2006-07-23

By Pam Pardy GhentFor The Independent

The day Doug Harvey came in from a hardday’s fishing with 175 pounds of codinstead of the 1,500-2,000 he was used to,

he knew he had to get out. It was 1999 and the fisherman from Isle aux

Morts on the southwest coast was tired of beingtold there was no fish “out there” by the govern-ment. The cod-fishing season in his area hadbeen changed, and the fish just weren’t around tobe caught.

He started the bid process with Ottawa to buyback his licence.

Doug’s bid of $110,000 was accepted, butwhen he received the cheque in November 1999,he was in for a shock. The amount was $26,000less than expected — $24,000 of which waseaten up by capital gains tax.

“That money had to last us 13 years, until heturned 65,” says Doug’s wife, Elizabeth. “Now,what started as $110,000 is now $84,000, and weweren’t told that going into all this. We wereripped off.”

Doug cannot return to his old way of life. Hesigned an agreement stating he can never workin the fishing industry again — not even in a fishplant.

What seemed manageable when the couplefirst sat down and made the decision to leave thebusiness, suddenly seemed impossible.

Being angry is one thing, having the resourcesand the know-how to do anything about is wassomething else.

“I’m just a housewife who thought her hus-band was mistreated,” Elizabeth says. But shedecided to ask questions — and find out if oth-ers were in the same situation. Her perseverancewas rewarded: she discovered a so-called “secretdeal” that 132 fishermen in this province wereoffered in 2003; a deal that has led a St. John’slawyer to start legal action on behalf of about2,000 former fishermen.

“I used to pick up the phone to see if itworked, that thing never rang,” Elizabethlaughs. “But since starting, this I wish I could

Seduced?

QUOTE OF THE WEEK“The fact that Canada was party tosuch an inglorious act is somethingof which Canadians everywherehave little reason to be proud.”

— The late Walter Carter, on Confederation.

Kathleen Murphy, Joan Roberts and Julie Duff bring their art to Signal Hill, taking advantage of the summer weather to paint the capital city. Paul Daly/The Independent

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OPEN STUDIO

LIFE 17 The life of a fisherman in dollars and cents

COLUMN 19Noreen Golfman on the demiseof the Pouch Cove Foundation

The widow of former MHA andMP Walter Carter would“dearly love” to see her late

husband’s unpublished manuscriptreach a wide audience.

Seduced? From colony toprovince: Newfoundland’s strugglefor independence is a detailed 200-page exploration of the history and

circumstances leading up toConfederation. Muriel Carter saysher husband worked diligently andpassionately on the book for morethan two years, producing a completefirst draft before he passed away in2002.

“It was fun for him … he talked tome about it as he went along,” shesays. “He’d read parts out loud, tosee what I thought.”

By then, of course, Muriel wasused to a life surrounded by politics,politicians, and a passion for

Newfoundland.Walter Carter began his political

career in 1961 as deputy mayor of St.John’s. It wasn’t long before hecaught the attention of then-premierJoey Smallwood, and within twoyears, he was a Liberal MHA. Hewould go on to Ottawa as aProgressive Conservative MP, thenreturn to Newfoundland as the PCMHA for St. Mary’s. He ended hispolitical career in 1996, retiring asLiberal MHA for Twillingate district.

But even before being officially

involved, Walter was an observer ofthe political process and personali-ties. In his first and only publishedbook, the autobiography Never aDull Moment, he reminisces aboutwatching pre-Confederation debates:

“While most teenagers were tak-ing their girlfriends to a movie orhockey game, I talked my girlfriend,Muriel Baker, into accompanying meto the National Convention. We satfor countless hours in the gallery of

In search of Hobo BillHe may have vanished from the streets of St. John’s, but Bill Cherniwchan is alive and kicking

By Ivan MorganThe Independent

Rumours of Bill Cherni-wchan’s demise have been,as they say, greatly exagger-

ated. Earlier this week, The Indepen-

dent received an e-mail bemoaningthe sudden death of Hobo Bill, asthe popular downtown resident isbest known. The push was on formaterial for an obituary.

Cherniwchan, 73, is undoubtedlya well-known figure — most fre-quently seen on or near WaterStreet, perched on a park bench,immediately recognizable by hislong, wild beard and layers of cloth-

ing, even on warm days. But itseemed no one really knew muchabout him.

It also turned out he wasn’t dead.Cherniwchan is currently resting

comfortably in hospital after a med-ical issue forced him to voluntarilyrenounce his famed independence.

Recently Cherniwchan lost hisdowntown apartment, and was backliving on the street. Arrangements tofind him another home were takinga long time, he says, and in themeantime, he found a small parkand took up residence there.

Asked how he ended up in hospi-tal, he replies with good humour.

“You are aware of my eviction,after 12 years in an apartment?” he

says. “I went out to sleep next to theCotton Club — even one of the girlscame out and talked to me — youknow the little park there? I had thefirst bench on the left.

“The thing is I was sleeping there,

I had my clientele — shall we say?— there. Would you believe thatpeople come to see me, just to leaveme a little Do Re Me?

Bill Cherniwchan Nycki Temple-Delisle/For The Independent

See “Everyone thinks,” page 2

GALLERY 18Scott Pynn’sdreamyLabradorlandscapes

See “Revenue Canada,” page 4

STEPHANIEPORTER

Before his death, lifetime politician Walter Carter wrote a bookabout Confederation — with some tough words for Canada

PAGES 25-28Check out The Independent’s exciting new car section

See “Canadians,” page 2

the old House of Assembly in theColonial Building, engrossed in thedebates.”

Little did either know then, some 50years later, Walter would put pen topaper to write a book about the very pro-ceedings he had watched first-hand.

Reminded of those days, Muriellaughs. “It was a fascination for him,”she says. “And it became a fascinationfor me too.”

After Walter passed away, Murieltried to shop Seduced? to a least onelocal publisher — but no bite.

“It’s a good subject for a book,” shesays. “A lot of people are questioninghow we got here, what’s happening inNewfoundland and Canada …

“I would love to have seenNewfoundland be an independent coun-try. It’s such a beautiful place … we hadso much, so many resources seemed likethey were given away.”

It would appear she and Walter sharedsome of the same philosophies. While hewas never a separatist, it’s clear fromWalter’s writings that he always felt hishome province didn’t get a fair shake inits dealings with Canada.

The first half of Seduced? is a

straightforward, factual, political historyof Newfoundland, from the fishingadmirals in the 1700s through represen-tative government to all the prime min-isters and administrations up to 1934.When, as he writes, “after 79 years ofself-rule, Newfoundland returned to ruleby a benevolent dictatorship appointedby, and answerable only to, the BritishGovernment.”

From there, the text starts to pick upsteam, coming to life as theConfederation debate heats up. By thetime Walter begins writing about theNational Convention — the 45-memberteam set up in 1946 to discuss the future

of Newfoundland post-commission gov-ernment — his descriptions are morecolourful, the text more engaging, andhis opinions barely veiled.

He follows the events through to thefinal vote for Confederation, the swear-ing in of Newfoundland’s first lieu-tenant-governor, and the official unionceremony in Ottawa.

In his epilogue, entitled PoliticalNaivete, Walter pulls no punches.

“Given the irrevocable nature ofConfederation, the process under whichNewfoundland joined Canada in 1949was a shameful betrayal of its nationalinterest …” he begins. He goes on topoint a finger at the Government ofCanada, which was “morally, if not con-stitutionally, wrong to have proceededso hastily to consummate the union …

“The fact that Canada was party tosuch an inglorious act is something ofwhich Canadians everywhere have littlereason to be proud.”

Walter’s son, journalist Glen Carter,would not be surprised to read thosewords.

“Dad, I think, thought it was reallyimportant to have his say on theConfederation debate,” he says. “I thinkit was in some respects a labour of loveto bring all those facts together into oneplace. For himself and for anybody whocared to read it.

“I think my father believed thatNewfoundland brought far more to thetable than Canada did, with the fisherythe way it was or wealth in terms ofresources, the oceans, the forests, themines.”

Not only was his father a natural sto-ryteller, says Glen, but he was also a“real nationalist. He really believed inNewfoundland, he believed in being aNewfoundlander first and Canadian sec-ond.”

That much is reflected in Walter’swritten words — and his determinationto share them with a new generation ofNewfoundlanders and Labradorians.

Glen says he’d love to see his father’smanuscript published — and believesthe right time will come.

“Like for any book, there has to be atime and a place for it and I think maybewe’re not ready for that yet,” he says.

“If all of a sudden a debate started torage about Confederation … we got alittle of that with Danny Williams andthe flag flap and the accord and all that,when people started to look at whatwe’ve become in terms of the family ofprovinces.

“That kind of situation leads to debateand discussion and scrutiny of how wecame to be part of the country.

“Maybe down the road there will be atime and a place.”

“I was in the elements, and continu-ously wet … And I was laying on thesteps to the Conference Centre and apolice cruiser pulls up and he says ‘Youwant to go to the hospital?’ and I said‘Sure.’”

Cherniwchan says earlier attempts toget him to seek medical attention failed.

“They had tried to make me and Irevolted. But by the time I was layingout there prostrate for six weeks, Ithought it was about time I got someindoor … you know … your personal… how do you call it? … Ambience?”

He doesn’t finish the thought, dis-tracted by a kind nod from a fellowpatient. It is understood that at his age,six weeks outdoors didn’t do him anygood.

Born and raised in Smoky Lake,Alta., Cherniwchan was the son ofUkrainian immigrants. After a stint inthe army cadets, he joined the CanadianArmed Forces, and was stationed inBritish Columbia, where he served withan anti-aircraft artillery unit. His spe-cialty was radar instruction.

Cherniwchan was married, but afterhis marriage ended, he decided to takeup the life of a hobo. He cites politicalreasons, among others, for his choice.

“I was a Communist when I was 30years old, living in the city ofEdmonton, and I found out the city wasinfiltrated by real Nazis — and I amtalking the government.

“In 1971, I decided to leave and notcome back. I knew I would not go back.That’s the main reason I became a hobo… You can use the word ‘persecution,’but I like to think it more (as) extralegal measures to keep this fella frombeing any threat to the right wing, red-neck, political climate of the provinceof Alberta. And you can quote me …the thing is, if you are a Communist inAlberta, you’re finished.”

For the past 17 years, Cherniwchanhas been a resident of downtown St.John’s. In past weeks he has been the

subject of wild rumours: that he haddied, that he had returned to his family,that he had moved. Well aware of thethe speculation, one rumour particular-ly amuses him.

“The thing is, I’ve been what, 17years on the street here?” he asks.“Everyone still thinks I’m a million-aire.”

Had he indeed passed on,Cherniwchan offers a possible epitaph:“Billionaire, millionaire and deadhobo.”

He remains philosophical. “Youknow as you get older, you don’t reallymind your mortality,” he says. “Whenyou get older, you accept you are facedwith mortality. Besides, I beat the odds— three score and 10 — I’ve beatenthat by three years already, and I mighteven beat it by another three years, whoknows?”

Cherniwchan admits he hasn’t madeplans past his hospital stay.

“I have a number of … alternatelocations,” he says thoughtfully. He hadentertained the idea of moving back toMontreal, where he lived for manyyears, but has decided he probablywon’t.

“There is a saying that once youleave a town, don’t come back. Andthere’s some validity to it.”

Cherniwchan is touched so manyhave been kind during his time in hos-pital. The staff, he says, are experts inTLC. He wonders if plans are beingmade on his behalf for a place to live.

“I have a sneaking suspicion thatthey are going to try and get me intosome establishment — a nursinghome?”

Ebullient, charming, and smart inbright shirt, suspenders, and newlytrimmed beard and hair, Cherniwchanwould be a welcome addition to anysuch residence.

He prepares to pose for a picture, butit quickly becomes evident he knows agreat deal about the camera, offeringadvice on the aperture and exposure fordirect sun.

“How do I look?” he asks.“The word I am going to use,” comes

the response, “is distinguished.”Posing in the hot morning sun,

Cherniwchan smiles slyly. Out of thecorner of his mouth he says, “and theword I’m going to use is extinguished.”

Not yet, and if his good humour andpersonal warmth are anything to go by,not for years to come.

2 • INDEPENDENTNEWS JULY 23, 2006

‘Everyone thinks I’m a millionaire’

From page 1

From page 1

‘Canadians everywhere have little reason to be proud’

Bill Cherniwchan Nycki Temple-Delisle/For The Independent


On Sept. 12, 1775 a hurricane blewinto eastern Newfoundland, layingwaste to everything in its path. It

caught the entire fishing fleet of easternNewfoundland unaware as it was preparingto sail back to Europe.

Loaded to the gunnels with salt fish, wait-ing in their home harbours for favourablewinds, the fishermen and their boats weresitting ducks. Four thousand peopledrowned. Many more were left homeless ormarooned, their supplies ruined, facing along and bitter winter with little hope ofrelief. No one had any warning.

The province will have plenty of warningif such a storm is to happen again, but thereare still questions to be asked as the “hurri-cane season” approaches. Could the condi-tions that spawned that tragic storm be brew-ing off our shores again? Would we be pre-pared for it?

This might sound alarmist, were it not forHurricane Katrina and its aftermath. The cit-izens of New Orleans and elsewhere in thesouthern States had plenty of warning. Withmodern weather predictions, and high-techgraphics that showed in real time theadvance of the storm, one of the largest citiesin the United States was still wiped out,many of its citizens left destitute and help-less.

The factors that generated the hurricane of1775 and others of its time will remain his-torical speculation, due to a lack of hard sci-entific data. But now quite a bit is knownabout these storms — and some of the datapoints to this year being a troublesome onefor residents of Newfoundland and Labrador,especially those who live on the east coast.

The American National Oceanic andAtmospheric Administration (NOAA) pre-dict 2006 will be a very active hurricane sea-son. The North Atlantic hurricane seasonusually runs from June 1 through Nov. 30.As NOAA stated in a recent press release:

“For the 2006 north Atlantic hurricane sea-son, NOAA is predicting 13 to 16 namedstorms, with eight to 10 becoming hurri-canes, of which four to six could become‘major’ hurricanes of Category 3 strength orhigher.”

That’s not a record-breaker like 2005 (28storms, including 15 hurricanes), but it isstill serious.

Hurricanes tend to start in the south andmove northwards — and that’s when theycan become our problem.

The good news: Newfoundland is sur-rounded by cold water, and hurricanes —which derive their energy from warm water— tend to dissipate over colder water.

The bad news: this year, the water south ofNewfoundland is warmer than usual. Thiscould be a cause for concern. With this cor-ridor of warmer water, a hurricane could dis-sipate at a slower rate, perhaps stayingstronger longer, and hitting us harder.

Could we be looking at a Katrina-typestorm? AMEC meteorologist StephenGreene says it’s possible — but isn’t likely.

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians haveto understand a few basic facts about theweather in this part of the world, Greene cau-tions. Newfoundlanders are used to badweather. The people are hardy, says Greene,“and that is absolutely true when it comes tothe weather. We are used to having bigstorms — primarily in the winter — big

major storms that would pretty much shutdown anywhere else in North America.”

He says one of our winter storms can becomparable to a tropical storm, except theprecipitation is solid instead of liquid.“Look, for example, the storm we had lastyear: 76 centimetres of snow, winds up to120 kilometres per hour, gusting up to 140kph — 140 kph is a hurricane.”

This province does have more experiencewith bad weather than many. Although badweather doesn’t faze us, Anna Power, man-ager of community development for theNewfoundland and Labrador regional officeof the Canadian Red Cross, says we shouldall ensure we are prepared.

“If individuals themselves are prepared, itsignificantly reduces the impact (a disaster)would have on the family and the communi-ty as a whole.”

Power stresses it’s important to be readyfor any contingency. Simple things like extrafood, a supply of clean water, extra batteries,a radio and other basic essentials ensure peo-ple will be comfortable until a bad situationgets better.

Besides the food, clothing and shelter theRed Cross provides in troubled times, Powerstresses the organization’s communicationsprograms.

“One of the big things that causes anextreme amount of stress for people is thatthey watch the news … and all of a suddenthey think of their loved ones,” she says.

“Communications systems are often downand they don’t know how to track a persondown. The Red Cross has established linkswhere we can register people and people cancall to any Red Cross office across the coun-try, or for that matter anywhere around theworld, and they can track down people ifthey are registered with us.”

The Red Cross is one of a network of like-minded organizations, such as the provincialgovernment’s Emergency MeasuresOrganization and the Salvation Army, whosestaff and volunteers are ready to help out intimes of trouble.

JULY 23, 2006 INDEPENDENTNEWS • 3

Cardiac wait times same as last year

A weekly collection of Newfoundlandia

Under the did-you-know category, the July/August issueof Saltscapes, which bills itself as Canada’s East CoastMagazine, includes an article, Three Rs by Rail, about

the School Car, which started life in Newfoundland as a privatecar for visiting Lord Northcliffe, founder of the Anglo-Newfoundland Development Company, and became a school-house for dozens of kids from Placentia Junction to CodroyPond.

Writer Robin Gillingham says the late Frank Moores (muchbetter known for his later stint as premier) was the first teacherin the school car, a travelling classroom for children in isolatedrural communities during the late 1930s and early ’40s. The con-struction of the railway in 1881 led to the expansion of the tim-ber industry, which, in turn, led to the birth of remote communi-ties by railway and forestry workers.

“These settlements had few government services and the chil-dren had no prior form of schooling,” the article reads. “Thetravelling school proved to be a hit from the very beginning,with nine students attending on opening day — despite a bliz-zard. For the next six years, the School Car travelled the railsproviding school services to 13 communities, through not allwere served each year.”

In June 1941, Moores, who worked in the school car from1936-41, apparently left teaching for more profitable work con-structing the Newfoundland Airport (at Gander).

AIRPORT TERMSSpeaking of Gander, news broke this week that the town’s air-

port — known for years as the “Crossroads of the world” —may declare bankruptcy or close unless the federal governmentsteps in with financial help. Military aircraft, which account forhalf of the airport’s traffic, don’t have to pay landing fees, result-ing in a $2-million a year loss for the Gander Airport Authority.

The authority is after the federal Conservative government tolive up to a pre-election promise to compensate it for the revenueit loses from free military landings. It just so happens that theGander airport is mentioned in the Terms of Union — Term 31actually, under the heading “miscellaneous provisions.” Quote:“At the date of Union, or as soon thereafter as practicable,Canada will take over the following services and will as from thedate of Union relieve the Province of Newfoundland andLabrador of the public costs incurred in respect of each servicetaken over, namely … civil aviation, including Gander Airport.”

But then that may not mean much — the first item on the listof things to be taken over by Ottawa was the railway.

BEATLEMANIAGander airport is one historic place — The Beatles first set

foot on North American soil in the central Newfoundland town.Frank Sinatra tried to butt in line at the bar and was asked to waithis turn. Jackie O., Churchill, Khrushchev, Marlene Dietrich, theking of Sweden, Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe, JamesDean, Marlon Brando, Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley allstopped by the terminal at one point or another …

SEA STORIESWhile on the topic of famous people … writer Kenneth J.

Harvey sure gets nominated for some interesting awards. TheTown That Forgot How To Breathe has been nominated forItaly’s Libro del Mare. The award is presented each year to theauthor of the best book about the sea. Harvey is up against nineothers, although he definitely stands out, considering he’s theonly Newfoundlander/English author.

OMAHA’S WILD KINGDOMThe World-Herald newspaper of Omaha, Nebraska published

a story July 17 on how local eateries are backing a boycott ofCanadian fish products in retaliation for the seal hunt. TheFlatiron Café is one of 13 Omaha restaurants and caterers to joina U.S. boycott of Canadian seafood in a bid to end the hunt. Butnot everyone’s on board.

“So I’m supposed to turn around and punish (my suppliers),other small businessmen, for the small percentage of people whoactually go out and do this harm to these animals?” asked RonSamuelson, another Omaha restaurant owner. “If you boycottCanadian seafood for the seals, do you boycott veal? Chickens,if they’re not free-range? Foie gras? You could make an argu-ment against anything on the menu.”

Desmond McGrath, who describes himself as “aNewfoundland patriot living in socio-economic exile in the bay-ous of Louisiana,” forwarded a copy of the story to local news-rooms. No word on whether Des is any relation to the goodFather Des of fishermen’s union fame …

BOTTOMING OUTThe Toronto Star carried an unusual column this week,

Newfoundland hits Rock Bottom.“The only thing that keeps Newfoundland going these days is

duelling literary festivals, one on the island’s west coast, one onthe east coast, but otherwise identical. This distresses the one ortwo forward-looking citizens in the province who still hold outsome hope for The Rock’s future,” writes columnist JoeySlinger.

“For one thing, the Woody Point festival is dedicated to theproposition that ‘I’s the b’y that writes the book, and youse theb’ys that reads ’er,’ while the Eastport festival theme is ‘I’s theb’y that writes the book, and youse the b’ys that reads ’er.’

The problem facing these literary events is the same as theprovince faces with all its other resources: Newfoundland is run-ning thin on writers. Festival participants must dash back andforth, and with the famous Bullet no longer operating they areleft with no alternative but to hitchhike.”

[email protected]

Are you ready?This could be a big year for hurricanes — even here in Newfoundland and Labrador

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SCRUNCHINS

The wait time for cardiac surgeries inSt. John’s is on average with lastyear, says Norma Baker, program

director of cardiac critical care withEastern Health.

The wait-time benchmark is six months,

although Baker says 80 per cent ofpatients don’t have to wait that long. As ofJune’s end, 86 people were on the waitinglist — a list that stretched to as many as300 two or three years ago, which led tosome patients being sent to the mainland

for surgery.The number of procedures taking place

a week during the summer months standsat around 12, compared to 16 for the restof the year.

— The Independent

“If individuals themselves are prepared, it significantly

reduces the impact (a disaster)would have on the family andthe community as a whole.”

Anna Power of theCanadian Red Cross

have a minute when it didn’t.”In 2003, Revenue Canada offered the

group of 132 retired fishermen — whohad retained a lawyer — a new methodof assessing income received from theAtlantic Groundfish Licence RetirementProgram. Each fisherman in the groupreceived substantial refunds of incometax paid, on the condition that they sign astatement of secrecy.

The new method of assessment meantthat instead of a 75 per cent capital gainon a $120,000 buyout, the assessedincome of the small group dropped to$17,013.00. Instead of paying over$24,000 in taxes to the Harveys and2,000 others, the group paid closer to$2,000 in income tax.

The bottom line: they kept most of themoney they got for their licences.

“Now, fair is fair, and that wasn’t,”Elizabeth declares. “You can’t give toone and not to others, we all fished thesame waters, and the tax laws are all thesame for one and all, you just can’t dothat, it’s not right.”

Elizabeth started a campaign, callingopen-line programs and contacting

politicians directly. She collected 972names of fishermen who were “rippedoff” by Revenue Canada.

Seven hundred of them are ready tomove forward with legal action, and theremaining 272 probably will — if theycan be found. “Some have died since,”she explains. “Others are working awayand they haven’t heard yet, but they will,I’m sure they will,” she says.

Two months ago, Harvey got the atten-tion of St. John’s lawyer Eli Baker. OnJuly 20, Baker filed action in the federalcourt to force the Minister of NationalRevenue to rule on the objections raisedby hundreds of the province’s fishermenwho retired in 1999 and 2000. Bakerbelieves the fishermen are potentiallyowed millions of dollars lost throughunfair taxing.

“It should be called the fishermen’srip-off program instead of the fisher-men’s retirement program,” says Baker.“Imagine the shock of a fisherman whenhe or she was promised $120,000 andreceived only $60,000 for giving up per-manently their means of livelihood.”

When word started to spread aboutthese so-called secret deals, Baker saysretired fishermen began placing calls to

Revenue Canada. All received the sameresponse — that their files would bereviewed. That was two years ago, and sofar there has been no answers.

“Revenue Canada would have putthese people off, till they died and didn’thave a voice at all. It looks like (RevenueCanada’s) favourite thing to do is rob theNewfoundland fisherman,” he says.

“Some of these fishermen are now onsocial assistance. They need to insulatetheir houses, fix their roofs and it’s notfair that the money that they should havehad to do this with was ripped awayfrom them. I’m going to go get that forthem.”

Baker hopes legal action will get theanswers so many are waiting for.

“We can have this settled before firstsnowfall,” he says. “They (RevenueCanada) shouldn’t have had this moneyin the first place and (the money) justneeds to go from the hands that shouldn’tto the hands that should — the fisher-man. Two hundred and fifty million dol-lars were made available for this programand $125 million of that was taken back.I want that money back in those fisher-men’s hands, with no negative effects.

“And I want it with interest.”


Little hope for fixing fiscal imbalance: economistBy Nadya BellThe Independent

While Canadian premiers arehopeful they’ll find a solu-tion to the fiscal imbalance

in their upcoming meetings, an econo-mist says there is little hope for anagreement.

“It’s not going to be a pretty sight,”says Hugh Mackenzie of the CanadianCentre for Policy Alternatives. “Insome respects we know way too muchabout the details of the way this formu-la works, so it would be a shock if theycame up with any kind of consensus.”

Premiers from every province andterritory are scheduled to meet in St.John’s July 27-28 to discuss equaliza-tion and the fiscal imbalance, amongother issues.

Admitting the existence of a fiscalimbalance, Prime Minister Stephen

Harper has said the federal governmentis taking too much money fromCanadians, and should re-direct someof those funds back to the provinces.

The provinces have not agreed onhow the imbalance should be fixed —through changes to equalization, feder-al transfer payments, or transfers offederal tax authority.

“Every province has done the num-ber crunching on the various optionsand priorities and knows exactly whatthe implications are for that provincespecifically,” Mackenzie says.

His recent report on the fiscal imbal-ance says the provinces have lost moremoney from their own competitive taxcuts than from reductions in federaltransfers.

As the new chair of the council of thefederation, Williams says he’s opti-mistic a solution can be found.

“There is the makings here of a con-

sensus. I think there is enough good-will, there is enough broad understand-ing that everybody has legitimate inter-ests,” Williams said after meeting withOntario Premier Dalton McGuinty lastweek.

“The ideal solution would be that ifwe can come up with a national solu-tion that is principals based, that is longterm and visionary.”

The Council of the Federation lastmet in Edmonton, and was unsuccess-ful at making any progress on eitherequalization or the fiscal imbalance.

In June, the O’Brien report on equal-ization, which proposed a limit on howmuch provinces should receive underequalization, was opposed by Williams.

If the premiers are unable to come upwith a consensus by the time they meetwith the federal government in the fall,Ottawa may impose a solution to thefiscal imbalance.

“The best that the premiers can hopefor is that they can produce anothertopic that they can say they talkedabout,” Mackenzie says.

The Council of the Federation meet-ing is followed by a number of lobbygroups hoping for an opportunity totalk with the premiers.

The Canadian Federation of Nurses’Unions is meeting on Wednesdaymorning in the Fairmont hotel to talkabout health care issues, including thenational labour shortage.

“We’re there to remind the premiersthat healthcare is still the No. 1 issuefor Canadians,” says Pam Foster fromthe federation. “We believe that it is animportant moment to put things on thepremiers’ agenda.”

Code Blue Childcare campaign isplanning a demonstration Thursdaymorning outside the Fairmont Hotel toget the premiers’ attention.

Nancy Peckford of the CanadianFeminist Alliance for InternationalAction will also be in St. John’s. Shesays discussion on the fiscal imbalanceinvolves the re-negotiation of the fiscalterms of the Canadian federation.

“We want to ensure that there is anappropriate sharing of responsibilitybetween the federal and provincial gov-ernment on social programs and servic-es that are significant to women. Wedon’t want women to loose out in thisprocess.”

Other issues on the agenda for thepremiers include economic opportuni-ties and challenges across the countryand healthy living. They may also dis-cuss post-secondary education andskills, energy, transportation and globalpressures on traditional resource indus-tries such as fish and forestry.

[email protected]

‘Revenue Canada would have put these people off till they died’

SHIPPINGNEWS

Keeping on eye on the comings andgoing of the ships in St. John’sHarbour. Information provided by theCoast Guard Traffic Centre.

SATURDAYVessels Arrived: Atlantic Eagle,Canada, from Terra Nova.Vessels Departed: Trinity Sea,Canada, to White Rose; MaerskDispatcher, Canada to White Rose;Cicero, Canada, to Halifax.

SUNDAYVessels Arrived: Oceanex Avalon,Canada, from Montreal; DoubleHaven, Cayman Islands, from St.Bride’s; Maersk Nascopie, Canada,from Hibernia; Atlantic Hawk,Canada, from White Rose.Vessels Departed: Atlantic Eagle,Canada to Terra Nova.

MONDAYVessels Arrived: Atlantic Eagle,Canada, from Terra Nova; CapeFortune, Canada, from Arnold’s Cove;Caps Keltic, Canada, from sea.Vessels Departed: Oceanex Avalon,Canada, to Montreal.

TUESDAYVessels Departed: Atlantic Hawk,Canada, to White Rose; Atlantic

Eagle, Canada, to Terra Nova.

WEDNESDAYVessels Arrived: Sir Wilfred Grenfell,Canada, from Dartmouth; AtlanticEagle, Canada, from Terra Nova;George R. Pearkes, Canada, from sea. Vessels Departed: Double Haven,Cayman Islands, to Newman Sound;Maersk Dispatcher, Canada, to sea.

THURSDAYVessels Arrived: Jean Charcot, Britain,from sea; Maersk Chancellor, Canada,from Bay Roberts; Maersk Dispatcher,Canada, from Terra Nova; AtlanticOsprey, Canada, from White Rose;RRS Discovery, Britain, from Ireland;Cabot, Canada, from Montreal;Atlantic Jet, France, from St. Pierre;Acadian, Canada, from Dartmouth.Vessels Departed: Maersk Chancellor,Canada, to Bay Roberts.

FRIDAYVessels Arrived: Anticosti, Canada,from sea; Cicero, Canada, fromHalifax; Wilfred Templeman, Canada,from sea; Burin Sea, Canada, fromTerra Nova.Vessels Departed: Maersk Chancellor,Canada, to Terra Nova; Cabot,Canada, to Montreal; Acadian,Canada, to Searsport.

Lawyer Eli Baker Paul Daly/The Independent

From page 1


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To strike or not to strike,nurses’ union weighs optionsBy Ryan ClearyThe Independent

The union representing the province’s5,000 nurses may have hit the wall incontract negotiations with the provin-

cial government, but Debbie Forward isn’tprepared to talk strike just yet.

“Obviously everybody’s asking the ques-tion, ‘Will there be a nurses’ strike?’” saysForward, president of the Newfoundland andLabrador Nurses’ Union. “We’re not in alegal position right now to take a strike vote.Legislation has to be complied with, essen-tial services have to be negotiated. None ofthat is done.”

In fact, Forward isn’t prepared to even talkabout the time line leading up to possible jobaction. “There are so many unknowns aroundthat,” she tells The Independent. “That’snever a process that we enter into lightly, andso we’re going to take this time to make surethat we evaluate everything about where weare and then make some decisions.Obviously the first people who know will benurses.”

Negotiations between the province andnurses’ union broke off July 6 when govern-ment laid its final offer on the table. Thethree-year deal includes a 0 per cent payincrease in the first year (retroactive to July1, 2005), another three per cent effective thisJuly, and a final three per cent in July 2007.

As well, government wants to cut sickleave in half for new nurses. The provincewas prepared to invest $325,000 in the edu-cation leave fund and potentially invest in theunfunded liabilities of the Public ServicePension Plan.

Finance Minister Loyola Sullivan has saidmoney is a factor, meaning nurses have beenoffered the same package as other unions,including teachers.

The Newfoundland and Labrador MedicalAssociation, representing the province’s doc-tors, signed a memorandum of understanding

with government this past February.The four-year deal gives doctors a pay

increase similar to the package given to othergovernment workers. At the same time, theglobal cap on the doctors’ fee-for-servicebudget was eliminated. Other improvementsto their agreement will see the physicianservices budget increase by $18 million inthe final year of the deal.

Forward says doctors were treated differ-ently.

“Government keeps talking about how thedoctors got the same salary increase and gaveup their sick leave, but our contention is thatthere were issues that physicians wantedaddressed in their memorandum of under-standing that government did address,” shesays.

“Government can’t keep ignoring usfalling behind, so far behind the rest of thecountry it’s getting laughable and it’s insult-ing to nurses.”

WORST PAIDThe nurses’ union recently prepared an

information package for its membership. Theunion predicts nurses in this province willsoon be the worst paid in Atlantic Canada,and second lowest-paid in the country.

As of June 2005, Newfoundland andLabrador nurses at the top of the pay scalemade $28.28 an hour, compared to nurses inNova Scotia who will make $30.71 an hourwhen their contract expires this October.New Brunswick nurses will make $31.49 anhour by December 2007.

Nurses in this province already have thelowest weekend, evening and night-shift pre-miums in the country — 33 cents an hour onnights and evenings, for example, comparedto $3 an hour in PEI.

“Our priority is to negotiate,” reads thehandout from the nurses’ union. “We are notprepared to take job action at this point intime, however we must keep this optionopen.”

Under the microscope


One hundred and twenty two people, somedead, will have their expense claims audit-ed in the next few months by auditor gen-

eral John Noseworthy. On July 19, Speaker of the House Harvey

Hodder announced Noseworthy was being asked tolook at the spending of every MHA since 1989 —the year the constituency allowance was brought in.

In the past few weeks, Noseworthy has releasedfive reports, alleging millions in questionablespending — including overspending by fourMHAs. Two weeks ago, Noseworthy stepped outof the media spotlight, saying further investigationwould be carried out by the RNC.

With Hodder’s recent announcement,Noseworthy once again faces a large, and potential-ly explosive, project.

Based on the assumption expense claims werefiled annually — for each of the past 16 years —the auditor general face approximately 700 individ-ual audits — not including the Williams adminis-tration.

While no chartered accountant contacted by TheIndependent wouldo go on the record, several spec-ulated the auditor general faces a big task — partic-ularly considering the claims go back before theadvent of electronic records.

Hodder has asked Noseworthy to file a report inNovember.

Hodder acknowledges these issues have beendiscussed by government.

“At the moment we have had some tentative dis-cussions on that matter,” he tells The Independent.“To date he has not requested additional resources,but if he should, the Internal Economy Commissionwill address that issue at that time.”

In regards to the short time-line of the task,Hodder again defers to the auditor general’s discre-tion.

“It might be done in various phases,” he says.“That’s really for him to decide. There may be cer-tain parts of the report he can have available byNovember.”

PAPER RECORDSHodder says government is aware of the practi-

cal issues concerning the work — but, he adds, therecords do exist.

“There may be some issue involved in the firstseveral years, but for the most part the rest of theyears are available electronically.”

Hodder doesn’t predict any problems with theauditor general completing his work alongside anon-going police investigation.

“We’ve consulted with legal advice, and wehave consulted also with the RNC and its seniormanagement and we have consulted with themanagement team for the investigation and ...there is deemed to be no prejudicial effect thatwould effect the investigation.”

Noseworthy has declined comment untilMonday, July 24, when he plans to hold a pressconference to provide details on the additionalaudit work.

The expense claimsof all members of theHouse of Assemblysince 1989 will beexamined:

Wally AndersenWilliam Andersen IIIJoan Marie AylwardKevin AylwardRobert AylwardWinston BakerPercy BarrettJulie BettneyCharles BrettJoan BurkeRoland ButlerEdward J. ByrneJack ByrnePerry CanningNick CareenWalter C. CarterFelix CollinsRandy CollinsPatt CowanJohn CraneChris DeckerDave DeninePaul DicksNorman DoyleShannie DuffDanny DumaresqueKathy DunderdaleJohn EffordRoger FitzgeraldGraham FlightJudy M. Foote

Clayton ForseyBob FrenchTerry FrenchChuck FureyRex GibbonsDave GilbertGlenn C. GreeningRoger GrimesKathy GoudieAubrey GoverEric GullageHarry HardingJack HarrisLoyola HearnTom HeddersonAlvin HewlettJohn HickeyHarvey HodderJim HodderMary HodderWilliam HoganBud HulanRay HunterBarry HynesClyde JackmanCharlene JohnsonYvonne J. JonesEddie JoyceJim KellandSandra C. KellyHubert KitchenOliver LangdonTom LushMike MackeyFabian Manning Lloyd G. MatthewsWilliam Matthews

Elizabeth MarshallTom MarshallErnest McLeanRobert MercerThomas MurphyWalter NoelKevin O’BrienE. Douglas OldfordPaul OramSheila OsborneTom OsborneJohn OttenheimerKelvin ParsonsKevin ParsonsMelvin PenneyCharles PowerWilliam RamsayArt ReidGerry ReidBob RidgleyThomas G. RideoutEdward RobertsPaul ShelleyLarry ShortLeonard SimmsShawn SkinnerHarold SmallGerald Smith

Alec SnowLloyd SnowAnthony SparrowLoyola SullivanK. George SweeneyTrevor TaylorGlen TobinBrian TobinAnna ThistleR. Beaton TulkLynn E. VergeGary VeyDanny WilliamsH. Neil WindsorJim WalshGarfield WarrenPhilip WarrenClyde WellsDon WhalenDianne WhalenSam WinsorRalph WisemanRoss WisemanRick WoodfordKay YoungWallace Young

YEARS PREMIER SEATS

1989 – 1993 Clyde Wells 521993 - 1996 Clyde Wells 521996 - 1999 Brian Tobin 481999 - 2003 Brian Tobin

Beaton TulkRoger Grimes 48

Auditor general John Noseworthy Paul Daly/The Independent

122 current and former MHAs to be examined in auditor general’s new probe


Connecting the dotsIdisagree completely with people

who compare our current politicalstate to a banana republic or

Mexico. If that were the case, I’d bedead in a ditch.

The goons wouldn’t even bother tohide my remains in the woods, which,on a positive note, would save theConstabulary some time and expense.They’ve got enough half-buriedcorpses in the forest to deal with as it is.My body would be found right there onthe side of the road for barefoot kids tosee when they walk by searching for adrop of clean water.

That’s what happens when reportersget aggressive in Third World coun-tries. Thankfully, I live in Town, wherethere aren’t so many open ditches totempt the political powers that be.

First, to the misdeed …Why would a paper question Danny

and the good he does for charity?Whose business is it how the premierspends his paycheque? It’s his money.

Didn’t Harvey Hodder just threatenThe Independent with a lawsuit for thefront-page numbers the paper printedon MHA spending? Must be a vendetta.Must be a way to get the premier andhis crowd back for unleashing theirdowntown lawyers on us. The premiergives his money away — MHAs spend

government cash. Big difference, don’t you know? That kind of reporting isn’t journal-

ism so much as the stuff NationalEnquirer minds want to know. Aren’tthere more important things to investi-gate than dirt?

The ongoing political scandal comesdown to transparency. The cash distrib-uted by the premier’s personal charity— even though it’s his own — alsocomes down to transparency.

Transparency is the line that connectsthe dots.

In the case of MHAs, every singleone of the 122 elected since 1989 hashad a pot of money, a constituencyallowance/expense account, to dip into.There weren’t many controls to speakof — politicians could spend the moneyhowever they wished. To date, four ofthem are accused of severely over-spending or spending on themselves.How many more will there be by thetime the auditor general digs back 17years? How many politicians are quak-

ing in their patent leather shoes?The one time the AG’s office took a

peek at expenses back in 2000, officialsfound wine and artwork billed to con-stituency allowances. But then the AGwas kicked out of the House faster thanEd Byrne can draw up a resignation let-ter.

The scandal wouldn’t have happenedif there was transparency — if theexpenses were accounted for in an openbook.

As for the premier’s pay, the moneyis his — he works damn hard for it, noone questions that. But part of Danny’sreputation is built on his generosity, onthe fact he’s a successful businessmanand doesn’t need the money, on the facthe gives his salary to charity. He madethat known from the get-go.

Given Danny’s rank, shouldn’t athird party keep an eye on where andhow the $150,000 a year is doled out?Just to ensure there are no conflicts,perceived or otherwise. The purpose oflast week’s Charity case story was notto question the honesty or integrity ofthe Williams Family Foundation andthe people who run it.

Danny is the premier — consideringthe office, how and exactly where hehands out tens of thousands of dollars,as honourable as that may be, must be

transparent. Look at it another way. Before enter-

ing politics, Danny sold his company,Cable Atlantic, for $232 million. Hehas an enormous list of holdings andproperties and other investments.

But that’s his personal fortune —why is it the public’s business whathappens with it? Why should the pre-mier be made to keep his personal port-folio under the thumb of a blind trust?The interests are his and his alone.

The simple answer: to avoid possibleconflict of interest … so the premierdoesn’t personally benefit as a result ofmoves he makes while in office.

Same holds true for the salary hegives away. The fact that the only peo-ple who can answer questions about theWilliams Family Foundation are in thepremier’s office is a problem in itself.At the very least the foundation shouldbe arm’s length. It is not.

Transparency, there’s that dirty wordagain.

It will be interesting to hear whatChuck Furey, the commissioner ofmembers’ interests, the province’sMHA watchdog, has to say about thepremier’s charity. We would haveasked Chuck this week but he wasaway on vacation.

Danny made the right move this

week to allow the AG back in again, toallow John Noseworthy to finish thejob he started. If we’ve learned onething about the man, Mr. Noseworthytells it like it is. His work (if he’s notrestricted in any way) will be as goodas an inquiry, without the months ofdistraction.

Noseworthy will have his work cutout — reviewing the expense accountsof every MHA, past and present, goingback to Clyde Wells’ day.

Should be a hell of a report — prob-ably good with a bottle or two of wine.Not the expensive stuff, mind you.

The review of MHA compensationby Justice Derek Green should also bea fascinating read. Our political systemhas been in need of a complete over-haul for decades, including a reductionin MHA ranks. Communities have lostchurches, banks, schools, fish plants,families … why should politicians besacred?

Newfoundland and Labrador is inneed of a new breed of politician.Attitudes must change; expectationsmust change. To misquote the greatJohn F. — ask not what your provincecan do for you, but you can do for yourprovince. And for God’s sake, don’tshoot a guy for pointing that out.

[email protected]

When you think about it,Newfoundland and Labra-dor, along with most other

Canadian provinces, is little more thana glorified colony to the great Ontariometropolis, with the exception ofQuebec that is.

Quebec’s great struggle for inde-pendence — though not yet successfulin its primary objective — has resultedin a situation where the rest of thecountry has wound up sitting on thesidelines of a battle of the titans. A bat-tle for the biggest bone of them all, whowill eventually be the top dog in a two-dog fight and who gets to pick the car-cass of Canada clean.

With 308 seats in the House ofCommons and 181of those in Quebecand the big O, it doesn’t take RexMurphy or even Rex Goudie to figureout where that leaves the rest of us. In anutshell, the boys’ club is full and theyaren’t taking any new members. In thatcontext, Newfoundland and Labrador’sseven seats don’t even register on theOttawa radar and as long as thecolonies keep the supplies pouring in,everyone who really matters in thisdominion will be contented and maybe,just maybe, they won’t crush us forsport.

As things stand, the role of the otherCanadian provinces, or as I prefer tocall us, the colonies, is little more thanthat of supplier to the great insatiableappetite of central Canada.

The purpose of good old Newfound-land and Labrador, as it is with theother colonies, is to supply iron, nickel,uranium, gold and copper to satiate theappetite of the great smelters ofmetropolis. We are here to cut downforests so they can build their multi-million dollar hobbit holes and ensurethat the great Ontario court has a steadysupply of paper for their “national”newspapers and personal toiletryneeds, both of which are interchange-able.

We are expected to suck our land andocean’s dry of every last drop of oil andgas so, as the old song used to say, “…their derrieres won’t freeze” — likely

when they expose them for us to kiss.Oh yes, let’s not forget, we are alsoexpected to smile sweetly and bow ourheads in respect when the great metro-polites bestow upon us whatever pit-tance our unworthy slovenly selvesmight be given by their grace.

One hell of an existence, isn’t it? Oh,don’t get me wrong, it’s not all rape,pillage and plunder, no sir, not in thegreat Dominion of Canuckistan.

We hear wonderful stories from timeto time about how Newfoundland andLabrador is now second only to Albertawhen it comes to leading the nation ineconomic growth. Sounds great untilyou realize that in Newfoundland ifsomeone sells a gallon of blueberriesnear the overpass our numbers sky-rocket into uncharted territory. If wekeep our eye on the ball, who knows,some day, God willing, our revenuesmay even surpass those of a KFC out-let in Toronto. We’ll get some pat onthe head then, eh? (I hope our revenuesaren’t capped at the capacity of someOntario chicken outlet. I’ll have to lookinto that.)

Simply put, Newfoundland andLabrador has about 500,000 people, orat least we did until the latest mass exo-dus. In other words, this place has thepopulation of a small- to medium-sizedNorth American city. We have huge oiland gas reserves, a landscape that’s atourist’s dream, more mineral depositsthan my Aunt Lucy’s bathtub, enoughhydro power to supply 1,000 Sprunggreenhouses and that’s not even con-sidering the potential for a properlymanaged and rebuilt fishery, ourhuman resources and our greatestuntapped resource of all, a stubbornstreak as wide as the Atlantic. With allof those riches available to our littlecity-state, has anyone ever stopped toask the simple question: “Why the hellare we always one step ahead of the billcollector?”

Maybe it’s time for someone to askthat question. Maybe it’s time to findout if we’d be better off just sittingback and depending on the largesse ofOntario’s royalty or if we should jumpin the pool and try to sink or swim onour own.

Thanks to the creative financial man-agement of the great metropolis, thecolony of Newfoundland and Labradorcan barely survive on the pittance it’sallowed to keep.

Maybe it’s time we took a step back,took a long hard look at ourselves andcut the apron strings. Maybe we shouldjust bite the bullet, save up the damagedeposit and go get a place of our own.I’ll be happy to chip in on the groceries,help cover the lights and whatever elseI can do. Who’s with me? Hell, at leastthen if we starve to death we canalways say we did it to ourselves. It’seither that or we can continue to sit onthe couch and watch while our colonyis robbed blind before our very eyes.

So which is it, should I ask Mr.Cleary if I can place an ad for a nice bigapartment or are we simply going tolook for a good deal on a used couchthat sits half a million?

Myles Higgins is a freelance writerliving in Portugal Cove-St. Philip’s.

‘Dominion of Canuckistan’

RYAN CLEARYFightingNewfoundlander

YOURVOICEConfederation’s ‘real bullies’Dear editor,

It seems the editors of The Globeand Mail are upset at DannyWilliams. For months now they havebeen whining about the premier forbeing too aggressive and unreason-able with ExxonMobil. On July 14they even accused him of being abully. How the premier of “Canada’spoorest province,” a place that isbeing gradually depopulated, couldbully one of the largest corporationsin the world, with profits last year of$34 billon, is beyond my comprehen-sion. Nonetheless, The Globe editori-al ended with: “Such bullying will notscare the oil industry or ensure thatNewfoundland gets a better deal. It’stime for the premier to change tacticsand stop acting as if everyone wereout to rob his province of its due.”

To me, this says more about thepeople making the statement than itdoes about the person being accused.The Globe is supposed to be Canada’s“national newspaper,” and these peo-ple are supposed to be Canadians, yethere they are apparently taking theside of a foreign multi-national corpo-ration. Perhaps I’m being too cynicaland they are just trying to be helpfuland give some good advice. If this isso, they must be suggesting thatWilliams treat Newfoundland andLabrador’s oil resources the same wayas governments of the past treatedhydro, mineral and fishery resources,

and that everything will turn outsmelling like roses. Well, if you toldthat to a dead cat it would scratch yourface off! I suspect what’s really both-ering The Globe is the fear that theirlittle empire is starting to fall apart. Inthe past the old system of the “dualmonarchy” (Ontario and Quebec)served central Canada very well. Infact it turned southern and southeast-ern Ontario (areas with few resourcesapart from mostly second- and third-rate farm land) into not only the rich-est part of Canada but also one of therichest areas in North America. Whenone considers this, you don’t have tobe that bright to figure out who are thereal bullies of the Canadian federa-tion.

If Newfoundland and Labradorcan’t reach a fair deal withExxonMobil, then I see nothingwrong with leaving the oil in theground, it’s like having money in thebank — and as long as the price ofoil keeps going up, you’re collectinginterest as well. ExxonMobil, like allbig corporations, has a need to maxi-mize profits — so they probably willcome back. If they continue to beunreasonable, Newfoundland andLabrador at some point should stoppussy footing around with these guysand start shopping around for an alter-nate company to develop the Hebronoil field.

Joe Butt,Toronto

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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The Independent is published by Independent News Ltd. in St. John’s. It is

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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in care of The Independent, P.O. Box 5891, Station C, St. John’s, NL, A1C 5X4 or e-mail us at [email protected]

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‘Dirt’ does not equal salesDear editor,

I would suggest that The Inde-pendent stick with good clean, unbi-ased journalism, rather than playingdirty and attacking the integrity ofupstanding individuals in order to“create” what they call news.Premier Danny Williams has beenkind enough to not take a salary fromgovernment and instead give thismoney to charity. I would like to askRyan Cleary and Sue Kelland-Dyerhow much they give to charity eachyear.

It is nobody’s business how anindividual chooses to spend his orher income. Mr. Williams should nothave to account for how he distrib-utes his salary. We know it goes tocharity and that should be sufficient.I wonder if Mr. Cleary or Ms.Kelland-Dyer would be willing tomake a copy of their bank statementsavailable to the public to show every-

one how they spend their income.Our premier has honourably given uphis salary, but does that automatical-ly make his charity choices publicknowledge? Last week’s article onthe premier’s charitable donationsgave no thought to the fact that someof the individuals and families thatreceived donations from Mr.Williams’ salary may wish to remainanonymous. Furthermore, I think thevery title of the article, Charity case,is derogatory and disrespectful tothose people who are less fortunatethan the rest of us. I would suggestthat you need look no further thanthis title to see why some donationrecipients would like to remainanonymous. Mr. Cleary should havelearned by now that this kind of dirtdoes not translate into sales.

Andrew Butler,St. John’s

MYLESHIGGINSGuest column

We are expected to suck our land and ocean’s dry of every last drop

of oil and gas so, as the old song used to say,

“… their derrieres won’t freeze” — likely

when they expose them for us to kiss


YOURVOICE

Dear editor,We read with extreme interest the

column Downtown life support byClare-Marie Gosse in the July 9 issueof The Independent. We agreed withevery line. However, we might con-tribute to your list by adding that tol-erance for bad behaviour in the down-town is a disgrace.

At night, anything goes on WaterStreet — urinating against storeentrances, vomiting in doorways,drunkenness, vandalism, unconsciousbodies blocking the outside of fireexits and store entrances and a com-plete tolerance for broken bottles andbeer glasses and every kind of litterand garbage one can imagine (as wellas some that one could not possiblyimagine). This is not an occasionalhappening; it occurs 365 days of theyear, particularly on weekends. Forsome reason unknown to us, both lev-els of government — provincial andmunicipal — have chosen not toenforce existing laws and regulations.

In spite of that, each of us chose toset up or move our businesses toWater Street. We have no regrets butplenty of challenges. The many prob-lems faced by business ownersincluding limited parking, derelictbuildings, etc. are offset by the enthu-siasm we and our customers have forthe unique owner-run stores that arenot to be found elsewhere in theprovince.

To highlight the advantages, wethree businesswomen launched theWalk on Water project last month. It isa drop in the bucket to what needs tobe done, but it is our particular small

contribution. Twice a week we lead awalk through the downtown, pointingout the various shops, interestingbuildings and a little sprinkle of histo-ry. We are not tour guides, but do ourbest to introduce a few facts and fig-ures about the street during eachwalk. When questions come up thatwe can’t answer, we have the answersfor the following week. The continu-ity of this fitness walk contributes tothe interest. New participants areencouraged to join us and bring theirmemories of the street. It’s great fun,and the participants go away with anew awareness of the many positivefeatures of the downtown.

