IN OTHER WORDS: LANDLORDS NOT POLICE OFFICERS

Marijuana grow-operations can be a danger to neighbourhoods and damaging to
the homes they inhabit. But punishing landlords isn't fair nor will it
solve the problem.

Ottawa councillor Rick Chiarelli wants a bylaw to force landlords to pay
for an expensive structural engineering study should police find a tenant's
grow-op on their property.

But the province's Tenant Protection Act makes tenants responsible for
damage they cause. While it isn't easy to find underground gardeners if
they've moved, the city should look first to the perpetrator of the damage,
not the perpetrator's landlord.

Rising costs to landlords will cause rents to increase, forcing innocent
tenants to pay for growers' damages.

Chiarelli said most landlords know but turn a blind eye to grow-ops. It's
true that landlords, or neighbours, or friends might develop suspicions.
But like neighbours or friends, landlords aren't obliged to do police work.

Similarly, landlords aren't expected to know everything that goes on in
their properties. They have to give 24 hours' written notice to view them.

On the other hand, landlords have the right to evict tenants who are
engaged in illegal activity on their property. That right should be
encouraged and enforced by the city and provincial governments.

Chiarelli said if landlords made a greater effort to evict, there wouldn't
be a need for a bylaw.

He and other supporters are right to try to rid the city of underground
drug operations, notorious for faulty wiring and other safety hazards. But
the bylaw idea is unfair. Besides, if Canada decriminalized marijuana, the
need for these underground operations would cease to exist.