A report issued on Tuesday projects that Canadians can expect to pay billions more to house prisoners in coming years under new sentencing rules.

Legislation that went into effect in February limits the amount of credit inmates receive for time they spend behind bars before and during their trials.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. has reported that Parliamentary budget officer Kevin Page said his report shows construction of new prisons that will be needed to keep prisoners incarcerated longer will cost $1.8 billion over five years. He said another $618 million will be needed each year for capital appropriations, and operations and maintenance costs.

Page told reporters, "I knew incarceration was expensive. When we do the simple math in terms of longer stays, which means higher head counts and we know how expensive … incarceration is, you get to big numbers in a hurry."

Conservatives, in April, had estimated the cost of implementing the sentencing legislation at $2 billion over five years.

The CBC further said that Public Safety Minister Vic Toews rejected the latest findings, saying if Page's information didn't come from Correctional Service Canada, "he must be making this up." (With Inputs from Agencies)