TOEWS BEGINS CAMPAIGN FOR HARSHER SENTENCING

OTTAWA - 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 higher automatic jail
terms for gun-related crime and dramatically curtail 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," Justice Minister Vic Toews said. "Obviously anything we do
will have to be done in consultation with the opposition parties who
control Parliament but we remain committed to fulfilling our obligations."

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.

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 curtails 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 already 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 is mindful of public concern over a perception of
increasing gun violence in Canadian cities.

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.