PARTIES TRADE POT SHOTS OVER TOUGHER LAWS FOR DEALERS

OTTAWA - Conservatives, Liberals and New Democrats took turns
accusing each other of being soft on crime as the Harper government
urged opposition parties to support its latest attempt to toughen
sentences for drug-related activity.

One day after the Liberals announced they would no longer support the
legislation, Bill S-10 which was adopted in the Senate, Nicholson
staged a news conference with other Tory MPs and the president of the
Canadian Police Association, accusing the opposition of blocking
measures that would target drug traffickers and organized crime.

"The bill that we have presented to Parliament is very specific,"
Nicholson said.

"It sends out the correct message that if you're getting into the
grow-op business for the purposes of trafficking - again, that
distinction is sometimes lost on some my opponents to this bill - if
you're into the business of trafficking, if you're bringing drugs
into this country, it's very specific as well.

"If you sell drugs around a school, you're not going to like this bill."

Charles Momy, president of the association that represents 43,000
police members across the country, said the legislation would prevent
instances when criminals re-offend quickly after getting out of a
short jail sentence.

But Liberal public safety critic Mark Holland suggested the bill, if
passed into law, could cost billions in new investments for expanded
prison space, without actually discouraging organized crime or
rehabilitating criminals. Instead, he said it could cause an increase
in criminal activity for offences such as someone with a few
marijuana plants or Tylenol 3.