An employee of the House ofAssembly responsible for theconstituency allowances at the

centre of a money scandal that rockedprovincial politics this week has beensuspended by the provincial govern-ment, The Independent has learned.

Bill Murray, director of financialoperations for the House of Assembly,

left his post on sick leave soon afterauditor general John Noseworthybegan his investigation into theHouse’s finances this past winter.

A memo was circulated to security atConfederation Building in St. John’slate this week stating Murray was notallowed on the premises. Sources con-firm he was suspended.

The scandal has taken a number oftwists and turns since Premier DannyWilliams announced on Wednesday hehad accepted the resignation of EdByrne, one of his senior cabinet minis-

ters.Auditor general John Noseworthy

says the House of Assembly was “ripe”for the sort of alleged wild overspend-ing that led to Byrne leaving hisNatural Resources portfolio, given theabsence of checks and balances.

But the apparent impact of the grow-ing scandal won’t just be on the provin-cial treasury — political veteran JohnCrosbie says the news will confirm formany that politicians in general are “a

Over the past year, over 100,000 people have enjoyed the sights andsounds of The Rooms. Now we’re celebrating!Visit our new Gift Shop on level 1 and find a delight of treasures that you’re sureto love. After a little shopping, enjoy a delicious meal in our new Restaurant onlevel 4, the view will amaze you!

The tale of The Icebergs is one ofthose “you-can’t-make-thisstuff-up” stories, says Eleanor

Harvey — and it’s impossible to dis-agree.

Harvey wrote The Voyage of TheIcebergs, which follows the paintingfrom birth — inspired by sights andscenes off the coast of Labrador —though exhibitions, sales, world travel,mysterious disappearance and tri-umphant rediscovery, ground-breakingsale, and finally to its current home atthe Dallas Museum of Art.

Harvey worked as a curator with theDallas museum, on-and-off, for adecade. With a declared fondness forgeology and Arctic-inspired art, she hadalways wanted to “look at the painting

and really celebrate it,” which she did,finally, through her 2002 publication.

Now the chief curator at theSmithsonian American Art Museum,Harvey is only too happy to take timeout to reflect on the convoluted andmysterious story of The Icebergs, paint-ed by Frederic Edwin Church in 1861.

Shauna McCabe, director of TheRooms provincial art gallery, sharessome of Harvey’s enthusiasm. McCabe— who first studied the painting in themid-’90s as part of her PhD — con-firms the painting is of “keen interest”to The Rooms, and they have beenexploring the possibility of exhibitingthe landmark work.

“Beyond the quality of the workitself,” McCabe says, the “explorationthat brought Church to Newfoundland,the subsequent losses and rediscoveriesof the painting, its mysterious prove-nance, all of these details are part ofhow we look at the art work today.”

In a telephone interview with TheIndependent, Harvey describes Churchas a “restlessly curious” lover of naturalhistory. In the middle of the 19th centu-ry, he was at the top of his artistic game— young, talented, and searching forexcitement. At the time, the Arctic was“the last, great romantic quest,” saysHarvey, and Church was susceptible tothe glamourous call of the unknown.

“There was no viable good solid rea-son for going, other than adventure,exploration, bragging rights …”

In 1859, Church set out for the coastof Labrador with biographer LouisLegrand Noble in tow. The pair took asteamship from Halifax to St. John’s,and chartered a schooner to take themalong the coast and closer to the ice.

During his weeks at sea, Churchmade more than 100 sketches and smallpaintings in preparation for his eventu-al large work. He was determined, saysHarvey, to “know more about his sub-

ject than anybody else did in the artworld.”

Although the weather co-operatedduring the summer voyage, Church haddifficulty finding his sea legs.

“Those small sketches are breathtak-ingly lovely,” says Harvey. “And thenwhen you realize Church got seasick …basically, he’s spending 10 minutes ona sketch and losing his lunch, and 10minutes on a sketch and turning greenover the other side. It’s a marvel theangst didn’t come through.”

Back in New York, Church devotedthe winter of 1860-61 to completingThe Icebergs. His goal, Harvey wrote,“was to capture both the essence of hisexperiences and the other-worldlysense of the Arctic environment.”

Although there was much publicanticipation for Church’s latest “GreatPicture,” 12 days before its scheduled

Following The IcebergsLabrador-inspired painting a landmark for both quality and sordid history; Rooms ‘keenly interested’

VOL. 4 ISSUE 25 — ST. JOHN’S, NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR — SUNDAY THROUGH SATURDAY, JUNE 25-JULY 1, 2006 — WWW.THEINDEPENDENT.CA — $1.50 HOME DELIVERY (HST included); $2.00 RETAIL (HST included)

‘Ripe’ for abuseAG says checks and balances absent from House

Ed Byrne Paul Daly/The Independent See “It’s quite a blow,” page 4

Final days of school ‘pure agony’Students complain little to do in last weeks of school year

Some students and parents had ahard time taking school seriouslyin the final days of June.

Matthew Hand, for one, says hewould much rather ride his bike than sitin class.

Hand is a Grade 7 student atMacdonald Drive Junior High. Whilehis exams finished on June 16, schoolwas still in session until June 23.

When he showed up on Monday(June 19), he estimates only about 15 of600 students were there — and theywere told to play in the gym all day.

Macdonald Drive does not compileofficial attendance numbers until theend of the month.

“I think they should just give us thedays off,” he says. “There is really nopoint in going to school, ’cause theteachers are going to go correct exams.

“That’s OK, but they shouldn’t botherhaving school that day because no one isgoing to show up anyway … I think theschool years are long enough.”

A contract between the Newfound-land and Labrador Teachers’Association (NLTA) and the govern-ment in September 2002 increased theannual number of teaching days forsalary reasons. A representative from theNLTA could not be reached for com-ment.

Newfoundland’s school year, with187 instructional days, is three daysshorter than the national average.Quebec has the least school days, at 180.

Darin King, director of the EasternSchool Board, says it’s important forchildren to attend school, even at the endof the year.

“We consider all time in class with

See “No benefit,” page 5

RYANCLEARY

QUOTE OF THE WEEK“I think I eat the healthy stuff on weekdays so I can livelonger to hunt, fish, and eat bologna sandwiches on weekends.” — Paul Smith, page 30

Life Story . . . . . . . 12Gallery . . . . . . . . . 18Business . . . . . . . 21Crossword . . . . . 24Sports . . . . . . . . . . 32

IN CAMERA 8-9Remembering the battleof Beaumont-Hamel, July 1, 1916

See ‘In the crosshairs,” page 2

SCATTERED PAST 12All aboard at theRailway Museum

NEWS 4Why are local fur farmers buying mainland fish?

STEPHANIEPORTER

NADYABELL

LIFE 17More than weather: avisit with Krissy Holmes

The Icebergs, painted by Frederic Edwin Church in 1861, sold for a record $2.5 million in 1979. Courtesy the Dallas Museum of Art

LIFE 17More than weather: avisit with Krissy Holmes

2 • INDEPENDENTNEWS JUNE 25, 2006

unveiling, the American civil war began,shocking a nation. Art was no longer atthe forefront of the public’s minds.

Renaming his work The North, in sup-port of the unionists, Church went aheadwith the opening. Viewers were charged25 cents. The work was dramatically pre-sented, framed in dark wood and flankedby crimson curtains.

“People would bring their opera glass-es,” says Harvey. “Or take the broadsideand roll it up like a telescope, and roll itover the painting in order to appreciatethe detail …”

After its New York showing, the paint-ing moved on to Boston. It was wellreceived — but no buyer for the $10,000-work emerged.

Church decided to send the picture toLondon, re-renaming it The Icebergs.

Before it left North American soil, theartist made another change: he painted abroken ship’s mast on the ice in the fore-ground. (Harvey suggests it was to com-memorate Arctic explorers who had losttheir lives.)

The painting opened in June 1863 inLondon, to enthusiastic reviews. Beforelong, the sought-after buyer was found in“the Railway King,” Sir Edward Watkin,a Member of Parliament.

Watkin — who later received a knight-hood for his “crucial yet understated” rolein Canada’s 1867 Confederation — hungthe piece in Rose Hill, his country estatenear Manchester.

Watkin remained a leader in the rail-way business into the latter part of the19th century. “When he died in 1901,”Harvey writes, “he and The Icebergs dis-appeared from view.”

Back in America, Church’s three majorworks after The Icebergs were successes.His career dwindled and by the 1880s helived in his country home, his style ofwork having fallen out of favour, cut offfrom the art world he had courted, evendriven, for years.

But what goes around, comes around,and with the 1950s came art scholarsinterested again in the careers of the mid-19th century American painters. In 1966,the first exhibition of Church’s worksince his death was organized. TheIcebergs’ absence was felt.

Over subsequent years, a number of artdealers and researchers began their ownquests to find the missing Icebergs.Sandra Feldman, a researcher with agallery in New York, may have cameclosest, according to Harvey.

She studied references, researched par-liamentarians, and eventually settled on— correctly — Sir Watkins as the mostprobable owner. Knowing the size of thepainting, she and her supervisor — again,correctly — figured the painting mayhave stayed in the place it was originallyhung, passed along over the years withthe house.

According to Harvey, after Watkins’death, the Watkins estate had “served asa home for unwed mothers … an orphan-age, and finally a residential assessmentcentre for delinquent boys.”

But Feldman was not allowed into thebuilding to follow up her hunch.

In the fall of 1978, however, the matronof the centre, Mair Baulch, driven by aneed to fundraise, turned her thoughts to adingy painting that had probably beenhanging on an out-of the-way wall fornearly a century: The Icebergs.

Harvey laughs out loud at this part ofthe story: “How do you lose a six foot bynine foot painting when it never leavesthe house?”

The painting was claimed by theManchester city council as city property.After consultations, the council decidedto auction off the painting — but in NewYork, where it was thought it would com-mand the greatest price.

And it did. At the end of the evening,The Icebergs sold for a shocking $2.5 mil-lion (the record for the sale of anyAmerican painting then was $980,000.)

Within weeks, the successful bidders,who remain anonymous to this day, haddonated the painting to the DallasMuseum of Art, where it remains a prizedcenterpiece of the gallery.

Harvey has met the painting’s pur-chasers on several occasions, and staystrue to their wishes to remain unknown.

“It’s one of the reasons this paintingholds a special place in Church’s career,”Harvey says. “Certain works of art end upin the crosshairs of history, not of theirown devising, not of the artist’s devising… the painting has almost acted as a mag-net for good stories.”

While she admits not all agree, Harveybelieves The Icebergs is worth the atten-tion it has garnered.

“Church pushed himself. Each paintingwas supposed to be more difficult, morechallenging, more revelatory than the onethat came before.

“Before this, there were lots of clunkypaintings of icebergs by people who hadnever seen one before … he was one ofthose people whose entire reputation waspredicated on an acute sense of observa-tion — makes even his large constructedpaintings seem like the absolute truth.

“And the luminosity of the colours, thevibrancy of the brushwork … it glows.

“I love that painting,” she says. “I missit.”

‘In the crosshairs of history’From page 1

A weekly collection of Newfoundlandia

Premier Danny Williams wasn’tthe only one “aNOIAed” by thisweek’s conference of the New-

foundland Ocean Industries Associa-tion in St. John’s, where the pressurewas on for him to do a deal on theHebron oilfield.

The premier has been urged by localsuppliers and oil companies to return tothe bargaining table since early April,when the Hebron partners and Williamsannounced they could not reach a deal.

Local oil industry player CabotMartin returned an award Friday (June23) he had received from NOIA in 2002in recognition of his “outstanding andlasting contribution” to the establish-ment and growth of the province’s oiland gas industry.

In a letter to Ted Howell, NOIA’spresident and CEO, Martin wrote: “Ireturn this award in protest of NOIA’scurrent attempts to undermine theprovince’s determination to achieve afair and proper deal on the Hebron proj-ect.

“NOIA has persistently taken similarself-centered, undermining positions ona number of offshore issues stretchingback to the original Atlantic Accordnegotiations with Ottawa in the early1980s, a process I remember only toowell,” he wrote. “I accepted this awardwith some reluctance and now realizethat I was guilty of an error in judg-ment.”

The premier has argued there will beenough riches from Hebron for thepartners to allow the province an own-ership stake of 4.9 per cent.

POETIC JUSTICEWhile Cabot Martin was at The

Independent office, he dropped off apoem he’d written and had been carry-ing around in his wallet for years. Thepoem is appropriate considering theupcoming 90th anniversary ofBeaumont-Hamel on July 1.

Forget-me-not NationWhat sort of nation forgets its forget-me-nots? And breaks the chain of solemnremembrance for mere holiday? What sort of nation bears the butt of joke unchallenged for the cash of others?What sort of nation exists only in the memories of past deeds and the hope of future success.Can such a nation survive?

TOBIN TIDBITFunny how this week’s blockbuster

news story is about political spending,the same week that Brian Tobinis appointed to head a review of controversial proposed increases to the salaries of Toronto city council-lors.

A consulting firm hired by the City ofToronto recommended increasing acouncillor’s pay to $95,000 from$87,214. The mayor’s annual salarywould jump to $160,000 from$147,856. St. John’s Mayor Andy Wellswill probably salivate when he readsthat amount — he makes less than$90,000 a year.

Tobin, who makes his home in TOthese days, will serve on the reviewboard with Ellen Malcolmson, a seniorvice-resident for Bell Canada, and IanClark, president of the Council of

Ontario Universities. The panel hasbeen described as “elite,” but theyapparently won’t be paid. How will ourBrian get by?

‘EXTRAORDINARY’ SERVICENo doubt about it, Newfoundlanders

turn up everywhere. Judith Gray (neeRyan), originally of St. John’s, recent-ly retired as associate executive direc-tor of the Arkansas Bar Association,where she had worked for 40 years.Judith, who left Town after she mar-ried a U.S. serviceman stationed atFort Pepperrell, was honoured with theC.E. Ransick Award of Excellence ear-lier this month, given in recognition of“extraordinary” service in the legalprofession.

It was the first time the award waspresented to a non-attorney.

BEST PERFORMANCESpeaking of awards, our own Loyola

Hearn was recognized by The HillTimes in Ottawa recently with an hon-ourable mention in the 1st annualQuestion Period Awards. Under the cat-egory Best Question Period Perform-ance, columnist Kady O’Malley saysHearn’s gruff Newfoundland charmand obvious passion for the fisheryallows him to defend his government’spolicies while directing criticism at therecord of the previous regime.

That’s funny … isn’t Loyola follow-ing the exact line of the previousregime?

DOUGHNUT HOLESSgt. Robert Peyton of Grand Falls-

Windsor was recently mentioned in anarticle in Maclean’s magazine about

training civilians for work in Afghan-istan. The specific soldiers who Peytonwas ordering around are training for,among other posts, jobs at TimHortons, which has agreed to set upshot within the Kandahar base. TheCanadian Forces Personnel SupportAgency hires civilians to work on armybases. According to the Maclean’sstory, those who work at Tim’s canmake around $16,000 in six months,plus another $1,800 a month in tax-freeallowance for hardship, risk and for-eign service.

Claude Goulet of Happy Valley-Goose Bay is also heading overseas. Abarber for 33 years, Goulet was one ofthe oldest men in training. Wonder ifGoulet has a hair trigger?

ryan.cleary@theindependent.ca

JUNE 25, 2006 INDEPENDENTNEWS • 3

Campus comparisonsCollege of North Atlantic’s Lab West school falling down; not nearly as impressive as Doha facilityBy Ngaire GengeFor The Independent

The College of the NorthAtlantic’s Labrador West cam-pus smells. Damp carpet, damp

ceiling tiles, and damp shoes minglewith must and the scent of new plastic.The plastic sheeting attempts — andmostly fails — to direct water into themany plastic buckets and garbage bins.This is a far different College of theNorth Atlantic than the one being cele-brated in press releases this week,releases about the shiny new facilitiesand $500 million-plus service contractsbeing signed in Doha, Qatar.

This is a campus with crews that chaseleaks all over the roof, and fog risingfrom the floors whenever it rains.

In Doha, students stroll through a 21-building campus with equipment that,according to the college’s own website,is so cutting edge that industry is keep-ing up with education — not the otherway around.

Here in Labrador, residents wonderwhy they’re the black sheep of theprovince’s public education system, whyit’s always a little different in Labrador.

Students here don’t expect 21 build-ings, but they’d like to be able to come inout of the rain once in a while.

In his latest presentation to the Townof Wabush, campus administrator Dr.Azmy Aboulazm said the building inLabrador West is the only one not ownedand operated by the Department ofTransportation of Works.

“We’re the only campus paying nearly

$1 million a year in rent, utilities, andinsurance out of our operating budgetinstead of buying new equipment, orexpanding programming.”

A dilapidated building isn’t doingmuch to attract students or staff either, hesays.

Aboulazm admits he’s in a catch-22.

Publicize the conditions of the campusand turn off yet more students. Keepquiet and recognize that silence isn’tdoing anything to encourage change.

Wabush town councillor Lori Roulsees the campus through a unique lens— she’s also an instructor in the build-ing.

“As a community, we’re trying toattract new residents, and keep the oneswe have to study here instead of sendingthose dollars away. A college campusshould be a tremendous asset in recruit-ment — we place almost every studentwe graduate. Employers like the IronOre Company of Canada, they couldtake even more students, if we couldproduce them,” says Roul.

At the most recent graduation cere-monies last week, nearly half the stu-dents were absent from their convoca-tion. They were already working.

The Lab West building, a convertedprimary school, was never suitable forthe trades shops — a point made for atleast a decade by Aboulazm, his staff,the community, and students.

Claire Baikie plans to attend electricalcourses in Happy Valley-Goose Baysoon.

“They’ve got a residence for reason-able housing, trades courses, and theshops to teach them in,” says Baikie.“Students in Labrador West have noth-ing, but in the classes in Goose Bay morethan half the students are from Lab West.I thought the idea behind the CNA cam-puses was to let students complete stud-ies appropriate for their region in theirregion. That’s certainly not happeninghere.”

The Mining Technician program, witha waiting list capable of filling twice theseats available, became all the moreattractive with announcements of IOCexpansion, new developments at LacBloom and Schefferville, and miningpotential on the horizon right across the

region.Ronnie Barron, also a councillor in

Wabush, and leader of the LabradorParty, isn’t surprised by the condition ofthe local campus.

“It’s another case of government neg-lect in this region,” says Barron. “We geta reputation on the island as whiners,but, in reality, we see very few of themany tax dollars generated in this regionspent in this region.

“Education is no different,” he says.“It’s easy to put out press releases aboutsuccess in Qatar. Where on the CNAwebsite are the pictures of our campus?Nowhere. It’s easy to tout your successwhen you hide your failures.”

Roul’s frustration is evident when shespeaks of students going away to study.“Our programs are excellent, compara-ble with anything in the system and ourgraduates are better than most. Imaginewhat we could do if we didn’t have thisto deal with constantly.”

She doesn’t have to imagine — the40-year old building has been soaked sooften it gives under her feet.

“We’ve had staff with chest conges-tion and pain, shortness of breath, andpersistent coughing,” says Roul, addingstaff are otherwise healthy.

Aboulazm hopes to see that allchange.

“We’ve been in discussion with thecollege, and with Works,” saysAboulazm.

“We’re talking about finding appropri-ate accommodations, whether anotherexisting building to retrofit or a newbuilding to meet our needs.”

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Sentry going to his post, Beaumont Hamel, 1916. See pages 8-9 Photo courtesy Provincial Archives of Newfoundland and Labrador

SCRUNCHINS

Judith Gray

College of the North Atlantic’s Lab West campus Peter Genge photo

By Ryan ClearyThe Independent

Cod may get most of the attention in termsof industry shutdowns, but 2006 marks the14th anniversary of the death of

Newfoundland and Labrador’s commercialsalmon fishery.

And while salmon populations are doing “so-so” in the province’s rivers, large numbers of fishstill aren’t returning from sea — a phenomenonrecorded throughout the Maritimes and northeast-ern seaboard of the United States.

Based in St. Andrews, N.B., the AtlanticSalmon Federation predicted this week that hun-dreds of thousands of wild salmon will not bereturning to their home rivers in eastern NorthAmerica this year because they have vanished forunknown reasons at sea.

This province is reportedly the only region inNorth America that is meeting minimum conser-vation limits.

Donald Hustins, president of the SalmonidCouncil of Newfoundland and Labrador, theumbrella for a number of salmon conservationgroups, says stocks in the province’s rivers aredoing relatively well compared to the rest ofAtlantic Canada, but numbers are still at 1970slevels.

“We’re holding our own,” Hustins says. Whilerivers are producing reasonable numbers of fish,the salmon — which swim off to sea at three yearsof age — aren’t returning from the ocean.

“No one seems to know why. It’s a mystery atsea,” says Hustins, arguing more research must be

carried out into survival rates. “Virtually nothingis being done at DFO in terms of explaining whymarine survival is so low.”

Berkley Slate, staff officer for recreational fish-eries with the federal Department of Fisheries andOceans in St. John’s, says the department can’texplain the low at-sea survival rate.

As for the charge from conservation groups thatmore science would help, Slade says “that’s prob-ably a fair comment.” He adds the low ocean sur-vival rate isn’t unique to Canadian stocks. “Theproblem of poor sea survival rates is a commonoccurrence with all North Atlantic stocks,” hesays, recorded in Norway, the Baltic countries,

Scotland and Ireland.Slade says salmon numbers are “nowhere near”

where they were prior to 1992’s fishery shutdown.“It’s a concern for DFO,” he says.

Possible causes include pollution in watersclose to estuaries, predation from seals, codfishand seabirds, environmental conditions such ashigh water temperatures and low water levels, andpoaching.

EARLY CLOSUREThe recreational salmon fishery opened earlier

this month and is slated to close by mid-September. “I wouldn’t be surprised to see (river)closures in the next week if the hot weather con-tinues without substantial amounts of rain,” Sladesays, adding salmon returns on Conne River onthe south coast and Harry’s River in westernNewfoundland appear to be on the rise.

DFO has 90 river guardians in Newfoundlandand Labrador, with the provincial governmentemploying another 30.

Federal Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearnannounced earlier this week his department ispreparing to beef up its conservation and protec-tion presence in British Columbia

The number of enforcement officers there isslated to rise to 176 from 162 with a new $2.4 mil-lion federal investment.

About 16,000 resident salmon licences are issuedin this province a year, plus up to 2,400 non-resi-dent licences. There’s no set salmon quota system.Rather, rivers are assigned a class from one to four— a class one river allows the taking of six salmon;a class four allows for catch and release only.

4 • INDEPENDENTNEWS JUNE 25, 2006

By Mandy CookFor The Independent

The province’s booming furindustry is buying more thanhalf its food supply — mainly

fish offal — from outside the province,says the president of the Newfoundlandand Labrador Fur BreedersAssociation.

Merv Wiseman tells The Independentapproximately 32 mink and fox farmsacross the island must “stand in line”behind fur breeders in Ontario, NovaScotia and even the United States forthe fish by-product used as animal feed.

Wiseman says Newfoundland andLabrador’s supply of offal is deliveredin an ad-hoc fashion, and must becomemore readily accessible to benefit thisprovince’s farmers first.

“The provincial government is goingto have to work with us on establishingpolicy and maybe some regulatoryissues and protection will have to beput in place to make sure theNewfoundland fur industry will havefirst option,” Wiseman says.

The fur breeders association current-ly purchases offal from some small fishplants around the province, but the vastmajority must be acquired through FPIor Ice Water (formerly National Sea).

The larger corporations sell theiroffal to large fur farms outside theprovince and do not always haveenough for Newfoundland andLabrador’s fur breeders. The fur breed-ers association must turn elsewhere toacquire enough feed for the animals —recently as far away as Denmark, butmostly from an Ontario broker.

Asked whether the province’s furfarmers will take advantage of thisyear’s increased caplin quotas,Wiseman says the province must firstinvest in freezing capacity.

“We took some (caplin) last year andwe’ll take even more this year, but notbeing totally prepared with freezingand holding capacity here in theprovince, we’re just going to have towatch this go other places,” he says.

Although fur breeders do not relysolely on fish by-product, the chickenand beef offal used for feed does notalways come from Newfoundland andLabrador’s abattoirs either, saysWiseman.

“We do have to go outside theprovince to purchase other types of pro-tein from slaughterhouses, and we pur-chase some chicken offal from CountryRibbon, but we sometimes have to goas far west as Alberta and Ontario andinto Quebec.”

Wiseman says offal is now recog-nized as a “cash cow.” Considered anenvironmental hazard when dumped inlandfills, fish plants and animal plantscan now easily cover their costs of han-dling the tripe.

“It’s a valuable product,” Wisemansays, “but before it was actually seen asan environmental waste which causedproblems.”

He’s most concerned about the lackof holding and freezing facilities. Notonly will a substandard feed due toinferior processing endanger the quali-ty and reputation of the fur breeders’product, a shortage in supply will seri-ously inhibit the growth of a promisingindustry.

“We can scream and shout all wewant about getting product from caplindischarge, or fish offal from the main-land or otherwise, but if we don’t havethe physical and economic capacity inthis province for expansion, then we’regoing to be in hard shape.”

The fur industry was worth $22 mil-lion last year. This year the fur breedersassociation expects the fur harvest toexceed 200,000 pelts. Mink skins makeup the majority of animals farmed,along with a small minority of silverfox. By 2010, fur farmers predict theindustry will be worth $200 million.

Fur farmers buy mainland fish products

Mystery at seaExperts can’t explain why salmon aren’t returning home from ocean

bunch of sleeveens out for them-selves.”

“That’s the biggest danger of allthis,” Crosbie tells The Independent. “Ithurts the province in the sense of dis-trust of politicians … It’s quite a blow.”

Byrne, MHA for Kilbride, is allegedto have overspent his constituencyallowance by more than $325,000 forthe fiscal years 2003 and 2004. Theallowance — which paid for expensesincluding office rental, equipment, sup-plies and secretarial services — hadbeen capped at just over $30,000 for thetwo-year period.

Noseworthy met with the RoyalNewfoundland Constabulary in St.John’s Friday. Police have since beguna preliminary investigation.

Three other MHAs — including asitting Liberal MHA, a retired LiberalMHA, and a current NDP member —are also being investigated byNoseworthy’s office. He’s expected toreport on those files next week.

The office of Randy Collins, NDPMHA for Labrador West, issued a newsrelease Friday afternoon saying themember has retained a lawyer to repre-sent him with respect to inquiries by theauditor general.

The total amount overspent on theconstituency allowances may hit the$1-million mark, Noseworthy says.Further, problems with the allowances— from what Noseworthy has seen —extend further back than the time framehe investigated. It will be up to policeto investigate years previous.

In yet another twist, Noseworthy isslated to release a report Tuesday into“questionable payments” made by theHouse of Assembly to certain suppliers.

Williams says government will alsorelease a statement early in the week.

“This has surfaced as a result of theinitiative that my government took inbasically having the auditor general go

in and look at this matter,” he says. “I have a responsibility as premier

and leader of the province to put thesethings on the table … but I think theyneed to know that as their leader I willcertainly be decisive and I’ll act on itvery quickly.”

The office of the auditor general initial-ly attempted to review the House ofAssembly’s finances in 2000, but auditorswere ordered out. Then, in 2002, a leg-islative committee — which includedByrne — voted to bar the auditor gener-al from reviewing the House’s finances.That vote was against Williams’ wishes.

Noseworthy, who’s served as auditorgeneral for four years, says he’s neverseen anything like what’s he’s uncov-ered in the House of Assembly.

“Never,” he says. “You would neversee this in any government department.It wouldn’t happen because of thechecks and balances, segregation ofduties, controls and processes.

“The assembly, it was ripe for thissort of activity. I guess one has to con-sider we were in there doing an audit in2000 and we started to find things onconstituency allowance claims and theway the Liberal government at the timedealt with the matter. Some things werebrought to their attention and they dealtwith it by simply asking us to stopdoing our work.”

At the same time, Noseworthy saysgovernment made an amendment to theHouse of Assembly Act whereby thecontroller general’s hands were tied.“He could get a sheet of paper from theAssembly and whatever he received hewould simply have to make a chequepayable to the person that they hadnamed on the paper without any sup-porting documentation.

“From an audit perspective it wastotally unacceptable, but we had nochoice but to remove ourselves.”

In Byrne’s case, Noseworthy saysthere’s no way an MHA could spend 10times the approved constituency limit

without collusion in the system.“You couldn’t submit invoices and

have somebody keep issuing chequeswithout realizing that this person isreceiving too much money,” he says.“It just couldn’t happen, that’s my opin-ion … the House of Assembly general-ly was being misled.

“That’s a matter that the RNC nowwill have to investigate and they willhave to make that determination. That’sbeyond my role. I’m not a judge, I’mnot a jury, I’m not a lawyer.”

Crosbie couldn’t compare the scan-dal to anything in the province’s politi-cal history, although he does see simi-larities to an ethical scandal inSaskatchewan during the 1990s involv-ing the Conservative government ofGrant Devine.

That scandal centred on theConservative caucus and its researchand communication allowances, publicmoney given to the party for researchand advertising activities. A policeinvestigation revealed that severalmembers of the Conservative party haddiverted hundreds of thousands of dol-lars from the allowances to privatenumbered accounts in a phonyexpense-claim scam.

The investigation resulted in the lay-ing of charges and the subsequent con-viction of 14 Conservative members ofthe legislature, including several cabi-net ministers, for fraud, theft, andbreach of trust.

While Devine was never linked tothe scandal, it nevertheless destroyedthe provincial Conservative party inSaskatchewan.

“It’s somewhat similar from the pointof view that public funding for some par-ticular party was misused,” Crosbie says.“Obviously everybody is innocent untilproven guilty, but it’s got to be a majordestroyer of credibility of politicians.”

As for shaking people’s faith in gov-ernment, Noseworthy says, “Myresponse to all of that is it is what it is.”

‘It’s quite a blow’From page 1

An Atlantic salmon Jeff J Mitchell/Reuters

JUNE 25, 2006 INDEPENDENTNEWS • 5

New R&D spending and infrastructure has developed Newfoundland andLabrador as a centre of excellence in areas like ice and oceans engineering, distance technology and the marine sector. To learn more please visit www.capp.ca.

Have you noticed the benefits our oil and gas industry is bringing to

Newfoundland and Labrador?

Researchand Development at our

university and colleges.

A message from:

403, 235 Water Street, St. John’s, NL Canada A1C 1B6 Tel (709) 724-4200

C-C

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UN

‘By theseat ofour pants’

Scientist George Rose says that’s how today’sfishery is being managed

By Ryan ClearyThe Independent

This year’s caplin quota may be healthier thanlast, but there’s no way to tell what shape thestock is actually in, says Dr. George Rose,

one of the East Coast’s preeminent fish scientists.He says a caplin survey hasn’t been carried out in

years, due to a lack of funding. There’s also no wayto tell what impact a caplin fishery will have onremaining cod stocks — due again to a lack of sci-ence.

“In terms of the fishery we are flying by the seatof our pants,” Rose tells The Independent fromSmith Sound, Trinity Bay.

This year’s caplin quota for the so-called northerncod zone (waters off the northeast coast andLabrador) was set in mid-June at almost 35,000tonnes, an increase of about 7,600 tonnes from 2005.

The fishery for northern cod will also reopen thissummer for the first time since 1998. Scientistshave condemned the decision given the northerncod stock is still in such delicate condition, show-ing little recovery since 1992, when the moratoriumon commercial fishing was first imposed. An esti-mated 3,000 tonnes of cod is expected to be har-vested this year between the commercial and foodfisheries.

Rose says there’s not enough information avail-able to say whether this year’s caplin fishery willhurt cod stocks.

“The problem is we do not know enough about thestate of the caplin stocks,” Rose says. Studies of coddiets carried out between 1996 and 2003 revealednorthern cod weren’t feeding on caplin “as was theirhistorical habit,” he adds.

As for the health of caplin stocks, Rose’s answeris blunt: “There is no survey of the caplin stock.”

So is caplin science where it needs to be?“No,” Rose says, “it cannot be without a survey.”The federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans

(which Rose says has some “excellent” caplin scien-tists) carries out some research, as does Rose’s groupat Memorial University, but the research is limitedby funding and lack of ship availability for at-seasurveys.

“My funding to do caplin research comes largelyfrom external sources including Iceland,” Rose says.

Estimates of caplin abundance haven’t been car-ried out since the early 1990s.

Since then caplin have been behaving abnormally— the fish have been smaller (by about 50 per cent,although they’re somewhat bigger in recent years),spawn later in the year, and travel greater distancesthan historically recorded.

As far as Rose knows (he last conducted offshorework in 2004), there has been little rebuilding ofcaplin stocks off the northeast coast and Labrador —“where caplin traditionally were very important tothe largest aggregations of northern cod that wehad.”

To date this year, Rose says caplin have beenreported turning up in a few places, but caplinspawning isn’t as widespread as it once was and thetiming is still erratic.

“What this means has been debated within sciencefor some time but there is no good answer and theresearch needed to answer such questions has notbeen done.”

Rose says there is currently no research being car-ried out within DFO into the relationship betweencod and caplin, although his group has specialized inthe connection for a decade.

Rose and his students have been studying cod inSmith Sound since January — including cod num-bers, behaviour, reproduction, diet and condition, aswell as how their distribution relates to caplin.

“A relationship between caplin and cod is, in myview, certain,” he says. “The only unknowns are finedetails of time and place.”

Rose’s work is currently funded by a number ofsources, including the Icelandic government,Canadian science networks, CIDA, and grants fromMemorial. He does not receive any funding fromDFO, although he’s involved with a number of col-laborative projects with scientists there.

Rose is currently working on a book on the fish-eries entitled, The Newfoundland fisheries: an eco-logical history.

ryan.cleary@theindependent.ca

Derrick Hollett and Pete Cortes

their peers and with teachers to be valuabletime and part of the school year,” King says.

Learning should also be done outside ofthe formal curriculum thatis tested on exams, he con-tinues. This includes activi-ties such as field trips,physical activities and com-puter labs.

“We certainly don’t havestudents in school not doinganything … if parents choosenot to send their students orstudents choose not to come,some of that is out of ourcontrol,” he says.

It can be difficult for par-ents to convince their chil-dren to attend during the nicedays in June, says DenisePike, president of theNewfoundland and LabradorFederation of SchoolCouncils.

“The parents I’ve talked tohave said this last week ofschool basically was just pure agony — pureagony for the kids to have to be in the class-room, and for the parents trying to get them upand get them to go, and for the teachers tryingto come up with something to do with them tooccupy them.”

Although some activities are valuable, it isstill a challenge to convince children to attend

school. Frequently students choose not to goto special programs and activities offered atthe junior and senior high school level, suchas smoking cessation programs, ATV pro-grams, and career advice sessions.

“There seems to be lesstime wasted, and more of afocus on instructional time inthe primary and elementarylevel than at the junior andsenior high.”

During exams, Pike saysparents are concerned stu-dents are often not in schoolbecause there aren’t enoughteachers to administer examsand teach the remaining chil-dren.

Also, she has noticed thatin junior and senior highschools, yearly cleaning isscheduled during exams andthe final weeks of classes,and classrooms are locked tostudents.

“What I’m hearing fromparents is they don’t know ifthere was really any benefit

to extending the school year,” Pike says.“Unless they’re going to give junior and highschools more human resources, there is noway that this is going to be any different.

“When you have hot sunny days, andyou’re all in the mindset that summer is com-ing, it’s pretty difficult to get a child to stay inschool when they feel they don’t have to be.”

From page 1

“We certainly don’thave students inschool not doing

anything … If parentschoose not to send

their students or students choose not

to come, some of thatis out of our control.”

Darin King, director

of the Eastern

School Board

No benefit to extending school year

6 • INDEPENDENTNEWS JUNE 25, 2006

Guilty as sin

Why even bother with a trial?Ed Byrne is guilty. Noquestion. Beyond the shad-

ow of a doubt. Take it to the bank (or,in this case, direct deposit). Ed suredid.

It’s unanimous, judge — he pulledthe trigger. The auditor general foundthe smoking bills under a bed in theHouse and spent all week waving thepaperwork around in front of the jury(you and me) on the evening news …and you can’t dispute what smacksyou between the eyes.

Sure everybody knows it’s true: EdByrne fattened his bankbook with thefortune he stole from government’scookie jar. Court would be a waste ofeven more of the little money wehave, another million reasons (on topof the first million) to consider yourlocal politician a slimy sleeveen (JohnCrosbie’s word, not mine).

Go directly to jail. Do not pass

Confederation Building. Do not col-lect $200 (not a chance of that nowanyway). Poor ol’ Ed — he’ll mostlikely serve time in a federal joint onthe mainland for his crimes, the Penbeing blocked to the rafters with somany innocent men.

RAINBOW CORPSESIt’s ironic that Ed should be con-

victed in the court of public opinionduring the same week squirrels werefound dead in Town with two paint-ball bullets to the back of their furrylittle heads. Only it turned out thestory was false — Andy Wells hadn’tbothered to check out the fabricationhe had been told. (I suppose you can’tblame an animal lover for jumping toconclusions). The mayor went so faras to name the paintball establishment— without even calling up the ownerto check out his backdoor for a sign ofrainbow-coloured, hard-as-boardsquirrel corpses.

It’s also ironic that the dead squir-rels should be misreported and anoose wrapped around Ed’s neck dur-ing the same week that a report isreleased on how three men could beconvicted for crimes they didn’t com-

mit. What lesson did we learn from the

Lamer exercise? Oh right — innocentuntil proven guilty. But that doesn’tappeal to Ed’s case. He did it, as sureas paint-ball shootin’.

GET AWAY FROM MEIt doesn’t look good for Ed either

that the premier distanced himself soquickly from his right-hand man.(Ed’s biography was erased withinhours from government’s website.) Italso didn’t help that the auditor gener-al so thoroughly damned Ed in frontof the TV cameras. The way JohnNoseworthy paints the picture leaveslittle room for doubt — about a pin-prick actually.

Let’s go over it again — innocentuntil proven guilty. Ed may be guilty— it most definitely looks that way —and he may not be. Greg Parsons alsostabbed his mother to death, don’t for-get. Everyone was sure of that. Andhard-ticket Druken gutted his girl-friend and wrapped her pantiesaround her neck for the kids to findthe next morning.

Now let’s return to the question ofwhether the presumed innocent

should be named before proven guilty— last week’s topic of the week.Most everybody agreed a few daysago that the names of people accusedof crimes probably shouldn’t be madepublic until when, and if, they’renailed to the wall.

Keith McGrath, remember? The

guy whose life was ruined by sexualassault changes that the judge threwout of court.

Let’s ask the question another way:should a cabinet minister be namedbefore he’s convicted? What’s the dif-ference in the two cases?

A few words about Ed Byrne. Iremember Ed back in ’99 when hewas foolish enough to take on BrianTobin in a provincial election. Tobinwas unbeatable with promises of abetter today and a better tomorrow.Tobin also had better hair than Byrne,which is what ultimately did theyoung Tory in.

Ed was nervous — you could tellby the way he smoked next to the bus,huddled and hurried, whenever acrowd wasn’t around and he couldsneak one in.

Ed knew he wouldn’t win, but hetook one for the team, and walkedaway with more seats than anyoneexpected. Ed has been a warrior. Nowhe faces his toughest battle. He maybe guilty; he may be innocent. No dif-ference, his political reputation is shotwell before the legal battle begins.

ryan.cleary@theindependent.ca

In 1995 I visited the NewfoundlandPark at Beaumont-Hamel, Francefor the first time.

I had wanted to do this for manyyears — partly out of curiosity, andpartly because of an incident from myyouth.

I grew up in Freshwater, Carbonearwhere there lived a rather eccentricolder bachelor. He allowed the boys ofthe town, when they reached a certainage and under strict rules, into hishouse to play cards and socialize. Overtime this became something of a rite ofpassage for the young men of the com-munity. This man’s older brother hadbeen killed at Beaumont-Hamel, and itwas apparent the event had an endur-ing and devastating effect on the fami-ly.

One evening, when we were sittingalone, he looked up and said, “Joey,you look like a young feller who mightgo some places in this world. If you areever over around Beaumont-Hamelcould you see if you could find poorSi’s grave?”

It took over 30 years and by then theold man was long dead, but in 1995 Ifinally did it and found his brother’sgrave.

Prior to the visit I frankly did notknow much about the park or theevents associated with it. Growing upin rural Newfoundland in the 1960s,most of the history that we learned wasabout Britain, and in later grades, cen-tral Canada. Probably not unlike manyNewfoundlanders, I had come to viewthe First World War — and especiallythe Battle of Beaumont-Hamel — withambivalence and suspicion. For apartfrom the terrible loss of human lives,we suspected that something else hadhappened, something not more terriblebut much longer lasting.

I suppose we were not far off themark, since Newfoundland had goneinto this conflict as one of the richestparts of the British Empire, experienc-ing what has been described as a“Golden Age.” Afterwards things werenever the same. Everything seems tohave gone down hill and the effects ofthis, I believe, can still be seen today.

While it is true that the First World

War had a devastating effect on theisland, I do not believe that the war initself was the main cause of its subse-quent misfortunes. After all, othercountries suffered horribly also. Tounderstand what really happened, Ifeel you have to look at the broaderpicture. I believe that the only countrythat “won” the First World War was theUnited States, while Britain, Franceand Germany all lost it. This is borneout by the fact that Britain, after thewar, went into a steep decline fromwhich it never recovered. Canada, itseems, quietly and quite wisely (as itturned out) attached itself to the UnitedStates. Newfoundland, on the otherhand, seemed bound to Britain andconsequently paid the price.

Every time I have visited the park atBeaumont-Hamel, there have been siz-able numbers of people present.Apparently it is a favourite with thelocals, and of French school childrenas well. I have also met there peoplefrom all over the world, includingGermany. Unlike many other memori-al sites in northern France, theNewfoundland Park does not have anoppressive sense of tragedy, nor is oneoverwhelmed by scale, and certainlythere is no militaristic swagger ornational bravado. This may explainwhy during the Second World War,when the Germans occupied the area,they dismantled a rather aggressivelooking statue of a Highland soldierthat the British had erected near thebottom of the park but left the rest ofthe park un-molested. Incidentally, thestatue was re-erected after the war andis still there.

It is said that the park is the way it isbecause the Newfoundland govern-ment did not have the money to buildgrandiose monuments and dramatical-ly change the landscape. If this is truethen it is one instance at least where thelack of means has led to a happy out-

come. The park itself is well main-tained, and is very accessible withopen walkways, three cemeteries andthe Caribou Memorial on its mound. Itis a pleasant place for people to simplywalk and sit and reflect. About halfwaydown the park there are the remnantsof an old tree that marks the spot wherethe so-called “Danger Tree” stood. Itwas here, which was one of the fewplaces in the wire where there was agap, that so many young Newfound-landers lost their lives. Below this,near where the enemy’s trenches were,is the “Y” Ravine Cemetery. Thiscemetery contains the graves, mainlyof Newfoundlanders, along with someScottish Highlanders, and it was herethat I found the grave of the youngman from my hometown.

