2004-07-25

A newspaper owned and operated in Newfoundland & Labrador

Vol. 2 Issue 30

St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador

Sunday, July 25-31, 2004

www.theindependent.ca

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Vacuuming the Grand Banks Spain and Portugal may use objection procedure to bypass NAFO turbot quotas

In Camera Tattoo you Page 11

Foreign economies highly dependent on fish off our shores

By Ryan Cleary The Sunday Independent

S Business Marine Atlantic Page 15

Photo by Paul Daly/The Sunday Independent

On deck and below Carrie O’Neil and Jeff Musk on the schooner Westward, based out of Rockland, Maine, visited St. John’s harbour recently. The ship has since left for the tall ships festival in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Life & Times Ray O’Neill Page 20

Done deal for Danes Foreign ship in Canadian waters, expected to start fishing immediately

By Jeff Ducharme The Sunday Independent

else,” says Outhouse, but he could offer few other details about the company.

The ship will carry a crew of 30 — 28 he ship that launched 1,000 of whom are Canadians, including 14 objections was expected to Inuit. make port in Iqualuit, Nunavut, The 65-metre trawler (previously over the weekend. called the Salles) was owned by Royal “It’s basically ready to fish,” Steve Greenland, one of the world’s largest Outhouse, a Department of Fisheries seafood companies. and Oceans spokesman, The Newfoundland told The Sunday Indepenfishing industry expressed dent from Ottawa. “It has outrage over the thought “It’s Canadian been named the Inuksuk I that a foreign vessel was boats, offshore and was registered in late trawlers that have being reflagged and given June 2004 with Transport turbot and shrimp quotas been up there, Canada and owned by inside the 200-mile limit, fished that quota while ships here remain Nataanaq Fisheries Inc. “It (turbot) is in season tied to the dock and crews for the last four right now and once the years, done all the idle. vessel arrives it’s able to An industry source, research and took fish Nunavut quota.” who asked not to be all the risk.”

The turbot quota in the named, told The IndepenDavis Strait is controlled — Industry insider dent that claims by the by the Baffin Fisheries federal government that Coalition, a group reprethere are no Canadian senting 11 Nunavat fishing communi- ships capable to conduct the hook-andties. The coalition owns a quota of 4,000 line fishery are a red herring. tonnes of turbot and plans to use the “They said there was no Canadian vessel to train its members and develop (hook and line) boats able to catch that quota, well who developed it? It’s Canaa turbot fishery in the region.

Nataanaq Fisheries is registered with dian boats, offshore trawlers that have the federal government as a “extraterri- been up there, fished that quota for the torial company.

“Which means it exists somewhere Continued on page 2

T

Sports Touch football Page 25

Quote of the Week “How can the church have the stunningly strident position on the right to life and then ignore the safety and welfare of children that are on the planet already?”

— Stephen Rubino, Lawyer for Mount Cashel survivors

pain and Portugal may pressure the European Union to use NAFO’s so-called objection procedure to sidestep cuts to turbot quotas on the Grand Banks and fish away, threatening an already battered resource, a local fishery activist predicts.

The Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization, which monitors fishing outside Canada’s 200-mile limit, plans to gradually reduce this year’s turbot quota of 20,000 tonnes to 16,000 tonnes by 2007.

Total allowable catches in subsequent years will be set depending on progress made in rebuilding the stock.

Cuts to the turbot quota will apparently have devastating impacts on the economies of Spain and Portugal, whose massive fleets have fished on the Grand Banks for hundreds of years.

A recent report predicts that close to 6,000 direct jobs may be at risk in Galacia, an area in northwestern Spain highly dependent on fishing. The total economic impact could reach $750 million Cdn. The report, prepared by Varela Lafuente, a professor with the University

of Vigo’s Department of Applied Economics (See related story page 2), studied the socio-economic impacts of a reduction in turbot quota.

The report states the turbot fishery is a vital part of the Galacia economy, supporting 22 companies and 44 vessels — 19 of which may be decommissioned as a result of the quota cuts.

“Hopefully, it will be possible to change the way of thinking and acting of NAFO so that — not only biological reports are accepted by the decision makers — but socio-economic and biomathematical contributions,” Lafuente wrote.

Representatives of the Spanish fishing industry are expected to table the report at the next NAFO meeting, slated for Halifax, N.S., in September.

Gus Etchegary, a local fishery activist, predicts the EU — at the request of member states Spain and Portugal — will push for use of the objection procedure to bypass the turbot quota cuts and save their economies from collapse, similar to what happened here in the 1990s when the commercial fisheries were shut down.

Continued on page 2

Small wonder At one week, Baby Natalie defies all odds

Happy Valley-Goose Bay

By Bert Pomeroy The Sunday Independent

N

atalie Deanne Wolfrey can fit in the palm of her mother’s hand.

Born July 13 at the Health Sciences Centre in St. John’s, the daughter of Lloyd and Barb Wolfrey of Happy Valley-Goose Bay weighed just over one pound, four ounces and measured one foot long. As a micro-preemie, the smallest of all premature babies, doctors gave the Wolfreys a bleak prognosis — their daughter would, in all likelihood, die within minutes of her birth.

“It was a pretty emotional day,” says the proud father. “We were told that she probably wouldn’t make it, but I never believed them.”

Shortly after the baby was born, she was christened and the family was making arrangements to return to Labrador.

Lloyd says he kept a close watch over his daughter in the minutes and hours after her birth and indicated to medical staff “she was trying to breathe.”

Baby Natalie was rushed to the adjacent Janeway Children’s Hospital, and about three-and-a-half hours later “the doctor came back and told us that she was breathing,” Lloyd says.

Doctors had originally believed Natalie arrived 23 weeks into her mother’s pregnancy, or 17 weeks premature.

“When I delivered, they told me that I was 23 weeks,” says Barb. “Since then, however, the neonatologist tells me that I was more likely 25 weeks pregnant.”

Those extra two weeks have made a world of difference, although the baby is far from being out of the woods yet, says Barb, who agreed to speak to The Sunday Independent knowing there’s a possibility her child may pass away by the time this story is published.

The story begins six years ago when the Wolfreys exchanged wedding vows.

“We tried for six years to have a child, and were very excited when we found that we were finally pregnant,” says Barb. “We were really looking forward to welcoming our child into the world, but we never expected it would be so soon.”

“We were really looking forward to welcoming our child into the world, but we never expected it would be so soon.”

— Barb Wolfrey All was well with the pregnancy until July 2. Suspecting there was something wrong, Barb immediately went to the Labrador Health Centre. Within a couple of hours she was medevaced to the

Photo by Paul Daly/The Sunday Independent

Natalie Wolfrey weighed one pound, four ounces when she was born July 13.

Health Sciences Centre in St. John’s.

Barb was diagnosed with an incompetent cervix (her cervix was too weak to stay closed during pregnancy).

“I started to dilate and was put on strict bed rest,” she says.

She eventually had to have her cervix sutured, a procedure that prolonged the premature birth by one week. On July 12, at around 6 p.m., Barb started having contractions. Attempts to stop the labour failed and the sutures had to be removed.

Natalie arrived at 5 a.m. the next morning.

“They told me she would only live a few minutes,” recalls Barb. “I found out a few hours later that she was still alive; that she was quite feisty and had a strong will to live.”

Since her birth, Natalie has fought one

battle after another. She received a blood transfusion and underwent a battery of tests. Doctors discovered she had a small brain bleed, and her heart rate and oxygen continued to fluctuate. She has also been diagnosed with patent ductus arteriosus, a heart defect that occurs when the ductus arteriosus (the temporary fetal blood vessel that connects the aorta and the pulmonary artery) does not close at birth.

“None of this is uncommon,” says Barb. “She’s on medication (for the heart condition), and we’re hopeful it will work.”

At one week of age, Natalie was given a 50 to 70 per cent chance of surviving.

That prognosis came just one day after Continued on page 6

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Page 2

NEWS

The Sunday Independent, July 25, 2004

Spain’s latest plan for deep sea turbot Editor’s note: The above headline and following story appeared in the July issue of Fishing News International, a London, Englandbased monthly newspaper that focuses on the world’s fisheries.

The article is being reprinted in The Sunday Independent with the newspaper’s permission.

A

report spelling out the consequences of huge Greenland halibut (turbot) quota cuts in the NAFO region (nose and tail of the Grand Banks) had been drawn up in Spain, reports Ian Emmett.

It states that close to 6,000 jobs are at risk and there would be a

loss of £310 million ($750 million Cdn) to the Galician economy if NAFO continues to implement its quota cuts spanning the next three years.

Also, the report points out, about four more jobs would go in the economy as a whole for every job lost in the NAFO fishery.

NAFO’s proposed cuts in TACs (total allowable catches) for Greenland halibut mainly affect the Spanish fleet, its plan being to reduce the quota from this year’s 20,000 tonnes to 16,000 tonnes in 2007.

Now, the University of Vigo’s Department of Applied Economics, under Professor Manuel Varela Lafuente, has completed a report

on the socioeconomic impacts this will cause on the economics of the region of Galicia and Spain.

Galicia, which is highly dependant on fishing, is a European Objective 1 Region and, as Varela pointed out at the official presentation of the report: “It is hoped that NAFO will accept the two types of report (the other one being the Spanish-funded Maguire Report on ‘scientific inaccuracies’ in NAFO’s research) which should have been drawn up alongside the debatable Greenland Halibut Recovery Plan.”

Varela and his team of university economists underline the need for “NAFO to realize what this fishery means for a European

Objective 1 Region such as Galicia.”

The study concludes that the Greenland halibut fishery is a vital part of the economy with 22 companies operating 44 vessels, 31 of which target this species.

According to the report, NAFO’s proposals would mean a 50 per cent average reduction in the quota over the next four years, with knock-on effects for 1,094 full-time workers with an annual turnover of £137.76 million ($333.6 million Cdn), generating an added-value income of £88.16 million ($213 million Cdn) a year.

The report proposes alternatives — such as ITQs (individual transferable quotas), biological close

seasons, temporary stoppages of up to six months and de-registering some 19 vessels.

Other proposals include more direct participation of fishermen in the management and defining of the precautionary approach to create a new positive way forward for fishing in the NAFO waters.

The reports are to be presented by the Spanish fishing industry at the next NAFO meeting in September.

“Hopefully, it will be possible to change the way of thinking and acting of NAFO so that, not only biological reports are accepted by the decision makers, but socio-economic and biomathematical contributions.”

Spain and Portugal said to be biggest offenders of NAFO regulations

Marystown job action

Government of Spain that thou- Ottawa that they plan to live by the sands of their people depend on NAFO turbot quotas. “That’s what fish off our shores for a liveli- we’re hearing on an official level hood,” he says. “Don’t tell me that and we haven’t heard anything any Spanish dependents on this contrary on the unofficial level,” he fishery are the slightsays. “We take them est bit concerned at their word.” about the future of Under NAFO rural Newfoundland The Spanish and rules, it’s up to the and Labrador or the home country of a Portuguese are conservation of the foreign vessel susvacuuming the fishery off our coast. pected of illegal fishGrand Banks.”

“No wonder after ing to follow through 12 years there’s not — Fishery activist with court action. one shred of eviDespite numerous Gus Etchegary dence that our stocks requests, federal have recovered. The Fisheries has never Spanish and Porprovided proof that a tuguese are vacuuming the Grand single ship has been fined or prosBanks.” ecuted.

Steve Outhouse, spokesman for Trawlers from Spain and Portuthe Department of Fisheries and gal are said to be the biggest Oceans in Ottawa, told The Sunday offenders of NAFO rules and regIndependent that officials of the ulations.

European Union have indicated to “How can local governments in

According to the United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters, some of its workers didn’t punch in on Friday.

The trades people are working on the White Rose production platform at the Marystown site.

The association contends the yard’s operator, Kiewit Offshore Services, is not abiding by proper hiring processes — that the company is contacting workers directly to come to work, instead of going through the union.

It’s just the latest action at the yard, which has been the site of continuing labour disputes. The Canadian Auto Workers Union, local 20, represents the regular workforce.

Local spokesperson Dave Locke had little interest in commenting on the job action.

Although several media outlets had contacted him, he says “we’re not even giving it the light of day.

“This is an ongoing saga … they (the united association) think they can come here and have jurisdiction and we’ve dealt with this this winter … there is only one union out here.”

Last fall, Locke stated the pipefitters and plumbers should abide by the CAW collective agreement.

— Staff

From page 1 It was recently revealed that Denmark plans to disregard the shrimp quotas set by NAFO for the nose of the Grand Banks. There are reports that Denmark will allow boats from Greenland and the Faroe Islands to fish as much as 10 times the amount of shrimp allowed.

NAFO rules allow any of its members to opt out of the recommended quotas without penalty.

The regulatory agency is seen as toothless, unable to enforce the quotas it sets.

Etchegary says the EU has used the objection procedure so often in the past that it has become routine.

“It’s an everyday occurrence for them to do exactly the same thing again,” he told The Sunday Independent.

“Here is an admission by the

these foreign countries punish ships for what they do when they support the local economies?”

Etchegary asks. “The Government of Canada has been dealing with this situation since 1949 and nothing has been done about it. It’s inexcusable.”

It’s been suggested that Ottawa should ban ships that disregard NAFO rules from Canadian ports.

Spanish and Portuguese ships, however, have been banned from tying up in Canada for years.

“The destruction of the turbot will be the final nail in the coffin of Newfoundland and Labradorians,” says Etchegary. “There won’t be anything left.”

Premier Danny Williams has urged Ottawa to extend custodial management over the entire continental shelf, a move the federal government has been reluctant to make.

Ministers call for Canadian ports to ban Danish ships From page 1 last four years, done all the research and took all the risk,” says the industry insider.

According to the source, only 40 per cent of the catch will be caught by hook and line; 60 per cent will be taken with nets. The renamed and re-flagged Salles is a 65-metre trawler.

Human Resources and Development Canada is kicking in $6 million to pay for the training.

The catch could be worth as much as $35 or $40 million. The coalition will get 15 per cent of the profits from the total catch of 4,000 tonnes.

The Danish government is said to have a significant interest in Royal Greenland, which is also

said to have an interest in the Salles.

The Danes have informed the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization that it intends to fish 10 times their allotted quota of shrimp.

“In light of the recent notice of the Danes to withdraw from the NAFO agreed on protocols it would be extremely unwise and it

would send completely the wrong message if we actually allow this developmental fishery to a occur …” says Byrne.

Byrne and federal Natural Resources Mister John Efford are calling for all Canadians ports to be closed to Danish ships if that government chooses to thumb its nose at NAFO rules and regulations.

The Sunday Independent, July 25, 2004

NEWS

Page 3

There but for the grace of God …

Lawyers for survivors of sexual abuse suffer the trauma, and hold their children tighter

By Jeff Ducharme The Sunday Independent

L

awyer Geoff Budden drives past the former Mount Cashel Orphanage site in St. John’s every day.

“When I drive by it, I think of the guys that went there, mostly as they are now,” Budden told The Sunday Independent.

Budden was one of a handful of lawyers in the early 1990s to begin taking on Mount Cashel sexual abuse cases. He says what amazes him is how many of the victims, most now in their 50s, have grown into good parents, when their only mentors were sexual predators.

“They are learning parenting — not because they were raised properly — but because it’s important to them and they’re doing a good job,” says Budden.

“The most important thing a person can do is be a good parent.

They learned how not to be good parents.”

For more than 100 years, the Christian Brothers ran the Mount Cashel Orphanage, a name now synonymous with sexual abuse.

Budden represented 18 of the men who went to the orphanage after 1962 (he still has cases pending that predate that group).

With the church denying responsibility, the Newfoundland government stepped forward to foot the bill and pay $11 million in compensation.

While no one in Newfoundland would shoulder the blame or make an apology, the Irish government made a public apology in 1999 after outrage followed a movie documenting similar abuse.

The Boys of St. Vincent, the CBC docudrama about Mount Cashel, may have burdened some souls, but no official apologies were made.

Mount Cashel scars almost everyone it touches, lawyers included.

“Mostly you just become aware of how vulnerable your kids are and on the one hand you don’t want to be paranoid about it,” says Budden. “They’ve got to live in the world and you don’t want to get to the point where you’re sort of hovering over every interaction they have.”

Budden partnered with U.S. lawyer Stephen Rubino to pursue the Christian Brothers assets in the U.S. Rubino is a renowned

Photo by Paul Daly/The Sunday Independent

Lawyer Geoff Budden

legal expert when it comes to sex abuse and the Catholic church.

