TOKIN' CANDIDATE

Marijuana Party Leader To Take On Day

Ottawa - Canadian Alliance leader Stockwell Day's chances of getting into
the House of Commons may not have gone up in smoke, but the leader of the
Marijuana Party believes he can harvest quite a few votes in a Sept. 11
by-election against him.

Marc ``Boris`` St-Maurice said yesterday he plans to run against Day in the
British Columbia Riding of Okanagan-Coquihalla.

It's not the Montreal rock musician's first stab at politics. He was leader
of the provincial Bloc Pot, which attracted about 10, 000 voters in the
1998 Quebec election.

While not a home-grown candidate, Saint-Maurice insisted he can make a
connection with voters in central B.C. with his message of marijuana
legalization, which includes pardons for all those with criminal records
resulting from pot possession convictions.

``That riding, as well as being previously a reform Party stronghold, is
also one of Canada's prime marijuana producing areas,`` said Saint-Maurice,31.

``They grow an awful lot of high-quality marijuana that's become
world-renowned as B.C. bud.``

Saint-Maurice said he will leave today for B.C., where he will be met by
local members of ``the marijuana movement`` who help in his campaign.

``There might be somewhat of an upset because we plan to try and get all
these pot-smoking and pot-growing, otherwise politically apathetic people,
out and give them a reason to vote.``

Saint-Maurice is on leave from his job as bass player for the Montreal punk
band Grimskunk and is working full time for marijuana legalization.

He noted that he and Day are in many ways two seeds from the same pod. Both
are leading new parties and running in a by-election. Both are bilingual,
though Saint-Maurice's command of English outshines day's passable French.

Also, both have smoked marijuana-day has said it was 30 years ago, while
Saint-Maurice said the last time he took a drag is a private matter.`` It
wasn't 30 year ago, since I'm 31 years old.``

Saint-Maurice's party has 150 members across Canada, and said he expects no
trouble coming up with the $1,000 deposit and the 100 signatures from local
voters to register as a candidate by Monday's deadline.

Day's position that simple marijuana possession should result in a fine
instead of jail time doesn't cut it with Saint-Maurice, who added he
believes the alliance doesn't want to touch the issue.

He said the Marijuana Party also planed to run a candidate against
Progressive Conservative leader Joe Clark, who is running in a Sept. 11
by-election in the nova Scotia riding of Kings-Hants.

Saint-Maurice launched his party in may during a demonstration at St. Louis
Square, off St. Denis St., where many of about 2,000 protesters smoke up
with impunity under the noses of police. They'd taken part in the
Millennium Marijuana March, an event held in 85 cities around the world.