VOL. 4 ISSUE 13
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ST. JOHN’S, NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR — SUNDAY THROUGH SATURDAY, MARCH 26-APRIL 1, 2006
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Independent crew nominated for Atlantic Journalism Awards
Goulds theatre company climbs straight into Birdcage production
Curbside convenience
St. John’s to implement recycling program within months STEPHANIE PORTER
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curbside recycling program for St. John’s will be announced within the next two or three months, Health Minister Tom Osborne tells The Independent. Unlike programs recently announced in other municipalities, Osborne says the capital city program will include paper, plastics, glass, “the whole works.” Osborne led the Department of Environment and Conservation for a year and a half until March 14, when he was sworn in as minister of Health and Community Services. He says establishing residential recycling programs was one of his priorities while holding his previous portfolio. Since the beginning of 2005, Corner Brook, Mount Pearl, and Grand FallsWinsor have announced and implemented the curbside pickup of paper, cardboard and other recyclable fibre products. Paper and cardboard recycling became available in Lewisporte in 2005; all offices in St. John’s, Mount Pearl, Paradise and Conception Bay South have been subject to mandatory paper
recycling since the beginning of March. St. John’s Mayor Andy Wells — who has previously expressed concern about the cost of a curbside recycling program — tells The Independent “we’re ready to go.” But he expects it could take closer to a year for the infrastructure to be put in place. “See, there’s no sense putting the cart before the horse, we need to know where the landfill site is going to be,” Wells says. He adds the city has “demonstrated to the province” the current Robin Hood Bay landfill site can be used to meet the needs of the northeast Avalon. “Once the province says OK, this is the landfill … then we can move very quickly towards a recycling system,” the mayor says. “I think it’s probably $1 million or something in capital that we’ve got to — buildings and facilities — that we’ve got to construct, in order to properly handle the recyclables. So, yes, we could be ready within a year I would think.” A spokesperson for Environment and Conservation confirms a recycling plan for St. John’s is currently being worked on. A date for a public announcement has yet to be set. stephanie.porter@theindependent.ca
Question of ownership Key to solving FPI’s woes may rest with strengthening rules on company ownership CRAIG WESTCOTT
T
hough it may seem callous to consider when the future of historic fishing towns on the Burin Peninsula hang in the balance, the real dilemma facing the Newfoundland and Labrador government when it comes to FPI concerns the future of the company itself. Fish plants come and go, even big ones like Marystown’s. Just ask anyone in Trepassey or Harbour Breton. But what happens when a company the size of Fishery Products International disintegrates or perishes? For some people close to the fishing industry, the answer to the company’s
future lies with its ownership. It was the change of ownership five years ago after all, that transformed one of the most successful seafood companies in the world to the debtsaddled, crisis-ridden entity that is causing so many problems for the province today. “Where FPI lands in terms of ownership really is important,” says Vince Withers, a respected former don of the province’s business community, retired head of Newfoundland Telephone and a director of FPI until the John Risleyled coup of five years ago. “The ultimate game plan here is to take over this company. I can’t see another reason why they would be struggling as they are.” See “The Problem,” page 4
QUOTE OF THE WEEK “No, our expectations (with the Terms of Union) were not met, because we were not allowed to negotiate.” — The late-Gordon Winter, signatory of the Terms. See page 13.
LIFE STORY 8
Governor John Byng dies by firing squad WORLD 11
Michael Harris picks Liberals Best in Show
Ivan Morgan . . . . . 7 Paper Trail . . . . . . . 8 Events . . . . . . . . . . 20 Crossword . . . . . . 26
Lawyer Bob Buckingham
Paul Daly/The Independent
Cry for counselling Lawyer Bob Buckingham says provincial government must step in and help victims of abuse By Stephanie Porter The Independent
H
ow can it be, Bob Buckingham asks rhetorically, that the only people who seem to be helping victims of institutional sexual abuse are lawyers? Buckingham has “dozens” of clients who are survivors of abuse in foster homes or orphanages such as Mount Cashel, and has had dozens more in the past decade. He describes them, at different times, as lost, shell-shocked, isolated, or impetuous. Some have families and jobs, others even less stability. They’re all looking for retribution; all deeply in need of support.
“There are hundreds of survivors out there,” he says. “Some come forward, and some don’t … but I don’t think there’s one of my clients that does not require some assistance, and I don’t see any of them getting it.” By assistance, Buckingham means counselling. While he can fight for and win substantial cash settlements, what his clients really want and deserve is peace of mind. “I was involved in the most recent Mount Cashel settlement,” he says. “As we got closer to getting the cheques, they realized ‘my nightmare is not going away, my stress is not going away, it’s not resolving the issues with my family.’ They got the
cheque, but are they feeling any different? No.” Talking to a lawyer is a big first step, says Buckingham, considering most victims have rarely spoken about their past. Buckingham tries to put new clients at ease, deliberately making his Bond Street office more homey than business professional, with plants, unpretentious artwork, comfortable furniture, warm colours, clutter, and personality. “I sit down and tell them (litigation) is a stressful process, a long process, and I encourage them to get counselling,” he says. See “The Problem,” page 4
2 • INDEPENDENTNEWS
MARCH 26, 2006
By Alisha Morrissey The Independent
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recent David Suzuki Foundation study into DFO’s operations in the Pacific region identifies poor fisheries management — problems that carry over to the East Coast, officials say. Bill Wareham, spokesman for the David Suzuki Foundation, tells The Independent while a report wasn’t commissioned on the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans’ work in Eastern Canada, the issues of budget constraints, poor conservation and a conflicting mandate negatively affect all of the department’s operations. “Our interest is to look at it everywhere. Many of the recommendations and the results (of the study) I think they’re systemic problems within the department not just specific to the Pacific region,” Wareham says. Completed in June 2005, the study recommended budget injections, increased transparency, and an overall focus on conservation. “On an international level we’ve got very good policy and legislation around ocean and fisheries management … our gross failure is in implementation of those strategies and that will only come through a solid and robust political commitment,” Wareham says. “Until we get that, all the good people and all the good intentions will continue to hit a wall.” One of the biggest problems, Wareham says, is a conflicting mandate. “It’s the Department of Fisheries and Oceans but it’s heavily weighted on the department of fisheries. It doesn’t make sense,” he says, adding the department is basically required to “cater to the fishing industry.” DFO didn’t co-operate much in the study, Wareham says, and they were not pleased with the results. “They weren’t co-operative. We had people who were past employees of DFO work on this, we had a broad range of people — the department didn’t like it that much,” he says, adding DFO officials responded to the completed study with mixed reactions. “(Former fisheries minister Geoff Regan) congratulated us on a very thorough piece of work and the Pacific regional director said it was the most significant and well thought out analysis of the department that had ever been done and that his only challenge was that it felt like we aimed it at the bureaucracy whereas we should have aimed it at the politicians.” But the finger is pointed squarely at the bureaucracy, Wareham says. With more than 10,000 employees across the country, he questions the amount of money spent on maintaining the department compared to that spent on research and conservation initiatives. One scientist, he says, complained that where there were once 18 people in his department there are now only four. “Inherently when you do ecosystem-based management which is mandated under Canada’s ocean act you need to monitor and you need to do regular inventory work and if the department’s not investing in that capacity then they can’t really realize ecosystem-based management work,” he says. “They’re doing very, very inadequate level of research on the problems. “Conservation is not being achieved because of the political level decision making around fisheries.”
David Suzuki
Photos by Paul Daly/The Independent
Across the board Suzuki study points out DFO inadequacies on Pacific and Atlantic coasts
Correction A story headlined New HIV/AIDS education program targets young gay men carried in the March 19-25 edition of The Independent incorrectly identified the program, which is actually called Gay Urban Youth Zone. As well, the name of the program co-ordinator is Michelle Boutcher.
M a s t e r w o r k s
# 4
Marc David conductor
Erin Grainger alto
Sarkis Barsemian tenor
Olivier Laquerre bass baritone
Commissioned under dramatic circumstances, Mozart’s Requiem Mass is one of his most personal, impassioned and profound works. You’ll hear our Philharmonic Choir in the dramatic Dies Irae and the poignant Lacrimosa as well as other choruses and our soloists figure prominently. Mozart himself died at 35, leaving an enormous body of work including his Symphony No.35 “Haffner” which opens the concert. Requiem K 626 Symphony No.35 in D Major K385 “Haffner”
M A R I A S H A R A P O VA
Mozart Mozart
Friday March 31, 2006 Basilica of St. John the Baptist – 8pm Tickets: $31/$26; $25.50/$19.50; $18/$15
Call 722-4441
Not available at the door - available at: NSO Office 722-4441; Bennington Gate in Churchill Sq. 576-6600; Jungle Jims on Torbay Rd. 722-0261 & Topsail Rd. 745-6060; Fred’s Records on Duckworth St. 753-9191; Provincial Music on Campbell Ave. 579-2641; The Guv’nor on Elizabeth Ave. 726-0092; Espresso Garden at 254 Water St. 739-7598
Peter Gardner General & Artistic Director Principal Conductor Marc David
Designed & Created by Fonda Bushell Inc.
Melanie Krueger soprano
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Magnificent Mozart
MARCH 26, 2006
SCRUNCHINS A weekly collection of Newfoundlandia LETTER OF INTENT With so much talk in this week’s Independent about Gordon Winter (See Fighting Newfoundlander, page 6 and feature, page 13), I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to print the following letter. It was 1948/49, around the time of the Confederation debate, and Winter was one of the Newfoundlanders assigned to “negotiate” the Terms of Union with Ottawa when he received the following anonymous letter, titled Quisling: “Has the Winter family, a name for years honoured and respected in Newfoundland, now turned traitor, out to betray this country to the Quebec-dominated Dominion Government at Ottawa? God grant that something will turn up to frustrate your plans. For 400 years Newfoundlanders have boasted of this freedom, liberty, etc. Now you and your clique will place them under the heel of Canada for your own personal gain. Every fisherman, every householder will in future have to pay taxes on their homes, their land, their boats and everything they possess to take care of children’s allowance, oldage pension, etc. when the present set up of revenue derived by Newfoundland disappears on entry into Confederation. These are the facts that have not been explained to the people of Newfoundland. If they still have the guts that I have always credited my countrymen with they should put a rope around your necks and hang you from Cabot Tower. In a few years time they will be singing you can’t have us we don’t want you. Johnny Canuck, go home.” Winter kept the original letter in a scrapbook … quite the treasure for Memorial’s archive.
INDEPENDENTNEWS • 3
Atlantic Journalism Award nominations
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he Independent has been nominated for three Atlantic Journalism Awards in the categories of feature writing, feature photography and continuing coverage. Picture editor Paul Daly has been nominated for a front-page feature shot published Oct. 16 of a baby breast-feeding — the shot coincided with Breast-feeding Week. Senior editor Stephanie Porter has been nominated for A survivor’s story, a feature article published on Sept. 25 about Bernard Dyke, the 17-year-old survivor of the Melina and Keith II, a crab fishing boat that went down in Bonavista Bay. Porter’s story was as much about Dyke’s ordeal — surviving for hours in the frigid waters before being rescued — as it was about his mother, Marg, at home in Eastport waiting for her only son to return. Porter, along with reporter Alisha Morrissey, were also nominated in the continuing coverage category for their series of stories on the sinking of the Melina and Keith II and the emergency response. “To be nominated for an Atlantic Journalism
Stephanie Porter
Alisha Morrissey
Award is quite an honour,” says Ryan Cleary, managing editor. “Three nominations for a young weekly paper like ours is simply fantastic. The nominations reflect the hard work and dedication that goes into publishing the paper.” The Independent’s editorial staff was nomi-
Paul Daly
nated last year for four Atlantic Journalism Awards, as well as the Michener Award, the highest award in Canada for public service journalism. Winners of the Atlantic Journalism Awards will be announced May 5 during a gala event in Halifax.
WENTE PLENTY Margaret Wente of The Globe and Mail (the missus who called the outports “the most vast and scenic welfare ghetto in the world”) wrote another column March 23 about how she deserves to lead the federal Liberals. Get a load of the deck below the headline: “I’m proud to say I have friends and supporters in every single province (except Newfoundland).” She got that right. Wente went on to say that Rick Mercer has “kindly offered” to patch things up. Said Wente, “Newfoundlanders are the finest people in the world and Brigitte Bardot should go soak her head.” See how easy that was, Margaret? Rick Mercer didn’t have to do a thing. CHECKLIST Not just any newly diagnosed patients with prostate and breast cancer will be sent out of province for radiation treatment — they have to meet certain eligibility criteria first. Dr. P.K. Ganguly, director of radiation oncology at the cancer centre in St. John’s, says patients will not qualify to be sent out of province if they are single parents, provide support at home (financially, emotionally and/or physically), are over the age of 70 or have conditions that require medical attention (like diabetes, high blood pressure and heart conditions). Said Ganguly: “What we are left with, really, are very physically fit, emotionally fit patients that will volunteer to go.” Doesn’t that rule out most of the population? POLL POSITION An online CTV poll earlier this week asked this question: “Should Canadian officials yield to celebrity and world pressure and stop the seal hunt?” The results: 10,775 votes yes (40 per cent) vs. 16,076 no (60 per cent). Not too shabby … PRISON TALK There’s been talk in recent weeks of the federal and provincial governments splitting the cost of a new prison for the province. According to the spring 1978 edition of Newfoundland Quarterly, then-solicitor-general Francis Fox stated Newfoundland didn’t produce enough criminals to warrant a federal prison — and the 80 Newfoundlanders in Dorchester, N.B. and Springhill, N.S., prisons were permitted one telephone call per month “to compensate them for the expense of their being visited.” Excuse me, but one call a month wouldn’t pay for a lunch aboard the Gulf ferry. POLICE STORY The Mounties are always good for a colourful news release. Headlined Bell Island man didn’t learn, an officer wrote a media report earlier this month about a man arrested for harassing a Bell Island woman and her family. The same man had served time previously for harassing the same woman and her family over a 10-year period. Quote: “Police will not allow any of this behavior in their community. This arrest is an example of a continued effort by the RCMP to keep communities safe from violence.” I don’t know about you, but I feel safer. ryan.cleary@theindependent.ca
Where there’s a will … By Clare-Marie Gosse The Independent
M
emorial University was recently the beneficiary of a legacy gift from two of its alumni, Warren and Catherine Ball, who willed the organization the proceeds of their entire estate — valued at $1.3 million. Lynda Parsons, assistant director of alumni affairs and development, says sometimes the university is aware they will be remembered in someone’s will, and sometimes it’s a surprise. “It’s just a wonderful, wonderful legacy to leave and we’re so appreciative of it and we did have an opportunity to say thank you to them because we did know about this gift,” she says. “We didn’t realize maybe the amount of the gift.” Parsons says “planned giving” is an important part of long-term financial planning for the university, which generally receives around $500,000 a year from bequests. People usually decide how they want their money to be spent (scholarships are most popular). It’s a way of leaving a legacy and donating to a favourite cause at the same time — particularly if a contributor has no direct descendants. “It’s a way for them to be remembered for a lifetime because if it’s a scholarship for instance, it’s named after them and their name goes on forever,” she says. “I always feel that people should really think about their favourite charity when they’re making out their will.” Wills and probate regulations in Canada vary
from province to province. Elaine Burke, assistant deputy registrar at the probate office in St. John’s, estimates around 50 per cent of people leave a will — although the office doesn’t keep an official breakdown. Newfoundland and Labrador is one of the few places in North America that recognizes what is known as a holographic will. Unlike a formally drafted will, which is signed by two impartial witnesses (with or without the help of a lawyer), a holographic will can be handwritten, without a witness and it’s still valid, as long as the court is satisfied it’s genuine. It’s worth noting any irregularities or omissions could render the document invalid, however, so it’s a good idea to consult a professional beforehand. Dying without a will is called dying intestate and a person’s estate is then distributed according to the provincial Interstate Succession Act, which lays out rules for dividing possessions among relevant family members. If a person dies without a will and has no known relatives, the case is passed on to the provincial estates office, which acts as a trustee and holds the property until a blood relative can be tracked down. This method is fairly unique to Newfoundland and Labrador, which doesn’t have an act to allow the funds to revert back to the crown. If no living blood relative can be found, the estates office can turn the estate over to the province, but if a family member comes forward and makes a claim, at any time, the province must give it back. Wills don’t need to be officially registered
before someone dies, but in order for the recipients to gain official access to funds solely in the deceased’s name, the document has to be probated (probate fees amount to a small percentage of the overall estate value). Newfoundland and Labrador doesn’t charge inheritance tax (although income tax applies to capital gains), but if someone leaves an unwilled estate, the appointed administrator (for example the spouse) has to produce two surety bonds, both equal to the amount of the will. Burke says this inconvenience alone is enough to make it advisable to leave a will and officially name an executor in advance. “If you don’t have personal surety you go to a bonding company and that’s expensive, so if you leave a will, you don’t require a bond,” she says. Burke says the office probably processes around 800 to 900 estates a year (officially willed and not) and they get relatively few people contesting. An average estate amount can be anywhere from zero to millions. Burke says she’s often surprised by how much money some people leave behind, especially considering their occupations. Despite strongly advocating making a will, she admits to failing to practice what she preaches. “I’m ashamed to say it but I don’t have one … it’s absolutely ridiculous, I mean it would be so simple to do and the thing is you can just write it up on the back of a brown envelope and sign it and it’s just as legal as if it was done by a lawyer.”
4 • INDEPENDENTNEWS
MARCH 26, 2006
‘The social cost of this is horrendous’ From page 1 “Then we have to work through the various gyrations to find some counselling for them because there’s nothing out there that’s straightforward and simple for these victims, either of institutional abuse, or foster homes, that frankly the government is responsible for.” There are few avenues to try: for privacy reasons, many clients are reluctant to use work health plans (if they have one) to access health care; going through family doctors and MCP services “can take forever”; paying privately for counselling is expensive. Victim services is an option for some who have filed criminal complaints. Buckingham is calling on government to step up to the plate. “Just as people have cancer, just as we need MRIs and all those physical needs we need a machine for or a centre for, we need a recognition in this province there are psychological … issues that have to be dealt with because people are victims of sexual abuse.” Buckingham decided to speak to The Independent about his long-standing concerns after reading Sex in the City, writer Susan Rendell’s article in the March 19 edition. In the article, Rendell speaks about Rose, a “retired prostitute” who suffered childhood abuse in a foster home on Bell Island. “I first got into this work in 1996, 1997,” says Buckingham. “And I’m still saying the same things now … finally, when I saw the article last week, I said ‘We’ve got to put this issue on the social policy agenda in this province.’ “The person in the story last week is one of thousands. If you go down on the streets of St. John’s and ask a few more questions, I would say, more often than not, you’re going to hear stories of
AN INDEPENDENT VOICE FOR NEWFOUNDLAND & LABRADOR
Lawyer Geoff Budden was one of a handful of lawyers in the early 1990s to begin taking on Mount Cashel sexual abuse cases. Paul Daly/The Independent
“No one knew what was building up inside of him. He didn’t tell anyone, he didn’t have counselling, and so here is a fellow who is part of an institution, a house of horrors in Mount Cashel, who lashed out at society. “What I’m saying is, what the government should have done is clearly establish and provide for decent counselling and therapeutic services for all those people. “People’s trust has been destroyed, damaged. (Government) should have done something then, and they should be doing something now. I don’t think we should have to lobby for this.” But Buckingham is trying to effect
change. He has already been in discussions with at least one high-profile Newfoundlander about a fund- and awareness-raising event he hopes to organize over the next few months. Meantime, Buckingham admits he, and the handful of other local lawyers who are experienced in these sorts of cases, are often thrust into the role of counsellor by default. “You learn it. I’ve done reading, know what’s required, and we all do, we help people out,” he says. “You get too close to the issues in terms of trying to help people … and you end up trying to find them a home, trying to deal with various social services, dealing with food banks, intervening on their behalf.” Buckingham has learned to draw the line with clients, to set up his own boundaries for what he can and can’t deal with. He takes care of himself, and works on criminal or other cases for a change of pace. It doesn’t take away his anger or frustration that, over the past decade, he’s seen, again and again, a gaping hole in the justice and social services systems. “We should do everything we can to take away the stigma of this abuse. They’re victims, they’re survivors, and (the help they need) should be there. The social cost of this is horrendous. “I’m not saying counselling is the panacea that’s going to cure it all, it’s just one part of a larger process … but our department of social services in the ’60s and ’70s was a wasteland that did not properly oversee any of its institutions out there that were caring for kids. “The department has abdicated its responsibility then, and now, and that should stop … we have to stop thinking of these victims as street people, as criminals, as parasites on the system. There is a reason that they’re there, and let’s do something about it.”
abuse. “They’re lost. It’s a tragedy that they’re still out there, wandering the streets for the last number of decades, and there’s nothing being done for them. That makes me angry.” Buckingham has his own sad stories to tell. He’s seen sexual abuse victims go through divorce, violent relationships, emotional breakdowns, addictions, and worse. Even after receiving a cash settlement, Buckingham says many victims make “really horrendous mistakes” with their money — trusting the wrong people, turning to drugs, gambling, or other forms of self-abuse.
“Two of my clients died on the streets of Vancouver of drug overdoses. And I have another fellow now in the same boat, it’s just a matter of time. That’s part of the social cost and part of the tragedy in this.” Buckingham thinks back on one client in particular, an imaginative writer and poet, who after serving a jail sentence, died on the downtown east side of Vancouver. “He was the finest kind of fellow,” the lawyer says. “He’d been in jail for doing awful things, but awful things had been done to him. All that the criminal justice system saw … was a violent criminal.
