Keeping Canadians Safe

June 04, 2008

All Canadians deserve to live in safe neighbourhoods.

Parents should not have to worry about letting their kids outside to play and seniors should not be afraid to venture out of their homes. Unfortunately, not everybody can rely on the safety of their communities.

In recent years a lot of media attention has focussed on the rising scourge of gang, gun and drug violence that paralyzes too many neighbourhoods in cities and towns of all sizes.

These problems are very real and deserve real action. While politicians in the past turned a blind eye to this problem, our Government is instead cracking down on gun criminals with tough new mandatory minimum sentences and tighter bail rules that will keep the worst thugs behind bars. We believe the only way to reduce gun crime is to target the criminals who are behind it.

But gun-toting gang members are not the only people threatening Canadian neighbourhoods. That is why our government is cracking down on other kinds of criminals as well.

Take impaired drivers: Canadians have long complained that our old drunk-driving laws had too many loopholes, particularly when it came to drivers impaired with drugs. Whether you are drunk or stoned, you pose a threat to innocent people. We put in place tough new laws that make it easier to catch drug-impaired drivers and hold them accountable for their actions.

Take identity thieves: many vulnerable Canadians, including many seniors, have been victimized by credit card fraud and other forms of identity theft. Canada’s old laws were so out of date, they served as no deterrent for the sophisticated organized crime rings behind identity theft. The Conservative Government is modernizing Canada’s identity theft laws to make these con-artists easier to catch and convict.

Take criminal gangs who run car-theft operations: under our new vehicle theft legislation, it will be a crime even to tamper with a car’s vehicle identification number. And we are making it much harder for criminal gangs to resell stolen Canadian cars.

Take drug dealers: through tough new changes to Canada’s drug crime laws, we are ensuring that those who produce or sell illegal drugs face mandatory jail time. We are also investing in more police so that grow-ops, meth-labs and other drug producers will be busted before they do more harm.