ndallen@contact.uucp (Nigel Allen) (06/02/90)
Christine Hart, Ontario's Minister of Culture and Communications, resigned Wednesday, May 30, after it became known that four junior employees of Bell Canada had worked as volunteers in her campaign to retain the Liberal nomination in the Toronto-area constituency of York East, and that Cantel Inc., a unit of Rogers Communications Inc., supplied six cellular telephones for the campaign. An opposition member of the Ontario legislature said that a week before her resignation, Hart had asked the Ontario cabinet to support Unitel Communications Inc.'s bid to compete in the long distance service market. On Wednesday, in explaining her decision to quit the cabinet, Hart said it was a mistake to have anyone employed at a telecommunications company working on her nomination. The potential for conflict of interest might arise, she said, because her ministry (its Communications Division, actually) acts as an indirect regulator when it takes positions on issues with the CRTC. She also said she did not solicit help.