Let’s hope The Independent keepsplugging away about the deficits, butwe do encourage you to see beyondthe negative and help inform the pub-lic about the many really great retailbusinesses, restaurants, galleries andyes, even bars that are the downtown.Downtown has been devastated byfire numerous times and been rebuilteach time. It has also managed tostruggle back to life after the invasionof the malls and the power centres. Aslong as there are entrepreneurs withcommitment and enthusiasm for thedowntown it will continue to grow,develop and flourish.

Walks are 10 a.m. Sundays, origi-nating from Auntie Crae’s, 272 WaterSt., and finishing at Dandelion Greenat 274 Water St.; and on Thursdays at7 p.m., originating and finishing atDetails and Designs, 151 Water St.

Mary Andrews, Details and DesignsJanet Kelly, Auntie Crae’s

Kim Thomson, Dandelion Green

Danny Williams’ relationship withthe business and corporateworlds confuses me. If you look

at it the right way, it is a little schizo-phrenic. On the one hand, he talks abouthow Newfoundland’s future depends onbusiness, expresses great confidence inbusiness, cultivates an image of being aplain man of business, has a reputationfor being respected in the business com-munity, and then does nothing but battlewith businesses. It’s a little weird.

Williams was quoted last week as say-ing he has the greatest confidence in BillBarry and the Barry Group’s ability tosave communities like Harbour Breton.Maybe Barry can do something downthere, but careful with the wording. Heain’t doing Harbour Breton any favours.

Williams knows this. That’s why he’sat war with ExxonMobil over a fairshare of our Hebron fields. Exxon exec-utives are used to a certain way of doingbusiness down here. Danny is trying tochange all that. They don’t like it, andthey are not alone. Does his confidencein business extend to our local oil indus-try, who are pressuring him to sell us allout for their fast buck? They have been

sooking and whining about the “delay,”issuing dire press releases on what will— or won’t — happen if Danny doesn’tplay nice. Are these the “business lead-ers” we are all so lucky to benefit from?

The battle Williams had with Abitibiis another classic example. Here was arapacious business organization askingfor the most outrageous concessionsfrom us in order to continue doing us thefavour of harvesting and processing ourown resources for their profit.

Why were they asking for such con-cessions? Because they have been get-ting them for decades. The premierbalked, and they were gone — with hun-dreds of people immediately out ofwork, and hundreds more faced with thestark realization that slowly but surely,they will starve and go under too.

At the time there was hell to pay. Thistime last year the premier’s craftiest

communications weasels wrote the testi-est of communiqués. The premier chas-tised the president of Abitibi, JohnWeaver, in the media, saying he and theminister responsible, Ed Byrne, were“shocked and outraged” at Abitibi’sdecision to abandon Stephenville andbegin the slow process of abandoningGrand Falls-Windsor.

“I indicated to Mr. Weaver that ourgovernment will not stand by and allowthem to devastate these communitiesthat depend on these mills for their sur-vival,” said Williams. “I sent a messageloud and clear to Mr. Weaver that wewould explore every possible option interms of what legal authority govern-ment may have over the company’swater and chartered timber rights.”

Well? One year later and Byrne is gen-erating lots of outrage on his own, thepeople of Stephenville have no mill, andwhat options have been “explored?” Iam not inferring the premier should havecaved to the likes of Abitibi. I am askingwhere does his serene confidence inbusiness come from?

But let’s not stop there. The premier’sinexplicable relationship with FPI bears

examination. Recently he has been com-plaining about the “tight control” of FPIby too few people (which is a laugh,coming from him) and has publiclymused about changing the legislation ofthe FPI Act to fix this “problem.”

Yet the infamous “free vote” onwhether FPI could sell its Americanmarketing wing showed that Williams’commitment to reigning in FPI is situa-tional at best. Is it me, or is this weird?

Now we see FPI may have been ille-gally shipping our fish to China for pro-cessing. I loved Earle McCurdy’s clear-headed quote: “The Government ofCanada didn’t allocate generousresources to FPI so it could create jobs inChina.” No kidding. Yet the moneysaved by paying poor, exploited souls inChina to process our fish goes into thepockets of the shareholders of FPI.

There is money to be made gettingfish from water to table — the battle isover who gets what for doing it?Everyone seems to agree it won’t be thepeople of Harbour Breton. Is this thebusiness acumen we are supposed toadmire?

And Inco? That’s a whole column of

its own.I could go on, but back to my point.

The current administration makes a bigdeal about being “business friendly.”They are going to cut “red tape.” Theyare going to “rebrand” the province. Weare going to be “open for business.”Sounds great.

But business seems to be a frighteningcollection of greedy, profit-mad bulliesbent on screwing every last cent fromthis place that they can, and to hell withthe environment, government regula-tions, future generations, and, for thatmatter, to hell with you and I, who col-lectively own the resources they covet.There is no leadership here. There isnothing to admire. This is unfetteredgreed.

So what I don’t quite understand is:how can the premier, who has lockedhorns with all these organizations, thenturn around and express confidence inbusiness and business “leaders?” Fromwhere I sit, he seems to be the first pre-mier in our history to protect us fromthese people.Ivan Morgan can be reached [email protected]

The premier’s serene confidence IVAN MORGANRant & Reason

REST IN PEACE

The good, the bad and the downtown

Dear editor,We greatly appreciate your interest in

the Railway Coastal Museum (not theNewfoundland Railway Museum),although museum staff raise a number ofpoints concerning the article Riding theRails in the June 25th edition. The muse-um is about both the Newfoundland rail-way and coastal boat services, the chiefmeans of transportation forNewfoundlanders for over 100 years.

The Railway Coastal Museum con-tains over 100 exhibits, including a largenumber of artifacts and models. Thewell-illustrated pictorial exhibits informvisitors about the background of the rail-way and coastal-boat services. The plat-form area presents a view inside actualcars of a Newfoundland train in the1940s.

The museum’s founders and designteam spent two years researching,

acquiring, planning and assemblingmaterial for the highly interesting sub-jects. A careful selection and double-check by highly qualified historians,exhibit-specialists, and graphic-artistsassured accuracy and validity of allexhibits.

There is no museum panel that statesH.D. Reid and his son were parked onSignal Hill to “examine their territory,”and St. John’s was not Reid’s “territory.”However, the Reid family was success-ful in developing Newfoundland’s interi-or and coastal areas. We would not referto Mr. Reid as a “business king.”

We have nothing in our exhibits tosuggest that the Reid’s were “not wellliked.” Many people felt that Reid’s con-tracts and land grants were generous. Onthe other hand, several companies beforeReid’s had been ruined on railway work.Also, for years the government refused

to grant needed increases in railwayfares to the Reid NewfoundlandCompany. The museum has never said,nor inferred, that the relationshipbetween the Reid’s and the governmentwas “shady.”

On other points about the exhibits, thefather and son seated in the coach car arenot “lower-class Newfoundlanders.” Thecoach car depicts the Trouter’s Special,which ran every May 24th weekend.

As well, the “models of upper-classNewfoundlanders” in the dining car rep-resent the dress worn by most train pas-sengers in the 1930s and ’40s. The din-ing car service featured chinaware andsilver-plate, but was not a place that onlyupper-class people could afford.

We would welcome your reporter to apersonally escorted tour of the museum.

The staff of the Railway Coastal Museum, St. John’s

Article off the rails

Dear editor,Fight on Ryan! Fight on! Keep up

the tough questions. Who cares if

someone hangs up on you? Roger Linehan,

St. John’s

Dear editor,Kudos to Bill Green, Royal

Newfie Regiment, July 16-22Independent, for keeping alive theprotest against the complicity ofsome of our people in the perpetua-tion of the derisive newfie label.After years of constant oppositionby those of us determined to preventthis denigrating invective from find-ing a respectable place in our argot,victory is at last in sight so that nowthe term is used amongst us only bythose who are lacking either inpride or in knowledge of our histo-ry. However, like a single insidiouscancer cell that escapes the assaultof chemo and radiation, it could

regenerate and re-infest the bodypolitic. Vigilance is the word. Let’skeep up the fight until the sight andsound of that ugly tag is completelybanished: repudiated to the sameextent that we repudiate any justifi-cation for its ugly origin.

There is one other comment Iwould make on Mr. Green’s letter.Whereas the Americans may havebeen guilty of using the newfie word,the term actually originated with theCanadian Home Defense assigned tothis “overseas” post, and who werehere with a chip on their shoulders. Iremember.

Lloyd C. Rees,Conception Bay South

Dear editor,FPI offers $2.66 an hour less for

wages and the FFAW, government andmedia have a panic attack — and right-ly so!

Fishers in 2006 receive a 50 per centand greater cut in prices for everythingfrom crab to caplin and all in betweenand no one bats an eye.

Curious but not unexpected, as theprocessors are cutting their slice offlesh in revenge for not getting theirway with RMS, and obviously govern-

ment’s sympathy lies with the proces-sors.

Just for example:Crab sells for 92 cents per pound —

down from $2.50 a couple of years ago.Lump sells for 90 cents — down

from $3.30 a dozen years ago.Caplin sells for 10 cents to 15 cents

— down from 80 cents a pound 13years ago. (We were paid a cent at thattime … 80 per cent female caplinfetched 80 cents a pound.)

Squid and mackerel are in great

demand, but I hear rumours of fishersbeing paid eight cents a pound for squid.

Today, with the high cost of operatinga fishing enterprise, fishers need supportfrom their union and government morethan ever, but it’s just not there.

This fall the processors will be relax-ing on the white sands of the Caribbean,while fishermen slave on the shores ofGreat Slave Lake.

End of story!David Boyd,

TwillingateKilling the ‘newfie’ cancer cells

‘Fight on’

Tide has turned

An honour guard stood at attention as Sgt. Duane Brazil's flag-draped coffin was carried into the Basilica in St. John's by civilian and militaryfamily July 20. The 39-year-old was one of three military personnel based in Greenwood, N.S. who died July 13, when their Cormorant helicop-ter went down during a routine training exercise. Paul Daly/The Independent

JULY 23, 2006 INDEPENDENTNEWS • 98 • INDEPENDENTNEWS JULY 23, 2006

If you’re lucky, in your lifetime you willhave a friend like my friend Heather. Iknew I had hit the jackpot when, at age 16,

I discovered she still had a complete collectionof Charmkins perfectly preserved in their orig-inal packaging. The box said ages four and up— but I don’t think they meant up to 16 —and we just could not resist breaking themopen and reliving a little bit of our childhood.

There are incriminating photos to prove it,although I’m not sure what is more embarrass-ing: the pink and purple little-girl jewels I’mwearing; or my spiral perm and slouch socks.

The funniest part of that day was not that wewere playing with toddler toys as teenagers,but that we grew up two doors apart and hadreally just met. Because of the denominationalschool system I, being Catholic, went to St.Kevin’s across the street. Heather had to getthe bus in St. Kevin’s parking lot to go to townfor school.

If not for some boys long forgotten, ourpaths might never have crossed. We werenever really that much alike. My worldrevolved around church youth groups and 4-H;Heather’s was Girl Guides and Pathfinders.Somehow, however, through dying our hairand sneaking into her father’s wine cellar, wefound common ground and have never lookedback.

Over the years, there were the usual neces-sary teenage dramas, but one particularly sig-nificant event was meeting a crowd of guysfrom Torbay. If you were to ask me how agroup of young girls from the Goulds got tan-gled up with a group of boys from Torbay I’mnot sure I could re-trace the steps, but restassured it started with someone meeting some-one else at the mall.

What transpired in the years to follow wasnot a fairytale romance but a typical, some-

times soap opera-esque relationship between agirl with big hair and a guy with a mullet.There were countless drives to Torbay, beforethe Outer Ring Road. There were too manynights at the Outer Limits.

There were fights and break-ups, reunionsand last waltzes at the end of the night. Beforetoo long, we all knew Heather and Paul wouldalways be Heather and Paul and there wasnothing typical about their connection.

As with any good friendship, months oftenpassed between chats for Heather and I duringthe university years — but when we did gettogether, it was always as if no time hadpassed. She has constantly been my rock, thatperson you call in a crisis even before you canthink of who to call. As I struggled to “findmyself,” she always seemed to know where Iwas. We never judged each other, just listened,accepted, cried and laughed … alwayslaughed, a lot.

And so as the giggly teenagers drifted intomemory (perm and all, thank God) Heatherand Paul’s relationship grew ever more matureand strong. They could not visit anyone with-out being asked when they were getting mar-ried. Even Heather became a little impatient,

so after a 10-year courtship, it was hardly asurprise when their engagement wasannounced.

Being private people, I wondered what theirwedding would be like. I could not picturethem sitting at a head table in front of a back-drop of pink tissue paper flowers spellingHeather & Paul, listening to speeches aboutembarrassing things they did as children andtipsy aunts and uncles singing Skin-a-mar-ink-i-dink-i-dink to get them to kiss.

I also knew Heather, being the quintessen-tial princess, would have to have somethingspecial. So we tossed around a few ideas, butit was inevitable Heather would get married inher mother‘s garden.

As the engagement was a long time in com-ing, it felt like setting the date was equallytardy, but I guess I was just anxious. I regret-ted my haste when she announced in Marchshe was getting married in July.

With four months to plan a wedding, therewas a considerable amount of work to do, foreveryone. I was nervous about getting cater-ers, flowers, hairdressers, a photographer andall the other things that are generally booked ayear or two in advance. Call it good karma or

just plain old luck, but everywhere we calledseemed to have July 8 available. And evenmore miraculously, I was much more nervousabout the details than Heather. There was no“bridezilla,” just her usual grace and style.

As the day approached and everything fellinto place, I noticed all the little details that gointo planning a small wedding. If you think aprivate affair would be less expensive, or lesswork, you could not be more wrong.Especially if you plan to have the reception inyour own home.

Heather and Paul built their dream housejust a couple of years ago, and with all thework and time they have put into making ittheir home, it was the obvious place to host theevent. Add to that Heather’s borderline anal-retentive attention to detail and this weddingpromised to be quite a time.

And it was. It was a perfect day, in weatherand everything else. It was a beautiful, person-al celebration of the love between two of themost special people I know.

I feel privileged to have been a part of it anda part of their lives. I gave them a pair of lilactrees as a wedding gift so that they can watchthem grow. It sounds a little corny, but I hopeeach spring as the lilacs bloom and the freshscent fills their garden their love will berenewed.

So now that another one of my friends hasturned that corner in her life, I am feeling thefamiliar pressure that comes when you’re dan-gerously close to 30. Even before the day wasover, people were looking at my boyfriend andI saying, “It’s your turn now.”

And who knows what life holds for us?Being one of the only unmarried girls at thewedding, Heather just handed me the bouquet,so I am hoping that is a good omen. But fornow, back to the wine cellar.

INCAMERA

Love is in the air’Tis the season for weddings, with all theexcitement, expectations, and emotionsthey bring. On July 8, Heather Deckerand Paul LeGrow tied the knot. Leslie-Anne Stephenson, best friend and maidof honour, reflects on the road to the

alter. PhotographerRhonda Haywardwas there to capturethe day.

What transpired in the yearsto follow was not a fairytale

romance but a typical, sometimes soap opera-esque

relationship between a girl withbig hair and a guy with a mullet.

Old favouritesand new friends

The stage at this year’s Newfoundland and Labrador FolkFestival will be home to both familiar faces and new ones, asthe festival plays host to an impressive variety of performers.

Among those old friends returning to the festival stage are veteran per-formers Dermot O’Reilly and Fergus O’Byrne, the well-known Irish duowho have been taken into the hearts of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.Also returning this year is popular singer-songwriter Colleen Power,known for her intriguing lyrics and unique vocal style. Fiddler ChristinaSmith combines classical training with an intuitive feel for traditional tunesthat pays homage to some of the province’s best-known musicians.

Well-known instrumentalist Kelly Russell appears on the Main Stagethis year with a program of Tales and Tunes from Pigeon Inlet, a collectionof stories and recitations inspired by his father, the late Ted Russell.Labrador’s own Harry Martin returns to bring his evocative songs of theBig Land to St. John’s audiences.

This year’s Lifetime Achievement Award Winner, Ron Hynes, is nostranger to fans here on the East Coast, across Canada and in many cornersof the world. Widely acknowledged as one of the country’s finest singer-songwriters, Ron counts Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, The Beatles andBob Dylan among his influences, and in turn countless aspiring writershave been influenced by him. Saturday evening brings a tribute to Ron inrecognition of his many contributions to the music of Newfoundland andLabrador.

“Blasts from the past” at this year’s festival include performances bylively trad band Tickle Harbour and The NSG Singers (those initials standfor “not so gifted,” but don’t you believe it – they’re great!)

New faces, appearing for the first time on the festival’s Main Stage,include gifted songstress Donna Roberts, whose highly personal songsspeak of her life in Labrador. Amelia Curran, originally from St. John’s,has built a recording and performing career in Halifax, garnering ECMAnominations for both her solo and band work.

First Nations recording artist Paul Pike is from the Mi’kmaq Nation.The musician and composer now makes his home in Alaska. Finally, Serrel’Ecoute from Quebec City bring tight, creative vocal harmonies to stiryour heart and get your feet tapping. Whether it’s the familiar faces weknow and love or new friends visiting our shores for the first time, there’ssomething for everyone at Bannerman Park this year.

See you at the festival!

First Nations recording artist Paul Pike



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Danny’s donations

Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation of St. Johns — $4,000Cerebral Palsy Association of Newfoundland — $3,500Western Regional Hospital Foundation — $2,000Labrador Creative Arts Festival Inc. — $2,000The Margaret Acreman Foundation — $2,000Brother T.I. Murphy Learning Resource Centre Inc. — $2,000School Lunch Association — $2,000Girl Guides of Canada — $1,600The Arthritis Society – Newfoundland and Labrador Division — $1,500The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Young Canadians Challenge — $1,500Jesuit Fathers of St. John’s — $1,500Alzheimer Society, Newfoundland & Labrador — $300Anglican Parish of Grand Bank — $1,000Bay D’Espoir Local Cancer Benefit — $1,000Bell Island Community Food Bank — $500Big Brothers Big Sisters, St. John’s — $500Big Brothers Big Sisters of Bay St. George — $300Humber Literacy Council — $500Canadian Guide Dogs for the Blind — $500Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation — $500Canadian Cancer Society – NL and LAB Division — $1,000Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of Canada — $500The Community Food Sharing Association Inc. — $1,000Right to Life Association — $1,500Froude Avenue Community Center — $500The Foundation for Gene and Cell Therapy (Jesse’s Journey) — $300Grand Bank Heritage Society — $1,000The Sir Edmund Hillary Foundation — $500Huntington Society of Canada — $500Catholic School Foundation of Corner Brook Inc. — $500Janeway Children’s Hospital Foundation — $1,500Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation — $500Kittiwake Dance Theatre — $1,000The Kiwanis Music Festival Association of St. John’s — $500Knights of Columbus – Mary Queen of Peace — $300Newfoundland and Labrador Lauback Literacy Council — $1,000Lion Max Simms Memorial Camp Foundation — $500The Children’s Wish Foundation of Canada – NL Chapter — $1,000MaterCare International — $500Metro Community Chaplaincy — $1,000National Sport Trust Fund — $500Newfoundland & Labrador Wildlife Federation — $500Newfoundland Snowmobile Fed – Children’s Wish — $500Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra — $1,500Newfoundland & Labrador Health and Community Services — $300Newfoundland & Labrador Down Syndrome Society — $500Royal Newfoundland Constabulary Historical Society — $1,500Realtime Cancer — $1,000Resource Centre for the Arts — $1,000RNC Veterans Association — $1,500Salvation Army — $1,500Salvation Army – Crottrell’s Cove — $1,000Seniors Resource Centre Association — $1,500Shearstown Ride for the Janeway — $200Special Olympics — $1,000St. Matthew’s School — $500St. Teresa’s Parish – Mission India — $150St. Patrick’s Parish – Catholic Women’s League — $200St. John The Apostle Parish — $1,000St. John’s Boys & Girls Club — $1,000Avalon West School District — $200Holy Family Parish — $500St. Patrick’s Parish — $1,500Stephenville Theater Festival — $1,000Trinity Conception Placentia Health Foundation — $1,000Humber Community, YMCA — $1,000Town Council of Nain – Recreation Department — $500City of St. John’s – R.E.A.L. Program — $500

Revenue Canada has released theentire list of registered charities thatreceived donations in 2004 from

the Williams Family Foundation, whichdistributes money Premier Danny Williamscontributes in the form of his provincialgovernment salary.

In 2004, the premier gave $110,000 tothe foundation — $66,850 of which (seebreakdown) went to 68 registered charities.The remainder was given to charitableactivities, although there’s no breakdown of

those monies. A spokeswoman for the pre-mier has said a significant amount is givento personal charities and individuals whoseidentity the premier isn’t prepared toreveal.

“The premier is not going to divulge thenames of individuals and families who areless fortunate and require help,” she said.“This would be inappropriate.”

The foundation’s 2005 returns have beenfiled with Revenue Canada, although theyhave yet to be publicly released.

Source: Revenue Canada

Compensation review outline released

Late in the day July 21, the premier’s officereleased a summary of Chief Justice DerekGreene’s terms of reference for reviewing

the compensation package for MHAs. Greene isto present a report this fall.

The terms of reference are:

1. Review and evaluate the policies and proce-dures regarding compensation and constituencyallowances for MHAs including:

• An assessment of MHA constituencyallowances to determine if they are thebest way to reimburse MHAs for expens-es.• A comparison and evaluation of allaspects of MHA compensation with thatin other provincial and territorial legisla-tures in Canada. • A determination of whether proper safe-guards are in place with the rules andguidelines of MHA compensation andconstituency allowances.

2. Review and evaluate the policies and pro-cedures for spending money reviewed by the auditor general in his report, PaymentsMade by the House of Assembly to CertainSuppliers.

3. Develop and make recommendations toensure the new accountability and compliancepractices for the House meet or exceed the best inthe country, and enhance the accountability andtransparency of MHA expenditures.

4. All ministers and officials of the govern-ment, and its agencies, are to provide the ChiefJustice with their complete and unreserved co-operation in all aspects of this review.

5. All government ministers and officials are toprovide the Chief Justice with unreserved cooper-ation in all aspects of the review

6. Bring forward recommendations for the con-sideration of cabinet before its fall 2006 session.

7. Government will take the necessary actionsto provide Chief Justice Green with the necessaryresources to undertake the review in a timelyfashion, including providing a part-time legalcounsel, a part-time accountant, a part-time advi-sor from Memorial University, an individual toprovide administrative and research support, apolicy advisor and an actuary.

8. The ability to summon a witness or witness-es if necessary in the conduct of his review.

Although I’ve never been aninsomniac, I do often sufferfrom post-nightfall overactive

brain syndrome. That’s my own namefor something I’m sure a lot of peopleexperience. As soon as my head hits thepillow, my brain suddenly perks up intooverdrive and I have more thoughts inthe space of 20 minutes than I managedto have all day.

This isn’t necessarily a problem (Iusually manage to force enoughinnocuous thoughts into my head toeventually bore myself to sleep), exceptwhen my overactive imagination syn-drome kicks in at the same time.

Having a good imagination and hav-ing an overactive imagination are twodifferent things. Having a good imagi-nation is the sort of thing that can leadto writing a best-selling novel. Havingan overactive imagination is the sort ofthing that conjures up shadows wherethere are none, makes me think some-

thing is creeping up behind me whenI’m vacuuming, and prevents me fromfalling asleep on my back because I’mafraid of the old hag.

Ah, the old hag: a Newfoundlandfolklore delight. I first heard about theold hag a few years ago when I was liv-ing in Halifax. A friend fromNewfoundland mentioned having expe-rienced the phenomenon and claimedsleeping on your back was a sure-fireway to bring it on.

A few months later I was watchingTV and a documentary called TheEntity came on. It was all about phe-nomena such as the old hag, which,although it hasn’t been scientifically

explained, is thought to be linked tosleep paralysis, a temporary state thatcan occur between waking and sleep-ing.

By the end of that documentary I wascompletely astonished and terrified.My already uncanny ability to random-ly scare the crap out of myself in thedark had just been intensified a hun-dredfold.

People who suffer an attack of thehag — or night terrors — suddenlywake up from sleeping, unable tomove. Experiences vary, but it’s com-mon for victims to sense an unnaturalpresence, hear footsteps and frighten-ing voices, see ominous shadows orforms, and feel a crushing pressure ontheir chest.

One of the most fascinating pointsthe documentary made was that what iscalled the “old hag” in Newfoundlandgoes by varying names all around theworld. People from completely differ-

ent cultures and backgrounds havereported the exact same experience —worrying, because it makes it seem allthe more authentic.

The most terrifying aspects of thedocumentary were the real-lifeaccounts from people who have suf-fered these night terrors. One womandescribed how she has experienced theold hag since she was a child.Occasionally, and for no apparent rea-son, two figures — a shadow man andan old woman — appear in her room atnight and viciously attack her. The re-enactment in the documentary was oneof the scariest things I have ever seen,and I’ve watched a lot of horrormovies.

Although I’m the kind of personwhose overactive imagination canmake me break out in a cold sweat inthe middle of the night, I really have noreason to be so jumpy; I’ve never seena ghost and I’ve never been visited bythe hag (touch wood).

The closest experience I’ve had ofanything resembling night terrors was arecurring nightmare as a child. In thedream I would suddenly wake up in myroom, knowing there was a demon hid-ing in a dark corner. The demon wouldlaugh and threaten to get me and Iwould try and scream, but I couldn’tmove. Just as I would hear it shufflingtowards me, I would wake up.

It’s always amazed me that babiesand small children know enough to beafraid of the dark, and have nightmareswhen they’ve never been exposed toanything frightening in their lives.

I can clearly remember my own firstnightmare when I was two years old. Idreamt a row of scary puppets onsprings popped up beside me in bed. Iwoke up crying and my parents could-

n’t figure out what was wrong with me.They hauled me off to the bathroomand I remember sitting down, unable toenunciate my problem through my con-fused tears, wondering how it could bethat they didn’t get it. Somehow I real-ized what I had experienced wasn’treal, but I was scared and pissed off.

Despite my overactive imagination, Ilove frightening myself with a goodscary movie (a rare phenomenon initself). One of my favourite TV showsis Most Haunted, where a host and TVcrew, along with psychics and parapsy-chologists, spend 24 hours filminginside haunted locations aroundBritain. Perhaps even more entertainingthan the amazing old buildings theyvisit — and the crashes, bangs and orbsof light they capture on camera — isthe palpable blinding fear of thecrewmembers.

That’s a job in which my own over-active imagination would probablycause me to suffer a heart attack. And ifthe heart attack didn’t finish me off, thecomplete inability to fall asleep after-wards certainly would.

Instead of lying awake at night tryingto come up with something to writeabout in an article, I’d be lying awakeconvinced a murderous ghost hadsomehow attached itself to me duringthe course of filming in an old dungeonor a cursed mansion.

I’d end up lying in bed (not on myback) every night, with my eyes strain-ing through the darkness, convincedsomething hideous was waiting for justthe right moment to pounce from theshadows and scare the almighty hell outof me once and for all.

Clare-Marie Gosse’s column returnsAug. 6.


Pirates and pilotsThe Conception Bay Museum celebrates two heroes — Amelia Earhart and Peter Easton

By Nadya BellThe Independent

Pirate Peter Easton and pilot Amelia Earharthave retired to history together in HarbourGrace. An odd couple, but they must be

common-law by now — they have been sharingthe same house for 10 years.

The famous pirate from the 17th century and thefemale pilot from the 1930s are the subject of twoexhibits in the Conception Bay Museum inHarbour Grace. The three-story brick buildingthey share on Water Street is red with tall windowsthat face the bay.

Past the hat and umbrella stands in the fronthall, there is a wide, curving balcony staircase ofdark wood with red runners. Sun and salt air comein open windows facing the bay, and souvenirpostcards flap in the breeze.

Peter Easton occupies the bottom floor with acollection of model boats in glass cases.

The prize ship is a model of the SS Vanguard —the 1896 gold medal winner in a London competi-tion. A replica of Easton’s own ship HappyAdventure sits in the same room as a mannequinpirate pouring over a ship’s log. There are fewartifacts relating to the pirate — aside from a seal-skin treasure chest of unknown origin — andEaston’s story described on the walls.

Easton, a famous pirate nicknamed “The PirateAdmiral,” spent four years in Harbour Grace hid-ing from the British authorities, biding his timecapturing Spanish galleons for gold.

Easton was a privateer in Elizabeth the first’snavy. When the navy was disbanded, he turnedinto a pirate, upsetting the government by charg-ing merchant ships for safe passage through theBristol Channel.

He fled to Newfoundland from British authori-ties in 1610 with his 10 best ships — known as theflying squadron. He set up a fortification withthree cannons to protect his base in HarbourGrace.

During the pirate’s stay he captured, looted andburned the Spanish galleon San Sabastian.

Easton lost 47 pirates in a battle with theBasques, burying them at Bear Cove. John Guy, amerchant from Cupids, hired the pirate to protecthis fishing salt from raiders.

Easton moved to England in 1615 after he waspardoned by King James. With his fortune hebought the title Marquis of Savoy, and retired withnearly two million pounds sterling.

The museum’s model of Happy Adventure has

eight sails, a mizzen and complete rigging ofwaxed string. A gilded lion instead of a mermaidholds the bow, and two fish decorations resemblethose on light posts along the Thames River inLondon.

While Peter has model boats, Amelia has modelairplanes.

Earhart takes a room on the second floor withclouds painted on the ceiling. There is no man-nequin, only a replica flight jacket and video fromthe provincial archives of Earhart leaving for hertrans-Atlantic flight in the Lockhead Vega onMay 20, 1932. At the time, Harbour Grace wasthe main airport on the island.

On the video, Earhart has short hair, high cheek-bones and smiles while talking with officials. Shestayed at the Cochrane Hotel the night before herflight and the museum is looking forward to cele-brating the 75th anniversary next year.

SPIRIT OF HARBOUR GRACEHer room in the museum has a model for every

airplane that landed at Harbour Grace, and thecockpit dashboard from the Spirit of HarbourGrace. The plane itself sits on the side of the high-way as one of Harbour Grace’s broken monu-ments — the other being the Kyle. The pair areknown as “the plane that don’t fly and the boatthat don’t float.”

Above the window in Earhart’s room is a largewooden propeller from a 1940s airplane.

A sitting room in the upstairs makes the muse-um feel like a home, with a set of burgundy anddark wood furniture from 1853, and three gramo-phones. Portraits of the Munden family hang inthe room, and the green-gold wedding dress ofMary Grace (Henley) Munden.

In the third floor attic, up a narrow windingstairway, are photos of the 1944 fire of HarbourGrace, and a family and dog sled from 1902. Thefirst radio transmitter in Newfoundland sits in thecorner the size of two black refrigerators. Itbelonged to Ernest Ash with call sign VO1A.

Between Easton and Earhart, this museum hassymmetry. Easton is the hero of little boys, inde-pendent and powerful through his own means, liv-ing in a world based on honour and his own desire.Earhart is the heroine of little girls, able to do any-thing — no matter how fantastic and challenging— with grace and style.

But if a pirate and pilot were ever to share ahouse, it would surely be a rocky relationship. Inthe museum, the bathrooms are separately labeled— Amelia and Peter.

SCATTEREDPAST

Peter Easton makes his presence known at the Conception Bay Museum. Nadya Bell/The Independent

Overhagtive imagination CLARE-MARIEGOSSEBrazen

INDEPENDENTWORLDSUNDAY THROUGH SATURDAY, JULY 23-29, 2006 — PAGE 13

A call to adventureSt. John’s-native Laury Hill has made a home for herself in the U.S. desert

By Devon WellsFor The Independent

The Phoenix suburb of Chandler,Ariz. is a far cry from the liltinghills of St. John’s, but Laury

Hall has crafted a home for herself inthe desert city.

“Being from the ocean and movingto the desert was kinda wild,” saysHall. “But, it is awesome — it’s greatto get up every day and the sun is shin-ing.”

Though the weather in Chandler maybe beautiful, Hall — a 44-year-oldmanager of an outsourcing company —

still misses the East Coast and makes ita point to head home to St. John’s for acouple of weeks each year.

“(I) still have many, many friendsand family there,” she says. “I like togo that week of Regatta, to take in theGeorge Street Festival, the FolkFestival, (and) eat lots of chips, dress-ing, and gravy and turkey rolls fromFabulous Foods.”

Although she now lives south of theborder, St. John’s was always a sanctu-ary for the world-traveller.

Hall first left St. John’s in 1981 andbounced around Canada, spending timein Edmonton and Halifax, returning to

Newfoundland whenever she could. Bythe ‘90s, she grew tired of her routineand felt the call to adventure.

“(I) had an awesome trip around theworld … sold my car to fund it, put allmy stuff in storage, (and) took off withcash, an around-the-world ticket, andthe backpack on my back,” she says.

Listening to the tourism ads, shechose to see Canada first, hittingToronto and Vancouver before visitingthe tropics. “Hawaii, Fiji, New Zealandand Australia, then back to NewZealand, then back to Australia. I justfell in love with Down Under,” shesays.

Yet, through all her travels, she kepther ties to the province strong: “I loveNewfoundland, proud to be from there,loudly proclaim it where ever I go.When I bungee jumped on New Year’sDay in Queenstown, N.Z., some yearsago, I was screaming in delight as Ibounced around on that rubber band.

“When I finally stopped bouncingand was lowered into the boat, the guysin the boat were saying ‘My gosh,where are you from? You have theloudest screams we have ever heard inthis canyon,’” says Hall.

See “Lottery luck,” page 15

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‘I made it here alive’Passengers end long odyssey that included sea voyage to Cyprus

By Heba Aly and Graham FraserTorstar wire service

Two radically different tales emergedfrom the passengers who disem-barked the first plane to land in

Canada with those fleeing the war inLebanon.

At 4:00 a.m. July 21, in the middle of adark, clear night, Prime Minister StephenHarper’s plane landed in Ottawa with 87Canadian evacuees, who — tired butrelieved — told their stories.

One was a story of gratefulness for aprime minister who “did the best hecould.”

The other: a story of anger over whatthey experienced before they boarded themagical flight from Cyprus.

“Once we were in Cyprus, the Canadianauthorities did a great, great, great job get-ting us to here. It was more than we expect-ed,” said Lemira Omran of Woodbridge,

referring to the supply of food, the organi-zation of the flight and the overall treat-ment of the evacuees. Her three children,aged six to 12, surrounded her as shechecked into a room at the Holiday Inn inOttawa.

Harper praised the work done byCanadian officials to help evacuateCanadians from Lebanon when he landed,but some of his staff blamed the Canadianambassador in Beirut for the confusion,saying he was a Liberal appointment.

“To be frank, my main concern rightnow with the evacuation effort is thatwe’ve got a lot of federal employees work-ing very long, very difficult hours them-selves,” Harper said. “I’m just concernedthey’re going to burn out before this isover.”

Evacuee Liliane El-Helou said she hadcomplained about the organization of theevacuation in Beirut to Harper on theplane.

“One of his people … said to me ‘This isa Liberal-appointed ambassador,’” shesaid. “Well I am sorry. If this is an excuse,and it is a silly excuse I think, well removehim now, and appoint someone who ismore qualified.”

Louis de Lorimier is a career diplomatwho, previous to becoming ambassador toLebanon, served in Abidjan, Seoul andParis. He also worked as a ministerial liai-son in the office of Joe Clark when he wasSecretary of State for External Affairs.

Harper said that the government haspulled together staff from around theMiddle East region to deal with thedemands of the evacuation.

He said that the flight itself was unevent-ful.

“It was very quiet,” he said. “Mostlypeople were very tired. They were in verygood spirits, considering, but they weretired. The kids, of course, went to sleep likebabies, but most people rested. It was kind

of like a normal long transcontinental voy-age, except with a little extra measure ofsatisfaction for us, and I think for them.”

Most of the Canadians who returnedafter days of waiting and travel had noth-ing but praise for the prime minister withwhom they shared a quiet ride home.

Apart from a few critical comments, pas-sengers reported no outbursts at the primeminister during the flight, where he casual-ly chatted with some of the passengers andshook hands with each one as they got offthe plane. For the most part, “everyone hadno energy to be angry,” said Joe Azzi, 18,of Ottawa.

But as they walked through the camerasand spotlights with their luggage and chil-dren, hugging the family members thatawaited them, most evacuees couldn’tremove the bad memories from theirminds.

See “Thanks, Canada,” page 14

Lebanese-Canadian families wait to be evacuated near Beirut port. Jamal Saidi/Reuters

VOICEFROMAWAY

Laury Hill

14 • INDEPENDENTWORLD JULY 23, 2006

‘Thanks, Canada!’When asked what message he wanted to give the

prime minister, 19-year-old Shady Abboud heldback in his criticisms, as his mother insisted inArabic “thank him, thank him.” Others were morefrank.

“It was hell to arrive,” said Ottawa’s RawadAntoun, 20. It took three days to evacuate the first250, he said, noting there are 25,000 Canadianswho want to leave the war-torn country. “If it goesat this speed, it’ll take them months to get every-one out.”

“It was chaotic. It was insulting,” saidWoodbridge’s Omran, as remembering the faintingand vomiting on a crowded boat from Beirut, witha grueling hot sun shining down on them duringthe day and cold air keeping them company atnight. She used a tablecloth to keep her childrenwarm as they slept on the deck. The food ran outbefore she and her family could feed themselvesduring the 17-hour trip. She scrounged up extrasfor her children from other families.

“I felt like an animal on this trip,” said El-Helou,who made the trip with her teenaged son anddaughter and had been traveling for 51 hoursstraight. “We thought they would be organized; itwas a disaster,” she said. “There were 4,000 peo-ple in line at the Port of Beirut — and they onlyevacuated 255 people.”

The passengers could only guess why they werethe lucky ones to be chosen for the boat to Cyprusand subsequently the first of two flights to Canada

— the other landed in Montreal later this morning. While the evacuees couldn’t be happier to final-

ly be home, some still had weights on their shoul-ders for those they left behind.

For Omran, it was her elderly parents.“I lived through the civil war, I lived through the

Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 and I knowhow horrible it was, so I didn’t want the kids to gothrough what I did. I couldn’t leave my parents,but at the same time, I couldn’t sacrifice my kids.I had to bring them here.”

“(Harper) didn’t have to do this; he didn’t haveto come with his plane, you know, but he did hisbest,” said Rima Saab, 36, of Ottawa. “He wasthere and he greeted us with his wife. They were sosweet. I don’t know who else would do this. I canassure you that the Lebanese government wouldn’tdo this. They couldn’t care less.”

Tay Bazzi, who lives in Windsor, was visitingLebanon for the first time since he came to Canada15 years ago, and was in South Lebanon near theborder.

“You could die any second,” he said. After beingtrapped in a house for five days because of thebombing, he and his uncle and aunts fled by car toTyre, which he said was being bombed from thesea.

From there, he said, they drove north on backroads and stayed with cousins on the other side ofBeirut, where he was called by the Embassy afterhis cousins had registered him on the Internet.

“It was a long wait, but it was worth it,” he said.“I made it here alive. Thanks, Canada! I’m home!”

From page 13

Who will be Toronto’snext mob boss?There’s a lack of candidates vying to be the city’s next godfather, although experts say leadership vacuum won’t last

By Peter EdwardsTorstar wire service

WANTED: MAFIA GODFATHER. HIGH-LEVELEXPERIENCE WORKING WITH OTHER CRIMEGROUPS A PLUS BUT NOT NECESSARY.

Toronto area mobsters haven’t taken out aclassified ad for a new godfather — yet —but there’s clearly a leadership vacuum atop

the local underworld.Murders, court actions and voluntary retire-

ments have drastically depleted the top level of thelocal mob ranks, according to police specialists.

While the local mob remains strong in drug traf-ficking, gambling and fraud, it’s hard to remembera time when its leaders were weaker, organizedcrime experts say.

Antonio Nicaso, who has written several bookson the underworld, says no one person hasemerged as an obvious mob leader for the GreaterToronto Area.

“Why would you follow someone if you don’tthink they can lead you anywhere?” asks Nicaso, asenior partner in Soave Consulting Group ofConcord, a security firm employing former policeorganized crime specialists.

Despite the apparent dearth of quality local lead-ers, there’s plenty of local mob activity in theGTA, according to the latest Criminal IntelligenceService of Canada organized crime report.

The report, prepared by police specialists onorganized crime, notes the local mob (which policecall “traditional” and “Italian-based” organizedcrime) is involved in a wide variety of criminalenterprises.

They include running illegal Internet gamblingoperations, illegal gaming establishments in cafésand restaurants, bookmaking, credit card fraud,and distributing illegal drugs, including cocaine,heroin, marijuana, ecstasy, gamma hydroxybu-tyrate (GHB), anabolic steroids and psilocybin(magic mushrooms).

“Legitimate businesses targeted by (traditionalorganized crime) groups include: construction andtransport companies, restaurants and bars, andimport/export companies,” the report continues.

Not everyone associated with the local mob isburning with ambition for the top job.

And, contrary to popular belief, you can leavethe mob, if you keep your mouth shut or move faraway.

One local septuagenarian, who was a prime sus-pect in a gangland slaying, has apparently decidedhe prefers sunning himself in Florida to localgangland intrigues.

Meanwhile, long-time local mob power Pietro(Peter) Scarcella, 56, won’t be free to vie for thetop job for several years.

Scarcella was sentenced earlier this year to 11years in prison for his role in a bungled mob hit in

a North York sandwich shop that left bystanderLouise Russo, a mother of three, paralyzed.

One of Scarcella’s intended targets that day wasSicilian mob leader Michele Modica, who seemedto be pushing for more local power at Scarcella’sexpense.

Modica has since been deported — for his sec-ond time — to Italy.

While Toronto has never had an all-powerfulgodfather, it’s hard to remember when things havebeen so weak at the leadership level, mob expertssay.

“It’s open,” says Anthony Saldutto, formerly ofthe elite police Combined Forces SpecialEnforcement Unit, and now president of DetekInvestigative Group, a Concord security firm.

“It’s been (open) always but it seems even moreso now.”

Over the past decade or so, mob experts say VitoRizzuto of Montreal has filled much of the leader-ship void, as a commuting godfather of sorts.

Rizzuto, who once ran a waste disposal businesshere, is currently in custody in Quebec, fighting anextradition order that would send him to the U.S.to face a racketeering indictment. It alleges hefired shots that killed three Bonanno crime familymembers in 1981 in New York.

A police report filed in his extradition casealleges that Rizzuto is widely considered to be thehead of the Mafia in Canada.

Alfonso Caruana, of Woodbridge, is fightingextradition to Italy, where he would face almost 22years in prison if convicted of laundering drugmoney. Caruana was charged in Canada in 1998with conspiracy to import and traffic cocaine, andsentenced to 18 years in prison.

Whatever happens in Toronto will likely impactthe nearby Hamilton mob, and vice versa, mobexperts say.

John (Pops) Papalia of Hamilton was once con-sidered Ontario’s top mobster, and a frequent visi-tor to Toronto. Papalia was murdered in Hamiltonin April 1997.

Hamilton mobster Pasquale (Pat) Musitano, 36,was originally charged alongside his youngerbrother Angelo with hiring a local hitman to com-mit the murder. However, those first-degree mur-der charges were withdrawn when they pleadedguilty to the 1997 gangland murder of CarmenBarillaro of Niagara Falls, a Papalia lieutenant.

The Musitanos are due to be released from min-imum security Beaver Creek Institution inGravenhurst on Oct. 5.

“I think it’s going to get heated up once theMusitanos come out,” Saldutto says.

Armand La Barge, chief of York RegionalPolice, wouldn’t comment on leadership con-tenders in the local mob, but he didn’t disputethere’s a seismic shift underway.

“Vacuums don’t stay vacuums for very long,”La Barge said.

Canadian nationals line up outside Beirut port during a massive evacuation operation from Lebanon July 19, 2006. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis (LEBANON)

JULY 23, 2006 INDEPENDENTWORLD • 15

By Murray WhyteTorstar wire service

Of the many qualities ascribed toOliver Stone in his 30-plusyears of filmmaking, “under-

stated’’ has rarely been one of them.So it was with unexpected restraint

that Stone, in a pink dress shirt andkhaki summer suit, appeared before asmall audience at Toronto’s VarsityTheatres to introduce a closed screen-ing of his latest opus. World TradeCenter is a big-budget, Hollywoodtreatment of the most horrific 24-hourspan in recent American history: thedestruction of the twin towers on Sept.11, 2001 by terrorist-hijacked planes.

‘A LOT OF BAGGAGE’“Listen, 9/11 comes with a lot of

baggage,” says Stone, on a promotion-al jaunt for the film, which opens Aug.9. “All we wanted to do here is getdown and make a movie that was asrealistic and true to life as possible.”

You’d be forgiven if you were totake those comments with a grain ofsalt. Stone’s career is sprinkled liberal-ly with heavy-handed bluster: NaturalBorn Killers (1994), for example, alitany of extreme violence intended ascritique of the mainstream media’s fas-cination with criminal brutality,remains one of filmmaking’s mostdivisive examples of artistic licencebombastically applied. Or JFK, his1991 unravelling of a favourite con-spiracy theory regarding the assassina-tion of John F. Kennedy.

So when Scott Strauss, anEmergency Service Unit officer withthe New York Police Department, firstgot the call from Stone’s people to actas a consultant on the film, hisresponse was quick.

“I didn’t want to do it. It was a badday. I didn’t think it was somethingthat should be made into a movie at thetime,” he says. “I was afraid it wouldbe Hollywood-ized, and made intosomething silly.”

Strauss spent all of that fateful day atGround Zero, combing through thesmouldering wreckage. “We werewalking around, all day long, lookingfor survivors and there weren’t any,”he says.

In the end, only 20 of the thousands

inside would be taken out alive. Twoof them, Will Jimeno and JohnMcLoughlin, became the focus ofWorld Trade Center. The film revolvesaround their experience buried underthe smoking rubble for nearly 24hours.

Strauss was the first one down thedeep, tangled pit of wreckage wherethey lay pinned by rubble. He reachedJimeno first, cutting him free andsending him to the surface.

Strauss’s experience was vital toStone’s goal of veracity. After somecoaxing from friends — “My partnersaid ‘You know, they’re going to make

this movie with or without you; youmay as well do what you can to makethis accurate’” — he met Stone.

He described it as awkward at best.“I was a little nervous: You know,Oliver Stone, his whole conspiracytheories and stuff. I thought, ‘Oh, no,this is going to be bad.’”

All of which, of course, does little toexplain Strauss sitting with actorMichael Pena, who plays Jimeno, inthe Four Seasons Hotel in Toronto in acrisply pressed blue shirt and tie,obligingly offering himself to the pressas part of the movie’s promotional cir-cuit.

Early on, grudgingly, he decided togive it a try, joining Jimeno andMcLoughlin as consultants.

“Oliver and me, we had our battles,yeah. Some I won, some I lost,” hesays. “But he took it in stride. He real-ly is a great guy. He had his heart in theright place, all the way through.”

Strauss had his concerns assuaged,but he wasn’t the only one with mis-givings. Since its beginnings, WorldTrade Center has been plagued withunrest: Victims’ families accusedStone of looking to cash in on thetragedy; other relatives were angeredby not being involved; others weresimply horrified at the dead not beingleft to rest.

GRISLY DEATHAmong many brutal, graphic scenes,

the film depicts the grisly death ofDominick Peluzzo, one of the officerstrapped with Jimeno and McLoughlin.“My thing is: this man died for you,”his widow, Jeanette, told the SeattleTimes. “How do you do this to thisfamily?”

World Trade Center, of course, isnot the first film to be made of thetragedy. A collection of shorts byrenowned international directors aboutthe day — 11.09.01 — was presentedat the Toronto Film Festival in 2002,but never found a North American dis-tributor. More recently, United 93,about the hijacked flight destined forthe White House that was diverted bya passenger uprising to crash in aPennsylvania field, was critically laud-ed but failed to draw audiences.

But World Trade Center is the firstwith the full might of a Hollywoodstudio’s promotional budget behind it— and the first to extract an intenselypersonal character-driven story literal-ly from beneath the wreckage, wheremore than 2,200 people died that day.

The story, of Jimeno and Mc-Loughlin’s survival, is ultimately oneof redemption. But whether audiencescan reconcile the horror of the eventwith the deeply personal, emotionalstory that lies within remains to beseen. United 93’s commercial failureweighs heavily on Stone.

“We may have the same problem,”he said. “That’s why we made thebudget as tight as we could.”

Oliver Stone on 9/11Survivors are the focus of World Trade Center

Scott Strauss, former NYC cop around which the movie is based and actor Michael Pena who plays the character Strauss rescues. Ron Bull /Toronto Star

“My reply: ‘I’m from Newfoundland in Canada, I’m fromNewfoundland in Canada.”

After Australia, Hall headed to Southeast Asia, spendingtime in Singapore and Thailand.

“Then I started to run out of money. So I flew to London,hung out with friends there for a few weeks, and headedback to the Rock.”

When she was offered a job with SHL Systemhouse — aninternational assessment and consultancy company — shesnatched up the opportunity and headed back to Toronto,where she soon met Kenneth Steiness, another employee ofSHL, who she would wed a year-and-a-half later.

The couple ended up in Arizona after Hall’s unit wastransferred to Phoenix, but immigration to the U.S. fromCanada is not easy. Because of quota restrictions, Canadiansare currently unable to apply for the annual green card lot-tery.

However, Steiness is a citizen of Denmark — a countrythat is eligible. By extension, Hall is considered Danish aswell. They both entered the lottery and she was chosen.

“Kenneth automatically got it as well – all immediate fam-ily members do,” says Hall. “It is kinda cool that it was theperfect symbiotic relationship. I could (not) have entered if Iwasn’t married to him, he would not have won if he wasn’tmarried to me.”

Now official permanent residents, Hall and Steiness spendtheir free time hiking, skiing, and playing with their twoWeimaraners in the wilds of Arizona. And, although Hallknows the opportunities Newfoundland presents for out-doors adventures, Steiness has yet to see them.

“He loves it (in St. John’s),” she says. “I’ll have to takehim to the west coast the next time, perhaps next summer.He would love to see, camp, (and) hike in Gros Morne.”

Do you know a Newfoundlander or Labradorian livingaway? E-mail [email protected]

Lottery luckFrom page 13

Canada’s overall crime rate down 5 per centBy Betsy PowellTorstar wire service

The number of Canadians killingeach other rose to the highestrate it has been in almost a

decade, but we’re still a lot less blood-thirsty than we were in the ’60s, ’70sand ’80s, according to national crimestatistics released last week.

Overall, however, Canada’s nationalcrime rate, based on incidents reportedto police, fell 5 per cent last year — andthe violent crime rate remainedunchanged despite increases in thenumber of homicide, attempted murder,serious assault and robbery chargeslaid, the Canadian Centre for Justice

Statistics said.The homicide rate increased 4 per

cent to the highest level in almost adecade after a 13 per cent increase in2004. Most of that was attributable to arise in homicides in Ontario andAlberta. Police reported 658 homicideslast year — 34 more than in 2004 — anumber in line with some largeAmerican cities.

Toronto had 79 homicides last year,including a record 52 handgun slay-ings.