GENERAL MANAGER John Moores
Robin Hood expected to beat Dog Hill as next regional landfill
john.moores@theindependent.ca
SALES MANAGER Gillian Fisher P.O. Box 5891, Stn.C, St. John’s, gillian.fisher@theindependent.ca Newfoundland & Labrador, A1C 5X4 Ph: 709-726-4639 • Fax: 709-726-8499 PRODUCTION MANAGER John Andrews Website: www.theindependent.ca john.andrews@theindependent.ca sales@theindependent.ca • production@theindependent.ca • circulation@theindependent.ca
By Alisha Morrissey The Independent
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obin Hood Bay is expected to win out over Dog Hill as the regional landfill for the northeast Avalon, and the mayor of St. John’s expects to haul in the fees. An official decision on which site will serve as the region’s dump has yet to be made, but officials are betting on the capital city’s landfill because of the costs associated with setting up Dog Hill. And if Robin Hood Bay is chosen, St. John’s Mayor Andy Wells says the tippage fees — paid by the tonne to cover the costs of running the landfill — will be collected by the city. “It’s our facility, we expect that we, the City of St. John’s, will probably be the biggest user by far. I mean the only issue is the issue of the tippage fee and all we want to recover is our costs,” Wells tells The Independent. “I don’t think we should make a profit off it. I think that the tippage fee should cover the costs of capital and the operating costs of the land-
fill.” The city currently operates the dump on a break-even basis. A spokesman for the Municipal Affairs Department says until some concrete decisions are made — including which site will be used and the regional waste management board has been reformed — there are no guarantees the city will get any share of the tippage fees. The province has crunched the numbers and the cost of Dog Hill, plus the remediation of the current dump site at Robin Hood Bay, is estimated to cost about $70 million. Using the current site, Robin Hood Bay, could save the province up to $30 million, depending on the costs of upgrades. The province’s waste management strategy calls for the removal of all unlined landfill sites in the province by 2010. The remediation and increasing number of users may double the tippage fee — at least for a while, Wells says. The current tippage fee for the 19 municipalities that use the dump is
about $23 per tonne. “That (the doubled fee) is substantially cheaper than what it would be if they went out at Dog Hill … that would have been $100 a tonne that would have been horrendously expensive.” Shannie Duff, a St. John’s city councillor and member of the nowdisbanded waste management committee, says the province is continuing environmental studies to back up those done by the city. “And subject to those details being brought forward, then we are definitely told by the government that Robin Hood Bay will be the site, the next issue that has to be dealt with is governance,” Duff says, adding the Environment Department has indicated that a regional board would be created to make decisions, with St. John’s having a majority vote. Duff says capital improvements on the dump are expected to be paid for with a share of the gas tax refund each municipality will receive from the federal government this year. alisha.morrissey@theindependent.ca
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, MAR. 20 Vessels arrived: Maersk Chignecto, Canada, from White Rose Field; Maersk Norseman, Canada, from Hibernia; Alex Gordon, Canada, from Terra Nova. Vessels departed: Sir Wilfred Grenfell, Canada, to Sea; Oceanex Avalon, Canada, to Montreal.
TUESDAY, MAR.21 Vessels arrived: Ann Harvey, Canada, from Botwood; Maersk Dispatcher, Canada, from Terra Nova. Vessels departed: Maersk Chignecto, Canada, to Mulgrave, NS; ASL Sanderling, Canada, to Corner Brook.
Shears Port; Cicero, Canada, from Montreal; Atlantic Osprey, Canada, from White Rose. Vessels departed: Burin Sea, Canada, to Terra Nova Field; Maersk Dispatcher, Canada, to White Rose; Atlantic Osprey, Canada, to White Rose.
WEDNESDAY, MAR 22 Vessels arrived: None. Vessels departed: Ann Harvey, Canada, to Sea.
FRIDAY, MAR 24 Vessels arrived: Maersk Placentia, Canada, from Hibernia; Atlantic Eagle, Canada, from Terra Nova. Vessels departed: Cicero, Canada, to Montreal; Acadian, Canada, to Saint John.
THURSDAY, MAR 23 Vessels arrived: Acadian, Canada, from
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MARCH 26, 2006
INDEPENDENTNEWS • 5
Setting boundaries By Clare-Marie Gosse The Independent
N
Provincial legislature members
ewfoundland and Labrador may have a small population, but it has one of highest percentages of provincial politicians in the
country. With 48 Members of the House of Assembly (MHAs) and 516,000 residents, electoral boundaries aside, that’s technically one MHA for every 11,000 people. Despite a population of 12.5 million, Ontario has just over twice as many Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs) — one for every 122,000 people. In fall 2005, the Newfoundland and Labrador legislature decided the province would continue to retain 48 provincial seats. A new commission was recently appointed to re-evaluate the electoral boundaries. Labrador will continue to have four seats, while the island will keep 44. Roger Grimes, former Liberal premier and a member of the commission, says given it’s been 13 years since the boundaries were last set, there’s likely to be some changes. “There will be a little bit of jiggling around, I think, in Labrador, not very much because there’s very little you can actually do there,” he tells The Independent, “but on the island part of the province there might be some fairly significant changes, because there have been some fairly significant population shifts.” Not only has the population dropped by about 65,000 since 1993, but urban centres have grown, while rural areas have dwindled. Grimes says rather than conducting a straight-forward mathematical assessment based on “one person, one vote,” issues such as isolation and geography will factor into the committee’s decision making. A report will be drawn up and handed to government later this year, so a final decision can be made in the House of Assembly by fall 2006.
Tom Osborne
• Newfoundland and Labrador: population 516,000 48 Members of the House of Assembly (1 MHA for every 11,000 people) • Nova Scotia: population 938,000 52 Members of the Legislative Assembly (1 MLA for every 18,000 people) • Prince Edward Island: population 138,000 27 MLAs (1 MLA for every 5,000 people) • Quebec: population 7.6 million. 125 Members of the National Assembly (1 MNA for every 61,000 people). • Ontario: population 12.5 million. 103 Members of Provincial Parliament (1 MPP for every 122,000 people). • Alberta: population 3.2 million. 83 MLAs (1 MLA for every 39,000 people). • British Columbia: population 4.2 million. 79 MLAs (1 MLA for every 54,000 people).
He says the province had as many as 52 seats at one time during the 1980s, but the Clyde Wells administration cut back to 48. “The Conservative opposition at the time said it should be smaller … but now the Conservative government of today says that 48 is enough; it’s the right number,” says Grimes. Harvey Hodder, speaker of the House of Assembly, says the decision to retain 48 seats despite a declining population was made based on the geographic size of the province. “We can always have fewer (MHAs) in number, but then we have to have an elaborate district organization where you have offices in districts and you have staff,” he says. “You wouldn’t save anything by reducing the number (of MHAs) because you would end up having to have more fulltime people working to be able to carry the workload.” clare-marie.gosse@theindependent.ca
Paul Daly/The Independent
Pumped Tom Osborne on his new portfolio, new daughter, and newfound respect for healthy living
T
om Osborne’s office, filled with halfpacked boxes and yet-to-be hung photographs, is still too cluttered for meeting the media. Decorating has taken a back seat to diving into the workload of new job, he says, settling back in a boardroom chair. On the far wall hang photographs of dozens of former provincial Health ministers, including John Crosbie, Ed Roberts, Hubert Kitchen and Roger Grimes. Osborne looks across the room and smiles. “I’m going to enjoy this,” he says. Sworn in as minister of Health and Community Services less than two weeks ago, Osborne says he’s already done 16 media interviews, with more requests coming in every day. With the budget less than a week away, helming the biggest spending department (a budget of $2 billion) and always prone to public scrutiny, he’s had to hit the ground running. Osborne insists he’s ready for the challenge. “It’s going to be a lot of work, but that just pumps me full of adrenaline.” Osborne was first elected in 1996, and served as minister of Environment and Conservation since his party came to power in 2003. “I’ve always been comfortable speaking to the media,” he says. “In Environment I constructed or created a lot of the media attention by going out and finding projects that needed attention. Here, I think they’re going to come to me.” Adding to his busy schedule is Rhiannon, his five-month-old daughter. Mentioning the name brings a grin to the proud father’s face. “She’s excellent. I probably shouldn’t say this, but she hardly ever cries, and almost always sleeps through the night. Nobody’s going to believe it.” Osborne, who sleeps about five (uninterrupted) hours a night, says he makes sure to be home for her last feeding of the day — and to be there for her first in the morning. “And I’m never sure if I’m going to get home for dinner at six or seven, so we’ve been to just about every restaurant in the city and all the wait staff say, ‘Oh she’s such a good baby!’ She’s going to be a social butterfly.” She’s off to a good start: Rhiannon had her first introduction to public life when she was just a couple of months old. “Every year I have a Christmas party for my volunteers, a dinner and dance,” says Osborne. Though he and his wife considered skipping last December’s event, they decided in the end to bring her along. “She handled it in fine style. As it turned out, (not everybody) knew we had her so … everybody was celebrating with us, and it turned out to be a phenomenal night. “It was the first time, ever, at a party I hosted, Yvonne went home at 9 and I went home at 10:30. I don’t know how long they partied after.” It may be a case of like father, like daughter. Or,
more accurately, like mother, like son, like granddaughter. Osborne’s mother, Sheila — elected in a byelection a year after her son moved into politics, and still the Progressive Conservative MHA for St. John’s West — was always involved in background organizing and campaigning. “My first campaign was in a playpen,” Osborne says. “My mother, the first campaign she ever worked on (for former St. John’s North MHA John Carter), she wanted to be there and so there I was in my playpen. “Even now I have people come up to me and say, ‘Oh, I remember when you were in diapers!’ … I’ve been involved ever since.” For nearly a decade, Osborne has been at the same caucus table as his mother. He says the ground rules were laid out from the beginning. “She called me to say she was thinking of running, she asked what I would think if she ran … and I said, ‘I have no problem with it, Sheila.’ “She’s mom on my birthday, her birthday, Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving, and all other times she’s Sheila.” During the seven and a half years Osborne spent in opposition, he usually filled the role of Environment critic. When the Danny Williams and the PC government came to power in 2003, he was finally able to work on some of the projects he’d been calling for. Osborne says the pride of his time as minister of Environment is his work on recycling programs, from the mandatory office paper recycling in the capital region to residential curbside recycling in specific municipalities. In this department, Osborne says he’ll be heavily promoting the province’s healthy living strategy. “A lot of health concerns in later years can be alleviated by living a healthy lifestyle, an active lifestyle, eating properly … I think everybody knows this, but we don’t have time for it.” Osborne has become acutely aware of this wellness philosophy himself. “The first six months or so as minister, I was so motivated by the work ahead of me that I’d never eat lunch … I could start to feel (the effects of) that. You need to make time for yourself, to eat healthy and do the things that will keep you healthy.” Osborne laughs again as he says he had a full head of hair when he started in politics. “I blame part of my hair loss on lack of sleep,” he says. “But other than that, I don’t think this has had any effect on me.” Whether it causes hair loss or not, Osborne — who spent years working at Statistics Canada and in the private sector before entering Confederation Building — always dreamed of entering political life. “It’s being involved with change,” he says. “If something needs to be done, it’s getting your teeth into it and making it happen. “I get up thinking about what I’m going to do that day and I enjoy that, so hopefully for the next 15 years I’ll feel that way. I’m too young to retire.”
Have you noticed the benefits our oil and gas industry is bringing to Newfoundland and Labrador?
Growth in the construction and housing sectors.
Place Bonaventure, St. John’s, NL
By Stephanie Porter The Independent
There has been a substantial number of new housing starts in the province because of oil and gas industry activity. That means new business for designers, builders, landscapers, decorators…. The list goes on and on. To learn more please visit www.capp.ca.
A message from:
403, 235 Water Street, St. John’s, NL Canada A1C 1B6 Tel (709) 724-4200
6 • INDEPENDENTNEWS
MARCH 26, 2006
The arse is out of ’er T
hings were deadly still in Codpatch, much like the set of a Stephen King movie. It was the day after Labour Day, the biggest celebration of the year, ’cause Labour Day was the last day of work in Codpatch. It had been a pretty good season. Wilber worked in the Fish Cage, where he took tourists out to catch trout, and he worked a bit for the Americans who bought the two big houses down by the water. Emma Jean got work in the Dew Drop Inn, the local restaurant, and was doing housework for the couple from Oilpatch who converted the schoolhouse on the hill. There was a rumour that a big Hollywood movie was going to be shooting out in the resettled community of Bung Hole Tickle, but apparently the author, a noted satirist from the ’60s, didn’t like what the movie moguls had done with his script, and there were delays. Summer cabins were being shuttered, cottages were being closed, and the store had sent notices to everyone that all accounts had to be paid by Tuesday. “Are you going be an extra in the
RICK BOLAND
Guest column movie?” Emma Jean asked Wilber, putting a cooler aboard the trike. “They don’t call them extras any more Emma Jean,” Wilber replied knowingly. “They’re background performers. Naw, if I don’t get on in the camera department, I don’t think it’s worth it to me. Besides I got to go into Oilpatch and get my pogey straightened out.” “If only the Dawes gave stamps I might be good for the winter,” Emma Jean thought to herself. As it was, she was short by about 60 hours. Perhaps the local council would be able to help her, but that wouldn’t be for at least a month. “Times have changed Wilber,” mused Emma Jean. “Time was you had to go into St. John’s to go into service. Nowadays the rich people come to you.” “I know, and they don’t know nothing. I don’t know how they gets by in there. They can’t build noth-
ing!” replied Wilber, putting his kettle — a 20-gallon pressure cooker converted to work as a still — alongside the cooler. “I don’t know how they made their money. They don’t know how to fish, or to hunt. If they was dropped off on a rock in the middle of the Atlantic they wouldn’t survive long.” “I guess if you’re rich you don’t need to know how to survive,” said Emma Jean longingly, as she tucked her rod and tackle box into a space beside the still.” “I don’t mind taking their money though. Even if it is under the table,” said Wilber, thinking of the time he was going to have up at the shack on Codpatch Pond. By Thursday, everyone would be up there — it was the traditional three-week waiting period between when the summer’s work was done and the pogey’s arrival. Wilber would put on his potato shine, and run it for the big cheque-day party, exactly a month from now. In the meantime, he’d get in some wood, do a few repairs and spend evenings with his friends playing Growl. It was the life.
There was a rumour that a big Hollywood movie was going to be shooting out in the resettled community of Bung Hole Tickle, but apparently the author, a noted satirist from the ’60s, didn’t like what the movie moguls had done with his script, and there were delays. “Wilber, I got to tell ya. We can’t live here any longer! The arse is right out of ’er. We can’t afford to be here any more,” said Emma Jean, putting her foot down. “What do you mean the arse is out of ’er?” Wilber asked, caught off guard by Emmer’s vehemence. “I mean the arse is out of ’er. And ... I’m pregnant! We have a l’il Wilber on the way.” “L’il Wilber!” said Wilber, his chest puffing up and resisting an
urge to give away cigars. “Well ... we got to get him a trike, and an education, and a RoboRaptor, and a … there are so many things that we need. My son is going to have all the things I never had, and all the things I sees on the television that I’m too old for now.” “I’ve got it all figured out Wilber, we could be working year-round in Brooks, Alberta at twice the wage we’re making here. And you will be doing the important job of punching cows, stuffing sausages and killing chickens. Because someday, Wilber, there will be a BlobLaw’s mega food mart right here in Codpatch,” said Daisy springing the idea on the surprised Wilber. “But what about our families. Emma Jean we can’t just leave ’em. And what about the crowd? Sure who would they play crib with?” said Wilber, stunned by the idea of change. “Look around you Wilber, half of them is up there already, and Mom and Dad and Nan and Pop and Aunt Gert and Uncle Mose and just about all of Codpatch is going to move up with us.” See “Germans and Americans,” page 8
YOUR VOICE ‘Club away to oblivion’ Dear editor, The press kowtowing to political fantasies rather than reality is alive and well at The Independent. What are you independent of exactly … truth? You seem to be when it comes to the seal hunt. The government does not subscribe to the myth that seals are killing the fisheries, even if your favourite politicians like kill-’em-all Efford and hate-filled Hearn do. Fact is, they were both here in greater numbers and if the seals were the cause of the decline they would be in decline as well. They keep a balance that politically derived quotas never will. The saddest thing I see is how Newfoundlanders and the fearful press would rather vent their frustrations on baby seals than realize they are being taken by the politicians they
so admire. Are you aware that millions are being made by the government by allowing trawlers to fish out Canadian waters by other countries? You would if you could drop the club and do some research. Why do you truly think they help save the hunt? You are full of yourself if you truly believe it is your political sway in Ottawa. It is just easier for them than admitting how much they have been bellying up to the trough at Atlantic Canada’s expense. And it will never end until you make it end. So club away to oblivion but do not expect people who see the truth to sit by and stay quiet. Newfoundlanders may not want to help themselves, but that should not doom all its inhabitants. Paul Glendenning, Hamilton, Ont.
