Mr. Speaker, if they want to be tough on crime, then they should be tough on crime. We are not telling them not to be; we are telling them to pay for it. It is not the same thing.
Can they pay for these prisons? They want more people in prison. That is fine. They have a majority. They can do what they want. But can we see some cash? That is what we are saying.
They want to be tough on crime but usually in order to do that, you have to build prisons. They should not be closing prisons; they should be building them. It only makes sense.
Now, what is the government's real agenda?
In my opinion, this government seems more interested in gradually moving toward the privatization of prisons and management of the correctional service, rather than in working to improve the system. That is what I think. I cannot come to any other conclusion given all these prison closures.
Furthermore, in October 2011 and in March 2012, with the greatest of discretion, the government commissioned a study on the different models of privatization in seven western countries, and 10 prisons were examined. A 1,400-page report was produced.
I think that the government may have something up its sleeve.