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Home Newspaper of Ha Iron Hills- Established A Division of Canadian Newspapers Company Limited Guelph Street Georgetown L7G 3Z6 Ontario DAVID A BEATTIE Publisher and General Manager Smith has lost all credibility BRIAN MacLEOD Editor Phone DAN TAYLOR Advertising Manager Wednesday Ma What happened Are our ears deceiving us Did we hear right when we heard last week that Halton Region is putting energy from waste on the back burner until theres more public support What happened to all those promises about incinerating 50 per cent of Haltons waste after recycling by 1996 What happened to the commitment made to the Con solidated Hearings Board by Halton to energy from waste as a part of the overall waste management plan during Haltons landfill hearings last year What happened to all those politicians vows to look for energy from waste sites and customers What happened to all those gungho attitudes on what was supposed to be a highly advanced and safe way to burn our garbage What happened to all those dollars spent analyzing energy from waste over the years What happens when we run into another garbage crisis just a few years down the road because Halton refused to attempt to educate the public about energy from waste What happened to the commitment to educate the public in the knowledge there would be public backlash against it What happened Small charges Editors Notebook Brian MacLeod HonUEdltsr When Global television reporter Doug Small goes to court reporters around the rtation will be watching anxiously Mr Small and four others involved in the April 26 federal budget leak is being charg ed with possession of stolen proper ty The charges are expected to deflect some of the criticism the government has been taking over the budget leak Conservatives hope the charges back their claim that the budget leak was an act of sabotage and that Finance Minister Michael Wilson should not resign over an act of sabotage While the charges must have Conservatives rubbing their hands with glee in the back rooms there are some very dangerous underlying precedents being set here all in the name of saving one mans behind The first and most important is that a reporter has been charged with doing his job reporting a document that was banded to him Budgets are like everything else politicians like to keep secret They are fair game if the word gets out The charges seem ludicrous in the light of the whole affair in which Michael Wilson was handing out the documents the night he presented the budget to the press before parliament got a look at it Do reporters have to ask politi cians for permission to publish in formation that politic ans dont want you to know until theyre good and ready from now on If thats the case the socalled wat chdog of government role the media is supposed to play will be more like that of a pussy cat Lets think for a moment what would have happened if Doug Small hadnt done his job No revelation of the second and more potentially damaging budget leak to Mutual Life insurance Queens Park Derek Nelson Thomson Htm Service TORONTOAs minister responsi for the police Solicitor General Joan Smith has lost all credibility Every time she explains further about her nighttime visit to the Lucan Ontario Provincial Police detachment in April it makes less sense She has said she went to check on the well being of a friend s son at the behest of the man s sister who alleged police brutality Leader Bob Rae made the point to her in the legislature I wonder if the does not understand that simply by being there simply by stating what she was there for and why she was there and by making a further phone call two hours later does she not realize that in doing each of those things in fact she was volving herself in the case so that the made a report to that ef feet Does she not therefore realize that her conduct as solicitor general for this province in uivolv ing herself a private matter was completely and utterly map To put Raes comments another way it is a cardinal principle of our justice system that the political masters responsible for justice the attorney general and solicitor general remain divorced from its day today workings Otherwise how does one avoid impressions of favoritism and special access Smith- seems oblivious to the ramifications She continues to deny any error judgement she t explain why Premier David Peterson had to agonize his word over whether to ask her to resign if no mistake was made Now made it infinitely worse In the legislature wanted to know what happened to all those people in trouble with the police who do not know the solicitor general I very much question whether would have done much different if it had been someone else s child in the same distress she replied noting her number is in the phone book That as both opposition New Democrats and Tories said is unbelievable HUMAN BEING Initially when was thought she did this for a fnerds children Peterson shrugged it away with the comment that she s the solicitor general but shes also a human being Yet now she suggesting it wasn t even anguish for a family friends child that triggered her nocturnal wandering She would have done it for anybody Her visit wasnt a once- a lifetime slipup but deliberate policy It shows she doesn t have the faintest clue about the need for an arm slength relationship between a minister and the OPP This compounds by several magnitudes her initial two wrongs of visiting and failing to apologize There is a cliche the Liberals us ed to spout a lot when in opposition that applies quite clearly to Smiths actions the admimstra of justice must not only be pure but be seen to be pure But then unlike what the Grits view as sanctimonious New Democrats and sleazy Tones Liberals know the are pure They don t have to prove