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COVER STORY

$5-MILLION MAN

by Judi McLeod, Editor, with notes from Frank Kennedy
September 14, 1999

Unsuspecting Ontario taxpayers have been forking out millions of dollars in rent for the operation of the Toronto-based abortion clinic of Dr. Henry Morgentaler, according to Ontario Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy documents obtained by Toronto Free Press.

Currently half way through a 10-year lease on Morgentaler's 727 Hillsdale Ave. E. abortion clinic, taxpayers have already paid $2,611,828. In specifics, Ontario taxpayers paid a total of $567,325 rent for 1997-98. At the end of the lease, paying Morgentaler's rent will exceed $5,000,000. This amount is over and above the $450,000 that Morgentaler received from the public purse for security purposes. As far as is known, no other abortion clinic in Canada receives free rent and none for a projected period of 10 years.

The move to the new location at 727 Hillsdale Ave. E., in Toronto, was prompted when Morgentaler's former location on Harbord St. in downtown Toronto was blown up. No arrests have ever been made. Security being a problem and landlords nervous about signing a lease for the abortion clinic, Morgentaler was reported to have been blocked by a clever lawyer when he originally tried to take over a former veterinarian hospital on Yonge St.

Taxpayers have contributed to the operation of abortion clinics in Ontario. Block funding for free standing abortion clinics has been provided annually since 1991 through the Independent Health Facilities Act Funding. Through this source, Morgentaler receives $1,500,000, a contribution over and above any charges that he may make for abortions.

Documents show that other Toronto abortion clinics are not subsidized to the same degree. Choice in Health receives $1,200,000. The Scott Clinic receives $1,000,000, while the Cabbagetown Clinic receives only $600,000.

Freedom of Information documentation revealed that Morgentaler's 1997-98 rent of $567,325 was an increase of $50,894 from the $516,461 that it was six years ago from July 1, 1993 to June 30, 1994. From July 1, 1994 to June 30, 1995, the rent fell to $485,347. It rose to $502,159 from July 1, 1995 to June 20, 1996. From 1996 to 1997, the rent increased to $540,636.

Abortionist's fees for the fiscal year 1992-93 (the last year that figures were made available to the public) came to $5,401,680. Abortionist’s fees for 45,014 abortions in the fiscal year of 1992-93 cost taxpayers $5,401,680. Costs were based on an average of $120 per abortion. OHIP fee schedule lists the actual fee for an abortion at $103.40 for a D&C and $174.70 for a saline solution abortion. Hospitals charge $500 per abortion. For the 30,598 hospital abortions conducted, the hospital costs came to $15,299,000. Abortion clinic facility fees came to $4,750,000.

Total cost of abortions in Ontario for the fiscal year 1992-93 was $25,450,680. A freestanding abortion clinic opened in Ottawa in 1995 with an estimated annual grant of $600,000. Since 1993, Ontario has provided an additional $50,000 per year for an abortionist training program, conducted by the Bay Centre for Birth Control and the Morgentaler clinic in Toronto. There is no evidence that his program has been discontinued.

Tax money is also used to fund the distribution of abortifacients and abortifacient 'contraceptives', such as the 'morning-after-pill', paid for by taxpayers through public health authorities across Ontario.

Canada's bill for 100,000 abortions in the fiscal year 1992-93 came to a whopping $55,964,593. The number of abortions in Canada has grown steadily since then and the total costs have increased dramatically as well. Getting information on the abortion industry has been made much more difficult over the years.

In fact, it took Frank Kennedy, Queen’s Park correspondent for The Interim, a pro-life publication, one full year to get the information written about in this article. Kennedy had to wait out the result of an appeal process when the commission deemed that "it would appear that the outcome of this appeal may affect the interests of a second third party", and at one time had to wait to have the file reactivated after it had been filed away as complete.

From time to time, he mailed commission bureaucrats press clippings with stories criticizing the long wait for results on Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy requests.

Viewing his pursuit of the information as "a way to ferret out a good story," persistence paid off and Kennedy credits assistant commissioner Tom Mitcheson for ultimate receipt of the facts.

Last February, found him writing to Mediator Susan Ostapec of the Performance and Privacy Commissioner, "the reason for denying me access to the records responsive to the request pursuant to section 17 of the act doesn't hold water.

"The only information being denied to me is the monthly monetary costs and a letter that officially confirms that there is such a lease in effect. Any taxpayer should have the right to this information because the funds to pay for the lease on this health facility comes out of his pocket or her purse. Politically embarrassing isn’t a good enough excuse for denying me the information that I seek."

In another letter to Tribunal Administration Co-ordinator Norma Thorney, Kennedy asked "why information pertaining to Ontario taxpayers paying out a bundle of money that may run upwards of a million and a half dollars for an independent clinic could be regarded as confidential. "Was it too hot a potato before the election for the Ministry of Health lawyers to let the news out," he asked.

Ironically, Ontario Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy offices are located in the same building as the Ministry of Health, from which the information was requested.

Rent payment for the Morgentaler clinic from the public purse predates the Mike Harris government and was also doled out by bureaucrats under the NDP and Liberal governments. Kennedy believes his freedom of information request could have been deliberately stalled until after the June 8 provincial election.

"I believe that most people believe the Morgentaler clinic is a private one. The government should be embarrassed as this is not a charity."

The government may be loathe to cut funding for the abortion clinic because of the bombing at the Harbord Street clinic, an event which sent repercussions through the pro-life movement. "Most pro-lifers deplore violence and blowing away Henry's clinic would be anti-life in nature," said Kennedy.

Morgentaler, the Canadian founding father of the Humanist movement, now in his mid-70s will be 80 years of age at the end of the lease on the Hillsdale Ave. E. property. The controversial abortionist is not a poor man and is rumoured to have a $7-million portfolio in a Montreal bank.

Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com



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