NO POT FOR NEW NDPER

A year and a half ago Bill Forst chose travel over running for the
NDP, but with Dana Larsen resigning last week, the former school
counsellor felt the time was finally right.

"Having come back recently (from travelling) I wanted to do
something," Forst said. "We're really excited."

Larsen stepped down as the NDP candidate in West Vancouver-Sunshine
Coast-Sea to Sky Country after videos of him smoking pot and driving a
car popped up on YouTube. Forst says he has no skeletons hiding in his
video closet.

"I almost don't want to answer that question," he joked when asked if
he smokes marijuana. "I have never touched the stuff."

Forst, Larsen's former campaign manager, said he disagreed with Larsen
on many of the issues surrounding marijuana.

However, he believes the best way to deal with the drug is to legalize
it, regulate it and control it.

Like Tory candidate John Weston, Forst says leadership is the biggest
issue among riding voters. But Forst disagrees with Weston over the
solution to the leadership issue.

"Polling is showing that people - in B.C. in particular - see Jack
Layton as the strongest of the prime ministerial candidates," Forst
said. "I think it will be fairly easy to help people realize I'm the
real alternative in this riding."

The Sunshine Coast native may not be well known in the North Shore
portion of the riding but he does have West Van roots. His uncle Alex
was mayor of West Vancouver in the 1970s.

As a former school counsellor, Forst said his experience with a wide
range of backgrounds gives him an advantage over those whose
experience is limited to the world of business.

"I think I have a huge advantage," he said. "For the last 35 years I
have been working with a wide cross-section of the population."