2006-05-28

VOL. 4 ISSUE 21

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ST. JOHN’S, NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR — SUNDAY THROUGH SATURDAY, MAY 28-JUNE 3, 2006

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WWW.THEINDEPENDENT.CA —

$1.50 HOME DELIVERY (HST included); $2.00 RETAIL (HST included)

LIFE 17

SPORTS 32

Hey Rosetta! about to launch full-length CD

Ryane Clowe relaxes and reflects on his season with San Jose Sharks

‘Raw deal’

STORY AND SONG

Harper’s promises could mean more Newfoundland reservists pressed into Afghanistan war

CRAIG WESTCOTT

C

anada can expect to see more of its reservists, including those based in Newfoundland, thrown into the war in Afghanistan over the next couple of years, says NDP defence critic Dawn Black.

And the situation those supposedly part-time soldiers will face is sure to be grim, according to a veteran war correspondent who has just published a book on the war in Afghanistan.

While Prime Minister Stephen Harper is selling the extended military mission as an exercise in helping a new government spread democracy, Kathy Gannon has a dimmer view of the people in that government.

“The Afghan government is a mix of warlords, drug dealers, former militia commanders and some genuinely interested in promoting democracy,” Gannon tells The Independent. “The sad thing is that the warlords and drug dealers, who are often one and the same, are key members of the government, including governors and police chiefs.”

Gannon, who has spent 20 years covering Afghanistan for the Associated Press and was recently named the Edward R. Murrow Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations based in New York, says the character of some of the government See “Lots of other,” page 2

QUOTE OF THE WEEK “When I asked to be invited to the fishery summit I was told no … they almost said I’m not a stakeholder after 35 years in the business — that struck me like a ton of bricks.”

— Don Graham, Aquaforte plant owner, page 9

NEWS 4

What exactly is the rural secretariat all about?

OPINION 19

Noreen Golfman takes Independent to task BUSINESS 21

Are politics playing a part in push for Argentia smelter?

OUTDOORS 31

In praise of the perfect frying pan Life Story . . . . . . .

Brazen . . . . . . . . .

Voice from away Gallery . . . . . . . . .

Food column . . . .

11 12 13 18 20

Allison Nicholas and Kathleen Allan share the lead female role in Ann and Seamus: A Chamber Opera. Presented by Shallaway, Newfoundland and Labrador’s youth chorus, Ann and Seamus was inspired by the book by Newfoundland author Kevin Major. Under the direction of Susan Knight and Jillian Keiley, the show runs June 1-4 at the Reid Theatre, Memorial University.

Paul Daly/The Independent

The Independent speaks to industry players who weren’t invited to this week’s fish summit RYAN CLEARY

T

he way he sees it, Winston Fiander, a Newfoundlander who spent almost 30 years in the upper echelon of the federal bureaucracy in Ottawa, Danny Williams’ recent fisheries summit was a “calculated” move.

The premier’s ultimate goal may be to redraw the map of rural Newfoundland and Labrador, redistributing the outport population around 10 “growth centers.”

Fiander reserves judgment on the strategy, but questions whether the industry should ultimately fall in the hands of a few multimillionaires in favour of such practices as shipping fish to China, or the “little guys,” representing a new form of “family fish plant” and fishing fleet around the bays of the island and Labrador.

Fiander fears the premier may be leaning towards the millionaires.

“As I see it, the universe is unfolding the way the premier and (Alastair) O’Rielly want it to unfold,” Fiander tells The Independent from his home in Portugal Cove-St. Philip’s. Fiander is an expert on federal government strategy, hav-

ing worked for years in Ottawa as a “planner,” helping plot the policy directions of various federal departments, including Fisheries and Oceans for a three-year stint in the early 1980s.

Appointed deputy minister earlier this year, O’Rielly is the premier’s right-hand man in the provincial Fisheries department. O’Rielly also served for years as managing director of the Canadian Centre for Fisheries Innovation and, later, head of the Fisheries Association of Newfoundland and Labrador, a defunct organization that once represented the province’s fish See “As I see it,” page 8

She’s your breast friend

Meet Dr. Nancy Wadden, international expert in breast imaging

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nce upon a time, a pink ribbon conjured up an image of a little girl with a bow in her hair. For the last 15 years, however, it has served as the international symbol of the fight against breast cancer. Because when that little girl grows up, she has a one in nine chance of contracting breast cancer at some point in her life.

And a one-in-27 chance of dying from it.

Dr. Nancy Wadden, the international expert in breast imaging who

SUSAN RENDELL started Newfoundland and Labrador’s breast screening program in 1996, is trying to make sure all little girls grow up with much better odds against succumbing to a disease that will take the lives of over 5,000 Canadian women this year.

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I wanted to interview Wadden because I’d heard that St. Clare’s recently received a full-field digital imaging mammography machine.

Rumour had it that, owing to the machine’s accuracy at diagnosing,

it would be a criminal offence if all women weren’t screened using this new technology. It sounded exciting See “One of the best,”page 10

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2 • INDEPENDENTNEWS

MAY 28, 2006

‘Lots of other countries could take over’

M A R I A S H A R A P O VA

WWW.TAGHEUER.COM

From page 1 officials has created a huge problem. It has lead to insecurity and lawlessness that the Taliban, which was nearly destroyed in 2002, is using to regain strength in the country. It’s also allowed members of the Taliban and Al Qaeda — who are not necessarily one and the same, says Gannon — to co-ordinate their activities.

“The Canadian forces have really been handed a raw deal because of poor intelligence, no good strategy and no real understanding of what exactly they have walked into,” says Gannon.

“It isn’t a matter of get the bad guys and help out the good guys. The people of Afghanistan, particularly in the south, are deeply disillusioned by the new set up. They have been largely marginalized, treated like they are all Taliban and have been the subject of errant bombings and widespread arrests by coalition and particularly U.S. forces. This has poisoned the environment down in Kandahar and most parts of the south and east and the Canadians are paying the price. Homework should have been done.”

Earlier this month, Harper put forward a resolution in Parliament that will see Canada’s role in Afghanistan extended beyond the original February 2007 end date. The Conservatives limited debate on the resolution to six hours. The 149 to 145 vote means Canada’s troops will stay in southern Afghanistan at least until 2009, at which point the government will review the situation.

Of Newfoundland and Labrador’s seven MPs, the three Conservatives — Loyola Hearn, Norm Doyle and Fabian Manning — all voted in favour of the motion, as did Liberal Scott Simms.

Liberals Bill Matthews, Gerry Byrne

and Todd Russell voted against it.

Black, the MP for New Westminster-Coquitlam and the NDP’s defence critic, says passage of the resolution will make it tough for Harper to keep his election commitment to boost the size of Canada’s armed forces by 13,000 regular soldiers and thousands more reservists.

“I think they will increase the troops,” Black says. But “they need some of the officers and combat people here in Canada in order to train these people that they’re talking about recruiting … it’s going to be very difficult to achieve all these big goals that they’ve set out for themselves.”

That’s why Black expects the government will have to draw on the reserves even more in order to meet its commitment in Afghanistan. A group of Newfoundland reservists have already been earmarked for deployment there.

“I have a reserve unit here in my riding, the Royal Westminster Regiment, and I know that some of them are scheduled for the next rotation in Afghanistan,” Black says.

As far as she knows, Black adds, it’s a reservist’s personal choice whether to accept an assignment to Afghanistan.

Word around the St. John’s reserve unit is that the Canadian Armed Forces is using all efforts to encourage young reservists to sign up for the mission.

“That really does worry me,” Black says. “We’ve certainly seen the terrible system they use in the U.S., the high pressure recruiting that they use there and I would be very alarmed if we start to see that here in Canada.”

In the federal election held in January, Harper promised to add to the reserve units already operating in Newfoundland by establishing a new Territorial Defence Battalion composed of 100 regular soldiers and 400 more

reservists.

Black says the vote in the Commons was not really to extend the current mission in Afghanistan, but to take on another one. In 2008, Canada will take over as the lead nation under the auspices of NATO forces in Afghanistan.

Currently, they are acting as part of Operation Enduring Freedom, the United States’ war on terrorism in Afghanistan.

“There are lots of other countries that could take over command,” Black says.

“Canada has performed a huge role in Afghanistan, a huge role … in terms of what we’ve been able to achieve in the northern region of Kabul. What’s happening now in the south is a counterinsurgency role, a totally different model than what we’ve been operating under.

“The Americans have been operating in southern Afghanistan for the last four years in this type of counterinsurgency, seek-and-destroy role and the situation there has only gotten worse. So I think we really have to question the government and the decision to put Canada front and centre there for another two years.”

Last week, there were more people killed in Afghanistan because of fighting than there were in Iraq.

Gannon, meanwhile, says whether democracy will actually take hold in Afghanistan depends a lot on the country’s president Mohamed Karzai.

“There is a parliament today and that is a step in the right direction,” Gannon says. “But the way Karzai moves in the future in terms of making people accountable and cleaning up the police force will determine just how successful it will be or whether it will leave people truly disillusioned by democracy.” cwestcott@nl.rogers.com

Making friends among the Afghans

By Craig Westcott The Independent

I

f Canada wants to reduce its casualties among its soldiers in Afghanistan, it’s going to have to get better at making allies of the local people, says veteran Afghanistan correspondent Kathy Gannon.

It isn’t enough for Canadian soldiers to tell people they’re trying to bring democracy to the country, says Gannon, who is now the Associated Press’s bureau chief for the region, based in Tehran, Iran.

Gannon, originally from Timmins, Ont., spent 20 years covering Afghanistan, starting with the guerrilla war waged against Soviet Union forces by the mujahedeen and the subsequent rise and overthrow of the Taliban.

Canadian soldiers are fighting in the most dangerous part of the country, in Kandahar in the south, waging a search and destroy mission against Taliban and al Qaeda forces, who are often hard to distinguish from the regular population.

“Making allies in the south of the people is critical to success and reducing the numbers of Canadian casualties,” says Gannon. “But the key is knowing how to do it. That is where Canada is failing. It isn’t enough to have good intentions.”

HIGH TENSION She points out that tension is very high in the region because so many Afghan men have been rounded up in sweeps by U.S. soldiers. Often they are arrested and disappear for months inside U.S. detention facilities and have no communication with their families.

Gannon says in many cases the men were arrested simply because they reacted angrily when coalition forces searched their homes at gunpoint.

Afghan government soldiers, who the Canadian forces are now supporting, have been known to accuse villagers of being Taliban members in order to extort bribes from them.

MIXED SIGNALS Gannon says if the Canadian forces could find some way of locating the men who have been taken from the villages and report back to their families that they are OK, that might go a long way to building some good will.

“There are many ways to win allies but it isn’t happening,” Gannon says.

“The Canadian soldiers are sending mixed signals to Afghans, saying they want to help rebuild their country while attacking villages in search of insurgents. It is a double mandate that confuses people. This is another issue NATO has to look at as it takes over the coalition’s responsibilities in Afghanistan.” cwestcott@nl.rogers.com

MAY 28, 2006

INDEPENDENTNEWS • 3

SCRUNCHINS A weekly collection of Newfoundlandia

C

raig Dobbin was in the news this weekend with a fundraiser held in his honour at the Capital Hotel in St. John’s Friday night. The event — hosted by the likes of Mary Walsh and Mark Critch — went off after The Independent’s press deadline, but if the news release announcing the roast was any indication, it must have been priceless.

The release began with this May 2000 quote from Dobbin, the king of helicopters himself: “Are we putting something back into life, or just taking?

Let me tell you, ladies and gentlemen, when you give a portion of your wealth, you don’t divide — you double.”

Dobbin, a nationalist at heart Craig Dobbin and one of the province’s most influential business leaders, caused a stir in October 2000 when he made a passionate speech to the St. John’s Board of Trade, addressing the question of whether Newfoundland and Labrador should separate from Canada.

“If we’re such a drain, such a sinkhole, let us go,” Dobbin told the crowd. “We’ll manage our own resources and do what leading economies like Ireland are doing.” Dobbin said the province has no power, and given a Newfoundlander or Labradorian has never been appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada, and the province only has seven MPs out of a total pool of 301, it’s easy enough for the federation to take our resources.

“We are not a have-not province. We are a very rich province. It’s just been taken away from us.”

Don’t pass that joint Confusion may exist, but drug laws as rigid as ever

By Ryan Cleary The Independent

A

VIVE LA TERRE-NEUVE Dr. Jerry Bannister wrote a paper — The Politics of Cultural Memory: Themes in the History of Newfoundland and Labrador in Canada, 1972-2003 — for the 2003 royal commission that explored our place in Confederation. Bannister mentioned Dobbin’s famous speech, as well as how it played out in the national media.

“The Globe and Mail published a feature article comparing separatist sentiment in Newfoundland with the independence movements in other North Atlantic islands, such as the Faroe Vic Young Islands.”

Bannister wrote that Dobbin’s rhetoric was echoed several months later in another speech before the board of trade by Vic Young, then-president and CEO of FPI. Young, who went on to head the royal commission, argued that Confederation had failed to protect Newfoundland’s interests, particularly its hydroelectric resources.

Before the 600 people attending the business luncheon, Young allegedly shouted, “Vive la Terre-Neuve libre.”

CRACK SHOT The May 15 issue of Maclean’s magazine includes a feature article on Cpl. Rob Furlong, a 26-year-old Newfoundlander “with pale blue eyes and a chiseled frame.” Headlined ‘We were abandoned,’ the story is about how an elite group of snipers went from standouts to outcasts, victims of an alleged witch-hunt (you have to pick up the magazine for those details).

Furlong made a name for himself when, on a March afternoon in 2002, he killed an al-Queda operative from 2,430 metres. “It was — and still is — the longest-ever recorded kill by a sniper in a combat, surpassing the mark of 2,250 metres set by U.S. Marine Gunnery Sgt. Carlos Hathcock during the Vietnam War.” Furlong and his fellow snipers were later nominated for the coveted Bronze Star medal. According to Maclean’s, Furlong seemed destined for sniping from an early age. “At 10 years old, back home on the East Coast, he and his friends would spread rotten fish on a piece of wood, wait for the flies to show up, then try to shoot them out of the air with their pellet gun.”

NEWFIES’ ILL WIND Basil Deakin of the Halifax Chronicle-Herald wrote a column this week headlined Newfies’ ill wind a welcome zephyr for Bluenoses. Newfoundlanders may not like the fact that Air Canada plans to cut out the direct flight between St. John’s and Heathrow in September, but Nova Scotians (Bluenoses) apparently love the fact they won’t have to stop over in Town.

Over the years, many passengers on return flights from Heathrow to Halifax have expressed “howls” of indignation over having to stop in St. John’s. “There, they must disembark, remove all their luggage, drag it through customs, undergo a further security frisking — after having been thoroughly frisked five or six hours previously at Heathrow and having sat in a crowded airliner ever since — and then after much delay, take off again for Halifax. In that city, of course, they have the pleasure, if not of further customs or security checks, of experiencing the usual delights of the luggage-finding lottery at the carousels.” ryan.cleary@theindependent.ca

Linocut by John Andrews

charge laid recently by the RCMP against a high school student at Crescent Collegiate in Blaketown, Trinity Bay for possession of a single marijuana joint raises more questions about the “absurdity” of Canada’s drug laws.

Eugene Oscapella, a lawyer who teaches drug policy at the University of Ottawa and a founding member of the Canadian Foundation for Drug Policy, an independent drug policy research group, says a person doesn’t need to sell drugs to be charged with trafficking.

“If you simply pass a joint to somebody … two people are sitting together and one passes a joint to another, that’s trafficking under our law,” Oscapella tells The Independent.

“The drug laws have been warped to make it easier to catch people.”

Canadians may be confused about drug laws today considering the number of proposed bills, reforms and court decisions that have made the news in recent years.

The former federal Liberal government introduced a bill three times in the House of Commons to relax drug laws — removing the possibility of imprisonment and a court record in favour of a fine for the possession of small amounts of soft drugs such as marijuana. The legislation was never passed.

“Certainly there’s confusion out there,” Oscapella says.

“If you read a newspaper report that a bill has been introduced in Parliament … described as decriminalizing marijuana or whatever, some people might argue that it’s legalizing it — it’s not.

“The public might read that and think ‘Well, if that’s introduced that means it’s law.’ Not everybody understands the legal process.”

Sgt. Bill Dwyer of the RCMP’s drugs and organized crime awareness division in St. John’s doesn’t believe confusion exists.

“I think people understand that possession is against the law and even a joint … they can be charged and still wind up going to court,” he says. “I think that people understand that it’s still against the law to possess or sell drugs.”

Oscapella doesn’t agree with the drug law. He says the federal Conservative government should follow through on some of the ideas proposed within its own party. Senator Pierre Claude Nolan chaired a special Senate committee in 2002 that called for cannabis to be legalized and regulated.

“Pierre Claude Nolan was one of (Stephen) Harper’s main advisors in Quebec, obviously Harper’s not listening to him.”

Following the charge being laid against the juvenile in Blaketown, RCMP Cpl. Phil Feltmate told CBC Radio the police wanted to educate students about the seriousness of the incident.

“We’re trying to get the message out to other kids or likeminded people around all the schools … that we are promoting zero tolerance,” he said. “Moving … from one person to another is considered trafficking, whether it’s one joint or 10 tonnes. It doesn’t make a big difference with respect to definition.”

Oscapella, who teaches a third-year criminology course, polled his last class and 80 per cent admitted to having used marijuana.

“So are these people criminals?” he asks, admitting people can be harmed by cannabis, and he doesn’t want to see young people get involved with alcohol or drugs at an early age.

“That’s why we don’t allow young people to drive until they’re 16 … there are some potential harms we’re trying to protect people from but we’re dreaming in Technicolor if we think the law is protecting them right now.”

Oscapella says current drug laws aren’t stopping people from doing drugs. The federal auditor general reported in 2001 that Ottawa was spending upwards of $500 million a year on the war against drugs. In its recent budget, the federal Conservative government announced $161 million for 1,000 more RCMP officers and federal prosecutors, as well as another $37 million for the RCMP to expand training.

“So we’re continuing to ratchet up law enforcement on the war on drugs, which doesn’t work,” Oscapella says, adding it’s been 80 years since drug prohibition was introduced in Canada.

“If using the criminal law were an effective means to stem the flow of drugs and reduce drug use, then the United States would have resolved the problem long ago,” he says.

“The United States imprisons one quarter of all the human beings imprisoned on earth … about one quarter of those people are there for non-violent drug offences.”

Oscapella says soft drugs are a public health issue and should be treated similar to cigarettes.

“We’ve had far more success with smoking. The fact is that 50 years ago half the Canadian population smoked and right now it’s down to 21 or 22 per cent … so while keeping cigarettes legal we’ve managed — through regulation, taxation, and education — to reduce smoking by a huge amount.”

Oscapella says police are being “emboldened” by the “tough war on drug rhetoric” by the new Conservative government. He predicts more people will be charged with drug possession in short order.

4 • INDEPENDENTNEWS

MAY 28, 2006

Figuring things out Trying to get a handle the on role of the rural secretariat

By Craig Westcott The Independent

A

S H A L L A W A Y

P R E S E N T S

by Stephen Hatfield

A new chamber opera featuring the talented young voices of Shallaway (formerly Newfoundland Symphony Youth Choir)

And Guest Soloists: Andrew Dale and Robert Colbourne This world premiere performance tells the story of Ann Harvey of Isle aux Morts and the heroic rescue of 168 shipwrecked people in 1828.

Inspired by the book “Ann and Seamus” by Kevin Major Theatrical Direction – Jillian Keiley Production and Musical Direction – Susan Knight Thursday June 1 – Sunday June 4 at 7:30pm, Reid Theatre, Memorial University Free parking in Lot 15B located next to the Music School

Tickets $25 Adults, $20 Students / Seniors Available at Belbins Grocery, Lane Gallery, Living Rooms in Terrace on the Square, West End Electronics, Provincial Music and Fred’s Records.

t last week’s summit on how to salvage the fishery, Judy Foote noticed the conspicuous absence of at least one group — the rural secretariat.

“There was a presentation made by the REDBs,” says the Grand Bank MHA, referring to the 20 regional economic development boards scattered throughout the province. “But there wasn’t one made by the rural secretariat. I would have expected that given the impact of the fisheries on rural Newfoundland they would have been front and centre at that summit.”

But that raises another question about the rural secretariat — just what is it, exactly?

As the Opposition critic for the Department of Innovation, Trade and Rural Development, which oversees the rural secretariat, Foote has been trying to get a handle on it herself since its much-heralded creation two years ago.

“I’m not sure what its role is,” she admits. “We ask questions in the House of Assembly about its role and what it’s supposed to do, because … they’re budgeting in excess of $1.8 million this year. So for that kind of money, I guess my question is, ‘What do you get for a million dollars these days, or two million dollars?’”

Foote says she’s been reluctant to criticize the members of the secretariat and its nine regional councils, because they are all volunteers who are no doubt doing their best.

Even the acting minister for Innovation, Trade and Rural Development, Trevor Taylor, struggles a bit in trying to define the rural secretariat.

“Primarily it’s more of a think t-nk type concept,” Taylor allows. “And it’s trying to get people thinking about regions, because one of the bigger problems that we’ve got is that everyone is concerned about what is going to happen in their community.”

If the secretariat has been known for anything, it’s for a presentation it’s been making on the province’s demographics. It points to Newfoundland’s very low birth rate and rapidly aging population.

