The Vancouver Sun from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada • 6

Moored dragon boats await their paddlers on a sunny patch of False Creek. ian lindsay, Vancouver sun SECTION The Vancouver Sun LOWER MAINLAND FORMER PRISON TO BECOME KIDS' CAMP I B3 OLD ANCHOR MAY BE PIECE OF HISTORY I B8 EDITOR VALERIE CASSELTON 604-605-2125 THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2003 FINAL EDITION B.C. is Martin's first stop after securing a majority of Liberal delegates jL Mf 1 ait i 1 A Air India trial in peril: lawyer Could 'go off rails' over funding, says counsel for accused A i i i ft i 1 tali 1 ---T, 1 nn iiiimiiiiiiii jiin i iiiiiulniiiiiT iiiiimi i nil tm i i iMmitMouiiMMtir KEITH ANDERSONCANADIAN PRESS If A gesturing Premier Gordon Campbell talks with Paul Martin before a helicopter tour of burned-out Louis Creek, near Kamloops, Wednesday. BY KIM BOLAN VANCOUVER SUN The Air India trial "could go off the rails" unless a funding conflict between accused bomber Ripu-daman Singh Malik and the B.C. government is resolved, B.C.

Supreme Court was told Wednesday. Richard Peck, lawyer for co-accused Ajaib Singh Bagri, made the comment as the trial was adjourned for the second time in five days. He said he was only agreeing to the week-long adjournment in the hope that Malik and the ministry of the attorney-general can resolve their impasse and the trial can resume next Wednesday. "It is with great reluctance that we are prepared to consent to this adjournment given that it is short adjournment and given that it may result in something good coming from the time spent and recognizing if it doesn't, this trial could go off the rails," Peck told Justice Ian Bruce Josephson, adding that his client's rights are affected by a delay. "Whether we would be prepared to consent again is highly doubtful.

Mr. Bagri has been ready to go for quite some time. He has never caused one delay in the course of this trial." Josephson said that the adjournment seemed to be the only way to get the trial back on track. "It is most regrettable that the trial is being adjourned in this fashion," he said. "To state the obvious perhaps, the interests of justice require that this issue be resolved with haste so that this trial can proceed." Malik was receiving funding from the B.C.

government for his defence team until last Friday when another B.C. Supreme Court judge ruled that he remains a multimillionaire and is not entitled to any more public money. gnu Martin tours fire-ravaged towns PRIME MINISTER IN WAITING I Liberal front-runner praises the spirit of communities, firefighters BY CRAIG McINNES VANCOUVER SUN television I know that the people of British Columbia and the people of Canada are very proud of you." Both Campbell and Martin noted the importance of the fact that Martin has come to B.C. in the first week since locking up the delegates he needs to win the Liberal leadership at the November convention. Martin said he wants to show that he is serious about improving relations between Ottawa and British Columbia.

"Western alienation is real. It is minister, Jean Chretien, when asked about federal fire aid. Martin noted that Chretien had promised help when he was here but added that he hopes it comes soon. "I do believe it's not only a question of compensation but how quickly it can come." Martin said the spirit shown here is a manifestation of the spirit that built the country, a century ago. "Premier Campbell, you can feel very, very proud of what the people of your province have done here, and I must say, Premier Campbell, having watched you on upscale subdivisions of Kelowna, where more than 230 houses were destroyed.

At a press conference in a Kelowna fire hall, Martin showered praise on the community, the firefighters and the premier as he promised to close the gap between Ottawa and the West. "You are a tremendous, tremendous tribute to your province, obviously to your city, but more importantly, I think, to your country," he told the Kelowna firefighters who were lined up behind him. But while he was quick to praise, Martin could only refer to the promises made by the real prime KELOWNA He is still officially just an ordinary MP, but Paul Martin was treated like the prime minister he will soon become as he toured the fire-ravaged Interior of B.C. Wednesday on his first trip outside Ottawa since sewing up the Liberal leadership last weekend. B.C.

Premier Gordon Campbell took Martin on a helicopter tour of the small communities of Barriere and Louis Creek north of Kamloops Wednesday, followed by a swing on the ground through the See LAWYER SAYS B2 Catholics criticized for ousting VanCity See COUPLE WHO B2 BY DOUGLAS TODD VANCOUVER SUN Province gets Olympic bills, but little control I ft WMWmMMMM, ''AiMinnBIHI Public opinion appears to be running against the Catholic archdiocese's decision to sever ties with VanCity Credit Union for supporting the homosexual community. Catholic church officials and VanCity directors say most of the calls they have received in response to Wednesday's Vancouver Sun story on the issue have criticized Archbishop Adam Exner for cancelling a longstanding educational partnership with the giant credit union because of its pro-homosexual advertising and sponsorships. "Most of the feedback we're getting is negative regarding our decision to withdraw from the program," acknowledged archdiocese spokesman Paul Schratz, noting responses have come from Catholics and non-Catholics. After conducting more than 25 media interviews Wednesday, Schratz said he wished more news outlets were able to explain the complex moral issues behind Exner's demand that four Greater Vancouver Catholic schools drop out of VanCity's junior cies even though it is paying the greatest share of the costs. To get what it wants, the B.C.

government has to finesse, lobby or bludgeon the other directors for support, which may prove to be difficult. The first thing on its list should be to persuade the unpaid directors to fill the 20th spot with a British Columbian and from its point of view someone sympathetic to the government. The smart thing would be to get three-quarters of the directors to agree on the chairman and then give him or her the 20th spot so that Victoria still has three more appointments. When it comes to chairman, it's overruns the OCOG the organizing committee of the Olympic Games incurs. But the provincial government has no direct control over the OCOG or its board.

Victoria can appoint just three of the 20 directors and there is no requirement that the majority of the directors be from British Colum-bia. As a result of the Canadian Olympic Committee having seven appointments to the board, eight of the 20 directors are from outside B.C. Even with 11 of 20 directors from B.C., it would be a stretch to suggest that all of them share the provincial government's interests. It's unlikely, for example, that the one director representing the Lil'wat and Squamish First Nations will always have paral lel interests with the B.C. government The same could be said for Char-maine Crooks, an athlete representative to the International Olympic Committee and an automatic appointment on the board, or Judy Rogers, Vancouver's city manager and one of its two directors, or Peter Dhillon, a Richmond businessman and one of Ottawa's three directors.

And without control of the board, Campbell and his government cannot hand-pick the chairman or the chief executive who will be directly responsible for all that money. Without a hand in the choice of those two key players, the premier also has no assurance that his government will get the lion's share of the credit when it comes to Olympic benefits and lega DAPHNE BRAMHAM VANCOUVER SUN COLUMNIST Premier Gordon Campbell has an Olympic-sized problem. He has committed B.C. taxpayers to pay hundreds of millions of dollars for the 2010 Winter Games as well as any cost See SIKHS AT B2 See JACK POOLE B2 BURNABY 2282 Holdom Ave. just south of Lougheed 604-291-6922 Bring Your Home to Life with Arlene's Custom Draperies Thanksgiving, Halloween, Christmas the entertaining season is fast approaching so now's the time to let Arlene's Interiors create the home you've always dreamed about.

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