VANCOUVER - Prime Minister Stephen Harper visited the city that his public safety minister calls Canada's gang capital Thursday to fuel the government's push for Criminal Code changes that would sentence gangsters to longer stretches in prison.
After handing out $350 million in infrastructure money for a new rapid-transit line, Harper met for an hour with Metro Vancouver police chiefs and the families of gang-violence victims who've become reluctant lobbyists for a crackdown.
"I was very encouraged to listen to the prime minister," said Elieen Mohan, whose son Chris was one of two innocent victims among six men executed gang-style in a Surrey apartment in 2007.
RCMP spokesman Cpl. Peter Thiessen said Harper listened intently.
"He took notes," said Thiessen. "There was a lot of dialogue both from the police and from the victims of crime that were in that room."
The meeting with Harper, just a week after Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan came out to meet police, local mayors and crime victims, signals the level of importance the issue is attracting, Thiessen said.
There have been 18 shootings in Metro Vancouver in the last month -- seven of them fatal, including two broad-daylight hits against alleged gangsters outside local shopping malls. The young wife of an alleged gangster was also gunned down as she drove with her four-year-old son.
While Harper was in Metro Vancouver, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson tabled legislation in Parliament classifying gang killings as first-degree murder, carrying an automatic life sentence with a minimum 25 years without parole.
The bill would also create a new offence and a minimum four-year prison term for drive-by shootings, with the possibility of up to 14 years. Another change toughens Criminal Code sections on assaulting police officers.
Steve Brown, whose brother-in-law Ed Schellenberg was servicing fireplaces when he was killed in the massacre that claimed Chris Mohan, said the victims' families "do not believe these false prophets that say stronger sentences do not deter crime."
Harper said the public supports the Conservatives' law-and-order stance.
"We got elected because we know the people of Canada want us to take a tougher stand on crime, want us to deal toughly with those who perpetrate these crimes," Harper told reporters.
"Look, we know we're going to hear these critics. We know we're going to hear the Opposition parrot some of these critics because they all believe in soft-on-crime policies."
Mohan said she hoped opposition MPs, especially those from British Columbia, would "do the right thing and vote for legislation" that would curb gangsters' freedoms and give police the tools to do their jobs.
All three opposition parties expressed general support for the Tory bill, virtually assuring quick passage through Parliament. In fact, they complained the measures don't go far enough.
Liberal justice critic Dominic LeBlanc backed the B.C. government's demand to update wiretap laws to deal with current technology, streamline the pre-trial disclosure process to speed criminal cases through the courts and put an end to giving offenders credit for double the time served in pre-trial custody.
NDP justice critic Joe Comartin called for a more comprehensive anti-gang strategy, including more money for police officers and programs to divert youth away from gangs.
Charles Momy, head of the Canadian Police Association, welcomed the changes.
"We all know that front-line police officers . . . have to deal with the influx of gangs across this country," he said. "They certainly appear to have run amok."
B.C. Attorney General Wally Oppal and Solicitor General John van Dongen flanked Nicholson at his news conference but said even more action is needed.
"We've had a terrible wave of violence in British Columbia, and quite frankly the public is sick and tired of what's going on," said Oppal, a former B.C. Appeal Court judge.
Nova Scotia Justice Minister Cecil Clarke welcomed the legislation. Halifax has also seen gang-related shootings, including one recent death.
And Manitoba Justice Minister Dave Chomiak called on all politicians, regardless of political stripe, to support the initiatives.
"Organized crime is probably the single-biggest issue we face in Canada today. I'm so pleased," said Chomiak, a New Democrat.
Protesters advocating legalization of drugs as a way of choking off the money that fuels gang activity chanted outside the federal building where Harper met police officials and gang victims.
"I think that argument is somewhat naive," said Brown. "It's much more complex an issue."
In the meeting with Harper, Vancouver police Chief Jim Chu said he supported Oppal's plea to streamline Crown disclosure.
The current rules make it hard to put complex cases through the courts, said Chu, pointing to the recently concluded year-long trial of three men convicted of kidnapping university student Graham McMynn.
"We had to take four investigators (for) two years to put together information for disclosure and then closer to the trial we had to assign another four investigators just to satisfy the disclosure requirements of the criminal trial," he said.