Wandering around this neatly keptand pleasant little cemetery, reading theinscriptions on the headstones, I couldnot help but think about these youngmen and what they had tried to do andwhat a sacrifice so many of them hadmade. The Newfoundland Regimentwon honours and accolades — not onlyhere but in many actions afterwards.By the war’s end they had established areputation for determination andcourage that few, if any, on the WesternFront could match. Why had they doneit? What motivated them? What didthey believe in? What is their legacy?When you look back on the history ofNewfoundland after the First WorldWar and see so much bitterness, self-ishness and skullduggery, it’s hard notto be troubled by these questions. Didthey do it because they felt they werefighting for “freedom,” or because theyfelt it was their duty to the King andEmpire? Perhaps, but I cannot get theidea out of my head that the real reasonthey did it was due to a profound senseof responsibility to their country —Newfoundland. If this was so, then thequestion must be asked — whatresponsibility do we have to them? Ormore precisely (since they are longgone), what responsibility, if any, dowe have to what they believed in?

Joe Butt is an artist and poet who isretired and living in Toronto.

What motivates the fighting Newfoundlander?

RYAN CLEARYFightingNewfoundlander

YOURVOICE

Dear editor,I recently came across Stephanie

Porter’s May 14, 2006 article, I’llstick with this, which I found highlyinteresting.

I graduated from mechanical engi-neering at MUN with Colin Reddinin May 2004 and have been workingin Calgary since June of that year. Infact, I think I can make the claim Iwas one of the first (if not the first)from our class to make the move toCalgary. As such, I would like totake this opportunity to offer a coun-terview to some of Colin’s state-ments, so that other people who arethinking of moving west won’t passon a nice city such as Calgary.

Calgary is a highly active city.There are many sports clubs forsomeone to get involved with.Calgary has one of North America’slongest public walking/biking trailsystems that more or less covers theentire city. The Canadian OlympicPark — the training centre for mostfuture winter Olympians — is openfor public use. Many Calgarians takeadvantage of the mountains (whichare relatively close by) to hike,camp, fish, ski, snowshoe, etc.During summer, people raft or boatdown the Bow River, which runsthrough the heart of the city. Thereare open neighbourhood rinks in thewinter in which people play shinnyhockey. The opportunities to getinvolved are endless.

The work in Calgary is highlyrewarding and extremely challeng-ing. I have just celebrated my two-year anniversary as a project manag-er at my company, and I havealready completed several projectsthat were worth millions of dollarsto plan and execute.

In fact, due to the extremely hotjob market in Calgary, many youngpeople entering the workforce are

placed into more and more challeng-ing roles. And I would think that theother 20-plus classmates of minewho now call Calgary home wouldagree.

I find it simply unbelievable thatColin would have the time to taketwo hours off for lunch. All the workand all the challenge you’ll everwant is here in Calgary, you justhave to show some initiative and askfor it.

All this being said, Calgary is notNewfoundland or Labrador (despitethe huge amount of fellow New-foundlanders and Labradorians Ihave met since I moved here). Thereare things that all of us miss (like theocean and family), but most, if notall of us, have a dream to return backhome sometime.

Most of us are here to gain experi-ence and pay off student loans andother debts. The pay may be niceout west, but there are some thingsmoney cannot buy.

Wayne Manning,Calgary, Alta.

Mechanical engineering, Class of 2004

Memorial University

All material in The Independent is copyrighted and the property of The Independent or the writers and photographers who produced the material. Any use or reproduction of this material without permission is

prohibited under the Canadian Copyright Act. • © 2006 The Independent • Canada Post Agreement # 40871083

AN INDEPENDENT VOICE FOR NEWFOUNDLAND & LABRADOR

P.O. Box 5891, Stn.C, St. John’s, Newfoundland & Labrador, A1C 5X4Ph: 709-726-4639 • Fax: 709-726-8499

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an independent newspaper covering the news, issues and current affairs that affect the people of Newfoundland & Labrador.

PUBLISHER Brian DobbinEDITOR IN CHIEF Ryan ClearyMANAGING EDITOR Stephanie PorterPICTURE EDITOR Paul DalyPRODUCTION MANAGER John Andrews

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JOE BUTTGuest Column

Dear editor,An issue that I would like to see in

your paper is coverage of the environ-mental warfare that NewfoundlandHydro has been waging in theHolyrood area for many years. Thepollution coming from the stacks iscolossal. As much as half a billionpounds of sulfur dioxide has been

dumped on us. And now Hydro isusing the recently published Cantoxstudy to suggest that there are noproblems. The plant now produces 40per cent of the island’s electricity andfor that we have to tolerate 100 percent of the dust and soot.

Joseph Byrne,Holyrood

Environmental war story

Newfoundlander in a Calgary hat

Colin Reddin

Ed Byrne Paul Daly/The Independent

JUNE 25, 2006 INDEPENDENTNEWS • 7

YOURVOICE

Dear editor,First of all, let me tell you how

pleased I am that The Independentcontinues to publish diversity in themedia … presenting alternativesleads to better serving the public.

I read with interest Craig Westcott’scolumn (The N-word debate revisited,June 18-24) re the leader of a profes-sional development seminar inOntario using the terms goofy andnewfie in the same context during anexercise using word association toremember names.

How embarrassing and degradingfor anyone in the group from thisprovince. And what a sense of outragemust have been felt because of what Iconsider racist and discriminatoryremarks.

This incident points to the long-standing negative image that somemainland Canadians have of

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.Remarks and incidents such as thisone only serves to perpetuate thatnegative image and attitude.

For years I have been speaking outon this ongoing problem, both insideand outside our province. Over theyears I have refused to deal withupper Canadian businesspeople whocrack awful jokes and hold on to theimage they have of us. Many times Ihave demanded stores remove fromtheir shelves items such as hats, T-shirts and trinkets that containdegrading terms such as newfie, orcontain stupid newfie jokes.

Despite this, we are sometimes ourown worse enemy. We continue tocontribute to the negativity and theembarrassing image by producingproducts and telling the jokes our-selves.

We are a proud people with aproud history that contributes to thefuture of this country and we shouldnot be treated in this manner. Ouryoung people should be taught tostand proud wherever they go in thisworld, and not tolerate such treat-ment. Alas, we lose some of them tothe long-standing onslaught of nega-tivity. Just last week I was in a storethat sold a newfie-flavour ice cream.I told the server I was somewhatoffended by that term, and was toldby the young high school studentworking a summer job that she didnot mind being called a newfie. Whata shame.

Tom Hann, St. John’s

Man, did I have a crush onSusan Dean. This weekend Iwatched — or more accurate-

ly was riveted to — a documentary onthe Watergate scandal called WatergatePlus Thirty: Shadow of History. Thefilm sought out and interviewed manyof the players in that uniquely Amer-ican drama of 30 years ago, investigat-ing what, if any, lessons were learned.

I suppose to the majority of the peo-ple reading this, Watergate is a historytopic. Not me. As I sat in my littlehouse late on a Saturday evening sip-ping Scotch and hanging off everyword, I began to realize the Watergatescandal was so much more to me.

I marvelled at the quality of thevideotape from the Senate inquiry.Except for the fashions — the hair cuts,the glasses, the terrible wide ties of the’70s — this could have been video-taped last week. The contrast betweenthe serious young people testifying, andinterviews with the same people 30years later placed in stark contrast how

we all travel through time: some betterthan others.

I thrilled at the chairmanship — atthe moral authority, the force of charac-ter, the southern charm — of the seniorDemocratic Senator from NorthCarolina, Sam Ervin.

Courtly and folksy, he was no fool,and no pushover, as more and more ofthe people called to testify were tolearn. His Senate select committee toinvestigate campaign practices dogged-ly pursued the extent of culpability ofthe conspirators, often locking hornswith those testifying, never losing.

Ervin’s presence and personalityanchored the committee in its inquiry.When committee member HowardBaker, the Republican Senator from

Tennessee (whom Nixon had hopedwould help divert the scandal from theinside) impatiently blurted out thequestion “What did the president know,and when did he know it?” he was ask-ing the question we all wantedanswered.

Watergate was a turning point in mylife. I remember coming home fromschool and seeing my Dad’s car in thedriveway. Who died? Inside, both myparents were in front of the TV. At 3:30in the afternoon on a weekday. Whatthe hell? I sat down to watch.

They filled me in along the way.Slowly the enormity of the situationdawned on me. No General Hospitalthat afternoon. We ate sandwiches infront of the TV. Supper. In front of thetelevision. I was just old enough, at 14,to get the gist of the careful wordplayand legal jousting between the peoplecalled to testify and the members of thecommittee.

And here I was watching it all again,at the ripe old age of 46. It wasn’t just

the footage. To me it was a sudden,unexpected trip back to visit that awk-ward lad long buried in the now awk-ward adult.

As a young man I had marvelled thatmen in such trouble could laugh onoccasion. Now I understand. I once satin awe as recently fired White Housechief of staff “Bob” Haldeman clearlylied to the committee about his recol-lection of key events. Now, sadly, theHaldermans of the world are all toocommonplace.

I could still feel the presence ofNixon in the room, though of course hewas never there.

And I could not help notice the ele-gant Susan Dean, wife of the disgracedWhite House counsel John Dean, sit-ting behind him day after day, her hairtied back in a severe blond bun, the pic-ture of coolness, support and stability.After all, I was 14.

I watched again as Dean, who myparents did not like nor trust — yetgrudgingly grew to admire — brought

the whole thing down around his head.In his testimony he kept using thephrases “at that point in time” or “atthis point in time.” Watching it decadeslater I can still hear my parents’ cheer-ful chorus of “Then!” or “Now!” asthey corrected the TV screen everytime he uttered those silly phrases.

Thirty years has not diminished theenormity of what happened. TheWatergate story exposed the darknessof Richard Nixon. Deeply paranoid,vindictive and embattled, he lost every-thing for no other reason than his owntwisted personality.

Fascinated at 14, I found myself fas-cinated again — and fascinated by myfascination. And wondrous at the spanof time that has so quickly passed.

And just like that credulous youngman in front of his parents’ TV, I wascaptivated once again by the serenity,the dignity and the élan of Susan Dean.

Ivan Morgan can be reached ativan.morgan@gmail.com

AWatergate momentIvan Morgan as fascinated by the demise of Nixon as he was 30 years ago

IVAN MORGANRant & Reason

INNU EQUITY‘Newfie-flavour ice cream’

Dear editor,American humorist Bennett Cerf

once defined knowledge as “all thewisdom of the ages ... available to allof us within the covers of books.”

When the Liberal government ofBrian Tobin got rid of the denomina-tional education system, it was meantto free dollars from religious educa-tional purposes for general education-al need.

Did that actually happen? All onehas to do is peruse the educationbudget between 1993-2001 and seewhere the largest percentage increasein spending took place — administra-tion within the Education Depart-ment.

The result in this appropriation offunds was that the students in theclassroom were short changed. ThePathways system of education wasinitiated, and teachers had to attendISSP meetings and learn a differentcurriculum. Teachers were obliged toensure their charges met the Pathwayscurriculum “outcomes” as measuredin reference tests by the EducationDepartment. This left little time topass on “wisdom” to students.

As a retired teacher and administra-tor at a number of schools, I havealways maintained that good teacherswere those who created within theirstudents curiosity. Students learn;teachers show them how to learn. Thisis applied knowledge, this is teachingwisdom.

Unfortunately, this approach toteaching is not practical when teach-ers must teach students how to passreference tests, or any other curricu-lum-based standardized tests. This isespecially true when these tests arebeing used to measure the effective-ness of schools.

However, there is a remedy to thissituation. Begin paring down theadministrative side of the EducationDepartment, reinstate full-timedrama, musical and physical educa-tion programs in each and everyschool. Funnel the money saved bydecreasing the size of administrationback into the grass roots of education— more teachers, additional pro-grams and smaller classroom sizes.

John Reade,St. John’s

Ben Michel, president of Labrador’s Innu Nation, met with Premier Danny Williams in St. John’s late last week. The province is willing to consid-er an equity position in the range of five per cent for the Innu in the development of the lower Churchill project. Paul Daly/The Independent

Muskoka countryEditor’s note: DougBird, The Independent’scartoonist, is currentlybicycling across Cana-da, providing the paperwith regular updates onhis journey.

Muskoka country is about asopposite a place as you canfind to the loneliness of the

Canadian Shield. It’s a heavily populat-ed playground for Toronto’s elite. Theshores of every conceivable piece ofwaterfront are lined with groomedlawns, long wooden piers with gleam-ing hardwood, Muskoka boats andsleek ski boats.

The homes they call cabins make anyof the palaces on Gull Pond look likeshacks. It’s an upper-class suburbanwilderness with the same odd appeal asa golf course: nature controlled, the

money wins. But who wouldn’t want tospend weekends at the lake wining anddining with friends. I do it. But I can doit at home in Brigus Junction, havetwice the fun and not need a few mil-lion bucks.

For those less fortunate, a weekcamping in a national park is just theticket. Never mind the drunken brawlsor seven musical styles competing to bemost annoying, it’s still not the city.The most obvious thing about Muskokais either the white people are still mak-ing all the money or our immigrantpopulation doesn’t see the value in pad-dling around a black fly-infestedswamp in a canoe.

Tourists in Muskoka will pay preten-tious prices for everything just to havethe chance to see Goldie Hawn orGovernor Arnold walk the streets ofBracebridge or shop at the localCanadian Tire. There is bad art for

thousands of bucks and great buttertarts and latté for not much less. Howdid these people get all their money ifthey are so damn stupid? I guess beinghappily shafted is an occupation of thewealthy. Maybe one day I will valuemoney more than time, get a bunch of ittogether, and understand the impulse tothrow it away (good food and wineexcluded).

And now Quebec. Some yahoo threwa beer can at us and tried to run us offthe road. Ontario plates. So far the peo-ple of Quebec are the most like New-foundlanders, open and gregarious andfor the most part open minded. Too badhuman life has no value once they getbehind the wheel.

Only 1,600 km to the Joseph andClara.

Doug Bird is making his way home toPortugal Cove-St. Philip’s.

Dear editor,Australians and New Zealanders con-

sider the Gallipoli campaign in the FirstWorld War to be the crucibles of theirrespective countries, no longer coloniesof England.

Canada considers Vimy Ridge to bewhere she earned the right to exist as aseparate nation, no longer a colony.

There were Newfoundlanders at bothVimy and Gallipoli.

On the morning of July 1, 1916 atBeaumont-Hamel, on the first day ofthe Battle of the Somme, young men of

Newfoundland, soldiers of the BritishEmpire, by their willing sacrifice,earned for their old colony the right toexist as a nation.

Of all the plunder the English carried’ome when they overran the Earth, themost priceless object taken wasNewfoundland’s right to govern herself.

In 10 years time the 100th anniver-sary of Beaumont-Hamel will be com-memorated.

What else happens on July 1, 2016?The Churchill Falls contract expires onJuly 1, 2041. It is not really a 65-year

contract but rather a 40-year contractand a 25-year extension with an evenbetter deal for Quebec. Do the basicarithmetic (July 1, 2041 minus 25years) and you arrive at July 1, 2016.

Do we sit in our pews and singCanada’s praises or do we get redresson the Churchill Falls contract beforeJuly 1, 2016? If we could get rid of thatimperialistic 25-year extension, itwould be a great victory. Anyone else,besides me, got any strategic ideas?

Tom Careen,Placentia

Over the top, boys

Tom Hann

Pare down the Education Department

JUNE 28, 2006 INDEPENDENTNEWS • 98 • INDEPENDENTNEWS JUNE 28, 2006

By Nadya BellThe Independent

Sitting in a support trench at Beaumont-Hamel,one of the men from the NewfoundlandRegiment whittled a small regimental crestout of the soft chalky rocks in the area.

The trinket is a testament to the moments of bore-dom of the First World War, as the Newfoundlanderswaited for the call to advance on German lines.

It was 90 years ago this week the Newfoundlandregiment participated in the tragic July 1 advance inthe Battle of the Somme. Of an initial fighting strengthof 929, says Bernard Ransom, curator of military his-tory at The Rooms, 92 per cent perished that day.

The battle honours of the Royal Newfoundland

Regiment will be commemorated in an exhibit at TheRooms this summer. Ransom says Beaumont-Hamelis a household word in this province and it’s importantthat the public has a sense of the history behind thebattle.

“We try to explain the reasons for the catastrophiclosses, and the strategy or non-strategy behind thewhole thing,” he says.

Modern rifles were useless in the medieval style offighting that took place in close quarters and low visi-bility, Ransom continues. The Rooms will showcaseexamples of spades that soldiers sharpened to use asmaces, and other pieces of machinery that were usedas cudgels.

Trench uniforms, lanterns, weapons and other piecesof equipment will also be exhibited. The museum

doesn’t have any of the original blue puttees the regi-ment wore, but will show navy puttees, which are sim-ilar.

Ransom says the Newfoundland Regiment’s losseswere only a fraction of the casualties that took place inthe Battle of the Somme.

“Every unit involved was clobbered on that firstday,” he says.

Beaumont-Hamel was the first, but not the onlytime, the Newfoundland Regiment was nearly wipedout in a single battle. On two other occasions the regi-ment had to be rebuilt: at Bailleul under a heavyGerman advance, and at Monchy le Preux during theBattle of Arras – where they lost 485 men in one day.

“We know what Newfoundland lost at Beaumont-Hamel, and we lost a lot of good people, but the

British army lost too because the NewfoundlandRegiment in that period was one of the very bestinfantry units they had. It was a crack unit because ofthe way they were trained and led,” Ransom says.

The Newfoundlanders were considered among thebest in the army partly because of their previous train-ing as the only North Americans in Gallipoli. There,they learned to perform difficult maneuvers, such ashow to withdraw from their positions without alertingthe enemy.

The motto of the regiment was “Better than theBest.”

Ransom says one of the regiment’s best compli-ments was from a New Zealand general who gallopedup to the front to inspect soldiers digging in at a diffi-cult position.

“He said ‘This is a really weak spot, I hope these guyscan hold it’ and he called out to them and said ‘Who areyou?’ and they replied ‘We’re Newfoundlanders, sir.’He turned around and said, ‘Well, I don’t need to worryabout any problem here …’

“He was absolutely confident that they wouldn’tgive up any ground, and of course they didn’t.”

The British army gave the regiment two highlycapable officers, including an unconventional buthighly experienced colonel, and a Scotsman who wona Victoria Cross. Ransom refers to them as the maver-ick and the overachiever.

The Newfoundland Regiment maintained a highstandard by only fielding volunteers during the periodof the war. Ransom says it’s impressive they were ableto create a strong force from such a small population.

“When you look at the record of that regimentthroughout the war, I know everyone thinks that theirpeople did best, but truly, in an objective fashion thatrecord was outstanding,” Ransom says.

“Many people would say — why didn’t they juststay home and be outstanding at catching fish? Andthey wonder if that wouldn’t have been better, and per-haps it would.”

The Newfoundland Regiment left behind the bloodof their men on the soil of Beaumont-Hamel, and anaura of significance that carries with Newfoundlandersand Labradorians today.

The exhibit Forget Me Not: CommemoratingBeaumont Hamel will run July 1 until Nov. 15.

All photos are available for public viewing at theProvincial Archives of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Better than the best

INCAMERA

Soldiers of the Regiment peeling potatoes

Two soldiers getting a shave

Night scene, Beaumont-Hamel, 1916

Officers on S.S.Florizel, WWI, circa 1914 Royal Newfoundland Regiment, J. Goodyear and horse Newfoundland soldiers in St. John’s Road Support Trench, early morning before commencement ofattack, July 1, 1916.

Shave after leaving the trenches, 1916

All photos courtesy of Provincial Archives of Newfoundland and Labrador

10 • INDEPENDENTNEWS JUNE 25, 2006

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Blame it on the editorMy first experience sitting on a throne of

power is over. Beginning with TheIndependent’s June 11 issue, I assumed

the role of managing editor from Stephanie Porterfor two weeks while she went on a much-deservedvacation.

I’ve worked with the paper for about two yearsand know all about the foibles of a cyclical week— striving for deadlines amidst a small staff, thesnowballing workload as Friday creeps closer, andthe late nights of cramming — but having to beutterly responsible for every word printed lends itsown special stressful charm.

As a reporter I’ve fielded my fair share of soap-box calls from people with anaxe to grind, convinced they’vegot the scoop of the decade. I’vehad stories fall through at the lastminute after hours or days ofwork. I’ve had people refuse tolet me interview them. I’ve hadpeople call me up to yell aboutsomething I’ve written, or some-thing the paper’s printed.

The beauty of being a lowlyreporter is that you can blame itall on the editor.

“I’m sorry, I realize Armaged-don is almost certainly about todestroy Newfoundland, but myeditor just won’t let me cover it …”

“You have a complaint? Hmm, yes, very valid,but all complaints simply must go through the edi-tor you see. Let me just transfer you …”

I guess the last two weeks were my payback.Phone hollering, e-mail spewing, freelancers cav-ing, stories crashing, and me jerking awake atnight with sudden realizations of tasks left undone,visions of large blank spaces on pages and writersthreatening to go AWOL.

I began to realize that if I was to be managingeditor fulltime, I’d probably no longer be the sortof person who tries to avoid upsetting people,must return calls and e-mails immediately andgenerally tries to keep everyone happy. By the endof my first week I was already ruthlessly erasinge-mails, deleting phone messages, mercilesslychopping stories and happily hovering on thebrink of bawling people out.

