Liberal safe streets plan sure to be election issue, say anti-poverty groups

 VICTORIA (CP) -- Premier Gordon Campbell's vision of safe streets in British Columbia is likely to turn into a bare-knuckle election brawl between social activists and the government, anti-poverty groups said Tuesday.
 Campbell told civic leaders last week he will soon introduce a two-pronged plan that cleans up the streets and helps the less fortunate, but social activists and the Opposition New Democrats don't believe him and are preparing for a fight. 
 "We're just not in favour of these types of laws that criminalize poor people. We need to look at the root causes of poverty," said Sarah Khan, a lawyer with the B.C. Public Interest Advocacy Centre.
 The centre believes Liberal government cuts over the past three years have contributed to increases in poverty and homelessness in British Columbia, she said.
 The government tightened welfare rules and made it more difficult to qualify for child-care subsidies, Khan said.
 "In this context we think that there is a correlation between the cuts to social programs and the increase in the number of people we see on our city streets," she said.
 NDP Leader Carole James said the government won't be able to convince the public it's helping the poor and maintaining safe streets after its record of program cuts.
 "They've had three and a half years to look at those issues and have gone in the wrong direction every time," she said.
 "They've cut public housing budgets. They've cut addiction programs. They've cut community support."
 The areas that address safe communities were hit hardest by government cuts, James said.
 But Campbell's safe streets announcement drew hearty applause from B.C. mayors and councillors last week in Kelowna, especially when the premier said the civic leaders can use 100 per cent of municipal traffic fine revenue -- estimated at $40 million annually -- to fund local crime-fighting initiatives.
 He said the government will introduce safe streets legislation modelled on the efforts of backbench Liberal Lorne Mayencourt, the Vancouver MLA who introduced two private member's bills last May proposing fines to keep aggressive panhandlers and squeegee kids away from his constituents.
 Under the Safe Street Act proposed by Mayencourt, aggressive beggars would face a $500 fine and even six months in jail for a second offence.
 "My bills are not to do with poverty," Mayencourt said after living five days on Vancouver's skid road last month.
 "My bills are about civility and people looking after each other, in a courteous, respectful manner."
 Mayencourt's two bills would effectively prevent a squeegee kid from approaching a vehicle and asking to wash a window for money, he said.
 It would also make it an offence to ask people for money who are using a telephone, washroom or bank machine or waiting for a bus or getting into a car.
 The bills will also protect people from threatening behaviour, including language, gestures, intimidation and physical harm, said Mayencourt.
 B.C. Attorney General Geoff Plant said Tuesday he intends to introduce safe streets legislation modelled on Mayencourt's bills.
 The law will not make criminals of the poor and the government is willing to work with anti-poverty groups on issues of homelessness, addiction and mental illness, he said.
 Campbell said he will appoint a committee of urban municipal politicians to make recommendations of dealing with issues faced by the poor and homeless.
 "There is a role for public policy for legislation ensuring that the streets of British Columbia are safe and friendly for the four million British Columbians who want to walk on them without being spat at or shouted at or intimidated," said Plant.
 "That's all that I'm looking at here."
 The B.C. legislation will borrow heavily from Ontario's safe streets law, introduced by the Mike Harris Conservative government in 1999.
 The Ontario law was largely introduced to tackle squeegee kids who plugged major urban intersections. It also outlawed aggressive panhandling.
 Thirteen people were convicted under the law in Toronto in August 2001.
 In Ottawa, a city council committee is seeking approval to ask the police to stop enforcing the safe street act until a court challenge is settled.
 The move this month was in reaction to a two-month camp last summer by homeless people on the grounds of Ottawa city hall.
 "There have been constitutional challenges to legislation like this and the challenges have failed," Plant said.
 "The Ontario act is the model that Lorne Mayencourt used in introducing his private member's bill and it's what I'm looking at in terms of crafting something that I think will work in British Columbia."
 Plant, who originally expressed reservations about Mayencourt's bills, now says he's convinced British Columbians want some for of safe streets legislation.
 "I respect the fact that the vast majority of city councillors and mayors across B.C. want this additional tool," he said.