The Runner Volume 10, Issue 7

November 28, 2017 VOLUME 10 // ISSUE 7 kpu’s student newspaper

five years of progress & setbacks With the end of KPU’s five-year plan in sight, President Alan Davis compares the goals of Vision 2018 with reality

News

Culture

Pilot Program Enrols Students with Intellectual Disabilities in Arts Courses

KPU Physics Prof. Competes in The Great Canadian Baking Show

Opinions Out With the Alt-Right Media (Looking at You, Gavin McInnes)

2 table of contents

staff 04

News|kpu includes “all citizens” with pilot program

The Including All Citizens Project—brainchild of Kwantlen Polytechnic University Sociology Chair Fiona Whittington-Walsh and Teresa Swan of KPU’s Access Program—is an attempt to tear down some of the walls faced by students with intellectual disabilities.

Coordinating Editor Alyssa Laube editor@runnermag.ca

Managing Editor

Connor Doyle managing@runnermag.ca

Production Manager

Melanie Tan production@runnermag.ca

10

features|KPU President Evaluates Vision 2018

Nearly five years later, the 2018 deadline set in the document is nearly upon us. We’re now able to take a look at the specific objectives that KPU has been able to achieve in that time, as well as those that were perhaps a little too ambitious for the university to pull off.

13

culture|The Great Canadian Baking Show Features KPU Physics Prof.

Because they are originally from the U.K., Dr. Hoyland’s family faithfully followed the British version of the show. When his wife came upon a casting call for The Great Canadian Baking Show and told Hoyland, he was quick to apply.

Art Director

Nicole Kwit art@runnermag.ca

Photo Editor

Braden Klassen photos@runnermag.ca

18

columns|The Profitability of the Alt-Right’s Cults of Personality

Gavin McInnes, VICE co-founder turned Rebel Media associate and creator of the racist Proud Boys group, is an openly anti-Semitic, Islamophobic, misogynist, and transphobic dumpster fire of a human being, but his articles and videos draw clicks, which translates into ad revenue.

Staff Writer

Joseph Keller staff@runnermag.ca

#FeatureTweets Web Editor

Mel Pomerleau web@runnermag.ca

Use #kpu or #runnermag in your tweet, and you could be featured in the next issue!

Community Reporter

Ashley Hyshka community@runnermag.ca

Operations Manager Scott Boux office@runnermag.ca 778-565-3801

contributors Epifania Alarcón Yuta Anonuevo AJ Birtwistle Amrik Boghar Stephanie Davies Kristine Hui

Daniella Javier Tristan Johnston Nat Mussell Jesse Pottinger Lincoln Saugstad Isabelle Wirz

Cover by Braden Klassen Melanie Tan

Arbutus 3710/3720 12666 72 Ave. Surrey, B.C, V3W 2M8 778.565.3801 www.runnermag.ca Vol. 10, Issue no. 7 November 28 // 2017 ISSN# 1916 8241

The Runner is student-owned and operated by Kwantlen Polytechnic University students, published under the Polytechnic Ink Publishing Society. The Runner recognises that our work, both in and out of the office, takes place on unceded Coast and Strait Salish territories, specifically the shared traditional territories of the Kwantlen, Katzie, Semiahmoo, Sto:lo and Tsawwassen First Nations. Our name is inspired by the hun’qumi’num meaning of Kwantlen, which is tireless hunters or tireless runners. Just as Kwantlen is adaptable and changing so is The Runner.

From The Editor

editorial 3

Remembering Little Doug, the hero of the Surrey Strip who passed away last month

(Nicole Kwit)

alyssa laube | Coordinating Editor After a long battle with pancreatic cancer, the man known as the guardian angel of the Surrey Strip has passed away.

“Little” Doug Nickerson reportedly saved close to 150 lives during his time on the streets by carrying naloxone kits with him everywhere he cycled. His bike route primarily stretched along the two most impoverished blocks of 135A Street, and if he heard of or saw anyone suffering from an overdose, he would drop everything to administer the opioid antagonist to them as soon as possi-

ble. He did this expecting nothing in return.

Two days before his passing, Nickerson was given the Heart of the City Award by Surrey Mayor Linda Hepner. When he accepted the award, he told the CBC that his disease had been keeping him from going out onto the Strip as often as he would like. He lived near 135A Street in a home with his roommates, and although he was ill and often sorely missing his parents in Nova Scotia, he told reporters, “I have everything I need here.” “[The Strip is] where my heart is because it’s where I feel useful,” Nickerson said in an interview with

The Vancouver Sun last summer.

“Every time I can reverse an overdose, that’s one less the medical profession has to break their neck to get to.”

While fighting cancer, and growing weaker with each passing day, Nickerson still found it in his heart to save anyone he saw overdosing on opioids. Because he lived on the streets until last year, he was immersed in the culture on the Strip and could help addicts from the inside, allowing them to receive medical attention without being made uncomfortable in the presence of authority figures like police or doctors.

Before he died, he dreamed of seeing his parents on Cape Sable Island for the first time in 30 years.

And when was given six months to live, his community put together a GoFundMe campaign to cover his travel expenses.

The campaign raised over $13,000, but Nickerson could not access it without proper identification. Although he could find his birth certificate, he couldn’t attain a second piece of ID, so GoFundMe would not release the donations to him. The organisers were reluctant to give him the full amount in cash in fear of Nickerson relapsing or being mugged, so they bought him various presents to rectify the situation, but he wasn’t satisfied. Nickerson never got to see his parents.

Still, he remained an active member of the Surrey Strip’s community and did not let his sickness keep him bedridden until a few days before his passing.

“Nobody else cared about these street-entrenched people. You know, they were just an obstacle to walk over and he didn’t see it that way,” said Ron Moloughney, a close friend of Nickerson’s and President of the Surrey Area Network of Substance Users, in an interview with the CBC. “He seen them as human beings.”

Now that he’s gone, handling overdoses is once again solely in the hands of city officials. With luck, another good samaritan like Little Doug will come along to help the people of the Strip, but it’s unlikely that anyone will do so with the same generosity and compassion that Nickerson demonstrated until his final day.

Indigenous Community Justice Lecture Series provides platform for first nations speakers

News Brief

Stephanie Davies | contributor In accompaniment with Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s new Indigenous Community Justice program, ICJ instructor Lisa Monchalin is coordinating the Indigenous Community Justice Lecture Series. The series has seen activists, allies, and performers visit the Surrey campus nearly every Tuesday night this semester to talk about Indigenous issues.

“When the new minor in Indigenous Community Justice had gotten approval in the summer, I knew I wanted to put something on as a way to celebrate and kick-start the minor,” says Monchalin.

The series made its debut in September, with an early presentation

by Kwantlen First Nation Elder and KPU Elder in Residence Lekeyten and his son Brandon Gabriel in an event co-organized with KPIRG called “Our Home on Native Land”.

“I thought it would be a good idea to overlap the lecture series with the class I teach, which is part of the minor,” says Monchalin. “The course is ‘Indigenous Activism’ and I organized the lecture series as part of that course.”

Individuals featured in the series showcase the strength and resilience of Indigenous communities across Canada. Some of the themes brought up in the lectures include decolonization, Indigenous land and water protection, genocide of Indigenous people in Canada, and activism through poetry.

“I think that many of the speakers leave people with a lot of things to think about,” says Monchalin. “Many of the speakers share life-changing things I hope attendees leave this lecture series with.”

Other guests have included Dawn Morrison, Tamara Starblanket, the dance group Butterflies in Spirit, JB

the First Lady, and the music group Enter-Tribal. The final event of the semester is on Nov. 28, at 7:00 pm, featuring Lekeyten, Christine Jack, and Brandon Gabriel.

The series aims to enrich people’s understanding of, and appreciation for, the vibrancy and strength that has shaped Indigenous communities in 2017. During JB the First Lady’s presentation, she would often use the phrase “All my relations,” which means “We are all related,” or “All are related.”

The series also emphasizes the need to work together. It’s a celebration of what makes us strong and what brings us together—it showcases the power of using one’s voice to pass on languages, stories, and truths.

JB the First Lady’s lyrics from the song “Still Here” encapsulate the series’ tone: “The message is clear.

They wanted us to disappear, but we still here. We still here.”

What’s Happening this month

Nov. 28-30

Wizarding Week

The Kwantlen Student Association is holding a three-day Harry Potter movie marathon at the Grassroots. There will also be a scarf knitting workshop, a scavenger hunt, and a team trivia contest.

All day starting at 10:00 am, Grassroots, free.

nov. 29

Alana Klatt Holiday Concert

The Multi-Faith Centre will be hosting musician Alana Klatt just in time for the holidays. Drop by the rotunda to listen, sing along, and meet one of the multi-faith chaplains.

12:00 pm - 1:00 pm, Richmond campus, Multi-Faith Centre, free.

nov. 30

Make Your Own Spa Essentials

Sustainable KSA wants to teach you how to relax independently by creating your own spa products. In this workshop, you’ll learn to make bath “fizzers” and bath and body oil using natural ingredients.

4:00 pm - 5:00 pm, Surrey campus, Birch 250, free.

dec. 1

The Runner’s Year-End Mixer

After a long year of reporting on KPU’s happenings, we want to unwind with some holiday-themed fun. Join our staff and contributors for games, snacks, and general merriment.

2:00 pm - 7:00 pm, Surrey campus, Birch 250, free.

dec. 5

Winter Get Together

KPU wants to celebrate with you!

Enjoy a free lunch while mingling with students and faculty members.

Make sure to register in advance if you want to attend.

11:30 am - 1:30 pm, Richmond and Surrey campuses, free.

dec. 7

EIGHT x EIGHT Opening

A mix of students and graduates from KPU’s Art program will be exhibiting recently completed work at the Gam Gallery on East Hastings.

Come check out what kind of art the KPU community has been making lately.

7:00 pm - 9:00 pm, Gam Gallery, free.

4 news

Pilot Program Opens the Door for Students with Intellectual Disabilities To Earn an Arts Certificate

The Including All Citizens Project enrols graduates of KPU’s Access Program in 10 Arts classes over five years Ashley Hyshka | community reporter The Including All Citizens Project—brainchild of Kwantlen Polytechnic University Sociology Chair Fiona Whittington-Walsh and Teresa Swan of KPU’s Access Program—is an attempt to tear down some of the walls faced by students with intellectual disabilities.

The pilot program, which Whittington-Walsh and Swan started early last year, enrols five students with intellectual disabilities who have graduated from the Access Program into one Arts course every fall and spring semester. This includes five sociology courses with Whittington-Walsh and five additional courses with instructors in the sociology, journalism, English, creative writing, and Indigenous departments.

Once all five students have completed their 10 courses, they will have earned an Arts certificate from KPU. “It’s one of the first for-credit projects in North America, so we’re opening the doors to education to allow non-traditional learners into the classroom,” says Whittington-Walsh.

“It’s not adapting curriculum. It’s transforming teaching so that we can reach a wide range of learners.”

A common barrier for students with intellectual disabilities is that they’re unable to attend university because they don’t meet the academic requirements. Most other post-sec-

ondary institutions attempt to include them by amending their curriculums and offering not-for-credit courses to students with intellectual disabilities. Students in KPU’s pilot program, however, are exposed to the same curriculum, assignments, and learning opportunities as their peers outside of the Including All Citizens Project.

“The whole philosophy of this pilot is that they aren’t any different from any other student,” says Whittington-Walsh.

She adds that the Arts instructors she has approached about getting involved in the program are interested in becoming mentors and friends to these students.

“It is wonderful to have that relationship, and yet in academia, it … has been looked down upon [so] you can’t have a relationship with your students,” says Whittington-Walsh.

“This project is really challenging that, because relationship-building is certainly a really important, viable learning outcome, and yet we don’t have that as part of our course outcomes.”

The Vancouver Foundation donated $117,875 that will be spent over a three-year period to support the Including All Citizens Project. Whittington-Walsh explains that this money will allow Swan and her to “focus more on the research part of the pilot project,” such as developing

(From left) Colton Turner, Fiona Whittington-Walsh, and Katie Miller of the Including All Citizens Project. (Ashley Hyshka) a teacher’s guide that will help other instructors accommodate students with intellectual disabilities.

The students currently enrolled in the program are slated to receive their Arts certificates in December 2020. Whittington-Walsh hopes that the project will be officially launched sometime before then.

“Everybody belongs in university.

Everybody that wants to go belongs here,” she says.

For Colton Turner, Christian Burton, and Katie Miller, the Including All Citizens Project has opened the door to a new world of opportunities.

Turner praises the flexibility of the program, which allows him to balance both school and a part-time job.

“It’s a fun experience, and I mean, I’m happy that I’ve had this opportunity to have access to Kwantlen and be with Fiona and make new friends,” he says.

The students also speak highly of Whittington-Walsh’s teaching methods because she doesn’t alter assignments to cater to individual students.

Rather, all students can choose to complete an assignment in a way that corresponds with their specific learning style.

Burton commends Whittington-Walsh’s ability to make all students feel welcome and calls her “extremely caring.”

In her previous academic environments, Miller says that she has felt excluded, bullied, and even singled out in class for having a disability.

This caused her to feel ashamed of who she was, but now that she is in the program, she says that she feels like she doesn’t have a disability.

“I know I have one, but I feel more inclusive and able to be myself,” she says.

Two New Courses Added to Cannabis Professional Series

The classes will be available online beginning fall 2018 Jesse Pottinger | contributor With the introduction of the Cannabis Professional Series nearly two years ago, Kwantlen Polytechnic University began training Canadians to work in the emerging medical and recreational cannabis industry.

The online program, which began in anticipation of future legalization, initially consisted of three courses: “Plant Production & Facility Management”, “Marketing, Sales, and Drug Development”, and “Financing a Cannabis Enterprise in Canada”.

Now, KPU is offering an additional two courses—“Retail Cannabis Consultant” and “Cannabis Cultivation Technician”—that are slated to begin in fall 2018.

The “Retail Cannabis Consultant” course will “provide the industry with what is essentially an expert,” explains Dr. Salvador Ferreras, the Provost and Vice-President Academic of Kwantlen Polytechnic University.

Students will be taught about customer service, client privacy and security, record keeping, product

quality assessment, administrative duties, use of tools and technology, complying with laws, regulations and protocols, and the process of selecting, handling, and dispensing cannabis products.

The course curriculum will also cover the endocannabinoid system, which is responsible for the psychoactive effect of cannabis products.

“You’ll end up with a specialist that can work in any outlet anywhere, having a full understanding of the full context of the industry and where it might be going,” says Ferreras.

(Nat Mussell)

The “Cannabis Cultivation Technician” course focuses on plant production. It consists of both online material and an in-field component, during which students will work with licensed cannabis growers in Langley.

In order to adhere to upcoming legislation, the course will follow the federally applicable Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations (ACMPR).

Students will learn about crop cycles, interior growing, climate control, pest management, drying and packaging, waste management, transportation, and trimming, which are all regulated under the ACMPR. While the quality control measures set by the ACMPR will be applicable nationwide, the retail side of the industry will vary from province to province.

Once each province has released a distribution plan, the information will be factored into CPS courses so that the program can be deemed acceptable throughout Canada.

Presently, the five courses offered in the Cannabis Professional Series are for completion, but are not yet accredited. KPU is working towards offering credit-bearing programs,

certificates, diplomas, and degrees for the Cannabis Professional Series, but because the field is so new, there is currently no accrediting body for the programs being offered.

“The governance process at the university is very rigorous and it could take [up to] two years to get these programs through,” says Ferreras.

Courses in the Cannabis Professional Series are taught by industry experts from both Canada and the United States. They use a combination of lectures, exercises, and assignments similar to most in-class programs at KPU. As Canada’s cannabis industry grows, the university plans to continue developing new courses for the Cannabis Professional Series.

So far, it has attracted an enormous amount of interest; the available student space in the program has already been doubled since it was founded two years ago.

“There’s going to be a lot more research done in the field,” says Ferreras. “The truth is that we have not determined the full range of what we’ll be offering … because we don’t know where the industry is going.”

News 5

President’s Diversity and Equity Committee Aims to Keep KPU Inclusive

The Committee meets every month to help implement Diversity and Inclusivity Policies

Mel Pomerleau | web editor Universities Canada, an organization dedicated to providing a unified voice for post-secondary institutions across the nation, has released its Inclusive Excellence Principles and a corresponding action plan to promote and foster inclusivity on Canadian campuses.

The principles and action plan detail how to increase diversity among students, faculty, and university administration. They specifically focus on career advancement, the dismantling of barriers to education, and awareness of the importance of inclusivity in post-secondary schools.

“The university mission of excellence in research, teaching, and community engagement is most successful when all members of the university community are supported in achieving their potential,” writes Pari Johnston, Vice-President of Policy and Public Affairs for Universities Canada, in an email sent on Nov. 13. “By endorsing the Inclusive Excellence Principles, university presidents are publicly signaling their commitment to advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion on campus and in society, and to demonstrating progress.”

Though it remains to be seen

whether individual universities across Canada will begin adopting the Inclusive Excellence Principles, Kwantlen Polytechnic University established its own Diversity and Inclusiveness Policies and Procedures via the President’s Diversity and Equity Committee in 2014.

“Real, meaningful enactment of diversity principles, inclusivity, and equity—it should be an institution-wide effort,” says KPU English instructor Romy Kozak, who also serves as the committee’s Director of Diversity.

The committee, which meets every month, consists of students, faculty members, and representatives from the KPU administration. Committee members are encouraged to introduce initiatives relating to equity or diversity that they can help put into practice at the university.

Kozak feels that the committee “reflects the importance with which our President [Dr. Alan Davis] holds diversity and equity.”

“It’s something he participates in and chairs. He’s really actively involved,” says Kozak, adding that “it’s really important for us to have clear goals related to diversity and inclusion and equity embedded in [KPU’s 2018 strategic] plan.”

One of the most critical ways that

Isabelle Wirz

(Nicole Kwit) the President’s Diversity and Equity Committee upholds its mandate is through its events fund. By taking applications twice a year, it helps fund various events on campus relating to equity, inclusion, and diversity.

A few of the projects that the committee members have helped fund in 2017 are the Somali Youth Summit in May, the Health and Wellness Convention in September, and a student fashion show that included gender-neutral designs. They are also supporting speakers for KPU’s new Indigenous Community Justice lecture series led by instructor Lisa Monchalin.

Other goals of the committee include furthering trans inclusivity in the form of registration and admission practices and creating non-bina-

ry facilities on campus. Registration and admissions practices are being looked at to determine the validity of requiring an individual to state their gender when applying to the university.

In the committee’s action plan for gender inclusive washrooms, the focus is “making sure the new construction includes them, particularly for the KPU Surrey Spruce building, Wilson School of Design, and Civic Plaza campus.

“However much we do, we can always do more. We can do a lot more,” says Kozak. “I think the will is there and now we need to have some of the infrastructure to put things into action.”

Andrew Weaver Introduces Measure to Protect University Independence

KPU President Alan Davis doesn’t believe the bill is necessary, but is interested in hearing the debate joseph keller | staff writer Last month, B.C. Green Party Leader Andrew Weaver reintroduced a private member’s bill to the B.C. legislature that is intended to “halt the creeping government interference in university governance.”

First introduced in February, Bill M204 would amend the University Act to prohibit B.C. government appointees to university boards from being able to unilaterally set the direction of the board. It would also stop boards from being able to unilaterally appoint university chancellors.

“The current composition of the Senate in special purpose teaching universities can potentially give the administration of these universities the majority vote,” reads the release on Weaver’s website. “This harms the ability of the Senate to keep the academic autonomy of the university at arm’s length from government.”

