The government’s crime bill will pass Parliament without an accounting of its cost.

Opposition politicians voted to find Prime Minister Harper and his government in contempt of Parliament last March – this was a historic first – for not giving up the full costs of its so-called tough on crime legislation. Now, it is poised to pass the bill and Canadians are still no wiser. “It is a travesty that the Conservatives have told neither the Canadian people nor the provinces what all this is going to cost – with the slowing economy and big financial pressures all ’round this is even more irresponsible,” Interim Liberal leader Bob Rae told The Globe Monday morning. “Both the jets and the jails put the lie to the Conservative line about being the party of ‘fiscal prudence.’ Ridiculous.”