Legislature Report

Federal Crime Bill Funding

Alberta Hansard November 30, 2011
Mr. Mason: Thanks very much, Mr. Speaker. Bill C-10 is a federal piece of legislation that will see young Albertans put away for marijuana possession and will impose minimum sentences for a variety of other offences. Imposing lengthy minimum sentences has done little to reduce crime. The United States stands as a prime example of this. The increase in prison populations as a result will undoubtedly be significant for Albertas criminal justice system. My question is to the Premier. Has the government determined how many more people will be incarcerated in Alberta under this governments control as a result of Bill C-10? Has it estimated the costs that will be downloaded onto Albertans to pay for it? Mr. Denis: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Bill C-10 is actually still before Parliament, and Im travelling in a couple of weeks to meet with the federal minister, Vic Toews, regarding this bill. The one thing that this hon. member does not note is that Bill C-10 has many positive elements, including modernization of laws relating to Internet predators. This is something we should get behind as a government and not go and criticize it. Mr. Mason: Thanks very much, Mr. Speaker. The minister doesnt deal with the question, but Id like to go back to the Premier, if I can. Given that the crime rate in Canada is the lowest in 40 years, with Alberta and B.C. recording the largest declines in Canada in 2010, and given that the parliamentary budget office has estimated the bill to provinces will be nearly $5 billion, are the large expenditures required to support Bill C-10 in Alberta the right priority today for the government and for the province? Ms Redford: Mr. Speaker, Bill C-10 is important legislation for Canada, and the reason for that is that what we know when we work with our partners in the community is that we have to ensure that were dealing with the root causes of crime. We need to deal with social issues. We need to deal with education and health issues. The other side of that is that we cant allow people who are committing crimes to get away with those crimes. Mr. Speaker, when I was previously in my portfolio as Minister of Justice, one of the things that we asked the federal government to do was to be very specific and very firm and very clear with respect to what sentencing would look like so that we could deal with crime as it happened. Mr. Mason: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Well, given that the Premiers federal Tory cousins continue to ignore widespread and credible opposition to Bill C-10 and they continue to ram the bill through Parliament, will the Premier follow the lead of Ontario and Quebec and Newfoundland and refuse to pay for the additional costs that are being foisted upon the provinces? Ms Redford: Mr. Speaker, one of the things that we know in federal-provincial relations is that sometimes we have shared jurisdiction. One of the ways that we can be most effective in ensuring that were achieving good public policy with positive outcomes for Albertans is to work both with other provincial governments and with the federal government to ensure that were actually having the success that we want to have. Mr. Speaker, were pleased with what were seeing in C-10. We know that its going to allow us to do what we need to do in the province provincially. Its also going to ensure that were sharing resources in a way thats going to allow it to have the best impact it can for Albertans.
Albertas NDP Opposition - On Your Side. #501 Legislature Annex, 9718-107 St, Edmonton, AB. T5K 1E4 www.NDPopposition.ab.ca