2005-01-16

Hydro project could further damageLabrador cod stocks; paper

HAPPY VALLEY-GOOSE BAYBy Bert PomeroyFor The Independent

The construction of hydroelectricstations at Gull Island and MuskratFalls on the lower Churchill River

could further damage groundfish stocksoff the Labrador coast, documentsobtained by The Independent reveal.

Entitled Modeling Variations of the Sea-sonal Cycle of Plankton Production: TheLabrador Sea, Labrador Shelf and Hamil-ton Inlet, the document was completed inApril last year by a graduate of MemorialUniversity’s environmental sciences pro-gram.

Diana Cardoso, who now works withOceans Ltd. in St. John’s, submitted the260-page thesis as part of her require-ments for a masters of science degree.While the document is only an opinionbased on known facts, it contains someevidence that suggests a possible linkbetween the Churchill Falls developmentand the decline of fish stocks on theHamilton Banks off Labrador.

Cardoso says it’s hard to narrow downwhether there’s a connection, but it isknown that there have been significantchanges in the river’s flow since the hydroproject was completed more than 30 yearsago.

“There wasn’t a lot of data from beforeor after (the Churchill Falls development)to do a good analysis,” she tells The Inde-pendent. “But the monthly mean river flow

before … had a distinct springtime rush ofwater — it doesn’t get as much in thespring as it used to, because it’s now beingregulated.”

The regulated flow, she says, haschanged the water column in HamiltonInlet, which affected phytoplankton popu-lations. Phytoplankton are microscopicplants that live in the ocean, and are thefoundation of the marine food chain.

“In Hamilton Inlet, after the hydrodevelopment, the model showed that thetiming of the spring bloom (of phyto-plankton) remained unchanged, but thetotal annual biomass decreased,” shewrites in her paper. “The primary produc-tion in (Hamilton Inlet) also decreasedafter 1976 by about 25 per cent …”

Cardoso notes that a 1981 report sheobtained for her paper points out that 70per cent of the fishermen interviewed atthe time felt “changes of flow of theChurchill River was the blame for the codstock decline in Groswater Bay.”

A lower Churchill development “couldcause greater changes in the water circula-tion and properties of Hamilton Inlet andhas the potential to influence fish and fish-eries,” the paper reads.

“Hydroelectric developments haveimpacted the environment worldwide. For

example, on the Dnieper River, whichflows to the Black Sea, construction of adam caused a change in the pattern of sea-sonal discharge. The spring discharge ratewas reduced and the discharge becamesporadic throughout the year. This result-ed in a $3.8 billion loss to the fisheryindustry.”

Cardoso’s model also looked at the sea-sonal plankton cycles in the Labrador Seaand the Labrador Shelf. She says therewasn’t enough available information todetermine whether any changes in levelsof phytoplankton could be related to theChurchill Falls development.

“There could be other factors, such asclimate change,” she says.

Cardoso says she studied dozens of doc-uments to come to her conclusions. Shesuspects there’s more information outthere to back up some of her claims.

“I think (Newfoundland and Labrador)Hydro is keeping a lot of data to them-selves,” she says. “I had to fight tooth andnail to get the data I did get from them.”

Last week, the provincial governmentand Newfoundland and Labrador Hydroreleased a request for expressions of inter-est and proposals for participation in thedevelopment of the lower Churchill.

“Our decision to issue this request sig-nals a new approach for the developmentof this significant renewable resource at atime when there is increasing demand forclean, renewable electricity supplies,” Pre-mier Danny Williams stated in a newsrelease.

‘Outside the box’Time right for long-term transportation plan —

super port for Burin Peninsula, experts say

By Stephanie PorterThe Independent

Amember of the 1977 federal-provincial commission on thetransportation system in New-

foundland and Labrador— which rec-ommended, among other things, thatthe railway be abandoned — says thetime is right to do another one.

Burford Ploughman says there’s littleor no long-term planning within thecurrent provincial department of Works,Services and Transportation.

Partly, he says, because there is nodepartment solely devoted to issues oftransportation.

‘There’s a department of engineerswho know how to design roads, bridgesand so forth, but have no concept of theimportance of transportation to econom-ic benefit in the province,” Ploughmansays, adding that short-term issues likerepairs, maintenance and snowclearingtake up most of the existing resources.

“Consequently, there’s a number ofareas in which mistakes are being made,opportunities are being missed … plan-ning is not what it could be.”

Doug Oldford, regional director forTransport Canada until his retirementfive years ago, agrees. “The problem Isee — now looking inside from the out-side — is that a lot of decisions have

been made on a mutually exclusivebasis.”

Transportation issues, Oldford contin-ues, become difficult to separate fromsocial and political ones — decisions,like the buyout of the coastal ferry serv-ice, are often made with short-termgoals in mind.

While a sweeping review of MarineAtlantic is currently underway, Plough-man and Oldford suggest a broaderexamination may be needed.

“The time may be right for wheresomething like a royal commission,”

says Oldford. “Some kind of heavy artillery com-

mission, should be started to look at allissues and modes of transportation, rec-ognizing you haven’t got money toimprove everything.

“That would give them a chance to atleast cherry pick the things you shouldbe doing.”

It’s the missed opportunities Plough-man sees that bother him the most — including the lack of an adequate,

VOL. 3 ISSUE 3 ST. JOHN’S, NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR SUNDAY THROUGH SATURDAY, JANUARY 16-22, 2005 WWW.THEINDEPENDENT.CA $1.00 (INCLUDING HST)

LIFE & TIMESHands for Hope to reachout at Mile One

Page 21

SPORTSNew coach of Fog Devilshas the experience

Page 25

OPINIONIvan Morgan on grocerystore by the lake

Page 5

INTERNATIONALIndonesian sensitivitieschange foreign aid

Page 20

QuoteOF THEWeek

“We think that NAFO ismanaged by Canada”— Luz Maria Duran, economic/sea journalist for Faro De Vigo,

a Spanish newspaper

Empty roomsPowerhungryHydro-Quebec lines at full capacity;

‘Atlantic corridor’ on New York’s radar

By Jeff DucharmeThe Independent

The once touted Atlantic corridor route to transmitpower from the proposed lower Churchill develop-ment to the eastern seaboard as a means to bypass

Quebec is still “on the boards,” according to a spokesmanfor the New York corporation that oversees the transmissionof power there.

Ken Clapp of the New York Independent System Opera-tor says he doubts the existing Hydro-Quebec transmissionlines can handle any more power. Hydro-Quebec buysupper Churchill hydro and then resells it to American mar-kets, including New York state.

While Hydro-Quebec has gathered an estimated $23.8 bil-lion in revenues from the sale of electricity since the upperChurchill came on stream in 1972, it’s estimated Newfound-land and Labrador has taken in less than three per cent ofthat — about $680 million.

Premier Danny Williams’ government recently called forproposals to develop the lower Churchill, which could pro-duce 2,824 megawatts of electricity with the developmentof Muskrat Falls and Gull Island. The province expects theproposal process to take 18 to 24 months.

If it can be proven that the current Hydro-Quebec linescan’t handle any more power, the federal government couldintercede and force Quebec to allow the construction of asecond transmission line through that province.

That would be an alternative to the so-called Atlantic cor-ridor, which would funnel Gull Island power through themain generating station in Churchill Falls, and back pastGull Island to the southeast tip of Labrador.

Continued on page 2

Paul Daly/The Independent

Gordon Laurin, executive director of the Art Gallery of Newfoundland and Labrador, looks out the window of The Rooms in St. John’s. Late last week, Tourism Minister Paul Shelley made theannouncement many have long been waiting for: The Rooms will officially open June 29 — one year later than originally planned. The facility, which houses the art gallery, provincial archives andmuseum — as well as a number of spectacular views — is ready for business, though the walls, vaults, and exhibition spaces are bare at the moment.


Continued on page 2

Burford Ploughman

“I think Hydro is keeping alot of data to themselves.”

— Diana Cardoso

EDITOR’S NOTEDue to demand, themethodology behind The Independent’s six-partseries on Confederationpublished last fall is nowavailable on our website:www.theindependent.ca

NEWS The Independent, January 16, 2005

Flag flap shouldn’t affect economyCould the uncertain rela-

tions between the provinceand Ottawa adversely

affect Newfoundland andLabrador’s business credibility inthe eyes of potential investors?

News of the discord surroundingchanges to the Atlantic Accord hastravelled far and wide, even gar-nering attention from publications

like Britain’s Financial Times. JimStanford, an economist with Cana-da’s largest private-sector tradeunion, the Canadian Auto Workers,tells The Independent he doesn’tthink the political unrest will haveany adverse effects on the provin-cial economy.

“I wouldn’t view it as havingany significant impact one way or

another … what is the risk forNewfoundland? The possible ben-efit is they’ll get more federaltransfers coming in, that would bean economic plus … I don’t seeany downside for Newfoundlandand Labrador in this.”

Joe Riche, owner of RicheInvestments, a financial planningpractice in St. John’s, agrees.

“What needs to happen in New-foundland and Labrador, there hasto be more opportunities for ven-ture capital, and that’s (already)happening now,” he says.

Riche adds that if anything, theflag flap is gaining the provincemore attention — which can onlybe a positive thing.

Finance Minister Loyola Sulli-

van says with the Canadian flagreinstated in front of governmentbuildings, a point has been made.He adds if taking it down hadadversely affected provincial busi-ness opportunities, Quebec wouldhave already experienced a“tremendous negative” impact totheir economy long ago.

— Clare-Marie Gosse

Transmission lines ‘generally loaded’

From there, the power would cross theStraight of Belle Isle by means of an under-water sea cable, and land on the NorthernPeninsula. The transmission lines wouldthen travel down to the southwest coast.The power would cross the Cabot Strait,then surface again in Cape Breton to beginits trek across Nova Scotia and NewBrunswick. The hydropower from GullIsland would then reach its final destinationin New York.

“The other dilemma with Quebec is thatit’s my understanding … that the (trans-mission lines) are generally loaded,” Clapptells The Independent.

The New York Independent SystemOperator is a not-for-profit corporation thatmanages the transmission of power in whatis one of the most power-hungry markets inNorth America.

Christine Martin, a Hydro-Quebecspokeswoman, refused comment onwhether the utility’s transmission lines tothe U.S. are stretched to the limit. Shewould only say officials are aware of thecall for proposals on the lower Churchill,but have “no comment to make whatsoev-er.” She did say Hydro-Quebec’s interest inthe lower Churchill “is well known andremains,” and officials “understand andrespect the Newfoundland government’sinitiative.”

Clapp says the Atlantic corridor hasn’tcompletely dropped of the radar.

“There’s a project (Atlantic corridor) stillon the boards, but again, until that connec-tion is made, we’re stuck with the existingtransmission links with Canada and youcan only bring over so much power onthose lines.”

Reports by the New York IndependentSystem Operator call for 5,000 to 7,000more megawatts of power to be in place by2008 when it expects demand to outpacesupply. While some of that power hasalready been secured or is currently beingdeveloped, the corporation is still searchingfor 3,100 megawatts of power.

Gull Island, if developed, could generate

2,000 megawatts of power — more thanhalf of New York’s power requirements.(The 824 megawatts from Muskrat Fallswould remain in the province.)

But, says Clapp, the main power require-ment is in New York City and Long Island.

“We always welcome economic (cheap)power … that would be bidding in our mar-ket regardless of what the capacity situationlooks like.”

In the early 1980s, then-premier BrianPeckford was embroiled in a heated battlewith the federal government. He demandedOttawa step in and force Quebec to allowNewfoundland and Labrador to build trans-mission lines through Quebec to carrylower Churchill power, thus removing themiddleman — Hydro-Quebec. Peckford feltthe province had the constitutional right totransmit electricity through Quebec.

While Peckford was doing battle withOttawa, the Power Authority of the State ofof New York found itself on the sidelineswaiting for a resolution and the badly need-ed power.

At the time, the Power Authority of theState New York was desperate for a cleanenergy source to get away from its relianceon foreign oil. In the early 1980s it was esti-mated that the sale of Gull Island power toNew York could give Newfoundland andLabrador up to $400 million a year. Then-chairman John Dyson said the powerauthority would look for a guaranteed 30-year supply of electricity.

He didn’t care if the power was brought

to market via the Atlantic corridor orthrough Quebec.

“Newfoundland can transmit poweracross our province tomorrow if they wantto,” Nova Scotia premier John Buchanansaid in a 1980 CBC Television interview.Dyson also said that the power authoritywas prepared to finance the project — atleast partly.

A quarter century later, Connie Cullen, aspokeswoman for the renamed New YorkPower Authority, says power from the lowerChurchill remains an alternative.

“We could conceivably consider thispower source if it develops as part of a com-petitive RFP — that’s request for proposals— that (the power authority) would issue.”

Cullen says the power authority is cur-rently evaluating a number of proposals toprovide New York State with a 20-yearpower supply. She says officials expect adecision on a supplier to be made in thenear future, leaving the lower Churchillproject out of the picture for the moment.The New York Power Authority is thelargest state-owned electrical utility in theUnited States.

Peckford’s war with Quebec eventuallykilled the lower Churchill development. Hetried to regain control of the upper Churchillby attempting to take back the water rights,but eventually lost his case in the SupremeCourt of Canada.

With time running out, the Power Author-ity of the State of New York proceeded withother power options.

organized, intra-provincial bus ser-vice.

“If tourists fly into St. John’sand want to go to Trinity or GrosMorne, what can they do?” hesays. “This is the only province orstate in all of North America thatdoesn’t have published schedulesand rates.

“We’re losing out big time intourism, not to mention businessfrom people who live on theisland, because not everybodywants to drive a car.”

Ploughman also looks to Burinand the seaway as another majoropportunity not being properlytaken advantage of. He pulls outcarefully clipped newspaper arti-cles he’s kept on file.

“The ports in Vancouver and soon are all blocked off because ofall the goods coming over fromChina,” he says. “There are plansnow to go through the PanamaCanal and up to Halifax — Halifaxmay be the new Asian gateway.”

He goes on to describe the ever-increasing size of container ships.The vessels now carry between6,000 and 9,000 containers, hesays. But bigger ones are beingbuilt, which will hold up to 12,000.Currently Halifax is the only porton the eastern seaboard that canaccommodate these ships.

Ploughman says Whiffin Head,on the Burin Peninsula, could bedeveloped as a competitive trans-

shipment port.“You can imagine the cost of

operating one of these containerships per day,” Ploughman says.“Now, if you could shorten thejourney by a day or so … andthey’re going right by Newfound-land.

“There’s a nice port, ice free, onthe Burin Peninsula — the oil iscoming in there and being trans-shipped, we should be looking atthis as an alternative.”

Oldford, too, says the possibili-ty of a super port on the BurinPeninsula should be further stud-ied.

‘NOT A NEW IDEA’“It’s not a new idea, it’s been

kicked around for years,” he says.“Vessels could come in from allover the world and there would bea break bulk kind of situation —some would go down the Gulf ofSt. Lawrence, others down theeastern seaboard.

“Unfortunately, Halifax kind ofbeat us to the punch on that … butit’s not too late.”

Ploughman, who spends fourmonths a year in his Labrador res-idence, has another beef. Hebelieves the Trans-Labrador high-way plan should be revisited, inlight of the possible completion ofQuebec’s north shore highway,which would take travellersthrough Quebec, along the coast ofthe St. Lawrence, and to the BlancSablon ferry to Newfoundland.

Quebec Premier Jean Charestmade an election promise to finishthe road — should he indeed doso, says Ploughman, it could beworth changing the Trans-Labrador highway plans to con-nect with the new coastal high-way.

“It’s only a matter of Premier(Danny) Williams picking up thephone, and asking Jean Charest —are you going ahead with the road,and what’s the timeframe? Thenthe department can start planningwith that in mind.”

All these pieces link together,says Oldford.

“With all of the different thingschurning up requiring provin-cial/federal funds, some kind ofexercise should be generated tohave a bunch of well-qualified,professional people to take a hardlook at this — and not have every-body fight for their own pet pro-ject.”

Ploughman doesn’t blame theprovincial minister responsible fortransportation or any of thoseworking in his department for anylack of foresight.

“It’s not the people there, it’s thesystem that’s got to change,” hesays. “We’ve got to be lookingforward 10, 15, 20 years in termsof planning, in terms of tourismopportunities.

“We need people not just wor-ried about maintenance and snow-clearing. We need people thinkingoutside the box.”

Kicked around for yearsFrom page 1

From page 1


The Independent, January 16, 2005 NEWS

By Clare-Marie GosseThe Independent

With a self-confessed“challenging” yearbehind him, Royal New-

foundland Constabulary’s ChiefRichard Deering tells The Indepen-dent that 2005 will bring somechanges.

Taking his position at the end ofa large, polished boardroom table,Deering’s careful demeanor reflectssome of the pressure felt by theforce of late.

Issues such as lack of manpower,alarming peaks in crime stats,labour strikes, and a high-profilepublic inquiry into past Constabu-lary operations have stressed theorganization.

WAYS TO IMPROVE

Following in the footsteps ofother government sectors, the Con-stabulary is planning some efficien-cy restructuring this year, looking atways to improve and tighten servicedelivery.

“With limited resources you wantto make sure they are being used toyour best advantage,” says Deering.

