CONSERVATIVES TO TARGET GANG VIOLENCE

Tories Unveiling Legislation As Prime Minister Stephen Harper Heads
To Vancouver To Discuss Growing Street Crime

OTTAWA -- The Harper government is unveiling legislation cracking
down on gang violence and serious drug crime as the Prime Minister
heads to Vancouver to discuss that city's insidious and growing
problem with street gangs. Last night, the Conservatives served
parliamentary notice of their intent to introduce two bills: the
first would amend the Criminal Code to target organized crime; the
second would focus on illicit drugs.

The Tories did not divulge the contents of the bills but Public
Safety Minister Peter Van Loan, who called Metro Vancouver the
national capital of gang activity last week, has hinted at what he
would like to see.

He said this week that legislative priorities for the Tories include
making all gang-related homicides result in first-degree murder
charges and imposing mandatory prison terms for some drug crimes.

Sources say one of the bills will be unveiled tomorrow, the same day
Stephen Harper travels to Vancouver to attend a roundtable on gang violence.

The second piece of legislation will be tabled Friday.

Vancouver-area NDP MP Don Davies said he will have to read the Tory
bills first but that the New Democrats favour toughening up charges
for gang-related homicides. He said he is also hoping the
Conservatives beef up support for witness-protection programs.

B.C.'s Lower Mainland is struggling to cope with what provincial
politicians call a "crisis" of gang violence. There have been 18
shootings in Metro Vancouver since Jan. 20 - leading to at least
eight fatalities. Earlier this week, hundreds of people, including
politicians and police, rallied in suburban Surrey to protest against
the growing problem.

Tackling gang-related crime plays to the Conservatives' political
strengths and allows the minority Tory government a temporary respite
from the economic recession file, where success is largely dependent
on circumstances beyond Ottawa's control, including a recovery in the
U.S. economy and global credit markets.

Mr. Harper is headed to Vancouver tomorrow for a joint infrastructure
announcement with Premier Gordon Campbell. The subject is expected to
be the Metro Vancouver Evergreen Line rapid-transit project - one of
Ottawa's infrastructure funding priorities.

The Prime Minister will also attend two roundtable meetings in
Vancouver - one of them on gang violence and another with ethnic
media who are a direct line into the immigrant communities the
Conservatives are assiduously courting for votes. It's possible Mr.
Campbell could end up joining Mr. Harper at the discussion on gang violence.

Speaking to reporters Monday, Mr. Van Loan said mandatory prison
sentences for serious drug crimes are a key priority for the Tories.

"The wave of gang killings in British Columbia right now is driven by
criminal organizations that all function on the drug trade and it is
the drug trade that's at the core of that violence that's making
those communities unsafe, and that's why we need to give police the
tools they need in the form of mandatory prison sentences for drug
crimes," Mr. Van Loan said.

He also said the Tories would move on their pledge to make gang
homicides carry automatic first-degree murder charges.

Mr. Harper's B.C. trip comes the same day two provincial ministers
travel to Ottawa seeking reforms to address gang violence, a visit
apparently timed to coincide with the unveiling of the Tories' first
new anti-crime bill.

B.C. Attorney-General Wally Oppal and B.C. Public Safety Minister
John van Dongen will be in Ottawa tomorrow for a meeting with Justice
Minister Rob Nicholson. They would like Ottawa to update wiretapping
law so police can better monitor devices such as Blackberrys.

In the federal House of Commons yesterday, opposition Liberal MP
Ujjal Dosanjh said the streets of Vancouver and Surrey have turned
into "shooting ranges" and ridiculed the ineffectiveness of the
Tories' tough-on-crime policies.

"In 2006, these sheriffs rode into town slinging rhetoric and
pretending to have a silver bullet for every criminal offence.
However, on their watch, the main streets of Toronto, Vancouver,
Surrey and other cities have turned into war zones."

With a report from Ian Bailey in Vancouver