WAY TO GO MIKEY

VICTORIA - Mike Harcourt, former premier of British Columbia, gave a
barnburner of a speech last week at the annual Canadian Congress on
Criminal Justice in Vancouver. It was a speech that would have prompted
most British Columbians to give him a standing ovation.

The only ones who might have sat silent would have been the ones he was
talking about: the kingpins of organized crime.

Harcourt told his audience that as a former criminal defence lawyer and
chairman of the Vancouver Police Board during his time as mayor of that
city, he knows police need more resources to arrest up to 400 big crooks
operating in Vancouver as members of Hells Angels, Russian and Vietnamese
gangs, the Mafia and drug rings.

Vancouver's roughly 6,000 drug addicts, who he said are to blame for 80 per
cent of the burglaries, auto thefts and other crimes committed to feed
expensive habits, should be treated, not jailed.

To that end, Harcourt had high praise for former Vancouver mayor Philip
Owen for having the courage to advocate harm-reduction measures, such as
the supervised drug-injection centre that opened this year near Hastings
and Main.

Harcourt said the former mayor's leadership on drug issues led to Owen
being kicked out of the mayor's chair by his political party, the
Non-Partisan Association.

The ones police must go after relentlessly, Harcourt said, are the 300 to
400 "big crooks" in Vancouver alone.

"Get them thrown in jail, I don't care if you need to build three new
prisons on Baffin Island or put them in a high-unemployment part of the
province." He also said their assets should be seized, their businesses
closed, and they should be treated "like the scumbags they are."

The justice system, he said, must ensure that "life means life," and that
25-year life sentences are served.

"If you let police have the resources they need - the surveillance, the
wiretaps, the stings - they'll deal with those people. There are a lot more
big crooks we need to catch, convict and put in penitentiary for a long
period of time."

Right on, Mikey. I have only one question: Why didn't you talk like that
when you were the premier and had some clout, and then do something about it?

There is no question, Harcourt is right and expressed the feelings of all
of us. We are sick and tired of criminal gang members roaming our cities
with impunity, plying their dirty trades and getting off with a slap on the
wrist when they get caught, which isn't very often.

We are sick and tired of the lax immigration laws that seem to let
criminals into the country, while making it difficult for honest people to
join the Canadian family. But wasn't he in a far better position to turn
the tables on the big crooks when he was in power?

Well, let's turn to the people who are in power now. Surely they must see
that Harcourt and the rest of us are rightfully demanding action to put the
criminal kingpins behind bars.

I'm afraid there's not much help coming from that quarter. Solicitor
General Rich Coleman says the provincial justice system is properly
balanced to deal with criminal kingpins, and small-time street criminals
and addicts.

He says the federal government does not give law-enforcement authorities
the tools to deal with organized crime and does not prescribe stiffer
penalties and changes in legislation to track the proceeds of crime through
the tax system.

Properly balanced? It's Ottawa's fault? Suddenly, he talks just like
Harcourt used to talk when he was premier. It's so much easier to say our
house is in order, it's the other guy's fault.

If all the premiers screamed blue murder and demanded action from Ottawa,
the federal government would start to listen, particularly
prime-minister-in-waiting Paul Martin, who says he will seek better
relations with the provinces.

So, while we are grateful to Harcourt for having put the issue of
crime-fighting on the front burner, it is those in power to whom we must
turn for action.

Where is Elliot Ness when we need him?