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Message From Michael - August 7, 2008 |
A Rather Astonishing Proposal
When I arrived at the court house on July 31, 2008, I was struck by the presence of so many supporters. Not much time passed before Dan Kuzmyk, Senior Counsel for the York Regional Health Unit, approached me with a proposal to resolve the situation. I needed to go to the washroom first and asked him to wait.
When I returned, I heard him asking, in very simple terms, why I would not move the Blue Bus south of Steeles Avenue, out of York Region. I looked at him in disbelief and then told him that I would think about it. Then I heard him saying that they would consider dropping the contempt charges if I would agree.
As we sat in the court room, I asked him how that would work IF we were to make a deal. I understood him to respond that he needed approval from Joe La Marca, the health official who brought the contempt of court motion forward. I waited until he came back and then I heard him assure me that Mr. LaMarca would consent to that deal. I also understood Senior Counsel Kuzmyk to tell me that we needed to come to an agreement before the judge entered the court room; otherwise, we would have to proceed as planned. I responded that I would think about it. As I listened to him, he assured me that there would be no costs involved for us as long as we came to an agreement. He explained to me that he wanted to be rid of the whole thing, and that, as long as we are not in this region, he did not care. He then proposed that if I was still interested, he would need to ask the Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Karim Kurji, if he would agree to this proposal. I then became very interested in whether, even at the highest level, York Regional Health would allow this deal to go ahead. Joe LaMarca, who was present at that time, left the court room, presumably to phone Dr. Karim Kurji, and returned a few minutes later, apparently with Dr. Kurji’s blessing, since Senior Counsel Kuzmyk gave me the green light. I sat there rather stunned and, a few minutes later, responded just before the Judge entered the court room: “I am not interested.” I then heard Senior Counsel Kuzmyk saying, rather agitatedly, “You will get smoked, one of these days, you will get smoked and there is nothing you can do. I responded: “That’s fine.”
The Judge then entered and the rest you know.
What is interesting about that situation is the fact that these deals are probably very common between lawyers and never really become public knowledge because of their professional ethics. In my case, I am not bound by the same ethics; I am bound by the morals of the whole battle. “The truth needs to come out.” Here, we have a perfect example of how bureaucracy works. Under the banner of public health, they issue orders and under oath proclaim the dangers of raw milk so that a judge also issues a court order. After 12 months, and intense under cover activity, they bring a motion forward to find me guilty of contempt with a potential jail sentence. All in the name of public health. Then, when they realized how much public uproar these actions generated, they tried to wriggle out of the situation with complete disregard for public health.
What I heard Mr. Kuzmyk saying is that “as long I was not within their region, they did not care”.
I was glad to have had a witness with me. I am also glad that, even under oath, nothing can change this story because it happened as described.
Dear Regional Health Unit, thank you for assuring me that my assumption was correct, that you in fact do not care if milk is safe or not, that you do not care if there are people who need the milk.
Nevertheless, I think we actually can work out a deal wherein we agree to find a real solution to the issue instead of playing cat and mouse for the wrong reasons. Start listening to the people.
Regards Michael
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