The ongoing issue of “limitedresources” was recently addressedby the Constabulary’s union headTim Buckle in a pre-budget presen-tation to government, citing a his-tory of “neglect” towards the force.

One area of concern is the short-age of police officers. The Con-stabulary is also facing a significantdrop in numbers over the next 10years due to retirements.

Six new officers were officially

sworn in last week, and another 29wait in the wings, enrolled in anacademic program at MemorialUniversity. The recruits are expect-ed to hit the streets by September,after some practical on-the-jobtraining.

“We’ve been playing catch-up …for quite some time, but it will takeus a number of years to really catchup,” Deering says.

It’s anticipatedthat as a result of theconclusion of theLamer Inquiry, addi-tional policing stan-dards will be recom-mended, whichwould pose anotherdrain on Constabu-lary resources.

Deering says he’srefraining from pub-lic comment on theinquiry — which isinvestigating threewrongful murder convictions —until it concludes.

Roughly half of the officers underquestioning are still part of theforce.

“Obviously Lamer is somethingthat’s a source of concern to theorganization and to particular mem-bers of the organization … but Ithink in terms of being able to moveforward you have to know whatcaused the problems in the past.”

Reflecting over 2004, Deeringmentions the 28-day public sectorstrike in early spring as the firstmajor operational challenge, par-ticularly as officers found them-selves policing some of their owncivilian colleagues.

“It was very lengthy … it wasvery taxing from a human resourcesperspective and a financialresources perspective,” he says.

“It was a very emotional timebecause clearly the role of thepolice in the strike is to walk downthe middle of the road as much aspossible and to remain neutral andto ensure that both sides live by therules.”

With the unusual-ly high number ofstrikes that were tofollow, picket linesbecame a focus forthe Constabulary,whose own unionassociation contractended in June. Anew agreement isstill pending, butnegotiations areexpected to beginwithin the nextmonth.

A continuing area of concern lastyear was the dramatic rise of certaincrime trends in the province, whichDeering blames largely on drug use.

“People are desperate and we seedesperate people committing des-perate acts to get the money to feedtheir drug habit,” he says.

“We are dealing with it, but youcan’t just go out and deal with it ina day and make it go away.”

The issue seems to strike a chordof frustration. Deering says toooften people turn exclusively to thepolice to fix “a crisis situation,”when society also needs to assumeresponsibility and consider solu-tions.

He adds instances of armed rob-

bery are up over 100 per cent from2003 levels.

“There’s been a lot of significantups unfortunately. Particularly inthe realm of property crime, breakand enter thefts, thefts of motorvehicles and in particular, armedrobberies.”

Drugs aside, the economy of theprovince is expanding, which caus-es other crime issues. More peopleare moving into the city, tourism isgrowing, and Deering says everyweekend seems to bring anotherbusiness conference, drawing moreand more visitors to popular areaslike George Street, which he adds,is a growing area of concern for theConstabulary.

‘DRAMATIC’ADJUSTMENT

Coming from a position with theOntario Provincial Police four yearsago, Deering says adjusting to thepolicing culture in Newfoundlandand Labrador was “pretty dramatic”in both good and bad ways.

Despite the differences and thefact this province has a low murderand violent crime rate, he express-es worry for the future.

“We’re still pretty safe, but Idon’t like the direction we’re goingand I’m not sure that’s the fault ofanyone. I think it’s all part of thisvillage globalization, that mentali-ty,” he says.

“I mean, think about the numberof people that access this provinceon a daily basis now, and that wasunheard of 15, 20 years ago … peo-ple are coming and going here,we’ve become a multi-national cen-tre for a number of industries.”

Chief concernsConstabulary boss reflects on 2004, high crime rates, George Street and his worry for the future

“We’re still prettysafe but I don’t

like the direction we’re going and I’m not sure that’s thefault of anyone.”

— Constabulary Chief Richard Deering



Letters to the Editor

Arevolution is taking placein Newfoundland andLabrador today, at least on

the editorial pages of The Indepen-dent, where the rising number ofletters to the editor isthreatening to squeezepoor columnists —innocent bystanders thatwe are — out on thestreet.

Everyone has anopinion these days: onJohn Efford; onChurchill Falls; on theGulf ferry; on the CoastGuard ships tied up inSt. John’s harbour for lack of gasmoney; on Globe columnist Mar-garet Wente and the central Cana-dian ignorance/bigotry she’s sus-pected of representing.

It’s dangerous when the publicbecomes overly riled, which iswhen heads tend to roll.

Canada has problems; Canadahas always had problems. Butissues like the flag flap and ongoingAtlantic Accord negotiations arefocusing more scrutiny on the fed-eration’s weaknesses.

Will Canada as we know it sur-vive the latest crisis, for it is surelythat.

Those goofy Newfies who werelaughed at for years are no longerwith us. They moved to the main-land and became Canadians. In

their place is a new generation ofeducated Newfoundlanders andLabradorians (Independent readers,more and more) no longer willingto accept the old line that this place

is have-not.That’s not true, we’re

slowly learning.Most of us have only

wonderful things to sayabout our country, Cana-da. How can you notwhen so many of ourssons and daughters, broth-ers and sisters, live in Vic-toria and Winnipeg, Scar-borough and Halifax?

The same blood flows throughthe veins of Newfoundlanders andLabradorians as other Canadians.

We are the same people — onlyless equal.

Separation, the word, was onceonly whispered; today it’s openlydiscussed on call-in radio showsand by water coolers. It’s a coursethat no one wants to see charted,but all routes must be explored. Itwould be foolish to rule anythingout.

Mainland media have one ques-tion in mind when the cameras areon and lens focused: what’s the “orelse?”

Newfoundland and Labrador ishard done by, but what’s it going todo about it?

Some advice from The Rock:

don’t put our backs to the wall —we’re fighting Newfoundlandersyet.

The battle over oil and gas rev-enues is destined to broaden toinclude the mismanaged fishery(let’s save that for another day),and the division of power amongstthe 10 provinces (this week’stopic).

From this province’s perspective,it’s politically screwed. With onlyseven seats out of 308, our voicesin the Commons are but a whimper.The idea of our MPs forming aBloc has been bandied about, butthe idea died the minute it sprangfrom Roger Grimes’ mouth. And,given our dwindling population, thenumber of seats isn’t about to shootthrough the roof.

That leaves the Senate and theage-old argument for a Triple-E(equal, elected, effective)makeover. But the idea of astronger Upper Chamber to makeup for the inequities in the Lowerone would be kiboshed as soon asOntario and Quebec realize they’dhave the same number of Senatorsas poor old Newfoundland andLabrador. How could they beexpected to live with that?

Is there a Canadian (outside ofQuebec) who believes that Quebecwould stand for reforming a parlia-mentary system that it controls?Quebec has charge of the prime

minister’s office; Quebec domi-nates the Supreme Court of Cana-da; Quebec has the bureaucracyunder its thumb (bilingualism takescare of that).

Quebec is in complete controland it’s not about to give it up. (AQuebec company, remember, alsoowns all the print media in New-foundland and Labrador, outside ofThe Independent, The Shorelineand the Northeast Avalon Times.)

Why would Quebec voluntarilygive up its power?

That brings us back to the pointabout the province being political-ly screwed.

Too much attention on the prob-lems of Confederation is never agood thing. Quebec’s separatismmovement has become a bluff, away to get what it wants. Themovement here in Newfoundlandand Labrador is based on gettingwhat we rightfully deserve, onbuilding a future for this place andour people.

The revolution has begun. Thereal question is not what’s our “orelse,” but Ottawa’s. What will hap-pen if Newfoundland and Labradordoesn’t mind its place?

Not a damn thing. The future isours.

Ryan Cleary is managing editorof The Independent.

[email protected]

Ottawa’s ‘or else’

‘The goose that lays the golden egg’

The Independent welcomes letters to the editor.Letters must be 300 words inlength or less and include full

name, mailing address anddaytime contact numbers.Letters may be edited forlength, content and legal

considerations. Send your letters in care of The Indepen-dent, P.O. Box 5891, StationC, St. John’s, NL, A1C 5X4

or e-mail us [email protected]

LETTERSPOLICY

Dear editor,The dawn of a new year is per-

haps as good a time as any toreflect on significant happeningsin the year past.

In regards to the cod situation in2004, DFO apprehended a numberof individuals around Newfound-land who took the chance to catcha cod or two and the courts madean example of those cod destroy-ers.

In my opinion, however, thegroup responsible for the untolddestruction of countless codaround the shores of Newfound-land last year was DFO itself.

Let me explain the great codcaper of 2004.

A lobby effort was mounted inthe spring of 2004 to persuadeDFO to allow a limited commer-cial cod fishery along the northeast

coast.What was finally decided upon

and agreed to by DFO was a so-called winter flounder or black-back fishery in which fishermenwere permitted an incidental catchof 300 pounds of cod per trip up toa maximum allowable catch of2,000 pounds per fisherman forthe season — at which time fish-ing would cease.

Unfortunately, as in most caseswhen one tries to fool the devil inthe dark, there was a serious catch— one that led to the destructionof thousands of precious largemother cod.

The catch was DFO’s insistencethat fishermen not use nets withmesh smaller than six and a halfinches — knowing the large meshsize would result in the destructionof large breeder cod so necessary

for recruitment. I begged DFO to allow fisher-

men to use five and a half inchnets to catch their 2,000 pounds ofcod. I was told that anyone usinggear smaller than six and a halfinch mesh size would be charged.

Consequently, I asked manyfishermen in this area as to the sizeof cod and roe sacs being taken inthis summer fishery of 2004.

“Like young harps!” I was told.“A bucket of spawn in each

one.”Lest anyone misunderstand, I

was totally in favour of a com-mercial cod fishery along thenortheast coast of Newfoundland,but absolutely against a gear typethat targets the precious, largemother breeders .

Any fisherman who cares any-thing for his community and his

future will agree, I believe, that wemust find some way to protect thegoose that lays the golden egg, asit were, while maintaining theright to feed our families from theresources at our disposal.

To avoid any misunderstanding,let me reiterate that I believe weshould be permitted a commercialcod fishery along the northeastcoast in 2005, but let’s have theguts to call it a cod fishery andlet’s use gear that targets mer-chantable fish — not the preciousbreeders.

And by the way, DFO, the nexttime you stand in court — the fed-eral minister or the managers —you should be the ones on trial forcrimes against nature!

David Boyd,Twillingate

CLEARYRYAN

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Brian Dobbin


I love a city where a supermar-ket can cause such a fuss.Only in St. John’s could this

be such a big issue.Toronto is a big city and it has

serious problems. It’s plagued withyouth-related crime, gang vio-lence, drive-by shootings, rob-beries and murders. All that andMargaret Wente lives there too.It’s a great city, but it has big chal-lenges. I’m glad I don’t live there.

I’m happy to live in a city wherepeople get their knickers in a twistover a supermarket. Since I start-ed working for The Independent,I’ve been approached numeroustimes and asked what my stand ison the supermarket Loblaws wantsto build by Quidi Vidi. I have nostand. Build it or don’t; that does-n’t mean I agree with it. That does-n’t mean I don’t agree with it. Itmeans I don’t give a rat’s ass.

I love supermarkets — the big-ger the better. I want it all and Iwant it all in one place. I want itnow. Build one and I will come,wherever it is. I understand thecontested location might be put tobetter use, but that’s true of a lot ofplaces where supermarkets nowstand.

I remember when the Shamrocksupermarket flap was in full roar.Lines were quickly drawn; opinionwas sharply divided. Friendships

were tested. Tempers flared. My opinion at the time? What-

ever.When it was Shamrock Field I

coached soccer there. Now it isgone, replaced by a beautifulsupermarket full to the brim withdelicious food. The same thing willhappen if and when they build onthe Memorial Stadium site. What’sto hate?

Plenty. There are two sides tothis debate. They’re both con-vinced they’re right and have dugin their heels.

That’s why I have some sympa-thy for John Roil, the independentcommissioner appointed to reviewthe whole fuss.

He must have known what athankless task it was going to be.No doubt he’s a fine fellow whogave the matter his full attention.But it could not have escaped himthat no matter what he decided, itwould not matter.

He reported that while it was asmart financial move for the city toput a supermarket there, it was not

the right use for the area and maycause traffic issues. With absolute-ly no disrespect meant to Mr. Roil— who I do not know and who Iassume is a competent and capablefellow — duh.

Did we really need to spend thebig dollars to have this figuredout? Will this change anyone’svote on St. John’s City Council?One side is claiming a great victo-ry and the other side says Roil iswrong.

Quelle surprise!Reviews and commissions of

this kind are a phenomenal wasteof time and taxpayers’ money.They state the obvious, change noone’s mind and are immediatelydismissed by those who don’tagree with the findings. I’m guess-ing that will be the fate of Roil’shard work.

That’s what happened to theRoyal Commission on Renewingand Strengthening Our Place inCanada. Again, I have no beefwith those who conducted it. I’mone of the nine who read it. Thewriting wasn’t too ponderous(although it was dripping with newage twaddle that sends me rightround the bend.)

It was just a waste of time. Itcost the taxpayers of this provincea hefty sum. It rehashed old factsand added lots of upbeat blather

about our “unique culture” and thelike. It was released with forcedfanfare by the quickly dyingGrimes administration and just asquickly disappeared without atrace, revived recently only in thecontext of how it was utterly out-classed and upstaged by an upstartlocal paper (cough cough). DannyWilliams and a bunch of flag-low-ering commissionaires causedmore of an impact on Tipp’s Eve.

I wanted to take a case of copiesof the report and place it on themeridian of the highway that wasbuilt but never used and take a pic-ture.

I’d call it “Your tax dollars atwork.”

I fear Roil’s report will have thesame impact. The press has report-ed that Roil has wisely refrained

from publicly commenting on hisreport. No doubt he did his best toinject sweet reason into the debate.It just doesn’t serve any purpose. IfRoil threw a press conferencetomorrow and changed his mind,all any reporter would have to dois switch the names of the council-lors in front of the for-and-againstquotes and file it again.

Here’s the Morgan Report: theduly elected council of St. John’swill put a supermarket there,regardless of Roil’s findings. Abright clean facility filled withfresh food that will make King’sBridge Road a nightmare.

Oh horror of horrors. I love this town.

Ivan Morgan can be reached [email protected]

Attention shoppers: supermarket by Quidi VidiRant &Reason

MORGANIVAN


‘Motherless, mewling seal pup’

Dear editor,Of late, I have heard the plain-

tive cry, “They are still not allow-ing me to talk.”

Who exactly are the they, Min-ister Reuben John Efford? Is itPremier Danny Williams andFinance Minister Sullivan? Or is ityour federal liberal confreres?

You claim you are a Newfound-land and Labrador’s staunchestdefender. Where have you beensince Jan. 6th when that hate-mon-gering fascist, Piggy Wente,spewed her racism from sea to seato sea? Silence for a moment issilent too long.

Wednesday, Jan. 5, the federalgovernment held a technical brief-ing to explain their position on theoffshore deal. The prime minis-

ter’s senior communications offi-cial, Scott Reid, was there, maskedas a senior federal bureaucrat.What is your opinion of this dirtytrick by your own governmentagainst your own people?

Will you stand idly by whenScott Reid makes good on histhreat to punish Newfoundlandand Labrador from PremierWilliams’ insisting that Paul Mar-tin, Jr. (a.k.a Small Paul) honourhis promise? I fear you will.

You have hardly been an ol’doghood in your willingness or abili-ty to fight (except for you and onlyyou). More like a motherless,mewling seal pup.

Resign. Go fishing. Get lost.

Tom Careen, Placentia

Dear editor,After soul searching for a prop-

er response to the “opinion” ofMargaret Wente in her Jan. 6th col-umn in The Globe and Mail, Ibelieve that one way to give her theattention she so craves for by writ-ing such an inflammatory piece,would to immortalize her name.

From now on, whenever weneed to describe a piece of writingas offensive to a group, so bigoted

and unfair, as well as ill informedabout an issue, or just designed toinflame sentiments, cprovocativeenough that it promotes hatredfrom far and wide, let’s just saythat it is a “wented” piece of writ-ing or a “wented” article.

Thus, she would — as her namewould be — forever associatedwith the lowest form of acknowl-edgment.

Andre Dubeau, Old Shop

‘Wented piece of writing’

Columnists are often bestdescribed as students of thehuman condition. Stupidity

is often the cause, and effect, ofthat condition.

In the home of the free and thebrave, launching a lawsuit isviewed by some as a rightenshrined in the U.S. constitution.Being a victim of one’s own stu-pidity is often — at least south ofthe border — like winning the lot-tery. Being dedicated to stupidity isnow the fastest route to riches inAmerica.

The American government iscurrently trying to make changesto its civil-law system in a bid toreduce the number of lawsuits. It’sa challenging issue as lobbygroups — insurance companies onone side and victim rights groupson the other — battle for supporton Capitol Hill.

Lawsuits impact the Americaneconomy by a staggering $233 bil-lion a year. It’s estimated that theaverage family of four pays $3,200US more for products, insuranceand health care because of thatcountry’s lawsuit love affair.Among other changes, the U.S.government is trying to limit “non-economic” damages such as painand suffering to $250,000.

An anti-lawsuit group in theU.S. recently announced the win-ners of its “wacky warnings” con-test. The group runs the contest ina bid to show just how far manu-facturers have been forced to go tolessen the chance of being suedbecause of a customer’s blatantstupidity.

