The Conservative government and the Liberal-dominated Senate may find this a buzz-kill but a drug expert says neither of their approaches to prosecuting pot producers makes sense. Earlier this year, MPs passed a drug bill that included a mandatory minimum sentence of six months in jail for growing as few as five pot plants. Drug reform advocates slammed the legislation as draconian. Then the Senate began pruning the bill and just passed an amended version. The rewritten bill would spare pot growers an automatic jail term unless they're caught cultivating more than 200 plants. The Senate has now punted the legislation back to the House of Commons where it could be gutted and redrafted. [continues 425 words]
Senator Charlie Watt, how dare you amend a law and base it on race. This law needs to be struck down immediately. To even be on the books for a single second is a second that spits in the face of Canada and democracy. A crime is a crime is a crime -- no matter who you are. To everyone who supports Charlie Watts' amendment to Bill C-15, how dare you? How dare you vote against Canada, against the people, against democracy, and against our freedoms that so many have sacrificed for. To the rest of Canada if you value our freedoms, speak up. If you don't speak up, then mark my words, this is the beginning of the end of Canada. David Hansen Winnipeg It's two-tier justice no matter how you spin it. [end]
Portage-Lisgar Member of Parliament Candice Hoeppner slammed the Liberal-dominated Senate for making amendments to a Conservative anti-crime bill. Hoeppner said the amendments, made by the Senate's Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee, have weakened the bill and undermined the intent of it. " Our focus and our goal was to crack down on drug traffickers," Hoeppner said of Bill C-15 in an interview just prior to her annual Tea with the MP event in Portage la Prairie Wednesday. [continues 552 words]
The hot Canadian debate over "two-tiered" health care has -- thanks to Canada's unelected and unaccountable Senate -- been suddenly replaced by a hot debate over "two-tiered" justice. That's what Winnipeg South MP Rod Bruinooge is calling amendments the Senate has proposed for a crime bill currently before them. The amendments introduced Wednesday have outraged the Conservatives and their supporters. They've once again accused the Senate of "gutting" a major crime bill - -- this one dealing with mandatory minimums. [continues 359 words]
Winnipeg South MP Rod Bruinooge says he's disgusted with Liberal amendments made by the Senate to exclude aboriginal offenders from a bill that established mandatory minimum sentences for drug offences. Bill C-15 had proposed a person found guilty of trafficking who had previously been convicted of a drug-related offence within the prior decade would receive a minimum prison sentence of one year while someone with a prior record who was convicted of growing five or more marijuana plants would receive six months of mandatory jail time. [continues 323 words]
Manitoba's new justice minister Andrew Swan is obviously anxious to put his stamp on the province's justice system. So he's introduced legislation he's hoping will close a loophole in the punishment handed out to those Manitobans convicted of drug trafficking while using a vehicle. That being said it's clear Swan's proposed changes to the Highway Traffic Act will have little effect on the drug business. Under Swan's plan introduced Tuesday, those convicted of a drug-trafficking offence involving driving would have their driver's licence suspended for a year for a first conviction, five years for a second, 10 years for a third and for life for a fourth or subsequent conviction. Not all of the previous convictions would need to be for drug trafficking. [continues 308 words]
WINNIPEG - Winnipeg South MP Rod Bruinooge says he's disgusted with Liberal amendments made by the Senate to exclude aboriginal offenders from a bill that established mandatory minimum sentences for drug offences. Bill C-15 had proposed that a person found guilty of trafficking who had previously been convicted of a drug-related offence within the prior decade would receive a minimum prison sentence of one year while someone with a prior record who was convicted of growing five or more marijuana plants would receive six months of mandatory jail time. [continues 322 words]
Border Land School Division has hired a private company to bring in a drug sniffing dog to all four high schools. Superintendent Tim Mendel said this approach allows the division to look for drugs without being dependent on calling the RCMP. "If you bring in the police, they may not want to come," he said. "They need some probable cause." Mendel said this approach, which costs about $300 per visit, gives the division the power as to when and where the dog sniffing unit will go. [continues 262 words]
Stony Mountain Penitentiary held a community forum for residents of Stony Mountain to discuss drug throw-overs and drug smuggling at the prison and what people in the community can do to help curb the problem. Roughly 15 people attended the meeting, held at the Stony Mountain Recreation Centre on Nov. 26, and listened to speakers from both the prison and the community talk about exactly how drugs and other contraband, such as cell phones, get into the prison and how the practice affects the community. [continues 521 words]
