2007-10-12

VOL. 5 ISSUE 41

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ST. JOHN’S, NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR — FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12-18, 2007

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WWW.THEINDEPENDENT.CA —

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

LIFE 21-22

SPORTS 33

St. John’s Women’s Film Festival opens Oct. 16

Dave Noftall joins Gushue’s Olympic curling quest

NAPE in shape Public sector union’s financial fortunes have improved dramatically in four years BRIAN CALLAHAN

F

our years after news of NAPE’s spiraling debt broke in the local media, the province’s largest public-sector union appears to be regaining its fiscal footing.

In March 2004, two weeks before a province-wide strike, the then-Sunday Independent reported serious internal cash-flow problems within the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Public and Private Employees.

NAPE had been borrowing from its strike fund and employee benefit fund to pay the bills. The internal minutes of NAPE board of director meetings revealed the union’s expenses, at that point, had exceeded revenue by almost $1 million. The mounting debt was blamed partly on “excessive” travel expenses by board members. As well, committee, board and executive meetings had gone over budget.

“NAPE cannot continue to spend beyond its limits.

The options are to either reduce spending or increase dues,” Carol Furlong, the union’s then-secretary-treasurer, concluded in her finance committee report.

What a difference a few years makes.

The provincial government has found solid fiscal ground and so, apparently, has NAPE. In a recent financial update to its general membership, NAPE told members that by maintaining “tight fiscal controls,” its financial plan for the future is “sound and exceeds all expectations.”

See “Everybody’s,” page 2

QUOTE OF THE WEEK “If this is something he needs to get out of his system, fair enough.”

— Roger Grimes on John Efford’s remarks about a future leadership bid.

Page 11.

Gerry Reid outside the Liberal headquarters in Summerford Oct. 9.

Nicholas Langor/The Independent

Liberal hope springs eternal Senior Grits look to party’s future IVAN MORGAN Summerford, Notre Dame Bay

G

erry Reid chose a little one-room community centre here to face the music election night.

Local supporters and provincial media crowded in the building, sheltered from the raw wind off the water. Nothing could protect Reid’s supporters, however, from the icy wind that blew through the Liberal party.

Ruby Clarke and her husband Clarence crossed their fingers for their MHA. “Toes too if we could cross them,” laughed

Ruby, a long-time Reid supporter.

It didn’t help. Reid lost by seven votes. As he entered the building, supporters began to weep for their loss, both locally and provincially.

Reid looked tired, dazed. He gave a concession speech. He gave reluctant comments in a media scrum. He hugged a lot of people. A lot of people hugged him. Having taken both Tory barrels front on, this little room was a good place for Reid to be.

The Liberal party never had a chance of beating the Tories, as Reid admitted in his speech, but they expected better than an unseated leader, three seats and 22 per cent of the popular vote. It was a hard night for the party.

The next day, the political dust had settled.

Senior Liberals contacted by The Independent were already setting their sights on rebuilding

the party.

Roger Grimes, Danny Dumaresque and Rex Gibbons say the party is poised to start the long road back to power.

Fighting the election in Grand FallsWindsor-Buchans on Nov. 6 (postponed by the death of a candidate), ridding the party of its crippling debt, recruiting new people, developing fresh ideas and revitalizing the party’s traditional roots are just a few facets of Liberal optimism so soon after defeat.

Former premier Roger Grimes, who lost to Danny Williams’ Tories in the 2003 election, sees opportunity ahead for his party, saying this is a chance “once and for all” to clear out the party’s baggage and start with a clean slate.

See “Gerry,” page 11 See related stories pages 10, 12

Rural competition for oil delivery heats up

By Pam Pardy Ghent For The Independent

I

GALLERY 22

New etchings and oil paintings from artist Sylvia Bendsza Paper Trail . . . . . . . . . .

Patrick O’Flaherty . . . .

Sean Panting . . . . . . . .

Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Crossword . . . . . . . . . .

14 14 23 28 32

rving Oil’s decision to no longer directly supply homeheating oil to rural Newfoundland has opened up the market for local oil companies.

Western Petroleum got a leg up on the competition by reaching a sales agreement to take over the abandoned Irving accounts in April.

It included Irving’s heating oil and diesel business in the western, central and Burin regions, including Stephenville, Corner Brook, Grand Falls-Windsor, Gander, Clarenville and Marystown.

Under the deal, Irving continues to supply Western Petroleum and other large customers on a

wholesale basis in those areas.

Not to be outdone, North Atlantic has begun an aggressive marketing campaign to lure some of Irving’s former clients.

“Just because Newfoundlanders must leave home to find work on the mainland doesn’t mean home-heating profits have to head there, as well,” says Derek Miller, general manager of marketing with North Atlantic.

“Irving pulled up stakes in some rural areas of the province and went on their way, so we moved in to offer customers a choice in those markets.”

North Atlantic is offering new clients $400 worth of free homeheating oil (a $100 credit per delivery applied to each account on the first four oil deliveries).

“Who knew the next victim of

out-migrating would be your home-heating service?” asks North Atlantic’s latest advertisement, placed in rural newspapers around the island.

Miller says any new clients who switch to North Atlantic are eligible for the offer.

Irving “pulled out from Clarenville west to Stephenville,” including the Burin and Bonavista peninsulas, says Miller.

Western Petroleum owner Ivan Cassell says he has no plans to match North Atlantic’s offer.

“We cover from Marystown to Port aux Basques and no, we’re not concerned with another promotion that’s going on with another company,” he says.

Irving will also continue to operate its residential and commercial propane and lubricant

business, as well as provide services to large wholesale and industrial customers around the province.

As far as Cassell is concerned, it’s business as usual, and Western Petroleum will continue offering home-heating service to its clients in rural Newfoundland.

Meantime, an Irving spokesperson says the oil giant is focusing on the home-heating market on the Avalon Peninsula.

Asked about Irving’s future in Newfoundland and Labrador, the spokesperson says the company has been a presence in the province since 1949.

With 500 employees here, Irving has no plans to leave, the spokesperson says. pamelamichpardy@yahoo.com

2 • INDEPENDENTNEWS

OCTOBER 12, 2007

BUCKINGHAM BEGINS

The candidate T

he candidate was feeling pretty good about it all. The election call had come as a bit of a surprise, but his decision to go for the nomination proved to be a good one. He followed some wise advice and put his name out early. An old timer in politics had told him to do that. “What you do is stand on the mountain,” he said, “and dare them to try and knock you off.”

That little nugget served him well. No one challenged him for the candidacy.

His name went on the ballot unopposed.

The election went well on all fronts.

The party had a new leader who rode high in the polls with an approval rating at near 60 per cent.

All he had to do was knock on doors and hand out flyers. The candidate was rather proud when the election headquarters opened. He even had a space with the words Candidate’s Office stencilled on the door. Looking back, he smiled to think how little he got to use it. The campaign manager told him from the beginning to “look around and hit the streets.”

The thinking was simple: candidates don’t win elections inside the office.

They win them in the streets. It was all about knocking on doors and meeting voters. Nothing else mattered.

Knocking on a stranger’s door was harder than the candidate had imagined.

It’s tough to make light conversation, to engage strangers and in a minute or two leave them with a good impression.

Over a 21-day period a candidate was expected to canvas at least two thirds of the district. It left little time for anything else. Advertising and interviews had to be arranged and carried out in the early morning. Letters and cards also had to be signed early in the morning or late at night, only after it was too late to knock on more doors.

“When is that exactly,” the candidate asked his campaign manager at one point.

“When is what?”

“When do you have to stop knocking on doors?” he asked.

“Between 9 and 9:30 p.m. is a good

RANDY SIMMS

Page 2 talk

It’s tough to make light conversation, to engage strangers and in a minute or two leave them with a good impression. time to quit,” the campaign manager said.

“What about bad weather, what do I do if it rains?” the candidate asked.

The campaign manager smiled and said, “You just keep going. People appreciate a visit from the candidate, especially if it’s raining. It shows you got guts.”

Finding enough poll captains proved to be a difficult task. People weren’t willing to give up their time and go door to door dropping off election materials. Getting the signs up and keeping them up was an even tougher challenge. Not that the candidate did much worrying about that. The campaign manager and his team took care of those details.

Thinking back, the candidate winced.

Calling up business people and asking for money, that was the hardest part. It was nice having someone to handle most of those calls, but in some cases he had to do it himself or there was no chance of getting the cheque. Every such phone call felt like a humiliation, and there were many such phone calls to make.

The candidate worked his tail off. He knocked on door after door on street after street.

“Hello, how are you? I’m running for office. I hope you will consider us is this election?”

Stop … say nothing, wait for a reply.

If they offer support shake their hand and add them to the list of supporters.

Everyone else, regardless of the reply, is listed as undecided. “Boy, there were a lot of undecided,” the candidate thought to himself. Every once in a while a voter would offer solid support, which always spurred him on to the next house.

“I’m a door-to-door salesman,” he declared, “and the product is me.”

The candidate loved attending public meetings and went to as many as possible. Meetings allowed him to talk to more then one person at a time and it gave him a chance to talk about subjects like policy and leadership. The meetings never lasted long enough.

Back to the door knocking.

On election day the candidate is on pins a needles. No more door knocking, no more phone calls looking for money.

Just a reminder to supporters to get out and vote and encouragement for the volunteers to “work to the last minute.”

“Every vote counts.”

When the ballots were finally counted and the party leaders had finished their television speeches the candidate found himself alone. Everyone was gone and he was by himself for the first time in weeks. There was no victory party for him this night. He was a part of the losing team. He would not be going to the House of Assembly, he would not be rising to give stirring speeches, and he would not be serving the people of the district — his district.

In that big empty room on election night the candidate finally got the chance to sit quietly in his Candidate’s Office and reflect on it all. The tears came easy.

Forgive me if I feel a little sympathy for the defeated this week. I understand.

The criminal trial of Sean Buckingham, the St. John’s doctor charged with 23 drug- and sex-related offences, began in Newfoundland Supreme Court in St. John’s Oct. 10, two-and-a-half years after he was arrested. Buckingham is accused of providing prescription drugs to female patients in exchange for sex. The trial is expected to last two months.

Paul Daly/The Independent

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

Paul Daly/The Independent

‘Everybody’s just so very optimistic right now’ From page 1 Furlong, who succeeded Leo Puddester as union president, says the turnaround was no fluke.

“We’ve been cutting internally, but not compromising our programs for members,” she tells The Independent.

“We’ve been tightening our belts internally, in the way we go about doing business. That means taking a look at how we approve spending for board members, staff and the executive.”

For example, that might mean sending one or two board members instead of several to a meeting.

“The question is, is there a need for that many to go?”

That was the kind of overspending that got the union into trouble.

Furlong could not say exactly how much is in the defence fund now, but she did note NAPE will make “an unprecedented contribution” of $1 million to the fund this fiscal year.

The fund was in the $8 million range in 2001, and had assets of $4.2 million in October 2003.

“The $1 million represents one of the largest contributions in our history,” NAPE secretary-treasurer Bert Blundon states in the union’s financial update.

“It is our intention to rebuild our defence fund to a sustainable level in a relatively short time. We have achieved this goal while maintaining a balanced budget.”

Furlong noted the 2004 strike was “unprecedented” in terms of length and the financial strain on the union.

In addition to the defence fund con-

tribution, the union recently voted to eliminate a dues assessment that was placed on all members as of April 1, 2007.

The assessment had deducted between $1 and $4 — depending on salary — bi-weekly from each member until it was canned at the union’s biennial convention in June.

“This means that over the next two years all of you will collectively have had your union dues reduced by over $3 million,” Blundon’s statement continues. “That’s a total of $3 million of your hard-earned money which will remain in your pockets.”

Furlong says the assessment was placed on members to bolster the defence fund after the 2004 strike.

And there’s still the expectation of bigger rebates for union locals — money from headquarters which keeps the smaller, province-wide locals running.

With all this talk of defence funds, one might think NAPE is digging in for a battle when most contracts expire next year.

That might be the case had Danny Williams not said recently that public sector workers will be rewarded for the sacrifices they’ve made over the past three years.

Furlong acknowledges the stunning reversal in attitude from the membership toward Williams since the strike.

“There’s no doubt about it. The public employees heard the premier and were willing to give him a second chance,” she says. “Everybody’s just so very optimistic right now.

“But we have not forgotten, either.” brian.callahan@theindependent.ca

OCTOBER 12, 2007

INDEPENDENTNEWS • 3

SCRUNCHINS A weekly collection of Newfoundlandia

I

t wasn’t all peaches and cream for Danny Williams this week. The province’s ninth premier may have won one of the biggest political victories in Newfoundland and Labrador history, but he missed his regular Tuesday night hockey game. If that wasn’t bad enough, as Roy MacGregor of The Globe and Mail pointed out, the premier missed his ice time for a political contest in which the other side didn’t “even bother to show up.”

“As elections go,” wrote MacGregor, “it was roughly the equivalent of firing pucks at a jersey draped over a crossbar.”

Only the red jersey, in this case, still had Gerry Reid’s body in it …

OVER THE TOP Danny’s election win was expected.

More than that, the Globe commented, it was “deserved.” The national paper published an editorial the day before the election backing the millionaire Townie lawyer in his run for a second term. The Globe — the same paper that described Danny not so many moons ago as Canada’s Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan strongman who’s fond of tight-fitting military fatigues — acknowledged the premier’s “solid record.”

Then, a few paragraphs later, the editorial writer gave Danny a knock for fostering the “trite notion that Newfoundland is a victim of federal machinations.” In other words, the idea that Ottawa screws us left, right and centre (which it does). The Globe also went off about Danny’s “huge faults,” chief of which is his problem with Steve Harper.

“This is ridiculous,” read the Globe.

“Mr. Williams’ over-the-top rhetoric has strained the generosity and patience of hard-pressed taxpayers in other provinces, and unnecessarily damaged relations with other provinces and Ottawa.

“Still, he has been a savvy and conscientious premier, opening doors to a better life for voters. He deserves a second term.”

The Globe deserves to have a jersey pulled over its head and its clock cleaned …

UPSTAGE AND UPCHUCK Danny didn’t have much time to bask in the national spotlight this week before Steve promptly upstaged him, quietly signing a deal on resource revenues with Nova Scotia’s Rodney MacDonald. “He (Williams) may have won provincially,” read yet another Globe editorial, “but he has been upstaged nationally and presented with a done deal.

“As the overly generous equalization program has become even more generous, it is clear that Mr. MacDonald’s diplomacy has trumped Mr. Williams’ bombast.”

You know what they say — it ain’t over till Bob Cole sings …

DOUBLE TROUBLE Danny’s victory wasn’t the greatest in Newfoundland history. That mark was set in 1966 when Joey Smallwood’s Liberals won 39 seats to

Newfoundland’s Seamus O’Regan, co-host of CTV’s Canada AM, during a recent visit home to St. John’s.

three for the PCs. (Danny’s opposition has a grand total of four — one NDP and three Liberals.) Joey, of course, was God back then, just as God today wishes he were Danny.

So what’s it like to live in a land with an “absolute leader?”

John Crosbie, who was named to Joey’s cabinet in ’66, can tell you.

“After the first couple of cabinet meetings … I knew I was in for trouble. We would go in and sit around the table, and Smallwood would start to talk. He’d talk for the next hour, or maybe two hours, and everybody would look around wisely and nod their heads,” Crosbie wrote in his 1997 book, No Holds Barred.

It was a complete “one-man show,” Crosbie wrote, with “nobody allowed to say anything.”

Joey had a loud-speaker system in the Confederation Building that connected him with all ministers.

“The loud-speaker would come booming on. ‘John, are you there?

John, are you there?’” Joey would press a button so Crosbie could answer or have a conversation with him.

“Ministers couldn’t call back to his office to demand, ‘Premier are you there?’ It was a one-way system.”

In May 1968, Crosbie, who was 35 at the time, walked into Smallwood’s office shoulder to shoulder with fellow cabinet minister Clyde Wells and was promptly fired. “Like f—k you are (dismissing me),” said Crosbie. “Here’s my letter of resignation.”

Crosbie’s tenure in Smallwood’s cabinet lasted less than two years. Let’s hope Danny has better luck keeping his ministers in line. How would Beth

Raid linked to organized crime

M

ore than 70 RNC officers raided 11 homes in the northeast Avalon early on the morning of Oct. 11, arresting several men and one woman on alleged drug-related offences.

Police say “an organized criminal operation” was dismantled in the process, with vehicles, cash, drugs and other items seized in the raids.

At the same time, members of the Quebec Provincial Biker Enforcement Unit executed a search warrant near La Tuque, Que., making two arrests — one in the La Tuque area and one in Laval.

The raids concluded Operation Roadrunner, a sweeping RNC investigation initiated in May 2006 into Newfoundland and Labrador’s illegal

drug trade. It involved more than 15 officers working full time investigating an organized group operating in this province and other parts of Eastern Canada.

Several other Canadian police agencies were also involved, including Halifax Regional Police, Toronto Police Service, Quebec Provincial Biker Enforcement Unit, Vancouver Police Department, Calgary Police Service, and RCMP divisions in this province, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Canadian Border Services also assisted in the Oct. 11 raid.

Those arrested are charged with conspiracy to traffic and trafficking in cocaine and marijuana. brian.callahan@theindependent.ca

Marshall and Jerome Kennedy feel if Danny set up an intercom to their offices?

Danny, are you there? Are you there, Danny …

STAY GOLDEN One more note about the ’66 election. Joey had it wrapped up from the start, and he knew it. Here’s what he told Newfoundlanders when the campaign began: “What a week! In nearly 500 years there has never been anything like it. There may never be anything like it again. The Golden Week.

Newfoundland’s dream come true.

Answers to our prayers …

“These are the great names, the magic words. All Liberal words. Pulp and paper; railway; electric power; cement; oil; phosphorus; mines; ammonia. Liberal words. The noble framework of the Liberal vocabulary.”

This week’s Liberal word: pain …

DISTINCT AS QUEBEC The Economist, a celebrated U.K.based magazine, ran a series of articles recently on Newfoundland under the headline, “Dying races.” From the death of the commercial cod fishery and growth of the offshore oil industry to our colourful character and accents as thick as pea soup, the articles touched on most of the usual points.

“Being different, sometimes awkwardly so, comes naturally to Newfoundlanders. Latecomers to the Canadian federation — they only joined in 1949 after voting by the slimmest of margins to replace the hated rule of London with that of the equally distrusted government in

Ottawa — they feel their history and culture make them at least as distinct as the Francophone Quebec, and entitled to the same special treatment.”

Sounds about right, but the taxi driver who gave the Economist writer a ride downtown from St. John’s airport needs to work on his speech.

“The driver seems jolly enough, given that I am a mainlander. He launches into a succession of what appear to be quite detailed and humorous stories as we wind our way downwards toward the impressive natural harbour at the city’s core.

Unfortunately, I catch one word in 10: an impenetrable accent and unfamiliar vocabulary obscure the rest.”

Maybe the taxi driver had his mouth guard in …

HAMBURGER HILLIER To borrow another line from the Globe — “And now there is Rick (the Big Cod) Hillier.” Rumour had it that the Campbellton, Notre Dame Bayborn chief of defence staff was to be fired by the federal Conservatives, although nothing’s happened yet.

Hillier was back in the news when the Esprit de Corps, the military affairs magazine, ran a contest to find the general a new moniker.

Readers’ suggestions included “General (Hamburger) Hillier,” and “General (Hell-Yeah) Hillier,” but “Big Cod” won out. Hillier took the stage recently in front of the U.S. Embassy Defence and Security Conference, opening with what was termed a “newfie joke.”

“When you invite a Newfoundlander, there’s always a risk that he’ll talk

Paul Daly/The Independent

long,” he told the crowd. “I’m also married to a Newfoundlander, so the only time I get to talk is when I get invited to places like this.” No matter how big the cod, there’s always a bigger one …

KENT KISSES Steve Kent, the mayor of Mount Pearl who was elected to the House of Assembly this week, was awarded The Independent’s Pucker-up Trophy early in the election for a press release in which the praise for Danny was particularly thick.

Here’s a line from another Kent release issued the day after his win: “Tuesday night’s victory was another jewel in the crown of an unblemished political career.” Keep in mind it was Kent who lost the Liberal nomination in the federal riding of St. John’s West several years ago after it was revealed he seriously flirted with the Reform Party. Steve’s right, I wouldn’t count that as a blemish. More like a great big scab …

DRESS TO IMPRESS Finally this week, our own Seamus O’Regan, host of Canada AM and pride of Goose Bay, may have a new career as a runway model. O’Regan appeared in a newspaper advertising campaign this week for Harry Rosen, a national men’s retailer, wearing a Canali suit, shirt and tie, a Belstaff leather jacket and 7 For All Mankind jeans.

Seamus actually ended up getting a penalty on the play — two minutes for looking so good … ryan.cleary@theindependent.ca

4 • INDEPENDENTNEWS

OCTOBER 12, 2007

CELEBRATING RAMADAN

Muslims pray in the direction of Mecca at the Islamic mosque in St. John’s. The religious celebration of Ramadan will conclude Oct. 13 with feasting, prayers and a social gathering called Eid-ul-fitr.

Paul Daly/The Independent

Candidates to see money back from electoral office

C

hanges in the province’s elections act will allow candidates in the Oct. 9 election, both successful and unsuccessful, to recoup some of the money they spent campaigning — provided they qualify and file an audited financial statement on time.

Candidate fundraising and spending is not monitored by the elections office, says an official with Elections Newfoundland and Labrador. They are on the honour system, but are required under the act to submit an audited financial statement within four months after election day. The elections office, says the official, does perform a compliance audit on each submitted statement to

ensure they follow the rules set out in the act.

Under the old rules, a candidate who didn’t get 15 per cent of the popular vote in their district lost his or her nomination fee of $100. Under the new rules, says the official, candidates who file audited financial statements within the four-month deadline from election day will have their nomination fee — now $200 — refunded.

In addition, politicians who received more than 15 per cent of the popular vote in their district can apply for a subsidy of up to one-third of their campaign expenses.

The province also offers a subsidy of

up to $500 to cover the cost of the audit.

Candidates who qualify for the onethird subsidy, says the official, have their income, including all subsidies paid by the elections office, added up.

All expenses are then subtracted, and if there is a surplus, the official says it is paid to the candidate’s party.

Legitimate expenses include political advertising, rent, telephone and fees paid to campaign workers. Expenses like parties for workers after the election are not covered, says the official.

The audited financial statements are made available by the electoral office for public scrutiny. ivan.morgan@theindependent.ca

Whalen yet to turn over receipts

G

overnment Services Minister Dianne Whalen was re-elected in the district of Conception Bay East-Bell Island with a resounding majority in the Oct. 9 election.

She defeated her closest rival — Liberal Dr. Linda Goodyear — by

INDEPENDENTCONTACTS

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MAILING ADDRESS P.O. Box 5891, Stn.C, St. John’s, Newfoundland & Labrador, A1C 5X4

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3,000 votes. But it remains unclear if — or when — she will turn over all details of her constituency allowance spending, including expense receipts and donation recipients, as promised.

During the election campaign, Whalen made a public commitment to

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give the documents to The Independent, but not until after the election because she was too busy trying to get re-elected.

Whalen could not be reached for comment after the election.

— Brian Callahan

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OCTOBER 12, 2007

INDEPENDENTNEWS • 5

Crossing the floor

Some Tory MHAs must sit with opposition members

By Brian Callahan The Independent

W

ith such a lopsided majority government to placate, Prem-ier Danny Williams will be faced with some difficult, albeit enviable, predicaments in the coming days.

Arguably the most difficult will be choosing a cabinet from his cast of 42 Tory MHAs. Then he must decide where they will all sit in the House of Assembly.

Cabinet ministers and the most senior members will occupy the front rows to the left of the Speaker, while rookie MHAs normally slip into the backbenches.

But with so many elected, a handful — likely six — will be ushered to the opposite side to sit alongside the single NDP and three Liberal MHAs. It may seem unfair and insulting to those government members, but it is very much part of legislative tradition, says Harvey Hodder, Speaker of the House of Assembly. “The pattern of our House has been ‌ there have been three sections of 12 on the government side,â€? says Hodder, who did not seek re-election in his district of Waterford Valley and will be replaced by

a new Speaker in the coming weeks. “With the numbers we have, I’ll be in consultation with the House leadership.

