A PRETEND HERO

May 15, 2006  
Smitherman is supposed to be a hero for revealing he once had a thing with  drugs? Give me a break  
By CHRISTINA BLIZZARD

So now we're supposed to feel how about Health Minister George  Smitherman's revelations that for 10 years he was hooked on "party" drugs  and he had a bit of a problem with booze?

We're supposed to pat him on the back and tell him he's "courageous."

Who does he think he's kidding?

Cry me a river. A courageous person doesn't do drugs in the first place. A  courageous politician tells voters BEFORE he runs for election that he's  had a substance abuse problem. Then you let voters decide. You don't land  yourself a plum job as health minister lecturing everyone about lifestyle  -- and then tell us to do as I say and not as I do.

We needed to know this before he ran because it speaks to character. A  young person who is focused and hard-working doesn't become so involved in  the party scene that they become addicted to drugs.

Smitherman, 42, said the "terrifying" struggle with drugs happened 10-15  years ago. His father suffered a massive stroke at 60 years of age and  languished for months in a hospital bed, able only to move his eyes.

Like most people, I feel sorry for anyone in that situation. Many of us  have agonized as we have watched loved ones fighting personal battles with  cancer or heart disease. Most of us coped without using recreational drugs  as a crutch. Okay, the odd bottle of vino, maybe. But then you move on.

QUIET HEROES

There are legions of quiet heroes out there in the community who cope with  the most tragic personal circumstances with strength and dignity, not with  public crying jags. Those are the people we should honour.

Now Smitherman's boss, Premier Dalton McGuinty, is gushing over how  courageous it was for the health minister to spill the beans. And what a  good example it is to others. Huh? Will the real Liberal Party of Ontario  stand up please.

This is the same squeaky clean Dalton McGuinty who appealed to "working  families" in the last vote. Right now, those working families are baffled  as to why they have a health minister who makes a high profile admission  that he had a serious addiction problem - and he's still in cabinet. If a  Tory health minister had made a similar admission, the Liberals would be  screaming for the OPP to investigate.

HYPOCRISY

And what about the hypocrisy of the message this sends to young people. On  the one hand, the province is poised to enforce some of the most  restrictive measures in the world for people who smoke a legal substance  -- nicotine. You've got Health Promotions Minister Jim Watson trying to  persuade young people to quit the weed -- nicotine that is -- to slim  down, eat right, stay healthy and save the government hard-pressed  health-care dollars. On the other hand, you've got a health minister who  admits he had a substance-abuse problem. And we're all supposed to pat  Furious George on the head and tell him he's a good boy?

Sorry, but I just don't buy this. I taught my kids that there are  consequences to their actions. That means good behaviour is rewarded and  bad behaviour is punished. Any mom knows that if you do the reverse in a  family, you end up with anarchy.

I don't know what it is about Smitherman that makes him keep wanting to  make these emotional outbursts. Do we really care whether he's gay or  straight? Fat or thin? Drug addict or not? I don't know if it is an  immaturity or a weakness in his character that makes him seek public  approval for his odd behaviour. I'm not impressed. And I'm not about to  worship and glorify him just because he thinks we should. I think he needs  to pull himself together and grow up.

Still, it does answer some questions I've had about Liberal policies. You  know - the health tax, closing coal-fired generating plants and so on.  I've often wondered just what it is they're smoking. Now I have a pretty  good idea.