Mike W. Bryant
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Sep 16/05) - Another Conservative Party MP has descended on Yellowknife ahead of a federal election call expected within the next few months.

Conservative MP, Russ Hiebert, in Yellowknife this week, says his party would use gun registry money to pay for more police.

South Surrey-White Rock-Cloverdale MP Russ Hiebert came to discuss what he calls "a problem with crime" after 12 years of Liberal rule in Ottawa.

Hiebert is the co-chair of the Conservative Party's Safe Streets and Healthy Communities Task Force. His visit falls on the heels of a recent trip to the North by Conservative defence critic Gordon O'Connor.

While in Yellowknife Tuesday, Hiebert met with several local politicians, including Mayor Gord Van Tighem, Yellowknife MLAs Dave Ramsay and Sandy Lee, and representatives from the RCMP and several community groups.

The first-term MP said he was told that alcohol and drug abuse were consistent problems in the city that often lead to property crimes and assaults.

Hiebert said his party would divert future expenditures from the troubled federal gun registry and use them to pay for more police.

"Close to $2 billion has been put into this failed gun registry, and thing that was made clear (in Yellowknife) was the need for more resources for groups working with at-risk youth and police," said Hiebert.

"It's just a misguided approach to dealing with crime."

Hiebert said he will compile his findings after travelling across the country, and present them to his party at the end of October.

According to Statistics Canada, most crimes rates, other than for murder, have declined over five years.

Kathryn Youngblut, president of the Yellowknife Senior's Society, said she thought it was a fairly good meeting Tuesday, although she wasn't told it was being hosted by the Conservatives when she got her invite. "I would say it was an okay meeting, I wouldn't say it was a great meeting," said Youngblut. "I think it could've been structured a little bit differently because basically we went around the table, which took the whole time."