2007-04-05

VOL. 5 ISSUE 14

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ST. JOHN’S, NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR — THURSDAY THROUGH THURSDAY, APRIL 5-12, 2007

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SPORTS 29

Horses get the hot shoe treatment

NHLer Ryane Clowe hits his stride in San Jose

‘Death sentence’

MARY’S MOMENT

Exonerated in the death of his girlfriend, Randy Druken may not have money problems, but he still struggles not to ‘fall off the cliff’

BRIAN CALLAHAN

I

t’s been five months since the provincial government deposited more than $2 million into Randy Druken’s bank account — payback for his wrongful murder conviction.

Since that time, the oddsmakers have been betting against him.

“I hear it all the time, right? People don’t think I’ll make it to next week.

That’s enough for me right there ... to prove ’em all wrong,” Druken, 42, tells The Independent.

“Believe me ... I’m far from killing myself. But I do have to keep a check on it. Some days are better than others. But don’t get me wrong — I’m not walking around whacked out of it all the time, either.”

Druken is full of energy. He boasts he can go from morning till night on adrenalin alone. On this day, it’s not artificial. He is still suffering from an

addiction to drugs, although Oxycontin isn’t among them anymore. He’s beaten that one — so far.

“Haven’t touched it since last June or July,” he says, stopping to chat outside the old Fountain Spray store across from the Colonial Building on Military Road in St. John’s.

“It’s been hard, but things are pretty good. Give us a call …”

The next day, Druken is equally accommodating and forthright.

Rarely has he been otherwise.

There are obvious questions about the cash: How is he dealing with it?

How is he spending it? How much is left?

“You know, everyone thinks I’m set for life. But I’ll tell ya the truth — it’s been like a death sentence.

Financially, sure, I don’t have to worry about money. But I worries about everything else.”

There are those who would find that difficult to believe, given the See “Every day,” page 2

Paying the price MP Manning says relations with Ottawa damaged; provincial ministers say business as usual IVAN MORGAN

T

he knock ’em down fight between Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Premier Danny Williams may be having an impact on the day-to-day operations of the province.

“Everybody’s human,” Fabian Manning, Conservative MP for the federal riding of Avalon, tells The Independent. “And to think you are going to continuously hammer someone over the head and expect everything just to go along as smooth as silk? In my view it’s unrealistic for anybody to believe that.”

Manning says the present atmosphere is “uncomfortable to say the least” in terms of the province being able to further its agenda in Ottawa. He says initiatives will proceed, but when looking to receive funding “it would be a whole lot better world if everybody at least had a cordial relationship.”

The province is currently negotiating a host of important initiatives with the federal government, ranging from loan

guarantees for the lower Churchill project to increasing the number of senior federal civil servants in the province. Manning says the current poor relationship with Ottawa is “not helping.”

Provincial ministers say they don’t expect problems. When contacted for a comment on the state of negotiations on a much-anticipated federal-provincial fishery renewal program, which includes an early retirement package for fishery workers, a spokesperson for Fisheries Minister Tom Rideout says there is “no indication that it (the fight between Williams and Harper) is going to have any impact whatsoever.”

Justice Minister Tom Osborne is currently talking with Public Safety minister Stockwell Day and federal Justice Minister Rob Nicholson over the construction of a new federal prison in the province.

He says the talks — and he has spoken with them since the federal budget was tabled — have been “very cordial.” Osborne says he has had no indication from either of the federal ministers that those discussions are in See “A struggle,” page 4

QUOTE OF THE WEEK “The monster is here to stay. It’s worldwide; it’s provincewide. It’s a part of government revenues, part of business.” — Addictions counsellor Gary Parsons on VLTs. See page 17

Young Triffie, directed by and starring Mary Walsh (shown in her St. John’s home), opens April 6 in theatres across Canada. Susan Rendell speaks to Walsh about her directorial debut on page 17; Independent movie critic Tim Conway previews the film, page 20.

Paul Daly/The Independent

Losing our religion More than out-migration keeping congregations away STEPHANIE PORTER

W

hile the number of churchgoers in Father Aidan Devine’s parish is down — a factor of out-migration and, maybe worse, changing priorities — he says the “solid” spirit of the community is still there.

On an average Sunday, Devine, who leads Immaculate Conception Parish in Deer Lake, sees about 200 in church.

That number rises during Christmas and Easter.

While his congregation hasn’t de-

creased terribly since he arrived in 2002, Devine says the demographic is definitely changing. Of all the couples he’s married in the past five years, only three or four are still in the community.

Baptisms are falling steadily. And once the youngsters head off to college or university, well, Devine says that’s the last he’ll see of them.

“Basically, there’s no other generation coming up behind us,” he says, not hesitating to share his opinions on the state of the province, as he sees it unfolding around him.

“There’s a few kids being born here and there, but there’s no foundation any more … the church community, like the

GALLERY 18

The work and ‘ferocious spirit’ of late Rae Perlin

general community, is becoming older and older.”

It’s not just that people are leaving their local churches for jobs and education, he continues. While everyone seems more than happy to take a holiday on Good Friday, Devine says he’s “beginning to recognize we’re slowly losing the concept of the God in our lives.”

At least when there was a denominational school system, he says, children were “given a sense of religion.” Kids these days, he says, are living entirely in the present.

See “Happiness is,” page 4

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2 • INDEPENDENTNEWS

APRIL 5, 2007

‘Every day is a struggle for me’ From page 1 hard reputation that has followed — and haunted — the docket-riddled Druken family name for decades. That reputation contributed to the so-called “tunnel vision” identified by Antonio Lamer, former chief justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, in his scathing assessment of the province’s justice system last year. Lamer reviewed the wrongful convictions of Druken, Gregory Parsons and Ronald Dalton.

Druken may have been a hard case, but he did not murder his girlfriend, Brenda Marie Young, on June 12, 1993 in her Empire Avenue home.

He was convicted of the gruesome stabbing nonetheless, serving almost six years in prison before being freed in July 1999 pending a new trial. DNA evidence later pointed the finger at his brother, Paul, who died of a drug overdose several years ago.

It was also revealed a jailhouse informant lied when he said Druken had confessed. A new trial was ordered but the Crown entered a stay on Aug. 20, 2000, and Druken was eventually exonerated.

In December, he received a total of

$2 million in compensation.

Druken insists it was never about the money.

“I could’ve got the money two or three weeks before I even went to get it.

I could’ve had that large amount of money, and instead I was going to my lawyer’s office and getting $50 and $100 off of him.”

Those who think Druken is “set for life” should think again.

“Look, believe me, and this is the truth. I mean, it hasn’t made my life bad. If anything, it’s made it more difficult. Financially wise, ya know, yes, I’m set for life. But emotionally I gotta always keep myself in check ... just so I don’t fall off the cliff.

“Every day is a struggle for me. I gotta be careful, know what I mean? I got nothin’ to worry about money wise, but it could almost be a death sentence to me, ya know?”

In some ways, Druken feels he may be safer back in prison.

“I was put in jail, a federal maximum prison, where you gotta watch your Ps and Qs. Out here, I gotta always be watching my addictions and who I’m fallin’ in contact with.

“Trying to deal with it all, it’s like an onion ... ya peel some off, that dries up,

but you know there’s more comin’.”

The fact that money is no longer an impediment or worry “the next day” actually “scares” Druken.

“It’s even scarier for me now. Before, if I’d go and get high tomorrow would take care of itself. You knew you’d straighten out, cause you ain’t got the money.

“Now, if I get high I ain’t gonna straighten out. I ain’t even gettin’ up in the morning. I might even want to go on a binge for two or three weeks ’cause ... once you get drunk or high or anything, your thinking becomes clouded, your reality is distorted ... and you go out and do things that aren’t normal.”

That’s what drugs does to you, Druken says.

“As you are aware, they destroy families ... and things will never be the same again, ya know what I mean?

There were a lot of things said, a lot of things done (in the Druken family). I am not afraid to talk about it. I understand how my emotions work; I know how to deal with things; I don’t consider myself a stupid person.

“If anything, I’ve learned a great deal about myself through all of this, and how much a person can go through.”

Randy Druken

Paul Daly/The Independent

Druken is adamant no amount of cash can replace what he lost at the hand of the provincial justice system.

“Set for life? Not a chance. I’d trade anything, and more besides, to have it back the way it was. There’s not a f— kin’ dollar you can put on this. You could give me every cent in the world, or have this put back the way it was ... before June 12 of 1993. I’ll take that over everything else.”

These days, Druken lives alone with his puppy. And he’s just fine with that.

“I’m not afraid to be alone with my thoughts,” he says. “But not a day goes by that all this, in one form or another, comes to your mind. Many times a day really.”

Druken keeps close contact with his younger brother, Jody, who was credit-

ed with “time-served” in the 1996 shooting death of their older brother Derek.

“What I got to laugh at is people who stop me all the time and ask how I went through it all. How did I go through it all, as if it’s in the past? It’s not the past.

You know something? It’s now. It’s in the present, and it’s not going away.”

Druken won’t talk about the amount of money — after lawyers’ fees, etc. — he personally received from government, but he insists he won’t squander it, as everyone is expecting him to do.

“I don’t give that a thought, because I’m gonna be around longer than anyone. I love life. My fear is that I won’t have enough money to treat myself ... when I’m 105 ... providing I stay away from drugs.

“They are like playing on the highway. You get in the middle of it and eventually you’re gonna get hit.”

Druken, who quit drinking in 1997, bemoans the fact he’s lost so many friends and family to drug overdoses, but he also feels there may be a reason he’s still kicking.

“Yes. That’s what amazes me. I wonder if it’s just luck that I’m still here, or do I have something else to offer?” bmcallahan@hotmail.com

‘A daring suggestion’ Fed up with the crowd upalong? Randy Simms says we should vote NDP

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here is a real political battle looming for the hearts and minds of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, although it doesn’t have much to do with our local politics. Few people expect to see a real contest between the local opposition parties and the Williams Tories in October. Most people are pretty sure the election is a lock for Danny. If the polls can be trusted, and I believe in polls, the Progressive Conservatives merely have to show up and victory is assured.

Some people are even suggesting that Danny Williams could take all 48 seats in the province. I don’t think that’s possible. There are a few seats out there he’s not going to win.

We’ll deal with that at another time.

The battle for our hearts and minds will be focused on the national scene. The level of dissatisfaction with the federal government has never been higher than it is right now. While Stephen Harper may be enjoying popularity levels nearing what is needed for a majority government, here at home we simply hate the guy. And yes, Danny’s call for a big “goose egg” for the federal Conservatives will influence a lot of votes.

So where do we go? What do we do?

Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion has decided to try and win some hearts and minds on his own lately. He recently did an about-face regarding the equalization debate by saying he would have honoured the promise Harper made. Just before the budget came down, with the disputed changes to equalization in it, Dion said he would never have made the promise in the first place. Now he says he would have honoured the promised deal. Do you think that flip-flop will see us rushing out to vote for him?

We also have a move afoot to produce seven independent candidates for the province. The idea being that we would send our own little Bloc to Ottawa. With seven independents in the House we would avoid the voting problems that cropped up when Paul Martin tried to renege from his original promise and Harper finally did renege on his. It’s an intriguing thought and it will prompt continued debate as the tradi-

RANDY SIMMS

Page 2 talk tional parties try to get around the issue of loyalty to the people versus loyalty to the party.

The idea of seven silent members sitting in a corner of the Commons simply won’t work. Never really being heard from and having no chance of holding any power makes the move ineffective. We would be no better off than we are right now.

So what do we do? Well I have a daring suggestion.

Maybe it’s time to vote for the NDP. Frankly, I’m surprised we haven’t seen NDP leader Jack Layton in the province already. He has a real chance to win some seats right now and he should be on the move. The NDP, which could end up holding the balance of power in a new House of Commons, have never had a better opportunity to win the hearts and minds of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

Layton has a strong message for the people of this province.

Everything he says should just tickle the ears of voters here.

Layton was the first one to commit to giving this province the new Atlantic Accord. He even committed to giving us the 8.5 per cent of Hibernia now owned by Ottawa. He is the only major party leader to say that he would have honoured the deal offered by Harper and a quick check shows he was the only major leader other than Harper to say non-renewable resources should be left outside of any new equalization formula. Harper didn’t mean it but maybe Layton did.

Give Layton a balance of power in Ottawa, thanks to picking up some much-needed numbers out of Newfoundland and Labrador, and we might have some real power at the national level at last.

If the ideology of the political parties is of no importance anymore — and it isn’t — then strategic voting is where we should focus our attention. Sending four or five New Democrats to Ottawa for the first time and making them part of a party that holds the balance of power would be a smart move. Granted, a Harper or Dion majority government could foil our plans but Williams and others are going to help us avoid that outcome. When you put some thought into it, anything else simply leaves us where we are.

Layton has been to Saskatchewan twice in the last week trying to capitalize on their opposition to Harper, maybe it’s time he paid a visit to the East Coast.

Randy Simms is host of VOCM’s Open Line radio program. rsimms@nf.sympatico.ca

APRIL 5, 2007

INDEPENDENTNEWS • 3

SCRUNCHINS

YOUR TOWN

pay category) ranked seventh out of the 10 provinces. Ontario teachers are the ’Tis the season for awards (see page 5), highest paid, just more than $81,000 a and in that light Scrunchins shines a spot- year, while teachers in Quebec are the light on Brian Callahan, who won this lowest paid, almost $65,000 annually. week’s St. John’s Media Idol For off-the-chart pay, university grads Competition. Callahan, a seasoned jour- are better off heading to the Yukon Northwest Territories nalist by day and superhero Karaoke Kid ($85,000), ($94,000) or Nunavut by night, only recently ($90,000). It’s estimatstarted writing for The ed that a Independent after 16Newfoundland and plus years at The Labrador teacher retirTelegram (the Quebec ing this June (a teacher company didn’t appreat the top of the pay ciate the vocal talent scale, mind you) they had). The Media would earn an annual Idol competition, which net pension of took place at O’Reilly’s $39,267.

Irish Newfoundland Here’s to retirement, Pub on the eve of the regular Canadian Idol Charlie Easton of Clarenville was and maybe a house by tryout, drew competi- spotted recently driving his Model T the sea on the Irish tors from all corners of around the streets of the town. Loop … the journalism commu- Photo by Bud Vincent OUT OF AFRICA nity, coming down to a three-way sing off among Callahan, Speaking of retirement, The Stephanie O’Brien of K-ROCK and The Independent tried our darnedest this Telegram’s Tara Mullowney. Callahan’s week to get in touch with former Liberal song choices, My Girl by the prime minister Paul Martin for his take Temptations and Nobody knows you on Danny’s equalization standoff with when you’re down and out by Eric Stephen Harper, but Martin wouldn’t Clapton, won him the title and a $1,000 have anything to do with an interview. donation to his charity of choice, the “Mr. Martin is not interested,” a spokesChildren’s Wish Foundation for patients woman said from Ottawa. Martin is all at the Janeway Children’s Hospital. tied up in Africa these days. Maybe he Callahan moves on this summer to the should be looking at a struggling econoMedia Idol finals in Toronto against nine my closer to home. Wink wink, nudge other media finalists from across Canada. nudge …

“Look out Canada,” said Callahan, “because we are bringing the title home PULLING REIDS The Independent also tried to get in to the coastest with the mostest.” touch with Scott Reid, Martin’s former Callahan, he’s so lyrical … strategist and communications director AROUND THE LOOP who took a shot at us in October 2004 in Of course, Newfoundland and the heat of debate between Danny and Labrador is steeped in talent — and Paul over the then-PM’s equalization beauty. The Canadian Press recently pre- promise. Reid said that Williams was pared a story on the Irish Loop and how “making a mistake of historic proporit’s “worth the drive.” tions and he is doing it on the backs of “For those who crave the adventure of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians ... he the open road, there are few drives like may get some short-term gains, but he Newfoundland’s famed Irish Loop,” read will pay for this in the long run.” Turns the piece, which was featured in the out Reid was right. “I’m not interested in Waterloo, Ont. Record, among other getting involved in a debate between newspapers across Canada. Spanning Harper and Williams,” Reid told The some 140 kilometres, the eastern half of Independent this week. “Not in a million the Loop snakes through farms, outports, years.” What’s the matter Scott, afraid rock beaches and vast inland barrens your big mouth will get you in trouble? where caribou wander, the story contin- Reid is the same guy who, in December ued. “Ringing the southeastern part of 2005, criticized the Conservative party’s the Avalon Peninsula are some of the plan to give parents $1,200 per year for most awe-inspiring sights and down-to- each child under six. Said Reid: “Don’t earth people you’ll encounter in the give people $25 a day to blow on beer province, if not the country.” and popcorn.”

Newfoundland may be a small province in terms of population, but we get our SADDAM NUMBERS Premier Danny made it to the front share of publicity … page of the April 4 National Post, alongTEACHER TEACHER side his good friend the PM. Columnist There’s good work here if you can get John Ivison wrote recently that the preit, especially in front of a chalkboard. mier’s latest tirade against the federal The provincial government announced government resembled “a dog barking at $6.4 million this week to hire 137 more the moon.” By any measure, Ivison said teachers through the system. The job Newfoundland and Labrador is a doesn’t pay too badly — teachers at the province that is not getting “shafted.” top of the scale in the province earn a lit“In fact,” he wrote, “other Canadians, tle more than $70,000. The April edition particularly Ontarians, might ask why of The Bulletin, an internal magazine they are subsidizing a province that has produced by the Newfoundland and more ability to raise its own-source revLabrador Teachers’ Association, com- enues than they do.” pared salaries across the country. As of So if Williams isn’t simply a mad dog, Sept. 1, 2006, teachers’ salaries in this why is he foaming at the mouth? province (at least in terms of the highest “It will come as no surprise to learn that Mr. Williams is facing an election this October,” Ivison wrote. “The premier is already at 73 per cent in the polls and seems intent on matching Saddam Hussein’s record of 100 per cent of the vote in 2002. Beating up on the provincial Liberals is seen as kicking sand in the face of a 98-pound weakling, so Mr. Williams has targeted an adversary who allows him to play the aggrieved party.

And he is playing his part with gusto.”

Ivison also said that the province’s three Conservative MPs — Loyola Hearn, Norm Doyle and Fabian Manning — have been ineffective in making the federal government’s case.

“The silence has allowed Mr. Williams to employ the megaphone diplomacy that has proved so spectacularly unsuccessful when used in his dealings with Big Oil.” You know what they say — it’s not over till the fat lady sings on Canadian Idol … ryan.cleary@theindependent.ca A weekly collection of Newfoundlandia

A unique feature of Whiteway, Trinity Bay is Shag Rock, resting in the middle of the bay. The community landmark is home to nesting birds such as cormorants, seagulls, and Artic tern. The old make and break motorboat is one of two still being used in the community.

Allison George photo.

The town of Whiteway is home to well-known Newfoundland artist Cliff George and his registered Newfoundland ponies. A famous registered pony stallion is "Skipper of Avalon" seen here with Clifford on a ride through the community.

Allison George photo

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4 • INDEPENDENTNEWS

APRIL 5, 2007

‘Happiness is turning into ‘what can the world offer me?’’

From page 1 “Even if you look at the hardships of Newfoundland, we’re still living in “Even if you look at pretty good surroundings,” he says. the hardships of “We have good health care, a lot of Newfoundland, we’re good things going still living in pretty for us.

“But, this is the good surroundings. problem the church We have good health has to face — how do you address the care, a lot of good issue of secularism in a very rich things going for us.” world? When we’re asking, ‘What can Father Aidan Devine we do to make ourselves more happy?’ we’re going out and buying an extra car. Happiness is turning into ‘what can the world offer me?’”

With a population captivated by the objects in the tangible world, Devine says he wouldn’t be surprised to see the church, as it is today in North America, die — for a while, anyway.

In spite of that, he takes comfort in the commitment of those around him. They may not come through the church doors every weekend, he says, “but they’re dedicated to the parish in that if I went back to ask them for help, they would be willing.”

He believes the common bond of church and community will survive, “please God,” throughout the region.

He says his parish is one of the few in the province that is financially sound. “We (the Catholic church in the province) went through hell, as you know,” he says.

“But the faith still seems to be there … we do have a vibrant parish.”

As is befitting a man of his profession, Devine sees the good in everyone.

“There’s a lot of people I don’t expect to see in church, but at the same time, if I were to visit them at home or anything like that, they’re there to help me out,” he says.

“In spite of it all, the people that are here are very solid. They’re good people … some, their connection to God is not like my connection to God, but at the same time, they’re still connected to God.” He’s quick to point out that he can’t see a better time to celebrate or revisit that connection than this week.

For Devine, and most Catholics, this is the most important — and busy — week of the year.

“This is it for me,” he says. “For me, the death and resurrection of Christ is everything. I know the world makes a big deal of Christmas, but Christmas personally pales in comparison to these events of Good Friday.

“My faith tells me that — though I don’t know what the hell it’s like over there — I know there’s another existence over there forever.

“That’s why these days are so important.” stephanie.porter@theindependent.ca

Inside the Basilica in St. John’s

Paul Daly/The Independent

‘Just the beginning’ Russell Winfield gave up a lucrative life as a stockbroker for missionary work in Labrador

By Pam Pardy Ghent For The Independent

R

ussell Winfield is busy stapling sheets together for the upcoming Easter service, but he has no problem taking time away from his church duties to speak with The Independent.

Winfield — originally a farm boy from Derby, in the central part of England — now dedicates his life to missionary work with the Moravian Church in remote areas of Labrador.

“Right now I’m in Makkovik to help out with a wedding, then I’ll be in Hopedale until the end of April and then it’s Nain until the end of June,” he says. He plans to spend his summer hosting camps for children along the coast of Labrador.

While Winfield has embraced the Labrador lifestyle and its people, that he is here at all — volunteering his time and doing service to the community for free — is an interesting tale of sacrifice and dedication.

Winfield, 27, says he feels incredibly fortunate that he has the financial flexibility to give his life over to missionary work, though that was never his plan.

‘GET AS RICH AS POSSIBLE’ “My goal at 21 was to get as rich as possible, like many, thinking I’d be happy with a lot of money,” he laughs. He went to university and

Russell Winfield

became a stockbroker in London — but didn’t find the happiness he had been seeking.

The lesson he learned, he chuckles, was that while he wasn’t unhappy with his fortunes, he certainly wasn’t any happier.

The time spent trading and making money wasn’t lost — his nest egg has allowed him to finance his current life. Winfield figures he can do missionary work for at least five more years before his money runs out.

“I just felt like this is what God wanted me to do, and what a tremendous privilege it is for me to be here with the people of Labrador,” he says.

This time last year he constantly had a phone to his ear and now he spends his days standing in 15 feet of snow, planning weddings and traveling around on a snowmobile. He says he’d much rather be serving the church and the communities in Labrador.

Winfield spends his days being what he calls a cross-cultural servant. He does the basics like giving sermons and holding Bible study classes, but he also tries to energize the congregation by generally easing their burdens.

“There can be very little support in small communities and while there may be 70 or 80 members of a church, you only see the regular 30 or 40 and I try to do what I can to make things a little easier.”

Winfield says he has learned much since leaving England last September for what he thought would be a desolate Labrador.

“The sun was shining when I arrived in Goose Bay,” he says. “It was so beautiful that any reservations I may have had disappeared, and the people were so friendly and warm that being away from my own family and friends became less of a concern from the start,” he says.

While Winfield thinks his next posting will be in India, he has no plans to stay away from Labrador for good. “This is just the beginning of what I would consider a lengthy relationship,” he says. “I will definitely come back again.”

Cheques in the mail … eventually

T HEARD ALL THE MYTHS ABOUT DEBT AND BANKRUPTCY? GET THE FACTS FROM NEWFOUNDLAND’S PERSONAL DEBT EXPERTS

www.JanesNoseworthy.com In St. John’s, 364-8148 Offices throughout NL Toll Free: 1 800 563-9779

he provincial government expects to receive over 70,000 applications for its home heat rebate, says a Department of Finance spokesperson. He says approximately 65,000 applications have been received to date, and another 5,000 are expected before the April 30 deadline. The department has assigned extra staff and overtime to deal with the backlog.

The program targets low-income earners, offering rebates up to $200 to offset winter

heating bills. It was expanded this year to include residents who use electricity or burn wood to heat their homes. Last year only residents using home heating fuel qualified.

Government increased funding for the program by more than $4 million this year — it currently stands at $12.8 million, up from $8.2 million, in anticipation of more requests.

The Finance spokesperson says two extra staff members have been assigned to this year’s

program to deal with the anticipated backlog.

As well, five employees are each working an extra eight hours a week.

The spokesperson says no new personnel were hired because “we don’t have the physical space up there.” He says 55 per cent of the applications have been processed, and at the current rate they hope all will be completed by the end of May. — Ivan Morgan

Premier considers re-appointing Green to replace Furey

I

n the wake of Chuck Furey’s recent surprise resignation as the province’s chief electoral officer, Premier Danny Williams recently suggested former chief Wayne Green may be asked back to oversee the office. The Oct. 9 provincial election makes Furey’s swift replacement a priority.

But Auditor General John Noseworthy wrote a scathing report about the office under Green, highlighting serious management and financial control issues that occurred during his watch.

Noseworthy identified “significant concerns,” including nepotism, conflicts of interest over items purchased, inaccurate accounting records, lack of internal financial controls, significant amounts of overtime paid without considering alternative arrangements and excessive costs on items such as cell phone usage.

“He was there, he was running the entity, and there were significant concerns with regards to the administration,” Noseworthy tells The Independent. “So obviously he has to take responsibility for that.”

A spokesperson for the premier’s office says the chief electoral officer is usually nominated by the premier and then confirmed by a House of Assembly vote. The Elections Act allows the temporary appointment of a chief electoral officer by the premier. Furey was appointed in February 2006 after the premier consulted with the opposition parties. Furey’s appointment was not voted on in the House until the 2006 spring session.

When asked about Green’s possible reappointment, Noseworthy says he is not permitted under his legislated mandate “to ques-

tion the merits of policy objectives of the government.”

He says he identified what he considered significant concerns with the management practices followed in the office during Green’s tenure.

Noseworthy says he would never question the merits of re-hiring Green, if in fact they do.

“They do what they have to do to govern, and they’re elected to do that,” he says.

“My role is simply to go back in there some day and have a look at the expenditures again.

Did they incur significant amounts of overtime without considering alternatives? Did they breach the public tender act again? Did they hire more relatives? I could go back and look at all that again.”

— Ivan Morgan

‘A struggle at the best of times’ From page 1 jeopardy. But Osborne says the federal government has only committed to the idea, not to any funding, estimated in the $80 million range.

“I would certainly hope that any discussions we have are based on fact and need and shared responsibility and other factors do not enter into these very important discussions.”

Manning says he voted to support his government’s budget — and the controversial equalization formulas for the province included in it— because he didn’t want to see the death of projects he has been promoting for so long — like

the federal prison.

He says voting against the government would be “throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

“There is a major possibility that a federal prison is going to be situated on the Avalon, outside the Metro area,” says Manning. “That’s something I have been discussing with Minister Day and Minister Hearn for several months.”

Manning says it is “a struggle at the best of times” to get attention in Ottawa, and even harder if you are not part of the government.

“As tough as one day may be in government, it’s as good as a year in opposition, for the simple reason of getting things done.”

Manning says he is more concerned with the meat and potatoes. He says public battles solve nothing. He says he has been involved in active politics for 14 years and “every war that I have ever been involved in was won on the ground.

“My commitment is to the people of the Avalon riding,” says Manning. “Delivering on the things that they want and need, knowing full well that the best place for me to do that is within the confines of the governing party.”

“I take my job very seriously. I think all politicians do,” he says. “There are other ways of dealing with these problems.” ivan.morgan@theindependent.ca

APRIL 5, 2007

INDEPENDENTNEWS • 5

Life on the camp

Alberta work camps draw hundreds of Newfoundlanders; recent suicide raises concern

By Pam Pardy Ghent For The Independent

H

erman Bolt, 42, might live in Little Bay East on the Burin Peninsula, but his home away from home since 1996 has been whatever camp in Alberta that requires his welding skills.

“I think I’ve been on all the camps now that’s up there,” he tells The Independent, “and one is pretty much the same as another. You takes the good with the bad.”

Home in Newfoundland on his eight days off after working for the past 20 straight, Bolt says anytime a few thousand men are “plucked” and isolated from the rest of the world and their families there can be trouble, but for the most part, he says, there are no major problems.

That was until April 1, when panic broke out at the Suncor-owned Borealis site in northern Alberta shortly after the workday started.

Police say they are investigating a death on the site that is non-suspicious and non-industrial related, an apparent suicide. Suncor spokesman Brad Bellows says that while things are back to “business as usual,” employees who were impacted by the death have been offered assistance by the company to deal with this “stressful, unfortunate

incident,” Bellows says from Alberta.

“Camps are like towns and work site numbers can swell to 5,000, so of course there will be occasional situations but certainly we have experienced nothing significant before this.”

Bellows says that the recent death has nothing to do with camp life. In fact, he says “camp” is no longer the right description for the job site.

“Today’s camps are very modern facilities with high end kitchens, nice clean rooms and quality recreation facilities.”

At the same time, he notes “when you have a lot of workers in one place who are away from their families then you have stressors that go along with that ... tensions are expected when people are away from home.”

Bellows says there are close to 3,000 temporary contract workers spread out on three camps owned by Suncor, in addition to the 2,500 full-time staff living in the general Fort McMurray area.

Two of the sites — Borealis, where the death occurred, and Millennium — are located just outside Fort McMurray, while the third site, Firebag, is two hours north and considered remote.

Estimates vary, but by some accounts Newfoundland workers can account for up to 65 per cent of the workforce at many camps, which pay huge wages.

For many tradesmen, Bolt says a camp job is a dream one. “When you

Suncor's Borealis work site in Alberta.

look at your options, a camp job can put you further ahead than say a job with sub pay (subsistence pay is essentially a per diem), but the isolation of camp life isn’t for everyone.”

Bolt explains that having your “every need attended to on camp can get to you after a while,” though he admits it’s a hard concept to explain to anyone who hasn’t lived in one.

Camps are situated close to a job site,

Envelope please Independent writers nominated for three Atlantic Journalism Awards

I

ndependent writers have been nominated for three Atlantic Journalism Awards, the only newspaper in Newfoundland and Labrador to be so honoured.

Regular contributors Susan Rendell and Pam Pardy Ghent have both been nominated in the feature-writing category, while Ryan Cleary, The Independent’s editor-in-chief, has been nominated for commentary.

Rendell’s piece, Sex in the city (March 19, 2006 edition), compared the St. John’s prostitution scene of the 1970s, which was essentially fishermen-based, to the oil industry-based prostitution scene of today. Rendell’s 2003 book, In the Chambers of the Sea, a collection of short stories, has met with critical success.

Pardy Ghent, a freelance journalist who writes a twice-monthly column for The Independent (Seven-day talk, page 24 of this week’s edition), was nominated for a June 4, 2006 frontpage article about her husband preparing to leave for work in the Alberta oil fields and the impact it would have on their family home in Newfoundland.

Ghent splits her time between Harbour Mille on the Burin Peninsula and Mount Pearl.

Cleary, a St. John’s journalist with more than 16 years experience covering Newfoundland and Labrador, and one of the owners of The Independent, was nominated for a Sept. 3, 2006 column, A fishing story (see Fighting Newfoundlander, page 6).

Over the past three years The Independent has been nominated for nine Atlantic Journalism Awards, which are open to all media outlets in Atlantic Canada, winning three — feature writing, continuing news coverage and enterprise reporting. The Independent was also nominated for the 2004 Michener award, the highest award in Canada for public service journalism, for a six-part cost/benefit analysis of Confederation. The Globe and Mail won the award that year for its coverage of the federal sponsorship

Excerpts

Ryan Cleary

Susan Rendell

Pam Pardy Ghent

scandal.

The awards will be presented during a gala event in Halifax on May 12.

In other award news, writer and Independent book reviewer Mark Callanan has been recognized for his work with the 2006 Lawrence Jackson Writers’ Award. The $500 award, in memory of writer Lawrence Jackson, encourages and promotes original, creative thought in all genres of writing. His first collection of poems, Scarecrow, was published by Killick Press in 2003.

“We all liked Miss Quickie — young, pretty, demure as a debutante — a specialist, she only showed up when the Japanese were in. Back and forth all night long between the bar and the adjacent alley, stopping every half-hour to catch her breath, sip on a Tom Collins. Good tipper, shy smile. We suspected she was a sales assistant at the Arcade in her daytime life.

But my favourite was Madonna — built like a beach ball, just stepping into her 30s. An Elizabethan wench, Chaucer’s Wife of Bath. You could have driven a Smart car between the gap in her two front teeth. Teeth always on show because she never stopped smiling. She loved to dance, with the sailors or even by herself. Out on the crappy little crooked floor with her breasts pushed out, the Portuguese crying “Bela, Madonna — “Bela bela!”

— An except from Sex in the city, a March 2006 Independent front-page feature by writer Susan Rendell.

“My husband flies out the morning of our son’s karate tournament and one day before his piano recital. I will go to the karate tournament alone and cheer twice as loud. I will drag my parents to the recital. While I will be very proud, I will still miss hearing my husband’s approving whistle at the end of Popeye the Sailor Man played by chubby nineyear-old fingers. I will cry and be embarrassed … I know I am no different from dozens of others out there on this island spending the last few nights with our men as they wonder what the next few months will hold. Just because I’m not alone in this doesn’t mean I like it. My husband is leaving me not because he doesn’t love me, but because he does, and somehow that makes it worse.”

— From I’ll suck it up, a June 2006 Independent front-page feature by freelance writer Pam Pardy Ghent.

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and workers are shuttled back and forth at pre-scheduled times. Rooms are private and cleaned daily. Meals are professionally prepared, but the menu is identical week after week. “If you have steak on Monday one week, then it’s steak the next Monday and the one after that,” Bolt laughs. And fish is served on Friday — every Friday. Bellows says while camps are secure sites, identification is required to get on, but they are

“definitely not prisons.”

“I would say these sites are secure like a student residence is secure,” he explains. While most camps are considered “dry” and there is zero tolerance for drugs, Bellows says there are no rules when it comes to drinking responsibly. “You can’t wander the hallways clutching your beer, but you can certainly toss a six pack in your fridge,” he says.

While camp life is not mandatory, it isn’t offered only to benefit Suncor employees.

“Part of the appeal of camp life is that it relieves some of the infrastructure stress that Fort McMurray is going through by taking the pressure off the rental market in town,” he admits, but there is an undeniable bonus for workers from areas like Newfoundland and Labrador. “We want to have a competitive edge, and part of that is making sure employees enjoy their time with us,” Bellows says. “If we have a camp that’s a pleasant place to be, then that benefits everyone.”

Bolt couldn’t agree more. “Look, I used to have to go away for seven or more months at a time so the rotation offered by these camp jobs is ideal,” he says. “The only thing I’d take over a camp job is if a job opened up at the shipyard in Marystown and I got to sleep in my own bed every night.”

6 • INDEPENDENTNEWS

APRIL 5, 2007

A fishing story The following column, which appeared in The Independent’s Sept. 3, 2006 edition, has been nominated for the 2006 Atlantic Journalism Award for commentary.

A

ttention Newfoundlanders out for a fight — this column’s for you.

You may have read a news piece this week about a Portuguese trawler cited for illegal fishing. The Independent had the story nailed down but it broke in another media before we could get it to print. Normally the story would have been dropped altogether, but the article’s author missed a critical point.

Wait for it …

The Joana Princesa was caught with its pants down on Aug. 25 in the act of raping the Grand Banks of Newfoundland.

Rape is a harsh, harsh word that’s only used these days in American courts, but it’s a lot stronger than Canada’s word for the crime, sexual assault, and a much more fitting description for what foreigners do every day — decade in, decade out — to our precious fishing grounds.

Two Canadian inspectors aboard a zodiac snuck up on the trawler just as it

RYAN CLEARY

Fighting Newfoundlander was pulling in its net. The inspectors asked to be allowed on board, but the foreign crew ignored them. (No. 1 slap in the face for the fighting Newfoundlanders keeping count.)

One of the two determined inspectors then maneuvered the zodiac alongside the Princesa (not exactly a name befitting a rapist), while the second officer dared a high seas boarding. The Portuguese wouldn’t lower a boarding ladder. (No. 2 slap in the face — the Canadian inspector could have been killed.)

Both inspectors eventually got on board to find the Portuguese had been fishing with a liner inside their net. The foreign crew tried to get rid of the evidence, but they weren’t quick enough for our high seas lawmen.

A liner was once described to me as an onion bag — water and stunted plankton are about all that can get through. Whatever fish the foreign crew were chasing that day didn’t stand a

chance.

The Canadian inspectors then waited on board the foreign trawler for a day and a half until a European Union patrol vessel could steam to their co-ordinates and verify the citation. In fact, the EU officers found the illegal liner was even smaller than the Canadians had reported — fish the size of pens and pencils were about all that could swim through its mesh (oh, for the days of palm-sized catches).

In the end, the citation stuck. The Canadian inspectors were picked up by their mother ship and the EU patrol boat went on its way.

Before I get to what happened to the Portuguese rapist/trawler, I should mention a little about the vessel’s history.

The Princesa (there’s that sweet name again) was cited in December 2004 for illegally catching more than five tonnes of American plaice, a species under moratoria.

In that particular incident, Canadian inspectors boarded the Joana Princesa and discovered the unprocessed plaice on the ship’s deck. The inspectors found even more fish when the net was pulled in (like you would).

In 2003, the same vessel was issued three citations, including one for

exceeding the five per cent bycatch limit for American plaice. It was also charged in 2001 for using small-mesh gear.

In other words, the Portuguese trawler is a serial rapist.

So what became of the Princesa once the latest citation was issued and the authorities went on their way?

Wait for it …

Contacted in Brussels, Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn patted the Canadian government on the back for doing such a good job, which they are, of keeping check on the foreign fleets.

“We have a constant presence and have done a very good job in monitoring,” Hearn was quoted as saying.

He’s a firm believer NAFO can be reformed. Forget the fact that Newfoundland politicians have been trying to do that for a generation, starting with Smallwood in ’71.

Hearn’s a believer. He’s trying to put teeth into an organization that’s been toothless since the day it was born. He will fail like the ministers before him.

Countries such as Norway have begun taking a heavier hand against Spanish and Portuguese vessels, known to them as “trawler pirates.” Dozens of fishing vessels have been arrested, but even that doesn’t seem to be working.

In July, the captain and owner of a Spanish trawler arrested for illegal fishing in Norwegian waters announced they had no intention of paying fines levied against them by local police — who don’t seem to be able to do much about it.

What’s clear is that countries adjacent to fish resources must have the power to enforce quotas and arrest ships.

Diplomacy is a joke — Loyola is a fool if he believes otherwise.

So what happened to the Joana Princesa once the authorities went on their way? What was the repeat rapist allowed to do as soon as it was released on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland after being caught red-handed?

The answer is a perfect example of why custodial management is our only prayer and the Conservative government must be forced to live up to its commitments, come hell or high water.

The Princesa resumed fishing.

Other nominees for the commentary award include Alec Bruce of the St. John, N.B.-based Here magazine and Kate Kerr of CBC Radio, also in St. John. Winners will be announced May 12 in Halifax. ryan.cleary@theindependent.ca

YOUR VOICE Dance with the voter ‘who brung ya’ Dear editor, A memo to our federal MPs — Mssrs. Manning, Hearn, et al.

Gentlemen, when you go to the ball you “dance with the one that brung ya.” We, the voters of Newfoundland and Labrador, “brung ya” to Ottawa sirs, and do not forget that we will be

Premier Danny Williams

the ones who decide to keep you there — not Stephen Harper. If you want to go to the ball after the next federal election, you’d best dance with us now.

Ada Bradbury, Upper Island Cove.

Paul Daly/The Independent

Premier playing Russian roulette with our place in Canada Dear editor, There is a cruel irony in Danny Williams calling on Fabian Manning to stand up and vote against his caucus and party in Ottawa. If it were not so serious it would be laughable.

Manning had to quit provincial politics after he took a stand against his caucus and leader over the raw materials sharing system that Williams imposed on this province’s fishing industry. While MHAs like Paul Oram in Terra Nova and Ross Wiseman in Trinity North went into hiding on the fishers and plant workers in their districts Manning went to the wharves, plants, and town halls. When the caucus members were forced to decide between Danny or Manning and the fishery workers, Manning was relegated to an independent seat behind Jack Harris in the House of the Assembly.

Manning found that he could no longer serve the people of Placentia-St. Mary’s District, thanks to King Danny.

As far as the Atlantic Accord is concerned one must remember that the federal Liberal party leader, Stéphane Dion, said he does not agree with it and would definitely not improve upon it. Chances are if we follow Williams’ advice, the big winner will be Dion.

Isn’t that another cruel irony?

The Atlantic Accord was a federal/provincial, one-offer deal. MPs were free to vote as they wished. To the contrary, the federal budget is a national document and to vote against it is a vote of non-confidence in your own government. This is why seasoned political veterans like Norm Doyle and Hearn are taking the same position as Manning.

As far as I’m concerned, Williams is playing Russian roulette with our place in Canada. It is short-sighted, arrogant, and age-driven for our premier to suggest that people should not vote Conservative in the next federal election. When the next election in Canada is over, Harper will be the prime minister. The only question appears to be whether he will lead a minority or a majority government.

Russian roulette may be OK for a multi-millionaire who governs us as a charitable cause, but it’s not OK if you’re living in rural Newfoundland watching out-migration at an unprecedented rate. My advice to King Danny would be roll out your rural plan, create a few jobs and run what you were elected to run — the province, not the country.

Peter Corcoran, Point Lance, St. Mary’s Bay

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Confederation’s brainwashing

D

uring our first 25 years as a province of Canada we were constantly bombarded with what became the late J.R. Smallwood’s mantra: “we should get down on our knees and thank God for Confederation.”

It became an embarrassment. Its purpose was to constantly remind us that we were ungrateful suppliants and we should be thankful to “Uncle Ottawa” for the many blessings bestowed on us by a generous Canada. It was a clever attempt at brainwashing. What’s more, it seemed to work; it was good propaganda. Very few of us raised our voices in protest and questioned what really happened during the four years leading up to Confederation — a process that not only violated our own constitution, but Canada’s as well. That is why the official opposition Conservatives voted against the Confederation bill when it came before the House of Commons.

The Conservatives voted against it because the federal government was in breach of the Canadian Constitution, the British North America Act, by its failure to consult the provinces.

Ottawa was convinced that Quebec would never accept the Labrador border, as defined in a judgment by the Privy Council in 1927. To this day Quebec government maps of the province do not show the Labrador border as defined by the Privy Council decision. And so the British and Canadian governments had to move fast to overcome the Quebec hurdle.

That was the real reason for the rush, but there was more. In the words of the late J.W. Pickersgill, “we would never again get her as cheap.”

In 1947, less than two years after the convening of the National Convention (held to assess Newfoundland’s financial footing and help determine the dominion’s course post commission government), Newfoundland was presented with proposals for the Terms of Union with Canada.

The Terms served as the basis of the question that was put to the people of Newfoundland in a referendum six months later. In testimony before the

JIM MCGRATH

Guest Column

Joey Smallwood

2003 royal commission into Newfoundland and Labrador’s place in Canada, the late Gordon Winter, the last surviving member of the Newfoundland delegation sent to Ottawa to finalize the Terms of Union, stated: “There were no negotiations.” Newfoundland was to be treated like every other province. The outstanding question of the wide disparity in the national debts was never discussed.

At the time, the Canadian per capita national debt stood at $1,400, compared to Newfoundland’s per capita national debt of $130. If you were to translate that into 2007 dollars the disparity would be enormous. In 1949 we assumed the Canadian national debt that had accrued over the previous 79 years to build railroads across Canada, canals, postal buildings and services, paved roads, harbours, etc. We received no compensation for the minimal infrastructure we had at the time of union, which consisted of a narrow-gauge railroad across the island and a few paved roads around Conception Bay. At the time, our highway was the sea.

Outports were serviced by a fleet of coastal boats, and the mainland was linked by our own Gulf ferries. With a surplus of $46 million, we were virtually debt free.

Fast forward to today: we now have a provincial debt of $11.5 billion, costing us $767.5 million a year to service. That works out to a per capita debt of $23,000 for every man, woman, and child in Newfoundland and Labrador — the federation’s highest.

How did we get here?

In a bid to build the infrastructure we didn’t have at the time of Confederation, we overspent. We eventually sold our constitutional right to a trans-island railroad during the Peckford administration in the so-called Roads for Rails agreement for around $8 billion, money to be spent on building new roads and improving the Trans-Canada. Those who use the highway know what a sad state it’s in because of the increase in tractor-trailer traffic. (We should have held out for a standard-gauge railway.)

Our great groundfish fishery is gone, thanks to federal mismanagement. Our last chance to pay down our huge debt was with the Atlantic Accord. We would retain our entire 40 per cent share in offshore royalties, which would be exempt from equalization payments, as promised by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his colleagues. That promise has not been kept.

Last week marked the 58th anniversary of Confederation. There is no doubt we have done well, but we could have done much better had we been allowed to negotiate with Canada on an equal basis. In terms of equalization, we would be a have-province today. As it stands, we are the odd man out. It all goes back to 1947-48 when Ottawa insisted on treating us like every other province. As Gordon Winter said, “there were no negotiations.” Items like debt differential and infrastructure were never discussed. It was a done deal and we have been paying for it ever since.

James McGrath is a former federal cabinet minister and lieutenant governor of Newfoundland.

APRIL 5, 2007

INDEPENDENTNEWS • 7

The problem with ‘safe grad’

I

never had any time for graduation ceremonies. I didn’t go to my own. My thinking was I had already spent way too much time in school. I loathed my school and most of my teachers who I thought — and can now categorically state — were useless. I could not get out of there fast enough. But then, I have always had authority issues.

Things have changed a lot since my high school years. First of all, there are no more dinosaurs.

Also, in my day the high school graduation dance came on graduation day, at the end of the school year, not in April or May, as so many are today. As well, back in my heartless, prehistoric times, one had to actually graduate to attend.

And none of us had ever heard of a “safe grad.”

The safe grad is a phenomenon that has caught on here in Newfoundland and Labrador. The idea is to have a celebration that is totally alcohol and drug free, and to proclaim this publicly.

The idea of safe grads came about because of the excesses that can occur when young people — or, for that matter, any people — get together to celebrate a shared accomplishment. With drinking and drug taking often comes unpleasantness.

Don’t take my word for it, go to George Street after midnight on any weekend. With a younger crowd, sadly, this can occasionally lead to tragedy. Organizing a safe grad is a way of trying to avoid that.

The process is fairly standard. Early in the school year, parent and teacher volunteers form a committee. The committee organizes activities at the school or community centre to take place late at night, after the formal prom. The idea, presumably, is to provide an alternative to chugging a flask of vodka behind the gym and retching all over your date.

These safe grads can be impressive events.

Considerable time and trouble is taken to book

Paul Daly/The Independent

IVAN MORGAN

Rant & Reason magicians, musicians, funny movies, novelty acts and other distractions to keep everybody festive through the wee hours.

Hundreds of hours and big dollars are spent making decorations. Massive amounts of food are prepared; every whim and delight of the kids is catered to.

How things have changed. The thought of my parents being in any way involved in my high school would have been a perfect teenage nightmare.

I have always had difficulty with the safe grad concept. While the message of graduation is that our young people are passing into adulthood, the safe grad message seems to contradict that. Does the safe grad set out to cocoon them? Please don’t be bad, it seems to implore. It’s a grad where no one takes their eyes off the kids for a second. The whole process seems to imply a lack of trust. Are high school graduates not responsible enough to conduct themselves in a manner where they would at least not get caught? Isn’t a high school prom by its definition alcohol and drug free?

When I was a young man we were expected, as senior members of the school, to be mature and responsible. Of course we weren’t, but that was the expectation — an expectation we were supposed to live up to — an expectation in preparation for adulthood. The idea of being rewarded for not getting smashed, stoned and possibly impregnated was not embraced by the authorities. The idea of being watched the entire night by our parents and teachers was not embraced by us.

No doubt I’ll get letters, but there seems to be a bit of a self-righteous tone to some of these grads.

Again, I am the one with the authority issues, but were I a lad of 17 today, I wouldn’t have gone within a country mile of a safe grad, full of cheerful parents and (shudder) teachers.

I think at some point we have to trust our kids to be mature. For better or worse. It may be a mistake, but I trust mine. Does the safe grad say “we don’t?”

I am not graduating this year, so what I think is not that important. I spoke with some young people about this, to see what they thought, and most of them said the same thing.

Kids today are less alienated than my generation. They have a much healthier approach.

They say the safe grad is a wonderful event, thrown for them by people who love and cherish them. Of course they go, and they have a whale of a time, soaking up the fun, the sense of community and the love, and go home in the morning tired and happy.

Then they go out and get hammered the following night. ivan.morgan@theindependent.ca

YOUR VOICE ‘Canadians will never see it coming’ Dear editor, Not so long ago, the idea of Newfoundland and Labrador as an independent nation seemed comical to me. I used to very much enjoy the ravings of Jerry Boyle on This Hour Has 22 Minutes. After all, I was born in Newfoundland after Confederation. I was a Canadian first and a Newfoundlander second. I grew up believing that a newfie joke was just that (a joke), and although mainlanders often poked fun at us, deep down they respected our culture and who we are. I now attribute those ideas to the naïveté of youth. I have been an expatriate Newfoundlander for the past six years and been ridiculed as a “lazy, stupid newfie” all the way from the hallowed halls of Queen’s University to the bright lights of Toronto; all the way from the tiny farming communities of Alberta to the storied pages of The Globe and Mail. The scorn through which I have suffered has taken place throughout most facets of my life. It has gone on among “friends” and it has gone on in the company of coworkers.

Not being the world’s greatest orator, my modus operandi in combating the stereotypes was to try and let my actions do the ranting and roaring for me. Believe it or not, this actually succeeded on a few occasions and I managed to turn a few people.

Take for instance, the following quote from a Christmas card I received from my employer this past year: “You ruined my stereotyping of Newfies and Nova Scotians because I didn’t know they came in ‘smart’ or ‘hard-working’ categories, which both apply to you.”

I took to quoting statistics such as the fact that Newfoundland and Labrador’s 2005 per capita gross domestic product was higher than that of Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Quebec, Manitoba, and British Columbia and was only slightly behind that of Ontario and Saskatchewan.

On some occasions, I would run into those whose views simply could not be changed. In such cases, I would laugh and chalk up these misinformed opinions to those of an ignorant minority. Ironically, it is the actions of an ignorant minority that have changed the way I think the majority of Canadians view Newfoundlanders and caused me to reconsider the way I look at Newfoundland and Labrador’s independence.

The decision by the federal minority government to renege on its promise to remove non-renewable resource revenues from the federal equalization program in an effort to win central and western Canadian votes is proof to me they truly believe Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are too lazy and too stupid to do anything about it. I find it even more ironic that they have chosen to do so while Canada’s richest province gets richer from revenues generated by a non-renewable resource extracted, ever increasingly it would seem, on the backs of lazy Newfoundlanders.

I no longer believe the idea of Newfoundland and Labrador as a republic is a topic to be discussed solely through the use of satirical humour. How much longer will we as a people stand idly by and allow our fate to be decided by politicians and bureaucrats who think of us — not as productive Canadians with a desire to contribute positively to the Canadian economy — but instead as stupid newfies looking for a handout? It’s time for the discussion to move into mainstream politics and mainstream media. It’s time for it to evolve from the wishful thinking of preConfederation Newfoundlanders and jovial kitchen partygoers into a serious debate over the socio-economic pros and cons of separation from Canada.

Canadians will never see it coming. Trust me, they think we’re too lazy to get up off our collective asses and talk about it.

Jeff Murphy, Alberta

YOUR VOICE Press emergency button on FPI sale Dear editor, Why is FPI’s board of directors intent on making sure that labour costs are reduced by demanding that the FFAW/CAW membership agree to their terms and conditions during the ongoing collective bargaining process? Is it because FPI’s board has said to a number of the potential new owners “we will wrestle FPI employees to the ground, so you can run over them?”

Why isn’t our provincial government questioning the fact that the FFAW/CAW, on behalf of its membership, continues to agree to new collective agreement language with a company whose board of directors appears content to sell most, if not all, of FPI’s valuable assets?

Isn’t it reasonable to suggest that the FFAW/CAW and FPI agree to abide by the terms and conditions set out in the present collective agreement pending new ownership of all, or a portion of FPI’s assets and that collective bargaining would take place between the FFAW/CAW and the new owner(s)?

A decision to permit separation of FPI’s harvesting primary processing and marketing infrastructure would be a mistake, which begs the question, why didn’t any private person(s) or a person(s) owning a company in this province submit an offer to buy FPI’s value added, secondary-processing, marketing infrastructure? Is it possible that the asking price was too unreasonable, but will eventually be sold to a person(s) on or associated with FPI’s board of directors at a later date at a much lower price?

Why should the FFAW/CAW, on behalf of its ownership, and our provincial government, on behalf of the residents of our province, place the

FFAW/CAW president Earle McCurdy

future of FPI in the hands of those whose only concern is to maximize profit at any cost?

Our provincial government and the FFAW/CAW should “press the emergency button” regarding the sale of any FPI assets other than to the FFAW/CAW and/or our provincial government unless it’s decided by both parties to lease or sell certain FPI assets.

The long-term stability of our province’s harvesting, primary and secondary-processing fishing industries, the communities in which they operate, and the employees who work in those industries and others who depend on them could very well hinge on a decision of the FFAW/CAW and/or our provincial government owning most, if not all, of FPI’s assets.

The federal government will be more inclined to make certain that FPI’s enterprise allocations remain in our province for the long term, transfer FPI quotas to our province, and introduce measures to help protect and grow fish stocks.

If FPI employees are to consider a reduction in wages and other benefits, it should be as part owners, not employees, who will continue to work hard and eventually earn even higher wages and increased benefits as a result of increased profit.

Everett Farwell, Burin

APRIL 5, 2007

8 • INDEPENDENTNEWS

APRIL 5, 2007

INDEPENDENTNEWS • 9

IN CAMERA

Iron maiden

Blacksmith, animal lover and entrepreneur Laura Babineau, 24, is the province’s only hot shoe farrier.

Photo editor Paul Daly and senior writer Ivan Morgan joined her and Xena the horse this week, on a job at Clovelly Stables, Logy Bay.

By Ivan Morgan The Independent

L

aura Babineau’s trade requires an interesting mix of brawn and tenderness. Babineau is a farrier, an expert in shoeing horses.

She is part blacksmith, part horse expert and, as an independent businesswoman, part entrepreneur. She’s the only farrier in the province who “hot shoes” horses — shaping red-hot horseshoes on an anvil and burning them into horse’s hooves for a perfect fit.

Short in stature but long in confidence, Babineau, 24, opened her business just two years ago. After a year’s training in British Columbia, she returned to Newfoundland and set

about building a client list that now includes Clovelly Stables in Logy Bay, just outside of St. John’s, where The Independent caught up with her on a cold grey morning.

When Babineau speaks of her clients she refers to people, but she gives the impression her real clients are the animals.

Horseshoes protect a horse’s hooves from wear. But hooves, like human fingernails, grow at a certain rate, which means horses need occasional re-shoeing. How often this has to happen — if at all — comes down to how much the hoof grows.

On average, Babineau says, horses need re-shoeing every six to eight weeks. The process involves taking off the shoe, trimming the hoof and

replacing the shoe. She says her client list keeps her busy.

Babineau didn’t set out to be a farrier, but after a few years studying Russian at Memorial University, she decided to switch directions. Having always been around horses, and with a great love for them, it was a logical move.

She went through a year’s “gruelling” training, learning the trade from the ground up. She was taught to make horseshoes from metal bars, which they learned to forge, draw out, twist, form and hammer into shape.

She spent hours in the classroom — learning about the physiology of the horse — and on endless practical training.

On this day, Babineau leads Xena,

her latest job, to her portable forge.

Xena seems unfazed by the propane oven, anvil and the assortment of imposing metal tools.

Clipping Xena’s halter to a cross-tie on the stable wall, Babineau talks about understanding horses.

“I always go to the horse with the assumption that he is going to be OK,” Babineau says. “If you go to a horse and you’re anxious and expecting it to be bad, it probably will be.”

Xena seems perfectly calm.

Babineau lifts the animal’s left leg and, bending over and holding it firmly, upturned, between her knees, she deftly removes the metal shoe. The horse doesn’t flinch.

As she fires her forge, Babineau talks about the business end of her

work. She says she has made a sizeable investment in both her training and materials, including the forge, anvil, specialized tools and inventory of shoes.

Her business plan? Babineau wants to build on the client list she already has. While Clovelly is her biggest client, she heads to the west coast of the island several times a year.

The only full-time hot shoe farrier in the province, Babineau says most of the others in the business tend to do it on the side. “It’s not a passion the way it is with me.”

Within minutes, the shoe is glowing dull red in the forge. She waits until it’s hot orange, then pulls it out of the oven with large tongs.

Deep in concentration, Babineau

moves the smoking hot metal shoe around the anvil quickly — a hammer blow there, a knock here, a turn, another carefully placed hard rap. She frowns as she pounds it into the shape she wants.

Xena looks calmly about, unruffled at the sudden hiss and great swirls of blue-grey smoke billowing up as Babineau leans in and presses the hot shoe hard into the hoof. The acrid smell of burning hair cuts into the cold earthy smell of the barn. Babineau says the horse likes the attention.

She says hot shoeing has been around for a thousand years, only falling out of fashion with the advent of the car. She says many farriers cold shoe today, nailing pre-formed shoes into the hooves of their horses. She

says a cold shoe is never as good as the perfect fit she can achieve.

“The old way is still the best way to do it,” she says.

After the fitting, the shoe is dropped into a bucket of water, the metal growling momentarily. After a minute, Babineau pulls the shoe out with her hand and hunches over Xena’s upturned leg again, pulling a hammer and a few nails from her well-worn leather apron. This is hard physical work.

Xena looks about as Babineau nails on the shoe. The whole process has taken 15 minutes, and the horse has three hooves to go.

Uncomfortable with the term artisan, Babineau says her work is more a trade.

“It’s looking at the hooves and knowing that what you’re doing for the horse’s hoof is the best possible thing that you can do for it,” she says, working on the hoof with an iron file. “And you do want it to look pretty as well, because even if you have the best shoeing job in the world, if it looks like crap …”

She stops mid-sentence to grab another tool from the pile on the cold concrete floor. Looking up from the hoof resting on her knee, she smiles.

“But it is definitely the only thing I really want to be doing. I absolutely love it.”

Laura Babineau can be reached at islandfarriers@gmail.com ivan.morgan@theindependent.ca

APRIL 5, 2007

10 • INDEPENDENTNEWS

LIFE STORY

Subject to scrutiny

Alexander Campbell’s achievements as doctor and politician tainted by scandal DR. ALEXANDER CAMPBELL 1876 – 1940

By Keith Collier For The Independent

T

Ad from The Newfoundland Express, April 1913

AROUND THE WORLD Unusual opportunity — Earn large commissions demonstrating revolutionary new pinless clothesline. Apply or write: ZipGrip Sales, Toronto.

— The Newfoundlander, April 1951

YEARS PAST The first of the Irish Society balls came off on Wednesday night and was truly a beautiful affair. From eight o’clock at night, until between four and five in the morning, the scene was one of the most exhilarating and bewitching character. The number present was between three and four hundred, and as these whirled round in the excitement of the graceful waltz or still more graceful polka, the effect was superlatively beautiful. Much difference of opinion exists among the gentlemen with respect to the Belle of the night. Amid such a galaxy of beauty, where all appeared stars on the first magnitude, revolving in their distinct orbits, it would be a task to ascertain which of them shed the brightest light.

— The Reporter, April, 1865 EDITORIAL STAND If you have any doubts about the arrival of spring may we point out that there is one unerring sign that has been very much in evidence on our city’s streets for several weeks now.

We refer to the miniature, man made potholes which can be seen in the grounds of just about every school of the city. The scientific name for these potholes is “motts” and the little round objects which the children can be seen rolling towards them are marbles. The one completely accurate sign that spring and the reawakening of nature bears out our suggestion that the one completely accurate sign that spring has arrived is a grimy-faced youngster with half-frozen hands grinding out the first mott with the heel in the still-frozen ground.

— The Newfoundland Weekly, April 18, 1957 LETTER TO THE EDITOR Mr. Editor — The people of Benoit’s Cove at present have a petition started for the building of a bridge at Clarke’s Brook which is badly needed. I heard a remark passed down here that the 15 inch bridge they have there now is passable. If this party had to haul things over it in the fall they would not say so. I, myself, went down there last fall and had to wait an hour for the tide to fall to cross, and after trotting from Curling, my horse warm, had to plunge him in the cold water. I think myself that if this party had a few cold plunges in November himself it would take that jealous thought from him.

— The Humber Herald, April 20, 1929 QUOTE OF THE WEEK Finally it appears that a Federal Provincial conference is in the making to discuss the serious economic plight of hundreds of Bell Island families. We hope that when the Premier returns to Newfoundland with his golden tan from the Jamaican sun, he will be prepared to stand the heat of an Ottawa conference room.

— Wabana Star, April 4, 1962

Alexander Campbell

Four members of the government demanded Campbell’s dismissal, but Squires refused, leading to their resignations and ultimately to the downfall of the government. Squires himself came under investigation for larceny, and he and Campbell would be arrested before the dust settled.

The charges against Campbell and Squires were dropped in the political turmoil that followed, but both men decided to lay low for a few years.

Campbell focused on his medical practice and his fox farm until 1928, when Squires made his political comeback.

This time Campbell won a seat in the House of Assembly. The man who was twice defeated at the polls before being arrested was now a member for St. John’s West. Squires named him to his cabinet as minister without portfolio. Campbell remained in this position until the sweeping 1932 defeat of the Squires government.

In February 1932, ex-finance minister Peter Cashin delivered the fatal blows to the Squires’ administration, and Campbell did not escape

hope

AROUND THE BAY We wish to focus the attention of the Postmaster of Corner Brook on the matter of the pillar box on Broadway, Corner Brook West. The situation at present is anything but satisfactory.

And the people of Corner Brook are sufficiently numerous and sufficiently important to deserve better treatment than they are receiving in this respect.

People post letters in this box in all good faith, believing that such letters will receive ordinarily prompt attention. That box ought to be cleared at least twice each day. Corner Brook is not a hick town with people who are content with anything that is handed to them. There are many important business concerns in Corner Brook West, and a large population. They are not going to tolerate this kind of thing. And that’s flat.

— The Humber Herald, April 20, 1929

he 1920s were turbulent political times for Newfoundland and Labrador. But it wasn’t just the Squires and the Cashins who ran into trouble.

Alexander Campbell was born in Souris, P.E.I. on July 11, 1876. He attended school in Charlottetown before moving to Montreal to study medicine at McGill University. He was an excellent student, at the top of his graduating class. After graduation, he moved to Newfoundland.

The young doctor began practicing medicine in Bonne Bay in 1902. Two years later, he moved his practice to St. John’s, the city that would become his home for the rest of his life.

Campbell had a distinguished medical career, becoming one of the most well-known and respected doctors in the country. To further his studies, Campbell attended the Royal College of Surgeons in 1910 and Vienna University in 1911.

By 1909, he was involved with the government of the day, working as port quarantine doctor responsible for evaluating the risk of disease posed by ships entering St. John’s Harbour. The position later brought Campbell under the uncomfortable scrutiny of Peter Cashin.

Campbell’s political career began in earnest in 1919, when he ran in the district of St. John’s West for Richard Squires’ Liberal Reform Party. He was defeated, losing to Squires himself and Henry J. Brownrigg (St. John’s West was then a two-seat district).

Squires’ party, in coalition with William Coaker’s Fisheries Protective Union party, won a majority government, taking 24 seats to the Liberal Progressive’s 12.

The election was sharply divided along religious lines. Only two of Squires’ and Coaker’s two dozen seats were held by Roman Catholics, while Michael Cashin’s Liberal Progressives held only a single seat in an area with a Protestant majority.

To add diversity to his government, Squires appointed Campbell, a Catholic, to his cabinet, with the portfolio of agriculture and mines. Unable to secure a House of Assembly seat for Campbell, Squires appointed him to the legislative council.

Campbell split his time between his medical practice and the operation of his department. In an effort to increase the volume and variety of agricultural endeavours in Newfoundland and Labrador, he established a model farm during the 1920s, and began to promote fox farming as a viable occupation.

Unfortunately for Campbell, becoming involved with Sir Richard Squires was a sure way to get into political trouble. In 1924, Campbell failed to get elected a second time, and was accused by other members of the government of patronage and charging personal expenses to the taxpayers.

unscathed.

Cashin claimed Campbell had not filed income tax returns for several years, and that the amount he owed was large enough for Cashin, as finance minister, to seize portions of the doctor’s salary.

A second set of charges alleged Campbell, despite being paid as port doctor, had not visited a single ship in relation to his quarantine duties.

Although the charges eventually went nowhere, Squires and those associated with him were finished.

Campbell ran in the 1932 election, but lost, as did all but two of Squires’ supporters. This time, there was no cabinet post waiting for him.

Campbell had a turbulent political career, but it should be remembered that few politicians of the 1920s and ’30s came through the period unblemished. Campbell was a successful doctor, and his efforts to promote new and better forms of agriculture in Newfoundland were appreciated.

Alexander Campbell died on May 16, 1940, after calling Newfoundland home for almost 40 years.

For every question there is an answer.

We’re here.

Hope through education, support and solutions.

1.800. 321.1433

www.arthritis.ca

APRIL 5, 2007

INDEPENDENTNEWS • 11

Solemn journey High school students participate in Vimy Ridge 90th anniversary ceremony

By Mandy Cook The Independent

J

ohn Charles Cole, Victoria. Edward Francis Mullaly, Northern Bay. Frank Patrick Walsh, Harbour Grace. All three men share a common homeland, a common destiny and are all memorialized at a common site: the battle grounds at Vimy Ridge, France.

Kellie Lynch, 17, a student at Mount Pearl Senior High, will be searching the enormous marble edifice at the historic World War One battle site with particular care when she visits the memorial park with her class next week.

As part of the enrichment series accompanying the students’ trip — something they’ve been fundraising for and counting down on their cell phones for the past year — Lynch and her classmates attended a presentation by local author David Parsons. The historian assigned each student a card with a fallen Newfoundland-born soldier’s name on it. Lynch was assigned Patrick Walsh from Harbour Grace to research.

She’s delved into the background of the young man who fought and died at Vimy Ridge.

Walsh was one of 37 Newfoundland soldiers whose names were inscribed in the limestone. Each man, some the same youthful age as Lynch, is memorialized because their bodies were never found and have no grave marked as their own.

Lynch says the fact the men signed up for the war while working away from their mother country — and were therefore absorbed into the Royal Canadian Regiment — makes the anniversary ceremonies taking place at the site on April 9 all the more significant. “I think it’s important to show there was a difference and to remember because at the time it’s just like saying someone from another country was killed ‌ (then) don’t get any recognition for it. I’m sure the Newfoundlander that died would want to be recognized as a Newfoundlander,â€? she says, on the eve of her departure for Europe.

Victory at Vimy.

Photo courtesy Veterans Affairs Canada

The Newfoundland contingent of the Cape Breton Islanders, the battalion of which many of the Newfoundlanders were part, wound up a part of the Canadian armed forces due to sheer logistics, says Parsons. “Many of them had been over in Sydney working in the mines. If you lived on the west coast it was probably

just as easy to get on the ferry and go over to Sydney to join up.�

Despite not having seen any action previous to that date in 1917, the Newfoundland troops proved to be instrumental in the taking back of the ridge, which had, up to that point, been under the control of the Germans.

All other battalions exhausted, the

Islanders were sent to take the last enemy stronghold and emerged victorious, the Germans falling back. The Battle of Vimy Ridge is considered to be the turning point in Canada’s emergence as a nation.

Lynch says her journey to find Walsh’s name carved into the monument will be “very emotional.

“The only other war memorial I’ve been to is Pearl Harbour and just being there it was really moving. It’s like a weird feeling, it’s sad and that wasn’t even Canadian, never mind Newfoundland so I think this feeling will be like that but a lot closer to home.� mandy.cook@theindependent.ca

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12 • INDEPENDENTNEWS

APRIL 5, 2007

YOUR VOICE Correcting the ‘inaccuracies’ Dear editor, The article by Susan Rendell on lawyer Shelly Bryant (Shelley Bryant’s law practice has gone to the dogs — and to the kids, March 23 edition)) was incorrect in stating that Unified Family Court has offered free mediation services since late August.

Family court in this province was established in 1979 as a pilot project between the federal and provincial governments. Social workers were part of that project and we have always offered free counselling and mediation service to our clients, a service that has expanded over the years to adapt to the ever-growing needs of the jurisdiction that we serve.

Not only does Unified Family Court offer free counselling and mediation, but we have also conducted free parenting courses, as well as a walk-in service for any person seeking guid-

ance in the difficult times they were enduring in regards to separation, divorce, custody/access, child support, etc.

On March 1, the service was once again expanded, and has become mandatory, when Family Justice Services opened its doors. The court’s Family Justice Services division provides information and mediation services to adults, as well as counselling services to adults and children where necessary, which is provided by way of an application to the court or self-referral from both parties. Family Justice Services is situated throughout the province and all residents will receive such services. I would appreciate it if the inaccuracies can be corrected.

Hearn ‘captured’ by federal bureaucrats Dear editor, There is no greater example of reneging on published commitments by the Stephen Harper government than federal Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn’s refusal to implement pre-election promises to rebuild the federally mismanaged Newfoundland and Labrador fisheries.

The survival of rural communities is contingent on the restoration and sustainability of our adjacent fisheries and specifically the Grand Banks fishery. Hearn, who was largely responsible for commitments made in the Conservative party’s fisheries platform, publicly committed to restoration of the essential science programs and the implementation of custodial management. At the present time, and

since the implementation of the 1992 moratorium, absolutely nothing positive has been undertaken by DFO to determine the true state of various fish stocks or the commitment to extend jurisdiction to the continental shelf in order to provide protection for the fish stocks migrating over the 200mile limit.

What is most distressing is the fact that Hearn fully recognized the need for extension of jurisdiction, as did the majority of MPs in the House of Commons, when Hearn introduced a resolution in support of custodial management. That resolution — supported by a majority of MPs — was rejected by Hearn immediately following his official appointment as minister. That proves beyond any

question that bureaucrats with DFO and External Affairs “captured” Hearn, resulting in his firm pre-election commitment to revive our fisheries going down the drain and the continuation of the de-population of our rural areas.

This is such a blatant disregard of stated commitments to those who elected Harper, Hearn, Fabian Manning and others. One has to wonder why our provincial Fisheries Department, the press, the union, the municipalities and others have abandoned our basic, renewable industry and with it the rural population of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Gus Etchegary, Portugal Cove-St. Philip’s

M.L. Keough, Court officer, Unified Family Court, St. John’s

Bring back the Newfoundland wolf Dear editor, Recent articles in The Independent have raised a number of questions on the issues of coyotes in Newfoundland versus the viability of our caribou and moose populations. Surely the history of wildlife management in North America has taught us that coyote populations cannot be controlled.

It seems that some people find this hard to accept. In the balance of things, coyotes are a welcome addition. We have already witnessed the crash of the Avalon caribou herd due to overcrowding and resulting disease (parasites); a phenomenon called density dependent mortality in wildlife management.

Anyone who ventures more than a few hundred metres from roads and the proliferation of ATV trails discovers that our native balsam fir forests are not regenerating, and in areas such as the interior of the Avalon, our riches forest sites are open “savannahs” because for decades moose have been browsing all fir and hardwoods attempting to repopulate these sites.

“Management” for unrealistically high moose-hunter success rates is carrying a huge cost to our forests except those in narrow bands along the roads where most moose are now shot. The days of real hunting are long gone, and we should pay attention to the more balanced success of moose management in areas like northern Ontario where 10 per cent hunter success rates provide opportunities to many hunters, keep moose populations at more sustainable levels, and favour the rapid regeneration of forests for habitat and as well as commercial purposes. With the overall hunter population declining rapidly into the foreseeable future we should welcome the coyote, and hope that it is adapting its diet to include caribou and moose. More importantly, we should consider that perhaps its time to bring back the wolf, once indigenous to our island, in an effort to encourage an ecosystem that can find some level of balance.

Ian Goudie, St. John’s

Federal Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn (Conservative MP St. John’s South-Mount Pearl) was in St. John’s April 4 with fellow cabinet colleague Gordon O’Connor, minister of National Defence, to announce $101 million in funding for a new multi-purpose Canadian Forces building in Pleasantville in the city’s east end.

Paul Daly/The Independent

Another dark day for Newfoundland Dear editor, It has finally happened, the animal rights groups have finally infiltrated the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans. I couldn’t believe my ears when Minister Loyola Hearn announced a 65,000 reduction in this year’s seal quota.

For a couple of weeks now I suspected that something was amiss in DFO, when department officials were announcing that the ice in the southern Gulf was too thin for seals to survive on and that a lot of seal pups would drown. I said to myself that the antisealing groups have finally got some sympathizers within the department but I didn’t think that I would reach up as far as the minister; these officials were in the news for several weeks making these statements with no proof that they were right.

There are several things wrong with

the picture that the minister has painted. Seals are mammals, they live in the ocean, they have their young on the ice floes and they will travel north until they find suitable ice.

About 15 years ago sealers had to go up the Labrador coast as far as Grosswater Bay to find ice and seals.

In the early 1980s, before the animal rights groups destroyed our seal harvest, there were approximately 2.2 million seals in the ocean and that was considered sustainable, now we have between five and six million and that is not sustainable? Something is wrong with that picture.

The Canadian government has allowed most everything in the ocean to be destroyed and have allowed the seal population to explode to a point where the seals have a problem finding enough food to sustain themselves. I have never seen any seals drowning,

but I have seen a lot starving. Are we going to allow this imbalance in the ocean to continue because if we do we will gradually lose our seal fishery.

Not only will we lose our seal harvest, but the fish stocks in the ocean will never get a chance to recover.

The seal is a predator and will eat whatever is available in order to survive. With the seal markets good and the prices high, and the fish stocks at an all-time low, now is not the time, Mr. Hearn. Think of what you are doing to rural Newfoundland and Labrador. I have always admired and respected you. Stop this madness and restore our faith in you. Prove to us that you are a true Newfoundlander and Labradorian and that you care about this province of ours.

(Retired) Capt. Wilfred Bartlett, Brighton

Time to discuss alcohol and drug abuse in the workplace Dear editor, There’s an interesting discussion developing relating to the implications of alcohol and drug abuse in the workplace. This is not a new topic, but one slow to be discussed publicly to any significant degree in the province.

Perhaps it’s the right time as a school bus driver was recently found to be under the influence of alcohol just as he had completed his drop-off of small school children for the day.

Union leader Wayne Lucas and university researcher Bill McKim were quick off the mark to comment on the question of mandatory random drug testing in the workplace. Lucas spoke to the question of “employee rights being violated,” while McKim commented scientifically in support of Lucas’ remarks by adding that in the process of such mandatory testing an employee may test positive for another drug like cannabis, which may have been last used some weeks earlier, with traces still in his system.

The International Labour Organization, the workforce arm and voice of the UN, has referred to the workforce as a microcosm of the local community. In as much as the workforce is a random reflection of the community, it is highly likely that the workforce in general would have proportionately similar statistical evidence of chemical abuse.

The Canadian Centre for Substance Abuse, Canada’s prestigious home for addictions research, released some data from a 2004 Canadian addiction survey. Newfoundland and Labrador section: current drinkers 74 per cent; monthly heavy drinking 20 per cent; hazardous drinking 13.5 per cent; cannabis 45 per cent; crack two per cent; and alcohol abuse harming others 33 per cent.The charging of the bus driver with impaired driving has perhaps provided the platform from which to launch a provincial discussion regarding the impact upon, implications for, and relationship between alcohol and drug abuse and our workplaces.

Ronald Tizzard, Paradise

INDEPENDENTBUSINESS

FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY, APRIL 5-12, 2007 — PAGE 13

Minister of Tourism, Culture and Recreation Tom Hedderson with the Saturday Globe and Mail. The province has a full-page ad on the back page of the travel section.

Paul Daly/The Independent

Dollars for tourists Province has earmarked millions for tourism television and print ads MANDY COOK

C

anadians — Ontarians in particular — can expect to see more 30-second television spots of dramatically lit, majestic fjords or flapping outport clotheslines on their local airwaves this year.

The Department of Tourism, Culture and Recreation has allocated $6.4 million for this year’s advertising campaign. The cash will be used to encourage tourists to spend their vacation money in this province, with almost $5 million to be dropped in the denselypopulated province of Ontario alone. The strategy is to attract a particular clientele, says Minister Tom Hedderson.

“We have to make a decision where we’ll get the most bang for the buck,” he says. “Ontario is, one

their population, but the type of tourist we’re looking for, those that fly in for the most part, those that are between the ages of 40 and 60 and beyond, usually very well-educated, looking for a new learning experience and quite content to come down and spend a fair dollar as well.”

Hedderson says 70 per cent of tourists traveling to the island hail from Ontario and the Maritimes, 12 per cent from the U.S. and the final eight per cent from other countries.

The media campaign will also spend $218,036 in the Maritimes; $671,807 in the U.S., including $184,075 specifically focused on hunters and fishermen; and $499,000 within Newfoundland and Labrador. When asked about money spent internationally, Hedderson says the market is factored into an arrangement struck by the four Atlantic provinces.

“The four of us are into a consor-

tium as the Atlantic Canada Tourism Partnership and what we do we put in a block of money each according to per capita which then leverages money from the federal government which allows us then to enter into the international market which would include the U.S., European countries and beyond,” he says.

Hedderson says he’s received positive feedback on past campaigns from both visiting tourists and expatriates living in other provinces.

The financial yield is the ultimate indicator, he says. Non-resident tourist numbers have shown “moderate” increases in the past three years and remain around the 500,000 mark, but combined with in-province tourists and their expenditures, Hedderson pegs the industry to be worth “well in excess” of $800 million.

“Lining it up with other industries, you’re probably looking at

Non-resident spending in 2004: $320.6 M Non-resident spending in 2005: $336.4 M Non-resident spending in 2006: $366.3 M Source: provincial tourism department

the oil and gas industries probably ahead of it but we’re certainly up around the top five.”

Joseph O’Brien of O’Brien’s whale and bird tours in Bay Bulls says the province is doing a “real good job” in its marketing efforts and is expecting another successful tourist season — his 24th.

“It’s changing all the time, diversifying — we’re putting in more money than we’ve ever put in before,” he says. “(We’re) getting more focused on our advertising, people are becoming more Internet savvy and we’re connecting with people and picking up new airlines … and the services we have to offer (are) getting much stronger and more people are coming as a

result.”

O’Brien says the approach is working on all fronts, with most visitors hailing from Ontario, and the Maritimes coming in second.

He says the novelty of Newfoundland’s out-of-the-way location is still a hook for the tourist looking for something memorable.

“We see quite a lot of international travellers, people coming from Europe, the U.K. Iceberg watching is a big thing with the Europeans … so there’s a big demand in the world to find a unique spot and special things to do and we in Newfoundland and Labrador are probably one of the best in the world for that.”

The importance of attracting immigrants

T

he most recent census data was released a few weeks ago, and it wasn’t a surprise Newfoundland and Labrador’s demographic picture doesn’t look all that promising.

Then again, we really didn’t need the official numbers from Statistics Canada to tell us the population of our province has declined over the five-year period from 2001 to 2006.

The 2006 Census population count for Newfoundland and Labrador was 505,469. That’s down from close to 513,000 in 2001, a decline of roughly 1.5 per cet.

I’m not suggesting it’s a completely bleak picture for the province. That decline wasn’t near as sharp as the one seen during the 1996 to 2001 period,

CATHYBENNETT

Board of Trade when our population dropped by seven per cent. Nevertheless, this makes it the third census in a row that our province’s population has decreased.

Furthermore, we’re bucking the national trend. Newfoundland and Labrador was one of only two provinces to experience population decline from 2001 to 2006 (Saskatchewan being the other).

Unfortunately, we can’t count on “natural” forces to improve things. The census also pointed out Newfoundland

and Labrador has the lowest fertility rate in the whole country, averaging about 1.3 children per woman since 2001. The low birth rate, and the fact our population is aging, has led us to the point where natural population change in this province is now negative — in 2006, 4,400 people were born and 4,500 died — and the gap will continue to widen if projections come to pass.

What’s the big deal about our population getting older and shrinking? For one thing, it affects our labour market.

Where are our businesses going to get employees in the future? Worker and skills shortages are a real problem now, and are only going to worsen.

The census noted that all the Atlantic provinces share many of the same

demographic characteristics, including low fertility, net out-migration, and not much at all in the way of international immigration.

The question is, how do we mitigate all this? Again, there won’t be a sudden and significant reversal in our natural population change any time soon.

But we shouldn’t consider it a lost cause when it comes to trying to stem out-migration and to boost in-migration.

Simply put, we need to create opportunities for people to stay here and for more expatriates to come back to live and work.

Immigration has a role to play here, too.

Employers and our province as a

whole have something to gain from a proactive, strategic, concerted effort to attract newcomers to our province, retain them and guide their effective integration into our society and workforce. It’s in our best interest to have a plan to facilitate this, as opposed to having no plan at all for how we’re going to approach and handle immigration.

Several other provinces have already taken proactive approaches to increasing immigration, including Nova Scotia, P.E.I., New Brunswick, Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

Newfoundland and Labrador is following that lead with a new immigraSee “Taking,” page 14

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14 • INDEPENDENTBUSINESS

YOUR VOICE ‘Killing the character of Canada’ Dear editor, The current budget issues are but symptoms of bigger problems in the nature of federal/provincial relations, and for Newfoundland and Labrador a part of grievances that cut much deeper than the current dollars and cents of the federal budget.

The problem is not who gets what from the federal government but how the whole system works.

Rather than continuing to play typical politics and bicker over each other’s arithmetic, Newfoundland and Labrador should change tack and shift the battlefield on Ottawa. Here is an idea of a potential change of course.

Over the past 100 years Canada has drifted away from the original spirit of a federated state as devised by the fathers of Confederation, to one where the balance of control in this country rests firmly with the federal government — it should not. The real problem is that provincial governments have to go begging to the federal government for money that should be under their control to begin with.

The issue at debate right now should be who gets the tax points and how our democracy is structured, not how much and for what programs dollars are bestowed to the provinces.

The central authority should only exist to service the constituent state entities, in this case the provinces. I believe the federal government should have to go to the provinces for its budgetary needs each year. The only

province that benefits from the current structure is Ontario, which has made it a primary goal to turn Canada into a larger version of southern Ontario; in the process discarding all the wonderful variations in culture of the regions.

I propose that every year the federal government go to the provinces for funding its activities and only in the areas we need a central authority — such as the military, foreign affairs and the monitoring of certain key socio/economic standards. The division of powers does not go far enough.

Canada was never meant to be a unitary state. By allowing it to be turned into one we have killed off many amazing places that once made up a wonderfully eclectic country.

I remember as a child believing my accent reflected ignorance or stupidity. The result is now I sound very much the same as many Canadians. I then lived for sometime in the U.K., where the variations in accent are alive and well and celebrated.

I discovered how much I missed my Newfoundland eccentricity. In a globalized world we need these nuances of character and culture. The point of this story is that the system that this budget represents is what’s killing the character of Canada. We have an opportunity to proceed differently.

Matthew LeRiche, PhD candidate Department of War Studies, King’s College, London

‘Fairly well served by Air Canada’ Dear editor, Many thanks to The Independent for publishing my letter on Air Canada service to St. John’s (‘The height of nitwittery’, March 23).

Maybe The Independent will allow me to reveal what was left out of my last letter as I think people might be interested. I did a minor amount of research and came up with the following comparison of Air Canada service for various small cities: Saskatoon, population 234,00, five Bombardier jets (75 seats each); Regina, population 195,000, four Bombardier jets (75 seats each); Moncton, population 125,000, six Bombardier jets (50 seats each); Saint John, population 122,000, four Bombardier jets (50 seats each); St. John’s, population 125,000, three Airbus (120-140 seats each), plus two Embrarer (73-79 seats each).

All flights are non-stop to and from Toronto and one of those Embrarers goes on to Fort McMurray, which is quite a convenience to many of our citizens. Westjet service for that day (Aug. 15, 2007) consisted of two Boeing 737s. It seems we are fairly well served by Air Canada and this will improve when the new Heathrow flight starts on April 4. Our level of service amounts to neither a “slap in the face” nor a “caress on the cheek” but to a sound business case on the part of the company.

I have no doubt that if the boycotters had their way the level would decrease accordingly. In which case those sage individuals would perhaps come and visit displaced Air Canada workers in Fort McMurray ... if they could find a flight.

David Paddon (Air Canada employee), St. John’s

APRIL 5, 2007

POWER PURCHASE

Ontario Energy Minister Dwight Duncan stands with Natural Resources Minister Kathy Dunderdale in St. John’s April 2. Duncan was in the province to discuss Ontario’s interest in purchasing power from the lower Churchill project.

Paul Daly/The Independent

Taking a broad approach From page 13

targets and timelines for attraction and retention, which is important. The tion strategy of its own. objective is to attract 1,200 to 1,500 Before it gets widespread buy-in, we annually within the next five years. It may need to dispel the myth that most also proposes to increase the retention immigrants are a drain on the economy. rate to 80 per cent for provincial nomiAlong with contributing to cultural nees (those with targeted professional and social diversity, qualifications), and immigrants can trans70 per cent for other fer innovation and crecategories of immiativity and help stimuWe need to diversify grants. late economic growth It recognizes the by establishing busivalue of boosting the our response to nesses and employing intake of international local residents. They post-secondary stubuilding the labour may offer connections dents, professionals, to international marmarket and reversing skilled workers and kets and can perhaps immigrant entreprepopulation decline. help open export neurs who can start doors for Newfoundbusinesses, attract land and Labrador capital and create companies. jobs.

Some research has suggested, when Clearly, increasing immigration compared to the general population, alone is not the answer to our demoimmigrants to Canada generally have graphic and labour shortage challenges. lower unemployment rates, higher edu- However, it provides part of a muchcation levels, and higher levels of entre- needed response. We have to take a preneurship. Immigrants, therefore, can broad approach. Just like we diversify contribute positively to productivity our strategy to grow the economy, we and job creation. need to diversify our response to buildAs for the new strategy, it includes ing the labour market and reversing

population decline.

Arguing that we shouldn’t put an ounce of effort into an immigration strategy until we “take care of our own” by halting out-migration and bringing back Newfoundlanders and Labradorians from Alberta, is a bit like saying we shouldn’t worry about developing other industries and economic opportunities until we put our fishery back in a thriving state.

It is absolutely critical that we as a province continue to work towards creating opportunities and favourable conditions in this province under which we are better able to retain native Newfoundlanders and Labradorians and entice ex-pats to return to live, work, raise their families and contribute to our economy.

But, there is also an important place for attracting newcomers to the province.

The two are not mutually exclusive — we need to provide opportunities for born-and-bred Newfoundlanders and Labradorians and find ways to attract and retain immigrants at the same time.

Cathy Bennett is the president of the St. John’s Board of Trade.

MCP RE-REGISTRATION ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH OFFICER BURSARY PROGRAM 2007-2008 BURSARY PROGRAM: The purpose of the Department of Government Services Bursary program is to recruit and retain Environmental Health Officers to deliver the Environmental Health program to meet the needs of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador. The Department of Government Services Bursary program is offered to provide assistance to selected candidates to pursue the Bachelor of Technology (Public Health) accelerated 2 Year Post-Diploma Degree Format at Cape Breton University (visit www.capebretonu.ca for more information on the university) in Sydney, Nova Scotia. In return for the assistance, bursary recipients must commit to work as Environmental Health Officers in various rural and remote locations throughout the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador provided suitable vacant positions are available upon certification as Public Health Inspectors through the Canadian Institute of Public Health Inspectors (visit www.ciphi.ca for more information on certification).

Deadline Extended To July 31, 2007

ELIGIBILITY: 1.

Preference will be given to residents of Newfoundland and Labrador.

2.

Preference will be given to those candidates who have obtained a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Studies or Related Life Science. However, consideration will be given to those candidates who have completed a Diploma Program in a relevant Field and meet the admittance requirements in the accelerated 2 year Post-Diploma Degree Format at Cape Breton University. The following term courses or their equivalents are required for entry into the 2 year program: General Chemistry, Communications or English(2), Biology, Organic Chemistry, Microbiology, Mathematics, Statistics, Geology, Physics, Anatomy and Physiology, Computer Applications or other equivalents.

Due to an unexpected delay in the processing of a number of MCP re-registration applications, the Department of Health and Community Services is extending the date for the expiry of old MCP cards from March 31, 2007 to July 31, 2007.

RETURN SERVICE REQUIREMENTS: Bursaries will be awarded to individuals who sign a contract agreeing upon graduation, to provide 3 years of service as Environmental Health Officer located in a rural location Province as determined by the Department.

If you have applied and have not received your new MCP card, it is due to the fact that your application was either incomplete, or was completed with information which is inconsistent with the MCP database (for example, a date of birth written incorrectly or a change in name which was not reported to MCP). You will be contacted by MCP for additional information in the near future.

APPLICATION PROCESS: The following documentation is required to be submitted: - current resume with covering letter and references - official transcripts of academic qualifications

If you have not submitted your MCP re-registration form it is essential that you do so immediately as processing may take up to 30 days if there are no omissions or errors on the form.

SELECTION PROCESS: Bursaries will be awarded through a competitive selection process.

Applicants should expect to encounter a variety of selection processes which may include paper screening of credentials, written tests, personal interviews and reference checks.

If you have any questions you can contact the MCP office via the following: Toll free: St. John’s/Avalon Region: 1-866-449-4459 All other areas, including Labrador: 1-800-563-1557

BURSARY AMOUNT: The Department of Government Services will provide tuition reimbursement as well as a semester living allowance of $8,000 per semester.

COMPETITION #: GS.07/08.EHOBP.07003 CLOSING DATE: April 24, 2007 Applications, complete with resume and names of three professional references should be forwarded to: MAIL:

FAX: E-mail:

Manager of Strategic Staffing Public Service Commission P.O. Box 8700, 2 Canada Drive, St. John’s, NL A1B 4J6 (709) 729-6234 jhandrigan@gov.nl.ca

Hon. Ross Wiseman, Minister Department of Health and Community Services

APRIL 5, 2007

INDEPENDENTBUSINESS • 15

All Canadians have a RIGHT to fish Hearn Doesn’t Like this Court Ruling “As the Supreme Court of Canada put it in Comeau’s Sea Foods Ltd. v. Canada … ‘Canada’s belonging to all the people of Canada … it is the Minister’s duty to manage, conserve and develop interest. They do not belong to the Minister”

Larocque v. Canada, Federal Court of Appeal, June 2006

Loyola Hearn wants to STEAL it.

Hearn supports the Conservative Fisheries Act - Bill C-45.

C-45 allows DFO to sell fish to fund DFO unions, associations or even non-fishing groups of DFO’s choice.

Under C-45 DFO can force fishermen to pay any organization of DFO’s choosing or DFO can refuse to renew your fishing licence Defend YOUR RIGHT

Call Hearn at 709-772-4608.

Say that you'll put him out to sea unless he stops Bill C-45. call: 709-895-6681 or email: bcfish@shawlink.ca

Brought to you by Conservative, Liberal, NDP and Independent commercial

16 • INDEPENDENTBUSINESS

APRIL 5, 2007

Premier, the facts do matter.

The Government of Canada promised to protect the Atlantic Accord.

Budget 2007 delivers 100% protection for the Atlantic Accord.

Under the Accord, the province is entitled to $494 million this year. In the Budget, it is still entitled to $494 million.

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians have the option of joining the new Equalization formula if it becomes more advantageous over the life of the Accord.

It’s simple.

There is no cap on the Accord.

There has been no cut in payments under the Atlantic Accord and no cut to the Equalization program.

In fact, the Budget brings federal support for Newfoundland and Labrador to more than $1.5 billion this year.

These are the facts. Because the facts do matter.

For more details on the Government of Canada's Budget 2007 or for a copy of the brochure Restoring Fiscal Balance for a Stronger Federation: CALL: 1 800 O-Canada (1-800-622-6232) OR CLICK: www.budget.gc.ca

INDEPENDENTLIFE

THURSDAY THROUGH THURSDAY, APRIL 5-12, 2007 — PAGE 17

John Prior in front of the bar where he says he once gambled away nearly $2,000 in two hours.

Paul Daly/The Independent

‘Out of control’ Province moves to help VLT addicts; 15 suicides last year alone

By Stephanie Porter The Independent

I

t’s been six years since John Prior last drank any serious amount of alcohol, and twice that since he last saw cocaine. He hasn’t had a smoke in two years. The achievement he’s most proud of?

He hasn’t played “the almighty VLTs” in four months.

“Of all the addictions I’ve had, even cocaine, the VLTs are the strongest,” says Prior, 57. “They were around six or seven years and I didn’t put a dime into them. I used to look at people and say, ‘What a fool to sit and watch that spin all day.’

“All of a sudden, I put $20 in and got $150 back and it spiraled out of control … I would be sitting here doing something, and I wouldn’t know anything before I’d be over there, sitting in front of one of the machines. I wouldn’t even remember crossing the street.”

Video lottery terminals were first introduced in Newfoundland and Labrador in 1991. There are now 2,375 in the province — government removed 105 machines April 1 in the second phase of its five-year strategy to reduce the number of terminals by 15 per cent.

The province has taken other steps, including reducing the hours and speed of play, with a stated aim of protecting those with gambling problems or addictions.

But the reductions will affect the province’s treasury: the Finance Department expects to see about $56.9 million net profit from VLTs this year.

(The current measures will, they estimate, mean about $10.5 mlllion in lost revenue.)

According to the province, between one and two per cent of the population are “problem gamblers.”

Prior, for one, believes it’s much more serious than that.

“It’s out of control. Out of control,” he says, seat-

ed in his small home in the west end of St. John’s.

There’s a bar just across the street, a fact he rarely forgets.

“I would go over there, I’d see little old ladies there in their 80s with their purses turned bottomup, trying to find that last dollar. So mesmerized, they’re going from machine to machine … almost make you cry, because they’re lost.

“I’ve seen single mothers on social assistance go to the bar with their cheques and spend every single cent. The next day, they’re looking for handouts, to feed their kids. I know there’s a lot of people in St. John’s, in Newfoundland, that committed suicide because of it. Even though they don’t come out and say it.”

Prior — who admits he’s put a whole month’s paycheque of $1,800 into a VLT in one sitting — can understand where the temptation comes from.

He’s come close to losing his home, not to mention his life, more than once.

“When you lose that much money and come home, you don’t feel very good about yourself.

Suicide crossed my mind an awful lot of times because of those machines.”

Prior traces his current battle to his introduction to alcohol, at age 14, in his hometown of Jersey Harbour on the Burin Peninsula.

He says it was accepted for teens to drink in his isolated hometown. More options became available when he moved to Grand Bank in 1970 under Joey Smallwood’s resettlement program, and he experimented with marijuana, mushrooms, LSD, “whatever was on the go in the ’70s and ’80s.”

Eventually, he moved to St. John’s and Toronto, where he got heavily in cocaine.

“I have an addictive personality,” says Prior. “I would just replace one addiction with another. And after all that, I was introduced to the almighty VLTs.” That was a decade ago. In the years since, he tried to give up gambling a number of times. When

VLT monitoring should be improved: minister Health Minister Ross Wiseman says more care should have been taken when VLTs were introduced in Newfoundland and Labrador in 1991.

While the prevalence of gambling and gambling addiction in the province is in line with other jurisdictions — less, in some cases — there are everincreasing referrals to addictions counselors.

“Upon reflection today, 15plus years later, we now recognize that at the time VLTs were legalized, if you had a licence to sell liquor then you were entitled to have VLT machines,” says Wiseman.

“Beyond that, there was no criteria established for the numbers you may be able to have at a particular civic address, the concentration of

VLTs in one community or one region, controls that might be put in place that might have limited the amount of access to the machines … those kinds of things were not given consideration at the time.

