TRUTH DELAYED IS TRUTH DENIED

The Saturday before last (Feb. 4/12) the Woolwich Observer had an amazing article describing one of our provincial Ministrys. The title of the article written by Steve Galea was "Truth delayed is truth denied in a world run by spin doctors". The Ministry which Steve was describing was the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. Steve said "...every query, no matter how simple, needs to be taken up the ladder to their communication people so that the answers can be massaged and politically sanitized before coming back.". Mr. Galea who is an outdoors writer both for newspapers and for the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters had been making inquiries of the M.N.R. regarding bear hibernation. Specifically he wanted to know from the experts, whom we taxpayers fund for our mutual advantage, when bears come out of hibernation and what percentage of their body fat they lose in the process. Instead of a fairly quick response he got the runaround as his questions got pushed up the ladder. "Maybe you need to put a spin on bear hibernation. Otherwise it might indicate that bears get bored with Ontario winters and that would be hurtful to tourism at a very difficult time.". Mr. Galea has further indicated his concern with asking questions about bird migration for fear of receiving the following answer: "Our MNR spin doctors would probably suggest that while waterfowl go south, it's only because thay have dual citizenship."

The point that Steve Galea is making with humour, albeit it actually happened, is that our provincial Ministrys are less than honest with us, the citizens and taxpayers. Clearly political correctness and political expediency trump the honest truth even in matters of minor significance. Just imagine in serious matters how our governments are willing to deceive, manipulate and massage the truth.