Lawn-care firms seek charges against health officials

Source: Globe and Mail

MARTIN MITTELSTAEDT

From Friday's Globe and Mail (correction included)
Published on Friday, Jan. 29, 2010 12:00AM EST

Last updated on Saturday, Jan. 30, 2010 8:44AM EST

ENVIRONMENT REPORTER

An individual representing Ontario lawn-care companies is trying to have Criminal Code charges levied against doctors, public health officials and environmentalists who publicly lobbied the province to institute a ban on the cosmetic use of pesticides around homes.

Among the 23 named are prominent employees or volunteers at the Canadian Cancer Society, Ontario College of Family Physicians, and Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment.

The request for charges was made this week in Kingston, where a justice of the peace has set a mid-February date to hear allegations that the individuals broke the law in their arguments against pesticides, and to decide whether charges are warranted.

In a separate action earlier this month, the same individual also asked for charges against Ontario Environment Minister John Gerretsen and five senior officials involved in creating the pesticide ban, which came into force last spring on Earth Day.

Having charges instituted against government officials is considered to have little chance of proceeding.

"I cannot think of any case ever where an individual minister or civil servant has been held civilly liable because the legislature or the cabinet adopted a law," said Dianne Saxe, a Toronto environmental lawyer.

Environmentalists, meanwhile, say the case highlights the need for laws protecting them from frivolous legal disputes by companies or individuals opposed to regulatory actions.

Gideon Forman, executive director of Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, one of those named, says making the case for laws is a key part of the political process and shouldn't be subject to legal action.

"It's exactly what a democracy is about. You make comment to government when legislation is being considered," he said.

The pesticide case was launched by Kingston resident Jeffrey Lowes, a former insurance salesman who says his effort has the backing of about 400 residential lawn companies.

In documents at a Kingston court over the request for charges, Mr. Lowes alleges that Mr. Gerretsen and his staff committed fraud by using deceit to ban bug and weed killers, costing the industry more than $300-million.

Kate Jordan, a ministry spokesperson, said it has not seen the claims.

Other court documents claimed the activists used false information to justify municipal pesticide bans that preceeded Ontario's provincewide prohibition, which it claims was a criminal-code offence of trying to influence municipal councillors through deceit.

In an interview, Mr. Lowes said the basis for this allegation is an Ontario College of Family Physicians study on the health effects of pesticides issued in 2004 that concluded the chemicals were harmful.

Mr. Lowes alleges the study contained false information because one of its expert reviewers, a Health Canada scientist, when contacted by him through e-mail, said she wasn't aware her name was in the document until after it was published. "So the medical report they relied on was falsified," he contended.

The college defended the study, saying it stands behind its conclusions. "There are no grounds to declare that I personally or the Ontario College of Family Physicians presented false information to government," said Jan Kasperski, the college's chief executive officer, and one of those named in the court documents.

Pesticide bans have been fertile ground for legal actions. One of the first municipal bans in the country, in Hudson, Que., led to a Supreme Court case. Quebec's ban prompted weed killer-maker Dow Agrosciences to file a notice for an arbitration claim against the federal government under the investor protection provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Lawn pesticide bans are currently under consideration in both Nova Scotia and British Columbia.

Editor's note: An earlier online version of this story and the original newspaper version incorrectly stated that Dow Agrosciences filed a notice for arbitration under the North American Free Trade Agreement over Ontario's cosmetic pesticide ban. The notice was over Quebec's ban. This online version has been corrected.

Rambo on death row as city, owners battle over breeding

Source:Brampton Gaurdian
Friday January 29 2010
By PAM DOUGLAS

Rambo wasn't hurting anyone.

No one had complained about the young dog, he hadn't escaped 75-year-old Maria Gaspar's Vodden Street yard, and he had never bitten anyone.

But Rambo and his sister, Brittany, are on death row at the City of Brampton's Animal Shelter right now while their owners are embroiled in a battle to get their beloved pets back before they are euthanized. The deadline- Feb. 5.

Both dogs were seized from separate homes on Jan. 13 by city animal control officials who said they believed the dogs to be pitbulls.

Their owners say that's not true, and both say they have proof from veterinarians tracing their backgrounds as boxers/American bulldogs.

The city's veterinarian has a conflicting opinion, according to a letter sent to the Branco family, who own Brittany.

