Criminal negligence

The good news is that Ottawa is now at least considering paying some of the costs it plans to impose on the provinces through its criminal agenda:

Ottawa plans to pay for its ambitious anti-crime agenda with a combination of new funding, cost cutting and a push to "streamline" the legal system, Justice Minister Vic Toews said Friday.

But provincial justice ministers were still worried about how they will absorb the costs of a slate of bills aimed at toughening the criminal justice system as a conference with their federal counterpart wrapped up at a resort in western Newfoundland...

Toews and Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day appeared to offer an olive branch - though no firm commitments - in pledging to press cabinet for a package that would share the costs for more police, jails, prevention programs and court time.

But the bad news is where the Cons would apparently draw the money from:

"The federal government does understand that cracking down on crime has some increased cost associated with it," said Toews.

Asked the price tag, he declined to be specific, saying only "they are not paltry...We have to all look around and try to be more efficient in the running of other areas of government, so we have the money available."

"This isn't reaching into a big bag of money and taking it out. This is a significant consideration for the government in terms of what it's doing and its current fiscal situation."

In fairness, Toews' immediate suggestions are based solely in other areas of criminal law - suggesting at least some rational link between efficiencies and the cost of the Cons' plan. But after the Cons' recent track record of merrily hacking away at a wide range of other programs just to prove they can, the reference to "other areas of government" may hint at an intention not to put a single dollar into the justice system which can't be extracted from a social program.

Mind you, the Cons do have another idea to make up the cost of more prisons and prosecutors. But unfortunately, it's based on a pipe dream:

Day argued crime may go down as a result of the threat of stiffer sentences.

"On the other side of the ledger is the deterring effect that the legislation...is going to have on those inclined who might be criminal activity," he said.

It's hard to blame Day alone for being utterly clueless about the complete lack of a link between higher sentences and crime rates when even the minister responsible hasn't bothered to read his department's reports. But it seems all too likely that the Cons are both planning based on fact-free assumptions about the effect of their legislation, and preparing to ensure that any difference is made up through even more social demolition.