HARPER PROPOSES TOUGHER SENTENCES

Serious Drug Offences Should Get At Least Two Years: Conservatives

OTTAWA - In what has become a trend as the first week of the federal
election campaign winds down, the Conservatives leapt out early
Saturday to set the agenda by rolling out a key part of their
law-and-order platform.

During an early morning stop in Burnaby, B.C., Conservative Leader
Stephen Harper promised mandatory minimum sentences of at least two
years for the most serious drug offenders.

He said a Conservative government would also ban conditional
sentences, or house arrest, for serious drug crimes and raise fines
for dealers and producers.

"I want to talk about the values of a peaceful, orderly and safe
society, and a problem none of the other parties seem to care about -
the problem of crime and the threat it poses to our families and our
communities," said Harper.

Harper has spoken in recent months about the need for mandatory drug
sentences, as well as a get-tough approach on other crimes such as
street racing.

"Safe streets and safe playgrounds are the bedrocks of healthy
communities," said Harper.

Last summer, the Liberal government increased penalties for
processing, making and trafficking crystal meth to bring them in line
with those associated with heroin and cocaine.

The measures came under attack by some frontline social workers as
doing little to combat the problem with those other drugs.

Specially designated prosecutors also now deal with the most serious
cases and will speak to judges in sentencing about crystal meth.
Harper's proposed mandatory terms would apply to all convictions
involving trafficking, importing, exporting, or producing heroin,
cocaine and crystal meth, as well as more than three kilograms of
marijuana or hashish.

As well, chemical ingredients needed to make crystal meth, such as
ephedrine and cold remedies, would be harder to buy, borrowing a
strategy recently adopted in Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

A bill to decriminalize marijuana died when Parliament was dissolved
ahead of the election and a Conservative government would not
reintroduce it, Harper said. "And we will never endorse the NDP idea
of legalizing it outright," he added.

NDP Leader Jack Layton also took his campaign to British Columbia on
Saturday, where he's zeroing in on the ongoing softwood lumber
dispute with the United States.

Prime Minister Paul Martin took the day off but was scheduled to
leave Sunday for St. John's, N.L.

Green Party Leader Jim Harris was taking part in a pro-Kyoto
demonstration in Montreal.