Gaspar is heartbroken. The senior citizen can't understand why Rambo was seized. She said the confusing part is, the city has licensed Rambo as a boxer/American bulldog cross for the past two years. His vaccination certificate from North Town Veterinary Hospital classifies his breed as a boxer cross. And, no one who has seen the dog has ever thought he was a pitbull, according to the distraught Gaspar.

The city told Gaspar that no one had complained about Rambo. He had not escaped the back yard. If anything, he made passersby laugh the way he would jump up onto the roof of his dog house to look over the fence, she said.

But it was that quirky little habit that led to him being removed from his home and held by the city under threat of euthanasia.

A passing animal control officer spotted Rambo on his perch in December, looking over the six-foot fence, and told Maria Gaspar she had to move the doghouse because Rambo could escape. Gaspar agreed, but then the issue of Rambo's breed came up. She was told to get a letter from her veterinarian attesting to the dog's breed, and to have him neutered. Gaspar said she got the required letter, and an estimate for neutering, and gave both to the city.

In response, the city sent a letter telling Gaspar there is no completed certificate from a veterinarian, and that "Rambo has been confirmed to be a pitbull by his parentage as well as the characteristics as defined in the City of Brampton Dog By-law..."

The bylaw defines a pitbull as a pitbull terrier, Staffordshire bull terrier, American Staffordshire bull terrier, American pitbull terrier, or "a dog that has an appearance and physical characteristics that are substantially similar to those dogs."

"It's not, it's not pitbull," said Gaspar emphatically, struggling for the English words to describe her upset. She can't talk about Rambo without crying.

"This problem is like a son problem," she said, emphasizing how important Rambo is to her. "Now, I no have dog, I no have money, I no have nothing... It's not fair."

They can't fight the city because her family doesn't have any money for a lawyer, she said, but Rui Branco is taking on the fight for both dogs.

His family owns Brittany, and they are in a similar predicament. Like Rambo, there were no complaints or allegations of biting against Brittany. The licence for Brittany's father, Tyson, was due for renewal, and an animal control officer went to the Branco's house to collect the $20. She was told Tyson was given away to a friend, but that's when the issue of Brittany's lineage arouse, according to Branco.

He has hired a lawyer who is preparing to file a motion in court to get the dogs back.

"This is an injustice," Branco said, pointing out how ironic it is that he will not only have to pay a lawyer to fight for his family's dog, but, as a resident of Brampton, he will also contribute to the cost of defending the city.

Tyson, also Rambo's father, was also licensed by the city at one time, although Branco said the family did not realize the city had classified him as a pitbull, especially since he was born in December 2005, one full month after the grace period for owning a pitbull. If he was a pitbull, Branco said, the city should not have issued a licence to him at all. But, he says, the real mistake was labeling him a pitbull in the first place.

He has the microchip paperwork for Tyson, and a veterinarian's letter, stating, "He is in my opinion a healthy and well-socialized pet and is a cross between an American Bulldog and a Boxer."

A second veterinarian, Dr. David Kirkham of the Cheltenham Veterinary Centre, has added a letter stating Brittany's mother, Jersey, is "unquestionably a purebred boxer."

"I don't understand why they are fighting me so hard on this," he said. "Brittany doesn't look anything like a pitbull."

The Branco's said the city did not have a warrant to seize Brittany when they arrived on Jan. 13, and Rui's brother, John, confronted the city worker, who then called for backup. Several police officers and other city animal control officials arrived, and, ultimately, the dog was handed over. However, the Branco's argue they were intimidated into willingly turning over their pet and feel proper procedure (a warrant) was not followed.

For their part, the city is considering four charges against the Branco family- owning a pitbull born after Nov. 29, 2005 in relation to Brittany and in relation to Tyson, failing to licence a pitbull, transferring a pitbull without consent of the poundkeeper and permitting a pitbull to breed.

The Gaspar family faces one charge of owning a pitbull.

Officer flips York region police cruiser

Source: National Post
By Laura Blenkinsop, National Post

McCowan Road was closed for over 10 hours today after a York Regional Police officer lost control, flipped his cruiser and crashed into a hydro pole in Markham.

The officer was traveling southbound on McCowan Road at 4:40 a.m. when he lost control of his vehicle said Const. Rebecca Boyd. He was taken to hospital with what were originally thought to be serious injuries but they were downgraded to minor injuries.

Highway 7 to the 401 on McCowan was closed until 3 p.m. while police investigated, said Sgt. Laurie Perks. The cause of the crash is still unknown.

