2005-01-23

By Alisha MorrisseyThe Independent

Between ACOA and the provincialgovernment, $34.25 million wasspent last year in Newfoundland

and Labrador creating work for thou-sands of seasonal employees trying toqualify for Employment Insurance (EI)benefits.

The Atlantic Canada OpportunitiesAgency paid out $30 million in a so-called Short-Term Adjustment Initiativein an attempt to help “cod-affected work-ers” obtain enough insurable hours toqualify for EI.

“This is not something that we nor-mally do,” Doug Burgess, spokesmanfor ACOA, tells The Independent.

He says 1,800 people were employedat 187 projects in communities aroundthe province. Most of the projects arenow complete.

Burgess says most of the projects werecentred around municipal infrastructure,tourism and cultural enhancement, andenvironmental clean-ups.

One community that benefited fromACOA funding for tourism enhancementwas Burnt Islands on the island’s westcoast.

Sheila King, economic developmentofficer for Burnt Islands, says theACOA-funded project helped fishermenand the community.

“The projects that we’ve done havebeen related to the cod fishery where theplant workers and the fisherpersonsneeded enough work to qualify for EI,”

she says.With a $230,000 ACOA grant, the

town rebuilt a garage to house the firedepartment and built floating docks andmarginal wharves.

By working on the project, those whohadn’t qualified for EI were able to getbenefits they needed while helping toprepare for Burnt Islands’ come-homeyear.

Many of the projects funded by theprovince’s $4.25 million make-work potwere similar to those funded by ACOA.

Municipal Affairs Minister Jack Byrnesays 450 projects employed 1,800 sea-sonal workers — similar to 2003 num-bers.

“The need is certainly out there inNewfoundland, particularly in ruralNewfoundland, to continue with this job-creation program,” says Byrne, addingthe province is trying to change the so-called Job Creation Program so commu-nities can apply earlier, work can lastlonger and have a more meaningfulimpact.

‘Cudgelled with stereotypes’Rex Murphy says Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are fighting

for cultural survival; response to Globe and Mail columnist proves it

By Stephanie PorterThe Independent

Rex Murphy has already had his go at the now-notorious column by Globe and Mail writerMargaret Wente — on Canada Now, on The

National, and in his very own, pointed Globe piece. Wente’s work was just that, a column, he says. “I’ve

been writing and saying stuff for a long time,” he adds

— and columns are there to be responded to by all, nomatter if the criticism comes from a colleague paid bythe same employer.

“Obviously, I’ve said what I think about the columnas such … I certainly haven’t been shy about it,” Mur-phy tells The Independent. He knows he’s not the onlyone — there have been thousands of letters written inreaction to Wente’s words.

“There’s been a really good back and forth on this.

There are a lot of Newfoundlanders, and not just peo-ple like me in so-called journalism, have had a go atthis thing.”

And while “it’s never nice to be cudgelled withstereotypes,” as Wente’s piece did (she referred to thisprovince as a “vast and scenic welfare ghetto,” amongother things), Murphy takes pride in the fiery respons-es from his home province.

He believes the reaction is a testament to the char-acter of today’s Newfoundlanders and Labradorians,their connection to the province — and an acuteawareness that “their situation is pretty fragile.”

SHARP IN TONGUE AND WITMurphy, a regular commentator on CBC-TV’s The

National, as well as host of CBC Radio’s Cross Coun-try Checkup, is currently based in Toronto, and hasbeen for a while. But he’s a Newfoundlander throughand through, born in Freshwater, Placentia Bay, sharpin tongue and wit. He’s politically observant and hasan ability to speak to all Canadians — but never leaveshis home province out of the picture, or out of context.And while his on-screen personality has a certain slydistance, in person Murphy is disarming, pleasant, andcurious.

He’s back in St. John’s this weekend, to host theHands of Hope benefit concert for victims of the Dec.26 tsunami at Mile One Stadium. He visits regularly,he says, and will one day move back to stay. In themeantime, he stays in touch with his Newfoundlandcontacts, attuned to what’s going on back home, bothin politics and on the streets.

VOL. 3 ISSUE 4 ST. JOHN’S, NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR SUNDAY THROUGH SATURDAY, JANUARY 23-29, 2005 WWW.THEINDEPENDENT.CA $1.00 (INCLUDING HST)

LIFE & TIMESNoreen Golfman praisesMary Walsh’s new show

Page 23

SPORTSDerm Dobbin on lease ofMile One and devil details

Page 25

BUSINESSJohn Dyson reflects onghost of lower Churchill

6

INTERNATIONALUN’s corporate culture and oil-for-food program

Page 19

QuoteOF THEWeek

Sailed through the cracks

By Jeff DucharmeThe Independent

The Transportation SafetyBoard has elevated its inves-tigation into the sinking of

the Ryan’s Commander to Class 2,meaning recommendations toimprove safety are imminent.

A Class 1 investigation, the mostserious, calls for a public inquiry —a move that wasn’t taken even afterthe Swiss Air disaster.

Almost five months to the dayafter the Ryan’s Commander cap-sized and sunk off Cape Bonavista,taking the lives of David Ryan, 46,and Joseph Ryan, 47, their sisterJohanna Ryan Guy says she nowknows that it was the design of thevessel that took the lives of her broth-ers.

“What happens in order for it to bea Class 2 is that the findings and therecommendations that will be madebecause of this is far reaching,” RyanGuy tells The Independent in anexclusive interview. “It’s fartherreaching than just Newfoundland. Itwould affect Canada and possiblyother areas as well.”

Ryan Guy was informed of themove by the safety board Jan. 21.

The safety board website describesa Class 2 investigation as one havinga “high probability of advancingCanadian transportation safety in thatthere is significant potential forreducing the risk to persons, proper-ty, or the environment.”

Safety board spokesman John Cot-treau confirmed for The Independentthat the investigation has been elevat-ed, but he says that doesn’t necessar-ily mean that factors such as humanerror or weather have been ruled out.

“It’s all about making recommen-dations,” says Cottreau. “Everythingis still on the table, nothing has beenruled out.”

Fishermen have long questionedthe design of snub-nose vessels suchas the Ryan’s Commander. Ryan Guyhas been an outspoken critic of thesnub-nose design and federal govern-ment regulations since the tragicsinking.

“You can give things the benefitof the doubt, but not when safety is

Continued on page 2

Paul Daly/The Independent

Rex Murphy

“If I was (U.S.) secretary of Energy, I’d be

on your doorstep.”— John Dyson, former head

of the Power Authority of the State of New York on

development of lower Churchill.

Continued on page 2See related story on page 2

Johanna Ryan Guy’s two brothers died on the Ryan’s Commander. The Trans-portation Safety Board has elevated the investigation into the sinking to Class 2.

Investigation of Ryan’s Commandersinking elevated to second-highest level

Continued on page 21Paul Daly/The Independent

Make-work millionsProvince and ACOA

spent more than $34 million last year

on EI projects

NEWS The Independent, January 23, 2005

“Rather than just having it as an adhoc situation, we would do it in more ofa planned fashion,” Byrne says.

“We will be asking the organizationsto come forward with plans … they willthen use this money to leverage outmore funds from the federal governmenthopefully through some of the programsthat they have.”

He says eventually the infrastructurewould create more positions and themake-work programs could phase them-selves out — replaced by full-time orseasonal work that was not there before.

“Before we would have phased it out,the money that we would have spentwould have created either long-term,permanent positions or seasonal posi-tions each year where you wouldn’tneed to have these programs.

“Somewhere down the road we’d liketo see that — to phase that money out— where you wouldn’t have to have jobcreation programs each year and whatjobs you would be creating in the mean-time would be more inclined to givepeople pride in what they do rather thanjust a job-creation program.”

Transport Canada report questions fishing vessel technology


In 1990, the Straits Pride IIsank off Newfoundland takingthe lives of three crewmem-

bers. Investigators from the Trans-port Safety Board concluded theship capsized because one of theparavanes had broken and causedthe ship to list to one side.

The list caused the Straits PrideII to take on water and it eventual-ly capsized. Transport Canada wasso concerned over the sinking, astudy was launched into the use ofparavanes and released in 1995.

“They (fishermen) are all wor-ried about losing one,” says Don-ald Bass, who teaches naval archi-tecture at Memorial University.

Paravanes — referred to by fish-ermen as “fish,” hang from metalbooms that are attached to a ves-sel’s mast. Paravanes glide throughthe water and help decrease therolling motion of the ship.

Bass was part of the team thatinvestigated the use of paravanesand the sinking of the Straits Pride

II. After hearing concerns aboutparavanes, Bass went looking for abetter way to stabilize vessels atsea and invented roll-stabilizationtanks. The tanks move water fromside to side to counteract andlessen a vessel’s roll. The technol-

ogy that Bass invented is now theindustry standard.

“What these (paravanes) tend todo is they tend to reduce yourmotion, which really means toincrease your comfort level,” saysBass. “So they are primarily there

— not to stop you capsizing— butjust to increase your comfort leveland to, in fact, stop accidents.”

Bass says more people areinjured or die during onboard acci-dents, such as being thrown over-board or being struck by gear,because a vessel rolls too much.

“You have to weigh the advan-tages of making life livable withthe dangers that come with it,”says Bass.

According to the TransportCanada report into paravanes,“there is a misconception amongoperators regarding the effect ofparavanes — it must be stressed tofishermen that although common-ly referred to as ‘stabilizers,’ para-vanes do not improve the stabilityof a vessel and may in fact dimin-ish it.”

The report goes on to say that“roll damping mechanisms” mayonly “mask an inherent stabilityproblem.”

The 64-11s, as the inshore fish-ing vessels are called, have oftenbeen referred to as unstable byfishermen because federal regula-

tions limit the length to less than65 feet and force ship designers tobuild outwards and upwards. Theresult is often a top-heavy, box-likeboat.

“I think they’re missing the factthat it’s not based on what it lookslike — it just looks top heavy,”says Bass, though he does say thatmany of the 64-11s are subject togreater pitching (front to back)motion.

Bass points to cruise ships as aprime example of looks beingdeceiving. Towering cruise shipsmay look top heavy, but becausemuch of the ship is under water,they are far more stable than theyappear.

Paravanes are attached to boomsthat jut out from each side of thevessel and are connected to thetop of the mast, which tends toraise the centre of gravity and addto the accumulation of ice.

Both of these factors can spelltragedy for fishermen in a vesselthat the report says has stabilitythat is “only marginal to beginwith.”

‘How longdoes it take’

in doubt,” says Ryan Guy. “And I thinkthat’s what happened here in numerousareas, including the design, including thestability ruling …”

Government regulations limit the lengthof such vessels to under 65 feet, meaningowners and designers are forced to buildvessels that can, in certain conditions,become top-heavy.

The federal regulations that limit thelength of the inshore vessels to less than65 feet created a class of vessels called 64-11s because they come in just under themandated length. Mid-shore vessels are65-100 feet. Anything over that length isconsidered offshore.

The Ryan’s Commander was built byUniversal Marine of Triton. TransportCanada conducted the inaugural inspec-tion of the vessel in 2004. Fishing vesselssuch as the Ryan’s Commander areinspected every four years by the agency.

Ryan Guy says the Ryan’s Commanderwasn’t subject to incline tests that wouldhave determined stability because a small-er “sister ship” had already been tested.But changes to the design of her brothers’vessel made it unstable, she says. Thevessel had an extra deck, a wheelhousethat was aft and, unlike the sister vessel,had no concrete ballast.

“There’s no way that these rules shouldbe so vague that a 65-footer just sailedright through the cracks,” says Ryan Guy“It’s unheard of. It should never be.”

The federal government has beenreviewing its vessel safety regulations andhearings are ongoing. The Atlantic Fish-eries Policy Framework is designed toaddress regulations that some contendmay have been overtaken by technology.

“My question is how long does it take?How long is it going to take and howmany more lives are going to be at risk?”asks Ryan Guy.

A 2000 Canadian Coast Guard reportcalled into question the design of the 64-11 vessels and chastised federal bureau-cracy because “most issues affecting ves-sel safety have not been sustained by theappropriate authorities,” the report read.

“Consequently, the issues keep revolvingand the problems refuse to disappear.

“Every time I come to the waterfront,”says Ryan Guy. “I get that same gut-wrenching feeling that I’m saying tomyself ‘Which of these boats are going tobe next and something is definitely goingto happen.’”

She says her brothers had concerns overthe stability of the vessel, especially whenit was unloaded — as it was the night of

the disaster.“There was a lot of people that have

sailed on that ship for various reasons andshe seemed to be the cat’s ass.”

If all vessels were required to be testedfor roll, says Ryan Guy, the potential fordisaster may be lessened.

“Every boat owner out there right nowshould know how far out their boat can gobefore she’s not going to come back, andthat’s the big issue.”

‘Give people pride in what

they do’From page 1

From page 1

For the recordA Jan. 9 story carried in The Inde-

pendent reported that Supreme CourtJudge Robert Fowler was being toutedas a potential candidate to replaceLabrador MP Lawrence O’Brien.Fowler tells The Independent he “likeshis life” and has no intention of seekingthe nomination.

CorrectionIn the “Suing for a smoke” story in

the Jan. 9 issue of The Independent, itwas reported that stores rang up $10million in annual sales. It should haveread $10 million in taxes.

Jim Wellman/The Navigator

The Independent, January 23, 2005 NEWS

By Clare-Marie GosseThe Independent

After over 20 years of guilt, Wal-lace Ryan is finally ready topublicly admit he broke the law.

“When they were building the newConfederation Building — the extensionto it — they had a huge fence that wentdown around that whole property and Igraffitied the slogan FREE NFLD.,” hetells The Independent.

The St. John’s graphic artist gives amock sheepish grin and shrugs, know-ing full well that with the huge com-mercial popularity of his slogan since,people have probably already put twoand two together.

The FREE NFLD. logocan be found all over theprovince, and as a result ofthe flag flap, has evenappeared recently in thenational press, causing salesof merchandise to sky rocket.It’s a cheeky statement of dissatisfactionover Newfoundland and Labrador’splace in Canada, and at the time of thegraffiti incident, provoked a stir of inter-est.

“It was inspired of a political event,”says Ryan, “after negotiations on theConstitution … it was actually the lackof Senate reform which was what

pushed myself and a bunch of othersinto the camp of … alternatives shall wesay.”

As an art student studying in Toronto,Ryan would return home for the sum-mer holidays and work in his Dad’sgrocery store. There was a printingpress in the back for advertisements andflyers and he seized the opportunity toreel off 1,000 posters, which he thendistributed around the local area.

Every April Fool’s Day and on otherspecial anniversaries, Ryan says he’dbust them out again, wrapping the logoaround telegraph poles. He says theynever lasted long because people wouldpeel them off to keep.

Five years ago Ryan wasasked by Dave Hopley,owner of Living Planet — aNewfoundland-themed T-shirt store on DuckworthStreet in downtown St.John’s — to design somedrawings for his merchan-

dise. Hopley encouraged Ryan to comeup with any of his own suggestions andthe graphic artist immediately thoughtof FREE NFLD.

“I said to him, ‘Oh this’ll sell.’”Although sales were slow at first,

they gradually increased, and after oneof the members in Great Big Sea worea FREE NFLD. T-shirt in a music video,

demand went through the roof.“It was the month after the Great Big

Sea video,” says Ryan, who receivesroyalties on sales. “Dave had called meand said, ‘Come down, I’ve got acheque for you,’ and I was expecting a$100 cheque, and it was a $400cheque.”

Since then, items of clothing fromtiny thongs to wooly hats bear the slo-gan, and are sold in other stores besidesLiving Planet. Five months ago, publicrequests also caused Ryan to launch aFREE LABRADOR version of the orig-inal.

Today, FREE NFLD. sales arethrough the roof again, thanks to New-foundland and Labrador’s current pop-ularity in mainland media over theAtlantic Accord negotiations and subse-quent controversies.

Ryan says the Living Planet websiteaddress was visible beside the logo,which was illustrated recently in aGlobe and Mail article, spurring interestfor the merchandise from ex-patriotsliving on the mainland.

He adds somebody even sent Globeand Mail columnist Margaret Wente aT-shirt, (Wente achieved infamy after arecent rant slamming Newfoundlandand Labrador).

So how does Ryan feel about localpolitical issues these days?

“To be quite honest, I’m not as posi-tive as some people. I don’t believe thatin the end we will get what we need toexist as a decent province … I think theonly way that Newfoundlanders cansurvive is as an independent nation.”

Despite the fact this would mean hispopular logo would become defunct,Ryan remains resolute.

He grins.“It’ll be like, FREE NFLD.: MIS-

SION ACCOMPLISHED.”

Wallace Ryan

Graffiti graduate

The FREE NFLD. slogan first appeared on a fence around Confederation Building’s

west block. Today, it’s everywhere.


“I said to him,‘Oh this’ll sell.’”

Wallace Ryan


Letters to the Editor

Our relations with Ottawaare in for further strain inthe coming weeks when

Danny Williams guts the publicservice and the rap is pinned onthe federal government.

The layoffs are bound to happenunder Program Renewal, an oddname for a project designed — notto breathe life into the public ser-vice like a delicate spring flower— but to search and destroy theaging sloth that is Newfoundlandand Labrador bureaucracy. Butthen Program Renewal has a muchbetter ring than Civil ServiceAnniliation Mission or Govern-ment Job Extermination Exercise.(What do columnists know aboutpublic relations?)

In the end, Ottawa is sure to getthe blame. Newfoundland andLabrador is flat broke and whosefault is that — big bad Ottawa’s, ofcourse. While it’s only right topoint the finger of blame at thefederal government for so much ofwhat ails us, Williams will have tobe careful not to go over the top.

Ottawa has given the provincethe short end of the stick on somany files — fisheries manage-ment, federal jobs, the AtlanticAccord, etc. Sticking with theAccord’s injustices for a moment,the Come by Chance Oil Refineryprocesses more than 105,000 bar-rels of oil a day — not a drop ofwhich comes from the Grand

Banks.In fact, practically none of the

more than 440 million barrels ofoil pumped to date from the Hiber-nia and Terra Nova oilfields has beenprocessed at Come byChance. The refinerythere can only handlesour crude — theheavy, dirty stuff. Theoil that’s pumped fromour offshore (correction,Ottawa’s offshore, referto the Supreme Court ofCanada’s 1984 decision) is a pure,sweet crude, too rich for Come byChance’s machinery to swallow.It’s been said that the dregs of theworld’s oil are processed at Comeby Chance.

Fair enough, but then why notbuild a second refinery in theprovince, one to handle the sweetstuff?

Turns out the Accord has a pro-vision that prevents constructionof a second refinery in theprovince until existing capacity ineastern Canada is at maximumcapacity — an amount decidedon by the federal government.According to provincial govern-ment figures, 50.3 per cent of theoil from the Grand Banks isprocessed at refineries in the Mar-itimes, Ontario and Quebec.How’s that for a contribution toCanada?

Try and tally how much that oilrepresents in terms of direct refin-ery jobs and spin-offs and stick itin your cost-benefit analysis.

Screwed again, wecould say, but then New-foundland and Labradorwas stunned enough tosign the Accord in thefirst place. Too oftenwe’re the authors of ourown misfortune. Toooften the political sur-vival of leaders in thisprovince hinges — not

on doing what’s right, or in thelong-term best interests of thisplace — but on keeping their con-stituents content.

Margaret Wente, who representsall that’s wrong with central Cana-da’s attitude towards us, had apoint in her infamous rant.

“No one is better at this blamegame than the Newfs, egged on bygenerations of politicians. Theonly way to get elected there is topledge to stop the terrible atrocitiesof Ottawa (i.e. not sending enoughmoney). If you should make theerror of suggesting that peoplemight have to become more self-sufficient, your political career isdead.”

Too many politicians here havetaken the easy way out, which iswhy there’s a rotting fish plant inevery nook and cranny of thisplace, and a make-work project to

count on every fall. Last year alonemore than $34 million was spentbetween ACOA and the provincialgovernment on make-work pro-jects.

Newfoundlanders and Labrado-rians are an easy-going people,easy enough to pacify that is. Butthe generation that came to rely onsuch handouts is getting up in age;when they’re gone there will be noone to replace them. They didn’twant the same life for their sonsand daughters, who didn’t want iteither and moved away.

The weeks leading up to thenext provincial budget will be hardones in Newfoundland andLabrador. Tough decisions will bemade that will affect hundreds offamilies across the province. Thestrength of Williams’ leadership issure to be tested over the next fewmonths as he attempts to stream-line the ship of state. Will he standup and defend his actions, or redi-rect the entire fury across the Gulf?

In her column, Wente wrote thatWilliams can do no wrong. “Thesedays,” she wrote, “he’s more pop-ular than God.”

No Margaret, Williams is but aman, a Newfoundlander, but a mannonetheless. Pray no one believesotherwise.

Ryan Cleary is managing editorof The [email protected]

Blame game

‘Canadian beaver in heat’The Independent

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

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

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

or e-mail us [email protected]

LETTERSPOLICY

Dear editor,Seems I’ve had a vision. And it

runs like this … John Efford,who’s on political resuscitation,arrives, like Moses, at the top ofthe stairs in Torbay airport. He’sdressed in a cuddly, fuzzy beaversuit, with a beaver hat andattached tail (like Davy Crockettused to wear in ’coon skin).

With wild eyes and fanaticloyalty to Martin, he looks everyinch the Canadian beaver in heat.

Anyway, the place is filled with

51 per cent of 77 year olds whovoted for Confederation. ScottReid, chief weasel of the PMO’soffice, is there, leading theShearstown Liberal band, andRoger Grimes and the rest of theboys are there rolling out the redcarpet for the little man in thevision.

Efford is carrying a stone tabletin each arm: one says Atlantic;the other says accord. He pausesdramatically before making hisdescent into the crowd and gives

all hell for worshipping what hecalls “false Goads” in hisabsence, namely DannyWilliams. Efford concludes hismomentary diatribe and forgivesthem all before descending in hisbeaver suit like Moses from themountain with his tablets ofstone, to the tumultuous receptionof the press led by Geoff Sterlingand NTV.

That is my vision. I would giveanything to be a cartoonist. Can’tyou just see it, ghosts of Joey, and

Shaheen and all the others.Just think, why else would the

weasels in Ottawa be delayingthis decision on the accord, if notto make John look good andDanny look like he never existed?Talk about getting credit forbringing home the bacon! Theyowe John big time for his treach-ery in Newfoundland andLabrador.

Dave Murphy,Topsail

CLEARYRYAN

An independent voice for Newfoundland & Labrador

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

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people of Newfoundland & Labrador.

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PUBLISHER

Brian Dobbin


Lawyer Jerome Kennedy is in troublefor saying publicly it is regrettablethat judges are to be excluded from

the Lamer Inquiry into the wrongful con-viction of three men. He says some of thejudges involved might not have been ascompetent as hoped.

The chief justice of theprovince has taken issuewith those remarks andhas complained to the lawsociety, which has insti-gated a disciplinary hear-ing. The chief justiceclaims Kennedy’s re-marks could bring thejudiciary into disrepute.

OK. Here it is again — in English. Jerome flew off the handle because it’s

quite obvious to anyone with a brain and aGrade 6 education thatthere is something dread-fully wrong with the justicesystem here in our littleprovince/nation/fiefdom.Three men went to jail forcrimes they didn’t commit.

So Jerome is totallyticked and rants in publicabout the whole mess. Thechief justice hears aboutthose remarks, and feelinghonour bound to speak upfor his colleagues, writes aletter to the lawyers’ union telling them toyank Kennedy’s chain. How do they react?If the chief justice says there is a problem,then there is a problem.

So they’re having an inquiry. I’m guess-ing that Jerome will show up and push theenvelope just a little — but not too much —and then, because he’s not stupid, say he’ssorry.

The lawyers’ union will then rap hisknuckles.

And we will all still have a big problem.Why? Because there is an old maxim that

claims it is not enough that justice be done— justice must be seen to be done. Notquestioning the people who presided overthe fiasco doesn’t make it look like justiceis being done.

If a bus went off the road, would we tellthe driver to go home out of it? Would wegrill the passengers instead? No we wouldnot. Poor buggers, they were just along forthe ride.

Am I being too flippant? Ask GregoryParsons if he didn’t feel like he was justalong for the ride. He sure as hell wasn’tdriving the bus.

I’m not insinuating that all bus driversare incompetent. I am suggesting that a busdriver has every expectation that he mighthave to be part of the inquiry after the crashof his bus. Why? Because he was drivingthe bus!

And if three went off the road …With the greatest of respect to the chief

justice (and with less respect to the lawyers’union) — yanking Kennedy’s chain is notthe answer.

Newfoundland and Labrador is still aplace where you dare not say certain things.

In my father’s day, tospeak out against JoeSmallwood was to earnunemployment and exile.When I was young, onedidn’t speak out againstcertain priests or ChristianBrothers.

No one spoke up. Lookwhere that got us.

And yet we still have traces of this stu-pid, counter-productive, deferential silence.Three men were convicted of serious

crimes they did not com-mit. Hello?

And it is not just thecriminal justice systemwhere there’s a problem.The Crown has lost civillawsuit after civil lawsuitover the years — to thetune of millions of taxpay-ers’ dollars — and therehasn’t been a departmentalshake up.

But you better not sayanything. You and I, gentle

reader, aren’t allowed. I have had more thanone conversation about certain doctors inthis province who write hundreds of pre-scriptions for painkillers. But you can’t sayanything publicly; can’t even publicly ques-tion why people line up outside these doc-tors’ doors each morning 10 and 20 deep.At least the doctors’ union stands up for itsown. The lawyers’ union has turned on oneof its own so fast it makes your head spin.

Inquiry? If Jerome was a NAPE memberthey’d give him a plaque. Makes you won-der why any of them pay dues. Oh, yeah, Iforgot. They have to.

The chief justice is quite right to defendhis colleagues on the bench. That’s his job.But Kennedy is bang on to speak up. I don’tthink his comments are causing any morepain in this painful situation. On the con-trary, they are healing in their frankness andhonesty. OK, so maybe he isn’t going to beshort-listed for the diplomatic corps. Hestill makes a good point.

Why the hell isn’t everyone involved inthis totally outrageous meltdown of thejustice system being investigated? Is not thesystem already in considerable disrepute?

In a word: yes. And muzzling JeromeKennedy is not the answer. It’s more of thegoddamn problem.

Ivan Morgan can be reached [email protected]

Yanking JeromeKennedy’s chain not the answer

Rant &Reason

MORGANIVAN

Am I being too flippant? Ask

Gregory Parsons if he didn’t feel like he was just along

for the ride. He sure as hell wasn’t

driving the bus.


‘Right there in the mind’Dear editor,

Enjoyed your two-part series on GeoffStirling, human extrordinaire!

Reincarnation?I wouldn’t put it past him. I was asleep one morning when the tele-

phone rang at 5 a.m. It was from Geoff inArizona. He had just finished listening tomy Sharecropper Trio CD Natural One-Room School that I had sent him. He askedme if there was anything he could do? I wasso surprised I just said, “Well, no, just enjoyit and if there is another Newfoundlanderdown there let him hear it too.”

He said he could do better than that andthat NTV would be in touch. He then beganto tell me how music really did promote

Newfoundland and Labrador and how hefelt strongly about it.

Within a month, our One-room schoolsong, 60-second vignette was produced andran two to three times a day for 17 monthsstraight!

Yes, Geoff Stirling is a gifted man, pro-Newfoundland, and daily making his ownmovie. Whenever I think of Geoff I think ofthat saying, “success is a state of mind. Ifyou want success, start thinking of yourselfas a success.”

How true. Sure it takes work, but it startsright there in the mind.

Mike Madigan, Pasadena

‘Ugly side of Canadian contempt’Dear editor,

Since I have returned to Newfoundlandand Labrador from the mainland, I havenoticed strained relations between Canadaand Premier Danny Williams. I applaud ourpremier for removing the flag (It was raisedagain, Jan. 10, at all provincial governmentbuildings) because I know the mean-spirit-ed country we joined.

I saw the ugly side of Canadian contemptfor Newfoundland and Labrador during my10 years on the mainland. I have painfullylearned that Canadians do not care about ourissues and our future because I’ve encoun-tered obscene Newfie jokes, and nasty com-ments on why Newfoundland and Labradoris a burden on their country.

Canadians have told me they resent theirtaxes funding equalization for Newfound-land and Labrador and their hostilitytowards us is real.

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians who

never lived on the mainland do not realizetheir resentment towards us.

Those who criticize our premier forremoving the Canadian flag should liveamong these Canadians and discover thetruth for themselves before passing politicaljudgment. Everyone in Newfoundland andLabrador must honestly evaluate the dam-ages Canada has done to our future since1949. Then ask if the Maple Leaf deserveshonour among our people.

To me, the Canadian flag symbolizes acountry that was cruel to Newfoundland andLabrador when it dismantled our fishery,plundered our oil, guaranteed Quebec awindfall from the Churchill Falls project,committed cultural genocide in rural com-munities, and then broke its promise to ourpremier on the Atlantic Accord.

Helen Webster-Bonnell,St. John’s

Dear editor,I would like to compliment Roy Mac-

Gregor and The Globe and Mail on takinga sensible approach to investigating New-foundland and Labrador’s contributions toOttawa, and vice versa. Compiling thisbalance sheet is a daunting task,but I thinkMacGregor has proven that Newfound-land and Labrador has brought a lot moreto the Canadian table than the MargaretWentes of the world would like to think.

In this whole debate, I don’t think I haveever heard anyone mention the amount offederal money, the tax dollars of Canadiansfrom coast to coast to coast that go direct-ly into the province of Ontario through the

vast array of federal buildings, infrastruc-ture and federal jobs. Ottawa itself wouldcease to exist without these investments.

I am not complaining, it is our nation’scapital; it is understandable to an extent.Canadians, however, should not be so hyp-ocritical and decry the money that Ontariomust contribute to equalization, when theireconomy is largely based on the machineryof the federal government. In Newfound-land and Labrador, we recently lost theweather centre in Gander, just one of thesmall number of federal offices we have thatare closing at a rapid pace.

Karla Edwards,Marystown


Balance sheet ‘daunting task’

Editor’s note: The following is acopy of a letter forwarded toGlobe and Mail columnist Mar-garet Wente and forwarded to TheIndependent.

Dear Ms. Wente,I feel certain that by the time

this mail has reached your deskyou will have been assailed by alarge number of those who werejustifiably offended and insultedby your article in the Jan. 6 issueof The Globe and Mail. With thatin mind, I will refrain from attack-ing you for what Ibelieve are the racist,stereotyped and ill-informed views thatyou expressed.

If it is the job of acolumnist to evokereaction, you havecertainly succeeded.However, it is veryunfortunate that yourchosen route to this“success” had to bedemeaning and dis-paraging to the peopleof Newfoundland andLabrador. Your articleshowed no evidenceof any real researchand, as such, is a prime exampleof lazy journalism, unbecomingof a columnist for a nationalnewspaper.

In the segment that you did withJohn Crosbie for the Canada Nownews broadcast, you mentionedthat the central idea of your articlewas that “Ottawa has been a netcontributor” to the economy ofNewfoundland and Labrador.

Recently, a great deal ofresearch was done by the staff ofa small weekly newspaper, TheIndependent, and this researchincluded a full cost-benefit analy-sis of Confederation as it relates tothis province. These articles ranfor a six-week period and, in thefinal week, a summary was print-ed along with a synopsis of eachof the previous five reports. I haveenclosed a copy of these summa-ry reports for your perusal. Therewas obviously a great deal moreinformation published during thecourse of this extensive research,

but I thought that thesummary reportsmight at least serve toillustrate the pointthat your basic con-tention is so incorrectand that there is muchmore to this provincethan stereotypicalmyths.

In closing, I wishyou well and I amsure that, if youshould ever choose tolearn about the greatpeople of Newfound-land and Labradorfirst-hand, you wouldbe welcomed with the

warmth and spirit of hospitalityfor which we are so well known.I am sure you will discover a peo-ple whose history and rich culturehave molded them into a proud,hard-working, intelligent, and cre-ative people, so vastly differentfrom what you have portrayed inyour narrow-minded article.

Bob Ridgley,St. John’s

Life is simple — you wakeup, survive the day, andthen go to sleep and begin

again the next day.When you boil it down, life real-

ly is that simple. We humans areguilty of complicating it. Ouractions and interactions oftenresult in distasteful moments thatturn the simple into the complex,even the infuriating.

Often, we get so wrapped up inour own little world that we can’tsee past our own goals or desires.

Scottish author Robert LouisStevenson once said, “Don’t judgeeach day by the harvest you reap,but by the seeds you plant.”

Many of us should devote moretime to planting and less time towaiting for the harvest.

A young boy in Alabama has,hopefully, taught many of us thatlife really is that simple; that a fewwords from a stranger will makeyou far happier than a job that willafford you a brand-new SUV or aheated-swimming pool in thebackyard come springtime.

Nick Waters is a 14-year-old boywho was born without arms andthe ability to speak. Those of usborn without such massive chal-lenges would see what faces Nickeveryday as insurmountable. Andwhen asked what Christmas giftwe wanted more than anythingelse, our thoughts — if we were inNick’s position — would most cer-tainly turn to having arms and theability to speak, our view of nor-mality.

When Nick’s church groupasked him what he wanted fromthe jolly old guy in the red suit,Nick’s request was pure and sim-ple. Using his feet to type a mes-

sage, he asked for Christmas cards,thousands of them.

Using the Internet, his friendsand family put the word out andthe cards began to flow in. He’sreceived cards from all corners ofthe globe — Canada, Ethiopia,Israel, Hong Kong, Netherlands,and Australia. The cards have beenpouring in and, to date, he’sreceived 130,000 yuletide greet-ings. The cards are piled waist-high in the living room, dinningroom, kitchen and hallways of hisfamily’s home. Even the garagehas been taken over and nowresembles more of a post officethan a place to park the family car.

The church group that startedthe avalanche of Christmas greet-ings helps Nick open his mail eachday. They gather with Nick’s fam-ily and watch as the young man’sface sparkles with delight as eachenvelope is torn open and everymessage read.

