10

National News

Release of APEC inquiry’s report not a sure thing, new solicitor

general says

By ALEX BUSTOS

OTTAWA (CUP) -- Canadians may never get a chance to read the final report ofthe APEC inquiry, the newly appointed solicitor general said Tuesday.

“The report is given to me, and then I will decide whether it will become public or not,” said Lawrence MacAulay, barely 24 hours after being assigned to the post left vacant by Andy Scott, who resigned Monday under the heat of allegations he pre- judged the APEC investiga- tion.

“What I want to happen is to have the (RCMP) Public Complaints Commission do their job and submit their re- port to me, and then I’ll deal with (the report),” MacAulay said outside the House of Com-

mons. MacAulay’s remarks

caught some members of par- liament off guard.

“When you call some- thing the public complaints commission it’s a little hard to think it wouldn’t by made pub- lic,” said New Democratic Party MP Dick Proctor out- side the House. “It’s hard to imagine why the new solicitor general would say that.”

Others said MacAulay’s statement high- lighted the need for an inde- pendent judicial inquiry to re- place the RCMP Public Com- plaints Commission hearings, whichare looking into whether officers used excessive force against protesters at last year’s Asia Pacific summit in Van- couver.

“When the public com- plaints commission does re- port, it goes to the commis- sioner of the RCMP and the solicitor general,” Conserva- tive Party MP Peter MacKay said.

“What they do chose to do with it is completely done behind closed doors.

They’re not under any obligation to make it public. They’re not under any obliga- tion to even act on what the commission reports,” he said.

MacKay also said an independent investigation is needed because the current inquiry has no mandate to in- vestigate the government.

For months, opposition parties and students have ac- cused the Prime Minister’s Office of ordering the Mounties to quell APEC student protest- ers at the meeting of 18 Pacific Rim leaders.

“As has been pointed out time and time again this commission is not the proper forum to look at political inter- ference,” said MacKay.

“And political interfer- ence is what is at very base of these questions (over APEC).”

The Prime Minister, however, told the House Tues- day he would co-operate with the APEC inquiry if asked.

Gift Certificates Available from The Body Esthetic Stress Management Centre Office # 405, Polyclinic Grafton St., Charlottetown 902.892.5443

STRESS TIP OF THE DAY...

(oh. no, not that!!

place close enough

“EXERCISE”

to the door;,.)

kee

| was going to the but! couldn't find a parking

When our stress response is triggered our bodies

= ~~ “react as if to a physical threat. Hormones are released to > ready us for fight or flight. Adrenaline, invaluable to us in short bursts, takes its toll on us as if kept over long periods of time. Exercise reduces adrenaline levels along

with other stressed aroused hormones and exercise

releases endorphines which make us feel good. ae So if you feel the stress building and picturing

The Cadre * 1 December 1998

Newfoundland students won’t have voice on premier’s council

By SEAN RYAN

ST. JOHN’S (CUP) -- Newfoundland Premier Brian Tobin has decided against appointing a student to the province’s consultative panel on social development, he revealed last week.

“T think at this time there is no (such) intention,” he said of the idea to appoint a student leader to the Premier’s Council on Social Development.

“The purpose of the advisory council is not to try and have every organization represented .. . but rather to havea group that represents a good cross-section of com-

munity.

Tobin said the offi- cials who currently sit on the council, including Human Resources and Employment Minister Julie Bettney, pro- vide that cross section.

“The kind of people who are on (the council) are very independent, certainly they are not partisan,” he aaa: adding that ifhe tried to ensure every societal group was represented on the influential body it would become too large and un- wieldy.

The advisory council was established as part of the government’s “Strategic So- cial Plan for Newfoundland and Labrador,” an initiative unveiled last August.

As the minister who oversees that plan, Bettney says the 20-person advisory council is meant to help the province maintain close fis with the public as it forms social policy -- which will likely include post-secondary education and other issues

affecting outh. . What we wanted to

do was put together a group of people who represented the best thinking on social

development that we could use as asounding board... as wemove through this process nowofimplementing astrate- gic gig ered she said.

e experts chosen to sit on the council, she said, are not there to represent specific constituencies but ete ee sectors of the population when necessary.

But student leaders, who have been pushing for representation on the seat for some time, criticized the decision not to appoint a student representative to the council.

They say a student seat is necessary on an council mandated to deal wi socialplanning. —

“How can you create

— social plan without ee as. eilly, presi- dent of the sudent Salar at ow.

: aoe nd exeys dealing wi on policy, with student aid, with govern- ment and I would humbly suggest that we are the

experts in this,” O’Reill added r

“So why wouldn’t we be on a committee that creates social policy? really don’t know; there is no logical reason.”

Dale Kirby, presi- dent of the Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Students, also said he was Conmecacense, the decision.

e€ should be constituency-based if it is to truly contribute to Se ee

“The more I hear about this council, the more I’m skeptical about the mandate and its ability to do anything other than rub p what govern- ment or what cabinet is coming up with,” Kirby said.

people around you in there underware is more frightening

.. than, funny...than,..RUN...away, . RUN. away (only 88.00 0. ee ee he ee advised by your doctor of course).

the council:

.