VOL. 3 ISSUE 26
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ST. JOHN’S, NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR — SUNDAY THROUGH SATURDAY, JUNE 26-JULY 2, 2005
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WWW.THEINDEPENDENT.CA —
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OPINION 19
LIFE 17
SPORTS 36
Noreen Golfman salutes Rooms opening
Fifty years in Dick Nolan country
The Rock hit by Snow storm
Top 10 Newfoundlanders and Labradorians of all time
Who’s the greatest Newfoundlander and Labradorian? Is it J.R. Smallwood, who took us by the hand into Confederation, or Peter Cashin, one of the men who tried desperately to stop him? Could it be Captain Bob Bartlett, fearless explorer, or Abraham Kean, famed sealing skipper? Is the greatest contributor a woman — Lady Hilda Squires, first female elected to the House of Assembly, or Mary Walsh, first lady of television. A writer perhaps — E. J. Pratt or Cassie Brown? A scientist like Wilfred Templeman, or academic Leslie Harris? Does a businessman deserve the title: Geoff Stirling or Craig Dobbin? How about First World War soldier Tommy Ricketts or artist David Blackwood? Dr. Wilfred Grenfell for his work on the Northern Peninsula and southern Labrador. An argument could be made for Rick Mercer of Monday Report or Gordon Pinsent, Rowdyman that he is. Keep in mind Alex Faulkner was the first Newfoundlander to play in the National Hockey League, and Ray Guy has been a political commentator like no other. Is the greatest still alive — Brian Peckford or Danny Williams? A singer/songwriter — Ron Hynes maybe, or Buddy Wasisname? Michael Harrington for his work with the media, or Shawnadithit, last of the Beothuks. There are unlimited categories to consider — arts, music, politics, literature, sports … Our Navigators is a special project of The Independent, a celebration of ourselves — this place and its people, an examination of our identity, a way to reconnect with our history, for young people to learn where they come from. The paper, our readers, Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, and a panel of resident experts will help choose a Top 10 — and ultimately a No. 1. Who is the greatest navigator ever? Ask yourself; ask a neighbour or a friend; ask your brother and sister in Alberta; ask your grandson in Ontario; ask your neice or nephew in British Columbia. Then tell us. Help chose Our Navigators — the remarkable men and women who have charted the course of our See “Choosing our Navigators,” page 2 508-year history. See ballot, page 2
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“When I die, I’m going to be 110 years old and shot by a jealous husband.” — Dick Nolan, Newfoundland’s first Juno nominee, best known for Aunt Martha’s Sheep
WORLD 11
Africa needs more than song and dance BUSINESS 25
How to tap into natural gas
IN CAMERA 20
New whale book breaches in local book stores
Life Story . . . . . . 10 Events . . . . . . . . . 23 Crossword . . . . . 24
JUNE 26, 2005
2 • INDEPENDENTNEWS
Choosing Our Navigators TO NOMINATE A NAVIGATOR: • Go to www.theindependent.ca and click on Our Navigators icon • Mail in ballot (see ballot to right) • Telephone … 1-888-998-4639 The Independent is calling on the public to submit candidates for Our Navigators, through e-mail, telephone or mail-in ballot. The only prerequisite for nominees is they must have helped chart Newfoundland and Labrador’s course during our 508-year history. Candidates can come from all walks of life — politicians, painters, academics, musicians, artists, intellectuals, business leaders, explorers, journalists … Potential Navigators must be strong of character and of heart, with a core passion for this place and its people. Candidates do not necessarily have to have been born in Newfoundland or Labrador — it is their contribution that matters. Nominations must be received by The Independent by Friday, July 10. After that date, The Independent will assemble a panel to review the candidates and choose a Top 10. The 10 will not necessarily have received the most nominations. Panelists will include Independent columnists Ray Guy, John Crosbie, Noreen Golfman, Ivan Morgan,
Siobhan Coady and Ryan Cleary, as well as historian John FitzGerald. The panel will have extremely difficult and controversial decisions to make. On Sunday, July 17, The Independent will list the Top 10. Beginning in that edition, one Navigator will be spotlighted in a front-page profile each week. Between July 17 and Sept. 20, The Independent will accept votes from the public on the No. 1 Newfoundlander and Labradorian of all time — choosing from the list published each week in The Independent. Votes are welcome to include a note explaining why they’ve chosen their particular Navigator. The panel will reconvene during the week of Sept. 19-23 to choose a winner — to be announced in the Sept. 25th edition. The winner may not necessarily be the candidate with the most votes. The ultimate choice will be that of the panel — not necessarily the candidate with the most votes. Newfoundland and Labrador has a proud history stretching back to the time of the Beothuks and the Vikings. This land has had no shortage of navigators, explorers, leaders and visionaries. The sea itself has chartered our course. Let the debate begin — any may the best navigator win.
Open call for nominations To nominate an individual as the greatest Newfoundlander and Labradorian ever, please complete this ballot and mail to The Independent office Nomination: _______________________________________ Submitted by: ______________________________________ Mail to: The Independent P.O. Box 5891, Stn. C St. John’s, NL, A1C 5X4
You can also submit your nomination via telephone 1-888-998-4639 or by visiting www.theindependent.ca/navigators
All nominations must be received no later than Friday, July 10
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JUNE 26, 2005
INDEPENDENTNEWS • 3
Graduation day No more classes, no more books, no more students’ dirty looks, teacher Sam Cove says goodbye after 30 years at the chalkboard
Retired teacher Sam Cove.
ALISHA MORRISSEY
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r. Cove sits in an empty classroom, just days before his retirement, reflecting on his first day of school as if it happened earlier that very day. Sam Cove, a teacher for the last 30 years, beams when he talks about his first Grade 4 class in Fortune. He says he pulled up to the school in a “souped up” Dodge Challenger. “All the kids went crazy over the car and then they wanted to take your hand and carry you into school because you
Rhonda Hayward/The Independent
were the new teacher,” Cove tells The Independent. Two days before his own “graduation day,” Cove talks about his retirement as easily as if he were teaching one of his French or economics classes. He plans to open a financial planning firm to teach people how to get out of debt and avoid it all together — continuous learning, he says. “My favourite part of the school year is just the interaction with the kids; it’s the laughs, it’s the humour,” he says. “Mostly it’s just making the classes interesting to the kids, like it’s good that you cover content and it’s good that you cover textbooks, but it’s relating all of that to real life.” Cove officially retired from Gonzaga
High School on June 24. He’s taught more than 3,000 students over the course of his career. And they all remember him, he says with a laugh. He says he still runs into students and they bring up silly stories about him telling puns about getting “a charge” out of the St. John’s Battery, or giving out incentives like watching a movie if the class got a 70 per cent average on a test. “Everyday when I leave here there’ll be 20 memories because there’s been so much fun and so much laughter,” he says. “I always listen to my former students — they’re the real evaluators.” Cove says he’s seen a lot change in the last three decades, including his stu-
dents. “The technology just blows me away. The MP3s, the cell phones now, the cell phones that can record you, the cell phones that can take little movies,” he says. “The students have changed, but society has changed. “There’s so much more out in the world today for my students than there was 30 years ago. Thirty years ago you’d talk to students about their dreams and it would be teacher, nurse, fireman, cop … but when I talk to kids today about their dreams there’s a whole kaleidoscope.” Cove says years ago he had students dropping out to go into the fishery, to work in the woods or just to go to Toronto, but today almost all kids finish
school. “I never say to the kid you’re a loser or you’re not going to make it or you’re going to whatever, it’s always ‘When you get your act together and you get serious, the world is your oyster,’” Cove says. “My Grade 7 French teacher told me I’d never be a French teacher and I spoke to him six years later in French and he couldn’t keep up, so you never, ever tell a kid they can’t make it.” Looking around the room, Cove says at 50 he’s one of the youngest teachers to retire, but it’s time for him to let someone else into the game. “There’s somebody out there now who’s younger and they need full-time employment to get that mortgage, to get that new car or to pay off that student loan. Like somebody that’s coming in here now is like me coming in 30 years ago,” he says. “Somebody new will come in with all kinds of energy and new ideas and that will be good for the school. “At the end of it all there’s just a tremendous feeling of peace and contentment. Like when I leave school on Friday, I’m going to leave with my head held high. I went in, I got through 30 years.” His advice for the teacher that replaces him is the same advice he gave himself everyday, Cove says. “I don’t view them as being students, but as a clientele. So when they come in you’d better do a good job or you’re going to go out of business. “Students don’t care how much you know, they care how much you care.” He says students won’t remember he taught them how to drop the “er” off a French verb, but they will remember the acts of kindness, compassion and how he cared about them. Cove says there are lots of stories to reflect on, including a student who handed in a project that had been cancelled, another student who always skipped school only to show up one day when school was closed, or the time one of his sons called him Dad in class. But the ones that will stay with him are the kids and teachers who passed away during his years teaching. After school, Cove will go home to his family — his wife, a retired teacher, and his two sons, both of whom he taught at Gonzaga (including his youngest, who’s graduating this year). Cove hopes to take a regular summer vacation this year. Announcements suddenly blare over the loudspeaker, piped into every classroom and hallway, calling teachers to the phone or lounge. Cove winces. “That’s one thing I won’t miss. That I won’t miss.”
‘That’s not acceptable’ Premier says pre-engineering work for Hebron-Ben Nevis oil project taking place around the world — but not in Newfoundland and Labrador CLARE-MARIE GOSSE
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lthough detailed negotiations over the Hebron-Ben Nevis offshore oil project have yet to start between Chevron Canada Resources and the province, pre-engineering work has already begun — and it’s not happening here. Chevron, the world leader in heavy oil production, is heading the HebronBen Nevis project and is in the process of formulating a development application to the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Energy Board (CNLOPB). The Hebron field, located in the Jeanne d’Arc Basin, close to Hibernia and Terra Nova, is thought to contain up to 700 million barrels of oil. Along with partner company ExxonMobil, Chevron is also planning to begin exploration within the Orphan Basin. Chevron is currently assessing production system options for Hebron and has not yet released proposals for the location of engineering work. Danny Williams says he’s disappointed pre-engineering work is already being conducted outside the
province. “I understand now that ExxonMobil are having some work done in Leatherhead (U.K.),” he tells The Independent, “I understand that Chevron is having some pre-engineering work done in Calgary, some is probably being done in Houston, some is being done in Norway and you know, that’s not acceptable. “We have to make sure that the engineering work is given to us here because if we don’t have the benefit of the expertise and the work to get the hands on experience, then we can’t develop an inventory of human resources, engineering resources.” INTEREST IN THE PROVINCE Alex Archila, president of Chevron Canada Resources, visited St. John’s last week to speak at the closing luncheon of the Newfoundland and Labrador Ocean Industry Association’s oil and gas conference. He expresses an interest in developing a strong relationship with the province. “I realize this is earned through actions, not words,” he says. Archila says Chevron has not yet decided on the best production system, although they have started to make
steps towards “understanding” what needs to be done. The company has previously suggested the possibility of a smaller version of Hibernia’s Gravity Based Structure (GBS). “We have our own work being done mostly by our own people and we have very miniscule contracts in different locations, but engineering work will start next year when we submit the development application. “What we’re doing right now is not designing, we’re understanding.” Archila says he is used to dealing with government officials around the world and he’s not fazed by Williams’ strong words regarding royalties and benefits from Hebron at an oil industry conference last month. “My lessons from these years of working around the world is, listen, don’t go too deep into the optics of things but try to understand. When people are saying something, what are the thoughts behind it? What are the motivations?” Archila says he doesn’t yet know if Newfoundland and Labrador has the resources the Hebron project might need to set up engineering operations, without needing to bring in considerable outside support. “You ask potential contractors,
Alex Archila, president of Chevron Canada Resources.
‘Would you like to do this work? If we were to do a GBS, would you like to do this design?’ Like an architect, ‘Could you design my house?’ And some of them will tell you yes or no. “Now, to design it, they will need certain things … we have to talk to them and say, ‘Look, we are hearing strongly from the community in St.
John’s that there is an interest that when we proceed with this, that there are engineers working there.’ And of course, they know this right? What do you think? Does that affect your design? Does it make it more expensive? Does it make it impossible?” Williams knows exactly where he is — he says he’s looking as far as 20 years ahead. “We’re a significant player in Canada. Obviously we’re not nearly in Alberta’s league, but we are certainly the significant player on the East Coast. “That means we require the engineering work, we want the head offices here, we want to make sure that people are looking now at alternatives for secondary and tertiary processing and as well, our royalties have to be as good as anywhere in the world as far as I’m concerned … we’re just basically taking a share-of-the-wealth approach and that’s what I’ve said all along.” Archila says Chevron hopes to have reached a decision on future production methods by early 2006. The current one-man office based in St. John’s is slated to expand to 80 employees by that time and drilling is expected to follow in late 2006 or early 2007.
JUNE 26, 2005
4 • INDEPENDENTNEWS
Two more Spanish trawlers cited for illegal fishing By Alisha Morrissey The Independent
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wo more foreign trawlers have racked up four citations between them in recent days for alleged illegal fishing outside Canada’s 200-mile limit. The Spanish trawler Codeside was cited June 18 for use of undersized mesh — about 30 millimetres below regulation size. Another Spanish vessel, the Xinzo, was issued three citations: one for failing to accurately report catch; failing to properly label its turbot catch; and failing to properly separate catches. Both vessels were fishing outside the 200-mile limit in an area regulated by the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO), which monitors waters on the high seas. Morley Knight, director of conservation and protection with the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans in St. John’s, says the net of the Codeside was removed from the vessel and a citation issued. Inspectors then sealed the mesh onto the side of the boat for the Spanish government to inspect, and informed EU inspectors of the citations. Under NAFO rules, Canada cannot arrest ships for breaking the rules. Rather, it’s up to the home country of a vessel charged with illegal fishing to follow through with court action. The Spanish vessel Xinzo was boarded by Canadian inspectors on
June 19, the second time in the month of June. Canadian inspectors allege the vessel has been misreporting catches — reporting the fish had been caught in one area, when it was actually caught in another. “We consider this matter a fairly serious concern that there’s, what appears to be, misreporting of catch,” Knight says. “The other provisions of labelling and stowage plans are there to ensure administratively that inspectors are able to tell where the catch came from and help prevent misreporting.” Ten foreign vessels have received 21 citations to date this year for illegal fishing outside Canada’s 200-mile limit — surpassing last year’s total of 15. Five of the 10 vessels cited are Spanish. NAFO has reduced this year’s turbot quota to 19,000 tonnes — a sharp decrease from 42,000 tonnes in 2003. Over the past decade, more than 300 citations have been issued against foreign vessels. Most of the citations were issued without publicity, often against boats that have been cited frequently but face no penalty in their home country. Fishing advocates in this province have repeatedly called for Canada to take custodial management of the Grand Banks, a move Ottawa has been reluctant to make. Foreign fishing outside the 200mile limit impacts fishing in Canadian waters in that groundfish stocks, which are migratory, don’t recognize the imaginary dotted line. GENERAL MANAGER John Moores john.moores@theindependent.ca
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Federal Liberal candidate Chuck Furey campaigning door-to-door pays a visit to 95-year-old voter Catherine Breen in St. Mary's in October, 2000. Rhonda Hayward/The Independent
Political landscaping Rural areas have to top agendas; nationalist sentiments rising By Clare-Marie Gosse The Independent
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olitical eyes are focused towards rural Newfoundland and Labrador. From crab quota disputes and fish plant closures to a highprofile byelection, it seems parties are suddenly realizing the importance of the province’s smaller communities. Nationalistic sentiments are rising once again, particularly with Lisa Moore’s recent CBC documentary Hard Rock and Water, comparing the flagging economy of Newfoundland and Labrador with the strong economy of Iceland. Chuck Furey, former MHA and longtime Liberal cabinet minister, says during recent travels across the province he’s come across many districts looking for change. “I can think of where they (Liberals) can get 10 (seats) immediately. Immediately, with hardly any work,” he tells The Independent. “I do sense that there’s a quiet discontent underneath the political surface … I’ve just travelled all through rural Newfoundland, coming across from St. Anthony right down to the Northern Peninsula — my former district — and I just sense that people are getting pretty fed up out there and I think there’s a real appetite out there for some kind of sweeping change that is radical and new.” As a result of last week’s byelection in Exploits, which saw the Liberal’s 16year reign toppled by PC candidate Clayton Forsey, the House of Assembly now stands at 34 PCs, 11 Liberals, two New Democrats and one independent. Although Furey says he has no current intention of re-entering politics, he’s keeping the door open and retains a keen interest in current events, meeting regularly with a group of friends to “jaw about it all. “This is very hypothetical; if I did
come back it would be with the Liberal party, but it would have a radical, bold agenda for rural Newfoundland.” Furey quit provincial politics in 2000 to run federally against Loyola Hearn in what was then the riding of St. John’s West. He says rural Newfoundland and Labrador has to be placed at the top of the political agenda. Premier Danny William’s says he’s aware the opposition are pinning an anti-rural Newfoundland label on his party. “There’s nothing further from the truth,” he tells The Independent. “I mean, we’ve created significant employment, I think it’s over 400 jobs we’ve created in rural Newfoundland; we’ve preserved several. One good example of what we’ve done in rural Newfoundland is Arnold’s Cove, where we stepped up as a government, we bought the quota and we saved 300 jobs. That’s just in one community.” Williams admits to taking a significant popularity knock over the recent crab disputes, which were triggered after government announced a pilot project on raw material sharing, including a quota system for plant owners. Fishermen protested, claiming the move would kill competitive marketplace pricing. “I’m not in politics just to be popular,” he says. “Nobody likes not to be liked, I mean there’s no doubt about that … but in order to make decisions that are in the best interests of the whole province, sometimes you annoy certain portions of the population.” Furey calls the crab dispute “perhaps the biggest political boondoggle,” he’s seen from the Williams’ administration to date. When asked if he thinks the province needs a stronger voice in Parliament — such as the Bloc in Quebec — to lobby on certain issues, Williams says it’s important for Newfoundland and
Labrador to raise its voice — without a separatist mentality. He mentions tactics such as the controversial lowering of the Canadian flag during the Atlantic Accord negotiations. “I felt it had to happen to make a statement to the Government of Canada. So you can work within the federation and that’s our first and our best approach, but there is a strong feeling of nationalism and separatism in the province.” Williams stresses the importance of “working together” and not causing a provincial split of opinion. Former opposition leader Roger Grimes, however, was often quite vocal in his approval of a potential Bloc-type party for the province. He recently retired as head of the provincial Liberals and was replaced by Twillingate-Fogo MHA Gerry Reid. Independent Newfoundland and Labrador parties have come and gone over the years. The Newfoundland and Labrador First Party, headed by Tom Hickey, a former provincial Tory politician, formed last November — not to promote separation — but to fight for provincial issues. Hickey says the party is still unregistered and is gradually building up a membership and looking at fundraising options. Furey says it’s an interesting time for provincial politics. “I don’t know what Mr. Reid’s intentions are but I think he’s a good interim leader and he will hold the party together and rebuild and do all of the necessary work. “But I think there will probably be another (Liberal) leader, perhaps from outside the caucus. I don’t know that for certain, but a new leader coming in can certainly bring a fresh vision and a new vision. Attract new candidates, raise some money and prepare for the battle ahead. It’s an exciting time actually for Liberals, believe it or not.”