it or display it That explains why the Liberals thought the principle of distance between a minister and the justice system important enough to de mand the resignation of George Kerr then Conservative solicitor general when he breached this principle in Kerr phoned an assistant Crown attorney about a constituent in his riding who was due for sentencing not as I said here recently up on charges Hed already been con and the Crown was weighing recommendations to make to the judge for sentencing This makes the SmithPeterson reaction even more odious by com since Kerr unlike Smith didnt talk to his own employees or contact the authorities the judge in Kerrs case versus the police in Smiths who were actually mak ing the decisions on the people in The opposition parties are right Smith should go because there would be no RCMP investigation That would leave future budgets even more suscepti to fall into the hands of private companies DouC Small did Canadians a favor Then theres the constant calls for Michael Wilsons resignation At first I tended to believe he should lean on his reputation for in tegrity weather the storm and let the voters decide in three years Now with evidence that there was a second budget leak and that Mr Wilson never told Canadians about it its clear that the reputation for integrity is no longer a foundation to lean on Mr Wilson has destroyed a tradition That being if the budget leaks before its presented to the nation the finance minister accepts responsibility and resigns Fine for him I sup pose But what about future budgets Any budget which leaks to reporters from now on can be ex plained away as an act of sabotage for which the finance minister of the day should not have to be responsible Thats the reason for the tradi tion behind the finance ministers resignation in case 01 a budget leak The Conservatives have seen fit to sweep the tradition away for their own expedience Oh yes and then theres those pathetic excuses that Michael Wilson shouldnt resign because the stock market will be nervous MP Garth Turner reiterated that line briefly during his appearance on the CBC news program The Journal last week That line is hogwash If a few big investors feel nervous because their man has to resign following a scandal tough Weve survived for years without Michael Wilson thank you and well sur vive another 122 years The first four years of Prime Minister Brian Mulroneys govern ment was plagued by scandals Remember those promises of a clean slate when the Conservatives the Liberals in Its obvious one Canadian judge was right on when he ruled a few years back that such promises are mere puffery Bill will breathe new life into rates Hy MacKENZIE Ottawa Bureau Thomson News Service to a iheatre near you its the loth race exac with Cocktail Belle and all her stablemates Its the legendary sport of kings running a length ahead of century old inhibitions and gaining quickly on spaceage technology Within a year many Canadians will likely be indulging in the latest gambling trend betting theatres where horse races will be beamed in on television screens live via satellite Legislation amending the Criminal Code lo allow betting theatres to operate as extensions of race tracks has been passed by the House of Commons and awaits Senate approval The bill is expected lo breathe new life into a troubled business that was once the most refined form of legalized gambling but which has suffered from a glut of governmentsponsored lotteries and the introduction of casinos in several provinces Sometime next year the first theatre will open likely in Nor thern Ontario where the only track Sudbury Downs and the local have been anxious ly waging for lo ap prove the bill Like many tracks Sudbury Downs had closed because of limited attendance and betting But track owner Pat Mclsaac assured MPs he will reopen with the expanded market that betting theatres will provide Sudbury Downs and other tracks across the cou try will be opening the theatres in smaller towns and cities hat do not have tracks The theatres will be allow ed lo serve liquor and food to rac ing enthusiasts About 20 per cent of the bets will be shared by the federal and provincial govern the horsemen and breeders and the track The re mainder goes the bettors who pick the winning horses There has been very little opposi tion to the betting theatre concept which was introduced in the United States Charles director of the Agriculture Departments race track division said the general acceptance is due to a change in public attitudes also said all provinces are commit ted to the project and should soon be ready to license the theatres MINIMUMS When he presented the Criminal Code amendments in the Com mons Agriculture Minister Don Mazankowski promised that the theatres would not be to evolve into on street betting shops There will be minimum seating food and beverage re quirements and betting activity will be restrained The theatres will be operated as extensions not replacements of the tracks he ad ded Mazankowski also promised benefits from the operation of the theatres New jobs will be created in the service and support sectors and fresh income will be available to the tracks and breeders who have seen betting revenues shrink by more than per cent It also means more money for the federal and provincial govern The minister said the government cut of the take is at its probable upper limit and the percentage will not bejnereased However the expanded market is certain to boost the bet ting volumes The experience shows theatres attract a great many infrequent track patrons and draw a substantial number of first time bettors said Ontario with its many tracks could see a hike of five to 10 per cent in its share of parimutuei revenues Quebec where the tracks are farther apart could see a in crease he said