Obviously, as has happened in other jurisdictions such as P.E.I., New Brunswick, B.C., when you have a large number of members sitting on the government side and a small number of opposition members, then the tradition is that some members from the government side would occupy spaces on the other side of the House.�

It’s also been a tradition in Australia, where backbenchers might sit on the opposite side, but they would be in seats “distinct from the official Opposition.�

Hodder suspects of the 43 government members, one will likely be chosen or elected as Speaker, leaving 42. He says it would then be logical for 36 to occupy the government side with the remaining six to sit opposite.

He noted it’s up to the leader of each party where their members sit.

Orientation booklets will be sent out to all MHAs this week, filling them in on important dates, protocol and any new legislation slated to come before the House in the next sitting. brian.callahan@theindependent.ca

With only four opposition members, the House of Assembly will look dramatically different during the next session. Paul Daly/The Independent

Is NL ready for new electoral system?

By Ivan Morgan The Independent

I

n an Oct. 10 referendum held concurrently with their provincial election, Ontario voters soundly rejected a proposal that would overhaul that province’s electoral system.

Ontarians were asked if they would like to maintain their current democratic structure, a “first-past-the-post� system where the candidate with the most votes in each district wins a seat in the provincial legislature.

The alternative offered was a mixed system that would include proportional representation: political parties are awarded seats in the legislature based on the percentage of the popular vote they win.

Newfoundland and Labrador has used “first past the post� for more than 150 years, but at least one prominent politician says a review of this province’s democratic system would be “an interesting exercise.�

St. John’s Mayor Andy Wells says he sees benefits and drawbacks in both systems.

The drawback to the current system is a political party can have a majority in the leg-

islature, even though a majority of the population voted for other parties.

Wells says the benefit of proportional representation — as is used in New Zealand, Germany and Israel — is the composition of the House of Assembly would be more reflective of the actual popular vote. Many argue this system is more democratic.

As a national example, Wells notes the Green Party polls roughly as many votes nationally as the Bloc Quebecois, but the concentration of those votes in the province of Quebec allows the Bloc 51 seats in the House of Commons while the Green Party has none.

The recent election in Newfoundland and Labrador saw the Liberals with 22 per cent of the popular vote, yet only three seats in the House of Assembly. Under proportional representation, they would have been awarded more seats.

Proportional representation makes coalition governments almost inevitable, says Wells, as it is rare for parties in most democracies to get the 50 per cent plus one needed for a majority in the House. He notes that Italy’s proportional representation has led to

roughly 75 governments in 75 years.

Wells says this kind of governance can often give fringe parties from either end of the political spectrum disproportionate influence, holding the balance of power in coalitions. Israel has faced this, he continues, with ultra-religious parties switching allegiances in order to bargain their agenda.

The Ontario proposal saw a mix of the two, with voters getting two votes, one for a person to represent their district in the legislature, and another for the party that best reflects their interests. Parties would have offered a slate of candidates, and based on the percentage of the vote they got from the second option, would have been awarded seats in the revamped Ontario legislature.

Critics of the proposal said it was too complicated, and Ontario voters rejected the mixed government option, with 63.2 per cent of voters opting to stay with the old system.

In recent years British Columbia and Prince Edward Island have examined proposals to revamp their electoral systems. In both cases, voters rejected change. ivan.morgan@theindependent.ca

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6 • INDEPENDENTNEWS

OCTOBER 12, 2007

Toromont Cat employees Pat Walsh (left) and Mitchell Noel on the picket line on Kenmount Road in St. John’s.

Paul Daly/The Independent

Mechanics demand mainland pay; management insists offer fair

By Mandy Cook The Independent

T

he entrance to Toromont Cat’s St. John’s branch is narrowed by a couple of trucks and a half-dozen striking workers.

A couple of men sit on the tailgate of a silver pickup, swinging their legs, acknowledging the supportive honks of passing cars. A burnt-out barrel sits on the lawn with a picket sign jammed in its mouth.

It may not look like much, but the men have plans to “pretty the place up” with a baby barn soon.

In their eighth week of the walkout, it’s a sign they’re digging in for the long term.

“They think they’re going to starve us out but they won’t,” vows heavy equipment mechanic and Harbour Main resident Roy Hawco, referring to

his employer Toromont Cat, a division of Ontario-based Toromont Industries.

Toromont Cat is a heavy equipment dealership in St. John’s with branches in Grand Falls-Windsor and Corner Brook.

About 45 members of Operating Engineers Local 904 have been off the job since Aug. 20. Mechanics in branches across the province left the negotiating table over wages and benefits, claiming Toromont pays its Newfoundland workers less than their mainland counterparts.

Toromont says it’s just sound financial operations.

“What we’re responding to is local market conditions,” says Paul Jewer, the company’s CFO and vice-president of finance.

“One thing we always want to demonstrate is leadership in all aspects, leaders in the competitive marketplace

and leaders in terms of compensation we offer our employees. We are currently ahead of any of our competitors in wages and salaries.”

The workers, who earn an hourly wage of $24.04, say Toromont employees in Ontario and Manitoba make $10 more per hour. They also say their disability is capped at $175 less than mainland workers and are unhappy their pensions were switched from a guaranteed payout to a market-dependent one when Toromont bought the dealership from Newfoundland Tractor in 1997.

“If the bottom goes out of the money market you’re in trouble,” says union business manager Mike Ezekiel, adding the union was not notified of the changes at the time.

Jewer says employees were aware of the changes when the new agreement was signed in 1997, and says there was

no mention of pension concerns at the negotiating table this past summer.

He says he’s unaware of accusations

by Newfoundland workers that Toromont pays their specialized Ontario and Manitoba employees more.

Local workers say the company needs to recognize the jack-of-all-trades approach that occurs in Newfoundland.

“They try to run here like Ontario which is a different place altogether,” says Hawco.

“Up there they got truck mechanics, excavator mechanics, they’re more specialized, but here you don’t get enough trucks to specialize. The mechanics here work on everything — you could be on a truck today, be on a marine engine tomorrow, you could be at an excavator or generator or forklift. You got to be up on everything here.”

Although Jewer says there has been contact between the company and the

employees, the workers say there has been none since they went out on the picket line two months ago. The strikers say they will stay out as long as necessary — but some have already left for other local companies or gone out West, rather than wait for an offer from Toromont.

Those who remain say they don’t want to leave, and must stick to their guns.

“Everyone is prepared to stay here until we get what we want and nothing less,” says Ezekiel.

“We want to be recognized and treated equal.”

Hawco repeats the sentiment.

“We’re not after Alberta wages. If we can get a fair wage we’ll stay here, but we’re not going to work for what they’re offering.” mandy.cook@theindependent.ca

The tide is high — or is it?

Long Pond boat owner says DFO stats left vessel in limbo

By Brian Callahan The Independent

A

Long Pond mariner claims inaccurate tide reports from the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) left his sailing vessel high and dry.

Dave Murphy, former owner of the popular tourist schooner Shenandoah II, recently beached his 25-foot vessel the Wind Elf to do some repairs the old-fashioned way, on the sandy shore in Long Pond, C.B.S. He brought her in on Sunday morning, Sept. 30, with plans to launch the next morning, turn her around and work on the other side.

Unfortunately, he says, the tide was more than a foot and a half less than the projected 4.6 feet.

“So I wrote DFO a note, kinda cheezed off, because to get her off I had to do some digging, ya know?” Murphy tells The Independent, adding his boat was not damaged.

“We managed it, but it’s not much fun when you’re there at 11:41 at night, trying to launch your boat, with two of your buddies up to their waist in cold water, givin’ her a shove.”

Murphy went by the tide predictions on the DFO website, which only lists dates, times and heights. “That’s what most fellas got to go by. You go into the computer, you look up the tides, and they’ll tell ya — the date and whatever — and you just follow the dots.”

When his boat remained grounded, and the expected rise in water didn’t occur, he fired off a letter to DFO. The response, Murphy says, was not satisfactory. “They told me there’s a combination of positive surge when beaching and negative surge when launching; in other words, if you bring her in on a high tide, you want to make sure the tide you’re going to launch her on is high enough to

move her off.

“Well, that’s elementary, dear Watson.”

He says it’s what the website doesn’t tell you that causes problems, such as negative and positive tide surges due to weather and wind direction.

“We know about this, but the problem is they don’t write that tide surge is possible from wind direction. I would be more satisfied with clearer instructions or information about wind and tide, or the effects of wind on tide in this area.

“They just assume people know this, you see.”

Charlie O’Reilly, head of tidal analysis and predictions with the Canadian Hydrographic Service division of DFO at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Dartmouth, N.S., admits there is a problem with data along Bell Island, but insists the Long Pond-Holyrood numbers are, and were, accurate.

“If you look at the predictions for Long Pond on that particular day, they’re all bang on,” O’Reilly tells The Independent.

“Bell Island can be a problem, so we’re going to address that. And we thanked Mr. Murphy for bringing that to our attention.”

O’Reilly noted no one can predict the weather in advance, but DFO is working on a solution to improving timely forecasts to complement tidal information.

“There is something in the offing that, a day in advance, you’ll get a forecast which does include the weather effects (on tides),” he says.

That’s some additional consolation for Murphy.

“As luck would have it for me, I landed her on a sandy beach that day. Had I put her into the marine launchway in Foxtrap, where you can’t dig out concrete, you’re high and dry until next month.

“You can’t take a pick to concrete.” brian.callahan@theindependent.ca

OCTOBER 12, 2007

INDEPENDENTNEWS • 7

‘I could care less’

Former MHA and chief electoral officer on spending scandal; release of information

By Brian Callahan The Independent

I

f Chuck Furey had run for office in this week’s provincial election, he would’ve gladly made public his constituency allowance receipts and donations records.

But he didn’t run, he wasn’t asked for his records, and he didn’t have to hand them out.

“If I was running, and somebody asked me to put everything out there, I’d have no problem doing it. I mean, some people probably would,” the former Liberal MHA, cabinet minister and chief electoral officer tells The Independent.

“It’s all irrelevant anyway because when you knock on a door and somebody asks you about it, and you tell

them, ‘No, I’m not going to show it,’ and then they go out and vote for you, well there you go — they obviously trust you.”

As a voter, wouldn’t he be suspicious of the fact that not a single candidate offered to show their receipts?

“Not really. That just presumes that there’s guilt there and I don’t treat people that way. You treat people respectfully, and if they say there’s nothing there, I trust them.”

The vast majority of the candidates in the Oct. 9 election — incumbents and newcomers — refused to discuss the constituency allowance scandal.

“Well, all I can say is it’s up to each individual member. I mean, if you’ve got nothing to hide, you’ve got nothing to worry about,” Furey says.

“I didn’t run in the election. I know what I would’ve done, had I ran. But it’s all hypothetical for me.”

What would Furey have done, had he ran?

“It doesn’t really matter what I would’ve done because I didn’t run. I know what I would’ve done, personally.

But no, I won’t say, because it’s not relevant, it’s hypothetical, it doesn’t even warrant a comment.”

Furey, for his part, claimed $12,247 in donations during his 12 years as an MHA. He was appointed chief electoral officer in February 2006, but resigned a year later to pursue options in the private sector.

“My position on (the donations) is very simple. The auditor general has all of that and whatever he wants to do with

it is entirely up to him.

“And I could care less.”

As a former chief electoral officer, meanwhile, Furey says he’d want to see a candidate’s personal finances from the time the writ is dropped until the election.

The current chief electoral officer, Paul Reynolds, echoed those sentiments, but was also guarded.

“To be quite honest with you, I’m not going to comment on anything that took place with respect to the constituency allowance issue,” Reynolds tells The Independent.

“That’s my policy. My personal policy as chief electoral officer.”

He noted all expenses and revenues — including donations — during the election campaign must be reported by all

Placentia Bay.

By Mandy Cook The Independent

T

he province has given two green thumbs up for the first oil refinery to be built in North America in the past three decades, resulting in a 17 per cent jump in shares in Newfoundland and Labrador Refining Corporation’s controlling company, Altius Resources Inc. Shares shot up to $28.45 on the Toronto Stock Exchange from $4.30 this week.

Environment Minister Clyde Jackman approved an environmental study Oct. 5, which assessed the risks of building a refinery at Southern Head, between North Harbour and Come By Chance, Placentia Bay. Brian Dalton, managing director of the Newfoundland and Labrador Refining Corporation and CEO of provincially based Altius Resources Inc., says the environmental impact

candidates within 60 days of being elected.

“Donations that the candidate would have received, they have to give us a report of where that money came from — what they did with the money, where they received it, and what they did with it would be all part of the report,” Reynolds says.

The report is reviewed by the chief electoral officer and the candidate is notified by letter of his assessment.

Reynolds says disclosure statements by candidates can eventually be viewed by public — either online or at the chief electoral office.

“It may not be entirely what you’re looking for, but there will be a synopsis of what we’ve done.” brian.callahan@theindependent.ca

Paul Daly/The Independent

Green report Placentia Bay refinery clears environmental hurdle study was thorough and inclusive.

“We went through all the potential impacts, all the potential benefits, this includes construction phase, operation phase and even decommissioning,” he says. “This is so wide-ranging it went from air quality, a big issue like that, to birds to otters, you name it.”

The oil refinery proposed by the Newfoundland and Labrador Refining Corporation would have an initial production capacity of 300,000 barrels of oil a day, with an option to increase to 600,000 barrels a day. Primary products

would be gasoline, jet fuel/kerosene, ultra-low sulphur diesel and refining byproducts. Processing facilities, a marine terminal, crude and product storage tanks and an access road would also have to be constructed.

Dalton’s goal is to break ground for the facility in the new year and Altius is aiming to complete construction in 2011. The facility is pegged to cost $4.6 billion.

Dalton says input from the community played a major role in the environmental study, particularly in regards to

factors such as topography, wind currents, ideal locations for air quality monitoring stations and the relation of the new facility to the existing refinery at Come By Chance.

The final site location was chosen in discussion with local fishermen, and the proposed jetty was moved several times to avoid fishing grounds. Independent health professionals assessed emission projections to study air quality.

The Newfoundland and Labrador Refining Corporation is still required to provide ongoing air testing data at dif-

ferent distances from the site and during the construction and production stages.

It is also required to provide more data on the possibility of the presence of certain chemicals.

Dalton is confident in the results of the environmental study. He says the company’s emission models fall well below industry regulation standards. He points also to the improved technology to be used in the facility.

“It’s a new refinery and I think that’s an important point. The technology we’re applying here, the ability to capture (emissions), with just the technological advances (since) the last refinery built in North America 30 years ago, it has grown considerably.”

Placentia Bay is thought to have the most favourable near shore and ice-free large tanker port development potential in eastern North America. mandy.cook@theindependent.ca

8 • INDEPENDENTNEWS

OCTOBER 12, 2007

Rules of engagement F

irst things first, a sincere congratulations to Danny Williams et al for their decisive win. The sheer size of the victory sends a message to the mainland that Newfoundlanders and Labradorians have the premier’s back. There may only be roughly 505,000 of us, but we’re united behind the ultimate fighting Newfoundlander. The sheep’s clothing worn by so many Ottawa politicians when dealing with the most easterly coast is finally being seen for the federal fashion faux pas that it is.

Don’t be dissin’ Danny, but there’s a deeper message.

After 58 years of Confederation we’re finally getting our act together on the national stage, and the audiences are growing. Newfie jokes are being replaced by gutsy dramas as Newfoundland and Labrador grows up before Canada’s eyes.

The downside to Danny’s dynasty is there’s virtually no official opposition.

There may be times in the House of Assembly when Danny feels like he’s talking to the walls, but then he probably will be.

Lorraine Michael will play her part, as will the three Liberal amigos — Kelvin Parsons, Yvonne Jones and

RYAN CLEARY

Fighting Newfoundlander Roland Butler, but the next four years will be long ones. On the plus side, there’s nowhere to go but up (at least for the Liberals, the NDP being content to cater to the small pocket of aging granolas and artsy fartsies in Town).

John Efford was first off the mark on the morning after the election to say he’d consider a second shot at the Liberal leadership, but where was he during the election when his party was drowning in the polls?

Is Efford solely out for himself? Or does he truly understand that a party must die before it can be reborn?

Danny will have trouble keeping his caucus in line. How does he live up to a campaign promise to bring Labrador MHA Patty Pottle into cabinet when John Hickey is already sitting back, shirttail out, with his feet up on the table?

Is the Big Land big enough for two ministers?

The size of cabinet will likely grow, which is ridiculous, there being no need for it. But then there’s also no need — no need in hell — for this province to have 48 MHAs, as many as 13 too many. More and more the media will take on the role of opposition. The premier doesn’t care — he’ll take on all comers, and he’s done so in the past.

There’s no better time than now to state the rules of engagement.

First off, The Independent, from an editorial perspective, may stand behind the premier on crabapple pie issues, but we’re not a cheerleading rag. The paper has no intention of calling up the premier before printing a contentious opinion column. That will never happen. We are as our name suggests — independent.

The Independent also isn’t finished with a story when Danny says so.

That’s not the way it works. Our job is done when we’re at the end of the trail.

Heads up premier — the spending scandal story is alive and kicking.

Second, any stories that may be seen as negative towards the Williams government aren’t personal in nature. In fact, there’s nothing personal about it.

Danny is in the business of governing

Is Efford solely out for himself? Or does he truly understand that a party must die before it can be reborn? the province; this newspaper is in the business of questioning that governance, of questioning everything that moves.

Danny must understand the role of the media. The Independent is neither for nor against the Williams’ government, not in terms of our reportage.

The facts, and just the facts — that’s what we’re about.

The other media have questioned where they stand with The Independent. Some media types actually whisper when Independent reporters are in the room because they don’t want to be quoted in columns such as Scrunchins.

Here’s a simple rule of thumb: don’t say anything in public you wouldn’t want to see in print. If a provincial

reporter with the CBC makes a joke about the premier’s winter limo (a.k.a.

Yukon) in front of a couple of dozen reporters he can expect to be quoted.

There’s a fine line between straight-up reporting and editorial comment and that line is being crossed far too often these days. In short, no subject should be taboo to the media. We have no intention of backing off because advertising dollars — government or private — may be in jeopardy.

Finally this week, Oct. 12 marks this newspaper’s four-year anniversary.

The front page of the first Sunday Independent (we changed our name and format in February 2005) included a close-up shot of then-Liberal premier Roger Grimes fighting for his political life against the Danny wave that was unstoppable even then.

The first quote of the week was from CBC TV’s Peter Gullage, who had this to say at a St. John’s Board of Trade luncheon: “This has to be the biggest collection of politicians, scoundrels, those on the make, those on the take and those stuck to the government tit.”

Here’s to a great attitude and an even greater future. The future isn’t just Danny’s. It’s ours. ryan.cleary@theindependent.ca

YOUR VOICE ‘A future never dreamed of’ Dear editor, Newfoundlanders have always found a way to thank someone who will do great things on their behalf.

On Oct. 9, they again expressed their gratitude to Danny Williams by sweeping him and his party back into power with a resounding election victory. I was one of those grateful Newfoundlanders who took advantage of the chance to say thank you to Danny for ensuring the future of my children and grandchildren right here, in Newfoundland. This premier is leading Newfoundland into a future

never dreamed of by many. I shudder to think where we would be today if he had not become leader of the PC party. His successful business background was exactly what Newfoundland needed to take us out of poverty and into a prosperous future.

I remember Roger Grimes saying in the last election, “You can’t run government like a business.” Oh Roger, how wrong you were. Of course, that’s why you are not premier today.

Don Lester, Conception Bay South

MHAs paid far more than ‘deserved’ Dear editor, MHA pay in this province is unreasonable. According to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, MHAs earn a base salary, adjusted for the tax-free allowance, of $87,630, or 112 per cent of the national average of their counterparts, who earn $78,188. From the low of $56,849 in Prince Edward Island to the high of $105,231 in Quebec, MHAs rank No. 3, earning even more than debt-free and cashrich Alberta at $82,406.

If government is “for the people,” then certainly one of the responsibilities is to ensure the financial health “of the people.” According to Statistics Canada 2006 Average

Earnings by Province, the average Newfoundlander and Labradorian made $691.12, or only 92 per cent of the Canadian average of $750.57.

From a low of $606.84, again in P.E.I., to a high of $970.30 in the Northwest Territories, Newfoundland and Labrador ranks No. 9, far lower than debt free and cash rich Alberta at $800.17. Here we have one of the poorest provinces, with the highest taxes and cost of living (excepting real estate), paying our politicians far more than we can afford and they deserve.

Steve McCormick, Mount Pearl

Tide waits for no man (or federal official) The following letter was sent to the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans, with a copy forwarded to The Independent.

It might interest you to know that your report for the tide to rise at Long Pond on Oct.1 at 11:24 a.m. to 4.6 feet did not make it up much past three feet, let alone the reported 4.6 feet.

Unfortunately for me, and much to my annoyance, I followed your report to the letter and fully expected to launch my sailing vessel from a sandy beach there. I had my vessel beached on Sunday to clean and paint her and fully expected to launch at 11:24 a.m., Monday. This could not happen, of

course, so I had to reorganize my helpers and we shoveled away enough sand to allow us to launch at 11:41 p.m., Monday night. I could no longer trust your reporting to wait for the reported tide rise of 4.3 feet for Tuesday morning, so we shoveled and launched very late Monday night just to be on the safe side.

It seems you federal types have great trouble reporting accurate fish stocks, the weather, and now you can’t even keep the regularity of the tides reported correctly. That is almost as difficult as reading a time clock with big numbers.

David Murphy, Conception Bay South

AN INDEPENDENT VOICE FOR NEWFOUNDLAND & LABRADOR

P.O. Box 5891, Stn.C, St. John’s, Newfoundland & Labrador, A1C 5X4 Ph: 709-726-4639 • Fax: 709-726-8499 www.theindependent.ca • editorial@theindependent.ca

The Independent is published

by Independent News Ltd. in St. John’s. It is an independent newspaper covering the news, issues and current affairs that affect the people of Newfoundland & Labrador.

PUBLISHER Brian Dobbin EDITOR IN CHIEF Ryan Cleary MANAGING EDITOR Stephanie Porter PICTURE EDITOR Paul Daly PRODUCTION MANAGER John Andrews ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Sandra Charters CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Dave Tizzard

sales@theindependent.ca • production@theindependent.ca • circulation@theindependent.ca All material in The Independent is copyrighted and the property of The Independent or the writers and photographers who produced the material. Any use or reproduction of this material without permission is prohibited under the Canadian Copyright Act. • © 2007 The Independent • Canada Post Agreement # 40871083

The Independent welcomes letters to the editor. Letters must be 300 words in length or less and include full name, mailing address and daytime contact numbers.

Letters may be edited for length, content and legal considerations. Send your letters in care of The Independent, P.O. Box 5891, Station C, St. John’s, NL, A1C 5X4 or e-mail us at editorial@theindependent.ca

‘On the government side’ — a dangerous philosophy Dear editor, The people of our province, indoctrinated by the constant barrage of Danny Williams’ popularity, decided to throw party allegiance and platforms to the winds, and jump “on the government side.” This “on the government side” was pushed and advocated during the campaign, and thousands of voters jumped on the Tory bandwagon, with little regard for whom their member might be.

Getting “on the government side” was their goal.

“On the government side” is a dangerous philosophy that weakens choice, and negates debate and discussion of issues. The big negative is we now have basically a one-party system of rule.

Taking “on the government side” a bit further, a week prior to every election, a valid poll strongly suggesting the way people might vote would send many excellent, well-educated candidates with good ideas pertaining to social justice, job creation, health and education, down to defeat, even though they were of greater quality than their opponents.

This dark belief implies that a member in opposition is less effective than a member in government. Today, with 43 members on the government benches, at least half of them will be muzzled, mere messengers for a powerful premier. I suspect people from Twillingate, Harbour Breton, Fortune and Bellevue voted Tory because they saw a huge majority and they jumped to the government side.

But “on the government side” or

Today, with 43 members on the government benches, at least half of them will be muzzled, mere messengers for a powerful premier.

not, governments are elected to serve all the people, no matter their colour or community. I sense a school of thought that says you will be better served “on the government side,” and that brings up the question of revenge. Taxpayers’ money must be spent wherever the greatest needs lie, and not according to voting patterns. A leaky school gets priority no matter who the MHA is; an area of high unemployment deserves cabinet consideration, whether the member is blue, red or orange.

Presently, our province has an autocracy, and a major role members “on the government side” might play is to discard their muzzles and become vocal on issues of concern to the people in every nook and cranny of this province. But autocracies rarely allow dissent.

Jim Combden, Badger’s Quay

Call for disaster stories Dear editor, I am a St. John’s historian and editor conducting research for a history of the Ocean Ranger disaster, the largest Canadian maritime disaster since the Second World War. The book will have as much to say about the disaster as it will on human strength and courage. I am currently

looking to compile oral history and would very much like to hear from victims’ families, former employees of Mobil Oil and ODECO, Search and Rescue, as well as news media and government officials.

Mike Heffernan, St. John’s mike.heffernan@nf.sympatico.ca

‘Under our Newfoundland noses’ Dear editor, Flabbergasted, wide-eyed Newfoundlanders would cry foul knowing that the outcome of the referendum on denominational education in the mid-1990s was a given and the deck well stacked. The federal government presses on nonetheless. In 1997 just such a scenario transpired directly under our Newfoundland noses, with little to no thought of the extreme repercussion of that move.

Subsequently, the province of Newfoundland approached the federal government waving the referendum results and in 1998 yet another Newfoundland amendment to the Constitution of Canada was enacted. Then again, four of the 10 amendments to Canada’s constitution have laughably concerned Newfoundland. It appears that where other provinces and territories fear to tread, Newfoundland has become a lumbering trailblazer. Simply put, messing around with Canada’s constitution is no place for fools.

Understandably, the aforementioned amendment has percolated a rising tide of uneasiness, notably among Roman Catholics who entered (disapprovingly) into Confederation with a guarantee of denominational education. To allow a non-Catholic majority to decide Catholic minority rights is not outrageous, but I believe it to be outside legal parameters.

Could the same technique occur in regard to French language minority rights, as just one example, throughout predominantly English-speaking Canada? Provincial versus territorial status changes? With that dangerous precedent in place and unchallenged — yes.

Catholics were allowed to vote in the 1997 referendum, but the voting majority were overwhelmingly non-Catholic, and I have yet to encounter a situation where a majority freely grants a minority what it’s due. I strongly suggest the situation be contested (e.g. United Nations Human Rights Commission, etc.) not only for Newfoundland’s beleaguered Catholic minority, but for our province and country as a whole.

Jerry Lewis, St. John’s

OCTOBER 12, 2007

INDEPENDENTNEWS • 9

Lost and found T

he day started with a good laugh at another person’s stupidity. No need to embarrass the person here. Suffice it to say we all had a good laugh at his ineptitude. There is a German word — schadenfreude — which the English language has borrowed. It means pleasure in another’s misfortune. We all had a double dose of it that morning, laughing at his embarrassment.

That, I think, is what riled the fates.

This happened some time back, when I was in another job. We’d been through a hard time, waiting weeks for a large government cheque for work already done. We were dependent on bureaucrats. It is my hope, gentle reader, this fate is never visited upon you. Months passed. Christmas passed. There were blizzards and snow days, but no cheque.

That day, like every other day, I wandered down Water Street to the post office, looking for the cheque that never came.

When I opened the mailbox, there it was.

A cheque for $25,000 (well, $24,900

IVAN MORGAN

Rant & Reason and change). Groceries! Clothing! Beer!

Gas! O happy day!

Not taking any chances, I slipped the cheque in the inside pocket of my jacket and headed straight for the bank.

I tripped down Water Street, barely touching the sidewalk. I couldn’t resist the opportunity to show the cheque off to a friend I met on the street.

Except it wasn’t there.

I tore off the jacket, frantically turning it inside out and yelled something like “Holy shit the f%$*&^g cheque,” and flew off back down the street.

I ran faster than I had in decades, back to the post office, my eyes glued to the sidewalk the whole way. Nothing. Open up the mailbox. Nothing. Up to the counter. Has anyone passed anything in?

No. Oh my God! Back out and up Water

Street, the cold bony fingers of fear tightening around my throat. Oh shit.

This is far and away the worst screw-up I had ever made. This is the worst one I ever heard of.

What did I do with the cheque? The cheque the cheque the cheque …

For 45 minutes I scoured back alleys, garbage cans and sewer grates, my mind racing with the consequences. What about the others depending on this long overdue money? What about my bills? I tried bargaining with the fates. I tried to position myself in the great scheme of things. OK. No one is dead. No one is sick. No one is hurt.

What am I thinking? This is a disaster.

I found myself rooting through the same trash canister for the third time, head in, chest deep, feet off the ground. When you do this, passersby avoid eye contact.

In my panic I had checked the post office twice already. Now strangely calm, I checked a third time. I am so dead. I could hear my co-workers, my family, my friends … You lost the cheque?

I am such an idiot … It was then I

noticed a different person behind the counter. He smiled.

“Looking for something?” he laughed.

I lunged at the counter. My heart pounding, my mouth dry, I nodded.

“This?” he asked, producing the cheque.

The cheque!

If you can imagine every Christmas morning of your life scrunched into one moment and then exploding in your head, you’d know how I felt.

The cheque! It had never left the building, sliding out of my coat right at the post box. Some nameless sainted soul had picked it up and passed it in.

The person behind the counter I had asked earlier was a temp working while this guy was on break. She had not been told a government cheque had been passed in.

Ever wanted to laugh/cry/cartwheel/ die of embarrassment/scream/whimper/ rage/sing all at the same time? No? Lose a cheque for $25,000 for an hour then find it.

Once the cheque was safely in the hands of the bank, I staggered out onto

Water Street.

A friend saw to my nerves, irreparably jangled, taking me to a coffee shop and sitting me where I could sip coffee and concentrate on breathing, and stare off into the distance.

Call it what you like, kismet, karma, fate, serendipity — at that moment in walked the same fellow we had that morning laughed at. He of the famous blunder sat at the table next to me, and started reading the paper.

I knew better than to tempt the higher powers, so clearly at work. I knew what I had to do.

“Hey,” I said, leaning across to get his attention. “We had some laugh at your screw-up.”

Having had a week of this already, he gave me a glower and went back to his paper.

“Everyone’s a comedian,” you could hear him think.

Smiling and offering him the empty chair at my table, I was about to learn how good for the soul confession is.

“Wanna hear of a worse one?” ivan.morgan@theindependent.ca

YOURVOICE Life as a free-trade hamster

Prime Minister Stephen Harper at the Kandahar Air Field last May.

Sgt Craig Fiander photo

What does it take to get in the army?

Dear editor, I have sent the following question into the Canadian Forces website and am waiting a response …

Would someone please tell me why you have to be a Canadian citizen to join the Canadian army?

My husband and I are British nationals; he has served 22 years colour service with the British Army, leaving at the age of 40 as a warrant officer (he is only 42 now).

We are waiting for our permanent resident status to come through, which should be anytime now, and he would very much like to join the Canadian Forces.

He has talked with colonels and brigadiers (Canadian Forces) and they have expressed wishes to have him commissioned into the Canadian Army to serve with them as an officer, as he has a wealth of experience and qualifications, which would all be to the good of the Force.

So why is it that although he has already pledged his allegiance to Her Majesty and served Queen and country, that he is now being told that he cannot serve his Queen from within the Commonwealth, as he and I are not citizens of Canada? I am sure, at least the last time I saw her, that she is the same Queen of the U.K. as she is of Canada.

I would understand if we were from a nation outside of the Commonwealth, but seeing as my passport says the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland, and the Commonwealth on it, I thought it would be the same.

I was wondering if you had had any of your readers with likewise experiences of the Forces. Our local volunteer fire service quite happily took him on as a volunteer fireman, not caring if he was a citizen or not, only happy that he was a resident who wished to help his community.

Heather Miller, Baddeck, N.S.

Fish-farming industry welcomes ‘scrutiny and dialogue’ Dear editor, I am writing in response to Paul Smith’s Oct. 5 column, My two cents on salmon farming. While the Internet served as a major source of information for Smith’s article, he could also have found many well informed and credible sources right here in Newfoundland and Labrador. As the representative of the province’s aquaculture industry, I would have appreciated the opportunity to comment.

Our association has been an active partner in a liaison group with NASCO (North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization). At the most recent meeting on Sept. 18, NASCO delegates and the Atlantic Salmon Federation (ASF) noted that other factors such as survival at sea were the biggest concern for wild salmon in Atlantic Canada, and this had received the least amount of effort to date. At that meeting all participants, including the ASF, endorsed Canada’s action plan to meet NASCO’s requirements for managing potential interactions between wild and farmed salmon.

Here in Newfoundland and Labrador, we are working with government and the scientific and professional communities to pro-actively address the concerns raised by Mr. Smith in his article. A new

provincial management plan for aquaculture guides the orderly and sustainable development of the aquaculture industry. Newfoundland and Labrador is a world leader in establishing and regulating aquaculture bay management areas for marine finfish sites.

Site separation, mandatory fallow periods, and single-year class sites are now incorporated into the condition of the aquaculture licence in the province.

Sea lice, which occur naturally in the marine environment and may infect juvenile farmed salmon once they are transferred from fresh water hatcheries to ocean farms, are well managed by good farm maintenance and animal husbandry.

Just as in Scotland, our industry is governed by the mandatory reporting of escapes from salmon farms.

Fish health is also well regulated.

We in this province may be latecomers to the salmon farming industry, but we are benefiting from over 30 years of experience from other parts of the world. We are proud of our people and the fact that our industry is already transforming some of our coastal communities. As we grow and develop that potential, we also welcome scrutiny and dialogue.

Miranda Pryor, executive director Newfoundland Aquaculture Industry Association

7e love celebrations too.

Dear editor, Nature has a lesson to teach those who study the world economy.

It has been discovered that hatchery-raised steelhead trout lose their ability to reproduce in the wild. The capacity to do so drops by 40 per cent for every generation they spend in a hatchery and those who buy this stock to replenish wild stocks get fish that are less and less likely to have the skills to compete with the natural supply of fish.

A short time ago, Brian Mulroney took our country into a free trade agreement with the United States, a form of wild fish that was used to allowing its residents to sink or swim.

They have no medical plan for the bulk of their citizens, they use and abuse foreign immigrants in order to feed the corporate world, and the country is a contrast in wealth and lifestyles in which the weaker and less able do not survive. In fact, the American culture is so jaded that many American religious leaders preach about God wanting you to acquire wealth.

The question is at what cost?

Canada, on the other hand, was a big pond with just a few closely-knit cultures who had individual-based values that propelled our people to support one another in a realistic and demanding environment starting from the efforts to clear the prairies for farming or to build little shacks clinging to the sides of rocky cliffs to live in as they harvested cod.

Despite our common Anglo-Saxon background, we and the Americans are two diverse people and whether or not we survive economically in this new free trade environment is not in question, for we have comparable industrial and economic survival skills.

The real question is what native positive human characteristics will we retain when we enter the killing pool and which ones

Brian Mulroney

Paul Daly/The Independent

will we willingly relinquish in pursuit of the almighty dollar. A life spent in selfish pursuit of transitory consumer goods is comparable to the life of the pet hamster.

He keeps spinning his wheel as if he were making progress, but he has absolutely no idea what he hopes to ultimately achieve.

As he looks around he sees his fellow hamsters similarly engaged, and so he rotates faster and faster in an imaginary race until he expires.

Aubrey Smith, Grand Falls-Windsor

OCTOBER 12, 2007

10 • INDEPENDENTNEWS

IN CAMERA

Enthusiastic supporters greet Williams as he enters the Fairmont in St. John’s.

Supporters shake Williams’ hand

A cheer for victory.

‘Thank you Newfoundland and Labrador’

By Stephanie Porter The Independent

T As expected, Oct. 9 was a big night for Danny Williams and the provincial Progressive Conservatives. Picture editor Paul Daly and managing editor Stephanie Porter were at The Fairmont as poll results came in and the landslide victory celebrations began.

here is a light show, smoke, a back-up band and a room packed with adoring, exuberant fans. And at the centre of it all, of course, the Rock star.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is about us, this is about us as a people, this is about our future,” Premier Danny Williams begins, taking the stage at The Fairmont Newfoundland Hotel to celebrate his landslide win. “Our time has come in Newfoundland and Labrador.”

The hundreds packed into the ballroom chant along in delight with the refrain that’s become a theme song for the three-week election campaign.

“We’re proud, we’re strong, and we’re determined,” says Williams.

“Four years ago, we campaigned on no more giveaways … and what did we give you?”

“No more giveaways!” the crowd responds, in unison.

St. John’s resident Janice Pittman, “60-something,” was one of the first members of the public to take a seat in the celebration ballroom, walking

through the door shortly after the polls closed at 8 p.m. She didn’t work on any campaign, isn’t a card-carrying member of any party.

“But I didn’t want to watch this one on TV,” she says, smiling. She uses the word “love” to describe her feelings for the premier, and says she’s witnessing “history in the making.”

She also says she believes her home province finally has a true leader again. “You can’t help but trust the man,” she says. “That he’s going to fight for all of us, that he’s going to do good by us.”

As the poll results start to pour in, so do Progressive Conservative supporters. The extent of the victory, the extent of popular support for the Williams team only becomes more obvious, more crippling to the Liberals, by the minute.

Later, in a scrum with media, Williams addresses the issue of governing while facing a small opposition. He points out that all regions of the province are “covered” by the one NDP and three Liberal MHAs: Labrador (Yvonne Jones); rural Newfoundland (Roland Butler, Kelvin Parsons) and St. John’s (Lorraine

Michael).

“The people there that have been elected are very strong people, very strong voices and, you know, the media will be my opposition,” Williams says. “But at the end of the day, the people of Newfoundland and Labrador will be my opposition.”

Besides, he says, “the people that we have in our caucus, in our cabinet, have their own conscience and their own hearts and they will be their own internal opposition.”

At 9:15, the raucous traditional group The Navigators take the stage, party supporters themselves, at least for this gig. “Everyone’s going to have a great future in Newfoundland,” says singer Arthur O’Brien, doing his own part to work the crowd up.

Successfully elected Tories start to pour in, surrounded by, literally, busloads of supporters: Dave Denine, who won by some 3,700 votes, was among the first to show. He was soon followed by Dianne Whelan, John Dinn, Kathy Dunderdale, Elizabeth Marshall, Jack Byrne, Tom Osborne, Steve Kent …

All MHAs file quickly to the stage when word comes their leader’s

arrival is imminent.

It is a sight to behold: clapping, cheering, everyone jostling to shake Williams’ hand, pat him on the back, show support and share their glee.

As always, Williams knows how to get a crowd riled up — as if they weren’t already — replaying some of his favourite themes and catch phrases from the past four years.

“Finally we’re going to get what we deserve, we’re going to be masters of our own destiny, we’re going to be self-reliant,” he says. “And within the next two years we’re going to be a have province.”

Then — always a crowd pleaser — Williams thanks the province for backing his fights with Prime Ministers Paul Martin and Stephen Harper. Proof he’s on the right track, he says, is in the ballot box.

“There’s a message here there Steve — if you want to take my team on, you’ve got to take on all the people in Newfoundland.

“We know what we’re fighting for.”

Questioned by reporters, Williams lays out some of his priorities for the See “Not just,” page 14

OCTOBER 12, 2007

INDEPENDENTNEWS • 11

Gerry Reid talks with media after his concession speech.

Reid supporters anxiously watch returns.

A campaign sign at Reid’s headquarters in Summerford, Notre Dame Bay.

‘Gerry, keep on trucking’ From page 1

As election night delivered a crushing defeat for Gerry Reid and the provincial Liberals, photographer Nicholas Langor and senior writer Ivan Morgan were at the leader’s Liberal headquarters in Summerford, Notre Dame Bay.

He says the party’s future will rely on new people and new ideas — which the party will now have to foster.

Reid should stay on as leader, says Grimes, to help the party rebuild, at least until the annual meeting slated for next year.

As a member of the old guard, Grimes says he would be willing to offer his experience and knowledge to help rebuild, if asked.

Commenting on former federal Liberal cabinet minister and one-time leadership rival John Efford’s remark that he would seriously consider making a run for the leadership of the provincial Liberal party, Grimes is philosophical.

“If this is something he needs to get out of his system, fair enough.”

Liberal party president Danny Dumaresque, who also went down to defeat in a hotly contested fight in Torngat district, says he will stay on as president to help with the rebuilding. His priority will be party finances. He says heavy debt tied

Liberal hands in this campaign and contributed to their loss.

Campaigns cost money, says Dumaresque, and he wants his party on solid financial footing for the next election.

He agrees with Grimes’ assessment of this as a time of real opportunity for the Liberal party.

“No doubt we have one of the best political organizations around,” says Dumaresque.

What his party needs, he says, is a concerted effort to raise money and to “get back to the fundamentals” of organizing, recruiting and policy development.

Campaign chair Rex Gibbons doesn’t think Liberals should be talking about the future right now. He says people should take some time to contemplate what has happened.

“You know I consider it maybe a bit inappropriate that some people have jumped into the mix a little quickly,” he says.

Gibbons says a priority for him is the district of Grand Falls-WindsorBuchans, where the election was suspended after the sudden death of

“In this district that could not have a vote, we have to give it everything we’ve got.

It would be in honour of Gerry Tobin that we would do that — he would expect us to.”

Rex Gibbons Liberal candidate Dr. Gerry Tobin during the last week of the campaign.

The election is now slated for Nov. 6.

“In this district that could not have a vote, we have to give it everything we’ve got,” he says. “It would be in honour of Gerry Tobin that we would do that — he would expect us to.”

No candidate has come forward yet

to run for the Liberals, says Gibbons.

While he would “love to see” retired district MHA Anna Thistle step forward, he says the party is already busy recruiting other potential candidates.

Dumaresque says Reid should stay on as party leader for now. Reid performed yeoman’s service for the Liberal party in the recent election, says Dumaresque, and should be given the benefit of the doubt. He’s confident Reid will do whatever is best for the party.

Gibbons echoes this sentiment, saying he hopes Reid stays on as leader.

“I’d say ‘Gerry, keep on trucking’.”

All three say their party has been down before, and each has tasted victory at one point in their political careers.

The party will rebuild, they agree, and will return as a force in Newfoundland and Labrador politics.

With a federal election possibly in the wings, Dumaresque says the lay of the political landscape can change quickly. Their job, he says, is to be ready. ivan.morgan@theindependent.ca

OCTOBER 12, 2007

12 • INDEPENDENTNEWS

An NDP volunteer accompanies Lorraine Michael at the Holiday Inn.

Party supporters watch the results pour in.

Michael takes to the podium after retaining her seat in the House of Assembly.

All for one, one for all Lorraine Michael confident NDP finally has true momentum to build on

By Brian Callahan The Independent

S Photographer Ian Vatcher and reporter Brian Callahan spent election night at the NDP headquarters at the St. John’s Holiday Inn, taking in the cautious optimism of a party that managed to hold onto one seat in the House of Assembly.

tepping through the sliding double doors of the Holiday Inn in St. John’s, the faint sound of an accordion barely prevails over the hustle and bustle of check-ins at the front desk.

Slipping past a throng of Alberta tourists, the strains of traditional Newfoundland music from the meeting rooms become clearer.

It’s 7:45 p.m., and there are more media types than NDP supporters in the room that’s been reduced in size by a divider wall.

A small stage with a backdrop emblazoned with NDP posters and the names of each candidate dominates the room. The stage is flanked by two big-screen TVs tuned to NTV and CBC. And to the far right, the lone accordion player, squeezing and tapping his way through a medley of trad tunes.

You can’t help but notice the juxtaposition; one accordion player versus the full band playing for the Tories down the road at The Fairmont.

One versus many. Not unlike the election results.

“There’s my order,” one media technician quips as a hotel porter wheels in a tub of beer on ice.

It’s a cash bar here, though.

A few untouched sandwich trays are spread around. The smattering of NDP supporters have their eyes on

one seat as the returns pour in.

And to their delight, each update shows their leader, Lorraine Michael, leading.

There’s an underlying theme, however.

“E-lec-tor-al re-form,” party supporter, filmmaker and breast cancer survivor Gerry Rogers whispers several times. She’s not the only one spreading that message — the desire for proportional representation.

Before long, there’s word that the woman of the hour is near.

As Lorraine Michael strides through those double sliding doors, her diminutive stature is trumped by her beaming smile and strong presence.

Heads turn and cameras pan as she makes her way to the stage to raucous applause. She’s retained her Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi seat, but will fight the NDP cause on her own in the House.

“Obviously, I wish I were standing here knowing I had a couple more people in the House with me,” says the former school teacher, principal, and social action committee chairwoman. “That would have been wonderful. We didn’t do it this time, but we will do it next time.”

She emphasizes a “new and exciting momentum going on within our party,” and on this night it’s hard to dispute.

After all, she’s almost the official opposition.

Later, in a one-on-one interview with The Independent, she stresses

the importance of her family in the victory.

“My two sisters, my brother … they came from different corners of the country (to be here),” she says.

They were important, also, for helping each other through the death of their mother earlier this year.

“Obviously, it has been … it was a difficult number of months, over the spring, especially with the eight weeks in the House immediately after losing her.

“The strength of having (my siblings) there tonight with me was just great. If I’d been there without my family tonight, I think it would have been very difficult. But I think they made my mother present tonight by being there with me.”

Michael said she never secondguessed her decision to enter politics.

“When I made the decision, my mother said to me at the time: ‘I don’t know why you waited so long to do this.’”

Michael’s first order of business will be to establish her place as a legitimate force in the House.

“It shouldn’t be based on if you have one, or two, or three; it should be based on how we can assure that the opposition parties have adequate resources. We don’t have ministers, we don’t have all the government structure behind us.”

The larger question is how the NDP can build on the momentum the party is feeding off on this night.

“I think by building on the ground.

I really mean that. We had candidates who ran in this election who are really committed to building the membership.

“I said a year and a half ago that was my goal. I didn’t say it could be done in 11 months. We had candidates in this election who last summer — the summer of 2006 — who called and said they wanted to run in 2007.

“They said ‘we want to help the party grow.’ So I think we have a base that I don’t think we ever had before.”

Where does Michael see the party in four years?

“I really do see us getting more seats in four years from now, because I really am committed to developing the party in and outside (the House).”

One thing you can expect Michael to harp on is health care.

“That’s my priority. I can’t let the premier off the hook. I have promised people I will not let this go. We have to have a full evaluation of the system — and we have to look at a full system that includes pharmacare and home care.”

That doesn’t mean she’ll be silent on critical resource issues, though.

“There must be an equal sharing of resources in this province. We have to have fiscal policies that realize now, not in 10 years’ time, that money has to be spread out across the province … to save rural Newfoundland.” brian.callahan@theindependent.ca

OCTOBER 12, 2007

INDEPENDENTNEWS • 13

OCTOBER 12, 2007

14 • INDEPENDENTNEWS

‘A better way’

Patrick O’Flaherty says current electoral system isn’t perfect, but it does work

O

ne intriguing sidelight to the election campaign that ended Oct. 9 was the discussion it stirred up about the way MHAs are elected. Given their massive lead in the polls, a distinct possibility existed that the PCs would win all 48 seats. To some, that showed we have a flawed system, since if it happened those who voted for the other parties — a considerable number — would be denied representation in the House of Assembly.

There had to be a better way to organize our democracy. So it was argued.

Proportional representation was talked of as a better way. That would mean giving each political party a percentage of seats in the Assembly that mirrored its share of the popular vote.

Various ways have been suggested to make that happen. It might be something like this. Let’s say the number of districts in Newfoundland was 40 and the number of parties fielding candidates was two. A party that got 20 per cent of the popular vote in a general

AROUND THE WORLD A very interesting meeting of the International Printing Pressmen and Assistants’ Union, No. 294, was held in the LSPU Hall Tuesday night. Considerable business was transacted and several applicants were admitted to membership.

Recently an invitation was received by the Union to send a delegate to attend the convention held at Pressmen’s home, Tennessee, but the offer had to be declined, as a delegate could not reach there in time. This is the first time that any such invitation has been sent to any union in Newfoundland.

— The Daily News, St. John’s, Oct. 7, 1920 AROUND THE BAY Mr. John Bishop, of Burnt Head, has 800 or 1,000 fine winter cabbage plants which he will dispose of cheaply. The industry of this young man deserves to be encouraged.

— The Vindicator, Brigus, Oct. 12, 1808

PATRICK O’FLAHERTY A Skeptic’s Diary election but won only one seat would be entitled to eight seats. So seven more would be added to its caucus, bringing the number of seats in the House to 47.

That looks fair, and much can be said in its favour. Of course, it wouldn’t be entirely fair — the party winning 39 seats would still have too many. But the voting intentions of the public, considered as a mass, would be better reflected in such a result.

The main difficulty I see with it is that the Assembly so constituted would have seven MHAs who were not elected by the people in the normal way; they would be chosen by the party that had the 20 per cent share of the vote.

