2005-01-02

Heart and soulHas rural Newfoundland and Labrador lost its will to fight; or have the rallies evolved

By Jenny HigginsFor The Independent

Emigration of youth and disillu-sionment with government aredampening rural Newfound-

land and Labrador’s fighting spirit,academics and union officials say.

The nature of protest may also bechanging, officials suggest, as peoplework more from within the system tocreate long-term change before takingto the streets in marches and rallies.

Jim Marsden, whospecializes in commu-nity economic develop-ment at the College ofthe North Atlantic, saysmany people remaininactive — despiteissues like the AtlanticAccord — because they feel no one ingovernment is listening.

“The attitude is there’s not a lot wecan do about this anymore,” Marsdentells The Independent. “In terms of theAtlantic Accord we’re all just waitingwith our hands clasped to the seat,waiting for results and we’re not sayinga lot. We’re putting all our faith in thehands of people like (Danny) Williamsand John Efford and others.”

Marsden says while older membersof the population may have grown dis-illusioned, younger generations sim-

ply move away to larger urban centres.“Most of the people that are rather

active in protest are the younger peoplein this province,” says Marsden.“Unfortunately, youth has become a bitof an anomaly these days. The onlything that rejuvenates people that aredemoralized is new people, but wedon’t have new people.

“When I was growing up (in Ramea)there were probably 1,400 or 1,500people, it was a booming little fishingtown. And now there are probably only

500 people there and Iguess the average ageof the population is thelate 40s or 50s. That’snot unlike most townsin this province.”

David Decker, secre-tary-treasurer of the

Fish, Food and Allied Workers’(FFAW) union says rural Newfound-landers and Labradorians are resilient,but weakening in the aftermath ofnumerous setbacks.

“I think as long as there are people inrural Newfoundland there will be awill to fight,” says Decker. “But obvi-ously if you take the Harbour Bretonsituation, that’s an absolutely majorblow to people to have their lives dis-rupted like that. And that comes on top

Smallwood, Lennon, the gods and me

The next goal for Canada’s last media maverick: reincarnation Last of a two-part series

By Susan BouretteFor The Independent

Reel 3. Establishing shot: a studio booth in Lon-don. Inside, there are four people: Scott Stirling,his father, Geoff, Yoko Ono and John Lennon.

It’s 1969, shortly after the Beatles have releasedCome Together, a Lennon number that began life as thecampaign song for acid-guru Timothy Leary’s intend-ed run against Ronald Reagan for governor of Califor-nia. The song, cryptic though it was, mesmerized Geoffand Scott, a Lennon fan.

From the Londonderry Hotel, where the two werestaying on vacation, Stirling telexed a note to Lennon.It said, “I’ve heard your Come Together. So here I am.Geoff Stirling.’’

A few hours later, they were seated in Apple Studios,recording the first in a string of interviews with Lennonthat Stirling would later broadcast on his Canadianradio stations.

“I look back on that first interview and I realize howprofound it was,’’ Scott says. “It was a philosophicaldiscussion about the forces of good and evil, and howLennon was trying to use his music to socially improvecivilization.”

Stirling used it to revolutionize FM radio in Canada.By the late 1960s, FM radio was a profitable nicheoffering easy-listening and light classical music. Stir-ling was determined to turn his stable of stations into adifferent form, one already reverberating south of the

border — “tribal radio.”His Montreal radio station, CHOM-FM, was the first

such experiment in Canada. It was the quintessentialhippie FM rock station, a smoky crash pad where listen-ers could tune in for an hour and never hear what timeit was, let alone a word about sports or the weather.

One of Stirling’s new crew took to the airwaves andcast the I Ching for four hours to figure out if the for-mat change would work. There were endless spins ofthe Beatles’ Abbey Road, interspersed with meditationchants and discussions on cosmic consciousness.

Jim Sward, who later became president of GlobalTelevision, was 24 when Stirling hired him to run hismainland radio operations from Montreal. “We were amix of those on a social mission and button-down, pro-fessional broadcasting types like myself,” Swardrecalls. “Somehow the professionals co-existed some-what harmoniously with this group of goddamned hip-pies.

“Geoff was so courageous. He did do things thatoffended and disgusted me. He can do things that arehurtful. But I’ve never met another person with thatkind of charisma. I have great affection for him and ifI saw him now, I’d give him a big hug.’’

Listeners in Montreal were impressed too. The sta-tion’s novel sound gave CHOM a lock on the teen andyoung-adult market. Stirling introduced the rock for-mat to the rest of his radio empire, which swelled to 13stations, including CKPM in Ottawa and CJOM inWindsor.

VOL. 3 ISSUE 1 ST. JOHN’S, NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR SUNDAY THROUGH SATURDAY, JANUARY 2-8, 2005 WWW.THEINDEPENDENT.CA $1.00 (INCLUDING HST)

BUSINESSDave LeDrew’s Newfoundland Emporium

6

INTERNATIONALWorld’s worst natural disaster kills 100,000

Page 19

SPORTSRyan Power on not Making the Cut

Page 25

OPINIONIvan Morgan with advicefor Danny Williams

Page 5

QuoteOF THEWeek

Continued on page 2

“Who’s DannyWilliams?”

— Mike Leman, a native of Port aux Basques

living in Edmonton, Alta., when asked for reaction to the premier’s decision to remove Canadian flags

from government buildings.

Continued on page 20

Photo courtesy of NTV

Geoff Stirling

The answer my friend …

“The attitude is there’s not a lot we can do

about this anymore.”— Jim Marsden

‘It’s a farce’Ukraine government disregards

NAFO groundfish quotas and sets its own;same species processed at Harbour Breton

By Jeff DucharmeThe Independent

The Ukraine government haslodged a protest with the North-west Atlantic Fisheries Organiza-

tion using the controversial objectionprocedure and plans to unilaterally set itsown quotas for yellowtail flounder andredfish, The Independent has learned.

Ukraine will up its redfish quota to1,500 tonnes from 1,000 tonnes, andwill increase its yellowtail catch to 150tonnes from 76 tonnes.

The use of the objection procedure isseen by critics as a fundamental flaw ofNAFO, the organization that monitorsfishing outside the 200-mile limit. Mem-ber countries can arbitrarily opt out ofquotas and set their own, similar to whatthe Danes did last year, harvesting 10times their NAFO-imposed shrimpquota.

The news comes as a harsh blow tocommunities such as Harbour Breton.Just before Christmas, Fishery ProductsInternational announced that the ground-fish plant there would close due to adeclining resource. Yellowtail flounderwas one of the stocks processed there.

Federal Fisheries critic and Conserva-tive MP Loyola Hearn says FPI is one of

the largest harvesters of yellowtail floun-der.

“Harbour Breton depended heavily onflatfish and now, just as they’re lookingfor resource and not having enough tokeep those plants going, we’re seeingcountries like that take more than theirshare,” Hearn tells The Independent.

The Harbour Breton plant employedmore than 300 people. FPI alsoannounced that it would layoff the bulkof its workforce at its Fortune plant.

Hearn says the increase in quotas toUkraine may not sound like a hugeamount, but foreign overfishing adds up.

“If some leadership was shown cer-tainly we would have been able to holdthe line, particularly in stocks that canregenerate in a hurry like yellowtailflounder and American plaice, whichwere the lifeblood of the south coastplants.”

Steve Outhouse, spokesman for thefederal Department of Fisheries andOceans in Ottawa, says officials will bemeeting with Ukraine government repre-sentatives in the new year. He saysUkraine only has one vessel that regular-ly fishes on the Grand Banks.

It’s likely that much of its quota isleased to other countries.

“We’ll be raising our concerns, brief-ing them and making them aware ofwhat sorts of actions Canada can takeand we hope that that’s going to resolve

Continued on page 2

Federal official says Ottawa will threaten to close ports

Paul Daly/The Independent

Rick Boland, a performer with Rising Tide Theatre's upcoming Revue ’04 and in character as Premier Danny Williams, holds the old Newfoundland flag at the base ofthe flag pole in front of Confederation Building where the Maple Leaf once flew. Williams ordered the flags removed recently over the prime minister's failure to live up tohis commitment on the Atlantic Accord. Please see photo essay, page 11.

NEWS The Independent, January 2, 2005

THIS WEEK

In Camera . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Gallery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14Business & Commerce 16International News . . . . 18Life & Times . . . . . . . . . 20Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25Crossword . . . . . . . . . . . 24Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

FOUR-DAY WEATHERInformation provided by Environment Canada

NewfoundlandSunday -6ºMonday -5ºTuesday 3ºWednesday -6º

LabradorSunday -23ºMonday -20ºTuesday -20ºWednesday -21º

MondayJanuary 3rd,

20059am to 9pm

THE GREAT

Sale!Sale!

Starts MondayJanuary 3rd9am to 9pm

30-90% OFFJones New York , Teenf lo,

Kenneth Cole , Tommy Hi l f iger,

L iz Cla iborne , Nougat,

Par t Two, Kasper, S imon Chang ,

Hi lar y Radley, Anne K le in , Jax,

and more . . . see you there!

27 Rowan Street, Churchill SquarePhone: 754-7000

Store Hours:Monday to Saturday: 10am - 6pm;

Thursday: 10am - 9pm

bigbig

Falling on deaf ears

it through diplomatic discussions,” saysOuthouse.

He says Ottawa will threaten to close allports to the Ukraine government if it does-n’t agree to play by the rules. In August,the federal government closed its ports toDanish vessels after announcing theywould take 10 times their NAFO-setshrimp quota.

Canadian ports remain closed to Danishvessels.

“The Ukraine certainly does use New-foundland and Labrador ports,” says Out-house. “We hope through discussions,through showing them the immediateimplications for them from an economicpoint of view that that will be a deterrentand any short-term gain from fishing anextra amount will be significantly offset.”

Hearn contends that NAFO is nothingmore than a paper tiger.

“It’s a farce unless they have some wayof making sure that people adhere to quo-tas,” says Hearn. “It’s crazy. It’s laugh-able.”

This is the first year that redfish has beenput under a NAFO-administered quota sys-tem. Up until the early 1990s when amoratorium was declared on commercial

cod fishing in domestic waters, redfishwas largely considered an unwantedspecies and of little value.

“We’re starting to learn that if it’s edible,or semi-edible, it can be very, very valu-able and we should protect the resourcesthat we have,” says Hearn.

The season for redfish and yellowtailflounder doesn’t open until April and Out-house says that gives the feds time to maketheir point. He says the other factor isUkraine’s ongoing dispute over recentelection results.

“I mean obviously with there being tur-moil in the highest political realm of theUkraine, that’s a real factor,” says Out-house.

“Once the leadership has been solidifiedwithin the Ukraine, then will be in a muchbetter position to know if are we dealingwith a position that’s going to stay thesame or are we not.”

Fishing industry representatives in theprovince have called on the federal gov-ernment to implement custodial manage-ment of the Grand Banks, a move the PaulMartin government has been reluctant totake.

A commission has been struck to studythe issue, and a conference is planned forlater this year in St. John’s.

of so many more blows — it seemsover the past 12 to 15 years there hasbeen one blow after another in ruralNewfoundland.

“It shows out there in the communi-ties, it certainly shows in terms of theage-structure of the population there,with the young people leaving.”

Former federal cabinet minister JohnCrosbie says rural Newfoundland andLabrador’s dwindling economies andpopulations are part of a worldwideoccurrence and not easily changed.

“Rural Newfoundland is in a difficultspot just as rural areas are in every partof the world,” he says. “They’re all los-ing populations to the metropolitanareas, this is a com-mon world phenom-enon.”

Crosbie says thebest way for peopleto create change isto use conventionalchannels and writeelected officials.

“There’s only oneway to influenceanything — you takean interest and youwrite the currentpoliticians who areinvolved, particular-ly federal politiciansand give them youropinions.”

Margie Hancock,first vice-presidentof the Newfoundland and LabradorFederation of Labour, which representsabout 50,000 workers, says thatalthough protests are often a last resort,people in rural Newfoundland andLabrador have found them necessarybecause they feel Ottawa is not listen-ing to their calls for help.

“These protests are sometimes a lastresort, it’s not what people want to bedoing, but they’ve come to the end oftheir ropes,” says Hancock. “They wanttheir voices heard, but at the same timeI think a lot of them know this is fallingon deaf ears. We haven’t seen a wholelot of change.”

Brian Foley, who teaches communitydevelopment at the College of the NorthAtlantic, says although some people inrural Newfoundland and Labrador mayhave lost their will to fight, others havemerely shifted their method of attackaway from street protests.

“You’re starting to see people nowwho feel that they can make morechanges by an evolutionary process ver-sus a revolutionary process,” saysFoley. “Whether that means they’re notas radical is probably true, but thatdoesn’t mean that they can’t createchange.

“Harbour Breton, for example, theyhad protests — but one of the otherthings they’ve quickly done to impactreal political change and policy changeis they have realistically looked at theoption that says probably we’re reallygoing to impact change from the idea ofa co-op being set up. And the co-op, tome that’s a real protest, because we’resaying let’s change who’s running theship here.”

Tom Hickey, vice-president of therecently launchedNewfoundland andLabrador First Party,blames the federalgovernment for hurt-ing rural communi-ties by mismanagingthe province’s fish-ery. He says the peo-ple should maketheir voices heard onthe Atlantic Accord,because it couldreverse some of theeconomic damagedone by the collapseof the fish stocks.

“The federal gov-ernment bartered

away our fish to keep the heartlandalive and well,” says Hickey. “We’reexporting our youngest, our smartest,our best educated.

“In the beginning the province wassolid behind the provincial governmentand the premier on the Atlantic Accordand I hope that is the same today. Weneed the right deal, we need that inorder to develop rural Newfoundland.”

Hancock makes it clear how muchdamage has been done to rural New-foundland and Labrador over the years— and how that damage affects theentire province.

“We can’t forget rural Newfoundlandand Labrador; we can’t forget the peo-ple that are in these communities.They’re the future of the province,” shesays.

“You have to feel for Newfoundlandbecause it’s had its heart and soul takenright out of it.”

From page 1

From page 1

“The federal government bartered away our fish to keep

the heartland alive and well. We’re

exporting our youngest, our smartest, ourbest educated.”

— Tom Hickey, Newfoundlandand Labrador First Party

If it’s edible, it’s valuable

SERGEY DOLZHENKO

Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko greets his supporters during a victory cele-bration in Independence Square in Kiev Dec. 28. With 100 per cent of the vote counted,Yushchenko had 51.99 per cent of the popular vote, with Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich at44.19 per cent, according to results made public by the Central Elections Commission.

The Independent, January 2, 2005 NEWS

Two of our dear brothers inChrist need our help. JohnEfford and Danny Williams.

Brother Efford’s in the more piti-ful pickle so, in the spirit of the holyseason, we’ll sort him out first.

As is well known, he got himselfcaught up between a rock and ahard place.

Yes, he’s got a lovely governmentjob in Ottawa, but to keep it he’s gotto stab us in the back, kick us in thearse, smack us in the face and allthat.

To cover his actions, Brother Johnhas put up as good a smoke screenas he can manage on short notice.

In a word, sex. Never in the fieldof human politics has one mantaken such a great interest in theforeparts of others. The countrymay be in slings otherwise, but formonths on end John Efford has beenin a dancing frenzy of huff-n-puffabout who puts what where andhow often.

UNSEEMLYOBSESSION

Blistering the ears of innocentchildren, upsetting contemplativeconvents, embarrassing just abouteveryone except for the deeply reli-gious, Catholic and Protestant, whoseem also to share his unseemlyobsession.

Alas, now the smoke seems to bedying down. Any uproar over same-sex marriage is gradually fading.Will poor Brother John soon be leftwithout a smoke screen to hide hisanti-Newfoundland actions behind?

Never. Same-sex marriage maybe leaving poor John naked to theworld and open to the dogs andcommons. But let him now take up

the cudgels for some-sex marriage.That way lies Efford’s salvation.Let him introduce a bill in the

honourable House requiring allcombinations, permutations andaggregations of married persons toreport monthly on their carnalendeavours.

The Efford Act, also known as theSome-Sex Marriage Law, requiringall the espoused in the country toreport monthly. That is to say,whether getting (A) Lots (B) Some(C) Negligible or (D) Jesus, don’t betalking.

Imagine the inter-est, the press cover-age, the debate inthe House, thehookups on CBCtelevision at the endof each month whenMr. Efford’s depart-ment released thedata.

Nobody at allwould notice thatJohn Efford wasalso busy kickinghis own province inthe goolies.

And once a year, more often in hisown federal riding than not, Mr.Efford would preside over a colour-ful ceremony to crown the NookieKing and Queen for all of Canada.

There’s poor Brother Efford’sproblem solved and now we must

turn to Danny’s Dilemma.“Tear down those Canadian

flags,” he says and we see wherehe’s coming from.

Many Newfoundland patriots are,I dare say, going out and buyingCanadian flags and running themup a pole so they can have the satis-faction of hauling them down again.

But Brother Williams’ pretty pick-le is that having stirred the wrath ofhis countrymen they’re not going tobe satisfied to dick around withflags forever.

What if he has let the cat out ofthe box and the cat is a lot biggerthan he thought?

I have occasion for concern. Justthe other day I caught my old friend,Melrose Benton, mailing off Christ-mas cards to the mainland with ahalf-teaspoonful of baking powder

in each envelope. Istrongly dissuadedhim, but perhaps notin time.

Melrose says hehas also been givingMounties lip; spittingin the beer of the fel-low next to him if thebrand is you-know-what; writing rudewords on the back-sides of the childrenof CFAs and sendingthem home; phoningthe CBC hotline 10times a day to com-

plain about something that was real-ly on NTV; stuffing his pockets withfish guts and lurking around arrivalsat the airport.

His patriotic to-do list includescommitting rude actions on a livebeaver as soon as he can acquire

one; spreading rumours aboutTommy Douglas and sheep; stir-ring Internet treason among Newfsin the military; encouraging theYanks to come across the borderand secure their water supply; tak-ing group action in court againstNova Scotia where all our badweather comes from.

Melrose may be an extreme case.Most Newfoundlanders wouldrather be working on a good some-sex marriage. But Danny Williamshas set the ball rolling and whoknows what it will gather and whoknows where it might stop.

COUSINS TO THE SOUTH

Once stirred we are more like ourcousins to the south than ourbrethren to the west.

Consider the pious entreatymany Yankees bore on their bumperstickers during a time when theirpolitical leaders roused them againstthe Red Hordes: “Kill a Commie forChrist!” They don’t do things byhalves.

Suppose poor Danny’s initial actof defiance gets out of hand andgoes the limit.

“Canadian guts for garters” islikely to unsettle the tourists at Portaux Basques.

“Massacre a mainlander forMary.”

I mean, if we didn’t make up inthe sale of bumper stickers what welost in tourism, what would be thepercentage?

Never mind, that’s Loyola Sulli-van’s problem.

Ray Guy’s next column appearsJan. 24.

Some-sex marriagePaul Daly/The Independent

Many Newfoundlandpatriots are, I dare say, going out and

buying Canadian flagsand running them up

a pole so they can have the satisfaction

of hauling them down again.

Poke InThe Eye

GUYRAY

MP John Efford


Letters to the Editor

Now for some gossip. Or is itmore news in flavour, thisjuicy bit: Danny Williams

isn’t talking to The Independent.Not a word, we’re on ignore. It’s asif the paper doesn’t exist (except toread and piss him off).

No reaction to the paper’s six-part series on Confederation thatfinally revealed how Newfound-land and Labrador gives billionsand billions more than it takes frommainland Canada. (Not a stain ofreaction from the federal govern-ment either, but that’s another col-umn.)

The premier won’t take our calls.No year-end interview to talk

about 2004, where this provincehas been and the road ahead.

Williams won’t have anythingto do with The Independent.

He cancelled the newspaperfrom his return-call list in earlyOctober after Ray Guy, theWhore’s Egg of a columnist (Page3 of this week’s Independent), sug-gested a couple of nicknames forWilliams.

“Like Saddam Williams, per-haps. Or Danny Hussein. Dannybin Liberal?”

The premier, his spokeswomansaid, was personally offended bythe comparison to the former rulerof Iraq. He apparently equated it tobeing called Hitler — a wordstricken from the vocabulary ofcolumnists far and wide.

Only Ray wasn’t talking about

that Saddam Hussein, the ruthlesskiller of Iraqi innocents. Ray wastalking about the Middle Eastmouse Saddam Hussein,the one who dared roaragainst the U.S. lion; thesame one who was sub-sequently squashed, likea bug.

Hussein is a monster,Williams is nothing ofthe sort.

Ray’s connectionbetween the two (andthis interpretation comesfrom reading the column, not fromtalking to the columnist) was in somuch as Williams — representingMP-insignificant Newfoundlandand Labrador (seven seats out of308) — is going up against themight of the federal government,the same way that Hussein — rep-resenting militarily insignificantIraq — faced the hammer that isthe U.S. military.

The two are linked, as far as Rayis concerned, in that their chancesof winning are remote.

The connections end there.In the end, Hussein was found

hidden in a hole in the ground, likea frightened little mouse.

“And we must be ready to haveour bluff called,” Ray wrote in ref-erence to Williams’ relationshipwith Ottawa. “Otherwise, they’llsimply pee down our mouse holeonce more.”

This column is not in defense of

Ray Guy; even a legend needs atap now and then. Ray is deadwrong when he says Newfound-

land and Labradornationalism is confinedto barstools and universi-ty coffee shops.

Life here is not neces-sarily doomed to hard-ship and hopelessness,corruption and incompe-tence. All politicians arenot out for themselves.Ray, who spent his earlycareer keeping Joe

Smallwood in line, can be a tadgloomy and cynical.

It’s never too late to save our-selves. Nationalism is not a topicfor townie cocktail parties and tea-party chats, but a growing passion— born from injustice and nur-tured with education and knowl-edge.

This land may have had the ral-lies and protests drained from itwith the loss of its youth, but aspark of life remains, one that canflare yet in Ottawa’s face.

Ray is big and hairy-arsedenough (like all Independentcolumnists, excluding Noreen) todefend himself. His column couldbe taken in two ways — Williamstook it the wrong way.

Back to the point. Now that thepremier has banned the Maple Leaffrom government buildings, what’shis next move?

In Ray’s words, what’s his “or

else?”Removing the Canadian flag —

gutsy, passionate statement thoughit was — didn’t exactly cause anational ripple. “Williams is like awelfare recipient who gets a lucra-tive job but still expects to get hiswelfare cheques,” read a letter tothe editor in The Globe and Mail.Most Canadians no more under-stand this province’s case now thanthey ever did.

Newfoundland and Labrador isnot a welfare case. That’s a boldface lie that’s been propagated forfar too long.

Again, where to from here? Nowthat the Canadian flags are down,do we burn them? Is separation anoption; a legitimate question sinceWilliams removed the most recog-nizable of Canadian symbols.(Imagine a U.S. state removing theStars and Stripes; America wouldlose its mind.)

The first step is leadership, tobring Newfoundlanders andLabradorians, home and aboard,together as a unified force, fightingfor a single cause. Communicationis also key — what exactly are wefighting for? What is the cause? Isit just oil money we’re after or isthere a bigger precedent to be set?

The Independent is not againstyou, Mr. Premier, but our faith willnever be blind.

Ryan Cleary is managing editorof The Independent.

[email protected]

Danny bin missed

Thinking outside the Confederation boxDear editor,

In the United Kingdom there isa prizefighter named DannyWilliams, a great boxer.

Well Newfoundland andLabrador has its own prizefighteras well, coincidentally also namedDanny Williams.

What if we were in control ofour own oil and gas fields, our ownfishery, our own Voisey’s Bay?What if we were like Ireland andin control of our own internation-al trading terms? What if we werelike the Channel Islands, Iceland,

and many other island countriesthat have established their ownfree-trade zones and are flourish-ing as a result. Perhaps it’s timethat we considered removing our-selves from Confederation!

In the 50 years since Confeder-ation our natural resources havebeen raped, pillaged and taken toour detriment and for the benefit ofothers. So why is the rest of Cana-da so surprised that we finally havea leader with the guts and tenacityto stand up for what is really ours?

Every former premier has gone

cap in hand, on bended knee andaccepting of the crumbs fromCanada’s table. Every Newfound-lander and Labradorian should befirmly behind Danny on this issue.

It’s not about partisan politics;it’s not about greed. Anyone whoknows Danny knows he is notdoing this for personal or politicalgain. He is doing this because hebelieves that if we do not make astand now, we will never haveprosperity and our children andtheir children are doomed if wedon’t. Do we continue to support

the doom-and-gloom prophesiesand watch our young people con-tinue to leave in droves, or do wecreate an economic environmentfor them to stay where they wantto be?

If we continue to do what wehave always done, we will contin-ue to have what we have alwayshad. Do you want that for yourprovince and for its future? Now isthe time for a real paradigm shift,and Danny is the one to achieve it.

Dave Rudofsky,St. John’s

CLEARYRYAN

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

An independent voice for Newfoundland & Labrador

P.O. Box 5891, Stn.CSt. John’s, Newfoundland

A1C 5X4

Tel: 709-726-4639Fax: 709-726-8499

www.theindependent.ca

The Independent is published by The Sunday Independent, Inc. in St. John’s. It is an independent

newspaper covering the news, issues and current affairs that affect the

people of Newfoundland & Labrador.

NEWSROOM

Managing EditorRyan Cleary

Senior EditorStephanie Porter

Picture EditorPaul Daly

Senior WriterJeff Ducharme

ReporterAlisha Morrissey

ReporterClare-Marie Gosse

Production ManagerJohn Andrews

InternJenny Higgins

General ManagerJohn Moores

[email protected]

ConsultantWilson Hiscock

Manager Sales & MarketingAndrew Best

Circulation Representative Brian Elliott

Office Manager Rose Genge

Graphic DesignerSteffanie Keating

Reception/Circulation Assistant Stephanie Martin

OPERATIONS

E-MAIL

Advertising:[email protected]

Production:[email protected]

Circulation:[email protected]

Newsroom:[email protected]

All material in The Independentis copyrighted and the property of

The Independent or the writers andphotographers who produced the materi-al. Any use or reproduction of this mate-

rial without permission is prohibitedunder the Canadian Copyright Act.

© 2004 The Independent

Canada Post Agreement # 40871083

PUBLISHER

Brian Dobbin


Danny, Danny, Danny.Once again I feel it nec-essary to write you

another one of these little notes. Iworry you’re only getting theadvice you want, which is notalways a good thing. So I’mgoing to offer you advice I amguessing you don’t want.

And for only a buck.I get around — a lot — and I

talk to disaffected Tories. Youknow what they all have in com-mon? When they talk to me aboutyou, they tend to whisper. Theyall trust that I won’t use theirnames. They aren’t stupid.

They aren’t happy, either. Theytell me that to be a member ofTeam Danny is to cheerlead anddo as you are told. It’s that peskymanagement thing again. Private-ly they tell me that you are out-Clyding Clyde Wells.

We don’t know each other, so Idon’t know if any of this is true,but people say it is.

WON’T ‘SELL US OUT’Privately they also say you’re

the best man for the job of deal-ing with Ottawa. They also sayyou won’t “sell us out.”

On that point I agree withthem. That’s what makes this soscary. When you keep doing stu-pid and childish things, it worries

them, and me. Like what? Let’s have a look. Like giving the feds an artifi-

cial deadline. Just before Christ-mas you were suddenly tellingeveryone that it was “do or die”and “showtime.” I know youwere just trying to set the agenda,but anyone who has ever raised athree-year-old child knows youcan’t give in to “or else.”

The way I see it, MinisterRalph Goodale and crew had nochoice but to blow you off. Iguess he figured that if he tookcrap from one premier, then hewould have to take crap fromthem all. And that is the source ofyour fury — to them you are justa pushy premier with no clout.We both know that is how theysee you.

It makes me mad too.That brings me to my next

point. You were so pissed off, you

had the Canadian flag yankedthree days before Christmas. If

your goal was to be talked aboutat all the Christmas parties andChristmas dinners, then you didwell. Over Christmas some peo-ple with opinions I respect sat medown and lectured me about thisflag thing — pro and con.

I listened.I sat with a passionate New-

foundlander who clearly statedthat you had to do something toget noticed. She knows all-too-well the attitude towards New-foundland and Labrador in manyother parts of this country. If ittakes a gesture like that, she said,then so be it. She was proud ofyou. I spoke to plenty like her.

But I also sat with a very angryveteran. You yanked his flag, theflag under which he was shot at.

A peacekeeper, Danny. Everbeen shot at? Me neither. Heseemed pretty pissed. Who areyou to yank his flag?

I spoke with a retailer whodepends on the tourist trade.Remember tourism — the newfishery? He wanted to knowabout next summer’s advertisingcampaign. What’s it going to be:“Come to Newfoundland andwe’ll tell you off in person?”

I spoke to some folks inHappy-Valley Goose Bay.They’re sweating the base. Theydid not appreciate the bully-boy

tactics. I sat with some brand newCanadians. They were quick totell me what they would choose,if it came down to Newfoundlandand Labrador or Canada.

All this made me wonder aboutwhat exactly is a Newfoundlan-der? Who are the “us” and whoare the “them” in all of this? Whodid you pull down the flags for?Is this a Newfoundland national-ist thing? Most Newfoundlandnationalists I know are white, and

of British, Irish or Scottishextraction. What about everyoneelse? Are they along for the ride?Are we a race, or a shared cul-ture?

I find this whole thing a littleworrisome.

No doubt Goodale and PaulMartin are miserable. No doubt

the Liberal party is a bunch ofshifty Upper Canadians. Nodoubt bureaucrats in Ottawa aredevious. No doubt we are beingrobbed — and always have been.My question is: what has any ofthis that got to do with the Cana-dian flag? The rest of the worldsees Canada like a big happyfamily.

I don’t like it when Mom andDad fight.

BEST INTERESTSTry not to read this as criticism

of what you are trying to achieve.I honestly believe that you haveour best interests at heart. Justplease — enough with the emptythreats and pointless gestures.Tell us about the hospitals, roadsand schools Ralph and Paul won’tlet us build. Tell us about the bil-lions that we won’t get. Just don’tmess with the Canadian flag. I ama Canadian. So are most people inthis province, after they sober up.

You want to ban something —ban the Liberal party. You arealready weeding the provincialbureaucracy of them, why notban them from all public build-ings in the province? Makes moresense and I for one could gothere.

Ivan Morgan can be reached [email protected]

Give me a D, give me an A, give me an N …Rant &Reason

MORGANIVAN

I sat with some brand new Canadians.

They were quick to tell me what they would choose, if it

came down to Newfoundland and

Labrador or Canada.


Confederation to-do listDear editor,I believe we will not get any

justice from Ottawa by negotia-tions or other legal means. Thetime for talking softly, beggingwith our heads down, is over. Ifeel our plan andapproach must bepicked up a notch. Foryears we have beentaking Ottawa’s crapbut now we must wipeit off our face andstand loud and proudand get down to thedirty work ahead.

Here are the things we must do:• Have a provincewide rally to

show our support for our govern-ment.

• Shut down all oil productionin our province.

• Ban all foreign fishing fleetsfrom our ports.

• Send out boats to harass for-eign ships on the Grand Banks.

• Close down Churchill Falls.Take a note from Rene Levesque,who said Quebec would burndown every pole erected to bringNewfoundland and Labradorpower across their province, andtopple a few towers on a regularschedule to force reopening that

contract.• Hold a provincial referendum

to order all future governments toabsolutely not deal with QuebecHydro when the current Churchilldeal runs out.

• Related to theabove, begin work toput infrastructure inplace to pursue theAtlantic route to theAmerican hydro mar-ket. Thus, well beforethe contract is finished,we will have every-thing in place.

• Put Newfoundland Hydro in asimilar position to Hydro Que-bec.

Arise Newfoundlanders andLabradorians and show that thefighting Newfoundlander is not amyth, but is alive and well. Wehave no problem fighting anddying for Canada and other coun-tries. The federal government hasforever insulted the Newfound-landers who have fought and diedfor a free and equal Canada. Weneed a few people willing to standup and fight for this little part ofthe planet.

Lloyd Taylor,St. John’s

Dear editor,I am the CEO of IQ Sports-

wear, a small swimwear manufac-turing company located in Par-adise. We have seven employeesin total, and are 100 per cent New-foundland owned and operated.

My first line of ready-to-wearswimwear is called UnabashedlyCanadian, and has been on themarket for two years now. It hassold well in Canada and the Unit-ed States, with some sales to expa-triate Canadians living overseas.

As a gesture of support forDanny Williams, I have decided todiscontinue production of the line,

effective immediately. The site hasbeen taken down, and a letter ofexplanation has been posted(www.canadianswimwear.com).

I’d like to encourage other busi-nesses and individuals who feel asstrongly about the issue to followthe lead of the premier, and showtheir displeasure with the situa-tion. Removing the flags from theprovincial and city buildingssends a powerful message, and itshouldn’t stop with the govern-ment.

Newfoundland forever!Marie Routhier,

Paradise

Unabashedly Newfoundlander

The time fortalking softly, begging with

our heads down, is over

Editor’s note: The following is aletter printed in The National Postin response to an editorial carriedrecently in that paper.

Dear editor,Your editorial confirms our

worst fears: you really do believewe are inferior! The poor shouldnot ask impolitely for more hand-outs — that’s your implication.

Please try to understand whathas happened since1949.

Canada took overthe planet’s best fish-ing grounds and haspresided over, evenabetted, its destruc-tion. For example, thefeds bartered our fishto foreign countriesfor trade benefits inCentral Canada.

Quebec exploits Labrador’shydro resources. Quebec gets 95per cent of the profits to the tuneof $1 billion a year. (This becauseOttawa would not allow an ener-gy corridor across Quebec to theUnited States.) The SupremeCourt of Canada said this is justfine.

We find oil and gas beneath ourdwindling fish. Ottawa suppliesthe capital to develop, but after itgets its money back in full, it stilltakes 75 per cent of the royalties.Then, pre-election, the prime min-ister promises 100 per cent of theroyalties, wins seats, then deceit-

fully reneges.We are a resourceful, proud and

intelligent people who haveknown independence. We supplythousands of professional, skilledand hard workers to the mainland.

Our outport economies are ingreat distress. Our populationdecreases. We are the poorest byfar in Canada, with the highestdebt, highest taxes, lowest incomeand worst infrastructure. This

despite the fact thatwe have great richeson land, sea andbeneath the sea.

The Independentnewspaper in St.John’s did a six-weekseries on the give andtake of Confederation.They concluded thatthe mainland hasreceived $50 billion

from Newfoundland and Labradorand given $10 billion back sinceConfederation.

No other people, anywhere,would be as docile as we havebeen — but there is a limit, evenfor us!

We would rather love and beloved. We want only to be able tolive and prosper in this resourcerich, strategic and intoxicatinglybeautiful land of Newfoundlandand Labrador.

Here’s to your health andincreased cognizance in 2005.

Wallace B. Rendell,St. John’s

Since Lucy Maud Mont-gomery penned the tale ofthat rascally little pigtailed

redhead, Anne of Green Gables,millions have fallen in love withthe story. The tribulations and tri-umphs of the orphan from PrinceEdward Island have been translat-ed into 17 languages and createda tourism industry on the islandprovince.

Anne and her lore have madeP.E.I. a magical, mystical place ofwholesome dreams and a simplertime.

Well, so much for being whole-some.

The Oasis Resort, just outsideCavendish, has received permis-sion to expand. But you won’t seeAnne — at least let’s hope not —skipping across the grounds. Oasisis a nudist resort.

“They’re saying tourism isdown, but this is a market thatkeeps going up,” Gary Lowther,who owns and operates the resortwith his wife Linda, told theCanadian Press.

The resort is locat-ed not far from thestoried hauntedwoods that Mont-gomery made famousin her novel.

There’s just some-thing inherentlywrong with having anudist resort so closeto Canada’s bastion ofwholesomeness —Anne of GreenGables.

But Jack MacAndrew, a P.E.I.author and media commentator,says people shouldn’t get too upsetjust yet.

“No horrible things resultedfrom it that anyone could docu-ment. So there is nothing to make

a fuss about,” he said of the resortthat opened last year. “Nobody gotdrunk and ran through Cavendishin the nude.”

At least, no more so than on aregular Saturday night inCavendish.

Hold onto your morals — theOasis Resort may just be the firstofficial step in a radical change totourism’s most good and pure cor-ner of Canada.

Another P.E.I. beach, BloomingPoint, is already an unofficial nud-ist beach. That beach has causedsome controversy, but most peoplelook the other way — after takinga quick peek, that is.

You can’t blame nudists whenP.E.I. has some of thefinest beaches washedby some of the pretti-est ocean waters in thecountry.

There are morethan four million reg-istered nudists inNorth America andmany of them maketheir way to P.E.I. Itleaves one wonderingexactly what the crite-ria are for registeringoneself as a card-car-

rying nudist. Beyond that, exactlywhere would one keep the I.D.card?

“It’s kind of a network and Iguess they are successful,” saidWalter Wyand of the CavendishArea Tourist Association. “This

fits into the rural landscape, therural lifestyle just the same as any-thing else, so it’s welcome. Weneed the visitors.”

Maybe municipal politicians inthis province should look atattracting similar business here.Talk about revitalizing rural New-foundland and Labrador! Such amove would bring a whole newmeaning to “outside the overpass.”

Now this province does havesome fine beaches, but the weath-er might be a bit of an issue whenclothing is optional. There could

be some very sensitive cases offrostbite when the mercury plum-mets — not to mention shrinkage,as George from Sienfeld would bequick to point out.

Lowther says he hopes to opena 17-site campground this sum-mer. He’ll also be adding that leg-endary refuge (made famous in B-movies and seedy magazines) ofnudists’ campgrounds around theworld — a volleyball court.

I have often given thought as towhy beach volleyball is so popularat nudists’ resorts. Maybe it’s the

jumping and the bouncing ormaybe it’s the absolute lack ofprotective equipment required, butevery nudist resort has a volleyballcourt, or so it seems.

Be free! Be naked! But be care-ful on those volleyball courtsbecause sand does have a nastyway of working itself into somevery uncomfortable and embar-rassing spots.

Jeff Ducharme is The Indepen-dent’s senior [email protected]


Butt naked in the land of Green GablesOpinions Are Like...

DUCHARMEJEFF

‘There is a limit, even for us’

Who says small businesses require little insurance attention? We certainly don’t In the past 26 years we’ve worked with the smallest

Soo youu don’tt havee aa hundr edd emp loyeess andd bigg co r po rate offices.. That’ss no tt aa bigg deal.

Havingg ann i nsurance company thatt treatss youu ass iff youu do…… Noww that’ss big.

“

”

A Name You Can Depend On

LET’S TALK ABOUTYOUR BUSINESS

Deanne Legrow -Commercial

Sales Executive


We are a resourceful, proud and

intelligent peoplewho have known

independence.

Hold onto yourmorals — the

Oasis Resort may just be the first official step in a radical change

to tourism’s mostgood and pure

corner of Canada.

By Jeff Ducharme The Independent

When Premier DannyWilliams ordered allCanadian flags removed

from government buildings afternegotiations with the federal gov-ernment on the Atlantic Accordfell through, Gander-Exploits Lib-eral MP Scott Simms saw the“flag flap” in a different light.

“As far as the flag thing goes,there’s somewhat of indifferencefrom me because I lived in the eastend of Montreal in 1995 and I’veseen things done to the Canadianflag far worse than this,” Simmstells The Independent.

Williams removed the flagsafter a Dec. 22 meeting in Win-nipeg in which the feds failed tomeet his self-imposed Christmasdeadline on changes to the accord.

The changes would have netted

Newfoundland and Labrador anestimated $2.5 million to $3 bil-lion over the life of the proposed16-year deal. Williams refused tosign on the dotted line because anumber of conditions that wereinsisted on by the feds — includ-ing a requirement for the provinceto pay off its deficit — wouldhave cost the province as much as$1 billion.

Before being elected last June,Simms worked for The WeatherNetwork, which had its mainoffice in Montreal. Emotions wereat a fever pitch in 1995 as the PartiQuebecois led the province into asecond referendum on separation.The province came within one percent of separation.

“There was one solitary Cana-dian flag on the street and it wasmine,” says Simms.

He and Random-Burin-St.George’s Liberal MP Bill

Matthews voted against their gov-ernment in November and infavour of a Conservative motioncalling for Prime Minister PaulMartin to keep his promise andgrant the province 100 per cent ofprovincial resource revenues.

The motion was defeated.“I don’t think it helps our cause

in the rest of the country,” Simmssays of the premier’s removal ofCanadian flags.

A spokesman for NaturalResources Minister John Efford— a staunch supporter of Ottawa’sposition — says he was spendingtime with family over the Christ-mas holidays and wouldn’t beavailable for comment.

John FitzGerald, a history pro-fessor with Memorial Universityin St. John’s, says support fromthe rest of the country is irrelevant.

“…don’t forget the originalConfederation deal didn’t requirethe support of the rest of the coun-try,” FitzGerald tells The Indepen-dent. “The Atlantic Accord didn’trequire the support of the rest ofthe country and these negotiationsdon’t require the support of therest of the country.”

FitzGerald, who admitsWilliams is a “close familyfriend,” supports the removal ofthe flags, but he also calls the flagissue “political grandstanding.

“I think something was calledfor to clearly signify displeasure.I’m not sure what else he couldhave done.”

Williams is the first premier of

the province to take down theCanadian flag. In 1982, after oilnegotiations went bad, then-pre-mier Brian Peckford ordered allCanadian flags on provincial gov-ernment property be flown at half-mast.

The province, says FitzGerald,may be learning how to deal withthe feds in the same way that Ire-land did after years of dealing withan unsympathetic British parlia-ment.

“They finally realized that thisis not a situation that reallyrequires us to convince the peopleof Britain of anything.”

But they eventually ended upwith “bloody sectarian war ontheir hands,” says FitzGerald,“which I don’t think anyone has inmind for this place. I would hopenot. Any kind of political divideand conquer stuff is nasty.”

Nestled in Alberta’s oil and gasheartland, The Daily Herald Tri-bune newspaper recently wrote aneditorial supporting Williams andthe province’s quest for a betterdeal.

“It seems to us that it’s time forThe Rock’s ship to come in, andAlbertans should be happy fortheir Newfoundland and Labradorbrethren, many whose extendedfamily now extends to places suchas Grande Prairie and FortMcMurray,” read the Dec. 23 edi-torial headlined “Go Danny Go.”

“As NL Premier DannyWilliams said Wednesday (Dec.22), his people have been slapped

in the face by Ottawa. Gee, that’ssomething we share in commonisn’t it?

“It’s deserved and about time,and another clutch and grab byOttawa here could be a dangerousharbinger for things to come heretoo.”

The paper’s managing editor,Fred Rinne, says the paper standsby the editorial, but that it has“jumped off the bandwagon” sinceWilliams ordered Canadian flagsremoved.

“In principal we stand by theeditorial and what it suggests, butWilliams crossed the line on theflag issue,” says Rinne. “Until heapologizes to Canadians and New-foundlanders for clearly overre-acting, we cannot, in good faith,support his fight with Ottawa.”

Rinne suggests that the pre-mier’s rage was misdirected.

“ … Williams should have saidhe was slapped in the face by PaulMartin or Ralph Goodale andacted accordingly, instead ofinsulting all Canadians.”

St. John’s South ConservativeMP Loyola Hearn says time willtell if the premier’s grandstandingwill have the desired effect.

“I had two or three calls thatafternoon from mainland mediaasking the same question and myresponse was “Well, if he hadn’tdone it would you guys be callingme?’” says Hearn.

“Sometimes you do things youwouldn’t do ordinarily to get thatmessage across.”


Blowing inthe wind

Worse things have happened to the Canadian flag: Simms


Security guard Bill Manning with the Canadian flag he removed from the Confederation Building.

By Alisha MorrisseyThe Independent

On Christmas morningFrank O’Neil and somefriends raised the old

Newfoundland flag on the pole infront of Confederation Buildingin St. John’s where the MapleLeaf once flew.

Though the pink, white andgreen flew for only a few hoursbefore security guards took itdown, O’Neil says if he were tochoose a flag to fly “it may aswell be that one.”

The Independent contactedNewfoundlanders and Labradori-ans living across the country fortheir thoughts on Premier DannyWilliams’ decision to remove theCanadian flag from all provincialgovernment buildings. The reac-tion is varied: from empathy toapathy, patriotism to ignorance.

Some say it’s political postur-ing; others call it childishness.But many who left the provinceon the regular wave of out-migra-tion say they support the symbol-ic gesture — and that the premiercould do more.

OTTAWA, ONT.“It doesn’t get much play in the

news up there,” says Burt Fitzger-ald, a native Newfoundlanderwho moved to the nation’s capitalyears ago.

“They should turn off all the oilfor a little while and then seewhat happens.”

REGINA, SASK.“It seems like Mr. Williams is

closed to any sort of negotiations… I know (lowering the flags) isjust a symbolic gesture, but I’dlike to know where he plans ongoing with it,” says DaveDesroches, an associate producerfor CBC news in Regina, Sask.

“I’d like Mr. Williams toaddress Newfoundlanders and tellthem what his plan is,” saysDesroches, originally from St.John’s.

EDMONTON, ALTA.Mike Leman, a native of Port

aux Basque, says he’s indifferentabout the removal of the Canadi-an flag. In fact, he doesn’t knowanything about the issue.

“Who’s Danny Williams?”

KINGSTON, ONT.Darla Oxford, who moved

from Labrador a year ago withher boyfriend to look for work,calls Williams’ actions “stupid”and “childish.”

“I am a Newfoundlandermyself, but I am also a Canadian.It isn’t only an insult to the rest ofCanada, but to those of us New-foundlanders who consider our-selves a part of Canada,” shesays. “The flag does not representthe (federal) government, but thepeople living all over this greatcountry — I’m outraged.”

LARGO, FLA.Hughie Peyton, now living in

Largo, Fla., keeps up with thenews back home in Sandy Point.He applauds Williams’ move.

“I think they should do more if

there’s any way in the world to doit, because we’re really beingshafted aren’t we?” He recom-mends the premier put all Cana-dian flags in a black bag and sendthem to Prime Minister Paul Mar-tin’s office.

“Every premier has tried to getsomething done and we’re noteven being looked at,” he says.“Ontario and the rest of Canadathink we’re a bunch of beggarsand I don’t think we are.”

SURREY, B.C.Susan Flanagan, who moved

west from St. John’s with herhusband and four children lastyear, stands up to “politicallyastute” British Columbians whoask her opinion on the flag flap.

“I always tell them how proudI am of Danny Williams and howhappy I am to have a premierwith the guts to stand up for theprovince of Newfoundland andLabrador. It’s about time,” shesays. “It’s like Ottawa just wantsto keep Newfoundlanders andLabradorians hammered downso we can continue to supply thenation with an educated workforce.

“May the flag stay down until adecent deal is struck.”

PARADISE, NLMarie Routhier, owner and

operator of IQ Sportswear in Par-adise, just outside St. John’s, isoriginally from Winnipeg. Hercompany recently released a lineof swimwear that displayed theMaple Leaf. Routhier pulled theclothing line in a show of supportfor Williams.

“I’m just not proud to be Cana-dian anymore … enough isenough, you know.”

HARBOUR GRACE, NLDanielle King, who moved to

downtown Toronto last year,returned home to Harbour Grace

for the Christmas holidays.“I live in downtown Toronto

and essentially there isn’t muchreaction. I’ve brought it up …and the majority haven’t evenheard about it — much less care,”she says. “We just aren’t roaringloud enough apparently.

“I did have one friend of mine(a Scot living in Toronto whounderstands my plight) say‘Nobody will bat a lash as Cana-da ends in Halifax anyway, does-n’t it?’”

King went on to describe arecent incident in a bar in Har-

bour Grace. “I offered to buy amainlander friend a Blue Star, towhich she promptly replied, ‘I’llhave a Canadian please, none ofyour flag lowering separatist beerfor me …’ To which I naturallyreplied, ‘Buy your own f—-ingbeer.”


Flag flapThe Independent contacts

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians across Canada for their thoughts on

banishment of Maple Leaf


Mount Pearl and two other cities in the province have removed Canadian flags from their buildings in a show ofsupport for Premier Danny Williams. Mayor Steve Kent, who replaced the Maple Leaf with the pink white andgreen, says he’s received plenty of feedback – both positive and negative — from around the country. The old New-foundland flag, he says, is a symbol of the province’s historic strength and pride.

Model prefinishing hardwood

Canadian Made

8 Species4 Widths

3 Gloss Levels6 Stains

Wishing You and Yours a Merry Christmas and a

Happy New Year.Cottle’s Island Lumber Co.

Cottlesville


By Clare-Marie GosseThe Independent

Margaret Higgins has can-cer. It started in herbreast and spread, over a

four-year period, to her liver,lungs, bones and brain.

She seems to be somewhatresigned to her condition, but herhusband, Gerald, isn’t.

After extensive research, hecame to the conclusion that elec-tromagnetic fields from powerlines and transformers could beresponsible.

Higgins discovered that out ofthe 62 transformers in Norris Arm,there were incidents of cancer inhomes located close to 60. He andhis wife lived in a small bungalow,overshadowed by heavy powerlines.

His findings led him on a per-sonal crusade. Ultimately, hewould like to see a government-funded study — independent ofthe power company — carried outin rural Newfoundland andLabrador to assess the possiblelink between cancer and trans-formers.

Over the last few years, Higginshas received support from thou-sands of victims of cancer acrossthe province, as well as notedexperts throughout the country.

To support Higgins, Norris ArmMayor Fred Budgell mailed 150letters to towns in the province,asking for stories of cancer thatcould be related to transformers.An overwhelming 90 townsresponded.

Higgins has since spoken withwell over 4,000 cancer patientsand in April, 2004 he sent a peti-tion signed by Norris Arm resi-dents to then-Health minister Eliz-abeth Marshall requesting theindependent study.

In May 2000, just after his wifehad her breast removed, Higginswent for a drive around NorrisArm.

“I was right depressed,” he tellsThe Independent. “I went for adrive, wondering what was caus-ing so much cancer in this com-munity.

“I went from one transformer toanother and I started seeing theconnections. I had goose bumps asbig as eggs. I thought the govern-ment would be so happy to findout there’s something causing can-cer.”

His realizations, however,weren’t as revolutionary as hethought. After doing someresearch, he discovered concernsabout the potential effects of expo-sure to electromagnetic fields hadbeen a worldwide issue since a1979 study by Dr. NancyWertheimer and Ed Leeper of theUniversity of North Carolina.

Coincidently, Wertheimer’s sus-picions were raised in exactly thesame way as Higgins. She wassearching for an explanation intohigh levels of childhood leukemiawithin an area of Denver, andcame across a transformer direct-ly behind a victim’s house.

Wertheimer’s subsequent studyfound that children who had diedfrom cancer were two to threetimes more likely to have livedwithin 40 metres of a high-currentpower line. Numerous interna-tional studies have been conduct-ed since, showing a similar con-nection to adult cancer.

Despite evidence suggesting arelationship between electromag-netic fields and childhoodleukemia — a concern recognizedby the World Health Organization— results haven’t been consistentor conclusive to promote muchresponse from governments.

An expert in the field, MagdaHavas, fully supports Higgins inhis request for an independent sur-vey. As an associate professor inenvironmental resource studies atOntario’s Trent University, Havashas conducted extensive researchinto electromagnetic fields. She

says rural Newfoundland andLabrador would be an ideal loca-tion for a study because of themany small communities made upof long-term residents.

“If it’s going to show anywhere,that’s where it’s going to showup,” she says.

Higgins first contacted Havasto ask her if his suspicions sur-rounding electromagnetic fieldswere founded.

“He wanted to find out if he wason the right track,” Havas told TheIndependent. “Could there be arelationship between cancer andliving close to power lines andtransformers? And I said ‘You’redamn right there can, that’s whatresearch is showing’ and we’vebeen in touch ever since.”

Although Sweden and Americahave some basic safety limits inplace relating to electromagneticfield exposure, Health Canada hasno current guidelines. A spokes-man for Health Canada tells The

Independent there isn’t enoughscientific evidence “at this point intime … to indicate that there’s aclear link between power lines andany illnesses of any kind.

“I don’t want to be tooalarmist,” says Robert Bradley,director of Health Canada’s con-sumer and clinical radiation pro-tection bureau, “but, for example,if you take a knife and stab your-self through the heart, you knowthe consequences, but if you helda knife in front of somebody, whatcan be a consequence?”

DIFFICULT STUDYHe says that because of the wide

range of household appliances thatproduce electromagnetic fields,such as televisions and micro-waves, it would be difficult andtime consuming to conduct anaccurate study.

Although Health Canada has nocurrent plans to install any guide-lines around electromagneticfields, Bradley says the issue isunder investigation.

“The matter is not closed,there’s a lot of research ongoing.The international EMF (electro-magnetic field) Project, which is aproject organized by the WorldHealth Organization, has beenongoing now for the better part of

eight years. I think it’s drawing toa close — there should be a reportout within the next couple ofyears.”

Havas is currently researchingother effects of electromagneticfields, and in October, attended aWorld Health Organization meet-ing in Prague, formed to addressthe issue of electrical hypersensi-tivity, which is a disability recog-nized by the government. Sufferersexperience a wide range of symp-toms from skin rashes toheadaches and lethargy whenexposed to high levels of electro-magnetic energy.

Havas has discovered that theuse of electrical filters, pluggedinto outlets, can drastically reducethe problem, as well as aiding peo-ple suffering from multiple sclero-sis and diabetes. She says she, andother people in her field can “bare-ly believe the results.”

Although Newfoundland Powermoved the power lines away fromHiggins’ house in 2002, he’s stillnot satisfied. He says he won’t beuntil the dangers of electromag-netic fields and their relation tocancer are recognized.

“I’m not going to say I can savemy wife, because I can’t save mywife … but I know in my heart andsoul that I’m right.”

Norris Arm resident campaigning for independent studyof link between transmission lines and cancer



The stench of failure hashung heavy over this land’shistory.

We failed to make it on our ownas a nation. Like a grown man hav-ing to return home to depend on hisparents, we returned to the arms ofmother England to suffer the indig-nity of being ruled by a Commis-sion of Government.

Following Confederation, JoeySmallwood’s well-intentioned butinept effort to industrialize New-foundland left a trail of corpses:from an ice-cream factory to thehope that Churchill Falls would beour economic salvation.

The bad deal we struck withQuebec on Churchill Falls was per-haps our most spectacular failure. Itcost us billions of dollars anddelayed our self-sufficiency fordecades.

Worse, it fed into the stereotypeof the dumb Newfoundlander. Herewe were, sitting on this hugerenewable energy resource. Whatdid we do? Muck it up, as usual.

There are other examples I couldcite. But I don’t want to dwell onfailure; I just mention it herebecause it has played such a bigpart in the Newfoundland psyche.

Truth be told, our confidence asa people has been shaken so manytimes that occasionally too many ofus might have wondered if there’ssome truth to all those Newfie

jokes.Shaken confidence can lead to

cynicism and the belief that noth-ing will ever really work out forthis place. Despite all those pastdisappointments, I get the sensethat Newfoundlanders andLabradorians are acquiring a senseof confidence and optimism thatwasn’t there before.

Perhaps hardship has made us soresilient that we’re getting immuneto failure. Maybe the opportunityafforded by our newfound oilwealth has injected hope into theatmosphere. Whatever the reason,it seems like a new generation ofNewfoundland and Labrador busi-ness people are taking risks that arepaying off.

Allow me to take a risk withyou, dear reader — the risk ofsounding like a sycophant.

As owner of The Independent,Brian Dobbin ultimately pays meto write these columns. So, it mightappear rather suspect of me towrite a column praising one of hisother businesses. But I would havegiven the man his due even if he

didn’t subsidize my Christmas.In addition to owning the paper,

Dobbin is CEO of Humber ValleyResort, a multi-million dollartourism development near Pasade-na, just down the road from MarbleMountain.

In developing the resort, Dob-bin’s vision was grand: an expan-sive collection of $1.5 million lux-ury cabins surrounding an 18-holegolf course. So far, his companyhas sold 60 such units with imme-diate plans to build another 80. Thelong-term goal is to build 1,000units along the shores of DeerLake.

While the resort has cost $70million to build so far, Dobbinplaces its value at $600 million. It’spaying off for him and for the localeconomy. The venture employed500 people in the constructionphase, and Dobbin says the resortwill mean $20 million a year to thelocal tourism industry. That willtranslate into many more jobs.

It’s easy to see how the resortcould be a gold mine for CornerBrook and the Humber Valleyregion. The people who buy theseluxury units are, of course, wealthy.Now, it’s up to the people in thearea to capitalize on the opportuni-ty given to them.

They might take their inspirationfrom Dobbin. They could thinkbig: open high-end restaurants and

boutiques for their new high-endneighbours. But big isn’t enough. Ifit were, many more of Small-wood’s adventures would havepaid off.

More important than thinkingbig, Dobbin has done many thingsright. For one thing, he has beenwilling to look outside the box thatwe as a people have often placedourselves in.

Although we were initially eco-nomically bound to Europe, weNewfoundlanders and Labradori-ans have for most of the past twocenturies looked south and westwhen marketing our resources.

The folks running Humber Val-ley Resort were smart enough to

know that the tourism industryneed no longer be limited to NorthAmerica. Indeed, sometimes it canbe a disadvantage to focus onNorth America.

Europeans don’t seem to mind afour- or five-hour flight to New-foundland. Instead of seeing us as“isolated,” they see us as an acces-sible part of Canada.

It all seems so logical now thatthe Humber Valley Resort is a suc-cess. But it took a mixture of clear-thinking and chutzpah on the partof the owners to make it happen.

Of course, it also took money.Let’s not kid ourselves, the Dob-bins are not known for being des-titute. But failure tastes bitter nomatter how much money you have.The Humber Valley Resort was arisk. It is paying off, but it was arisk nonetheless.

You don’t have to be a Dobbin totake a risk that pays off. From thewoman who opens a new boutiquein Conception Bay South to theman who invents an innovative sig-nal light for life vests, there’s a newconfidence in this land that bringsfar more hope than nickel or off-shore oil revenues ever could.

Frank Carroll, a journalisminstructor at the Stephenville-cam-pus of the College of the NorthAtlantic, can be reached [email protected]

‘A new confidence in this land’

Truth be told, our confidence as a people has been

shaken so many timesthat occasionally

too many of us mighthave wondered if there’s some truth

to all those Newfie jokes.

WestWords

CARROLLFRANK

Keeping an eye on the comingsand goings of the ships in St.John’s harbour. Informationprovided by the coast guardtraffic centre.

MONDAY, DEC. 27Vessels arrived: Sir WilfredGrenfell, Canada, from sea;Emma, Norway, from sea.Vessels departed: Maersk Chan-cellor, Canada, to Terra Nova;Atlantic Kingfisher, Canada, toTerra Nova.

TUESDAY, DEC. 28Vessels arrived: Maersk Norse-

man, Canada, from Hibernia;Zuiho Maru No. 65, Japan, fromSea; Atlantic Eagle, Canada,from Terra Nova.Vessels departed: Emma, Nor-way, to Denmark.

WEDNESDAY, DEC 29Vessels arrived: Burin Sea,Canada, from Terra Nova;Maersk Chignecto, Canada,from White Rose; ShosianMaru No. 60, Japan, from sea.Vessels departed: ASL Sander-ling, Canada, to Corner Brook;Burin Sea, Canada, to TerraNova.

The Shipping News

January 2, 2005 IN CAMERA

‘You can’t make this stuff up’

Revue writers not expected to run out of material until ‘cows come home’

It’s an interesting photo shoot. Danny Williamsis crouching beside a bewildered cow,exchanging a frantic phone conversation with

Leo Puddister, who’s grubbing around in the straw,trying to avoid stepping in manure.

A goat, donkey, two pigs, three sheep and anostrich are watching closely, contemplating freak-ing out.

“Normally we keep these costumes for a Fridaynight on George Street,” explains Puddister —a.k.a. Glenn Downey — gesturing to his cow out-fit. “The women love it.”

Danny (Rick Boland) Williams, steps daintilyout of the stall, and tucks a bit of straw back in hisfarmer’s outfit, gearing up for another pose.

Further down the barn, John Sheehan, who’sdressed as a pig — representing Canada/Paul Mar-tin — tries to placate the farmyard audience withcabbage leaves.

It’s that time of year again. Rising Tide TheatreCompany is sharpening its claws — and wits —for another Revue.

For the past 20 years, Donna Butt, Rising Tide’sartistic director, has been directing and co-writing

the popular annual show, which takes a satiricallook back over the big provincial events of theyear.

“This is 21 years this year,” Butt tells The Inde-pendent. “Last year I said I was never going to doit again. I did, I made a big splash about it andeverybody said, ‘Oh you’re retiring from Revue?’And I said, ‘Yup, we’re retiring from Revue.’”

Butt calls Revue Rising Tide’s “baby,” and it’shard to imagine her ever giving the popular show

PHOTOS BY PAUL DALY / STORY BY CLARE-MARIE GOSSE


IN CAMERA The Independent, January 2, 2005

‘Cultural flagship’

up. As a tireless advocate for the local arts community, her work withthe New Founde Lande Trinity Pageant — another of Rising Tide’sbig annual events, held in the summer — has seen the festivalbecome a “cultural flagship,” and earned Butt a tourism award fromHospitality Newfoundland and Labrador.

In January 2004, she was named a member of the Order of Cana-da in recognition of her acting, writing, directing and producing work,which has helped shape Newfoundland and Labrador’s cultural econ-omy.

As in previous years, Revue will be a joint effort of writing andbrain-storming, created and performed by some of St. John’s best-loved actors.

Fortunately for the theatre-going public, local political eventsforced Butt to reconsider her previous stand of abandoning the showthis year.

“A moment of weakness or stupidity … whatever way you want tolook at it,” she laughs. “I guess it was the events of the year. Like the(civil service) strike was such a big story, and it was so dramatic andtheatrical because of the way they handled it. Both sides really.”

Butt says she was watching some of the strike events unfold on tel-evision, as Williams and Puddister — president of Newfoundland andLabrador Association of Public Employees (NAPE) — battled outdeals over their cell phones, amongst picketers, outside Confederationbuilding.

“So I’m watching this unfold on television and I’m going, ‘Oh God,I swore we weren’t going to do another Revue, now I know I’m goingto get pressured into it.

“And here’s Danny in the parking lot, pulling in in his van. All thestrikers are around, furious. He gets out of the friggin’ van to talk tothem … he goes up the stairs of the Confederation Building, he getsthe God damn deal printed out. Where in the world would that hap-pen?

“So he’s out on the line talking to the picketers going: ‘Here, here,here’s the deal, look, look bys’, this is what I’m willing to sign.’

“Obviously someone phones Leo (Puddister) and says ‘Listen,Danny’s out on the picket line, negotiating here with a bunch of pick-eters.’

“So Leo comes up, gets on the phone. ‘What are you after tellingthem down there?’ So they’re having this big conversation, with Leoon his cell phone, down amongst the picketers and Danny up in Con-federation Building. It’s insanity!”

The cow and farmyard theme came from an unfortunate incidentinvolving an assault on the premier’s son during the strike. Williamsblamed union members, and told them to stay away from his familyand his ministers’ families, or they’d be out “until the cows comehome.”

“He should’ve taken a deep breath before that one,” says Butt. “Sothe whole cow thing sort of became the theme of the strike.”

She adds that although some humourous moments came out of thestrike, “it was a real tragedy” for the people involved.

Another major provincial news topic this year is the debate overchanges to the Atlantic Accord. It’s an area just begging to be coveredby Revue, and as the farmyard photo-shoot wraps up, it’s off to St.John’s International Airport.

The dangers faced this time come in the form of angry securityguards, rather than irate livestock.

The setting is Williams (again) as he triumphantly sails down theairport escalator, fresh from Ottawa after bolting out of the first min-isters’ meeting in a righteous huff.

“That’s such a big story … we’re kind of doing this biblical thing… Moses coming off the mountain with the Ten Commandments andthe Accord and suddenly going from being the villain that everybodywas going to string up four months ago to the saviour come home.

“I saw the shot on television and I’m going, ‘Oh my God, this is aperfect shot for Revue. Because he’s coming down over the escalator,he gets halfway down and all the throngs of people are there … there’sa kind of fervour about it, a kind of evangelical thing about it.”

Boland sails down the escalator in the re-enactment, hands aloft.Later, he poses with adoring disciples Petrina Bromley, Sean Pantingand Sheehan, as John Efford (Glenn Downey), lurks furtively, covet-ing a bag of treacherous silver. Revue alumni Bernie Stapleton willalso be joining the disciples for this year’s show.

Amazingly, nobody gets arrested or thrown out.Local politics, says Butt, “you can’t make this stuff up.”

Revue opens Jan. 7 at the St. John’s Arts and Culture Centre andruns provincewide until Feb. 9.

From page 11

The Independent, January 2, 2005 IN CAMERA

IN CAMERA The Independent, January 2, 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]

Helly Greenacre

Helly Greenacre, a painter “more orless” her whole life, has recentlyseen her work take a dramatic turn,

away from the literal and into the world ofthe abstract.

“I got very interested in photography andaway from realism … I’d rather use photog-raphy (than painting) to capture thosemoments,” she tells The Independent.

“I got interested in thinking about things andexpressing emotions about experiences I’vehad, things then started to come out in anabstract way.”

Greenacre points to some of her recentwork. “These are travel-related,” she saysabout a couple of small pieces, featuring brightcolours and shapes. A trip to Italy was theinspiration behind them.

“I started with landscapes, I enjoy them,”she says. And though her new work appearsquite different, Greenacre adds, they are land-scapes too.

Greenacre is originally from Hungary, butmoved to Montreal at a young age, where shemet and married her husband. In 1966, he wasoffered the opportunity to work in New-foundland, and the couple moved to CornerBrook, where they have been ever since.

She began doing a lot of craftwork, includ-ing weaving and quilting, when she came to

this province. She graduated from Sir WilfredGrenfell’s fine arts program 12 years ago.

“I tested the waters, took a couple of elec-tives to see, being away from school for solong, how does it work?” she says. “I figuredI’ll probably manage … and it was wonderful.

“It was stressful but it was very exciting tosee a program get off the ground and watch itdevelop.”

Along with Greenacre, there were threeother “mature, mature students,” she says witha laugh.

“It’s a very good opportunity and I guessthere were a number of people who jumped onthe chance, because there was a great varietyin backgrounds of students.”

Greenacre, who works from her home stu-dio, says the visual arts community in CornerBrook and the west coast of the province, isstrong, but “not too big to be cliquish.”

She’s recently joined with other artists in thearea in the League of Artists in Western New-foundland (LAWN).

“It’s a pretty lonely thing, producing,” shesays. “It’ll be good to have a support grouplike this.” — Stephanie Porter

Visual Artist

Gallery

The Independent, January 2, 2005 IN CAMERA


Jacqueline Pottle (left) and Noelle French are the first gay couple to be married in Newfoundland and Labrador. St. John’s Mayor AndyWells performed the civil service.


‘We will notbe swayed’

Dear Editor.I was never as proud to be a New-

foundlander as I was the day I watched theCanadian flag been removed from provin-cial government buildings.

This is a clear signal to Canada that theNewfoundland and Labrador of the past isdead. Danny Williams represents the newface of our emerging nation and Canadi-ans had better begin to take him seriously.

For years, we have been robbed of ournatural resources and given naught but apittance and scorn in return for the trea-sures of our great land. Williams broughtback from Winnipeg the greatest of allgifts — the pride of a nation that can nolonger be bought at any price.

No longer will we simply take what weare told to take; from this day forward wetake back what is rightly ours.

I hope Paul Martin steps up to the plate,exercises some true authority and gives uswhat we were promised. The fact thatworld oil prices have gone up substantial-ly since the promise was made is irrele-vant. When the world price of energysoared in the 70’s, Quebec was allowed toreap the windfall while we were stuckwith a flawed contract that costs thisprovince about $2 million a day in lostrevenue.

If the Canadian government will notdeal with Danny Williams fairly, then beforewarned that those who follow, care notin the least for Canada but are dedicatedsons and daughters of the Dominion ofNewfoundland and Labrador. We will notbe swayed. Confederation is a failure forNewfoundland and Labrador and the timehas come to rectify that mistake.

Wallace RyanSt. John’s

‘Keep Newfoundlanders poor and dependent’Dear editor,

I thoroughly enjoy your arti-cles and revelations, particu-larly those of Memorial Uni-versity Professor John FitzGer-ald.

I have always felt, since myyouth, 1947 to’49, that in Con-federation with Canada, New-

foundlanders only changedcolonial masters. Informationbeing brought to light in thetalks between Premier DannyWilliams and Ottawa hasshown what I’ve always sus-pected: according to Canadiangovernment policy, ourprovince cannot be allowed to

be a have province. So whatthe hell are we going to do inthis conglomeration anyway.

When the old BritishEmpire, in its dying days,passed Newfoundland over toCanada, it included a book ofrules, the first of which was:“Keep Newfoundlanders poor

and dependent.” Canada hascomplied, to its shame.

Whether Premier Williamssucceeds or not, Newfoundlan-ders should recognize who our enemies are and actaccordingly.

Art Griffin,Grand Falls-Windsor

Wedded bliss

‘We only sell stuff we like’There’s a story behind everything at Corner Brook’s Newfoundland Emporium

CORNER BROOKBy Stephanie PorterThe Independent

The Newfoundland Emporiumhas been a fixture in down-town Corner Brook for what

“seems like forever,” according toowner/operator Dave LeDrew — butis, in reality, somewhere between 10and 15 years.

The ever-growing business nowspills into two buildings — the mainstore is one floor jammed full of arts,crafts, souvenirs, books, one-of-a-kind historical pieces and music. Theadjoining building is three levels offurniture, antiques and Newfoundlandcollectibles, with an art gallery at thetop.

VARIED COLLECTIONA colourful, varied collection —

much like LeDrew himself, with hisself-described “checkered career” andstories to match.

LeDrew is modest about his rea-sons for opening the store, whichFrommer’s International travel guideshave labelled a “must-see,” full of“intellectual junk.”

“Myself and a partner opened this,”he says, scanning around the com-fortably crowded room. “I own thebuilding, I couldn’t rent the thing andI couldn’t get a job myself so Ithought I might as well do this.”

But there’s more to it than that.Having travelled around the provinceextensively, LeDrew says he wasalways disappointed in the shops.

“Fifteen years ago you couldn’tfind any local stuff in craft stores, itwas all Hong Kong and Taiwan junkwith a Newfoundland stamp on it. Isaid if I ever opened a Newfoundlandstore, it’s going to just be stuff fromNewfoundland — craft stuff,”

he says. “But it’s hard because all the money

is in the junk. You can bring some-thing in from Hong Kong or Taiwan,mark it up 500 per cent and peoplestill think they’re getting a deal.

“The Newfoundland stuff, you takeit, mark it up 50 per cent and rightaway it’s too expensive.”

But he’s stuck to his guns, and theNewfoundland and Labrador-firstmandate has been working. About adecade ago, a representative fromNova Scotia tourism visited the store,liked what he saw, and invitedLeDrew and his partner to move theshop to Halifax.

“I said, ‘You’re absolutely crazy,’”says LeDrew. “But they sweet-talkedus into it. My partner went over. Theygave us free rent for a year, gave hima place to stay, that’s how much theywanted us.”

The AtlanticEmporium has beenup, running, andprofitable on theHalifax waterfrontfor nearly a decadenow. Not bad for afirst foray into theworld of retail.

When askedabout his careerbefore the empori-um, LeDrew laughsand says. “There’snone. I’ve triedeverything.”

It may be true.LeDrew lived inEurope for fiveyears with the armed forces. He wasan open-line host in Corner Brook foranother five years. (“I was scared todeath for three years, then I got usedto it … but then they sold the stationto the crowd in St. John’s and it was

cheaper to get a phone line than payme.”)

He also ran Marble Mountain skihill for a decade, a paid manager lead-ing a volunteer staff. LeDrew is proudof the work he and his team did, andfrustrated with the current state of theslopes.

“We took it from zero, from noth-ing, and took it to an international skihill. The years we were there we made$100,000 a year … it was run by theCorner Brook Ski Club so it wasowned by the people of CornerBrook. The government came in andsaw how successful we were, took itover … then they started losingmoney.”

LeDrew says the commitment ofthe community made the hill work —the volunteer hours, the favours andflexibility of local suppliers, his own

thousands of hoursin overtime.

A visitor walksinto the store, aman representingan artist in St.John’s, wonderingif the Newfound-land Emporiumwill take the workon consignment.LeDrew acceptsthe proposal,writes the receipt,and has anotherbox of goods toadd to the burstingshelves.

“We only sellstuff we like our-

selves,” LeDrew says. “Unfortunate-ly, when you do that, people come inand buy it and it breaks your heart …so some of it, I don’t sell. The muse-um across the way is full of my stuff,some of it I’ve paid good money for,

but it shouldn’t be sold.”LeDrew leans back in his chair and

laughs again. The nicest thing thatever came into the store, he says, wasa brass porthole from the Kyle, theone-time coastal boat and sealing shipcurrently at rest just off HarbourGrace’s shores.

He heard the porthole was once theproperty of Frank Moores — appar-ently, says LeDrew, when Mooreswas premier, he instructed some peo-ple to go and remove brass items fromthe abandoned boat.

“And apparently some other guysbroke in and stole it from Moores …a bunch of hoods came in here oneday and asked if I wanted to buy it.Ordinarily I wouldn’t, but in this case,I got kind of a chuckle off it.”

Within a few years, LeDrew gotwind that the Town of Harbour Gracewas planning to turn the Kyle into amuseum. He wrapped up his prizedporthole carefully, and put it on a busto Harbour Grace. These days, hehears, it’s in an interpretation centre inthe town.

CHANGING TIMESLeDrew makes most of his money,

as do most tourist operations, for twoto three months in the summer.Always a supply centre, he says Cor-ner Brook is looking more and moreto tourism for economic prosperity.Around his stores on the street are anumber of boarded up buildings —victims of fire, he says, and of chang-ing times.

“Guys just aren’t rebuilding,” hesays. “With Wal-Mart up there,nobody’s going to invest majorly indowntown retail. Broadway (once oneof the main downtown shoppingstrips) will become mom and popstores, specialty stores like us.

“It’s hard to compete.”

January 2, 2005 BUSINESS & COMMERCE

“Fifteen years ago youcouldn’t find any localstuff in craft stores, it

was all Hong Kong andTaiwan junk with a

Newfoundland stamp on it. I said if I ever

opened a Newfoundlandstore, it’s going to just bestuff from Newfoundland

— craft stuff.”— Dave LeDrew

Dave LeDrew’s Newfoundland Emporium in Corner Brook. Paul Daly/The Independent

By Clare-Marie GosseThe Independent

Operations at the Qatarcampus of the College ofthe North Atlantic have

been steadily expanding since thesigning of a 10-year, $500-millionagreement in June 2001.

President Pam Walsh says theproject — the largest foreign con-tract ever awarded to a Canadiancollege or university — hasproven invaluable for the financialwell being of operations here inNewfoundland and Labrador.

That said, the cash-strappedprovincial government is desper-ately seeking ways to save money,and college campuses are under awhite paper assessment, whichcould result in closures.

Although Walsh says the col-lege can’t use the “external funds”from Qatar to essentially runoperations back home, the fundscontribute hugely, allowing forpurchases and resources thatwould otherwise be unattainable.

“It’s really important,” Walshtells The Independent, “it’s beenreally a windfall if you like, inthat regard.”

Earlier this year, the college —which has 15 campuses through-out Newfoundland and Labrador— was directed by the province,along with Memorial University,to cut $2 million from its budget.A number of programs were can-celled at several campuses.

Walsh — who recently returnedfrom a two-week trip to Qatar inthe Persian Gulf — says one ofthe biggest purchases the Qatariproject has funded is a new man-agement information system forthe college. The integrated soft-ware costs millions of dollars andis used to manage businessresources such as student admin-istration, finance and humanresources.

She says the purpose of her visitto Qatar was threefold.

The Qatar campus is in theprocess of hiring a new presidentto replace Trent Keough, who hasalready left to return to work inthe province, and Walsh took twoprospective candidates over tomeet board members. A decisionis expected soon.

CONTRACTS ENDING SOON

She also went to meet with cur-rent staff members working inQatar from Newfoundland andLabrador, who will be coming tothe end of their three-year con-tracts this coming June. Walshsays over 90 per cent of themwant to renew their contracts foranother three years, which is caus-ing problems because other staffmembers in the province had beenhoping to start work at the PersianGulf campus.

For its part, the college hadanticipated a rotation of positions.

There are 100 Newfoundland

and Labrador staff membersworking in Qatar, as well as 60 to70 employees from other parts ofCanada.

The co-ed college, which offersinternationally recognized cours-es, is primarily for Qatari nation-als, although it accepts 20 per centof students from other parts of theworld. Walsh says she and hercolleagues are currently dis-cussing arranging studentexchanges between this provinceand Qatar.

Currently, the Qatar college has800 students, a number set to riseto 1,000 in January. Once con-struction of the new facility iscomplete next fall, numbers areexpected to reach over 3,000.

Another reason for Walsh’s tripwas to discuss with Qatari collegeboard members the possibility ofintroducing new courses into thecurriculum. Although the institu-tion is essentially a technical col-lege, Walsh says her Qatari part-ners would like to integrate skilledtrades training, after recognizing alack in their local workforce, aproblem mirrored in this country.

“You can’t import and export

all of your workers from differentplaces and I think they feel thatthey want to put the Qataris backto meaningful work, because overthe years, where there’s been somuch money, the work ethic, per-haps, hasn’t been there.”

Qatar, which borders SaudiArabia, is an oil-rich country, butWalsh says many of the blue-col-lar jobs are carried out by peoplefrom places such as India and thePhilippines, who are generallyunder trained.

WORKFORCE RETIREMENT

Walsh says within years, muchof the current Canadian tradeworkforce will be retiring and shefeels many potential students andtheir parents don’t realize thebenefits of in careers such asplumbing and electrical work.

“We have trouble gettinginstructors … because they’remaking so much more money inindustry or on their own than theycan make with us. We’ll have todo something about that in thenear future.”

She is also anticipating recruit-

ment for the Qatar campus.“We’ll probably be putting an

ad in the paper soon actually, justlooking for an expression of inter-est amongst trades people.”

With the College of the NorthAtlantic’s overseas operationsprogressing well, Walsh says it’seasy to lose sight of issues backhome, and although the collegehas connections with other coun-tries such as China and Libya, it’snot currently looking to take onany projects similar to Qatar —although she says the opportuni-ties are out there.

Meantime, Walsh says she’senjoying being part of the eco-nomic and cultural expansion inthe country of Qatar, where thecollege is the first to allow menand women to work side by side.

“It’s a really good partnershipbecause it’s not just about money,although money is important, butalso we feel that we are a part ofsomething much bigger.

“ I would be inclined to say rev-olution, but they would prefer Isay evolution … it makes us feelas a college, proud to be a part ofthis.”

The Independent, January 2, 2005 BUSINESS

TeachingQatar

College of the North Atlantic’s campus inPersian Gulf still growing; profits won’tbe used to run operations here at home

In class at College of the North Atlantic-Qatar on the Persian Gulf.Submitted photo

REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

Supporters of Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko celebrate during a rally in Kiev's main Independence Square. The Central ElectionCommission will announce preliminary results in Ukraine's presidential election on Monday, the head of the commission said on Sunday. Exit pollsgave opposition leader Yushchenko about a 15 percentage point advantage over Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich in the re-run of the Nov. 21election that was annulled due to mass fraud.

Democracy in actionNewfoundlanders and Labradorians could learn a few lessons from the recent Ukrainian election

Until recently, I have never expe-rienced real democracy inaction. Of course, I’ve voted for

politicians, for promises and for party.I’ve been active at times in variousstages of the democratic process, butrecently I’ve become cynical. I’vereferred to the process as mere politicaltheatre enacted every four years to satis-fy the requirement for the will of thepeople clause in the theory of democra-cy.

I remember having a heated discussionwith a friend, when the statement“democracy is dead” was spoken. Ibelieved it. People don’t vote anymore,and when they do … many do not knowthe issues, many vote on party lines forindividual or regional gain, many votebecause they, or their families, havealways voted red or blue.

In Ukraine over the last four weeks orso, where hundreds of thousands ofUkrainians protested peacefully butforcefully, I have seen what democracyis. Thousands slept in tents for these fourweeks in sub-zero weather on the centralstreets of Kiev.

Threats and the imminent presence ofriot police, soldiers and tanks loomed.But these Ukrainians — students andfactory workers, elderly ladies and gen-tleman, rural poor, businessmen and civilservants — were prepared to risk life andlimb to ensure that the political, socialand economic future of Ukraine wassecure.

I asked a colleague of mine, an active

protester from the ministry where Iadvise on economic development, if hewas afraid. “Of course,” he said. “ButI’m not doing this for me, I’m doing thisfor my little girl.” He was ready to die(and there is no exaggeration here) forthe chance of a better future for hisdaughter.

And that’s a widely-held sentiment. Itis a level of commitment that makes meproud to be here now and I find myselfdrawn to experience the crowds and elec-tricity of the protests.

I have also found that same desire forinclusion and participation in the area ofeconomic self-determination. Ukrainiansare economically active and very aware.

With 12 per cent growth predicted forthis year (although recent protests willdecrease this figure) Ukraine is destinedto grow. They readily accept profession-al assistance and take what they needfrom this advice and support the activi-ties of other Ukrainians in the sake ofnational unity and prosperity.

They understand the concept of buyingUkrainian products is critical to the suc-cess of Ukraine. They understand thatnothing is free and they have to workhard for a promise of a brighter tomor-row. They also understand that nothinghappens overnight, and that processestake time; they know growth is incre-mental at first, but if sustained, it bringsgreat rewards. But most of all, they knownow that if you want something, youhave to do it.

What can Newfoundlanders learn fromthis Ukrainian situation of the last fewweeks?

In my opinion, two things. First, com-plaining gets you nowhere. If you want tochange a situation, participate in the elec-

tion of your political members, and thinkabout what you are doing. Democracy isimportant, but only when it is informed.

Party politics and popularity, roadrepairs and promises of action, do notwarrant your vote. Vote for experienceand capability, vote for intelligence, voteand understand what you are voting for.Be an active participant in the system.Democracy is a wonderful thing, butonly when its citizen participants areactive and informed.

Second, and more importantly: theworld is small now and it is becomingsmaller by the day. Newfoundland andLabrador is not just competing withNova Scotia and New Brunswick in theinvestment attraction and export game,but with Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine andHungary.

It is not that Newfoundlanders andLabradorians have not had some suc-cess, but it is not enough.

It is critical that Newfoundlanders andLabradorians begin to realize that thetime for restructuring is now, because infive years it will be too late. It is no secretthat the province has no well establishedinvestment attraction agency, no exportdevelopment organization and disparateand disjointed economic developmentorganizations (albeit with some verycompetent and professional people) thatdon’t practically communicate and coop-erate. Anywhere else in the world, itwould not be allowed to happen.

On May 1, 10 new countries joined theEuropean Union (EU). More, includingUkraine, Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria,are at various stages of negotiations forentry. These accession states receive stag-gering degrees of structural assistance,and the assistance is being used very

effectively, as the development of regu-latory, investment attraction and indus-trial development structures are evaluat-ed as benchmarks for meeting EU entrycriteria.

These are the threats to Newfoundlandand Labrador’s development, with thesame degree of importance as transferpayments, raw deals on hydroelectricpower and royalties on oil.

Newfoundland and Labrador mustbuild a strong industrial and manufactur-ing base, it requires cluster developmentand sustained efforts, and it requires pro-fessional international market develop-ment efforts with sufficient resources andcapability.

Premier Danny Williams is trying, butit requires more than the vision and willof one man or team. It requires a move-ment and concerted efforts of all. New-foundlanders and Labradorians are intel-ligent and resourceful. They have con-sistently shown their ingenuity and workethic in the tar sands of Alberta or in thefactories of Brampton. They’ve builtNew York’s skyscrapers, and distin-guished themselves throughout the worldin most every field and venture.

It’s time that Newfoundlanders andLabradorians realize this, understandtheir capability and strengths and be will-ing to pull together and risk a bit for abrighter future for their daughters andsons.

Colin Maddock is an economic devel-opment advisor to the Ukrainian gov-ernment and the former head of the Irish-Newfoundland Business Partnership.

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

January 2, 2005 INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

Voice from awayBy Colin MaddockIn Kiev, Ukraine

The provincial office ofthe Canadian Red CrossSociety took in $10

thousand in donations withinsix hours of reopening afterthe Christmas holiday. Themoney came in response to thetsunami devastation in Asiaand Africa.

“We’ve beeninundated withthe outpouring ofgenerosity ofNewfoundlan-ders, it’s justbeen incredible,”Rhonda Kenney,the regionaldirector for theoffice tells TheI n d e p e n d e n t .“We’ve had line-ups outside ofour office.”

As of Wednesday afternoon,the office had accumulated$16 thousand from people “offthe street,” which Kenney saysdoesn’t include those pledgingmoney over the phone andthrough the Red Cross web-site. Nationally, she adds, theRed Cross — which is thelargest humanitarian organiza-tion in the world — hasreceived $2.4 million towardsits goal of $120 million.

The huge earthquake struckin the Indian Ocean on Boxing

Day and the resulting tsunamidemolished areas along thecoasts of southeast Asia andAfrica. Aid workers have pre-dicted the death toll will rise toover 100,000.

Kenney says her office hasreceived numerous calls frompeople interested in volunteer-

ing their time andarranging fund-raisers.

“We’re facili-tating the coordi-nation of volun-teers to assist withthe receiving, aswell as to answerany inquiriesthrough the tele-phone.”

At this point,she says, theappeal is strictly

for money, which would aidthe organization in purchasingappropriate supplies for theaffected areas.

Although the Canadian RedCross has five delegates aidingthe relief effort overseas, thereare no Newfoundlanders orLabradorians currently sched-uled to fly to join the effort.

“Right now, there’s no directappeal for personnel but cer-tainly that’s something we’rekeeping open,” she says.

— Clare-Marie Gosse

Associated Press

The largest relief effort in history is underwayacross Asia, as aid workers predict the deathtoll from this week’s earthquake and tsunamis

will surpass 100,000. Military teams reaching thewest coast of Indonesia’s Sumatra island for the firsttime reported scenes of total devastation.

“We’re facing a disaster of unprecedented propor-tion in nature,’’ said Simon Missiri, Asia Pacific chiefat the International Federation of Red Cross and RedCrescent Societies.

“We’re talking about a staggering death toll.”The most powerful earthquake in 40 years hit the

Indian Ocean Boxing Day morning, launching tidalwaves that swamped villages and seaside resortsacross Southeast Asia and Africa.

The first news reports to reach Canada listed ninedead in the Indonesian island of Sumatra, and 160dead after a tidal wave hit Sri Lanka.

How the picture has changed. As reports filter inand media and rescue workers reach the thousands ofaffected villages and towns, the death toll has spiraledupward. Up to a thousand of the dead and missing areforeigners (over a dozen are Canadian).

The waves wiped out villages, knocked a SriLankan train off its tracks, lifted cars and boats,yanked children from the arms of parents and sweptaway beachgoers, scuba divers and fishermen.

It could be one of the deadliest — and most expen-sive — natural disasters ever.

“The sea was full of bodies,” said one refugee,Sukardi Kasdi, who sailed a small boat to Banda Acehon Sumatra’s northern tip — itself largely flattened bythe quake — to seek help for his family, who he saidhad nothing to eat but coconuts.

“I don’t know how long everyone else will sur-vive.”

Tens of thousands of people are still missing acrossa dozen countries from Indonesia to Sri Lanka toSomalia. The millions of people whose homes wereswept away or wrecked by raging walls of water arestruggling to find shelter.

“My mother, no word. My sisters, brothers, aunt,uncle, grandmother, no word!” yelled a woman at amakeshift morgue in Lhokseumawe, Indonesia.“Where are they? Where are they? I don’t know

where to start looking.”Bulldozers are already at work in Banda Aceh, dig-

ging mass graves for the thousands of unidentifiedbodies found on the city’s streets and the lawns ofgovernment offices. With the threat of disease loom-ing, the army had no choice but to get the corpsesunder ground.

Dr. David Nabarro, head of crisis operations for theWorld Health Organization, warned that disease couldtake as many lives as Sunday’s devastation.

“The initial terror associated with the tsunamis andthe earthquake itself may be dwarfed by the longer-term suffering of the affected communities,” he toldreporters at the UN agency’s offices in Geneva.

Along India’s southern coast, paramedics havebegun vaccinating 65,000 tsunami survivors in TamilNadu state against cholera, typhoid, hepatitis A anddysentery. Bleaching powder is being sprayed onbeaches from which bodies have been recovered.

In Sri Lanka’s severely hit town of Galle, officialsmounted a loudspeaker on a fire engine to advise res-idents to lay bodies on roads for collection. Elsewherein Sri Lanka, residents took on burial efforts withforks or even bare hands to scrape a final resting placefor victims.

The tidal waves and flooding have uprooted land-mines in the war-torn country, threatening to kill ormaim aid workers and survivors attempting to returnto what’s left of their homes.

Amid the devastation were some miraculous storiesof survival. In Malaysia, a 20-day-old baby wasfound alive on a floating mattress. She and her fami-ly were later reunited. A Hong Kong couple vaca-tioning in Thailand clung to a mattress for six hours.

A Newfoundlander was rescued after 10 hours inthe water, keeping himself afloat by clinging to thebody of a fisherman.

A two-year-old boy in Phuket, Thailand, was found,sitting alone on a road before he was taken to a hos-pital where his uncle found him after seeing news ofthe child on the Internet. Reports say the boy’s moth-er is still missing.

For others, the pain of their loss was almost impos-sible to come to terms with.

“Where are my children?’’ asked 41-year-oldAbsah, as she searched for her 11 youngsters inBanda Aceh. “Where are they? I’ve lost everything.”

Red Cross official Irman Rachmat, also in BandaAceh, says people on the island were in despair. “Peo-ple are looting, but not because they are evil, but theyare hungry … we don’t have enough people alive tobury the dead.”

The Independent, January 2, 2005 INTERNATIONAL

‘The sea was full of bodies’Death toll expected to surpass 100,000

Donations pour in

BAY ISMOYO/AFP/Getty Images

People walk through a temporary morgue in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, as they try and find missing family mem-bers.

“We’ve been inundated with the outpouring of generosity of

Newfoundlanders,it’s just beenincredible.”

Rhonda Kenney

Reel 4. Establishing shot: high atop amountain in the Himalayas in the ’70s.Holding beads and wearing long flow-ing robes, Geoff and Scott Stirling areseated in the lotus position next to aswami, in deep meditation. Cue sitars.

Just as his stations devotedly playedLennon’s work, so did Stirling followthe Beatles up the mountain, embracingEastern mysticism, meditation and thesame group of holy men.

SPECTRE OF DEATHThe search for meaning was inspired

by the spectre of death. Scott was 20when his doctor found a large lump inhis neck and diagnosed Hodgkin’s Dis-ease, a cancer of the lymphatic system.A second doctor told him not to worry:it was a cyst. Scott headed for India,wanting to believe his second doctorand hoping that medical treatmentcould wait. Geoff followed him amonth later.

“Geoff told me that he was going todevote all his energy to finding a curefor his son,’’ recalls Sward, Stirling’sradio boss. “He left and I didn’t see himfor nearly a year.”

During the trip, war broke outbetween India and Pakistan, and theStirlings found themselves stranded formonths. As bombs dropped aroundthem — and with Scott’s health at theforefront of their minds — they beganto seek out India’s holy men foranswers.

“We went through that together and

I think it changed me and it changedGeoff. That’s why India was so signif-icant to both of us,’’ Scott says. Fatherand son both became ardent proponentsof yoga and meditation. Scott believesit was his conversion to vegetarianismthat prevented the lump on his neck —which was in fact a cancerous tumour— from growing. His cancer went intoremission.

After the India trip, Stirling was wontto spontaneously show up at CHOMwith his swami and put him on the air.But Eastern religion was no mere dal-liance for the Stirlings.

Clicking through thecorners of the NTVwebsite (ntv.ca) canresemble a lecture inworld religions, withlinks to new-age web-sites and Stirling’s self-published book, InSearch of a New Age.

The NTV site alsofeatures a Stirlingfather-and-son creation,a comic-book spiritualsuperhero called Cap-tain Newfoundland, who fights evilwith telepathic powers and a keenunderstanding of the collective con-sciousness. The backstory is that Cap-tain Newfoundland is descended fromdivine creatures that once inhabited thelost continent of Atlantis, now thenorthern tip of Newfoundland.

Scott believes that daily meditation iscrucial to steering the family empire.“This job demands a lot of concentra-

tion and a lot of focus. I think the busi-ness has benefited from my meditation.I don’t think that either Geoff or I couldlive without it.”

The two had to rely heavily on theirpractice in 1977 when tragedy struck.Scott’s 19-year-old sister, Kim, waskilled in a car accident. It was a life-changing event for the elder Stirling.

“When that happened, I think Geoffreassessed where he was,’’ Scott says.“He thought: what’s this all about? DoI want to just keep expanding? Or isthere something more to life than this?’’

Stirling consultedhis family, askingthem what assets theywanted him to keep.But his family left thedecision to him. Stir-ling sold off all of hisradio stations on themainland and retreatedto Newfoundland.

Reel 5. Establishingshot: close-up of GeoffStirling in the St.John’s studio. Theclicking sound of a

camera shutter fills the otherwise silentroom. Stirling’s smiling, but he’s nothappy.

The photographer is politely askingStirling to work with him, but heproves to be a reluctant subject. If thesewere promotional stills for a Stirlingproduction, he’d be more co-operative.But, no, it’s a shoot for the article thatyou’re reading. It’s one thing to star inyour own biopic, it’s another com-

pletely to yield creative control.The photograph really isn’t what’s

bothering Stirling though. It’s some-thing the lens can’t capture, somethinghappening behind the scenes. Theoffice is a flurry of paper and faxes.Today is the deadline for the next roundof documents to be filed with theCRTC explaining why NTV can’t pos-sibly meet the regulator’s demands forincreased Canadian content.

VICIOUS AND PUNITIVEThe CRTC is fiddling with NTV’s

broadcast day, effectively shorteningthe time period in which the station hasto air its allotment of Canadian content.The way NTV sees it, it’s vicious andpunitive. Under the regulator’s newrules, the broadcast day goes from 7a.m. to 1 a.m., instead of the formula of6 a.m. to 1:30 a.m. that’s been in placesince the 1970s — a concession fromthe CRTC that allowed NTV to takeadvantage of simulcast opportunitiesdespite its unique time zone.

The upshot is that the station can nolonger count its early-morning news-cast toward its Cancon quota. NTVwill have to generate more program-ming, and that won’t be cheap. And itcould put a serious dent in the newhybrid model that NTV has become.Today, not just Newfoundlanders, butsome 1.3 million people between Van-couver and St. John’s — and as farsouth as the Caribbean — watch NTVeach week.

January 2, 2005 LIFE &TIMES

Captain Newfoundland born on Northern Peninsula

Of course, back then the peninsula’s northern tip was part of the lost continent of Atlantis — according to the Stirling storyline

“ I think the business has benefited from my meditation. I don’t think that either Geoff or I

could live without it.”— Scott Stirling


From page 1

Geoff Stirling (right) and his son Scott (left) had a “profound” encounter with Yoko Ono and John Lennon. Photo courtesy NTV

The Independent, January 2, 2005 LIFE & TIMES

Adding satellite transmission to conven-tional signals, NTV started broadcastingcontinentally in 1994. In 2002, its growingnon-Newfoundland audience led to a part-ing of ways with CTV, of which it had beenan affiliate.

Paul Sparkes, a spokesman for CTV par-ent Bell Globemedia Inc., says that whileNTV wanted to keep airing the network’stop programs, it didn’t want to show thecorresponding national commercials. SoNTV was competing with CTV for bothviewers and advertising.

“One reason our relationship with NTV isdifferent is because one-third of its audienceis now outside of Newfoundland,’’ Sparkessays. “They are competition in a way thatthey weren’t before they went to satellite.’’

Still, CTV continues to allow NTV to airnews shows such as the evening nationalnews and Canada AM, in exchange forNTV news reporting. So the network thatNTV most resembles now is Global — a lotof shiny American imports and a few per-functory domestic productions, done on thecheap. The local content consists of newsprogramming and live-entertainment showslike the surprisingly addictive Karaoke Idol(which is just what it sounds like, filmed ina bar) and George Street TV (sketch come-dy featuring two comedians, a couch on thesidewalk and whoever happens by).

Stirling could, of course, pledge to domore and better original programming. Butthe best-behaviour face that private-sectorbroadcasters put on to satisfy the CRTC hasa nervous tic in Stirling’s case — his ten-dency to mouth off.

SURVIVOR NEWFOUNDLAND?

It’s true too that Stirling’s causes thesedays don’t have the historic sweep of thebattle over Confederation. He has used hismedia machine to promote various new ageideas and to lobby the producers of Survivorto locate the next edition of their show onKelly’s Island, an uninhabited scrap of rocknear St. John’s.

But he does still take on matters of pub-

lic policy, calling for the renegotiation ofNewfoundland and Labrador’s ChurchillFalls energy agreement with Quebec anddecrying another Labrador deal — the onethe province struck with Inco for theVoisey’s Bay nickel development.

In 2002, Stirling suggested that membersof the provincial legislature who voted forthe Voisey’s Bay deal should face criminalcharges.

“I’m not anti-anything. I’m just pro-New-foundland,” Stirling says of his pronounce-ments. “Communicating is everything. I amin the unique position to have the opportu-nity to contribute to the culture that’sunfolding here.”

But the line between Stirling’s role as amedia owner and his role as a citizen is too

faint, according to Noreen Golfman, aboard member of Friends of CanadianBroadcasting and a professor of English andfilm studies at Memorial University in St.John’s. “He owns the station and uses it topromote his own ideology,” says Golfman,a columnist with The Independent.

“He’ll get right on television himself tosay what Newfoundland should be doing, orwhat Canada should be doing. Just imagineif (Bell Globemedia president) Ivan Fecandid the same. It would be a huge flap.”

In a place that’s still rich with sharedfamily history, where the first question isalways, “Who do you belong to?” theanswer in Geoff Stirling’s case isn’t so clear.Who is going to defend his interests now?

In another era, a phone call from PremierJoey Smallwood might have fixed every-thing. Stirling has indeed enlisted PremierDanny Williams to write the CRTC, but it’snot like Stirling’s calling up his buddy anymore.

In a different time, faced with bureau-cratic intransigence, Stirling would havestood aligned beside a powerful group ofindependent broadcasting affiliates acrossthe country, staring down the CRTC together.

Today, seated against the black backdropof the cavernous room, peering into theblinding studio lights, Stirling looks vul-nerable.

“I’m not ashamed of what I’ve tried todo. Maybe I’ve bitten off more than I canchew,’’ he says, pausing reflectively for amoment.

“They’d love me to sell,’’ Stirling tellsme. He won’t say who wants to buy hiscrown jewel, although there are whispers inthe industry that all of the private-sectornational broadcasters — CTV, Global,CHUM — have designs on his station.None is expressing interest publicly.

