HARPER TAKING AIM AT GUNS AND GANGS
Date: Dec 21, 2005 10:59 PM
“A Conservative government is going to crack down on crime in this country,” said Harper, who told reporters the Liberals’ promised ban on handguns won’t work. “Let me be clear: We support the handgun ban (that’s) already in effect,” he said, referring to existing restrictions that severely limit legal access to handguns. Harper also took a shot at the maligned federal gun registry, launched by the Liberals and whose cost has ballooned far beyond original estimates. “We’re going to crack down on crime and stop wasting money, billions of dollars, on a registry for duck hunters.”
PUBLICATION: The London Free Press
DATE: 2005.12.21
EDITION: Final
SECTION: News
PAGE: A1
BYLINE: PATRICK MALONEY, FREE PRESS REPORTER
COLUMN: CANADA VOTES 2006
WORD COUNT: 373

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HARPER SET TO WOO RURAL VOTE AFTER TAKING AIM AT GUNS AND GANGS, HARPER HITS RURAL SOUTHWEST RIDINGS TODAY.

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Stephen Harper, who yesterday promised Londoners his party would stifle gun crime, today takes aim at the rural vote in Southwestern Ontario.

The Conservative leader — making his debut in a city hit by a record 14 homicides this year and a rash of gunplay — vowed a Tory government would draw a bead on crime.

“(We will stand) up against the plague of guns, gangs and drugs that is slowly affecting our cities and communities under this government,” he told a partisan crowd of more than 200 gathered in a bar-eatery in west-end Byron.

Day 2 of Harper’s swing through the 10-riding London region takes him today to a farm near Chatham, in Lambton-Kent-Middlesex, for an expected rollout of much of the Tory farming platform.

Paul Martin worked the same ground in the farm belt yesterday, near Chatham.

“This (Liberal) government had 12 years and this year had three budgets to deal with agriculture and did absolutely nothing,” Harper said after a whistle stop at Bernie’s Bar and Grill, foreshadowing his focus on today’s campaign trail.

“So, their record’s clear,” said Harper.

Yesterday, campaigning on a farm in North Buxton, Martin promised $750 million to support Canada’s troubled grain and oilseed industries, among other pledges geared to small-town and rural voters.

The Conservatives quickly rebutted Martin, hammering the Liberals in a news release for “(refusing) time and time again to help our farmers.”

Earlier yesterday, Harper added to his big-city crime-and-punishment platform: The Conservatives, he said, would turn to front-line counsellors who work with urban youth to solve violent crime at its root — not just punish offenders.

Harper made the comments at a Toronto boxing club and at a rally later at Bernie’s, with his four London candidates there.

“A Conservative government is going to crack down on crime in this country,” said Harper, who told reporters the Liberals’ promised ban on handguns won’t work.

“Let me be clear: We support the handgun ban (that’s) already in effect,” he said, referring to existing restrictions that severely limit legal access to handguns.

Harper also took a shot at the maligned federal gun registry, launched by the Liberals and whose cost has ballooned far beyond original estimates. “We’re going to crack down on crime and stop wasting money, billions of dollars, on a registry for duck hunters.”

Harper’s 15-minute London speech touched on much of his platform and highlighted a four-riding rally. London candidates John Mazzilli (London-North-Centre), Al Gretzky (London West), Joe Preston (Elgin-Middlesex-London) and Dan Mailer (London-Fanshawe) attended.

To Mailer, Harper’s gun-control initiatives could stem London’s tide of violent crime.

“It’s not the London I grew up in,” he said. “London’s a great city, don’t get me wrong, but there have been changes there and some of them aren’t for the best.”