First prize actually went to anOntario man for a label on a toilet

brush that read: “do not use forpersonal hygiene.”

Personally, I’d like to see theyap that’s big enough to fit a toiletbrush in. A brush that size, though,would cut down on the amount ofstrokes needed to maintain gooddental hygiene — as long as ithasn’t already done any bowl-duty.

The second-place winner was awarning on a child’s scooter. Thewarning, “this product moveswhen used,” would seem to sug-gest that some buy a scooter forreasons other than just scooting.One would have a head-scratchingtime imagining what those alterna-tive uses might possibly be.

It would also seem some Amer-ican consumers have troubletelling which end is the businessend when it comes to proper use ofa digital thermometer.

“Once used rectally, the ther-mometer should not be used oral-ly,” reads the warning.

“Warning labels are a sign of ourlawsuit-plagued times,” saysRobert Dorigo Jones, president ofMichigan Lawsuit Abuse Watch,in a press release on the group’swebsite.

Michigan Lawsuit Abuse Watchruns the contest in a bid to exposefrivolous lawsuits.

“Plaintiffs’ lawyers who file thelawsuits that prompt these warn-

ings argue they are making ussafer, but the warnings havebecome so long that few of us readthem anymore — even the oneswe should read. Hopefully, M-LAW’s Wacky Warning LabelContest will motivate everyone toread their warnings again, andmaybe even motivate judges to gettougher on frivolous lawsuits.”

It’s a nice thought, but no group,campaign or contest can protectpeople from themselves. Peopledon’t read warning labels. Beyondthat, many of us have waited inanticipation to finally move out ofthe family house and get our own

place and fill it with brand-newfurniture so we can run around ourapartment in a frothing fit and tearoff every label that reads “do notremove under the penalty of law.”

Rip. “Wahooooo!” Rip. “Wahooooo!” “There are many cases of warn-

ing labels saving lives,” saidJoanne Doroshow, executive direc-tor of New York’s Center for Jus-tice and Democracy, in an Associ-ated Press interview. “It’s muchbetter to be very cautious ... than tobe afraid of being made fun of by

a tort-reform group.”Maybe so, but if people are

going to brush their teeth with atoilet brush or have absolutely nohygiene concerns when it comes tothe use of a thermometer, thenmaybe frivolous lawsuits aren’twhat society should be truly con-cerned with. The concern shouldbe that these people are runningthrough the streets and, moreimportantly, reproducing at will.

Jeff Ducharme is The Indepen-dent’s senior writer.

[email protected]


Warning: don’t brush teeth with toilet brushOpinions Are Like...

DUCHARMEJEFF

biggerFEBRUARY 13, 2005


Apolitical scientist withMemorial University saysPrime Minister Paul Mar-

tin may be waiting until afternegotiations over the AtlanticAccord are complete before set-ting a date for the Labradorbyelection.

Candidates are already lining upto make a bid for the Liberal nom-ination after the seat was left vacantfollowing the untimely death ofLawrence O’Brien. The LabradorMP died on Dec.16 after a long bat-tle with cancer.

“I think it’s probably less so inLabrador to some extent, but Ithink all Liberal seats in theprovince are in danger while theAtlantic Accord issue is in flux,”Christopher Dunn tells The Inde-pendent.

“People tend to pay attention tobyelections and the provincial andnational media would be looking atthe tea leaves on this one in regardsto the implications of anunfavourable Liberal vote.”

Under federal legislation, Martinmust set the date of the electionwithin 180 days after ElectionsCanada is officially notified of thevacancy. That notification wasgiven on Dec. 21, meaning the dateof the election must be called bymid-June. While the prime ministermust set a date within a specifiedtimeframe, there is no legislationgoverning how long he can wait

before he sends voters to the polls.Marc Roy, a spokesperson for

the prime minister’s office, saysthe fact that no date has been sethas nothing to do with the AtlanticAccord. He says the prime minis-ter’s only concern may be “respect”for O’Brien and his family.

O’Brien’s staff in Ottawa andLabrador, says Roy, will remain inplace until a byelection is calledand a new MP is elected.

Natural Resources Minister JohnEfford is looking after O’Brien’sformer constituents.

“My good friend and colleagueLawrence O’Brien has only beendead a few weeks,” says Efford.“My goodness gracious, to say thatthe prime minister is holding off —no, that’s not correct.”

Rick Matthews, president of theriding association in Labrador, sayshe’s heard the same rumblings overthe contentious Atlantic Accordnegotiations.

“We would like to have some-body in place fairly soon, notimmediately, but these things taketime.”

Candidates are lining up for theLiberal nomination.

Todd Russell, president of theLabrador Métis Nation, says hewill seek the nomination. FormerMHA Perry Canning, Cartwright-L’Anse-au-Clair Liberal MHAYvonne Jones, and Torngat Moun-tains Liberal MHA Wally Andersenhave confirmed they’re seriouslyconsidering seeking the Liberalnod.

‘Tea leaves’Atlantic Accord talks may be delaying

Labrador byelection call: political scientist


Federal Natural ResourcesMinister John Efford accus-es Premier Danny Williams

of intentionally delaying a deal onchanges to the Atlantic Accord.Efford, who’s found himselfsquarely in the premier’s sights asa stumbling block to negotiations,is now the subject of a movementto recall him from Parliament.

With Williams fighting it outwith Ottawa over changes to theaccord and his bid for 100 per centof provincial offshore oil royal-ties, Efford says Williams is goingto use the loss of hundreds of mil-lions in additional revenue to jus-tify further provincial governmentcuts.

In the March 2004 budget, 4,000position cuts were announced —more are expected.

“If you ask for 100 per cent ofthe revenues with no clawback onequalization … what else can beon the table? Maybe he (Williams)is waiting until his budget is done.”

Paul Cooper of St. John’s hasstarted a movement called “RecallJohn Efford” through his websitepreviously named “Terminate JohnEfford.”

“We don’t have the legitimacyin recalling him,” Cooper tells TheIndependent. “However, if we hadenough support, enough peoplewho felt he should resign, thenyou would hope that he would notethat, realize he wouldn’t have thesupport of Newfoundlanders inrepresenting them in Ottawa.”

While the Canadian AllianceParty (forerunner of the federalConservative Party) called for leg-islation that would allow voters torecall a federal MP, it never hap-pened. Only British Columbia hassuch legislation.

Efford, MP for the federal ridingof Avalon, won the June 2004 elec-tion by some 10,000 votes. Headmits that supporting the federalgovernment over the accord hascost him dearly. Efford blames thefailure on his office and bad “com-munications.”

“We intentionally held backbefore December because therewas a lot of emotion in New-foundland on this issue and nomatter what we said, peopleweren’t listening, but I think nowit’s time to get the real message outthere.”

Cooper, who says he has nopolitical aspirations, says Effordhas to support the province’s posi-

tion — not the feds.“I don’t see any change in John

Efford’s approach, or his heart,”says Cooper. “I don’t see that he’schanging his attitude. He’ll try tosell to Newfoundland whateverPrime Minister (Paul) Martinwants him to sell to us.”

Despite the fact the Liberalshave a minority in the House ofCommons (such governments lastan average of 18 months), Effordsays he hasn’t even considered thepossibility of another election in2005.

“I’ve got no doubt that when thenext election comes and I’m in therace there will definitely be some-body to challenge me,” saysEfford. “And if I’m not in the race,I’m sure there’ll be people champ-ing at the bit to be nominated to

become the candidate.“It’s democracy and people have

the right to run, and my objectiveis to win always.”

Efford says he hopes an agree-ment will be reached between thepremier and Martin when theymeet Jan. 28. The premier hadrequested the face-to-face meetingafter negotiations fell apart beforeChristmas.

“I wouldn’t like to say that therecan’t be a deal reached,” saysEfford. “In fact, it should havebeen signed weeks and monthsago.”

In a Jan. 13 press conference,provincial Finance Minister Loy-ola Sullivan said Efford should goaway and hide “because everytime he opens his mouth, he com-plicates it.”

Sullivan maintains it would bebest for Efford to stay away fromany future meetings on the accord,despite Martin’s position that he beinvolved.

Steve Crocker, president of theLiberal riding association in Aval-on, says he has seen no indicationthat Efford won’t run in the nextfederal election. He’s also seen nosign of candidates preparing tochallenge him for the nomination.

Michelle Brazil, president of theriding association in Avalon forthe federal Conservatives, isalready getting the electionmachinery ready.

“There’s certainly a lot of peopletalking and there’s certainly a lot ofinterest generated in mobilizingpeople,” says Brazil. “There’s noquestion about that.”

By Alisha MorrisseyThe Independent

While Canada may placemuch of the blame onSpain for foreign over-

fishing and the destruction ofstocks on the Grand Banks, theSpanish believe Canadian influ-ence over the Northwest AtlanticFisheries Organization has beenthe downfall of its fishery.

As the owners of the Estai —the Spanish fishing vessel caughtoverfishing outside the 200-milelimit in 1995 — sue the Canadiangovernment for “piracy andunlawful seizure,” one Spanishjournalist says her country is thevictim in the battle over foreign

overfishing. Luz Maria Duran, the “econo-

my/sea journalist” for Faro DeVigo, a Spanish newspaper fromthe fishing town of Vigo, says thecountry caught 40,000 tonnes ofturbot each year between 1991and 1995 — compared to 14,000tonnes in 2004.

Spain shared a quota — put inplace by NAFO, which overseesfishing on the high seas — with 14other European Union (EU) coun-tries. Duran says the combinedquota was comparable to whatpreviously was the allotment for asingle nation such as Cuba.

She says there were meetingsset up to come to an arrangementbetween NAFO and the European

Union for a fairer quota to be putin place, but in the end the EUopted out of quota regulations,choosing to set its own.

“In September 1994, NAFOdecides to regulate the halibut(turbot) because Canada asksthat,” Duran tells The Independentin broken English. “It makes theSpanish people very angry.”

Duran says Spain didn’t alwaysfish for turbot in internationalwaters off the nose and tail of theGrand Banks.

The waters off Armenia wereonce a primary fishing ground forthe Spanish (as well as the FaroeIslands and Argentina) until thecountry declared its independencein 1991 and told Spain it was no

longer allowed to fish its waters.The oceanographic institute in

Spain then discovered they couldlegally fish turbot outside Cana-da’s 200-mile limit.

“They sent three boats — threefishing boats — to try to fish thisturbot in international waters,”says Duran.

“It was good for the fishermento catch this new fish because themeat is good and also they thinkthey can find a market to sellthat.”

She says Spain fished there until1994 when NAFO regulated thespecies — at Canada’s urging,because its scientific data said thestocks were in danger.

“And when NAFO decides to

regulate this fish then the EU wasnot happy with the quota thatNAFO decide for the EU.”

Duran says the Canadian gov-ernment wasn’t even interested inturbot until they saw Spain creat-ing a profitable market for the fish.

“When the Canadian peoplesaw the Spanish fishing halibut ininternational waters and (we had)a market in Germany and othercountries, they say, ‘Why don’twe do that?’”

Duran says that’s why the Span-ish are “so furious” with Canada.

She says fishing in Spain wasnever a seasonal industry,although it is now.

“We think that NAFO is man-aged by Canada.”


Spain ‘furious’ with Canada over turbot war

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‘My objective is to win’

John Efford not ruling out running again;recall movement to try and oust him

Paul Daly/The IndependentJohn Efford

CORNER BROOKBy Connie BolandFor The Independent

Paula Gillam chuckles whenasked how long she’s beenwaiting to have an MRI. It’s

been more than two years, the Cor-ner Brook woman estimates. “Iguess I got lost in the shuffle.”

Gillam has had one MRI sincebeing diagnosed with MultipleSclerosis in 1994. She hopes theprovince’s second Magnetic Reso-nance Imaging (MRI) unit —scheduled to be up and running atWestern Memorial Regional Hos-pital by mid-February — willmean decreased wait times forpatients like her.

“It’s about time,” she tells TheIndependent. “Hopefully, peoplewon’t have to wait so long to getan MRI when they need one.”

The former Liberal governmentannounced in 2003 that it wouldpurchase additional MRI capacityas part of a $26-million medicaland diagnostic equipment fund.MRI units would be placed inwestern and central areas of theprovince to complement the soleMRI unit operating at the HealthSciences Centre in St. John’s.

The announcement sparked dis-cussion province-wide as to what

type of MRI unit — stationary ormobile — as well as location,would best service those regions.The initial plan — to bring in amobile unit — drew intense oppo-sition from all corners.

In Corner Brook, an MRI ActionCommittee was formed, letterswere written and protests staged.During one memorial event, thou-sands of men, women and childrenheld hands to form a human chainaround Western Memorial Region-al Hospital. Their show of supportdid not go unnoticed.

Gillam, chair of the local MSchapter, was part of that massivelobby effort. “Seeing that manypeople fighting for the same thingis something I will never forget,”she says. “Everybody cametogether for a common cause. Itwas wicked.”

The public outcry worked. InJuly 2003 government announceda stationary MRI would be placedat Western Memorial. The current

Tory government furthered that byallotting $1.3 million for renova-tions at the hospital in its 2004budget.

Max Powell, vice-president ofclinical operations with the West-ern Health Care Corporation,

anticipates the unit will beinstalled by the end of January.“We have trained staff ready togo,” he says. “After a brief transi-tional phase the machine should bein operation by mid-February.

“This is great news for the

region,” Powell adds. “Probablythe question I get asked most oftenis ‘When is the MRI going to beup and running?’ It’s somethingthat has caught hold in the entireregion.

“It’s always been a popular pro-ject,” he says. “I have no idea why.I guess people see it as the epito-me of technology.”

Having an MRI on the westcoast will ease the cost of travel forsome patients. Gillam went to Hal-ifax for her initial MRI and isexcited that the second will bedone closer to home.

“Having to travel for medicaltests is expensive,” she says. “I’mambulatory, but for an MS patientwho has to have a caregiver travelwith them that adds to the cost.Driving isn’t comfortable and thecost of flying isn’t feasible. This isgoing to make things easier for alot of people. It’s about time.”

With construction well under-way, Powell says the corporationwill now turn its attention to exist-ing wait lists and get down to thebusiness of booking appointments.No decision has been made as towhether people in the easternregion will be able to travel west tohave an MRI.

A report released recently by theCanadian Institute for HealthInformation (CIHI) ranked New-foundland and Labrador at the bot-tom of all Canadian provinceswhen it comes to MRI access.With only one MRI serving rough-ly 500,000 people, the provincewas given a 1.9 rating for MRIscanners per million population.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging isa high technology diagnostic toolthat can detect soft tissue problemsand is especially useful in more in-depth diagnosis of conditions ofthe brain and spinal cord.


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‘It’s about time’Province’s second MRI machine to start up next month




The question of whetherTaser guns are safe has sur-faced again after a Jan. 9

incident in which an RCMP offi-cer used one to subdue a man inBotwood.

Even the association represent-ing Royal Newfoundland Con-stabulary officers says it doesn’tsupport training officers in theuse of the Taser — not by using iton them anyway.

The Botwood incident did notresult in serious injuries, but theTaser is currently the subject of anationwide study.

The RCMP has a number ofTasers that officers can access ifneeded, but officers don’t carry

the weapon as a rule. The Con-stabulary won’t make a decisionon widespread use of the Taser

until the Canadian Association ofChiefs of Police and the NationalResearch Council announce the

findings of a joint study on theTaser and its use. The main goalof the study is to reassure thepublic that the Taser is safe.

A study released last week bythe U.S. Pentagon found that theweapon is “without a significantrisk of unintended severeeffects.”

Members of the Constabulary’stactical force are currently armedwith Tasers, but the Mountieshave 60 of the weapons in useacross the island. Since cominginto use, the Mounties have usedthe Taser 17 times and the Con-stabulary’s tactical squad, aboutfive times (exactnumbers weren’tavailable).

Approximately60 police forcesacross the coun-try use the Taser,which delivers a5 0 , 0 0 0 - v o l tshock, incapaci-tating the subject.Approximately84 deaths inNorth Americahave been linkedto what policecall the “less-than-lethal” optionsince the Taser was introduced.

According to a story in TheArizona Republic, medical exam-iners found that in 11 of those 84cases, Tasers “were a cause, acontributing factor, or could notbe ruled out in someone’s death.”

Deaths that have occurred fol-lowing Taser charges have beenlinked to heart conditions, druguse and even the result of thesubject falling after beingshocked.

Police forces across the countryrequire that their officers betasered before they’re allowed touse the weapon, but Tim Buckleof the Royal Newfoundland Con-stabulary Association says thatpractice should end.

“In the same way that I don’tneed to be shot with a firearm toknow what effect it has, I don’tthink that I need to be shot with aTaser to understand the shock thatit presents to the central nervoussystem and the incapacitation thatresults.”

Buckle says the association“would consider it (an officer’s)right under Occupational Healthand Safety not to subject them-selves to that situation.”

Staff Sgt. June Layden, spokes-woman for the Constabulary, saysthe force has no concrete policywhen it comes to asking officersto be tasered as part of their train-ing. An American police officerrecently launched a lawsuitagainst his employer after heinjured his back after being shotwith a Taser during training.

RCMP Sergeant Jim Skanes,who’s in charge of Taser training

in the province,says the Taser isvaluable becauseit gives officersan option to con-tain an individualwithout usinglethal force.

“It fills a voidthere in that ourmembers can stillconfront thatindividual withan option thatmay not be(lethal),” says

Skanes.“The Taser itself is not a lethal

weapon, it shouldn’t kill any-body.”

The RCMP still use Tasers aspart of their training, but thepractice of tasering members ofthe media to demonstrate thesafety of the weapon has beenhalted after concerns were raisedthat an injury could result and alawsuit launched against theRCMP.

“In the (Botwood) case, itprobably saved the individual’slife because if he picked up a gunthe boys were probably going tohave to shoot him.”

Skanes says officers are mak-ing a last minute, often life anddeath decision when using theTaser. When the use of suchweapons is questioned after thefact in a court of law or during aninquiry, he says they “have all thetime in the world to dissect it.

“They’ve got months and yearsto look at what you did in thespace of a second.”

‘It shouldn’t kill anybody’

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January 21 . . . . Two Seasons Inn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Wabush-Labrador City

January 24 . . . . Fong’s Motel and Restaurant. . . . . . Carbonear

January 25 . . . . Klondyke Hotel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bay Roberts

January 27 . . . . Clarenville Inn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Clarenville

January 28 . . . . Northeast Arm Motel. . . . . . . . . . . . Placentia

January 31 . . . . Glynmill Inn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Corner Brook

February 1 . . . . Ocean View Motel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rocky Harbour

February 3 . . . . Hotel Port aux Basques . . . . . . . . . . Port aux Basques

February 7 . . . . Albatross Hotel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gander

February 8 . . . . Brittany Inn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lewisporte

February 9 . . . . Fairmont Newfoundland . . . . . . . . . . St. John’s

February 10 . . . Marie’s Motel and Restaurant . . . . . Springdale

February 11 . . . Mount Peyton Hotel . . . . . . . . . . . . . Grand Falls-Windsor

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Paul Daly/The IndependentRCMP Sergeant Jim Skanes

“It fills a void there in that our

members can still confront that individual with

an option that maynot be (lethal).”

— Sergeant Jim Skanes

Police waiting for Taser study

results; Constabassociation will

fight for officers’right not to be shocked


Once upon a time, it wasn’t likethis. You could cut a tree wher-ever you wanted, catch a fish

whenever you wanted.Now you need a permit to cut a

Christmas tree, or you’re forced to buyone off a lot. And as for catching a codto put on the supper table, forget it.

Modern values of conservation maymake these laws necessary, but there’ssomething about them that go againstthe Newfoundland and Labrador psy-che.

We don’t take to them naturally. Onan intellectual level, we may appreci-ate the need for laws regulating our useof the land and sea. But, deep down,we often resent them.

FREE REIGNIt wasn’t that long ago in our histo-

ry, relatively speaking, that New-foundlanders and Labradorians hadfree reign over their natural surround-ings. And I believe even the youngergenerations have inherited a sense ofbirthright, a sense of entitlement towhat nature has to offer.

I remember sometime in the 1990slistening to a lecture by Innu leaderDaniel Ashini in Corner Brook. Hespoke of how the Innu feel at homewhen they have the chance to go in thecountry and live off the land. He saidpeople who are disconnected from theland don’t really know who they are.

There was something about hiswords that struck a nerve with me. Iremembered how once, after a partic-ularly disastrous semester at MUN, Ispent a week visiting the differentislands in Placentia Bay on a boat withsome friends. We caught trout at Indi-an Harbour for breakfast one day, lob-ster off Port Royal on another. By the

time we steamed into Placentia, I felthealthier than I had for a long time —physically and spiritually.

These days, I hardly ever get out inthe country. I haven’t been out in thebay (the real bay) in 20 years. Life istoo hectic, I tell myself.

There are still people out there whoare connected in a meaningful way.Fishermen and loggers are, however,usually too busy to wax poeticallyabout the experience.

There are those who take a less hec-tic approach — the hikers and snow-shoe enthusiasts who take their time toenjoy nature. Then there are the week-end warriors, those for whom nature isa racetrack for the loudest and fastestmachines they can afford.

Oddly enough, some of the peoplewith the biggest and baddest modernmachines are the same people whocling most tenaciously to the frontiermentality.

Around Christmas time, theprovince introduced a law requiring allsnowmobilers who use groomed trailsto purchase an $80 sticker from thesnowmobile federation. Money raisedfrom the stickers will go toward main-taining the trails.

It’s only fair. If you want to usetrails that cost money to maintain, thenyou should contribute to the mainte-nance.

It will be interesting to see howeffectively the new law is enforced. If

it isn’t enforced, it will be a law inname only, similar to the bicycle hel-met laws that were introducedthroughout this province about adecade ago. Know anyone who hasreceived a ticket for not wearing abike helmet?

Snowmobilers who don’t want topay the fee have the option of rough-ing it, of veering away from thegroomed trails. But they have to askthemselves if it costs more in the longterm to avoid them.

Insurance rates for snowmobileoperators have been skyrocketing inrecent years. There is a hope that thepresence of groomed trails will helpcurtail or even reverse the trend.

Here on the west coast, we’reblessed with an abundance of snowand countryside. Like Labrador, thereis a definable snowmobile culture inthis part of the province — quite adeparture from the Placentia areawhere I grew up. Not many snowmo-biles down there. It’s too much of abummer to have to keep dragging themachines out of the bog.

No such problem here. Come lateNovember, there’s enough snow in thehigh country for the snowmobile sea-son to begin, and it doesn’t end untilApril.

It is exhilarating, speeding throughthe open country. But such a feeling offreedom is no longer totally free any-more. It might offend some part of usthat still clings to the old ways. But ifwe want the benefits of a modernworld, we have to accept the rules andrealities that come with it.

Frank Carroll is a journalisminstructor at the Stephenville-campusof the College of the NorthAtlantic.

[email protected]

The day the birthright diedWest

Words

CARROLLFRANK

The Shipping News


Keeping an eye on thecomings and goingsof the ships in St.

John’s harbour. Informationprovided by the coast guardtraffic centre.

MONDAY, JAN.10Vessels arrived: ASLSanderling, Canada, fromHalifax; Maersk Chignecto,Canada, from Trinity Bay. Vessels departed: MaerskPlacentia, Canada, to Hiber-nia; Burin Sea, Canada, toWhite Rose.

TUESDAY, JAN. 11Vessels arrived: Cicero,Canada, from Montreal.Vessels departed: MaerskPlacentia, Canada, fromTerra Nova.

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 12Vessels arrived: MaerskNorseman, Canada, from Sea.Vessels departed: Cicero,Canada, to Montreal; Tuvaq,Canada, to Come ByChance.

THURSDAY, JAN. 13Vessels arrived: AtlanticEagle, Canada, from TerraNova.Vessels departed: AtlanticEagle, Canada, to TerraNova.

FRIDAY, JAN. 14Vessels arrived: MaerskNascopie, Canada, fromHibernia; Ann Harvey,Canada, from sea.Vessels departed: MaerskChignecto, Canada, toWhite Rose.

strongerFEBRUARY 13, 2005


Health Minister John Otten-heimer says he can’t spec-ulate as to how many

administrative positions may fallby the wayside when theprovince’s health boards aretrimmed to four from 14.

He says his department’s mainfocus is geared towards movingthe restructuring process along, aswell as putting to use extra feder-al funding negotiated for theprovinces last fall.

“We hope to be in a positionwithin the next couple of weeksperhaps, to announce the new fourCEOs for each of the healthauthorities,” Ottenheimer tells TheIndependent.

“That will then complete thepersonnel component.”

NEW BOARD MEMBERSLast week, the minister’s office

released the names of the newboard members for the fourregions — Eastern, Central, West-ern and Labrador-Grenfell — fol-lowing the appointment of chairdesignates in November.

The existing 14 boards willremain in place until March 31while a transfer of duties takesplace. All significant operationaldecisions until then will be madein consultation and agreementwith the new chairs and members.

The board restructuring wasannounced as part of the March2004 budget in an attempt to save

money and increase efficiency.Ottenheimer says the transitionseems to be a smooth one and isprogressing “on schedule.”

Opposition Health CriticYvonne Jones is keen to see theprocess, which has lagged behindschedule of late, move along. Shesays dealing with people “thatmight not be there in a month” onlong-term issues has been frus-trating and is stalling the progress.

‘SUBSTANTIAL TIME’“Some of these issues … will

take substantial time to bringabout resolutions to. You almostfeel like you’re wasting your timebecause you’re meeting with peo-ple who may be exiting the systemany day.”

Jones admits concern over theinevitable job losses.

“You’re looking at an 18-monthprocess before you start seeingwhere the cuts are going to be, butthere will be cuts, there’s no doubtabout that. The earlier ones will bein the administrative area.”

She adds she would like to seethe allotted $32 million to $34million the government hasannounced — part of $293 mil-lion in federal funding for provin-cial healthcare over the next sixyears — go towards improve-ments officially targeted at specif-ic areas in need.

“I’d also like to see them (theprovincial government), underthis budget, look at how they canassist the boards in paying downthe debts that they have.”

Health cuts still notknown: Ottenheimer

January 16, 2005 IN CAMERA

Winter, spring, summer or fallSure, it may be freezing outside, but ice cream is churned

out at the Brookfield plant in St. John’s no matter the season

The January streets of St. John’sare cold and snowy. People outand about in woolly hats and

gloves are concerned with grabbing hotcups of coffee and warm muffins. Icecream is the last thing on anyone’s mind,relegated to that far away memoryknown as summer.

Inside 312 LeMarchant Rd., however,seasons are irrelevant.

At Scotsburn Dairy — more com-

monly known as Brookfield — produc-tion of thousands of litres of ice cream,spanning three floors of operation,churns at a frenzy, often non-stop for 24hours a day.

And it’s not even the busiest time ofyear.

“Summertime is traditionally ourbiggest selling season,” says BrianWalsh, Scotsburn’s corporate marketingco-ordinator, “but we’re busy in the off-

season, gearing up for production. We’reproducing in the off-season now.”

Having just sat down after a touraround the production facility, watchingice cream mix being squished into tubs,between cookie slabs and dipped inchocolate, Walsh settles into a boardroom chair and relates some of the com-pany’s history.

“The company formed in 1926 sowe’re almost at our 80th now. Almost 80

years in Newfoundland.”Scotsburn’s corporate past has

evolved. The sign above the door stillsays Brookfield, but the company hasofficially been known as Scotsburn since1988.

Brookfield began life as a creameryand cheese manufacturer in Truro, N.S.In 1926, the owner, R.B. MacLannan,

PHOTOS BY PAUL DALY / STORY BY CLARE-MARIE GOSSE

Continued on page 12

IN CAMERA The Independent, January 16, 2005

decided to bring his ice cream acrossthe Gulf and arranged to have hisproducts sold through a long-estab-lished Newfoundland drug store. Theproduct travelled to Halifax by truckand then shipped in cold storage bysteamer to St. John’s.

By June of that same year,MacLannan decided to set up thefirst Brookfield plant in theprovince’s capital city, on the cornerof Hill ‘O Chips and Water Street.Three years later, the facility movedto its current location on LeMarchantRoad.

The company today is a combina-tion of three different dairies: Brook-field, Scotsburn and Eastern Dairy-foods.

“It’s like a company divorced andgot back together again,” says Walsh.“There’s all kinds of history there aswe went from a different owner to adifferent owner … over the years,even though we were in one compa-ny originally, that became two com-panies and through mergers andacquisitions it became one again.”

Even Walsh looks mildly con-fused, but Scotsburn or Brookfield— there’s not a Newfoundlander orLabradorian who doesn’t recognizethe brand — produces milk, sourcream, cottage cheese, and butter, inaddition to frozen sweets.

“We produce so many differentproducts,” says Walsh when askedabout the best-selling items.

Production facilities in MountPearl and Corner Brook take care ofthe milk market, and plants in NovaScotia and New Brunswick areresponsible for the rest of Scotsburn’srepertoire, but it’s the ice cream plantin St. John’s that produces the com-pany’s “speciality.”

Down on the first floor, 10 giantvats full of ice cream mix, loudlychurn and funnel the liquid up twofloors and through the appropriatemachines.

During a tour, production manag-er Glenn LaCour points out some ofthe big sellers, like ice cream sand-wiches, which are created at a rate of700 dozen per hour.

He and Walsh explain that the

company doesn’t just produce underits own brand name. An “abundance”of their business comes from privatelabels such as supermarket chains,and some of the ice cream reaches —not only across Canada — but faraway countries like Indonesia.

One particularly impressivemachine called “the glacier” makesproduction of what Walsh calls“super-premium novelties” possible.

“The glacier machine is onemachine that we have that not a lot ofice cream manufacturers have,” hesays. “There are three in Canada andwe’ve got one of them.”

Today the glacier’s making Premi-um Bars, 500 dozen per hour. It’shypnotic to watch, as sticks withglobs of soft vanilla ice cream swishand dip through sweet-smelling liq-uid chocolate. The goop passes intowhat’s called a spiral freezer with atemperature of -51 F and comes outthe other end rock solid.

LaCour demonstrates by pickingone off the line and whacking itagainst a shelf. It takes a couple oftries before it breaks.

The Premium Bars pass through ametal detector before they’re encasedin plastic wrappers.

Close to 10 different products arebeing made in the plant today. Vanil-la, of course, is always the bigflavour favourite, although Walshsays anything containing caramelsells well.

Sixty workers are employed toproduce the goods — not including40 administrative staff behind thescenes — and LaCour says in thenext few months, as summerapproaches, numbers will go up. Atpeak times employees have theoption of working 16-hour shifts, asproduction is ongoing 24 hours aday.

“We’re Atlantic Canada’s largestdairy producer,” says Walsh. “I thinkpeople would be surprised how farand wide our products go and that weare producing products for the Cana-dian marketplace from St. John’s toBritish Columbia and somewhat intoother countries, all from here in St.John’s, Newfoundland.”

Scotsburn products go

‘far and wide’From page 11

The Independent, January 16, 2005 IN CAMERA

IN CAMERA The Independent, January 16, 2005

The Gallery is a regular feature in The Independent. For further information, or to submit proposals, please call (709) 726-4639, or e-mail [email protected]

Mark Prier

Mark Prier uses a variety of tech-niques — sculpture, video,installation, audio — in his

mixed-media pieces.“I like to dabble in as many things as

possible, but I try to keep performance askind of a central aspect to it,” Prier tellsThe Independent. “It gives you the oppor-tunity to do whatever you want.”

Originally from Hopeville, Ont., Prierhas relocated to Corner Brook, and isnow an active member of the League ofArtists from Western Newfoundland(LAWN).

During LAWN’s recent members’ exhi-bition, Prier showed Sentinels, a 10-minute video loop, shot from high van-tage points around Corner Brook andmodified to look distorted and distant.Mechanical breathing layers the images.

While his pieces may stand out fromthe others — which are mostly visual art— he maintains it’s accessible to all.

“I’m not doing anything too wild,”Prier says with a laugh, “although thatcould be disputed … it’s not like some ofthe crazy stuff going on in LA, I’m nothaving anyone shoot me in the arm oranything.

“I don’t think there’s as much of that is-this-art-or-is-it-not debate, which seemsto be the biggest problem for performanceart … I try to give (the audience) a littlebit of the meeting ground where we canall understand. I enjoy the theatrical partof it.”

With Nomad’s Land, for example: Prierset up a one-man passport office/con-

sulate for the state of Nomad’s Land (“anindependent state of mind”) on the street,complete with national flag, appropriateforms, and solemn citizenship oath. Overthe week-long performance, he signed upover 100 people — making a commentaryon bureaucracy, travel, borders, andbelonging.

For another project, The Stump Act,Prier and his partner Melissa Creaseydrove the entire 1,896 kilometre length ofYoung Street, stopping along the way toerect 20 wooden signs, each with a treestump on the front. The performance wasturned into a two-channel video, shown ina 10-minute loop — filmed partly fromthe dash of the car.

Then there’s Sorry, a video of Prier andCreasey lying in the snow. And HuntingBlind (Game Birds), featuring a recordingof Prier playing an early duck huntingsimulation game.

“I focus on landscape and geography,and the experience of being in between,”says Prier. “I like sort of a subtle sense ofhumour — I don’t think I can take onsome of the big issues that other artiststake on.”

In an effort to promote performanceand video art in Corner Brook, Prier andCreasey have opened up the foyer of theirapartment as a small space to view inde-pendent video shorts — Gallery 312,viewing by appointment only.

www.markprier.com— Stephanie Porter

Performance Art

Gallery

Nomad’s Land Sentinels

Hunting Blind (Game Birds)

Sorry



Dear editor,Thank you for permitting me the opportu-

nity to comment on the topic of same-sexmarriage, which I’m sure would be of inter-est to your readers. This topic has generatedmuch debate (I will limit my remarks).Sadly, I feel God’s word has been left out ofthe picture or taken out of context. I say thisbecause God’s definition of marriage is total-ly different than that of a common-law,same-sex relationship.

It was God Himself who joined togetherthe first couple and the institution was fun-damental to the continuance of the humanrace.

If the human race was to continue, it wasneedful that the sexes mate and reproduce,

and we have that divine edict on this.Undoubtedly, in creating the male and

female the Creator provided physical attrac-tion between sexes in humans in order toensure the procreation required for the mul-tiplication of the race. This was a basicrequirement in the case of man and woman,procreation was to take place within mar-riage. God had created man and later thewomen as man’s counterpart who wouldcomplement him physically, mentally andemotionally.

As well, we know marriage brings manyblessings, and it’s not simply an arrangementestablished for the multiplication and con-tinuance of the race.

Freenon Langer

‘Marriage brings many blessings’

Full name of province: Newfoundland and Labrador

Editor’s note: The following letterwas writing to Margaret Wente, acolumnist with The Globe andMail.

Ms.Wente,Canada has to be one of the

most wonderful countries in theworld. Never has this been betterillustrated than upon reading yourdisparaging writings about New-foundland and “great land North of60.”

Where else could such a nastylittle article be printed under theguise of freedom of speech? Andour freedom, indeed, decrees thatone can have such pejorativeremarks printed without the polit-ical retribution so commonly seenin other countries. Lucky you.

It’s clear that your indignationstems from the current furor overequalization payments and theassociated political wrangling thathas recently been in the news. Myown indignation stems from thediscriminatory comments so clear-

ly blaming Newfoundland for theexpiration of the Ontario coffersand theft of what you feel rightlybelongs to your province. The cor-rect title of our province is New-foundland and Labrador, for thosefor whom “our great land north of60” might be incomplete informa-tion. I’m not actually sure if yourefer to Labrador, Nunavut, theYukon or Santa’s North Pole. Your

insults in that regard are not clear.As I sit here, surveying the vast

and scenic northern Labradortableau outside my windows, Icannot help but feel sorry for yourmisconceptions. Your vast gener-alizations alluding to welfare andfishing, illustrate your lack ofknowledge about this region, andthe province as a whole.

I entered the workforce 20 years

ago, and I have never been unem-ployed. Let’s do some math —1,040 weeks of work, not 10. Let’sadd billions of dollars worth ofcheap power supplied byLabrador’s Churchill Falls hydro-electric facility to light up the east-ern seaboard of North America, ofwhich Labrador collects … zero.The extensive Voisey’s Bay (oh,that’s in Northern Labrador, by the

way) mineral deposits of nickeland copper, valued in the billionsof dollars, are managed by Inco.Last time I checked, they operatedout of Ontario. Under the AtlanticAccord, federal revenue is extract-ed at 86 per cent, and federal rev-enue is precisely that — it’s cer-tainly not coming here.

Ingried Felsberg Crocker,Goose Bay

‘Tyranny and oppression’The following is a copy of a letter sent tovarious national newspapers.

Dear editorI am to the point now, where I become

physically ill with contempt for my Cana-dian brothers and sisters who continue tocall Newfoundland and Labrador a welfarerecipient trying to keeptheir cheques after win-ning the lottery.

Their total lack ofunderstanding of the situ-ation and complete igno-rance towards us onlyadds fuel to the fire andfurther proves the pointthat Newfoundland andLabrador is not now, norever will be, an equalpartner in Confederation.

Newfoundland andLabrador has never beena welfare case, wehad/have more resourcesthan any province inCanada.

So why is it when wehave an embarrassment ofriches such as this, we arestill considered a welfarecase?

Because since we werebrought kicking andscreaming into this Confederation 50 yearsago our natural resources have been stolenfrom us.

Churchill Falls, one of the largest hydro-electric projects in the world, was taken byQuebec. We could generate the electricity,but we needed a power corridor throughQuebec to reach the U.S. market.

Rene Levesque cried they would burn

down any pole erected to carry New-foundland and Labrador power across hisprovince. The Supreme Court of Canada,as usual, bent over backwards to keepQuebec happy. This is the same court thatruled that Alberta is allowed to pipe its oilacross any province it wishes.

When we entered into this federation,we brought with us one ofthe richest fishing groundsin the world. They sat idly byand watched as foreign fleetsdecimated the fishery. Theyignored mounting politicaland scientific pressure athome to close the fisherybecause they did not want torisk jeopardizing the tradedeals they had secured withother countries.

Even today, with the vastoil and gas resources off ourshores, Ottawa is still tryingto rob us. Newfoundlandalready receives 100 per centof its offshore revenue. Prob-lem is, 70 per cent of it isclawed back under equaliza-tion.

A study conducted by TheIndependent found that sinceConfederation, Canada hastaken over $50 billion inresources and money from

Newfoundland and Labrador, while wehave received a paltry $10 billion in return.We, as a province, contribute approxi-mately four times more per capita to thiscountry than any other. We are fighting ourown version of tyranny and oppression.

Mark Morrissey,Corner Brook

Rene Levesque cried they would

burn down any poleerected to carry

Newfoundland andLabrador power

across his province.The Supreme Court of Canada, as usual,bent over backwards

to keep Quebechappy. This is the

same court that ruledthat Alberta is

allowed to pipe its oil across any

province it wishes.



Editor’s note: The following letter waswritten in response to an article by histori-an Michael Bliss that was published in TheNational Post’s Jan. 8 edition A copy wasforwarded to The Independent.

Dear Michael,Sure it was a nasty shock when you

threw a haymaker right over top of Quebec– whom we thought was the problem child– and smacked us a good one here in New-foundland and Labrador.

Then, after we were hit, we watched onCBC your supercilious smirk seep into ourliving rooms like green smog floating overLake Ontario. Your marriage metaphorwas catchy though — many of us wouldagree we married the wrong partner. It wasarranged, as you know, and not a lovematch. Maybe after the divorce, which yousuggest, we could get back with our oldflame — now that would really box you ineh!

We thought the Anglo-Torontonianswould be our friends. But, we should real-ize that you have problems also: the eliteAnglo remnant in Toronto is shrinking likethe polar icecap.

Wallace B. Rendell,St. John’s

Dear editor,Premier Danny Williams has conducted

the Atlantic Accord file like a chess master,thinking three or four moves ahead of every-body else. Sure he received some criticismfor removing the flags, but if he had not donesomething drastic after talks broke down inWinnipeg, where do you think the issuewould be right now?

Given the horrific events happening in theworld today, the Christmas holidays and thefact Ottawa has let this issue drag on, with-out the flag controversy this issue would nothave maintained any national media atten-tion, leaving us once again at the federal gov-ernment’s mercy to do a deal on their terms.

Do we honestly believe that removing theCanadian flag has changed the national atti-tude towards Newfoundlanders and Labrado-rians? Margaret Wente’s recent Globe andMail column illustrates just how deeply root-ed those national stereotypes are — flag orno flag. Taking such a strong stand, temper-ing the fire with a national press tour, thensending a personal letter to Paul Martin waspure strategy that leaves the prime ministerwith no choice but to deal publicly with thisissue.

Strong support at home will win the day,and Wente has further galvanized that sup-port. Next time you hear someone sayWilliams overplayed his hand, reflect andthink where we would be right now withouthis brain.

What a premier. Kirk Bussey,St. John’s

Editor’s note: The following is a copy of aletter forwarded to The Globe and Mail.

Dear editor,I awoke this morning and was shocked to

hear on CBC Radio some of the comments inMargaret Wente’s article about our province.What is her problem? Did she fall in lovewith a Newfoundlander who realized howshallow and ignorant she was and dumpedher? Did she eat some of our wonderful fishand find out she was allergic? Did she visitone of our beautiful coastlines and get sun

burned or, worse, bitten by a sea gull? I was born in Newfoundland and Labrador

in 1944 and I am more than proud. I feel spe-cial. My mother was born in a little fishingvillage called Petty Harbour. From her, myfather and my relatives, I learned what itmeant to work hard, to be honest, to be kind,to cherish each beautiful day. I was too youngto remember joining Confederation, but Inever felt that it was a good thing, and as timewent on, I started to think it was a bad thing.Now I know it was a bad thing.

My sister and her husband, like thousands

of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians,moved to the mainland to work, as did myson. They come home as often as they canand we visit. I have no desire to separate —yet.

I love that we are a peace-loving nation.Danny Williams is looking at the future andhoping to secure it for us, our children, andour grand-children. That is not to the detri-ment of Canada.

What is Ms. Wente so afraid of?I have read Danny’s excellent response to

Ms Wente’s article and I take my hat off to

him. I have also read Ryan Cleary’s articlein The Independent (Wente too far, Jan. 9 edi-tion) and take my hat off to him. To Ms.Wente, I throw a brick.

I suggest Ms. Wente move to Newfound-land and Labrador and take courses in New-foundland studies at Memorial University. Iwill put her up in my home. We can watchLand and Sea together. That will teach hersomething about Newfoundland andLabrador and its people.

Christine Care,St. John’s

Place: Globe&Mail,Toronto.Time: slow news week.Meeting: editors and journalists.Question: what would make a good newsstory this week?Answer: let’s stir up the Jews.Vote: no. Unanimous.Answer: let’s stir up the Muslims.Vote: No. Unanimous.Answer: let’s stir up the Jamaicans.Vote: no. Unanimous.Answer: let’s stir up the French Canadians.Vote: No, no no. Unanimous.Answer: let’s stir up the Ontarians.Vote: No, no, no, no, no.Unanimous.Answer: let’s stir up the Newfies.Vote: yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.Unanimous.How? Simple. Print anything that is degrad-ing, insulting, offensive, belittling, discrim-inatory, derogatory, demeaning, false, mis-leading.Have a nice day.

Burford Ploughman,St. John’s

Cole’s notes version

‘What is rightfully ours’

‘Do not give in to cowardly feds’Dear editor,

Is the Nova Scotia premier having moresuccess with the feds because that provincehas recently passed a French Language Ser-vices Act?

Those of us who have lived through thehistory of arm-twisting over French lan-guage services by Canadian provinces arealways suspicious of federal-provincialnegotiations. But do not let it happen inNewfoundland and Labrador. There are nowLanguage Police in Ontario and the mini-mum fine for unequal English/French signsis $5,000.

Support your premier, and do not give into those cowardly feds.

Helen Sikora,Hamilton, Ont.

‘What a premier’

‘Smog floating over Lake Ontario’

‘My God,’ imagine if John Efford had become premier Dear editor,

John Efford recently said he thinks hemade a mistake in asserting that the premiershould have accepted the federal govern-ment’s initial offer on the Atlantic Accord.Mistake is an understatement; he has made acolossal error that is nothing short of amoral.

Back in October, Efford said, “This is thedeal … take it or leave it.”

At that time, the offer from the federal

government was for $1.4 billion. Effordwould have taken that offer. Shame on him!Since that time, Premier Danny Williams hasdug in his heels and the feds have sinceupped the offer to almost double that. Itseems fair to say that Efford made a $1.4 bil-lion mistake. Even now, the federal offer thatEfford is supporting is still $1 billion short ofthe 100 per cent commitment made by theprime minister on June 5 last year. So really,

Efford has made a $2.4 billion mistake at theexpense of the province.

In case Efford has forgotten, he is New-foundland and Labrador’s representative inthe federal cabinet.

He cannot afford to be making $2.4 billionmistakes at the expense of the province.Efford is actually working against their inter-ests and will. From a moral standpoint,Efford must resign.

Efford once said he’d get elected if he “ranfor the Green Party.”

I’d love to see him try it now. My God,imagine if he had become premier!

Mr. Efford, you have no credibility left onthis file. If you really want to help the peo-ple of this province you have one option:resign.

Andrew ButlerBay Roberts

‘A thankless job’Most municipal council jobs unpaid, only 43 per cent

of current councillors to run in September election


Municipal elections may beset for Sept. 27 in New-foundland and Labrador,

but candidates aren’t exactly liningup to put their names on the ballot.

In most communities around theprovince council members andmayors are volunteers who worklong hours trying to improve theirtowns.

In St. John’s, Mayor Andy Wellsmakes $82,000 a year. In Englee, asmall town on the Northern Penin-sula, Mayor Edgar Fillier works fornothing.

“I guess it’s sort of stems fromyour desire to help where there’s aneed for someone to do work on avolunteer basis,” Fillier tells TheIndependent.

He says for many years Engleegave up on having a council and thetown manager handled administra-tive duties.

“It got to the point where a num-ber of us realized that there was aneed for some individuals to cometogether and try to bring the townback to where we thought it couldbe and where it should be,” he says.“A monetary incentive is not thereason they’re on (council) it’s justoffering themselves for service.”

When asked if he will run in thisfall’s election, Fillier, a retiredteacher, says he isn’t sure as hemay decide to spend winters else-where in the future.

He says it’s difficult to get peopleto run for council in such a smalltown.

“It’s a position that’s not envi-able.”

Craig Pollett, executive directorof the Newfoundland and LabradorFederation of Municipalities, says

surveys carried out over the pasttwo years asked councillors fromaround the province why theychose to run for an office that does-n’t pay.

“In some cases it’s a positivething and they see an opportunityand they think they can help thecouncil get thatopportunity,” Pollettsays. “In some casesit’s negative in thatthey see councildoing things theydon’t particularlyfeel are in the bestinterests of the com-munity. So they runin the election to tryto bring their pointof view to the table.”

He says there’s ageneral sense thatcandidates want tocontribute to thequality of life of their friends andneighbours.

“The experience that most ofthem have is that it ends up being alot more work then they expectedand it ends up being a lot more frus-trating then they expected.”

He says surveys showed only 43per cent of the more than 2,000current council members in 286municipalities around the provinceare expected to run in this year’s

election.If an important issue comes

along, Pollett says that can always“change the water on the beans.

“In the last election we had 100maybe … of the 286 municipalitieseither had just enough candidates tofill the slate, which means accla-

mation, or didn’thave enough andhad to have abyelection,” hesays.

“Almost half ofthem didn’t haveenough candidatesto contest seats.”

In St. John’s,Wells has “madeno bones aboutrunning” for histhird term.

“I would thinkbeing an electedcouncillor or

mayor, in some of these municipal-ities around the province, must beone of the most thankless jobsbecause you don’t get any compen-sation for it,” says Wells.

“I guess these people are moti-vated by public service.”

He says he was originally moti-vated to run for public office duringhis university days.

“I’ve always had an interest inthe politics of this province … I

guess I’m what you might call ajunky.”

Wells and his councillors make agood salary, one third or which isan allowance. There’s also a healthypension.

Municipal Affairs Minister JackByrne, who’s also a former mayorof Logy Bay-Outer Cove, says ithas become more difficult to find afull compliment of councillors torun in municipal elections — it alldepends on the issues in a commu-nity.

Byrne says he’s been encourag-ing people to run. While experi-enced people step forward, he’dalso like to see some new blood.Younger people, he says run for theright reasons — to make a townbetter.

As a mayor, Byrne says the coun-cil could have been paid a smallstipend, but they choose to use themoney to pay down the town’sdebt.

“Really what it boils down to isbeing interested in your communi-ty and personal satisfaction fromhelping out your community andthe people living in the town,”Byrne says. “Just being able to helpthe people out. It’s just a personalsatisfaction thing and I think thatapplies to a lot of the people acrossthe province who run for council.”

Back on the Northern Peninsula,Fillier says it takes a certain char-acteristic to work in a critical envi-ronment for little or no monetarygain.

“If you’re not hard-nosed enoughto take that criticism and realizethat you are doing your best, wellthen, I guess it’s no place for you,”he says.

“It has to be somewhat rewardingotherwise you wouldn’t be doingit.”

January 16, 2005 BUSINESS & COMMERCE

Municipal salariesMayor Deputy Mayor Councillor

St. John’s $81,975 $38,010 $29,477Corner Brook $24,622 $14,678 $13,369Gander $15,509 $13,899 $12,727Happy Valley-Goose Bay $14,000 $12,000 $10,000Englee $0 $0 $0

“A monetary incentive is not thereason they’re on(council) it’s just

offering themselvesfor service.”

— Edgar Fillier, Mayor of Englee

St. John’s Mayor Andy Wells Paul Daly/The Independent

BUSINESS The Independent, January 16, 2005

GARY PERRY 753-3030


Why are personal incometax rates in Newfound-land and Labrador con-

sistently higher than the otherprovinces and territories in Cana-da?

“We’re high because we needrevenue, we have expendituresand we need to have taxes to beable to pay the bills, it’s as simpleas that,” Finance Minister LoyolaSullivan tells The Independent.

“If you keep taxes down youhave to cut expenses and cut ser-vices.”

He adds funding is an area ofconstant concern, particularly inlight of the size of the provincialdebt, more than $11 billion.

Personal income tax rates arecalculated through separate feder-al and provincial percentages.Everyone in Canada pays thesame amount of federal tax — 16per cent for taxable earnings notexceeding $35,595 — and thatnumber increases as earningsincrease.

The government of everyprovince then decides their ownrates for their own residents —apart from Quebec whose ratesare federally and provinciallycombined.

“We went to the legislature, webought in a set rate and that rate isestablished,” says Sullivan. “Ourincome tax is separated from fed-eral tax. It used to be a per cent offederal tax but we divorced thatfrom the federal tax several years

ago.”Any changes — whether to

increase or decrease rates —would be announced as part asthe provincial budget.

Rates for all provinces in thecountry have varied little over thelast few years. Newfoundlandersand Labradorians pay 10.57 percent on all taxable income up to$29,590. Again, that amountincreases with earnings.

