Quebec balks at Ottawa’s law-and-order agenda

Quebec has opened up a second front in the fight against Ottawa’s law-and-order agenda, refusing to pay for higher prison costs flowing from a federal omnibus anti-crime bill and blasting the legislation as counter-productive.

The Quebec government is also in a dispute with Ottawa over its decision to kill the long-gun registry, suggesting it will go to court to get the information it contains on gun ownership in the province and set up its own database.

Quebec and the rest of the country have long differed on the balance between punitive justice and rehabilitation, but the latest developments could threaten the recent warming of relations between Premier Jean Charest and Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Bill C-10 would impose mandatory minimum sentences for some drug offences and toughen the youth justice system, among other things.

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