Pubdate: Fri, 28 Sep 2012
Source: Campbell River Mirror (CN BC)
Copyright: 2012 Campbell River Mirror
Contact:  http://www.campbellrivermirror.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1380
Author: Brian Kieran

ROOKIE MAYORS BALK AT UBCM LEGAL POT VOTE

The "rookie" mayors of Campbell River and Courtenay are 
"disappointed" that their fellow Union of BC Municipalities delegates 
have voted in favour of the decriminalization marijuana.

Attending their first UBCM convention Campbell River Mayor Walter 
Jakeway and Courtenay Mayor Larry Jangula voted against the 
contentious resolution and marvelled that the delegates would waste 
their time on an issue over which they have no jurisdiction.

"I'm disappointed," Jakeway said, "it's going to make policing even tougher."

Jakeway said the vote was rushed before a lunch break and the show of 
hands was too close to a tie to be definitive. Delegates had 
electronic voting devices, but for some reason they weren't used. 
Resolution A5, brought forward by the municipality of Metchosin, 
called on the UBCM to lobby the appropriate level of government to 
decriminalize cannabis and research its regulation and taxation.

"It's not a critical issue for the UBCM," Jakeway said. "It's not a 
municipal government issue and whether we vote or not is not going to 
make any difference to senior governments."

He added: "There are 200 resolutions on the agenda and a lot of them 
have nothing to do with our cities. We need to get back to our core 
purposes instead of getting sidetracked by special interest group resolutions."

Jangula said: "I'm embarrassed to belong to the UBCM and I'm 
embarrassed about the message we've sent to organized crime and to 
the whole country ... that we're condoning this criminal activity and 
that somehow if we decriminalize marijuana that organized crime is 
going to close its doors.

"We spend too much of our taxpayers money debating things that are 
not part of our mandate. This whole thing is divisive. It doesn't 
change anything."

Both mayors participated in the deliberations of the Mayors' Caucus, 
a splinter group of 140 mayors that is flexing its muscle over 
infrastructure issues.

"We get eight per cent of the taxes collected in this country and we 
have 65 per cent of the infrastructure. That is a very lopsided 
equation and a recipe for disaster," Jangula said. Jakeway said 
federal and provincial cost sharing funds for infrastructure projects 
need to be co-ordinated so that municipalities can plan properly.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom