'IT TOOK COURAGE TO OWN UP,' PREMIER SAYS

McGuinty Didn't Know About Minister's Past

Opposition Urges Better Screening Of Cabinet Members

GUELPH--Premier Dalton McGuinty says he was surprised to learn the
man he appointed health minister over two years ago was a recovered
drug addict, but he has no plans to screen the background of cabinet ministers.

"I did not know that," McGuinty acknowledged when asked about George
Smitherman's struggle with illegal "party drugs" in the early and
mid-1990s -- a period that included Smitherman's stint as executive
assistant to former Toronto mayor Barbara Hall.

Smitherman confessed his troubles with drug abuse for the first time
in yesterday's Toronto Star, refusing to name the drugs he used --
mainly after drinking -- for fear of repercussions.

The premier said he would not hold the admission against Smitherman,
the province's first openly gay cabinet minister who has a reputation
as a combative politician unafraid to speak his mind.

"He had a heck of a challenge ... and he overcame that challenge,"
McGuinty said at the unveiling of a major auto parts company expansion.

"I think it took a lot of courage to own up to that, to be public
about that. I hope that he will serve as an inspiration to others in
Ontario and wherever else who find themselves in a grip of a drug
addiction and understand that with persistence and professional help
this is something that you can overcome and that you can enjoy
tremendous success."

Hall, who was mayor from 1994 to 1997, said she can't remember
Smitherman showing up late for work stoned, drunk or unable to keep
up with a busy schedule, but she does recall him saying he was
seeking professional help after she was defeated.

"George works hard and at the time I would have said he partied hard
as well," said Hall, who was hired by Smitherman a couple of years
ago to work as a senior bureaucrat in the health ministry before she
left recently to head the Ontario Human Rights Commission.

Hall said she didn't know of the drug use at the time but recalled
Smitherman had a fondness for "hard liquor and a couple of fast
drinks. Not a sipper."

She credited Smitherman for having the courage to admit his past, a
sentiment echoed by Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory for his
candid admission.

But Tory said the case points to the need for better screening of
cabinet ministers. "Do I think these are the questions one should be
asking? The answer is yes," said Tory, a former chief executive of
Rogers Cable, who said such lines of inquiry are often delicately
made at senior levels in the business world.

"It's not because the answer disqualifies you, but because it's
better that you know about these things."

Tory said he has no concerns about Smitherman's ability to hold
public office because the drug problem preceded his election as MPP
of Toronto Centre-Rosedale in 1999.

Smitherman said yesterday he hadn't spoken to McGuinty yet but he
expects some people might use the information about his addiction to
drugs to attack him politically.

"Politics is politics. You can anticipate some people will be playing
games like that. I am not concerned about it," he said.

With files from Canadian Press