CAMPBELL'S OLYMPIC PROMISE RINGS FALSE

There he goes again. In his years leading this province, Premier
Gordon Campbell has demonstrated a penchant for offering lofty
promises and grand visions for British Columbians.

We are supposed to become the most physically fit people in the
world, as well as the most literate; and we allegedly live in the
most beautiful place on the entire planet -- a "fact" insisted upon
by the premier.

Some of these goals and visions might actually be attainable. Few can
quibble with the physical beauty of British Columbia, and we're
already a fairly fit and literate population compared with the rest
of the world.

But I wonder if the premier has overreached in the latest example of
his setting the bar so high it looks entirely out of reach.

Campbell now insists that the problems of Vancouver's Downtown
Eastside will somehow disappear from sight by the time the 2010
Olympics roll around.

In other words, in just 17 months, something that has been more than
a century in the making will somehow undergo a Cinderella transformation.

But the problems associated with the Downtown Eastside aren't just
about homelessness. Rather, the area has drawn people struggling with
addiction problems for decades.

Originally, the problem was mostly alcohol. Now it is drugs.

We have a community of people who are struggling with a very serious
health problem and need help.

Does anyone seriously believe all the problems associated with those
addictions will actually disappear before the Olympic Games get here?

The premier made his comments while playing down the suggestion the
international media would focus on the Downtown Eastside during the
Olympics as a natural story angle.

But it's hard to see how overseas reporters won't be struck by the
stunning contrast that is Vancouver and its surroundings: magnificent
physical geography nestled beside the jarring images associated with
the notorious area.

Homelessness and open drug use (and not just in the Downtown
Eastside) seemed shocking a decade ago, but now seem simply a
depressing part of the scenery to those who live here.

But newcomers to our province and largest city will likely be jolted
by what they see: both the snow-capped mountains and the many street
people and addicts in their midst.

The premier gives the impression that a simple snap of the fingers or
the waving of a government wand will eradicate the mess. He points to
the steady increase in the number of social housing units as an
indication of the progress being made on this front.

To be fair, the Liberal government should be congratulated for some
of the things it's doing to deal with homelessness and drug addiction.

But it's going to take far more than more social housing units (and
Insite and other noble but limited harm reduction programs) to clean
up the Downtown Eastside.

Most people understandably avoid going anywhere near the place. But
you might want to check it out sometime because you'll come away
stunned by the sheer despair and menace that shrouds the area.

I actually lived smack in the middle of the neighbourhood (the corner
of Carrall and Cordova streets) in the late 1970s. Back then, it was
a downtrodden area that mixed mostly public drunkenness with the
nightlife of Gastown.

It was actually an interesting place to reside.

But every time I go back, I'm shocked at what a different place it
has become. The problems of addiction are much more prevalent, and it
has become obvious that old solutions aren't sufficient.

If you can't bring yourself to walk its streets, then pick up a
stunning new book written by a well-known Vancouver doctor who treats
addicts on the Downtown Eastside.

In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts by Dr. Gabor Mate shows that the
problems of addiction are profound and vary from individual to individual.

He paints a portrait of not just a neighbourhood, but of its people
whose escape from it will not happen easily nor over the relatively
short period of time suggested by the premier.

Campbell loves books. I suggest this is one he should put at the top
of his reading list as he takes a vacation this month.

After reading it, he will be struck by the humanity of the area that
Mate so eloquently captures.

But he may not be quite as optimistic that perhaps the biggest single
social challenge of British Columbia will disappear so quickly or so easily.