GRITS SAY POT PARTY IS BLOWING SMOKE

Could the Marijuana Party form B.C.'s next official opposition after
the provincial election this spring?

That's a scenario galvanizing former Grand Forks Mayor Brian Taylor to
run for the leadership of a provincial Marijuana Party now being
formed in the afterglow of the party's success in the November
federal election.

The party, founded on a platform of legalizing marijuana possession,
picked up 65,000 votes.

Norm Siefken, who finished fourth in the Fraser Valley riding with 841
votes, says he'll also run for nomination in one of the two new
Chilliwack provincial ridings.

With the governing New Democrats looking at the possibility of a
complete rout and losing every seat in the next election, just a few
riding wins by the Marijuana Party could make it the official
opposition, says Taylor.

The novice B.C. Liberal MLAs under then-leader Gordon Wilson did the
same when the Socreds were driven from office by the New Democrats.

"We're not out there telling people we can run the province," says
Taylor, but the party's surprise showing in the federal election
"shows what we're doing out there makes a lot of sense to people."

He believes the party will have no trouble fielding candidates in all
79 electoral ridings in B.C..

"We actually have competition for the right to represent (the party),"
he says, in some Vancouver and Okanagan ridings.

If the party wins enough seats, he says it could "cut a deal" with the
B.C. Liberals, who are widely expected to form the next government,
for changes to marijuana laws.

"I wonder what he's been smoking," says Chilliwack MLA Barry Penner,
when told about Taylor's official opposition scenario.

Despite the NDP's current low showing in the polls, he notes the party
enjoys a traditional "hard core" of popular support in the province
that wins elections whenever the right-wing vote is split.

"I still expect (the NDP) will be our major opponents in the upcoming
election," Penner says.

And the province has no jurisdiction over marijuana laws that come
under the powers of the federal government, he adds.

Even if the province took action to legalize marijuana, "the courts
wouldn't take very long to strike it down because it's outside the
jurisdiction of the provincial legislature," says Penner, a lawyer.

He likens the party's marijuana platform to the abortion issue that's
dividing the conservative unity movement in the province. Some
conservatives wanted an anti-abortion stand included in the new Unity
Party's constitution, even though it too is a federal issue.

Siefken says the party's position is that the province has a contract
with the federal government for police services, and "could dictate
which marijuana laws would be enforced."

He also says the province could form its own police force like
Ontario. But in any event it is "not fair" for any government in B.C.
to blame the federal government when polls show 75 percent of British
Columbians support legalization of marijuana, he says.

"Certainly the NDP has not listened to the people on this issue," he
adds.

John Les, the B.C. Liberal candidate in Chilliwack-Sumas, says he's
hoping Mr. Siefken will choose to run in his riding and "elevate the
political debate to a new high."

But he also notes drug laws are a federal issue, so the party will be
little more than a "comic sideshow" in the upcoming election.

Even if B.C. formed its own police force, he says, "they would still
be sworn to uphold all federal legislation, period.

"There can't be a constitutional over-ride invoked by B.C. not to
enforce drug legislation," he says.

Les also doesn't believe the party can out-do the mainstream political
parties and form the province's Official Opposition.

"I think it's more a comic sideshow than anything else," he
says.

The Marijuana Party is holding its first provincial convention in
Gibsons between Jan. 12-16.