The crash caused a power outage for one address on McCowan Road, said PowerStream spokesperson Debbie Conte. Hydro crews had to wait for police to clear the scene before they could start repairing the pole.

Ms. Conte said once crews went in to change the pole, more customers were affected with the power outage lasting the majority of the business day.

She said power has now been restored except to traffic lights at Highway 7 and McCowan Road. A police officer is directing traffic.

A rough decade for justice

Source:National Post
Father Raymond J. de Souza,
National Post
Published: Thursday, December 31, 2009

Ten years ago the television series Due South went off the air. Don't remember it? The first-ever Canadian-made series on an American network prime-time schedule, Due South was also one of the more popular series on Canadian television. The friendly Mountie in America was the premise, using Canadian politeness, cleverness and kindness to capture Chicago's bad guys.

That was so last century, when the RCMP was thought to be one of the proudest boasts of our country. No more. Perhaps no other Canadian institution had a rougher decade than the RCMP. The new year will bring the report of the Braidwood inquiry, which will authoritatively tell us what its hearings have already revealed, namely that an unarmed man died in the Vancouver airport following extreme RCMP recklessness or incompetence, and then the force lied to cover it up.

This past year also brought the criminal convictions in the 2005 Mayerthorpe killings of four RCMP officers. Had the RCMP conducted the Mayerthorpe raid with more patience and competence, it is very unlikely that four officers would have been killed by one gunman. Ashamed and angered by the losses, the RCMP set out to convict someone of being an accomplice. The murderer was already dead, and it would be embarrassing to formally acknowledge that one man, under siege, was able to outwit, with deadly results, four RCMP officers. So our national police force did what it often does when faced with a difficult murder case with no credible evidence -- they resorted to the "Mr. Big sting" operation. It's an entrapment technique of such coercion, deception and apparent criminality that police forces in the United States and Britain are barred from using it. The RCMP likes it because it gets convictions, even if wrongfully obtained.

The discrediting of the RCMP is only one part of a larger story. During the Aughts we learned that abuse of power in the criminal justice system is not rare. The system is corrupt. Not the corruption of bribing a judge, but rather the deeper corruption of a system which seeks convictions rather than the truth. It is the corruption of a system that puts innocent people in jail.

Canadians might think this is an old story. Didn't Donald Marshall in the 1980s and David Milgaard in the 1990s already teach us these lessons? We know now that those cases were only remarkable for their novelty. Miscarriages of justice are not rare. Wrongful convictions no longer make the front page -- one comes to light every few months. The Aughts brought us the Goudge inquiry, revealing that for 20 years in Ontario, innocent parents were put in jail for raping and killing their own children. The villain that time was a corrupt pathologist who enjoyed the necessary connivance of the police and crown prosecutors. We also discovered this past year that Ontario crown prosecutors routinely and illegally enlisted the police to help them rig the jury pool.

Whether in matters as gross as that, or more trivial, we have seen that the extreme powers granted to our police, prosecutors and courts are often abused to the detriment, as is always the case, of the poor and the marginal. The ongoing crisis in legal aid means that many who need it can't get it, and those who do get it often get something very inadequate indeed. Pity anyone other than the very wealthy who is targeted by the police and prosecutors. Better that he is guilty, for he is likely to be ground up anyway. Consider just one example -- the decision of the Ontario government to continue enforcing its street racing law after two courts have already ruled it unconstitutional on the straightforward grounds that it does not permit the accused to offer a defence.



The next decade will see the corruption of our criminal justice system come to a head. A wilfully obtuse federal government is determined to create more criminal offences, impose longer jail sentences and grant the prosecutorial state ever more powers. At the same time as this bureaucratic arm of the state is being engorged with more raw power, the new communications environment will expose more of its corruption. (Absent the video footage, the RCMP in Vancouver would have quietly shipped Robert Dziekanski off to the morgue and placed an exculpatory and fraudulent report in the file.) These two trends, along with the power of DNA technology to exonerate the innocent currently in our jails, will consistently highlight the abuses of power in the criminal justice system.

The Aughts have taught us that criminal justice is not immune from the incompetence and abuses which mark other powerful bureaucracies -- whether they be health care or public works, General Motors or the chancery offices of the Church. Perhaps by 2019, with saner criminal laws, more intelligent incarceration and massively more legal assistance for criminal defendants, our criminal justice system may become more worthy of the name.

Hearing postponed against officers

Source:The Observer
A police services act hearing into discreditable conduct charges against two Sarnia officers that was scheduled to begin this morning has been postponed.

