CAMPBELL VOWS TO TACKLE GAMES, DRUGS

Vancouver's New Mayor Plans Meeting On Four Pillars Plan Within A Week

Mayor Larry Campbell plans to start work within the next week on two
contentious issues that came up during the civic election campaign -- a
public vote on the 2010 Olympics bid and the four pillars strategy to fight
drug addiction.

He also promised in three years to eradicate the "open drug market" at
Hastings and Main and have a new trade and convention centre "substantially
under way."

Minutes after being given the chain of office, Campbell announced that
former mayor Philip Owen will serve with him as co-chair of a "task force"
to implement the four pillars, and that he has asked police chief Jamie
Graham "to participate personally."

Later, he told reporters the group's first meeting will be within the next
week.

"The task force will include experts in each critical area -- prevention,
enforcement, treatment and harm reduction," he said in his ambitious
inaugural speech. "We will be announcing participants from other sectors in
the coming weeks."

Campbell also said he hopes to move forward with a safe drug-consumption
site early in the new year.

On the Olympics issue, Campbell said he will meet next week with new city
councillors Jim Green and Anne Roberts, as well as city staff, to work out
a process to give voters a say on the Games, as soon as the bid book
outlining the costs has been submitted.

"We will also be considering a series of measures we can take on our own to
alleviate concern about the impact of the Games on our city," he said.

Campbell referred to the forthcoming vote as a plebiscite; the issue was
caught up in semantics last week over whether it would be a referendum,
which would mean compiling a new voters' list at a price of about $500,000,
a plebiscite or some other way of polling people.

Campbell reiterated what he said just after being elected -- that he
believes a vote on the Olympics bid can help resolve people's concerns
about the Games such as social and environmental costs, and will strengthen
the bid.

"I believe there is substantial support for the bid among our citizens," he
said. "That support can be consolidated and demonstrated by a plebiscite
early in the new year."

He also turned to the perennial issue of the Downtown Eastside and
homelessness, and reiterated his desire to have a public inquiry into
Vancouver's missing women once all charges "have been dealt with."

Campbell said revitalizing the Woodward's site for housing and other uses
and implementing the four pillars plan are the keys to a renewed Downtown
Eastside.

"If we do our work well, we should be able to eliminate the open drug
market in the Downtown Eastside by the next election," he said to applause.
"We should see more people in treatment and detox."

In his long speech, punctuated with frequent rounds of enthusiastic
applause -- so frequent that the new mayor hinted his fans were prolonging
the ceremony -- Campbell touched on at least a dozen issues, most of which
came up during the election.

These included:

- - A ward system.

- - Increased bus service, especially late at night and along Broadway; more
rapid buses and a promise to fight fare increases.

- - Improved public confidence in the police, "particularly among women,
youth and in the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered communities."

- - Greater emphasis on energy conservation and environmental protection.

- - More public involvement in local zoning issues, neighbourhood planning,
housing and social policy.

- - Greater input from the Vancouver Economic Development Commission, the
business community and city staff on ways of improving the city's economy.

- - Renewed partnerships with the federal and provincial governments to
support infrastructure, economic development and the port.

- - An entrepreneurial plan, with input from business leaders, academics and
the investment community, to stimulate small business. "Our economic
strategy will be based on 'racing to the top,' using our quality of life,
skilled work force and competitive costs to lever jobs and investment," he
said.

- - Taxes will be held to the rate of inflation.

- - A plan for seniors, including bylaw changes to make new residential
developments more "senior-friendly,"; reduced city fees; anti-crime
measures; and housing for the elderly poor.

- - More support for youth, including reduced fees and programs to alleviate
homelessness, drug addiction and sexual exploitation. "We'll be seeking
their advice and input on city policies," he added.

- - Support for families, including resurrection of the child and youth
advocate position at city hall, which was discontinued by the Non-Partisan
Association council of 1996-99. "Our council will do what it can to assist
parents, teachers and school trustees as they confront very real funding
pressures from Victoria," he said.

- - More fun in Vancouver, with fewer regulations and more festivals, parties
and parades, as well as "home-grown, volunteer-driven events."

"There is a sense of change in the air," Campbell said at the end of the
speech, but that fact was evident by the size and tone of the happy
ceremony at the Roundhouse, which was attended by 400 people, including
family and friends of the new council members, campaign workers, senior
city staff, new members of the park and school boards, community
representatives and many high-profile members of the New Democratic Party.

Among those were former premier Ujjal Dosanjh, former cabinet members
Darlene Marzari, Bernie Simpson and Ian Waddell, MLA Jenny Kwan, Vancouver
East MP Libby Davies and her predecessor, Margaret Mitchell.

A piper led the new council members and other participants in the ceremony
to and from the stage, which was decorated with flags of Canada, B.C. and
Vancouver plus bouquets and poinsettias, and as he led them out, the
audience clapped and tapped their feet rhythmically, and continued to do so
long after they left the room.

Campbell's speech returned time and again to his belief that city hall
needs to be accessible to the citizens, and promised to do that by starting
council meetings later, allowing more delegations to speak to council,
holding meetings in the community and getting the wheels in motion for a
ward system by 2005.

He described the ward system as "a way of bringing representation home to
the neighbourhood level.

"I have heard from countless voters that they would like the opportunity to
vote in this way in the next municipal election. In the coming months, I
will be consulting with all of my council colleagues to design a process to
tackle this question and other changes that could enhance civic democracy."

The civic democracy theme was also evident in the wild applause and
standing ovation that greeted Campbell after he was sworn in by B.C.
Supreme Court Justice Wally Oppal, who joked: "They must have all voted for
you.

The judge and the mayor also traded affectionate swipes at each other; just
before Oppal gave Campbell the oath of office, he said he's one of the few
people who remembers RCMP Constable Larry Campbell of the drug squad, and
added: "I won't say anything about your activities in the 1970s."

At the start of his speech, Campbell made a remark implying that Oppal got
to where he is now "because of me."

The ceremony also included a greeting from Chief Ernest Campbell, of the
Musqueam band, who said he looks forward to working with the new council,
and prayers from Rabbi Yitzchak Wineberg, of the Lubavitch Centre, Lakhbir
Singh, priest of the Khalsa Diwan Society, and Rev. Gary Paterson, of
Ryerson United Church -- who is also the domestic partner of new councillor
Tim Stevenson.

Campbell also distributed badges of office to the new councillors after the
swearing-in: Green, David Cadman, Stevenson, Roberts, Ray Louie, Ellen
Woodsworth and Peter Ladner.

Incumbent councillors Sam Sullivan, Fred Bass and Tim Louis were also sworn in.