‘I just do not get the point’ Dear editor, It was with great interest I read Stephanie Porter’s article about my hometown of Long Harbour in mid February. You did my town an injustice when you called it “desolate and windswept.” You made our town sound and look like a slum or a ghetto. Long Harbour is a working town, where a lot of people are still at work in the daytime. Once an industrial community, we have a lot of trades people still here, working in high-paying jobs. You have only to go to the oil refinery or even at Inco to see lots of us working. Long Harbour is a clean, friendly town where poverty and welfare are not a big topic. There are well-kept homes, beautiful boats and more then
our fair share of toys. Many of us still go down south in the wintertime and enjoy life — our town is not dead as you would have your readers’ believe. The road here does not come from Placentia but from the TCH, but we have very little control over the state of the roads anyway. Paul Daly could have taken nicer pictures — I just do not get the point. Come take a shot of Gary Keating’s house or the new garage I just put up. I just think you took a very negative look at my home and I thought I should let you know my thoughts. Always remember when you do this to a place, that it is someone’s home that they love. Donald Bruce, Long Harbour
Tim should recycle Dear editor, Tim Hortons does not recycle, nor offer any incentive to recycle. Everywhere you look there are Tim’s cups! People will almost run you down just to get their fix in the morning. Why don’t our municipal councils charge Tim’s for the mess they make, so we can fill the potholes so that when Tim fans are speeding to get their fix they won’t bust their
tires! Do you remember some years ago when the government forced the clean up of our streets and highways of chip bags and bottles? In this age of recycling, Tim’s cannot find a way to make a recyclable cup for customers, or offer an incentive to use reusable cups? Dean Penton, 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. • © 2006 The Independent • Canada Post Agreement # 40871083
The Independent welcomes letters to the editor. Letters must be 300 words in length or less and include full name, mailing address and daytime contact numbers. Letters may be edited for length, content and legal considerations. Send your letters in care of The Independent, P.O. Box 5891, Station C, St. John’s, NL, A1C 5X4 or e-mail us at editorial@theindependent.ca
Capping off the week …
M
ight as well be upfront from the start, I’ve had trouble concentrating this week ever since I saw Tom Rideout on TV wearing that foolish looking stocking cap in the back of a pickup outside FPI headquarters in Town. My first thought was he had a few too many. My second thought was he didn’t drink enough, and would have been better off passing out on the flatbed/soapbox he was standing on. My third thought was to question what the poor people of the Caribbean islands must think of us at all when they see characters like our Fisheries minister on the NTV Evening News (I wonder that quite often, actually). The way the hat sat on Rideout’s head reminded me of a flaccid nipple on a baby’s bottle, which would have made Rideout a bottle head, although he most certainly isn’t that. Of all the ministers in Danny’s cabinet, Rideout is my favourite because he has nothing to lose. The man is practically fearless — he’s been an MHA on and off since 1975, he’s been a Liberal and a Tory and a cabinet minister and premier and law student and opposition member and widow and now — all these years later — a fashion model for union winterwear. Rideout is an aging warhorse who speaks first and checks with Danny second — a rare breed these days. Ministers are usually spotted standing prim and proper, peaking out from their assigned spots over the premier’s shoulder. If Rideout says FPI is shipping raw product to China, then get out your chop sticks and wait by the oven … the fish sticks are almost ready. You don’t suppose Rideout wears a cap at the dinner table? Now that would be shocking … Next Saturday, April Fool’s, marks the 57th anniversary of Confederation. Need I say more … well, yes, I must. There’s a fascinating feature on page 13 of this week’s paper — a transcript of the late Gordon Winter’s comments before Vic Young’s 2003 Royal Commission on Confederation. Smallwood may have been the Father of Confederation, but Winter signed the birth certificate — one of six men to
RYAN CLEARY
Fighting Newfoundlander
Today a country dies. Not as they die in Europe by enemy fire and sword, or by aggressive annexation, but by its own hand, the democratic choice of its people. By a majority vote of 6,401 of its citizens, Newfoundland today gives up its life as an individual nation in the British Commonwealth. — Toronto Telegram, March 31, 1949 do so (John Crosbie’s father, Ches, wouldn’t have anything to do with it). In the transcript, Winter says the team of Newfoundlanders who went to Ottawa to negotiate the Terms had three questions they wanted answered right off the bat: 1) Would Newfoundland be allowed to keep Labrador? 2) Would Ottawa pay for a Gulf ferry link? 3) Would Newfoundland be permitted to continue manufacturing margarine? I kid you not — Winter describes the margarine point as a “vital” one. Butter apparently went for 60 cents a pound in those days and margarine went for 20 cents, so it was a big deal. The answer to the three questions was an affirmative — Term 46, the one between economic surveys and income taxes — deals with oleomargarine. As for the rest of the Newfoundland
team’s “shopping list,” it was thrown out the Parliament window because Canada couldn’t give special terms to Newfoundland over what was already in place for the nine other provinces. My question is this: how could Newfoundlanders agree to join Canada without even knowing what the Terms of Union would be? A good question to ask next Saturday when you look out at the empty sea … Moving on … the following are the opening paragraphs of a story that appeared in the March 31, 1949 edition of the Toronto Telegram: “Today a country dies. Not as they die in Europe by enemy fire and sword, or by aggressive annexation, but by its own hand, the democratic choice of its people. By a majority vote of 6,401 of its citizens, Newfoundland today gives up its life as an individual nation in the British Commonwealth.” Speaking of the media, Corner Brook’s Humber Log closed its doors this week after more than 30 years of publishing, almost three years after Transcontinental Media took over the paper. In fact, in case you didn’t know it, Transcontinental owns the majority of the newspapers in this province — from The Telegram to the Western Star to most every community newspaper you can name (with a couple of exceptions, The Independent being one). Transcontinental bought the papers in February 2004. At the time, the federal Competition Bureau placed some “loose restrictions” on the deal, including a “vague” order that papers such as the Log (which was in the same market as the Star) be kept around. So much for that. Question is, how long does The Express have before it’s killed off? The paper has been redesigned, and its pages cut. It’s harder to find around the capital city than Tom Rideout’s cap after the premier got hold of it. Wellknown journalist Craig Westcott (see page 1 of this week’s Independent) appeared before the Senate committee to say media concentration was “bad for journalism and bad for democracy.” Way to tell it like it is Craig. And welcome aboard. ryan.cleary@theindependent.ca
MARCH 26, 2006
INDEPENDENTNEWS • 7
‘Excuse us for living’ I
was reading about the plight of the good people of the Burin Peninsula the other day when I suddenly had a thought: we are a resource-rich province, and thanks to a generation of communications weasels and advertising copy writers, we are constantly being reminded that our people are our most precious resource. You could have fooled me. I would have guessed that our people were a huge, expensive inconvenience. Politicians and bureaucrats are always complaining about the crippling cost of this program or the ruinous expense of that service. Well excuse us for living. One line of questioning resonates in the local media: what’s to be done with the people of Harbour Breton? Or Marystown? Or Stephenville? As if they were the problem. I would have thought the problem lay elsewhere — like at the executive level of FPI, or Abitibi. But what do I know? I know that we have a history of auctioning off our resources to corporations at bargain basement prices, while letting our “most precious resource”
IVAN MORGAN
Rant & reason just leave. I know that we treat that “precious resource” as the most worthless of all. I know that our most precious resource gets educated here and then shipped off to work for someone else. My thought is this: what if they weren’t? What if we decided to keep them — or even better — developed a way of making money from the resource? How about a quota system for the one resource we have always been able to count on over the last 500 years? I am not referring to fish, or minerals or the forest — or energy. I mean our people. Let’s “market our human resource,” as they would say in business-speak. While corporations, with the help of all levels of government, line up to devour the resources of rural Newfoundland in the name of profits (or surpluses), the hard working, hon-
were. Quite a valuable resource, from the sound of it. But, like our lesser resources, poorly managed. Well I am here to offer suggestions on how to fix all that. Let’s start limiting the number of Newfoundlanders who have to go to other parts of Canada to work, and charge the other provinces for their labour. Sure we would have to suspend a few human rights, but with the rise of neo-conservatism, this seems like less of a problem than it once might have been. Furthermore, I propose that, like the fishery, we introduce a quota system with which to manage the resource. Like the fishery, the quota system would have different categories or grades of worker. Naturally, the richest grade will be persons of rural extraction (if I call them baymen, which they are, I’ll get letters from the politically pious). Hard working, quick to learn, honest and industrious, they are an asset to any company or community who get them. So that quota will be very carefully managed (obviously not by DFO). If I were comparing them to the fishery,
they’d be crab or shrimp — highly prized and profitable Next, the Townie quota. Frankly, this is a less valuable species. Townies are urbanized, have a greater sense of entitlement and tend to migrate more. Sure many of them come ready-trained, but that can be a problem if re-training is required. If they were a fish stock, they’d be greasy old turbot. Marketing our colourful politicians could be a promising cottage industry in the entertainment world. The resource would have to be carefully managed. We don’t want another northern cod fiasco. Quotas would have to be set at sustainable levels. For example, some thought would have to be given to predator control. We don’t want another seal situation either. We would have to beef up the police force, enforce stricter controls on the clergy, the medical profession and so forth. And lawyers? I think here the term would be “cull,” and I’d doubt that even Paul and Heather McCartney would care. Ivan Morgan can be reached at ivan.morgan@gmail.com
POWER OF PASSION
YOUR VOICE Ice floes are not abattoirs Dear editor, I just hate the comparison of ice floes to abattoirs. It’s like comparing apples and oranges. There is no comparison — apples and oranges are round and fruit — but not the same. Ice floes and abattoirs process animals. One is man-made, and one is God-made. One seeks to maximize 100 per cent use of the animals domesticated for the intended purpose; the other is contrived for the provision of luxury goods while leaving the carcass behind as needless waste. So I ask: how are the two comparable? It just seems to make people look silly when they promote this comparison, and you will hear this argument over and over again. The fact of the matter is the seal doesn’t have a whole lot of meat to use — the flippers,
est, decent people who actually live there are forced to leave to find work elsewhere. Where would Alberta be without Newfoundland labour? They have oil and they are allowed to profit from it. We have some fish, and we are not. Their problem is they don’t have the people. They need more workers. Here in Newfoundland we have the people, but someone else owns the resource. Take fish for example. We “own” it, but a lot of it is processed in China. I’d love to see what would happen if the oil companies decided to ship tar sands to China for processing. Silly me, that’s completely different. Like China, we have an abundance of hard-working, motivated folk. We should tell Alberta, Ontario and the lesser provinces that from now on they will have to negotiate with us and pay for their allotment of our people. I just watched a documentary on Newfoundlanders who went to Scotland during the Second World War to work in the forestry industry. The film has lots of people talking about how marvelous and hard working they
maybe a few organs, and lots of fat. If these abattoirs were killing cows, chickens, etc. for primarily or exclusively a so-called luxury good (i.e. fur/leather/feathers) there would also be a global outrage concerning the killing of these animals. This is precisely the argument that feeds the antisealing hunt movements, amongst other valid considerations. The question remains how much money is the federal/provincial governments going to have to invest in research and development to be able to create their own self-fulfilling prophecy and make the ice floe-abattoir comparison stick? I think a cost-benefit analysis is badly needed and sorely overdue. Dana Breckon, St. John’s
‘Pick a worthwhile cause’ Dear editor, I have never heard such propaganda. Never have I heard of so many people having an opinion on an issue without having all the facts. The seal hunt is not a wrong or bad thing. Little white seal pups are not being clubbed to death for their fur. Adult seals are killed in a quick and humane manner. Yes, the fur is used but the meat is also eaten — even the seal oil is consumed. Nothing is wasted. Humans are carnivores. That is the way it is. I believe in the rights of others who choose to be vegetarians. But that is a choice. It is not the way of nature. No animal is able to multiply endlessly. The earth cannot sustain any creature without loss. Let’s take cows (herbivores) for an example — if cows were left to roam the land without interference from humans, they would eat all the grass. The soil would erode and become useless. There would be no grass, no trees, no plants, no fruits, and no vegetables. Now, we would have no soil, no trees to make the air we breathe, no meat to eat (as we have chosen not to), no fruit, and no vegetables. No existence.
I applaud the humane society in their efforts to protect abused and endangered animals. Seals do not fall into either category. They are overpopulated. They do little else besides sleep, swim, mate and eat. They bite the belly out of a codfish — just the belly — the entire fish is not consumed. Cod is endangered or, at the very least, on a rapid decline due to foreign overfishing, “dragging” of the ocean’s floor and seals. A new-born calf is beautiful. Little piglets are cute. Baby chicks are soft and sweet. I do not see a worldwide protest to the killing of cows, pigs or chicken. And I won’t. It is not feasible nor is it practical. There are many millionaires/billionaires in this world. There are so many more people who are dying every day from starvation. The earth itself is being destroyed by pollution and global warming. Please pick a worthwhile cause to believe in and fight for. The seal hunt is not the world’s biggest problem. Rhonda Hiscott, Mount Pearl
Former premier and keynote speaker Brian Tobin, Debbie Hanlon and John Sheridan of Coldwell Banker Hanlon at the first annual business day, themed The Power of Passion, March 24 at the Fairmont Newfoundland, St. John’s.
‘No better than Bin Laden’ Dear editor, It’s about time we stand up to the anti-seal movement. I, like many others from Atlantic Canada, am very proud of Senator Céline Hervieux-Payette’s no-nonsense defence of the seal hunt. I wonder if the family from Minnesota that wrote Hervieux-Payette also wrote every American Senator to protest any one of American’s own seal hunts. The hypocrisy of Americans attacking us as cruel, considering the brutality of the war in Iraq, is fair game for debate. It’s laughable. To top it all off, it now seems that Brigitte Bardot, who has multiple convictions for hate crimes in France, is to be let into our country to spread her extremist opinions. If we let her in, why
not Ernst Zundel? Why the media continue to portray her in a glamorous manner is beyond me. Maybe if Americans actually read what she had to say about Africans it would open their eyes to the whole seal hunt protest scam and the kind of characters the movement itself attracts. It’s time to call a halt to these insidious campaigns of social intolerance and bigotry towards native and rural peoples by the rich, pampered population of North America’s polluted urban landscape. It is no more than moral terrorism and those who practice it are no better than Bin Laden. Wallace Ryan, St. John’s
Broken dreams solid and level once broken concrete floor holds sand, debris, withered dandelions and memories that echo from a time when people tacked and fro fixed boats, mended nets, gossiped through activities, glanced out windows at sea and shore, watchful of tides and boats and weather. only this floor remains now shattered like broken dreams on reality and tough decisions. Bobbie Brennan, Mount Pearl
MARCH 26, 2006
8 • INDEPENDENTNEWS
LIFE STORY
Blaming Byng JOHN BYNG 1704-1757 By Jenny Higgins For The Independent
A
ccused of being a coward, but remembered as a martyr, Newfoundland’s 32nd governor was the last English admiral to be executed by firing squad at the order of his own country. At noon on March 14, 1757, John Byng was shot on board the HMS Monarch in Portsmouth. Fifteen years earlier, the same government that had ordered his death had appointed Byng governor of Newfoundland. John Byng was baptized at Southill, Bedfordshire, England, on Oct. 29, 1704. His father, George Byng, was a wellrespected admiral in the Royal British Navy and a skilled military leader. King George I was so pleased with Byng’s performance in battle that he made him the first Viscount Torrington. Unfortunately, Byng’s son would not enjoy the same degree of success with his military career.
At the age of 14, John Byng followed in his father’s footsteps and joined the Royal Navy. His decision to enlist did not solely arise from his father’s influence — Byng needed money. As a younger son, he would inherit neither his father’s title nor his fortune, and would therefore have to work for a living. However, being the son of a viscount did have its advantages — despite a largely uneventful early career, Byng moved quickly through the ranks to become a lieutenant at the age of 19 and a captain four years later. In 1742, Byng was named governor of Newfoundland, then a colony of the British Empire. He arrived in St. John’s in the summer and was almost immediately disturbed to discover that a handful of merchants were monopolizing trade all across the island. The merchants were buying cargo from visiting ships and then reselling those goods to the people at inflated prices. Recognizing their grip on the island, Byng tried to break the merchants’ monopoly — he opened an investigation into the island’s trade practices, appointed a naval officer to watch for illegal commerce and reported the mer-
AROUND THE BAY “About to open its fourth fishing season, the Fogo Island Producers Co-operative will extend its operation this year to include a small cutting line. Expecting some 20,000 pounds of fish a day, 10 men will be on hand to filet, pack and ship to St. John’s.” — Fogo Islander, May 1972 YEARS PAST “If there are atomic weapons in Newfoundland (and we think there are) the question arises as to how they were brought here and the answer is by either of two means. First, in the huge flying tankers which have been fairly frequent visitors to our shores during the past couple of years and secondly, in any of the huge freighters which call in just about weekly to unload thousands and thousands of tons of freight at the U.S. Army Dock in St. John’s East.” — Newfoundland Weekly, May 10, 1957 AROUND THE WORLD “Today’s the day the new postal rates go into
chants to the board of trade. But all of his attempts failed — Byng was unable to stop the merchants’ price gouging before the end of his term as Newfoundland governor. He left the island at the end of the fishing season and returned to the navy where he continued his steady rise through the ranks. In 1745, Byng was promoted rear admiral and sent to the east coast of Scotland. Two years later, he became a vice-admiral and was stationed in the Mediterranean. When promoted admiral in 1756, Byng was ordered to guard the Britishheld Mediterranean island of Minorca against a rumoured attack by the French. It was a battle that would bring defeat to England and death to Byng. The Royal Navy had equipped Byng with an undermanned and aging squadron of 10 warships to face France’s 12 ships and 16,000 men. Moreover, Byng, although an admiral, had never commanded a vessel during a battle or led a fleet during a naval engagement — he had spent the bulk of his career in comfortable stations, sheltered from any real danger. Nevertheless, on May 20, 1756, the inexperienced Admiral Byng found himself leading the British fleet into the Battle of Minorca against the French. It was a brief engagement. Byng, lacking in gun power, manpower and skill, quickly made a command decision to retreat and abandon Minorca to the French. The withdrawal led to Byng’s arrest and trial by a court martial — he would be judged by 12 naval officers. A number of charges were brought against him, including cowardice, but only negligence was proved. Unfortunately for Byng, a newly revised English military law ordered that the punishment for any officer convicted of not “doing his utmost” to defeat the enemy was death. So on Jan. 27, 1757, Byng was sen-
effect, the post office announced. It will now cost Canadians 17 cents to mail a first-class letter. Two new stamps featuring the House of Parliament have been issued for use in new 50 cent vending machine booklets. The new booklets, which replace the 25-cent package, will contain two 17-cent, one one-cent and three five-cent stamps.” — Daily News, April 2, 1979 EDITORIAL STAND “Clem Smuk, the defunct paragrapher of The Evening Telegram has secured a good job in a bank in Montreal. He gets four dollars a week and finds his own brooms.” — The Indicator, March 30, 1888 LETTER TO THE EDITOR “After a residence of 11 years in Newfoundland, a period of no ordinary importance in its history, it can scarcely be said that I have not become somewhat intimately acquainted with the capabilities and resources of this fine colony, sufficient to make a country great and
tenced to death by firing squad. But by that point, public opinion had swung in Byng’s favour and it was widely believed that Byng was a scapegoat, forced to take the blame for bad decisions made by his superiors. Some of the officers who had convicted Byng even objected to the punishment, saying they did not realize at the time that their decision would trigger the death penalty. However, the higher officers of the navy refused to lift the sentence and on March 14, 1757, Byng faced a firing squad of six men. Blindfolded and kneeling, Byng himself gave the order to fire by dropping a handkerchief. One bullet missed entire-
ly, four others penetrated various parts of his body, and the sixth went right through his heart. The death was publicly considered a tragedy and was satirized by the French writer Voltaire: “In England, it is useful to kill an admiral from time to time to encourage the others.” Byng was buried at his family’s burial place in Bedfordshire. An inscription on his tombstone reads: “To the perpetual disgrace of public justice, the Hon. John Byng, Esq., admiral of the blue, fell a martyr to political persecution … when bravery and loyalty were insufficient securities for the life and honour of a naval officer.”
prosperous. Its hardy and moral population, the sinews of a nation famed for their intrepidity in peril and danger, and for their endurance in toil and adversity.” John Little, Liberal candidate. — Daily Tribune, April 2, 1927 QUOTE OF THE WEEK “Perhaps some of this condition may be laid at the door of the Newfoundland processors and exporters as they have been operating independently and selling in competition with each other.” David R. Abbott, during a particularly bad exporting year. — Newfoundland Weekly, May 22, 1957
‘Germans and Americans coming here no one to take care of them’ From page 6 “Yehaw! Codpatch is moving lock, stock, and barrel to Alberta,” Wilber shouted, thinking of all the elk and deer he could shoot. Meanwhile, Oilpatch was busting at the seams, hotels were going up everywhere, and the steakhouse on the harbour was bustling, despite the fact that many tourists were more interested in the crab legs being landed right in front of them. “Oh, you don’t want that old crab,” the waitress said. “You wouldn’t eat that. Looks like a spider. All our beef here is Grade A Alberta beef. You won’t find nothin’ better. You want a baked potato with that? They’re from Idaho.” In the private dining room the Oilpatch Chamber Of Commerce was having a luncheon. Oil Wells, the mayor, was having a fit, which he did often so no one was alarmed. “It’s a natural disaster. We’re doomed! We have Germans and Americans coming here and we have no one to take care of them,” screamed Wells, referring to the fact that all of the “servant class” of Sin City had gone across the pond to work in Irish pubs and bed and breakfasts. “Well, I can’t take care of them. I wouldn’t know how to,” said Mammy
Duff, looking down her nose. “We used to get our biddys from King’s Cove, but now ... well, they’ve got right uppity.” “Don’t look at me, good help is hard to find,” said the old Townie, “and with the minimum wage skyrocketing to $6.50 an hour it’s difficult to find anyone worth the cash.” “What are we going to do? The new German subdivision in Logy Bay, centred around the ski slopes, opens in December. They’ll need servants, or the arse will fall out of her,” Wells squeaked in a panicked voice. “Please — the arse will fall out of her? Didn’t that saying go out with the ’70s?” scowled Mammy. “Think … what would you call it? We got a crowd here who can’t take care of themselves, and the crowd who can are all moving to the mainland. What are we going to do?” “The arse is out of her,” agreed Mammy and the old Townie. “These people want to be paid a living wage. What ever gave them that idea? It will be our ruination.” Just then a light bulb blew right above the mayor’s head. “We’ll have to hire people from the Philippines,” he said, thinking of Joe “Brick” Wall and his mail-order bride. rikboland@hotmail.com
INDEPENDENTWORLD
SUNDAY THROUGH SATURDAY, MARCH 26-APRIL 1, 2006 — PAGE 9
Afghan boy during Afghan New Year Day in Kabul last week.
Ahmad Masood/Reuters
‘Logistics and planning’ Afghan forces don’t have bomb experts, so Canadians were summoned to deal with refugee camp bomb ZHARIA PASHT refugee camp, Afghanistan By Rosie DiManno Torstar wire service
S
MO-O-O-O-KE! Sgt. Ron Landry doesn’t even have the warning holler out of his mouth before a shattering blast assaults the eardrums, the ground trembles with concussion and a massive brown mushroom cloud roils above the desert landscape. That’s one less improvised explosive weapon in Afghanistan to shred flesh and rip up military vehicles. All because children playing in the area discovered a length of wire emerging from a device buried just below the soil surface. Why anybody would want to bomb a refugee camp — home, for the past seven years, to upwards of 70,000 internally displaced Afghans — is unfathomable. It might have been — and this is very
much in the minds of the Bravo Company Warrant Officer Al Rishchynski, drawing troops whose convoy had abruptly been heavily on his umpteenth cigarette as the diverted to this location from another mis- smoke cloud scuds westwards. “They’re sion — simply a means of drawing the getting smarter every day.’’ caravan to a point within the crosshairs of How much explosive is needed to incaenemies unknown. pacitate a LAV? A While combat engiBison? A little Gneers were busy attendWagon? Because the ing to this matter, there insurgents care less Sometimes, they’ve was always the possiabout killing people, bility that insurgents apparently, than attached bombs to the were planting IEDs destroying material carcasses of dead dogs (and crippling the elsewhere, over the crest, on the next ridge, coalition task force’s on the side of the road. somewhere along the manoeuvrability). rutted dirt road that the When IEDs first convoy would have to start showing up in travel in order to return to Camp Nathan this country, in numbers, the devices were Smith. homely, with minimal firepower, perhaps Anti-coalition combatants (the generic only one rocket inside the package. Now term) have done precisely that on other they’re using four, five, six rockets per occasions. explosion. The one that killed Canadian “They’re not stupid,’’ says Master diplomat Glyn Berry last month, on the
main road to Kandahar, is rumoured to have contained a dozen rockets. Sometimes, they’ve attached bombs to the carcasses of dead dogs on the side of the road. Sometimes, they send the easily manipulated zealots to hurtle themselves at convoys in motorized rickshaws, suicide missions, if just to see how close they can get before the soldiers will respond with gunfire. It’s all about logistics and planning. This IED is a baby — just a single hardwired rocket. But it’s the first live IED that Landry — a 31-year-old father of four from Cape Breton — has detonated since arriving in Afghanistan. All the others have been “caches,’’ ordnance discovered here and there, awaiting activation. When we arrive on the scene — negotiating a narrow marked trail that wound its See “A thousand,” page 11
VOICE FROM AWAY
Everything is chaos
But somehow, the traffic, culture and crowds in India all make sense, says St. John’s native Nancy Beaton By Nancy Beaton For the Independent
W
hen I announced I’d been accepted to do an internship in India, everyone said ‘nothing can prepare you for such a place.’ They were right. Last year, with a bachelor’s degree in political science started in MUN and finished at Concordia University, and some years dabbling in graphic and web design, I applied for an internship with Industry Canada’s Netcorps program. Two weeks later, I quit my café job and started my six-month Netcorps contract with Montreal’s NGO
Alternatives, the last three months of which I’d be spending on the other side of the world. The first three months passed quickly. I learned about India’s political history, read Rohinton Mistry’s A Fine Balance (a gift from a café regular), and watched many an Indian movie. On Dec. 6, 2005, I was ready to go. CAME TO MY SENSES I arrived in Delhi at 3 a.m. to a humid and decrepit airport. I passed a police officer with an automatic weapon and quickly came to my senses about what a different country I was in. The partner organization eased me into the chaos
that is Delhi. They made normal the 6 a.m. vegetable sellers yodeling outside the windows, and calmed my nerves when I’d tense up in the truly outrageous, life-threatening traffic. They showed me the parliament building, India Gate (and here I thought it was just the name of a restaurant), the many bazaars, and the art of finding a particular item at a particular market. There’s no department store here to do your shopping — it’s the computer market for computer goods, the electronics market for all electronic goods, and the clothing market for textiles. And no price tags, See “Boys will be boys,” page 11
Simply fill out this form and mail to Walter Andrews, 5 Dartmouth Place St. John’s, NL, A1B 2W1
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MARCH 26, 2006
10 • INDEPENDENTWORLD
Gone to the dogs
Well not exactly, but Michael Harris says it’s time for Liberal Lassie to come home
T
he Liberal Party of Toronto needs Rufus. Who is Rufus? He is king of the canines. This 70-pound dynamo, a coloured bull terrier, won Best in Show at the 2006 Westminster Kennel Club dog show, the same August event that gave us the hilarious movie by the same name. But when the Liberals gather in Montreal for their own doggy trot this December, it is doubtful that they will be able to find a Rufus. Too much pedigree decided to stay home. One of the best potential entries in the Toy group, yappy Brian Tobin, has decided not to throw his leash into the ring. A spunky little Shih Tzu like Brian might have been just what the spin doctor ordered. Even if he couldn’t reoccupy the Big Kennel on the Hill in 2007, there would be bite marks on the ankles of the Tories to show that he had at least tried. In the working dog group, Frank McKenna also concluded that this was no time to be Liberal Bestin-Show. By the time the Mounties finish exhuming Liberal-era scandals, it might be hard to find party bagmen who aren’t writing their memoirs from Fenbrook Institution. No wonder this work-obsessed Rottie decided to do his yard thing on Bay Street and leave Montreal to the mutts. Other possible entries were disqualified for different reasons. Paul Martin, a once formidable champion from the herding group, was neutered by disappointed fans during the last Big Show and
MICHAEL HARRIS The Outrider is still unable to perform in public. John Manley, an exuberant Golden Retriever if ever there was one, turns out not to be as sporting a dog as people once thought. This pooch is for petting, not cleaning up other creatures’ crott. Waiting for the current Big Dog to get tangled in the clothesline of incumbency and expire is simply a non-starter. Regrettably, the Liberals are left with all too many entries from the non-sporting group. In political terms, a non-sporting dog is one that wants the treat whether it does the trick or not. Non-sporting dogs also don’t like competing with other dogs for prizes, which is what makes them non-sporting. The early favourite in this category is Belinda Stronach, out of Frank and Elfriede Stronach of Aurora, Ontario. With more press than Paris Hilton, this Doll-matian should have been well positioned to win. But she’s always changing her spots. Despite the best of handlers, she is living proof that obedience school is not always the answer. This puppy can’t recognize right from left or red
from blue. In fact, she has a history of moving non-sporting dog who preferred to win his nomifrom category to category when she fails to win nation by poisoning the incumbent’s kibble and Best-in-Show. Sporting dog, hound, toy, herding merely presenting proof of his pedigree: residency group, whatever venue it takes to cop the top in a foreign country for the past 20 years, support prize, Belinda will be there — except, of course, for the Iraq war, and an ego that is expanding one classification; working dog. faster than Stephen Harper’s waistline. Belinda’s biggest competition in the non-sportSome headed for Montreal say that Ken Dryden ing group is from a scrappy pooch who could have may yet to prove to be the Great Swiss Mountain come from the same litter, figuratively speaking. Dog who will lead the Grits back to red meat. That Scott Brison is a Tibetan may be true, but first he Spaniel who prides himself will have to demonstrate on his financial smarts, the that he is actually alive. For way he rolls on his back the better part of his tenure Belinda’s biggest competiwhen in trouble, and his as a Liberal cabinet miniswinsome personality. His ter, Ken looked like the fine tion in the non-sporting smile is the envy of underwork of a taxidermist pretakers and TV evangelists serving something that group is from a scrappy across the land. Although used to lean on a goalie pooch who could have he has successfully stick for a living. changed owners and won in Frankly I think Atlantic come from the same litter. the same category as a difCanada’s Ashley MacIsaac ferent breed, it is doubtful would stand a better chance that the party will make of raising the Grits from the top-dog out of a contestant also known for leaking dead. With lines like fiddle-diddle, this life-long while on show. libertine would be sure to get the nostalgia vote. The last Liberal contestant in the non-sporting His handlers, though, would have to be vigilant. dog category is Michael Ignatieff. At first it was When over-stimulated, this Heinz 57 longshot is thought that he was a Bouvier who would prove to also know for slipping his leash and humping the be a magnificent entry in the Herding Group. And first available trouser leg. if not a Bouvier, then surely an Old English If you’re out there Lassie, it’s time to come Sheepdog — solid, handsome, and magnetic. But home. it turned out that he was a Lhaso Apso, the kind of Michael Harris’ column returns April 9.