JUNE 26, 2005
INDEPENDENTNEWS • 5
Tobin reacts to loss of engineering jobs on his watch
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Brian Tobin
ormer premier Brian Tobin denies his 1998 meeting with Dick Cheney, then-president of Halliburton, resulted in a “trade off” of engineering jobs associated with the Terra Nova project. A front-page story in the June 19-25 issue dealt with an Independent investigation into the failure of the Terra Nova companies, headed by Petro-Canada, to honour a benefits plan to bring engineering operations to St. John’s. The loss of those jobs may have cost the provincial economy upwards of $500 million. Chuck Furey, former provincial minister of Mines and Energy, told The Independent that Tobin had little choice but to agree to the wishes of Halliburton — one of the world’s largest oil services companies — due to potential extensive
costs and significant project delays. “We spoke with Dick Cheney, who is now the vice-president of the U.S. We had a short meeting with him and coming out of that, Cheney committed to build a significant facility out in the Donovan’s industrial park and it created, I think, over 150 jobs if I recall and it was a kind of trade off. ‘Look, we’re sorry we couldn’t do that one, let’s try this one.’ “It was kind of like look, here’s the consolation prize, sorry we couldn’t do that, we will make every effort in the future to do it.” Furey was present at a May 6, 1998 meeting between Tobin and Cheney. Tobin has a different interpretation of events. “We always insisted they move as many jobs as possible and bring as much
work as possible,” says Tobin, who failed to return Independent messages prior to the running of last week’s story. “It is true I met with Dick Cheney … and I pressed him on both engineering benefits and … he agreed to put a facility in Mount Pearl and I remember at the time he also provided some software contributions to Memorial University as well,” Tobin says. “But any suggestion that there was any deal is absolute and utter and — please quote me — bullshit and anybody who suggests anything to the contrary is simply not telling the truth.” Tobin says there was no discussion of a trade off of jobs in Mount Pearl for engineering jobs. “The province’s position the entire time that I was the premier was to maximize benefits, whether it was in the offshore or anywhere else
and we always pressed for maximum benefits, including engineering jobs,” he says. “We didn’t always succeed but we never ever took a position that we’d trade off one kind of job for another kind of job. The only issue for us as a province always was in development. At what point do you draw the line, at one point do you shut a project down?” The City of St. John’s took PetroCanada and the Canada-Newfoundland Offshore Petroleum Board to court in September 1998 over engineering jobs that weren’t delivered under the Terra Nova benefits plan. The court ruled against the city, but said it had a point. The province did not follow up with court action of its own. – Clare-Marie Gosse
Janeway closes nursing unit By Stephanie Porter The Independent
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ust a month after the Janeway’s age limit was increased by two years — to 18 from 16 — there are more changes coming in the way the hospital serves its young patients. In a recent internal memo obtained by The Independent, Janeway staff were notified of “a change in inpatient care delivery.” In effect, three inpatient nursing units — a medical, a surgical and infant/toddler unit — will be reduced to two. “We will be integrating the infant/toddler age group into the two units (medical and surgical) over there,” says Patricia Pilgrim, chief operating officer with Eastern Health for cancer care, children’s/women’s health and rehabilitation. In other words, inpatients — those who are admitted and stay overnight in hospital — will no longer be separated by age. According to the memo, the staff “most affected” are those currently working in the infant/toddler unit, which will soon cease to exist. “We are not anticipating staffing
reductions with this,” says Pilgrim. Any nurses not reassigned to the two expanded inpatient units will, she says, be redirected to fill the “huge needs” in outpatient or ambulatory care units. “We haven’t closed beds, as such, at the Janeway.” Pilgrim says there has been a steady decline in the demand for inpatient services in recent years. There has been a corresponding increase on the outpatient side of the operation — and a growing need to realign current resources. “Six, seven years ago, you would be admitted for things that now you’re not admitted for. Obviously, it’s nice not to have to be admitted. It’s nicer to be doing (treatment) on an out-patient basis if we can.” Outpatients also require fewer resources than someone with aroundthe-clock hospital care. Pilgrim gives the example of children with diabetes, many of whom are now treated at home using insulin pumps. Chronically ill children are also often now treated as out-patients — and allowed to stay at home. “You’re hearing a lot about childhood obesity, obviously we have huge needs
Janeway hospital
in that area,” she says, offering another example. Pilgrim says changes in staffing, like those at the Janeway, are happening throughout the health care system. “All over the place, there’s a move towards out-patient care and community-based care.” Pilgrim admits some staff members
SHIPPING NEWS Keeping an eye on the comings and goings of the ships in St. John’s harbour. Information provided by the coast guard traffic centre.
Vessels departed: Asl Sanderling, Canada, to Corner Brook; Gulf Sable, Canada, to Bay Bulls; Maersk Chignecto, Canada, to Musgrave Harbour.
MONDAY, JUNE 20 Vessels arrived: Oceanex Avalon, Canada, from Montreal; Maersk Norseman, Canada, from Hibernia; Cygnus, Canada, from sea; Maersk Norseman, Canada, from Hibernia; Harp, Canada, from Sea; Asl Sanderling, Canada, from Halifax. Vessels departed: Oceanex Avalon, Canada, to Montreal.
THURSDAY, JUNE 23 Vessels arrived: Maersk Chancellor, Canada, from Terra Nova; Gulf Sable, Canada, from Bay Bulls; Kinguk, Canada, from Bay Roberts; Maersk Nascopie, Canada, from Hibernia; Cabot, Canada, from Montreal. Vessels departed: Western Patriot, Panama, to Orphan Basin; Gulf Sable, Canada, to Orphan Basin.
TUESDAY, JUNE 21 Vessels arrived: Sir Wilfred Grenfell, Canada, from Long Pond. Vessels departed: Maersk Norseman, Canada, to Hibernia; Sir Wilfred Grenfell, Canada, to Sea; Burin Sea, Canada, to Hibernia. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22 Vessels arrived: Atlantic Eagle, Canada, from Terra Nova.
FRIDAY, JUNE 24 Vessels arrived: Atlantic Eagle, Canada, from Terra Nova; Cicero, Canada, from Halifax; Atlantic Kingfisher. Vessels departed: Cabot, Canada, to Montreal; Maersk Chancellor, Canada, to Terra Nova; Maersk Nascopie, Canada, to Hibernia; Bucentaur, Bahamas, to Terra Nova; Atlantic Eagle, Canada, to Terra Nova.
Paul Daly/The Independent
are concerned. “There’s a lot of questions that have to be answered: What’s going to happen to me? Where am I going to be next week? “Now that we’ve made the announcement, we’re meeting with staff.” Pilgrim says the reduction in nursing units is a pilot project, and will be reevaluated regularly.
When contacted by The Independent, a spokesperson for the Newfoundland and Labrador Nurses’ Union said the union is aware of the changes at the Janeway, but it’s “very early on. “We have to sort through what this means to the nurses before we will make any further comment,” the spokesperson said.
JUNE 26, 2005
6 • INDEPENDENTNEWS
OUR VOICE
Unsolved mysteries: more questions than answers O
n Friday last, in a free vote in the House of Assembly, Bill 41 — An Act to Amend the Fisheries Products International Limited Act — passed by a margin of 22-17. The outcome was a surprise, given Premier Danny Williams’ vote was expected to foreshadow the end result. While he voted with the Opposition Liberals against the bill, it was carried by the majority of his Progressive Conservative caucus. The vote, delayed several times by a premier who involved himself personally in the negotiations, comes as devastating news to the people of Newfoundland and Labrador in general, and to the people of the Connaigre Peninsula in particular. The whole scenario is a swirl of mystery on both political and business levels. There are more mysteries than answers. It is a mystery that the pre-
mier’s actions on this file are in direct contravention to his behaviour to date. This is an administration exemplified by a hands-on, no-nonsense premier (if you are a supporter) or a headstrong, my-way-or-the-highway authoritarian (if you are not). It is common knowledge that Williams does not brook dissent. The fates of Elizabeth Marshall and Fabian Manning underscore that. Yet suddenly, on this most critical of issues — determining the fate of the very people he vowed to help, the people of rural Newfoundland and Labrador — he allows a free vote. Very odd. Opposition leader Gerry Reid and his Liberals are crying foul, calling the vote a “fix” to make the premier look good. It is the Opposition’s job to say such things, but in this case the fact the behaviour of Williams’ caucus is con-
trary to everything we have seen of his management style to date adds credence to their outrage. The Liberals allege the Tory caucus was instructed to defy the premier, so Williams could look like he kept his promise to the people of Harbour Breton, but that, in the end, the deal was done. Didn’t John Efford also say the deal was done when he brought home the first Atlantic Accord? Williams found a solution to that problem. It would seem the premier has more control over Prime Minister Paul Martin’s caucus than his own. There is another political mystery: seeing the leader of the only socialist party in the House of Assembly, NDPer Jack Harris, vote in favour of a bill that is a green light for more corporate manoeuverings by a company built by public funds and exploiting a public resource.
Even more mysterious is the gossip surrounding the role former premier Brian Tobin may have played in all this. He was said to be lobbying on FPI’s behalf. Who exactly was Tobin calling? There are only 48 votes that mattered. Was he calling Jack Harris? The mysteries do not stop there. The whole scenario makes little sense from a business perspective. FPI’s Derrick Rowe has claimed all along the company can raise $100 million by converting 40 per cent of its U.S. operations into an income trust by selling it to the investment community. Yet the same investment community values all of FPI at $108 million — a figure derived by multiplying the value of a share ($7.15) by the number of shares presently outstanding (15.2 million). The bewildering mysteries of local politics and international finance aside, there are some hard truths to be realized
from all this. The town of Harbour Breton is in real trouble. They will get no fish quota, just a yaffle of empty promises, an empty fish plant and the hollow feeling of having been led down the garden path by a premier who promised to do all he could, and then didn’t even do what he normally does. For an administration that claims to be open, there are more twists and turns in this saga than the road to Trepassey — which the town of Harbour Breton will likely soon resemble. The passing of Bill 41 is a disaster for Harbour Breton and bad news for the rest of us. Whether that was due to a spectacular lapse in leadership, or the cynical manipulation of his usually carefully controlled caucus, one thing is certain: by allowing FPI to abandon the people of Harbour Breton, Williams and his administration have done the people of this province a huge disservice.
YOUR VOICE Requiem for a fishery
O
ur entry into Confederation election. The politicians and bureaucoincided with the transition crats continue to do a great disservice from the traditional saltfish to the fishing industry and are misfishery to the frozen fish industry. leading us by keeping those serious These two events changed the lives of problems far from the public eye. The our fishing industry people forever. next meeting of NAFO — which The new frozen industry, operating should be held in St. John’s — is on the ice-free south coast, prospered scheduled for Estonia in September for the first 25 years, directly employ- and will be a useless exercise in fishing over 8,000 people in processing eries management. plants between Trepassey and Isle The Canadian government has writAux Morts. Fish was purchased from ten off the groundfish fisheries adja5,000 independent fishermen and cent to the province and on the Grand 7,500 people were employed in the Banks. Essential fishery science proservices sector. Unemployment was grams have been gutted, leaving manlow and UI was unknown. Joey agers with less and less knowledge of Smallwood’s resettlement scheme the state of the stocks. There isn’t also solved a labour even an indication shortage problem of a science-based Today we have one cri- plan to determine for plant operators. Fish supply came what steps might be sis after another in from cod, flatfish, taken to rebuild our redfish and other rural areas. In the next fisheries. Instead, species delivered to the Government of plants by inshore five years we are likely Canada endorses an fishermen and comopen ports policy to have another 20 pany-owned that encourages trawlers. Harbour Bretons due to uncontrolled forAgainst great eign fishing on the shortage of fish. odds, Fishery what little is left of Products Ltd. develthose migrating oped the new industry in areas that species. Over 230 million pounds of had few roads, no industrial electrici- commercial species were landed and ty and a shortage of technically trans-shipped from Conception Bay trained personnel. The company did and Argentia ports in 2004 — enough that and gained market share from the fish to keep Harbour Breton working Maritimes, Scandinavian countries continually for five years. And we and other suppliers. Foreign fishing can’t find enough fish to enable workbegan in 1950 and by 1965 there were ers there to qualify for EI! 45,000 men on 600 trawlers fishing Meantime, our own provincial govyear-round from Labrador to the ernment — out of touch with fisheries Grand Banks. reality — signs exemptions, permitBeing a commissioner with ICNAF ting round fish to leave the province. (forerunner of the Northwest Atlantic To make matters worse, DFO permits Fisheries Organization) during those the landing of substantial quantities of crucial years, I was aware that every undersize fish. There’s fear within species — from caplin to cod — was DFO the practice will lead to the end brutally overfished by foreigners, of turbot and yellowtail species. catches misreported and millions and Today we have one crisis after millions of pounds of fish discarded. another in rural areas. In the next five Scientists were misinformed by com- years we are likely to have another 20 mission members on actual catch sta- Harbour Bretons due to the shortage tistics that were so vital to accurate of fish. stock assessments and the basis for Is it possible politicians and bureauestablishing sustainable quotas. The crats can’t count and understand you practice continues today with NAFO, cannot continue to sub-divide the leaving the scientific community ever-diminishing numbers of fish without any idea of the state of vari- available? Surely they can see the end ous fisheries. of the groundfishery is just around the If Ottawa was really committed to corner and they should turn their rebuilding the fishery and managing it attention to salvage what’s left of the on a sustainable basis it would have industry — the crab fishery. begun the process of implementing custodial management as promised by Gus Etchegary, the prime minister prior to the last Portugal Cove-St. Phillip’s
AN INDEPENDENT VOICE FOR NEWFOUNDLAND & LABRADOR
P.O. Box 5891, Stn.C, St. John’s, Newfoundland & Labrador, A1C 5X4 Ph: 709-726-4639 • Fax: 709-726-8499 www.theindependent.ca • editorial@theindependent.ca The 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 MANAGING EDITOR Ryan Cleary SENIOR EDITOR Stephanie Porter PICTURE EDITOR Paul Daly
All material in The Independent is copyrighted and the property of The 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. • © 2005 The Independent • Canada Post Agreement # 40871083
The 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 Independent, P.O. Box 5891, Station C, St. John’s, NL, A1C 5X4 or e-mail us at editorial@theindependent.ca
Happy Newfoundland Day C anada Day is such a lovely holiday, almost as special as your own birthday, unless you’re a Newfoundlander, then it’s screwed up. Then it’s like a tender kiss from the father who beats you. You love your Dad, and always will, but he pounds you, regular and red. Blaming Canada for what’s wrong with Newfoundland and Labrador can be a cheap and sleazy way to score political points with the electorate, but only if you don’t know what you’re talking about (or if you’re out to score points in the first place). If you know what you’re talking about, then blaming Canada is the right thing to do. So is leaving your father’s house when you’re old enough to make it on your own. You’ll be leaving your brothers and sisters behind but they should be fine — Dad’s only interested in beating you. There’s a spark that burns in the hearts of Newfoundlanders. I don’t say Labradorians because, to be fair, I don’t know how they feel. Labrador is as much a part of this land as the Northern Peninsula or Southern Shore, the south coast or Port au Port, but, not living there, I wouldn’t be so presumptuous as to speak for the place. The fire inside a Newfoundlander is stoked by the realization Canada is not doing right by us. The federal government knows this land is being abused and it stands aside and does nothing. The fishery is an example that never goes away. Foreign fishing/fisheries mismanagement was a problem in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and it’s a problem today. Nothing has changed, least of all Ottawa attitudes. The federal government could move to save the fish, and the people, but it chooses not to. Outports fall like dominoes and the Government of Canada stands still. There’s no rebuilding going on; stocks have been reduced to scraps. In truth, the feds are doing something
RYAN CLEARY
Fighting Newfoundlander
— they’re actually preventing the release of information that would build a case for them to act. The media’s hands are tied; so many stories we cannot tell. Even if we could print it all, the people have become so accustomed to bad news they tune it out, water off a duck’s back. Take last week’s front-page story in The Independent. You learn pretty early on in this newspaper racket that it takes more than a single story to stir the masses, to knock off a government, to
The news doesn’t rattle anyone anymore — not Newfoundlanders, not the mainland, not politicians. If there wasn’t a revolution starting up you’d swear the people were beaten. bring an incompetent minister down — to invoke change. Tobin, Cheney trade off, read the headline. An estimated $500 million has been lost because the Brian Tobin administration accepted a consolation prize — a warehouse in Donovans in exchange for 200 gold-collar engineering jobs. The reaction? Interesting, but nothing new, a collective yawn. This place is always getting screwed over — same old, same old. Tobin called The Independent this week in reaction to the story. (The
paper attempted to contact him before the story went to print but he was unavailable.) Tobin denies any sort of trade off, but then admits he pressed for the engineering jobs and settled for a Donovans warehouse and software for Memorial. He saved a jab for the end: “I looked at that story and the headline and the picture and all the rest of it and it’s just typical Ryan Clearyism, or as I used to call it, Ryan Smearyism, nothing new. Some old tactic by the same old guy.” That’s a good defense as any for giving away the shop. There’s no denying it, however. Headlines today have lost their impact: Oil companies make billions, province broke; Cod stocks declared endangered, science budget gutted; Foreign trawlers sail away scot-free with illegal catch; Fish plant shuts down, communities threatened. The news doesn’t rattle anyone anymore — not Newfoundlanders, not the mainland, not politicians. If there wasn’t a revolution starting up you’d swear the people were beaten. Stories such as the Tobin/Cheney deal are making a difference; the flame is slowly building until, some day soon God willing, there may be a full-fledge fire. Of course, the heat will be directed at so many of us for our own greed and incompetence. Fishery Products International and the income trust is a prime example of Newfoundlanders being their own worst enemy. Becoming desensitized to bad news is one thing, cutting our own throats, quite another. There may be a time, some day soon, when we celebrate Newfoundland Day. If Labradorians agree, maybe we’ll call it Newfoundland and Labrador Day. First things first, however. We have to fight for it; we have to earn it. Ryan Cleary is managing editor of The Independent. ryan.cleary@theindependent.ca
JUNE 26, 2005
INDEPENDENTNEWS • 7
A shot across Bill Rowe’s bow I
sat there with the paper in my hands and I thought, “All right. That tears it. That’s it. This I am not leaving alone.” I can’t. I owe it to the good people who raised me to speak up. I owe it to the people who taught me, wittingly or not, what I know about politics today. I owe to Joey-fighters everywhere. A columnist’s job is to sell newspapers, and I know there are other columnists in this town plying their trade. I read them. So should you (after, of course, reading every word in The Independent). And while I rarely agree with them, I am sure they feel the same way about me. But I begrudge no colleague their gig. However … While reading Bill Rowe’s latest outing in The Telegram this past weekend, I was a little taken aback by what I read. Rowe was trotting out that favourite columnist’s hobbyhorse — an independent Newfoundland. And why not? There’s not a lot of research involved. It’s an easy on-the-one-hand, on-the-
IVAN MORGAN
Rant & reason other-hand piece. Kind of writes itself, really. I write them from time to time too. Good work if you can get it. I was a little put off by his confession that he had gone to Ottawa a cuddly confederate and he had returned a savage Newfoundland separatist. Hang on a minute here. That was on our ticket. Our tax dollars are hard won, and with all due respect, I don’t think that was in the job description. But I was never clear what he was supposed to do up there anyway, so I’ll let it go. Great gig (Danny, if you are reading, I know a terrific way to shut me up …). But what Rowe said next really stuck in my craw. He wrote that his enthusiasm for Confederation first started to wane while sitting in Joey’s cabinet lis-
YOUR VOICE Newfoundland’s ‘hidden secret’ Dear editor, Pasadena beach in the summertime! Bring back memories to any of your readers? Last Sunday, being Father’s Day, I took the day off to explore the Humber Valley on my own. I ended up at Pasadena beach where there was an oasis in the desert. Since I do not want this letter to come across as an advertisement, let’s just say the word “oasis” has a double meaning. There now stands on the edge of this famous beach a fine establishment six feet above the sands where folks can relax, have an excellent meal, enjoy a draft beer, hear a few jigs and reels (that aren’t pounding in your ears) and be served by an attractive, smiling staff eager to serve you. The view from up there is spectacular and, of course, the beach is clean, inviting, and a few new additions have been added like a small floating wharf where boats can tie up. To the young entrepreneur Darren Gardner,
tening to Joey rant about Confederation. Made him sound a little rebellious. Well, what a revelation. Mr. Rowe confessing that he had his doubts about Joey. Funny, as I don’t remember it that way. Now I could be wrong, because I was only little, but I remember it quite differently. I remember the cabinet in the late dark days of Joey’s reign, where a very young Mr. Rowe served. It was a time of division and paranoia in Newfoundland society. Smallwood did not suffer any dissent. People who openly defied Joey Smallwood suffered. Their families suffered. My parents were among them. To stand up publicly to Smallwood was to risk unemployment and worse. My father was an engineer who depended on business contracts for his private company. The word was out that it was a bad idea to do business with him, because he was an anti-Joey Tory. He wasn’t alone. Fearless people like the great Ray Guy stood up to Joey and his Liberal
machine, showing people it could be done. But it was done at great professional risk. What a debt we all owe him. Was the Smallwood administration tyranny? Maybe not — Newfoundland was a democracy. But it was close. It was not nice. Did anyone in Joey’s cabinet ever once show the slightest sign of anything other than total unquestioning devotion to the leader? Not if they knew what was good for them. Historians may prove me wrong, but I do not recall one iota of the we-aretrying-to-work-within-the system argument coming from Mr. Rowe at the time. John Crosbie and Clyde Wells, both in Smallwood’s cabinet, tried that and failed. They finally bailed out. Not Mr. Rowe. Are we going to hear in 10 years time greying pensioners — the same ones who currently serve as ministers in the Williams administration — say they had their doubts about Danny? I hope not. If you have issues with the premier, then you do an Elizabeth Marshall. You don’t tell tales later when it is conven-
ient. Speak now, or forever hold your peace. I don’t remember Mr. Rowe being anything other than Team Joey all the way. And Joey Smallwood and his administration had become an increasingly big problem. Bill Rowe has earned the respect of all of us through his work in the media over the last 20 years. But that doesn’t give him the right to re-write the past. Maybe he did have his doubts about Joey. But if he did, he was mighty quiet about it. Mighty quiet indeed. There were brave people in this province who risked professional ruin and their personal reputations standing up to something that came perilously close to dictatorship — the fading days of Joey Smallwood. We all owe them great respect and gratitude. And Mr. Rowe, bluntly put: you weren’t one of them. You sir, were part of the problem. Ivan Morgan can be reached at ivan.morgan@gmail.com
FIESTA!
as well as co-owners and workers, thanks for a wonderful place that day for me to simply relax, read another great edition of The Independent, wet my whistle and walk a beach that has always been a wonderful place to swim during July and August. Yes indeed, the Humber Valley seems to boast new attractions all the time. There’s the incredible Humber Valley Resort and its beautiful golf course, The Heritage Tree, Strawberry Hill, Pasadena Pitch and Putt and so much more. I’m sure there will always be debate on what’s happening and whether all this is a good thing. But if it looks classy, blends in with the beauty of the valley, and makes folks feel welcome to our hidden secret here in Newfoundland, I’m all for it. See you in my own backyard this summer at Pasadena beach! There’s a nice new surprise awaiting you. Mike Madigan, Pasadena
Can-do attitude Dear editor, I’m not very good at arranging or expressing my thoughts, but I would like to try and explain my thoughts as a patriotic Newfoundlander. I watched the documentary, Hard Rock & Water, to see how well Iceland is doing as a nation on its own. It makes me cringe to see what’s happening to Newfoundland and its resources in Canada. Let’s go independent. Let’s be ourselves. Let’s increase our can-do attitude and let the world know we can do what Iceland did in 1944.
In the days of Responsible Government, Great Britain still controlled Newfoundland. In 1909, Sir Robert Bond, prime minister of Newfoundland, landed trade deals with the U.S.A. and Britain — and Canada said it’s not allowed. The French controlled the western half of the island during days of self-government until 1904. We weren’t lucky enough to make official the pink, white and green, etc. I’d like to see Newfoundland go independent so we can have less unemployment like Iceland. Ron Durnford, Stephenville Crossing
He who ignores the past … Editor’s note: the following letter was written by St. John’s Mayor Andy Wells to Fred Way, acting chairman of the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board. A copy was forwarded to The Independent. Dear Mr. Chairman: I am sure you are aware of the contents of the very excellent article which appeared in The Independent (Tobin, Cheney trade off, June 19-25 edition) regarding the dispute surrounding the engineering jobs for the Terra Nova project. A wise person once said: “He who ignores the past is condemned to repeat it.” In this context, all of us who are concerned about the future growth and development of our oil industry should be persistent and consistent in our
attempts to maximize local benefits, mindful of past mistakes. I am writing you, therefore, with a request to provide the people of Newfoundland and Labrador with a statement as to the status of the engineering work associated with Hebron/Ben Nevis development. Is Chevron doing any pre-engineering work with respect to Hebron/Ben Nevis in Calgary or Norway? It is vitally important for us to know right away what the company’s intentions are with respect to the pre-feed engineering work. Would you please address this matter immediately as it is of the utmost importance. Andy Wells , Mayor of St. John’s
New St. John’s residents Carolina Hueph, Ricardo Venegas and Marta Cortes — dressed in traditional clothing from their native Colombia — will take part in a Multicultural Community Awareness Program Fiesta June 27, in celebration of Canadian Multiculturalism day. The fiesta will include presentations, cultural displays, performances, international food and the launch of a resource manual, A sense of belonging: a community tool for action. The event takes place 3-5 p.m. at St. John’s City Hall. Paul Daly/The Independent
Premier should ‘show a little humility’ Dear editor, I have noticed a somewhat bitter irony in the attitude of Danny Williams towards fishermen and the attitude of the recently deceased Pope John Paul II towards fishermen. In 1984, the Pope visited Newfoundland and he displayed his respect for our fishery workers by visiting the village of Flatrock. While there, he blessed the fishing fleet and his sermon portrayed his concern for fishermen and their families when he quoted E.J. Pratts’ poetry about the trials and heartbreak of fishing folk. The Pope also issued to us a warning not to let the products of our fishery become just another commodity to be bartered for the greater benefit of merchants and traders. He may have been too late with his warning but his concern should be appreciated. The irony of Mr. Williams and the Pope is that after making his illadvised decision on crab resource sharing, Mr. Williams decreed that fishermen go back fishing on the same day that Pope John Paul was laid to rest. This might seem inconsequential
to many people but to fishermen it meant that Danny Williams was not only a commodity supporter but was actually making us, the fishermen, a commodity to be traded and bartered for the benefit of processors. It is very sad that Mr. Williams would mistake the 74 per cent approval rating he gained on his handling of the Atlantic Accord as a mandate to try to destroy the fisheries union and rural Newfoundland in one decree. If there were any real concern for small boat fishermen and plant workers, Mr. Williams and his government would have started a dialogue with fishermen. He would take into consideration the opinions of fishermen on the state of cod stocks. He would start a campaign similar to his Atlantic Accord fight to question DFO and scientists on their cowardice in respect to increasing cod quotas. A successful campaign would give plant workers and fishermen the raw material to secure their livelihood. The people of this province gave the premier a vote of confidence not just to run the government, but to pro-
vide good leadership and good leadership is more than making the so-called tough decisions — its about listening, compromise and working with people in order to build consensus. The fishing industry employs 25,000 people directly and contributes much employment and profit indirectly. The $2.5 billion we have not received from the Atlantic Accord deal represents just two fishing seasons. Where was the great business sense in being prepared to “lose the summer” as the premier said on May 6? Mr. Williams we have watched governments fall all over the world because they lost the trust of the people. It is certainly clear you have lost the trust of the people of fishing communities. If you believe your leadership is beneficial to us, show a little humility and really consult the fishermen to try and rebuild the fishery for everyone’s benefit rather than for the benefit of the fish merchants. Joe Edwards, Lawn
JUNE 26, 2005
8 • INDEPENDENTNEWS
‘Corporate vandalism’ Historic building sits vacant one year after real estate scandal
By Alisha Morrissey The Independent
I
f walls could talk, the former St. Michael’s convent in St. John’s would probably be moaning. The 183-year-old house was in excellent condition — and still in use by the Sisters of Mercy — until the day it was purchased by Myles-Leger, the real estate developer that filed for bankruptcy on July 15, 2004. Councillor Shannie Duff, who also chairs the Heritage Advisory Committee, tells The Independent the company gutted the interior of the building not long before filing for
bankruptcy protection against creditors. While the building has sat dilapidated for the last year, it is now set to be purchased by engineering and construction giant SNC Lavlin. Duff says papers have yet to be filed with the city. Myles-Leger was building a number of developments when the company ran out of cash last year. The company owed a total of more than $14 million to 128 companies — including $2.5 million each to the Toronto Dominion Bank and Bank of Montreal. “They bought the whole package, the orphanage ... they were looking at
Councillor Shannie Duff stands in front of the former St. Micheal’s Convent, built in 1821, which was gutted last year by Myles Leger. Rhonda Hayward/The Independent
something possibly residential or office use, but they didn’t define any use for the building at the time. I think that was something that they were going to look at afterwards,” Duff says. “But they did get a very good deal on that property.” The entire property, including the former Belvedere Orphanage, a fair bit of land and the convent, sold for $500,000. The orphanage has since been taken over by the provincial government and now houses MCP offices. “A lot of people bent over backwards to help them and of course St. Michael’s Convent, which probably was the most valuable part of that entire deal, shouldn’t be neglected,” Duff says. “Given its value it should be sold to someone who is prepared to do something with it.” The house was originally built in 1821 by the Emerson family. It was
later sold to Bishop Michael Fleming, who was responsible for the construction of the Basilica of St. John the Baptist. When Fleming died, the house was left to the Sisters of Mercy. “It was in beautiful condition when they bought it, stripped out the interior … and then anyway, don’t get me going,” Duff says. A strip of houses was also built on the property. Some were bought before the bankruptcy, but not completed until months later and others are still for sale. There have been reports of vandalism in the vacant properties. Despite repeated calls, Coldwell Banker Pro Co., the real estate company now selling the houses, couldn’t be reached for comment. Duff says little can be done about vandalism. PricewaterhouseCoopers, trustee for Myles-Leger, is currently looking after the company’s finances and adminis-
tration. Jim Kirby, spokesman for PricewaterhouseCoopers, says the company is paying off outstanding debts by order of priority and confirms there is a pending offer on the orphanage and convent property. “There’s an agreement of purchase and sale executed and dealing with that,” he says. Two lawyers, William Parsons and Glenn Bursey, are still under investigation by the Law Society of Newfoundland and Labrador regarding their handling of trust funds related to real estate transactions with MylesLeger. The law society confirms the investigation is ongoing, but refused further comment. Duff says Myles-Leger committed “corporate vandalism. “It’s heartbreaking to see a building of that value in the state that it’s in now.”
No ‘marked departure’ in contract talks: Williams
P
remier Danny Williams is reluctant to discuss upcoming contract talks with the province’s nurses and teachers, but he does say government would like to remain close to last year’s raises given to direct government workers.
“We will certainly try to be as fair right across the board as we have with the others. So there won’t be any marked departure from the norm, let’s put it that way,” Williams tells The Independent. Roughly 20,000 government workers represented by the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Public and Private Employees (NAPE) and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), were legislated back to work last April after a 28-day strike. The contract imposed on them freezes their wages for two years, and provides for annual increases of two and three per cent in the final years of a four-year contract. The government-dictated contract also halves the number of sick days. The unions representing nurses and teachers were due to enter into contract negotiations last year but chose to defer for a year — wisely it seems. With extra federal healthcare funding and revenues from the new Atlantic Accord, provincial government coffers are in much better shape now. At the time of deferring negotiations, Debbie Forward, head of the nursing association said, “We want to make sure when we’re at the table we have government’s full attention.” The unions representing teachers and nurses are expected to sit down to the bargaining table with the province in early fall. Royal Newfoundland Constabulary officers are currently in the midst of negotiations. Contacted by The Independent earlier this month, the heads of the nurses and teachers unions wouldn’t say what they intend to ask for in contract talks. Likewise, NAPE officials wouldn’t say what the union will do if nurses and teachers get a better deal. It has been speculated that should nurses and teachers secure a better contract than other public sector workers, NAPE and CUPE would look to re-open contract talks with the province. — Clare-Marie Gosse
JUNE 26, 2005
INDEPENDENTNEWS • 9
JUNE 26, 2005
10 • INDEPENDENTNEWS
LIFE STORY
Veteran remembered William (Bill) Moyst Died September, 1994 Jennifer Hickey For The Independent
W
illiam (Bill) Moyst didn’t like talking about his war experiences. Like most veterans, he saw things overseas during the Second World War he would rather forget. But his children managed to take in a few stories over the years, stories that recapped his time fighting. His youngest daughter, Doreen, tells a story that occurred while he was in North Africa. “He loved receiving packages from home,” she tells The Independent, and one day while enjoying free time, a courier arrived with a package of saltfish, potatoes, cigarettes, and other items. “The man who delivered the package by way of motorbike was an old buddy of Dad’s, so he offered his friend to stay and cook up a scoff,” Doreen says. After relaxing and cooking a hearty meal, his friend continued on his way delivering messages and packages. A moment later, the courier’s motorbike hit a landmine and he was killed instantly. While in Africa, Doreen says her father often traded rations and cigarettes to local people for bread they cooked in their huts. Doreen says her father told her it was the best tasting bread he had ever eaten. The locals
fried a flour and water mix, resulting in a pita-like bread. On one particular occasion, a local man was amazed by Bill’s clean-shaven face, so as a trade for bread, Bill shaved the man’s face. The man was amazed by his smooth skin and reflection. It was his first and possibly only time being clean-shaven. On another occasion, Bill was lucky not to be killed. An enemy grenade exploded close to where he was standing. He was hit with shrapnel, and pieces remained embedded in his arm and lip for the rest of his life. His leg suffered the most damage, to the point his calf muscle was left clinging by a thread. Rushed to the hospital, he had reconstructive surgery, and his leg was in a cast for weeks. “He had an Asian doctor,” Doreen says, “and Dad woke up one morning with maggots crawling all over his lower body. He called for help, and upon arriving, the doctor started poking the maggots back down into his cast.” The maggots had been put on his leg to consume dead skin in the wound. Bill had a scar on his leg, which ran from his ankle to his knee, for the remainder of his life. Bill stayed overseas until he was well enough to return home. Upon returning to St. John’s, he returned to his job at Newfoundland Telephone, and soon met and married Elizabeth Stamp. They bought a house on Tunis Court — part of a subdivision built for war veterans who were married with at least two
children — where they raised their seven children. Eventually they were blessed with 13 grandchildren, two of whom were born after his death. Bill’s grandchildren remember him every year on Regatta Day at the cash wheel at the head of the pond, or relaxing in the seniors’ tent. He was my grandfather, and I will never forget the small envelope of “lucky money” he gave me every year on Regatta Day, nor will I forget his disgust with the celebration of Canada Day before Memorial Day. I will never forget when he learned to make bread on his own. After my grandmother died he learned to make bread, a feat he was proud of. He took an entire roll of film and each picture on the roll of 24 was a picture of bread. I keep a photo on my fridge of Pop posing with a freshly baked batch. Each of his children has a copy of that photo, and it remains a favourite. I will never forget him letting me scratch Bingo tickets for him, and feeling so special because it was a treat for me. I was only 10 years old when he passed away, so my memories are limited, but knowing he was a soldier in his younger years makes me proud to say my Pop was a member of the 166th Newfoundland Field Regiment, and fought for years to make life for my generation a better one. He passed away on Sept. 15, 1994 and is sorely missed. Jennifer Hickey is a journalism intern from the Bay St. George campus of the College of the North Atlantic.
William Moyst
PAPER TRAIL
‘Know your country’ By Alisha Morrissey The Independent
H
istorically, the July 1 holiday was celebrated a little differently here than in other parts of the country. The July 2, 1949 edition of The Daily News did not carry stories of events held the day before in honour of Canada’s birthday, although July 1st was a holiday. The July 2, front-page headline read: “Prime Minister of India mentions new significance of anniversary with addition of the province of Newfoundland.” The anniversary was Dominion Day, which was renamed Canada Day on Oct. 27, 1982. The story explained how governments from around the world — including Australia, Mexico, Argentina, China and The Netherlands, as well as thenU.S. vice president Harry Truman, offered congratulations on Canada’s 82nd birthday. “Almost everywhere, the skies were blue and a warm sun shone. For the first time, the new province of Newfoundland joined in the festivities,” the story read. The story explained how radio stations around the world played Canadian programming, or at least the country’s national anthem, a couple of times a day. The Fisherman’s Advocate, published out of St. John’s, was a weekly paper at the time and also didn’t print any stories about Canada Day in 1949. However, the July 7 edition carried a story about the memorial for
Hamel, has been writing and broadcasting on veterans since his return home in 1919.” After Confederation, the Fisherman’s Advocate ran a column helping Newfoundlanders get to Know your country, profiling a different province each week. The column for the edition directly following Canada Day was based on a place many Newfoundlanders have grown to know well — Alberta. On Canada’s 107th birthday — July 1, 1974 — it seems there was even less fuss about the holiday. A picture of two little girls appeared on the front page of the July 2 edition of The Daily News. The girls were both attending a fair at the Avalon Mall — one ate cotton candy, while the other rode in bumper cars. Nowhere in the newspaper was there mention of Canada Day — the day was “Picknickin is fun” Canada Sales, simply called “a holiday.” June 28, 1974 The July 5, 1974 edition of the Fisherman’s Advocate Newfoundlanders killed in battle at included an ad for the “Official Beaumont Hamel. Anniversary Medal of Confederation,” The ceremony, held at the War a silver medal minted at the Jacques Memorial in St. John’s, described how Cartier Mint of Canada. The it was the first time a broadcast of the Government of Newfoundland comoccasion was translated into French, as missioned the “masterpiece of metallic Newfoundland was now part of a bilin- art” by artist Ian H. Stuart. It had the gual country. province’s coat of arms on one side and “The interpretation of the ceremonies John Cabot’s boat, The Matthew, on the was, as usual, performed by our nation- other. The two-inch tall medal cost $25 ally known soldier-writer-historian and $25.50 for those outside the Capt. Leo Murphy, who left his bed at province or country and included a the Merchant Navy Hospital to make sequential number, silver hallmark and the broadcast,” the story read. mint mark, as well as “its own special “Capt. Murphy, one of the few sur- velvet presentation case.” Only 10,000 vivors of the hell that was Beaumont orders were filled.
INDEPENDENTWORLD
SUNDAY THROUGH SATURDAY, JUNE 26-JULY 2, 2005 — PAGE 11
Band members from the African Guitar Summer, Our Lady Peace and Great Big Sea listen as live 8 Producer Michael Cohl reads from his notes during a news conference announcing details of the Canadian Live 8 concert in Barrie, Ont., on July 2. Reuters
Amusing ourselves to debt To really make a difference in Africa, we have to do more than singing and dancing By James Travers Torstar wire service
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issing from the Live 8 concerts are a couple of stars who once rocked the world’s conscience. One is Karl Marx, the other Neil Postman. Before capitalism routed communism, Marx famously noted that the rich will do anything for the poor except get off their backs. Postman, a New York professor, thinker and writer, warned that we are in danger of amusing ourselves to death. It’s an unlikely combo, but Marx and Postman say something important about Bob Geldof’s latest attempt to rescue Africa with music. Only a change of tune will start the good times rolling across a continent brought to its knees by corruption, AIDS and poverty. Those problems are simply too entrenched to be moved by momentary pressure on politicians. Nor will they be
budged by the celebrated decision to for- from rich markets and makes aid beggars give the debt of the few developing coun- of states whose low costs should make tries demonstrating good governance, or them tough competitors. Instead of humby Prime Minister Paul Martin’s grudging ming along, we should be shouting for fairreappraisal of Canada’s failure to hit the ness in an economic order that delivers less international assisin aid than it takes tance target set by away in commerce. Lester Pearson in — This isn’t some What’s needed is those wait for it — 1969. dusty, defty-lefty, What’s needed bleeding heart socialwho have so much give now is that those who ist theory resurrected have so much give remarkably entrepreneurial, by Marx’s few remarkably entrepreremaining disciples. hard-working Africans a neurial, notably hardThe hardly radical working Africans a Bank says chance to lift themselves. World chance to lift themknocking down trade selves. That will only barriers and eliminathappen if we stop singing and dancing long ing $280 billion in subsidies that mostly enough to seriously consider evidence that benefit corporate agribusiness would put we are killing them. some $100 billion U.S. annually into Instead of tapping our toes to the music, developing country pockets. we should be putting our foot down on a So what’s $100 billion? Its about $20 trading system that excludes poor farmers billion more than those same wealthy,
industrialized nations contribute annually in aid. If that sounds like taking a lot while giving a little, it is. If it sounds like an argument persuasive enough to convince G-8 leaders to cut subsidies or double aid at next month’s meeting in Scotland, it’s not. Worried about the political impact of the one, and divided over Tony Blair’s drive for the other, the world’s economic highrollers are taking cover behind the June 11 agreement to forgive the foreign debt of 18 of the poorest countries. Geldof welcomes that as a step in the right direction and a triumph for the Live 8 tactics. But it frees only $1 billion a year for wells, schools and clinics. Here at home, Martin, who is spending billions domestically trying to re-elect Liberals, is hard pressed to find the money needed to restore Canada’s development See “Off the backs,” page 13
‘His life and horrible death moved me’ NEW YORK lose to Central Park in New York’s leafy Upper West Side neighborhood, there’s a slender tree planted in the pavement. A plaque in front of the tree was put up by students of the long-closed Walden School to commemorate one of the school’s alumni. His name was Andrew Goodman. Every time I walk by, the plaque calls up, weirdly perhaps, a feeling of nostalgia for a time when evil was unambiguous. Goodman was just 20 when he died, on June 21, 1964, on a country road in Mississippi. We were fellow New Yorkers. He was by then a student at the same college I had entered as a green freshman that fall, but I never knew
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Global context him. Even so, his life and horrible death moved me. I was envious of the idealistic young man who had begged his parents to let him go to Mississippi that summer as a civil rights worker. “I was raised in an era of terrible things that have happened in my lifetime,” he told his mother, invoking his own Jewish heritage and memories of the holocaust. “So I have to go.” And he went. I’m sure, like any 20year-old, he was as much in search of
adventure as a moral crusade. But that doesn’t matter now. The world now knows him as a martyr to America’s civil rights struggle. Along with fellow volunteers Michael Schwerner, 24, and James Earl Chaney, 21, he was dragged out of their car at midnight, beaten, shot – and then buried under an old earthen dam. “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust,” chanted the mob of Ku Klux Klansmen who killed them, according to later testimony. “If you’d stayed where you belonged, you wouldn’t be here with us.” That of course was the point. Goodman and Schwerner, two white men from New York, and Chaney, an African-American from Mississippi, had chosen not to stay where they
“Ashes to ashes, dust to dust,” chanted the mob of Ku Klux Klansmen who killed them. “belonged.” They were recruits to a growing army of young (and some older) Americans who refused to accept the traditional boundaries of class, economics, race and even nationality — and in turn inspired global movements that broke down the borders between neighborhoods, towns and countries in the name of fighting for democracy, from Africa to Latin America and the
Soviet Union. Last week, in a beautiful touch of irony, the movement came home again to the tiny Neshoba County courthouse in Philadelphia, Miss., where the man accused of orchestrating the murders of Chaney, Schwerner and Goodman met a sort of justice of his own. Fortyone years to the day after the murders, a jury of nine whites and three blacks found Edgar Ray “Preacher” Killen, sawmill operator, Baptist minister and local Klan chieftain, guilty of three counts of manslaughter. Killen is now a balding, frail old man of 80. He spent most of the trial hooked up to a breathing tube, but his jutting jaw and hard face evoke the committed See “Killen escaped,” page 13
JUNE 26, 2005
12 • INDEPENDENTWORLD
Seafood boycott ‘misguided’ New Brunswick industry members speak out about animal rights protest By Maggie Estey Telegraph-Journal
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ome New Brunswick seafood industry players are frustrated at a national-level animal rights protest which calls for North Americans to immediately avoid Canadian seafood products. They say a campaign by the Animal Alliance of Canada to try to force an end to the seal hunt, in conjunction with other Canadian and U.S. animal rights organizations, is likely to unfairly damage a swath of seafood producers, harvesters and retailers with no connection to the hunt. Saint John fish market owner David Luckett says a boycott on all Canadian seafood in order to stop the commercial seal hunt doesn’t make sense to him. “Most of the Canadian seafood industry doesn’t have anything to do with the seal hunt,” says Luckett of Lord’s Lobsters Ltd. at the Saint John City Market. “I don’t know how much pressure fishermen who don’t seal could put on sealers or government to make it stop, and who’s to say that they would want to?” Demonstrators affiliated with the Animal Alliance of Canada are to gather at Red Lobster locations throughout Canada and the U.S. Saturday, to form information pickets and hand out literature to encourage consumers to boycott Canadian seafood products. Red Lobster was targeted because the Alliance says its buys more Canadian seafood than any other U.S. wholesale customer, purchasing about 75 per cent
David Luckett of Lord’s Seafoods holds a nine pound lobster in Saint John. He points out that very few New Brunswick fishermen participate in either of the Canadian seal hunts. Peter Walsh/Telegraph-Journal
of Canada’s snow crab harvest. The group, however, has stated its larger intention is to economically depress all Canadian seafood sales until an end is brought to the seal hunt. “I think it’s unfortunate that Canadian seafood as a whole could be
targeted,” says Hugh Moran, general manager of the New Brunswick Salmon Grower’s Association. “With all respect to the activists and their goals, we are farmers, not fishermen or sealers, and there’s little we can do to stop a hunt.”
