MINISTERS URGE SPEEDY PASSAGE OF CRIME BILL

OTTAWA - Cabinet's crime-fighting duo dispelled Opposition spin
Thursday that an army of weed police are set to roam the streets
looking for marijuana plants growing in window boxes.

Justice Minister Rob Nicholson and Public Safety Minister Vic Toews
challenged other myths spread by critics of the government's
law-and-order agenda and its omnibus justice legislation.

For instance, federal prisons are not full to capacity, only 5% of
young offenders - repeat violent teens - would face the harshest
penalties while the bill provides for treatment and rehabilitation for
others.

Nicholson and Toews appeared at a Commons committee to discuss the
government's Safe Streets and Communities Act - an omnibus bill that
sets mandatory minimum sentences, targets child sexual predators, drug
dealers, violent and repeat offenders, and ends house arrest, among
other things.

On the marijuana provisions, the justice minister was asked if it
would target recreational users who grow six plants in their home for
personal use.

"No," he said. "I appreciate our critics want to spin this in a way to
give that impression ... but the bill is very clear. If you are in the
grow-op business and you have between six and 199 plants you will come
within the provisions of this if you are in the business of
trafficking."

On the subject of costs, the ministers challenged NDP claims of a $20
billion price tag over five years to implement and demanded to see
where the Opposition figure came from. No figures were provided.

The government estimates the section of the bill dealing with drug
enforcement would cost $67 million over five years and said no
analysis or breakdown of costs that could be absorbed by the provinces
has been conducted, but some savings could be found.

On the subject of mandatory minimum sentences, the ministers
acknowledged more criminals would be "pushed" to federal prisons over
provincial jails because sentences would exceed two years.

"The people who get increased penalties are more likely to end up in
federal institutions... It might ease some of the pressure on
provincial facilities," Nicholson said.