VALUES 'UNDER ATTACK'

Early election call killed eight bills aimed at strengthening law
enforcement, Liberals shoot back

Allan Woods and James Gordon CanWest News Service with files from The
Canadian Press

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper released on Saturday his party's
plan to crack down on drug crimes while crossing swords with New
Democratic Party Leader Jack Layton over trade issues.

On a day when Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin did not campaign,
the Conservatives promised to:

- - Impose mandatory minimum sentences.

- - Eliminate conditional sentences such as house arrest.

- - Bring in tougher fines for drug traffickers and producers.

- - Scrap plans made by the Liberal party to decriminalize marijuana
and introduce a national drug strategy targeted at Canadian youth.

"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," Harper said at a recreation centre in Burnaby, B.C.

The Tory approach to drug crimes -- which are staples of Conservative
policy -- would slap mandatory minimum sentences of at least two
years for trafficking drugs such as heroin, cocaine and crystal meth.
It would apply the same penalties to similar offences involving bulk
amounts of marijuana or hashish.

Harper said Ottawa must send a clear message that the proliferation
of illegal drugs is unacceptable. "Our values are under attack," he said.

Several studies have shown minimum mandatory sentences add an
enormous cost burden to the corrections system without offering any
clear deterrent.

But Harper said he wants to see concrete justice ideas that work.

"I think common sense is that if you're serious about enforcing the
law, you provide real penalties," said Harper. "And the evidence I've
seen suggests that what works are penalties that are fairly certain,
not penalties that will not, in fact, be imposed."

The Liberals quickly tried to turn the tables on Harper. The party
issued a release stating the opposition parties, by forcing this
election campaign, effectively killed eight bills that would have
strengthened law enforcement in Canada.

Layton said the NDP would be coming out with its own criminal justice
platform soon. But the softwood lumber dispute with the United States
was his issue of choice Saturday.

The New Democrats are pushing a plan that would see the country slap
export duties on oil and gas exports as a way of recovering billions
in tariffs collected by the U.S. on Canadian softwood.

But Harper had his own assessment of the NDP strategy.

"If you are going to take retaliatory actions -- and we don't rule
those out -- you take retaliatory actions against the other country,"
Harper told a press conference in Vancouver. "To slap tariffs on our
own products won't do anything but hurt our own producers."

Harper added while the Layton plan "sounds superficially appealing,"
in reality it's "absurd" and "ridiculous."

"I think it's a reason why the NDP should never run the economy of
any province or this country," he said.

Layton denied a surcharge would hurt energy companies because demand
for energy from the United States is so great.

In Montreal, Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe argued a sovereign
Quebec could do a better job of protecting the environment because
Quebec wouldn't be forced to accommodate Alberta's oil industry.

"If Quebec were a sovereign country it would be able to adopt a
territorial approach as to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions,
as is the case for the European Union," he said. "Which is not the
case with Canada. We have voluntary norms with automobiles, we
reduced the tax burden for oil companies and the big emitters don't
have to assume the share they should assume in terms of their effort
to collectively attain Kyoto.

"So Quebec the country would be better placed than Quebec the
province to attain the six per cent."

Harper on Saturday also accused Martin of abandoning Quebec Premier
Jean Charest and focusing instead on the separatist threat posed by
the Bloc Quebecois, and enabling drug use and drug addiction through
weak law-and-order policies.

"I haven't yet heard from Mr. Martin, and ... from the Liberals, talk
about the future of the country and where they want to take it,"
Harper told reporters.

Although Martin took a day off, Liberal Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh
defended the prime minister's approach, which has involved rolling
out television advertisements and delivering speeches promoting the
government's record in Montreal and southern Ontario, and making
minor policy announcements.