LANDLORDS MAY FACE POT BILL

Kelowna's mayor says he's intrigued by a Surrey bylaw that slap
landlords with fines of up to $7,500 for pot busts on property they
rent out.

And Walter Gray wants his city's staff to look at the possibility of
introducing a similar bylaw here.

"I'm quite intrigued by it," Gray told the Capital News Tuesday. "I
think Surrey may be onto a good idea."

Fed up with paying hundreds of thousand of dollars each year to have
the RCMP in Surrey bust home marijuana growing operations,
councillors in the Vancouver suburb recently passed the bylaw,
calling it a toll to deal with illegal drugs.

Gray said he views the bylaw the same way, noting home growing
operations are also a big problem here.

In Surrey, there were 350 home growing operation raids last year and
it cost the municipality $875,000.

Kelowna RCMP Const. Garth Letcher said figures for Kelowna were not
readily available but would likely be compiled for council.

Acting city manager Ron Mattiussi, who is also Kelowna's director of
planning and the top bureaucrat responsible for bylaw enforcement,
has started to research what Gray dubbed "the Surrey solution" and
was expected to report to council at last night's public meeting.

Gray said Mattiussi, who was unavailable for comment yesterday
afternoon, would talk to officials in Surrey and to the local RCMP
about a possible local bylaw.

But while the mayor likes the idea of holding landlords responsible
for the actions of their tenants, the B.C. Civil Liberties
Association has said it has serious concerns about Surrey's bylaw.

The BCCLA says the move not only attempts to pass criminal law-which
is the jurisdiction of the federal government-it also could infringe
on the tenants' rights to the "quiet enjoyment of the rental
property."

However, Gray said putting the onus on landlords will make them more
responsible when they search for prospective tenants.

"Most landlords don't care as long as the rent cheques keep coming
in," said Gray.

"The Surrey bylaw is a wake-up call for landlords."

He said at a recent Federation of Canadian Municipalities Convention,
our country's top RCMP officer said 76 per cent of Canadians do not
believe that organized crime affects them.

"But most grow operations have an organized crime connection to
them," said Gray.He noted that such a bylaw could help make
law-abiding residents aware of the problems of illegal drugs and
their connection to the community.