Seafood is a vital part of New Brunswick’s economy. Fish and seafood exports produced $824.2 million for the province in 2004. “We want to drive the price of fish in Canada down so low that it’s not economically sound to continue sealing,”
says Liz White, spokesperson for the AAC. “Hopefully we can create a circumstance where fishermen will make a choice. Continue the seal hunt, or stop, and lift the boycott on their main source of income.” “The people who seal are fishermen,” White says. “Those who seal do that during a time they’re not fishing, and they make an average of only $1,000 a year on that practice. “We’ve worked long and hard on the seal hunt with really no result … We’ve challenged the science behind it, and we’ve urged government to act, but we’ve gotten nowhere with them.” Spokesperson for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Phil Jenkins says the call for a boycott is misguided for several reasons. “Its foundation is shaky, because its claims are being made based on an opinion that the practice is inhumane and that the seal population is dwindling,” Jenkins says. The DFO cites an independent study by the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association that found 98 per cent of seal hunts to be humane, and maintains that the the seal herd is “in good shape,” with a population that has tripled since 1970 to an overall estimated 5.9 million. The two major seal hunting sites are on the Magdalene Islands north of Prince Edward Island and in southern Labrador, and have two separate opening and ending dates. Ninety per cent of Canada’s sealers live in Newfoundland, according to Department of Fisheries and Oceans statistics.
‘The amount of stuff buried out there would scare you’ Charlie Bryson alleges troops at Gagetown buried equipment and provisions at the time Agent Orange was being sprayed By Marty Klinkenberg Telegraph-Journal
throw into holes – shovels, rakes, brooms, water pails, picks, even new items that were still packaged and had never even been used. harlie Bryson, a Saint John resident who for eight “The same was true of our provisions. Cases of butter, years served at Camp Gagetown as part of the Black meat, bread, milk, all of it was thrown into holes that were Watch, says members of his unit were required to dug around the Enniskillen area. There were holes all over bury tools and equipment they used durthe field. Stuff was buried all over the ing manoeuvres at the time Agent Orange place. and other substances were being sprayed “We never knew why we were doing it, at the New Brunswick military base. but this shows that somebody somewhere “We never knew why Bryson, who is 70 years old, frail and knew something.” has been fighting for decades to receive a Defence Department spokeswoman we were doing it, but military pension, says soldiers were only Karen Ellis says she cannot say whether allowed to bring their rifles and own perworkers spraying the herbicide were this shows that sonal gear back to camp at the end of ordered to bury their equipment. exercises, which lasted anywhere from a “I can’t confirm that today,” Ellis says. somebody somewhere “That week to six weeks. is something we would look into as Everything else was buried in holes we contact people who were involved.” knew something.” excavated by heavy machinery and filled She says there is a list of 18 military in by bulldozers, Bryson says. As many as members who are known to have worked Charlie Bryson 600 troops would participate in the exerwith the herbicide who will be interviewed cises at one time. for more information about the program, “The amount of stuff that was buried including the burial of the equipment. out there would scare you,” Bryson says. Bryson served at Gagetown under Bryson alleges troops at CFB Gagetown were told to bury Gordon Sellar, who eventually rose to the rank of brigadiertools and equipment used at the base at the time herbicides general and died last year of leukemia. were being sprayed. The government quietly accepted a medical compensation “Anything we had out there with us we were made to claim from Sellar, agreeing his cancer was caused by Agent Orange that was sprayed at Gagetown while he commanded the Black Watch, or Royal Highland Regiment. For decades, the Canadian military refused to acknowledge Gagetown was ever included in Agent Orange test spraying, and now it appears, as information trickles out one little bit at a time, that other toxic agents were sprayed there as well. Bryson, who suffers from arteriosclerotic heart disease and other ailments, has met with a Saint John law firm that is considering representing him in a lawsuit against the Department of Defence. The firm may also separately pursue the Department of Veterans Affairs, which has denied Bryson a military pension and burial benefits even though he served in the military for a dozen years, including in Korea at the end of the Korean War, and received a handful of medals. Saint John MP Paul Zed has written a letter on Bryson’s behalf to Minister of Veteran Affairs Albina Guarnieri. Bryson met Thursday with his local MLA Abel LeBlanc, who is also looking into the matter for him. “I think Charlie Bryson has quite a story, and that it is a really big one,” LeBlanc says. “I have no reason not to believe him. I’ve known him the better part of my life, and he wouldn’t be telling stories if they weren’t true. “He’s been fighting for a pension for nearly 50 years, and now we have this situation with evolving with Agent Orange, too. This is D-Day for the military. People can’t ignore him any longer. The government can’t walk away from this.” The Department of Veterans Affairs has repeatedly denied Bryson military benefits because it says he was posted in Korea only after the armistice agreement was signed. Bryson joined the military a year earlier, however, specifically to fight in Korea and was sent to three different locations before being dispatched to Seoul. He maintains that it is not his fault that the military didn’t send him there while the conflict was taking place. “I am going to be 71 next month, I am not in very good health and a year from now I very well could be dead and buried,” Bryson says. “I am fed up with all of this and I am not going to stop. I’m not scared of the government. “My nerves are shot and my head has been aching for days. I am so upset it is just unreal. My stomach never stops churning.”
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Defence Minister Bill Graham responds to questions in the House of Commons about the spraying of Agent Orange at a Canadian forces base in Gagetown. Reuters/Jim Young
JUNE 26, 2005
INDEPENDENTWORLD • 13
Besieged Liberals roadkill in Quebec By Chantal Hébert Torstar wire service
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ast Friday, Quebecers celebrated the Fête nationale, otherwise known as Saint-Jean-Baptiste day, to the catchy tune of a song that calls for the province to be “liberated” — not from Canada, but from the Liberals. Libérez-nous des libéraux by the group Loco Locass has held a choice spot on the Quebec hit parade for months. Over the past year, the sheer prospect of having to put up with it has actually driven provincial and federal ministers away from at least one arts gala. On this day, it is expected to resonate across the province. It is yet another sign that a once formidable political institution has now been reduced to a sorry object of ridicule. Plunging Liberal fortunes in Quebec are only one of the many tokens of the damage inflicted on federalism by the sponsorship scandal. As Quebecers gather to celebrate the first of two long weekends, it is increasingly obvious that the scandal has had a silencing effect on the federalists among them.
Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe celebrates St. Jean Baptiste day.
In many ways, Quebec federalist foot soldiers have been the overlooked casualties of the corrosive revelations heard at the Gomery commission. More so than any other group, they have cause to feel betrayed by the players in the sponsorship affair and by the
Off the backs of the poor From page 11 reputation internationally. That would cost about $15 billion annually by 2015 — or about $12 billion more than Ottawa spends now — and is an imposing number even if the government, as it often does, pushes meaningful increases far into the comfortable future. It’s hard to see how a few concerts will stiffen spines enough to make a difference. Politicians who preach free trade while practising protectionism, countries that pinch pennies while boasting about generous hearts, aren’t about to change because people who mostly stay home on election day come out for rock ‘n’ roll. It’s not that the concerts are a bad thing: it’s just that so much more is needed. Instead of amusing ourselves to death, we need to look into our souls and decide if we are willing to sacrifice a little to help a lot. We need to rethink how much is spent on aid and how its delivered. Then we need to get off the backs of the poor.
Killen escaped justice once From page 11 terrorist he was four decades ago. Killen, prosecutors said, arranged for the three young men to be picked up by local police and then handed over to a Klan posse. Killen had already escaped justice once when he was arrested along with 20 others in 1967 after a U.S. federal investigation. But he was freed when a holdout juror said she couldn’t bring herself to convict a minister. White justice still ruled then in Mississippi. Only seven men of the gang were convicted — of “civil rights violations.” They got ludicrously short jail terms. With most of the eyewitnesses dead, prosecutors admitted their efforts to get a murder verdict against Killen were hampered. “The state of Mississippi has done what it can do,” said Neshoba County District Attorney Mark Duncan. But last week’s trial is important for much more than the justice meted out at last to a single man. It’s also a reminder that acts of individual commitment matter. During “Freedom Summer” of 1964, thouWhile they’re heroes sands of young Americans volunteered now, a majority at the for training to help black Americans in the time thought those South register to vote or get a decent education. civil rights workers Among the skills they were taught: wiring were busybodies, their car hoods shut (to avoid bombs). “There or worse. was a belief that if enough people committed themselves a change would come,” recalled Schwerner’s widow Rita during the trial. In today’s cyber-age, such commitment seems almost corny. While they are heroes now, a majority at the time thought those civil rights workers were busybodies, or worse. Evil seems more ambiguous these days. Who are the real villains in the AIDS epidemic, or starvation? Even energy multinationals buy ads to promote their environmental consciousness. But as leaders of the G-8 gather in Scotland next week to kick-start the lagging struggle against hunger and disease, it’s worth remembering that the conscience of individuals — and their willingness to act — remains the best weapon against injustice. When you think about it, it was a kind of madness for the three U.S. civil rights workers to enter a hostile corner of their own country which (except for Chaney) they barely understood — and hope to make a difference. Just as mad, perhaps, as it is for anti-poverty workers or paramedics who operate against heavy odds in Africa or Central Asia, or in the rural slums of Canada and the U.S. Busybodies? Yes, but we need them as much as ever. Stephen Handelman is a columnist for TIME Canada based in New York. He can be reached at shandel@ix.netcom.com. His next column for The Independent will appear July 10.
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negligent federal leadership on whose watch the scandal unfolded. For many, the sponsorship affair has made a mockery of a lifetime spent arguing Canada’s case in Quebec. It is one thing to hold one’s own around dinner tables on controversial
topics such as the patriation of the Constitution or the Clarity Act. But how is one to deal with a stream of revelations that make Liberal reality look worse than the wildest piece of sovereignist fiction? For federalists, the affair is a source of collective embarrassment that is unlikely to dry out in time for the next federal election campaign. It will certainly take more than the prospect of a province-wide tour by Prime Minister Paul Martin later this summer to incite Quebec federalists to walk tall again. The embarrassment is also compounded by the increasing alienation of the Jean Charest government from the Quebec public. There has never been a time when the two parties who are the most closely identified with the fight for federalism in Quebec have been so mired in unpopularity. The two Liberal governments naturally worry about revamping their images. Each of them has made that its political priority. As in the past, both will be sorely tempted to wrap themselves in the flag in the hope of achieving redemption. In this spirit, rookie MP Pablo
Rodriguez, who also serves as the president of the Quebec wing of the federal Liberals, recently called on like-minded Quebecers to hold their noses and support his party in the next federal election in the name of Canadian unity. But there is plenty of evidence to suggest that the last thing Canada’s image needs in Quebec is a more obvious Liberal frame. The association has done enough damage to the country’s fabric in Quebec as it is. If few Quebecers want to be publicly associated with the Liberal party these days, even fewer businesses want to caught using the Canada brand name to promote their products. It is not that Quebec’s business community is having a sovereignist epiphany. But it has become a commercial kiss of death to associate one’s business with Canadian logos in Quebec these days. As of last week, only two corporate sponsors — Power Corp and The Montreal Gazette — had come forward to help finance the Montreal Canada Day parade. When the parade organizers called a news conference to publicize their predicament, only the Gazette bothered to send a reporter to cover the event.
JUNE 26, 2005
14 • INDEPENDENTWORLD
When Americans push, McKenna pushes back WASHINGTON By Tim Harper Torstar wire service
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ush often enough, the thinking goes, and the American elephant might even notice. Fewer than four months into his job as Canadian ambassador to Washington, former New Brunswick premier Frank McKenna never hesitates when striding into battle with the U.S. behemoth. He’s a man who never bothered to absorb the small print in the diplomat’s book of etiquette, a politician in a diplomat’s suit. He has stridently used the U.S. media to begin to undo some of the damage done by myths and inaccuracies about Canada. He has landed on big-city op-ed pages, popped up on cable news gabfests and likes to publicly release letters he has written to those who would harm Canadian interests or spread disinformation.
But perhaps most importantly — and with much less notice — he has shaken up the bureaucracy at Ottawa’s imposing headquarters on Pennsylvania Ave. And not everyone is thrilled about it. He holds morning “war room” meetings, moves on issues without waiting for any perfunctory nod from the Prime Minister’s office and runs the embassy like a CEO. But has he made a difference in bilateral relations, having quickly moved beyond the more buttoned-down style of career diplomats? “He’s living in a netherworld between politics and diplomacy,” says one insider. “He’s getting much more notice in Canada. Is he being noticed here? Frankly, no. But when he does get noticed, he gets good reviews.” If neither a true politician nor a true diplomat, 57-year-old McKenna appears to have fallen into the role of deal maker — an heir to the high-profile diplomatic style of Allan Gotlieb, whose ambassadorial tenure in Washington spanned the 1980s.
The former ambassador was a proponent of activism, which he says is not the same as aggressiveness. “You’ve got to be assertive, but you are a diplomat after all, so you’ve got to win people over. If you come off as too aggressive, Mr. Tough Guy, it won’t work and can be quite embarrassing. “You have to learn the fine art of persuasion based on mutual respect.” INSTANT RAPPORT Gotlieb believes McKenna’s background as a political leader will gain him that much-needed respect. The McKenna style has also led to speculation that he may be trying to disprove the old truism that a future leadership campaign can’t be built from outside the country. He moves seamlessly between capitals, even sidling up to some Ottawabased journalists late one night for a drink, joking that he was in town for “diplomat’s school.” . When he spoke at the annual Canadian Press dinner in Ottawa this
month, he was introduced as a future prime minister, a tag that caused him some discomfort. Having such speculation in the public domain helps him win access in Washington, but he must remain Paul Martin’s advocate, not competitor. Jim Blanchard, a former Michigan governor and U.S. ambassador, says McKenna “has instant rapport with the U.S. political community. He cuts a profile, as much as anyone in the diplomatic community can.” McKenna is not alone in crafting the more energetic style in the capital. Colin Robertson heads a new secretariat that aims to raise the Canadian profile in Congress, and Murray Smith, a former Alberta energy minister, heads that province’s trade office, bringing his prairie advocacy to Washington. “They’re pissing off a lot of the old guard at the embassy,” says an insider who deals in bilateral relations. McKenna’s ease in dealing with other politicians showed behind the scenes last week when NDP MP Pat
Martin of Manitoba lashed out at Americans over a North Dakota water diversion plan that would pollute that province’s waterways. McKenna called Manitoba Premier Gary Doer and had him relay to Martin that such comments were not helpful. He called North Dakota Governor John Hoeven to tell him the MP’s comments did not represent Canadian sentiments. Paul Gillmor, a Republican from Ohio, helped put out a letter to fellow lawmakers asking them to honour the new ambassador and bolster CanadianU.S. relations. “We’re the policy-makers, just like Parliament in Canada, so anything we can do to encourage co-operation is good for the United States and it’s good for Canada,” he says. “We’ve had friction, but this is a relationship that has held up for more than two centuries. “I don’t expect the Canadians to agree with us on everything or vice versa. I don’t even agree with my wife all the time, so why should I expect to agree with Canada all the time?”
JUNE 26, 2005
INDEPENDENTWORLD • 15
VOICE FROM AWAY
‘You can start a new job the next day’ Norris Arm native Amanda Smith says there are loads of jobs in Fort McMurray — otherwise known as ‘Little Newfoundland’ By Darcy MacRae The Independent
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manda Smith hasn’t set foot in this province since June of last year, but sometimes it feels like she never left. Smith lives with her husband Sean, and their 14-month-old daughter Shawna in Fort McMurray, Alta., the city many call “Little Newfoundland.” “It seems everybody here is from Newfoundland,” Smith tells The Independent. “Every where I go — the grocery store, the mall, Wal-Mart — I meet Newfoundlanders. It’s comforting to have so many Newfoundlanders here.” On previous travels, Smith would tell new acquaintances what province she was from, but never went into detail about her hometown of Norris Arm. But with so many Newfoundlanders and Labradorians already in Fort McMurray, most people she runs into are already familiar with this region’s small towns. “You can tell people the name of your town and they know right away where you’re from,” Smith says. Fort McMurray is in northern Alberta, a couple of hours north of Edmonton and 45 minutes away from the Saskatchewan border. HEART OF OIL It is thought of as the heart of Alberta’s major oil production. Since 1964, when the mining of Alberta’s oil sands began, Fort McMurray’s population has grown from 1,200 to almost 50,000. Smith had assumed the city would be quite big, but discovered on arrival it was actually similar in size to towns such as Grand Falls-Windsor. “It isn’t hard to travel in the city. I know my way around here better than I do some places back home,” she says. Fort McMurray is famous for its abundance of employment opportunities, which attracted the Smiths. “A lot of people were talking about this place. They said the money was really good,” she says. “One day we decided to pack up and give it a try.” Since first moving to Fort McMurray four years ago (the couple has returned to Newfoundland on occasion to seek
Petro-Canada’s MacKay River steam-assisted oil sands facility in Fort McMurray.
employment, but always move back west), Smith and her husband have worked various jobs. Currently, Smith is a stay-at-home mom to Shawna while Sean drives a truck for Ceda-Reactor. Finding a job is no problem at all, and the wages are excellent. “Steady work is the best thing,” Smith says. “Back in Newfoundland, if you’re working a job you never know when you’re going to get laid off. You have to wonder where your next job will be. “But here, if you get laid off, you can start a new job the next day.”
Police still slow sharing key data Richard Brennan Torstar wire service
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he Toronto police force continues to have a substandard record in abiding by the province’s freedom of information law. Its record of responding to freedom of information requests was so bad that it dragged down the overall compliance rate of Ontario’s police forces, Information and Privacy Commissioner Ann Cavoukian notes in her 2004 report. “The Toronto Police Service compliance rate continues to be substandard,” states the report, released last week. It is the second year in a row that Canada’s largest municipal police force has been singled out for not meeting its freedom-of-information responsibilities. In 2004, only 32 per cent of requests filed with the Toronto police were responded to within 30 days, down from 32.5 per cent the previous year. “In 2004, police services achieved an overall 30-day compliance rate of 71.6 per cent, down from 77.3 per cent in 2003. LOSS OF EXPERIENCE However, when Toronto Police Services is excluded, the overall compliance rate for police services is 87.1 per cent,” her 56-page report states. Cavoukian says the Toronto force cited a loss of experienced staff to do the job, including the co-ordinator, as a reason. The commissioner met with Alan Heisey, then head of the Toronto Police Services Board last year, and was assured that steps were being taken to improve compliance, including an internal audit to review practices and operational policies. Meaghan Gray, speaking for Toronto Police Services, says, “since January of this year, every month we have seen a compliance rate of at least 70 per cent and we expect that to continue for the rest of the year.” The Toronto force had by far the most information requests with 2,589 in 2004 — more than twice those Hamilton received, in second spot with 1,153. Cavoukian also called on the Ontario government to include under freedom of information legislation all publicly funded agencies, including hospitals and Children’s Aid Societies.
Smith says the biggest drawback of living in the western town is the absence of family. She talks to her mother and father over the phone regularly, but can’t help but feel lonely on occasion. “We miss our family,” she says. “Family is number one.” Another negative aspect of Fort McMurray is the city’s high cost of living. Smith says an average three-bedroom bungalow can cost as much as $250,000 while a basic two-bedroom apartment can run you close to $1,200 a month. “It’s a lot different than Norris Arm,”
Larry MacDougal/iPhoto.ca
she says. Smith says she and her young family will remain in Fort McMurray for a few more years, but doesn’t see the city as a permanent home. They’re using the income they generate there to help pay for a house they recently bought in Norris Arm, and plan on moving home before Shawna begins school. “I would love for her to start school in Newfoundland,” Smith says. “She has four years left before she starts school and I know she will start kindergarten in Newfoundland.” Smith is optimistic Newfoundland
and Labrador’s economic fortunes will take a turn for the better in the coming years, and that her family will one day be able to earn a living close to what they make in Alberta. Knowing she will be able to call this province home again keeps her smiling when she grows homesick for the Rock. “It’s hard to be away from Newfoundland,” Smith says. “We miss the smell of the salt water.” Do you know a Newfoundlander or Labradorian living away? Please email editorial@theindependent.ca
16 • INDEPENDENTWORLD
JUNE 26, 2005
INDEPENDENTLIFE
SUNDAY THROUGH SATURDAY, JUNE 26-JULY 2, 2005 — PAGE 17
Dick Nolan on Lance Cove beach, Bell Island.
Paul Daly/The Independent
Dick Nolan country Writer of Aunt Martha’s Sheep on misdiagnosed case of Parkinson disease, more than one million records sold and living on Bell Island
STEPHANIE PORTER
S
louched into a small couch in his very modest rented house on Bell Island, Dick Nolan says he didn’t get much sleep the night before. He was “hopping all night,” thrown into a tailspin by a visit to the doctor. Nolan, one of the province’s most prolific singers, with 40 albums and 50 years of gigs under his belt, was diagnosed with Parkinson disease six years ago. His hands already shaking so badly he could no longer hold on to his guitar pick, he was told he would never play his instrument of choice again. Just last week, a physician in St. John’s offered a different opinion. No Parkinson disease, said the doctor — the brain disorder
would be causing other symptoms by now — and he prescribed a new series of medication he thinks could clear up the symptoms. “I’m so goddamn mad,” Nolan growls, taking a deep draw from a cigarette. “That fooled me up for six years. “I just went along with (the original diagnosis), I thought that was that … Now I’m frustrated. I can’t play yet, but he’s got me on pills, pills he says are going to knock it out.” It’s not that Nolan is that interested in playing bars anymore; after hitting practically every community in Newfoundland and Labrador, and performing across Canada and into the States, he’s kind of tired of the whole scene. “But I’d still like to be able to do it,” he says. And as long as Nolan wanted to perform — with or without being able to play guitar — he would no doubt have an audience eager to listen. Generations of Newfoundlanders
and Labradorians have grown up hearing his “Newfoundland-country” music. Many of his songs, particularly Aunt Martha’s Sheep, are still beloved. Nolan has long since made his mark on the Canadian recording scene, blazing the way through the industry for many of Newfoundland and Labrador’s musicians. He was the first Newfoundlander to be nominated for a Juno award, the first to play the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, the first to have a gold (50,000 copies sold) or platinum (100,000) record. In some circles, he’s also credited as the first artist to cater to — and make a living from — playing to homesick Newfoundlanders in Toronto and Alberta. From his first recording of Johnny Cash covers in the late-’50s to his most recent CD (a tribute to Cash, completed after the country icon’s death in 2003), Nolan has sold See “I was born,” page 19
LIVYERS
View from the front seat From Dobermans to European tourists, veteran taxi driver Joe Clarke has countless stories about life behind the wheel By Darcy MacRae The Independent
A
fter 18 years as a St. John’s cab driver, there isn’t much Joe Clarke hasn’t experienced. He’s given tours of the city he was born and raised in, has almost (but not quite) been attacked by dogs and even had to break up a few fights in the back seat of his Bugden’s Taxi. “I’ve seen it all, I can tell you stories you wouldn’t believe,” Clarke tells The Independent. Clarke recently won the Victoria Wagon award at the 14th annual St. John’s Tourism Awards, the prize given to the city’s cab driver of the year. It’s
the first time Clarke has won the honour, and he’s been letting his three taxi driving brothers (Jim, Larry, and Tony) know how it feels to be a winner. “Two of them have been at this longer than I have,” Clarke says, laughing. “So I kind of rub it in.” Clarke is known around St. John’s as one of the city’s friendliest cab drivers. He cemented the reputation during the eight years he drove Bugden’s school run — driving mentally and physically disabled children to and from school. “I enjoyed driving the kids. I learned a lot from them; you can take life for granted.” Clarke helped kids in and out of the cab and guided them to and from their
homes to the taxi, all the while treating them as if they were his own. In return, he has memories of some very special kids. “Some kids didn’t talk in the beginning, but everyday they got to know me a little bit better,” says Clarke. “Eventually they’d come around and say ‘Hi Joe.’ For some of them that was all they could say, so to get to that point made me feel like I accomplished something.” Clarke’s gift of gab also comes in handy when he picks up tourists and other newcomers to the city. He often gives them a brief history of St. John’s and if they’d like, a tour. Some passengers stick out in his mind more than
Joe Clarke
others, including the European couple he picked up on a hot July day a few years back. The couple — who knew nothing about Newfoundland — were on an Air Canada flight that made an unscheduled stop in St. John’s for repairs.
Rhonda Hayward/The Independent
Shortly after the two sat down, Clarke overheard the wife ask her husband, “St. John’s, is this a resort? “She really thought it was like Hawaii. I said ‘Yes ma’am, but we cut See “Unofficial ambassador,” page 23
JUNE 26, 2005
18 • INDEPENDENTLIFE
GALLERYPROFILE OWEN RUSSELL Photography
A
fter years working in construction, Owen Russell turned a recent period of unemployment into an opportunity to start his own business — and focus on his art. Now Russell’s photographs are available for sale in more than a dozen locations around Newfoundland. They’re also on summerlong display in the mini-gallery in the Stephenville Arts and Culture Centre. Not bad, considering his operation — Newfoundland Republic Imaging — has only been up and running since March. Russell, a Bonavista native, left the province for several years in the 1980s to work, returning to enroll in surveying engineering technology at Cabot College in St. John’s. After earning his diploma, he worked on several projects, including Hibernia, Terra Nova and Voisey’s Bay. Having always taken snapshots, Russell got serious about photography in recent years, learning through practice, reading, and Internet forums. “I saw what was possible and it sort of progressed from there,” he says. When he found himself without work, Russell decided to “get out of construction all together. “I had this idea to do this for a while,” he says of his photography, which is now a full-time job. “I saw an opportunity to avail of the selfemployment benefits program with Human Resources … Going into this it looked like it was going to be fairly low overhead — well, you live and you learn, right? “I’m buying equipment all the time.” Russell says he enjoys being in charge of his own business and dayto-day activities, and has been making time to experiment with different photographic techniques. “Everything, everything catches my eye,” he says. “It could be a beautiful sunset or it could be a stump. My most popular image is of a piece of
driftwood on the beach — it gets the most reaction and it’s probably the simplest thing in the world.” So far, Russell says sales of his photographs have been brisk in the Gros Morne Park area, taking advantage of the lucrative tourism market. There’s quite a bit of competition, he admits, when it comes to Newfoundland photography, but he’s trying to find his niche. “I’m trying to do things a little differently, take things from a slightly different angle — pun intended,” he says. www.newfoundlandrepublicimaging.com — Stephanie Porter
The Gallery is a regular feature in The Independent. For information, or to submit proposals, please call (709) 726-4639, or e-mail editorial@theindependent.ca
JUNE 26, 2005
INDEPENDENTLIFE • 19
In at The Rooms I
n a few days the long-awaited official opening of The Rooms will happen with a bang. The ubiquitous Rick “one tonne challenge” Mercer will host the opening ceremonies, scheduled to begin just after noon on the 29th. The Bank of Montreal has come on board as a corporate sponsor, donating $37,500 towards the opening ceremonies. That’s worth a fair bit of champagne. The whole public — that’s you and me — are invited. It’s going to be a good party. Maybe new honourary Newfoundlander Russell Crowe will make an appearance. From the start The Rooms project faced steady volleys of criticism and controversy. The site was arguably the most controversial aspect of the concept. Urban folklore developed quickly: the building would destroy the archeological potential of 18th century ruins below; the building would clash with the Basilica and symbolically undermine the autonomy of the Roman Catholic Church; the building was yet another sign of townie privilege; the building would corrupt the skyline of the city and the arc of nature; the building was arrogant proof of the then Liberal government’s ultimate domination of the landscape, religion, history, and anything good and decent in our culture. Once the scrap over the site was resolved, if not to everyone’s favour, the selected architectural design kicked up a fresh ruckus: many said the building was overbearing, ugly, bland, uninspired, and, as one brilliant wag had it, it resembled nothing so much as the box that the Basilica came in. Of course, just when all that negative attention started to fade the new Tory government realized it couldn’t actually
NOREEN GOLFMAN Standing room only afford to open the place, and so the whole project was put on hold for an agonizing year, a decision that led to lay-offs and a lot of bad feelings. Those were pre-Accord days, and Premier Williams had not yet achieved the first marks of sainthood. People were upset; many of us questioned the judgment that put not just a glamorous showcase, but also an entire year’s worth of contracts and international exhibition commitments on hold. But that was then. A year has helped us adjust our vision to the transformed skyline and it’s now safe to say the initial shock has yielded to a growing appreciation of a new symmetry on the brow, with both The Rooms and the Basilica standing proud and comfortable beside each other. The earth hasn’t moved. It’s just changed a little. New staff have been hired and some others have been hired back. A program of exciting exhibitions is in place, with an appropriate and inspired balance of local and international shows. The Newfoundland Museum and the provincial archives have a new and glorious place to park their collections, sharing space and light and energy with the art gallery. Anyone who works there and surely anyone who visits will be seriously impressed with the most commanding 360-degree views of the city one could ever imagine, as dramatic as those from Signal Hill, and without the annoyance of wind.
The Rooms will officially open Wednesday, June 29. The media were briefed last week on how the long-awaited ceremonies will unfold. Deanne Hayward, director of marketing and development with The Rooms, speaks with reporters and photographers. Paul Daly/The Independent
Moreover, the creative use of local stone and wood, the walls of glass, the open concept central plan, and the sheer awesome scale of the interior are all stunning counterpoint to the odd and boxy exterior. To enter The Rooms is to feel uplifted, a little giddy, excited, and expectant — qualities we seek in almost everything, from sex to food, and so rarely find. The Rooms does register townie privilege, but where else would we put such a multi-purpose monument? St. John’s is the capital and deserves to have such a showpiece, one that captures the richness and variety of heritage and culture drawn from all over the province. People will be attracted from all over the world to this magnificent edifice and
Dick Nolan
its glorious contents in the way people are drawn to all such museums. The Rooms will help put us on the map, even while it changes it. When the doors open, the public will have to pay a nominal fee, about half the price of a pack of cigarettes. Children under 5 — a large user group — will be admitted free. It will cost students about the price of a beer. It would be even better if general admission were free for all, but we need to be realistic about the excessive costs of keeping the place running from day to day. Perhaps the managers of the building are planning a special annual membership pass, to allow easy access and a sense of ownership. Ownership, however, is what we all
ought to have about this magnificent monument to our province’s celebrated contributions to art and culture. The Bank of Montreal now has a bit of a stake in it, as will other corporate sponsors, but don’t let that throw you. The Rooms is public space. It celebrates public works. It will serve, feed, and grow the public good. It is just about the most optimistic sign we have ever shared. It is confidently and ambitiously realized, as grand a structure as the province deserves. This is a fine proud moment. It’s about time. Noreen Golfman is a professor of literature and women’s studies at Memorial. Her next column will appear July 10.
Paul Daly/The Independent
‘I was born into country’ From page 17 more than a million records, a feat few from the province have yet to match. Born in Corner Brook, Nolan moved to Toronto in search of work and adventure at age 19. A job slinging beer in a country bar evolved into a job behind the microphone — and it wasn’t long before Nolan met a producer from Arc Records and began his recording career. Nolan spent the next 50 years travelling back and forth between central and eastern Canada, making a name for himself in Toronto and his home province. For the past year, Nolan has been living on Bell Island with Marie, his wife of 25 years. They thought they’d be sticking around a while, but are already gearing up to move back to Ontario once again. Bell Island is too quiet and the winter’s too rough, they agree, and they miss the friends, family, and entertainment on the mainland. Nolan’s living room, thick with smoke and the strains of old country tunes, is crammed full of photos and music memorabilia. His three gold records hang in a proud row on the wall. A thick leather guitar strap peeks out of a box on the floor — Nolan sold his guitar when he was told he wouldn’t be using it anymore, but the strap was made for him by a friend and he couldn’t bear to let it go. A selection from his collection of photographs will make it into Nolan’s latest project, a book of memoirs he’s been working on with the help of a “fellow from the university. “You’d be surprised how much you can remember … it’s the dates are the killer, and I’ve got a lot of dates to deal with; different record companies, different contracts. “The one I do remember is 1972.” That’s the year Aunt Martha’s Sheep hit the airwaves, bringing the singer
face to face with the North American market. It also marked a change in direction for Nolan’s music — away from country cover songs, and towards Newfoundland-themed songs. “I was born into country,” he says. “But I wanted to do Newfie (music) more, I could write it more, knew what it was about.” Nolan’s tales are endless, wound about in his deep gravelly voice, laced with deadpan humour and punctuated by full-body bursts of laughter: taking a boat through a storm to a gig in a small town in Quebec; downing half a bottle of rum before taking the stage at the Grand Ole Opry (“didn’t help though, I was scared when I went on, scared when I came off …”); backing a young Loretta Lynn at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto; letting his fiveyear-old daughter, Mary Lou, sing the first set at the Legion in Wabush
“When I die, I’m going to be 110 years old and shot by a jealous husband.” Dick Nolan before tucking her into bed at the hotel. “I’ve got some funny stories, and we’ve played in some funny places,” he says. “The book is about all the trouble I got in, right back in school days. “But there’s no girls mentioned … who wants to read about a bunch of girls you went out with when you were young? Now they’re probably all married and it’d just get the husbands after me.” Nolan had his time living the musician’s life — “lots of parties, lots of
women. Not too much dope, though … “My wife used to tell me it took me 20 minutes to go to work and three days to come home” — and got married for the first, and only, time at age 43. It was the second marriage for Marie, who had lost her previous partner in a tragic hunting accident. Meeting Nolan, she says, brought her “back to life,” and now she sticks by his side, helping put on his sweater, adjust his collar, fixing a cup of coffee, the things Nolan’s hands won’t let him do himself. A singer as well, Marie smiles from the cover of at least two of Nolan’s albums. Just last weekend, the couple got up for a few songs on a quiet afternoon at a Bell Island pub. Confident he’s got the ears of the older Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, at home and away, Nolan’s determined to bring his music to the next generation. “I’ve got to get new fans, a new following,” he says. He’s trying to get BMG — which took over for RCA, Nolan’s former label, in Canada — to re-release Aunt Martha’s Sheep on CD. He’s got plans to record new work as well, and can’t see himself ever completely retiring. “When I die, I’m going to be 110 years old and shot by a jealous husband,” he says, offering a toothy grin. Before the Nolans head to their twobedroom apartment in Scarborough, before any new book or CD released, they’ve got a big event on Bell Island to look forward to. A Tribute to Dick Nolan concert is scheduled for Aug. 7, part of the community’s come-home year festivities, and a celebration of Nolan’s 50 years in the music industry. Promising a host of musical guests, it should be a fitting send-off for one of the province’s bestknown voices. “And I’ll be singing too,” Nolan says. “I hope the hands are working again by then.”
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JUNE 26, 2005
20 • INDEPENDENTLIFE
IN CAMERA
‘The majesty of
A pod of killer whales near Battle Harbour, Labrador.
A sperm whale diving in Trinity Bay
Tanya Bowen/DFO
Dave Snow/Wildland Tours
There’s no place better to whale watch than right here, as Wayne Ledwell explains in his new book, Whales and Dolphins of Newfoundland and Labrador. The one-time fisherman offers stunning photos and an easy-to-read guide about the largest animals in the world. Reporter Darcy MacRae spoke to Ledwell about his book. A humpback whale lunge-feeding near St. Anthony.
Claudio Corbelli, Whale Research Group
P
ick up a copy of Wayne Ledwell’s new book and you can almost hear the whales breach. The author of Whales and Dolphins of Newfoundland and Labrador (Boulder Publications, $19.95) filled his book with eye-catching pictures of whales and dolphins photographed off the province’s shores — supporting the images with handy, informative text. The book points out where to find whales and dolphins, what they eat and how to identify them, as well as information on their history of human interaction. Ledwell hopes readers will take another message from the book. “What I tried to put into the book is that we need to protect and strengthen our ecosystem,” Ledwell tells The Independent. “The whales are an indicator of what’s out there for us as humans. If the whales are in shore, there’s bait in shore; if there’s bait in shore, there’s fish in shore.” As indicated by the 19 different whales and dolphins featured in Ledwell’s book, the shores of Newfoundland and Labrador are a great place to spot the animals. In fact, few places in the world rival the province. “We have more accessible whale
Author Wayne Ledwell at Great Island near Tors Cove, disentangling a whale from a cod trap. Christina Folger
watching opportunities here than probably anywhere else,” Ledwell says. “A lot of people aren’t aware of how many species of whales we have in our waters.”
The most commonly spotted whales off the Avalon Peninsula are humpbacks, while minke and fin whales are also plentiful. Ledwell points out in his book that humpbacks are easily identi-
A humpback breaches the surface.
fiable by their “distinctive physical characteristics and unique behaviours.” For starters, the humpback gets its name because its dorsal fin sits atop a hump. They have many knobby pro-
Deb Young
trusions around their head and jaw, with long white pectoral fins (onethird the length of the animal) tapered to their body. According to Ledwell, the humpback
JUNE 26, 2005
INDEPENDENTLIFE • 21
these animals’
Common dolphin
Pat Abgrall/DFO
Cod trap rope is seen wrapped around the torso of a humpback whale, entangled in nets near Petite Forte. Wayne Ledwell
A group of dead pilot whales, mass stranded at Point au Gaul.
A humpback cow and calf.
is a favourite of whale watchers because they often slap their tails on the water’s surface, swing their large fins and sometimes “leap clear out of the water.” Humpbacks are also known to have chunks missing from their tails, the result of killer whale attacks. The humpback, minke and fin whale range in length between 10 to 20 meters and can weigh up to 40 tons. Ledwell says their main sources of food are caplin, herring, mackerel and plankton, which are all plentiful in the waters off the Avalon Peninsula. With such a high population of these animals, whale watching tours are plentiful. But as much fun as they can be, Ledwell urges people to remember whales and dolphins should be given room to feed. “You can get close to them, but you should give the animal its distance. It needs its distance because it is a large animal and it needs time to feed and forage for food,” he says.
Jon Lien
Humpback whale snared in a cod trap at Valleyfield, a community formally known as Whale’s Gulch. Wayne Ledwell
Jon Lien
Ledwell does not discourage an interest in whales and dolphins — he wrote the book because he loves marine life. In fact, he was a fisherman in Calvert on the Southern Shore before earning a masters degree in marine management at Dalhousie University in Halifax and has been involved with rescuing whales and dolphins trapped in fishing gear and entrapped in ice since 1988. He is also a member of a group that tries to save beached whales across the province. Above all else, Ledwell wants people to respect the animals. If you want to get a decent look at whales and dolphins, Ledwell recommends acting quickly since they can exit an area in the blink of an eye. “They have an amazing ability to be in one area for an hour, and then be completely gone in the next hour. It’s amazing how they can move so fast and completely disappear from an area.” They are not difficult to spot, but
A white-beaked dolphin, released after being stranded near Flat Bay.
photographing them for the purpose of a book is another story. “We wanted to get this book out earlier, but it proved to be more difficult than we thought it would be to acquire photos,” says Gavin Will, publisher of Boulder Publications. “But once the word started getting around that we were serious, we had a better response in acquiring pictures.” Photos were acquired from the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans, tour boat operators and amateur and professional photographers. Pictures featured in the book give readers a
detailed look at the lifestyles of whales and dolphins, and include stunning shots of pilot whales swimming together in the Orphan Basin, a humpback lunge feeding near St. Anthony and a male killer whale cruising dangerously close to shore in Labrador. Although the process was tiresome, the end product is one Will is proud of. “The little bit of feed back we’ve received so far has been fabulous,” says Will. “Our distributor is over the moon about it.” Whales and Dolphins of Newfoundland and Labrador will soon be avail-
Hollis Yetman
able at locally owned stores across the province, as well as major book stores such as Chapters and Coles. Will is on his way to Toronto soon to take part in Book Expo Canada, where he hopes to get a distributor to sell the book across the country. “By the end of the first week in July, our goal is to have them widely available.” Says Will: “I hope people take an understanding and a love for whales and dolphins; an appreciation for the majesty of these animals.” darcy.macrae@theindependent.ca
JUNE 26, 2005
22 • INDEPENDENTLIFE
Jim Fidler, Ken Cotter and Moray Bresnihan, participants in the first annual Atlantic Crossroads Festival running until June 30 in St. John’s.
Paul Daly/The Independent
Fidler’s green First Atlantic Crossroads Festival brings songwriters from Ireland and Newfoundland together in a variety of St. John’s venues
A
dd the Atlantic Crossroads Festival — Atlantic Fest for short — to the ever-growing list of successful Irish-Newfoundland cultural collaborations. The festival, already in full swing around downtown St. John’s, features six Newfoundland and Labrador singersongwriters, and seven from Ireland. There are four shows in four different bars each night, with six musicians play-
ing in each venue. The festival culminates in Islands of Song, a gala event at the St. John’s Arts and Culture Centre on June 30, featuring all 13 performers, special guests, and the Shawn Silver Irish Dancers. The first annual event, organized by Lillian and Jim Fidler, follows close on the heels of a similar one, held last March in Cork city, Ireland. “Last year, I heard about a fellow in Ireland who wanted to get some Newfoundland singer songwriters together with some Irish singer song-
writers, kind of mix and match, do some shows, maybe write a bit together,” says Jim Fidler. Fidler, in Waterford last fall to perform at their arts festival, took the opportunity to visit Cork and Cork St. Patrick’s Festival organizers Ken Cotter and Moray Bresnihan — and was delighted to find they all held similar visions for an international music festival “What Lillian and I liked about it, it wasn’t a corporate thing,” says Fidler. “It’s not your run of the mill showcasey organization thing. It was singer-song-
writers wanting to get together with other singer-songwriters. That really appealed to us.” Fidler, along with Ron Hynes, Pamela Morgan, Darrell Power, Hugh Scott and Colleen Power, travelled to Cork in March for a series of performances at the festival. Now, Ken Cotter, Martin Finn, Ger Wolfe, Clare O’Mahony, Mick Flannery, Mark Greville and Niall Connolly — the Irish participants — are in St. John’s to return the favour. The inaugural Atlantic Fest comes on the heels of the release of Midnight Rover, Fidler’s latest solo recording, marking a decade since his first CD, as well as his 40th birthday. The goal of Atlantic Fest, Fidler says, is to explore the links between musicians from both sides of the Atlantic. “This is not a jazz festival or a world festival or a trad festival,” he says. “It looks at Newfoundland as the bridge between the old world and the new;
G E TAWAY S
By Stephanie Porter The Independent
ORLANDO
looking at where we are geographically, historically between North America and Europe.” Next year, Fidler says, invited guests may come from countries other than Ireland. For now, Fidler is also excited to promote his Republic of Avalon Radio, which features Newfoundland’s first “podcast” (those interested can go to www.republicofavalonradio.com to subscribe and download the broadcast). Interviews with local and visiting artists, audience reaction, and performances will be compiled for broadcast. “The main thing that we want is to see that everybody has a great time, everybody: the Newfoundland musicians, the Irish musicians, the people at the various venues,” says Fidler. “And that the Irish people go home homesick.” For a schedule of performances, visit www.atlanticfest.com.
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JUNE 26, 2005
EVENTS JUNE 26 • Global Rhythms indigenous popular music from Newfoundland and Labrador, Nunavut, Alaska, and the Torres Strait Islands D.F. Cook Recital Hall, Memorial School of Music, 8 p.m • Lori Lane and Kathy Winsor sign copies of Nana’s Quilt at Costco, Stavanger Drive, 1-4 p.m. JUNE 27 • Alexisonfire at the St. John’s curling club. Tickets at Mile One box office. JUNE 28 • New Zealand author, professor and former politician Dr. Marilyn Waring lectures 7:30-9 p.m., room EN-2006, Memorial’s Engineering Building. JUNE 30 • Spirit of multiculturalism dinner, dance and midnight ceremonies to welcome Canada’s birthday, Holiday Inn St. John’s, 6:30 p.m., 753-2917. • Yuk Yuks with Johnny Gardhouse, Herb Irving and Little Darren Frost, Bella Vista, 9:30 p.m., 753-2352, Ext. 5 JULY 1 • Canada Day sunrise ceremony at Signal Hill National Historic Site, 6 a.m. • Family fun on Confederation Hill: tours of the House of Assembly, 12 and 1 p.m.; official ceremony, 1 p.m. • Candles for Canada concert, Quidi Vidi lake, 8 p.m. • Fireworks, 10 p.m., Quidi Vidi Lake. • The Oakridge Boys play Mile One Stadium, 576-7657
‘Unofficial ambassador’ From page 17 down all the palm trees,’” Clarke says between bursts of laughter. He explained to the travellers the location of the city and its historical significance. Clarke then gave them a three-hour tour that included stops at Signal Hill and Cape Spear. Despite the many memorable passengers he’s met, Clarke says there are a few he’d like to forget. Like the time he picked up an elderly man in St. John’s who asked for a drive to Torbay. When they arrived at the man’s house, he got out and left the back door of the cab open. When the man opened his house door, two full-grown Dobermans come roaring out and jumped into Clarke’s cab. To Clarke’s surprise — and horror — the man then shut the back door, trapping Clarke in the car with the Dobermans. One dog then jumped in the front seat with Clarke, while the second stayed in the back. Both dogs were barking loudly and running back and forth on the seats. “I reached to take the seat belt off and I forgot how to move my fingers. I just froze,” Clarke says. A minute later the man opened the door and ordered the dogs out, before saying to Clarke, “‘I got you that time, didn’t I?’ “He really thought that was funny.” Clarke says. “You can only imagine what I said to him when the dogs were out of the car.” Clarke was so upset about the incident he took some time off. “I went to Tim Hortons and I was there for two hours. I couldn’t get the shakes out of my body. I was that terrified.” Clarke has been in many more awkward situations — like the time he stopped his car in the street and dragged a man out of the back seat and threw him in the snow after the man punched his girlfriend in the mouth. For all that, Clarke says he enjoys being a taxi driver. He says the negative stories represent a small portion of the people he has come into contact with over the past 18 years. “In every job you’re going to come across people you’re not going to take to,” he says. “But 99 per cent of the time, people are great.” Another aspect of the job Clarke enjoys is serving as an unofficial ambassador for St. John's. Quite often a cab driver is the first person a tourist meets in the city, a fact not lost on Clarke. “You are their first impression, so you have to have some respect for yourself,” he says. “You’ve got to keep your car clean and keep it running well. I like having people get in and say ‘it’s some nice to get into a clean car.’” darcy.macrae@theindependent.ca
INDEPENDENTLIFE • 23
Our diva does everything From training for classical music degree to being a ‘chick Mick Jagger’, Kelly-Ann Evans shows what it takes to be a successful local artist By Clare-Marie Gosse The Independent
K
elly-Ann Evans hasn’t completely severed her ties with Canadian Idol. Three years since making it to the top 30, the St. John’s local is lending her experience to one of the two Newfoundlanders in this season’s top 30 — Keely Hutton. It’s difficult to recognize Evans at first as she walks into a downtown coffee shop. The once platinum blonde singer is currently sporting a vibrant, but soft red haired bob. She settles into a seat and says she’s just had a vocal coaching session with Hutton. The two have known each other for years and the 20year-old Idol hopeful sang back up on Evan’s 2004 album, You Decide. “She sings on July 5th so we’ve done a bunch of sessions together,” Evans tells The Independent. At least she can empathize with Hutton. “It is nerve racking, but there’s been a lot of changes between now and when I did it three years ago. When they go up in the top 30 they get to sing in front of a studio audience, which is great because as a singer and performer you take so much energy from the audience. When we did it we were in a studio with lights and cameras, singing to nobody, so how do you find the energy?” Evans excels in live performance. Since wrapping up her original and vocally powerful album last year, she admits to having been “bitten by the theatre bug,” and is still “in mourning over Chicago being over.” Chicago, produced by TADA! Events enjoyed critically acclaimed, sell-out performances in February at the St. John’s Arts and Culture Centre. Evans says it was one of the highlights of her career to date and she’s hoping for another musical next year. In the meantime, she’s got a massively full schedule ahead, including a follow-up to 2004’s successful fundraiser, Our Divas Do Broadway at Mile One Stadium. Our Diva’s Do Christmas is currently scheduled for November and although the cast hasn’t been decided, the venue this time will probably be the St. John’s Arts and Culture Centre. Despite making Canadian Idol, releasing an album and working on everything from a classical music degree to co-hosting Out of the Fog, Evans doesn’t hesitate when asked for
Kelly-Ann Evans
her ultimate career high point. She describes the exhilaration and terror of stepping onto the stage for Our Divas Do Broadway with a packed house, 100-piece choir and 20-piece orchestra, to perform as Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar. “It was an opportunity to be a chick Mick Jagger, you know? They had me in all the leathers and stuff and I sang and I ended up at the end of the piece kind of down on my knees and when I looked up, I didn’t realize, but everybody was standing. I came off and I was shaking and my heart was pounding out of my chest and it was magical. I remember thinking at the time, ‘If I never do this again, this would have been OK.’” Evans, who lives in a downtown house with three large dogs and her boyfriend Andrew Cooper — who plays trombone alongside her vocals in the band Billy and the Bruisers — insists she’s not tempted to move away and extend her career in a bigger city. “My goal in life is to make money doing what I love, to be able to go see the world and travel. “In terms of packing bags and going away, I went to Sheridan, which is a musical theatre performance program in Oakland, Ont. and I did it for a year and
Rhonda Hayward/The Independent
what I found is a lot, a lot of people graduate and have to be martini waitresses in downtown Toronto, going from audition to audition to audition, so I made a lifestyle choice. “I love the fact that I can live here in a beautiful city that’s free of smog and pollution and natural disasters and I can afford to have a house downtown with three dogs and have some sense of security.” Being an artist in Newfoundland and Labrador is tough. Evans says more often than not there’s no money to pay performers, yet the shows that are put off are full of hard-working professionals, often with large student loans. “I think the arts community (here) is exploding right now … I wish that the government would see music and the arts as more of an economic contributor. “Stratford has a summer festival, Shaw has a summer festival, thousands of people go to Prince Edward Island every summer … Why not start a St. John’s summer theatre festival? You know, and everyone get paid under the department of tourism? Right? That’s in an ideal world … people who saw Chicago can vouch for the calibre of talent that’s here.” Unfortunately, their passion for the
job means Evans and her colleagues will continue to do what they do and often not reap any financial rewards. At least she’s a pro when it comes to multi-tasking — an essential element to surviving as an artist in Newfoundland and Labrador. Having just finished a semester teaching voice and piano, Evans is scheduled to film two days with Above and Beyond, a major Second World War drama currently in production in St. John’s. The booked-up Billy and the Bruisers are releasing a Best of So Far album and preparing for a fundraising concert at Quidi Vidi Lake on July 1st. Evans might well be accompanying Jason Greeley on a province-wide tour. She’s heading off to Ireland in September with Spirit of Newfoundland to perform in the musical comedy Nonsense. She’s booked as a guest teacher at a local musical summer school. She’s developing her own show called Women Doin’ Men (female performances of male songs) and has been asked by the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra to host a tribute to Motown and Soul. Not to mention Our Divas Do Christmas and her album You Decide, sold at Fred’s Records. Our diva’s in demand.
JUNE 26, 2005
24 • INDEPENDENTLIFE
WEEKLY DIVERSIONS ACROSS 1 Letters of distress 4 Daniel David ___ 9 MacLean of CBC sports 12 Unstressed vowel 14 Vigneault hit (2 wds.) 16 Give way 19 Talking tests 20 Overlay ornamentally (var.) 21 Relieve 22 Writer’s point of view 23 Regal 25 World Heritage Site: Old ___ Lunenburg, N.S. 27 Offence 28 World crisis that Lester Pearson helped resolve 30 Bagatelle description 31 Office note 32 Take out the middle 33 Get ready 35 City of Uzbekistan 37 Ask for alms 38 Centre of WWII French resistance movement 40 One who cries foul? 41 First francophone P.M. 45 Sugar lover 46 Skill 50 Taj Mahal city
51 Diamond authority, in short 53 Back street 55 Flash in the ___ 56 By way of 57 Out of danger 59 Slave of Verdi opera 60 World lang. 61 ___ That Matters (Wayson Choy) 62 Accustom 64 King topper 65 Better ___ than never 66 Tutor’s offering 68 Scrooge’s word 70 Round 73 Shade 74 Our highest mountain 76 Science question 77 Test again 80 Not mixing well 84 Ont. cranberry capital 85 Actor Eugene (“SCTV”) 86 Dull 87 “And sew a fine ___” 89 Eggs 90 U.S. land in Lake Superior: ___ Royale 91 North African 93 It’s stranded in the body 94 Buddhist meditation room 96 Average
98 Make into law 100 Ancient 101 Notched 102 Do or mi 103 Poseidon’s domain 104 Colour anew 105 Night before DOWN 1 Actress Helen (“We All Fall Down”) 2 Alta. bird: great horned ___ 3 Prov. with least fog 4 Dog of mixed breed 5 Quebec uncle 6 Agile 7 ___ Claire, Ont. 8 All ___ go! 9 NFB prodigy animator who made the famous “Walking” (1968): ___ Larkin 10 Wildcatter’s find 11 B.C. Kootenays town 12 Drenches 13 Barking cough 14 “The Grey Fox” bandit 15 Tiny pore 17 Scottish landlord 18 Physics unit 24 Picture 26 Anxious 29 Mussel in Lake Erie 31 Devilfish 32 Coffee shop 34 Island prov.
35 Male child 36 Its capital is Nairobi 39 Shrill bark 41 Quebec university 42 Nimble 43 Russia’s “Great Divide” 44 Singer-songwriter Wainwright 46 Tsetses, e.g. 47 Most easterly point of N. America: Cape ___, Nfld. 48 North Pole figure 49 Author of Benny Cooperman mysteries 52 Seasickness: mal de ___ 54 Quebec lake 57 Plains people 58 Tempers (metal) 63 Black wood 64 Detection cry 65 Major-General ___ MacKenzie 67 Butter from a tree 69 ___ of consent 71 Hater: suffix 72 Ad ___ committee 74 Permanent resident (Nfld. English) 75 Tell a story 77 “Bolero” man 78 Antelopes 79 Thaws 81 Island of wild ponies 82 Open up to the air 83 Cavalry weapon
Solution page 35
84 Clown’s name 86 Rot 88 Rugs
90 N.S. town with Highland Village 91 Meadowlark, e.g.
TAURUS: APRIL 21/MAY 21 You may be about to start a sudden and deep relationship with a Scorpio of the opposite sex. This could be a happy affair, but, before you fall head-over-heels, know what you're getting into. GEMINI: MAY 22/JUNE 21 This should be a very amusing but unproductive week for you. You will find yourself spending more time socializing and less time working. That's the way it should be, you may decide. CANCER: JUNE 22/JULY 22 People won't be easy to please, so don't bother trying too hard. Mundane issues will surround you, and you will find yourself
getting bored and cranky. Don't take this out on loved ones. LEO: JULY 23/AUG. 23 Use your imagination if you are unsure of your next move. A change of scenery could be stimulating as you are likely to find the company of certain friends rather boring. VIRGO: AUG. 24/SEPT. 22 You may not be happy with your current position, but with some investigation, you'll find that you really don't have it so bad after all. LIBRA: SEPT. 23/OCT. 23 This should be a calm, easy week with no shocks or surprises to upset things. Try to keep a fair balance between work and play. SCORPIO: OCT. 24/NOV. 22 You will find yourself being pulled in many different directions at work. You're persistence is
95 River of Wales 97 Cursor starter? 99 Poppy mo.
POET’S CORNER
WEEKLY STARS ARIES: MARCH 21/APRIL 20 This would be an excellent time to take a trip or even a weekend getaway. Your health should improve, and you'll experience a new vitality.
92 Parliament Hill’s longtime cat caretaker: ___ Chartrand
admirable, but you must delegate some of your responsibilities so you don't get completely overworked. SAGITTARIUS: NOV. 23/DEC. 21 This is going to be one of those weeks where everything seems to keep you waiting. You also will have difficulty doing any clear-cut planning. Don't let your frustrations get to you; life should get easier by week's end. CAPRICORN: DEC. 22/JAN. 20 Something that happens this week will be very important to you. Be ready for opportunities. This is a good time for buying and/or selling. AQUARIUS: JAN. 21/FEB. 18 Don't waste your energies on ventures that could prove worthless. You may be feeling a little sad about a friend moving away. Meditation should help you relieve the blues.
PISCES: FEB. 19/MARCH 20 Spending time with friends is the perfect remedy for feeling down in the dumps. Use diplomacy if involved in arguments of any kind - especially those at work. FAMOUS BIRTHDAYS JUNE 26 Derek Jeter, athlete JUNE 27 Toby Maguire, actor JUNE 28 John Cusack, actor JUNE 29 Jeff Burton, NASCAR driver JUNE 30 Mike Tyson, boxer JULY 1 Liv Tyler, actress JULY 2 Jerry Hall, model
EULOGY TO A MURDERED TOWN The Pink White and Green, haul it down to half-mast, The hope it inspired has perished at last. What storms could not cower nor hardship defeat, Has been vanquished, brought low, by hands of deceit. A foot in the door, Mr. Young put to rout; It didn’t take long to clean his crew out. FPI from henceforth held another mandate, ‘Twould be to enhance Mr. Risley’s estate. But for that there needs be some other things won, And especially some things that must then come undone. Though ‘t was fishers for whom FPI was begot, Its new mandate meant getting rid of that lot. Most unlikely that could be achieved by a grant, But all hell would break lose if they closed down a plant. A fine Trojan horse when slipped into the fray Would garner that prize, there was no other way. It helped that the premier aligned with that crew, And to win their esteem did all he could do. There would be a free vote, he recalled the House, His caucus instructed, each one like a mouse. And here ends the story, the foul deed was done; The irony is that nobody won. Our flag hangs dishonoured, FPI is no more. Bonaviata and Fortune were never so poor. As for Harbour Breton that served as the bait, Meeted out without mercy such a cruel fate, Will live on in defiance, meet and pass this grim test, For the place where we come from dwells secure in our breast. Lloyd C. Rees, Conception Bay South
INDEPENDENTBUSINESS
SUNDAY THROUGH SATURDAY, JUNE 26-JULY 2, 2005 — PAGE 25
A natural gas pipeline operated by Maritimes and Northeast Pipeline.
Sitting on it
Province’s untapped gas resources huge; could be developed by 2010 By Clare-Marie Gosse The Independent
O
il aside, Newfoundland and Labrador has a promising natural gas market waiting in the wings to follow behind the four major offshore oil projects in or preparing for production. Doug Bloom, president of Maritimes and Northeast Pipelines, tells The Independent the province’s untapped gas reserves — estimated to be at least four trillion cubic feet — have “great potential. “The U.S. northeast is really the most attractive gas market in the United States,” he says, “very high prices … from a Newfoundland perspective you’re relatively proximal to probably the hottest gas market in the U.S. northeast and if you can find a way to make the technology, commercial and economic, to develop the resource, there’s a very ready market there to take it to.” Bloom visited St. John’s recently to address the Newfoundland Ocean
Industry Association’s annual oil and gas probably won’t start gas development conference. His company, Maritimes and until 2010. Currently, White Rose and Northeast Pipelines, currently operates Hibernia are thought to have the largest gas pipelines through Nova Scotia, New gas reserves. Brunswick, Maine, New Hampshire and “The cycle time for these kinds of Massachusetts. developments is pretty long. You’ve got The operators of White Rose, Hibernia massive investment, you’ve got drilling, and Terra Nova recentyou’ve got developly expressed an interest plans and then “How can we develop ment in discussing gas development stratedevelopment options and transport this gas gies that probably and Bloom says his would differ a little bit company is “certainly between the oil develto interconnect into eager to work with the opments here, so I the North American players. think it will take a lit“Hopefully it will tle bit of time to work pipeline grid?” get commercialized.” that out.” Since the 1990s, gas The biggest chalDoug Bloom prices have more than lenge facing the tripled from $2 per province’s offshore million BTU (British thermal units), to gas resources is transportation. An offclose to $8. Due to market demand, shore pipeline can cost in the region of Bloom estimates half of the future gas $1 million a kilometre to build. supply over the next 10 to 15 years will Bloom says there have been discuscome from currently untapped sions around the possibility of harnessresources. ing compressed natural gas, which is He says Newfoundland and Labrador considered an environmentally cleaner
method and can be stored and distributed in hard containers. “It’s new, it’s not really commercial yet, it looks like it could be a good solution; you could certainly build a pipeline. There’s some technical issues to deal with there and you’d have to be comfortable that you had a large enough reserve to justify the cost of building an underwater pipeline — even a small scale LNG (liquefied natural gas operation) is possible. “So I think those are the kinds of things producers are going to have a look at. How can we develop and transport this gas to interconnect into the North American pipeline grid? And that’s where our company comes in.” Bloom couldn’t speculate on the potential rise in gas prices by the year 2010, or the current worth of the province’s untapped resources. During The Independent’s cost benefit analysis of Confederation conducted last fall, market prices suggested Newfoundland and Labrador currently sits on at least $150 billion.
