Pubdate: Wed, 18 May 2005 Source: Surrey Leader (CN BC) Copyright: 2005 Surrey Leader Contact: http://www.surreyleader.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1236 Author: Sheila Reynolds Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada) Cited: B.C. Marijuana Party http://www.bcmarijuanaparty.ca/ POT PARTY SUES SCHOOL BOARD The Pot Party Is Taking The Surrey School Board To Court. The B.C. Marijuana Party (BCMP) is suing the board for barring the group's candidates from participating in local high school all-candidates meetings. "We feel the targeted exclusion of the B.C. Marijuana Party is anti-democratic. We think it sends a bad message to students and we think it violates the Charter (of Rights)," said campaign manager Kirk Tousaw, noting the suit was filed in B.C. Supreme Court Friday. "It is action we would hope that Surrey would also recognize is invalid and withdraw any policy or directive that targets people because of a conflict in their political message." In light of the litigation, the school district did not wish to comment further on the matter this week, but spokesperson Doug Strachan told The Leader two weeks ago that Marijuana party candidates were initially allowed to attend the local school debates, but had to be excluded after a candidate distributed material promoting pot use after a meeting at Fraser Heights Secondary. While acknowledging the importance of including various parties and diverse points of view, Strachan said the district "can't condone the promotion of them (students) taking an illegal substance." The party is also suing the City of Abbotsford for allegedly removing Mount Lehman candidate Tim Felger's campaign signs, while leaving those of other political parties in place. A city spokesperson said Felger was warned about one sign because it was erected when he was not an official candidate, but denies the city removed any signs. Tousaw said the party has asked Surrey to withdraw the directive and is requesting an order to prevent both Abbotsford and Surrey from "discriminating against BCMP candidates" in the future. He added the party is eventually going to seek direction, either from legislature, Elections BC or the courts, as to what kind of process should determine who should and should not be part of all-candidates debates. In the televised leadership debate, for example, there was some contention around who was invited. The Democratic Reform Party argued it should be included because it has a member in the legislature, while BCMP also thought it should be included because it ran candidates in 79 ridings last election and landed 3.4 per cent of the popular vote. "There probably can't be anything that has force of law," Tousaw said, "but there ought to be some kind of advisory guidelines out there that have some sort of provision for getting more voices heard. In a democracy it's vitally important to hear different opinions. "Really, that's the foundation of the suits against Abbotsford and Surrey." - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom