OTTAWA — It's not clear the Conservatives are getting a whole lot of bang for all the bucks thrown at the illicit drug problem, a new report says.
A consultant hired by the Justice Department couldn't tell whether the Tory drugs strategy is working.
That casts doubt over the value of a multimillion-dollar suite of anti-drug programs, which has formed part of the Tories' tough-on-crime message.
The true cost of various legislation to crack down on crime is at the heart of hearings this week into whether the Harper government is in contempt of Parliament.
The government had refused a request from the Commons finance committee for detailed cost estimates for all crime bills on the grounds they are cabinet confidences. The opposition disagreed.
On Wednesday, the Conservatives capitulated and released reams of documents, which they claim are detailed cost estimates of their law-and-order agenda.
But that paperwork only costs out the programs. Last year, the government wanted to quantify them.
So Justice hired consultant Goss Gilroy Inc., to weigh the costs and outcomes of the national anti-drug strategy.
The strategy consists of prevention and enforcement programs run by several departments, including Health Canada, the RCMP, Foreign Affairs and the Canada Border Services Agency.
Part of the strategy is a TV ad that shows a teen girl in her bedroom singing "One, two, kicked out of school, three, four, snort some more," in a dull voice as she snips off a fistful of her own hair and scratches needle marks into her forearms.
But whether such initiatives really work is another question.
