MAYOR WON'T FACE CHARGES

RCMP Concludes Probe Into Sullivan's Relationship With Two Drug Addicts

VANCOUVER -- When Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan gave money to a
prostitute and a crack addict to help them support their drug habits,
he may have committed a criminal act.

But he was relieved yesterday to learn that an RCMP investigation
into his actions, which took place several years ago, will not lead to charges.

In a brief statement, the RCMP confirmed that after looking into Mr.
Sullivan's self-described relationship with two different addicts
while he was a city councillor, the matter can be laid to rest.

"Based on the information gathered, the RCMP concluded its
investigation . . . and there are no criminal charges forthcoming
against Mayor Sullivan," the RCMP in British Columbia said in a statement.

In a conference call from Ottawa, where he is on city business, Mr.
Sullivan said he was relieved by the decision.

"I am glad that the cloud that has hung over me for the last many
months is now left," Mr. Sullivan said.

"I can also tell you that I'm in Ottawa now meeting with a number of
cabinet ministers, and I was in Ottawa last month, met with the Prime
Minister and a number of other cabinet ministers, and I have not
found that this issue has affected my work in any way."

Mr. Sullivan's problems can be traced back to 2000, when he openly
discussed his unusual relationships with two different drug addicts.
The issue resurfaced when he ran for mayor last fall.

One of the encounters was with a 20-year-old prostitute he met in
1990, when she was working outside a store in his neighbourhood.
After talking to her about her addiction, he tried to help her by
giving her $40 a day -- enough money to support her drug habit
without prostituting herself.

"For the next three weeks, I gave her money. I loved the fact that my
neighbours could go to the convenience store without harassment and
that she could be free of the customers who terrified her," he said
in a statement to police.

He stopped giving her money, he said, when "I really noticed the
effect my support was having on my bank account, and I became
resentful that over 90 per cent of my money was going to support
organized crime."

Mr. Sullivan's second questionable encounter with a drug addict
occurred a few years later when he responded to an e-mail from a man
named Shawn that came to him at city hall.

Mr. Sullivan said he was interested in Shawn, an admitted addict, who
was trying to raise money for a cause through a cross-Canada bike
tour. He met him for dinner and while driving him home afterward,
gave him money to buy drugs.

"I was there to learn [about the world of drug addiction]," he said
in his police statement.

He said Shawn got out of his vehicle near the Vancouver police
station, "returned with drugs and showed me a makeshift crack pipe
made from simple materials. He smoked it while seated in my passenger seat."

Bob Prior, head of the federal prosecution service for the Department
of Justice in B.C., said that providing someone money to buy drugs is
illegal, but the lack of hard evidence meant the Crown had no case.

"What we have here is a case where a person provided money in order
for another person to buy drugs. . . . [But] He of course wouldn't
have any personal knowledge into whether in fact the substance was a
drug. It could have been anything. In the first scenario, where the
woman was being provided with money so she wouldn't have to
prostitute herself, we've no idea what she in fact did with the
money. So it's just a pure evidentiary question . . . there is just
that missing link. Part of the problem is the age of the file. The
evidence isn't there any more."

Asked whether what he did was wrong, Mr. Sullivan replied, "I don't
believe what I did was wrong but I can tell you I wouldn't do it again."