“In hindsight, it would have been something to think about.”

He says the government of the day likely thought it was bringing in a regulated structure — so that if gambling were going on, government would be able to exert some control over it.

Faced with the current situation, Wiseman points out the government assigned a specific gambling counselor to each of the five health boards, starting last summer.

“What we’ve tried to do is

he slipped up, he would find obscure bars in different parts of town to play in, where he wouldn’t be spotted.

“The faster I could get the money in the machine, the better I liked it,” he says. “When I’d get to the bar door, my heart rate would increase, my breathing would get shallow, and I would feel sick until I got the money in and made that first spin. I’d be sweating until I started.

“Me and my partner, she’s an addictive gambler too, we were in quite a state. It’s a battle.”

Health Minister Ross Wiseman

make sure people have an understanding of the problems associated with gambling,” he says.

“And recognizing there will be people who will become addicted and when they do, they should contact our health authorities.”

These days, neither Prior nor his partner can walk around with more than the price of a cup of coffee in their pockets. It’s tricky, he admits, when it comes time to cash cheques or pay bills.

“It’s a hard addiction to support each other on,” he says. He’s heard about government’s plans to reduce access to the machines. He says he’s skeptical, but appreciates “the small steps.

“The point is, they’re going to lose their dollars See “How do you,” page 19

Mary loves Triffie National reaction to Mary Walsh’s directorial debut has been ‘really, really tremendous’

I

Mary Walsh

Paul Daly/The Independent

t’s 1974, a sleepy, sulfurous summer day in a central Newfoundland mill town, and there isn’t one sign of the 10-point quake that’s going to change the cultural landscape forever before the day flips over.

Grand Falls could double for the set of Happy Days, which just hit the small screen. Duck-tailed dudes in convertibles at the drive-in, one arm around a girl with or without a “reputation.” A local motorcycle gang (so far they can’t afford bikes, just the leather jackets) with a penchant for squeaking into the Popular theatre, standing in front of a row of seats and sitting down in unison when their leader snaps his fingers. Hiscock’s hamburger joint — the end of every first date if there’s going to be a second.

My father’s transfer from Town isn’t going down well with my mother the urbanite. When she gets wind of a play being performed that night in a school auditorium in Windsor, she tells the family we’re all going. We bleat, we beg; we nearly bawl. But there’s no

SUSAN RENDELL Screed and Coke dealing with my mother: she’s scented Culture, and is prepared to swim the Exploits River to get at it if she has to.

And she wants company.

The play is called Cod on a Stick. I sit down next to my sister on a chair as hard as my heart, and prepare for the worst.

What I get is CODCO. We’ve never seen anything like it.

Newfoundland’s counter-culture revolution leaps onstage in the form of 20somethings Mary Walsh, Cathy Jones, Diane Olsen, Greg Malone, Andy Jones and Bob Joy (and a 17-year-old Tommy Sexton), twisting its wicked wit around Newfoundland’s manners and mores until we burst. A middleaged man in a suit beside me rolls out into the aisle, gasping for air.

Almost 33 years later, my sister and I are doubled over next to each other

once again, in homage to the untarnished talents of Mary Walsh, Andy Jones and Cathy Jones. This time it’s at a private screening of Young Triffie, a feature-length film co-produced by Morag Loves Company of St. John’s and Montreal’s Cinémaginaire.

Set in rural Newfoundland in 1948 and shot in St. John’s and Trinity, Triffie is a dark comedy featuring the bright talents of Canadian actors Fred Ewanuick, Rémy Girard, Andrea Martin and Colin Mochrie, and homegrown thespians Mary Walsh, Andy Walsh, Cathy Jones, Jonny Harris, Sherry White, Rick Boland, Pete Soucy and Susan Kent.

Besides playing Mrs. Millie Bishop, the prying post-mistress of Swyer’s Harbour, Mary Walsh directed the film — her first time on the other side of the camera.

I spoke to Walsh at her hotel room in Halifax, after a 20-minute series of farcical communication mishaps staged on several floors of the Prince George — I figure the spirit of CODCO must See “That ebb,” page 20

18 • INDEPENDENTLIFE

GALLERYPROFILE RAE PERLIN Visual Artist

B

onnie Leyton recalls the “ferocious” spirit of her late friend, Rae Perlin, showing itself years ago at a talk given by Newfoundland artist Christopher Pratt. A room full of women were taking in several works featuring female models in a variety of erotic poses.

At a time when no one else would have dared, Leyton says, Perlin spoke up and challenged the artist and his subject matter.

“She got up and she said, ‘I just want to know why you put women in quite that provocative a position — why are their nipples so strong?’”

Perlin, a St. John’s artist born in 1910, died a little over a year ago. She spent a lifetime speaking out on topics she passionately cared about. Leyton says no matter the local issue at the time, Perlin was there — whether marching in protest of the construction of Atlantic Place on the downtown waterfront or demanding equality for women in this province’s workplace and society.

But of all her passions, art was Perlin’s most ardent. Having travelled to the major art capitals of Europe and studied under some of the preeminent instructors of the time, Perlin returned to St. John’s in 1959 to care for her ill mother. Over the years, she produced countless works, the very last of which will be presented at Previously Unseen: The Works of Rae Perlin at the Leyton Gallery in St. John’s.

The numerous sketches of graphite, charcoal and even ball-point pen will be on display starting April 7. Leyton says Perlin’s nephew, John, rang her up recently to say he had “four or five” suitcases full of his aunt’s work. Her first reaction was to insist he donate the collection to the provincial archives, but jumped at his offer to show the work first.

“This is probably the last time you’re going to see this big a collection of her work anywhere. Once the show is over it’ll go into the archives. This is the end of it — there just is no more,” says Leyton.

Perlin’s deft hand is most apparent in the gesture sketch. A Cubist-inspired portrait of a woman is confidently delineated by a bold jaw line and fleshy lips. While the light source blanches her forehead, nose and chin, her cheeks fall into both shadow and feminine definition.

An urban scene of an automobile motoring along the coast is another example of Perlin’s efficient use of line. While the vehicle almost seems to be sliding along a single rail of track instead of the crosshatched suggestion of a roadway, the tilting, rudimentary telephone poles just barely connect with the slack wire.

“Just the way she could gesture and easily use form and line. I think that was her outstanding qualities,” says Leyton. “It’s just that feeling of total involvement in form and space and line that I like about her work.”

While many of the sketches on display at the show are quiet, seemingly unassuming images, Perlin herself had a personality larger than life. Her interest in politics and philosophy steered her in her belief women were equal to men and art should be recognized as a feasible professional choice — for both men and women. Leyton says new generations of Newfoundlanders have much to thank her for.

“I think she not only led the way for artists to be artists but she also led the way for women to have a voice because she felt so strongly about it … A lot of people who might come in to see the show won’t even know from personal experience the kind of things she had to fight for and thank goodness for that.” mandy.cook@theindependent.ca

The Gallery is a regular feature in The Independent. For information, or to submit proposals, please call (709) 726-4639, or e-mail editorial@theindependent.ca

APRIL 5, 2007

APRIL 5, 2007

INDEPENDENTLIFE • 19

NOREEN GOLFMAN Standing Room Only

W

riter Kenneth J. Harvey once told an interviewer that “awards always sell books.”

If he is right, then his gripping, well reviewed novel Inside ought to be flying off the shelves soon enough. Last week Harvey was named the 2006 winner of the Winterset Award in an announcement at Government House.

He joins a growing and impressive list of Newfoundland authors, including Michael Winter, Ed Riche, and twotime achiever Joan Clark.

The reception following the announcement was lively and warm, with the other worthy finalists, poet Ken Babstock and short story writer Russell Wangersky, clinking crystal with the St. John’s literati, friends, and family, and of course the intellectual governor himself.

It was difficult not to view the occasion with a degree of irony, however, for Ken Harvey has not always been welcome, let alone celebrated, in circles like this one. He is too young to say the road to Government House — or Winterset — has been long and arduous, but he is old enough to have written well over a dozen works of fiction, collected several awards outside the province, been nominated for more, and grown a reputation as “one of Canada’s most dynamic and daring writers,” according to one Ottawa reviewer.

It wasn’t always like this, at least not here. Fearlessly outspoken, Harvey once had the audacity to question popular taste, arguing that far too many local works tended to be tirelessly devoted (and therefore tirelessly applauded) to woeful stories about fishermen. That’s the kind of comment that can keep you off the social register for a long time.

Harvey also openly challenged the big publishers’ stranglehold on national book prizes, daring to accuse the whole establishment of Canadian literature as being shamelessly enslaved to a handful of big houses.

That establishment, he declaimed, kept reproducing itself by short-listing and then awarding an exclusive group of writers with built-in reputations.

He walked the walk by launching the ReLit Awards in 2000, an “alternative to the big-money prizes.” By definition, therefore, the ReLit Awards encouraged independent Canadian literary publishers and, by extension, authors who had not yet been branded as Canadian trademarks. Now in its seventh year, the ReLit Awards annually honour the short-listed authors not in a high-ceilinged drawing room flanked by pictures of royal visitors, but on a rocky beach in Middle Cove, a bonfire blazing, a crowd clutching beer bottles and huddling together

John Prior

Kenneth J. Harvey

Paul Daly/The Independent

The sweet taste of success Kenneth J. Harvey has not always been welcome in local and national literary circles — which makes his Winterset win all the more important against the sea winds, the Queen’s representative nowhere in sight.

TROUBLING NATURE But over the years since he published his first collection of short stories with a small press, Directions for an Opened Body (1990), Harvey has faced local resistance not only because of how he has dared to challenge the CanLit establishment but also because of the dark and troubling nature of much of his fiction.

As with Inside, his works have often inhabited the mind of an outsider — a sociopath, a stalker, a convicted killer, albeit even one wrongfully accused.

By nature these roles have fallen to male characters, and so some women readers were quick to identify his work as being deliberately misogynistic.

Adding insult to injury, Harvey has

Paul Daly/The Independent

‘How do you tame the monster?’

From page 17 … but let’s be reasonable. This is a deadly disease.”

Gary Parsons, a gambling addictions counselor with Eastern Health, says there’s a real lack of awareness and understanding about VLT addiction.

Even written government policy, he points out, refers to “problem gamblers,” not addicts.

“You don’t hear anyone say you have a crack problem, or an oxycontin problem,” he says. “People think gambling is not an addiction because you’re not putting anything into your body, you’re not smoking, drinking, injecting or taking pills … But it’s probably the worst of the worst.”

Although statistics on gambling-related suicide are not available, Parsons says he knows of at least 15 in the past year. Of his dozens of clients, he says between 90 and 95 per cent of them are VLT addicts. More than any other type of gambling, he says, the machines can take a lot of money in a very short period of time.

He appreciates the steps government is taking, but knows they can only go so far.

“It’s unrealistic to talk of banning them,” he says. “The monster is here to stay. It’s worldwide; it’s province wide.

It’s a part of government revenues, part

of business. But how do you tame the monster? I guess that’s what they’re trying to do now.”

Prior is taking things one day at a time. He’s begun studying reiki, an alternative healing approach involving massage and meditation. A longtime worker on offshore supply boats, he’s been on disability since June. He doesn’t plan to go back — focusing instead on getting healthy and healing.

He says temptation is everywhere, and he’s frustrated he can’t go to a restaurant or have a game of pool without being faced with the pull of the machines. Even to drive to his weekly Gamblers Anonymous meeting or sessions with Parsons he’s got to pass by half a dozen bars.

He says talking about his addictions helps, and he’s begun visiting high schools to share his story.

“I’m fairly clean right now, but it’s a daily battle,” he says. “I’m mentally tired a lot, it’s a struggle, not doing it. I didn’t understand that for the longest time.

“Even though I’m just one person, I’ve got to try to change myself so that other people can see what I have accomplished … I’m going to get where I’ve got to go — I’ve got no other choice.

“I’ve tried to go the other way, and that didn’t work.”

been a shameless self promoter, an indefatigable on-line hustler of his own talent. Those of us captured in his web-net have been regularly informed of book releases, readings, nominations and awards. This kind of relentless auto-marketing is simply not done in polite circles, where you are supposed to let the good readers come to you, not the other way around.

Perhaps the most audacious example of what you might call his advertising genius was his flogging of Skin Hound, a 2000 novel about a serial murderer. Harvey famously inserted tiny slices of his own skin into copies of the book, standing back just in time to watch the publicity machine rip into action.

If many local writers shook their heads and tacitly shunned Harvey for such extreme gestures, a few applaud-

ed both his promotional chutzpa and the risky ways he dared to take his talent on the page, admiring what Nobelprize winning author J.M. Coetzee called his “extravagantly haunted imagination.”

Not that long ago many writers in this town wouldn’t cross the pub to shake his hand. Today the self-styled bad boy of Newfoundland writing can boast the $5,000 Winterset Award, not to mention the 2006 Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize worth $15,000, surely enough change to build a pretty good bonfire on the shores of Middle Cove.

What is reassuring about the trajectory of Harvey’s career to date is that he has proven that talent can, indeed, rise to the top. Call it natural justice, but he has outlived the rejections, the charges of unseemly self promotion,

the dismissals by his own community of writers, the envy, spite, and even the hatred of his works and their unpopular, impolitic subject matter.

Harvey once said he wished there “were more titles by writers with new vision on the (awards) lists. The lists are often dominated by writers with Victorian sensibilities. Sometimes they’ll toss in a cutting-edge writer and think they’ve done their little bit.” With a growing basket of awards, much deserved recognition by a Newfoundland-based jury of peers, and a Government House handshake, Harvey is finally eating his own words. Odds are they taste really sweet.

Noreen Golfman is a professor of literature and women’s studies at Memorial University. Her column returns April 20.

APRIL 5, 2007

20 • INDEPENDENTLIFE

Mary Walsh in Young Triffie

Triffie an ‘extraordinary motion picture’ Comedy, murder, mystery and unforgettable characters combine almost perfectly in Mary Walsh’s directorial debut TIM CONWAY Film Score Young Triffie Starring Fred Ewaniuk, Mary Walsh, Andy Jones ***1/2 (out of four) 90 min.

O

ur introduction to Swyers Harbour, G.D. Bay is hardly one of quiet, pastoral splendour.

While attending her morning chores, Millie Bishop (Mary Walsh) discovers a mutilated sheep strung up in her back yard. Frightened out of her wits, to the extent the local doctor (Remy Girard) is called to the scene, the hysterical Mrs. Bishop telephones the nearest detachment of the Newfoundland Rangers to report the incident.

Earnest to a fault, Ranger Alan Hepditch (Fred Ewaniuk), the province’s only expert in fingerprinting, has borne the brunt of one too many pranks at the hands of the other Rangers. Straightening his back, and mustering every ounce of his courage, he presents himself to Sgt. Bill O’Mara (Colin Mochrie)

and hands in his resignation.

Like every aspect of his life as a Ranger, Hepditch’s attempt to quit is disregarded, and O’Mara dispatches the frustrated young man to investigate the kerfuffle in Swyers Harbour. Suffering his humiliation, Hepditch boards the next train, completely unaware of the challenges awaiting him at the end of his journey.

Just as the doctor arrives to sedate Millie Bishop, an anxious Billy Head (Jonny Harris) bursts through the door of the post office, reporting an alarming discovery. He leads the assemblage of concerned folk to the beach, where they find the body of young Tryphenia Maud Pottle (Marthe Bernard).

At 15, Triffie, as she was known, possessed the mind of a child one-third her age. Of the numerous maladies and mishaps that could befall a young person in outport Newfoundland in 1948, none of them appear to have led to her demise.

Her untimely passing was of a more rare and unnatural sort, for young Triffie was “made away with.”

In addition to her role as the nosey postmistress, national comedy icon Mary Walsh makes her feature film directing debut with Young Triffie. The screenplay,

‘That ebb and flow’ From page 17

down for a month after Andrea Martin developed a serious fungal have taken up residence along with infection from a Bausch & Lomb eye her. product — an infection that 106 peoWalsh is on the last leg of a nation- ple in Canada and the U.S. would al tour — Vancouver, Calgary, Mon- contract, blinding several of them. treal, Toronto, Halifax and St. John’s Walsh praises Martin for her esprit — to promote the film, based on a de corps. “Even though she was in play by Ray Guy. great pain, she came to shoot a scene Triffie’s distributor, TVA Films, is … and ended up lying on a bed of a Quebec company, and in la belle pain in a darkened room.” province it’s customary for the direcAlthough Martin’s illness was the tor and the actors to most serious incitour with the film dent that took place before its release. during the shoot, it “I love Ray Guy’s This “bringing the wasn’t the only one. film to the people” Walsh broke her finwork. I’ve wanted approach, as Walsh ger, and another describes it, apWalsh broke a larger to make a film pealed to her. So she extremity. “We had out of the play and Ewanuick (of to rebuild the NewCorner Gas fame) foundland railway since 1985.”

— joined by Girard … my brothers came in Montreal and to rock the train for — Mary Walsh Martin in Toronto — us. And one of them have been doing just broke his leg.” She that, signing autosays she felt like graphs at invitational screenings and adding a note to the credits: talking to media from coast to coast “‘Although no animals were hurt, a for the past two weeks. number of Walshes were.’”

I ask Walsh how the national Will she continue to wear her response to Triffie has been. “Really, director’s hat? “Well, you just can’t really tremendous,” she replies. say, it’s Thursday, I think I’ll direct a “People think it’s tremendously film on Friday. It’s a big thing: it’s funny … ‘So many talented people like the Franklin expedition, like … how did you get so many funny Perry going to the Pole.” But yes, she people together in one place?’” will: “The wheels are in motion.”

She’s had a cinematic eye on My last question concerns the upGuy’s play (which she’s directed) for and-down nature of our film indusa long time. “I always really loved it. try. “It’s the natural order of things, I love Ray Guy’s work. I’ve wanted that ebb and flow,” Walsh says. “We to make a film out of the play since don’t have a big enough population 1985.” base — we need at least 500,000 So what’s directing like? “I more people. We need a whole other enjoyed it immensely … the best film community.” experience I’ve ever had,” says But none of the provinces are havWalsh, although the post-production ing an easy ride when it comes to process “was a steep learning curve.” making films, she tells me. “We have When I ask her to describe the our sets of problems, they have worst thing that happened during theirs.” production, she warns me it won’t be the mock-horrible story I’m expect- Young Triffie opens at Studio 12 at ing. The shoot was forced to close the Avalon Mall on April 6.

which she co-wrote with Ray Guy and Christian Murray, is loosely based on Guy’s popular play Young Triffie’s Been Made Away With. Filmed in Newfoundland, Young Triffie is the product of a collaboration between a local production company, Morag Loves Company, and Cinemaginaire, in Quebec.

It’s surprising that the budget for this picture is reported to be in the neighbourhood of $6 million. The production values alone meet, and in many cases exceed, those of feature films costing five or 10 times as much. Costumes, sets, camerawork, sound and score are consistently impressive, lending themselves to the successful creation of a place and time that seems natural and convincing, yet not overwhelming to the point of distraction.

What makes Young Triffie such a delight is that everything works together the way that it should, despite the challenges inherent in a story that mixes a broad range of comedy with a murder mystery.

While a couple of farcical scenes play out a little longer than some would like, they’re just as likely to endure as highlights with other viewers. It’s a rare thing when a film successfully mixes up styles

Crane from Sleepy Hollow, and eerily similar in appearance to a young Rowan Atkinson, Ewaniuk channels the late Don Knotts to consistently hilarious results.

Despite the numerous pratfalls, there isn’t a moment while we’re laughing at him that we’re not ready to pick him up, dust him off, and send him on his way with our best wishes. Ranger Hepditch is thoroughly entertaining and endearing, sure to stand out as one of this year’s best comic film characters.

Despite the plentitude of comedy, there is the serious matter of a murder to solve, and this aspect of the story is skillfully manipulated.

It effectively plays out — never diminishing the humour, while maintaining its own gravity and suspense.

Accomplishing this feat is no small matter, yet Young Triffie draws to a satisfying conclusion without compromising either the comedy or the mystery, and that makes it an extraordinary motion picture.

Young Triffie opens at Avalon Mall’s Studio 12 April 6.

of comedy in an effort to please all tastes.

In this case, regardless of one’s comic palate, ample morsels abound.

Supporting performances are solid, with each of the locals standing out just enough as unique characters and potential suspects — yet not foolish clowns who could only exist in the made-up world of movies.

Andrea Martin’s Grace Melrose, the doctor’s wife, is probably most at risk of going over the top, but this is the territory in which Martin excels like few others, squeezing every drop of comedy out of a scene without wringing the life out of it.

Likewise, a showdown between Millie Bishop and Pastor Wilfred Pottle, although seemingly extraneous, is a duel of somewhat comic insults that is as frightening as it is funny, exposing the potential for violent behaviour in both characters.

Walsh and Andy Jones play it straight, and a scene that could have disintegrated into farce or melodrama plays out as perfect dark comedy that adds considerably to the tone of the film.

If there’s one feature of Young Triffie that stands out, it is unquestionably the performance of Fred Ewaniuk. Embodying a bit of Johnny Depp’s Ichabod

Tim Conway operates Capitol Video in Rawlin’s Cross, St. John’s. His column returns April 20.

‘No idea how big it would turn out to be’ Alan Doyle on his first film score

J

ust before the end of my conversation with Mary Walsh, she says she hears I intend to talk to Alan Doyle, the man behind Triffie’s musical score. Her voice, which has been flagging a little, recovers some of the enthusiasm that’s taken a tough beating today (five press conferences before 9 a.m).

“He was fabulous! An extraordinary job,” she says. “The people in Quebec who did the mixing said, ‘Wow, we have never heard such a rich soundtrack.’”

Alan Doyle has just returned from a tour of the U.S.. And although the lead singer of Great Big Sea says he’s gotten to a zen place when it comes to travelling, his voice sounds like it could use a shave. But, like Walsh, the energy levels audibly begin to rebound once he starts talking about Triffie’s soundtrack.

“The thing I liked about the film is that it’s worldly,” Doyle says.

“Worldly,” he repeats, trying to peg down exactly what he means. And then he suddenly shifts into gear and starts talking about all the comedic sources Triffie draws on, “from Beetle Bailey to Mr. Bean.

“A fine thing, this business,” says Doyle, meaning fine in the sense of precise. It wasn’t easy, he says, hitting the right note for a movie set back in time and containing various cultures and sub-cultures. “It was a challenge to find the right sound sequence to match Mary’s vision.”

The opening scene, set at the Newfoundland Ranger barracks, was Doyle’s baptism into the world of film scores: his challenge was to

Alan Doyle

combine the military flavour of a barracks and the sound of the local culture in 1948. He bested that one with “a Moravian choir/Sally Ann/CLB thing … out of time, out of metre.”

Some scenes don’t need music, some do, Doyle says. Music comes in when natural sounds aren’t giving a scene the support it needs. In one episode, the film’s main protagonist, Ranger (hapless) Hepditch manages to sink himself and his motorcycle in a bog. Doyle’s solution to giving the scene some back-up — too much music would have sent it over the top, he says — was an unobtrusive but effective orchestral one. (Sounded like a chorus of spooky stoned bullfrogs to me — just what you’d expect in a place like Swyer’s Harbour in the dead of night.)

Paul Daly/The Independent

Doyle has high praise for his partner in sound on the film, Keith Power, a Goulds native. Power, the principal composer for Fox’s new show, Drive, “is creeping up the ladder in the American entertainment business,” says Doyle. “We bounced a lot of things off each other. I learned a lot from him, and I guess he learned things from me.”

Doyle considers himself very lucky to have had the opportunity to work with Walsh. It was, he says, “one of life’s big check-list moments.”

Turning his talents to a full-length feature film was “a huge enterprise …

I had no idea how big it would turn out to be. It was a great experience.

Not something that comes along every day — or even in a lifetime.”

— Susan Rendell

INDEPENDENTSTYLE

THURSDAY THROUGH THURSDAY, APRIL 5-12, 2007 — PAGE 21

In the trenches Spring showering local shops with fun twists on classic trench coat

By Mandy Cook The Independent

I

n a land where the cutting wind and driving rain cares not what season it is, a proper coat is key. Layering is a must in this province and a great coat provides a tidy finishing touch. So even if winter insists on holding on well beyond the spring equinox (14 looong days as of press time, but who’s counting?), this season’s arrival of fabulous spring jackets are brightening our winter wardrobe — at least indoors, for now, anyway.

