OTTAWA STEPS UP FIGHT AGAINST ORGANIZED CRIME

OTTAWA-The Conservative government has quietly boosted police powers
to target gambling, drug trafficking and prostitution activities by
organized criminal gangs.

New regulations approved in mid-July but published today in the
Canada Gazette designate as "serious offences" a series of crimes
that do not necessarily garner five years or more in jail.

The move will allow police and prosecutors to more easily use tools
they already have to target large-scale criminal operations.

Under the new regulations, police will be able to more easily obtain
wiretaps and orders such as peace bonds, block bail or parole
eligibility, seize assets and seek stiffer sentences. The criminal
code defines as "organized" crime gangs those cases involving three
or more people acting together in a criminal venture.

The offences now designated as "serious" are: keeping a common gaming
or betting house; betting, pool-selling and book-making; offences
related to lotteries and games of chance; "cheating while playing a
game or in holding the stakes for a game or in betting"; keeping a
common bawdy-house; and a series of drug trafficking, importing and
production offences.

For the purposes of investigations and prosecutions, the regulations
also designate trafficking in barbiturates, anabolic steroids and
prescription drugs like tranquilizers, as well as trafficking in
marijuana or hashish in amounts less than 3 kilograms, as "serious."

"Such crimes are often considered signature activities of organized
crime," said Justice Minister Rob Nicholson, as he announced the
regulations in Montreal.

Nicholson cited federal estimates that there are 750 organized crime
groups operating across Canada.

Nicholson received an immediate endorsement from provincial police
representatives in Quebec, but was met with skepticism from his
political opponents.

Liberal critic Mark Holland said he wanted to study the regulations
before commenting directly on them. "In organized crime, we can
always do better, of course."

But he denounced the Conservatives for moving on measures without
subjecting them to proper parliamentary study.

"This is about changing the channel. This is about raw politics," said Holland.

"What I detest and what I think Canadians see through is when you
have a government that just whips up policy in the middle of the
night and throws it out as a diversion to their other political problems."

Holland slammed the Conservatives for shifting about $5 billion to $8
billion of prison construction costs onto the provinces, slashing
support to crime prevention programs to $19.3 million in 2008 from
$57 million in 2005 and for cutting funding for victims of crime services.

Holland also derided Treasury Board president Stockwell day for
relying on so-called "unreported crime" statistics to justify an
overall $10 billion to $13 billion in new prison spending.

"Do they propose to lock up people who haven't been criminally
charged?" he said.

"The Conservatives prefer wild, out-of-control spending to fund their
ideological pursuits even when taxpayers are forced to finance the
largest deficits in Canadian history," Holland said.