The national homicide rate peaked inthe mid-1970s at three homicides per100,000 population. It has generallybeen dropping since then, reaching alow of 1.7 in 2003. The 2005 rate was

two homicides per 100,000.Police reported 772 attempted mur-

ders across Canada in 2005, a 14 percent increase from 2004. In addition,there were just over 3,000 aggravatedassaults, which rose 10 per cent, andalmost 50,000 assaults with a weapon,an increase of 5 per cent.

The rate of robberies rose 3 per cent,but it was still 15 per cent lower than adecade ago.

Police reported almost 29,000 rob-beries, more than half of which werecommitted without a weapon.Robberies committed with a firearmfell 5 per cent.

Police reported 1.2 million propertycrimes, a 6 per cent drop to make it the

lowest rate in 30 years. Among themost common were thefts, whichaccounted for more than half of allproperty crimes, as well as break-ins,motor vehicle theft and fraud.

The rate of drug offences declinedin 2005 as did crime committed byyouth aged 12 to 17, which fell 6 percent last year. While violent crimeamong youth dropped 2 per cent, thenumber of young people accused ofhomicide rose from 44 in 2004 to 65in 2005, the highest point in more thana decade.

The national crime rate has been rel-atively stable since 1999, with lastyear’s 5 per cent decrease offsetting a 6per cent hike in 2003. The rate declined

during the 1990s, after rising through-out the three decades previous.

“There’s no doubt to me the crimerate has come down because theboomers have got older,” says DavidFoot, co-author of a series of books ondemographics who teaches economicsat the University of Toronto.

But children of the boomers — whoare now in their mid-20s — account foran increase in certain categories ofcrime “which tend to be more violentbecause young people tend to be moreviolent.”

Some believe the homicide ratewould be much higher if it wasn’t foradvances in medical expertise savingthe lives of more victims.

“Oliver and me, we had our battles, yeah. Some I

won, some I lost,” he says.“But he took it in stride.

He really is a great guy. Hehad his heart in the right

place, all the way through.”

Former NYC cop Scott Strauss

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16 • INDEPENDENTWORLD JULY 23, 2006

By Pam Pardy GhentFor The Independent

Rendell Clarke, 57, is in the minoritythese days on his native Bell Island.“Years ago there was 20 or more of us

fishing from here,” he says. “Fellers like mearen’t around here now. There may be two whomakes their living fishing ’sides myself. I’mthe last with the Clarke name to be fishingthese waters.”

Clarke has been a fisherman all his life, firstwith his father and brothers, and since 1989 onhis own. He says he has a love-hate relation-ship with the way he “barely” earns his living.

“Fishing nowadays is about just getting by,living day by day,” he says. “I’m starting to

hate the fishery, it’s only putting me in the holenow that I thinks about it.”

Clarke first turned to EmploymentInsurance to get him through the winter just 10years ago. Before that, selling salted cod doorto door kept him going — but when quotaswere cut, there was no extra fish for him tocure and sell.

As Clarke says, you can’t get stamps sellingfish door to door, so he began to work with fishbuyers like Bidgoods in the Goulds so hecould keep the heat on and put gas in his ’77pickup all year long.

Clarke fishes for cod and lobster from his19-foot boat, and uses a second-hand motor.He has a 3,000-pound quota for his cod catchthis year, barely enough to fatten up his stamps

to ensure his winter income will be a littlehigher than it otherwise would be.

It’s not a lot of money, he tells TheIndependent.

Sold at 60 cents a pound, his full cod quotaof 3,000 pounds would total $1,800.00.

“Not a lot, is it, dear?” he says. “Somewould say it isn’t worth bothering with, butthat little bit makes a big difference on my EIso I do it, got to.”

Clarke makes enough on the lobster fisheryto “get his weeks” but the amount is small andsmall lobster sales mean lower EI cheques.That’s why his tiny cod quota is so valuable.“See, that bit of cod will top off your EI”

To earn EI benefits between $300 and $350a week from November to March, Clarke says

he needs to sell $10,000 worth of fish a season.Clarke makes $10,000 in cod and lobster

sales, when he can, from April to October, thencollects EI the rest of the year. He says 25cents of every dollar he earns goes to govern-ment in taxes. He makes less than $8,000 onEI during his off times. All told, Clarke’s annu-al salary is below $20,000.

That’s for a businessman who pays for gasand gear out of his own pocket.

Being based on Bell Island has other chal-lenges that cost Clarke more than he feels itshould. By law, all fish must be monitoredbefore it can be unloaded out of any fishingvessel, and the only monitoring that happens

INDEPENDENTLIFESUNDAY THROUGH SATURDAY, JULY 23-29, 2006 — PAGE 17

LIVYER

Dance desireVictoria Wells-Smith is planning big things for her three-month-old dance company

By Stephanie PorterThe Independent

Victoria Wells-Smith sits inthe dance studio she consid-ers her second home, all

energy, determination and enthusi-asm. Just 19 years old, Wells-Smithhas a clear vision of where she wantsto be, what she wants to do — andseems to be on track to figuring outhow to do it.

After a year-and-a-half of classesat Memorial University, Wells-Smithdecided not to return in January.

“I was all over the place,” she saysof her university experience. “It’sjust, that’s when I came to the deci-sion: I just want to be a dancer. Andto do that, I have to work these 17-hour days, so I can’t be spending 12of them doing business or kinesiolo-gy or neuroscience.”

Wells-Smith has been dancing

since age four, and has trained in bal-let, Latin, jazz, and any number ofother dance regimes. By 14, she wasan assistant teacher under the direc-tion of Marie Cragg, at the School ofDance on Water Street, where she sitstoday. This year the St. John’s-nativestarted teaching on her own. She cur-rently leads a hip-hop class and atleast two pilates and conditioningclasses a week.

“It’s not a nine-to-five,” she says.

“It’s wake-up to sleep. I can’t tell youwant I love about dance, it just makesme high all the time.”

But the big news — and the projectshe’s practically bursting to talkabout — is the dance company shestarted three months ago.

“I just got to thinking, if I could doanything in the world, it would be tohave my own dance company, just tobe in charge of everything, and all thecreative aspects, everything down to

lighting,” she says. “I underestimatedhow much work that was.”

Through Creator Dance Theatre,Wells-Smith currently employs sixdancers (herself included), a manag-er, and two visual artists — most areher friends, people she’s danced withfor years.

Wells-Smith describes her dance asmodern (“it’s where my movement

See “I have,” page 18

Rendell Clarke by his boat on Bell Island. Paul Daly/The Independent

‘Putting me in the hole’Rendell Clarke has been an inshore fisherman all his life. These days, he makes less than $20,000 a year — and doesn’t mind talking about it

See “Hard predicament,” page 19

18 • INDEPENDENTLIFE JULY 23, 2006

GALLERYPROFILE

Labrador City-native Scott Pynnspent much of his youth tuckedinside a snowed-in house, draw-

ing and painting the hours away. Nowhe’s doing what most doodlers onlydream of — making a living from hisart.

“It’s a pretty happy life. I wake upevery morning with a smile on my facebecause I know I’m going into my stu-dio painting,” says Pynn, who previ-ously worked in construction and log-ging.

“I’d be daydreaming while I was cut-ting down trees, admiring the reflectionon a pond or something. It was kind ofhard to concentrate on work when all Ireally wanted to do was paint. Towardsthe end it was just unbearable to not bemaking art,” he says.

“That was kind of ironic really. I’dwork all day chopping down trees, thengo home in the evening and paint themback up.”

Pynn lived and worked all overAtlantic Canada before settling in SaintJohn, N.B., but it’s Labrador that hasgiven him success. For almost twoyears Pynn has been a full-time artist,selling artwork at shows in LabradorCity.

The 25-year old artist credits hishometown popularity to the distinctlyLabradorian flavour of his work. Whilesome of his work is clearly inspired byother areas of Atlantic Canada, he oftenpaints colorful Labrador landscapeswith frozen lakes, black spruce trees,and vibrant Northern Lights.

“There’s just something aboutLabrador,” says Pynn. “I know a lot ofpeople see it, and I think that’s whatthey recognize in my work. There’s justsort of a spirit to the place, almost likea mystical type of thing in the lightsthere.”

Pynn’s surrealist touch makes hiswork stand out from most Labrador art.Some paintings show Northern Lightsmaking impossibly perfect geometricalshapes, while others have outport hous-es bending out of shape. His night timescenery boasts surprisingly brightsplashes of colour.

These unreal qualities led him to callhis last show Nightmares andDaydreams. While his surroundingsinfluence his subject matter, he neveruses reference photos, adding to thepurposeful inaccuracy of his artwork.

“Everything I paint is coming direct-ly from my head, like memories, andthere’s no way you’re going to be ableto paint something from memory exact-

ly as it was,” says Pynn. “The colorsand the compositions — you actuallymake them up, and when you do that,you’re just dreaming. So you can’t evenhelp but put in a little surrealist aspect.”

People sometimes reflect their owndreams and memories into Pynn’spaintings.

“Say I paint a certain sunset comingdown over a Labrador lake. That could

remind someone of a fishing trip they hadwhen they were young. Or it could be ter-rible; it could remind them of someonethey know that drowned,” he says.

“It could be totally different foreverybody that looks at it. And thedreamlike quality … that’s just in theway that you process something andput it out.”

Pynn will soon expand his horizons

with his first art show outside LabradorCity, planned for Saint John. AfterChristmas, he plans a two-part show inCorner Brook and St. John’s. The artwill include his memories of Labrador,as well as sketches and paintings ofscenery from Newfoundland, NovaScotia and New Brunswick — all withhis dream-like, abstract touch.

— Sheena Goodyear

SCOTT PYNNVisual Artist

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

Victoria Wells-Smith Paul Daly/The Independent

flows the most easily, it’s where I can bemost creative,” she says) — but maintainsthat the work performed by her company isaccessible and, above all, entertaining.

“I’m always being told there’s no audi-ence for modern or contemporary dance inthis province,” she says. There’s a glint inher eyes that says she’s determined tochange that. She’s booked the LSPU Hallfor two nights of dance, July 29 and 30.The show will feature more than a dozenpieces, each choreographed by Wells-Smith and fleshed out with the help of theother women in her company.

“A lot of people feel like they can’t gowatch dance, because they’re not dancers,”she says. “A lot of it … well, if you gosomewhere, and you don’t get the point (ofthe performance), you feel like you’vewasted your money.”

Wells-Smith says she’s overcoming thoseperceptions by starting with easily recog-nizable music, by Pearl Jam, MassiveAttack, Holly Cole, and more. Each piecehas its own setting and story, and may evenhave a script. Wells-Smith goes on to detail

some of the segments, from the “more bal-letic” Tall trees in Georgia, to a lengthy catfight, to a slinky cabaret-type performance.

“We want to be new and creative andmake a big splash in the entertainmentindustry,” she summarizes. “(The perform-ance) is really fun, totally humourous … it’simportant to make people laugh, make peo-ple cry, make people think they saw some-thing — but they didn’t just want to takepeople’s minds on a journey so they’re notsitting at home and watching The Simpsonsagain.

“It’s something for average people thatjust want to be entertained.”

FIRST SMALL STEPSAs Wells-Smith continues, it becomes

obvious that this month’s shows are the firstsmall steps of a very far-reaching plan. Shehas aspirations of taking her young compa-ny to the national level, growing and per-forming and taking audiences by storm.

“It’s still going to be Creator DanceTheatre in 10 years, but it’s going to be somuch bigger and better and hopefully we’lltour Canada … we have all these ideas thatjust require money, which we don’t have

now …”Wells-Smith has vision — but she admits

she needs more training. She plans to startthe musical theatre program at SheridanCollege in Ontario. While there she plans toaudition “all the time,” and drop-in fordance classes in various places in Toronto.

It sounds like the dancer’s been on a bitof a whirlwind since deciding to leaveMemorial in January. She says she’s foundencouragement from all quarters — exceptfrom some other members of the dancecommunity who may be a little skeptical ofthe 19-year-old’s ability to make good onher words.

“My parents are generally very support-ive,” Wells-Smith says. “They’re also con-cerned. But not so much, because I can doanything I want to do.

“That’s how this whole thing started. ‘Iwant to have a dance company’ — done. ‘Iwant to raise $1,500’ — done. ‘I want tochoreograph 13 pieces’ — done. I have thisphilosophy that you can do anything. Youjust have to absolutely do it.”

Creator Dance Theatre performs at theLSPU Hall July 29 and 30, 8 p.m.

‘I have this philosophy that you can do anything’From page 17

Earlier this week I was able to logon to James Baird Gallery web-site, but by the time I got back

from lunch the page, like the galleryitself, was down.

Baird announced he was closing hisPouch Cove Foundation after a week ofpublic bickering with the town council,and apparently after years of uneasy rela-tions. The St. John’s-based noncon-formist had established a retreat there ina former school for visiting artists wellover a decade ago. But the base soonbecame a beachhead when Baird sawhimself defending his enterprise againstthe town council.

Indeed, as Baird and the mayor ofPouch Cove started trading insults overthe airwaves last week, the skirmishstarted to take on the shape of an old

story: David up against the Philistines,townie versus baymen, lone, creative guywith a dream blocked by narrow-mindedmunicipal councillors, or all of theabove?

It is worth asking whether this narra-tive of victimization is accurate: justwhere does the truth lie?

In one corner, we have Sarah Patten,mayor of Pouch Cove, who is arguingthat the town gave Baird’s foundationnotice of a rezoning order as early as2003, but that the notice and subsequentorders have been ignored. There’s a goodchance the old school building, the centreof the artists residency program, was, andis, an asbestos-ridden hazard, sorely inneed of renovation. My 114-year-oldhouse needs constant upkeep and so I canonly imagine what a giant old school-house requires, especially one exposed tothe fierce elements of the eastern Avalon.

In the other corner we have JamesBaird, colourful maverick and business-man, who manages to get himself intothe news every other year, rearing up likea foxglove after a cycle of rest. Baird is

arguing one of his familiar tales of vic-timization, declaring that the town hasbeen hostile to his enterprise from thebeginning, “making exaggeratedclaims,” and forcing him to shut it alldown.

Now why would that be the case? Theunspoken suggestion here is that thetown of Pouch Cove fears outsiders, isnot comfortable with a bunch of bohemi-an types from away inhabiting the build-ing in which many of its own residentswere schooled. No one would ever uttersuch a thing in public, nor would anyonenecessarily acknowledge to themselvesthat this was a motive. But the way thetwo parties have pitted themselvesthrough the media has led to a lingeringsuspicion. Who knows if there is any-thing to this? It is enough merely to raisethe possibility, a widely held but shame-ful thought.

Also circulating in the air betweenPouch Cove and St John’s is the suspi-cion that the mayor has a conflict ofinterest, since she is apparently openingher own more modest version of Baird’sresidency program, a commercial ven-ture that will see her profit from the pickup, or fall out, following the closing ofthe foundation.

Although Her Worship denies there isany such conflict, it is easy to see the tim-ing of her own investment and the can-

cellation of Baird’s artist-in-residenceprogram strains her credibility.

So it is that we have a somewhat cred-ibility-challenged mayor and a resolutelynonconformist entrepreneur scrappingwith each other like a pair of moody cats,the sad result being that Pouch Coveloses an exciting colony of artisticendeavour and Baird abandons a 16-year-old dream. Couldn’t they haveworked something out?

To be fair to the mayor, Baird’s reputa-tion carries a fair bit of baggage. He wasprobably the first guy to recognize thepower of the Internet for marketing theprovince as a tourist destination. Thosewere the Tobin days, when it was possi-ble to get a sizable chunk of change todevelop a web site simply by knockingon Chuck Furey’s door.

Baird developed his downtownWordplay bookstore and gallery into anarty website long before anyone had evendreamed of hot links. To get to theprovince, so to speak, you ended upgoing through his portal. But many localartists have also complained about theway Baird was handling or mishandlingtheir artworks. Others quit working forhim at his shop and wouldn’t cross thestreet to save his life.

Baird has always courted provocation.Some of his Wordplay gallery showshave pushed the limits of propriety, most

notably those about sex and desire. He’salways been out there, taking risks, play-ing the angles. He has also been tooimpatient with the system to play by itsrules.

Like him or not, Baird has made a sig-nificant contribution to the cultural land-scape of the place, drawing countlessartists from all over North America andbeyond to the magnificent Pouch Coveshoreline. In effect, he has generated anentire legion of good-will ambassadorsfor the province by hosting their talents.He has made them feel welcome andoffered them inspiration in the raw beau-tiful landscape of his Pouch CoveFoundation. He’s been a one-mantourism board, with the foundation as hiscentral office.

But he is not the easiest guy to arguewith, and he is not inclined to compro-mise with city councils or anyone whomhe sees as standing in his way. Such stub-bornness has taken his dreams far, but ithas also stood in his way. I own two greatpaintings borne of his artist-in-residencyprogram. It’s too bad it’s all come to this.

The whole situation puts the “ouch” in“Pouch Cove,” if you’re talking like amainlander, that is.

Noreen Golfman is a professor ofwomen’s studies and literature at Mem-orial. Her column returns August 6.

JULY 23, 2006 INDEPENDENTLIFE • 19

The battle in Pouch CoveNOREENGOLFMANStanding Room Only

His name is wonderfulBy Janet Mary Reid

Slick as a salesmanHe says he cares about isHe walks on water

Single moms love himSigns sprout like dandelionsGrin for my daughter

Fighting like a ramHe argues about cutbacks Health care should be free

His party wins bigLower taxes please the richJobs still elude me.

