2006-07-09

VOL. 4 ISSUE 27

—

ST. JOHN’S, NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR — SUNDAY THROUGH SATURDAY, JULY 9-15, 2006

WWW.THEINDEPENDENT.CA —

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

Political price

STEPHANIE PORTER

W

hat a ruckus we’ve caused.

Last week’s cover story — or, more accurately, the MHA headshots and expense figures on The Independent’s front page — got more than a few backs up among our legislators, setting open-lines abuzz and landing us the threat of legal action if papers weren’t pulled from store shelves and a clarification issued.

“Many, many of the MHAs are very, very upset,” Harvey Hodder, Speaker of the House and chair of the Internal Economy Commission, tells The Independent. “It’s unfortunate, I’m not

—

Province’s politicians Canada’s third highest paid; electorate must ensure MHAs are worthy saying it was deliberate … all I’m saying is that visuals in the kind of atmosphere we’re in now, communicate.

“I have to impress upon you … how offended and how deeply hurt and feeling very maligned and unfairly criticized members of the House have been as a consequence.”

The July 2 Independent featured the

faces of all 48 MHAs, with two numbers beside each one: the amount each claimed in constituency allowance; and the total claims each made in the 200405 fiscal year. The second number encompassed other expenses, including travel and per diem claims, which were not broken down for readers.

While each number was correct, we

have filled in the expense gaps this week on pages 8 and 9.

Each MHA is given an expense allowance every fiscal year, which varies from about $14,400 up to nearly $90,000 — depending on the size and location of the constituency — to spend on travel within their districts, between the district and St. John’s,

meal and accommodation claims, and the heavily scrutinized “constituency allowance,” a catch-all category for everything from pencils to advertising to donations for community groups.

Politicians are generally treated with a certain amount of skepticism and wariness by much of the general public.

There is no doubt the current spending scandal — which has led to accusations that four MHAs significantly overspent their allowances — has only deepened the cynicism.

The Independent is taking this opportunity to take another look at what our representatives in the House of Assembly are paid. According to 2005 numbers gathered by the Canadian See “We’re working,” page 8

Auditor general John Noseworthy released the final three reports dealing with alleged overspending by MHAs on July 4. His findings have shaken the province’s political landscape over the past three weeks.

RYAN CLEARY

T

he lawyer for the civil servant at the centre of a scandal that continues to shake the province’s political landscape says her client is innocent of the allegations against him and only did what politicians directed him to do.

Averill Baker says her client, Bill Murray, the suspended director of financial operations for the House of Assembly, points the finger of blame at the MHAs on the Internal Economy Commission who, in Baker’s opinion, “had been dictating to him what to do.”

Baker tells The Independent the one time Murray tried to dispute an expense claim he was shot down. “I simply don’t understand about my client being ganged up on or blamed for this in that the one time he did try to dispute a claim he was told, ‘Look, who are you to ask me about this? Who are you to ask me what this is for?’”

Baker alleges auditor general John Noseworthy and an assistant visited Murray on June 22, while he was a patient at the Waterford Hospital — a meeting she describes as inappropriate considering her client was in a weakened mental state.

She argues information gathered by Noseworthy at that meeting — information, she alleges, the auditor general used to help build his case — shouldn’t be admissible in court because Murray, at that point, didn’t have a lawyer.

Baker is highly critical of the auditor general’s overall investigation, accusing him of stepping “way out of line” by assuming the

Fall guy Lawyer for suspended civil servant says her client innocent; focus should be shifted to politicians role of the police.

“The statements that were taken under the circumstances will most certainly not be admissible because they were very bad circumstances to be taking statements from people,” Baker says.

“He (Murray) was given no caution whatsoever and yet the auditor general is turning around and using these statements as part of his report, at least to support his accusations that he’s waving publicly left, right and centre.”

Murray’s “very small room” in the psychiatric hospital was a busy place that particular June day, Baker says, with Noseworthy’s visit followed “10 minutes later” by another meeting when MHA Harvey Hodder, speaker

QUOTE OF THE WEEK “(Bill Murray) felt as if he was doing the work of six people … constantly being hounded by the MHAs. Even on Christmas day he’d get phone calls, calling him at home, wanting to process a claim.”

— Lawyer Averill Baker

PAGE 3

of the House of Assembly, and John Noel, clerk of the House, showed up.

“As the auditor general well knows, all of the money has to be approved, all of the claims have to be approved by the commission itself. Harvey Hodder is head of that commission, so I just found it odd that, you know, that Hodder was quick to blame someone given that all of these expenses are really his responsibility and the others on the commission,” Baker says.

“I don’t see my client as someone who’s done anything wrong. Again, I’m technically not allowed to say that. I’ve learned this year that we’re not allowed to tell the public that our clients are innocent, but I honestly don’t understand why Mr. Murray is, why anyone is pointing a finger at him. Why isn’t Noseworthy lining up people on the commission and asking them, putting them under the gun and asking them how could you have done this?”

Noseworthy has refused further comment on the scandal while the Constabulary is investigating. Hodder refused comment because of the ongoing police investigation.

Murray, who has since been transferred to the Health Sciences’ psychiatric ward, where he remains, has been off work on sick leave since June 1. He was later suspended from his position by the provincial government and barred from Confederation Building.

Four politicians have been implicated by Noseworthy in a review of the legislature’s finances, alleging they overspent their constituency allowances by more than $1 million.

Ed Byrne has resigned his cabinet post, while MHAs Wally Andersen (Liberal, Torngat

Scads of juicy scandals over the years

See “Huge problem,” page 2

GALLERY 18

Paul Daly/The Independent

Lawyer says briefcase stolen for client’s papers

L

awyer Averill Baker suspects a briefcase stolen from her car in late June was specifically targeted because it contained papers prepared by her client, the suspended director of financial operations for the House of Assembly.

“I believe that,” Baker tells The Independent.

The briefcase contained statements by Bill Murray, who wrote them by hand while a patient at the Waterford Hospital and, later, the Health Sciences Centre. “It was of such a sensitive nature that I asked him (Murray) to write ‘To my lawyer’ at the top of each and every page. So if the material does show up, it’s certainly privileged.”

The documents “named names and there were dollar values,” Baker says. “Political names, past and present.”

The briefcase was reportedly stolen June 28 from Baker’s car while parked outside her St. John’s home on King’s Bridge

Alain Potrel finds his voice as a painter

Road. The case was taken the same day Baker says she picked up Murray’s handwritten statements.

TARGETED The thief or thieves gained entry to the car by breaking the driver-side window. Baker says she believes the briefcase was specifically targeted because money, sunglasses and an expensive CD player were left behind.

She says her car windows are tinted and the briefcase couldn’t be seen easily from the outside.

The briefcase was also wedged between the front and back seat.

Baker says she didn’t bring her briefcase into her home that particular night because she thought it would be safer in the car. “I had all the windows open in my house because it was so hot.”

Murray has been off work on sick leave since June 1. He was later suspended and barred from Confederation Building.

— Ryan Cleary

Life Story . . . . . . . 12 Gallery . . . . . . . . . 18 Noreen Golfman . . 19 Food column . . . 20 Crossword . . . . . . 24

2 • INDEPENDENTNEWS

JULY 9, 2006

‘Huge problem’ with investigation From page 1 Mountains) and NDP member Randy Collins (Labrador West) have hired lawyers. Former Liberal MHA Jim Walsh (Conception Bay East-Bell Island) has also been implicated.

According to Noseworthy, most of the money can be linked directly to the bank accounts of the politicians.

Noseworthy has also said the alleged misspending of $1 million in government money couldn’t have happened without “collusion” within the legislature.

Baker says she has a “huge problem” with Noseworthy’s investigation of Murray, who, as an employee of the House, has no protection in the form of a union.

“The auditor general is not supposed to be acting like the police,” Baker says.

“He’s looking into possible criminal behaviour and he has no problem reporting it to the CBC, calling press conferences and stating how sure he is that something, that there was collusion … going well beyond what the auditor general’s role is.

“Going way beyond suggesting that he did something wrong, stating to the press every morning that he truly believed something was wrong,” she adds.

“So when you’re the auditor general and you’re going well beyond doing your normal audit and you’re now stepping into the role of the police, you ought not to go down to somebody’s hospital room, especially if they’re in a ward for a weak mental state.”

Baker says the auditor general questioned Murray when the two met, “and then he (Noseworthy) suggested that he should be telling others about this, like Mr. Hodder. And then within 10 minutes Mr. Hodder showed up with John Noel.”

Unique Keepsakes, a company owned

by Murray and/or his wife is also said to have received $170,000 in “inappropriate payments” between April 2001 and December 2005.

As for that particular allegation, Baker says Murray immediately disclosed his conflict “before any claims were put through, immediately disclosed it and we can prove that and we will.

“I really don’t think that Mr. Murray, and again, I shouldn’t be saying this, but I don’t see there’s any evidence that he’s done anything wrong. I don’t see it.”

Baker says Murray is “hanging in there.” She says her client was under tremendous stress while on the job as financial director. She says Murray had requested support staff to help him in his position, but was turned down.

“He told me the other day he felt as if he was doing the work of six people and he and his wife could never get a holiday, they were constantly being hounded by the MHAs. Even on Christmas day he’d get phone calls, calling him at home, wanting to process a claim.”

Baker says the money in question never went to Murray.

“This is what people don’t understand.

This is not money that went to Mr. Murray. So I don’t think there’s a shred of evidence. If the claims were improper there isn’t a shred of evidence that any more went to him.”

Premier Danny Williams rejected calls this week to hold a public inquiry into the scandal. Justice Derek Green has been asked to review political spending and recommend a new, fool-proof system.

— With a file from Sue Kelland-Dyer.

JULY 9, 2006

INDEPENDENTNEWS • 3

‘Humdingers’

A look back at some of Newfoundland and Labrador’s most scurrilous political moments CLARE-MARIE GOSSE

C

onfederation itself could possibly be dubbed the biggest scandal in Newfoundland and Labrador politics, particularly with the conspiracy theories surrounding the final vote count. But Confederation — like the infamous upper Churchill deal — is more of an ever-leeching issue involving grey areas and differing opinions. It’s the sudden, breaking stories like the current House scandal that really grab public attention.

Memorial University History professor Jim Hiller says there have been some “humdingers” over the years, although he doesn’t think Newfoundland and Labrador has necessarily displayed any more political corruption than other provinces.

Hiller says the 1920s and ’30s were particularly murky times across Canada. He points to the Richard Squires government for top local examples. On two separate occasions, Squires was forced to quit as

Former premier Brian Peckford

Protestors gather outside Colonial Building, April 1932.

prime minister of Newfoundland under allegations of corruption. His last exit was executed with a spectacular James Bond-style dash out the back of the Colonial Building through a secret exit, fleeing as he fled thousands of angry protestersr.

“I think it was all really a much of a muchness,” says Hiller. “If you look at what was happening in Quebec or New Brunswick, things were all of the same kind

Paul Daly/The Independent

of stamp; it was the same style of politics.”

Although political veteran John Crosbie says the current audit scandal is up there in a “pretty deplorable” category as Newfoundland and Labrador scandals go, he concedes the Squires incidents were probably even worse. He adds, however, that the audit scandal is of a unique nature because it turns the general public not against any one party in particular, but against all politicians.

“In this case you’ve got three political parties involved,” says Crosbie. “This scandal affects the House of Assembly as an institution and how it runs itself and governs itself. It’s not the normal kind of scandal that sometimes occurs with governments.”

One of the province’s most famous political mess-ups is probably Brian Peckford’s failed hydroponic cucumber operation in the late 1980s, which saw losses of around $22 million. Crosbie says the Sprung greenhouse incident was an example of mistakes made — not criminal wrong doing.

But Crosbie says the infamous father of Confederation, Joey Smallwood, had his fair share of scandals. Crosbie mentions a 1970s commission of inquiry into funds improperly acquired by Smallwood, who was apparently involved in the ownership of liquor stores that were leased to the government — but he says not even Smallwood’s many controversies during his doubledecade run as premier compare to the cur-

rent situation.

The following are of some of Newfoundland and Labrador’s most scurrilous humdingers.

JAMES WINTER AND THE REID RAILWAY CONTRACT: During 1898, Newfoundland’s ruling Conservative government headed by James Winter caused a storm of controversy when it negotiated a contract with Canadian engineer and capitalist R.G. Reid to operate the Newfoundland Railway. With a financial crisis on his hands, Prime Minister Winter’s contract proposed handing the railway fully over to Reid, along with other grants and sweeping concessions. After months of intergovernmental squabbling the contract went through.

Scandal broke, however, when it was revealed Winter’s minister of Finance, Alfred Morine, the person responsible for negotiating the contract, was employed by Reid as his solicitor. Morine was dismissed and although Winter refused to resign, his government crumbled under rising public protest.

EDWARD MORRIS AND THE TIMBERLANDS CONFLICTS OF INTEREST: Following a surge of interest from America for timber in 1909, NewfoundSee “Scads of scandels,” page 4

SCRUNCHINS

MURPHY’S LAW Thirteen years ago, in 1993, former Liberal MHA Tom Murphy was in hot water for his constituency expenses. A review of MHA expenses for the year previous showed Murphy, then-premier Clyde Wells’ parliamentary assistant, cost taxpayers considerably more to keep in office than other MHAs representing city districts. Murphy claimed $21,000 in constituency expenses — the largest claim of any St. John’s member.

Because he had a home in Tors Cove, little more than a rock’s throw from St. John’s, Murphy was paid to maintain an apartment in the city. He claimed $1,528 in travel costs, as well as $4,146 for district travel, meals and accommodations, plus $5,810 in constituency allowance and $9,200 as a House per diem.

Murphy was accused of breaking the law because his driver’s licence had the address of his St. John’s apartment. He

†1

8 YEARS STRAIGHT

Civic

Save More per km

†5

was also registered in the St. John’s East federal voter’s list and voted in the previous year’s federal election as a resident of St. John’s East. Tors Cove was in the federal riding of St. John’s West.

“Why do St. John’s MHAs have to receive an allowance at all?” asked an editorial of the day. “It’s not so much fewer seats in the House that we need, it’s more modest rewards for MHAs who some would say are living like potentates while tens of thousands of their constituents fight for enough welfare to live on.”

BACKBENCHER’S ROLE Murphy circulated a memo to MHAs way back then explaining the role of a backbencher in 11 easy steps.

No. 8 was particularly interesting: “Should exercise enough authority in the minds of bureaucrats in order to be seen as somewhat of a superior. This to prevent abuse of lack of authority often apparent in the way bureaucrats treat government members.”

PREMIER PAY An MHA is permitted to use money from his or her constituency allowance to make a charitable donation. At the same time, Danny Williams found himself in hot water during the last provincial election for donating his own personal money to a firefighting support charity in Bay Roberts. What’s the difference between personal money and taxpayers’ money?

Civic... the Honda that keeps winning the praises of the critics and drivers alike.

Delivering a revolutionary redesign and award winning level of quality and performance, the all-new 2006 Civic is proof positive that hard-earned victory on the race track will put you in the winners circle on the street.

50 5.7

hwy: mpg

hwy: L/100km

Courtesy of Here & Now, CBC Television

COD CAPER The Times of London reported recently that Mafia-style gangs from Russia are plundering protected cod stocks and then laundering their illegally caught hauls through fishing ports in Britain.

“Norwegian authorities have given warning that illegal cod is being sold throughout Britain, from local fish and chip shops to supermarkets. As much as 50 per cent of the cod consignments arriving in Britain could be illegal,” The Times reported.

“The scam involves Russian-owned trawlers which operate from the northern port of Murmansk ignoring strict

Winner

I

t seems the Newfoundland and Labrador public is still looking for a name to call the political scandal that has gripped the province for weeks.

Baublegate isn’t quite there; Twiddlinggate, my suggestion, didn’t catch on; Fridgemagnetgate doesn’t have the right ring to it. Then, out of the blue, a reader called The Independent this week with an excellent suggestion — Goldfinger, my new favourite, which is a great segue into the topic of the customized MHA rings. According to the auditor general, each of the 79 gold rings cost $750, plus tax, for a total of $69,000.

The rings have the Newfoundland Coat of Arms engraved on them. The name of the company that made the rings isn’t known.

Stephen Vaughan, owner of Campus Rings in St. John’s, the province’s only manufacturer of insignia rings, evaluated one of the controversial rings based on a picture CBC Television’s Here and Now was good enough to pass along to The Independent.

“The Coat of Arms appears soldered onto a stock shank,” Vaughan says.

“The crest is poorly done and it lacks any real detail. The piece looks to be a two-piece ring, which is traditionally the least expensive of any ring with an insignia on it.

“Not knowing the weight of the ring or the karat quality, I’d say the price for something like this should not top $300.

Even then, $300 is probably doing whoever made it a favour.”

Vaughan says if the rings were made by a reputable jeweler the company’s stamp would have been inside the shank.

Vaughan also takes issue with the jewelry being called MHA rings. “That could be a bus driver ring who loves his province,” he says. “I’d stop calling it an MHA ring and call it a poorly-crafted-Coat-of-Arms-of-Newfoundland ring.”

DRIVE Our

A weekly collection of Newfoundlandia

Civic Sedan DX

$

quotas on fishing of cod, redfish and halibut in the Barents Sea. “The legal quota of cod from these waters is 480,000 tonnes a year but it is estimated that the Russian trawlers are over-fishing by as much as an extra 100,000 tonnes a year.” Vessels are apparently escaping their quotas by offloading their excess stock in international waters onto different ships. That practice has been reported in recent years on the Grand Banks. Wonder how many tonnes have been overfished off our shores? It’s not so much a worry these days, what with no fish left … ryan.cleary@theindependent.ca

5-speed

218

From

$0

Security Lease

Lease

$

218 $2 60

Down or Tra de $

2,165 $0

*

cial Spe/ Finance se

Lea from

†

%

5.9

60 MONTHS

MOTOR TREND ™

Best New Economy Car †3

2006 Civic Sedan DX ‡

North American Carof theYear †2

†4

www.honda.ca

All lease and finance offers are from Honda Canada Finance Inc., O.A.C. *Lease is based new 2006 Civic Sedan DX 5-speed manual (model FA1526EX) for a 48 month term, OAC. Monthly payment is $218/$260 with $2,165/$0 down payment or equivalent trade-in. Payments include $1,225 freight and PDI. $0 security deposit required. First monthly payment due at lease inception. Lease rate is 5.9%. 120,000 kilometre allowance; charge of $0.12/km for excess kilometres. Total lease obligation is $17,940/$15,042. License, insurance, applicable taxes and registration are extra. Option to purchase at lease end for $6,283 plus taxes. Special 5.9% lease financing for 60 months only available to residents of NS/PEI/NB/NL and only available on new 2006 Civic models (excluding Civic Coupe Si and hybrid models), O.A.C. †: 5.9% purchase financing for 60 months available on new 2006 Civic (excluding Civic Coupe Si and hybrid models) , O.A.C. †1: Based on annual sales by category in Canada as reported by AIAMC, January 2006 †2: North American Car of the Year awarded to 2006 Honda Civic at Detroit Auto Show January 8, 2006. †3: Best New Economy Car awarded to 2006 Civic Sedan by Automobile Journalists Association of Canada on December 6, 2005; www.ajac.ca. †4: 2006 Car of the Year awarded to 2006 Honda Civic by Motor Trend on November 22, 2005; www.motortrend.com. †5: As reported by EnerGuide published by NRCan – see www.vehicles.gc.ca for full details. Limited time offers. See your Honda dealer for full details. .

All Honda vehicles are delivered with a full tank.

Automobile Journalists Association of Canada

Carof theYear

4 • INDEPENDENTNEWS

JULY 9, 2006

Fee removal

Fewer fees, less red tape key to B.C.’s success

By Nadya Bell The Independent

F

rom hunting permits to driver’s licences to business registration, dealing with the provincial government may soon cost less.

Government will reduce or eliminate many fees as part of streamlining and red tape reduction. The new minister of Business, Kevin O’Brien, will oversee the changes.

“There is a small working committee from this department that has been set with the task of doing a complete review of all fees pertaining to many departments,” says O’Brien. “(They will) come back with recommendations if they should be modified, eliminated or reduced.”

The Conservatives increased many fees in their first budget in 2004.

“It was not a substantial amount of money when it comes to government, but still, we needed it,” O’Brien says.

“We were in a financial problem.”

In this year’s budget, government eliminated 34 fees, worth approximately $1.5 million.

The cost of small game and polar bear licences were eliminated, along with numerous co-operative and corporate

fees.

Tory MHAs Paul Oram, Shawn Skinner, and Wallace Young are on a committee reviewing the fees. A form on the government’s website allows the public to submit comments.

“They have to determine if the fees are warranted, if they’re at the right level, if we’re charging too much or too little,” O’Brien says. “We have to look at it from all aspects; we want a transparent look at exactly what the fees are there for.”

The committee will consider public safety, health, cost recovery, and the environment when evaluating fees.

Newfoundland and Labrador is modeling its fee reduction initiative on the Government of British Columbia. As of this year, B.C. has cut 40 per cent of its total regulations since 2001. The original goal was for departments to reduce regulations by 33 per cent.

Rick Thorpe, B.C.’s minister responsible for regulatory reform, says cutting red tape is central to the province’s success.

“Streamlining and simplifying and saving people time is critical. The more we can streamline things, and the more we can make things easier — that means small business operators have more time

The new minister of Business, Kevin O’Brien.

to develop their businesses,” he says.

“It’s really quite simple, when small businesses in British Columbia are successful, British Columbia is successful.”

Thorpe says a new business regula-

Paul Daly/The Independent

tion act allows for faster incorporation and eliminates over 2,100 regulations.

They have also simplified liquor licensing and the forest practices code.

“Things have never been better, we

have the lowest unemployment rate in 30 years in B.C., so it’s bringing together a whole bunch of initiatives of which regulatory reform was an important part.”.

Scads of scandels From page 3

1923, Prime Minister Richard Squires was accused of using bribes to ensure his party’s success. The opposition investigated and an inquiry was launched, revealing evidence of questionable payments made to individuals for obvious political gain.

Squires’ minister of agriculture and mines, Alex Campbell, was at the centre of the scandal and several members of cabinet demanded his forced resignation. Squires refused and the offended members then submitted their own resignations. After a warrant was issued by the attorney general, Squires was arrested and later released on bond.

He resigned as prime minister, but remained behind the scenes, working on securing a possible return to power.

land and Labrador’s forests became highly desirable. The government, under Edward Morris, forced through amendments to Crown land legislation, making investment in Newfoundland’s timberlands more attractive to speculators.

It was later discovered a member of Morris’ cabinet, who played a leading role in steering these amendments through the house, held vested interest in an American company with timber rights to thousands of square miles of forest in Labrador.

There was speculation other cabinet members were also involved in similar conflicts of interest.

In his book, Politics in Newfoundland, Sid Noel writes: “Newfoundland governments had rarely if ever been paragons of financial probity, but by 1909 there were opportunities for corruption on a scale hitherto undreamed of.

“And the ‘new men’ were not the sort to let opportunities slip.”

