STREET POVERTY, DRUG ADDICTION PLAGUE CAPITAL

VICTORIA -- Rev. Al Tysick, this city's straggly haired street
minister to the poor and addicted, would seem to have more to worry
about than politics these days.

He's locked in a prickly dispute with downtown shopowners about the
proposed relocation of his Open Door homeless shelter.

And he just finished burying his friend Butch Mathers, a longtime
fixture on the city's streets, who froze to death in a park on Nov.
28.

But mention the idea of a safe-injection site here and Tysick becomes
instantly engaged in a burning political issue that's part of the
federal election campaign.

"I would rejoice around it," he said. "Of course we need it. But it's
become a political game."

That game's stakes were raised when Conservative Leader Stephen Harper
came to town and dumped on the idea of a government-funded facility
for heroin addicts to safely and legally shoot up.

"We, as a government, will not use taxpayers' money to fund drug use,"
Harper said. His statement suggested a Tory government would pull
support for Vancouver's two-year-old injection site, while Victoria's
proposed site would get scotched before it even opened.

British Columbians from outside Victoria might be surprised to learn
that our neat-and-tweedy capital is struggling to manage rapidly
worsening street poverty and drug addiction. The numbers of homeless
are swelling. Some city blocks are starting to look like miniature
versions of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

For Liberal candidate David Mulroney, locked in a close and bitter
battle to keep the seat held by retiring cabinet minister David
Anderson, a safe-injection site in the city's core makes more sense
than the Conservatives' plan to crack down on drug abuse through the
courts.

"Just think of the costs: more jails, more legal aid, judges'
salaries, courtroom staff, police, sheriffs, Crown prosecutors," says
Mulroney, a former federal drug prosecutor himself. "It's a nightmare
in costs for taxpayers."

But his Conservative opponent, also a Crown prosecutor, sees it very
differently.

"We don't want Victoria to become a mecca for illegal drug use," said
Robin Baird, who favours spending money on addiction rehab beds and
anti-drug programs in schools instead. "Just show me one downtown
business that would want an injection site located nearby."

NDP candidate Denise Savoie, a former city councillor who supports a
site, seems to be the main opponent to Mulroney. The Liberals bested
the NDP by more than 2,000 votes last year. The Conservatives came
third.

This time around, all three candidates are running in Anderson's
shadow. The former environment minister won the seat four times in a
row but announced his retirement after Prime Minister Paul Martin
dumped him from cabinet.

And that changes everything.

Mulroney will be hard-pressed to match Anderson's polish. And with
Anderson out of the way, the New Democrats are drooling over the seat
- -- which frustrates Baird.

"The NDP could run a shaved ape in this city and still get votes," he
moans.

But this one's so up in the air, even the Tories think they have a
shot in one of B.C.'s most competitive races.

VICTORIA

The main candidates running in Victoria:

David Mulroney, Liberals: Lawyer. Former federal prosecutor on drug and
fisheries cases.

Robin Baird, Conservatives: Lawyer. Crown attorney and law-school lecturer.

Denise Savoie, NDP: Six-year member of Victoria City
Council.

Ariel Lade, Green: Former jazz and economics student.