Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister responsible for Justice. I am sure the Minister is aware of the situation regarding crime rates in the North. We are seeing an increase in public damage, public mischief. We are quickly beginning to realize there are not resources in the communities to deal with that.
As it has been indicated in the media, the RCMP are already resourced to the max. They do not believe they have enough resources to deal with all the different levels of crime that are happening in our communities. In some cases, there is a reluctance from the RCMP to deal with by-laws, resulting in some of the community councils not passing by-laws that maybe they should, such as helmet by-laws, snowmobile by-laws.
I am not seeing any increase in dollars being allocated or earmarked towards by-law programs or policing programs. This concerns me. As a former mayor, I know full well that it is not realistic for the Department of MACA to expect the community to make a choice with the scarce resources they have on hand, between a by-law officer and another position.
It also concerned me that the federal program earmarked towards community constables has sunsetted. Although there is some money for next year there is no money for this year. I would like to know if the Minister is considering designing a program or rolling in an existing program, such as the Community Constable Program, into a By-Law Officer Program that would include by-law officer funding? Thank you.