation of a plan to improve the effectiveness of the Integrated Market Enforcement Teams.

Firearms Possession Requirements

Consistent with the commitment to tackle crime, and in recognition of the tragic events at Dawson College last year, Canada’s New Government is strengthening front-end screening of first-time firearms licence applicants. This will ensure over 20,000 first-time firearms licence applicants will be interviewed, along with their references, and help prevent guns from getting into the hands of those who are legally ineligible. Budget 2007 provides $14.2 million over two years for this enhanced screening.

Related Program Integrity Measures

Mission Security Strategy

The Government has a responsibility to ensure the safety and security of its diplomats. While the majority of Canada’s foreign missions were built during more peaceful times, the realities of today’s world require that we strengthen the security of our missions to advance Canada’s interests in a more complex world. To this end, Budget 2007 will invest an additional $11 million over the next two years to enhance the critical infrastructure of foreign missions. Enhancements will include improvements to closed-circuit televisions, exterior lightening, enhanced visitor screening, vehicle barriers and more rigorous surveillance.

Canadian Security Intelligence Service

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) plays a key role in protecting Canada’s national security. CSIS’s role is to collect and analyze information on threats to Canada’s security and to report to Government.

Investigating the threat from terrorism, both at home and abroad, is the top priority for CSIS. Terrorism, which has become a global phenomenon, is a very real threat to Canada’s national security. Terrorists and their supporters span countries, cultures, political systems and socio-economic backgrounds. Terrorism has existed, in some fashion or other, for centuries. It has, however, become an increasingly common fact of life around the world, with international terrorist incidents increasing threefold worldwide between 2000 and 2005.

Budget 2007 provides $80 million over two years to allow CSIS to operate more effectively within the post-9/11 environment. This funding will help maintain Canada’s national security and help protect all Canadians.

Correctional Service of Canada

The Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) is the agency responsible for administering sentences of two years or more, as imposed by the courts. CSC is responsible for managing institutions of various security levels and supervising offenders under conditional release in the community. Currently, CSC is responsible for 58 penitentiaries, 16 community correctional centres and 71 parole offices across Canada. The system is facing a changing offender population, with a higher proportion of maximum-security classifications, inmates with mental health and substance abuse problems, and infectious diseases.

Canada’s New Government is committed to reviewing the operations of CSC with a view to enhancing public safety by making sure that CSC has the necessary resources to deal with the challenges of a changing offender profile. Budget 2007 dedicates $3.5 million so that a review by a blue ribbon panel can be undertaken in the coming year.

Pending the results of this review, Budget 2007 provides CSC with $102 million over two years so that it can begin to address some of its key requirements. This will be used by CSC in several areas—for example, to address some of its more immediate infrastructure issues, to begin work towards implementing a mental health strategy for offenders, and to provide training and protective equipment for staff to help them deal with the more complex offender population.

Hazardous Materials Training for Canada’s First Responders

The safety of our communities is a priority, and Canada’s first responders must have the training they need to safely and effectively respond to emergencies to protect citizens. A key component of this is training that deals with hazardous materials, including chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear emergencies. Budget 2007 provides $1 million over two years to the Canadian arm of the International Association of Fire Fighters through Public Safety Canada to help implement a hazardous materials training program that would be available to all first responders including firefighters, police, paramedics and utility workers.

Harnessing Knowledge to Strengthen Public Safety

Police forces serve an important role in providing a safe public environment for all Canadians. To meet the challenges they face each day in communities across Canada, our police personnel require the latest knowledge and the best tools and technologies.

The Canadian Police Research Centre (CPRC) plays a valuable role in supporting science and technology in policing and public safety across Canada through research, development of standards, and product evaluation. To build on this success, Budget 2007 will provide $10 million over the next two years to Public Safety Canada to expand CPRC’s activities and establish its base in Regina.

International Assistance

Canadians take pride in our role in reducing global poverty and contributing to international peace and security. Increasing the resources we make available for international assistance is a key element of that effort.

This Government will double our international assistance by 2010–11 from 2001–02 levels; this will bring Canada’s international assistance budget to $4.4 billion by 2008–09. In addition, Budget 2007 provides $200 million in further development assistance to demonstrate our leadership in rebuilding Afghanistan, and $115 million to support a major new global health initiative. Budget 2007 also provides a tax incentive for corporations to participate in international programs for the distribution of medicines.

Improving Aid Effectiveness

Although this Government has consistently increased the international assistance envelope, it is not enough to simply add new money; we need to make our existing aid resources work more effectively. Canadians want to know that their tax dollars going to foreign aid are making a real difference in the lives of the people we are trying to help. Canadians want to know what our aid is intended to do, and want to see results. Budget 2007 lays out a three-point program for enhancing the focus, efficiency and accountability of Canada’s international assistance efforts. From this base, the Government will develop a comprehensive strategy, benchmarked against other G7 countries, detailing how we will implement the program.

Strengthening Focus

The first element in strengthening the effectiveness of Canada’s aid is improving its focus. Every time we select a new country to receive Canadian aid, we increase our administrative overhead and reduce how much actually gets to those in need. Canada is among the least focused of all the countries that give aid, currently spreading our resources across direct aid programs in 77 countries. This Government will focus Canada’s traditional bilateral aid in fewer countries, in a manner that is consistent with our foreign policy objectives. We will aim to be among the largest five donors in core countries of interest, in order to improve how we work with those countries and with other key partners to achieve results. This Government will implement these changes, recognizing timelines to ensure the integrity and certainty surrounding existing projects.

Improving Efficiency

The second element involves improving the efficiency of Canadian aid. Canada has one of the higher overhead rates among OECD donors. This Government will implement measures to provide more of our existing resources to the poor, ensuring the greatest possible impact for our international assistance. We will establish a benchmark for reducing administrative costs, freeing up more money for development assistance. In addition, we will put more of our staff in the field, allowing us to be more responsive and make better choices on the ground.

Increasing Accountability

The third element involves increasing the accountability of our international assistance programs to Canadian taxpayers, who expect value for money, and to those we are trying to help. Specifically, this Government will examine options to ensure the independent evaluation of our aid program, providing parliamentarians and Canadians with an objective assessment of the results we achieve with our international assistance. It will provide the knowledge to better understand the results we are achieving, so that the Government can make more effective choices about our aid spending. This Government will provide Canadians with reporting on a more frequent basis that is easier to understand, including report cards on our effectiveness in individual countries.

Afghanistan

Beyond our traditional long-term aid program, there is a new reality that we cannot ignore: it is now clear that failed states and the resulting poverty are a breeding ground for extremism. Given this reality, international assistance intended to spread prosperity and provide opportunity is increasingly tied to global security concerns. There is no better example of this effect than Afghanistan.

Canadians have played a significant role in supporting Afghanistan’s efforts to rebuild a free, democratic and peaceful country. Reinforcing Canada’s unwavering commitment to the people of Afghanistan, Canada will provide $200 million in additional support for reconstruction and development, with initiatives that create new opportunities for women, strengthen governance, enhance security, and address the challenge of combatting illegal drugs. These initiatives put us well on the way to meet the Prime Minister’s commitment to provide $1 billion to Afghanistan over 10 years.

 

Advance Market Commitment for Vaccines

While much of our international assistance is done at the country level, Canada also has a critical international role to play addressing issues that do not respect borders. More than 7 million people die annually from infectious diseases, mostly in poor countries. Compounding this loss of life is the burden that disease places on families and communities, and the devastating impacts on social and economic development.

Canada has worked to establish the Advance Market Commitment (AMC) to create a pneumococcal vaccine, which is expected to save more than 5 million lives by 2030. The AMC is designed to create stronger incentives for industry to develop and produce vaccines that meet the specific needs of developing countries. It is consistent with Canada’s agenda on aid effectiveness and results—vaccination has clearly been shown to be one of the most effective ways to fight infectious diseases, and AMC funding only occurs once vaccines that meet strict safety and efficacy requirements are demanded by developing countries. The AMC also aims to create a sustainable market, with a requirement that firms continue to supply developing countries with an affordable vaccine after AMC funding concludes.

The pneumococcal AMC is part of a global effort to develop vaccines that will benefit the world’s poorest people. Budget 2007 provides an initial $115 million to establish this innovative mechanism and up to $230 million over time (US$200 million), alongside the contributions of five other countries and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Donating Medicines to the Developing World

Canadians have a strong sense of responsibility to support less fortunate areas of the world. They want their country to play an active role in global affairs and take great pride in Canada’s positive international influence. The corporate sector is a supporter of Canadian charities that are active in programs that provide international humanitarian assistance. For income tax purposes, corporations can deduct from their income the fair market value of any property donated to a registered charity or government body.

In order to provide an incentive for corporations to participate in international programs for the distribution of medicines, Budget 2007 proposes to provide corporations that make donations of medicines from their inventory with a special additional deduction equal to the lesser of:

• 50 per cent of the amount by which the fair market value of the donated medicine exceeds its cost; and


• the cost of the medicine.

This additional deduction will be available only when the donation is made to a registered charity that has received a disbursement under a program of the Canadian International Development Agency, and the gift is made in respect of activities of a charity outside of Canada.

It is estimated that this change will have a small fiscal impact in 2006–07 and subsequent years.

Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative

As part of a broader development effectiveness agenda, Canada has joined the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative in order to strengthen accountability measures in resource-rich developing countries. This initiative is designed to make resource revenues more transparent and to hold governments accountable for how these resources are spent, ensuring that more resources are directed to health, education and other priority areas that help to reduce poverty and the risk of conflict, while strengthening democracy.

Table 6.2
A Safer Canada (millions of dollars)

	2006–07	2007–08	2008–09	Total
Implementing the Canada First Defence Plan
Canada First defence plan1		175		175
Improving Canadian Forces environmental allowance		60	60	120
Strengthening services for veterans and their families		10	10	20
Veterans’ Ombudsman		19	20	39
Subtotal		264	90	354
Keeping Canadians Secure
National Anti-Drug Strategy
Combatting illicit drug production     and distribution		9	13	22
Preventing illicit drug use		4	6	10
Treating illicit drug dependency		8	25	32
Subtotal		20	44	64
Firearms possession requirements		8	7	14
Mission security strategy		4	7	11
Canadian Security Intelligence Service		21	60	80
Correctional Service of Canada		44	61	106
Firefighters’ training		1	1	1
Canadian Police Research Centre		5	5	10
Subtotal		102	184	286
International Assistance
Afghanistan	200			200
Advance Market Commitment for vaccines	115			115
Subtotal	315			315
Total—A Safer Canada	315	366	274	955
Less: Funding included in previous budgets2		49	87	136
Net New Cost of A Safer Canada Initiatives	315	318	187	819
Note: Totals may not add due to rounding. 1 The amount for 2007–08 is reprofiled from existing funding for 2009–10. 2 The Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the Correctional Service of Canada are partly funded from existing sources of funds.

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