(August 5, 2001 The Province article)

By CHRIS NUTTALL-SMITH
______________________________

VICTORIA--Canada's premiers pledged Friday to create a national sex offender registry and to make it harder for deadbat parents to avoid paying child support.

The leaders gathered at the annual premiers conference in Victoria also said they will work to keep discoveries about genetics in the public domain and will share information about bulk water exports.

The list of resolutions caps a productive three days of meetings for the premiers, who went into the conference Wednesday with deep divisions that some said would scuttle the possibility of progress on key issues such as health care funding. It also marks a minor success for B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell, who chaired the conference.

Campbell said the premiers will work together to create an inter-provincial sex offender database so the provinces can share information when pedophiles move.

Ontario already has a registry in place, British Columbia recently enacted legislation to establish one here, and Alberta is pursuing ways to set up its own.

The others have yet to decide how they'll set up theirs and how they'll be linked.

Ottawa has already agreed to start a national registry based on the existing police database known as CPIC (the Canadian Police Information Computer) by next year. Creating a new system would be costly and unnecessary, federal officials say.

But critics say the CPIC system is out of date.

Campbell said the premiers would debate the issue of how to warn citizens about pedophiles while also considering the offenders' privacy.

"Those are two issues that I think [are] of significance as we look forward in how we apply our sex offender registries," he said.

"But, generally speaking, we believe it's important for the public to know and that's the direction that we're taking in British Columbia."

Speaking for the premiers, Campbell said the provinces will cooperate to ensure parents don't get out of paying child support by moving to another province. In addition, Ontario premier Mike Harris said, the premiers will work to end the practice of discoveries in genetics being patented and made the private property of bio-pharmaceutical companies.

And, responding to Newfoundland Premier Roger Grimes' wish to export bulk water, Campbell said the Western premiers, who oppose bulk water exports and fear exports by one province could trigger free trade provisions opening up such trade anywhere in Canada, will share information with Grimes in hope of dissuading him.

...

Grimes congratulated Campbell--who's been B.C. premier barely two months after winning power in mid-May--for keeping the conference on track.

"I think he took a pretty raucous bunch who are used to getting their own way all the time and found a way to make us work together," he said.

"If I was in British Columbia today I'd vote for Gordon Campbell."

(article accompanied by [ADRIAN WYLD/CANADIAN PRESS] photograph of B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell and other Canadian premiers, captioned:

B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell, who hosted the premiers' conference that ended Friday, listens as Ontario Premier Mike Harris answers a question.)

(text of August 4, 2001 Vancouver Sun article)

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