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a site dedicated to uplifting the human spirit The Inquisitors created by Bill 160 Bill 160, read by itself, was not a nice document. But when you put it together with the other Acts that it referred to, it became positively frightening. I've already written about how it intentionally turned the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act upside down. Here's a little info on how the government has given itself the right to bestow sweeping powers on a single government investigator. The government's inquisitor can conduct a "public" inquiry under the provincial Public Inquiries Act, but can actually do it in private, with few rights given to the subject person(s) of the inquiry. In sections 253(7) and 257.30(4) of Ontario's Education Act, as amended by Bill 160, an investigator is given "the powers of a commission under Part II of the Public Inquiries Act, and that Part applies to an investigation as if it were an inquiry under that Act." Well, Part II of the Public Inquiries Act does indeed spell out the powers that should be granted a commission when conducting a PUBLIC inquiry. However, the Tories now have the capability to give all of this power to one person, and have conveniently left out Part I of this same Act, which spells out the RULES of conducting a public inquiry (including the fact that it's generally supposed to be public). Part I also spells out the rights of the person(s) representing the body (school board?) that is the subject of the inquiry. In other words, it seems that a government appointed investigator can conduct a private "public inquiry" of a school board, with all the powers normally given to a public inquiry commission, and the school board representatives will have few rights. Anybody see any potential problems here? Rick Jones e-mail:   rickjone@kitwat.enoreo.on.ca