The Independent, through its many metamor-phoses, is quite a bizarre place to work at the bestof times (not to mention the fact being a reporterputs you in some crazy situations anyway).

The staff has always said there should be amovie made about the paper, from TheIndependent’s tenuous, heated beginnings, follow-ing through with several dramas, quittings/firings,near death experiences, and concluding with anawards ceremony where the paper racks them allup at about the same time it crashes in a blaze ofglory. The best storylines are the ones you just

can’t make up and the paper has those in spades.Although there’s always a bit of artistic licenceallowed for movies (so subscribers and advertisers— breathe easy).

I’ve been working for the paper on a freelancebasis from home for the last two months, so whenI took the role as all-powerful managing editor I

was glad to see the office was asunpredictable as ever. And nomatter how frustrated I becamefilling page holes and assigningwork while trying to get my ownwriting pieces done, it was worthit.

Because at the end of it all —after the hair pulling and latenights — were the papers: twocrisp, clean creations, full ofcolour and quality that I couldfeel responsibility for. The goodsort rather than the wake-up-sweating-at-night sort.

I’ve always felt somewhatoverwhelmed by the power ofprint; by the fact a story I write

can be taken as strict verbatim by readers. It’s soeasy to skew viewpoint and perspective by thecareful laying down of words that it’s not surpris-ing people often feel uncomfortable with the pressand feel nervous giving interviews. How manymajor scandals have come forth thanks to newspa-pers? How many wrongs have been righted andrights been wronged?

Nothing of scandalous proportions occurredduring my two weeks holding the power. DannyW. didn’t officially declare independence thanksto a potentially bad equalization reform (althoughthat might have proved entertaining). No oneyelled at me, and I hope I didn’t piss anyone offtoo much. The staff all rallied round and weregreat; the freelancers delivered and as far as Iknow, took my inexperienced edits with goodgrace. Nothing caved on my watch and that was allI cared about.

By the time I stumbled out of The Independent’soffices at the end of my M.E. stint it was the earlyhours of the morning and I was heading home tokeep writing and meet my own story deadlinesbefore catching a plane the next day. I was deadtired, a bit spooked out by the deathly quiet in theoffice, my butt was asleep and I was cross-eyed.

But power is never quite so satisfying if it does-n’t come with a bit of pain.

Clare-Marie Gosse’s column returns July 9.

CLARE-MARIEGOSSEBrazen

The beauty of being alowly reporter is that

you can blame it all onthe editor. “I’m sorry, Irealize Armageddon isalmost certainly about

to destroy Newfoundland,but my editor just won’t

let me cover it …”

LAMER REPORT

The report of the Lamer inquiry into the wrongful convictions of Randy Druken, Gregory Parsons and RonaldDalton was released this week. The report called for a review of the Crown prosecuter’s office, among other rec-ommendations. Clockwise from top left: Dalton and his wife; lawyer Bob Simmonds; lawyer Jerome Kennedy;Justice Minister Tom Marshall and Simmonds; Kennedy with reporters. Paul Daly/The Independent

Hynes sight

The Man of a Thousand Songs – responsible for suchdefinitive anthems as No Kathleen, Godspeed and, ofcourse, Sonny’s Dream – will be recognized at the 30th

annual Newfoundland and Labrador Folk Festival in early Augustfor a lifetime of achievement as one of Canada’s most prolificsinger/songwriters.

Throughout his career, Ron Hynes has articulated the heart andsoul of the province with his songs about simple people and theangst and joys they encounter in everyday life. Born in St. John’sand raised in Ferryland on the Southern Shore, Hynes began singingon the coffee-shop circuit more than 30 years ago. His influenceswere typical: Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, Del Shannon, but hisown influence on the new generation of singer/songwriters has beenanything but. It is his mentoring and friendship to emerging artists inNewfoundland and Labrador that has gained Hynes this latest acco-lade, as well as many others.

Though his career has spanned three decades, Hynes, like theNewfoundland and Labrador Folk Festival itself, is showing nosigns of slowing down. Sonny’s Dream is considered to be an inter-national folk classic. It and many other of his songs have been cov-ered by dozens of artists around the world, including Emmy LouHarris, Christy Moore, Mary Black and Valdy. His latest release,titled Ron Hynes, is touted as his best work yet.

Hynes is a five-time East Coast Music Award winner, a GenieAward winner, and past Juno and CCMA nominee. He has been rec-ognized by the Newfoundland and Labrador Folk Arts Council asArtist of the Year (1992) and presented with the prestigious ArtsAchievement Award (2004). He also holds an honourary doctoratefrom Memorial University in acknowledgement of his songwritingand contribution to the arts. Hynes will now add the St. John’s FolkArts Council Lifetime Achievement Award to that list, joining theranks of such cultural icons as Frank Maher, Becky Bennett, RuthMatthews and Gerald Campbell.

The award was established in 2002 to recognize those who havemade it a lifetime goal to enhance the cultural life of the province,and to encourage the continuation of that rich culture into new gen-erations of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. It is awarded eachyear at the Folk Festival in Bannerman Park and this year the cere-mony will take place on Saturday, Aug. 5. This will be one of themany highlights of this year’s festival as it is a Come Home Year incelebration of 30 years of promoting and helping to preserve themusic, songs and dancing of Newfoundland and Labrador. The line-up will include young beginners on the Neil Murray Stage, well-established national folk artists, and some of the best of our ownworld-class musicians. For the complete line-up and other informa-tion about the 30th annual Newfoundland and Labrador FolkFestival look for this page in The Independent each week and visitwww.sjfac.nf.net.

Singer/Songwriter Ron Hynes

JUNE 28, 2006 INDEPENDENTNEWS • 11

12 • INDEPENDENTNEWS JUNE 25, 2006

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LIFESTORY

SCATTEREDPAST

Finding herself in FranceSt. John’s-native Margaret Macperherson became an award-winning artist, known and respected across Europe

MARGARET CAMPBELL MACPHERSON1860-1931

By Ivan Morgan For The Independent

Margaret Campbell Macpher-son was born in 1860 in St.John’s, the daughter of St.

John’s merchant Peter Macpherson andSusannah (Campbell) Macpherson, andsister to Campbell, Clunie, Archibald,and Lucy.

Like many of her time and socialclass, her parents, havingthe means, chose to edu-cate their children inEurope. Margaret was noexception, and afterattending Wesley Aca-demy in St. John’s, shewas sent off to finish hereducation in Edinburghand on the continent.

She was very close toher brother Campbell. Hehad excelled at school inEngland, showing everysign of developing a verypromising academiccareer. Unfortunately, hisfather’s untimely deathspelled the end of that.Campbell’s fate was toreturn to St. John’s at theage of 18 and run thefamily business. His littlesister Margaret waseight. Despite his ownsetback, Campbell wasdetermined that his sister,whom he loved dearly,should not be likewisehampered.

And she wasn’t. Shetoo showed brilliancefrom an early age. FromMargaret’s earliest yearsit was clear she was astrong personality, andshe showed incredible talents in draw-ing and painting. After her formal edu-cation in Edinburgh, she studied paint-ing in Paris under Dagan-Bouveret andGustave Courtois, both well-knownartists of the time.

She devoted her whole life to her art,becoming very well known in Europeancircles as a fine post-Impressionist andportraitist, especially in France, whereshe lived.

From her first very popular exhibitionin Edinburgh in 1882 when she was 22,Margaret never looked back. She devel-oped a formidable reputation, exhibit-ing for many years at the finer Frenchand English galleries, including the“Nationale” and the Royal Academy.She spent the rest of her life living andworking in Europe.

In 1896, at 36, Margaret returned toSt. John’s for several months to visitfamily and friends. An exhibit of herworks was organized and held in theColonial Building, to great acclaim. The

most popular piece was her portrait ofthe wife of Newfoundland’s then-gov-ernor, Sir Henry McCullum. After theexhibition she left, never to return.

In 1900 she was asked to exhibitthree of her paintings at the ExpositionUniverselle in Paris. The yearlongworld fair, organized by the Frenchgovernment to celebrate the advent of anew century, was attended by 50 mil-lion people.

As there were no other entries fromNewfoundland, the Canadian delega-tion allowed her to include her paintings

with theirs, exhibiting her works in theCanadian section. She won a BronzeMedal. Although her Newfoundlandrelatives always resented her accom-plishments received Canadian recogni-tion — and not the proper recognitionNewfoundland deserved — she musthave been very grateful to the Cana-dians, considering they made her winpossible.

Margaret and her lifelong companionJosephine Hoxie Bartlett, a well-knownAmerican painter in her own right, livedand worked for decades in a house theypurchased together in Versailles.

Margaret slowly became more andmore interested in, and renowned for,her painting of flowers and landscapes,especially of the breathtaking gardensof Versailles, near her home.

In 1906 her beloved Campbell, bynow one of the most successful busi-nessmen in all of Newfoundland, diedwhile visiting her in France.

In 1914 the lives of Margaret and her

partner were disrupted by the FirstWorld War. France was in peril, andthey made their way to safety, stayingwith friends in Switzerland, living onthe shores of Lake Geneva, where theypainted and waited for the war to end.

Margaret wrote that she hoped itwould not last a year. Her fears, perhapsnow charming and quaint, were veryreal to her. In a letter to her nephew, Dr.Cluny Macpherson, she wrote “…everyone’s help is needed in crushingthese odious Huns. It would be terribleif they made a successful attack against

London. I see by today’spaper that they are begin-ning to fortify it, but whatcan one do againstZeppelins!”

The toll of the war wasgreat on her, and she wrotewith horror the reports shegot from friends in herbeloved France. “We can-not bear to think of dearFrance … devastated andno relief, and there is greatmisery there as in Bel-gium.”

On letterhead from theGrand Hotel Angleterre, inVevey, Switzerland Marga-ret notes: “It is hard ourbeing obliged to stay onhere, but a bomb fell quitenear us the other day, andwe are in fear of our housebeing burnt. I really don’tknow when it will be safe togo back, especially as weare neither of us strongenough to nurse in the hos-pitals. The number ofwounded is becomingsomething awful.”

The letter was dated Oct.24, 1914. She and the restof her world had no ideajust how awful. But sheand Bartlett did find their

way back to their little house inVersailles after the war, and lived andworked happily together for many moreyears.

Margaret Campbell Macpherson diedat Versailles on May 16, 1931. Her twogreat nieces had come from New-foundland to care for her, and were withher when she died. In her will she leftthe bulk of her estate to JosephineHoxie Bartlett.

The Macpherson family lost touchwith Bartlett after Margaret’s death, butthere is, in the Chelsea Children’sHospital in London, England, endowedin the name of Josephine Hoxie Bartlett,a bed, dedicated in perpetuity to the lov-ing memory of Margaret CampbellMacpherson.

The Rooms will host an exhibit TwoArtists Time Forgot: Frances JonesBannerman (1855-1944) and MargaretCampbell Macpherson (1860-1931) infall, 2007.

NEWFOUNDLAND RAILWAY MUSEUM

By Nadya BellThe Independent

Betty Allan took the train in1957 with two young children— and one on the way — all

the way across the island. Her hus-band John, whose family they weregoing to visit in St. John’s, sat in theback of the train in a cheaper seat.

She says she’s surprised she didn’tloose the third child. The ride wasrough and lasted a day and a half withall sorts of delays.

Now living near Toronto, Bettysays her family has chosen to fly toNewfoundland ever since.

Returning once again to visit fami-ly in Portugal Cove this summer,Betty and John went to theNewfoundland Railway Museum topick up some souvenirs and breezethrough the exhibit.

Half the interior of a train is re-cre-ated in the museum, showing doubleseats facing each other. Rather foamymodels of upper-class Newfound-landers enjoy empty coffee cups andplates in the dining car. Silverwareand art deco lamps make it genuinelyfancy, although the carpet looks tooplush for a working train.

The lower-class Newfoundlandersin the back of the train are outfittedfor trout fishing, apparently takingadvantage of the cheap fares the line

offered on Victoria Day weekend. The original furniture from the train

is snugly shaped, like outfitting for aship. “Off” the train, in the mainmuseum, there are some much largeroak specimens from the offices of thetrain managers.

Sir Robert Gillespie Reid’s stationagent’s desk is an ornate trap withpigeon holes, as befitting a family thatalternately constructed, operated andowned the railway. And if the histori-cal description put together byHistorians Melvin Baker and BobCuff is correct, they had a very shadyrelationship with the government.

Reid is commemorated on the out-side of the building, but inside dis-plays allude to the fact that the Reidswere not well liked, and perhaps con-tributed to the bankruptcy of theprovince. This is a bit controversial —museum texts usually prefer to avoidpolitical judgments.

The Newfoundland governmentapproved the construction of a rail-way in 1880. The first company,Blackman Syndicate of the U.S., wentbankrupt after three years and only 60miles of the rail had been constructed.

Enter the Reids from Scotland, whocompleted the railway, and the sameyear the first train crossed the islandthe government of Newfoundlandsigned the controversial 1898 railwaycontract. The contract turned owner-ship of the railway over to Reid, andgave him the responsibility for operat-

ing the rail. The same contract also required

Reid to run a St. John’s streetcar,turned over ownership of PettyHarbour hydroelectric station, andsold Reid the island’s telegraph serv-ice. But his the deal gets even sweet-er.

The Reids also operated a ferryservice to North Sydney at a slightprofit, because their contract with thegovernment was slightly more thanthe operating cost.

A photo taken in 1903 of Reid andhis son in his father’s Rolls Royce atthe top of Signal Hill proves that St.John’s favourite make-out spot wasalso a good spot for business kings ofNewfoundland to survey their territo-ry.

The Reids weren’t afraid to takeover for the government — they print-ed their own scrip notes to pay theiremployees, creating their own curren-cy that merchants would honour.

Prime Minister Robert Bond askedthe Reids to sell part of the railwayownership back to the province. Reidwanted to charge many times the orig-inal price for the railway, and Bondrefused. The government’s relationswith the company were apparently“strained” for the next 20 years.

Reid backed Bond’s rival EdwardMorris and the People’s Party in theelection of 1909. Morris won the elec-tion on the promise of constructingbranch lines to more remote commu-nities. But only four out of six branchlines were ever built, and they costmore than double the contract price.

During the First World War, moretraffic and less workers on the railwore down the equipment. The Reidswanted the province to join Canadaand sell the railway, rather than fix itthemselves. Newfoundlanders stillbelieved the Reids were getting rich,but low rates and loosing money onbranch lines and repair had made the

railway unprofitable.The railway service unceremoni-

ously halted in 1922 when workersweren’t paid by the company. Thegovernment’s subsequent buyout ofRied contributed to Newfoundland’sbankruptcy in the 1930s.

Despite the financial woes of therail, it still prided itself on a reputationfor having the best food on the island.Cook Toby Jackman and others had astheir motto “Tasty meals, Delightfullyprepared.”

They charged 30 cents for freshfish, which you could get with threedifferent types of vegetables: pota-toes, peas and corn.

But there was really only one thingthat seemed to speak to Betty andJohn Allan in the museum — theypointed at an old photo of a trainclimbing up a hill — “There’s theNewfie Bullett!” they said.

Margaret Campbell Macpherson

Riding the rails

A display at the Newfoundland Railway Museum. Paul Daly/The Independent

INDEPENDENTWORLDSUNDAY THROUGH SATURDAY, JUNE 25-JULY 1, 2006 — PAGE 13

‘A high level of trust’Carbonear-native Robert Ash, once on track to becoming a classical pianist, is now a successful oncologist in Ontario

By Geoff DaleFor The Independent

Several years ago, while walkingdown a hallway at MemorialUniversity between classes,

Robert Ash sauntered past some sci-ence classes — and made a momentouscareer switch.

“I was coming back to the musicschool from the cafeteria when Iwalked by the biology labs,” says Ash.“That represented a symbolic change ofmind. I was the youngest of four boysat home and all of us had been studyingclassical music.

“Yet I knew that it was unlikely that Iwould become a full-time musician.Education seemed to be where I wouldend up … (but) I just couldn’t seemyself in the classroom. Consideringall the support and effort my parentshad put into my musical studies, I wasmore than a little nervous about telling

them about my change of heart.“In the end they were surprised at my

decision but they were also very sup-portive.”

Ash now works as an oncologist (amedical doctor devoted to cancer diag-nosis and treatment) in the London,Ont., Health Sciences Centre’s regionalcancer clinic.

Born in Carbonear in 1967, Ashattended James Moore Central HighSchool before heading to Memorial inSt. John’s, where he initially studied fora joint degree in music and music edu-cation.

“My mom (Sylvia) had a musicalbackground but my dad (Don) didn’t,”he says. “They were very supportive ofour musical training … I rememberwhen I was a youngster, my dad drivingme all the way from Carbonnear to St.John’s for my first music lesson.

“I recall him making the drive in themiddle of a snow storm in January …

(My parents) invested a lot of time andeffort in our education, so it wasn’t sur-prising I was nervous when I told themthat I was going into medicine. Funnilyenough, none of my brothers ended upin music either.”

While he had initially consideredgetting into obstetrics, a radiationoncologist at MUN helped change hismind — a major decision that led himto move across the country to south-western Ontario.

Ash decided to do his residency inLondon, beginning a rewarding andexciting career in a field of medicinethat has made major strides over thepast decade. He also studied for his fel-lowship at the USCF in San Francisco.

“I’ve been in London since 1995,” hesays. “Other than my growing interestin oncology, there were other reasonswhy I took this route. When you’re a

Aviation workers muzzledNo whistleblower law to protect them; dozens want to talk but say they’re afraid

By Robert CribbTorstar wire service

More than three-dozen airlinepilots, mechanics, air traffic con-trollers and Transport Canada

employees say they are afraid to speak outabout serious safety concerns in Canadianskies — an industry code of silence thathas triggered calls for whistleblower pro-tection aimed at aviation workers.

While U.S. airline workers have a feder-al law upholding their right to speak outwithout fear of reprisals, their Canadiancolleagues say sharing what they knowwould jeopardize their livelihoods andcareers in aviation. With families to sup-port, they cannot take that risk.

Four Air Canada Jazz mechanics wererecently suspended when they warned ofpoor maintenance at the airline that threat-ens passengers’ safety.

The widely publicized disciplinaryaction triggered a chill across the industry.

In the past two weeks, an investigationby the Toronto Star, the HamiltonSpectator and The Record of WaterlooRegion has revealed growing cracks inCanada’s aviation industry, with close callsin the sky, growing numbers of mechanicaldefects and lax oversight of airlines.

Consider this from a Transport Canadainspector:

“Inspectors ... will bring to (our) man-agement’s attention a case where a compa-ny is not complying with the safety-relatedregulations and management then tries tofind a way to make the issue go away with-out putting any burden on the company.Management would frankly rather notknow about any safety issues. ... I can’t goon the record for obvious reasons.”

From a Nav Canada air traffic controller:“This system we have in place is broken

... We are becoming increasingly tired, dis-tracted and overworked.”

From a pilot with a major Canadian air-line:

“They’re running the airplanes ragged.We’ve got airplanes going back and forth,back and forth across the Pacific withsnags that need to be fixed and mainte-nance is chasing them but they have nochance.”

Like several of his colleagues, the pilotoriginally agreed to share his comments onthe record. But he changed his mind afterthe four mechanics were suspended forspeaking publicly about being pressured tocut corners and release planes into servicewith potentially serious defects.

Jazz officials said they will investigatethe claims, adding that safety is their firstpriority.

Federal Transportation MinisterLawrence Cannon defended his depart-ment, saying Canada’s aviation systems areamong the safest in the world and there’sno evidence to suggest the allegations ofthe Jazz mechanics are true.

“From Transport Canada’s perspective,Air Canada Jazz is conducting a safe oper-ation.”

More than a dozen Jazz mechanics — onthe condition of anonymity — said theyshare the same concerns raised by theirsuspended colleagues.

“At times, safety is compromised,” saida Jazz mechanic who has worked for sever-al airlines in Ontario. “(Pressure) to cutcorners is something that all mechanicsencounter in the industry. It’s a known stig-ma.”

Cannon said proposed amendments to

Canada’s aeronautics act would allow air-line companies and individuals to report onminor regulatory violations on a confiden-tial basis. But such reports would be keptfrom the public even under federal accessto information rules.

“Here we’re seeing an attempt to make

vital safety information more secretive,”says Peter Julian, NDP Transportation crit-ic. “There is no way anyone can argue thatmore secrecy is in the public interest. Ithink we need whistleblower protection sothat when we learn of these allegations, thepeople who bring it forward are protected.”

Airline workers say they want protectionwhen they report their concerns to employ-ers or federal authorities or go public withthe complaints.

Those who manage Canada’s aviation

See “I don't think,” page 15

Robert Ash in his London, Ont. office. Geoff Dale/For The Independent

VOICEFROMAWAY

See “Telling it,” page 14

Officials and recovery experts are framed in the burnt out shell of Air France flight 358 as a Air Canada jet comes in for landing at Pearson InternationalAirport in Toronto, Aug. 5, 2005. Reuters

14 • INDEPENDENTWORLD JUNE 25, 2006

In the history of every country thereare past events that today appeardiscreditable, deplorable, immoral,

unethical and certainly regrettable. Allnations have at some time in their his-tory behaved or acted in ways wewould not countenance with the pre-vailing views and thinking currently infashion.

However, most countries do notmake it a practice to apologize con-stantly to groups or people treatedharshly at some point in their history.

