Weir's winery plans not quite par for the course

Niagara Parks Commission, already under fire for Maid of the Mist operations, criticized for business talks with pro-golfer

When pro-golfer Mike Weir went looking for a home for his fast-growing winery, the Whirlpool Golf Course seemed a masterful choice, not just for its prime Niagara Falls location, but for sentimental reasons: He has family in Niagara and played the course as a boy.

"I remember when I mentioned Whirlpool to Mike, his eyes lit up," said Barry Katzman, who runs Mr. Weir's wine operation.

But eyebrows shot up just as quickly when the two men recently announced a tentative deal with the Niagara Parks Commission, the Ontario government agency that owns Whirlpool, to build at the course. After all, Mr. Katzman's father, Archie Katzman, is the commission's vice-chairman and a member since 1971.

While the Katzmans and commission officials say the elder Katzman has recused himself from any involvement, critics are calling it another questionable deal made in private by an agency that is supposed to serve the public.

 "Everybody's saying it's really not a fair process," John Neufeld, owner of Palatine Hills Estate Winery in Niagara-on-the-Lake, said yesterday. "And the issue with the Maid of the Mist is certainly something that wasn't done properly, either."

As reported in The Globe and Mail this week, the commission is under fire for approving a 25-year lease extension for the Maid of the Mist tour boat without allowing competitors to bid. The decision led to a request for a judicial review from one would-be bidder, and prompted commissioner Robert Gale to break ranks and complain to Ontario's Integrity Commissioner, who is investigating the Maid deal and other commission activities.

Yesterday, the union representing parks workers turned up the heat further and called on the province to assume management of parks operations, citing "a record of mismanagement and secrecy that goes beyond the recent controversial decision to renew the lease of the Maid of the Mist." That record, according to the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, includes a non-tendered marina lease, unmet crowd targets for a new $40-million attraction and questionable spending even as workers have been laid off. That, in turn, has led to a decline in maintenance of the 1,720 hectares of parkland under the commission's purview, OPSEU president Warren (Smokey) Thomas said.

John Kernahan, the commission's general manager, dismissed the union statement as bargaining rhetoric, while acknowledging an increase in "deferred maintenance" due to slumping tourism.

As for Mr. Weir's plan, announced with an air of some certainty last Nov. 17 in Niagara-on-the-Lake, "it has not got to the point where a business plan has been developed, or even a proposal," Mr. Kernahan said.

Early or not, Mr. Neufeld said a retail outlet that offers all Niagara wines, not just Mr. Weir's, would be more appropriate to the parks' mandate.

Niagara MPP Kim Craitor said he received 10 to 15 calls from other wineries after the Weir announcement. Mr. Craitor was reluctant to discuss the tenor of the calls, but when pressed, said, "No one called to say, 'Good news.' "

Niagara Falls retiree and citizens' activist Pat Mangoff, although good friends with the Weir family, said, "It's not right that [the parks commission is] promoting one wine. We have so many in the region and they should all be promoted."

COMMISSION PRIMER

The Niagara Parks Commission, now facing questions over its own business dealings, was created in 1887 to counter development and hucksterism alongside Canada's Horseshoe Falls.

Starting with a 62-hectare park and a mandate to ensure "the preservation of the natural scenery about Niagara Falls," its holdings have ballooned to 1,720 hectares strung along the Niagara River, while its mandate has grown from park maintenance, gardening and parking lots to include golf courses, restaurants and other attractions.

The commission employs 300 full-time and 1,400 seasonal workers. While it remains a provincial entity and enjoys government loan guarantees, it is self-funding and receives no government money.

The commission is governed by 10 to 12 part-time appointees: four from local municipal councils and the rest chosen by the province. They meet once a month and are paid $135 a meeting (the chair and vice-chair earn $250 and $175). Commissioners can take three guests golfing for free at its Whirlpool and Legends courses. Terms of office last three years, but can be renewed repeatedly. Vice-chairman Archie Katzman, a St. Catharines, Ont., businessman and veteran political fundraiser, has sat on the commission since 1971.

While accountable to the public through the Ministry of Tourism, the commission votes in private and its members take an oath of secrecy. Its recent decision to extend the Maid of the Mist's lease for 25 years without allowing competitor bids has prompted public criticism, court action from a would-be rival and an investigation of its practices by Ontario's Integrity Commissioner.