Thursday 3 November 2011

WHAT ABOUT THE GNWT? Criminal justice - Five provinces unite with Quebec and Ontario - A majority of provinces worry about the prison costs attached to bill C-10

When are we going to hear the GNWT position on this issue? Seems to me we should have heard something about this by now....

Justice criminelle - Cinq provinces se joignent au Québec et à l'Ontario -Une majorité de provinces s'inquiètent des coûts carcéraux entraînés par le projet de loi C-10
Criminal justice - Five provinces unite with Quebec and Ontario - A majority of provinces worry about the prison costs attached to bill C-10 http://www.ledevoir.com/politique/canada/335142/justice-criminelle-cinq-provinces-se-joignent-au-quebec-et-a-l-ontario


Quebec will refuse to pay for omnibus crime bill
[excerpt]

"....Quebec's justice minister called the federal government's omnibus crime bill a "Band-Aid solution" Tuesday and said his province will refuse to absorb the added costs associated with it.

Jean-Marc Fournier, testifying at the House of Commons justice and human rights committee, said Bill C-10 will wind up causing more crime, not less, because it is an unbalanced piece of legislation that doesn't focus enough on the rehabilitation of criminals, particularly young offenders.

He said the legislation is meant to put more people in jail and that will result in higher recidivism rates unless more is done to get at the root causes of criminality and to successfully reintegrate offenders into society so they can go on to lead productive lives.

"What we want is a sustainable protection of the public," he said. "We wish to see a reinsertion of the youth in society so that society can benefit from it."

Fournier said Quebec takes a different approach to dealing with young offenders that is more focused on rehabilitation than incarceration and that it is working. He encouraged MPs to take their time and to examine the evidence from his province and to reject the Safe Streets and Communities Act in its current form.

He said young offenders often come out of prison worse than how they went in and attention needs to be paid to the root causes of their criminality in order to prevent them from re-offending.

Fournier said the Conservatives' bill is more of a short-term solution to fighting crime and he repeatedly warned it will mean more repeat offenders in the court and corrections systems.

"C-10 does not take into account the return of the young offender, of the individual into society," he said.

"What you've got is a Band-Aid solution here, you're not curing anything," Fournier told the committee...."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2011/11/01/pol-omnibus-crime-bill.html

Provinces won't pay for crime bill, says Ontario premier
[excerpt]
"...Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty warned the Harper government that provinces across the country will not pick up the tab for any new costs associated with the federal omnibus anti-crime bill that is expected to be passed into law.

The premier first spoke of his reluctance at paying for those costs Tuesday in Ottawa, the same day Quebec's justice minister said his province would not foot the bill for any new costs.

'It's easy to sit on high in Ottawa and pass laws.'— Dalton McGuinty, Ontario premier

McGuinty on Wednesday appeared to harden his stance on the issue, and suggested the federal government would run into opposition from all provincial governments.

"What we're saying at this point is that crime continues to come down in Ontario and I'd be surprised if any premier of any of the provinces and territories is prepared to welcome new expenditures being foisted upon us by the federal government because they've got some plans with respect to criminal law," McGuinty said.

He said the Ontario government is focused on issues like health care, education and transit.

"It's easy to sit on high in Ottawa and pass laws, but if there are accompanying costs, we're not prepared to accept those here in Ontario. I don't think premiers across the country are prepared to accept those," he said.

"I think there's a corresponding responsibility on the part of the federal government to say if there are new costs, they are going to pick up the tab." ..."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2011/11/02/mcguinty-crime-bill-costs689.html

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