Taylor says the presentation had a “profound impact” on the leadership of the Fish, Food and Allied Workers’ union, who took it in a number of months ago.

“You know your population is aging,” he says, “you know that your population is declining, but all of a sudden you see what the projection is for 2016 and you say ‘We’ve got to start planning around this because if we don’t, when 2016 comes we’re not going to have anything to work with.’”

The main thing the rural secretariat is doing, according to Taylor, is getting the people on its regional councils to start thinking about the future economies and social structures of their areas — everything from jobs to schools and health care needs. That includes taking account of a region’s economic strengths and weaknesses and its natural and other resources.

“It’s not really an economic or social policy development arm of government, but it is a think tank that will help the various departments in their economic and social development,” Taylor says.

He points to the issue of education in his own district of The Straits-White Bay North.

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4 NIGHTS ONLY STARTING THIS THURSDAY MAJOR SPONSORS OF ANN AND SEAMUS – A CHAMBER OPERA:

Paul Daly/The Independent

“I see an evolution in the way people are looking at education in my area,” says Taylor, admitting it’s not entirely due to the efforts of the secretariat.

“The rural secretariat is not about deciding which school should be open or which school should have windows replaced … What it is about is looking at the population trends in the area … and looking at the transportation infrastructure and saying ‘What is the best way of configuring the educational system of this area so that we can give people the best education possible?’”

Taylor says it’s too early to tell if the think tank is going to make a difference to the future of rural Newfoundland.

“But if you look at it from the perspective of how the debate has evolved, even in the last six months, on regional development and the discussion around municipal government and the discussion around the demographic challenges, I think that it’s starting to have an impact,” he says.

Foote remains skeptical.

“If it’s a think tank, I see no evidence of any results of whatever they’ve been thinking about or any kind of consultation that they‘ve been carrying out,” Foote says. “Maybe I’m not supposed to, I don’t know … It’s so vague. The question is, what are they doing differently from what the REDBs are doing?” cwestcott@nl.rogers.com

‘The most extreme case’

Population decline happening across Canada, but worse here, professor says

By Stephanie Porter The Independent

www.shallaway.ca

Trevor Taylor

D

r. Byron Spencer, a professor of economics at McMaster University and an expert in population change, says Newfoundland and Labrador “really stands out in terms of the extent and timing of its (population) decline.”

While it’s true people are moving towards urban areas across the country — and the national birth rate is below the rate of replacement — this province is the only one whose population is

falling in such an immediate and noticeable way.

“You are not alone, but it is the most extreme case,” Spencer tells The Independent. “The reason it’s so severe in Newfoundland … one is the outmigration, which is important in itself, but the other is the very low fertility rate.

LOWEST OF THE LOW “Even if there were no out-migration, the low fertility would see the population decline substantially.”

According to Spencer’s latest num-

bers, there are about 1.3 births per woman in this province, “by far” the lowest in Canada. It would require a rate of 2.1 to maintain a stable population in the long term. Canada’s average birth rate is about 1.5.

“Newfoundland has gone from having the highest fertility rate in the country to having the lowest,” Spencer says.

“There’s really no good understanding, I mean analytic, research-based understanding of why … there are lots of words out there about uncertainty, but nothing solid.”

The U.S., he points out, is one of the few countries in the developed world to post a birth rate close to 2.1 — “even in China, fertility rates have plummeted.”

As the baby boomers age and the country’s median age moves higher, Spencer says few provinces will escape the increased strain on health care and labour force.

DOUBLE-WHAMMY “When you combine that with very small numbers of young people because of the low fertility rate, it’s a double-whammy,” he says. “And when you combine that, in the case of Newfoundland, with out-migration, it’s even more exaggerated.

“Downward adjustments are very difficult, whether it be economic growth or population growth … but you have to adjust, whatever way you’re going.”

The population in Newfoundland and Labrador has been in decline since 1993, Spencer says. It currently sits at about 514,000. By 2016, it’s predicted to fall to 507,000; by 2026, it will be 488,000. And those are estimates made, says Spencer, using a net out-migration of zero.

Since the birth rate isn’t predicted to rise, at least in the foreseeable future, Spencer says the only thing that will turn the population trends around in the province is a dramatic increase in economic activity at home, “brought about by who knows what” — or a decrease in opportunities elsewhere. Or both.

“At the same time, it would be awfully frustrating to sit in St. John’s and see this,” he says. “I’ve been in the province a few times and I always enjoy it so thoroughly I can understand people being very reluctant to leave.” stephanie.porter@theindependent.ca

MAY 28, 2006

INDEPENDENTNEWS • 5

Province still considering options for fallow field rules

By Craig Westcott The Independent

N

A scene from the start of the NDP convention, May 26.

Paul Daly/The Independent

Party time New NDP leader has a big rebuilding job on her hands

W

hen labour activist Gerry Tobin signed an NDP membership card last election and offered himself to the voters of Grand Falls-Buchans, he was largely on his own.

True, he had a dedicated crew of half a dozen party supporters and another dozen people he could call on for odds and ends. But compared to the election machines that were revving up for the Tories and the Liberals, Tobin’s New Democrats were clearly outnumbered and out-organized.

“Without being cynical about it, the party machinery is what wins elections, pure and simple,” says Tobin.

His example is pretty typical of what the party faced last election, and has in fact, been facing for years. Whenever the writ is dropped, the Liberals and Progressive Conservative party workers in districts throughout the province break out their lists of supporters, book banks of phone lines, and start hammering signs in the ground. The NDP is lucky if it has a candidate in place.

Results of the leadership vote at the NDP convention, held May 26-28 in St. John’s, were not known by The Independent’s press deadline. It is certain whoever wins — either Lorraine Michael or Nina Patey, both social activists of long standing — has a big chore ahead of her.

“Putting together the district associations has to be the first order of business of the new leader,” Tobin says. “And that’s going to take a lot of work and a lot of commitment. So I’m assuming that the new leader is going to be able to devote her energies on a full time basis.”

Former party leader Cle Newhook agrees that building an electoral machine is critical to the party’s future success.

“You totally do have to do that, and by the way that’s not a leader’s job,” says Newhook, who led the party from 1989 until Jack Harris took over in 1992. “That’s an organization’s job, that’s down in the trenches organizing, administering, doing practical stuff.”

Newhook knows of what he speaks. Before he became party leader, he worked as provincial secretary to the party. It was his job to build the grassroots.

“I spent my life on the road,” says Newhook.

“That’s what you’ve got to do and you’ve got to figure out who the ring leaders are and how to get

them involved and start getting people to think about things like candidacy, because frankly a lot of really talented people see it as anybody else’s job but theirs.

“You need a fair amount of resources to keep that kind of a network alive. But it’s dead important because when it comes to election time, if you don’t have that in place you’ve really got nothing to play with.”

That is exactly where the NDP finds itself now, 17 months before the next provincial general election. But that’s nothing new. Only once in the history of the party has it managed to run a full slate of candidates, back in 1993. Last election, it managed to contest just 34 of the legislature’s 48 seats.

In many of those districts, the candidates were parachuted in by the party, just to have a name to put on the ballot.

Tobin says that wasn’t the case for him. He lives in the district and will probably run again.

He took an unpaid leave of absence from his provincial government job to run in 2003 and admits it was a tough sacrifice.

Tobin says he’s heard people complain about the “name on the ballot” approach of the party. He thinks it’s time for the NDP to get organized and move past that. He also thinks the party has to change its image from that of a clique of special interest groups based in St. John’s.

“It’s a challenge,” Tobin admits. “And getting a profile and organization outside the overpass is a challenge. I think the party has to be more pragmatic and has to move toward the centre more.”

As a delegate at the convention, Tobin will be looking for that. It will be interesting to see the reaction of other delegates. Earlier this year, the party’s executive hotly denied charges that the party is run by and caters to special interest groups.

Newhook, who admits he hasn’t had much to say about or to do with the party since he gave up the party leadership, says building a base outside St. John’s is imperative.

“It’s not much point to be headquartered in St. John’s unless you actually get your people out and sitting on the wharfs and talking to people,” Newhook says. “I dragged my trailer around from community to community for two or three summers on end and that’s basically what I did, talked to people.” cwestcott@nl.rogers.com

SHIPPING NEWS

K

eeping an eye on the comings and goings of the ships in St. John’s harbour.

Information provided by the Coast Guard Traffic Centre.

MONDAY Vessels arrived: ASL Sanderling, Canada, from Halifax; George R. Peakes, Canada, from sea; Maersk Dispatcher, Canada, from White Rose.

Vessels departed: Maersk Chancellor, Canada, to White Rose; Oceanex Avalon, Canada, to Montreal; Shamook, Canada, to Trinity Bay. TUESDAY Vessels arrived: Atlantic Kingfisher, Canada, from Terra Nova; Atlantic Osprey, Canada, from Conception Bay. Vessels departed: ASL Sanderling, Canada, to Corner Brook; Alex Gordon, Canada, to Terra Nova; Maersk Placentia, Canada, to Terra Nova; Burin Sea, Canada, to Terra Nova; Atlantic

Osprey, Canada, to Terra Nova; Atlantic Kingfisher, Canada, to Hibernia.

WEDNESDAY Vessels arrived: Maersk Chancellor, Canada, from White Rose field; Anticosti, Canada, from Terra Nova.

Vessels departed: Anticosti, Canada, to Terra Nova; Newfoundland Lynx, Canada, gone fishing.

Ed Byrne

Paul Daly/The Independent

regime changed.

He dismissed the notion advanced by some oil companies that changing the rules on significant discovery licences would be unfair.

“When it comes to licences offshore we probably have the most favourable jurisdiction on the planet,” Byrne says. “That’s not a statement of opinion, it’s a statement of fact.”

Byrne says two years ago, when he first raised the idea of putting time limits on significant discovery licences, there was an immediate “push back” from the oil companies. So the province is now compiling information on how the limits work in other jurisdictions.

“We have to make sure we understand every other jurisdiction’s regulatory regime associated with this particular policy and to make sure that whatever we do is not out of line but is competitive with other jurisdictions and at the same time try to incent (sic) strategic development,” Byrne says. cwestcott@nl.rogers.com

Have you noticed the benefits our oil and gas industry is bringing to Newfoundland and Labrador?

Busy restaurants and hotels.

THURSDAY Vessels arrived: Cabot, Canada, from Montreal.

Vessels departed: Maersk Dispatcher, Canada, to White Rose; Maersk Nascopie, Canada, to Hibernia.

The Keg, St. John’s, NL

By Craig Westcott The Independent

atural Resources Minister Ed Byrne says the province is three or four weeks away from deciding how to spur oil companies to develop or relinquish fields protected by decades old significant discovery licences.

Until then, he’s not tipping his hand as to the options.

They may be few.

The problem posed by significant discovery licences was highlighted earlier this year when the province and a consortium of oil companies failed to reach agreement on how to develop the giant Hebron-Ben Nevis Oil field.

Because a significant discovery licence allows the owner to hang onto a property in perpetuity, the province has no means of recovering the rights to Hebron-Ben Nevis and auctioning them off to another player. The 600-800 million barrel field was discovered 25 years ago.

After the development talks broke down, Premier Danny Williams raised the possibility of enacting so-called fallow field legislation such as exists in other jurisdictions. That would see the oil companies given a certain period to develop or give up the rights to any oil fields they discover in Newfoundland waters.

However, because Newfoundland’s offshore is regulated jointly with Ottawa, it’s likely that only federal legislation could force a rule change on significant discovery licences. When Williams raised the possibility of federal action with Prime Minister Stephen Harper earlier this year, it met a cold reception.

“It’s all under assessment,” Byrne says, insisting the province may yet find a way to have the

FRIDAY Vessels arrived: Cicero, Canada, from Halifax.

Vessels departed: Cabot, Canada, to Montreal; Sir Wilfred Grenfell, Canada, to sea.

You’re busy, your phone shouldn’t be.

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6 • INDEPENDENTNEWS

MAY 28, 2006

Loyola’s answers I

almost ended up on Here and Now the other night, but a CBC shooter waved me away from his target, Loyola Hearn, in the nick of time. The camera guy didn’t exactly say I was ruining his shot, but I suppose I was (foolish old newspaper reporter, I don’t even carry mousse). That’s what I get for not making it out on the beat much these days — a quick refresher in the dos and don’ts of press conference reportage.

“For the love of God — hold that thought, Mr. Minister … the television camera over yonder looks to be moving towards your good side. Excuse me while I throw my body to the cold, concrete floor — the sanctity of the CBC shot must be preserved at all costs.”

The camera guy got the picture of Loyola he was after and the media entourage went on its way exploring the salt-water tanks housed in the Fisheries research lab.

The sign above one particular tank said the fish below had been exposed to seismic waves, the type used to find oil beneath the Grand Banks. One of the cod in the tank had an extra head growing from its tail — a head that was the spitting image of Karl Wells.

“You wouldn’t know the tidal fore-

RYAN CLEARY

Fighting Newfoundlander cast for the next week would you now buddy?” asked the head. “I want out of here before they hit me again with that ray gun. Next thing you know I’ll have Jim Furlong popping up on the fin across from me and I just know he’s not a good eater.” (I obviously gave myself a good knock when I dove to the floor out of the way of the CBC camera.)

Prior to the tour of the research lab, Loyola walked through another room, near the body of a huge skate that had been laid out on a stainless-steel counter. Daring to go off script, Loyola made a joke about the skate and the hockey playoffs. It was funny to all but the dead fish.

Before Loyola took to the mikes, his PR posse laid the ground rules: the minister would make an announcement, after which reporters were welcome to ask questions relating to the specific announcement, followed at the very end by questions unrelated to anything in particular.

Loyola’s announcement went well enough but the Q and A session was a mess.

First question: “When you were an Opposition MP, you and I did a lot of stories about DFO science — where the levels are now, verses the levels of the early 1990s when the cod fishery shut down? We couldn’t get those numbers … where are science funding levels now, versus when the cod moratorium came down?”

Not to worry, Loyola says that while budgets have indeed been cut, and cut severely, science funding has been “pretty regular” over the past 10 years.

There’s also been a lot of talk recently about a crisis in the fishery. Loyola made it a point to say, “this is not a resource collapse.” He says fish stocks are as healthy now as they were 10 years ago. (I’m one of those people who only thinks of the best question after the opportunity to ask it has passed.)

Didn’t groundfish stocks such as cod completely and utterly collapse a decade or more ago? The next thing I knew Loyola was talking about changing water temperatures, tidal action and increased predation as possible factors in the decline of stocks.

Now that he’s in office, all that’s changed — the science is healthy, the scientists themselves are plentiful enough…

There was barely a mention of foreign overfishing or fishing of any kind for that matter.

Funny how a few short months in office can change a politician. As an Opposition MP, Loyola firmly believed (or at least that’s what he said) that overfishing had wiped out the stocks.

He told me too many times to count that DFO mismanagement was responsible for the fall of the once great Newfoundland cod fishery.

Now that he’s in office, all that’s changed — the science is healthy, the scientists themselves are plentiful enough, and the resource is in as sound a state as it’s been in years.

Loyola did make an interesting offer … “Any specific information, by the way, as long as I’m minister, anything

that is not going to cause a national catastrophe or something … I have no problem with letting anybody have that kind of information whatsoever.”

OK, let’s start with a couple of basic questions: considering DFO manages the Newfoundland and Labrador fishery, was anyone ever fired, disciplined, written up or given a dirty look after the northern cod vanished off the face of the planet? Was there any shakeup whatsoever within the department after that minor booboo?

I managed to get the last question in before the news conference wrapped up. I asked the minister whether the new funding for science research facilities was part of a larger recovery plan for the East Coast fisheries. It has been 14 years after all.

In response, Loyola mentioned how mackerel stocks are healthier than ever.

“Yellowtail is a success story,” he said.

“Pelagics are coming back.”

Then it dawned on me, Loyola Hearn has written off cod.

John Crosbie once asked, “Who will hear the fishes cry?”

Not Loyola, it seems. He only hears what the bureaucrats whisper in his ear.

Too bad that’s not picked up on tape. ryan.cleary@theindependent.ca

YOUR VOICE ‘Revolution of Canadian pride’ Dear editor, The buzz in Edmonton is electric.

I live 250 kms east of Edmonton in Lloydminster and we are not immune to the Oiler craze that has gripped our province. People are lining up in stores to get their hands on the latest Oiler garb and everywhere you look Oilers flags hang from car windows. The sense of pride is captivating.

I was staying at the Holiday Inn Express in downtown Edmonton when the Oilers won game 5. A colleague and I decided to get into the action and drove to Whyte Avenue to be part of history.

The crowds were incredible, the people joyous and the police on standby. I have never witnessed a scene so crazy yet so invigorating all at once.

People lined the streets with pride (copper and blue) painted on their faces. You could hear cheering and applause and I knew the city would never be the same to me again.

We passed a vehicle with two children waving flags out the window, screaming and praising Smyth, Pronger and Horcoff. I wasn’t sure if they were old enough to count to 10, but they knew the names of the Oilers.

Could this be the beginning of a

new era in hockey history, a new dynasty? It did not matter because on that night, for a little while, Edmonton was the only place on earth … Oil “ers” Country.

As we pulled ourselves away from Whyte Avenue I couldn’t help but think how Edmonton could top this. An evening that started with the cheering of the American national anthem in retaliation for the booing of O’Canada in San Jose; an evening that ended in the jubilation of thousands of Albertans and Canadians.

Well, as I watched from my sofa this past Tuesday night I knew Edmonton had done it and topped itself. As our national anthem started, the crowd joined in as always.

But this time instead of fighting the crowds to be heard the singer allowed the crowd to take over, holding the mike to the audience.

The buzz in the office the next morning was how every man woman and child at Rexall joined in to sing. This is far more than a game of hockey — this is the revolution of Canadian pride, and you do not have to live in Alberta to feel it.

Maggie Carroll (a native Newfoundlander), Lloydminster, Alta.

‘Quite unbecoming’ of an editor-in-chief Dear editor, In his column of May 21 (Stop Fishing), Ryan Cleary makes it abundantly clear that he believes all the current problems with our fishery resources are a direct result of overfishing and that stopping all fishing will fix things.

He is, of course, entitled to that opinion and it is certainly one shared by many people. What is astounding, however, is his suggestion that any scientist who leaves the impression that environmental factors led to the collapse “should be fired on the spot for incompetence and possible criminal negligence …”

Instead of promoting and engaging in meaningful dialogue surrounding all aspects of the very important fisheries situation, Cleary has actually gone so far as to advo-

cate significant harsh and repressive repercussions against some people — simply because their views are not in agreement with his.

Evelyn Beatrice Hall summed up Voltaire’s attitude as “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” Cleary’s less than lofty and more Stalinist approach to deal with disagreement is disconcerting, and quite unbecoming of anyone in this day and age let alone an editor-in-chief of a newspaper.

Let us all hope that this is not an indication of what “an independent voice for Newfoundland and Labrador” is all about.

Bruce Atkinson (retired DFO manager), St. John’s

Crossing Canada

Cartoonist Doug Bird bikes his way home to Newfoundland

A

lthough I am certainly stating the obvious, I want to say that Canada is big. It’s really big, a fact I should have internalized before attempting to ride a bicycle across the length of this country. I wanted to see Canada up close, reconnect with my personal history and succeed in a physical challenge that would kill most of the people I know before they reached the first convenience store somewhere in the Fraser Valley outside Vancouver.

I am not dead yet, although parts of my rear end are certainly terminal and I’ve played serious chicken with a few semi-trailers and geezers in fat RVs. Now, sitting at an old university buddy’s house in Yorkton, Sask., I have time to realize how exhausted I am and how insane it is to ride a bike 8,000 km, a point well articulated by the looks on the faces of everyone I’ve talked to about attempting such a thing.

I’ve learned a lot. In British Columbia’s lower mainland people are nonchalant about two middle-aged guys on bikes loaded with gear.

They’ve seen everything all ready as the place has drawn freaks from the time Cook sailed up the Pacific coast.

It’s warm and lush and easy to eek a living when you can survive in a cardboard box (now worth half a million in the suburbs). The lower Fraser Valley is hands down the most beautiful place I’ve seen in this country if you can

ignore having the windows smashed out of your car and the police raids on the crack house next door, even in areas that were quiet family neighbourhoods 15 years ago.

In Alberta, rich with oil again, the new bumber sticker reads: Does the oil boom make my assets look big? While in Calgary I noticed no one turns off their car. Giant diesel pickups idle outside grocery stores and there must be at least three cars for every driver. A hamburger and a beer will run you $20 and I paid $4 for an ice-cream cone. But Albertans were friendly. After all, they have enough money to buy happiness or pay to have anything disturbing removed (I left the city before I was removed). They feel superior simply because they are sitting on millions of barrels of oil. It’s funny how easy money translates into a right-wing culture that demonizes poor people.

Wealthy landowners sit on their porches drinking beer while the money flows in from their oil leases, demanding the poor pull up their socks and put their nose to the grindstone.

In Saskatchewan they only pave the side of the road leading out of the province. The out-migration actually made me home sick. So many dots on the map are no longer towns as agribusiness has replaced agriculture — the culture is gone. The family farm, a backbone of this country, is disap-

pearing as one guy on a big machine can seed 5,000 acres a day. Like any industry (including the fishery), big technology concentrates the money to fewer and fewer people. Parts of rural Saskatchewan feel like there should be a big-eared banjo player on the porch playing Deliverance while some big goon wonders if two guys on bikes can squeal like a pig. It is easier to find Internet access in Africa than rural Saskatchewan.

