MARIJUANA BILL SENT TO 'NEVER-NEVER LAND' BY LIBERALS

A private member's bill to decriminalize marijuana went up in smoke
Wednesday, set alight by an amendment from the federal Liberal
government. "Rather than deal with it, they just sent it off to
Never-Never Land," complained Fraser Valley MP Chuck Strahl, who
hosted a town hall meeting here in Chilliwack two months ago on the
controversial issue.

The government's use of parliamentary process to kill a private
member's bill "really is outrageous," said Mr. Strahl. He added that
Alliance MP Keith Martin, a B.C. doctor who authored the bill, was
also outraged by the Liberal tactic, and may face parliamentary
censure for touching a symbolic mace that resides in the House of
Commons.

New Democratic Party House Leader Bill Blaikie told reporters the
Liberal tactic was "a sad day for parliamentary democracy."

"Whenever the government doesn't want something to come to a vote, it
can use its majority to overcome private members' business," he said.

Mr. Martin's bill would have made possession of small amounts of
marijuana a summary offence subject to tickets and fines but no
criminal record. The amendment sends the bill to an existing special
committee studying the non-medical use of drugs.

Mr. Strahl said the Liberals' arrogance in power shows why the party
is not favoured by voters in B.C.

While cod fishermen on the east coast received billions of federal
dollars when the fishery collapsed, B.C. loggers and forest-dependent
communities are not getting anything from the Liberal government.

The softwood lumber dispute didn't even register on the Liberal radar
screen until after the effects were felt outside of B.C. and "then
everybody hit the panic button," he said. "Then it's a national
crisis."