October 8, 2010
Mr. Kevin Page, Parliamentary Budget Officer
Library of Parliament
Ottawa, ON
K1A 0A6
Dear Mr. Page:
I am writing to you to request that you carry out a thorough investigation into the ongoing and future costs to the federal treasury of Bill C-39, An Act to Amend the Correction and Conditional Release Act and to make consequential amendments to other Acts. This request falls within your mandate, laid out in section 79.2 (d) of the Parliament of Canada Act.
The Harper government has consistently refused to supply Parliament with the total costing for its crime legislation. According to the study published by your office on the funding requirement and impact of the Truth in Sentencing Act, this one bill alone is expected to cost Canadian taxpayers upwards of $10-13 billion – a far cry from the $90 million estimate the government provided when it asked Parliament to vote on the legislation.
The Harper government continues to force Parliament to vote on crime legislation without advance knowledge of the total cost to taxpayers by failing to provide Parliament with the corresponding estimates, as well as grossly misrepresenting the total cost of implementing the legislation. Such underhanded manoeuvring is a violation of public trust and cannot continue. Furthermore, given Canada’s declining crime rate, Canadians have the right to engage in an informed debate on whether or not the new legislation is cost-effective and necessary. The Public Safety Minister recently stated that the billions of dollars his government proposes to spend on prison expansion “is a cost that Canadians are willing to pay” for their safety. How can the Minister possibly know that, given that his government has consistently refused to tell Canadians the truth about the cost of their plan to taxpayers?
The Conservative government needs to be reminded, as they download costs onto the provinces to pay for their legislation, there is only one taxpayer and that the money for their proposed billion dollar prison expansion comes from the same pot as money for health care, job training, pensions and other pressing needs. With the government negating its duty to provide us with these costs, your office is the only one Parliamentarians and Canadians can trust to supply us with reliable costing figures.
I would ask that, upon completion of your study, I receive your report for two business days, following which, it may be posted on your website.
On behalf of Canadians, I would like to thank you for your time and consideration of this very important matter.
Sincerely,
Mark Holland, M.P.
Ajax-Pickering