The hearing against constables Steven Wyville and Patrick Nahmabin was cancelled this morning due to an unforeseen illness involving the hearing officer. No date has been set to reschedule the hearing.


Article ID# 2276333

Deal turns Ontario into Third World province

Source: Ottawa Citizen
Saturday, January 23, 2010
By Randall Denley , The Ottawa Citizen


The deal had a familiar shape. One partner was a successful international consortium with deep pockets and manufacturing expertise, the other a backward jurisdiction so hungry for jobs that it had to pay the big company what amounts to a bribe to do the deal. The whole thing was arranged directly with the jurisdiction’s leader without the bother of competition. It’s the kind of deal one might expect in the Third World, except that it was Ontario on the Third World side of the equation.


The $7-billion “green energy” deal that Premier Dalton McGuinty made this week with South Korean corporation Samsung was a stark reminder of what a basket case this province has become and how short-sighted our leadership is.


Ontario’s manufacturing economy has collapsed in large part because it is a branch-plant operation driven not by innovation or entrepreneurship, but by government “incentives” for foreign-owned automakers. For McGuinty, the lesson from our economic decline is not that we need to foster innovation, entrepreneurship and homegrown Ontario companies. Instead, the lesson is to give new incentives to other foreign-owned companies that will come here if the deal is sweet enough.


According to the official rhetoric, Ontario is an extremely attractive place to do business. We think that our education system, our health care, our skilled workers, our decreasing business taxes and our proximity to the U.S. market give us great advantages. On top of that, Ontario has a Green Energy Act, which pays producers of wind power four times the market rate for electricity and solar power producers nearly 15 times the going rate.


None of that, however, was enough to persuade industrial giant Samsung and its partners to invest 10 cents in Ontario. That’s where McGuinty’s $437-million incentive comes in. That’s what we’re paying to get 1,440 manufacturing jobs. There is nothing like a subsidy of $303,000 a job to make a company say, “You know, Ontario is a darn good place to invest.”


McGuinty chose to attribute Samsung’s decision to the brilliance of his Green Energy Act, which he called the best of its kind in North America. It’s a bit like a millionaire walking into a cathouse and thinking the girls like him because he’s the best-looking fella in the room.


There are numerous Ontario companies trying to get a foothold in the green energy business. If the government had cut a similar deal to support made-in-Ontario innovation, it could perhaps have been justified. Instead, it is slamming the door on these Ontario companies right in their own backyard.


Companies are lined up to produce the costly new power, but there is a shortage of transmission capacity. In addition to the big subsidy, Samsung gets to be first in line to use the province’s wires for the wind and solar power it will create as part of the deal. That will shut out our own companies.


It is interesting to note Samsung has developed into a world industrial power partly because the South Koreans had the foresight to protect their companies from foreign competition back in the 1960s. That was when McGuinty’s predecessors were ecstatic because they were wooing American auto assembly plants. Even in that field, South Korea has clobbered us, developing Hyundai into an internationally-competitive company.


Ontario governments like to crow about how great this province is. The Samsung deal reflects a much different reality, a tacit admission that the best we are capable of is assembling things under careful supervision from foreign companies.


One of the partners in the big deal is South Korea’s state-owned electrical utility. What have they got to offer that Ontario’s own


hydro generation utility does not? One of the Samsung plants will assemble towers for wind turbines. Are we not smart enough to build towers?


McGuinty defended the Samsung deal by saying it was really no different than earlier incentives offered to Toyota or to French electronic game company Ubisoft. Quite so. This is our standard stupidity with an attractive greenwashing.


The Samsung deal’s success will turn on Americans’ willingness to pay the same kind of huge premiums for green power that Ontario offers. McGuinty hopes that the industry will expand and attract American customers “through some organic process.” How’s that for a business plan?


In a global economy, the winners are the countries that develop companies of international scale, companies that create high-value jobs at home and produce big taxes that support their national governments. The also-rans can buy a slice of the second-tier action if they are willing to offer big enough incentives. It’s much like colonialism, but the countries with the money don’t have to go to the bother of running the colonies directly.


All that said, Dalton loves the deal because it makes it look like he’s doing something. If other foreign companies want to line up to take Ontarians’ dollars, our premier is “all ears,” he says. No doubt, but it’s what’s between the ears that’s the problem.


Contact Randall Denley

at 613-596-3756 or by e-mail,

rdenley@thecitizen.canwest.com
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