Since it’s election time – perhaps we ought to read what’s been going on: The Conservative Jail strategy has been trying to boost our economy with prisons.
Citizens Against Private Prisons (CAPP) is keeping track of what’s going on in Canada – take a look for yourself:
Ottawa (7 May 2006) – Now that the Harper Conservatives have tabled tough new laws to put more people in jail, the big questions to answer are, ‘Where are they going to put them?’; ‘How much will it cost?’ and ‘Is this the best approach to crime?’ Prime Minister Stephen Harper has not put a price tag on his crusade. However, it is obviously going to be steep, and experts are already questioning the wisdom of conducting such a crusade when crime rates are falling.
[2006] Conservative budget calls for 1,000 extra RCMP officers to crack down on criminals and the Tory anti-crime legislation spells out a lengthy list of mandatory sentences to lock them away. A set up for privatization?
Inevitably, this will lead to a big demand for new prison cells. It will also open the door to intense pressure from ideological Conservatives to meet the demand by privatization. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, who had a big hand in creating Canada’s first privately-managed ‘superjail’ in Ontario, sidestepped these issues…
Superjail?/ Wow that was a surprise – 1,000 inmates in a “supejail”. Here in BC the Province wants to open a prison for 720 inmates (more if overcrowded). The inmate population would be near a 1 to 1 ratio with the adult population in Lumby. A superprison in the smallest community ever to be considered for a prison in BC – another Canadian experiment. 
The firm that built the Ontario prison is a worldclass Corporation – if contracted to build a prison in Lumby they would likely create some construction jobs for local people. You can read what happened to that privately run super jail in Ontario – they put it back under Provincial regulations.
“After five years, there has been no appreciable benefit from the private operation of the Central North Correctional Centre,”
http://www.prisonjustice.ca/starkravenarticles/CNCC_public_1106.html It’s election time… it’s referendum time… is it jails and jets? or a new start?
“I don’t want your jails and locks – I’d rather think outside the box!”
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