VOL. 5 ISSUE 23
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ST. JOHN’S, NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR — FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY, JUNE 8-14, 2007
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LIFE 17
GALLERY 22
Carbonear opera singer Calvin Powell’s rock ’n’ roll life
NL-based photographer John Haney’s larger-than-life images
Whales for the killing? Paul Daly/The Independent
A humpback whale breaches the waters of Bay Bulls in 2006.
IVAN MORGAN
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n increase in international whaling practices in recent years has led to speculation that Canada’s eastern waters may see the return of a whale fishery. In the face of fierce opposition to proposals to launch commercial whaling ventures at the annual International Whaling Commission meeting in Anchorage, Alaska last month, Japan threatened to quit the commission to start its own organization, or resume coastal whaling in defiance of an international ban. International anti-whaling organizations say the Japanese government has been pushing for a return to commercial whaling for over a decade, killing 945 whales last year
International outrage or ‘green’ industry — why doesn’t NL have a whale fishery? under the guise of scientific research (selling the meat after they finish studying it). Norway and Iceland both have controlled whale fisheries — which they claim is sustainable and “green” — harvesting quotas based on scientific research. A Department of Fisheries and Oceans spokesperson in Ottawa tells The Independent the federal department hasn’t received any inquiries or requests to commence whaling off the East Coast.
‘All still very Irish’ STEPHANIE PORTER Dublin, Ireland
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orty-seven Coleraine Street is exactly the way I remember it. Exactly. I didn’t think this article, or week visiting former haunts in Dublin, would start that way. It’s been 12 years since I lived in the small two-storey
row house on the north side of the city, sharing the space for almost four months with three other women, all of us there for a summer of working and living away. For years the changing face of Dublin has been in the news — the Celtic tiger and the booming economy, the increasingly multicultural population, the rebuilding, gentrification, population explosion, increase in crime rate. Every report of abundant See “Euro-town,” pages 8, 9
QUOTE OF THE WEEK “Every time my father saw a wave wash up on shore on a TV show, he would cry.” — David French, a Newfoundland-born Toronto playwright of his Dad’s homesickness. See page 17
Provincial Fisheries Minister Tom Rideout also says he’s not aware of any request or any interest to participate in a “whale fishery or hunt or whatever the appropriate terminology is. “I’m certainly not advocating one,” Rideout tells The Independent. Retired whale expert John Lien says he does not expect a re-emergence of a whale fishery in the province. “Here? No. No way. I think we would just
Independent managing editor Stephanie Porter returns to Ireland 12 years later to see whether prosperity has changed the country. Is the Celtic tiger still worth looking up to?
be scalded,” says Lien. “I don’t think so, because they make so much money on tour boats.” Lien says he would not want to see a return of the commercial whale harvest. “People get upset,” says Lien. “They (whales) are a symbol of a healthy ocean and if we can’t save whales and have whales back to historical highs, then they’re not happy.” Lien says nations that still prosecute a whale fishery do a lot of research to justify what animals they take. He says Norway sets quotas for its whale harvest based on their research “and they say they can justify it.” When asked why Iceland and Norway do not receive strong negative reaction from the international press, he says it’s a difficult question to answer, but part of the reason is See “Canada is a wimpish,” page 2
Broken contract?
Liberal alleges federal job yanked due to political stripe MANDY COOK
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he well-known Liberal and chairman of the recent Trust and Confidence Rally in St. John’s says he’s been unceremoniously axed as a communications consultant with the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans in St. John’s because of his political affiliation. Further, Peter Whittle, former chief
STYLE 23
Newfoundland tartan modelled at the Cape
of staff to Roger Grimes, plans to take DFO to court. “I am absolutely convinced this came from senior levels of the minister’s office, the highest levels of the minister’s office,” Whittle tells The Independent. As of press time, Whittle says he has yet to receive any written confirmation regarding the termination of his six-month communications contract. A DFO spokeswoman in St. John’s says
Life Story . . . . . . . Paper Trail . . . . . . Crossword . . . . . Don Power . . . . .
See “Matter of principle,” page 2
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2 • INDEPENDENTNEWS
JUNE 8, 2007
Raising the Star of Logy Bay: a Father’s Day tale PATRICK O’FLAHERTY A Skeptic’s Diary
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o what’s Dad getting for Father’s Day this year? Another tie to go with the 30 or so he never wears? A flask of Bacardi Gold to strengthen his liver? A DVD of Ben Hur? How about a book? Let me suggest three. Father and Son (1890) by Edmund Gosse is an amusing and moving story of the quirky naturalist Philip Henry Gosse, who once wrote a treatise showing why it was perfectly reasonable to think that Adam and Eve, though created by God and not born of woman, each had a bellybutton. That did not impress Darwinian theorists of the day. Then there is the great American writer Philip Roth’s Patrimony (1991), an account of the illness and death of his father Herman Roth. That sounds grim and it is in places, but it is touching and often funny as well. I also have to list Percy Janes’ House of Hate (1970), a novel centering on Saul Stone, an embittered tyrant working in the paper mill in Corner Brook who poisons the life of his family. He was closely modeled on Eli Janes, Percy’s father. If you’re having a tiff with your old man, this might be just the thing to heave at him. At any rate, I come away from the book feeling some sympathy for Saul. For Eli too. House of Hate was a riveting and unforgettable performance by Percy Janes — far and away his best work.
Fatherhood intrudes into many other books of course, including the works of Shakespeare. In Hamlet and King Lear, for instance, it is a dominant theme. But let me return to Newfoundland, and to a more homely item than either books or plays — namely the song Star of Logy Bay. After the opening stanza, where the speaker says the curling of her yellow locks was what “stole his heart away,” we have this: T’was on a summer’s evening this little place I found, I met her aged father who did me sore confound; saying “If you address my daughter, I’ll send her far away, and she never will return again while you’re in Logy Bay.” I’m fairly sure that most singers of the song automatically feel a twinge of sympathy for the lover. He went along to Logy Bay, had the courage to confront the aged father, apparently asked if he could “address” — not undress — the daughter, and was stopped in his tracks in a most extraordinary fashion. You address her, the father says, and I’ll deport her; she’ll never return to Logy Bay while you’re here. The lover thinks it “cruel” to be parted from his love, and tells the father just that. This could be Romeo and Juliet starting over again. Or so you might think. But maybe not. I have some feeling for the old guy. Perhaps he looked at the young man on his doorstep and saw something he didn’t like — a boldness or aggressiveness that he didn’t want his daughter mixed up with.
He may have been protecting his daughter against some quality he perceived, something immediately visible to him, a toughness that might lead to cruelty. The brute might hit her later on. Want to own her, keep her penned up in the kitchen. And the father meant what he said, for, on learning that the lover would continue his suit, the very next morning, as we all know, he went to St. John’s town “and engaged for her a passage/in a vessel outward bound.” It is not stated where she went. Australia? The Andaman Islands? The lover feels he has been “robbed” and decides to go a-roaming in “every country” to look for her: I’ll search in vain thro’ France and Spain, likewise Americay, ’till I will sight my heart’s delight the star of Logy Bay. Which leaves open this question: if he thinks it’s going to be “in vain” to look for her in France and Spain, why would he go there? Maybe he’s thick. Maybe that’s what the father sees. To be the father of daughters, I often think, must be one of the most hair-raising experiences a man can have. You raise up a beautiful child to the age of 15 or 16, and then one day she drags home a vagabond with orange hair, a brass ring in his nose, and a motorcycle in the driveway. “Dad, this is my boyfriend Tyler,” she says. If you have some fear for her fate, I suppose you have to act. But how? Sending her far away might not be a bad idea. MUN is a great place I know, but Australia has a lot of fine universities too. Patrick O’Flaherty is the author of Lost Country: The Rise and Fall of Newfoundland, 1843-1933.
‘Canada is a wimpish nation’ From page 1 their scientific research. Lien says a barrier to commercial whaling in Canada — other than an international public outcry — is Canada cannot match the science of countries like Norway. “We have one whale researcher in DFO now. That’s it,” says Lien. The Norwegian Embassy’s Canadian website cites their minke whaling industry as a green and sustainable harvest, based on the small amount of energy expended to attain such large amounts of meat. It notes internationally approved scientific research has established that their annual quota does not impact on whale populations. The industry also provides much needed employment to people living in rural Norwegian fishing communities. “What many people don’t realize,” says Lien “is we have not studied numbers of whales here in these waters for a long time.” Lien says another issue used by people opposed to the whale fishery is cruelty. “And really what they do is they shoot a harpoon into the animal and then it explodes inside the animal, so it destroys the lungs and heart — and (they’re) just dead.” Lien says a vet he knows told him, “I think if I was going to be killed I’d like to get killed like that.” Retired fishing industry executive and activist Gus Etchegary points to the province’s long history of whaling. Whales were harvested in the province for centuries. Red Bay, Labrador was the site of North America’s first industrial operations, with whale oil processing sites discovered dating from the early 1500s. Etchegary says his old company, Fishery Products, entered into a 50-50 partnership with a Japanese whaling company in the 1950s. They built a plant in Williamsport, on the Northern Peninsula, which employed over 100 people. He says the plant operated for 20 years, processing up to 220 whales a year. “It never did affect the population one way or the other,” says Etchegary. He says in 1972 “without any warning” the Government of Canada ordered them to close operations “because of pressures brought on by the animal-rights people.” Fishery Products did not receive any compensation for the closure of the whale fishery. “Christ, no. There was nothing. There was just the whaling operation was shut down, we parted company with our Japanese friends and that was the end of it.” Etchegary says Norway and Iceland “in spite of all the hullabaloo” continued to fish whales, and prosecute a “bustling” fishery today. He says the Norwegian government subsidizes the industry. “The fact of the matter is there is a whaling industry carried on in many countries, there is a market for whale meat, it’s there for anybody to see,” says Etchegary. “And the fact of the matter is not likely will there ever be a whaling industry here because the Canadian government won’t permit it.” “Canada is a wimpish nation as far as fisheries is concerned.”
‘Matter of principle’ From page 1 the department is aware of Whittle’s allegations, but will not comment because it is a legal matter. Whittle was due to start work on Monday, May 28, and was in the office the previous Friday preparing for his first assignment when he received a call from his supervisor. “I was to travel with a group of broadcast journalists from New York City out to the ice off Twillingate for a couple of days for the fourth of June,” says Whittle. “But a couple of hours later I get a call saying, ‘Look Peter, I’m really sorry but due to some organizational issues up here that suddenly have come up I’ve got to tell you we’re not going to be able to do anything.’” Suspicious of the reasons given for his termination, Whittle says he spoke to some contacts within DFO and now believes the decision was politically motivated and handed down from the highest level. Whittle says he’s worked on and off for the provincial and federal governments since 1988. Describing himself as a career civil servant mostly in political roles, he says he is fighting the decision because it is a “matter of principle.” He says he is looking for special and punitive damages. “I feel like asking for a dollar just to be right . . . I want to prove the excuse provided to me is not the real reason for the cancellation of the contract,” Whittle says. “Does my involvement in the rally make me a dissident of some sort … I view this as a very serious intrusion by the political minister.”
JUNE 8, 2007
INDEPENDENTNEWS • 3
YOUR TOWN
Bernie Richardson of Torbay took these pictures of clothes drying on a fence, the view from his window and a close-up of a smashed sea urchin shell.
SCRUNCHINS A weekly collection of Newfoundlandia
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ighting Newfoundlanders have to relax once in a while and take a moment to smell the lilacs (when they ever bloom). Our precious existence on God’s country/ragged rock won’t last forever — not when our destiny is to be brutally slaughtered by unstoppable killer robots. So says Scott Feschuk, a columnist with Maclean’s magazine. In his June 11 column, Ladies and gents, I present to you: the apocalypse, Feschuk writes about recent news reports suggesting we’re moving ever closer “toward the chilling blood-soaked dawn of the machine apocalypse.” Feschuk cites the example of Simple Robot Inc., which has developed a “Manta” autonomous swimming pool cleaner, “capable of ridding pools of dirt, leaves and, when the uprising begins, humans with legs. But not all robotic developments herald the inevitable erasure of the human stain, Feschuk writes. The government of Japan, he continued, just spent $12 million US to develop a baby harp seal robot, designed to comfort lonely old people. “The device is equipped with motion sensors that enable it to respond to being touched with cute seal-like chirps. (It will be ready for export to Atlantic Canada once technicians retrofit it with lifelike blood splatter packs and a wounded moan.) Surely nothing as adorable as a baby harp seal could ever turn on its human master and — omigod!! My haaaaaaand!!!!!” NEWFOUNDLAND NESSIE Forget killer machines, Newfoundland and Labrador is rife with stories about sea creatures and assorted monsters from the deep. It was only recently that bones were found embedded in a melting iceberg drifting past Bonavista Bay. Anthropologist Peter Whitridge told the CBC it’s possible the skeleton came from a seal that had been dragged up on the ice by a polar bear. (I may be going out on a limb here, but it could have been a robot seal from the future that forced a polar bear to bore into a berg to save its life — unsuccessfully, of course.) The story made its way around the world in jig time, much like the 2001 tale about a strange sea creature that washed up on the shores near St. Bernard’s on the Burin Peninsula. “Newfoundland Nessie a monster of mystery,” read the headline that appeared in newspapers across the globe. “A headless furry white sea monster has people around Newfoundland’s Fortune Bay puzzled.” It turned out the monster was likely a basking shark, rotted to the point it resembled a skinned grape. I like to think that’s just what we were told … MIDDLE COVE BAPTISM Sea monsters aren’t the only unusual phenomenon to be spotted in waters off our shores. Canadian Jewish News reported recently that John Langlott became the first person to undergo conversion to Judaism in Newfoundland when he was dipped in the waters off Middle Cove Beach near St. John’s. “It was a very powerful experience for me,” said Langlott, a 41-year-old music composer, who moved here three years ago from the States because he didn’t like the politics there. “I felt I had been doing
View from Robin Hood Bay toward Black Head.
many things Jewish in spirit for the past few years, but needed this conversion to complete my soul.” But did he need the hypothermia … DARK SIDE A little trivia about our Jewish population, now that I’ve brought it up. The Hebrew Congregation of Newfoundland was founded in the late 1890s by none other than I.F. Perlin, according to the Book of Newfoundland (Volume Two). The first synagogue was located on Water Street in St. John’s, and there’s one today on Elizabeth Avenue, although the size of the building has been reduced in recent years and nearby land has been sold off for building lots. Our history with the Jewish people isn’t a proud one. In an article prepared for the NewfoundlandLabrador Human Rights Association, Mike Murray writes of the “darker side of Newfoundland.” Between Hitler’s rise to power in Germany and the outbreak of the Second World War, thousands of Jewish refugees applied for permission to come to Newfoundland to escape persecution, but only 11 people were allowed to settle here. At the same time, the smaller, poorer and more crowded Caribbean nation of the Dominican Republic offered to take in over 100,000 refugees. Wrote Murray: “We know the eventual fate of most of those Jewish people who were not accepted as refugees. How would our fate have been different had we accepted them?” We don’t need killer robots to bring about The End … UNSUITABLE PEOPLE The Chinese Immigration Act of 1906 and the Immigration Act of 1926 allowed government to block entry to people “belonging to any race deemed unsuited” to Newfoundland, and in 1932 that was
Paul Daly/The Independent
narrowed to specifically include “all central and East Europeans ... persons belonging by race to any country in Africa or Asia, and of all nonNewfoundlanders who were of the labouring classes, Murray wrote. “Although Newfoundland needed immigrants to help develop the interior of the island and Labrador, government policy appears to reflect an interest in people from the British Isles only.” No wonder we all look alike … SHIP TO SHORE We’re not all that bad. St. John’s had a hand recently in the Irish peace process — the HMCS St. John’s, that is, as in the Navy frigate. Mitch Potter of the Toronto Star reported last week that the St. John’s was the first Canadian warship to visit Belfast harbour since before “The Troubles” began. The ship’s arrival,
timed to coincide with a visit by a host of Canadian and British dignitaries, was to mark Canada’s commitment to help steer Northern Ireland “back to sanity.” Ottawa is apparently confident that a lasting peace is within reach, thanks to the recent inauguration of a power-sharing government between Catholics and Protestants in Belfast. Maybe we can get one of those new governments between Ottawa and Town … RACE DAY The Mississippi Press reported this week on the recent christening ceremony for the USS Truxtun, named after a ship that sank in 1942 off Chamber’s Cove near Lawn on the Burin Peninsula. Lanier Phillips and Edward Lewis were two survivors. According to the newspaper report, that horrible February day off Newfoundland changed the way Phillips — a black sailor
from Georgia and the son of a sharecropper — thought of race in America. He jumped off the ship and somehow made it to shore, passing out after being found by rescuers. When Phillips awoke, the newspaper account read, he said his worst childhood nightmares were coming true. His wet clothes had been removed, and he was naked on a table with four white women massaging him to get warmth back into his body.” “I thought I would be lynched,” Phillips said. “Instead he was bathed and clothed. Once he was warmed up sufficiently to leave the warming station, which was in a nearby mine, he said he was carried to the house of a St. Lawrence resident where he ate at the dinning room table with the rest of the family.” That sounds more like us … ryan.cleary@theindependent.ca
4 • INDEPENDENTNEWS
JUNE 8, 2007
Pulling pots Lobster fishing with Lawrence and Lindsay Shannahan of Calvert CALVERT By John Rieti The Independent
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t’s 6:15 a.m. as Lawrence Shannahan surveys the calm, glassy surface of Calvert Bay hoping that underneath the green water his pots are filled with thrashing lobsters. His brother Lindsay hops aboard their 16-foot boat and they head out into the morning sun and cool breeze to pull up the 100 lobster pots they’ve set around the bay. Calvert, a small community on the Southern Shore, isn’t the best place for lobster fishing — “it’s probably the worst,” laughs Lindsay — but the brothers have made their life here. Self taught, they’ve been fishing since they got out of school, first working in the fish plants along the shore before getting their own boats and traps. They now catch cod, crab and lobster during the spring and summer. Lindsay says they have to do all three if they want to make a living. The brothers set their pots close to the steep cliffs that line the bay, usually opting for small coves. They say there are no tricks to catching lobster — just luck and bait. As Lawrence manoeuvers the boat around the bay it’s clear he knows every underwater obstacle and every current. He pilots the small boat within a few feet of the sharp shoreline as Lindsay pulls up the pots, leaving the boat to float freely while helping wrestle an entangled lobster out of a pot. Pulling a pot is routine, but definitely not easy. The ropes are often slimy with seaweed and each pot is weighted with 55 pounds of stone. The cold ocean water, which hasn’t had time to warm up, stings the hands and a sturdy pair of sea legs is needed to balance. What comes up in the pot is always different. Sometimes there is a lobster or two writhing around the wire pot’s inner net. There’s a little celebration each time the brothers get one — a happy grunt from Lindsay or a gruff “yup” from Lawrence. Sometimes they pull up nothing but the skeleton of the herring used as bait — picked clean by underwater scavengers. Often the pot is teeming with all sorts of sea life like urchins, starfish, crab, fish,
Lobster fishermen Lawrence (top left) and Lindsay Shannahan pull their pots off Calvert on the Southern Shore.
or sometimes even an eel, all of which are thrown back. High above the fishing boat two bald eagles watch over the fishermen, who often throw a herring onto the rocks for them. The brothers are doing well on this trip, landing several large lobsters, including a huge, bulging female they put back carefully. Only male lobsters of
a specific size — Lindsay measures by sight — are legal to catch here. Lawrence says when he spent a season fishing lobster in Nova Scotia he made more money because they could sell small lobsters to the American market. Nova Scotia fishermen would get over $14 a pound. The brothers make $6 a pound for their catch. Lindsay says people line up on the
Nicholas Langor/The Independent
wharf to buy lobster from them, and they sell to local markets like Bidgood’s in the Goulds and the Churchill Square fish market in St. John’s. So why is the price so low? “Because it’s Newfoundland,” says Lawrence in a tone that implies that’s the entire answer. In 2006 Newfoundland and Labrador’s lobster fishermen caught 5.8 million pounds of lobster, worth an estimated
$29 million, according to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. This season has gotten off to a slow start for the brothers. Lindsay says on their first trip in May they returned with only one lobster. Lindsay says the numbers are always up and down and that every lobster fishermen in the province is going through the same thing. john.rieti@theindependent.ca
Economics processor expands original paper on upper Churchill signing By Ivan Morgan The Independent
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ames Feehan, co-author of a paper that claimed the infamous upper Churchill contract was signed because of a last-minute, gun-to-the-head, non-negotiable demand by Hydro-Quebec, says he’s working on an expanded version. “I guess it is more of an elaboration than an extension,” Feehan, a Memorial University economics professor, tells The Independent. “I’m going back and I am getting more details on these issues and I am trying to get a bit more information to flesh out much of the arguments I have already made.” Co-written with historian Melvin Baker, the report claims the original upper Churchill contract contained relatively reasonable terms until HydroQuebec, acting on what some say was insider information, realized the company in charge of the development — the Churchill Falls (Labrador) Co. (CFLCo) — was bordering on bankruptcy. At that point, Quebec altered its demands concerning a renewal clause, insisting on an automatic 25year extension. CFLCo was forced to agree — or fold, taking the already well-underway upper Churchill project with it. Feehan says while he hasn’t yet uncovered anything new, he is fleshing out his original work, checking his sources and “looking around to see if there is anything else I should examine trying to get some more information.”
