BAKER: PROPERTY LAW IN THE WORKS

NDP Wants Loophole Closed On Known Sites Of Illegal Activity

The NDP proposed a new law to crack down on crack houses Monday, but
Justice Minister Michael Baker says the government is already working on
its own version.

New Democrat justice critic Kevin Deveaux said authorities now face a
loophole when dealing with known sites of illegal activity.

The Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods Act would allow residents to make
confidential complaints about properties that the Justice Department would
investigate.

The department could apply to a court for a "community safety order" that
could close a property for 90 days or longer, terminate leases or bar
certain people from entering the property.

Mr. Deveaux said the police can get rid of criminals but don't have enough
power to deal with the property.

"This is a loophole in the law right now that needs to be filled because
properties that are habitually used for criminal activity, there's nothing
that can be done to stop them from being used for those purposes," Mr.
Deveaux said.

He said Manitoba and Saskatchewan have similar legislation.

Mr. Deveaux said such a law would put pressure on landlords who may turn a
blind eye to what's happening at their properties. Losing rent for three or
more months could help them change their ways, he said.

Justice Minister Michael Baker said Mr. Deveaux's bill has merit, but his
department has been looking at the matter for months.

He noted that officials from Manitoba and other provinces were in Halifax
this summer for a symposium on dealing with marijuana-growing operations,
crack houses and other troublesome sites.

Mr. Baker said his concerns about the NDP bill include setting up a "mini
police force" within the Justice Department to investigate the complaints.

"There are some other issues around just how it works in practice," he said.

"You don't want to break up the co-operation that exists between various
police agencies, building inspectors and the like, because many of these
kinds of facilities need a sort of multi-faceted approach."

That's just what Halifax Regional Police already do, spokesman Const. Mark
Hobeck said.

"The approach we would have is not only just having our drug section sit on
it and wait for things to happen," he said.

"We would look at the residence itself and see if fire services could come
in and examine to see if it's a fire hazard, we could have bylaw
(enforcement officers) come in and look at it as an unsightly premises or
whether it be noise ordinance issues or those types of things."

Const. Hobeck said police are interested in anything that helps them do
their jobs, but he wasn't sure if the type of law Mr. Deveaux proposes is
necessary in Halifax or Nova Scotia.

Mr. Baker said he expects the government to introduce its version of the
bill in the spring.