All Stirling will say is that he’s had four

informal offers in recent years. But withthree generations of Stirlings now workingin the family business — grandson Jesse isin charge of marketing — Stirling says thefamily is here to stay. Indeed, the eve of the50th anniversary of his introduction of tele-vision to Newfoundland would hardly be asuitable time to sell.

‘I’LL NEVER SELL OUT’“I’m sure that if NTV were sold to a

national company,’’ Stirling says, “we’dlose our sovereignty, which is the only sov-ereignty we have right now — televisionand radio owned by Newfoundlanders.

“No,” he continues, his voice shakingnow. “I’ll never sell out. They’ll never driveme out. I’m going to keep doing it my way.’’

With that, the interview is over. The lightsare dimmed. Stirling removes his micro-phone and heads to the door, bidding megoodbye as he steps into the foggy night.

Two days later, he calls me. I can hear itin his voice. He’s in much better spirits.Even an auteur and resident philosopher-king is entitled to a bad day. Now, theclouds have lifted, the view from the moun-taintop is clear. He’ll soon be off to Arizona.Meditating on all of his accomplishments inthis lifetime, and what’s left to come onlife’s stage.

“This is my movie. I’m the writer, theproducer, the director and the hero,’’ Stirlingtells me. “In my new movie, my reincarna-tion, I may not come back to Newfoundland.I may not even come back to this planet.”

Wherever he is, he’ll look back on thismovie and smile broadly, knowing that itwas he who was truly Captain Newfound-land.

This story originally appeared in TheGlobe and Mail’s Report on Business Mag-azine. Reprinted by The Independent withpermission.Geoff Stirling and his wife Joyce (left) with Tina Turner.

‘This is my

movie’Stirling is the writer,

the producer, the director and the hero

From page 19

Geoff Stirling Courtesy of NTV

Photo courtesy NTV

LIFE & TIMES The Independent, January 2, 2005

Out with the old …Record reviewer Rick Bailey signs off with his picks of the year

It’s that time again: to lookback at the year that was,and wonder what the new

one’s going to bring. I really enjoyed listening to

some of 2004’s crop of newreleases and getting to writeabout how they made me feel. Itwas a pleasure gracing The Inde-pendent’s pages for over a year,but now it’s time for me to focuson something else. I’ll leave youwith a listing of the local discsthat impressed me the most thisyear.

Best of the season to all.

5. BLAIR HARVEYBurnin’ Down ReligionThis is a bare-bones album of

original whiskey-drinkin’ bluesycountry reminiscent of all yourfavourite folk songwriters. Cash,Prine, Dylan, Guthrie … you cantell there’s some special influ-ences at work here, and Harvey’stunes speak from the soul likethose masters before him.

I heard it was done in classicstyle — recorded straight upwith Harvey and his guitar andharmonica. Co-producer LeeTizzard captured the raw essenceof Harvey’s stripped-downappeal as a busker for this 14-song lament to hard living. Thesongs are real, open-road talesthat will either make you stompand cheer wildly or sob silentlyinto your beer.

Choice tracks: Dig MyGrave, Pocket Full Of Holes,Loner’s Blues, Makin’ Chairs,Poor Man.

4. ROCK CAN ROLLRECORDS

Compilation: Volume 1A compendious collection of

St. John’s indie rock bands, pro-fessionally gathered together ineye-candy packaging. Createdthrough the Independent ArtistsCooperative, a St. John’s-basedartists’ group, the disc madegood use of government fundingby bringing together 16 hot rock-ing cuts and showcasing some ofthe city’s variety in talent.

The compilation idea isn’tnew, but the quality and appear-ance of this one is fresh andinviting. I think the province’slack of record labels may meanmore collectives taking initiativeon projects such as this, and agood thing, because that seems

the only way to get great musicoff the island to awaiting ears.

Choice tracks: Five Star Gen-eral’s Demon Sugar Fight, MikeWade Band’s Impossible Love,The Water Witch by Victory Cig-arettes, and Wankfest by Bung.

3. JENNY GEAR AND THEWHISKEY KITTENS

The debut self-titled effortfrom the young chanteuse wouldhave to be the most long-await-ed; it was put on ice before herpublic display on Canadian Idol,which eventually made Gear’sunique vocal styling a hot com-modity. And I knew she’d createthe disc in her own way, as acharming blend of folk, jazz andpop, aided by primo musicians.

What’s more is her way ofinterpreting songs, like she doeswith the 11 tunes found here, allwritten by contemporary New-foundland songwriters. Locallychosen song content, coupledwith her Nanny’s house in Car-bonear as a recording location,made this album truly close tohome. A really sweet listen, too.

Choice tracks: Murder In The

Southlands, Little, Mirror InMom’s Room, Bicycle.

2. DUANE ANDREWSFor a guy who’s played in

numerous bands (Jenny Gear andThe Whiskey Kittens, The Dis-counts), it’s high time the virtu-oso guitarist got his share of thespotlight. This disc is it. Focusedon his love and study of DjangoReinhardt’s gypsy jazz, it’s arush of heated original composi-tions, translated traditional reelsand reworked standards.

Andrews blazes through rhyth-mic melodies so exotically,you’d think you were loungingin an international café or roam-ing the countryside in France.With added chord charts to sharechops with bold players — anenhanced feature of the CD, thisalbum is certainly mind-blowingin its acoustic simplicity. Any-thing but simple to play, it’s justa natural choice of instrumentswith amazing results. This is avery cultured, classy fusion ofjazz with traditional that weshould all be exposed to.

Choice tracks: el Choclo,Rosa, Doherty’s, Jamo’s Blues

1. THE NOVAKSYou’re probably thinking,

“What the hell are you talkingabout? They don’t have a recordyet!” Not entirely true. I man-aged a sneak peek at what’s duein the new year … a glimpse intothe future, I suppose. The end of2004 brings the completion ofrecording for The Novaks’ debutthrough Inside Music. I wit-nessed some of the recordingsessions, and attended a previewlistening of the unmixed, unmas-tered album in its entirety.

This is the best album I’veheard all year, even if it’s anunofficially released one. There’snot a single song that couldn’t bea potential hit. You’ll end up lov-ing them all, if you love newrock and roll. The guitar sound isspectacular, the vocals forceful,and some extra studio tricks arethere for you to drool over. Verypro, and it hadn’t even beentweaked or fiddled with yet.

Choice tracks: Pick ‘emwhen the disc is released becauseI can’t do it.

Rick Bailey is a musician andradio DJ.

Local Spins

BAILEYRICK

The compilation ideaisn’t new, but the qualityand appearance of thisone (Rock Can Roll) is

fresh and inviting. Ithink the province’s lack

of record labels maymean more collectives

taking initiative on pro-jects such as this, and agood thing, because thatseems the only way to getgreat music off the island

to awaiting ears.

By Stephanie PorterThe Independent

Astrong, independentsinger-songwriter —starting the IndieFemme

showcase in Toronto, and a week-ly songwriters’ night in Montreal— Kathy Phippard would just assoon stay that way.

And she’d much rather talkabout backpacking across Europethan signing with a major label orattaining pop stardom.

“I’m too old to conquer theworld,” she says with a laugh.“I’m not really interested … I’llleave that kind of pressure to thecute 14-year-olds.”

Phippard has found success inher field — first, she earned aJuno and two gold records duringher three-year stint singing withthe Irish Descendants in the1990s. Then, moving away fromthe traditional and into the folk-pop-rock world, she earnedawards in a number of songwrit-ing competitions, including win-ning the Unisong and Billboardinternational song contests, andplacing first runner up during lastyear’s Canadian Music Week’ssongwriting contest.

Not long after releasing herwell-reviewed debut CD, 1998’sOutside Lookin’ In, Phippard,who has called herself an “inde-pendent pop warrior” left hernative St. John’s for Toronto,looking for a change, and the kindof music scene a big city canoffer.

She says she’s “kind of wan-derlust,” never content to sit still.And, sure enough, in 2003, sheand her boyfriend moved to Mon-treal.

She’s back in St. John’s now,for a little over a month, playingher recurring role of Sister MaryMargaret in Spirit of Newfound-land’s annual Christmas dinnertheatre production. The visit cul-minates with her St. John’s CDrelease party (her second record,Premonition, is on shelves now)at the Majestic Theatre Jan. 4.

It’s Phippard’s third releaseparty for the disc — her first wasin Toronto, in early November; afew weeks later she celebrated inMontreal.

The event in Toronto was espe-cially fun and satisfying, she says.

“The way I started fundraisingto make the CD,” she says.“There were 200 to 300 employ-

ees at the club I worked. I got 100people there to buy the CD inadvance for $20. That gave meenough to start.”

Phippard says convincing peo-ple to hand over $20 wasn’talways easy — many figuredthey’d never actually get the CD.

“And it did take a while,” shesays, laughing again. “I’d alreadyleft town and lived in Montrealfor a year by the time the albumcame out … but we did go backthen, and I brought the CDs withme and handed them around.”

Phippard says she “had a real-ly nice thing going” with the two-year run of the IndieFemme

nights in Toronto. Once a month,she would invite two guests of the“hundreds of independent artiststhere” to play. She would closethe night with her band, TheShameless Hussies.

The weekly songwriter night inMontreal, which she started inthe fall, is gathering momentum,drawing a “nice little crowd” bythe time Phippard left for Christ-mas in St. John’s.

She’s excited to showcase hernew disc in her hometown. She’smade a name for herself as asongwriter, but it’s the perform-ing aspect of her job that reallydrives her. The mostly pop-influ-

enced songs on Premonition arecatchy, personal tales, driven byPhippard’s piano and versatile,powerful voice.

“Some of the songs I wrote afew years back and I knew Iwanted to record them, becausethey are so personally important,”she says. She gives the exampleof the opening track, I am, writtenafter the experience of being abirthing coach for one of herclose friends.

“It’s a relief to get them downfinally, actually. It’s like I could-n’t get to new material until I gotthese out of my system. Now Ican’t wait for the big snowfalls in

January so I can bury myself andwrite more.”

In the new year, Phippard plansto keep at her regular work —teaching piano, playing for balletclasses, booking gigs — and try-ing to play a few more shows inthe U.S., in Boston and New Yorkparticularly.

She’s thinking of moving backto Newfoundland in June, untilChristmas, when the backpackingtrip across Europe will begin (sheplans to organize a little tour inEngland and Ireland to coincidewith her travels.)

And she’ll keep getting her CDout there as best she can.

“I like to be independent, I real-ly do … but the only thing that’smissing is the big marketingpush, which is really tough as anindependent,” she says. “It’stough and you just have to weath-er it out a bit more and fight a bitharder to get anywhere. It’s greatthough, it’s a challenge.

“The thing is, you can sell yourcouple of CDs over time, ifyou’re with a major label youcan’t do that, you have to sell fastor you’re dropped.

“I figure this’ll do me the nextthree to five (years), then we’ll goagain.”

The Independent, January 2, 2005 LIFE & TIMES

‘Independent pop warrior’

Kathy Phippard prefers performing to writing; backpacking to ‘world domination’


LIFE & TIMES The Independent, January 2, 2005

ACROSS1 First Greek letter6 Clock numeral9 Cigar end12 High-pitched andclear17 Fragrant purpleflower18 Gilbert & Sullivan’sPinafore19 Owing20 Show21 Intended22 Cockney’s aspiration23 Restored Winnipeghome of former Manito-ba premier Macdonald25 Hot weather garment27 Bulgarian currency28 From the East29 Black: comb. form30 Decline31 “___ with Brooms”(Paul Gross film)32 Involuntary contrac-tion34 ___-timers 35 Rifle39 Margaret MacMillan’sbestseller: ___ 1919: SixMonths That Changedthe World40 Ottawa-___42 Young bear43 On behalf of44 Sleigh45 “___ to the races!”46 ___ and games47 Footwear49 TGIF part50 Curly coif52 A Great Lake54 Cape Breton’s gale-

force SE winds: Les ___56 Cabin component57 Cash in59 Site of TCA/ RCAFmid-air crash (1954)61 Out of danger62 Neighbour: Uncle ___64 Like crackers66 Mouth67 Bump68 Weakens69 Artist of a sort70 It’s a gift71 Risque72 Lopsided73 Warning to ships76 Pallid77 Evade78 One: prefix79 Louise, e.g.80 Deprived of sensation81 Cotton hosiery type83 Cut brutally84 Humongous wine bot-tle88 Tooth-shaped90 Quebec street91 Aristocratic92 Pianist Kuerti93 Ultraviolet rad. of akind94 Besides95 Certain chord96 The ___ Diaries(Carol Shields)97 Also-___98 Author Kogawa(Obasan)99 Between, in Brest

DOWN1 Donations to the poor2 Stead

3 Scheme4 The ___’s Tale(Atwood)5 Thespian6 Bantu language7 Little devils8 Expert ending?9 Number to be added10 Smooth11 Norse goddess12 She wrote MyFather’s House13 Author of CanadaMade Me: Norman ___14 Eye part15 Rotate16 Nevertheless24 African desert26 Shade tree27 Vikram of Vassanjititle30 Fox cousin32 Seasons33 Presumptuous35 Pertaining to burialceremonies36 Mentioned earlier37 Caviar38 Mr.’s partner39 Greek letter40 St. Urbain’s ___(Richler)41 One in ten Canadianshas seen one42 The Stanley ___46 Stale air47 Team48 Weeder50 Perched on51 Moroccan city52 Giant tidal whirlpool(N.B.): “Old ___”53 One who cries foul?

55 Dawn goddess56 Canadian P.M. ofGreat Britain (1922)58 Unhip syrup60 Inoculation61 French purse63 Alta. time64 NDP forerunner65 Pooh’s friend67 Author Urquhart(Away)68 Like a mule

70 Sorrow71 Garden tool72 Ont. town on Missis-sippi R.74 Alberta-born Pariswriter Nancy (Plainsong)75 Surfing the Web76 He was King of Kens-ington77 It. is there79 Insect stage80 Starved for validation

81 Pre-Easter period82 Heavily engaged with84 Normandy beachwhere Canadians landed 85 Sad news note86 Wing-like87 Ancient Persian88 German article89 Belonging to us90 British rule in India

INDEPENDENT CROSSWORD Solutions on page 26

T he Grenfell I Knew is thelatest biographical study of“the great doctor” who

brought health services, schoolingand so much else to the people ofnorthern Newfoundland andcoastal Labrador.

By the time Grenfell retired in1935 (he had first ventured toNewfoundland with the Mission toDeep Sea Fishermen in 1892), asystem of health care, an orphan-age, schools, cooperative storesand an international charity for thesupport of continued missionarywork were all in place.

Like many publicly revered per-sonalities, Grenfell often appearsmore myth than flesh and bloodman. By all accounts, he was aremarkable, passionate individualwhose seemingly limitless energydrove him to pursue what he sawas a God-given directive to helphis fellow man. Alex Smith quoteshim: “Could any theology be moreprofound? Any sociology morepractical? To do my surgery asChrist would do it.”

I had thought, on first readingthe title of Smith’s book, that itwould be a memoir of personalexperiences involving Grenfell.“Much of the information in thesechapters came from the great doc-tor himself as well as others whohave written about him,” theauthor sets forth in his preface. Yetit quickly becomes apparent thatThe Grenfell I Knew is mostly acut and paste job of previoussources, Grenfell’s own body ofpublished work included.

Nor does this survey have muchto add to our understanding ofWilfred Grenfell. He is presented

(much as he presents himself inhis own writings) as an instrumentof God. That Grenfell was as com-plicated a human being as anyother is a possibility that does notseem to have occurred to Mr.Smith, for he paints him in broadstrokes with only the brightest andmost flattering of palettes. Smith,

ironically it seems, does not detectthe arrogance inherent in a state-ment such as he quotes from Gren-fell about midway through hisbook:

One great joy which comes withthe work is the sympathy one getswith the really poor, whether inintelligence, physical make-up, orworldly assets. One learns howsimple needs and simple lives pre-serve simple virtues that get lost in

the crush of advancing civiliza-tion.

Of the above, Smith notes that“Grenfell was deeply grateful andnot unmindful of what the peoplealong the coast did for him;” even,one might add, if he did considerthem an intellectually inferior lot,not privy to the great knowledgethat modern science affords themedical man.

Later, in a reference to Gren-fell’s establishment of cooperativestores in an effort to improve theliving standards of local residents,Smith says of the fishermen of St.Anthony that “even though theywere unlearned men they knewthey were not getting a ‘squaredeal’ from many of the merchants.”

Herein, Smith makes the (hope-fully) unconscious error of equat-ing formal education with intelli-gence. They may not have gone toschool, but surely, Mr. Smith, theywere not stupid. Why then shouldtheir awareness of injustice perpe-trated against them be so surpris-ing?

