NOT PURITANICAL ENOUGH:

Dion losing law-and-order votes, leading Liberal says (JOHN IBBITSON, 3/06/07, Globe and Mail)

Stephen Harper's Conservative government has effectively established a reputation for confronting and combatting gun and gang violence, the paper asserts.

In contrast, "Liberals trumpeted a trickle-down social-safety net approach, arguing that a strong anti-poverty social-safety net will address the root causes of crime."

However, a "focus on prevention alone does nothing for those families in crime-ridden high rises where illegal guns police the hallways," the paper maintains.

Worse, Mr. Bryant states, the Liberals have "very little substance to offer by way of alternative, and certainly nothing new or effective. The typical federal Liberal approach to crime, in a word, is a boomer approach that is stuck in the summer of love."

As a result, Mr. Bryant argues, "Crime is for Liberals what the environment is for Conservatives."