ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW TRIBUNAL DECISION RE: NORTHSTAR DIRECTORS

This Decision was issued two days ago and is a very dry 30 pages of reading. It is all about a couple of Motions filed by twelve Directors of Northstar Inc. who are very unhappy about being put securely on the hook to pay for ongoing and long term remediation both of their site at 695 Bishop St. as well as the off-site contamination and finally the maintenance of residential air ventilation systems throughout the Bishop St. community. It is our Ontario Ministry of the Environment who have put them on this legal and very expensive hook via naming them in a Control Order. One could almost say that the days of Directorships being handed out to celebrities, retired politicians and other big shots are over. Apparently the M.O.E. believe that Boards of Directors do have legal duties and obligations. It is also conceivable that Directorships of companies may be related to financial investments or shares in said company; in which case these Directors represent ownership in one way or the other.

This is not the first time that the Ontario M.O.E. have gone after Directors when a polluting company goes bankrupt. They did so unsucessfully twenty-two years ago with Varnicolor Chemical in Elmira. They were unsucessful because those three Directors (& investors) were able to prove that they were patsys with zero control and zero authority, who were given a small return on their investment plus named as Directors. For them it was a status thing which they soon regretted as the owner Severin Argenton essentially treated them as less than idiot cousins.

I do not see any attempt by these Directors to use that kind of defence. My suspicion is that these twelve fellows are not plumbers, electricians and insurance brokers as in the Varnicolor case. My suspicion is that they may well be worldly, professionals in the field of accounting, engineering, manufacturing etc.. This particular Decision was merely a skirmish. The big battles are coming and it will be interesting to see if the M.O.E. stand up and fight like men or if they do their usual crying for mommy when the going gets tough. My experience with the M.O.E. is that they are bullys with the little guys and gutless wonder cowards when the big boys stand up to them and tell them to f... off.

There are two questions here. Are these Directors big boys or little guys AND how much damaging info do the Directors have on the M.O.E.. If the M.O.E. were negligent and incompetent as they were in Elmira with Uniroyal; then they will attempt to negotiate a face saving way out of this. Rest assurred if it goes that route the M.O.E. will sell out the interests of the local residents and the public in a flash. They will buy their reputation out of trouble once again, using taxpayers dollars.