Raising trout
With eggs in the garage and fish in the sea cage, the Picture family of Heart’s Content offsets their fishing income with aquaculture By Pam Pardy Ghent For The Independent
L
indo Picture and his family are busy with the fishery year round. Besides being a commercial crab, lump and lobster fisherman in Heart’s Content, Trinity Bay and assisting with the sentinel cod fishery, the Pictures are also in the fish-farming business. They began with cod in 1995 and eventually switching to yellowtail flounder. By 2000, however, they couldn’t purchase any of the juvenile fish (which are caught in the wild, fed in captivity to increase their weight, and sold to market), and they turned to rainbow trout. “We bring in the eggs and hatch them out,” he says, explaining the process
can take two to three weeks. The babies are then kept in the basement garage of their home until the end of July when they’re moved to the harbour. At two pounds they are ready to sell, mostly to Kosher smoked-meat markets in New York. Twice a day Picture motors out to feed them in their new home — a 52foot wide by 24-foot deep circular cage with a twine roof to keep away the birds. There isn’t much loss (around seven per cent throughout the cycle) and once they are put in the harbour — besides feeding them — the hard work and worry is mostly over. It’s an ongoing cycle, however, and at any time the Pictures can have between 20,000 and 25,000 trout in the harbour and another 33,000 in their
basement tank. Picture hopes to be able to expand and handle 50,000 next year. There are challenges — chlorine in the water system can kill any fish — and while they are in the basement tank they rely on the filtration system to keep the fish healthy. “One year we lost 18,000 in a couple of minutes (to chlorine). “The biggest cost is food,” says Picture, who just purchased a tonne for $1,500. “They’ll eat about 100 pounds a day this week, 140 pounds next week, and about 180 pounds the week after that … it goes by weight.” By September, Picture says a tonne of food will last three days. The Pictures are learning as they go, See “Always something,” page 26
View from a trout farm.
Reuters/Mariana Bazo
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JUNE 26, 2005
26 • INDEPENDENTBUSINESS
Raising rural voices By Clare-Marie Gosse The Independent
R
ay Johnson — chair of Who Will Speak For Rural Newfoundland and Labrador? a two-day rural symposium held recently in Carbonear — says he was surprised by the results. The symposium, sponsored by Mariner Resource Opportunities Network, was the result of months of meetings and research, to raise awareness and tackle the major issues faced by small communities in the province. Johnson, perhaps better known as one of the other fellers in Buddy Wasisname and the Other Fellers, tells The Independent the strongest voices in the event were from young people. “I thought it was very positive, to the point it brought a lot out, especially from our youth who felt government’s got to look into this more closely … based on what the students are saying, they were hoping there’d be some kind of a free education and I think that that’s got to be. If we keep on with the system we’ve got, it’s simply going to get out of control and we’re going to see all our young people leave this province. “It would break your heart to listen to them, to a point that I was just blown away with the great thoughts they’ve had, how they’ve been really surviving in rural Newfoundland.” Johnson says one disappointing outcome of the symposium was a lack of radio and television coverage — but he’s not discouraged. Johnson says the
Pigeon Cove, Labrador
Paul Daly/The Independent
future well-being of rural communities is something he will never stop campaigning for. “I don’t want this to be left on the shelf like the royal commission … I mean the royal commission, it’s my understanding, cost millions of dollars. This little symposium we had cost about $5,000 and I felt more came out of it.” Johnson says an official report is being produced, copies of which will
be sent to all the symposium participants, and more meetings and discussions are on the horizon. The four main topics addressed at the symposium were education, economic development, regionalization, and youth. Johnson says the biggest challenge — aside from engaging government attention — is changing common public attitudes. “We also stressed that we have to look beyond the fishery, because it
seems like we’re still thinking we have to go to the fish plant. And grant you, people have got to do it to make a living, but we can’t be dishing out monies for every little community if a plant or something closes. It’s not the way. We’ve got to have another incentive; we’ve got to have leadership within our communities.” Johnson mentions the success of Wholesome Dairies, a fledgling operation manufacturing Good Natured
Yogurt on the west coast, as an example of positive economic diversity. “We also came out with regionalization, because we feel if a community can help another community, there’s better interest, there’s co-operation going on, then I think these communities can survive.” He says the key is getting government to sit down and listen to the concerns of the people, especially youth. A much-loved singer, musician and songwriter, Johnson also stresses the importance of the unique culture of rural Newfoundland and Labrador. “Buddy Wasisname and the Others Fellers performed Carbonear for the past four nights. We had people from Indiana who came to Newfoundland because of the music, because of the outport way of life, the hospitality and so on. “They said, ‘It’s the music, it’s drawing us to your rugged shores of Newfoundland and Labrador. What is it about you people? There’s something in it.’ If people in Newfoundland themselves would take more pride in what they already have and get together and be co-operative with one another’s community, they said we would be better off for it. “People come in from Indiana to attend a Buddy Wasisname and the Other Fellers show and tell us we have something that other people in the world don’t have and we don’t see it? I see it, you see it but government somehow, someone’s not seeing it the way we do.”
Fairmont Newfoundland still on open market
579-STOG 77 Harv Harvey ey Road
F
Stoggers’ Pizza The“best The “bestpizz zza in town” is
BACK!
ortis Properties, one of St. John’s biggest real estate companies, will neither confirm nor deny interest in buying the Fairmont Newfoundland. “We’re always monitoring the market and evaluating any opportunities,” says Erin Hiscock, spokesperson for Fortis Properties. “But as for one way or the other on the Fairmont issue, there’s nothing to comment on as of right now.” Fortis Properties own 15 hotels across the country — including the Holiday Inn and the Delta in St. John’s — and appear to be a natural suitor for the downtown hotel. Officials with Fairmont Hotels and
Rhonda Hayward/The Independent
Resorts would not comment on who is looking to purchase the facility or exactly what their asking price is, but did say many potential buyers have come forward. “We’ve received a fair amount of interest,” says Denise Achonu, executive director of investor relations for Fairmont Hotels and Resorts. The Fairmont Newfoundland has been for sale since June 7, with Collier’s International serving as the broker. No deadline has been set for the completion of the sale. “Obviously the sooner the better, but these things take time,” Achonu says. “But for now the search continues.” — Darcy MacRae
‘There’s always something to feed ’round here’ Continued from page 25 adding staff of the Ocean Science Center help a lot, as do books and the Internet. “We didn’t go to school for this,” he chuckles, adding in the beginning they made lots of mistakes, “but it’s the biggest kind of accomplishment when you sell them. “We bring in four pounds of eggs and by the time we sell it’s 40,000 pounds of fish.” The money is nice too, he admits, but it’s also nice knowing you can do it. Danny Boyce, facility and business manager for the aquaculture research and development facility at Memorial’s Ocean Sciences Center in St. John’s, says the Pictures’ attitude will lead to financial success, and also makes them valuable for future research. “They are dedicated to the challenge,” he says of the family, “and aquaculture certainly benefits from characters of their nature.”
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TENACIOUS Boyce says fish farmers see aquaculture as the true future of the Newfoundland and Labrador fishery. “They (the Pictures) see a place for aquaculture for them, and it can certainly give them a partial income and help someone else in the community with employment.” Keith Rideout, instructor and industrial researcher at the Marine Institute, agrees. He says about five years ago the provincial government decided to focus on aquaculture species that were more financially viable. Atlantic salmon, rainbow trout, blue muscles and Atlantic cod were chosen and the Pictures have more species licences than anyone else in the province. Rideout calls them tenacious. “It’s good to see the industry move ahead with individuals like the Pictures,” he says, agreeing that with their other fishing ventures, aquaculture will certainly give them a “significant supplement to their income.” The future of aquaculture in the province seems to be positive, Rideout says, with the chief obstacle being the ability to secure start-up capital and landing enough investment to get to the size where an operation can actually make money. Boyce is optimistic, there is a cod hatchery currently under construction in Bay Roberts that’s projected to produce 10 million fish per year. Mimicking the cod’s food chain is keeping him busy. In the meantime, Picture needs to feed his trout and help his son out with his own new venture, a mink farm he started last fall. “There’s always something to feed ’round here,” he jokes.
JUNE 26, 2005
INDEPENDENTBUSINESS • 27
‘Where the residential market goes …’ The amount of commercial space just outside St. John’s has tripled in the past decade — so has the price By Alisha Morrissey The Independent
real estate analysts with Lansing Properties in St. John’s, say the amount of commercial space available in areas outside the city has tripled in the past decade — and so have the prices. Kirkland Jr. is quick to remind people real estate isn’t just buildings — it’s the land and improvements made to it. He says commercial property is just following the residential development taking place in suburban areas outside the city.
C
hanges in the way people on the northeast Avalon live, shop, and travel have created a different market for commercial property in the region. Box stores and new highways lead small business owners to move away from traditional roadside locations. David Osborne, a commercial real estate dealer, says commercial property owners, who once lined the roads of communities like Paradise and Conception Bay South (CBS), have moved to bigger shopping centres. However, he says there’s no cause for concern because other small businesses — like restaurants, for example — are taking over the vacant buildings. “It’s not a case that you’re taking them (small businesses) up and pulling them away from the general area,” Osborne tells The Independent. “You may move from Paradise to Mount Pearl or vice versa, but overall the business is being attracted by the very close neighbours. I mean people will come from Paradise into Mount Pearl or St. John’s to shop, the distance certainly is no great concern.” Osborne says the buildings are selling at market value.
Rhonda Hayward/The Independent
“There are a lot of residential properties now that people are selling, looking for a commercial price in hopes somebody will come along, like they did in the Paradise area, and put in a stripbusiness mall.
“And somebody comes along and picks up six or seven houses and does the same type of development like that, and it does attract the business.” George Kirkland Sr. and George Kirkland Jr.,
Small businesses spur Nova Scotia’s job growth Jobless rate falling steadily, lower in Halifax than Toronto HALIFAX By Kelly Toughill Atlantic Canada bureau
J
an Imeson moved to Halifax from Toronto nine years ago, eager to dump high mortgage payments and stubborn traffic jams for a mellower way of life. New statistics show that Imeson was on the leading edge of a wave that has boosted the Nova Scotia economy and drawn immigrants and businesses there from around the world. Statistics Canada reported last week that Nova Scotia’s unemployment rate dipped to 7.6 per cent in May, its lowest figure in 29 years. The story in the region’s biggest city was even better. Halifax beat Toronto in the allimportant jobs sweepstakes, with a 5.9 per cent unemployment rate, compared to 7.6 per cent in Toronto. “The unemployment rate is lower in Halifax than in Toronto, Ottawa or London,” boasts Nova Scotia Premier John Hamm. “We are gradually turning things around; this is not just a blip.” Nova Scotia, like other Atlantic provinces, has spent a generation battling the twin evils of unemployment and out-migration as the pillars of its traditional resource economy — forestry and fish — faltered. But that story has started to change. Nova Scotia’s unemployment rate has been falling steadily for three years. Perhaps more impressive is the fact jobs are being created in the absence of flashy new industries or governmentsponsored mega-projects. There are no huge construction projects going on to artificially inflate employment numbers, as when new Navy ships were being built in Saint John, N.B., or the
Hibernia oil platform was being assembled in Newfoundland. The job surge has also occurred as the oil and gas industry contracted. The energy sector was once touted as the future of the region, but exploration has been disappointing in recent years and several companies have pulled out. It seems to be small business, call centres and high-tech enterprises that are creating the jobs. Ten years ago, there were just 29,000 small businesses in Nova Scotia. Today, there are more than 54,000.
Perhaps more impressive is the fact jobs are being created in the absence of flashy new industries or government-sponsored mega-projects.
Stephen Lund is president of Nova Scotia Business Inc., a provincial agency created to lure business to the province. He says lower costs and better lifestyles are not only sparking new business creation but luring established businesses from other places, including Toronto. Imeson works for a company that moved from Toronto to Halifax this year. Clark Inc. was a transportation com-
pany based in Concord. Now, it is a holding company based in Halifax. Imeson, 48, is the executive vice-president and chief financial officer. She says she would not have returned to Toronto to take the job and was only willing to work for Clark if the company planned to move here. She says the company decided to move to Halifax so its executives could concentrate on work, rather than being distracted by the hassles of big-city life. “I have nothing against Toronto, I grew up there, but it is just so hectic,” she says. “You want your people to be paying attention to the company and its vision, not high mortgage payments or whether they can get through traffic.” Hamm has offered payroll rebates to entice many companies to the region, but few companies have received more than $1 million from provincial coffers. Another key to the province’s new success, Lund says, is a restructured community college system that has focused on producing workers with the right skills. Not all areas of the province have benefited equally from the boom. Halifax may have an unemployment rate below six per cent, but many areas of rural Nova Scotia still struggle with double-digit unemployment rates. But even in Cape Breton, the trend has been positive recently, with unemployment rates slowly dropping. The 7.6 per cent provincial unemployment rate “is just a snapshot,” Lund says. “It’s a good number, but there is lots of work to be done.” Imeson has little doubt that more people — and companies — will be following her lead. “Those of us who live here like it a lot.”
OLD STOCK “The old dilapidated stock that’s out there now, the old buildings they are not able to service the populations,” Kirkland Jr. says. “Now the new buildings that are going up there in the increasing space, that’s the stuff that’s following the residential.” His father points out the new highways and connections, built to service new residential developments, are close to clumps of commercial real estate. Businesses on roads that people rarely travel on anymore just aren’t going to be as profitable, he says. “The value is the land less the cost of the value to destroy it (the building) and that value has shifted to another better location, closer to the main roads, arteries and a highway where the population has grown,” says Kirkland Jr. “Where the residential market goes, goes the commercial market after it.”
Blow for fish harvesters
A
drop of five cents a pound below last summer’s shrimp prices could force up to 4,000 people out of work, warns Earle McCurdy, president of Fish, Food and Allied Workers’ union. “Harvesters barely broke even at the shrimp fishery last summer,” he says. “With the outrageous cost of fuel and a substantial price decrease, the economies of the fishery will be out the window.” An arbitrator selected the final price for this summer’s catches. McCurdy is also worried about fishermen and plant workers affected by
the early closure of the crab fishery. He says he is trying to arrange meetings to discuss the “crisis” with both the provincial and federal government, and hopes to come up with options for workers. “One thing that would help would be if the provincial government invested some of the windfall it is receiving from record oil prices to help the people who are thrown out of work because of these record prices,” he says. “This is especially true in the shrimp fishery, which uses a great deal of fuel.”
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28 • INDEPENDENTSPECIAL SECTION
JUNE 26, 2005
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INDEPENDENTSPECIAL SECTION • 29
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INDEPENDENTSPECIAL SECTION • 31
JUNE 26, 2005
32 • INDEPENDENTSPORTS
Catching life with conviction Perseverance pays off for Jays’ Zaun By Richard Griffin Torstar wire service
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t has been a long and grinding road for catcher Gregg Zaun, but he recently reaped the rewards. The 34-year-old Blue Jay celebrates a special anniversary this month, a tribute to perseverance and a stubborn, sometimes angry desire to prove people wrong. Zaun is officially a 10-year major-leaguer, fully vested in the major league pension plan, the best retirement fund in the history of organized labour. In an up-and-down career that includes five free agencies, four trades, three disablements, seven major league teams, 16 different professional uniforms, two wives, one World Series ring and enough demon rum to float a battleship, he has survived. “It was tough,” Zaun says of his personal odyssey. “I look at the game right now and I’m going to play it until they take it away from me. I’m not ready to go back to being a No. 2 guy yet. I’m hoping what I have here in Toronto lasts for two or three more years — maybe four if I’m lucky.” Zaun, despite never starting until a year ago, has now maxed out on a player retirement plan that would, if he so chooses, at the age of 55, provide him with $160,000 (U.S.) per year for life. Even though that tenure was his driving force when he arrived with the Jays last May with a mellower attitude, the money has now descended to a secondary position, eclipsed in his mind by his feat of longevity. “I was in a place where I thought, ‘I don’t know if I’m going to make it,’” Zaun recalls of his arrival in Toronto. “I thought my career might be over two years ago. I didn’t know if anybody was ever going to give me a shot again. For me to be in this situation right now is almost surreal. To get 10 years in is just the icing on the cake.”
Toronto Blue Jays catcher Gregg Zaun makes a catch on a bunt attempt by Boston Red Sox Dave Roberts last August.
As a 24-year-old rookie in ‘95, Zaun was a punk with attitude. He thought he was misused, that he could be another Carlton Fisk. After all, his uncle, O’s catcher Rick Dempsey, had been a 24-year major-leaguer. It was in his God-given genes. Any team that kept him on, but as a backup catcher, was
crazy. Of course, that was everybody. “I always joke and say I’m the most well-rested 34-year-old catcher in the game,” Zaun says. In a case of life coming full circle, in town in time for the very private Zaun celebration was his original team, the O’s, accompanied by his uncle Rick. “It’s kind of poetic that it was against the Orioles,” Zaun says. “They let me go because they didn’t think I could play every day. I can’t say that I blame them. I didn’t do a whole lot with what I was given.” In another sweet coincidence, Gregg’s mom, Cherie, was also in town. She joined the other essential female influence in Zaun’s life, wife Jamie, in the celebration. The importance of his life partnership was driven home last month, through a scrambled haze of dislodged brain cells. Having suffered a concussion in a basepath collision, he regained his senses in the hospital and Jamie’s was the first face he saw. It seems appropriate. “Jamie has totally re-prioritized my life,” Zaun
REUTERS/Andrew Wallace
says with admiration. “I can’t imagine life without her. I can imagine life without baseball, but not without her. She gives me a pat on the back when I need it and a kick in the ass when I need it. She’s an absolute rock.” With his personal life clearly in order, healthy and with his financial future assured, Zaun can now turn his attention back to a Jays squad that is forever in need of focus and veteran clubhouse influence, especially after the departure of Carlos Delgado. “The one thing I can’t stand is to see guys make the same mistakes I made when I was younger,” Zaun says. “There’s just no reason. As long as they’re willing to listen, I’m willing to share. There’s times when I should have been out of the game. The fact that I could switch-hit and catch and throw a little bit kept me around, even in spite of the mistakes that I made.” The Jays also saw him as nothing but a temporary fill-in when he arrived last May. But now they are the beneficiaries of his 10 years of perseverance.
JUNE 26, 2005
INDEPENDENTSPORTS • 33
Synchro diver won’t compete with teammate
NOVA SCOTIA BOUND
`It goes against my principles:’ Comtois By Randy Starkman Torstar wire service
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aying he’d “rather not dive than dive against my principles,” Philippe Comtois announced yesterday he would not compete with teammate Arturo Miranda at next month’s World Aquatic Championships in Montreal. Comtois and Miranda were to represent Canada in the 3-metre synchro diving event. Miranda is competing while appealing a six-month suspension handed down in March by a Diving Canada disciplinary panel. Miranda was censored for bringing “the sport of diving into disrepute” after a 15-year-old diver he has coached complained that he had sex with her in her hotel room during the winter nationals in Calgary in March, 2004. Miranda was 33 at the time. “It goes against my principles and morality,” Comtois says. “What he did goes against what I believe. I won’t feel comfortable diving with him.” The worlds were to be the swansong for the 28-year-old Comtois, a Montreal native who came back to compete at the 2004 Athens Olympics after shattering his leg four years earlier and missing the Sydney Games. “The worlds is going to be my last diving event. I wanted the worlds to be a fun event, but I don’t see how it could be fun. Diving with Arturo wouldn’t be a good experience for me.” After the Toronto Star reported his suspension and the reasons for it at the Canadian world diving trials in London, Ont., earlier this month, Miranda told CBC: “After everything is done, I want to be vindicated and everything will just be fine.” In making its original ruling, the Diving Canada disciplinary panel determined that a sexual encounter between Miranda and the girl took place and, given their age difference and that their relationship “has an element of a coach/athlete relationship,” that “this
constitutes conduct on Mr. Miranda’s part which is unreasonable and which brings the sport of diving into disrepute.” “He’s an adult. The other person was a teenager,” says Comtois. “That something happened between an adult and a teenager bothers me. A teenager doesn’t have lot of strength, mental or physical, to resist an adult.” Comtois says he has been contemplating pulling out of the worlds since he learned of Miranda’s suspension. He said he discussed his options the past few nights with his wife, and that his status as the father of a young daughter with another child on the way influenced his decision. “This way I know my kids would look up to me and not say, `Dad, why did you dive?’ That’s what’s important for me. “The worlds were a way to say thank you to my family and friends for 20 years of support. The performance was not the point. Sixty people bought tickets for the synchro to see me dive, but I’m sure they’ll understand why I pulled out of the competition.” Comtois, who finished 13th in Athens in 3-metre and fifth in synchro with Alexandre Despatie, says he would be willing to return to the team if Miranda’s suspension is upheld. A spokesman for Diving Canada said this week that a ruling on the appeal should be announced by the end of the month. Comtois is also next in line for Miranda’s individual spot in the 3-metre springboard. “I’m still training and I’m in good shape and ready to take the place (if it comes open),” says Comtois, who is off to Mexico to compete in this weekend’s Grand Prix Super Final. The family of the diver who filed the complaint against Miranda praises Comtois for his stand. “To make such a tough decision speaks to his credibility as an individual,” says the girl’s father. “He’s a role model to be looked up to. This is the kind of guy you want representing your country.”
