Bob Mackin News Reporter bmackin@nsnews.com NORTH Shore New Democrats are backing Ujjal Dosanjh for premicr. At least 16 of the North Shore's 20 delegates heading to this weekend’s NDP leadership con- vention have declared their allegiance to attor- ney general Dosanjh, according to his North Vancouver-based campaign manager David Schreck. Schreck is one of the four delegates support- ing Dosanjh who were elected by the NDP’s riding association in) North Vancouver- Lonsdale. A fifth is undecided. A Young New Democrat appointed as a delegate supports Dosanjh, Schreck said. Dosanjh swept the avo delegates in West Vancouver-Capilano and seven in West Vancouver-Ganbaldi. Challenger Corky Evans took three delegates in North Vancouver- Seymour, while bo went to Dosanjh. ore fav urs NDP leadership convention begins on Friday No delegates announced their support tor either Gordon Wilson or Len Werden, the other two candidates vying for ieadership of the NDP and the job to succeed interim premier Dan Miller. The NDP convention begins Friday atter- noon. Candidates will speak to delegates Friday bight. Ballating begins Sunday morning. The fifth NDP premier of B.C. could) be announced before the morning ends. If Dosanjh wins, he'll be the first Indo-Canadian premier of a Canadian province. Dosanjh has the support of former premier Mike Harcourt: and ex-finance minister Jov MacPhail. Wilson, a former Capilano College imstruc- tor, joined the NDP a year ago after leading his Progressive Democratic Alliance party. He lost the Liberal leadership to former Vancouver mayor Gordon Campbell prior to forming the PDA with wite Judi Tvabji. Despite his short tenure as 2 party member, Wilson is supported by Moe Sihota, and former premiers Glen Clark and Dave Barrett. Schreck said Dosanjh has support trom 60% of the delegates. But Schreck said he’s never “confident of anything” and will continue cam- Paigning for more support. “That's what keeps +e working hard,” said Schreck. “We're going to sork hard and make it smooth and hopetully have an overwhelming, victory for Mr. Dosanjh.” Schreck said the controversy over recruit- ment of new members and accusations of fraud have done little to affect the Dosanjh campaign, but it has tarnished the party’s image. Supporters of Wilson and Werden are seeking to have the leadership vote delayed until al} mem- berships can be veritied. Sal “One would normally expect in the leacer- ship race the various candidates to be compe ning our positive plavorm with what the oppos ticn offers. Ifthere are to be any negative statements one would be espected to have them directed to the alternative that Mr. Campbell offers.” Schreck won't be surprised if the party decides at a future convention to use a different system to elect a leader, but he pointed out that no party is immune to such disputes. “No political party escapes these kinds of controversies, The nature of leadershp races and nomination fights is that they sigrettably hare a lot of raw nerves and create some hard feelings.” Schreck was MLA for North Vancouver- Lonsdale from 1991-1996. He was an aide to Clark, but ieft the job last vear before Clark was forced to quit the premiership amid scandal. Clark is being investigated by the provincial conflict of interest commissioner and the RCMP over the awarding of a conditional casi- no ficence to a friend. Election spending limits challenged Frow page 1 spend their money on 3 court case. [t's not going to cost {Liberal house leader and Bill C-2 proponent) Don Boudria anything out of his pocket, it’s going to cost taxpayers a for- tune to defend it.” The government alse briefly considered bills on electron- i¢ commerce and municipal relations. in 1974, third party advertising was banned federally. Ten years later the federal elections act was changed to limit third- party advertising to $1,000. That was declared unconstitu- tional in 1996. Brenner said there has never been an effective limit on third party advertising federally or, until recently, provincial- y: “The experts who testified at trial agreed that there is no empirical study or evidence that third party spending has ever impacted on a referendum campaign or an election campaign in Canada,” Brenner said in his reasons for judgment. “They also agreed that the only empirical studies or evidence on this subject demonstrate chat third party spending cither has no impact or at the very Jeast that no impact can he demonstrat: ed. Brenner said a limit on third-party advertising in B.C, means major political parties and media commentators would dominate discourse and “eftzctively silence citizens who wished to express their contrary views.” During the 1996 provincial election the North Shore News spearheaded a campaign against the provincial Election Act's third party spending limits. It featured photos of citi- zens gagged with duct tape beneath headlines such as “Speech ts no longer free in B.C.” White said he spoke to Roudris Feb. 9 about Bill C-2 alter the decision came down. “f told him it struck down everything, including polling limitations,” White said.