Resort
By Eric Dowd
Toronto – Ontarians have had
only one chance to see what really goes on behind closed doors in cabinet
meetings and it must have shocked them as much as if they had discovered
the premier and ministers drinking and playing cards.
A
court had ordered normally confidential minutes of cabinet meetings
produced and they showed some high-ranking, well-known ministers
ill-informed, unaware of what they were getting into and putting party
interests ahead of the public’s, and oddly junior ministers thought of
as lightweights contributing the most common sense.
The
records were asked for in a battle over the ownership of Minaki Lodge, a
picturesque northwestern resort so far off the beaten track few Ontarians
ever saw it, but which has had a large influence in the province’s
politics.
It
also helped the Progressive Conservatives win an election and is probably
the most lasting symbol of the danger of government taking over private
enterprise. Minaki has now burned to the ground, but it deserves an
obituary.
The
resort was losing money and having difficulty keeping open approaching the
election of 1975 and the Tories under premier William Davis were concerned
local residents would lose their jobs and their party would lose seats
throughout the north.
The
Tories feared particularly losing the riding of Natural Resources Minister
Leo Bernier, Davis’s chief lieutenant and often called Emperor of the
North, which included Minaki.
The
province first tried subsidies and then took ownership and poured money in
and Bernier was able to retain his riding and the Tories to win a minority
government.
The
Tories spent $40 million on renovating and subsidizing the operating of
the lodge, but still could not make it profitable and the Liberal
government, which ousted them in 1985, cut its losses and sold it to a
hotel chain for the best offer, a paltry $4 million.
Davis’s
Tories lost larger amounts creating a company through which they planned
to develop and sell high-tech rail systems for commuters and buying part
of Suncor Inc., supposedly as
a window through which they could watch the oil industry.
But
Minaki is commonly seen as the simplest and clearest example of government
venturing into the private sector and getting its fingers burned and
warning to stay out.
The
records of cabinet discussions were produced in court in 1988 after the
owner from whom the province acquired Minaki sued for compensation,
claiming the politicians pressured him to hand over.
The
prime movers in urging the takeover were local MPP Bernier and industry
and tourism minister Claude Bennett. Bennett recommended it and argued
with the rising cost of gasoline more residents would vacation in their
own province.
Bennett
said also the province set up and was operating the Ontario Science Centre
and Ontario Place in Toronto and it could as easily run a resort in
northwestern Ontario.
Bernier
argued if the resort was allowed to close, innocent people living in a
wider area would suffer and residents throughout northwestern Ontario were
united in wanting to keep it open.
Treasurer
John White said `let’s agree to this’ and Davis’s only recorded
comment was `the problem with Minaki is that it is under-financed’ -- he
clearly favored the takeover and in any case cabinet would never have
passed it without his approval.
Just
as enlightening was the opposition expressed by two lesser ministers not
on a par with the far-sighted lawyers and hard-headed businessmen at the
top levels of cabinet.
Fern
Guindon said the province was `being taken on this and we will be on a
long term basis.’
Syl
Apps, the former hockey star the Tories did not consider smart enough to
run a senior ministry, warned the province was being `conned and the
reason no-one else wants this lodge is because it will not be a viable
operation. We will not make money on this and we will have to put more
money in year after year.’
This was another lesson from Minaki -- the top people in government do not necessarily have the right answers.
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