B.C.'S ATTORNEY-GENERAL LOOKS TO OTTAWA FOR CASH

B.C. Attorney-General Graeme Bowbrick is going to Ottawa this week, hoping
to wrestle commitments from the federal Liberals that would strengthen the
NDP's provincial election platform.

He laughed when it was suggested the mission is the political equivalent of
banging your head against a wall.

"I'm not sure there's such a cosy relationship between B.C. Liberals and
federal Liberals --I'm not convinced at all," quipped the New Westminster
MLA.

"As a matter of fact, if they are looking in strictly political terms they
might resent the fact that the vast majority of B.C. Liberals were out there
working for the Canadian Alliance candidates in November."

Bowbrick said he is optimistic he can persuade three federal cabinet
ministers -- Attorney- General Anne McLellan, Solicitor-General Lawrence
MacAulay and Immigration Minister Elinor Caplan -- to help the besieged NDP
administration for non-partisan reasons.

At the top of his list is money for a drug-court experiment, like the pilot
project currently under way in Toronto, and a registry for sex offenders,
Bowbrick said during a chat.

He said he'll also meet with MacAulay and Caplan to ensure B.C. receives its
fair share of legal-aid funding, its cut from forfeited proceeds of crime
and money to fight organized gangs.

Bowbrick's trip is only the latest clear-the-decks-for-an-election move by
the NDP administration, whose term expires June 28.

Premier Ujjal Dosanjh returns early this week from the Team Canada mission
to China and NDP brass are scheduling a provincewide, $75,000 partisan TV
address for him to launch the campaign.

With the scandal-ridden party already pushing the envelope of the legislated
five-year maximum mandate for a government, analysts inside and outside the
NDP say the most recent polls indicate it could be wiped off the electoral
map. Fewer than one in five decided voters in the latest survey say they'll
vote New Democrat.

I'm told debate among key party strategists revolves around not how to save
the administration but how to salvage a handful of seats.

If the NDP fails to elect four MLAs, it will lose standing as an official
political party -- that means no cabinet minister's salary for the leader,
no office and reduced funding for staff.

As a result, Dosanjh has been taking direct aim at the party's urban
supporters and the issues that play in the Lower Mainland -- saving grizzly
bears, offering an exorbitant sum for the old Woodward's department store to
buy the riding of Vancouver-Mount Pleasant and now measures to combat
inner-city drug addiction.

Bowbrick is going cap in hand to Ottawa hoping the feds will provide some
funding for law-and-order bones Victoria wants to throw the electorate. And
he promised the NDP will go it alone if Ottawa refuses to create a national
sex offender registry.

"A national registry would help ensure consistency across provinces and give
police a coordinated enforcement tool," Bowbrick said. "However, the
province is prepared to move ahead on its own to protect children, women and
other vulnerable British Columbians from sex offenders."

He said draft legislation is being prepared, but Victoria will not take
similar unilateral action on a drug court.

"We know there is a drug court funded in another province, so I think it
makes some fiscal sense to make sure we get the same deal," he said. "The
sex offender registry, I don't see as being as costly and it's not something
that exists elsewhere. It's not like the federal government is funding a sex
offender registry in another province and we can make the same type of
argument as we can for a drug court."

Canada's only drug-treatment court opened two years ago in Toronto under
Judge Paul Bentley, the centrepiece of a four-year, $1.6-million federally
funded experiment.

There now are about 200 people under Bentley's supervision; Bowbrick said he
thinks a Vancouver trial could begin with about 50 individuals.

"Drug treatment courts reduce the strain on the criminal justice and health
systems by helping people beat their addictions," Bowbrick said. "We're
committed to setting up a drug-treatment court pilot in Vancouver, and we
need Ottawa's support. What remains to be seen is the level of funding they
are prepared to commit -- what has to happen at a minimum is we have to
receive the same level of funding per capita as Toronto."

Such courts are used across the U.S. and provide a safety valve for
diverting those people who need health care, not prison time.

After touring the Toronto project in November, Bowbrick said he would like
to see a similar court established at the Main Street courthouse.

Already, the provincial Crown, bar and judiciary have indicated they would
participate.

So far, Judge Bentley and other participants in the experiment say it's a
success that has helped rehabilitate several dozen people.

"I don't think this is a partisan issue," Bowbrick said.

"It could be I'll secure funding and it will be a Liberal attorney general
who cuts the ribbon. I just want to move this along. I don't see partisan
political considerations around this."