Commission on the Reform of Ontario's Public Services

The sector should collaborate more effectively to improve asset management and explore
options to better consolidate existing assets and options to collaborate on future AFP projects.
For example, the sector should explore options of shared facilities to reduce construction and
operating costs.
The sector must answer one question to meet its upcoming fiscal challenges: will the existing
infrastructure footprint be sustainable in the medium and long term? Tough decisions will need
to be made regarding the potential for consolidation and even the closure of some aging and
underutilized facilities. A comprehensive plan is needed. Additionally, the questionable existing
infrastructure is one reason why higher incarceration rates might require about $1 billion in
new infrastructure. Broader discussion of Ontario’s infrastructure challenge is captured in
Chapter 12, Infrastructure, Real Estate and Electricity, and Chapter 19, Liability Management.
Federal Government
Recommendation 14-9: Improve co-ordination between federal and provincial governments
in areas such as justice policy and legislation, law enforcement and correctional services.
There needs to be better clarity and agreement on the roles and responsibilities of each of
the federal and provincial levels of government. Particular attention should be paid to better
estimating the impact of federal legislation on the sector. For example, recent bills such as
the Truth in Sentencing Act will result in additional fiscal pressures.
Responsibility for the Criminal Code rests with the federal government while responsibility
for implementation lies mainly with the provinces. Recent crime legislation will place further
demands on the provincial court and corrections systems, only adding to the fiscal burden of
the provinces as the federal government has not yet recognized or addressed the additional
cost. The provincial government has projected Ontario’s daily inmate count to increase by
1,265 to 1,530 inmates in 2015–16 as a result of Bill C-10. The lowest cost estimate of the
impact of the federal crime bill is ongoing annual increases in operating budgets of $22 million
to $26 million per year at maturity. Staying with this minimum cost impact would require fitting
the larger number of inmates into the existing infrastructure. That may not prove feasible,
or at least may not be consistent with the province’s strategy to modernize and increase its
institutional capacity. Under that plan, the province would close four older facilities and build
two new facilities to bring Ontario’s utilization rate to 88 per cent. The current rate is
95 per cent, but, under this bill could rise to a provincial average of between 101 per cent
and 104 per cent; some institutions could have rates as high as 125 per cent to 150 per cent.
In the worst-case scenario, the province would be required to build a new 1,000-bed facility,
with an estimated capital cost of $900 million and ongoing operating costs of $60 million
per year. The ministry could consider retrofits to existing institutions but, here too, the capital
implications would be significant.
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