VOL. 3 ISSUE 33
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LIFE PAGE 17
PHOTO ESSAY 20-21
Mark McKinney of Kids in the Hall is the CFA on Hatching set
Picture editor Paul Daly shoots birds of Cape St. Mary’s
Making a home
CATCH ME IF YOU CAN
Housing development geared toward HIV/AIDS-positive people to open next year in St. John’s ALISHA MORRISSEY
T
ommy Sexton’s name has been associated with breaking down barriers and stigma related to living with HIV/AIDS, but next July the name will be synonymous with a home and supports for those living with the disease. The Tommy Sexton Centre, named in memory of the comedian who died of complications of AIDS in December 1993, will be a $1.3 million multi-purpose building. Construction will begin in September and when complete in July 2006 will house four one-bedroom and two two-bedroom affordable apartments, a four-bed emergency shelter and the offices of the AIDS Committee of Newfoundland and Labrador. Jay, 33, who asked that his real name not be published, says he’s been HIV-positive for the last 15 years and has expressed interest in living in the complex. Originally from the province, Jay says he moved to the mainland for several years and when he returned about 10 years ago, he was “flabbergasted and shocked” there was no affordable See “A respite,” page 2
The St. John’s Caps and Corner Brook Barons play this weekend in St. John’s for the provincial senior men’s baseball crown. Games were scheduled for Saturday and Sunday (1 p.m. and 7 p.m. both days, if necessary). The games were played after The Independent’s press deadline. Above Mario Tee of the Caps delivers a warm-up pitch to catcher Mark Healey. Paul Daly/The Independent
‘I don’t have nightmares anymore’ Mount Pearl woman abused on the job speaks out against workplace harassment CLARE-MARIE GOSSE
M
ary Ford sits at the kitchen table in her house on a quiet residential street in Mount Pearl and struggles through embarrassed tears and apologetic smiles to tell her story. Strangely, it’s not recounting the violent details of being sexually and verbally harassed and assaulted in her workplace that causes her to stop and catch her breath, but the smaller, seemingly insignificant memories. “I had four uniforms; I burned them,” she says with a soft voice, fiddling with the edges of a place mat. “Four beige tops and four beige pants. “I was so stressed and so scared … one morning I got up to go to work and I knew he (a co-worker) was going to be working a day shift with me that day. My husband was in the shower and I was in our closet, picking out my uniform. I was so stressed, I was on the floor screeching, because I didn’t know what uniform to wear — they were identical.” Ford worked for almost 10 years as a cleaner at a local academic institute in the 1990s (she says she can’t reveal the name of her workplace as a condition of an eventual court settlement). Four years into her job, she began working shifts with a particular man who set her life into a confusing spiral of fear,
QUOTE OF THE WEEK “We want to be very clear from the start we’re not opening a hospice. We’re not opening a facility where people are going to go and die.”
— Bill Downer, executive director of province’s AIDS committee on opening of the Tommy Sexton Centre .
WORLD 11
Father of Newfoundland nationalism? Sir Robert Bond thought big: transportation, communication and foreign policy STEPHANIE PORTER Editor’s note: Fifth in a series of articles on the Top 10 Newfoundlanders and Labradorians of all time. The articles are running in random order, with a No. 1 to be selected at the series’ conclusion.
Prime minister beats back premiers
L
Mary Ford
Rhonda Hayward/The Independent
denial and eventually long-term physical and mental injury. For months, Ford, who is a grandmother and a mother of two, put up with harassment, including verbal and sexual threats and misconduct. She says her work life reached a point where she was afraid to use the bathroom for fear she would be followed. She couldn’t leave food or drink unattended. At first she kept what was happening to herself, not even telling her husband, See “No tolerance,” page 5
WORLD 11
John Crosbie says health care not delivering Life Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Paper Trail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Crossword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
10 10 18 24
inda White, an archivist in Memorial University’s Centre for Newfoundland Studies, makes no bones about her feelings for one of Newfoundland’s foremost prime ministers. “I love Robert Bond,” she says, grinning. “Of course he should be in the top 10, he should be No. 1.” White’s enthusiasm is infectious, and comes from a thorough knowledge of Bond — or at least his paper trail. About a decade ago, boxes and bags of Bond’s newspapers, photographs, correspondence and other possessions, were donated to Memorial University. For a full year, White was heavily involved with sorting and cataloguing the Bond Papers — a rich collection now organized into dozens of boxes in the Queen Elizabeth II library. She pulls out a portfolio book of professional photographs of The Grange, Bond’s meticulously kept Whitbourne estate, a box of old photographs, a number of political posters, and a pock-
et-sized travel diary with day-by-day handwritten details of a trip to Montreal. “I find it fascinating,” she says. “It’s hard to get a sense of who he was though, it’s all political … but then he was so important politically.” Later, White describes Bond as “a big thinker”: he was interested in mining, expanding the railways, the coastal boats, promoting the telegraph and communications (the archives has a copy of a toast Bond gave Marconi). “He was trying to open up the interior,” says White. “To access our natural resources and bring wealth for everyone … an effort that was happening across North America.” A lot of Bond’s political successes were gained outside Newfoundland, in high-level negotiations of foreign policy and treaties — but he is equally remembered, and applauded, for his strong Newfoundland nationalism. Bond was born in 1857 in St. John’s to a wealthy family. He trained as a lawyer, but was never called to the bar. Indeed, he didn’t ever hold down a job other than that of a politician — he stepped into the world of public service in 1882, and stayed for 32 years. At age 28, he was speaker of the house. In 1889, the young Bond wrote the manifesto for William Whiteway’s See “Doggedly fighting,” page 2
2 • INDEPENDENTNEWS
AUGUST 14, 2005
‘Doggedly fighting’ From page 1
Bill Downer of the AIDS committee
Paul Daly/The Independent
‘A respite for the mind’ From page 1 housing organized for people with HIV/AIDS — a common service in larger cities. “I’ve been one of the people who’s been, more or less, bitching to get housing for PHAs (people with HIV/AIDS) and it’s taken a decade to get this. Mind you, people who really need it can’t see this day coming because they are dead and for me that’s a sad fact,” Jay tells The Independent. While there are no statistics on the number of new cases of HIV/AIDS in the province since the beginning of 2005, there were 11 new cases reported in 2004. Jay says the newly diagnosed need a community of support — free of financial concerns. “For them it’s such a shocking and
uninviting burden on their lives and they sort of go into a tail spin and I find that’s where a lot of PHAs tend to veer off the path and they go into a sort of self-destructing path.” Jay says he’s seen very sick people turn their lives around when they move into designated, affordable housing. “I see other PHAs and the ones that are not doing as well and the ones that are really struggling … when PHAs come together and are living under one roof, the camaraderie is there and, I find, in that community the negativity is not so much there because everybody is sort of like equal. “It’s a respite for the mind to focus in on one’s health … without worrying about am I going to be able to make rent this month and you know, what’s for supper.” Bill Downer, executive director of
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the AIDS committee, says the project will be the first east of Montreal and the only facility of its kind in Canada offering two-bedroom units. The facility will be built in Pleasantville on land donated by the province and the building cost-shared between federal and provincial governments, as well as several smaller grants from various government agencies for operations. A four-bed emergency shelter will also be available to people either living with or at high risk for HIV/AIDS. Downer says the grant money is allocated in principle and he plans to sign contracts by the end of the month. “One of the things that we know is that housing affects one’s health and a lack of housing has a negative affect on people’s health — we know that very clearly,” Downer says. “We do, right now, quite a bit of work trying to find housing for PHAs so we’re already in the housing business in a sense because we’re already trying to find people housing.” Rates for the apartments will be set by the Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corporation. While the building will be environmentally friendly and medical services will be made available to anyone who should need them, Downer is quick to point out The Tommy Sexton Centre will not be a hospice. “We’re not opening a facility where people are going to go and die.” There will be a memorial on site to recognize people who have died of HIV/AIDS, which Downer hopes the public will use. And since they will be the first in an expanding development area, Downer says the new building should help show the real face of HIV/AIDS and “normalize” the disease. Downer says there are about 10 people already on a list of interested parties, but says there is no criteria or application process in place as of yet. Jay says he’s on the fence about applying for an apartment because he’s a little worried about losing his independence and anonymity — especially since he’s been harassed about his status. “I’ve had more hassles living in Newfoundland with HIV than I ever had living anywhere else. I’ve had the phone calls and my car wrecked and spit on and name calling and finger pointing and you name it. “I think it’s important for a PHA to have this kind of security in their lives because they are dealing with so many life choices anyway. It’s not the PHA’s fault that they have the disease, but that’s the way a lot of people look at it like that.”
Liberal party, promising railway construction, resource development, and rejecting Confederation. The Liberals won that election, and Bond became colonial secretary. Bond took a keen interest in attempting to solve the struggle over the French shore (this finally happened in 1904 under his prime ministership) and in lobbying for a reciprocity agreement with the United States. He did negotiate what was basically a free trade arrangement, known as the Bond-Blaine Convention — but his triumph was short-lived, as Canada was able to veto the deal. Relations were strained between Newfoundland and Canada for years to come. “In 1897, Newfoundland was a very progressive colony,” says Memorial University history professor Jeff Webb. “Bond’s foreign policy was an effort to get access to the American market for Newfoundland manufactured goods and natural resources. “The expectations were I think unrealistic. But it enabled Bond to mobilize nationalism, enabled Bond to get a whole lot of Newfoundlanders to support him, because they really felt he was doggedly fighting for Newfoundland’s best interests, trying to get the Empire to take Newfoundland into account.” In the mid-1890s, Newfoundland faced major upheaval and near-bankruptcy with the failure of two main banks. Searching for a solution, Bond led a delegation to Ottawa to discuss confederation; unimpressed with the terms offered, he went to financial institutions for another solution. In an article for the Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Melvin Baker and Peter Neary write: “… (Bond) was able — through intelligent and tough-minded negotiation — to rescue the colony’s finances with timely loans in Montreal and London.” In a complex arrangement, Bond backed a loan for the savings bank with a personal guarantee of $100,000. “He arrived back in St. John’s a conquering hero,” they write. “Thereafter, he had a golden reputation as the man who had been willing to risk his fortune to save his country.” In the election of 1900, Bond led the Liberals to an overwhelming majority. He was knighted in 1901 — the same year of Marconi’s first wireless transatlantic transmission. It was Bond’s good fortune to be prime minister of Newfoundland through the first decade of the 20th century, one of the most prosperous periods in its history: the fishery was healthy, timber and mining operations were ramping up, infrastructure was advancing, and tax levels seemed to be holding steady. The issue of the rights of the French in Newfoundland was settled in 1904, after two centuries of dispute. “It was a time of optimism,” says Webb. “One of the things about Bond is … he is sort of held up as a representative of a golden age. He’s somewhat of a romantic figure in some ways.” Frederick Rowe, in his 1980 publication A History of Newfoundland and Labrador, summed up Bond’s appeal this way: “he pulled off a brilliant financial stroke in the 1890s; he achieved extraordinary success in negotiations of favourable treaties for Newfoundland; he repeatedly stood on principle; he had a strong sense of public morality and he refused to be intimidated, even when opposed by
Courtesy of The Centre for Newfoundland Studies
the greatest nations on earth.” Bond tried again for a trade agreement with the U.S., again unsuccessfully. Although his party returned triumphantly to power in 1904, over the next term, Bond’s popularity began to wane. So concerned was Bond with foreign policy and high-level political negotiations, Rowe writes, that he didn’t notice the general population of Newfoundland began to tire of the issues — and some were being directly affected by tenuous relations with Canada and the U.S. And Bond didn’t seem to realize international policy was “not as potent (in securing votes) as a handshake or a few weeks’ worth repairing roads and bridges.” Bond fought the 1908 election campaign against Edward Morris mainly on his record and the healthy economy. It ended in a tie. Bond lost seats in the subsequent election, in 1909, and spent the next four years in opposition. In 1913, Bond’s Liberals forged an uneasy alliance with William Coaker’s fledgling Fisheries Protective Union. When the union took more seats than the Liberals, they became the official opposition against Morris’s conservatives. Bond, apparently unwilling to spend more years in opposition, resigned his seat and retired from politics in 1914. According to archivist White, Bond stayed interested in politics through until his death in 1927 — as the Bond Papers demonstrate — but refused all further calls to rejoin the race. Never married, Bond settled into his Whitbourne estate, and is said to have taken great pride in the gardens, landscape, building and sporting opportunities. Webb says Bond’s legacy is “somewhat a matter of opinion.” But “he was held up as the example of someone who wasn’t corrupt, in the same way Richard Squires was help up as the symbol of corruption … they were help up in contrast to one another and anything good about Squires got forgotten and anything bad about Bond got overlooked.” Bond willed his beloved Grange estate to the people of Newfoundland. The province of Newfoundland and Labrador finally took responsibility for it in 1949. “Three years later, authority was given for The Grange, the house of Bond’s dreams and the monument to all he held dear, to be removed,” write Baker and Neary. “In this act of blind cultural vandalism, the people of Newfoundland and Labrador lost one of their most unusual and important legacies.” Judges selecting Our Navigators included John Crosbie, John FitzGerald, Noreen Golfman, Ray Guy, Ivan Morgan and Ryan Cleary.
AUGUST 14, 2005
INDEPENDENTNEWS • 3
For those about to rock
Don’t call them cover bands, imitation is the sincerest form of rock in St. John’s By Alisha Morrissey The Independent
I
t looks like a Metallica concert, it smells like a Metallica concert — it even sounds like a Metallica concert, but would Metallica really play Club One on George Street? Nope, it’s Seek and Destroy, a tribute to metal gods and their music. A band made up of four friends — all fans of the seventh best-selling act in the world — who have played music together for five years. A band who pulled together a few wigs, torn black T-shirts and all their musical gusto into an occasional soldout performance in a town Metallica probably never heard of. Mark “Lars Ulrich” Frost, drummer and back-up singer for Seek and Destroy, says there was a point in his life when every object in his room had something to do with Metallica. His hair cut in a bleached-blonde Mohawk, he says the original concept was to take the four members of Phantom Four — a band with the same four members — and make believe they were rock stars for a big show. That show sold out. “Living in Newfoundland you don’t have the access to mainstream bands that Toronto or Montreal do,” Frost, an instrumentation engineer in Marystown by day, tells The Independent. “We’re playing a role definitely, we try to take on that person’s personality and have the mean look on your face. So it is acting, but it’s easier because the crowd is so into it.” Playing the role of Metallica’s longdead bassist Cliff Burton — killed in a bus accident in Europe on tour with Metallica — Steve Denty, a catering manager at a local hotel, says there’s a lot of energy in a Metallica tribute show. “It’s all part of the big show, you get a bunch of people in a room and try to
give them their money’s worth,” Denty says. “It’s kind of strange … when you walk off stage to have people grabbing your arm and slapping your hand.” The guys say that happens with far less enthusiasm than when they play together as Phantom Four. “Metallica fans are really diehard fans … there’s a whole lot of yelling and swearing at the crowd and having them yell and swear back,” Denty says with a laugh. “You feel a little foolish, I know I do,” Frost says, adding the crowd reaction is worth it. Tribute bands have lately been welcomed in St. John’s with soldout shows based on Hollywood Rose’s interpretation of a Guns and Roses show, to The Beatles’ songs performed by Abbey Road, or the songs of U2 performed by Evolution. Darrin Martin, who has performed in the lofty shoes of Elton John, the googly-eyed glasses of Roy Orbison, the dark suits of the Man in Black, Johnny Cash, and currently in the shiny shirt of Neil Diamond at the Majestic Theatre in St. John’s, says it’s almost sad that bands in the city — including his — can get more notoriety by pretending to be someone else, rather than playing original music. “You’re a tribute artist, you walk out on stage, you give them the closest impression that you possibly can and that’s what people want,” Martin says. “And certainly, why not, it’s just, this stuff sells. Even if you’ve done it independently … if you do it right people will come.” He says there’s the draw as an actor to try to become someone so well-known for a few hours and the audience just wants to see someone they can’t possi-
bly see in person. “Lots of times those people are already dead so they’re looking for something that will as closely as possible represent that artist,” Martin says. A writer and composer, Martin says he’s pursuing his own music, but makes his bread and butter learning how to walk and talk like Neil Diamond. While Elton John and Metallica may have little in common, all the tribute performers have one similarity — they want to blow away the audience with an accurate portrayal. Denty says Rich “James Hetfield” Smith, lead singer and guitarist, watched DVDs of Metallica concerts and tries his best to mimic Hetfield’s voice, actions and expressions while on stage and under a blonde wig. Jon “Kirk Hammett” Stacey, the lead guitarist, tries to play note for note, music that was written nearly 20 years ago. The band — all from Clarenville, and scattered around the east coast of the island — spent a lot of time practicing alone for the show as they all live in different communities in the province. They would meet up in Clarenville for a couple of days and “drive everyone there crazy and play Metallica for like two days,” Denty says. “There’s a big difference between learning a normal song and learning a Metallica song,” Frost says. “Lots of people you could make lots of mistakes and they’d never know, but I always think there’s at least one drummer in the audience so I’m trying to play to him or her. “When you’re learning really complex songs like that it really shows you, because you’re thinking, not only do these people play these songs, but they also wrote them.”
Roller-skating at the stadium For a generation, Memorial was the place to be on a summer night By Stephanie Porter The Independent
D
erm O’Grady strides across the foyer of Mile One Stadium, framed picture in hand. It’s a black-and-white action shot from the early ’60s, of hundreds of skaters rolling around Memorial Stadium. The rink surface is literally blocked with people, crowds of couples and singles, skating and chatting. O’Grady estimates there was between 1,500 and 2,000 young skaters that night, as there were most summer nights in those days, when roller-skating was on at the stadium. O’Grady, a skater himself, began working at the stadium in the mid-’60s, doing patrols, security, and scorekeeping. He moved to Mile One when it opened, still working security — and nipping out onto the floor for a spin on roller skating nights. Though the attendance has probably dropped by 90 per cent — these days, 100 or so skaters will show up — there is a sense of community and familiarity among participants. Many of today’s skaters used to go to the stadium; many met their best
Rhonda Hayward/The Independent
friends, wives or husbands there. Everyone, at the very least, has a story to tell about that place and time. O’Grady met his wife while rollerskating. His colleague of 40 years, Wally Abbott, did the same (“Well, there was no where else to be,” Abbott says.) It’s said councilor Paul Sears met his
partner at the stadium. Premier Danny Williams was known to roll around too — he and Maureen were even voted king and queen of roller-skating at least once. “We grew up in the stadium,” says O’Grady. “A lot of friendships were made down there, a lot of families made down there.”
Memorial Stadium was built on the shores of Quidi Vidi Lake between 1950 and 1954. It operated as a recreation, fitness, event and community hub until its door closed in 2001 — and the hockey-specific Mile One opened. On Aug. 8, St. John’s city council voted to rezone the stadium site, ending years of controversy surrounding the future of the land. Within the next two years, if all goes according to Loblaws’ plan, a supermarket will open. “You know, my memories are of the fun we had in there,” says Joni Green, an avid skater. “And I suppose the building was part of it, but I’m not tearful or anything it’s going.” Green says she started skating at Memorial at age 13, and went every night during the summers, through her teenage years. “You went down with friends, but you also met all your friends there. Most of the people I know now, from those years, I met at the stadium … we had wonderful times down there. “There were more girls crying in the bathroom, and elated, couples breaking up and couples starting out …” She says the routine was the same every night — general skating, then
songs for girls only, boys only, then trios. The last three songs of the night were for couples. “If you didn’t get asked for couples, you got off the floor pretty fast,” she says. “You didn’t want to be perceived as not having someone to skate with. “But that never happened to me,” she adds, laughing. Green returned to regular roller-skating at the stadium in her 40s. She says she renewed ties with old girlfriends, and felt “it was a safe place, always the right place to be.” But, she has to add — the French fries weren’t nearly so good as they were when she was a teen. Roller-skating has been a favourite activity for Ralph Butler for more than 70 years. His father built the first-ever rink in St. John’s, the Higher Levels Rink, which opened on Rankin Street in 1933. “And that’s when I started skating,” he says. He was four years old. Butler, watching the women-only skate from the boards, remembers the days at the stadium as some of his favourites, for the comradeship. “I guess people would have called us See “I’ve got to go,” page 4
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4 • INDEPENDENTNEWS
AUGUST 14, 2005
‘I’ve got to go twist’ From page 3 rink rats,” he says. “But I think we developed some great relationships.” And the skating? “I look forward to it, I always did. It’s a high, I guess, like anyone’s favourite sport,” he says. The women’s selections over, Butler excuses himself. “I’ve got to go twist,” he says, smiling. Derm O’Grady’s brother, Jim, is also a devoted skater — though his first love is to travel by blade, not wheel. “Times have changed so much,” he says. “When we used to play hockey (at Memorial), we used to get the last time on a Saturday night. If it was 12, one, or two in the morning, we didn’t care.” Jim and his friends would pay for their ice time and play the allotted period. Then they’d play some more. They’d flood the ice with water, have a feed, and lie down for a rest. “Then we’d get up and play again until it was nearly Monday and time to go to school,” he says. There were Sundays, he says, when Americans from the base used to rent out the arena. And though “Sundays weren’t meant for people in town,”
the Americans would let Jim and his buddies in to join the skate. “(Memorial Stadium) was very much a part of fitness and very much a part of our every day lives,” he says. Of course, there were times when even the stadium didn’t have enough to offer. “If you got down and the … girls you wanted to skate with weren’t there, you’d take your skates right quick, jump on the back of a bus, and get up as far as Prince of Wales and see if your friends were there.” Jim says he also learned to be discreet. “We saw lots of activity. And we always said, what we see in the building, stays in the building,” says O’Grady. “I didn’t want any more husbands or wives checking in, or calling me at home.” O’Grady doesn’t miss the old place — it wasn’t wind or weather-proof, he says — but he does express a twinge of nostalgia. “Lots of good came out of that old building down there, a lot of good friendships, a lot of good relationships … Even now, people come up to me and say, ‘Oh, you worked down at the old building!’ “That’s the way it goes.”
Calling all cars Province’s vehicle fleet growing; average age six years By Alisha Morrissey The Independent
T
he provincial government’s light vehicle fleet has grown to 863 since February’s count of 846. Government’s vehicle replacement policy is based on three principles: age of the vehicle, total kilometres, and mechanical condition. However, a spokeswoman with the Transportation department says individual departments are responsible for trips to the garage and maintenance budgets. The average age of the vehicles owned by the provincial government is six years or older with an average of 120,000 kilometres on each engine. Some of the older cars, however, have hundreds of thousands of kilometres on the odometer. The fleet includes sedans, vans, pickups and four-wheel drives. Of the 846 vehicles, counted in February, more than half were purchased in 1999 or earlier. More up-to-date numbers couldn’t be compiled by The Independent’s press
deadline. The fleet is inspected every year by a mechanic who determines the condition of the vehicle. From that assessment, government determines whether repairs are warranted or whether there should be an outright replacement. In February, Transportation Minister Tom Rideout told The Independent the availability of funds also determines whether a vehicle will be replaced. “There comes a time when diminishing returns set in and you’re spending more on maintenance then you would for a new vehicle with a number of years maintenance free or with minimal maintenance,” he said. “We have a budget for replacement on an annual basis — I don’t mind admitting it’s never as big as we’d like it to be — but we do replace a number of vehicles every fiscal year.” However, the department spokeswoman couldn’t say how many of the 863 vehicles are recent purchases or older models, as each department has its own replacement budget. Statistics provided by past auditor
general reports describe vehicles in the six-year-old range as being “beyond their economic lives.” Again, that number is over half as of February. According to the 1997 auditor general report, which included the last investigation into the province’s fleet of vehicles, more than 115 cars were rented with a price tag that year of $601,000. The Transportation Department, however, doesn’t compile statistics or budgets regarding rental cars. In other words, the department couldn’t say how many, if any, vehicles are being rented today. The 1997 review of the province’s cars noted the fleet, which numbered 869 light vehicles at the time, had travelled in excess of 24 million kilometres with operating and maintenance costs of almost $4 million. The report recommended a downsizing. In a 2000 update, the auditor general noted many problems associated with the fleet had persisted.
MHA financial statements finally submitted: Hodder
D
espite extensive financial foot dragging, all Members of the House of Assembly have finally handed over details of their personal finances. Seven MHAs — including current Liberal leader Gerry Reid and former leader Roger Grimes — missed the April 1 deadline to respond to the province’s financial disclosure legislation. After a further four members failed to meet a subsequent extended deadline, Wayne Green, the commissioner of members’ interests, alerted Harvey Hodder, speaker of the House of Assembly. “In the pertinent cases, we were able to make contact with the members of the house and that issue was addressed immediately or thereafter,” Hodder tells The Independent. “There are no outstanding filings due at this time and that was done immediately after Mr. Green contacted me.” Every MHA is required, under conflict of interest legislation, to file with Green’s office by April 1 of each year. The harshest penalty under the legisla-
tion for failing to meet the terms calls for an MHA’s seat to be declared vacant. In May, Green told The Independent the issue of pushing the disclosure deadline by MHAs has been getting steadily worse. He recommended amending the current legislation to also include a deadline for MHAs to return their signed documents after he has reviewed them. The April 1 filing deadline is the only date currently enforced. “I think the members and the Speaker need to focus on those recommendations at this time in view of what happened in this particular year,” Green said. “Every year they’ve been tardy, but none have been as late as this particular year.” Hodder says it wasn’t a case of members not wanting to be compliant. “I made contact with the MHAs privately and they had … simply let it slip, you might say. There was no willful act on their part or no unwillingness to share information — and so that’s been all straightened up.” — Clare-Marie Gosse GENERAL MANAGER John Moores john.moores@theindependent.ca
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Know when to hold’em
Poker tournaments help bars attract business; absence of NHL a factor DARCY MACRAE
A
game once thought to be solely for backrooms in seedy bars is now one of the most popular activities in more respected establishments. Poker, more specifically Texas hold ’em, has been steadily growing in popularity over the past year. Local bar owners are taking advantage of the game’s new-found fame, offering customers the chance to take part in weekend tournaments and weeknight games. “What we’re trying to do, and it’s worked out pretty well for us, is bring new people to our bar who might not normally come,” says Wade Gravelle, vice-president and co-owner of West Side Charlie’s, a chain of billiards bars in the province and in Nova Scotia. “The people who play poker are not necessarily pool players, so it’s been a great help. It brings a crowd in on slow nights.” West Side Charlie’s is currently running a poker tournament at their locations across Newfoundland. Each week, individual bars host up to 40 players
one night a week for a game of Texas hold ’em, with the winners each evening advancing to the semifinals later this fall. The top three competitors of each bar’s tournament then come to St. John’s for the finals, with the winner earning a trip to the World Poker Tour Boot Camp at a location of their choice in the United States. The boot camp offers participants tips from the pros and the opportunity to qualify for a World Poker Tour competition. So far, Gravelle says the tournament has helped business. “They’ve been very good,” he says. “A lot of times we have waiting lists of people wanting to get in. Gravelle adds that what separates games at his clubs from illegal contests taking place at some locations is that “there’s no money being transacted in any way.” Players don’t pay a sign-up fee and don’t bet their own money — instead they gamble chips given to each player as they register. However, he admits some people still mistake the game as one where players win and lose big with their own cash. “There is some confusion. I’ve had a few phone calls from police,” he says. “Before I even committed to doing this
I got a legal opinion from my lawyers to find out exactly what we could do.” Other bars are also hosting similar tournaments, although they aren’t always the organizers. Brian Dominic, who owns Grumpy Stump in St. John’s, allows sports teams he sponsors to hold such tournaments at the bar. Based on the results, he’s now seriously considering organizing a tournament himself. “It’s something we’re going to have to get into in the fall,” he says. Some bar owners see the popularity of poker as the latest industry fad. They feel the absence of NHL hockey last winter helped create the buzz, since cable sports stations used poker to fill time slots traditionally occupied by hockey. “The heavy play on television has definitely helped it,” Gravelle says. Just how long the poker craze will last remains to be seen, but at least one bar manager thinks its run may be coming to an end. “I think you could see it die off over the winter when hockey starts,” says Troy Ralph, manager of the Torbay Road West Side Charlie’s. “People might be taking nights off to watch hockey.”
Hibernia taxes huge for province
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oyalties from Hibernia may still be at low levels, but The Independent estimates the province will receive at least $500 in corporate income taxes this year from Hibernia Management and Development Company. The figure is based on a modest calculation, comparing Hibernia’s production levels (700 barrels this year) and the price of oil ($50 US). In reality, the price of oil is around $64 US a barrel and climbing — good news for provincial tax coffers. The province receives
14 per cent of revenues in taxes from the St. John’s-based office and the federal government 22 per cent. Hibernia Management and Development Company is operated by the owner members of Hibernia — including the federal government, which has an 8.5 per cent stake in the project — and was set up in 1988. The tax generated provincially by the operation far exceeds royalty revenues, which are based on a provincially expansive, two-tier regime and are currently capped at five per cent. To move
up to the next level of royalties, which would see the province recover up to 30 per cent of revenues, the project’s full costs would have to be recovered, plus a percentage of expenses and return on investment. Industry experts speculate Hibernia is unlikely to ever reach “payout” and if it does, it won’t be until near the end of the project. Terra Nova, however, is expected to reach payout by next year, which will net further royalties for the province. — Clare-Marie Gosse
AUGUST 14, 2005
INDEPENDENTNEWS • 5
On-line health care
TUCKAMORE TUNES
Province actively developing electronic medical records system; patient confidentiality to be addressed By Clare-Marie Gosse The Independent
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Andrea Smith plays the cello during this year’s Tuckamore Festival, a two-week event offering the best of local chamber music and international guests. The festival continues through Aug. 21, see www.tuckamorefestival.ca for schedule. Rhonda Hayward/The Independent
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. MONDAY, AUG 8 Vessels arrived: Cicero, Canada, from Halifax. TUESDAY, AUG 9 Vessels arrived: Maersk Norseman, Canada, from Hibernia; Akademik Keldysh, Russia, from Sea; Maersk Placentia, Canada, from White Rose; Maersk Challenger, Canada, from
Lewis Hills. Vessels departed: Cicero, Canada, to Halifax; Appak, Canada, to fishing. WEDNESDAY, AUG 10 Vessels arrived: Gulf Spirit 1, Canada, from Orphan Barge; Atlantic Eagle, Canada, from Terra Nova. Vessels departed: Maersk Placentia, Canada, to Terra Nova. THURSDAY, AUG 11 Vessels arrived: Jean Charcot, Britain, from Sea; Cabot, Canada, from Montreal.
Vessels departed: Maersk Challenger, Canada, to Lewis Hills; Maersk Norseman, Canada, to Hibernia; Gulf Spirit, Canada, to Orphan Basin. FRIDAY, AUG 12 Vessels arrived: Alex Gordon, Canada, from Lewis Hills; Cicero, Canada, from Halifax; Maersk Placentia, Canada, from Terra Nova; Maersk Chignecto, Canada from Lewis Hills. Vessels departed: Atlantic Eagle, Canada, to Terra Nova; Cabot, Canada, from Montreal.
‘No tolerance for harassment’ From page 1 because she was afraid of leaving her job. “I couldn’t quit, I mean, we had two kids, I took that job because it was good pay.” Eventually the situation escalated after her coworker shoved her into a closet and molested her. “That was the night I had enough, I couldn’t take anymore; I had to get away, because I was really getting afraid then. I thought, ‘I can put up with the cursing, swearing, saying awful things to me and screaming in my face and the shoving, but this is getting scary.’” Recounting the memories, Ford struggles to keep her story in chronology, as if the experience, for her, has been reduced to episodic flashbacks. She says after the incident, she remembers finding herself on a road in downtown St. John’s with no recollection of how she got there. She was about to go to the police, but instead, went to her sister-in-law and asked for help. That soon led to finally telling her husband. After repeatedly requesting to transfer her shifts away from the man violating her, Ford was at first refused. “I went to my supervisor. It was so bad by that time, I was crying my eyes out and I asked him to help me … and he just looked at me and said, ‘I don’t know what to do for you.’” She received a similar response from her shop-steward, despite the fact the union rep was a woman. Later, after the institution’s human resources department stepped in and changed Ford’s schedule to remove her from the man in question, she was forced to endure further bullying under the
hands of her supervisor and colleagues for speaking up. After her supervisor insisted she move some bags, which later turned out to contain concrete blocks. Ford permanently injured herself. She ripped some internal scar tissue from a previous minor operation to remove a stomach growth and it took several operations to repair the damage. She is now physically unable to continue in her previous line of work. Ford says despite going to her union — Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Public and Private Employees (NAPE) — with her complaints, as well as filing an insurance claim with her workplace for the hours she lost as a result of emotional and physical trauma, she was refused assistance. She later filed lawsuits against the union, the academic institution and several co-workers, including the man who sexually harassed her. She was awarded a small sum from the insurance company and the academic institution, which covered two years of wages. The other suits fell by the wayside. Two other women she had worked with, but never spoken to, later thanked her for taking a stand. Ford says they had experienced similar types of harassment and had been too afraid to speak up. Although no legal action was taken against her coworkers, she says the academic institution agreed the main culprit would not be promoted to a position of seniority over any employees and they also implemented a form of harassment education for workers. NAPE president Carol Furlong says it wasn’t until the mid to late 1990s that the
issue of sexual harassment in the province’s workplaces really began to be fully recognized. Today, she says almost all workplaces associated with the union have sexual harassment officers, who are there to educate and assist employees. “I can tell you from my perspective there is no tolerance for harassment of any type,” Furlong says. “We would frown on a workplace or environment that allowed that to continue … I think that if we get any (incidents reported), that’s too many, frankly.” She says the union has received complaints in the past and her first advice to anyone suffering harassment of any kind would be to document their experiences and address the issue immediately with their harassment officer. “It’s a terrible situation for someone to be in. Very often, the individual who is the victim is placed in a position where he or she is left very uncomfortable, often doesn’t know where to turn or how to address the situation.” Ford, who is in the process of moving away from the province with her husband, says she is finally starting to feel like her old self again. “I need to end this ugly part of my life and even if I could stop it from happening to just one other person, anybody, a man or a woman … “I don’t have nightmares anymore … I couldn’t understand what was happening to me and he (her psychiatrist) said I was having flashbacks. Flashbacks, some people think you just see things from your past, but it’s not, it’s just like you’re there and you feel exactly how you felt when it was happening. You don’t just see it, you feel it — and I don’t have them anymore.”
he Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association will soon begin actively testing its electronic medical records system, which has been in development for a number of years. Once fully implemented, the system will allow for provincewide access — similar to the workings of the Internet — to individual health records, by qualified health practitioners. Robert Ritter, executive director of the medical association, which represents the province’s roughly 1,000 doctors, says research is still ongoing, including examining ways to protect confidential patient information within the new system. “We’re anticipating that in the next couple of months, or three months, there will be a number of pilot projects to try things out, or to essentially work out any glitches,” he tells The Independent. Ritter adds it may be two or three years before the project comes fully on board. Earlier this month, Nova Scotia, as the first official province to implement an electronic medical record system, announced it had entered into an agreement to license the widely-used Nightingale web-based system. Certain clinics throughout Canada, including Newfoundland and Labrador, already use a form of electronic medical records, but Nova Scotia is the first to adopt a provincially implemented and funded system. The issue of protecting confidentiality within the system is one area the province’s medical association, in close consultation with Newfoundland and Labrador Centre for Health Information, is examining. Ritter says although health practitioners such as physicians and pharmacists will be able to access the electronic records of patients, available information will depend on medical need. “For example, if somebody’s going to see, I don’t know, let’s say a physiotherapist for something and they happen to have AIDS or some kind of
condition that nobody else needs to know about, of course that’s going to be protected. “Everything is protected and different people will have access to different information.” The electronic medical record is part of a bigger file called the electronic health record, which aims to contain information of an individual’s entire life record in all medical capacities. One of the challenges of developing the system is making sure hospitals, general practitioners and pharmacists can continue to use existing electronic systems within the new project. “All of this stuff has to be integrated and there’s lots of work involved with that,” says Ritter. One major benefit of an integrated electronic system is it would solve the issue of double doctoring, most notably in cases of OxyContin abuse, which is an ever-increasing issue for the province. “… in terms of the prescribing, very much so and perhaps in other senses as well. I think there are instances where people go to see more than one doctor with the same condition.” Ritter says the biggest motivator behind implementing the system, aside from providing more efficient and safer care, is simply a need to keep up with the times. It will replace space consuming paper files and make it possible for practitioners to track health conditions. Because of the use of codes and passwords, information could also be accessed by physicians working from outside their offices. Research is ongoing and Ritter says there are still problems to work out, including developing the best technology, protecting it from sabotage, having support systems in place to fix any malfunctions, encouraging old-fashioned practitioners to adopt the hi-tech method and ensuring complete confidentiality. “What’s important here is the principal, the details of how it’s going to work haven’t been entirely worked out, but the important thing is the principal, that nobody will have access to information that is not absolutely necessary for them to perform their medical services.”
6 • INDEPENDENTNEWS
AUGUST 14, 2005
OUR VOICE
Pogey cheques and power lines O
K, I promise not to do this again, but … I was reading the other newspaper last weekend and happened across a column espousing the opinion that we should not be so quick to talk bravely about leaving Confederation when you consider the unemployment insurance benefits we get from Canada. Hmmm … I guess they just don’t get it. The number quoted in the piece was approximately $700 million Cdn that we take out of the system in a year. Well, I’m not even going to talk about how insulting it is to suggest we should not consider getting a real economy as opposed to a welfare state, but instead will just talk perspective about how that number stacks up. The obvious industry to start with is oil. I just finished reading the latest Forbes issue listing the world’s top 500 companies. It reported the yearend results for 2004, which in some cases means a lot of the money was made two years ago. Two years ago, what was the price of oil then? Twenty-five US a barrel? Thirty? The largest company in the world is Wal-Mart, as measured by revenue, and given the fact that they are now taking over the Chinese retail market, I
BRIAN DOBBIN
Publish or perish am not surprised. I think the slightly maniacal corporate culture that WalMart has developed fits well there. They took in $287 billion US in 2004. Wow. But they make a smaller margin than most, so they are quite low in terms of declared profit. The largest profit was our friends Mobil, who declared a cool $25.3 billion US. They were followed by Shell, in a distant second with $18.2 billion US. Rounding out the top 10 were a few of our other friends like BP and Chevron. A million seconds adds up to about 12 days, a billion seconds is about 35 years ... As I have said before, what really amazes me is how Mobil accountants got the profit that low, as they did revenues of $270 billion US. I wonder what their profit will really be with the $60 US per barrel price in today’s market? I will bet you they manage to keep their declared profit
below the GDP of most, but not all, South American countries. I believe that the combined Jeanne D’Arc Basin developments should now be producing around 400,000 barrels a day of premium crude. With prices in the $60 US per barrel range, that is $24 million US a day, which works out to over $8.7 billion US being taken annually out of our oil fields. Or, in our Canadian dollars, well over $11 billion over the next 12 months. Kind of makes that $2 billion allowance increase from uncle Ottawa over the next generation seem a bit cheap, doesn’t it? Let’s talk about hydropower and Joey’s late 1960s meeting with Pearson over the upper Churchill. No support from Ottawa, forced in a corner by Quebec, Joey says he begged the then-prime minister to intervene in the extortion but was told they were afraid of violent uprising in Quebec and sabotage of the power lines. What? Amazing what some misguided college students and some mailbox bombs did for the Quebec economy. Years later, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled against us, as usual, in our attempts to remedy the injustice. It took the United States government to
finally break the Quebec stranglehold about a decade ago, when they legislated that if you want to sell power to U.S.-based purchasers, you had to allow power to be wheeled across your transmission lines from other potential suppliers for a reasonable price. This is very significant in talking about the lower Churchill potential, as it opens the door to develop the power ourselves. When Brian Tobin and Lucien Bouchard were celebrating and photo-oping the announcement of an agreement to co-operate on its development a few administrations ago, I was wondering why the hell would you even talk with Quebec as they could not force anything, as in the past. I hear that this administration may be considering going on its own to develop the lower Churchill, and I for one think that is a great idea. But please, Mr. Williams, make sure that our bureaucracy does not attempt this. Make the people of Newfoundland and Labrador the beneficiaries of ownership, but structure a private management — not a political one. Expertise and money are commodities. They float around the world attracted to opportunities that can be
profited from. There is no reason we cannot do this development ourselves. It is the waterpower that cannot be obtained — you either have it or you don’t. This is not radical. What is a bit radical is this suggestion — if we did leave Canada, now that the U.S. has given us a lever to challenge the upper Churchill deal again, could we not bring an action to the U.S. courts, or the world court? With the change in relevant legislation from the purchaser, and our changed political and legal status, I would like our chances a hell of a lot more than in the Canadian political and legal arena. It is over $1 billion a year, and tens of billions more in the future of the contract that we will lose. So getting back to my point, faithful reader, without getting into the whole UI curse/blessing argument, the money we take out of this program every year is hardly a reason to not think very hard and debate very loudly our future in Confederation. Like the man said, we don’t want to get out, we want to get in. And all of this rhetoric, by the way, is not beer conversation. As a people that fought out a living here, we know how to walk the walk, not just talk the talk.
YOUR VOICE
The Rooms: ‘what are we to believe?’ Dear editor, So we have the great edifice of The Rooms, a marvel in our midst. I grew up on a fishing room and it cast its spell over my entire life. But for this, I might have never known which way the wind blew. Fishing rooms and merchant rooms were such dynamic places! Around them men and women built communities on the currencies of salt cod, turning every aspect of their work into a piece of art. The Rooms should do no less. What has happened at The Rooms is a betrayal of the trust that we have delegated to the care keepers. Do we really need a CEO? Thirty years ago, Edyth Goodridge ran the art gallery at the St. John’s Arts and Culture Centre, making it one of the most dynamic social and cultural places on the planet. She was not micro-managed! Under whose authority, Mr. Brinton, have you dared to change the name of the gallery from the Art Gallery of Newfoundland and Labrador to the Provincial Art Gallery Division? Our people must not accept such an affront to their dignity of place. We have ridden ourselves of despots, and we have no desire to live in the gulag of your dreams, nor the dreams of the board members who condone this type of madness a few meters from the Church of Rome. Next you have the audacity to fire Gordon Laurin, supposedly because his vision for the gallery was different from yours. I don’t know Mr. Laurin, but I know and respect many of the artists who have given him their unconditional support. Such affinity by artists for the director of an art gallery is rare, for it’s not a place where fools dare to tread.
I’m especially amazed and saddened that someone of Dr. Renouf’s standing in the community has not been more forthcoming with the general public. The chairperson informs us that the CEO had the total support of the board for his decisions. During the Irish Revolution, not even Michael Collins could muster full support. Other sources maintain that only two board members were consulted. What are we to believe? It is very disturbing that no board member, apart from the chairperson, has had the courage to come forward and clarify this mess for us. Maybe this is explained by the fact, that during the formation of the board, members were being solicited who were not “political” nor would they “rock the boat.” Moreover, the little information released by the board has been given in such a cavalier and elitist manner that it insults all of us. Finally, now that you have exposed yourselves, we look forward to those who have appointed you to resurrect the ideals that they represent. Therefore, we call upon the provincial government to dissolve the current Rooms board, release the CEO to the corporate world where he belongs, and reinstate Gordon Laurin if he still has any stomach for this very sad affair. Furthermore, the art gallery should retain its original name. We have waited 500 years for The Rooms. We want a Rooms board composed of men and women who are accountable to the shareholders they represent, Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, and who are willing to give us their pledge that they will not remain silent when propaganda masquerades as truth. Larry Small, St. John’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
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Batteries not included M
edia blackouts are no fun. There’s not much of a story when no one will talk — not a hint, not a whisper, not an off-therecord taste of what’s being cooked. It’s then a reporter has to get creative/dogged enough to find an angle in, to keep the headlines going. Not necessarily on the front page, but somewhere in the paper. Otherwise the story fades, catches a midnight train to Forgetsville, and no one wants to visit John Efford these days. Such is the case with Abitibi and its mills in Stephenville and Grand FallsWindsor. The way the province tells it, the company came calling with a $455million wish list. Abitibi wanted power, the power plant, a suitcase of cash and a backpack to cart off the kitchen sink. Not a chance in hell of that happening. The Williams administration released the $455 million figure and the public (outside Stephenville and Grand Falls-Windsor and immediate areas) went mad — as expected. Now there’s a blackout, because delicate negotiations are ongoing, and neither side wants to screw them up. The key word here is negotiations. If $455 million is out to lunch, how much is the province willing to fork over? Do I hear $100 million? Will Abitibi settle for $50 million and a lifetime supply of AA batteries? Those numbers may sound like a hell of a lot, but not when put up against the $455 million first requested. Pocket change then, a reasonable cost to keep the local economies going. It’s one thing for Williams to play hardball with companies like Abitibi. There have even been calls for him to tell the company to go to hell (the mainland), and take their jobs with them. Take a walk. We don’t want you. If
RYAN CLEARY
Fighting Newfoundlander Abitibi doesn’t want to play ball here, some other pulp and paper company will. (More on that in a moment.) It’s quite another thing to play hardball with a mill worker whose family is staring hard times in the eye. Then the political standoff takes on a whole new dimension. There are lives on the line then — fathers, mothers, sons, daughters. Who feeds them if not the mills? How else can you make $50,000 a year in central? Picking berries won’t do it.
The way the province tells it, the company came calling with a $455-million wish list. Abitibi wanted power, the power plant, a suitcase of cash and a backpack to cart off the kitchen sink. The history of Newfoundland and Labrador is riddled with stories of government selling the shop for a handful of jobs. Take the work at the front end of a project and pay for it down the road when the royalties peter in. Drip … drip … drip. Hear that? That’s the sound of royalties from iron ore and hydroelectricity — to name two of the resources this place
hasn’t exactly capitalized on — pouring into the province’s treasury. So the Williams administration is caught in the middle. On one side: Abitibi and the real possibility the Stephenville mill may close and Grand Falls-Windsor may lose its No. 7 machine. Direct job losses: 500 or so. On the other side: 500 families, hundreds (if not thousands) of other indirect mouths, two towns and a universal future. That’s a lot of pressure to bring to bear on an MHA, who isn’t exactly known for his/her ability to face the wind, to handle the pressure, for an impressive backbone (note the crumbling fish plant in every outport and make-work projects every fall. Let’s not forget the recent FPI deal.) Our MHAs are known for giving in to their constituents — not for making the tough calls in the long-term best interest of this place. So the blackout continues, and the media searches for a shard of light to wedge our way around the brick walls. How about finding out how many mills have closed in North America in, say, the past five years? That would be an interesting story (see Paper mill closures brief, page 27.) In 2003 alone, at least 14 mills closed. There have been more since then. A June 2005 report pegged the number of mills operating in the United States at 655, down from 800 in 2003. Those mill towns are probably doing all they can to see their plants reopen. Question is: how far will Newfoundland and Labrador go? Better yet, when the blackout lifts and the lights are switched on, will our leaders be caught bent over the table — again? Ryan Cleary is managing editor of The Independent. ryan.cleary@theindependent.ca
AUGUST 14, 2005
INDEPENDENTNEWS • 7
Cod tongues with Ed Broadbent Ivan Morgan has dinner with his leftist hero and leaves with a lot to chew on
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lmost 10 years ago, I had the pleasure of having supper with Ed Broadbent. I was thrilled to be asked. He was someone I really admired (and still do). He was in town and someone thought my boss and I would be good dinner companions (the people above us on the list obviously couldn’t make it). In any case, we were told to meet Ed at his hotel and take him out for supper. He wasn’t hard to find — he’s Ed Broadbent. So I went into the hotel bar looking for Ed Broadbent and guess what? His image is one of easy-going, nice-guy Ed, but the real Ed is more direct. I got the feeling — fast — that the real Ed didn’t suffer fools. Ed figured that, being in St. John’s, he should try the seafood. He didn’t mean deep-fried. That was a little embarrassing. We did, however, manage to find a place that had some seafood on the menu. We got settled, ordered drinks and looked at the menu. I did something I always do with guests from away. I
IVAN MORGAN
Rant & reason convinced Ed to order a plate of cod tongues. “I’m ordering some. They’re delicious!” I told him. That way I get a double order. We started to talk. Now this was an interesting man — a man who loved to debate. Ed was a thinker. I like thinkers. The first surprise of the evening was his spirited defence of Brian Mulroney. I despise Mulroney and was aghast at his list of Mulroney’s accomplishments. When, in my surprise, I stammered out a word about Trudeau, Ed cut me short with an angry list of Trudeau’s faults and failures. It’s hard to argue with a guy who sat across from them both in the House of Commons. We did, of course, but it was hard. (As I guessed, Ed didn’t like cod tongues. Sweet.)
YOUR VOICE Giant step ahead Dear editor, I am writing in response to Ivan Morgan’s column Giant Step Backwards in the Aug 7-13 edition of The Independent in which he offers his opinion on the mail-in ballot to be used in the upcoming St. John’s municipal election. In his column he makes a number of statements that are factually incorrect and offers some questionable advice. Firstly, Mr. Morgan states that the city is instituting a “new” and “exclusive” mail-in ballot system. This is incorrect in that the vote-by-mail system is not “new” in that it was first used in the 2001 general election, as well as the subsequent 2001 by-election. The primary objective was to make the electoral process more democratic and accessible. This objective was achieved in that voter turnout for the general election, which was traditionally in the 50-53 per cent range, increased to 60 per cent. More significantly, the voter turnout for the byelection, normally in the 10-15 per cent range, increased to 43 per cent. Neither is the system “exclusive” in that voters will have the opportunity to complete their ballots at home and either deposit them in the mail or drop them off at one of the five satellite drop-off centres (one in each ward) on election day. In addition, should an eligible voter not receive a ballot in the mail, (i.e. they were not on the voters list) they can go to the satellite dropoff centre in their ward, get sworn in, receive a ballot, and vote. Next Mr. Morgan proceeds to offer advice, and I will assume that he does so tongue-in-cheek since he states that what he has written “is obviously satire” as to how to (a) steal ballots from apartment mailboxes, and (b) offer counsel as to how a voter should complete their ballot the “… proper way.”
Then he set about explaining to us why he was in Newfoundland. He was on a farewell tour as president of the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development. Mulroney had appointed him the first president (hence, one supposes, the rousing praise). He said, in short, that his time at the centre had convinced him that it was all over. It being the comfortable life as we know it in Canada. He allowed that since the end of the Second World War, there have been a few countries in North America and Europe that have prospered, and governments in those countries had been successful in distributing that wealth over a large section of the populace. But, Ed claimed, that was coming to an end, for a host of reasons, including the development of the Third World and the advent of corporate globalization. I don’t remember his details. I remember that basic theory. I remember being taken aback. I remember when he gave his lecture later that
evening that others were taken aback. I remember asking him if he was serious. I remember, as he continued to point out that our social programs — health care, pensions and other benefits — were all in trouble. Surely not, I argued, still wrapped in the throes of the leftist agenda so thoroughly indoctrinated into me in university. Afraid so, said my leftist hero. Oh come on, I thought. He’s kidding. Then came the shaker: he wasn’t optimistic for the future. Did he mean, I asked, that he honestly thought our social programs would all vanish? He gave me the Ed look. Yup. That evening was a turning point for me. I began to see the world differently. I spent a lot of time reading a lot of books trying to convince myself Ed was wrong. I didn’t. Now, 10 years later, what I’m writing about doesn’t seem so shocking — either to you or to me. Ed was ahead of the curve. My admiration for Ed Broadbent was deepened that night. So many leaders of the left talk in platitudes — tired, out-dated 1970s platitudes. I
didn’t really want to hear what Ed had to say, but he gave it to us straight. Was he full of solutions? Absolutely. Have these solutions borne fruit? Not yet. Human rights are a joke to nine out of 10 people in the world, and you and I, gentle reader, are one in 10. But we now compete economically with the other nine — people just as ambitious as you and I, but willing to work for a quarter what we do with no safety net. Ed is still active and still telling people his ideas. The left wing of our political spectrum is still becoming more and more irrelevant. No doubt Mr. Broadbent intends to go out swinging. Me too. But if you are under 30 and reading this, I would think about medical insurance and saving for my old age. It might be too late for old codgers like us, but you may be able to save yourself and your loved ones. The bottom, as they say, is going out of ’er. Ivan Morgan can be reached at ivan.morgan@gmail.com
HEAVENLY CREATURES
a) The unauthorized interception and opening of mail is an offence under Section 48 of The Canada Post Corporation Act and any person found guilty of doing so is liable to imprisonment upon conviction for a period of up to five years. It is my experience that the quality of the candidates who have run for municipal office is such that they would not contemplate such action, nor counsel their supporters to do so. b) A candidate, or any other person, who offers to give a voter advice as to whom he or she should vote for or interfere in any way with the voter’s exercise of his or her vote is guilty of an offence under Section 99 of the Municipal Election Act and, upon conviction, is subject to a fine. No such case of this type of alleged abuse were reported in either the 2001 general election or byelection. Finally, Mr. Morgan refers to “… stories of candidates dragging the halt, lame and mentally infirm to the polling booth in an attempt to preserve their right to be referred to as ‘The honourable…’”. The disabled persons I have worked with over the years at City Hall, and one in particular, would find this remark offensive. I am absolutely confident that such individuals are quite capable of responding to this statement in the appropriate manner, so I will defer to them. I firmly believe that in a democratic society, a person such as Mr. Morgan is entitled to express his opinion. I also firmly believe that, in a democratic society, I don’t have to credence to his opinion especially when it is based on an assumption that candidates and their supporters are corrupt and that disabled persons are not capable of making intelligent political decisions of their own. Neil A. Martin, City Clerk
Stories to share? Dear editor, I would like to contact Labradorians living elsewhere in Canada and in other parts of the world. I am very interested in finding out the answers to a number of questions: When did they leave Labrador and why? What have they been doing since they left Labrador? What do they remember of their days in Labrador? How do they compare with their experiences in their present homes? There are probably a lot of other questions too. Sometimes when we
leave we get a very interesting perspective on the place we left. If any of your readers know of such Labradorians I would be glad to hear from them with the names and addresses of the expatriots. I would then like to contact them and get their stories, which I intend to share with the people of Labrador. Anybody can write me postage free at: Senator Bill Rompkey, The Senate, Ottawa, K1A 0A4 or by email at wrompkey@bellnet.ca or by fax at 613 947 9586. Bill Rompkey
Snowbell, a white stray cared for by the staff of the Nurse Abernathy Clinic in Trepassey, spent the winter outdoors. She was badly frostbitten when she found her way into the janitor’s closet, where she gave birth to four kittens. Snowbell and her children are up for adoption by Heavenly Creatures in St. John’s. The animal rescue charity is celebrating its third year and will be throwing a birthday party for the public in Bowring Park, 1-3 p.m., Aug. 20. Cash donations will be accepted to cover veterinarian bills for Snowbell and others. Refreshments for people and their furry friends will be served. Rhonda Haywad/The Independent
AUGUST 14, 2005
8 • INDEPENDENTNEWS
‘Economic suicide’ DFO ranks low on global scale of fisheries research By Alisha Morrissey The Independent
W
ith three less-than dedicated fisheries research vessels, Canada’s exploration of the fishery off Newfoundland and Labrador’s coast seems to fall flat compared to other fishing countries around the world. The United States uses seven governmentowned fisheries research vessels; Iceland has two full-time large vessels as well as two smaller ones. Countries all around the European Union (EU) boast several research vessels each, with several countries, including France, that have vessels travelling the globe in search of fish to study. Countries including Russia, New Zealand, Australia and even South Africa have more than adequate research vessels and some highly advanced technology. China is currently building a huge fleet of ships and Japan has several fulltime dedicated research vessels. Nearly all of the countries also charter a few commercial-fishing boats a year to do sampling and other research. Canada’s East Coast research fleet includes the Canadian Coast Guard vessels the Sir Wilfred Templeman, the Teleost and the Shamook — a 30-year-old inshore research vessel slated to retire this year. Currently, the fleet spends much of its time tied to the dock in St. John’s because of mechanical problems or scheduled maintenance.
SET TO RETIRE The Teleost, a 17-year old ship, has been doing the majority of the offshore research as of late, a federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) spokeswoman tells The Independent. The ship is set to retire in 2011. Federal documents show Ottawa set the “latest retirement date” of the Wilfred Templeman, a 24year old vessel, at 2007. Currently there is one dedicated scientific offshore vessel in British Columbia. Ed Sandeman, a former science director with DFO, says the country has never doled out adequate money for adequate research. “The government has never really realized that you can’t do fisheries research without research vessels,” Sandeman says. “They never realized that fisheries research is a very young science. It’s only been going for 100 years ... in Newfoundland, in Canada, it’s only been 50 years.” Federal Fisheries received $276 million in the 2005 budget to build five new vessels — one offshore scientific vessel, and four smaller midshore patrol vessels. None of those vessels will be based in this province, although the Teleost is scheduled for a refit. Why do other countries invest in science so heavily? “Because they care about their fisheries — ours don’t … They have no idea the value that’s on their coasts,” Sandeman says. “We now have the capability of doing fisheries research … we
Road to CONFEDERATION AN ONGOING SERIES will return next week
Coast guard vessels in St. John’s harbour.
have capability in the last 20 years that we never had to start with, but in the last 20 or 30 years they’ve been cutting back.” Steve Murawski, chief scientist of the National Marine Fisheries Service of the United States, says under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act the country is required to monitor certain species and the impacts of fishing. Under the law, the national service is currently replacing four ships with state-of-the-art vessels and will continue replacing the whole fleet. The first is already deployed in Alaska with a second in final stages. “Different countries obviously have different priorities on what they place in terms of their investments. Now obviously on the Atlantic coasts of Canada there’s one active FRV (fisheries research vessel), but the Canadian science strategy is to use commercial vessels as charters,” Murawski says. “Our strategy is that we are trying to use these vessels not only to get information on particular species, but to try to do ecosystem scale studies.” Murawski says while there are major contenders in the fisheries research world, countries like Norway, New Zealand and certain EU member countries top the list — he doesn’t mention Canada. “Certainly Canada has a vigorous ship building industry, I don’t know that they have constructed an FRV in some time. I’m not sure when the Templeman was built — probably in the late ’80s so it’s been quite a while.” Only a handful of ships in the coast guard fleet are less than a decade old — built in the 1970s and ’80s. George Rose, well-known cod scientist whose DFO research funding was recently cut, says while no one expects Canada to be the leader of the pack, he is seeing DFO give up on their own waters. He says it was a “big mistake” to clump Fisheries and coast guard departments together. “That’s like putting a mouse with an elephant and the elephant controls everything now. And research? Well it’s not even considered important and it’s just something they have to do.” “It’s not only sad it’s economic suicide. “The difference between what’s happened here and what’s happened in Iceland and Norway … is those countries figured out kind of who they were and what they were and focused on that because they are marine nations.” Rose is currently writing a book about the history of the fisheries in Newfoundland and Labrador and says the government only gives the industry a shot in the arm for political reasons.
YOUR VOICE Labrador consultations, is there such a thing? Dear editor, There is plenty of talk in the various media about the provincial government’s proposed Hydro development on the lower Churchill, or as many local people prefer to call it, the Grand River. On Aug. 9, during the suppertime TV news, we saw Happy Valley-Goose Bay Mayor Leo Abbas calling for more consultations with Labradorians and for the province to tell us all how we can expect to benefit from any development. On the same show, PC MHA John Hickey was promising his government would not be like its Liberal predecessors and would consult with and keep Labradorians informed. When? Who? Ford Rumbolt, president of the Combined Councils of Labrador, was on the radio demanding meetings and consultations with Labrador people and organizations. Has anyone heard about any consultations anywhere in Labrador? Have you heard about any power or benefits coming to Labrador from the damming of our river? Seems like the planning is well under way and so far it looks like exactly the same kind of exclusion to which we have become accustomed. “Consultation” doesn’t mean telling us what you have done after it’s done! If you read back through media releases and statements from when the present government was in opposition and campaigning, there is little doubt they knew what the people of Labrador wanted to hear regarding our resources and were certainly not averse to making great statements and promises when they were looking for votes. “We will not develop the Lower Churchill unless the primary beneficiaries are Labradorians. You have my assurance on that.”
Can anyone recall those words from Sept. 30, 2003? Wasn’t there an election underway at that time? How about — “Hydro development should not be pursued solely for the purpose of exporting power — we must use that power to attract and establish new industries in Labrador, such as the proposed ALCOA smelter ” — during the Election 2003. There’s another one, said prior to the election campaign, that I agree with: “Like everyone else, I’m sick and tired of watching the young people having to go out to Alberta and Ontario to find work — we have to create jobs and industry here. I think it’s time we were bold and it’s time we fought for our resources for our people to create our own opportunities.” We may identify these words at another time but I’m sure the ones who uttered them may remember them. It is indeed high time for Labradorians to expect more from our resources. In the call for expressions of interest for development of the lower Churchill we can see the diagram for the transmission lines. One goes straight south across to the Island and the other goes straight west to the Quebec border. No sign of any coming to Lake Melville or to the north or south coast. I believe I’ve heard that a former politician said words to the effect that transmission lines to the coast might render the project “not feasible.” I say if it is not feasible for people in all parts of Labrador to benefit from a Labrador resource, and provide meaningful employment growth, then it should be deemed not feasible at all. Period. If it is not feasible to use it here, how can it be feasible to send it somewhere else? Lloyd Pardy, Happy Valley-Goose Bay
Calling on Tom Osborne: make a decision on Robin Hood Bay Dear editor, Newfoundland and Labrador waste management is grossly outdated. Visitors from elsewhere in Canada, accustomed to curbside recycling for plastic, glass, metals, paper, cardboard and organics, are shocked that we wantonly discard all of the above in the same black bag. Thankfully, things are getting better. The provincial government has a waste management strategy that aims to modernize our system by 2010. Fledgling curbside recycling programs have recently been announced for Corner Brook, Gander, Green Bay, Mount Pearl and Conception Bay South. But our capital city — the largest producer of municipal waste in the province — is glaringly missing from the list. In fact, Mayor Andy Wells issued a statement last March that St. John’s is not ready to recycle. Why, one might ask? It comes down to a controversy over the St. John’s landfill, Robin Hood Bay. According to the waste management strategy, all unlined landfills in the province must be closed by 2010. A new, lined, regional landfill site at Dog Hill has been proposed, which would replace all 43 landfills on the Avalon Peninsula at an estimated cost of $40 million. St. John’s argues that although Robin Hood Bay is unlined, it should be allowed to stay open. According to the strategy’s guidelines, closing the dump would cost upwards of $150 million. If the liner requirement is waved, it could be upgraded to an acceptable environmental standard for a much smaller price and operate for another 35 years. The upgrade would minimize the impact of leachate, the contaminated liquid that seeps out of the dump. The city claims that building a collection system and treatment plant for leachate would achieve the same environmental results as a liner
for a fraction of the cost. The upgrade would also include a materials recovery facility for curbside recycling, and a facility to process landfill gas. The city is understandably reluctant to fund the upgrade of Robin Hood Bay if it must close in five years. No progress is being made because the city is waiting for Environment Minister Tom Osborne to decide whether Robin Hood Bay will be exempted from the liner requirement of the waste management strategy. The minister has many factors to consider. My vote is for Robin Hood Bay to stay open. If the liner stipulation is too expensive to be practical, then it should be amended without compromising the spirit of the waste management strategy. The purpose of the strategy is to significantly lessen the environmental impact of our waste management. If this can be achieved more affordably without liners, there is no need for government to insist that all landfills be lined. As for the problem with location, it can be resolved with good planning. It may be possible for the furthest away communities to transport their waste to a facility off the Avalon. But the answer is surely not to procrastinate. St. John’s city officials had expected a decision by May, but now Minister Osborne says one will not be reached for “some months.” All the while, tons of recyclable materials are wasted, tons of greenhouse gases escape into the atmosphere, and tons of toxic leachate run into the sea at Robin Hood Bay. Government maintains its commitment to responsible waste management, but where is the action? Jason Noble, Responsible Consumers, Newfoundland and Labrador
Association argues it didn’t pass up ‘free money’ Dear editor, Your front-page story Passed up (Aug. 7-13 edition) paints a picture of a desperate Newfoundland shrimp industry forsaking some free marketing money from the federal government. In short, the Association of Seafood Producers did not pass up free money. There is no such thing. A number of points are relevant for consideration: • The Canadian Agriculture and Food International (CAFI) program is cost-shared 5050. Recipients have to spend their own money to receive government money. Newfoundland shrimp producers had to come forward with over $300,000 to access the so-called “free money.” That is on top of hundreds of thousands already spent in marketing efforts by individual companies, in a very marginal industry at best. This speaks to one of the weaknesses of the CAFI program that other recipients across the country have identified, which your article did manage to represent: “it wasn’t surprising all the money wasn’t spent.” • CAFI and the association developed a twoyear marketing program for cold-water shrimp, of which Newfoundland and Labrador is one of the world’s largest suppliers. That program consisted of a number of components, at different costs. Once member producers of the association expended monies on a given program component, we could seek monies from CAFI. Again, the association received no free money. There was no money sitting in a bank account waiting to be spent, and ergo none to be paid back. • The world’s largest market for cold-water shrimp is the UK. Unfortunately, Newfoundland producers face a punitive 20 per cent tariff on shrimp imports going into that market. Notwithstanding the commentary in the article,
the CAFI program did allow expenditures aimed at combating this tariff barrier. That is where most of the expenditures were targeted, and where we focused our efforts. Notwithstanding that, the tariff barrier remains in place. It would be of little value to conduct the rest of a marketing program for shrimp in a market that places a 20 per cent penalty on imports. Our hope had been to get the tariff reduced, and then conduct this program. Other elements of the program included developing markets in the U.S. and elsewhere, but the UK remains the world’s largest market, and as that market is already there, eliminating or reducing the tariff barrier would have been a god-send. • To put the financial figures of CAFI’s marketing program into perspective, it was for a total expenditure of just over $700,000 in marketingrelated initiatives, for an industry worth several hundred million dollars to the provincial economy. Compare that to the province’s marketing budget of $8 million for a $700-million tourism industry (not to mention marketing by individual tourism operators, hotels, etc). The life or death of the Newfoundland shrimp industry is not determined by a CAFI program. Newfoundland producers already do extensive marketing. The real story is perhaps the punitive tariff faced by the industry. Re. Earle McCurdy’s interventions on the topic, he said “squandered … fell down on the job … inexcusable … too frustrating to talk about.” On the last part he was right, and he should have kept his own counsel. As Mark Twain said, “Remain silent and be thought a fool. Speak up and remove all doubt.” E. Derek Butler, executive director Association of Seafood Producers
AUGUST 14, 2005
INDEPENDENTNEWS • 9
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10 • INDEPENDENTNEWS
YOUR VOICE
LIFE STORY
Liberals content to watch Newfoundland’s extinction?
‘Joe was a gentleman’
Dear editor, When Newfoundlanders are not fishing there is something seriously wrong — and it doesn’t take a marine biologist, a fisherman, or someone with experience in federal politics to identify the problem. In any federation, the federal government has two crucial roles: to level the playing field among provinces, and to represent the collective interests of the provinces on the international stage. When it comes to the fishery, Canada’s current federal government is an abysmal failure on both accounts. The federal government is itself responsible for creating indefensible inequalities in the amounts of fish Atlantic Canadians may catch for their own tables. There is no scientific rationale for the government’s decision to prohibit Newfoundlanders from fishing for personal consumption. And while Newfoundlanders are forbidden to fish, foreign factory trawlers fish on our continental shelf year round. These vessels strain the waters of the Grand Banks for every ounce of protein, annihilating northern cod and damaging spawning grounds. For decades we have known of this situation and witnessed the impotence and unwillingness of the federal government to stop it. Even in fishing zones within our 200-mile limit where no Newfoundlander may catch a cod, foreign fleets can legally catch nearly 6,000 tonnes of cod — five to 10 per cent of their total catch — as a bycatch while fishing for other species. If cod are so plentiful in our waters that foreigners can catch 6,000 tonnes by accident, then surely Newfoundlanders should be allowed to catch a few to eat. The argument that a limited food fishery
would harm the recovery of a commercial fishery is a red herring to divert attention from the real threat to the commercial fishery — government’s failure to stop foreign overfishing. The federal government prefers to see Newfoundlanders fighting amongst ourselves, rather than focusing our wrath on their incompetence. Sadly, Ottawa’s divide-and-conquer strategy works. While we squabble over which of us should be allowed to catch a few hypothetical cod if the stocks recover, foreign fishermen are already taking what few cod remain, ensuring the stocks will never recover. If we are ever to resuscitate the Newfoundland cod fishery, the necessary first steps are obvious. First, scientific research into the state of the cod stock should receive more resources, not less. Second, a joint fishery management system, based on the plan developed by the government of Newfoundland and Labrador in 2003, must be implemented. Most importantly, we must be guided by the principle that if there are not enough cod in our waters for Newfoundlanders to fish, there are not enough for anyone to fish. We must stop the ransacking of our continental shelf by assuming a leadership role in international fishery management, and we should not hesitate to assume custodial management of the nose and tail of the Grand Banks and the Flemish Cap. The continuing failure of the current federal government to do so suggests that the Liberals are content to watch the extinction of Newfoundland’s way of life. Aaron Hynes, Federal Conservative candidate, Bonavista-Trinity-Grand Falls-Windsor
Mail-in ballots ‘not a disgrace’ Dear editor, While I respect and encourage the freedom of press, I do feel I have to comment on Ivan Morgan’s column, Giant step backwards (Aug. 7-13 edition of The Independent) regarding how to cheat the new mail-in ballot system. Firstly, Morgan states that “you cannot go anywhere on polling day and vote.” That is absolutely false — it’s important that citizens know there are several “satellite drop-off locations” where one can go on election day to not only hand-deliver their ballot, but to be signed into the voter’s list as well. Secondly, his “recipe” for taking advantage of the new system will not work, as the mail-in bal-
lots require a copy of identification with one’s registered municipal address on it. Finally, the mail-in system is not a disgrace, in my opinion. If anything it encourages the democratic process by making it easier and more accessible for citizens to vote. So while I respect and encourage the freedom of press, I frown on blatantly misinformed and misinforming articles. I hope that readers of his column, and all residents of St. John’s, will take the time to read their mail-in ballots when they receive them and get out (or stay in) and vote. David Lane, St. John’s
Known primarily for his contributions to hockey, Joe Bryne was also a man with ‘a lot of friends’ Joe Byrne, 1921-1990 By Darcy MacRae The Independent
I
t’s safe to say that Joe Byrne will never be forgotten in Grand Falls-Windsor. His contributions to hockey in the central Newfoundland town and throughout the province earned him spots in the provincial hockey and sports halls of fame, and convinced the community to name a stadium in his honour. But as well respected as Byrne was for his success in the sport, he’s remembered just as fondly for his easy-going personality and friendly demeanour. “Joe was a gentleman,” says Walt Davis, who first met Byrne when the latter coached him in Joe Byrne high school hockey. “He was that type of person. He never said anything bad about anybody and coached and played for the Grand Falls-Windsor wasn’t rough or loud. He had a lot of patience.” senior team, organized the first provincial junior Davis and Byrne would grow to become close B championships, coached all levels of minor friends and shared many laughs together. Davis hockey, served as referee-in-chief with the says Byrne had a fine sense of humour, as evident Newfoundland Amateur Hockey Association, and by the tricks he used to play on the high school ran the provincial hockey office in Grand Fallshockey players he was coaching. Windsor. “He loved to play jokes on people,” Davis tells He also coached on Bell Island for two years, The Independent. “When we’d go to school team helping to bring senior hockey to the region. hockey practices in the morning, he’d put the “He did a lot of work,” says Don Johnson, forclock behind a half hour. We’d get off the ice a mer president of the Canadian Amateur Hockey half hour late and then we’d be late for school.” Association and Newfoundland and Labrador Davis chuckles when recalling how Byrne later hockey hall of famer. “He ran clinics, looked after took the joke one step further. all the refereeing and the offices in Grand Falls“He’d ask our teacher Charlie Goodyear, ‘Did Windsor. He was one of the backbones of it all.” the boys get to school on time this morning?” Johnson remembers fondly his many dealings And when Charlie said we were a bit late, Joe with Byrne during their years on the provincial would say ‘That’s funny, I let them out early hockey scene. Like Davis, Johnson has only good today,’” Davis recalls with a laugh. “We finally things to say about Byrne. caught on to it after a while. We were slow learn“He really was exemplary as far as being a ers.” decent person,” says Johnson. “He really was a Byrne was originally from Charlesborough, fine guy.” Que., but came to Grand Falls-Windsor in 1949 to play and serve as an assistant coach with the STADIUM RENAMED Johnson marvels at the many hours Byrne town’s senior hockey team. He would eventually become the club’s head coach, leading them to donated to developing hockey, as well as other sports, both in Grand Falls-Windsor and throughseveral successful seasons. “He was a fundamental man; passing and out the province. He says Byrne is truly deserving shooting, positional hockey,” Davis says. “He of his spots in the provincial sports and hockey halls of fame and is pleased that the Town of wasn’t into rough hockey.” Davis says Byrne had no difficulty fitting in Grand Falls-Windsor honoured him by renaming when he arrived in Newfoundland. He already their largest hockey arena Joe Byrne Memorial spoke flawless English, and instantly hit if off Stadium in 1991. “That says it all,” Johnson says. with the local townsfolk. Davis says Byrne thorAlthough Byrne married, he never had children oughly enjoyed living on the island, and frequently took part in activities already adored by natives of his own. However, Johnson says the way he cared for the many children he came into contact of the province. “He was a sportsman, he liked to go fishing and with showed Byrne’s soft side and demonstrated how he felt about the sport he loved. hunting,” says Davis. “Hockey was his family,” says Johnson. Byrne, who would marry Grand Falls-Windsor As a coach, Byrne won many championships, native Patricia Duke, liked life in his new province so much that he stayed here until his including the Veitch Memorial Trophy for the death in 1990. Davis says that along the way, provincial junior B title and the Herder Memorial Byrne’s warm personality touched a lot of people. Trophy for the provincial senior crown. His final “Joe had a lot of friends,” says Davis. “You championships came in 1980 and 1981 — his could phone anybody in St. John’s, on Bell first tours of duty behind the bench in many years Island, or in Grand Falls-Windsor; there wasn’t — when he guided the Grand Falls Cataracts to consecutive Herders. any place Joe wasn’t well liked.” darcy.macrae@theindependent.ca Byrne’s contributions to hockey were many. He
have had something of a counterpart in Egypt at a period long before the Christian era. The palm tree is known to put forth a branch every month and a spray of this tree, with 12 shoots on it, was used in Egypt at the same time of the winter solstice as a symbol of the year completed.” — From The Fisherman’s Advocate, Dec. 20, 1929 FROM THE BAY “Fish for China: The project at first seems far fetched and difficult of realization, but in this age of telegraphs and steam, and the closer trade relations between the most distant points on the earth’s surface, nothing seems impossible in commercial enterprise. China is taking to Western ways lately and there is room for a good deal of dried codfish for 400 millions of people, if we can only get at them.” — From The Trinity Bay Enterprise, March 29, 1909 YEARS PAST “The man, who was serving time for property offences, was the only one out of 114 inmates at prisons around the province who did not report back following leave they had been granted for Christmas. “There were two other inmates on the west coast who were not back Wednesday, but weather conditions had made their return impossible and they had contacted prison officials to say they would be back as soon as weather permitted.” — From The Daily News, Dec. 31, 1983 AROUND THE WORLD “The Christmas tree, which has become almost a universal symbol, and is by most persons supposed to have originated in Germany, seems to
EDITORIAL STAND “The Southern Shore Weekly would like to thank the person who sent us the letter from furTher up the shore advising us not to publish the paper again as it is an insult to the Southern Shore. We would gladly return the price of the paper to them if they were kind enough to send us there name. Or maybe that person would like the job of printing the paper, or becoming a news correspondence in their community or better still the job of proof reading.” — From the Southern Shore Weekly, Sept. 14, 1968 LETTER TO THE EDITOR “Editor, a lone sentence from the editorial in the Montreal Star of June 15 had the following: ‘The Liberal Government of Ross Thatcher was trounced despite an open and blatant juggling of electoral boundaries, which would have shamed any government west of Newfoundland.’ Evidently, west of Newfoundland we are not thought of very highly. Signed: J.C. Baird.” — From the Free Press, June 30, 1971 QUOTE OF THE WEEK “A little charity toward others, a good drop of rum now and again and that’s all there is to it.” Signed: John White of Stephenville, who was celebrating his 98th birthday. — From The Reporter, Feb. 13, 1980
INDEPENDENTWORLD
SUNDAY THROUGH SATURDAY, AUGUST 14-20, 2005 — PAGE 11
Premiers (left to right) Bernard Lord, John Hamm, Dalton McGuinty and Jean Charest stop in Kananaskis, Alta., on their way to Banff.
REUTERS/Andy Clark
PM beats back premiers In Banff, Paul Martin wins the first round in the battle over the so-called fiscal imbalance By Chantal Hébert Torstar wire service
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rime Minister Paul Martin has quietly won the first decisive round in the battle with the provinces over the socalled fiscal imbalance. The premiers ostensibly have not waved the white flag over their bid to force Martin to rebalance revenues of the federation to their advantage. In Banff this week for their annual summer meeting, they insist that their efforts are ongoing. But the momentum has slipped away from them. After months of trying to get their hands on a bigger share of the golden eggs of the federal surplus, they are now content to continue simply to pluck the goose one feather at a time. In this spirit, the premiers of Ontario and Quebec are leading a charge to go the same route with post-secondary education as they did with health care last year, pressing the federal government to sharply increase its transfers for colleges and universities.
While any injection of federal funds into turing fiscal federalism by the combination provincial coffers improves their balance of a front of determined provinces and an sheets, it hardly addresses the fiscal struc- equally determined federal opposition. ture of the federation. But since then, Martin has succeeded in Indeed, as the federal government com- using the often-competing interests of the mits to devolve more of premiers to his advanits revenues to designattage. ed provincial areas, it Newfoundland and could be argued that the Labrador, Nova Scotia, Even if Klein was not case for it giving up Saskatchewan and more of its taxing room about to retire, it would Ontario have all negotiatto the provinces ed side deals with his becomes weaker. government while be hard to think of a The provinces’ Quebec has obtained a premier less suited to pass on federal conditions approach also offers the federal government an on health-care funding the occasion. opportunity to exert that it fully intends to more control on primaricarry over to the childcare ly provincial jurisdiction file. — as it did with health care last year — Meanwhile in the House of Commons, while keeping its hands on the strings of the joint Liberal/NDP budget venture has the public purse. tilted the parliamentary balance toward a Just a year ago, there was a window greater federal role in the area of social within which a minority Liberal govern- policy, rather than increased provincial ment could have been prodded into restruc- room to manoeuvre on the fiscal front.
For the next crucial federal election year, the Council of the Federation will be chaired by Ralph Klein, a lame-duck premier primarily preoccupied with his domestic last hurrah and one who is less than engaged in federal-provincial affairs at the best of times. Even if Klein was not about to retire, it would be hard to think of a premier less suited to the occasion. Alberta’s healthy fiscal situation stands in sharp contrast with that of most other provinces. Moreover, outside of Alberta, Klein inspires more suspicion than admiration. At birth, the council was sold as a forum for the provinces to demonstrate their capacity to act as full partners in the management of Canada’s affairs. But this week, that notion was sorely tested by the collective decision of the premiers to skirt any discussion of medicare in the light of the landmark Supreme Court See “Losing,” page 14
Patients exhausted
… because, as John Crosbie writes, their patience is being tested on Canada’s Band-Aid medical system
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anada’s publicly controlled and operated health-care system is not working efficiently or effectively. It does not deliver the care patients need in a timely manner. So we must demonstrate we are no longer prepared to accept this. In a 1999 report of the Atlantic Institute of Market Studies, authors Brian Lee Crowley, Dr. David Zitner and policy analyst Nancy FaradaySmith concluded: “The Canadian public health-care system is on an unsustainable course that will plunge Medicare in ever-deepening crisis over the next 10-20 years.” They found “Medicare’s troubles
JOHN CROSBIE
The old curmudgeon stem from a long list of design flaws and rapidly changing circumstances to which the system is responding poorly, if at all.” Because we created a virtual monopoly in the provision of publicly insured services, costs are determined by political bargaining between powerful interest groups such as physicians, nurses, other health-care professionals, hospi-
tal administrators and health-care bureaucrats. Patients have little incentive to economize on their use of Medicare. The result of all of this is rapidly increasing spending on health care, threatening spending on other vital services, such as education. The aging population is having a significant impact upon costs. In 1992, our 3.3 million seniors were the equivalent of less than 20 per cent of the workingage population (i.e., those whose productivity pays for pay-as-you-go programs such as Medicare). By 2030, there will be eight million seniors — nearly 40 per cent of that group.
Canadians over 65 consume about 50 per cent of all health-care expenditures and this is expected to reach almost 67 per cent by 2030. If our Medicare system is unreformed, this will involve a large transfer of wealth from relatively poor workers to relatively well-off seniors over the next 25 years, causing a significant increase in taxation to maintain benefits at their current level. As the AIMS study indicated, it is the absence of any challenge to the monopoly of Medicare — the only monopoly that the Canadian public apparently does not oppose — that guarantees mediocre performance on patient needs.