“It’s excruciating work because you’re not only fighting your adversary on the legal front, but on issues that folks just don’t like to deal with and talk about,” Rubino told The Independent while driving into Los Angeles. “Either you’re forcing, in a sense, the survivors to relive a period of time in their lives that often times there was no therapy (for) … and that reliving brings to the surface the grieving process where an individual never came to grips with the loss of their youth and their childhood.

“You have to be aware of how debilitating this is and seek out the appropriate support groups that work for you.”

Across the 49th parallel, the Catholic church in America has paid out $1.3 billion over the last 15 years for its sins. While some survive and overcome their dark childhood days, some never

recover. Last year, 16 abuse survivors in the U.S. killed themselves.

A “cradle Catholic,” Rubino says his half-century of religious beliefs in the church were shaken to the core. Still, Rubino says he never questioned how his God could allow such atrocities.

“When you go down that road, there’s no logic to that. The easier way to deal with that is to pull God out of it. These are just bad people.”

Rubino says the issue for him has always been the Catholic church as an entity and not God as a saviour.

“How can the church have the stunningly strident position on the right to life and then ignore the safety and welfare of children that are on the planet already?”

Regardless of beliefs or emotional toll, Budden says a lawyer is there to do a job.

“Whatever you’re going through, your clients deserve your

focused professional attention,” says Budden.

“Most every lawyer on every case has an emotional attachment to it and what you have to do is not let your emotional commitment affect your judgment. You still have to deal with your clients, with other lawyers, with courts and you have to be able to see the strengths and weaknesses of your case.”

There is a tangible price to be paid for those who choose to right the wrongs inflicted on Mount Cashel survivors.

During the Lamer inquiry looking into wrongful convictions in the province, St. John’s lawyer David Day testified on the emotional and physical cost.

“I cannot imagine I shall ever recover from that experience, completely, in terms of the ability to focus and to focus and function efficiently,” Day said of his time working as council to the Hughes inquiry into abuse at Mount

Cashel.

For Rubino, who travels all over the world, his involvement with the survivors has changed the way he deals with his children.

“There is not a minute in the day that I do not know where my children are, who they’re with and what they’re doing,” says Rubino.

With a 10-year-old son, Rubino says it’s been a “horrible” situation to deal with.

“So you view this work through the prism of your own children and you then begin to realize the devastation that’s brought about on the families and the children themselves.”

A father for the second time in 2002, Budden was on the road for 45 days during the first six months of his daughter’s life.

He knows the cynics will shed crocodile tears, but he’s not embarrassed about “making a dollar.

“It’s a big world and you know, I don’t much care (about the cynics) to tell you the truth.”

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Page 4

NEWS

The Sunday Independent, July 25, 2004

An independent voice for Newfoundland & Labrador

P.O. Box 5891, Stn.C St. John’s, Newfoundland A1C 5X4 Tel: 709-726-4639 Fax: 709-726-8499 www.theindependent.ca The Sunday Independent is published

by The Sunday Independent, Inc. in St. John’s. It is an independent newspaper covering the news, issues and current affairs that affect the people of Newfoundland & Labrador.

PUBLISHER Brian Dobbin

NEWSROOM Managing Editor Ryan Cleary Senior Editor Stephanie Porter Picture Editor Paul Daly Senior Writer Jeff Ducharme

Our time will come

Reporter Alisha Morrissey Layout John Andrews OPERATIONS Operations Andrew Best Consultant Wilson Hiscock Account Executive Nancy Burt nancy.burt@theindependent.ca Office Manager Rose Genge

E-MAIL Advertising: sales@theindependent.ca Production: production@theindependent.ca Circulation: circulation@theindependent.ca Newsroom: editorial@theindependent.ca All material in The Sunday Independent is copyrighted and the property of The Sunday Independent or the writers and photographers who produced the material. Any use or reproduction of this material without permission is prohibited under the Canadian Copyright Act. © 2004 The Sunday Independent

I

n case he doesn’t know it, Loyola Hearn is not the same since the federal election.

More than anything, he dreamt of becoming Canada’s minister of Fisheries and Oceans. He wanted to chart the course, overhaul the bureaucratic engines, and rig DFO for a guaranteed clash with the foreign fleets. (Or at least a skirmish with an ambassador or two.)

John Efford, a fan these days of diplomacy, would probably call Hearn a twoublemaker if the hats were switched. There’s a part of Hearn, to be sure, that would like nothing more than to tie one end of the Liberal party line to Efford’s ankle, the other to a boulder, and drop the two over the Virgin Rocks.

The Conservatives didn’t win, and Loyola took it hard. It had to have been devastating, considering the trouble he went through piecing the new party together. All that work for nothing, a minority Liberal government.

The country isn’t sold just yet on the brand of politics the Conservative b’ys are selling. Too many perceived western wing nuts and defeated East Coasters; not enough Ontarians, the ballots that really count.

Hearn’s best shot didn’t work, but then hardly anyone rides a bike on their first try. He still has the same, slightly high-pitched Southern Shore lilt, but the passion has faded, just a shade. The

LETTERS POLICY The Sunday Independent welcomes letters to the editor.

Letters must be 300 words in length or less and include full name, mailing address and daytime contact numbers.

Letters may be edited for length, content and legal considerations. Send your letters in care of The Sunday Independent, P.O. Box 5891, Station C, St. John’s, NL, A1C 5X4 or e-mail us at editorial@theindependent.ca

disappointment hangs, unspoken, on the telephone line from Ottawa on a Friday afternoon.

The navy would be on the Grand Banks by now in their flack jackets if Hearn was in charge, chasing the foreigners away, oil skins flapping between their tails, causing an international scene.

Not too major a scene, the Spanish and Portuguese have fished the Grand Banks for as long as we have, Hearn is well aware of that.

But a scene nonetheless, causing uproar in the European Union, delegations to fly back and forth over the continental shelf, and background stories of Tobin’s turbot war to resurface in the Globe and Post. (That’s always good, of course, mention of the Turbotnator gives the national media a chance to unload on pictures of the former premier, which are always coming in.)

Paul Martin won’t be moving on custodial management any time soon. After more than 50 years of continuous effort, officials are being ordered to give diplomacy yet another try. The fish stocks should be good and wiped out by the time the federal government finally lays down the law, and takes the factory-freezer trawlers by the horns.

Foreign skippers aren’t exactly shaking in their rubbers.

In recent months, foreign interests have grown bold enough to

sneak in through the back door and lay claim to shrimp and turbot stocks inside the 200-mile limit.

Baffin Island may be well north of Newfoundland and Labrador, but once the foreigners have a foothold they’ll make their way slowly south to the real treasure — the entire Grand Banks, not just a sliver of the nose and tail.

Ottawa should drop the charade and open the gates now to foreign trawlers, a quick death is much more attractive than a long and tortured one.

So much of the economies of Portugal and Spain, the two largest fishing nations, are based on the Banks fishery. Their fleets have fished away for the dozen years it’s been since Newfoundland’s commercial fishery was laid to rest.

Canada and the world can’t seem to grasp how halting fishing on one side of an imaginary line won’t do a thing for the health of stocks as long as foreign trawlers continue pounding away on the other side.

It’s as simple as that.

Now even the foreigners are feeling the pinch of vanishing resources. NAFO may be planning to cut the turbot quota and save the stock, but so many foreign economies are riding on what fish are left.

Denmark objected recently to the shrimp quotas set by the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries

Organization, which runs the show in international waters, and plans to fish 10 times the limit that had been set.

NAFO rules allow any of its members to opt out of the recommended quotas without penalty — which is what makes NAFO so utterly useless.

Expect to see more use of the objection procedure — profits and people are of higher priority than fish. That’s true, but we’ll all be worse off in the long run with an empty sea.

Hearn proved himself as an MP and Fisheries critic, quarterbacking a private member’s motion on custodial management through the House of Commons. Most opposition MPs support the position, but like the NDP’s Fisheries critic Peter Stoffer says, the Liberal minority won’t be defeated over it.

Foreign fishing isn’t that important an issue to the rest of the country. To Hearn it is, which is what will keep him plowing ahead. Patience Loyola, our time will come.

Ryan Cleary is managing editor of The Sunday Independent ryan.cleary@theindependent.ca

Letter to the Editor

Dig a little deeper … into MUN Dear editor We’re intrigued with the message contained in the article — “Where have all the alumni gone?

— which appeared on page 6 of the July 18-24 edition of The Sunday Independent.

The article says that an estimated 72 per cent of total Memorial University graduates are currently living right here in Newfoundland and Labrador. That begs many questions, especially with respect to outmigration of mostly young

educated graduates, many of whom are native Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. In formulating policy positions for the birth of a Newfoundland and Labradorfirst party, we gauge MUN statistics with respect to the placement of its graduates as a key indicator of where we are and what we may hope to change.

One will note the statistic, taken over 55 years of records, may not necessarily depict the current graduate trend. For example, it’s

difficult to accept that 72 per cent of graduates this year, or, say, the past five or 10 years, will remain in this province and find employment here. Anecdotal accounts tell that our nurses are south of the border; our doctors are everywhere but here; many of our engineers are in Alberta and elsewhere as are our computer science graduates; and only one of 20 commerce graduates of 1996 are in the province.

In the interest of research and

analysis and presentation of accurate, pertinent information, MUN should drill a little deeper and clarify how the estimates are taken, among other things, which could then be tied to how much the provincial taxpayer contributes per graduate. The Independent should pursue it as well. We certainly hold MUN in high esteem and want to hold it out to all Canadians as a valued asset.

Fred Wilcox, St. John’s

The Sunday Independent, July 25, 2004

NEWS

Page 5

Letters to the Editor

Time for fixed gas prices Dear editor, le down to other goods like plasConsumer rage, triggered by the tics, clothing, and medical prodescalating price of gas, is becom- ucts. ing a summer ritual in this country.

Who actually benefits from a The rising price of gas at the rise to the price of gasoline? In pumps is the one indicator that it’s most regions of the country, close holiday time and to 40 per cent of the vacationing price is attributed to motorists, being stirtaxes. Both federal and Both federal crazy, have the urge provincial treasuries to meander. At 99.5 rake in tens of millions and provincial cents-plus per litre, treasuries rake of dollars in gas revhowever, aren’t we enues annually. punishing the trav- in tens of millions The federal governellers? Shame on of dollars in gas ment is the chief benethose who allow, or revenues annually. ficiary. When prices cause to allow, the escalate, the feds harescalation of gas vest more money prices, and in so through the GST doing, slow the domestic econo- applied on gasoline. Why wasn’t my. this an issue during the federal Increased traffic on our high- election? ways and byways means increased Provincially, Quebec and Newdemand for gasoline. In turn, foundland and Labrador stand to increased demand puts stress and gain big time tax revenues. Maybe strain on our existing refineries, the time is ripe for all provinces which haven’t expanded their and territories to adopt a fixed, capacities to keep up with per-litre levy? Oil refineries are increased demand. Hopefully, at amassing huge profits. Are the oil the end of the holiday season, the companies deliberately conspiring demand for fuel will drop off. If to gouge consumers? Where is the the price of crude does not fall, federal Competition Bureau? then maybe consumers will have to face a longer-term price surge. If Harold Hayward, that happens, the effect will trickMusgrave Harbour

ATV enforcement a big challenge Dear editor, I have been following the public debate about the use of ATVs in this province, particularly when it comes to children. I want to make sure people are informed about the regulations currently in place.

Children are not being injured on ATVs because of a lack of clear regulations in this province. The laws exist. No one between 12 and 16 years of age is permitted to operate an ATV without adult supervision, and everyone must wear a helmet.

The calls for increased regulations in most of the recent incidents involving ATVs deflect from the real issue. In most cases, the incidents would not have occurred had these powerful machines been operated legally. Parents and adults must take responsibility.

Children under 16 years of age are being allowed by parents to illegally operate these machines down roads, unsupervised and without helmets.

Charges were recently laid by police against individuals for allowing underage children to operate ATVs, as well as against the underage drivers. These are clear indications of the real problem: The laws are not being followed. In 2003, 22 adults were convicted for allowing children under 16 to illegally operate ATVs, and 19 children were convicted for illegally operating the machines.

My department is reviewing the legislation and regulations around ATV use, particularly by young people. My officials are arranging consultations with interested parties and the police, and pulling information together for consideration. We have to determine what more can be done, be it tougher

Dianne Whalen

laws, more enforcement and/or greater parental involvement. I have said before that we can’t put a police officer at every cabin, but a parent can be with every child.

Government has a number of options: Increase the minimum age to operate an ATV; give the police greater powers to seize machines; and/or require operators to take a safety course. An enforcement challenge exists by the very nature of ATVs being offroad vehicles. We are looking at ways of making ATVs easier to identify and track.

A certain amount of responsibility is required with this activity that can’t be legislated. There are laws in place for the safe use of these machines that people are choosing to ignore.

I want to remind parents that if they buy one of these machines, they have a responsibility morally and legally to ensure it is being operated safely and legally. Allterrain vehicles are not toys, requiring strength and maturity to operate. Please use common sense.

Dianne Whalen, Minister of Government Services

Photo by Jeff Ducharme/The Sunday Independent

Toronto in town Kayla Bursey of Catalina leapt into the arms of her aunt Brenda Humby after the crew of the HMCS Toronto arrived in St. John’s. The ship and its crew spent the last six months sailing the waters of the Arabian Gulf as part of the U.S.-led war on terrorism in Afghanistan. Humby is from Catalina, but now makes her home in Halifax, the ship’s homeport.

Rant and Reason

by Ivan Morgan

A powerful point I

f there is one thing I have learned in my life it is the danger of making clear and definitive statements. Life is complicated, people are complicated. Things are not always what they seem. To make a definitive statement, to declare some truth to be absolute without the possibility of contradiction is, I have learned, the height of folly.

Having said that, I would like now to state that anyone who makes a power point presentation in public should be put to death.

If they read their own PowerPoint presentation to their captive audience, they should be put to death slowly.

For those few innocents who have managed to live life in a happy, sheltered cocoon and have not the slightest idea what I am talking about, let me explain.

Those who do know what PowerPoint is can commiserate.

PowerPoint is computer software offered by the American corporate giant Microsoft. It was designed, apparently, to sell outrageously expensive computer equipment to people with more money than brains so they can spend hours developing animated overhead projections to bore us all witless.

Gone are the days of overheads and clear plastic sheets. Now you have to buy a $2,500 laptop and a $2,000 projector —not to mention screens, speakers and laser pointers — in order to put hordes of trapped people to sleep. I am old enough to remember when people could do this with a simple wooden podium, sheaf of papers and monotone voice.

Not today. In our high tech world, stupefaction now costs thousands and thousands of dollars to inflict.

To sit through one of these pre-

sentations is to understand the essence of human suffering. It is quite the experience to peer into the depths of another person’s intellect and find absolutely nothing. The miracle of modern technology has made this easier. PowerPoint allows us to see intellectual bankruptcy in a host of vibrant colours and cutesy animations.

The trick to preserving one’s precarious mental health at a PowerPoint presentation is to fantasize. I amuse myself in a number of ways. First and foremost, I sit in the dark imagining the hideous screams of the presenter as I have him or her cruelly tortured.

Tit for tat, I figure.

When the warm glow of this fantasy wears off, I like to imagine the thought processes that led up to the presentation. I admit this part taxes my limited imagination. How does a person reach this stage of degradation?

“Wow,” I imagine them thinking, “all this stuff that no one gives a fiddler’s damn about will be a lot more interesting if the factoids slide in from the left and skid to a stop — bullet after mind-numbing bullet. Or maybe they think that the pings, bings and boops that are added to their soporific blather make it even slightly more comprehensible.

I suspect that the truth is more prosaic. They may think that if the presentation looks more professional then folks will think that they know (A) What they’re talking about (B) What they’re doing (C) They have even a shred of self-respect.

PowerPoint is the ultimate triumph of marketing over common sense. Spend a bundle looking professional and it won’t matter if you are a clueless moron. Sobering as it might sound, I know a

number of administrations that are founded on this very principle.

PowerPoint has changed me in one profound way. I used to dread the uninspired public speaker. I used to dread a presentation by the person who might be highly competent in their area of expertise but not good at communicating. Now I want to hug the nervous soul at the podium reading from the prepared text. If they also happen to be a little unkempt and rumpled, all the better.

The reason is simple: Because I will listen.

Choosing not to use PowerPoint or (joy of blissful joys) not being aware that PowerPoint even exists puts that person squarely in my camp. Compadre!

Reading back over the words behind me I feel that some of The Independent’s kind patrons might be sitting around thinking that I am too intolerant, too harsh, too judgmental.

Perhaps.

