Provinces to bear financial burden of Omnibus crime bill
Posted Feb 28, 2012 06:20:14 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
OTTAWA – Provinces will apparently bear the financial burden of the government’s Omnibus crime bill.
The Parliamentary Budget Officer has released a report with a cost estimate of just one of the measures in the complicated bill.
There is a big price gap thanks to the plan to end conditional sentences.
The legislation would create a financial strain on the courts, correctional services and the parole system.
According to the budget officer, provinces would face additional costs of $137-million a year, while the feds only have to deal with an extra $8-million.
That means over five-years this one change would come with a total price tag of nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars.
The Provinces have been arguing this bill is unfair because the Harper Conservatives are stiffing them with the bill.
The PBO Kevin Page says these figures are likely an underestimate.
On top of the price tag, Canadian prisons may get more crowded. According to figures from three years ago, this legislation would send nearly 4,000 more people to jail.
