99_02_20090903_original

Volume 99, Issue 2

September 3, 2009

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A Family Church for 70 Years in the Heart of Montreal A member of the Associated Gospel Churches

16 beers later, my friend Pat decided to crash at my place.

Pastors Rev. Frank Humphrey, Ph.D. Rev. Bryan Guinness, M.A. Peter Cooney, Ministry Director Philip Penalosa, Youth Intern

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Weekly Student Activities and “The Alpha Program” Two Morning Services: 9:30 am and 11:05 am every Sunday, and Bible Studies; Evening Service 6:30 pm.

Sunday, September 13

A Welcome Lunch after the 11:05 am morning service Weds.: CEGEP, University Students and Young Adults group from 7 pm to 9 pm.

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3855, Saint-Denis Montreal 514 499-0438 futondor.com

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News

The McGill Daily, Thursday, September 3, 2009

3

Blue-Collars strike for new contract City of Montreal workers fight against subcontracting Niko Block

The McGill Daily

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Sasha Plotnikova / The McGill Daily

Graduates vote to join student federation Referendum held before resumption of classes Erin Hale

The McGill Daily

T

he Post Graduate Student's Society (PGSS) voted in favour of joining the Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec (FEUQ)—the largest student federation in Quebec—last week. The move will align PGSS with a predominantly French-speaking consortium that lobbies for student interests on a variety of issues.

The motion was approved with 58 per cent in favour and 36 per cent opposed. With 588 votes cast, the referendum exceeded quorum with 10 per cent of the graduate student population participating— double the percentage required by PGSS by-laws. The number of graduate students present in August— roughly 5,800—was 1,800 short of McGill's 2008 academic-year average.

Though PGSS Council originally recommended that the referendum be held in October, a motion was brought forward in PGSS Council over the summer to move the referendum to an earlier date. Since the Council itself did not have quorum to decide on the change, the issue was bumped up to the Executive Committee, which approved it.

Both PGSS President Daniel Simeone—and VP External Ladan Mahabadi—members of the

Executive Committee—said that they supported the date change for logistical reasons. They cited the high level of work demanded of elections officials and felt it would be incompatible with the demands graduate students face during class time.

Mahabadi also said that given the Society’s other responsibilities, it made sense to hold the referendum early.

“The Executive Council moved the dates to August because had we waited for September, the window would have been gone. You have to have 14 days of campaigning,” Mahabadi said. “I had other initiatives that would be coming up — that Council had to decide on, and members had to go to referendum on. We just didn't have the manpower [to wait].”

Holding the referendum before classes and campus journalism had resumed raised eyebrows, leading many to question the legitimacy of the vote. However, Simeone, Mahabadi, and even Tarek Hamade — the only member of the “No” committee — felt that this was a non-issue.

“Graduate students don't go by season. Most of the graduate students I know are always here; they don't take off during the summer,” said Hamade.

Hamade was also content with the extent of information available to students prior to the vote —

despite the absence of the student press. He also chose not to create a Facebook group or web site — unlike his opponents.

“I didn't see the point [of making them] because the message was circulated to the inbox of every graduate student. Everyone was aware of the debates and platforms,” Hamade said.

As Elections Commissioner, Simeone felt that overall the election had been carried out fairly.

“I thought both the 'Yes' and 'No' groups had [some negative] issues.

I was not happy with either statement. But both behaved well at the debates. It's fair to say there was a bit more mobilization on the 'Yes' side, but there was the option to form committees.”

Simeone added that the idea of contacting the press had not even occurred to him until the last moment.

“The campus media don't write about us. We hadn't even thought about [telling them] until later,” he said.

Adrian Kaats, last year's PGSS VP External, was more specific about why the press was not notified until late.

“I think The Daily wrote an article once about PGSS last year; The Tribune one time ran an article. [Campus media] just don't care about the graduate students,” Kaats concluded.

lue-collar workers for the City of Montreal staged a 24-hour strike Monday to demand a new collective agreement with the municipality. Members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) 301 have not seen their wages rise in over two years, and have been working without a contract since August of 2007.

As bins of garbage and recycling were left uncollected across the city, hundreds of workers staged a protest at Old Montreal’s Place Jacques Cartier.

Marc Ranger, the union’s chief negotiator, said that the main purpose of the protest was to bring some publicity to the union’s struggle with the City.

“Since the last collective agreement in 2004, there have been no [increases in] wages and we’ve had big setbacks in the working conditions, so we need to make our voices heard,” Ranger said. “Since 2004, the average wage has declined by 15 per cent because of inflation.”

Local 301 member Denis Tremblay said that he believes that alerting the Montreal electorate to the union’s situation will increase the pressure on the city to sign a contract.

“I’ve worked for the City of Montreal for five years and my hours are still not guaranteed. After five years I still work only about five months a year,” he said. “Our wages haven’t gone up in five years, but the price of everything has gone up— everything except for salaries.

We’re hoping for the best and I just hope that people will understand that we are doing this for them — or the population in general.”

Ranger stated that one of the main objectives of the strike was to protest the provision of municipal services by the private sector.

Temporary workers’ jobs have been cut substantially in recent years, as the City has expanded its reliance on subcontracting.

“It’s obvious that [the mayor’s office] has made a choice: that services to the citizens of Montreal more and more are going to be done by subcontractors,” Ranger said. He added that municipal scan-

dals, such as last year’s $355-million contract for water meters to a company accused by Revenue Canada of tax fraud, is symptomatic of the private provision of municipal services.

“You just have to look at the water meters contract; we could have done most of the job with blue-collars, so for us, enough is

“It’s obvious that [the mayor’s office] has made a choice” Marc Ranger Union Negotiator, CUPE

enough,” Ranger said.

Montreal’s Chief of the Department of Labour Relations, Regis Boudreau, stated that the City is willing to accede to the union’s demand for a three per cent pay raise, provided it is accompanied by a slight increase in productivity.

However, main obstacle to reaching an agreement with the union.

“The union is asking that all kinds of blue-collar work be done with their employees, and we want, in certain circumstances, to contract it out,” Boudreau said.

Bourdreau added that the City also hopes to reach a settlement with the union, which would maintain a quota of union members on the municipal payroll.

“There is absolutely no plan for the City of Montreal to subcontract everything,” he said.

But Ranger expressed anxiety about the City’s long-term policy on public workers.

“It’s been 20 years since we’ve seen so [few] employees doing the job. More and more is being done by subcontractors,” he said.

Ranger also stated that in spite of the union’s ongoing conflict with the current mayor, Gérald Tremblay, it has chosen not to endorse a specific candidate in the upcoming municipal election.

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News

The McGill Daily, Thursday, September 3, 2009

5

Shu Jiang / The McGill Daily

Blame Canada?

McGill expert speaks on the United States’ portrayal of our universal health care

As the fervent debate over health care reform has unfolded across the United States, Canada’s publicly funded universal health care has become a potent symbol for both sides. Proponents of public health care cite Canada’s system as a model for reform, while those in opposition have brought up long waiting times and unavailable treatments to criticize the very concept of public health care.

The U.S. debate has been characterized by a confusing multitude of assumptions about Canadian health care, which has often been portrayed as a failing system. Professor Antonia Maioni, Director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada, spoke with The Daily about how Canada has been portrayed in the health care debate. She argued that while the Canadian system may have its flaws, interest groups opposed to reform have perpetuated inaccuracies in order to misinform the American public about Canadian health care.

McGill Daily: Why has the health care debate been so explosive? What are the interests at stake?

Antonia Maioni: In the U.S. health care reform is the great, unfinished business of the Democratic Party— an issue divided on deep partisan lines. The debate about health care has a larger meaning about the role of government in people’s lives, government regulation in the economy and in society, and also a larger political meaning, in that President Obama has staked a lot of his political reputation on the health care issue.

MD: How has Canadian universal health care been used in the debate?

AM: It’s not the first time that Canada has become a player in the health-care debate. Since the seventies, there has been a push to provide all Americans with the kind of coverage they need. Under Bill Clinton, Canada was used as a model by those who wanted to see more government involvement, and also used by interest groups against government regulation.

Canada became a whipping boy for these interests—most typically the insurance industry. We are seeing a revival of this in 2009— of seeing

Canada used as a political instrument. Also we see how deeply conservative Republicans and their allies in federal interest groups are characterizing the Canadian system as something that is not attractive and something even Canadians don’t want.

MD: Is Obama’s reform intended to bring about a system similar to the Canadian model?

AM: Not really. What most Democrats would like to see is reform that intends for more access for more of the public. Every American should have access. Today most are insured through their employers. But what Democrats want to develop is a public plan that could be an option alongside employer insurance and private insurance, so people can choose how they would like to continue. It would still be a health care system in which there are different systems, not just single-payer like we have in Canada, but what is being proposed is a public option.

MD: Why has Canadian health care been distorted in American media coverage?

AM: I don’t watch Fox News so I can’t tell you the extent of it.

However, the misinformation does

not appear out of nowhere but is being promoted by interests who do not want to see reform. It’s not The New York Times talking about it—the facts, and the people that respect the facts, know what the Canadian health care system looks like. The misinformation is strategic. I don’t think Americans are purposefully bashing Canada. The United Kingdom and European countries have also been targets of misinformed scrutiny. Why have such wildly inaccurate statements been directed at health care systems abroad?

There is something in American political culture about the belief in American political exceptionalism — a belief that the U.S. is so different from other places that there is little that can be learned from abroad. Many Americans are insular in that way, and because the U.S. has many institutions that are believed to be unique, it would be impossible to have institutions that are similar to those found abroad.

Since the beginning of the twentieth century, every time the debate has come up there has been a backlash against a foreign model. In the early parts of the twentieth century, social reformers in California based reform on a model in place

in Germany. The opponents of this reform used the anti-German war sentiments a way of really destroying that effort. In the forties, the debate became more about the communist threat. Anything seen as government regulation was seen as a slippery slope towards communism. So, the vilifying of Canada is nothing new from the American perspective.

MD: How have Canadians reacted to the portrayal of their health care system?

AM: We complain so much, but as soon as someone attacks it, most Canadians are ready to be up in arms. One of the things which is interesting and happened in the nineties as well, is when you keep on seeing something vilified in that way, many people begin to wonder, “Am I missing something? Is that really the way things are?” It plants a seed of doubt that can undermine confidence within as well. Attacks on some of the problems on our health care have given a lot of fuel to people that want to see more private health care in Canada. People who want more private health care are using the criticisms we are hearing on the American side as ammunition.

—Compiled by Humera Jabir

6

News

All photos by Dominic Popowich / The McGill Daily

Everything you always wanted to know about SSMU*

Accessibility is the operative word of this year’s SSMU executive. In their interviews with The Daily, each exec emphasized the importance of making SSMU’s politics transparent, its services reliable, its operations efficient, and its events engaging. While there is something to be said for setting goals that students are bound to see as realistic and genteel, this year’s SSMU exec also seems plagued by an endemic lack of ambition.

With four of the six positions on exec having been uncontested in last spring’s elections, it is unsurprising that few of them were compelled to present students with a clear or radical mandate. Many of the boldest and most promising projects that SSMU has taken on this year, like Office of Sustainability and the new student federation SSMU has played a hand in creating, it has inherited from last year’s executives.

This year’s crop has also pursued a strategy of building an amicable and conciliatory relationship with the administration. Maintaining open lines of communication between James and Shatner has never been a bad idea, and it is extremely important that student government remains informed of the admin’s activities. While it is encouraging to see the two camps find some common ground on issues like increasing public investment in post-secondary education, our concern is that the clubby nature of their relationship might curb SSMU’s incentive to confront the administration in cases where the interests of students and the University diverge.

*But were afraid to ask...

Rebecca Dooley SSMU VP University Affairs

Ivan Neilson

SSMU President The SSMU President is required to be a bureaucratic Jack of all trades—he chairs different SSMU committees, helps his fellow VPs with their portfolios, and represents SSMU’s interests at the Board of Governors (BoG) and Senate. Neilson seems competent in these areas, and we were also impressed by his interest in SSMU’s different green initiatives— including supporting funding for an industrial composter and encouraging McGill Food Services to serve a locallysourced meal. An equally pragmatic suggestion was to hire an independent advertising manager for General Assemblies to battle the trend of student apathy on campus. We liked Neilson’s interest in outreach to McGill commuter students— and while his suggestion to incorporate them into the Rez Life project was very good, he had no proposals for how to get outreach off the ground. Neilson’s concern for greater transparency in ancillary fees and referendums was equally vague.

But while these are all important parts of SSMU, they are also comparatively safe issues, and could be handled by special committees.

On external issues, Neilson seems intent on playing nice with everyone rather than fighting the status quo.

The McGill Reporter—the administration’s self-promotional newspaper – has hailed him as a “bridge builder.” Building bridges might be a pragmatic approach to the Bill 38 issue—where SSMU and the administration take a common line against a mandatory 60 per cent external membership on BoG—but not for con-

tested issues like tuition increases. Neilson told the Daily that plugging the tuition line would be damaging to the relationship he hopes to build with admin—though he has also said that he intends to work for greater “accessibility”—whatever that means. We only hope he has the chutzpah to remind his fellow governors that the recent several-thousand-dollar tuition increases in the Management, Engineering, and Science faculties for international students have coincided with a huge spike in student unemployment. Because McGill now gets to keep a greater portion of its international tuition revenues—rather than pooling them with other Quebec universities and divvying up the spoils—the University should increase the number of bursaries and loans available, as Heather Monroe-Blum herself promised in an interview with The Daily last year.

Neilson has admitted that he’d like to keep, “idealism out of the office,” because it conflicts with his work. On this, he couldn’t be more wrong. Making sure SSMU runs efficiently and achieves small, concrete goals is important, but he was still elected to be a political leader—not a glorified office manager. It’s true that his role as president is to represent Council interests and act as spokesperson for SSMU in a way that doesn’t conflict with Council’s political prerogatives, but that doesn’t mean he can’t create his own motions or initiatives. His predecessors, Jake Itzkowitz and Kay Turner, both did an adequate job—but they failed to make their mark in the way the extremely political Aaron Donny-Clark did in 2006-2007. At best, we may find ourselves with another forgettable though well-organized SSMU President, and at worst a lapdog of Monroe-Blum.

Dooley is SSMU’s main delegate to the University administration. She represents all aspects of undergraduate student government— from faculty unions to the student senate caucus—and coordinates any projects that SSMU and the University jointly manage. Dooley’s predecessor, Nadia Wilkinson, had an impressive track record: among other things, she helped to launch McGill’s Office of Sustainability and SSMU’s Food Systems Project. While Dooley clearly intends to keep the gravy train running, her minimal experience in SSMU politics gives us reason to believe that she will have trouble keeping up with the pace set by Wilkinson. She has decided, for instance, not to set too many “big long-term goals” for herself but rather to focus on “little things,” like the accessibility of medical notes, feedback on course work, and problems with class scheduling. But theses issues are, for the most part, beyond the jurisdiction of any SSMU exec, and detract from more urgent concerns, like on-campus student employment and the new residence director’s

draconian anti-drug mandate.

On the other hand, her commitment to improving the accessibility of student services, like the health centre, is admirable—provided she manages to make headway in that area. She has also started working with the University to create a user-friendly “access point” for a wide range of student learning resources like tutoring and online course materials. Her plan to continue the Office of Sustainability’s work through a special sustainability fund should be a healthy addition, and her close contact with Associate VicePrincipal (University Services) Jim Nicell is a strong starting point. Finally, her pledge to use the academic roundtable as a means of identifying problems that faculty clubs face with administrative red tape could ensure that student government at all levels stays informed and well coordinated.

But overall, we worry that Dooley may not be setting the bar very high. While we are pleased with her decision to start wineand-cheese-style Town Halls following Senate meetings, she also needs to use her portfolio to initiate a few ideas of her own.

She needs a more cogent plan for defending student jobs, and in that respect, needs to maintain a close relationship with McGill’s TA union—the Association of Graduate Students Employed at McGill—and the nascent Association of McGill Undergraduate Student Employees. She also needs to heavily prepare for her seat on Deputy Provost Anthony Masi’s Administrative Task Force on Dealing with Economic Uncertainty, while ensuring that the University understands student concerns with tuition increases and the record-breaking highs in student unemployment

The McGill Daily, Thursday, September 3, 2009

Sebastian Ronderos-Morgan

SSMU VP External Affairs As VP External, it is RonderosMorgan’s responsibility to represent the interests of McGill undergraduates to all external bodies—be they governmentaffiliated, other student unions, or the Montreal community at large. With the provincial Bills 38 and 44 threatening to outsource the governance structure of Quebec universities, the 2009-2010 academic year is bound to be a busy one for this exec.

But Ronderos-Morgan seems prepared to think long-term. He is committed to building bridges with the residents of Milton-Parc to make Frosh activities more neighbourhood-friendly, and creating a stronger sense of shared commu-

Though he was a politically engaged SSMU councillor, José Diaz has inherited the most technocratic SSMU VP position.

The VP Finance and Operations (FOPS) is responsible for the SSMU budget, chairs the Operations committees, manages Gert’s and Haven Books, and sits on a number of smaller working groups — like the Financial Ethics Research Committee (FERC), which reviews SSMU’s investments.

