EXTRADITION U.S. SEEKS CRIMINAL RECORD SHARING DEAL WITH CANADA

U.S. officials are irritated at the pace of Canada's response to
extradition requests.

And they're citing as a prime example the case of Vancouver marijuana
seed king Marc Emery, who faces charges in the U.S. of marijuana
distribution and money laundering.

"This aEPrince of Pot' aE"A Emery aE"A still hasn't had his first
extradition hearing," said Jeff Sullivan, criminal prosecution chief
for the U.S. Attorney office in Washington State.

"It's those kinds of things that are frustrating to
us."

Sullivan told Canadian and U.S. mayors gathered at the Cascadia Mayors
Council in Surrey July 7 that the U.S. is much faster than Canada in
handing over wanted suspects. The conference also heard an appeal for
greater information sharing between Canadian and U.S. police.

Sullivan said senior U.S. officials are prepared to share all American
criminal record information with RCMP, in exchange for a similar flow
of data on Canadians south to U.S. forces.

Langley Mayor Peter Fassbender predicted any move to share Canadian
records would be contested, even though he has no problem with the
proposal.

"If you're not doing anything wrong, you should have nothing to be
afraid of," Fassbender said.

"If you are doing something wrong, I want to make sure we have every
tool in place for our enforcement officers to be able to catch you. If
that means sharing information, fine. I don't mind the U.S.
authorities knowing I exist and where I live, because I have nothing
to be afraid of."