Thursday, March 14, 2013

w w w .w e sterngazette.c a • @uw ogazette

Sugar rush Maple syrup boom hits southwestern Ontario. >> pg. 4

thegazette Who the hell wrote Saskatoon? since 1906

Thursday, March 14, 2013

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Canada’s only Daily Student Newspaper • founded 1906

Volume 106, Issue 84

Fleming riot nears first anniversary

CCPA tackles fed. budget Iain Boekhoff Gazette Staff

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Megan Devlin Gazette Staff With St. Patrick’s Day fast approaching, the London community is taking preventative measures following last year’s Fleming Drive riot, which garnered international attention on the city.

This week, Fanshawe College is releasing a publication for its students from President Howard Rundle and Fanshawe Student Union President Zack Dodge.

“The piece is going to touch on making wise choices, being safe and being respectful of the community over this coming weekend,” Devin Robinson, recruitment supervisor for Fanshawe College, said.

“Even though this was an offcampus situation, our on-campus safety and security is always a priority. We’re going to have on-campus security throughout the weekend, and also we are coordinating with our various partners, including the [FSU,] which has run articles on awareness about the subject in the student paper,” Robinson continued. “[The FSU] will also be going around door-to-door in the area with a handout and speaking to students about being safe and respectful in the community.”

London community members

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are also taking matters into their own hands. One group of property holders, McIver Holdings, has specifically forbidden students from partying outdoors on their property.

“St. Patrick’s Day is fast approaching, and we expect there will be a party or two. We would like to remind you to please be responsible and respectful of our properties. Due to past events, the police

Even though this was an off-campus situation, our on-campus safety and security is always a priority.

—Devin Robinson

Recruitment supervisor for Fanshawe College

will be out in full force, focused on students and parties. Please note there are to be absolutely no outside gatherings at any of our buildings.

Should any sort of damage to McIver Holdings properties occur, you, our tenants, will be held responsible,” the company said in an email sent to tenants.

This anxiety comes as a result of the riot occurring in a Fanshawe student enclave.

The riot started the night of St. Patrick’s Day when hundreds of drunken revelers began lighting objects on fire and attacking police and fire crews when they arrived on the scene. A CTV news vehicle was overturned and set on fire while the rioters cheered. London Police Chief Brad Duncan was quoted describing the riot as a war zone. The damage the drunken crowd inflicted on the neighbourhood cost taxpayers roughly $500,000.

After the incident, eight students were suspended from Fanshawe College, with the school’s academic code of conduct stating students can receive academic penalties if their off-campus actions affect the health and safety of others in the community.

The riot was also one of the first instances where police used social media to track down perpetrators.

Students who had tweeted or posted videos about participating in the riot were tracked down long after the crowd had dissipated.

Though last year’s was the worst riot the city has ever seen, it was far from the first. Community members, as well as Fanshawe administration, have a vested interest in making sure this trend does not continue.

London Police were not available for comment at time of publication.

Mike Laine Gazette

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, a non-partisan think tank, has proposed a new alternative federal budget that would lower tuition for post-secondary education to pre-1992 levels, adjusted for inflation, and increase funding for needs-based programs and research at universities.

David Macdonald, coordinator of the alternative budget, explained the cost of tuition has risen dramatically since the cuts of the 1990s, and this cost has been passed on to students and their families.

“There has been a significant rise, and this is particularly true in Ontario of tuition rates since the mid-1990s. They are rising at five per cent a year, and inflation is about two per cent a year,” Macdonald said. “There’s this huge gap for students where tuition is rising much faster than inflation.

One of the big measures we would do is drive tuition rates back down to their 1992 levels adjusted for inflation.”

The lowered tuition rates would also be supplemented with educational tax changes from the federal government.

“Currently, there is about $1.5 billion worth of what are called tax expenditures, which are basically […] a variety of education-related tax credits,” Macdonald said. “The argument is that because these are tax credits, they disproportionately go to higher income families. The [alternative budget] would cancel all those tax credits and convert them into upfront grants so it would fund students via needsbased programs.”

The budget focuses on increasing spending to boost economic growth, not the austerity the federal government has been pushing for, and it looks to reduce poverty across Canada and in First Nations communities.

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thegazette • Thursday, March 14, 2013

Caught on Camera

Crossword By Eugene Sheffer Caroline Wang GAZETTE

UGGS AND LULULEMON GALORE. A volunteer for the Peer Support Centre accepts garments as part of Clothes Swap. For each piece of clothing checked, students will receive a token to cash in for new used clothing. Leftover clothing will be donated to Safe Space London.

St. Paddy’s day holds sway Iain Boekhoff Gazette Staff An Irish teetotaller will drink on St. Patrick’s Day, even though they might not celebrate Valentine’s or Mother’s Day, according to research from Northumbia University in Newcastle, England.

Matthew Kearney, a doctoral researcher of consumer behaviour at Northumbia, conducted the study and found every single one of the 70 Irish participants in the study celebrated St. Patrick’s Day, and many maxed out their credit cards, or borrowed from friends, to fund their celebrations. Even those that identified as teetotallers felt compelled to have a pint of Guinness just for St. Paddy’s Day. “I think that the teetotallers who discussed drinking on St. Patrick’s day did so because they didn’t perceive it as ‘drinking’ in the traditional sense, but rather they saw it as a means to an end—the price of admission, if you will, for celebrating with their friends who do drink,” Kearney said.

Curiously, there was also no difference between genders in drinking participation on St. Patrick’s Day. “I was, perhaps, a little surprised

Andrei Calinescu Gazette

that there wasn’t a gender difference presented in the findings.

I expected to find a deviation between the two genders, if for no other reason than the fact that ‘lad culture’ appears to excuse and often promote drinking, particularly amongst Generation Y consumers,” Kearney said. “I do believe this speaks volumes about the celebration, however, as there was a marked difference between the two genders of the participants in terms of their drinking habits, in almost all other instances—St. Patrick’s Day appeared to be the exception.”

Drinking alcohol is often romanticized in Irish culture, and it feeds

into the hype surrounding St. Patrick’s Day, which is seen as the quintessential Irish celebration.

“Given that only two of the nonIrish participants celebrated the event, and that not every participant with a partner did something for St. Valentine’s day—nor Mother’s Day, for that matter— showed a certain loyalty or patriotism to the event that I wasn’t expecting,” Kearney said. “This was cemented by the fact that, when pressed, many of the participants weren’t quite sure why they celebrated it, only becoming aware of some of the underlying reasons upon further questioning.”

target cancer cells through external measures, the treatment being tested by Koropatnick and Min would assist the immune system in suppressing the cancer itself.

A strong, healthy immune system should be able to fight off cancer cells, but some cells are able to mask themselves and avoid being targeted by releasing immunosuppressive molecules, one of which is indoleamine 2,3-deoxygenase, or IDO. Releasing IDO prevents the immune system from identifying cancer cells as invading foreign bodies, so they go unnoticed.

Koropatnick and Min have come up with a way to target and destroy the IDO molecules, thus allowing the immune system to do its job. “[IDO] is like a shield they hide behind so the immune system can’t see them and can’t kill them,” Koropatnick said. “You knock the shield out of their hands and they become more vulnerable.”

So far, testing the treatment in mice has been successful. The immune systems of cancerous mice which had their cancer cells treated to prevent the release of IDO molecules were better able to recognize and kill the cancer cells.

As with most new treatments, however, there are potential drawbacks. IDO molecules are released not just by cancer cells, but also by cells in the human body. More significantly, embryos rely on the release of IDO to disguise themselves from a mother’s immune system, which would otherwise identify them as foreign tissue and potentially destroy them.

Koropatnick and Min must develop a method of suppressing IDO production in cancer cells, whilst not affecting other cells in the body. As of now, further testing is required to ensure the treatment is safe and effective.

—Aleks Dalek

News Brief

Cancer research targets immune system James Koropatnick, director of the Cancer Research Laboratory Program at the London Regional Cancer Program, and Wei-Ping Min, a Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry professor, have been testing cancer treatments which may revolutionize the way cancer is treated.

While most treatments aim to

Solution to puzzle on page 7

The Cryptoquip is a substitution cipher in which one letter stands for another. If you think that X equals O, it will equal O throughout the puzzle. Single letters, short words and words using an apostrophe give you clues to locating vowels. Solution is by trial and error. © 2002 by Kings Features Syndicate, Inc.

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Gaining ad cents

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thegazette • Thursday, March 14, 2013

Advertising is one the main streams of revenue for the University Students’ Council, but university policies often place limits on the market. News Editor Aaron Zaltzman investigates.

Aaron Zaltzman News Editor Ian Greaves has been manager of The Gazette’s composing department long enough to see the rise and, more recently, the fall, of the newspaper business.

While the rise was productive, the fall has been steep, with advertisement revenue slipping from comprising 63 per cent of The Gazette’s budget in 2007 to just 36 per cent this year. The result has been a 68 per cent increase in student fees.

“The goal, in the past, was always to bring in additional revenue from advertising to cover whatever costs weren’t covered by the student fee,” Greaves says. “But it’s getting more and more difficult to attain that.”

However, while advertising in papers has dropped nationally, Greaves said part of The Gazette’s struggles can be traced back to campus-wide restrictions on advertising.

“In the past, breweries and distilleries advertised in The Gazette, and when that went away, it obviously took money with it,” Greaves says.

The Western campus alcohol policy, first passed in 1991 and last updated in 2008, imposes a number of restrictions on advertisements on campus, or in campus media,

including those for alcohol.

“We’ve agreed, through a policy, to put limits on what we want to promote at Western,” Susan Grindrod, the university’s liquor license coordinator, says. “Part of it’s about reputation, part of it’s about what we’re promoting here at Western.”

According to Tony Ayala, vicepresident finance for the University Students’ Council, the USC, which collects The Gazette’s student fee, passed a similar policy in 2009 to fall in line with the University.

“Everything in the policy is on the recommendation of [the University],” Ayala said. “We have some concerns about it, […] but at the end of the day, they hold our liquor license. They hold a tight rope on the liquor policy and we don’t have our own, so we follow theirs.”

However, the policy has been thrust into the spotlight by The Gazette Strategic Review committee, which presented a report to the USC at last night’s council meeting.

Among the recommendations is the loosening of advertisement restrictions—including those on alcohol.

It is yet unknown what steps the USC will take with the report, if any, but some council members have already expressed support for the recommendation.

Connor Lyons, HBAA president, thinks the repeal of the alcohol

advertisement restrictions is a “no-brainer.”

“The harm derived from advertising alcohol appears to be misplaced—most students are of age [and] many students drink,” Lyons said. “The assertion that drinking would increase due to an ad in The Gazette is not supported by any data, and the likelihood is that this assertion is a stretch of the imagination.”

While the USC’s hands are fairly tied, Matt Helfand, social science president, said that shouldn’t stop them from advocating for change.

“Considering the fact that there is currently much discussion revolving around ways to increase revenues, and ways to lower tuition and student fees, this sort of endeavour strikes me as one which the USC should be pursuing,” Helfand said.

For now, however, the University appears unmoved on any change.

“The logic behind the policy is to control […] the kinds of commercial activity and advertising that’s on campus,” Grindrod said. “We have a right and an obligation to do that.”

She added advertisements for alcohol could be perceived as “harmful” to Western’s image.

However, Ayala maintains no change is out of the question in the future.

“Is it something that should be considered for the future?

Definitely—there’s no way you could ignore that,” he said. “If it’s something that students and council feels is unfair, then I will definitely be at the next commercial policies meeting asking for more answers.”

Andrei Calinescu Gazette

Malawi to give peas a chance

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A Western professor will soon be embarking on a five-year project to collaborate with farmers in Malawi to diversify the country’s crops and create a farmer-tofarmer community initiative.