Tomorrow we head for Manitoba. So far our route has been strictly rural, so rural in fact that I am actually looking forward to visiting Winnipeg and taking part in all the good things a city has to offer (a decent cup of coffee is hard to find in a Canadian truck stop).

We’ve met great people along the way and have seen the amazing diversity of this country’s topography and culture.

We have met the physical challenge so far, although you could drive a nail with my ass. And we’re not even close to halfway yet. Stay tuned for stories about cops, landslides, wildlife, trucks in tunnels and camping in unlikely places.

Back in the saddle from here. Cheers to all.

Doug Bird, The Independent’s cartoonist, is bicycling home to Portugal CoveSt. Philip’s. holyroodstudios@gmail.com

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 Independent News Ltd. 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 EDITOR IN CHIEF Ryan Cleary MANAGING EDITOR Stephanie Porter PICTURE EDITOR Paul Daly PRODUCTION MANAGER John Andrews

sales@theindependent.ca • production@theindependent.ca • circulation@theindependent.ca 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

‘It just doesn’t add up’ Dear editor, In my review of local media coverage of recent federal cuts to the EnerGuide for Houses program, there is an absence of commentary by Conservative MPs Loyola Hearn and Norm Doyle. It doesn’t appear there have been any attempts to contact them. I encourage reporters to ask the MPs why they voted for the programs in November 2005 and now, when they’re in government, cancel them. It just doesn’t add up.

For the record, both MPs Hearn and Doyle joined with their leader Stephen

Harper in a November 2005 House of Commons vote to provide $170 million for the EnerGuide Retrofit Incentive program, and $500 million for the new EnerGuide for Low Income Houses program (both expenditures were contained in Bill C-66).

All parties unanimously supported the programs, which would have helped retrofit nearly 1 million Canadian households to reduce energy costs an average of 30 per cent.

Newfoundland and Labrador residents bear a disproportionately high energy cost burden compared with residents of

other provinces.

Conservative MPs in other provinces are being asked to participate in media interviews on the cancellation of EnerGuide. I was in Saskatchewan last week, where the CBC devoted a full hour, province-wide call-in show on the subject.

The Montreal Gazette, Regina Leader-Post, and Toronto Star have all run editorials raking the feds for cancelling the popular programs.

Bruce Pearce, vice-chair Green Communities Canada, St. John’s

MAY 28, 2006

INDEPENDENTNEWS • 7

Of fatties and fatheads O

ne joint. One scrousty, miserable joint. I’ll bet it wasn’t even a fattie — what we used to call a Hindenburg. I’ll bet it was one of those matchstick-thin jobbies that the kids smoke nowadays. One full of that BC Hydro that knocks old farts like me on my ass.

The RCMP have charged a kid from Blaketown with trafficking for “passing” a joint to someone else in the school. The media quoted RCMP Cpl. Phil Feltmate as saying the RCMP is trying to get the message out that they are promoting “zero-tolerance” regarding drug use in schools. Fine. I agree with that. Is finding a kid with a joint in school serious? Of course it is. But it is serious like finding a flask of vodka is serious — not armedfederal-police serious.

And nowhere near “just as serious” a crime as if it were 10 tonnes of hash. In fact, this whole incident would be funny if it wasn’t for the fact that some stupid 18-year-old is going to have her future seriously damaged by the geniuses in the RCMP. It is so frustrating. We were well on

IVAN MORGAN

Rant & Reason our way to making sense of our hopelessly outdated and hypocritical laws regarding marijuana when the Liberals imploded and the Tories took power. The reform of marijuana laws was just another baby hove out with the nasty Liberal bathwater.

Meantime, we continue to spend a fortune recruiting, training and arming grown men and women as police officers, and they appear to have nothing better to do than lower the boom on some kid for exercising spectacularly poor judgement.

Could they please find something else to focus on? I am not a crime expert, but off the top of my head, how about drunk driving? How about violent spouses who violate peace bonds? How about a serious drug issue, like the OxyContin plague? Where are those drugs coming

YOUR VOICE ‘Breath of fresh air’ Dear editor, Just dropping a line to say congrats on Craig Westcott’s columns in The Independent. Craig does not come down softly when it comes to stating the facts regarding Danny Williams and his so-called team. We all know (or at least those of us who are half awake know) that Danny runs the shop. It’s a breath of fresh air to know that at least there’s one other person

from? Who is selling them?

I am guessing they are harder to catch than some stupid kid, but that’s why cops get snazzy uniforms and fancy cars with flashing lights. Does even the dimmest member of the RCMP brass think we are impressed when they crucify some gormless teenager from Blaketown?

It is sad comment, but who could blame some kids for thinking that selling drugs was an opportunity? Unemployment abounds, despair and gloom fills the news, and the media falls over itself to glamourize the likes of Brian O’Dea, a so-called former “big time” drug smuggler. The guy shouldn’t be given the time of day (and besides, after Brian Tobin I would have thought most Newfoundlanders would have learned their lesson about smooth talkers — but apparently not).

Our out-of-touch marijuana laws breed this type of parasite. Sure I smoke marijuana, but that doesn’t make me a hypocrite. I don’t encourage criminal behaviour — the law does. I drink Scotch too, but Al Capone was a scum-

bag. It’s the law that’s stupid. And in any case, the RCMP in Blaketown didn’t catch an Al Capone. They got some kid.

Incidents like this make me wonder about the leadership of our respective police forces. One isn’t supposed to second-guess the police, but when no one does, we get into some real messes.

Messes like multiple wrongful convictions. Messes like an enormous local child sex scandal that came out of nowhere, rattled our cages badly, and then disappeared just as quickly, without any explanation. Messes that you and I have to pay millions to clean up.

Everything about how the police deal with the marijuana issue is stupid.

Whenever they catch someone with a couple of kilos of the stuff, they always place some ridiculously high price tag on it. Imagine if they issued a press release bragging that they had taken a dozen beer from a 16-year-old, beer with a “street value” of $72? They’d be laughed off the airwaves. But technically that is what you would pay to drink a dozen beer if you bought them individually “on the street.” I can only assume

they think we are stupid. I pay my tax dollars for this?

The whole marijuana debate is so exhausting. According to the RCMP’s recent actions in Blaketown, practically everyone I know — including judges, politicians, cabinet ministers, premiers, principals, and even the clergy — should have serious criminal records. And yet they’ll insist we are all wrong and they are right.

It is time we had a very serious look at the running of our justice departments and police forces. Apparently they need more guidance. Not just for our sake, but for theirs. It’s time to get them busy with the more serious issues — like understaffing and under funding they have suffered as a result of cutbacks. Rank and file police officers do a job few of us would even consider. It is often a thankless job. They face stresses everyday that most of us will — if we are fortunate — never have to face.

They shouldn’t have to look stupid.

Ivan Morgan can be reached at ivan.morgan@gmail.com

DOBBIN’S DINNER

here in Newfoundland (or what’s left of our province) who can see Williams is running the province straight into the ground! I’ve never seen the like of people leaving … not on his watch (I feel nausea as I write this) — paper mills, roads, fishery, go it alone on Churchill (bad idea) FPI (need I say more). Keep up the good work Craig.

Roger Linehan, St. John’s

Fishermen and a pig farmer Dear editor, The Canadian Wheat Board was established in 1935 and charged with the orderly marketing of western Canadian grains. Over its history, the wheat board has been a major agent of federal government policy for western grains.

The Newfoundland Fisheries Board was established in 1936 under the commission government. It had extensive powers to regulate all aspects of production, processing, culling, inspection and distribution of fish products. The fisheries board licensed premises where fish products were to be landed, processed, and stored; the board also licensed brokers to sell Newfoundland fish around the world.

According to the Encyclopedia of Newfoundland, the fisheries board was able to co-ordinate and improve the marketing of fisheries exports to an extent previously unrealized, and was the recognized authority on fisheries matters throughout the period of commission government.

Yet, Term 22 of the Terms of Union lays the groundwork for the eventual dismantling of the fisheries board, with its functions assumed by the federal Fisheries Department in 1954.

That, Mr. editor, was our original sin on entering the Canadian confederation. It was our greatest giveaway (Churchill Falls is only rented by Hydro-Quebec until 2041), the greatest example of Newfoundland being the land of the half-done job and an example of our well-known short

sightedness.

Quite simply, the Newfoundland Fisheries Board, established in 1936, should have become the Canadian Fisheries Board, established before April 1, 1949.

What is to be done at this late date?

Perhaps nothing. The words of Harold Horwood on the coming of Confederation may ring true forever: “The deep-sea fishermen of the south and southwest coasts, and the fishermen and sealers of the northeast coast and Labrador, followed the pig farmer Joe Smallwood.”

On the other hand, Fishery Products International has a first-class marketing arm based in Danvers, Mass. And I do believe FPI bought one of England’s premier fish companies (the English market is the world’s largest for cold-water shrimp).

Resurrect the Newfoundland Fisheries Board and call it the Newfoundland and Labrador Fisheries Board.

Nationalize FPI and keep the marketing arms in the U.S. and Britain.

At least then we won’t have our competitors (Nova Scotia and Iceland) selling our fish for us little Newfs.

By the way, what are our fish merchants and current crop of princelings going to do when China decides to get rid of the middleman and make application to become a member of NAFO? Tom Careen, Placentia (the above letter was submitted to The Independent prior to Wednesday’s fishery summit).

Craig Dobbin, one of Newfoundland and Labrador’s most successful businessmen and philanthropists, was roasted Friday night in St. John’s by the likes of Mary Walsh and Mark Critch. The event, which included surprise roaster Rex Murphy, was a fundraiser for the Resource Centre for the Arts.

Paul Daly/The Independent

‘A few examples of Canadian common sense’ Dear editor, In his recent Independent column (‘You and ‘I were meant to fly’), Ray Dillon, president of the St. John’s Board of Trade, advises us that the board does not support a boycott of Air Canada based on their cancellation of the direct flight to Heathrow. He suggests we check out other airlines and then e-mail our itineraries and boarding passes to Air Canada. Please excuse my entrepreneurial inexperience, but isn’t that what a boycott does, minus the in-your-face part?

Air Canada jobs will evaporate in St. John’s with the cancellation of the Heathrow flight in any case, as will the jobs with the Canadian Border Services Agency, the positions responsible for delaying these time-strapped, nonNewfoundland Canadian complainers.

All these lost jobs will soon reappear in Halifax as the requirement for another set of incoming flights from Heathrow.

Tim’s tummies Dear editor, I heard today that our province has the highest level of diabetes in the country, and a high increase in obesity and complications from sugar consumption.

The CBC also recently aired the show, Big Sugar, on the topic of sugar in our products and the alarming statistics.

With a health-care system stressed more and more each year, and problems such as diabetes and obesity being a leading cause of increased complications to people’s health, health-care costs and long wait times, why does our provincial hospital have a Tim Hortons outlet and soda machines on its premis-

I am proud of our Newfoundland response to the insult that this cancellation constitutes. Nova Scotians and others complain because they don’t want to go through border services here. They’d rather de-plane just once and go through border services in Halifax, thereby saving the hour or two at St. John’s airport. Air Canada thinks it must kowtow to this mentality by having Newfoundlanders fly to Halifax (1 hour, 20-minute flight), passing through border services and waiting in Halifax airport (2-4 hours) before flying to Heathrow, and then returning from Heathrow to Halifax, passing through border services in Halifax, spending another 2-4 hour wait (during which time our bags will be lost), and enduring the St. John’s flight (1 hour, 20 minutes).

So while Air Canada agrees with these complainers that they have to wait too long, they would add another 10 hours or more to each Newfoundlander’s trip.

The relocation of the Gander weather

office at the expense of Newfoundland and Labrador lives, as does the administration of harbour pilots at the expense of competent pilot scheduling for cruise ships entering St. John’s harbour, the Canadian Navy, the Canadian Coast Guard and federal fisheries research, the chief port for which is located at the extreme southern end of their patrol range or research area, costing millions of dollars in extra fuel charges. They’re just a few examples of Canadian common sense. Even our blood donations are typed in Halifax, with the extra delays that involves.

Our problem is that racism is often not that far below the surface of the Canadian psyche where it makes decreased service, longer times, higher costs, decreased opportunities and even life and death risks acceptable for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

Paul F. Murphy, St. John’s

‘Justice they deserve’ es?

Clearly this decision is hypocritical, one that must be reversed.

Tim Hortons is everywhere these days in our society and people are addicted to it, bringing more problems to an already problematic health system. Considering the average sugar levels in their best-selling products, there’s no justification to their sale in a healthcare facility. Soda contains high levels of sugar that is made accessible by the very health-care system that spends millions to diagnose and treat patients negatively impacted by it! Have you seen the lineups at the Tim Hortons’ facility

in the Health Science Centre lately? The number of people is remarkable.

Facts: Tim Hortons lists sugar on its nutrition guide with their products (sugar has no nutritional Value under our food guide) Tim Hortons: sugar per 10oz Coffee — 9 grams Tea — 9 grams Hot Chocolate — 41 grams Cappuccino — 27-41 grams Hot Smoothee — 39 grams Dean Penton, St. John’s

Dear editor, drink and drive.

Regarding the Robert Parsons case: This man made a conscious decias a woman who, at sion to drive his car, the age of 15, was knowing he had left fatherless by a consumed alcohol. drunk driver, and He was already My heart goes out the wife, aunt, and breaking the law cousin of diabetics, before he struck and to the parents of I am doubly outkilled that little boy.

Matthew Churchill. raged by this man’s My heart goes out to attempt to blame his the parents of conduct on his disMatthew Churchill. ease. This is an I pray they get the insult to diabetics, millions of whom justice they deserve. lead responsible, law-abiding, and Ada Bradbury, productive lives, and choose not to Upper Island Cove

MAY 28, 2006

8 • INDEPENDENTNEWS

MAY 28, 2006

INDEPENDENTNEWS • 9

IN CAMERA

‘As I see it ...’

This past week was a busy one in the Newfoundland and Labrador fishery, with a summit on Wednesday involving industry players from around the province. Federal Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn held a news conference on Thursday announcing $8.8 million to improve fisheries research facilities. Picture editor Paul Daly captured the action around St. John’s.

From page 1 plants. (O’Rielly also worked for years with Clearwater Fine Foods under John Risley, the same man at the centre of the current FPI shakeup.)

Fiander says he heard O’Rielly speak publicly a few years ago about his “vision” for the future, which would see “growth centres” strategically located around Newfoundland and Labrador, with most of the population living within commuting distance.

Fiander suspects those “growth centres” may be the 10 rural secretariats (nine regional and one provincial council) created by the Williams administration last year.

Again, Fiander does not question the strategy, agreeing there are too many fishermen chasing too few fish — not to mention too many fish plants.

But, he says, there are two ways for Williams to follow through on the strategy: the private route or the public route.

If the premier chooses the private course, Fiander says he will put the harvesting sector in the hands of a handful of “millionaires,” with fish caught by factory-freezer trawlers and shipped to places like China for further processing — wherever it’s cheapest and most efficient to do so.

The public path, on the other hand, would ensure the industry is “maximized” for Newfoundlanders. Fiander says small family-run, “micro-processing plants” may work in rural areas, arguing the way to compete against China’s incredible labour force is to supply the U.S.’s white table-cloth market with “fresh fish.”

“We can’t compete with China head-to-head in terms of processing mass amounts of product,” Fiander says. “But the fish in China is no competition for the quality of our fresh fish.” He compares the new outport fish plant to Quidi Vidi Brewery in St. John’s, a microbrewery that competes successfully against bigger, national breweries like Molson and Labatt.

“That’s the way to go — not nose to nose with China,” says Fiander, who says the easiest way to reduce capacity may be to remove licences from a few offshore trawlers. “We could tell them we’re sorry they had to make the huge investment they did but our communities are more important to us,” he says.

Fiander says DFO has a “cult of efficiency” within its bureaucracy.

“They believe the answer to everything is economic efficiencies. In my mind, the fish is a common property resource that should be distributed for the benefit of all Newfoundlanders — and not left to a few millionaires.”

Fiander, the son of a schooner captain, is from Coombs Cove, near Harbour Breton.

••• Jim McGrath, a former lieutenantgovernor who served as federal minister of Fisheries and Oceans in the short-lived Joe Clark government (1979-80), says he would advise the federal and provincial governments to implement joint management of the

fishery.

As it stands, the federal government looks after harvesting, while the province oversees processing.

“We can’t have harvesting and processing sectors going their separate ways,” McGrath tells The Independent. “If you have more fish than you have fish plants then someone is going to suffer.”

He also recommends following through with custodial management of the Grand Banks as way to control foreign overfishing outside Canada’s 200-mile limit.

“The problem is we have a minister of Foreign Affairs from Nova Scotia (Peter MacKay) and Nova Scotians aren’t interested in joint management or custodial management … Foreign Affairs goes bananas at the thought of custodial management. This is the crowd that used to barter our fish for trade.

“We have to reduce our harvesting and processing capacity, and by that we have to do away with factoryfreezers and focus on inshore and

mid-shore vessels. Everybody has to bite the bullet … we have too many plants.”

••• Gus Etchegary, a retired executive with Fishery Products and outspoken fishery advocate, says the premier should immediately appoint a highpowered committee — independent of government — to develop a proposal setting out a plan to rebuild groundfish stocks such as cod.

“The details and development of this rebuilding plan should be delegated to a group composed of economists familiar with international fisheries, fishery scientists, persons with international fisheries negotiating experience and familiar with the UN Law of the Sea, FAO and the world court procedures … experienced and responsible fishermen and owner/operators with broad experience in harvesting/processing/marketing,” Etchegary says.

“The committee should be chaired by a judge of the Newfoundland and Labrador court who’s familiar with

our fisheries … The mandate should establish a maximum of three months for the committee to present its plan to the provincial government.

“The plan should include recommendations regarding science, how to deal with foreign overfishing and the many other aspects of resource restoration … Meantime, the government has to grapple with the shortterm social and economic problems facing the industry today and which have been exacerbated by the depleted groundfish fisheries.”

••• Owen Myers, a St. John’s lawyer specializing in fisheries and marine law, says government should stop supporting the fishery (outside preventing fish from being exported to China).

Further, he says the processing sector should be “deregulated” whereby processing licences are handed out to companies that ask for one and government grants and loans are a thing of the past.

“Fish plants should be treated the

same as restaurants,” Myers says.

“When one small plant goes under then it’s the same as a restaurant closing … it doesn’t threaten the whole area.”

Myers, a one-time fisheries observer, says harvesting quotas should be distributed as widely as possible to as many fishermen as possible, with restrictions lifted on vessel size.

“Obviously giving quotas to FPI and National Sea and Clearwater just simply isn’t in our best interests.”

Myers also says there are serious flaws with the fishermen’s union, which he calls a form of “dictatorship.

“You have to look long and hard to find a group of people who have the economic and political power of the fishermen’s union,” he says, describing the union leadership as “clinging to power like dying men on a sinking ship.”

Myers calls Employment Insurance the “biggest crowd scheme” ever invented, saying it stifles political dissent. “All the feds have to do is mention EI rules may be changed and

everyone feels faint.”

••• Ed Sandeman, a retired scientist with the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans in St. John’s, says both levels of government are “totally wrong” about the fishery.

“They’re behaving as if there’s a fishery, but there’s not enough fish for a fishery in the way they’re talking about it … they’re acting as if the fish are in normal shape. We’re in real trouble and no one seems to be aware of it.

“This place is sick … I think it’s really out of whack now.”

Sandeman says government should first move to get a handle on the amount of fish left in the water, although he says that’s hard to do given’s DFO science budget has been cut dramatically since the early 1990s.

••• John Joy, a lawyer who also specializes in fisheries law, says the key to resolving the fishery woes is to restore and properly manage ground-

fish stocks such as cod. He says crab and shrimp cannot sustain the fishery, and the processing sector has effectively “died for want of groundfish.

“We require, on the diplomatic front, custodial management of the nose and tail of the Grand Banks and the Flemish Cap. We require, on the national scene, a dramatic increase in fisheries science, and management practices that eliminate the problems of under-reporting, high grading, discards and bycatch,” he says.

“Our benchmark on groundfish should not be zero as in 1992, but the long-term historical annual average catch, for example, of 200,000 tonnes of cod on a biomass of several million metric tones.”

Joy also says Fishery Products International should remain the flagship company of the Newfoundland fishery “either as a Crown corporation or with sufficient provincial guidance to ensure that it operates in the best interests of the province.

“Ownership, however, is generally the best way to ensure effective

control. Iceland, by contrast, has been engaging in the free trade world economy in many areas, but continues to prohibit virtually any external ownership of its fishery for a whole range of valid national economic and social goals.”

Finally, Joy says panic is not the answer.

••• Don Graham, a long-time plant owner in Aquaforte on the Southern Shore, says the current federal and provincial governments can’t be blamed for problems in the fishery.

“The biggest problem is when you give someone a government credit card and say do what you like,” Graham says, adding government grants, loans and political interference of any sort should be eliminated from the industry once and for all.