The study also found Medicare lacks vital accountability mechanisms or incentives to control costs. Our monopoly system is not transparent and so prevents consumers from making informed decisions. It does not allow competition to reveal which providers are most effective and cost efficient. As well, it fails to separate political influences from health-care decisions. When are Canadians going to fight for essential changes rather than the political pap handed out by successive Liberal governments? Health-care providers and governSee “Time to accept,” page 12
AUGUST 14, 2005
12 • INDEPENDENTWORLD
VOICE FROM AWAY
‘Memories of Nepal’
Labrador native Catherine Power travels to an uneasy country with the International Press Institute VIENNA By Catherine Power For The Independent
been committed against women, are still unclear. These statistics did much to shape an image of a country I perceived as being Catherine Power is a journalism ravaged by poverty, instability and fear. school graduate, originally from Happy Instead, I was greeted with warmth, Valley-Goose Bay. She was recently openness and pride from people who chosen to take part in the first interna- smile often and never miss an opportutional press freedom mission to Nepal nity to speak of their mixed culture and since a state of emergency was beautiful landscape or to treat you to declared in February 2005. Power is their gracious hospitality. currently working as a press freedom In mid-July IPI joined with United advisor with the International Press Nations agencies and human rights Institute in Vienna and writes from groups from around the world on a joint there about her experience in Nepal advocacy mission to Nepal. Our goal last month. was to meet with as many journalists as possible and to uncover facts that were ears before I ever imagined I censored in the news and state-sponwould be flying over the fabled sored propaganda. capital of Kathmandu, I heard We also hoped to assert international Nepal described as the kind of country pressure, appealing to the government that lingers in your dreams long after and the Maoists to put an end to their you leave it. respective campaigns of intimidation Smothered between India and China, and violence against journalists. the two most heavily populated nations The dozens of journalists I met were on earth, and cradling the base of the nothing short of astounding in their Himalayas in its western districts, the candour and openness in describing Nepal I have come to know through my some of the horrifying situations they work is not one of dreams, but one of had experienced. sickening nightI talked to peomares. ple who returned Nepal was one of I talked to … journalists to their printing the first cases presses just hours who stood on street cor- after they had been assigned to me when I began workreleased from ners, using loudspeakers prison, and to ing with the Viennabased International journalists to read international news radio Press Institute (IPI), who stood on an organization that headlines after their broad- street corners, works to promote using loudspeakpress freedom and casting stations had been ers to read internafreedom of exprestional news headtorched or ransacked. sion throughout the lines after their world. broadcasting staCaught up in the tions had been increasing tension and fighting between torched or ransacked. Maoist rebels and the constitutional One journalist I spent time with, a monarchy, Nepal is fast becoming one 26-year-old father of two who also supof the most dangerous places to prac- ports his aging parents and extended tice journalism. For three consecutive family, had been kidnapped by Maoists years more journalists have been and brutally tortured for over three imprisoned in Nepal than anywhere months. Since his release, he continues else. In recent months, hundreds of with his investigative reporting, despite cases of intimidation, harassment, pro- death threats. His story of bravery and longed detention and, at times, torture courage is just one of hundreds. and killings have been reported. The complete lack of sadness with Both the Royal government and which people shared their stories was, army and the Maoist insurgents have for me, bewildering. Most of the people been relentless in their targeting of I interviewed were eager to ensure my media workers, neither side wanting vision of Nepal was not one of fighting the gross violations of human rights and loss. they have perpetrated throughout the They are proud of their country, its conflict to catch international attention. spicy food, mountain music, and Over 11,000 civilians have died since Buddhist and Hindu traditions. They the insurgency began in 1996, and more want visitors to experience all that it than 100,000 people have been dis- has to offer. Almost every person placed, according to U.N. estimates. would, at some point, find a way to A campaign of total censorship was steer the conversation toward why they imposed by King Gyanendra after the felt a need to show resistance and stand state of emergency was declared on up to those in power. Feb. 1, 2005. Some of the more grueUnfailingly, that motivation came some statistics of this conflict, those from a desire to see their country that relate to the number of child sol- through this crisis and a belief that, diers who have been recruited or to the even as individuals, they could concrimes of sexual violence that have tribute to its rebuilding.
Y
Nepalese journalists take part in demonstrations in Kathmandu for the restoration of freedom of the press, June 2005 Photos by Binod Josh
The realities of that crisis became clear to me in more direct ways as the week came to an end. When visiting journalists in one of the areas outside of Kathmandu, a man who worked as a pineapple seller on the street offered to take me on a walk around the city. He was patient as I stopped to take dozens of pictures of the cows and goats that strolled the streets next to cars, buses, and rickshaw drivers. As I was zooming in on one particularly lazy cow napping in the centre of a busy street, I felt the ground shake
underneath my feet and heard the roar of explosives go off in an area definitely too close to where I was standing. The fear that I felt in that one moment would be impossible to describe, but even more unsettling was the way the pineapple seller kept chatting away, traffic continued at its regular lumbering pace, and children kept playing on the streets. Days later, I found out the Maoists had planted that bomb in a field 200 feet from where I had been standing. In keeping with the adaptable spirit of
Nepal, little fuss was made about it. Life went on. Because it had to. A month later, from the stability and security of Vienna, I cannot say that memories of Nepal simply linger in my dreams. Instead, they are vivid and constant, as I wait to see how the history of that struggling country, with its strong and inspiring people, will unfold. Do you know a Newfoundlander or Labradorian living away? Please email editorial@theindependent.ca.
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ments are afraid to face well-organized interest groups. Provider salaries have gone up with billions put in the system, but waiting lists have not gone down. It is time to put patients’ interest first. Why ignore the fact that many countries that outperform Canada in health care have policies specifically outlawed by the Canada Health Act? Their systems encourage patients to be responsible to cover some cost of their care, permit competition among private providers within a publicly funded system and permit freedom to go outside
the system if it is not meeting their needs — all things we officially prohibit. It is long past time for Canadians to look at such national health systems as those of Sweden, Germany and the U.K., all of which offer superior and more affordable medical services. It is part of the underlying dishonesty of our system that you can sue your doctor for medical malpractice, but you can’t sue Paul Martin or Roy Romanow or Dalton McGuinty for health system malpractice. Our governments do not accept legal accountability when they fail to deliver. The time has come to force them to accept political accountability.
AUGUST 14, 2005
INDEPENDENTWORLD • 13
CBC staff face being locked out By Murray Whyte Torstar wire service
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ore than 5,000 CBC staff nationwide could be locked out if a labour agreement is not reached by 12:01 a.m. Monday, an event that would severely limit the public broadcaster’s news and current affairs programming. The CBC announced late last week it was invoking its right to a 72-hour lockout notice on its unionized workers, who belong to the Canadian Media Guild. This does not mean an automatic lockout or strike on Monday if a deal is not reached, however, the CBC stressed in a released statement. “We are still at the bargaining table and CBC remains committed to reaching a negotiated col-
lective agreement with the union.” full range of workers, from editorial to A strike or lockout is not absolute, technical to support staff, resumed yesArnold Amber, a member of the union’s terday morning after the union walked bargaining committee, says. “If we start away from a bargaining session on to get traction in Monday. Staff have negotiation, it been working withcould be rescindout a contract for ed,” Amber says. more than a year. “Unfortunately, we still CBC staff start“We’ve cleared ed registering for up some language, have about 40 articles picket duty but we’re not out of that aren’t settled.” Wednesday. The the woods,” says union posted a Amber. detailed document “Unfortunately, Arnold Amber on its Web site we still have about yesterday, advis40 articles that ing staff what to aren’t settled.” do in the event of a labour disruption, CBC management tabled an offer and the details of strike pay. last week that Jason MacDonald, a Negotiations between CBC manage- CBC spokesperson, described as “fair ment and the union that represents its and reasonable.” He says some modest
Million-dollar babies Eggs being implanted into other cows By Christian Controneo Torstar wire service
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ila is a farmer’s dream. Curvaceous, a little on the heavy side, with some serious childbearing hips. So a handful of men from around the world bet the farm on Lila, paying $1.15 million for her at auction last March — the most paid for any Canadian cow in the past 25 years. But Lila, whose full name is Lylehaven Lila Z, has gold etched into her DNA. Only three years old, and she’s become the Sidney Crosby of heifers — All-Canadian Junior Two-Year-Old in 2004, and All-Canadian Junior Yearling in 2003. “She puts the total package together,” says Georgetown cattle breeder Albert Cormier, her former owner. And she’s got the pedigreed parentage to match. “Her sire is probably the best, most respected bull of the breed around the world,” Cormier says. “Her mother’s a very exceptional cow, and her grandmother as well. “She is ... unquestionably the most valuable cow in the world.” Although farmers from the United Kingdom and United States ponied up for the much-hyped Holstein, Cormier and partner Dave Eastman were shrewd enough to retain a share. Now the pressure is all on Lila’s golden eggs. “Her value is basically for her breeding potential,” Cormier says. Lila has 20 babies on the way. She’s been given fertility drugs that cause her to “superovulate” to monstrous proportions. The eggs she produces — up to 100 over her lifetime — are being removed and implanted in other heifers to carry to term. “An embryo from that cow could be worth up to $10,000, because that embryo has a 50 per cent chance or better of making a live calf,” Cormier
Reuters
says. “And that live calf could generate a lot of income.” Her sons could produce the gold standard in semen. “It’s not like a racehorse that’s going to win races — it’s a cow that’s going to reproduce. And the fact that she can reproduce that many spread out around the world has a tremendous marketability.” Lila is also an ace milk producer. “She’s very much capable of living
until she’s 10, 12 or more,” Cormier says. Whether she’s capable of actually enjoying those years is another matter. “The very process of the super-ovulation is an invasive process. It’s not natural,” says Stephanie Brown of the Canadian Coalition for Farm Animals. But Dan Doner, who works for Elite Bovine Management, the Guelph firm that manages Lila, says she’s treated like a queen at home in Victoriaville, Que.
progress had been made, but not on the key issues. The issue of short-term and contract workers is the sticking point. Saddled with unstable funding and a record-low advertising revenue for last year, the CBC is pushing for greater flexibility in hiring. The union has argued it is a threat to long-term employees who have always made up the bulk of CBC staff. About 30 per cent of CBC employees are temporary or contract workers. Last week, the union took out fullpage advertisements in several major newspapers, publicly declaring its willingness to strike. Management is equally firm. “We’ve got resolve,” says MacDonald. “Are we prepared to lock out our employees? Yes we are. That deadline is very real.
Both parties will need to be at the table until Sunday night if this is going to get done.” Without its entire staff of journalists, cameramen, editors and technicians, the CBC would be forced to fill radio and television airtime with taped material. In an internal memo to staff last week, management pledged “to provide programming to Canadians on all our media platforms” during any labour disruption, noting that services would be scaled back. The timing for a labour dispute, CBC’s second in the past four years, could not be worse. CBC, stung both in revenue and ratings by the year-long NHL lockout, is preparing to launch its new fall television season.
AUGUST 14, 2005
14 • INDEPENDENTWORLD
N.B. call centre shuts doors By Sarah McGinnis Telegraph-Journal
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ameras clicked as politicians and business leaders trumpeted the news that a new call centre was bringing 500 jobs to Saint John. The province offered $1.5 million to entice U.S.-based Archway Marketing Services to open back in October 2003. Less than two years later the call centre is closing, leaving the province scrambling to recoup $300,000 in lost taxpayer money. The province granted Archway Marketing Services a $1.5 million for-
givable loan to assist with training and infrastructure costs of opening a new call centre. In return the company, which at the time ran four call centres in Canada and one in the U.S., pledged to create 500 jobs in the city within two years. Two months before its deadline, the Saint John call centre is closing. Business New Brunswick learned last week Archway Marketing Services was shutting down its Saint John office, says spokesman André-Marc Allain. The company cited the loss of a major contract as the reason behind the decision, he says.
Calls to the president of Archway Marketing Services in Minnesota were not returned. Archway never came close to meeting its goal of employing 500 people. At its peak, 150 were working there, and when it decided to close there were just 75 employees. As a result of the closure, and the company’s failure to meet job targets, the province is working to get its $300,000 back. “The department of Business New Brunswick certainly has every intention to recoup its investment,” Allain says. “We are very confident we will be
able to get that money back.” As with most forgivable loans, the government didn’t cut a cheque for the entire amount when the deal was announced. Such loans are based on employment targets, with companies receiving more of the money every time they hit a milestone, such as creating another 100 jobs, Allain says. If a company meets its job targets, and sustains them for between two to four years, then Business New Brunswick will review the file and decide whether to forgive the loan. By the time of this recent closure
only $300,000 was given to Archway Marketing Services and the province is going after the company to repay the loan. This call centre closure could lead some to wonder about the merits of pouring government money into the industry. Call centres are, and continue to be a major employer in New Brunswick, Allain says. More than 20,000 people in New Brunswick work in call centres, with employment up 20 per cent from last year. The industry also contributes more than $1 billion to the provincial economy, he says.
Crystal meth laws tightened OTTAWA By Andrew Mills Torstar wire service
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he federal government is raising the maximum penalty to life from 10 years for the trafficking and manufacturing of crystal meth, the increasingly popular but deadly illegal drug. Those caught in possession of the potent stimulant will face maximum sentences of seven years instead of three, the health and justice ministers announced last week. Though Ottawa characterized the new sentencing as a crackdown intended to deter offenders, substance abuse experts dismissed it as a political move. “This will not work any better than it has for heroin or for cocaine,” says Benedikt Fischer, a public health policy research scientist at Toronto’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. “This is political action.” Crystal meth gives a euphoric, longlasting high at a fraction of the price of other hard drugs and, by some accounts, those who snort, smoke, inject or ingest crystal are becoming Canada’s next biggest drug problem: it’s highly addictive. Though there is little data to give an accurate picture of how many Canadians are using crystal meth, the RCMP says it is a smouldering crisis, especially in Western Canada’s smaller towns. Crystal meth usage is so widespread partly because the drug is so easy to manufacture: it is “cooked” using readily available household chemicals or over-the-counter decongestants. One of Ottawa’s central tools in the struggle against such drugs is handing down stiff deterrents to those who make, distribute and take crystal meth. “You want to send a message saying, `We view this seriously and we tell you that if you’re caught doing these things you will face a maximum penalty of life,’“ Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh says. “That always has a deterrent effect on particularly the importers and exporters and traffickers.” Though the RCMP welcomed the increased sentences, the Canadian Professional Police Association says it doesn’t go far enough. “The problem is there are no mandatory minimum sentences there. So what’s going to happen, still again, is that we’re going to see judges give lenient sentences,” says Tony Cannavino, the association’s president. Substance abuse experts point to the abundance of heroin and cocaine, whose users and traffickers face the same sentences, and conclude that such disincentives don’t work.
Losing the audience Continued from 11 ruling that recently opened the door wider to private health care in Canada. And so, in lieu of provincial leadership, Canadians are treated to the sight of a hole into which some premiers would have the Prime Minister pour as much federal money as possible. Finally, Premier Jean Charest, whose federalist credentials were instrumental in moving the project of the council forward, has lost much of his audience in Quebec. Yves Seguin, whose provincial commission on the fiscal imbalance provided much of the impetus for the national debate on the issue, has now returned to private life after an unhappy spell as Charest’s finance minister. The premier’s credibility as a champion of post-secondary education is in tatters since he lost a public opinion war against striking students opposed to his government’s planned overhaul of Quebec’s student loan program last winter.
AUGUST 14, 2005
ISRAELI WITHDRAWAL
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas waves to thousands of Palestinians as he departs the location of mass celebration for the coming Israeli pull-out from Gaza Strip and a corner of the West Bank. Mohammed Salem/Reuters
Ottawa peddling myths to justify no-fly policy By James Travers Torstar wire service
tentious issues the courage it found on Iraq. Largely for domestic political reasons, federal Liberals ignored the Bush blather, choosing riting in the August edition of the won- instead to commit troops to less controversial, if derfully contrarian U.S. magazine almost as dangerous, Afghanistan. Harper’s, scholar Bill McKibben But as Transport Minister Jean Lapierre is exposes a remarkable statistic about a proudly again reminding the country with his plan to Christian country. introduce a no-fly list, wrong-headed solutions It seems 12 per cent of Americans believe coupled to foreign sensibilities flow as fluidly Joan of Arc was Noah’s wife. across the border as people, goods and services. Amusing as it is revealing, that misconception In replicating a flawed response to the equally is lost among others with greater implications. A flawed notion that al Qaeda’s next North clear majority is wrongly convinced Saddam American attack will follow the pattern of the Hussein was closely linked to al-Qaeda while last, Lapierre expects a fearful, gullible citizenry one in three think U.S. troops invading Iraq cap- to mistake a reaction for action, a program for tured weapons of mass destruction. protection. Vigilant governments should know Poking fun at a neighbour’s ignorance has who is an imminent security threat just as they been a smug Canadian sport since the first apoc- must, as Lapierre proposes, do everything rearyphal tourist came north in sonable to safeguard a transsummer with skis. Truth is, portation system that in an though, we laugh too loud. open society will always be a Canada clings to the Our own consciousness is vulnerable, beckoning target. image that it’s in the missing so much history But the way to do that is that, as defence minister, the with cutting-edge intellipeacekeeping vanguard gence, policing and ports affable former bank economist John McCallum misnot with another even though, by 1996, its security, took Vichy, the capital of the blunt instrument intruding French state that collaboratunnecessarily into private troop commitment had ed with the Nazis, with lives. Since 9/11, governVimy, the World War I battle fallen behind even Brazil, ments on both sides of the where Canada is said to border have taken advantage have become a country. of the suspect assumption that Jordan and Poland Equally telling, Canada less privacy means more safeclings to the defining image ty to justify legislation that that it’s in the peacekeeping vanguard even tramples values synonymous with the freedom though, by 1996, its troop commitment had fall- they claim to be defending. en behind even Brazil, Jordan and Poland. Knowing that a large multiple of those who Americans and Canadians share something else: believe Joan and Noah were married also believe a form of government that delegates to the elect- that nothing to hide means nothing to fear, ed, supposedly well-informed few those deci- administrations push policies that, while making sions that make ordinary heads hurt. life easier for them and their agencies, are anathOften that works well enough. Politicians noo- ema to democracy. dle through problems to arrive at policies that The best thing citizens can do is make an surprisingly but regularly find the elusive ful- effort to be informed. crum between public interest and partisan advanA knowledgeable electorate forces politicians tage. to connect proposed public policies to reasonBut just as power abhors a vacuum, govern- ably anticipated results. ments can’t resist filling the space between perIn that more perfect universe, Lapierre would ceptions and their preferred realities. now be forced to demonstrate that a no-fly list In that way, the Bush administration seeded makes air travel safer and is both the most effecand harvested a bumper crop of myths to justify tive response and the one most in keeping with the increasingly problematic Iraq adventure, and the country’s values. Instead, and at the moment, its war on terrorism tactics. That wouldn’t matter Big Brother knows that among those watching, much if this country extended to other con- too few are thinking.
W
INDEPENDENTWORLD • 15
16 • INDEPENDENTWORLD
AUGUST 14, 2005
INDEPENDENTLIFE
SUNDAY THROUGH SATURDAY, AUGUST 14-20, 2005 — PAGE 17
By Stephanie Porter The Independent
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ark McKinney is approaching hour 12 on set when he finally gets a few minutes to chat. He’s just finished shooting a scene for CBC Television’s Hatching, Matching and Dispatching, and there’s more left to go before his day is done. But he sounds relaxed, professional and — most importantly — he sounds like he’s truly enjoying himself. He calls out parting wishes to cast members on their way out, laughs as they make a plan for the weekend. “This is going really good, it’s critically funny stuff, really good,” he says. “I’d read the scripts and I thought they were funny. But reading them with the cast, it became three-dimensional, hysterical, and I was even looking forward to it more.” This bodes well for the series: McKinney should know funny. As one of the founding members of Kids in the Hall and a one-time regular cast member of Saturday Night Live — not to mention the other television, movie and theatre roles he’s landed over the years — McKinney is well versed in the challenges and delights of going for the gut laughter. While Hatching’s pilot episode met with some mixed reviews in this province, it was widely enjoyed across Canada, netting enough support to film six more episodes of the dark comedy. “A lot of people thought it was caustic, but I thought there was something gently funny about it too,” he says. “It kind of straddles everything … it’s not a linear sort of story. It’s not a sitcom. Mary (Walsh) calls it ‘sketchuational’ and it works. And it worked from the beginning, which is neat.” Hatching is based around the Furey family and business — wedding, ambulance and funeral services all in one — set in outport Newfoundland. The cast of rollicking characters is led by Mary Walsh (who is co-writer as well), Rick Boland, Joel Hynes, Susan Kent, Sherry White, Shaun Majumder — and McKinney. “Yep, I’m the CFA,” McKinney says. And he is, both on set and on screen. “It’s kind of a unique role, he’s kind of a nervous guy anyway, so I think just having the fact he doesn’t quite fit, he’s from Sudbury, and has a better idea how to do things … it’s definitely part of the character.” Sliding into a cast of Newfoundlanders has proven less awkward for McKinney than for his smallscreen alter ego. “(The actors) are all brilliant and they’re all funny. It’s so rare,” he says. “And they all seem to know each other, which I guess helps with the comedy shorthand.” He says the closeness is more than the product of a small community. “There are various places in Canada that are sticky to their talent, you know, they have more talent per capita than they should for some reason. Winnipeg is one … a really tight community, and sort of in the middle of nowhere in the
CFA on set
Paul Daly/The Independent
Mark McKinney of Kids in the Hall and Saturday Night Live fame, fits in well with the Hatching crowd same way St. John’s can be perceived to be, on the end of Canada.” He credits that distance — real or imagined — for the “integrity” he’s encountering. “It’s a sort of shared sense of humour. It’s a very hip comedy place.” McKinney, born in Ottawa, is currently living in Toronto with his wife and two children. The son of a diplomat, he moved around quite a bit throughout his formative years — and studied for a year at Memorial University along the way. “It was a great sort of adventure for me,” he says. “But then I flunked out.” St. John’s was “nice” then, but he’s noticed major changes since his brief
stay in the capital city. “It’s prosperous, it feels like it’s booming,” he says. McKinney’s other major project these days is Slings and Arrows, a television series he co-created, airing on The Movie Network. He’s one of the performers and writers — one of his tasks during his downtime in Newfoundland is to work on the upcoming season’s scripts. The drama/comedy, based around the day-to-day activities of a theatre troupe in the fictional town of New Burbage, was nominated for six 2004 Gemini awards. The show is receiving rave reviews south of the border too, and is slated to start filming again this fall. “We got lucky with Slings and
Arrows, we got a good cast that really sort of worked well together,” he says (the cast includes Rachel McAdams, Paul Gross and Colm Feore). “It was kind of near going from the first season to the second season, we sort of relaxed together, it got easier to become funny somehow.” Stepping further and further away from the sketch-comedy world he made his name in, McKinney says he has “fond memories” of that genre of work. “But I don’t know if I miss it,” he continues. “This all feels like a really good progression from it.” McKinney is extremely happy with what’s on his plate for the foreseeable future. Another Kids in the Hall tour, in
other words, does not seem to be in the picture. As the conversation continues to wind around theories of comedy (“Yes, long winters do gestate good comedic talent …”), McKinney addresses that uneasy situation faced by many performers beloved for being funny. Yes, people do approach McKinney on the street, expecting him to deliver a joke and be hysterically funny. “Yah, and I pretend to be deaf,” he says. “No, it’s really nice. The Kids in the Hall stuff has left a pretty good legacy so people tend to be very nice about it … I suppose it’s different if you’re a comedian from Gilligan’s Island or something.”