tee time
PM holds all the aces in Parliament By Chantal Hébert Torstar wire service
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aul Martin’s minority government spent its time in Parliament dodging opposition bullets until one finally found its target. But when a reconfigured House of Commons comes back next month, it will be the opposition that will have to worry about playing Russian roulette. Stephen Harper may bring fewer MPs to the fore than Martin did but his hand is still stronger. In sharp contrast with his predecessor, he faces three opposition parties that have more cause to want to Stephen Harper Reuters avoid a snap election than he does. When Harper was in Opposition, there was never any question the Conservative party was battle-ready. Its leader knew he had only one campaign left in him. The first hint of a surge in the polls last spring turned out to be sufficient to send the Conservatives on the election warpath. The Liberals are leaderless until the end of the year. Their name is mud in Quebec. It has been seven elections since they last secured a majority of seats in the province that for so long was their stronghold. None of the presumed candidates for their leadership is a shoo-in for the job or a major attraction anywhere in the country. The last two Liberal leaders cannot stand to be in the same room at the same time. If they absolutely have to, the room better be the size of a hall. It will take more than a reconciliation party in downtown Toronto to bring the party’s warring factions together, a situation that accounts for why so many outsiders to the party are currently considered potentially serious leadership candidates. Back when the Liberals were in power, the NDP managed to play a central role in the policy-making of the government, allowing the party to make the case that a minority was in the best interests of its supporters. But Jack Layton is unlikely to come anywhere close to having the same role vis-à-vis the Conservative government.
NDP ON THE EDGE Unless the NDP manages to supplant the Liberals as the progressive opposition to the Conservatives over the life of this Parliament, it stands to get trampled in the next election as some of its natural allies once again urge voters to unite behind the party they see as most likely to get Harper out of office. For the NDP, the relative health of the Liberal party over the coming year may be as important, if not more so, as the performance of the Conservative government. But perhaps the biggest change between this Parliament and the previous one resides in the psyche of the Bloc Québécois. The election of a different government has largely cleared the air of the sponsorship scandal and deprived the Bloc of its best target. On a larger scale, the results of the last election have destabilized the Bloc. Going into the campaign, Gilles Duceppe never imagined he would have to worry about the Conservatives gaining on him in francophone Quebec. But now, if an election were held tomorrow, Harper would increase his Quebec numbers — at the expense of the Bloc. At the same time, there is less than meets the eye in the Bloc’s election breakthrough in ethnic Montreal. While the party did win seats that previously were Liberal strongholds, its vote did not really go up from one election to the next. More Liberals either stayed home or moved over to the Conservatives. Premier Jean Charest could call an election anytime between next fall and the end of 2007. By the time the Liberals have a leader in place, the Bloc’s election window will be shut tight while the PQ makes its own bid for power; by then Ontario, too, might be in election mode. In no small part because of the sponsorship scandal, the last Parliament was probably never Martin’s to win but it looks like this one will be Harper’s to lose.
MARCH 26, 2006
INDEPENDENTWORLD • 11
‘Boys will be boys, but women shall be nothing but ladies’ From page 9
Whole families piled onto a single motorcycle is a common sight, and just the other day I saw a family of five riding alongside my bus, with the only helmet worn by the father.
you’ve just got to have a price in mind and bargain away! My big problem was, where do we find toilet paper? Using my hand was one trend I wasn’t ready to pick up just yet. The following week I boarded the Kerala Express to start my 48-hour journey southbound to the state in which I’d be spending the next two months. I watched yellow desert sand, empty ravines, farmers in their bare fields, and two sunsets pass me by. The next time I woke up, I was in a land of coconut trees and mountains, rice paddies and smiling villagers. I hung out the open door, a freedom I’ve never been able to enjoy in Canada where potential lawsuits and insurance policies restrict such behavior. The air was moist and the wind warm. I’ve been living here in Palakkad district of Kerala for a month-and-a-half on a campus for Rural Technology development, with a permanent residing staff of about 20. ‘BUT I PERSIST’ Living at the base of the Western Ghat mountain range 15 minutes from the nearest village, there’s no high-speed Internet connection, and with the humidity, many of the computers’ ports are rusty. This proves difficult for making a web- Nancy Beaton and friends in India. site, but I persist. The 35°C days are bearable, spent in the shad- with no western paranoia about personal space or ed office with a fan. The weather hasn’t changed homophobia. since the day I arrived in India — 60 days of sunThe women on campus share rooms with five shine and no clouds. or more and their every move is noted. One I’ve attended two temple festivals, both with wrong move could be reported back to a father, or amazement. One concert was laid out like the folk worse, a husband. festival, but with a big rope down the middle, At night I must be in my room by 11 p.m., but men on one side and women on the other. I could since I’m staying in the gent’s quarters (I don’t fit hardly believe my eyes. in with the other women), no one’s watching and I began to notice this trend more and more. On I can sneak up to the roof and watch the millions the buses the front is for women, back for men. of stars over this dimly lit land. Women are hardly ever out after dark in Palakkad I’ve gotten in trouble for not checking out and certainly not alone. Women at university stay before going to the nearby town for a milkshake, at women’s hostels where they have 6 p.m. cur- but I’m not used to the watchful eyes. People fews and no visitors. won’t allow me to go places by myself and will This campus, which helps local people gain always try and arrange an escort for me. control over their lives through skilled local trades — and stands for the empowerment of MOST RIDICULOUS What’s most ridiculous of all, is that standing women — is the farthest example from feminism at 5’10”, I’m about five inches taller that the I’ve seen. I’ve deduced the general attitude is “boys will average man in India. Between the raging traffic and the gender gap be boys, but women shall be nothing but ladies.” Men have freedom here like nowhere else. They I’d be a fool to ride a bike here. Although I often smoke, drink, cuddle and cling to one another see women driving scooters, vehicles are for the
most part driven by men. Whole families piled onto a single motorcycle is a common sight, and just the other day I saw a family of five riding alongside my bus, with the only helmet worn by the father. The people here are charming and kind. I’ve had entire busses wave me goodbye after helping me find my correct route, and once a lady in the bus seat behind me touched my hair then smiled a toothless smile, ear to ear. Several times a day I have people asking me where I’m from, except since Canada sounds uncannily like Kerala on a noisy street, I quite often get a belly laugh or such in response.
It was all summed up best in a letter I received: “everything is chaos 24/7, but it all makes so much sense.” People are kind to one another, laid back, and get along in a most logical way, given such an enormous population density. There is so much happening here that I don’t understand, but at the same time, it’s so casual and comfortable. I’m trying to be respectful of this grand place, while still keeping what I consider to be dignity of my own as a woman. Indians will stop me in train stations and crowded colorful buses to ask why I’m alone, as though it’s a shame. Yet I consider myself lucky to be experiencing such a grand place on my own, with no one to laugh with or judge my surroundings but Indians themselves. I am happy I’ve had the opportunity to glimpse how young Indians live, and to make some beautiful friendships. Although I’ll be sad to leave this chaotic place that makes so much sense, I must admit that I long for a padded bed, a bitter coffee, and a bike ride through Montreal’s comparatively quiet streets. Do you know a Newfoundlander or Labradorian living away? E-mail editorial@theindependent.ca.
Wild ride for Tim Hortons
D
ouble-double met the opening bell at the Toronto Stock Exchange last week, as Tim Hortons celebrated the launch of its shares with the largest listing ceremony in the exchange’s history. A massive trailer in front of the exchange kept the crowd fed with coffee and doughnuts. Demand for shares in the Canadian icon, though, will be harder to satisfy. “If there’s one brand in Canada that everyone knows and everyone can understand, Tim Hortons is it,” says Keith Taylor, portfolio manager at Guardian Group of Funds in Toronto. Shares in Tim Hortons Inc. rose $10 to $37 in
early trading. Investors from coast to coast have been calling their brokers, clamouring for a taste of the action. But even if Tim Hortons keeps to its plan to sell 29 million shares, it won’t be nearly enough to meet the demand. All the hype makes it more likely that the stock will be a letdown immediately following its launch, observers say. “It’s people thinking with their bellies, not their heads. There’s going to be a tremendous price run-up because of the excess demand,” said Lew Johnson, finance professor at the School of Business at Queen’s University. — Torstar wire service
Ice caps melting fast
G
lobal warming of only a couple of degrees Celsius projected by the end of this century is enough to trigger widespread melting of the massive Greenland ice cap and the partial collapse of Antarctica’s ice sheets, prominent climate researchers warn. The findings are a stunning about-face from previous expert forecasts that such massive melting would take millennia to kick in, even with rising global atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. This new research, based on a comprehensive look at global warming in the distant past, says melting the two icy domains could eventually raise sea level worldwide by as much as five
metres, enough to flood low-lying regions like the Netherlands and most Pacific atolls, and push half a billion people inland. The full five-metre rise could take several centuries but the world’s oceans could easily be a metre higher by 2100, the researchers said. “The melting is going to happen faster than we thought. It’s already begun to happen,” says University of Calgary ice researcher Shawn Marshall, the sole Canadian among the authors of the two studies published by the journal Science. “We could be past the point of no return for Greenland this century,” he says. — Torstar wire service
‘A thousand curses’ From page 9 way between massive live mind fields on either side — an Afghan National Police commander had already cut the wire leading from the bomb to the detonator, folly in itself, which meant the device was likely to be set off by remote control, possibly by someone watching the Canadians from the refugee tents or any of the mud-walled slap-dash cantonment that have sprung up in the region. The AFA summoned the Canadians because the Afghan forces don’t have bomb experts. But there’s no way of knowing if an IED is also pressure-plated so that it explodes when shifted or otherwise disturbed. Landry, with his combat engineer partner Cpl. Leonard “Vinnie’’ Vingar — another Cape Breton native — approached the device carefully while others in the company hung back, some fanning out to secure the perimeter, scanning the dirt ridges through their rifle scopes. Landry gently brushed aside some sand from atop the device, realizing immediately it’s “rigged up,’’ sitting on a tilt. “I saw some wires,’’ he reports. At first, because Landry isn’t formally certified for bomb dismantling — only for blowing things up — Maj. Nick Grimshaw determines it’s best to call in the Explosives Ordnance Disposal unit with their forensic specialists, who will scrutinize the device to discover, perhaps, what the “enemy’’ has learned about bomb-making: Examining the round surface,
drive bands, threads. But it’s late afternoon already and it could take hours for the specialists to get here. The major doesn’t want this five-vehicle convoy, which is lightly armoured, to be on the risky road after sundown. The decision is made: “Blow it up.’’ Or, in the engineer lingo: “Whip it.’’ Vingar prepares the C-4 plastic explosives and Landry returns to pack it around the IED, fusing it to the device, delicately trying to configure the plastic so it will catch the propellant. “I didn’t want to f... around with the tip of it,’’ he says afterwards. From 200 metres away, with the vehicles now moved to a safe distance, he makes the bomb go BANG. Moments later, he’s at the edge of the crater, scooping up shrapnel for forensic examination back at base, and dumping the hot metal shards into his field hat. “A good day at the office,’’ he says modestly, and groaning about the paperwork this incident will demand. The rest of the soldiers clamber back into the vehicles, thinking now about what adventures the road home might hold, but also about the steak-and-lobster-tail dinner they will likely have missed at the mess hall, with this unscheduled diversion. Bombardier Dan Mazurek, a strapping 23year-old from B.C., can barely tolerate the idea of missing surf-and-turf night. He howls at the darkening sky. “A thousand curses on the Taliban!”
101
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12 • INDEPENDENTWORLD
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INDEPENDENTLIFE
SUNDAY THROUGH SATURDAY, MARCH 26-APRIL 1, 2006 — PAGE 13
Fifty-seven years ago next Saturday (April 1) Newfoundland joined Canada. In a 2003 presentation before the royal commission on the province’s place in Confederation, the late-Gordon Winter said Newfoundland’s ‘shopping list’ of items to be included in the Terms of Union was ‘useless’. Winter’s transcript has never been published — until now.
Editor’s note: on Jan. 16, 2003 the late Gordon Winter — one of Newfoundland’s signatories of the Terms of Union — appeared before the Royal Commission on Renewing and Strengthening our Place in Canada. The following is a transcript of Winter’s presentation.
“W
hen I was thinking about what I might say today, I began to realize how very passé I am with respect to public affairs and all that has happened over the 50-odd years that has occurred between the time that I first had anything to do with it. I do not know how many times I have been asked: ‘How did you come to get chosen to go to Ottawa to get involved in the Terms of Union?’ The only answer that I have ever been able to give in the thing is: I simply don’t know. After the second referenda took place in the thing, I had gone on a private holiday with my wife and children down to Placentia to have a fishing holiday. Naturally, the conversation all around the place down there was how the government is considering who they are going to send to Ottawa, and this was a great topic of conversation. A day or two later in the thing, the telephone rang and I was called to the phone. Now, you know that a tele-
phone conversation in a Newfoundland outport hotel is about as private as if you had it in the middle of Water Street. So I could not understand what the call would be, but I began to wonder when the voice on the other end said: ‘This is (name deleted) speaking from Government House, and His Excellency would like to see you. I said: ‘Well I am down here in Placentia and it is going to take some time before I get there.’ He said: ‘Well that is all right. Come as soon as you can.’ So I had a journey home with the two kids bawling because their holiday had been interrupted, and my wife displeased with having to do all of this, and I wondering what in the hell I was being called to Government House for, because I really could not bring myself to believe that it was what it seemed to be. I mean, I had never played any part in the National Convention. I had made no association with either of the pro-Confederate or staunchly anti-Confederate, so it was not a pleasant subject to raise in our home. I had stayed out of the whole thing. So I could not believe what I had done, and I still do not know to this day how I came to go. Anyway, it happened. We came into St. John’s and we spent August and September with (name deleted), who had our nose to the grindstone, and we worked for those two months trying to prepare a
case, as we thought, going up to negotiate the Terms of Union, and we had a long shopping list that it had taken us some time to draw up over the two months. I think it was a pretty good list, and we gave the reasons why. When we got to Ottawa and the session opened, we came to the conclusion that the first thing we should do was, there were three points at that time which occurred to us as being what I think lawyers call sine qua non, so we wanted to settle these points first before we spent time on a whole lot of other — what we considered to be — lesser things. When the session first opened, the first plenary session, we said to (name deleted), the prime minister: ‘Sir, we have three points that we would like to have answered first, because we really do not see any point in going on with any further discussion on other matters until we know where we are with these things. First and foremost, sir, the question is: We want to know, does the Government of Canada accept the decision of the British Privy Council which awards Labrador to Newfoundland, and will Labrador form part of the new province if we get that arrangement made?’ The second point was, we felt the ferry
LIVYER
Favourite teacher
Peter Narvaez may be a retired forklore professor, but he’s still in tune with province’s culture By Alisha Morrissey The Independent
F
or some people, retirement just means more work. At least for Peter Narvaez, it’s work he likes doing. Nervaez, who recently retired from Memorial University’s folklore department, describes himself as a folklorist and blues musician. “The future, I think, is very bright because I continue to engage in the same research I’ve always been engaged in, but now I hopefully have a little bit more time at it,” Narvaez tells The Independent. Born in Brooklyn, N.Y. and raised in New Jersey, Narvaez says since coming to teach in the province more than 30 years ago he’s studied the culture and history of Newfoundland
and Labrador, often through his students. “(They) provided a window for me to understand the rich traditions of Newfoundland and Labrador,” he says. “Almost everybody who comes to Newfoundland who has an interest in people and culture loves Newfoundland and so I felt very fortunate to be here.” In his years of research Narvaez has written and edited three books, including one documenting the tradition of the wake and another where he interviewed former premier Joey Smallwood about his radio career. Upon his retirement, Narvaez was honoured by a rare accolade. His students, past and present, got together to throw him a retirement bash. The party, he says, was a real treat because it only happens with a favourite teacher.
“I didn’t know how to handle all the nice things being said,” he says, adding he was lucky enough to teach a course that most people take as an elective, meaning they attend because they enjoy it. But upon his arrival in the province it was his passion for music, Narvaez says, that integrated him into the community of St. John’s. On his first week in the province, Narvaez says he stopped off at a pub for a beer where Ron Hynes was playing and he was shocked to hear Hynes singing a song from a record he wrote while still living in the States. “I’d just arrived in Newfoundland so it was kind of a real surprise for me to hear a Newfoundlander singing one of my songs,” he says. “I said ‘Hey man you’re playing one of See “Music is,” page 15
Peter Narvaez
See “We began,” page 18
14 • INDEPENDENTLIFE
MARCH 26, 2006
GALLERYPROFILE
Equinox
9 Bonaventure Ave. 709 757 8000 www.therooms.ca
Spring showers and flowers, themes of rebirth, renewal and regrowth — and a dose of mythology — are all explored and celebrated in Equinox, a show of miniature textile works by students of the College of the North Atlantic’s textile studies program. “We thought we would give (the students) the theme of Equinox because we wanted it to happen around now, and it’s such a cool and magical time, and there’s a lot of information and a lot of ways they could approach it,” says Katie Parnham, an instructor with the program. Participating in the exhibition was a requirement for all first-year students, and an option for second-years. Ten of the pieces — limited in size to 10 inches by 10 inches — will be shown next October alongside pieces by students in similar programs across Canada. “We try to have different opportunities to do different types of events, different projects where students can actually see what it’s like to be a practicing professional,” Parnham says of the program, offered at the Anna Templeton Centre on Duckworth Street. “In this case, it’s being an artist or craftsperson; other times we’ll have fashion shows so they can see what it’s like to be a costume or fashion designer …” Preparing for the exhibition, says Parnham, gave students the chance to go through the design process from idea to finished product, framed and on display. “To have an outside project, you have to push students to do the very best they can do,” she says. “This has to be professional, have it matted and get it framed. “For many it was their first experience doing work to put up on the wall for the world to see.” Although participating students have been through the same course work and general process, the finished pieces vary in theme, technique and personality. “There’s knit, felting, fabric collage, machine embroidery,” Parnham says. “It’s a nice wide range of stuff.” In addition to the finished piece, students had to prepare and present their backup work. The sketches and detailed design processes are on display in binders, giving gallery visitors a glimpse of the creative process. “It’s kind of cool to see how it all got transformed in the end,” Parnham says, impressed by the work the students submitted. “Students always live up to the challenge … you should never underestimate what they can do.” Having said that, she hopes the exhibition will become an annual affair, involving different instructors — communications, design and colour, textiles — in a single project. “What we’re trying to do is work more as a team to make sure all aspects are covered, and make their work stronger,” says Parnham. “We’re a small school (15 students are in the first-year program), so we can do that.” Equinox is on display at Devon House until April 13. A fashion show by students in the textile program will be held at the Holiday Inn April 23; the graduate show opens May 10 at the Anna Templeton Centre. — Stephanie Porter
MARCH 26, 2006
INDEPENDENTLIFE • 15
Let the summer movie season begin worth watching. Although it’s meant to get us thinking and talking — a cautionary tale about how our fears can be manipulated and the price we pay for not striving to be informed — V for Vendetta offers more play than work. While it’s not the stunt-filled extravaganza that one might expect from the previews, it provides plenty of action and spectacle, with satisfying doses of drama and suspense. Still a couple of months away, the summer movie season has just seen the bar raised. This is probably the most entertaining motion picture so far this year. Let’s hope we’re not saying the same thing in September.
TIM CONWAY Film score V for Vendetta 132 min. Starring Natalie Portman, Hugo Weaving (out of four)
C
onceived as a graphic novel during the reign of Margaret Thatcher, V for Vendetta is set in the near future, wherein the Norsefire party, a totalitarian regime, has come to power in Great Britain, and civil liberties are tightly restricted in the name of public security. An 11 p.m. curfew is in place, and roaming surveillance vehicles listen in on household conversations. Certain religions are outlawed, as is homosexuality, and numerous artworks are removed from public access for the greater good of the people. Arrest warrants seem to be non-existent, and suspects are “black bagged” and dragged away for interrogation, most never to be heard from again. One evening, a young Evey Hammond (Natalie Portman) finds herself in a bit of a tight spot. Running late to visit a friend, she’s out after the curfew, so to avoid detection, she ducks into an alley and encounters a few members of the secret police, known as Fingermen. She’s anticipating immediate arrest and interrogation, but these guys have something a little more sinister in mind. Just as the three men are about to usurp their authority, a costumed figure resembling Zorro sporting a Guy Fawkes mask (Hugo Weaving), steps out of the shadows and intervenes. Once the dust settles, Evey’s champion introduces himself as V, and in a manner that suggests a well-educated individual with a flair for the dramatic, and no deficit of egotism, launches into a spate of alliteration that leaves no doubt regarding his fondness for his name. V takes Evey to the roof of a nearby building where he promises to treat her to a concert like she’s never seen. As the clock strikes 12, V gesticulates as though he’s holding a baton in front of an orchestra, while music blares from the city’s public address system. At a critical moment in the piece (Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture), one of London’s landmarks explodes, followed by a fireworks display, heralding the beginning of what promises to be a tumultuous 12 months for Evey and the rest of the country. Known primarily for the Matrix films, Andy and Larry Wachowski serve as producers and screenwriters here, leaving the director’s chair for their protégé, James McTeigue, who also worked on the last two Star Wars pictures. Although years ago, the brothers had written a more faithful adaptation of the graphic novel V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd, the Wachowskis have made a number of alterations to the original story, not the least of which seems to be polishing V’s image, presenting him as more freedom fighter than terrorist. Hugo Weaving does a superb job as V, surmounting the challenge of acting behind a rigid mask by conveying more through body language and intonation than many of today’s thespians can through facial expressions — theatrical training is a good thing. Likewise, Natalie Portman displays more of the actress nominated for an Oscar last year than the line-reader in the Star Wars films. Her transformation into the person she wants to be is believable, and the change in her personality is apparent. With the likes of Stephen Rea, John Hurt, Rupert Graves, and Stephen Fry on board, we are treated to solid supporting performances all round. Collectively, they ensure every minute of the film is
‘Music is a wonderful resource’ From page 13 my songs.’” Hynes immediately asked him to play with him and Narvaez says he went to the car and got his mandolin. Since their first meeting, Narvaez says he’s written a study on the history of the song Sonny’s Dream. “Music is a wonderful resource and I think music is a wonderful way to meet people … I think one of the things about Newfoundland culture that’s so interesting is that music is felt to be a part of everybody’s life,” he says. Narvaez’s blues style comes from many influences, he says, including his father and uncle who played Mexican guitar. “It’s kind of an Hispanic-influenced, African American-influenced kind of blues style that I’ve emerged with,” Narvaez says. “One of the things I’ve always done is play finger style … and also I developed a style of using the guitar very percussively and hitting it. “That’s what I’ve been doing since I was a youngster. When I was a youngster I became involved in rock and roll and that kind of thing but in the ’50s it was an exciting time. I was in one of the first rock and roll bands in northern New Jersey. We did a lot of hops, it was my 10 minutes I suppose.”
Beowulf and Grendel 103 min. Starring Stellan Skarsgard, Sarah Polley 1/2 (out of four)
Hugo Weaving as V in V for Vendetta.
Gerard Butler stars in Beowulf and Grendel.
The oldest known epic poem in the English language gets a 21st-century polish here as machismo and bravado bow to enlightenment. Just as the Norse gods are ceding dominance as Christianity approaches, a way of life is disappearing and attitudes are changing. The monster that supposedly inspired J.R.R. Tolkein’s orcs is presented here in a more human and sympathetic incarnation, a victim of racism with an appetite for revenge. While this modification is a little too obvious, it is an acceptable take on the old tale, adding a romantic element to what could be presented in the other extreme as a narrative version of professional wrestling with swords. So we have King Hrothgar (Stellan Skarsgard) at the height of his glory, besieged by the murderous Grendel (Ingvar Sigurdsson), whose nightly raids on the village leaves a new crop of dead guards for the morning. While his beef is with the king, Grendel wants him to suffer the constant mourning that he has over the years. To the rescue comes Beowulf (Gerard Butler) from Geatland, with a boatload of hardy warriors. Beholden to the Hrothgar for once helping his father, Beowulf is also in search of adventure and glory, and this seems to be the place to find it. What he doesn’t expect to find is his conscience. Gerard Butler, whose previous performance in the titular role of Attila probably helped him get a handle on Beowulf, creates a character immediately recognizable as the kind of warrior that inspires legends — yet manages to stay within the realm of credibility. Likewise, Skarsgard effectively conveys the torment of a man whose past indiscretion has caught up with him; while Sigurdsson’s Grendel is less of a monster than a man who behaves like one. The weak link in the cast is Sarah Polley, as the ostracized witch Selma, who serves a critical role in Beowulf’s path to enlightenment, but delivers her lines without any inflection to suggest that her character belongs to another time and place. Consequently, the illusion of the 6th century is shattered, and we are aware that this is a red-headed Sarah Polley pretending to be a witch in a new movie. While the costumes and sets are authentic enough, the scenery is absolutely spectacular, a character in its own right. Some of the locations are almost unreal in their beauty, and lend themselves well to establishing a story that falls just this side of fantasy. Directed by Sturla Gunnarsson, who’s spent enough time here filming Rare Birds and Above and Beyond to be considered a Newfoundland and Labradorian, Beowulf and Grendel offers solid entertainment, with a chunk of morality to give us something to chew. While it doesn’t offer much help to students cramming for an exam on the poem, it does provide for a satisfying trip to the cinema. Tim Conway operates Capital Video in Rawlin’s Cross, St. John’s.
MARCH 26, 2006
16 • INDEPENDENTLIFE
IN CAMERA
For the love of it
“Tasteful and hilarious” is how director Janet Graham describes Deadpan Alley’s production of The Birdcage, but the show is a little too risqué to perform in the high school gymnasium where the theatre company began. Photo editor Paul Daly and senior editor Stephanie Porter stopped by the Majestic Theatre recently for a dress rehearsal, curious about the tale of love, marriage and drag queens — and the Goulds troupe performing it.
J
anet Graham was enrolled in theatre classes when she was 11 years old — and not by choice. “I was shy, and I had a speech impediment, so they thought it would be good therapy for me,” she says. “I watched for the first few months, and then helped out, and got a part.” She hasn’t stopped since. She’s been writing scripts in her spare time over a 28-year period, through an English degree (she took as many theatre-related courses as possible), 15 years as a secretary, a second degree in education, and more than five years as an intern and then substitute teacher at St. Kevin’s High School in Goulds. She’s written for the Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers’ Association, taught workshops, and led drama clubs for years. It was at St. Kevin’s she met most of the people she’s directing today. The 18 cast and crew of Deadpan Alley Productions gather in the Majestic Theatre for a dress rehearsal of The Birdcage. They’re sorting out costumes, sets, lighting and scene changes — last-minute details for the next evening’s show.
The majority of the cast are in their late teens, with a few older, and at least one younger — 11-year-old MacKenzie, Graham’s son, who apparently suffers none of the shyness his mother did at that age. They seem excited about the show, about the size of the theatre, and display no early signs of nervousness. Even news of a possible illness in the cast is greeted with calmness and wisecracks. Chad Furlong, one of the original Deadpan members, says he first worked with Graham in Grade 10 on a play she wrote. “She started it with us, a little variety show,” he says. “And she realized we could do this stuff, and look at us now, where we’re to, in the Majestic Theatre and the LSPU Hall. “She didn’t give up on us.” The guys joke about early “homeroom theatre” over the school’s PA system, led by Graham. Now, though many of those high school students have gone on to Memorial or the workforce, they still meet at least twice a week for theatre. Others have joined along the way: a teacher, a masseuse, the owner of a
piano tuning company, a reverend and a florist — to name a few. Since starting as Goulds’ first amateur theatre group, Deadpan Alley has presented nine shows, eight of them comedies. “The core group started off with really good instincts and now, through experience and practice they’ve been able to combine their instincts, they’re really getting professional,” Graham says. “I think it’s phenomenal these kids can say they’ve been in a theatre company for five years, and at least a couple should pursue this as a career.” ••• The Birdcage, originally a Frenchlanguage play by Jean Poiret (later a movie starring Robin Williams and Nathan Lane) is about — as the poster says — love, marriage and drag queens. “It’s a typical story,” begins Graham, as a few cast members giggle. Boy meets girl, the couple fall in love and want to get married. But the girl’s parents are incredibly uptight — and the boy’s parents are the gay
owners of a drag club. The girl, so worried about the two sets of parents meeting, decides the only thing to do is lie to everyone: she says her fiancé’s mother is a housewife, and his father, a cultural attaché to Greece. “It entails dramatic renovation of the apartment,” continues Graham. “As they’re basically trying to straighten things out — pardon the pun — their home, the way they look, everything, it culminates in this dinner which is incredibly tense and psychotic and hilarious all at the same time.” The show opens with a mime-like character named Mercury, who “introduces the concept that families are the same, have the same insecurities, values, conflicts, no matter how diverse the family structure. “He also proposes the issue that you don’t have to be a woman to be a mother … even in 2006, as unbelievable as it is, some of these topics are still controversial, but here it’s done in a way that’s tasteful and hilarious and intelligent.” Last fall, The Birdcage was a sellout. To follow up, Graham decided
MARCH 26, 2006
on The Full Monty, written by Terrence McNally and popularized in a 1997 movie by the same name. It played at the LSPU Hall last month, again selling out. When a snowstorm forced Graham to cancel a night of the heldover play, she frantically called around town for a last-minute replacement venue. The Majestic was available. The day after the performance, the co-ordinator of the theatre invited Graham and her troupe back. Now, both The Birdcage and The Full Monty are back for another run, to everyone’s delight. “So we’ve got them in dresses one night and next to nothing the next … and half these actors are 18 or 19 years old,” Graham says. “We’ve been lucky so far, but I shouldn’t say luck, because it’s word of mouth and if these guys weren’t as impressive as they are then nobody would come.” ••• In the true spirit of community theatre, Graham takes a second to thank the Goulds Lions Club and
INDEPENDENTLIFE • 17
Bidgood’s for offering valuable rehearsal space for free. The shop class at St. Kevin’s has made many of her sets; more than a few locals come to every performance. “We do everything we do for free,” says Graham. “I log more hours as a writer and director here than I have in any job I’ve had — and I’ve had a lot of jobs — but we all do it for the love of doing it. “Any money we do make goes straight back into the account so we have funds so we can build a set, rent space … “ If a windfall was to come along, Graham says she’d like to give it to the recent high school students. “It would be awfully nice to give these guys some money, not just for showing up on a Friday night and taking their clothes off and making the audience laugh for a couple of hours, but … to put them to work, get a venue, help with some of the administration, help me write. Gain some work experience.” Meantime, Graham is already thinking about the next show. It might be a variation on Clue, with a board game-like set — or something
else entirely. Eventually, once Deadpan is more established, Graham says she’d like to produce some of her own scripts. When asked about Deadpan’s long-term plan, Graham says “to be honest, I have no idea. “I still get a strange feeling in my gut when I walk in here and I realize we’re in a professional theatre with these kids, who are no longer kids. “How far do you take it? I’m reluctant to think along those lines because I’m afraid it’ll take away some of the innocence, it’ll be a little too jaded. Are you looking then for an ulterior reason for doing it, other than the love of it? I’d hate to see that change, if that changed, I wouldn’t be in it.” A handful of actors chime in then, suggesting road trips to Burin or a bus tour to Gander and beyond. Graham laughs, “At this point, anything we’re invited to, we’re going to do. Wherever this goes, we’re going to follow.” The Birdcage plays April 8 and 15; The Full Monty on April 1. All shows at the Majestic Theatre.
“How far do you take it? I’m reluctant to think along those lines because I’m afraid it’ll take away some of the innocence, it’ll be a little too jaded. Are you looking then for an ulterior reason for doing it, other than the love of it? I’d hate to see that change, if that changed, I wouldn’t be in it.”
— Janet Graham
MARCH 26, 2006
18 • INDEPENDENTLIFE
‘We began to realize ... that our shopping list was From page 13
Gordon Winter
“There is no way that you people or anybody else can come up here and negotiate advantageous considerations and circumstances which apply only to Newfoundland and are not going to apply to any other provinces. It is impossible for the Government of Canada to accept that position. So, we could tear up about half of our shopping list that we had and it coloured, I suppose, the whole rest of the discussions.”
from Port aux Basques to Sydney was an essential part of being part of Canada, and paid for by the Government of Canada. That was point No. 2. Point three may sound silly and trivial in this day and age, 50 years later, but the third one was that we wanted an assurance that we were going to be able to continue to manufacture margarine in Newfoundland. Now, that sounds very trivial in this day and age, but back in 1948 Smallwood had been making speech after speech after speech, as he was very capable of doing in those days, on the cost of living. If margarine was going to be cancelled out, you had a big item like butter which would be about 60 cents a pound, or somewhere around that, insofar as Canadian butter was concerned, against what, 20-odd cents a pound for the margarine, so this was a tremendous cost of living increase in the thing. (Name deleted), amongst others, having made so many speeches, was very irate and very determined on this point, so that was put forward as a vital point as far as we were concerned. I think it was probably a couple of days later, to look respectable and to look as though they had given thought and consideration to it, when we had the next plenary session, the Prime Minister came in and told us: ‘The first thing is that the Government of Canada will agree that Labrador should form part of the new province of Newfoundland.’ So we were relieved, I suppose, in the first reaction that you get, and also, naturally, pleased. The ferry service did not mean anything. They said yes to that right away, because it was an advantage to Canada as well as to Newfoundland, so there was no argument about that. There was a little bit of argument on the margarine question because Quebec, being a great dairy province, was very much opposed to having margarine manufactured, and, if it was to be manufactured, it had to be prohibited from being exported from Newfoundland to, well, at any rate, Quebec, and probably to the rest of the country. The Government of Canada saw that this was a necessity in Newfoundland, and even though it wasn’t, in any sense, a constitutional matter, it was an indication to us how the Government of Canada could make things constitutional if it suited them to do so, and it suited them to do so in this, because it was about the only way it could be done, I think. Anyway, we had those three concessions, if you
Joseph R. Smallwood
like. We were told: ‘That is fine, you can go ahead now with the negotiation of the Terms of Union. We proceeded to give our shopping list to the prime minister, and then we found out the real state of affairs. We began to realize at once that our shopping list was useless, we were not going to be able to negotiate Terms of Union as we had been left to believe we were going to do. The prime minister explained to us that there were some matters that we would have to deal with which were constitutional and that there were other matters which were government policy. There is a huge gap between those two, as he made it very clear to us. He said that, so far as the Constitution is concerned — and it was described by the prime minister or somebody else as this — that it is purely a legal instrument, the Terms of Union, which enables Newfoundland to become part of the Government of Canada. It is no more than that. Well, you may get things like Labrador, which is an exceptional item, but everything else is a mater of government policy, and even that is only in force and effect so long as we will give you undertakings on certain things. As long as this government is in office we will do so and so and so, but if another government comes along afterwards, it is not going to be binding on the successive governments. So that shook us down somewhat, that we are not going to get any constitutional consideration in it because, as the prime minister explains it, there is no way that — the Constitution belongs to all the provinces and all the provinces are going to be treated fairly. There is no way that you people or anybody else can come up here and negotiate advantageous considerations and circumstances which apply only to Newfoundland and are not going to apply to any other provinces. It is impossible for the Government of Canada to accept that position. So, we could tear up about half of our shopping list that we had and it coloured, I suppose, the whole rest of the discussions. We realized that we were not negotiating the Terms of Union, and that of course applies to all the rest of it. It is the basis of one of the chief complaints that others have spoken about here today, that the people of Newfoundland never had any idea of what they were signing. The terms were never made known into it.
MARCH 26, 2006
INDEPENDENTLIFE • 19
useless’ I do not think there was any way in which they could be known. The terms of what was said and what was true was that the constitutional rights and privileges were sent out in a document. So you could read those if you wanted to and you knew what you were getting when you joined the club in it, but with regards to negotiations: no, they didn’t take place, in my experience. I do not think they could in the circumstances of the Canadian Constitution because — and anyone who thinks nowadays, and I hear it on the radio just about every day — that we need to renegotiate the Terms of Union and that means renegotiating the Canadian Constitution. There is no way that the Canadian Constitution can be changed. It is so fenced in with rights and privileges and having to get 10 provinces to agree, and all along those lines. It strikes me as just a waste of time. Now I can understand why people are saying it because they do not understand, and we certainly did not understand the situation when we went up there. I do not claim to understand it all now, but the Canadian Constitution comes first and any other arrangements will come along later. So far as government policy is concerned, the prime minister kindly undertook to write to (name deleted) at the end of it and said: ‘So long as this government is in power, we will deal with the matters that you have raised in this way. That is all written out in a letter that is on the record.’ As soon as (name deleted) came into power, changes were made in these arrangements as the prime minister said they would be … I am personally satisfied that insofar as the financial — and I emphasize financial —Terms of Union are concerned I think we got all that was there. It is possible, I suppose, that under I don’t know what kind of circumstances you could extort more from the Government of Canada, which would be a pretty difficult and impossible thing to do. Other than that, we got all that it was possible to be willingly given out of the Terms of Union. I don’t see any changes in the Terms of Union or any changes in any constitutional situation which are going to help our present situation. I was glad to hear (name deleted) say, as I thought I heard him say, that the Terms of Union had very little to do with our circumstances right now. The thing is, it is clearly, in my mind, that it is a legal instrument which enabled Newfoundland to become a Province of Canada. If you think you are going to rest your case and get anything out of them, you are not going to change them so that you can get anything out of them, at least in my view you can’t anyway. It was a very interesting experience for me. I thought that I was one of the luckiest people in the world to, as a young fellow of 36 years of age, to be plucked out of the boat and sent up and given this particular job with all this excitement and the opportunity for me to learn a lot about Canada, about which I knew nothing before I went up there, and to meet the mighty Canadian cabinet, whose names were always prominent in the press for one reason or another. The governor kindly said to me, when I left him in the thing (name deleted): ‘I suppose now, you, as a young fellow, are going up to Ottawa and you are somewhat in fear and trembling of meeting the mighty Canadian cabinet and appearing before them. I said: ‘Yes, sir, I am. I would not be truthful if I would say that is not a certain effect on your nerves when you are going into a matter of such importance, not only to me but to all Newfoundlanders … No, our expectations were not met, because we were not allowed to negotiate. I mean, we could not meet our expectations when we went up there expecting to negotiate this and negotiate that, but that is where it ended. I don’t know — we didn’t understand the situation until it was explained to us. I think there are a lot of people in Newfoundland today who do not understand the situation. I think an awful lot of people I hear on the radio, writing letters and everything else, do not understand the difference between a constitutional provision and a matter of government policy, and I think that is the crux of that particular situation.
POET’S CORNER Death of winter Snow cuts by highway’s edge hunch together, like old women in tattered garments. They leak their substance on to the road and lift their skirts out of the puddling, as they mourn their passing. When young they wore gleaming white gowns, stood, heads up, proud. Now, slumped, shrunk, brittle, clad in mottled brown they bleed their essence to the road. They have peddled their charms to a deceiving Spring who promised joy but gave regret. And we, tired of their decrepitude, rejoice at their passing. Bobbie Brennan, Mount Pearl
Jonny Harris, Dave Sullivan, Steve Cochrane and Phil Churchill.
Paul Daly/The Independent
‘Pillaging’ party St. John’s sketch comedy group to perform on CBC special By Clare-Marie Gosse The Independent
B
y their own admission, the four members of The Dance Party of Newfoundland are just like a rock group — minus the money, groupies, drugs … OK, maybe a boy band — minus the money, groupies, drugs … Actually the dance partiers could be whatever they want and chances are they’d pull it off. As a well-respected sketch comedy group from St. John’s, Phil Churchill, Steve Cochrane, Jonny Harris and Dave Sullivan have already created, in barely a year, staple characters and comedy gems audiences are calling out for. The Dance Party of Newfoundland members have three full-house local shows under their belts (On the Nog, This is the Cross-Eyed Bear and Premature Compilation) and in January returned from a mini-mainland tour. The group is part of a one-hour comedy special to air on CBC Television April 14, and as major contributors to the local arts scene, they’re set to appear for the second year as part of Resource Centre for the Arts April Fools Newfoundland Comedy Night at the St. John’s Arts and Culture Centre, April 1. Although the group has yet to finalize their April Fools line-up, expect to see reappearances from off-the-wall characters like Chinesus (Asian/Jim Morrison-type Jesus with attitude), Professor Arshil Brown (pretentious art critic) and Sons of our Fathers (clueless Celtic boy band). Starting out as trained actors — with a deviation towards comedy — The Dance Party of Newfoundland is all about character. “I think you grow up with so many strange people in your life,” says Cochrane, who admits to “raping and pillaging” from his extended family members (in a creative, taking-their-
“With comedy you just never know what’s going to go over with a crowd, no matter how experienced you are or how good your instincts are.” Jonny Harris essence-of-character sort of a way). Coming up with original sketch ideas that translate well on stage is a challenge, but watching the four dance party members interact together, telling stories, helplessly seeping humour, it’s easy to see where their comedy chemistry comes from. It’s a group effort, with ideas being brought to the table and “sifted” through. Harris says coming up with concepts can be tough. “With comedy you just never know what’s going to go over with a crowd, no matter how experienced you are or how good your instincts are.” He adds it would be handy to have a “processing forum” to test ideas. Unlike professional comedians who can spend years perfecting sets using widespread audiences, dance party material has a relatively short shelf life in a small community like St. John’s. “Unfortunately here we don’t really have the audience for that kind of repeating of shows,” says Cochrane. Considering stand-up and sketch comedy is somewhat thin on the ground in Newfoundland, travelling to the mainland and performing at venues such as a comedy festival in
Whitehorse and the Rivoli comedy club in Toronto was a great experience for the group. “A lot of times we’re almost the only act in town (here),” says Sullivan, “so we have to take advantage of seeing those things. “It’s great for us to sort of be immersed in that culture.” The CBC one-hour TV special the group just finished taping with five other, high-quality sketch comedy groups from across the country was a chance to see their mainland counterparts at work. The Dance Party of Newfoundland was the only Atlantic Canadian act involved in the show, which was hosted by Kevin MacDonald of Kids in the Hall fame. The group held their own during the live taping and are currently working on material for a possible CBC radio show. Churchill says they’d like to “fill the hole” left by the departure of Madly Off in All Directions, which after 11 seasons, wraps up March 26 with a live taping at the St. John’s Arts and Culture Centre (The Dance Party of Newfoundland will be part of the production). Churchill says although performing for radio takes some getting used to — “you can’t put a disclaimer on it saying … ‘caution: dirty words, naughty thoughts’” — it does offer a certain amount of freedom. Skits can be set in St. John’s or outer space and costumes don’t factor. Aside from the April Fools show and their growing TV and radio notoriety, The Dance Party of Newfoundland members are still focussing on continuing their much-loved, independent shows. The next one will be another St. John’s special — but with serious, international implications. “We’re really hoping to have a new show in the spring,” says Cochrane. “Working title right now is Crime of the Century, the Abduction of Baby Brangelina.”
MARCH 26, 2006
20 • INDEPENDENTLIFE
Blind justice
T
he phrase wrongful conviction is nothing new to anyone who pays attention to the news media in Newfoundland and Labrador. Its invocation likely calls to mind the unfortunate triumvirate of the Lamer Inquiry, Dalton, Druken, Parsons, and the pieces of their lives that were unjustly locked away. Inside, Kenneth J. Harvey’s sixth novel, details the life of Myrden, a man wrongfully convicted of his girlfriend’s murder. At the beginning of the story he has just been released after 14 years spent in the pen; new DNA evidence has recently been brought to light; the damning testimony of his drinking buddy Manny Grom has been called into question. Myrden’s innocence may still be a matter of some public debate, but his guilt cannot be proven in a court of law. Yet, far from a free man, Myrden has stepped from one prison into another. Everywhere he goes he is hounded by the press or by members of the public who recognize him from the newspapers or TV. His day-to-day existence has been transformed by his experience: the row houses in his neighbourhood seem packed together like inmates in a crowded cell block, the very world around him incarcerated by the poverty of its circumstances. Throughout the first half of the novel, Myrden wanders his old haunts like a man dazedly surveying the charred remains of his home. His daughter Jackie is now married to Willis (the brother of Grom) who regularly beats her black and blue. Only one of Myrden’s five sons has made something of himself while the rest are in and out of jail. What he feels for his avaricious wife is “hate worn down. The edge ground off it.” Randy, Myrden’s best friend, is the only one who has shown him any loyalty. Jackie’s young daughter Caroline seems to the only hope in his sad life.
MARK CALLANAN On the shelf Inside, By Kenneth J. Harvey Random House Canada, 2006, 284 pp Though Myrden is able to rekindle his relationship with an old girlfriend, Ruth, their pairing seems to cause him as much grief as pleasure, revealing at every step the economic and social disparity between them. “Ruth was from money. Like a place. A town. A big city. Wheels spinning always. Lights on. Glass. Mirrors. Movement at night. Taxis through the clear darkness. People out strolling. Store windows reflecting.” She is an unattainable ideal — they can play at love, but in Myrden’s view she is more than he deserves. The great tragedy of Inside is the sense of fatalism with which Myrden views his life, his conviction that he is undeserving of a happy ending. “Fear fit his body,” Harvey writes near the end of the novel, and it is a fitting statement to describe Myrden’s entire makeup. He is a man for whom even the greatest luck seems only a stay against disaster — there is only “slow healing toward more pain.” It seems inevitable from the start that his life will eventually unravel. Harvey’s style in Inside is of particular interest. Myrden’s perspective is rendered in fragmented sentences that have all the brute eloquence of a homemade shiv. Periods are largely the only punctuation employed, making each sentence a cramped, airless cell that is very much in keeping with Myrden’s worldview. He has spent the last 14 years in prison, after all, and his emergence into the real world seems nothing more than a segue into more of the same.
“They had made a mistake,” the book begins, “They had realized. Everything he had moved through. The trail behind him. The institutional walls that kept him,” continuing in similar fashion, fragment crushed upon fragment, the reader yanked along like a dog on a short leash. It is a style that, while it may at first seem monotonous in its regularity or obstructive in its fragmentation, creates its own fresh rhythm and pace. It is quite capable of fluidity, as in this passage from Myrden’s reconnection with Ruth: Playing pool with a woman was not about the game. It was about watching her. Motion. Her body. Bending. Straightening. Her jeans. Her skirt. Her pants. Her blouse. Open at the top. Buttons. Tight across the breasts. Maybe there was music. That changed her body too. Music changed a woman’s body. Reading Inside, there is a point at which you feel that same sick lurch you get when you’re in an airplane that has struck a patch of turbulence on its final approach and suddenly dropped several precious feet out of the air. It is the point at which you start to realize — despite all internal protestation or heedless cries to the invisible author — that Myrden’s fatalism can carry him in one direction only and to one place. It is this same point at which you realize how good Harvey actually is, how much suppressed power the story has been carrying all along like the dormant rage that pervades Myrden’s body and mind. Inside may have neither the epic ambition nor scope of Harvey’s last novel, The Town that Forgot How to Breathe, but it is, to my mind, more deeply affecting for its dark realism. Mark Callanan is a writer living in Rocky Harbour. He can be reached at mark@rattlingbooks.com.
EVENTS MARCH 26 • CBC Radio’s Madly Off in All Directions with host Lorne Elliott, Arts and Culture Centre, 8 p.m. • Lady Cove women’s choir and Jazz East big band, D.F. Cook Recital Hall, MUN, tickets available at Provincial Music on Campbell Ave. • Groovin’ and Improvin’ workshop/jam sessions presented by the St. John’s Jazz Festival, Sundays 2-5 p.m. Rabbittown Threatre, 106 Freshwater Rd., 739-7734. • The Avalon Unitarian Fellowship’s regular Sunday service starts 10:30 a.m. at the Anna Templeton Centre, Duckworth Street. MARCH 27 • Heyday! Gordon Pinsent’s film about love, longing, and the power of the human spirit, set in 1940s Gander, 8:30 p.m., CBC-TV. • St. Bonaventure’s College gala concert, Arts and Culture Centre, 7:30 p.m. MARCH 28 • Great Big Sea in concert, Arts and Culture Centre, 8 p.m. Also March 29. • Open mic at Hava Java, Water Street, 8:30-10:30 p.m. • Open studio at the Anna Templeton Centre dye studio every Tuesday evening, 7-10 p.m. With Susan Furneaux, dye technician, 739-7623. MARCH 29 • Folk night forum on Nationalism and Folk Music, featuring Jim Payne, Sean Panting and Liz Pickard, hosted by Jean Hewson at the Ship Pub, 9:30 p.m. • Lunch-time music featuring the Great Casavant Organ, David Drinkell, organist at the Anglican Cathedral, 1:15-1:45 p.m., free. • Talk by Mathieu Beasuejour (Quebec) and Lori Heath from the LETS Newfoundland and Labrador Barter Network, Eastern Edge Gallery, 7 p.m., 739-1882. MARCH 30 • MUN Cinema series: Neil Young: Heart of Gold, 7 p.m., Studio 12, Avalon Mall. • Youth open mic, coffee house and video screening with guest hosts Mopey Mumble-Mouse. All performers and spectators welcome, 8-10 p.m., Youth Services Centre 12-16 Carters Hill Pl., kevin.hehir@gmail.com. • Click: an evening full of stars, a fundraiser for Eastern Edge Gallery. Artists and celebrities have taken pictures with disposable cameras at their own discretion; cameras will be auctioned off, 7 p.m., Bianca’s Bar, Water Street. • Bryan Adams, Mile One Stadium, 8 p.m. Also March 31. MARCH 31 • The Trews with guests Andrew LeDrew band, Club One. • Masterworks #4, Magnificent Mozart, Basilica of St. John the Baptist, 8 p.m. • Grand Ol’ Newfoundland Opry, Spirit of Newfoundland dinner theatre at the Majestic Theatre, Duckworth Street. APRIL 1 • Spirit of Newfoundland presents
Deadpan Alley’s production of The Full Monty, Majestic Theatre, 8 p.m. Also plays April 21. • RCA Theatre Company’s April Fools Comedy Night, featuring Rick Boland, Brad Hodder, Amy House, Joel Hynes, Susan Kent, Rory Lambert, The Dance Party of Newfoundland, more. 8 p.m., Arts and Culture Centre, 729-3900. IN THE GALLERIES • Where Wonder, What Weight by Will Gill and Beth Oberholtzer, The Rooms. • Internal Landscapes, by Diana Dabinett and Comfort in Place, by Cara Winsor Hehir, Craft Council Gallery, Devon House: • 4 points of view, exhibition showcasing Denis Chiasson, Michael Pittman, MJ Steenberg and Taryn Sheppard, Leyton Gallery of Fine Art. • Open Images: Open Narrative, large multifocal works by Libby Hague and Yael Brotman (Toronto), Eastern Edge Gallery, Harbour Drive. • Equinox, work by Anna Templeton Centre’s textile program participants, third floor, Craft Council Gallery, Devon House.
Cancer survivor Barbara Fitzgerald was at the opening of 'Our Living Room,' a personal resource room at the Dr. H. Bliss Murphy Cancer Centre. Canadian Cancer Society volunteers provide support, wigs, turbans, prosthetics, etc., to cancer patients dealing with treatment-related side effects. The room was funded by Bellissima and French Dressing Jeans. Paul Daly/The Independent
INDEPENDENTBUSINESS
SUNDAY THROUGH SATURDAY, MARCH 26-APRIL 1, 2006 — PAGE 21
Finance Minister Loyola Sullivan and Premier Danny Williams during Budget 2005.
Paul Daly/The Independent
Budget 2006
Pre-budget announcements • $1.9 billion on the unfunded liability of the teachers’ pension plan. • Payment of $24 million to public sector unions to or cancelled pay equity adjustments in 1991.
What can taxpayers expect from Danny Williams’ third budget?
• $5.6 million to education.
By Clare-Marie Gosse The Independent
• $4.7 million to ensure the province is prepared for public health emergencies such as pandemic influenza as part of a new provincial wellness strategy.
I
f the recent Speech from the Throne and the numerous spending announcements already made by the province are anything to go by, budget 2006 is unlikely to deliver any major surprises. The next fiscal period looks like a year of plans and strategies covering sectors from poverty to business innovation, as well as a year committed to education initiatives. With major funding pumped into the teachers’ pension plan and the expected launch of the province’s energy plan anticipating development of the lower Churchill, infrastructure funding might not factor quite as highly as perhaps expected, despite an estimated $4 billion need. Rural initiatives and the fishery might also slip under the radar, having earned scant mention in the throne speech. Doug May, a Memorial University economist, says funding for long-term strategies are a good thing, but it’s hard to get a sense of what such plans will ultimately mean for the average Newfoundlander and Labradorian. “Even though we have these ideals, what are the longer term outcomes?” he
says. “These are a means to an end, but I think one thing we can’t lose sight of are the ends themselves and that is the quality of life and the well-being of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.” May says the lack of fishery and rural initiatives in the throne speech, which generally focuses on positive news, wasn’t surprising, given continued uncertainty surrounding issues such as fish stocks and retirement. “The fishery … it’s still under negotiation with major players such as FPI , but when it comes to such things as crab prices or the stocks out there, which we don’t really know for this coming fiscal year, or how much there are for future fishing seasons, then there’s a lot of concern.” The province is predicting an estimated surplus of $1.5 million (although some speculate the amount could be significantly higher), which would make 2006 the third year in history to record a surplus. With the likelihood of this excess money there have been calls for tax breaks and cuts to high fees in areas such as schooling and vehicle licensing, but May says he doubts government will oblige. Most of the extra money comes from offshore oil revenues, which are unsustainable and unpredictable.
“It’s like going up a big hill and coming back down,” he says. “There are two points there: one, can you expect these revenues to keep going for ever and ever? And they won’t. And the other thing is there are outstanding issues with many of the civil servants, the doctors, the teachers, who are awaiting salary increases at some point.” The Fiscal Position of Newfoundland and Labrador, a report from 2003’s royal commission, actually recommended hiking provincial taxes, despite the fact Newfoundland and Labrador has the second highest level of personal income tax, the highest fuel taxes and mid-range sales, tobacco and corporate income taxes in the country. When Newfoundland and Labrador converted to the Harmonized Sales Tax in 1997 it effectively reduced sales taxes to eight per cent from 12, slashing government revenues. The loss was initially covered by grants from the federal government, but those were exhausted by 2001. The report states drops in tax revenue, along with a three-phase program government announced in 1999 to reduce personal income taxes, has cost the province’s revenue base up to $200 million a year. The budget is slated to be handed down Thursday, March 30.
• $6 million towards technology trade education.
• $47 million dedicated to Labrador initiatives, including continuation of the Trans-Labrador Highway and infrastructure commitments totalling $175 million over 4 years. • Committed to form an energy plan and financially boost Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro and the Department of Natural Resources. • Committed to advance an innovation strategy to support business economy in high-growth sectors such as specialized trades and ocean technology. • Committed to advance an infrastructure strategy. • New office of the Chief Information Officer. • Committed to invest in aquaculture, agriculture, forestry and mineral development. • Promise to invest in marketing and developing the fishery and manage and recover cod stocks. • Committed to adopt a cultural plan as well as a recreation and sports strategy. • Committed to advance a poverty reduction agenda to address causes and consequences of poverty.
‘We’re making progress’ Bill Barry on FPI, Harbour Breton and Tom Rideout By Alisha Morrissey The Independent
F
Bill Barry
Paul Daly/The Independent
rom the ongoing trials and tribulations of Fishery Products International to his own herring stock surveys off the island’s south coast, Bill Barry is, as usual, up to his neck in the fishery. Barry, who spoke March 24 at Memorial University’s 41st annual Business Day, mused after his speech about possible charges against FPI for shipping unprocessed fish to China, his pelagic stock assessments, and what’s holding up the reactivation of Harbour Breton’s fish plant. “I guess as most people know we’re continuing with the herring surveys again on the south coast … and our own legal people are working with the province and the people
inside of FPI and the town obviously to get the plant in our possession,” Barry, owner of the Barry Group of Companies, tells The Independent. “But we’re making progress, it’s slower than we want it to be, but these things take time and we’re making progress.” The Harbour Breton fish plant was dumped by FPI in the fall of 2004, throwing about 350 people out of work. Since then the plant has been dormant and the community has struggled with outmigration. Since the February announcement that Barry would take over the plant, he’s been carrying out stock assessments — paid for from his own pocket — to prove a commercially viable herring stock exists off the south coast. If he lands the quota, Barry intends to process pelagics in the plant, with
the by-products made into feed for the company’s aquaculture and mink interests. The surveys will be complete in a few months, Barry says, but couldn’t pin down an exact time frame. The area hasn’t been fished for pelagics in the last 25 years, he says. “We’ve got some very good reasons to be optimistic, but you know we have biologists involved, we have to do acoustic surveying … I’m not avoiding the question, but if I said something now I could be very right or very wrong. I’d rather wait a bit longer and be very right.” When it comes to FPI’s recent woes and the impact on his plans for Harbour Breton, Barry doesn’t mince words. See “It’s a normal thing,” page 22
22 • INDEPENDENTBUSINESS
Flying high Airport investment expected to lead to soaring revenues By Alisha Morrissey The Independent A $1-million investment by city council in the St. John’s International Airport could mean finally getting over a $20-million military tourism hump. In 2005, just over 1,200 military aircraft landed in St. John’s, bringing in about 30 people per plane and about $20 million to the city’s economy. The same dollar value was picked up in 2004, despite the fact the number of passengers per plane averaged just 13, says Marie Manning, spokeswoman for the airport authority. The difference, she says, came down to the fact more troops stayed overnight in 2004 than last year. The city has announced plans to borrow $1 million to lend to the airport to build an aircraft “parking lot” to accommodate larger planes. And the bigger the plane, Manning says, the more revenue. “We have been told, and the fuel providers have told us, that we’re turning away this traffic all the time. They (troops) want to come here, but we can’t accommodate them,” Manning tells The Independent. Officials with the airport, who have been carrying out annual studies for the last number of years, say they hope to have the lot built by summer. The lot will be used as a de-icing facility for about five months a year, and the other seven months it will be used to accommodate large aircraft, Manning says. Dennis O’Keefe, the city’s deputy mayor, says the lot will be a part of a
$5-million development to improve airport infrastructure. “I think it’s a marvellous investment in the tourism industry of the city and it’s a marvellous investment in the city’s infrastructure and I look upon it (the investment) not as us doing the airport authority a favour … but I look upon it as the airport authority doing the city a favour,” O’Keefe says. “They’re not going to get any financial benefit out of it the city will.” The airport can’t charge landing fees to NATO countries, meaning the revenue brought in by United States, British and other allied forces mostly goes to fuel costs, hotels, and other entertainment. Each soldier stopping over in St. John’s spends about $220 for each day they’re in the city. With the airport expecting at least one super-sized aircraft each day, O’Keefe says the new parking lot should pay for itself in short order. “Even if they got 80 per cent of that it’s tremendous,” he says. Missions like those in Iraq and Afghanistan — among other peacekeeping and training missions around the world — aren’t going away, Manning says, adding in the last decade there hasn’t been a year without at least 1,000 military flights touching down in St. John’s. “I guess … we don’t think there will ever be rest in the world,” she says, “and even if there were there would still be training going on so aircraft will be flying back and forth.” alisha.morrissey@theindependent.ca
MARCH 26, 2006
Shopping abstinence a liberating experiment ELLEN ROSEMAN Torstar
J
udith Levine is a freelance writer, earning about $45,000 (U.S.) a year and dividing her time between homes in New York and rural Vermont. An avowed environmentalist, she couldn’t figure out why she had a fourfigure credit card balance — perennially unpaid — and owned so much stuff. So, she tried an experiment: stop shopping for a year. On Jan. 1, 2004, she and her live-in partner Paul — both in their early 50s, with no children — took a vow of abstinence. They’d buy nothing, except what was necessary. They drew the line at essentials for sustenance, health and business — “groceries, insulin for our diabetic cat, toilet paper, Internet access.” Arguments still arose. If you buy groceries, can you buy mesclun salad or only unprocessed lettuce? Are olives a necessity? How about $7-a-pound organic French roast coffee beans? “We cannot agree on wine. ‘I’m Italian,’ Paul argues. ‘Wine is like milk to me.’ I raise an eyebrow.” I’m quoting from Levine’s fascinating new book, Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping (Simon & Schuster, $34.50). While she takes a highly personal and intellectual approach to her topic, she has some terrific insights into the psychology of shopping — and what happens to your life when you swear off. I tracked her down at her Brooklyn apartment and asked about her no-shopping year. “There were a lot of unexpected dilemmas,” she tells me. “Longing for things turned out to be the least of it.” She fell off the wagon twice — buying clothes because she felt frumpy. Soon, other feelings assailed her. “I didn’t get to see the latest books and movies, so I felt marginalized and stupid. I couldn’t pay my way out of things, so I felt infantile. I even felt bored — and that made me feel
Paul Daly/The Independent
ashamed.” She was forced to go out more, to libraries, parks, museums and community centres, and discovered a public infrastructure that was growing threadbare through government neglect. “This experiment turned me big-time from a consumer to a citizen,” she says, referring to her renewed activism. Levine found it hard to avoid coffee shops and restaurants. She had to turn down invitations, including a 25th journalism school reunion, which came with a $65 tab. Gifts were also an issue. What if people keep giving you things, but you can’t return the favour? How do you give a present that costs you nothing without looking chintzy? When a favourite niece graduated from college, Levine took out library books about making flowers from folded paper (origami). But this didn’t feel substantial enough. Then, she found a necklace her mother had given her. It was tarnished, its clasp broken, but she found a friend to fix it up. The niece was clearly moved. During the buy-nothing year, the couple repaired household belongings and made wine and beer from scratch. And their relationship grew stronger. While bickering about what was necessary and what was not, they spent an entire year without a serious fight about money — a staple of their lives together in the past.