“When I asked to be invited to the fishery summit I was told no … they almost said I’m not a stakeholder after 35 years in the business — that struck me like a ton of bricks.” ryan.cleary@theindependent.ca

MAY 28, 2006

10 • INDEPENDENTNEWS

SPRING FLOWERS

‘One of the best return rates in the country’ From page 1

Betty Hall, a member of the Newfoundland Horticultural Society, gets ready for the annual spring flower show at Memorial University’s Botanical Gardens. The display is open to the public 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 28.

Paul Daly/The Independent

And so hopeful. My mother died of breast cancer in 1989.

Although my information about the new machine turned out to be less than accurate, what I learned in the course of a pleasant and informative hour in Wadden’s office left me with the conviction that if my mother had contracted breast cancer in Newfoundland and Labrador after 1996, she’d likely still be alive today.

Wadden is the medical director of breast imaging for Newfoundland and Labrador, and an associate professor of medicine. Originally from Gander, she completed her medical degree at Memorial, and did her internship, residency and a fellowship at the University of Toronto; she remained in Toronto, working for eight years at the Toronto Hospital as head of breast imaging.

Wadden chose radiology, specializing in breast imaging, “because I liked working with the technology, and I loved interacting with the women (her patients).”

When asked why someone who is a recognized authority in her field — someone regularly invited to lecture in Canada, the United States and Europe — would choose to return to Newfoundland to practice, she smiles.

“For two reasons,” Wadden says. “I love Toronto; it’s a great city. But we were spending all our vacations coming home. Eventually we decided we wanted to live closer to our friends and our families. Newfoundland is a great place to live in.

“We don’t live here for the weather, after all; we live here for the people. It’s friendly, there’s a lack of … ego. You wouldn’t talk to people in an elevator in Toronto. But if you don’t talk to people in an elevator here, they think there’s something wrong with you.”

Wadden’s daughter, Emily, was three when she and her husband, Paul Wadden, a St. John’s native, decided to make the move back home. Having a child, she says, was another deciding factor. “There are so many children out playing in my

Nancy Wadden

neighbourhood — we have great neighbourhood parties. In Toronto, if you do get to know your neighbours, it’s not in the same way.”

The other reason Wadden returned to Newfoundland and Labrador was an invitation to set up a provincial organized breast-screening program.

There are two kinds of breast screening, she tells me: the organized breast screening program, which is aimed at breast cancer prevention — identifying and screening high-risk groups of women — and diagnostic imaging, which requires a referral from a general practitioner. A referral can mean that a woman already has symptoms of the disease. (By the way, men get breast cancer too — but less than one per cent of all cases occur in males. I suddenly wonder if Hugh Hefner’s attitude towards breasts would have been significantly different if he had owned a pair of secondary sexual characteristics that put him at risk for a fatal disease. Probably not.)

Since 1996, Wadden has been busy putting into place and operating an organized breast screening system which she hopes will eventually process every woman in the province who is in the high-risk category for breast cancer; i.e.,

over the age of 50.

“If you are a woman over 40,” she says, “you have a one in 660 chance of getting breast cancer. If you are 60, that statistic becomes one in 280, higher if there are genetic factors.”

If breast cancer is caught in the early stages, the five-year survival rate is 98 per cent.

“Actually,” says Wadden, “it’s really a 10- to 20-year rate — basically, you’re cured. Breast cancer has a surgical cure, and 68.5 per cent of all breast cancers diagnosed in the screening program are stage 0 or 1, which means that they are less than 2 centimetres and the lymph nodes haven’t been affected.”

The organized breast screening program Wadden set up is a public health initiative that attempts to screen members of the asymptomatic population once every one or two years, depending on risk factors.

Wadden explains that recruitment is done through the province’s general practitioners, who are asked to encourage their high-risk patients to visit the clinic for regular mammograms, and through the provincial government’s motor registration division. Through the latter’s records, her team is able to get birth dates that identify women at risk, and letters are sent out inviting these women to come to the clinic for a mammogram.

There is a recall system in place to ensure that the women come back for regular check-ups.

When the breast screening clinic in St. John’s opened in 1996, Wadden and her staff saw an average of eight patients per day. That number is now 50; the clinic in St. John’s, which serves the Avalon Peninsula, sees approximately 12,000 women a year.

“We’re doing a really good job of reaching the target population,” says Wadden. “We have one of the best return rates in the country.”

I ask Wadden about the significance of the new machine, which she showed me before we started the interview. Looking a little like the head and neck and upper torso of a benign metal Loch Ness Monster (but probably only to me), it sits in a well-windowed room with pots of a velvet-leafed plant called Joseph’s Coat for company.

“We’ve moved into a new era with digital,” Wadden says. “All of imaging has become computer-based.

Mammography was the only area that still used film. The ability to manipulate film is limited. There is a group of women for whom this new technology will be an advantage for cancer detection. The research supports it. Women under the age of 50 and women with dense breast tissue.

“Also, with this technology you can send images all over the province, or even the world, if you need consultation.

For instance, all the breast screening mammograms from Gander are read in St. John’s.”

Although the research doesn’t support increased detection of disease in general, Wadden says the computer-generated images are easier to read than film, and so the chance of overlooking an anomaly is slight.

When I suggest that it’s great that the current government seems to be willing to shell out for health care, Wadden’s face lights up. “Oh yes,” she says. “These machines cost four times the amount of the regular machines. And the screening program has been expanded to Grand Falls and Corner Brook; Gander and Grand Falls have the new machines as well. And they gave us extra money for technologists too, and clerical staff.

“Our argument was that early diagnosis could prevent a lot of deaths, and they were very responsive to that. This machine has been commercially available for only two years; it’s state-of-theart. We have 15 mammography units in the province, and we just got four of these digital imaging machines. The entire country has less than 30 machines, and there are over 600 mammography units in Canada.”

I ask her about the future of the fight against breast cancer; will advances in imaging technology eventually prove to be the ultimate weapon? “There are some cancers, a small percentage, that don’t show up on a mammogram. Digital imaging will decrease the risk, but it will never make things perfect. Probably some biological test will be the answer, in future.” The national decrease in breast cancer (which began in 1994), she says, is partly owing to early detection, partly to chemotherapy.

Newfoundland and Labrador has the highest rate of breast cancer in the country. Wadden is convinced this will change. “It takes 10 to 15 years after the initiation of these kinds of programs to see a statistical difference. The program has only been running optimally for five or six years.”

As I leave St. Clare’s, I think how cool it is that one person can make a life-ordeath difference to thousands of other people. I fantasize about the possibility that if my mother had been offered preventative screening when she reached the age of risk, I might be going over to her house tonight with a young woman in tow. Her only grandchild, whose growing up she missed. My daughter, who still misses her.

MAY 28, 2006

INDEPENDENTNEWS • 11

LIFE STORY

‘It has been hell all the time …’

Hugh Campbell of St. John’s ended his days as an unlucky prospector, living alone in the Rocky Mountains

By Ivan Morgan For The Independent

N

ewfoundlanders love a success story about one of their own.

That’s why we run them. But there is something to be learned from life’s casualties as well, from someone whose best plans weren’t realized, who perhaps didn’t overcome tragedy, and who didn’t make a bold mark on history.

Hugh Campbell was such a person.

He was my great (times four) grandmother Susannah Campbell’s younger brother. He was born at sea in 1835, a son to Archibald Campbell, the ship’s captain. His family lived in St. John’s.

What I know of Hugh Campbell comes from a series of letters written to family members when he was a very old man — a destitute prospector living in an isolated cabin in the Rocky Mountains near the town of Princeton, B.C. His is a sad story.

Like most St. John’s families of that era, the Campbells saw their share of tragedy. Hugh’s mother died in 1841, when he was six, and his oldest sister, who helped raise him, died a year later.

When his father drowned near Burin in 1848, Hugh was sent to live with close family friends named Murdock in Halifax.

It wasn’t to be a happy arrangement.

He didn’t get along with his adoptive relatives, and resisted bitterly their ambitions for him. In 1911 his cousin Eva had sent him a picture of herself with her new husband. In reply he noted how happy they appeared, adding bitterly: “I was in the same boat over fifty years ago — that’s what sent me mining — the old folks kicked in and kicked and kicked until they broke it off (his engagement to an unsuitable girl) — and sent me to New York to learn Banking and after a week there I (stepped) aboard a steamship sailing for California in search of gold — not a Bride … ” That the division was a bitter one is evident in his anger and hurt pride decades later. In a letter to his sister, dated Jan. 20, 1892, he wrote: “Yes Susan, I could be one (of) the finest men in Halifax, only for the dirty pride of John and the Murdocks. They thought to make a match for me but my pride would not stand that, so I left and was not able to return according to my agreement and my Girl got turned off waiting and got married. I suppose she is in Heaven now, and I am in the other place. It looks that way anyhow I suppose.”

Angry with his family, Hugh Campbell had gone to California in search of gold and his fortune. He found neither.

Fifty years later, he was writing more or less transparent requests for money to his rich relatives back home.

He was not above employing a little

“Well, Miss Eva, if I make this deal it will put me on Easy Street and then I will come and have a jolly good time of it with you to make up for my lost fifty years …” pathos to try and inveigle a few dollars out of them, writing things like “ … my ink is freezing now as I am writing.” While my wealthy ancestors regarded him as a nuisance, his letters are full of affection, optimism for the future and a longing for a life he had impetuously abandoned half a century earlier.

The childlike quality to his writing is remarkable considering the life he must have led. While not much is known about his prospecting years, his few references give an inkling. Writing to thank a relative for a Christmas gift of a few dollars he says: “I am sorry to say that I have not had a good Christmas since I left old Halifax. I used to have some good old times there. I was happy then but since I come (sic) to this coast it has been Hell all the time, no Christmas, no New Year . . .”

Yet despite the regret, his sweet spirit and character shines from the page.

Even as an old man, he possessed the

optimism that is both the boon and curse of the prospector. He writes to a distant cousin in 1911 about his hopes for the upcoming summer: “I am only a kid, Eva — I am 76 and an old gold hunter. Well, Miss Eva, if I make this deal it will put me on Easy Street and then I will come and have a jolly good time of it with you to make up for my lost fifty years.”

His dreams were never realized. In a letter dated Oct. 1, 1922, a man named Frank Bailey wrote to say “old Hughie” had died at age 86, after suffering a fall from a stool in a local diner. “Before the accident I had expected him to live to be a centerian (sic) as he had a wonderful constitution and was very moderate in all things,” Bailey wrote. “(He) had thousands of friends … he was loved by everybody.”

A year later a relative wrote from Vancouver: “Poor Uncle Hugh had a very checkered life, but everyone who knew him said he was honourable, straight and true. In Princeton he was very much esteemed.”

In many ways he was typical of the many men broken by the lust for gold.

Twelve years before his death he wrote, “I would like to see old St. John’s once more before I kick.” It wasn’t to be.

Having turned his back on his family and home in anger, Hugh Campbell may have ended up a lonely, regretful, and destitute old man, but he was also a man with neighbours who thought the world of him. ivan.morgan@gmail.com

MAY 28, 2006

12 • INDEPENDENTNEWS

Slaving to the needs of mini-me

GOVERNMENT OF

NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR

MCP Re-registration

mcp

NEWFOUNDLAN

OR D AND LABRAD Medical Care Plan

JANE DOE 0 000 000 000 00 /03/2011 Card Expires: 31 Birth Date 11/11/1966

Gender F

Valid From 01/04/2006

The Department of Health and Community Services is conducting a re-registration of the Medical Care Program (MCP) and is asking all residents of Newfoundland and Labrador to register for a new MCP card.

Re-registration forms will be sent to each household in the province in the coming weeks. Residents are asked to complete the form and return it to the MCP office (via a self-addressed, stamped envelope). All existing MCP cards will not be valid after April 1, 2007.

If you have not received your form in the mail by August 31, 2006, or you have further questions, contact our office at either of the numbers listed below.

Medical Care Plan P.O. Box 8700, Belvedere Bldg.

57 Margaret’s Place St. John’s, NL A1B 4J6

Medical Care Plan P.O. Box 5000 22 High Street Grand Falls-Windsor, NL A2A 2Y4

1-866-449-4459

1-800-563-1557

St.John’s / Avalon Region

All other areas including Labrador

www.gov.nl.ca/mcp

W

hen you’ve been in a relationship for a while, perhaps living with a partner, family gatherings can become quite painful.

Whether you attend with your other half or not, chances are a swarm of curious relatives will eventually descend upon you, clucking, nudging, winking, asking questions about your relationship and demanding to know when you’ll be getting married.

Marriage, at this point, appears to be the be-all and end-all of everything.

Until you actually do happen to get married; then the focus swiftly shifts.

Now family gatherings (wedding reception included) are abuzz with a brand new question. When’s the baby coming?

These days such a question is more likely to be received with a look of panicked confusion than a smile of glowing anticipation. It’s no secret people are choosing to have fewer children, but why exactly? Is it because we have access to better birth control and want to focus more on our careers, or simply because we’re more widely informed and therefore utterly terrified?

INTO THE ABYSS We just know so much these days, from the horrors of giving birth to the psychological affect parents can unintentionally have on their kids, that spawning another human being has become less of a natural development along the cycle of life and more of a leap into the abyss.

In the modern world we’re assaulted with a barrage of information on every possible subject known to man. Thanks to this progressively open, analytical culture, I now know a child’s personality is largely formed by the age of five; parental issues — past and present — can have a significant effect on a child’s psyche (for example: anorexic mother can equal anorexic child); and the most powerful role model in a child’s life is the same-sex parent, against whom a child will unconsciously model themselves.

While recently listening to the radio,

CLARE-MARIE GOSSE Brazen I even discovered children can actually inherit their parents’ memories. A Polish holocaust survivor buried memories of living underground and fleeing the Nazis during the Second World War when she was a little girl, but unwittingly passed them along to her daughter. These inherited memories manifested themselves as traumatic, recurring nightmares, which the daughter was initially at a loss to explain.

Then there are the things we don’t need science and the media to tell us about, but which scare the crap out of us anyway; the things already in our own heads: what if my child’s not healthy? What if I’m a rubbish mother?

What if I give birth to someone who at best flings the “I didn’t ask to be born!” recrimination back in my face or at worst winds up unhappy? What if I’m unhappy, slaving to the whims of a mini-me? What if I have nothing in common with him or her? What if my child turns out to be the Antichrist?

Some people might think not having babies to reinforce the planet’s human army is selfish, but whether you’re remaining childless because you like your freedom and waistline or if you’re Super Mum, it’s all basically selfish.

There’s nothing wrong or surprising about that.

Nobody has a child for the benefit of the child, because the child doesn’t exist and has no needs. People have children for themselves, because they want the experience; because they want something to love; because they’re curious; because their birth control screws up; because they think it might fix a dying relationship; because they’re stunned.

In my age range (20s to early 30s), those with babies and those without seem to occupy two different planets. It seems as soon as someone procreates

they turn into an unfathomable being, obsessed with photographs, gobbledegook and cardigans, while the nonmothers and fathers observe from a supercilious sideline stocked up with hard liquor.

I know this is a ridiculous generalization, but as someone who still has issues calling herself a wife, I have a horror of most things domestic and motherhood is caricatured as the ultimate crown.

I’m part of a selfish generation, a generation that wants fun, freedom, money, self-fulfillment and more of it, and although there are plenty of people out there whose ultimate desire is parenthood, the non-procreational bunch seem to be gradually outnumbering them.

I recently asked a friend of mine to sum up her own feelings about having kids and promptly received an 832word e-mail which started “Sticky and stinky monsters: why I hate children …” and concluded “… I haven’t heard it (my biological clock) ticking yet, but when I do I’ll turn on loud music to drown it out.”

Upon further questioning she went on to admit she might consider adoption, but only if she had a rich husband and could afford to stay at home.

Pregnancy and labour were out of the question what with “the shitting on the delivery table, painful showers and no sex for six weeks …” Best not to delve further into those for now.

Before my parents and in-laws start to panic, I’ve not struck myself off the motherhood list, I’m just hanging out in the waiting room for a while until I either decide to throw my self-absorbed fears to the wind or let curiosity get the better of me.

For now, the parents will have to make do with a large, hairy grandchild who sheds copiously, drools when excited, has a particular obsession with cats and a fondness for bottom sniffing.

Clare-Marie Gosse’s column returns June 11. claremariegosse@hotmail.com

‘Close to the people’ In his 57 years as a lay reader, Max Head spoke in front of congregations across the island

By Jenny Higgins For The Independent

I

n 1949, a young and slightly nervous Max Head stood in front of an Anglican congregation in the small community of Brookside, Placentia Bay. He was not a priest, he had never received any formal religious training and his experience with public speaking consisted of a budding teaching career in the community’s one-room school.

Nevertheless, Head was about to deliver his first sermon.

The congregation must have liked what they heard because, from that day on, Head was often the only available person the community deemed qualified enough to preach in its church.

Head had become Brookside’s official lay reader. He continued the work for more than half a century in various communities scattered across the island.

“I felt like doing that, I enjoyed it,” says Head of his 57 years spent lay reading.

A lay reader is a person authorized by a bishop in the Anglican or Roman Catholic Church to preach and perform some parts of the service.

Decades ago in rural Newfoundland, the lay reader filled an important role. There were hundreds of small communities dotting the island, but members of the clergy often lived in larger centres like St. John’s. Priests travelled between the communities to preach but, with no easy means of transporta-

tion linking the villages together, residents would seldom know for sure when a priest would arrive in their village.

“The chief mode of transportation in these early days was by boat,” says Head. “In winter, the inner coves and inlets of the bays would be frozen, which prevented the clergy from visiting the various small churches in the parish.

“In winter and in stormy weather the visit of a priest could be delayed for months. In an emergency, who was going to baptize the infants or bury the dead? It had to be the lay reader.”

In Newfoundland’s tiny villages, it became conventional for a teacher to become the appointed lay reader.

“Back in the 1950s and ’60s, especially in the smaller communities, the teacher was usually the most highly-educated person there,” says Head. “It was the duty of the teacher to be a lay reader if requested by the parish priest — who was also the chairman of the local school board.

“It was a denominational school system, where the parish priest held considerable authority. He signed the teacher’s paycheque and approved his appointment.”

Despite being more of less propelled into his role in front of the congregation, Head says he enjoyed the work from the beginning.

Throughout his lengthy career, Head read in many Newfoundland communities, including Harbour Grace South, Bay L’Argent in Fortune Bay, Norman’s Cove, Corner Brook and Foxtrap.

Head says one of the most rewarding things about reading in small communities is getting to know the families who live there and playing an important role in their lives — in ways that sometimes extend beyond the church.

“I remember doing unemployment insurance papers for people,” says Head. “I read morning and evening prayer … of course as a lay reader I also baptized people and buried people. Especially in the smaller places you were close to the people for sure.”

However, the relationships that made the work so rewarding also made Head’s position quite difficult from time to time.

“In Baie L’Argent there was a drowning — a little girl fell over the wharf and was drowned, but the clergy wasn’t in the community at that time so I had to bury the little girl,” remembers Head. “That was very difficult for me because there was a four-room school there and I was teaching this little girl’s sister.

“It was all I could do to read these prayers without breaking down.”

Still, Head says he’s often comforted by the memories he has accumulated during his decades of lay reading.

He says he has also watched the profession change since 1949.

“Lay readers now have more freedom,” Head explains.

“They feel they can perform things now, where they were restricted before. For example, I can remember when lay readers weren’t allowed to compose their own sermons, but now you can make up your own. That has been going on for about 20 years now.”

After 57 years, Max Head retired on April 23 of this year.

He and his wife Bessie moved to New Brunswick to be near their son and his family.

Head still does some volunteer work for the church there and says there are plenty of new lay readers entering the field.

Although the communities where Head once lay read are no longer as isolated as they were 50 years ago, he says the role of the lay reader is just as important as it was when he started.

INDEPENDENTWORLD

SUNDAY THROUGH SATURDAY, MAY 28-JUNE 3, 2006 — PAGE 13

Everest situation ‘out of control’ British climber left to die sparks worldwide debate, brings death toll on the mountain to 11 already this year

Japanese mountaineer Takako Arayama, 70, leads other climbers on the way to the top of Mount Everest May 17, 2006.

Arayama is the oldest person to scale the world's highest peak from the Tibetan side.

Reuters

Those who go to Mount Everest include people who want to be, among other things, the oldest pern ethical debate about son to climb it, the youngest person, whether dozens of climbers the first to climb without hands, the on Mount Everest ought to first to climb without legs, the first have left a 34-year-old British man to climb blind and so on.

In the stampede, people such as to die near the summit is bringing into focus the massive chaos in the David Sharp, 34, die. Sharp’s story race to stand atop the world’s tallest made headlines this week when it became evident that dozens of peomountain.

A near-blind German man, ple passed him as he struggled to Thomas Weber, and an experienced live at 28,000 feet.

One of them who passed him was Australian mountaineer, Lincoln Hall, were confirmed dead May 25 Mark Inglis, a double amputee from and brought the number of people to New Zealand, who defended himdie on the mountain this year to 11. self by saying Sharp was in a “hopeTom Sjogren, editor of the New less condition” and beyond help.

One key problem, says Sjogren, is York City-based website mounteverest.net, says with at least three that, even as hundreds of people other unconfirmed deaths, this clog the mountain and pay huge spring’s climbing season on the amounts for the privilege of climbmountain that borders Nepal and ing it, there is little in the way of China is on course to be the dead- emergency personnel for rescue or policing purposes. liest ever.

It’s pretty much every climbing In comparison, 12 people died in group for themthe spring of 1996, selves.