The lowest provincial rates arepaid by people in Nunavut —four per cent on taxable income upto $35,595 — closely followed bythe Northwest Territories, Ontarioand British Columbia. Residentsof Alberta pay 10 per cent on alltaxable earnings regardless of howmuch they make past the basicminimum amount.


Premier Danny Williams hashad a pre-feasibility studyon a fixed link between

Newfoundland and Labrador onhis desk since early December,breaking an election promise out-lined in the Tory pre-election Blue Book.

The Williams gov-ernment pledged thatany report preparedwith public moneywould be releasedwithin 30 days ofreceipt — and wouldbe available to the pub-lic both on the Internetand in hard copy.

The Blue Book alsosays government willlayout an action plan within 60days.

Elizabeth Matthews, spokes-woman for the premier’s office,says there are several circum-stances preventing the report frombeing released and acted upon.

“The document has to go beforecabinet, which we’re hoping willhappen in the next couple ofweeks,” Matthews tells The Inde-pendent.

She says the release wasdelayed by the holiday season.Further, the report was partially

paid for by the federal govern-ment, meaning the feds need timeto conduct their own review.

Eighty per cent of the $352,000bill for the study was covered bythe Atlantic Canada OpportunitiesAgency; the other 20 per cent waspicked up by the province.

The pre-feasibility study intoconstruction of acauseway, tunnel orbridge for crossingson the Strait of BellIsle was expected tobe complete in mid-August.

Such a link could beused to transmit elec-tricity from ChurchillFalls to the island por-tion of the provinceand is expected toincrease economic

growth in Labrador and on theNorthern Peninsula.

The consortium of companieshired to prepare the study washeaded by Hatch Mott MacDon-ald, a well-known company withexpertise in long-span bridges andtunnels, including the ChannelTunnel between England andFrance. Other companies includeIBI Group and St. John’s-basedcompanies SGE Acres and C-CORE. There was no additionalcost to complete the study, whichwas set at a fixed price.

No word on release of fixed-link study

Taxing story

The pre-feasi-bility study intoconstruction of

a causeway,tunnel or bridge…was expectedto be completein mid-August.

OTTAWACanada’s 10-year preoccupationwith trade as a means of fixinghuman rights abuse has been adismal failure, human rightsactivists say.

They’re calling on Prime Min-ister Paul Martin to take a firmerstand when he visits China duringhis Asian tour this week.

“We cannot leave human rightssimply to the whim of marketforces,” Alex Neve, head ofAmnesty International Canada,told a news conference.

“To have pursued that as almostthe solitary approach to howhuman rights were going to beraised and advanced in the Cana-da-China relationship was inade-quate.”

A coalition of non-governmen-tal advocates say Martin has aunique chance to correct a failedforeign policy on his first officialvisit to Beijing as prime minister.

Martin departs early today (jan.16) on a diplomatic mission toThailand, Sri Lanka, India, Japanand China.

The fast-growing Chinese econ-omy and its hunger for raw mate-

rials and resource expertise giveCanada leverage it must use, theactivists say, especially givenChina’s new-found interest in cur-rying foreign favour in the run-upto the 2008 Olympics.

Those forces have done nothingyet to end the Chinese govern-ment’s abuse of rights and the ruleof law, says Tenzig Dargyal of theCanada Tibet Committee.

Through a series of Team Cana-da trade missions in the 1990s, theLiberal government of Jean Chré-tien stressed global trade and openinvestment as the road to humanrights reforms.

Martin’s officials signalled asubtle shift in emphasis in a back-ground briefing this week, stress-ing that human rights issues willbe tackled through broad-basedengagement with Chinese profes-sionals and development projects.

But trade remains at the fore-front of the prime minister’s latestdiplomatic foray.

Officials say “significant com-mercial deals” will be formallysigned during the nine-day excur-sion.

—Canadian Pres

Trade doesn’t end rights abuses


Finance Minister Loyola Sullivan announces the date of a long-awaited meeting between Premier DannyWilliams and Prime Minister Paul Martin — Jan. 28. Sullivan had some choice words for Natural ResourcesMinister John Efford, requesting he keep out of future bargaining because he has been a “detriment to get-ting a deal.”

Making a date

Life by the bonny city

Mount Pearl native Laura Power dreamed of sunshine and sunny beaches.

She landed in Scotland instead

Avast imagination is key for achild in Newfoundland, par-ticularly a child in a fog-

shrouded bay, cove or inlet. While Igrew accustomed to the surround-ings, and even learned to appreciatethe Avalon’s weather (it’s not miser-able, biting wind — it’s a refreshingbreeze) I also grew up dreaming offar away lands.

Growing up in various parts ofnortheast Avalon Peninsula gave meample opportunity to fill my headwith palm trees and sunshine, neverbelieving I would ever have to leave.

But eventually, after relocating toOttawa for a few years, I acceptedthat I was at risk of becoming yetanother full time ex-pat. My facetowards Britain, my back to the Gulf,I crossed the pond and ended up inScotland.

I stay in Livingston, a town creat-ed in the 1960s to accommodate theoverflow of people in Edinburgh andGlasgow. I had no complaints whenI arrived, but I didn’t find myselfactually looking around in awe untilI took a short train ride into Edin-burgh, Scotland’sbonny capital city. Itnever fails to take mybreath away.

Gothic monuments,stone buildings black-ened by soot, andgiant cathedrals towerover the grey-cobble-stone hilly streets.Pipers clad in full tra-ditional kilt suitsstand at busy streetcorners filling thecool, breezy air withtraditional Scottishbagpipe melodies.

So I didn’t end upbasking in the sun-light on beaches ofgolden sand. In fact,it’s amazing how similar the U.K. isto my native land. Basically, you takeNewfoundland, and you take a lot oftrees away and put sheep in theirstead. Then you put a few jobs in andreplace the currency with a thicker,heavier one … There you go, you’vegot Scotland.

PORTHOLE TO HOMEDuring my first couple of weeks

here, I travelled with my new friends.We drove up north through manybeautiful towns and stopped at theGlenfiddich distillery. A few moretowns and cities and we landed inInverness, the capital of the ScottishHighlands. My heart was pounding— driving down through the high-lands, it was as though we had founda porthole to Gros Morne.

The Scots have a familiar rivalrywith their neighbours to the south.Feeling as though they have beentaken advantage of by the English forcenturies, they feel separate andproud and they scowl at the folksdown south. If you replace the Eng-lish with mainlanders and south withwest, it all makes sense.

I have had to make a few adjust-ments. I’d be a liar if I pretended likeI understood all their slang wordsand sayings immediately. I had toquestion them on words like “ming-ing,” which means “filthy.” You canalso say that someone was minging

drunk if his or her state needed to beexaggerated.

Then of course are words like“skint,” which I understood andadopted immediately. It’s a greatword — being skint is simply beingbroke. You can say you skint yourselfif you spent too much over the week-end, or you can simply tell someonethat no, you can’t go out tonight‘cause you’re skint.

When I first started working overhere in July, a co-worker asked meloudly and quite quickly, “How yagetting’ on?” I did a double take tomake sure I hadn’t met her in a pre-vious life in St. John’s.

WINTER WONDERLANDWhen I first talk to people, they

cock their heads and listen to myaccent instead of what I’m saying.They are curious about where I’mfrom. Being too stubborn to just sayCanada, I tell them Newfoundland.

Then they make me explain thegeographic location, genealogy andtopography of the island, whichbecomes quite tedious. Hard to getany work done when you’re sittingon the phone all day explaining thehistory of the Power family. Luckily,many people either pretend theyknow where Newfoundland is, orassume I’m from southern Ireland. I

sometimes getbored correctingpeople and playalong.

The culture shockwas minimal but Istill had my fairshare of happy sur-prises. Edinburgh inthe winter is a won-derland. PrincesStreet Gardens,which lies lowbetween PrincesStreet and the RoyalMile (the two majorshopping areas)becomes a tourist’sparadise and achild’s dream.

The trees are fullof white lights and a giant Ferriswheel stands tall over the street, lit upat night. An outdoor skating rinkunderneath is a family favourite, asare the carnival games and candyfloss (that’s cotton candy to ye west-erners). For the tourists and shoppers,there is a German market to take agander through.

The most major adjustment I’vehad to make, though, is to the weath-er. The U.K. is famous for its nasty,foggy, drizzly weather, right?

When I arrived in July, it was hot,clear, and sunny. I inquired withSteve (the fellow I was boardingwith) if this was unusual. He said,“och, wait until the winter.” So Iasked people at work and they allsaid “aye,” they had terrible winters,oh they were expecting the worstwinter yet.

By the way these people were talk-ing I figured I had walked into anearly death. It turns out the first timeI saw snow here was Dec. 18 at theborder on my way to England.

I may not have palm trees and hotsunshine, in fact, I’m no further southon the globe than I was in the begin-ning. But, truth be told, there’s some-thing familiar and comforting aboutbeing able to look out onto the sameocean I grew up with.

Do you know a Newfoundlander orLabradorian living away? [email protected]

January 16, 2005 INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

The Scots have afamiliar rivalry …Feeling as though

they have been taken advantage of by the English forcenturies, they feelseparate and proudand they scowl at

the folks down south.

Voice from Away By Laura PowerLivingston, Scotland

Walter Bibikow

View of Princes Street, Edinburgh, Scotland

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia Associated Press

Security concerns threaten to hamper efforts todeliver aid to Aceh province on the northerntip of Sumatra island, where more than

100,000 people were killed and tens of thousandsleft homeless or in need.

Foreign aid workers will have to take militaryescorts to areas of Indonesia’s tsunami-stricken Acehprovince deemed unsafe but troops for such escortsmay be in short supply, the Indonesian military says.

The comments likely will raise fears Indonesia’srecent move to restrict the movements of foreignerscould snarl up the massive relief effort.

Indonesian military spokesman Col. Ahmad YaniBasuki says the army considers only the areasaround the provincial capital Banda Aceh and thestricken coastal town Meulaboh safe for foreigners.

“Other areas aside from that are potential troublespots,” he says. “Anyone wishing to go there willneed to co-ordinate with the military.”

That means taking military escorts but Basukiwarned: “We don’t have enough personnel to secureeveryone.”

Moves by the Indonesian government, aimed pri-marily at U.S. troops, underscore the nationalisticcountry’s sensitivities at having foreign militaryforces operating there, even in a humanitarian effort.

Hundreds of troops from Australia, Singapore,Germany and other countries are also helping therelief mission. The Indonesian military is providingsecurity for all of them.

The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, whichis leading the U.S. military’s relief effort, steamedout of Indonesian waters Wednesday. The U.S.navy only has permission to fly aircraft into Indone-sian airspace if the flights are directly supportingthe humanitarian operation.

Indonesia declined to let the ship’s fighter pilotsuse its airspace for training missions. Under U.S.navy rules, pilots of carrier-based warplanes cannotgo longer than 14 days without flying or their skillsare considered to have degraded too far.

Since the Abraham Lincoln has been stationed offSumatra since Jan. 1, the carrier moved out ofIndonesian waters so its pilots could conduct theirtraining flights in international airspace.

Indonesian vice-president Jusuf Kalla said for-eign troops would leave the country by March 31.

“A three-month period is enough, even the soon-er the better,” Kalla says.

The government also ordered aid workers andjournalists to declare travel plans or face expulsionfrom Aceh as authorities moved to reassert controlof the rebellion-racked area.

Separatists in the Aceh region have been fightingfor an independent state for decades. Indonesia’smilitary chief offered the rebels a ceasefire, match-ing a unilateral one already declared by the insur-gents.

The military has nevertheless warned that rebelscould rob aid convoys and use refugee camps as

hideouts.“It is important to note that the government would

be placed in a very difficult position if any foreign-er who came to Aceh to assist in the aid effort washarmed through the acts of irresponsible parties,” thegovernment said in a statement.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard describedIndonesia’s demand as “a good idea.”

“It is very, very important that in the process ofgiving full effect to this magnificent internationalresponse, that we recognize the difficulties in Aceh,but that we don’t overreact to them and we don’t dra-matize them,” he says.

Before the tsunami, foreigners were banned fromthe area. This week’s demand highlighted the uneasewith which Indonesia has faced the aid operation,replete with civilian aid workers and foreign sol-diers.

UN agencies said they did not expect Jakarta’sorder to affect their operations because their securi-ty officers already work in close contact withIndonesia’s military.

“It could change the situation of (non-govern-mental organizations) who are moving around likeprivate persons,” says Mals Nyberg, a spokesman forthe UN High Commission for Refugees.

“I guess that’s what soldiers want to control: thatpeople are moving in conflict areas just liketourists.”

INTERNATIONAL The Independent, January 16, 2005

Nine women claim baby

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka Nine different women are claiming a baby boy called “Baby 81”who was brought to a hospital in eastern Sri Lanka on the day thetsunami hit last month, officials say.

The boy, whose real name is not known, was taken to Kalmu-nai Base Hospital on Dec. 26 covered with bruises and mud, Dr.K.R. Saseenthirian said. The child, who was alone, was the 81stadmission of the day.

“Parents who have lost their children come every day to the hos-pital to check,” Saseenthirian said in a telephone interview. “Somego back, and some stay and claim that the baby is theirs.”

Hospital officials said nine women have claimed the baby. Thewomen have quarrelled with each other and one threatened to com-mit suicide if she was not given the baby, a hospital official saidon condition of anonymity.

Hospital authorities asked police to investigate and DNA testsmay be conducted, Saseenthirian said.

Children accounted for a staggering 40 per cent or 12,000 of SriLanka’s tsunami death toll of nearly 31,000.

UNICEF says preliminary data indicate that nearly 1,000 chil-dren were orphaned by the tsunami in Sri Lanka and 3,200 lost oneparent.

— Associated Press

Video vendor arrestedBANGKOK, Thailand Police in the tsunami-devastated Thai resort town of Phuketarrested a man late last week for selling video CDs of the disas-ter.

The killer waves on Dec. 26 killed about 5,300 people in Thai-land, and left another 3,600 people missing. Survivors of the dis-aster have been enraged by reports that sidewalk vendors havebeen peddling VCDs of the tsunami for about 100 baht each, oraround $3 Cdn.

In response, police have ordered a crackdown on vendors sell-ing the VCDs.

“We detained one man for distributing the tsunami video andcharged him with distribution of an illegally produced feature,’’says police Col. Theeraphol Thipchareon in Phuket.

Much or all of the footage on the disaster VCDs is copied frommaterial broadcast on television.

The punishment for piracy is a minor fine.— Associated Press

Unsafe effortsIndonesian sensitivities force changes in foreign aid plans

World Briefs

Bay IsmoyoAFP/Getty Images

An Acehnese mother takes free food for her family at a refugee camp in Blang Bintang, Banda Aceh, Indonesia.

By Stephanie PorterThe Independent

Barry Canning, like somany musicians, has beenasked to perform at more

than a handful of fundraisers dur-ing his career — to offer his timeand talent for free, for any of anumber of causes.

“I try to pick a couple everyyear,” he tells The Independent.“You can’t say yes to everyone.But sometimes, there has to beexceptions, like this disaster or theone in Badger.

“Sometimes you just get thisoverwhelming desire to help, andyou ask yourself ‘What can I do?’I guess that’s human nature.”

Canning performed at a concertat Gower Street United Church lastweek, an early fundraiser thatpulled in about $10,000 for reliefefforts for victims of the Dec. 26tsunami that ravaged southeastAsia.

And when he got another call,this time from a hastily-organizedgroup called Hands of Hope — theorganizers of a massive day-longdrive for donations, culminatingwith an afternoon concert at MileOne Stadium and another showand auction at the Delta St. John’s— he agreed to that one as well.

“I’m sure it will be a top-notchshow,” he says. “Some of the orga-nizers have basically dedicatedtheir life to it for the time being.”

Like Caron Hawco, of CaronHawco Communications. She saysshe’s virtually put her company onhold until after Jan. 22, the big day.

Hawco is one of the brainsbehind the fast-moving Hands ofHope campaign. It all began, shesays, during a conversation withher husband, John Hutton, and twoof their friends, on Dec. 30, duringa concert at Club One in St. John’s.

With the Beatles tribute band,Abby Road, playing in the back-ground, the four decided to put offa major benefit event.

“We were all in some aspect ofthe entertainment or public rela-tions business so we thought wecould do it,” Hawco says. “We justthought we had to do something.

“We want to come together andcelebrate generosity and payhomage to people who live by thesea. We live by the sea, we workby the sea, we’re a Costal people.It resonates with us.”

The next day, the group metwith representatives of the CBCand Red Cross. Two days later,Jan. 2, a 15-person committeegathered to strategize and plan.Three days after that, Hands ofHope held a press conference toannounce their plans.

“I’ve never come up with a con-

cept, an event name, branded andlaunched to the press in four work-ing days,” says Hawco, “We knewwe had to get out early … you losethe public’s attention otherwise. Ifwe wanted to make a difference,we had to move quickly.”

Since then, says Hawco, dona-tions of time, services and goodshave poured in: all costs related to

the venues are being donated orcovered by the city or the Delta.Talent, airfares, hotel rooms, food,light and sound, are being offeredat virtually no charge.

The list of entertainers growsdaily — from Rex Murphy toShaun Majumder, Ron Hynes toShaye, Brothers in Stereo to theMasterless Men.

It’s quite possible, Hawco says,that every penny from every tick-et sold will go straight to the RedCross.

Hawco, Hutton and Dan Crum-mell, chair of the Delta event, meetat the Elks club in St. John’s,where the donated goods for thesilent auction are being stored untilthe day of the show.

There’s already several paint-ings, a barbeque and three movie-worthy trench coats by MountPearl-based manufacturers Abby-Shot — which the three committeemembers immediately don for aphoto.

The trio, no strangers tofundraising or co-ordinatingevents, say they’re overwhelmedby the generosity they’ve encoun-tered — which comes sometimesfrom unexpected places. Like allthree of the major breweries intown — Labatt, Molson and QuidiVidi — each offering to donatethree dollars for every beer sold atthe Delta on Jan. 22. And SeaKnifekayaks in Cottlesville, who calledout of the blue and offered a kayakand all the custom-made fixingsfor the auction.

All involved in the show arebusy (“I’ve got this life, my otherlife, and my other life and it’s a lot…,” says Hutton), committed,excited — and anxious.

“The key right now is to mobi-lize the general public to come tothese events,” says Crummell. “Weneed to get people to join togetherunder these two roofs … I am ner-vous about the response we’ll get.We do need to sell some ticketshere.

“It’s tough to talk about an eventlike this as enjoying yourself, Imean, it’s a solemn, sad event, but… it will be just as much about thecoming together of artists and thepeople of the community to sup-port these initiatives as it is afundraiser.”

That sense of celebration andtogetherness isn’t lost on Canningeither.

“Ultimately, it’s alright for us(musicians) too,” he says. “At MileOne, we’ll get to hang with ourpeers as we come together for thiscause, be a part of a great musicalvibe, and have the chance to playa very professional show to a verylarge crowd.

“And we play our part in help-ing to raise money for another partof the world that desperately needsit.”

The Mile One show, 4-7 p.m.Jan. 22 features: Shaye, JasonGreeley, Ron Hynes, Brothers inStereo, Mopaya, The Catch, TheFlummies, Barry Canning, theMasterless Men and more, hostedby Rex Murphy.

Act II at the Delta begins 8 p.m.There will be a “not-so-silent”auction and show hosted by MarkCritch and Shaun Majumder, fea-turing The Irish Descendants, Fer-gus O’Byrne, Dermot O’Reilly, theAbbey Road Beatles Tribute, TheFables and the Janet Cull band.

Tickets available at Mile One.

January 16, 2005 LIFE &TIMES

‘It resonates with us’Members of the Hands of Hope committee put their lives on

hold to organize major concerts and auction; musicians step up


Above: Dan Crummell, John Hutton and Caron Hawco, members of the Hands of Hope committee, model coatsby local clothier AbbyShot, which will be auctioned off at the Delta. Top: the list of special guests for the Jan. 22events include, left to right, Shaun Majumder, Brothers in Stereo, Damhnait Doyle, Ron Hynes, Barry Canning.

If ever you set foot on shoreand come upon my stone,remember, lad, I lived for you,and lived quite all alone.

— From “Nell’s Song”A Rope against the Sun

As a poetry reader I’minclined to agree withPatrick Warner’s assess-

ment of Al Pittman’s verse in arecent issue of Books in Canada,that “Pittman … wrote the kind ofchopped-up prose very commonin Canadian poetry of the last 30years.” Warner goes on to say“Having one’s roots primarily inthe oral tradition is no excuse forsloppiness on the page or sloppi-ness in thinking.”

What Warner is getting at —for I doubt he is suggesting anyinherent deficiency of oral litera-ture — is that Pittman’s styleoften focuses on a poem’s poten-tial for oral delivery to the detri-ment of its life on the page. Putanother way: without benefit ofthe author’s vocal interpretation,many of Pittman’s poems aredoomed to collapse from theirexertions without ever havingattracted a reader’s attention.

I must admit that if I were tojudge only on the basis of AnIsland in the Sky (the collection ofselected poems under review inWarner’s piece), I might be leftwondering what was so goodabout Pittman’s writing. Thank-fully, I have read beyond that.

Now over 30 years old, A ropeagainst the sun is a play writtenfor voice alone, much in the veinof Dylan Thomas’ Under MilkWood. Set on the “fictitious”island of Merasheen, the play ispopulated by almost 20 voicesand threaded along by an all-see-ing narrator who often breaks into describe elements of setting orreveal the inner thoughts of char-acters.

Jake: … Good morning, Nell.Narrator: says Jake and walks

on, hating her all the more nowthat he’s greeted her kindly andnot had the courage to curse or

ignore her.This might amount to stage

directions in a regular play, butwithout benefit of physical actinghere, the narrator fills in thosegaps of setting and character thatprops and body language mightordinarily accomplish.

It is Father Power, the localpriest, who lays bare for us themeaning behind the play’s title(and by extension, much of itstheme). “To coil a rope againstthe sun, to purchase a broom inMay, to meet a red-hairedwoman, to look over another’sshoulder into a mirror, to come inone door and go out another, tocross knives on the table, to whis-tle on the water” are all, accord-ing to the clergyman, “paganrites” hung over from a timewhen the light of Christ had notyet illuminated the hearts of menand women.

According to Steve Roud’sintroduction to The PenguinGuide to the Superstitions ofBritain and Ireland, the followingdefinition from the Collins Eng-lish Dictionary is the most perva-sive understanding of the termsuperstition: “Irrational beliefusually founded on ignorance orfear and characterized by obses-

sive reverence for omens, charms,etc.” Superstitions are thought tobe counter-intuitive, beliefs ren-dered obsolete by modern under-standing but persisting regardless.

Cultural tradition is often per-ceived in this same dim light. Wetend to think of modern methodsas vastly superior to their prede-cessors, not necessarily for anyinherent value they possess, butfor the very fact of their moderni-ty, as if youth alone were enoughto recommend them. A ropeagainst the sun concerns itselfwith this very thing.

Man: Used to be. Used to be.Like I just said, there ain’t nothinglike it used to be. It used to be theMass was said in Latin onaccount of the devil not beingable to understand it.

And then later: Man: … times is changing and

things changes with it.Passages such as this in turn

contribute to a growing sense ofthe characters’ unease with life onthe island. Father Power, consid-ering himself a failure as a priestto the people of Merasheen,yearns to be reassigned to anoth-er parish; Michael Kennedy, theschool teacher, wants nothing bet-ter than to escape these peoplewho are “much too petty to befascinating … and too self-cen-tred to be lovable”; Mrs. Ennis,awaiting the birth of her baby, istortured by the possibility ofbreaking sunkers, an omen shefears will herald the child’s doom;Nell Pittman pines for “her name-less lover who never came thoughshe waited for him all her life.”Each suffers their private miserieswithout comfort, in completeemotional isolation from theirneighbours. Really, Pittman’scharacters are a bitter, contemp-tuous lot.

But ultimately, it is the play’sdark lyricism and not the strengthof its characters that commends it.A rope against the sun will assertits relevance for as long as peopleremain concerned with issues oftradition and belonging; in short,for as long as they remember. Ionly hope a reissue is in theworks as this is a piece of writingthat deserves not to be forgotten.

Mark Callanan is a writer andpoet living in Rocky Harbour. Hisnext column will run Jan. 30. Hecan be reached at [email protected].

LIFE & TIMES The Independent, January 16, 2005

Nell’s songA Rope against the SunBy Al Pittman Breakwater Books, 1974

On TheShelf

CALLANANMARK

Keep on truckingWhen the members of

Bucket Truck foundout their last album

cost $30 in stores across Cana-da they decided it was time forpayback.

The eight-year old, native-Newfoundland rock bandrecently released a four-songEP with 40 minutes ofenhanced footage called TheRepublic: A Prelude To TheAlbum: Favour The Bull.

Then they started giving itaway.

Not only are allthe songs availablefor free on BucketTruck’s website,the band alsobrought a box ofdisks to an all-agesshow in St. John’swhen they were intown for Christ-mas, and handedout copies to the audience.

“Probably the most impor-tant reason we put it out wasto try to combat the highprices of albums in stores —especially by independentartists,” Matt Wells, leadsinger for the band, tells TheIndependent. “There wasnothing we could do about it.We were just kind of screwedover a little bit by the recordlabel so we wanted to try topay back everybody whomight have purchased one.”

Wells says another full-length album will be releasedthis summer, but handing out

CDs at a show they weren’tplaying at over the holidayswas a Christmas present tofans.

“It was Christmas so webrought down a big box ofEPs and just gave them out asChristmas presents. We’re justgluttons for punishment — wedon’t need to make money.”

The band has also releasedits fourth self-produced video,which was written and direct-ed by Newfoundlander Shan-

non Spurrell. Bucket Truck

has been workingon its own pro-duction companyfor the past fewyears. Althoughthe video forPeople arewatching hasonly been in rota-tion on music

channels for a few weeks,Wells says they have begunproduction on another video.

He says working in produc-tion allows the band the free-dom to help other musiciansand bands in Atlantic Canada.

“We get to help the bandsthat we really, really like andpotentially get them videosthat can get played and thesecond thing about it is it’sfun for us because we get to bebehind the camera more … ifwe can do it for Bucket Truckwe can do it for other bandstoo.”

— Alisha Morrissey

“We’re just gluttons for

punishment — we don’t need tomake money.”

— Matt Wells

The Independent, January 16, 2005 LIFE & TIMES

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and determined professionals with expertise and experience in business development, law, finance, and marketing.

Newfound has ownership interests and management control over a number of companies including Humber

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Reporting to Newfound's Technical Director, the Web/Technical Developer will be primarily responsible for day to day web updates of subsidiary companies as well as providing technical support and assistance for network users.

The successful candidate must have strong knowledge in the following areas:

� Programming: XHTML, XML, CSS, Javascript

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Junior Web/Technical Developer


Newfoundlander Jeff Hunt knows how to putthe puck in the net. In 1998, he bought one ofthe Ontario Hockey League’s most venerable

Junior A franchises — the Ottawa 67’s.Hunt, 39, made his fortune when he founded Can-

way in 1984 — the largest carpet cleaning companyin Canada.

When Hunt bought the 67’s, the team was averag-ing approximately 2,200 fans per game — the lowestattendance in the league. After making himself asmuch of a fan favourite as any player, andusing his Midas touch on the businessside, he’s turned things around at thegate. The team now sits atop thenational junior hockey attendancerankings with an average of morethan 9,100 fans per game.

On Dec. 30, the 67’s played agame at the Corel Centre — homeof the NHL’s Ottawa Senators —and set another national recordwith almost 21,000 fans in atten-dance.

“We’ve had great success,” Hunttells The Independent from his Ottawaoffice.

One of the few full-time owners in the OHL, Hunthas made himself as recognizable as the players thatwear the unmistakable red, black and white barber-pole sweaters of the 67’s. He’s built a team that haswon two eastern conference championships and oneMemorial Cup.

As the son of an RCMP officer, Hunt was born inStephenville, but he’s called a number of communitieshome — Corner Brook, Labrador City, Flower’sCove, Stephenville, Stephenville Crossing, St.George’s and St. John’s.

With Derm Dobbin’s group winning a franchise forSt. John’s in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League(known as the Q), Hunt has watched with interest. TheSt. John’s Fog Devils will enter the Q for the 2005/06season, filling the void left by the American HockeyLeague’s Baby Leafs.

Hunt admits they’ve had “failures on the ice and off. “Coincidence would have it that failures on the ice

tend to be failures off the ice,” says Hunt. “And oneof the things, if I was giving advice to the owners ofthe St. John’s team, is get a guy who knows theleague.”

Hunt says he’s seen a lot of expansion teams hire ageneral manager who worked magic in the NHL, butwas unable to repeat the feat in another league. It maybe the same game, but the rules for success don’talways translate from one level of hockey to the other,he says.

“I don’t care if you hire Scotty Bowman … ScottyBowman would not succeed, at least initially in theQuebec league,” says Hunt.

The Devils have hired Real Paiement, a 13-year Qveteran, as bench boss to lead the team into its inau-gural season. Paiement also won a gold medal at the

1997 World Junior Hockey Championships as anassistant coach. Former AHL star and NHL playerAndrew McKim is the assistant general manager.

Not long after the Pepsi Centre in Corner Brook wasbuilt for the 1999 Canada Winter Games, Hunt real-ized there was an untapped hockey market with a greatfacility for the taking. He tried, unsuccessfully, tobring a Maritime Junior Hockey League franchise tothe city.

But Hunt says he’s had “his kick at the cat downthere and it hasn’t worked out.

“I’ve kind of gone on to other things and what I’velearned is that I’m one of the rare exceptions in

Canadian hockey in that this is all I do,” saysHunt. “And I think that the success of the

team has been somewhat of a result ofthat and to spread myself thin and tryto run another team 1,000 miles awaywould probably not have been thebest-case scenario.”

Hunt had a deal signed to buy theDartmouth, N.S., Blizzard of themaritime junior league, but thesame higher travel costs that are star-

ing the Fog Devils in the face causedthe Maritime club owners to vote

against the deal.With the addition of a Quebec junior

team in St. John’s, there’s been a sug-gestion that having a team in CornerBrook would make even more sense.“It’s on the same piece of island, but

really, once you’re in St. John’s it’s not like you’re justaround the corner from Corner Brook. But you’vebridged that gap if nothing else, that psychologicalgap.”

Hunt still believes that Corner Brook could supporta junior team.

The Fog Devils, says Hunt, “will be a tremendoussuccess.”

“I mean naturally they have a much higher travelbudget than any other team, but I think that’s going tobe more than offset by the corporate support that theSt. John’s Maple Leafs have enjoyed.”

After the maritime league turned him down, Hunttried to secure a Q franchise for Corner Brook.

“When I approached the Q about Corner Brook, Idon’t think they could get past the fact that is was anisland away, there was water in between,” says Hunt.

With more shots, more goals, more hits and morefights, Hunt says the Devils should be a huge successin St. John’s.

“Most corporate sponsors, it’s not that they’re nec-essarily enamoured with the American Hockey Leagueper se, they’re enamoured with the support the teamgets and the number of eyeballs that go into the build-ing.”

The Baby Leafs, as the farm team for the TorontoMaple Leafs, often call up star players as the AHLsquad is making a run for the playoffs.

“The Fog Devils exist for their own success,” saysHunt. “They don’t exist for someone else’s success …when a player shows up in September, he’s going tobe there in March”

‘More shots, more goals, more hits …’

Ottawa 67’s owner says Q will work in St. John’s; Corner Brook has shot at landing own team

QThe

Jeff Hunt, owner of theOttawa 67’s

PROSAR photo

A doctor’s caring heartGuides an intelligent mindAnd directs a skillful handTo perform acts so kind

— A poem from Gary Hill and family carried on a plaque

on the 5th floor of the HealthSciences Centre in St. John’s


The sterility of a hospitalcorridor is disrupted bycolour and light in paint-

ings of fishing captains, land-scapes and towns.

The walls of units at the HealthSciences Centre in St. John’s arecovered with memorial plaques,paintings and poetry about thehelpful healing hands of doctorsand nurses. Donated by formerpatients and their families, theartwork and plaques are thought-ful thanks and reminders ofpatients who have come andgone. Most of the paintings areby amateur artists, but not all.

One of Cynthia Noel’s paint-ings of downtown St. John’s wasbought and donated by a familymember who wanted to give atoken of appreciation to the hos-pital staff, while at the same timecreating a memoriam of a lovedone who passed on.

Noel also plans to donate apainting to hang in a room occu-pied by her father at St. Clare’sMercy Hospital. (He’s sincemoved on to a long-term carefacility.)

She says having art in hospitalsis a wonderful idea that can helpin the recovery process.

“As a matter of fact, I was at

St. Clare’s the other day, lookingaround while my father was in …and everywhere in the halls therethere’s paintings donated by dif-ferent people and limited edi-tions, and what not, and it addssuch a nice warm feeling to theplace,” says Noel.

“It takes the sterility off it youknow. A hospital, I think, shouldhave more pictures around tomake it more home-like.”

Bruce Gorman, vice-presidentof support services with theHealth Care Corporation of St.John’s, the entity that runs hospi-tals in the city, says there aremore plaques than artwork.

“Occasionally you might get a

family member, or the patientthemselves, who might be a bit ofan artist who might paint a smallpiece and give it to, say, the nurs-ing staff on a unit which may endup on a wall or in an office,” saysGorman. “People just want toshow an appreciation to the staff

who have cared for their familymember, and No. 2, I think theytry to leave it as a memoriam or alegacy to their family member.”

He says the corporation hasbegun a process to take an inven-tory and review all the pieces.

“So as we get requests to putup plaques or art work we’regoing to start reviewing theprocess of how many we have,the appropriateness of them andtry to identify whether or not it’sbecoming too much for our wallspace,” says Gorman, adding theprocess may take a few months tocomplete.

“(We’ll) try to identify otherways that we can have family

members thank staff, appreciatestaff, or leave an in memoriam totheir loved ones. Maybe there areother ways we can do that likethrough our health care founda-tions, for instance.”

He says the art hung in thefacilities — some commissionedby professional artists and somedonated by patients — add to thehealing environment of the hos-pitals.

“I think what we try to do ishave our facilities enhanced insome way to provide some levelof a therapeutic environment,” hesays. “If you are receiving treat-ment in an area that may be drea-ry dark, old-fashioned, I can seethat making a difference in some-body’s recovery.”

