[news] MLA calls for ban on squeegee kids

[P S]

MLA calls for ban on squeegee kids
http://vancouver.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=squeegeelaw05072004

Vancouver Liberal MLA Lorne Mayencourt wants to ban squeegee kids and 
aggressive panhandlers, and he's introduced a private member's bill to do 
it.

The Vancouver-Burrard MLA says people are tired of being harassed on the 
street. "My community has suffered awful, awful atrocities," he says. "I 
just want these bills passed to give police the tools they need."

He began work on the Safe Streets Act 18 months ago, basing it on similar 
legislation in Alberta and Ontario. The act would make it illegal for 
squeegee kids and panhandlers to approach people for money.

Mayencourt has the backing of the Vancouver Board of Trade. But others 
aren't so supportive.

The B.C. Civil Liberties Association is denouncing the bill, saying that in 
a democratic society, people have a right to ask for spare change – as long 
as they do it peacefully.

"We don't need this legislation," says Murray Mollard, the executive 
director of the association. "It's offensive in a variety of ways, and it 
prohibits behaviour that just shouldn't be prohibited."

Others agree. Vancouver city councillor Jim Green says the bill is a 
desperate bid to get attention before the next election.

Green says the law would attack the very people who have been victims of 
Liberal government policies. He says that in his 18 months in office, he 
hasn't heard from anyone upset over squeegee people.

"I have not had one e-mail telling me that people are feeling intimidated or 
harassed by somebody coming up and doing their windshield," he says. "It's 
not like somebody coming up with a gun and shooting somebody. I mean, these 
guys are trying to do something."

Green says if Mayencourt wants squeegee people to go away he should focus on 
job training programs, providing low-income housing, and reinstating people 
who have been kicked off welfare.

Private member's bills usually stand little chance of passing, but 
Mayencourt says he has the full support of his caucus, including the premier 
and Solicitor General Rich Coleman.

He also says the constitutionality of a similar law in Ontario was upheld by 
the Supreme Court of Canada.

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