The Cabinet of Ontario Premier Frank Miller, who succeeded Bill Davis last January, was sworn in on February 8, 1985. It included a new Attorney General, Robert Welch, and new Solicitor-General, John Williams.
John Williams, MPP for the Oriole riding in Metro Toronto, is a strong pro-life supporter. On December 11, 1984, when still a backbencher, he urged then Solicitor-General Gordon Taylor to close down Morgentaler’s illegal abortion clinic. He publicly questioned the effects of police protection for an illegal establishment on the general public’s respect for law.
(Independent aborturies are forbidden by federal law. While Morgentaler was acquitted of acting illegally by jury, this verdict is under appeal.) Williams said that the police wee left in the “humiliating and disgraceful position of having to provide protection to someone who considers himself above the law.” Morgentaler has repeatedly stated over a ten-year period, including again recently in Edmonton, January 17: “I consider myself a law-abiding citizen. But I have the right to challenge the system when the law is an ass.”
The Toronto Globe and Mail reported the new Cabinet appointments under the heading “Law ministers in Ontario Cabinet hold clashing views on abortion” (Feb. 9). The Toronto paper, which, like the Ontario NDP, favors abortion on demand, claimed that while Mr. Williams objected to police protection for abortionists Morgentaler and Scott, Robert Welch, the successor to Roy McMurty, felt that they were entitled to it. The Toronto Star (Feb 9), however, reported that the new Attorney General, moments after he was sworn in, said he would look into the request for an injunction to close the abortion clinic. Five days later, February 14, the Toronto Sun quoted the new Solicitor-General as saying that they were awaiting a report from the two justice-related ministries.
As Solicitor-General, John Williams oversees the police in Ontario. As Attorney General, Robert Welch decides on difficult legal questions.
Mr. Williams is a lawyer and a former North York Councilor. Under Bill Davis he was parliamentary assistant to the minister for Consumer Affairs where he helped draft new and stricter legislation against pornography.
