PETER LADNER BLOG POST ON ADDICTS TAKES ON-LINE FIRE

Youth advocate Cannon Singh went all guns blazing against Vancouver
councillor Peter Ladner over a recent blog post the NPA mayoral
candidate wrote about addicts.

"He doesn't know what he's talking about," Singh, executive director
of the Downtown Eastside Youth Activities Society, told the Straight.
"He's very conservative. He's old money. He doesn't have any
connection with the community, what we do, who we serve, and how we
serve them."

In a September 10 post on his campaign blog, Ladner wrote about a
stroll he took on Davie Street. Ladner recounted a "vociferous
encounter" with a local resident who said he was "fed up" with the
DEYAS van "pulling up in front of his apartment and handing out
needles, condoms, cookies and milk to addicts".

Ladner then asked: "Are we killing our addicted neighbours with kindness?"

Singh asserted that it's not so much that Ladner has a bias against
addicts. "He doesn't know how to deal with it," Singh said. "He's not
from this community. If you have to walk down the street every day
and you see people that are addicted to drugs, you can treat them a
bit differently."

Ladner's post also drew a statement jointly issued by prospective
Vision Vancouver council nominees Kerry Jang, Andrea Reimer, and
Kashmir Dhaliwal, who challenged Ladner to "come clean on his
position on harm reduction".

When asked for comment, Ladner's team sent the Straight a prepared
statement in which the NPA standard bearer described himself as "a
firm believer in the Four Pillar approach to our drug crisis".

"Harm reduction without the goal of abstinence through treatment is
not a long-term solution to our collective drug problem or individual
addicts' problems," Ladner stated. "I support Insite because it puts
addicts in touch with health services, reduces the spread of disease,
and improves their chances of getting treatment."

He also poked fun at the misspelling of his name in the three Vision
candidates' release. "By the way, my name is Ladner, not Lander," the
two-term councillor said.