The party brass might name them from a slate of active party members, or

YEARS PAST Electors of St. John’s East — Don’t forget your able and trustworthy Representative, the POOR MAN’S tried and valued friend, ROBERT JOHN PARSONS. Rally round him im the coming contest in October next, and defeat the TRAITORS who are at present endeavouring to betray the good old Liberal Party. Depend upon PARSONS, he always exposes FRAUD and POLITICAL HUMBUGS!!!

— The Patriot and Terra Nova Herald, St. John’s, Oct. 5, 1885 EDITORIAL STAND Those famous speeches of Mr. Coaker and his supporters in their early days in the House of Assembly on “who rose the price of fish?” would make most interesting reading now. Then there were no such things as markets, or demand and supply, it was Coaker and he only who controlled the price. But now what a change!

Demand and supply are doing duty once again, and it’s the markets this and the markets that and the markets all the time. Verily it looks as if Mr. Coaker is like Humpty Dumpty, he’s had a great fall, and all the King’s horses and

an election could be held among party members to pick them. If they were just named, the new Assembly would have MHAs who either were defeated candidates in the preceding election or had not stood for a seat in that election.

They either hadn’t run, or had run and lost.

If they were elected by party members they would be chosen by only a small slice of the electorate. And some might be defeated candidates from the general election that was just held.

‘REPUGNANT’ To me, it is repugnant to have men and women sitting in the Assembly making laws that affect my life who were placed there in either of the two ways I’ve just outlined.

Just to turn to the system we have.

That system is flawed, as we all know, but it has the advantage that every man and woman in the House has stood for election in a district and won. All eligible voters in the district could take part

in the selection. He or she is accountable to that district in a way that no appointed MHA could be.

When the entire popular vote is considered, the MHAs chosen under the existing system may not reflect the percentage of votes each party has gained, but at the district level the percentages are accurate. At the district level, the percentages reflect the true intentions of the voters.

Sure, the possibility exists that a party may win all the seats in an Assembly, but how often has that happened? In Newfoundland, not even J.R. Smallwood could win all the seats in the House.

It is fair comment as well that the system we have penalizes emerging parties such as the Green Party, which is now at 10 per cent in the polls across Canada and still might not win a seat in the upcoming federal election. The NDP was once a minor force too, but it has risen to major party status, having won governments in B.C., Manitoba,

Saskatchewan and Ontario. A new political party need not be prevented from getting into power under the existing system.

It is argued that various countries have successfully introduced proportional representation. But the three great democracies we know best — the U.K., Canada, and the U.S. — use the traditional system. It is imperfect, but it has lasted for centuries and has been shown to work.

••• A final point about the campaign.

The amount of badgering that went on to prompt people “to get out and vote” was excessive. There is no legal obligation in Canada to vote, and many good reasons could be found in 2007 not to vote. It would be too melancholy a task to list them. Those who chose not to vote knew why they didn’t and needed no advice from busybodies.

Patrick O’Flaherty is a writer in St. John’s.

all the King’s men won’t put him in the same position again.

— Daily News, St. John’s, Oct. 8, 1920 LETTER TO THE EDITOR Gentlemen — Encouraged by many respectable Electors residing in various parts of the Bay, to become a candidate at the approaching Election of a Member to serve in the General Assembly of this Island, I now announce myself a Candidate for the Office in your Gift. Residing amongst you from my infancy, my character is well known to you all – and you are able to decide how far my conduct hitherto entitles me to your support, and in what degree I am qualified for the honourable station of your Representative. Gentlemen, Your faithful servant, JAMES L. PRENDERGAST — The Carbonear Sentinel, Oct. 29, 1840 QUOTE OF THE WEEK It is reported that the Government have settled matters with Sir Ambrose Shea, by stumping up the needful. It is well for them.

— The Times and General Commercial Gazette, St. John’s, Oct. 3, 1888

Observers Weekly, 1945

‘Not just projects, major goals’ From page 10 next four years.

Many have to do with the province’s relationship with Ottawa: “The people want him (Harper) to deliver on his promises … he hasn’t done that. He has an $11 billion price tag that he owes us … he has not delivered in Labrador, particularly in 5 Wing Goose.

“There are things with Marine Atlantic that need to be dealt with.

There’s outstanding issues with the fishery where they have not stepped up with the necessary funding … we have the issue of the lower Churchill which he’s expected to deliver on …”

And there are other key targets. “Not just projects, they’re major goals. The lower Churchill is obviously a big project. But you know I want to make sure rural Newfoundland and Labrador sees the benefit of what we’ve done … once we get the basics in place, we’ll be able

to bring in more industry, put more money into tourism.

“We’re going to be looking after the people that have less than the people that have a lot more and that’s going to be a priority to me in the next four years.”

Williams mentions the crowd in The Fairmont. It’s at capacity and, notably, a lot of young people, in their 20s and 30s, are there to listen and support.

Memorial University political science student Chantal Hull, 20, says she’s been “interested in politics ever since I was young.” This was the first provincial election she was able to vote in.

“I really wanted to get involved this time,” she says. “To be here, it’s so intense and so inspiring and to find out (the results) in an atmosphere like this … And when Danny got up there, on stage, it was just like everything that everyone’s done paid off, finally.”

Hull admits most university students are pegged as apathetic about politics, but shakes her head. As far as she’s concerned, looking forward to graduation and starting out in the work force, this government may affect her more than any other.

Rhonda Pittman, 22, nods in agreement. “I say over 50 per cent of the people who graduated with me are in Alberta and I know it’s this government that’s going to be able to bring those people back and make our province stronger because of it,” she says. “Just to be here and this energy and realize everything that’s coming to us, is just a great experience.

“And it’s a great party.”

Back on stage, Williams is winding up his victory speech. Although he won’t be able “to give everything to every person,” he promises pride, dignity and “a province that is going to lead the country.”

Like any good front man, he wraps up his performance with a shout out to the audience, and all those who are responsible for keeping him in the job he has today.

“Thank you Newfoundland and Labrador,” he booms.

“We won’t let you down.” stephanie.porter@theindependent.ca

INDEPENDENTBUSINESS

FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12-18, 2007 — PAGE 15

Mine employees Chris Elliott and Justin Anstey.

“Vee” Squires, assayer.

Conveyor to plant.

Sluice tanks.

Mill superintendant Patrick Critch watches ore carrier.

Concentrate ready for shipping.

Front of massive ore truck.

All photos taken at Duck Pond Mine by picture editor Paul Daly.

‘The boom is on now’ Boosted by worldwide demand and rising prices, provincial mining industry experiencing a renaissance

By Josh Pennell For The Independent

O

ffshore oil may be revving Newfoundland and Labrador’s economy, but it’s not the only natural resource under the hood. Riding a global boom, the mining industry is expanding with new mines and substantial investment in exploration.

The province’s newest development, Duck Pond Mine near Buchans, started production earli-

er this year. A copper-zinc mine owned by Aur Resources Inc., Duck Pond is a good reflection of how the industry is bringing prosperity to struggling rural areas and attracting ex-pats home.

When Michelle Magill, chief chemist at Duck Pond, graduated in the province 13 years ago, there was only one employment option — move. In her case, to northern British Columbia.

Recent developments in the province’s mining industry, however, led her return back to central

Newfoundland and her family.

Magill’s is a tale not uncommon to Duck Pond Mine. An estimated 95 per cent of the 222 workers employed there are from Newfoundland and Labrador, many of whom have returned home after working for years on the mainland.

Gerry O’Connell, executive director of the Newfoundland and Labrador Chamber of Mineral Resources, says the need for workers is growing.

There are currently 13 active

mines within the province — eight on the island and five in Labrador — excavating a variety of minerals from nickel, copper and gold to gypsum, iron ore and even peat. The industry employs more than 3,500 people directly and thousands more in spin-offs.

In fact, from geologists to helicopter pilots, there are more jobs than people to fill them, O’Connell says.

“It’s really, really tight and everybody’s really, really stretched, but everyone is work-

ing above and beyond the call of duty, if you like, just to make sure things get done,” he says.

At Duck Pond Mine, the need for more workers is obvious. The mine took on 48 students this past summer, which would have been unheard of when Magill graduated.

Magill is currently training two mineral assayers (workers who test ores and minerals for value and composition) who have never See “Demand,” page 18

16 • INDEPENDENTBUSINESS

OCTOBER 12, 2007

Opportunities Planner III (Unit Clerk)

Heritage River Planner Temporary Location: Parks and Natural Areas Division, Department of Environment and Conservation, Deer Lake, NL DUTIES: Oversees the development and management of the Canadian Heritage Rivers Program in Newfoundland and Labrador, including the Main River, the Bay du Nord River and other future Heritage Rivers; assists the Manager of Natural Areas with planning initiatives for establishment and management of protected areas, for example, proposed Main River Waterway Provincial Park and the Bay du Nord Wilderness Reserve; liases with national Canadian Heritage River System staff and provincial counterparts to maintain national standards; conducts field assessments and surveys; designs, supervises, and participates in the preparation and implementation of Heritage River Regional Studies, Nomination Documents and Management Strategies; plans and supervises the establishment and development of Management Advisory Committees; coordinates and monitors activities of land users within Heritage Rivers; develops partnerships with other agencies and non-governmental organisations to plan and implement studies; provides information and advice on the establishment and management of Heritage Rivers, including making recommendations for mitigation measures to minimize environmental impacts; oversees site design, planning and physical development of Heritage Rivers; coordinates the preparation of specific project construction plans, details and specifications and amendments; reviews and recommends changes to existing maintenance standards, procedures and schedules; reviews and recommends proposed capital construction program; prepares tender and proposal call documents relating to capital construction and professional services projects; implements and monitors work and expenditures for capital construction, research and management projects; writes reports; makes presentations; liases with contractors, consultants, departmental staff and other stakeholders; may supervise staff; acts as executive secretary to the Management Advisory Committees; represents department on various committees and attends public meetings. A valid driver=s licence, frequent travel and flexibility to work evenings and weekends is required.

QUALIFICATIONS: Knowledge of protected area planning and policy, natural resource management planning processes, facility design, construction techniques, the Provincial Parks Acts, the Wilderness and Ecological Reserves Act, GIS and related computer applications, and financial management are required. Strong project coordination, organizational, written and oral communication skills, and outdoor recreation skills are essential as well as the ability to work independently and establish and maintain effective working relationships.

Required qualifications would normally be acquired through a Bachelor degree in Resource Planning and/or Management or related program involving studies in site planning, park planning or environmental design combined with a minimum of five years directly related work experience.

SALARY: $50,577.80 - $56,583.80 (GS-40) COMPETITION #: EC.C.PIII(t).07.0207-P (please quote when applying) CLOSING DATE: OCTOBER 22, 2007 This position is open to both male and female applicants.

Applications, quoting competition number, should be forwarded via mail, fax or email: Mail:

Fax: E-Mail:

Recruitment Centre Public Service Commission 4th Floor, West Block P.O. Box 8700 St. John’s, NL A1B 4J6 (709) 729-6737 pscresourcesresumes@gov.nl.ca

Applications should be received before the close of business on the closing date – late applications with explanation may be considered. These positions are open to both female and male applicants. For additional information on this position call (709) 729-5082 or 635-4533.

Highway Maintenance Equipment Operators (Seasonal - Winter Maintenance) TO CREATE A SEASONAL CALL-IN LIST FOR SNOW CLEARING OPERATIONS AND HIGHWAY MAINTENANCE Temporary Call-In positions of Highway Maintenance Equipment Operator, Department of Transportation and Works, Eastern Region, located in Bellevue, Black Brook and Goobies.

DUTIES: This is skilled work in the operation of a variety of heavy equipment used in highway maintenance work. The incumbent will be required to operate such pieces of heavy equipment as a grader, front-end loader, backhoe, etc.; the incumbent will be required to prepare and maintain work records on the operation of assigned equipment; in winter plows, sands and salts roads; performs other related duties as required.

QUALIFICATIONS: Completion of High School; possession of the appropriate operator’s licences as issued by the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador (Class 03 license with 08 and 09 endorsements) considerable knowledge of the regulations and practices utilized in the operation of heavy equipment; or any equivalent combination of experience and/or training.

SALARY: $15.76 - $17.36 per hour (MS 24) COMPETITION #: TW.C.HMEO.(t).07.08.222-P (Black Brook) TW.C.HMEO.(t).07.08.202-P (Goobies) TW.C.HMEO.(t).07.08.221-P (Bellevue) CLOSING DATE: October 23, 2007 NOTE:

THE SUCCESSFUL CANDIDATE MUST RESIDE IN THE AREA.

Applications should be forwarded to: This competition is open to both male and female applicants.

Mail:

Fax: Email:

Ms Jennette Reader Regional Administrator Dept. of Works, Services & Transportation 3 Duffitt Place, Clarenville , NL A5A 1E9 (709) 466-3927 readerj@gov.nl.ca

Applications should be received before the close of business on the closing date - either by mail or fax. Late applications with explanation may be considered.

A separate application must be submitted for each competition. For additional information on this position call (709) 466-4121.

Senior Departmental Audit Officers

2 Positions: 1 Permanent Position and 1 Temporary until March 31, 2008 (or until incumbent returns) Finance Division, Department of Human Resources, Labour and Employment 3rd Floor, West Block, Confederation Building, St. John’s, NL DUTIES: Performs key duties in both the Department’s internal audit and compliance audit functions. Plans, develops and designs internal audit and review procedures utilizing generally accepted auditing standards and computer assisted auditing techniques. Utilizes audit and analytical methods and techniques in the assessment and evaluation of existing financial management controls, systems, methods and practices and overall department operations. Performs audit and review engagements designed to assess compliance with existing policy and procedures and provide recommendations to the Department of the need for new and/or revised policy and procedures, new and/or revised financial information systems and methods for the improvement of departmental operations. Performs other related duties as required.

QUALIFICATIONS: Applicants must have the competency in and ability to apply Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), Generally Accepted Auditing Standards (GAAS), Public Sector Accounting and Auditing Board (PSAAB) Standards, Computer Assisted Auditing Techniques (CAAT’s) as well as other investigative, statistical, sampling, analytical and auditing techniques. Applicants must possess considerable experience in compliance and internal auditing, analysis, and assessment of the management information systems life cycle. Strong oral and written communication, organizational analytical and presentation skills are essential. Candidates must be able to demonstrate an ability to exercise initiative and independent judgement in the performance of duties while maintaining effective working relationships; and have experience with word processing, spreadsheet, and database applications. These qualifications would normally be acquired through a Degree in Commerce or Business with progression to a final level in a professional accounting program; completion of a nationally recognized accounting program (CA, CGA, CMA) would be desired.

SALARY: GS 35 ($42,533.40- $47,477.40) CLOSING DATE: October 22, 2007 COMPETITION #: Permanent: HRLE.C.SDAO(p).07.08.169-P Temporary: HRLE.C.SDAO(t).07.08.168-P Applications, quoting specific competition number, should be forwarded via mail, fax or email: Mail:

Fax: E-Mail:

Recruitment Centre Public Service Commission 4th Floor, West Block Confederation Building P.O. Box 8700 St. John’s, NL A1B 4J6 (709) 729-6737 pscsocialresumes@gov.nl.ca

Applications must be received before the close of business on October 22, 2007 – either by e-mail, mail or fax. Late applications with explanation may be considered. Candidates must clearly demonstrate in their applications that they meet the above qualifications; only those applicants who demonstrate such qualifications will be considered for further assessment. Open to both male & female applicants.

For additional information on this position, please call (709) 729-5805.

Highway Maintenance Equipment Operators

Seasonal - Winter Maintenance TO CREATE A SEASONAL CALL-IN LIST FOR SNOW CLEARING OPERATIONS AND HIGHWAY MAINTENANCE Temporary Call-In positions of Highway Maintenance Equipment Operator, Department of Transportation and Works, Avalon Region, located in Torbay.

DUTIES: This is skilled work in the operation of a variety of heavy equipment used in highway maintenance work. The incumbent will be required to operate such pieces of heavy equipment as a grader, front-end loader, backhoe, etc.; the incumbent will be required to prepare and maintain work records on the operation of assigned equipment; in winter plows, sands and salts roads; performs other related duties as required.

QUALIFICATIONS: Completion of High School; possession of the appropriate operator’s licences as issued by the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador (Class 03 license with 08 and 09 endorsements) considerable knowledge of the regulations and practices utilized in the operation of heavy equipment; or any equivalent combination of experience and/or training.

SALARY: $15.76 - $17.36 per hour (MS 24) COMPETITION #: TW.C.HMEO(t).07.08.212-P CLOSING DATE: OCTOBER 25, 2007 NOTE: THE SUCCESSFUL CANDIDATE MUST RESIDE IN THE AREA.

Manager Of Alternative Justice Programs

Permanent Corrections and Community Services Division, Department of Justice, St. John’s DUTIES: This position is responsible for providing leadership and direction in the establishment and management of alternative and restorative justice programs and policies provincially within the Department of Justice. This will include designing, implementing, and evaluating appropriate programs and policies in collaboration with major stakeholders in the criminal justice system and in the community. Specifically, this position will be required to develop an overall program and policy framework of alternative justice approaches and processes, develop specific program and policy criteria and content, develop strategic alliances, establish a comprehensive training plan, supervise staff and develop accountability measures.

QUALIFICATIONS: This position requires a through knowledge of alternative justice philosophy and best practice approaches, an in-depth understanding of the justice system and significant experience in program and policy development. The successful candidate must have an ability to interpret legislation and research, identify and engage relevant stakeholders internally and externally. From a risk management perspective, the ability to conduct a gender analysis will be required. The candidate must have strong interpersonal and organizational skills and possess excellent written and oral communication skills. These qualifications will have been acquired through considerable related work experience and through a relevant degree in the social sciences or public policy.

Candidates must clearly demonstrate in their résumé that they meet all of the above qualifications. Failure to do so may result in a candidate being screened out.

Positions within the Department of Justice are considered “Positions of Trust” and as such successful candidates will be subject to a background check through police/court banks and other sources.

SALARY: $51,546 - $67,010 (HL-21) COMPETITION #: J.C.MAJP(p).07.114 - P CLOSING DATE: October 23, 2007 INFORMATION FOR APPLICANTS: This position is open to both male and female.

Applications should be forwarded to: Mail:

Fax: E-mail:

Recruitment Centre Public Service Commission 4th Floor, West Block Confederation Building St. John’s, NL A1B 4J6 709-729-6737 pscjusticeresumes@gov.nl.ca

* In order to ensure your application/resume is processed appropriately, the job competition number MUST be indicated. * Applications should be received before the close of business on the closing date, either by e-mail, postal mail or fax.

(If faxing, DO NOT send a duplicate copy). Late applications with acceptable explanation may be considered. * For additional information on this position, call (709) 7297357.

2007 10 04

Operations Supervisor

Two (2) seasonal positions of Operations Supervisor with the Department of Transportation and Works, Eastern Region, located in Boat Harbour.

DUTIES: Plans, organizes, assigns and supervises subordinates and equipment engaged in winter highway maintenance activities within an assigned area; assists in planning new maintenance projects and prepares activity reports; applies modern techniques involved in highway winter maintenance including snow clearing and ice control under a planned management system. Performs other related duties as required.

QUALIFICATIONS: Considerable experience in highway maintenance work with a strong focus on winter activities. The successful candidate should possess strong communication, organizational, analytical and problem solving skills; as well as the ability to motivate employees and establish effective working relations with staff and the general public; graduation from high school supplemented by related work experience and proven supervisory experience.

NOTE: The successful candidate must reside in the area.

This competition is open to both male and female applicants.

SALARY: $37,697. 00 - $49,006.00 (HL 14) COMPETITION #: TW.C.OS.(s).07.08.216-P (please quote when applying) CLOSING DATE: October 23, 2007 INFORMATION FOR APPLICANTS: Applications should be forwarded to:

Applications should be forwarded to: Mail: Mail:

Fax: Email:

Mr. Gary Kendell Regional Administrator Dept. of Transportation & Works P.O. Box 21301 St. John’s, NL A1A 5G6 (709) 729-0219 kendallg@gov.nl.ca

Applications should be received before the close of business on the closing date - either by mail or fax. This competition is open to both female and male applicants. Late applications with explanation may be considered.

A separate application must be submitted for each competition. For additional information on this position call (709) 729-2383.

October 9, 2007

Fax: Email:

Ms. Jennette Reader Regional Administrator Dept. of Works, Services & Transportation 3 Duffitt Place, Clarenville, NL A5A 1E9 (709) 466-3927 readerj@gov.nl.ca

Applications should be received before the close of business on the closing date - either by mail or fax. Late applications with explanation may be considered.

A separate application must be submitted for each competition. For additional information on this position call (709) 466-4121.

OCTOBER 12, 2007

INDEPENDENTBUSINESS • 17

Opportunities Secretary to the Assistant Deputy Minister (Marine Services) One (1) permanent position of Secretary to the Assistant Deputy Minister, with the Marine Services Division of the Department of Transportation and Works located at Lewisporte, NL. DUTIES: Reporting to the Assistant Deputy Minister of Marine Services, this position is responsible for providing advanced administrative and secretarial support for the Assistant Deputy Minister and Directors with Marine Services. The incumbent will be responsible for the preparation of public reports, presentations, letters, Cabinet papers, Briefing Notes, as well as related correspondence. The incumbent will also be responsible for tracking the receipt of incoming and outgoing correspondence/inquiries and ensuring distribution to appropriate individuals, as well as monitoring to ensure timely responses. This position is responsible for arranging meetings and conference calls, making travel arrangements, preparing itineraries, implementing and maintaining filing and record-keeping systems, coordinating consultation sessions and monitoring project budgets.

QUALIFICATIONS: The successful candidate must possess considerable knowledge and experience in general office practices and procedures, including a high level of proficiency in the use of computers, including a variety of software programs such as MS Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Proficiency in Corel Draw, Adobe Acrobat, and desktop publishing and web design software would be a definite asset. Considerable experience in responsible administrative and secretarial work is also required. The incumbent must possess strong oral and written communications skills, interpersonal skills, well developed organizational skills and be able to work well both within a team environment and independently to ensure duties are performed in a timely manner. These qualifications would normally be acquired through the completion of a post-secondary secretarial/business program as well as extensive secretarial and administrative experience of a progressively responsible nature.

SALARY:

$31,014 - $ 43,419 HL-09 (currently under review) COMPETITION #: TW.C.SADM.(p).07.08.233-p CLOSING DATE: OCTOBER 25, 2007 INFORMATION FOR APPLICANTS: Applications should be forwarded to: Mail:

Fax: E-Mail:

Recruitment Centre Public Service Commission 4th Floor, West Block, Confederation Bldg.

P.O. Box 8700, St. John’s, NL A1B 4J6 (709) 729-6737 psctwresumes@gov.nl.ca

Mineral Industry Analyst II

Temporary to December 31, 2008

Eligibility List

Mineral Development Division, Department of Natural Resources Labrador West, Labrador

Recruitment Centre, Strategic Staffing Division, Public Service Commission, St. John’s.

DUTIES: This position is accountable for maintaining industry contacts, visiting sites to monitor the implementation of policy in assigned segments of the mineral industry; monitor potential and ongoing projects to ascertain their compliance with Mining Act and ensure that the maximum provincial benefit is derived from the mineral sector in Labrador. The incumbent will be responsible for planning, organizing and conducting a continuous program of in-depth analysis with respect to mining industry growth patterns, capital requirements, employment, infrastructure requirements and exploration activity; for preparing and maintaining economic and business status reports on provincial, national and international mining companies and related operations; and for preparing briefing material for all levels of Government. The incumbent will participate in devising strategies for the Department’s Mineral Incentive Program with respect to planning and policy alternatives; assist in Quarry Inspections; liaise with other government departments and agencies concerning Natural Resource development, represent the department on various committees, conduct outreach activities and other related duties as required.

QUALIFICATIONS: This position requires comprehensive knowledge of the mining industry on a provincial, national and international level; current issues in mineral policy development; research and analytical techniques and related microcomputer applications are required. Knowledge of Labrador geology would be considered an asset. The successful candidate must be able to work independently and possess strong analytical, research, planning, oral and written communication, organizational, and interpersonal skills. The above qualifications would normally have been acquired and demonstrated through completion of a Degree in Commerce, Business Administration, Economics, Geology, Engineering or related field supplemented by experience in research related to the mining sector; or any equivalent combination of experience and training.

Candidates must clearly demonstrate in their resume that they meet all of the above qualifications. Failure to do so may result in a candidate being screened out.

SALARY: GS-40 ($50,577.80- $56,583.80 per annum) COMPETITION #: NR.C.MIAII(t).07.230-P CLOSING DATE: OCTOBER 25, 2007 Applications, quoting competition number, should be forwarded via mail, fax or email:

Applications should be received before the close of business on the closing date. This position is open to both male and female applicants. Late applications with explanation may be considered. For additional information on this position, call 729-1325

Mail:

October 9, 2007

Fax: E-Mail:

Request for Proposals Department of Health and Community Services Children and Youth Services Division

Recruitment Centre Public Service Commission 4th Floor, West Block Confederation Building P.O. Box 8700 St. John’s, NL A1B 4J6 (709) 729-6737 pscresourcesresumes@gov.nl.ca

Applications should be received before the close of business on the closing date either by email, fax or mail. This position is open to both female and male applicants. Late applications with explanation may be considered. For additional information on this position, please call (709) 729- 6445.

October 9, 2007

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS An analysis of the Placement Continuum for the In Care Program in Child, Youth and Family Services The Department of Health and Community Services is requesting proposals from a consultant (or group of consultants) who have a demonstrated and combined experience in research, evaluation, and Child Welfare, in particular, the In Care program.

This is one of the programs legislated under the Child, Youth and Family Services Act. Program and policy development, monitoring and evaluation of programs under this Act are the responsibility of the Child, Youth and Family Services at the Department of Health and Community Services. Service delivery is the responsibility of four regional health authorities.

The consultant will be required to undertake an analysis of components of the In Care program. The consultant(s) will develop the methodology to complete a comprehensive profile and needs assessment of children in care and, conduct research regarding the placement resources for the In Care Program. The consultant will also be required to provide a detailed analysis of their findings and, make recommendations to the department to enhance the current continuum of placement resources for the In Care program.

The Terms of the Required Work for this project are available by contacting Mabel Anderson at (709) 729-7185 or mabelanderson@gov.nl.ca Proposals must be received by the Department of Health & Community Services no later than October 26, 2007. One bound copy and one electronic copy (MS word) must be submitted.

Request for Expression of Interest (REOI)

Expressions of interest are invited from Human Resources professionals for the purpose of developing an eligibility list of candidates for temporary Staffing Specialist vacancies with the Strategic Staffing Division. The Division is one of three within the Public Service Commission (PSC). Current programs focus on the protection and administration of the merit principle and the development of policy and approval of selection process.

DUTIES: Reporting to the Manager of Staffing Services, the Staffing Specialist will administer PSC staffing policy to ensure Departments / Agencies comply with approved selection processes in appointments and promotions to positions in the public service. In accomplishing this, the Staffing Specialist will perform all functions associated with the chairing of Selection Boards including: preparing job advertisements; developing and administering selection processes; performing reference checks; preparing recommendation of qualified candidates for appointment to positions; and providing post-board feedback to interviewed applicants, as required.

The incumbent will be expected to work within a fast-paced, dynamic environment while managing a high volume of recruitments occurring simultaneously. It is expected that staffing advisory and consultation services will be provided by the Staffing Specialist to a varied client group. The Staffing Specialist will participate in the planning and implementation of related business policies and practices, as well as various marketing and promotional events. As required, the Staffing Specialist will also lead and administer staffing related projects / assignments. S/he will compile and analyze job competition and other staffing related data for reporting purposes and assist with the development and maintenance of an electronic human resources management information system.

QUALIFICATIONS: The successful candidate will possess considerable knowledge and understanding of HR recruitment practices and emerging issues in recruitment and selection. Candidates must demonstrate strong organizational, analytical and communications skills as well as independence and the ability to establish and maintain effective and collaborative working relationships. Candidates must also possess the ability to work under demanding time constraints in a diverse and changing environment, while displaying considerable initiative and sound judgement in performing assigned functions. These skills would normally be acquired through proven related work experience and a degree from a recognized college or university, or equivalent post-secondary education which includes a concentration in human resources. Candidates who believe they possess an equivalent combination of experience, training and personal attributes are also encouraged to apply.

SALARY:

HL-17 ($42,727 - $55,545) - Currently under review COMPETITION #: PSC.C.SS(t).07/08.117-P CLOSING DATE: October 22, 2007 Applications, quoting competition number, should be forwarded via mail, fax or email: Mail:

Fax: E-Mail:

Recruitment Centre Public Service Commission P.O. Box 8700 St. John’s, NL A1B 4J6 (709) 729-6737 pscecresumes@gov.nl.ca

Applications should be received before the close of business on the closing date - late applications with explanation may be considered. Candidates must clearly demonstrate in their resume that they meet all of the above qualifications. Failure to do so may result in a candidate being screened out. For additional information on this position call (709) 729-4787.

Request for Expressions of Interest (REOI) Consultant Services for Building Capital Asset Assessments for Group 1 Government Building in the Central Region & Labrador Region, NL.

Tender

The Government of Newfoundland & Labrador are inviting expressions of interest from consultant teams to conduct a building capital asset assessment for group 1 Government Buildings located in the Central Region & Labrador Region, NL.

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION & WORKS INVITATION TO TENDER

A copy of the EOI maybe obtained from dawek@gov.nl.ca, crottyp@gov.nl.ca or the address below.

PROJECT # 180703001 – CP# 4, Electrical upgrading. New generator & UPS systems, OCIO Offices, 40 Higgins Line, St. John’s, NL SITE VIEWING: OCTOBER 17, 2007, 2007 @ 9:00 AM PURCHASE PRICE: $22.80 CLOSING DATE: OCTOBER 26, 2007 @ 3:00 PM

Submissions are to be forwarded to the address below & will be received up to 3:00 PM, OCTOBER 30, 2007: Deputy Minister Dept. of Transportation & Works c/o Tendering & Contracts Ground Floor, East Block, Confederation Building P.O. Box 8700 St. John’s, NL A1B 4J6 Telephone: 709-729-3786 Facsimile: 709-729-6729

Tender DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION & WORKS INVITATION TO TENDER Tenders will be received up to the date and time indicated below for the following project: PROJECT – Leasing 4,430 sq. ft. of office space for the Department of Justice, Supreme Court Estates Office, to be located in the City of St. John’s, NL. (as per specification boundary map) PURCHASE PRICE: $11.40 CLOSING DATE: NOVEMBER 1, 2007 @ 3:00 PM Upon receipt of the purchase price indicated above, (NON REFUNDANLE, HST INCLUDED) plans and specifications may be obtained from Tendering and Contracts, Ground Floor, East Block, Confederation Building, P.O. Box 8700, St. John’s, NL, A1B 4J6, Ph# 709-729-3786, Fax# 709-729-6729, and viewed at the offices of the Newfoundland and Labrador Construction Association. Tenders addressed to the Deputy Minister of Transportation and Works must be delivered to Tendering and Contracts at the address above and submitted on forms and in sealed envelopes provided, clearly marked as to the contents.

Tenders will be opened immediately after the tender closing time. The Department does not bind itself to accept the lowest or any tender.

Hon. John Hickey Minister Transportation & Works

Staffing Specialist

Tenders will be received up to the date and time indicated below for the following project:

Upon receipt of the purchase price indicated above, (NON REFUNDANLE, HST INCLUDED) plans and specifications may be obtained from Tendering and Contracts, Ground Floor, East Block, Confederation Building, P.O. Box 8700, St. John’s, NL, A1B 4J6, Ph# 709-729-3786, Fax# 709-729-6729, and viewed at the offices of the Newfoundland and Labrador Construction Association. Tenders addressed to the deputy Minister of Transportation and Works must be delivered to Tendering and Contracts at the address above and submitted on forms and in sealed envelopes provided, clearly marked as to the contents. Tenders will be opened immediately after the tender closing time. The Department does not bind itself to accept the lowest or any tender.

Hon. John Hickey Minister Transportation & Works

18 • INDEPENDENTBUSINESS

OCTOBER 12, 2007

Demand overtaking supply From page 15 worked in the industry.

“We hired local, we’re training them from scratch,” Magill says. “That’s sort of unheard of.

In British Columbia you’d have to have experience and qualifications, but the boom is on now in the mining industry and there aren’t a lot of assayers out there.”

Unlike some industries where benefits seem to flow only into larger sectors, mining lodges itself in rural areas.

The mining industry accounted for six per cent of the province’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2006, double that of 2005. Mineral resources headed out of the province this year are estimated to bring in $3.3 billion, $800 million more than in 2006 and $2.6 billion more than in 2004.

Metal prices are at an historic high, with copper moving at $3.50 or more a pound compared to 75 cents a pound three or four years ago.

The price hike is due to the rising demand for base metals in developing countries.

“China is growing so fast that basically demand has overtaken supply so we’re in a situation of relative shortages and therefore prices have gone up,” O’Connell says. “China shows no signs of slowing down and India is right behind it.”

The last shipment of copper-zinc concentrate that left Duck Pond Mine actually set out on a 46-day trek to China.

Central Newfoundland is hardly the only place experiencing better times. Labrador’s iron ore and nickel mines are generating the bulk of mining revenue flowing into the province, O’Connell says, and providing aboriginals with job opportunities they never had 10 years ago.

In northeastern Newfoundland, the Baie Verte area too is pulling itself up from economic strife.

That region was brought to its knees with the closure of both asbestos and copper mines in recent years. Today, Rambler Metals and Mining is dewatering the old copper mine for a feasibility assessment. The prognosis is looking all the more positive because of the lucrative price of metals today.

An open pit gold mine in Pine Cove may be open by year’s end and Crew Gold (Canada) Ltd. is processing ore brought over from Greenland at its facility near Snook’s Arm. It is the first time a mineral resource has been brought into the province for processing.

Recently, uranium deposits found by prospectors near Baie Verte caught the attention of Bayswater Uranium Corporation. Aurora Energy Resources Inc. has found a large uranium deposit just west of Postville and is currently carrying out a feasibility test.

It’s becoming a province-wide trend: O’Connell says uranium exploration is taking off, with $160 million estimated to be spent on mining exploration alone this year.

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OCTOBER 12, 2007

INDEPENDENTBUSINESS • 19

Historic win for Ontario Liberals

By Robert Benzie Torstar wire service

O

ntarians have renewed their faith in Premier Dalton McGuinty’s Liberals.

Forgiving his broken promise not to raise taxes shortly after he took office in 2003, voters Oct. 10 handed him the first back-to-back Liberal majority government since Mitch Hepburn won 70 years ago.

The triumph was a vindication for McGuinty, a 52-year-old mild-mannered lawyer who has been underestimated by friends and foes since his improbable Liberal leadership victory in 1996.

Once thought wooden and dull, McGuinty has evolved into the niceguy neighbourly type, a man with whom Ontarians have become quite comfortable.

McGuinty used Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory’s controversial $400 million plan to extend public funding to faith-based schools to his advantage, repeatedly saying during the 30-day campaign that his top priority was to protect publicly funded schools.

“We believe that in our Ontario you are free to be who you are. We embrace every culture and respect every faith.

We want to work and build and dream together,” McGuinty told cheering supporters in his hometown of Ottawa.

“We are all different and yet we are one. We do not want to see our children divided and we will not allow our society to be divided because we know that none of us is as strong or as smart as all of us,” he said, emphasizing Ontarians have rebuffed “public funds for private schools.”

In a referendum held with the election, Ontario voters overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to adopt a new mixed-member proportional representation system (MMP) to elect MPPs instead of the existing first-past-thepost system.

Tory, 53, who was defeated by Education Minister Kathleen Wynne in Don Valley West, was reeling from one of the worst political miscalculations in Ontario history.

“My great regret is for other people who relied on me,” he said. He is expected to stay on for at least a few months to help the party clear its election debt before resigning.

“I very much hope the new government will heed the call of the many groups who feel they’re being left behind,” a spirited Tory told supporters in Toronto in a concession speech.

“Whether it be to skilled immigrants, small business people, farmers, those who’ve lost their jobs, people without a doctor, northerners, or people living in

Scrap penny?

I

n a survey on the future of the penny, Canadians and particularly retailers have told the Mint that it should follow the example of Australia and New Zealand and get rid of the penny.

The poll found that an overwhelming majority (63 per cent) of small retailers – the fast food restaurants, grocery stores and coffee shops that regularly come into contact with the coin – want the penny to be removed from circulation, while only 19 per cent favoured its continuance.

The opinion was more split with customers. Of 1,500 Canadians polled, 42 per cent agreed with retailers that the penny is not worth the copper it’s minted with, although 33 per cent said they still wanted it around.

One reason for customers’ greater reluctance to get rid of the penny is that Canadians overwhelmingly believe retailers will use this as an excuse to round prices up, rather than down.

The two reasons retailers most often cite for getting rid of pennies are that they cause them to carry too much change and they are practically worthless. In fact, the vast majority of retailers say they allow customers to purchase a product even if they are a penny or two short.

But the penny has its defenders, including large retailers that are concerned about limiting pricing options and tax implications.

A spokesperson for the Mint said no decision has been made on whether to act on the survey results, adding that it would be up to government to order the penny’s removal.

And Christine Aquino of the Mint wanted to clear up one general misconception. The penny is worth more than it costs to make it, although it’s a close call.

The Mint survey does make it clear that removing the penny would not be an easy proposition.

There are approximately 26 billion in circulation and the Mint churns out a billion more each year.

— Torstar wire service

challenged neighbourhoods in our cities, just to name a few,” he said, making only a veiled reference to religious schools.

“We’ve reached out to groups who wanted to be included and we’ve invited them into this great party.”

His opening of the Pandora’s box that was funding religious schools ranks as the biggest bungle at Queen’s Park since former premier David Peterson’s early election call in 1990 sparked the defeat of that Liberal government.

It’s a bitter disappointment for Tory, a wealthy former Rogers Cable CEO and runner-up to David Miller in the 2003 Toronto mayoral race. He had high hopes of winning power by returning the Conservatives to the political centre after the right-wing policies of former premiers Mike Harris and Ernie Eves.

While the NDP improved slightly on their electoral fortunes from the 10 seats they held at dissolution, they failed to build on the momentum of winning three by-elections in what had

been safe Liberal seats.

“For those of you who are struggling, trying to make ends meet, working for minimum wage, when some of you are working at two or three jobs and still can’t make ends meet, we’re going to continue to fight for a decent minimum wage,” Howard Hampton, 55, said in Fort Frances, in his home riding of Kenora-Rainy River. “People who work hard deserve to earn a decent living,” said Hampton, whose party campaigned on an immediate hike of the minimum hourly wage to $10 from $8.

The NDP leader was the collateral damage in a campaign dominated by the religious schools issue. Hampton’s most realistic hope was for a Tory minority where his New Democrats could pull the strings.

Hampton and Tory had tag-teamed McGuinty in the Sept. 20 televised leaders’ debate. Most observers agreed Tory won the debate, with Hampton a close second, but polls in the immediate aftermath indicated the 90-minute broadcast did not move many votes.

The faith-based schools debacle

drowned out important issues like health care, the environment, the provincial economy, taxation and the financial plight of Toronto.

McGuinty’s mid-campaign letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper pledging Ontario’s support for Miller’s campaign for a percentage point of the GST to go to cities was the lone bright spot for cash-strapped Toronto.

If the campaign had a turning point, it occurred months before the Sept. 10 official start.Tory’s promise to publicly fund religious schools was unveiled on June 9.

At the time, it was just one plank in a 52-page platform that was announced at a Toronto hotel.

The pledge did not garner much attention until he re-announced it at a July 23 Queen’s Park press conference that made front-page news.

There, flanked by representatives from faith communities, Tory disclosed that, if elected, former premier Bill Davis, who sparked the extension of full Catholic school funding in 1984, would chair a commission to imple-

ment the plan.

Tory had hoped that Davis, his mentor, would inoculate him from criticism. But the proposed appointment only awoke Ontarians who had been unaware of the faith-based funding plan, and they then expressed fear it would undermine the public system.

McGuinty’s Liberals pounced on those feelings of unease and the premier angered some faith groups with his revved-up rhetoric that their schools “segregated” children.

Even though McGuinty, his wife Terri (a Catholic school teacher) and their four children all attended Catholic schools, he said there was no hypocrisy in his stance that other religions shouldn’t get funding.

However, the gravest concern with the Conservative plan came from within the PC party, where there are still wounds from Davis’s Catholic school funding proclamation a generation ago.

The unrest within the party forced Tory to reverse his stance and say that a free vote would be held in the Legislature on the issue.

20 • INDEPENDENTBUSINESS

OCTOBER 12, 2007

INDEPENDENTLIFE

FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12-18, 2007 — PAGE 21

Kidd’s Rock

Following her nose

Meet the women behind three of the 80 films screening at the St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival, Oct. 16-20

Monica Kidd talks about her most recent film, her new poetry collection and why she loves this province SUSAN RENDELL Screed and Coke

American filmmaker ‘honoured’ to have second film selected for St. John’s festival

By Stephanie Porter The Independent

N

There is the one who slumped in my hands like a featherless bird. The one so thin at the end she wore her wedding band on her index finger. Her cavernous cheeks. Her mouth agape, as though she’d swallowed the night sky.

— Monica Kidd, Praxis: Twillingate

I

t’s that time of year again: groups of birds are doing practice wheelies for the trip south, a weakening sun goes home earlier and earlier to avoid the bullying, black-jacketed night. The four o’clock light over the harbour seems to be cast by angels, and whatever scent the air is wearing, it makes you want to be on a midnight train to somewhere.

It’s also time for the annual St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival. But don’t let the chic chick with the pink roll of film on the poster fool you: the films in this festival, as the ad states, may be made by women, but they’re for everyone. As usual, the festival’s line-up has a … um, “broad” range — from whimsical animated shorts to feature-length films dealing with racism, religious bigotry, the environment, drug addiction, murder, sexism and switching sexes. Kick-ass heroines and anti-heroines abound; heroes and anti-heroes too.

Among the 80 films on tap this year, 11 were created by some of the province’s most cinematically savvy broads.

It’s a better than lukewarm October afternoon in St. John’s, and I’m speaking with one of them.

Monica Kidd is on the other end of the phone, at her parents’ home in Calgary. Like good Newfoundlanders, we begin our conversation with the weather. I tell her I’m looking out the bedroom window at my next-door neighbour’s garden, where a southwest wind is inspiring a clothesline to kick up its sheets.

“Yeah, I know,” Kidd says. “We were watching the weather channel — 16 degrees in St. John’s.

We had frost last night here, and now it’s snowing and sunny at the same time, if you can believe it.”

Kidd speaks quickly and fluently; occasionally, the twists and turns of her speech give her away as the writer she is.

Besides Praxis: Twillingate, her entry in this year’s festival, Kidd has produced, written and directed three other films, The World’s Last Lunch Counter, Multiplicity and The Home Front (the latter was picked up by several festivals, including one in Amsterdam). “I usually make these short films that don’t take up much of my life,” she says.

That’s not because the 35-year-old Alberta native is idle: besides making films, Kidd has written two well-received novels and is about to launch a collection of poetry. Educated as a biologist, she did a stint in broadcast journalism before deciding to become a doctor.

Currently in her fourth and final year at Memorial University’s medical school, she says she’s “completely troubled” about choosing a medical specialty — the idea of being tied to one thing disturbs her. Maybe you’ll decide to go to astronaut school instead, I say. She laughs and tells me that’s not in the works. “I did get a banjo for See “It was as if,” page 23

Liisa Repo-Martell stars as Vivian in Diamonds in a Bucket, written and directed by Sherry White.

‘Not about being commercial’ Filmmaker Sherry White finds balance between work and art, Toronto and Town

By Stephanie Porter The Independent

D Filmmaker Monica Kidd.

iamonds in a Bucket, Sherry White’s 21minute film about the delusions and realities of love, has already been warmly received at film festivals in Toronto, Los Angeles, Vancouver and Halifax.

It will finally show on the big screen in St. John’s next week during the women’s film festival — and White says she’s not afraid of the hometown crowd.

“Of course, putting yourself out there so people can just sit back and critique you is so exhausting,” she tells The Independent.

“But I’m 100 per cent behind this. It’s an example of the kind of work I want to do. It’s not

the only thing I can do, but I feel it’s a good representation of what I can do as an artist.”

An actor, writer, producer and now director, White is fiercely based in St. John’s. Though she may go elsewhere for work from time to time — including most of last summer in Toronto — she wants to raise her son in Newfoundland and films here when she can. As she says, “I just don’t want to move.”

Local audiences will be familiar with White’s work, as an accomplished actress on stage, television and film. She’s appeared in Hatching, Matching and Dispatching, Young Triffie’s Been Made Away With, Rabbittown (the CBC pilot she co-created) and the upcoming film adaptation of See “Still chugging,” page 22

ew York filmmaker and producer Gayle Kirschenbaum is “really really sad” a scheduling conflict will keep her from attending the St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival this year.

She first came to the festival in 2003 for the world premiere of her debut personal film — A Dog’s Life, a “dogamentary” filmed from the point of view of her beloved Shih Tzu Chelsea — and loved the event and the city she encountered.

“That was the first festival I was at with my own film, and then it went on to play many, many other ones,” she says. “And I still say, I have two favourite festivals: yours in St. John’s and then the one in Avignon (France).

“It’s a phenomenal festival, the way they take care of the filmmakers and the way they keep everyone together, you just feel very special. I loved the parties and I loved the events … everyone involved is very strong.”

This time around, her second personal film — My Nose — will screen in St. John’s. It’s a 13minute piece centering around Kirschenbaum’s self-described “prominent” nose and her mother’s constant suggestions that she should do something about it. (Kirschenbaum’s mother goes so far as to say her daughter would be more successful — and likely happily married — after a nose job.)

“She’s like in your face, no boundaries,” says the filmmaker about her appearance-obsessed mom. “The things that come out of her mouth …

I couldn’t write that stuff.”

My Nose is sweet, funny and surprising, and has been accepted at a number of film festivals. In St. John’s, it’s slated to air Oct. 19 as part of an afternoon of screenings titled Keeping Up Appearances.

“This little nose film is becoming a bit of a favourite,” Kirschenbaum says. “Unexpectedly, I guess, it speaks to a lot of people. It’s booked for a lot of festivals … it deals with self-esteem, body image, mother-daughter relationships and ethnicity.”

She didn’t plan to make a message film — and didn’t think of the documentary that way, even as she visited plastic surgeons with her mom, cameras in tow.

“It started off with ‘no one will ever believe my mother, she won’t leave me alone for a minute.’ I just wanted to make a short film about talking to other people about my nose, so she would get the point that it doesn’t bother other people, but it bothers her.”

Kirschenbaum has spent most of her professional life as a designer, writer and producer for film and television. She’s slowly “emerging from behind the camera,” and finds she’s comfortable and having the time of her life.

“I’ve done these two little films, I’ve gotten some press and I guess I’m a ham,” she says. “I notice people want to hear what I have to say, I’m dealing with universal themes and they’re entertaining …You need to laugh at yourself, laugh at tragedy.”

As the new short warms up on the festival circuit, Kirschenbaum’s dog film is still garnering requests. In fact, A Dog’s Life is showing at a fundraiser for animal rights in Chicago while My Nose is showing in St. John’s.

“I’m so sorry it’s that way,” she laments. “I love Newfoundland and my friends … It’s a top-notch festival and I was, am, honoured to be there.” stephanie.porter@theindependent.ca

Gayle Kirschenbaum in My Nose.

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OCTOBER 12, 2007

22 • INDEPENDENTLIFE

‘Still chugging along’ From page 21

GALLERYPROFILE

Joel Hynes’ novel Down to the Dirt. In 2003, The Breadmaker, a feature film starring and written by White, was one of the hits of the women’s film festival.

Diamonds is about Vivian and Harold — her desire to find a man to look after her; his need for a woman who listens to his songs and makes him tea.

“It’s inspired by … well, I certainly have gone into a relationship, or tried to get a relationship off the ground that I shouldn’t have,” says White. “Even when all the signs are there, you live in hope that you’re able to make it work. And I know loads of women who do that … and Vivian does that — not because she’s dumb, but because she’s lonely.

“It’s her trying to make it work … but when (Harold’s) daughter comes around and tells it like it is, she can no longer hold onto the delusions.”

White attended both screenings of the film in Toronto, and was pleased with the reaction. “I’m just a freckle in the Toronto Film Festival, it’s so huge … I was more afraid that it was going to go by unnoticed,” she says. “And sometimes people are unsure how to take it … but the first audience certainly really loved it. For 21 minutes, anyway, it was all about me … then it’s on to the next one.”

That’s the way it goes in the world of short films, she laughs.

