A rchive Date
[ 15-02-2002 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Canada ]
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[http://www.canoe.ca/Columnists/waugh.html
Hancock skates around controversy
By NEIL WAUGH -- Edmonton Sun
February 15, 2002
What happened on Monday night in Salt Lake City to Alberta citizens Jamie Sale and David Pelletier was much more than getting jobbed out of a couple of medals.
At best these things are worth a few hundred bucks. In reality a gold-medal performance in a high-profile sport like Olympic pairs figure skating is like hitting the 649 numbers. Only bigger. If Sale and Pelletier get the right agent and play their cards right, the personal appearances, endorsements and professional career is worth tens of millions.
But to be denied this by what is beginning to look like a conspiracy, in Alberta Premier Ralph Klein's own words, raises "serious questions about how these events are judged, and Albertans want answers."
Bob Mills sent letter to Sheila Copps
Alliance MP Bob Mills, who represents Sale's home town of Red Deer, went even further than the premier in a letter to Heritage Minister Sheila Copps yesterday.
"The corruption within the judging process has to stop," he informed Canada's sports minister. Mills wants Copps to launch an official complaint with the International Skating Union and demand "an impartial, complete investigation of the judging."
Fat chance. The Ottawa Liberals aren't about to do anything to come to the rescue of Sale and Pelletier. Right now the feds have applied the full-court press on the International Olympic Committee to bring the Winter Games to Whistler, B.C. It's all part of the Jean Chretien legacy cavalcade and they're not about to deviate from that script.
Clearly Klein knew the political ramifications of not standing up for these two against what appears to be a plot to deny them not only the gold medals, but also the huge residual wealth that comes with it.
Which raises a very serious and disturbing question: If somebody conspires to fix the results of a sporting contest and to deny a competitor the benefits of the win - as is being alleged in the Sale-Pelletier affair - isn't it a crime?
The last time somebody tried to interfere in the results of a figure skating competition, and that was just the U.S. championships, the crew that conspired to attack Nancy Kerrigan with a pipe to knock her out of the 1994 Olympics all served jail sentences. The charge in most of the cases was something the Americans call "racketeering."
So, was the offence against Sale and Pelletier any less serious than what Kerrigan was subject to?
Of all the "angry Albertans" that Klein was speaking for, nobody should be angrier than Alberta Justice Minister Dave Hancock. Well, if you thought that, then think again. Rather than write a letter expressing the premier's concerns to Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff - or better still the U.S. Justice Department and the FBI - Hancock had decided to do sweet-tweet.
"Mr. Hancock is also interested in the welfare of Albertans inside the jurisdiction," insisted justice spokesman Bart Johnson. But apparently not interested enough to write a one-page letter raising the serious issues that the premier expressed to the Americans. Hancock didn't return phone calls.
'Not the minister's place to intervene'
"It's not the minister's place to intervene. Alberta Justice doesn't have the authority to initiate a criminal investigation in the United States nor would we presume to tell those in authority how to exercise it," the spokesman added.
Of course, the Alberta Justice Department has a long and checkered history of "not presuming" things, especially anything to do with white collar crime stretching back to the Dial Mortgage days. And for an outfit that couldn't even get anyone in court over the Bre-X scandal, going to bat for a Red Deer figure skater and her partner is just another reason why they've become known as the Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight.
"There appear to be questions that need to be answered," Johnson agreed. "We're hopeful the appropriate American authorities are able to answer them."
But from the Alberta justice minister's perspective, Jamie and David are on their own. Meanwhile, the Utah AG's Department confirmed that they are in the process of acting on a complaint on behalf of a Calgary lawyer on the very issue that Hancock wants nothing to do with.
Pretty sad, eh?
Letters to the editor should be sent to letters@edm.sunpub.com
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