The crime rate has been going down in Canada every year since 1991.
It's because the population is aging. It's a demographic issue, that's all.
And every year since 2006 Stephen Harper has brought in tougher crime laws and put more people in prison for longer periods of time.
The Parliamentary Budget Officer, Kevin Page, has just published the latest figures.
It is costing us a fortune - $ 20 billion per year -- as much we spend on national defence.
Since he came to power, Harper has rushed 30 new crime laws through Parliament. That's a lot.
But it isn't costing him very much. Most of Harper's new laws carry sentences of less than two years, which means they end up in provincial courts and provinces pay the tab, and the convicts fill provincial jails, not Harper's fancy penitentiaries.
The provinces end up paying three-quarters of the $ 20 billion a year that Harper's private war against crime is costing us.
And then Harper gets to brag about how tough he is on crime and how thanks to him, we are all the more secure in our beds.
Meanwhile the provinces are paying the tab.