Diamonds was picked up for a compilation by Film Movement, a sort of DVD-of-the-month club, and White received a verbal invitation to show the film at a festival in the Bahamas. She’s hoping it will land at more events as time goes on.

For now, her sites are set on the St. John’s showing. “The women’s film festival is really important,” she says. “Now it’s got a nice history — what, 18 years? — behind it, it’s come a long way in helping the community at large, in showing the value of independent films and the art of independent films, it’s not about being commercial.”

And as for the film community where she’s cut her teeth and hopes to continue working?

“It’s still chugging along,” White says. “The climate is very difficult. I’ve been having to look for work in Toronto while still trying to live here. I’ve been learning some things and getting great experience that I can bring back.

“It says a lot about the community that it keeps growing and having successes … in a lot of places the size of St. John’s it would have died by now.”

Next up for White is MVP, a CBC series set to air in early 2008, which she helped write and has a small role in. “It’s a soap opera about the lives of professional hockey players … it’s really fun and the production value is high,” she says.

She’s also got another short film in the works and two feature film scripts she’s hoping to film (Crackie and Maudie, about folk artist Maud Lewis).

“MVP, I’m enjoying it very much. But if I was to work on projects like that all the time I don’t think I’d be working on my own projects, doing the things I want to do as an artist.

“In Toronto, it’s very commercial … there’s so many things to chase. I think there’s a lot here about film that feels like art.”

Diamonds in a Bucket is scheduled to show with five other short films at the Majestic Theatre, 7 p.m., Oct. 17.

SYLVIA BENDZSA Visual Artist

A

rtist Sylvia Bendzsa is a whirlwind of activity. Winding down the almost three years of preparation for her upcoming solo show The Landscape, a collection of new etchings and oil paintings opening Oct. 19 at Red Ochre Gallery in St. John’s, has got her all wound up. As she pulls out canvas after canvas, she rattles off locations, weather conditions, time of day, time of year and more.

“This is Fox Island in Trinity Bight in June … this is last spring in English Harbour … this is early evening looking west to Kelly’s Island in Brigus,” she says, looking on at her body of work like a mother doting on a child.

Some of the oil paintings are large and impressive, four feet long and three feet high, windows into a pink-tinged bay disturbed only by the wake of a boat or overlooking a chasm cut into a cliff, gridded by ribbons of quartz. With titles like The Way You Smile at Me or If I Loved You, the artist admits to carrying on an all-consuming love affair with her island home.

“The theme of the show is ‘romancing the Rock’ because these are images I have seen over a period of time and I still remember the first time coming across

these different images,” she says, almost breathless. “I was just so struck, so emotional and just overwhelmed by the power and the beauty.”

The Ontario native — who has spent the last three decades living in this province, her interest first piqued after hearing “half an hour later in Newfoundland” repeatedly on the radio — has a small room and large downstairs “dungeon” lined with her original artwork.

Much of it packed and readied for shipping to the gallery, she has temporarily forgotten some of what she has.

Rediscovering an etching from a trip out to Cape St. Mary’s, she’s delighted by a positive reaction from an onlooker.

“I’m so glad I found that one, then,” she says. “I’ve been working away at that one for ages.”

Out of what Bendzsa claims are “millions” of tiny markings dissolved by acid out of a metal plate, come textured and shaded swathes of grass bordering a wall of multi-faceted granite. Far off in the upper right hand corner is a sliver of blue ocean.

Employing a technique that uses melted rosin to create a snowfall effect, Bendzsa’s deep greens, blues and purple vary and shimmer in the sun. Entitled On the Cape, it is one of a pair — of several such groupings — that Bendzsa has made as “companion pieces.” The etching is matched with an oil painting of the same scene, but is of a different size with slightly different details

— such as a string of five, pink puffy clouds sailing over the Cape.

“One goes with the other,” Bendzsa says.

“My idea is that I am a printmaker, I’ve studied extensively to be an etcher, so it’s really important to me to have a chance to exhibit. People always orientate towards the oil painting and the poor little etching gets left behind. (The etchings) don’t have my romantic titles but they’re important, too.”

Another example of a companion pair is a watercolour and an etching of a large oak tree spared by bulldozers at Shamrock Field in Pippy Park. Whereas the etching shows a massive tree silhouetted and backlit by a setting sun, the watercolour catches the last orange rays of the sunset in the cleft of the tree trunk. The fiery shades of red radiating out from the centre of the image are in stark contrast to the dusky blue outline of the etched tree, but both images artfully convey two different phases of the setting sun.

Although Bendzsa’s preoccupation with the landscape stems from her deep love for Newfoundland’s inspiring natural environment, her work both celebrates and calls to protect it.

“I think my romance with the landscape really drives me on … this landscape of ours really is our culture — this is what it’s all about.” mandy.cook@theindependent.ca

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

OCTOBER 12, 2007

INDEPENDENTLIFE • 23

‘It was as if the stories were writing us’ From page 21 my birthday, though, so I’m going to learn to play the banjo.” (Kidd reminds me of my sister — both are doctors and marathon runners, and both think bored is the scariest word in the English language.)

Kidd first came to the province as a graduate student, spending two summers in Labrador and a month in St. John’s at the end of the second summer. “Then I went back to Kingston to work for a year for CUSO, making radio documentaries about international development. During that year I decided to move to Newfoundland — bought a little red truck in the spring of 1998, packed all my shit in the back and drove to Tors Cove in May 1998. I bummed around for a few months freelancing for CBC.” Kidd ended up working there “pretty regularly” (and winning numerous awards for news stories and documentaries) until 2004, when she entered medicine.

“I guess I wanted to come (to Newfoundland) because I loved the people … and was completely head over heels with the landscape. I loved how everyone I met seemed to be an artist of some persuasion, how in-your-face they were, how worldly and cranky and real. I still love all of that.

“It pisses me off that when your cell phone breaks they have to send it away somewhere for a month, and that lettuce only lasts for three days in your fridge, but I think those are pretty minor complaints. In order to benefit from isolation, you have to be inconvenienced by it too, I suppose.”

Kidd became interested in filmmaking through the Newfoundland and Labrador Independent Filmmakers Co-operative (NIFCO). “I liked making documentaries and I thought it would be fun to learn how to tell stories in a different medium.

And I love movies, I love watching them.”

What’s the value of film festivals such as this one? “For somebody like me … it’s like, oh, maybe I do have something to offer. You have to have so much money (for large projects) … access to gear … it tends to scare people off. Also, women have a lot more demands on their personal time.

“Grant proposals make you feel like a criminal — ‘How dare you ask us for this money?’ Unless you can use your own money, borrow equipment and things, it’s tough. You need a lot of friends to make films.” But Kidd went it alone on Praxis: Twillingate.

As part of her medical training, she spent four weeks at Notre Dame Bay Memorial Hospital in Twillingate last December. Before she left St. John’s, she heard that Dr. Robert Ecke, an American who practised in Twillingate in the 1930s, had made a short film of the area, which

Monica Kidd.

Memorial had in its possession.

Kidd was intrigued by “the parallels between this guy and me — he went to Twillingate when he was just out of med school, and in his early 30s — and he was an outsider like me. It was enough to give me a kick in the ass.”

During her rotation in Twillingate, Kidd shot her own footage. “Mostly landscape shots with a monologue, sound montage. I stood down at the waterfront and filmed the harbour. I went to Durrell, the suburb of Twillingate — they’re going to kill me for that — and I shot standing on a road … the clichéd clotheslines, the boats. I captured what I could.”

When she got back to St. John’s, Kidd watched Ecke’s film. “I thought two things: he got incredible footage of men at work in the ’30s. Men at the seal hunt, with ponies on the ice … men on a schooner that had grounded.” The second thing Kidd noticed was that she and Ecke had both chosen to shoot the landscape.

“Why did I shoot the landscape? Why did he shoot the landscape? Why didn’t I shoot people’s faces, the insides of their kitchens? It was almost as if the place was using us, was capturing us.

Instead of two outsiders coming in and writing their stories, it was as if the stories were writing us.”

Kidd’s voice-over for the film is a poetical blend of descriptions of landscape and hospital tragedies. Curious as it sounds, she makes this combination work Is she happy with the film? The line goes quiet for a couple of seconds, and then her voice returns, sombre and reflective. “I guess so. I am never happy with anything I do.”

Kidd is pleased that her film is in the festival, however, even though she won’t be here for it.

She’ll be in Nova Scotia, at the launch of her first collection of poetry, Actualities (Gaspereau Press). She’s happy her poetry is being published.

“I was writing poetry way longer than I was writ-

ing fiction, but no one cares about poetry, so it was harder to get it published.”

I ask if the collection has a general theme.

“There’s some medical stuff in it. The name comes from broadcast journalism. In a news story, there’s a reporter going blah, blah, blah, and then there’s a soundbite — a phrase from an interviewee, or a sound effect. That bit is called an actuality — something taken from the real world.”

That’s what her collection is, she says — “little bits and pieces of the real world.”

It’s time to close the conversation; Kidd is heading out with her parents to a Hutterite farm to buy honey, and I’m going to try get some sheets jigging on the line before the sun takes the rest of the day off. As I pass the bedroom window on my way to hang up the phone, I’m reminded of the last line in Kidd’s film.

Open the window and let in the sun. Look out at the curdled sky and think: this is now.

Sex, scandal and fistfights May we never have such a boring election campaign again

E

lection ’07 is finally at an end.

The long-predicted Tory rout has come to pass and we can all get on with our soon-to-be-greatly improved lives. Still, I can’t help but feel a bit let down — cheated almost — by the lack of drama and excitement generated by the whole process.

Lopsided victories are never much fun to watch, it’s true. Even so, I would have enjoyed seeing a bit more effort, more pizzazz, if you will, from the three leaders. Yes, Danny’s rock star messiah routine had potential, but was never crass enough or drunk enough to become truly fun. There were a few choice Danny-mania moments — a nasty comment here, an impromptu laying on of hands after a leg injury there — but very little in the way of scandal, muckraking and childish name-calling.

And for that I blame the media.

Yes, we the media failed in our primary task: stirring up crap. As soon as I heard Danny’s speech about how everyone had run a good clean campaign, I knew we had failed you, the public. By not rooting through the premier’s garbage looking for ambiguously incriminating items, by not taking comments made in private by candidates out of context and tossing them out there in an effort to get a racket going, by failing to ensure that the people of this province were aware of all the most intimate details of the leaders’ personal lives we sentenced you, the people of Newfoundland and Labrador, to three weeks of non-titillating, scandal-free politics. Shameful. I apologize.

To be certain that none of us should ever be subjected to this sort of boredom again, I propose we introduce a little election reform, starting with: SEX One quick and easy way to make everyone happier about watching the electoral process happen is by introducing an element of sexiness. First off, we need legislation to ensure sexier candidates. With all due respect to the current crop — particularly Steve Kent, whose TV makeover is really working out for him — we’re going to need more decorative people running for public office in the future.

Yes, I realize there may be some of you out there who are all hung up on your representatives having “ideas” and “vision” and being “smart.” But honestly, between a slate of Tory candidates who were never allowed to think or

SEAN PANTING

State of the art speak and opposition candidates who nobody wanted to listen to, what would have been the harm in swapping out a few of the less important silent, capable, average-looking people for some silent, Irish-setter-dumb yet fantastically attractive ones in the name of voter entertainment?

As a bonus, sexier candidates will inevitably create more …

SCANDAL Sex and scandal go together like, well … sex and scandal. If Britney Spears has taught us anything (and I think she’s taught us plenty), it’s that a celebrity in crisis is always more entertaining than one who isn’t. It makes us all feel better about ourselves as people.

The spending scandal is a nice place to start, but that’s just the beginning, my friends. If you feel morally superior to your ex-MHA now, just wait until there’s a sex and spending scandal and watch your self-esteem soar.

KICKING AND PUNCHING In purely theatrical terms, some of

the finest moments of a mostly dull and sad little election came right at the very end once the votes were counted, the extent of the PC victory was realized and the three leaders made their speeches. It was the first time I saw the three leaders display some unguarded emotion and speak from their hearts.

Now imagine if instead of speaking, candidates could channel that raw emotion into swift, merciless, violent action. A major chunk of Danny’s popularity is a direct result of his willingness to get in there and fight for Newfoundland slash Labrador. It’s fast, exciting and makes for great TV, but the fieriest of verbal battles would

absolutely pale in comparison to a full-fledged ultimate fighting-style melee.

With these measures, Newfoundland and Labrador politics will be shaken from its doldrums. Sure, good government, sound fiscal management, decent health care and so forth may improve our quality of life — but sex, scandal and fistfights will make for vastly more entertaining politicking in the times ahead. And isn’t that what politics is really all about?

Sean Panting is a writer, actor and musician living in St. John’s. His column returns Oct. 26.

OCTOBER 12, 2007

24 • INDEPENDENTLIFE

The day the bridge came down MARK CALLANAN On the shelf Falsework, By Gary Geddes Goose Lane Editions, 2007. 127 pages.

O

n the afternoon of June 17, 1958, the Second Narrows Bridge in Vancouver collapsed during construction, taking with it the lives of 18 men and, later, that of a diver. The bridge was intended to replace an existing structure between the city of Vancouver and the north shore of Burrard Inlet. Gary Geddes, best known as the anthologist of the undergraduate staples Contemporary Poetry and Poetics and 15 Canadian Poets, has written a collection of poems and prose poems called Falsework that deals with the bridge collapse.

At a recent reading in St. John’s, Geddes described the Second Narrows accident as the Titanic of his generation. “The collapse of the Second Narrows Bridge,” he writes in an untitled prose piece in Falsework, “marked the end of youth and the end of illusions.”

But Geddes’ interest in the subject is personal as well. His father, a former navy diver, searched the submerged wreckage for bodies; Geddes himself was working on the waterfront when the bridge came down. It seems appropriate, then, that one of the voices in Geddes’ “polyphonic narrative” (as the book is called in an introductory note) should be that of an author researching the events of that day and struggling with the phantom of a father who may or may not have participated in the recovery effort.

The monologues by survivors, victims and their families that form the balance of the collection delve into the psychological aftermath of disaster.

The early poems are youthfully exuberant, unrestrainedly optimistic in tone. They help contextualize the grief and anger of later pieces. In An Educated Guess, a young workman romances a fine art student. Geddes’ builds a narrative bridge between their distinct worlds by his subtle use of metaphor: Then she began to describe a painting on the ceiling of a building in Rome, a sort of pointing-match where a whole lot of energy crosses over between the outstretched, almost-touching index fingers of God and Adam. Sounds to me like the sparks in an arc welder, I ventured.

For that, she replied, you deserve a kiss.

A promising start, I thought, something to build on. Katie read my mind. It takes more than the laws of physics, she said.

That phrase, “something / to build on,” so casually placed, says a great deal about the workman who is speaking in the poem, about how his vocation informs his perception of romantic relationships: a process of building, layer placed upon

layer — a structure.

In Grace Notes, construction workers perched on the incomplete bridge watch a passing car: “…we saw bare legs, plaid skirt / crotch-high and panties draped over the gearshift lever. / Don’t you just love the city?”

In Ladies & Escorts, a man barely evades a punch in the face from a friend’s wife in a hotel bar. In It Only Happens in the Movies, another man gets “his first handjob watching / 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, / while Peter Lorre did his modified bug-eyed rendition of the faithful servant.”

The tone shifts after the collapse of the bridge. In Disbelief, the widow of an ironworker gets taken to a Marcel Marceau performance by her children in order to distract her from grief. She feels “Guilt, of course, at feeling better.” In Widow’s Talk another bereaved wife speaks, this time in helpless rage: “Bastard, how dare you,” she practically screams from the page.

But Geddes is at his best when speaking in the rough voice of an ironworker. In these pieces he finds a register able to incorporate the blunt rhythms of work into the poetic line. In Fabrication, for instance, he describes the process of building with metal: “Foundries, forges / for Vulcan.

Hellfire. Beams rolled / out according to spec shipped to us / by barge or flatbed truck, cut to size.” The rhythms have a definite fluidity even as they bang about, words clanging against each other like the metal upon metal ring of construction.

Readers of Falsework may find themselves wishing for more of this perfect marriage of subject and form. What Geddes has written here is not what I would call a solid collection of poetry, but it is certainly an intriguing creature: a fictionalized documentary that layers Geddes’ own poetic imaginings∑ on the base of actual stories, actual lives. It is also a fitting memorial to those ironworkers who lost their lives.

Mark Callanan is a writer living in St. John’s. His column returns Oct. 26.

INDEPENDENTSTYLE

FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12-18, 2007 — PAGE 25

Carpenter John MacCallum’s coffee table and chair outside his St. John’s workshop.

Nicholas Langor/The Independent

Found furniture

Local carpenter recycles ‘junks’ of wood into functional works of art

By Mandy Cook The Independent

C

arpenter and artist John MacCallum tweezes a splinter from his index finger with the thumb and forefinger of his opposite hand. In his occupation of coaxing tables, chairs, king-size bed frames, dressers and more from various species of local trees, teasing a little sliver of wood from under the skin is par for the

course.

MacCallum is perhaps best known

by Torbay locals for the Necklace, an installation of gathered and scavenged wood and synthetic materials, as well as a stone carving of a pregnant woman, on the hillside of the bay this past summer. Between his artistic endeavours, MacCallum makes a living applying his recycling philosophy to his furniture-making. In his eyes, another person’s firewood is his next

masterpiece.

“Garbage is garbage only when you haven’t figured out what to do with it,” he says. “I try to give value to the valueless.”

For example, a glass-topped triangular coffee table is composed of five different kinds of gathered wood: maple, poplar, birch, elm and spruce. Viewed from every angle, the arcing support spans under the sheet of glass create funky geometric designs. A supporting

leg has been fashioned from two pieces of wood glued together, resulting in a flat-topped club that is incorporated into the surface of the table.

MacCallum says he scavenges much of his lumber from trees felled by workmen around town. Instead of disposing of the wood or burning it, he claims it and brings it back to his St. John’s workshop. There, the shape and colour of the wood dictate the direction a new piece will go. Other times,

MacCallum receives commissions from people who have lumber already and place a request.

In one case, a gentleman wanted MacCallum to make him a dining room table, which resulted in a 10-foot-long, gleaming oval-shaped piece. The surface and the legs were made from locally cut Dutch elm (a rarity as much of the species has been destroyed by disSee “A mishmash,” page 26

OCTOBER 12, 2007

26 • INDEPENDENTSTYLE

The turkey’s all done giving

A mishmash of colour

If you’ve still got some Thanksgiving leftovers lurking around, try this curry

From page 25

I

t’s hard to imagine a Thanksgiving dinner without a turkey. Replete with stuffing, dressing, gravy and the assortment of side dishes, it makes a meal fit for a king, queen and entourage.

There are some families who cook a resplendent bird big enough to feed the neighbours — but what happens after the big meal is over? How do you deal with all the leftovers?

Soup is the easiest solution. The carcass and all the vegetables — onion, celery and carrots — go into a pot and are covered with water and simmered for a couple of hours until all the goodness of the bones have been reduced to a golden broth.

If you want to kick it up another notch, roast the bones first. Take a clean roasting pan and add the carcass, vegetables and a tablespoon of tomato paste. Roast in the oven at 400F for 60 minutes or so. Once the roasting is over, put the caramelized bones and vegetables into a pot, cover with water and simmer for a couple of hours.

The result is different — instead of the usual light yellow stock, this one is a deep, rich brown. Roasting the bones adds more flavour and ultimately more taste and depth to anything you care to make.

Soup is great and all, but it is not my favourite way of dealing with the endless meals of turkey. A hot turkey sandwich is the best excuse to use up that gravy on the day after — but what happens if you still have leftovers kicking around several days later?

NICHOLAS GARDNER Off the Eating Path The easiest thing to do is make a curry out of it.

I prefer the East Indian curries — they are full of exotic flavour and endless in vegetable and protein combinations. Virtually anything can be curried.

You could go out and get a jar of curry sauce, which saves time and effort, or use blended curry powder.

While the first one has a place in my heart and cupboard, the latter does not.

A jar of sauce is one thing but a generic spice? I can make my own.

• 2 Tbsp coriander powder • 1 Tbsp cumin • 1 Tbsp fenugreek seeds • 1 Tbsp fennel seeds • 2 dried red chilies • 2 tsp turmeric • 2 tsp chili powder • 3 Tbsp white wine vinegar • 4 Tbsp water • 1/2 cup vegetable oil, plus extra for sealing Grind the fenugreek, fennel and dried red chilies in a spice grinder or bash using a mortar and pestle.

Transfer to a bowl and stir in turmeric, chili powder, coriander, cumin, vinegar and water to make a

smooth paste.

Heat the vegetable oil in a large heavy-bottom skillet, add paste and cook over low heat, stirring constantly for 10 minutes, or until all the water is absorbed.

Let cool, then spoon into a glass jar with a lid. To preserve the curry paste, heat a little more oil in a clean pan and pour it over the surface.

Once the paste is done you can keep it for some time, up to a couple of weeks.

Making the curry is also easy.

Sauté one medium onion, diced, in a hot pan. Cook until onion is softened and transparent. Add turkey, white or dark meat, diced in a medium size.

Cook until heated through, about four minutes.

Add two tablespoons of the curry paste and toss through, making sure everything is covered in the spices.

Thin out the sauce using dark chicken stock (or store-bought low-sodium stock) and bring to a boil. Simmer for 10 minutes, or until everything has come together.

Serve the curry over rice or even fries, as they do in pubs in England. I prefer curry with rice and a side of naan bread. You can find naan at local Dominion stores — follow the instructions on the packet and it makes for a very authentic taste. Enjoy.

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

ease in eastern North America), which started out as rough boards until MacCallum split from into sheets.

Supported by two pleasing fourpronged bow-shaped legs, the top is finished in a thin veneer with delicate inlaid cherry wood birds — wood reused from a previous project. This is one table you wouldn’t want to cover up with a tablecloth.

MacCallum says the table took “months” to make, but says it’s worth the attention to detail. “(Making furniture) is creative and something that people find satisfying,” he says. “It’s a way of being artistic and people can relate to (the furniture) being useful.”

One of his most recent pieces will prove its use for many years to come. A couple commissioned a bed so big MacCallum says they can sleep across it as well as up and down.

“It’s as big as an aircraft carrier,” he says with a smile.

MacCallum’s fondness for cast-off, imperfect pieces of lumber — whether combined for a pitcher plant mirror frame or used for the gnarled handles of a five-drawer dresser — comes from both his desire to find use in the useless and his perception of the natural world around him.

“Newfoundland, the province, is a mishmash of colour, it’s not pure.”

John MacCallum’s furniture will be on exhibit at the Newfoundland and Labrador Craft Council Gallery from Oct.14-Nov.10.

Look good, feel good Take time out for yourself at Rosewood Day Spa

R

oma Gough, owner of Rosewood Day Spa — located in The Fairmont hotel in downtown St. John’s — says what used to be lauded simply as beauty treatments are now being recognized for what they actually are: wellness regimes.

“There was a time when facials and manicures were thought to be a way to stay beautiful, and they certainly are,” she says. “But such treatments are actually ways to not only look good, but feel good.”

Part of looking good to feel good is maintaining a healthy glow all year round, Gough says.

“More and more, we are being encouraged to stay out of the sun, yet men and women still want the glow and colour you get from a tan,” she says. One way to achieve the look is through a leading-edge tanning booth available at Rosewood Day Spa. “Magic Tan is an all-over tan that takes 60 seconds to apply a natural colour that can last for a week to 10 days.”

Achieving a Magic Tan is a private experience, unlike other spray tans, which

must be manually applied. “The booth does all the work, all you need to do is step in and turn,” Gough says — though some preparation should happen beforehand.

“Like any spray tan, exfoliating is important for maintaining your colour, so you can do that at home or have it done here.”

Gough says “the beauty” of a Magic Tan is that it looks so natural. The solution is an all-natural, sugar-based product that works with your unique skin tone and ensures the tan doesn’t look fake. “No one will walk out with the exact same colour,” she continues, warning that other tanning procedures can be instantly recognizable.

“A Magic Tan looks like you spent time in the sun, when you really only invested a few minutes in a booth here with us,” Gough says. She stresses the value of protecting the skin from harmful UV rays, while still benefiting from the healthy glow a tan provides.

For busy moms, dads, executives, professionals or students working hard on their grades, a spa day might be just what’s needed to keep up their hectic pace.

“Everyone lives busy lives,” Gough

“Men will come in for a facial or a manicure and couples are now coming in for treatments together, leaving relaxed and rejuvenated.”

