National Post from Toronto, Ontario, Canada • 22

TORONTO NATIONAL POST, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2000 Tutu, Lastman swap praise: key to city for archbishop, Olympic support for mayor rchbishop Desmond Tutu, a hero of South Africa's struggle to free itself from the shackles of racist apartheid IN THE PRESENCE OF GREATNESS a wry grin. Motioning toward Mel Lastman, Archbishop Tutu smiled and said: "We hope you will be here when they have the Olympic Games. We want to bless all of you and say thank you, thank you, thank you for everything." His tacit approval of Toronto's bid for the Olympics came on the eve of today's meeting of city council to discuss support of the Games. Clearly moved by meeting one of the most beloved and celebrated men in the world, the mayor hailed the archbishop as "the world's champion of racial justice." Mr. Lastman said he was hum bled by the opportunity to give Archbishop Tutu the key to Toronto.

"Sir, you honour us with your presence. You, sir, have made the world a better place," he said. "This is our city's highest honour, sir. The key unlocks our hearts." Archbishop Tutu, who has been accorded nearly every award imaginable, was charming and gracious in accepting the key. "I am thrilled that it is the key to the hearts of wonderful people," he said.

"Apartheid was defeated because of the support of people such as yourselves." Robert Benzie, National Post policies, was presented with the key -to the city yesterday. The Nobel Peace Prize winner promptly repaid the honour by offering his support to Toronto's bid for the 2008 Olympics. "I believe you're trying to get the Olympic Games," the charismatic cleric told the packed members' lounge at City Hall, where councillors, dignitaries, journalists and schoolchildren were hanging on his every word. "We tried in Cape Town and don't have our kind of fortune," he advised with A 1 1 Hi i III Lastman quiet over Nunzia fa's possible run at mayors office hand-selected candidate in York South-Weston in the 1997 federal election refused to discuss his KEVIN VAN PAA3SEN NATIONAL POST Ingham, dress in period costumes to celebrate the centennial of the Ruskin Literary and Debating Society. Debating, literary group celebrates 100 years MP TO REGISTER IN MARCH 'I don't care if he runs or not' By Robert Benzie Mel Lastman insists he is not wor-' ried about facing John Nunziata, the outspoken independent MP, in the November mayoral election.

As disclosed yesterday, Mr. Nun-' ziata will register for the vote next month and begin raising the $1- million needed to mount a serious campaign. "I don't care if he runs or not. That's up to him," an uncharac-; teristically tight-lipped Mr. Last-man said.

"I have no comment on him at all there may be 10 oppo-" nents, I don't know. There's proba- bly two or three of them right now," he said. Although he was asked by reporters several times about the prospect of running against the York South-Weston MP, the mayor I once mentioned Mr. Nunzi- atabyname. 1 TThere will be a lot of people tosfr-1 jng their hats in the ring between 'now and October and I haven't i -tossed my hat in the ring," said Mr.

-Lastman, noting that he will dis- "close his plans "some time before -the end of April" I haven't announced what I'm Idoing, so I really don't care. I don't i 'have anything to say about it" When pressed by journalists, the I Jrnayor emphasized that Mr. Nun-3 -zjata's proposed candidacy will not any influence on whether he i 'will seek a second three-year term -ai the helm of Canada's largest city. I I fNone whatsoever," he stressed. 4Mr.

Nunziata said on Tuesday nhat he is "seriously considering -the possibility of running." I -But the one-time Opposition "llat Pack" member forced from -the Liberal caucus for fighting the and services tax only to re-. turn to haunt Jean Chretien by toppling the prime minister's Attack on police overtime bill enrages chief By Chris Eby and Mark Gollom 'Chief David Boothby lashed out I 'against city budget chief Tom 'jakobek yesterday, accusing him lof political grandstanding over 'comments he made that the po- -lice budget is being mismanaged. I I "There's no suggestion at all in Hhe city auditor's report that in any way mismanaged the Ibudget," he said in a rare public display of anger. I resent Councillor Jakobek budding candidacy. Still, sources say it will be a for midable bid, with fighting crime and cutting taxes as platform cor nerstones.

Should he seek the mayor's chair, Mr. Nunziata will be required to resign from Parliament, as sitting MPs and MPPs are forbidden from nmning in municipal elections. While city councillors can remain in office while making provincial or federal bids, the Mu nicipal Act and the Municipal Elections Act prohibit parliamentarians from enjoying the same privilege. At 45 years old, Mr. Nunziata is a generation younger than Mr.

Last- man, who will turn 67 next month. Famous for his tireless cam paigning and infamous for his quick tongue the feisty MP could pose a threat at the polls, although he would be hard- pressed to topple such a popular mayor. City Hall insiders suggest that Mr. Nunziata may just be position ing himself for a plum council seat, using that as a springboard for a mayoral run in 2003. By that time, it is expected that Mr.

