The federal Conservatives are tabling legislation that would put an end to automatic early parole eligibility for non-violent offenders -- a move aimed at fraudsters after several high-profile incidents grabbed the public's attention.

With Bernie Madoff serving time in the U.S., and several Ponzi scheme allegations throughout Canada, the government is looking to toughen laws that allow non-violent offenders to seek parole after serving just one-sixth of their sentence.

Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan touted the new legislation on CTV News Channel's Power Play, as a correction to an earlier move made by the Progressive Conservative government.

"They wanted to save some money in the budget and they thought, 'Who can we release out into the streets from our prisons? Oh, we'll release the non-violent criminal," Van Loan said Monday. "It was a mistaken approach."

Currently, first-time criminals can be paroled after serving one-sixth of their sentence, unless they are considered a threat to commit a violent crime.

"It is virtually automatic," Van Loan said of the early parole. "We're going to make sure people have to prove they deserve parole before they get it."

While fraudsters and white-collar criminals may be the high-profile target, the proposed changes would also apply to drug dealers.

"As Canadians have been made painfully aware over the last few months, not all criminals carry guns," Van Loan said earlier when unveiling the legislation.

"Their weapons of choice may be phony balance sheets or glitzy portfolios designed to deceive honest Canadians into handing over their hard-earned money, often their entire life savings."

However, opposition members say the latest move in the Conservatives' "tough on crime" agenda will actually turn more prisoners towards violent crime.

"Hard sentences, particularly for non-violent offenders, increase the likelihood they will become violent offenders and create worse crimes," Liberal MP and public safety critic Mark Holland said.

"It is going to increase the number of people in our prisons with probably no positive results," NDP MP and justice critic Joe Comartin added.

Van Loan says the new legislation will cost $60 million and called that figure a "bargain."

Parliament's budget officer, Kevin Page, is working on putting a price tag on the Tories' various crime bills.