May 31, 2000 

Time to pick up the phone:
Tories try to limit scope of water inquiry

Under intense political pressure, the Mike Harris government has - finally - called a public inquiry into the Walkerton water contamination crisis. But there’s a catch.

Comments by Ontario Attorney General Jim Flaherty indicate that the government will set all the terms of the inquiry and will limit its scope to what happened in Walkerton.

OPSEU president Leah Casselman said the inquiry must delve into what has happened to the water system across Ontario, not just the events in Walkerton.

“OPSEU members in the Ministry of Environment (MoE), and at the Ontario Clean Water Agency (OCWA), know all too well what government cuts have done to the quality of drinking water in this province,” said Casselman. “This crucial Ministry has been devastated in every area. Key staff involved in groundwater and drinking water monitoring were cut by over 40 per cent.

“We warned them this would happen,” she said. “we were warning them in September of 1995 about the health dangers of cuts to the Environment Ministry. Our 1997 report, Nothing Left to Cut, outlined in stark detail exactly what they had done.

“Now, the chickens are coming home to roost.”

Casselman said it was no surprise that OPSEU members at OCWA were called in to run the water system in Walkerton as soon as things went wrong.

“With this government, it’s always the same story,” she said. “When they created the private boot camp at Camp Turnaround, the first thing that happened was an escape. Professional correctional officers had to be called in to secure the facility.

“When it comes to public safety, there is no substitute for professional, accountable public employees.”

The Commission of Inquiry announced today will be governed by the Public Inquiries Act. Under the law, the Commission can call witnesses and compel them to testify; all hearings must be open to the public.

At least seven, and possibly nine, people have died after drinking Walkerton’s water, poisoned by a deadly strain of E. coli bacteria.

Yesterday’s victims included Betty Trushinski, 56, a member of OPSEU Local 275 at the South Bruce Grey Health Centre. Betty worked in the dietary department of the hospital.

“Our thoughts are with Betty and with her family today, and with all the victims and their families,” Casselman said. “This hits close to home for all OPSEU members and, indeed, all Ontarians.”

To the surprise and shock of many present, Ontario Premier Mike Harris did not see fit to show up in the Legislature today. He left it to Flaherty to field opposition questions on the Walkerton story.

“This is both insensitive and cowardly, to say the least,” said Casselman. “As the chickens come how to roost, we see who is the biggest chicken of all.”

Casselman called on OPSEU members to help kick off a campaign to restore Ontario’s environmental health.

“It is absolutely imperative that OPSEU members participate fully in this Commission of Inquiry,” she said. “Our members, particularly in the MoE and at OCWA, are the real water quality experts in this province.

“But before that happens, we need to make sure that the Commission’s mandate is set up in an unbiased way that will really get to the bottom of all this. To do this, we need the government to sit down with both opposition parties and work out a plan that is acceptable to all three.”

The Harris government has worked with opposition parties in the past to do exactly that. That’s what they did when they set up the Estey Commission, which investigated the clubbing of OPSEU strikers by riot police at Queen’s Park on March 18, 1996.

Casselman is asking OPSEU members to call Premier Mike Harris and demand that the terms of reference for the Commission be worked out by all three parties.

Phone Mike Harris! (416) 325-1941

OPSEU ActionFax is an electronic publication of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union. Original authorized for distribution by Leah Casselman, president.

Return to Top of Page