Gun violence is on the rise in Canada's major cities, and police are bracing themselves for another season of escalating casualties.

"Summertime months are peak months for gun violence, and the question is will we face another 'Summer of the Gun,'" Bill Hubble, deputy director of the Criminal Intelligence Service, a federal agency, told CTV News.

In Toronto, Canada's largest city, 52 of 78 homicides in 2005 had firearms involved. A spate in late summer saw about 20 shootings in a two-week period.

Gun violence isn't just a summer thing. In mid-November, a young man was shot to death at a church while attending the funeral of a friend, who was shot to death himself a week earlier.

Gun crime became a major election issue when a teenage girl died in the crossfire between hoodlums as she was out shopping on Boxing Day on Yonge St., the city's major thoroughfare.

Experts trace the problem to guns flowing into Canada from the United States, although criminals also steal from legitimate gun owners.

The reason for the flow of illegal guns northward is quite simple: Gun smuggling is highly profitable. A high-quality $300 pistol bought in Philadelphia can fetch around $2,000 in Canada.

Criminal organizations like the Hells Angels and Asian triads, competing for control over the lucrative trafficking, are willing to pay for firepower.

"They are fighting for money," said Insp. Paul Nadeau of the RCMP Drug Squad. "It's profits, it's power and this is drug driven. Make no mistake about it, this is drug-driven."

On the West Coast, Canadian criminals are buying weapons from the U.S. with drugs.

"We see marijuana going south and we see guns coming back," said Hubble.

Armed criminals are an increasing presence on Canada's streets -- a threat all too familiar to police.

"Every day in the city of Toronto, my police officers are encountering armed criminals in possession of loaded handguns," said Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair.

So far this year, Toronto police have confiscated about 800 guns, a 20 per cent increase from the same time last year.

From coast to coast, gang members prefer semi-automatic handguns.

"Having a gun is part of the scene, it's part of the image," said Nadeau. "It's the gangster lifestyle."

Police are fighting the problem with undercover operations, trying to crack the organized smugglers.

The Conservative government pledged $20 million in the federal budget to fight gun crime.

Officials say the money and the Conservative government's promised legislation to toughen penalties for gun crime will help, but they want more people at the border for searches and increased funding to retrieve serial numbers from guns used in crimes.

With a report by CTV's Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife