Madam Speaker, incarcerating more people may keep those individuals out of society for a period of time, but people who go to jail get out. They do not stay there for the rest of their lives.
The result of lengthy periods of incarceration will be full prisons that lack the ability of rehabilitation programs to better prepare people to return to society and be better members of society. That is one way that we will have less safe streets. A young person who might otherwise have been rehabilitated and avoided the criminal process may end up being a hardened criminal and lead a life of crime, inflicting harm upon society. The expertise has said that this would lead to less safe communities and streets.
The costs are enormous. The provinces do not want to bear those costs and they have their own views in many cases, particularly the youth justice in Quebec. As well, the use of adult sentences in some circumstances would be contrary to the experience in having a better youth justice system in other provinces.
Overall I think the effect of this is going to be less safe street. That is what the experts tell us. I know some people have an emotional reaction and lengthy sentences to crime gives some satisfaction. However, there are other ways to achieve safer streets, at which the government has not looked.