[mainstream news on the chretien demo in vancouver last night. piper

kissed chretien's ass in 1997, last night chretien returned the favour

...]





Protesters gather outside Chretien speech 

STEVE MERTL



October 21, 1999



VANCOUVER (CP) - About 200 people, some protesting massive rent hikes for

aboriginal land they lease, gathered outside a downtown hotel Wednesday

evening where Prime Minister Jean Chretien was speaking at a Liberal

fund-raiser.



The leases, initially $400 a year for the lots in south Vancouver, were

raised in 1995 to an average $10,000 a month and now are set at an average

$22,000 a month. Police kept a close watch on the protesters, who chanted

anti-government slogans, in an effort to block a repeat of the so-called

riot at the Hyatt when Chretien spoke at the hotel last December.



That protest resulted in a handful of injuries and several arrests after

some demonstrators tried to break through a police line at the posh

downtown hotel's entrance.



Police blamed the 1,200 protesters for bursting out of the designated area

and taking over the hotel in front of the street. Protest organizers said

the police overreacted.



Police and some protest organizers met before Wednesday's event to work

out ground rules. 



Organizer Garth Mullins of Democracy Street said this year, the coalition

of activist groups was focusing on economic globalization and Canada's

role in the World Trade Organization, which is holding a major ministerial

conference in Seattle next month. 



Inside the hotel, Chretien's speech to about 1,400 people reiterated most

of the generalities contained in last week's throne speech. 



The Liberals plan to "create a society of excellence" in the 21st century

through bolstering education and child development and knowledge-based

industries, along with paying down the debt, he said. 



In the 21st century, Canada will be a diverse society "where prosperity is

not limited to the few but is shared by the many," he said. 



Chretien went out of his way to praise his B.C. caucus members, who don't

get much respect locally. 



He also singled out Dr. Martha Piper, president of the University of B.C.,

who he said played a key role in a plan announced in the throne speech to

create 1,200 chairs of research excellence at Canadian excellence. 



"This is a bold new plan for a brain gain not a brain drain," he said. 



Chretien's western visit came as federalist forces savoured victories

against sovereigntists in Quebec. 



Recent polls suggest support for sovereignty is slipping in the province

and on Wednesday, a Quebec court struck down a provision of Quebec's

contentious language law that required French lettering on outdoor signs

to be twice as big as any other language. 



Chretien is under pressure from within his own caucus to back off on plans

to set federal ground rules for any future referendum on sovereignty.

Quebec backbenchers fear a backlash if Ottawa takes a tough stand. 







 The Canadian Press, 1999