Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day's get-tough stance on prisoner transfers to Canada has drawn the ire of an MP from his own party.

Edmonton Conservative MP James Rajotte said he would challenge Day on the case of 44-year-old Edmontonian Perry King, convicted in 2003 of corrupting two minors in Cuba.

TRANSFERS TO CANADA (as of July 2007)
Fiscal year  2003-2004  2004-2005  2005-2006  2006-2007 
Cuba  2  3  1  1 
Costa Rica  4  0  0  2 
Mexico  0  1  1  3 
Trinidad and Tobago  1  4  0  0
United Kingdom   0  2  0  0
United States  85  60  82  37 

Other

  6  9  6  10
TOTAL  98  79  90  53 
 Source: Correctional Service of Canada

Rajotte said he wants to get to the bottom of why Day won't allow King, who has served almost five years in a Cuban prison for having sex with 15- and 16-year-old girls, to spend the remaining 10 years of his sentence behind bars in Canada.

The rejection of King's request for a transfer appears to be part of a growing trend.

Over Day's past year as public safety minister, his office has only approved 53 prisoner transfers to Canada under the International Transfer of Offenders Act. The figures show a marked drop from previous governments, in spite of the fact that the number of people applying for transfers has remained steady.

Under Day's Liberal predecessor Anne McLellan, 90 Canadians were transferred to prisons back home.

Day's spokeswoman defended the figures, saying that "the previous Liberal government put criminals' rights first; we do not.

"Our government takes its responsibility for the protection of Canadians and the security of their communities very seriously. This is particularly true when it comes to violent and sexual offenders," she said.

Rajotte told the Calgary Herald that King's family raises good points when arguing that the convicted sex offender should be in a Canadian cell rather than in squalid conditions in Cuba. He said he wanted to meet personally with Day to discuss the matter.

'Nature of these offences' cited in refusal

When asked for an interview by CBC News, however, Rajotte's office referred reporters back to the public safety minister's office.

King first applied for transfer to Canada last fall, then again in mid-June, and most recently on Aug. 9.

Each time, the Conservative government turned him down, reasoning in a letter from Day's office that "based on the nature of these offences, there is concern the offender's return to Canada would constitute a threat to the security of Canada."

Both Canada and Cuba have full discretion on whether to allow a transfer.