Former RCMP Officer A Hells Angels Associate Before He Was Arrested One target of a major undercover police sting operation was a former Manitoba RCMP officer who gave up the badge and later became a high-ranking Hells Angels associate, according to court documents obtained by the Winnipeg Free Press. Wayne Shuttleworth hid his policing past from fellow Zig Zag Crew members, knowing it would be an automatic ticket to rejection from the gang. But his secret became public on Thursday after a series of arrest warrants were filed with the Court of Queen's Bench. [continues 281 words]
Criminals Will Regroup After Arrests, Police Say Despite a flurry of arrests, the latest crackdown on Hells Angels members and associates won't be the final chapter in the back-and-forth saga between organized crime and law enforcement in Manitoba. Sources said the local Hells Angels chapter, which has several members on the street, has lost a bit of insulation by having so many of its underlings arrested but, like it has in past setbacks, will regroup. Plenty of people are waiting in the wings or willing to align with the outlaw motorcycle group to replace those swept up in a 13-month investigation known as Project Divide, sources said. [continues 321 words]
One Of 34 Targeted In Major Undercover Assault On Angels Lea Miller for the Winnipeg Free Press Police prepare to enter a property on Pembina Highway during a major raid Wednesday as 34 arrest warrants were executed. One target of a major undercover police sting operation was a former Manitoba RCMP officer who gave up the badge and later became a high-ranking Hells Angels associate, according to court documents obtained by the Free Press. Wayne Shuttleworth hid his policing past from fellow Zig Zag Crew members, knowing it would be an automatic ticket to rejection from the gang. But his secret became public on Thursday after a series of arrest warrants was filed with the Court of Queen's Bench. [continues 801 words]
Re: Divide and conquer,' Dec. 3. In conjunction with the RCMP, Winnipeg Police have again penetrated the Hells Angels and the Zig Zag Crew. As we speak, there is a client-dealer gap being filled by other dealers from other organizations who were waiting for a moment just like this, reaping the monetary benefits of their direct competitors being temporarily out of business. Every couple of years, a "cell" gets penetrated and shut down and every couple of years we are led to believe that this is going to have an impact on the trade of drugs and weapons in the city. [continues 104 words]
Raids Nab 26, More Sought For By Police For the third time in less than four years, Manitoba's largest police forces have taken down members or associates of the province's Hells Angels chapter, accusing them of importing and selling huge amounts of drugs. In terms of the number of suspects, this is the largest of the three stings. "We've hit the higher level of this particular cell. By doing so we know that is going to have a trickle-down effect all the way down to the lower dealers," said Winnipeg police spokesman Const. Jason Michalyshen. "We've hit the source." [continues 397 words]
One Of Biggest Gang, Drug Busts In Manitoba History Sees 34 Arrests They were starting to show signs of a resurgence with plans to regain their position as kings of Manitoba's criminal jungle. Now the Hells Angels are in a state of paranoid panic -- and facing an uncertain future -- after an undercover sting operation reached a dramatic end early Wednesday. Members of Manitoba's Integrated Organized Crime Task Force capped a 13-month investigation by authorizing the arrests of 34 gang members and associates and executing two dozen search warrants. More than 300 RCMP and police from Winnipeg, Brandon, Ste. Anne and British Columbia were involved in one of the biggest drug and gang busts in Manitoba history. [continues 636 words]
TJ Wiebe was, by all accounts, a bright and caring 20-year-old man who unfortunately was also involved in using and dealing drugs - a pursuit which ultimately cost him his life. On Jan. 5, 2003, TJ was told that he was driving with two men, Anthony Pulsifer and Chad Handsor, to look at a car stereo that one of their uncles had for sale. After driving south past Winnipeg's Perimeter Highway, Pulsifer began stabbing TJ with syringes filled with drain cleaner and lighter fluid. [continues 566 words]
Re: 'Fund more officers,' Letters to the editor, Nov. 6. Would we listen to a tobacco worker union telling us tobacco is safe and should be consumed in greater numbers? Letter writer Steek explains clearly how public perception is manipulated by police unions to scare the public into giving them more and more money -- always more money. The public says their number one concern are gangs and violence, while the police union spokesman is on his podium decrying the dangers of gangs and violence. Gangs are funded by the prohibition artificially inflating the cost of certain drugs and herbs. Violence comes from them fighting over their marketable "turf." [continues 59 words]
Politicians hate it when experts shine the light of truth on supposedly unimpeachable government ideology. The British government had a hissy fit when its top drug policy advisor suggested the U.K.'s drug classification system doesn't make sense. David Nutt had the temerity to question the government's decision to bump marijuana into a more dangerous drug category. And he had the nerve to state publicly that tobacco and booze are more dangerous than pot. So it was off with Nutt's head, figuratively speaking, of course. [continues 464 words]
Re: 'Small scale, big problems,' Letters to the editor, Oct. 25. To each their opinion, but neither letter writer Jensen nor the editor has represented my position accurately. I favour cops turning an informed eye away from personal drug consumption so they can focus on crimes against people who physically, sexually or psychologically victimize others, or damage their property. The market for drugs is created by demand, not supply. The drugs pass through channels that are opened by government through legislation. The government turns the blindest eye in the drug war, or have you forgotten that Iran-Contra was a CIA operation that used cocaine as a bargaining tool? Legal drugs kill about 30 times more Canadians than illegal drugs. Do the math and figure out why illicit drugs are a minuscule problem compared to the corruption that promotes this hypocrisy. Bruce Codere Fox Creek, Alta. (Sounds a little drug-hazed to us.) [end]
WHEN an indoor public smoking ban took effect in the Netherlands in the summer of 2008, the worry wasn't so much for the one-third of Dutch adults who smoke cigarettes. Bars and restaurants went smoke-free without much problem. A more intriguing concern was for the effect on the uniquely Dutch institution of marijuana-selling "coffee shops." If a place calls itself a coffee shop, that means three things: One, there is marijuana and hash for sale; two, for the price of a coffee, you may sit and smoke your own; and three, you will not be arrested. [continues 999 words]
About Ross Rebagliati taking on Stockwell Day. I wonder if Rebagliati has sensible views on the legalization of marijuana. Maybe he follows the gangster-and-cop-subsidizing status quo -- like Iggy does. Or does he prefer the non-committal non-word meaning a non-thing: "decriminalize"? ( We think he's well versed on pot laws. ) [end]
Flavoured rolling papers banned in Canada? Really? On June 17, 2009, Bill C-32 quietly passed through the House of Commons, amending the Tobacco Act "to provide additional protection to youth from tobacco marketing." This followed Prime Minister Stephen Harper's 2008 election promise to ban "fruit or candy-flavoured cigarillos" in Canadian stores. "These products," Harper told anyone who would listen, "are packaged as a candy, and this is totally unacceptable." Rationally unacceptable themselves, the amendments, which have only to pass through Senate before taking effect on the streets sometime around December, target "flavoured cigarillos" (Prime Times, for example), as well as other products "targeting youth" like flavoured rolling papers and "blunt wraps." Bill C-32 passed through the house easily, as it would have been hard for anyone to take a public stand against "protecting youth" from the big-bad tobacco boogeyman, no matter how ineffectual the actual legislation. [continues 946 words]
The Conservatives are hypocrites. It's OK for them to drink (and allegedly drive), but not OK for adults to choose a safer alternative to alcohol. The Conservatives are risking our Canadian sovereignty by extraditing Canadian citizen Marc Emery for running a transparent seed-selling business that paid taxes for 10 years in Canada. Call Justice Minister Rob Nicholson and ask him not to extradite a Canadian citizen to the States for a "crime" committed here. Marianne Kochan Edmonton [end]
Re: 'Crowns overworked,' Oct. 8. The easiest way to decrease the burden on prosecutors is to repeal our fraudulent prohibition laws. The great big stinking lie we're harangued with by our government is that getting tough on crime decreases crime. Dead wrong. It increases crime, profits for so-called criminals, prisons we don't otherwise need because crime has been going down since 1992. If not for prohibition, none of this rot would need to be discussed. Bruce Codere Fox Creek, Alta. (Get real. Tougher sentences please.) [end]
Re: 'Ditch the drug war,' Letters to the editor, Sept. 29. What kind of a stupid comment is that? It's fine for politicians to ban the drugs so that pharmaceutical conglomerates don't make massive profit on nor own patents to. Besides, what drugs are they currently pushing? I guess you like being taken for a fool and having your money wasted on housing non-violent criminals for "punishment" for ingesting what you deem unsavoury. It's jail where organized crime finds recruits, and they recruit well because non-violent cannabis smokers may just want protection, considering how they aren't violent. Give me a snarky comment answering that question when you publish this. (Snarky? Us?) [end]
Filling jails and tougher sentencing does not work and the United States is proof of that. There is a solution to the gang problem that no one wants to hear. End prohibition. Drugs are the main source of profit for organized crime. The justice system cannot keep gang members in jail. The gangs are fighting for turf and they are funded by drugs. Let's ditch the drug war. Tougher sentencing is not the solution, and it never will be. (So, you want politicians pushing drugs?) [end]
Re: Mike McIntyre's City man convicted in bid to toss drugs into prison yard (Sept. 18). One of his statements is misleading at best, and utterly ridiculous at worst. McIntyre was discussing the resale value of pot within the prison system when he claimed "a single gram could make up to 28 individual joints which could be sold among inmates for about $5 each." If he were assuming this gram of pot would be watered down with tobacco, that condition may have been helpful in attempting to make sense of this line. Even 28 joints, each rolled with one-twenty-eighth of a gram of marijuana among tobacco leaves is a stretch. Dylan Williams Winnipeg [end]
If Successful, Proceeds Would Fight Crime Manitoba's Criminal Property Forfeiture Act will be put to the test in the coming months as the province heads to court to seize three houses used as marijuana grow operations. The province filed three statements of claim in court Thursday alleging the people who owned the houses knew they were being used as "instruments of unlawful activity." "When the Winnipeg Police Service busted the grow operations, who they caught were the growers, the people that were tending the grow inside the homes," director of criminal property forfeiture Gord Schumacher said. [continues 350 words]
Gov't Targets Alleged Grow Op Properties After seven years of trying, Manitoba authorities are finally sending a message that crime doesn't pay. The provincial government is making a claim in court for three properties in south Winnipeg -- homes police suspect had been used as marijuana grow operations by their Vancouver-area owners. And if Manitoba's first effort under the seven-year-old Criminal Property Forfeiture Act is successful, money recovered from a sale of the homes and possibly items on the premises -- perhaps about $1.2 million -- will be handed to victims of the crimes or used to help cops curb illegal activity. [continues 241 words]
Re: 'Crime bills die with election,' Mike Sutherland, Sept. 9. Sutherland spews the usual dross we've come to expect from cops. He's more than welcome to whine about his distorted perception there's increased crime. Stats Canada says he's full of it. Overall crime has been going down since 1992. Cannabis arrests are, however, at an all-time high. That means more prisoners for gangs to recruit from. A rational clear analysis of Bill C-15 shows how it's nothing more than a back door for our lame lazy drug squads to bust the mom and pop cannabis garden growers. While Sutherland talks tough, perhaps believing that implies credibility, he's really just lobbying for more cops, more laws, more control over our lives, and good old-fashioned fascism. FOX CREEK, ALTA. (And the problem with more cops is?) [end]
I was one of the lucky people who got to see AC/DC on Saturday and if there ever was a reason to legalize marijuana and ban alcohol, it was at the Canad Inns Stadium on Saturday night. Why is it necessary to drink yourself into oblivion, vomit all over the place, spill beer on other people, start fights in the parking lot and act like an ass -- yet, beer is legal, pot not. If you can't control your beer consumption without acting like a fool, stay home! Suzanne Livingstone Winnipeg [end]
Kudos to our federal Conservative government for funding research to study a link between pot use and mental illness. As part of the study, they will create "educational materials aimed at decreasing the use of illicit drugs among young people." From this, one can conclude that Harper's government has finally realized this perpetual war on drugs is simply unwinnable. They must be developing more tools for their arsenal to educate the public about the negative health effects of drug use once they roll out their new national policy on legalization of marijuana. [continues 150 words]
It bears noting that 2009 is the 400th anniversary of cannabis is Canada. In 1609, French apothecary Louis Hebert grew the plant in Port Royal, Acadia (now Nova Scotia). This is the United Nations international year of the fibre, and cannabis/hemp is the best plant fibre at our disposal. Yet how does the government choose to celebrate this remarkable feat of endurance on the part of Earth's most medicinally active and industrially versatile plant, and its gardeners? It attempts to pass Bill C-15, an irrational, groundless, retrograde, fraudulent excuse for legislation. Our minister of justice rails against the Senate for not rubber-stamping the bill at break-neck speed. [continues 61 words]
If bread were to be criminalized today, it would feed organized crime tomorrow, which more often than not wears a suit and tie or a uniform, in both private and public sectors. Prohibition means something will cost at least 10 times what it would if it were legal. The legal drug trade in Canada is about $20 billion. The illegal drug trade is over $200 billion! Then there's the "Alice In Wonderland" case of tobacco, which is legal, and still costs 10 times what it should -- the most bizarre crime of all. Prohibition only creates a self-serving industry, which includes those who claim to be trying to eradicate it, that will protect its revenues to the death -- of us, the victims of it. Steve Hartwell Toronto [end]
In Memoriam Of The Ganja Mine: 2000-2009 Lately, it seems like every day brings news of another celebrity death. It started in June with David Carradine. Since then, Arturo Gatti, Billy Mays, Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Koko Taylor, Michael Jackson and the Taco Bell dog have all gone to join the Great Gig in the Sky. So let's take a moment to remember the Flin Flon grow-op. Since 2000, an unused mineshaft 600 km northwest of Winnipeg and 1,000 feet underground has been growing the only government-approved marijuana in the country. [continues 496 words]
Escalating gang violence in Winnipeg is claiming more lives and police are not even putting a dent into the problem. Police and policy makers need to wake up to the reality of what is driving gang crime and deal with those causes. Anthony Orville Woodhouse, 30, originally of Fairford First Nation but called Winnipeg home. He was the latest victim. Most believe he was not connected to gang activity, but was at the wrong place at the wrong time. Woodhouse was found dead lying on the porch of his home. His assailants were high-level members of the Indian Posse (IP) street gang and face charges. Much of the recent violence has been attributed to violent rivalries between the Indian Posse and other gangs that are turning the North End into a war zone. [continues 383 words]
Re: Drug laws spark drug wars (Free Press, Aug. 4.) It's not so much that Canadian governments have been slow to recognize the obvious, it's that the Canadian government wants to maintain prohibition. Legislation that renders drugs illicit also legitimizes other legislation that triggers actions that would otherwise not be permitted by law. Forfeiture law, for example, is not triggered by a conviction, but rather by suspicion thereof. It is a sad day in Canada when an individual doesn't have to be charged with a crime to be brutalized by the justice system and those who enforce it. [continues 139 words]
The commander of NATO and American forces in Afghanistan, United States Gen. Stanley McChrystal, promised this week that he would commit thousands of American troops to fighting the Taliban in Kandahar, Afghanistan's most dangerous province, to back up Canadian troops fighting there. The Canadian military's response is officially one of relief. Unofficially it might well be "It's about time," although it may also be tempered by doubts about the occasional recklessness of American tactics and the possibility of civilian casualties. [continues 349 words]
Americans have historical amnesia of a general variety, but the blackout is particularly acute when it comes to what our grandparents, and their grandparents, did to get high. Forty years after Woodstock, the nation is taking a fresh look at its twisted relationship with drugs and insobriety. But we're doing so without drawing lessons from the centuries of experience we have with inebriation and the effort to control it. Five widespread myths must be dispensed with if America ever plans on making rational drug policy. [continues 878 words]
Police Pooch Expected To Start Sniffing Out Drugs This Fall The Winkler Police Service is adding a new tool to its arsenal in the battle against drugs in our community. City council recently gave the department approval to establish a canine unit in Winkler. Chief Rick Hiebert says a police dog is an invaluable tool for a police service to have. "It adds another level of professionalism to a police service," he said. "It's another service that we can provide to our citizens in helping to fight the war on drugs." [continues 477 words]
Money Fuels Co-Operation While some street gangs battle for turf, a share of the drug trade or because of hatred, there's a "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" kind of harmony in some circles of Winnipeg's ever-evolving organized crime underworld. In an emerging trend, some groups who you'd think would be rivals associate with each other and act like business partners, primarily to bring large amounts of cocaine and other drugs into Manitoba for big money, according to detectives who monitor and police the activities of organized crime groups. [continues 296 words]
Re: Drug laws spark drug wars (Aug. 4.) I really enjoyed the editorial on how current gang violence will continue as long as current drug laws stay in place. In fact, we will most likely see it climb exponentially. There has been a war on drugs for decades now and I don't think anybody reading this can honestly say that there have been any improvements in the use and trafficking of drugs. All we have seen is more gang violence and the prisons filling up with non-violent drug offenders. It's time we started looking for new solutions to these problems because it's very clear that what we have now isn't working. Christopher Friesen Rosenort [end]
Re: An Inconvenient Truth (Aug. 1.) Hurrah for this excellent and clear eyed look at Winnipeg's drug scene! Decriminalization has been recommended for some time by many informed and thoughtful voices. Surely by now no thinking person can deny that the traditional enforcement methods of the war on drugs are not working and never will. Selling and promoting the use of drugs (other than alcohol, nicotine, and possibly marijuana) should remain illegal. In fact the penalties for this should be increased and these laws enforced vigorously. It is the seller-end of the market that has to be changed to decrease the criminals' vast profits and their need to develop new markets. [continues 270 words]
So it may be that the St. James businessman who snorts a little cocaine, the South St. Vital housewife who smokes a little weed, the Broadway boulavardier who likes his uppers or downers are responsible for the drug trade because they are the market. But as we know, and as history shows us, if that supposition is not entirely preposterous, it is mostly preposterous. Crime, like nature, abhors a vacuum, and it naturally fills one when it occurs. Prohibition attempted to destroy the market for alcoholic beverages; instead it simply created the organized crime syndicates that plague North American society to this day. [continues 441 words]
The economy seems to still be down. Stimulus options, packages and plans have been discussed, implemented and thrown away. But one, that's been over looked needs to be discussed -- the taxation and regulation of marijuana. This plant has been a medicine, recreational drug and spiritual plant for thousands of years. It has copious amounts of potential, from helping pain, lowering anxiety to even treating ADD or ADHD. Besides the limitless potential of its medicinal use, it also has a financial use. California's marijuana economy produces one third of the U.S' marijuana supply, estimated at $12 billion -- this is more than corn, wheat and cotton combined. [continues 66 words]
Five children were selling crack at 261 Austin St. and I didn't know who to call. A nice new grey car pulled up -- licence plate number noted. One of the kids pulled his hoody over his head and ran behind my car to sell his rock of crack. I yelled at the driver, a 30-something white guy, "I've got your licence plate!" He yelled a few obscenities at me and screeched away, his crack hit ready for the poor young girl in the seat beside him before he used her. [continues 421 words]
Narcotics Fuel Incidents Like Banquet-Hall Fatal Shooting A recent wave of gang-related violence -- including this weekend's brazen mass shooting and killing inside a Winnipeg wedding reception - -- is likely being fuelled by a growing demand for drugs by Winnipeggers who cross all ethnic, social and geographical boundaries. Police and justice sources say the general public probably doesn't realize the direct links between addiction and crime. Gang members are stockpiling weapons, settling old scores and running wild as they compete for big profits. The risks of being caught or even killed are simply seen by most as the cost of doing business. [continues 494 words]
Re: Flin Flon pot operation moves (July 22). The pot grown by Prairie Plant Systems is ground up (which oxidizes it), full of seeds and stem (making it worse to smoke), zapped with gamma radiation (which kills half the medicine), and stinks of chemicals (because it wasn't grown properly). It doesn't even look like pot -- it looks like the stuff you sprinkle on the floor to soak up puke. It is already paid for with taxpayers' dollars, but these Health Canada clowns still have the gall to charge sick and dying people $5 a gram for this mulch. Leave it to the federal government to screw up something that even stoners can get right. Where are they going to grow their next crop? Next to the Chalk River nuclear plant? [continues 174 words]
Re: 14-year sentence angers police leadership. The police and the public need to question why the police are doing no-knock raids for petty drug "crimes". When someone breaks into your house it is your right to protect yourself and your family. It would seem the police are more at fault for what happened than anyone. If they had simply knocked on the door and waited for this person to answer, no one would have been shot or scared to death. Just more collateral damage from the failed "war on drugs". Santa Cruz, Calif. [end]
News that Hwy. 75 funnels billions of dollars in international trade from Winnipeg to U.S. destinations is not something that would ordinarily cause alarm. Report causes concern But after a National Drug Intelligence Center report out of the U.S. suggested the highway was being used to funnel drugs and guns across the border, Manitoba's PC party has raised the alarm. PC Justice Critic Kelvin Goertzen referred to a recent sentencing of a Winnipeg man for smuggling guns into Canada in exchange for drugs, saying we shouldn't be surprised this kind of thing is happening. [continues 249 words]
Inside Manitoba
