DRUG PROBLEM FRONT AND CENTRE IN POOREST REGION

Jenny Kwan stands in the doorway of Four Corners Bank at Main and
Hastings, unfazed by the smell of urine as she takes a brief respite
from handing how-to-vote brochures to the rag-tag band of passersby.

"This is the place where I get my inspiration, where I hone my
philosophical and activist approach and where I see social justice is
needed," says Kwan, who has represented the NDP stronghold of
Vancouver-Mount Pleasant since 1996.

Philosophy aside, Kwan is a politician and a key part of her work is
to get people to cross the street and register to vote at Carnegie
Centre, where drug addicts gather daily. The latest Ipsos-Reid opinion
poll shows the NDP has just 16 per cent support throughout the
province, so keeping Mount Pleasant, a traditional NDP stronghold, is
key to the party's survival.

"We are human just like everybody else and we have made mistakes,"
said Kwan of the NDP government, which took power in 1991. "But we
must protect progressive politics. If the NDP aren't here to do the
work that people in this riding need done then I'm really worried
about what will happen. Will the Liberals address the poorest of the
poor?"

Gail Sparrow, former chief of the Musqueam Band and Liberal candidate
for Mount Pleasant, says the Liberals won't ignore the Downtown
Eastside, but don't support concentrating health and drug services in
the area. "The NDP have thrown money at the problem without accounting
for it or evaluating whether it's working, which it's obviously not.
The Downtown Eastside has the worst zip [postal] code in Canada and
the highest rate of crime and drug use in British Columbia."

Sparrow said concentrating services in the area attracts drug addicts.
Last month, the 49-year-old picked up a friend from the reserve who
was stuck in the Downtown Eastside. "He goes there because he can get
the drugs, the housing, the food, the clothing-pretty much what he
wants. It's all there."

Sparrow has sided with Chinatown merchants and residents who oppose
Vancouver-Richmond Health Board plans to set up a detox centre
opposite the Chinese community's cultural centre and a 24-hour drop-in
centre 100 feet from the heart of Chinatown.

"They have had enough. Neighbours, residents and business people also
have their rights and they've been voicing that and someone's not
listening," said Sparrow, who warns a Liberal government will reassess
the Vancouver Agreement, a joint venture between municipal, provincial
and federal government aimed at solving chronic drug problems in the
Downtown Eastside.

"We would look at the Vancouver Agreement from a different
perspective, to see whether the concerns of the people who live around
and in the area are being addressed. We want to see that what is
getting funded is results-driven."

But Dale Hofmann, Green candidate for Mount Pleasant, rejects
Sparrow's claim that services in the area are responsible for
attracting addicts. "That's a fallacy-as long as there has been a drug
scene in Vancouver, the Downtown Eastside has been the centre of it."

However, Hofmann, who works as a mental health advocate, said Kwan has
done little for the poor in the area, despite her claims. Hofmann
maintains he and Sparrow will fight it out for first and second spots
in the polls. The recent Ipsos-Reid poll indicates the Greens have 10
per cent of the province's support, but Hofmann believes the party
could take the riding with 35 per cent of the vote.

The Downtown Eastside is the highest profile area of Mount Pleasant,
but the riding stretches south to Kingsway and includes the Finning
lands, soon to be developed into a multi-million-dollar high-tech park.

"There are beautiful neighbourhoods in the riding but they've been
ignored because all the focus is on the Downtown Eastside," said
Sparrow, who alienated Musqueam band council members after speaking
out in favour of Musqueam leaseholders in a dispute with the band over
lease payments. "I'm targeting not just one core problem; I'm looking
at the whole of Mount Pleasant."

Kwan, the youngest ever city councillor when she was elected to
council in 1993, is confident she will keep the seat. But if she
doesn't, she vows to keep working for the area. "I'm a minority rights
woman and I will always be involved in the community because I love
this community-they're survivors. "

The Unity Party candidate for Mount Pleasant is Ken Right, while the
Marijuana Party is running David Malmo-Levine.