Contempt of Parliament?
Posted Mar 17, 2011 07:37:38 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
OTTAWA – The Harper government has inched closer to being found in contempt of Parliament.
The Tories released more detailed cost estimates at a Commons committee yesterday of their tough-on-crime agenda.
But opposition M-Ps dismissed the 11th-hour document dump as a meaningless stunt.
New Democrat Pat Martin says the Conservatives are provoking a possible contempt citation.
He says the government is still hiding the full cost of 18 crime bills that critics maintain will fill Canada’s prisons to beyond capacity.
Liberal finance critic Scott Brison says the government should have released the full cost estimates months ago, when first asked.
The documents were given to committee members 15 minutes before two ministers were to testify at the contempt hearings.
The government says its crime agenda will cost 631 (m) million dollars, but none of the opposition parties believe that.
The politically charged hearings continue today as all parties prepare for an election that could be triggered as early as next week.
