Harris pulls all the stops to save Adams Mine garbage plan

Complex schemes and search for legal takeover mechanism evidence of high-level political desperation to revive northern garbage dump for Toronto

By Charlie Angus

KIRKLAND LAKE: Capping a brazen chain of political maneuvers, Ontario Premier Mike Harris and staff are looking to use an obscure legal clause to give them authority to send Toronto's garbage to the former Adams Mine despite strenuous opposition from Toronto City Council.
  Harris and his associates have taken a terrible beating in recent weeks over their political backing of the Adams Mine. A harsh light has been cast on the connection between Premier Harris and dump investors from his home town. An even harsher light is being shed on the possible intervention of the provincial Ministry of Environment to put the run on the rival bid - Republic Services of Michigan.
  Harris and friends have been exposed strategizing with Michigan's Governor John Engler. A plan to stir up municipal opposition from communities along the Highway 401 truck route of garbage shipments to Michigan blew up in their face when exposed by the municipalities themselves.
  Now evidence is emerging that the Tories' next gambit is to find a way to use environmental assessment legislation they passed to allow them to impose an environmental assessment (EA) and take over responsibility for the garbage.
  If they can do this, they will be able to re-open the plan to dump Toronto's garbage in the old mine. With the fury of last fall's standoff on the Adams Mine Road still fresh in the public mind, any attempts to reopen the deal might seem akin to trying to market golf course franchises on Mohawk burial grounds in the wake of Oka.
  But with a billion-dollar deal for a North Bay consortium hanging in the balance, Premier Harris may have found a way to turn the tables on the City of Toronto. Looking for trigger for provincial take-over Harris and friends appear poised to take advantage of revised environmental assessment legislation they themselves passed.
  They've been consulting with senior Ministry staff, trying to find a trigger mechanism a legislative lever to justify overturning Toronto's contract with Republic of Michigan, thus forcing the Adams Mine plan on Toronto. How this trigger mechanism would work has attracted the interest of both the Premier's office and the backers of the Adams Mine, led by North Bay promoter Gordon McGuinty.
  An anonymous memo circulating around Queens Park contributes to the impression of political meddling in environmental policy and direct contact between Harris' circle and top environment ministry staff.
  "Harris is pissed that waste is going to Michigan," it reads, "particularly at Lastman for putting everybody in this situation......if a format for EA of Toronto process is available it should be made available...."
  Straight Goods contacted Mary Hennessy of the Provincial EA Branch about the leaked memo and the questions it raises. She says the province needs a "trigger" allowing it to enact the Tories' untried EA legislation but that know one is certain what that mechanism might be.
  "There's nothing in the Act that says how this would work, what municipalities it would apply to and how it would actually be triggered," says Hennessy.
  The memo, however, lists some possibilities. For example, the ministry might decide it was in the interests of the Province to conduct mandatory EAs on any export of garbage ranking above 100,000 tonnes a year for more than five years. Or more simply, it could designate any sites outside Ontario as subject to EA. The only sites falling under this category just happen to be the competitive bids signed with the city of Toronto.
  Hennessy denies having spoken directly with any of the Adams Mine promoters directly on this issue, but when pushed by Straight Goods about a written description by one of the project backers in which her name was mentioned, she does confirm that the issue of designating the Michigan contract for an EA was discussed.
  "I was asked how it (the trigger) would work and I basically confirmed what your notes say that it (the means to call an EA) is in the Act."
  Hennessy says that as far as she knows, the ministry hasn't taken any steps to enact the trigger mechanism.

Toronto stands up to Queens Park
  Ever since the controversial deal fell apart last October the City of Toronto has been adamant that the Adams Mine deal is history. Support for the Adams Mine in the previous Council resulted in the most raucous debate in the history of the City and spelled the political kiss of death to some of Mayor Lastman's most favoured councillors (including Works Chair Bill Saundercook).
  Lastman has vowed to go after any councillor who dares breathe word of the dump plan again. Lastman's stance infuriates Gordon McGuinty. For nearly 12 years McGuinty has been selling the idea of using the fractured pits of the Adams Mine as an ideal site for Toronto's garbage. McGuinty has been helped along the way by another North Bay boy - Premier Mike Harris.
  Since coming to power in 1995, the Harris Tories have opened the regulatory doors and smoothed the bureaucratic paths for what could become one of North America's largest dump sites.
  But Lastman's refusal to dance another round with McGuinty has stopped the North Bay consortium dead in its tracks. Without the tonnage from Toronto, there's no dump. The Tories's recent hardball squeezing of Toronto finances may be an attempt to strong-arm Mel back to the dump table. But so far Mel and Council seem to be refusing to budge.
  At the Council session on January 30th, the normally fractious Council came together for a surprising show of unity. In a vote of 36-4 they voted to throw the last official bits of sod on the Adams Mine coffin and get on with the business of running the city.
  What's in it for Mike? Harris has made no secret of his support for the Adams Mine. The question is just how far is he willing to go to see it come to pass?
  "It's political suicide," one Queen's Park watcher told Straight Goods. "There is nothing to gain from this and everything to lose. Harris' people know that."
  Perhaps, but the gains and losses to the North Bay investors are equally clear. Without the Toronto contract, McGuinty's backers can kiss their 11-year investment goodbye. One of those investors is Harris' best friend, Peter Minogue. Minogue has been at the centre of the scandal over a real estate development on a sensitive fish sanctuary near Callender Bay in North Bay.
  The Osprey Links development was allowed to proceed after provincial ministry guidelines were rewritten. The buzz in the press is the rewrites came after Minogue threatened to go to "political levels." With the very close links between Minogue and Harris known, Osprey Links has raised the whiff of a scandal about North Bay pals and North Bay influence. Some of this scandal could spill over onto the Adams Mine issue, with the Minogues being long-time backers of the deal.
  Harris, however, says the fact that Barb Minogue is his campaign manager and financially connected to the dump is nothing to grouse about.
  "Many of my friends are investors in the Adams Mine," Harris told CBC radio, "and the biggest investor is my very good friend Gordon McGuinty."
  The three buds - Minogue, Harris and McGuinty - were present at a special meeting held in June of 1991 at Bagliardi's Restaurant in Toronto, where plans were made to get the Adams Mine on the table. Also present at the meeting was then-mayor of Kirkland Lake Joe Mavrinac and Toronto Councillor Joan King. It was at this meeting that Harris vowed to do what he had to in order to get the deal going.
  The 1991 meeting might not have seemed like a big deal at the time but now ten years later, with Harris being linked to the Osprey Links scandal and the Adams Mine having become the most notorious dump plan on the continent, things look a little different.
  In fact, it might be considered prudent by some for Harris to cut his losses with his hometown pal. But Harris doesn't seem ready to bail. An article by John Nichol in Maclean's Magazine (Februray 19) states that Harris' principle secretary, John Weir, has been looking into the possibilities of either changing the laws on exporting garbage or asking the environment ministry to force an EA on Toronto's truck haulage to Michigan.

Using cost figures to change Toronto's mind
  As well, according to documents obtained by Straight Goods, dump promoter Gordon McGuinty has supplied Weir and Harris with some number-crunching comparing the Adams Mine plan to the Republic deal, so as to be able to challenge Toronto's decision to go with Michigan. With the Province locked into a nasty budget battle with the City, there is speculation the province could use the pretext of a higher-priced contract as reason to step into city affairs.
  In his letter to Weir, McGuinty wrote, "The Province can use (these numbers) as justification."
  Justification or not, if the Province did decide to wade in, it would still have to overcome the problem that, after a fair and open bidding process, contracts have been signed with a rival company. Republic could come after the city and province for substantial and potentially embarrassing damages. That is, of course, unless, Republic could be taken out of the picture.
  The Tories have already floated a trial balloon called the Greater Toronto Services Board which would take over waste management decisions in the GTA. According to Don Wanagas of the National Post, "The province would buy out the contract with Republic and negotiations with Rail Cycle North (RCN), the Ontario company that owns the abandoned Adams Mine near Kirkland Lake, would be restarted."
  Speculation that a buyout was in the works was furthered by the news that Keith West, of the Ministry of Environment's Waste Management Branch has been involved in several discussions with Toronto Works staff about the nature of the Republic contract. City staff have maintained that there is nothing unusual about the talks with the Ministry.

Harris' people scheme with Michigan governor's staff to close border
  Another way of dealing with Republic would be the prospect of Michigan closing its border. Back at the beginning of January, anyone who dared suggest the Tories would work on the Michigan governor to close the border might have been dismissed as the stuff of fringe conspiracy theories. But that was before the shenanigans of the February 7th Toronto Works meeting, an event which might be best described as the failed garbage coup of 2001.

McGuinty/Harris 401 mayors campaign backfires, ends up road kill
  By early January, Adams Mine opponents were getting wind of a campaign aimed at creating a backlash along Highway 401 where Toronto's garbage trucks (40 additional trucks in 2001-2002) were set to pass. The plan was to create the necessary optics to justify Harris intervening on behalf of the beleaguered citizens of southwestern Ontario. The backlash was to culminate at the February 7th Works Committee meeting, where Toronto councillors would be confronted by angry southern Ontario mayors, followed by pro-dump supporters from Kirkland Lake. Leading the charge to reopen the deal would be the rival bid master himself - Gordon McGuinty.
  But the popular uprising fizzled. Toronto councillors took a dim view of the Kirkland Lake gang, ruling their deputations out of order. And then the 401 mayors veered from the script. Although the mayors who did attend had clear and obvious problems with the increase in truck traffic along the busy 401 corridor, they also made it clear they weren't there to champion to Adams Mine.
  In fact, Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley revealed details of the 401 campaign and linked the campaign directly back to Premier Harris. According to Bradley, the plan was cooked up in Mike Harris' North Bay office at a private meeting on December 22nd where the job of stirring things up was handed to Joe Mavrinac.
  "(Joe) Mavrinac told me again that Harris said he had to stir things up (along the 401 corridor)," said Bradley. "They are trying to manipulate us and others to get Adams Mine back on the table."
  He says Mavrinac told him that Harris "requested that there be no staff, no one to interfere." Mavrinac, a longtime Harris "crony" (according to the Toronto Star) has been considered by some to be the Foghorn Leghorn of dump promotion - a vocal and relentless booster of the Adams Mine project.
  According to Bradley, Mavrinac said he had been told by Harris directly to "stir things up and make some noise" along the 401 corridor in order to force the Adams Mine back on the table. Mavrinac admits there was a private meeting with Harris but denies they talked about the Adams Mine.

Michigan's Engler goes green
  Bradley's revelation of political interference with the "401 mayors" was overshadowed, however by the sudden appearance of a letter by Governor John Engler of Michigan. Timed for arrival at the end of the February 7th meeting, Engler told the city of Toronto that he didn't want their garbage. In fact, wrote Engler, the city should do the right thing and give the jobs to Northern Ontario by reopening the Adams Mine deal.
  The wording of the letter and the fact that it arrived on the very day when Gordon McGuinty was doing his best to bring all his guns to bear, immediately raised suspicions in the media. It seemed odd that Engler, a normally pro-garbage governor, was suddenly boosting the benefits of the Adams Mine.
  Engler was also hampered by NAFTA regulations which wouldn't allow him to close the border. Was the governor hoping that an unfriendly letter might spook Toronto, or at least justify the city walking away from its contract with Republic?
  Engler has long been identified as a close political ally of Harris. Reporters immediately began looking for connections between the two regarding the letter. The Premier's office was quick to deny any knowledge of the correspondence. But Engler's staff sang a different tune.
  Engler aide John Truscott said the Harris crowd had been very involved. "I know that his (Harris') people have been very co-operative and very helpful to us, and that our staff person now has direct knowledge of what is going on internally and politically (in Toronto)."
  If the Governor's letter was supposed to make Mel crack, it didn't work. This leaves the Province and Gordon McGuinty still looking for the trigger which will force the dump back onto Toronto's plate. Lastman, however, doesn't seem ready to play ball.
  "There is no way that Harris is going to run this city," Lastman stated after Engler's letter appeared. "Everything he's touched has turned to crap." When pressed by the media as to whether using the word crap was wise considering the budget crunch Harris was forcing on Toronto, Lastman reconsidered. "I shouldn't have said crap. I should have said shit."

What you can do:
MPP David Ramsay has called for an inquiry by Ontario's Integrity Commissioner into the role of Premier Harris in promoting the Adams Mine and undermining the City of Toronto Council.

Ramsay's campaign is being backed by a provincial letter writing campaign. Letters can be written to: Honourable Robert Rutherford Integrity Commissioner (Note: given Friday's media coverage, Rutherford's tenure of office may be limited.) Suite #1301 101 Bloor St. West Toronto Ontario M5S 2Z7 - e-mail address lynn.morrison@oico.on.ca

See also:
Mike Harris: a 10-year Adams Mine timeline

Related images

Posted: February 26, 2001

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