Acclaimed in last year’s election, Diaz has said from the beginning that he isn’t promising to break even on SSMU’s secondhand bookstore and financial sinkhole Haven Books. Even worse, former VP Clubs and Services Julia Webster—

who took over the Haven portfolio when Tobias Silverstein resigned—dropped the ball last year on the book drives that make up a healthy portion of Haven’s stock. Diaz’s two ideas were to move Haven almost exclusively online—except during the early days of term—or to sell additional merchandise, like used records and clothes, to bring in extra customers. However, he has also admitted that “Haven can’t be saved,” so we hope that he drafts an exit plan ASAP, rather than prolonging Haven’s demise.

We were a little more pleased, though, with Diaz’s plans for Gert’s. He has already helped organize a few minor renovations: getting two new pool tables and sanding down the bar to show its wood finish. He is also getting quotes to install hardwood flooring, a bar top, and shelving behind the bar. Considering how nice the graduate students’ bar is at Thomson House, it’s about time that Gert’s became somewhat comparable and stopped resembling Bar des Pins. But if Diaz wants to bring some class back to Shatner, perhaps the planned hot tub party in Gert’s isn’t the way to go.

While Gert’s and Haven are important, we’d like to see a little more creativity from Diaz—or as much as he is allowed within his mandate. Last year, FERC barely got off the ground—and if it did, we didn’t notice. We’d also like to see a little more political gusto on issues concerning university financing.

The 2005-2006 VP FOPS Eric van Eyken wasn’t afraid to lobby the federal govern-

SMU’s VP Clubs and Services Sarah Olle is in charge of overseeing and communicating with the myriad undergraduate clubs and services on campus, and will also be a key player this year in guiding The McGill Tribune toward independence. For better or worse, Olle has admitted she doesn’t have “big dreams” — though she is convinced that her previous experience as SSMU’s Interest Group Coordinator will help her cut administrative red tape. Olle wants to focus her attention on making SSMU services and resources more transparent and easily attainable for students. To achieve her goals, Olle has printed brochures explaining club bureaucracy, cleaned up

the SSMU web site, and scheduled two weeks of tabling at the Y-intersection.

Room booking should, “hopefully,” be available online by next week, and students will see the return of a two-day Activities Night again as well as the inclusion of club events on McGill’s online calendar. Unfortunately, Olle has already expressed frustration with the administration and Board of Governors (BoG) as she helps negotiate The Tribune’s Memorandum of Agreement.

Olle has a good head on her shoulders, and we think she has a solid work ethic. We agree that cleaning up bureaucracy is a smart way to engage students overwhelmed by the prospect of using

SSMU services or creating a club, but it’s still unfortunate that Olle’s strategy avoids anything more controversial or political than simple streamlining.

Potential groups seeking club status must still run their name by McGill administration before applying to SSMU—lest the University incur any sort of liability— nd the Kafka-esque process of booking rooms outside of Shatner keeps student space restricted. Perhaps some outsidethe-box thinking is in order to put some forward momentum into Clubs and Services. Concordia, for example, lets external groups use their spaces, bringing the outside world into the sometimesinsular university context.

VP Internal Alex Brown is responsible for coordinating SSMU events and activities with the administration, faculties, and all other student groups. Olle hit the ground running this year, having tackled SSMU Frosh only a few months into her term, and will turn around and orchestrate another huge event—SnowAP—his winter. She tried to make SSMU Frosh more green—and though her results were questionable, we hear she took a pretty hard line with Frosh leaders.

To reach her constituency, Brown has taken to tabling at the Y-intersection, armed with brochures informing students about SSMU’s activities. She also has big

plans for SSMU’s web site, which she hopes to have translated into French in the coming months. (Good luck.) We’re pretty excited about her initiative to team up with Food Systems for Film and Feast screenings on the lower field.

However, if Brown wants to distinguish herself, we think she should take a line from her fellow VP, José Diaz, who ran for VP Internal two years ago. Back then, he was spouting with ideas for alternative and inclusive events. Concordia’s Student Union (CSU) kicks our ass as far as speakers are concerned—they’ve hosted Naomi Klein, Robert Fisk, and Spike Lee—and we want to see that

change. Maybe Brown could book a meeting with the organizers of CSU’s Speaker Series to learn how. We’d like to see more artsy events, like SSMU’s own take on the Fridge Door Gallery (run by Art History students), or readings of student literature, poetry, or spoken word. It would be equally refreshing to see events that partnered with Montreal-based organizations to strengthen ties between SSMU and the community or local charities. Finally, Brown could collaborate with SSMU President Ivan Nielson to coordinate mixers—beyond Franco-Fete—that engage McGill commuter students in university culture.

nity. Ronderos-Morgan has also taken up the agenda of promoting the new provincial student consortium Table de concertation étudiante du Québec (TACEQ) with as much enthusiasm as his predecessor, and is confident that the new student union will provide McGill students with the lobbying power needed to take on the provincial government. SSMU’s troubled history with student unions has left The Daily feeling more then a little dubious about TACEQ’s chances, though RonderosMorgan insists that the new union is free of the bureaucratic trappings that led McGill to unceremoniously quit the Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec (FEUQ) in 2006.

At this term’s General Assembly, Ronderos-Morgan is looking to McGill students to set the agenda. He insists that low participation at SSMU events is not a sign of student apathy, but a lack of visibility on SSMU’s part. Fair enough, but we’re still waiting to hear how he’s going to fix this. As VP External it’s part of his job to get students excited about issues—and let’s be honest, he’s going to need a lot more than a government bill if he wants this year’s General Assembly to actually represent the student population. (Instead of being composed of your usual political hacks and journalists.) One issue we recommend? SSMU should actually ask students if they want to join TACEQ before they jump into it.

S Sarah Olle

SSMU VP Clubs and Services

Alex Brown

SSMU VP Internal

7

José Diaz

SSMU VP Finance and Operations

8 Photo Feature

The McGill Daily, Thursday, September 3, 2009

Dominic Popowich

News

The McGill Daily, Thursday, September 3, 2009

9

News brief New residence opens

Café Supreme opens It’s a shame a student-run food service didn’t get priority from SSMU to take over the former tenant’s lease last year, but at least we can get panini now. Right?

Carol Fraser for The McGill Daily

Campus Eye

McGill’s newest residence, Carrefour Sherbrooke, recently opened its doors to students.

Formerly the Four Points Sheraton Hotel, the new facility will house 250 undergraduates and is intended to solve problems of congestion that have frustrated incoming first-years in the past.

Executive Director of Residences and Student Housing, Michael Porritt, said that the University has a commitment to provide housing for all firstyears who apply for it.

“All students that were guaranteed a space have a space in a McGill residence,” he said.

Last year, a shortage of space in McGill residences meant that many incoming first-year students were relegated to ad hoc accommodations at 515 Ste-Catherine, a privately administrated apartment building.

While such complications were averted this year, some problems arose due to delays in the room renovations at the new residence.

However, Porritt said that no incoming residents were shut out as a consequence.

“Students have been very cooperative and understanding. Everyone that showed up on moving day moved in. There are finishing touches in some rooms that are mostly complete now,” said Porritt. “No one is at 515 [Ste-Catherine].”

— Henry Gass

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10 Feature

Whitney Mallett / The McGill Daily

Displayed are from cassette Campaign for garage punk la Handshake’s s release with it packaging; and label Arbutus’

The McGill Daily, Thursday, September 3, 2009

11

Music from the pavement The Daily’s Whitney Mallett unpacks a fresh batch of local indie labels

D

ig up and dust off your record player, Discman, or Walkman, because there’s a crop of small record labels in the city that just might make your iPod obsolete. Psychic Handshake specializes in vinyl, Arbutus in recordable CDs (CD-Rs), and Campaign for Infinity in tape–—and in addition to using three different mediums, each label takes its own approach to selling independent music.

Psychic Handshake was born out of little more than three friends and their rough idea of founding a record label. The buds, Shaun Anderson, Lisa Czech, and Graeme Langdon thought it was “mind boggling” that no one wanted to produce a record for the ex-Montreal, NYC-based band the Nymphets. And they were onto something–—all 500 copies of the garage punk band’s debut seven-inch sold out. Since then, Psychic Handshake has put out two more records: a 12-inch for the Montreal band Red Mass and an LP for the Edmonton-based Wicked Awesomes (currently number two on CKUT’s Top 30 chart).

Anderson puts an emphasis on communally making wise choices about which bands Psychic Handshake works with. He explains, “We set out to put out quality releases. We just want to do records we all feel strongly about.”