And the year Jon news of deaths Krakauer wrote can take days or Into Thin Air, weeks to which documented David Sharp, who was emerge, espewhy so many cially if one is experienced and left to die on Mount climbing from inexperienced the Chinese side mountaineers Everest, told his of the mountain, throw caution to he says. the wind to subject mother before he left: “If I want to themselves to the kill someone, risk, hardship and “You are never on I’d go to expense of climbyour own. There are Everest because ing Mount Everest. nobody would The feather in climbers everywhere.” ever find out,” their cap is the he says. chance to say they For Phil and have climbed the P a u l i n e 29,035-foot tall mountain that also goes by the Sanderson, a British couple who Nepali name Sagarmatha and the became the first married couple Tibetan name Chomolungma — from the U.K. to reach the summit, both loosely translated as “goddess the experience was not a pretty one.

“In the space of the four days we mother of the Earth.”

“It’s a situation that is completely had been on the mountain five peoout of control,” says Sjogren, who ple had died and several had lost joints and limbs to frost bite,” wrote climbed Mount Everest in 1999.

“In the early days, there were not Pauline Sanderson, 41, in an e-mail.

“Each story made my feeling of so many people and those who went had a history how to act on the euphoria diminish as we realized mountain … now a lot of people that the ‘Everest Circus’ was becomwho are not used to being on the ing an ‘Everest Graveyard.’”

The experience included, she mountain go there.”

It’s led to an explosion of guided wrote, finding a French climber trips where people are willing to pay friend hanging about 100 metres $10,000 to $60,000 per person to be from the summit. She removed his wedding ring to return it to the dead led to the summit, he says.

Sjogren estimates during this man’s wife waiting in the capital spring’s climbing season, which city of Kathmandu.

Statistics gathered by Sjogren began in the first week of April, and ends sometime next week, more show that of the 11 people who died than 300 people have reached the this year, seven were client climbers summit. Add guides and Sherpas who died from high altitude sickness and the number of people on the or a fall.

Three Sherpa guides were killed mountain more than doubles.

The year Krakeur wrote his book, in avalanches and one died of altian estimated 98 people reached the tude sickness.

David Sharp, who was left to die summit. Ten years before that, about on Mount Everest, told his mother 30 people climbed the mountain.

Before that, in the 1950s, 1960s before he left: “You are never on and the 1970s, it was still the your own. There are climbers everywhere.” domain of the select few.

By Philjob Gombu Torstar wire service

A

VOICE FROM AWAY

‘You need it – we keep it’

By Geoff Dale For The Independent

F

ish flake may not hold much significance to Canadians unfamiliar with Newfoundland seafaring traditions but to Sam Keeping, the words represent an important segment of his personal history.

In fact, the platform built on poles and spread with boughs for drying codfish offers valuable insight into how the 73-year-old Fortune native has become, and remains, one of southwestern Ontario’s most successful businessmen.

“I was doing that when I was a nineyear-old boy going to school back home,” he says. “I’d spread the fish out early in the morning, continue the process at noon, back to the classroom and back to finish off my work at the end of the day.

“I was just a school kid but I had $150, so I felt rich. It was a good feeling. I have always said throughout my life that hard work never hurt anyone. I consider my success over the years to be a combination of hard work and the

From Fortune Bay fish flakes to an Ontario hardware store, Sam Keeping’s entrepreneurial spirit alive far from home

luck of the draw — really being at the right place at the right time.”

The owner of a successful 37-yearold hardware business — Keep Industrial Supply Ltd., headquartered in the southwestern Ontario community of Woodstock — doesn’t believe in slowing down for a moment, even at an age when many of his contemporaries are concentrating on more leisurely retirement pursuits like traveling or hitting the golf links at every available opportunity.

“Why should I stop now? I still love coming into work every day,” he says.

“I get an enormous amount of pleasure dealing with customers old and new, telling what’s new on the shelves and selling products I feel are just right for them. My business logo is ‘You need it — we keep it.’

“Some of my employees have more than 25 years experience on the job, so that’s another positive … these are the kind of people you want to work alongside, knowledgeable, friendly and See “Enjoyed every moment,” page 14

Sam Keeping

Geoff Dale photo

MAY 28, 2006

14 • INDEPENDENTWORLD

Bucks are big in Wood Buffalo Median family income in Alberta town $120,100; Oshawa still tops for large urban area at $83,100

By Bill Taylor Torstar wire service

“The average single family home costs $418,000,” she says. “Toronto prices? We’re getting up there. Rental costs are even worse. I don’t here’s good news and bad news out of have the figures at my fingertips but ... high.”

Wood Buffalo. The good news is that if And the car-buying? Locals have to drive you live there, Statistics Canada says you everywhere. Edmonton, the nearest big city, is enjoy the country’s highest median family about 450 kilometres away. income: $120,100 in 2004.

This is a spectacularly beautiful part of The bad news is that if you live there, well, you Canada. The website says people “from all over ... live there, stuck in northeastern Alberta, a long the world come here to live and play. Many have way from anywhere. What do you spend your come for a short visit and stayed a lifetime, firmmoney on? ly planting roots in our rich soil ... if you have “Housing and cars,” Wood Buffalo Mayor always wanted to try something, why not try it Melissa Blake says. here?”

Statscan released median family income figBlake, 35 (four years older than the average ures for 2004, “median” being age), was born in Quebec’s the point where half are highEastern Townships and moved er and half lower. to Alberta in 1982 with her For the second year in a parents.

Not everyone makes row, Oshawa had the highest “This is home for me now. for “census metropolitan What do I like best? The pure oilman wages, of areas,” defined as one or more visual pleasure. The forest suradjacent municipalities cencourse. But the mayor rounds us. We have residential tred on an “urban core” large areas you’d never know existsaid even fast-food enough to boast a population ed.” of at least 100,000. Oshawa’s The pleasures the place joints pay their $83,100 median was up 1.6 offers are mostly outdoors: per cent over 2003, keeping hunting, fishing, hiking, bikworkers about $14 Canada’s auto-industry capital ing, snowmobiling. It’s said to just ahead of Ottawabe a great spot to see the auroan hour.

Gatineau. ra borealis. Tours of the oil For the real big bucks, sands are also popular. The though, go to Thompson, mayor used to be a tour guide.

Man., Yellowknife, Wood Buffalo ...

The cost of living, apart from housing, isn’t much They’re the top three among “census agglom- higher than anywhere else, she says. erations,” formed around an urban core of at least “We pay about the same price for gas.

10,000 people.

Groceries are maybe a little more expensive. But Wood Buffalo’s core is Fort McMurray, with we have a paved highway and no issues at all almost 61,000 residents. Though Wood Buffalo, about getting supplies here.” created in 1995 and covering more than 68,000 Why the high house prices? The law of supply square kilometres, is among the largest munici- and demand. palities in North America, its total population is “We’ve added about 34,000 population since just over 73,000.

1996 and it’s projected to rise to 80,000 or maybe Where does all the money come from? Mining even 100,000 by 2010,” says Blake. the vast Athabasca Oil Sands deposits. And Wood Unemployment is about 3 per cent, “which I Buffalo boasts on its website: “Our taxes are think statistically counts as full employment.” among the lowest in the country.”

Not everyone makes oilman wages, of course.

But, says Blake, housing prices are the highest But the mayor said even fast-food joints pay their in Alberta. workers about $14 an hour.

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A Syncrude worker rides his bicycle outside the company’s $7.5 million expansion mine, north of Fort McMurray. The site shut down after residents complained of odors coming from the site May 24.

Todd Korol/Reuters

‘Enjoyed every moment of every day’ From page 13 always caring about the business.”

He admits it’s unlikely he could have envisioned this kind of success when he left Fortune in 1951 at the age of 17.

Raised as the middle child in a family of nine siblings (five brothers and four sisters) by parents Sam and Dulcie, his early education was at the local Salvation Army school.

Aside from his business outings as a nine-yearold fish flake entrepreneur, there were few outward signs in those days that he would eventually blossom into a prosperous businessman a few thousand kilometres away from home.

“Brother and sisters had moved to the mainland and I saw that as being the place to pursue my interests because I really wasn’t that interested in the mighty oceans and the fishery,” Keeping says.

“My first six months away from home, I worked in Toronto, before moving on to Woodstock. I got a job here at the James Stewart Manufacturing plant, which produced furnaces.

“Next up it was General Hardware, where I stayed for 17 years. Charles O. Tatham told me that the company was looking for some good young men. I knew absolutely nothing about the hardware business but I applied, took a job as a stock keeper, and then became the company’s purchasing agent.

“On April 4, 1969, I headed out on my own,

opening a company with two partners. Basically I learned the business from the bottom up so there were very few real surprises along the way. I knew what to expect and I’ve enjoyed every moment of every day.”

Thirty-seven years ago the business consisted of the three founding partners and one counter person. Today the numbers have mushroomed to 15 full-time and three part-time staffers in three locations — the Woodstock facility with its 6,400 square foot warehouse, a 5,000 square-foot operation down the road in Brantford and a 4,000 square-foot building in Stratford (home of the Stratford Festival).

Strolling through the Woodstock facility early in the morning, Keeping points with pride to the company’s wall-to-wall collection of top-of-theline fittings, power tools, load binders, clamps, protective clothing — every imaginable item necessary for the growing hardware trade.

“I guess you could say that I haven’t done badly for a young man from Fortune, Newfoundland.”

With his wife, five children, nine grandchildren and non-job related interests like the Woodstock Navy Vets Junior C Hockey Team, Keeping says he enjoys a full and varied life seven days a week.

His last visit back home to Newfoundland was 27 years ago to mark his mother’s 75th birthday.

As founder of the local hockey team, Keeping’s picture is prominently featured in the city’s Sports Hall of Fame, as a builder of sport, in the Woodstock/District Community Complex “Newfoundlanders are often described as poor, but they are rich in so many other ways. And as for my own story, which is continuing on a daily basis, it’s like I tell my family and friends — the rest is history.”

Transsexuals given choice

T

ranssexuals facing a strip search by police should be allowed to choose the gender of the officer conducting the search, the Human Rights Commission has ruled.

Police in Toronto’s Peel Region have also been ordered to produce a training video on transsexuality after the commission ruled the force violated the rights of a person undergoing a sex change.

The May 16 ruling follows a complaint filed by a man who was planning to become a woman.

The complainant allegedly asked repeatedly to have a female officer conduct the search.

The complainant was strip-searched in several incidents dating back to 2000 and 2001 and each time the request was denied. Peel police wouldn’t say why the person was detained.

“This precedent-setting decision recognizes that transsexual individuals are full and equal members of society who must be accorded respect, dignity and freedom from discrimination,” says Human Rights chief commissioner Barbara Hall.

Privacy laws protect the name and age of the person who filed the complaint but commission spokesman Jeff Poirier says all charges against the complainant were eventually withdrawn.

— Torstar wire service

MAY 28, 2006

INDEPENDENTWORLD • 15

PM pledges $40M for Darfur Role for personnel ‘very unlikely’; UN warns of new level of violence

By Graham Fraser Torstar wire service

C

anada is contributing an additional $40 million to help the transition to peace in Darfur, but Prime Minister Stephen Harper says it’s “very unlikely” Canadian personnel will be involved.

Harper announced Canada will work with the Sudanese government, the African Union, the United Nations and other countries and organizations to help achieve peace and stability in the violence-torn region of Sudan.

“Canada must act, and I’m here today to announce that we are acting,” Harper said May 23.

The announcement came after a tentative peace agreement was reached three weeks ago.

Following the May 5 peace deal, the UN Security Council passed a resolution on May 16 calling for a robust UN mission to be sent to Darfur.

However, the Sudanese government has not yet agreed to allow a United Nations mission to enter the country, despite pleas from UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and the arrival of two UN envoys in Khartoum.

African Union commission chief Alpha Konare said the Sudanese government must agree to let a UN peacekeeping force into Darfur within weeks to make sure a peace agreement is applied.

“In two months’ time the rainy season starts. If confidence does not rule again to improve the

security situation by then, it could be very bad,” he told reporters.

Meanwhile, a UN report released last week said the Darfur conflict has reached a new level of violence, both in intensity and frequency.

Sudan’s government is falling far short of its human rights commitments and is failing to protect civilians from attacks, including sexual violence, said the report by the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Canada will adopt what Harper called a twopronged approach: first, working through the United Nations to provide necessities like food, water, medical care and sanitation services; second, it will help the African Union implement the peace agreement and lay the groundwork for a successful transition to the UN mission as soon as possible.

“Combined, these efforts should help to normalize and stabilize the region, the necessary first step if the peace process is to succeed,” Harper said.

Officials with the Canadian International Development Agency said $20 million will be directed towards humanitarian relief and will be sent to the Red Cross, UN humanitarian agencies and Canadian non-governmental organizations.

This is in addition to $10 million for the World Food Program announced by International Development Minister Josée Verner during a parliamentary debate on May 1, which brought Canada’s total contribution to the food program to

A soldier with the government of Sudan sits next to weapons and ammunition at an outpost in Sudan's northern Darfur town of Tawilla earlier this month.

Candace Feit/Reuters

$26.7 million.

The other $20 million will go to the African Union from the Department of Foreign Affairs’ global peace and security fund.

Since 2004, Canada has contributed $190 million to the African Union mission in Sudan, making it one of the three largest donors.

Canada’s contributions also have included leased commercial helicopters and transport aircraft; the loan of Canadian armoured personnel carriers; money for aviation and ground fuel; support to civilian police operations; and basic equipment, including helmets. In April, two RCMP officers were sent to assist Sudanese police.

Regrets? Bush now admits he has a few WASHINGTON

By Tim Harper Torstar wire service

U

.S. President George W. Bush offered a rare admission May 25 that his loose, cowboy-style rhetoric in the early stages of the protracted Iraq war was a mis-

take.

Toward the end of a subdued, 50-minute news conference with British Prime Minister Tony Blair — dubbed by some The Lame Duck Summit — Bush uncharacteristically did not hesitate when asked about mistakes he had made since the March 2003 invasion.

“Saying ‘bring it on,’” he said, in reference to an illadvised taunt to Iraqi insurgents in the summer of 2003.

“The kind of tough talk, you know, that sent the wrong signal to people. You know, I learned some lessons about expressing myself in maybe a little more sophisticated manner ... ‘wanted dead or alive,’ that kind of talk.”

He also said the U.S. has been paying for the 2004 Abu Ghraib prison scandal “for a long period of time.”

Blair said in retrospect, he had underestimated the strength of the insurgency. “The biggest reason Iraq has been so difficult is the determination by our opponents to defeat us,” he said.

Blair is on the way out as prime minister and Labour party leader and was asked by British reporters if the meeting marked his last official one with Bush.

Although Bush will survive until January 2009, he has fallen below 30 per cent in approval ratings in his country.

Both face immense pressure to bring their troops home from Iraq, but both maintained they cannot do so in the short term.

Keep your eye on the ball.

Poll: newspaper readers not geeks

Y

oung newspaper readers are more civic-minded — more likely to vote, sign a petition and donate to charity — than their peers who rarely read papers, according to a poll commissioned by the Canadian Newspaper Association.

Popular culture tends to portray readers as geeks. But the poll found young newspaper readers are in fact a gregarious bunch, who shop more and are more likely to visit restaurants, bars and clubs than infrequent readers. They’re also technologically savvy.

“We didn’t know what to expect,” says Eric Meerkamper, partner in D-Code Inc., the Canadian research firm that conducted the national survey.

We were wondering “We were wondering whether young newspaper whether young readers were by default reading newspapers, newspaper readers because they were behind the times, not really that were … behind the engaged, not technologically literate. What was intertimes, not really esting was that, actually, that engaged, not they consume more technology and more information technologically and are more engaged.”

A total of 1,500 responliterate. dents, age 14 to 34, completed a 25-minute online survey in April 2006. The results are considered accurate within 2.6 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

It compared respondents who read newspapers seven times a week and infrequent readers, defined as those who read papers less than once a month.

Among respondents, 18 per cent read a newspaper every day and 71 per cent at least once a week. Another 11 per cent were infrequent readers. Five per cent said they never read newspapers.

The study found 78 per cent of eligible daily readers voted in the last election, compared with 56 per cent of less frequent readers. Sixty-two per cent of daily readers had signed a petition in the past year, compared with 56 per cent of infrequent readers. Daily readers were also slightly more likely to give to a charity or community group.

—Torstar wire service

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INDEPENDENTLIFE

SUNDAY THROUGH SATURDAY, MAY 28-JUNE 3, 2006 — PAGE 17

LAVISHANDLIVELY Heather Kao

Josh Ward

Tiffany Pollock

Dave Lane

Tim Baker

Paul Daly/The Independent

Adam Hogan

His mind may have been set on a ‘folky’ group, but Tim Baker ended up with Hey Rosetta! an edgy, epic rock band STEPHANIE PORTER

H

ey Rosetta! is a band on the move. Not just in terms of the local music scene, though that’s certainly accurate: since their first gig nine months ago, the group’s fan base has outgrown more than one downtown club; they released an EP that reached No. 1 on Fred’s Records’ best-seller wall; and they’ve got a tour to Toronto and a full-length CD release party on deck.

But the six highly skilled band members are also all over the place — in school, working, rehearsing, teaching.

Though he’s done the school work, bass player Josh Ward is not convocating from Memorial’s music school this month simply because he hasn’t got the time — he’s got another CD release to tend to, media, rehearsals and …

It’s impressive, then, to get five of the six musicians in one place for a photo shoot and

chat. (The sixth, violinist Heath Kao, has a 20-minute window later in the day.)

“It is difficult to co-ordinate anything,” admits Tim Baker, the band’s frontman.

“Everything takes so long, leaving messages on phones, e-mail … it’s ridiculous.

Everyone has an intense life outside the band, but we’re all really committed at the same time.

“But we’re used to that. Everyone is committed and passionate but they bring that to everything that they do. We’re used to juggling.”

Ward laughs as he talks about listening to Plan Your Escape, the band’s upcoming CD, for the first time. Not all members were able to put in the long days and nights in the recording studio — there were times, says Ward, when he’d just stop by for a few minutes or an hour to put down his part of the sound. Hearing the whole piece come together was a treat.

The final product proves the efforts weren’t wasted.

The members of Hey Rosetta! are slated to release the 13-track disc June 1 at the

Majestic Theatre. The music is more rock than pop, but manages to fit some delicate — and not-so-delicate — string arrangements in and around moments of soft thoughtfulness and all-out distortion.

It’s a big sound, layered and full, and plays well with the epic nature of some of Baker’s lyrics — Hey Rosetta! is not shy of passing the four- or five-minute mark with their songs.

The band’s own story starts with Baker and a case of tendonitis. The affliction was serious enough he had to give up his dreams of attending music school, choosing instead to pursue a degree in sociology and creative writing in Montreal.

But Baker still had music on his mind and, during a chance conversation at a social gathering one Christmas, Baker and drummer Dave Lane decided to jam.

“Tim originally wanted a band with him on guitar and piano, me on drums, Adam (Hogan) on guitar and a cello player and that was going to be it,” says Lane. “Then we decided to try another string player, and she could also play bass … but then she was real-

ly busy and couldn’t make it one time, so we needed another bass player … and Josh came on board.”

“I didn’t think we needed a bass player,” admits Baker. “It’s a ridiculous assumption. I was originally looking at an acoustic, almost folky group … that changed when we started playing. We’re a lot more lively than that.”

Baker’s tendonitis is still present, and frustrating. “I can’t play very much,” he says. “I can only really play when we practice or perform. I’d like to practice more, guitar and drums, get better … I do a lot of studying, like mental practice.

“There’s not much I can do, I’m trying to fix the way I play. I’m very intense when I play and it’s damaging.”

When asked to describe the CD, Baker picks the word “lavish” for the music; “introspective” for the lyrics.

“I don’t write stories, I don’t write love songs,” he says. “They’re about living, about hardship, about escaping it or not escaping it and dealing with it …

See “Great support,” page 19

Tenth year for Gonzaga art exhibition

By Leia Feltham For The Independent

A

rt teacher Ben Warren says a student stumbled across the perfect name for the annual Gonzaga High School exhibition while flipping through a dictionary.

“It was like a light went on,” Warren

says. Magnum opus, a Latin phrase meaning “great work,” expressed what Warren was looking for — that this is a show that comes from the minds and talents of students.

Magnum opus began as a small year-end review of art done by students. It has since grown and expanded into an important event in the

school community, with over a 100 pieces of work.

Displayed in the bright and airy music room of the school, the show features a wide range of media and styles — paintings, sculptures, drawings, and photography. The people who produce the work in Magnum opus fill dual roles as artists and stu-

dents, each as individual and expressive as the art itself.

“The biggest buzz,” says Warren, “is when I look at (these pieces) and I can see a story in every single one of them and I know the story.”

This is the 10th year for Magnum opus, and to mark the occasion, alumni of Gonzaga High School have sub-

mitted their work. Some graduates have taken their artistic inklings to the next level and pursued careers in fields such as graphic design, while others have continued to use it as a creative outlet in their spare time.

Warren says the goal of the high See “We’ve got,” page 20

MAY 28, 2006

18 • INDEPENDENTLIFE

GALLERYPROFILE

MICHAEL PITTMAN Visual Artist

M

ichael Pittman says he thrives under pressure, which is a good thing — or he may not come through this year unscathed.