Kim Winsor of Johnny Ruth on Water Street in St. John’s loves the idea.

“The trench coat you can almost go into the office with it — I’d wear them into the store like a blazer type of thing. I’m into bringing that kind of look back, wrapped up with a scarf,” she says.

Wade McLoughlan of August and Lotta on Water Street says the new spring coats are fitted, flattering and coincide with the movement towards “dressing” again. Like Winsor, he says the double-breasted long trench is in, but there are also several shorter lengths echoing design details of the 1950s and ’60s. Others display a militaristic theme.

“Coats that are kind of military All coats by Only, $99, provided by August and Lotta

(inspired) seems to be very big whenever we’re at war and recently we’ve always been at war,” he says.

“We also have the girly, 1950s-style coat with the big buttons in yellow — yellow is a big fashion colour this season — or a trench that’s a little more sophisticated, a little more dangerous, like a Lara Croft look.”

If you’re not into the pollenyellow crop trench — with stitching at the collar, waist and cuffs and over-sized buttons — then the edgy jacket with a stand-up collar and metal snaps and eyelets might strike your fancy.

Another exciting option (and blast from the past) is … polka dots! In lavender or red, the polka dot coat is for the truly bold fashionista, adorable in its cinched waist and threequarter length sleeve, another notable trend of the season.

If the coat proves too busy to your eye, don’t fret. McLoughlan says the look will trickle down into bags, shoes and scarves.

For the coming months, however, the coat reigns supreme. As Winsor puts it, the spring trench is “a great transition piece” for looking smart in our still inclement climate.

“It’s so easy wear you can throw it over your jeans and always look dressed up,” she says. “It’s great for this weather — we like something over our behinds.” mandy.cook@theindependent.ca Paul Daly photos/The Independent

APRIL 5, 2007

22 • INDEPENDENTSTYLE

Fear and loathing Don’t let celebrity chefs or magazine food photography intimidate you — these are recipes made for success NICHOLAS GARDNER Off the Eating Path — and give it a go. It would be an experiment, if nothing else.

I selected a composed salad using potatoes with sautéed onions in a cream dressing accompanied by smoked salmon and lettuce. The ingredient list was fairly straightforward, as long as smoked salmon was a main part of your kitchen inventory.

The ingenious thing about it is that it’s a “tarted up” potato salad. I read the ingredients and the method and decided that for my first attempt I was going to keep to the rules of the recipe and not stray, as I am wont to do in the kitchen.

The first step was to pre-cook the small diced potatoes. At the same time, I sliced a whole red onion, then sautéed it in a hot pan with butter. When the potatoes were cooked, I added some white wine to the onion and butter pan to add more flavour to the mixture.

Once the wine had been reduced to almost nothing, I added cream, water and the potatoes to the onions. All the ingredients hung out and cooked down

until they became a thick, rich, glossy sauce. Near the end, a handful of frozen peas were added to give that boost of colour needed in an all white sauce.

When it was nearing time to serve, greens and pieces of wild smoked salmon were added to the plates. The contrasting colours stood out beautifully on the stark white plate.

A sprinkling of dill and it was all done. My only complaint was there was no lemon juice. I would have used it to coat the greens for the acidity. Apart from that, I successfully made it through a Martha Stewart recipe without panicking or breaking the bank.

EXPECTATION OF PERFECTION For a lot of readers, it can be intimidating to make recipes from celebrity chefs or even out of general interest magazines. There is an expectation of perfection that is unwarranted.

I had more fun just trying to do it, rather than worrying if the final result would look like the picture. The pleasure of cooking is more about the faces of your guests, friends and family who you share the food with.

However, even after I had finished eating the food and wine, I couldn’t help but think I was somehow cheated.

Sure I took the easy route so I would-

TASTE

DRINK

Ole! Mexican

By Nicholas Gardner For The Independent

T

rice heats up dinner

By Susan Sampson Torstar wire service

A

n attractive side dish can turn plain meat or fish into a memorable meal.

This method yields Mexican Rice that is not greasy or sticky, and has a toasty, slightly smoky flavour.

MEXICAN RICE Adapted from America’s Test Kitchen Live! The AllNew Companion to America’s Favorite Public Television Cooking Series by the editors of Cook’s Illustrated magazine. Beware of the splatter when you add the rice to the oil.

• 2 tomatoes (about 3/4 lb/350 g), cored, quartered • 1 white onion (about 3/4 lb/350 g), peeled, trimmed, quartered • 2 cups long-grain white rice • 1/3 cup canola oil • 4 cloves garlic, minced or pressed • 3 jalapeños, seeded, deveined, minced • 2 cups low-sodium chicken stock • 1 tbsp tomato paste • 1 1/2 tsp salt • 1/2 cup minced cilantro leaves • 1 lime, cut in 8 wedges Purée tomatoes and onion in food

processor, scraping down bowl as needed. Transfer mixture to measuring cup. You should have two cups; if there’s more, discard the rest or save it for other uses.

In large bowl, rinse rice until water runs clear. Drain well.

Heat oil in 10-inch wide pan with ovenproof handles or dutch oven on medium-high until shimmery. (Oil is ready when grain of rice dropped into it sizzles.) Add rice and stir-fry until toasted golden, three to five minutes.

Reduce heat to medium. Add garlic and two-thirds of jalapeños. Stir-fry until fragrant, about one minute. Stir in tomato mixture, stock, tomato paste and salt. Increase heat to medium-high and bring to boil.

Cover pan. Bake in preheated 350F oven 15 minutes. Stir. Cover and bake until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender, 15 minutes.

Stir in cilantro and remaining jalapeño. Serve with lime wedges.

Makes eight servings.

BOOKS, BOOKS, BOOKS and we have another side...

GIFTS, GIFTS, GIFTS Keep yourself educated with books from

he back stairs of the Murray Premises are daunting.

Negotiating the blue drop cloth hazards, I picked my way to the very top and into the boardroom for the evening’s wine tasting event.

Being in a room of what seemed like a clutch of expert wine tasters was as daunting as the walk to the top.

However, I was met with levity, not stuffiness.

I was taken on a small tour of the facilities. Host Tom Beckett showed me, in a fatherly sort of way, the exact spot where a vintage bottle of Chateau Y’quem smashed during one of his tastings. The noble sauterne met its end on the floor of the small kitchen, the result of not being placed on the most secure shelf of the fridge.

After leaving the scene of the crime, we all sat down at the large boardroom table to have a good time. We were introduced to four new offerings to the city, all from the Bolla Corporation.

The wines featured a Soave, Pinot Grigio, Le Poiane Valpolicella and Amarone. This quick flight of wines was surprisingly good.

HAND HARVESTED Soave’s selling point is the hand harvested Garganega and Trebbiano de Soave grapes. The result is a light, bright and acidic wine. Its colour is unmistakable, a light green, almost the colour of spring grass.

It was light on the tongue and finish.

It was a good, but not exceptional, wine although the pairing of it with a Quebec Pont Neuf, a creamy cheese, extracted some of the butter-like tastes and balanced the sharp acidity.

Pinot Grigios are becoming the new hotness for wine drinkers. Their floral notes, sweet tastes and easy drinking make them good choices for both the beginner wine aficionado and the noted expert. The Bolla Pinot Grigio had all the hallmarks of this hot grape.

Lots of grapefruit, citrus and exotic fruits are the order of the day. This, at least for me, was a better-developed wine. It was more enjoyable as it didn’t have the acidic quality of the Soave, and was paired with a St. Honoré triple cream cheese. While the cheese was good, it wasn’t a great match.

We headed for the red wines. Le Poiane Valpolicella was a dark garnet

Martha Stewart

n’t fail. But that is what I lost in this experiment. I hate to fail but I cheated myself into believing that the only way I was going to be successful at making a Martha Stewart original was to start with something simple.

So I learned my lesson. These magazines are for the everyday person — so there is no way that even the most com-

REUTERS/Jeff Christensen

plicated recipe will fail.

Try something new. I did, and I went from fear and loathing to remarking, in the words of Martha, “it’s a good thing.”

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

Soave and sophisticated Reviews of four wines new to the local market

colour with a nose of dark berries, cedar chips and pepper. It was almost prickly to the nose. It is a “creamy” wine with a long finish.

I did like this one; but there was a

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S

he brings out the anger in some people, and it’s because she’s perfect. Well, seemingly perfect.

For the last decade or so you couldn’t go anywhere without being exposed to some of her presence.

Sure, she’s a bit of a badass. Heck, she’s even seen the inside of a prison cell, but there is no woman on the planet who knows about the value of a good idea more than the captain of a media empire and graduate of Camp Cupcake — there is no other Martha Stewart.

Her glossy magazines are very polished and put together by a legion of people worthy of a space shuttle launch.

I’ve read a handful of issues, and they’re all the same when it comes to the food. It looks good — but I’m not sure if it tastes any good. The Martha Stewart recipes are notorious for being complex and rich with very exotic ingredients.

I’m always also a little afraid of making recipes from magazines. I always feel a little cheated. They don’t taste as I would expect from the ingredient list and the method. I always criticize terribly afterwards as I know I could have done a little better.

But I thought that I would start with one of Martha’s basic recipes — a salad

Shop Wiser. Go to Miser.

subtle hint of acetone, which put me off slightly. This was rectified with le P’tit Rabelais, a semi-soft cream cheese. With its washed rind, which I found salty, it had nutty characteristics and really opened up the wine for me.

It was very good.

The last wine of the evening was an Amarone delle Valpolicella. This was the “biggest” wine of the night. It was a deep, almost ruby colour with brown tinges on the edges. It had a nose of spice and peppers and a good amount of vanilla, apparent from its oak aging.

While it was large and full of flavour, it didn’t have any of the high tannic traits one would expect with a wine of this strength.

Served with a double cream and blue cheese called Bluebry it was the highlight of the night — the empty bottle at the end of the tasting proved that.

In all it was a great new offering.

With prices expected to range between $14 and $40 per bottle, these are some sophisticated wines that won’t break the bank. nicholas.gardner@gmail.com

APRIL 5, 2007

INDEPENDENTLIFE • 23

Fashion morality not that easy to measure

By Bernadette Morra Torstar wire service

I

t’s all so complicated, being green. Most of us, rightly so, are feeling panicked by An Inconvenient Truth, the Al Gore eco-doomsday documentary.

But how do we fashion enthusiasts reconcile the urge to embrace the season’s newest, hottest designs with the need for environmental responsibility?

We want to shop, but we also want to shop green.

How do we do that? Is the answer buying less clothing of higher quality in the belief it will last longer?

It’s a question raised by reviews of L’Oréal Fashion Week and, in particular, the fast fashion supermarket collection Joe Fresh, which offers items priced as low as $5.

Fast fashion can imply two things: easy come — as in quick to market with lower-priced copies of runway hits, and easy go — as in lesser-quality garments with a shorter lifespan.

It’s an issue that applies not only to Joe Fresh, but to Zara, H & M and all the other fast fashion brands we have been lapping up of late.

Joe Mimran, creator of the collection sold at Joe Fresh shops and through the Real Canadian Superstores, defended the longevity of Joe Fresh garments in an e-mail. “We go to great lengths to offer quality that is every bit as good as other brands that sell their clothes for considerably more money.”

Joe Fresh garments have to withstand more machine washes than designer clothes that get pampered with dry cleaning chemicals, Mimran added.

But is a garment that will be washed and tumbledried morally superior to a garment that must be chemically dry-cleaned? Does being a responsible fashion consumer mean we can’t shop cheaply?

I put this last question to Gary Dunham of Al Gore’s The Climate Project.

“The answer to your question, speaking from an environmental aspect, has little to do with the retail price tag,” Dunham said. “While better clothing may last longer and represent a little less eventual volume in the local landfill, the environment is far more affected by the materials, manufacturing process and transportation involved in the end product.”

Manufacturing must take into consideration the physical facility including working conditions, how power is generated and utilized, how waste is processed, and how temperatures are regulated. An assessment of transportation must address employee and operational personnel and how the products are moved to the marketplace.

And then there are the materials themselves, which “represent the hardest area to rate for green benefits.

“Without doing a lot of homework there really isn’t any way for a shopper, at the point of purchase, to rate one product against another. What is needed, by the industry, is a replacement for the old-traditional Good Housekeeping seal of approval or today’s Energy Star for appliances.

The public should be able to look at a label and know exactly how that garment stacks up against another in terms of how it affected the climate to produce it.”

As for the machine wash vs. dry clean question, that’s less complex. Machine washing wins.

“But the wash and tumble must be done in accord with ‘green rules’,” Dunham cautions.

“Today’s washing detergents don’t know the difference between hot and cold water, so you must use cold (check with the soap-makers, this is really true) … and tumble dry in the lowest setting that still works. The energy wasted in using hot water in the washer and high-settings in the drier cancel the moral benefit of avoiding the cleaner’s chemical emissions.”

‘Toilet-bowl white’ unrealistic

By Kim Honey Torstar wire service

W

e’ve all met them – though, it’s to be hoped, not on the dance floor under a black light.

There is nothing more artificial than a blinding-white smile, particularly on a tanned senior citizen.

The search for the fountain of youth has led once more to a vat of hydrogen peroxide, only this time the target has migrated south to the mouth.

In the ’50s, platinum blonde Hollywood stars such as Lana Turner and Marilyn Monroe sparked a stampede to the drugstore. These days, Jessica Simpson, Tom Cruise and Oprah Winfrey flash those extra pearly whites all over the place — and we want them.

“A lot of it is driven by the media,” says Toronto dentist Brian N. Feldman, editor of Ontario Dentist and an instructor at the University of Toronto dental school.

“Many patients present with unrealistic expectations,” he says. “They’re asking us to deliver toiletbowl white. We can’t deliver on toilet-bowl white.”

The problem is that the colour of teeth and how they respond to bleaching depends on genetics.

“Beyond a certain point, the teeth will not get any whiter,” Feldman warns.

The colour of a tooth is determined by dentin, a hard yellow substance that surrounds the pulp and darkens as we age. How much shines through depends on the thickness of the enamel, which also thins as we get older. The thicker the enamel, the more light reflects off the teeth, making them appear whiter. Smokers, red wine drinkers and blueberry

addicts will not see best results because their habits stain the choppers.

All tooth-bleaching products are peroxide based but the concentration differs. Over-the-counter remedies such as Crest Whitestrips generally contain less than 10 per cent hydrogen peroxide. These whitening systems are a bargain at about $40, but require a twoweek commitment, an hour a day.

I tried Whitestrips quite some time ago, judging by the June, 2004, expiry date and couldn’t stand the way the goopy strips wouldn’t stay in place, not to mention the taste of the leaching bleach.

I visited the dentist next, who gave me a custommade vinyl tooth tray and a solution with 7.5 per cent hydrogen peroxide in exchange for $500. It’s still in the box, because I have a filling on my front tooth.

Since fillings, veneers, bridges and any other composites in your mouth will not whiten, they need to be replaced to match your new fangs.

Dentists like Feldman recommend the custom tray option, which costs between $500 and $1,000, depending on the concentration of the whitening gel, because it provides maximum contact between enamel and solution.

Can you over-bleach? Usually your teeth cry out in pain and you stop. You can, however, damage the nerve enough to require a root canal, which in itself is enough reason to quit while you’re ahead.

Of course, if time is money, you can always go for the in-office bleaching service, which uses up to 35 per cent hydrogen peroxide that is activated by an ultraviolet light.

An hour and a thousand bucks (or more) later, you and your Hollywood smile are ready to go.

Paul Daly/The Independent

Spring cleaning, a Newfoundland tradition two. They go into a home, and, using their own supplies, “prepare” it for spring.

Her clients are busy moms and dads who nnie Pardy, 63, of Grand Le Pierre has need time away from cleaning. Seniors also her rituals when it comes to cleaning, need an extra set of eyes and hands when it and she does what she can to stick comes to keeping things sanitary in the home.

But there’s more to a spotless home than just with them.

“I wake up, make my bed and start on my being germ free and having an uncluttered dusting everyday — I’m pretty predictable,” entrance way.

“An interesting benefit of having us come she laughs. Saturdays are her serious scrubbin’ days, as they are, she says, for many “old-fash- clean your home is that clients wind up with free time,” Murphy says. ioned types.”

She has tips for NewWhile she does a little everyfoundlanders and Labday to “stay on top of it,” it’s “I can relax knowing radorians preparing to start this time of year that Pardy and their own spring cleaning. thousands of other households my house is always The first thing to do, she around the province get serious says, is make a plan. “It’s about cleaning. Spring cleaning presentable.” overwhelming for anyone to is a tradition that allows familook at cleaning an entire lies to freshen up after a long Annie Pardy house, so break it out in hard Newfoundland winter. rooms and focus on the “Every Saturday I shift my three most important rooms furniture and go through the entire house because the dirt and dust can real- first.”

Murphy says its best to start on the front ly build up on light fixtures and baseboards,” Pardy says, but it’s this time of year that she entrance, the kitchen and the bathroom.

In the front entrance, focus on replacing seagives things a “real good goin’ over.” It’s not sonal items. “When you move the boots out — “work,” she insists, “it’s tradition.” clean. When you take the coats down — But is spring cleaning really necessary?

With such constant maintenance there must scrub. Store what you don’t need in tubs and get it out of sight.” be little, if any, need.

In the kitchen — besides cleaning surfaces “Oh,” Pardy exclaims, “you still have to do your spring cleaning. I paint my kitchen, — concentrate on eliminating clutter. Murphy dinette and living room every year and I work uses baskets for knick-knacks in every room. my way through the house cleaning cupboards It makes moving items for cleaning and dusting easier, she says. and closets, walls and windows.”

Her best advice? If you haven’t used it in a By this time next month Pardy will be in full year, chances are good you won’t use it — so swing. chuck it, sell it or donate it.

When does she finish?

“People keep buying stuff and as far as I “By Christmas,” she chuckles.

Hard to believe there would be that much know our homes don’t grow any bigger, so if to it, considering Pardy and her husband Gus you bring something in, you bring something are the only two living at home, but she dis- out,” Murphy says.

Painting a room, she says, has advantages agrees.

“I know people a lot older than me who live that go beyond having a fresh looking surface. alone and still do the same cleaning now that “When you paint the first thing you do is take they did when they had a crowd. If you’re able everything out, so don’t put back what you to do it, you do it till you can’t.” don’t need.”

Donna Murphy owns and operates a cleanBaskets are the key to saving time in the ing service in St. John’s. Just For You Maid bathroom. “You pile your stuff in one, then Service banks on the Newfoundland cleaning pull it out, wipe behind it, put it back and tradition, only Murphy and her staff do what you’re done.” her clients are too busy or unable to do themMurphy says Pardy has the right idea in selves. doing “a little” every day. “Staying on top of it “This time of year gets busier than usual and all makes you feel like you have everything then it keeps going like crazy till Christmas,” under control and then there are no nasty surshe says. Murphy has to turn away business prises or flushed faces when company drops regularly — she’s just so swamped. Murphy by unexpectedly,” she says. has regular clients, but each spring and just Pardy says having a clean home is important before Christmas each year requests for her to her. “Everyone knows my door is always services go through the roof. open, and I can relax knowing my house is “This time of year we offer what we call a always presentable,” she says. deep clean where we go in and give the house What if company stops by on a Saturday a once over from baseboards and curtains to when she’s in the middle of her cleaning ritufridges and stoves and it’s quite popular.” al? Pardy laughs. “Having someone drop in for Eliminating old cobwebs built up over the a visit is why you clean up in the first place, so winter is her company’s specialty. you stop what you’re doing and enjoy that Murphy charges $46 an hour for a team of time together.”

By Pam PardyGhent For The Independent

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APRIL 5, 2007

24 • INDEPENDENTSTYLE

‘The melee that is our life’ Between shipping hubby off to Fort Mac without shirts, trips to the hospital and a bit of socializing, who has time to think about spring cleaning?

M

y father had chest pains he kept ignoring last week. When mom asked him about them, he’d tease and taunt her. “You won’t be going to Florida yet,” he’d say.

“Everyone’s a comedian,” she snapped back.

There’s a joke that has been part of our family lore for years. In it, a little fella keeps asking his grandfather to make frog sounds. “Why do you want me to sound like a toad?” the grandfather finally asks. The lad replies, “because Nan says when Poppy croaks we can all go to Florida.”

Well, Dad did end up in the hospital — intensive care unit, actually — but there is no Florida trip. Who would want to go now, anyway? It’s much too busy at Easter time.

It’s spring, which means it’s time to start cleaning for some. Not me. I have to wait for my sister. When school lets out in Manitoba, she straps a backpack on each of her four kids and heads home for the summer. One of her first stops is to my house.

She does my spring cleaning every year, despite my half-hearted protests that things are fine just the way they are.

The last time she came her first words to me were, “Oh my God!” “What?” I had to ask, even though I

PAM PARDY GHENT

Seven-day talk knew what she meant.

“Well, I think I can do this,” she said, pushing me out of her way. “I just need some tools.”

“Tools?”

“Get me your scrubbing bucket.”

My mind raced. Scrubbing bucket.

Scrubbing bucket. The kids have a beef bucket they use to gather shells and starfish in, but I didn’t think that’s my scrubbing bucket — or is it? I had seen one around somewhere, but where? And when?

I tried to stall her.

“Look in the kitchen cupboard,” I suggested. Yes, that sounded like where a scrubbing bucket might be.

It wasn’t.

“Oh, the kids must have taken it again,” I said. “Let’s just use this garbage can.”

“I need cleaning supplies,” she said.

She would.

If it didn’t say Spray and Run on the bottle, I didn’t have it. I began to sweat and she took pity on me.

My sister is a great organizer. She likes things “in their place.” I, however, feel that if everything had a place, we would have all been born legless.

I am no Heloise or Martha Stewart, and I know it. I received an ironing board with a lovely ducky cover on it as a shower present in 1990. That thing moved with us from Newfoundland, to Ottawa, to our two homes in Mississauga, and I never did use it. When we were moving back to Newfoundland my husband came up the stairs with it in tow.

“Do you know what this is?” he asked me.

“Very funny,” I said.

“Just checking,” he said, “I was worried you may have thought it was a surf board.”

I tried to look wounded.

“It’s not coming. Let’s sell it.”

My eyes filled with tears. “Sell it?” I cried. “It was a shower gift!”

Speaking of hubby, he is gone off to Alberta on us again. He is supposed to be on a rotation schedule — six weeks on and two off — but times are busy up there and he won’t be home before the end of June.

There was no time to prepare for his leaving this time. He got called on a Wednesday, had a drug test the next day,

and flew on to Fort Mac Sunday morning. Two days before he left, the water pipes froze at the shop, our dryer broke and we lost the water pressure at our house. He managed to fix everything before he left, but, in the melee that is our life, he forgot to pack any shirts for himself.

Hubby is on his very first camp job and while I’m loving it — he gets flown up and back, fed, housed and treated better than he has ever been since leaving his mother’s house — he is miserable. He says it’s like being in jail, without the occasional conjugal visits.

MISSED THE DANCE Besides being shirtless, hubby was cranky he missed the dance we had out here last weekend. Eventide came to perform and young and old danced the evening away to traditional Irish and Newfoundland music.

It was the first time since moving back home I saw so many generations enjoy a scuff together. Who knew the young ’uns liked to jig? Dances around here are usually limited to those of legal drinking age, but this was an all-ages function, and the band attracted an interesting mix of fans.

Eventide has four band members and three of them are still in high school.

They had everyone up dancing to Muscles in the Corner, Rattlin’ Bog and everything Harry Hibbs.

My son and I enjoyed ourselves until he could fight the sleepies off no longer and we wandered the few yards back home.

I tucked my tired lad into bed and on my way out I tripped on some wayward toys.

“When is Aunt Reneta coming again?” he asked sleepily.

I felt a twang of guilt. Maybe I should do my own spring cleaning this year.

I called my husband to tell him all about the dance and my new pledge to do some organizing around this place.

He listened, but I could tell he had his doubts.

“Just don’t get so carried away with the cleaning that you forget to mail me some shirts,” he pleaded.

“Maybe tomorrow I’ll break out that ironing board,” I said, proud in my plans to send him freshly ironed shirts.