Boyd Chubbs, well-knownpoet, musician and visual artistfrom Labrador, was pleased tohear that Inco Ltd. purchased hisentire October 2002 exhibit todonate to the people of Labrador.The exhibit, Gifts and Allegories,was then hung in the LabradorHealth Centre.

“The donation in the act is akind of healing anyway,” saysChubbs, adding there is greatbeauty “even in the midst of greatcalamity and desperation.

“It all belongs together, sureit’s all life isn’t it?”

Noel is still choosing whichpiece of art to donate to St.Clare’s Hospital, but she says itwill be there soon.

“It’s a hard time of life, but it’sgood news that he’s there andbeing taken care of properly,” shesays. “I think it’s a nice thank youto the staff. They’re there all daylong and they’ve got somethingnice to look at.”

LIFE & TIMES The Independent, January 16, 2005

‘A nice warm feeling’Hundreds of pictures and plaques line walls of province’s hospitals, inventory planned

ACROSS1 Economize7 Equal (Fr.)11 Calculator with beads17 Burka18 Site of 1947 oil strike(Alta.)20 Compassionate21 Bother22 S Asian republic23 Wit24 Business letter abbr.25 Elude27 Ark builder29 Equal: prefix30 Honey wine32 Of the nature of: suf-fix33 Flowing35 Courts36 Claimed38 Public square (Fr.)39 Yellow (Fr.)40 Canadian P.M. ofGreat Britain (1922)41 Swift42 ___ tongues (Nfld.dish)43 Reversing ___, N.B.46 Make baby food47 Author of Unless(2002)51 Brainwave52 Sliders53 Wrack and ___54 Anger55 “Shame!” in Shake-speare56 Boot-shaped country57 Ebb and neap ___58 Vehicle

59 Dry flax60 “Double, double ___and trouble...”61 Joltless (joe)62 Has a hand out63 Wife’s mate65 Singer, poet Leonard66 Outmoded67 Just ___ amongmany68 Native playwrightDaniel David ___69 Bill70 Vietnam’s capital73 Mobile home74 Painter of A PrairieBoy’s Winter78 Leave out79 Saw80 Brother, for short81 Liquid rock82 Prune83 ___ Onion, Nfld.84 Declare invalid (as amarriage)86 A Mulroney87 Tiny particle89 Greek finale92 Thin plate or scale94 King of the fairies(folklore)95 Incurred (2 wds.)96 Lucky charm97 Gingerly98 “Et tu, Brute” day99 Mignonette

DOWN1 Conceptual framework2 French fashion house3 Mischievous one

4 Driver’s licenses, e.g.5 Sleeper spy6 Advance showing7 Suppress, as a vowel8 DNA segment9 Tot up10 Elle’s opposite11 In front12 Roughing It in the___ (Moodie)13 Elec. unit14 Author of Lake of thePrairies (2002)15 Something to singin?16 Bristly19 Vancouver athlete26 Conjunction28 French goose31 B.C. waterfall, high-est in Canada33 The Way the Crow___ (Ann-Marie Mac-Donald)34 Spike with spirits35 Walk in water37 Fossil fuel38 “Poet of the people”39 Connects41 Suppress42 “Dief the ___”43 ___ Business(Davies)44 French farewell45 Yorkshire city46 Tartan pattern47 Largest country inAfrica48 ___ of the Saints(Nino Ricci)49 Hauls

50 Just know52 The ___ Angel (Laurence)53 Basmati et al.56 Author of Deafening(2003): Frances ___57 Snicker61 Gave medicine to62 Confused noise ofvoices64 Footwear65 Handle it

66 Golf norm68 Shooting star69 Like penne or can-nelloni70 Like some logs71 Simple life form72 Biter73 Faucet74 Cousins75 Unstable76 Smoothed77 Ottawa neighbour-

hood79 Finkleman with 45’s80 Photos83 Neat84 Malarial fever85 Crippled88 Pod prefix90 When Paris is blooming91 Wind up93 Mouse genus (Lat.)

INDEPENDENT CROSSWORD Solutions on page 26

Paul Daly/The IndependentThe Health Sciences Centre in St. John’s

“It takes the sterility offit you know. A hospital, Ithink, should have morepictures around to make

it more home-like.”

— Cynthia Noel

The Real dealNew coach and general manager of Fog Devils has the experience to build team from scratch. Don’t count on a championship in year one — but you never know.

By Darcy MacRaeFor The Independent

Real Paiement loves a chal-lenge. The St. John’s FogDevils’ general manager

and head coach has been behindthe bench of championship teamsand clubs that struggled to winevery third or fourth game.Through it all, he maintained hispassion for hockey and drive tosucceed.

“I like building a team,”Paiement tells The Independent.“I like what we’re doing in St.John’s. I enjoy making plans andwatching everything come togeth-er. We’re developing a solid planand will execute it day after day.”

PROFESSIONALBACKGROUND

Given his resume, it’s littlewonder Paiement was chosen tobe the person responsible formoulding and shaping the FogDevils’ from scratch. He playedprofessionally for four years(three with the Milwaukee Admi-rals of the old International Hock-ey League and one season inFrance), and has been a headcoach in the Quebec Major JuniorHockey League since 1986.

Since stepping behind thebench, he guided teams in Gran-by, Chicoutimi (where he won aQuebec league championship in1997), Moncton and Bathurst. Hewas also an assistant coach withthe Canadian national junior teamthat won gold at the 1997 worldchampionships in Switzerland andhead coach of the squad the fol-lowing year when Canada fin-ished in eighth spot in Finland.

Faced with adversity at everystop, Paiement has learned some-thing from every hockey job heheld. Whether dealing with differ-ent types of players, making deci-sions regarding trades and draftpicks (as he did when he was gen-eral manager with Moncton) ordeciding who to add to his coach-ing staff. Paiement insists the keyis to always do things right — thefirst time.

“What we have to focus on ismaking sure we’re building onsolid ground,” he says. “If youdon’t do things right the first time,everything piles up and you loseyour focus.”

Staying focused will be impor-tant for both the Fog Devils andtheir fans in the early going.Paiement admits it’s hard to guar-antee a winning record in the firstseason when you’re an expansionteam competing against clubs thathave had the same players suitingup together for three or four years.

When it comes time for St.John’s and Saint John (the NewBrunswick city was also recentlygranted a Q team) to engage in theupcoming expansion draft,Paiement would like nothingmore than the opportunity toobtain some of the league’s morehighly skilled players.

Realistically, he knows theplayers exposed in the draft willbe third and fourth liners.

When shuffling through theavailable players, Paiement willsearch for hard workers willing topay the price to win. He wantsplayers who will make life toughfor opposing players — youngmen who take the body at everyopportunity, pursue the puck like

a wild animal chases dinner andput the good of the team ahead oftheir own personal goals.

“We’re going to be selectingthe other team’s 17th, 18th, and19th players,” Paiement says.“These are going to be characterguys, hard workers who are will-ing to get their nose dirty. So inour selections we’re going to lookfor guys who are going to make itvery difficult for teams to play inSt. John’s.”

With plenty of grinders expect-ed to be on board, Paiement saysthe team will add some skill and

finesse via the European draft (theclub can select two junior-ageplayers from the European ranks)and midget draft (where they willacquire 16 and 17-year-old skatersfrom the four Atlantic provincesand Quebec). Such a combinationof players will take time to gel,but success for such a group is notunheard of.

Just last season the Everett Sil-vertips advanced to the WesternHockey League finals in their firstyear of existence and are equally

as strong in their second season.For further proof that a team longon character but short on skill cansucceed, Paiement needs only toreflect on the 2001-02 seasonwhen he guided the Acadie-Bathurst Titan to the Quebecleague finals.

Although the club was not anexpansion team, they were cer-tainly built like one. With a rostercomprised mostly of players fullof hustle and hard work but lack-ing outstanding skills, the Titanshocked the country by winning45 games. For 10 consecutiveweeks the team was ranked No. 1in the entire Canadian HockeyLeague.

Paiement says that team —which wasn’t even expected tomake the playoffs — over-achieved because they consistent-ly outworked their opponents.They won nearly every race to aloose puck, hit everything in sightand, most importantly, never gaveup in a game or on each other.

“That was one of the highlightsin my career because of the qual-ity of kids we had on that team,”says the 45-year-old. “Our char-acter made us a contender whenmost people thought we wouldstruggle. To be associated withthose young men was something Iwon’t forget.”

While there have been manyhappy on-ice memories, Paiementsays some of his fondest experi-ences over the past 18 yearsoccurred away from the rink.Having coached hundreds ofteenaged hockey players since1986, he speaks with pride aboutthe fact that he still maintains arelationship with many of them.

He has watched 16-year-oldrookies grow into men who havesuccessful careers — not only ashockey players — but also asteachers, engineers or lawyers.Paiement is filled with satisfactionwhen he speaks to former playerswho want advice on hockey,school or their personal lives.

“I’ve enjoyed having youngmen call me for counselling inregards to life, not just hockey,”he says. “Because they know I’vegone through university(Paiement studied at McGill inMontreal), I can help them withcourses. I like when they call meand we reminisce.”

ON THE MOVEBorn and raised in the Montre-

al suburb of Dollard-des-Or-meaux, Paiement has movedaround a lot since he began coach-ing. He currently resides inBathurst, N.B., but will make themove to St. John’s in July.

Accompanying him will be hiswife Irene, son Vincent, 15, sonPaolo, 14, and daughter Bianca,11. Although they enjoy life inBathurst, Paiement is confidenthis family will quickly take to thefriendly atmosphere and small-town feel of St. John’s.

“We’ve always been able toadapt as a family,” he says. “Weonly hear good things about theNewfoundland people — theirwarmth and how friendly theyare. Andrew (McKim, the FogDevils’ assistant GM) keeps say-ing it is a unique city, so we’relooking at it as a unique experi-ence.”

[email protected]

January 16, 2005 SPORTS

“What we have to focus on is making sure we’re building on solid ground. If you don’t do things right the first time,

everything piles up andyou lose your focus.”

— Real Paiement


SPORTS The Independent, January 16, 2005

Big Land vs. Rock — a sports perspective

Inoticed our friendly folks inLabrador weren’t too swift injumping on the no-flag order

issued by Premier Danny Williamsa couple of weeks ago.

As someone who lived for twoyears in the Big Land, it’s not hardfor me to understand why ournorthern brethren felt more than alittle awkward with the whole sce-nario. It’s no secret Labrador haslong had a beef with Newfound-land, one that is microcosmic to therelationship Newfoundland hasseemingly forever had withOttawa.

In many respects, and from myexperience, Labrador often hascloser ties with Quebec, which isnothing if not ironic (at least to uson the island). Quebec, by geogra-phy, often gets to play with itsnext-door neighbour more than itdoes with its relative down south.

TRAVEL EASEIt’s no different in sports. With

hockey, for example, it’s easier fora Quebec team to travel toLabrador because they can drivethere in the winter. Even thoughit’s quite a trip from Baie Comeauto Labrador City, planes and boatsare not necessary.

Take any minor sport, and youwouldn’t need all your fingers andtoes to count the number ofprovincial championships thathave been played in Labrador. Itrarely ever happens. Just look atthe minor hockey Easter tourna-ments this year. Of the 40 eventsscheduled, only one will be playedin Labrador (Lake Melville, inHappy Valley-Goose Bay, willhost the Midget D tournament).That ratio is pretty much the sameevery year, and not just in minorhockey.

Even when the Big Land hostssuch a competition, there’s usuallya Newfoundland championshipheld first, as is the case in mosthigh school sports. The winner ofthe island tournament then travelsto Labrador to compete for theprovincial title.

So, Labrador gets a watered-

down Newfoundland andLabrador championship and onlyone lucky island team gets to trav-el to the Big Land, which is ashame.

Labrador is a beautiful part ofthe province, but it is so differentfrom Newfoundland. As a result,it’s sad more island athletes don’tget a chance to travel there andexperience it, like they’d experi-ence another part of the island.

Guys and girls on the island canlook back and remember that roadtrip to Marystown, that devastatingloss in Stephenville or that over-time thriller against the home teamin Plum Point.

Labrador athletes can have thesesame memories, because they trav-el all the time to the island. Tocompete in a provincial tourna-ment, they rarely have any otherchoice.

On the other hand, few islandathletes can recall their stay inChurchill Falls, Cartwright orMakkovik. Some have competedin Lab West and Goose Bay, thetwo largest centres in Labrador,but those two communities are asdifferent as St. John’s is from Cor-ner Brook.

Lab West and Goose Bay offertheir own distinctive tastes ofLabrador life, but there is so muchmore flavour to experience. Com-munities on the south coast ofLabrador have some of the charac-teristics of rural Newfoundland,but the Strait of Belle Isle acts as amajor buffer. The north coast ofLabrador is unlike any other part ofthe province, with two distinct cul-tures (Innu and Inuit) residing incommunities that are breathtaking-ly beautiful. At the same time, youhave to either fly in or take a boattrip to reach there.

In the end, the prohibitive cost of

travelling to communities all overLabrador seems to be the main rea-son for the lack of island teamswilling to make the trip up north. Isay willing and not able becausemany teams — both school andclub-based teams — find the fundsto travel to other parts of the coun-try.

Most of these trips have as muchto do with “culture enhancement”as they do with providing qualitycompetition.

CHILLY RELATIONSIt’s no wonder why Labrador has

the perception it’s constantly get-ting a cold shoulder from New-foundland, and consequently whythe Big Land remains chilly withthe Rock.

Regardless, there are many tal-ented athletes in Labrador. Takevolleyballers from the north coast.The communities are small, it’snext to impossible to get regularcompetition against other schoolor club teams, but they still manageto produce highly skilled teams.

There have been loads of talent-ed hockey players from Labradorover the years, which is no sur-prise. However, some might raisean eyebrow when they experiencethe level of soccer that’s played inthe Big Land. The Labrador Cup,held each spring in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, attracts teams from allover and competition is stiff. Notbad when you consider these teamsplay almost exclusively indoors.There’s enough talent there to giveChallenge Cup teams a good game,for sure.

Also with soccer, the MealyMountain high school girls’ teamwon the 3A provincial banner thisyear in Carbonear. As it standsnow, they won’t get the chance torepeat next season. There is notenough money in the Labradorsports budget for them to do so.

Can you imagine an island teambeing told they can’t defend theirhard-earned title?

Bob White writes from [email protected]

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JANUARY 16• Revue 04 St. John’s Arts andCulture Centre, $22 ($18 stu-dent/senior), 729-3650.• Michael Kaeshammer in con-cert, D. F. Cook Recital Hall, Tick-ets: $18 ($15 student/senior).• Printmaking (two-day work-shop Jan.16 and 23), 1:30-5:30p.m. Learn a variety of techniqueswith artist Anita Singh. No previ-ous experience required. Thisclass is suitable for ages 12 andup, $85 includes materials. AnnaTempleton Centre, 278 Duck-worth St., St. John’s, 739-7623.• Open mic at Fat Cat Blues andJazz Bar, George St.

JANUARY 17• Maritime Marionettes presentsRumpelstiltskin, St. John’s Artsand Culture Centre, tickets $6(school matinees), 729-3650.• Granny Bates Children’sBooks announces the creation of anew book club — for adults whoread children’s books. The groupwill meet the third Monday ofevery month at Granny Bates, 8p.m. Book to be discussed: J.M.Barrie’s Peter Pan.• Open mic at Greensleeves,George St. with Damien Follett,10 p.m.• O’Reilly’s Irish Pub and Eatery,George St. Ballads with ConO’Brien and Mike Hanrahan, 9p.m. to 1 a.m.

JANUARY 18• Chef to Go, five week cookingclass, (one night a week untilFeb.15) 2 Barnes Rd., St. John’s, 7p.m. $260, 754-2491.

JANUARY 19• Introduction to Drawing(eight Wednesdays) 7-9:30 p.m.Instructor Jim Maunder. Partici-pants gain hands-on experience asthey experiment with drawingtechniques and materials (pencil,conte, graphite) contour, gesture,tone. Suitable for adults and teens(ages 15 up). No previous experi-ence required, $155, materialsextra. 278 Duckworth St., 739-7623.

JANUARY 21• NSO’S Big Band A Tribute toJames Taylor, featuring BarryCanning, St. John’s Arts and Cul-ture Centre, $21-$35, plays againJan. 22, 729-3650.• CBC Radio presents Singersand Songwriters, LSPU Hall, 3Victoria St., 8 p.m. 753 4531.• A New Coat of Paint, Fat CatBlues and Jazz Bar with IanGoudie, sax, flute, percussion andTerry Rielly, keyboards, vocals,7–10 p.m.• Chef to Go cooking classes,2 Barnes Rd. food and winematching course and dinner withChef Bob Arniel, 7 p.m., $110,754-2491.

JANUARY 22• Hands of Hope: tsunamifundraising concert, 4 p.m. MileOne Stadium. Featuring Shaye,Brothers in Stereo, Ron Hynes,Cory Tetford, more.• Hands of Hope: concert andnot-so-silent auction, 8 p.m., theDelta St. John’s. Tickets avail-able at Mile One.

Events

The Independent, January 16, 2005 SPORTS

2005-01-16

Documents

Transcript of 2005-01-16