DRUG TREATMENT CENTRE PLANS 'PROMISING,' POLICE CHIEF SAYS

White Enthused About Centre For Youth After Meeting With Premier

Ottawa police Chief Vern White says he feels "confident" after
finally meeting with Premier Dalton McGuinty to discuss drug use and
a proposed drug-treatment centre for the city.

"I left there believing that we are absolutely on the same page in
the development of a youth treatment centre in Eastern Ontario," said
Chief White, who had pushed for a meeting with Mr. McGuinty since the
fall election and met face-to-face with the premier in Toronto for
about 45 minutes Monday.

While nothing firm was decided, Chief White said yesterday that the
discussion was "very, very promising.

"How we get this done is one thing, but certainly we're all working
toward getting it done," he said.

Jane Almeida, a spokeswoman for Mr. McGuinty, said the meeting was a
"positive one" in which the pair discussed a range of policing and
community issues, including drug addiction in the city.

"Coming out of the meeting, there is a clear commitment to continue
to work together to keep the community safe and improve services for
those battling addictions," she said.

Meanwhile, the office of Jim Watson, the MPP for Ottawa West-Nepean
and municipal affairs minister, who has said he was asked to take the
lead on the file, issued a statement that said he is waiting for a
report on the proposed treatment centre from the area's health
integration network in the next month "and then we can move forward."

Mr. Watson has said there is a need for funding a residential drug
treatment centre.

He has been working closely with Chief White and Dr. Robert Cushman,
CEO of the Champlain Local Health Integration Network.

He said he "is committed to moving quickly to secure funding once we
receive the recommendations from the local health integration
network," the statement said.

Chief White also met with Mr. Watson, Ottawa-Vanier MPP Madeleine
Meilleur and other Ontario police chiefs on Monday, discussing such
issues as provincial funding for court security costs.

The need for a residential youth drug-treatment centre has long been
a concern for city politicians and officials.

In June 2006, then-Ottawa mayor Bob Chiarelli said the city should
buy the former Rideau Correctional Centre, along the Rideau River
near Burritts Rapids and the Marlborough Forest, and convert it into
the region's first residential drug-treatment centre for youths.

The plan was never realized.

The current proposed drug-treatment centre in Ottawa is for teenagers
aged 17 and under and is expected to cost about $4 million a year to operate.