N.L. joins Ontario, Quebec in criticism of crime bill

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - Newfoundland and Labrador's Tory justice minister says the crime crackdown by his federal cousins is a potentially costly gaffe that undermines democracy.

In an interview Wednesday, Felix Collins agreed with critics who say locking up more people for longer is hardly the way to reduce crime.

Mandatory sentences for certain drug crimes, a new act to deal with violent young offenders, and restricted house arrest for violent and serious crimes are among a nine-bill piece of omnibus legislation the federal Conservatives are fast-tracking through Parliament.

Collins said he has never seen a study that favours more jail time as a way to cut rates of reoffence and improve public safety.

"Most groups, most experts and most witnesses who have given presentations on this bill would advocate that the federal government is proceeding in the wrong direction, and that this procedure has been tried in other areas before and has proven to be a failure," he said.

"Incarcerating more people is not the answer."

Collins also echoed concerns raised by justice ministers and premiers in Ontario and Quebec who have openly balked at footing the court and jail costs of the Conservative law-and-order agenda.

He stopped short of threatening to refuse such payments, but said a committee representing Atlantic provinces is assessing the potential price tag.

Mandatory minimum sentences that strip the discretion of judges will only put more stress on provincial justice systems, Collins said.

"You're going to have more people going into litigation, more pressure on Crown prosecutions, more pressures on courts and, at the end of the day, more pressure on correctional facilities.

"If there's going to be costs involved in these things, then the federal government should bear some of those costs. So far they haven't shown any inclination to do that, but that's certainly going to be an issue."

Federal Justice Minister Rob Nicholson has said Ottawa transfers billions of dollars a year to the provinces, and has defended the omnibus bill as a reasonable blend of crime-fighting approaches.

Collins isn't so sure. He said he agrees with the Canadian Bar Association, which sounded alarms last month in a brief to the Commons standing committee on justice and human rights.

The submission slammed the bill for taking "a punitive approach to criminal behaviour, rather than a focus on how to prevent that behaviour in the first place, or rehabilitate those who offend."

"Some of these initiatives have received no parliamentary committee consideration to date, yet contain fundamental shifts in Canada's approach to criminal law and the treatment of offenders."

Collins said Newfoundland and Labrador will ask the federal government to slow down and reconsider.

"There's some good things in some of them," he said of the new measures. "But to put nine distinct different criminal justice initiatives in one bill ... I don't think that's appropriate, and (it's) not in the spirit of the democratic process to put all those bills together."

The Conservatives have moved to minimize debate, saying their crime platform has been before Parliament off and on since 2006. Critics point out that some justice bills died on the order paper more than once by the government's own hand.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper triggered the 2008 election and then chose to shut down Parliament in December 2009 until after the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Collins said he's still assessing possible costs of the legislation.

But he stressed that the province's justice system -- which includes a St. John's penitentiary dating back to 1859 -- is stretched.

"We're already strapped in our correctional facilities," he said. "We're strapped for space, and this isn't going to help us any at all."

Nova Scotia Justice Minister Ross Landry said his province is also studying possible costs and is not looking for any showdown with Ottawa.

"I firmly believe that if our costs go up and we present the appropriate information to the federal government, that they'll honour their responsibilities and requirements and contribute appropriately," he said Wednesday.

"To project and get into an argument with the federal government over what they are going to pay, I think we have to deal in good faith."

Concerns about costs associated with the legislation were echoed Wednesday by B.C. Premier Christy Clark, who said they would have to be worked out with Ottawa.

"But, ultimately, I am not willing to throw out the baby with the bath water," Clark said in Victoria. "There are things in that bill that British Columbians asked for when our governments went to Ottawa and said we want you to be tougher on crime.

"Well, they're being tougher on crime, and that's what this bill is about."

The Opposition New Democrats asked Clark in the legislature Wednesday if her government supports downloading the crime bill costs on the provinces. The premier replied that she supports laws that put child offenders in jail.