In addition to selecting quality bands, Psychic Handshake’s business model is sure to keep artists on board. The label gives a quarter of the pressings to the band–— most labels often offer between 10 and 15 per cent. Anderson emphasizes fairness when two tapes explaining the motivalabel tion for such a generous cut. He adds, “It’s pretty Infinity; much the most you can abel Psychic give away and still make second vinyl money.” ts handmake While the World Wide d grassroots Web is directly responfirst CD-R sible for the crippling downturn in record sales over the past decade due to music downloading, online traffic has helped rather than hurt smaller labels. “If it wasn’t for the Internet, people wouldn’t find out about the sort of bands that we put out,” says Anderson.

In addition to exposing the bands they release to a wider audience, the Internet has proven to be the most economical way to sell records for Psychic Handshake. Anderson explains that “when you consign, you end up getting owed thousands of dollars.” In other words, record stores only pay labels after the albums have sold out. But online distributors, Anderson notes, “pay cash up front. ” In these online stores based out of various cities across Canada and the U.S., Psychic Handshake’s records are featured alongside other punk albums released on indie labels.

Anderson adds that it’s been frustrating get-

ting on board with larger distributers who often have access to a wider market: “A lot of distributers don’t take you seriously unless you’ve put out so many records.” He’s optimistic, though, that these distributors will give them the time of day as the label gains notoriety.

While Anderson points out that “the market for vinyl is stronger than it has been in 20 years, and there’s so much interest in punk and underground music,” he also acknowledges that “it’s a huge financial risk.”

Anderson, Czech, and Langdon each invested about $600 when they started the label, and they’re only now starting to earn it slowly back. Although the first release was successful, it cost them money. Due to a miscalculation, they were underselling the album by 20 cents before they realized their error. Their second release, however, is proving to be more profitable.

Although Psychic Handshake has two more releases of Montreal bands lined up, Dead Wife and TONSTARTSSBANDHT, Anderson urges, “We never set out to be localized label.” The group is set on continuing to work with bands from all over–—possible fall releases include a split between two Miami bands, Electric Bunnies and Jacuzzi Boys.

Anderson explains that he and his partners didn’t have a big picture in mind when they put out their first release, but now their ambitions to release quality albums to an international market have become clear.

Arbutus, on the other hand, is a community-based project. Sebastien Cowan, who heads the label, records and lives in the MileEnd art collective Lab synthèse, also involved in small-scale literature, visual art, and theatre projects. Cowan, who is close friends with the handful of artists he represents, explains that “the part that really interests [him] is working creatively with the artists”–—something which isn’t typically a responsibility of the label. While Psychic Handshake prefers that bands come to them with recordings already done, Cowan focuses on physically producing the records.

Cowan’s hands-on approach means that he runs a sort of one-man show, singly responsible for recording, mixing, mastering, designing, marketing, and distributing the releases.

He appreciates distributing the music himself over the Internet at labsynthese.com: “I get to interact with the consumer directly, get to know who they are, how they found out about it.” (The recordings are also available by consignment at a few stores in Montreal and Edmonton.)

Producing albums on CD-Rs is cheaper than vinyl. Cowan explains, “I risk a couple hundred dollars when we do a run, and I always make it back.” His venture is in the early stages: Arbutus’ first album came out last August. Since then, the label has put out four more, all also on CD-R, a practical choice because of the cost and the accessibility– —you can buy them at the drugstore. Cowan also notes, “With CD-Rs you can press as

many or as little as you want and the price difference isn’t significant.”

Among the handful of artists that Arbutus represents, there’s a diversity of musical styles–—Sean Savage puts out melodic eccentric pop, Oxen Talk make gentlemanly acoustic folk, Claire Boucher sings dreamy ukulele-accentuated tunes, and in the past the label’s also worked with straight-up rock ‘n’ roll bands. This range keeps Cowan challenged as he confesses: “In order to be satisfied [he needs] to be doing a lot of different things.” And while he doesn’t cater to a certain niche, Cowan appreciates the ability to introduce fans of one artist to the others on the label: “One of the most interesting things about a label is how it can act as a curator.” Although Arbutus’ releases span a variety of sounds, the artists are all in the same insular Mile-End scene–—a drawback when it comes to expanding the audience of each artist.

Brett Wagg’s cassette venture Campaign for Infinity is also grounded in the local scene, putting out weird punk and psych music that sounds good coated in tape hiss.

Wagg lives at the Griffintown loft and venue Friendship Cove, where many of the bands he works with play regularly. Campaign for Infinity has existed since last spring. Without any concrete plans, Wagg bought a tape duplicator and, when bands were in need of merchandise for touring, “it kind of went from there,” he explains. Wagg, who has always had a soft spot for tapes, cites the benefits of using a format that’s fast and cheap. He adds that the medium gives a warm feeling for lowcost releases.

So far, the label has been prolific. In a little over a year, it’s put out around 27 releases, each in runs of about a hundred tapes.

The lo-fi recordings on coloured tapes are matched up with sexy, psychedelic album art.

Wagg evidently realizes that he’s not just selling the music, but an entire package. He distributes these releases online at campaignforinfinity.blogspot.com, and they’re also available for sale at Cheap Thrills in Montreal ,as well as shops in Halifax and Ottawa.

Looking ahead, Wagg maintains the same casual attitude with which he started the label. “A lot of this stuff is pretty spontaneous, so who knows what the future holds?”

He’ll definitely be keeping busy with a handful of releases on the docket for fall, including a larger run of an international compilation comprising acts from Canada, U.S., and Britain. He also adds he’s excited about working with Psychic Handshake in the near future, a collaboration that exemplifies the camaraderie of the local scene.

Making real records is far more expensive than putting music out on CD or tape. For Anderson though, “It’s worth it for the quality.” He also wishes more labels in Montreal were putting music out on vinyl. Right now there are a handful using the classic format, including Florescent Friends, Alien8, and Dare to Care. Anderson just might get

his wish though, as phonographs seem to be in the near future for both Arbutus and Campaign for Infinity. “I don’t want to have a record label without making real records,” says Cowan, who’s brewing ideas for a compilation of Sean Savage tunes on vinyl. Wagg also discloses plans to launch a vinyl side of his cassette label: “Tape sales have been going in the bank to get turned into records, which will turn into more records.” He makes clear, however, that he has no plans to stop releasing tapes. “Certain recordings feel destined for cassette releases.”

The record industry has certainly taken a hit in album sales over the past decade, but there’s still a strong demographic ready to drop cash on a record if they feel it’s worth it.

“People are moving away from buying major releases and toward more specialized releases,” explains Anderson. He acknowledges the Internet’s complicity in killing major labels, but also points out that ultimately, “Those labels don’t have a quality product.” The music industry isn’t dead, but it is indeed changing, and independent labels are proving they are often better equipped to respond to industry shifts. Their business models are more flexible, they’re more in touch with their consumer, and at the end of the day, many of these smaller enterprises are putting out higher quality albums at much lower prices. Still when you look at the figures–—Soundscan reports a 37.7 per cent drop in album sales just from May 2007 to May 2009–—there’s reason to be pessimistic. “To actually procure a future off selling recordings, nowadays, it’s not really going to happen,” Cowan says.

Cowan brings up another major factor changing the music industry –— individuals who are recording and mixing on their own at home with programs like Pro Tools, reducing the demand for professional recording. “I used to work in recording studios,” he explains, “and I went from being paid $25 an hour to $12 an hour to volunteering and showing up and not even having anything to do. It’s because somebody in a small bedroom knows what they’re doing.” The Montreal band Silly Kissers, which makes its infectious synth-pop recordings with just a laptop, is a prime example of this democratization.

About their albums, Cowan says, “If they had been recorded in an actual studio, it would have sounded worse.”

Despite the obstacles and risks facing these entrepreneurs when it comes to the current state of the music industry, the early success of these three young labels suggests that the record industry hasn’t died; the model is just changing. While some think selling albums in this digital age is futile, many are yet to concede defeat. Wagg explains, “In the underground music scene, there are a lot of really talented and creative individuals that are putting together some really great releases.” And if Anderson, Cowan, and Wagg are any indication, these individuals are driven by a love of music and the people who make it.

Mind & Body

The McGill Daily, Thursday, September 3, 2009

12

Who’s afraid of public health care?

McGill experts weigh in on the U.S. health care debate from a Canadian perspective Braden Goyette

The McGill Daily

W

ith a debate raging down south over the possibility of a public option in Obama’s health care plan, Canada’s public system has gotten some flak. In conversation with The Daily this week, three McGill experts commented on the fine points of creating a more efficient and accessible health care system.

It’s not the public system that keeps you waiting Despite horror stories of Canadian patients who would’ve died waiting for surgery if they hadn’t gone to the U.S., Vedat Verter, professor of Operations Management at McGill, refutes the claim that long wait times are a problem inherent to public health care systems like Canada’s. “In the U.S. you may be waiting for them to see if you can

pay or not,” he said.

External factors such as the closing of other health care facilities in the surrounding area clearly have an impact on crowding in hospitals. But allocation of resources within each medical facility, and within the country’s health care system at large, also plays a deciding role in how long patients have to wait to get treated.

At McGill, Verter works on creating simulation models of emergency room situations, based on “tens of thousands of replications in which patients flow through the system similarly to how they would in real life.” The simulations indicate areas where more doctors or nurses are in especially high demand. Other simulations compile past data in order to provide more accurate dosages of medicine to patients with chronic conditions, preventing the “revolving door” effect, in which patients worsen and go to the emergency room, are treated and discharged, only to worsen again and repeat the cycle.

A prime strategy to reduce waiting times, Verter emphasized, is to invest in preventative care. “The World Health Organization estimates that North American governments spend less than five per cent of their health budget on prevention,” he explained. But in order to be effective, investment in preventative care must be well-managed, balancing the creation of new facilities with health promotion campaigns that get people to use them. “Preventative care requires participation,” he explained. “And an alternate way to increase participation is to educate people.”

Putting a price tag on health Amélie Quesnel-Vallée, a medical sociologist, conducts research on the effects of social policies on health inequalities. She focuses in particular on private health care as part of a research lab that studies and compares the health policies of 21 countries. The group is currently into their

first six months of a five-year project.

She explained that, though the hypothesis that use of private insurance and treatment facilities takes pressure off the public system is a fairly intuitive one, empirical studies show this isn’t the case.

Privately insured patients can jump the queue by getting diagnosed in private facilities, but then choose to be treated in the public system.

Moreover, the private sector is set up to handle simple cases with quick recovery times, leaving complex cases to the public system.

Quesnel-Vallée also noted that the increasing prevalence of private health care can weaken the integrity of the public system. “The theory behind public health insurance is that it should reduce the effects of socioeconomic status on health,” QuesnelVallée explained. “If you take off a portion of the population [which is privately insured], they come to be disengaged from the public system, and ask for lower taxes. You have to

have a very strong sense of solidarity to keep considering this a public good.”

No magic bullet As a specialist in medicine, ethics, and law, Margaret Somerville hears a lot about bad experiences with the public system, and welcomes experiments with privatization. “Canada’s had this identity crisis that if we let any private thing into our healthcare system, we can no longer say we’re Canadians.”

This, she explained, is slowly changing — in part out of necessity, and in part because of a recent Supreme Court of Canada case that ruled it infringment on the security of the person to prohibit anyone from using private insurance.

From an ethical standpoint, Somerville takes issue with leaving thousands of people uninsured, as they are in the U.S. “In a caring society, everyone should have access to a reasonably adequate level of health care.”

A taste of summer Friends with food Sophie Busby & Olivia Hoffmeyer

F Richard Muller for The McGill Daily

What: Fruit for Dinner Why: Because we all want to hang onto summer somehow

you can read our offerings this week, which are not so much recipes as they are concepts.

Easy Fresh Summer Salad

How Much? Each dish costs a maximum of $10 (depending on what you already have at your disposal)

You can make a salad with berries or slices of fruit, nuts, greens, your choice of veggies, and a simple vinaigrette.

We spent the end of the summer ogling fruit stands, and we couldn’t wait to get back and use fruit to make dinner for our friends. We got together over a few bottles of red wine (the ultimate use of fruit) and made a simple light dinner that literally elicited subtle groans of pleasure.

We used: –1 container of raspberries –A few handfuls of crushed walnuts –A box of spring mix lettuce –A sliced cucumber –2-to-1 olive oil to balsamic vinegar sprinkled on top

We want to encourage you to do what we did | go to your local neighbourhood grocery store and pick the fruit you like. From there,

Easier Flatbread Pizza Pick up either store-bought flat bread, pre-made pizza, or even pita. Sprinkle on these ingredients, stick it in the oven for a few

minutes, and you have gourmet finger food.

Our toppings: –Thinly sliced pears (a mixture of different kinds looks lovely) –Crushed walnuts –A flavourful cheese (Roquefort, blue or camembert) –Olive oil brushed on the crust (with a paper towel, pastry brush or even your fingers) –Spices, salt, pepper sprinkled on the olive oil Easiest Dessert Ever Fruit crumble is always a success in our kitchens. They take little to no effort and you can use any fruit that you have lying around.

Crumble Ingredients: –1 cup butter –1 ½ cup oats

riends with Food is back for another year and we are stuffed full with new ideas. We want this column to be about more than just recipes (but for fans and newcomers alike, don’t worry — we are still writing a recipe column). The key to cooking well is understanding how ingredients work together and seeing how they will create the end product. For us, that end product should always be eating great food with great people; from the market to the meal, we want to help you go on a journey in the kitchen with food and with your friends. But the difference between cooking and just following recipes is how you understand the ingredients — and over the course of the year, we’re gradually going to look more closely at where you get those ingredients, how they’re produced, and what effects that process might have beyond the dinner table. Most of all, we want to keep cooking fun, positive, and about promoting healthy minds and bodies, positive relationships, and communities.

Feel free to email with us suggestions, comments, or your stories from the kitchen ( friendswithfood@gmail.com). We love being students who cook and want to hear about your and your friends’ adventures with food.

–1 ½ cup flour –¾ cup brown sugar –1 tsp baking powder –½ cup sugar –Your choice of fruit (chopped into bite-sized pieces): 4 peaches 5-6 plums Mix together flour, brown sugar, softened (or melted) butter, baking powder and oats together. Cut up your choice of fruit and dump into a casserole dish or Pyrex pan. Sprinkle sugar over top of the fruit and mix together. Pour oat-flour mixture over the top and cook in the oven at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes or until golden brown.

Commentary

The McGill Daily, Thursday, September 3, 2009

13

Letters Mean streets COMMENT

You’ve got some splainin’ to do

Please explain how representing McGill as an absolute disgrace on campus and in the streets of Montreal is beneficial to the image of McGill as place of higher learning.

I was on campus today (August 27) and a large group of froshers clad in eightiesstyle clothing was marching around with a “Honk If You’re Horny” sign, an inflatable sex doll and chanting over and over at the top of their lungs “songs” that were nothing but swear words. One of the songs went: “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! McGill!

McGill! McGill!” There was no getting away from them: I ran into this group near the Gates, then outside the gym, while walking along Ste. Catherine, and then again on Peel.

I can only imagine what people thought as they stepped out on the street to be greeted by such a display of McGill pride.

Do new students have absolutely no respect for their own school?

By the time you enter university, you ought to have a certain level of maturity. Apparently sex and swearing are still hilarious at 18.

I’m all for camaraderie, but I must have missed the research that shows that destroying the reputation of their university is conducive to bonding among students.

I am curious as to the reasoning that allowed these new students and Frosh leaders to gladly take part in such an offensive display.

I feel bad for the parents; if they only knew what their hardearned money was financing.

Someone should be held accountable for this shameful parade; Frosh organizers and leaders clearly lack the necessary skills to judge what is in good taste.

William M. Burton

I

t’s time for francophone politicians to stop scaremongering about the precarity of the French language in Montreal and start talking about the real issues dividing francophones and anglophones on the island. This political power play has taken its most recent form in two motions presented at—and rejected by—City Council in August that proposed renaming streets that showed “undue” English influence.

The motions, authored by Nicolas Montmorency, councillor for Rivière-des-Prairies-Pointeaux-Trembles, called for two separate actions: the renaming of rue Amherst, and the francisation of various mixed-language street names (e.g., rue City Councillors, avenue McGill College, rue University). Montmorency claims that it’s inappropriate to name a street after Jeffrey Amherst, who conquered Montreal for the British and favoured the use of smallpoxinfected blankets on Aboriginals.

He also says that names like City Councillors and McGill College

“dilute” the French character of the city.

Whether or not Amherst pioneered germ warfare, the suitability of naming a street after him is beside the point. What’s important here is the motivation behind the second motions—the reflexive, unhealthy, anti-English attitude that presupposes the weakness of francophone culture. Montmorency says that these street names threaten an already-threatened language. In reality, it’s this absurd paranoia that convinces French-speakers to fear all things anglo and scares Englishspeakers into staying within their comfort zone, both by staying in the Ghetto and by speaking English in day-to-day transactions.

Does anyone really think that a couple of street names with English words in them threatens the future of French in our city? Can a language spoken by a vast majority of Montrealers – even if they speak another language at home – and learnt by the majority of new arrivals be in any danger from these signs?

