LOCAL CANDIDATES VOW ACTION ON GROW-OPS AND METH LABS

Liberal Party candidates in the Surrey, North Delta, White Rock and
Cloverdale area have issued a joint statement promising a strong
Federal Government response to the scourge of illegal marijuana
grow-ops and meth labs in residential neighbourhoods.

Judith Higginbotham, Dan Sheel, Dr. Gulzar Cheema and Sukh Dhaliwal
were responding to another difficult weekend of police raids, a
three-alarm fire traced to an illegal grow operation and the
evacuation of an apartment complex in Burnaby from noxious substances
generated by a meth lab. Dan Sheel, a veteran Surrey fire-fighter who
was recently nominated as the Liberal Party of Canada candidate in
Surrey North, says his neighbours and the entire community "want
action from both levels of senior government in cleaning up this problem."

Sheel notes that several resolutions on illegal grow-ops have been
brought forward by the Fire-fighters Association of Canada demanding
the laying of criminal charges and automatic jail time in the event
that a fireman or other emergency personnel are injured in responding
to a marijuana grow operation.

"We need major changes to the Criminal Code of Canada which would give
courts the tools they need to mete out the punishment this crime
deserves," says Sheel. He said he supports B.C. Solicitor General Rich
Coleman who is drafting legislation to seize the homes used as illegal
grow-ops. "Essentially the Solicitor General is saying that the onus
will be on the grow-op defendant to prove the house and other assets
weren't acquired with the proceeds of crime. Unless they can prove it,
the home is forfeited. This is the kind of tough measure we need."
Sheel stated.

Judith Higginbotham, a Surrey Councillor, pledges that she will work
with both the City and the Province to amend the criminal code to
provide courts and police with the option of tougher minimum
sentencing with the provision of more prison time for repeat
offenders. "We've called for mandatory sentencing for those convicted
of harvesting and trafficking in illegal drugs," said Higginbotham,
the candidate in the South Surrey-White Rock constituency. She favours
mandatory sentences of between two and four years for illegal
grow-ops, which would place convicted defendants in the Federal
Corrections system.