a great deal more about this unsavory business still to be uncovered... from an interesting review in the Canada Free Press of two problems still haunting the city: 1/ the mismanagement of the Oshawa Lakeriidge hospital cherty and 2/ the machinations of Nancy Diamond ... although written a decade ago and set down in Canada Free Press Nov 2003, no matter much things may seem to change, many times problems linger and fester... imo it was timely happenstance to come across this revealing article evening: Theres a silver lining in every cloud..in Oshawa, incumbent Nancy Diamond took a beating, coming in third behind victorious nine-year veteran John Gray, and first-time-out candidate Michael Clarke...Gray pulled in 49 percent of the vote, Clarke 24 percent, and Diamond 19 percent. Michael...said in his campaign literature that Those who have participated in creating the problems are not likely to solve them. And, Michael Clarke has good reason to be delighted at receiving more votes than Nancy Diamond. Because, you see, she had gone out of her way to try to harass and intimidate he and his wife Cathy over the last 10 years or so. Their demands for openness and accountability in connection with the on-again, off-again Lakeridge Hospital Cancer Centre seemed to rub her the wrong way. Two legal actions were taken against his wife Councillor Cathy Clarke, and one against then-President of the Durham Labour Council Timothy Eye, after the latter spoke out on CHEX Television against Diamonds efforts to silence the Clarkes. Included in the Cancer Centre and hospital redevelopment plans was a parking garage since built in a public park adjoining the Clarke residence. It was Cathys objections to this, and several votes in council in opposition, that triggered an application in Lediard v. Clarke at the Ontario Court, General Division, in 1997 to declare the respondents seat vacant and to disqualify her from seeking office for seven years. In March of 1998 this, the second of two court applications against Cathy Clarke, both alleging conflict of interest, was reviewed by Michael J. Smither, editor and publisher of the authoritative publication Municipal World. Essentially speaking, the judge ruled that despite the previous (1995) application against Clarke, in which she was excused of penalty because her actions were simply an error of judgement, the current (1997) application was dismissed with costs. The judge stated that It is not enough to say that since she was opposed to the hospital expansion that every matter considered by council which is even remotely connected to the hospital would require that she disqualify herself, and Even had I been able to find a pecuniary interest on the part of the respondent based on her ownership of residential property, on the evidence tendered which included much of the evidence tendered in the 1995 proceeding, I would have found that here interest was an interest in common with electors generally. As a spin-off, because of some of her activities cited in the application to disqualify her from office, Mr. Justice Sheppards ruling was also recognised as upholding the right of councillors to seek information on behalf of their constituents. Following Michael Clarkes press conference, Toronto Star reporter Stan Josey on November 4th quoted Durham riding MPP John OToole, who was legislative assistant to the health minister under the Eves government, as saying that construction funding for the hospital project was held up by the ministerial review of the facility. Against hospital CEO Brian Lemons statement that the hospital now has government approval to proceed, and that tenders for the first construction contracts should be issued early in the new year. OToole is quoted as saying that the fact that the $330 million project now has the go-ahead means that any problems must have been cleared up. (Emphasis added). He is also quoted as saying that the ministrys hospital review report is confidential, and has been shown only to a few people; I have not seen the report myself, but I understand it did contain some recommendations for improving some things at the hospital. This should be read bearing in mind that the report was completed almost a year ago, and that large sums of money donated by the public are involved. And, as Michael Clarke stated in information given to the press prior to his conference, Rumours abound that large amounts of money for the project have been lost on the stock market and in real estate. Be that as it may, I think that there is a great deal more about this unsavoury business waiting to be uncovered. And Michael and Cathy Clarke can wield a pretty big shovel! by Jeff Goodall November 2003
Posted on: Sat, 02 Nov 2013 04:11:33 +0000
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