MURDERS STRESS NEED FOR CRACKDOWN, MP SAYS

The Stafford Line massacre of eight Toronto-area men is another
example why Canada needs to get tougher with violent and repeat
offenders, the area's MP says.

Conservative Joe Preston, whose Elgin-Middlesex-London riding
includes the Elgin County property where the bodies were found in
several vehicles Saturday, made the comment yesterday as the Ontario
Provincial Police continued its investigation into the worst mass
murder in the province's history.

"We need to address crime," said Preston, adding that tougher
sentences and more police is one of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's
top five priorities.

"It does show us even rural Southwestern Ontario is being dragged
into 21st-century crime," Preston said.

The Tory crime-busting plan includes mandatory minimum terms for drug
and gun offences and eliminates house arrest for violent or repeat offenders.

Harper has pledged to shelve Liberal plans to decriminalize marijuana
and to crack down on drug dealers, pot grow-operations and violent offenders.

Also, the Conservatives say a tighter parole system will remove
statutory release provisions that allow most criminals to walk free
after serving two-thirds of their sentence.

"We need a strategy dealing with enforcement, education,
rehabilitation along with really serious, meaningful sentencing for
repeat drug offenders," London police Chief Murray Faulkner said.

Ontario Labour Minister Steve Peters, MPP for Elgin-Middlesex-London,
offered condolences for the families of the victims.

"I think it's on everyone's mind when there's a tragedy like this in
our own backyard," Peters said.

"But with everything that's happened, I think it's important to just
let the police continue their investigation."