Bully
By Eric Dowd
Toronto – The
sweetest sound in Ontario politics has been that of whistle-blowing, but
the Liberal government is doing its best to silence it.
This
has been shown in the aptly named `bullygate,’ in which a hospital
official who said government underfunding could harm its services to
patients was fired by the hospital and Health Minister George Smitherman
is suspected of having had a hand in it.
The
incident inevitably will discourage others from speaking up, which will be
a loss, because residents have become more willing to blow the whistle on
inadequacies in public services after decades of being reluctant to take a
public stand.
As
a few examples of many, an informant tipped off the province during the
last days of the preceding Progressive Conservative government a
meat-packing plant was slaughtering and processing for market cattle that
had died before reaching its abattoir.
The
Tories were accused of failing to protect residents and this became a
major issue in last year’s election and helped defeat them. It led to
stricter regulations throughout the industry and a judge ruled the
informant’s identity must be protected.
An
anonymous caller notified the province that long after tainted water
killed seven people at Walkerton a private laboratory still was not
complying with upgraded provincial regulations on testing water and the
province charged the lab.
Two
public-spirited nurses exposed physical abuse of an elderly patient in a
nursing home by means including filming by a hidden camera and helped push
the province into more surprise inspections and funding for staff and a
promise to make sure all homes have councils representing residents and
their families.
A
senior Crown prosecutor conceded some police use racial profiling, viewing
blacks more suspiciously than other residents, although it was Tory
government policy to deny it, and the government warned he had `held
himself out dry,’ but numerous events before and since proved him right.
Some
who blew whistles have been punished. A citizens’ group was given
$70,000 a year by a provincial agency to help the environment and raised
concerns about Conservative plans to allow housing on a moraine north of
Toronto.
The
agency, supposed to be arm’s-length from politicians, warned it would
cut funding unless the group desisted and, when it continued, ended its
grant.
A
lawyer and president of a human rights organization felt a warm glow when
the province sent a letter advising she had been appointed to the Order of
Ontario, its highest honor, for services of great distinction that
enriched its life.
But
she received another letter saying it was a mistake and concluded she must
have offended the Tory government when she spoke up accusing it of failing
to protect English-speaking residents against language discrimination in
Ottawa.
An
administrative assistant at a cancer centre was fired after she attended a
news conference there called by a Tory health minister to announce more
money for treatment and had the effrontery to ask a question in which she
suggested waiting lists for surgery were long, which was about as secret
as the use of radiation to treat patients.
Reporters
interviewed her and she said the long waits place extra stress on patients
and knew this because her mother had cancer. But the centre said she was
not supposed to talk to media and hurt its image.
In
`bullygate’ Smitherman and the hospital have denied he demanded it fire
the official who spoke up and the minister has conceded only he is
forthright and passionate in his job, where he has comparatively few
critics for his policies.
But
there have been other incidents where the health minister has not shown
the most comforting bedside manner and the hospital may have got rid of
its official hoping to placate the testy politician who controls its
funds.
The
Liberals in opposition used to praise whistle-blowers because they
benefited from them, but in government the first time one opposes them
they are happy to see her shut up.
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