Pubdate: Fri, 06 Jan 2006
Source: Toronto Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 2006 The Toronto Star
Contact:  http://www.thestar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/456
Author: Robert Benzie, Staff Reporter
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Stephen+Harper
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Conservative+Party
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?199 (Mandatory Minimum Sentencing)

CRIMINALS USING GUNS FACE LONGER PRISON TIME

Steps from the scene of the Boxing Day shooting on Yonge St., Stephen
Harper vowed to slap mandatory minimum sentences of up to 10 years on
gun-toting criminals.

Promising a Conservative government would "crack down on crime and
completely overhaul Canada's criminal justice system," Harper
yesterday announced sweeping reforms.

"These penalties are significant increases from anything we see
today," he said at a hotel adjacent to the Eaton Centre near where
15-year-old Jane Creba was killed and six others wounded.

"The Canadian way of life and those proud traditions of safety and
security are today threatened by a rising tide of drugs, gangs and
guns."

Andre Thompson, 20, and a 17-year-old, arrested in the subway shortly
after the Boxing Day shooting, face weapons charges.

The Toronto-born Harper lamented the city's crime woes and the
"senseless, barbaric acts" of Dec. 26.

"I see a city whose fundamental character is beginning to change. It
is changing from a city where people own their streets and
neighbourhoods to a city where they venture out with caution," he said.

"The Boxing Day shooting in this city has shocked and saddened all of
us. To have a daughter, a loved one, gunned down in open daylight in a
public square in what is supposed to be a festive family time of year,
well, I cannot myself imagine a worse nightmare."

To curb such crimes, the party's strategy includes:

- - Mandatory minimum prison sentences ranging from five to 10 years
depending on the severity of the offence. Using a firearm during an
offence, which now has a one-year minimum sentence, would result in
five years' incarceration. More serious offences such as attempted
murder using a gun, now subject to a four-year minimum sentence, would
mean 10 years behind bars.

- - Strengthening the Youth Criminal Justice Act to make it easier to
transfer those as young as 14 to adult court, where punishment is more
severe.

- - Toughening up border patrols and equipping customs officials with
side arms to curb gun smuggling.

- - Hiring 1,000 more Mounties and helping cities and provinces hire an
additional 2,500 police officers nationwide.

- - Investing $50 million over five years on crime prevention and
targeting youth at risk.

- - Repealing the "faint hope clause" of the Criminal Code that allows
early parole for those serving life sentences.

To pay for it, Harper pledged $500 million in new funding over five
years in addition to savings from the elimination of the Liberals'
much-maligned $2 billion gun registry.

"The federal government has left 1,000 RCMP positions unfilled, it
disbanded the ports police that once patrolled and protected against
gun smuggling. It has spent ... billions of dollars on counting the
property of duck hunters while losing all sense of how many illegal
guns were flowing into this country," he said.

"The answer is not to blame the Americans for weapons smuggling. We
have had the United States next door longer than any of us have been
alive, but it is only this government that has been unable to deal
with the gun flow."

Asked if the Tories would bring back the death penalty, Harper said he
had "no plans" to reopen that divisive issue.

"There are instances where I favour capital punishment, but ... that's
not an issue our government is going to be dealing with in the next
parliament."

Rev. Don Schiemann, whose son Peter was one of four RCMP constables
shot dead in an ambush by repeat offender James Roszko in Mayerthorpe,
Alta., last March, hailed the measures as "a very, very effective start."

"Changes have to take place. On these issues (the Conservatives) are
consistent with what we as the four families feel needs to happen,"
said Schiemann, who was flown here for the announcement by the Tories.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake