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January
2001 Newsletter
Who
Has Mr. Cooke Been Working For?
It
has been known for some time that the departing Regional
Chairman of Hamilton-Wentworth has been promised a job with
a large Hamilton trucking company. However, the January
3rd Hamilton Spectator revealed that he had been employed
there for "several weeks" while still working
as Regional Chairman. Page 9 of the paper reports: "Cooke
announced last May that he was leaving public life to take
a top job with Fluke Transport and Fox 40 Whistles, companies
owned by his long-time friend and political supporter, businessman
Ron Foxcroft. Cooke has been in that job part-time for several
weeks and will now take it on full-time." ("Tories
rebuked Cooke for warning", Hamilton Spectator, January
3, 2001, p.A1, A9)
In
a separate article (on page 8) it was revealed that Foxcroft
had made the standing offer of the jobs to Cooke prior to
the municipal elections in 1997. The positions are Chief
Operating Officer of Fluke Transport and Vice-President
of Fox 40 Whistles.
The
Spectator questioned Mr. Cooke about the impact of this
on his position as Regional Chairman (although it was at
the end of a long interview and was not highlighted in the
headlines). The exchange is reproduced below. One other
piece of information may be relevant. In October, Mr. Cooke
was added to the roster of Spectator columnists for a four
week stint as a commentator on the federal elections. It
was not revealed whether or not this was a paid position.
In any case, it may make it difficult for the newspaper
to question Mr. Cooke's decision to also work part-time
for a private trucking company while he was still working
full-time as the chief public official in Hamilton-Wentworth.
Would
it be a matter of public concern if the Premier of Ontario
or the Prime Minister of Canada or one of their cabinet
ministers were holding down a part-time private sector job
while also making public decisions? Would it also be of
concern if one of these public officials had been promised
a 'top job' in the private sector with a company whose fortunes
could be affected by that politician's decisions?
The
Spectator reporter asks if the trucking company job offer
could be related toMr. Cooke's strong advocacy of the Red
Hill Creek Expressway, and particularly the decision to
launch court action to try and prevent a federal environmental
assessment of this controversial project. Mr. Cooke's responds
that his support of the expressway pre-dates 1997 which
is certainly true. However, over the past three years his
commitment to the project has taken unusual forms including
the following:
- In
1998, Mr. Cooke's office issued a media release claiming
wide public support for the expressway. He subsequently
withdrew the release after the polling company (Decima
Research) disassociated itself from the release. Shortly
after, McMaster University professors publicly noted that
the Regional government was misusing their research to
support the expressway project. The offending documents
have not been corrected.
- The
decision to take the federal government to court was made
in August 1999 and was accompanied by public accusations
from Mr. Cooke that several federal cabinet ministers
had acted unethically. By August 2000 the bill to the
Regional Municipality had reached $1.787 million, and
Mr. Cooke was predicting the total might hit $2 million.
- In
November 1999, Mr. Cooke accused the chairman of the assessment
Review Panel of bias and called for his removal. The Review
Panel chair was subsequently cleared by the federal ethics
commissioner.
- In
March 2000, the Regional Municipality was prevented from
expropriating property for the expressway, because they
refused to release the results of consultant studies related
to the projects, even though these studies were paid for
by the taxpayers. In the same period, a member of Regional
Council was also denied access to an expressway-related
study on the presence of a population of the nationally
vulnerable Southern Flying Squirrel in the path of the
proposed expressway
- More
recently, the City of Hamilton pled guilty to permitting
PCBs to flow into Red Hill Creek from a landfill lying
in the path of the proposed expressway. It was explained
that there was an intention to fix this problem when the
expressway was built. The city received a record fine
of $480,000.
- Over
the past three years, Mr. Cooke has also emerged as a
very vocal advocate at the provincial level of a new mid-peninsula
expressway from Fort Erie to highway 403 to provide a
truck route alternative to the QEW. The Spectator, unfortunately,
did not question Mr. Cooke on his advocacy of this project.
Here is the excerpt from the Spectator story ("Cooke
retires without regrets", Hamilton Spectator, January
3, 2001, p.A8):
"SPECTATOR:
You are off to work for Ron Foxcroft, Fluke Transport and
Fox 40 Whistles. At the time that you announced you weren't
running and you were taking this job, you said he had told
you a long time ago there was a place for you if you ever
wanted it. Some people have asked: Does that raise any questions
about your actions while in office, say for example with
the Red Hill Creek Expressway ... if you knew in the back
of your mind you ultimately could have a job with someone
who ran a trucking company? What would you say to people
who have those kinds of questions?
COOKE:
Well, I'd say the one thing I've taken great pride in the
course of my political career is being transparent in all
of my relationships and protecting my integrity as it affects
decisions I was taking. My support for the Red Hill Creek
Expressway goes back a long time before I even got into
politics, yet alone made a decision about where I was going
when I exited the political scene. And I think it's just
another attempt by the folks who don't think they can win
the argument on legitimate grounds to attempt to impugn
the integrity of those who disagree with them...
SPECTATOR:
When did he (Foxcroft) make that commitment?
COOKE:
I had some discussions with him in 1997 about the possibility
of leaving politics, and he inquired as to my interest in
joining him in the private sector. At that point I decided
I wanted to continue, and then we talked about it again
early this year.
SPECTATOR:
So how did you in at least that three-year period ensure
in your own way that you maintained the high level of integrity
you wanted to?
COOKE:
Very straightforward. My mandate was clearly from the people.
My interest in every term that I have served is to fulfill
my responsibilities. Full stop."
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