“Deadlines really help to get me going,” he says with a laugh. He stands in the Leyton Gallery next to some of his newest works, part of an upcoming group exhibition. Pittman, a Corner Brook-native, lives in Grand Falls. He hopes to get back to St. John’s for the June 3 show opening, but with a master’s thesis due in mid-June and his wedding just a few weeks later — and a few other projects along the way — he’s not certain he’ll be able to.

“It’s been a busy year,” he continues.

“I was in Ireland last year (at the Waterford Institute of Technology) and came back and things have been taking off really quickly.

“I’ve been working with several publishers on cover art and illustrations, working hard to keep good work coming into the gallery, and the project with Hey Rosetta! (CD cover art).

“And working on my thesis, that was the start of really getting me focused.”

Also experienced in photography, sculpture, performance work and graphic design, Pittman is fast becoming known for his visual art — itself a multimedia endeavour, drawing on a variety of water-based media, including pen and ink, charcoal, paint and printmaking.

“I use a lot of transparent media to build the layers; to get a level of visual complexity that I’ve come to utilize a lot in my work.”

Pittman’s creative process is an exercise in editing — adding, removing, rewriting, rearranging.

“I start with an idea and come up with as much material as I can surrounding that idea,” he says. “I super-saturate the canvas or the board with ideas surrounding it; removing elements that might not be as strong, and adding ones that add to it.

“It’s a distillation process … for me, it works really well. I guess it depends on the response from the viewer whether it works, how successful it is on that level.”

The layers, textures, shapes, careful touches of colour and winding lines of text — beautifully engaging and evocative for the viewer — combine to communicate a central idea, says Pittman, in a way he felt his minimalist work never did.

Although he enjoys travel, and had a productive period of time in Ireland, Pittman says he’s ready to be back in his home province. His thesis is about contemporary visual culture in Newfoundland and “a person’s connection to the place through symbols and icons” — topics that resonate deeply for him.

“I really want to make Newfoundland my base,” he says. “I’m trying really hard to stay here and continue making art and I don’t foresee leaving again in the near future.”

Pittman’s work will be displayed at part of Florals at the Leyton Gallery of Fine Art. The exhibit, also featuring work by Clement Curtis, Will Gill, Elena Popova, Anita Singh, Taryn Sheppard and others, will open June 3, with a reception at 3 p.m.

— Stephanie Porter

MAY 28, 2006

INDEPENDENTLIFE • 19

POET’S CORNER

‘Great support’

nature’s sushi bar

From page 17

Seagulls rage the shore Aerial whitecaps Scavenging nature’s sushi Rockweed-wrapped Egg-gritty Beach-bar caplin snacks Alison Dyer is a St. John’s writer and poet.

“We’re always looking for something new … it’s nearly impossible to be ground breaking but you try to establish something new, give it a twist. I work really hard to fashion something I can be proud of.”

The upcoming tour — a dozen dates between here and Toronto in June — will be yet another massive effort in co-ordination, and a big test for a band that’s been together less than a year.

Violinist Kao will probably have to leave the tour early because of other commitments; cellist Tiffany Pollock is in the middle of her music degree — and the job she’s working to help pay her way through — and may not be able to come along.

“It’s crazy but it’s been fun, finding great friends, hanging out even when we’re not playing, when there’s time,” says Ward.

Speaking of which, it’s been an hour and all hands are eager to go on with the rest of their day.

As the band members leave, Pollock muses about walking downtown to make her shift at the restaurant on time — and is it too far to go with a cello? Ward tries to figure out if he’ll be able to grab a nap anytime, any day.

“We have a lot of great support,” says Lane, by way of closing. “Plus people are truly enjoying the music, which is the best thing you could ever ask for.” www.heyrosetta.com stephanie.porter@theindependent.ca

But, seriously, folks …

Noreen Golfman takes The Independent to task over last week’s ‘saucy’ front-page story NOREEN GOLFMAN Standing Room Only

S

orry, I just have to weigh in here.

Last week’s front page feature interview by Susan Rendell (Whelmed) was one of those columns that is not so much news as opinion, and I’ve got a real problem with that.

Look, I’m neither old-fashioned nor born yesterday. I like what happened in the ’60s when new journalism gave stuffy and pretentious journalism a good run for its money, but come on, Indy editors, what are you thinking? The last thing I want to see is my favourite weekly turned into a screed along the lines of the obnoxiously opinionated National Post.

Now, I know that’s an obnoxious opinion in itself, but, hey, this is a transparently personal opinion column, buried in the second section and clearly not meant to be speaking for the official point of view of the paper, its editors or publisher. It’s not dressed up as news or masking itself as hard-edged journalism. Like marijuana, Goth fashion, and group sex, it has its place. But it’s not pretending to be news.

If memory serves me correctly, what readers said they missed more than anything else when this noble little upstart of a paper was recently on life support was the quality of the investigative journalism — that is, the independent investigative journalism, the kind that analyzes the fallout from the province’s entry into Confederation, the complexities of the fishery, rural Newfoundland, and so on, without the pressure from corporate backers and transnational forces bearing down to censor every well turned word.

Sure, many readers also said they missed the good writing of the paper’s regular columnists, but let’s face it, there is a delicate and even dangerous line here between personality-driven columns and strongly reasoned news and editorials, and the best newspapers on the planet respect that line and keep the balance solidly in front of their readers.

People admire the New York Times and the Boston Globe and even the Globe and Mail for their columnists, sure, but above all they respect those papers for the quality of news coverage.

To be honest, what bugs me is not just that the Independent put a piece of conspicuously personal opinion on its front page, albeit located below the fold, but that the piece itself takes so many saucy cheap shots at both The Rooms and a dynamic new exhibition based on the work of writer-artist Douglas Coupland.

If you were feeling the slightest bit crooked the morning you started grazing over the interview between writer Rendell and artist Coupland, or had a nagging sense that The Rooms was an intimidating

Douglas Copeland

Paul Daly/The Independent

site and should be avoided at all costs, then you’d be a Toronto-hating, really crooked, art-disparaging reader by the time you got through it.

Not everyone is bound to like the exhibit or even get it, but so what? Does it really help us to turn the whole interview into an experience that structures itself as saucy native Newfoundlander versus stiff upper Canadian? This is the kind of stereotyping we rail against when it is directed at us. I cringe.

Rendell writes “The Rooms takes itself seriously. Too seriously.” What does that mean? Nervous to avoid being accused of the same thing, I have to say I don’t know whether to laugh or cry at the observation.

We now have a spectacular $40 million

What you have to admire was how McCabe the curator hooked up with Coupland the writer to image his snapping, crackling prose on the magnificently high walls of the gallery, thereby bringing together the local and the global. showcase for art and culture in this scrappy, garbage-addled town, and so what’s the problem? Is it that we don’t really think we are good enough, smart enough, or even talented enough to deserve it?

Should The Rooms have been conceived as a larger version of the LSPU Hall or Eastern Edge, with water leaks, smelly bathrooms, and walls so tattered they’d qualify for a special edition of Extreme Makeover? Do we really want the work of a Douglas Coupland, a Chris Pratt, or a Graeme Patterson installed in a place that doesn’t take itself seriously?

Now I happen to know that new provincial art gallery director, Shauna McCabe,

has a keen sense of humour and so she probably found Rendell’s ad hominem summary of her as “a comely lass with an unusually stern countenance” amusing, maybe even worthy of framing.

It is interesting that Rendell doesn’t even bother to identify McCabe by name, even thought curators are as important as artists, and, in this case, McCabe singlehandedly made this original only-inNewfoundland show happen. I call that our good fortune.

Douglas Coupland, as Rendell apparently discovered en route to interviewing him, has published 11 books, the latest, jpod, on which this show draws, having received dazzling praise from just about every self-respecting reviewer on the planet. If you think young people have given up on books I can vouch that many Memorial University students know Coupland’s work intimately. At the opening of the show, titled Play Again?, the art gallery was full of young Newfoundlanders who had not been formally invited, but who follow websites and figured they would have a chance to meet the writer that night. It was likely the first time many had wandered into The Rooms but probably far from the last. I also call that our good fortune.

What you have to admire was how McCabe the curator hooked up with Coupland the writer to image his snapping, crackling prose on the magnificently high walls of the gallery, thereby bringing together the local and the global.

That’s Coupland’s thing. He gets how we, Newfoundlanders included, are all wired to the world, affected by its technologies and images, and challenged to make meaning in a blurry whirl of signs.

It is too bad that Rendell dismissed the whole event as an encounter with “Little Toronto.”

Ouch.

Shouldn’t the front page reach for at least attempt a modicum of objectivity? I know we’re a provincial-based paper but do we have to be so provincial?

Noreen Golfman is a professor of literature and women’s studies at Memorial.

Her column returns June 11.

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PRIME

BAYCHICK

By Tonya Kearley and Laura Russell

MAY 28, 2006

20 • INDEPENDENTLIFE

Air fare W

hen Air Canada decided to pack up the most loved flight out of Newfoundland, the darling transcontinental flight to London, because of “profitability,” I was more upset that the last bastion of good food on a plane trip had been snatched from our hungry fingers.

I remember the good days of air travel, in a not-so-distant past, when you actually got some service. It was when the airline industry used to serve food on all flights in a domestic market. Sure there were some complaints, but breakfast eggs and sausages (unheard of now) was an all-right meal coming from those special warming carts.

In those days you sometimes had the choice of hot or cold food. The best meal they ever served was on dark transcontinental flights where there were meat-stacked sandwiches served with crudités on the side. It was well made and tasty. This sandwich was always the highlight of the flight — it would be a

NICHOLAS GARDNER Off the Eating Path sample of the good food to come when traveling through Western European countries.

In the good old days of air travel, we used to rate about $2.50 per person while travelling. That is the general cost of food that they delivered to you as a complimentary meal on domestic flights. We are now, according to recent studies, worth a paltry $0.13. This covers the water, the coffee and the poorly flavoured “sesame snacks” they hand around. The question remains: why have we been reduced in value to 5 per cent of our original value?

My only guess is it stems from the corporate boardroom that dictates the level of profitability to shareholders. As

the rate of travel increases, in an opposing movement, the level of service decreases in direct proportion in order to maintain profitability.

What remains is a sorry excuse for poor service, miserable space and in general, we are herded to our destination like cattle. We are reduced to nothing but a plus or minus on the bottom line.

BEATING JET LAG Food and especially water are important in a long journey. Water is important for hydration during long trips and is one of the better ways, according to all the travel magazines, to alleviate “jet lag.”

The food you choose should be able to travel with no refrigeration and be packaged for ease of packing and disposal at the end. Basically, any foods that you would consider taking on a day hike would work well for this application.

My solution is to pack a picnic lunch to take on board. It might not look as

elegant, but I am more in favour of better food when flying.

Pre-cut apples or pears because knives in any shape or material are verboten these days.

Pre-cut meats: try salamis, roast beef, or even prosciutto as they hold well without refrigeration. Semi-hard cheeses: cheddar (I prefer aged white cheddar), and Gouda.

Pre-cut and buttered baguette is a wise choice as well. It is hearty so it will stand up to travel and it tastes good, almost like the great sandwiches of days gone by.

The only other thing is to buy a small bottle of wine to share with your flying companion.

This small repast, and a bunch of seedless grapes and you have a good French-inspired meal. My homemade luncheon has these things, but feel free to try other combinations too.

Place the whole lot of food in a large Ziploc bag (assuming you also wrapped

Nicholas is a food writer and erstwhile chef now living in St. John’s. nicholas.gardner@gmail.com

EVENTS

‘We’ve got a lot of really talented students here’

MAY 28 • Home Show 2006 at Mile One Stadium.

• Drive-in Bingo presented by Goulds Lions Club, 8:15 p.m. Bidgood’s Plaza, Goulds.

• Spring flower show by the Newfoundland Horticultural Society, MUN Botanical Gardens, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., 737-8590.

• Morning Birdwatch, 8 a.m., MUN Botanical Gardens.

• Groovin’ & Improvin’ workshop/jam session, 2-4 p.m., Provincial Music Conservatory, 62 Campbell Ave. • 4Play3, c2c theatre’s annual fundraiser — four writers write four scenes for four actors and four directors in 24 hours, 8 p.m., LSPU hall, 753-4531.

• Five Island Art Gallery presents Spring Thaw, 7 Cove Road. Tors Cove.

Reception 1-4 p.m., 334-4635.

From page 17 school art program is to expose students to as many art forms and media as possible and get them to develop their own artistic style.

The year-end exhibit showcases the accomplishments of the students in reaching these goals — as well as the achievements of the teachers who help them along the way.

“I get a chance to be creative with them,” says Warren. “It’s my outlet and I really enjoy it.”

Over the past 10 years, Warren says he’s seen “a real progression in terms of technical ability.” He believes students have the skills and creativity, but often lack confidence in their work.

“You’re putting your soul out for public viewing,” he says — and that’s where the challenge lies.

To Warren’s delight and slight relief, students have taken the planning and executing of Magnum opus into their own hands. “From organizing, hanging the work, and setting up,” Warren says they’ve taken over and made the show their own.

Although it continues to grow, student-based shows like this one still primarily attract family and

each item well to avoid it resembling a good science experiment gone wrong) along with some paper napkins. When the flight attendants arrive to pick up the trash, hand over all the refuse and you have less to carry.

Just because cheap airlines scrimp on food, doesn’t mean that with a little planning you can’t have an enviable meal on what could have been a dismal gastronomic experience.

When people sitting next to you ask where you got this fabulous idea, give them my name, and tell them that I said it was a better thing to eat good food than to suffer at the hands of a cheap airline that can’t pony up the other 95 per cent to buy a poor stiff more than a cup of coffee.

After all, we have to save our pennies for that next great vacation.

Ben Warren

friends of participants, rather than the general public. In future, Warren hopes to see more events that bring young artists from St. John’s and across the province together to display their work.

“The public needs to see what’s going on in our

Paul Daly/The Independent

schools,” he says. “It’s coming to the forefront, that we’ve got a lot of really talented students here.”

Leia Feltham is a level III student at Gonzaga High School.

MAY 29 • The Back Door Cabaret, LSPU Hall gallery, a casual and supportive atmosphere to test out new works, 7 p.m., 753-4531.

MAY 30 • Daniel O’Donnell, Mile One Stadium, 7:30 p.m.

MAY 31 • RCA theatre’s significant other series: This Side Up by Thea Morash and Philip Goodridge and Petty by Brad Hodder, LSPU Hall, 753-4531 JUNE 1 • Ann and Seamus, a chamber opera, Reid Theatre, Arts and Administration Building, MUN, 7:30 p.m. Until June 4.

• Judy Knee School of Dance recital, Arts and Culture Centre, 7:30 p.m.

• Brian Byrne, former I Mother Earth front man, performs with his band.

Tuesdays, Thursdays and if it Rains release party Club One. 9 p.m.

JUNE 2 • As I Roved Out: Exploring Newfoundland and Labrador Song, concerts featuring Anita Best, Pamela Morgan, Sandy Morris, George Morgan, Kelly Russell, Graham Wells, Billy Sutton and special guests. 8 p.m., D.F. Cook Recital Hall, 737-4700.

Continues June 3.

• Flamfloozled! A children’s play presented by Endless Sky Inc., 2 and 6 p.m.. Masonic Temple, Cathedral Street, 579-7900. Also June 3.

JUNE 3 • Spring Plant Sale, MUN Botanical Gardens, 10 a.m.-12 p.m.

UPCOMING EVENTS • Easter Seals 24 Hour Relay, which supports children with physical disabilities. June 10-11, 754-1399 • 2006 Heel ‘n’ Wheel-a-thon hosted by the Eastern Avalon Chapter of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of Canada, June 11, Bowring Park, in St. John’s. To obtain pledge forms or to inquire about volunteering, please call 754-5417 or 579-3700.

IN THE GALLERIES • Three Expressions paintings by Julie Duff, Kathleen Murphy and Joan Roberts. Victoria Manor Shoppes & Gallery, 25 Victoria St., Harbour Grace, 579-8111.

• Summer Breeze, an exhibition of the artwork of Ian Sparkes at balance restaurant and art gallery, 147 LeMarchant Rd., 722-2112. Until July 1.

• Exhibition featuring Clement Curtis, Elena Popova and Louis Sutton, Leyton Gallery of Fine Art, until May 28 • Rachel Ryan’s Terra Incognita and Claymaille by Jason Holley at the Craft Council Gallery, Devon House Craft Centre, until June 16.

• Douglas Coupland Play Again? art exhibition at The Rooms until Sept. 17.

INDEPENDENTBUSINESS

SUNDAY THROUGH SATURDAY, MAY 28-JUNE 3, 2006 — PAGE 21

Then-premier Roger Grimes, centre, at the Voisey’s Bay Nickel signing ceremony in 2002.

Paul Daly/The Independent

In spite of themselves Government, Placentia, should lay down arms on hydromet plant location, says Percy Barrett

By Craig Westcott The Independent

P

ercy Barrett doesn’t know if the reason the province is so opposed to Inco’s plan to build its nickel hydromet facility in Long Harbour has anything to do with politics.

Long Harbour happens to be located inside the Liberal MHA’s district of Bellevue. Argentia, where the government wants Inco to build the commercial version of the test plant in operation there now, is safely tucked inside the boundaries of the Progressive Conservative district of Placentia-St. Mary’s.

Barrett allows he wouldn’t be surprised if a bit of politics is at play.

“You’ve just got to look at the road work,” Barrett says. “They’re playing politics to the hilt on everything. The records will show over in the department (of Transportation and Works) that I have the second worst roads in the province, but I’m probably getting the lowest

amount of road work in the province.”

Still, Barrett isn’t fighting too hard to have the plant located in Long Harbour.

He figures whichever area gets it, the other one is going to benefit. He points to Inco’s original call for proposals back in the mid-1990s.

Back then, the Long Harbour Development Corporation and the Argentia Management Authority, he says, along with the towns of Placentia and Long Harbour, combined their efforts to lobby Inco to bring the processing plant for Voisey’s Bay concentrate to their area. At the time, Inco planned to build a conventional pyromet smelter of the type famous for polluting the countryside around Sudbury, Ont. Argentia and Long Harbour had a leg up on the competition because they both had ice-free ports and were “brown sites.” Argentia was filled with the toxic debris and detritus of an abandoned United States naval station. Long Harbour had been the site of a phospho-

“Long Harbour and Argentia did a superior job of it. They came together singing from the same hymn book, but it seems things have gotten off track a little bit lately.”

Percy Barrett rus mine.

The deal between the two areas, Barrett says, was that the municipality that got the plant would get 75 per cent of the tax benefits, and the other would get 25 per cent. That has since switched to a 90/10 split.

“Long Harbour and Argentia did a

superior job of it,” Barrett says of the early lobbying effort. “They came together singing from the same hymn book, but it seems things have gotten off track a little bit lately.”

Things started to go off the rails when Inco announced last year Argentia was too polluted, that it was afraid of the legal ramifications of any accident that might result if its own plant effluent ever got mixed up with some of the stuff buried in Argentia. The company said its preferred site was Long Harbour.

Since then, the Town of Placentia (which includes Argentia), and the provincial government have been fighting Inco’s decision. Long Harbour, meanwhile, has been quietly lobbying to get the commercial facility.

Barrett thinks everyone should stop fighting and concentrate on something more important.

“This facility is going to be in either See “People,” page 22

Harper should be sent to his room for a time out

S

tephen Harper may be bright, bold and wily, but he’s not mature.

Neither is he honest, or fair, judging by the way he forced through a resolution that will see Canadian soldiers at war in Afghanistan for much longer than originally planned by the Liberals who first sent them there. Canadians, and their politicians, weren’t given an opportunity to think things out.

Even the media, the lowly media, which almost always gets blamed by politicians for their woes, has become a target for Harper.

Our new, young prime minister is such a control freak, he tried to make Ottawa reporters submit all their ques-

CRAIG WESTCOTT The public ledger tions in advance of press conferences so that he could select which ones he would deign to answer.

Naturally, the reporters balked. To do anything less would be to bow to a petulant form of dictatorship that impinges on their democratic rights to cover politics as they see fit. So Harper is vowing to avoid them entirely and to only talk with small-town reporters.

Harper’s childish and mean behaviour makes me wonder if he’s mature and fit enough to hold that high an office. It’s all the more worrisome because we are at war in Afghanistan, going into villages, hauling fathers and sons out of their homes, in front of their families, and hunting down insurgents. Our soldiers are being asked to kill people and some of them are getting killed in return.

When your country goes to war, you pray for a mature and reasonable hand on the tiller of state.

All of this is a lead up to Harry Truman. He was 61 when Franklin Roosevelt named him as his vice-presidential running mate in 1944. Once

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re-elected, Roosevelt mostly ignored him. A few months later, Roosevelt was dead, from the strain of war many people said at the time, leaving Truman unbriefed and largely unprepared to take over.

To cut a long story short, Truman performed pretty well, made plenty of mistakes, but on the whole was a fine president for the rest of that term. After the war though, people’s expectations changed and Truman was as low in the polls going into the next election as an ant’s belly.

Throughout the campaign, columnists and commentators said things about Truman that would make most men cringe. They impugned every-

thing from his intelligence to his integrity. Every pollster in the United States was predicting a wipe-out for him at the polls. Truman just grinned and beared it all.

At a whistle stop in Indiana late in the campaign, one of Truman’s aides snuck off the train and ran to the store to buy a copy of Newsweek. The magazine had polled 50 of the top political writers in the country, asking them which candidate they thought would win the presidency. The count was Thomas Dewey 50, Harry Truman zero.

