"Mistrust those in whom the urge to punish is strong" --- Friedrich Nietzsche

As part of the minority Conservative Government of Canada's plans to implement their punishment agenda, a total of 34 new units to be built on the grounds of existing penitentiaries have been announced to date. According to the information provided to Canadians thus far, these projects will add a total of 2,552 new prisoner beds at a construction cost of $601 million, or an average of $235,305.64 per prisoner bed (I wonder how much an average hospital bed costs to build).

The costs outlined above do not include the annual structural deficit associated with staffing, operating and maintaining these new units. These itemized details, beyond the $2 billion over five years 'guestimation' associated with these penal infrastructure initiatives, are not included in federal government press releases likely because CSC and their political masters prefer to avoid acknowledging the long-term impacts of their decisions. This practice is part of a trend where the Feds conceal the costs of their 'just us' bills from Canadians, sometimes in the name of "Cabinet confidence", arguably in an effort to protect their penal fiefdom (read article by John Ibbitson
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-notebook/harper-keeps-canada-in-dark-at-his-own-peril/article1905785/).

With other punishment bills having been passed and more sitting on the order-of-paper in Parliament, this is just the beginning of the penal pork barreling that we will see should this agenda be allowed to continue in the context of budgetary deficits, declining police-reported 'crime' rates and other jurisdictions running away from their failed mass incarceration policies.

That the Conservatives would "rather not share" these costs with their colleagues in the opposition and Canadians, says a great deal about their approach to accountable and transparent government. We are being denied our right to information and to decide for ourselves if we support Harper's prison binge because Mommy and Daddy government claim to know better. Apparently, we should take comfort in knowing that they are on "our side".

But are they on our side? Is a Prime Minister who routinely dispatches Justice Minister Rob Nicholson and Public Safety Minister Vic Toews - or Batman and Robin as I like to call them - to warn citizens of the 'imminent dangers' we face in our communities due to decades of 'Liberal' penal policy, as if we live in Gotham City, really on our side?

Is a Prime Minister who noted on the fifth anniversary of Conservative rule that "Canadians expect to live in a country where they don't have to worry when they turn the lights out at night, where they don't have to look over their shoulders when they walk the streets, where they can expect to find their car where they parked it", when he knows full well that most Canadians are not particularly concerned with 'crime' and generally feel safe, on our side?

Watching interviews with Conservative MPs such as Rob Nicholson (see 11 February 2011 interview on CBC's Power & Politics: http://www.cbc.ca/video/player.html?category=News&zone=politics&site=cbc.news.ca&clipid=1791163195), who routinely neutralize questions and critiques vis-à-vis their punishment agenda by responding with their 'just us' tag-lines, I would like to laugh if the consequences of their rhetoric wasn't so damaging.

That members of the so-called Conservative Party are willing to take every opportunity to divide Canadians and strike fear in our hearts is quite rich, especially when contrasted with Harper's narrative of governance "with hope and not with fear" and a Canada that is "more united, stronger, more prosperous and safer". From my vantage point, I can't think of any government that has divided Canadians, eroded remains of community, and has undermined our collective prosperity and safety in our neighbourhoods more than this government.

Justin Piché is a PhD Candidate in Sociology at Carleton University, and Co-managing Editor of the Journal of Prisoners on Prisons. This article is reprinted from his blog, Tracking the Politics of ‘Crime’ and Punishment in Canada, a must-read for anyone interested in prison justice in Canada.