Corrections figures offer glimpse of Tory crime agenda’s total cost

Correctional Service Canada is spending nearly half-a-billion dollars this year implementing just one of the Conservative government’s crime bills.

The Truth in Sentencing Act, which became law last year, promised to end the so-called two-for-one sentencing practices in which judges would shorten a sentence based on how much time a convict spent in pre-sentencing custody.

Under pressure to explain how much the bill would cost, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews estimated on April 28, 2010, that the legislation would cost taxpayers about $2-billion over five years. That was a large adjustment from comments he made earlier that month, when he said the cost would be “not more than $90-million” over two years. Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page later challenged those assessments, putting the estimate at about $1-billion a year.

Now recently-released figures by Correctional Service Canada reveal that true cost of the Truth in Sentencing Act is coming in slightly higher than the government’s $2-billion estimate.

Correctional Services Canada’s overall budget for the current fiscal year of 2011-12 is projected to be $514.2-million, or 20.8 per cent, higher than the year before. The main reason for this is $458-million in new spending tied to the Truth in Sentencing Act. Should that figure hold over five years, the five-year cost would be $2.3-billion, $300-million higher that Mr. Toews’s estimate but significantly lower that Mr. Page’s.

Another Conservative crime bill passed in 2008, the Tackling Violent Crime Act, is responsible for a further $19.6-million in Corrections spending.

Comparing the promised costs of crime bills to actual costs is particularly important this fall as the Conservatives have packaged a large volume of crime bills from previous Parliaments into a single bill, the Safe Streets and Communities Act. The government has repeatedly declined to answer opposition questions in the House of Commons as to what these new justice measures will cost.

The Corrections cost breakdown is coming to light because of a new report released Tuesday by the Parliamentary Budget Officer that tracks government spending over the first quarter of the current fiscal year. The PBO report found that quarterly spending was largely on track with previous government statements.

However the PBO report also highlights new federal government reports that had so far received very little attention. With little fanfare on Aug. 29, federal departments released reports breaking down their spending over the first quarter of the fiscal year. This has never been done before and provides new detail as to where government departments are spending and where they are cutting back.

The Corrections report is particularly candid in its assessment of the impact of the government’s tough on crime measures.

“As a result of legislative changes, the number of inmates in [Correctional Service Canada]’s custody has grown and is expected to significantly increase over the next few years,” the federal government report says. “This growth will exert significant pressure on CSC’s already ageing infrastructure and requires construction geared towards increased capacity.”

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Source: Globe&Mail