OTTAWA — The Harper government introduced legislation Thursday to make it tougher for Canadians imprisoned abroad to serve their sentences in Canada.

But critics dismissed the move as an ideologically driven exercise in retribution that won't do anything to make Canada safer -- and might actually make things worse.

The bill would expand the conditions prisoners must meet before being allowed to transfer to Canadian jails.

Among other things, they would have to satisfy the government that they pose no threat to public safety, that they've taken part in rehabilitation programs, have co-operated with law-enforcement agencies and accepted responsibility for their crimes.

Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan said the current law on transfers is tilted toward the right of criminals to return home. He said recent court rulings have made it difficult to block transfers except in cases where prisoners are deemed a threat to national security.

"Right now, the law emphasizes the interests of the criminal," Van Loan said.

"We are rebalancing that law to take into account the interests of Canadian society."

The proposed changes would expand the criteria that must be considered by the public safety minister in deciding whether to grant a transfer back to Canada. The new criteria would include whether a prisoner's return could endanger public safety or threaten the safety and security of victims, family members or children.

"I believe there are sexual offenders or murderers or other types of offenders (who) could represent such a threat. It's a case-by-case evaluation that is needed," Van Loan said.

But NDP justice critic Joe Comartin said Van Loan's rationale makes no sense.

He pointed out that transferred prisoners are put behind bars in Canada and, therefore, can't be considered a threat to public safety. Moreover, if they've been convicted of a crime abroad, their victims are unlikely to be in Canada.

"It's a complete masquerade," he said. "I mean, that's just outright falsehood on their part. This has got nothing to do with public security at all.

"It is straight ideological on their part. They promised that they would do this to their hard-core, right-wing supporters."

Comartin said the Harper government has systematically blocked up to 80 per cent of all prisoner transfer applications, in violation of the law and treaty obligations with other countries. Several lawsuits have been filed as a result.

He said the proposed changes are an attempt to retroactively legalize the government's practice.

Liberal consular affairs critic Dan McTeague expressed concern that the changes could allow the government to ignore human rights abuses against Canadians jailed in countries with notoriously harsh justice and prison systems.

Moreover, he said part of the rationale for returning prisoners to Canada is to ensure they get rehabilitation that will help reintegrate them into Canadian society upon release.

That, he argued, is better than the alternative of making them serve their full sentences in foreign jails, to be eventually deported back to Canada upon release without any rehabilitation.

"All we're doing is delaying ticking time bombs," McTeague said.

According to Van Loan, there are currently 241 applications for transfers from Canadians incarcerated abroad.