JUSTICE MINISTER ADAMANT ON LAW AND ORDER

Flagship Bills For Stiffer Jail Terms, Raising The Age Of Sexual Consent

The Conservative government is proceeding at full speed with its
ambitious law-and-order agenda, with plans in the coming months to
introduce bills to put more people in jail for drug-related crimes,
create a national victim's ombudsman and crack down on youth crime.

In an interview yesterday, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson dispelled
public musings that the Conservatives, by appointing him to the
high-profile post to replace hard-liner Vic Toews, are trying to put
a more gentle face on their justice plans.

Nicholson insisted he is anything but "soft on crime, that he
believes wholeheartedly in every element of his government's
initiatives, and that a bill introduced last year to raise the age of
sexual consent is "an idea whose time has come."

"I'm very determined that the agenda that we ran on in the 2006
election is good for this country," he said in his Parliament Hill
office, "and I think it's what Canadians want and we will not be
diverted from that."

As the former House leader responsible for negotiating with the other
parties in the minority government, Nicholson said his immediate
priority is to "stick handle" nine pieces of justice legislation,
which have already been introduced, into passage.

His two key concerns, he said, are flagship bills to impose stiffer
mandatory jail terms for a variety of crimes committed with firearms
and to raise the age of sexual consent to 16 from the current 14.

But he said he is also proceeding with at least three other pieces of
legislation in the government's current mandate, although he would
not commit to a time frame.

In last year's federal election campaign, the Conservatives promised
to send everyone to prison for at least two years if they are
convicted of trafficking such drugs as heroin, cocaine and crystal
meth. The mandatory prison terms would apply to offences involving
bulk amounts of marijuana and hashish.

"I'm not going to scoop myself on when we announce the bill, but it
will be consistent with what we said in the last general election,"
Nicholson said.

The stiffer sentences will be included in a long-promised national
drug strategy that will also include health and public security initiatives.

Critics, including opposition MPs, have complained that minimum terms
for drug crimes, which have flooded jails in the United States,
amount to cruel and unusual punishment that would not survive a
Charter of Rights challenge.

On youth crime, Nicholson said he also intends to proceed with
election commitments.

The Conservative platform, among other things, pledged to
automatically impose adult sentences children over 13 who commit
serious violent crimes.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper promoted Nicholson to the highly
charged justice portfolio in January, a move that was widely viewed
as shrewd because of his skills as a negotiator at a time when the
government is trying to shepherd a heavy agenda through Parliament.