Even the United States SecretService, those steely-eyed men andwomen in reflective sunglassesthat guard the president, sent apackage of photos and greetings.He’s received cards from theOrlando Magic of the NBA andeven Elvis Presley, who assuredNick that he’s still alive and simplyin hiding.

“He’s probably touched morelives in a month than we’ll touch in

a lifetime,” Darrell Cheek said inan Associated Press interview.

Cheek was one of the Sundayschool teachers who helped orga-nize the Christmas-card effort.

Nick may be a real-life Tiny Timor just simply a young man tryingto deal with the bad hand he wasdealt in the best way possible.Either way, he’s an inspiration.Nick is what’s good about thisworld, not what’s perfect, butwhat’s good.

Nick suffers from a rare genetic

disorder called Holt-Oram syn-drome. It causes children to beborn with birth defects of the arms,legs and the heart.

Many of us suffer from a-not-sorare disorder called selfishness-humanitus. It’s a common afflic-tion and the cure can often be anallusive one. But research into thatcommon condition is moving for-ward. There is no drug or state-of-the-art operation that can cure thisaffliction—the human condition.But reading stories such as Nick’s

can go an awfully long way tomaking a difference—in your lifeand the lives you impact everyday.

Nick’s mother, likely a saint inher own right, summed it up best.

“He could have asked for any-thing,” his mother said. “He couldhave asked for a swimming pool.He just wanted cards and mail.”

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


How to lend a hand to a kid without oneOpinions Are Like...

DUCHARMEJEFF

‘Narrow-minded article’Letters to the Editor

If it is the job of acolumnist to evokereaction, you have

certainly succeeded.However, it is veryunfortunate that

your chosen routeto this “success”

had to be demean-ing and disparaging

to the people ofNewfoundland and

Labrador.

NAPE’s Leo Puddistersays union is beingattacked from within


With an election facingthe province’s largestpublic-sector union,

president Leo Puddister and hisexecutive once again find them-selves being attacked from with-in.

Media in the province havereceived anonymous brownenvelopes in recent days contain-ing documents that cast the exec-utive of the Newfoundland andLabrador Association of Publicand Private Employees (NAPE)in a dark light — accusing themof overspending, among othersins.

“If NAPE was a corporation… Leo Puddister and the board ofdirectors would possibly be guiltyof criminal charges …,” reads acover letter contained in the enve-lope, which contained internalinformation — most of it finan-cial in nature, including executivesalaries.

The Independent received asimilar package prior to therelease of the 2004 provincialbudget, and the 28-day public-sector strike.

NAPE’s documents show theunion wasn’t financially preparedfor the strike, with spendingexceeding revenues by 231 percent.

Puddister doesn’t buy chargesthat NAPE is a victim of a gov-ernment smear-campaign in the

weeks leading up to the release ofthe 2005 budget — a budgetthat’s expected to cut deeper intogovernment jobs and services.

“It (the release of internalNAPE documents) gave a bit ofadvantage to government,” saysPuddister. “It shifted the playingfield a bit.”

Puddister says the documentswere released to “embarrass”NAPE’s executive. Some of thedocuments are preliminary, saysPuddister, and would have had tocome from the executive itself.

“I don’t think government hadnothing to do with this,” saysPuddister. “I just think people areusing it for their own reasons andit would have to be a NAPEmember.”

NAPE’s most recent publicspat occurred when Carol Fur-long — the former secretary-trea-surer of NAPE who challengedPuddister for the top job in thelast union election — sent an e-mail to the membership claimingshe was the victim of a witchhunt.

Her job is currently classifiedas a union position, but Puddisterand NAPE have been trying tochange that in court and have theposition declassified, leaving Fur-long out in the cold and facing alayoff with no protection fromthe union.

Puddister expects a union elec-tion date to be set this week.NAPE’s bylaws call for the elec-tion to be held at least three

months prior to its convention,slated for June 24 to 25.

The 2004 strike cost the union$14 million, compared to the $5-million strike in 2000. NAPE wasapparently in poor financial shapegoing into the 2004 strike, bor-rowing $9.5 million from its par-ent union — National Union ofPublic and General Employees— to top-up its strike fund.NAPE still owes approximately$7 million.

“I can’t take $5 out of thisplace and go down and get a cupof coffee,” says Puddister, refer-ring to the union’s accountingprocedures. “I just can’t touchmoney here.”

The almost 20,000-strongunion collects $7.7 million indues per year. NAPE cut a num-ber of programs this year in a bidto put itself on sound financialground.

Puddister says he’s taking thewhole issue in stride.

“There’s been an attack on theorganization every two years bysomeone who is dropping (brownenvelopes) off,” says Puddister.

“If people are using this aselection gimmicks, then so be it.I think the media was used.”

Leo Puddister

By Alisha Morrissey The Independent

Of the just over 18,000emergency ambulancetrips taken in the province

last year, 93 per cent arrived onthe scene in 30 minutes or less,The Independent has learned.

At the same time, more than1,200 people waited between 31minutes and an hour for an ambu-lance to come to their rescue.

Health Minister John Otten-heimer says 30 minutes is theprovince’s unofficial ambulancetime target and he’s satisfied withthe results for 2004.

“When we look at the numbers,our rural numbers appear to be onpar with the rest of the country,

which, of course, is importantwhen we take into account ourgeography,” he tells The Indepen-dent. “Overall, as a department,we are pleased with the responsetime.”

The information on ambulancetimes — obtained by The Inde-pendent through the Freedom ofInformation Act — reveals that in9,468 cases an ambulance arrivedon scene in 10 minutes or less;5,578 arrived in between 11 and20 minutes; 1,695 got to the scenein 21 to 30 minutes; 766 peoplewaited between 30 and 40 min-utes; 348 people waited between40 and 50 minutes; and 171 peo-ple waited between 50 minutesand an hour.

Ottenheimer says the cases that

took longer than 30 minutes oftenhad extenuating circumstances,including geographic restrictions,weather and preparation for airambulance assistance.

STRATEGICALLYLOCATED

Wayne Power, president of theNewfoundland and LabradorAmbulance Operators Associa-tion, says ambulance companiesare strategically located in theprovince and he doesn’t knowwhy any patient should have towait an hour for medical attention.

“I know there probably areareas of the province, given thegeography and the seasons andwhat have you, where it may takea little bit longer to get an ambu-

lance from the base to thepatient,” Power says. “It’s a bigdeal I suppose for the personthat’s sick. I wouldn’t be able torelate to you, from my experi-ence, anywhere in the province totake an hour.

“… geez, I don’t know, thatscares me to think that it wouldtake that long.”

There are approximately 63ambulance services in 82 loca-tions around the province.

“I mean, we can’t have one inevery community,” says Power.“But we can’t have a fire truck ora police car in every communityeither.”

Ottenheimer agrees thatprogress could be made on theambulance service times.

“Just because a certain goal hasbeen reached doesn’t mean thatwe sit back and say ‘That’s fine.’You always have to be prudentand vigilant in improving servicesof any kind as it relates to healthcare.”

TAKING STOCKHe says upcoming health care

restructuring will give the newhealth boards an opportunity totake stock of the statistical infor-mation and make the service moreefficient.

Jean Gibbons, a partner in herhusband’s ambulance service,Gibbons’ Ambulance in St.Mary’s, says the area her husbandand son cover is so large that it’sentirely possible that it could takean hour to reach some patients.

“Yes, it’s a while to wait, butthat’s it. If the ambulances are notthere close in an area, and govern-ment dictates that, of course, thenthat’s the way,” she says. “Shouldsomething be done? I guess tosave people’s lives — yes.”

She says the province needsmore ambulances, but she doesn’tthink that’s going to happenbecause government isn’t willingto pay for them.

Reg Careen of the Cape ShoreAmbulance Service says theprovince pays a subsidy to ambu-lance operators, as well as amileage payment. He says thethought of waiting an hour for anambulance is alarming, but admitsit takes an hour to drive to the fur-thest end of his service area.

He says the service could runmuch better if the province wouldpermit him to have a base at eitherend of his service area.

“They could have it situatedbetter … the government won’t doit because they’d have to pay forit,” says Careen.

“We’ve had operators in the lastyear, that have big service areasand they’ve asked the Departmentof Health to let them put an ambu-lance in … one in A and one in B.But the department of health justwon’t allow it.”


‘A while to wait’Ambulance arrival times meeting provincial target; room for improvement, minister

Greg Locke/The Independent


HAPPY VALLEY-GOOSE BAYBy Bert PomeroyFor The Independent

The Combined Councils of Labradorwill have the ears of at least sixprovincial cabinet ministers when it

holds its annual socio-economic conferencein Labrador City and Wabush this week.

“We’re going to be telling them thatLabrador deserves to get the same treatmentfrom Newfoundland that Newfoundlandwants Ottawa to give to the province withthe Atlantic Accord,” combined councilspresident Ford Rumbolt tells The Indepen-dent. “We want to be treated fair — that’sall we’re asking for.”

Rumbolt says yet-to-be-honoured com-mitments to establish a premier’s office inHappy Valley-Goose Bay and a seniormines position in Labrador West are amongthe issues expected to be raised during thisyear’s conference.

“We put out a press release (last week)calling on government to follow through onthe commitments for a premier’s office anda senior official in Labrador West and adeputy minister for the Department ofLabrador and Aboriginal Affairs,” saysRumbolt.

“The next day we heard (LabradorAffairs) Minister Trevor Taylor saying thatthe premier’s office should be in place bythe end of March, and that it would take awhile longer to put a position in LabradorWest.”

Taylor could not be reached for comment. Lake Melville MHA John Hickey says he

realizes it’s not been an easy first year inoffice, but stresses the provincial govern-

ment “has every intention” of followingthrough on its commitments to Labrador.

“People have to realize that when we tookoffice we inherited a huge mess, and we’vehad to make some very difficult decisions inorder to try and change things around in thisprovince,” he says. “The premier and thegovernment made a number of commit-ments to Labrador and those commitments

have not been abandoned. Some things aretaking longer than anticipated.”

Hickey says he expects the deputy min-ister’s position, which has been vacant sincelast summer, will be filled by the end of themonth.

“We’re moving forward,” he says.But Rumbolt says he’s not taking any-

thing for granted.

“Until it’s done, I’m not going to put toomuch faith in it,” he says. “If it takes themas long to put a senior official in LabradorWest as it did to get a deputy minister inplace, then we could be still waiting a yearfrom now.”

Hickey says the province recently com-pleted its program renewal process, and isabout to follow through on its commit-ments to Labrador.

“The premier’s office will be a good ini-tiative,” he says. “It will bring governmentcloser to the people.”

The province, over the course of the lastyear, approved an additional seven RCMPofficers for Labrador, Hickey says, and hasestablished a more efficient health boardthat “will be controlled in Labrador.” It hasalso moved ahead with construction ofPhase III of the Labrador Highway, includ-ing a causeway and bridge across theChurchill River near Happy Valley-GooseBay.

“These are exciting times in Labrador,”he says, “And I think people should bepleased with what we’ve been able toaccomplish in our first year, given the finan-cial situation this province is in.”

The combined councils conference willcoincide with the Atlantic Provinces Trans-portation Forum. Rumbolt says it’s going tobe a busy week.

“All of the hotels are booked — we’veeven had to rent apartments for people tostay in.”

One of the highlights of the conferencewill be the closing banquet. Federal NewDemocratic Party leader Jack Layton isslated to deliver the keynote address.

‘We want to be treated fair’Combined Councils of Labrador expected to evaluate provincial government’s performance at annual meeting

Lower Churchill power may not translate into aluminum smelter: Alcoa


Labrador has been pegged asan ideal location for an alu-minum smelter when the

lower Churchill is developed, but aspokesman for aluminum giantAlcoa says a smelter is unlikely.

In 2001, the then-Liberal gov-ernment and Alcoa conducted afeasibility study, but the cost andrestrictions of the project proved tobe too much.

“One of the biggest costs inmaking aluminum, about 25 percent of the cost on average, is ener-gy related” Alcoa spokesmanKevin Lowery tells The Indepen-dent.

Lowery didn’t close the doorcompletely on taking another lookat Labrador.

“… we’re always in a position tolook into and explore those things.That said, we also try to managepeople’s expectations along thoselines and we don’t talk about pro-jects we’re looking into or workingon until the right time.”

According to the 2001 feasibili-ty study, the average cost of powerto run the aluminum smelter stood

at $18 US per kilowatt hour. Thatfigure would have meant that theproject required a 75-year dealwith Alcoa and a $1-billion gov-ernment subsidy to make the pro-ject — valued at $2.1 billion —viable.

NOT BEST INTERESTThen-minister of Mines and

Energy Lloyd Matthews said theproject was not in the province’sbest interest.

“Government also believes thatthe people of this province shouldretain ownership of the project,realize maximum economic andemployment benefits, and ensurethat the return to the province esca-lates as the price of electricityincreases over time.”

Lowery says Alcoa is havingdiscussions concerning potentialsmelter sites every day, but that itwould be “foolhardy” to talk aboutthe details of any project.

“We’re always looking at wayswe can grow.”

Premier Danny Williams’ gov-ernment recently called for pro-posals to develop the lowerChurchill. The lower Churchill hasthe potential of producing a total of

2,824 megawatts of electricity ifMuskrat Falls (824 megawatts) andGull Island are developed. Theprovince has said that power fromthe smaller Muskrat Falls develop-ment likely wouldn’t be put on theopen market and instead be used todevelop industry within theprovince. The province expects theproposal process to take 18 to 24months.

The power requirements of analuminum smelter, says Lowery,would depend on the size of theproject. He says there’s no suchthing as an average-sized smelter.

“We don’t traditionally talkabout the mega wattage of oursmelters.”

Aluminum smelters require con-siderable amounts of secure andcheap power. Alcoa recently signeda memorandum of understandingwith Trinidad to build a naturalgas-powered smelter. Countriessuch as Trinidad are attractivebecause of access to cheaperpower.

“I don’t know of anybody build-ing new smelters in North Ameri-ca,” says Lowery, “but, that said,traditionally one of the first thingsyou have to address is the power.”

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NDP leader Jack Leyton is slated to give the keynote address at a meeting of the combinedcouncils of Labrador.


By Alisha MorrisseyThe Independent

St. John’s lawyer JeromeKennedy is at the centre ofa judicial firestorm for

comments he made at a 2003conference denouncing the qual-ifications of judges of theSupreme Court of Newfound-land and Labrador, Trial Divi-sion.

At the time, Kennedy said theLamer Inquiry looking into thewrongful convictions of RandyDruken, Ronald Dalton and Gre-gory Parsons should include thetrial judges who presided overthe cases.

“It’s the trial judges, some ofwhom don’t know what they aredoing,” Kennedy said. “Part of itis as a result of political appoint-ments. Part of this is as a result ofintentional or unintentional bias-es.”

The Independent collected theresumes of the judges with theSupreme Court, Trial Division:

Chief Justice J. Derek Green isa Rhodes Scholar with degreesfrom Memorial and Oxford. Hewas in private practice for 18years before being appointed tothe Supreme Court in GrandBank and, later, the Court ofAppeal. In 2000, he was appoint-ed Chief Justice, Supreme Court,Trial Division.

Justice Seamus B. O’Reganwas educated at Memorial andDalhousie universities. O’Reganspent five years in private prac-tice before being appointed to theDistrict Court of Happy Valley-Goose Bay. He was appointed tothe Supreme Court, Trial Divi-sion, in 1986.

Justice Robert Wells is aRhodes Scholar who received hismasters in Law from OxfordUniversity. Wells spent three

years with the Justice Depart-ment and 23 years in privatepractice before being elected tothe House of Assembly, where hespent eight years before beingappointed to the Supreme Court,Trial Division, in 1986.

Justice Kendra J. Gouldingreceived her bachelor of lawsfrom the University of Ottawa.She was the first female appoint-ed as a judge in the ProvincialCourt of Newfoundland andLabrador. In 2002, Goulding wasappointed to the Supreme Court,Trial Division.

Justice Raymond Halley waseducated at Memorial and Dal-housie universities. He wasappointed a judge of the SupremeCourt, Trial Division, in 1986.

Justice David L. Russellreceived his education at Memo-rial and Dalhousie universities.He was appointed to the SupremeCourt, Trial Division, in 1986.

Justice Leo Barry has severaldegrees and taught sciencesbefore practicing law for 11 yearsin private practice. He’s a formerMHA, holding several cabinetportfolios before taking over asleader of the Liberal party forthree years. He was appointed tothe Supreme Court, Trial Divi-sion, in 1989.

Justice David B. Orsborneobtained degrees from Memorialand Dalhousie universities, afterwhich he practiced law privatelyfor 13 years. Orsborne served onseveral commissions, bothprovincial and federal, includingones that look into hospital andnursing home costs, the OceanRanger disaster and the salariesand benefits of judges. He wasappointed a judge of the SupremeCourt, Trial Division, in 1993.

Justice Maureen Dunne studied

at St. Francis Xavier Universityand received her law degree fromDalhousie University. She spent12 years in private practicebefore being appointed aSupreme Court, Trial Division,judge in 1994.

Justice James Palmer Adamsreceived his law degree from theUniversity of New Brunswick. Afounding member of the PublicLegal Information Association,Palmer was appointed a judge ofthe Supreme Court, Trial Divi-sion, in 1996.

Justice Robert M. Hall waseducated at St. Mary’s Universi-ty and received his law degreefrom Dalhousie University. Afterspending 25 years in privatepractice, Hall was appointed aSupreme Court, Trial Division,judge in Happy Valley-GooseBay in 1998. He was transferredto St. John’s in 1999.

Gerald F. Lang received hiseducation from Dalhousie and St.Francis of Xavier universities. Hewas appointed to the SupremeCourt, Trial Division, in 1982.

Carl R. Thompson was educat-ed at the University of Ottawaand Dalhousie. He was appointeda justice of the Supreme Court,Trial Division, in 2001.

Alphonsus Faour received hislaw degree from the Universityof British Columbia and spentnine years as deputy clerk of theexecutive council. He was elect-ed twice as the NDP MP in thefederal riding of Humber-St.George’s-St. Barbe. He wasappointed a judge of theSupreme Court, Trial Division,in 2003.

Justice Garrett A. Handriganreceived his law degree from theUniversity of New Brunswickand worked as the editor-in-chief

of a provincial judges magazinefor five years. In 2001, he wasappointed to the Supreme Court,Trial Division.

Justice Wayne G. Dymond waseducated at Memorial and theUniversity of New Brunswick.He was appointed a judge of theSupreme Court, Trial Division,in Grand Bank, and in 1999 wastransferred to Gander.

Gordon G. Easton was educatedat Memorial and Dalhousie uni-versities and spent 24 years inprivate practice before beingappointed a judge of the SupremeCourt, Trial Division, in Ganderin 1989.

Justice Abe Schwartz receivedhis law degree from DalhousieUniversity before spending 15years private practice. He wasappointed a judge of the SupremeCourt, Trial Division, in GrandFalls.

Justice Richard Leblancreceived his education from St.Mary’s and Dalhousie universi-ties, later worked as a ProvincialCourt judge for 11 years. He wasappointed a Supreme Court, TrialDivision, judge in Corner Brookin 2000.

Justice Alan Seaborne receivedhis law degree from DalhousieUniversity and went on to prac-tice private law in Corner Brook,where he was later appointed aSupreme Court, Trial Division,judge in 2001.

Judge Robert A. Fowlerreceived his education fromMemorial and Dalhousie univer-sities. He worked in the Provin-cial Court system in Newfound-land and Labrador and the North-west Territories before beingappointed to the Trial Division ofthe Supreme Court in Happy Val-ley-Goose Bay in 2000.

You be the judgeJust how qualified are justices with the Supreme Court

of Newfoundland and Labrador, Trial Division

Paul Daly/The IndependentSt. John’s lawyer Jerome Kennedy (centre) is facing a rare disciplinary hearing by the Law Society of Newfoundland for publicly stating that some trialjudges are biased or incompetent.

Keeping an eye on the comings andgoings of the ships in St. John’s har-bour. Information provided by thecoast guard traffic centre.

MONDAY, JANUARY 17Vessels arrived: Atlantic Eagle, Cana-da, from sea; Maersk Chancellor,Canada, from Terra Nova; ASLSanderling, Canada, from Halifax;Burin Sea, Canada, from White Rose. Vessels departed: Atlantic Eagle,Canada, to Terra Nova.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 18Vessels arrived: Atlantic Kingfisher,Canada, from Terra Nova.Vessels departed: Burin Sea, Canada,to Hibernia; ASL Sanderling, Canada,to Corner Brook; Atlantic Kingfisher,Canada, to Terra Nova.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 19Vessels arrived: Cicero, Canada, fromMontreal.

Vessels departed: Maersk Chancellor,Canada, to Hibernia; Maersk Placentia,Canada, to Hibernia.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 20Vessels arrived: Newfoundland Otter,

Canada, from fishing.Vessels departed: Maersk Placentia,Canada, to Hibernia

FRIDAY, JANUARY 21No Report


For the most part, the public tendering process hasserved taxpayers well. It allows government to saveour money by awarding public

contracts to the lowest bidders. Andalthough tendering doesn’t always pre-vent politicians from awarding con-tracts to political friends, it does curtailthe practice. In most cases, the contractgoes to the lowest bidder — not to thehighest contributor.

But is public tendering always in thepublic’s best interest? The newly found-ed Newfoundland and Labrador SchoolBus Drivers’Association has raised thatquestion, and it deserves some scrutiny.

The association claims the PublicTendering Act compromises the safetyof the students who ride their buses. Itsays bus drivers are forced to bid so lowon contracts they must purchase ancientbuses. The association also says the lowbids allow little room for operators tobudget for preventive maintenance onold vehicles.

Instead of placing bids under the pub-lic tendering process, the associationwould prefer to negotiate a common contract for all itsmembers. Such a move would raise the cost for school

boards, but the association claims it would pay off interms of better buses and increased safety for students.

Of course, a negotiated contractwould be in the financial interest of busdrivers. The cynical part of me wondersif they are fear mongering in order toget a sweeter deal. And there’s no guar-antee that bus drivers would investhigher revenues in newer vehicles.

STRINGENT PROCESSYou rarely hear of a bus accident

caused by a mechanical difficulty. That’sprobably because of the province’s strin-gent school bus regulations and inspec-tion process.

Yet, that doesn’t mean it couldn’t hap-pen. And the bus drivers’ associationdoes raise some issues that governmentshould delve into further.

Dave Callahan, a St. George’s schoolbus operator who heads the association,says other provinces in Canada negotiatecontracts with bus companies. He saysonce companies in those provinces arefinished with their 12- or 14-year-old

buses, they do one of three things with them: scrap them;sell them to a Third World country; or send them to

Atlantic Canada.Now, as I mentioned previously, we do have an inspec-

tion system. But can the inspectors catch everything,especially when we’re talking about vehicles that are soold?

Another factor is the rising price of fuel. Bus driversnegotiated their contract for the 2004-2005 school yearin June. Shortly after, they saw diesel prices skyrocket.Meanwhile, like most of us, they’ve been hit hard by highinsurance rates.

The bidding process does not allow for a gasoline sur-charge should the price of gas go up, so the only way buscompanies can recoup or curtail losses is to cut costs.Hopefully, they won’t cut maintenance budgets.

If what the bus drivers are saying is true, then we havea situation in which financially stressed companies arestruggling to maintain 12-year-old buses in a roadworthycondition. No matter how good our inspectors are, is thisthe best situation for the students who ride those buses?

The Public Tendering Act may be saving money for theeducation system, but bus drivers have raised legitimatedoubts that it may be in our overall best interest.

No man-made system is so sacrosanct that it can’t beamended. And remember, the public tendering process isnot perfect. In cases of collusion, for example, companiescan trade off regions. One might say to the other, “I won’tbid there, if you won’t bid here.”

DIFFERENT ROUTEThankfully, the bus drivers obviously aren’t taking

that route. They want a negotiated contract that wouldlevel the field. Of course, the yield for them would behigher, but just because the bus drivers would profitfrom a negotiated contract doesn’t mean they arewrong.

They haven’t fully made their case, but they shouldbe given the opportunity.

It would be appropriate if the ministers of Educationand Transportation were to speak to the association andalso initiate an investigation into their claims. If theconcerns raised by the association are legitimate, thengovernment should consider changing the way itawards contracts for school buses.

Frank Carroll is a journalism instructor at theStephenville-campus of the College of the NorthAtlantic.

[email protected]

Hey bus driver … don’t speed up that old clunker

The Public Tendering Act may be saving

money for the education system,

but bus drivers haveraised legitimate doubts

that it may be in ouroverall best interest.

WestWords

CARROLLFRANK

The Shipping News



Scots around the world celebrate the birthday of Scotland’s national poet, Robbie Burns, every Jan. 25. In St. John’s, aRobbie Burns supper will be held at the Mary Queen of Peace Hall, Jan. 29. Traditional Scottish fare will be served, includ-ing haggis, a special pudding cooked inside a sheep’s stomach. Dentist Stewart Gillies (above), will join in the celebrations.Gillies has been in Newfoundland 27 years ago and says he wouldn't live anywhere else.

Robbie Burns Day

January 23, 2005 IN CAMERA

Rising from the shadowAt age 50, Mount Pearl is starting to find its identity — all joking aside


Mount Pearl Mayor SteveKent says this is anotherbusy day, in a busy year.

Just having come through the firstweek of activities for the town’s 50thanniversary celebrations, he’s now gotto get the Mount Pearl booth ready forthe St. John’s Board of Trade annualbusiness show — within the next 24hours.

“It’s kind of a crazy year,” he tellsThe Independent. “A bunch of munici-pal projects are coming to fruition thisyear, there’s a new municipal plan com-ing, a recreation master plan, we’redoing most of the physical redevelop-ment of Centennial Square … and thenthis fall, we go to the polls.”

But he’s always got time to give atour of his hometown; will alwaysmake time for reporters.

“This is important,” he says, climb-ing into his Jeep outside Mount PearlCity Hall. “We do have trouble gettingmedia coverage here, always in the

shadow of our neighbour.”The neighbour being, of course,

Newfoundland and Labrador’s capitalcity, bustling with over 100,000 people.At about a quarter of the population,Mount Pearl has always had difficultyfinding its voice as a city with its ownidentity, history — and advantages.

Kent knows only toowell the jokes: MountPearl, the city with noelevators. You can’t shopin Mount Pearl, can’tbuy a suit there, can’t eatout.

“People used to jokethat Mount Pearl wassimply a bedroom com-munity,” says Kent. “Butthere are more peopleworking in Mount Pearlevery day now than there are leaving towork … if we were anywhere else inthe province, we would be recognizedfor what we are … but people outsideof Mount Pearl don’t always have anappreciation of everything we trulyhave.

“Today, we have most of the conven-iences you would expect to find in anurban centre … there are a few eleva-tors now, I have it written down athome, the exact number. The urban leg-end is no longer true.”

Kent’s town is in the position of somany municipalities that sit on the bor-

der of a larger centre,which is one of the rea-sons the 50th anniver-sary year is so important— it’s a chance to cele-brate all that is MountPearl.

Kent drives aroundthe town, pointing tonew housing develop-ments, the remainingland in Donovan’sIndustrial Park, the

impressive network of trails, the recre-ation facilities that make Mount Pearl afriendly place for kids who like to playhockey, baseball, swim, dive, cycle …

“The buildings aren’t really interest-ing from the outside,” admits Kent,“but if you went in, when events were

taking place …“The real wonders of Mount Pearl

are intangible. It’s hard to capture onfilm the sense of community spirit andvolunteerism, the real sense of commu-nity people have ….” Kent laughs as hepasses the site of the former Sprunggreenhouse.

“I remember going to sleep as a boy,with the orange glow in my room,” hesays. Former premier Brian Peckfordgave a speech at the 50th anniversaryopening luncheon two weeks ago. Kentwas disappointed Peckford didn’t evenmention the ill-fated greenhouse hebrought to the province, “because weall still talk about it today …”

The 26-year-old Kent has been amember of Mount Pearl council since1997, when he was first elected deputymayor. He fully intends to run for themayor’s chair again this September.

Kent says he gets along with every-one, can talk to anyone — with theexception of St. John’s Mayor AndyWells. The reason is well known: Wells

Photos by Paul Daly / Story by Stephanie Porter

Continued on page 12

“As long as we can deliver betterservices at a lowertax rate there’s a

real economic reasonfor us to exist.”

— Steve Kent

IN CAMERA The Independent, January 23, 2005

‘Viable, just as we are’

has long been an intense advocate for amal-gamating the two cities; Kent and MountPearl won’t entertain the notion.

“The one thing Andy said to me, it wasduring a municipalities convention in Gander,and we were both standing at the bar, goinginto the closing dinner. He said somethinglike, ‘Hey, young fella, you’ll be the mayor ofSt. John’s some day.’

“And that was it, that’s the extent of myconversation with Andy.”

Mount Pearl’s populationhas been holding steady atabout 25,000 since 1996.There was a fairly moderatenumber of new housing startslast year — about 70.

“The real growth has hap-pened over the past fewdecades,” says Kent. In 1986,for example, there were just20,000 people in the town.

But the real difference hasbeen in the amount and type of businessesthat have set up within the city’s limits: thebig boxes of Wal-Mart, Canadian Tire, Kentand Dominion — and the stores around them— have all made a huge difference. There aremore franchise stores, more bars, more thingsto do.

Donovan’s Industrial Park is home to over300 businesses, and land is opening up formore. And while Kent admits Mount Pearlhas just about run out of residential land todevelop, there’s plans for more infill housing,condos, and multi-level construction — denseresidential planning that will keep the citygrowing, if not in geography, in numbers andeconomy.

“We’ve got a good enough mix of residen-tial and commercial tax base; there’s no rea-son for us not to be viable just as we are,” hesays. “Our boundaries don’t need to expand.”

Kent is determined to keep, and grow, theMount Pearl sense of identity. All the streetsigns were replaced recently, for example —they’re blue now, and feature the city’s coatof arms. The fleet of city equipment is beingrepainted blue as well — any small thing todifferentiate the Mount Pearl vehicles fromthose down the road.

“Mount Pearlers take pride in thesethings,” Kent says. “The fact we have nicesigns at our entrance ways, banners on thepoles …”

He knows that amalgamation has certainlyhappened to cities in similar situations to his— take Dartmouth and Halifax, for example,or Oakville and Toronto, Kitchener andWaterloo.

“What is gong to distinguish us from othercommunities that have lost that battle is ourability to maintain that sense of community… and give people real tangible reasons whythey’re better off to exist as an independentcommunity.

“As long as we can deliver better servicesat a lower tax rate there’s a real economic rea-son for us to exist.”

Kent pulls into the parking lot of Admiral-ty House, the city’s official museum. The 90-year-old building, built as a wireless stationby the Marconi company in 1915, has been

converted into a high-qualitycommunications museum,complete with ham radioroom, exhibits on ships witha connection to the station —for example, the Admiraltystation received the SOS sig-nal from the S.S. Florizel, in1918 — and a brief historyof Mount Pearl. A moreextensive exhibit on the cityis being researched and

should open by the summer.The town’s namesake, Sir James Pearl,

served in the British Royal Navy and, uponretirement, took possession of 500 acres ofland in what is now Mount Pearl.

“Mount Pearl’s farms were developed asthe need for food grew,” says Alasdair Black,the museum co-ordinator. “Farming was thebeginning of it. People saw this as a recre-ational area, with fishing, farming … ”

The land the city now stands on evolvedthrough the early 20th century into a sort ofsummer resort for St. John’s residents, espe-cially those interested in horseracing.

The summer population slowly turned intoa year-round population, and in 1955, the firstmunicipal elections were held.

“And 50 years later, here we are,” Blackfinishes.

Kent, driving back to city hall, takes a fewminutes to boast. “We have great snow clear-ing services, great garbage collection, bulkgarbage collection, parks, trails, playgrounds,fast response to community complaints,extensive recreation programs, a functionalcouncil …”

It’s a family-oriented town, he says, butone learning to be attuned to the needs of anaging population.

Driving along Commonwealth Avenue,Kent looks over at the stores lining the road,many of which he’s seen crop up in the fewyears since he first took office.

“We have restaurants here now,” he sayswith a laugh. “You never used to be able toget a good meal in this town … but there aredecent places to eat here, there really are.”

From page 11

“Mount Pearlers take pride in these things. The fact we

have nice signs at ourentrance ways, banners

on the poles …”

— Steve Kent

A view of Mount Pearl, circa 1915, looking east over Brookfield road with what would becalled Marconi road running left to right (now Commonwealth Avenue ).

The Independent, January 23, 2005 IN CAMERA

BUSINESS The Independent, January 23, 2005

Joan Blackmore Thistle

There’s a perceptible depthto Joan Blackmore This-tle’s work. The images

throughout her paintings, sculp-tures and stoneware pots arediverse and Newfoundland in ori-gin, but unlike most artists, sherelies less on what she sees out-wardly and more on what sheremembers.

“They’re kind of here in myhead, they’re memories really,”she tells The Independent. “What Iexperienced and what I saw grow-ing up in Port Union and the join-ing towns.”

A well-known local artist,Blackmore Thistle has won manyawards. Her work is currently ondisplay at Cynthia I. Noel Galleryon Long’s Hill, St. John’s, inArtists Paint the Blues, alongsidedisplays by Leona Ottenheimer,George Adamcik and Cynthia I.Noel.

As the youngest daughter of asea captain, Blackmore Thistlegrew up observing her siblings andthe bustle of life in a fishing out-port in Trinity Bay. Almost everypiece of her work brings a hint ofdays gone by.

One of Blackmore Thistle’sfavourite creations is A Turn o’Water, a bronze covered stonewaresculpture of a woman carryingwater with the aid of a wooden

hoop.“Our daily source of water was

from a well and we had buckets,these were galvanized buckets,and the men made the hoops. Theywere made from limbs of trees …that would keep the bucketsapart.”

Blackmore Thistle forms thesculptures through a process calledhand building. Using regular clay,she rolls and then cuts and mouldsthe material into shape.

She also spins pots on a wheel,using the blank surfaces for illus-trations of etchings depicting

everything from cod salting toberry picking.

Blackmore Thistle says thatalthough she loves sculpting andpottery, she still always returns toher original favourite, oil paint-ing.

Images of turbulent seas andgreen coasts cover a wall in thegallery, the colours and shadowsfitting together from an astutememory.

Ashore in the Fog is a ghostlypainting of an almost invisibleship wreck, awash with cool greysand blues, capturing the mysteryand danger of the sea, and anotherpicture, Maybe Tomorrow, shows ayoung woman gazing over anocean bathed in moonlight.

“She’s sitting there and her loveis way overseas somewhere andthey made a promise that eachevening at a certain time they’dboth go out and look at the moon.

“It’s from someone who calledme and commissioned me to dothat story, so it was a real story.”

Despite the local flavour in herwork — or perhaps because of it— Blackmore Thistle’s paintingsand sculptures have found homesacross the world; even striking achord with the Queen of Englandduring the Cabot 500 celebrations.

“I met the Queen,” she says. “Ihad a show in Bonavista celebrat-

ing that occasion and after the cer-emony they had a walkabout andthey weren’t supposed to stop sowe were all quiet relaxed. Any-way, the door opened and in theycame and she got inside the door

and then she broke from the crowd— she wasn’t supposed to do it —but she came over and spoke to meabout my work. I was thrilled.”

– Clare-Marie GossePhotos by Paul Daly

Visual Artist

Gallery

The Independent, January 23, 2005 BUSINESS

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Quebec’s ‘whip hand’Former head of Power Authority of New York State reflects

on lower Churchill deal that fell through more than 20 years ago


In the early 1980s, John Dyson foundhimself in the middle of a historicalminefield when he tried to negotiate a

deal to develop and then buy power fromthe proposed lower Churchill project.

Dyson, then-chairman of the PowerAuthority of New York State, was caughtbetween the Quebec and Newfoundlandand Labrador governments — both sidesstill mired in the dark history that is theupper Churchill.

Since 1972, Hydro Quebec has gatheredan estimated $23.8 billion in revenues fromthe sale of electricity from the upperChurchill. Newfoundland and Labrador hastaken in less than three per cent — about$680 million.

“I tried to persuade them that that’s pastand none of us are able to do anything aboutthat one, but (with) the new one (lowerChurchill development) we can be moreintelligent about it and in the new one youguys can have a lot more say-so about it,”Dyson tells The Independent from his NewYork office, where he now runs a privateinvestment firm.

QUEBEC’S HEAVY HANDAt the time, the government of then-pre-

mier Brian Peckford was trying to negotiatea deal to develop and then sell power fromthe lower Churchill. The Quebec govern-ment wielded a heavy hand — as they didduring negotiations over the upperChurchill — and railed against suggestionsthat they should allow Newfoundland totransmit power through Quebec and into theU.S. market.

The federal government refused to givePeckford, who felt the province had theconstitutional right to transmit electricity

through Quebec, a commitment that itwould step in.

“Part of the struggle was that (Quebec)had a whip-hand and could continue toexert some kind of control over any newproject similar to what they had on theother one (upper Churchill) using the trans-mission lines as the lever of power,” saysDyson. “That’s one of the major reasons wedidn’t get any further than we did.”

The provincial government spent $70million before the 2,000-megawatt GullIsland facility was put on hold due tofinancing and marketing problems.

ATLANTIC ROUTE?Dyson says he’s hearing rumblings again

that the Atlantic route — which was pro-posed to bypass Quebec — could be aviable option. He’s heard estimates that theproject would cost approximately twice the$1.7 billion that it would cost to buildanother transmission line through Quebec.Hydro Quebec’s current transmission linesthat run into the States are said to be alreadyoperating at maximum capacity.

Claims that such a long transmission sys-tem would lose far too much power (aswould be the case with the Atlantic route)before reaching market isn’t an issue, saysDyson. When the root was first explored,the power loss was estimated at eight to 10per cent.

The development of Gull Island and thesmaller 824-megawatt Muskrat Falls projectis now back on the table. Premier DannyWilliams has called for proposals to devel-op the projects.

The Atlantic corridor would funnel GullIsland power through the main generatingstation in Churchill Falls, and back pastGull Island to the southeast tip of Labrador.From there, the power would cross theStrait of Belle Isle by means of an under-

water sea cable, and land on the NorthernPeninsula. The transmission lines wouldthen travel down to the southwest coast.The power would cross the Cabot Strait,then surface again in Cape Breton to beginits track across Nova Scotia and NewBrunswick. The hydropower from GullIsland would then reach its final destinationin New York.

“The economics are pinching again asthey did in the ’70s and the actual threats ofsupply disruption” are increasing, Dysonsays. The time is right to develop the lowerChurchill. “There is plenty of capitalaround, which is reflected in the relativelylow interest rates,” says Dyson. “So a pro-ject like this, if you can get some people atthe buying end and the producing end thatare reasonable, I think (it will) make a greatdeal of sense for both of us.”

‘I’D BE ON YOUR DOORSTEP’

In 1980, the cost of the Gull Island pro-ject was estimated at $4 billion and MuskratFalls at $2 billion. The Williams govern-ment maintains that better constructiontechnology will keep the price near 1980dollars, but when adjusted for inflation —an average rate of 3.72 per cent — both pro-jects more than double in cost.

Dyson says financing shouldn’t be astumbling block.

“If I was the (U.S.) secretary of energy,I’d be up on your doorstep,” says Dyson.“To me, if we had an energy policy worthits name here in the United States, we’d beup there talking to you guys and saying‘Look, you’ve got these enormous riversthat are still many of them untapped andyou and we both have energy needs.’”

The choices are simple, he says. “It’s going to be a choice between coal or

Arab oil and the coal is going to look bet-

ter mined in the western parts of our coun-tries than the reliance on imported oil froma goofy bunch of theocracies.”

The demand and price for coal hasalready begun a steady upward climb inNorth American markets and is becomingan attractive power source once again.Burned in generating plants, it’s oftenreferred to as a dirty-energy source becauseof the pollution it creates.

NY WAS ‘A LOSER’“The practical (form of power) is to har-

ness the water running back to the oceanthat came up there because of the weathercycle, which is basically a solar-poweredweather cycle,” says Dyson.

“So if that’s what you want to do, thenyou’ve got to (tolerate) a little bit of thedamage of a dam, a lake and some powerlines.”

The provincial government has suggest-ed that the 824 megawatts from MuskratFalls be kept in the province to developindustry here.

Dyson says New York had a similar pol-icy with power developed from NiagaraFalls. They offered industry deals such as a10 per cent reduction in the cost of powerin a bid to attract industry.

“The difficulty with that is they are veryenergy intensive and they are very capitalintensive and they tend to be quite light onthe number of labourers they use” saysDyson. “So the actual number of jobs youget is significant in a rural area, but it’s notsignificant in an urban area.

“I always thought that, in a direct sense,New York was a loser as was Newfound-land … There was business that could havebeen done that was beneficial to both sidesand in a larger sense, Canada and the Unit-ed States increased our reliance on oil bynot having alternative power.”

January 23, 2005 BUSINESS & COMMERCE

After arriving in St. John’s, Franklin Roosevelt Jr., left, who tried to bring lower Churchill power to New York State, and then-chairman JohnDyson of the Power Authority of New York were all smiles and big fans of lower Churchill power. Neither could get Quebec and Newfoundlandand Labrador to come to terms.

The Independent, January 23, 2005 BUSINESS


With just three independently ownednewspapers in the province out of20, how easy is it to survive as a

small publication amongst the bigger con-glomerate?

“Oh, difficult,” says Frank Petten, publish-er/owner of The Shoreline News in Concep-tion Bay South. “A small paper in New-foundland, I mean, you’ve got to be scratch-ing all the time.”

Rumours have been circulating as of latethat Petten’s paper is for sale,with interest expressed byTranscontinental Inc., the Mon-treal-based owners of most ofthe province’s newspapers —two dailies (Corner Brook’sWestern Star and St. John’sTelegram), and 15 weekliesaround the province.

Petten says those rumoursare rife, although unfounded.

“It’s one of these rumoursthat keep going around, youknow. I’m getting near retire-ment age too, so I guess thatthrows everything into themix,” Petten tells The Indepen-dent.

The Shoreline News, whichPetten started in 1989, publish-es weekly and distributes fromParadise to St. Mary’s Bay. Petten laughing-ly calls himself “the publisher and chief cookand bottle washer” within his small staff of12, saying he has no intention of selling toanyone just yet, but “never say never.”

From an editorial point of view, Pettensays The Shoreline maintains a strict geo-graphical area and competition from othernewspapers isn’t an issue.

“What we call provincial news, or nation-al news, or international news, I don’t do. Ileave that to other media. I provide peoplewith news about happenings in their owncommunities that they can’t get anywhereelse.”

Advertising is key to a newspaper’s sur-vival, which Petten says can prove difficult.

“We’re all fighting for the same advertisingdollar.”

Kathryn Welbourn, owner of another inde-

pendent newspaper — The Northeast AvalonTimes — agrees. She says it’s much easier for“pricey customers” with the money for bigadvertising contracts to deal with just onecompany representative and still get their adin multiple publications.

The Times publishes monthly from PortugalCove-St. Philip’s and includes Torbay, LogyBay-Middle Cove-Outer Cove, Flatrock,Pouch Cove and Bauline.

As editor/publisher, reporter, distributorand ad rep, Welbourn knows the market. Shesays the paper is doing well, covering all localnews within one of the wealthiest and “fastest

growing areas in the province.“The areas really need the

newspaper … there’s a lotgoing on here, development ishappening, so it’s a dynamicplace for a newspaper to beand absolutely essential, andwill only be more important astime goes on. Not just mynewspaper, but any newspaperwould be very important here.”

With a history as a reporter,Welbourn began The North-east Avalon Times after shehad her second child, andfound it difficult to keep meet-ing freelance deadlines. With-in a year she realized she need-ed to extend her circulationarea from one town to several.

“The paper has paid foritself since day one. I make OK salary. Ourreadership is top-notch, solid. People phoneme waiting for the paper.”

Five years on, Welbourn’s thinking aboutthe future. As the paper stands — operatingfrom her home in Portugal Cove — it’s diffi-cult to find reasonably priced and experiencedstaff, but she’s considering expanding.

“Five years is a good time to take stock andthink about what should happen with thispaper. I think the communities that I covermerit a larger publication … do I think I couldget money or funding for something toexpand if I decide to? Yes. The paper’s solid,it’s got a good reputation, money comes intothe account, runs through all month long.”

If Petten ever does decide to sell The Shore-line News, maybe he should give Welbourn acall.

‘Waiting for the paper’Independent newspapers doing well against Montreal-based Transcontinental

“What we call provincial news,

or national news, orinternational news, I don’t do. I leave

that to other media. I provide people with news about

happenings in theirown communities that they can’t get

anywhere else.”

— Frank Petten

Paul Daly/The IndependentKathryn Welbourn

BUSINESS The Independent, January 23, 2005

Editor’s note: The following letter was writ-ten to federal Finance Minister RalphGoodale.

Dear Mr. Goodale,

Thank you for your letter of Jan. 20. Inthe letter, you imply that our provin-cial government is at odds with the

federal government over the interruption ofspecial arrangements made for ourprovince as set out in the Atlantic Accord.This difference in opinion cannot be feder-ally rectified or explained away by anyconvoluted manipulation of the equaliza-tion formula and its payments by the fed-eral government.

Simply put, the Atlantic Accord states wemust be the principle beneficiary of our off-shore oil and gas revenues. At present weare not, as Ottawa receives over 80 per centof revenues while our province gets lessthan 20 per cent.

Your comments at the end of your letterstating Danny Williams is requesting equal-ization payments long after we no longerqualify for them is misleading and not thereal case.

We only want to keep our offshore rev-enue and additional help from equalizationpayments for a period of time to help usbecome financially and economicallysound so that we may move towards a sta-tus of self-sufficiency.

We are in debt by some $13 billion, havethe highest unemployment and tax rates,and biggest out-migration of any province.After such time when a healthy financialstability is reached in Newfoundland andLabrador we would welcome the positionof being a have province so that we wouldbe a positive contributor.

MYTHS ON THE AIRWAVES

Newfoundland and Labrador is Cana-da’s biggest per capita contributor of rawresources. Over the past 55 years tens ofbillions of dollars have left our province tothe benefit of Ottawa, the rest of Canadaand, indeed, the world. In return, we havegotten a few billion back from the federalgovernment in the form of subsidies,employment insurance and other handoutsand are made out to be beggars of Confed-eration. This myth propagates the airwavesof Canada, and Ottawa does little to noth-ing to dispel this indignant betrayal.

As recently as this month a scathing andspurious vilification of our province andpeople was published on the front page ofCanada’s leading newspaper, The Globeand Mail, and the only paltry commentmade in our defense by our federal gov-ernment was that we are not a ghetto!Unconscionable.

The federal government has presidedover the mismanagement and dissemina-

tion of our life’s blood — the coastal fish-eries. They have allowed, and still tolerate,foreign overfishing and violation of theprinciples that are essential to the restora-tion and future health of the stocks. We arenot even permitted to jig one to eat. Instead

we must buy it for three times the pricefrom ones who are allowed by the federalgovernment to pirate it away from us.

This is the attitude and injustice that hasresulted in the break up of our coastal cul-ture. It has led to the out-migration of tens

of thousands of our people and the loss ofpersonal dignity and the right of opportu-nity to tens of thousands more. Our centralgovernment allowed Churchill Falls to besigned away to Quebec under the duressand fear of causing Quebec separation, thusgiving Quebec 95 per cent of the benefit ofour hydro power.

We have shipped billions and billions ofdollars worth of our minerals, and now oil,to the smelters and refineries of the main-land of Canada because they must be at fullcapacity before we are allowed to build ourown.

We, in return, have said little, but insteadsent our greatest natural resource, our peo-ple, by the thousands to the work force ofmainland Canada. We have nothing elseleft to give Ottawa but our bodies for med-ical and scientific research. Do you wantthat too?

NO CARING PARENTWe are and have been strong members in

the family of Canada, giving her our all,even to the point of the decimation of ourheritage. The problem with this is that wehave had no caring parent in Ottawa, noone who really respects who we are andwhat we have done for our country. We arethe used and discarded stepchild of Cana-da.

Where is Ottawa’s and Canada’s sense ofrespect and moral values for us. Where isour right to equality, our right to dignityand worth of person and family in the soci-ety of Canada? Where, for God’s sake, isour right to the enjoyment of our propertyand the right not to be deprived thereof?Where are our chartered rights? Are theycovered up by your greed for the wealth ofour resources and the hypnotic power ofyour fattening purse?

I can only find solace from the 55 yearsof unbearable humiliation and abuse wehave felt and suffered as Newfoundlandersand Labradorians at the hands of our fed-eration by resorting to the biblical words“blessed are those who are persecuted forrighteousness sake, for their’s is the King-dom of Heaven.”

My ancestors were mariners whoseundaunted and steeled character was forgedby the inebriate north Atlantic, the rough-est ocean in the world. We have been loyaland obedient members of the family ofCanada but have been treated by Ottawa asused castaways.

This has to change irrespective thatprecedents may have to be set in the feder-ation to do so. We have had to face andaccept many such precedents since joiningthe Confederation of Canada, now youhave to do the same.

Philip Earle,Carbonear

Confederation’s castaways


Sean Panting as Prime Minister Paul Martin and Bernie Stapleton as Finance Minister RalphGoodale during Rising Tide Theatre’s Revue ‘04.

Nova Scotia’s$1 billion deal

HALIFAX A revised offshore deal betweenOttawa and Nova Scotia could add $1billion to the provincial treasury overthe next 16 years.

Nova Scotia’s top federal cabinetrepresentative, Fisheries Minister GeoffRegan, says the agreement, when final-ized, will go a long way towards mak-ing the province self-sustaining.

“The new offshore deal will see thisprovince not only get 100 per cent of itsoil and gas revenues, but get a full off-set for equalization that it would other-wise lose,'' says Regan.

Negotiations with Nova Scotia Pre-mier John Hamm were close to beingfinished.

When talks started, Ottawa offeredan eight-year, $640-million agreementwas rejected by the province.

AFP PHOTO/SABAH ARAR

A man enjoys a ride on the back of a lorry carrying bags of flour along a highway leading into Baghdad. Flour for the bakeries around Iraq is still imported and dis-tributed by the United Nations under the food for oil program.

Mouth-watering opportunityWhile it isn’t clear who’s to blame, oil-for-food scandal

has become metaphor for questions about UN’s corporate cultureNEW YORK

The “oil-for-food” scandal atthe United Nations has been amouth-watering opportunity

for the organization’s critics. Butwhen the UN-appointed inquirylooking into the scandal releases itslong-awaited interim report thismonth, it will be a moment of truthfor supporters as well.

The scandal encompasses someof the most dramatic allegations offraud and criminal conduct everattached to the UN According to as-yet unproven charges, senior UNofficials connived in a kickbackscheme that allowed former Iraqileader Saddam Hussein to reap bil-lions from a program intended tohelp Iraqis survive the sanctionsregime imposed by the UN SecurityCouncil following the 1991 GulfWar.

It couldn’t have come at a worsetime. Two major reports aimed athelping the 60-year-old organizationreinvent itself for the 21st centuryare now on the table. Late last year,the High Level Panel on Threats,Challenges and Change mapped outa role for the UN in the new worldof pre-emptive warfare and globalterrorism. This week the UN’s Mil-lennium Project released an ambi-tious blueprint for fighting poverty.Yet both of these worthy projectsthreaten to be hamstrung by theemerging picture of flawed manage-ment at the organization’s most

senior levels.The oil-for-food program illus-

trates how a good idea can be sub-verted when no one is watching. Inan effort to ensure Iraqis wouldn’t bepenalized for the sins of their lead-ers, the UN created an exemption tothe 1991 oil embargo that allowedlimited quantities of Iraqipetroleum to be marketed inorder to pay for desperatelyneeded food and medicalsupplies.

The exchange contractswere to be closely super-vised by UN-appointed con-tractors, yet Saddam man-aged to conclude a series ofsecret arrangements withsuppliers in some 46 coun-tries that allowed him tosiphon off anywhere fromUS $7 billion to US $21 bil-lion in black-market takings —money which went to build newpalaces and may still be fundinginsurgent activities in Iraq.

Who’s to blame? The murky trailof deception leads in too manydirections — including memberstates of the UN Security Councilthat set the program’s framework —for all the responsibility to fall onhapless UN officials in New Yorkand Baghdad.

Yet it’s clear that the UN bureau-cracy was asleep at the switch.

Earlier this month, the inquiryreleased 58 internal audits of the US$64 billion oil-for-food program,

which ran from 1996 to 2003. Whilethere were no “smoking guns,” theaudits showed that UN managersfailed to perform due vigilance.Even before the program began,there were good reasons to assumethat Saddam would try to subvert itspurpose.

Nevertheless, UNmanagers not only failedto carefully monitor theoil-purchase and human-itarian-supply contractsthat were the heart of theprogram, but steeredauditors away fromexamining the records atNew York headquarters.Had they done their jobproperly, concluded theinquiry’s investigators ina summary of the audits,they could have limited

Saddam’s success “in generatingincome from the contracts in viola-tion of UN sanctions.”

That failure has only reinforcedprevailing suspicions about how UNagencies and programs conduct theirbusiness. “This stuff was imputingthe integrity of the UN,” concedesReid Morden, the ex-chief of theCanadian Security and IntelligenceService (CSIS), who was namedexecutive director of the oil-for-foodinquiry last spring. Morden, whoalso served as a deputy foreign min-ister in Ottawa, runs a staff that hasgrown to nearly 80 people from 27countries, under the chairmanship

of former U.S. Federal ReserveBank head Paul Volcker.

It will be up to Morden’s team,which operates outside UN auspicesas an independent inquiry, to identi-fy what went wrong, and why. Theinterim report (the final report isexpected in June) will tackle allega-tions of expense padding by severalcompanies hired to monitor the pro-gram. Other allegations tie the pro-gram’s former director, BenonSevan, and even Kojo Annan, Sec-retary-General Kofi Annan’s son, toinfluence-peddling. But even if theworst suspicions of critics don’t panout, the process of reclaiming theUN’s reputation is going to hurt.

Whether anyone likes it or not, theoil-for-food scheme has become ametaphor for all the simmeringquestions about the UN’s corporateculture, where whistle-blowers getslapped down and cronyism isendemic. “We may never satisfy thecritics,” says Morden. All the same,it will be up to the organization’sdefenders to push for a genuineoverhaul. That is, if they don’t wantto cede ground to the growing num-ber of UN-bashers who would justas soon allow it to drift into irrele-vance.

Stephen Handelman is a colum-nist for TIME Canada based in NewYork. He can be reached at [email protected]. His next col-umn for The Independent willappear Feb 6.

January 23, 2005 INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

HANDELMANSTEPHEN

INTERNATIONAL The Independent, January 23, 2005

‘Lights, lights and more lights’Bonavista-native Tanya Kobaly says there’s a normal life

to be found in the city that never sleeps — Las Vegas, Nevada


The first day Tanya Kobalymoved to Nevada, shethought she was going to

be sick. “The heat was so unbearable,”

she tells The Independent. “Every-body told me that your first sum-mer here in the desert is always theworst and now the summers are somuch easier to bear.”

The heat wasn’t the only thingthe Bonavista-native had to getused to. Living in Las Vegas is aworld away from her former resi-dences — “a city of lights, glam-our, a city that never sleeps,” shesays.

“The first time I ever visited, Iwas flying into the city during thenighttime. You look out the win-dow and nothing, nothing, not alight in sight and then all of a sud-den … bam. There it is — lights,lights and more lights.”

But beyond the 24-hour partiesand gambling exists a “normal city… just like living in any othercity,” where Kobaly and her hus-band have found a quiet, family-friendly neighbourhood. They goto work, walk their Golden retriev-ers, and relax at day’s end.

Kobaly left Newfoundland inthe 1990s and lived in Ottawa forthree years. She met her Califor-nia-born husband, Chris, on avacation to Cold Lake, Alberta. Amember of the United States AirForce, he’s assigned to the USAFThunderbirds — a demonstratingsquadron, currently based in LasVegas.

Kobaly was off work for herfirst year Stateside while she wait-ed for her immigration papers to beprocessed. Everything now inorder, she’s enjoying her job andcolleagues in the IT department ofWestStar Credit Union where sheserves as a core processor special-ist.

Kobaly says almost 6,000 peo-ple move into Vegas every month,making it the fastest-growing cityin the States — many come from

California, in search of cheaperproperty and no state taxes. Theever-growing congestion makesher daily commute about 40 min-utes each way.

Shopping in the city is great,she says, so is the entertainmentand food. She and her husbandventure down to the infamous strip

only once in a while. “It’s a little overwhelming, so

we just head to Freemont Street ifwe want to play the slots or gam-ble a little,” she says. “We don’tnormally do that because this is thecity of lost wages and we feel thatwe work too hard for our money tothrow it away. Sometimes we win,sometimes we lose.”

It’s also easy to get out of town.The Kobalys often head to Cali-fornia for weekends, to visit Chris’family. Other weekends, they’lldrive to the mountains, 30 minutesaway, where there’s snow certaintimes of the year.

“… and the Hoover Damn isjust 20 minutes away and is spec-tacular. The Grand Canyon is closeby and the scenery is just beautiful.The desert has some of the mostbeautiful sunsets you will eversee,” she says.

Although the dry heat can be

incredible — 50 C or over in thesummer — this time of year, thedaytime temperature is a verycomfortable 20 C.

“It can go down to freezing tem-peratures, but doesn’t last long,”she says. “It actually snowed onJan. 7 here, which is only once ina blue moon … I missed the snowuntil I went home this Christmasand realized that it’s a pain toshovel, scrape windows and con-stantly having wet mats in your carand porch.

“It was nice to come back towarmer weather, but there’s noth-ing like home for the holidays.”

Kobaly says there were virtual-ly no cultural differences to getused to in Vegas.

“I love the fact you can makeplans and know that they won’t becancelled because of the weather,”she says. “I do miss the fall of theyear and seeing all the leaves

change colours. I miss looking outmy window and seeing big whitesnowflakes falling. I miss the smellof the ocean and the sound of thewaves crashing against the shore-line. I just miss Newfoundland andI think that no matter where I livein the world, I will.”

Kobaly and her husband will bein Vegas for another year and ahalf, she estimates, then Chris willbe transferred elsewhere — to Italyor Germany, she hopes. After heretires, five years from now, thecouple plan to move back to New-foundland.

“I always wanted to see theworld,” she says. “But I love New-foundland and would want to livethere all my life.”

Do you know a Newfoundlanderor Labradorian living away? E-mail [email protected].

“… this is the city of lostwages and we feel thatwe work too hard forour money to throw itaway. Sometimes we

win, sometimes we lose.”

— Tanya Kobaly

Voice from awayTanya KobalyIn Las Vegas, Nevada

MGM and New York, New York hotels on the Strip in Las Vegas.Nick Potts

‘Pester power’LONDON, EnglandBritish children are the richest in Europethanks to their ability to pester their par-ents into parting with their cash, accordingto a recent survey.

Youngsters aged 10 to 17 had an averageannual income of 775 pounds (about$1,775 Cdn), more than twice as much astheir Italian or Spanish counterparts.

“Parents are curtailing the growth in thepocket money that they give children, part-ly through fear of encouraging excessiveconsumerist behaviour at an early age, butalso increasingly because of fears regard-ing the consumption of unhealthy foodand drinks,’’says the report’s author,Lawrence Gould.

“But parents are increasingly preparedto give in to the demands of their children,a phenomenon known as pester power.”

British children look likely to continueas the highest earners when compared withyoungsters in six other countries inEurope: Spain, Italy, Sweden, the Nether-

lands, France and Germany.Datamonitor used government figures

on 10- to 17-year-olds in the seven coun-tries, figures from the European Union’sstatistics office Eurostat, and interviewswith more than 500 parents.

— Associated Press

Military kills suspected rebels

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia Rebels in tsunami-devastated Acehprovince accused the government of aban-doning an informal ceasefire after the mil-itary said it has killed scores of suspectedguerrillas to protect aid deliveries.

The rebels disputed the military’s claimof killing 120 rebels in the past two weeks,saying only 20 of its fighters had died inskirmishes. The rebels said 100 otherskilled were unarmed civilians.

The renewed hostilities in the nearlythree-decade separatist conflict called into

question the security of efforts to aid sur-vivors of the Dec. 26 tsunami. Tallies ofthe dead from the disaster have variedfrom about 158,000 to 221,000.

With as many as one million survivorsin need of food and shelter, humanitariangroups said a U.S. military decision tobegin pulling back from relief operationscould disrupt the flow of aid.

More than 11,000 U.S. troops and 16Navy ships are providing relief support.Since the operation began Jan. 1, theyhave delivered more than 8,600 tonnes ofrelief supplies to the affected region.

Nearly four weeks after the disaster,hundreds of delegates to a UN conferencein Japan put the final touches on a pact latelast week backing creation of a tsunamialert system.

But references in a planned final state-ment to global warming causing some nat-ural disasters appeared likely to beremoved after objections from the UnitedStates, Canada and Australia.


Greece tightensmedia rules

ATHENS, Greece Greece’s conservative-controlled parlia-ment approved legislation Friday to tight-en restrictions on media ownership, aneffort to curb alleged corruption involvingstate contracts.

Under the new law, people who own oneper cent or more of a media company _ aswell as their close relatives _ will be barredfrom receiving public contracts. The own-ership limit was reduced from five percent.

An independent broadcast licensingboard will also be awarded greater powers.

Greece’s conservatives ousted the long-governing socialists in general electionslast March after promising to clean uppublic finances and battle corruption.

Socialist lawmakers voted against thebill, while two smaller left-wing partiesgave partial backing to the legislation.


International Briefs

“One of the major things that wasgoing on in the reaction to the Wentecolumn, it was a stand-in for some-thing,” he says. “I think the fight thatoccurred in the past couple of weekskind of speaks to the uncertainty ofsomething really central.

“I’m speaking in the long-term andsurvival of the culture. Is thisprovince as we know it, and I haven’tleft in that sense, is that province ofours going to maintain itself? That’sthe crucial question in the minds ofNewfoundlanders I’m sure — it hasnothing to do with politics.”

Since the “savage calamity” of the1992 northern cod moratorium, Mur-phy points out, things have changed,to a degree few outside the province— and not everyone within — hasgrasped.

The disintegration of so many ofthe outport communities as econom-ic, living, and imaginative centres, hesays, is tearing apart the very essenceof what makes the province what itis.

“Newfoundland culture is built upof the dynamic between the two orthree cities we have, and the outporttradition and history,” Murphy says.

“If you amputate the outport ele-ment and the cultural element asso-ciated with the fishery, you lose that

invisible chemistry that gives (New-foundland and Labrador) its distinc-tive character.”

Throughout its history, and contin-uing through the current and ongoingfight for survival, Murphy says hishome province has always occupieda larger space in the collective Cana-dian mind than its population wouldsuggest. “We do have more of a pres-ence somehow,” perhaps becauseNewfoundland was the last to joinCanada, perhaps because of its phys-ical isolation, perhaps because itsfirst premier, and somany Newfoundlandpoliticians sinceJoey Smallwood,have been largerthan life.

Murphy says the“very capable” cur-rent premier, DannyWilliams, displayssome of the in-your-face traits of his pre-decessors.

Murphy makes nosecret of his thoughtson the recent flag flap. Hauling downthe Canadian flag, he says, might nothave been the right move, and ran therisk of turning an argument over oneparticular issue into a slight againstall Canadians.

But he does recognize the impor-

tance of the Atlantic Accord issue,and is modestly optimistic an agree-ment will be struck before long.

“Now that both sides know howmuch passion is into this thing …that most parties see that this runsreally deep, and there’s no merit inextending a division for the sake of adivision … We just can’t go on withthis perpetual deficiency of resourcesthat leave us have-not, I think, bystructure.”

He brushes off talk of separation,saying he doesn’t see, or hear, any

substantial dissentwith the idea of Con-federation. Granted,the Newfoundlandgovernment hasalways had its fightswith the feds, and thepartnership has al-ways been, and isgoing to continue tobe, messy at times.

“It is worth assert-ing our presence interms of revenue. Ido think Churchill

Falls has been sitting there, simmer-ing, longer than anyone wants toacknowledge, even though there’sbeen promise after promise to updatethe agreement or at least get thelower Churchill development, so thatit, in its fairness, can start to bring us

in.“With a more grim determination

to seek things out with more consis-tency we may not be here.”

Although “the damn Newfie jokeis alive and well in certain minds,”Murphy believes the people of theprovince have risen above it, thanksto strength of personality, and aneven better sense of humour.

“Newfoundlanders, I like to say itthis way, can take care of them-selves.”

That all winds back to Newfound-landers and Labradorians and theirfight to keep their culture alive.

“What has inflected Newfound-land since the beginning is the oscil-lation of this outside-the-city culturewith the inside, and that dynamic —look at the dictionary of Newfound-land English: that’s a map of ourimaginative terrain.

“It’s the fragility of, as we per-ceive, the future, that’s made peopleso sensitive when other people giveus an awful smack.”

Thinking back on the furorearound the Wente column, he offershis final word.

“If there is a feature of this thatgives me some optimism, it’s thatNewfoundlanders still seem to wantto stand up and make clear that theyhave their dignity and they likewhere they live.”

January 23, 2005 LIFE &TIMES

‘Survival of the culture’Rex Murphy questions whether Newfoundland and Labrador can ‘maintain’ itself


From page 1

“It’s the fragility of,as we perceive, thefuture, that’s made people so sensitive

when other people giveus an awful smack.”

— Rex Murphy

Rex Murphy

LIFE & TIMES The Independent, January 23, 2005

‘Great hardships’Tidal Wave lists statements of damage from 1929 Burin Peninsula tsunami


There’s something aboutcold, hard facts when deal-ing with a tragedy. They

often speak louder than any narra-tive, and shock in their simplicity.

This man lost his wife and threechildren in the disaster:

Surviving children and also thefather were supplied with clothing.

That excerpt is taken from GarryCranford’s book Tidal Wave, pub-lished in 2000, documenting thedisastrous 1929 tsunami that struckthe Burin Peninsula. The book,which was to inspire Maura Hanra-han’s provincial best-seller Tsuna-mi: The Newfoundland Tidal WaveDisaster, is unusual in format, com-piled almost completely from state-ments of damage for compensationby up to 800 families throughoutthe 50 affected communities.

Two and a half hours after amajor earthquake rippled under theGrand Banks on Nov. 18, 1929, agiant wall of water assaulted thesouthern end of the Burin Peninsu-la, carrying away houses, liveli-hoods and people. Although only29 deaths resulted from the event— tiny in comparison to the recentdisaster in southeast Asia — thelong-term effects were enormousand no less heart wrenching.

At a time when worldly goodswere stored at home, particularly atthe beginning of the winter in termsof food supplies, the extent of lossis blatant when laid out in black andwhite in Tidal Wave.

“My idea of doing that book fiveyears ago was to generate discus-sion among survivors and theirfamilies,” Cranford tells The Inde-pendent, “and if they hadn’t writtendown their accounts, to write themdown.”

In 1996, Cranford beganresearching the events surroundingthe Newfoundland tsunami for abook he hoped to have publishedby the 70th anniversary of the dis-aster in 1999. But as the owner ofthe gradually expanding publish-

ing company, Flanker Press, workcommitments and other assign-ments started to take up his time.

One particular job, commis-sioned to him by the Senior’sResource Centre in St. John’s,involved interviewing seniorsacross the province about their lifeexperiences. Cranford took theopportunity, while covering theBurin Peninsula, to ask about thetidal wave. He discovered details of“the biggest story” never written.

With the help of a full-timeresearcher who pored over 24boxes of documents from the SouthCoast Disaster Committee — set upas aid for the survivors in 1929 —Cranford began realizing the factswere powerfully important.