RICHARD SQUIRES’ ELECTION BRIBES: After winning a second general election in

Special Offers

Special Edition

†1 Best Family Sedan 20th

win in 24 years

Selling Intermediate Sedan 3 YEARS STRAIGHT

†2

ACCORD

This Honda delivers class leading style, benchmark setting quality and precise race-inspired handling and performance all the way to your destination.

Accord Sedan Special Edition

Accord Sedan DX-G 5-speed *

@

$

ACCORD SE DELIVERS MORE VALUE Accord SE Package Cost $3,262 $1,500 You Pay Only

%

288 2.9

from

1,762 ¥

Value Price Advantage $

48 Month Lease with $ 0 security deposit

or CHOOSE Low 60 Month Purchase Finance

2.9

SE Adds ONLY

$

20 per month *

% on 2006 Accords and CR-Vs

†

Quadruple 5-Star Safety

Accord / CR-V

†3

CR-V Special Edition

CR-V The fun-to-drive fuel efficient 4WD SUV from Honda delivers winning value and enhanced safety for every adventure.

CR-V SE 4WD 5-speed

CR-V SE DELIVERS MORE VALUE CR-V SE Package Cost $3,413 $1,100 You Pay Only

2,313 ¥1

‡

All Honda vehicles are delivered with a full tank.

288

@

1.9

%

48 Month Lease with $ 0 security deposit

Fuel Efficiency is Engineered into Every Honda

.

Value Price Advantage $

*

$

from

All lease and finance offers are from Honda Canada Finance Inc., O.A.C. *Leases are based on new 2006: CR-V SE 5-speed (model RD7756E)/Accord Sedan DX-G 5-speed (model CM5516E)/Accord Sedan SE 5-speed (model CM5536J) for 48/48/48 month terms respectively, OAC. Monthly payment is $288/$288/$308 with $4,658/$3,543/$3,543 down payment or equivalent trade-in, respectively. Payments include $1,445/$1,310/$1,310 freight and PDI. $0/$0/$0 security deposit required, respectively. First monthly payment due at lease inception. Lease rate is 1.9%2.9%/2.9%. 96,000 kilometre allowance; charge of $0.12/km for excess kilometres. Total lease obligation is $15,897.60/$15,897.60/$17,001.60. License, insurance, applicable taxes and registration are extra. Option to purchase at lease end for $13,771/$10,664/$11,309 plus taxes. ¥: Calculation for $1,762 in extra value features is: 2006 Accord Sedan DX-G with manual transmission is $24,800. Total value of additional SE features is $3,262 – based on dealer installed accessory pricing. Additional charge to consumer is only $1,500. Savings to consumer is $1,762. ¥1: Calculation for $2,313 in extra value features is: 2005 CR-V LX with manual transmission is $28,200. Total value of additional SE features is $3,413 – based on dealer installed accessory pricing. Additional charge to consumer is only $1,100. Savings to consumer is $2,313. †: 2.9% purchase financing for up to 60 months available on new 2006: Accord and CR-V models, O.A.C. Finance example based on a 60 month finance term, OAC: $28,000 at 2.9% per annum equals $501.88 per month for 60 months. Cost of borrowing is $2,112.80, for a total obligation of $30,112.80. †1: 10Best Car Awards as reported by Car and Driver Magazine in January 2006 issue, www.caranddriver.com. †2: Based on annual sales by category in Canada as reported by AIAMC, January 2006. †3: Quadruple 5-star safety rating based on crash tests by NHTSA for CR-V for driver, front passenger and rear seat passengers in both front-impact and side-impact crash tests, www.nhtsa.com. ‡: See dealers for full details. Limited time offers. See your Honda dealer for full details

RICHARD SQUIRES AND CORRUPTION CHARGES: Squires beat a floundering conservative party to resume his role as prime minister in the 1928 general election. Although his new term began well, the onset of the Great Depression led to fresh scandalous allegations.

www.honda.ca

Finance Minister Peter Cashin accused fellow ministers of corruption and Squires of falsifying council minutes to hide the fact he had been receiving secret payments out of public funds.

Cashin’s allegations inflamed the economically devastated general public and a large protest was organized by the opposition in April 1932.

An angry crowd of 10,000 gathered outside the Colonial Building and, receiving no response, broke in. Squires barely escaped out the back door and had no choice but to call an election.

The Liberals were soundly beaten and the victorious opposition went about putting into place a Commission of Government.

JOEY SMALLWOOD AND ALFRED VALDMANIS: In 1950 Premier Joey Smallwood appointed Latvian immigrant Alfred Valdmanis to head his industrialization efforts for Newfoundland in the hopes of enticing German and Baltic industrialists. In 1954, however, Valdmanis was dismissed on the grounds of serious fraud against the government. He was sentenced to two years in jail and was later labelled by the media as a Nazi collaborator during World War II. JOEY SMALLWOOD AND THE LOGGERS STRIKE When the International Woodworkers of America (IWA) came to Newfoundland to organize a logging strike, Smallwood’s reputation as a friend of labour came to a sensational end when he launched a vigourous anti-IWA campaign. The ensuing strike was long, emotional and violent,

with one particularly frenzied protest leaving several men seriously wounded and one policeman clubbed to death.

JOEY SMALLWOOD AND JOHN DOYLE Smallwood’s close business partnerships with Irish Canadian wheeler dealer John Doyle through the 1950s and ’60s caused scandal after Smallwood’s final fall from power.

Doyle, owner of mining company Canadian Javelin, had previously been charged in the States with stock fraud and skipping bail, and in 1972 was arrested by the RCMP in Montreal and charged with fraud once again. True to form, he skipped bail after a brief prison stint and eluded capture by fleeing to Panama where stock fraud was not an extraditable offence.

BRIAN PECKFORD AND THE HYDROPONIC CUCUMBERS: A two-year joint venture between the Newfoundland and Labrador government and Sprung Enviroponics to grow greenhouse cucumbers using apparently miraculous new technology ended disastrously in 1989 with a $22 million loss.

During the ensuing outrage, Peckford announced his retirement from politics and the next government appointed a royal commission to investigate the cucumber debacle. The greenhouse project became a national symbol of foolish government spending and was dubbed one of the most embarrassing political mistakes in Canadian history.

DINNER & SHOW 10th Anniversary Season:

Every Joan Dick and Harry Buddy’s Deadly Wedding

I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change From Gags to Glitches

Call 579.3023 spiritofnewfoundland.com

JULY 9, 2006

INDEPENDENTNEWS • 5

The greatest sin of all “T

hose Newfoundlanders tend to vote for the biggest thief among them,” some Brit cynic once said, “on the theory that he’ll also steal a little for them.”

But that was in the bad old days.

How different today! Now we have the noble figure of Danny Williams who, by honest toil, put together a personal fortune of $250 million even at a time when the public debt stood at $11 billion.

No wonder so many of us rejoice and clap hands that we are blessed by a Dear Leader like Danny who fits so well Mr. John C. Crosbie’s definition of a sound politician: “Better to go into it rich than to go into it poor and come out rich.”

Not since poor Mr. Smallwood’s time have I seen so many Newfoundlanders ready to go down on one knee, kiss the primerial ring without once being so impious as to gaze directly at the primerial countenance.

Little Caesar Williams. Our joy and our salvation. Several of the Open Line regulars say they could hardly bear the agony on the poor crucified Danny’s face when he had to come on TV and finger the Judas Iscariots.

Get a life, you people. We’ve been up to our knees in crap for so long we can’t smell it anymore.

It’s as if an asteroid wiped out all political memory in this part of the world.

RAY GUY

A poke in the eye The fault is not in our stars but in ourselves. We never learn. We’re always ripe for the picking, too green to burn.

One dark and foggy night in the early 1950s a large wooden crate was being unloaded on a finger pier in St. John’s harbour. The straps broke. The crate fell open and was found to contain bits and chunks of German tanks and aircraft now surplus to the needs of that nation.

The thing is, this crate and others were supposed to contain delicate and highly-modern equipment for making eyeglasses.

“A great new eyeglass factory, Mr. Speaker,” explained Joey Smallwood.

“A more modern, a more up-to-date, a more scientific sort of spectacle, far surperior to any now being made on the continent of North America. Indeed, Mr. Speaker, anywhere in the New World.”

Super specs for granny out of old Panzer bits. This was just one of the great New Industry scams of the 1950s.

They didn’t get better they just got bigger … until Churchill Falls and beyond.

I know I’ll lose you with the history

but, poor brutes, you’re damned anyway … cling to your latest Lord and Saviour, Danny Williams, as you will.

After Confederation, Smallwood came upon a miracle. The commission of government, by such little economies as six-cent-a-day welfare, had left a cool $40 million in the kitty.

What luck that Joey and Herr Doktor Alfried Valdmanis should meet at just that time.

They’d tour Europe on the lookout for clever Germans (mostly) eager to bring great new industries to our part of the world. Eyeglass factories, rubber plants, hockey-stick manufacturies, chocolate bar consortiums, battery works. “Develop or Perish!” Mr. Smallwood told us.

He aimed to drag Newfoundland “kicking and screaming into the 20th century.” Hardly anybody kicked or screamed. The Smallwood circus was so entertaining and “Rich Uncle Ottawa” was sending granny cheques for specs and the women a bonus for breeding.

The $40 million soon went.

Valdmanis was found to have been ripping off a percentage for himself.

Oh, the horror. Oh, the surprise. But no time to stop now.

So by the 1960s we’d gone from devious Germans to the downright diabolical Americans. The Doyles, the Shaheens, the Nixons. Now the stakes were much higher.

Full coverage program may be ready next month

The insects are coming back!

Protect yourself and your trees.

Call today for your safe and effective treatment for your trees.

23052-0

S

ome children will have to wait a little longer for a trip to the dentist chair.The province’s universal dental coverage plan, which was to take effect July 1, has been delayed at least a month.

Dr. David Wright, president of the Newfoundland and Labrador Dental Association, says kids’ dental problems are going untreated because the province was unable to meet the program’s promised start date.

“For every day that the government fails to implement something that they have the money in the bank for, people are not receiving treatment.

It’s a fact,” Wright says.

This year’s provincial budget added $4.1 million to the children’s dental health program. Funding for the province’s dental plan had not significantly increased since 1991, while rates for services have increased — leaving parents to pay the balance.

Health Minister Tom Osborne says the full dental coverage plan was delayed in cabinet approval and discussions with the dental association. He says the program should be ready in a month’s time.

Wright says the dental association has submitted a position paper to the Health Department and they are waiting for a meeting to discuss the new MCP coverage.

“Dentists have been put into a very bad situation because both they and the public believed that on July 1 there would be a new plan put in place,” says Wright. “I know there are dentists and patients that have been booking appointments in anticipation of this.”

The children’s dental health program will cover all children under 12, regardless of income bracket or private insurance coverage.

“Most provinces in Canada do not provide universal dental coverage — they only provide dental coverage for children who are of families on social assistance or low income families,” says Osborne.

“Our dental program here in the province does not look for income levels.”

He says providing dental care is an important contribution to social services in Newfoundland and Labrador.

“It very important to ensure that children have good dental health,” he says. “Especially in lower income families, there were children who simply were not taking advantage of dental visits … that was of great concern to government.”

The dental association recommends the age limit of dental insurance for children be increased.

Osborne says improvements will be made to the plan as government is financially able.

“Obviously we’d like to increase the age to incorporate into the dental plan children up to the age of 17, which is something we’ve been looking at.”

Darlene Neville, youth advocate for Newfoundland and Labrador, was involved with putting the program forward. She says her office is monitoring the situation.

“Full access for children to dental care in this province, it’s really a godsend, so it’s going to have a huge impact.”

Neville says she has not heard of any new cases of parents unable to provide treatment for their children, which she says indicates that people are waiting for the universal care program to take effect.

Doyle did a linerboard mill at Stephenville that went bust; Shaheen did an oil refinery at Come By Chance which collapsed at $500 million and sold for one dollar. Shaheen took to his heels and went back into the arms of his bosses, the CIA. John C. Doyle was hove into H.M. Penitentiary. But one day I was at the Mall when who should I see but John and the Missus buying a few pots and pans. He’d been let out on medical grounds. “Ach, aye. I signed him out, signed the wee paper,” the jolly old country doctor used to boast. “Dr. Jock

“Did your trees get EATEN last year?”

Children’s dental plan delayed

By Nadya Bell The Independent

Premier Danny Williams

V. Coyle re Mr. John C. Doyle.”

He was let out of jail but while under loose arrest in the city took flight and was soon heard of in Panama where no one could lay a finger on him but where his old friends in the Smallwood administration could drop down and visit.

I’ve lost you long ago. History does that. But surely there’s a certain point for all of us where history becomes the near present.

Fun-loving Frank Moores enriched more than a few of his cod-jigging buddies who left no cod to come; young Alfie Peckford took to his heels with tens of millions of cucumber money gone into the mists; Brian Tobin and his buddies would not fit closely into Crosbie’s definition of the better sort of politician …

And all the rest of them. We’ve been up to the knees in crap for so long we can’t smell it any more.

Why the hysteria about the few shiny baubles sticking out of the dung hill?

A few gold rings in pig’s snouts? Sir Galahad Danny with, as some of his reverential handmaidens see it, his face a mask of pain? I think Craig Westcott saw it better.

Craig opined on a TV panel that he would not like to be a stick of chewing gum between Danny’s teeth.

Because, as it has long been in Newfoundland politics, the greatest sin of all is to be found out.

LawnCare Phone 576-0806

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

SUNDAY Vessels Arrived: Maersk Dispatcher, Canada from White Rose; Irving Canada, Canada, from St. John.

Vessels Departed: Maersk Norseman, Canada to Hibernia; Burin Sea, Canada to Terra Nova; John Charcot, Canada, to sea; Cicero, Canada to Halifax; Maersk Dispatcher, Canada, to Hibernia.

MONDAY Vessels Arrived: ASL Sanderling, Canada, from sea.

Vessels Departed: Irving Canada, Canada to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, U.S.A. TUESDAY Vessels Arrived: Teleost, Canada from sea; Maasdam, Netherlands, from St. Pierre.

Vessels Departed: ASL Sanderling, Canada, to

Corner Brook; Maasdam, Netherlands, to Nuuk, Greenland; Henry Larson, Canada to Iqualuit.

WEDNESDAY Vessels Arrived: George R. Pearkes, Canada from sea.

Vessels Departed: Maersk Dispatcher, Canada, to Terra Nova.

THURSDAY Vessels Arrived: Atlantic Eagle, Canada from Terra Nova; Atlantic Hawk, Canada, from White Rose; Maersk Nascopie, Canada from Hibernia; Cabot, Canada from Montreal.

FRIDAY Vessels Arrived: Western Regent, Panama, from Netherlands; Cicero, Canada from Halifax.

Vessels Departed: Atlantic Hawk, Canada, to White Rose; Cabot, Canada, to Montreal; Atlantic Jet, France to St. Pierre; Wilfred Templeman, Canada to sea.

You’re busy, your phone shouldn’t be.

You focus on what you do best, let us do what we do best.

We’ll answer your calls, take the sales leads, and pass them on to you. And we’ll do it all at a surprisingly affordable cost.

Call our award winning answering services and find out how we can help your business grow.

1- 8 88 - 693 -2255 • 709-722-3730 • www.telelinkcallcentre.com

336 Freshwater Road

•

35 Stavanger Drive

•

Glenhill Plaza, Mount Pearl

6 • INDEPENDENTNEWS

JULY 9, 2006

Goldfingered T

here was a time in my young reporting life when stories came down to the almighty dollar.

Brian Tobin felt the brunt of that particular stage. Hold the press — new furniture purchased for Ottawa office! The price tag of a new boardroom table and chairs (mahogany no less) made for a killer front page.

One particular story lead sticks with me, a piece written not long after Tobin returned home from Ottawa to turn this place around: Newfoundland may be Canada’s poorest province but Brian Tobin doesn’t have to worry about gas money — his chauffeur takes care of it.

The chauffeur found himself out of work the very next budget day. The termination notice was even issued for all to hear in the budget speech. One of Tobin’s assistants approached me later in the day outside the House of Assembly to ask how it felt, knowing I had cost the man his job. I didn’t have an answer.

The Coast Guard was another story.

The powers that be should have known better than to task a ship to an evening cruise around the bay serving lobster tails and filet mignon to an executive crew on the ballroom floor/helicopter

RYAN CLEARY

Fighting Newfoundlander pad.

Tobin and his cabinet also commandeered a Coast Guard ship for a ride to Labrador with the exact same menu.

Another front page hit, which drove Tobin off his head. He went on the Fisheries Broadcast to call me a fake journalist. Nothing personal, Mr. T, just doing my job. (Rule of thumb: journalists think we’re on the right track when we get a reaction.)

Then, ever so slowly, it happens — maturity/age kicks in and angles change. Politicians deserve a break.

There’s more to political life (for most) than money.

MHAs deserve a living wage — not necessarily the third highest provincial pay in Canada behind Quebec and Ontario (see pages 8-9) — but a decent income to compensate them for time away from home and the family sacrifices they’re forced to make. They also deserve a pension to take care of them-

selves when they’re done (if they make it out alive). Not necessarily a goldplated plan (turn to 8-9 again), but a decent retirement income to keep them in hair dye and bleach for the teeth.

Other facts of political life: politicians need cash for food, travel, lodging, entertainment (not necessarily $50 bottles of wine — but certainly bottle water to wash down the hard-tack), and assorted office supplies, pencils and pens.

Our politicians certainly haven’t been denied.

Which brings us to the Goldfinger scandal that grips us today. The media didn’t cook this one up — the auditor general served it on a platter, with gold rings for the serviettes and lapel pins for the dinner jackets.

The front page of last week’s Independent caused quite a stir. Our numbers were dead on the money but the facts, we’ve been told, could be misinterpreted (especially for those who only look at the pretty pictures).

Our intent was to show the kind of money politicians have to play with.

No more than that. Total expenses … with a breakout of constituency allowances. What’s unfortunate is the fact that people were distracted from

the point: political spending is out of control.

Danny Williams isn’t the one to decide whether an inquiry should be called. He’s a politician, which means he’s automatically in a conflict of interest. It’s not for him to say whether he or his political peers should be investigated for their spending practices — traces of gold dust can be found on all their fingers.

They all dip into constituency allowances, which can be easily enough mistaken for slush funds. All MHAs have them, the premier included. The danger is that MHAs will spend their pots to garner favour with constituents — $10 for a ticket here, $500 for a donation there, $2,000 for a few thousand fridge magnets everywhere.

That kind of discretionary spending is wrong — $10,000 a year in constituency allowance for four years can buy a hell of a lot of votes if that’s what MHAs decide to spend their money on — and it’s apparently up to them. No wonder incumbents are so hard to beat.

They’re embedded on the fridge door.

This scandal is a tough story for journalists to cover. Usually there’s always a political party to go to for

comment, context or perspective — the Liberals keep the Tories in line, the Tories keep the Liberals in line, and the NDP walk the line between the two.

In this case, there’s no one to call for a quote — not when all hands are implicated. The media are alone on this one and the politicians are as touchy as hell. Pissing them off makes it hard to fill a newspaper with stories … and ads. The Sunday Express’ coverage of Sprung greenhouse didn’t do the paper any advertising favours.

All we can do is print the facts.

So where to from here? The auditor general has pulled the alarm, the police are on the scene, and Justice Derek Green has been called in to ensure reform.

There are certain negatives to calling an inquiry: our leaders will be distracted from the business of leading us out of the hole we’ve been in for decades; the world will see our political regime as a joke; future politicians will be turned off from the trade; and taxpayers will be out even more millions.

But there may be a higher cost to pay by not calling an inquiry. Question is, how do you go about pricing faith? ryan.cleary@theindependent.ca

YOUR VOICE Let them eat seal Dear editor, This letter is in reference to Mandy Cook’s article on the import of fish offal for the fur industry (Fur Farmers buy mainland fish products, June 25 edition). First off, it is unfortunate that this has to happen — a local processor would benefit everyone. I had been wondering if discarded seal carcasses, which should be really high in protein, are of interest to Merv Wiseman?

Also, I wonder if they could be used

for cod aquaculture, another industry slowed by the cost of food. It would really benefit the seal industry to have a use for the meat, and I know an earlier article by Ryan Cleary expressed concerns about this aspect of sealing. I am not certain if cod and foxes enjoy seal meat, but if they did, can you imagine the possibilities?

Chris Jenkins, Halifax (formerly of Lewisporte)

‘One more offensive example of Canadian ignorance’ Editor’s note: the following letter was written to MP Loyola Hearn, the province’s representative in the federal cabinet, with a copy forwarded to The Independent.

Dear minister, I understand the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, in its first full return to Beaumont-Hamel in 90 years, has been forbidden to salute the Ode to Newfoundland. I understand that at the official ceremonies at the battlefield they have been ordered to salute during O Canada and the Queen (i.e. anthems of two “foreign countries” in 1916) but not the Ode, under which members of the regiment fought and died 90 years ago.

This is repugnant, as well as unnec-

essary. A simple desire of a people to honour its soldiers who fought on behalf of the nation of Newfoundland (not Canada) has been denied because of some inflexible and picayune notion of Canadian protocol. When we joined Canada, along with our resources, we brought our dignity and our patrimony.

It is Canada’s duty to, if not nourish these gifts, at least respect them.

As a Newfoundlander I am appalled by this action. As a Canadian I am ashamed. Unfortunately, it will be interpreted by many as one more offensive example of Canadian ignorance towards this place and its history. I hope you will be able to use your influence to reverse this decision immediately.

Chris Brookes, St. John’s

‘Get the facts to the people’ Dear editor, Just a word of encouragement and solidarity as per free speech in regard to the cookie jar scandal. As was said this week by your editor on VOCM: “Bring it all out — print the detail.”

Leave no stone unflipped … be very bearish about it and get the facts to the people. Even the speaker of the House and other such bullies who

threaten, hit them with the facts and bring them to justice for us, the people. A paper like The Independent is just what we need! Love your articles but can’t get your paper here in Bonavista — I’ll get a copy in Clarenville on the weekend for sure.

Freeman Dunford, Bonavista

‘Wicked stuff’ Dear editor, Just heard Ryan Cleary talking to Linda Swain on VOCM’s Nightline about the goings on at home. Anyway, trying to keep on top of things down here in Mexico, but just wanted to say I agree 100 per cent with last week’s front page. I do six weeks on and six weeks off in the oil and gas field, and

I miss a lot of things going on at home — one being this scandal that’s going on now.

Wicked stuff.

Mark Dawson, chef manager DSV Superior Endeavour, Gulf of Mexico

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

Newfoundland Day

F

or me, this past Canada Day evoked mixed feelings. Every year, people seem to blindly celebrate the holiday — attending the parade, waving the Canadian flag, and displaying whatever’s available in Maple Leaf paraphernalia.

This past Saturday (July 1) I found myself walking to my St. John’s office, jaywalking through the parade and noise to my office to work on fishery cases. My favourite files — because they involve fishermen, the most honest and hard-working people I have ever met.

