I don't think that is easy to determine, because we've had a number of bills, like the dangerous offender legislation, like the two for one legislation, that are going to have a downstream effect. What we can say is it is going to take some time, if this legislation were passed tomorrow, before there would be any significant increase in people in prison in this country. Initially most of that is going to be happening in provincial institutions, which are already overloaded with far too many people on pre-trial detention. This is why I think it is crucial at this time that this country invest seriously in things that will reduce crime within a reasonable timeframe, and that, frankly, is through prevention. That is what all the evidence shows. It shows it on gangs. It shows it on sexual assault. It shows it on car theft. It shows it on all the sorts of crimes that are covered in the victimization survey.
If you look at why we are at 31%, this is a shocking statistic internationally. You'd typically see that 40% to 45% of victims report in the U.S. or the U.K. Canada is somehow at 31%. Why? That is because we're a long way behind where we should be in terms of services and rights for victims. Quebec, which has a government-run victim service and gives amounts of money in compensation similar to England, has a 40% reporting rate. Ontario has 30%.
We need to do something across this country to bring ourselves up to the standards in western Europe and the standards that exist in many U.S. states and that the current Vice-President has approved in the United States—the Justice for All Act, the Violence Against Women Act. You do not see action any longer where you just focus on being tough on criminals. You have to be tough on causes, because that's the best way of focusing on preventing the harm. This harm of $83 billion is an enormous sum, and people like me have known for some years that the harm is significant and that we need to address that. A significant part of addressing that is investing seriously in using the things that we know work from Canada. And where we can adapt them from Scotland or California or Vermont, we need to adapt them here.