Ontario takes aim at $1B tab for federal justice bill

BY CHRIS COBB, THE OTTAWA CITIZEN

OTTAWA — Ontario taxpayers can’t afford the more than $1 billion that new federal crime legislation will cost the province, Community Safety and Correctional Minister Madeleine Meilleur said Monday.

In a pointed “you want it, you pay for it” message to the federal government ahead of a two-day justice ministers meeting in Prince Edward Island, Meilleur said the Bill C-10 legislation will add a huge load to an already overburdened provincial justice system.

“We expect Ottawa to do what’s right and provide additional funding to help Ontario to deal with the consequences of Bill C-10,” she said. “It is unacceptable that Ontarians are expected to bear the cost of federal anti-crime initiatives.”

The province estimates that the Conservatives so-called Safe Streets and Communities Act will add 1,500 inmates to the 8,500 already housed in provincial jails, many of which are ancient and most of which are already close to capacity.

Ontario is already building new jails in Windsor and Toronto and figures another $900 million will be needed to build a facility to accommodate those caught under new minimum sentencing laws. The jail would cost around $60 million a year to operate.

The new legislation will also add to the caseload of probation and parole officers, said Meilleur, and mean police officers are spending more time in courtrooms and less on the streets.

All provinces are in a similar financial bind, said Meilleur, who predicted other provincial ministers will be delivering a similar message to federal Justice Minister Ron Nicholson when he meets with the group on Wednesday.

But, she conceded, when Bill C-10 becomes law, provinces will be forced to implement it — with or without additional federal money.

“If it is the law,” she said, “all the provinces will have to implement it, but let’s hope the federal government will be a reasonable partner in this. One billion dollars is a lot of money for Ontario, especially with the economy the way it is.”

Quebec, which vehemently opposes many aspects of the legislation, has taken a harder line and stated categorically that the province will not pay to implement the new measures.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has rejected provincial objections and claims for more money, insisting that they must all implement the new laws.

And Ontario’s prosecutors say they are barely able to cope with their current caseload and new minimum sentences will make matters worse because more defendants in “nothing to lose” situations will opt to go to trial.

Minimum sentences take discretion away from judges who normally sentence according to the circumstances of both the crime and the record of the perpetrator. Defendants who choose to plead guilty are often given credit for doing so because they save the system the costs of a trial.

The Safe Streets and Communities Act includes nine separate pieces of legislation but by far the most controversial are new minimum sentences for marijuana possession and trafficking and changes to the Youth Criminal Justice Act which will see more young people incarcerated.

Quebec Justice Minister Jean-Marc Fournier calls the new youth law “soft on crime” because it de-emphasizes rehabilitation and says it flies in the face of decades of experience, study and statistics.