A strong language, free at last from the bonds of a psychological colo-

nialism, will be generous of itself and accepting of others, receiving and borrowing freely from the cultures and tongues it is contact with.

A vibrant language—and French is a vibrant language in Quebec—does not scurry away from a handful of toponyms.

The biggest threat to the French language in Montreal is the intimidation that such hysterics inspire in non-francophones. Fearful of speaking it poorly, stuttering and full of self-doubt, learners trip around in French at the grocery store, at the bank, on the bus, filling every sentence with self-deprecating apologies. Ex nihilo nihil: the fear that these political games causes in francophones in turn creates the fear that seizes anglophones in situations where French is required.

Fearful students will not venture into a new culture. Witness the low rate of McGill and Concordia students venturing into this province’s dominant culture. It’s true that there’s a lot of apathy on the part of many students—they come here to take advantage of the quality schools paid for by the tax money

of the citizens of Quebec without thinking of exploring the society around them. Such students should learn French and use it. And no one should be discouraged—perseverance is the only sure method of gaining confidence.

But they need help. Both sides need to fashion a new attitude of openness and confidence. On the one hand, openness to English Canada and confidence that one’s sense of self will not disappear in interactions with others. On the other, openness to the culture of French Canada and confidence in one’s ability to learn a new language.

Montmorency should drop the fear mongering discourse and remind people of how strong their language is. As for us anglophones—well, let’s learn some French already.

William M. Burton is The Daily’s Commentary & Compendium! editor. He’s also a U3 student in Lettres et traduction françaises.

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Latin Time

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HAFFNE Alex GIBNEY BITSCH Laurene LEIG H Ken LOar PANAHI Ma g LEE Nagisa la MORRISMAJER Ernst LIUTsui HARK MikIAROSTAMI Jafkashi MIIKE AnA RDEAU C SVANK hara HIROSH EAME Abbas K UROSAWA Ta RLE Pierre FAL Jacques BE I TeshigaRUIZ Ronald NMALBAF Akira RKAULT Gilles CA Atom EGOYANCOCTEAU Ja Jean ipu!de MILL A Raoul Samira MAKHCAND Michel BG Deepa MEHTACLOUZOT e s mem R R b e E A n& g ILrLsEhCla laude SA B r s V o N L y e E E n ohse5253 G e N M D O CRParc enri- ean-Pierre du UKIAvenue H id Z L v MER C U a O S D R O n B J u N R ij CHA uis MALLE Eric HN Vincente MIN UZO e E A d T L u T e E la d C u IV o N n-Cla Leos CARAX e LELOUCH L IS Jacques R nthony MA from Udem 80 centre-ville ud SNAfrom KS A ESSON O51 DARD Cla Alain RE ard HAW an-Luc G U J an RENOIR F nçois How

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Culture

The McGill Daily, Thursday, September 3, 2009

15

Winds of indie change McGill / Concordia band Pop Winds launches first EP Marlee Rubel

Culture Writer

Sasha Plotnikova / The McGill Daily

W

hether I am defining or defending this incredible city to the folks still unfamiliar with Montreal, I find it nearly impossible to avoid mentioning the city’s multitude of respectable local bands—the breed of music unwillingly labeled as ‘indie’. This label remains Difficult to escape, increasingly laden with pretentious jargon and strategically unkempt hair.

When The Pop Winds showed up for an interview in advance of their first EP release, happening tomorrow night at Lab Synthèse, I was forced to disregard such preconceived notions and hear them out. To say the least, I was impressed.

The Pop Winds is comprised of McGill students Austin Milne and Devon Welsh and Concordia’s Kyle Bennett. Until now, the band has only recorded unofficial demos and what Kyle Bennett, the technical master of the group, describes as “highly incomplete works.” That will change tomorrow night, however.

Although they are all musically inclined, the band members’ personal styles could not be more varied. Bennett and Welsh have been playing together since the spring of 2007, whereas Milne only joined the group this past March. In the beginning, Welsh explains, everybody was on a completely different path. Technically unskilled, he was thrilled to watch as his organic sound was transformed by Bennett and his work in Electro-Acousics.

The Electro-Acoustics program at Concordia is really, Bennett explains, a “philosophical breakdown of sound from a compositional perspective.” Though they hope it’s not apparent in their recent work, the band admits that they are heavily influenced by Animal Collective, although they’re quick to agree that this is, of course, a reflection of the nature of Bennett’s studies.

The Pop Winds, proud of how far they’ve come, are currently in the process of moving into a new rehearsal space. Their laughs are laced with fear and a tinge of unfinished business as they explain the constant war over their previous space. On one end of the rink stands the beer-soaked franco-rockers who Milne characterizes as “a mother’s nightmare.” On the other side, those behind the bursts of Sunday church music that can be heard leaking through the walls. If this is not enough to inspire sympathy for an earnest bunch of struggling artists, who knows what is?

When asked where they turn for inspiration, the boys speak as if they have an endless supply—a clear indication of a keen bunch of musicians. “Nothing inspires me

more to make music than listening to music,” says Bennett. The band’s initial desire to play in Montreal was motivated by seeing local talent Andy White perform for the first time—an experience they still speak of with a distinct joie de vivre sparkling in their eyes.

Bennett says this enthusiasm stems from the band’s early realization that “the most beautiful and innovative music is being made by the

people around us.” Bennett wants to encourage creativity by “putting a filter on the audience’s mind that makes them feel really good.”

Milne adds to this by affirming his belief that our generation needs to be inspired by seeing their peers creating art: “It’s easy to get caught up in academics and lose sight of how rich and beautiful life is.”

The band collectively paused in response to the sincerity appar-

ent in Milne’s voice. But they’re still not convinced that the corporate forces behind the production of much of today’s independent music take this into account.

Welsh suggests that the best way to access music is through the Internet. “No one should buy CDs,” agrees Milne. “Except ours,” the rest of the band clarifies, quick to point out the significant difference between buying a CD at a live

show versus, say, at HMV. Perhaps my indie-defying radar is weakening as local bands continue to prove themselves worthy by adhering to the label we’ve given them — independent. With this in mind, I highly recommend checking out The Pop Wind’s EP Release Party, taking place on September 4 at Lab Synthèse. The cover is set at a modest $5 — very affordable now that you don’t have to buy your CDs at HMV.

16 Culture

The McGill Daily, Thursday, September 3, 2009

Viennoiseries and vengeance!

Street Fighter makes unlikely splash at Montreal café Nicolas Boisvert-Novak The McGill Daily

R

eaders of a nerdy persuasion need not proceed with this article; the rest of you, take note. On March 1, 1991, the worldwide network of nerdosity was swept by the tidal wave which was Capcom’s release of Street Fighter II. Nearly overnight, the game became an overwhelming sensation. Arcades everywhere found themselves awash with quarters as dozens of young men and women left their jobs and spouses for the sake of fulfilling their long-forgotten warrior fantasies.

Within months, the game became ubiquitous, to the point where defeat in Super Turbo—as Street Fighter quickly became known—held a dozen different meanings. The capture of one’s manhood, imminent seppuku, the end of a gang war, the reshuffling of the map of Europe— all were viable explanations. A game though it was, none of its players took it lightly; with every quarter collected, the best would get better, forcing everyone else to step their game up.

Today, though the best have gotten perversely good, the rest are curiously absent. I’ll avoid launching into the complex socio-political causes here, but in essence, the close of the century brought a wave of bankruptcies for American arcades, whittling Street Fighter’s considerable following down to a devoted few. Up until last April, that is, when Capcom released Street Fighter IV to a surprisingly strong reception, capturing the attention of a whole new generation of fans, while resurrecting many long-dead Super Turbo scenes— Montreal’s included.

Anthony Kennedy was oblivious to all this when he began dragging his friends and X-Box down to Café Ciné-Express every Tuesday at 7 p.m. to play Street Fighter.

Kennedy is a “new blood,” a term that differentiates him from those who’ve witnessed the inception of the series — the “OGs.” But in

Culture briefs

a most excellent instance of righttime, right-place, Kennedy and his partner-in-geekery Woolie Madden have awoken many a Montreal nerd’s dormant warrior fantasies.

Their weekly “Street Fighter IV Meet-Ups” are on the rise, regularly drawing turnouts of more that 40 people.

Last Tuesday’s crowd was a diverse set, running the gamut between small bespectacled men wearing skull-caps to Michael Moore dead-ringers, sporting everything from nerd-garb to urban-chic.

Yet they held a few telling things in common: most importantly, they shared an unmitigated thirst for Street Fighter and a virtuosic command of the joystick. Though the more easy-going players stuck to the event’s friendly exhibition matches, more competitive attendees were drawn by the weekly Meet-Up tournament, where a staggering $35 was up for grabs. Their matches, needless to say, were tense.