If you fall into this camp, all I ask is that you sit through a few of the same presentations I have sat through. If, at the end of that singular anguish, you can look me in the eye and not say that you have a clearer appreciation of the benefits to society of a well appointed, flawlessly administered homicide — then you are a better person than I. Ivan Morgan can be reached at imorgan@elvis.com

Page 6

NEWS

The Sunday Independent, July 25, 2004

Opinions Are Like...

by Jeff Ducharme

Calling Elizabeth Marshall, cardiac surgery Line 1

T

he Sunday Independent has broken a number of stories in recent weeks concerning cardiac surgery.

The cardiac surgery department at the Health Sciences Centre in St. John’s has a waiting list that stretches about 300-cases long.

With some 15 new cases added each week, the hospital is facing an uphill battle of ever getting the numbers down to an acceptable level.

In documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, The Independent unearthed some rather disturbing concerns voiced by Dr. Kevin Melvin, chief of cardiac surgery.

Melvin, in various internal memos, accused the Health Care Corporation of St. John’s of “incompetence” and making decisions based on “political expediency.”

Much of Melvin’s concern stemmed from his frustration over a cardiac surgery system that isn’t standalone. Hospitals in many other provinces have cardiac departments with their own operating rooms. In this province, cardiac surgery coexists with other specialties, vying for the same personnel and resources.

Beyond the eternal struggle of attracting specialists to this province and keeping them here, is the fact that Newfoundland and Labrador has the highest incidence of heart disease in the country. As Melvin put it, “Apart from some very localized parts of the world, I do not know if there is a greater incidence of this disease on the globe.”

Pretty shocking stuff.

George Tilley, the corporation’s CEO, had no problem stepping up to the plate and addressing Melvin’s concerns. For having the guts to answer the tough questions, Tilley deserves respect.

Tilley put down most of Melvin’s concerns to a system that doesn’t offer a standalone cardiac surgery department; a system that includes cardiac surgery cases in the general bumping list.

As for the shockingly high incidence of heart disease, Tilley says if lifestyles here don’t change — the ticker can only take so much salt beef and surf the couch for so long — no amount of funding will change the trend.

The willingness of a person to

be CEO of any health care corporation in this province is often proof of one’s predisposition to masochism.

“There are days that I think I’m in a no-win scenario, but I wouldn’t pass up this opportunity for anything,” says Tilley. “It’s a very rewarding experience.”

Once again, Tilley’s respect quotient rises.

Health corporations are often a convenient whipping post for government. If something goes wrong, government can blame the corporations and the boards that oversee them.

Health boards were set up in this province for one reason — so ministers and MHAs can shamelessly cover their hindquarters and avoid a butt whipping at the hands of an increasingly irate public.

Considering the grief that’s often heaped on the boards, it’s amazing anyone would want to serve on one.

The one person who should respond to the cardiac concerns is Health Minister Elizabeth Marshall. Her communications director, however, says Melvin’s concerns are an internal matter between the health care corp. and the Health Sciences. The minister has no comment.

‘It’s going to be a long three months or so, but it’ll definitely be worth it’ From page 1 the micro-preemie began feeding on her mother’s milk.

“She started having one millilitre of milk every 12 hours through a feeding tube — a syringe,” Barb says. “She remains in an incubator 24 hours a day, but she’s very lively — she moves around quite a lot.

She’s very active.”

She’s even gained some weight.

While she realizes her daughter could face many more complications in the coming weeks and months, Barb says she’s confident the story will have a happy ending.

“We’re really looking forward to taking her home in October or November,” she says.

It will likely be quite the homecoming. Family and friends have been very supportive, says Lloyd, who’s originally from Rigolet on Labrador’s north coast.

“I can’t believe the support we’ve been getting,” he says. “It’s very encouraging.”

Lloyd’s co-workers have taken it upon themselves to collect funds to help the family through this difficult time, and plans are in the works for other fundraising activities.

In any event, the Wolfreys have no plans of leaving St. John’s without their daughter.

“It’s going to be a long three months or so,” says Lloyd, “but it’ll definitely be worth it.”

Strange, one would think the health minister would be quick to comment on why 300 Newfoundlanders and Labradorians languish on the cardiac surgery waiting list.

The only internal concern here is the predicament of cardiac patients.

When the highest-ranking car-

diac surgeon says incidents of cardiac disease here are the highest on the globe, then the issue becomes a matter for the Health minister, no ifs, ands or buts about it.

This is a matter of life and death, not a matter of convenience.

It would seem that Marshall

doesn’t feel that way, or — given the benefit of the doubt — her handlers don’t feel that way.

Oh, by the way, The Independent was also told that since Tilley had given us almost an hour of his time for an interview, then we didn’t require any of Marshall’s time.

There is nothing, inside or outside of government, that’s more important than the health of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, especially when you’re a representative of the people.

The lion in the Wizard of Oz desperately searched for and found a heart because that’s where courage comes from and compassion dwells. The lion found a heart, but that was a fairy tale, the heart wasn’t real and clicking your heels three times won’t magically take you to the head of the line.

Jeff Ducharme is senior writer for The Sunday Independent. jeff.ducharme@theindependent.ca

The Sunday Independent, July 25, 2004

NEWS

Page 7

A promise made …

Custodial management isn’t important enough to ‘bring down’ minority government: NDP

By Ryan Cleary The Sunday Independent

P

eter Stoffer, Fisheries critic for the federal New Democratic Party, says John Efford reminds him of a nor’easter.

“There’s a lot of bluff behind him,” says Stoffer of Efford’s stand on custodial management.

Concern is being expressed that Paul Martin’s freshly-minted Liberal administration may not follow through on an election promise to extend Canada’s jurisdiction over the entire continental shelf.

Continued fishing of migratory or straddling stocks outside the 200-mile limit by foreign fleets is seen as the primary reason why stocks — primarily cod and other groundfish — haven’t healed in domestic waters.

Custodial management would result in Canada assuming the right to police and manage stocks in international waters under its own rules.

Currently, any actions Canada

takes outside its 200-mile economic zone must be done under the international rules and regulations of the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO), which is seen as toothless.

Question is, did the Liberals make a definitive promise on custodial management?

Apparently not.

“I’m prepared to work with (the Fisheries department) and listen to the advice or the people, but if all else fails I want custodial management on the table,” Efford told reporters in late May, after the federal election call.

In a recent interview with The Sunday Independent, Newfoundland’s representative in the federal cabinet says his first course of action on the custodial management file is to meet with federal Fisheries Minister Geoff Regan, and Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew. A committee may also be formed to hold discussions with the European Union, member countries of which, including Spain and Portugal, are seen as chief offenders

of NAFO rules and regulations.

“Then the question of custodial management will have to follow, but one step at a time,” says Efford, federal minister of Natural Resources.

Canada has moved away from

“In my personal view, I’d bring down the government in a heartbeat because if they lie on this one what other aspects are they going to lie on?”

— Peter Stoffer, NDP fisheries critic

diplomacy in its bid to end foreign overfishing, he says, pointing to Ottawa’s spending of tens of millions of dollars more on enforcement and conservation.

“So we have stopped the talking and action has already been put in place,” Efford says,

adding Canadian ports will be closed to trawlers that fail to abide by the rules.

“I don’t think that closing ports is enough, because if you close the port, we closed the ports and the people still fished.

There got to be other measures and I think the minister of Fisheries will be addressing that over the coming days and weeks.”

Efford wouldn’t say what those measures may include.

In March 2003, the MHA for Port de Grave was a member of Parliament’s standing committee on Fisheries and Oceans that recommended Ottawa take custodial management of the Grand Banks. That committee also advised that Ottawa pull out of NAFO. Efford was also chairman of an all-party committee of politicians from this province last March that recommended Canada, again, extend custodial management.

Stoffer says the time for talk is over.

“I fully anticipate and expect the government to keep its word

and work towards custodial management,” he says. “NAFO doesn’t work, it’s as clear as the nose on your face.

“I don’t think that it would be a strong enough issue for the rest of Canada to bring the government down on,” Stoffer adds.

“In my personal view, I’d bring down the government in a heartbeat because if they lie on this one what other aspects are they going to lie on?”

Gus Etchegary, a long time fisheries advocate, predicts the Martin government will never move to extend custodial management over the entire continental shelf. He says the only way for it to happen is for Premier Danny Williams to bring the province together in a single, united front.

Loyola Hearn, Fisheries critic for the federal Conservatives, says there’s more support for custodial management than there was a year ago. “If it’s done right and properly it could be one of those issues that we could hold the Liberal government to.”

Province makes $160 a day housing federal prisoners

By Alisha Morrissey The Sunday Independent

T

he Newfoundland and Labrador government collects about $3 million a year from Ottawa for the cost of housing federal inmates.

Marvin McNutt, director of adult corrections with the Justice department, told The Sunday Independent that the province has been accommodating approximately 60 federal inmates a year since 1997.

Federal prisoners are housed at Her Majesty’s Penitentiary in St. John’s and another prison in Stephenville.

The province does not have a federal prison. Prisoners are usually sent to federal penal facilities when their sentences are longer than two years.

Newfoundland and Labrador is the only province to take federal inmates into its jails. Federal prisoners are often jailed in the provincial prison system because, simply put, space is available.

The province’s prison populations have declined since 1997 when changes to legislation meant fewer people were being sent to jail. Home arrest is now a common form of punishment; people also aren’t being jailed for failing to pay fines.

As a result, McNuttt says government had a choice to make: Either close prisons or begin to accommodate federal prisoners.

“Government decided on the lat-

Photo by Paul Daly/The Sunday Independent

A view of Quidi Vidi Lake from Her Majesty’s Penitentiary.

ter on the understanding that we would have to provide the same standard of programming for federally-sentenced offenders that Corrections Canada provides in

their institutions,” McNutt says.

The federal government pays the province an estimated $160 a day for each federal inmate. The penitentiary in St. John’s can hold

up to 147 inmates. As of July 22, the pen held 141 inmates. The west coast facility in Stephenville can house 50 inmates, with a current population of 38.

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The recent closure of the Salmonier Correctional Facility on the Salmonier Line, a 45-minute drive west of St. John’s, leaves the province with seven prisons.

Page 8

NEWS

The Sunday Independent, July 25, 2004

Premier should fish or cut bait over sale of FPI: Reid

By Jeff Ducharme The Sunday Independent

L

iberal Fisheries critic Gerry Reid says Premier Danny Williams and his Tory government should come out of the shadows and into the light when it comes to the proposed FPI deal.

“I think the premier knows what’s happening there,” Reid told The Sunday Independent.

“He’s had discussions with FPI and I think it’s time for him to notify the people about exactly what’s happening there and what impact it will have.”

In May, The Independent broke the story that FPI was considering selling approximately 40 per cent of its American operations (representing 26 per cent of the company’s overall sales) in a bid to pay down its $75 million debt built up after the company modernized its processing plants in the province.

The sale could net FPI $100 million.

The Danver, Mass., operation is FPI’s marketing and valueadded arm. Much of the fish processed here is sent south of the

border where a number of products are produced and then marketed.

“I think the people of Newfoundland and Labrador should be told exactly what’s happening before it’s too late,” says Reid.

“I think the people of Newfoundland and Labrador should be told exactly what’s happening before it’s too late.”

— MHA Gerry Reid Williams couldn’t be reached for comment, but Elizabeth Matthews, the premier’s director of communications, says the province continues to meet with FPI. “We will continue to monitor the situation and ensure that FPI continues to operate in a manner that benefits and looks out for the best interests of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians,” says Matthews.

FPI officials have confirmed

there’s a proposal on the table.

“We’ve been in discussions with the government about some of the options we’re considering to improve the value for shareholders and make the company stronger, to better position us for a sustainable future and those discussions haven’t ended,” says Russ Carrigan, spokesman for FPI. The FPI Act limits how much the company can put on the block, but the percentage isn’t spelled out and only refers to “substantial” portions. The act also prevents any shareholder from owning more than 15 per cent of the company.

“You could use that clause in the legislation to at least force FPI to put on the table what they’re about to do and then we can examine the impact it’s going to have on the company,” says Reid.

“For the shareholders (the sale) probably makes a lot of sense because they are going to make some money on it. But from a social perspective and political perspective, I don’t think it makes a lot of sense and there’s where you’ve got the dichotomy.”

Cattle auctioned off; no decision yet on what to do with the farm

By Alisha Morrissey The Sunday Independent

L

ivestock from the former minimum-security prison on the Salmonier Line just west of St. John’s was auctioned off recently for $35,000. The province still hasn’t decided, however, what to do with the land and farm equipment.

Marvin McNutt, director of adult corrections with the Justice Department, told The Sunday Independent that a community group (the name of which wasn’t revealed) has submitted a proposal to government to continue operating the 2,231-acre farm now that the prison has been shut down.

A decision has yet to be made.

Correction Flanker Press is the publisher of the book, Icebergs of Newfoundland and Labrador, 5th edition by Stephen E. Bruneau. The Sunday Independent supplied wrong information in last week’s edition. The book, by the way, is a must for iceberg enthusiasts.

The former prison is in prime cabin country — near the Wilds golf course and Salmonier Nature Park — and real estate developers are also said to have expressed interest in the property, which could be worth millions of dollars.

“The land would be most attractive if it was divided up into building lots.”

— Richard Kennedy The provincial government announced the closure of the Salmonier prison in its March budget as a way to save $1.5 million a year in operating costs.

Government officials told The Sunday Independent in May that the property could be unloaded through public tender, expressions of interest, request for proposals or, perhaps the easiest way of all, hiring a real estate firm to unload the property.

“The land would be most attractive if it was divided up into building lots,” said Richard Kennedy, an agent with Caldwell Banker Hanlon. “The retail price of a building lot in there, considering there’s a pond nearby and it’s only a half hour or so away from St. John’s, could be in the $15,000 range.”

McNutt says money from the cattle auction went directly into the province’s general revenue fund.

Photo by Paul Daly/The Sunday Independent

Water boy Two-and-a-half year old Sean helps with maintaining a supply of fresh drinking water at the cabin by carrying two one-gallon jugs.

The Sunday Independent, July 25, 2004

NEWS

Page 9

‘As much a Newfoundlander as anybody’ John Efford fits back into role as province’s rep in federal cabinet

By Jeff Ducharme The Sunday Independent

B

roken promises are often what’s left in the wake of political elections, but John Efford says the cynics will be disappointed when it comes to promises made concerning the Atlantic Accord.

Prime Minister Paul Martin made a last-minute commitment to Premier Danny Williams that Newfoundland and Labrador would be made the principle beneficiary of offshore oil revenues.

It’s a deal that would be worth approximately $700 million to the province over four years. The NDP and the Conservatives made similar promises.

“The prime minister made a statement, a public statement clearly understood by all,” Efford

told The Sunday Independent from Parliament Hill, just moments before sitting down at the cabinet table for the first time in the administration’s new mandate.

“I don’t have any doubt about the prime minister’s word. I don’t have any doubt whatsoever about the prime minister’s commitment.”

Efford took his federal riding of Avalon in a cakewalk, winning by almost 10,000 votes. The outspoken politician from Port de Grave is back in the portfolio of Natural Resources that he held before the June 28 federal election.

“The big one is the Atlantic Accord, the resources, the royalties coming from the resource development and the oil industry to Newfoundland and Labrador and not being clawed back on equalization,” says Efford.

“Now I’ll be having discussions with the minister of Finance (Ralph Goodale) to see what needs to be done from a departmental level because the Atlantic Accord falls under the responsibility of the minister of Natural Resources. The financial end of it falls under the responsibility of the minister of Finance.”

As far as a timeline goes, Efford says he can’t fix what has been broken since 1987 when the thenfederal Tory government signed the Atlantic Accord. Efford says it isn’t “necessary” to get the new deal in place by the end of August.

“What I see necessary to do is get all of the information collected, find out what procedures need to be followed and then bring it to its completion, keeping in mind this was done back in 1987 by the former government … Now I

Photo by Paul Daly/The Sunday Independent

MP John Efford

need to know how to correct the things that were done back in that time and whatever time is necessary to take will be done, but it has to be done reasonably soon and it

has to be done right.”

Efford, who’s also the federal regional minister for the province, bristles when asked to respond to charges that he’s not the Newfoundlander he used to be since going to the big show in Ottawa.

“I don’t need anybody to question me on that,” says Efford. “I mean I’m as much of a Newfoundlander as anybody who ever walked in a pair of shoes and my emotions have showed that over the years and my work has showed that over the years and that’s not going to change.”

Efford dismisses the cynics that seem to dog his every step.

“I would say to those cynics (that) we did join Canada in 1949.

We are a part of this great country and Newfoundland, as I’ve said many times, is the greatest part of Canada.”

Cabinet door opens a crack for Byrne

By Jeff Ducharme The Sunday Independent

Ottawa shortly before heading to Rideau Hall to be sworn in by Governor General Adrienne Clarkson. erry Byrne has been Byrne’s political machine has invited back to the been unstoppable since he was table, sort of. The MP first elected in a 1996 byelection. for Humber-St. Barbe-Baie At 37 years of age, he’s still one of Verte has been named parliathe youngest MPs walking the mentary secretary to Intergovhalls of Parliament Hill. Byrne ernmental Affairs, a junior role won his fourth election by more in Prime Minster Paul Martin’s than 11,000 votes. Parliamentary government. Lucienne Robilsecretaries get an additional lard was named minister of $14,000 per year on top of their Intergovernmental Affairs. $141,000 base salary as an MP. Byrne was the minister of MP Gerry Byrne Cabinet ministers get an additionState responsible for the al $67,000 and the prime minister Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency in takes home twice that of an MP. the former administration of Jean Chretien Byrne says he regularly speaks with Prebefore Martin took over. mier Danny Williams and will use his posi“Well everything you do is either a step to tion to repair a federal/provincial relationget back or out of cabinet — that’s politics,” ship that, at times, resembled a marriage that Byrne told The Sunday Independent from was well on the rocks.

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“There’s no doubt about it that federalprovincial relationships in Newfoundland and Labrador were highly strained and the prime minister wants to make sure that’s corrected,” says Byrne. Martin is well aware of the wedge that exists between the feds and the province, says Byrne.

“The fact that the prime minister has asked me to sit as the parliamentary secretary to Intergovernmental Affairs reflects a very serious and stern reality in our province of Newfoundland and Labrador that there’s a lot of issues between the federal and provincial governments that have not been handled well that need to be handled better in the future.”

Being in Intergovernmental Affairs

affords Byrne the opportunity to deal with two issues that have widened the divide between the feds and many provinces — health care and crumbling infrastructure.

The Grits campaigned on a five-year plan that promised a gas rebate that would see $6.5 billion go to cities to help repair crumbling infrastructure and $8 billion in extra health-care funding.

While Byrne knows that working in a minority government will be a challenge, he doesn’t subscribe to the idea that he and his fellow Grits will have to make political allies with former foes.

“It’s not a question of the friends you make, it’s a question of the policies you put forward.”

Page 10

West Words

NEWS

by Frank Carroll

The Sunday Independent, July 25, 2004

Shipping News

That’s Stephenville, not Springfield

O

ne of my favourite running gags on The Simpsons is the Springfield tire fire, a giant pile of discarded rubber that’s been burning in Bart’s hometown since 1966.

Nobody in Springfield, with the possible exception of Lisa — the show’s conscience — seems to mind that the tire fire has been spewing a black plume of toxins for almost 40 years.

The Simpsons is not only a carJustifiably, Stephenville Mayor toon sitcom, but a biting satire of early 21st century society. As Cec Stein is asking that the numSpringfield is a symbol of Amer- ber of tires stored at the facility ica and the modern world, its tire be reduced to, at most, the fire sums up our criminally neg- 100,000 originally agreed upon. ligent attitude toward the envi- He’s also demanding that the ronment. And as Springfield company abide by the fire regunatives are content to keep their lations.

In real life, tire fires don’t last tire fire raging, we are content to keep pumping greenhouse gases 38 years. They do, however, burn longer than normal fires because into the atmosphere.

If The Simpsons were a real- they are so difficult to contain. life show, we probably wouldn’t Tire fires are also more toxic laugh at a tire fire that’s been than most fires. There’s not enough space to list burning out of conall the contaminants trol since Lester B. released by burning Pearson was prime The MMSB is minister. currently in the tires, but they include arsenic, lead Well, people in process of and cadmium.

Stephenville aren’t If a tire fire were laughing at the collecting 200,000 to break out in prospect of their tires from all Stephenville or in own tire fire. They over the island any community for wouldn’t be content and storing them that matter, it could to let it burn for a represent a substanminute, let alone 38 in a gravel pit tial drain on the years. near a salmon town’s financial and Stephenville is now home to its own river in Placentia. water resources. It could also place mammoth collection local firefighters at of tires, which lies outside a former airport hangar. greater risk.

When NETS took over the tire The community is praying the tires don’t go up in flames as recycling operation it had to subother tire yards have throughout mit a $75,000 performance bond with the MMSB. UnderstandCanada and the United States.

This situation began with an ably, Stein wants the MMSB to agreement among the provincial use the money to help clean up Environment Department, a the Stephenville site.

The MMSB, however, is using company called Newfoundland Envirotire Shreds (NETS), and the $75,000 to continue collectthe Multi-Materials Stewardship ing tires, stockpiling them near Board (MMSB), the province’s the Northeast Arm River in Placentia. recycling agency.

The provincial government is NETS was to collect tires from all over the province, shred them taking some action on the at a former airport hanger in Stephenville situation. On July Stephenville, and sell the raw 22, Environment Minister Tom material. But North American Osborne issued NETS an order markets for recycled tires have to abide by provincial fire regubeen weak. NETS pulled out of lations for the storage of tires. If the recycling program last month the company doesn’t comply, Osborne says he will consult and the MMSB took over.

The MMSB is currently in the with the Justice Department process of collecting 200,000 about what to do next.

Beyond that, Osborne says the tires from all over the island and storing them in a gravel pit near province has no authority to go onto the site and remove the a salmon river in Placentia. tires. NETS, he says, is a solvent Now that’s progress.

Meanwhile, NETS is reported- company and the tires are its ly still trying to find a market for property.

His position is that the Town of the tires remaining on its property in Stephenville — with no Stephenville has more authority than government to deal with the success.

As is so often the case with situation.

It’s true Stephenville granted these kinds of fiascos, the local community is left to hold the bag the permits to NETS, but it or, in the case of Stephenville, should be remembered that Envithe tires — all 350,000 of them. ronment and the MMSB helped When the Town of get this whole thing started. The Stephenville originally granted town should not have to bear so the permit for the tire-recycling much of the burden.

The people won’t stand for it. depot, the understanding was that NETS would store no more than This is Stephenville — not 100,000 tires at the site at any Springfield. given time. That number has balFrank Carroll is a journalism looned by 250 per cent, to the point that the fire commissioner instructor at the College of the has determined it to be in viola- North Atlantic’s Stephenville tion of provincial fire regula- campus. frank_carroll_nf@yahoo.ca tions.

Photo by Paul Daly/The Sunday Independent

The French cruise ship Le Levant.

MONDAY, JULY 19 Vessels arrived: No report Vessels departed: No report

WEDNESDAY, JULY 21 Vessels arrived: Northern Eagle, Canada, from North Stones; Maersk Norseman, Canada, from France; Maersk Nascopie, Canada, from Hibernia.

Vessels departed: Atlantic Eagle, Canada, to Terra Nova; Emma, Norway, to sea; Irving Eskimo, Canada, to Saint John.

TUESDAY, JULY 20 Vessels departed: Maersk Placentia, Canada, to Hibernia; Stenna Foreteller, Canada, to Hibernia; Atlantic Kingfisher, Canada, to Hibernia.

THURSDAY, JULY 22 Vessels arrived: Jean Charcot, British, from sea; Razna, Liberia, from sea; Atlantic Eagle, Canada, from sea; Atlantic Vigour, Canada, from sea; Cicero, Canada,

Keeping an eye on the comings and goings of the ships in St. John’s Harbour. Information provided by the Coast Guard Traffic Centre.

from Montreal; CSO Constructor, Bahamas, from Bay Bulls.

Vessels departed: Maersk Chancellor, Canada, White Rose Oil Field.

FRIDAY, JULY 23 Vessels arrived: Le Lavant, French, from St. Pierre.

Vessels departed: Atlantic Vigour, Canada, to fishing grounds; Atlantic Eagle, Canada, to Terra Nova; Maersk Nascopie, Canada, to Hibernia; Razna, Liberia, to Greenland; CSO Constructor, Bahamas, to White Rose.

Happy campers Visits up at national parks despite looming job action

By Alisha Morrissey The Sunday Independent

A

steady increase in visitors to national parks in the province continues in the face of a possible strike by park workers.

Officials at Terra Nova and Gros Morne national parks say the number of visitors has been steadily climbing over the past three years and is up slightly again this summer, although exact figures weren’t available.

The contract for more than 4,000 federal park workers across the country — including 200 in this province at sites from Signal Hill in St. John’s to L’Anse aux Meadows on the Northern Peninsula — expired in August 2003.

Negotiations between the Public Service Alliance of Canada, which represents park workers, and Parks Canada began last fall.

The two sides completed conciliation talks July 16. The threemember conciliation board is expected to release its report Monday. The union will be in a strike position Aug. 2.

Larry Welsh, the union’s regional representative, says the

conciliation report isn’t binding, but he’s hopeful it will lead to further talks before the strike deadline.

In a recent press release, the union stated its negotiators were baffled by the unconventional bargaining strategy brought forward by the employer.

According to the release, Parks Canada made an “unprecedented” verbal wage offer.

The three-year deal laid on the table includes an increase of 2.25 per cent in the first year, two per cent in the second, and 1.5 per cent in the third.

The union rejected the offer,

demanding five percent in each of the three years.

Parks Canada officials have said they don’t expect any disruption in park services during negotiations. There are no guarantees in the event of a strike.

Welsh says it’s not likely the parks will shut down as a result of job action.

“If not shut down they will be severely affected,” he says. “We feel bad for the public who want to use these parks, but we do not feel bad for Parks Canada.”

Contacted by The Sunday Independent, Parks Canada officials refused comment.

July 25, 2004

Page 11

The Sunday Independent

IN CAMERA

High school students reenact the life and times of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment of Foot

I

t’s a moody day on top of Signal Hill.

Plainclothes soldiers and officers are rushing in and out of the muggy fog, setting up tents, gathering uniforms and cleaning artillery equipment.

In 45 minutes they will march onto O’Fla-

herty field, and the morning performance of the Signal Hill Tattoo will begin.

Major Jim Lynch — director of the famous tattoo for the past 25 years — strides amongst his young troops. Every summer, up to 70 high school students are chosen through interviews

to work the tattoo. Their summer jobs are to receive military training towards recreating the life and times of soldiers who were stationed on Signal Hill in 1795.

Photos by Paul Daly / Story by Clare-Marie Gosse

Continued on page 12

Page 12

‘A great attraction’ From page 11 “(The tattoo) first started in 1967,” says Lynch. “It was established to celebrate Canada’s Centennial, so at the time they looked for a British regiment that was on Signal Hill in 1867 and they came up with the Royal Newfoundland Company.

“Two years ago we decided that we needed to change regiments, and we selected the Royal Newfoundland Regiment of Foot. That regiment was raised here in Newfoundland, so it made a lot more sense to find a regiment that was made up of Newfoundlanders; we thought that would be important.”

Lynch says the name tattoo comes from a 17th century military tradition (taptoe) of shutting off beer keg taps at the end of an evening, notifying soldiers to return to their quarters. Tattoo subsequently became a word to signify a military display.

A young soldier stands in an extravagantly detailed artillery costume, waiting to collect tickets at the entranceway to the site.

This is Ariel Gardiner’s first summer working at the tattoo, and she says she’s met many new friends.

But life as part of a military regiment isn’t without its hardships.

“Some people faint because it’s so hot in the uniforms,” Gardiner says, adding the hats are “itchy and really heavy.”

Ashley Hamilton is a high school student from St. Kevin’s and worked last year at the tattoo. She says her job is to perform as a gunner. She handles loaded guns and a cannon on the field. After four weeks of non-ammunition training, she says it’s “really cool” when they finally get to fire the equipment.

The tattoo soldiers share a feeling of camaraderie. Cpl. Ronnie Hogan is spending his sixth summer on Signal Hill. No longer in high school, he’s now a student at the Marine Institute, but has returned to spend his summer with the tattoo as a drum major and instructor.

“I really enjoy it,” he says. “I’ve met a lot of people. I met my girlfriend of four years here. It’s a lot of fun.”

When questioned about the possibility of a career in the military, Hogan smiles and shrugs. “It does interest me,” he says, “but I’m kind of leaning a different way right now.”

As tourists steadily gather about the seating area beside O’Flaherty field, with its wide view of St. John’s, the soldiers begin to march down from the interpretation centre. Some play fifes, drums or bugles; others twirl batons. They head for a collection of humble tents, arranged around the edges of the performance space and settle down, as if biding their time before battle.

At 11 a.m., the action begins with a well-choreographed marching band. The tattoo is very structured and meticulously put together. It represents the military drills, commands, and music that soldiers more than 200 years ago performed.

Close to the end of the program (which lasts about 50 minutes), the artillery is fired. Lynch says they only use half the usual amount of gunpowder, for safety reasons. Nonetheless, the $20,000, one-inch thick, gun-steel cannon emits an enormous noise, and a few of the onlookers jump.

The choreographed musket fire is just as impressive.

Although the soldiers in the 18th century would have fired up to five times a minute, the students at the tattoo can only fire once at a time, due to the risk of igniting hot cinders that might have escaped down the gun barrel.

After the display, the young soldiers casually mingle amongst the crowd. Almost every onlooker seems to be a tourist, and a group of four from Ontario enthuses about the performance.

Their holiday on the island is about to end, but they say they would recommend a visit to Newfoundland to anyone.

“Friendliness and cleanliness,” says Peggy Wyatt to sum up her experience.

Her husband Adrien agrees, saying, “It’s been 12 days of highlights, just fabulous.”

As the red- and blue-coated soldiers disappear into the barracks, Lynch shakes his head.

He says, although the military display is impressive, the history of the regiment hides some darker issues.

Living conditions were often appalling, and in 1800 some of the soldiers decided to form a mutiny. Close to 50 men planned to desert from Signal Hill, but were discovered, resulting in multiple life sentences and eight hangings. “(It was) the death knell of the regiment,” Lynch says.

Lynch and his audiences are clearly passionate about the program, and he proudly states that there can be as many as 500 people watching a show. Government and local organizations help fund the award-winning tattoo, which has been named one of the Top 100 Tourist Attractions in North America by the American Bus Association for the past three years.

“It’s a great attraction,” Lynch says. “We have tourists from all over the world here. People love looking at a program that recreates the military from 200 years ago.”

The Signal Hill Tattoo runs until August 15. Performances are every Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. weather permitting.

IN CAMERA

The Sunday Independent, July 25, 2004

The Sunday Independent, July 25, 2004

IN CAMERA

Page 13

Page 14

Gallery

The Sunday Independent, July 25, 2004

Anselm Benoit Carver

F

or Anselm Benoit, art is therapy.

“It’s a big escape,” says Benoit, whose wife recently left him. He and his young son Cameron are now going it alone. “It’s more of mind medicine now than anything else.”

Living in the tiny town of St. George’s on Newfoundland’s west coast, Benoit struggles to raise his young son. There are few jobs, and fewer prospects.

“There’s days I’ll go up with a whole bunch of crap in my head and if there’s a piece of antler on the floor or on the bench and when I pick it up, it seems like all that garbage is not there anymore.”

The 38-year-old Mi’kaq began carving gypsum while working as a night watchman at a local quarry. One night he was on his rounds and picked up a piece of gypsum, took out his pocketknife and spent the evening carving a seal.

“I was really bored. You can only wash the same cup so many times.”

After carving various wildlife out of gypsum, he put down his pocketknife and didn’t carve another thing until last year when he got the chance to work alongside well-known west coast carver Scott Butt.

After learning more about the technique from Butt, Benoit sold a few pieces to pay for the power tools he would need to carve antlers, a much harder medium.

“Because it’s harder it allows me to go with a little more detail than with gypsum,” says Benoit.

He now turns antlers into detailed roses so real that one is tempted to sniff, feathers that could almost tickle, and people who look like they have a tale to tell.

“I’ll have a piece on the bench for months and I’ll think about trying to do something my ownself, but it doesn’t quite work that way for me. It seems whatever’s in it, it’ll come out eventually.

“It tells me when I’m done.”

In just a year, Benoit has found 70 subjects lurking in what once was an antler.

“I’m not sure, but I’m pretty amazed with it my ownself. It’s not a conscious thing. It seems if I think about what I’m doing, it just doesn’t quite work.”

Because Benoit is aboriginal, he has a special permit to retrieve antlers naturally shed by moose.

“And it don’t matter whose shed it’s on,” says Benoit, laughing.

“The art of carving, everybody says it’s

a talent, everybody says it’s gift and I’m not sure what it is yet because I haven’t really found why I’m able to do it,” says Benoit.

While he’d like to sell more pieces in the future, Benoit says he just wants to see how far his skill as a carver can take him.

“I think there’s a challenge for everyone everyday and you sort of have to take it and go with it, whatever it’s got to offer.

You never turn away from doing anything.”

—Jeff Ducharme

Photos by Jeff Ducharme/The Sunday Independent

The Gallery is a regular feature in The Sunday Independent. For further information, or to submit proposals, please call (709) 726-4639, or e-mail editorial@theindependent.ca

July 25, 2004

Page 15

The Sunday Independent

BUSINESS & COMMERCE

Photo by Paul Daly/The Sunday Independent

Marine Atlantic’s Joseph and Clara Smallwood at the dock in Argentia.

Ferry review Marine Atlantic service hasn’t improved much since 1999 when the province took the Crown corporation to task

By Alisha Morrissey The Sunday Independent

F

ive years after the release of a provincial government report on Marine Atlantic’s ferry service, over half of the 24 recommendations — including a five-year rate freeze — haven’t been acted upon.

MHA Fabian Manning, whose district of Placentia-St. Mary’s takes in the federal Crown corporation’s Argentia ferry terminal, says all the recommendations should have been implemented when the 1999 report was released.

He says the province’s water link to the mainland hasn’t improved. In fact, Manning says it has deteriorated.

“This is a major link for Newfoundland and Labrador and this is a major part of our tourism industry and it’s got to be addressed in a way that people can use it,” he told The Sunday Independent.

He says fewer people use the ferry service these days because of

unreliable service, expensive rates and the general hassles of using the “link.”

“One thing is cost, but if you believe you’re getting service that you paid for, most cases you don’t mind paying it … fact is that you’re paying exorbitant costs to use the ferry and you’re not getting the service.”

Marine Atlantic’s passenger numbers have hit some peaks and valleys since 1999, but figures average about 490,000 a year. Passenger numbers reached 457,000 last year, compared to 529,000 in 2002.

At the same time, provincial government statistics reveal rates have jumped 32 per cent since 1999.

Tourism Minister Paul Shelley spent a week in Ottawa recently, with most of his time discussing the Gulf ferry link, which is guaranteed in the Terms of Union.

Manning says the cost of crossing the Gulf should equal the cost of driving the same distance.

SOLID WOOD

“I believe it should fall in line with what it costs per kilometre to travel the rest of the country,” he says. “That’s part of the cost to the rest of Canada for having us in Canada. Believe me, we paid our price to be part of it over the years — through our resources.”

Shelley says the federal government has to look at Marine Atlantic services in a different light.

“It’s our access and it’s a major deterrent to tourism when we have inconsistent services and high rates,” the minister says.

One of the recommendations in the 1999 report included purchasing or leasing another ferry for night crossings from North Sydney to Argentia. Not only was that recommendation not implemented, but Manning says when an existing ferry breaks down or goes into refit a vessel is taken off the seasonal Argentia run.

“Argentia service is secondary in Marine Atlantic’s eyes, and always has been. As an example, right now the Joseph and Clara

LEATHER OR FABRIC

OSMOND’S FURNITURE

Smallwood is operating between Argentia and North Sydney,” he says. “Something happens on the other run and we pay a price for it, right?”

One of the most desired changes would have been a five-year rate freeze, which didn’t happen.

Manning points to the report’s recommendation that called for “innovative pricing strategies,” or customer incentives, saying it was one of the most important. It’s also another recommendation that wasn’t followed.

“There should be some type of incentives for anyone that’s coming over on the ferry here as a tourist … some way of reducing the cost or giving something back to them on their return trip,” he says.

Another recommendation called for more efficient customer service. To an extent, Manning says that suggestion has been carried out, although the federal government didn’t go all the way.

He says food service and cost

reduction should be a priority.

“It’s astronomical the amount of money that you have pay for food on the ferry. And I mean you’ll hear from tourists and people that are travelling, they can’t believe how much they need to pay out for something, which in a lot of cases is not worth being paid for.”

Manning says there’s still not enough cabin space on the ferries.

Passengers are no longer permitted to sleep on the floors, but the seats are too uncomfortable to sleep on.

Shelley says he’s concerned about the first impression tourists are getting of the province.

“One of the biggest parts of marketing, as a rule, is by word of mouth, from one experience to another, from people who have already been there.”

Some of the recommendations that were implemented included relocating Marine Atlantic’s CEO to the province, a restructuring of Continued on page 17

LEATHER ALL OVER

504 Water St. West, St. John’s 753-8110

Page 16

BUSINESS

The Sunday Independent, July 25, 2004

Cab conspiracy

By Alisha Morrissey The Sunday Independent

W

eeks after charges of conspiracy were laid against six taxi companies and seven individuals in St. John’s, city hall is being scrutinized for its handling of the cab industry.

Mike Keough, co-chair of the Taxi Operators Network, charges the city has been avoiding its responsibilities when it comes to regulating cabs. He alleges city council encourages abuse within the system.

David Blackmore, the city’s director of buildings and a member of the taxi committee, says St. John’s bylaws do not regulate much when it comes to the taxi industry.

Further, he says the city will not interfere with private enterprise.

The city issues 364 taxi licences a year. Blackmore says operators of the taxi companys can purchase as many licences as they want. The licences are sold for $100 a pop.

Keough alleges that 85 per cent of licences are sold to the bigger taxi companies and rented out to individual car owners for up to $15,000 per year.

For the city’s part, Blackmore says the owner of the taxi company has the right to rent the licence to an individual cab owner for whatever price they choose.

“I’ve heard numbers. I’ve heard lower (than $15,000), I haven’t heard anything higher than that,” Blackmore says. “There are things that we regulate and then there are other free enterprise things.”

For his part, Keough says taxi companies are making an “incredible amount of money.”

The federal Competition Bureau has filed charges against six taxi companies — Bugden’s Taxi Ltd., Gulliver’s Cabs Ltd., Lockey

Photo by Paul Daly/The Sunday Independent

Taxi driver and co-chair of the Taxi Operators Network, Mike Keough.

Haven Ltd., Northwest Taxi Ltd., St. John’s Taxi Co-operative Society Ltd., and Mall Cabs Ltd. The seven individuals charged are David T. Fleming, Thomas K. Hollett, David Gulliver, Peter S. Crosbie, Peter Errol Gulliver, Albert E. Newell and Paul Maxwell Kennedy.

Over a 12-year period between 1992 and 2004, the companies are alleged to have agreed not to bid against each other for certain contracts around the city as a way to lower contract bids.

Keough says the contracts — which mean taxi companies pay

big bucks to park at prime locations including St. John’s International Airport, Memorial University, and hospitals around the city — were inappropriate in the first place.

He says hundreds of thousands of dollars were paid to the institutions without any guarantee of service quality.

“There’s none of that,” Keough says. “It’s just, ‘how much are you going to give … who wants to park here — give me a bid.’ ” Prior to the alleged conspiracy, Keough says the cost of bidding wars was passed down to the drivers and, eventually, consumers.

Keough was known to speak out against the contracts, which ranged from $20,000 to more than $300,000.

Blackmore says the Competition Bureau’s trial may have no effect on the city’s taxi bylaws.

Keough also accuses the city of failing to enhance the skills of taxi drivers, front-line tourism ambassadors.

He says he has been threatened and assaulted because he tried to bring in a skills enhancement project.

Blackmore, for his part, says it’s not the city’s responsibility to train

drivers, adding cab companies hire drivers — not the city.

Keough also says it’s inappropriate that the city’s building inspector is now responsible for inspecting cabs.

Blackmore doesn’t deny that his department inspects the cars, adding a mechanical inspection is carried out by a licensed mechanic.

Documentation is also checked, as well as a road test and visual inspection of each vehicle.

“The city doesn’t care,” says Keough.

Says Blackmore, “We have no business getting involved.”

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The Sunday Independent, July 25, 2004

BUSINESS

Page 17

How’s this for irony?

Red tape task force grounded in red tape

By Ryan Cleary The Sunday Independent

A

task force struck by the provincial government 10 months ago to cut down on red tape has, itself, been bogged down in delays and red tape.

The seven-member Red Tape Reduction Task Force, the brainchild of former Liberal premier Roger Grimes, has yet to hold a single meeting since being appointed in September, 2003.

A report on ways to create the “right” environment to attract new business to the province and encourage the growth of local businesses was due in June.

Lynn Evans, spokeswoman for the Industry Department, says the task force, initially announced in the March 2003 budget, was delayed by the October provincial election, before being scrapped by the new Tory government. Evans wasn’t sure whether the task force had ever met or carried out any work.

The Danny Williams administration set aside $300,000 in this year’s budget for the task force to fulfill its mandate, although it isn’t clear whether new appointments will be made. A full-time, $53,000-a-year position

was created last October to carry out preliminary work.

“We have a person here in the department on staff who’s currently working on developing groundwork for this,” Evans told The Sunday Independent. “They’re identifying stakeholders we need to speak with, developing terms of reference and a discussion document … developing questionnaires, that sort of thing.”

No word on when the actual task force will start up, although Evans says it will fall under the jurisdiction of the new Business Department.

“It (the task force) wasn’t one of the first things the administration looked at. They were looking at the fiscal situation.”

In announcing the task force in a Sept. 25, 2003 press release, then-Industry minister Judy Foote said its mandate was to “identify opportunities to reduce, streamline or eliminate the burden of regulatory red tape, which can unintentionally act as a barrier to new job creation and business growth, especially for small business.”

The task force was to commence its work “immediately.” An extensive mandate was also distributed with the press release.

Continuous complaints Continued from page 15 the board of directors and planning and posting of a schedule earlier in the year for the next tourism season.

Shelley says despite the changes there are still continuous complaints about the service.

In the 1999 document, government reported loosing millions of dollars in revenue to passengers who refused to wait 12 to 24 hours to board a ferry. In other cases, travellers who had heard about poor ferry service turned back.

“We only get the statistics from exactly the people who went on, but we really don’t know how many people have decided, because of an experience or somebody

else’s experience that they heard about, that they basically decide not to be a tourist to Newfoundland and Labrador and that’s what I’m concerned about,” says Shelley.

“Those numbers are hard to get, I’m sure that’s happened.”

Manning says Marine Atlantic is considered a cost-recovery operation, rather than an essential service.

“We’ve spent so many years fighting this case and it seems to fall on deaf ears when it goes to Ottawa for the simple reason that it’s really not high on the agenda of importance,” he says. “This has been going on for several decades — not years — decades, in relation of time to do something with this service so that people can access it with reasonable costs and reasonable service.”

Photo by Paul Daly/The Sunday Independent

Taking to the streets Two-year-old Sarah Moore takes part in Friday’s Aliant demonstration with her parents. The Aliant workers have been off the job for three months.

Dinner 5:30PM daily Lunch Mon-Fri 11:30AM-3:00PM Brunch Sat-Sun 11:00AM-3:00PM Corner of Duckworth & Cathedral 738-5293 See our online menu at www.thecasbah.ca

Gourmet Food, Casual Prices

July 25, 2004

Page 18

The Sunday Independent

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

Photo by Pablo Vazquez/Digital Press

Plaza Mayor y Centro, Madrid, Spain.

‘That which I longed for’ For 15 years, Natasha Pike’s goal was to visit Spain.

She finally did, and is about to marry the man of her dreams Voice from Away Natasha Pike Living in Madrid, Spain

By Stephanie Porter The Sunday Independent

N

atasha Pike’s first question after she picks up the phone is, “How’re things down home?”

Although Madrid, Spain, may now be “home base,” Newfoundland — the province Pike moved away from 20 years ago — will always be home to her.

Today, Pike sits at her folks’ home in Toronto, planning an Aug. 20 wedding to her Spanish fiancé. The two will move back to their Madrid apartment in September, to work and live in the country Pike has long been fascinated with.

Pike spent the first 11 years of her life in Middle Cove, just a 20 minute drive from St. John’s.

“What a perfect place to grow up,”

she says. “We were right on the ocean, right on the beach, we were allowed out and playing ’till all hours …”

But then she auditioned for, and was accepted to, the National Ballet School. She moved to Toronto for training at age 11. It was a fast introduction to a big city and a new way of living, away from parents, under the watchful eyes of school employees and tough teachers.

Every summer, students at the ballet school had to re-audition.

Pike was accepted five times — Grades six through 10 — and then, in a devastating decision, was not invited back for the following year.

“There’s a lot of bitterness when you think you’ve chosen your career and then you’re told at 16 or 17 that no, you shouldn’t go that route,” she says.

“You think oh, do I have a talent? What can I do? A lot of my classmates haven’t grown out of that bitterness, but I try to think about the good things it gave me — like an introduction to Spanish

Be Your Own Boss!

dance and flamenco, which introduced me to the language, which led me to Spain, which led me to my fiancé … so everything happens for a reason.”

By then her family had moved to Toronto, and Pike enrolled in an arts school in North York to complete high school.

Still searching for a career path, still entranced by what she knew of Spanish culture, Pike originally decided to study French at the University of Toronto. It wasn’t long before she switched majors and began a focus on Hispanic studies.

“All the while I was in university I wanted to go to Spain in the summer,” she says. “But I couldn’t afford to do it, and pay tuition in the fall.”

But when she had her degree in hand, she went to study language for five months in Barcelona, Salamanca, and Grenada. Spain was as she imagined.

“Especially Grenada,” she says, “where a lot of the Spanish dance, Spanish music began … so culturally rich. It was a great time, for

sure.”

On returning to Canada, Pike says she was a bit depressed. “That which I’d longed for for so long, I’d been planning that trip since 1985 in my mind, then it was over, and then I thought, ‘well, what do I do now?’”

She wanted to speak Spanish, but worked a job that had no use for her particular skills. She figured teaching might be a solution, so she followed a five-week English as a second language (ESL) course, then taught a few months in Toronto.

Finally, with the encouragement of one of her Spanish students, Pike booked a ticket to Spain, giving herself a one-month deadline to get a job. She left Canada on Dec. 29, 1999. She started work as a teacher in a town near Madrid, on Jan. 10, 2000.

Originally she planned to stay for only six months, teach, and get her fill of Spain and its culture. But then she met the man who was to become her fiancé. “And I didn’t know what to do,” she says.

Pike returned to Toronto for the summer, then back to Madrid for a year, then back to Toronto to work for a year, then another to study and receive her bachelor of education.

“I spoke to my boyfriend every day, bought thousands and thousands of dollars in phone cards which I still have and could wallpaper a room with,” she says with a laugh.

Pike graduated in 2003. Her boyfriend came to visit in the summer; they decided on a week in Newfoundland. It was then, on Middle Cove beach, that he proposed.

Since then, the couple has lived in Madrid, sharing an apartment with little light.

“Maybe I’m too Canadian in my ways, but in Canada, the home is everything,” she says. “If you have a little patch of garden, that is everything … but (in Madrid) everyone lives in an apartment building.

Continued on page 19

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‘It’s very social’ From page 18 “You just go down the elevator and you’re on the street and there are so many cafes and restaurants and very good food, most of which we can’t import to Canada … they definitely know how to eat well, how to enjoy a meal.”

The pair plan to live in Madrid for the next three to four years.

Pike says she’s getting used to the differences in environment and habits.

“We’re in Madrid, which is not Newfoundland, which is smack dab in the middle of a peninsula.

There is no water. Spain has a lot of coastline, like Newfoundland, but we’re probably three hours from it, we’re as far as you can get from it.

“Madrid does have a river but it’s so pitiful and polluted … there’s one big park in the city, and it’s massive, but besides that, the city isn’t green. It’s missing a lot of moisture, which Newfoundland has an abundance of.”

Lunch is the major meal of the day, eaten at 2 p.m. on a twohour lunch break. At four, it’s back to work until eight or nine.

“There’s hardly any family time, really,” she says. “It is a very long day, which is why a lot of people go from work to restaurants, because dinner is not a big meal, it’s very light.

“You might have dinner at 11 p.m. — that’s really their only opportunity to relax and enjoy themselves, so they prefer to be out and on the street and with people. It’s very social.”

Although she still doesn’t trust her Spanish enough to get a haircut in Madrid, Pike admits she’s comfortable in her current home base. She’s even taken up Spanish dance once again.

“The salaries aren’t the same as they are in Canada, at least for teaching, but there’s a lot that makes up for that.

“Home base will have to be Madrid and I think it’s taken some time to get used to that. I have to come to Canada every once in a while to get near water, to recharge and rejuvenate. Fortunately as a teacher I can do that.”

The couple plans to move back to Canada in a few years.

“I don’t feel a strong connection to Toronto or Ontario, but it’s where the jobs are I guess,” Pike says.

“We still own a fair bit of land in Middle Cove. My dream used to be to build a dance studio there with one glass wall overlooking the ocean … but I’d be content with a little place on the cliff.”

Do you know a Newfoundlander or Labradorian living away?

Please e-mail us at editorial@theindependent.ca

Photo by Paul Daly/The Sunday Independent

New measures on whale killing International whale conference ‘real victory for whale welfare’ SORRENTO, Italy The Associated Press

T

he International Whaling Commission has approved a proposal on more humane ways to kill whales, after environmentalists argued that grenadetipped harpoons are cruel. Pro-whaling nations had insisted that the method brings a swift death.

The proposal by anti-whaling nation New Zealand was approved in a 29-22 vote.

A ban on commercial whaling has been in place since 1986, but some hunting takes place under a scientific program. Environmentalists say this is just commercial whaling in disguise and New Zealand’s proposal sought to tighten rules on this killing.

The resolution expressed concern ‘‘that current whaling methods do not guarantee death without pain, stress or distress.” It also criticized the methods used to determine when a whale dies or is no longer able to feel pain, and called for updated data on the matter.

The decision was welcomed by environmentalists. ‘‘This is a real victory for whale welfare,” said Peter Davies, coordinator of an antiwhaling umbrella organization called Whalewatch. ‘‘Too many whales have suffered and continue to suffer agonizing deaths from the whalers’ harpoon.”

Pro-whaling nations and hunting groups argue that the whales usually die instantaneously when shot with a grenade-tipped harpoon. ‘‘Whale hunting is very humane and the killing techniques are extremely efficient,” said Rune Frovik, director of the High North Alliance, which gathers whale hunters from Canada, Iceland, Norway and other countries. ‘‘Those that are not killed instantaneously lose consciousness and don’t suffer any pain.”

Frovik dismissed New Zealand’s proposal, saying ‘‘there are so many errors and

omissions in that resolution that it is not conducive to anything … They only want to make a point that whaling is cruel.”

Meetings during the international whale conference, which took place through last week, have been dominated by heated debate over an 18-year ban on commercial whaling, but even preliminary steps toward lifting the moratorium appeared unlikely. Major changes require a 75 per cent majority, but the commission is too divided to reach that

‘‘Too many whales have suffered and continue to suffer agonizing deaths from the whalers’ harpoon.”

— Peter Davis

on the most contentious issues.

An illustration of the meeting’s divisive nature came when two proposals on whale sanctuaries — the first to create one, the second to abolish another — both failed to pass.

New Zealand’s proposal to create a South Pacific whale sanctuary did not win the required three-fourths majority, with 26 delegations voting in favour and 21 against. ‘‘The wishes of the region have been ignored,” said Chris Howe, the WWF conservation director for New Zealand. ‘‘This sanctuary would have provided enormous benefits to both whales and people in the Pacific.”

Howe reiterated long-standing charges that Japan bought the vote of smaller nations, saying the proposal was ‘‘blocked by countries taking orders from Tokyo.” Japan denies the charges.

Also, Japan’s proposal to close a sanctuary in the Antarctic was rejected. The move

would have allowed Japan to kill nearly 3,000 minke whales a year in the area.

The IWC meeting gathers hundreds of delegates from member-countries as well as environmentalist groups. The meeting in this sea resort in southern Italy has been marked chiefly by Japan’s efforts to overturn the 1986 ban.

The commission discussed a proposal on standards to be applied if there were a return to commercial whaling. The proposal, issued by commission chairman Henrik Fischer of Denmark, would include terms for a phasedin resumption of the business, with measures to ensure whalers do not exceed quotas.

Pro-whaling countries led by Japan support the measure, hoping it would mark the beginning of the end of the ban. But many environmentalists oppose any proposal that appears to loosen the moratorium. The international arm of the Humane Society of the United States described the measure as ‘‘unacceptable.”

Frovik, the High North Alliance director, argued that anti-whaling groups were inadvertently working against their own best interests. By refusing to set guidelines for whaling, he said, they ensure that unregulated killing of the animals continues without checks.

Japan is the world’s prime consumer of whale meat. Like Iceland, it hunts whales for research, which is permitted by the commission. But Japan says it wants to resume commercial whaling and promises to do so in a sustainable way.

According to the WWF, more than 25,000 whales have been killed by Japan, Norway and Iceland since 1986. Of these 8,000 have been killed by Japan under the scientific program.

Whalewatch, an anti-whaling coalition of over 140 non-governmental organizations, estimates that more than 20,000 whales have been killed since the ban on commercial whaling came into force. This year, the coalition says, 1,400 whales will be killed.

July 25, 2004

Page 20

The Sunday Independent

LIFE & TIMES

Photo by Paul Daly/The Sunday Independent

Life of Ray Former St. John’s city councillor Ray O’Neill on vehicle safety, the media, and Down’s syndrome

By Stephanie Porter The Sunday Independent

R

ay O’Neill’s greeting is an extended, three-stage handshake; the kind of secret brotherhood salute one teenager might give another. It’s an oddly familiar greeting from a near stranger — but telling, coming from a man who seems to delight in every person he greets.

O’Neill comes across as alternately awkward and warm, laughing often — sometimes uneasily, sometimes naturally. He’s used to talking about himself, but wary of giving too much away.

Settling into a chair at the back of a downtown coffee shop — one he’s obviously visited many times — he surveys the patrons, offers a wave or two, and keeps one eye on the door.

O’Neill, a long-time St. John’s city councillor, elected five times between 1972 and 1997, and an even longer employee of the Newfoundland Safety Council, has spent his life in the public eye.

He ran for the Liberal party in the last provincial election (finishing third in the Quidi Vidi-Signal Hill district), and for mayor in the last municipal battle (finishing well

behind the three frontrunners).

O’Neill was involved in starting the provincial Down’s syndrome association — his 17-year-old son, Matthew, was born with the syndrome — and is part-owner of a sports store.

“I am an extrovert,” he says. “I love being with people, talking to people. At one time I thought I’d get into the media, I always thought I was media-bound.”

But he never did work in the media, though he’s courted it faithfully, as a politician, advocate and advertiser.

Recently, he eked into the media spotlight again, this time uncomfortably, for a charge of shoplifting.

He pled guilty, though his lawyer asked for, and was granted, an absolute discharge by the judge.

“I’d rather not talk about it,” O’Neill says coolly when the subject is raised. And so the conversation moves on to other topics.

Far from retired — O’Neill left the safety council and began his own driving school four years ago — he says he’s left the world of politics behind him.

“Been there, done that,” he says.

“Though I do think Roger (Grimes) should have had another term, to do what he wanted to do.

“But I’m settled away now, enjoying being done with that.”

O’Neill started his career with a job with the provincial government’s worker’s compensation board. Taking the leap to the safety council was a big challenge at a time when it was rare to give up a secure government job.

“It’s just my nature … There are issues out there, incredible tragedies everyday, everything we can do just to provide some basic information to people …

“I believe road safety, occupational health safety, were also part of my lifestyle. I won’t even cross the sidewalk, you know, if the lights are about to change. Especially if you’re known, I have to be seen to practice what I preach.”

Perhaps aware he’s beginning to sound like an advertisement for his own driving school, O’Neill reflects back on his proudest lobbying efforts. Like fighting for seat-belt legislation when everyone said Newfoundlanders could never be conditioned to buckle up.

Safety, he says, was just something he was brought up with.

O’Neill’s father worked with Americans on the base at Fort Pepperell. “One thing the Yanks were hot on was safety,” he says. “These

are the things that have motivated me to spread the word.”

He still keeps a close watch on local politics. At the municipal level, he says, things have only gotten worse in recent years.

“I can certainly see the madness has continued on up there …

There’s such fantastic potential, but the reality is it all keeps ending up being a sideshow.”

Provincially, he’s not happy with the new regime. “It’s like (Danny) Williams and his team got hijacked somewhere along the way,” he says. “They’re all taking this really conservative view. No one expected he would be laying off that many people — 4,000.”

O’Neill seems the most at ease when talking about his son. He and Matthew are members of a golf club, and play whenever they can.

O’Neill says his Matthew is highly adaptable; his Down’s syndrome isn’t severe as many cases.

“He’s been playing five years and has an incredible golf swing.

He’s fantastic … I would like to set something up with the Special Olympics for him.

“And tennis, he’s a great tennis player. I’m looking … to find some competitions for him to play in.”

Matthew will be in Grade 11 at

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Holy Heart high school in September. O’Neill says his son loves everything about school. There have been difficulties finding the supports Matthew needs, but most of the battles seem to be over.

Having a son with Down’s syndrome has changed the way O’Neill looks at life.

“Yes, and he’s changed me. I recognize the situations other people are in, you understand them and sympathize. I know how important independent living is, how important it is to be an advocate.”

Is full retirement on the horizon? Hardly. He says he’s got two or three new business plans in the works, one of which is in the tourism industry. “It’ll blow you away,” is all he’ll say about it.

O’Neill takes the last sip of his latte, and starts towards the door.

He’s dressed casually and youthfully, in baggy shorts and brightly coloured shirt. He slides on a large pair of aviator-type sunglasses.

“And by the way, it’s my second day off the butts,” he says with a smug smile, giving another one of his extended handshakes.

O’Neill looks up and down Water Street and spots someone he knows. He gives a farewell laugh, turns abruptly, and heads off.

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The Sunday Independent, July 25, 2004

LIFE & TIMES

Page 21

Photo by Paul Daly/The Sunday Independent

Songs in the sun

Cabernet play a lunchtime concert in the courtyard at St. John’s City Hall. The concert series, a collaboration between Memorial University’s School of Music and the City of St. John’s, continues this Friday at noon with a performance by the Scruncheons percussion ensemble.

Standing Room Only

by Noreen Golfman

Sticky fingers N

ext to gravel-pit camping and picking the spanworms out of your underwear, the most popular form of entertainment around here in the dog days of summer is going to the movies. When the humidity strikes and all the fans have flown off the shelves at WalMart, the best thing to do is head for the goose bump-chilling air of one of the mall’s theatres.

Whether (torrents of) rain or (punishing) shine, Will Smith, Will Ferrell, the Wayans Brothers, Toby Maguire, and even Michael Moore are drawing huge crowds. Clearly everyone has the same idea about how to escape a hot stove: By retreating to the dark cool of fantasy, with some nachos on the side.

On a recent night out it sure was obvious to me where the people are going for their fix of summertime art: The line-ups for the express movie ticket machines were almost as long as those for the technologically challenged. Not in the mood for either the fart-joke banality of Anchorman or the self-important propaganda of Fahrenheit 9/11, I opted for the promise of a goodlooking young man in latex: Spider-Man 2. I wasn’t disappointed.

The critics have almost unanimously praised the power of this comic-book sequel, and so it is comforting to know that sometimes the critics actually get it right.

Spider-Man 2 easily fulfills my notion of what Great Art can and usually should be: it’s skillfully crafted, gorgeous to look at, moving, provocative, full of surprises, and even a bit unsettling. Look, when someone as totally adorable as Toby Maguire’s Spiderman loses his ability to emit white sticky material from his body parts, the audience confronts a crisis of faith, let alone masculinity.

The original was fun and lively in the watching, if not full of too many memorable moments, but the sequel is actually riveting — dramatic and intelligent.

As with wine and shoes, movies produce snobs. Many people would rather endure the “true story” of King Arthur’s agonizing ambivalence in the theatre next door than admit to a yearning to watch a comic book dream.

But the opening montage of Spider-Man 2 so brilliantly paints the difference between one film’s pretensions and another one’s art that it’s really no contest.

As the room darkens and the screen lights up, we are treated to a series of painted illustrations of the major characters in the Spiderman repertoire. As they appear in slide show, these colourful comic book images look so lovingly retro, evoking nostalgia for those vivid Marvel frames that filled our early imaginations. You don’t have to be a comic book junky to get it. Good comics, like politics, soccer, and the Bible, are about larger-than-life characters caught in a battle of opposing forces.

Any self-respecting adult with an inner child knows that Spiderman doubles as Peter Parker, and vice versa. As ordinary as Clark Kent but more existential, Parker actually wrestles with the superhero identity thrust upon him.

Sure, Superman had his moments when he just got sick of flying faster than a speeding bullet, but the option of hanging up the cape and settling down with Lois Lane never seemed feasible.

As with wine and shoes, movies produce snobs.

Many people would rather endure the “true story” of King Arthur’s agonizing ambivalence in the theatre next door than admit to a yearning to watch a comic book dream.

Things are different for Parker/Spiderman. His desire for his childhood sweetheart, Mary Jane Watson, is so strong you start to believe he’s on the verge of busting out of his web, the way the horny teenagers in the seats next to me were obviously on the verge of doing. (More about them in a moment.) Indeed, the opening montage of illustrations soon comes to an end with the image of Mary Jane, a static comic book portrait that then gracefully morphs into the animated face of Kirsten Dunst who plays the role.

Filling the wide cineplex screen with her liquid eyes, porcelain skin, and bright smile, Dunst magically materializes as the full living embodiment of young fantasy. She moves her head, her eyes flash. What first we read in static comic book frames now comes to us transformed and alive through the wizardry of moving pictures.

Parker might have to wait a long time to realize his own fantasies but ours are immediately satisfied.

This might all seem silly, but Spider-Man 2 manages to take itself just seriously enough to draw us into its emotional realism. It’s not easy being a comic book movie. However the creative team led by the genius of Sam Raimi, who is behind both Spiderman films, is too smart to have produced anything but a faithful appropriation of the beloved source material. After all, the Marvel original appeared in the early ’60s and some 40 years later the series is still helping to shape many an imagination.

Spider-Man 2 wisely avoids cheesy parody or cheap sarcasm; instead, it offers up an almost seamless and serious blend of live action and computer-generated images, allowing us both to believe in Peter Parker’s maturing struggle with his own loneliness and to rage with him against the multi-armed monster without.

It’s simply thrilling every time he flies so zealously between those New York skyscrapers, bounding from building to train and back to building with the

help of all that sticky discharge.

An added bonus for local audiences is noticing the uncanny resemblance between Alfred Molina, who plays the good scientist gone mad, Doctor Octopus (Doc Ock), and MUN anthropologist Elliott Leyton. Try to ignore it if you can.

About those horny teenagers: Of all the movie joints in all the towns in all the world, they had to walk into mine. The theatre was crawling with more moving bodies than Spidey’s web. The dozen or so adolescents trying to sit beside me were jumpy and nervous, clearly on the verge of major hormonal eruptions. They were more frightening than Doc Ock’s tentacles. Get a room.

And what are children aged three to five doing at a movie like this? Between frequent shouts of “I have to pee NOW” and toddlers running up to the front to toss junk food at the screen, you have to wonder what their parents are thinking. Spider-Man 2 is not without violence. Go see Shrek 2.

To echo the superhero’s own hard-earned philosophy, with a great movie ticket there must also come great responsibility.

Noreen Golfman is a professor of literature and women’s studies at Memorial. Her next column appears August 8.

Page 22

LIFE & TIMES

The Sunday Independent, July 25, 2004

On the Shelf

by Mark Callanan

The pen of Judas Still Life with June

By Darren Greer Cormorant Books, 2003

A

few weeks ago, on a mild but overcast Saturday night, I went down to Middle Cove beach to attend the fourth annual ReLit Awards. Still Life with June, the second novel by Nova Scotia-born author Darren Greer, won in the novel category.

It is, without a doubt, a book well worthy of the prize.

Morbidly funny, gleefully irreverent and sharply perceptive, Still Life with June tells the story of Cameron Dodds, struggling magazine writer and employee in the drug and alcohol treatment wing of the Salvation Army shelter in a nameless North American metropolis.

“I work there for the same reason I started visiting bars on Christmas Day,” Cameron confides early on in the book, “to get more stories.” Dodds is a self-professed leech of human pain, an occupation he asserts is the immoral inheritance of all writers big and small. “Each writer is only one person, and one person can only live so much of a life. That life is rarely enough to write a lot

of stories about. So writers pillage other people’s stories and call them their own.”

This is not, however, a book about writers. Primarily, it is a book about identity and the nature of the self we choose to adopt, consciously or not, for the sake of society or for our own emotional and psychological preservation.

The central identity issue in Still Life with June revolves around the brief life of an addict who had hung himself while still a patient at Cameron’s treatment centre. It turns out that the dead man in

question, Darrel Greene, has a mentally handicapped sister named June whom Cameron discovers is still living at The Sisters of Good Hope Care Facility, “a monstrosity of a three-level brownstone that takes up one whole city block.” He uncovers this in the ex-patient’s file and begins posing as Greene in order to visit June at the facility and find out more about the tortured circumstances of their family history.

Thus Cameron dons another layer of identity, reinforced by the application of a new moniker — “Bubby,” June’s name for him (this is on top of his writing pseudonyms, Sam Mainster, Jay Dakota, Matt Harding, Darren Greer, Shawn Keating, Owen Wilkes and the name by which he is known at the treatment centre — Annie).

It becomes quickly obvious that June Greene represents the antithesis of Cameron’s chameleon nature.