Getting back aboard the train, the See “Welcome,” page 22

22 • INDEPENDENTBUSINESS

MAY 28, 2006

‘Welcome Home From Crow-Eaters’ From page 21 aide tried to slip by Truman without notice. No luck. Truman spotted the magazine and asked what the poll said.

“So I handed it to him,” Clark Clifford said. “And he turned the page and looked at it and he said, ‘I know every one of these 50 fellows.

There isn’t one of them has enough sense to pound sand in a rat hole.’”

According to Clifford, Truman put the magazine down and never said another word about it. He didn’t avoid or get mad at the press Stephen Harper at all.

“It just seemed to bounce right off of him,” Clifford said.

That’s maturity.

Oh yes, Truman won the election.

On his return to Washington, reporters at The Washington Post

strung a banner outside the building saying, “Welcome Home From Crow-Eaters.”

The press and politicians have a naturally confrontational relationship. It serves to keep the people with power in check, even if the press can sometimes be wrong.

Truman understood this implicitly. He was a true believer in democracy. And he was almost always a gentleman and decent with the people who covered him.

And that leads us back to Harper. To use one of Truman’s favourite phrases, if Stephen Harper can’t stand the heat, maybe he should get out of the kitchen.

Running a country is too serious an enterprise to be left to boys, however smart and wily. cwestcott@nl.rogers.com

Humber Valley Resort is an international village for retreat and adventure completely removed from the stresses of urban living.

Due to its continued growth Humber Valley Resort is looking to fill a number of senior positions, consider applying your professional and interpersonal skills to a dynamic, fast-paced work environment where the challenges and rewards are truly unique.

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Reporting to the Managing Director, the Marketing Manager will take responsibility for all local and on-site marketing programs and initiatives including local public relations.

The ideal candidate will; be a resourceful, driven marketing professional with several years experience in a similar position; have a post secondary education with a major in Business Administration or equivalent; have strong budgetary, computer, communication and organizational skills as well as great attention to detail and advanced problem solving skills; be capable of using independent judgment.

PROJECT ACCOUNTANT Competition # HVR-2006-15

Reporting to the Financial Controller, the Project Accountant is responsible for short and long term financial and system projects which include areas such as costing, financial systems development, financial reporting, management reporting, internal controls, auditing and staff training and development.

Ideally, the successful candidate will have a BBA or BComm with a major in Accounting or Finance; a minimum of 2 years post graduate accounting work experience; be working towards an accounting designation; proficient with accounting software (Great Plains); superior MS Office skills; and the initiative to complete all projects within assigned timelines.

F&B FRONT OF HOUSE MANAGER Competition #HVR-2006-18

Reporting to the Senior Manager – Operations and working closely with the Head Chef, the F&B Front of House Manager will be responsible for ensuring the Food & Beverage department delivers exceptional and consistent service to all its various guests: The ideal candidate will have advanced communication, customer service, organizational and multi-tasking skills; excellent leadership and management skills; a post secondary degree or diploma, preferably in business administration; 5+ years of management experience in the food and beverage service sector specifically in a multi food and beverage venue environment; knowledge of food and beverage service techniques; staff management and training and financial management experience.

The closing date for these competitions is noon, Friday, June 2, 2006.

Please quote the appropriate competition # when submitting resume, cover letter and references to: Human Resources, Humber Valley Resort, P.O. Box 370, Humber Valley, NL, A0L 1K0, Fax: (709) 634-7031, e-mail: employment@humbervalley.com

w w w. h u m b e r v a l l e y. c o m

Bruce Hiscock and Chelsea Marko

Paul Daly/The Independent

Launching the i-Guide C

helsea Marko and Bruce Hiscock — and an unnamed silent partner — have trademarked their latest business venture “iGuide.”

“It’s a very interactive, innovative, information source,” says Marko.

Fundamentally, the i-Guide is an easy-to-use metal kiosk, complete with a touch screen and small printer, designed to help tourists in this province plan where to go, when they want.

“We wanted to figure out how to better organize what to see and do when you go to a province and visit for the first time,” says Marko. “This set-up is very simple, so you can drill down to certain categories.” There is a map of the province, divided into regions and categories of services and attractions.

There will be no pop-up ads or distractions, she adds, among the listings for restaurants, hotels and events.

Currently, there is just one of the $7,000 kiosks in existence, a sample on display at the City of St. John’s tourism storefront on Water Street. The map and menu outlines are there — there is

no content yet — but Marko predicts it’ll be up and ready within weeks.

The i-Guide kiosks are not going to be hooked up to the Internet.

“Some kiosks are, and people tend to stay there longer,” says Hiscock. “We want people to come here, find the information they need, and walk away.”

The i-Guide does have an Internet presence, though, with its sister website — DoMoreTravel.com. The website is set up in a similar way, with the same information accessible to visitors as they plan their trip from home. While Marko and Hiscock are targeting the Newfoundland and Labrador marketplace first — they plan to have 30 kiosks in the province within 16 months — they hope to take it to Atlantic Canada, and beyond.

DoMoreTravel.com (and the iGuides) is the latest project from Motion Marketing. Their first major tourism/business idea launched three years ago. The “mini cards” — fullcolour brochures, menus or calendars folded to business-card size — can now be found in businesses and tourist sites in St. John’s, Moncton and Halifax.

“That was a different and unique idea,” says Marko, and one that’s done well for the trio of entrepreneurs.

The kiosks and website, Marko points out, will draw on many of the same contacts in the tourism and service industries.

The next stage is to get local companies — as many as possible, from every corner of the province — to buy into the product and add their listings to the guide.

“It’s only taken us five months to get to this stage and we all have jobs elsewhere, so we’re pretty proud of it,” says Marko. “We know it’s a big endeavour, but we know what the prospects are.”

Although they are intending to submit a business plan to ACOA, Hiscock says they’ll continue with their enterprise, whether they secure outside funding or not.

“Every cent is from our own pockets,” he says. “But we’ve had a positive response from the tour operators and now we’re trying to just get it out to the general public.”

— Stephanie Porter

‘People are beating up their cars’ From page 21 Argentia or Long Harbour,” he argues.

“It’s got to be in Newfoundland.

Voisey’s Bay can’t get out of that. If they don’t put it in Newfoundland and Labrador, there will be no more ore shipped out of the province.

“That’s guaranteed. So instead of fighting with each other I think we should be fighting with the government to make sure we get the infrastructure to support it, whether it’s in Argentia or Long Harbour.”

Barrett says whichever area gets it, the other one could still be a good staging ground for service companies planning to get contracts at the facility.

Either one could make a good industrial park.

“When the phosphorus plant was in Long Harbour, the people of Placentia and that area profited greatly from the plant,” he adds. “There was steady traffic going between the communities and I think even some of the industries that serviced the phosphorus plant were in Argentia.”

Long Harbour, he says, has a fantastic port that could serve as a great receiving depot for companies doing

Percy Barrett

business with the hydromet plant, even if it is in Argentia. The problem now, he says, is the road between Long Harbour and the Argentia Access Road is hardly fit to drive on.

“People are beating up their cars on it,” says Barrett. “We’re talking about

a major industry going into rural Newfoundland and here the government is not even focusing on what infrastructure is required. The government seems to be more focused on fighting where it should go.” cwestcott@nl.rogers.com

Stronach runaway leader in pay Tops the auto list for third year with $40.3 million

H

ard-driving entrepreneur Frank Stronach may be a busy builder of a horse racing and gambling empire but he is also the runaway leader in executive pay in North America’s auto industry again.

Stronach’s compensation of $40.3 million (Cdn) last year as chairman of Aurora-based Magna International Inc. was about three times the combined pay of the chief executives of struggling General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor. Co., according to data compiled by trade journal Automotive News.

And his hefty package came despite taking a $12.2-million pay cut from 2004.

It marks the third consecutive year Stronach has topped compensation at publicly traded auto companies on the continent.

Most of Stronach’s compensation came from “consulting fees” at Magna at a time when he is also trying to steer Magna Entertainment Corp. out of the ditch.

Magna Entertainment, a major racetrack and betting company that

Stronach controls indirectly, is selling assets and raising equity to reduce a crippling debt load.

The Automotive News list shows the closest executive to Stronach in pay is Don Walker, one of two Magna cochief executive officers, who finished high on the list of top earners.

Walker collected $19.5 million including $13.2 million from stock options in 2005.

Magna, which is on the verge of overtaking Delphi Corp. as North America’s biggest auto-parts supplier, bases most of its top executive compensation on bonus and incentive pay tied to performance.

STRONG GROWTH The company has posted strong growth and profits despite industry turmoil in recent years.

Meanwhile, Bill Ford, Ford’s chairman and chief executive officer, earned $7.9 million (US) and Rick Wagoner, who holds the same posts at GM, collected $2.59 million last year. Ford committed $4.9 million of his pay to

charity.

Magna has defended Stronach’s compensation, saying it reflects his special position of company founder and architect of its unique entrepreneurial culture. The company’s compensation committee has described Stronach’s pay as “fair” and “justified.”

Stronach, who shows no signs of slowing down at 73, still controls Magna through multiple voting shares although he holds only a small percentage of the company’s equity.

Other top 2005 earners on the auto journal list (all in U.S. dollars) are chief executives Mike Jackson of AutoNation, $15.8 million; Richard Dauch of American Axle, $15.1 million; and Alex Cutler of Eaton Corp., $13.9 million.

Despite the high pay for the top Magna managers, the auto journal’s research showed the median compensation for chief executives declined to $3.3 million from $4.2 million as many companies struggled.

— Torstar wire service

MAY 28, 2006

INDEPENDENTBUSINESS • 23

Time for creative negotiations President Ray Dillon explains why board of trade writing letters to Chevron and province

O

ne of the world’s first billionaires, oil magnate Jean Paul Getty, once wrote, “The meek shall inherit the earth, but not the mineral rights.” While it is obvious the oil consortium involved in the development of the Hebron-Ben Nevis field off our shores is far from meek, it is equally clear that neither is our provincial government, which could make for a long wait on the development of this resource.

It has been six weeks since the breakdown of negotiations on the development of the Hebron-Ben Nevis oilfield. Many considered this announcement a crushing blow to the development of the oil industry and the future of our province.

While the announcement on the development of the lower Churchill and the implosion of FPI have stolen the media spotlight over the last month, now is the time for the province to re-start negotiations with Chevron if we wish to continue to build on the momentum that has put our province at or near the top of the list in provincial GDP growth for the past five years.

Oil revenue has been a key driver in our province’s recent success. From a provincial treasury perspective, almost 20 per cent of revenues in the 2006 budget come from offshore royalties and corporate taxes related to offshore-related companies. These revenues come from a non-renewable resource that will need future developments to feed the treasury’s appetite and dependence, and there are no such developments imminent.

The province has also created a world-class supply community that requires growth to flourish, and with no development on the horizon, this community may face stagnation and regress.

OPEN BLAME There were some who openly blamed the consortium of oil companies involved in this project for the breakdown of negotiations.

Citing perceived greed, attention was drawn to $400-million executive retirement packages, and the ascent of ExxonMobil as the largest company in the world, with a market cap of almost $400 billion.

While great fodder for open-line shows, populist views like these have no place in the Hebron-Ben Nevis debate. ExxonMobil is a publicly traded company guided by an elected board of directors. If the corporation’s shareholders are so happy with the return on their investment (almost doubled in three years, which for a “widows and orphans” stock is

RAY DILLON

Board of Trade unheard of) that they want to pay their retiring CEO an obnoxious amount of money, then so be it.

At the same time that many in our province were harshly criticizing “big oil” for the breakdown in talks, the national media were quick to point to the province for its supposedly heavy-handed and greedy position in the negotiations. With comparisons between the premier and Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, our government was chastised for its unrealistic demands from the oil consortium involved in the project.

Members of the business community are divided on the issue. There are those who believe the premier has made a horrible mistake and should take what’s been offered.

There are also those who believe he should leave the resource in the ground rather than accept a less than ideal deal.

The fear is that the longer the sides remain apart, changes in oil price, production cost, technology, and other factors will require new detailed negotiations, pushing the potential development of this project out even further.

It seems as though the vast majority of local businesspeople are supportive of the government’s position in principle — but those people are still nervous over our province’s prospects without further offshore developments.

Unfortunately, all of these opinions have been formed without much in the way of real knowledge or understanding of the details of the negotiations.

That’s why the St. John’s Board of Trade is writing the province and Chevron (one of the lead partners in Hebron) to ask for clarifica-

N.B. premier says Klein making idle threats

By Carl Davies Telegraph-Journal

P

remier Bernard Lord says Ralph Klein is making empty threats on equalization.

The Alberta premier threatened May 24 to pull his oil-rich province out of the national program that provides money to the less wealthy provinces.

Klein is upset one of the proposals for changing the formula is to include all revenue when considering a province’s wealth, including natural resources.

Lord supports a formula that counts all revenue when considering a province’s wealth since it would increase the amount of money Ottawa sends to New Brunswick by close to $180 million.

Lord says it’s impossible for Klein to do what he’s threatening to do.

NO PROVINCE CAN PULL OUT “No province can pull out. Well, I guess a receiving province can decide not to receive any money,” Lord says.

“The money doesn’t come from the government of Alberta, the money comes from the government of Canada.”

He says Klein is well aware of how the equalization program works.

“I’m sure Klein knows that. I want to make sure all Canadians know that.”

Alberta is Canada’s wealthiest province because of the royalties it receives from oil and gas production.

Lord says under the new equaliza-

tion formula, Alberta would continue to reap those riches.

“Those royalties go to Alberta, and should stay in Alberta, and there’s no debate about that,” Lord says.

Alberta government officials pointed out Wednesday the province’s residents pay some $12 billion in taxes into the federal government kitty.

Lord says that number is based on the collective wealth of Albertans.

“It just means their people are earning more money.”

Premier Lord hopes to sit down with Klein next week in Manitoba at a meeting of western premiers to which he’s been invited.

He’ll also take Opposition leader Shawn Graham along with him, in hopes Graham can speak with his fellow Liberal and Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty.

Both Graham and Lord agree on what formula they would like to see used for equalization.

“The premier and I have the same goal,” Graham says. “The rhetoric that’s being ratcheted up by the western-based premiers is concerning.”

Graham says his presence in Manitoba “will reinforce our message that we’re willing to put aside our political differences for the good of the region.”

The fight over equalization is expected to be a bitter one as the provinces each look for a formula that will best benefit them.

Lord wants the issue resolved before next year’s provincial and federal budgets are tabled, but he admits a lot of negotiations lie ahead to make that happen.

tion on their respective positions in these negotiations. It’s too important a project — to business and to the people of the province — to leave questions hanging in the public, while talks to bring Hebron to fruition are apparently stalemated indefinitely.

Both sides had spent a considerable amount of time negotiating this deal before the talks broke down. It is likely agreement was reached on many points — the size and makeup of the field, the cost to deliver a production vessel, the amount of engineering and construction to be completed locally, etc.

The fear is that the longer the sides remain apart, changes in oil price, production cost, technology, and other factors will require new detailed negotiations, pushing the potential development of this project out even further.

The earlier negotiations should already have provided a tremendous amount of information to both sides about the oilfield and the required development. It is with this understanding that both sides must now determine if their demands are reasonable and fair. If each believes this to still be the case, then they need to return to the table in a creative way.

Can this deal be structured differently? Are there different ways to develop this project and still deliver optimal benefits to both stakeholder groups?

MAXIMUM BENEFITS Premier Williams has shown tremendous resolve in dealing with large, material issues that impact the province — the public service contract negotiations of two years ago and the Atlantic Accord negotiations are two that come to mind. On the Hebron-Ben Nevis development he has publicly stated he will not do a deal that does not deliver maximum benefits to the province.

And what of the oil industry’s resolve? At the height of his wealth, Jean Paul Getty’s grandson was kidnapped. He refused to pay ransom, and only did so when his grandson’s severed ear was sent to the family. Getty later defended his initial refusal to pay the ransom by saying that if he was to give in to unreasonable demands once, he would have to do the same over and over again.

If both sides don’t get together and exercise some creative negotiating soon, Hebron BenNevis may sit on the shelf for an uncomfortably long time.

Ray Dillon is president of the St. John’s Board of Trade. His column returns June 11.

Bat t e r y R ad i o independent production Radio features Audio documentaries Acoustic films Audio guides Winner of the 2006 Prix Maruliç for the documentary Running the Goat www.batteryradio.com

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24 • INDEPENDENTBUSINESS

MAY 28, 2006

WEEKLY DIVERSIONS ACROSS 1 Type of TV screen 7 Peruse 11 Bell rung to sound an alarm 17 ___ Bight, Nfld.

18 Shoelace tip 20 Beethoven symphony 21 Ensembles of eight 22 Hollows (lit.)

23 Shrewdness 24 Life in Levis 25 Artistic support?.

27 ___ and every ...

29 Persian 30 To be in Toulouse 32 Hither and ___ 33 Quantity baked at one time 35 Venetian ruler, once 36 Gave new title to 38 Waterlogged soil 39 Prairie Natives 40 Relieved (of) 41 Mythical enchantress 42 Where the buoys are 43 Inventor of potato digger 46 Crates 47 “___ Saturday Night” (Stompin’ Tom) 51 Asian child-minder 52 Walked the floor 53 Dear (Fr.) 54 Born (Fr.) 55 Cousins 56 Ben Heppner or

Richard Margison 57 It goes before a fall 58 Unwell 59 Breakfast protein 60 Arm bone 61 One who gets the money 62 “Double, double ___ and trouble...”

63 Draws aimlessly 65 Radar screen events 66 Big tops 67 Hasten 68 Constructed 69 Delivery vehicle 70 Prevent by law 73 Foals’ moms 74 City with CN Tower 78 ___ and tell 79 Venetian 80 PC cousin 81 B movie genre 82 Dishonourable sort 83 Mount Logan, e.g.

84 Inuit craft 86 ___ Man Winter 87 Peninsula with St. John’s 89 P.E.I. sculptor of the 10-metre Canada Tree (with woods and artifacts from across Canada): Tyler ___ (1969-2001) 92 Insect 94 Hoist with one’s own ___ 95 Poet Crozier

96 Attractive person (sl.)

97 Builds 98 Hammer part 99 Compositions DOWN 1 Endangered shorebird: Piping ___ 2 Early plastic 3 Toward back of ship 4 That woman 5 Allot 6 Analyzed 7 Yukon’s official bird 8 Equal (Fr.) 9 Monopolist’s portion 10 River of Wales 11 Train 12 Theatre sec.

13 Neck (Fr.) 14 First LieutenantGovernor of Upper Canada 15 Glacial epoch 16 City of Brittany 19 African tormenter 26 Turf 28 German exclamation 31 Soil 33 Uncovered 34 Curving courses 35 Lacking colour 37 Wrong: prefix 38 Get-acquainted do 39 Cedar (Fr.) 41 Hot chocolate 42 Soft leather

43 Roused 44 Pedro’s pal 45 Dance from Argentina 46 Notice of intent to marry 47 Acts skittish 48 Wedding 49 On again 50 Shouts 52 Park on L. Erie: Point ___ 53 Underground vault 56 Focus of Ottawa spring festival 57 Buckets 61 Worked at a trade 62 Mortise and ___ 64 Arab sailing vessel 65 Go up in flames 66 Sailor 68 World’s deepest lake 69 Word used without meaning 70 Elude 71 Actress Helen (“We All Fall Down”) 72 Until now 73 Provincial rep.

74 Longest river in Scotland 75 Pacific Coast people 76 Canadian hat maker 77 Commands 79 Folds over 80 N.B. island: Grand ___

83 Terry Fox’s hometown: ___ Coquitlam

84 Cows, pl.

85 Greek island

88 ___ la Ronge, Sask.

90 Dip in liquid

91 Before: prefix 93 Greek dawn goddess

WEEKLY STARS ARIES (MAR. 21 TO APR. 19) Although you might prefer moving forward at a steady pace, it might be a good idea to stop and reassess your plans. You could find a good reason to make a change at this time.

TAURUS (APR. 20 TO MAY 20) Just when you thought you had everything planned to the smallest detail, you get some news that could unsettle things. But a timely explanation helps put it all back on track.

GEMINI (MAY 21 TO JUNE 20) Home and work continue to compete for your attention. But you handle it well by giving each its proper due. Someone you trust offers valuable advice. Listen to it.

CANCER (JUNE 21 TO JULY 22)

Unsettling news creates a difficult but not impossible situation.

Continue to follow your planned routine, but keep your mind open to a possible change down the line.

LEO (JULY 23 TO AUG. 22) Lick your wounded pride if you like, but it’s a better idea to find out why your suggestions were rejected. What you learn could help you deal with an upcoming situation.

VIRGO (AUG. 23 TO SEPT. 22) Feeling a bit listless? No wonder.

You might be pushing too hard to finish everything on your to-do list. Cutting it down could help get your energy levels up.

LIBRA (SEPT. 23 TO OCT. 22) Taking time out of your busy schedule might be the best way

to handle that sensitive private matter. It will help reassure everyone involved about your priorities.

SCORPIO (OCT. 23 TO NOV. 21) Insist on full disclosure by all parties before agreeing to be part of a “great deal.” What you learn should help you decide whether to go with it or not.

