PM DEFENDS CRIME BILL COST

Harper Says Plans Not "'Terribly Expensive', Reminds Provinces Of
Role in Ensuring Safety

Prime Minister Stephen Harper says his contentious anti-crime
measures aren't "terribly expensive" and provinces such as Ontario
and Quebec that complain about having to foot the bill for the added
costs to their prison systems should accept their "constitutional
responsibilities" to help keep streets safe.

Harper made the comments in an interview broadcast Sunday on the
debut of Global TV's The West Block, a new political affairs show
hosted by veteran journalist Tom Clark.

"There's constitutional responsibilities of all governments to
enforce laws and protect people," Harper said.

"I think the people of Ontario and Quebec expect that their
government will work with the federal government to make sure we have
safe streets and safe communities."

The Safe Streets and Communities legislation will send many more
Canadians to prison.

The bill was tabled in September and the government promises to have
it passed within 100 sitting days of the June 6 start of this Parliament.

Among the elements of the bill are mandatory minimum jail time for
drug offences, including marijuana, and for incest and sexual
exploitation of children.

There are also measures that assist victims of terrorism, prevent the
exploitation of vulnerable immigrants, get tough on repeat young
offenders, end house arrest for property and other serious crimes and
eliminate pardons for violent and repeat offenders.

The government says the bill will cost the federal treasury an extra
$78.6 million over five years, but it hasn't said how much it will
cost provinces, which also operate jails.

Last month, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty said the Harper
government should pay for costs to build provincial prisons and hire
staff because of the omnibus crime bill.

"It's easy for the federal government to pass new laws dealing with
crime," said the premier. "But if there are new costs associated with
those laws that have to be borne by the taxpayers of Ontario, I
expect the feds will pick up that tab."

Quebec Justice Minister Jean-Marc Fournier flatly said his province
"will not pay" for the extra prison costs, and he was sharply
critical of the proposed legislation for using a flawed solution -
increased incarceration - to a societal problem.

On the Global TV show, Clark asked Harper to respond to the concerns
of some Canadians about the costs of the crime crackdown and how
provinces worry about how some costs will be off-loaded to them.

"The crime measures we're proposing are overwhelmingly supported by
Canadians," said Harper.

"They're not, in our judgment - we put the numbers before Parliament
- - they're not terribly expensive. They obviously cost some money, but
compared to the cost of having dangerous and repeat offenders walk
the streets, they're pretty modest."

"And this is a fundamental responsibility of government to make sure
there's a criminal justice system that does what it can to protect
people. And all the data I've seen has suggested that whether it's
Quebec, Ontario or anywhere else in the country, these measures are
popular, they're supported."

It was when asked directly by Clark if he was saying Ontario and
Quebec would need to "pay up" that Harper said they should fulfil
their constitutional responsibility to protect people and help the
federal government in that task.