“Paul and I have learned to think thrice before handing over the cash,” she says, “and I believe this lesson will last.” Today, she hasn’t gone back to her old spending habits. Her $7,950 credit card balance, paid off in the first half of the year of abstinence, hasn’t been run up again. The buying boycott has made her more mindful of what she spends — similar to a starvation diet that results in a new appreciation of each mouthful of food. As for “voluntary simplicity,” a selfhelp movement devoted to frugal consumption, she’s not convinced it works. “You can’t withdraw from the marketplace, from the culture that connects you with others. If you stay home too much, mould starts to grow around you.” Her message: think about what you buy. Are you shopping to fill an emotional need? “Desire is rarely satisfied by satisfaction,” she points out. Possession provides a fleeting flicker of warmth. Then we want something newer, different, better. And while the earth’s resources are limited, “desire for what we do not have is an infinitely renewable resource.” The book, not a self-help manual but a learned treatise on shopping, is designed to make us more mindful of how we spend our psychic energy.
‘It’s a normal thing for exemptions to be granted’ From page 21 In order to open the plant for the upcoming fishing season, Barry needs to almost immediately hold ownership rights to the plant — rights that he says FPI is intentionally holding back. Protests at FPI’s headquarters in St. John’s have been heating up as the company plans to downsize its operations on the south coast. Fisheries Minister Tom Rideout also alleges the
company has been illegally shipping unprocessed yellowtail flounder out of the country to take advantage of cheap labour in Asia — breaking the Fish Inspection Act. “I know Tom Rideout, he’s not an irrational human being — he is minister of Fisheries. If he said they didn’t have a letter of permission then I’ll take him at his word,” Barry says. “It’s a normal thing for exemptions to be granted and you know those exemp-
tions are legitimate and should be granted,” Barry says. “In the context of all the quota’s being taken out of Newfoundland, that’s a different circumstance than somebody that is operating a specific plant somewhere that has a specific size problem with a limited amount of fish that needs to make their operation work by looking for a specific exemption.” alisha.morrissey@theindependent
MARCH 26, 2006
INDEPENDENTBUSINESS • 23
‘The fishing industry touches on everybody’ From page 1 When Risley, the controlling shareholder in Clearwater Seafoods, one of FPI’s main competitors, took over FPI, he didn’t do it alone. A 15 per cent ownership cap on FPI’s shares prevented Risley from acquiring more than that much of the company. But with several other of FPI’s competitors buying similar ownership stakes, including Icelandic Freezing Plants Corporation and New Zealand-based seafood giant Sanford limited, Risley was able to engineer a takeover, in the process kicking out the old board and its veteran management team and installing a new one. Risley and FPI’s other competitors suddenly found themselves in control of one of the most valuable seafood companies in the world. With plants dotted around the island of Newfoundland, access to some of the best groundfish quotas in Atlantic Canada and a thriving shellfish industry supported by a profitable marketing and distribution arm based in Danvers, Mass., FPI’s competitors had won a prize. The question was, what would they do with it? According to Risley, and his righthand man Derrick Rowe, who was installed as FPI’s new president, the plan was to invest in the Newfoundland plants, create more jobs and grow the company. FPI’s share price, they claimed, which was well over $9 before the takeover battle, would soar to at least $12 or $13. But some people were skeptical. “My sense is that you have a bunch of people who came in wanting to sort of run it as a finance-type company where they could use it to make stock deals and spin-offs,” says a respected player in Canada’s fishing industry who asked not to be identified because of his involvement with the company. “And they ran smack into the infrastructure of the company which is tied in with the provincial legislation. And those two things don’t really mix. FPI needs owners who are going to take it as it is and not try to run it as a financial play. That’s where the problem lies today. How it’s going to be resolved, I don’t know.” Withers, too, could see problems looming for the new FPI. “Clearly there was an effort to take this company out and make it private,” he says. “I don’t see any other reason for investors coming in and investing large amounts of money in a company where the share price has since been halved and the dividend has been discontinued.” Whereas the old FPI board of directors was composed of people like Withers — mostly St. John’s businesspeople with no big financial stake in FPI — the new board includes some of the big shareholders who took over. Incredibly, people like Risley and Eric Barratt of Sanford Ltd., who control companies in competition with FPI, now sit as directors of its board. Withers doesn’t know how they manage to meet the restrictions of corporate governance. “What kind of a board meeting do you have when you have three or four (directors) owning two-thirds of the company?” Withers wonders. “It kind of puts you in a bit of a spot. Are the
Earl McCurdy, President of the Fish, Food and Allied Workers’ Union outside FPI headquarters in St. John's.
decisions being made in the best interests of the company, or the best interests of the (directors who are) shareholders? Because it’s not necessarily the same thing. They’re different and make for awkward situations and probably have led to some of the current problems.” The problems, if you believe the FPI management team, are substantial. The company says the higher Canadian dollar is eating into its margins on sales of seafood to the United States; competitors using cheap Chinese labour are able to process fish much more cheaply than FPI can in Newfoundland; and the rising cost of fuel is making fishing more expensive. Because of all those factors — especially the situation in its groundfish plants — FPI management says the company lost $10.5 million last year. But a closer look at FPI’s financial statements shows a significant part of those losses were attributable to other expenses, including writing off the failed effort to spin part of its U.S. marketing arm into an income trust, and the costs associated with closing its plant at Harbour Breton. Meanwhile, FPI’s sales in the U.S. actually went up in 2005, by $44 million. Sales from its primary group — the Newfoundland-based plants — contracted by less than four per cent from the previous year. Compared to Clearwater’s 43 per cent plunge in profit in 2005, the setback in groundfish processing operations looks minor. FPI’s total loss of $10.5 million even looks paltry set beside that of High Liner Foods, another industry competitor, which lost $40.5 million in 2005. But the real contrast is to be found within FPI itself, between the books of the new company and the ones issued when Vic Young and his team were in charge. When Risley tossed Young, Withers and the other directors out of FPI, the company was less than $70 million in debt. Under Risley and the new team’s stewardship, FPI’s total debt stood at nearly $270 million at the end of the last fiscal year. So when it comes to
compiling factors affecting the company’s manoeuvrability, paying interest on the debt has to be chief among them. Even Withers seems surprised by the size of FPI’s debt. During his day, the company had a rule that it wouldn’t borrow more than 25 per cent of the total worth of its shares. Withers admits it was a conservative rule, but it worked for FPI. The company was so proud of its debt management that it displayed in its boardroom the cheque that paid off the $160 million FPI had received from the provincial and federal governments during its creation in the 1980s. “Debt is the death of companies,” says Withers. “Having a lot of debt on your balance sheet and being a fish company is a dangerous thing. That’s why we had a cap on debt, which meant that debt could only be so high. We had to find other ways of raising capital — through share issues, or financing growth by using the resources available.” Withers says what the new owners don’t seem to understand is how important FPI is to Newfoundland, because of its history. Created from the ashes of a handful of flailing and failing Newfoundland fish processors, FPI went on to pay off its debt and become a corporate success. Then, when the cod moratorium was imposed in 1992, it managed to skirt bankruptcy, change its focus to shellfish and become stable and profitable again. “We need an FPI in Newfoundland,” says Withers. “It’s one of the largest companies around. The funny thing is we all think it’s our company. It‘s a big company, it has over $800 million worth of revenue, it resides in Newfoundland, its headquarters are here, and we’re the largest fishing area in Canada. It’s one thing we have that is ours. Any thought of losing it, or having dilution of it is not a good thought, because it’s so compatible with what we do. “A fishing company like FPI is what we are — we’re close to the sea, we know the sea and if you’re looking at the long-term future of
Paul Daly/The Independent
Newfoundland, while oil and gas is important, the fishing industry is probably the most valuable asset we have, because the fishing industry touches
on everybody. Therefore its future has to be important to everybody in Newfoundland.” While the new owners may not have appreciated FPI’s importance to Newfoundlanders when they staged their coup, the turmoil on the Burin Peninsula these past few weeks must be an education for them. Certainly, it appears to have been for the government. For the first time since FPI was taken over, a provincial government seems to be serious about dealing with the ramifications of it. The question arises, will the province use its authority under the FPI Act to address the question of ownership? The veteran industry player who’s been watching FPI closely figures that even the foreign competitors who bought in five years ago thinking the company was up for grabs, must be asking themselves questions now too. “The companies that own 15 per cent, like the Icelandic group, and other companies, are just sort of sitting there hanging onto their shares,” he says. “Because they don’t know what to do either. They’re waiting to see how it all plays out.” Craig Westcott is a freelance journalist in St. John’s. cwestcott@nl.rogers.com
Professional Development Seminars 2006 APRIL 7
Building Effective Teams: Learn how to get the most out of people by building loyal teams who are inspired to achieve elevated performance levels
$195
10-11
Managing & Adapting to Change: Learn change management strategies so the organization, manager, and employee can survive the stresses of change $390
24
Hiring the Right Person: Learn & practice selection processes to hire the right employee
$195
The Wow Factor in Customer Service: Maximize Your Effectiveness with current and future customers
$195
Communicating for Results:Tools and Techniques for the Workplace: Create communication excellence and achieve win/win/win outcomes
$195
26
27
MAY 1- 5
Supervisory Management Skills, Module I: Supervision & the Organization
$945
3-5, 25-26
Professional Facilitatator Certificate Program: Learn to deal with intimidating participants, overcome challenges, and get the most out of your session $2500
8-9
Leadership & Motivation: Learn how to create motivation and enthusiasm among staff and co-workers $390
15
Performance Coaching for People & Teams: Practice effective coaching techniques that focus on the employee's current level of performance and future development needs $195
16-17
Writing Dynamics: Writing clearly, concisely and persuasively
29-31
$495
Train the Trainer (Part 1): How to Maximize Training Effectiveness: Develop, implement, and evaluate effective training sessions Full program fee -- $1295
JUNE 1
Transformational Leadership: Inspire performance, commitment and creativity
$195
8-9
Train the Trainer (Part 2): How to Maximize Training Effectiveness: Develop, implement, and evaluate effective training sessions Full program fee -- $1295
12-16
Supervisory Management Skills, Module II: The Human Side of Supervision $945
21-22
The Fundamentals of Project Management: Explore the issues of people, planning, and control in effective project management $450
Seminar descriptions available at www.mun.ca/cmd
Masters Certificate in Project Management September 6 to December 9 Brochures now available. The Centre offers client-specific seminars on these and many other business and management related topics. For registration or further information, please contact Jackie Collins (jcollins@mun.ca).
Faculty of Business Administration
Centre for Management Development St. John’s, NF A1B 3X5 Ph. (709) 737-7977 Fax: (709) 737-7999 http://www.mun.ca/cmd/
24 • INDEPENDENTBUSINESS
Location: St. John's, NL
MARCH 26, 2006
Mobile Computing Analysts
Mobile Computing Analysts Ad #: Mobile Computing Analysts-CB
Charles River Consultants has provided Technical Help Desk Support, Application Development and High Definition Imaging personnel to Major Corporations for long-term assignments for over twenty-three (23) years. We are currently searching for two additional Mobile Computing Analysts. Responsibilities include: • Mobile and Remote Access Platform System Configuration • Work in conjunction with the Mobile Remote Experts group to identify and resolve issues with remote remediation efforts to patch and update remote machines • Trouble Shooting remote connectivity issues • New and Emerging Technology Evaluation/Piloting • Off-Site Conference Remote Access Solutions and Support • Training users on procedures and policies, as well as the use of Firm's remote access tools • Train divisional helpdesks on supporting all remote access methods and tools • Mobile System and Technology Administration • Advises client users on the capabilities of client Mobile Computing and Remote access capabilities and recommend the best fit for their requirement - Supporting Dial up, Broadband, VPN, Citrix, and various other remote technologies • Administration of authentication tools such as SecurID and Active Directory • Application support including but not limited to Windows XP, Microsoft Office, Internet Explorer and various other browsers, VPN, Firewall, and Antivirus software • Supporting high profile clients including top level executives and managing directors • Supporting wireless devices such as RIM Black/Blueberries • Assisting users with the post cloning process to configure freshly built machines to connect properly and carry over their settings from regular profile.
Skills/Qualifications • Computer Science Degree or Diploma in Computers preferred - Certifications would be considered an asset • Minimum of 5 years experience required • Extensive knowledge of the following: • Windows XP • VPN • Broadband(DSLCableISDN) • Active Directory • Wireless (802.11 b/getup/IP) • Blackberry • Candidate has to pass security background checks, including financial • Documentation experience with a minimum of 5 - 10 years business experience Please email résumés with salary range expectations to hrtech@crc.net and include Mobile Computing Analysts-CB in the subject line.
Accounting Manager Ad #: CB-0320-AM
Steers C.B. Ltd. has an immediate opening for an
Accounting Manager Location: Corner Brook, NL Reporting to the General Manager, the incumbent will be responsible for the day to day operations of the company's accounting function including overseeing the coordination of accounts payable, accounts receivable, & the supervision of related staff. The candidate will be responsible for the preparation of computerized monthly financial statements, reports, & summaries; cash flow analysis; the coordination of departmental & divisional budget planning, the evaluation of accounting procedures; as well as, project and job costing. Previous experience in a supervisory capacity or leadership role would be an asset. This is an exciting position for a candidate who has the desire to participate in other aspects of business management & a genuine interest in helping to set a vision for corporate marketing initiatives & dealership/account development. Qualifications: The candidate should hold a professional designation of CGA, CMA, or CA; or an equivalent combination of experience with completion of 4th level courses in a professional accounting program. Remuneration: To commensurate with experience. This position offers a competitive salary, as well as, a performance incentive.
Please submit your resume including three work related references to: Steers C.B. Ltd P.O. Box 774 Corner Brook, NL A2H 6E7 Att: Mr. C. Peddle All applications must be received by 5:00 pm, Friday, March 31st/06. If you like, you may choose to email your resume to: cpeddle@steers.ca Please quote #CB-0320-AM All responses will be held in the strictest confidence.
Project Engineer, Civil Ad #: M06-BBProg-513
Description: BPR-BECHTEL is one of North America's leading providers of best-in-class plant engineering and capital program management services to the heavy industries, with extensive knowledge in the Mining & Metals (M&M) and Petroleum & Chemicals (P&C) sectors. BPR-Bechtel success is determined in large part by the quality of its employees, who are, without a doubt, its greatest asset. BPR-Bechtel will assist with relocation costs. Responsibilities: • Manage plant projects in a heavy industrial context. The projects are generally valued between 500 k$ and 2 M$; • Develop preliminary technical concepts and prepare preliminary cost estimates; • Manage the engineering work for the projects, which is generally subcontracted; • Manage the execution of the work; • Produce weekly progress and budget reports for each project; • Coordinate with client representatives, work supervisors and the Engineering Coordinator. Requirements: • Civil / Structure Engineer; • At least 7 years experience in heavy industry, preferably in plant engineering; • Experience in consulting; • Work in English; • Reports to the BPR-Bechtel Project Office Manager.
Investment Advisors Ad #: 40920-CB
RBC Dominion Securities (DS), is a retail full-service brokerage firm offering customized wealth management solutions to clients whose primary goal is to build on and preserve their existing financial success. DS offers both non-discretionary and discretionary investment advisory services for over 500,000 clients across Canada, has over 1,300 professional investment advisors and portfolio managers and over $120 billion in assets under administration. Position Overview: The Private Client Division of RBC Investments (RBC Dominion Securities) is looking for both new and veteran Investment Advisors for Newfoundland and Labrador. As an Investment Advisor, your role is to independently attract and manage the financial assets of affluent individuals and small institutions. You provide a wide range of investment vehicles and advisory services and offer financial, insurance and estate planning advice. You are self-assured, outgoing and confident when initiating contact with others. Along with having a strong sense of responsibility you are extremely self-motivated and have a strong work ethic. Your responsibilities include: • Provide investment services and advice to affluent clients using RBC Dominion Securities products and services. • Build and expand relationships with prospects and existing clients to ensure retention and service excellence. • Create and maintain investment strategies. • Refer potential clients to other areas of RBFG when appropriate. • Maintain ongoing marketing strategies to build business with appropriate clients while maintaining sales targets. We are looking for individuals with very strong prospecting and hunting skills to develop their own book of clients from scratch. This role is ideal for high performing sales professional with a strong entrepreneurial spirit who is comfortable in a 100% commissioned sales role. RBC Dominion Securities is committed to continuous education and provides extensive, industry-leading training for new and veteran Investment Advisors. Required Skills: Proven success in sales and business development. Must have entrepreneurial spirit in building a book of clients through networking, cold calling, prospecting, referrals, seminars etc. Completion of the CSC. Strong communication and presentation skills. Must be action orientation and results focused. If you are interested in this dynamic role, please go to www.rbc.com/careers and submit your resume and cover letter to us quoting reference # 40920-CB. We thank all candidates for their interest, however only successful candidates will be contacted.
MARCH 26, 2006
INDEPENDENTBUSINESS • 25
Location: Halifax, NS, Canada; • Company URL:http://www.lfs.ca Contact Name: Bruce Brinson, Managing Director Contact E-mail: bruce.brinson@LFS.ca
Financial Advisor Ad #: 04-227-CB
Financial Advisors Ad #: 04-227-CB
Be Daring! Join the LFS Team! Laurentian Financial Services (LFS) is part of Desjardins Financial Security, with assets of over $80 billion, the 6th largest financial services organization in Canada . We are a Canadian leader in the financial services industry with a dynamic coast-to-coast network, comprised of 43 financial centres and more than 1,100 associate partners. LFS is a full service financial services provider with access to multiple insurer and investment fund products. Our track record is based on the quality of support services delivered to associates with a company wide commitment to professionalism. We believe in listening to our associate's needs for providing the products and tools needed to maximize their value in meeting clients' financial planning needs. Due to our exceptional growth we are looking for individuals to join our financial centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia in the role of Financial Advisors.
Join the LFS Team and improve your business by: • Staying independent, while maintain access to a multi-disciplinary team and qualified experts • Receiving financial backing to purchase viable blocks of business • Having access to multiple insurers and products and more than 60 mutual funds and segregated fund companies • A competitive pooled compensation bonus structure and immediate vesting • Incentive plans based on multiple insurers' products, mutual and segregated funds • New associate training and mentoring programs which are unique in the industry • Market planning and support • Business continuation support • Leading edge technology
We are looking for people who are: • Entrepreneurial • Problem solvers • Out-going • Commitment to quality • Hard working • Professional • Service oriented • Computer literate • Committed to continuing education and personal development • Experienced in sales (an asset but not necessary) Interested individuals are invited to apply directly to Bruce Brinson, Managing Director via e-mail at bruce.brinson@LFS.ca quoting Ref#: 04-227-CB.
• Location: St. John's, Gander, Marystown and Bay Roberts, NL, Canada • Company URL: http://www.lfs.ca • Contact Name: Geraldine Sturge, Senior Administrative Assistant Optifund Branch Manager • Contact E-mail: geraldine.sturge@LFS.ca
Be Daring! Join the LFS Team! Laurentian Financial Services (LFS) is part of Desjardins Financial Security, with assets of over $80 billion, the 6th largest financial services organization in Canada . We are a Canadian leader in the financial services industry with a dynamic coast-to-coast network, comprised of 43 financial centres and more than 1,100 associate partners. LFS is a full service financial services provider with access to multiple insurer and investment fund products. Our track record is based on the quality of support services delivered to associates with a company wide commitment to professionalism. We believe in listening to our associate's needs for providing the products and tools needed to maximize their value in meeting clients' financial planning needs. Due to our exceptional growth we are looking for individuals to join our newly established financial centres in St. John's, Gander, Marystown and Bay Roberts, NL in the role of Financial Advisors.
Join the LFS Team and improve your business by:
In-Plant Services Manager Ad #: M06-BBProg-508
Description: BPR-BECHTEL is one of North America's leading providers of best-in-class plant engineering and capital program management services to the heavy industries, with extensive knowledge in the Mining & Metals (M&M) and Petroleum & Chemicals (P&C) sectors. BPR-Bechtel success is determined in large part by the quality of its employees, who are, without a doubt, its greatest asset.
1. Staying independent, while maintain access to a multi-disciplinary team and qualified experts 2. Receiving financial backing to purchase viable blocks of business 3. Having access to multiple insurers and products and more than 60 mutual funds and segregated fund companies 4. A competitive pooled compensation bonus structure and immediate vesting 5. Incentive plans based on multiple insurers' products, mutual and segregated funds 6. New associate training and mentoring programs which are unique in the industry 7. Market planning and support 8. Business continuation support 9. Leading edge technology
General:
We are looking for people who are:
BPR-Bechtel, within its Alliance with its Client, is operating a project management and project engineering services office in Labrador City. The client has a portfolio of $50 Million/year for multiple projects in its plants. The in-plant services manager has the responsibility to manage the BPR-Bechtel's team to support the client.
• Entrepreneurial • Problem solvers • Out-going • Commitment to quality • Hard working • Professional • Service oriented • Computer literate • Committed to continuing education and personal development • Experienced in sales (an asset but not necessary)
The in-plant services manager is responsible for the project management and construction management services. He advises the client and his personnel in the management of the portfolio, and programs. He is responsible for the human resources management in all aspects of the work conducted at the Client premises. He maintains good business relationships with the Client, and explores potential business development opportunities with him.
Responsibilities:
Interested individuals are invited to apply directly to Geraldine Sturge, Senior Administrative Assistant Optifund Branch Manager via e-mail at geraldine.sturge@LFS.ca quoting Ref#: 04-227-CB.
