Ken Black - Politician

Politician

Black joined the Ontario Liberal Party in 1985. He was elected to the Ontario legislature in the 1987 provincial election, defeating Progressive Conservative candidate George Beatty in Muskoka–Georgian Bay, a new division created by redistribution. Its primary antecedent, Muskoka, had been held by former Progressive Conservative premier Frank Miller until 1987, and the PCs were historically the dominant party in the area. Black was considered a strong candidate, however, and his victory was not entirely unexpected. Black credited his victory to a strong campaign team, popular satisfaction with Liberal leader David Peterson, and the fact that some local PCs were unhappy with party leader Larry Grossman.

In August 1988, Peterson appointed Black as a one-man task force to review government and non-government programs against drug abuse. His report, issued in mid-October, recommended mandatory drug education starting in the early grades, drug treatment and education programs for offenders, increased training about drugs for social workers and health care workers, and the addition of about thirty-six officers to the provincial drug unit. Black criticized the "zero tolerance" approach of the American "war on drugs", arguing that it was largely ineffective.

After the report's release, Black was named special advisor to the premier on drugs with responsibility for co-ordinating and monitoring all government programs against drug abuse. In December 1988, he announced a pilot project for substance abuse counselling operated by the YMCA of Metropolitan Toronto.