LIVYER
Life in the Gut By Evan Careen For The Independent
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eg Magnone is a fixture in Quidi Vidi, where she’s spent the last 20 years of her life. She’s the owner of Mallard Cottage, an antique store and heritage site known for its collection of Newfoundlandia in the quaint village at the end of Quidi Vidi Lake in east end St. John’s. Magnone is a lively and energetic woman who has retained the British accent of the home she left long
ago. Magnone was born in Berkshire, England in 1924. At age 11, she won a scholarship to attend high school in Newbury, the first girl in her area to do so. “After I won the scholarship I had to leave all my friends, go off to school on a bus, wear a uniform, come back home, and get teased and taunted by all these youngsters who had been my friends. The result was that I was a very lonely kid,” Magnone says. “It was very unusu-
al for a woman to pursue education, it wasn’t really done then.” After finishing high school, she planned on going to college, but was drawn away by other obligations. “The year I finished school it coincided with the war, 1939,” Magnone tells The Independent. “I was going to attend college to train as a teacher, but instead I went to a place where they made sea planes, they were part of the war effort. See “Canada has been good,” page 18
Peg Magnone
Rhonda Hayward/The Independent
AUGUST 14, 2005
18 • INDEPENDENTLIFE
GALLERYPROFILE ELIZABETH BURRY Visual Artist
E
lizabeth Burry says there’s a story in every community and one behind every painting. She tells the story of painting when she sells it, which is why she’s no longer happy with selling her art in Toronto or Quebec City galleries. “I really don’t want to be there and it’s not because of the gallery or the people. I would just really rather sell my work in Newfoundland and meet the people that buy them,” Burry tells The Independent. “It’s not about somebody walking in and saying, ‘Oh that’s nice,’ and buying it. It’s nice to have the story and you sort of lose that personal touch when you sell out of the province like that.” While selling her art in larger centres could bring notoriety to the wife, mother of two and part-time pharmaceutical rep, Burry says she’d rather a tourist or website buyer any day — as long as she can talk to them. She says she has customers who come to the province to buy her work and/or have a preferential viewing on the website when the work is complete. One client in British Columbia has bought seven pieces over her nine-year career. But why stick with typical Newfoundland scenery? “There’s so much to paint. If I live to be 500 I don’t think I could ever paint all the nooks and crannies in Newfoundland and not only does it offer a whole lot of subjects, but in a way it also helps preserve some of the beauty in some of these communities that are being lost.” Burry travels the province with her part-time pharmaceutical job, which allows her the opportunity to learn the province’s history, research paintings, and escape her downtown St. John’s studio. After a recent hike to Curly’s Harbour, Burry says she closed her eyes and pictured what life would have been like in the community a half century ago. The part-time job has also taught her skills she needs in the art world like
marketing, selling and the technique of making a good first impression. Burry also teaches art in Trinity and recently took a working cruise with her husband to the Mediterranean where she taught art to the other passengers. “He washed my brushes on the cruise we were on,” she says of her husband. “He’s my worst critic and my best critic and always there to give me a word of encouragement,” Burry says. “You have to have support behind you … because there would be nobody to please. It’s about pleasing yourself
first, but also about creating something someone else will enjoy.” Burry says she has a three-page list of ideas for paintings that could take her all year to do. She doesn’t expect to get it all done. For now, her show at the Cynthia I. Noel Gallery in St. John’s will be her focus — that and greeting visitors while working in her studio. “People are always so delighted to take a little bit of Newfoundland back with them.” — Alisha Morrissey
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
‘Canada has always been good to me’ From page 17 Before the war was over, I was married and pregnant, so I was no longer thinking in terms of pursuing teacher’s training.” After a while, Magnone heard of a school that was accepting older students because of the war. She left her daughter with her parents and went to train as a teacher. After finishing school and working for a few years Magnone and her husband decided to move to Canada. Magnone accepted a teaching job in Brooks, Alberta and moved there in 1954. She went on to teach in a variety of schools in Alberta and British Columbia, with a two-year stint in Inukshuk, before retiring from teaching. She and her husband travelled around the United States in a camper for a year and then spent some time in Mexico. “When I lived in Mexico there were these boys we called oyster boys who dove into the ocean and retrieved oysters to sell to the restaurants,” says Magnone. “I noticed that they also looked for turtle tracks on the beaches. They followed the tracks and stole the eggs that the turtles had left there. I thought ‘My God! Those poor turtles!’ So every day I went out and obscured
the turtle tracks and left fake tracks all on my door,” Magnone says. “I over the beach to keep them away from answered the door, all dirty and covered the eggs.” in soot, and he said to me ‘My name is Magnone left her husband in Mexico Ron Pumphrey and I’m a neighbour of and returned to British Columbia before yours. I live just up the road there; you deciding to move to Newfoundland. At ask anyone they’ll tell you which house that point, her daughter and grandchil- is mine. My wife and I are going away dren lived there and for two or three she purchased an old weeks, here are the cottage in Quidi Vidi. “I have to hibernate keys to my house, call Magnone returned to it your own, go and B.C. long enough to have yourself a bath.’ in the winter, but pack up her belongI have found that kind I’ve never regretted ings and set out for of friendship ever Newfoundland. since I got here.” moving here.” “I drove across the Magnone turned country with everythe cottage into an Peg Magnone thing I owned in two antique store, using vans connected by a artifacts she had triangle bar,” says picked up over the Magnone. “I was driving through the years and by travelling over the main street in Thunder Bay and the province to estate auctions and just digsteering column fell out of my van. ging around. Luckily, I was a few yards away from a The most interesting thing Magnone Canadian Tire, so I was up and running found in the province, she discovered in no time.” leaning against a tree. After reaching Newfoundland, she “I was visiting my daughter at her quickly discovered there was no water cottage in Bellevue and I noticed a or electricity in the cottage. After living whole whale carcass stacked up against there for a couple of weeks, she had an a tree. It had been there so long all the encounter with the famed Newfound- bones had turned green. I went to the land hospitality. house that seemed to belong to the tree “A gentleman came down and tapped and asked them who owned it. They
said it had been there as long as they remembered and I made them an offer. I purchased the whale and sold the skeleton in the cottage piece by piece.” After a while, Magnone became pushed out of the cottage by the growing amount of merchandise and bought a house directly across the street. The cottage was later designated a national historic site and is believed to be the oldest unaltered structure in North America. “I never changed a thing when I moved in except what needed to be changed for safety purposes,” says Magnone. “It looks mostly the same as it did back in the 1800s.” Magnone decided to retire from running the cottage a few years ago, but still spends time there talking to customers and visiting her daughter, Stephanie, who runs the cottage since her retirement. Living an ocean away from where she grew up, Magnone says she has never regretted settling in Canada. “Canada has always been good to me. I have to hibernate in the winter, but I’ve never regretted moving here.” Evan Careen is a journalism student at the Bay St. George campus of the College of the North Atlantic.
EVENTS AUGUST 14 • Anita Singh leads a workshop in Lino Cut Prints at the Anna Templeton Centre, 739-7623. • Tuckamore Festival: concerts, recitals, workshops and more, 7372372 or www.tuckamorefestival.ca • Peace-A-Chord Festival at the LSPU Hall, Victoria Street, St. John’s, 7534531. AUGUST 15 • Explore the art of clowning, working with text, character development, improvisation, voice and movement at the Anna Templeton Centre, 739-7623. • Drumming and dancing lessons with Rachel Stevenson, Gower Street United Church, 726-5679. AUGUST 16 • Spirit of Newfoundland presents Grand Old Opry. Majestic Theatre. 7:00 p.m. AUGUST 17 • The Independent Living Resource Centre is offering a workshop in Career Cruising, 1-3 p.m., 722-4031 or TTY 722-7998. • Stones in his Pockets featuring Aiden Flynn and Steve O’Connell, Rabittown Theatre. Merrymeeting Road, St. John’s. 7:30 p.m., 739- 8220. • Spirit of Newfoundland and The Wilds presents The Taffetas, 229-5444. • Folk night at the Ship Pub features Weiss & Request, 9 p.m. AUGUST 18 • Live at the Rose and Thistle The Black Bags, The Triceratops and special guests Athena Reich and Addie Brownlee. • All ages show at the Masonic Temple, Cathedral Street, 6 p.m. AUGUST 19 • Lunchtime concert series: The Quarter Tones perform at Pier 7, 12:30 p.m. Free. • Peter Pan Festival, Bowring Park amphitheater, 576-6134. • Reaction, Newfoundland’s psychedelic punk legends at Junctions, www.the-reaction.net AUGUST 20 • Join local artist Jacqueline Ryan in exploring the technique of mat painting on linoleum. 739-7623. • Independent Learning Resource Centre’s Western BBQ. Rotary Park, Sunshine Camp. 12-4 p.m. 722-4031.
AUGUST 14, 2005
INDEPENDENTLIFE • 19
Penguins tell ‘extraordinary tale’ Dukes of Hazzard Starring Johnny Knoxville 1/2 (out of four)
TIM CONWAY Film score
March of Penguins Narrated by Morgan Freeman 1/2 (out of four)
I
n the last few years, it seems just when the summer movie season starts to wind down, when the last highly anticipated big budget blockbuster has come and gone, some littleknown independent production emerges as one of the season’s most memorable pictures. Assembled at a cost much lower than the average advertising budget of the average Hollywood “event” film, these modest enterprises attract audiences primarily through the recommendations of satisfied viewers. In contrast to the big summer film that rides in on a wave of promotion that is almost impossible to live up to, these little films that could, such as My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Whale Rider, and last year’s Napoleon Dynamite, start out in a few cinemas and wind their way from one region to another on a tide of good will. This year sees the trend continue with March of the Penguins, which documents the extraordinary breeding habits of the emperor penguin, the largest of the penguin family. A French production, the English version of the film is narrated by Morgan Freeman delivering text prepared by Jordan Roberts (Around the Bend). A majority of us could probably be satisfied to hear Freeman read the telephone directory for an hour and a half, let alone something of interest, so we’re hooked pretty quickly. Moreover, if reports are correct, the
March of the Penguins is an extraordinary and spectacular tale.
French language version of the film uses voice characterizations for some of the penguins, as one would for animated characters. A hit with children, perhaps, but it has drawn criticism from viewers who decry anthropomorphism. The English incarnation takes the standard approach, with Freeman guiding us through the events as they unfold onscreen. Although anthropomorphism is generally kept in check, there are lapses that are a bit hard to take if it’s a peeve of yours. From the outset, Freeman declares this to be “… a story about love …” while some of us are mentally shouting, “No, no, no! It’s about mating. It’s about breeding. It’s not about love.” Fortunately, such episodes are provoked infrequently, and even the pickiest of us can get over it quickly enough to enjoy the picture. For close to an hour-and-a-half, we bear witness to one of nature’s most incredible stories of survival. Just watching the colony of penguins migrate to their breeding grounds is
spectacular enough, but what happens in the months after their arrival is nothing less than astonishing. In one of the planet’s most cruel environments, when it’s dishing out the worst it can, these clumsy animals endeavour to maintain the survival of their species into future generations. March of the Penguins takes us through the whole process, sparing us none of the dangers or their consequences. Splendid photography and editing provide a story that tells itself; narration is just a bonus. While some could argue this is the kind of thing best suited to television, the big screen presentation helps amplify the magnitude of the spectacle. This is an extraordinary tale, blown up larger than life, allowing audiences to truly appreciate the wonder of the natural world. If nothing else, March of the Penguins offers a bit of variety to a box office line-up that’s hardly representative of innovative filmmaking.
One assumes that a film version of a popular television program would attempt to capitalize on its built in audience, delivering a bigger, brassier version of the small screen incarnation. If this is your thinking on the way into The Dukes of Hazzard, you’re in for a lesson in the weird workings of the Hollywood mind. The story of two “good ol’ boys,” Bo and Luke Duke, in the fictional county of Hazzard, who with their shapely cousin Daisy, uncle Jesse, and trusty Dodge Charger, thwart the evil machinations of the local authorities, has managed to delight audiences for more than two decades, primarily thanks to cable television reruns. Its laid back, southern bumpkin variation on the Robin Hood legend is as unrealistic as it gets, but by offering simple thrills and car stunts, it has carved out its niche in small screen history. One need look no further than the casting, however, to see how important the fans of the television series are to the producers of the motion picture. Seann William Scott (Bo) and Johnny Knoxville (Luke) have built their careers on gross-out comedy, and as much as they are probably looking to explore other directions, you can bet your big popcorn they were hired on the basis of what they’ve done, rather than what they’re capable of doing. Likewise, director Jay Chandrasekhar is best known for his work on the Animal House-styled projects Super Troopers and Club Dread. Unfortunately, while these amusing films were developed from screenplays written by him and his Broken Lizard buddies, Chandrasekhar has no contribution to the writing here. Instead, a first time screenwriter who wasn’t born when the
Seann William Scott plays Bo Duke.
series played on television provides the original screenplay, with a major rewrite from one of the guys responsible for Starsky and Hutch. This ain’t yer uncle’s Dukes of Hazzard, but then again, it really isn’t anyone else’s. In true form, the producers of the film have decided to fix what wasn’t broken, and tailor it to a certain demographic. Unfortunately, they have no idea of what the tastes of that demographic are, and perhaps none of them even know anyone who is included in that particular group. So it is that the simple entertainment of the original Dukes of Hazzard becomes simple-minded, coarse, and almost unbearable. Sadly, almost everyone in the picture seems to know better, and struggles to improve on what there is to work with, but even their combined efforts can’t get this jalopy moving. Tim Conway operates Capital Video in Rawlin’s Cross, St. John’s. His next column appears Aug. 28.
Folk songs and accordion crimes RECENT RELEASES A Cold-Blooded Scoundrel, J.S. Cook. Brazen Books, 2005. 246 pages. Covenant of Salt, Robin McGrath. Killick Press, 2005. 78 pages. Dancing in the Palm of His Hand, Annamarie Beckel. Breakwater Books, 2005. 320 pages. River Lords: Father and Son, Amy Louise Peyton. Flanker Press, 2005. 178 pages. Rogues and Heroes, Paul Butler and Maura Hanrahan. Flanker Press, 2005. 178 pages. Thaw, Nicole Lundrigan. Jesperson Publishing, 2005. 352 pages. Whales and Dolphins of Newfoundland & Labrador, Wayne Ledwell. Boulder Publications, 2005. 112 pages. The Woman Who Mapped Labrador: The Life and Expedition Diary of Mina Hubbard, Roberta Buchanan, Anne Hart and Bryan Greene. McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2005. 506 pages.
MARK CALLANAN On the shelf
W
e get a fair few books to review at The Independent, some of which receive coverage in this fortnightly column and some of which — because of the constraints of column space or personal taste — never receive the barest mention. That’s about to change. From now on, On the Shelf will feature a list of books received for review in acknowledgement of the efforts of the titles’ houses and their authors. Having a chance to read so much of this province’s printed output is an honour that should be repaid. Furthermore, approximately one column out of every four will take the form of a survey piece on a grouping of books, the intent being to cover as much of this ocean of publishing talent as possible. Call it the dragger to our usual jigger. Yes, it may have its downsides, but with so many books and so little time, one must employ ruthlessly efficient methods. For now, in the wake of another Newfoundland and Labrador Folk Festival, with the dying blasts of 989 accordions still ringing in our ears, I’ll look at two Newfoundland folk song collections that have recently been reprinted. Ballads and Sea Songs of Newfoundland Edited by Elisabeth Bristol Greenleaf Memorial University of Newfoundland Folklore and Language Publications, 2004 Compiled by school teacher and collector Elisabeth Greenleaf, who in the summer of 1929 toured parts of Newfoundland with her music transcriber Grace Mansfield, Ballads and Sea Songs of Newfoundland is still a highly regarded collection. Its great benefit as compared to its predecessors lies, in the words of folklorist Peter Narváez, “in Greenleaf’s love of Newfoundland and its people,” a love that allowed her to overcome “many of the biased preconceptions
SEND COPIES FOR REVIEW TO: Mark Callanan, P.O. Box 306, Rocky Harbour, NL, A0K 4N0 SEND COPIES FOR EDITORIAL COVERAGE TO: The Independent, P.O. Box 5891, Stn. C, St. John’s, NL, A1C 5X4 she may have been taught” regarding local songs. The result is Ballads and Sea Songs of Newfoundland contains many songs native to this island that might have been overlooked by a collector with a less inclusive attitude towards folk tradition. The book’s reprinting last year by Memorial University’s Folklore and Language Publications (it was originally published by Harvard University Press in 1933) is testament enough to its continuing value to scholars, students and lovers of this island’s diamond-studded oral culture. Come and I Will Sing You Edited by Genevieve Lehr University of Toronto Press, 2003 Come and I Will Sing You has the distinction of being, according to a new foreword to the 2004 edition of Ballads and Sea Songs of Newfoundland, “the first book of documentary field recordings by Newfoundlanders.” The songs included in this effort were collected between 1975 and 1983 by the book’s editor, Genevieve Lehr, and by traditional singer Anita Best. Pamela Morgan, of Figgy Duff fame, has provided the musical transcriptions and artist Elly Cohen, the beautiful woodcuts that accompany this volume. According to Lehr’s preface, Come and I will Sing You places “particular emphasis on songs of local composi-
tion” but also includes European ballads not represented in the earlier published works of Maud Karpeles, Kenneth Peacock, MacEdward Leach and Greenleaf and Mansfield. It is an admirable publication both for its popular appeal (it is subtitled a “songbook” to emphasize practical application) and for the informative, unpretentious nature of its contextual notations. Sadly, one can’t help but wonder, in a Newfoundland that is becoming less and less an oral culture, whether this book may be the last of its kind. ••• In her introduction to the latter volume, Anita Best presents readers with a moral quandary that is of great interest in considering the aim, function and impact of both collections. Writing on an informant’s reaction to recorded material, she says: One very sensitive gentleman thought that recording the songs was wrong, that they should remain in the oral domain and be passed on in the traditional ways; he was saddened that “nobody sings The Lass of Glenshee right any more, since Harry Hibbs has it on the radio.” In transmitting folk song by recorded medium, the tradition is effectively ended. Though it may persist by oral means, it will, from that moment forward, be forced to coexist with its printed counterpart, which, because of the greater authority the printed or recorded word is generally thought to hold, will be taken as correct.
The question to consider, then, is this: In committing oral literature to printed texts such as the two under review, are we turning living tradition into a museum piece, or in a more optimistic vein, are we simply contributing to that tradition in a different way, revi-
talizing it by employing new mediums? It is a question that must be at the back of any collector’s mind. Mark Callanan is a writer and reviewer living in Rocky Harbour. His next column will appear Aug. 28.
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AUGUST 14, 2005
20 • INDEPENDENTLIFE
IN CAMERA
Cape St. Mary’s is one of the most accessible — and breathtaking — seabird colonies on the continent. All summer long, literally tens of thousands of gannets, murres and kittiwakes nest on Bird Rock and along the stark cliffs of the southwestern Avalon Peninsula, visible to visitors in sunshine or fog. Photo editor Paul Daly and senior editor Stephanie Porter paid a visit to the ecological reserve last week.
T
he Cape St. Mary’s Interpretation Centre has rows of seats, facing a wall of windows supposedly overlooking the famous Bird Rock, home to thousands upon thousands of nesting birds. Sitting there, squinting, the spots of white on dark cliffs are just barely visible, camouflaged by thick fingers of grey and a blanket of fog that seems to hover just a few metres above land. It’s late morning already, and it doesn’t look like the fog is going to burn off anytime soon. “Oh, but it is,” says park interpreter/technician Jason McGrath. “I was here an hour ago, and it was black. This isn’t so bad at all.” The Cape is shrouded in fog for much of the summer (for example: they logged 17 days of fog in June 2004; 28 grey days in July; 16 in August). McGrath looks around as another group of windswept tourists step inside the building. “Look, they’re not coming for the weather, and they’re not coming for the roads,” he says, smiling. McGrath’s co-worker, park interpreter Chris Mooney, agrees. “Yes, imagine people coming out here in the fog, even this morning, it’s like ‘Where are we going?’ “How many people think they’re going to see nothing and don’t believe
it until they get out there? But they go out, and they’re shocked. Because if you walk to the end, no matter how foggy it is, you’re going to see birds, 100 per cent, money-back guarantee.” There’s a 20-minute (1.4 km) natural trail leading from the interpretation centre, along the cliffs, across meadows, alongside a herd of sheep, over acres of alpine plants and to the main attraction: Bird Rock. The sea stack and its adjacent cliffs are home to some 12,000 pairs of gannets, 10,000 nesting pairs of common murres (turres), and about the same amount of kittiwakes. There are also cormorants, thickbilled murres, bald eagles, and, for a few weeks, humpback, minke and fin whales. The combined sound of all those birds is screeching and constant, though slightly dulled by the wind — which, on this day, is a pleasantly warm sou’wester. The Cape St. Mary’s ecological reserve is 15 km from the nearest community (Branch), and more than two hours across pothole-ridden roads from St. John’s. The road signs pointing the way to the attraction are old, faded, and easily missed, the net result of years of rugged weather. And, as the staff point out, there’s hardly a high-profile promotions campaign for the sanctuary.
