SQUEEGEE LAW LIKELY TO FORCE KIDS INTO MORE DANGEROUS LIFE

Ontario drivers are rarely hassled by squeegee kids any more after the
previous Conservative government there passed its notorious Safe Streets Act.

Now the Gordon Campbell government is set to bring in a copycat law that
would make the activities of squeegee kids illegal in B.C. The looming
bill, which could be introduced in the legislature as early as today, would
also crack down on "aggressive" panhandlers and homeless trespassers who
sleep in store doorways.

The Liberals point to the effectiveness of the Ontario law in defending a
B.C. crackdown.

But what happened to all those Ontario squeegee kids after the government
put them out of business four years ago? A study by an Ontario university
professor provides an unsettling theory. University of Guelph sociology
professor Bill O'Grady tracked the fate of 50 homeless youths after the
Mike Harris government declared Ontario a squeegee-free zone. Most of the
youths in the study identified squeegee hustling as their main source of
income before the law was passed.

O'Grady's conclusion: Some kept up their squeegee activities at the risk of
being ticketed by police. A much larger number took up panhandling.

And a significant percentage moved on to more dangerous activities
including drug-peddling and prostitution.

"Two years after squeegee cleaning was banned, homeless youth who once
heavily relied upon the income are now more likely to be sleeping in more
dangerous environments, are more likely to be panhandling, selling drugs
and collecting social assistance," O'Grady concluded.

But the Ontario law did drive most squeegee kids off the streets. A similar
B.C. law will probably have the same effect, and the Liberals are counting
on that being popular with the public. The B.C. law will be modelled on a
private member's bill introduced earlier in the year, but never passed, by
Liberal backbencher Lorne Mayencourt.

In addition to making squeegee kids illegal, Mayencourt's bill called for a
ban on panhandling in an aggressive manner "that is likely to cause a
reasonable person to be concerned for his or her safety or security."

It would also ban panhandling at "captive audience" locations: ATM
machines, payphones, public washrooms, taxi stands, transit stops, parking
lots, aboard transit vehicles and anyone getting in or out of a car.

Watch for the NDP to vote against the crackdown -- just as the Liberals
want them to.

Despite the concerns of social critics like O'Grady, the Liberals are
convinced that this crackdown will be a political winner.