Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - August 31, 2006, Winnipeg, Manitoba A8 Canada Winnipeg free press thursday August 31, 2006 fighting crime conservatives bolster ramp with Cash it is going to take a Strong ramp expanding and refurbishing the by Karen Brownlee working in partnership with Strong ramp training Academy will Cost local police forces and backed by a another $37 million. Projects include Regina ? investing close to $200 Federal government determined to the mess Hall classrooms dorm Ito million in the ramp will help lower tackle crime to reverse this Ries and a new indoor firing Range. Rising crime rates across the country Harper reaffirmed his govern Many of the facilities Are More than prime minister Stephen Harper told ments May 2 budget commitment of 50-years-old, said Harper. Cadets training at the ramp Academy $161 million in new funding to train another 2,500 front line local police yesterday. 600 More officers and hire 400 civil officers Are to be hired across Canada you Don to need to be a criminologist Ian support staff including Federal Harper said during his speech. His to know that serious crime especially prosecutors. This will be done Over government is currently working with gun gang and drug crime is increase two years. The 400 civilians to be hired provincial governments on this. Fur ing in this country and it is threatening by the ramp Are in addition to those ther details Arent yet available. The Canadian Way of life said Harper. They already have. ? can West news service Power hungry Homes fit Bill for grow Ops by Hydro compiles list of 18,000 by Chad Skelton v Vancouver ? nearly 18,000 Homes in . ? about the same number of residences As in All of West Vancouver ? use suspiciously High amounts of electricity often a Tell tale sign of a marijuana growing operation. Under provincial legislation introduced last Spring municipalities can request a list from by Hydro of All addresses with abnormally High Power consumption ? making it easier for police and City inspectors to target grow ing operations. Abnormal consumption is defined As any residence that uses More than 93 kilo Watt hours Kwh of electricity per Day the average Home uses 31 Kwh a Day. In july the Vancouver Sun filed a free Dom of information request with by Hydro asking How Many of its residential customers fit that definition. The reply 17,900. In comparison there Are 17,299 Homes in West Vancouver. Hydro said it was unable to provide a City by City breakdown of where the High consumption Homes Are located because it has not yet produced any such lists for municipalities. But a rough estimate based on each City a share of .?s population suggests there could be 2,500 High consumption Homes in Vancouver 1,700 in Surrey and 900 in Burnaby. And Delta ? which has just eight offi cers in its entire drug Section ? could soon be getting a list of about 450. Sgt. Harj Sidhu head of the Delta police drug Section said dealing with that volume of tips will be a Challenge. Is it going to be easy no he said. Obviously that a going to mean Well have to come up with some systematic approach to Deal with those numbers. We re going to have to Start whittling that list Sidhu said the drug unit May require extra officers to tackle the list or could risk burnout among his staff. Vancouver police spokesman const. Howard Chow agreed the lists could pose a Challenge. Undoubtedly if the numbers Are huge it will take a while to get through them he said. Growing operations require massive amounts of electricity. But until recently by Hydro citing privacy legislation would Only release information on a Homes electricity con sumption to police or municipal inspectors if they already had an address under investigation. Under the new Law Hydro and other electricity providers will be required to provide ? to any City that asks for it ? a list of All addresses in their jurisdiction with High consumption plus two years Billing records for each address. Sidhu said he Hopes those Billing records will help police decide which of the hundreds of addresses to target ? since the largest growing operations also use the most electricity. Hydro and the police caution that not All Homes with High electricity con sumption Are growing operations. Hot tubs and swimming pools for example can cause increased electricity use. While police will have Access to the electricity consumption lists the information can also be used by City inspectors and fire departments to shut Down growing operations without a criminal investigation. ? can West news service Ignatieff portrayed As Gaffe prone Ottawa ? Michael Ignatieff was portrayed yesterday As a Gaffe prone Amateur by at least one Liberal leadership rival after the presumed front runner was forced to clarify his latest controversial comment. In the most pointed broadside yet against the acclaimed academic Scott Brison said Ignatieff a repeated miscues suggest the Rookie my has poor political judgment and insufficient experience to Lead a National party. These gaffes Are damaging to a leadership Campaign but they will be Termi Nal to a National general election Campaign Brison said. His attack was prompted by what he called Ignatieff a Gaffe of the week ? a refusal to com Mit to running in the next election if he does twin the party a leadership. Depends who a Leader Ignatieff told the Toronto stars editorial Board. ? Canadian press ;