OTTAWA (Reuters) - The Canadian government should ban U.S. rapper 50 Cent from touring Canada later this year because he has a criminal record and glorifies gun violence, a legislator from the ruling Liberal party said on Wednesday.

50 Cent, who was once shot nine times on the street in a gang incident, is the star of the recent film "Get Rich or Die Tryin,"' a fictionalized and violent portrayal of his career.

Junior Foreign Minister Dan McTeague said the rapper's message was inappropriate at a time when Toronto, Canada's largest city, was experiencing a surge in shooting deaths.

"I do want the laws of Canada to apply to anybody who is a criminal, an admitted criminal, as Mr Curtis Jackson -- known as 50 Cent -- is. Under our laws ... he would be deemed criminally inadmissible," he told CBC television.

Canadian law dictates that anyone with a criminal record needs a special permit from the office of Immigration Minister Joe Volpe to enter the country. McTeague has written to Volpe urging him not to grant the permit.

Volpe declined to discuss the case with reporters but said he too was concerned by the rising gun violence in Toronto, where 49 people have been killed so far this year, many of them young black men.

Although 50 Cent has acknowledged spending time behind bars, the current status of his criminal record is not clear. Representatives for the star did not immediately reply to requests for clarification.

McTeague criticised 50 Cent for "the message at this time that he brings, one of glorifying gun violence, often (the) denigration of women" and said the last time he gave a concert in Toronto in 2003, one person was killed outside the theater.

The rapper is due to start a Canadian tour in December.

Last month the distributor of "Get Rich or Die Tryin"' took down some movie billboards near Los Angeles-area schools after community leaders complained they glorified gangs and violence. The posters showed 50 Cent holding a microphone in one hand and a gun in the other.

"If we have young people as young as 14 leading gangs in my community around Toronto, we have to take into consideration that the message is often going to very impressionable people who think nothing of human life," said McTeague.

The rapper told Reuters on Tuesday that parents should buy their children his new video game and use it as a teaching tool. In the game, 50 Cent is depicted making his way through New York's underworld with armed guards and guns blazing.

Gotta love Canada.

LOL....holy!!

I think the Canadian gov't has more important things to worry than 50 Cent. This isn't the 1st time 50 and G-Unit have come to Canada, so why now? I also remember some gov't people wanting to ban Eminem, but that didn't happen.

Didn't they try to ban Eminem a couple of years ago because he plead guilty to a couple of gun charges?

I thought it was an actual law that you couldn't have a criminal record and cross the border. Or they had to so something special. Martha Stewart encountered the same thing ... till they went "dear god, it's Martha" and got some weird permits.

To think that guy had been shot 9 times, and not one bullet went to his head...

To think that guy had been shot 9 times, and not one bullet went to his head...

I think this is retarded. I am suprised that the Canadian gov't is actually wasting time on this when it could be put towards MUCH more important issues.

To think that guy had been shot 9 times, and not one bullet went to his head...

How do we know one didn't?

I think this is retarded. I am suprised that the Canadian gov't is actually wasting time on this when it could be put towards MUCH more important issues.

The Canadian government IS NOT actually wasting it's time with this and they are putting its efforts towards many very important issues. This is just one MP (member of parliament) talking on an open mic. What you should know is that Canada is in pre-election mode. MPs will do anything, especially this one, to get their names in the paper. All press is good press, especially leading to a winter election.

But to show that the government is actually concerning itself with important matters, here is a list of some recent initiative announced in the past 2-3 weeks:

-large tax reduction for low income Canadians

-large tax reduction for small businesses

-modest corporate tax cut

-over 3 billions dollars towards University/post-secondary education

-over 2 billion to aboriginal residential schools

-over 4.5 billion for new military planes/helicopters

-over 10 billion for labour marketing and skills development

-billions to protect the auto sector

-1.5 billion support package to victims the softwood lumber despute caused by the United State's unlawful breach of a binding international treaty - NAFTA

-1 billion to farmers

1.5 billion to the forestry sector

-There are several important bills on the table, including a bill a heat-rebate bill for low income Canadians, a national "do not call registry" to prevent telemarketers from bothering people.

Of course, this comes just a few months after Canada became the 4th country in the world to pass Same Sex Marriage, a new immigration policy to increase the number of new Canadians, a new healthcare framework, start a national day-care program for parents across the country, ratify and start implementing the kyoto accord for environmental protection, and provide billions of dollars to municipalities to pay for public transit, infrastructure renewal and strategic investments in growth.

All of this, while reducing our debt-to-GDP ratio, and overall debt by incredible numbers and running nearly a decade of surplus, fiscally balanced and economically prudent budgets.

So for anyone who bothered to read this far down the page, do not think for a second that the Canadian Government isn't a serious, active and dedicated governing body.

That said, many of these initiatives will not come to fruition if we have an election. And we will be having an election. The call will come early next week.

This is just more publicity for 50 Cent, thanks canada for inflating his already big ego.

Again this is what we call a scapegoat. Instead of actually doing something about the crime rate and gun control, they spend all their energy in trying to stop some rapper from singing a few songs? This reminds me of when Marilyn Manson was blamed for the deaths of the kids at Columbine. Why don't politicans address the real issues? So stupid.

I think I might move to Canada

I think I might move to Canada

You're welcome to come here, but what is your reason if you don't mind me asking?

Canada is a beautiful country full of amazing and vast natural beauty. But more than that, Canada is a pillar of tolerance and multiculturalism. The only that surpasses the majestic wonder of our land is the kind, educated and skilled people that live here, both born and immigrated.

To think that guy had been shot 9 times, and not one bullet went to his head...

AMEN!