Escalating contempt

In case the fact the Cons haven't bothered to get the numbers straight wasn't reason enough to conclude they're doubling down on their strategy of contempt of Parliament, this should put all doubt to rest:

While the government originally cited Cabinet confidence as the reason it could not provide the cost of implementing the 18 crime bills—a total of $631-million and a further $2.1-billion for prison expansion that will result from a separate bill for which the opposition had not sought cost estimates—Mr. Nicholson said the information he and Mr. Toews provided to the committee Wednesday did not include any information that was protected by Cabinet confidence.

So what does the Cons' stark limitation on the information produced yesterday mean?

First, it suggests that to the extent any of the information produced yesterday wasn't already provided to the opposition, it had been withheld up to that point with what the Cons admit to be a complete lack of justification - even in the face of a Parliamentary order.

And second, it signals that the Cons plan to ignore Peter Milliken's clear ruling that a government isn't entitled to shield information from view when the majority is the House of Commons has ordered that it be produced. Instead, they're repeating the same tired talking points about cabinet confidence trumping the will of elected MPs.

So in the end, the takeaway from yesterday doesn't look to be that the Cons did anything to actually comply at the last minute through a document dump, but instead that they're predictably continuing their pattern of laughing in the face of binding orders. Which leaves only the question of whether the Libs and Bloc will be willing to stand up for Parliamentary supremacy this time after caving so thoroughly last time the issue came to a head.

Update: Robert Silver has more.