“Why would you do that now?” he snickered. “Is it going to be loppy tomorrow?”

It took me a second to catch on.

He’s right. Who am I kidding?

Maybe when Poppy croaks I’ll just hire myself a maid.

But I still want in on that Florida trip.

EVENTS

A LITTLE OF YOUR TIME IS ALL WE ASK. CONQUERING THE UNIVERSE IS OPTIONAL. Think it requires heroic efforts to be a Big Brother or Big Sister?

Think again. It simply means sharing a few moments with a child. Play catch.

Build a doghouse. Or help take on mutant invaders from the planet Krang.

That’s all it takes to transform a mere mortal like yourself into a super hero who can make a world of difference in a child’s life. For more information...

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Newfoundland 1-877-513KIDS (5437) www.helpingkids.ca

K10D

The 57th annual provincial drama festival runs April 9 through 14 at the Stephenville Arts and Culture Centre.

Stephenville’s Bay Theatre presents Lie, Cheat and Genuflect April 9; Northcliffe Drama Club from Grand Falls-Windsor performs Jam, Toast & Orgasms April 10; Corner Brook’s Off-Broadway Players present The Graduate April 11; Gander’s Avion Players are up April 12 with Social Security; Beothuck Street Players from St. John’s take the stage with Buried Child April 13; and Labrador’s Carol Players perform Twilight Serenade April 14. Above: a scene from Buried Child.

Paul Daly/The Independent APRIL 5 • MUN Cinema presents Days of Glory, Empire Theatres, Avalon Mall, St. John’s, 7 p.m.

• RCA Theatre Company’s Bella Donna, a new Canadian play about the controversial Lucrezia Borgia of the Italian Renaissance. LSPU Hall, Victoria Street, St. John’s, 753-4531. Continues until April 15.

• Off-Broadway Players, Corner Brook Arts and Culture Centre, 637-2585. Continues until April 6.

• Improv Workshop, Rabbittown Theatre, 106 Freshwater Road, St. John’s, 5:30 p.m., 739-8220.

• Seniors Bridging Cultures Club, Seniors Resource Centre, 2 p.m., 737-2333.

• The AC Hunter Children’s Library presents an hour of games, prizes, and readings with the cast of The Legend of Redwall Abbey, St. John’s Arts and Culture Centre, 3:30 p.m., 737-3953.

APRIL 6 • God So Loved… Easter musical, presented by the Salvation Army St. John’s Citadel, Adams Avenue, April 6 and 7, 7:30 p.m. and April 8, 7 p.m. Tickets available from the Salvation Army Book Store, Adams Avenue, and the Religious Book and Bible House, Thorburn Road, 364-3294.

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APRIL 7 • Easter Fair, games, entertainment, prizes, and pictures with the Easter Bunny, outside Cora’s, Atlantic Place, 9-11 a.m. 754-1399. All money raised will benefit Easter Seals programs for children with physical disabilities.

APRIL 8 • Groovin’ Improvin Jazz Workshop and Jam Session, Rabbittown Theatre, 106 Freshwater Road, St. John’s, 2-4 p.m.

APRIL 9 • When Natural Disaster Collided with Unnatural Order: Gender and Spatial Justice in Post-tsunami Aceh, by Dr. Dewi Susilastuti, visiting University of Kentucky professor, Memorial University Arts and Administration, A-3020, 12:30 p.m.

• Egg-Ceptional Easter Programs for Creative Kids, the Anna Templeton Centre for Craft, Art and Design, 278 Duckworth Street, St. John’s.

Theatre fun, with puppetry, juggling, magic, and improvisation, ages 8-14, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., and Art

and Craft full week camp and drop-in sessions, ages 5-7 and 8-13, 9 a.m.-12 noon. April 9-13, 739-7623.

APRIL 10 From the director of The Rocky Horror Show, Cabaret, Chicago and Cats, Terri Andrews and TaDa Events brings you Gypsy, a musical fable, St. John’s Arts and Culture Centre, 729-3900, until April 15.

APRIL 11 • Rick Lamb at Folk Night, the Ship Pub, St. John’s, 9:30 p.m • The Women’s Centre Drop-in Evening, 150 LeMarchant Road, St. John’s, 6-9 p.m.

• Heritage Crafters, Sobeys Community Room, Howley Estates, 10 a.m. 737-2333.

• Native Plants and Newfoundland Home Gardening, featuring guests Myles Whittaker, horticulturalist, and Debbie Preston, Hampton Hall, Marine Institute, 8-9:30 p.m.

APRIL 12 • St. John’s Storytelling Circle, cultivating the art of traditional Newfoundland storytelling, Crow’s Nest Officer’s Club, St. John’s, 7:30-9:30 p.m., 753-6927.

IN THE GALLERIES • Aleks Rdest, new body of free floating forms in luminous colours, the Flower Studio, 124 Military Road, until April 7.

• Michele Stamp Portraits, 32 works in graphite on paper, RCA Gallery, LSPU Hall, 753-4531, until April 15.

• In the Shadow of the Midnight Sun, a selection of work by Canadian Inuit artists and Sami artists from Norway, Sweden and Finland, The Rooms, until April 20.

• Michael Young (NS), Let me tell you, and Kim Waldron (QC), The Dad Tapes/The Mom Photographs, Eastern Edge Gallery, 72 Harbour Drive, St. John’s, until April 21.

• The Peter Winkworth Collection, 69 works of art, The Rooms, until April 22.

• Fish, by Janet Davis, and Finding my Place, by Stephanie Jayce Stoker, the Craft Council Gallery, Devon House, until April 27.

• Kinetic Portraits of 12 Canadian Writers by Peter Wilkins, The Rooms, until April 29.

What’s new in the automotive industry

APRIL 5-12, 2007

FEATURED VEHICLE

TO CELEBRATE 60 YEARS OF TURBOCHARGED THINKING, SAAB IS PROUD TO PRESENT THE ANNIVERSARY EDITION OF THE 9-3 SPORTSEDAN Since the launch of its first model in 1947, Saab has created cars that are designed around the driver. Inspired by its aircraft heritage and Scandinavian origins, the company has earned a reputation for innovation and individuality. The Saab 93 special limited-edition vehicle not only marks a milestone in the history of Saab, it showcases the qualities that have set Saab apart for six decades. The Anniversary Edition of the 9-3 SportSedan is a cool ice-blue colour with unique 17-inch light alloy wheels with a Turbo V6 engine and seating for five. The 9-3 anniversary model offers special 10 spoke alloy wheels, heated leather seats, and colour-coded body kit. Then there's the dual zone climate control, electric windows and mirrors and all the other stuff that comes as both standard Saab 9-3 equipment and anniversary equipment. The ergonomic cockpit-like interior has dark walnut veneer trim on the centre console and doors. A sporty rear spoiler is available in some markets. The Saab 93 60th Anniversary Special Edition is available at Hickman Saturn Saab located at 20 Peet Street, St. John’s.

Paul Daly/The Independent

Life is a highway

Mark Wood drives his first car.

I

don’t precisely remember youngster safety. In the event of a sudacquiring my first car but by the den stop the driver would put his or looks of the photograph, I quite her arm straight out across the passenenjoyed it. It seemed a natural proger — preventing any forward movegression, shortly after I learned to ment (similar to a wrestling clotheswalk, that I should start to drive. line). That particular safety technique Apart from eating and sleeping, that wasn’t just practised by our family — little white convertible occupied all everybody did it … unless you were my waking moments. It was a sturdy otherwise occupied walking around in MARK machine that handled well on the the area behind the back seat.

WOOD hardwood floors and had a nice, The cars were about two meters tight turning radius. It also gave me wide, room for a couple of WOODY’S kids toenough a perspective from which to measure play tag, if they were so WHEELS inclined. The comic Jerry Seinfeld every other vehicle I’d go on to meet in life, a term known as “road feel.” once mentioned how, as a kid, he There’s a lot to take into consideration when would saunter over to the front bench seat and assessing vehicles, whether it’s nimble on its lean on it like it was some kind of bar. He’d frame … as opposed to handling like a trap address his father by his first name and inquire skiff loaded to the gunwales (with a long for- about their progress. “Hey Frank, are we there gotten species called cod), pitching and rolling yet?” all over the road. Some vehicles brake better Everything about those cars was big. About than others and acceleration varies all over the 17 years ago my brother-in-law had a massive spectrum. Interiors and ergonomics are also a old Pontiac Parisienne with a cavernous trunk. consideration — some vehicles are as cozy as a To find the spare he had to get in the trunk and tree fort; others have fully adjustable crushed- wander around in the dark, feeling with his velvet couches. hands. He rented scaffolding once and shocked A few short years after my first car I began to everyone by fitting two whole sections in the gather experience as a passenger in our family trunk. boat — a Chevrolet Biscayne. This would put The old cars were also famous for locking us smack dab in the 1960s, an awkward time their huge chrome bumpers. Due to primitive for vehicles in Newfoundland: the highway suspension systems — coil springs in the front wasn’t completed yet. Of course no one wore and leaf springs in the rear — the cars made an seat belts back in those days. The belts weren’t exaggerated nose-dive with every sudden stop. retractable and hung unused from the day they When two Parisiennes traveled too close it was were installed until the vehicle’s last breath.

See “My old,” page 26 Adult drivers had their own tricks to ensure

26 • INDEPENDENTBUSINESS

APRIL 5, 2007

My old pedal car on the hardwood highway From page 25 all too common for one to nudge its front bumper under the rear bumper of the lead car, locking like two rams in battle. A trip to downtown St. John’s wouldn’t be complete without seeing two cars locked bumper to bumper (and

that was long before the George Street scene). The only way to unhook them was to engage a couple of passers-by to bounce the cars vigorously (with a crowd of onlookers cheering them on) until they untangled.

It was a wonder how anything even moved around in the snow back in those

days. Cars were all rear-wheel drive.

These dinosaurs barely got around with a trunk full of sandbags and chains on the tires.

Things stayed that way until 1975 when the Volkswagen Rabbit first appeared. By then my friends and I were into drag racers, which were mak-

ing some truly wicked technological advances at the time.

One afternoon we witnessed a Rabbit furiously spinning its front tires in a smoking display of power and we keeled over laughing. Within a scant few years every other major automaker was developing a front-wheel drive car.

What can I say? Front-wheel drives are absolutely superb in the snow. Right up to that first Rabbit, however, nothing handled better than my old pedal car on the hardwood highway.

Mark Wood of Portugal Cove-St. Philip’s was a cute baby.

How to turn Champ Car around

L

OK, how can Champ Car turn this et’s get something straight: I am a big, big supporter of the thing around? How can they do it right Steelback Grand Prix of Toronto. — so that guys like me (and I’m far The recent news that Tiverton-based from being the only one) will stop writSteelback Brewery has signed on as title ing columns like this?

Here’s a strategy I guarantee will sponsor of the race — title sponsors work. It’s going to cost oodles being very hard to come by of money, but better to put these days — is nothing short good money after good, than of terrific and the event at the good money after bad (which CNE July 6-8 is shaping up to has been the case to date): be the best in years, with par1. The three series owners ties and receptions and a suphave to re-evaluate their busiport race lineup to knock your ness plan, which, regardless socks off. of what they say, is not workI am also a big supporter of ing. Every year it’s the same the Champ Car World Series. I NORRIS story: will Champ Car have have to be. Why? Because MCDONALD enough cars and drivers? This Champ Car owns the has got to stop. Only when a Steelback Grand Prix. They series has stability and contibought it from Molson, nuity will serious commercial remember? So if something interest be piqued. happens to Champ Car, our 2. Teams owned by Kalkhoven, race could be in jeopardy.

Forsythe and Gentilozzi each have to So let’s hear it for Champ Car! Having said that, it sure can be tough run two cars. (Memo to Gentilozzi: if being a supporter of Champ Car these you’re an owner of this series, you can afford it.) While quality is the ideal, days.

Until the last couple of weeks, quantity is what’s needed now. nobody had any idea who was going to Seventeen-or-so cars, a half dozen of be driving in that series this year. OK, I which are hanging on by their teeth, is exaggerate. We knew Paul Tracy, Justin not big league. If you’re serious, you Wilson and Sebastien Bourdais were start 24 in the feature. Nothing less than going to race but other than those three, a full field will do.

3. Kalkhoven, et al, have to rethink there was zilch.

Then they started making announce- subsidizing teams. Five teams do not ments: Ryan Dalziel, Robert Doornbos, need help; everybody else does. So fiveAlex Figge, Matt Halliday, Neel Jani, year contracts have to be signed with Simon Pagenaud and Tristan Gom- teams capable of fielding quality cars. If there aren’t enough in the Champ Car mendy.

As the Sundance Kid used to say to orbit now (and please forget the old boys’ network), go out and find them.

Butch Cassidy: “Who are those guys?”

Seriously, who is Tristan Gommendy? Teams such as Sierra Sierra Enterprises, I should pay good money to go see currently in the Atlantic series, are more somebody named Tristan Gommendy than capable of moving up if they have the financial resources. Same with Brian drive in the Champ Car World Series?

So I Googled this guy and he’s Stewart over in the Indy Pro series.

4. Teams being subsidized have to nobody. He won the French Formula 3 championship in 2002. Big deal. Last agree to run drivers that a) Champ Car year, he didn’t drive anything. Are you selects, or b) have Champ Car’s sitting down? They signed him to race in approval. Although it is called the the 2007 Champ Car World Series “world series,” it is a North American series and the drivers have to be North before he even drove the car.

As P.T. Barnum would say: “Step American. I don’t care how good offshore drivers are, they don’t sell tickets. right up, ladies and gentlemen!”

(Make an exception for Michael Anyway, I next went to the Champ Car website. They have 19 drivers listed Schumacher — but only him …)

You see, continuity of talent is what as entered in the 2007 Champ Car World Series. One is Andrew Ranger, who builds a series. Look at NASCAR, or announced last week that he is going to look at the IRL. The drivers all come drive in the NASCAR Canadian Tire back, year after year. There is familiariSeries this season because he couldn’t ty and with that comes expectation and get a ride in Champ Car. Hmmm. I won- excitement and the ability to market.

I ask you, who would sell more tickder if Andrew knows his name is there?

Gerald Forsythe, an owner of the ets and attract more coverage: J.J. Yeley series, swore all winter he wouldn’t run or Tristan Gommendy?

5. Commit to do this for five full years two cars this year. One car for Tracy would be it. Now, at the last minute, he’s — the time any good marketing proentered a second car for Mario gram takes to fulfill its potential. Find a Dominguez, the driver he fired last year way to hold on to Bourdais and pray that because Dominguez kept crashing into Tracy’s skills don’t deteriorate. Start every race with 24 quality cars with 24 Tracy. quality, primarily North American, drivHold on, it gets better.

Dominguez is one of at least two driv- ers. Market the hell out of the drivers ers — the other being the very famous first, the series second and the Matt Halliday — who have been hired races/events third.

If Champ Car does this, I guarantee at for three races only. After that, who knows who’ll be driving those cars, or the end of those five years the sponsors will be lining up to get involved and even if those cars will still be around?

And they want people to take this teams will be kicking in the door to get on board. series seriously?

TRACK TALK

GM’s Trax concept car

GM plans Smart car rival G

eneral Motors Corp., the world’s largest automaker, plans to produce new, smaller Chevrolet cars that would compete with DaimlerChrysler AG’s Smart models for younger buyers in North American cities.

The Detroit-based company hasn’t decided which of the cars it will build, when they might be sold or where they would be produced.

The so-called subcompacts will be about 30 centimetres shorter than the

Chevrolet Aveo, which at 3.81 metres is the smallest model GM sells in North America. The Trax has a onelitre engine, compared with the standard 1.6-litre on the Aveo.

GM expects the Chevrolet subcompacts to compete in size and price with the Smart cars, Albano said.

DaimlerChrysler plans to start selling those two-seat cars in the U.S. next year.

They are even smaller than models such as Toyota Motor Corp.’s Yaris

and Honda Motor Co.’s Fit, which contributed to what Autodata Corp. said was a 48 per cent rise in U.S. subcompact sales last year.

Chevrolet’s planned subcompact for North America would be about the size of its Spark, which is sold in markets such as South Africa and Asia and travels about 64 kilometres on a gallon of gasoline. The price would be less than the Aveo, which starts at $10,560, according to GM’s website.

— Torstar wire service

NASCAR’s HotPass too hot to pass up

By Chris Zelkovich Torstar wire service

I

f you’re a NASCAR fan, the kind of person who switched soft drinks because his favourite driver changed sponsors, then HotPass is designed for you.

The new NASCAR feature, available to digital TV subscribers as part of those all-sports packages that can send your cable bill skyrocketing, is the latest in specialty television.

It features five channels designated to different drivers, which is nothing new. What is new is that the channels now have their own announcers, reporters and production teams to go along with all those stats, radio transmissions and in-car cameras.

Last week, for example, a Dale Earnhardt Jr. fan could have watched the entire 500-mile Nextel Cup race on the Dale Earnhardt Jr. channel. Or the Jeff Burton channel, or the Matt

Kenseth channel, and so on.

Most viewers probably flipped back and forth from the HotPass channels to the main Fox coverage.

Each channel had a split screen, showing the Fox feed and a mixture of angles following the driver’s car in addition to shots from inside his car.

Next week, five other racers will get the close-up treatment.

And it’s a great treatment if you’re not satisfied with the Fox coverage, want to hear more revving and less talking or have a craving to watch your favourite driver’s every move.

There’s some great stuff to be had.

For example, the Denny Hamlin channel produced a conversation between the driver and crew as he left the pits.

Apparently, the needle on Hamlin’s tachometer had fallen off, meaning he had no idea if he was speeding on pit road.

The Fox feed had none of this, probably because it didn’t mean that much

to the overall race. But to Hamlin fans, this was dynamite stuff.

Viewer e-mails were answered and reporters provided all kinds of inside information. We heard about what Dave Blaney’s kids were doing and just about everything else about him except what he had for breakast.

It’s a hard-core fan’s dream, which is good because a casual observer might have been taken aback by the lack of objectivity.

At one point, viewers were treated to a mud-slinging match between announcers. After Hamlin channel announcer Rick Allen said his guy had made a better move than Earnhardt, Adam Alexander fired back.

“We’ll radio to Dale Jr. and tell him to wave on the way by,” he sneered.

“I like that, Adam,” Earnhardt channel reporter Wendy Venturini chimed in. “Smack-talk right back to him.”

That, of course, will offend exactly no NASCAR fans.

APRIL 5, 2007

INDEPENDENTSHIFT • 27

Urban legends of the auto insurance world

H

ave you ever been trundling with three years of experience, insurdown the highway, minding your ance-wise. It will also make your child a own business, only to have a better driver. gravel truck lumber into view in front of I recommend letting your beginner you? I especially like the small Kleenex driver drive whenever possible. The only they staple to the corners of the way to get experience is to do truck to contain the cargo of it. I have a friend who has an windshield-seeking missiles. anxiety attack every time her Everyone knows if you get a daughter touches the car keys stone chip in your windshield, — someone else takes her. your insurance won’t cover it, So, Wizard, how many tickright? It’s also a fact if you let ets can I get before you guys your insurer know you got a sit up and take notice? chip in your window, they’ll Insurance companies don’t LORRAINE jack your rates up, right? care about parking tickets, SOMMERFELD Welcome to urban legends unless you don’t pay them and of the auto insurance world. get your licence suspended.

Taking your questions today is They do care about speeding Insurance Wizard, because we tickets — a lot. Insurance all know car insurance, like companies have their own sex, religion and money, is points systems. Things like only spoken of in soft whispers with minor speeding and seat belt infractions downcast eyes. I’ll show you my add one point. Big speeding, school zone deductible if you’ll show me yours. speeding and no insurance will add two, Windshield chips fall under the com- as will at-fault accidents. prehensive coverage on your policy. This Criminal convictions (reckless, racing, means damage from things other than a impaired) will get you four. Any combicollision — fire, theft, vandalism, falling nation totaling four points will probably objects. There is a deductible for a claim, mean your company is dumping you. but because windshield chips are often There is an insurance facility for the repairable for a modest cost, many com- high-riskers. The rates will have you panies will pay for the repair. Check first. pondering a bus pass.

Even if they don’t, you still need to make So, you’ve been driving like a saint for the repair, and repairing a chip is quick two decades. Then you have two pesky and reasonable. Get it fixed as soon as little at-faults accidents. Surely those 20 possible — chips can spread, and as years count for something, right? Wrong.

Insurance Wizard sagely points out, the Like Janet Jackson, insurance companies fluctuating temperatures in this country are most interested in what you’ve done can mean that windshield could shatter for them lately. and end up in your lap.

The moral of the story is pretty basic.

Comprehensive claims do not jack up Drive smart. Don’t be an idiot. Don’t hit your rates. They aren’t your fault, unless anything, and if something hits you, get you routinely park near a volcano or a the facts before you assume anything. gun range.

There are far more cars on our roads than My next question for the Wizard was engineers originally intended, and as the totally self-serving. While many parents population ages (yes, that means us, too) are saving for their children’s college that combination does not bode well. fund, I am saving for my sons’ car insur- Consider a driving course for yourself, or ance fund. “Why,” I wailed, “are insur- even a few brush-up lessons. ance rates for the young lads so outraThe Wizard’s favourite urban legend? geous?”

That it costs more to insure red cars.

Wizard paused. “Have you seen how Nope. They don’t care what colour your they drive?” he asked. “Have you seen car is, and they don’t care what your how they do everything?” astrological sign is. It’s insurance, not a But he offered me hope. You can’t single’s bar. make your teen be 10 years older in an Your insurer’s website is a trove of instant, but you can register him or her in information. If it’s not, tell them to fix it. an accredited driver training course. The Insurance Wizard will be back — ebenefits are notable: completion of a six- mail me your questions. month course will credit your darling www.lorraineonline.ca

POWER SHIFT

Canada's Finance Minister Jim Flaherty.

REUTERS/Chris Wattie

Big Three vent to Flaherty Industry questions federal initiatives on fuel efficiency

By Tony Van Alphen Torstar wire service

C

anada’s Big Three automakers complained to Finance Minister Jim Flaherty last week about the federal government’s new program of rebates for fuel-efficient cars and levies on gas guzzlers.

Flaherty invited the Canadian heads of General Motors, Ford and DaimlerChrysler to a meeting where they applauded several moves in the federal budget but criticized the socalled “feebate” program for motorists.

“We expressed our concerns that the industry is opposed to it,” said David Paterson, vice-president of corporate and environmental affairs for General Motors of Canada Ltd. “We’re concerned about the practical applications and whether there are any real environmental benefits.”

Some players at that session also slammed the federal “feebate” program, which rewards buyers of fuelefficient vehicles with rebates between $1,000 and $2,000 and penalizes purchasers of big gas-guzzling cars and sport-utility vehicles with levies of up to $4,000.

It adversely affects companies such

as GM and DaimlerChrysler whose lineups include several gas guzzlers.

For example, the DaimlerChrysler plant in Brampton produces versions of three models that face levies.

However, Toyota Canada, the country’s greenest vehicle company, supports the program and expects sales to climb.

GM president Arturo Elias attended the meeting in Ottawa while auto chiefs Bill Osborne and Reid Bigland of Ford and DaimlerChrysler, respectively, participated by conference call.

Paterson would not comment about any recommendations that the trio made to Flaherty, but Mark Nantais, president of the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers Association, said the government must take action.

“I don’t know how they are going to fix it, but they have to fix it,” said Nantais, who did not participate in the meeting.

A spokesperson for Flaherty could not be reached for comment on whether Ottawa will reconsider.

At the same time, Paterson said the Big Three told Flaherty that the industry was pleased with other moves such as border access improvements, accelerated depreciation allowances, addi-

tional money for old vehicle scrapping programs and incentives to produce more renewable fuels such as E85 ethanol.

Meanwhile, Buzz Hargrove, president of the Canadian Auto Workers union, said the industry can’t believe Ottawa introduced the “feebate” program to encourage people to buy vehicles from offshore-based manufacturers, which could cost jobs in Canada.

Hargrove, who attended the two-hour meeting with McGuinty and his ministers on Monday, said the premier is worried and wants recommendations to strengthen the industry while recognizing the need for fuel-efficient vehicles and solving the problem of climate change.

Ontario’s auto-parts sector has lost thousands of jobs in the past two years while Ford, GM and DaimlerChrysler are cutting output in the province’s most important manufacturing sector.

A small group of senior industry officials will work with government staff to develop some ideas for McGuinty’s consideration soon, according to an official in the premier’s office.

“He (McGuinty) wants the industry to know he’s there to help just like in the past,” the official said.

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28 • INDEPENDENTFUN

APRIL 5, 2007

WEEKLY DIVERSIONS ACROSS 1 Cats and canaries, e.g.

5 Chums 9 First Canadian woman to top Everest 13 Charged particles 17 Public disturbance 18 Be up against 19 Japanese native 20 Night in Montréal 21 Uttar Pradesh tourist site 22 Asian Bigfoot 23 Belgian river 24 Rank and ___ 25 Male hormone 28 Mature 30 Three-horse Russian sleigh 31 Wish undone 32 Shell used in jewellery 36 It’s now ___! (2 wds.)

39 Country in Gulliver’s Travels 40 Inuit goddess of the sea 43 Took the lead 44 Be an omen of 45 Ancient Briton 46 Jim’s wife in FBFW 47 Frequently, in poetry 48 Computer language developed by Canadian James Gosling 49 Move slyly 50 Squeeze snake 51 Honeybee genus

CHUCKLE BROS

52 Billy Bishop 53 Make lace 54 B.C. Kootenays lake 56 Scot’s exclamation 57 Clayton Ruby, e.g.

60 Umpteen’s ordinal?

61 Bird once native to Funk Island: Great ___ 62 Conceited 63 Tonic partner 65 Clenches (teeth) 68 Quipsters 69 Leduc discovery of 1947 70 Slot cut into a board 71 Problem drinker 72 Purges 73 N.B.’s official tree: balsam ___ 74 Fundy phenomena 75 Thinking time, maybe 77 Frontiers 79 Where honey is found 80 Pull laboriously 81 Matador’s red cape 85 Asian waist wrap 86 Like fairies and goblins 89 First Nations people in Quebec 92 Connery of Bond fame 94 Sad news note 95 Japanese stringed instrument 96 Flower settings 97 Like Ben Hur (the

movie) 98 Italian capital 99 Oomph 100 Pigeon coop 101 Satellite ___ 102 Exigency 103 Dreadful DOWN 1 Nfld. painter 2 Swiss mountain 3 Trunk with a chest 4 Train stopping places 5 French farmer 6 Second in crime 7 Troubadour’s instrument 8 Mixed 9 A Gretzky 10 River of N France 11 Loneliest number 12 Having a long usable life 13 Inappropriate wording 14 French assent 15 Zero 16 Start of some Quebec towns 26 Gumbo vegetable 27 “___ home and native land” 29 Girl, to some 32 Verdi opera 33 Opened (poet.)

34 Void 35 End of a kitchen?

37 Diminutive and delicate

38 Cat scanners?

39 “I really don’t know ___ at all” (Joni) 40 Bro or sis 41 Libido 42 Cockpit face 44 Prolific German composer 47 Moonfish 48 Inventor of Ringette: Sam ___ 49 Cut 51 Takes measures 53 Follow 55 Free of charge (3 wds.)

56 Power cuts 57 Scottish landlord 58 Gent’s oath 59 Travel on a saddle 61 Lends a hand 62 To see along the Saguenay 64 Turndowns 65 Almost too articulate 66 Uncouth 67 Bit of U.S.A. in L. Superior: ___ Royale 68 Like the elders 70 Didn’t care for 72 Updated 73 Invention of New Brunswick’s Foulis (1859): steam ___ 74 Gardener’s flat basket 76 Penpoint 77 Nevertheless 78 Hammed it up 80 Kill illegally (esp.

U.S. south) 82 Bacterium often in the news 83 People of Asiatic

Russia (var.)

84 Unaccompanied 86 Corn in Baie-Comeau 87 Reed instrument

88 Green shade 89 Inuit Broadcasting Corp.

90 Modern start?

91 Summer time in St. John’s 93 Upon: prefix Solutions page 30

Brian and Ron Boychuk

WEEKLY STARS ARIES (MAR. 21 TO APR. 19) It’s a good time to begin making long-range plans for major changes that lie ahead. A call might bring disappointing news, but a more positive message soon follows.

TAURUS (APR. 20 TO MAY 20) Your emotional stability shines through as you deal with crises on the job and at home. Continue to believe in your capabilities.

You have a way of inspiring others.

GEMINI (MAY 21 TO JUNE 20) A Scorpio turns up to get you out of those romantic doldrums.

On the job, don’t let friendship override your personal ethics.

Say no to that questionable request.

CANCER (JUNE 21 TO JULY 22) That Virgo still vacillates, but Cupid has an Aries ready as a romantic replacement. Temper your tendency to be judgmental in a family situation. Tact is needed.

LEO (JULY 23 TO AUG. 22) Money problems could dog the Big Cat. Check that urge to splurge until you’re on firmer financial ground. Personal relationships need your tender, loving care.

VIRGO (AUG. 23 TO SEPT. 22) Be patient. That confused personal situation is finally beginning to sort itself out. Get the full story before deciding what your next step will be.

LIBRA (SEPT. 23 TO OCT. 22)

Several decisions need to be made, but not all at once. Take time to recheck your information before you act; some data might be more fanciful than factual.

SCORPIO (OCT. 23 TO NOV. 21) Don’t waste energy trying to resolve that pesky problem at work. Just keep doing what you do so well. Someone else will step in and set things right.

SAGITTARIUS (NOV. 22 TO DEC. 21) Keep your eyes steadily fixed on your goal. Avoid time-wasting distractions. Some people might try to shake your self-confidence — shake them off instead.

CAPRICORN (DEC. 22 TO JAN. 19) A former spouse or lover wants to warm up that old relationship. Go for it, but only after you’ve been

reassured that those old problems have been fully resolved.

AQUARIUS (JAN. 20 TO FEB. 18) Love signs are strong this week.

Current relationships blossom with renewed expressions of affection. New relationships begin with much positive potential.

PISCES (FEB. 19 TO MAR. 20) A proposed agreement with a trusted friend could run into difficulties. Be open to reasonable suggestions but reject anything that compromises your personal moral standards.

YOU BORN THIS WEEK You are a natural-born reformer.

You often try to make others live up to the standards you set for yourself. Your family and friends love you anyway. (c) 2007 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 30

INDEPENDENTSPORTS

THURSDAY THROUGH THURSDAY, APRIL 5-12, 2007 — PAGE 29

San Jose Sharks Ryane Clowe fights for the puck with Vancouver Canucks Mattias Ohlund.

Lyle Stafford/Reuters

Late bloomer

Ryane Clowe’s play with the San Jose Sharks has turned heads, and left many hockey fans in Newfoundland sleep deprived

By Don Power For The Independent

N

ational Hockey Leaguer Ryane Clowe is amazed by the number of phone calls and text messages he receives after his team plays. Clowe is aware of the support he has from his home province, but he still finds it remarkable so many people from Newfoundland contact him after games.

That’s because Clowe, a Fermeuse native who grew up in St. John’s, plays his home games in California for the San Jose Sharks, a four-and-a-half hour time difference.

“A lot of people stay up,” Clowe says, speaking to The Independent from San Jose, where the Sharks’ regular season is winding down. “It’s amazing because I get calls or text messages on my phone after games down here, and it’s 3 or 3:30 a.m. back home. People just want to say, ‘good game.’

“It’s great. The support is great.”

When local hockey fans do sacrifice

sleep to watch Clowe and the Sharks in action, they are rewarded. In his first full season in the NHL, Clowe has scored 16 goals and added 18 assists in 55 games, and established himself as a bona fide NHLer. The 24-year-old brings more to the table than just statistics, however.

Clowe has the size to play physical, the hands to chip in goals and the fists to keep other players honest. More importantly, however, now he’s got the confidence to believe he belongs.

At training camp six months ago, Clowe was unsure if he would remain with the Sharks in California or return to Cleveland and the American Hockey League’s Barons.

These days, he’s preparing to be a key element in San Jose’s projected run to the Stanley Cup. “The season went pretty well for me,” Clowe says. “I thought I was capable (of scoring), but I didn’t know what kind of opportunity I was going to get. At the start of the season, I scored a couple of goals but I was in and out of the lineup. At that

point, I knew if I could get in the lineup consistently I could put up some decent numbers.”

Clowe made things look quite easy during the middle part of the season when he did get a chance to play. He returned to the lineup Jan. 4 after a groin injury and promptly made his presence known, scoring twice in a 9-4 win over the Detroit Red Wings. Two days later, in his team’s next game, Clowe recorded his first NHL hat trick in a 5-2 win over Columbus. (Prior to January, he had registered just three goals.)

The big winger kept producing and wound up playing on the club’s top line, with Joe Thornton and Jonathan Cheechoo, getting plenty of ice time, including on the top power play unit. Over the course of 11 games, Clowe registered seven goals and nine assists. He ended January by being named NHL rookie of the month.

“I didn’t anticipate getting as hot as I did or playing as well as I did for a couple of months there,” he says. “I knew that given the opportunity, I could put up some num-

bers. I was fortunate to get some power play time, and you only need a few breaks to feel good and that’s what happened.

“When you’re playing 18-23 minutes a night with Joe Thornton and Jonathon Cheechoo, it takes your game to the next level. They’re highly skilled. Even now, on the line I am on (with Marcel Goc and Steve Bernier), making plays, holding on to the puck for the extra second. Having the confidence to know you can make those plays leads to opportunities to play with good players.”

Confidence is a huge part of Clowe’s game. Shuttled in and out of the lineup at the start of the season, these days, he doesn’t worry about that. Now, he’s concerned about how his performance will affect the game.

“You get comfortable around the guys,” he says. “I’m not looking over my shoulder, wondering if I’m going to be taken out of the lineup if I make a bad play. I know the coaches have seen me and know how I See “A nose,” page 30

The Microwave Generation Sports fans want success, and they want it instantly

I

have a strong affinity for a good cup of tea. Since I was very young, my daily ritual has included at least one cup of the hot brew.

When I started in the media business, colleagues often looked at me with a raised eyebrow, because I didn’t drink coffee. For that matter, I didn’t smoke, either, and in the 1980s (and long before) you couldn’t work in a newsroom without a coffee and cigarette within arm’s reach.

But soon, my tea mug was always nearby. Today, things haven’t changed. I get a cup of tea first thing in the morning before sitting down in front of the computer. Often, my tea

DON POWER

Power Point gets cold before I finish it — in part because I drink tea out of a French Onion soup bowl — but thanks to the microwave, a quick one minute zap has it steaming before me again.

Well, I say a minute — and quick — but lately I find myself getting quite impatient, and it’s scary. One minute can’t elapse fast enough. As I stand in front of the microwave waiting for the

time to pass, I often hit the stop button before the minute is up. Last few times, I’ve stopped the clock with seven seconds remaining.

Seven seconds!

I mention this because I don’t think I’m alone. Nobody today likes waiting. We are the Microwave Generation. Give it to me and give it to me now.

It’s why we like Tim Hortons and fast food restaurants. We don’t want to wait for anything. Patience, they say, is a virtue. If so, we are bereft.

I think that approach to life manifests itself in our sports habits, too.

Take the St. John’s Fog Devils, for

example. In the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League expansion franchise’s two-year existence, the club has tried to ice a competitive team.

In fact, by making the playoffs in both seasons, the Fog Devils have enjoyed much more success than their expansion cousins in New Brunswick, the Saint John Sea Dogs. Granted, their accomplishments are hardly something to do cartwheels over, but it is a modicum of success.

But it doesn’t seem — at least from fan attendance or fan reaction (apathy?) — to be enough. The Fog Devils’ attendance was down this year. In the club’s inaugural season, an

average of 3,928 fans watched games at Mile One. That dropped to 3,666 this year, a number befitting a team called Devils. (The number of wins fell by two as well in their sophomore season.)

Fans were upset with a number of things, not the least of which is ticket price, which no doubt kept people away in droves. However, the new product should have enticed fans to come out. Junior hockey is different, admittedly, than the AHL, its predecessor in St. John’s. But it can hardly be classified as bad hockey.

See “Everybody,” page 30

30 • INDEPENDENTSPORTS

APRIL 5, 2007

‘A nose for the net’ From page 29

Ryane Clowe at home.

Paul Daly/The Independent

play. Even if I do make a mistake, I know that the opportunity is not going to be pulled out from under me. That makes it a lot easier out there. You play more relaxed and you’re not squeezing your stick.”

A physically intimidating player (he’s six-foot-two, 225 pounds), Clowe can plant himself in front of the opposition net and cause havoc. A big percentage of his goals have come in that fashion, off rebounds or deflections.

They’re not pretty, but they work.

It’s those types of plays and goals that help a team advance through the playoffs, which is where Clowe’s focus now lies.

“It’s going to be a battle every series,” he says. “It’s really not

relevant who we play, but how we’re playing going into the playoffs. We’re getting hot at the right time I think.”

Earlier this week on NHL.com, one playoff preview predicted Clowe to have an impact on the team’s playoff fortune.

“He has the size and the willingness to go successfully into high-traffic areas that can be dangerous to one’s health in the second season,” the article stated.

“He has a nose for the net and the ability to turn garbage into goals.

Plus, Clowe is surrounded by talented offensive players that can create chances for him.”

While he’s excited about the playoffs, Clowe says any team from the western conference can advance to the final. And although he knows there are two

months of hard work before the Sharks reach that point, he occasionally lets his mind wander.

“I don’t wander too much, but you do think about it,” Clowe says of winning the Stanley Cup. “That’s the whole fun of it, so you’ve got to think about it, and wonder what it’ll be like winning it. That just gives you extra motivation.

“Sometimes I think about how great it would be to take the Cup back home, knowing how many die-hard fans are back there and knowing the support I receive from there. That’s motivation for me.”

If San Jose does go all the way and Clowe does bring the Cup to Newfoundland, one thing is certain: it’ll see some late nights. donniep@nl.rogers.com

Everybody loves a winner From page 29 Yet the local fans seem to want more. I’m not quite sure they understand the expansion franchise tag, and that it means, for the most part, the kids who skated in Fog Devils jerseys, are the bottom of the barrel in Q hockey. They were cast-offs and unwanted

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talents, thrown in with a couple of high draft picks who are too young to carry the team on their shoulders.

If St. John’s is serious about putting in a bid to host the Memorial Cup two years down the road, they will need a much better team (eminently doable) and a much better fan base (a questionable proposition).

The problem with our society is we’re not interested in the end result if it will end in failure. If you’re not successful on the ice, there’s no way this crowd of supposed hockey fans will support you off the ice.

Yet sport, by its very nature, lends itself to far more failure than success.

There are 18 teams in the Q. Only one will emerge successful. (Taking that one step further, there are 59 Canadian Hockey League clubs, but only one Memorial Cup champ, leaving 58

“failures.”)

A batting champ in baseball hits around .300. He fails seven times out of 10! The best shooters in hockey fail even more often than that. Jordan Stall, Alex Tanguay, Jason Spezza and Kristian Huselius are the NHL’s top shooters, percentage-wise, this season, yet Stall’s 23.4 per cent is the league’s best. They score on less than onequarter of their shots. Even Kobe Bryant, the NBA scoring leader at 31 points per game is only shooting at

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46.2 per cent. That’s good enough for first — and he’s not even hitting half his shots.

There’s no doubt local hockey fans will flock to the rink when a club becomes successful. Everybody loves a winner. But reaching that status takes time, and the support of its local fans, especially when times are tough.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, my tea is cold and I’ve got to put it in the microwave … for 53 seconds. donniep@nl.rogers.com

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INDEPENDENTSPORTS • 31

Raycroft even with Belfour Ties club win mark; goal eludes Sundin

By Paul Hunter Torstar wire service

O

ne Maple Leaf reached a franchise milestone April 3; another added a little more weight to what has become a franchise millstone.

Goaltender Andrew Raycroft — maligned or celebrated, depending on the day — tied the franchise mark for wins with 37 as he backstopped Toronto to a crucial 3-2 overtime victory against the Flyers.

Ed Belfour set the mark in 2002-03, his first season in Toronto.

Raycroft wasn’t about to celebrate the accomplishment, not with Toronto still on the outside looking in when it comes to a playoff spot.

“It’s kind of cool but it’s hard to reflect at this point,” he said.

But the record, one Raycroft will have to break if the Leafs are to get into the postseason, is the mark that the 27-year-old would value the most.

He has been criticized this season for allowing an average of just under three goals a game — ranking him 31st in goals against average — and for a save percentage of .895 that ranked him 34th in the

league going into last night.

But Raycroft, who has started 40 of Toronto’s last 41 games, has continually said the only way he measures himself is by wins.

“It’s the most important thing,” he said again after this 23-save performance was in the books.

“It comes down to wins and that’s what we’re in the business for.”

Andrew Raycroft “No one is going to remember what Marty Brodeur’s goals against average was but they’re going to remember that he’s going to be the all-time winningest goalie.

“Patrick Roy has four Stanley Cups; no one knows what his playoff goals against average is. It comes down to wins and that’s what we’re in the business for.

That’s why it’s the most important

thing to me.”

Meanwhile, Mats Sundin continued his enigmatic play. He has played well and created chances but he has gone 10 games without a goal. Ever since he moved to within two goals of Darryl Sittler’s career franchise mark of 389 goals on Feb. 24, he has scored just once. That’s one goal in 18 games as he waits to tie the record.

“Of course it’s bugging me. That’s a big part of my game,” said Sundin of his drought.

“At the same time, it’s all about winning at this time of year. When you can’t put the puck in the net, you try to find other ways to help out, get an assist, work hard, play good defensively. For sure, I need to get scoring. Hopefully we’ll solve that in the next couple of games here.”

The odd thing is that Sundin has been operating at almost a point-a-game pace during his slump with a goal and 16 assists during those 18 games.

“I just have to stick to my guns and the puck will go in eventually,’’ said Sundin, who still leads Toronto with 27.

The Leafs have two more games in the regular season: they play the New York Islanders April 5, and Montreal April 7.

Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Andrew Raycroft deflects a puck during the April 3 game against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Reuters

Imagine you were a caribou

Spring training’s early mornings not suited to Blue Jay’s lifestyle

The caribou are in decline and everyone’s got an opinion why

L

L

ast week I wrote about the unprecedented cuts to caribou licences on the island portion of our fair land. Over 5,000 tags have been removed from the draw over the past couple of years — 6,000 if you count the Southern Avalon herd, which spiraled downward just a year before the current crisis began. All big game hunters, moose as well as caribou, will be affected by the loss.

Dedicated caribou hunters will likely now pursue moose, rather than sit on the couch all fall.

Couple this with the droves of new hunters that have qualified to hunt big game since the mandatory shooting test was eliminated, and it looks like we will all have to wait longer between licences.

The total hunting opportunity now stands at 26,725 moose and 2,760 caribou. This sounds like a big pool of licences, but we are a hunting people.

Newfoundland has more qualified hunters per capita than anywhere else in Canada — 61,130 individuals entered the big game draw last year.

While the loss of hunting opportunity is tough to bear, I’m sure we all applaud our government for acting prudently. Conservation of the animals comes first. Our woodland caribou are in a very serious tailspin decline, and government has launched a $3 million study to hopefully find answers.

What frightens me most is the number of hits I got when I entered woodland caribou recovery plan on Google. Woodland caribou are having a rough time all across North America. We are their last stronghold and hope for long-term survival.

All that’s left elsewhere are remnants of once prolific herds.

I’ve read caribou recovery plans from several Canadian provinces, interviewed Newfoundland outfitters, talked to fellow resident hunters, and had a chat with provincial Environment Minister Clyde Jackman.

Habitat, harassment and predation are frequently named as contributors to the decline. The three are intertwined in a way that many of us might not imagine.

Woodland caribou are in a precarious circumstance. They need vast and unspoiled wilderness to survive and are threatened even in protected areas such as Jasper National Park, where their numbers have declined 50 per cent in the past 16 years. If the trend continues, Jasper’s caribou will vanish in 40 years — in spite of the park’s best efforts to compromise between caribou activity and resort development.

Woodland caribou, unlike any other deer-like critter, sustain themselves on a diet of terrestrial and arboreal lichens (the scrubby plant life that grows on rocks and older evergreen trees). This means old-growth forest, which the logging and pulpwood industries have left in short supply, is essential to caribou.

Because other large animals find lichens unfit, caribou have found a niche that supplies both food and protection in winter. With plenty of space, caribou can spread out over their domain making themselves less susceptible to their predators.

There are those who believe too many trees have been cut and too few planted in this province.

This has forced caribou out into the open and con-

By Cathal Kelly Torstar wire service

PAUL SMITH

The Rock

Outdoors centrated in number at vulnerable times such as periods of deep snow and calving.

Before the coyote, this situation might not have been so critical, but with a new and efficient predator in the equation, it’s very serious. This is in addition to our native black bears who always killed their share of caribou and continue to do so.

Stakeholders agree predation is most intense during calving and the first few months of life, when young animals make easy meals. The Sierra Club of Canada stated in a press release that several island herds have experienced calf mortalities of nearly 100 per cent, while a retention rate of 15 per cent is essential to maintain a population.

I’m not exactly sure how they arrived at these numbers but in any event, calf retention is our immediate and most critical challenge. So much so, that at a meeting with the Newfoundland and Labrador Outfitters Association this past January, Jackman promised that a pilot predator project would be forthcoming this spring — calving time.

There are no details yet, but the association is expecting a plan that will target predators and protect caribou during their critical calving period.

This initiative is independent of the $3 million study I discussed last week. I will keep digging for details.

Here’s something that surprised me. An outfitter told me he would place snowmobiles as the second greatest threat to caribou (he blamed exploitation of our forests first, and coyotes third).

My first mental picture was of caribou being chased to exhaustion through deep snow by brightly coloured super fast sleds. While a little of this nonsense might occur, it’s isolated and not at all what he meant.

Even responsible snowmobiling in critical areas can threaten and stress caribou. Imagine you’re a caribou for a moment. It’s mid-winter and a deep blanket of snow lies everywhere, covering the barrens that you feasted on just a few weeks ago.

You’re hungry and tired from trudging though belly-deep snow. Last winter you moved into the woods and fed on delicious lichens that hung heavy from the trees, but that area fell to the chain saws and harvesters last fall. You start to dig straight down.

An exhausting hour later, you reach green earth and food. After just a few bites you hear a roar. It’s them damn snowmobiles that are getting more and more plentiful each year. Off you trot until the roaring subsides, still hungry and even more exhausted. You have no choice but to dig again — hopefully this time in peace. Coyotes are barking back and forth to each other. Where will you find the strength to run if they pick up your scent?

Paul Smith is an outdoor enthusiast and freelance writer living in Spaniard’s Bay. flyfishtherock@hotmail.com

yle Overbay is no fan of spring training. It shows. “You’re getting up at 6 or 6:30,” the first baseman says. “Then there’s the workout and BP (batting practice) and all sorts of other stuff. In spring training, I’m dead tired by the time the game starts.”

The only pure left-handed hitter in the Jays lineup batted a measly .196 and struck out 20 per cent of the time in March.

“I’m a little notorious for having bad springs,” Overbay says. “You know, I’ve had one good spring training (in 2005, his last season with the Brewers). I said to myself, ‘Oh, man, this is not normal’ … Then I went out and had my worst season.”

Not many major-leaguers would consider .276, 19 HRs, 72 RBIs for a season the “worst,” but Overbay’s remarkable consistency makes

even small dips seem like potholes.

For Overbay, spring is a time to do some things he would not try in a regular-season game, getting used to what he calls “not having a clue.

“You’re walking that fine line, taking some pitches you wouldn’t normally take, getting a good look at things.”

It didn’t start clicking this spring until the last couple of games. “I had some bad at-bats, swung at some bad pitches. But then I went out and got three walks (March 28 against the Indians) and thought, ‘That’s a lot better.’“ he said.

With the arrival of the regular season, Overbay says his lifestyle is changing in ways that will benefit him. “We’re getting into more of a routine, getting a good night’s sleep,” he said.

When he’s at home in Toronto, Overbay might sleep until 9 a.m. on the morning of a night game “until my boys get me up.” On the road in a hotel, he might stretch that out to 10 or 10:30.

Blackout curtains “are a must.”

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