Sept. 17, 2007
Brantford Expositor
As native militancy grows during the provincial election, Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory would appear to be the most obvious beneficiary as the advocate of a "one law for all" approach.
But the time has come for him to be specific. Where exactly does his position lie?
We can assume it's somewhere between the much-criticized failure to remove native protesters from a housing development in Caledonia with the Liberals governing the province and former PC premier Mike Harris shouting: "I want the (expletive) Indians out of the park."
The ongoing Six Nations occupation in Caledonia and the violence associated with it that flared last week certainly represents a weak spot for the governing Liberals. But the death of native protester Dudley George at Ipperwash is an even more shameful legacy of the approach to native protests under the previous PC government.
We know and understand what Tory means when he says he wants the same laws to be applied to everyone. but he now has to explain how he will achieve that - and we offer him some free advice to stop promoting his silly "civil remedies" solution. Most protesters who have months to occupy a construction site don't have the money to be sued to recover the huge costs of such actions.
Brant MPP Dave Levac raised an important question for Tory to answer in the Extra! in Saturday's Expositor. Levac pointed out that the enforcing of the law is the police's job.
"Are you saying you will direct the OPP as premier?" Levac asked. It's a question Tory must now answer if he intends to keep scoring political points on the issue.
Certainly, the Ipperwash inquiry left the impression that the raid that left George dead was the result of interference by Harris, exemplified by his now-famous profane quote, attributed to Harris by his former attorney general.
The time for general talk about the rule of law is over. We now need to know exactly what you, John Tory, would do differently as premier.
We doubt the family of the man hospitalized after a confrontation in Caledonia is feeling any relief at all about the prospect of a civil lawsuit should the PCs win Oct. 10.