“ could just tell from his reaction a sweat was breaking out.” Put a name to campal Anonymous election advertising issue to be raised at UBCM Marcie Goed Contributing Writer NO matter how concerned citi- zens are, they must still identify themselves when they advertise NEWS photo Mike Wakefield No show time A backhoe breaks ground at North Vancouver's Centennial Theatre. The facility is currently undergoing a major upgrade that includes landscaping, wheelchair access and larger washroom and lobby facilities. Coun. Janice Harris agreed, saying that she wasn't going to “bash” this group for the next three years oecause of their actions. “I have said before that election advertising should have attribution on it, to show that it has some legitimate group during election campaigns. That’s what North Vancouver District council decided on Monday night, voting unanimously to bring the issue of anony- mous election advertising to the atten- tion of the Union of B.C. Municipalities. “This has been a festering sore in this community,” said Coun. Ernie Crist, referring to the situation before the November election when a group calling itself the North Shore Concerned Citizens Association selected a slate of candidates and distributed information described as slanted by other candidates about the waterfront referendum. No name or contact number appeared on the flyers or ie newspaper ads. “The best vay to deal with this issue,” declared Crist, “is Sead on.” Following a request from the Federation of North Vancouver Community Associations, Crist tabled a motion to request the UBCM to ask the Minister of Municipal Affairs to review the Municipal Act regarding anonymous election advertising. The issue will be raised at the UBCM's convention in October, 2000. Most councillors supported the motion, they said, because it dealt with the broad issue of anonymous election spending rather than the specific actions of the Concerned Citizens. Names of all members of the current council, except for Crist, had appeared on the group’s slate without their permis- sion. “What happened was that a group of people got together to support the candi- dates they thought would do the best job,” said Coun. Bill Denault. “I think they made an honest mistake.” He added that he didn’t think the ads had much of an impact on the election. behind it,” said Mayor Don Bell, explain- ing that “legitimate” could mean just three or four residents. The groups’ pamphiets, mailed to dis- trict homes in the week before the Nov. 20 election, encouraged residents to vote “no” to the waterfront referendum. They showed a photograph of high-rise build- ings along the West Vancouver seawall, and warned of “uncontrollable develop- ment.” At the final meeting of the previous council on Nov. 30, a 4-3 vote supported a motion by defeated councillor Trevor Carolan to ask the provincial ministry of municipal affairs to look at the activities of the group. The ministry did not respond io the request, but Jim Doyle, minister of municipal affairs, was quoted in the media saying that the issue should be dealt with by the UBCM. Crown lawyers stage job action PROSECUTING Crown lawyers in North Vancouver and throughout the province were off the job on Tuesday. The 400 Crown prosecutors, including approximately six at the North Vancouver provincial court, have not had a work agree- ment in two years. To press time, the prosecutors planned to be off work on a job action on Wednesday as well. The move severely disrupts criminal court proceedings and hundreds of criminal prosecutions in the province. Crown prosecutors are lawyers who work under the Ministry of the Attorney General. Last March, the prosecutors threatened job action. They agreed to put off job action when the provincial government appointed former ombudsman Stephen Owen to conduct a report and make recommendations in a bid to solve contract wage and workload issues. Owen’s report was delivered in December. The B.C. Crawn Counsel Association (BCCCA), in a press release, states the prosecutors are outraged by the govern- ment’s refusal to adopt the Owen report. BCCCA director Ralph Keefer said Owen recommended that Crown lawyers have bar- gaining rights and a form of arbitration to resolve disputes. “We have indicated a willingness to compromise and adopt some modifications which they have similarly rejected outright,” said Keefer on Monday. Crown prosecutors are not unionized. See Wednesday page 5