Poor Paul Calandra. As parliamentary secretary to the Prime Minister, it frequently falls on him to defend every shameful, baffling decision his government makes.
Such was the case yesterday following an announcement the Conservatives are cutting funding for a sex crime prevention program that the government’s own five-year, $7.5 million study just proved dramatically improves public safety and saves money.
I do not actually feel sorry for Calandra. As a legislator he has the choice of supporting good, evidence-based policy and sound government spending or blindly sticking to unfounded ideological positions. Nobody is better at that than Mr. Calandra; you do not get to be Stephen Harper’s right hand by accident.
There are so many things wrong with the decision to cut funding to the 18 Circles of Support and Accountability (COSA) programs, I hardly know where to begin, but let’s start with the Conservative’s stated priorities, shall we?
1. Public safety.
They campaigned on it. They constantly remind us how good they are at it (even though they’re not). And they chastise the opposition every chance they get for not caring about Canadians’ safety (which is insulting and simply not true).
So, if a program that costs the government only $650,000 per year in core funding were to reduce recidivism among the highest risk sex offenders by 70 to 83 per cent (90 per cent at one site right here in Saskatchewan, that would be right up the Conservative’s alley right? Not this Conservative government.
Did I mention it was the government’s own study that proved the effectiveness of this program?
2. Saving taxpayer money.
Supposedly, Stephen Harper is a great economist. Supposedly Conservatives are the champions of the taxpayer. They spend millions of our dollars a year on TV commercials telling us what amazing stewards of the economy they are.
So, a program that saves taxpayers $4.60 for every dollar spent should be right up the Conservatives alley, right? Not this conservative government.
Did I mention it was the government’s own study that identified the cost savings associated with this program?
The decision to tank COSA is so contrary to stated Conservative goals it has left a lot of people scratching their heads in confusion.
It should not, though. Despite Paul Calandra’s bafflegab and obfuscation, the government has stated outright why they are doing this.
“Our government believes that dangerous sex offenders belong behind bars,” said Jean-Christophe de Le Rue, a spokesperson for Stephen Blaney, public safety minister.
That is the bottom line. People of good conscience can agree or disagree with that position, but unfortunately for the lock-em-up-and-throw-away-the-key crowd, the government has not been able to get around an annoying little thing called the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to craft legislation that will keep these offenders in jail indefinitely.
Until they do, it is incumbent upon the public safety minister (it’s in his job title for heaven’s sake), to put politics aside and re-instate COSA funding.
It’s a real shame, too, because while this made-in-Canada solution is dying here, it is being picked up by other countries including the United States, Britain, France, Italy, Spain, Australia and New Zealand.
