Pubdate: Sat, 25 Nov 2006 Source: Regina Leader-Post (CN SN) Copyright: 2006 The Leader-Post Ltd. Contact: http://www.canada.com/regina/leaderpost/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/361 Author: Murray Mandryk, The Leader-Post LET HE WHO IS WITHOUT SIN CAST THE FIRST STONE "I know that smoking tobacco a number of years ago was a lot more acceptable than it is now. We know that there are fewer people using it now. And we definitely don't promote it, so we won't accept it any more." -- Saskatchewan Party MLA June Draude explaining why her party accepted a $10,000 donation from Imperial Tobacco Canada in 2003. Maybe it's time Brad Wall and his Saskatchewan Party caucus figured out there's more to governing than calling the NDP hypocrites. Sure, the NDP have been hypocritical. And one certainly has to look no further than that back-page advertisement in the recent NDP annual convention program that promotes the decriminalization of marijuana so that, as federal NDP Leader Jack Layton puts it in the ad, "people can enjoy marijuana in the peace and quiet of their own home, or in a cafe, without the fear of being criminalized." For a governing party that has added a "healthy living services" minister to the cabinet, that is now running a campaign against binge drinking and that has now introduced legislation enabling it to sue tobacco companies, this ad was pure hypocrisy. But if you're going to argue -- as Wall and the Saskatchewan Party did this week -- that you should be governing on the basis of your moral superiority, you'd better not get caught doing something even more hypocritical. And a lot of people would likely find it far more hypocritical for a political party to take donations from tobacco companies and their lobbyist while it is simultaneously complaining about the province's long waiting lists for cancer surgery. Unfortunately, not many of those people seem to inhabit the Saskatchewan Party caucus. "That (Imperial Tobacco) money was before the last the election so that was under a different leadership, so I think that's past," Draude told reporters Thursday after raising the NDP ad and then finding out about her own party's tobacco contributions. "I think what they've got to do is be really clear. Are you going to be in favour of this or not in favour?" Draude said. "Are you accepting money or not accepting money? What is the message you're sending out to people? At the end of the day, that is what the question is. What is the message? "You can't have a mixed message. I admit that we did take money from a tobacco company. We're not going to do it any more. I'm asking them (the NDP) to be as clear." But isn't accepting money from a tobacco company while some of your own party members are voting against a public smoking ban also a mixed message, ma'am? In fairness, maybe that's a question that should be addressed by the party's leader. "I think June answered the question," a terse Wall told later reporters before launching his own tirade over "the hypocrisy -- the double standard" of the NDP government. But when did the Saskatchewan Party stop taking money from tobacco companies and their lobbyists who buy tickets to the leader's dinner? "It doesn't matter when we made that decision," Wall snapped. "The decision is made." So was this a past party policy? "There wasn't a policy in the past that said we will accept money from tobacco companies," Wall responded. "We just fund-raised and companies supported the party. When I became aware that this had happened, I made the decision we are not going to be doing this any more." And when did your awareness occur? "My awareness occurred today (Thursday) that we received the $10,000 donation," the Saskatchewan Party leader said. Wall explained that he doesn't "pore over the list of donors from the last election" because "there's a certain importance to not knowing who provides this party money." This comes as a huge relief, because one would hate to think all those donations to the Saskatchewan Party from implement manufacturers and others lobbying to change union certification and decertification laws had anything to do with party policy. (Heck, it might lead one to suspect those union contributions to the NDP's 2003 campaign had some relationship to former labour minister Deb Higgins' announcement three years ago that her government was going to implement available-hours legislation.) "Does anyone have any questions with respect to the fact that, on the one hand, the government of the day -- and the (Saskatchewan Party) Opposition by the way -- is saying that second-hand smoke and public smoking is a danger and we ought to be moving against it and moving to de-normalize tobacco," a haughty Wall quizzed reporters Thursday. "And yet they're, seemingly, moving to normalize marijuana, including accepting a giant ad in their booklet from a group that wants it (marijuana) to be smoked in cafes? I think that's a reasonable question." It sure does seem like a reasonable question, sir. And we addle-brained reporters do welcome a politician's assistance on what questions we should be asking you. But, we sometimes come up with our own imaginative questions: "Does that parade of cancer victims through the rotunda know you're taking money from tobacco companies and their lobbyists?" "Where was your abhorrence for second-smoke when Yogi Huyghebaert, Bob Bjornerud, Allan Kerpan and Greg Brkich all voted against the province's 2004 indoor smoking ban?" "Wasn't smoking unacceptable a few years prior to 2003 -- like in 1966, when the U.S. Surgeon General first linked smoking to cancer?" Frankly, it would have been more impressive had Wall demonstrated a little contrition and said: "I'm sorry, we screwed up. We're taking that $10,000 in tobacco company blood money and donating to the Canadian Cancer Society." But I guess when you're ahead in the polls, you don't have to be contrite. All you have to do is stand in the rotunda and call the other guys hypocrites . . . and hope no one figures out you're being a little hypocritical, yourself. - --- MAP posted-by: Elaine