FRIDAY,JANUARY22nd, 2010
THE CASCADE
NEWS
Canwest for Sale
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BC Gangs RecruitingFemales
the Winnipeg-based company owes about $3.9 billion. It has been trying to raise some of the money it owes by selling off some of its he newspaper publishing branch of Canada's largest non-core assets, including the U.S. media company, Canwcst Global political magazine The New RepubCommunications Corporation, is lic and a 26 per cent stake in sports up for sale. According to The Globe broadcaster Tlte Score." However, Duncan Stewart of and Mail, Canwest has been taking extensive cost-cutting measures DSAM Consulting questioned the in a bid to keep the company toimpact that the selling of assets would have on Canwest's debt, gether since Jun 2009, before being forced into creditor protection in "The problem is when you have tens of millions in debt payments, Oct 2009. Lawyer Lyndon Barnes has hundreds of millions in lines of "outlined a process that will see credit and billions in debt, selling the newspapers sold over the next one or two or three or $4 million chunks of small subsidiaries, it's 14 to 18 weeks," reported The Globe and Mail. "A floor price of about $1 like drowning in the ocean and having somebody on the shore billion has been set for the newspaper division by its senior-secured bailing it out with a teaspoon. It lenders ... if no new bidders come doesn't really change the overall in with a bid to beat that number, level of the water." the banks will become the owners The Globeand Mail quoted one of the newspapers." of the bankers working for one The sale will effectively split of Canwcst's lenders, who said Canwest in half. that "everyone recognized there wasn't going to be enough cash to The Globe and Mail reports that the sale of Canwest's publishing go around and that there would be arm is being undertaken against ter outcome for a wider group of a squabble over who is entitled to the wishes of Canwest CEO Leon- shareholders." what." The article goes on to state ard Asper. The Bank of Nova ScoHowever, with Canwest's debt "the courts are the best venue for tia, one of the principle lenders nearing $1.5 billion, its creditors sorting out creditor claims.'' attempting to recoup its money see no other viable option than to One day after Canwcst's anthrough the sale of Canwest sell, even though there will still be nouncement, The Canadian Press "(wrote] a scathing letter question- roughly $500 million in outstand- reported that Pierre Karl Peladeau, ing the CEO's authority." ing debt. Despite this, The Globe CEO of one of Canada's largest Scotiabanl<'s Executive Vice- and Mail speculated that the senior media companies, Quebecor Inc., President of Global Risk Manage- creditors (the five largest Canadi• is "keeping a keen eye on the legal ment, Jane Rowe, wrote, "[it is] an banks) will recoup 100 cents on proceedings involving Canwest['s] unclear whether you have the cor- the dollar of their loans, leaving newspaper division." Peladeau porate authority to make the pro- the $500 million to spread among said: "We already have newspaposals contained in your letter ... the smaller creditors. pers in a number of their cities We remind you of the following The Globeand Mail reports that • Edmonton, Calgary, Ottawa• so facts ... (the new/;paper division) "the n1;1w1;paper division [of Can• it's undeniable there arc issues is inso1vcnt.1t \s plain and obvious west) owes $1.3 billion to senior concerning competition." that It cannot support its massive creditors and bondholders." In According to their website, Can· debt, and that a transaction will April 2009,the CBCreported on the west's newspaper chains have"4.9 have to occur that fundamentally uncertain future of Canwest. They million readers on a weekly basis. alters the balance sheet of the reported on an internal memo that Their newspapers include The Nanewspaper business." CEO Leonard Asper sent to em- tional Post, The VancouverSun and Asper wrote that the sale will ployees "hoping to downplay per- The Province. "benefit only the banks" and that sistent reports that the company he is "simply [asking] for a solu- was in trouble." tion that would result in a betCBC reported that: "Overall,
JORDAN PITCHER STAFF WRITER
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Jenee is quite KENDRA MCPHEE
high ... Violence will CONTRIBUTORalways be a part of it, but we do it because either it's all we know, ccording to a recent article being forced into it with fear and published in the Vancouver needing protection, or greed." Sun, women of B.C. have taken on MacDonald said that the lure of greater roles in gang related activi- money and status is no different ties. with women then it is for men. Constable Ian MacDonald with "If women were looking at their the Abbotsford Police Depart- futures or what they wanted their ment said gangs are beginning life to look like, they wouldn't be to run out of members they can choosing a life with organized trust, due to recent arrests of key crime and drugs." The former gang member addgang members and foot soldiers. Because of this they arc looking at ed that many of the women she options closer to home, including recalls joined because of the status girlfriends and sisters. "We have it afforded them. "Sometimes they to cut off the feeder streams for didn't have a choice, it was either these groups and stop recruitment do it or not have protection. Somefrom happening from all angles," times it was a family thing or being he said. forced into it by a boyfriend, but a Constable MacDonald went on lot of the time it was money and to say that any animosity towards