Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from Alfred-Pellan for her question.
That is something that we have a tendency to neglect because when we talk about safety and protecting children we tend to look only at the punitive side, and that is the trap that the Conservatives are trying to have us step into.
In fact, my colleague is right. There is a financial aspect to this problem. Increasing the number of people who go to jail, as she mentioned, increases incarceration costs, not just for the federal government in the case of sentences of more than two years, but also for the provinces for sentences of less than two years. We have seen that. An MP asked a question today about the 11% increase in prison costs.
It is our duty to speak out against the cuts made by the Conservatives to federal prisons and the fact that not only are these cuts not warranted, but the federal government is also not investing the money it should in prevention and rehabilitation. These are two things that will allow us to have a safer society.
We cannot live in a society where there are more people incarcerated. We want to live in a society where everyone has their place, where those who commit a crime, however horrible, can reintegrate into society and participate in and contribute again to the economy and our society. That is the society we want to live in.