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HERALD Opinion Manipulating system wastes time and money The system is meant to serve the public However the hearing involving the Niagara Escarp ment Commission Amendment 52 Is an example of how it can be manipulated to achieve the op posite result Amendment 52 if finally ap proved would ban waste disposal sites on the escarpment That means applicants wanting to establish waste disposal sites on the escarpment would first be re quired to obtain an amendment to the Niagara Escarpment Plan Currently an amendment isnt always required Last week a hearing was scheduled at the town Civic Cen to give supporters and op ponents of the amendment an op portunity to voice their opinion on the proposed waste disposal ban But the opponents Niagara Falls based Walker Brothers Limited and Milton based Reclamations Systems In corporated both waste manage ment firms appeared to have manipulated the system for no other reason than to delay the matter at hand arguing their position concerning the amend ments content First the companies lawyers put forth a preliminary motion The lawyers said the hearing officer didnt have jurisdiction to rule on the amendment because the commission didnt follow the correct circulation procedure in seeking comments from outside agencies on the amendment They said the commission changed the content of Amend ment between the time the Bens Banter By commission initiated it in March and the time the NEC came out support of it that summer The hearing officer said the lawyers would only have jurisdiction to make a ruling once the new version had been cir culated to outside agencies The commission pointed out however changes made to the amendment between March and July reflect concerns raised by the commenting agencies with the amendment was circulated during that time It makes no sense for the NEC to be required to circulate the amendments new version to the same commenting agencies when the amendment now incorporates those concerns Taken to the ex the lawyers line of argu ment could result in a hearing never happening A scenario could evolve in which every time the amendment is circulated and changes are incorporated another circulation period would be required The end result being nothing more than a waste of time and money The hearing officer ruled he had jurisdiction over the amend ment But his decision didnt stop the opponents laywers They turned around and said they would be seeking a judicial review of the hearing officers decision As a result the hearing has been postponed to at least February and maybe longer The approach taken by Walker Brothers and RSI appears to be nothing more than a stall tactic Why else would they be attemp ting to extend the bureaucratic process an amendment goes through before a hearing instead of dealing with the real issue a discussion on the legitimacy of the amendments content Mr Mulroney guilty of petty partisan politics OTTAWA We know its far too much to ask but if Prime Minister Brian Mulroney hopes to have any success in leading a rescue mission on Canadian urn hes going to have to give up petty partisan politics Fat chance you say Youre undoubtedly right The man simply cant resist the to get in some gratuitous shot at his political opponents the consequences be damned It was nothing less than in funatmg to see him engage in his favorite sport again after an that a joint parliamen committee would be established to consider a new amending formula for the Con This was an occasion of all to seek the cooperation of his parliamentary foes those Liberals and New Democrats and perhaps even a represen tative of the Bloc who will be members of such a com mittee But did he It is to laugh It was bad enough that Mr Mulroney didnt consult with the two main opposition parties before announcing his proposed committee to a group of well heeled Tory party supporters But the least he could do was to be conciliatory when he finally reported back to Parliament Again was he Another laugh What he did instead was launch into one of those patented unnecessary and meanspirited attacks on Liberal Leader Jean Chretien once more blaming him for the demise of the Lake Accord This time he added and made a point of repeating it later that when the future of Canada was being decided Mr Chretien was hiding under a pool table in his room NOT NECESSARY Now its probably true the Liberal leader didnt offer much help in fostering support for the Meech accord Like former prime minister Pierre Trudeau in whose cabinet he served Mr Chretien never liked the agree ment and said so But for all of the three years the accord was debated he was a private citizen not even a backbench MP True he was perceived as a leader in waiting but he certainly didnt qualify as the most influential Canadian in constitutional matters If any criticism is justified its that he seemed to waffle on his position as last Junes deadline approached That was the same period you might recall in which the prime minister was later to brag about rolling the dice Mr didnt stop with his accusation of Mr Chretien hiding under a pool table He even attnbuted the present na tionalist movement in Quebec to the Liberal leader Everyone in Quebec and everyone in Canada knows that this new movement that we see toward sovereignty is due to what Mr Chretien has done and said He accused him of uttering dangerous statements to the effect that there would be no great consequences if the accord were ditched This said