“The previous thing I did is still there and I am just adding more meat to the skeleton that’s there.” Feehan says he hasn’t been thrown off track by anything he has come up with, but he says “you can never tell if you come across something that will contradict what you have already found.” Some details exposed by the original paper include the fact the upper Churchill contract was originally set to be renegotiated in 2016; CFLCo was completely aware of the importance of escalators (which are absent from the contract, meaning Hydro-Quebec gets fixed, low-rate power for 65 years); and then-premier Joey Smallwood was not part of negotiations and had no power to stop CFLCo signing the contract, due to the fact the then-privately owned company leased the Churchill water rights. Feehan says he will look at other aspects of the whole debate over what occurred around the Churchill Falls hydro deal. “I want to be very cautious on these things because it is a big issue. You put something out you want to make absolutely certain it’s been double-checked and triple-checked so the facts are right.” Feehan says he has other projects he wants to finish before he puts his full efforts into finishing this one, so it will be “a couple of months” before the paper is completed. “I’ll take as much time on this one as I will require.” ivan.morgan@theindependent.ca
JUNE 8, 2007
INDEPENDENTNEWS • 5
Medical board to review doctor application process By Ivan Morgan The Independent
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n light of recent incidents in which radiologists licensed by the provincial college of physicians and surgeons have had their work questioned and investigated, the college’s registrar says they will review their accreditation process. “Absolutely. We always do that. We would look back and say, OK, is there something that we should have done here?” Dr. Robert Young tells The Independent. Two radiologists — a foreign-trained physician practising in Burin and a physician based in Gander — have been suspended after questions about the accu-
racy of their work prompted a review of their past diagnosis. A review of approximately 4,600 records from the Burin doctor’s practice is underway. The radiologist in Gander has worked on 49,000 files in three years of practice, and the Central health board has commissioned a review of a sample of his work. In his 14 years as a registrar, Young says he has seen this situation “perhaps three times,” although he says it could have happened and he wouldn’t have known. Young says while the college is the “final arbiter” of who is licensed to practice medicine in the province, hospitals have a responsibility to review the performance of the doctors who work for
them. Young says the college receives approximately 700 “expressions of interest and curriculum vitae” a year from doctors looking to practise in the province. After reviewing these, the college sends out applications to approximately 275. By his estimate, last year 224 doctors applied and 156 — Canadian as well as international medical graduates — were licensed by the college. While the majority of original applications come from international medical graduates, Young estimates of the 156 doctors licensed last year, over 80 got a full licence “and were probably Canadian graduates, and over 60 got a provisional licence and were probably international medical graduates.”
Premier Danny Williams spoke early Thursday, June 7, in downtown St. John’s at a nursing conference before releasing Chief Justice Derek Green’s report on MHA constituency spending on Confederation Hil later in the morning. Paul Daly/The Independent
Faith, hope and no more charities Chief justice’s report encompasses strict new guidelines By Ivan Morgan The Independent
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he release of Chief Justice Derek Green’s much anticipated report on constituency allowances and fiscal controls “closes the chapter” on the province’s political scandal, says Premier Danny Williams. The 1,300-page report contains 80 recommendations that the premier says will be implemented “sooner rather than later,” possibly in this session of the House, with legislation poised to be introduced early next week. The report addresses all aspects of the operation of the legislature’s financial operations, and establishes strict new guidelines for MHA salaries and allowance. The report sets out a time line that shows the process that led to the House’s financial trouble, and divides recommendations into nine categories: failures, responsibility, structure, controls, audits, compensation, allowances, pensions and renewals. The report outlines “failures” such as abuse of legislative independence, failure in management accountability and responsibility, and notable inappropriate decisions. Among the stronger recommendations are a call for MHAs to bear “ultimate
responsibility” to comply with the spirit and intent of the new reimbursement “regime.” While the premier says he did not want to diminish the current work of auditor general John Noteworthy, his primary work has been done, and his pending report will be “secondary.” The premier hopes, with the passing of new legislation embracing the 80 recommendations in Green’s report, that the province will be able to put the scandal behind it. Other highlights: • Williams says the report’s title, Rebuilding Confidence, is “exactly” his government’s goal. He says he hopes to put the recommendations in place “ASAP.” He says two thirds can be implemented through policy, while the other third will require legislation, most of which is either currently drafted or in the process of being drafted. • Former auditor general and Health minister Beth Marshall is “playing a significant role” in assisting in the implementation of the recommendations, says the premier. • The creation of a House audit committee comprising of two members appointed by the chief justice, as well as financially literate members of the public and at least one member from an opposition party.
• New pension scheme for new MHAs, leaving the existing plan for long-standing MHAs. • MHAS to be fined $200 a day for being absent from the House without good reason. • Premier says the report, with a price of $675,000, was “very reasonable.” • Enhanced role for the clerk of the House, including expanded financial responsibilities. • End of reimbursement to MHAs for “charitable donations, sponsorships of individuals or groups, raffle tickets, alcoholic beverages, artwork, gifts, travel costs for constituents, travel costs for spouses or dependents, financial assistance to constituents, or expenses related to politically partisan activities.” • Members may make donations out of personal funds but not as an MHA — only as a private citizen. The premier acknowledged his own foundation, set up at arm’s length to donate his salary to charity, will have to be examined to ensure it is not being used to political advantage. • Time line of events that led to the scandal divided by Green into four eras: the Morgan Era (1989 to1996); the Policy Shift Era (1996-2001); the Hold the Line Era (2001-2003); and the Refocusing Era (2003-2006). ivan.morgan@theindependent.ca
Marshall and Furey won’t be running federally
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opsail MHA Beth Marshall says she will not seek the Conservative nomination in the federal riding of St. John’s East. In March Marshall had indicated she would not rule out an attempt at switching to federal politics. “I’ve ruled it out now,” Marshall tells The Independent. She says she has been re-nominated as the Progressive Conservative candidate in the provincial district of Topsail, and will be
running again in the October provincial election. There was speculation around Marshall’s political future after sitting Conservative MP Norm Doyle announced he would not be seeking re-election. Marshall was minister of Health and Community Services in Danny Williams’ cabinet in 2004, but resigned after the premier intervened to settle a strike by Victorian Order of Nurses in Corner Brook.
Since then, Marshall, a former auditor general and deputy minister, has remained in the backbenches of the Williams government. In response to rumours circulating this week that he was considering running in St. John’s East, former provincial cabinet minister and chief electoral officer Chuck Furey said, “That’s the first I’ve ever heard of it.” — Ivan Morgan
He says the perception that it is easier now for foreign-trained doctors to get licensed in the province than it once was, possibly because of a doctor shortage, is not accurate. He says the number of foreign-trained doctors licensed to practise in the province has not changed in the last four or five years. Roughly 45 per cent of doctors licensed each year, says Young, are foreign-trained and it has been at that level “for years. “We have a great reliance on international medical graduates,” he says. “Some of our senior physicians are international medical graduates.” Young says the licensing of a doctor is only one step in a process that monitors doctors’ performance. The college grants
the licence, but then a hospital credentials committee grants them privileges, puts them on probation, and monitors their performance. He says hospitals have a responsibility to ensure their doctors are competent. “I don’t think that we should say when we are going to license the doctor that we should say, ‘Well, we don’t need to credential them. We don’t need a period of probation. That the college — if they say a person is eligible for a licence — that there’s no need to do this.’ I think the system recognizes that there is a work-related performance that must be carried out by the hospital, because we haven’t seen the doctor in action.” ivan.morgan@theindependent.ca
6 • INDEPENDENTNEWS
JUNE 8, 2007
It ain’t over until AG sings T
he premier’s office didn’t do The Independent any favours when it came to the release of Chief Justice Derek Green’s report into political pay, but then this newspaper has always been hard on politicians in terms of the perks of office, right down to the poor quality of the 79 gold rings they gifted their hardworking fingers and toes. “Goldfingered,” read at least one column headline. We had the rings valued at $300, less than half the $750 cost. A local jeweller took issue with the fact they were called MHA rings. “I’d stop calling it an MHA ring and call it a poorly-crafted-Coat-of-Armsof-Newfoundland ring,” the jeweller said. What do politicians know about gold anyway, other than how to melt it down and flash it around? What do they know about magnets, for that matter, other than they’re a good way for constituents to see their faces every time they open the fridge door? The premier himself has spit nails in our direction from time to time over coverage of the spending scandal, los-
RYAN CLEARY
Fighting Newfoundlander ing his mind when we published a report on what happens with the salary he donates to charity. (Charity case, read that headline, a little cheeky upon reflection, but Danny acknowledged our point at the Thursday press conference.) The broader point was accountability, and the fact there was none. Green’s sweeping report wasn’t to be released until 11 a.m. Thursday — a handful of hours before our press deadline — and we pleaded/grovelled for an advance copy. Under embargo, of course — we wouldn’t breathe a word of it prior to government’s official launch. We just needed time to digest the report. “We cannot possibly give this report to a media outlet (even embargoed) before we give it to the opposition parties, or other media for that
matter,” said a spokeswoman for the premier’s office. “That would be unfair.” Fair enough. The spokeswoman thought The Independent’s press deadline was noon, giving us an hour to read the 1,300-page report, “plenty of time to write a story.” Well no, not exactly. At the same time, it’s fair to say — keeping in mind we only had time to flip through the executive summary — that the report will lay the blueprint for Rebuilding Confidence in the powers that be. Our political pipes will surely get a good flushing and leave us with an open and transparent system. A cynic might look at the Green report as damage control, a little overdue but in plenty of time to start the political healing process before the legislated October provincial election. From this day forward all politicians will be seen as pure as the driven snow. A cynic might look at the underlying theme of this report as the Danny Williams team cleaning up the mess of previous Liberal administrations.
A cynic might disagree with Derek Green’s breakdown of the time line: the Morgan Era (1989-1996); the Policy-Shift Era (1996-2001); the Hold-The-Line Era (2001-2003); and the Refocusing Era (2003-2006). With due respect to the chief justice, a cynic might see only two eras: PreEd-Byrne-Getting-Caught Era (otherwise known as Get-While-theGetting’s-Good era); and post-PostEd-Byrne-Getting-Caught Era, otherwise known as We-Got-Caught Era. The Green report outlines recommendations that can be implemented through policy and legislation, but you can’t legislate public confidence. The damage is done, the damage is deep, and few people will have the intestinal fortitude to plow through 1,300 pages of dry legalese. What will change? Danny talked about new political attitudes. For example, if you can believe it, politicians may actually be expected to work “deep” into the summer this year to implement the Green recommendations. Maybe ’til the end of June. How will they cope?
Danny also talked about John Noseworthy’s pending report into the constituency allowances of every MHA dating back to 1989 as being secondary to Green’s. But how can the premier say that? He may be putting the cart before the horse. We really won’t know the extent of the mess we’re cleaning up until Noseworthy’s report is released. And it does matter. Maybe the premier will use the Green report as a political fire extinguisher to spray all over the red hot Noseworthy report, which is bound to catch fire prior to the October election. It’s starting now with the premier diminishing (although he made a point to say he wasn’t) the upcoming auditor general’s report. Only after we come to terms with the full extent of the political spending scandal can we truly enter into a new political era. The House of Assembly may finally have rules, but the rules are only ever as good as the politicians who enforce them. Maybe that’s the broader message. ryan.cleary@theindependent.ca
YOURVOICE Prepared to sign away last six months of life Dear editor, Ivan Morgan opened up a topic that we will hear plenty about in future (Should some people be denied health care? May 25 edition of The Independent). Although Ivan hit some controversial points, he stopped short of the “E” word (euthanasia). Doctor friends tell me that most of us will cost the health system more money in the last year of our lives than the rest of our life put together. I have heard figures that show this can consume in excess of 30 per cent of the health-care budget, which consumes over 40 per cent of all government expenditures or about $120 billion per year. To put it in perspective, we have become accustomed to readily spending $36 billion per year to attempt to keep us alive an extra six months, albeit in dire pain and suffering (one wouldn’t do it to a dog). Yet there was a debate in the federal elec-
tion of January 2006 about whether we follow the Liberal’s plan of $1 billion for national day care or the Conservative’s plan of $1 billion paid directly to families with small children. The country — particularly Newfoundland and Labrador — is in need of immigrants because we have not had enough children. Yet we are prepared to spend more on lost causes and almost nothing on the next generation. Show me the papers now while I believe I am sane and I will sign away those six months in exchange for a promise that the money will be spent on the next generation and quality of life, things such as recreation for the healthy (it might do some good for the obesity problem, which is also going to cost the health-care system a fortune). George Power, St. John’s
The hockey player within
Move rust buckets from St. John’s harbour
Dear editor, I feel obligated to put forth a few words on the sports column written by Don Power in The Independent’s May 25 edition (Wings clipped, thankfully). Hockey is certainly our national sport and I would suspect the majority of Newfoundland and Labrador hockey fans are supportive of their fellow Newfoundlanders who have had the talent, perseverance and presence of mind to succeed to the National Hockey League. Daniel Cleary came off the best year of his career and was a role player on the Wings. He left home at 14 years of age — only a boy, barely a teenager. That in itself showed his character and determination. Dan has developed into the hockey player he had within him and also into a fine young man with a wife and baby daughter. Mr. Power’s column appears to have been written to expressly attack Dan Cleary and rural Newfoundlanders who are known for their personable demeanor and hospitable nature. Harbour Graceians fall into that same category. We all don’t live in the big city, but I can assure you we
Dear editor, With the tourist season upon us, maybe it is time to move the two or three rust buckets docked near Atlantic Place in downtown St. John’s. For most of the past six months most of the Harbour Drive dock area has been taken over with favourites of the ’60s —
are not morons! That may be a surprise to Mr. Power, but we have persons of all walks of life come from our community and many great success stories. Yes, we are feeling the effects of the down turn in the fishery and while it has affected our infrastructure it certainly has not affected our pride! Journalists carry a great responsibility, and we who read your thoughts like to think, from a legal and ethical standpoint, your scribbling will be non-defamatory, factual and without personal animosities. Mr. Power’s article does not meet these criteria. He is using his position and The Independent for whatever reason to slander a young Newfoundlander and his hometown. He should take a page from Bobby White who wrote sports articles for The Independent and put forth Danny’s career in a professional, objective manner. As was quoted recently by Ted Nolan when referencing Dan, “It is not how you start out but rather how you finish.” Luke Reynolds, Riverhead, Harbour Grace
the Apollo and another old green and white coastal piece of work, the name of which I forget. When I took my family for a drive to St. John’s on a recent Sunday my eight-year-old son complained he could not see across the harbour because two old oil tankers were blocking the view of our splendid tourist
attraction. The old ships should be docked on the Southside where they belong. Please make room for our modern cruise ships and naval fleet and move on. Barry Fitzpatrick, Mount Pearl
How a real MP does it Dear editor, This is how a real MP does it, he puts his province before himself/party: “OTTAWA — A Nova Scotia MP (Bill Casey) has been booted from the Conservative caucus after voting against budget legislation that he says will cost his province as much as a billion dollars.” Loyola Hearn does this sound familiar? I lost all respect for you when you voted against your province. Shame on you. Richard Duke, St. John’s
Loyola Hearn.