Weaver argues that there is currently potential for political interference in the way that the province’s post-secondary institutions are run, and hopes that the government “takes action on this issue immediately to preserve the independence of our academic institutions.”

Kwantlen Polytechnic University President Alan Davis has responded to Weaver’s initiative with skepticism. He believes the legislation to be unnecessary for KPU, but is waiting to hear further debate on the topic.

“It’s an interesting proposition and it’s going to be interesting watching the discussion unfold,” says Davis. “I have to say—and I say this cautiously—[government interference] hasn’t been an issue here.”

He explains that KPU regularly conducts board and senate effectiveness surveys that judge its practices and decision-making abilities, while making sure that everyone on these bodies understands their role. The surveys, he believes, show that the board and senate have been performing well.

“I think people on the senate really do come with the best interest of KPU in mind—and that’s how they vote, that’s how they engage,” says Davis.

“And I hope we can preserve that.”

At KPU, most of the academic decisions go through faculty councils and committees before being presented to the university’s senate, which is comprised of a mix of students, faculty, and administrators. On the senate, decisions are generally made

Langley Campus waste audit Shows How KPU Sorts its Garbage

Green Party Leader Andrew Weaver reintroduced a bill on Oct. 25 that would limit the provincial government’s ‘interference’ in university governance. (Flickr/NDP BC) by faculty and almost never rejected, according to Davis.

On the board, Davis says that members “have a fiduciary responsibility to make sure that KPU is a healthy organisation and is implementing the mandate that’s been given by the government.”

“We elect governments and we expect them to govern, and through their appointments to the board they’re fulfilling their duty as an elected government,” says Davis.

“I’ve never felt any undue pressure one way or another.”

The bill was introduced for its first reading in the Legislative Assembly on Oct. 25, and while it hasn’t received much attention from other members, Weaver’s experience as a professor at the University of Victoria makes him particularly suited to champion this cause.

“Maybe we’ll find out more about the issue that [Weaver] is trying to solve, but at KPU—and that’s all I know—we feel pretty good about the quality of engagement and the quality of decision-making that comes out of senate,” says Davis.

Every year, students in the KPU Environmental Protection Technology program’s “Solid Waste Management” class complete a waste audit of the Langley campus. Waste audits involve the collection, analysis, and categorization of waste streams.

The 11 students in the class conducted the audit on Oct. 19—a low-traffic day for KPU campuses. Taking the number of students on-campus into account while analyzing the data allows the group to draw conclusions about the average amount of waste produced per day.

Before the audit, the university’s custodians were instructed to leave waste receptacles untouched until the class was finished their three-hour job.

Dustin Venhuizen was assigned the role of project manager while the class amassed the data and compared it to other years’ audits. This process will be completed before the semester’s end.

According to Emily Gutenberg, another student involved in the audit, the KPU community “sorts garbage well where appropriate bins are provided.” However, an area of concern that stood out to both her and Gutenberg was that one-use, disposable coffee cups were showing up in several different containers.

Although the cups appear to be a mixed paper product or organic waste, most have a polyethylene coating on the inside to prevent leaking. This means that they don’t belong in any particular bin, despite the fact that they made up the greatest volume of waste in the audit.

Last year, KPU Langley used biodegradable, compostable coffee cups that cost students between five and 10 cents more per drink. These could go into organic waste bins, but when the Langley campus decided to switch coffee vendors in autumn, it started distributing cups that end up in landfills in large numbers.

The cafeteria is also a site of waste mismanagement on campus. All waste in the cafeteria’s food preparation section goes straight into the general waste disposal, though Venhuizen and Gutenberg say that vast amounts of organic waste and recyclables could be collected there.

While the audit showed that the Langley campus community is largely diligent in dealing with its waste, it did identify a few areas in need of improvement. To tackle the issues of waste negligence on campus, the students recommend implementing more efficient waste sorting options within the cafeteria, as well as incentives to get students to use reusable cups, containers, and cutlery when purchasing food.

6 news

Vertical Farming is on the Rise in Abbotsford

Construction on one of B.C.’s first vertical farms will be complete next October Jesse Pottinger | contributor As the effects of climate change and overpopulation become more apparent, traditional farming methods seem less likely to provide long-term sustainability for our planet.

One potential method of addressing this problem is with “vertical farming”, a method which packs more agriculture into a smaller land area by building upwards, much like a densely inhabited high-rise condo.

Next October, Abbotsford will become home to one of the few vertical farms in British Columbia when construction on a 10-acre facility at 34240 Page Road is completed.

Nick Brusatore, CEO of the farm’s developer, Vertical Designs Ltd., says that the project will consist of 32 towers, each 20 feet tall and housed in a 35-foot tall building. The farm is estimated to cost between $2.5 and $2.7 million.

The company has partnered with Affinor and a California strawberry farm for what Brusatore calls an “on-farm test agreement,” or a trial run after which, if all parties are satisfied, production will increase significantly.

Organic strawberries will be the sole product grown at the Abbotsford facility, and through a contract signed

with Discovery Organics, all of the strawberries have already been sold.

“We expect to produce probably the best strawberry on the planet,” says Brusatore.

He is unsure where exactly his strawberries will end up but says that he would be surprised if the first batch makes it outside the city. Eventually, however, he hopes to “produce all the strawberries for Canada” from the Abbotsford location.

“We’ve got a problem right now,” says Brusatore, referring to the state of local and global agriculture.

“We’ve got a food shortage, we’ve got a water shortage, and we’ve got no governance as to the pesticide use and the way things are manipulated through labels.”

According to Brusatore, the Abbotsford vertical farm will produce zero water waste, require zero pesticides, and will utilize the land more efficiently than conventional farming methods by 10 times more per square foot..

Despite the possible benefits of this technology-based farming system, Director of the Institute for Sustainable Food Systems at KPU Kent Mullinix believes that vertical farming is a step in the wrong direction.

“It’s about money. It’s not about feeding the world,” says Mullinix.

As vertical farms become more popular, Kent Mullinix of KPU’s Institute for Sustainable Food Systems worries it may be a step in the wrong direction. (Submitted) “It’s really appropriate for the cultivation of just a few high-end crops like salad greens and some more valuable vegetables, so it’s really primarily a system to satisfy high-end markets with very high-end production methods. It’s the antithesis of sustainability if you ask me.”

Instead of investing in vertical farms, Mullinix argues that the key to sustainability is using a decentralized, ecologically-focused network of regional food systems that create local economies and jobs.

Mullinix is also concerned that the proliferation of vertical farming

will lead to valuable agricultural land being paved over.

In response, Brusatore argues that vertical farms can be developed on contaminated land that is no longer ideal for conventional farming. He acknowledges that vertical farming is mostly suitable for low-growing plants like kale, lettuce, and strawberries, but says that the project is nevertheless a progressive step for the future of agriculture.

“If we don’t try, if we don’t press these issues, we’re just going to fail for sure,” he says. “I’m excited for Abbotsford …. It’s going to be abso-

lutely amazing and people are going to be blown away by this once it’s up.”

Although it is a capital-intensive project to launch, he points out that, once built, the equipment on the farm will be long-lasting and will require little maintenance.

After the farm is completed and the method is proven successful, Brusatore expects that there will be a significant increase in capital investment in vertical farming, creating a positive effect on the local economy.

KPU Students Develop Clean Composting Technology

Through KPU’s Challenge Dialogue program, Alisa Yao and her team hope to revolutionize composting in multi-residential units joseph keller | staff writer A group of KPU students have designed a product that has the potential to raise the rate of composting in Surrey.

With the help of the City of Surrey, the group has spent over a year researching and developing a solution for issues preventing composting in multi-residential buildings. They are now in the process of turning their idea into a business plan.

“The issue is, ‘How do we engage people to recycle and compost properly?’” says fourth year KPU product design student Alisa Yao. Yao—along with her peers Eyshr Sahota, Harry Chai, and environment protection technology graduate Megan Davidson—were selected in September 2015 to take part in KPU’s Challenge Dialogue program, which gives students the opportunity to work with the municipal government to develop clean technology.

Yao is currently unable to disclose any details about the product that she and her team have designed, as they are still in the process of acquiring a patent. However, she does confirm that the business model focuses on removing barriers to composting, increasing awareness of how to compost, and collecting relevant data.

The group conducted research throughout the early stages of the project and spoke to stakeholders to identify an issue that they could

address. After shadowing Surrey waste collectors and speaking with people in the zero waste industry, they learned that there were issues with the system of separating out compost from non-organic waste in apartment buildings and other communal living spaces.

“In the zero waste industry, there is a lot of discussion about how to tackle the issue of composting in any area that is communal,” says Yao. “[ln communal organics bins] there is a lot of contamination. People throw things in the wrong bins and it just ends up causing more problems.”

Yao explains that, with single fam-

ily homes, issues with contamination in compost bins are rare because the problem can usually be traced to the family that owns the bin. In multi-residential buildings, as well as quick service restaurants and public street bins, non-organic material regularly gets thrown into organics bins.

There isn’t much that can be done to deter that behavior.

According to Yao, the process of re-sorting the various types of waste can be more expensive than having only one bin for compostable and non-compostable materials.

After the initial research phase, Yao and her team came up with a

solution that they believe will help mitigate this problem. They pitched their idea to the City of Surrey, which accepted the pitch and chose a residential building in Surrey for Yao’s team to use for a pilot project.

They began by holding information sessions in the building’s lobby and handing out information packages to explain the purpose of the project. Yao says that the residents of the building were on board almost immediately.

“We explained our case, why we should compost, [and] what’s going on with the current compost system.

Pretty much everyone has been on

board,” says Yao. “I think everyone has good intentions to want to compost and want to be sustainable.”

The next step was to conduct a compost audit to see the level of contamination in the building’s bins before implementing their solutions.

Briefly before the pilot was concluded, a final audit was conducted to show its end results in December 2016.