“The real focus of the project is a farmer-to-farmer education type of project,” Isaac Luginaah, a geography professor at Western and Canada Research Chair in health geography, said. “[The farmers] are going to be teaching their counterparts […] how they have improved their own food security with what they have left over.”

Some of the crops to be used to diversify the country’s farming include legumes high in protein, such as black-eyed peas. Luginaah mentioned many of the plants were indigenous to Malawi, but were removed from farms due to

increased production of maize.

“Some of them are old crops that were left aside, but because of the nutritious values of [those crops], we are encouraging [their return],” Luginaah said. “These are all old, traditional crops.

Most people had concentrated on production of maize, so we are encouraging them [to diversify crops]” Luginaah also elaborated on some of the benefits of diversifying Malawi crops.

“The main benefit is food security in households, and improving nutrition in children. Then, obviously, when you have food security there, you improve Malawi’s economy,” he said.

The diversification of crops helps farmers in Malawi in other ways, too, according to Rachel Bezner Kerr, an adjunct geography professor at Western.

“If one crop doesn’t do well, then others might do well—this is

especially important in light of climate change which is anticipated to increase droughts in Malawi,” Bezner Kerr said.

The project in question builds on Kerr’s previous collaborations with Malawi organizations and farmers over the years.

According to Bezner Kerr, other benefits of crop diversification include producing a more balanced diet, providing other options for income and helping maintain the soil.

“We will be directly assisting 6,500 farming households, including 200 youth,” she explained.

“Through our farmer-to-farmer approach, we hope to reach out to 30,000 farming households, since many farmers share the knowledge and seeds with others in their community.”

Western’s project is sponsored by the Canadian International Development Agency, which provided $2.5 million for the project.

STUDENTS USING SERVICES FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES We would like to remind you that you must meet with a counsellor at Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD), in the Student Development Centre, to arrange academic accommodation for your 2012/2013 winter courses.

If you have not yet requested accommodation for your courses, and you wish to use accommodation for April 2013 exams, you must meet with a counsellor by Wednesday, March 20th.

Accommodation for April 2013 exams cannot be arranged by SSD if requested after this date.

To book your appointment please call

519-661-2147

130307

Herb Richardson Gazette Staff

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thegazette • Thursday, March 14, 2013

Food&Drink Ingredients:

• 1 can tomatoes • 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

• Olive oil • Rice • 1 large sweet onion, or 3 small

shallots • 2 cloves garlic • 1 tsp. cardamom • 1 tsp. cumin • 1 tsp. curry • 1 tsp. turmeric • 1tsp. garam masala • 1 tsp. Indian spice (optional) • Salt and pepper • Fresh coriander (optional) • Chili flakes (optional)

If making a creamy dressing, substitute half the mayo with Greek-style yogurt. This will make your dressing healthier, while maintaining a rich texture.

Canada’s sweetest treat

>> Gazette-tested > Homemade chana masala A popular Indian dish, this spicy meal will make your taste buds sizzle, and your tummy full. Served on a bed of rice, and the main ingredients being chickpeas and diced tomatoes, this dish is 100 per cent vegetarian—not to mention the array of spices included provide a sharp flavour and a variety of health benefits.

foodtip

Directions: 1. Open cans and rinse the chickpeas.

2. Chop the onions and garlic, sauté in olive oil until translucent (medium-heat) for 3 minutes.

3. Add all the spices and continue to sauté to allow spices to cook with the onions for 5 to 7 minutes.

4. Slowly add the liquid from the tomatoes to form a broth (about half the can of liquid).

5. Then, add the rest of the tomatoes and a pinch of salt and pepper. Bring to a medium simmer, and add the chickpeas.

6. Cook for about 20 minutes on low-medium heat—while rice is cooking (follow package instructions).

7. Add the fresh coriander just before serving. *To add some heat, add chili flakes after you add the tomatoes.

Enjoy with some naan bread!

—Nicole Gibillini

Ritchie Sham Gazette

Local sugar shack welcomes the syrup season

rollingridgemapleproducts.ca

Gloria Dickie Editor-in-Chief It’s a Sunday morning in Ilderton, Ontario, and if the dozens of cars crowding the roadway are any indicator, the Robson family has tapped into something special—and sweet.

Rolling Ridge Maple Products, located 20 minutes outside of London on Vanneck Road, has been in business for a quarter of a century.

Each season, the sugar shanty sees thousands of visitors wander through its blue-lined maple trees, chasing the winter treat’s Native American roots.

According to Jamie Robson, coowner of Rolling Ridge, the 2013 season has been typical, thanks to a benign forecast.

“Last year, we were done the 13th of March because it was so warm. This year, we’re probably

30 to 35 per cent of a normal crop, which is where we should be—it just depends what the weather does from now on.”

In order to maintain current production levels, Robson says that would require a temperature range of minus five at night to plus five in the daytime, high pressure, lots of sun and no wind.

But it’s not only the weather dictating the maple syrup market.

With decades of experience in this seasonal industry, Robson has seen product demand experience some “interesting” changes.

“I think people are more aware of what they’re eating than 25 years ago—they like a natural product.”

Dark syrup, too, has taken off in popularity compared to its medium counterpart.

“The real interesting thing is the dark syrup we make at the end of the season, people look for it now

to cook with, whereas 25 years ago, there was very little demand,” Robson observes.

Fortunately, there’s enough syrup at Rolling Ridge to suit all tastes. With 16,000 taps scattered throughout their plot of southwestern Ontario forest, the Robsons are frequently able to produce 16,000 litres every syrup season—or, a litre per tap.

“We’ve had years where we’ve made 0.6 [litres], and other years we’ve made a litre and a quarter.

We very seldom make much past the first week in April, regardless.

Usually, by that time, it’s warmed up, the buds are out and the season’s done.”

Rolling Ridge Maple Products is located at 22681 Vanneck Road, in Ilderton, Ontario. Store hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 11 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday. The store will remain open until April 7.

Quality tea, please Healthy beTeas now at Quotes What comes to mind when you think of Irish beer? Why, Guinness stout of course! The world’s most popular stout, Guinness is an Irish institution. I personally adore it.

However, while this mythological beverage may have the most notoriety, it’s far from the only Irish beer. With its heavy mouthfeel, and dark roasted malt, it may be difficult to drink for hours on St. Paddy’s Day—not to mention it doesn’t dye green particularly well. Instead, try one of the following tasty, straightforward, Irish beers.

Smithwick’s Ale: Brewed in Ireland’s oldest operating brewery, this beer is steeped in Irish tradition. A classic red ale, this beer has a pleasant ruby-amber colour and distinct roasted malt flavour, with a hint of some bittersweet chocolate. Overall, Smithwick’s is a wellbalanced, simple ale. It manages to be highly drinkable without being boring—a rare quality in many ales. It’s very lightly hopped with fairly soft carbonation making it an ideal session beer for a saturated St. Paddy’s.

Kilkenny Cream Ale: Brewed by Guinness, Kilkenny bears one of the classic Guinness hallmarks of nitrogenation. This gives this cream ale—that same soft milkshake mouth feel that Guinness stout is so famous for. If you grab a can of this beer, don’t be surprised if you hear a rattle—that’s from the Guinness patented ‘beer widget’ that maintains the nitrogen in the beer. However, unlike the stout, Kilkenny roasts the malt considerably less, giving it a more caramel malty flavour and making it less arduous on the palate over the long term.

Harp Lager: Initially brewed to meet the growing European demand for lagers, Harp remains distinct from its boring, bland and utterly wretched North American counterparts—I’m looking at you Molson. Undoubtedly the lightest beer on this list, Harp is refreshing with a touch of citrus, crisp acidity and a bit of hop character.

Like most lagers, it has a very mild taste, which might be just the thing a malt-inundated palate will need after a vigourous St. Paddy’s Day. —Cam Smith

Nicole Gibillini Deputy Editor Love your cup.

That’s the tagline of Michelle Pierce Hamilton’s new online tea business, beTeas, which she launched in December.

Pierce Hamilton started her career off in the corporate financial world, but after losing some special people in her life to cancer, she became more serious about health.

She decided to enroll in a nutrition program and quickly became fascinated with tea and its health benefits.

“It’s really hard to say what happened with me first, whether it was nutrition or tea—it all really happened at the same time,” she recalls.

After leaving the corporate world after 20 years, Pierce Hamilton took classes through the Tea Association of Canada at George Brown College and quickly realized a huge gap existed in the tea industry.

“A lot of the questions people have about tea are health-related,” Pierce Hamilton notes. “But the most common questions are which teas are the healthiest […] and I thought that was something I could really

offer with my nutrition training.”

In mid-January, Pierce Hamilton brought beTeas to Western—more specifically, Quotes Café. They’ve picked up 10 different blends, including “50 Shades of Earl Grey Organic,” “Milk Oolong” and “Jasmine Gold Dragon Organic,” to name a few.

“What I try to focus on are teas that have the healthiest ingredients as possible in those blends,” she says.

If there’s positive feedback from students, Western’s Hospitality Services plans to distribute the products to other cafés across campus, according to Pierce Hamilton.

All of Pierce Hamilton’s loose leaf teas sold at Quotes are high quality, natural and have little sugar added to them. Each cup costs about $2.75—which is slightly lower than the standard at specialty teashops, like David’s Tea, which charges three dollars for a cup. “[I’m] trying to keep [the tea] very reasonably priced for the students and the faculty so it’s accessible to them—and so they can have an excellent product,” Pierce Hamilton explains.

The tea sold at Quotes is poured into a brew basket, which is inserted

into a to-go cup. This allows the customer to control how long the tea is steeped for, and to re-steep the tea later. Due to the high quality of the tea leaves, it’s possible to make a new cup with already-used leaves.

On top of starting beTeas, Pierce Hamilton also teaches the Tea Association of Canada program at Fanshawe College—an open night class for those interested in learning more about tea.

“As part of my passion, one of my goals was to bring more tea education to southwestern Ontario,” Pierce Hamilton explains. “There’s so much information out there—there’s so much great information, but there’s so much bogus information. And unless you know how to sift through it, it’s difficult to tell who believe.”

While loose leaf tea is known for a number of health benefits, such as increased blood circulation, speeding up the process of stroke recovery and stimulating clear thinking, Pierce Hamilton stresses the main reason you should drink tea is for enjoyment.

“The number one reason anyone should drink a tea is because [he or she] likes it,” she concludes.

•5

thegazette • Thursday, March 14, 2013

Arts&Life

thespianthursday I don’t even like to sleep—I feel as if there’s too much to do.

—James Franco, American actor.

Western entrepreneur develops snooze app

Sumedha Arya Arts & Life Editor Unlock Alarm, the brainchild of Western graduate Edward Yu, is a free app offered by Apple that prevents people from oversleeping.

The alarm features a type test when it goes off in the morning, asking the user to copy a funny or themed message to shut the alarm off. According to Yu, the central function “prevents users from snoozing so that they can get up on time.”

Additional features of the alarm include local weather display, a “lifeline” system to alert users of typos and a choice of individualized songs to play in the morning. The alarm also works when the screen is off and the app is closed—essentially, a user has no choice but to face the impending morning. As of now, the application has gotten downloads in 60 countries and an average rating of 4.82 on 18 reviews.

Yu’s main motivation for

developing an app was to gain learning experience after graduating as part of Ivey’s HBA class of 2012.

Upon moving back to his hometown of Vancouver, Yu reconnected with his engineer friends Patrick Yao and Tim Lee. Together, they started brainstorming for Unlock Alarm.

“The three of us went into it mainly looking to meet unforeseen challenge and gain a learning experience,” Yu says of the initial brainstorming sessions.

During the execution process, Yu, Lee and Yao fronted the money to create the app. The developers then decided to make the app free,

Strategy and communication skills are very valuable when trying to start a business. Ivey’s case study method helped me think of my own app as a case. I drew on Ivey’s teachings when we were deciding what direction the app would take.

—Edward Yu

Western graduate.

Andrei Calinescu Gazette

hoping to make it available and accessible to potential users— however, they included add-ons that users could pay for. While Yu notes the development cost was not high—it cost his team around $100 to start a developer account with Apple—he hopes the add-ons will offset some of the costs he incurred.

In making these decisions, Yu found his Ivey education suddenly became applicable.

“Strategy and communication skills are very valuable when trying to start a business,” Yu shares of his personal experience. “Additionally, Ivey’s case study method helped

me think of my own app as a case.

I drew on Ivey’s teachings when we were deciding what direction the app was going to take.”

What sets Yu’s app apart from other sleep apps that prevent snoozing?

Yu states there are two things that make his app unique. Firstly, the app requires the user to do work but does not make the task too difficult. Secondly, Yu and his colleagues incorporate user input into their app to improve it. “[Unlike other sleep apps], it doesn’t use math equations, which we found angers and annoys

people,” Yu says. “Also, we’ve already made several changes that originated from different users.”

While Yu continually tries to utilize what he learned at school, he still finds himself reminiscing—and missing—his time at Western. His highlights of the Western experience include living in residence, sophing in Saugeen and being president of the Mustang Paintball Club.

While Yu isn’t quite certain what’s next for him, he hopes to continue experimenting in entrepreneurship to develop his business skills and find a career path that is right for him.

Health Canada in need of new label maker Over 30-year-old food labels necessitate a closer look Bradley Metlin Gazette Staff The year was 1983. Michael Jackson first did the moonwalk, the last Star Wars movie was dominating the box office and McDonalds introduced the McNugget. It was also the year in which Health Canada last performed a nutritional evaluation for their food labels. The daily values listed on food labels in Canada are older than virtually all the students at Western.

While this might seem alarming and worrisome to some, Len Piché, a professor of nutritional sciences at Brescia University College, says it’s not necessarily something to sound the alarm about.

“They don’t put per cent daily values for everything,” he says.

This lack of complete labelling makes it near impossible to compare daily values in hopes of forming the perfect diet—unless of course, you want to do the math yourself. Instead, Health Canada recommends a different strategy, one that doesn’t require tedious calculations, for those looking to form a healthy diet.

Piché explains Health Canada’s strategy.

“They have a campaign—is this a little or is there a lot?” He then expands on the details. “Daily values [are used] to determine if there’s a little bit of something— which means five per cent or less of

FILE PHOTO READ THE FINE PRINT. Older food labels use many of the outdated measuring methods, such as undervalued nutrients.

the nutrient you’re interested in or is there a lot—which would mean 15 per cent or more of the nutrient you’re looking at.”

He says there are a number of resources to make Canadians more aware of their nutritional intake. While Health Canada has a page on their site that details daily values, Brescia also has a website. Developed by Piché and graduate student, Yolanda Fung, the site, called Ontario Local Foods Nutrition Database, is a catalogue of food and their nutritional values. It includes foods that cannot be labelled, like fruits and

vegetables.

Websites like these help navigate the world of ever confusing food labels. The grocery store now has items with slogans like “60% less salt” “low in sodium,” or “lightly salted.” All of these labels mean different things so suffice to say, it can become baffling to the common grocer.

A barrage of slogans aside, the outdated food labelling can still cause some problems.

“It could be a false sense of security,” says Piché, who notes the main problem with the old labelling is they undervalue nutrients,

like folic acid. The recommended daily intake is currently 400 milligrams—Health Canada recognizes slightly over half of that as the recommended daily value, 220 milligrams. This may cause Canadians to be getting fewer nutrients than they need while believing they’re alright. While concerning, Piché still says comparison is the best practice for people to take.

“To those people who say, ‘I’m not going to look at food labels anymore,’ well sure you can. Compare foods, for heaven’s sakes, if you’re looking for less fat, compare the fat in your foods.”

Mike Laine Gazette

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thegazette • Thursday, March 14, 2013

Opinions

Every day is President’s Day when you have an intern!

—David Letterman, host of the Late Show with David Letterman

Keep calm Valuable exposure is priceless and don’t riot We’re approaching the one-year anniversary of the St. Patrick’s Day Fleming Drive riots and the city of London is anxiously holding its breath, hoping this year doesn’t produce a sequel.

But after flaming cars and countless arrests, the London Police have prepared diligently for any occurrences of unruly behavior, in hopes to detract any individuals hoping to copycat last year’s events.

And a riot is an unwanted incident at any time of the year—with the ISU World Figure Skating Championships in town, London is especially conscious of its image and reputation.

But the Fleming riots were only a single, concentrated event and certainly shouldn’t define London as a whole, regardless. However, it did make international headlines, therefore, when some hear “Fleming Drive,” “Fanshawe College” or “London, Ontario,” they might immediately associate it with the riots.

Likely, in order to shed this tarnished image, Fleming Drive needs to stay out of the headlines this year, and for many years to come. And, eventually, the riots will only be a thing of the past, an exception, not the rule, a mere blip in the long history of London.

And, more than that, London needs to continue to grow and enhance its image.

Through the Worlds, London has worked hard to promote the diversity of the city—Canada’s London, they call it—and running a smooth event could actually greatly benefit the city’s reputation.

Undoubtedly, the police will be on the ready to quell any attempts of rioting. As well, an organized event like Budweiser’s St. Patty’s Day Party, a tent party downtown, has been planned and will hopefully discourage people from wandering into the streets with nothing much to do.

It’s true the riots were not London or Fanshawe’s best hour. However, it’s important to not dwell on the negatives of the event, but instead learn from it.

Hopefully, with a strict no tolerance policy coming from Fanshawe College, as well as an increased police presence, London will not see a reoccurrence of riots.

