PROVINCIAL STREET CLEANUP TAKES SHAPE WITH LEGISLATION

New measures to enforce order on the streets are moving through the
B.C. legislature as the government gets ready to host the world and
its news media at the 2010 Olympics.

Housing and Social Development Minister Rich Coleman is the
government's point man for two contentious bills being passed despite
opposition objections.

The Assistance to Shelter Act gives police new authority in extreme
weather conditions to take people off the streets and bring them to
the door of a shelter.

Another law denies social assistance to people who have outstanding
arrest warrants for indictable offences.

Introducing the bill, Coleman noted there are exemptions for dependent
children, pregnant women and "those who are in the final stages of
life."

NDP critics argued an "indictable offence" could be extended to even
petty theft.

"It does include the single mom who doesn't have any money, who goes
out and shoplifts some groceries and gets caught," said
Vancouver-Hastings MLA Shane Simpson in debate.

B.C. courts decide whether each prosecution is by summary conviction,
generally for minor offences or by indictment in more serious cases.

Public Safety Minister Kash Heed said B.C. has the burden of criminals
coming from other jurisdictions such as Ontario, which limits the
distance it will pay to enforce an arrest warrant.

Heed's study of 600 street-level drug dealers arrested while he
commanded the Vancouver Police drug squad found many of them with
outstanding warrants from out of province.

"They bring their crime skills with them," Heed said.

"More often than not, many of these individuals that have outstanding
arrest warrants, that are actually collecting social assistance, are
carrying on committing crimes here in British Columbia."

Coleman has repeatedly denied the Assistance to Shelter Act is
Olympic-related. He said it can only take effect when local committees
declare an extreme weather emergency, which may not even take place in
Vancouver during the Olympics.