TORONTO (January 8, 1996) - For the first time in its 12 year history, Freedom
Party was refused an opportunity to address the government in power through
government-sponsored public hearings.
Even though Fp's request to appear before the Standing Committee on General
Government on Bill 26 was submitted weeks before the first ads inviting the
public to participate in the January 9 London hearings appeared in the press,
it was not until the day before the hearings that the committee could confirm
that Freedom Party was not welcome.
Because such presentations take time to research and prepare, Fp president
Robert Metz contacted several different people (including Tonia Grannum and
Douglas Arnett) at the Clerk of the Government issues committees in Toronto,
during the period from mid-December to January 8. Each time, Metz requested
some written information on the mandate of the hearings, as well as on the
criteria of selection before the committee. Each time, the answers could not
be provided.
Worse, committee spokespersons continued to lead us on that there was still a
possible opportunity to get selected, if not for the first set of hearings on
January 9, then on the second set scheduled for January 16. And again, it was
not until the 15th of the month that we were informed that Freedom Party was
not welcome at the second hearings as well.
NO SPACE LEFT?
When Metz was finally informed that Freedom Party would not be allowed to make
a presentation to the committee, he was told that the reason was a "lack of
space."
Ironically, on the same day, Metz received a phone call from Fp member and
London-Middlesex Taxpayers' Coalition (LMTC) chairperson Jim Montag. Having
earlier informed Metz that he had received a call from Ernie Eves' office
requesting that the LMTC apply to appear before the committee, Montag told Metz
that when the committee contacted him, he was given total choice as to what
time he wished to make a presentation.
Thus, only minutes before Metz was informed that there was no more room to
schedule presenters before the committee, Montag was told by the same committee
spokespersons that there were NO slots taken as yet.
BY INVITATION ONLY?
Metz then phoned committee clerk Tonia Grannum to demand the criteria by
which submissions to the committee were being selected. He suggested that it
was "rather strange" that an officially-registered political party would be
turned away from government-sponsored hearings. During the conversation,
Grannum explained that the groups "invited to appear" would be the only ones
contacted by the committee and that if any applicants were not contacted by
them, it could be assumed that they would not be able to appear
"So appearances before the committee are by invitation only..." responded Metz.
Grannum immediately retracted her statement, suggesting that her use of the
word "invitation" was inappropriate. She explained that the three people
responsible for selections were MPPs Gerry Philips (Liberal), Frances Lankin
(NDP) and Tony Clement (conservative). Metz attempted to contact Clement and
left a message on his answering service, but the call was never returned.
At Metz's request, Grannum faxed him a list of presenters to the hearings,
revealing that the Communist Party of Ontario had already made TWO
presentations before the hearings in Toronto (one of them made by its party
leader as an individual), and that the vast majority of presenters were
recipients of government subsidies and special legislation. The matter has yet
to be followed up satisfactorily, but we intend to continue pursuing it.
However, the very notion of calling the Bill 26 hearings "public" was
completely without merit. Both the committee's mandate AND the process of
selection were entirely political, while any impact by the hearings on Bill 26
itself was already precluded before they began.
Grannum, a native of Jamaica a the Clerk of the Government of Ontario, is an
extremely senior civil servant and the one whom appears to be pulling all the
strings. Should an unelected civil servant who only got her job due to racial
quotas under the Employment Equity program be permitted to chose who gets the
right of freedom of speech? And why has the Harris government done nothing to
replace this political appointee of the former NDP government? If you want to
voice your opinions you can call Premier Mike Harris at 325-1941 or Tonia
Grannum at 325-3519.