—The Gazette Editorial Board

thegazette

Volume 106, Issue 84 www.westerngazette.ca

Gloria Dickie Editor-In-Chief Nicole Gibillini Deputy Editor Cam Parkes Managing Editor

Contact: www.westerngazette.ca University Community Centre Rm. 263 The University of Western Ontario London, ON, CANADA N6A 3K7 Editorial Offices: (519) 661-3580 Advertising Dept.: (519) 661-3579

The Gazette is owned and published by the University Students’ Council.

Wrath of McGrath

Kaitlyn McGrath Associate Editor

Nothing in life is free. Except, apparently, the going rate to solicit a journalist’s work.

Recently, Nate Thayer, a freelance journalist, stirred up controversy when he published his email exchange with an editor at The Atlantic. The Coles Notes version is The Atlantic website wanted to repurpose his piece, asked him to cut it down and, most noteworthy, do it free of charge. He rejected the offer, citing he had bills to pay and children to feed.

It’s a completely rational response.

No employer would be granted the right to withhold pay from an employee who clocked in eight hours, so a magazine— even a prestigious one—shouldn’t publish work without compensation.

However, it’s exactly that prestige that awards The Atlantic the opportunity to solicit work for free. In the Thayer scenario, they claimed he would benefit from exposure he’d receive with a byline on their website.

Thayer is a fairly well-known journalist, so being refused reimbursement would, I think, be a tad insulting.

But most budding journalists—I’ll put myself in that category—do not have that luxury. The possibility of exposure is actually far more enticing than a $200 paycheck. Obviously, it’s not a sentiment I can hold forever, because, well, I also enjoy eating and shelter.

Had I been Thayer though, and The Atlantic came knocking at my inbox, I would have accepted the pro bono offer, thanked them for their interest, and shared the crap out of my article.

But they’re in the category of reputable publications that could offer a young journalist the gateway to a lasting career. It’s an exception, and not the rule.

But working for free isn’t in any way a new phenomenon in other industries.

An aspiring actor is lucky if he or she gets paid for a gig. Many begin with community theatre and don’t earn a cent, but gain valuable exposure or contacts. However, acting—like music, painting or design—is an artistic endeavour and has the stigma of being a tough, if not impossible, way to make a living unless luck and talent collide.

However, journalism is a profession.

It’s public service, not entertainment, and therefore should be paid, right?

But in a world with shrinking payrolls, a publication may not have anything to offer but their name, at least to a new, unproven writer. It’s difficult to pass up an unpaid internship or opportunity when it exposes your name and, more importantly, your work across Canada or the world.

And because of that incentive, someone will take up the publication’s offer. And because someone will take up the offer, the cycle will continue.

And unpaid will be the norm, at least to get a foot in the door. It’s a decision no one wants to make, but if one must, it’s about weighing the pros and cons.

Will a single, unpaid internship lead to financial security quicker than living from freelance paycheck to freelance paycheck?

It’s a dilemma that stretches beyond the media industry—many young professionals are faced with the possibility of working for free, at first.

Many journalists will say never give away work for free. And I appreciate the advice and wholeheartedly agree— there is a value to writing and it should be respected.

However, in an industry revolving around circulation, sales and web hits, the sad truth is the right offer of high exposure just might be too costly to turn down, even if it means I have to do it for no cost at all.

Letters to the Editor

University a time Affiliates part of Review lacks to learn and bro the greater whole substantial claims To the Editor: Re: Admissions: How many is too many?, March 12, 2013 Like Richard Raycraft, I once thought university should be for the dedicated and the brilliant. But then I realized that if this were so, I would not be a Mustang.

In first year I failed exams, skipped lecture and tutorials, came dressed in sweats that I occasionally wore as sleep attire and really didn’t care about Western or my grades. If Mr. Raycraft ran things, I would surely have been forced to withdraw.

But what Mr. Raycraft may be missing is that these four years give people the opportunity to turn themselves around. I am now enrolled in a program I love, am involved in extra-curriculars and am on track to make the Dean’s List.

These people with their backwards hats, “brospeak” and sweatpants may seem like they don’t belong, and that they are tarnishing the once prestigious bachelor’s degree, but university serves a higher purpose than just to get you a degree. It allows you to grow into a person who can admit they were wrong, and can learn from their misuse of the word “bro.”

—Demetri Pananos Applied Math III

Editorials are decided by a majority of the editorial board and are written by a member of the editorial board but are not necessarily the expressed opinion of each editorial board member. All other opinions are strictly those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the USC, The Gazette, its editors or staff.

To submit a letter, go to westerngazette.ca and click on “Contact.”

All articles, letters, photographs, graphics, illustrations and cartoons published in The Gazette, both in the newspaper and online versions, are the property of The Gazette. By submitting any such material to The Gazette for publication, you grant to The Gazette a non-exclusive, world-wide, royalty-free, irrevocable license to publish such material in perpetuity in any media, including but not limited to, The Gazette‘s hard copy and online archives.

To the Editor: Re: Affiliate agreement hurts everyone, March 12, 2013 To say the 2011–12 University Students’ Council was unaware of the costs associated with the affiliate agreement is simply wrong. The $450,000 budgetary loss was made perfectly clear during negotiations last year.

What upsets me is the suggestion affiliate councils took advantage of a USC oversight to cheat the organization out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. This is unfair to affiliate student councillors who worked to achieve the best fee structure for their constituents.

The Gazette suggests this was done due to an “us versus them” mentality supposedly held by affiliate students toward main campus students. Your unfounded accusation is the only evidence I’ve seen of an adversarial relationship. I also don’t believe affiliate students aspire to refer to themselves as simply “Western.” The nature of the affiliates is the existence of distinct ideas within Western, as a whole.

If The Gazette wishes affiliate students to be a greater part of the whole campus experience, maybe it shouldn’t devote editorials to bashing them.

—Tom Venner Huron II

Gazette Composing & Gazette Advertising Ian Greaves, Manager Robert Armstrong

Karen Savino Diana Watson

Gazette Staff 2012-2013

Iain Boekhoff, Danielle Bozinoff, Jaclyn Carbone, Mary Ann Ciosk, David Czosniak, Megan Devlin, Jonathan Dunn, Andrew Evans, Chelsey Gauthier, Ross Hamilton, Danny Huang, Amanda Law, Logan Ly, Jared MacAdam, Sarah Mai Chitty, Sarah Manning, Bradley Metlin, Kaitlyn Oh, John Petrella, Sarah Prince, Chen Rao, Herb Richardson, Nathan Robbins-Kanter, Lily Robinson, Jeremiah Rodriguez, Katie Roseman, Jasleen Sembhi, Nathan TeBokkel, Jacqueline Ting, Caroline Wang, Kate Wilkinson, Zoe Woods, Kartikeya Vishal, Usman Zahid, Mason Zimmer

News Alex Carmona Jesica Hurst Cam Smith Aaron Zaltzman Arts & Life Sumedha Arya Brent Holmes Kevin Hurren Sports Richard Raycraft Jason Sinukoff Ryan Stern Opinions Ryan Hurlbut Associate Kaitlyn McGrath

To the Editor: Re: Hollerado album review, March 12, 2013 Beyond the review’s overwhelmingly negative tone and making inane statements, like suggesting a mellower beat, the author fails to substantiate any of her claims.

After lambasting the album for how juvenile and repetitive it is, we never hear anything more than empty metaphors and name-dropping Sum 41.

Describing the band as “extreme indie-rock-verging-on-screamo” indicates the author has a very loose understanding of genre and perhaps isn’t qualified to question the band’s very existence, as in the final line of the review.

As an occasional music writer, I’m fine with a negative review, but music criticism necessitates more than a baseless attack piece.

—Kevin Kania Biochemistry PhD III

westerngazette.ca

/opinion

Photography Andrei Calinescu Ritchie Sham Cameron Wilson Graphics Naira Ahmed Mike Laine Illustrations Christopher Miszczak Liwei Zhou Online Julian Uzielli Web Cameron Wilson Video Chris Kay

• Please recycle this newspaper •

•7

thegazette • Thursday, March 14, 2013

Defending Mustangs fall just short of repeat in Toronto >> continued from pg.8

of Toronto also having some of Canada’s best female players and Olympians from London 2012,” Adrianna Giuffre said.

The final day of competition was a nail-biter for the purple and white. Martin Giuffre kicked things off on a good note, defeating Nathan Lee of the Waterloo Warriors to retain his men’s singles crown. He and teammate Ross Golding then won their final match to take the men’s doubles crown and help contribute to the Mustangs’ final score of 59.

This score was good enough to tie the Varisty Blues, who reigned supreme when the dust settled, because their 12 wins edged out the seven of the Mustangs for the tiebreaker win.

Besides maintaining his stranglehold over the men’s singles division, Martin Giuffre was also named the tournament’s MVP for the fourth consecutive year.

Giuffre was humbled by the honour and was quick to praise his coach, Rob Fowler, for helping him

achieve this feat.

“I’m really honoured and happy to have received the MVP award again this season. I’m so lucky to be surrounded by great team-

Without an actual season now and just having the OUA championships, most of the preparation just comes from our scheduled practices during the week.

—Martin Giuffre

Mustangs player

mates and to have such an amazing coach,” Giuffre said. “With Rob being such an amazing coach and our team having great depth, rewards such as this give you a great feeling and make you proud to be a part of the team and represent the Western Mustangs.”

Mike Laine Gazette

To place your classifed ad, please contact us at 519-661-3579 or adoffice@uwo.ca

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ANNOUNCEMENTS THE TA AND Post Doc Union’s Foodbank distributes grocery store gift cards of $50-100 to members in need. Stop by the office (1313 Sommerville Hall) or apply at psac610.ca

PUT YOUR SUDOKU SAVVY TO THE TEST! To solve a sudoku, the numbers 1 through 9 must fill each row, column and box. Each number can appear only once in each row, column and box. You can figure out the order in which the numbers will appear by using the numeric clues already provided in the boxes.

For solution, turn to page 2 3 BEDROOM MODERN townhouses close to Masonville area. Close walk to campus and steps to major bus route. Spacious bedrooms and close to all amenities. Contact Yan to book a viewing: yanl@londonproperty.ca.

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Christopher Miszczak Gazette

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GOOD VALUE & MANAGEMENT 3 to 4 bedroom houses available. Very clean and modern. 5 appliances, spacious rooms, close to shopping, bus, parking, restaurants and fitness centre. $425.00 per student. 519-657-7000 or 519-657-6911.

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thegazette • Thursday, March 14, 2013

Sports

tweet of the week For my future in San Francisco, I will leave that in God’s hands.

San Francisco 49ers newest acquisition Anquan Boldin (@AnquanBoldin) shares his thoughts on being traded.

Rundown >> Track athletes Alicia Brown of the University of Toronto Varsity Blues and Anthony Romaniw of the Guelph Gryphons are the OUA athletes of the week > Both athletes impressed at the CIS championships in Edmonton, with Brown capturing three gold medals and Romaniw two golds and a silver.

Blues edge out Mustangs in tiebreak result Badminton provincials come down to smallest of margins Jason Sinukoff Sports Editor The Mustangs badminton team had their chance to shine this past weekend when teams from all around Ontario converged at Ryerson University for the Ontario University Athletics badminton championships. And the defending champions did not disappoint—earning the silver medal for the second-best overall team performance with 59 points.

Despite looking to repeat as champions, it was hard for the Mustangs to gauge how they would do at the tournament of tournaments, as there was no regular season—just preparing for OUAs. “Without an actual season now and just having the OUA championships, most of the preparation just

comes from our scheduled practices during the week,” Martin Giuffre, men’s tournament MVP, said.

“Some of our top players on the team are competing all year round in the Canadian National Circuit, so they’re getting lots of tournament play. However, for others on the team, it’s trying to create tournament and game situations in practice to prepare for the OUAs,” he continued.