the prime minister encouraged Newfoundland Premier Clyde Wells and others to try to scuttle the deal Obviously the prime minister wants Canadians and particular Quebecers to believe Mr Chretien is solely responsible for our current constitutional dif ficulties However one would think that even someone so enamored of exaggerated rhetoric must surely realize when it becomes destructive But no he churned onward once again accusing Mr Chretien of campaigning among for renewed federalism in 1980 only to ex elude them from the Constitu tion in 1982 If Mr Mulroney checks some of his speeches hell discover he approved of the Constitutions patnation in and said that regardless of what Ottawa and the other provinces offers there was no way the separatist government of Rene Levesque would agree to constitutional changes Let it be known that Mr Chre tien is not necessarily a paragon of political virtue and is not above his own petty sniping In reaction to the Mulroney outburst he was quick to say Mr Mulroney was responsible for turning the na tional mood to garbage and that the pnme minister didnt have the guts to appear before Quebecs BelangerCampeau commission In some ways Mr Chretiens response was no better than the attack But hes not the prime minister of Canada the man we expect to seek consensus and the man in desperate need of re establishing his own credibility All in all a very shabby per formance Canadian firms linked to chemical weapons trade OTTAWA As Canadian forces brace for combat against Iraq there are concerns at home that domestic industries may have contributed to the Persian Gulf nation s dreaded arsenal of chemical weapons Separate reports from headquarters in Ottawa and a British science journal have link ed Canadian industry to the inter national trade chemical weapons and to the development of some of the deadliest items in the inventory of Iraqi President Saddam Husseins army In a report to the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police the customs and excise bureau states it discovered last year that Canadian com were involved in the trade of chemical weapon precur chemicals and compounds that are combined with others to create weapons say enforcement of federal export control regula tions is difficult Many of the chemicals are harmless and essential ingredients in fertilizers and pesticides And the interna tional trade though tightly regulated is not illegal The investigations must con on conspiracy to violate Canadian andor foreign laws says the report Publicly however the force wont discuss any evidence it may have accumulated We have a policy that we dont confirm investigations Pierre Belanger explained We couldnt risk jeopardizing any in vestigations by being specific on the types of materials the source and where theyre being exported to because it would really tip our hand if in fact we were in vest ting But New Scientist a weekly magazine published in London for the international science com munity identifies Canada as one of countries that have Iraq s chemical weapons program Exports of equipment and chemicals used to build Iraqs chemical arsenal were in some cases shipped through third countries or in falsely labelled packages the magazine reported a threepart examination of Iraqs chemical aresenal The magazines correspondent in Germany where several com pames have been accused of blatantly supporting chemical weapons programs in Libya and Iraq said Saddam has converted fertilizer detergent and pesticide plants to produce chemical gases and nerve agents After speaking with S army officials the magazine reported that 90 per cent of Iraqs chemical stockpile is comprised of skin blistering lung searing mustard gas But the country also produces two of four known deadly nerve agents They take effect on the human body within 30 seconds causing convulsions paralysis and eventually death Defence Department head quarters identified the precursor compounds used to manufacture mustard gas and the nerve agents tabun and sarin Five are included in the export control list administered by the External Af fairs Department One of the Rennie MacKenzie Third World countries with the facilities to manufacture chemical fertilizers and pesticides Some are converting them to produce chemical weapons he said The United Nations has been pressing member countries per sistently for a universal tion and eventual ban on the pro duction and use of chemical and batenological weapons Extensive use of the gases and nerve agents in the Iran Iraq war and Saddams decision to use them on Iraqs own Kurdish population broke an international taboo that had lasted years compounds need only be combin with rubbing alcohol under laboratory conditions to produce sarin External Affairs export con trols division publishes an In formation circular for chemical producers advising manufac turers to be vigilant in their deal ings with foreign buyers But reports that some Cana chemical products are en ding up in weapons laboratories did not surprise Christopher Cushing of the Canadian Institute of Strategic Studies in Toronto The verification process re quired to ensure an exported compound is put to its proper use in the intended country can be costly and difficult for a manufacturer he explained Some companies would be will ing to look the other way some of the time he added KNOWINGLY In Europe some companies have knowingly broken the law and delivered chemical precur sors or technology Cushing said Thee are now more than Berrys World