GREENS SEE GANGS AS WINDOW ON SOCIETY

The Green Party is using organized crime as a barometer for society in
general. A contingent from the political group was in Prince George to
discuss the state of our city's gangs with RCMP Supt. Brenda
Butterworth-Carr.

They told The Citizen that they wanted to understand the area's
organized crime situation in order to trace solutions back to the
root, the theory being that healing the social ruptures leading to
organized crime - poverty, homelessness, education barriers,
mental-health treatment, addictions recovery, etc. - would make all of
society more functional and economically healthy.

Green Party leader Elizabeth May and deputy leader Adriane Carr, along
with local riding candidates Hilary Crowley and Heidi Redl held these
discussions Wednesday, and were in Williams Lake earlier in the week
looking at the conditions of crime there also.

'This is supposed to be the most dangerous city in Canada, isn't
it? That's what was said by Maclean's Magazine,' May said,
facetiously. 'That's just a sensationalist headline. Prince George
is not the most dangerous city in Canada any more than Quebec is the
most corrupt province in Canada (another recent Maclean's headline).
Neither of those things are true, but there is a discussion to be had.'

'Crime is not a youth problem, or a First Nations problem, or a
downtown problem, or a police problem. It is a community problem,'
said Carr. 'Holding the gang summit in Prince George was a measure
of that. It brought the community into the same room to talk about the
possible solutions. Obviously ramping up employment opportunities and
education opportunities are seen as the big things that have to happen
to have a lasting positive impact on organized crime, but there is a
lot more to it than that. We want to learn more about that.'

Williams Lake's collaborative approach to what was an epidemic of
property crime and addictions problems is one of the reasons they
focused their attention on this area, and the well known gang activity
in Prince George that spawned the summit last week. Carr and May felt
that organized crime exists all across Canada, but here were
communities showing signs of doing something about it. Restoring
supports to the judicial system is one of the messages they have been
hearing strongly, so cases get better investigation and fewer of them
are sped through the court process on plea deals and hasty
prosecutions.

The Green Party would legalize marijuana use, the leaders said, but
heavily regulate its consumer presentation so the sting of criminality
is taken out of it for the regular citizen, and taxation generated,
all to the end of killing that industry for gangsters.

Also at the federal level, the Green Party was already committed to
putting the Canada Revenue Agency to better use against organized
crime than they seem willing to do now, said May. She had one word to
describe the tax agency's track record against organized crime so
far.

'Pathetic. Pathetic. And the auditor general has essentially said
so,' she said. 'They go after the little guy and not the people
doing the most damage to the economy. And the CRA and the police need
to work more collaboratively, and it's not because of the police
that this isn't happening. The CRA needs to make up their minds in a
big way to get on board and do what only they can do. To fight
organized crime you have to follow the money, these gangs are very
good at setting up shields but they are thin enough that forensic
accountants could have a real impact, if they were set to work on that
with the proper resources.'