Like him or not, James Baird contributed to the province’s culturallandscape — and his now-defunct artists’residence inspired visitorsfrom around the world

for Bell Island fisherman is out of Portugal Cove,across Conception Bay.

“It puts us in a hard predicament,” he says.“On windy days you got to unload your fish oryou don’t get paid, and you could lose yourlicence fast if you unloaded it anywhere else.”

Clarke does what he must, even on bad days,putting himself and his boat in danger to unloadhis fish and make his dollar. And he does a lot ofwaiting. Some days, he says, he has been at thedock in Portugal Cove for three hours or more,waiting to unload his catch.

“That fish is sittin’ in the boat waiting for amonitor and it’s in the hot sun so then it’s notfresh fish, is it? I’ll tell you what that catch isthen — it’s crap.”

More than the fish are aging in this waitinggame. Clarke’s gear is getting old, and with lowquotas there is no money and no incentive toinvest more. He just keeps hoping what he haskeeps going.

“I have a 40-horsepower motor I bought sec-ond hand for $800,” he says. “I got an old plank19-foot boat I’ll try to patch up and get a fewmore years out of.”

He would like to put fiberglass on his boat, buthe can’t spare the money right now. Clarke saysthere are times he can’t afford string to mend potsand nets and he makes do with tying knots inwhat he does have to make it last and, hopefully,hold. It’s also difficult to get someone to help, sohe fishes mostly on his own.

“It really poisons me,” he says of trying to getsomeone to go out in the boat for a day here andthere. “Someone on social assistance does betterthan me and all they got to do is go to the mail-box and turn their key to get their money.

“My father was a full-time groundfish fisher-man all his life and he sold his licence back to thegovernment when he was in his 80s and he got$15,000 for it, for a lifetime of work … all thatmoney did was bury him, and it barely did that.”

Clarke says he still loves fishing and being onthe water, but hates the fishery. There is a differ-ence, he says.

“If I was allowed to make money, it would bea great living,” he says. “A 7,000-pound codquota would give me a nice paycheck and I’d bedoing what I love ’cause I still loves being on thewater. I’d stay out there all day long if I could,but it costs money to go out there.”

And there just doesn’t seem to be enough ofthat to go around.

While fisherman likeRendell Clarke struggle tomake a dollar from low

cod quotas, others seem to be a tadmore content with theirs.

Len Pike, 48, of Harbour Mille,Fortune Bay, has been fishing for 30years and he fishes for “it all.”

He has a 17,000-pound cod quotaand a 4,000-pound crab quota. Heproudly says he always fills both —and would willing to work more if itmeant he could catch more.

QUOTAS“Quotas is the biggest thing,” he

says. “Before you could fish asmuch as you wanted, it was a freefor all and the hardest working manmade the most. Quotas took a bigbite out of my income, let me tellyou.”

Pike’s wife and son are involvedin the fishery with him. He workseight to 10 hours a day, seven days aweek, from 4 a.m. to 6 p.m. whenfishing is good.

“When you’re not in your boat,you’re getting ready to get in yourboat,” he says. “You are your ownboss, and I’m a tough boss, even onmyself, but fishing is the only jobI’ve ever liked. Bring it on.”

Pike employs three other locals tohelp him from time to time. He needsto — when he’s done fishing for oneday, he says he needs to start prepar-ing for the next one and the one afterthat.

Pike has to hustle. He says he andone other fisherman — his nephew,Rod Pike — supply 100 per cent ofthe cod and 99 per cent of the lob-ster purchased by Bidgoods in theGoulds. Bidgoods sells the fresh andsalted fish in their store.

Alvin Chafe, fish buyer forBidgoods, says they send a truck onthe six-hour round trip drive almostevery day, starting in April.

“We have to,” Chafe says. “Noone locally has the quotas we need.We bought 35,000 pounds of cod sofar this year and 19,000 pounds oflobster off two fishermen in HarbourMille.”

Bidgoods pay a good price forcod, 85 cents a pound, and most of itis dried and sold salted. The lobsterprice can vary from $5.50 to $6.50 a

pound, though when lobster arescarce, the price has gone up to$7.75.

“We make $1.50 to $2 off theresale of the lobsters, but you needto. You’re dealing with a live productand dealing lobsters is a tricky busi-ness.”

GAVE UP LOBSTERHarbour Mille fisherman Russ

Windsor, 48, gave up his lobsterlicence three years ago, but still fish-es for cod, crab, and other ground-fish. He has worked at other jobsover the years, but fishing is by farhis favourite. He hopes to retirewithin two years.

“Fishing has been good to us, “ hesays. “But the family is all up on themainland, they all thought they coulddo better than staying in the fishery.I don’t know if they did or didn’t, but

fishing is like anything else — youhave to work hard to make a goodliving.”

Windsor says he always fills hisquota, and this year was particularlyeasy. “The cod was there to catch,this was definitely one of my betteryears,” he says. “You can’t controlthe fish and you can’t control theprice and like everywhere else, yourprice seems to go down as your costsgo up, but I’m pretty contented.”

Windsor says he reinvestsbetween 25 and 30 per cent of hisearnings back into his fishing enter-prise each year.

“You know, people say fishing is ahard job, and it is, but I rememberwhen I used to fish with my oldman,” he says with a wink. “Nowthat was when it was hard, 20 yearsago it was all manual, now 90 percent of it is hydraulics. What we dotoday is a breeze.”

— Pam Pardy Ghent

‘Hardpredicament’

A living wage

From page 17

Joan Pike of Harbour Mille. Paul Daly/The Independent

“You can’t control the fish and you can’tcontrol the price and like everywhere else,your price seems to

go down as your costs go up, but I’m pretty contented.”

Harbour Mille fishermanRuss Windsor

POET’SCORNER

20 • INDEPENDENTLIFE JULY 23, 2006

Summer herbs: fresh is betterHerbs. You have them in your cupboard

even as I write this. Take a little peekand see what’s there. I’ll bet most of

you have at least thyme and oregano — buthow many of you use them?

Fresh herbs are always better for cooking.Whereas dried herbs can withstand the entirecooking process, fresh herbs are used at theend for that direct hit of flavour and brightcolour. I enjoy the pungency of the fresh herbsof summer.

Basil is a favourite of mine, with that headyaroma filling the kitchen as the leaves areplucked, rolled and finely sliced — that, tome, is a fragrance of summer.

Lucky for us, we can find fresh herbs allyear long so we can enjoy them even when thesun doesn’t shine. Here’s what you can find inthe local stores:

Parsley: two varieties, flat leaf or Italianparsley, and curled leaf or regular parsley.Italian parsley has a more robust flavour andmakes a great component of light salads.Curled leaf parsley makes a pretty garnish andhas a slightly weaker flavour than the flat leaf.

Thyme: there are many varieties availableto the public now, and some have overtones ofother flavours like lemon. Fresh thyme can beused in just about any dish.

Rosemary: not just for Sunday lamb dinnerany more. This hardy and woody herb isstrong and pungent and sticky to the touchwhen freshly cut.

Basil: green, purple leaf and all varieties inbetween. Useful for garnish, fantastic aromato finish fresh pasta, and a great flavour bal-ance to tomato or oil based sauces. Basil isalso wonderful over chunky potato salad.

Mint: chop up finely and add some vinegarand sugar (to balance the acid) and voila, mintsauce for lamb. (Don’t forget the rosemary!)Varieties include chocolate mint, a dark-leafmint with “chocolatey” overtones and fantas-tic for sweets. A leaf or two placed on top ofchocolate pudding goes a long way inimpressing your guests.

Herbs should be treated with the samerespect you treat fresh-cut flowers. Get a con-tainer big enough to fit all the herbs standingup.

By standing the herbs up in a bit of water(about one inch), they last a lot longer. If youwish, wash all the herbs right away, but be warned — soft leaves like basil start to decompose when wet, so they are betterleft dry. Dry them very well with a clean dishtowel.

When the herbs have been washed anddried, wet a piece of paper towel and lay itover the top of the herbs like a blanket. Theextra dampness over the top will keep themfrom drying out and they will remain freshmuch longer. Change the water daily, as youwould with some flowers, and they will last upto two weeks.

When some of the herbs become a littletired, try making salsa verde. It is fantasticwith baked fish and on grilled meats or evenspooned over hot new potatoes.

SALSA VERDE1bunch parsley1bunch basil6 sprigs mint2-3 cloves garlic3 Tbsp capers, drained12-14 anchovy fillets (optional: found

in the cooler aisle, near the butter)1Tbsp of grainy mustardJuice of 1/2 lemon1/3 cup olive oilPepper

Remove and discard stalks from herbleaves. Place herbs and the rest of the ingredi-ents minus olive oil and lemon juice in a foodprocessor. Blend until slightly chunky. Addsome of the oil and lemon juice. Pulse severaltimes to blend. Taste for consistency andadjust the seasoning. If you haven’t used theanchovy, you can add a small handful of greenolives to add to the salty component.Refrigerate for at least one hour to allowflavours to develop.

If you have any excess herbs, the best thingto do is dry them out. Take the herbs and tiethem in bunches. Leave enough string on theend to tie it off. Choose a cool, dry place in thehouse and hang the herbs upside down untilcompletely dried. This should take about oneweek.

When deciding what herbs to use next,remember: fresh is better.

Nicholas Gardner is a food writer and erst-while chef living in St. John’s

[email protected]

NICHOLASGARDNEROff the Eating Path

KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESKeeping up with CathyJones, a “biographicalromp” through the life andtimes of one of thisprovince’s best-knownactresses and comedians,airs on CBC-TV Monday,July 31. Barb Doran (left)wrote and directed theproduction starring, ofcourse, Cathy Jones(right). The biography is aproduction of St. John’s-based Morag LovesCompany.

Hub cities part of rural growth strategy: O’BrienBy Nadya BellThe Independent

Newfoundland and Labrador’sBusiness minister, KevinO’Brien, says six Newfound-

land towns are the “hubs” or growthcentres to be focused on in theprovince’s rural development strategy.

But the hub model may work in theshort term, its long-term benefits aren’tassured, says a professor specializing inrural development.

O’Brien names Gander (his district),Grand Falls-Windsor, Corner Brook,Clarenville, Stephenville and St.Anthony as rural Newfoundland’surban centres of development.

While those centres will be key to thefuture of rural area, O’Brien says noarea will be completely left out.

“It’s on a broad spectrum. We seethings happening hopefully in Port-au-Port, Harbour Breton, not necessarilyjust the hubs,” O’Brien says. “Thehubs, yes absolutely, there’s challengesthere as well, but they are at an advan-tage as compared to, say, Harbour

Breton.”The Department of Innovation, Trade

and Rural Development released aneconomic development strategy lastMarch. According to the report, a cul-ture of innovation will be createdthrough training, higher spending onresearch and development, andincreased capital investment.

The report says the province’s largesize requires a directed approach tospending.

“Our resources must be deployedstrategically if they are to be availableto all who need them,” it reads.“Working collectively is the only real-istic way of sharing limited resources,overcoming barriers of distance andisolation, and avoiding costly duplica-tion and unproductive competition.”

O’Brien says rural areas, though on adifferent level of development than thehubs, are crucial for economic growthof urban centres.

“Rural Newfoundland is very impor-tant to Newfoundland and Labrador.The (communities) certainly are thedriving forces to the urban centres —

certainly my own (district), becausewe’re a hub, a lot of our business comesfrom the rural areas.

“I always as a pharmacist knew fullwell what drove my business, and itwas mostly rural Newfoundland … Iunderstand the importance,” saysO’Brien.

“We know the northeast Avalon isdoing very well. I will be keeping partof my focus to rural Newfoundland andtry to build up and diversify their econ-omy, it can be done.”

Hub towns are similar to JoeySmallwood’s growth centres in the1960s resettlement program, but small-er in scale, says University of Reginahistory professor Raymond Blake.

Blake researched and wrote on ruraland regional development strategies inNewfoundland and Canada for the2003 Royal Commission on Renewingand Strengthening Our Place inCanada.

“Going from 1,500 communities to900 — you needed quite a few growthcentres — and now with the ruraldepopulation that is happening, proba-

bly five or six centres outside of St.John’s might be the best the provincecan hope for,” Blake says.

Other countries such as the U.S. andAustralia use hub centres as part oftheir rural development strategy.Employing hubs is a common strategyfrom technology research to cost effec-tiveness in the airline sector.

But Blake is not sure that hubs workwell outside a few key areas.

“One of the problems with trying tocreate hubs outside of the major metro-politan centres is that it comes quitefrequently with a huge amount of capi-tal investment from the state.”

Blake says the strategy will work inshort term, but long term is still in ques-tion.

“Some of these places, Gander,Grand Falls are in fact service centresthemselves and are serving the area thatis becoming increasingly depopulated— what happens when the populationthey are serving disappears?” he says.

“What is the industry that is going toflow out of these hubs?”

For 50 years the government’s strate-

gy has been to give money to smallbusinesses. Blake says changes inapproach have not addressed the under-lying problem.

“With declining wages, people willnaturally migrate to where they canearn the highest income. If we’re goingto create hubs in these five communi-ties around the province, are incomesgoing to be at a level that people willfind Alberta unattractive?”

Newfoundlanders and Labradoriansneed to talk about the importance ofrural Canada, and acknowledge thatsubsidization is necessary for somerural areas, Blake says.

“What we have been telling our-selves in Canada is that rural Canada isin trouble, but it’s only for a year —well we’ve been doing this since1930,” he says.

“We haven’t said place is important.We need to support place, where welive, and people choose to live in cer-tain parts of Newfoundland, thereforethere is a subsidization of the ruraleconomy because it is something thatwe value.”

INDEPENDENTBUSINESSSUNDAY THROUGH SATURDAY, JULY 23-29, 2006 — PAGE 21

Nick George Paul Daly/The Independent

More than street meatNick George’s business plan is simple: offer more than the average downtown hotdog cart


There’s a new kid on the block, andhe wants your business. NickGeorge, president of Nick’s

Vending, says he has something new tooffer the people walking around downtownSt. John’s.

Over the past several years, more andmore hotdog and other food carts haveappeared on Water and George Streets.George took a look around and thought hecould offer something more. He has devel-oped a food cart and an accompanyingbusiness approach that he hopes will catchthe attention of hungry people.

George says he has an edge, stressingthere is nothing complicated in hisapproach to business: customer service,cleanliness and quality are his businessphilosophies.

“It’s not like I came up with a hugebright idea or anything like that,” he says.“I like to think that I am providing a goodquality service to people for a quick lunchor a snack in the daytime.

“When you go into arestaurant, you don’t havesomebody totally dirtywalk up to you and takeyour order and then goback to the kitchen andhave a cigarette and notwash their hands andserve you food. As far as Iam concerned when itcomes to my business andmy mobile unit … I treatit like a restaurant, except it’s on wheels.”

His business is founded on the idea ofbuilding a clientele, one customer at a time.“People are smart, people notice quality,cleanliness and customer service.”

In the competitive downtown food vend-ing market, anything to get the attention ofhungry passersby makes a difference. Nickis gambling on variety of new products

being a draw. In addition to the tradi-

tional “George Streetsausage,” George offersboneless pork rib sand-wiches on fresh buns,with an assortment ofname-brand condiments.While Nick realizes thesecondiments cost him a lit-tle extra, he banks on hiscustomers appreciatingthe difference.

“If you’re paying the same price (asanother product) why wouldn’t you want aquality product?” He plans to branch out asmuch as he feels he can — he’s looking atsouvlaki and possibly kebabs in the weeks

to come. He even caters to vegetarians,offering both jumbo and small vegetariansausage.

George also says location gives him anedge. Nick’s Vending can be found sta-tioned outside Atlantic Place every day 11a.m.-5 p.m. In the evenings he is outsideO’Rielly’s Pub on George Street. Whenasked why he chose O’Rielly’s, he sheep-ishly confesses to a love of Irish and tradi-tional music — it’s nice while he works.But he is quick to add that while someGeorge Street businesses are less thanthrilled when a hotdog cart is parked out-side their door, he has found O’Rielly’sstaff very supportive.

And they aren’t the only ones. A particu-lar source of pride for Nick is the fact manystaff from other carts come to him for theirsnacks — the pork-rib sandwich being a

See “Looking,” page 23

“I like to think that

I am providing a good

quality service to people

for a quick lunch or a

snack in the daytime.”

Nick George

By Tara PerkinsTorstar wire service

Scott Hand has had better days. The 64-year-old chief executive of Inco Ltd.has spent the past nine months trying

to buy Falconbridge Ltd. and pull off theworld’s biggest mining takeover.

He worked through Thanksgiving, whenInco first launched its bid. He spentValentine’s Day telling analysts about Inco’s2005 results. Over the Mother’s Day week-end, he worked feverishly on an improvedoffer for Falconbridge as his wife of 37 yearsflew to Singapore to visit the couple’s three-week-old grandchild.

On July 19, just 33 minutes before Handwas scheduled to hold a conference call toannounce Inco’s highest-ever quarterly earn-ings, Switzerland-based Xstrata PLCannounced it was raising its hostile all-cashbid for Falconbridge by $3.50 per share, to$62.50 per share. The bid valuesFalconbridge at more than $24 billion.

Xstrata also extended its offer until Aug.14, allowing Falconbridge’s shareholders topick up the 75-cent dividend Falconbridgehas declared for shareholders of record onJuly 26.

And, later in the day, Inco’s partner in theproposed deal, