From: owner-can-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca (Cdn-Firearms Digest) To: cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Subject: Cdn-Firearms Digest V6 #177 Reply-To: cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Sender: owner-can-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Errors-To: owner-can-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Precedence: normal Cdn-Firearms Digest Wednesday, June 18 2003 Volume 06 : Number 177 In this issue: OPP seized 340 firearms from marijuana grows. Last year we seized 649 firearms," Editorial: MPs seem a bit selective in their pursuit of waste National: Gun registrants won't be charged Twelve people arrested in connection with a cache of explosives released without charges MAN BEATEN BY HOME INVADERS Pair rob Calder Credit Union Column: Kill your grizzly while you can Victoria: Grizzly photos big business Column: TROPHY HUNT TURNS ME OFF ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2003 10:41:21 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: OPP seized 340 firearms from marijuana grows. Last year we seized 649 firearms," PUBLICATION: The Ottawa Citizen DATE: 2003.06.18 EDITION: Final SECTION: City PAGE: B3 BYLINE: Karen Snider SOURCE: The Ottawa Citizen ILLUSTRATION: Photo: Wayne Cuddington, The Ottawa Citizen / Const. AndreDuval of the Russell County OPP carries bales of marijuana out of an Embrun-area home after the police raided a suspected growing operation. - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The hidden threat of grow houses: Karen Snider observed as OPP officers closed in on an Embrun marijuana growing operation yesterday. Firearm seizures and lost hydro revenues associated with the operations pose a danger to the general public, police say. - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Five police cars -- marked and unmarked -- roll silently up the driveway of an Embrun bungalow. Four OPP officers in dark tactical gear dart to the front door. They try the door knob. It's locked. They break the door open with a metal pipe. They dash inside. They are on the lookout for anyone who may be inside tending to a crop of marijuana they suspect is being grown here. In less then a minute they've done a sweep of the house and confirm no one is home. There had been a man in the house earlier and he was arrested when he tried to leave a few hours before police were prepared to execute their search warrant. Down in the basement, police suspicions are confirmed. There is wall-to-wall marijuana, 665 plants in total. Most are about a metre or so tall and days from being sold on the streets. The basement is split into three areas where plants are in various stages of maturity. One of the rooms is dark, another projects an orange glow -- both are lighting techniques to stimulate the plant's growth. Yesterday's bust at 1321 St-Albert St. reflects a problem police say is an increasing concern across the country. "We're trying to take down as many of these places as we can, as quickly as possible, and not let them get established in our area," said OPP Det. Sgt. Paul Henry, commander of the force's drug squad. In rural Ottawa, the OPP shut down about 40 of these indoor grow operations last year. Last year city police shut down 53 operations, seizing a total of 14,487 plants. Ottawa police estimate there are up to 500 more marijuana grow houses in the city, said Ottawa police Sgt. John Sinfield. Across the province last year, 1,490 indoor marijuana growing operations were shut down. Most of these illegal operations can be found in houses in typical suburbs, although many growers do not live in the houses. Neighbours are often unsuspecting: The homes appear as though they are being lived in -- with curtains and manicured lawns. Some growers have even gone as far as to put Christmas trees up over the holiday. A couple living in the house across from where yesterday's bust occurred said they hadn't spoken to their neighbour who just moved in in March, but had often seen him outside tending the lawn. "This guy was always cutting the grass. He was keeping the place up, so there was no reason to think anything else," Ann Blakeney said. "I didn't expect something like this out here," she said. "This is scary. It makes me very nervous." Police say neighbours should be nervous about having these marijuana growing houses in their communities. "In the OPP in 2001, we seized 340 firearms from marijuana grows. Last year we seized 649 firearms," said the OPP's Det. Staff Sgt. Rick Barnum of the provincial drug enforcement section. "So when people tell me it's just marijuana and it's not connected to violence, they should know that at this level it's absolutely organized and it's absolutely violent. By no means is this just an innocent marijuana joint." Apart from the potential for violence in otherwise quiet neighbourhoods, officials say grow operations are costing the average hydro ratepayer too. Most often, including yesterday's bust, the electricity used to power these grow operations is being stolen as operators bypass meters. "The average home uses about $100 a month. The average grow