Roma Gough says. “But how we feel once we do something that makes us feel and look good can really help with one’s overall wellness.”

At Rosewood Day Spa the atmosphere is soothing, without being daunting.

Gough describes the space as “whimsical as well as relaxing.” It is that and more.

The treatment rooms are private and the staff professional. Gough has been in the

wellness business in this province for 20 years and says she and her staff know the value of personalized professional service.

“Clients can come for a few hours or make a day of the experience if they’d like,” she says. Either way, clients will be treated with care and receive pampering that suits their tastes and comfort level.

Men are starting to realize what women have always known — that an afternoon at the spa can make you feel rested and ready to face another day. “Men will come in for a facial or a manicure,” she says, “and couples are now coming in for treatments together, leaving relaxed and rejuvenated.” There are, she smiles, certain benefits to that.

“Coming here should feel like a mini vacation,” Gough says. And the benefits of that little escape will be felt for days.

The best part about spending time at Rosewood Day Spa? “We will make sure you will feel great and when you feel great you look great.”

Visit Rosewood Day Spa at www.rosewooddayspa.ca or call 739-0923.

OCTOBER 12, 2007

INDEPENDENTSTYLE • 27

Giving thanks, sort of

Sunday morning radio dedications to loved ones living away highlight who we have become

I

had business to take care of in St. John’s the Saturday of the long weekend and with a husband working out west I was at a loss — what could I do with our 10-year-old son?

Blair’s folks (tenderly referred to as my outlaws) offered to take him to Heart’s Content with them. They were expecting many from the Ghent clan, which includes three male cousins of Brody’s age, for Thanksgiving. Brody was thrilled, so plans were set.

Blair’s sister met us at Moorlands and my son (and the dog, who refused to be left out of a trip to Nan Ghent’s) jumped into her bay-bound truck.

Brody was already too busy with his cousin to do more than offer me the top of his head for a quick kiss and an inaudible grunt as a good-bye.

I reminded him (as if he cared) that I would see him Sunday morning. Even the dog didn’t seem interested as I tried to settle him long enough to scruff him farewell before slinking into my car and heading alone towards the overpass.

Two sleeps later I was driving back out over the highway to join them for Sunday dinner. I couldn’t remember ever driving out this way without my husband and I wondered if I would get fooled up.

I had a lump in my throat that had nothing to do with the fear of making a wrong turn. Blair turned 42 days before, we started dating when he was 18, and I realized I had never driven this stretch of road on my own. The

PAM PARDY GHENT

Seven-day talk next day was Thanksgiving and while my husband slaved, working 10-hour days in the ever-colder oil fields of Alberta, here I was heading out to spend the day with his folks — something I could take or leave, truth be told. How ungrateful was I, I thought.

I had the radio tuned to one of those traditional Newfoundland shows and I tried to cheer myself with the lively jigs and reels. Between the songs the announcer sent out dedications and to distract myself I listened for a name I might know. Songs went out for anniversaries, birthday, retirements — you name it, they had a song for it — but one birthday greeting caught me off guard.

I think the little fella’s name was Josh, and he was celebrating his 13th birthday. The song was dedicated to the new teen from his parents — love, the announcer said without missing a beat, from mom and dad, who can’t be with him today because both were working away. Then the song started. It was Saltwater Joys.

I turned on the wipers, then quickly turned them off when I realized the blur in front of me wasn’t caused from anything falling on my windshield. I was into a full-blown bawl.

There were tears for the little fella

and how he must feel this morning as he listened to his long distance dedication. I shed a few for the parents as I wondered if they managed to sleep at all the night before knowing they would be so far away from their boy on his birthday. I was sure when they welcomed him into the world 13 years before, they never planned to be so far away and miss a chance to celebrate this day with cake and candles.

I cried as I fiddled with the math in my head and tried to figure out if Blair would be home for Brody’s birthday this year — he just missed last year’s.

While we celebrated it early, no amount of faking actually ever cuts it when it comes to the birthday of your child.

I wondered about that family. Were there other children? Who was this birthday boy staying with? Grandparents? An aunt? I wondered where I would choose to have Brody stay if we couldn’t be with him on his birthday. I couldn’t imagine him being with anyone other than his mother.

How odd that I could accept Blair missing so many events each year — men work away and miss things all the time when rural Newfoundland is your home — but having your mother gone as well?

I took a few deep breaths as my sadness was replaced with something else.

In what other province would birthday announcements such as the ones on our radio stations be accepted? There was no sense of outrage in the announcer’s voice as he wished happy birthday,

happy anniversary and happy Thanksgiving to Newfoundlanders and Labradorians separated from their families, living and working all over the world.

How ironic that we pick the traditional Newfoundland music programs to publicly acknowledge those who have packed it in, packed up, and left for greener pastures.

If fiddle and accordion music define who we once were, then the dedications of those Sunday morning tunes to loved ones living far away highlights

who we have become better than any statistics on out-migration can ever hope to do.

I made it to Heart’s Content for my early Thanksgiving dinner, and while I was grateful for much, I realized I had learned something valuable that morning. Being thankful for what we have doesn’t mean we should accept what — and who — we don’t have.

Pam Pardy Ghent lives in Harbour Mille, on the Burin Peninsula.

OCTOBER 12, 2007

28 • INDEPENDENTSTYLE

EVENTS

Submit your events to Kayla Email: kayla.joy@theindependent.ca Phone: (709) 726-INDY (4639) Fax: (709) 726-8499

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 12 • Much ado about mushrooms, learn how to identify mushrooms under the guidance of an expert, Oct. 12-14, www.brotherbrennancentre.ca, 437-5097.

• Rising Tide Theatre and the Arts and Culture Centres present the provincial tour of So, Let’s Bring on Our Favourite: The Joan Morrissey Story, www.artsandculturecentre.com, www.risingtidetheatre.com, until Oct. 20.

• Harbour Haunt, largest, most horrifying haunted attraction east of Toronto, Village Shopping Centre, St. John’s, 7 p.m., until Nov. 4.

• Jeff West Comedy Hypnosis Show, Gordon Pinsent Centre for the Arts, Grand Falls-Windsor, 8 p.m., Stephenville Arts and Culture Centre, Oct. 13, Corner Brook Arts and Culture Centre, Oct. 14.

• Mary Lambert Fire Prevention Show, Labrador West Arts and Culture Centre.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 13 • Festival du Vent 2007, organized by the Association communautaire francophone de Saint-Jean continues with a family day 10 a.m.-4 p.m. at the Centre des Grands-Vents, 65 Ridge Rd., St. John’s. Le Vent du Nord appear in concert at the Centre at 8 p.m., 726-4900, www.acfsj.ca.

• Two-weekend coastal navigation workshop with Captain Jan Negrijn, Oct. 13-14 and 27-28, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., 737-7979, www.mun.ca/lifelonglearning.

• Friends of Topsail Beach community beach clean-up, meet at 11 a.m., clean-up and pumpkin carving contest, 11:30 a.m., mussel boil and barbecue, 12:30 p.m., environmental presentation, 1:30 p.m., local music, face painting and more.

• Research and writing with Maura Hanrahan, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., and creative writing with Paul Butler, 2-5 p.m., 155 Water St., suite 304, 7537740, info@writingworkshops.ca.

• Nature Photography in the Field Level 2: Beyond the Basics, photography workshop with Dennis Minty, Oct. 13-14, 786-1587, www.dennisminty.com.

• Laugh It Off, night of comedic and musical entertainment presented by The Arthritis Society and Joints in Motion, featuring Snook, The 8 Track Favourites, Siochana, and other guests, St. John’s Arts and Culture Centre, 8 p.m.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 14 • Community kite fly, part of Festival du Vent 2007, organized by the Association communautaire francophone de Saint-Jean, 2 p.m., Confederation Hill, St. John’s, 726-4900, www.acfsj.ca.

• Children’s Wish Foundation St. John’s Wishmaker Parade Walk for Wishes, Water Street, St. John’s, registration, 9-10 a.m., parade, 10 a.m. For more information or to obtain a pledge sheet, contact the provincial office, 739-9474.

• Rant and Roar Against Hunger, benefit concert in support of Bridges to Hope Food Aid Centre and the Jimmy Pratt Memorial Outreach Centre and Soup Kitchen, featuring Tarahan, Patrick Moran, Acousmate, and others, George Street United Church, St. John’s 7 p.m.

• St. John’s Organic Farmers’ Market, veggies, baked goods, crafts, and more, Masonic Temple, St. John’s, 9 a.m.–2 p.m. Community meeting to discuss creating a regular market for 2008 at 2 p.m.

St. John’s Organic Farmers’ Market, veggies, baked goods, crafts, and more at the Masonic Temple, St. John’s, Oct. 14, 9 a.m.–2 p.m. Photos taken at The Organic Farm, St. Philips-Portugal Cove.

Paul Daly/The Independent

MONDAY, OCTOBER 15 • Wesley United Church fish cake sale.

Orders should be made by today, 579-3682 or 368-3941. Pick up scheduled for Oct. 27, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.

• The Bitter Sessions, traditional Irish and Newfoundland tunes, Bitter’s Pub, Field Hall, MUN, St. John’s, 8-11 p.m.

• Gender Inequities in the Global Village, lecture with Dr. Donna Stewart, Lillian Love Chair in Women’s Health at University Health Network and University of Toronto, MUN lecture theatre BHSC, 12-1 p.m.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16 • Flipper dinner, St. Michael’s Parish Hall, 6 St. Clare Ave., St. John’s, 6:30 p.m.

• 18th annual St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival, St. John’s Arts and Culture Centre, Oct. 16-20, www.womensfilmfestival.com.

• MUN Janeway Society Bake Sale, 3rd floor University Centre, St. John’s, 9 a.m. – 2 p.m.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17 • Humber Road Greasers: Solitary Man, tribute to the music of Neil Diamond, Corner Brook Arts and Culture Centre.

• Kim Barlow and Great Aunt Ida at Folk Night, Ship Pub, St. John’s, 9:30 p.m.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18 • World Sound ’07, presented by Sound Symposium, tickets available at LSPU Hall box office, 753-4531,

until Oct. 20, www.soundsymposium.com.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19 • Village Craft Sale, St. David’s Presbyterian Church, 98 Elizabeth Ave., St. John’s, Friday, 126:30 p.m. and Saturday, 8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20 • Gospel concert, featuring David Chafe, Accent, Right Now, St. Michael’s Choir and other artists, St. Michael and All Angels Church, St. Clare Ave., St. John’s, 7:30 p.m. There will be a free-will offering received in aid of choral scholarships.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 21 • Cape to Cabot, 20K Athletics Northeast road race, Cape Spear, 8 a.m.

UPCOMING • Land and Sea episode featuring Irish dancer Tony Silver, to air Oct. 22.

• Alzheimer Society Halloween Gala, 576-0608 to purchase tickets.

• Your cancer diagnosis: a holistic approach for when life becomes unbalanced, seminar to help individuals to use tools such as spirituality and relationships to overcome the challenges of cancer diagnosis and treatment, Health Sciences Centre, room 2866, St. John’s, 2-4 p.m., Oct. 24., 7777611 to register.

• George Canyon, In a Quiet Room, Stephenville Arts and Culture Centre, Oct. 26, Corner Brook Arts and Culture Centre, Oct. 27.

• St. Michael’s Printshop invites submissions from printmakers to apply for a one-month residency at St. Michael’s Printshop, 72 Harbour Dr., St. John’s, application deadline Oct. 31.

• Psoriasis Connections, free information session on psoriasis, the Battery Hotel and Suites, 7-8 p.m., Nov. 1.

• Women on Wheels workshop for women on learning the necessary information to build the confidence needed in visiting the garage for vehicle repairs or buying or trading a vehicle, Nov. 3, 1-5 p.m., 693-1624, www.lifeonfire.ca.

• The Craft Council of Newfoundland and Labrador’s Fine Craft and Design Fair: Come and Meet Your Maker, St. John’s Convention Centre, Nov. 9-11, opening Gala Nov. 8, 7-10 p.m.

• Gerald Squires celebrates 70 years, night of Newfoundland magic, music, storytelling and poetry, 7 p.m., Majestic Theatre, 390 Duckworth St., St. John’s, Nov. 17, 579-3023 to reserve tickets.

• Corner Brook Christmas Bird Count, Saturdays, Dec. 15- Jan 5. Anyone interested in volunteering should contact Lois Bateman, 634-7206, lbateman@swgc.mun.ca.

ONGOING • Travel writing, with award-winning writer/broadcaster Marjorie Doyle, Thursdays, until Nov. 8, 737-7979, www.mun.ca/lifelonglearning.

• Chant and drumming, Lotus Centre, 52

Prescott St., Sunday nights, 7:30 p.m., everyone welcome, donations accepted.

• Historical Walking Tours, Tuesday and Friday mornings until Nov. 30, 75 minutes, 364-6845, www.boyletours.com.

• All ’Round the Circle dinner theatre, The Collonade, 6 East Dr., Pleasantville, every Wednesday through Friday, 690-9929.

• The Rooms, St. John’s, free admission Wednesday nights, 6-9 p.m., www.therooms.ca.

• Occupied St. John’s (book), wartime St. John’s oral history project, sponsored by the Paul Johnson Family Foundation, interviewees needed, contact 747-4113, or email k_ohare@alcor.concordia.ca.

• The Anna Templeton Centre for Craft Art and Design now offering a variety of adult evening classes and weekend workshops, registration also ongoing for Young Artist Program, 278 Duckworth St. Pre-registration required for all classes, 739-7623.

• The St. John’s Women’s Centre is in need of women’s and children’s outdoor coats and jackets, shirts, pants, underwear and socks, children’s and babies snowsuits and winter wear, winter footwear in all sizes, and blankets and towels. The clothing bank items are given to clients free of charge as needed. Call 753-0220 for additional information.

IN THE GALLERIES • Opening reception and panel discussion of new exhibit, Hot Wax, The Rooms, St. John’s, Oct. 12, 7 p.m., exhibit showing until Jan. 6.

• Opening reception for Melancholia, first project of the Spaced-Based series, The Rooms, St. John’s, Oct. 12, 8 p.m., exhibit showing until Jan 6.

• Uh Oh Canada, a suite of works by artist Bill Rose, Christina Parker Gallery, until Oct. 19.

• After-School Animation Club, ages 12-15 learn how to blend the art of storytelling with creative skills to make digital animation, 3-5 p.m., The Rooms Art Gallery Classroom, Wednesdays and Fridays until Oct. 26.

• New works by Anita Singh, Michele Stamp and Louise Sutton, The Leyton Gallery of Fine Art, until Oct. 27 • Speaking Out of Turn, Upstarts on the Make, Craft Council of Newfoundland and Labrador display of the fine quality of art and craft emerging from the under-30 demographic, 59 Duckworth St., until Oct. 27.

• Expressions of the Gardens, collection of abstract photographs embracing an early fall theme by local photographer Nicholas Langor, MUN Botanical Garden, until Oct. 28.

• Defiant Beauty: William Hind in the Labrador Peninsula, The Rooms, St. John’s, until Nov. 10.

• John MacCallum’s exhibition of fine furniture inspired by Newfoundland themes, Craft Council Gallery, 59 Duckworth St., St. John’s, reception Oct. 14, 2-4 p.m., exhibition until Nov. 10.

• Deux Terroirs, collection of new jewelry by Don Beaubier, Annex Gallery, Craft Counctil Gallery, Devon House Craft Centre, 59 Duckworth St., St. John’s, until Nov. 10.

OCTOBER 12-18, 2007

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Nicholas Langor/The Independent

Wheels of fortune A

nother set of wheels just a jaunt up the road on her vintage powentered my life. A vehicle so der blue Shwinn, the one with the wickpure and simple, one that most er basket on the front. She rode with a of us had while growing up but eventu- purpose, more with a curiosity actually, ally outgrew. Stand up loud and proud to peruse the possible treasures that lay if you’ve ever owned a goat the end of almost every cart. I never bothered to build driveway in town. We were at one for my kids. We were the highest tide of the great more of a bicycle gang and Portugal Cove-St. Philip’s I’ve had my hands full mainbulk garbage pick-up. A festaining the dozen or so we’ve tive time of year when the been riding all summer. good townspeople clean out There’s another handful that their houses — indeed their never even came up out of the entire properties — then basement and as many again drive around picking through MARK WOOD stashed in the woods around the spoils and accumulating the house, so I may be loot. It’s a veritable crap swap WOODY’S where you can find just about excused for not building a go-cart.

WHEELS anything you need or don’t We acquired one recently need. There are appliances under the most ideal of cirgalore, always a couple of cumstances, by chance, on a beautiful serviceable floor-model TVs, and a barfall afternoon. I was busy storing sun- rage of lawnmowers and barbecues. dried junks of firewood like so much None of that for me though. I’ve ammunition against a winter’s chill trimmed my mower collection to about while my kids and their friends buzzed a half dozen and upped my barbecues around on various bikes. My wife took to three. You, too, could live like a king

Mark Wood photo

if your town had an annual “flick ’n’ pick,” but I digress. My wife pedalled home and calmly announced that there was a nice go-cart just up the road. My youngest son and his friend expressed an interest so we jumped in my truck, hot on the trail of fun. Sure enough, there was a pastel blue, fully enclosed go-cart — a real beauty. It had an intricate steering system comprised of

spools on the steering column that collected and fed wire through a pair of conduits to the pivoting front axle.

There was also a foot-operated braking system, also comprised of wires to a pair of rubber friction plates on the rear wheels — not very effective, but still a nice gesture. We loaded it up, took it home and I was immediately pressed into repair work. The front axle was

bent, collapsing its wheels at a sharp angle, but what struck me was that these were no ordinary wheels. They were off a baby carriage, a perambulator (pram, for short) as such carriages were formally known. Back in those days baby carriages were huge, horsedrawn affairs (my standard form of See “Investigative,” page 30

30 • INDEPENDENTSHIFT

PLUG ’N PLAY

OCTOBER 12, 2007

September’s auto sales slide 2.9 per cent First decline since March led by GM and Honda; analyst suggests a link to the U.S./Canada price gap

By Tony Van Alphen Torstar wire service

D

eclines at General Motors and Honda have pulled down overall monthly auto sales in Canada for the first time in half

A Mitsubishi Motors Corp. employee shows a battery charging plug for the company's electric vehicle "i MiEV" in Tokyo Oct. 1, 2007. The lithium ion battery-powered vehicle, based on the bubble-shaped i minicar, is being supplied to electric power companies as part of a collaborative project, the company says.

REUTERS/Toru Hanai

a year.

Sales and leases of new cars and light trucks dropped 2.9 per cent, or almost 4,000 to 131,827 in September from the same period last year, auto manufacturers reported this week.

It marked the first time sales have fallen since March. Except for slight decreases in February and March this year and September’s bigger decline, auto sales have climbed every month since July 2006.

Despite lower sales last month, business for the first three quarters of the year still improved almost four per cent, or about 49,000 to 1.295 million vehicles from the same nine months in 2006.

Carlos Gomes, senior economist at Scotiabank Group, says the decrease reflects consumer concern over the fallout from troubles in the subprime mortgage sector in the U.S. and volatility in global financial markets in recent months.

However, Gomes adds that he expects Canadian auto sales to bounce back soon because employment growth, a key factor driving vehicle sales, remains healthy.

Auto analyst Dennis DesRosiers says he thinks domestic manufacturers may be experiencing a consumer backlash because a higher dollar, which is now at par with the U.S. greenback, has not resulted in a significant narrowing or elimination of the price gap on vehicles between the two countries.

“This could be one of the reasons the market was down,” says DesRosiers, president of DesRosiers Automotive Consultants. “I’m sure some consumers just sat on their hands.”

He notes the Canadian economy remained strong in September and incentives to clear 2007 inventory flooded the market.

Sales at industry leader General Motors of Canada Ltd. dropped 6.4 per cent to 33,387 despite solid gains by the company’s small cars.

“September was a challenging month in a highly competitive industry,” says Marc Comeau, GM’s vice-president of sales, service and marketing.

Business at Ford Motor Co. of Canada Ltd. also slid 9.5 per cent to 13,892 vehicles in September.

However Chrysler Canada says its Jeep models fuelled a 5.1 per cent increase in sales to 17,011 in September.

It marks the fourteenth-consecutive month the company has improved business from the corresponding period a year earlier.

In addition to Ford and GM, other major manufacturers also reported sales declines. Honda Canada, including the luxury Acura brand, posted a 14 per cent plunge to 14,842 vehicles; Toyota Canada, including the Lexus brand, experienced a 1.8 per cent drop to 16,892 and Nissan, including the Infiniti brand, watched volumes slide nine per cent to 6,418 autos.

Among gainers, Hyundai Auto Canada says its September volumes jumped 16 per cent to 7,080; business at Mazda Canada inched up slightly to 7,055; deliveries from Kia Motor Sales soared 34.8 per cent to 3,330 and sales at BMW Group including the Mini brand climbed six per cent to a record high of 2,249.

Investigative go-cart journalist From page 29 embellishment, but fairly accurate) that weighed about 100 pounds (pre-metric era, circa 1950s), resplendent with massive leaf springs and retractable awning with chrome aperture. They were eventually replaced by lackluster plastic strollers, mainly as a result of Ralph Nader’s book, Unsafe at any Age (not really). These ancient go-cart wheels are akin to fancy “spinners” by today’s standards.

Once again made road-worthy, my youngest son and his two friends customized the machine with side-pipes, flames all over the hood and a really cool licence plate. They’ve rolled it around ever since, from morning till night. Just kids being kids with a go-cart.

Our story doesn’t end here. As an investigative go-cart journalist, I was obliged to contact the previous owner and get the history. He bought it about 18 years ago for $50 and his two sons spent their youth tearing around in it, once resulting in a spectacular crash (hence the bent axle). The person who sold it to him built it for his son, who raced it and won a soapbox derby race held during a St. John’s Day celebration.

Way back when.

Mark Wood of Portugal Cove-St. Philip’s was honoured with the position of crew chief on the go-cart team.

OCTOBER 12, 2007

INDEPENDENTSHIFT • 31

CHINESE F1 GRAND PRIX

Auto trade deficit to hit $8 billion this year

By Tony Van Alphen Torstar wire service

C

Ferrari Formula One driver Felipe Massa of Brazil drives ahead of McLaren driver Fernando Alonso of Spain during the Chinese F1 Grand Prix in Shanghai Oct. 7.

David Gray/Reuters

Dreaming about a first car W

e are in a countdown hopped out, and tugged on the one of those and him actually owning one in our household, a windshield wipers. They were of those should be more of a rite of passage. one-month anticipaattached together with a piece of You have to have a few metal coils poking tion of Marc turning 16. As I string. He repeated this procedure into your butt before you graduate to heatconsider the budget hits we’re as necessary, proud of his inven- ed leather seats. going to absorb after calls to tiveness.

I’ve told him when he gets his G-1 driver’s education programs I foolishly showed my father just license, I will let him drive. A lot. The only and the insurance company, how industrious my new beau was; way to become a good driver is to drive, Marc blissfully continues to I also pointed out and the only way to get scoot around websites deciding how the car experience is to do it. I’ve LORRAINE SOMMERFELD just what he will be driving. absolutely had all told him when it’s just the I’ll never forget our If I’m wrong I’m sure you its seatbelts too, two of us, I’ll let him will correct me, but in my hazy so I would be He says it will be first date, as a gentle drive. recollection of teenhood I don’t safe. He nodded fine even if his brother is recall 16 year-olds panting after slightly, his eyes in the car. His brother rain started as we BMW 5 series cars before the never leaving the announced that would not ink was dry on their beginner’s permit. You mucky string tied to the coasted to a red light. be fine. looked in the driveway, not at a brochure. tips of the wipers. Young He still peruses his In an instant, he The lads that wanted their own cars were love is truly like standing beloved BMWs, but has already building them, or angling on how in front of a waterfall, all accepted that I drive a hopped out, and to get something that cost $500 certified. the rocks obscured by the minivan. He is already Most high-school parking lots held more sheer energy of somethe day he tugged on the wind- anticipating coat hangars and prayers than a church thing else. has his full license and vestibule. I dated one guy who swelled Watching Marc gear up will ditch me totally. shield wipers. They with pride at how he’d landed his car. After for his entry to the driving Things took an interesting seeing it sitting in a farmer’s field for world, I’m torn. Everyone were attached together turn the other day when he month after month, he’d finally knocked on was momentarily realized his freedom the door and asked how much the guy impressed with the kid with a piece of string. wouldn’t be in the new wanted for it. With both sides of this equa- who cruised up in a fancy van, but more probably in tion believing they’d gotten the better deal, hot car, but always more the 1994 Intrepid The a single dollar exchanged hands, and my impressed with the guy who could get the Poor Sod Who Lives With Me drives for friend hauled away his new find. cars started after they’d died at the drive-in. work. If it hangs on, that will be Marc’s A few weekends in someone else’s I love that he has an intense appreciation transportation. garage, and he had a car. I’ll never forget for some of the exquisite vehicles on the But first he better learn how to boost it. our first date, as a gentle rain started as we road today, and the promising ones to coasted to a red light. In an instant, he come. But the time between him wanting www.lorraineonline.ca

POWER SHIFT

anada is heading for its largest auto trade deficit ever this year, says the Canadian Auto Workers union. The union says the country’s auto trade balance will slide to a deficit of almost $8 billion in 2007 as a high dollar and stiff offshore competition takes its toll on the sector, including jobs.

