omnibus crime bill

By Bradley Bouzane, National Post

Federal justice and public safety ministers on Thursday touted the progress they made over three days of meetings with provincial and territorial representatives, but danced around the total cost of new federal crime legislation that is expected to place a heavy financial burden on the provinces.

Federal Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said amendments to the Criminal Code will be explored to crack down on more serious offences — including home invasions and knife crimes — but would not specify how much cost will be associated with Bill C-10, the Safe Streets and Communities Act. Read more »

BY SARAH SACHELI, THE WINDSOR STAR

Despite building two new jails in the province, including one in Windsor, there won't be enough cells in Ontario for inmates convicted under the federal government's new crime bill, Ontario's Community Safety and Correctional Minister told The Star Wednesday.

Madeleine Meilleur said she planned to make a pitch to the federal government later in the day for $1 billion - the estimated cost of another jail that could house 1,000 inmates. She said the province should not be burdened with the costly consequences of the Safe Streets and Communities Act, commonly referred to as Bill C-10.

The bill, expected to become law in March, will set new mandatory minimum sentences for things like weapons offences and drug possession. Read more »

BY JEFF DAVIS, POSTMEDIA NEWS

OTTAWA — Canada's prison population is not growing as fast as expected in the wake of Tory tough-on-crime legislation, prompting Corrections Canada to abort plans to hire 4,000 new prison guards.

According to the most recent data, Canada's federal prison population stood at 14,893 at the end of 2011, significantly fewer than the 17,189 prisoners Corrections Canada predicted would be locked up by then.

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said he never believed predictions that the prison population would grow significantly when the government passed legislation that increased mandatory minimum sentences and repealed the two-for-one time served provisions.

Toews said he now feels vindicated. Read more »

By: James Wilt, Fast Forward Weekly

Stephen Harper loves aboriginals.

At least, that’s what his government wants us to believe. How could the recent donation of 22 modular homes to Attawapiskat First Nation — which came neatly packaged with a third-party manager of funds and a reiteration by Harper that his government isn’t to blame for the brutal poverty of the reserve — be viewed as anything less than adoration? Read more »

CBC News

The country's justice ministers began a three-day meeting in Charlottetown Tuesday with the federal government's new crime bill and their concerns about associated costs at the top of the agenda.

Ottawa's Safe Streets and Communities bill, also known as Bill C-10, would result in several changes, including mandatory minimum sentences for certain crimes, the elimination of double credit for time served, and changes to young offender laws.

P.E.I.'s Justice Minister Janice Sherry is worried about how much the bill would cost Island taxpayers.

"Certainly it has an impact on legal aid, it has an impact on the Crown, it has an impact on the courts, and of course it has an impact on our citizens," she said. Read more »

By Tanya Talaga, Toronto Star

Ottawa is stiffing Ontario with the $1 billion cost of implementing sweeping crime changes, the provincial government says.

The new federal omnibus crime legislation will add another 1,500 prisoners in the corrections system, force the building of another prison and put pressure on parole officers, according to the ministry of community safety and correctional services. Bill C-10 received third reading in Parliament last month and is now before the Senate.

Prisons are already crowded and operating at 95 per cent capacity with 8,500 inmates, said Community Safety Minister Madeleine Meilleur. Read more »

The Canadian Press

TORONTO — The omnibus federal crime bill will cost Ontario more than $1 billion in increased police and court costs, the province's Liberal government said Monday as it demanded Ottawa pick up the tab.

Bill C-10 creates new mandatory minimum sentences, increases maximum sentences for some crimes, limits the use of conditional sentences such as house arrest and makes it harder to get a pardon.

Ontario faces "the very real possibility" of having to build a new 1,000-bed jail, at a cost of $900 million, to house the extra prisoners who will be arrested and sentenced under Bill C-10, said Correctional Services Minister Madeleine Meilleur. Read more »

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.” Read more »