At its basest, Street Fighter can be a straightforward exercise in buttonmashing. Two players select one of the game’s many “world warriors”— each possessing hilariously inappropriate sets of skills and idiosyncrasies—to act as their avatars in a 2-D arena. Following a necessary readyset-go, their duel commences.

At the press of a button, the avatars approach, retreat, jump, kick, and punch. Pressing many of those buttons in sequence, however— and this is where the game gets complicated—triggers fireballs, flying uppercuts, and such, as well as “combos,” which consist of intricate and unblockable series of attacks.

The game’s potential for complexity is immense. Players frequently dissect past matches in hopes of better understanding their opponents’ strategies and combos, relaying their findings in a jargon all their own. “EX Shoryu to FADC to EX Tastu” goes one combo. Another, “cross-up MK to CLK to CHP to EX Hadouken,” roughly translates to “dude makes other dude burst into flames.”

And though the finer points of

the game frequently go unnoticed by the uninitiated observer, diehards know that the level of manual dexterity required to play the game is stunning. Seasoned veterans’ hands hover over custom controllers, elegantly inputting complex button commands with surgical precision—turning button-mashing into a fine science.

Take, for instance, the professional-level practice of frame-counting, which boils recipes for success down to the game’s elementary components—its individual frames of animation. Indeed, some study the game so thoroughly that they count and memorize the exact duration, in frames, of each individual move. Or, alternatively, note the complex mind games that colour most professional matches, through which players mislead their opponents into preparing for a certain style of play, setting up weaknesses which they can easily exploit.

Put into practice, these tricks can make for some exhilarating viewing, such as when Street Fighter III World Champion (yes, you read that right) Daigo Umehara miraculously defeated the rival Justin Wong at the 2004 Championships. The recording of the match is the most astonishing combination of underdog sympathy and nerdy virtuosity since the ending of The Karate Kid. It’s become a YouTube sensation, clueing its audience in to the understanding that Street Fighter may actually be more sport than game.

Curious as that sounds, nearly everyone at Ciné Express agreed: short of tennis, Street Fighter may be the fastest paced “strategy” game around. It is a sentiment echoed most strongly by the night’s tournament winner, who distilled the keys to winning down to “knowing one’s opponent, being patient, and sticking to your game-plan” — a recipe curiously similar to every other sport.

Dancers in the driver’s seat

during this weekend-long celebration of new talent, but also form the shows’ production crew and handle administrative tasks like press relations.

The participants have complete creative license over the dances they produce for the workshop. The resulting sense of freedom is evident in the works produced—fun but still serious, they consistently push the boundaries of the art form.

Like the dancers who created them, each piece is sure to have a unique perspective, and the juxtaposition of many choreographic voices over the course of an evening will make

For much of the average ballet dancer’s career, he or she is an interpreter of somebody else’s creations, a vehicle through which a choreographer can express a vision or tell a story. Not so for the dancers of les Grands Ballets canadiens de Montreal. Each year, Les Grands Ballets gives ten dancers the opportunity to step out of their usual roles and stage the Dancers’ Choreography Workshop. The participants are not only choreographing new works to be premiered

Ciné Express (1926 Ste. Catherine O.) holds its weekly Street Fighter IV meet-ups at 7 p.m. on Tuesday nights.

Sasha Plotnikova / The McGill Daily

the workshop an interesting show to watch.

The Dancers’ Choreographic Workshop runs September 10-12 at the Cinquième Salle of Place des Arts. For more information, visit grandsballets.qc.ca.

– Amelia Schonbek

T-A-K-E I-T O-F-F An event that combines a hint of strip poker with a rambunctious crowd and — yes — spelling, the Honeysuckle Strip Spelling

Bee is back. At 9:30 p.m. on both September 11 and September 17, the Mainline Theatre (3997 St. Laurent) will be taken over by a bunch of brainiacs willing to show some skin. The rules are harsh — one wrong turn by a participant and a third of their clothing hits the floor. Each night will feature 15 spellers, guaranteeing spectators a captivating dose of competition.

For more info, check out stripspellingbee.blogspot.com.

– A.S.

Culture

The McGill Daily, Thursday, September 3, 2009

17

Stepping out of the TIFF’s shadow Daniel Walber Culture Writer

S

tand in line for just about any showing at the Festival des films du monde de Montréal and you will be treated to quite an assortment of overheard conversations. Sadly, the one topic that seems to be everywhere this year— especially at the higher-profile films—is the perennial gripe, “Oh, it’s nice, but it isn’t Toronto.”

Why? It is certainly true that the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), which opens September 10, draws a larger crowd, quite a bit more money, and higher-profile directors. This year, for example, the golden child of Canadian film festivals features North American premieres from the likes of Pedro Almodóvar, Werner Herzog, and Lars von Trier. The glitz factor is pretty intense, with everyone from Roger Ebert to Brad and Angelina gracing the red carpet.

Yet this is no reason to diminish the truly singular film festival we have here in Montreal. In fact, there are quite a few advantages to being Canada’s “second” film festival, and not just the difference in

ticket prices. (A full festival pass in Montréal this year is $80, compared to Toronto’s $525.)

Foremost is the quality of directorial work that is featured at the festival. This year’s roster of feature-length films in official competition is quite good, as are the 22 films in the “World Greats” category. Accomplished directors such as Claude Miller, Tony Gatlif, and Danièle Thompson premiere their films here and receive the welcome that they deserve, as opposed to the second-tier reaction that they might get at Toronto. One could also accuse much of TIFF’s Special Presentation section of simply being May’s Cannes Film Festival shipped right across the Atlantic, without much in the way of exciting world premieres.

Further, without the competition for buzz between the Coen brothers and Stephen Soderbergh, young directors with visionary new films can get real attention. There are five feature-length directorial debuts in the official competition, including the American Asiel Norton, whose Redland is nothing if not original.

It is hardly as if the festival is so shabby that it can only be spoken of in comparison to its more glamour-

Sally Lin / The McGill Daily

Why the Montreal World Film Festival is worth a look

ous neighbour. For example, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gave the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film this past February to the Montreal festival winner Departures, a film that was missed by many on the larger fes-

tival circuit. A premiere at Théâtre Maisonneuve or Cinéma Impérial is still a unique and memorable experience, and the international scope of the festival is extraordinary, with 78 countries represented by some of their greatest directors. If you get

the chance before closing night on September 7, grab a schedule and find a film. It’s worth it, and cheaper than the Scotiabank or AMC. For more information visit ffm-montreal.org

WIN ONE OF THE 75 DOUBLE PASSES TO THE MOVIE! Presented by

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STARTS FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 4 Come by the McGill Daily Office (Shatner B-26) and get a free double pass to 1981.

First come, first served. Student ID required.

Compendium!

The McGill Daily, Thursday, September 3, 2009

Lies, half-truths, and Boston accents

18

Constellations uncovered with Miss Tickle She knows what’s up.

Dear neighbours across the courtyard, I know you’re trying to reach transcendence, but could you please cut the fucking recorder routine out of your meditation practice? Or if you find it absolutely necessary to play three notes over and over again for an hour to attain nirvana, do you think you could do it somewhere other than your deck? Listen, I know you really want to understand the duality of nonduality and the impermanence of existence, and I get it—the recorder’s essential to your spiritual quest. But sometimes I just want to sleep in the morning. So please, take the plastic flute SOMEWHERE ELSE.

Fuck This! is a weekly therapeutic anonymous rant column. Send us your 200-word-or-less harangues every week. Nothing hateful—just frustrated!

Let’s have some fun, this beat is sick, I want you to write for compendium. compendium@mcgilldaily.com

ARIES March 21—April 20 You are hard to read and you think this makes you mysterious. Unfortunately, it works. /Yet redeemably, you’re cute. You are confused, unpredictable, and generally blurry: SO IS YOUR FUTURE. Famous Aries: William Shatner

LEO July 23—August 21 You are a lion without your courage. Go fetch!

Where do you think you left it? The library? Lower Field?

Provigo? Or has it been lost in your glowing mane?

Famous Leo: Barack Obama

TAURUS April 21—May 21 Evil looms on the horizon.

You’ve been avoiding this pox for so long that its dramatic conclusion will spiral beyond your control. Your lucky numbers are 6, 6, and 6.

Famous Taurus: Jack Nicholson

VIRGO August 22—September 23 Perfection comes at a price. Hope you have dignity to spare.

Famous Virgo: Dr. Phil

GEMINI May 22—June 21 STOP WEARING UNDERWEAR. You will be pleased. That hottie you’ve been scoping will indubitably be impressed.

Famous Gemini: Kanye West CANCER June 22—July 22 It’s time to grow up.