SAGITTARIUS (NOV. 22 TO DEC. 21) Your decision to protect the secret that was entrusted to you might irk some people. But it also wins you the admiration of those who value trust and loyalty.

CAPRICORN (DEC. 22 TO JAN. 19) Creative activities take on a practical approach as you realize you might be able to market your work. Ask for advice from someone experienced in this area.

AQUARIUS (JAN. 20 TO FEB. 18) If you’re suddenly a bit unsure about your decision, ask trusted colleagues and/or friends or family members for suggestions that could help resolve your doubts.

PISCES (FEB. 19 TO MAR. 20) A workplace situation could get stormy. But stay on course until there’s a solution that meets with everyone’s approval, and things can finally calm down.

YOU BORN THIS WEEK: You keep an open mind on most matters, making you the confidante of choice for people who need your honest counsel.

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 30

MAY 28, 2006

INDEPENDENTSPECIALSECTION • 25

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MAY 28, 2006

World Cup ‘magnet’ for terrorists British author: World stage is irresistible but hooliganism is an overrated danger

By Cathal Kelly Torstar wire service

By Doug Smith Torstar wire service

“S

erious sport is war minus the shooting,” George Orwell wrote. British author and journalist Simon Kuper once paraphrased that quotation to illustrate just how ugly the passions that ignite soccer fans can be — the old us vs. them.

Can we expect more of that in two weeks time?

“I think football nationalism is much less ferocious than it used to be, so that Holland-Germany or Germany-Poland don’t have the emotional force they once did,” Kuper says.

His mouth to God’s ear, German riot police are thinking right now. Kuper is a sports columnist for London’s Financial Times. He’s also one of the best of soccer’s poet-philosophers.

In the early ’90s, Kuper, then 22, set off on a 22nation footballing tour. From England to East Berlin, Botswana to the Baltics, Kuper explored the connection between soccer, politics and national character.

The result was Football Against the Enemy. The book spawned critical superlatives (soccer’s glossy bible FourFourTwo has called it the best footballing book ever) and a new literary genre — the sports travelogue. In April, the book was released for the first time in North America as Soccer Against the Enemy.

The nature of conflict as it is expressed through the prism of soccer has changed since Kuper last toured the world. He makes that clear in the only chapter added to this new edition, entitled Global Game, Global Jihad.

In it, Kuper notes the links between Islamic extremism and soccer in the Middle East and North Africa. One curious fact that Kuper notes — when Osama bin Laden visited in London in the mid-’90s to rally terror cells there, he attended four Arsenal

Colangelo builds his team

B

Unidentified security representatives work at the 'Nationales Informations und Kooperationszentrum' (National Information and Cooperation Centre) NICC hosted by the German Interior Ministry in Berlin May 16. The NICC, set up by the federal government, will gather information and produce a 'National Progress Report' on a daily basis during the World Cup. Tobias Schwarz/Reuters

groups angry about his intention to visit, he demonmatches.

“Fear of hooliganism is overrated,” Kuper says. strated to radical Muslims around the world his anti“But this World Cup is the biggest magnet western credentials.”

However, using soccer as a political tool entails ever for terrorists.”

German security forces consider 21 games risks for the Iranian regime, Kuper points out.

“If Iran does well, there will be at this summer’s tournahuge crowds celebrating in the ment at high risk for terror If Iran does well, there streets. In the past, such celebraattacks — primary among tions have turned into anti-regime them the opening match will be huge crowds demonstrations.” between Germany and celebrating in the streets.

But while passions rise in the Costa Rica and the final. developing world, there are being Authorities are keen to In the past, such dulled by affluence in the sport’s point out that they have no celebrations have birthplace. specific intelligence about “Europe has become a tame planned outrages — like turned into anti-regime place, and this is reflected in its the ones that were foiled at demonstrations. football rivalries,” Kuper says.

France98. But as Kuper “Having said that ... Angola points out, terrorists needAuthor Simon Kuper against (former colonial master) n’t strike a stadium to Portugal may well mean somemake their point.

“Terrorism is a form of public relations, thing to many Angolans.”

Kuper, born in Uganda and a past resident of the and there’s no way to get more publicity for your cause than a suicide bomb at, say, the Netherlands, Germany and the U.S., is ecumenical Frankfurt train station on the day of a match.” in his choice of likely winners — Brazil (“Everyone During his travels, Kuper saw firsthand thinks so”). He muses that Ronaldinho & Co. might how dictators and organized criminals used “turn out to be the best team ever, outdoing Brazil of soccer to manipulate or placate the masses. 1970.”

His greatest hope? “One thing the World Cup is is Today, Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is playing out that same drama. One of a universal festival of love, where Swedes, Iranians, the great questions looming over the German Americans, Germans, etc. drink and celebrate tournament is whether Ahmadinejad will together and swap shirts and applaud the same brilattend a match and create some fresh outrage. liant moves,” Kuper says. “This summer could “I think Ahmadinejad had hoped to pro- therefore be beautiful.” voke a reaction in the West,” Kuper says. “By getting western governments and Jewish

ryan Colangelo counts on them for their advice and counsel because he trusts their judgment, respects their backgrounds, values their opinion. And because it’s just the right way to do business.

The Raptors president and general manager has assembled something of a Kitchen Cabinet to deal with everything from draft picks to free-agent targets to what to order for dinner and from where, when days turn into long nights of strategy sessions.

The group, not surprisingly, includes coach Sam Mitchell and sage and mentor Wayne Embry, but also comprises two original Toronto employees, loyal and dedicated personnel types who have survived a gaggle of front-office changes and lived to advise some more.

Jim Kelly, the team’s director of player personnel and long-time scout and front-office constant Bob Zuffelato are also among those on whom Colangelo counts so much.

For the general manager, it’s not a matter of having undying loyalty to a select few long-time employees. Putting together a brain trust and operating as a consensus-builder is something the general manager does as a matter of course.

“It’s just an effective way to make decisions in the best interest of the franchise when everyone buys into the plan and everyone buys into the direction you want to go,” Colangelo says.

It’s not as if Colangelo is striking out on some singular mission never before attempted when he asks for input from key members of his staff. In Phoenix, where he quickly moulded the Suns into a championship contender from lottery participant, he sought the advice of his father Jerry, veteran NBA executives like Dick Van Arsdale and Cotton Fitzsimmons, coach Mike D’Antoni and a gaggle of others.

“We always made decisions as a group,” he says. “Everyone’s opinion mattered.”

There is one member of the cabal still to come. Maurizio Gherardini, the assistant-general-manager-in-waiting, will be added to the list as soon as his hiring becomes official. When it does — likely sometime in the next two weeks — he will be the most junior member of the group when it comes to hands-on knowledge of the Raptors and inner workings of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment.

The most senior, of course, are Kelly and Zuffelato, a couple of Day Oners who have survived various ownership changes, coaching changes, general manager changes and know the lay of the land better than anyone.

Kelly got his director of player personnel title back almost simultaneously with Colangelo’s arrival because of his abilities, not because he knows where all the bodies are buried around the Air Canada Centre.

Kelly oversaw the early draft process that netted the Raptors the likes of Damon Stoudamire, Marcus Camby, Tracy McGrady and Morris Peterson, but was less of a factor in the decision to draft Alek Radojevic. He says Colangelo’s idea of consensus building allows everyone to feel they have legitimate input into key decisions.

“You have people because you trust their abilities, that’s why they’re on the job,” says Kelly. “My job is to get information on the players and if they want an opinion, I offer an opinion; if they don’t want an opinion, I don’t offer one.”

He’ll be asked for his this year, that’s for certain.

“I’m a firm believer in building consensus and letting people voice their opinions,” Colangelo says. “Everyone will get their say.”

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MAY 28, 2006

INDEPENDENTSPORTS • 31

‘This is a big summer for me’ From page 32 Clowe. Overall, the team was looking for a better result.

“It was a very disappointing way to end it all. We had a rough start to the season, we had a 10-game losing streak, but when things turned around, our goal was to take it further than we had in the last (2003-04) season where we made it to the conference finals.

“But then, making that trade for Joe (Thornton) was a big thing and the team found itself after that.”

While watching Edmonton and Anaheim battle for the right to play for the Stanley Cup, Clowe can’t help but wonder.

“We felt we were right there, but that’s hockey,” he says. “We have such a young team that we hopefully can have lots of success for years to come.”

After signing a three-year deal with the Sharks last summer, Clowe doesn’t have to worry about contracts at the moment. He’ll play in the Xtreme Hockey League in St. John’s and Mount Pearl again this summer, along with many other pro and major junior players from this province. He does, however, have to stay focused on what he needs to bring to training camp in September.

“This is a big summer for me. I’m going to continue working with Bob Thompson on strengthening my game, becoming more explosive and quicker,” he says.

“I want to go to camp and earn a spot and keep it.

Even though this was a weird season … I feel confident because I actually played in NHL games in the regular season and in the playoffs. I’m not going to take anything for granted.” whitebobby@yahoo.com

The perfect frying pan There’s no better way to start a day outdoors than a pound of bacon and a dozen eggs in the Big Steel Pan

J

ust what makes an ideal open-fire frying pan? Cast iron pans are fantastic for heat distribution and look oh-sowoodsy, but they are just too heavy. They’re perfect for a cabin or semi-permanent camp but useless for treks to that backcountry fishing hole.

Non-stick department store pans look out of place in the woods and the coating quickly deteriorates over open fires. Steel pans with long pipe handles are the best solution. I first encountered such a pan while fishing for trout on God’s River in northern Manitoba. It was time for a mugup and Alex Mackay, a Cree Indian river-man friend of mine, pulled a whopper of a frying pan out of his boat’s wooden grub box.

I was impressed!

He refused to divulge the pan’s source. All I got was something about his uncle’s friend’s brother sort of thing. We set a roaring fire from driftwood that lay about and positioned some larger dead stumps to serve as chairs. I sensed Alex’s pride for the pan. He rendered out strips of lard, swishing them around with the long handle, his hands well clear of the intense blaze. He didn’t say a word but he was obviously bragging.

I sliced fillets off four fat Brook Trout, salted and peppered them, and awaited further instruction.

“Drop them in,” says Alex.

There was an instant and intense sizzle, and an aroma words can never do justice to. Only those who have fried fresh trout on an open fire can fully appreciate its impact on the senses. In about five minutes, a golden brown crust formed on the deep pink flesh.

PAUL SMITH

The Rock

Outdoors They were cooked to perfection — served with a slice of homemade bread and hot tea, they were gourmet fare. Someday I would own a pan like that.

If you’ve travelled in rural Ontario you likely know those roadside, sell-everything stores: live bait, farmer’s produce, hardware, canned goods, and so on.

During our first week of marriage, my wife and I dropped into just such a store on the outskirts of Sudbury.

My frying-pan is among my most prized processions.

I walked halfway down an aisle and stopped dead in my tracks.

Hanging from the ceiling was the grandest frying pan my eyes ever beheld. It was bigger than Alex’s, 20 inches in diameter, and sporting a two-foot long tubular steel handle. Its hardened blue steel glistened under the fluorescent lights. This baby was custom made.

I called Goldie over for a look.

“That’s nice,” she said, with not nearly enough enthusiasm.

Remember, we were married a week and I had much to learn.

“That’s what I want for my wedding present,” I said.

“You have got to be kidding,”

was her response. She also had much to learn.

We had waited until our honeymoon to buy each other wedding gifts and I had made my choice. I was adamant and she bought me the frying pan. Twenty-four years later, we’re still married and my frying-pan is among my most prized processions.

It’s been a loyal outdoor companion. All it requires is a cleaning after each outing, followed by a liberal coating of vegetable oil.

It’s hung out in the garage with just a few dings and abrasions to show for decades of rough and ready use. Once I retrieved it from 6 feet of water after a canoe had overturned in a rapid.

The “Big Steel Pan” has been on countless fishing trips, and served up just as many shore lunches. Many a camping day has dawned with a pound of bacon and a dozen eggs in the Big Steel Pan. And while so capacious, it still carries nicely in a backpack, with its handle pointed skyward. It’s ideal for that fry of liver and onions after a successful moose or caribou hunt. The big question is: where do you get one?

Pans like mine are most commonly referred to as fish-fry pans.

You can find them in most outdoor mail order catalogs like Wholesale Sports, SIR, and Le Baron. Also check those small roadside stores — you never know what treasures you may find.

Paul Smith is a freelance writer living in Spaniard’s Bay, enjoying all the outdoors Newfoundland and Labrador has to offer. flyfishtherock@hotmail.com

Right in the thick of things From page 32 wise to overlook the importance of ensuring rural youth have every opportunity, equal to those of youth from larger centres, to take part in sports.

••• Well, things just got a little more interesting in Raptor-land, as the Toronto franchise last week won the NBA draft lottery and the right to pick first overall in this year’s NBA entry draft.

It marks the first time in team history the Raptors have the top pick. Bryan Colangelo, a man who can take much of the credit for assembling the current edition of the Phoenix Suns, was hired by the Raptors just a few months ago and he already has the team going in the right direction.

He had no influence on getting the top draft spot, but Colangelo’s reputation has given Toronto, who were starting to become the laughingstock of the

league and perhaps even in danger of collapse, a positive shot in the arm.

Now, with a solid young group led by Chris Bosh and Charlie Villanueva, the Raptors have the opportunity to parlay this pick into another solid player.

They can take the best player with the best fit for the team, or they can use it as a chip in a trade.

Whatever the case, I hope Colangelo and company steer clear of allowing their star players to dictate who the team should draft, sign or trade for. Vince Carter did that, and look where that got them. Carter is still making highlight reel plays for the New Jersey Nets, but Toronto should count itself lucky to be rid of him. He will never win a title in New Jersey, as flash never beats out substance.

The Raptors, with the right moves and wise investment of its considerable cap space, can be right in the thick of things next year as a playoff contender. whitebobby@yahoo.com

Kids, you owe NHL New changes will benefit generations

By Damien Cox Torstar wire service

W

hen the NHL told the hockey world it was planning to essentially revolutionize the game, two immediate thoughts sprang to mind.

First, it won’t last. They just don’t have the guts to make it happen.

The second was the fleeting notion that if the Bettman administration actually did follow through this time, it was crystal clear who the ultimate beneficiary would be.

My 7-year-old son. Dawson’s his name, and with the crazy notion implanted in his brain that he loves hockey most of all, he may one day inherit a game that will be far better than that we’ve foisted on the most recent generation of Canadian children.

By the time Dawson and boys and girls his age turn 12 or 13, the fabulous, skill-enhancing changes the NHL instituted this season may have percolated down to the lowest levels of the sport in Canada.

This is what happens when the NHL uses its powers for good, not evil.

Instead of debating “The Code” and whether Steve Moore deserved what he got, this country is seriously taking steps to develop a better game based on speed, skill and hitting without all the hooking, holding, tripping and interference that our children have been taught as more important than stickhandling and scoring goals for the last 15 to 20 years.

At Hockey Canada’s annual general meeting in St. John’s last week, delegates approved a strategic plan for the 2006-07 season that essentially embraces most of the important changes that have improved the NHL so drastically over the past season; the new enforcement standards on holding and hooking. Expanding the offensive zone.

Moving the nets back closer to the end boards.

Shrinking goalie gear.

NHL officials, of course, weren’t thinking of this kind of trickle-down effect when they

tried to change the game. They were trying to save their jobs, really, after a terrible lockout.

But for decades the NHL has had an enormous effect on the North American hockey scene, and to a significant extent it was a negative effect.

“Yeah, before we were telling kids not to try at home what they were seeing on TV,” says NHL vice-president Colin Campbell.

Even this season, many hockey parents were horrified to watch the way girls and boys hockey was still being played compared with the NHL. The referees, you see, were being told to call the game the same old way, and the coaches were coaching it the same old way. As one NHL coach with kids in GTA minor hockey told me two years ago, “None of the kids want the puck. It hurts too much.”

Now, Hockey Canada has at least started the process of serious change, although it’s still going to take a long time for it to seep down to every local association.

Don’t forget, there are still lots of knuckleheads out there who believe every ill in the game could still be solved with more fighting and the removal of the instigator rule.

Hockey Canada, however, wants all of its branches to adopt the philosophy for next season that the stick should “only be used to play the puck” and not “in any way to impede another player’s progress.”

Hooking, tripping, holding and interference — those tactics that our children have been forced to learn and use — are to be called “with very strict enforcement.”

“We needed a year off to get the full impact, so people have to understand this will take time,” says Campbell, the point man for the NHL’s new look.

“We needed the time to address our problems and to get the support of everybody in a non-competitive time, which was crucial.

“Do I feel good about what Hockey Canada announced? It does make me feel good.

Nothing is achieved without pain, but it was worth it.”

INDEPENDENTSPORTS

SUNDAY THROUGH SATURDAY, MAY 28-JUNE 3, 2006 — PAGE 32

Ryane Clowe

Paul Daly/The Independent

Soaking it up Ryane Clowe got a taste of NHL playoff hockey this year; plans to take bigger bite with Sharks next season

By Bob White For The Independent

I

t may have been an up-and-down season, but ultimately Ryane Clowe feels his experience this year with NHL’s San Jose Sharks will pay off down the road.

Clowe arrived home in Mount Pearl late last week after experiencing his first NHL playoff ride with the Sharks. The team was eliminated by the Edmonton Oilers in six games in the Western Conference semi-finals.

He had high expectations entering the 2005-2006 season, and met them by making the Sharks out of training camp. He admits to a classic rookie flaw at the beginning of the season — he found himself a little affected by being in The Show for the first time.

After 15 games with the parent Sharks, he was sent down to the American Hockey League’s Cleveland Barons, San

Jose’s minor team.

“Looking back at the start of the season, I kind of was sat back and found myself soaking it all up, which is not unusual for a rookie,” Clowe tells The Independent. “I ended up going to the minors, which in a way was a good thing.

I needed to understand better that while I should respect my opponents (in the NHL), I shouldn’t give them too much respect.”

The six-foot-two, 225-pound Clowe, who grew up in Fermeuse before moving to Mount Pearl at age 14, was originally selected by San Jose in the sixth round (175th overall) of the 2001 NHL Entry Draft.

In 2004-2005, Clowe led the Barons in goals (27), assists (35), points (62) and plus/minus (+19), and was named team MVP. With the Barons this season, Clowe averaged nearly one point per game with 34 points in 35 games.

After shining in Cleveland at the begin-

ning of the season, Clowe was called up by the Sharks in early December. He felt ready to make the contribution he, and the team, were hoping for. And he did — a particularly solid game against Phoenix stands out in his memory — but a high ankle sprain took him out of the lineup and back to Cleveland.

“That was a setback,” Clowe says.

During that stint with the Barons, Clowe endured two concussions in less than a month, which kept him out of action for about five weeks.

“Sometimes, stuff like that happens.

But with concussions, you have to take your time with them and not rush back too soon. I fee fine now, though. There are no lingering effects, which is good.”

A physical player who will use his rugged frame all over the ice, Clowe bounced back from the injuries. But with the team playing well and in the midst of a playoff run, he didn’t see much action after being recalled to the Sharks on April

10. However, the fact he was recalled is a positive sign — he was to be with the club for the playoffs.

San Jose knocked off the Nashville Predators in the first round in five games, and Clowe skated in pre-game warm-ups.

With players nursing a variety of injuries, he was to be ready in case he was called on for action.

The call came in game four of the Western semifinal against Edmonton, where the Sharks were in a dogfight with the Oilers. San Jose lost the game 6-3, but Clowe showed himself well in limited minutes.

“For someone who hadn’t been playing a whole lot, I actually felt pretty relaxed on the ice. It was an intense atmosphere in Edmonton, because the city was just gone crazy.”

In the end, the Sharks fell to the Oilers, which was a tough end to the season for See “This is a big summer,” page 31

Rural youth need sports too

W

ith the recent alarming talk of the future of rural Newfoundland in terms of the sheer survival of communities, I can’t help but think of this scenario as it relates to sports in general.

Out here in Carbonear, which is rural but has the advantage of being part of the relatively populous Conception Bay north region, we have the advantage of decent numbers as well as being just an hour’s drive from St. John’s.

For minor sports, teams from this region can jump in the car or van and have a game without consuming too

BOB WHITE

Four-point play much gas or time. That is a convenience the rest of the island would like to have, on some levels anyway.

When you look at other, smaller communities that do not have a nearby urban area within a few hours’ driving distance, and you add in a severe shortage of young men and women, the

future of minor sport in these regions is worrisome.

Having two children active in a number of sports, I’ve done my share of travelling all over the province in the last five years, and I’ve seen the effects of this numbers game. Schools which were once powerhouses in a certain sport now barely have enough to field a team. There’s no one to cut, because there is only a starting lineup plus one or two spares.

In minor hockey, more and more associations have to pool their players together each year just so kids can get a

game.

In the St. John’s-Mount PearlConception Bay South region, it’s the exact opposite. Hard to compete against those teams and the numbers they have to choose from.

But, like the crisis facing the communities bound to the fate of the fishery, what can be done?

It’s a tough question. In this day of computers, the Internet and video games, our youth really need more, not fewer, opportunities to be physically active and obtain the life skills that come from competing in organized

sport.

There are certain government programs available to athletes from Labrador for financial assistance to travel to the island for training and competitions. A great, if sometimes underfunded program, perhaps this type of assistance can be made available to the more rural regions of the province to help entice maximum participation.

There are many issues facing the government concerning the fate of rural Newfoundland, but it would not be See “Right in the thick,” page 31