The fishermen in one particular file face federal charges that are becoming increasingly bizarre (some aren’t even found in the legislation).

For example, charges will be heard in Grand Bank later this month relating to a new “condition of licence” requiring a very expensive “black box” to be installed in the boats of every Newfoundland fisherman. The boxes will allow DFO to know their exact position at all times — very much like the electronic bracelets criminals are sometimes forced to wear when the authorities want to keep track of them.

What’s offensive is that DFO doesn’t seem to notice the exact location of the foreign vessels that rake our fertile spawning grounds year round, making it impossible for the fishery to last, or even to renew itself in a natural way.

Canada has forgotten what they promised us in our marriage contract — the Terms of Union — to protect our fishery, among many other promises they have broken. It’s clear the federal government has done the opposite — they have destroyed our fishery.

But that’s old news.

Back to Canada Day. No one seems to celebrate the very things about Canada that make us worth celebrating — at least according to widely respected humanitarian groups like Amnesty International (of which I am a member) and the Canadian Bar Association (of which I am the criminal chair).

In fact, when it comes to our best constitutional assets, we have become

AVERILL BAKER

Guest column

If you want to live the way Stephen Harper thinks we should live by bringing back the death penalty, etc, move to the U.S. complacent, even hostile.

Take the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. I was 12 years old when it became part of our constitutional law.

I remember clearly my mother taping it to the fridge and pointing out to us that it was very important. My mother knew how incredibly important it would be to the country. Sadly, all I see lately are people putting the charter down.

The charter is the crux of real democracy. Yet so frequently now I hear people whine and complain that “it’s just good for getting the guilty people off.”

The Charter is what allows law-abiding citizens to live peacefully and freely without the threat of the state bearing down on you when you have done nothing wrong. So it’s kind of important.

The charter is what allows you to drive to the local Irving at midnight to pick up that quart of milk you need for your family, or to pick up the makings for your child’s lunch for the next day without the worry of being pulled over by the police and questioned for no reason.

The charter is what prevents an innocent elderly man from facing a heart attack after the police have broken the “knock-first” rule by breaking down his door in the middle of the night with

loaded guns drawn, because the police mistakenly believe that a drug dealer resides there.

I could go on with many other examples much more extreme, but the point is the purpose of the charter is to protect the average law-abiding citizen and to enhance and maintain the quality of life we have here in Canada.

Perhaps the most important aspect of the charter is that if it is followed by every police officer, prosecutor and judge in the land, no one who is innocent will end up in jail. Not a one. This is what we should be jealously guarding.

Instead we are complacent and hostile. To the next person I hear say, “Oh it’s just to get the guilty people off” — I say a pox on you. I hope someday you have to spend six months in one of the countries where you can be executed for a minor crime.

If you want to live the way Stephen Harper thinks we should live by bringing back the death penalty, etc, move to the U.S. Maybe then you’ll realize that our crime rate is unusually lower than theirs — a statistic that sociologists still cannot figure out, and even consider odd given that these two countries are physically adjacent.

The charter is a phenomenal constitutional document. In sickening ignorance, Harper wants it “repealed.” His legislators propose amendments to the Criminal Code that involve putting mandatory minimum sentences — even on some sections of the code that already have built-in mandatory minimums! The last meeting of the criminal justice chairs across Canada was held in Vancouver and all of us were scratching our heads over it — ignorance is the only way to describe his proposed amendments.

So, sorry I couldn’t attend the parade with all the people who just voted in a government that wants to destroy any semblance of democracy. Now more than ever this marriage is unappealing and I want a divorce!

Averill Baker is a St. John’s lawyer.

JULY 9, 2006

INDEPENDENTNEWS • 7

Sideswiped by fridge magnets I was asked to do a national CBC radio commentary this week on what Canada might want to know about our House of Assembly expense allowance scandal. I compared this place to Mexico.

And why not? The weather here the past month has been gloriously tropical. We are relying more and more on tourism for income. We have a national identity crisis of long standing, and our political culture is rotten to the core.

Viva Terranova!

I noted that, like Mexico, we like to think we are part of North America, and North America humours us in this belief in hopes of getting access to our resources and our cheap labour. And, like Mexico, every time we think we are starting to be taken seriously, our politicians do something to set us back.

We’re not backward, but our political culture is. Our political culture’s first reaction to a threat is always to try to intimidate. We learned that from Mount Cashel. Cover up, deny, and tell us to mind our own business. That arrogance still echoes in our corridors of power today.

IVAN MORGAN

Rant & reason

We have been told for years that there was no need to scrutinize the House. They can look after themselves.

Look where that got us.

John Noseworthy has signed off on his House investigation, and will presumably now go on to make some other arm of the government sweat bullets.

We are told that the police and the Department of Justice will now take over the investigation.

But that pesky Mexican problem pops up again. Antonio Lamer has just finished roasting both the police and the Department of Justice for their habit of putting people in jail for murders they didn’t commit. Seems that when there was a crime, the cops and the Crown would round up the usual suspects, pick the one they liked for the crime, and “hasta la vista, baby.”

Like they do in Mexico.

And it took some supremely motivated lawyers howling and screaming for years to get anything done. Some of them got in a lot of hot water for questioning the competence of people who turned out to be … incompetent.

And if I raise questions about the basic competence or ability of the Department of Justice or the police to investigate this scandal, how much do you want to bet I’ll get told off? I’ll be lectured that there is no need to question the police’s abilities to look into the House scandal, and no need to question the competency of the Department of Justice’s ability to investigate the very people they work for. How dare I even suggest they aren’t up to the job. Sound familiar?

So when we here at this paper run the stated allowances of MHAs and how much they expense in a year, they are outraged at us? They threaten us?

Where do these people get their gall?

It’s in their culture.

Harvey Hodder decides to teach us a lesson at The Independent, by letting scary lawyers loose on us. I read the letter. Whatever. Harvey taught us a

lesson all right. He taught us what it takes to boost circulation. Thanks, Harvey! When you decide to retire, come and see us. Selling newspapers is your forte.

All this might be funny except for the fact you and I suffer from an image problem because of these people. We look like Mexico down here. Why should the federal government, the big oil companies or any other organization take us seriously? Danny Williams has tried to bring a new level of professionalism to the government, and he has been sideswiped by a delivery van full of fridge magnets and lapel pins.

Now he has to sit across the table from oil executives facing tough negotiations, and with a straight face tell them we are a serious concern. I can hear them snickering from here. Maybe they’ll all show up with lots of pins in their lapels — just as a joke.

The plundering of the public purse, and the consequent heavy-handed attitude towards the media or anyone else who speaks up just fuels the perception the rest of the world has of us. The perception we have all tried so hard to dis-

pel. That Third World thing.

Sold out for fridge magnets. How embarrassing.

And what do they think of us in the rest of North America? The commentary I wrote was a national one, so CBC Toronto wanted a hand in the editing.

They came back with a concern that I might be Mexico-bashing. They didn’t want to be seen as portraying Mexico in a bad light. So they asked me to tone it down a little. No problem, I am a team player.

They never once said a word about the fact I was bashing this place.

••• Note: Mea Maxima Culpa: Two weeks ago I wrote a column about Watergate, and the boyish crush I had on John Dean’s wife. I called her Susan, when her name, of course, is Maureen. A clever fellow of my acquaintance gently broke this to me the other evening. I thank him for his tact, and apologize to my readers for such a basic boo-boo.

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

GOVERNOR IN THE GARDEN

YOUR VOICE Help police catch vandals Dear editor, I am writing concerning the vandalism that’s been taking place recently in St. John’s. We had a school whose windows have been broken out and many of us have had our vehicles broken into and things stolen from our lawns and so on.

Last weekend I had some friends staying with me from out of town. Friday night my friends had the driver’s side window broken and the car had obviously been gone through. Thankfully, there was nothing in the car to steal. We always make sure to tell friends not to leave anything in their vehicles when they park in the city.

Anyhow, since it was a Saturday my friends could not get their window replaced. Apparently most of the businesses that replace windows in vehicles are not open on Saturday. Of course, they are not open on Sunday either. Consequently, my visitors had to be at the vehicle window replacement shop early Monday morning. However, it did affect their schedule because they had to be back in their hometown for a shift on Monday night.

When I went to my place of work on Monday morning I was told by a couple of clients that they also had their vehicle windows broken on that weekend.

Anyhow I think Andy Wells and all of the MHAs who have constituents in St. John’s should make every effort to provide police with support to catch these people who are vandalizing our vehicles. I think having this kind of problem with vandalism could negatively affect tourism.

I am hoping that anyone who finds the window of their vehicle broken will immediately phone police, call your ward councillor and call your MHA. If you do not live in the city you can still leave a message with the mayor’s office about this. I think if no one makes a noise they will never be heard.

Margaret Obsourne, St. John’s

On her first official visit to the province, Governor General Michaelle Jean attended the annual Government House garden party in St. John's Friday, where she received a warm welcome. The governor general will be in the province until July 11, with stops in Trinity, Corner Brook, Stephenville, La Grand’Terre (Mainland), Rocky Harbour, and Gros Morne National Park.

Paul Daly/The Independent

‘We have a duty to remember’ Dear editor, On the morning of July 1 I went into my collection of memorabilia and looked at the kit bag that was returned to my family after the 1917 Battle of Monchy.

It belonged to my uncle Nelson — 2458 of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment — who died as a prisoner of war at Douai, France as a result of wounds inflicted in that battle. I have visited his grave many times and the feelings I had handling the uniform remnants and buttons that were inside the kit bag were not unlike those experienced while standing at his graveside. Grief and sorrow at the terrible waste. He is one of five young soldiers from the Royal Newfoundland Regiment buried there. All were prisoners of war.

A letter by my uncle written from Ayre, Scotland the previous year discusses training, love of home, and the fellowship of his comrades.

I have always been aware of what remembrance means having grown up in a family that saw seven members serve in the two World Wars and Korea.

Two paid the supreme sacrifice, and one died in a flying accident just prior to the Second World War. Remembering and seeing that our fallen are properly remembered has become a way of life for me.

The young RCAF and USAAF airmen who died at or near Torbay had been virtually forgotten. On June 30, the 150 Wing of the Air Force Association of Canada and our supporters dedicated three memorial plaques that are now part of our RCAF historical display at St. John’s International Airport. We remember the Newfoundland airmen who died in other theatres of war, and now the 73 Canadian, one Newfoundland, and 16 American airmen are properly remembered near where they served and fell.

We have a duty to remember all our service people past and present who died on active service and peacekeeping duties and to continue to preserve our vast military history.

Thanks to anyone who helped us in any way.

Nelson J. Sherren St. John’s

Rollin’ down the road Editor’s note: Doug Bird, The Independent’s cartoonist, is currently bicycling across Canada, providing the paper with regular updates on his journey.

I

am fully in the Maritimes now. The best way to tell is to count the percentage of fat people. As soon as the people become predominantly fat you know you’re getting closer to Newfoundland. Fat people tend to be more annoyed by cyclists as well, resenting the physical health of others, I suppose, or perhaps it’s too much work for them to steer their cars. I’m like a reformed smoker on this issue (I actually am a reformed smoker). I also used to be fat, although I always preferred the term slightly obese. I remain a little pudgy, even after this amazing bicycle ride, so I have some empathy for overweight people. Fat people have to wear their addiction and weakness on their sleeves. Drunks and junkies don’t always look like they have a problem, at least not from a distance.

You can see the fatties coming from miles away.

The personal health problems of other people are really none of my busi-

ness, but as I age I am more appalled by the physical and mental laziness prevalent in Canada. We are becoming self indulgent, lazy lard asses who think the world owes us a living.

We have to have immigration because immigrants are still willing to work for a living. That’s why our kids should be taught Cantonese in school instead of French — one in four people on this planet is Chinese and they try harder. If we don’t get it together our grandchildren will be working for some multi-national corporation putting running shoes together for 50 cents a day.

But then Socrates had similar warnings about the coming generations 3000 years ago.

And despite the offensive generalizations there are a lot of great people everywhere. At one point we had to get off the Trans-Canada to find water and happened into a small town where everyone was at an auction in the town hall. We ate fudge and stood around talking to a few locals until the news of our arrival reached the auctioneer. He asked over the microphone if we’d really come all the way from Vancouver on bicycles. When I said yes the entire

town burst into a round of applause. We became instant celebrities. I’ve enjoyed the wonder of others on this trip, but for me it’s almost routine: get up, ride my bike, drink beer, go to sleep. People need to believe that those who do things, accomplish big goals, are simply the ones who stop talking and start doing (and have unbelievably supportive spouses, family and friends).

We will be on the boat before you read this. I hope I’m still welcome in St. John’s because there is no other place in this country that I feel more at home. And each and every one of you owes me a Guinness.

Back in the saddle from here.

Doug Bird is making his way home to Portugal Cove-St. Philip’s.

WALLY ANDERSEN Torngat Mountains

PERCY BARRETT Bellevue

MA: $84,800.00 PD: $4,532.00 TT: $48,934.57 CA: $29,538.70 TC: $83,005.27

MA: $37,900.00 PD: $ 0 TT: $30,923.76 CA: $6,929.55 TC: $37,853.31

JOAN BURKE St. George’s– Stephenville East MA: $46,000.00 PD: $9,156.00 TT: $25,878.56 CA: $10,955.33 TC: $45,989.89

JULY 9, 2006

JULY 9, 2006

8 • INDEPENDENTNEWS

ROLAND BUTLER Port de Grave MA: $31,000.00 PD: $4,145.00 TT: $14,841.38 CA: $12,007.07 TC: $30,993.45

EDWARD BYRNE Kilbride

JACK BYRNE Cape St. Francis

MA: $14,900.00 PD: $ 0 TT: $ 0 CA: $14,777.50 TC: $14,777.50

MA: $18,500.00 PD: $ 0 TT: $ 0 CA: $16,984.29 TC: $16,984.29

RANDY COLLINS Labrador West

DAVID DENINE Mount Pearl

MA: $55,900.00 PD: $4,635.00 TT: $31,081.38 CA: $19,923.06 TC: $55,639.44

MA: $14,400.00 PD: $ 0 TT: $ 0 CA: $14,399.73 TC: $14,399.73

KATHY DUNDERDALE Virginia Waters

INDEPENDENTNEWS • 9

Expenses for members of the House of Assembly, April 1, 2004-March 31, 2005. As listed in the report of the Internal Economy Committee.

MA: maximum amount member is allowed to claim annually.

PD: amount a member claimed in per diem — food and accommodation — while the House was in session. Members who live full-time in St. John’s are not permitted to collect this.

TT: total travel claims. This number includes travel to St. John’s while the House is closed, travel to St. John’s while the House is open, and travel within a member’s own district.

CA: constituency allowance claimed.

TC: total amount claimed by member in the 2004-05 fiscal year.

T

amount of that allowance.”

In its first report in 1990, the IEC determined each member would receive an annual amount of $7,500, which “may cover such items as office rental, equipment, supplies, secretarial and other support services, information material such as newspapers, advertising (later referred to as “non-partisan advertising”), purchase of flags, pins, etc., Christmas cards and other items as approved.”

Separately, each member was given guidelines as to how many trips he or she could take, how much could be claimed in travel, accommodations, meal and other expenses.

As of March 31, 1997, expenses were handled a little differently. Instead of a series of allowances, caps, and guidelines, each district was assigned one

MA: $43,400.00 PD: $4,946.00 TT: $16,409.31 CA: $22,039.74 TC: $43,395.05

Source: Internal Economy Commission FABIAN MANNING Placentia–St. Mary’s

Constituency allowance 101 he auditor general’s recent reports on overspending by four MHAs revolve around the constituency allowance, a part of every member’s expense account designed to allow for flexibility, discretion, and the varying needs of different politicians. It encompasses all constituency expenses except travel, accommodations and meals.

“It should be called other,” says Harvey Hodder, speaker of the House of Assembly, “but it never has been.”

The allowance first appeared in 1989, in a recommendation of the Morgan report, which stated: “That each member be entitled to an accountable constituency allowance to provide assistance in the constituency when the House is not in session, in meeting obligations to constituents, and that the Internal Economy Commission (IEC) determine the

ED JOYCE Bay of Islands

amount, “block funding.” An MHA could determine how money could best be used, taking into account travel and other demands.

Each member was entitled to claim $2,000 a year, without receipts, for miscellaneous expenses. That un-receipted amount grew as high as $4,800 before being abolished in 2004.

Today, MHAs are still given block funding for each fiscal year, which varies sharply from district to district, depending on geography, distance from St. John’s, population and other factors.

Currently, Wally Andersen, member for Torngat Mountains, has the highest maximum amount allowed at $84,400.

Having a large district relatively far away from St. John’s, much of Andersen’s expenses go towards travel and accommodations.

Members representing districts on the northeast Avalon, including David Denine, Kathy Dunderdale, Jack Harris, Harvey Hodder, Sheila Osborne, Tom Osborne, John Ottenheimer, Bob Ridgley and Shawn Skinner all have maximum expenses of $14,400. Because they do not travel much for constituency business — and are but a stone’s throw away from the House of Assembly — most of their expenses fall in the constituency allowance category.

“Every last cent is receipt-driven,” says Hodder, though he admits each member has different spending priorities.

“Some people run offices in their district, and if you want a secretary in your district office, that’s the only category in which it will fit … members decide among themselves how they’re going to use the money to benefit

their constituents.”

And the money does run out.

“Every year in February and March I have members coming to me and saying ‘I’m on my own.’ That means they’ve got to pay their own phone bill, their own fax stuff, their own donation stuff … once you’ve run out of money you’ve run out of money.”

Hodder says he puts all his expense claims in the constituency allowance category — things like his fax machine, office supplies, Christmas cards and a wreath to lay at Mount Pearl’s war memorial.

While members will not be reimbursed for attending political functions or for money spent on prize draws, most everything else goes — if there’s a receipt and the IEC gives its OK. “Say O’Donel High School puts off a

drama at the arts and culture centre, and they sell ads in the program to support the show, ‘Compliments of Harvey Hodder’, or some sports organization is putting on a fundraising dinner, I can buy two or three tickets,” he says.

Hodder says supporting community groups is not the same as vote buying.

“You have to support your local initiatives … if I’ve got certain funds allocated to me I haven’t used at the end of the year, I’m going to say, ‘Well, am I going to do another newsletter?’ Probably not.

So maybe I’ll look at Mary Queen of the World and I’ll say, ‘Oh, there’s a breakfast program out there’ … so that’s one of my favourite things to do (with the rest of the money).

“I’ve never looked for publicity on it whatsoever.”

— Stephanie Porter

MA: $31,000.00 PD: $3,265.00 TT: $21,304.18 CA: $6,396.18 TC: $30,965.36

THOMAS MARSHALL Humber East MA: $40,300.00 PD: $2,450.00 TT: $6,299.22 CA: $31,524.84 TC: $40,274.06

OLIVER LANGDON Fortune Bay– Cape la Hune MA: $54,900.00 PD: $0 TT: $42,671.44 CA: $12,126.95 TC: $54,798.39

ELIZABETH MARSHALL Topsail MA: $16,000.00 PD: $0 TT: $0 CA: $15,885.76 TC: $15,885.76

KEVIN O’BRIEN Gander MA: $33,100.00 PD: $3,811.00 TT: $18,219.01 CA: $11,069.79 TC: $33,099.80

PAUL ORAM Terra Nova

SHEILA OSBORNE St. John’s West

MA: $38,100.00 PD: $2,339.00 TT: $14,886.01 CA: $20,509.80 TC: $37,734.81

MA: $14,400.00 PD: $0 TT: $0 CA: $14,281.12 TC: $14,281.12

ROGER FITZGERALD Bonavista South

TOM OSBORNE St. John’s South

JOHN OTTENHEIMER St. John’s East

MA: $38,200.00 PD: $5,690.00 TT: $26,306.97 CA: $6,203.03 TC: $38,200.00

MA: $14,400.00 PD: $0 TT: $0 CA: $14,345.86 TC: $14,345.86

MA: $14,400.00 PD: $0 TT: $0 CA: $13,383.94 TC: $13,383.94

JUDY FOOTE Grand Bank

KELVIN PARSONS Burgeo–LaPoile

GERRY REID Twillingate–Fogo

MA: $38,200.00 PD: $ 0 TT: $23,471.26 CA: $14,636.07 TC: $38,107.33

MA: $54,900.00 PD: $7,210.00 TT: $22,007.10 CA: $25,610.93 TC: $54,828.03

MA: $38,800.00 PD: $0 TT: $22,451.77 CA: $16,172.60 TC: $38,624.37

KATHY GOUDIE Humber Valley

ROGER GRIMES Exploits

TOM RIDEOUT Lewisporte

BOB RIDGLEY St. John’s North

MA: $46,000.00 PD: $6,745.00 TT: $19,209.10 CA: $19,972.35 TC: $45,926.45

MA: $38,200.00 PD: $ 0 TT: $6,492.63 CA: $27,626.42 TC: $34,119.05

MA: $38,200.00 PD: $0 TT: $11,853.51 CA: $23,626.67 TC: $35,480.18

MA: $14,400.00 PD: $0 TT: $0 CA: $14,397.24 TC: $14,397.24

PAUL SHELLEY Baie Verte

SHAWN SKINNER St. John’s Centre

MA: $46,000.00 PD: $3,750.00 TT: $10,172.14 CA: $31,961.82 TC: $45,883.96

MA: $14,400.00 PD: $0 TT: $361.35 CA: $14,035.79 TC: $14,397.14

LOYOLA SULLIVAN Ferryland

GEORGE SWEENEY Carbonear– Harbour Grace

MA: $14,400.00 PD: $ 0 TT: $ 0 CA: $14,396.81 TC: $14,396.81

TERRY FRENCH Conception Bay South MA: $19,500.00 PD: $ 0 TT: $6,289.00 CA: $13,206.98 TC: $19,495.98

HARRY HARDING Bonavista North

JACK HARRIS Signal Hill–Quidi Vidi

MA: $38,200.00 PD: $6,195.00 TT: $19,994.52 CA: $6,867.71 TC: $33,057.23

MA: $14,400.00 PD: $ 0 TT: $ 0 CA: $14,140.89 TC: $14,140.89

Tom Hedderson Harbour Main– Whitbourne

JOHN HICKEY Lake Melville

MA: $28,900.00 PD: $1,800.00 TT: $8,843.07 CA: $16,575.12 TC: $27,218.19

MA: $52,800.00 PD: $2,677.00 TT: $17,069.43 CA: $32,991.15 TC: $52,737.58

JAMES HODDER Port au Port

HARVEY HODDER Waterford Valley

MA: $46,000.00 PD: $5,824.00 TT: $25,576.14 CA: $14,577.33 TC: $45,977.47

MA: $14,400.00 PD: $ 0 TT: $ 0 CA: $13,952.18 TC: $13,952.18

RAY HUNTER Windsor–Springdale

CLYDE JACKMAN Burin–Placentia West

MA: $42,900.00 PD: $4,523.00 TT: $17,140.10 CA: $21,161.50 TC: $42,824.60

MA: $37,700.00 PD: $5,820.00 TT: $16,479.59 CA: $15,311.02 TC: $37,610.61

CHARLENE JOHNSON Trinity–Bay de Verde

YVONNE JONES Cartwright– L’Anse au Clair

MA: $34,200.00 PD: $5,570.00 TT: $16,019.80 CA: $12,511.48 TC: $34,101.28

MA: $69,300.00 PD: $5,395.00 TT: $40,640.89 CA: $23,181.65 TC: $69,217.54

Paul Daly/The Independent

We’re working on it From page 1 Taxpayers Association, this province’s MHAs are the third highest paid in the country, after only Ontario and Quebec.

