VAN KESTEREN FAVOURS TOUGHER JAIL SENTENCES

Conservative candidate Dave Van Kesteren is supporting two new
initiatives brought forward by Conservative leader Stephen Harper.

In a news release yesterday, Van Kesteren said he supports Harper's
plan of having mandatory prison terms of at least two years for drug
offenders who import or export or produce addictive drugs like heroin,
or over three kilograms of marijuana.

Van Kesteren said he also supports measures to ban house arrest for
serious drug crimes, increase fines for drug dealers, and favours
halting proceedings to decriminalize marijuana.

"It's time to take back out streets, to support organizations like
East Side Pride, our local Crime Stoppers program and our
neighbourhood watch teams," he said.

Van Kesteren also threw his weight behind Harper's Choice in Child
Care Allowance initiative, that would provide $1,200 per year for each
pre-school child.

"This plan gives parents options. Rather than being restricted to
large, impersonal day care centres, this allows parents to take their
children to small, personalized care givers," he said.

The plan, said Van Kesteren, would also commit $250 million to a
program that would work to create 125,000 new child care spaces over
five years.

"This program gives parents the opportunity to access child care which
conforms to their own values, and not just provincially or federally
mandated values," Van Kesteren said.