house consumes up to $1,500 a month," said Charlie Macaluso, CEO of the Electricity Distributors Association, which represents Ontario's municipal electricity distributors. That means a loss of up to $1,400 a month. "Those losses will need to be recovered and ultimately they will be recovered in future rates by the rest of customers." Police cite a lack of manpower as their key obstacle to curbing the boom in indoor growing operations. A bust like yesterday's in Embrun takes up to three weeks to investigate, during which time police conduct surveillance, check hydro consumption and verify the home's owner. "I see that right across the country we do not have the resources to stay on top of the problem, and that's the No. 1 complaint in a lot of police service," said the RCMP's Staff Sgt. Marc Pinault. "But when you put all your resources in one basket, you suffer somewhere else." Staff Sgt. Pinault's job, as a national co-ordinator of marijuana growing operations, was created in November by the federal government. Part of his job is to ensure that all police forces in Canada have the same knowledge and techniques to combat the indoor grows, a problem that appears to have started in B.C. and is now making its way to the east coast. Police across Canada are also trying to educate other stakeholders -- including rental agencies, insurance brokers and hydro companies -- on the costs associated with the illegal indoor grows. Yesterday, Ping Guo, 43, was charged with production of marijuana, possession for the purpose of trafficking and theft of hydro. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2003 10:43:20 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: Editorial: MPs seem a bit selective in their pursuit of waste PUBLICATION: Vancouver Sun DATE: 2003.06.18 EDITION: Final SECTION: Editorial PAGE: A16 SOURCE: Vancouver Sun - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MPs seem a bit selective in their pursuit of waste - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Discussed over a beer ($1.83 each) on the back deck (no cover charge for friends and neighbours) during a languid summer evening (a perk in B.C.), the ruckus between federal privacy commissioner George Radwanski and the parliamentary committee he's feuding with sounds like a zany fusion of a Monty Python skit with the old good news, bad news joke. The good news is that we've got a privacy commissioner whom everyone (except some politicians and bureaucrats) says does a good job. His advocacy of the rights of citizens has been refreshingly candid. He has been fearless in challenging bureaucrats, administrators, regulators, tax collectors, law enforcement officials and politicians who try to make their jobs easier at our expense. In other words, he makes the job into what it's supposed to be, not the toothless watchdog that some bureaucrats and politicians would doubtless prefer. The bad news is that we have a privacy commissioner who's also very good at spending our money. For example, the standing committee on government operations and estimates takes umbrage at Mr. Radwanski's bills for lunch and dinner, and those of his director of communications, Dona Vallieres. Together they've spent $19,000 over two years. The privacy commissioner is also said to have billed $287,000 in travel expenses for himself and $205,255 for Ms. Vallieres, plus a $1,200-a-month allowance for a second residence in Ottawa and weekend trips to Toronto. Mr. Radwanski says he's the victim of a vicious smear by a government that doesn't like the work he does on the privacy file, that his staff has been bullied mercilessly by the committee and that he has done nothing wrong. But at the heart of this contretemps is a serious issue. The committee alleges that expense reports were altered to obscure the fact that Ms. Vallieres accompanied Mr. Radwanski during a 70-hour stopover in Hawaii on the way to New Zealand. And former privacy commissioner John Grace observes that when you're on the hook for personal perks at the behest of the top bureaucrats, you're not exactly operating at arm's length. The irony in this, (enter Monty Python's Flying Circus, stage left) is the committee's zeal in going after lunch bills while billions dribble unaccounted from the treasury. For example, the auditor-general reported last year that since 1997 Ottawa has transferred $7.5 billion to various foundations charged with disbursing the funds. But by the end of fiscal year 2002, more than $7 billion was still sitting in foundation bank accounts gathering interest. When she looked at 41 Crown corporations responsible for managing $68 billion in assets and $61 billion in liabilities, she concluded that half the audit committees were ineffective and their boards of directors lack the skills to function effectively. Not to mention hundreds of millions that can't be accounted for in tightening up border security, the billion-dollar blunder in firearms registration, etc., etc. Small wonder the auditor-general, after looking at nine departments, concluded that the quality of their financial reporting to parliament was not up to snuff. And, of course, there are less-than-abstemious MPs -- two backbenchers from the Lower Mainland averaged almost $130,000 each in travel expenses last year and together it cost the taxpayers more than $700,000 to maintain their constituencies. All reasonable and essential, they'll no doubt argue. Mr. Radwanski, it seems, has lots of company. The question is why his transgressions are of such interest while MPs give short shrift to the vast irresponsibility, waste and questionable ethics of the government. The committee might have a good case against the privacy commissioner for his spending habits and how he reported them. If so, it should take the appropriate steps. Here on the back deck, however, it'd make more entertaining conversation if elected officials showed a little more rigour in setting right the legion of other financial abuses the government afflicts us with. When it comes to accounting for the waste of our tax dollars, we'd prefer the Full Monty to a Monty Python rerun. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2003 10:43:55 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: National: Gun registrants won't be charged PUBLICATION: The Ottawa Citizen DATE: 2003.06.18 EDITION: Final SECTION: News PAGE: A5 SOURCE: The Ottawa Citizen - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- National: Gun registrants won't be charged - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Solicitor General Wayne Easter confirmed yesterday the government does not intend to charge gun owners who come forward now to register their firearms or obtain licences even though thousands of them have been violating the law for up to two years. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2003 10:45:04 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: Twelve people arrested in connection with a cache of explosives released without charges PUBLICATION: Vancouver Sun DATE: 2003.06.18 EDITION: Final SECTION: News PAGE: B6 COLUMN: In Brief SOURCE: CanWest News Services DATELINE: SQUAMISH - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Released without charges - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- SQUAMISH -- Twelve people arrested in connection with a cache of explosives recovered from various locations in the Lower Mainland have been released without charges. One man, Joseph Thul, 42, of Coquitlam, was charged with possession of explosives and possession of restricted weapons after police raided homes and commercial properties in Squamish, New Westminster, Coquitlam and Surrey. But the 12 others who were arrested between June 10 and June 12 were not charged, said Corporal Pierre Lemaitre, a spokesman for the RCMP. Enough explosives to blow up an office building were stolen May 31 from a Squamish company. The materials were to be used for mining exploration, but police now believe the explosives were stolen for criminal activity, possibly gang-related. All the explosives were recovered and a number of shotguns and rifles were seized during the police raids. Lemaitre said Tuesday the investigation is continuing and more arrests could be made. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2003 10:45:40 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: MAN BEATEN BY HOME INVADERS PUBLICATION: The Toronto Sun DATE: 2003.06.18 EDITION: Final SECTION: News PAGE: 23 COLUMN: Sunflashes - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MAN BEATEN BY HOME INVADERS - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Police are looking for a pair of thugs who yesterday burst into a mid-town home and beat a man before stealing a small safe. Police said the 4:10 a.m. home invasion at Chaplin Cres. and Yonge St. began when two men wearing disguises and armed with a sawed-off shotgun forcibly entered the residence. They beat the 24-year-old occupant with either a metal pipe or a knife, police said. The first thug is white, 20-25, 6-foot, 155 pounds, with a thin build, brown hair and blue eyes. The second is white, 5-foot-9, 190 pounds, with a heavy build and short brown buzzed hair. Call Toronto Police 53 Division at 416-808-5300. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2003 10:46:10 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: Pair rob Calder Credit Union PUBLICATION: The Leader-Post (Regina) DATE: 2003.06.18 EDITION: Final SECTION: City & Province PAGE: B2 SOURCE: The Leader-Post - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pair rob Calder Credit Union - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Esterhazy RCMP are looking for two men who held up a small-town bank while armed with shotguns Tuesday. RCMP said the duo entered the Calder Credit Union at about 9:30 a.m. and confronted a bank employee. They were given cash, which they placed in a red back pack then fled in a 1989 Olds '98, which had been stolen from Yorkton. Later Tuesday afternoon, RCMP recovered the vehicle from outside Yorkton. Both men were armed with shotguns, and one of the suspects had his face masked. The suspects are described as aboriginal men, 20 to 25 years old, and 5-foot-10 to 6-feet tall. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2003 10:48:59 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: Column: Kill your grizzly while you can PUBLICATION GLOBE AND MAIL DATE: WED JUN.18,2003 PAGE: A21 (ILLUS) BYLINE: PAUL SULLIVAN CLASS: Column EDITION: Metro DATELINE: WORDS: 712 - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE WEST Kill your grizzly while you can - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The grizzly bear is one of Mother Nature's most awe-inspiring creations. A newborn grizzly is about the size of a rat, but a full-grown male can reach more than three metres tall and weigh more than 450 kilograms. Despite his size, ursus arctos horribilis can run up to 55 kilometres per hour, so don't annoy him. They are masters of their domains, which range from 25 to 1,000 square kilometres. They are able to smell food miles away, and fiendishly clever at finding it. In Yellowstone, bears will climb far above the timberline to consume 10,000 to 20,000 army cutworm moths a day. Grizzlies living along the coast of British Columbia don't have to stoop so far down the food chain; they have access to salmon, and are legendary fishers. Alas, as the global village shrinks, big carnivores don't fit any more. Grizzlies are almost exclusively confined to the area of northwest North America that includes British Columbia and Alberta. There are somewhere between 600 and 800 in Alberta, and as many as 13,000 in British Columbia. The B.C. government takes its role as one of the few stewards of this precious resource seriously -- so seriously, in fact, it has reduced the annual grizzly hunt from 6 per cent to 5 per cent of the population. Wait a minute. Did I say grizzly hunt? Does the government allow people to kill these astonishing creatures? Sure. Why not? The NDP imposed a moratorium on the hunt, but not long after they assumed power, the Liberals lifted it, and 213 bears were killed last year. The hunt yields an annual $3.3-million a year, a report released just yesterday says, and when you're faced with the worst performing economy in the country you'll do anything for a buck. But if the government is really interested in economics, the new report contends, grizzlies are worth more alive than dead, and if the hunt is stopped, the revenue from grizzly ecotours will only increase. Crossroads, Economics, Policy and the Future of Grizzly Bears in British Columbia is a joint project of the Raincoast Conservation Society and the innovative Centre for Integral Economics. By examining both the ecotourist and hunting industries, it concludes that bears are worth almost twice as much alive -- $6.1-million annually -- as dead. The aim of the report is to persuade government that the argument of British Columbia's guide-outfitters to maintain the hunt as an economic benefit is flawed. In keeping the hunt going, the B.C. government maintains it is following the guidance of an independent scientific panel that concluded this spring there is no clear evidence that bears are being overhunted in the province. However, it warned that "extreme caution" should guide the hunt. Environmentalists worry that the hunt, combined with poaching, road kill, nuisance kill and the Liberals' relentless cutback on wildlife law enforcement will lead to an unacceptable reduction of the population. And if this new report is right, the economics of bear hunting are suspect. Based on current practices, over the next 20 years, the authors estimate grizzly tourism will be worth $75-million, and grizzly hunting $40-million. Of course, if the hunt contributes to the decline in bear population, that $40-million will seem like a cheap sellout indeed. It's not likely the report will change Water, Air and Land Minister Joyce Murray's mind about hunting grizzlies. She's got the independent science to fall back on. Yet, if the government won't listen to environmentalists when they're being reasonable and basing their arguments on sound economics, it's merely opening the door for green radicals who won't be happy until they shut down all human activity in British Columbia. Meanwhile, according to The Times of London, "royal gunsmith" Holland & Holland, encouraged by the lifting of the ban, is advertising grizzly-hunting expeditions in British Columbia and Alaska for adventurous aristocrats. Under the heading "Sporting Opportunities at a Glance," the purveyors of shotguns to Madonna also offer "black bears, caribou, wolves and wolverines." But grizzlies are the main attraction. If they hurry, their majesties can bag one before they're all gone. psullivan@globeandmail.ca ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2003 10:49:53 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: Victoria: Grizzly photos big business PUBLICATION: The Guardian (Charlottetown) DATE: 2003.06.18 SECTION: News PAGE: A1 / Front COLUMN: Off Island Digest SOURCE: Canadian Press DATELINE: VICTORIA - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Victoria: Grizzly photos big business - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (CP) -- Hunting grizzly bears with cameras bags more money for British Columbia's economy than its current trophy shoot, says a key study due to be released today. Grizzly bear photographers and people who pay to just watch the huge animals in the wild contribute more than $6 million a year to B.C.'s economy -- almost twice the value of the sport hunt, says the Raincoast Conservation Society-funded report. The report concluded B.C.'s grizzly population can sustain its current level of hunting, which takes between 220 and 250 grizzlies each year. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2003 10:52:15 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: Column: TROPHY HUNT TURNS ME OFF PUBLICATION: The Winnipeg Sun DATE: 2003.06.18 EDITION: Final SECTION: News PAGE: 6 BYLINE: LAURIE MUSTARD - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- TROPHY HUNT TURNS ME OFF ABUSE, EXPLOITATION OF WILDLIFE - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Before I take you fishing here in Winnipeg today, I'd like to commend Dick Reeves, executive director, Wildlife Information Network of Manitoba for his pompous and preachy letter to the editor in yesterday's Sun. His sarcastic rebuttal to my "murder most foul" column was noble indeed, heroic even. He blathers well, the only problem being, he -- like the bungling bow hunter who injured the bear in question -- was way off target. I didn't dump on hunting in general, but expressed my unhappiness with sport/trophy hunting. That's it. And listen to this bit of tacky grandstanding: "Mustard's smear on hunters makes a mockery of many of our aboriginal people and their way of life." Not only is he a bad shot, but a cheap one. I am a friend of the aboriginal people and their way of life, including their hunting rights and traditions. The aboriginal way of life is about subsistence, survival, respect for the Earth and its creatures. I'm against trophy hunters who kill just to put the biggest head on the wall, as is Lorne Cochrane, director of special projects, Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, who expressed his disapproval of trophy hunting to me just yesterday. "A murder most foul" was about the disrespect some people have for our wildlife, and had nothing to do with those of any race who responsibly and skilfully hunt for meat, while regulating and maintaining the population. And Mr. Reeves, you are wrong about one more thing. Real bears, just as with any dog, can become friends with a human being, as can dolphins, squirrels, horses and most of the animals on Mother Earth. All it takes is the right circumstances, a little trust and a little love. You say "real bears do not talk." Gee, no kidding. No, they don't speak human languages, but like all creatures out there, they communicate with each other and with us if we pay attention. Maybe you've never loved an animal enough to pay attention to what it has to "say." Ever asked a dog if it wants to go for a "walk?" You can't even get the word out and they're running for their leash. AGAINST NEEDLESS ABUSE The column was not anti-hunting. It was against the needless abuse and exploitation of our wildlife. Pooh on you. OK, fishing. Yesterday morning I had the pleasure of participating in The Fish Winnipeg Media/Corporate Challenge -- a one-day angling event designed to introduce Winnipeggers to the world-class fishery located here in the 'Peg, showcase other urban angling programs, promote angling as a healthy, self-esteem-building outdoor leisure activity for our youth, and to raise money to provide angling opportunities for at-risk, inner-city youth. We managed all of the above. A tidy $17,500 was handed over to the City of Winnipeg's Children and Youth Services. Fabulous adventure. Thanks to my expert guide Mike Dotoli I caught (and released) nine big catfish, the largest measuring 27.5 inches. Three big ones (and they're getting bigger every telling), got away. Man it's beautiful out on our rivers at 6 a.m. Get out there and fish our rivers soon! ------------------------------ End of Cdn-Firearms Digest V6 #177 ********************************** Submissions: mailto:cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Mailing List Commands: mailto:majordomo@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Moderator's e-mail address: mailto:akimoya@cogeco.ca List owner: mailto:owner-cdn-firearms@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca FAQ list: http://www.magma.ca/~asd/cfd-faq1.html and http://teapot.usask.ca/cdn-firearms/Faq/cfd-faq1.html Web Site: http://teapot.usask.ca/cdn-firearms/homepage.html FTP Site: ftp://teapot.usask.ca/pub/cdn-firearms/ CFDigest Archives: http://www.sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca/~ab133/ or put the next command in an e-mail message and mailto:majordomo@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca get cdn-firearms-digest v04.n192 end (192 is the digest issue number and 04 is the volume) To unsubscribe from _all_ the lists, put the next five lines in a message and mailto:majordomo@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca unsubscribe cdn-firearms-digest unsubscribe cdn-firearms-alert unsubscribe cdn-firearms-chat unsubscribe cdn-firearms end (To subscribe, use "subscribe" instead of "unsubscribe".) 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