Yao says that the pilot was a massive success. Over the past year, the group has been working with organisations in the clean technology industry to plan the next phase and develop their plan into a business.

(From Left:) Eyshr Sahota, Alisa Yao, Megan Davidson, and Harry Chai are hoping to patent technology that will help Surrey residents with their compost. (Submitted)

news 7

Road Through Hawthorne Park Approved Via Alternative Approval Process Construction will begin in January despite public pressure to drop the project

alyssa laube | Coordinating Editor Steven Pettigrew, the primary organiser of the activist movement to prevent the construction of a road through Surrey’s Hawthorne Park, says that the city’s decision on Nov. 6 to pave over part of the green space hasn’t shaken him.

Instead, he is working with provincial legislators to change the alternative approval process that contributed to the development of the project.

In order to prevent the road from being built, the city’s bylaws state that one third of the population— or 30,000 people—must show that they disagree with its construction by signing and submitting an elector response form to the city within 30 days. Only 11,000 signatures in opposition of the alternative approval process were received. Commonly, this figure would be determined via referendum, but the city did not opt to conduct one in regard to the issue of the road’s construction, arguing that the project’s timeline was too tight to allow for such a vote.

Pettigrew believes that, although many university-aged people living in Surrey may want to protect the park, “the majority of the students there didn’t even know that there was an alternative approval process being worked on by the city, and a majority of students never had an opportunity to voice themselves.”

“I think this is an important story to be told, because the city used the political process in the wrong way, and the students of Surrey were not aware of the situation,” he says.

Surrey City Councillor Judy Villeneuve says that public consultations about Hawthorne Park were advertised over “a couple of months,” which gave residents sufficient time to respond to the initiative, but Pettigrew challenges the validity of that statement.

“There was no consultation. It was just, ‘Here’s what we’re going to do.

Do you like road A or road B?’ We never got to speak to the city. The

The rally to save Hawthorne Park was held on Sept. 16. David Suzuki spoke at the event. (Alyssa Laube) city didn’t allow us to answer a public forum or put us in a position where we could speak to the Council and they could express their views,” says Pettigrew. “This was never done.”

Pettigrew is currently in talks with MLAs and MPs about the alternative approval process to ensure that it cannot be used to remove park dedication. So far, he says he has received a positive response from many of the politicians he has approached.

When used correctly, Pettigrew believes the legislation behind the alternate approval process helps small communities work together to approve policies that have already been supported by the general population, or to “act as a litmus test to gage the general public’s reaction” before going to referendum if there is strong opposition to the subject at hand. It is the city’s use of the alternate approval process in the summer-

time, and on a contentious issue, that Pettigrew feels is unfair.

“They haven’t broken any laws, but they’ve certainly pushed the boundaries, and they’ve definitely ignored provincial guidelines and the purpose of the alternative approval process,” he says.

He speculates that the City of Surrey will likely use the same process with Green Timbers Park, where a road widening project may lead to trees being cut down..

Villeneuve says that the City Council unanimously supported building the road through the southern end of Hawthorne Park—which it has been hoping to do since 1986—because it feels that it “needs to facilitate movement in the areas that are taking most of our growth.”

With new housing units and light rail transit under development in Surrey, she believes that more roads will

“improve connectivity between the Guildford area and the City Centre Area.”

Villeneuve adds that, in response to the public’s concerns over the construction of the road, the City Council has decided to add five acres of land to Hawthorne Park.

Along with the larger acreage comes the municipal addition of 700 trees and $3 million in enhancing the park’s walkways, waterways, playground, and fountain areas over the next year and a half. Villeneuve says that—as the road will pass through the park’s bogland—care will be taken to keep ecosystems intact and potentially improve their health in the future. Villeneuve, who also served on the Climate Action Committee, feels that she “made that decision from an environmental perspective,” and that her decision did not come without some difficulty. From

an environmental perspective, she believes that the road will ultimately decrease the amount of carbon emissions caused by idling vehicles, as it will decongest traffic in Surrey.

Although he appreciates the city’s effort, Pettigrew argues that “the improvement of the park is separate from the issue of the road.”

“This is just smoke and mirrors.

They’re just trying to tie it all together,” he says. “But some improvements are very good improvements.”

“It was all done legally and with the public,” Villeneuve says in response to Pettigrew’s concerns about the alternative approval process. “We had public consultation and meetings about the park and we also had many emails from people in the public on what they thought of the issue, but we had to evaluate all of our options.”

She encourages Pettigrew to “decide what he wants to do” and “look at the process.”

“We use a lawyer to evaluate the process and what was in legislation, and the direction was, from our legal department, what we did,” she says.

“But if [Pettigrew] feels that that should be challenged, then that’s up to him as an individual citizen to look at challenging what is provincial legislation.”

Pettigrew and his fellow activists would prefer to work with provincial government than to occupy the construction site, and hope to ultimately “make a difference.”

“Even if the road goes through and we fail on this road, we can make sure that we put protection in place to protect other parks, and I know we’re talking about the Surrey AAP but this is not a Surrey issue,” he says. “This is a provincial issue, so we’re looking at the bigger picture.”

www.conference-science-religion.ca

features 9

Beyond Crime and Punishment: Alana Abramson’s Restorative Justice Story The KPU professor who spent her adolescence on the streets was recently awarded for her work in the community alyssa laube | Coordinating Editor At the age of 14, Kwantlen Polytechnic University criminology professor Alana Abramson began sleeping on the streets of Vancouver.

She spent the year leading up to her 15th birthday using and selling drugs under the influence of an older man who had vowed to care for her after she moved out of her family home.

She was arrested for trafficking without a conviction before she turned 16.

The life-changing trauma that Abramson experienced during that time set her on the path to working in restorative justice. She continues to follow that path today through her teaching at KPU. While still living on Granville Street, she was arrested by a police officer who treated her with dignity and respect, and the judge presiding over her case allowed her a second chance to stay out of the system by keeping her criminal record clean.

When Abramson was 16, her foster mother inspired her to recreate herself and go back to school. She did so using her positive experience with criminal justice workers to choose her major. The next year, she moved back in with her parents, and over the next two decades she got her doctorate in Criminology at Simon Fraser University.

The first students Abramson ever taught were from Kwantlen Polytechnic University, where she was accepted as a sessional instructor in 2005.

As an instructor, Abramson initially kept her struggle with drugs and homelessness to herself out of shame.

Only this semester did she start telling her classes about her past in hopes of deepening their understanding of criminology and the importance of getting to know the men and women who spend years of their lives behind bars.

“I remember the very first time I taught Introduction to Criminology, I brought someone doing a life sentence with me, and he talked about his 15 years in prison,” says Abramson.

“From then on I really carved out my own path of being somebody that was trying to bring the community and real life stories into the classroom.”

One product of her drive to connect prisoners and students at KPU

is the Alternatives to Violence Project Workshop series. Every third Wednesday of the month, Abramson facilitates an event where people on parole visit KPU students on the Surrey campus to share experiences, explore how to live a nonviolent life, and work together to break down stereotypes about what it means to be a prisoner.

According to Abramson, some of the visitors who speak at the workshops are now waved to in the hallways, warmly addressed by name, and generally respected by the students who have met them through school. She believes that having that community available outside of jail can be key to helping people reintegrate once they are released from prison, instead of falling back into a life of crime.

“They need places to go where they’re not going to be judged, where they’re not going to be labelled and stigmatized. These men and women feel safe here, and I think universities should be open to the public this way,” says Abramson. “And of course, my students get a way different understanding of criminology when they sit in these circles, so it serves both students and prisoners to pursue more social justice.”

The last seven days of November are Restorative Justice Week. To celebrate, Abramson organized a symposium with a surprising theme: uniting a man who committed murder and the daughter of his victim through public conversation.

Glenn Flett, who shot an innocent man named Theodore Van Sluytman while robbing a bank in 1982, has met with one of his victim’s daughters, Margot Van Sluytman, several times to talk about healing and restoration. Now, Abramson says that the two consider themselves friends.

“It’s really amazing to see this man and woman together, and this woman’s father is not alive anymore because of this man, and they embrace,” she says. “They’re going to tell their story about how they got to that place.”

But Abramson’s relationship with Flett has far more history to it than a simple fascination with his case and

life after release. When she was in her third year at Simon Fraser University, one of her professors brought Flett in to talk about the murder and consequent rehabilitation. That moment 18 years ago made Abramson commit herself to following his life story, and those of others like him. Now she hopes that he was able to do the same

a responsibility to be looked up to, and to have this honour not only as an educator but now somebody that’s a leader in the field. I do think about what that means and I want to take it seriously and be reflective about what it means, but I’ve just done what feels right and tried to emulate what my mentors did.”

time with a lot of guilt. All of the drugs that I sold—where did they go?

Did they kill people? Did they break up relationships, break up families?”

She continues, “It’s really testing how much I’ve healed from that. For me, it feels okay. There’s still a part of me that wonders how it feels for my family because they’re implicat-

Abramson says her experience living on the streets of Vancouver has shaped her approach to teaching. She often invites prisoners and people on parole to visit KPU students. (Alyssa Laube) for at least one of her students or an attendee at the symposium.

The professor who invited Flett into her class in 1999 was the late Dr. Liz Elliot, who was a personal mentor and inspiration to Abramson. This year, she won the Restorative Justice Liz Elliot Memorial Award, making her work and story more public than it had ever been before.

“I really think that hit home, that I am now somebody else’s mentor. To be honest, I’m still processing what that means,” says Abramson. “It is

The experience of having her life put on display through the awards show and the media interest that followed has left Abramson overwhelmed, but still thriving. Through this and through revisiting the hardships she has faced in therapy, she has been able to reflect deeply on what it meant to her to lose a large part of her childhood to homelessness and crime.

“I’ve been the victim of harm, but I’ve also been the perpetrator of harm,” she says. “I lived for a long

ed. They are talked about in my story … But for myself, I’ve integrated that part of myself and I don’t feel ashamed of it anymore.”

