Mr. Speaker, the member's question allows me to tell the House about something I remember.
I was in Africa a few years ago. Prisoners had to assume the total cost of their incarceration. They had to find the money for their meals and for other benefits. That is the other extreme but, nevertheless, this system had a positive effect on rehabilitation. In such cases, the judge must be able to assess the situation. It could be a case of systemic fraud and it is essential to be able to detect repetitive organized crime. I think a judge can do that. However, if after finding the accused guilty of one of these crimes the judge believes that particular person can be rehabilitated in the community, the person will have a better chance of succeeding if he or she is forced to work to pay the money back than if he or she is sent to prison with free room and board for a certain number of years. This method does not lead to the same results. Instead of having to work to assume the cost of their incarceration, convicted offenders are told that they will benefit from free room and board for having committed a crime.
This example shows very clearly that the bill in its current form will not meet the objective pursued by Canada's criminal justice system.