power, and the fear. People feared these women in taking more you, they would do anything you prominent roles in gangs is quick- told them if they weren't in the ly shifting towards acceptance, gang, and you were somebody." Professor Darryl Plecas, crimi"These gangs have to ensure that feeder stream, and they have to nology professor at UFV, congo to people they consider known firmed to The VancouverSun that and loyal to them." women were taking on prominent "This notion of a male domi- roles in gangs, "Absolutely true ... nated lifestyle is certainly gone," The increase of criminals who arc said Sgt. Shlnder Kirk with the women has increased fairly steadiRCMP's Gang Task Force. Kirk ly for the last 20years. It's probably said: "Women have always been one in five [arrests]...In one sense involved in gangs, but they're just it's a good sign because [gangs] are not in the public's eye ... Have they running out of people. This [probtaken leadership roles? Certainly lem of male recruits] is just going behind the scenes as opposed to to grow exponentially. lf you look up front." at the pool of people who they A woman recently released have the closest and most trustfrom a penitentiary on gang relat- ing associations with, it would of ed offences, who wishes to remain course be women, girlfriends and anonymous, said "There were that kind of thing," Plecas said. rules • you didn't touch the girls, Research by Joan Moore and John they weren't really involved and Hagedorn on female gangs In the we were just kind of there. Now U.S. has shown that females find it's women shooting too, rules the act of creating or joining gangs change, gender doesn't matter." liberating. However, the question Kirk agreed with this idea, of women in gangs seen as sexual "When you get involved now objects prevails, though the validwhether male or female, the pros- ity of this claim was disputed by pect of becoming victims to vlo- the female gang members polled.
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ConservativesLoseSupportas ParliamentProrogued KYLEE SWADDEN CONTRIBUiOR or the second time in 13 F months, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has prorogued Parliament. Prorogation began on Dec 30, 2009 and will last until Mar 3, 2010, one day before the new federal budget comes out. As a result, 36 current Tory bills will die. Two of these bills have already been debated and approved by Parliament, and were only waiting for royal consent. In Canada's history, Parliament has been prorogued 105 times. The Vancouver Stw critici~ed Harper's move to prorogue Parliament, as it "bolsters an already prevalent view that Harper has autocratic and anti-democratic proclivities." Public Policy Forum president David Mitchell said of the move, "It raises the question: Why do we have a Parliament?" The article claims that proroguing Parliament "enables ... the PM and his ministers in a minority government to see and be seen at the Olympic Games throughout February, taking credit for federal funding that made ... the event possible." According to EKOS Research, the Conservatives are down 2.8
points since December. Tile Georgia Straight criticized Harper, "When Harper doesn't want to answer embarrassing questions, in this case regarding the torture of Afghan detainees,
he shuts down the valid forum for those questions-Parliament. Ironically, this is the same prime minister whose election promise was to improve accountability." The Winnipeg FreePress reports
that another EKOS study "shows [that] half of Canadians - 52 per cent - are 'clearly aware' of Harper's proroguing of Parliament, and 15 per cent are vaguely aware. Nearly two-thirds of those said it was an undemocratic move." According to Tile Winnipeg Free Press,l-Iarper's government's average length of parliamentary sessions and the number of sitting days are significantly less than any other government since Pierre Trudeau. The same article states that 31 per cent of voters that support the Conservatives do not back Harper's decision to prorogue. Proroguing Parliament also brings the Conservatives one step closer to controlling the Senate. There are five seats left open in the Senate that Harper hopes to fill with Conservatives. Harper has said that he has needed control of the Senate for a long while as the Liberal party has been holding up his schedule. The Liberal party is taking full advantage of the move as they have released one French and two Bnglish advertisements describing Harper's decision to prorogue as his "holiday gift to himself." The groups who most oppose the prorogation are Liberal and NDP supporters, as well as people with
a university education. Liberal MPs and senators arc planning to return to work on Jan 25, the day that Parliament was supposed to resume before being prorogued. James McAllister, a political professor at Brandon University said, "He scuttled his own agenda. What does that say about his own agenda?" Over 100 university professors have signed a letter written by Professor Daniel Weinstock from the University of Montreal that blames Harper for breaching 11lhc trust of lhe Canadian people [and] · thus acting anti-democratically." The Prime Minister's spokesman, Dimitri Soudas, said that prorogation was a necessary move for the government, "This is quite routine but it is also important to give Canadians an ov •rvicw of where we will be taking the country over the next little while." Soudas also hit back at claims that prorogation was being used to deflect criticism on Afghanistan. "Jf the opposition wants to spend 2010 talking about Taliban terrorists, we'll let them do that. We're going to be focusing on the economy."
