Watchdog to cost out Tory crime agenda

Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page is launching the first stages of a financial analysis aimed at pinning down the total cost of the Conservative government's tough-on-crime agenda.

The preliminary work is being done in response to a written request by Liberal MP Mark Holland. The MP hopes it will determine the financial implications of three crime bills already passed into law and four others that are still being debated in Parliament.

“The government has supplied Parliament with no costing for these policies, despite the fact that the cost to our correctional system will inevitably be in the hundreds of millions of dollars as a significant influx of new federal inmates will result,” Mr. Holland wrote.

Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan, who is responsible for Correctional Service Canada, said this month that the government is in fact preparing for more inmates. The service's budget for prison infrastructure has doubled since 2006 when the Conservatives took office.

Mr. Van Loan has said the government has internal estimates showing the expected rise in prison inmates that will be attributed to each new measure, but is declining to make those figures public.

Mr. Holland said the Liberal Party was willing to pass some of the measures as “one-offs,” but now wants a full costing before passing the rest of the crime bills.

An official with the Parliamentary Budget Office confirmed receipt of Mr. Holland's request and that the office is working on the terms of reference for a study. Whether or not the study will proceed and lead to a final report will depend on whether the government is willing to provide the independent office with the information it needs.

The request comes as the government is preparing to unveil further crime legislation this week. Mr. Van Loan has filed formal notice that he will bringing in new measures affecting parole. CTV reported Sunday night that the government was going to end early parole for non-violent offenders, which includes white-collar criminals.

Parliament gave final approval last week to Bill C-25, a law that eliminates a judge's ability to award extra credit in sentencing for time served.

The Senate is in the final stages of studying the bill, which established mandatory minimum sentences for drug-related offences. The House of Commons is currently studying Bill C-36, which would eliminate the “faint hope” clause for offenders convicted of the most serious offences. It is also studying another bill, which would restrict the use of conditional sentencing, also known as house arrest, and one that would impose more conditions on the use of parole.

Parliament has already passed a Conservative bill on organized crime, as well as a wide-ranging bill that imposed mandatory sentences for serious firearms offences. It also passed bills that reversed the onus on those seeking bail in firearms cases, increased the penalties for impaired driving and raised the age of consent for sexual activity from 14 to 16 years.