While Cameron has a great many names and faces, June wears only one.

She is exactly what she appears to be, no more, no less. Her moral outlook is just as unfettered: June, and people like June, have no need of redemption or guilt because they have never in their lives knowingly betrayed anyone

[…] June, however she saw the world, did not see it as an endless series of betrayals, did not, like most of us, divide everyone into categories of betrayer and betrayed.

It seems ironic, then, that the more Cameron visits June, the more he becomes embroiled in the false identity of Darrel Greene.

In one of the key events of the novel, “Cameron/Darrell” (as the narrator eventually begins to refer to himself) takes June to see a sculpture at the modern art museum, “life-sized, three-dimensional, sculpted white plaster of Paris hands cut off expertly at the wrist … thirteen of them, including the topmost hand.”

The pointing finger of The Hand of Judas, Cameron intimates, is “the observer and the observed, the artist and the object,” the betrayer and the betrayed.

In a gesture loaded with symbolism, June places her large hand on top of Judas’, covering it completely, smiling like “a little girl in a woman’s body.” By this simple act alone, June has defused all Cameron’s theories of the implicit guilt and evil of humanity. But more importantly, in holding hands with Judas, she absolves

Cameron of all his deceits.

There is a significant identity subplot that runs throughout the novel which involves a woman purportedly named Dagnia Daley who attends the same writers’ group as Cameron. Though I will not try to explain her contorted motivation for this deception (Greer’s explanation of her motivation, by the way, is the only truly weak section of the entire book), it bears mentioning for its suggestion of a further level of interplay within the issue of identity.

In this and other instances it is clear that Still Life with June is a more thematically complicated novel than its colloquial narrative tone might suggest. It is also, in all its abiding pessimism and in all its faintly held hopes, a stunningly beautiful one.

Mark Callanan is a writer and reviewer living in Rocky Harbour.

His next column will appear August 8. He can be reached at callanan_ _@hotmail.com.

Saltwater in his blood (and socks) Jerry Etienne returns to Gros Morne Theatre Festival – and can’t believe how it’s grown

By Stephanie Porter The Sunday Independent

A

fter a seven-year hiatus from the province, Jerry Etienne has returned to the theatre festival he helped found.

Etienne was the artistic director of Theatre Newfoundland Labrador (TNL), based in Corner Brook, from 1991-1997. In 1995, the organization began the Gros Morne Theatre Festival.

The accomplished actor, director and educator isn’t coming back to stand at the helm of his former ship. Rather, he’s stepping right onto centre stage as a singing, story-telling seafarer named Kevin

Corkum.

“It’s quite nice to be back,” he says, adding he’s delighted with early audience response to the show Salt Water in My Socks, not even two weeks through its twomonth run.

Etienne is even more impressed with the way the Gros Morne festival has evolved.

“I’m really quite surprised it’s doing so well,” he says. “We started as two nights of a dinner theatre in 1995 … and look at us now.”

This year, seven shows are being performed from early June until the season closes mid-September.

Etienne remembers the festival’s very beginning. “The whole seed

of the thing came … my first year at TNL was the year the first (acting) class graduated from Grenfell College. They graduated and promptly left town.

“I thought ‘that’s too bad’ and so I started to mount shows in Corner Brook in the summer, they were small and relatively inexpensive shows, but it gave some of the actors some work.”

All the while, Etienne says, he was looking around for a place to create a more substantial event. In 1995, TNL decided on the Shallow Bay Motel in Cow Head as the venue to test the water with those first dinner shows.

Continued on page 24

Photo by Derek Butt/For Theatre Newfoundland Labrador

Jerry Etienne stars as Kevin Corkum in Salt Water in My Socks, by Paul Ledoux and Al Macdonald. The show plays until Sept. 18 at the Gros Morne Theatre Festival in Cow Head.

Created for The Sunday Independent by John Andrews

THIS WEEK’S THEME:

BOOK TITLES Cooper’s CrissCross is a typical search-a-word puzzle except you must first decipher the word list based on the clues provided before searching. All of the clues will have a Newfoundland and Labrador flavour.

Good luck!

The word list and Answer grid can be found on page 26.

_____ of The Labrador Wild Bartlett’s Adrift On An _______ Colony of Unrequited _______ Kevin Major’s ______ From Shore Robin McGrath’s Donovan’s _______ Wayne Johnston’s _______ of New York Bernice Morgan’s Random _________ Pinsent’s John and The _______ Smallwood’s Why I Chose _________ Crummey’s _________ Thieves O’Neill’s The ________ City Morrissey’s Kit’s _________ Kavanagh’s Confessions of ____ Mooney

The Sunday Independent, July 25, 2004

Andrews release in Toronto

N

ewfoundland’s Duane Andrews is debuting his Django Reinhardt-inspired album next week at the Drake Hotel in Toronto.

The performance will be preceded by a screening of Water Street, a documentary Andrews recently co-produced about the current St. John’s music scene.

Andrews is the leader of a group of accomplished musicians, honouring the legacy French gypsy jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt. He has recorded and produced a CD incorporating Reinhardt’s compositions, traditional Newfoundland music and Andrews’ original tunes.

Andrews is featured in and musical director of Water Street, which explores the fierce indie music scene of St. John’s. Toronto-based feature director Sheldon Gillett presents this insiders look at the local music scene, highlighted by 10 performers who talk about the lifestyle, misconceptions about Newfoundland, success through perseverance and the diverse musical culture of St. John’s.

The event begins at 6:30 p.m. at the Drake Hotel, 1150 Queen Street West, Toronto.

Fourplay

F

our plays in 24 hours? c2c theatre will try. Four writers will be given the same two props and the same first line of a 10-15 minute script they must write overnight. Four directors will be given the scripts. Four actors will help make sense of it all.

It will happen with the help of writers Robert Chafe, Adriana Maggs, Joan Sullivan and Sara Tilley. Directors Lois Brown, Clar Doyle, Bryan Hennessey, and one other are on board, as are actors Jason Card, Steve Cochrane, Krysten Pellerin and Nicole Rousseau.

The writers were given their props and lines 8 p.m. Saturday, July 24. On July 25, at 8 p.m., the public is invited to see the results. The show takes place at the Masonic Temple, Cathedral Street, St. John’s, and is a fundraiser for c2c theatre troupe.

Preserving heritage

T

he Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador is accepting applications from owners of provincially significant buildings for designation as registered heritage structures.

Any people owning a heritage structure within the province is eligible to apply for heritage designation. There is also limited grant funding available for Provincially Registered Heritage Structures.

For more information please visit www.heritagefoundation.ca or call Sandy at 1-888739-1892. The deadline to apply to the Heritage Foundation is Aug. 15.

LIFE & TIMES

Page 23

Wobbling on a taboo line Erotic art: A man’s perspective of women

By Alisha Morrissey The Sunday Independent

J

ason Jenkins knows women — better than women know themselves. Nude paintings line the walls of Jenkins’ tworoom apartment, his own work is large scale and the realism is intense.

Jenkins says he thinks of his work as capturing a moment in a woman’s life.

One painting, on a canvas the size of a narrow wall, depicts an attractive, nude woman sitting in profile on the toilet. Underwear around her knees, she appears to be crying while reading a sheet of paper.

Jenkins says some men may see the painting as erotic. In fact, when the model’s boyfriend first saw it, he thought Jenkins had been taking “dirty pictures” of his woman.

Jenkins has not only an intense desire for women, but an adoration that borders on idolatry.

“In many ways my work is a man painting nude women.”

Jenkins says he came of age in a time when women were realizing their strength and liberty, sexually and otherwise.

“The women I know are independent, self sufficient, they’re doing their own thing,” Jenkins says.

He read about women’s rights at Sir Wilfred Grenfell College in Corner Brook, and considers himself somewhat of a feminist.

Besides capturing a moment in time in his paintings, Jenkins says he thrives to show the full spectrum of what he and other men see when looking at a woman.

That spectrum, he says, runs from the way a hesitant young man looks at women, to the way a serial killer like Ted Bundy would look at the opposite sex — plus everything in between.

Jenkins says he was a “nerdy kid” who couldn’t talk to girls as a teenager.

“It’s an exploration of how to be a good guy … life is all about figuring out where your parameters are,” says Jenkins. “It’s one thing to put a woman on a pedestal and then there’s another extreme when you become one of those guys who’s known as an asshole because he’s possessive and jealous.”

Similar to the way the women’s rights movement changed the views on a woman’s role in society, Jenkins is trying to change the perception of women in nude art.

By using traditional painting styles, but with modern female subjects, Jenkins shows the full gamut of femininity.

Few of his paintings are glamour shots like those found in fashion magazines.

Other political pieces — a cardinal and the pope leaning in close, embracing one another, a 9/11 close up of a man holding an American flag over his nose and mouth — speak volumes without Jenkins having to say a word.

Jenkins says the pope and cardinal could have been passing a secret, they could have been greeting each other, they could have been conspiring — not even Jenkins knows, he can only speculate.

In searching for his voice as a realist painter, Jenkins says he’s beginning to find it with his preferred subject matter — nudes.

The simple beauty of a woman is captured

Photo by Paul Daly/The Sunday Independent

Artist Jason Jenkins with one of his large-scale paintings.

in an instant by his camera and later reproduced on mammoth canvases that have a real physical presence in a room. The final product can sometimes take weeks to create.

The women are real, models with whom he “collaborates.” He says sometimes the concept for the photo shoot changes drastically for the better when the women get involved with the decision-making process.

Jenkins says he has extensive meetings with the women before they pose and would do just about anything to make them feel more comfortable in front of his camera.

He says men are often perceived as gruff, burping and scratching creatures who are given more allowances than women.

“There’s a lot more forgiveness for men,” he says. “There’s a lot more pressure on women to maintain a professional image.”

That’s why, he says, he enjoys working with models who are hesitant; as well as models who are excited about a shoot.

He says wobbling along on the lines of taboo is exciting.

“Sometimes you go too far and you have to pull yourself back,” he says. “And sometimes you don’t go far enough and you regret it.”

A man who is very aware of the way he looks at women, Jenkins says the human body should be recognized as a beautiful thing.

“Eroticism is OK. It’s a part of being human.”

Page 24

LIFE & TIMES

The Sunday Independent, July 25, 2004

‘A way of life I love’ Matt Mays hits St. John’s for the third time this year

By Stephanie Porter The Sunday Independent

M

att Mays’ cellphone cuts in and out as he and his band, El Torpedo, travel through the hills and valleys of New Brunswick.

The Nova Scotia-based musician has been on the road constantly this past year-and-a-half, including three trips to St. John’s since February (he picked up the best new artist East Coast Music Award back then). He’s back in town again this weekend.

The band has taken most of June and July off, he says, and it sure feels good to be sitting in the van again.

The close quarters aren’t exactly foreign to him. Mays regularly toured across the country with the Guthries, the Halifax band he started in as a teenager. A couple of years ago he left that group, and recorded a solo CD. Although the Guthries did well for themselves, it’s as a solo artist that Mays has attracted the most interest.

“We got some attention at the North by Northeast (music festival in 2003), and things like that, people seemed to like our live show, it’s pretty strong or whatever … got a few decent shows opening for people and it kind of snowballed from there.”

His video, City of Lakes, a song off his debut self-titled album, was played regularly on MuchMusic.

His brand of “alt-country-rock” seemed to pick up fans in every

province.

“I’m glad we made it this far, but I’ve got my sights set further, I want to get into Europe and the States,” he says. “It’s nice to look back on all the hard work we’ve done, and now people are starting to pay attention, people are saying a lot of nice things, and that means a lot, when you’re on the road so much, when you throw your life away and become a touring musician.”

Has Mays really thrown his life away?

“No,” he says with a laugh. “I like this life better than the other life, this is my new life. For a while I wasn’t sure about it, now … the more I’m not on the road, the less happy I am, it’s a way of life I love.”

He looks back at his former band as the naïve good ol’ days — a true learning experience from a group of people who “just loved music” and recorded their first album in the house they all lived in, for a laugh.

Now in his mid-20s, Mays says he’s in a solid band, but there’s no doubt he’s centre stage as sole songwriter and front man.

“You’re just there in the open, there’s nothing to hide behind, you just have to be confident and stand behind what you do … which I naturally do.”

Mays and El Torpedo have already recorded another CD. It’s ready to go … but won’t be released until early next year — January, probably.

“It’s a bit of a drag, to wait. It’s frustrating to get used to this way of doing things.”

It’s the price, perhaps, of being attached to a big-name label. Over a year ago, Mays and his band were signed to a one-record deal with Sonic/Warner Records.

It gave them a chance to work with producer Don Smith (known for his work with Bob Dylan and Tom Petty). Mays says the new CD — whenever it’s released — will show an evolution in songwriting and sound.

It’s less country, more rock, and better reflects the current band lineup.

“It’s more live off the floor, we took our live show and moved it to the studio,” he says.

In the down days of summer, between days of surfing, Mays says he plans to get enough material ready for yet another album, try out some new sounds, whether they ever make it to final recording or not.

Although he says he’s delighted with what he calls a strong East Coast music scene “with a vast amount of styles and genres,” these days Mays listens to music miles away from his immediate surroundings: Metal, reggae, heavier rock.

“The alt-country thing … it just ends up coming out sounding like that,” he says. “There are other kinds of music I like, better in fact, I’m just not very good at playing them. So I’d like to try and do some different stuff in the studio.

Photo by Morrow Scot-Brown

“I hope I can do a metal album someday. It’s definitely on the horizon, I don’t know how far down the horizon …”

But on this day, a gig in St. John, N.B. lies at the end of the road. A few days later, it’ll be time to head to St. John’s for a gig this Saturday

night at the George Street Festival.

“We love it there, we’ll play (Newfoundland) every chance we get,” Mays says.

“I’ve never been to the George Street Festival, but I hear it’s pretty nuts.

“I’m looking forward to that.”

‘I never dreamt we’d be where we are’ From page 22 They found an investor, who saw the possibilities for economic development in the area.

“It’s done wonders for Cow Head,” says Etienne. “It’s something you don’t see nearly enough of.”

TNL’s current general manager, Gaylene Buckle, has been an employee of the organization from the festival’s beginning days.

“I never dreamt we’d be where we are,” she says. “I don’t think the community dreamt that we’d be here this long either.”

She remembers the success of the first shows. “During those nights we realized there’s a need in Gros Morne for something for people to do in the evenings.”

Given the constant movement of tourists, there’s always a new audience. Most of the plays show twice a week at the height of the season. Most of the actors per-

form in three to four shows, whether they be dinner theatre, family shows, musicals, or more serious theatre.

Last year the company put off nine shows. “We stretched it too far,” Buckle says. “Our mandate is to put on quality productions.

In order to do this manageably and predictably … seven seems to work.”

Some of the shows go onwards. Robert Chafe’s Tempting Providence, the story of

nurse Myra Bennett, commissioned for the 2002 festival, is currently on an international tour.

“The material they’re doing is Newfoundland content, it’s the history of Newfoundland and what people are like,” says Etienne.

Although he wasn’t born here — he’s originally from Ontario, and first came to Newfoundland on a student exchange to Burgeo in 1973 — Etienne is thick with

praise for the province.

“People come to Newfoundland wanting to learn about the people, the people are really what make it the most beautiful place on the planet.

“The shows are relaxed, not stuff that’s going to really challenge, but you feel a little bit enlightened. It’s very simple, fun — that’s what the festival is.”

For more information, visit www.theatrenewfoundland.com

July 25, 2004

Page 25

The Sunday Independent

SPORTS

Photo by Paul Daly/The Sunday Independent

Dave Rouah (left) of the Labatt Outlaws and Shawn Gibbons of the Mud Pigs in the heat of a game on the field by Quidi Vidi Lake, St. John’s. The Outlaws won the game 60-6.

Touch football anyone?

‘It’s the best recreation league I’ve ever played in’ — new sport catching on among men and women in St. John’s

By Darcy MacRae For The Sunday Independent

T

he Coors Light St. John’s Touch Football League may be the best-kept secret in St. John’s.

Many sports fans in the city know little or nothing about it, despite the fact the league has been on the go since 1981 and lists current Winnipeg Bluebombers safety, Geoff Drover, as an alumni.

For the men and women who make up the 16-team circuit, the reviews for the recreation league are outstanding.

“I never miss a game,” says Dave Rouah of the Outlaws, a player many say is the best receiver in the league, thanks to his soft hands and great bursts of speed.

“It’s what weekends are made for in the summer.”

Rouah’s ability to catch a ball in mid-stride and then elude defenders all the way to the end zone (as he did en route to a July 21, four-

touchdown performance versus the Mud Pigs) has impressed many.

The work of teammate and league president Mark Peters has also caught the attention of league members.