Lastman, who is almost cer tain to run this year, will have re tired. Indeed, key supporters of the mayor have pnvately urged Mr. Nunziata to run in York South Weston against Mario Gentile, a former Metro councillor convicted in 1994 of influence peddling and accepting $150,000 in bribes from a developer. Mr. Gentile, whose candidacy troubles many civic politicians, declared his council intentions last week.

As payback for that, Mr. Last- man's confreres have hinted that Mr. Nunziata will get the mayoral nod in 2003. But one municipal watcher refuted that prospect "John's not going to wait for three years as a councillor. He feels his time is now.

National Post at night and on weekends during an 11-week period.) Chief Boothby pointed out that the overtime figures were lower than in 1998 $31-million and substantially lower than 1991 $40-milhon. He added that 70 of this year's budget relates to the court costs of officers having to testify on then-days off. "We don't control who goes to court our police officers are there under duty and under subpoena. Nor could the police anticipate the 1,200 special events, festivals, demonstrations, street closures in 1999, he said. "My police officers are giving, giving, giving of their own time, over and over and over again, and when they re publicly criticized unfairly, what's that do to them? You think they're going to keep committing, and committing and committing? Theyre going to say, 'Alright, I'm going to bill for every last bit of overtime that I put in.

"They do an awful lot of overtime, they come in on their days off, they work at home, and for them to be criticized in the way they are publicly, I wont stand for it" Mr. Jakobek said he is a supporter of the police and in the past two years has recommended increases to their budget "I don't write blank cheques and at the end of the day, I expect them to be as financially responsible as any other department in the city. The auditor's report says they are not None of this is a criticism of the rank-and-file frontline officers. This is a criticism of the upper management" National Post Steve Rabjohn and his wife, Karen Man files suit, lays claim to police 'name' By Mark Gollom A Toronto man is suing the city's police force, alleging it betrayed him over a joint covert anti-terrorist operation. The $8-milhon lawsuit was launched by Andre David Milne after police shut down his art galleryafter hours booze club in January, 1999.

Mr. Milne, 35, who is acting as his own lawyer, claims the gallery was the base of an undercover operation to attract war criminals in Third World countries and have them brought to justice. "The TPS Toronto Police Ser vice was still fully willing to proceed and consented to Andre Milne to begin development of overall concept as long as Andre Milne handles the precision death squad intercept security considerations," Mr. Milne al leges in his statement of claim. Mr.

Milne said the effort was also endorsed by the Department of National Defence and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. He said the gallerycovert oper ation, named G2Net, was established first in Toronto in 1998 and was going to set up in Somalia. Mr. Milne said the gallery in Somalia would have disseminat ed information that would have attracted members of death squads. Mr.

Milne's staff would then have arrested the war criminals and have them prosecuted be fore the World Court Detective-Sergeant Roy Fata said police were working with Mr. Milne on an arts program linking street kids and police officers. He said the club was shut down because it deviated from its original purpose and began serving alcohol without a licence. As far as I know, it wasn't a covert operation," he said. "The police would not be supporting that" Police also worked with Mr.

Milne in 1994 to ship toys to refugee children in the former Soviet Union. When the motion was brought to court last year, city lawyers argued the Toronto Police Service is not a legal entity and cannot be sued. The lawsuit should have been directed against the Toronto Police Services Board, the lawyers said. The lawsuit was amended last July naming the correct defendant but is now on hold because Mr. Milne doesn't have the finances to carry it forward.

He says he wants to continue. I want culpability and ac countability," Mr. Milne said. Every single person who may have benefited from this operation has blood on their hands." to Robert Baldwin, a lawyer for the city, said Mr. Milne still owes legal costs and would have to put up a security deposit before the lawsuit can proceed.

"I haven't dealt with the merits of the lawsuit. If and when a proper claim is served on the de fendant, this office will defend the action, Mr. Baldwin said. Because the Toronto Police Ser vice is not a legal entity, Mr. Milne registered the name "Toronto Police Service" with the Ministry of Consumer and Com mercial Relations.

The ministry later cancelled the registration, saying the business name is pro hibited. With 21 days to appeal the min istry decision, Mr. Milne do nated" the name to his organiza tion, G2Net. Indeed, Mr. Milne was able to register his vehicle under the name Toronto Police Service and has a vehicle permit with that name.

Mr. Milne plans to continue us ing the name to promote his global peace venture. He said Toronto police should be shopping for another name. "Every time they put out a me dia release they are circulating false news, circulating false doc uments," he said. "Every time they make an arrest they have no legal status to do that National Post CRITICS ANGRY AT RED TAPE IN FAMILYSUPPORT MUST REGISTER WITH OFFICE By April Lindgren Families waiting for child support payments may soon have to jump another hurdle before receiving help from the provincial office set up to chase down dead-beat parents.

