FAILING TO CREATE A BUZZ IN TSAW

Marijuana party candidate finds little support for legalization efforts at
public forums

Legalizing marijuana isn't an easy sell in tony Tsawwassen, whether it's
flogged at an all-candidates meeting at a seniors centre or in front of an
audience of suits at a business luncheon.

Nonetheless, B.C. Marijuana party candidate Michael Hansen, looking every
bit a product of the 1970s with a neatly tied pony-tail flowing down his
back and a Fu Manchu mustache, soldiers on with his message. The audience
will listen politely or at least make an effort to stifle giggles.

Legalizing marijuana and taxing it, as his party advocates, is about all
the 46-year-old candidate talks about. It doesn't seem to matter the issue
being debated, Hansen manages to bring the discussion around to marijuana.

The inability to debate local issues isn't only limited to Hansen. The
Unity candidate has the same problem, but not to the same degree. Justin
Goodrich, 19, admits he knows little about local issues and how they tie
into his party's platform.

"It's a learning experience," quips the personable 19-year-old, shrugging
his shoulders.

However, Delta South voters remain determined to hear from those candidates
willing to speak on the issues.

At both meetings on Wednesday, one over the lunch hour at the Tsawwassen
Inn hosted by the Delta Chamber of Commerce and the other at the Kinsmen
Recreation Centre that evening, a combined crowd of about 200 asked
candidates a variety of questions. They ranged from health care funding and
a referendum on land claims to traffic and the Agricultural Land Reserve.

Liberal incumbent Val Roddick is repeatedly asked about her position on the
ALR, but she rarely deviates from the party platform, even though it's a
hot-button issue in her own backyard.

"A Liberal government backs the ALR 100 per cent, there's no question about
it," she tells the audience at the luncheon. "But if you have the ALR, you
have to make sure farming is viable."

Pressed further on the same subject at the evening meeting, Roddick says
greenhouses are an innovative form of farming.

"They aren't that much of a blight on the landscape," she says.
"Greenhouses are providing a niche in our agricultural industry and it's
only three per cent of the land."

The Green party's Rob La Belle has no qualms discussing his position.
"Greenhouses are an industrial use of agricultural land," the 26-year-old
nurse says, getting right to his point. "This is the the most productive
farmland in Canada and these greenhouses are causing havoc. They should be
in industrial parks."

Other questions focused on health care. NDP candidate Ruth Adams, herself a
health care worker, admits itlooks like the system is in a mess, but she
still defends her party.

"I won't say sorry for a lot of things that went right in our health care
system," Adams says.

Voters go to the polls May 16.