Senator Gold, on February 26, I asked how Correctional Service Canada, or CSC, spent some $46 million earmarked for external mental health beds given that no new beds were contracted and that CSC had not responded to Senate committee questions about this funding. On February 28 and 29, barely two weeks after appearing to reaffirm the existence of this funding to the Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights, CSC wrote to the Legal and Finance Committees that they had actually received no such funding.

Thank you, Senator Gold, for the inquiries that you made. They are well appreciated. But given that CSC has only further obfuscated this situation, will you inquire again to resolve this apparent contradiction?

When Bill C-83 passed, the government pointed to Budget 2018 funding for additional mental health beds in the community to dissuade senators from insisting on the necessity of our amendments that would have broadened access to community-based mental health treatment for prisoners. How will the government be ensuring prisoners can be transferred to the community for mental health treatment and assessment given that these external mental health beds have actually not materialized?

Thank you very much.