The MHA pension plan is also considered lucrative, even “gold-plated.”

These issues are never too far from the public’s thoughts — especially now.

In 1989, the province appointed a commission, led by Dr. M. O. Morgan, to investigate and make recommendations “respecting the indemnities, allowances and salaries” paid to MHAs. The Morgan report, as it was called, greatly simplified a “haphazard” remuneration process.

Even then, the report warned of com-

paring provincial salaries, given that “all provinces have resorted to an elaborate system of additional allowances and benefits and these are not always evident from the statistics.”

Before making its recommendations, the report smartly forewarned “there may be, no doubt, those who will protest that our recommended level of remuneration is too high, that it will in fact attract undesirables who have no desire to contribute but to receive …

“We are aware that the public in general has a relatively low perception of our legislators. This is due in part to lack of information of what in fact they do and of the pressures of the demands with which they have to cope, and in part, to

the conduct of Members of the House on too many occasions …”

The Morgan report opened the door for constituency allowances and the current compensation structure. The commission’s recommendations, which have been modified some over the past 17 years, attempted to balance the considerable demands, responsibilities, sacrifices, scrutiny and benefits of public life.

Hodder says “tremendous improvements have been made” since 2004 in the way expenses are allotted and accounted for.

“Even right now, I’m about to go into a meeting about a new claim form, the whole thing … we’ve been working on

that as well,” he says, adding, “it’s got nothing to do with the current investigation.”

The Morgan report also points to a shared responsibility between the public, the politicians, the parties and the process.

“Our task is to determine what competent and qualified individuals should receive in compensation for performing competently and efficiently the complex responsibilities imposed upon them as Members of the House of Assembly,” it reads, “but it is the task and the responsibility … of the political parties and the electorate, to ensure that only competent and therefore deserving candidates are accepted and elected.”

More duties, more money

A

lthough most professionals in this province earn a lower salary than their mainland Canada counterparts, the same trend doesn’t hold true for Newfoundland and Labrador’s provincial politicians.

According to information compiled annually by the Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation, as of 2005 MHAs in this province earned more than those in every other province in Canada, except Quebec and Ontario (see table).

While some of the salaries on the East Coast may look low at first — $47,235 annually in this province — the picture changes when the non-taxable allowance is added in. Taking into account a local MHA’s base salary ($47,235), adding on the tax-free allowance ($23,619), and taking into account how much it would take to earn that $24,000 after taxes, the taxpayers federation estimates provincial MHAs make the equivalent of about $81,223.

Cabinet ministers, the Speaker of the House, and the Opposition leader make another $49,484 on top of that for about

Additional compensation Premier/Prime Minister $68,252 Cabinet minister $49,484 Leader of the Opposition $49,480

PEI $36,326 $11,362 $16,214 $52,540 $59,459 $42,000 $42,000

NS $33,256 $16,628 $23,429 $56,685 $54,644 $38,930 $38,930

NB $42,703 $20,790 $29,439 $72,141 $57,193 $38,129 $34,510

Que. $78,886 $13,379 $20,269 $99,182 $82,830 $59,165 $59,165

Ont. $85,240 $85,240 $67,595 $36,057 $47,052

Man. $67,173 $67,173 $47,577 $29,726 $29,726

Sask. $64,175 $5,198 $7,490 $71,665 $57,967 $40,578 $40,578

Alta. $45,132 $22,566 $31,276 $76,408 $70,452 $55,380 $55,380

BC $75,500 $75,500 $45.000 $39,000 $39,000

Federal MPs $144,300 $144,300 $144,300 $69,200 $69,200

* Newfoundland and Labrador numbers under “additional compensation” updated according to 2006-07 Departmental Salary Details released with Budget ’06. MHAs were to receive another increase of 3 per cent as of July 1, 2006.

Source: Canadian Taxpayers Federation www.taxpayer.com

$132,000 per year.

The premier is entitled to $68,252 above the MHA pay and allowance, equalling a salary of about $150,000.

Currently, Premier Danny Williams donates his income to charity.

Those numbers do not include a 3 per cent raise that took effect July 1, in accordance with the public service pay increase given to NAPE and CUPE members.

A

ccording to watchdog group Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation, Atlantic Canadian politicians have among the most lucrative pension plans — at the expense of taxpayers.

The research director for the federation, Adam Taylor, tells The Independent Newfoundland and Labrador’s MHA pension plan is a little “less outrageous” than the federal or the Nova Scotia plan. But it’s still nowhere near the dollar-for-dollar RRSP style adopted by provinces from B.C. to Ontario.

“A problem with the federal (program) is for every dollar the member puts in, the tax payer puts in four,” he says. “So we do criticize that as an excessive burden on tax payers, the plan itself is too gold plated.”

This province’s, Taylor says, is nearly as generous.

According to the Finance Department’s pensions administration divi-

sion, all 48 MHAs are currently paying into the plan. There are 109 pensioners.

The maximum members can draw is 75 per cent of their salary, an amount granted after 20 years of service. In order to qualify for a pension a member must serve at least five years over two terms.

In an interview with the Independent last March, Finance Minister Loyola Sullivan said government is paying out $4.5 million a year in pension benefits, which works out to an average of $41,000 per retiree.

He said the MHA plan has an unfunded liability of just over $40 million.

— With files from Clare-Marie Gosse Average annual pension pay-outs MHAs: $41,284 Teachers: $27,405 Public service: $13,318

Taking on certain other parliamentary duties can also add to a member’s compensation package: the chair of the Public Accounts Committee, for example, receives over $12,000 a year; member of the committee, about $7,000. The chair or vice-chair of other select or standing committee receives $100 and $75 respectively, per sitting day. (These numbers are according to the 2004-05 report of the Internal Economy

Commission, the most recent available.)

— Stephanie Porter Other provincial compensation: Parliamentary assistant to premier: $24,741 Speaker, House of Assembly: $49,480 Deputy Speaker: $24,740 Gov’t or opposition whip: $12,000 Third party (NDP) leader: $16,800 Source: 2006-07 Departmental Salary Details, Budget 06

I

n general, an MHA’s travel claims — including travel between a district and St. John’s, within the district itself, accommodations and per diems — are part of the individual’s expense account, for which there is a maximum allowance set at the beginning of each year.

That said, there are certain guidelines, including but not limited to: • While the House is in session, no meal allowance is paid to members residing in or representing a district within 40 km of Confederation Building.

• A member with a primary residence in their district and a second residence in the St. John’s area can claim up to $50 a day for meals and $75 for accommodations when the House is open; $103 per day when it’s not.

• When traveling overnight within a district on business, members can claim up to $50 for meals plus accommodations with receipts; up to $103 without.

MA: $33,000.00 PD: $5,850.00 TT: $8,629.85 CA: $17,930.27 TC: $32,410.12

TREVOR TAYLOR The Straits– White Bay North

Travel bugs

2005 comparative compensation for MHAs/MLAs and MPs *NL Annual salary $47,235 Tax-free allowance $23,619 Real value tax-free allow.$33,988 TOTAL $81,223

Pension pay outs

• Cabinet ministers, the leader of the Opposition, and the Speaker of the House can claim an accommodation allowance of $75 a day, Monday-Friday, when the House is in session — no matter where they live.

• Mileage is currently calculated at about 34 cents/km.

Source: Report of the Internal Economy Commission, April 1, 2004-March 31, 2005.

OTHER BENEFITS • Severance: one month’s basic salary for each year of service, with a minimum of three months’ and maximum of 12 months’ pay.

• Vacation: members are not given vacation time per se, it is up to them to decide when to take days off and how many.

• Health benefits: members can pay into the same health plan as public servants.

— Stephanie Porter

MA: $46,000.00 PD: $0 TT: $9,407.40 CA: $31,966.71 TC: $41,374.11

DIANNE WHALEN Conception Bay East–Bell Island MA: $18,000.00 PD: $0 TT: $0 CA: $17,503.53 TC: $17,503.53

MA: $33,000.00 PD: $2,100.00 TT: $12,167.95 CA: $18,732.05 TC: $33,000.00

ANNA THISTLE Grand Falls– Buchans MA: $38,200.00 PD: $6,375.00 TT: $16,020.53 CA: $15,803.24 TC: $38,198.77

DANNY WILLIAMS Humber West MA: $29,500.00 PD: $0 TT: $3,727.42 CA: $21,387.25 TC: $25,114.67

ROSS WISEMAN Trinity North

WALLACE YOUNG St. Barbe

MA: $37,200.00 PD: $7,151.00 TT: $22,834.02 CA: $6,962.73 TC: $36,947.75

MA: $46,000.00 PD: $6,195.00 TT: $29,362.46 CA: $10,375.24 TC: $45,932.70

JULY 9, 2006

10 • INDEPENDENTNEWS

The Neil Murray Stage

O

ne of the undiscovered treasures of the Newfoundland and Labrador Folk Festival (Aug. 4, 5 and 6, 2006) is the young performers’ venue, the Neil Murray Stage. Many festival-goers wandering to this stage by happy accident are captivated by the enchanting performances.

Whether it’s a self-assured six-year-old playing a lively accordion tune or a trio of teenagers stepping up to the microphone to harmonize, these young people are the festival headliners of tomorrow and deliver solid entertainment value.

Things get rolling on the Neil Murray Stage Saturday and Sunday afternoons at 1 p.m., winding up at 5 p.m. on both days, featuring a wide variety of vocal and instrumental performances. While some of the featured artists are new to the festival stage, many are veterans of past festivals and Young Folk at the Hall concerts, the St. John’s Folk Arts Council’s mid-winter workshop and performance event meant to encourage a love for Newfoundland and Labrador’s traditional music in a new generation of performers.

Saturday afternoon will feature Katrina and Keely Boland, Peter Green, William Burgess, Danny and Peter Mills, Allan Ricketts, Naomi and Tamsyn Russell, Ellen Power, The Palmer Girls, and the Youth Invasion!

Sunday afternoon’s schedule includes Fergus Brown-O’Byrne, Susan Hill, Charlotte-Anne Malischewski, Jenna Kelly, Born ‘N Bred, The Meyer Girls, Vinland Music Camp Youth with Eric West, and Even Tide.

This year, the youth of the Neil Murray Stage and those from around the province will meet up on Saturday afternoon and invade the main stage en masse for a few tunes at 4:30. It’s going to be loads of fun and a chance for everyone to see the remarkable talent in our youngest performers.

The stage is dedicated to Neil Murray (1943-1988), a Rhodes Scholar, poet, writer, historian, volunteer and bon vivant who passionately promoted Newfoundland’s culture. He was editor of the Newfoundland Herald, host of the popular Jigg’s Dinner radio show on CBC Radio and served on the boards of the Newfoundland Arts Council and the SJFAC. As a great admirer and friend to musicians, Neil would be particularly pleased to have his name associated with this stage devoted to young performers.

A visit to the Neil Murray Stage offers an interesting counterpoint to the festival’s main stage performances, and provides a glimpse into a very promising future for traditional music and folk arts in Newfoundland and Labrador.

– By Jean Knowles

JULY 9, 2006

Downtown life support

T

his week, while working on the CLARE-MARIE page 17 article GOSSE about the province’s registered historic Brazen sites and buildings, I started to revisit one of my favourite gripes about St. John’s.

It’s a gripe I’ve had for some time, but usually try to quash to avoid upsetting locals who actually come from the city.

But what’s the point of having a column if you can’t complain?

I have, and have always had, issue with the city’s downtown. I know in recent years there’s been something of a revival, but in my opinion it’s still gasping for breath.

Downtown is still a million miles from the bustling epicentre it used to be, before important old buildings were torn down; before historic, cobbled streets were ripped up; before the House of Assembly was moved out to what was then (and sort of still is) the middle of nowhere; before the 1960s and ’70s, when Harbour Drive ruined any hope of a picturesque waterfront, the Avalon Mall turned everyone suburb crazy, and Atlantic Place was brutally slapped together.

So, mistakes were made. There have been efforts to rectify a few — Atlantic Place’s facelift is one example, but that building needs more than a few windows for beautification. A wrecking ball might be more in order.

I don’t know a whole lot about construction, but I know cities and I know what works and what doesn’t. If I were allpowerful, with a magic wand to wave over the downtown, here’s what I would fix: The harbour front: Pier 7? Give me a break. A couple of ice-cream shacks and a Keg does not a city pier make. Visit Halifax’s waterfront with its market stalls and restaurants to see what we should have. The afore-mentioned Harbour Drive construction in the early 1960s (however necessary for traffic) ruined everything. If I was arriving on a cruise ship for the first time I might take one look at Harbour Drive, write off the rest of the place and settle down on deck to stare at the Narrows. (Speaking of the Narrows, why does KFC have one of the best views in town?)

Atlantic Place: Rip it up, raze it to the ground, destroy it.

And that includes the God-awful parkade. Erect a beautiful building with office and mall space and put parking underground or at least artfully concealed behind something that doesn’t look anything like a multi-storey, 1970s embarrassment.

George Street: There’s no denying the fame of this strip across the country and that’s all the more reason to capitalize on it. Right now, George Street is a place to go and get messily loaded on a Friday or Saturday night. It’s a place to hear crappy music (for the most part), witness under-aged girls in skimpy clothes, aging cougars on the prowl and leery single and married men trying to blot it all out with copious amounts of alcohol. George Street needs more down-to-earth, goodmusic-providing establishments. It also needs to be used during the daytime. In the summer, as well as the winter, it’s practically deserted every day of the week pre-nightfall. I think George Street should be used as a market area (we could definitely use a farmers market) and establishments need to clean up their decks and make them more inviting.

Old Newfoundland museum building: While the Rooms is apparently enjoying (ahem) massive crowds since its opening a year ago, the building that housed the province’s old museum is still vacant, without a decided future. For the love of God, put the library back there and put an end to St. John’s being the only city in the world without one in its downtown.

A grocery store: I’m not talking Dominion here, but with all the people living downtown it’s absolutely insane there isn’t a boutique-style grocery store — particularly for the west side. Believe it or not, some people actually prefer stopping off for fresh vegetables and milk on their way home from work a couple of times a week, rather than being forced to do marathon shops at oversized superstores that leave fridge freezers bursting and a salad drawer full of mushy lettuce.

Shops/cinema: The Avalon Mall heralded the beginning of the demise of department stores such as Woolworth’s and Bowrings and despite valiant efforts from current storekeepers downtown, these voids have yet to be filled. Water Street west of Atlantic Place is depressing. We need a small arcade shopping area, or mall area, and it would also be great to see a downtown art-house cinema.

Bars and restaurants: Traditional Newfoundland/Irish pubs aside, a strange thing has happened to downtown establishments. For the most part dining choices include either incredibly overpriced, pretentious restaurants or dodgy bars specializing in grease and beer. The downtown finally has a solid variety of international restaurants, but some more affordable and atmospheric eateries are needed.

I know all this sounds harsh, and who am I to criticize? But it’s because I love what St. John’s has to offer that I care enough to complain. It’s the oldest city in North America for Christ’s sake; it should have the best downtown in the country (and that doesn’t mean the biggest). Downtown doesn’t have to be a slave to extremes: modern, old, or a tourist trap.

Tourists appreciate nothing better than to visit a place full of life and independence; catering to its own as much as to visitors.

Where there’s history, it must be preserved and further development can only enhance what’s already there if done properly. I know the downtown has vastly improved over the last few years and I have endless respect for the businesses keeping it alive, but it needs to come off life support once and for all.

INDEPENDENTNEWS • 11

SCATTERED PAST

The story of Newfoundland’s whalers

By Nadya Bell The Independent

I

didn’t think I would ever be disappointed the whale hunt is over.

Whales are sleek, perfect, and elusive like only terrible and large animals can be. They are this side of a myth.

But after meeting Vaughn George at the South Dildo Whaling and Sealing Museum, I realize that in protecting these animals — some would say monsters — we have created another mythical creature: the Newfoundland whaler.

Let’s hope I never visit a museum like this for cod fisherman.

Vaughn George arrives at the South Dildo Whaling and Sealing Museum with something wrapped in a shopping bag under his arm. It turns out to be two whale teeth — one from a sperm whale and one from a killer whale. They are cream-coloured, each as big as a hand, and his latest addition to the museum.

In the 1940s, Clarence George started hunting whales on his boat the Arctic Skipper from South Dildo in Trinity Bay. Vaughan George went with his father for six years before the fishery ended in 1972.

Nearly everything in the small museum off the main road in South Dildo came from George’s collection.

The jawbones of the last whale his

father killed (a 28-foot minke), the 50mm harpoon that was mounted on the back of their boat, and the rusted, long, cutting tools — Japanese and Norwegian-style — are left over from the hunt.

A family album of whaling pictures in the museum shows a younger George smiling and standing in the sun on the back of his boat.

“I was just starting out in life, I had a new boat,” George says. “I was happy — I was never so happy since.”

With one hand on the harpoon mounted on the museum floor, he shows how they would shoot into the whale, aiming for the side fin or flipper. The whale would swim away as it died, using up 200 to 300 feet of rope attached to the harpoon.

“Oh yes, it was no trouble to get a ride,” George says. “Eventually they slow down.”

Sometimes a whale would dive deep before it died, and a second harpoon would be needed when the whale rose to the surface to drag it into the side of the ship and tow it to shore.

One stormy day, George and his father shot the harpoon into a whale — but the boat’s engine was still in gear and the vessel could not move freely when the whale pulled. The whale doubled back and got tangled in See “It’s all history,” page 12

Nadya Bell/For The Independent

Subaru has turned steel and rubber into gold.

LEASE FOR 48 MONTHS

*

$

299

PER MONTH + TAX

OR PURCHASE FOR $23,495** 2.8% FINANCING UP TO 60 MONTHS

2006 IMPREZA WAGON AWD 5 SPEED

LEASE FOR 48 MONTHS

$

349

*

PER MONTH + TAX

OR PURCHASE FOR $27,995** 2.8% FINANCING UP TO 60 MONTHS

Clare-Marie Gosse’s column will return July 23.

2006 FORESTER 2.5x STD

Travelling at 50kph...

at 100kph...

38771-0

GRAD REBATE

Ask the other guys how AWD works. Then, come ask us. We’ll give you the real answer!

FEAR NO WEATHER

CAPITAL 33-37 Elizabeth Ave.

726-9900

* See dealer for details. ** See dealer for details. Vehicles may not be exactly as shown.

www.capital.subarudealer.ca

JULY 9, 2006

12 • INDEPENDENTNEWS

‘It’s all history now’ From page 11 the propeller, where it died.

The boat could not move with the whale where it was, and waves pushed it into the rocks on shore. George says his father hauled out a portable foghorn and blew it until two fishermen came to tow them away from the rocks — and cut the whale free.

“We never got home until the middle of the night,” he says. “We’d have been broke up on the rocks if it hadn’t a been for those fishermen. But we never had too many misfortunes.”

The portable red foghorn looks like a fire extinguisher crossed with a bicycle pump. It is in the museum, and it still works.

The largest whale George’s father killed was a 73-foot blue whale. Over a good six-month season, they would catch between 70 and 80 whales. The blubber would be rendered in the plant in South Dildo, and the mink farms around the bay would use the meat from small pothead whales.

A 25-foot high wooden sculpture of a whale built by Bill Ritchie sits outside the museum, but it is in a sad

state. Ice and snow have twisted the sculpture, and one flipper has fallen off. The museum has been unable to raise the money to restore it properly, so staff will likely dismantle it.

Smaller and more impressive than the whale sculpture are the old photos of whalers and sealers, although most are not dated. In the photos, the whale carcasses are spilling open, and the tiny black and white whalers are covered in black and white blood.

From his front yard, where he has set an old harpoon, George says he can see right whales blowing in the bay.

He understands why people wanted the hunt to end, but still thinks of it as the best time of his life.

“A lot of people don’t like this stuff.

It is a slaughter, a terrible slaughter.

The bay is full of blood during the pothead slaughter.”

Now George works at the Carino Company Sealing Plant, the same place that used to land the whales and render their fat.

“I daresay I miss being out on the water, I’m still out there, but not for a living anymore, he says. “It’s all history now.”

LIFE STORY

By Ivan Morgan For The Independent

I

have always had an passion for modest souls, whose lives often prove more interesting, but less celebrated, than the more “famous.”

Everyone has a story to tell. The following is such a story. It occurred in St. John’s almost two centuries ago, yet it remains remarkable today.

In 1839, 21-year-old Peter Macpherson, a native Newfoundlander, travelled to England with his aunt, Harriet Oke. She lived near what is now Long Pond, the wife of a well-respected ship’s captain. Macpherson had lost his father when he was eight, and his extended family had helped him and his siblings find their way in the world. Although he was born in St. John’s, like many of his class Macpherson was sent to the British Isles to complete his education.

So it was that this young man accompanied his maternal aunt to London in the spring of 1839. On their return, their ship was nearing the Narrows in St. John’s when a fierce storm struck.

Those on land watched helplessly as the boat was blown out to sea. Days passed and the ship did not return.

They were blown all the way back across the Atlantic, to Ireland. Their boat crippled and their lives in peril, they were able to find a safe harbour where they found refuge, and began the business of repairing the vessel.

In St. John’s, Macpherson’s mother, Lucinda, having known the boat was in sight when it disappeared, began to accept a hard truth. Having already lost her husband, facing the fact her son and sister were probably also lost — especially when they had been so close to safety — must have been a bitter pill to swallow.

She could not have known that her son was safe in Ireland having survived his ordeal, and was enjoying himself, frequently going ashore and making friends with many of the locals.

One afternoon, while in the house of a new acquaintance, Macpherson noticed a portrait on the wall, which reminded him of his father. Even though his father had died when he was little, he was so taken with the picture that he went back to his ship and fetched his aunt. One can only imagine the look on her face when she was ushered into a stranger’s drawing room, in a strange port where she had been randomly marooned, only to find herself gazing on the face of her

From Newfoundland: A Pictorial Record

The fantastic voyage In a stranger’s drawing room, in a strange port, Peter MacPherson found a portrait of his long-dead father. And that’s just part of his story brother-in-law, dead 13 years.

Their hosts explained that years before a bale had washed up on the beach nearby, and when it was cut open it was found to contain, among other things, this fine portrait. Not knowing who the subject was, the people who found it thought it too good to throw away, and hung it in their drawing room, often wondering who the fellow was.

The family very kindly allowed Macpherson and Oke to take the portrait. When their vessel was repaired, the pair once again set sail for St. John’s.