Where the birds are But tourists do come — more every year. The area was declared a reserve in 1983. By 1990, they were logging 3,500 visitors annually. With the construction of the wheelchair-accessible interpretation centre in 1995, that number has ballooned to over 20,000. Mooney says he meets a surprising number of tourists every year from Switzerland, Germany, and elsewhere in Europe. Plenty of folks from Ontario, too, who stop by on the way between St. John’s and the Argentia ferry. Mooney has been working at the
Cape for six years. His position as an interpreter is seasonal-permanent, when the centre is open to tourists, May until October. In the winter months, he does contract work — generally for Parks Canada — watching sea ducks, monitoring for oil spills. This year, he and his wife plan to open a bed and breakfast in Branch, his hometown. “I love the field work,” Mooney says, setting out across the trail towards Bird Rock, a viewing scope and tripod slung over one shoulder, binoculars over the other. “I spend lots
of time out, hanging down over the lip of the cliff. I love to do the research.” A number of research students, from across Canada and around the world, spend weeks out on the grass and rocks every summer, observing, taking notes and pictures. A group from Germany spent six weeks there in 2004 quietly working away. Most researchers come to the area to study the gannets, the golden-headed birds that sit atop Bird Rock. By sitting on the next cliff — as mesmerized visitors are wont to do for hours — observers are barely 60 feet away
AUGUST 14, 2005
from the birds, and at an ideal vantage point to watch the parents preen each other and their young. The murres are clumsy flyers and perch closer to the water’s surface. Mooney focuses his academic attention on the kittiwakes, which find their homes midway down the cliffs. “I spend most of my time with them, they get neglected because they look like gulls,” he says. “This rock face here? I’ve been watching 52 pairs on this plot alone.” The birds, which reach about 30 years of age, mate for life, and return
INDEPENDENTLIFE • 21
to exactly the same spot to nest each spring. “That one over there, that was the first one born this year,” he says, pointing to a young and furry gannet. “And that pair, I’ve been watching closely for six years. This one, down there, she’s been alone these last three years. She’ll eventually find another mate.” Mooney laughs. “I should start naming them all,” he says. Curious visitors aren’t long gathering when Mooney sets up his scope. He focuses it on a rock at sea level, covered in dark cormorants; the
impromptu group takes turns peering through the lens, breaking into smiles when they see the animals. Cape St. Mary’s is the secondlargest bird sanctuary in the province, Mooney says. What makes it especially striking, is how accessible it is: the birds are in plain view, no boat necessary. The bird populations are monitored closely, as are their food choices and habits. The gannets are counted, with the aid of aerial photographs, every seven years (in 1998 the count was 10,000; this time it’s closer to 15,000
pairs, says Mooney). The other species are counted with the scope, binoculars, and patience. “The population is going up and up,” Mooney reports. “They’re doing really good.” Mooney does most of his research in the mornings, before the crowds come. He scoffs at the day’s warm wind and fog, recalling the many days he’s walked the trail through sheets of rain, dressed in oilskins. He walks along the path, to the opposite side of bird rock. He says this is “the postcard view”: steep
cliffs, green grass, crashing waves. In the foreground is the mass of birds, ever fascinating, ever in motion. In the background is the interpretation centre and, just behind, the lighthouse, going strong through the fog — it has eased up a little more, but just a little. “I grew up in this area, and I’ll never leave,” says Mooney. He’ll never leave the birds behind either. “Why would I? This is the best office in the world. It’s one of the wonders of the world. Should be, anyway.”
AUGUST 14, 2005
22 • INDEPENDENT SPECIAL SECTION
ome Front On the Open your eyes to a A special section in cooperation with The Eastern Newfoundland Home Builders’ Association
Darrell Simms
The following interview is the ninth in a series of ten, in which The Independent, in conjunction with the Eastern Newfoundland Home Builders’ Association (ENHBA), will profile local trades people who have been recognized for excellence at the Provincial and National Level. Darrell Simms is a sales representative with Boncor Building Products Inc. a division of Royal Group Technologies, distributors of vinyl siding, windows, doors and exterior products. He is a member of the board of directors of the ENHBA and serves of
Answers from those who’ve been there
Chairperson of the membership committee. He and his company have been awarded the ENHBA Non-Builder Member of the Year two years in a row and was NonBuilder Member of the Year 2004 at the Canadian Home Builders’ Association (CHBA). The CHBA has also presented Simms with an Award of Honor for Outstanding Accomplishment at the Local Level. How did you first get involved in this Business? It was pretty simple actually — I was looking for a career change
and answered an advertisement in a local paper. I was hired for the job and as is evident, it’s proved a great fit. The work really suits me; I like to meet people and I like to build things and work with my hands so I find the building industry interesting for a variety of reasons. The focus of our business is to display new products and educate contractors and retailers about the products and the advantages of their use, so there’s an informative and educational aspect to it too. I get to do a number of different things all the time, so it’s always new and changing, keeps me interested.
How has membership in the ENHBA benefited you and your company? My membership has benefited me by enabling me to meet a lot of different people in different fields and aspects of homebuilding. It’s also allowed me to showcase the products my company has and the benefits of using those products, so it directly affects my success. I’m chairperson of the membership committee at the ENHBA and essentially, our purpose is to inform and educate prospective members to the benefits and value
of the ENHBA. We feel it’s important for builders and affiliated businesses to become members; there are so many ways the ENHBA can help a person and their company. We serve as a larger voice for members, a louder voice than they would have as a single company. Acting as a group, we can be heard so much more easily, and can carry so much more weight on the issues. We can inform the public and work with organizations and government in making certain we have the best scenario for all. More and more, consumers are recognizing professionalism. Many people today don’t want “just some guy” to do their work, they’re paying good money and they want things done properly. They want to see properly trained and certified workers, they want some nature of insurance on the job, and they want somewhere to turn to if they aren’t satisfied with the work. The ENHBA helps members project that professional image, and gives confidence to consumers that they are dealing with reputable companies. Do you gain personal satisfaction from your work? I really gain great personal satisfaction when one of my retail
AUGUST 14, 2005
INDEPENDENT SPECIAL SECTION • 23
On the ome Front world of possibilities
A special section in cooperation with The Eastern Newfoundland Home Builders’ Association
clients will send one of their buyer’s out to see me. That client wants to get full, in-depth information so they come and talk to me, and then go back to the retailer to buy the product. That my clients view me as such an authority to send their own clients to me, that gives me a really good feeling. Do you feel the face of the industry has changed? I do feel the face of the industry has changed since I’ve been a part of it. It’s definitely becoming more professional. What I mean is, there’s closer consultation with clients to ensure that they’re aware of what they’re getting when they buy a product or service, and that the end result is something they are truly happy with. We’ve become more open as an industry; clients are much better informed and interested, so we directly discuss things with them that we might not have in the past. Do you find it hard to juggle work and life? What’s life about outside of work?
I don’t have much difficulty juggling work and life actually. I’ve come to realize that when it comes time to go home, you have to leave work at work and not bring it with you. Though there are a number “work” people in my personal life. Through the Home Builders’ Association I’ve met a lot of people who have enriched my life both personally and professionally. I have to admit I indulge myself with a glass of decent red wine and a Cuban cigar. I like to golf, spend time at my summer place with my family and I like tinker-
ing with old snow mobiles in my garage. Who do you turn to for help or advice? I’m lucky to have a large circle of friends and family who I can always count on to lend an ear. Generally, whom I turn to is dictated by the situation at hand, different people for different issues. I really draw strength and inspiration from all the positive people that I come in contact with. Where has your work taken you?
Travel-wise, the job has taken me on a couple of trips around Canada. Socially it’s been great because it’s given me the chance to meet a lot of different people and expand my horizons.
equally significant in my memory; the birth of each of my daughters, Ashley and Rebecca. And in the event my wife reads this article — the day of my wedding is pretty significant.
I’ve grown professionally because I’ve met those people from all sectors of the housing industry and witnessed a variety of viewpoints and mindsets.
If you had to give advice to someone thinking of following in your path what would it be?
Tell us about your greatest moment to date. I don’t have a single greatest moment. There are two that are
It’s a growing business that I’m in and there’s room for anyone with fresh new ideas. I encourage people to get an education, decide what interests them the most, and work hard to achieve their goals.
AUGUST 14, 2005
24 • INDEPENDENTLIFE
WEEKLY DIVERSIONS ACROSS 1 Monday version of roast beef 5 Opening at a laundromat 9 Cursor starter? 12 Wedding fling? 16 Part of A.D. 17 B movie genre 18 Boy 19 Acclaim 20 Not very bright 23 Agenda units 24 Situated on the side 25 Opposite of faux 26 Copycat’s comment 27 Shaggy wild ox 28 Prejudice 29 Quebec university 30 City of witchcraft trials (1692) 33 Colourless 34 Joke 35 Ark builder 38 Made a clove hitch 39 Oil or coal 40 Prune 41 Wildebeest 42 Lang. of Shakespeare 43 First Black Canadian to win the Victoria Cross (1857): William ___ 44 Palm native to Asia 45 Attractive 46 “Crying cockles and ___”
48 Knife 49 Winnipeg’s The ___ Who 50 Directory (2 wds.) 54 Poppy place 57 Slippery swimmers 58 Franco-Manitoban newspaper: La ___ 62 Love symbol 63 Fragile 65 Piece of cake! 66 Stashed away 67 French fire 68 Good fortune 69 It has six sides 70 Salami store 71 Truck cover 73 Expert ending? 74 Drops the ball 75 Poet E.J. 76 Attack on all sides 78 “See you later!” 79 Place for a roll? 80 Author of A Complicated Kindness 81 Rise of land with rocks and plantings 82 Big sale to dispose of assets 86 There it is! (Fr.) 87 Like one who can’t be restrained 89 Stop in Sherbrooke 90 Prevaricate 91 Young hawk 92 Highland bog fuel 93 Salacious stare
94 Dawn goddess 95 A great dog 96 End of year-end song DOWN 1 Drag 2 “I” in “The King and I” 3 Pique performance 4 Sweet (words, e.g.) 5 Underhanded type 6 Recline lazily 7 Canola ___ 8 ___ Pursuit 9 Entreaties 10 Raipur ___, India 11 Summer time in Sherbrooke 12 Canadian who devised heating and ventilation systems for houses and railway cars 13 Political hardliner 14 Italian lake 15 Hook shape 19 Ukraine’s capital 21 Mine car 22 Seize 26 Molten material 28 Belgian singer, songwriter (1929-78) 29 Non-clerical 30 Kind of cell 31 Aboriginal of Japan 32 On one’s last ___ 33 Edible seaweed 34 Diving bird
36 Army insects 37 Paint chip offerings 39 Take a tumble 40 Bad fat 43 Follow obediently 44 Coral island 45 Pickle veggie 47 Canonized mlles 48 Middle East leader 49 Black Sea fish found in L. Erie since 1993: Round ___ 51 Parliament hill tower 52 Spills the beans 53 River of N France 54 Remaining 55 Neighbourhood 56 Tip for a garÁon de cafe 59 Ostrich-like bird of S. America 60 Slant 61 Correct and modify 63 The Way the Crow ___ (Ann-Marie MacDonald) 64 Wheat disease 65 Italian currency, now 69 Without enough elbow room 70 ___ Oughta Move to Kapuskasing (Tomson Highway) 72 The Cinnamon ___ (Michael Ondaatje) 74 Limerick’s country 75 Best buds 77 Hit sharply
78 Goddess of agriculture 79 German state
80 Ripped 81 Eclat 82 Funny Cullen
TAURUS: APR. 21/MAY 21 Despite a mixup in social plans, you still end up having a good time, Taurus. It has something to do with the company you've been keeping lately. They're true friends. GEMINI: MAY 22/JUNE 21 Could you use a little free time, Gemini? Make it happen this week or else you won't have another opportunity too soon after. Cancer plays a role in plans. CANCER: JUNE 22/JULY 22 Don't let a minor aggravation upset your week, Cancer. The problem will resolve itself if you pay it no mind. Romance is a big
possibility Tuesday if you play your cards right. LEO: JULY 23/AUG. 23 It's a great week for travel and adventure, Leo, however a bigmouthed Sagittarian wants to put a damper on your plans. Don't let this person foil your fun. VIRGO: AUG. 24/SEPT. 22 Too many irons in the fire could leave you feeling disorganized, Virgo. Graciously decline to engage in any more projects or you'll be totally overextended. LIBRA: SEPT. 23/OCT. 23 Household organizing is your task for the week, Libra. It's not your favorite activity, but one that still needs to be done. Put other prospects on hold until domestic duties are complete. SCORPIO: OCT. 24/NOV. 22 Business and financial gains are favored now, Scorpio. Put your
86 ___ d’Or, Que. 87 French island 88 Scandinavian rug
POET’S CORNER
WEEKLY STARS ARIES: MARCH 21/APR. 20 This week favors domestic projects, Aries. However, it's time to curb spending and get your finances in order, so you should probably hold off on renovations for now.
83 Comply 84 Custard tart 85 French festival
intuitive abilities to good use by choosing the right investments for your money. The results will be positive.
of interest, Pisces. It could be because your creative nature is a natural attention-getter. Live it up.
SAGITTARIUS: NOV. 23/DE.C 21 You may make plans to visit a distant friend or relative, Sagittarius. Just exercise caution with your spending or else your trip will be a rather short one.
FAMOUS BIRTHDAYS
CAPRICORN: DEC. 22/JAN. 20 A neighbor may contact you with a matter of mutual interest, Capricorn. It's best to hear this person out because it could be to your advantage. Social plans can wait. AQUARIUS: JAN. 21/FEB. 18 You'll enjoy getting together with your friends this week, Aquarius. You'll be feeling quite popular with all of the attention these social engagements present. PISCES: FEB. 19/MARCH 20 In some way you'll be the center
AUGUST 14 Halle Berry, actress AUGUST 15 Ben Affleck, actor AUGUST 16 Madonna, singer AUGUST 17 Robert DeNiro, actor AUGUST 18 Edward Norton, actor AUGUST 19 Rusty Wallace, NASCAR driver AUGUST 20 James Marsters, dctor
HARBOUR SEASONS There will be other seas And other restless gales To test the nerve Before the season turns away In delicate ritual. Fishermen like flowers in spring Will again bloom in a burst Of life in the spill of landwash days The rhythm of sea rage Cannot scratch the mind’s weathered twine loft. Everything changes except the will To ride hard with the wind Through the green water canyons. And white dancing manes Of a million summertime thoroughbreds. A poem from the 1985 book Beginnings by Robert Burt.
INDEPENDENTBUSINESS
SUNDAY THROUGH SATURDAY, AUGUST 14-20, 2005 — PAGE 25 By Clare-Marie Gosse The Independent
T
o the region’s aboriginal people it was known as “Mishtashipu,” which means “Grand River.” Once called Hamilton River and re-named for British war leader Winston Churchill, the Churchill River in Labrador has proved to be as stubborn and challenging as its namesake. What should be considered one of Newfoundland and Labrador’s greatest assets has become a big, black political thorn in the side of the province and has been called, “Confederation’s greatest failure.” Although the loss of billions of dollars in hydro revenues through the ill-fated upper Churchill deal will always leave a wound, the Danny Williams government has shown it intends to repair some of the damage by succeeding where
A river runs through it A look back at the political history of Labrador’s mighty Churchill
every other administration to date has failed. By successfully developing the lower Churchill in the form of harnessing 2,824 megawatts of energy from power transmitted from Muskrat Falls and Gull Island. The province recently announced it was considering a shortlist of three bids to develop the project — out of 25 submitted earlier this year — but Williams also stated the “option of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador developing the project on our own will be given primary consideration.” Below is a look back over some of the milestones in the political history of the Churchill River, including information gathered last fall through The Independent’s six-part cost benefit analysis of Confederation and subsequent articles exploring the viability of keeping the lower Churchill development inprovince.
• Shortly after leading Newfoundland and Labrador into Confederation with Canada, then-premier Joey Smallwood began negotiations with Quebec to develop the hydro electric potential of the Churchill River. Lacking support from the federal government, which refused to use its constitutional powers to force Quebec to allow a power corridor through its province, an agreement was finally signed in 1969. • In 1972 the 5,200 megawatt project came on stream. The long-term contract awarded Hydro-Quebec all of the Churchill Falls power at a low, fixed cost, without the benefit of an escalator clause. Today, Hydro-Quebec continues to resell the power to the United States and since 1972 has gathered an estimated $23.8 billion in revenues; Newfoundland and Labrador has made approximately $680 million. • Construction began on developing Gull Island (part of what is considered the lower Churchill) in 1973, but was cancelled two years and $70 million later, due to problems with marketing and financing. • In the early 1980s during Brian Peckford’s leadership, the Power Authority of the State of New York was desperate for a clean energy source and expressed interest in buying from and partially funding a development of the lower Churchill. The power authority supported using either a power line through Quebec or the more expensive option of transmission via an Atlantic route. Peckford was adamant the federal government should force Quebec’s co-operation and eventually his heated negotiations killed the lower Churchill deal. He tried to regain control of the upper Churchill by attempting to take back the water rights, but eventually lost his case in the Supreme Court of Canada. With time running out, the Power Authority of the State of New York proceeded with other power options. • Between 1972 and 1982, Newfoundland and Labrador lost unknown hundreds of millions of dollars as a result of an equalization inequity. During this 10-year period, the federal government allotted equalization payments as if the province was receiving the full market value of the Churchill Falls electricity. The province has never received a retroactive benefit. • In 1984, Peckford telexed then-prime minister Pierre Trudeau, estimating Newfoundland and Labrador was losing $2 million a day as a result of the upper Churchill deal. • Virtually every provincial government since Smallwood has tried to re-open or re-negotiate the upper Churchill agreement. The issue has been dragged repeatedly through both the courts of law and public opinion, costing the province additional millions. • A 2003 blackout in Ontario and eight U.S. states pushed the potential of the lower Churchill into the international spotlight. Both Ontario and Quebec are facing serious future power shortages. In its Jan. 16 issue, The Independent discovered New York’s power authority was still interested in transmitting lower Churchill energy through an Atlantic grid — bypassing Quebec. • In a Feb. 6 Independent article, Natural Resources minister John Efford said the federal government wouldn’t step in to help the province push a power corridor through Quebec. Hydro Quebec’s current transmission lines that run into the U.S. are said to be at maximum capacity. The cost to construct another line is thought to be $1.7 billion. • In April, Williams told The Independent the province would consider undertaking the development of the lower Churchill alone, a project estimated to cost over $5 billion and take 10 years. Issues aside from the high cost involved include environmental concerns, fluctuating electricity prices and aboriginal land claims. Industry experts interviewed both cautioned against and applauded the potential undertaking. Engineer Tom Kierans, who worked on the upper Churchill project, said there was only “one way” to develop the lower Churchill, however: sell Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro’s assets (Holyrood, Bay D’Espoir and the province’s share of the upper Churchill) to a provincially regulated private investor’s group and let that entity take the risk for developing the project. • After months of consideration, the province is down to three potential bidders for the lower Churchill. A decision is expected to be made within eight months. • 2041: the upper Churchill fixed rate agreement signed by Joey Smallwood and Hydro-Quebec expires.
Potential future developers of the lower Churchill under consideration by the province: • The Province of Newfoundland and Labrador • A consortium including Hydro-Quebec, Ontario Energy Financing and engineering firm SNC Lavalin. • Calgary-based TransCanada Corporation. • Tshiaskueshish Group, a consortium including Macquarie North America Ltd, Innu Development Limited Partnership, Peter Kiewit Sons Co. and Innu Kiewit Constructors.
Paul Daly/The Independent
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26 • INDEPENDENTBUSINESS
AUGUST 14, 2005
Oil prices high; dollar along for ride By Tony Wong Torstar wire service
O
il climbed to a new record of $66 (U.S.) a barrel on fears that output is falling short of expectations, helping to lift the Canadian dollar to a five-month high late last week. The Canadian dollar finished at 83.28 cents (U.S.), up from 82.62 cents, based on a weaker U.S. dollar and speculation that record oil prices will help boost the economy and make Canadian assets more attractive to foreign investors. “Despite the fact OPEC and other producers are pumping out at a record level, demand is still exceptionally strong,” says Aron Gampel, vice-president and deputy chief economist of Scotiabank. Concerns over an International Energy Agency report that nonOPEC oil output growth was falling short of expectations, coupled with refinery problems in the United States, helped push oil higher. The heady oil prices and the lift in the Canadian dollar had Trade Minister Jim Peterson saying Canadian companies may be targets for foreign takeovers. The value of foreign takeovers this year has already hit $17 billion (Cdn), up 26 per cent from the same time a year ago. Foreign investment in the oil sands would help to bring in investment in research and development and resources to explore the area. Donald Coxe, Global Portfolio Strategist, BMO Financial Group,
says Canadians have to be prepared to play by “international rules. That means you should be prepared to accept the fact that assets can be acquired.” However, he says it was important to move away from the idea that the acquisition of Canadian assets was a “hostile” act, especially since areas such as the oil sands need massive capital to develop. “It’s not a national tragedy if they bought Canadian companies. It’s a tragedy if they buy them cheap,” Coxe says. One option for Canadians is to buy stocks in energy companies and hold them for the long term. “If foreign companies can buy Canadian companies, Canadians can do the very same thing,” Coxe says. Canada holds the second largest pool of proven reserves after Saudi Arabia. Four of the five largest acquisitions this year have been oil-related. On August 1, U.S. based pipeline company Kinder Morgan Inc. said it would pay $3.1 billion for Vancouver natural gas company Terasen Inc. Still, Alexander says he does not know if current oil prices are sustainable in the long run. “I’m just not convinced that it’s being driven by demand fundamentals. It’s tough to explain to the average person that we have more than enough supply to meet demand. But the function of markets is to be forward looking and right now everyone seems to be extraordinarily concerned about tight supplies in the future.”
SIOBHAN COADY Siobhan Coady’s column, The Bottom Line, will return Aug. 28. Siobhan is on vacation.
Leslie Galway
Paul Daly/The Independent
Minding our business New deputy minister says focus will be on re-branding the province By Clare-Marie Gosse The Independent
L
eslie Galway has barely been in her new position as deputy minister of the province’s Business Department a week, but with a full slate of initiatives before her, she’s ready to get to work. “This is definitely a change of scenery for me and I’m looking forward to it,” she tells The Independent. “It’s a different perspective, being inside government than it was being at NOIA (Newfoundland Ocean Industries Association) and looking at things from the industry and the smalland medium-enterprise perspective. So it’s an opportunity to get some things done and to perhaps bring an additional point of view to a team that’s been working very hard to get things moving here.” As president and CEO of NOIA for six years, Galway was a touchstone for some 450-member companies, all with a common interest in oil and gas industry development. She has been involved in the province’s offshore industry during a crucial time in its development and Galway’s position allowed her to work and collaborate with many of the province’s business leaders. The Department of Business, a $1 million pet-project of successful businessman and Premier Danny Williams, who holds the position of minister, has been waiting to appoint a deputy for over a year.
It comes as no surprise Williams favoured a candidate with experience of the workings of the offshore, an industry he has famously fought for. “I would hope that the reason the premier chose me for the job is because I have been very active, particularly in the consultation side of business through NOIA,” Galway says. “NOIA has provided a wealth of opportunity to see ways that you can collaborate and work between industry, government, labour at all levels, and to see ways to identify new areas for increases in our capabilities and our capacity. Where the export markets are beginning to develop, how we can partner and bring technology into the province. “I think these are the elements that this particular government are interested in and want to see more of across all sectors.” Galway’s key responsibilities will focus on business and investment attraction and increasing the awareness of the province as a good place to do business. “At the moment I’m very excited by beginning a strategy for business for the province and for the government … it’s going to help direct where we want to go, how we’re going to focus in terms of the regions within the province as well as the province overall. Where our focus business areas are going to be, where our strategic markets and areas or investment attraction should be.” Galway says business strategies will be developed in collaboration with
other provincial departments such as Innovation, Trade and Rural Development, as well as the federal government. She also adds after extensive research and consulting, the province is ready to move forward and address business concerns on a regional basis, particularly in rural areas. “It’s been a really great year and a half where the government has been able to collect a lot of information from across the province and … we’re now in a position to take a look at the challenges that are in front of us and where we can start providing particular focus and attention.” The biggest challenge, perhaps, comes in the form of re-branding the province in a business sense. “I think everyone is familiar with Newfoundland and Labrador and is accustomed to thinking of us as one of the newest provinces within Confederation. We have an image of trying to bring new and innovative solutions to the business market place now, but it may not be as well spread and as well understood as it could be. So the challenge with branding the province is to bring that fresh, youthful look and creativity. “We’re going to really see things pick up within the department of business over the next few months and I’m really looking forward to that. I’m excited by the team that’s beginning to be built around the department of business and I think it’s going to be an exciting time with a lot of success.”
AUGUST 14, 2005
INDEPENDENTBUSINESS • 27
10,000 more students working this summer By Evan Careen For The Independent
T
he youth employment rate in Newfoundland and Labrador is up 17 per cent this summer, according to Stats Canada. The actual employment rate stands at 59 per cent among youth aged 1524, compared to 42 per cent this time last year. That means over 10,000 more young people are employed in the province this summer, bringing the total to 40,000. Kate Dempsey, 23, is a student at Trent University who came home to Newfoundland for the summer and found a job working as a tour interpreter at Commissariat House, a historic site in downtown St. John’s. “It was the first job I applied for. I know some people are having trouble finding jobs, but I had no problem at all,” Dempsey tells The Independent. Commissariat House hires four students every summer and Dempsey says it’s a great job. “The best thing about this job is all the great people I meet,” says Dempsey. “You get to meet people from all over the world here.” Human Resources Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) has a student summer employment program they run though a variety of temporary offices each summer. “The purpose of the program is to help students find career-related jobs for the summer,” says a spokesperson. “We haven’t compiled all the stats yet, the reports aren’t in from all the centers, but the preliminary results look good.” The program provides wage subsidies for employers who hire students, giving students valuable experience in their fields. How easy it is for them to find you a job depends upon the field. “I got lucky with this gig,” says Dave House, 25, a computer science
Trent University student Kate Dempsey is spending the summer as a tour interpreter at Commissariat House.
student at Memorial who got a job at the extension community development co-op as a webmaster. “They did have postings for some positions in my field, but I think there’s just so much competition in the IT industry in this town that it makes it very hard for anyone to get a job.” House is quick to say, however, he
Paper mill closures Nackawic, N.B. closed in the fall of 2004. • Domtar closed its pulp and paper mill in Cornwall Ont. in February. • Smurfit-Stone not only closed its Bathurst Mill last week, but also plans to close three other North American plants this year. • The Port Alice Mill in British Columbia closed in 2004. • As of June 2005, an industry report stated there were 655 pulp paper or pulp and paper mills in the United States. A similar report released in 2003 pegged the number of mills in the States at 800. At that time there were a recorded 88 mills closed in Maine in a five-year period, leaving 34 mills in operation. — Alisha Morrissey
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doesn’t give the program a negative review. “I give them a passive review ... it is a rather passive setup, they pass on job postings and resumes, as far as I’m concerned,” says House, who makes $6.25 an hour, minimum wage. “My encounters have been positive for the most part. If you have questions, the
people there will try to help as much as they can and those people are there because they have been through the same thing. But don’t expect to get an interview just because you go there a lot, they’re just a medium.” The HRSDC program is just one of many options available to students in the province looking for a summer
Rhonda Hayward/The Independent
job. But whether you find a job on your own or partake of the resources available, the chances of finding a summer job have been increasing every year. Evan Careen is a journalism student at the Stephenville campus of the College of the North Atlantic
28 • INDEPENDENT SPECIAL SECTION
AUGUST 14, 2005
AUGUST 14, 2005
I
nternational award-winning Humber Valley Resort, Newfoundland's newest luxury resort, is growing again. Humber Valley Resort is an international village for retreat and adventure, completely removed from the stresses of urban living. Consider applying your professional and interpersonal skills to a dynamic, fast-paced work environment where the challenges and rewards are truly unique.
LEGAL ASSISTANT Competition # HVR-2005-19
Under the direct supervision of the Director of Legal Affairs, this individual will assist with the Resort's real estate transactions. Other responsibilities may include, but are not limited to, general administrative duties such as filing, document preparation and telephone reception. Working both independently and in concert with the legal team, the successful candidate will have: · Experience in a law office environment · Experience with Microsoft Office products, Adobe Acrobat and Word Perfect · Great attention to detail · Proficient analytical skills · Flexibility to switch between various tasks · Excellent time management skills Use of your own private vehicle, and a valid driver's license, is a condition of employment. Also, the ability to work flexible hours is required. If you have the above noted qualifications, are a technically minded person with exceptional organizational and communication skills who is a team player, detail orientated and committed to quality service, this position may be a great fit!
Deadline for applications is 4:30 pm Friday, Aug. 19, 2005 Please quote competition #HVR-2005-19 when submitting resume, cover letter and references to: Human Resources Humber Valley Resort P.O. Box 370 NL A0L 1K0 Fax: (709) 686 1249 e-mail: employment@humbervalley.com website: www.humbervalley.com
w w w. h u m b e r v a l l e y. c o m
INDEPENDENTSPORTS • 29
30 • INDEPENDENTSPORTS
AUGUST 14, 2005
Memories will remain
DREAM SHOT
From page 32
St. John’s Fog Devils’ assistant coach Darryl Williams breaks down an upcoming drill for players attending the teams’ Newfoundland Dream Shot camp Aug. 12 at the Glacier in Mount Pearl. More than 40 players from across the province attended the camp, hoping to earn an invitation to the Fog Devils’ main training camp, which opens Aug. 17. Paul Daly/The Independent
Willing to lend a helping hand From page 32 offensive line or a checking line?” Paiement says. Players cut by the Fog Devils later in training camp may not be out of the picture for later in the season, says Paiement. He would like to assign some players to the St. John’s Junior Hockey League, where they would play with a local team and practice with the Fog Devils. The players would then be available for call-up should the Fog Devils need reinforcements at any time during the
season. However, such a deal would first have to be negotiated with the local junior B loop. The Fog Devils general manager will also keep an eye on decisions made by major junior teams across the country throughout August and September. Considering his team is allowed to carry five over-age players, but have only three coming to camp (Brophy, goaltender Brandon Verge and rightwinger Marty Doyle), it comes as no surprise that Paiement is on the lookout for veteran players released by other organizations. “Although I’m comfortable with the
players coming to camp, we’re not going to close our eyes on players who might be available,” he says. “Players might not fit with some teams, but could be a good fit for us at this time.” Players who should draw a lot of attention at camp include Jean-Simon Allard, the club’s first round pick in the midget draft; Nicklas Bergfors (who will not arrive until Aug. 21) and Oscar Sundh, two Swedish players the Fog Devils selected in the CHL European draft; as well as locals Brophy, Wesley Welcher, Rodi Short, Matt Boland, Paul Roebothan0 and Ryan Smith. For many of these players, the Fog
Devils’ training camp will be their first exposure to major junior hockey. If they need advice on what to expect at various stages of camp, Brophy — the player many feel is the front runner to be named team captain — says he is willing to lend a helping hand. “I remember being young at my first camp, and I had guys looking out for me and letting me know how things happen,” says Brophy. “If I can pass along some of that to the younger players, then that would be great.” darcy.macrae@theindependent.ca
I know a lot of people have fond memories of the old stadium. It is a symbol of youth for some — perhaps a first date. For others, it may be the place they took their kid to a senior hockey game, and later their grandchild to a St. John’s Maple Leafs game. Some people cling to these memories with ever fibre in their body. They don’t want the old stadium to be torn down, and would be devastated to see it stand as anything other than what they remember it being over the past 50 years. While I respect the reasons these people feel such a way, I hope they realize that their memories are not stored in Memorial Stadium. If the stadium were to be demolished — which I believe, at this point, it should be — the memories of laughter, teenage angst, and winning the big game would not go with it. They are safely stored in the minds and imaginations of all who enjoyed the facility over the years. Now while I am clearly not opposed to seeing the building come down, I must admit I’m not in favour of a grocery story going up in its place. We already have plenty of grocery stores, so I don’t see a need for yet another one. The most fitting replacement may be another rink — not another Mile One, but a structure similar to the Glacier in Mount Pearl — or perhaps a soccer field complete with a running track, an indoor baseball training centre, a number of outdoor basketball courts, or maybe just a big, open field of neatly trimmed grass perfect for a game of Frisbee or tossing a football around. I think we should replace one recreational facility with another. And considering the old stadium was named in honour of the province’s war heroes, there could be no more fitting name for a new recreation complex than Memorial Park. darcy.macrae@theindependent.ca Solution for crossword on page 24
AUGUST 14, 2005
INDEPENDENTSPORTS • 31
Luke Hayes at the lake.
Rhonda Hayward/The Independent
‘10 strokes for Chris’
Championship rower Luke Hayes lost a dear friend three years ago, but Chris Codner is still pushing him to be his best
By Darcy MacRae The Independent
S
tanding on the podium holding the championship trophy and waving the pink, white and green flag, The Independent rowing team was on top of the world after winning the men’s title at the Royal St. John’s Regatta. Shouts of joy echoed from friends, family and fans as the team celebrated its first championship. For the rowers, feelings of accomplishment and pride ran through their minds as they soaked in the admiration. But for Luke Hayes, his thoughts also turned to a best friend, Chris Codner, who passed away three years ago. “I always said I wasn’t going to stop rowing until I won one for Chris,”
Hayes tells The Independent. Codner drowned in June 2002 at a swimming hole in Flatrock he was visiting with Hayes and a group of friends. Codner and Hayes were teammates on the Kavanaugh Construction rowing team at the time, and the team didn’t know if they wanted to enter that year’s regatta without their friend. In the end, they decided Codner would have wanted them to continue. “It was a tough decision, but we ended up rowing,” says Hayes. Codner and Hayes were the closest of friends growing up in Torbay. They hung out together, played sports together, and always challenged each other no matter what the game — whether it was basketball, running or rowing. “Chris was a No. 1 guy. He was the
nicest kind of guy; he’d do anything for you. He was always someone you could talk to.” The many competitions Hayes had with his friend served as motivation during his training for this year’s regatta. After months of pushing himself to the limit — lifting weights, training in the water and running — there were days he didn’t think he had anything left in the tank. But when he thought about taking a day off or not training as hard as he could, he remembered his friend Chris. “We were competitive in everything we did. That used to push me. I still have that in my mind. I picture him right behind me, pushing me,” says Hayes. Heading into this year’s regatta, The Independent team of Hayes, Michael Ladha, Jason Rose, Ben Stokes, Jeff
Roche and John Smyth were the talk of the town. Many wondered if the team of up-and-coming rowers could get the job done when it mattered most — in the championship race. By the time regatta day came to a close, it was obvious the team rose to the challenge, and as far as Hayes is concerned, the memory of Codner helped them do it. “In the final, our coxswain Danny Harte said ‘Give me 10 strokes for Chris,’ and the boat just seemed to fly, like it was picked up. Six people just put everything they had into it,” Hayes says. “It felt like there was an engine on the back of the boat.” As big an inspiration as Codner has been for Hayes in sports, he has been equally as inspiring in life. Whenever Hayes faces a challenge, he considers
the way his friend would have handled it and goes from there. Such has often been the case during Hayes’ first three years at Memorial University. Prior to Codner’s death, he was planning on also attending the school, and was quite excited about it. Whenever Hayes has difficulty studying or completing an assignment on time, he uses his friend’s enthusiasm and energy as motivation. “He was about to enter MUN too, and he was really looking forward to it. He couldn’t wait to start university,” says Hayes. “Whenever I get overwhelmed with school, I think of him and it helps get me through it. If I have to write an exam, I’ll find something in me that will get me through it.” darcy.macrae@theindependent.ca
INDEPENDENTSPORTS
SUNDAY THROUGH SATURDAY, AUGUST 14-20, 2005 — PAGE 32
Out of the fog St. John’s Fog Devils about to start first training camp; close to 60 players vying for 23 spots By Darcy MacRae The Independent
When Brophy attended camps in Gatineau in the summers of 2003 and 2004, the nucleus of the team was ockey hopefuls from across already in place and the coaching staff Eastern Canada are flocking to was only looking for a handful of playSt. John’s this week for the ers to round out the lineup. Taking to city’s first Quebec Major Junior the ice with a team looking to fill every Hockey League training camp. Close to spot on the roster excites Brophy. 60 players from Newfoundland and “It’s one of the great things about this Labrador, the Maritimes and Quebec camp,” he says. “Competitiveness will will gather at the Glacier in Mount be at a high level. It should be fun to Pearl on Aug. 16 for pre-camp registra- watch.” tion before taking to the ice the next Training camp kicks off on the 17th morning for the official opening of the with practices, followed by supervised Fog Devils’ training camp. scrimmages featuring one-on-one, two“They’ve all got a shot,” Fog Devils’ on-two, three-on-three and five-on-five head coach and general manager Real games. On the evening of Aug. 19, Paiement says of the players coming to players remaining in camp will be both the main training camp and the divided into two teams and take to the team’s Newfoundland Dream Shot try- ice for an intersquad game complete out, which began Aug. 12. “Our camp with on-ice officials and scorekeepers. is different this year than it will be next Following the game, the camp’s first year because we are just starting out. major cuts will be handed down. It’s not like the players have been with The Fog Devils play their first preus for two or three years, they are all season game on Aug. 21 when they new to the organization.” visit Cole Harbour, N.S. to battle the Running a major junior training Halifax Mooseheads. Quebec-born camp is nothing new to Paiement, who players who are still in high school will has nine years of Quebec league coach- have to be informed by the next day ing experience. In the past he was look- whether they have made the team or are ing for players to fill being sent home holes in his roster; this because they are year he’s starting a team not allowed to miss “There’s a lot of from scratch. any school, which Not only will Paiement starts in late Auganticipation at this have to pick players, he ust in their home must decide what roles province. point. I’m a little they will play. With so “That’s going to much on the line, he says force us to make nervous, a little players can dictate where some decisions excited, but really they fit in with the Fog early,” Paiement Devils with their persays. formance in training looking forward to it.” The Fog Devils camp. play four pre-seaScott Brophy “If speed is your forte, son games in Newwell show us some foundland, with the speed. If you’re a goal first two scheduled scorer, you better start scoring some to take place in St. John’s on Aug. 27 goals or creating scoring chances. If and 28 when they host Halifax. They you’re a physical player, let’s see you will then host the OHL’s Ottawa 67’s at finish your checks. The way players the Pepsi Centre in Corner Brook on will open our eyes is to be the best they Sept. 10 and 11. can be at what they’re best at,” In total, the Fog Devils play seven Paiement tells The Independent. pre-season games, and Paiement says For players such as Scott Brophy of the first three will be used to determine St. John’s, the team’s first pick in the which players are capable of suiting up expansion draft, training camp can’t at the major junior level. The middle come soon enough. He spent the past two games will help determine just who two seasons in Gatineau and is looking is going to make the team, while player forward to finally getting to work as a roles will be decided in the final two Fog Devil. pre-season tilts. “There’s a lot of anticipation at this “Even if you think you’ve got the point,” says Brophy. “I’m a little nerv- team made, are you going to play on an ous, a little excited, but really looking See “Willing to lend,” page 30 forward to it.”
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Scott Brophy
Paul Daly/The Independent
Car and driver If Memorial Stadium was a clunker on its last legs, what would you do with it?
I
’m not a person who grows overly fond of anything other than people — and perhaps pets. I feel fortunate to live in a nice apartment and own a decent-sized television and a stereo that could keep the neighbours up all hours of the night if I chose, but at the end of the day they are still merely objects. Just last week I talked to friends and family about purchasing a new car. I’ve had my current ride for seven years and although it’s given me outstanding serv-
DARCY MACRAE
The game ice, it may be time to send the old rig out to pasture. When discussing the situation with a friend recently, he asked if I would miss the old car, since I had so many memories in it. After all, he pointed out, it was the car I drove throughout college, as
well as my first media job, and was the vehicle I used to move to (and quickly out of) Ontario a few years back. He added that it was the car I had when I met my wife-to-be Jennifer and was a vehicle given to me by my father three years before he died. I thought about it, but I quickly came to the conclusion that despite all I’ve been through in the car, I really won’t miss it. It’s not that I don’t like reminiscing about all the good times I had riding around in the first car that was truly my
own, but I realize that no matter what happens to the car, the memories are mine forever. Whether I trade in or sell my old Suzuki Esteem, whether it continues to be driven or ends up in a junk yard, the fond memories I have of travelling to college in Halifax, picking Jennifer up to go out for a coffee, and discussing the car’s fine ride and sweet gas mileage with my father will never go anywhere. They will be in my heart long after the car is gone, so I won’t waste any time
mourning over an object, an appliance, that perhaps has outlived it usefulness. I feel the same way when it comes to Memorial Stadium. While I’m not a native of St. John’s or the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, I know I would feel the same way about the stadium if I were. At this point, it’s an empty brick building that will eventually become a hazardous structure if something isn’t done with it. See “Memories will remain,” page 30