TORIES HINT THEY'LL SOFTEN CRIME STANCE

Justice Minister Says He'll Try To Find Consensus In Factious Parliament

The minority Conservative government is hinting it will soften some
of its tough-on-crime proposals to capture support from the
opposition parties who control Parliament.

The first test will come this spring with the party's plan to
introduce legislation imposing dozens of new or increased automatic
jail terms for gun-related crime and the curtailing of house arrest
as a sentence for serious offences.

"I will continue to consult with the opposition parties and we will
bring forward something that the majority of parliamentarians can
support, ... but we remain committed to fulfilling our obligations,"
Justice Minister Vic Toews said.

Mr. Toews will outline his party's law-and-order plans today, with a
focus on raising minimum jail terms, in a speech to Canadian police
officers in Ottawa.

The speech is expected to set a general tone for the Conservative
justice plan, rather than setting out specifics, which still have to
be negotiated.

In the first legislation to crack down on crime, Mr. Toews said he
wants to include stiffer penalties for drug trafficking and
gang-related crime, as well as crimes committed with guns.

"It's clear that drugs, gangs and guns are very closely related and
we hope to address that problem in our legislation," he said.

He also wants a law that dramatically reduces the use of conditional
sentences -- in which offenders serve their terms under house arrest
instead of jail.

In their election platform, the Conservatives proposed 26 new or
increased automatic penalties for crimes involving guns, ranging from
five years to 10 years, including five years for possession of a
loaded, restricted or prohibited weapon, such as a handgun.

There are almost two dozen automatic jail terms for gun-related
crimes in the Criminal Code, ranging from one to four years, imposed
a decade ago as part of the Liberal gun-control laws.

The opposition, mindful of public concern over increasing gun
violence in Canadian cities, has signalled they are willing to
co-operate with the Conservatives on the condition they soften their measures.

One concern is that the Conservative proposals would not survive a
legal challenge under the Charter of Rights, which guarantees the
right not to be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment that is
grossly disproportionate to the crime.

NDP justice critic Joe Comartin says the Conservatives will have to
lessen their proposed sentences to the five-to seven-year range for
the New Democrats to sign on. Liberal justice critic Sue Barnes said
her party would not support "draconian" sentences that are
dramatically higher than the current minimum mandatories that exist
in the Criminal Code for gun-related crimes.

The Canadian Professional Police Association has already met with Mr.
Toews to lobby for stiffer jail terms.

Association spokeswoman Sophie Roux dismissed the Liberal-imposed
sentences as "a joke." But she added that stiff sentences, such as
those in in a non-government bill from Conservative MP Daryl Kramp
last year, calling for minimum sentences as long as 15 years for some
gun crimes, would be "too high to be acceptable."