Though it may make for an inter-esting piece of religious writing(Smith, himself a United Churchminister, shares much of Grenfell’senthusiasm for acts of Christiancharity) The Grenfell I Knew issketchy as biography. As a memoirit is also lacking, aside from a cou-ple of un-illuminating encountersbetween “the author” (as he refersto himself throughout) and Gren-fell, no longer than a few shortparagraphs each.

…I had taken first place in myclass in the Grenfell School at St.Anthony, Newfoundland. At Dr.Grenfell’s request I went to see himat his house.

It was a visit I always remem-bered. He presented me with someoil paints, a book, and a five-dollarbill, a huge amount of money in

those days for a young boy. Iappreciated these things, of course,but it was the force of his person-ality and his words of encourage-ment that helped shape and governmy whole life.

This last is more the sort of thingI had expected — the author’s per-sonal connection to Grenfell, hisown opinions of the doctorunmediated by previously pub-lished texts.

Sadly, these brief glimpses arerare and never go beyond mere

anecdote. For a more completevision of Grenfell, stripped of hisunofficial sainthood and endowedwith human failings, Ron Romp-key’s Grenfell of Labrador is amuch better bet. If, however,you’re more interested in Grenfellas myth than man, Smith’s book isas good a place to start as any.

Mark Callanan is a writer andreviewer living in Rocky Harbour.His next column appears Jan. 9.

The Grenfell I KnewBy Alex A. Smith Flanker, 2004

“Much of the informa-tion in these chapters

came from the great doc-tor himself as well as oth-

ers who have writtenabout him,” the authorsets forth in his preface.Yet it quickly becomes

apparent that The Gren-fell I Knew is mostly a

cut and paste job of pre-vious sources, Grenfell’sown body of published

work included.

On TheShelf

CALLANANMARK

Grenfell, I hardly knew ye

Cuts like a knifeInjuries forced Newfoundlander Ryan Power out of CBC’s Making the Cut; bad breaks continue

By Darcy MacRaeFor The Independent

Hockey is a game of breaks,a fact nobody knows bet-ter than Ryan Power.

The native of Norman’s Cove-Long Cove has been through theups and downs of hockey — fromplaying major junior in Halifax tosuiting up in the university ranksin Charlottetown, P.E.I. But whenPower travelled to Vernon, B.C.earlier this year to take part inMaking the Cut, the CBC realitytelevision series that gave Canadi-an hockey players the chance toearn a shot at the NHL, he hopedhis bumpy ride in the hockeyworld would finally level off.

For almost the entire camp,things were finally going Power’sway. His outstanding speed, softhands and willingness to grind itout in the corners grabbed theattention of coaches, scouts andthousands of viewers from coast tocoast.

Power quickly established him-self as one of the program’s betterplayers, surviving several cuts andpositioning himself to advance tothe prestigious final 18 — the poolof players from which all sixCanadian NHL teams would draftfrom in the program’s finale,which aired Dec. 14.

But just as it appeared the 26-year-old was finally going to getthe break he always wanted, dis-aster struck.

On July 26, with just a few daysto go before the final 18 were cho-sen, Power took part in one of thecamp’s final games. During a rou-tine breakout, Power raced up theleft sideboards before cuttingacross the ice to support puck-car-rying teammate Ryan Lauzon.

Lauzon chipped the puck off theboards to Power, but the pass wasbehind him, forcing Power to leanback in an attempt to coral thepuck.

Power then cut into the middleof the ice, but still had troublegetting complete control of thepuck that was now at his feet.When he looked up, he sawDominic Periard just a few feetaway, shoulder tucked, ready tolower the boom with a thunderouscheck.

“When I looked up, he was rightthere. I couldn’t do anything butjust brace myself and take the hit,”Power tells The Independent. “Alot of people thought I didn’t seehim coming, but I did see him atthe last second, I just had no roomto move.”

With the hit, Power was sentsprawling to the ice, and at firstglance looked as though hewouldn’t be getting up any timesoon.

He got to one knee and pre-pared himself to stand, but instant-ly felt a great deal of internal pain.“I knew something was going oninside. I just didn’t know what itwas.”

Power was examined by train-ers on the ice, and further in thelocker room. From there, he tooka trip to the hospital in Vernon,where doctors discovered abruised liver. Despite mediareports of other serious injuries —including a collapsed lung — thebruised liver was the only ailmentdiscovered at that time. (Over thesummer Power discovered he hadalso broken two ribs in the colli-sion.)

Power held out hope that hewould be able to return to the ice,but the pain inside his bruised,

swollen body wouldn’t subside.He was forced to lean to the leftside for his remaining time incamp, and any time he attemptedto straighten up it felt as if hisinsides were being wrenched.

After further discussions withthe program’s doctors, he decidedhis time at Making the Cut wouldhave to end.

“I would have liked to havestepped up and played through theinjury,” says Power. “But whenrespected trainers and doctors toldme that my situation could be life-threatening if I went on the ice,then I wasn’t going to take anyrisks.”

Power left the competition withjust one game to go before thefinal 18 players were chosen.Many fans of the show — partic-ularly those here in the province— have openly speculatedwhether he would have advancedto the final 18 had he not been soseriously injured.

As far as Power is concerned,there really is no question. As hewas preparing for the trip home,

Power was informed by a memberof the show’s production crew anda coach at the camp that he was ontrack for bigger and brighterthings. Both said they had beentold by members of the program’sinner circle that Power would havebeen a part of the final 18 had henot been so seriously injured.

The news made Power feelgood about the way he played atthe camp, but also left him feelingfrustrated and disappointed.

“I can’t even explain it. I felt sogood with the whole camp,” hesays. “I felt like I was in for thelong haul. That’s one thing I havetrouble dealing with. If I had myhead up for those few seconds anddidn’t take that hit, I probablywould have been at the draft.”

For much of the summer, Powercontinued to feel the effects of thethunderous hit. By early Septem-ber, he felt well enough to take tothe ice again, and soon departedfor Albuquerque, New Mexico,where he was to suit up as a mem-ber of the Central HockeyLeague’s New Mexico Scorpions.

However, just when things werelooking up for Power, everythingcame crashing down again duringa pre-season game in which Powerwas demonstrating many of thesame qualities that endeared himto the coaches at Making The Cut.

Power raced into the corner andlaid a stiff check on an opposingdefenceman, sending the rear-guard crashing to the ice. But onhis way down, the defenceman’sstick swung up, caught Power inthe chin, snapping his back andcompressing his spine. The injurywas similar to whiplash, forcingPower off the ice for five weeks.

When he finally returned to theScorpions, he played six games

and picked up two assists playingon the team’s checking line.

Then, just after morning prac-tice on Dec. 15, Power wasthrown for another loop when theScorpions told him he was beingreleased because they had justsigned a new left winger. Themove was a total shock to Power,who was busy getting dressed fora team promotion he was sched-uled to attend with Scorpions cap-tain Daniel Tetrault later that after-noon.

“I was very surprised because Iwas playing well. I didn’t expectto be leaving.”

Despite the setback, Power did-n’t give up on his dream of play-ing pro hockey and has sincesigned a contract with the CentralLeague’s Oklahoma City Blazers.His willingness to continuedespite so many obstacles is a tes-tament to his desire for the game,the same desire that brought himall the way to Ottawa to try out forMaking the Cut.

Despite all he has been throughin hockey, especially in the pastsix months, the only regret he hasconcerning his most recent trials isthat the television constantlyreferred to him as a native ofCharlottetown, P.E.I.

Although he has spent much ofthe past five years there and willreturn to Charlottetown to be withhis fiancée Penny Spencer oncehockey season ends, Power insistshis home is in Newfoundland.

“If I had my time back, I wouldhave made it clear I’m from Nor-man’s Cove-Long Cove and amjust residing in Charlottetown,” hesays. “Home for me is where myparents are, and that’s Newfound-land.”

[email protected]

January 2, 2005 SPORTS

“I would have liked to have stepped up and played through the injury. But when

respected trainers anddoctors told me that mysituation could be life-

threatening if I went onthe ice, then I wasn’t

going to take any risks.”— Ryan Power

SPORTS The Independent, January 2, 2005

Forget the NHL, bring back Bob Cole

I’m not going to do the stan-dard year in review for TheIndependent. I’ve only been

here four months, so I figured I’dlook ahead, instead of over theshoulder.

As we embark on 2005, hereare some things I, as a sports fan,would like to have happen in thenew year.

Generally, my highest hope is tohave the fun and games broughtback to what was originally intend-ed to be the fun and games of pro-fessional sports. No more assaults,brawls, thugs, drugs and strikes.

Disrespectful fans, stay home.Watch it on TV. The same goes forplayers, coaches and management.We need stiffer fines for unaccept-able behaviour.

These wishes are not onlyimportant for those of us who stilllike to watch professional sports.Because there is a trickle-downeffect with these types of things,the more we and our children seeit on TV, the more likely it willhappen someday soon at our localrink, gym or field.

I’ve found myself writing in thisspace about negative things muchtoo often. Is that a consciouschoice? Hard to say, but I do knowI have a positive outlook on life.Would the negative stuff go awayif we all just decided to ignore it?

More specifically:• Bob Cole back in the broadcast

booth. While he still can raise theexcitement of any NHL game withhis voice and commentary, Cole’sdays as the game’s best will notlast much longer. As the strike con-tinues with no end in sight, would-n’t it be a shame to have such astellar career end on such a note?There were hints that Cole and hissidekick, Harry Neale, would retireafter the Canada Cup, but nothingwas officially announced. To goout now, with the NHL in such astate, would be a travesty. Coledeserves to leave when the leagueis actually a league, not a dysfunc-tional mess.

• A Herder title for the Cee Bees.Before you conclude that I’m ahomer, I just want to watch good,

fast hockey when I watch seniorgames. Yet, as someone who grewup in Harbour Grace (really in the“suburb” of Riverhead), it wouldbe nice to see the town get a shotin the arm. It’s sorely needed. TheShore will be the biggest obstacle.Perhaps Bob Cole can rekindle hisyouth and do play-by-play for theplayoffs. He should be available.

• Another crack at a nationalchampionship for the MemorialSea-Hawks women’s basketballteam. They’ve been close a fewtimes before, and this year is thedeparting season for two ofMUN’s all-time best — JenineBrowne and Amy Dalton. Maybethen, the team could play a fewexhibition games in the new Field

House, not in the old MUN gym.• A Rugby Canada Super

League title for The Rock. Alwaysa strong contender, the team needsjust a little more to get it over thehump and on top. It would lookgood on this group. They’veworked hard to get to this level,and a championship would be ajust reward.

• The Fog Devils getting off to afast start in the Quebec MajorJunior Hockey League. I’m stillnot sure what a Fog Devil is, but I

think I might have acted like one afew times. Regardless, I like thename. It’s the kind of moniker thatwill grow on you. It should alsolend for some nice headlines.

• A strong showing by New-foundland and Labrador at the2005 Canada Summer Games.Maybe our athletes can turn in thebest performance ever by thisprovince. But would that be a goodthing? If that were to happen,would government be even stingi-er when it comes to funding? Judg-ing by the past, one would thinkso. Not that we should be winninggold in every sport, but there is tal-ent here in many sports that —with a little more help — couldchallenge any province.

• Steve Nash winning the MVPaward while leading the PhoenixSuns to the NBA championship.I’ve always loved to watch Nashplay — and not because he’s Cana-dian. The guy just makes the gameso entertaining, and the Suns are ajoy to watch. As of last week,Phoenix was tops in the league.The B.C. native is not the mostathletically gifted player; his great-est gift is his gift giving. Leadingthe league in assists, he makeseveryone around him better —except for his opponents, ofcourse. A true team player, a rarecommodity these days it wouldseem.

Bobby White writes from Car-bonear.

[email protected]

Sol

utio

ns f

rom

pag

e 25


Bob theBayman

WHITEBOB

Dublin - October 2004San Diego - January 2005

1.800.321.1433579.8190 www.arthritis.ca/nl

Define your world.Make a difference in someone elses.

Walk or Run aMarathon orhalf marathon onbehalf of someoneyou know livingwith arthritis

Bob Cole

The Independent, January 2, 2005 SPORTS

The Independent has received tremendous feed-

back regarding our colourful and gripping photogra-

phy. Our photo team, led by Internationally recog-

nized and award-winning photo editor Paul Daly, cap-

tures the essence of Newfoundland and Labrador in

every shot. From the beautiful landscapes to the won-

derful people who make up this province, each photo

is truly representative of the place where we live.

Make our photos your own!

Complete the following form and enclose acheque or money order for the total amount($24.99 per print) plus 15% HST and $2shipping.

$24.99EACH 8" x 12"PRINT IS JUST

+ SHIPPING & TAXES

NAME: _________________________________________________________________________________________________

STREET: ______________________________________________________________________________________________

CITY/TOWN: ______________________________________________________________________________________

POSTAL CODE: _______________________________________________________________________________

PHONE: ______________________________________________________________________________________________

PUBLICATION DATE(S): __________________________

PAGE NUMBER(S): ______________________________

PHOTO SUBJECT(S): ____________________________

NUMBER OF COPIES: ____________________________

Mail your cheque and completed form to:The Independent, P.O. Box 5891,

Station C, St. John’s NL, A1C 5X4Questions? Call us at (709) 726-4639

DECEMBER 31• New Year’s Eve celebrations,St. John’s harbourfront fireworksat midnight.• New Year’s Eve in style, Grafen-berg’s Martini Lounge, compli-mentary hors d’oeuvres, martinisampling, door prizes, champagneat midnight and a live performanceby African Dance group Mopaya,390 Duckworth St., St. John’s, 8 p.m.• Gala ball, at the Fort Williamballroom, Fairmont Newfound-land. Reception 7 p.m., followedby a 5-course dinner at 8 p.m. Live entertainment by the Angela Warner Band and JohnBarella. Tickets required.

• Signal Hill performs at ClubOne, George St. $20 in advance,753-7877.• Spirit of Newfoundland’sChristmas Cabaret, dinner theatre,Majestic Theatre, 390 DuckworthSt. Every Wed, Thurs, Fri and Satuntil Jan 8. 6:30 p.m. $48, 579-3023.• Best Little NL ChristmasPageant Ever, dinner theatre,Majestic Theatre and The Star Hall,every Mon, Tues, Fri and Sat untilJan 8. 6:30 p.m. $48, 579-3023.• The Navigators, O’Reilly’s IrishPub and Eatery, George St. 722-3735.• Eight Track Favourites playMickey Quinn’s, Delta St. John’s.

• Mark Bragg and Love Hijack-er at the Ship Inn, St. John’s.

JANUARY 1• New Years Day Brunch, BonaVista restaurant, Fairmont New-foundland, 11 a.m.-2 p.m., $38adult, $26.50 children.• Exploder plays CBTG’s, GeorgeSt., 10:30 p.m. 722-2284.

JANUARY 2• Sound Symposium presentsScruncheons New Year’s Concert,St. John’s Arts and Culture Centre,3 p.m., admission free, 754-1242.

JANUARY 4• Kathy Phippard CD release

party, Majestic Theatre, 390 Duck-worth St. 7 p.m. Admission free,579-3023.• Auntie Crae’s House Band, tra-ditional Newfoundland music, 272Water St. Every Tuesday at 12:30p.m. 754-0661.

JANUARY 6• Newfoundland’s Mark Braggand Ottawa songwriter Jim Brysonplay the LSPU Hall, Victoria St.,St. John’s, 753-4531.

JANUARY 7• Rising Tide Theatre presentsRevue 04, St. John’s Arts and Cul-ture Centre, Jan. 7- 8, 12-15. $22 adults, $18 students/seniors,

729-5243.

IN THE GALLERIES• Christmas Art, Balance Restau-rant, 147 LeMarchant Rd. until Jan8. An exhibition of Christmas artby Elizabeth Burry, Linda Colesand Julie Duff. 722-2112.• In Sequence II, art for Christ-mas, Leyton Gallery, Baird’sCove, until Jan. 30, 15 artistsexhibit their most recent pieces.Open Tue-Sat, 11 a.m.-5p.m., Sun12-5 p.m. 722-7177.• Art exhibit by Vivian Pedleyand Jason Jenkins, James BairdGallery, 221 Duckworth St., untilJan. 7, 726-4502.

Events

Double billNewfoundlander Mark Bragg (left) is back from Halifax for a couple of Christmas showsin St. John’s. He plays the Ship Inn on New Year’s eve with Love Hijacker. On Jan. 6,Ottawa-based singer-songwriter Jim Bryson (below) will join Bragg for a concert at theLSPU Hall.

Mat Dunlap photo Shane Ward photo

2005-01-02

Documents

Transcript of 2005-01-02