It is hard in today’s world of telecommunications and easy international travel to imagine the emotions stirred by the arrival of that ship in St. John’s. I have always tried to imagine the utter joy of hugging loved ones — hale, hearty and large as life — who for weeks, if not months, had been all but given up for dead; lost, like so many, in the vast North Atlantic.

What a day it must have been for Lucinda Macpherson, to be reunited with her son and sister.

But the day was not done. When they were sure she was over the initial shock, they took Lucinda back to her house and unveiled the portrait. She sat with her son and sister, back as if from the dead, and gazed in wonder upon the portrait of

her beloved husband. She recalled that he had commissioned the portrait decades before, on one of his business trips to London; sat for it, paid for it, and the portraitist had finished it and sent it on a later boat, which was never heard from again.

That portrait became the centrepiece of Lucinda’s house. Some years later, as Macpherson became successful in business and married, the portrait went with him to his new home, and was his most prized possession.

A few years after that, Macpherson was persuaded to lend the portrait to a local art exhibition being organized in the Commercial Chambers. The building caught fire and burned, and Peter had to be physically held back by his wife and children from running into the burning building to get the painting.

He always felt he could have done so, and felt the loss so keenly that no one in his family dared ever mentioned it in his presence again.

Thus this story would have been forgotten had it not been retold to my greatgrandfather, Dr. Cluny Macpherson (who researched and wrote it) when he was a young man, by a very famous stranger. And that I will save for another time, after I have verified a few facts, as I wonder how many will believe it.

INDEPENDENTWORLD

SUNDAY THROUGH SATURDAY, JULY 9-15, 2006 — PAGE 13

Stephen Harper and George W. Bush hold a joint news conference in Washington, D.C.

Jim Young/Reuters

PM’s agenda relies on Bush’s help Canada can’t fulfill its promise if the U.S. closes its shell; Harper gets positive signals from a low-key Washington trip WASHINGTON

By James Travers Torstar wire service

W

hat’s on Stephen Harper’s mind is now on his lips. Anyone who bothers to listen will learn what’s worrying the Prime Minister and where his government will lead Canada this fall.

In conversation in Washington with George W. Bush and later with the press, Harper made it crystal clear the federal government’s first priority is an open America.

“If the U.S. becomes more closed to its friends, the terrorists win,” he told reporters at the White House.

That’s much, much more than a war-onterror bumper sticker. In a handful of words, Harper connected the most important dots in a multi-layered relationship: security, the economy and a border that must remain a conduit, not a barrier.

Without security, an economy facing ominous threats will trip over the growing obstacle of the 49th parallel. A concern since 9/11, that’s now central to Conservative thinking as Harper prepares a new agenda that will carry his government past his famous five election promises and into more challenging territory.

Not surprisingly, one of his priorities, now reduced to three, is the environment, an issue even Conservatives recognize is so sensitive they will have to design a credible alternative to Kyoto.

Another is sorting out the so-called fiscal imbalance with the provinces. But tucked in there is Canada’s ability to meet growing challenges from China and India as well as from a lengthening list of smaller tigers hungry for larger shares of global markets.

Prospering in that economic climate requires not only robust investment in the country’s bricks and mortar but also in its

social infrastructure. It demands hard and immediate reconsideration of policies that cross the spectrum. Making Canada more competitive means adjusting education to meet the higher needs of the knowledge economy and reforming current immigration practices to ensure new arrivals can contribute to the economy and fulfill Canada’s promise.

It also will lead to changes in a tax system that currently discourages marginal workers and corporate innovation.

None of that will be easy and may well be impossible if the United States, bruised from its foreign adventures and unsure of its neighbours, withdraws into a shell.

Tougher border controls already legislated for 2008 by Congress are just one symptom of a disease that would poison trade and tourism.

Harper’s prescription is holistic medicine.

He’s aligning Canada with the U.S. interna-

tionally while working with an equally concerned Bush administration on first slowing new border controls and then ensuring the range of acceptable documents will keep people, goods and services flowing.

What Harper gets in return are positive signals mixed with a lot of Texas bonhomie.

Relaxed and playful on his 60th birthday, Bush heaped praise on the Prime Minister he called “Steve” and on Canada for sending troops to Afghanistan and arresting 17 terror suspects in Toronto.

Being chums with an unpopular U.S. leader isn’t usually smart domestic politics for a new Canadian leader trying to morph a minority mandate into a majority.

But the July 5 power dinner with what amounted to the Bush war cabinet, along with the next day’s meeting and lunch were more beneficial than a too vigorous public See “Controlling,” page 15

Crosbie says goodbye JOHN CROSBIE

The old curmudgeon

T

he Sun Media chain is repositioning itself and streamlining its newsgathering and production, so this will be my final column.

The first was published on Oct. 3, 2004, when I decried the pestilence of polluted political power in Canada and lamented the arrogance of the Liberal Party and the dithering of Paul Martin.

At that time, a great problem Canada had was that our political system had become dysfunctional. For 56 of the 70 years since 1935, the Liberal Party had formed the government, with the Conservatives in office just 15.

Liberal arrogance and corruption were a result of this lack of competition, but the system became functional again with the revival of the Conservative Party led by Stephen Harper and the minority government’s election on Jan. 23.

Harper is providing a focused, energetic and unflappable government, showing himself to be a middle-of-the-road Conservative — energetic, thoughtful and decisive. Canada’s main challenge is now more external than internal, involving the threat presented by Islamist terrorism.

I hope Sun Media succeeds. I enjoyed writing for it. I will miss the reaction of readers to the views I expressed, knowing it is impossible to please everyone or to be liked or endorsed by everyone. I thank all of my readers who e-mailed to agree or disagree with positions I took.

Wife Jane and I just returned from a week spent in France and Flanders around Beaumont-Hamel and the Somme, where, from 1916 to the end of the First World War, incredible casualties were suffered by Newfoundland soldiers.

More than 24,000 Canadians and 700 Newfoundlanders were killed, wounded or went missing in the Somme Region in 1916. They fulfilled their duty against overwhelming odds. Their unbreakable spirit, unwavering courage and selfless sacrifice so many years ago continues to have a profound influence on the Canadian way of life. The ceremony was attended by Her Royal Highness, The Princess Royal, Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, and Canada's Chief of the Defence Staff, General Rick Hillier.

Photo by Sgt Frank Hudec, Canadian Forces ArmyNews

When we consider the sacrifices made by them in defence of our free and democratic society, we must today make whatever sacrifices are necessary to defend against the present terrorist threat — which recent events, such as the arrest of 17 alleged terrorists in Toronto, show exists in our own country.

Our challenge now is to defend ourselves suc-

cessfully against the terrorist threat without seriously eroding the liberal democratic system, the civil rights and liberties that make our society so valuable and dear to us.

We must pass down to our descendants the same opportunities for peace, security and prosperity in a democracy protected for us by those who participated in the First and Second World Wars defend-

ing us from totalitarian states and ideologies.

As we can see from observing Iraq, the Muslim terrorist leaders, religious fanatics, have no regard for people of their own religion who disagree with them — the recently deceased Abu Musab alZarqawi hated people of his own religion whom he saw as heretics even more then he hated infidels — and had no compunction about blowing up Shiite Muslms simply because they are not Sunnis. Obviously, Islamist radicals of this nature must be fought and overcome wherever found.

It seems to me that in addition to strengthening our security agencies such as the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the RCMP, the people best placed to help protect Canadian citizens are Muslim people, great numbers of whom have immigrated to Canada in recent years.

Fatima Houda-Pepin, a Muslim woman and a Quebec Liberal MNA, says the “root cause” of Islamist terrorism is due “to the hateful propaganda” spreading within the Muslim community “under the cover of religion.” She believes that Muslims in Canada are exposed to “extremely violent” speeches against “infidels” and such views are largely “imported” — financed by foreign religious groups.

“You have people coming here as Imams, who have been trained and paid to promote the kind of Islam that has nothing to do with Canadian realities,” Houda-Pepin has said. She believes it to be the primary responsibility of Muslim leaders in Canada to prevent radical Islam from spreading.

We must strengthen our security agencies, but the safety and security of Canadian citizens can be much enhanced if those of Muslim descent, particularly those who immigrated here because they preferred the kind of society and opportunities that Canada offers, report on extremist activities in their midst.

They should be our first line of defence against threatened “jihad” terrorism.

14 • INDEPENDENTWORLD

JULY 9, 2006

JULY 9, 2006

INDEPENDENTWORLD • 15

Controlling both messenger and message

VOICE FROM AWAY

From page 13

Jason Reed/Reuters

International cooking For six weeks at a time, Bay Roberts native Mark Dawson is chef manager on a vessel in the Gulf of Mexico

By Mark Dawson For The Independent

E

ver since I started working in 1988, I have worked away from home. At first, that only meant going as far away as St. John’s — I’m from Bay Roberts, an hour’s drive away.

As a chef, I have worked in many hotels in the area. I have cooked in fine dining establishments; I’ve been the chef at what I consider the finest golf resort in Newfoundland.

But that all changed on a hot day in July, 1996. One of my good friends, Frankie Walsh, approached me about doing some time at sea.

I wasn’t immediately struck by this option. My father, Frank Dawson, worked with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans for 38 years, and spent much of his career at sea. I remember him being gone for a lot of our family’s special occasions — a graduation, a 10th birthday, and so on. But one thing is for sure, it wasn’t because he wanted to be away.

This is what made me stop to really think about this career decision: should I, or shouldn’t I? I decided I should, and accepted my first job in the Gulf of Mexico.

Since that day a decade ago, my work has taken me all over the world, to China, Hong Kong, India, Saudi, Oman, Trinidad and Mexico, to mention a few.

I worked out of Saudi Arabia for a company involved in the oil and gas industry during the start of the Iraqi-US conflict. Changing crews was a little different there than what we were used to.

We had to be driven 400 miles across a desert in a van — the windows were darkened so those outside couldn’t see the colour of our skin — to the airport in Dammam. We had to dodge camels all the way … And oh, did I mention this event happened on the first day of Ramadan?

That’s another story: no water, food or any enjoyment whatsoever from sun-up until sundown.

Those were extreme circumstances to be working in. But my work has also

taken me to some of the most beautiful places on the face of the earth (other than Newfoundland, of course).

Trinidad and Tobago are two of these places. Trinidad has many similar food items to Newfoundland — salt beef, pease pudding (but they call something else, I think it’s daual). I guess island life brings out the best in people, because Trinidadians are very friendly, and when they take you liming, watch out, it’s like May 24 weekend all jammed into one night. What a place!

But now, I’m back in the Gulf of Mexico where it all started 10 years ago.

I usually fly from St. John’s into New Orleans or Houston every six weeks to join the vessel for my six-week hitch.

There are lots of fellow Newfoundlanders onboard here: Mick Chidley and Gerard Quinn (the boys from the shore)

and Steve Dubuc (from Quebec, married a Newfoundland girl and never left, we are so proud of him).

We are on Superior Endeavour, a dive support vessel working in the oil and gas industry for a variety of companies who require our services. Since hurricane Katrina, which I experienced first hand, there has been plenty of need for us.

So even though I still live in Bay Roberts for half the year, I live the other half everywhere — which my wife Wanda would tell you isn’t easy.

For all you people living and working at home, you got ’er made. There’s no place I’d rather be, than in Newfoundland.

Do you know a Newfoundlander or Labradorian living away? Please e-mail editorial@theindependent.ca.

issues shaping his second session agenda. slap on the back.

Parse his words and find the enviBush might have been reading from ronment, NAFTA, and the importance Harper’s briefing notes when he empha- of open yet secure borders to current sized the importance to the U.S. of trade continental trade and future economic with Canada. More competitiveness. One surprising, he made a way or another, each point of volunteering touches a cross-borIn a scheduled that the two counder relationship that tries would go at the moment is half-hour press beyond fighting terunusually harmoror to end genocide. nious. conference, Harper Both are important Not even glitches in presidential asterisks managed to touch, if the latest attempt to attached to a relaend the softwood tionship that innot necessarily push, lumber dispute — evitably tilts toward problems both leaders the hot button issues say will be solved, the interests of the dominant partner. presumably with shaping his second incentives — disruptIn effect, Bush was acknowledging ed the flow of good session agenda. both Ottawa’s connews. If there is any cern about sharing doubt about the trip’s future continental prosperity and the success it’s only the usual concern that Canadian worry that waging war in a capital that sees world leaders almost Afghanistan is keeping it from making daily is blasé about Canadian prime peace in Darfur. ministers.

It remains to be seen where those Harper exacerbated that problem by openings lead. In Canada, increased opting for a low-key visit. More puzeconomic integration is a politically zling still, Canada’s friend and ally charged issue better supported by busi- story is being muffled here by his govness leaders than voters, and so far ernment’s fixation with controlling there’s more talk than action about end- both messenger and message. ing the Sudan massacres.

Strange as it seems, the memorable What is increasingly apparent is the outcome of this trip is that Canadians way ahead for the ruling Conserva- now know more about federal Contives. In a scheduled half-hour press servative fears and plans than conference, Harper managed to touch, Americans learned about a neighbour if not necessarily push, the hot button trying so hard to be agreeable.

JULY 9, 2006

16 • INDEPENDENTWORLD

6853/86 6(// 2)) $// 6853/86 672&. 0867 *2 &KRRVH )URP ·V 2I 0DWWUHVV 6HWV %HGURRP 6HWV /LYLQJ 5RRP 6HWV 'LQHWWHV %XQN %HGV $QG 6R 0XFK 0RUH $OO ,WHPV :LOO %H 6ROG 2Q $ )LUVW &RPH )LUVW 6HUYHG %DVLV +XUU\ ,Q 7RGD\

6RID

2QO\

6RID 2QO\

6RID 2QO\

6RID /RYHVHDW

6RID 2QO\

6RID /RYHVHDW

6RID 2QO\

6RID /RYHVHDW

6RID 2QO\

6RID 2QO\

6RID /RYHVHDW

6RID /RYHVHDW

0LFUR )LE

6RID /R

UH

YHVHDW

6RID 2QO\

6RID /RYHVHDW

0LFUR )LE

6RID /R

UH

YHVHDW

6RID /RYHVHDW 6RID 2QO\

6RID /RYHVHDW

0LFUR )LE

6RID /R

UH

YHVHDW

6RID /RYHVHDW

6XPPHU *LYHDZD\

:,1 <RXU (QWLUH 3XUFKDVH :H·UH RYHUVWRFNHG DQG WR KHOS UHGXFH RXU LQYHQWRULHV ZH·UH JRLQJ WR JLYH \RX WKH RSSRUWXQLW\ WR :,1 \RXU IXUQLWXUH )RU D OLPLWHG WLPH RQO\ ZKHQ \RX PDNH D SXUFKDVH DW 6XUSOXV )UHLJKW )XUQLWXUH \RXU QDPH ZLOO EH HQWHUHG LQ D GUDZ WR ZLQ WKH IXOO UHWDLO SULFH RI WKDW HQWLUH SXUFKDVH QR PDWWHU KRZ ELJ WKH VDOH 6HH GHWDLOV EHORZ

0D\ , +DYH <RXU $WWHQWLRQ 6XUSOXV )UHLJKW +DV 0DWWUHVV 3ULFLQJ 7KDW

&DQ·W %H %HDW 4XDOLW\ 0DWWUHVVHV 6HOOLQJ $W ,QFUHGLEOH 3ULFHV 4XDOLW\ 0DWWUHVVHV

6OHHS $LG

7:,1 HD SF )8// HD SF 48((1 HD SF

6WDUWLQJ $W 2QO\

352 5$7(' ZS :$55$17<

4XHHQ 6L]H HDFK SLHFH

6XQULVH

$Q\ 9DOXH 3OXV 7ZLQ RU )XOO 6HW

4XHHQ 6L]H HDFK SLHFH

7:,1 HD SF )8// HD SF 48((1 HD SF .,1* HD SF

ZS 121 352 5$7(' :$55$17<

3RVWXUH &DUH

4XHHQ 6L]H HDFK SLHFH

1RUGLF 5HVW

4XHHQ 6L]H HDFK SLHFH

7:,1 HD SF )8// HD SF 48((1 HD SF .,1* HD SF 352 5$7(' ZS :$55$17<

7:,1 HD SF )8// HD SF 48((1 HD SF .,1* HD SF

ZS 121 352 5$7(' :$55$17<

&KLUR )LUP

7:,1 HD SF )8// HD SF 48((1 HD SF .,1* HD SF 352 5$7(' ZS :$55$17<

4XHHQ 6L]H HDFK SLHFH

(XURWRS 0DWWUHVV 6XSUHPH 7:,1

&RPIRUW )8// 48((1

.,1*

ZS

4XHHQ 6L]H HDFK SLHFH

HD SF

HD SF

HD SF

HD SF 121 352 5$7(' :$55$17<

5R\DO &RPIRUW

3LOORZWRS 0DWWUHVV 7:,1 HD SF )8// HD SF 48((1 HD SF .,1* HD SF 352 5$7(' ZS :$55$17<

4XHHQ 6L]H HDFK SLHFH

(XURWRS 0DWWUHVV

0DMHVWLF

4XHHQ 6L]H HDFK SLHFH

7:,1 HD SF )8// HD SF 48((1 HD SF .,1* HD SF

ZS 121 352 5$7(' :$55$17<

0DWWUHVV )DEULFV 9DU\ %\ 6WRUH /RFDWLRQ $GYHUWLVHG PDWWUHVVHV VROG LQ VHWV RQO\ 6HH VWRUH IRU LQGLYLGXDO PDWWUHVVHV DW IDFWRU\ GLUHFW SULFHV .LQJ VHWV FRQVLVW RI SLHFHV

%X\ 0RUH 6DYH 0RUH

%HGURRP 6HWV $W )DFWRU\ 'LUHFW 3ULFLQJ

&KHVW $OV R $YDLODEOH

,QFOXGHV 'UHVVHU 0LUURU +HDGERDUG 1LJKWVWDQG

$OO 3LHFHV

1R *LPPLFN 3ULFLQJ

,QFOXGHV 'UHVVHU 0LUURU +HDGERDUG 1LJKWVWDQG

$OO 3LHFHV

&KHVW $OV R $YDLODEOH

&KHVW $OV R $YDLODEOH

,QFOXGHV 'UHVVHU 0LUURU +HDGERDUG 1LJKWVWDQG

$OO 3LHFHV

,QFOXGHV 'UHVVHU 0LUURU +HDGERDUG 1LJKWVWDQG

$OO 3LHFHV

3LHFH 'LQHWWHV Â&#x2021; 3LHFH 'LQHWWHV $OVR $YDLODEOH

$OO 3LHFHV

&KHVW $OV R $YDLODEOH

$OO 3LHFHV

$OO 3LHFHV

$OO 3LHFHV

6XPPHU *LYHDZD\ &RQWHVW 'HWDLOV

67 -2+1Ò&#x2039;6 2Ò&#x2039;/HDU\ $YH

2SHQ 7R 7KH 3XEOLF

0RQ 7KXUV Â&#x2021; )ULGD\ 6DWXUGD\ Â&#x2021; 6XQGD\

7DEOHV )DEULFV DQG &RORXUV PD\ YDU\ E\ VWRUH

$FURVV IURP $YDORQ 0DOO QH[W WR $YDORQ 6RIWZDUH

/RFDWLRQV $OVR ,Q $OEHUWD 0DQLWRED 2QWDULR 1HZ %UXQVZLFN 1RYD 6FRWLD 1HZIRXQGODQG

:H $FFHSW &DVK ,QWHUDF 9LVD 0DVWHU &DUG $PHULFDQ ([SUHVV &KHTXHV )5(( /D\DZD\

,Q RUGHU WR EH HOLJLEOH D SXUFKDVH PXVW EH PDGH DQG SLFNHG XS GHOLYHUHG SULRU WR WKH FRQWHVW FORVH GDWH 2QO\ RQH EDOORW SHU SXUFKDVH 'UDZ LV IRU WKH IXOO UHWDLO SULFH RI WKDW SXUFKDVH LQFOXGLQJ WD[HV $Q\ GHOLYHU\ FKDUJHV SDLG E\ FXVWRPHU RQ LQLWLDO SXUFKDVH ZLOO QRW EH UHLPEXUVHG $ VLQJOH GUDZ DW HDFK ORFDWLRQ ZLOO EH KHOG DW WKH FORVH RI EXVLQHVV RQ -XO\ :LQQHU ZLOO EH QRWLÃ&#x20AC;HG E\ SKRQH RQ WKH GD\ DIWHU WKH GUDZ DQG WKHQ SRVWHG LQ WKH ORFDO SDSHU ZLWKLQ GD\V :LQQHU ZLOO EH LVVXHG D FKHTXH IRU WKHLU IXOO SXUFKDVH ZLWKLQ GD\V RI GUDZ ([LVWLQJ /D\DZD\ FXVWRPHUV PD\ HQWHU RQ WKH GDWH WKH\ SD\ RII DQG WDNH WKHLU HQWLUH OD\DZD\ QRW VRRQHU DQG PXVW GR VR SULRU WR WKH FRQWHVW FORVH GDWH LQ RUGHU WR EH HOLJLEOH &XVWRPHUV PXVW YLVLW WKH VWRUH WR Ã&#x20AC;OO RXW EDOORW QR FDOOV RU ID[HV DFFHSWHG &XVWRPHUV ZKR PDGH D SXUFKDVH SULRU WR -XQH ZLOO QRW EH HOLJLEOH (PSOR\HHV DQG IDPLO\ PHPEHUV RI 6XUSOXV )UHLJKW )XUQLWXUH DUH QRW HOLJLEOH WR HQWHU )XUWKHU GHWDLOV DYDLODEOH DW VWRUH ORFDWLRQ VHH EHORZ IRU DGGUHVV DQG SKRQH QXPEHU &RQWHVW HQGV -XO\

INDEPENDENTLIFE

SUNDAY THROUGH SATURDAY, JULY 9-15, 2006 — PAGE 17

By Clare-Marie Gosse The Independent

A

1985 monument to Pope John Paul II in Flat Rock, a 1960s soccer field in St. Lawrence, shipwrecks, graveyards, banks, and Anderson House — the oldest surviving residence in St. John’s — are all featured on the Canadian Register of Historic Places.

The Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador recently celebrated the milestone of having 400 designated provincial historic sites included as part of the national registry. Each listing features an online photograph and detailed writeup.

Dale Jarvis, registrar of the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador says the 400 sites represent the province’s success in conveying the message of preservation and restoration of historic places.

He says the beauty of the Canadian registry is its democratic way of operating. If a “competent authority” such as a town (however large or small) feels it has a site of interest in its community, it can be designated with heritage status under the local municipalities act.

“What that means is if there’s a small community that doesn’t have a lot of, say, beautiful heritage buildings, but they have something like the Pope John Paul II site that has sort of cultural interest, they can still designate it,” says Jarvis.

“It’s not necessarily someone sitting on a board in Ottawa saying this is important and this isn’t important.

What we’re seeing is some interesting sites being designated that probably 10 years ago, never would have been.”

An example is the St. Lawrence Centennial Soccer Field on the Burin Peninsula.

