HARPER'S CRIME CRACKDOWN

The Prime Minister's Agenda Includes Street Racers, Marijuana Growers
And Meth Labs

OTTAWA -- Prime Minister Stephen Harper will make an announcement on
his government's tough law-and-order agenda at RCMP headquarters in
Vancouver today.

The Harper government, which hopes to win back seats in B.C. by
appealing to voters upset about crime, has already made it clear that
it plans on getting tough in several criminal justice areas that have
been particularly controversial in B.C., such as street racing.

Today's event marks the second time this week that Harper has moved
to identify his government, and its promised crime crackdown, with
the powerful historic symbolism of the Mounties.

On Tuesday, Harper laid a wreath in Ottawa at a ceremony honouring
fallen RCMP officers.

"These RCMP officers valiantly defended our way of life, and our
rights and freedoms," Harper said.

"They helped keep our communities safe. And they brought honour to
their families, their fellow officers, this country and all its citizens."

The late independent MP Chuck Cadman tried unsuccessfully to push
through a private member's bill on street racing.

The Liberals promised just before the 2006 election campaign to bring
forward a similar bill in Cadman's honour, but his widow Dona said
that legislation was too weak.

Harper's 2006 election platform for B.C. had several other
crime-related proposals, including a call for "mandatory prison
sentences for convicted operators of grow-ops and crystal meth labs."

Justice Minister Vic Toews, who is also in B.C. this week, made it
clear at a recent parliamentary committee hearing that street racing
is near the top of his agenda.

"Our cities are not racetracks, and the time has come to get rid of
the racers who pose a threat to the safety of our citizens," he told
MPs on May 16.

"Through criminal justice reform, we will send a strong message that
racing will no longer be tolerated on Canadian streets."

He said there have been "tragic" consequences across the country.

"Drivers, their passengers, and innocent victims have been killed.
Since January alone, three men in Vancouver, one in Edmonton, and a
Toronto taxi-cab driver have all allegedly been killed because of
street racing."

In the Vancouver street-racing crash on Jan. 28, three young men,
including two brothers, were killed when a 1992 BMW sedan carrying
five men went off the road in a street race along Highway 1.

In another high-profile case, Bahadur Singh Bhalru, 26, was deported
to India last September after being convicted in 2002 of criminal
negligence causing death following a deadly street race in Vancouver.
Bhalru was street racing with another young man -- Sukhvir Singh
Khosa -- along Marine Drive in 2000 when Khosa's car struck and
killed Irene Thorpe, a 51-year-old on her evening walk. The
house-arrest sentences given to the two young Vancouver men sparked
public outcry.

Harper is certain to draw attention today to his government's recent
$1-billion commitment over two years on a number of policing,
security and anti-crime measures.

The Tory government plans to use some of that money to hire 1,000
more police officers.

Critics, meanwhile, say crime rates are in fact not soaring in most
areas and that Harper is simply exploiting public fear for political reasons.