Reality bites? Get a band-aid. Don’t worry, though, your problems are nothing a little antiseptic and cuddling won’t cure.

Famous Cancer: Princess Di

LIBRA September 24—October 23 When there is nothing nice to be said, you are the one to say it. If there was ever a time to stop straddling the line between honesty and brutality, it is now.

Famous Libra: Jesse Jackson SCORPIO October 24—November 22 Your passion might swing you a little too close to the sun. Don’t forget your sunglasses, and try to remember daddy dearest’s advice....

Famous Scorpio: Dr. Spock

SAGITTARIUS November 23—December 22 Are you afraid of the grocery store?

What’s wrong with you? Either buck up or get a personal assistant.

Famous Sagittarius: Emily Dickinson CAPRICORN December 23—January 20 They can’t do it like you can. TRUST NO ONE. Famous Capricorn: Elvis Presley AQUARIUS January 21—February 19 Your giant forehead is getting in the way of your haircut. Get a new one. For you, a new look is necessary because you are in dire need of a disguise—your mad scientist ways are about to be discovered.

Famous Aquarius: David Lynch PISCES February 20—March 20 Your sweet sensitivity is haphazardly wrapped in your scraggly appearance. Gruff and tumble can be great, but try to avoid looking like a garden gnome this semester.

Things are looking up.

Famous Pisces: Jesus of Nazareth

Wicked haad crosswuhd Constantine Q. Davine

Across 1. An early version of something 5. Reindeer-hunters, Viking-neighbours 10. Hems’ partners 14. Bronze, Dark, Middle 15. Accustom 16. ___ Rose 17. Taxed without representation 19. Sounds like a German refusal 20. Carcinogen banned in the 1970s 21. Main ingredient in sambar 22. A word used only once is a ____ word 23. Real de a ocho 28. Looney; tooney 30. Wisdom, or a Bulgar municipality 31. Tiny island 32. American Gothic occupation 36. Strategic Lateral Offset Procedure 37. Brief, and probably sexual, relationship 39. Second album of Italian band Wotan 41. Pontiac, e.g.

43. 1st 44. Flax 47. Past tense of an English ovum 48. A silver fox has ___ hair 53. Lines of Beauty

54. Democratic Unionist Party 55. Infomercials, e.g.

58. Bowling green 59. Moles on yeh face 63. Sounds like a butthole, but really some birds 64. In legalese, to take cattle to graze 65. Edison’s suggestion for telephone greetings 66. French for he shaves: il se ____ 67. The first day of the rest of your life 68. Firey funeral Down 1. Brothelkeeper 2. Deformed “Oh God!” 3. Aviator in a new craft 4. Eliot poem: ____ Wednesday 5. Physics lab device, for short 6. ____ and Saxons 7. Petroleum University of Technology 8. ___ bono 9. Eleventh- and twelfthcentury Bengal dynasty 10. “Trip to ____,” an essay by Sontag 11. Firing 12. Ho

13. Cold shower?

18. That is, in Latin 22. Warm, so to speak 24. All thumbs 25. And __ and __ forth 26. Kills 27. May it be, in Latin 28. Once the USSR 29. “____ in the Summertime,” of Montreal song 33. Durham, NC-based label 34. The study of inscriptions 35. SPQR city 37. Biological doppelgänger 38. Objectivism cult founder 40. Ground cover 42. Hélas! mais en anglais.

43. Full of energy 45. Not down 46. Bad-hair-day Gorgon 48. Tarkovsky movie, without “is” 49. Hagåtña yesterday 50. Clark’s BFF 51. Imperfect, e.g.

52. Silly ___ 56. Saloon, e.g.

57. Eye infection 59. Dracula, at times 60. Freud wrote “ich,” we say ___ 61. A hand 62. Cat’s-paw

19

The McGill Daily, Thursday, September 3, 2009

volume 99 number 02

EDITORIAL

3480 McTavish St., Rm. B-24 Montreal QC, H3A 1X9 phone 514.398.6784 fax 514.398.8318 mcgilldaily.com coordinating editor

Stephen Davis coordinating@mcgilldaily.com coordinating news editor

Erin Hale

news editors

Niko Block Humera Jabir Sam Neylon features editor

Whitney Mallett commentary&compendium editor

William M. Burton

coordinating culture editor

Amelia Schonbek culture editors

Ian Beattie Nick Boisvert-Novak science+technology editor

Diane Salema mind&body editor

Braden Goyette photo editor

Dominic Popowich graphics editor

Sasha Plotnikova production & design editors

Kady Paterson Aaron Vansintjan web editor

William Vanderbilt copy editor

Hannah Freeman cover design

Sasha Plotnikova le délit

Stéphanie Dufresne rec@delitfrancais.com Contributors

Sophie Busby, Carol Fraser, Olivia Hoffmeyer, Shu Jiang, Sally Lin, Richard Muller, Marlee Rubel, Dan Walber, Justin Wong

The Daily is published on most Mondays and Thursdays by the Daily Publications Society, an autonomous, notfor-profit organization whose membership includes all McGill undergraduates and most graduate students.

3480 McTavish St., Rm. B-26 Montreal QC, H3A 1X9 phone 514.398.6790 fax 514.398.8318 advertising & general manager

Boris Shedov treasury & fiscal manager

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The Daily is proud to be a founding member of the Canadian University Press.

All contents © 2008 Daily Publications Society. All rights reserved. The content of this newspaper is the responsibility of The McGill Daily and does not necessarily represent the views of McGill University. Products or companies advertised in this newspaper are not necessarily endorsed by Daily staff.

Printed by Imprimerie Transcontinental Transmag.

Anjou, Quebec. ISSN 1192-4608.

Owning up to the reality of the Afghan election With Afghan citizens fresh from the polls on August 20, Stephen Harper was quick to call the election in the war-torn nation “remarkable.” South of the border, President Barack Obama also dubbed the election a success. Afghan accounts of the election, however, have been more damning, and suggest that the picture our leaders have painted of the situation is both premature and misleading.

Southern Afghanistan, long a hotspot of Taliban activity, registered some of the lowest voter turnout rates in the country. Kandahar, where Canadian forces head the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) occupation, reported a 40 per cent decline in turnout from the 2004 election, while remote parts of the nation registered turnout as low as ten per cent. Several reports have also emerged from Kandahar indicating that the province’s government, which is headed by President Hamid Karzai’s brother Ahmed Wali, stuffed ballot boxes with thousands of doctored ballots after shutting down the polling stations.

Anecdotal but widespread reports also suggest that many citizens stayed home for fear of retribution from Taliban forces. Given the correlation between Taliban activity and dismal voter turnout, Obama’s assertion that the election was “successful,” despite the “Taliban’s efforts to disrupt it” is far from convincing.

What’s more, Western leaders have remained largely silent concerning the obstacles facing female candidates and voters in Afghanistan. On election day, at least 650 female-only polling stations remained closed for fear of violence. In the southern province of Oruzgan, only six of the 36 available female stations opened. Kandahar province was once again a testament to the stubborn influence of the Taliban, with parts of the region reporting turnout rates near zero per cent. And while Western leaders quickly hailed the record number of women seeking office as a symbol of Afghan progress, they were more reluctant to acknowledge that many of these candidates were unable to campaign due to threats to their safety.

Rather than acknowledging these obstacles to a free and fair election, Harper commented that “the democratic process, even in [Canada], can be messy.” Some might agree, but Canadian electoral messiness often takes the form of voter apathy, rather than threats of execution, rocket attacks, and widespread violence against women.

As well, Richard Holbrooke, Obama’s envoy to the AfghanistanPakistan region, boasted that “so far, every prediction of disaster turned out to be wrong.” Not only did Holbrooke overlook the spate of suicide bombings and rocket attacks only two days before the election, he also failed to recognize that low voter turnout compromises the legitimacy of the eventual winner’s administration. Whether explosives are detonated or not, an election in which women do not participate and men do so only under the threat of execution is, in a word, a disaster.

Any country emerging from decades of civil war, ethnic strife, and foreign meddling will have difficulty achieving stability. But the least we can expect from our leaders is a credible and honest discussion of a war that will eventually involve more than 100,000 troops and a decade of commitment.

Unless Western leaders provide accurate information about our involvement in Afghanistan, citizens will be unable to hold politicians accountable to their promises of peace and progress in the region. Without honesty and clarity, citizens are robbed of their role in legitimizing their country’s foreign policy; voters pick these policy makers, and such a weighty decision cannot be made in the absence of accurate information.

For a functional and stable democracy in Afghanistan, and for the sake of our own government’s legitimacy, our leaders need to level with their electorate and let us decide whether or not their Central Asian misadventures have been a “remarkable” success.

Sasha Plotnikova / The McGill Daily

editorial

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