OTTAWA, Ont. – The fate of convicted war criminal Omar Khadr is now in the hands of the  federal government, after they have received an application for his transfer from Guantanamo Bay to Canada, Wednesday.

The decision is up to public safety minister Vic Toews, who will be making the decision in accordance with Canadian law.

Sources told Rogers radio news that the U.S. government has asked Canada to take Khadr back as a diplomatic favour because of plans to shut down Guantanamo Bay, and their officials are offering to pay for the transfer costs.

NDP critic Jack Harris said he believes bringing Khadr back to Canada to serve the rest of his eight-year sentence will be safer for everyone.

“Correction Service of Canada is actually supervising the prisoners rehabilitation and re-entry into society,” Harris told Rogers radio news. “If someone serves a sentence elsewhere, they come back to Canada, walk the streets and nobody has any control over them.”

However, he said the Conservatives have been cool to the idea so far, despite a spokesman for Toews saying he is considering the transfer.

“Surprising to some extent that the government has been acting this way, even if they’re reluctant, because there has been some pressure by the U.S. for Canada to comply.”

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Toews said he is considering the transfer.

Khadr killed a U.S. army medic in Afghanistan in 2002. He was only 15 at the time. He pled guilty to five war crimes in 2010.

If the 25-year-old is transferred to a Canadian jail for the remainder of his sentence, parole restrictions can be placed on him, but if he is released in the U.S. he is considered a free man.

Khadr has been eligible for the transfer since October 2011.