Canada’s politicians have an apologyvirus today. We are in danger of becom-ing a nation of apologizers and a woe-ful and wimpish people.

The Canadian government recentlyapologized to, and arranged compensa-tion for, Japanese-Canadians who wereforced to move out of British Columbiaduring the Second World War wheninvasion of the West Coast by Japanappeared possible.

This proceeded even though we havenever received an apology from Japanfor the harsh treatment received byCanadian prisoners of war taken atHong Kong and elsewhere, nor hasJapan apologized to countries such asChina for the inhumane treatment of itspeople when Japan invaded China inthe 1930s.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper hasnow apologized to Chinese-Canadiansfor our racist immigration laws of thepast — and announced a compensationpackage. The previous Liberal govern-ment had announced proposed payoutsof $2.5 million to the Chinese commu-nity under the Acknowledgement, Com-memoration and Education Program —along with $2.5 million for Ukrainian-Canadians (who looked for $12.5 mil-lion) for their relatives’ internment dur-ing the First World War and $2.5 mil-lion to Italians (who were expecting$12.5 million) for the internment of 700men in the Second World War. TheConservatives have pledged to honourall three agreements.

All parties appear willing to compen-sate ethnic groups for past wrongs andthe cost is likely to escalate as othergroups insist that their grievances aboutCanada’s past actions deserve compen-sation and apology.

These include Germans, who expect$12.5 million for the internment ofGerman-Canadians during both world

wars; Jews who expect $2 millionbecause of strict immigration rules thatprohibited them from entering thecountry from 1923-1945; Sikhs whorequest $4 million because of pastimmigration restrictions and disenfran-chisement until 1947; and Croats areexpecting $2.8 million based on theirinternment experience and groups suchas African-Canadians and Doukhobors— all looking for redress for discrimi-nation practiced against them earlier inour history.

Where this will finally end, we can’tnow estimate.

Others apart from the Canadian gov-ernment have acted to apologize foralleged past wrongs — such as the Cityof Halifax when it prepared to celebrateits 250th anniversary. Micmac leadersin Nova Scotia threatened to disrupt thecelebrations unless the mayor apolo-gized for the fact that Halifax’sfounder, Gen. Edward Cornwallis, hadpaid for Micmac scalps in the English-French wars 250 years earlier. Themayor did apologize.

I would not apologize to anyone foranything that occurred before I wasborn nor apologize for actions that Iwas not personally responsible for norinvolved with.

I deplore this willingness to issueapologies for past deplorable events,since every country has much to apolo-gize for — and Canada is one of theleast guilty of them. Surely we shouldaccept responsibility for discreditableacts or policies that occur in our timeand not be pressured into compensatingethnic groups or anyone for wrongs ofthe past.

This willingness to apologize for ourpast appears to be part of the politicalcorrectness that has done so much dam-age to straight-talking, honest dialogueand debate in Canada.

The pusillanimous political apologyepidemic now underway should cease.While politicians are ready to apologizeand to compensate people for the fail-ures of the past, it is unlikely that anyCanadian government or politician will

Canada has an apology virusJohn Crosbie would never apologize for anything he was not personally responsible for, and implores politician to do the same

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GP (general practitioner), often peoplewant to see you regardless of how seri-ous their problem is or whether it’s justtheir perception of how serious it is.

“With oncology, you develop a deeprelationship with your patients, seeingthem through what is an extremelytough and trying period in their lives.You get to follow their progress over along period of time. It can be emotion-ally draining at times but with successrates increasing, it is a very gratifyingexperience to see your patients improv-ing and responding to treatment.”

Ash finds a great deal of career satis-faction from working in an award-win-ning medical centre that focuses onboth treatment and academic pursuits— as well as being a major player in atechnology-driven field where dramatic

changes over the years are resulting inincreased success rates for patients.

In addition to his clinical work inLondon, Ash also heads out for region-al monthly visits with patients in near-by Woodstock, about 40 kilometresaway.

“My visits to Woodstock mean thosepatients don’t have to travel for theircheckups and examinations,” Ash says.“One of the high points in my careerwas receiving an award of excellencerecently from Ontario interns, in largepart for teaching. It’s a bit unusualwhen I recall not wanting to teachmusic.

“And there are also those low points.Irrespective of how sophisticated treat-ments have become, in some cases theoutcomes are poor, despite your bestefforts. You can get very discouragedtelling people of your own age about

the prospects for their parents.”As for his own approach to a field he

clearly loves, he said its matter of“telling it like it is.

“People know that there is no BSwhen they are dealing with me,” hesays. “Whether I’m working with mypatients, their families and colleagueson a day-to-day basis, I want to ensurethere is always a high level of trustinvolved.”

And what about revisiting his days asa budding classical pianist or headingback to Newfoundland for visits?

“Well, I just never play the pianoanymore,” he said. “I’ve been backhome but my parents got to spend theirfirst Christmas here in London andthey just loved it. One of my brotherslives in Oakville and I have an aunt living in the area, so I do see familymembers.”

‘Telling it like it is’From page 13

JOHN CROSBIEThe old curmudgeon

$15 billion spendingspree for militaryBy James TraversTorstar wire service

Today Prime Minister StephenHarper is putting finishing touch-es on a more than $15-billion plan

to give the military bucks for its bangsand the economy bang for the bucks.Sweeping and risky for a minority gov-ernment, the spending spree will fillcracks between the defence minister andCanada’s top military commander withaircraft, ships and trucks.

Everyone seems a winner in contractsthat Liberals considered on a smallerscale but couldn’t execute. Air force,navy and army will get the “kit” neededto respond nationally as well as interna-tionally, every taxpayer dollar will gen-erate another in economic benefits andphilosophical differences betweenDefence Minister Dennis O’Connor andChief of Defence Staff Rick Hillier willbe patched if not repaired.

Is this too good to be true? Yes, but notas much as opposition politicians willclaim or cynics assume.

It remains an open question if Canadareally needs to spend more than $3 bil-lion on four heavy-lift Boeing C-17Globemaster aircraft and there is certainto be controversy over contracts thatseverely restrict competition. What’s notin doubt is the importance to the militaryof checking off so much on its lengthyshopping list.

“This is the perfect package,” sayshistorian and military expert JackGranatstein. “It will go a long waytoward filling the gaps for the forces.”

Along with the Globemasters, the pro-posal cabinet has endorsed and TreasuryBoard will consider includes more than$2 billion for three supply and troop car-rier ships, up to 17 new-generationHercules transport planes, about a dozenheavy lift Chinook helicopters and 1,000replacements for 24-year-old trucks.

There is an obvious common denomi-nator. Each piece of equipment willmake it easier to move a military thatHillier is making more operational, tacti-cally effective and visible.

“You can’t do much if you can’t getthere,” says a defence source. “All thisstuff is about getting there.”

It’s also about the politics of spendingmoney at home. Instead of grabbing asingle headline, Harper will begin aseries of local announcements highlight-ing regional economic gains.

Those benefits will be spread coast-to-coast and, if history is a guide, willreflect partisan priorities. That meansQuebec, along with Atlantic Canada andBritish Columbia, will profit particularlyhandsomely.

But it’s the contracts themselves thatwill be most closely scrutinized.O’Connor’s background as a defenceindustry lobbyist guarantees every centwill be followed to its final pocket whilethe decision to fast-track bidding is justas certain to end in losers crying foul.

No fool, Harper knows what’s aheadand is demanding unusual diligence.While his government will use the sus-pect Advance Contract Award Notifi-cation system to rush approval, it’s tak-ing extra time to make the purchases bul-

let-proof.That, along with the fact some of the

billions were previously committed byPaul Martin’s Liberals, partly explainswhy one of the largest military expendi-tures in Canadian history was left out ofthis year’s budget. But it’s also true thegovernment needed time to cope withstarkly contrasting military visions.

Hillier is rebuilding the forces in hisboots-on-the-ground image. To makethat a reality, he desperately neededmodern equipment for the troops as wellas to persuade his generals to acceptunpopular structural changes.

Hillier is being given most of what hewants and O’Connor will get C-17s,planes that could be more cost-effective-ly leased, to wave the flag at home andabroad.

It’s an adroit, if costly, compromiseofficials are confident voters will acceptfrom a new government pressing aheadwith a long overdue military refit.Finally convinced the military deserveshelp, the country may well welcomequick action by a new administrationtravelling light and fast without Liberalethical baggage.

Still, something this big could go ter-ribly wrong for Conservatives.Surveillance aircraft, until recently con-sidered a priority, are being deletedalong with Arctic icebreakers. It’s likelydisadvantaged suppliers will challengethe contracts in international trade tri-bunals or domestic courts.

They might not have a case; they dohave a point. By writing contract specifi-cations to effectively predetermine thewinning firm or consortium, the govern-ment both skews competitive biddingand the notion of fair play that publicworks rules are written to protect.

Harper is ready with this counter-argument: In some cases, notably that ofthe C-17s, there is only one viablechoice and to delay would only prolongalready impossibly tortured military pur-chases.

What the government hopes is that theapplause from military supporters andthe communities that will benefit mostwill overwhelm corporate and politicalcriticism. Chances are a government thathasn’t done much wrong is now bettingright on a bold plan to toss billions at athreadbare military.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper greets former headtax payer James Pon duringa ceremony in Ottawa June 22. Dave Chan/Reuters

Corporal Darren Hilder/Reuters

JUNE 28, 2006 INDEPENDENTWORLD • 15

system downplay the concerns frompilots, mechanics and controllers.

Transport Canada officials say thereare sufficient measures in place to pro-tect aviation workers with concerns toreport.

Officials with Nav Canada, the pri-vate company that operates the nation’sair traffic control system, say that,while there is a problem of under-staffing in some facilities, it is spend-ing $40 million a year on recruitmentand training and has introduced a“fatigue management program” toensure “maximum alertness on thejob.”

Air Canada officials say they wel-come any initiatives that will make theaviation system safer and that the com-pany has an internal, non-punitivereporting policy for safety concerns.

Last week Alberta justice VirgilMoshansky, who led the country’s lastmajor inquiry into aviation safety afterthe crash of an Air Ontario jet in 1989that killed 24 people, called for the fed-eral government to launch a new pub-lic inquiry in light of what he calls“backsliding” safety standards in theindustry.

“When you’ve got mechanics on thefront lines saying you’ve got a problemand the guy who wrote the definitivereport on aviation safety saying it’stime for a public inquiry, I’d be veryworried,” says David McGuinty,Liberal Transportation critic. “I don’tthink the minister should be downplay-ing this.”

Many aviation professionals ex-pressed support for the idea of a publicinquiry to help reverse what they call adecline in safety standards that isundermining public safety.

“The cost-cutting and general lais-sez-faire attitude of the authorities andthe major airlines (has) left some gap-ing holes in the public trust,” saysCapt. Raymond Hall, a 33-year AirCanada pilot. “We’re continually beingpushed to go further with fewerresources and that inevitably leads tocutting some corners.”

Hall is among the few willing tospeak on the record. While he has con-cerns about repercussions, he says pub-lic safety is more important.

One of Hall’s Air Canada pilot col-leagues, who spoke on condition ofanonymity, said a “perfect storm” isforming around public safety thanks toan “overburdened, under-funded,somewhat inefficient government reg-ulatory body, a privatized air trafficcontrol system, continuing industry-wide financial crisis (and) demoral-ized, angry, fatigued, embittered, fear-ful employees within the transportationsystem.”

On June 21, MPs finished debate onthe federal whistleblower legislationcovering public sector employees. Itmust still pass through the Senatebefore being proclaimed law. But theprotections offered do not extend toemployees of private companies suchas airlines.

In the U.S., federal whistleblowerlegislation covers airline workers whoreport revelations about serious safetyproblems to independent federalauthorities.

Airline workers who are suspended,harassed, demoted, blacklisted or disci-plined as a result of speaking out canreceive everything from job reinstate-ment to costs associated with filingtheir complaint.

In 2001, George Gulliford, a formerUnited Airlines mechanic, was repri-manded for reporting aircraft defects tothe federal Occupational Safety andHealth Administration. The U.S.Department of Labor eventually con-cluded the airline violated federalwhistleblower protections. United wasordered to withdraw the mechanic’sreprimand and pay his attorney fees.

In another case, Northwest Airlinesmechanic Thomas Regner was firedafter raising concerns about mechani-cal issues in 1998. After more than twoyears of legal wrangling, he won alegal decision that awarded him his jobback and over a year’s worth of backpay.

‘I don’t think theminister should bedownplaying this’From page 13

Newspapers reject merger watchdogSenators want ownership reviews `Deeply flawed,’ Torstar CEO says

By Graham FraserTorstar wire service

The newspaper industry has react-ed negatively to a Senate com-mittee recommendation that the

Competition Act should be changed sothat media mergers are reviewed andthen approved by the government.

Calling the recommendation “trou-bling,” Anna Kothawala of the CanadianNewspaper Association says the com-mittee is being inconsistent.

“In one breath they say that they are

not interested in having governments inthe newsrooms of the nations, but in thenext breath they apparently are,” shesays.

On June 21, the standing Senate com-mittee on transport and communicationspresented its final report on theCanadian news media. The report calledfor the enactment of a new section of theCompetition Act to deal with the merg-ers of newsgathering organizations.

The mergers would be assessed on thebasis of cross-media ownership in par-ticular markets, development of a domi-

nant position in a particular market, orthe acquisition of more than a particularpercentage of audience or subscribers,such as 35 per cent.

Once certain thresholds in those areaswere reached, a review of the mergerwould be triggered automatically, apanel would be created and a recom-mendation made to the government —which would decide if the mergershould be allowed.

Kothawala says it was troubling thatthe report said freedom of expression isenhanced or more easily exercised if

there are more media owners.“It is not the role of government to

define the parameters of press freedom,nor under which ownership modelsthere is more or less of it,” she says.“Section 2b of the Charter (which pro-tects freedom of the press) is not appliedselectively to certain types of mediaowners.”

She argues the Senate committee hadnot substantiated its claim that pressfreedom is enhanced by having moremedia owners.

“There’s not necessarily a correlation

between the style of ownership and free-dom of the press and quality of newscontent,” she says. “They say in onebreath ‘We’re not saying big is bad,’ andon the other hand they’re recommend-ing favouring smaller family-run news-papers with tax deferrals.”

Robert Prichard, president and chiefexecutive officer of Torstar Corp., calledthe recommendation “deeply flawed,”saying that the problem it purports tosolve doesn’t exist, and that its proposedsolution would make the situationworse.

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16 • INDEPENDENTWORLD JUNE 28, 2006

“Curiouser and curiouser!” cried Alice.— Lewis Carroll,

Alice in Wonderland

When asked which character from abook or movie she most identifieswith, Krissy Holmes doesn’t hesitate.

“Alice,” she says. “Alice in Wonderland.”Holmes, a 25-year-old native of St. John’s, is

filling in for Karl Wells as CBC’s Here and Nowweather person while Wells is on vacation. She’sthe tall, slim blond who dances the weather fromB.C. to St. John’s every night at 6:50, hands dip-ping low to catch the rain, flying up to greet thesun.

The first time I see her in action, she remindsme of a ballerina. Specifically, the ballerina fromKurt Vonnegut’s short story, who dances betterthan the rest of the ballerinas, but because hisstory takes place in a dystopia where everyone isforced to be equal, she must wear heavy weightsattached to her legs. Or a pair of square blackglasses, in Holmes’ case.

I watch her as she moves gracefully across themap from west to east, keeping up the tradition-

al weather patter. Until she gets to L’Anse auClair, which is in for a thunderstorm. “Hey,” saysHolmes, “thunder and lightning! Well, if you’reinto that sort of thing, why not open the windowsand enjoyit? That’s if your kids aren’t in the habitplaying with coat hangers on their heads.”

A quirky weather girl with glasses — what’sup with that? Well, apparently the days of mete-orological Vanna Whites are over. According toDoug Letto, producer of Here and Now andHolmes’ boss, Holmes was chosen to fill in forWells because of her professional acumen, nother cheekbones or her yellow hair.

“Krissy’s appearance on the show is related toher ability to do the job,” Letto says. “She’s typ-ical of a lot of young people who’ve come to uswith a tremendous set of skills.”

Holmes started working for CBC as an assis-tant director (AD) in April. At the end of May,she was asked by Letto to replace Wells for sixweeks. Although Holmes was hired in a techni-cal capacity, Letto offered her the live, on-air jobbecause he was impressed by her calm under fire— in particular her ability to handle herself andthe audience when she served as the floor direc-

tor for the taping of the Newfoundland andLabrador Arts Council Awards.

That taping, and the taping of the JanewayCelebration Concert, where Holmes served asassistant script director, were pieces of cakecompared to Holmes’ prior experience as an ADon Gordon Pinsent’s Heyday, the upcoming CBCmini-series Above and Beyond and Legends andLore, a television series for GlobalHolmesdescribes this type of work, with its large castsand budgets to match, as “a very people-orientedprocess, where you’re constantly trying to geteverybody where they’re supposed to be at theright time — when time is money, big-timemoney.”

Holmes says Letto’s offer to fill in for Wellsmade her feel “like I’d won a really strange real-ity show where the winner actually … loses. No,actually what happened is that I was chosen ran-domly from a studio audience …” She’s kidding— but there’s been teasing, mostly from herfriends, who know her as someone more com-fortable behind the camera than in front of it.

Holmes comes to CBC with a background intelevision broadcasting from Ottawa’s

Algonquin College, including postgraduate workin dramatic script writing. In Ontario, sheworked on “corporate demo tapes and semi-political stuff,” and local satellite news. “Plus,”says Holmes, “I was making a lot of my own(videos) up there, because they had all theresources.” She also worked at the University ofOttawa as a mockumentary producer. In 2002,when she was 21, The Jesus Lawyer, a short filmHolmes wrote and directed, debuted at theNickel Festival.

Prior to her stint at Algonquin, Holmes tookfilm studies at Carleton, which she says was agood program, but not for her. “I didn’t want tobe a film critic, and that’s what they were turningout.” When she left Brother Rice High School,she wanted to be a geophysicist, “but my braindidn’t go very far with that because although itwas interesting enough, I knew I wouldn’t beable to contribute to that world.”

Contribute, to Holmes, means creative contri-bution — something she’s been doing since shewas 10. She started out drawing pictures (her

INDEPENDENTLIFESUNDAY THROUGH SATURDAY, JUNE 25-JULY 1, 2006 — PAGE 17

LIVYERS

Art-rocking all over the placeFinished his long-awaited CD, Andrew Pike already knee-deep in other projects By Stephanie PorterThe Independent

Andrew Pike describes his newdouble-CD release as if it werea scrapbook — words and

melodies from moments of his life,tinged with nostalgia, evoking as manyplaces and moods as there are tracks.

“I can’t really explain it,” Pike says ofthe collection called Souvenirs. “(Eachsong) is a moment in time for the writer— and I always feel, when I go back tolisten to older material I get kind of nos-

talgic. Music is like that for people whoare listeners, and it’s that way for writerstoo.”

That feeling of looking around, andback, travels through the album art aswell. A photograph on the back cover isof Pike’s father, as a young man in 1967,in a tree. The photo beside it is ofAndrew looking up into a similar tree.

“My dad can’t really play anymore,but there he is, he’s part of this,” Pikeoffers by way of explanation.

Family factors significantly in Pike’swork, as it does his life. Born and raised

in Mount Pearl, Pike moved toVancouver a dozen or so years ago,where he worked in a group home. Eightyears later, when his father fell ill, hereturned home.

Even on this day, in full-tilt promotionmode for his work, Pike is full of storiesabout his parents (some reflected in thelyrics). Then there are his “only-childprojects”: his mother’s CD and a bookof poetry by his father.

“(My mother) wrote quite a fewpieces in the ’80s and ’90s, basic classi-cal pieces. And we’ve been doing

arrangements for them, I’ve been soup-ing them up a bit,” Pike says.

Pike makes it clear this isn’t just a giftfor his mother — he believes themelodies are strong enough that theydeserve to be brought to the next level.

“She’s delighted, but I think she’s get-ting a bit of an ego now,” he continues,laughing.

As for his father, the onetime musi-cian is also a published poet, with someof his work appearing in the Newfound-land Quarterly over the years.

Pike’s got a number of other things on

his plate: he teaches guitar and voicelessons at a school, and from his home.He does some music production work— his own material, and this summerhe’ll be working on a CD for GregTobin, formerly of Signal Hill. Pike hasplayed with the St. John’s-based Greekband, the Forgotten Bouzouki, for years,and he’s planning to soon revive his’80s-style, George-Street friendly hardrock group, Frankie Goes To Holyrood.

And then there’s Souvenirs. The first

Krissy Holmes Paul Daly/The Independent

The weather girl’s storyWriter Susan Rendell catches up with Krissy Holmes — writer, filmmaker, and Karl Wells’ summer stand-in

See “Who could be Karl,” page 20

See “Like a weight,” page 19

Angela Andrew

Billy Gauthier

18 • INDEPENDENTLIFE JUNE 25, 2006

GALLERYPROFILE

What started as off-the-cuff musing during a boardmeeting — “wouldn’t it be nice if we could have aspace, someday, dedicated to aboriginal art?” —

has, not even two years later, come to life in the DevonHouse Craft Centre.

The First Hands Gallery begins in the building’s entrance-way, with a wall-mounted display case holding smallerpieces by some of the province’s many aboriginal craftspeo-ple and artists.

On the other side of the foyer is the main event: a smallroom, well lit and specifically designed to showcase craftsand sculpture work on pedestals, behind glass, and onshelves. Handmade tea dolls, woven grass baskets, leatherboots, carvings of antler, bone, stone, hide and wood — andmore — are carefully and respectfully placed.

Caroline Clarke, marketing projects co-ordinator for thecraft council, has been with the First Hands project since thebeginning.

“The craft council has always wanted to do this,” saysClarke. “We represent about 250 craftspeople in the store; wehaven’t been able to give this specific group proper space,they’re kind of all mixed in with everyone else.

“We also needed space and pedestals for larger sculptures,so people can walk around, really look and appreciate …”

This newest addition to the craft centre — there are twoother galleries on the second floor — cost about $50,000 (ofwhich $20,000 was spent on art). The funds were made avail-able through the City of St. John’s — as a 2006 CulturalCapital of Canada project — and the Craft IndustryDevelopment Program.

The gallery officially opened on National Aboriginal Day,June 21. It’s open to the public daily — and Clarke hopes fora frequent turnover of work.

Currently, about two-dozen aboriginal artists are featured.“We’re open to new faces,” says Clarke. “We’re certainlyhoping this extra space will encourage others to come for-ward.”

By having a space dedicated to aboriginal artists — mostare from Labrador, with a number from the Conne River areaof the island — Clarke says the council is better able to pro-vide background and context for the work. The “educationalcomponent” takes the form of a binder, filled with “storiesand myths and legends that have influenced some of thework,” plus artist- and project-specific details.

“There just wasn’t much space in St. John’s to show thiswork properly,” Clarke says, naming the Native FriendshipCentre and Red Ochre Gallery as two exceptions.

“There are really significant pieces here you’re not goingto see anywhere else. We just want to show them to people.”

First Hands Gallery is on the ground floor of DevonHouse, 59 Duckworth St.

— Stephanie Porter

Elian Semigak Fanny Broomfield

Emma Flowers

First HandsGallery

John

Nev

ille

Almost everyone likes to dance.Almost everyone likes to watchothers dancing. Watching bod-

ies move is fascinating. Dancing issocial license to be foolishly unco-ordi-nated, or gorgeous, sexy, and just plainabandoned in public.

Contemporary dance is a differentstory. Its core audiences are fiercelyloyal to the genre, but tend to be elitistin arty, eclectic ways. Contemporarydance makes a lot of people nervous.Like a lot of contemporary art, it sug-gests you have to be in the know to getit. It intimidates just by showing up.

Dance is also a largely underappreci-ated part of art education. In an art-deprived education system, if lucky, astudent of any age is indoctrinated intothe core genres of western culture,notably the high art-sanctioned fields ofpainting and music. Rarely is dance aconsidered element of an art curricu-lum. Little girls might dream of beingballerinas and so inevitably acquire anearly appreciation of stubbed toes andthe colour pink, but awareness of themany modern and postmodern genresthat classical ballet spawned is prettythin.

Show me a university with dancetheory courses on the books and I’llshow you a small liberal arts college.

If popular notions of dance aredefined strictly by the experience of theNutcracker Suite it is not surprising thatdance is also generally thought to be analmost exclusively female domain.This, like so many of the myths aboutdance, tends to inhibit appreciation and

stunt audience growth. And so it is not surprising that with-

out any opportunity to learn, withoutcontext or knowledge of the historicalroots or social effects of dance, theentire genre is absent from most peo-ple’s brains. The bigger issue here isthat so much of western education dis-courages whole sides of our imagina-tion.

Like non-representational painting,contemporary dance suggests, but doesnot necessarily tell, a story. Instead, itworks through an idea. And these days,ideas, as a glance at the tabloid displayat your local grocery store will prove,are hard to come by. Unfortunately, weare being hard wired to be frightenedby art forms that hint at somethingmeaningful instead of painting it bynumbers.

Here’s a thought. What if instead ofHockey Night in Canada, the CBCsponsored Dance Night in Canada?OK, it’s crazy, but we’d be such a dif-ferent kind of country — hip, cool, onthe outer edge of creativity.

This column appears near the end ofthe Festival of New Dance, sponsoredby the 25-year-old local company,Neighborhood Dance Works, a divisionof the Resource Centre for the Arts.Indeed, NDW is a vital part of the RCA

family, rounding out the wheel of gen-res spinning out from the LSPU Hallalmost every day of the year. The festi-val is the glamourous highlight in abusy year of performances, helping toadvance awareness of the beauty andpower of contemporary dance for localaudiences.

Events like this always pose the samequestions: how do you build audiencesfor such an esoteric genre? By allaccounts this year’s festival has inchedits way towards the goal of enhancingawareness and building on a foundationof achievement.

Local artists like the defiantly origi-nal Sarah Jay Stoker have performedwith the stars of acclaimed Montreal,Toronto, and Vancouver companies.You can’t help but stretch yourself sim-ply by being a spectator, because thereis always something new to discoverabout the body, about how it can bedeployed to evoke an idea, a theme, amood, or even a story.

Dancers’ bodies, unlike most of ours,

are uncannily flexible, drawing lines inair we’d never even dream of tracing.They are our Platonic bodies, enactingour fantasies.

Imagine for one moment being adancer, practically naked with yourselfon a bare floor, moving in the livemoment in the darkened theatre beforean expectant, even an insecure audi-ence. What does it take to put oneselfout there? Ego? Narcissism? Talent?Guts? Perhaps all of the above.

Look: what we all have to do is stopworrying about getting it. We just needto watch, enjoy the body in motion.Surrender the need to figure it all out.

Notably, Sunday evening’s closingnight performance at the LSPU Hall bywell-known Vancouver-based MarthaCarter will cap an entirely innovativeprogram designed both to startle andinspire.

Carter is an internationally acclaimeddancer who fuses every style from bal-let to hip hop. Whatever she does, itwill be startling. Whatever it is, we will

all learn something from it. The organizers of this year’s festival

have a lot to feel good about. That wekeep hosting events like this says a lotabout the city’s capacity to tolerateinnovation and experimentation. Therewill always be detractors or even thosewho don’t get what the fuss is all about,but invariably others will discover theappeal. The audience will grow a bit.Younger people will want to be part ofthe experience. Slowly, surely, and withrenewed confidence, the audiences willgrow, the dancers will return.

The Festival of New Dance is ourown happy rite of spring.

Stop worrying about rural New-foundland, the World Cup, or CanadianIdol for a night. Get some perspective.Take a risk. Follow a hunch. Go seesomething innovative. Get rid of yourfears. Give dance a chance.

Noreen Golfman is a professor of lit-erature and women’s studies atMemorial. Her column returns July 9.

JUNE 25, 2006 INDEPENDENTLIFE • 19

In Victoria, we could sleep inwhile the rest of the country went over the topto celebrate. The parties there are much laterthan ours are

in St. John’s. Here,we wake up early, just to preparethe fireworks, and show the rest of the countrywhat for.

Before it was our birthday, wewent over the top to show the worldthat we could put up fireworks with the best.And that on St. John’s

Road, there lived men yet

who felt salt water in their veins.Wrapped up, like birthday presentswith wire bows.

On our birthday, I watchedthe fireworks above Quidi Vidicrack and glow as they fell.The sound like shells breaking against the surf

of Newfoundlanders over the top.I took a breath, ready for anything.Birthday candles, blown outall over the French terrain.

Andrew Bonia is a Newfoundlander currently livingin New Haven, Conn.

NOREENGOLFMANStanding Room Only

Sarah Stoker Paul Daly/The Independent

Give dancea chanceAs the Festival of New Dance draws to a close, Noreen Golfman suggests we stop worrying about ‘getting it’ — and enjoy

POET’SCORNER

Fireworks

single, the lively Riverboat, is playingon local radio, and Pike is workingtowards performing some local gigs andperhaps an official CD launch.

The double-CD took more than fouryears to pull together, and Pike is stilltaking his time with each step.

Each disc features nine songs, the firstnine being more upbeat, with a biggersound, often including horns and strings.The second half, though not vastly dif-ferent in tone, is more guitar-driven,slightly moodier. In all, a solid rockrecord, with plenty of guest vocalists,musicians, layers of sounds, and tightlyrics.

“I was worried people would say I’mall over the place in terms of direction,”says Pike. “But people say they like itand leave it in the car, instead of sayingI’m art-rocking all over the place.”

Finally having the CD in hand is arelief — Pike says he was starting to feelhe’d been talking about his impendingrelease forever. “A lot of people were

asking me ‘When is it going to comeout? When is it going to come out?’ …it was starting to get to me. Now it’s likea weight has been lifted.”

Escaping that albatross has proven amotivator. Amidst all his other plans,Pike is already planning his next release,which he figures will be more laid-back,a stripped-down affair after the busysounds of his debut (his roommaterecently moved out, taking the TV — hehas a quieter, more thoughtful environ-ment to work in, which Pike says isreflected in his newest music).

Then there’s the CD of songs he wasworking on even before this one …

“But the focus now is to get playingmy own stuff,” Pike says, sounding as ifhe’s reminding himself that Souvenirsstill needs his attention. He insists he’snot anxious about performing — justwants to ensure everything is exactly inplace.

“I’ve got to get a band together formyself … I’ll go after a couple of low-key gigs and then, when I feel comfort-able, I might get out there.”

‘Like a weight has been lifted’From page 17

Andrew Pike Paul Daly/The Independent

By Stephanie PorterThe Independent

Last week, some one — or somepeople — took their frustrationsout on a billboard in front of the

LSPU Hall. The sign advertises the Magnetic

North theatre festival, running in St.John’s from June 28 to July 8. But itwas one specific production — BiggerThan Jesus — that was targeted.

“The word Jesus had been scratched,hacked out,” says Nicole Heringer, apublicist for the festival. “And the bill-board had been beaten apart … it wasjust hanging, it was a hazard to passers-

by and we had to fix it right away.”Mary Vingoe, the festival’s artistic

director, says she was taken aback bythe vandalism.

“I was surprised because Newfound-land is famous for its irreverent humour,especially with things religious andCatholic, so I just thought this was thelast place it would happen,” she says.

“But as people have explained to me,there’s always those that are more con-servative and even though there’s a sub-stantial amount of humour there are stillpeople who don’t like anything thatmight be … too irreverent.”

Bigger Than Jesus is co-written andperformed by Rick Miller. It’s a one-

man play described by one reviewer as“the best post-modern Jesus play thatyou are likely to see now and in thefuture.” It’s won a number of Canadiantheatre awards, has toured the country,and is now in the midst of a world tour.

“It’s refreshing,” Vingoe says of theshow. “People are looking for a freshlook at things; people want a fresh ver-sion of the story.

“It’s such an invigorating piece and itasks a lot of questions and it is veryirreverent and very funny. Where it’splayed in other parts of the country, themore liberal religious groups have actu-ally gotten on board and sold out wholenights.”

Even in St. John’s, certain religiousorganizations have bought blocks ofseats, including a group from GowerStreet United Church.

Vingoe, who has been familiar withthe show and its travels, says she’snever heard of any other acts of vandal-ism related to the piece.

“And that’s why, I honestly didn’tthink it would happen here,” she says.“But then, other people in the officehave said, well, there’s lots of differentNewfoundlands and you’ve been hang-ing out with the arts set …”

Vingoe invites anyone who objects tothe work to come see it — and thenmake a proper judgment call (“I’d just

love to get them through the door,” shesays).

She also mentions Miller will host anevent he calls “Drink with Jesus” aftersome of the performances; he invitesaudience members to share a glass ofwine and argue with him.

“In other cities, people have justflocked to this. They share the wine,and if people have any issues, just letthem talk it out … (Miller) is a true per-former, this guy.”

In the end, Vingoe isn’t too con-cerned about the vandals, so much asannoyed.

“There’s one in every crowd,” shesays. “I guess we found that one.”

My life right now is torn in two. With thesummer finally here, my life should be inthe garden, taking hikes with my wife —

generally getting my Vitamin D requirements.But alas, I have succumbed to the dark side. I

only want to watch World Cup football.My waking moments are filled with planning

what foods are going to be served with whichmatch. Considering my heritage, I can’t seem to sitand watch a match without a requisite beer in hand.

Even though the “King of Beers” is a major cor-porate sponsor for the World Cup, I can’t bringmyself to support drinking Budweiser — it seemsso un-European. I feel that if you want to indulgein the true spirit of the matches, you should drinkthe beers of the nations playing (or as best as canbe found in the local beer store).

For games versus the UK, I lean towards heartyfavourites, which tend to be pub beer to be appreci-ated in standard pint glasses. I like Bass pale aleand Boddingtons cream ale. Both are suitable forcheering on the Lions. Personally, I like the bitter-ness of Bass, which lends itself well to sipping dur-ing the match.

Germany, the host team, now on a good run forthe championship, is a great maker of beer and weare fortunate to have a good selection. Becks, Dab,Faxe, and Radeberger are all good choices, and eas-ily available. Becks is my clear choice, with thatslight bite at the finish which easily echoed thesnarling chomp they took out of the USA team inthe first round.

However, my wife has informed me that total“couch-potatoism” is not allowed during thesesunny days. In order to keep me away from the lureof the World Cup we headed out of town, far awayfrom the television screen.

On one sunny Saturday morning we spent theday in Bay Roberts enjoying the local scenery. Withthe local museum and the Christopher Pratt galleryin our sights, we started our trip.

The museum held a lovely representation of thelocal history as seen through the trades originallyestablished in Bay Roberts. Though small, it waseasy to navigate but rich in information.

Located in the same building was a gallery hous-ing some of Christopher Pratt’s private collection ofhis own work.

After we perused the artifacts, we headed to thegallery only to discover that the pictures were stillbeing hung. My wife and I were the first people tolook at the exhibit. We later were talking to one ofthe men in charge of hanging the pictures in TheRooms for the large Pratt retrospective, and he said,“He was here just a while ago.”

“Who?” my wife asked. “Chris.”We just missed the artist himself as he walked the

gallery alone — what a shame.After we left, we started down the shoreline to

Madrock Point. As we were nearing the final dirtroad, we noticed the little café.

“I think he’s in there,” I said, “ChristopherPratt.”

So we walked in and diagonally across from uswas Christopher Pratt and a group having lunch.Now I am not a fan boy, nor was I going to say any-thing, but it was a nice touch to see a newly hungexhibit by an artist and then to spot said artist in thesame day — somehow it felt very privileged.

However, this is a food column and it would notbe fair to miss the true star of the trip: a lovinglycrafted and certainly homemade blueberry pie wonthe day.

What we found at Madrock Café was fine, hon-est and simple fare suitable for any tourist and localalike. I would definitely recommend any of thepies. The blueberry pie held crisp pastry and simplefruit — not over sugared, nor too tart. Accompaniedby a cup of tea, it certainly hit the spot.

We’ll be going back to the gallery, when all thework is hung. As well, we will go for a good hikeand have a spot of tea. Bay Roberts is a friendlyplace full of beauty and art — just a great WorldCup escape away.

Nicholas Gardner is a food writer and erstwhilechef now eating in St. John’s.

nicholas.gardner@gmail.com

20 • INDEPENDENTLIFE JUNE 25, 2006

Great escapeNICHOLASGARDNEROff the Eating Path

‘Who could be Karl?’

father is Derek Holmes, a local muralist), andmoved on to cartoons. But the speech balloonskept getting bigger and bigger; eventually Holmesrealized she was a writer. Her favourite topicswere witches, sorcerers, secret clans. Holmes saysthey were “pretty traditional, in that there werealways the young people trying to break awayfrom the old people’s patterns. But all of themwere lost.”

The witches quickly turned into denizens of St.John’s — street people and corner boys — andHolmes discovered the joys of satire. At 11, shewrote a novel featuring a plane crash in the moun-tains. “Did they eat each other?” I ask. “No,” shesays, making a face — her comic mask flickers,and is replaced by a mock tragedy mask. “Theyjust starved to death.” She says writing the book“was torturous.” But as a writer she felt she had toproduce a novel, so she gritted her teeth and keptgoing. Holmes is currently reading Lisa Moore’sAlligator and “really liking it.

“What do you see yourself doing in the future?”I ask her.

“I want to buy a cheesy old boat and be apirate,” says Holmes. “Or a seagull that thinksshe’s Jimmy Swaggart. I want a series of bizarre— well, interesting — jobs. Essentially, I want tobe a writer, creative director and a developmentconsultant. I want to be an impressionist! OrDebbie Travis.” She laughs, and I look around theliving room of the house in the Outer Batterywhere Holmes lives with her boyfriend, MikeDowding, bass player for the popular band LoveHijacker. Eclectic is a good word, but it’s not real-ly up to the job.

So many diverse elements — a picture of Jesus,an antique cabinet full of action figures, a bassguitar, a pre-Raphaelite style painting which usedto work its fairy magic on the walls of AngelHouse, “weathered” chairs — found objects,given objects, stuff picked up here and there andredeemed by Holmes and Dowding.

Outside the big bay window, a cluster of flicker-ing lights suddenly scuttles up the harbour, tinnymusic and bleary voices blaring — O’Brien’s boattour is back in port.

The night turns over and settles down again,except for Mrs. Budgell and Drooly’s occasionalrush to the front door: “Cat! Cat! Cat!” bark thetwo dogs as a shadow slides across the front deck.

Both dogs were adopted from the local no-kill ani-mal shelter, Heavenly Creatures, seven-year oldMrs. Budgell the victim of out-migration fromFogo, one-year-old Drooly orphaned by ateenaged mother-to-be.

So how does Holmes feel about her new, albeittemporary, gig? “It’s one of those jobs you lookedup to when you were a kid — like, umm, that wouldbe a cool job. This industry allows you to do abunch of things. It allows you to have a long listfrom weirdjobs.com — or inquirewithinweird-jobs.com.”

A week before she went on air, Holmes madeher own best-of-the-weather-people video fromcross-country satellite feed to help her prepare. Ofcourse, Karl Wells made the cut. “People weresaying to me all the time, ‘Now, we don’t wantyou to be Karl.’Who could be Karl? I can be Karlathough (laughs). They said be yourself, but tone itdown.” (I wish they’d left that last part out.)

Holmes thinks it might be more than a coinci-dence that she’s filling in for Karl Wells. Over thelast several years she’s been working on a screen-play called The Weather People, featuring suici-dal water chuggers, a band of drug-running psy-chics, and a young pirate girl whose family neversets foot on shore — narrated by Karl Wells.

Holmes recently received a grant for $5,000from the Newfoundland and Labrador ArtsCouncil to produce a collection of short stories.The collection (Nightmares for Dreadfully UglyLittle Children) features “a murder of awkwardindividuals, who can best be described as splinterunits of both former and existing selves, sufferingfrom a patriarchal seventh-generational curse.” “

Here and Now has been suffering from poor rat-ings since 2004, when head office cut back localsupper-hour programming by half an hour. Lettosays ratings have increased by 40 per cent sincethen, and that CBC “is going to keep on producingwhat I consider the best television journalism inthe province. Tell your readers to stand by — CBCmay have some surprises for them in the fall.”

Will Krissy Holmes be in that loot bag? I’m sit-ting here with a coat hanger on my head, just incase.

Susan Rendell is a freelance writer and editorliving in downtown St. John’s. Her collection ofshort stories, In the Chambers of the Sea, waspublished by Killick Press in 2003.

srendell@nf.sympatico.ca

‘There’s always one’Billboard vandalized; festival director surprised it would happen in St. John’s

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From page 17

INDEPENDENTBUSINESSSUNDAY THROUGH SATURDAY, JUNE 25-JULY 1, 2006 — PAGE 21

A new AtlanticaAs global trading patterns change, Ray Dillon says it may be time to revisit our economic roots

Discovered and named by geolo-gists, “Atlantica” was a majorsuper-continent that formed on

Earth nearly two billion years ago. Liketoday, the only constant then waschange, and as a result of continentaldrift, Atlantica eventually splinteredand ground itself into much smallerbodies of land.

Just as plate tectonics has altered theface of the planet, the emergence of theFar East as the new global economicpowerhouse will radically change therole played by this part of the world.The emergence of this period’sAtlantica may just help in the transi-tion.

Today, and in this part of the world,the term Atlantica is loosely describedas the geographic international tradingcorridor that runs from Buffalo, N.Y.through the northeastern United Statesto Atlantic Canada. Within this zone are

23 border crossings, 11 major truckgateways and seven major rail gate-ways. This region is naturally tiedtogether by similarities in geography,economic trends, trading patterns,problems and experiences.

A conference organized by theAtlantic Provinces Chamber ofCommerce (APCC) was held June 8-10in Saint John, N.B. to further the notionof Atlantica. The conference’s statedgoal was to find a way to promote thetrade-oriented region of Atlantica,while examining and promoting waysto renew the positioning of the north-east as the epicentre of trade betweenthe NAFTA partners and the European

Union. The road to accomplish this outcome

would require fostering partnershipsbetween businesses in this region, pro-moting growth of East Coast port facil-ities as global competitors, promotingthe development of an east-west inter-state highway through the northeasternU.S. to foster corridor options forAtlantica businesses, and encouraginginter-provincial and international tradethrough the removal of barriers andharmonization of regulations.

Many believe Confederation in 1867changed our natural north-south tradingpattern in Atlantica in favour of an east-west corridor, thereby shifting power tocentral Canada. Historically, the capi-tal-intensive, trade-oriented region ofAtlantica was an economic power-house.

Trade was with upper and lowerCanada, the U.S., the Caribbean,

Europe, northern Africa and parts ofAsia. Since Confederation, AtlanticCanadians have struggled to feed asmaller central Canadian market. Theyhave been virtually cut off from a muchlarger and more immediate northeast-ern U.S. marketplace, due to tariffs andartificially created barriers. Manybelieve it is now time to recreate thepre-Confederation environment as ameans to position us in the new globaleconomy.

