Face the facts, Mayor Sullivan

One nice perk of certain kinds of jobs is the opportunity to travel.

How nice for Vancouver's Mayor, Sam Sullivan, that he may get to return to Europe so soon after waving our flag around Turino at the Olympics.

The reason for the European tour? A fact-finding mission to see how cities over there deal with their drug problem.

The only problem is, he'll be going on the taxpayers' dime - and so will politicians from other levels of government, if the mayor gets his way.

Here's a fact for you before you head over, Mr. Sullivan: ever heard of the Internet? Or perhaps, the telephone? Why should taxpayers be on the hook for politicians to go slumming in Amsterdam?

This city does have a serious drug problem. Traveling to far off lands in search of a sexy solution is a bad move - particularly when free information and advice is so widely available from public sources already.

For example: How about locking up the drug fiends who commit 90 per cent of the crime in Vancouver instead of letting them back out on the street after a stern warning?

The Vancouverite is taking a poll on this subject right now: the results speak for themselves.

Tags: Sam Sullivan, fact finding mission, waste of money, slumming in Europe