“This would represent by far the largest automotive trade deficit in Canada’s history,” says Jim Stanford, the union’s economist, in an analysis of auto trade statistics.

Canada posted its previous worst auto trade performance in 1979. The deficit hit $3 billion that year when climbing oil prices triggered a surge in imports of small cars.

The country’s auto trade position reached a record of $14.3 billion in 1999 but has steadily deteriorated since then.

“That traditional automotive trade surplus has evaporated,” says Stanford, whose union represents about 75,000 workers at General Motors, Ford, Chrysler and scores of parts makers.

“What was once a unique success story regarding Canada’s high-value participation in world markets has turned remarkably quickly into an industrial nightmare.”

Furthermore, he warns that the auto trade deficit is still sliding at a record rate. Canada, which maintained its status as a net supplier of vehicle products to the world for several years, now faces a third consecutive year of increasing deficits.

In the first seven months of 2007, the value of imports over exports reached $4.3 billion and Stanford says trends show it will end up close to $8 billion.

The country began reporting monthly auto trade deficits in the fall of 2006, the first time since the 1991 recession.

Canada will hold a trade surplus with the U.S. of about $10 billion, according to forecasts for this year, but that would be down sharply from $25 billion in 1999.

Despite the decline, the auto industry, which is concentrated in southern Ontario, remains one of the country’s most important exporters and economic generators.

The union has pressed the federal government for a strategy to support the auto industry but Stanford says Ottawa and the Bank of Canada have stood idle during the dollar’s dramatic rise in value in the last few years.

He says the government should also end its free trade negotiations with South Korea, which he says would increase the auto deficit here by allowing better access for imports while not allowing the same access there.

32 • INDEPENDENTFUN

OCTOBER 12, 2007

WEEKLY DIVERSIONS ACROSS 1 Nincompoop 5 Smart 9 Cut covering 13 Ten-wheeler parts 17 Teen party 18 Israeli folk dance 19 Language of Pakistan 20 Quarter 21 Vanquish 23 See-sawing 25 Alta. town with international dog sled race 26 Music units 28 Kids’ parents 29 Prospector’s find 30 B.C.’s official gemstone 31 Talk on the phone 32 Earth’s path around the sun 35 Mangled 38 B.C.’s official bird: Steller’s ___ 41 Burden 42 Home prov. of Margaret Laurence 43 One of the 5 W’s 44 Free from doubt 45 Building extension 46 OPEC member 50 Lifeboat lowering device 51 Whales’ milieu 52 It can be scrambled or pickled 53 “Until the ___ of time ...”

54 Like El Al 56 Musical conclusion 58 Humongous 59 Small mountain lake 60 Great Lakes canal 63 Caviar 64 The present 65 Mineral: suffix 68 Boot-shaped country 69 Not on an even keel (3 wds.)

72 Drink like a cat 73 ___ Scotia 74 Wind dir.

75 Exploit 76 Liver secretion 77 Bio-evidence 78 Man. town with Mennonite Heritage Museum 82 B.C.-Alta. river 83 Scot’s word of regret 84 Bridge seat 85 Every one 86 Main artery 89 Treaty that ended War of 1812 91 Where Stephen Leacock summered 95 Made a racket 97 Census unit 99 Long-eared mammal 100 Become boring 101 Japanese flavouring 102 Roman poet 103 “Did you ___ wonder ...”

104 Man or Wight

CHUCKLE BROS

105 Yemeni port 106 Symbols of similarity DOWN 1 Gator’s cousin 2 Molten rock 3 Pizzeria fixture 4 Skinlike 5 Mundane task 6 Gordie of hockey 7 Fury 8 Town in Brittany near megalithic sites predating Stonehenge 9 Family of 6 hockey players 10 An official language of N.W.T. 11 Citrus drinks 12 Nevertheless 13 Chocolate substitute 14 Tosca solo 15 Crooked 16 Hangs down 22 Terry Fox’s hometown: ___ Coquitlam, B.C. 24 Victorian expletive 27 Poem 30 Singer Siberry 31 Earth: prefix 32 Cheers 33 Stage part 34 Hold-up head covering 35 Eng. or Fr. 36 Hole puncher

37 Spicy cuisine 38 Works produced in youth 39 Fleshy seed covering 40 Himalayan Bigfoot 42 Actress Follows 44 German river 46 May 8th, 1945 47 Mussel menacing L. Erie 48 Wedding 49 Sidled 50 Haggard 55 Our first woman doctor 57 Earthen pot 60 Element of weather 61 English public school 62 Sand hill 64 Snack 66 Post-shower sprinkle 67 Duel tool 70 Province with an official soil 71 Kind of tape 74 Umpteen’s ordinal?

76 Hotel gofer 78 Shoo!

79 Sask.’s grass emblem: ___-and-thread 80 Prohibit 81 Respiration disorder 82 Ballet movement 83 Playful marine mammal 85 Fiery felony 86 Belly malady 87 Norway’s patron saint

88 Not well done 89 Mardi ___ 90 Hades

91 English river 92 “I really don’t know ___ at all” (Joni)

93 Hip bones 94 Totals 96 Start for centre or

glottis 98 Like: suffix Solutions page 35

Brian and Ron Boychuk

WEEKLY STARS ARIES (MAR. 21 TO APR. 19) You’re moving from a relatively stable situation to one that appears to be laced with perplexity. Be patient. You’ll eventually get answers to help clear up the confusion around you.

CANCER (JUNE 21 TO JULY 22) That goal you’ve set is still in sight and is still within reach.

Stay with the course that you’re on. Making too many shifts in direction now could create another set of problems.

TAURUS (APR. 20 TO MAY 20) A vexing situation tempts you to rush to set it all straight. But it’s best to let things sort themselves out so that you can get a better picture of the challenge you’re facing.

LEO (JULY 23 TO AUG. 22) It might be time to confront a trouble-making associate and demand some answers. But be prepared for some surprises that could lead you to make a change in some long-standing plans.

GEMINI (MAY 21 TO JUNE 20) Financial matters could create some confusion, especially with a torrent of advice pouring in from several sources. Resist acting on emotion and wait for the facts to emerge.

VIRGO (AUG. 23 TO SEPT. 22) Congratulations. You’re making great progress in sorting out all that confusion that kept you from making those important decisions. You’re on your way now.

LIBRA (SEPT. 23 TO OCT. 22) A difficult experience begins to ease. That’s the good news. The not-so-good news is a possible complication that could prolong the problem awhile longer.

SCORPIO (OCT. 23 TO NOV. 21) Your self-confidence gets a muchneeded big boost as you start to unsnarl that knotty financial problem. Expect some help from a surprising source.

SAGITTARIUS (NOV. 22 TO DEC. 21) Congratulations. Any lingering negative aftereffects from that notso-pleasant workplace situation are all but gone. It’s time now to focus on the positive.

CAPRICORN (DEC. 22 TO JAN. 19) Your self-confidence grows stronger

as you continue to take more control of your life. Arrange for some well-earned fun and relaxation with someone special.

AQUARIUS (JAN. 20 TO FEB. 18) As usual, you’ve been concerned more about the needs of others than your own. You need to take time for yourself so that you can replenish all that spent energy.

PISCES (FEB. 19 TO MAR. 20) Stronger planetary influences indicate a growing presence of people eager to help you navigate through the rough seas that might mark your career course.

BORN THIS WEEK You can balance emotion and logic, which gives you the ability to make choices that are more likely than not to prove successful. (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 35

INDEPENDENTSPORTS

FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12-18, 2007 — PAGE 33

Dave Noftall and the Brad Gushue curling team.

By Don Power For The Independent

L

ast winter was a difficult one for Dave Noftall. His father was in hospital with a bad heart, a condition that eventually cost him his life.

His wife was pregnant with their second child, and Noftall’s work with Destination St. John’s kept him busy.

Spring forward 12 months. Noftall now has two sons — three-and-a-half, and six months — but no father. And he’s gone from curling for a local team in SuperLeague and provincial competition to the lead on Brad Gushue’s men’s team and chasing a spot in the 2009 Olympic Qualifying Trials and a trip to the Olympics.

Thinking about how his father would react to the news, Noftall recognizes the irony of the situation.

“If my dad was still around today, I don’t even know if I’d be curling this year,” Noftall said this week in an interview with The Independent. “I don’t think I’d be travelling, because he was sick. Maybe in some quirky way it was his way of moving aside and allowing me this opportunity, to chase this dream.”

That dream is, of course, another Olympic gold medal for the Brad Gushue curling rink. And while the

Paul Daly/The Independent

Golden opportunity Dave Noftall joins Brad Gushue’s curling team as it chases another potential Olympic medal Olympics have never been foremost in Noftall’s curling goals — “the Brier always has been the be all and end all for me,” he says — he’s quickly adapting to the idea of representing Canada in 2010 in Vancouver.

Noftall joined Gushue in April of this year, after the Olympic gold medal-winning skip cut ties with former lead Jamie Korab. In searching for Korab’s replace-

ment, Gushue said he didn’t necessarily want the best Newfoundland curler, but the best curler.

And while the job comes with some perks, like travel to Europe and many major curling spiels across North America, it also comes loaded with pressure, and a monumental time commitment.

Gushue’s rink is now one of the

heavyweights in Canadian curling, with the skip listed as a headliner at many events. The team finished second in last year’s Brier and is looking to occupy just one of eight spots available at the 2009 Olympic Trials. To do that, the club keeps a busy schedule; it has already won an event in Switzerland, finished second in another in Ontario and has seven more events planned prior

to Christmas.

Accepting the invitation to play lead on this team wasn’t as easy as it may sound.

“I have a young family,” Noftall explained before leaving for Gander and this weekend’s Don Bartlett Curling Classic. “The support I have from my wife and my family, on both sides, is one of the big factors that allow me to do this. It wasn’t right away that I answered. We discussed this for two weeks.”

The realization, however, that he could play in the Olympics and compete with the best teams in Canada was too good to pass up.

“I’ve been curling for 20 years and Krista knows my dream is to get to the Brier, win the Brier and go to the worlds. And now, on top of it, you’ve got a chance to go to the Olympics. The Olympics are totally different. It’s so many countries, and to have the opportunity to play in that is a big carrot, too.”

Since making the commitment, Noftall has jumped in with both feet. He has changed his diet and workout habits.

Since May, the team has been working out three or four times a week, putting the 36-year-old into the best shape of his life.

See “A commitment,” page 34

The real blue wave

Laurentians ability to win driven by desire and passion for the game

I

n 2003, the Blue Wave swept across Newfoundland and Labrador. Tuesday of this week, that Blue Wave reached tidal proportions.

But it was Monday — in Halifax, no less — that the real Blue Machine shone. No, we’re not talking Tories here; we’re talking soccer.

The St. Lawrence Laurentians finished the Canadian men’s soccer championship with a 2-1 victory over the host team to earn a bronze medal.

It’s the Laurentians’ fifth national men’s soccer medal (two bronze, three silver) and sets them up nicely for 2008, when that same Canadian men’s

DON POWER

Power Point championship takes place in St. John’s.

Yet the Laurentians provided the only true highlight during the week of Canadian soccer championships. (St. Lawrence actually provided soccer fans with two highlights, since the town’s masters’ team captured gold at that age group championship in Prince Edward Island.)

In Halifax, the Laurentians lost their first game (to the eventual gold medallists from Calgary) before protesting their 1-0 loss to Quebec. When that protest was won, the team ran off three straight shutout victories, including 10 over that same Quebec team, setting them up for their medal game.

“We have a long history at home of doing amazing things when it comes to the soccer field,” team captain Blair Aylward told a Halifax newspaper after the game.

“We all knew we were behind the eight ball, but we all still believed in ourselves and knew we were better than what we showed in the first game

when we got here. We knew we could do it, especially when we got on a roll and everyone started playing to their ability.”

But did they play to their ability, or beyond it? Maybe it’s got very little to do with talent (although there is obviously some there). Maybe it’s the Laurentians’ heart that earns them their medals.

Maybe it’s the desire to represent their town, to showcase it to the rest of the country. Maybe it’s a case of not wanting to disappoint the townsfolk.

Maybe it’s the fact the players become kings of the community when they return home that makes them work

harder than others.

Whatever it is, it’s certainly not rubbing off on other teams in the province.

While the play of the perennial champions (12 provincial Challenge Cup victories in 15 seasons) was impressive, the same can’t be said for other Newfoundland entries. With titles decided in male and female categories in under-14, under-16, under-18 and senior, Newfoundland walked away with just one medal.

Why? Are we just not good enough to compete at these age-group levels?

See “Nothing artificial,” page 34

34 • INDEPENDENTSPORTS

OCTOBER 12, 2007

The moose tower

‘A commitment that you live up to’

Sometimes even the top of a hill isn’t enough of a look out

Fron page 33

PAUL SMITH

The Rock

Outdoors

I

went moose hunting today. It’s Thanksgiving Monday and, as with just about all hunting-season long weekends, I took full advantage and got a bonus day in the autumn woods. Fall skips by all too fast for us weekend warriors.

But this particular holiday Monday is extra special for me and seems to have generated more hunting stories and woodsy recollections than any other day of the year. Thanksgiving Monday always falls very close to my eldest daughter’s birthday. Actually, she turned 23 today and is living away from home while attending culinary school. I called her this morning from our hunting cabin to wish her a happy birthday. She wasn’t at all surprised Dad was moose hunting — she said there always seemed to be moose quarters hanging in the garage on or around her birthday.

Dad off moose hunting kind of made her homesick. My buddies and I certainly have shot most of our moose around Thanksgiving. The pilgrims of New England shot wild turkeys; we Newfoundlanders shoot moose.

Although this year’s Thanksgiving hunt produced no venison, another fine hunting yarn was born. My long-time hunting buddy Robert Richards has limitless energy for everything associated with moose.

This time he outdid himself.

One of my salmon fishing friends, Matt Brazil, has a moose licence and Rob and I took him into our hunting camp in hopes he’d get a crack at a big fella. Robert went in Sunday evening and bunked for the night; Matt and I planned to join him at daybreak Monday. I wanted to spend the night in our cabin as well, but family responsibilities dictated otherwise.

My alarm woke me at 5:30 a.m. and, as always on hunting mornings, I checked out the weather conditions through the living room window. Environment Canada was right on the money. Chunks of wind-driven rain beat off the glass and trickled downward in tiny rivers. I was tempted to crawl back under the covers. I could call Matt and cancel. There would be plenty of brighter days. On a morning this nasty, the moose would be hunkered down in thick woods, well hidden from our prying eyes.

I gave Rob a call on his cell. “What’s it like in there?”

“Dark and raining,” he responded.

It was a stupid question — the cabin’s only five or six miles from the house. I guess I was just making conversation, secretly hoping Rob would call it off for another day. I should have known better.

“You left yet?” he said. “I got a surprise in here for you fellers … You’ll see when you get in here.”

“I’m on my way,” I responded. “Put the kettle on.”

I went out to the garage and started up my quad. I organized and secured my gear

Paul Smith photo

with bungee cords and headed out into the drifting rain. As I shifted into high gear along the old railbed, a cold wet shiver rippled through my spine. “I must be nuts, riding a quad before daylight in a storm of wind and rain,” I thought. “But … think of the stories I’ll have for the grandchildren … if I don’t catch my death first.”

I put all negative thoughts aside and mushed on.

I met up with Matt and we opted to walk the last mile to the cabin. That was Robert’s advice and we followed it. He had spotted a nice bull a few days earlier and didn’t want us to risk scaring him off with noisy ATVs. As we approached camp, we could see the flicker of a kerosene lamp through the trees. Robert was up and about, hopefully with that warm pot of tea on.

A few more steps and we could see a couple of flankers from the chimney. He had a rousing fire in. Perfect. Matt and I would soon get a well-deserved warm up.

We pushed open the door and a blast of heat from the rusty old stove hit our chilled faces. Rob was seated at the table, sipping tea.

I stood in front of the roaring stove, watching the steam come off my wet pants. “So what’s the surprise?” I asked.

“You’ll see,” Rob said.

It was tempting to just sit and yarn in the warm cabin, but the rain had slacked just a little and there were moose to shoot.

Matt readied his rifle and we headed to

our moose lookout up behind the cabin — just in case some demented beast might be out in the open on a morning this bloody despicable. As we ascended the hill I looked upward from under the bib on my dripping hat.

“What the hell is that?” was all I could say. It looked like something out of Lord of the Flies or Survivor. On top of the hill stood a high wooden platform of round sticks propped 15 or so feet up in the air on four log stilts. It was the mother of all tree stands — no, not a tree stand but a hill stand. It seems the hill behind our cabin was not quite high enough for a good view of several critical locations that moose often browsed. With logs, axe, some rope and a few nails Rob had remedied the situation.

Matt and I couldn’t believe the work Robert had put into this thing. Three of us, all more than 200 pounds, could stand aloft and scan the country with our binoculars. While impressed, we were a little nervous at first — Robert isn’t certified as a structural engineer. But the moose tower was steady as a rock, a tribute to practical woodscraft.

I wonder what archaeologists will think we were up to if they uncover the remains of this thing centuries from now.

Paul Smith is a freelance writer and avid outdoorsman living in Spaniard’s Bay. flyflishtherock@hotmail.com

He’s even tinkering with his shot delivery, all in an attempt to be the best lead on the best team in the world.

“You’re in (the gym) by yourself and you think, ‘What am I doing here?’ and then you realize the rest of the boys are doing it, so it’s a commitment that you live up to,” Noftall stated.

“Then you realize what you have an opportunity to do. You cannot pass up this opportunity. It comes by maybe once in your life, so you push yourself.

“I’m watching what I eat, living healthier, it’s a whole lifestyle change.

Usually I start (the season) curling at 200 or 205 (pounds), having not thrown a rock since February. I went into this season at 186.”

Noftall readily admits he doesn’t have a lot of experience on the World Curling Tour, but that doesn’t mean he’s not right for the team.

“They brought me in. Obviously I could compete at that level,” says Noftall, who has been to a couple of Briers as a fifth man (once with Newfoundland, once with Nova Scotia).

“I came on board knowing I could play at this level. There’s a bit of pressure on my side to play well for the guys, but I won’t be intimidated playing Kevin Martin or Glenn Howard.”

So far, the move has been smooth for the St. John’s native. The early success enjoyed by the team makes his transition easier. But Noftall quickly admits there’s a lot of room for improvement, from everybody on the team.

“You cannot pass up this opportunity. It comes by maybe once in your life, so you push yourself.”

Dave Noftall “Maybe I put a little too much pressure on myself starting off, because you are playing with two (Olympic) gold medallists and a second place finish at the Brier,” he says. “These guys are good, and you know that.

“Winning in Switzerland, and having the second place showing to Glenn Howard has kind of taken a bit of the pressure off, but we want to continue with the momentum.”

Noftall remembers watching Gushue win that gold in Torino in February 2006. Now he wants to be standing on the ice with him should he defy the odds one more time and return to Olympic glory.

“It is there,” he says of the constant Olympic reminders, even though it’s a three-year road trip. “It’s always in the back of my mind and I’m sure in the guys’ minds as well. But you don’t want to look too far ahead.

“I just go out there, be prepared, play a full game, and sweep my ass off.” donniep@nl.rogers.com

‘Nothing artificial’ Fron page 33 And if that’s the case — that we’re not talented enough — can someone please explain to me how a town of about 1,250 can consistently be among the best soccer teams in the country, beating teams from much larger centres on a regular basis.

What do the Laurentian players possess that players from Mount Pearl or St. John’s don’t? How do they manage to put in strong showings while other teams come home at the bottom of the pack?

And will our teenaged kids ever be competitive enough to medal? Or if they’re competitive and talented enough, will they ever want it badly enough?

Do the St. Lawrence soccer players enjoy winning because they know they will get treated royally at home?

Is the apathy that exists in St. John’s and Mount Pearl working against the teams from those cities?

Really, who out there cared whether the St. John’s under-14 boys won or lost (and you don’t

count if your nephew or cousin’s son was on the team)? Did you even know there was a tournament here last week? Are these kids playing because they want to play, or because Dad wants them to? Why bust your butt when nobody’s watching or caring?

In St. Lawrence — the self-proclaimed Soccer Capital of Canada — everybody cares how the Laurentians play. It’s the talk all over town, on the wharf and at the club. (Apparently 250 St. Lawrence residents traveled with the team to Halifax. Were there 250 fans at any of the under-14 games?)

The new facility at King George V will supposedly narrow the gap between mainland teams and our own, but that could take a generation.

Longer seasons could mean more development, but nothing is guaranteed.

There’s no artificial turf in St. Lawrence. In fact, there’s nothing artificial about them at all.

Especially not their medals. donniep@nl.rogers.com

OCTOBER 12, 2007

INDEPENDENTSPORTS • 35

Not much hope for these Leafs

By Damien Cox Torstar wire service

R

ock bottom, and with Halloween still three weeks away. Rather than three stars at the end of the contest — once a beloved feature of NHL games, now shabbily handed over to teams to use as propaganda and generally ignored — the Maple Leafs would have needed 21 of ‘em last night before one of their own would have been so honoured.

Okay, maybe 20. Carolina Hurricanes backup goalie John Grahame didn’t play.

Losing 7-1 in humiliating fashion to the Hurricanes in the third home game of the season was a stunning pratfall for the Leafs, a group of athletes who once again had a lot of promises going into the season. Just more talk. Barely a bodycheck thrown Oct. 9, folks.

This was a club, from management through coaching through the player ranks, that vowed to use improved defence as a means to again qualify for post-season play.

The result after four games? Already 17 goals allowed, tied with Anaheim for the most in the NHL, with the champion Ducks having played one more game.

Only Buffalo and Florida, both winless, have a worse goals-against average than the Leaf tandem of Vesa Toskala and Andrew Raycroft, who own a combined .865 save percentage. This is a team that still can’t, or won’t, check, routinely misses defensive zone assignments and lacks the team speed or the sensational goaltending required to compensate.

As coach Paul Maurice spoke to the media after the game, you could tell he was ready to explode as he squeezed out answers that really weren’t answers at all.

How could it have gone this bad so soon?

Well, since the majority of prognosticators in the hockey universe picked the Leafs to miss the playoffs, this is probably about where this team is going to be, hoping to be in the annual mud wrestle for the eighth and final Eastern Conference playoff berth.

Most of the players are the same from last year’s squad, so it would have been unexpected, really, for the team to be much better. There was so little real competition for jobs in training camp that the absence of desperation throughout the lineup seems quite natural.

The team’s top paid players — Mats Sundin (two goals in his last 24 games), Bryan McCabe, Tomas Kaberle, Darcy Tucker (pointless, minus-five already) — have been inconsistent or mediocre so far. McCabe, who did score Tuesday, seems to otherwise be in a complete fog as though he’s uninterested in even trying to stand out.

He’s just puzzling to watch. A defenceman that big, that strong, that skilled and that well paid ($7.15 million US, tops on the team) should grab your attention now and then, but when McCabe does, it’s often for all the wrong reasons.

Indeed, he had the locals hooting in derision in the third period when, while trying to circle around his own net with the puck with his team on the power play, he inadvertently tripped over the back of the net and sent himself sprawling to the ice.

Earlier, in the first period, he made it safely going the other way around, but mishandled the puck and then took a slashing penalty to put the Leafs a man down with only 1:45 played.

If this team is waiting for the 36-year-old Sundin to lead it every night again, it is headed for major trouble.

Solutions for crossword on page 32

Solutions for sudoku on page 32

INDEPENDENTCLASSIFIED FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12-18, 2007 — PAGE 36

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