“There aren’t a lot of old buildings left in St. Lawrence and one of the things the people of St. Lawrence are very passionate about is soccer and they have a soccer history that goes back 100 years,” says Jarvis. “So for them, this site has incredible community significance and a lot of emotional and social importance.”

Pinning down the oldest entry on the registry is tough, with ancient archaeological sites featured alongside buildings, shipwrecks, and even a rock. Devil’s Rock in the town of Renews enjoys some infamy. As the story goes, a priest encountered the Devil at the crossroads where the rock lies. He condemned him into the rock — which bears a display of hoof prints — for a period of time.

But, legend has it, a crack in the rock, which grows wider every year, will eventually split the prison in two and release the captive Devil.

As for the oldest building, Jarvis says the older the site, the less thor-

Anderson House, St. John’s oldest surviving original structure.

Paul Daly/The Independent

‘Taking care of something’ The province lists 400 historic sites on national registry, including a rock, a soccer field, and many old buildings

ough the records. A few houses and a merchant plantation currently contend for the top spot. The Mockbeggar Plantation Historic Site in Bonavista is the most likely winner, with grounds thought to date back to the 1600s and buildings, including a fish store, said to date back to the 1700s.

“That is potentially a very old building,” he says. “The issue with it

is that there isn’t very good written documentation. There’s a lot of oral history which argues that the building was actually built in the 1700s and if that’s the case it’s probably the oldest building we have on the Canadian register.”

Some of the oldest houses in the province include Landfall (or Kent Cottage), which perches on the rocks of Brigus Battery at the mouth of the

harbour (estimated to have been built in 1786), and Ashbourne Longhouse in Twillingate, thought to have been built between 1780 and 1820.

Susan McConnell, the proud owner of St. John’s oldest surviving original structure, Anderson House (built 1804), says she likes to think her property might be officially the oldest in the province.

“I like that,” she says. “I was real-

ly quite excited when I bought it and felt … I’m taking care of something.”

The blue, box-shaped, wooden cottage located in Power’s Court at the base of Signal Hill was built by Sergeant James Anderson and was originally used as a military billet and stable. McConnell, a professional therapist, purchased the property four years ago to house her company McConnell Kenworthy Associates.

McConnell says she has three things she especially loves about the house: a solid, dark wood and ropelined wall in the ground floor hallway, the pinewood floor in her office, and the natural light.

“It’s always pleasant to walk in,” she says (despite rumours that it’s haunted). “I have yet to have people not come in and say something really nice about it.

“Every single room has at least two windows … and that gets me every time. Even on a really dark day it’s not terribly dark in there.”

McConnell says Anderson House can be drafty, however, and the ceilings are low. There’s also the occasional issue of the general public assuming they can freely enter the building due to its heritage designation, when in fact it operates as a private business.

“I’ve been in sessions with people and had to go down and say ‘you know you can’t just come into the building.’”

The main downside to owning a heritage structure are the maintenance costs, as all repairs or renovations have to be done in keeping with its original features. When McConnell first bought the house, she had all the windows replaced and aesthetically spruced up the interior.

“The fact it’s a heritage property means I can’t change the exterior without the historic trust’s permission,” she says.

But she says the provincial heritage foundation has been helpful, making recommendations, finding contractors and even securing her a grant to supplement the cost or renovations.

The possibility of receiving a grant to help restore heritage properties is one major encouragement towards securing a designation. To date, the heritage foundation has disbursed over $1 million in restoration grants for projects across the province since 1984.

McConnell says she expects the cedar roof of Anderson House will require re-shingling in the near future.

“I’m just holding my breath on that; and the house does need to be re-clapboarded, but there is this feeling of being in stewardship over it and that feels good.”

To read up on the province’s 400 historical sites visit www.historicplaces.ca

LIVYER

Abracadabra Studying philosophy helped Wonderbolt Circus performer realize his vocation

By Clare-Marie Gosse The Independent

W

hen Peter Duchemin was a child, J. R. R. Tolkien’s fictional wizard Gandalf — of Lord of the Rings fame — so impressed him he decided he too wanted to be a wizard. Duchemin soon dis-

covered that in the world outside Middle-earth, which as a child meant living in Ottawa in the winter and Newfoundland in the summer, being a “magician” was the next best thing. At the age of 12, he began his magical career by calling Chris Pilsworth, a well-known professional magician based in Ottawa.

“I phoned him up and said, ‘I’m 12 years old, I’m really into magic, could you teach me?’” says Duchemin. “He was a pro, and he met me and he taught me some moves.”

Now, years later, Duchemin calls Newfoundland and Labrador his permanent home. And although he’s about to complete a Masters in philos-

ophy, this magician/clown/juggler has decided to stick with performing over academia, once his final paper is done.

Duchemin has been involved with Newfoundland and Labrador’s Wonderbolt Circus for the last three years as an apprentice, performer and assistant artistic director to the troupe’s founder, Beni Malone. Perching on

steps outside St. Bonaventure’s gymnasium in St. John’s, the venue for Wonderbolt’s next show, Duchemin explains what philosophy and the circus have in common.

“I’ve been looking a lot at the figures of the fool, the magician and the See “It just resonates,” page 14

JULY 9, 2006

18 • INDEPENDENTLIFE

GALLERYPROFILE

ALAIN POTREL Visual Artist

A

lain Potrel has only been painting about a year, but he’s just completed work for his third show, a self-mounted exhibition and art sale titled Fifty cents per square inch (based on his current price for the works). It was a one-night only affair July 8 at the Masonic Temple in downtown St. John’s.

His previous two shows were at Roxxy’s bar on George Street, where Potrel worked as a bartender. He characterizes his first artistic efforts as “mixed media on more or less whatever one could paint.” Too shy to spend money on oil paints, Potrel says he instead used nail polish and whatever else was cheap and/or handy.

In the months since then, Potrel has committed to a collection of oil paints and canvasses. The resulting work is still brightly abstract.

But Potrel’s background holds much more than slinging beer and teaching himself to paint.

Originally from Normandy, France, Potrel says he grew up knowing about Newfoundland.

“I’m from a small city of cod fishers, so … I heard about St. John’s my whole life,” he says. “There would be a carnival in my city every year because the fishermen were going to the Grand Banks and would have a party before leaving.”

Potrel did not follow the fishing tradition, though, instead pursuing an academic career that would lead him all over the world. He has a PhD in earth sciences, has lived and worked in Peru, taught in Brazil, and at the Université du Québec a Montréal. He’s lived in St. John’s three different times and currently works in the earth sciences department at Memorial.

“They needed somebody here,” he says. “I train master’s students … I deal with the laboratory, analyze for people — they send me their rocks, and I give them their data.”

Potrel has two children, aged seven and 14, who live in France with their mother (who happens to be the director of an art gallery in Paris and perhaps responsible for awakening an artistic interest in her then-partner).

“I never did paint, but I studied a lot,” Potrel says with a laugh. “I am a chemist and a geologist so I’ve (explored) a lot of things already.” He points to one painting, among the more measured of his work, with simple blue swaths across a white canvas.

“This one’s symmetrical … because nature is symmetrical, and I’m used to it.”

Although St. John’s is far away from his children and country, Potrel says he’ll stick around for a while — at least until his contract expires. And he’ll keep exploring and exhibiting his newfound hobby.

“The problem is, when I don’t paint, I feel dead. It’s very boring,” he says, adding that he used to use poetry and prose as his creative outlet. “I paint because I can’t really avoid it.

“My first art is science, so, as I say generally, I’m an abstract painter who studied abstraction during 40 years before starting to paint.”

— Stephanie Porter

JULY 9, 2006

INDEPENDENTLIFE • 19

Visions of the city T

his column is being written in the Middle East, in the Israeli capital city of Jerusalem. For the last week I have been attending a conference on Canadian Studies at the Hebrew University.

Through the window of this room I can see the famous golden dome in the old city, behind the ancient limestone walls. The heat is climbing well beyond 35C and the sky is the colour of the Israeli flag, a pure white and blue.

Everywhere the eye is arrested by the site of lush gardens and the bright pinks of blooming bougainvillea. The Israelis have cultivated a gorgeous garden out of the desert, just one of many signs of how civilization has managed to tame nature with rich, glorious beauty.

Of course, only a little ways down the road Israeli tanks have mobilized along the Gaza border and the entire country is consumed with the fate of a kidnapped soldier and talk of negotiation, retribution, and conflict. Getting into the university conference rooms means having to flash a passport at several checkpoints and being asked whether or not you are carrying a weapon.

The huge enduring paradox of this place is the contrast between the experience of staggering beauty and the

NOREEN GOLFMAN Standing room only experience of persistent anxiety and fear. Jerusalem is undoubtedly the civic embodiment of the full spectrum of human experience, from the highest achievements of creative endeavour to the lowest examples of irrationality and futility. One gets more than simply a history lesson here. The tourist’s encounter is not only with the past but also with the impossibility of the future.

The other day the conference attendees heard a lecture from a special guest, a handsome 40-something man of many trades, an Israeli named Harel Margalit. Mr. Margalit is the founder and director of a company called Jerusalem Venture Partners, one of the most successful venture capital businesses in a country celebrated for its venture capitalists. What distinguishes Margalit from a Donald Trump or other stereotypical CEOs of that ilk is that he is also doing a PhD in philosophy at Columbia. Neither vulgar nor philistine, this is no ordinary dreamer.

Recently Margalit announced the

establishment of a partnership with Disney Animation, having successfully lured the company to Jerusalem to launch a multi-million dollar graphic studio, the largest of its kind outside the United States. Expectations are high.

The subject of his talk was The Future of Jerusalem. What really took us by surprise was Margalit’s account of the fading potential of Jerusalem, as he described the almost desperate struggle of the city to preserve its incomparable historical attractions and to develop a sense of life and cultural vivacity.

Apparently something is very wrong in the troubled state of this fortress city.

Among other pressures, Jerusalem suffers profoundly by comparison with the more secularized liberties of Tel Aviv, where the buzz of modernity, from gay pride parades to all-night strip bars, attracts many more younger people and offers its residents a sense of trendy cosmopolitanism, of belonging to a wider, hipper world.

If Tel Aviv is Sodom or Gomorrah, Jerusalem is its subdued and holy opposite. The city is fiercely bound by religion and so many of its citizens feel increasingly restricted by the demands of orthodoxy. On the Sabbath, the city shuts down like a penitentiary. It is

impossible to get a hot cup of coffee.

Everything comes to a dead and oppressive halt. As the tensions between the religious and the secular citizens heighten, and as the latter become outnumbered by the former, many long-time inhabitants are fleeing for Tel Aviv or even Toronto.

So it was that while Maraglit spoke of the enormous challenge to reanimate the city, and his personal mission to do so, I couldn’t help but think about the throbbing activity of St. John’s, such a smaller, newer city by comparison, where all week long the charms of Magnetic North Theatre Festival have been enhancing an already potent cultural environment; where the Governor General and her entourage will oblige not only the stuffy protocols of a viceregal visit but also drop in on NIFCO and chat with local filmmakers, tour the riches of The Rooms, and, yes, even see a play at the LSPU Hall; where the Sound Symposium will be in full swing by the time I get back, taking over the streets and the hills with traditional, electronic, and invented instruments, making noises sweet and strange that no one has ever heard before; where in spite of bad city planning and the hideous and dispiriting mistakes of Council, cultural life thrives with a kind

of graceful abandonment.

Here I am in a city so golden and beautiful it can make you weep, but yet where the prohibitions of orthodoxy stifle the creative spirit and threaten to turn the city into a regulated spectacle for ignorant tourists. The circular cityscape boasts the shimmering golden dome as well as countless church spires and minarets. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam live together here uneasily, and tension is pervasive, as tight as a bandage. Religion can be very bad for the civic soul.

The skyline of St. John’s is dominated both by churches and by the vibrant signs of secular, cultural life, the brightly painted houses of vernacular architecture and, of course, the massive monument to history and art that is The Rooms.

The grip that institutionalized religion once had on St. John’s has yielded to a saner, healthier, freer vision of civic life. Being a tourist always reminds you of what you want — and what you are lucky enough to have.

Noreen Golfman is a professor of literature and women’s studies at Memorial University. Her column will return July 23.

POET’S CORNER Standing up for Newfoundland

By Cory Miller We’re just another outport that they don’t understand, they’re trying to take our homes and tear our roots up from the land.

Let’s stand up for our rocky shores and the hills we love so dear, tell the Feds to go back home cause we’re all staying here.

So many leave their loving homes to work the oily sands, just because they tell us there’s no jobs in Newfoundland.

The oil we have so near to us doesn’t seem to help, I wonder would it be a help if it were somewhere else.

So rich in things that should be good but still so poor it seems, oil and fish and minerals and forests tall and green.

They tell us how to live our lives and how to manage all our treasures, but when our stocks are dead and gone, they’ll shut us down with pleasure.

Mr. Smallwood called it centralizing bringing everyone to the mainland, people sadly left their homes and they didn’t understand.

The Rock is just a bigger version of their little bays and coves, they’re resettling the whole province and no one even knows.

An urban cowboy from out West or a lawyer from Toronto, we’re doing things the way they say and we don’t even want to.

We know The Rock the way we like it, better than any redneck could, why not tell them where to go and do things the way we should.

So raise the flag Green, White, and Pink, and let it speak for Newfoundland. We don’t need the Maple Leaf with its dark oppressive hand.

Let’s bring our people home, the ones we love with all our hearts.

Let’s put the republic back together before the island falls apart.

Peter Duchemin and Jocelyn Wilson, Wonderbolt performers

Paul Daly/The Independent

‘It just resonates with me’ From page 17 juggler and they’re obviously actual performance figures … but there is also a mythological component,” he says. “In the masters philosophy program I’m writing about these three figures.”

Duchemin explains how the three characters represent different aspects of the human psyche. The fool (or clown) is open, honest and naturally creative in his lack of assumption (“Socrates’ great advantage was he knew nothing and he knew that he knew nothing”); the magician is all about appearances and manipulation; and the juggler represents physical skill.

He calls his interest in the three characters a “performance philosophy.

“I’m starting to look at it as one educational experience … in reality this is my education, an apprenticeship coupled with an academic pursuit.”

Duchemin will be communicating his performance philosophy as part of Wonderbolt’s upcoming show, running July 13-23. The performances will feature 11 professional artists from Newfoundland, mainland Canada and Europe, and will include

“I like the fact I can have a philosophy I’ve thought about a long time and make it very simple and turn it into an image and convey it.”

Peter Duchemin aerialists, flyers and acrobats among other acts.

Duchemin will introduce the audiences to two of his three “characters” — Lankelstein Bigalow Wigglessworth III (a.k.a. Lank the clown) and Doktor Inkredible (a magician). Fortunately, abracadabra — which Duchemin says was used as a charm to bring about fortunate events and dispel illnesses — is one of his favourite words.

Wonderbolt was founded in the province over two decades ago, but the

troupe has been significantly raising its profile in recent years. The group is currently searching for a year-round venue to offer regular performances as well as training.

“It’s growing, you can see it everywhere,” says Duchemin. “People are really into circus and into magic and you can feel it building … I’d like to be part of this energy as well as carve out my own path as a performer.”

When he finishes studying philosophy, Duchemin — who recently returned from participating in a magic competition in Austria — says he hopes to continue performing in Newfoundland and perhaps pass on some tricks of the trade to young apprentices of his own.

“It just resonates with me very, very strongly … I’m going into performance because that’s the place I think communication reaches the most people.

“I like the fact I can have a philosophy I’ve thought about a long time and make it very simple and turn it into an image and convey it.”

Wonderbolt Circus performs at St. Bonaventure’s Gymnasium July 13-23 with afternoon and evening shows for all ages. Call 728-1819 for tickets.

Cory Miller recently moved to Fort Saskatchewan, Alta.

JULY 9, 2006

20 • INDEPENDENTLIFE

A WEEK OF SOUND

The Sound Symposium continues all week in and around St. John’s. Bill Brennan (above) is scheduled to perform ancient Gaelic songs with Teresa Doyle July 11, 8 p.m. at the LSPU Hall. Jackie Gallant and percussion duo Spanner are also on the bill.

Paul Daly/The Independent

Cool wines for a hot summer

M

International Festival of New Music and Performing Arts

Schedule of Events: Week 2 - Sun July 9th to Sat July 15th.

Sunday July 9 12:30 HARBOUR SYMPHONY 2 PM COOK RECITAL HALL: CONCERT Judy Loman, harp, with Eleanor James, mezzo-soprano, and Alison Black, violin; Paul Vailliancourt, percussionist.

8 PM COOK RECITAL HALL: CONCERT Sylvie Proulx, guitar Trichy Sankaran, mrdangam and kanjira SAFA: Traditional persian Music ..and improv 10 PM THE SHIP PUB - NIGHT MUSIC McKUDO: Sean Panting, Rob Power, Adam Staple 11 PM QUIET MUSIC CONCERT Charlotte Hug, viola. (Location TBA) Monday July 10 10 AM LSPU HALL: WORKSHOP Warren Burt & Catherine Schieve Percy Grainger's Electric Eye Tone Tool 12:30 HARBOUR SYMPHONY 2 PM LSPU HALL: WORKSHOP Persian Repertoire & Improvisation with SAFA 7 PM PETRO-CANADA HALL: CONCERT Ollivier Coupille, electronics: Maille 8:30 PM COOK RECITAL HALL: CONCERT The Scruncheons Percussion Ensemble.

The Motion Ensemble, contemporary music Autorickshaw, world music; with Trichy Sankaran 10 PM THE SHIP PUB - NIGHT MUSIC Seelie Court Players & Jam session 11 PM QUIET MUSIC CONCERT (location tba) SAFA Trio Tuesday July 11 POUCH COVE GALLERY AM: East Coast Trail Hike, lunch PM: The Black Auks and Harold Klunder; acoustic jam Harold Klunder: Visual Art Exhibition 12:30 HARBOUR SYMPHONY 8 PM LSPU HALL: CONCERT Teresa Doyle, Bill Brennen; Ancient Gaelic Songs.

Spanner: Paul Bendzsa, winds; Rob Power, percussion Jackie Gallant, octapad 10 PM The SHIP Pub - NIGHT MUSIC The Neighbourhood Watch. Rick Bailey, Chris Driedzic 11 PM PETRO-CANADA HALL QUIET MUSIC Mary O’Keefe & Phil Yetman, harpsichord & percussion Wednesday July 12 10 AM MUN MUSIC BAND ROOM: Workshop Teresa Doyle, Kate Pool, Sound as Medicine 12:30 HARBOUR SYMPHONY 1 PM ANNA TEMPLETON CENTRE: WORKSHOP Chris Driedzic, Sound Workshop for Kids 1:30 PM PETRO-CAN HALL: WORKSHOP Ollivier Coupille on Maille 3:30 PM MUN MUSIC CHORAL ROOM: Trichy Sankaran, Rhythm Workshop 8 PM LSPU Hall: CONCERT Yvonne Ng, Headdress, dance.

Erin Donovan, East Meets West, percussion Charlotte Hug , Chantale LaPlante, Brilliant Days.

9:30 PM THE SHIP PUB - FOLK NIGHT Jason Whelan Ensemble, Thelonius Folk Thursday July 13 10 AM LSPU HALL: WORKSHOP Charlotte Hug: The Eye in Musical Improvisation.

12:30 HARBOUR SYMPHONY 1 PM ANNA TEMPLETON CENTRE: Chris Driedzic, Sound Workshop for Kids 1:30 PM LSPU HALL: DANCE WORKSHOP Yvonne Ng, Improvisational Dance.

3:30 PM LSPU HALL: WORKSHOP Shawn Silver, Irish Step-Dancing.

7 PM MUN MUSIC PETRO-CAN HALL Pat Boyle Band, Silent Film & Video Game 8 PM COOK RECITAL HALL: CONCERT Toca Loca, contemporary music 9:30 PM ARTS & CULTURE CENTRE STAGE Propaganda by Paul Steffler. Performed by Motion Ensemble (Newfoundland Premiere) Warren Burt & Cathrine Schieve.

Music composed for electric eye tone tool 10:30 PM NIGHT MUSIC THE SHIP PUB The Origin of Sound.

"The Injector Fly: Living Rooms 2" Friday July 14 12:30 HARBOUR SYMPHONY 1-4:30 PM ANNA TEMPLETON CENTRE: Chris Driedzic, Sound Workshop for Kids.

9 PM CAPE SPEAR HISTORIC SITE CAPE SPEAR PROJECT VII: Various Sound Symposium artists 11 PM THE SHIP - AVANT GARDE JAZZ! Ellis-Tanguay-Cram Trio (Paul Cram, saxophone; Lisle Ellis, bass; Pierre Tanguay, drums) Saturday July 15 12:30 HARBOUR SYMPHONY 2 PM ANGLICAN CATHEDRAL GROUNDS Paintcussion by McKUDO (Sean Panting, Rob Power, Adam Staple) 4:30 PM QUEEN'S BATTERY, SIGNAL HILL Chris Brown & Guillermo Galindo, Transmissions: (BYO Boom-box extravaganza) 7 PM LSPU HALL: CONCERT Autorickshaw, World Music 8 PM LSPU HALL: Improv Night featuring improvs by Sound Symposium artists 11 PM THE SHIP: last night party with THE DISCOUNTS

...for more info, contact: Tel: 753-4630 E-mail: soundart@nfld.com Web: www.soundsymposium.com LSPU Hall Box Office: 743-4531

an, you have to love these temperatures production level is so small that its export is in the range where we can simply say exceedingly rare. we have a summer — not the lengthHowever, we can see Cathedral Cellars from ened spring we usually have.

South Africa with a good Pinotage in our local As well, we are heading into the holiday/vaca- stores. It’s a full-bodied wine with blackberries tion season where entertaining in warm weather and currants lingering on the palate. This is a is a necessity, and certainly enjoyable. When we good wine which, as well as being a drinker, can do entertain, there are a lot of be paired well with grilled meats good choices for beverages to in a similar way to Cabernet NICHOLAS beat the heat and to take outFranc or Pinot Noir.

GARDNER side while enjoying the sunAnother overlooked grape is shine.

Off the Eating Path the Sangiovese. With its unmisThe summer is also a time takable nose of Italian herbs, when we can look beyond Cabernet Sauvignon, black cherries and leather, this is a stunning Merlot, and Chardonnay for inspiration. I lean example of a wine suitable for all outdoor entertowards lighter drinks in the summer — almost taining. anything that can be served chilled is a good The bold flavours of the wine withstand heavy choice. foods because of the strong tannins and high When it comes to fun wines, nothing beats the acidity. It can be easily be paired with heavy beef lightness of a Rosé. It is not a pure red wine, nor steaks covered with English Stilton cheese. Beef a purely white wine, but a marriage of the two. A burgers can also withstand the powerful flavours fine example is the sweet White Zinfandel with of ripe fruit. For the price at under $12, Farnese elements of red berries and melons; this is cer- Sangiovese is the clear winner with deep red tainly a drinkable wine for the hot summer. fruits that linger on the palate and a full body Sutter Home from California is one of the pre- belying its budget price. mier producers of this type of wine.

