TORIES PROMISE CRIME CRACKDOWN

A Conservative government would get tough on crime by imprisoning
criminals longer, hiring more police, cracking down on gun offences,
and raising the age for sexual consent.

Tory Leader Stephen Harper unveiled the party platform in Toronto,
near the scene of the Boxing Day shootings that killed 15-year-old
Jane Creba, an innocent bystander.

"We should be able to walk freely on our streets. We should feel safe
in our neighbourhoods. We should live without fear in our cities," Harper said.

The Conservative "Stand up for Security" plan would increase minimum
prison sentences for most gun crimes, such as raising it from four to
10 years for manslaughter and murder using a gun, and increasing
mandatory jail terms from one year to five for using a firearm or
imitation firearm during the commission of a crime.

The Tories would create a new category of gun crime as well, imposing
a minimum five years in jail for stealing or trying to steal a gun or
possessing a gun contrary to parole restrictions.

They would eliminate the gun registry for rifles, saying the money
saved would go to hire more police, filling more than 1,000 vacant
RCMP positions and working with provinces and municipalities to hire
at least 2,500 more police officers.

The handgun registry would continue.

A Tory government would also raise the age of sexual consent from 14
to 16, automatically sentence 14-year-olds who are charged with
serious crimes as adults and spend $10 million a year over five years
on crime prevention programs and measures to assist youth at risk. It
would end house arrests for drug traffickers and impose mandatory
minimum jail time for marijuana grow operators and meth lab producers.