Proponents of Atlantica see three pri-mary areas of focus to enhance theregion: energy, transportation andtourism.

With five per cent of the world’s pop-ulation consuming 25 per cent of theworld’s energy, access to reliable ener-gy (be it electrical or carbon-based) iscrucial. Atlantica has tremendousresource potential, but strategic, target-ed investment along with an open mar-

ket focus will be required to capitalizeon the opportunity to move this energy,through electrical transmission lines orpipelines, across Atlantica and beyond.

Global trading patterns and shippinginfrastructure have undergone massivechanges over the last 20 years. Post-Panamax container ships (those too bigto travel through the Panama canal)have created the opportunity to makeHalifax the western world’s east coastport of entry for the movement ofgoods. But to accomplish this, signifi-cant upgrades to the road and rail sys-tem will be required to accommodatethe new multi-modal reality that hasovertaken the transportation industry.

The Western Hemisphere TravelInitiative has the potential to alter howand where North Americans travel.Beginning in December of this year, all

On the picket line in St. John’s Paul Daly/The Independent

By Pam Pardy GhentFor The Independent

Jude O’Reilly has been doing work forBrowning Harvey Ltd. since he was asmall boy. Other than two days at a

bicycle shop, Pepsi is the only companythe 37-year-old has worked for.

“My father owns one of the trucks,” asunburned O’Reilly says, taking a shortbreak from the searing heat on the picketline. “I worked with him delivering Pepsisince I was 10, then started with BrowningHarvey in ’89 and this is affecting me bigtime.”

O’Reilly is one of 63 Browning Harveyemployees — most of whom work at thebottling plant in St. John’s — who havebeen on strike since May 29.

O’Reilly’s father is an independent driv-er, and delivers Pepsi products to the samestores his son is picketing.

“My father has got to work, I understandthat completely,” O’Reilly says, admittingthat he and his father have different opin-ions on the current labour dispute. Whilethere are no hard feelings, he says, the twohave tried to avoid each other, and haveonly spoken briefly, since the strike began— mostly out of respect.

“I don’t want anyone asking me wherethe drinks are, and he doesn’t want anyoneasking him where we will be,” O’Reillycontinues. “This way we can both give anhonest, ‘I don’t know,’ back if we neededto.”

Browning Harveyemployees are represent-ed by NAPE local 7003.Union representative andcontract negotiatorRandy Squires says talkshave stalled. While theunion has made manyoffers, he says the com-pany has not come backwith any of their own.

While there are manyissues, including wagesand benefits, in thisstrike, Squires says themain one is severance.

“Those on the bottomof the seniority list have no future unlesswe get the severance packages we are look-ing for,” Squires says. “We need some toget out early to make room for the otherguys.”

Squires says 15 jobs have been lostthough technological advancement over the

past few years, and in July the companywill bring in more gadgets that will furtherreduce the workforce. One new proposedmachine will eliminate 10,000 annual workhours, he says, pointing out some employ-ees work between 1,200 and 2,000 hours a

year. While the new machines

will save the companymoney, Squires says hedoesn’t understand whysome of the savings can’tbe given back to theemployees in the form offair severance packages.

“Let those with 30-plusyears retire,”says Squires,a 34-year veteran himself.“And let the young oneskeep their jobs and raisetheir families at home.”

And home is where theseguys want to stay, O’Reilly

continues — it’s why they’re picketing andhanding out flyers every day.

“(Some shoppers) come out and go,‘Hey, we didn’t buy Pepsi,’ like we shouldbe proud or something, but they have aMountain Dew in their hands, and that’sstill a Pepsi product,” he says. “What they

are doing is spending their hard-earnedmoney on mainland drinks and that’s takingaway local jobs.”

With the pickets guarding the plant,products that were bottled locally are notmaking it to market, and what is being soldon the shelves is being brought in from out-side the province.

On June 21, the union renewed a call tothe public to boycott all products distrib-uted by Browning Harvey. BrowningHarvey bottles and/or distributes about fivedozen different flavours and products,including many varieties of soda, juice,Gatorade and bottled water.

The men standing guard outside a St.John’s grocery store on this hot day saythey aren’t going anywhere.

Craig Barnes, 48, has been with the com-pany for 32 years. He says days spent onstrike aren’t as bad as being treated “likegarbage” by his employer.

“We voted 100 per cent to be out here onstrike and we are in it for the long haul,” hesays.

Edgar Blackwood, 50, has 29 yearspunched in and agrees, adding he doesn’tsee a quick end to this strike. “We’re all

RAY DILLON

Board of Trade

‘Only job I know is Pepsi’Browning Harvey employees about to mark one month on picket line, fear company doesn’t want them

“We voted 100 per cent to be out here on strike and we are in it for the

long haul.”

Striker Craig Barnes

See “Fundamental shift,” page 22

See “One greedy,” page 22

22 • INDEPENDENTBUSINESS JUNE 25, 2006

Selling landfill byproduct

air and sea travel between Canada and theU.S. will require a valid passport, with landcrossings following in December 2007.

In order to continue to capitalize on thegrowing tourism market, the provinces andstates of Atlantica will need to find creativeways to keep the movement of people as freeand unrestricted as possible.

In spite of irrefutable evidence of thechange in global trading and the impact it ishaving on North America, some refuse toentertain the notion of Atlantica for even amoment.

Small numbers of protesters made briefmade-for-television appearances during theSaint John conference, while their respectivelabour and social sector PR machines crankedout releases condemning the idea of Atlanticaas if it were the devil’s candy.

The message was that Atlantica was a planbeing secretly hatched by Atlantic Canada’sbusiness elite, which, if enacted, woulddestroy the quality of life for Atlantic

Canadians, stealing benefits and social pro-grams, raping natural resources, and con-demning the environment.

On the surface, the potential conflict wasattractive to many media outlets, and therewas significant coverage of the conference.But even the mainstream media had a hardtime following the doomsday theory.

Atlantica is not a sinister business planhatched in the backrooms of the corporateelite. The notion of a return to economicunion and freer trade between the Atlanticprovinces and the northeastern states has beenaround for more than 100 years. The mostrecent initiative could not be more openlypublicized — it had been beaten to death inone Atlantic Canadian magazine for the lastfive years.

As it is being discussed today, Atlantica is abit of a non-event for Newfoundland andLabrador. With an initial emphasis on Halifaxas a super-port, and the requirement forimproved multi-modal transportation andpower connections between the Maritimesand the northeastern states, our province is

given little mention.But with the emerging opportunities of the

Labrador portion of our province, one caneasily imagine a time in the not-too-distantfuture when Atlantica may play a bigger rolehere.

Better we are involved in the discussiontoday than to scramble for inclusion down theroad when the foundation has been establishedand is hard to change.

All the sentiment in the world for a return tothe way things used to be will not change theeconomic juggernaut that is China. There is afundamental shift moving the world’s eco-nomic epicentre from the western to the east-ern world.

The changes in global trading patterns areas unstoppable as continental drift. Whilesome continue to hold their ground, cling tooutdated ideals, and try to resist change, theearth beneath our feet continues to shift, inchby inch, day by day.

Ray Dillon is president of St. John’s Boardof Trade. His column returns July 9.

From page 21

Fundamental shift of world economy

laughing out here now,” he says. “But comeback in December and see our faces when theyare freezing and we’re hurting a little more. Wewill still be here, but we just might be a littleless friendly.”

Brad Mansfield, 30, has six years with thecompany and the least seniority.

“This isn’t easy,” he says. “You live pay-cheque to paycheque at the best of times, butwhen you’re on strike it gets worse … you gotto believe in this. It’s our livelihood. I’ve never

worked outside of the province and I hope Inever have to.”

O’Reilly says he may have to face realityand leave the province to work. He has ayoung son and a wife who isn’t currentlyemployed.

“If I loose my job, I got to pack up andleave,” he says. “The only job I know is Pepsi… as long as they keeps bringing in scabdrinks, and the public keeps buying them, theywill keep us out and in the meantime my billsare piling up and I’m falling more and morebehind.”

The picketers hope the strike won’t last longbut, like O’Reilly, fear it might. “I don’t wantno trouble for nobody,” he says. “I need to pro-tect my family, to provide for them and to dothat I need to protect my job. That’s why I’mout here. Ask the company what they got to sayabout us out here.”

Representatives for Browning Harvey hadno comment.

“This could be the death of BrowningHarvey in Newfoundland,” Squires says. “I gotthe feeling they don’t want us back. They areone greedy company.”

From page 21

‘One greedy company’

By Bobbi-Jean MacKinnonTelegraph-Journal

The Fundy Region Solid Waste Commission couldsoon have a new source of revenue — sellingmethane gas produced by the landfill.

General manager Jack Keir has had preliminary discus-sions with at least two potential partners.

The Saint John Transit Commission is exploring theidea of reusing the methane for city buses.

And Floating Pipeline Company Inc. (FPC), whichbuilds compressed gas containers that can be shipped, is innegotiations to buy methane from the landfill and resell itto a third party.

“There’s definitely some interest there,” Keir says.More potential partners interested in using the methane

to run machinery or heat buildings could come out of thewoodwork once the commission has a gas collection sys-tem in place, he adds.

As it stands, the commission had to issue a second callfor tenders to build the system.

The first call for tenders, which included capping cells,came back last month with no bidders.

Keir suspects most of the local contractors who wouldnormally bid on such a project are simply too busy withother work, such as the $750-million Irving Oil/Respsolliquefied natural gas terminal at Mispec Point.

Work was scheduled to begin mid-June and be completeby mid-October.

Keir is hopeful the collection system will still be opera-tional by mid-November.

The methane will just be burned off initially.But if all goes well, the commission could be selling it

by next spring, he says. Keir could not estimate how muchthe methane might be worth.

Preliminary studies have shown there’s enough methaneat the landfill to start reusing it immediately, Keir says.But the levels won’t peak until 2022 and the landfill willcontinue to produce methane long after it closes.

“So that’s 55 or 60 years of gas generation,” assumingit continues to produce for about 15 years after its sched-uled closure in 2046.

Bruce Hollett, president of College of the North Atlantic, stands in the foyer of one of the buildings on the college’s Qatar campus. On June 19, 136 students receiveddiplomas during the Middle East campus’ second graduation ceremony — a sharp increase from the 71 honoured during last year’s event. College of the NorthAtlantic is entering the fifth year of its 10-year contract with the State of Qatar. Paul Daly/The Independent

GRADUATION DAY IN QATAR

Senators urge overhaul of CBCNetwork should drop sports, adsStable, long-term funding urged

By Graham FraserTorstar wire service

The Canadian Broadcasting Corp.should get long-term stable fundingand stop broadcasting sports and

showing television commercials, a Senatecommittee has recommended.

The committee also calls for the cabinet toexamine certain media mergers that are nowlooked at by the Competition Bureau.

“We have come to the conclusion thatCBC-TV in particular — and the two net-works, in both official languages — is indanger of losing its way,” Senator JoanFraser says about the recent report.

“It’s trying to compete head on with theprivate sector where such competition is nei-ther necessary nor, indeed often, in the pub-lic interest.”

The senators point to the decision by CBCto run a United States reality show during thetime period when The National is broadcastas an example of their concern over theintention of competing with CTV’sCanadian Idol.

“They made our case for us,” Fraser says.“They feel compelled to seek ratings to get(advertising) dollars. They shouldn’t have todo that.”

The committee report on the Canadiannews media calls for a new process to exam-

ine media mergers, with a review process tobe triggered automatically in certain circum-stances, such as cross-ownership in particu-lar markets, dominance in particular marketsor the control of more than a certain percent-age of the audience or readership.

The process would call for a review panelto be created with representatives from theCompetition Bureau and the CanadianRadio-television and TelecommunicationsCommission that would make a recommen-dation to the appropriate minister.

The decision to allow a merger or torequire changes to its terms would then bemade by cabinet, and the minister responsi-

ble would explain the decision on ParliamentHill.

Conservative Senator Pat Carney dissent-ed, arguing that the public interest is protect-ed by the Canadian Charter of Rights andFreedoms, which identifies freedom of thepress as a fundamental freedom. She urgedthat all mergers be more effectively scruti-nized.

“My objection is the recommendation thatmedia companies be treated differently fromother companies,” she wrote.

News and information, the committee con-cluded, has not been a priority for either theCompetition Bureau or the Canadian broad-cast regulator.

The committee made 40 recommenda-tions, and 10 suggestions, including therequirement that all media outlets state theidentity of their controlling shareholders.

The Broadcast Act should be amended togive clear priority to news and informationprogramming.

The broadcast watchdog should be giventhe responsibility of monitoring licenceholders to see whether they live up to theirpromises, and, if not, the power to levyfines.

The committee also recommended that aminister be required to sign any search war-rant that is sought in order to go through areporter’s notes.

“We have come to the conclusion that CBC-TV in particular — and the two networks, in both official languages — is in danger

of losing its way.”

Senator Joan Fraser

JUNE 25, 2006 INDEPENDENTBUSINESS • 23

Premier’s vision poor beyond HolyroodSeveral years ago we elected a man who

sold nationalism to beleaguered federal-ists who had watched Ottawa rape the

province for over 50 years. We must now exam-ine Premier Danny Williams’ success in order toprepare for the next federal election and whatwill be our most crucial vote.

Danny immediately capitalized on the poten-tial of the first minority government in Canadain 25 years. This meant our seven otherwiseworthless federal seats were finally worth some-thing.

To give the premier his due, he took advan-tage of the circumstance and wrestled Ottawa towin a commitment, albeit verbally, to removeoffshore oil royalties from equalization. Basedon my direct experience with our bureaucratswithin the Department of Natural Resources, thepremier also showed leadership when he direct-ed civil servants to abandon their belief that ourprovince was getting a fair share from the feder-al government.

To be blunt, I do not believe this would haveoccurred — federal minority or not — withLloyd Matthews or Walter Noel as minister, or,regrettably, Roger Grimes, who didn’t have thepolitical capital, at the helm.

Now let’s get down to business!

THIRST FOR ENERGYDanny enjoys record high oil prices, with a

globe thirsty for energy. His ability to maximizeprofits from consumers is exactly what he did inthe case of Cable Atlantic.

The other important advantage given to thepremier from past toils is the province’s contin-ued ownership of Newfoundland and LabradorHydro. (Unfortunately, he was for privatizationwhen he was still in the private sector).

Now that the province has some cards it canplay and money to spend, it’s easy to give pre-mature sainthood to our leader. This adoration isas ill-advised as that bestowed on Clever Clydeor Benevolent Brian. During times of greatfinancial hardship we borrowed on our future tokeep our culture, communities, and people inour province.

We believed in the value of ruralNewfoundland and Labrador and supported thenotion that investing in our outports was notonly socially responsible but necessary for ourown existence. Yes we built roads, hospitals,and community infrastructure from pensionsand we knew that this money would eventuallyhave to be repaid.

We struggled to keep our refineries, papermills, fish plants, and mines. We lamented theloss of our upper Churchill revenues while curs-ing Ottawa for the destruction of our fishery andcontinued indifference to our people. We havefought the loss of our railway, bases, airports,lighthouses, and general federal presence.Through this we have stood tall and vowed tosurvive!

It was more than just politics that caused us toaccumulate debt for goods and services neededby our people. It was more than just fools guid-ed by emotion! It was driven by a sense of prideand knowledge that our real wealth, our naturalresources could provide the lifestyle we desiredfor all our citizens.

Now that we are starting to enjoy some finan-cial security from those resources, PremierWilliams is leaving our people and communitiesto die.

To hell with our paper mills, to hell with ourfishplants and fishers, to hell with HarbourBreton, Anchor Point, Fortune, Bonavista,Stephenville, Grand Falls-Windsor, St. Josephs,and Mary’s Harbour, the greater St. John’s areais rich. What more could we want. For all themistakes in our past and the misfortunes ofbeing unequal in a federation called Canada, ourleaders of yesterday saw some value in who weare and where we came from.

For all the luck this premier has enjoyed, his20-20 vision deteriorates rapidly to severenearsightedness once he clears Holyrood. Ourpremier needs to do the tough stuff — fightwith Ottawa for management of our fisheryand custodial control of our Grand Banks. Useour hydro-electricity to attract paper mills,refineries and industrial investment instead ofexporting unprocessed hydro to Ontario andQuebec.

My god, for the first time in our history thecombination of minority federal governmentsand absolute greed respecting minerals, oil andenergy allow us to have our cake and eat it inwhatever community we choose.

Sue Kelland-Dyer was a policy advisor to for-mer Liberal premier Roger Grimes.

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Premier Danny Williams addresses the press on Wednesday, June 21. Paul Daly/The Independent

24 • INDEPENDENTBUSINESS JUNE 25, 2006

WEEKLYDIVERSIONSACROSS1 Oceanic flux5 Duration9 Sarcastic laughter13 Darling family’s dog17 Its capital is Muscat18 Important cultural fig-ure19 Newspaper opinionpiece20 Words on damagedwares21 It starts May 24 or so23 Appearance of a traitfrom previous generations25 Good feller?26 Pre-Easter period27 English “O Canada”author28 Uses a lasso29 Smelting refuse30 N.W.T.’s mineralemblem31 Family dog, for short32 Niagara Falls attraction:___ Clock35 Hide-hair link36 B.C.’s official bird:Steller’s ___37 Quebec game40 Lake of Geneva(Switz.)41 Ont. town with largeflying saucer44 Runs45 Yemeni port46 Scan47 Sphere

48 Voyageurs’ craft49 Pester50 Ruler of Iran, once51 Scandinavian rug52 Ferguson of “Air Farce”53 N.B.’s bird: black-___chickadee55 Free56 Saturday in Ste. Adele59 Affirmative vote60 Musician’s engagement61 Surrender62 Of the nature of: suffix64 B.C./N.W.T. river67 Caviar68 “Later!”69 Type of tale70 Hankering71 Alta. town with muse-um of old vehicles73 Canadian jazz pianistOliver ___74 Earth: prefix75 Nanny’s baby76 Born (Fr.)77 Until now78 Tavern by a tube station79 Lucre81 Small salmon82 External85 P.C.86 Park of “Air Farce”87 Revival tech.90 Roman restaurant92 French restaurant94 Run pointlessly95 Triumphs96 What dryers trap

97 Fake shot in hockey98 Prompter99 French river painted byMonet100 Nervously irritable101 Tropical wood

DOWN1 Early Roman garment2 Invention of Kroitor,Ferguson and Kerr (1968)3 Duel starter4 Conclusion5 Insensitivity to sounds (2wds.)6 Hockey violation7 ___ Tremblant, Que.8 World lang.9 Victoria’s Empress10 Plant louse11 What a Hamburger maybe called12 Foofaraw13 Rich and influential one14 Pronto!15 French resort16 Requests22 ___ Fairclough24 “King Kong” actress27 Not new29 Long-necked bird30 Well-behaved31 Hasty escape32 Love handles, e.g.33 Alta. site of 1947 oil strike34 Last Greek letter35 Biblical ark-itect

36 Punch type37 Classical pianistKimura Parker38 I problem?39 Take advantage of41 Honey wine42 Guitarist Liona43 The Victorian, e.g.44 Vocalist Siberry (“SmallFires”)46 Ostrich-like bird48 ___-by-Chance, Nfld.50 Hurried51 Oil drilling apparatus52 Slot cut into a board54 Heap of material to beburned55 C’est tout ou ___!56 Watery septet57 Paul Anka’s first hit58 Firth of Forth, e.g.60 Luba of “Air Farce”61 Killer: suffix63 If all ___ fails ...64 Pull laboriously65 Blood pressure raiser66 In the past67 N.S.’s official tree: ___spruce68 Musical staff sign69 Commotion71 Curved bone72 Solely73 Foggiest city: St. ___,Nfld.75 Skater Browning77 Snug and warm78 ___ Piper picked a peck

...79 Mistaken ___, Nfld.80 Use art gum81 Sound of a large bell

82 Auricular83 Language of Pakistan84 Fairy ___85 Journey

86 Parched87 One of N.W.T.’s officiallanguages88 Rockies rodent

89 Stink91 Take credit?92 French wheat93 Ont. cottage time

ARIES (MAR. 21 TO APR. 19)You feel ready to face up to amajor change, although it mightinvolve some risks. A once-dubi-ous family member comes aroundand offers support and encourage-ment.

TAURUS (APR. 20 TO MAY 20)Move forward with your plans,despite discouraging words from those who underestimatethe Bovine’s strong will. Yourkeen instincts will guide youwell.

GEMINI (MAY 21 TO JUNE 20)A misunderstanding is easilycleared up. Then go ahead and enjoy some fun and gamesthis week. A Libra might have ideas that merit serious consideration for thefuture.

CANCER (JUNE 21 TO JULY 22)You might feel as if you’re in anemotional pressure cooker, but thesituation is about to change inyour favor. Take time out for somewell-earned fun.

LEO (JULY 23 TO AUG. 22) A shift in your workplace respon-sibilities creates resentmentamong some co-workers. Dealwith it before it becomes a threatto your success on the job.

VIRGO (AUG. 23 TO SEPT. 22)Expect some surprises in what youthought was one of your typicallywell-planned schedules. Deal withthem, and then enjoy some light-hearted entertainment.

LIBRA(SEPT. 23 TO OCT. 22) Be careful: What appears to be a

solid financial opportunity mighthave some hidden risks attached.A hazy personal matter needs tobe cleared up.

SCORPIO (OCT. 23 TO NOV. 21) It’s a good time to strengthen tieswith family and friends. Youmight feel unsure about a recentworkplace decision, but time willprove you did the right thing.

SAGITTARIUS (NOV. 22 TO DEC. 21) Just when you thought your rela-tionship was comfortable andeven predictable, your partner orspouse could spring a potentiallylife-changing surprise on you.

CAPRICORN (DEC. 22 TO JAN. 19) Your usually generous self is over-shadowed by your equally strongsuspicious nature. You might bejudging things too harshly. Keep

an open mind.

AQUARIUS (JAN. 20 TO FEB. 18)Love and romance dominate theweek. Married Aquarians enjoydomestic harmony, while singlescould soon be welcoming over-tures from loving Leos.

PISCES (FEB. 19 TO MAR. 20) An old health problem recurs, butit is soon dealt with, leaving youeager to get back into the swing ofthings. A favorable travel periodstarts this week.

BORN THIS WEEKYou have an independent spiritthat resists being told what to do.But you’re also wise enough toappreciate good advice.

(c) 2006 King Features Syndicate, Inc.

WEEKLYSTARS

Fill in the grid so that each row of nine squares, each col-umn of nine and each section of nine (three squares bythree) contains the numbers 1 through 9 in any order.There is only one solution to each puzzle. Solutions, tipsand computer program available at www.sudoko.com

SOLUTION ON PAGE 31

MAY 7, 2006 INDEPENDENTSPECIALSECTION • 25

CARS

26 • INDEPENDENTBUSINESS JUNE 25, 2006

kph... at

JUNE 25, 2006 INDEPENDENTBUSINESS • 27

28 • INDEPENDENTBUSINESS JUNE 25, 2006

JUNE 25, 2006 INDEPENDENTSPORTS • 29

Frankfurt, Germany By Cathcal Kelly

It’s 2 p.m. at O’Reilly’s puband the breakfast crowd isbeginning to roll in.

Burger and chips, please. And,oh yeah, two pints of lager.There are lots of heads in hands— reminders of the night before.

The English were the first toarrive at this World Cup party.They came off the trains at theFrankfurt hauptbahnhof in thethousands — as many as100,000 — two weeks ago,ahead of their team’s openingmatch with Paraguay at theWaldstadion.

On that first day, they man-aged to make it about 100 feetoutside the train station, directlyacross from O’Reilly’s.

While the team has moved on,to Nuremberg and Cologne, hun-dreds of their fans remain hereon their soccer holiday.

Michael, a boyish Californianwho works the bar at O’Reilly’s,has been doing double shifts toserve the soccer tourists.

“The English have been reallygood, actually,” he says, leaningover the bar between orders.“Well, pretty good.”

Pretty good?“There was the thing with the

ashtrays.”The ashtrays?“I was working in the back a

couple of nights ago. All of asudden all the waiters and bus-boys start running around takingthe glass ashtrays off the tablesand replacing them with theselittle plastic ones.”

Why?“The English started hitting

each other with these,” he says,holding up one of the heftybludgeons. He lets it drop to thebar with a resounding “thwack.”

Was anybody hurt?“I imagine they were.”German officials have been

going to great lengths at thisWorld Cup to praise the behav-iour of English fans, notorious inthe past for drunken excessesand hooligan outrages.

“We are extremely happy athow the English fans behaved,”Frankfurt city spokespersonNicholas Muenster says. “Theirreputation for bad behaviour islong outdated and their behav-iour’s excellent.”

The only thing that seems toreally annoy Germans is theEnglish fan favourite, 10German Bombers, sung to thetune of 10 Green Bottles.

“There were 10 Germanbombers in the air (repeat),

And the RAF from Englandshot one down,

There were nine Germanbombers in the air.”

And so on.“Many English people have

come in to ask about comingback here,” a Nurembergtourism official said afterEngland’s second- round matchin that city with Trinidad andTobago. “They will be wel-comed back as friends, becausethat’s how they leave us.”

Only a handful have beenarrested, most for being drunkand disorderly, which inGermany costs you a 200 eurofine and a night at Chez Polizei.

Back at O’Reilly’s, the joint’spacking up ahead of theGermany-Ecuador match. Thereare no Germans or Ecuadorianshere. The England-Swedenmatch isn’t on for another sixhours. Will they just stick

around?“They come here for break-

fast, whenever they wake up.They drink until dinner. Theyhave dinner here. Then they’rethe last ones to leave,” Michaelsays.

“It only really gets bad onSundays,” he says. “They thinkwe’re going to throw them outearly, so at 2 or so they rush thebar and order so many drinksthat we have to stay open later.”

Later, by O’Reilly’s standards,is 5 a.m.

“Two more weeks,” Michaelsighs, pouring out another pint.“They’ve promised us all a bigbonus at the end of the WorldCup. Then I’m going to sleep.”

Over in a corner of the bar, apair argues about MichaelCarrick, the young English starwho may or may not feature atthis tournament. It gets heated.

Another fan comes over tosoothe the combatants. The twoare evidently friends, becausethey’re easily calmed.

“I’ll get youse another pint,”the intervenor says.

Even better.It’s another day at the World

Cup. Here’s to tomorrow’s hang-over.

30 • INDEPENDENTSPORTS JUNE 25, 2006

There’s nothing quite like home-made bread when you’re out inthe country. At home, bakery

bread might do fine, especially in ourhectic modern world. Nowadays,there’s typically no full-time home-maker in the family to take sole respon-sibility for a fresh supply of bread.Bread comes ready made from thesupermarket, sliced and ready for thetoaster.

Then there are the health considera-tions — white bread just won’t do. Ourfamily’s taste has evolved over abumpy road to whole grain breads, zerofat, high fibre, and all that good stuff.

My typical lunch sandwich is leanchicken or tuna, lettuce, mustard andmaybe some roasted peppers atop 12-grain supermarket sliced bread. What acontrast to the bologna sandwiches mymother made for my excursions: a slabof Maple-Leaf and a slice of cheese —slobbered in mustard — between twohearty slices of her lard-rich, home-made bread. And, oh how I love abologna sandwich. I still make them formy fishing and hunting daytrips.

Goldie manages a few loaves ofhomemade bread in her busy schedule,and we spare it along; Sunday break-fast, hunting trips, etc. I think I eat thehealthy stuff on weekdays so I can livelonger to hunt, fish, and eat bolognasandwiches on weekends.

Which brings me to the gist of thisweek’s column; we need good heartybread to sustain us on those long hikes

and canoe trips into the back country.Homemade bread fits the bill for short-er treks, but for longer expeditions it’sfar too bulky and susceptible to mould,especially in damp conditions.

But what’s a trout or salmon fry with-out bread? All protein and no carbs, andyou certainly need carbs to paddle acanoe all day. Early Canadian voyagersand pioneers found themselves with

this exact dilemma. It would be impres-sive and convenient if bread could bemade quickly on the trail from non-per-ishable dry ingredients. Bread in a fry-ing pan or “bannock” is the solution.

Bannock is a simple variety of sconethat originated in Scotland. Native peo-ples learned of bannock from earlyEuropean explorers and adopted it astheir own. There are many variations of

traditional bannock throughout Canada. My first bannock was served to me

by the Cree of northern Manitoba. Theyliked to spice it up with seasonal good-ies like blueberries or lake trout eggs.You can’t beat caviar bread; I loved it,it was almost as good as my mother’shomemade.

Bannock is simple to make — that’sthe whole idea. The main ingredient is

flour: white, whole wheat or a mixtureto taste. Four cups makes a hefty fryingpan full, which will certainly fuel upfour or more hearty canoeists. Add saltand sugar to suit your own taste, but acouple of teaspoons of salt and two orthree tablespoons of sugar is a finestarting point.

Next you need milk. Add 3/4 to a fullcup of powdered milk (real milk is fineif you are practicing at home). Finally,add three or four tablespoons of bakingpowder. Mix and store the ingredientsin some sort of waterproof container. Iprefer the larger plastic peanut butterjars, but anything will do, even a seal-able plastic bag.

Now, after you’ve canoed or walkedall day, you’re hungry. Combine yourdry mix with two to three cups of water.At this point you can throw in someberries, raisons, nuts, fish eggs or what-ever is available and tickles your fancy.Mix it until you have a consistency thatpours slowly but levels out in the fryingpan on its own.

Make sure your pan is well greasedwith butter, oil or fat pork, whateveryou have. Fry for about five minutes oruntil a golden brown crust is formed.Flip over and repeat on the other side.Cook until the centre becomes firm.Break apart the bread with your handsand share with your hungry comrades.

Give Bannock a try on your nextcamping trip. Besides sharing in a longwoodsy tradition, you’re being self-reliant and resourceful; qualities oftenmissing in our pre-packaged and dis-posable world.

Paul Smith is a freelance writer livingin Spaniard’s Bay, enjoying all the out-doors Newfoundland and Labrador hasto offer. flyfishtherock@hotmail.com

Bannock: bread on the movePAUL SMITHThe Rock Outdoors

Hangovers order of the dayBurger and chips and, of course, a couple of pintsTo a man who once said the only things he

felt were winning and misery you can nowadd relief.

Pat Riley’s 18-year odyssey chasing anotherNBA title ended in Dallas on June 20, giving himthe fifth championship of his coaching career andallowing him a chance to exhale.

“You keep chasing it, you keep chasing it, youget tired,” an elated Riley said after the Heat dis-patched the Dallas Mavericks 95-92 to win theNBA championship in six games. “This gives mea sense of absolute freedom from having to chaseit, desperately chase it.”

It was special because of the special skills of24-year-old Dwyane Wade, the gifted guard whohad 36 points in the clincher and because of thespecial motivational abilities of the 61-year-oldcoach, who persuaded 15 disparate personalitiesto come together to pursue a common goal.

It was Riley who started dumping little cardswith a picture of the NBA championship trophyon one side and the team’s mantra “15 Strong”printed on the other into a large bowl-like object

that sat in the middle of the team’s locker room.It was the kind of corny shtick few could get

away with. But Riley somehow persuaded Wade,Shaquille O’Neal, Antoine Walker, Gary Payton,Alonzo Mourning and a gaggle of other strongpersonalities to play along.

“He said that’s what it’s all about, he walkedaround and gave every player a card that sayswe’re 15 strong, (that) there’s a lot of doubtersout there and the only way (we) can do this is tostick together,” said Wade. “It just got bigger andbigger and our belief just got stronger andstronger in each other.

Whether the Heat can get Riley his sixth titlenext year will be determined by how he tweaksthe roster this season. Miami has hardly the deep-est team in the league and Payton and Mourningare free agents. O’Neal is slowing down at 34years old, bench players like Michael Doleac,Shandon Anderson and Derek Anderson hardlyever play, so to think this same roster will beintact a year from now is far-fetched.

— Torstar wire service

Riley’s 18-year chase finally ends

“The English have been really good, actually.

Well, pretty good.”

A Frankfurt bartender on visiting customers

Paul Smith/For The Independent

JUNE 25, 2006 INDEPENDENTSPORTS • 31

Solutions for crossword on page 28

Solutions for sudoku on page 28

By Cathal Kelley Torstar wire service

All the style so explosivelyshown by Argentina and theNetherlands early in this World

Cup was being kept carefully underwraps during a dreary goalless drawbetween the two nations last week.

There were glimpses of beauty —Carlos Tevez nutmegging Kew Jalienson the touchline, Lionel Messi sendingthe ball one way, running the other andthe two of them meeting up once againon the run.

In Messi and Tevez we saw the greatstrength of this Argentina squad —youth. Youth is the real theme of thisWorld Cup so far. Those favouriteswho have put their faith in energetic,but inexperienced players are thriving.

The Argentines field the greenestsquad at this World Cup. In 2002, theymanaged only two goals and bombedout spectacularly in the first round.

Three games into this tournament,they’ve scored nine times. At times,they’ve looked like a team for the ages.

Coach Jose Pekerman made his rep-utation winning three world champi-onships with Argentina’s under-20squad. In Germany, Pekerman has puthis faith in players he knew as chil-dren. Now grown into young men, theyare richly rewarding his confidence.

“What the team has been stating onthe pitch is that Argentina has poten-tial,” Pekerman says.

That’s the understatement of thetournament. Their 6-0 dismantling ofSerbia and Montenegro is alreadybeing talked about here in hushedtones as a “near-perfect” performance.

Though they haven’t yet producedthe white heat of Argentina, the orangeattack of the Netherlands also looksformidable. Coach Marco Van Bastenfaced criticism at home for leavingseveral established stars out of histeam. Nobody’s complaining now thatthe early results are in.

The other side shot through with realquality at this tournament is Spain.

Like Argentina, Spain broke itsnational team apart after disappoint-ment in 2002 at Korea/Japan. Only twostarters remain from that period.

France is the cautionary tale in thiscase. “French soccer” has become abyword for “geriatric.”

Returning here with the same corethat disappointed in Korea/Japan, LesBleus picked up where they left off inpoorly played draws with Switzerlandand Korea.

Young squadsfinding stridein Germany

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be ultimately successful by employingthe Hack-a-Shaq tactic.

And Zo has always been an aggres-sive (some say dirty) defender who isespecially adept at timely forearms andelbows.

For all that , Miami’s Dwyane Wadeis a treat to watch. He’s smart enough touse Shaq’s presence the right way, andtalented enough to take over a game allby himself.

Would the Heat have won withoutShaq? Not a chance. As good as Wadewas, and will continue to be, Shaq isstill too dominant for other teams andWade would not have been as effectivewithout the Diesel on the floor.

Which is why I hope he retires soon. I know it’s early, but I predict Steve

Nash and the Suns to win it all nextyear. And, perhaps even more of a gam-ble, I predict the Toronto Raptors willmake the playoffs.

whitebobby@yahoo.com

Hack-a-ShaqFrom page 32

By Bob WhiteFor The Independent

When he first picked up a bad-minton racquet over 30 yearsago, Wayne Somers never

envisioned the sport would take him allover the world.

Not as an athlete, mind you —though he still loves playing the game.As an executive member, Somers hastravelled the globe to promote the sportand takes pride in his contribution to itsdevelopment on provincial, nationaland international levels.

“There’s no question I am passion-ate,” Somers says. “You don’t spend asmuch time as I do travelling for thesport if you don’t have a passion for it.”

Somers is currently in an influentialposition as member of council for theInternational Badminton Federation(IBF), a four-year term which will endin 2009 after the 2008 Olympics hostedby Beijing, China. Somers will meetwith the rest of the IBF in Beijing dur-ing the Olympics.

Somers is the first Canadian in over30 years to serve on the InternationalCouncil. He was elected during the2005 meeting in Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia.

Somers grew up in Carbonear, andwas a junior high school student therein the late 1970s when he got the bad-minton bug. John Hall, who was thenadministrator of the Carbonear GeneralHospital and an executive member ofthe Newfoundland Badminton Associa-tion, instructed Somers and others inthe fundamentals of the sport.

Somers had some modest success onthe provincial level, but was unques-tionably bitten by the badminton bug.Hall persuaded him to join the provin-cial executive in the mid-1980s andhe’s been a devoted volunteer to thesport ever since.

Somers spent 12 years on the provin-cial executive in various portfolios,including five years as president (hewas also chair of the appeals committeeand the nominations committee forBadminton Canada at this time).

In 2003, Somers was elected vice-president of finance and administrationfor Badminton Canada, a position hestill holds.

Somers serves on the IBF marketingcommittee and as deputy chair of theappeals committee. There aren’t manysports where a Canadian is in the loopon an international level, and Somers isconvinced having a voice from this partof the world will mean good things forthe sport in Canada, even though it maynot be easily visible for those at thelocal, grassroots level.

“It is a hard sell to the membershipsometimes,” Somers said of the benefitof having a close link with the interna-

tional body. “For many members inCanada, there is a tendency to disregardthe international aspect, but it is becom-ing more and more important.”

Somers believes Canada’s influenceon the global scene can trickle down.He points out the federal governmentcontributes about $500,000 to the sportin Canada each year.

That pales in comparison to the gov-ernment contribution in China, a bad-minton hotbed. The Chinese receive amulti-million dollar budget annuallyfor the sport. Ironically, the more suc-cess Canada has on the international,high-performance stage, the moremoney it would be able to receive fromthe feds.

Of the $500,000, nearly 70 per cent is

earmarked for the development of high-performance athletes and teams.Badminton Canada can use betterresults in international competitions torequest more money.

And, in Somers’ opinion, the onlyway to achieve better results is toimprove the players. The best way to dothat, he says, is to develop advancedtraining methods. Of course, nothingbeats playing against the best in theworld and that’s where Somers’ posi-tion on the IBF can come in handy.

In early 2007, Canada will host theworld’s top players in the event dubbed“Road Show” where Canadians, espe-cially junior-aged players, can train andcompete against the world’s elite.

Canada is a member of the Pan

American Badminton Confederation(PABC), which looks after badmintonin North and South America and theCaribbean. In international rankings,Canada is the top country within thePABC.

“My involvement with PABC is agreat opportunity to bring internationaltournaments to Canada which carrywith them important ranking points tohelp our players qualify for theOlympics,” he says. “I am also able toleverage funds from PABC for devel-opment camps for our younger play-ers.”

Newfoundland and Labrador hasproduced top-notch national players,including Glovertown’s SamanthaRalph, who won the under-19 national

championship a couple of months ago.Somers calls Ralph’s win a “hugeaccomplishment” and he predicts simi-lar success for Ralph and other provin-cial athletes in the future.

“Doors are starting to open for ourprovincial athletes on the nationalscene and our national athletes on theinternational scene. One of my goals isto help give our athletes a bigger profileand improve the overall calibre of ourathletes.”

Somers says the recent rise in junior-aged athletes from this province bodeswell for its future and he hopes to con-tinue to do his part so one day bad-minton players from this province andacross Canada can stand with the bestin the world.

INDEPENDENTSPORTSSUNDAY THROUGH SATURDAY, JUNE 25-JULY 1, 2006 — PAGE 32

Last week, Bonavista’s DanielRyder was named to the nation-al junior hockey team develop-

ment camp, to be held July 23-28 inCalgary.

Ryder will try to become the firstplayer from Newfoundland andLabrador to make the national squadsince his older brother Michael, whoplayed for the bronze-medal team at the2000 championships in Sweden.

The camp will give the CalgaryFlames a great look at their blossomingprospect in Ryder, who was picked 74thoverall in the third round of the 2005NHL Entry Draft. Ryder is coming offa superb season with the PeterboroughPetes, whom he led to the OntarioHockey League championship and atrip to the Memorial Cup.

The Petes’ top scorer in the OHLplayoffs, Ryder won the WayneGretzky 99 award as the league’s play-

off MVP with 15 goals and 31 points in19 games. His team didn’t fare so wellat the Memorial Cup, but Ryder hasproven to scouts he has the goods tocompete at the next level.

A solid camp next month in Calgaryand following his big bro’s TeamCanada selection would improve hischances of making the Flames for theupcoming season. A shot at a worldjunior championship would be sweet aswell.

•••Speaking of the junior camp, of the

44 players invited to the Calgary camp,

11 are from Quebec Major JuniorHockey League teams.

I wonder how long will it be before aFog Devils player is selected to try out?That would be a good measuring stickfor the franchise, and to have a player atthat level would speak well for theDevils.

•••Well, the Carolina Hurricanes pulled

it off and you have to feel good for guyslike Rod Brind’Amour and GlenWesley, who’ve paid their dues andcould be considered model citizens inthe professional hockey world. Theseguys work hard at their craft and arealways in great shape, as evidenced bythe quality of play they were able toproduce throughout the Stanley Cupplayoffs, despite their advanced age.

But the Oilers were awfully close topulling off a major comeback. If it was-

n’t for a couple of deflections, mostnotably the first two goals of gameseven, the outcome could have been infavour of Edmonton. But, hey, that’shockey — and a good bounce is part ofit. Sometimes you get them, sometimesyou don’t.

The Oilers’ playoff run will still godown as proof that in this new era of theNHL, any team is capable of success inthe playoffs. For an eighth seed to getthis far is great for the league and forthe game.

•••Switching to basketball, I was

expecting more from the NBA finals,and not just because my pick, theDallas Mavericks, came out on theshort-end of the stick to the MiamiHeat. I was looking forward to more ofthe wide-open style featured in theDallas-Phoenix western conference

final series. What transpired, though, was closer

to a throwback of the ugly 1990s styleof bruiser-ball, which coincidentallyreached its peak during the Pat Riley —yes the same Pat Riley who now coach-es the Heat — days of the New YorkKnicks. The basketball was defense-oriented, with lots of clutching andgrabbing. Sort of like the days of thetrap in hockey, for you puck devotees.

In my opinion, the finals ended up inthis way because of the Heat, especial-ly with Shaq and Alonzo Mourning.I’ve never been a fan of Shaq or Zo, fordifferent reasons. Shaq is so big there’sno player who can do much to preventhim from establishing position downlow. Once he gets close to the rim, it’sa dunk or an easy layup. He can’t shootfree throws, but I’ve yet to see a team

Daniel Ryder’s big chance

See “Hack-a-Shaq,” page 31

Badminton takes flightThe first Canadian on the International Badminton Federation council in 30 years, Wayne Somers sees a bright future for the sport in Newfoundland and Labrador

Mitchell Webb and Candice Petten of the Canada Winter Games training squad practice behind Wayne Somers, member of council for the International Badminton Federation.

BOB WHITE

Bob the bayman

“Doors are starting to openfor our provincial athleteson the national scene and

our national athletes on theinternational scene.”

Wayne Somers