If you are not up to the bold flavours, then look Another well-known grape varietal, as well as for Chianti, which is a blend of different wine a suitable drinker, is Riesling. This grape type varietals. Chianti blends tend to include can be both sweet and dry, and great examples of Sangiovese, Trebbiano, and Canaiolo grapes and them can be found from Germany and Alsace have not really changed since being developed in (France). the 1890s.

However, the best way to enjoy the Riesling Chiantis, classically, are paired with pasta and grape is the dry method. Who can beat the effer- red sauces, and are found in wicker baskets — vescent Henkell Trocken sparkling wine from called, interestingly enough, a “fiasco” — which Germany, for both whimsy and great value? It is is Italian for flask. Many good Chiantis can be just dry enough to be enjoyable, but sweet found in all the local stores. enough to taste the fruits of peaches and light citWhen thinking about wine, my mind fixes on rus. foods like fresh mozzarella (found packed in Try this: cut a strawberry down the middle and water at the supermarket), fresh tomato and basil place it in the bottom of the champagne flute, and drizzled with a little extra virgin olive oil; an top up with Henkell Trocken. Nothing says relax- antipasto fit for all of these wines. Aged cheeses ing like a glass of sparkling wine — and your (like cheddar) and soft cheeses (Brie and gorguests will think they are movie stars drinking a gonzola) with baguette are other good pairings. glass of bubbly.

With the summer months so short, I encourage Moving away from white wines, there are you to get out there and have some fun with your some other grape varietals you might not have food — enjoy a new wine today. I know I will. thought about. One of the emerging grapes is Pinotage, which is a Pinot Noir-Cinsaut cross.

Nicholas is a food writer and erstwhile This red grape has been produced in many chef now eating in St. John’s. nicholas.gardregions of South Africa to great success, but the ner@gmail.com

INDEPENDENTBUSINESS

SUNDAY THROUGH SATURDAY, JULY 9-15, 2006 — PAGE 21

Harbour Mille on the Burin Peninsula.

Paul Daly/The Independent

‘The salvation of this place’ For some, $100,000 or more for a home in outport Newfoundland is a steal — it’s the value of rural life

By Pam Pardy Ghent For the Independent

T

he beauty of the Burin Peninsula brought Darlene Stewart, 42, and Hubert Dominaux, 49, back to outport Newfoundland after making a life in the Northwest Territories for almost 17 years.

“We were homeowners and had a good life up there,” Stewart says. “But home is where the heart is. … We always knew we would wind up living back home.”

Stewart, like others who are rediscovering rural life, says it’s about more than coming home — there are financial advantages to moving back to the island.

The cost of purchasing a home in some rural areas can be as low as $6,000, and newer homes can be purchased for as little as $25,000 depending on the home and how eager the owner is to sell.

For some — not just Newfoundlanders, but other Canadians, Americans, and Europeans — that’s cost is far below the value of safe, serene, rural life.

While there are fewer services in a small

town, for some, it’s a fair trade.

Three years ago, Stewart and Dominaux sold their $100,000 home in Hay River, NWT and bought an oceanside house just outside Bay L’Argent for $10,000.

Dominaux still works away six months of the year.

“I’m a beach bum, I love nature. While folks who never left might take all this beauty for granted I never will,” Stewart says. “This will be our life until Hubert retires in five or eight years … I can’t leave now for love or money.”

The town of Bay L’Argent charges a $300 yearly poll tax and $300 minimum annual property tax. The yearly cost for water and sewer maintenance is $360, and the community provides street lighting, garbage removal, snow clearing and road maintenance to approximately 114 households and 321 residents.

Renting a home in the town ranges from $300-$375 per month and there are currently four building lots for sale for about $900 each.

The communities of St. Mary’s and Terrenceville have also seen their popula-

tions decline since the last census year.

St. Mary’s has 400 residents, down from 501 a few years ago. Town clerk Teresa Power says, while a few folks return to retire, most of the “young ones” are gone away to work and don’t come back, no matter how affordable the housing.

“Not much point in getting a house for under $20,000 if you can’t afford to heat it or eat,” Power says.

“Terrenceville had over 900 residences four years ago and now might have 650,” resident Joan Rideout says. “It’s not all that cheap to live here, to rent a house can be up to $450 a month, and to buy one you’re looking at anywhere from $35-$40,000.”

Port Rexton has managed to maintain its numbers, not because there’s no outmigration, but because folks are coming from outside Newfoundland. Port Rexton has 432 residents, a Lion’s Club, a seniors’ residence and almost all of its youth are employed in summer projects through Rural Development.

Port Rexton is a cheap place to live with a $185 yearly poll tax, $185 minimum property tax and no town sewage service.

Less than 10 per cent of the residents are hooked to the town’s water supply.

Renters get a bargain at $350 per month, but there is something else different in the town. “An older home would go for much more than a new one ’round here,” Lois Long, Port Rexton’s town clerk says. “One time everyone tried to do up and modernize their homes and now they are doing them down you might say.” she says. Even the new homes that are going up are being built in the old salt-box style.

People from mainland Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. are snatching up older homes and building new ones in the area. “There are no older homes left for sale right now,” she says. “A few years ago these homes were selling for $7,000 and $8,000 but now it’s $125,000 and more. Imagine!”

John Fisher moved to Port Rexton from the mainland 18 years ago and operates the Fisher’s Loft Inn with his wife.

“I would say that the significant thing about rural Newfoundland is that it is experiencing a transition, not an end,” See “Secret’s out,” page 23

The equalization debate With no foreseeable consensus among provinces, it falls on Harper to propose specific equalization revisions

F

ormer Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau once said, “We peer so suspiciously at each other that we cannot see that we Canadians are standing on the mountaintop of human wealth, freedom and privilege.”

Nowhere is this statement more applicable than when you consider this country’s equalization system.

It seems the debate around Canada’s constitutionally enshrined equalization program has never been so contentious as it is these days.

Cries of “fiscal imbalance,” both vertical (between the federal and provincial governments) and horizontal (between the provinces) continue to ring out as the new Harper administration grapples with the issue of how to be fairer (or at least appear that way) to the provinces — just about all of which are stretched financially and united in the claim Ottawa collects much more than its rightful

RAY DILLON

Board of Trade share of tax dollars while transferring precious little back to the lower levels of government.

But the provinces differ substantially as to exactly how the feds should share the pot of money. The equalization program — designed to ensure “provincial governments have sufficient revenues to provide reasonably comparable levels of public services at reasonably comparable levels of taxation,” as per section 36(2) of the Constitution Act (1982) — is at the centre of the present controversy.

The provinces are poking holes in the program. Ontario, one of only two

provinces that does not receive equalization, says all it does is help subsidize the program so other provinces can reap the benefits of transfer payments. The recipient provinces, meanwhile, say the program isn’t working to equalize tax and service capacity of the less affluent regions. No matter what side of the debate you’re on, the common ground is the belief equalization needs fixing.

A federally commissioned Expert Panel on Equalization and Territorial Formula Financing agrees the program requires strengthening, too, as it asserted in a highly anticipated report released last month. In it, the panel offered an array of recommendations. Some are more widely supported than others, such as moving from the current fiveprovince standard upon which equalization entitlements are determined, to one based on the revenue-raising capacities of all 10 provinces, which many say is a

fairer and more representative measure.

Indeed, the division of opinion between the provinces and the federal government was evident a couple of weeks ago when finance minister Jim Flaherty met with his provincial counterparts in Niagara-on-the-Lake, where there reportedly was little, if any, headway made toward untangling the equalization conundrum.

One thing is almost certain: this fall, Stephen Harper’s government will revise the way equalization operates. The implications for many provinces, including Newfoundland and Labrador, are great, depending on how the program is ultimately altered.

That’s precisely why Premier Williams was quick to publicly dismiss the panel’s report. Clearly, Newfoundland and Labrador wouldn’t fare well if, for example, the federal government decided to impose a cap on the fiscal

capacity of equalization-receiving provinces, as suggested.

“If Newfoundland and Labrador’s fiscal capacity after equalization is higher than the lowest non-receiving province, the cap should apply regardless of the offshore accords and the province should not receive equalization payments that put them above the cap,” it says. “In the panel’s view, the principles of equalization should not be compromised nor should the equalization program be adjusted to accommodate the offshore accords.”

That idea isn’t met favourably here.

However, there are parts of Canada that hold the new Atlantic Accord agreement against us, calling it a one-off “side deal” that isn’t fair to the rest of the country, not accepting that the accord is actually a 25-year-old bilateral agreement which See “Once,” page 23

22 • INDEPENDENTBUSINESS

JULY 9, 2006

Bona-fide banana republic

W

hat a sad column to write. We are not fit to govern stuck to his guns and pointed at Abitibi while the paper mill ourselves. Mount Cashel, the Lamer inquiry and the shut down. I understand there’s a fresh exodus from the comcurrent House of Assembly scandal are examples munity now that school’s out. Generally speaking, we have sixpointing to an out-of-control society. figure compensation packages, including a pension for labour The competence of our police department, Crown prosecu- leaders while the people they represent struggle for job securitors’ office, judges and the courts, the law society and lawyers, ty and cost-of-living increases. government departments, civil servants and But there must be some hope. We have now the House of Assembly are in question other independent offices: the citizen’s rep SUE or dispute. and child and youth advocate — oh, that’s KELLAND-DYER right, Lloyd Wicks resigned and Fraser To make matters worse, a water leak knocked out five servers and scores of data March was turfed out by the House of Guest column in the Confederation Building in the middle Assembly. of the auditor general’s release of special We have a Finance minister who forgot to reports, a briefcase was stolen from a car owned by the lawyer read the auditor general’s report in 2001, else he would have for Bill Murray (a briefcase full of hand-written notes arising known the AG was kept out of the books while some questionfrom a meeting between Averill Baker and her client), the able payments were made for art and wine from an MHA conspeaker of the House and chair of the Internal Economy stituency allowance. Meanwhile, Beth Marshall, the former AG Commission ran around the ward of a local hospital to visit Bill who outed the lot back in 2000, sits in the backseat of the peoMurray while he’s the subject of a police investigation, and you ple’s House because she and the boss have different managehave a bona-fide banana republic — politically unstable, rely- ment theories (although hers looks pretty good now). ing on limited fish, and ruled by a small wealthy and potentialMaybe we need a commission of government; I say the proof ly corrupt clique. is there. But who could set it up? Call in Canada? No hang on, How big is the problem? Well last week our province co- they’re still dredging through the sponsorship scandal. And hosted the annual national agriculture conference. Super that’s right, the IEC in Ottawa has quietly upped the MP conMinister Chuck Strahl (the same guy who got $5 billion for stituency allowances. farmers) co-chaired the event and every provincial and territoWith the governor general’s visit this week it reminds me that rial minister and deputy minister was here. The alleged corrup- we are still squat between England and Canada, the two countion is so deep and our media so tied up that Chuck and the tries that have been bargaining our real estate and mismanaging provincial ministers had a free weekend. Not a soul interviewed our resources for at least 100 years. Loyola Hearn just them. announced Canada and the EU are going to patrol our nose and The icing on the cake? The Opposition Liberals elected and tail together — that must have been what he meant by joint de-elected a leader over a period of a couple of months and then management. overwhelmingly endorsed and appointed a new leader who didDoug House, deputy minister of co-ordinating a provincial n’t want the job. The fragile NDP has its former leader retiring development plan, has been “economically recovering” our and vacating his seat, leaving the only sitting member mired in rural communities under three different governments for close the scandal until the auditor general and/or the police are fin- to 20 years. Apparently that was so successful that House lecished with him. tures in British Columbia to give them the (benefit?) of our But wait we have labour organizations — Earl McCurdy is experience. all over the fishery as Fortune is put on make-work, Reg Anstey At this rate the only thing left is a dictatorship under Danny. is all over minimum wage while raking in a six-figure salary, The only hope is that Newfoundland and Labrador becomes her Carol Furlong negotiated (or was it announced) the package own nation again in order to renew our pride enough to care.

Danny permitted her for equity discrimination, and then there’s Sue Kelland-Dyer was a policy advisor to the former Liberal the principled head of the paper workers in Stephenville who premier Roger Grimes.

JULY 9, 2006

INDEPENDENTBUSINESS • 23

Secret’s out From page 21

Fisher says. “We’ve had about 200 people move in to this area from everywhere, they’ve bought new homes and renovated older ones preserving the original architecture.”

One home in the area recently sold for $370,000 and the American owners put another $100,000 into it, but it’s still a steal, Fisher says.

“That same property would sell for millions where they came from, so it’s all relative,” he says.

“But it has created work and that in-migration has offset those that have moved away, our former residents and our new ones are like ships Paul Daly/The Independent

Most dangerous road in country Residents of Labrador and Quebec join forces to increase pressure on government for highway improvements

By Ngaire Genge For The Independent

A

lthough former Transportation Minister Trevor Taylor — replaced by John Hickey in a July 5 cabinet shuffle — told residents of Labrador earlier this year he’s “convinced” Prime Minister Stephen Harper will live up to his promises, Labradorians are by no means certain.

They’ve read the letter federal Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon sent to the province in April, the letter saying the feds had “yet to determine” how the expanded national highway system was to be funded.

With an eight-week construction season at the best of times, Labradorians have their own convictions that without even a framework for an agreement under which to apply for funds — much less the funds themselves — this construction season is again down the tubes.

Frustration has recently resulted in groups, individuals, and government representatives seeking new ways to bring attention to the issue.

Three years ago, a Coalition for the Canadian Northeast was struck in the chambers of both Labrador City and Sept-Iles, a community on Quebec’s north shore. Those widely separated cities share a common transportation corridor, or at least the hope of one.

One of the few spots in this province with true inter-provincial ties, Labrador shares a border crossing with Quebec at both Blanc Sablon in the Labrador Straits — Labradorians must go to Quebec to get the ferry to the island of Newfoundland — and in Labrador west where PQ Route 389 turns in NL Route 500.

The Trans Quebec Labrador Highway, as it is known in the region, couldn’t be less of a highway.

With only intermittent patches of pavement and a few kilometres of test chipseal laid two years ago, nearly the entire 2,000 kilometres of highway is dirt, gravel and, worse, rock where the road bed is steadily pushing its way through — when it isn’t falling off the shoulder and back to the wild.

Last week, another meeting on the north shore expanded the existing coalition, taking in a group struggling to get a bridge across at Tadoussac, another wanting to extend the existing PQ Route 138 up to Blanc Sablon, and the original coalition that wants a hard-top across 389/500 and on to complete the loop in Blanc Sablon.

As Patric Frigon, spokesperson for the new coalition says, “Our roads would be the shame of any self-respecting Third-World nation.”

He’s not alone in that thought. Impatient with the buck-passing of both provincial governments and the newly elected federal government, locals talk loudly of applying new forms of pressure.

In Fermont, Quebec, just across the border from Labrador City, the Metallos, the Francophone cousins of the United Steelworkers (USW), have filmed a DVD of the highway and presented it publicly to Quebec’s Minister of Transport Julie Boulett.

In June alone, 11 serious accidents occurred on Route 389, the road Labradorians travel every time they drive west, which they have to do as soon as

the eastern ports freeze. Another half-dozen accidents on Route 500 across Labrador have left residents wondering if either direction is safe.

Metallos has already entered into initial discussions with USW locals in Labrador, where another nearly 2,000 people can be enlisted to bring pressure on the highways issue. George Kean, president of USW 5795, whose employees at the Iron Ore Company of Canada (ICO) account for significant tax dollars, says “We are united in our concern for the safety of our families and friends, the people we work alongside every day and we fully intend to pursue every avenue that can force attention to the hazards.”

The Labrador Party has plans as well. Says CFO Chris Bailey, “We realize people outside our region don’t comprehend what 600 km of gravel means in terms of economic development, access to health care and education, or public safety.

“Consider how you’d feel if you had to drive from Marystown to Corner Brook for a CAT scan — and they’d just torn up every inch of pavement between the two.”

The Labrador Party has begun gathering images, testimonials, and hard facts on the dollars and cents of completing this vital link — and even the benefits to those living in St. John’s — and making that collected information available on their website.

Ray Erger belongs to no political party, to no formal organization, but he, too, plans to get the rest of the province — even the country — to understand what they’re losing.

“Everyone watches TV,” says Erger. “It’s immediate, and pictures really do tell a story, if you have the right pictures.”

With the assistance of other individuals and business owners like himself, Erger is preparing to have a series of commercials produced to air on the island and across the country.

“We know what it’s going to cost and we’re getting ready to take that step,” says Erger. “It’s hard to ignore commercials beamed into your home in living colour — and if it shames these governments into acting even one day sooner, it’ll be worth the cost.”

Eric Cyr, a journalist in Fermont, Que. who participated in the filming of the Metallos’ DVD, hopes to test the positive power of the press.

“Journalists have access to materials and contacts that other people often are not aware of, and have professional relationships with other reporters,” says Cyr. “While it is easy to ignore a small fire in one place, it’s not so easy to ignore an issue that’s coming at you from multiple sources … so the more people realize that, right here in Canada, we still have people living without the basic services, a decent road with room for two cars to pass without one having to pull over.”

Cyr hopes the combined publicity push will force change. He recalls the national eye that turned to Labrador when the issue was glue-sniffing.

“If it’s disgraceful enough, someone somewhere will have to act,” he says. “And there’s not much more disgraceful than leaving 50,000 people forced to travel on roads that the Quebec coroner called ‘the most dangerous in the country.’”

Once the oil is gone, it’s gone From page 21 should be viewed outside the equalization debate.

Then there’s the concept of capping fiscal capacity at the level of that of the lowest non-receiving province (which happens to be Ontario). This may sound reasonable; but what exactly does it mean when your fiscal capacity rises? If, for argument’s sake, Newfoundland and Labrador reached the fiscal capacity of Ontario, it certainly wouldn’t mean the gap between the two provinces’ tax rates and levels of public services and infrastructure is suddenly eliminated. Hardly.

The gap is still there and it’s still wide. A drive through Niagara-on-the-Lake, or anywhere else in southern Ontario, makes that clear.

Some (including the St. John’s Board of Trade) argue non-renewable resources, such as oil, should be taken out of the equation altogether.

The reason is non-renewable resource revenues are incorrectly thought of as income when they should be treated as capital assets instead. When a nonrenewable resource is developed, the asset is merely converted to cash, which

results in no net fiscal gain to the province. When it’s developed it is, in essence, liquidated. Once the oil is gone, it’s gone, unlike other tax bases in the calculation that are constant sources of revenue.

The expert panel, recognizing “the treatment of resource revenues is the most complex and controversial aspect of equalization,” came up with a halfway measure that 50 per cent of revenues from all resources (non-renewable and renewable) should be included and the other half excluded in determining the overall size of the equalization pool.

Unfortunately, that does little to address the issue and further complicates the matter.

So, with no sign of a consensus among the provinces, it falls squarely on the Harper government — who stated as an election platform position he would remove non-renewable resources from the formula — to propose specific revisions to equalization.

The feds and the provinces all know there could be clear winners and losers.

Ray Dillon is the president of the St. John’s Board of Trade. His column returns July 23.

passing in the night.”

“These people who moved in here got cities where they come from, they’ve done urban life, and they’ve placed a high price on rural Newfoundland living, and they are willing to pay for it … Maybe that price would be the salvation of this place.”

Stewart agrees. “My newest neighbour across the way is from Tampa Bay, Fla. and they have no ties here other than word of mouth,” she says.

Her American neighbors plan to make it their home half the year until they retire and move here permanently.

“I always knew our secret would get out one day and this way of life would catch on.”

24 • INDEPENDENTBUSINESS

JULY 9, 2006

WEEKLY DIVERSIONS ACROSS 1 Retina receptor 4 Powder 8 Singer-songwriter Wainwright 13 Golfer Lorie 17 Mistress of Eden 18 Duelling souvenir 19 Silly 20 Come right up to 21 State of having no fixed address 23 Temporary paper currency 24 Emergency shelter 25 Nearly extinct 26 Photographer’s command 28 Fly to avoid 30 Mine cars 32 Writing-on-___ Prov. Park, Alta.

33 Christian of Paris 34 Hinged metal clasp 35 It’s not quite proper language 36 A moon of Jupiter 40 That thing’s 41 Lopsided 42 Repaired a shoe 43 Devon drinking spot 44 Of earthquakes 46 Jessica of “Air Farce” 48 Allot 49 Winter jacket 51 French corn

52 Trounces 53 Quagmire 56 Mass of eggs 58 “Bay Boy” writer/director 59 Pitchers 60 Astound 61 Bundle of herbs: bouquet ___ 63 Gaming cubes 64 Celtic language 66 K.D. Lang’s hometown 70 Savings acct. entry 71 Father: prefix 72 Divert 74 Halloween greeting 75 Suffers great torment 77 Slatted box 78 Frigga’s husband 79 Yodeller’s range?

80 Tree (see 86A) 81 Seed cell 82 Actress McCarthy 85 Cavity (anat.)

86 Genus of our tree 87 St. John’s site used

by Marconi: Signal ___ 88 A Perfect Night to Go to ___ (David Gilmour) 90 Ont. town with Chimo the Polar Bear 94 Use gas pointlessly 95 Shantytown hut 96 Leather (Fr.)

97 These (Fr.) 98 Not merely a want 99 Conforms 100 Right hand 101 Referendum answer DOWN 1 Gun it in neutral 2 Eggs 3 Street of CBC kids’ show 4 Russian rulers of old 5 Skin trouble 6 French body of water 7 Unit of ice or snow 8 Ascending 9 Cousin’s father 10 Payment for travel 11 Start for lateral 12 Snowiest city in Canada 13 Mohawk holy woman: ___ Tekakwitha 14 Help a hood 15 Religious ones 16 Suffix with lay 22 Highway lead-in 27 A twelfth of a year 29 Auctioneer’s verdict 30 The one here 31 Figure of interest 32 Superficially suave 33 Open valleys 35 Agitates 36 Best-selling series: Company’s ___

37 Most easterly point of N. America: Cape ___, Nfld.

38 All (mus.)

39 Like Henry VIII 41 Gather 42 Cole ___ 45 Kind of time 47 Native of Muscat 48 Moon closest to Jupiter 50 Fall flowers 52 Sesame plant 53 McLuhan’s focus 54 Unpaid 55 Verso’s opposite 57 Hungarian sheepdog 58 Not poetry 60 Satisfies 62 Sharp 64 Cold vegetable soup 65 Raises trivial objections 67 Stubbornness 68 Stir up 69 Voice pitch 71 Tablet 73 Strait off Sumatra 76 Used a hammer 77 Spanish cellist 78 “ ___ the rainbow ...”

80 Currency 81 Pale yellow-brown 82 Leg part that gets padded 83 Conceal

84 French pronoun 85 Percent of Canada

that is arable land 86 Etching fluid

89 Fireplace shelf 91 French affirmative

92 Originally 93 Hook shape

WEEKLY STARS ARIES (Mar. 21 to Apr. 19) You dislike waiting for promises to be fulfilled and for commitments to be kept, but resist your headstrong tendency to push things along. Your patience will be rewarded.