On day one of the championships, the Mustangs showed the universities of Ontario why they were reigning champions—dominating both singles and doubles competition. On the men’s side, Giuffre went undefeated in his two match-ups, Avery Lee went 1–1 and Clayton Law went 2–1. On the women’s side of things, Allison Pastewka, Adrianna Giuffre and Margaret Cameron

all went undefeated to qualify for day two. The Mustangs also went undefeated in doubles action to qualify for the next round in the championships.

On day two of competition, the Mustangs hit a bit of a speed bump—with Adrianna Giuffre losing in her quarter-final match to reigning female champion Michelle Li of the University of Toronto Varsity Blues. This would be a trend from then on, as the Varsity Blues would prove to be a thorn in the Mustangs’ side throughout the rest of the championships.

“We knew going into the tournament that University of Toronto, as well as Waterloo, would be the two toughest teams. Both teams have good depth, with University >> see REpeat pg.7

Mike Laine Gazette

Upset fans should appreciate Howard’s magic Eight years of happiness gone thanks only to title search The Tables Have Sterned Ryan Stern Sports Editor

The rain in Spain may stay mainly in the plain, but the rain in Amway Arena in Orlando, Florida on Tuesday night was comprised mainly of boos and directed straight at their former love.

Dwight Howard’s return was the most noteworthy event to occur at the talent-barren Amway Arena.

Obviously, they were going to boo

him—it’s in the nature of a sports fan. The ‘you’re either for us or against us’ attitude is what makes sports fans great, it’s what makes the love so deep and the pain hurt so much.

I am on record in saying that Magic fans were wrong. They were wrong in booing their only significant all-star calibre talent of the past decade. They are wrong for booing the man to put their team back on the map following the departure of Tracy McGrady.

Now, if you are an Orlando Magic fan—if those even exist outside of Orlando—you’re probably thinking that I don’t understand. Your gut is still recoiling after the multiple punches that it has taken over the

last few tumultuous years, but I get it. It’s a unique pain, but a pain that often leads to anger. I get it.

When Brett Favre, my boyhood idol, left my beloved Green Bay Packers and resurfaced only a year later on the hated Minnesota Vikings, it was a punch to the gut.

It hurt every Sunday when Brett— with more grey than not—trotted out on the field wearing that putrid purple.

To this day I still own not one, but two Brett Favre Packers jerseys—one green and one white for superstition reasons. I often get questions to the tune of “don’t you hate Brett Favre?” and “how are you wearing that jersey?” and I field them all with similar answers.

I don’t hate Favre, and Orlando fans shouldn’t hate Howard.

It is a stretch to compare the situations, but if as a fan, you learn to appreciate the contributions that a former player gave to your respective city, booing does not feel so appropriate.

Howard was never involved in any criminal cases, he never proclaimed that Orlando was the worst city and he brought Orlando to the NBA Finals.

Howard gave his all to the city of Orlando for the majority of his eight-year career, and Orlando should realize that regardless of how messy the breakup was.

In the end, Howard just wanted to win a ring. Sports fans want to

watch athletes that will do anything for the glory of winning and Howard did just that. He left Orlando because he had lost faith in Orlando’s front office to provide him with the pieces to win a championship.

He went to the Lakers to win a ring. He didn’t go to the Lakers to spite that 45-year-old electrician who just bought a Howard jersey, he went because he wanted to pursue his dream of standing atop the NBA podium.

Realistically, Orlando fans will never forgive him for leaving, but maybe one day they will dig deep down and take a second to appreciate the time they had with their baby behemoth.

Magic fans booing of Howard is deserved Former franchise player is a treacherous villain, not a hero World of Raycraft

Richard Raycraft Sports Editor

Returning to Orlando to face some serious booing and jeering, the Lakers’ Dwight Howard responded to his tens of thousands of critics by scoring a season-high 39 points Tuesday night. Howard was instrumental in the Lakers’ 106–97 victory over the Magic, angering those bitter about his departure from Orlando in the summer of

last year.

But a question remains—did Howard deserve the cold reception from the Magic fans who once worshipped him as their hero?

I, for one, miss the days of team loyalty. It’s true that Howard basically was the franchise during his eight seasons with the Magic, so one could make the argument Magic fans should simply be grateful for what he gave them during that time. This is true, but considering the way in which Howard departed from the team, I have no quarrel with the showering of boos he received.

Part of being a true team player is sticking with the team, through thick and thin. I have no respect

for players who abandon a franchise the minute things start to go wrong. It just seems so selfish to me. Then again, these are pro athletes we’re talking about.

Regardless, Howard’s constant demands for a trade from the Magic during his last two seasons with them exposed him as nothing more than an opportunist, and a whiny one at that. There can be no doubt he gave the Magic a lot, but he took it all away the second staying became inconvenient for him.

On paper this might look smart, but in my view its dishonourable and nothing more.

Howard’s relocation to Los Angeles is a microcosm of the death of the franchise player. If

you’re a diehard fan of the Magic, over those eight seasons you probably developed a connection and sense of trust with Howard, who single-handedly carried your team. That trust, I think it’s fair to say, was betrayed. Let the bitterness reign.

It’s not only that Howard left the team, it’s also that he made sure that he completely screwed it over before he did. The Magic fired coach Stan Van Gundy almost exclusively to please Howard, and he still felt the need to depart.

Howard even went as far as to say that he would become a free agent if he wasn’t traded. That’s a whole new level of narcissism that eight seasons of dedication can’t erase.

I also really hate this notion of leaving a team for another one to win a championship. This philosophy seems to be running rampant in basketball, and I think in the long run the fans are the losers. Who knows when a franchise player may take the first train out of town for their own selfish reasons?

Howard has become a product of this movement, so there’s no reason that the fans shouldn’t be upset about it. He gave them the middle finger the worst way one can—destroying the team and then ditching it. Then again, if this is who he really is, they’re probably are better off without him.