Dear Editor,

I read in a local daily that the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Immigration Fred Mitchell is planning to appeal a court decision in an effort to prevent the disclosure of the files on his new immigration policy. No doubt he will argue that there is some vital national security issue at stake in the matter. It is hard to see how such an argument could hold up in the Court of Appeal. The reasons behind the immigration policy were talked to death in the House of Assembly; what on earth could be the big secret?

More likely, there is a document or two in there that could cause embarrassment to The Cabinet or an individual senior official, and the government is trying to save face. Whatever the reasons, how on earth can this government justify going to the expense of sending lawyers to fight such an appeal when they claim to have no money?

Compare this to the initial treatment of the Marathon residents impacted by the Rubis fuel spill. At the first town meeting, when the extent of the disaster was revealed, officers from the Ministry of Health said that the tests needed to fully evaluate the residents's exposure to harmful chemicals were not available locally, and to make them available would be too expensive. When asked why he didn't tell constituents about the danger they potentially faced, even though he knew about it for more than a year, MP Jerome Fitzgerald said he would have been fired from The Cabinet for talking out of turn.

Clearly too many of them care more about protecting their own interests than they do caring about the interests of the people.

Another question: If the government has the time and resources to launch a legal battle, why doesn't Minister Mitchell urge The Cabinet to explore the possibility of taking legal action against the company on whose watch the Marathon fuel spill occurred?

- Tom Paine

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