Pubdate: Sat, 13 May 2006
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2006, The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:  http://www.globeandmail.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author: Murray Campbell

HEALTH MINISTER'S CANDOUR SETS AN EXAMPLE

The revelation that Ontario Health Minister George Smitherman 
successfully fought a drug addiction may be surprising, but it's not 
surprising that he made the revelation.

Mr. Smitherman lives a robust life and he's an open book, 
particularly for a politician. Not many people knew of the battle he 
fought with illegal drugs in the early 1990s until he went public this week.

No one who knows him well, however, is the least bit astonished that 
he told his story.

When the 42-year-old Health Minister rose to speak at a Centre for 
Addiction and Mental Health banquet in Toronto on Tuesday night, he 
was apparently moved by the stories he had heard from people who had 
overcome mental illness or addiction. Speaking without a script, he 
said he had triumphed over an addiction problem and regretted that he 
had seen the wrong side of too many sunrises.

Later, he sat down with one of those honoured at the dinner, Toronto 
Star reporter Robin Harvey, to talk about the street stimulants -- 
"party drugs" -- of which he had become too fond after his father 
died. Sensing that he was drifting into a pattern of chronic use that 
would limit his life, he underwent sustained counselling and cut down 
his partying.

"George's comments are a reflection of the kind of politician he is," 
said some-time political rival Jaime Watt. "He's honest and open and 
courageous and identifies with people who have been through a lot of 
struggles."

Barbara Hall remembers talking to Mr. Smitherman when he first went 
for help. The former Toronto mayor said she can't recall his drug use 
interfering with his work as her chief of staff, although she noted 
that it might explain the memos she got that had been written at 3 a.m.

Ms. Hall, now chief commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights 
Commission, said she was not surprised that Mr. Smitherman went 
public with his story.

"He's passionate about his beliefs and he's prepared to take whatever 
positives or negatives that go with those," she said. "He's not a 
person who pretends to be something other than what he is."

Mr. Smitherman, for example, has never hid the fact that he's gay -- 
Ontario's first openly gay MPP.

In fact, in his informal dealings with reporters he often refers to 
his sexual orientation. Once, when the Liberals were still in 
opposition, a reporter referred to him as "an attack dog" for his 
attacks on Progressive Conservative cabinet ministers. Early the next 
morning, he presented himself to the reporter and said, with a mock 
hurt look, that he was actually "an attack poodle."

Some poodle. Mr. Smitherman has never tired of bragging that he was 
honoured by the Toronto Gay Hockey Association with the Tonya Harding 
award -- a sparkly high-heeled pump on a trophy base named after the 
aggressive figure skater -- as a player who "unintentionally" injured 
an opponent.

It's something of the way he played the game of politics as well. 
"When pushed, I don't mind pushing back, whether it's on or off the 
ice," he once said.

His aggressive style with his own staff and with the health-care 
community was legendary. He attracted the nicknames Furious George 
and Old Yeller soon after becoming Health Minister in 2003. On the 
flip side, he wiped away tears in an interview about appalling 
conditions in nursing homes.

"George is very passionate about what he does and that comes 
through," said Linda Haslam-Stroud, who, as president of the Ontario 
Nurses' Association, has frequently clashed with him.

Mr. Smitherman worried that his disclosures might harm his career, 
but that seems unlikely. Premier Dalton McGuinty said yesterday: "I'm 
even more proud of him today. . . . He had a heckuva challenge before 
him and he overcame that challenge. I think it took a lot of courage 
for him to own up to that and be public about that."

For Opposition Leader John Tory, this is beyond politics. He was in 
the audience at Tuesday's banquet and later sent a note to Mr. 
Smitherman to congratulate him on his speech. He said the hope is 
that people might be inspired to overcome their own challenges by 
hearing the Health Minister's story.

"This is about his being a human being and being a leader, too," Mr. 
Tory said. "We're supposed to be examples in the things we try to do 
as best we can and this is a good example."
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman