COPE SAYS LEE CALLS FOR SCRAPPING FOUR PILLARS

COPE says he did, Don Lee says he didn't. And your version of the
truth might depend on which language you speak.

The left-leaning party issued a press release Sunday saying Lee, an
NPA school board candidate, called for the city's Four Pillar drug
strategy to be scrapped.

The release said Lee made the comment Sunday at an all-candidates'
meeting organized by the Strathcona Property Owners' and Tenants'
Association.

"This [the Four Pillars plan] is an experiment, and it's not working.
So we should scrap it," is the quote COPE attributed to Lee, an NPA
city councillor from 1996 to 2002.

The quote was translated from Cantonese by Chinese-speaking COPE
employee Meena Wong who attended the meeting. Other audience members
agreed Lee made the comment, said COPE communications director Ivan
Bulic.

"[Meena Wong's] got three people from the meeting, all of whom are
prepared to say this is their understanding of what Don Lee said, "
Bulic said. "He wasn't mincing his words. He was clear to the Chinese
audience."

Lee's comment comes during a campaign in which Lee's party has argued
that it developed the city's drug strategy. In fact, NPA mayoral
candidate Sam Sullivan has said several times he was the first
politician in Canada to call for harm reduction.

The NPA's website goes further to say that a key component of the
party's "Plan for a Better Vancouver" is the drug strategy, which
involves prevention, treatment, enforcement and harm reduction.

COPE Coun. Anne Roberts said Lee's comment raises serious doubts about
the NPA's commitment to the drug strategy that former NPA mayor Philip
Owen helped create.

"Lee is basically saying the NPA would move back to the decades of NPA
neglect of the Downtown Eastside that contributed to the serious
problems that the Four Pillars plan is finally starting to deal with,"
Roberts said.

Reached Monday, Lee denied he said the drug strategy should be
scrapped. He pointed out he voted for the Four Pillars plan when he
was a councillor and supports Insite, the supervised injection site at
139 East Hastings.

Lee said he was misinterpreted and believed it could have been based
on a comment he made about Owen, who promised to scrap the injection
site if it wasn't working. Evaluations of the facility, which opened
in September 2003, say it is fulfilling its mandate.

"Those [COPE] guys are stupid... they got everything mixed up," he
said. "It's untrue."

Lee, however, said he believes the current council has focused too
much on harm reduction and not enough on prevention, education and
enforcement.

When he was a councillor, Lee requested a monitoring group comprising
police and health officials supply a monthly evaluation to councillors
on the injection site. His request was rejected, he said.

The 70-year-old Lee, a retired math and physics teacher, is
campaigning to introduce drug use prevention programs in schools. Lee
taught at Templeton secondary for 26 years and retired in 1992.

A veteran of several political campaigns, Lee wasn't surprised COPE
was "attacking" him only a few weeks before the Nov. 19 election.

"Those guys would do anything to damage you," he said. "I think they
probably tried to target me because of the Chinese bloc of votes that
the NPA brings in."