TACKLING GANGS AND ORGANIZED CRIME

Criminals don't stop.

They don't stop for constitutional emergencies. They don't stop for
presidential visits. They certainly don't stop during global economic
crises. For a while, the media focus was off crime and onto the
challenges facing Canada during these troubling economic times.

Recent examples of extreme gang violence in British Columbia are a
stark reminder, if one was needed, that the safety of Canadian
families requires constant vigilance. We cannot afford to take the
security of lawabiding citizens for granted.

We have already seen where that attitude can take us. For more than a
decade, Canadians watched as previous governments allowed our justice
system to decline. Our police forces were underfunded. Our laws and
punishments were outdated and did not fit the crimes being committed.

Criminal gangs grew in power and scope from East to West, yet
previous governments failed to take any meaningful action. The rights
of the victim were ignored, while the plight of the criminals was all
that seemed to matter. This was unacceptable.

Since taking office, the Conservative government has made great
strides towards improving our ability to prevent crime, apprehend
criminals and prosecute them accordingly, but there is more to do.

Last week, we introduced new legislation that will crack down on
gang-related drug trafficking and violence. These new laws will mean
mandatory prison sentences for anyone convicted of organized
crime-related drug trafficking or weapons offences. Judges will be
able to impose mandatory prison terms for crimes where drugs are sold
to children or where sales are made near schools or places that
children are often found.

The new laws will also raise the maximum penalties for producing
illegal drugs from seven to 14 years. In addition, murders connected
to gangs and organized crime will be automatically classified as
first-degree. These new laws build on our previous action to keep
Canadians safer.

Since first being elected in 2006, the Conservative government has
taken strong, deliberate action to protect our streets and
neighbourhoods. We've delivered 1,500 new RCMP officers and are
working with the provinces and municipalities towards hiring 2,500
new municipal police officers. We took action with laws for mandatory
minimum sentences for gun crimes. We introduced tougher laws to keep
gun criminals off the streets and tougher sentences for repeat
violent offenders.

During that time it seemed hard to believe that we would have to
fight the Opposition in order to keep Canadians safer, but many of
our tougher crime laws were held up in Parliament by these parties
playing political games. Our government was willing to go to the wall
on these issues and rolled our strong crime measures into the
Tackling Violent Crime Act, which became law early last year.
Canadian families are safer as a result. Canadians deserve to live in
safe communities and the Conservative government is working to
deliver that peace of mind for our families and businesses.

Criminals don't stop and neither will our government. This new action
to fight gang crime and protect lawabiding Canadians will build on
our previous action to deliver safer communities across the country.