GORDON CAMPBELL, MEET THE DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE

It's Time for an End to Political Me-Too-Ism on the Tough Files

Is it just us or does it seem British Columbians are being asked to
accept "me-too" leadership from the provincial government instead of
the real deal?

Don't get us wrong, the B.C. premier's webpage tells us some things
are getting done.

B.C. is acting on climate change, with the premier going to such
lengths as to declare war on it. While this puts him out in front of
the provincial pack, it was Al Gore's message and Arnold
Schwarzenegger's lead that paved the way for the likes of B.C. to follow.

Aboriginal treaties, too, are a definite accomplishment, but are
relevant really within our own borders as they come long after other
provinces dealt with the matter and only after the courts required
that B.C. act to secure resolution.

Good things, both. Worthy of acknowledgement and recognition. Yet
both are "me-too" campaigns, prompted by the actions of others.

We make this observation at a time when recent Vancouver Sun stories
about Victoria's failure remind us that even when it comes to flops,
we're still travelling the path blazed by others: A crass child
car-safety-seat seat program working to save lives in government
constituencies but not Opposition ones. All these years after Matthew
Vaudreuil, and accusations that children's lives are, unbelievably,
still at risk.

"Following Others and Failing, Too" is hardly the stuff of catchy
licence-plate slogans, nor is it the legacy British Columbia
deserves. But that's the trouble with me-tooism: That in taking
action -- no matter how well deserved -- on an issue defined by
others, you might not have enough left over to tackle the issue in
your own back yard, the one that is known -- or about to be better
known -- around the world as your signature issue, your signature
failure, and the one issue that no one but you can take on.

Welcome to the Downtown Eastside.

We know what sort of place it is. A heartbreaking place. A shattering
place. An unsafe place. To some, it is home. For others, a place to ignore.

People -- good people, dedicated people, remarkable people -- spend
difficult hours every day, every month, every year working to address
its health problems, its economic problems, its social problems.
These efforts have and continue to consume mammoth amounts of money,
hope and spirit.

The result? The Downtown Eastside of Vancouver has become a
provincial, national and international symbol of those who have lost
hope, health, direction and dignity.

The United Nations calls it one of "North America's most blighted and
drug-infested neighbourhoods . . . home to a Hepatitis C rate of just
below 70 per cent and an HIV prevalence rate of an estimated 30 per
cent -- the same as Botswana's." Whether you take your information
from the United Nations, or the local Pivot Legal Society, which
tells us that "an estimated 5,000 injection users live in the
Downtown Eastside . . . where overdose and suicide are the leading
causes of death . . . in Canada's poorest postal code," the truth is
that the neighbourhood literally sheds blood and lives for want of a
way out, for want of leadership.

Just so we're clear, that leadership won't be coming from Al Gore. Or
the governor of California. Nor should it. Because what begins on
Main Street in B.C. communities winds up at Main and Hastings. The
Downtown Eastside is ours, and ours to resolve.

Put simply, someone needs to declare war on the problems of the
Downtown Eastside.

Won't be easy, of course. Mike Harcourt had the background --
storefront lawyer, Vancouver mayor, B.C. premier -- to make it
happen, but he was unable to dent the problem. Gordon Campbell, who
followed Harcourt as mayor, has spent six years as premier, and seems
to be on his way to a third term, yet, the problems of Downtown
Eastside persist, exacting their devastating toll. And it's still news.

Campbell may well be on stage at the opening of the Winter Games in
2010. We know from the experience of other Olympic cities that the
pageantry and pleasantry of the Olympics will easily and quickly be
contrasted by the world's media with the brutal realities offered by
the Downtown Eastside. That's how those things work.

But amid that comparison, surely some journalists will ask, how could
such a situation exist, such devastation consume so many, on the
watch of a former three-term Vancouver mayor, by then a three-term
B.C. premier?

It's a question that can be answered one of three ways.

One is that it takes a three-term mayor and premier to know that the
Downtown Eastside problems are so big, so intractable, so insoluble,
the situation simply so hopeless, that it can't be dealt with.

The second is that amid all that electoral victory, and all those
years in the power seat, political me-tooism trumped original
leadership, and with no Gores or Schwarzeneggers stepping forward to
take on the Downtown Eastside, the call to action was never raised.

The third is that someone with the premier's experience of this
province would know that a decline of the U.S. economy, a softening
of commodity prices, or something equally beyond our control would
exact a harsh toll on B.C., removing the means to act.

Does it have to be this way? Several years ago, on this page for B.C.
Day, we wrote about the remarkable achievements of British Columbians
that were hailed as world firsts that improved life and the human
condition in B.C., across Canada and around the globe. We know
British Columbians do amazing, wonderful, life-changing things.

We say this, because the two of us do not pretend to know the
prescription for Downtown Eastside success. But we have to believe
that with more than 20 years in elected office, 13 of them in the top
elected jobs the province has to offer, the premier will have a
better idea than most of us on what it would take to halt and reverse
the global-scale devastation of the Downtown Eastside. He occupies
the position of power -- and surely he still has the will -- to make it happen.

But if it's a push he needs, then this: Premier, there is a
neighbourhood a mere stone's throw from your office, not that far
from your home -- or from any of our homes, really -- that has been
under siege for decades by a force that has consumed generations of
dignity, health, hope, peace and life. Want a war? Declare war on this enemy.

In your arsenal, pull together the people you know and who are known
by others for their expertise and build the strategy to win the war
in the Downtown Eastside. Put them in a room and give them 100 days
to build upon your knowledge and years of experience in the top
government jobs in B.C. and produce the strategy that will win back
the Downtown Eastside to the side of health, safety, stability and,
above all, hope.

Take a page out of your recently created Climate Action Team, an
initiative that brings together the best minds in B.C. to fight the
war you declared on climate change. Only this time, don't wait for
others to validate the legitimacy of the issue before you venture
into it. No more leadership carpooling. No more coattail followship. Step up.

Then, premier, implement this strategy, and make all of us your
troops. Tell us what we must do to play our role for our
neighbourhoods and for the Downtown Eastside -- for we are all
connected -- and encourage us to use our voices to drive all levels
of government to take the action required.

Win this war. Provide the original, made-in-B.C. leadership that
allows you to write the book on how cities in our time can reclaim
what's been lost, on how neighbourhoods and their residents can be
released from the forces that oppress them.