Corey Crocker has accepted the head coaching job with the Amherst Ramblers of the Maritime Junior A Hockey League. Crocker, who spent the past four seasons behind the bench of the Midget AAA Tri Penn Frost, moves to the Nova Scotia town in late August when the Ramblers’ rookie camp begins. He will also serve as head coach of the Newfoundland and Labrador men’s hockey team at the 2007 Canada Games. Paul Daly/The Independent
Maurice to guide baby Leafs By Ken Campbell Torstar wire service
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aul Maurice faced something of an awkward situation when he accepted the Toronto Marlies coaching job. When Toronto Maple Leafs general manager John Ferguson Jr. called the former coach of the Carolina Hurricanes to offer him the job, Maurice had been entertaining a guest. That visitor just happened to be his best friend, Kitchener Rangers GMcoach Peter DeBoer, who was also a serious candidate for the job. But in something of a surprise, the Leafs have announced that the job of guiding their top pro prospects at Ricoh Coliseum next season belongs to the 38-
year-old Maurice, who coached the Hurricanes to the Stanley Cup final in 2002 after they defeated Toronto in the Eastern Conference final. The Leafs have made history by hiring Maurice. With 604 NHL games to his credit, he becomes the coach with the most NHL experience in the 69-year history of the American Hockey League. It was undoubtedly that big league experience and profile that appealed so much to the Leafs. In hiring Maurice, the Leaf organization has met the double-pronged goal of hiring a big-name coach for the Marlies’ first season in the AHL and finding a possible successor to current Leafs coach Pat Quinn, who will be 64 when the two-year deal he recently
signed expires in 2007. And make no mistake, Maurice has his sights on getting back into the NHL and sees the Marlies, the former St. John’s Maple Leafs, as the perfect opportunity to do just that. The only question is whether or not he’ll be willing to wait around for at least two years until the Leafs top job becomes available. Coaching the Marlies is not your garden-variety AHL job because of the profile it will receive and if Maurice does well with the Marlies, he will likely be touted for other NHL jobs when they become available. Maurice replaces Doug Sheddon, who coached the St. John’s Maple Leafs for two seasons before being let go by the parent organization this spring. C - CLASS STARTING FROM
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JUNE 26, 2005
34 • INDEPENDENTSPORTS
Guarding the title Champions of last year’s St. John’s junior baseball crown, Guards look to repeat By Darcy MacRae The Independent
says. The Guards pride themselves on playing good defence, and this year’s defenders are doing a good here’s no championship hangover for the job of upholding that reputation. Davis says Butler Guards junior baseball team. After claiming is “a natural center fielder who reads the ball off the the St. John’s Junior Baseball League title bat very well,” and says the double-play combinalast fall, the Guards picked up where they left off in tion of shortstop Lenny King and second baseman 2005 by easily winning their first six games. The Mark Rowsell “work well together.” team has become the dominant force head coach With a steady defence in place every night, Bernard Davis always thought they would. Fifield says the Guards’ pitching staff is not afraid “Talent wise, the boys have really come into their to let the opposing team put the ball in play. own,” Davis tells The Independent. “I’ve seen them “You don’t have to worry about striking everyshow flashes of brilliance in the past, but now body out all the time,” Fifield says. “With a good they’re playing to their potential.” defence behind you, you can just pitch your game Davis has coached most of the players on the and if they put it in play, the defence backs you up. Guards since they were in their early teens. He’s It takes a lot of weight off a pitcher’s shoulders.” watched them develop all aspects of their game, and As far as Fifield in concerned, a lot of credit for witnessed them come together as a team. the efficiency of the pitching staff and infield “They help each other out. They defence goes to Jones, his catcher know each other so well that they since childhood. The ace pitcher feels can talk to each other about things.” Jones’ presence behind the plate set“We know each That’s obvious when they’re on tles everybody down and leaves the the field. During a warm-up prior to Guards feeling confident. other and can a June 19 game versus Holy Cross, “I’ve pitched to Mike every year count on each the Guards were a loose bunch, joksince I started pitching,” Fifield says. ing and laughing as they practiced “It’s a lot different pitching to someother when some- one else because I have to go over routine plays and chased down fly balls. They got serious when the I like to throw to different batone gets upset.” what game began, but still took time to ters. Mike and I just click.” rib each other over a strikeout, a On top of being a successful team, Peter Fifield misplayed ground ball and whether the Guards are also a fun club to they were wearing jocks. watch. They play old-school baseball The banter is always good — stressing fundamental team play natured, and helps the team both on and off the rather than individual heroics. The philosophy field. includes plenty of bunting, base stealing, squeeze “We know each other and can count on each other plays and run and hits. when someone gets upset,” says Peter Fifield, ace The style of play is popular with the players, pitcher for the Guards. Fifield says, and is a direct indication of the kind of As much as their familiarity has helped them, ball Davis wants the Guards to play. there is no debating the Guards wealth of talent also “I’m an aggressive coach — sometimes too plays a big role in their success. First and foremost, aggressive,” Davis says. “I’m all about having our they have an outstanding pitching staff, headed by guys move, because we have a really fast team.” Fifield and supported by Lenny King, Greg Bruce, Besides being entertaining, Davis’ aggressive Mark Poddle, and 15-year-old south paw Michael style reaps huge benefits for the team. Delaney. “When you’re aggressive, the (opposing) pitcher “Every starting pitcher we have can go the full has a hard time focusing. He doesn’t know if we’re seven innings,” says Mike Jones, the Guards start- going to bunt or steal. These things are uncharactering catcher. “They’re a finesse staff. They know istic of teams, but we try to do it because we have a what pitches to throw and where to throw them to very talented group of players,” the head coach get the ground balls and flyouts we need.” says. Offensively, Bruce, Poddle and Fifield are also On top of stressing fundamentally sound baseball, capable hitters, but the table is continually set by Davis and assistant coach Paul Currie want the Johnny Butler, who Davis calls “the best leadoff Guards to enjoy their junior years. By ensuring each man in the league.” Jones and Scott Stockley pro- member of the team gets playing time and helping vide pop in the middle of the order, giving the to keep the mood loose, they in return get a full lineGuards a balanced offensive attack. up of hard working athletes every night. “We started hitting the ball really well last year “If you don’t enjoy what you’re doing,” Davis and are off to a great start again this year,” Davis says, “it gets hard to go to the ball park.”
T
Michael Delaney pitching for the Guards.
Rhonda Hayward/The Independent
Explosive Lions poised to pounce By Damien Cox Torstar wire service
C
FL programs, it’s fair to say, have for many years had a lifetime of about three weeks – or less. Always looking for better players or at least, different ones, the majority of CFL teams have had the attention span of a fidgety five-year-old when it came to patiently developing and sculpting a roster. In recent times it’s been partially the result of market conditions. The XFL was chasing many of the same players for a year and during the mid-90s American expansion squads greedily scooped up import talent that might have otherwise made it to Canada, forcing the northern squads into constant scramble for U.S. talent. Well, Vince McMahon’s league is long gone and the Posse, Pirates, Mad Dogs and Gold Miners are distant memories and don’t look now but if it isn’t as though stability has suddenly become
fashionable across the land. Standing pat has been the dominant theme for CFL rosters, with the majority of teams starting out this season looking an awful lot like they did when the 2004 campaign ended. The Argonauts turned bringing everyone back from their championship team into an off-season mission. Saskatchewan lost the quarterback, Henry Burris, but replaced him with Nealon Greene, the man who had the job before Burris. Where are the crazy airlifts of years gone by? Where are the silly spending sprees on Americans surprised to see a 12th player on both sides of the ball? This overall absence of change across the league, of course, also means the CFL power structure, essentially divided into three tiers, remains unaltered. Nine teams, naturally, believe they are better. But the truth is no team has added so much talent that they are seen as vast-
ly improved and no team has lost so many players that they are viewed as substantially weakened. The top four teams appear to be Toronto, B.C., Montreal and Edmonton, a team that finished a mediocre 9-9 last season but gets to be a part of the top group simply because quarterback Ricky Ray is back in town. The second tier includes the Hamilton and Saskatchewan. The third level is made up of Ottawa, Winnipeg and Calgary, three teams that combined for 16 victories last season. If there is a team poised to move up — and the sexy choice is Calgary with Burris at the helm — it might be the team that lost that very same passer. Regina’s Roughriders sport a smashmouth prairie personality, the league’s best offensive line and an outstanding runner, Kenton Keith. Greene is good enough to make this offence go, and the defence is solid with plenty of veterans. The Alouettes, meanwhile, winners of
40 regular season games over the past three years, may be set to take a step backwards. Their biggest loss may be in the defensive backfield where Barron Miles and William Loftus are both gone. If the Als can’t fill effectively, they may have trouble playing that high-risk, highpressure defence they love. Right now, the Argos look more solid than Montreal, and the Argo offence could be improved with a full season from receiver Arland Bruce III and with newcomer Hakim Hill pushing incumbent tailback John Avery hard for playing time. Damon Allen’s silky performance in the Grey Cup game made many forget that for much of the year, the Argo offence was dreadful and the veteranladen defence, along with brilliant kicker Noel Prefontaine, carried the team. If the Argos can score more, the Als and Cats could be chasing them all season. Out west, the Eskimos believe that with Ray back and an influx of experienced Canadian help in the defensive
backfield led by Davis Sanchez, they’ll be right back where they were two years ago. Right now, however, the team to beat looks like the Lions, a team that was explosive on offence last season and added co-ordinator Dave Ritchie to enhance a defence that ranked fifth in the league. Yes, Casey Printers, the 2004 CFL most valuable player who then didn’t take a snap in the Grey Cup match, is grumbling about his role behind 32-yearold starter Dave Dickenson. But the Lions scored 69 points in two pre-season matches and GM/head coach Wally Buono understands that he’ll probably need both quarterbacks this season, meaning the Dickenson-Printers roles could be reversed by season’s end, if not earlier. The exciting news is that there appear to be three strong teams in each division, giving the CFL terrific balance, perhaps the best in years. This brief fling with roster stability, it seems, could catch on.
JUNE 26, 2005
When the spotlight fades
INDEPENDENTSPORTS • 35
WORLD CUP OF DARTS
Adjusting to the real world after retirement can be a difficult transition for some pro athletes By Paul Hunter Torstar wire service
I
t was not an idle retirement. Fourteen seasons and almost $5 million (U.S.) in salary earned during the NHL’s pre-lockout days had set Garry Valk up for a lifestyle beyond the imagination of most 10-goal-a-season pluggers, certainly beyond the dreams of most 9-to-5 stiffs. The former Maple Leaf managed properties he owned in Whistler, B.C., but mostly he skied, golfed and spent time with his wife and two young children. Life wasn’t idle, but it also wasn’t ideal. The 37-year-old says there was something missing. Unlike the occasional, sensational story of a tormented former athlete found sleeping on a park bench or dead of a drug overdose, Valk’s is a more representative situation for the modern player: financially secure, but unsure about how to take the next step toward self-fulfillment once the reality of being away from the game sets in. That is how Valk and his wife Tanya came to contact a “lifestyle coach” to help focus his interests. And it is how he came to fly across the continent to stand on the field at a Bridgeport (Conn.) Bluefish baseball game holding a microphone, talking to a 6-foot-5 minor leaguer about steroids in sport. And it is how he returned to Vancouver armed with tapes that will show his blossoming broadcast talent to the world. And it is typical of how the Professional Athletes Transition Institute (PATI) is helping ex-NHLers find new direction on the verdant campus of Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Conn. Valk was one of seven former big leaguers, as well as current player Jason York, to go back to school for five days of intensive broadcasting workshops last week. Former players Glenn Anderson, Bob McGill, Paul Harrison and Valk joined Dave Maley, Bill Ranford, Phil Bourque and York in seminars and hands-on lessons in everything from play-byplay and interview techniques to doing voice-overs and using a teleprompter. The course included an outing to the Bluefish game, at which the hockey players interviewed baseball players before the game and filed reports. “You don’t want to go up there and ask a stupid question,” York laments to a reporter on the scene. “You know from experience they’re not going to take you seriously.” Then it was up to the booth, where each player did two innings of play-by-play and two of colour. Ranford (after a pitch rolled in the dirt past home plate and the catcher): “We’re still waiting for the call on that.” Valk: “I think we can assume that one was a ball, Bill.” These were hockey players remember. This was a first for PATI as well. It has offered courses in the past, largely based around business — an entrepreneur camp will take place next month — and 102 players have taken advantage of the opportunity offered through the NHL Alumni’s Life After Hockey program. PATI has helped transform ex-NHLers into business owners, lawyers and salesmen and this broadcasting course was a response to a research paper that found 38 per cent of players want to stay in hockey when they retire. “Players are so young getting into their careers today that by the time they are 35, 36 or whatever, someone has been telling them when to get up, where to be, when the season begins, when it ends — everything — for more than 20 years. Then it suddenly ends. The spotlight is no longer on them and the crowd’s no longer cheering and many of them are lost souls,” says Brian Conacher, president of the NHL Alumni Association. Conacher believes it is even tougher for today’s athlete than it was when he played in the 1960s and ‘70s. Due to the economics, players back then went through their hockey careers understanding they would have to work afterwards to pay the bills. Many had summer jobs to supplement their income that paved the way for post-hockey employment. Today’s athlete is sometimes caught by surprise when staring into the lengthy void of retirement. “One player in the Phoenix area — who had a very credible career — said for two years he couldn’t get out of bed in the morning because he didn’t know what he was going to do when he got out of bed,” says Conacher. “It wasn’t until he got into the program and it started to give him some focus and some self worth (that) he learned he really did have something to contribute. He’s now off on another career. As he said, it saved his life.” Because it is fully funded in co-operation between the NHL and the NHL Players’ Association, the PATI program is cutting edge in sports and it could become the template for other leagues. It is administered by the alumni association so that any dispute a player may have had with either funding body during his career does not keep him from participating.
Jimmy Croke finished in fourth place in men’s singles at the recent Canadian Darts Championships in Victoria, B.C. The fourth-place finish qualifies the Shea Heights resident for the World Cup of Darts, which takes place in Australia at the end of September. Rhonda Hayward/The Independent
Central forms Midget AAA team From page 36 time with the Jays. The first player who comes to mind is Eric Hinske. The former rookie-of-the-year hasn’t developed into the player the Jays had hoped and could easily be replaced at first base by Shea Hillenbrand, which would open the DH spot permanently for Hill. Given Hill’s age and athleticism, however, it’s doubtful the Jays see him as a full-time DH. He could move over to shortstop, but that would mean taking playing time away from another rookie, Russ Adams. From what I’ve seen this year, Adams is a much better shortstop than Hill, despite Hill’s stronger arm. Removing Adams from short would be a mistake. The only other option is at second. That would mean trading defensive wizard and fan favourite Orlando Hudson, a move that would offend some followers of the club. Although Hill would be hard pressed to replace Hudson’s glove, his bat is so much better than the O-Dog’s that the move would be justified. Once Hudson is moved later this summer, Hill will settle in as the Jay’s second baseman for many seasons to come. I expect
Adams and Hill to form a potent 1-2 combination at the top of the batting order in the future, one that hopefully includes a return to the post season for the Jays. WANTED: MIDGET AAA Central Newfoundland will ice a Midget AAA team this fall, following a three-year absence from the provincial league. Over that time, elite players from central played either with the Western Kings in Corner Brook or the Tri Pen Frost in Harbour Grace, meaning their parents faced several hours of driving each weekend. Adrian and Charlotte Whiffen deserve much of the credit for bringing Midget AAA back to central. They have already signed a head coach (Jody Bishop), begun fundraising for the coming season, and recently held an open tryout — attracting 28 players. After living in Grand Falls-Windsor for almost two years, I saw first hand the hockey talent in central. They should easily put together a competitive team, one that will give their local talent much needed exposure to junior and university hockey scouts. The addition of the central club also solidifies the provincial Midget AAA league, which had been operating with just three
teams in recent seasons. Four teams will allow for a longer, more balanced schedule and offer more variety for fans. Given more and more scouts from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League will almost certainly be combing this province in future, the fine folks in central Newfoundland should expect a few spectators with French accents once their midget team takes to the ice. darcy.macrae@theindependent.ca
Solution for crossword on page 24
INDEPENDENTSPORTS
SUNDAY THROUGH SATURDAY, JUNE 26-JULY 2, 2005 — PAGE 36
Snow storm
After 10 years of professional rugby, Rod Snow has returned home and is ready to lead The Rock to Super League title Although Snow is retired from professional rugby, he’s not about to walk away from the game cold turkey. He recently began playing with The Rock, the province’s entry in the Rugby Canada Super League. His presence at practice on June 22 created a buzz, with fans offering to shake his hand as he made his way around the field. Young kids took in his every move. For 12-year-old Chris Vincent, watching Snow on the pitch is even more exciting since he recently completed a school project on the rugby star. Vincent says he hopes to meet Snow after practice or at one of The Rock’s upcoming games. “I want his autograph,” the young boy says. “Then I’m going to put it on my computer.” Autograph seekers are nothing new to Snow, although playing at a lower level is a slightly foreign experience. Despite the fact he’s no longer a pro, he says he will play the same smash-mouth style with The Rock as he did in Newport — partly because of his love for the province, but also out of respect for his new teammates. “I am about as proud a Newfoundlander as you can get,” Snow says. “They (The Rock) are a committed bunch of young kids and I have to do them the service they deserve.” Snow admits he’s not overly familiar with the rest of the Rugby Canada Super League, but feels The Rock should be in the title hunt again this year. He says the team has a lot of young talent with the fighting spirit typical of Newfoundlanders. “Newfoundland teams have never been short of commitment, pride, and the ability to get up for a big game,” he says. “There’s no reason to think this team can’t go one step further than they did last year (when they lost in the league final).” Since returning home, Snow has concentrated his efforts on the completion of his new home in Paradise (Snow, his wife Elizabeth and 17month-old son Dakota hope to move in by the end of summer). Throughout his career he made about as much as an experienced teacher would in this province, so although he is financially secure, he will seek employment, most likely in the personal trainer/fitness industry. Although he’s happy to be home again, Snow admits there are moments he still longs for the professional game. He enjoyed hanging out with his teammates, soaking in the camaraderie and gamesmanship that exists in the locker room. Given his success at that level, it’s little wonder he will never forget his days in Newport. “It was an incredible amount of fun, and I loved every bit of it. I’m going to miss the stuff that goes on behind closed doors,” Snow says. “To have played a professional sport is what I’m most proud of. To have been able to do it for so long and walk away with a lot of recognition and respect is great.”
By Darcy MacRae The Independent
I
t’s hard to miss Rod Snow on the rugby pitch. At 5’11 and a muscled 265 pounds, Snow’s build resembles a small truck. His size alone is scary, but the intimidation factor is turned up a notch when you discover he can run like a sprinter. On top of that, he covers the field with such powerful strides anyone who dares step in his way faces the risk of getting run over — by a truck. For 10 years Snow was a force on the pro rugby scene in Wales, where he suited up for Newport. He retired this spring and moved back to Newfoundland, where his heart never left. “Newfoundland is my home,” Snow tells The Independent. “The only option was for me to come back here.” Despite playing arguably the world’s roughest game — where the average play may be mistaken for a street fight — Snow was fortunate to have never sustained a serious injury. While many of his teammates suffered torn ligaments and separated shoulders, Snow got away with just a pair of minor knee surgeries last year. But then the 35-year-old says the procedures were a sign he should retire before something more serious happens to him. “My knees were saying enough is enough,” he says. “I would have loved to have played on, and in a lot of ways I wish I had. But physically speaking, it was a good time to call it quits.” Snow, who spent much of his childhood in Labrador City before moving to Mount Pearl at 14, had a decorated career in Wales. He won a league championship with Newport in 2000 and was one of the most popular players on the team over his 10 years there. When he retired, the team gave him a testimonial game featuring current and former teammates. Many of the men were personally invited by Snow, who was honoured they were willing to travel to Wales from countries as far away as South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. “It’s a pretty humbling experience,” Snow says. “The group of players I asked were more than willing to do it and that’s something I’m quite proud of.” Some of the players Snow invited to his testimonial game were teammates from his days with the Canadian national team. Over the years, he played 56 games for Team Canada, an honour he will always cherish. Suiting up in the red and white gave Snow the opportunity to play all over the world. It was during those trips that Snow realized how much rugby means to some countries. “You look at Canada where hockey is the main sport and see how the general public takes to the game. In places like New Zealand and South Africa, rugby is their hockey,” Snow explains. “People are passionate about it. They love it; it’s almost like a religion. To have an opportunity to be in a situation like that is superb.”
Rod Snow
Paul Daly/The Independent
darcy.macrae@theindependent.ca
One Hill of a problem A
aron Hill must have his teammates worried. The 23-yearold rookie infielder has been the Toronto Blue Jays’ best hitter since he joined the club just over a month ago. His aggressiveness at the plate and ability to drive in runs has been most appreciated by a team whose offence lacks firepower. Given his production, one question has to be asked: which Blue Jay will lose his job as a result of the rookie’s play?
DARCY MACRAE
The game When Hill was recalled from Syracuse May 19, he was brought up to replace the injured Corey Koskie. The move was seen by many as nothing more than an early audition for the
2003 first-round pick, and few thought he would contribute so much, so soon. His play has been so outstanding it’s obvious the Jays cannot afford to send him back to the minors and will have to find a place for him once Koskie returns. For the most part, Hill — a shortstop in the minors — has split his time in the big leagues between third base and designated hitter. For a guy who never played third before, he certainly looks
comfortable at the hot corner. He has more than enough arm to excel at the position and decent enough hands to handle the line drives that come with playing third. The problem is the Jays already have one of the American League’s better third baseman in the injured Koskie. When the Manitoba native returns in July, the Jays will be forced to move another player from his position to keep Hill’s bat in the lineup.
When Hill hit his first career homerun June 20 in an 11-2 Jays win over Baltimore, it was obvious he’s well liked by his new teammates. Players were quick to greet the youngster with handshakes and offers of congratulations on his first big-league homer. At the same time, some of these guys must have been wondering whether Hill’s success will spell the end of their See “Central forms,” page 35