Blame Game

The day after being castigated for failing to even mention the Kashechewan Reserve crisis in the House, Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory lashed out at the provincial Liberals for ignoring the plight of natives living with E.coli-contaminated water.

That proved too much for Premier Dalton McGuinty, who raised the spectre of the 2000 Walkerton tragedy where seven people died from drinking contaminated water while the Conservatives were in power.

Tory, who was in private life at the time, weathered that counter-attack Thursday in the Legislature and was then forced to endure another PC sore spot from Health Minister George Smitherman.

"I guess you’re looking forward to reading the Ipperwash report," Smitherman seethed at Tory.

That's a reference to the 1995 shooting death of native protester Dudley George during a stand-off with police at Ipperwash Provincial Park that is now the subject of a judicial inquiry.

Wisely, Tory ignored the shot and reminded Smitherman that he had visited Kashechewan last year, was aware of the problems and did little except phone his buddy federal Minister of State for Public Health Carolyn Bennett.

That call, we now know, resulted in no action whatsoever.