“I said, OK, later on I’m going towrite a book on the tidal wave, butin the meantime, I felt if I compiledall this information … it wouldtrigger people’s memories and peo-ple in here could contact me for mylater project, and to a certain extentthat certainly did happen.”

Tidal Wave was published intime for the 70th anniversary andCranford embarked on an applica-tion for funding for the next fiveyears to allow time to collect writ-ten accounts and conduct extensiveinterviews, with a view to publish-ing a more personal book for the75th anniversary.

When the proposal for fundingfell through he had to admit defeatand turned his attention full-forceon his publishing business, shelv-ing the many interviews already

collected.Then in 2003, author Maura

Hanrahan, who had family connec-tions from the Burin Peninsula,published her novel Doryman withFlanker, giving Cranford an idea.

“Early last year I said to Maura,‘Look I have all of these files, theseinterviews I’ve done with people.In the fall is the 75th anniversary ofthe tidal wave, it needs to be done… how would you like to lookthrough the files and see if you’d beinterested in writing a narrative?’And so the rest is history.”

Tsunami: The NewfoundlandTidal Wave Disaster was publishedin September, 2004, and immedi-ately sold out two printings. Justafter Flanker had ordered a thirdround before Christmas, the gianttsunami tragically struck overseason Dec. 26, directing even strongerattention towards the book.

“When Maura originally submit-ted the manuscript it was calledTempest and sort of at the lastminute we were toying with that,and we thought no, that’s not it …and I started coming around tousing the word tsunami.”

Ironically, up until Boxing Daymost people didn’t know how topronounce the word, or in manycases, what it even meant.

Fundraising and aid work hassince been a focus towards helpingrebuild the shattered coastal areasin Asia and Africa. Similar tirelesscommitment to helping the devas-tated families back in 1929 is clearthrough reports from the SouthCoast Disaster Committee, docu-mented in Tidal Wave, as memberstried to distribute fair relief basedon individual need:

This man lost his wife and threechildren in the disaster, as well ashis property, and since then hasbeen badly depressed in mind andaffected by his great hardships. TheCommittee feels that every effortshould be made to domicile himand for this purpose an expenditureof $1,000.00 should be made …(page xvii of Tidal Wave by GarryCranford)

Excerpt from the book Tidal Wave, a list of victims and survivors ofthe 1929 Newfoundland tsunami, which struck the Burin Peninsula.

Rennie, Patrick 38, widower; Albert, 14; Martin, 11; Margaret, 4.

“My idea of doing thatbook five years ago was togenerate discussion amongsurvivors and their familiesand if they hadn’t written

down their accounts, towrite them down.”— Garry Cranford

Claim of loss CompensationLarge dory 60.00 60.0050 imperial gallons salt 2.50 -barrel turnips 1.50 -barrel flour 5.00 -10 lbs. beef 2.00 -4 gallons molasses 3.20 -10 lbs. butter 3.50 -2 lbs tea 2.40 -Other provisions in house 40.00 -Ton coal 6.00 -Damage to dwelling 500.00 500.00Damage to bedding 50.00}Household effects 20.00}Damage to stove 18.80} {100.00}Clothing 70.00 -Spark coil 6.50 6.00

791.40 666.00

The Independent, January 23, 2005 LIFE & TIMES

Never a dull momentaround here. Last week’sdebut broadcast of Hatch-

ing, Matching and Dispatching ispart of a pretty dumb contest runby the geniuses at CBC-TV HQ.As most readers likely know, thelocally produced comedy was thelast in a trinity of pilots aired inJanuary by CBC, a glitteringshowcase of potential offerings.

The popularity contest angleisn’t new. Ever since American/Canadian Idol turned the prime-time experience into an interactiveplayground, even the national pub-lic broadcaster has been pitchingto the common denominator, oth-erwise known as the viewing pub-lic.

Indeed, following commercialmarketing trends, CBC has beenopening itself up more and moreto viewer feedback, practicallybegging audiences to watch andthen register their opinion on any-thing from the merits of three newcomedies to whether Max the Dogwas the best character on a holidayspecial.

Like so many other websitestoday, the CBC’s cyber pagesbeckon browsers to count them-selves in. We might not be earningthose nice fat salaries the seniorprogramming executives are mak-ing in Toronto, but we will pre-sumably have a large say aboutwhat goes to air. As the websitethreatens even now, “your feed-back will help us decide the nextcomedy special on CBC Televi-sion.”

Is this such a good idea? If theonly measure of a show’s successwere high ratings, then televisionwould be littered with fear factor-ing contestants devouring wormsand swimming in urine. Some-times the viewing public reallydoesn’t know what’s good for it.That’s why a public broadcastershould aim higher, have the confi-dence to make sound program-ming decisions based on qualityand not enslave itself to the tyran-ny of popularity.

The creators of Hatching,Matching and Dispatching(HMD) had no choice but to throwthe show on the mercy of Canadi-ans. The comedy followed twoother new productions: Walter Egoand Getting Along Famously. Aswith job interviews and good sex,it’s always best to go last andHMD had the fortuitous advantageof perfect positioning.

By mid-January, most viewerswere back at work, the distractingexcesses of the holiday seasonwere well behind us and it wastime to recommit to the rituals ofevening television. Soon enough,audiences woke up to the CBCpopularity contest and so by thetime the third show aired everyonewell knew the game and how to

play it. Moreover, the third slotallowed for more promotion time.

Not surprisingly, HMD drew alot of attention. Where Walter Egohas a clever conceit if a tepid exe-cution, and Getting AlongFamously boasts high productionvalues and some limited ’50s retroappeal, HMD is original, obser-vant, and outrageous. Produced byMary Sexton and directed byMary Walsh, the show is awickedly dark exercise in comicmischief. In the matriarchal role ofMamesanne Furey, Walsh runs anoutport ambulance-wedding-funeral service business, a set-upthat provides rich opportunities fora wacky confluence of body jokes,graveside humour, and weddingmayhem.

UNABASHEDLY FUNNYWalsh is uncannily, unabashed-

ly funny in the role — whetherspitting profanity, hurling abuse,smacking her children up the sideof the head, propping up theneighbours in their time ofneed/grief/joy, or gossiping with afrightening familiarity.

The rest of the ensemble cast(Rick Boland, Jonny Harris, JoelHynes, Sue Kent, Shaun Majum-

der, Mark McKinney, SherryWhite) is pretty impressive, too,each swiftly claiming an identityas strong and memorable as thecharacters they evoke: the cynicalgravedigger, the uptight husband,the kinky daughter, and so on.

Well, you know that in additionto the Rest-of-Canadians, New-foundlanders from St John’s toFort McMurray were perched infront of their flat screens, one handon the remote and another oneither the keyboard or the phonepad, ready to vote early and oftenin favour of this fresh and reliablyirreverent Newfoundland comedy.After all, the track record ofauthority-bashing boundary-push-ing comedy is stunning: CODCO,Gullages, Dooley Gardens, ThisHour has 22 Minutes, Made inCanada, Rick Mercer, and let’snot forget CBC Radio’s listener-approved The Great Eastern. Ofcourse, everyone was going to likeHMD.

Well, not quite everyone. As ofthe writing of this column, CBChas been flooded with thousandsof e-mails and phone calls, only arelative handful of which havebeen negative. Over coffee andcigarettes in bars and at workbreaks, everyone has been talking— do you believe the way MaryWalsh looked? Didn’t you lovethe bit about the licenses? Do youbelieve they were screwing in acoffin? They even did jokes aboutthe blind!

But over on VOCM, the pri-

vately owned radio network, thatbastion of the common folk, bas-tion of common this and commonthat, if not common sense, thephone-in callers were going bal-listic. You’d think that HMD stoodfor Humour of Mass Destruction,because the persistently loud,noisy, angry and vociferous com-

plaint was that HMD portrayedNewfoundlanders as a bunch ofMargaret Wente-defined morons,and therefore the show was aharmful travesty, an embarrass-ment, evidence for mainlandstereotypers. Perhaps understand-ably bruised black and blue fromWente’s almost comically idiotictirade in the Globe and Mail, still

nursing wounds as big as Missis-sauga, caller after caller railedagainst the show’s (mis)represen-tation of Newfoundlanders.

This passionate reaction, one ofparanoia, insecurity, and defen-siveness, is both interesting andstupid. It actually serves the Mar-garet Wentes of the world for us tobe worried about this stuff.

Her racist-inflected stereotypingdoes not come from watchingNewfoundland-based CBC come-dies, goddammit: it comes fromher own widely shared ignorance,her myopic understanding ofplaces outside the 416 area code,her chattering-class blathering atToronto dinner tables, her com-plete and utter indifference, final-ly, to this province, its culture andits history. And so to think for amoment that a brilliantly subver-sive comedy like HMD actuallyfuels her stupidity is, sadly, a signof a pathetic ignorance itself.

Come on. It is because of aCODCO and a 22 Minutes,because of Mary Walsh’s compul-sively aggressive refusal to bemainstream, her shrewd recyclingand transformation of those stereo-types that local culture hasachieved such rich cultural capital.

Let’s stop worrying about whata Margaret Wente thinks of us,and just get on with the show.

Noreen Golfman is a professorof literature and women’s studiesat Memorial. Her next columnappears Feb. 6.

It actually serves the Margaret Wentes of the world for us to be worried about this

stuff. Her racist-inflectedstereotyping does notcome from watchingNewfoundland-basedCBC comedies … itcomes from her own

widely shared ignorance,her myopic understand-ing of places outside the

416 area code …


StandingRoom Only

GOLFMANNOREEN

Rick Boland and Mary Walsh on location for the filming of Hatching, Matching and Dispatching.

On with the show this is it

CORNER BROOKBy Connie BolandFor The Independent

The person huddled beneath the well-worn sleeping bag could be asleep —or dead. Sometimes it’s hard to tell.

Stacy Gardner wasn’t in Toronto longbefore she encountered her first homelessperson. The memory is as fresh as the day ithappened.

“When I first moved to Toronto I wascompletely naive about a million things,”the former Corner Brook resident tells TheIndependent. “One night, I was cominghome off the subway and I stopped at a bankmachine. I guess it was November.

“A woman was sleeping in the bankporch. I didn’t know if I should go in and

use the bank machine because it would havemeant stepping over her. I was just standingthere and I didn’t know what to do. I wasscared and I was sad. I didn’t know if shewas alive or dead.”

Gardner retrieved her money, walkedhome and told her two Newfoundland-bornroommates what had happened. “We madea pot of goulash, put a bag of fruit and drinkstogether, tossed in some silverware becausewe didn’t have any plastic utensils andwalked back and gave to her,” she says.

“The woman kept saying ‘No, no no …’She was in her 60s. I thought this could bemy Nan. This is somebody’s mom or grand-mother.”

Now a youth worker with CovenantHouse, a shelter for teenagers on YongeStreet in downtown Toronto, Gardner has

lived in the Ontario city since 1991. Seeingpeople sleeping on the streets, in porches, onpark benches or over subway grates is some-thing she’s never gotten used to.

“I’m always sad by it,” she says.This past week the

city was gripped by acold snap that sent tem-peratures plummetingto -34 C and put livesat risk. Experts advisethat at those extremetemperatures exposedskin can become frost-bitten in as little as 10minutes. Some peopleliving on the streets sought refuge in shel-ters. Others huddled under blankets, waitedand hoped.

A cold-weather alert was issued. “When that happens, every social service

agency is on alert,” Gardener says. “Whensomeone asks for shelter and it’s a reason-able temperature outside we can say wedon’t have enough beds and offer to find aplace for them somewhere else. If there’s acold-weather alert we have to give them amat if there’s no bed. We have to make surethey are not outside in the cold.”

Outreach teams from various agencies,including Covenant House, hit the streetswith coffee, hot chocolate and blankets to tryand convince the homeless to come inside.Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.

“If you are of sound mind and have anopportunity to go into a shelter or some-where dry and warm you are more likely tochoose that,” Gardner says. “But if you havemental health problems, are an alcoholic ordrug addict, there isn’t as much rationale.Those are typically the people who die onthe streets. It’s very sad. You can’t get usedto that.”

Gardner sees a lot of scared, hungry kidswho have left their homes for various rea-sons. Sometimes the job is personal — aslight accent, or a last name that tips her offa person is from home. “We get kids fromNewfoundland,” she says. “They come uphere thinking they are going to have it madeand then reality hits.”

Her most poignant moment came when amale prostitute about 16 years old (not fromNewfoundland) came in after being assault-ed. The boy described what had happenedand Gardner was shocked.

“He was picked up by a man driving avehicle that had a baby seat in the back,” shesays, still horrified. “This family man pickedup a lost kid, paid him for five minutes, andhad a baby seat in the car. That image hasalways stayed with me.”

That’s probably why she and thousandsother shelter staff and volunteers continue tohelp the homeless. “I like the quote thatMohammad Ali always says, ‘Service is the

price we pay for ourrent here on earth,’”says Gardner, who’salso a writer. “I feelthat even though myinterests often go intodifferent ideas and dif-ferent fields, my com-mitment to helping willbe innately part of whoI am and what I like to

do. If eventually it comes to where I am nolonger doing it as a job I’m sure I will some-how do it as a volunteer.”

LIFE & TIMES The Independent, January 23, 2005

‘I’m always sad by it’Corner Brook-native helps homeless of Toronto; images are never gotten used to

ACROSS1 Barnyard mom4 Cads9 Tea in Toulon12 Longtime Tory ministerMacDonald14 Betrayal16 First Canadian to swimEnglish Channel (1951):Winnie ___ Leuszler19 Had something20 Mario Bernardi, e.g.21 Extreme22 Where epidemics killed5200 Irish immigrants (19thc.): Grosse-___, Que.23 Come into one’s own25 Uncouth27 Regatta blade28 Of the flock30 Like some red wines31 About: prefix32 Mystical character33 Kind of ending to trauma35 Reunion attendee37 Dorm38 Its capital is Kathmandu40 ATM request41 Macaques45 Unit of energy46 Carthage’s country50 Electronic-point-of-sale51 Annoy53 Gush55 Einstein’s birthplace56 Society newbie (esp.U.S.)57 Normandy city of WWIIfame59 Lustful look60 Milieu of terns and erns

61 Fury62 Victoria’s Empress64 Feline foot65 Closed66 City originally namedFort Brisbois68 Contingencies70 Raw fish dish73 Shakespearean commo-tion74 Mediterranean island76 Formerly77 Short-lived80 General idea84 Good Hope ___, B.C.85 Late in Limoges86 Hot flower87 Pierre’s papa89 Eggs90 Plural of locus91 Dave of the Rheostatics93 Kitty pop94 Ball star96 Animate98 Theatrical drop100 Tearjerker101 Late afternoon, in Eng-land102 Like snowmobiles103 Nanny’s baby104 Dane’s neighbour105 Sock end

DOWN1 Cirque du ___2 It may have a silverlining3 Use hip boots, perhaps4 Listen (lit.)5 Poem of lamentation

6 If all ___ fails ...7 Building parcel8 Like Dali’s art9 Yukon tourist slogan:Canada’s ___ North10 Whole: comb. form11 Give the cook a break12 Get an F13 Fragrant flower14 Sling mud15 They may be guided17 Whooping ___18 Fast starter of fable24 Shy or timid26 Argument29 Stoppers31 Beach in Bretagne32 Rajah’s wife34 Date35 It connected B.C. toeastern Canada (19th c.)36 Westray victim39 “___! A mouse!”41 Battlefield doc42 La Scala production43 Famed prize giver44 Like many a stream bed46 Author of A ComplicatedKindness (2004 GG)47 Japanese snack48 Intestine section49 Fine fiddle52 Fish eggs54 Provincial rep.57 Elm’s offering58 Glenn Gould’s home-town63 B.C./N.W.T. river64 Vancouver time65 Wool bearer

67 Video ___69 Pilot71 Kofi ___72 Dry, to an oenophile74 U.S. military corps75 University community77 Expert78 First premier of Nunavut

79 Be silent (mus.)81 Flock description82 “Bay Boy” writer/director83 Les ___ mousquetaires84 Apple variety86 Enraged88 U.S. TV award90 Advance

91 Nip92 Is not95 French law97 Canadian P.M. of GreatBritain (1922)99 Dove sound

INDEPENDENT CROSSWORD Solutions on page 26

A homeless man uses an umbrella to protect himself from falling and melting ice in Toronto's financial district. Photo by Andy Clark/Reuters

“We get kids from Newfoundland. They come up here thinking they are

going to have it made and then reality hits.”

— Stacy Gardner

Devil in the detailFog Devils still don’t know what St. John’s will charge for lease of Mile One,

although Mooseheads pay $500,000 a year for 10,000-seat Metro Centre in Halifax

By Darcy MacRaeFor The Independent

It’s a stressful time for the St. John’sFog Devils. The city’s newest hock-ey team has yet to play a game in

the Quebec Major Junior HockeyLeague, but it’s already involved in itsfirst scuffle.

The club is working toward securinga lease to play out of the city-ownedMile One Stadium. Both sides want tocomplete a deal soon, but neither cansay when a lease will finally be workedout. The situation leaves Fog Devils’owner Derm Dobbin frustrated.

“We’re disappointed that it’s taken aslong as it has,” Dobbin tells The Inde-pendent. “I wish we had been able toconclude these negotiations and moveon to establishing the team. But it’s dif-ficult to do that with this cloud hangingover us.”

Dobbin was awarded the majorjunior franchise on Dec. 1 and hoped tohave a deal with Mile One completedquickly. He envisioned getting a leasesigned, sealed and delivered as soon aspossible so he could move on to otheraspects of running the team.

“It’s very difficult to finalize any-thing until you know where your homeis going to be,” says Dobbin. “It affectseverything — scouting, designing alogo and jerseys, getting ready fortraining camp. We should be talking toour corporate sponsors, but we can’t dothat either. We can’t do any of that untilwe get a lease in place.”

Communication with Mile One hasnot gone as smoothly as Dobbin would

have liked. It’s not that there’s animos-ity between the two groups over thecompetition they had for the franchisein the fall, but a case of bad timing.

While Dobbin has been trying tosecure a lease at Mile One, St. John’scity officials have had their plate fullwith several other business matters.

“There’s a lot of activity taking placeat City Hall. They were into unionnegotiations (with employees of MileOne Stadium) and they’re into bud-getary works, plusChristmas came intoplay,” says Dobbin.“We’re having diffi-culty getting responsesback as fast as we’dlike to. As a result, it’sgoing on longer than Iwish it had.”

City councillor andSt. John’s Sports andEntertainment chair-person Keith Coombsagrees it’s been a hec-tic fall and winter. “Itwasn’t the greatest oftimes to get things in order.”

Now that both sides have eachother’s undivided attention, they sayit’s time to get the lease done. Whileneither side is comfortable discussingspecific dollar amounts at this time,recent transactions in the QuebecLeague indicate the type of deal thatcould develop between the two.

The Halifax Mooseheads recentlyendured a nasty public dispute withHalifax city councillors during leasenegotiations with the Metro Centre. In

the end, they came away with a deal inwhich they pay $500,000 a year to playout of the 10,000 seat stadium.

The yet-to-be named Saint John fran-chise (which will join the Fog Devils asa Q expansion team this fall) just com-pleted a deal costing $350,000 a seasonto play out of Harbour Station. Whileneither agreement can be expected tosuit all the needs of both the Fog Dev-ils and Mile One, the similarities in thesize, population and quality of hockey

facilities in these threecities indicate a similardeal could work in St.John’s.

“Saint John is a greatcomparison for usbecause their demo-graphics are exactly thesame as ours,” Dobbinsays. “The city is aboutthe same size as ours,the facility they willplay out of is on parwith Mile One.”

While most of thestadiums used by Mar-

itime teams currently playing in the Qare fairly new and include many mod-ern luxuries, few match Mile One. Thecrown jewel of downtown St. John’s isa 6,000 seat, state-of-the-art facilitythat includes a concourse pub, an in-house restaurant, 35 corporate suitesand a 6,000-square-foot dressing roomfor the home team. While these quali-ties make a game experience enjoyablefor both players and fans, they are alsofactors of negotiation when a lease forthe stadium is under debate.

“You have a lot of different issues atdifferent buildings. You have the num-ber of staff it would take to operate ata game, the size of the rink and luxurysuites,” says Paul MacDonald, presi-dent of the Quebec League’s Cape Bre-ton Screaming Eagles. “At Mile One, itwill be as modern a building as we’regoing to have in the league and withthat the different amenities will comeinto play.”

MacDonald’s counterpart with theHalifax Mooseheads, Kevin Cameron,agrees that each building presents itsown set of circumstances. However, hefeels there is one rule that applies tomost teams.

“Generally, the bigger the capacity,the more you are apt to pay,” Cameronsays.

While there are many factors to dis-cuss and investigate before a deal issigned to put the Fog Devils in MileOne, both sides are confident an agree-ment will eventually be worked out.The days of Dobbin pondering movingthe team to Corner Brook appear to beover, as does any chance of anotherteam setting up shop at the city’s pre-mier stadium (the Quebec-based NorthAmerican Hockey League expressedinterest in icing a team in St. John’s latelast fall).

“Both parties are basically chartingnew ground. Mr. Dobbin has neverbeen involved with hockey and we’venever been in a situation where we hadto lease Mile One,” says Coombs.

“Both sides want the Fog Devilsplaying out of Mile One.”

[email protected]

January 23, 2005 SPORTS

“We should be talking to our corporate sponsors, but we

can’t …We can’t do any of that until we get a lease in place.”

— Derm Dobbin

Paul Daly/The IndependentDerm Dobbin, owner of the Fog Devils.

SPORTS The Independent, January 23, 2005

English brings spark to FlameCarl English has been on

fire recently in the Nation-al Basketball Develop-

mental League. Playing for theFlorida Flame, the six-foot, five-inch native of Patrick’s Cove onthe Cape Shore is averaging 15.6points, four rebounds and threeassists per game. He’s been com-ing off the bench of late, but hisproduction has soared nonethe-less. In fact, he holds the teamlead for single-game highs inpoints (28) and steals (five).

Now if he could only follow inthe path of former Florida team-mate Smush Parker, who wascalled up to a 10-day contractwith the NBA’s Phoenix Suns.Parker was only with Florida fora short while after starting theseason with the defending cham-pion Detroit Pistons, who cut himloose last month.

Such is the life of a player inthe developmental league, wherebus travel and meager pay (com-pared to NBA salaries) are thereality. At the same time, privatejets and a substantial jump inwages are only a few breaks orbounces away in the NBA. Eng-lish could be making more byplaying in Europe, but a call-up tothe NBA is all but out of the ques-tion if he’s playing overseas. Afew months ago, I opined thatEnglish would be better off play-

ing for bigger dough in Europe. I was wrong. At this point in his career, he

just needs to be given a chance,and the only way he will be givenone in the NBA is if he can showscouts that he has what it takes tobe an NBA player. He has to beseen, and the developmentalleague is more easily scoutedbecause it’s based in America.

English is also playing underthe tutelage of former BostonCeltics great Dennis Johnson,head coach of the Flame. As ahuge Celtics fan growing up, I’msure DJ can help English in his

quest to make an NBA roster byimparting his knowledge ontoEnglish and by virtue of his con-tacts throughout the league.

Johnson is regarded as one ofthe best defensive players in thehistory of the league, and it seemsthat every young player looking tobreak into the big league needs toimprove on defense. English hasthe offensive tools — especiallyan accurate shot from long range.If he can show scouts he has theability to stop opposing shooters,it will only bolster his chances ofplaying in Da League.

Rafer Alston, the current start-ing point guard for the TorontoRaptors, bounced around in thedevelopmental league for a fewseasons before he hooked on inthe NBA. Always a talentedoffensive player, the knock onAlston was that he was a defen-sive liability and it was only whenhe added that strength to his game(through toiling in the develop-mental league) that he made thejump to become a legitimate NBAplayer.

So Carl, keep plugging away,man. Hopefully sooner, ratherthan later, you’ll get your chance.

•••Smush Parker was summoned

to the Suns because of recentinjuries to Canada’s Steve Nashand Brazilian Leandro Barbosa,the team’s two point guards.

A couple of columns ago Iwrote how nice it would be to seeNash win the league MVP title.Although I really feel he’s deserv-ing of the honour, his worthinessfor the award has been strength-ened, oddly enough, while he sitson the sidelines. Without Nash toguide the offence, Phoenix strug-gled mightily, indicating the teamneeds the league’s top playmakeron the court to be firing on allcylinders.

Nash’s game is based on hisoutstanding ability to get histeammates open shots and easybuckets. In my humble opinion,he’s the best point guard in theleague. He also knows how toscore, and is a deadly shooterfrom deep, meaning opposingpoint guards not only have to

worry about stopping Nash’s pen-etration to set up his teammates,they also have to honour hisshooting ability.

That double-threat — coupledwith the great athletes Phoenixhas on its roster — has made theSuns one of the league’s eliteteams. If Nash comes back andrestores Phoenix’s winning ways,his candidacy for MVP should nolonger be in doubt.

It might be a bit of a stretch tothink the American media wouldvote for a Canuck as MVP, but if

you look at his numbers (15points, 3.1 rebounds and a league-leading 11 assists per game), Nashdeserves the award as much asany player this year.

If the award is not a popularityvote, and in fact goes to the play-er who means the most to histeam, Nash’s absence during thepast week or so speaks volumes tohis value with the Suns.

Bobby White writes from Car-bonear.

[email protected]

Sol

utio

ns f

rom

pag

e 24

Carl English played with the Hawaii Rainbows in college.

Justin Kase Conder/Icon SMI

Bob theBayman

WHITEBOB

English could be making

more in Europe, but a

call up to the NBA is all

but out of the question if

he’s playing overseas

The Independent, January 23, 2005 COMMENT

JANUARY 23• Evening of Burlesque, Neigh-bourhood Dance Works, LSPUHall, a night of song and dance,comedy and fun, 8 p.m., $15(adult entertainment), 753-4531.January 23• Introduction to meditation:The St. John’s Shambhala Groupoffers an opportunity to learnabout meditation and how to med-itate at a free introductory pro-gram, 9:30 a.m.– 4 p.m., Memor-ial University, physical educationbuilding, Room 1008, St. John’s,753-5156.

JANUARY 24• Open mic with Damien Follett,Greensleeves, George St., 10 p.m.,579-1070.• Open mic with Jim Bellows, FatCat Blues and Jazz Bar, GeorgeSt., 739-5554. • The St. John’s annual librarybook sale continues until Jan. 29

at the Michael Donovan Library,Marjorie Mews Library and A.C.Hunter Library. New titles addedto sales display daily. Hardcoverand trade paperbacks will be $1each and other paperbacks willsell for 25 cents. • Labrador West Craft Guildannual general meeting and elec-tion of officers, Wabush Recre-ation Centre, Wabush, 8 p.m., 944-3091.• Newfoundland and LabradorOrganization of Women Entrepre-neurs (NLOWE) public speakingworkshop, College of the NorthAtlantic, Carbonear, 9 a.m.-noon,754-5555.

JANUARY 26 • Ed Riche will talk about hisbook The Nine Planets, 7:30 p.m.,A.C. Hunter Library in the St.John’s Arts and Culture Centre.Free admission.• NOIA’s annual general meet-

ing and awards night, featuringkeynote speaker Ruud Zoon. Pre-sentation of NOIA’s 2005 out-standing contribution award toBernard Collins, 6 p.m., The Fair-mont Newfoundland, St. John’s.

JANUARY 27• Cherry Docs by Canadian play-wright David Gow. Featuring NeilButler and Brad Hodder. MasonicTemple 8 p.m. $15, Jan. 27-Feb. 6.Pay-what-you-can Sunday mati-nees, 2 p.m.• Family Literacy Day: MaryFearon will share stories for pre-schoolers at Michael DonovanLibrary, St. John’s, 10:30 a.m. At3:30 p.m., she will present a story-telling program for school agechildren at the A.C. Hunter Chil-dren’s Library in the St. John’sArts and Culture Centre. At 3:45p.m., Mr. Wizard will visit Mar-jorie Mews Library to entertainschool-aged children.

JANUARY 28• Jim Payne, Rabbittown Theatre,with special guest Oddly Enough.All net proceeds got to the Com-munity Food Sharing Association,7 p.m., 739-8220.

JANUARY 30• Book signing with Ron and LilaYoung, the Downhomer Shoppe &Gallery, 303 Water St., 1-3 p.m.Copies of their newest book, Tonicfor the Woman’s Soul will be avail-able, as well as previous best sell-ers, 722-2970.• The St. John’s Folk Art Councilpresents the fourth annual YoungFolk At The Hall concert, 2 p.m.,$10/$6, at the LSPU Hall, St.John’s, 753-4531.

IN THE GALLERIES• Works on Paper , James BairdGallery, 221 Duckworth St, untilJan. 30. Work by Sid Butt, Orlin

Mantchev, Otis Tamasaukas, Mon-ica Alder and more, 722-4502.• Artists Paint the Blues, 121Long’s Hill, Cynthia I. Noel ArtGallery, until Jan. 30. Work byCynthia I. Noel, Leona Otten-heimer, Joan Blackmore Thistleand George Adamcik. Drop byand watch one of these artistspainting, 2-4 p.m., 754-5560.• Artworks by Gerald andEsther Squires and others, Ger-ald Squires Fine Art Gallery, 52Prescott St. Open by chance orappointment, 579-3814.• The Healing Garden groupexhibition, Craft Council Gallery,Devon House, 59 Duckworth St.,St. John’s,. Jan. 23 – Feb. 25.Opening reception Jan. 23, 2 – 4p.m. Playing Dress Up, by LoriDoody, opens the same time inthe Craft Council’s Annex gallery.• Landscape: New Perspectivesopens Jan. 30 at the RCA Gallery,LSPU Hall, St. John’s.

Events

Editor’s note: This column first appeared inthe Jan. 19 edition of the Halifax-basedChronicle Herald.

By Ralph Surette

As unwise and irritating as the DannyWilliams flag caper was, there’ssomething in the backwash of it

that’s even more grating: once again, a cer-tain ugly attitude of putdown and snobberytowards Atlantic Canada has erupted, and inone of its usual places — The Globe andMail.

I thought that stuff was dying out, or atleast drifting down from the peak it reachedfollowing the 1997 federal election whenwe had the spitting nerve to “bite the handthat feeds us” by sending the Liberal partypacking and knocking off heavyweight cab-inet ministers David Dingwall in Nova Sco-tia and Doug Young in New Brunswick, andthen refusing to be sorry.

Maybe the fact that they’ve got it mostlynarrowed down to Newfoundland andLabrador this time is a sign that it’s declin-ing, but you wouldn’t know it from the toneof voice. In the now-famous column by TheGlobe’s most upfront columnist, MargaretWente, Newfoundland, a “scenic welfareghetto,” had an “unmatched sense of victim-hood,” its premier like a “deadbeat brother-in-law” always after Toronto’s hard-earnedmoney. And so on.

If this was just one column out of theblue, it would be no big deal. After all,newspaper columnists are expected to stirthe pot, and being outrageous is withinbounds.

The problem is that it fits too neatly intoa pattern. I’m not talking here about the insand outs of what Atlantic Canada gets ordoesn’t get, which is a legitimate debate.I’m talking about a patronizingly insultingform of political speech that rose with theadvent of neo-conservative thinking, and fora while spewed from the right-wing thinktanks, the Canadian Alliance party (Conser-vative Leader Stephen Harper, formerly ofthe CA, was still trying to live down com-ments of that nature during the last federal

election), and from The Globe and Mail edi-torials and certain columnists and journal-ists.

After that 1997 election, the B.C.-basedFraser Institute put out a report characteriz-ing Atlantic Canadians as “wards of thestate,” “dependent,” “will always be seen assecond-class citizens,” and more.

Then in 2000, Canadian Alliance strate-

gist John Mykytyshyn pretty well declaredthat the problem with Atlantic Canadians isthat they’re lazy vote peddlers, and starteda firestorm.

With regard to The Globe, which other-wise does a creditable job as a nationalnewspaper, a number of its offerings overtime still stick in my craw, notably a state-ment by a business reporter who described

the Atlantic Vision conference in Monctonin the fall of 1997 as an attempt by theregion to “lift itself out of the muck.”

And when then-Newfoundland premierBrian Tobin insisted that nickel giant Incoprocess more nickel in the province fromthe huge Voisey’s Bay deposit, Tobin wasadmonished in an editorial to “take a Vali-um and call Inco in the morning, preferablyin a more reasonable state of mind.”

Yet what really got me chewing nailswas whenever the subject of Frank McKen-na came up. Ever since he left office a half-dozen years ago, the former NewBrunswick premier, being a corporate boardkind of guy, has been a hero of The Globeand Mail editorial board, although not ofanyone I know in Atlantic Canada. Whenev-er his name came up, there was always thisdrumbeat in favour of him joining federalLiberals and, among other things, becomingthe “czar” of Atlantic Canada to set thingsright.

The very point of that 1997 election isthat we dumped the “czars” — and not, bythe way, because they cut EI (which was anissue only in a few ridings), but because wewere fed up with their lies and manipula-tions. It’s more than galling to have thesame voices that call us backward anddependent wanting us, in fact, to be back-ward and dependent.

There was an interesting second thought,however, that appeared in The Globe.Columnist Jeffrey Simpson, more nationalin scope than his Toronto- and Ottawa-bound colleagues, took Williams to task, butalso said this: the flag gesture “opened thedoors to gross attacks against the provinceof the kind usually found in British FleetStreet rags such as the Daily Express andthe Sun when they rail against continentalEuropeans.” I presume that includes theWente column.

Dare we hope that political discourse willrise out of the gutter whenever AtlanticCanada is at issue in some controversialway?

Ralph Surette is a Nova Scotia journalistliving in Yarmouth County.

Time they washed their mouths out Dare we hope that political discourse will rise out of the gutter

whenever Atlantic Canada is at issue in some controversial way?


Brian Tobin was once admonished in a Globe and Mail editorial to “take a Valium and call Incoin the morning, preferably in a more reasonable state of mind.”

2005-01-23

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