To get involved with the Alternatives to Violence Project workshops or connect with Alana Abramson, contact her at alana.abramson@kpu. ca.

10 features

kpu president evaluates Vision 2018 After five years working towards the goals laid out in KPU’s strategic plan, Alan Davis reflects on the successes and setbacks the university has encountered joseph keller | staff writer

In 2013, the Kwantlen Polytechnic University administration formed a committee to plan the goals they wanted the institution to achieve in the near future.

Over the next nine months, the university devised and implemented a strategic plan they called Vision 2018. The plan primarily focuses on three themes for KPU to exemplify in the achievement of its goals over a five year period: quality, relevance, and reputation.

Nearly five years later, the 2018 deadline set in the document is nearly upon us. We’re now able to take a look at the specific objectives that KPU has been able to achieve in that time, as well as those that were perhaps a little too ambitious for the university to pull off.

“Vision 2018 was kind of an institutionally, somewhat-inward focused document. We hadn’t had a plan like this before for the university,” says KPU President Alan Davis, who wrote a forward for the document. “There was a need within the institution to get some kind of clarity on where we were strong, where we could do more, where we need to press our advantage.”

While compiling the Vision 2018 plan, voices from communities in and around KPU were able to weigh in through town halls and other events held by the university. Alan Davis estimates that around 700 people were involved in putting together the original plan.

Since Vision 2018’s inception, the university has been publishing its progress on the Strategic Planning section of its website. The most recent report was released in February of 2016, and the next and final report for Vision 2018 is expected to

be posted early next year.

The three themes of “quality, relevance, and reputation” are each broken down into three specific action plans in the document. Progress on these actions is measured by a wide range of quantifiable metrics, some of which were already mandated by the provincial government. Course outcomes, satisfaction surveys, and post-graduation consultations with students are among the sources used to gage success.

According to the most recent report, KPU is on track to achieving many of its goals. All of the metrics measuring graduate success are in the green, including the rates of graduate employment both inside and outside of their fields of study. The number of first-year students who stay at KPU until graduation is also up to the university’s standards, and the collected data suggests high rates of student satisfaction with the quality of their education.

Employee satisfaction rates are on target as well, and while KPU is not particularly well-known for its research, the amount of funding received for sponsored research initiatives has also been met.

On other subjects, KPU has seen mixed success. It’s currently 60 to 90 per cent of the way to achieving its goals of raising the number of students in its formal international exchange programs, and its reputation remains mediocre.

One area where KPU has fallen well short of its goals is in institutional growth. In Vision 2018, the target for institutional growth was five per cent per year. During the early years after the strategic plan was ratified, growth remained stagnant at essentially zero per cent before gradually

reaching two to three per cent.

Davis says that he’s happy with the university’s current efforts to spur growth, citing KPU’s successful rebranding push, which included increasing its advertising presence in the Lower Mainland. These ads were centred around the new “where thought meets action” tagline. He also says that making the university’s recruitment strategy and admission system more efficient has played a role in its recent increases in institutional growth.

In retrospect, Davis admits that the five per cent growth target set in Vision 2018 was overly ambitious for a relatively new university, one that faces intense competition from over a dozen other post-secondary institutions in the region. He concedes this despite the fact that it was his idea.

“I can remember when we were in the strategic planning group and I said, ‘Well, we’re a growing region.

If we can fix some of our processes and improve international recruitment and do all these other things, I think we should be shooting for five,’” recalls Davis. “Nobody disagreed.”

Davis believes that part of the reason for KPU’s lack of growth is that it receives relatively little funding from British Columbia’s government compared to other institutions. The university gets the second lowest provincial grant amount in B.C. relative to the population of the region that it serves.

“If we had better funding for full time enrollment … and if we had more full time enrollment, that would give us room to flesh out our degree programs, to open up more sections to create a funnel to come into some of the less popular programs so we

have a stronger flow,” says Davis.

Currently, departments are limited mostly to one campus, meaning that students based near a KPU campus that does not offer their required courses need to make the trek out to a different city for school every week. In many cases, this simply is not practical. Davis says that, with a higher per capita grant, the university would be able to offer a wider range of programs on all of its campuses, which would increase the university’s recruitment and growth.

While the growth of KPU’s domestic student population has remained flat, the increasing number of international students has driven the university’s expansion. For this, Davis credits the rebuilding and reinventing of KPU’s international education office as well as a series of successful marketing campaigns overseas.

In general, universities in Canada are seeing a massive influx of international students due to Canada’s ever-growing desirability as place to study. As a result, KPU’s revenue is now highly dependent on international students.

Davis says that, going forward, the university will put significant effort into deciding how much to invest in the international market and which countries to advertise in.

“We want to make sure our [international] enrolments are sustained and diversified, so if something happens like the regulations change in one country, we can balance that out with recruitment in another country,” says Davis “At the same time, we have to balance that out with the fact that our primary job is to serve our region.”

Another factor that Davis says may have had an effect on KPU reaching

its 2018 goals is the turnaround on the management team. He explains that several key employees have retired, relocated, or changed careers since his first term began.

“That’s been more of a challenge than I expected it to be. We’re all happy and we love working here and we’re very dedicated to the task at hand, but it’s hard when people come and go because they can get positions elsewhere because they can be paid more, and it’s hard recruiting people to come to the Lower Mainland with the cost of living,” he says. “So that’s been an ongoing challenge during the last five years.”

With Vision 2018’s deadline in sight, Davis is already thinking about how the university will set its aspirations over the next five years There will be a new target for growth that Davis says will likely be somewhat more grounded than Vision 2018’s lofty expectation of five per cent per year. Current and projected trends in the world of post-secondary education, including a focus on the adoption of new technologies, will likely inform Vision 2023. Davis would also like to see the next plan focus even more on student success, both academically and in the other aspects of their lives.

“I think that my Vision 2023 will be much shorter and hopefully more aspirational,” he says. “It will set a direction which I think will be very much a continuation of Vision 2018, with some modifications.”

(Nicole Kwit)

STUDENT SNAPSHOT

Anime clubs from local universities convened at BCIT for an evening to enjoy each others’ company, eat some food, play some games, and sing some Karaoke.

Nov. 18.

(Braden Klassen)

KPU students showed off their dodgeball skills at the Active KSA Movember Dodgeball Tournament.

Nov. 17. (Braden Klassen)

The St. John Ambulance Therapy Dogs organization paid a visit to Surrey Campus on Nov. 23. The dogs provided a much needed source of stress relief for students near the end of the semseter. (Amrik Boghar)

KSA VP Student Life Jay Reedy got a headstart on showing off his Christmas holiday spirit outside the Cedar Conference Centre. Nov. 23. (Amrik Boghar)

Gurpreet Harwal stares down the competiton during the finals of the Movember Dodgeball Tournament. Nov. 17.

(Braden Klassen)

culture 13

Anime Fandom forms kpu’s Newest Club Notice this club, senpai

braden klassen | photo editor For its first event, Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s newest student group, the KPU Anime Club, joined a crowd of anime fans from other post-secondary institutions.

The club was founded in November by Murdoch de Mooy, Kwantlen Student Association Faculty of Arts Representative, after he was contacted by a UBC librarian who asked if KPU had an anime club of its own.

Up until that point, the university had never had a club dedicated to watching and discussing Japanese animation. De Mooy saw this as the perfect opportunity to explore his love of anime with like-minded students at KPU. He says that he found signatories and sent away the paperwork almost immediately.

“We became an anime club within two or three days,” says de Mooy.

This wasn’t his first experience with leading a club. De Mooy has previously been involved in the Kwantlen Gaming Guild as an executive member and event organizer, and he says that the experience he gained there helped him create the new anime club.

Shortly after it was founded, the KPU Anime Club was invited to join a potluck with the UBC, SFU, BCIT, Langara, and Capilano University anime clubs. The event took place on Nov. 18 in the Great Hall on BCIT’s Burnaby campus.

“This was really a way to dip our

Kristine Hui | contributor

Anime Club President Murdoch de Mooy poses during a gathering of university anime clubs at BCIT on Nov. 18. (Braden Klassen) feet in the water and try things out, and see what all of the other universities do,” says de Mooy. “It was very interesting to see how KPU does stuff differently than BCIT and SFU and UBC.” Attendees brought food, video games, card games, and different kinds of anime-related merchandise.

There was also karaoke that started at 7:00 p.m., which drew out an enthusiastic crowd of singers and audience members.

“When you hear a song that you really like, you just get really into it,” says Justin Ho, a member of the KPU Anime Club. “Everybody comes together for that and nobody judges which songs you sing. You can just

go and have fun.”

Like most other people at the event, Ho’s love for anime started in his youth, and he’s happy that the KPU Anime Club has given him an opportunity to meet other fans of the genre.

Matthew Clemente, another member of the anime club and a friend of Ho’s, says that he joined for the same reasons.

“I was interested, when I was a kid, with Pokemon and Sailor Moon,” he says. “Then I stopped in high school for some weird reason. Probably because … when you’re in high school you tend to conform to stuff.

But in college, you don’t really care what people think.”

Club members are hoping to organize more collaborations with other universities in the future, as well as movie nights and panel discussions about anime and manga.

“So many people view anime as a child’s medium because it’s a cartoon,” says de Mooy. “But anybody who really gets into anime knows there are all sorts of genres and age groups.”

He hints that even though he may need to leave the group in the future, he’s confident that the other members will be able to continue to run the Anime Club and facilitate events for future KPU students.

The Great Canadian Baking Show Features KPU Physics Prof.

Dr. James Hoyland took some time off from teaching to try his hand at becoming “Star Baker” Kristine Hui | contributor Canadian fans of The Great British Bake Off can now rejoice, as the show has finally made its way here in the form of The Great Canadian Baking Show. The inaugural season was shot in northern Toronto over the summer and featured 10 talented bakers from across the country.

One of the contestants is a Kwantlen Polytechnic University physics professor named Dr. James Hoyland, who has taught both introductory and upper-level physics courses at the university for the past three years.

Because they are originally from the U.K., Dr. Hoyland’s family faithfully followed the British version of the show. When his wife came upon a casting call for The Great Canadian Baking Show and told Hoyland, he was quick to apply.

Hoyland believes that baking falls somewhere between an art form and a science. Unlike cooking, where “you can just throw something in [the pot] and it will all turn out okay,” he says that, with baking, “you have to think about the structure of the materials.”

KPU Brewing Student Leaves Program, Returns as an Instructor

KPU instructor James Hoyland is on the CBC television program The Great Canadian Baking Show. (CBC) “There are really only five or six ingredients [in baking],” Hoyland explains. “There is water, flour, some kind of fat, maybe yeast, and salt— and by mixing them in different ways you get different results. That is where the science part comes in, because depending on what you are trying to produce, you have to treat them differently.”

His background in science may have given him a slight advantage on the show in terms of understanding how the chemistry behind bak-

ing works, but he doesn’t think that it made much of a difference when he was competing “against someone with 40 years of baking experience.”

He first learned to bake as a child, but it wasn’t until 16 or 17 years ago, when Hoyland moved to New Brunswick, that he started to bake regularly. Baking breads and pastries is his specialty, and he prefers to make his bread rather than buy it at the store.

“When it was snowing and -30 degrees outside [in New Brunswick] you just wanted to turn the oven on,

so doing things like baking bread and warming pies [came from] a primal need for heat and carbs,” he says.

Hoyland describes his experience on The Great Canadian Baking Show as “surreal and exciting.”

“It was pretty much a 100 per cent positive experience. It was stressful at times, but even that was fun stressful.”

On the show, Hoyland can be found furiously mixing cake batter with his bare hands, looking more like a kid playing in the mud than the distinguished physics professor that he is.

Light-hearted moments like these are what separate The Great Canadian Baking Show from the abundance of high-tension cooking competitions shows on the air.

To follow Hoyland and his weekly quest to become an expert baker, watch The Great Canadian Baking Show every Wednesday night at 8:00 pm on the CBC.

Last September, Jon Howe returned to school by enrolling in Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s Brewing and Brewery Operations Program.

A year later he returned again—this time as an instructor.

Prior to coming to KPU, Howe earned a degree in Biology at UBC and worked as a researcher at the UBC Hospital studying fetal alcohol syndrome. As an avid home brewer, he eventually decided to change careers and applied to the KPU Brewing and Brewery Operations program.

Howe excelled in the science-based courses as a first-year student. Over the summer between his first and second year, he gained professional work experience at Bomber Brewing, where he was hired as an assistant brewer. His primary role there was in quality assessment and quality management, but he also practiced lab sampling and fermentation monitoring.

That summer, he received a general email informing the class that a new instructor position was available in the Brewing program. Because he figured that he had nothing to lose by doing so, Howe applied and was soon surprised to learn that he had been hired as the new instructor.

At that moment, he became a teacher to his former classmates.

“At first it was a bit difficult,” admits Howe. “None of my fellow students knew that I was applying for the job or that I had got the job. One day I was a student and the next day I was here teaching.”

Howe’s former classmates are also quick to comment on the strangeness of their new learning situation.

Although their relationship to him is now undeniably different than it used to be, they are dedicated to respecting him as both a person and an instructor.

“There is a professional boundary that now exists,” says Howe. “Where once these students were comrades and friends, there is now a distinction.”

Howe is currently an instructor in the program’s course on brewing and the lab component of its class on packaging and finishing. So far, he is enjoying his new role as instructor and feels at home in the academic environment that KPU provides.

While he is considering eventually returning to the program as a student in order to obtain his diploma, he’s happy with where he is for now.

“I really enjoy being here on brew days with the students, discussing the recipes that they are thinking of brewing, experimenting with ingredients and all those kind of things,” he says.

14 culture

Get a Glance Inside KPU’s Automotive Programs Located on the Cloverdale campus, the auto department is running smooth in its third decade Lincoln Saugstad The Automotive programs at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, a division of the Faculty of Trades and Technology, offer a range of courses and services that many students likely don’t know about. Most probably haven’t heard about how they can get their cars fixed at a rate lower than what’s offered at many other auto shops.

The core of the department is the Automotive Service Technician program, wherein students spend one year learning foundational skills followed by a potential three years working as an apprentice. Those who do choose to take part in an apprenticeship will work alongside a sponsoring employee while spending between six and seven weeks of the year returning to KPU to catch up with their schooling.

In this way, graduates are fully equipped to find employment and have a successful career in the automotive industry by the time they have completed their training at the university.

Dakota Wettlaufer, a third-year student in the apprenticeship program, says that he became interested in going to KPU after building cars in high school and engaging in ACE IT, a program offered to high school students which accelerates their progress

through the first year of post-secondary education. Wettlaufer is currently completing his apprenticeship at a Canadian Tire near Surrey Central, where his brother, a recent graduate from KPU’s four-year program, is the shop foreman.

Lee Grant, an automotive student in her first year, says that she hopes to work with old muscle cars in the future, but believes she’ll be happy with any position she can get after starting her apprenticeship.

“Some days can be challenging because you kind of just get thrown in there, but it’s really good and I like it a lot,” she says.

Similar programs to the Automotive Service Technician program have been offered at KPU in the past, ever since the construction of the university’s Surrey campus in 1990. Back then, the Automotive department was housed in a nearby shop, as the actual campus was little more than a group of portables on 140th Street. Now the shop is headquartered at the KPU Tech campus in Cloverdale, which was built in 2007.

These days, the facility provides all of the industry essentials that one might find in an average auto shop including car lifts, tire changers, and spare engines. The department also provides access to higher-end industrial products such as body-scanners sold for $16,500 a piece. These are

First-year students in one of KPU’s automotive programs repair a client’s car. Students and faculty can get their cars fixed here at a cheaper price than a regular auto shop. (Lincoln Saugstad) used by the third and fourth-year students to assess problems in cars using a sophisticated computer software system.

For now, only 16 students are accepted into the first year of the program on a biannual basis. Nearly all of the program’s graduates enter into the automotive workforce, and the department’s chair, Gerard Sheehan, says that work-placement is so

high that KPU’s Automotive programs have “trouble keeping up with demand” for new graduates.

If the department can afford it, Sheehan would gladly see an expansion of existing facilities and an increase in the number of students accepted into the program.

Students and faculty who are interested in the Automotive programs are encouraged to come by and check out

the shop. The department hosts an open house between two and three times a year, and if you’re lucky, you might be able to get those worn break pads replaced or a quick oilchange and some new tires. That only depends on how many students in the program have time to spare.

grading Trudeau at the Two Year Mark

KPU Political Science professors discuss the Prime Minister’s performance halfway through his four-year term braden klassen | photo editor It may be hard to believe, but two years have already passed since the last federal election resulted in a Liberal majority in the Parliament of Canada. It has been two years since Justin Trudeau became the Prime Minister, and two years since Canadians began comparing the government’s performance against the standards set by its own campaign promises.

Now that the party has had time to work on policies, make good on a few vows, and break a few others, what does Trudeau’s midterm report card look like?

According to Kwantlen Polytechnic University Political Science professor Jennifer Gagnon, when it comes to feminism, Trudeau gets a B minus.

“It’s great that he’s talking the talk, but he hasn’t started walking the walk,” she said, during a small symposium hosted in the Grassroots Cafe on KPU’s Surrey campus. “I couldn’t agree more with Trudeau’s argument that feminism must include men in the fight to end sexism and oppression.”

Nevertheless, Gagnon remains critical of how he has spent his time in office, citing the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women inquiry as

being a particular area where Trudeau has underperformed. The Prime Minister’s failure to combat income inequality is another detriment to his grade, as Statistics Canada says that Canadian women make an average of 82 cents for every dollar that men make.

“Being a feminist is a big part of Trudeau’s brand,” says Gagnon. “But what I’m really asking is, ‘Is Trudeau actually a fake feminist?’”

Even though Trudeau’s Cabinet is gender-balanced, men still hold most positions of power in finances, defence, and foreign affairs, and women are still largely underrepresented in parliamentary standing committees.

“Two of the 10-member committees have no women, and three quarters have two or fewer,” says Gagnon.

“Predictably, only the Committee on the Status of Women has a majority of female members.”

On the topic of Canada’s environmentalism, Dr. Ross Pink gives Trudeau a C minus.

One of the major concerns Pink raised was Trudeau’s approval of the construction of the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline, which stretches from Alberta to Burnaby.

The pipeline has been a high-profile target for environmental demonstrators in the community, including stu-

dents and professors from the Lower Mainland and Mayor of Burnaby Derek Corrigan.

“Trudeau has managed to make friends with the oil industry over his recent policies,” says Pink. “But he has infuriated the Council of Canadians, he has infuriated Greenpeace, and he has infuriated many First Nations groups over this pipeline issue. They feel that he betrayed them, that his promises during the campaign were [made] just to get elected.”

But it’s not all bad news for Trudeau’s GPA. Professor Greg Mil-

lard gives the Prime Minister an A on his brand management, adding that a political party’s public image is critically important for communicating with voters and thus retaining power.

“I think we all have a good feel for what Trudeau’s brand is,” says Millard. “If I were to pin it down, I would use three descriptors: openness, accessibility, and inclusion.”

While Trudeau’s critics complain that his leadership has been more about style than substance, Millard makes the argument that, in some circumstances, style actually is substance. He believes that Trudeau’s

brand—as a reflection of Canada’s current, young, and progressive self-image—has a real impact on the country, even if it disconnects from policy.

“Leaders, governments, and their brands are as much expressive manifestations of a community’s self-image or aspiration for itself as anything else,” he says.

The professors’ consensus is that Trudeau will likely be re-elected in the 2019 election, although—as has become increasingly clear over the past year—anything can happen in politics.

KPU Political Science instructors Jennifer Gagnon, Ross Pink and Greg Millard discuss Prime Minister Trudeau’s performance over the past two years. (Braden Klassen)

16 opinions

Without Operation Red Nose, Surrey and Langley Might Not Have a Holly Jolly Christmas This Year

The non-profit organization is more than a service provide; it’s a necessity Ashley Hyshka | Community Reporter It’s almost that time of year again— the smell of cinnamon and spice lingers in the air, golden light reflects off ornaments on evergreen trees, and the sound of carolers fills our ears.

For some people in Surrey and Langley, however, their holiday plans might end at a red light.

Operation Red Nose is a non-profit organization which, during the holiday season, provides free rides to people who have been drinking or are too tired to drive home. Unfortunately, the organization recently announced that it will be unable to offer services to Surrey and Langley this year, as the group that usually provides them with their volunteer drivers is unable to commit to doing so.

You would have to be a real Grinch to undervalue the work of Operation Red Nose. According to ICBC, “3,747 dedicated volunteers across 12 B.C. communities gave 5,448 rides to get people and their vehicles home safely while raising $150,674 for their local charities” as a result of the non-profit’s efforts last year.

While I commend the phenomenal work that Operation Red Nose con-

tinues to provide—not just in British Columbia, but across Canada—the fact that it cannot be offered in Surrey and Langley this year is a serious detriment to people in those municipalities engaged in holiday festivities.

In a recent CBC Vancouver article, Operation Red Nose spokesperson Chris Wilson said that the “Langley-based gymnastics group that operated the service in Surrey-Langley was responsible for assembling a team of volunteers … [and] it’s too late for another group to step in and save the program in the area this year, but there’s plenty of time to get organized for the next holiday season.”

Well, that’s great and all, but what about the 2017 holiday season?

The spokesperson said that there wasn’t enough time to find another group to take over this year’s operations, but this is an annual event.

They knew that it was approaching all year and should have been better prepared for issues like this.

In the same CBC Vancouver story, Wilson explained that “volunteers from neighbouring communities might be able to organize rides from Surrey and Langley,” but cautioned that service will likely be inconsis-

tent.

Still, inconsistent service is better than having no service at all. Surrey and Langley are geographically huge cities with high populations, but the quality and availability of their transit and taxi services is poor. Without Operation Red Nose, the countless people going to Christmas parties this year will likely struggle to find a ride home while feeling a mix of frustration and intoxication this holiday season.

While it’s never a good idea to get behind the wheel while intoxicated, unfortunately, some people will chose to do so. Through the thousands of rides that it has provided to B.C. residents, Operation Red Nose has undoubtedly prevented lives from being lost during the most joyous time of the year.

Even the saving of one life should be enough for them to continue their work in all communities, including Surrey and Langley.

To become a volunteer, log in to the Operation Red Nose website and download an application form.

(Epifania Alarcón)

Hefty fines Are Needed to Discourage Distracted Driving

B.C.’s new Driver Risk Premium is fair, but it may not deter all distracted drivers Daniella Javier | contributor According to an article by Surrey-Now Leader, Attorney General David Eby announced on Nov. 6 that the province will consider distracted driving a “high risk” offence, meaning that if drivers receive two tickets over a three-year period, it will cost them up to $2,000.

Drivers will also have to pay their regular insurance on top of the higher premium, and if they still don’t get the message, they may receive a three to 12 month suspension of their license. These changes will come into effect on March 1.

Currently, the rates for distracted driving are higher than they are for impaired driving, according to an article by CTV Vancouver. The Government of B.C. also says that distracted driving is the second-leading contributor in the province’s vehicle fatalities. As stated in the Surrey-Now Leader, the new Driver Risk Premium will treat distracted driving as seriously as B.C. treats impaired driving and excessive speeding.

It’s startling to think that drivers now are more preoccupied with their phones than they are with the road.

Gone are the days when impaired driving was the number one cause of accidents. This shows how tight technology’s grip is on everyone—people don’t seem to care anymore about paying attention behind the wheel, even though the RCMP says that

(Yuta Anonuevo) distracted driving can affect reaction time and judgement for drivers. Even if someone’s eating a sandwich or listening to loud music, it impacts their judgement.

All drivers should benefit from the new Driver Risk Premium because the $3-5 million that the government will receive from stiffer fines will help reduce the insurance premiums for everyone, according to an article by the CBC. That way, responsible drivers won’t have to worry about their insurance going up because of reckless drivers. Within the past few years, ICBC’s insurance premiums have gone up for everyone, whether

they have been safe drivers or not, and many who are careful on the road have grown tired of the increasing hikes.

The government may be able to offer lower insurance rates, but Criminal Defense Lawyer Paul Doroshenko argued in a CBC article that higher fines will not necessarily deter drivers from breaking the law. If people can get away with using their phones while driving, the hefty penalties will not mean much to them in the longterm. Sure, a distracted driver can be fined, but they can easily go back to using their electronic devices afterwards.

Increasing the police presence on roads would help authorities observe drivers more closely to prevent this.

Doroshenko said that the government is good at passing these laws, but isn’t great at giving the police the money to enforce them. If the community would like to see more officers ensuring public safety, they also need to have more officers watching them on the road frequently.

In September, CTV Vancouver reported that an individual was ticketed twice in eight minutes for distracted driving. If that didn’t prevent them from driving with distractions again in the future, and that attitude

applies to many other British Columbians, who knows if the heftier DRP will truly lessen distracted driving.

The government and ICBC need to continue to find better ways to prevent distracted driving. ICBC has started televising advertisements to advise people to put away their phones at the wheel, but everyone must change their behavior with technology while driving. It has come to a point where many either need to leave their electronic devices behind while getting into a vehicle or have their licenses taken away.

opinions 17

Going Global: China’s Growing Influence

Beijing, unlike Washington, has its act together tristan johnston | contributor While it might be too early to call China a superpower on the level of the United States, the time to do so is quickly approaching. Recently, Time, The Economist, and the BBC all referred to Chinese President Xi Jinping as the most powerful man in the world.

When it comes to the way China interacts with other states, it practices a stringent, non-interventionist policy—a stark contrast to Russia’s and the United States’ tactics.. As for domestic matters, the Chinese populace and leaders listen to and respect science in a way that the U.S. does not. China intends to put its own men on the moon by 2036, and it has been taking considerable steps to reduce the pollution that it produces.

Xi himself has a degree in chemical engineering, and it’s not unusual to find Communist party members there with STEM degrees.

It’s almost as if the Americans only care about space development when it’s part of a dick-measuring contest with other countries, while China is more interested in the innovation, research, and development that space exploration grants.

China through the last decade can be compared to Japan in the 1970s. Japan mass-produced cheap, low-quality goods for years, but out of that came Sony, Toshiba, Nintendo, and many more commercial giants. The exact same thing is happening right now with Alibaba, Xiaomi, Huawei, Tencent, Oppo, and so on—many Chinese goods are already high-end, even in a competitive market. Some of you may even have a OnePlus smartphone.

China also has a middle class, a group that has almost vanished in North America. Consulting firm McKinsey & Company has estimated that 76 per cent of China’s urban population will belong to the mid-

dle class by 2022, earning between $9,000 and $34,000 USD per year, which is reasonable income in China.

The Chinese also put a high value on education, so most of their young people are rushing to become engineers and programmers.

All of this progress that China is making should embarrass the Americans. They have been penning angry letters to China for years over their arms buildup in the South China Sea, but changing nothing. Considering the diplomatic efforts of Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter in encouraging China to open up to the world and embrace capitalism, its success is almost an insult to the United States.

It has become clear that China is considering the nation less and less important.

Canada gets it; the Trans-Pacific Partnership—which is comprised of Asian countries minus China—isn’t dead yet. While the Americans have withdrawn from what was meant to

be Obama’s trade legacy, Trudeau was negotiating last week with other Asian states. Without the Americans around to argue for things that would be against Canada’s interest, the Canadian government knows that being part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership is intelligent dealmaking, especially with NAFTA negotiations being uncertain.

Furthermore, it has been reported that Trudeau is set to travel to China in December to discuss a new free trade deal. There will be domestic ambivalence towards opening up with China, and even Andrew Scheer of the Conservative Party isn’t crazy about the idea. Other Liberals will have a problem with Trudeau bringing up human rights with the Philippines and not China. But he could make Canada a lot of money in trade.

We need to remember that one of the reasons why China has been able to do what it has is because of a lack of democracy and human rights. But

as far as the Chinese are concerned, Donald Trump is an example of democracy gone wrong. Meanwhile, they can ensure that their leadership is strong and intelligent, and that smart decisions get made quickly.

It’s still too early to consider China the world’s lone superpower. Its government still doesn’t have full regional influence or power projection in the same way that the Russians or Americans do, but they’re well on their way with their presence in the South China Sea and recent aircraft carrier purchases. They’re also projecting soft power in Africa and investing everywhere. Most importantly, Chinese Millennials want to learn English and get STEM degrees, and the population as a whole understands the value of science, education, and innovation. They’re not getting rich off of sociology degrees.

B.C. Legislators Need to Stop Playing the Name Game Speaker Darryl Plecas is right to crack down on the use of nicknames in the Assembly

Members of the Legislative Assembly in British Columbia are known for exercising their freedom of speech through the use of degrading and derogatory names used to insult members of opposing parties.

It has been a pretty regular practice in the Assembly for decades, with MLAs cooking up increasingly hurtful names throughout the years.

Earlier this month, however, the Legislature’s Speaker Darryl Plecas said that he’s looking to put an end to the name calling.

“I conclude that the unofficial and at times mocking or derogatory titles when directing a question to a minister of the Crown is indeed disrespectful to the minister and reflects poorly on this institution,” Plecas said in early November, according to The Vancouver Sun. While Premier Horgan endorses the ban, most of the other goobers in government—specifically members of the Liberal Party who constitute the opposition to Horgan’s government—feel it sets a dangerous precedent; after all, what fails to respect freedom of speech more than intimidating your opposition so badly that they might be afraid to speak?

So are those knuckle-dragging nitwits wrong when they say that insulting members of the opposite party is their Lieutenant-Governor-General-given right? Apparently a few of B.C.’s teachers seem to think so.

According to an interview that Michael Prince, a social policy expert at the University of Victoria, gave to The Canadian Press, some teachers have chosen not to bring their students back to the Legislative Assembly after hearing some of the insult-

ing nicknames levied at the ministers there.

So, to the MLAs who keep this schoolyard bully-like practice up, I say to you: Cut it out, you’re embarrassing our youth.

You can moan all you want about how your boss telling you that you can’t mercilessly taunt your coworkers is stifling your right to free speech, but the Speaker of the Assembly isn’t actually setting any dangerous new precedents here. There are already limitations to free speech—laws against libel, slander, and privacy infringement to name a few—and rarely does anybody complain about those. Besides, the statement that Plecas is hoping to communicate is, “Hey, don’t be a jerk at your job.”

Seems pretty reasonable to me.

Either way, to B.C.’s MLAs, don’t you think that it’s just a bit immature to be name-calling when you’re literally supposed to be the people running this province? You know you’re supposed to be adults, right?

I, for one, would really like to know that you, our province’s leaders, are spending your on-the-job time making this place we love to live in better, rather than coming up with new ways to insult your peers.

I’d like to see you acting like professionals, not like children.

You don’t have to get along with your coworkers—goodness knows that I have a few that make my nights at work a living hell—but have some decorum, would you? If you’re really so immature that you can’t just be cordial while talking about the future of the province and its people, you stooges could use a field trip back to kindergarten.

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18 columns

Artist Spotlight: Chris Kelly & Nicole Gibson The duo have brought their desire to inspire from Montreal to Vancouver

alyssa laube | coordinating editor After a year spent producing YouTube covers in Montreal, indie duo Chris Kelly & Nicole Gibson have brought their music to Vancouver, and for the first time, it’s original.

Following the completion of an EP of cover songs, the band recently released four singles that they wrote themselves—”Dream Out Loud”, “Can’t Stop Me Now”, “Ghost of You”, and “Out of the Dark”.

Because of the variation between recording other artists’ work and creating their own, Kelly and Gibson have been struggling with what they call a stylistic “identity crisis.”

However, one theme has remained constant throughout their musical partnership: encouraging self-love and motivation.

“You’re here for such a short time. Why would you not do what you love?” says Gibson. “Really, the worst thing that can happen is that you fail, and if you fail, you will have met a lot of really great and interesting people.”

She and Kelly weave that ideology into everything they create; it’s obvious not only in their upbeat lyrics but also in their joyous, sticky-sweet sound. With their indie-folk song-

writing presented under shiny pop production, Chris Kelly & Nicole Gibson bear a resemblance to quintessential indie darlings like Angus & Julia Stone and Said the Whale.

Streaks of rock influences can be picked out of their guitars and vocals—possibly symptoms from the duo’s previous experiences with performing in the genre—but generally, they sound like a band that could be heard on your average alternative radio station. And if they keep moving forward at the pace that they have been since 2016, they soon may be.

“When we started [our Youtube channel], we were like, ‘Oh my god.

We’re going to get terrible comments. People are going to hate us,’ but everyone was so kind to us and it was such a nice community,” says Gibson. “We still do YouTube covers every week, but we have to branch into our own material because obviously people are really liking how we sound.”

“I don’t really like doing covers.

It was practice. It was a challenge,” says Kelly. “I just wanted to do it because we’ve been releasing one per week over the last year and we haven’t really skipped a week. But I always had it in the back of my mind that I was going to do my own songs

because that’s what I’ve been doing for so long.”

The band’s newest single, “Dream Out Loud”, was written last fall and recently re-recorded in order to produce a higher quality track. The song is a piano ballad with a similar tone to one of their other new releases, “Can’t Stop Me Now”—a sound that the pair plans to stick with well into the future. The music video, which will soon be released on social media, will see Kelly and Gibson leaving white balloons adorned with messages and hashtags around Vancouver.

On choosing to move to the city from their home in Montreal, Gibson says that “change is really important as an artist because it makes you uncomfortable. It makes you grow a lot and it makes you really interesting, which makes your music and art come out.”

“And I think we’re really West Coast people,” adds Kelly. “We really love it.”

As proud cat people, Chris Kelly and Nicole Gibson dedicate the majority of the proceeds from their music to charities for their feline friends. To learn more about them, visit https://kellyandgibson.com/.

Nicole Gibson (left) and Chris Kelly (right) recently moved to Vancouver to share their first collection of original music.

(Alyssa Laube)

After Thought: The Profitability of the Alt-Right

Making money off of ignorance isn’t new, but linking it to hatred and outrage can be dangerous BRADEN KLASSEN | PHOTO EDITOR Thinking for yourself is hard, and it’s getting harder these days. Technology is a double-edged sword—it’s given us access to more information than ever before, as well as a platform to distort and disseminate that information without being held accountable.

The internet has become a rhetorical battleground for the “SJW” hegemony and the “Alt-Right” crusaders to wage war across the ever-expanding territories of the comments section.

Social media has learned to profit off of this with a simple business formula: the more people you can get to engage with your platform, the more money you can make. It didn’t take long for some media-savvy professionals to realise that one of the best ways to do this is to piss people off.

Ezra Levant, kingpin of The Rebel Media, has turned his publication into a business based on misinformation and hate. Gavin McInnes, VICE co-founder turned Rebel Media associate and creator of the racist Proud Boys group, is also well-versed in this business. He is an openly anti-Semitic, Islamophobic, misogynist, and transphobic dumpster fire of a human being, but his articles and videos (with titles like “10 Things I Hate About Jews”) draw clicks, which translate into ad revenue.

Levant is notorious for bombarding his audience with petitions for

readers to sign in pursuit of various sensationalised causes. Once they sign a petition and hop aboard the Rebel train, it becomes much easier to convince them to donate money to the network.

Lauren Southern, Margaret Wente, and even the controversial Jordan Peterson all profit from pandering to a specific demographic like this.

Beside their use of media as a podium to misconstrue arguments and spout uninformed opinions (a podium they covetously protect while reciting the dead-horse Alt-Right mantra of the right to free speech), they all have one thing in common: profiting from their followers’ aversions to critical thought.

When you realize that they stand to make hundreds of thousands of dollars per year from their cushy column positions or their legions of crowd-funding supporters, it becomes harder to believe that they aren’t just fanning the flames of public outrage in order to make a quick buck.

Wente writes for The Globe and Mail, a publication readers usually characterize as being left-leaning, though her opinion pieces are usually anything but. Larger Canadian news organizations like the Globe are sinking businesses, and it doesn’t sound outside the realm of possibility that the reason Wente is still a featured columnist is that they need to appeal to the demographic whose only draw

to their website is Wente’s anti-PC squawking.

These personalities have little else to offer the public but their image.

They barge into public discourse, loudly decrying long-established principles like basic human rights, disputing objective facts, ignoring criticism, and riling up their audiences.

People are happy to be strung along, to be duped by these schemes, because these personalities are giving them what they need: elucidation of thoughts and ideas that they are too lazy or ignorant to explore for themselves, as well as validation for their feelings of hatred and outrage and justification for their growing fear of being ostracized.

So what do we do about it?

Do your own research. Have your own discussions. Diversify your media diet and take the time to think about these issues for yourself. Fight the commercialized spread of ignorance.

It matters more than you think.

Gavin McInnes, the right-wing co-founder of Vice Media and contributor to The Rebel Media. He also ??? created the Proud Boys group. (Flickr)

PROCRASTINATION HOROSCOPES Sagittarius Nov. 23 - Dec 21

Capricorn Dec. 22 - Jan 20

Aquarius Jan 21 - Feb 19

You will be supremely disappointed when you discover that the too-goodto-be-true girlfriend you met on Facebook is just trying to lure you into the woods so she can beat you across the face with a dead catfish.

Add a little fun to your next Parent Teacher Association meeting by intermittently screaming “I WISH GOD WOULD TAKE ME!”

Post-secondary education, as far as you can tell, is a kind of hell that you were banished to at the end of your previous life. Gathering ethereal merits known as “grades” seems to be your only motivation, in the hope that they will eventually lead you to some higher plane of being.

Pisces Feb 20 - Mar 20

Aries Mar 21 - Apr 19

Taurus Apr 20 - May 20

Self-immolation is always an option.

This weekend you will embody the unimaginable languor of the dragon, alone in her cave.

People in this town used to care about marmalade. They used to lap it out of your hands. Now you wander alone at night, breaking their windows, haunted by the spectre of death.

Gemini May 21 - Jun 20

Cancer Jun 21 - Jul 23

Leo Jul 24 - Aug 23

You’ll briefly consider getting a therapist before ultimately deciding to work through most of your issues in a string of threatening letters to the Salmon Arm Observer.

Your tongue is a puerile creature. You can feel it slithering around in the back of your mouth, digging, until it slips down your throat in search of warmer delights.

What is mathematics, really?

Virgo Aug 24 - Sept 23

Libra Sept 24 - Oct 23

Scorpio Oct 24 - Nov 22

The stars have absolutely no opinions regarding your recent life choices.

They’d really like to keep this whole thing professional, thanks.

Don’t believe anyone who tells you that you can kill a vampire with a regular old plastic or polystyrene stake. That’s just city-slickin’.

Never in your life have you been more prepared for the coming of the crab people than you are at this exact moment.

SUDOKU

THE DOODLE BOX Last issue’s answers.

Look for the answers in the next issue of The Runner.

We’ve merely started the creation, you get to finish it!

Tweet a photo of your drawing with #runnerdoodles and you could be featured in the next issue!