" What Hipcrosity!!!!!" When this story first broke both the Toronto Star and the Globe & Mail condemned the Ontario Government and particuarly Mike Harris for this unfortunate situation. Now this is their "Spin" Reprinted from The Toronto Star Dec. 23, 2000 editorial. Koebel testimony raises chilling questions When Walkerton's nightmare burst on us last May we asked two questions. The first was this: `Was Walkerton's tragedy the lethal offspring of local blunders and nature run amok?'' The testimony ending the first phase of the judicial inquiry into what happened - from Stan Koebel, the man in charge of the town's water system - has answered that question. It was indeed local blunders, nature run amok and much worse. Koebel lied systematically about which water was being tested, how much chlorine was being put into it, what tests were revealing. He kept the danger from friends and neighbours, health authorities and the province - and not just last May but for years. Seven died. We don't know if others were felled in previous years. No one checked the water. When we raised our first question, last May 26, we also raised the matter of criminal culpability. But Koebel, like other witnesses, cannot be prosecuted for evidence he gave to the inquiry. That does not prevent prosecution, but it may make successful prosecution extremely difficult. With Koebel's testimony over, however, crown attorneys should decide expeditiously whether to proceed with charges. The second question we asked of Walkerton's disaster was this: ``Was it an inevitable, cumulative consequence of weakening the policies protecting Ontario's town water - and health and life itself?'' What we have heard so far says the answer to this is also yes. But how much of a role it played is to be the inquiry's focus when it resumes. The answer will have far more bearing on Ontarians' lives than Koebel's fate. But his appearance gave the inquiry's work new urgency. His testimony sent a shiver down this province's spine, not just because of the lies, but because he is so like people we all know. He could be everyman from anytown. How he got his job, through his father, rang too many bells. How he ran his shop was too familiar. How many Stan Koebels are out there running water systems? However many, people like Koebel work in a context, in a system. A good system can save lives by providing checks and balances on people of weak character, by surprise inspections and unexpected audits that keep them on their toes, for example. Clearly, by last summer, we no longer had a water safety system able to do that. Just from the testimony in the inquiry's first phase, it's clear what we had was slashed to ribbons by spending cuts, confused by downloading and privatization, demoralized by a government preoccupied with cutting red tape. From 1996 to last May, Walkerton's water system was inspected once. The strong measures the sole inspector sought died in the upper bureaucracy. The inquiry now turns to finding out just how weakened that system is and how it can be restored. The commission should hurry. Stan Koebel's testimony has produced a worried province. Comment by Stanley Smith: In May when this story first broke the Toronto Star as well as the Globe & Mail both condemmed the Provincial Government for funding cuts as the cause and only cause of this misfortune.