ON WELFARE FOR 10 YEARS, MAN OWNS 3 HOMES

Tory Says Man Also Ran Marijuana Grow Op; Wants Houses Seized

VANCOUVER - An angry B.C. MP is demanding punitive action against a
Langley man he says lived off welfare for 10 years while acquiring
three homes and running a marijuana grow operation.

Randy White, Conservative MP for Langley-Abbotsford, recently told this
story to the House of Commons:

"Phu Son came to Canada in 1994. He was 38 years old and had no money
when he arrived.

"He has been on welfare from the first time he arrived 10 years ago.
He recently got busted for drug-dealing.

"Now I find he owns three homes; not one but three."

Mr. White continued: "How does a person come to Canada and stay on
welfare for 10 years?

"How does a person living exclusively on welfare come to own three
houses?

"Why are these houses not seized as proceeds of crime and used for
rehabilitation of drug addicts?"

Confronted last week by a Vancouver Province reporter at his home in
Langley, Mr. Son claimed to be a changed man.

"Yes," Mr. Son admits to having once grown marijuana. "But not any
more." Yes, he was once on welfare, his son-in-law says, but not any
more.

Mr. Son, 48, denies he took advantage of welfare. "No, I don't have a
problem with the welfare," the soft-spoken man said. "I don't know
about this. I want to know who said this."

A review of property records shows Mr. Son owns a home in Abbotsford
bought for $214,000 in 2002 and others in Langley and Aldergrove under
names of his wife and son. Together, they cost more than $370,000.

Court records show that on March 22 this year, Mr. Son pleaded guilty
in Surrey provincial court to producing a controlled substance.