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Ontario Premier Mike Harris decided against participating
in the 2001 Gay Parade in Toronto. With his recent collapse in the
polls, and his loss of a number of by-elections, he probably did not
want to embroil himself and his party in another controversy.
However, the Ombudsman's office in Ontario proudly
had a booth at the Gay Parade both this year and last.
Apparently the booth was a great success with the
homosexual parade participants absolutely delighted to see Ombudsman
Ontario's participation in their event. Observers at the parade
report that stark naked men, who participated in the parade, happily
lounged around the Ombudsman's office booth - obviously proud of
the support given to them by this office.
This support of the Gay Parade by the Ombudsman's
office is puzzling.
According to S.14 of the Ontario Ombudsman Act,
the Ombudsman's office, established in 1975, is supposed to investigate
complaints by members of the public in regard to any decision or
recommendation made by the government. In investigating a complaint,
the Ombudsman, according to the Act, is to be the protector of fairness
and justice in the government's administration.
According to the Ombudsman's Annual Report of 2000
- 2001, its office, staffed with 83 employees, received 26,538 complaints
and inquiries in that year, but it did not specify how many were
complaints and how many were inquiries - a significant omission.
The office was given an $8 million appropriation for the year 2000
- 2001. It is noted that according to the Ombudsman's 2000 - 2001
Annual Report, his office paid out approximately $5,500,000 or nearly
¾ of its annual budget for salaries and benefits alone. This
is an expensive undertaking for Ontario's taxpayers with questionable
results for the effort and expense.
The 1999 - 2000 Ombudsman's Annual Report stated
that the office had undertaken a "raising of awareness"
campaign (read: drumming up business), obviously to justify its
continued existence. The report further stated that the campaign
was being carried out via a range of activities, among them, the
International Women's Day event and the Gay Pride Day event in Toronto.
This policy was confirmed by the new Ombudsman,
Mr. Clare Lewis (appointed January 2000), in his report, when he
stated that there was a need "to reach out to a broad range
of constituents to reinforce our presence to make the public aware
of our services."
Its 1998-1999 Annual Report states that in April
of 1999, the Ombudsman's Office co-hosted a Conference with the
Human Rights Research and Education Centre at the University of
Ottawa and Victoria University called "Governance, Accountability
and Human Rights in an Era of Change." According to information
obtained from the Human Rights Research and Education Centre, speakers
included a treasury of left-wing activists, such as lesbian, Mary
Woo Sims, the Chief Commissioner of the BC Human Rights Commission,
Elizabeth May, Executive Director of the Sierra Club (a left-wing
environmental advocacy group heavily funded by the Canadian International
Development Agency - CIDA); Jean-Claude Parrot (who provided Canadians
with numerous postal strikes when he headed the postal union) and
is now Executive Vice President of the Canadian Labour Congress;
Huguette Labelle, Executive Director of the notorious Canadian International
Development Agency (CIDA); Phil Fontaine, National Chief, Assembly
of First Nations; feminist Senator Lois Wilson, former Moderator
of the United Church of Canada; and Irshad Manji, lesbian newspaper
columnist and host of Queer TV (a homosexual/lesbian program on
Toronto's CITY TV). Quite a crew - and all their expenses were paid
by taxpayers' dollars through additional financial assistance provided
by the Canadian International Development Agency.
Although it is inappropriate for the Ontario Ombudsman's
Office to promote the homosexual and other left-of-centre causes,
it is able to get away with these activities in the guise of "reaching
out" to the community, and because the office has been deliberately
placed at arm's length from the government (the Ombudsman, under
the Act, is not a public servant) in order to allow the office to
"objectively" handle the complaints without government
interference. Unfortunately, because of this arm's-length approach,
the Ombudsman is accountable to no one. He is free to wheel and
deal as he wishes. The only requirement is that under S.11 of the
Act, the Ombudsman must submit an annual report to the Legislative
Speaker who is then required to present it to the legislature. However,
the legislature does not have the authority to act on anything in
the report or on any of the Ombudsman's activities.
On the other hand, the Ombudsman is required to
act within his mandate set out in the Ombudsman Act. This, obviously,
is not happening. Instead, the Ombudsman's Office appears to be
promoting an agenda reflecting the wishes of its administrators,
especially that, it seems, of the Executive Director in the Ombudsman's
Office, Fiona Crean, who is a well known feminist and was formerly
an investigating officer with the Ontario Human Rights Commission.
Her salary in the year 2000 was $137,017.50, plus $370.32 in taxable
benefits. Oddly, her salary is virtually the same as the Ombudsman's
which is $135,576.91 plus $1,871.00 in taxable benefits. Ms. Crean
apparently has become the real power in the Ombudsman's office.
The official Ombudsman is Clare Lewis who was formerly with the
Ontario Alcohol and Gaming Commission. However, it is she who reportedly
is "running the show" on the taxpayer's dollar.
An investigation of the Ontario Ombudsman's Office is long overdue.
Despite his lack of real accountability, the Ombudsman, nonetheless,
has only one responsibility, which is to deal with complaints against
the government. The current Ombudsman's Office, however, has extended
its reach far beyond this limited mandate. It is using its unaccountable
position to promote an agenda, such as the homosexual cause, by
publicly supporting the Gay Parade. It also held a conference representing
and promoting not a balance of views, but only the left-wing
perspective. This is not within its mandate.
Ombudsman Clare Lewis stated in his annual report
(1999-2000) that the goals of his office are to be achieved through
"a clearly non-partisan and independent approach" and
that the Ombudsman "is intended to be an independent and impartial
officer." Clearly, neither objective is being realized.
Please write to the following persons to object
to the misuse of power in promoting an agenda outside of the Ombudsman's
mandate (and the taxpayers' monies) by the office and for its failure
to remain within its jurisdiction.
The Honourable Michael Harris
Office of the Premier
Room 281, Legislative Building
Queen's Park
Toronto, Ontario M7A 1A1
Tel: (416) 325-1941
Fax: (416) 325-3745
The Honourable David Young
Attorney General of Ontario
720 Bay Street, 11th Floor
Toronto, Ontario M5G 2K1
Tel: (416) 326-4000
Fax: (416) 326-4016
Ms. Margaret Marland, Chair
Standing Committee on the Legislative Assembly
99 Wellesley St. West, Room 1405
Whitney Block, Queen's Park
Toronto, Ontario M7A 1A2
Tel: (416) 325-3525
Fax: (416) 325-3505
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