‘Fighting for what is rightfully ours’ AN INDEPENDENT VOICE FOR NEWFOUNDLAND & LABRADOR
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Dear editor, I’d like to address several letters to the editor and stories that appeared in The Independent. Fight if you’re a man by Ada Bradbury, May 25 edition: In Norm Doyle’s weird twisted way he’d have you believe he had no choice but sign the deal Stephen Harper presented. Doyle said he’d be kicked out of caucus if he hadn’t sided with Harper. So instead of standing up for all Newfoundlanders, he stood up for his own selfish greed. What Doyle did is clearly wrong, he should have backed Premier Danny Williams even if it meant getting kicked out of caucus. I’m sure Newfoundlanders would fight the good fight for Mr. Doyle. It’s called discrimination and we won’t go down without a fight on that one. Then there’s Fabian Manning on
politics of the head and heart (May 25 edition). If anyone needs a heart, it is Manning because he certainly didn’t have any intelligence when he signed on with Stephen Harper. Newfoundlanders have a heart, we are known for our friendliness, but we also have enough intelligence to know a rat when we smell it. As for the letter to the editor, CNLOPB ‘at risk’, (May 25 edition) the writer, Angus Taylor (a former CNLOPB manager), wants to pit the CNLOPB against Andy Wells just because Mr. Wells disagreed with the board members. Taylor wants either Wells dismissed or all the other board members dismissed because there’s a disparity. How stupid does he think the average Newfoundlander is to even try and process that kind of talk? Wells is not
going anywhere and if they try to dismiss him they’ll have a real fight on their hands. Another letter, ‘Pimple on backside of upper Canada’ (May 25 edition) by Wayne Lynch, asks “how much do we really have?” That remains to be seen, we aren’t finished fighting for what is rightfully ours and this time around we have a premier and a mayor who are just not going to back down. The difference this time is that a majority of Newfoundlanders are behind them, according to the polls. Loyola Hearn, Fabian Manning, Norm Doyle and certain unsupporting members of the media have finally met their match. Maybe politics will never be the same for them again, I hope. Marian Walsh, Conception Bay South
JUNE 8, 2007
INDEPENDENTNEWS • 7
Made in China (with blood) IVAN MORGAN
Rant & Reason
O
n June 4th, 1989 the men controlling China (I’ll be damned if I call them a government) made the decision to slaughter students who, for the past few months, had been protesting in Tiananmen Square in Beijing — in the tens of thousands — for political reform. Young, ambitious, and idealistic, these students found the moxie to defy the monolithic Communist Party that had held the nation by the throat since it took power by force in 1949. They wanted reform. They wanted democracy. They wanted freedom. They wanted a better life for themselves. They were the best and the brightest, and they took to the streets in many Chinese cities, and in Beijing they took to Tiananmen Square. Inspired by Hu YaoBang, a high-ranking Communist, the students dared do what he did. They spoke the truth. He had called for reform. He had lived through the brutal insanity that was Chairman Mao Zedong’s rule. Think your life is crazy? Pick up a book on Mao`s rule of China. It makes no sense. That’s because it made no sense. And Hu, among others, tried to talk common sense. His Communist colleagues did not appreciate his remarks. He got himself “retired” for his troubles. When he died, officially disgraced, on April 15, 1989 several thousand students — to whom he was a hero — gathered to mourn him publicly. They were forcibly dispersed by security personnel. News of that brought 100,000 students out into the streets in protest. Good for them. It took off from there, and as the protests grew, the men who controlled the country — the Communists — started to get more and more freaked out. A core of the student protesters started a hunger strike to draw attention to the fact their call for reforms was being ignored. Zhao Ziyang, another high-ranking Communist who openly sympathized with these young people, came (or was sent) to try and talk to the young protesters in Tiananmen. He wanted them to see reason. He gave a patient, caring speech aimed at defusing the situation. It didn’t. He said something to them that is remembered for its haunting irony. He told them they had to live to see China’s future. “You are not like us,” he said. “We are already old, it doesn’t matter any more.” Which is why, one supposes, Zhao was never seen in public again. He was relegated to house arrest for the rest of his life, because what he and
the students cared about didn’t matter to the rulers of China. Which is also why, I suppose, the wily old Communist leaders chose to use troops from China’s hinterlands to do the killing — the troops in the city wouldn’t do it. On June 4, 1989 there were pitched battles in China’s capital city, as the young men from the countryside were ordered to “save” the city from the protesters. Young Chinese killing young Chinese. Peasants killing students. The old rulers ordered the killing because the only thing that did matter — that ever mattered to these men — was holding power. Eyewitnesses claimed the students called out to the advancing soldiers, yelling “Why are you killing us.” With control came retaliation, as the rulers ordered the students who were involved hunted down, one by one, in the weeks and months to come. And now we have the China of today — a socalled economic powerhouse that does all our work for us cheap. Real cheap. Whether making party favours, electronics, household goods, or processing our fish, the poor labourer in China is doing it for next to nothing. They know better — thanks to Tiananmen — than to ever speak up. It takes a lot to get me into the street, but in April 1999 — not 10 years after this global atrocity — then-premier Brian Tobin invited one of those bastards here to our province in the name of economic development. Bought him lunch at the Fairmont Hotel, if you please. Andy Wells flew the Tibetan flag from City Hall and I watched while a lot of people drove past our protest line to eat salmon with a butcher. I hope, if you were there and you are reading this now, that your face burns with embarrassment. Shame on you. We put warning signs on cigarettes. We put warning labels on booze. I would love to see the iconic image of that lone young man standing in front of a row of tanks in Tiananmen Square on every product we buy made in China. We all buy them — how can we not? But when I see Made in China I wince. We in Newfoundland and Labrador bemoan the loss of a generation who died on July 1st, 1916. What, we ask every year, would our little corner of the world have been like had they lived? What would the world be like today had those beautiful, brave, strong idealistic young students not been butchered wholesale? We will never know. Hell, I doubt many people even care. To quote Zhao, maybe it doesn’t matter anymore. ivan.morgan@theindependent.ca
SCHOLARSHIPS ANNOUNCED
Robert Bartlett, Kyla Fisher, Anthony Maher and Hilary Wicks sit beneath portraits of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert at Government House in St. John’s. They are just four of the 21 recipients from this province who were presented with 2007 Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation awards on June 6. The awards recognize students entering university or college for their skills in leadership, community involvement, academic achievement and innovation. Since 2000, the foundation has granted $2.3 billion in bursaries and scholarships to students in Canada. Paul Daly/The Independent
‘Share with us the utter bliss’ Dear editor, It is unfortunate that since her husband left for Alberta, Pam Pardy Ghent’s life has become virtually unbearable (A letter
from home to a husband hard at work in Alberta, June 1 edition). Perhaps upon her husband’s return, Pam will share with us the utter bliss that she will sure-
ly derive from living day in and day out with the same person under one roof. Katrina Thorarinson, St. John’s
YOURVOICE ‘Contempt’ for the needy Editor’s note: the following letter was written to Health Minister Ross Wiseman, with a copy forwarded to The Independent. Dear Minister Wiseman. I thought I would write to inform you that the cost of treating AMD (age-related macular degeneration) patients who suffer from the wet variety of the disease has been lowered at the Bense Eye Centre in St. John’s. Dr. Bense has lowered the cost of his treatments to $500 from $1,500 per treatment. The reduction in price is brought on largely because of the large numbers of patients he has been treating lately, all the patients that your government has not stepped forward to help. When the Bense Eye Centre was contacted to ask why the reduction, they indicated they were swamped. Remember, Minister Wiseman, these are seniors who have made this province the great place it is and your government has cast them aside to have to deal with financial hardship. And you and your staff have shown great contempt to the people here by refusing to answer
some basic questions. You should resign as minister. You won’t even talk to anyone because you are a “busy man.” As your executive assistant Sharon Vokey put it when I spoke with her, I may be acting like a child and keep asking for something, but the fact of the matter is I am not going away until this government or any other government steps up to the plate and takes responsibility for paying for these treatments. Maybe you should pay for some training for your staff so they have a bit of compassion and show some respect for the people when they talk to them. It’s been almost eight weeks now Minister Wiseman, and you still haven’t got the courage to call me, or still haven’t provided answers to my questions that I have sent to you and that Ms. Vokey said she would get the answers for and get back to me. That was almost three weeks ago. Again, contempt is what’s being shown to the voters. Barry Wheeler, Corner Brook
‘Thanks so much for the effort and thought’ Dear editor, Just a note to say how much I enjoy reading The Independent. We get The Telegram also and I must say I read more of The Independent articles than I do any others. I particularly enjoy Ivan Morgan, Susan Rendell, Ryan Cleary, Noreen Golfman and Pam PardyGhent. I also enjoy Scrunchins and the Gallery.
This past week, the photos and story Wheeling around by Stephanie Porter was excellent and the article Scandal breakdown (also by Porter) was informative. Thanks so much for the effort and thought that goes into The Independent. Theresa Forsey, St. John’s
JUNE 8, 2007
8 • INDEPENDENTNEWS
JUNE 8, 2007
INDEPENDENTNEWS • 9
IN CAMERA
Breathe through a straw for 60 seconds. That’s what breathing is like with cystic fibrosis.
From page 1 public drunkenness and violence is matched by another boasting about the high standard of living and a sought-after model for economic development. The skyline is changing fast, there’s no doubt about that, and some moan that the Irish culture is slipping away right along with it. After a dozen years of vast change, I was sure my former home with the dripping ceilings, dodgy staircase and flaking plaster walls — along with the short street it sat on — would have been flattened. Though the current residents of 47 Coleraine are no doubt paying several times the 20 Euro a week I did, the building remains, with the same grey gravelly front and peeling wooden window panes. The rest of the street is pretty much the same too, as is the building of crowded-looking flats across the way. The pub on the corner where we used to go use the phone (we only had incoming service) looks as gloomy as ever. But some of the streets I was once leery of walking down are now clean and lined with spotless apartment buildings. There’s a new concentration of stores nearby run by Chinese immigrants — not quite Chinatown, but something getting close to that. There’s no sign of the newsstand I used to stop by every day for a paper and a chat, or the post office where I used to mail letters home. Many of the things I pass don’t seem familiar — but it’s hard to say if that’s because the Celtic tiger has taken hold and made the city over. It has been a dozen years, after all, and I’m only just starting to reorient myself. ••• I arrange to meet up with Placentia-born Glenda O’Keefe, a busy and efficient account manager for a computer firm, for some perspective. She came to Ireland eight years ago knowing no one, with just her backpack and a plan to stick it out for eight weeks. She’s delighted she took the chance. From the beginning, O’Keefe says, she was taken care of and watched out for by everyone she lived and worked with. Outgoing and a dramatic storyteller, it’s no doubt she fits in well wherever she goes. When asked about the changes over the past eight years, she’s quick to rhyme off a litany: more drivers, more women drivers, bigger cars, non-stop construction, new cultures in her neighbourhood, new shopping malls, housing developments and on and on. There’s better public transportation — a tram (the luas) makes commuting on certain routes a breeze — and an energy and vibrancy to the city that seems only to be on the increase. O’Keefe still longs to move to St. John’s, sometimes. She’s only met up with a handful of Newfoundlanders in her time in Dublin, and she’s eager for news from home. But she’s not sure when or if she’ll leave — she’s long been entranced with the country she now lives in and the connection she feels. “I love it,” she enthuses, more than once. “I can’t believe I came over here like that .. but I can’t believe how well it’s turned out. This is a great place to be.” ••• Writer Joel Hynes spent six months in Dublin in 1999, and says he felt at ease right away — though even then, it wasn’t the city he expected. “There was a lot of money and work and partying and cellphones were everywhere,” he says. “But it was all still very Irish, Dublin. I guess when I originally went over there I was expecting Frank McCourt’s Dublin, grey and rough and cobblestoned drizzle. I wasn’t expecting the fast, touristy Eurotown that it was and now really, really is.” Hynes went to Ireland as part of a work program offered through the Brother T.I. Murphy Centre in St. John’s, a centre designed to help youth at risk explore career options. He lived with a family, took courses in stage design and music, and wondered if he would ever return to the other side of the Atlantic. “I felt comfortable and safe and right at home,” he says. “It was vibrant and crowded … And I guess growing up on the Southern Shore and hearing so much about Ireland and our surnames and geography and even the accents and food preferences being so very similar, it just seemed like the logical place to go and figure my shit out. It wouldn’t have made sense for me way back then to take off to Toronto or Calgary where I had absolutely no connections to the culture or the people. “I was made to feel alright about where I came from and people were interested and made a fuss over what Newfoundland is, as opposed to coming at me with all the stereotypes imposed upon us when we go to the mainland. I felt I could relax.” Hynes returned during the March Hare tour of Ireland earlier this year, now a successful and recognized writer and actor. “To be honest, I was expecting some sort of homecoming, I guess, but it was like walking through the ghost of a town that might not have really been there in the first place,” he says. He was struck by two other things: the amount of drinking in public (which has been referred to as a “national emergency”); and the lack of Irish working in the service industry. “Mass waves of Eastern Europeans show up every day in search of those very jobs that the Irish won’t work at anymore and the result being a very diluted, yet multi-cultural, culture,” he says. “Not a racist statement in the least, just that it seems to have greatly influenced the character of Dublin. It doesn’t feel Irish over there. It feels European.” ••• In the summer of 1995, I worked in a bar called Papa Joe’s, an awkward piano bar near Christchurch Cathedral, not far from Dublin’s city centre. It wasn’t very busy, but was plenty of fun — great bar staff, friendly and patient regulars, and tasty pints after closing time. I also did shifts at the Castle Inn around the corner, at the time a very dark and dirty pub, frequently crowded, loud, and at times utterly bewildering. It wasn’t rare to see a punch — or something else — thrown on a Friday night, but it was also a highly entertaining place to work, filled with personality and vigour. Papa Joe’s, not surprisingly, doesn’t exist anymore, at least not in name. The building still stands, and the interior has barely changed, but it’s now called The Pale and caters primarily to the tourist traffic heading
No wonder so many people with CF stop breathing in their early 30s.
Please help us.
1-800-378-CCFF • www.cysticfibrosis.ca
Dublin by night. Dublin City nighttime scenes with traffic on O’Connell Street.
A horse and cart delivering boxes of fruit to the markets in Dublin.
Leon Farrell/Photocall Ireland
Leon Farrell/Photocall Ireland
People drinking in O’Reilly’s Pub on Merrion Row in Dublin on New Year’s Eve. Leon Farrell/Photocall Ireland
‘Euro-town’ to and from the Guinness brewery. The Castle Inn is now the Bull and Castle, and has received a complete and successful facelift. It’s still dark, but very modern and clean, boasting dozens of brands of beer from around the world. It doesn’t have the same energy (or the stuffed animal heads and antlers on the wall), but it’s hard to make a judgment, being early on a weekday evening. I do know that 12 years ago, myself and my roommates would make a point of visiting small pubs and chatting with the bar staff — almost certainly Irish — about the country, the city and the way things worked. We were trying to absorb as much as we could, feel at home as quickly as possible, and the folks behind the bar were generally more than willing to tell stories and provide opinions on everything. As Hynes says, most of the people working the bar now are from far afield — with a whole new set of stories to tell, no doubt, if they have time to do so. ••• St. John’s-based folk musician Fergus O’Byrne grew up in Dublin. He last returned three years ago and agrees that downtown Dublin is “very familiar in structure but very different with so many different
accents and languages being spoken.” It’s a far cry from the city he knew as a youngster — but that’s hardly rare, from a global perspective. “The pace of life seems so much faster,” he points out, “but that’s indicative of any large city in the world.” Like many Newfoundlanders, O’Byrne says he now finds more of an affinity for the west part of the country, places like Galway and surrounding counties — literally and figuratively closer to Newfoundland and filled with the things that speak to his roots and passion for traditional music. “I guess the pace (in the west of Ireland) reminds me more of what is here in Newfoundland,” he says. “Galway is such a good place to find traditional music that’s easily accessible. “Newfoundland is my home but I still have an ancestral attachment to Ireland, especially through the great music that comes from there. When I was home three years ago I was greatly impressed by the number of young people in their teens and early 20s who play their instruments with such expertise. But the sessions here in St. John’s are equally as impressive, not only for the musicality, but because of the welcome mat that’s laid out.”
*** For the next week or so, I’m a guest, a tourist in Dublin again, staying with a friend I met the last time around. It’s difficult to compare the experiences — now I’m 31, not 19, and plenty has happened in the time in between to change the way I see and react to a place. That summer a dozen years ago, I worked in a pub for two pounds an hour. There was no extra money for dinners out or shopping, but that’s not what I was here for — it was a grand adventure, a great few months of learning and exploring and socializing in a place that seemed remarkably close to home. And it still does, for whatever reasons. And so, there may or may not have been hundreds of great places to eat a decade ago. There certainly are now (this includes, as before, Leo Burdock’s fish and chips, but also takes in everything else you could think to list). I’m sure shopping has come a long way as well, the result of increased demand, more disposable income, and a higher standard of living. The boutique-lined Grafton Street is jam-packed every afternoon, and the customers are most definitely not all tourists.
Polish immigrants. A woman buys a Polish language paper at a newsstand on Dublin’s O'Connell Street. Eamonn Farrell/Photocall Ireland
The friend I’m staying with has seen changes too, of course, having grown up in Dublin, moved away, and returned home to a good job. The house he bought five years ago — just around the corner from the home he grew up in — has likely doubled in value in that time. We drop by his parents for a cup of tea, and they’re enthusiastic about the Dublin of today. Without hesitation, they say, the past 10 years in the city have been the best they can remember: people have jobs, people have money and politics are relatively stable. Everyone has concerns about housing prices, certain taxes, health care, garbage removal, local crime — issues common to many a growing city. But even in the heart of town, the local pub still exists, neighbours still know each other’s business, families and communities sur-
Joel Hynes (left) and Fergus O’Byrne
A multicultural nation: Traders sell phone cards on Dublin’s Moore Street. Leon Farrell/Photocall Ireland
vive. ••• Here’s my confession: as far as I know, I have no ancestral links to Ireland. No Irish in my blood. My family comes from England, Wales, maybe Scotland. Maybe it’s just growing up in Newfoundland, surrounded by music and story and hearing so many of the soft accents my whole life — even picking up on some of the lilt and lingo myself. (Or some sort of inherent appreciation for the brave souls who first set up in my province.) Either way, I feel close to home here, even in a big blustery city that likely actually has little in common with St. John’s. But that sense of place, as we hear over and over again, goes both ways. The Ireland-based Irish Newfoundland
Partnership was formed in 2001 (there’s a Newfoundland equivalent, the Ireland Business Partnership, based in St. John’s) and Agnes Aylward has been executive director since the first year. They organize cultural programs and exchanges — the annual Festival of the Sea, for one, and there’s a long list of music, art and theatre that has been shown on both sides of the Atlantic because of it. There’s also knowledge transfer, trade missions, science forums and community development projects. I stopped by the partnership’s offices the other day to say hello. Aylward is from county Waterford, where so many Newfoundlanders have direct ties, dating back to the 17th century. “I’m very interested in the work,” says Aylward. “And very interested because when I went to Newfoundland there were so many names there from my part of Ireland and so many names and so many faces and so many voices were so similar. It was uncanny … every person I met on the Southern Shore had the same name as someone I went to school with in the small town I grew up in.” Then Aylward said something that stuck with me, and makes more and more sense in today’s world, with mass culture and globalization and all those other buzz words. She says the Irish she brings over to Newfoundland for the first time are always surprised and delighted by what they find. “In the end,” she says. “We all love to find ourselves somewhere else.”
Paul Daly/The Independent
stephanie.porter@theindependent.ca
JUNE 8, 2007
10 • INDEPENDENTNEWS
LIFE STORY
YOURVOICE ‘Could we rear donkeys with caribou?’ Dear editor, The Akbash dog has been used to guard livestock since biblical times. It is a large, white dog originating in Turkey, where it is employed to watch over sheep and protect them from wolves, etc. Now an Israeli farmer has reared the Akbash dog with yearling cattle on a farm so they would learn by instinct to protect the cattle. He
then released the Akbash dogs to the wild where they are protecting cattle from wolves. What has this got to do with the province? Could we not use the Akbash dog to protect our caribou herds from coyotes? I have noted that Newfoundland farmers have successfully used donkeys to protect their sheep from coyotes. Could we rear donkeys with caribou (like the Israeli cattlemen) and then release them to
the wild to protect the caribou herds? The wild horses of Cormack have survived harsh winters of insular Newfoundland for half a century. These are only suggestions, and I would like wildlife biologist Shane Mahoney (or others) to give informed opinion. Chas Luter, Buchans
Dobermans are our friends Dear editor, I am writing regarding the recent attack by a Doberman in St. John’s. I really do not understand this kind of thing happening. I have three mixed breed dogs that are well taken care of by my partner and me. We walk our dogs daily. We mix with many types of dogs and their owners, Dobermans included. We have never had a problem with Doberman in any way shape or form. They are friendly and loving animals. The Dobermans that we have been in contact with in this city are much more interested in playing with our dogs than
they are interacting with humans. In fact, they more or less ignore humans if there is another dog around. I do not understand this person being hurt by a Doberman. The dog may have felt threatened by the man or something like that. We have a dog that is part husky and in the summer he pants and his tongue hangs out because he is too hot. Panting is how dogs cool themselves off. Some people think that because a dog’s mouth is open and his tongue is hanging out that he is going to eat them. When it comes to dogs that attack or hurt people, like they say
about bad children “the apple does not fall far from the tree.” Meantime, I know a friend of mine had to give her dog away to friends in Ontario because the kids next door where always throwing rocks at her when she went out to the yard to do her business. In the long run I would trust any dog any time of the day or night over a human. Most dogs like humans and want to get along with them. I cannot necessarily say that for some people. Garry Blake, Conception Bay South
Scott Chafe
Submitted photo
Just the facts By John Rieti The Independent Red blazer draped over his shoulders, cassette recorder and microphone dangling by his side, Scott Chafe, one of VOCM’s most decorated reporters, was always the last person to leave the House of Assembly. A political reporter with the radio news station for over 40 years, Chafe interviewed every Newfoundland and Labrador premier that held office. He passed away last week at the age of 61 due to illness, working until his final days. Chafe often spent his breaks smoking cigarettes with Percy Barrett, the liberal MHA for Bellevue. The two developed a friendship that Barrett says was never challenged by their professions. “We didn’t talk politics all the time … we talked about what he was fanatical about, trouting and salmon fishing,” says Barrett. Chafe covered news across the island, beginning his career in Marystown before moving to St. John’s to cover the legislature. Despite his travels around the province, Chafe had never fished in Placentia. “You’re going to have to take the trip someday,” Barrett remembers telling Chafe. “It wouldn’t be a good idea for us to be seen on the same boat together,” replied Chafe. Barrett told Chafe that when he retired he would take him fishing around his hometown. “When I heard about his death, the first thing that came across my mind was the only way I’m going to be able to do this fishing trip with Scott is in spirit,” says Barrett. Chafe spent countless hours perched in the press gallery above the House of Assembly, but he had a knack for taking long-winded debates and turning them into short and simple radio pieces. Bob Wakeham, who covered the same stories as Chafe for other news agencies, is still amazed by how quickly and accurately Chafe could file his reports. “He could have covered any story in the world and come back with just the facts, just the accurate facts … I’m sure VOCM has never got calls from anybody saying ‘Scott got it wrong,’ he always got it right,” says Wakeham. Chafe also rose above the controversy and competition of the tiny legislative newsroom — three radio booths and a line of shallow work stations — where reporters constantly try to beat each other to stories. “Scott was first and foremost an incredibly pleasant, decent and nice man. He wasn’t a self-centered prick or anything along those lines like a lot of us are … I used to watch him share his stuff with his radio competitors.” Wakeham said this friendly approach made Chafe a perfect fit for VOCM, a station that prides itself on being part of the community and getting Newfoundlanders and Labradorians as soon as it happens. Chafe took an old-fashioned approach to journalism — just the facts, no twists, extra context, or analysis. Wakeham says this is how he will remember Chafe and he can still repeat the reporter’s outro, “Scott Chafe, VOCM News at the House of Assembly.”
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JUNE 8, 2007
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AROUND THE WORLD On Thursday last, the anniversary of the Most Gracious Majesty’s Birth was celebrated in this loyal city, by its being kept as a general holiday. During the day the Forts at the Block-house at Signal-hill were gaily decked out with flags of all kinds; and in the evening the apartments at Government house were thrown open to a brilliant party; the lady of his Excellency presided with her accustomed dignity, amiability and grace, and his Excellency with his usual urbanity. The entrance to Government house was neatly illuminated — the Royal initial was handsomely typified by lamps, and the people lit up Cochrane Street, in the rear of his Excellency’s palace, with blazing tar-barrels, til far in the night. Indeed the day was well-kept — significant of the devoted feelings of the people of this ancient colony towards her most gracious Majesty. — The Reporter, St. John’s, June 5, 1856 AROUND THE BAY A Heart’s Content dispatch of the 10th inst. states that “During yesterday’s breeze a man named George Clark,” while endeavouring to beat his boat into Heart’s Desire swamped about four miles off and was drowned. His brother, in
another boat, was some distance leeward of the unfortunate man and consequently could render no assistance. Clark leaves a wife and one child to mourn his untimely end. — The Weekly Record, Trinity, June 18, 1892 YEARS PAST The name of Hon. Edgar R. Bowring is included in the list of Birthday Honours and he has been given a Knighthood. The recognition is well-deserved and the honour is one that every Newfoundlander will appreciate, for the name of Bowring has been a household word for the last century in this Colony. Sir Edgar is a son of the late John Bowring and was born in St. John’s in 1858. — St. John’s Daily Star, June 4, 1915 EDITORIAL STAND Our Newfoundland bank fishery died out many years ago, with the decease of the last of our old West of England banking establishment. Since then it has been relegated to the French and American bankers, who, having no coast line of value to work over, have been necessarily driven to look for still more profitable fares in deeper waters. We have no doubt that before the present generation passes away, we shall find the two or three vessels now fitted out for the Bank fishery represented by as many thousands, manned by those of our fishermen who now grope about the shore in small boats, satisfied with catching a few “tomcods,” but who, under the new con-
dition of things, will be endowed with a more ambitious hardihood, and instead of becoming fishermen only — to the extent to which the term may be applied to them — will not only become fishermen in the truest sense of the word, but hardy and experienced seamen as well, to their own infinite advantage and to the advantage of the Colony as well. — The North Star, St. John’s, June 22, 1878 LETTER TO THE EDITOR Dear Sir – Lady Squires has scored a double victory by being the first woman candidate for political honours and also because she has proven that a woman is capable of running an election campaign against the seasoned Tory party, as well as beating them at their own game, and not only so but she has rolled up a tremendous vote and may well feel proud of the confidence shown by the voters of Lewisporte who were determined that Lady Squires should be the first woman to mark the stepping off place between the old iron-bound traditions and the new progressive modern ideas. — The Liberal Press, St. John’s, June 7, 1930 QUOTE OF THE WEEK “I feel that I certainly will be Premier soon. I am in my sixties but I still feel young enough to assume the Premiership and to be very active in the capacity.” — PC Leader Malcolm Hollett -The Newfoundland Weekly, St. John’s, June 20, 1957
INDEPENDENTBUSINESS
FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY, JUNE 8-14, 2007 — PAGE 13
What brings you to NL? By John Rieti The Independent
coming back,” says Roy. Finley was in town for the Embroidery Association of Canada conference along with Keane’s wife Emily. Together the group had eaten seafood — “you don’t get it this fresh on the prairies,” says Emily — experienced some of Newfoundland’s nature, and were about to tour the Quidi Vidi Brewery. Shane Lynch, marketing assistant with the provincial tourism department, says May has been a busy month. Although there are no statistics available for 2007, the government predicted conferences would cause a swell in tourist numbers in May. A similar increase is expected in the fall. Last year, just under 500,000 peo-
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till excited from seeing a huge iceberg floating just outside the hills of Quidi Vidi Gut in St. John’s, a group of tourists talk over each other to describe their visit to the province. “It’s a beautiful place, it’s gorgeous,” says Jerry Keane from Alberta. “That’s what we discovered afterwards, they didn’t tell us in England how wonderful it was,” says Roy Finley from Wiltshire, UK. “They didn’t tell us how cold it was either,” adds Jytte Finley, his wife. “The important thing is we will be
ple visited Newfoundland and Labrador. Seventy per cent of tourists traveled to the island from Ontario and the Maritimes. Atop Signal Hill, nurses Kendra Gunn and Karen Keefe from P.E.I. brace themselves against the wind and are blown away by the scenery. “We arrived this afternoon and we’ve been out to see the icebergs and out to Cape Spear … it’s just beautiful,” says Gunn who is in town for a convention. Gunn says she has noticed more promotional material for the province recently, specifically a television ad playing on the titles of rural Newfoundland towns like Heart’s Content. The provincial government
spent $6.4 million on television and print advertising this year. In 2006 visitors spent $366.3 million in the province. This May the icebergs have become floating billboards. “(Tourists will) come down just to see the icebergs,” says Lynch. “You’re not going to see that anywhere else, besides Greenland.” The icebergs have also turned people into tourists in their own province. Jonathan Penney of St. John’s raced out to photograph the icebergs as soon as he could. He says photography has opened his eyes to the province and that he has been “just as amazed as See “It’s tough,” page 14
A tourist observes a pinnacle iceberg as it rests outside The Narrows.
Nicholas Langor/The Independent
I’ve got the money, honey
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n almost every year I’ll speak to just over 100 groups and organizations about money and personal finances. It’s all part of a commitment to public education. Doing these sessions is almost at the top, the best part of my job, second only to meeting face to face with people. It’s also been a great opportunity for me to learn more about couples and their money. I’ve learned that many people sign up for courses with a single goal in mind: they want someone to tell them how to handle their money more effectively. They presume they’re practically financially illiterate, or only just beyond, that they have nothing to manage in any event, and finally, that they desperately need to change. They are husbands, wives and partners, parents, grandparents, siblings and friends. They are usually ordinary people and typically they’re decent. I’ve come to learn that generally they are neither illiterate nor
Fig.16
AL ANTLE
Your Finances inflexible and certainly not impoverished. Simply put, they are individuals misinformed about money, and they take that misinformation into their couple-hood. They fail to see money for what it truly and exclusively is — power. More specifically, the power to choose. Couples who fail to grasp this realization, in my experience, spend years going around in circles, looking for answers that typically never appear. For example, some couples fail to see their income as entitling them to a certain level of power as consumers. They should then build their family life to that point, to benefit all family mem-
bers. Instead they view their standard of living as a cross to bear. They spend little on themselves, but their children have the best of everything. Then again, in some relationships one spouse recognizes the power that money brings while the other does not. The person in the know enjoys being in financial control, and they don’t like the notion of surrendering it at all. To insure success, they both confirm and affirm their partner’s perceptions and say things like, “Thank God I’m better with the money than you are,” and “If we left things to you, we’d be in the poor house.” And, of course, in some relationships one of the partners willingly surrenders complete financial control. But at no point do they perceive themselves as actually giving up financial responsibility. Have you ever heard or said, “I’m just awful with money, you’d better see to it.” I must acknowledge that some
people may genuinely be unable to handle money due to literacy challenges, mental-health issues or general fear and stress. Then there are those who simply could not be bothered. The real “stress” is passed to the other partner who’s stuck as the family treasurer — whether they want the job or not. Another dynamic we see in couples is a play for the financial power in a household. This is achieved through the message, “Aren’t you glad I choose to love you.” These people rarely surrender any control to the other spouse even though she or he is quite capable. Typically they dole out a personal allowance and then hold the other spouse to account for how they spend it. There’s the type who uses his, and yes it’s typically his, money to control and intimidate. These are the people whose spouse believes that she has nowhere to go if and when the relation-
ship turns sour. She fears being tossed unceremoniously into the street with no financial resources of her own. They typically feel they are not allowed to have — aren’t entitled to, in fact — a point of view on financial matters. They spend their time trying to keep the peace, by walking on eggshells and by repeating in their own mind, over and over, “Don’t get Daddy on the go.” But we also see wonderfully positive financial relationships. These are not the exclusive domain of the well educated who enjoy an above-average income. I remember talking to one guy about 15 years ago and suggesting to him that his household debt could be cut a little if he sold a small parcel of land adjacent to his property where another house could be built. He reasoned that my idea had merit, but Susan, his spouse, loved the view See “Financial relationship,” page 14
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JUNE 8, 2007
Skills drain Province’s in-demand trades workers need wage increase to stay: employer’s council By Mandy Cook The Independent
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hris Wells’ four-year electrical journeyman’s program at Academy Canada in St. John’s will keep him bouncing between classroom and fieldwork — and employment insurance. The 34-year-old is currently working in the capital city, logging enough hours as an apprentice to return for a second term of class instruction. Meanwhile, the $15 he makes per hour and the prospect of filing for EI while in school is discouraging him from sticking around the province to complete his program. “In Alberta I can walk in off the street and make $34 bucks an hour,” he says. “Everything is paid for at the camps — your food, your accommodations. There’s even a maid service to come and
make the bed.” Wells will decide in the next two weeks if he will take his buddy up on his offer of a job in remote Alberta, working three weeks on, one week off. He says even though there’s plenty of work for him in Newfoundland and Labrador — the company he works for has 14 big jobs coming up and only 18 electricians to do the work — the high wages to be earned in Alberta’s labour crunch are tempting. Derm Corbett, mayor of Buchans in central Newfoundland, says the Duck Pond base metal mine 20 kilometres from nearby Millertown has “pretty much” accessed all the tradespeople available from the local area. Of the 200 people working there, he estimates 25 to 30 are from his community, and others have come from Badger, Grand Falls-Windsor, Springdale and the Baie Verte area. Still, the labour
force had to be topped up with workers from Quebec and Ontario. “There’s a tremendous shortage of skilled experienced miners and if you’re lucky enough to fit into that category you can pretty much pick where you’d like to work — in the province and the country,” he says. Two weeks into production, Corbett says there are about a dozen trucks a day shipping zinc, copper and lead to the west coat to connect with the Port aux Basques ferry. He says Duck Pond mine is one of the more “significant” mines on the island portion of the province right now and has a life expectancy of between six and eight years. Ironically, Corbett expects to see an eventual skills drain from his town to another mining community. “(Duck Pond’s) got their work force in place but undoubtedly they’ll have a
Trade Carpentry Electricians Mining Technician Plumbing Welders
College of the N. A. 47 125 136 16 201
Privates
Total
102 224 0 32 126
149 349 136 48 327
Source: Department of Education
few of their experienced workers now leak away to Baie Verte because the operation in Baie Verte will be starting up soon and a number of them working up there are from Baie Verte so undoubtedly they’re going to probably want to move up there,” he says. “It’s one thing to get them it’s another to hold on to them.” Marilyn Tucker, president of the Newfoundland and Labrador Employers’ Council, says the key to retaining skilled workers in any capacity
is a wage increase. In addition to attractive salaries, Tucker says there will have to be “lifestyle factors” included in compensation packages such as more family time to encourage those new to the work force to consider a career in skilled trades. She also says the education system needs to match skills training with corresponding industries currently lacking workers. Although Wells knows he can find steady work in his home province — and that local contractors are so desperate they personally approach trades colleges to offer opportunities to new graduates like himself — he cites a lack of benefits and his hourly wage as reasons to leave. “I don’t want to go,” he says. “I’d stay if I was making more money.” mandy.cook@theindependent.ca
Financial relationship From page 13 across the harbour from the frontroom window. It gave him pleasure to just watch her looking. “Al b’y,” he said. “Is loosing all that going to be worth the $7,000 I’ll get?” The look on his face and the words he spoke have remained with me over all these years. Regrettably, I don’t know if they ever sold. I sure hope not. We also see couples who demonstrate incredible respect for the other’s hard work. I dealt with a young physician a number of years ago whose partner was a stay-at-home parent. Among his chief financial priorities was a four-day weekend jaunt for his wife to her friend’s place in upstate New York several times each year.
He’d stay at home with their children, doing her daily chores. “It’s the least I can do,” he said. “She saves us a fortune on daycare.” Getting his wife off to those special weekends came before everything else. In his view, her stress was so much greater than his own. So what kind of financial relationship do you and your honey have? Do you understand its rewards and limitations? Are you OK with things overall Stuff that’s reflected in the sheets of your bank statement can definitely find their way between other sheets in other aspects of your life too. Al Antle is executive director of Credit and Debt Solutions Newfoundland and Labrador (Formerly Credit Counselling Service of Newfoundland and Labrador).
Fisheries Minister Tom Rideout and Premier Danny Williams
Nicholas Langor/The Independent
Protecting the deal Fisheries minister says FPI deal penalties have teeth By Ivan Morgan The Independent
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isheries Minister Tom Rideout says government has built the best financial commitments into the pending FPI deal that they could. Speaking in reaction to a story in last week’s Independent that suggested the province’s track record enforcing million-dollar penalties attached to agreements with private companies is not a strong one, Rideout says the penalties they have put in place to protect the tentative deal with processors Ocean Choice and Highliner to purchase the assets of Fishery Products are solid. Rideout says a guarantee is only as good as the intentions of the people behind it, and he understands that conditions can change over the years. “We all don’t have a crystal ball to stare that far out into the future,” Rideout tells The Independent. “But they’re guarantees as good as we can get … as good as circumstances will permit us to arrive at, at this particular point in time.” In 1998 the Tobin government sold the Marystown shipyard facilities to U.S.-based Friede Goldman for $1. At the time, government made a point of assuring the Newfoundland and Labrador public it was a sound decision, citing commitments by the com-
pany to maintain a minimum number of person hours of work for the following three years. Failure to do so would result in million-dollar fines The company did not honour the commitment or pay the fines. When the company sold the facility to Peter Kiewit Sons in 2002, the Roger Grimes administration waived the fines owed to government. “I guess the reality has set in that you take part of the loaf or no loaf,” Grimes said in an interview last week, referring to the government’s pending deal to sell FPI. “And they’ll cry from the rooftops — just like Brian Tobin and the crew did back then — that this is good and this is secure and this is safe, but the fact of the matter is nobody will know what it is going to look like in five years time. Not a single living soul. Just like we didn’t know then.” Rideout says he has faith that Ocean Choice and Highliner — both with long traditions in the Newfoundland fishery — will honour their commitments to the province and the communities in which they will be operating. “I can’t see why any company worth its salt would want to shell out hundreds of millions of dollars to buy an asset and then pay several more million dollars to close it down,” says the minister. “It would seem to me that the motivation would be to make it work.”
Rideout says there is a regime of penalties in the agreement that protect the province’s stake in the deal. He says Ocean Choice — the company to default on any of their agreements with the province — stands to lose access to the offshore quota and licences they will inherit under the deal. Control of the access to those quotas would rest with the province for at least a two-year period. The province would be able to use that period of time to find somebody else to access the licensing quotas. In addition, the province holds the right of first refusal on the quotas as they are currently tied to the Marystown operation, as the province has the right of first refusal on the Marystown plant. In Burin, says Rideout, the agreement with Highliner includes — in addition to million-dollar fees for noncompliance with the sale agreement — a per pound penalty for failing to process the agreed upon 17.5 million pounds of product. A secondary processing facility creates more jobs per pound of fish, says Rideout. A per pound penalty of seven cents is important, he adds, because what creates jobs in Burin is “through put” or secondary processing. “So that’s the way you protect Burin.” ivan.morgan@theindependent.ca
‘It’s tough to come here’ From page 13 any tourist. “They’re a unique thing that not many people around the world get to see … something different that’s part of our culture,” says Penney. Signal Hill, Blackhead and Cape Spear have all been popular vantage points for bergs, as well as the northern coast of the province where there is an abundance of sea ice. The province’s tourism outlook for 2007 predicts American visitors will remain low (just 12 per cent of the market), however two tourists on Signal Hill this week were from New York. When LiQi Ang and Iris Yang found out they would be visiting Newfoundland for the Air, Ocean, Earth and Ice on the Rock! meteorological conference, they extended their stay for an extra week. Yang says they were attracted to the province’s history, which they read about online and in Frommer’s travel guidebook to Canada. Highlights of their trip were hiking the East Coast Trail and seafood at Zachary’s Restaurant. “It’s tough to come here though … it took us 36 hours to get here because of flights,” says Yang. Was it worth the trip? “Definitely.” john.rieti@theindependent.ca
JUNE 8, 2007
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JUNE 8, 2007
INDEPENDENTLIFE
FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY, JUNE 8-14, 2007 — PAGE 17
Calvin Powell at Petro-Canada Hall in St. John’s.
Paul Daly/The Independent
Wall of sound Carbonear native on the surprising rock ’n’ roll life of a modern-day opera star By Mandy Cook The Independent
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alvin Powell arrives for a downtown St. John’s lunchtime interview visibly changed since his last visit to his home province for a soloist role in the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra’s season finale Carmina Burana a month and a half ago. During that performance, Powell appeared on stage in tux, tails and spiked blonde hair — electrifying the audience with his awesome baritone vocals. This time, in casual jeans and hoodie, the six-foot-four opera singer’s hair is black with a bright green splotch in the front.
Transformation seems to be a dominant theme in Powell’s career. In 2000, he appeared at a provincial audition at the LSPU Hall, red-haired, bushy-bearded and 110 pounds heavier. The moment he opened his mouth, nearly taking the roof off the building with the strength of his voice, his appearance was immediately forgotten. Soon after, having graduated with a degree from Memorial’s School of Music, Powell moved to Ontario to study in the opera division at the University of Toronto. It was during this nationally esteemed training program that he decided to lose the extra weight — dramatically slimming down to his now trim and striking appearance.
Not only did Powell’s endurance spike (“I can do anything a director asks me”) he says a singer’s appearance is a critical consideration when up for roles with the country’s leading opera houses. “Tastes are changing and as the opera audience gets older and they look for new audiences, the next generation will not accept two young lovers not looking like Hollywood … a lot of opera companies are really looking for that,” he says. The survival of Powell’s beloved art form is a topic close to his heart. He’s put much thought into the changing world of opera and says “if you don’t look the part you won’t get the part.” Young and attractive performers
are necessary to keep new audiences’ attention, particularly when staging older classic operas such as 17th century baroque pieces. “One of the best companies by far in performing baroque opera, Opera Atelier in Toronto: the manager’s had an extensive career in dance, so all the performers look great in tights and they’re all about sex, sex, sex — mostly because that’s what opera is,” he says. Powell himself prefers newly written contemporary Canadian opera, and recently performed at a performance space in the Distillery District in Toronto. Written by a See “There’s a reason,” page 19
‘A story about immigration’ Playwright David French’s story about transplanted Newfoundlanders returns to Toronto stage and rave reviews Toronto Kristine Power For The Independent
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t’s not often, if ever, that you can walk into a Toronto theatre to the smell of frying fish and onions. In David French’s play Leaving Home, produced by Toronto theatre company Soulpepper until June 26, it is the first of many unexpected pleasures. As the audience tries to find their seats, one of the main characters, Mary, stands in front of a ’60s-style oven flipping fillets and mashing potatoes. French, a Newfoundland-born playwright, is an officer of the Order of
Canada, the first ever inductee into the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Hall of Honour, and his seminal play Leaving Home was named one of the 1,000 essential plays in the English Language by the Oxford Dictionary of the Theatre. French has created one of the most memorable families in the history of Canadian drama: the Mercers, a tangly bunch of Newfoundlanders transplanted to Toronto, not unlike French himself. “It’s a story about immigration,” says French, who has lived in Toronto since moving there himself as a child. Maybe it’s that archetypal journey that explains the play’s success in the furthest of places.
The story of the Mercers is a complex account of a family’s intimate bonds. The stern patriarch Jacob, who grew up fishing with only a Grade 3 education, tries to connect in a meaningful way with his educated and urban sons, but their attempts at loving each other go awry as they seek to find a common language of experience. Jacob’s wife, Mary, tries to be the glue that holds them all together, but often fails. “Everything is influenced by my memory and my experiences with my family,” French says. And he was so afraid of what his family might think of Leaving Home, the first of five plays about the Mercer family, he didn’t even invite
them to its premiere. They went anyway and loved it, including his father, who is the inspiration for Jacob. “I thought maybe I had done my father an injustice, but he didn’t think so.” French never wandered far for inspiration. He says his house was busier than Toronto’s Union Station, with Newfoundlanders coming and going with their stories, their dialects and all the drama only reality could dream up. Everything was fodder for his developing imagination. “I picked up a lot through osmosis,” he says. Newfoundland lurks like the puppet master holding the strings and exerting its influence on all the characters in
David French
Submitted photo
almost all of French’s plays, pushing them towards conflict and, more times than not, allowing them some form of redemption. See “The silence,” page 19
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Atlantic Blues
Ocean Ranger movie scuttled for lack of oil rig; industry chugs along
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n the local film community the buzz had been building for months. Rumour had it that after last year’s abysmal lack of employment for actors and crew in these parts, we were in for a rip-roaring summer full of work, work and more work. In the topsy-turvy feast and famine world of the arts in Newfoundland and Labrador we were at long last headed back toward the feasting end of the cycle. Then last week we got the bad news. The biggest and most expensive film in the works, Atlantic Blue, is not happening. Atlantic Blue was to have been a feature film about the Ocean Ranger disaster — a project of real and lasting worth and a major employer to boot. In a jawdropping feat of fundraising, Mary Sexton actually managed to raise $8 million to make the project happen, only to have to turn around and shelve it for the want of an oil rig to film it on. Everyone right on up to the mighty
SEAN PANTING
State of the art provincial government was on side with Sexton, anxious to make Atlantic Blue happen for all kinds of reasons, both practical and emotional. No doubt they gave it the old college try, but considering the frostiness of relations of late between our fearless leader and Big Oil it’s perhaps not surprising there wasn’t much that could be done. In all fairness to Danny, it would have been a pretty hard — maybe impossible — sell at the best of times. Sexton’s inability to find an oil company willing to grant access to one of its rigs should come as a surprise to no one. After all, what’s in it for them? It’s not like they need the money, God knows.
And I’m sure Atlantic Blue’s entire $8million budget is nothing compared with the insane cash a working oil rig sucks out of the briny depths in the space of a couple of months anyway. That’s why they’re in the oil business and not the movie business. Besides, we can hardly be shocked and amazed that an oil company — any oil company — is going to be reluctant to help make a film about a rig that goes to the bottom taking its entire crew with it. Despite Sexton’s assurances that Atlantic Blue wasn’t going to be an antiBig Oil hatchet job, it would still be pretty difficult to tell the story of the men who died without at least touching on the sickeningly insensitive and unfair treatment their families received at the hands of the company that employed them. Big Oil has enough PR headaches just now without reminding people of their past transgressions. But all is not lost in the world of film
and television production. There’s been a small but comparatively steady stream of work for actors and crew. Over at Pope Productions they’re casting up a storm for their new project, and Joel Hynes’ novel Down to the Dirt is making the jump to film even as I write this. The odd bit of television production is quietly chugging along, too. It is perhaps a testament to the hardiness of our burgeoning film and TV industry that while having a big show like Atlantic Blue go by the boards is a kick in the head, it isn’t the end of the world. Large budget productions take a long time to set in motion and as a consequence they rarely come along. It’s fabulous when they do, but in the absence of such an arts mega-project it’s the smaller budget, shorter term films, videos, commercials and TV shows that can spell the difference between scraping by and actually making a living. A big film every now and again is a great
boost for morale, for public image and for everyone’s bottom line, but the important thing is to keep the ball rolling by supporting the people turning out quality work on a modest scale. The Newfoundland Independent Filmmakers Cooperative (NIFCO to its friends) has been in business since 1975, training people in all aspects of filmmaking and providing assistance to help them make the films they want to make. homegrown film festivals like The Nickel Independent Film Festival and the St. John’s International Women’s Film and Video Festival, to name but two, give them venues to show them when they’re done. They’re the institutions our local film community is based on, the ones that help it grow and the ones that will continue to ensure we’re all in fighting form when the big opportunities come knocking. seanpanting@yahoo.ca
The silence went on and on From page 17 Leaving Home and French’s other plays such as Saltwater Moon — which is scheduled to be performed by Rising Tide Theatre in Trinity this summer — are steeped in the cultural milieu of preconfederate Newfoundland. “Every time my father saw a wave wash up on shore on a TV show, he would cry,” says French of his own upbringing in Coley’s Point. It would be 35 years after French moved to Toronto before he would return to Newfoundland. “I was afraid of going back because I thought it would destroy my imagination.” Retaining that child’s way of seeing and feeling the world has served French well as a playwright. “I wouldn’t have been a writer if I hadn’t have left Newfoundland,” he says. “I wouldn’t have had an education.” He doesn’t try to keep abreast of the island’s news or politics. He doesn’t see that as his job. The plays are elemental in the way that they examine the most sacred privacies of family life. Leaving Home has been performed in every regional theatre in Canada. But its essential truth crosses international borders. Shortly after its influential first production at the Tarragon theatre in Toronto in 1972, it sold out to African-American audiences in Harlem, New York City. “Families would come back two or three times to
Kenneth Walsh and Dian D’Aquila in a touching scene in Leaving Home, performed in Toronto.
see the play,” says French. Soulpepper’s production, directed by Ted Dykstra, stars some of Canada’s most elite actors: Kenneth Welsh, Dian D’Aquila and Jane Spidell. It has been playing to packed audiences and has received rave reviews in Toronto newspapers.
French is invigorated by the play’s success. He is awed by some of the best performances he has yet to see. He describes Kenny Welsh as “the most manliest and sexist Jacob” he’s ever seen. There were some tense first-night jitters for French. The play hadn’t been
Sandy Nicholson/Submitted photo
produced in Toronto since 1972. He waited, sitting anonymously in the crowd, to see how the audience would react. “The silence went on and on,” he says and then finally came the relief of thunderous applause. French is working on what he thinks will be the final Mercer play, bringing
the tally to six and covering four generations. He recently threw out two-and-ahalf years’ worth of work because it just didn’t feel right. “It’s an intricate form that depends on every line of the play to drive it forward,” he says. And he wants to get it just right. Like the perfect fried fish.
believes so passionately in the exotic art form of opera, he pauses to carefully collect his thoughts. He says setting words to music can heighten their importance, and giving them “care and thought” can enhance a listener’s understanding. Most of all, he says singing can connect people on an elemental level. “There’s a reason why we sing to babies. There’s something about the human voice that can really affect us on a level sometimes words don’t always get to … so if you can do it well and you have a message to send and you
believe in the message you’re giving, than you can really affect people on a level sometimes they’re not even aware of.”
‘There’s a reason why we sing to babies’ From page 17 young composer and colleague of Powell’s, his first line in the work was: “Let’s get f-ing wasted!” He laughs about playing a rowdy party jock in an environment typically associated with refined social etiquette, but says it’s the way of opera’s future — and singing in English colloquialism is yet another way to build a modern fan base. As portrayed by Powell, the operasinging world sounds noticeably similar to the hectic and bawdy show business life of any touring musician. He
just wrapped a gig with the Vancouver Opera, traveling up and down the Pacific coast performing for schoolchildren. While he loved being on stage, he admits traveling in a bus with the same people every day for weeks on end was “challenging,” but laughs wryly about the value of paying his dues. “One school tour in the Queen Charlotte Islands, basically Alaska, the principal got up and introduced our show and the kids were all giggling and squeaking but as soon as someone came out to sing, suddenly there was
silence. Not a peep. They were focused on it. There’s something about that.” Powell will be performing a recital in both St. John’s and Carbonear this weekend, before he leaves to reprise his role as the Pirate King in Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance for Rising Tide Theatre’s Summer in the Bight Theatre Festival. Ever aware of his audiences’ enjoyment, he says he chose his favourite songs of spring, marriage and sea shanties sung by sailors and pirates to reflect season and place. When questioned about why he
mandy.cook@theindependent.ca Calvin Powell will be performing at the Petro-Canada Hall at MUN’s School of Music Friday June 8 at 7:30 p.m. and in Carbonear on Sunday June 10 at 2:30 (venue to follow). Tickets are available at the door, $10 admission, $6 students/seniors.
JUNE 8, 2007
20 • INDEPENDENTLIFE
The Phenomenon of Singing International Symposium 2005, cameo performance by Julia Halfyard, Kellie Walsh. David Chafe also performed.
Submitted photo
Come Solo F
estival 500, Sharing the Voices — an international, non-competitive festival of choral music that attracts choirs, conductors and scholars
to St. John’s from all over the world — has something to offer everyone. Those who aren’t in a choir are also encouraged to come share their voice. Soloists
are welcome, organizers say. Professor Ki Adams, one of the festival’s artistic directors, says those involved in the planning of the celebrations wanted to provide an opportunity for singers not in a choir to participate in the very best the choral world had to offer. The Come Solo idea came out of the desire to be inclusive, he says. Adams explains there are many who participate in choral singing whose choirs are not performing formally in the festival. They are “more than welcome to participate as individuals — we call these our Come Soloists,” he explains. Adams says the festival can attract up to 200 Come Solo participants. Individuals who are not performing with any registered choir are invited to attend workshops led by choral experts, offered the opportunity to hear choirs from around the world each evening, get to enjoy the opening ceremonies and sing in the grande finale concert
that concludes each festival. Anne Hughes of St. John’s, a Come Solo participant, says there isn’t one thing she likes best about the event. Instead, she insists, she enjoys “absolutely everything.” Hughes has attended each festival, since they began in 1997, as a come soloist. “I am in love with everything related to the celebration of choral singing and the Come Solo opportunities allow me to engage totally in this celebration,” she says. There is absolutely no highlight, she insists. “The workshops are fun and informative, the practices are great, the concerts you get to enjoy in the evening are amazing,” Hughes says. “Having the opportunity to sing in the massed choir, the people you meet, the celebrations, the parties … . Festival 500 offers as much as you can handle,” she chuckles. For Hughes, even the bagged lunches prepared for the busy participants are
a bonus. Adams can understand why those like Hughes enjoy Festival 500 so much. Soloists have the opportunity to sing with an orchestra, to attend the symposiums and they blend in beautifully with the other choirs in the massed performance at the end of the festival, Adams says. “They come from all over the world and hang out together and experience everything almost as their own group.” Adams stresses the focus is on sharing at each festival. “Soloists also share — they share their unique vocal abilities with the massed choir,” he says. This sharing of all voices, he insists, leads to an enriching and powerful experience for all who attend the celebrations. “This is a wonderful opportunity for voices from all over the world to work together in one thrilling performance,” he says. More than that, he continues, this exists “right on our front door step.” For Hughes, the excitement starts at the opening ceremonies where Come Soloists participate in the Ode to Newfoundland with the registered choral choirs — and never fades. “The festival offers fantastic opportunities for soloists, but it becomes about so much more,” she says. “This is just an overall amazing experience, it really is.” To find out more visit http://www.festival500.com/ To purchase tickets, telephone: (709) 729-3900 Toll free: 1-800-663-9449 — Pam Pardy Ghent
JUNE 8, 2007
INDEPENDENTLIFE • 21
‘A new beginning’
HEARD ALL THE MYTHS ABOUT DEBT AND BANKRUPTCY?
Reflections of a high school graduate
GET THE FACTS FROM NEWFOUNDLAND’S PERSONAL DEBT EXPERTS
T
hirteen years of public education coming to an end, and what have I learned? It’s a tough question to answer — considering I somehow got away without doing math or science in my final year — but one that I feel necessary to contemplate with my departure from high school. Many people I know have a tendency to crap on the school system. After all, we are hungry teens trying to figure things out on our own, ready to shut out the people and establishments trying to help. I understand the disdain for “the system” because I know about the unconcerned teachers, the math permanently forgotten after the final exam and lack of personal expression in absorbing information from a Powerpoint slide show. Welcome to high school. I think what it comes down to is simple: I’m going to miss the parts of high school that I found important. In order for a 17-year-old to find something important, it has to be enjoyable, rewarding and interesting. I can say for sure that I’m not going to miss the attempts by various boring faces and droning voices to pound equations and facts into my head. I can also say for sure that I’m not going to remember what was taught to me during those lessons. But the band concerts, the teacher who understood when I couldn’t get that assignment in on time in Grade 10 because of my first real break up, and my experiences as a co-op student with The Independent I will remember. I’ll remember these things because I’ve learned from them. I don’t remember the pieces we played in every band performance, but I will never forget how I learned to love music, or the feeling of playing an important, appreciated role in a large ensemble. I don’t remember exactly why I was so upset that day in Grade 10, but I do remember the hug from the teacher who gave me a Kleenex instead of harping on about a missed deadline. As I continue
www.JanesNoseworthy.com In St. John’s, 364-8148 Offices throughout NL Toll Free: 1 800 563-9779
Level III co-op student Kyla Bruff
my writing, I may not remember every article I wrote for The Independent, but I will remember the feeling of initially seeing my work published and my name in print. I will remember learning how to use quotations and dashes properly after going over the edit of my first article. I will remember how they gave me a desk, a voice recorder — along with a coffee, of course — and told me I could write about whatever interested me. That type of rewarding, independent crash course in writing and expression is exactly how a 17-year-old learns. As it is my last week writing as a co-op student with The Independent, along with my last week in high school, I feel like this should be a positive piece about closure. The truth is, I hear countless people every day say how they “can’t wait to leave this place.” In making my way to the disgusting washroom stalls at school — with no locks or toilet paper — I’m always sure to be reminded by the graffiti how much “school sucks.” At these times, the thought of a better life in university runs through my head as I think of all the people who’ve told me high school was the worst period of their life.
Ironically, I’m going to miss this place. I know graduation not only marks an end, but also a new beginning. Truth be known, I’m both excited and scared to move on. I’m afraid of becoming just another number next year. I know there won’t be flexible due dates and concerned professors and bosses in the “real world.” As Bill Gates stated in his 11 rules for young people: “Life is not divided into semesters. You don’t get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you find yourself. Do that on your own time.” So these past few days when I’ve found myself sandwiched between sweaty 10th graders in the stairwell — moving slowly by the inch trying to make it to my next class — I’ve stopped myself before saying “I can’t wait to leave.” High school has been a good support base for me, and in the past three years the people and experiences here have played a major role in shaping who I am. Kyla Bruff is a Level III co-op student from Holy Heart of Mary High School in St. John’s. kylabruff@hotmail.com
CITY CONFIDENTIAL
Cast of City Confidential rehearse in front of City Hall. They include Amy Anthony (bottom left) Bridget Wareham (middle bottom) Torquil Colbo (bottom right) Mark White (top left) Clint Butler (top right) not present Ruth Lawrence, writer, and Lois Brown, director. Nicholas Langor/ The Independent
POET’S CORNER Judith and Holofernes after Caravaggio It’s not the violence of the scene that impresses me so much as the look on Judith’s face. Holofernes is in a state, or blue-balled for the want of her, the way he gapes and leans into the hank of hair clasped in her fist. She might look disconcerted at the jet of blood upon the sheets, his concerted effort to die extravagantly, but a man will bleed
so much and then it’s over — the executioner need not be implicated. But Judith’s servant: her hatchet features cleave the guilty from the innocent. Decapitate. The only good Assyrian’s a dead one. The horde or the sword, my duck. They would have raped both child and woman, grinned as they torched our homes. You slice, maid, she says. I’ll carry it. The above poem by Mark Callanan, the Independent’s book columnist, won a 2007 Arts and Letters Award in Poetry — senior division.
JUNE 8, 2007
22 • INDEPENDENTLIFE
‘Columnist-cum-homemaker’
GALLERYPROFILE
Not being Martha Stewart is a much more entertaining way to live MARK CALLANAN On the shelf
Definitely Not Martha Stewart: Domestic Tales of Starting Over By Janice Wells, Key Porter Books, 2007. 192 pages.
W
hen the unofficial queen of domesticity, Martha Stewart, was indicted in 2004 on charges of conspiracy, perjury, and obstruction of justice in an investigation into alleged insider trading, no small number of disgruntled serfs were pleased with the riches-to-orange jumpsuit reversal of their reigning monarch. Janice Wells, longtime columnist with the Halifax Chronicle Herald, was one of them. “I knew I was envious of Martha and I liked her better after she went to jail,” she writes in the prologue to Definitely Not Martha Stewart, a selection of her lifestyle columns for the Herald. Wells first achieved popularity in the pages of the Herald with The Gin and Tonic Gardener, a gardening column sprung from her philosophy that “most things in life, including gardening, are more fun if you don’t get uptight about them.” Based on the success of that initial assignment, Wells was asked to write a second to fill the winter months and Definitely Not Martha Stewart (part domestic journal, part survival handbook for middle-aged women) was born. At the outset of this latest book (selections from The Gin and Tonic Gardener also made an appearance in book form in 2006), Wells is living with her “card-playing, rum-drinking, 83-year-old father” who has just suffered a stroke and her “hard-playing, man-eating, 40something-year-old gay friend Nicholas,” while trying to glue-gun the ragged scraps of her life together after the dissolution of a 20year marriage. “We had many days,” Wells remarks on her new roommates, “when our refinement peaked at coming to the table fully dressed.” Wells sets her post-marital life of thrift and penury against the glamorous engagements of the House of Stewart: the coy floral arrangements; the vexingly effortless potpourri sachet production; the mild, unruffled nature of Stewart’s delivery. “While Martha was pontificating on the advantages of buying the best knives and copper pots and pans,” the prologue reads, our columnist-cum-homemaker was scrounging for salvage materials
with which to renovate her home. In the guise of a home reno alter ego she calls Janice Crowbar Warrior, Wells wages a campaign on the basement of her house. She’s forever swooping from yard sale to yard sale like a bird picking random bits and pieces for its nest. Her friend and roommate Nicholas ogles workmen and hits on the male boarders Wells takes in to supplement her income. Meanwhile, her father wanders about listlessly, prescribing a panacea of rum and cards for every wound, and otherwise providing comic relief in the form of profound utterances (“watching me wrap the sixth copper kettle, he pronounced that I had the place ‘all fucked up with antiques’ ”). WRYLY FUNNY Wells is wryly funny and self-deprecating in her descriptions of third-hand bargain finds, the aged denizens she’s failed to clean from her freezer, and the plethora of potential reparative roles performed by the common pantyhose. She approaches difficult subject matter with the same undaunted optimism, rising above sentimentality even as she writes about great sadness. She can titillate her readers one moment with an apt description, only to blindside them later with a confession that is touchingly candid. In one such piece, having found her ailing father lying on the bathroom floor, unable to rise, Wells makes the call for help and then curls up beside him. The most appealing aspect of Definitely Not Martha Stewart, though, is its structure. Each entry builds upon the details of the last so that, over time, readers become increasingly familiar with Wells’ various travails and come to feel a certain fondness for her. Taken together, the articles follow a narrative arc that progresses very much like a novel. That being the case, the book is best read from start to finish, rather than dipped into at random — though, I suppose, it could also be read out of order without losing much of its entertainment value. My only criticism of Wells’ book (and a niggling one at that) is that it would have been nice if individual articles had been dated, just to give a sense of context and the time elapsed between publications. Aside from that, Definitely Not Martha Stewart is a funny, occasionally touching account of one woman making her way in the world, rebuilding her life in both the metaphorical and literal sense, and finding that while laughter isn’t strictly medicinal, it certainly helps. As does the odd hand of cards and shot of rum.
From Empire State Building, May 2000.
Unidentified, Bellburns, NL., August 2003
St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Dawsonville, N.B., May 2004
Mark Callanan writes from St. John’s. His column returns June 22
Infant southern right whale, Peninsula Valdez (Argentina), September 2003.
‘Sometimes there are moments of grace when things just happen’ John Haney Photographer
“I
’m not interested in making derelict buildings look beautiful,” Ontario-born photographer John Haney says of Pleasantville, one of his current projects. It shows: the photos from this ongoing study of the wartime American base in the east end of St. John’s are documentary in aesthetic; they do not attempt to prettify dilapidated structures or shy away from engaging with other signs of degradation. So far, he has catalogued everything from shattered glass panels in the emergency entrance of the old abandoned Janeway hospital to a graffiti-covered wheelchair ramp, and chicken trailers parked near Pepperrell Field. One particularly striking image, the white X that designates a helicopter-landing pad, has even made its way onto the cover of poet George Murray’s latest collection. “There’s a distinct lack of a centre there,” Haney says of the Pleasantville area. “There are all these peripheral things.” To his eye, it is a place cut off from past and future, a ghost town, a post-apocalyptic vision. The absence of human forms in these pictures only serves to heighten their tension. Like many photographers, Haney began his career working in 35 mm but soon developed an interest in large-format view cameras (think of the tripod-mounted, accordion-like contraptions of early portraiture). During his time as a student of New Brunswick photographer Thaddeus Holownia, Haney became “rabidly envious” of the level of detail captured by his teacher’s large-format camera. He eventually acquired a 1928 Eastman Kodak Co. Empire State No. 1. “View camera photography is a lot more conscientious and intentional,” Haney explains, contrasting his preferred medium with its smaller scale cousins. “Sometimes there are moments of grace when things just happen … but the chances of those kinds of things happening are much less when you have to set up the tripod and you have to focus it and then you
have to put in the film plate.” In Common Prayer, another ongoing series, Haney has been photographing Atlantic Canadian churches. Largely, the churches have been shot front-on and centred on the frame’s horizontal plane — an approach that lends his subjects an air of austerity and of unshakeable calm. The churches range from blocky, modern structures bound in vinyl siding to traditional architectural forms: arched windows and peaked roofs capped with bell towers. “There’s a wonderful combination that comes out of small places with congregations that don’t have a lot of money,” he observes. “They just make something with what they have. And so, in one case, the cross is made out of a plumbing pipe … these buildings were built out of pure love.” The same might be said of Haney’s work. His images convey great tenderness: a parental concern for the world’s awkward or wounded creatures. One of Haney’s previous projects, Bermuda Wedding, is a Martin Parr-inspired documentary of his mother’s resort wedding. Parr, Haney says, is a member of the highly esteemed Magnum Photo Agency whose garish images of working-class British vacationers earned him notoriety. Haney’s answer to Parr is “a meditation on family, leisure, circumstance, and the nature of waiting,” a quasi-family photo album of portraiture and landscape photography, rife with technicolour combinations: a beach towel’s tropical palette in one image vies for attention with a pair of neon yellow sandals in another; electric green grass competes against a stormy seascape, below rich and darkly-coloured skies. Haney has had four solo exhibitions to date: in Ontario, New Brunswick, and in Berlin. His photos have been included in group exhibitions in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland (at Sir Wilfred Grenfell College) and in Ontario. A selection of his work will appear at the Leyton Gallery later this summer. Visit John Haney’s www.johnhaney.ca
online
gallery
at
— Mark Callanan
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
INDEPENDENTSTYLE
FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY, JUNE 8-14, 2007 — PAGE 23
Island tartan Newfoundland plaid a tourist favourite; young designer revamps classic design
By Mandy Cook The Independent
A
lthough Samuel Wilansky, the late downtown St. John’s clothier, created what is known today as the Newfoundland tartan in 1955, his young son didn’t appreciate his father’s flair for design. “My father used to make me wear the tie going to school and I’d get around the corner and take it off,” says Gary Wilansky. The idea struck the businessman upon learning Nova Scotia — a hotspot of tartan production due to its Scottish roots — proposed a tartan design for Newfoundland. A proud Newfoundlander “to the core,” says his son, the elder Wilansky decided to take it upon himself to produce a locally made tartan. Officially registered in Scotland in 1973 and sanctioned by the provincial government, Wilansky designed the tartan colours to correspond with the provincial anthem Ode to Newfoundland. The gold represents the sun’s rays; the green the pine-clad hills; the white represents the cloak of snow; the brown references the Iron Isle, or the ore mined in Bell Island from the 1890s to the 1960s; and the red represents the Royal Standard for which our fathers stood. Samuel Wilansky sold kilts, scarves, ties, postcards and even Royal Doulton china sets adorned with his tartan pattern — arriving in his shop from England in barrels of straw. These days, Newfoundland tartan is available at NONIA, 286 Water St., where manager Judy Anderson says it is “steady” in popularity whether for patriotic Newfoundlanders or See “Resurrected republic,” page 24
Model Kathryn Byrne at Cape Spear. Salt ‘n’ Pepper cap, $18; crewneck wool sweater, $155; Newfoundland tartan kilt, $175. Clothing provided by Nonia.
Paul Daly/The Independent
Food flicks
Sick of sautéing vegetables and scrubbing pots? Then retire to the couch
T
he scene is all too familiar: a wealthy, poncey, know-it-all city boy inherits a clapped out French chateau, complete with wineproducing acreage from an uncle he hasn’t seen in years. The only problem is the city boy doesn’t want any part of it. Upon arriving at the chateau he is stoic in his decision to get rid of the place as fast as possible — both to hide his guilt and maximize his profits. In a short amount of time, however, he remembers his lost childhood, falls in love and discovers the merits of the provencal life — it might not be as glamorous, but they have their priorities in order. The
NICHOLAS GARDNER Off the Eating Path poncey city boy ultimately transforms into the person his uncle always wanted him to be and earns the respect of the people in his charge. The book, A Good Year, was written by Peter Mayle in 1991. It’s a really good read with food on the table and wine in hand, and it was also really relaxing to watch on DVD
this past weekend. Russell Crowe is Max Skinner, a London Bond trader and gad about town. He is ruthless, cruel, and uncompromisingly smug even when he wins. He’s the perfect picture of the guy you always want to hate, and Crowe plays it to the hilt. The rough flashbacks throughout show the gad in training, learning the art of war through playing chess and being gracious in defeat — even when it hurts. You want to hate Max — hate him because he’s so arrogant and irritating you want to see his pain. On the other hand, the vistas of the chateau, the seemingly endless sun-filled days and
the other colourful characters he finds along his personal journey, force you to cheer him on. But this column isn’t about movies — it’s about food. Lots of food. Provence is noted for cuisine — and I was surprised that unlike the book (a good summertime read) there was little in the way of food in the film. I wanted to see the feasts, the rustic cuisine: the almost palpable smell of boar roasting, the pungent aromas of fresh cheeses ripening in sunlight, the buttery crunch of a rustic loaf of bread while enjoying a far too young nouveau presse, or the youngest wine in the cellar. We missed the commu-
nity of the French lifestyle — they’ve embraced the family meal as something to be treasured, which unfortunately is wasted on a population trying to keep up with the Joneses. So if you are trying hard to keep out of the kitchen, but are dying for a feast of the senses, here are some other choices to keep your body and mind occupied: Big Night (1996), the iconic kitchen movie. Primo is the artist chef creating fine food for art’s sake, but stuck cranking out mediocre fare (brilliantly played by Tony Shaloub). See “Recipe for disaster,” page 24
JUNE 8, 2007
24 • INDEPENDENTSTYLE
Resurrected republic colours From page 23
Newfoundland and Labrador, Stoker decided to use the resurrected Pink, enthusiastic tourists. White and Green colours in her tartan “We do really well with the scarves design. and ties and we do really well with the She used green to represent the beautichildren’s kilts and jumpers. A lot of ful greenery in the province; the natural grandparents send white of sheep’s wool them to their grandand livestock farmed children living away,” “We do really well with here; and the pink of she says. wildflowers, such the scarves and ties our Local artist Stephas fireweed. anie Jayce Stoker Although she says it and we do really well loved the idea of the is financially prohibiNewfoundland tartan with the children’s kilts tive to commercially so much she made her a line of tartan and jumpers. A lot of produce own. kilts and sweaters, Having studied the Stoker says it’s her grandparents send rules and regulations of “dream” to mix her them to their grand- own natural dyes from tartan design, Stoker knew the blocks and children living away.” indigenous plants and lines of colour should weave bolts of the have a “complete symcolourful fabric. Judy Anderson metry.” She also knew Like Stoker, Wilantraditional Scottish and sky had a vision for his Irish tartans were based on natural dyes Newfoundland tartan. At that time, howfrom the plants on their ancestral lands. ever, it was made clear to him by certain “That’s how you can tell where people government figures he was expected to came from,” she says. channel a portion of the profits into the “We don’t do that anymore and you provincial treasury. Wilansky, not keen can tell that from the Newfoundland tar- on the backdoor dealings of politics, tan. Those colours, I don’t know any solved the problem by way of another plant in Newfoundland you can get those interest — he donated the royalties to his colours from.” Boy Scout troop. To reflect a more contemporary mandy.cook@theindependent.ca
Surreal dining recipe
Adam Sandler and Paz Vega in Spanglish
Recipe for disaster From page 23 Secondo is the smooth-talking front man (Stanley Tucci, who also wrote the movie). Their failing restaurant needs one big hit to release them from their troubles — one hit to make it their Big Night. Spanglish (2004): he’s a chef and she’s insecure. It’s a recipe for disaster. The Clasky family runs into trouble after they hire an emigrated Mexican single mother to work as their housekeeper. John (Adam Sandler) loses his passion for the kitchen and for his wife (Téa Leoni),
but ultimately finds passion comes from inside as shown by Flor (Paz Vega). While it isn’t a great food movie it does have some good internal shots of his professional kitchen and Sandler has some good knife skills and close up working shots. Well worth renting. Chocolat (2001): for the chocoholics among you it’s a must see. Seductive and sensuous, Chocolat is the dessert after a good meal. A chocolatier (Juliette Binoche) drifts into a small French town and opens
a chocolate shop to the surprise of the locals. Over time, she weaves her magic to help those around her and herself along the way. This sweet, romantic story includes some great performances by Judi Dench and Johnny Depp. I think I have found my ultimate indulgence: cinema gastronomica — movies about food that I can enjoy without the clean up at the end. nicholas.gardner@gmail.com
Shoes will make you green — and envied Erin Kobayashi Torstar Wire Service
E Susan Sampson Torstar Wire Service
A
dapted from Biba’s Italy: Favorite Recipes From the Splendid Cities (2006, $39.95) by Biba Caggiano. This dish from Bologna looks like ice cream, but it is actually a cheese course. Present it in individual portions or pile the scoops up to resemble a sundae. Serve with crackers or toast. You can use slivered, dried figs instead of fresh ones. • 3/4 lb (350 g) parmigiano-reggiano cheese • 2 cups whipping cream • 1/8 tsp ground white pepper • Balsamic vinegar to taste • 4 fresh figs, each quartered • 1/2 cup toasted walnut pieces • Grate cheese in small, teardrop-
shaped holes of box grater (about 5 cups). Heat cream in medium pan on medium-high until it begins to simmer. Stir in cheese and pepper. Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer, stirring, until cheese melts and cream thickens, about 2 minutes. Pour into 8-inch square baking dish. (Mixture will be about 1-1/4 inches deep.) Refrigerate without covering one hour. Cover with plastic wrap; refrigerate until firm, preferably overnight. To serve, use ice-cream scoop to form balls. Place balls in sundae glasses or bowls. Drizzle vinegar over top. Garnish with figs and walnuts. Makes 16 servings.
l Naturalista’s logo may be a frog but, unlike Kermit who sang, “It’s not easy being green,” this shoe brand is finding it easy to be greener. Founded in 2002, El Naturalista shows its sensitivity toward environmental and social issues by using natural and recycled materials, and methods, in making its footwear. Though the shoes are manufactured far away, in La Rioja, Spain,
and petroleum is used in their transportation to Canada, rest easy. Most highly polluting shoemaking production systems are nearly obsolete in Europe. El Naturalista uses more modern shoemaking practices. The good thing about being from Spain is that the shoes offer North Americans European flair in the styling. The saturated colours and distinctive shapes of the shoes have made them widely popular in France, Germany, Israel and Japan. Additionally, the bright colours – the pinks, reds, greens and yellows, to name a few – are obtained through tanning and vegetable dying processes that try to use as little trivalent chromium as possible, if any. Shoppers can avoid the chemical altogether with the company’s allnatural Dakyu series. The shoes have environmentally conscious natural and recycled outsoles. El Naturalista offers canvas shoes for vegans and the company is looking into alternative materials such as hemp and
corn-based fabrics. El Naturalista is also involved in a corporate responsibility program, whereby money from the Nasca line goes toward the education of children in Peru. That means shoppers can feel a little less guilty when paying $140 to $300 for their shoes.
N O ONE I S ALONE I N THE FIGHT AGAINS T CAN CER. Behind every person who is touched by cancer, there is a growing force fighting all types of cancer in communities eve r y w h e re. The Canadian Cancer Society is leading the way through research funding, information services, support pro g rams – and we advocate for healthy public policy. Together, we’re growing stronger. To volunteer, donate or for more information, visit cancer.ca or call 1 888 939-3333.
JUNE 8, 2007
INDEPENDENTSTYLE • 25
Lloyds River Escarpment in central Newfoundland.
John Riley photo
How to make an environmental difference rate donations,” Ballam continues. While both the provincial and federal governments play a significant role in project funding, it is the individual donor and those volunteer their time that the NCC says shines a spotlight on the value of their efforts. The NCC deals with willing landowners who wish to donate or sell their ecologically valuable property so it can be preserved, Ballam says. There are many options for those who wish to participate in land conservation, with benefits for everyone. While there has only been one private donation of land, it has been significant. An estimated 880 hectares of land on the Lloyd’s River (habitat for rare plants and the Newfoundland marten) will now be protected forever, Ballam says, and the donor received a tax receipt for the appraised land value. Land can also be sold to the NCC, which has been made possible through local fundraising efforts and individual
cash donations. “We have approximately 200 individual donors in the province,” Ballam estimates, and while the funds are put to good ecological use, there is more value to offer than just dollars. The NCC relies on the community at large to reach its goals, Ballam says. Volunteers play a vital part in NCC’s stewardship program in Newfoundland and Labrador, he adds. They bring their enthusiasm and varied expertise and offer a unique perspective on protecting the region’s ecological integrity. Volunteers participate in the management of natural areas by monitoring species, reporting illegal activity and generally keeping an ever-watchful eye on the nature around them. Volunteers may be recruited to form local Stewardship Committees whose activities are considered paramount in the maintenance of protected land. Amateur and professional botanists and birders contribute important informa-
tion on the status of rare and endangered species by monitoring local plant and animal species. Volunteers also participate in the physical maintenance of properties. They help erect signs to delineate the property’s boundary lines, and clear walking trails. At the Brier Island Nature Preserve, Ballam says local ATV riders have voluntarily roped off areas that could be damaged by their vehicles. Not one group acts in isolation, he says. “There are multiple partners on every project,” he emphasizes. The bottom line, Ballam says, is that there is a role for everyone when it comes to conservation. “There are opportunities for corporations, landowners, individuals and other groups to partner with the NCC and contribute to the conservation of nature in Newfoundland and Labrador.” — Pam Pardy Ghent
Cass Halliday
porations, community and conservation groups and with any government body that shares their passion for habitat conservation. The results speak volumes. Since 1962, NCC has protected more than 2.2 million acres of land at more than 1,700 sites across the country. The NCC has acquired or contributed to the protection of 25 parcels of ecologically significant property in Newfoundland and Labrador alone, totaling over 8,000 acres. The NCC works with landowners to protect natural habitats for everyone. Those land owners may include corporations, governments or individuals. Ballam says there is a misconception that corporations contribute the most. In fact, corporations — while valuable and necessary — are actually the lowest contributing sector within the NCC, he explains. “Our last project was $150,000 and less than one per cent came from corpo-
Gillian Fisher
N
ewfoundlanders and Labradorians are known nationally for being charitable, but that capacity for giving has exceeded the expectations of the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) in Newfoundland and Labrador. Douglas Ballam, program manager for the NCC in Newfoundland and Labrador, says donations from individuals within the province to specific programs have never been higher. Each person in this province can make a difference, he stresses. “The latest land purchase originally budgeted $2,000 from individual donors — at the end of the project $40,000 had been raised (more than 20 times the expected amount),” Ballam says with pride. The NCC is Canada’s leading national charity dedicated to the protection of ecologically significant land across the country. The NCC’s success comes from partnering with individuals, cor-
JUNE 8, 2007
26 • INDEPENDENTSTYLE
RIO DESIGN
EVENTS JUNE 8 • Sorensen School of Dance presents You Can’t Stop the Beat, St. John’s Arts and Culture Centre, 7 p.m. • Jeremy Bennett, Believe, Stephenville Arts and Culture Centre, 8 p.m. • Homeless Like Me, Reid Theatre, Arts and Administration Building, Memorial University, St. John’s, 7-9 p.m., until June 9. JUNE 9 • Pippy Park gardening program registration, Pippy Park Headquarters, Mount Scio Road, St. John’s, 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. • NLSHC’s 3rd Annual Run for Respect, 5 km run or 2.5 km walk, 9:30 a.m. Pledge sheets can be downloaded from www.nlsexualhealthcentre.org or are available at The Running Room. Free towels to the first 50 who register. Awards and refreshments will be served post-race at the Mews Centre immediately following the race.
• Nature Hike, MUN Botanical Garden, Mount Scio Road, 10-11 a.m., 737-8590. JUNE 11 • Law of Attraction Workshop, 1062 Topsail Road, St. John’s, 7-9 p.m., 693-1624, www.lifeonfire.ca. • The Request Line, presented by Jill Dreaddy Dance, St. John’s Arts and Culture Centre, 729-3900. JUNE 12 • Introduction to Energy Healing Workshop with Amanda Maynard, energy worker, life coach, and founder of Energy Works, 1062 Topsail Road, St. John’s, 7-9 p.m., 693-1624, www.lifeonfire.ca. • Public educational seminar, to have been held by The Parkinson’s Society, Burin, College of the North Atlantic, cancelled. Contact regional office for further information, 1-800-567-7020.
• The Rawky Horror Rumble, PWA wrestling event, CLB Armoury, Harvey Road, St. John’s, 4:30-10:30 p.m.
JUNE 13 • Mandomania at Folk Night, Ship Pub, St. John’s, 9:30 p.m.
JUNE 10 • Glen Downey and Friends, Stephenville Arts and Culture Centre, 7:30 p.m. • Throwing Pots in the Battery, Isabella St. John, gallery classroom, The Rooms, 2-4 p.m.
JUNE 14 • The Learning Co-op (TLC) presents its first session as part of a summer-long series, So, You Want to Free Newfoundland? Session to feature movie, Hard Rock and Water fol-
lowed by a panel and public discussion with Craig Francis Power, Dr. Natalie Oman, Lorraine Michael and Dr. Nicole Power, Arts and Administration, A-1043, 7:30-9:30 p.m., admission free, learningcoop@gmail.com. IN THE GALLERIES: • Eastern Edge Gallery celebrates The Year of the Craft, 72 Harbour Drive, 3 p.m., 7391882, until June 16. • Catherine Beaudette’s Mushrooming, series of layered paintings, Pouch Cove Gallery, 14 Grushy’s Hill, until June 30. • The Battery: People of the Changing Outport tells the story of The Battery, of dramatic social, cultural and economic changes occurring in many outport communities, The Rooms, Level 2, until September 3. • Brian Jungen’s Vienna, giant sculpture in the form of a pristine whale skeleton suspended from the gallery’s cathedral ceiling, until September 16. • Finest Kind, sampling display of Newfoundland’s stories of nationhood, World War I, and life on the land and sea through artifacts, artwork, images and documents, The Rooms, Level 2, until September 16. • Natural Energies by Anne Meredith Barry (1931–2003), including 90 works created since 1982, The Rooms, Level 3, until September 30.
Brazilian model Gisele Bundchen wears a creation from Colcci's 2008 spring/summer collection during Fashion Rio Show in Rio de Janeiro June 5, 2007. REUTERS/Sergio Moraes
Cindy Murray
Nicholas Langor/The Independent
Saucy success Cindy Murray’s Kitchen Kuisine scores national success By John Rieti The Independent
C
indy Murray of St. John’s has always had good taste, but she never intended to turn it into a business. Today, Kitchen Kuisine, her sauce company, has deals with Costco Wholesale, Sam’s Club and Wal-Mart to distribute her honeypineapple sauce nationwide. It can also be found at Coleman’s grocery store. “This came from a love of ham and trying to find the perfect sauce to go with it, I just love food … I like making it taste as good as I can,” Murray tells The Independent. Her knack for cooking to taste, and adding and subtracting ingredients on the fly, has enabled Murray to create the tastes she envisions. Murray started by using the ingredients listed on sauces she liked and within a month had created her own unique flavours. The sauce business is competitive, but Murray is confident in her product. When she attended a Wal-Mart trade show she
realized it would take something special to make her product stand out amidst the 200 other competing products. Murray found out the conference’s buyers would be having a buffet at 6:30 a.m., so she woke up at 3 a.m. and cooked a roast in her sauce to go with breakfast. “I cooked up a ham and brought it into the buffet room, I just walked in and said ‘This ham has to go on a table,’” says Murray, who put bottles of sauce and her business card next to the roast. “I had an order for Sam’s Club before I even left,” says Murray. “The early bird gets the worm … or roast.” Since getting deals signed with big companies like Sam’s Club, Murray has been busy meeting the demand. She makes the sauce at a professional cooking facility at the Marine Institute in St. John’s. Her team of 12 spends three days stockpiling the sauces, but Murray says she might need to get a co-packer in Ontario as well. Currently, Murray is working on the marketing of her sauces, specifically building
brand recognition and consumer loyalty. She says taste tests have been one of her best methods. “Once a customer tried a product once then word of mouth kicks in.” Murray says the honey-pineapple sauce works on both pork, chicken, and beef meatballs. She’s gotten rave reviews for consumers so far and her product has also done very well in competitions like New York’s Fancy Food show, where reviewers called it “excellent.” Murray is also excited about the recipes she hasn’t released yet, like a sweet cream curry sauce. She says she’s always experimenting with new recipes, eating out — she says the food is better in Newfoundland than anywhere else she’s traveled — and looking for new tastes to incorporate into a sauce. While she has no formal cooking training she says she has a lifelong love of sauce. “When I was young I always loved ketchup on everything and lots of sauce.” john.rieti@theindependent.ca
JUNE 8-14, 2007
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Prepare to launch I
s it possible to spend an hour and a it really sticks to the road. I don’t know half in a new car, drive 50 kilome- how Mazda managed to squeeze 232 tres and completely shatter every horsepower out of its tiny 1.3-litre preconceived notion you have about engine. That’s roughly equivalent to engine size and horsepower? what six-cylinder engines are Apparently so. capable of. The Mazda RX 8 is powThere’s a bit of race history ered by a rotary engine that to boast about too. utilizes a single, three-sided A four-rotor, 2.6-litre racpiston, an engineering marvel ing engine churning 930 compared to the normal fare. horsepower was developed to It’s roughly half the weight of compete at the 24 hours of Le a conventional four-cylinder Mans. After Mazda won in engine and its light weight 1991 — the first and only MARK WOOD gives the car a distinct hanJapanese manufacturer to do dling advantage. Positioning so — they were effectively the engine behind the front WOODY’S barred for having a distinct axles and moving the fuel over the competiWHEELS advantage tank forward of the rear axles tion. That’s what you get with gives a perfect 50-50, front the RX 8. I cruised the twisty back roads, getand rear weight distribution. Considering the overall weight of the ting a feel for the car, gently goosing car is around 1,300 kilograms, and the engine in the corners. The highmounted on 17-inch, low-profile tires, sided seats wrapped my lower ribs, car-
ried me through tight curves, and felt like a knife carving up the road. There was a nice little stretch of straight road and I purposely slowed down to a crawl and prepared to launch. I should point out here that while the posted speed is the maximum, the rate at which you attain that speed is up to you and perfectly legal. The Mazda RX 8 is capable of achieving 100 kilometres per hour in six seconds and it could probably do that in second gear. I’ll never know for sure; a lot happened in a few seconds. At 4,000 rpms the low-rumbling exhaust raised pitch. At 5,000 rpms I flew up the road and she howled like a scream muffled in a pillow. There was steady acceleration right up to 7,000 rpms and the sweetest exhaust note I’ve ever heard in my life — much like a Formula One race car. That distinctive note was what probably flushed out a grouse from his spot and took flight,
except he only achieved an altitude of one metre and cut directly across my path. As he emerged on my right front fender, I stabbed the brake while he passed in front of me and escaped with his life. It’s considered bad form to return a car covered in feathers. One thing I learned from that episode was that while the traditional dial tachometer was easy to read, the digital speedometer was useless. It’s fine for cruising around, but absolutely unreadable when accelerating. Once you hit around 4,000 rpms it’s just a blur. It wouldn’t hurt Mazda’s reputation to have a traditional dial speedometer to post the top speed. The well-known secret is that the computer limits the fuel supply once the craft reaches 240 km/h (150 mph) and that’s only for your own good. The RX 8 could easily go much faster, but aerodynamics play a large part at high
speed and it’s not as simple as bolting a bigger wing on the back. There was a lot of wind tunnel work involved to basically transform the RX 8 into a plane that won’t fly. It’s a fast car, but it’s also very quick and nimble and it doesn’t take long to build confidence charging in the corners. If you’re serious about buying a car with a lot of performance, I’d recommend you give this one a good look. It’s amazing. Going back to my old truck was cruel and unusual. The clutch felt sloppy and the big old shifter sticking up out of the floor looked like a joke. It took a full afternoon to adjust to the absolutely gutless acceleration and general dullness, but for an hour and a half I was someone in a Mazda RX 8. Mark Wood of Portugal Cove-St. Philip’s is relieved no animals were harmed in the process.
28 • INDEPENDENTSHIFT
JUNE 8, 2007
New faces, new thrills WITH SCHUMACHER OUT, OTHER DRIVERS STAND A CHANCE
T
o date, there have been 38 date except the first one, when he was Formula One Grand Prix races third. No poles, either, but he’s due to held in Canada. The 39th will go reach the top of that ladder any race to the post Sunday (TSN: 2 p.m. now and this one is as good as any. Except for the sign from the gods Newfoundland time) and anticipation is high that for the first time since that suggests Alonso will win (see two 1992, when he first showed up, the paragraphs above), Raikkonen and race will be wide open and exciting Massa would appear to have the upper hand going into tomorrow’s race because he won’t be in it. The “he” I’m referring to is Michael because Ferrari really seems to have a handle on the Montreal circuit. Schumacher. Since the Grand Prix He, and he alone, is responwas moved to Ilse Notresible for (with one or two Dame from Mosport in exceptions) an extended peri1978, Ferrari has won 10 od of — and I can’t think of a races to McLaren’s five. better word for it — boring But one of those McLaren F1 Canadian Grands Prix. victories was scored by That’s boring as in b-o-r-iRaikkonen, so he knows n-g. his way around the place. Look at the numbers. Hamilton, so the story Between the first F1 GP at NORRIS MCDONALD goes, is the first Grand Prix Mosport in 1967 and the 22nd driver to be groomed by an on the Isle Notre-Dame in F1 team all the way up Montreal in 1992 (two were from karts to cockpit. He cancelled), Nelson Piquet was nine years old when won three races and two each he won his first karting were taken by Ayrton Senna, Allan Jones and the two Jackies - Ickz championship and was honoured at the annual Autosport magazine awards and Stewart. A mish-mash of greats — Nigel banquet in London. He reportedly Mansell, Denis Hulme, Jack Brabham, walked up to McLaren’s Ron Dennis, etc. — and not-so-greats — Gerhard who was also in attendance, and said: Berger, Thierry Boutsen, Jacques “I’m going to race for you one day.” Dennis was impressed and had his Laffite, etc. — won the others. The point is, lots of people either staff keep an eye on the precocious kid. won, or could have won, the Grand Four years later, McLaren made the 13year-old Hamilton part of its driver Prix of Canada. Not after Michael Schumacher rode development program. Included in the contract was a clause committing the into town. From 1992 until the end of the race child to a seat in a McLaren if he last year — 15 GPs in all — he was proved to be good enough, which made first in seven of them and second in him — if you want to stretch it a bit — five others. He was the winner in 1994, the youngest F1 signing in history. In any event, Hamilton didn’t disap’97, ’98, 2000, ’02, ’03 and ’04. What’s really scary is that he was win- point, and carved his way through all ning the 1999 race until he got a little of the British and European minorcareless near the end and clipped a league series, winning just about wall, thus allowing Mika Hakkinen everything in sight. His reward this through. Except for that race, and the season, at age 22, was that F1 seat. Now, good luck to him. On the other ones in ’95 and ’96, he was right up hand, it sure would be nice to have a there. surprise tomorrow. As much as I wish So, thank goodness he’s gone. Of course, unlike the “old days” Hamilton success, I shudder to think (pre-1992), when three or four teams we might be on the brink of an era just and as many as eight drivers could like Schumacher’s. I don’t know about you, but another conceivably have been the winner, tomorrow’s race will be between two 15 years dominated by one guy would teams and four drivers: Ferrari (Kimi just about be too much — wouldn’t it? ••• Raikkonen and Felipe Massa) and This is how Bill France Jr., who died McLaren (two-time world champion and defending Canadian GP winner this week, ran NASCAR. Early in his career, a young Darrell Fernando Alonso and the refreshing Waltrip was penalized for something Lewis Hamilton.) All except the British rookie or other during a race and stomped into Hamilton have won races this year: the NASCAR trailer afterward. He Raikkonen in Australia to start the sea- demanded to see Bill France. All the son and two each for Massa (Bahrain time Waltrip yelled and gestured, and Spain) and Alonso (Malaysia and France sat there and doodled on a pad Monaco). of paper that was in front of him. (An aside: if you think of alliteration At the end of Waltrip’s tirade, as being a sign, Alonso is a shoo-in to France held up the paper and pointed win tomorrow, with Montreal match- at a drawing. ing up with Malaysia and Monaco. “Know what this is?” he asked Just a thought.) Waltrip. Young Hamilton, of course, is win“It’s a race track,” the driver replied. less but he’s tied for the lead in the “Know who owns it?” asked France. world championship (with Alonso) on “You do,” said Waltrip. the basis of points scored for finishing “Now,” said France Jr. “What was it second in every Grand Prix held to you wanted to talk to me about?”
TRACK TALK
Dale Earnhardt with former NASCAR president Bill France Jr. in 2000. France died on June 4 after a lengthy battle with cancer.
JUNE 8, 2007
INDEPENDENTSHIFT • 29
MECHANIC SHORTAGE
Mechanic Gerry Young of King’s Bridge Service Station in the east end St. John’s. Young says he has no intention of leaving the family-run business, despite an exodus of the province’s skilled trade workers to Western Canada. See page 14 for related story. Nicholas Langor/The Independent
Another way to fight high gas prices A
t least five times a week, I get eUntil one of our fuzzyheaded elected mails exhorting me to back officials rummages around in their pants another campaign to to find the strength to stake a boycott some brand of gasocampaign on freezing the line in order to lower the cost. price of our fuel at 75 cents a I’ve been getting these for litre, world markets be years, and pretty much ignore damned — we’re on our own. them. I’ve cut my fuel conA new campaign called Be sumption as costs have gone Car Care Aware (www.carup, but I’m hardly holding Big carecanada.ca) can help conOil hostage. sumers combat the high cost Gasoline is not a luxury for of fuel from another perspecLORRAINE many of us. No matter how tive. Use less. Spokesperson SOMMERFELD noble the sentiment, if you Kelly Williams, a former don’t get to work or feed your CASCAR driver, stresses the kids, the last thing on your importance of two major facmind is going to be the price tors: simple, regular vehicle of gas. Boycotting one station maintenance and the way we for one day means you fill up the next drive. day. Not such a powerful message, I’m “A clogged air filter can reduce fuel thinking. efficiency by up to 10 per cent,” she
POWER SHIFT
says. “It’s like a person trying to breathe with a bad cold.” She continues to point out the drag factor of loaded roof racks and excess trunk weight, and something as easy to overlook as a misfiring sparkplug, which can cut efficiency by as much as 30 per cent. Under-inflated tires can cut gas mileage by as much as 15 per cent and can also contribute to dangerously unsafe vehicle handling. Idling wastes fuel. Get off your duff and go in and get your coffee. If you can’t be motivated by the cost savings, perhaps you’ll consider the environment instead. Use only a qualified technician when servicing your car’s air conditioning, and though our summers are heating up, recognize that blasting the A/C will sap your fuel economy by 10 to 20 per cent. Park in the shade — or start
using your garage for your car instead of hockey equipment and beer empties. Speeding is a huge fuel hog. As Williams points out, if you drive at 124 km/h, you will burn up to 21 per cent more fuel than you would obeying the posted limit of 100 km/h. Factor this into your daily commute and count on immediate savings. If you’ve ever driven with someone who tromps on the accelerator when the light changes to green, or slams on the brakes like every stop sign is a total surprise, you can finally lend some credence to your feelings of superiority. Driving like this severely saps your fuel efficiency. The best way to drive? Pretend you have a full bucket of water in your trunk. Drive like you don’t want to spill it. If that doesn’t convince you to smooth
things out, pretend it’s full of something other than water. Make sure your gas cap fits properly and keep it tightened. Millions of litres of gas evaporate each year through faulty caps. Don’t squeeze the pump past the first shut off. You may get your round number, but you’ll be spilling precious gasoline. Don’t bother with highoctane fuel unless your owner’s manual specifically requires it. Be Car Care Aware is aimed at maximizing fuel efficiency and making inroads into environmental awareness. The average age of a car on our roads is eight years; driving to your mechanic for timely maintenance makes a lot more sense than being towed in and fainting at the bill. www.lorraineonline.ca
30 • INDEPENDENTFUN
MAY 7, 2007
WEEKLY DIVERSIONS ACROSS 1 Nose 5 Leg. member 8 Cleaner’s supply 12 Beaver structure 15 Seat of the pants performance 17 Gun it in neutral 18 Columbus’s state 19 Refuse to okay 20 Hi, more formally 21 Spanish dance 23 Comeback? 24 Pseudonym 26 Excavate 27 Consented 29 Believer: suffix 30 ___ tongues (NL dish) 32 Get into one’s head 36 Wet 37 Roman poet 39 Fraternity letter 40 Picnic pests 41 Underhill’s skating partner 44 “Reason over Passion” quilt maker (1968) 46 Erase 47 Bantu click language 49 Not erratic 53 Man who took a ribbing? 54 Saturate 55 “___, sleekit,
cow’rin, tim’rous beastie” 56 Dawn goddess 57 Wine in Ouessant 58 Treaty to end War of 1812 60 In front 62 Fleur de ___ 63 Command to un chien 64 Organ of sight 65 Seize 66 Coarse fibre for sacks 67 Take away guns 69 Throw out 71 Pictures 73 “Our land” in Inuktitut 75 Squid 77 Jim’s wife (“FBFW”) 79 Bear’s cave 80 Tresses 81 Stalks 82 Stair part 85 Possesses 86 Whistler winter time 89 Seaport of N France 91 It fastens a tent rope 93 Buddhist teaching 95 Hit the runway 96 Fearless, longtime Chatelaine editor 101 In an excited state 102 They lay nits
CHUCKLE BROS
103 Blacken, in a way 104 Understanding 105 Slow (mus.) 106 Play the part 107 1995 earthquake site (Japan) 108 Wind dir. 109 Ager of parents? DOWN 1 Religion founded in Iran 2 Unspoiled places 3 Pass out 4 Potter’s oven 5 Mr.’s spouse 6 Like a ___ balloon 7 A Lavigne 8 Steal from 9 Detection cry 10 Tonic partner 11 Kind of biscuit 12 Deception 13 Acropolis city 14 Not always cheerful 16 Refuse to buy from 19 Porch 22 Era 25 Film 28 Bestowed 31 Loud noise 33 Honeybee genus 34 Large flightless bird 35 Zilch 38 Pen name of Leslie McFarlane (Hardy Boys)
41 Prominent 15th c. Italian family 42 A Morissette 43 Sleep stage 44 Stir-fry pan 45 Floundering 46 Painter Milne 48 Medicine ___, Alta. 50 Saguenay whale 51 Hang around doing nothing 52 Some road curves 54 Witness 55 Spider’s trap 58 “Beachcombers” star (1972-90) 59 Song of praise 60 Rainbow 61 Get out of the egg 65 Grasp, as a punchline 66 Traffic ___ 68 Energize 69 At any time 70 A Callwood 71 Greek epic poem 72 Fire ___ (official) 74 Seaside summer time 76 “Say ___!” 77 Slanting letter 78 Surviving organism 81 Do to do, to Donizetti 83 Spring mo. 84 Office furniture 86 Lying flat
87 Strike hard 88 Raptor’s claw 90 Home prov. of
Sandra Schmirler 92 Departs 94 Drive the getaway
car 97 New: prefix 98 Pat gently
99 Before of yore 100 Wind dir. Solutions page 32
Brian and Ron Boychuk
WEEKLY STARS ARIES (MAR. 21 TO APR. 19) Try using that Aries charm to warm up the usual set of workplace naysayers, and then back it up with a solid block of facts and figures to sell your idea to your colleagues. TAURUS (APR. 20 TO MAY 20) While nothing can deter a determined Bovine from following a course you believe in, it helps to have some supporting data and statements by trusted colleagues to make your case. GEMINI (MAY 21 TO JUNE 20) Take advantage of new information that could help make your career transition easier. The weekend is a good time to re-establish relationships with people you haven’t seen in a while. CANCER (JUNE 21 TO JULY 22)
Personal matters demand your attention as once-stable situations begin to shift. Quick action to shore things up is called for in order to avoid more problems down the line. LEO (JULY 23 TO AUG. 22) Although your financial picture begins to brighten, “thrift” and “caution” are still the watchwords for fiscally astute Leos and Leonas to live by. Expect news about a family matter. VIRGO (AUG. 23 TO SEPT. 22) Before you try to blame a colleague for a workplace problem, make sure you have the proof to back you up. Make some quiet inquiries on your own to try to solicit more information. LIBRA (SEPT. 23 TO OCT. 22) Trying to cheer up a depressed friend or downcast family member
can be difficult. But keep at it, and your efforts should soon pay off in ways you might have never expected. SCORPIO (OCT. 23 TO NOV.21) Taking a new look at an old and frequently recurring problem might lead you to consider making some surprising changes in the way you had been handling it up till now. SAGITTARIUS (NOV. 22 TO DEC.21) Despite what the naysayers might say, setting your sights on a new goal could be one of the smartest things the typically sagacious Sagittarian has done in a long time. CAPRICORN (DEC. 22 TO JAN. 19) Rebuilding an unraveling relationship won’t be easy. But you can do it if you really want to. Just remember to keep the lines of
communication open between the two of you. AQUARIUS (JAN. 20 TO FEB. 18) A new friendship could develop into a close relationship. Meanwhile, reassure an old friend who might be feeling neglected that he or she is still an important part of your life. PISCES (FEB. 19 TO MAR. 20) You might be feeling that you’re still in over your head as you continue trying to adjust to your new situation. But the pressures ease by week’s end, giving you time to come up for air. YOU BORN THIS WEEK You have a gift for sensing the feelings of others. You might consider a career in some aspect of counselling. (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 32
INDEPENDENTSPORTS
FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY, JUNE 8-14, 2007 — PAGE 31
Ward Gosse at Lions Park in St. John’s.
Paul Daly/The Independent
‘Good raw ball players’ Ward Gosse and Newfoundland fastpitch softball players gear up for nationals By John Rieti The Independent
W
ard Gosse’s pitches are driven forward by a long stride, quick skip then a powerful cycle of the arm — and the thought of capturing a Canadian championship on home soil. Still months away, the Canadian men’s fastpitch softball championships, scheduled for the weekend of Aug. 25 at the Caribou Complex fields in St. John’s, are generating excitement around the senior softball league. Two teams will be representing Newfoundland and Labrador at the tournament. Although Roebothan McKay and Marshall and Impact Signs will sponsor them, both teams will feature allstar lineups selected from across the province. The move is designed to compete with teams from Ontario who employ the same system. Gosse, who was part of a silver medal winning team in 2005, says Newfoundland and Labrador has a good shot.
“We’ve got a lot of good hitters in this province, we always have,” Gosse tells The Independent. “We seem to produce a lot of good raw ball players, once they get playing in at the next level they really produce.” The pitching in the province has also improved. Gosse was just one of several dominating pitchers in the league last season and Blair Ezekiel has already recorded a no-hitter this summer. Expanding to six teams this season, the senior league should be more competitive than ever — if they can get everyone to show up. Gosse’s June 5 start was delayed 20 minutes so his team could avoid default. His Roebothan McKay and Marshall team was saved at the last minute by some frantic cell phone calls and some replacement players with only jeans to wear over their jock and cleats. In full uniform, Gosse spends the delay gunning pitches at his catcher — testing his full arsenal of blazing fastballs, rise balls, curveballs and even softball’s version of a knuckleball.
When the game finally gets going, the intensity quickly picks up. The players chatter and pitches pop off bats and into mitts. Anyone used to the plodding pace of beer league softball would be amazed at the speed of a fast pitch game, especially when played on the tiny Lion’s Park field. The pace is nothing to Gosse, who, along with several other Newfoundland players, competes in the International Softball Congress, North America’s elite softball league, where teams pay upwards of $300,000 to field competitive teams and have a shot at winning one of the season’s eight tournaments. Harold Kelly, vice-president of the St. John’s fastpitch league, says having players who compete at this level and on a national stage playing in the city league is a great opportunity for young softball players in the province. “We have some young kids that are very talented … and when you’re playing with, or watching guys like Ward you’re playing with as good as there is in the country right now.”
Kelly says getting kids involved at a young age has been an issue in the past, but hosting tournaments helps spark interest. “I remember back in ’89 when the nationals were here, as a teenager getting an opportunity to watch the country’s best play here was a big point for me … it made me interested to go down to the park and practise a bit more,” he says. The province has already hosted numerous fastpitch tournaments like a world youth tournament in 1997, a couple of national junior men’s championships and the Canadian senior men’s championship in 1995. Although not every player at Lion’s Park can wear the Newfoundland and Labrador jersey, Kelly says the overall quality of the league is improving, something good for the fans as well. “A lot of the fans that we have are traditional fast pitch players who like to come back and watch the game they used to play when they were kids.” john.rieti@theindependent.ca
Sports’ unwritten code
G
olf is commonly called the gentleman’s game, because of the nature of it. Honesty and virtue are key requirements in golf, as you are really only cheating yourself when you report a false score. (Unless you’re playing a buddy for $20, then you’re really cheating him, but that’s another story.) Soccer, despite its competitive nature, is very much a gentlemen’s sport, too. (Note to readers: gentlemen here refers to both genders. I only get 800 words, so please understand.) If a player is tackled hard and writhing on the ground, the opposition will deliberately kick the ball out of play to stop the
DON POWER
Power Point game, and allow the player to be tended to by trainers or whomever. When the ball is thrown back in, it’s thrown back to the team who kicked it out. Call that soccer’s honour system. I’m not a soccer expert, but I don’t expect to find that rule in any book. It’s part of an unwritten code in sport. An honour system if you will. Every sport has it. It’s about not stealing bases when
you’re up by seven or eight runs in baseball or softball. You don’t run up the score in hockey in a way to embarrass your opponent. In fact, a lot about the code is about not embarrassing anyone. It’s not about taking advantage of your opponent, because you’re always looking for ways to do that. If a team is shorthanded, you take advantage. A defenceman drops his stick, you use that to your advantage. But you do it as a sportsman. Monday night in Ottawa, Daniel Alfredsson brought the code to the forefront of sport. Alfredsson put what is apparently a sterling reputation on
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the line with a bonehead play late in the second period, when he appeared to shoot the puck at Anaheim captain Scott Niedermayer. That one play has set off a firestorm of comments from all sides, about the code of the sport. Tuesday evening, shortly after the dissection of Alfredsson, a television promo touted the Blue Jays travelling to San Francisco for a series against Barry Bonds and the Giants. Talk about timing. Here I was looking for a column idea, and Bonds — the antithesis of the code of ethics — was mentioned. Bonds has blown the honour system out the door and hasn’t seemingly observed a code of ethics (sportsman-
ship is not even in on the discussion) in a while. Whether or not Bonds took steroids, he certainly tainted what should have been one of the most glorious summers in baseball history. Sadly, because he cheated — allegedly, I’m probably supposed to add here — nobody is taking it seriously. I remember reading about baseball and hockey as a kid (I’m older than cable TV, sadly) — the history, the records, the all-time greats. I never imagined I’d see 755 homers be approached, never mind beaten. See “Athletes,” page 32
32 • INDEPENDENTSPORTS
JUNE 8, 2007
Tag, you’re it New five-year recreational salmon plan has good news and bad
I
t’s June 1, 2007 and I’m sitting in front of my computer to write my column. Today is very special — the sun is finally shining after a dreary spring and it’s the first day of salmon season for all of insular Newfoundland. But this wasn’t always the case. Traditionally, Newfoundland’s salmon rivers have opened anywhere from June 1-15, depending on what Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) zone a river might flow in. This could sometimes prove quite confusing and possibly lead to an otherwise law-abiding angler being charged with fishing out of season. For instance, Salmonier River previously opened June 6, while nearby Renews River opened June 15. The earliest rivers to open have traditionally been those on the west coast, due to their early runs of big fish on spring spate. Why not open all rivers on the same date? If there are no fish, you simply won’t catch any — no harm done. In their new hot-off-the-press five year (2007 – 2011) management plan for the recreational salmon fishery, DFO has simplified things. Now all salmon rivers on the pine clad island will open June 1, eliminating any possibility of confusion. I think there was really no good reason — conservation or otherwise — for the staggered openings, so thumbs up to DFO from me. (By the way, the standard closing date is Sept. 7, although I’d rather not think about that just yet.) There are exceptions. Autumn fishing is allowed on three of our mightiest insular rivers: the Humber, Exploits and the Gander. I’ve never fished while the leaves redden and fall to the ground,
but this year I vow to give it a go on the Gander. I’ll tear myself away from hunting for at least one weekend. Watch out for the story in an October column when I’m typically talking guns, quads, feathers and fur. The five-year plan brings no changes for Labrador (zones 1 and 2). All rivers open on June 15 and close on Sept. 15. In my view, writing this five-year plan would have been a fine opportunity to sort out the unclassified river business. Only in Labrador are there a bunch of rivers designated in the angling guide as unclassified. This, in my view, makes us look just a little bit dumb to anglers from outside our fair province. I’ve had it said to me, “What’s this unclassified business all about?” For those who don’t know, all classified rivers in Newfoundland and
Solutions for crossword on page 30
Solutions for sudoku on page 30
PAUL SMITH
The Rock
Outdoors
Only in Labrador are there a bunch of rivers designated in the angling guide as unclassified.
Labrador are designated from Class I to Class IV. On Class I rivers, six fish may be retained for the season and all six tags (two red, two green, two blue) may be used. The Humber, Exploits and Gander are all Class I rivers under the new five-year plan. Last year the Exploits River was Class II and anglers were permitted to retain only four fish using two red and two green tags. On Class III rivers, only red tags are usable and only two fish may be retained for the season. Class IV rivers are hook and release fishing only. And finally, on unclassified rivers in Labrador — which are all listed in the Angler’s Guide — fishers may retain four salmon using only red and green tags. One may be a large fish over 63 centimetres, tagged with the No. 4 green tag. This unclassified category includes the Eagle watershed which might indeed be the most prolific salmon river in Canada. And unclassified rivers are not to be confused with unscheduled rivers, which automatically fall under Class III regulations. See what I mean? As confusing as this is to non-resident anglers, it pales in comparison to the yellow tag folly of years gone by. Licence packages once came with eight tags, two each of red, green, blue, and yellow. The use of red, green and blue was the same as now (and as explained above), but yellow was for hook and release. Why does an angler need a tag if he or she is releasing the fish? I have no idea, and neither did groups of nonresident anglers who I’ve guided. Then there’s the issue of two yellow tags. The instructions roughly read: “Retain yellow tag No. 7 for hook and release and discard yellow tag No. 8.” A couple of anglers from up-along tried to make a bit of a newfie joke out of it until I reminded them the federal government manages our inland fisheries by the terms of our union with upalong. On a more positive note, Harry’s River has been moved from Class IV to Class III based on an increase in returns. It may even be bumped up further to Class II, pending an in-season review. Well, I suppose this is good news, but there are those who would prefer a more cautionary approach on a river that is in
Atlantic salmon in southern Labrador’s Pinware River
the early stages of recovery. Flat Bay Brook has also been reclassified: from III to II. For this five-year plan, no consensus could be reached among interest groups on the very serious and contentious issue of temperature protocol. Discussions will be held this coming fall. Temperature protocol attempts to decide at what point a river should be closed
Nicholas Langor/The Independent
due to low water levels and warm temperatures. The issue is complex, with pros and cons that are difficult to sort out and prioritize. I’ll have more details later, so stay tuned. Paul Smith is a freelance writer and avid outdoorsman living in Spaniard’s Bay. flyfishtherock@hotmail.com
Athletes have no doubt crossed the line From page 31 (I never pictured Terry Sawchuk’s 103 shutouts be approached, either, but Martin Brodeur is within distance after this season.) Now Bonds is at 746 (as of Tuesday night) and the Blue Jays could be the team he breaks the record against. Regardless of what you think of Bonds — I’m not a big fan of him or his record chase — you have to stand back sometimes in awe at the fact he’s done this, juiced or not. It’ll be interesting to see how Major League Baseball handles the situation. Anyway, back to the code that everybody talks about. Does the code become obsolete when ath-
letes turn pro, and every win means dollars and cents? Can there still be honour amongst professional ballplayers? When the stakes are at their highest, should we still expect players to honour the code of sportsmanship? Of course. Mark McGwire’s non-selection to the Hall of Fame is another example of dishonouring the code. McGwire has never been charged or convicted of steroid use, but his exclusion from the hall sends a strong message. He messed with the code, and is now paying the price. (Rarely do we see that line crossed with kids and sport, unless that kid is told by his or her adult coach to cross it.) There have been a few examples of local
athletes dishonouring the code, too. In some local senior hockey, baseball, soccer or softball circles, there have been stories of an athlete who crossed the line of fair play. Athletes have no doubt crossed the line in a moment of frustration or desperation to win, but you can bet long after the game is over, the lustre of the win is gone, the memory of the game — and the lingering taste of breaking the code — stays with the athletes. And that can’t be a great feeling to live with because when a career is over athletes are often remembered not by the number of titles they’ve won, but by how they played the game. donniep@nl.rogers.com
JUNE 8, 2007
INDEPENDENTSPORTS • 33
34 • INDEPENDENTSPORTS
JUNE 8, 2007
Nicole Mailloux (10) of Ontario tracks down a stray ball with Germany’s Laura Grab (11) in hot pursuit during an exhibition game between the Canadian and German women’s under-17 soccer teams at the King George V soccer pitch in St. John’s on Sept. 7, 2006. Germany won the game 3-0. Paul Daly/The Independent
Where’s our women’s soccer club? RANDY STARKMAN Torstar wire service
F
orget about there being no place like home for the Canadian women’s soccer team. It turns out there’s no place at home to play for this once-celebrated squad as they prepare for the prestigious women’s World Cup. They played in China last month. They’re currently in New Zealand for two games. Then they’re off to South America. Colin Linford, president of the Canadian Soccer Association, says it’s unlikely the women’s team will have a single exhibition game on home grass before the Sept. 10-30 World Cup in China because they don’t have the resources to stage one. “We’d love to have a game, but are you going to bankrupt the association to do it?” he asks. The Canadian men’s team preparing for the under-20 World Cup being staged in Canada — the final is in Toronto — will have about a dozen games at home before the tournament begins June 30. There’s a feeling in soccer circles that the women’s team has fallen completely off the radar since Linford took over last November. The team has marquee names in Christine Sinclair, who contended for FIFA’s women’s player of the year the last two years, and Oakville’s Kara Lang. But not only do they not rate a single home date in a World Cup campaign, they don’t have a sponsor. Linford says it’s a vicious circle. “What exposure can you actually give to the sponsors?” asks Linford. “Let’s be fair. You say the women’s team are not going to be playing any games in Canada prior to the World Cup. That’s highly probable. So if you were a sponsor, what exposure would you actually get for being a sponsor within the country the team represents?” Keith McIntyre, a prominent Canadian sports marketer, says the women’s team “fell off the face of the earth” because the CSA failed to promote them. “I mean I’ve rarely seen anything in print or in electronic media,” says McIntyre. “What happens is it loses its momentum.” Things were dramatically different in the lead-up to the 2003 World Cup in the U.S., where Canada finished a strong fourth. The Canadian women’s team drew large crowds to
its seven home games — 18,000 and 19,000 to two matches at Frank Clair Stadium in Ottawa and 29,593 at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton. Linford said despite the big crowds in 2003, the CSA lost money on every game because low ticket prices didn’t match the expenses. Karin Lofstrom, executive director of the Canadian Association for the Advance of Women and Sport, noted the CSA doesn’t have “a history of being super supportive of the women’s side.” She said the question of equity has more to do with the effort made than the dollars spent. “It’s not like it’s only been a problem this past year,” says Lofstrom. “There’s a need for it to be more than lip service.” Linford insists the women’s program isn’t being ignored, a claim echoed by Chris Collie, managing director of the CSA’s marketing arm, Soccer Canada Properties. “It’s probably more a reflection of the under20 team just being front and centre in so many different ways,” says Collie. “Colin, with the executive and the board, they have to balance what the priorities are. ... In no way should that send a message the women’s team or the men’s team are any less important.” Linford has been unabashed in saying he believes a soccer nation’s true worth is determined by its men’s team. He’s not prone to mention where the women fit in unless prodded. “Obviously, the women give the country exposure,” says Linford. “But if you’re talking about major, major revenues and major, major sponsors, the men will always in any country in the world generate more money and more exposure and more interest than the women’s game.” While Linford seems keenly aware of all developments on the men’s side, he was a little wobbly in talking about the women’s preparations when asked if the team had any tournaments before the World Cup in China. “Uhhh, no. The Pan America (sic), I think they might have been involved in or we’re looking at, but no tournaments as such, just exhibition games,” says Linford. The women’s team booked a spot six months ago for the Pan Am Games in Rio de Janeiro in July. They hope to reach the final against Brazil in Maracana Stadium before a sold-out crowd of nearly 100,000.
JUNE 8, 2007
INDEPENDENTSPORTS • 35
Research in Motion (RIM) co-CEO Jim Balsillie is silhouetted while speaking at the Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation Technology Showcase in March. REUTERS/Chris Wattie
Here we go again By Damien Cox Torstar wire service
hope
I
t’s been pretty evident for more than a year now that the NHL, despite its denials, is looking to expand to 32 teams from 30. Despite all the damage done by recklessly adding nine teams in nine years from 1991 to 2000, the quick cash grab that is expansion has always been irresistible to the league and its owners. Over the past week, there’s been a lot of chatter about imminent expansion, likely to Kansas City — which has a brand new arena but failed to lure the Pittsburgh Penguins — and Las Vegas, which has no pro sports team. Yet. Today, Sports Business Daily reported the NHL has confirmed it has “been in discussions” with film and television producer Jerry Bruckheimer about a team in Vegas. Bruckheimer is a hockey fan and has been around and about the NHL scene for a while now. The story suggests that AEG, which owns the L.A. Kings and has built the arena in K.C., would also be involved in building a rink for the new team in Nevada. Isn’t this all nice and cozy? At the same time, of course, there’s the business of Jim Balsillie buying the Nashville Predators, likely with the intent of moving them to southern Ontario. The deal is set to close June 30, but both sides are trying to make it happen before that date. Today, the National Post reported that Canada’s Competition Bureau has notified the NHL that it intends to examine the league’s relocation policies in regards to territorial infringement by one team upon another. There has been speculation that Balsillie has already acquired legal opinions suggesting that he could fight the current rules which would force him to compensate both Toronto and Buffalo if he moved the Preds to within 50 miles of either team. So we have Vegas, we have K.C., and we have Balsillie ticking off the NHL brass a little more every day. Fact is, of course, that Balsillie’s $220 million offer to buy the Preds becomes a little more crucial to the league if it wants to ask for an exorbitant expansion fee, perhaps $150 million or more. Would the NHL governors be more willing to accept a second team in southern Ontario if new teams were added in K.C. and Nevada? Could the compensation issue be somehow linked to expansion, as it was when L.A. owner Bruce McNall received half the $50-million expansion fee when the Ducks moved to Anaheim? Could the dreadful concept of NHL expansion, and the obvious dilution of talent it would produce, actually be good news for Canadian fans if it means a seventh Canadian team? This story grows more intriguing and complicated by the hour.
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INDEPENDENTCLASSIFIED FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY, JUNE 8-14, 2007 — PAGE 36
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