TAURUS (Apr. 20 to May 20) Expect continuing opposition to your plans from die-hard detractors. However, your determination to see things through will carry the day. A Pisces has romantic ideas.

GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) You might be too close to a troublesome workplace situation to deal with it successfully. Step away in order to get a better perspective. A solution soon becomes obvious.

CANCER (June 21 to July 22) You might suspect that someone you trust has misled you on an important matter, but a more balanced view of things reveals a misunderstanding to be the culprit.

LEO (July 23 to Aug. 22) The Big Cat’s animal magnetism has rarely been stronger. You can either just bask in all that admiration or use it to your advantage, especially in the workplace.

VIRGO (Aug. 23 to Sept. 22) Someone who previously balked at cooperating with you on a project suddenly has a change of heart.

Accept both help and advice with grace.

LIBRA (Sept. 23 to Oct. 22) Some hazy issues still need to be

cleared up before you can move on with your new plans. A friend from the past reaches out to reestablish old ties.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23 to Nov. 21) Continued positive fall-out follows that risky workplace decision you made some time ago.

Your payoff will soon prove to be more substantial than you expected.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22 to Dec. 21) A personal relationship continues to be affected by a recent unexpected turn of events. Things need to work themselves out without finger-pointing.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22 to Jan. 19) It’s a wonderful week for all you capricious Goats to kick up your heels with friends or family mem-

bers in some well-earned fun and frivolity.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20 to Feb. 18) Caution is advised before making a financial commitment to someone you don’t really know. There are better ways to build friendships than with risky fiscal dealings.

PISCES (Feb. 19 to Mar. 20) Travel plans continue to be favored. A change of scenery brings new opportunities, both personally and professionally. Be open to the possibilities.

BORN THIS WEEK You have a strong sense of loyalty that shows itself best in your relationships with family and friends. (c) 2006 King Features Syndicate, Inc.

Fill in the grid so that each row of nine squares, each column of nine and each section of nine (three squares by three) contains the numbers 1 through 9 in any order.

There is only one solution to each puzzle. Solutions, tips and computer program available at www.sudoko.com SOLUTION ON PAGE 27

JULY 9, 2006

INDEPENDENTSPORTS • 25

Up for grabs 2005 championship crews won’t be returning to this year’s Regatta

O

Time trials

ne year later, and the members of the female championship team of the Royal St. John’s Regatta are still a little shocked about what happened on the evening of Aug. 3, 2005.

The Compusult team – Katie Wadden, Laura Rice, Rachel Coffey, Valerie Earle, Jenn Squires, Kate Parsons and coxswain Ron Boland – defeated OZ FM for the ladies’ championship and the Kim Stirling Memorial Trophy.

People around the lake that evening had predicted OZ FM would take the race. The predictions were wrong.

“I never doubted the crew, but we had a five-year plan to win the championship,” Rice tells The Independent.

Rice is somewhat modest.

In one year the fiery young crew not only won the championship but broke the ladies’ covenant five-minute mark, set a new ladies’ championship race record at 4:57.78, and defeated the most successful ladies crew in Regatta history. Defeating OZ FM is what made the victory so sweet for the young Compusult crew. “A thousand times sweeter,” says Earle, who edged out three of her teammates (Rice, Parsons and Squires) by two seconds for the 2004 title with Jungle Jims.

Regatta enthusiasts were anticipating one of the greatest rematches in the history of the ladies’ championship race this year, but that won’t happen – the Compusult crew aren’t rowing this year.

“One of us just decided that we were going to take a year off to do different things,” says Wadden, and the crewmembers slowly went their separate ways.

As with the OZ FM ladies’ team, the NTV men’s crew

M

2005 OZ FM Ladies Rowing Crew

also lost the championship race last year (up to that point they were five-time champions), beaten by The Independent men’s rowing crew in a time of 9:03.99. For The Independent crew of Jason Rose, Ben Stokes, Jeff Roche, Luke Hayes, Michael Ladha, John Smyth and cox Danny Harte, the departure of one of the rowers led to the disbanding of the entire crew.

One of the men received an out-of-province job opportunity in February and the rest is history. Between masters programs, overseas work terms, summer jobs and finishing school, the crew needed a year off.

But are the Compusult and Independent crews really taking a year off? The Independent crew, yes, with the exception of Ladha, who was a late addition to a fixed-seat boat for this year’s Regatta. As for Compusult, many of the ladies have shined up their seats. Five of the six ladies have returned to Quidi Vidi this year, with several rowing on competitive crews.

ore than 100 crews were expected to compete at the July 8 time trials, which qualify crews for their respective Regatta day races. Be sure to check back next week for the results. Sorry but the races were past our press deadline this week.

Photo by Paul Daly/ The Independent

The members of OZ FM were looking forward to taking on Compusult this year and were disappointed to learn of their decision not to row.

“It was an awkward way to end a season (2005) but an unthinkable way to end a career,” says stroke Siobhan Duff of the team’s decision to return to the pond this year.

We probably haven’t heard the last of Compusult.

“There are no plans but it’s not over, we will be back at some point,” Parsons says.

The Independent may also be back – maybe even next year.

“Count on us rowing in 2007,” says John Smythe, No. 2 oar on last year’s Independent team.

In 2005, slide-seat crews swept the men’s and ladies’ titles. Given neither crew is returning to defend their title (first time in seven years that a men’s and/or ladies’ championship crew isn’t returning, the Royal St. John’s Regatta has been injected with a new energy.

First for ladies 1979 saw the first ever ladies’ championship race and it was the first time the ladies were required to row both ways. The race was won by the Health Sciences crew in a time of 6:11.28. The year 1979 also saw the first awarding of the Kim Stirling Memorial Trophy, which continues to be awarded to the ladies’ championship crew. Twenty years later, in 1999, the ladies rowed the first race of the day.

– Stroke of Champions, by Jack Fitzgerald.

26 • INDEPENDENTSPORTS

JULY 9, 2006

Indy now Grand Prix with a beer

By Ken Campbell Torstar wire service The Molson Grand Prix of Toronto is certainly more of a mouthful than the short and snappy Molson Indy, but organizers are confident the race with the new name and identity will continue to be a fixture on the sports calendar.

The race quietly became the Molson Grand Prix of Toronto when Molson Sports and Entertainment, which had

owned the race since its inception in 1986, sold it to the Grand Prix Association of Toronto, owned by Champ Car series owners Kevin Kalkhoven and Gerry Forsythe.

The beer company has stayed on as title sponsor.

At the time of the sale, Kalkhoven was at odds with the Indy Racing League — that was prior to talk of unification — and reportedly wanted any event he was connected with as far

removed from the IRL as possible.

The name change allows for the race to establish a fresh identity with a larger demographic, according to Charlie Johnstone, president and CEO of the Grand Prix Association of Toronto.

“We’re a first-year event with a 20year history,” Johnstone says. “We get all the goodwill that was built up over 20 years and we get to take all that, but we don’t have to carry any of the baggage.”

The organizers, Johnstone says, are trying to widen the race’s appeal to more age groups. He points to the GPT Auto Expo as something that might be of interest to younger fans, while older ones would be more attracted to the Atto Vintage GT Race.

There is concern that the race is losing an established identity that it has had for 20 years — not to mention far more glorious years than more recent ones — but Johnstone says the Molson

Indy will remain a part of the race’s heritage.

“I don’t think we’re losing (the identity),” Johnstone says. “I think we’re building on it.”

If there ever is unification with the IRL, Johnstone anticipates the race will continue under the same name.

Canucks are on the ball

By Dave Perkins Torstar wire service

Canadian seamheads was defeating the United States in that World Baseball Classic back in March, although we were kind of a his won’t be politically correct, partic- one-trick pony in that event, unable to get out ularly with the world diving champi- of the first round. onships coming to a conclusion Still, manager Ernie Whitt wasn’t exactly tomorrow in Germany, but there’s one sport at the bottom of the pitching barrel that week: in which Canada — you remember that sel- None of Eric Gagne, Rich Harden, Ryan dom seen red-and-white flag? — is perform- Dempster nor Jeff Francis was available and ing better than ever. all four, when healthy, No fewer than 21 Canacould pitch anywhere No fewer than 21 dians have played so far in against anyone. the major leagues this season, a record total by two Canadians have played MORE TO COME (and counting) according to The other point about the so far in the major Baseball Canada, which 21 is that it’s still counting; proudly dispenses the good Canadians have been leagues this season, three news. It is, of course, popular selected to play in minor to downgrade baseball and league all-star games. a record total by pretend that it holds scant Simon Pond, from North allure to Canadians. (The fact Vancouver, made the two (and counting) that it sells more tickets in Eastern League game and Toronto than the other pro- according to Baseball George Kottaras of Markfessional team sports comham and Joey Votto of MisCanada, which bined is just one of those sissauga made the Southern facts easily explained away, League all-stars. Those proudly dispenses three and/or a handful of or simply ignored.) others in the high minors Baseball isn’t popular the good news. might make it up by the end among some pockets of new of the season.

Canadians, for sure, but Why the influx? Who knows for sure, but it many Asians embrace the game and plenty of Latins are crazy for it. Judging by the number might go back to the Blue Jays’ two World of habitants arriving in the majors, its demise Series titles, now rapidly receding into the in Canada would seem to be greatly exagger- distance at nearly 13 and 14 years ago, ated. It’s not as if all 21, 19 of whom remain respectively.

Kids tended to quit baseball — most minor in the majors, of these guys are fringe players, or men playing out the string, either. sports, actually — by about age 12, but those There are stars: Jason Bay led all National who stuck it out, perhaps emboldened by the League vote-getters for the All-Star Game Jays’ success back then, or by the Montreal and Justin Morneau, the young slugger Expos’ excellence in 1994, would be mid-20s emerging into stardom with the Twins, led the now (Morneau, for instance, is 25).

American League with 29 runs batted in for Whatever. It’s easier to enjoy the success than the month of June. to analyze it and here’s something for all The previous highlight of the year for Canadians to applaud.

T

France’s Thierry Henry

Paulo Whitaker/Reuters

And the Golden Splash goes to ...

Severe penalties needed for diving

By Cathal Kelly Torstar wire service

I

n addition to the Golden Ball and Golden Boot, you should be filling out ballots for Golden Globe nominees in the category Best Actor in a World Cup. There was Thierry Henry of France’s heart-rending simulation of a cracked skull after Spain’s Carles Puyol bumped him in the chest. There was Portuguese starlet Cristiano Ronaldo’s physicsdefying tumble in the box vs. France — pulled backward, Ronaldo managed to fall forward.

Remarkable.

There were so many memorable performers whose non-soccer skills deserve to be recognized: Maniche, Arjen Robben, Razak Pimpong, Michael Ballack, Francesco Totti, Luis Figo, etc., etc. And by recognized, we mean severely sanctioned.

Diving, under wraps for most of the first round, reached new, nauseating lows during the tournament knockout rounds.

It seemed as if every game was blighted by at least a dozen instances of fake falls, feigned injuries and constant, whining pleas from players for calls or cards. Such nonsense took much of the gloss off Portugal’s remarkable run, Australia’s inspiring second-round appearance and France’s semifinal win.

The worst offender might be the world’s best player: Henry. His acting against Spain recalled the antics of Brazil’s Rivaldo in the 2002 World Cup. Even worse, Henry had warned that he would do this sort of thing only weeks before. After his club side, Arsenal, lost to Puyol’s club, Barcelona, in May’s Champions League final, Henry said: “Next time I’ll learn to dive maybe, but I’m not a woman.”

One might argue he never did need lessons. And in case he’s never seen a top-tier women’s match, he might try playing more like them, since the ladies don’t slip around the pitch like otters trying to walk on their hind legs.

So what to do? Four years ago, there was so much goalmouth malfeasance that FIFA considered employing a fourth official to stand behind the nets and monitor action in the penalty area.

Logistics (um, how does one man cover both goals?) mooted that suggestion.

But the idea was right: It is time to face the fact that the players are better cheaters than the officials will ever be spotters of cheating.

A second referee might help, but there is simply too much happening too quickly to properly assess a dive. Hands flying over the head when someone is diving toward the turf might be one clue, but not all the cheaters are so clumsy.

So if no amount of officials can be counted on to spot infractions, who can?

French coach Raymond Domenech pointed the way forward July 5. After what he perceived to be a dive by Cristiano Ronaldo (he was right), Domenech pantomimed using a film camera. The camera catches everything the officials miss.

So there is one ongoing argument for instant video replay. Of course, only non-North Americans would call it instant.

Anyone who has watched an NFL game realizes that video replay can stop a game cold for five minutes, depending on the official viewing the play. That’s not a big issue in football, with its constant stops and starts. But in soccer, in which the match is supposed to flow uninterrupted, some teams might call a yellow card for diving in exchange for a five-minute breather a fair trade late in the game.

No, what we need is some sort of retroactive punishment. These things are easy enough to spot on slow-motion replay. A harsh five-match ban for diving might do the trick.

As for feigned injuries, there ought to be a maximum time a player may be treated on the field of play and a minimum time he needs to sit out once he’s left the field for treatment. Say, 60 seconds in the first case and five minutes in the second.

And calling for a card or abusing the referee — automatic red. Only team captains should be allowed to approach the ref after a call and then only to discuss the matter civilly.

At this World Cup, FIFA tried to take a hard line, but it picked the wrong target — fouling.

Throwing out a record number of cards only irritated players and encouraged reckless challenging.

But the current cowardly, Machiavellian streak that runs through world soccer must be mercilessly stamped out. It requires hard action, huge penalties and remorseless banning of some of the game’s top players.

What we are trying to accomplish here is nothing short of a cultural change in the game — one that holds the manner in which it is played more important than who wins. Players who will not abide by that spirit should be driven from the field again and again.

Paul Smith’s column, The Rock Outdoors, will return July 23

JULY 9, 2006

INDEPENDENTSPORTS • 27

Outpouring of support From page 28

ly when you consider how much player movement exists in the current NHL. He was also a huge performer for Canada at several international tournaments and had his number 19 jersey retired from the Canadian Olympic team in his honour.

Stevey Y. will be missed.

••• I’ve been encouraged by the outpouring of support from soccer officials and fans across the world for a major crackdown on the diving and theatrics that are threatening to ruin the game.

Soccer is lovely to watch, but it’s painful to see these guys go down like they’ve been shot with a laser from Star Wars, only to get back up within seconds

and resume play as if nothing had ever happened.

One suggestion for the powers that be: if a guy goes down and fakes being hurt from a non-existent kick, elbow or tackle, give the opposing team the right to actually give him a kick in the arse. Or, better still, get the referee to do it, because he’s the one that ultimately looks silly for awarding a penalty to the non-offending team.

Or do what the refs do in hockey, and send the player off with a penalty for a few minutes.

••• My predictions for the World Cup have been slightly worse than horrible.

First I had Germany pegged. Then I switched to either Brazil or Argentina.

Then, of course, Germany outlasted both

South American countries, but ultimately the host country fell to the Italians, who face France in the July 8 final.

I’m hoping it’s third time lucky for me. I’m going with Italy.

••• St. John’s is hosting the 2006 Karate Canada Championships at Mile One July 13-15, and should provide some excellent action.

The finest karate athletes in the country from all age groups will be in St. John’s, and many of these are national and international champions in their respective categories.

Junior events will take place on Thursday, senior on Friday and the championship finals will take place on Saturday. whitebobby@yahoo.com

Would-be Raptor in Vegas classroom

T

he monotony of an NBA summer league really hits home in the first days of practice, generally two times a day in an empty gym doing the same drills against the same players in front of the same coaches with nothing to judge your progress on than your own thoughts.

Except for Toronto’s Jermaine Anderson.

“I think I’ll get more out of practising these two weeks than I’ll get out of the games,” the 6-foot-2 guard says. “I think the practices are the most important thing.”

Anderson is under no illusions about his role with the Raptor team in Las Vegas.

He’s behind Andre Barrett and likely ex-Duke star William Avery and former Wake Forest starter Justin Gray on the pecking order for the games, which begin tomorrow, so playing time will be limited.

But there are no limits on what he gets to do in practice, which is when he’s going to work on his skills, his ability to keep up with his more accomplished teammates.

“I’m enjoying the experience, playing against guys like Andre and getting the coaching that I am,” the 23-yearold product of Fordham University says. “It’s been a great experience for me.

“In college, I was usually the fastest guy on the court, but playing against guys like Barrett, I’ve got to use my head a lot more.”

Anderson is one of three Canadians on the Raptor summer league roster.

Jermaine Bucknor of Edmonton, a 6foot-7 forward, and 7-foot centre Velimir Radinovic of Toronto are also expected to be in uniform when Toronto faces Washington tonight.

Bucknor, a graduate of Richmond, is also under no illusions about his place with the 12-man squad of rookies and free agents.

“It’s a lot of hard work, learning new stuff,” Bucknor says. “Stuff that you do over the years, but it’s different when you get this level, some defensive stuff, learning how to guard better, step up your defensive intensity a little bit. It’s been a lot of hard work, it’s been good.”

— Torstar wire service Solutions for crossword on page 24

Keep your eye on the ball.

F U L L 18 O P E N T H I S S E A S O N !

Voted Best New Golf Development in the world by Homes Overseas awards, try the stunning Humber Valley River Course this summer

STAY AND PLAY AS LOW AS

$320*/person

Includes 2 nights in a three bedroom chalet with all the golf you can play *Based on 6 people sharing, $380 based on four sharing. Carts and taxes not included, based on availability

S E C O N D A N N UA L E XC LU S I V E H U M B E R VA L L E Y S O C C E R C A M P Solutions for sudoku on page 24

For the second summer former Premier League soccer star Ian Marshall and visiting professional English coaches will be offering an exclusive Humber Valley Resort soccer camp. For $1999* you and your family can stay at a luxurious Humber Valley chalet for five nights and enroll two children in the camp. All aspects of soccer will be covered and each child receives a jersey, ball, and water bottle.

We’ll also throw in 2 rounds of golf for free! *taxes extra

IAN MARSHALL

1.866.686.8100

humbervalley.com

INDEPENDENTSPORTS

SUNDAY THROUGH SATURDAY, JULY 9-15, 2006 — PAGE 28

Filling the net After two years on the bench, Justin Pickford takes to the soccer field, already leading in Challenge Cup goals scored

By Bob White For The Independent

D

espite the fact his pick to win the World Cup, Brazil, has been ousted, you can expect Justin Pickford to watch the final game today (July 8) and root for France as they take on Italy.

And he’ll be keeping a close eye on Thierry Henry, France’s gifted striker. Henry is one of the world’s best goal scorers, using his speed and accurate shot to find the back of the net. It’s a game Pickford tries his best to emulate.

So far this season with the Mount Pearl/That Pro Look/Molsons soccer team, Pickford has done a fine job of playing like a local Henry. The 18-yearold Mount Pearl native leads this year’s Challenge Cup competition with 13 goals in 10 games, including a recent three-goal performance against Holy Cross, which ended in a 4-4 draw.

This is Pickford’s first year with Mount Pearl, although he did participate in Challenge Cup action the past two seasons as a member of the provincial team for the 2005 Canada Summer Games in Regina, Sask.

However, he saw limited playing time and was a relative unknown to other teams heading into this season.

It’s safe to say he’s on their radar now.

Even while riding the pine for two years, Pickford knew he could play at the Challenge Cup level. He’s happy to get the opportunity. “(Being a bench-player) definitely made me work harder to become a better player,” Pickford says. “It made me want to show the (coaches) that I could play at this level.”

Ironically, his Canada Games coach, Andrew Moyst, is now his teammate. But Pickford says he understood his place on the Games team.

“At the time, the guys who were starters on the Games team were having good seasons and the coach has to make a decision.

For me, as long as the team is

doing well, I don’t care. My thing is to do whatever helps the team.”

He’s helping Mount Pearl this season by filling the net.

“I never thought I was going to score that many goals in Challenge Cup,” Pickford says.

“It feels good that (coach) Walt Mavin has the confidence in me and that my teammates are looking to set me up. They keep telling me to load up my canon.

They have all been great.”

In particular, Pickford mentions veteran John Acreman as one Mount Pearl player who has been a special help. “(Acreman) takes you aside and lets you know some things to help you in game situations. He’s one of the older guys on the team and he really helps out.”

When asked to rate the strongest parts of his game, Pickford mentions his speed and ball skills.

“I use my speed to chase the balls my teammates send me. I really work on a good first touch, because if I didn’t have a good first touch, it would be tough to set myself up for a good shot.”

With several Canada Games team members also on Mount Pearl, and many solid veterans, Pickford believes his team has what it takes to stay on top of league standings and contend for the Challenge Cup championship.

“We have the best team in the league, for sure,” Pickford says.

“I’m glad to be here and I want to do anything I can to help the team win. It’s great to be scoring goals, but as long as the team does well, that’s all that matters.”

In the tie with Holy Cross last week, Mount Pearl held a 4-0 at one point and were ahead 4-1 with about 15 minutes left, only to see what Pickford calls a “brain fart” take place and let Holy Cross back into the game.

He feels that game taught Mount Pearl an important lesson: don’t let your guard down until the final whistle.

“It was a meltdown, we lost our composure in the last 15 minutes. I think we can get past that though. All we have to do is keep up the team work and stay focused.” whitebobby@yahoo.com Paul Daly/The Independent

Big year ahead for Dan Cleary

R

iverhead, Harbour Grace native Dan Cleary, a restricted free agent with the Detroit Red Wings, was presented with a qualifying offer from the Red Wings last week, which means Detroit retains Cleary’s rights, although another team can offer him a contract. In this scenario, Detroit has the option to match any offer for Cleary.

However, Cleary filed for salary arbitration, which basically means he wants to stay with the Wings, but wants to have a third party decide what he should be

BOB WHITE

Bob the bayman paid.

Arbitration hearings will be held in Toronto July 20 to Aug. 4. The deadline for decisions is Aug. 6. Teams can continue to negotiate with players in hopes of reaching a deal and avoiding the process.

My guess is Cleary will get a raise, based on his solid season with Detroit.

He was called on to provide grit, checking and penalty killing, which he supplied — with sometimes surprising results.

With Steve Yzerman retired, there is room for more minutes and a bigger contribution from Cleary. If he can regain his offensive touch, or at least be put in situations more conducive to scoring, Cleary could have an even bigger year for himself.

••• Speaking of Cleary, he had kind words to say in a Detroit paper about the retiring Yzerman, one of the game’s true stars and model citizens.

Cleary said Yzerman’s presence in the locker room had a calming effect that he’d “never seen on other teams. ‘We’re going to win. Don’t worry.’ Mentally, he kind of makes you relax a bit.”

A few months back, I spoke to Cleary about many things. I remember him saying how fortunate he was to playing with Yzerman, and that the Detroit captain

did much for the Red Wings on and off the ice.

Yzerman was a complete hockey player, a classy leader, a community-oriented guy and someone who was dependable, reliable and downright dazzling at times.

Simply put, he was a franchise player.

He was team captain of the Red Wings for 20 years. Yes, two decades, the longest serving team captain in league history. That is an amazing stat, especialSee “Outpuring,” page 27