PM offers $1.9M to battle crime

Toronto is getting $ 1.9 million in federal job-training money to help prevent gun violence, one in a range of anti- crime initiatives touted by Prime Minister Paul Martin during a campaignstyle stop in the Jane and Finch area yesterday.

Martin and Mayor David Miller made the announcement at the Driftwood Community Centre, in the heart of one of the city’s highest crime areas.

“ We’re going to take handguns out of our communities and we’re going to help you take your kids back,” Martin told a crowd of reporters, politicians and curious onlookers. He also said the federal government will spend $50 million over the next five years on a nationwide crime- prevention strategy aimed at curbing gang violence, and he promised that his government would change the Criminal Code to increase mandatory minimum sentences for some firearms offences. A spokesman for the mayor said Toronto’s share of the $50 million is under negotiation.

Miller has been pushing Ottawa to fund crime-prevention initiatives under his community safety plan, launched last year. The plan seeks to stem crime through a mix of tougher enforcement and better employment and training for young people, who commit a disproportionate number of gun crimes in Toronto.

“ On behalf of Jane and Finch and Toronto, thank you,” Miller said, adding there’s much more to be done to prevent violent crime in the city, which has seen 46 gun homicides this year.

At Driftwood, about 10 youths were taking part in a technology training program funded under the safety plan. One student was skeptical about Martin’s visit. “ They say things, we don’t see things,” 22year- old Shremme Smith said. But York University student Troy Logan, 22, said, “ Seeing the PM on TV is one thing, but seeing him in Jane- Finch says he’s accessible.”

Ontario Attorney General Michael Bryant, who has been pressing for an increase to mandatory minimum sentences, hailed the announcements.

“ Clearly, the Prime Minister and the federal justice minister have heard and are heeding Ontario’s call for a crackdown on gun violence and its causes,” Bryant said from Whitehorse, where federal and provincial justice ministers are meeting to discuss gun- law reform. In a conference call from Whitehorse, Justice Minister Irwin Cotler said the final details of the anti-gun violence package won’t be made public until the formal proposal is approved by cabinet, likely in the next couple of weeks.