“The league is run really well,” says Sheldon Penman of the Mud Pigs, shortly after his team was handed a 60-6 loss by the Outlaws.

“Mark Peters and the other executive members do a lot of work and all the players respect that.”

This season is proving to be a storied one for the touch football league, with a record number of teams taking to the field. While Peters is proud to see 10 mens teams registered to play, he’s impressed that six womens clubs are also up and running.

“We only had three womens teams a few years ago and one team has been added each year since,” he says.

“There’s a close knit athletic community amongst the women, so a lot of them know each other

from other sports. They tend to play on the same teams throughout the year, whether it be volleyball, basketball or football. There are a lot of women who have played varsity sports at Memorial or other universities, so they’re very athletic.”

The game of touch football is much the same as the full-contact version, except for the fact it’s only necessary to tag an opponent — as opposed to tackling them.

Although many of the differences between the sports are subtle, they take some getting used to for athletes who’ve played full-contact football.

“The full-contact game is an aggressive one. Your adrenaline is pumping a bit more because you know you’re going to be hitting people and they’re going to be hitting you,” says Penman, of the Mud Pigs, who played for Mount Allison University in 2000.

“There’s no running game in touch, it’s all passing. Plus, you can’t

break tackles in touch. Once you’re tagged, the play is over.”

While most league members haven’t played at the high school or university level, a good number of them grew up watching the game on television and tossing the football around the back yard with friends. As far as the president is concerned, that kind of passion for the game is what keeps the league going strong.

“Most people grew up with an interest in the game, so they don’t have a big problem learning it.

Once you understand the sport, it’s not difficult to play,” says Peters.

“The new teams always have a learning curve. They aren’t quite as good as the elite teams, but they’re improving. After a couple of games, they show a huge increase in skill.”

It’s not uncommon to see players, desperate for a touchdown, dive through the air to catch a pass.

That will to win is what separates the league from other recre-

ation circuits, Peters says.

“It’s pretty intense, especially in the playoffs,” he says. “People take it pretty seriously.”

Fellow executive member and Hurricanes’ quarterback, Todd Pardy, agrees with Peters’ view of the league, but adds that once the final whistle blows, the recreation side of the sport is obvious.

“The social aspect is what we like best. We want to win, but as soon as the game is over, everyone shakes hands and shares a laugh,” he says.

Pardy is in charge of the league’s website — www.touchfootball.com — where fans and players alike can look up the most recent stats, schedule and photos.

While it provides him with a little extra work, Pardy says the rewards more than make up for it.

“I like it a lot more than other sports,” he says. “It’s the best recreation league I’ve ever played in.”

Darcy_8888@hotmail.com

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Page 26

SPORTS

The Sunday Independent, July 25, 2004

Week in Review

by Shaun Drover

‘Air Canada’ clear for take off I

tem: Future Stars Basketball Camp has selected 12 boys from Newfoundland to take part in an under-15 basketball camp in Philadelphia.

Comment: The camp will be hosted by Toronto Raptors’ point guard, Alvin Williams, with proceeds going to charity. Called Slam Dunk for Autism, the camp will be held at Villanova University from Aug. 12-16.

The 12 boys were selected from a tryout held earlier this month at Future Stars Basketball Camp in the city. The boys will be accompanied by three coaches, and everyone involved is excited. It’s valuable for provincial athletes to take part in their sport at a higher level, and with a host of coaches and NBA talent, that’s something the Philadelphia camp will surely do. It’s important for young athletes to see what it takes to make it to the next level and, perhaps, follow in the footsteps of Carl English with a dream to make the

NBA. The 12 boys, the coaches and their families are fundraising to help finance the trip. Look for a basketball booth at the Royal St. John’s Regatta. Take a few shots; dream the dream.

Item: After returning from his honeymoon, Vince Carter refused to comment on impending trade rumors.

Comment: Carter denied allegations he has demanded a trade from the Toronto Raptors. After seeing his reaction, it’s obvious that all is not good in Raptor land.

Carter appeared frustrated, almost wanting a move.

Although trading Canada’s only superstar may cripple the franchise in the short term, it may be the best move for the Raptors’ organization. By trading Carter, the team will free up a large portion of salary-cap room to make way for free agent signings. That will mean Raptors’ fans, yours truly among them, will have to sit tight for at

least another season or two while the team continues its never ending rebuilding stage.

If Carter is to remain in a Raptor uniform, we would once again have to deal with the letdown of pre-season high hopes. Carter is one of the most talented and most popular players in the league. At the same time, he’s a high flyer who seems to be made of glass.

We’ve never gotten a full season of dedication and commitment from Carter, so maybe it’s time for us to let go.

Carter has done some amazing things on the court, but we have never seen him put his talent in high gear in a Raptor uniform. Let another city deal with Carter and his love for staying on the floor. He exaggerates every time he’s hit and is routinely carried off to the locker room, only to return to the court minutes later. I just hope the players we get in return for Carter are willing to work hard and do what it takes to win.

Item: Toronto Blue Jays’ slugger Carlos Delgado chose not to stand during God Bless America at Yankee Stadium.

Comment: This past week the Jays had their first game of the season in the Bronx against the Yankees. During every 7th-inning stretch at Yankee Stadium they play the song to honour those serving in the military.

Delgado has chosen to stay in the dugout in protest of the war. He may be standing by his principles, but I wouldn’t want to start a skirmish with the fans of New York.

His thoughts were presented by a New York columnist on July 21, a column that drew immediate reaction.

While Delgado is entitled to his opinion, New York is probably not the best place in the world to make an anti-war statement. Delgado was booed by fans every time he went to bat. Fans chanted “U-S-A … U-S-A” when he lined out just before the 7th-inning stretch.

New Sport Newfoundland appointments

appointments to the board of governors.

King, a resident of Flatrock, is a former president of Sport Newfoundland and Labrador and also served as the executive director of Basketball Newfoundland and Soccer Newfoundland.

Kenny, a resident of St. John’s, played baseball with St. Bon’s and Holy Cross, coached both Holy Cross junior and senior teams piloting several championship teams and was a member of the coaching staff of St. John’s

Capitals.

White, a resident of Stephenville, is a former board member of Sport Newfoundland and Labrador and is a longtime taekwondo volunteer.

Horwood, a resident of St. John’s, is a longtime volleyball volunteer and a member of the Volleyball Hall of Fame. She is also a long-time volunteer with the Newfoundland and Labrador Sport Archives.

The induction banquet will be held Nov. 13 in St. John’s. An

announcement on the new inductees will be made in midSeptember, following the board of governors meeting.

J

ohn W. McGrath, chairman of the board of governors of the Newfoundland and Labrador Sports Hall of Fame, is pleased to announce the appointment of Angela King, Bren Kenny, Aiden White, and Frances Horwood to three-year terms as the newest

Solutions for puzzle on page 24

LURE ICEPAN DREAMS FAR STATION NAVIGATOR PASSAGE MISSUS CANADA RIVER OLDEST LAW NIPPER

Regatta Hall of Fame grows

J

ack Reardigan, chairman of the Royal St. John’s Regatta Hall of Fame, has announced three people will be inducted into the Hall next week.

The selection committee voted builder John O’Mara and coxswains Richard Pittman and Arthur Snow into the Hall of Fame.

The inductees will be formally inducted during a ceremony at the Foran/Greene Room at St. John’s City Hall 12:30 p.m., Wednesday, July 28.

I managed to catch a game at Yankee stadium last summer. The fans there are patriotic and don’t like to see an outsider disrespect their traditions. Delgado may be a marked man in New York. I respect his views on the war, but standing at Yankee Stadium does not mean you support the war. I stood during the 7th-inning stretch to honour the lives of military men and their families for the hardships they endure. That doesn’t mean I agree with war or its consequences. shaundrover@hotmail.com

More road races

T

here are still a handful of road races left on the Newfoundland and Labrador Athletic Association’s 2004 calendar: July 25: The Tely 10 mile road race, St. John’s Aug 15: Quidi Vidi 5 km road race, St. John’s, Ray Will, 8958569.

Aug 22: Penney Mazda NLAA provincial 20 km road race, St. John’s, Chris Murphy 579-7750.

Sept 4: Mercury Bowring Park 5 km cross-country race, St. John’s, Ray Will, 895-8569.

Sept 12: Blueberry Harvest 10 km road race, Harbour Grace, Andrew Peacock, 596-7348.

Sept 19: CHC Newfoundland Provincial Marathon, St. John’s, Tony Young, tyoung@nlcu.com.

Sept 19: Nautilus half-marathon, St. John’s, William Jameson, 5760618.

WANTED The Sunday Independent is growing and requires friendly, energetic, self-starting individuals to fill several new positions with our company. These people are strong team players who thrive in a fast-paced, changing environment. They rise to a challenge and are eager to take on new responsibilities.

Advertising Sales Representative(s) Duties to include, but not limited to: • Identify and pursue new advertising sales opportunities; • Maintain and grow client relationships; • Provide a superior level of customer service to all clients; • Ensure that all documentation is up to date, accurate and submitted in a timely fashion Requirements: University degree in business or marketing would be an asset; Proven experience in print advertising sales; Ability to work well in a dynamic environment; Working knowledge of the Microsoft Office suite If one of these opportunities seems suited to you, then please forward your resume in confidence to: The Sunday Independent, P.O. Box 5891, Stn CSt. John’s, NL, A1C 5X4 We would like to thank all applicants however only those selected for an interview will be contacted. No telephone calls please.

The Sunday Independent, July 25, 2004

Page 27

Events JULY 25 • Family day at Memorial’s Botanical Gardens, St. John’s, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., 737-8590.

• The Paper Bag Princess: The Paper Bag Princess and other stories by Robert Munsch, adapted by Irene Watts. A fundraiser for the Peace-A-Chord festival, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., LSPU Hall, St. John’s, 7534531.

• Weekly healthy garden workshop series, facilitated by Dr. Wilf Nicholls, 737-8590.

• North West River beach festival: Folk music for the family on North West River Beach, Labrador, 497-3339.

• Torbay environment and trails committee/Torbay Gully project booth and recycling blitz, Torbay Hillside Festival, 2-10 p.m., Kinsmen Centre, Torbay (just off Bauline Line), 437-7200.

• Humber Valley Strawberry Festival begins: Music, entertainment and activities, concerts, concession stands, fireworks, Deer Lake, 635-4436. Activities all week.

JULY 26 • Trinity Historical Society’s Eerie evening walk of Trinity, hosted by Kevin Toope of Trinity Historical Walking Tours, 10:30 p.m.-midnight, Trinity, 464-3599.

JULY 27 • Live! On the Lawn Theatre, Hawthorne Cottage, Brigus. Plays are performed Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 3 p.m.

JULY 28 • Cool Jazz for hot nights, with the Louis McDonald Quartet, Corner Brook Arts and Culture Centre,

637-2580.

• Corner Brook day celebrations, a giant birthday party with events and activities for all ages, Margaret Bowater Park, Corner Brook, 637-1588. Continues July 29.

• 18th annual Festival of Flight begins, Gander. Continues until August 2.

• Salvage: Story of a House, written by Michael Crummey, presented by Artistic Fraud of Newfoundland, 8 p.m., Commissariat House, St. John’s, 739-5091.

• Folk night with Duane Andrews and Steve Hussey at the Ship Pub, St. John’s.

JULY 29 • Sand and sea festival, Sandbanks provincial park, 886-2830.

Continues until August 1.

• Seniors’ day at MUN Botanical Garden, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., 737-8590.

• Salvage: Story of a House, written by Michael Crummey, presented by Artistic Fraud of Newfoundland, 8 p.m., Commissariat House, St. John’s, 739-5091.

• Kittiwake Dance Theatre performs at the LSPU Hall, 8 p.m., 753-4531.

• 20th annual George Street festival begins: Snook, A2Z, Buddy Wasisname and the Other Fellers, 8 Track Favourites.

JULY 30 • Free lunchtime concert, the Scruncheons at the St. John’s City Hall Courtyard, noon-12:45.

• Ronnie Power and Anthony McDonald play at Erin’s Pub, Water Street, St. John’s.

• The White Hags comedy cabaret featuring Lois Brown and Liz Pickard, with special guests Mikiki, Barry Buckle, and music by

the Black Bags, 10:30 p.m., Ship Pub, St. John’s.

• Kittiwake Dance Theatre performs at the LSPU Hall, 8 p.m., 753-4531.

• Newfoundland Historic Trust presents The devil made me do it!

A collaboration between storyteller Dale Jarvis and musician Delf Hohmann, Newman Wine Vaults provincial historic site, St. John’s, 7:30 p.m., 739-7870.

• 20th annual George Street festival: Brothers in Stereo, Timber, Rude Mechanicals, Rising Sun, Two for One, Masterless Men. JULY 31 • Sheilah Roberts will sign copies of For Maids Who Brew & Bake: Rare & Excellent Recipes from 17th Century Newfoundland, 1-4 p.m., Colony of Avalon, Ferryland, 739-4477.

• Paul Butler will sign copies of Easton, 9:30 a.m.-noon, Costco, St. John’s, 739-4477.

• Newfoundland Historic Trust presents The devil made me do it!

A collaboration between storyteller Dale Jarvis and musician Delf Hohmann, Newman Wine Vaults provincial historic site, St. John’s, 7:30 p.m., 739-7870.

• Ronnie Power and Anthony McDonald play at Erin’s Pub, Water Street, St. John’s.

• The Independent Living Resource Centre’s annual flea market, 4 Escasoni Place, St. John’s, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., 722-4031 (TTY: 722-7998).

• Manuels River Natural Heritage Society geology tour, hosted by geologist Jeremy Hall of Memorial University, 2 p.m., Manuels River Natural Heritage Society Chalet, Manuels, CBS, 834-2099.

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• MUN Botanical Garden Pippy Park Days, noon-5 p.m., St. John’s, 737-8590. Continues August 1.

• Codroy Valley Folk Festival, promoting Scottish, French and Irish music of the area, Codroy Valley Sports Complex, Upper Ferry Codroy Valley, 955-2528.

Continues August 1.

• 20th annual George Street festival: Great Big Sea, Hawksley Workman, Matt Mays, the Trews and Gearbox.

OTHER: • Stephenville Theatre Festival presents a dozen different plays throughout July and August — usually two or three a day. For festival schedule and information, visit www.stf.nf.ca or call (709) 643-4553.

• Theatre Newfoundland’s Gros Morne Theatre Festival features eight shows this season. For show information or tickets, visit www.theatrenewfoundland.com or call 1-877-243-2899.

• Seasons in the Bight/The New Founde Land Trinity Pageant: plays, dinner theatre, concerts and the pageant, Trinity. Runs until Oct. 11 (pageant to Aug. 31), 4643847.

• Rum, Romance and Rebellion, cultural and literary walking tour of St John’s, Tuesday-Thursday, 6:45 p.m., LSPU Hall, Victoria St., 364-6845.

• Where once they stood, O’Boyle’s historic walking tours, daily 10 a.m. at the Fairmont Newfoundland Hotel, St. John’s. Reservations required, 364-6845.

IN THE GALLERIES: • Travelling Light, with works by

Doug Buis, Catherine Kozyra, Ryan Barrett and more, all inspired by the Pouch Cove environment, James Baird Gallery, Water Street, St. John’s, until July 27.

• Artist Statement by Stephan Kurr and Bad Ideas for Paradise by Emily Vey Duke and Cooper Battersby, Eastern Edge Gallery, St. John’s.

• Annual Members Exhibit, Craft Council Gallery, Devon House, St. John’s, until Sept. 3.

• Summer Songs featuring the work of 15 artists at the Leyton Gallery of Fine Art, St. John’s, 3-5 p.m.

• MUN Botanical Garden’s annual garden and nature art exhibition, 737-8590. Until August 1.

PRIDE WEEK 2004 Pride week 2004 events are running in St. John’s July 26-August 1.

Selected events below, for more activities and information, visit www.ngale.ca • July 26: Flag raising, St. John’s City Hall, noon; press conference/reception, Aids Committee offices, 1 p.m.; Gay Cabaret, Ship Pub, 9 p.m.

• July 29: Drag Race at Scotia Center, Water St, 6:30 p.m.; Gay DJ boat tour, 7:30 p.m.; Barry Buckle presents Freedom: A Fashion Show, Zone, 10:30 p.m. 12:30 a.m • July 31: Dinner, Aqua, 8 p.m.; Womyn’s Dance (DJ Liz), Liquid Ice, 10 p.m.; Pride dance (DJ Fabian), Zone, 2 a.m.

• August 1: Pride rally/march, St. John’s City Hall, 2-5 p.m., with guest speakers Peg Norman, Greg Malone and Shannie Duff; Drag Idol, Zone, 10 p.m.