Project Manager, Electricity / Instrumentation Ad #: M06-BBProg-509
• Manage BPR-Bechtel's personnel engaged in the supply of quality project management and construction management services to the client; • Ensure the integration of the BPR-Bechtel's team, work processes and systems with that of the client; • Manage of the EH&S program to achieve the EH&S objectives; • Manage human resources, identify and develop competencies and performance appraisals; • Ensure that communications channels are established and maintained with the client and its representatives; • Maintain and develop the work procedures and management systems in order to supply quality services to the client, and maintain the quality system; • Assure the liaison with the head office of BPR-Bechtel; • Produce and administer an operating budget for the office; • Identify and develop new business opportunities with the client.
Requirements: B.Sc. in engineering (can be compensated by experience); 10 years experience in plant engineering and maintenance in mining and metals; Experience in project engineering and project management work methods and systems; Experience in business development.
Competitor Relations Coordinator Ad #: CB-0317-CRC Location: St. John's, NL
The Targa Newfoundland team is looking for a passionate, sales oriented, computer savvy, automobile enthusiast. If you are outgoing, organised, love interacting and selling people, and are truly a car nut, stop looking - this is the job for you! The Targa Newfoundland Competitor Relations Coordinator is the first point of contact for people showing interest in Targa Newfoundland! We are seeking a superior candidate to take on competitor solicitation, sales, and event registration, who has the ability to convert prospects into entries. The incumbent should have a solid IT
background with extensive computer skills especially in Microsoft Access, Word and Excel. Knowledge of website maintenance and updating is a definite asset along with using Adobe Illustrator. You must be a team player as you will work closely with the marketing and public relations departments. Preference will be given to a candidate working on, or with post-secondary education in Commerce, Business Administration/IT or a combination of relevant work experience. Previous event management experience is an asset. Salary will be commensurate with experience.
To apply, please send your resume to: Robert Giannou, President, Targa Newfoundland Via Email: rgiannou@targanewfoundland.com Or mail: 21 Mews Place, P.O. Box 13142, Stn. A., St John's, N.L, A1B 4N2 Please quote #CB-0317-CRC
Reference: M06-BBProg-509 • Location: Labrador City, NL Description: BPR-BECHTEL is one of North America's leading providers of best-in-class plant engineering and capital program management services to the heavy industries, with extensive knowledge in the Mining & Metals (M&M) and Petroleum & Chemicals (P&C) sectors. BPR-Bechtel success is determined in large part by the quality of its employees, who are, without a doubt, its greatest asset. BPR-Bechtel will assist with relocation costs. Responsibilities: • Manage plant projects in a heavy industrial context. The projects are generally valued between 500 k$ and 2 M$; • Develop preliminary technical concepts and prepare preliminary cost estimates; • Manage the engineering work for the projects, which is generally subcontracted; • Manage the execution of the work; • Produce weekly progress and budget reports for each project; • Coordinate with client representatives, work supervisors and the Engineering Coordinator. Requirements: • Electricity / Instrumentation Engineer; • At least 7 years experience in heavy industry, preferably in plant engineering; • Work in English; • Reports to the BPR-Bechtel Site Manager.
26 • INDEPENDENTBUSINESS
MARCH 26, 2006
WEEKLY DIVERSIONS ACROSS 1 A Mitchell 5 Fido’s foot 8 Beliveau of hockey 12 Hair au naturel 16 Altar exchanges 17 The dark ___ 18 Coiffure with height 19 Rod and ___ 20 Grizzly 21 Musical clickers 23 Like Chief Big Bear 24 Native mystical expert 26 Parasites 27 Antelopes 29 Fabled city of gold 31 Witnessed 32 Operatic diva Maria 35 Of the nature of: suffix 36 Flood 40 Needle case 41 Find a sum 42 Native prairie grass: blue ___ 43 North ___, Ont. 44 Poet McKay (Another Gravity) 45 Tibia, e.g. 47 Boasts 48 Ashen 49 Lake in Yoho National Park 51 Tories’ opponents 52 Notes 53 Geek 54 ___ Lake duck
55 First Canadian woman to top Everest 56 Waned 58 “___, order and good government” 59 It warns mariners 62 Kind of footstool 63 A ___ of the wrist 64 It feeds on Fido 65 Genealogy word 66 Rocky peak 67 Slightly flared skirt 68 City of SW France 69 Lady loved by a swan 70 Charming 72 Dry in Dieppe 73 Garment worn in Afghanistan 75 Spiked hair sort 76 School choir (2 wds.) 78 Breathe a sigh of ___ 81 Certain Eastern European 82 Animosity 85 Sphere 86 Inclined to sue 89 An end of the pH scale 91 “We’ll rant and we’ll ___ ...” 92 Hot spot 93 Basement drainage hole 94 Certain Asian 95 Catch sight of
96 Where eggs are laid 97 The Tragically ___ 98 Traded for money DOWN 1 Triangular sail 2 Keats’ feats 3 Ark builder 4 Like Ariel Sharon 5 Glenn Gould’s instrument 6 Paid notices 7 Marsh or swamp 8 Bird seen at winter feeders 9 Piece of fencing 10 P.E.I. summer time 11 Tiny pesky insects 12 Quebec filmmaker 13 Fiddlehead, e.g. 14 Thin as a ___ 15 Sounds of corrida excitement 17 Oodles 22 Assistant 25 Provincial rep. 28 Russian river 30 Summer fair feature 31 Hosiery spoilers 32 Surrender possession of 33 Filmmaker Egoyan 34 N.S. town dating from 1750’s 36 Fuming 37 Forsaken 38 Story 39 “Don’t let the
stars get in your ___” 41 Conjunction 42 Dirt 45 Poet 46 ___ Man Winter 47 Hero of War of 1812 who was buried 4 times 48 Winnie the ___ 50 Coral formation 51 Coup de ___ (death blow) 52 Early Roman garment 54 Existence 55 “Wednesday’s child is full of ___” 56 River painted by Monet 57 Blessing 58 ___, plank, plunk 59 Winter illness 60 Give a facelift to 61 Close 63 Man. town with roadside statue of Flintabbatey Flonatin 64 Visage 67 Shivering fit 68 Crabby 69 A-mazing animals? (2 wds.) 71 Place with beehives 72 Smelting refuse 73 Necklace fastener 74 Simple dwelling 76 Brief flash of light 77 One easily fooled
78 Nearly extinct 79 Libido 80 Bound
81 Canonized Fr. women 83 Sound rebound
84 Cockpit face 87 I have 88 French assent
90 Past of do Solutions on page 27
WEEKLY STARS ARIES MAR 21/APR 20 A rash move in the financial sector leaves you with less cash than you hoped, Aries - and all in time for your birthday. Watch purchases for the next couple of days.
CANCER JUN 22/JUL 22 It's been an interesting year so far, Cancer, and it's bound to get that much more exciting. There's nothing but good news coming in the immediate future, so enjoy it.
LIBRA SEPT 23/OCT 23 A fight with your romantic partner leaves you at odds for a while, Libra. Don't worry, this isn't the end of the relationship, just a chance to make it even stronger.
CAPRICORN DEC 22/JAN 20 It's good to budget purchases, Capricorn, but lately you've taken being thrifty to an extreme. Learn to indulge once in a while - it will be frivolous and fun.
TAURUS APR 21/MAY 21 Don't think about heading out of town for a while, Taurus. There's too much going on in your life at this time for you to be away from the homefront.
LEO JUL 23/AUG 23 If you can't beat them join them is the old adage. Take this advice when your family ropes you into a group event later in the week, Leo. Have fun and let your hair down.
SCORPIO OCT 24/NOV 22 Your emotions are running wild, Scorpio, which is not your normal mode of operation. Don't try to suppress them. Others will just have to adapt to this change of pace.
AQUARIUS JAN 21/FEB 18 Lashing out at a loved one when he or she expresses an opinion will lead to trouble, Aquarius. Rather, listen with an open mind, and chose your response carefully.
VIRGO AUG 24/SEPT 22 Stop pushing people away, Virgo. Being alone isn't always good for the spirit. Surround yourself with those who care and make a concerted effort to socialize that much more.
SAGITTARIUS NOV 23/DEC 21 A disagreement at work leaves you as the odd person out, Sagittarius. Be a diplomat and don't let it get to you. Things will smooth over and return to normal by the weekend.
PISCES FEB 19/MAR 20 It's been an uphill struggle with a problem that has been plaguing you, Pisces. However, the end of tunnel has finally arrived.
GEMIN MAY 22/JUN 21 This week, offer more compliments to loved ones, otherwise you'll be viewed as unlikable, Gemini. A friend welcomes your advice on Wednesday.
Fill in the grid so that each row of nine squares, each column of nine and each section of nine (three squares by three) contains the numbers 1 through 9 in any order. There is only one solution to each puzzle. Solutions, tips and computer program available at www.sudoko.com SOLUTION ON PAGE 27
MARCH 26, 2006
INDEPENDENTSPORTS • 27
Ben Johnson, Cheetah. Get it? Bizarre ad for power drink trades on former sprinter Ben Johnson’s disgrace. But industry experts say it’s misguided and may backfire Morgan Campbell Torstar Sports
more than two months ago. He wouldn’t say how much Johnson was paid. “Ben’s just a guy who was on top en Johnson is back. And he's and he slipped up,” D’Angelo said. still a “cheetah.” Nineteen “The cheetah is one of the fastest years and two flunked drug land animals in the world, so that’s tests after he first set the 100-metre how we made that connection.” world record, Canada’s most famous One academic calls that a flimsy sports cheater is trading on his infamy platform for an ad campaign. to sell a new energy drink called “If an all-natural drink is what Cheetah Power Surge. you're promoting, I wouldn’t have The pun is intentional, say the peo- Ben Johnson out there,” said Jay ple who created two TV commercials Gladden, an associate professor of featuring Johnson that are now on the sports management at the University air. But sports and marketing experts of Massachusetts. find the association with the disgraced “He’s not associated with using natsprinter bizarre. ural supplements to win a gold medal. One commercial He’s associated juxtaposes images of with using steroids Johnson and a cheetah having his gold ‘Ben, when you run, and — the world's fastestmedal taken away. running land animal “They're trying do you Cheetah?’ — and encourages to promote an all‘Absolutely! I viewers to “go ahead natural drink with a and Cheetah.” Cheetah all the time!’ guy who stands for The other features exactly the oppoJohnson on a mock site. It just strikes — from the Cheetah talk show hosted by me as really mistelevision commercial guided.” Frank D’Angelo, the president and CEO of According to its Mississauga-based ingredients list, D’Angelo Brands, the company that Cheetah contains nothing stronger makes the drink. He tells Johnson that than ginseng extract and royal jelly, the talk show is all about being hon- but D’Angelo couldn't say for sure if est. you could drink some and still pass an “Ben, when you run, do you Olympic drug test. Cheetah?” “I don't know,” he said, “... but I've “Absolutely!” says Johnson, who never heard of ginseng or royal jelly lost his world record and gold medal being illicit or illegal additives.” after a positive steroid test at the 1988 Daniel Cherry, a senior strategic Seoul Olympics. planner with Wieden-Kennedy, a The audience gasps. Manhattan-based ad firm, says “I Cheetah all the time!” Johnson Cheetah sacrificed credibility for says. short-term buzz when it hired When Johnson holds up a can of the Johnson. drink, the audience bursts into “If this is your step up into the marapplause. ketplace, how do you legitimize yourD’Angelo pats Johnson on the self?” he asked. “What’s that say to shoulder. the next superstar Canadian athlete? “You're amazing,” he tells Johnson. Steve Nash is never going to touch ‘Ben, when you run, do you this drink.” Cheetah?’ ‘Absolutely! I Cheetah all But D’Angelo says a quick, gut the time!’ reaction was all he wanted from the Johnson is on vacation in Europe talk show commercial. and was unavailable for comment. “Did the commercial ... make you But D'Angelo said his company tar- chuckle?” D’Angelo asked. “Then geted Johnson for the ad campaign that’s all I wanted to do.”
B
Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson in 1988
Gary Hershorn/Reuters
Dogs fire coach, look in new direction Christian La Rue pays price for team’s failure to perform SAINT JOHN, N.B. By Scott Briggs Telegraph-Journal
H
e was the first to be hired, and the first to be fired. On March 20, a day after finishing their inaugural season in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, the Saint John Sea Dogs relieved Christian La Rue of his duties as head coach. “We just needed a change of direction,” says general manager Tipper LeBlanc. “There were a lot of things that we looked at. The bottom line is that we didn’t like the direction of the hockey team and I felt it was the best decision for the organization at this time.” One of two expansion franchises in the QMJHL, the Sea Dogs finished with a record of 15-47-2-6 and failed to make the playoffs, finishing last in the eightteam Eastern Division. The other expansion entry, the St. John’s Fog Devils, finished sixth in the division to qualify for
the post season. Saint John won just four games after Christmas and finished the campaign with 11 straight losses. “We’re an expansion team and we knew it was going to be difficult,” LeBlanc says. “I guess the effort put forth in certain games was hard to take. “I can take a loss, but I need an effort and there were some nights I didn’t feel the effort was satisfactory. When you look at the whole thing, somebody has to be accountable for that.” La Rue became the franchise’s first head coach last May, signing a threeyear contract. His dismissal was announced during a closed-door meeting with the players and staff in the locker room at Harbour Station. “Never, ever did I approach any given day here to save my job, to save my (butt),” La Rue says. “The reasons they gave me to support what led to the decision don’t hold water in my book.” Coming into the season, La Rue owned a career coaching ledger of 180168-25. The Quebec City native guided
Ready for a hard-fought series From page 28
••• I watched game one of the Avalon East championship series between Conception Bay CeeBees Stars and the Southern Shore Breakers March 22 in Harbour Grace. The home team won 51, but neither team wowed me with their play. It looked like both sides were
playing conservatively, but maybe that was because it was Tuesday night and everybody had to work the next morning. Regardless, the CeeBees seem to be much deeper, and the Breakers don’t have the swagger of past Herder-winning teams. Shore goalie Tony Walshe is no spring chicken, and he’s certainly no Dennis Lake. He’ll have to play an awful lot better to give the Breakers a shot. Still, the atmosphere was electric and the fans are ready for a hard-fought series. CeeBees should advance in five games.
Solutions for crossword on page 26
Solutions for sudoku on page 26
the fact that all of the conference’s best teams have players from all over Canada, and the United States, well MUN has to act similarly to keep up with the Joneses.
the Moncton Wildcats to the President’s Cup final in 2004, losing the best-ofseven championship series to Gatineau in five games. The Wildcats had a winning record last season when they fired him in January. “I know the context we had inside and out, like it or not,” La Rue says of the Saint John squad. “That context to build and to work with young guys was probably attacked and challenged by every loss and every missed shot or pass on the ice, and some people just couldn’t tolerate it.” “Before the (last) game, I told the guys
that my gut feeling was that I don’t see a lot of players underachieving this year,” La Rue says. “We might have a few, but those guys have been addressed from my end of it. But if you take the majority of young guys and even the older guys, I don’t see players underachieving.” La Rue doesn’t have a definitive explanation for his team’s poor secondhalf showing. “There are different factors,” he says. “In some of those games, I would say we might have played 80 per cent of the hockey game and everything collapsed
in the bracket of five or six minutes. You can’t blame the players for what they didn’t have.” The Sea Dogs scored a league-low 174 goals while allowing 325, secondmost in the 18-team circuit. The only club that finished behind Saint John in the overall standings was the Rimouski Oceanic (10-57-2-1). LeBlanc says he’s in no rush to name a new head coach. “If we have one in place for the draft (in early June), that’s fine, and if we don’t, that’s fine too,” the GM said. “We won’t rush into it.”
INDEPENDENTSPORTS
SUNDAY THROUGH SATURDAY, MARCH 26-APRIL 1, 2006 — PAGE 28
Rod Snow
Paul Daly/The Independent
By Bob White For The Independent
I
n sports, timing is everything. To be successful, you have to be at your best when the time is right, at crunch time. Rod Snow knows this as much as anyone. On the rugby pitch, a well-timed run or hit helped Snow become one of the province’s most successful athletes. A prorugby player overseas for 10 years, Snow got the job done on the field and was a leader on every team he played on. Now, as project manger for the Newfoundland and Labrador Sports Centre, Snow is helping lead a charge focused on delivering a crucial, potential game-winning hit that will see the timely development of a badly needed provincial training facility. The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) has yet to sign on with federal funding. Not to worry, Snow and his teammates understand that persistence pays off. In terms of raising the necessary funds, the sports centre group is halfway there. Of the $5.1 million it will cost to build the facility, the group has commitments of $3.3 million, an amount increasing with each passing week. The provincial government jumped on board early with $2 million, while the City of St. John’s has pledged $1.3 million. Money raised from the provincial sport governing bodies has nearly reached $500,000. That number will continue to rise as each sport continues to contribute to the project. Snow says each sport will be given equal opportunity to make a contribution. What each sport
Goal line Funding for new provincial training centre almost secure; Rod Snow tackles Ottawa puts in will help determine what they can expect to take out in usage when the facility is up and running. The one glaring omission, to date, is federal money. With the election over and the new Conservative government in place, Snow says the time is right to reapply for ACOA money. More than delivering a hit, the sports centre group wants to add ACOA to their lineup to make an even stronger team. To that end, Pat Parfrey, one of the key movers on the project — as well as provincial government officials, including Tourism Minister Tom Hedderson — travelled last week to Ottawa to meet with federal officials and MP Loyola Hearn, the province’s representative in the federal cabinet. Snow is happy to report the meetings were positive, which he says bodes well for a future influx of federal dollars. “It was a very positive meeting,” Snow says. “From before the election when he was still in opposition, Minister Hearn has
been a supporter. He’s been there from the get-go.” Snow understands that the decision for federal money comes from within ACOA’s budget, and just because the group has Hearn’s support doesn’t automatically translate into a guarantee. There is still some selling to do. “It is a challenge, no question, and a big challenge,” Snow said. “But, I welcome challenges and this is something I truly believe in. And what I’ve been finding is that most everybody else also believes in it. And they understand having this facility is a necessity.” As the only province in the country without a provincial training centre, Snow says Newfoundland and Labrador is at a disadvantage to other regions when it comes to competing on the national and international stages. But it’s not just about producing better athletes and teams, Snow says, and he’s finding many other people who support that perspective.
“We are a proud culture. Just look at what Brad Gushue and his team did and how proud that made us feel. It didn’t matter if you were into sports or not, that gold medal made us feel good as a people. “For me personally, though, if this centre doesn’t produce Olympic gold medalists, it doesn’t matter. We need this to help our young people stay fit, feel good about themselves and have a level playing field with the other provinces.” For himself, Snow says he would have dearly loved to have such a facility to train at when he was growing up. Now he gets to see things from the other side, as a builder who would love nothing more than for future generations of young athletes to use the facility. What Snow envisions for the sports centre is a legacy that will give back so much more than it cost to build. The economic benefits of having such a facility works on many levels, from helping youth stay healthy to attracting national and international competitions that draw money into the city and province. “I can appreciate ACOA’s perspective, because they have to justify why this money should be spent. From an athlete’s perspective, it is easily justifiable. And when you consider it from an economic view, having this facility will be good for the economy.” In a best-case scenario, Snow figures construction on the building could begin in September of this year and be ready to host training and events come next April. “But, at the same time, we have to be patient. We have to do things the right way, at the right time.”
Get off your wallet ACOA!
W
hen it comes to a new provincial sports centre and the drive to make it a reality, I am a little more than dismayed, as Rod Snow (see above story) puts it, in ACOA’s reluctance to provide financial support for the facility. Over the years, ACOA has poured significant money into many other projects that, in my opinion, were a hell of a lot more dubious, not to mention risky, than this sports facility. Some of those projects have since fallen by the wayside, with nothing measurable to show for the ACOA money (our money, remember). Some projects are still being funded by ACOA, which is something akin to spinning your wheels in the name of economic development. Some, I would argue, are still being funded because, well, the powers that be who approved the funding want to
BOB WHITE
Guest column save face and not have their decisions associated with failure. Am I wrong on that one? Perhaps. I’d like to add that ACOA has been an integral part of the social and economic development of this province, and talking to people in other parts of the country who do not have an ACOA to call on, the agency has put some well-used money into this province. With the provincial training centre, there’s another great opportunity to assist Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. So, please, get off your wallet!
••• As someone who lives outside the capital city region, I can easily say it would be great to have a training centre in each of several different regions throughout the province. But, and I hate to admit it, the numbers just don’t add up for this to even be considered feasible. As much as I sometimes think that St. John’s is like a vortex sucking in all the resources, services and people from the rest of the province, there is no other sensible location for such a facility. It would be great to think that all athletes, from whatever region in the province, will get equal benefit from the facility, but logistically speaking, it would be tough to pull off. There’s no doubt that’s the intention, but our geography plays a role. Regardless, I’m sure most level-headed, sports-minded individuals would agree we need this train-
ing centre. Badly.
••• I wasn’t surprised to read the stories last week about Memorial University’s men’s Sea-hawks basketball players taking shots at beleaguered coach Todd Aughey. I had heard grumblings for quite some time, and not just from the 2005-2006 team. The issues of player discontent have been around for a while, and it’s a mess that Memorial has to deal with. Will Aughey get a pink slip over this? Maybe he should. How long do you keep a guy around who hasn’t been winning banners, and lets the program deteriorate to the point that several players feel so strongly about his coaching style that they jump ship? And, to make matters worse, let the team’s dirty laundry air in public. Are there coaches, born and bred in this province, capable of stepping in
and doing just as good? In my mind, yes, no question. In fact, a couple of them were once a part of the team’s coaching staff. Now, I’ll give the devil his due and say that Aughey did some good work at recruiting and bringing in players from outside the province. Did he need to bring in some of those, or could he have just as easily filled the spots with equally talented players from this province? The way I see it, there’s enough skill, especially in the backcourt positions, to better enlist the services of home-grown talent. I also believe it’s next to impossible to win the Atlantic University Sport championship without recruiting outside this province. The talent pool is good, but only so deep. And considering See “Ready,” page 27