Provincial officials confirmed yesterday the government is considering a new rule that would require parents who are owed support to register with the Family Responsibility Office if they want the office to enforce the payment orders. The proposed new system would replace the current procedure in which court-ordered spousal and child support payments are automatically registered and enforced by the office. Opposition critics and parents groups say the change will be disastrous for the 128,000 Ontario families mostly women and children who are owed in arrears. "The losers will be thousands of victims of deadbeat dads who fail register because they are unaware they are supposed to," warned Liberal MPP Michael Bryant Southam News they once put on trial the white rabbit ia Alice In Wonderland. "Its a unique combination of camaraderie and intellectual rigour," explains Michael R.

Doo-dy, who is president of Ruskin as well as vice-president and general counsel for Thomson Corp. "It's something you just don't get anywhere else." You can see how such verbal duels and literary one-upmanship could have boosted the confidence of society members and prepared them for challenging public tasks. Take, for example, Dr. Fred Tis-dall, who co-invented Pablum. Imagine trying to convince a company to market a dry, white powder full of nutrients for babies.

Then there was W.E. Courts who just wrote thoughts on cards and sold them. "He had very little formal education," says Mrs. Robertson. Nevertheless, he founded Courts Cards, which kingpin Hallmark later bought to form Coutts-Hallmark.

Descendants of many honorary members of Ruskin are expected to attend tonight's anniversary dinner at the Toronto Cricket and Curling Club. Elizabeth Griffith's father, Alexander Phare, was president in 1920. He also hosted a radio show called Queer Quirks for 20 years on CFRB, sharing with his listeners the origins of words, customs and phrases. "It's a nostalgia thing for me," says Mrs. Griffith.

Sarah Coombs, the first female member who joined in 1978, met her husband at Ruskin. As a community representative on one of the province's new regional cancer care committees, she is helping to shape cancer care in the province and credits Ruskin with building her confidence. "Public speaking and thinking on my feet are the two things I will be forever grateful to Ruskin for without question," she says. National Post Lydia Faithful Used as training ground for figures in Toronto society By Shahabadeen Karim The Ruskin Literary and Debating Society might never have come to be much less lasted 100 years if not for the woman they called The Patroness. Lydia Faithful, who ran a boarding house in turn-of-the-century Toronto, opened her doors to the group of young men interested in forming a debating society aimed at self-improvement Many of them were members of the Central Methodist Church, says Joanna Robertson, a retired schoolteacher who has devoted many hours to studying the group that turns 100 today.

"But the church didn't want anything to do with them, and their parents were quite opposed to it, too," Mrs. Robertson says. The Patroness threw open her doors to "my boys," as she liked to call them. "Mrs. Faithful was a member of the church," says Mrs.

Robertson, and I ve discovered that at least two of the young men actually boarded with her. I went through the city directories and found that Tonight a group of literary and debating mavens will assemble to pay homage to the centenary of a man's death and celebrate the hundredth anniversary of the de bating society that was hurriedly named alter him. The birth of the society coincid ed with the death of John Ruskin, the prolific British writer, philosopher and art critic. With an uncharacteristic lack of dis cussion, the members voted to use his name. They have built as colourful a legacy as Ruskin's, whose bold ideas scorched every-thing from art to architecture.

The little-known Ruskin society has served as a training ground of debate and persuasion for figures who have swayed the currents of Toronto culture. Dr. B.E. McKenzie, Ruskin's first honorary president, was founder of the Toronto Orthope dic Hospital. There's also the man whose motion spawned the group, Jimmy Simpson.

In 1935, he became Toronto's first socialist mayor. He was ousted a year later, although a community centre on Queen Street East still bears his name. The group's rituals haven't changed much in 100 years. Before the executive can corral members to order, the hurly- burly explodes. They grunt challenges and they heckle.

The ballyhoo subsides slowly, and then real cutting words are unleashed. The oratorical challenges vary; trying to advance his personal po- agenda on the backs of my "police officers." Mr. Jakobek criticized Toronto's police force after an auditors re-J port released yesterday revealed i Officers charged nearly $33-mil- lion in overtime last year. Chief Boothby said the real 1999 overtime figure is $29-million be- the auditor included million for the Community Ac-t ition Police program (CAP), which was supported by council, and another for policing jat Serbian demonstrations. Under CAP, a highly controver-fijal initiative that was directed from the mayor's office, a flying squad of 175 uniformed police of- fleers swept into crime "hot spots" and made its presence felt.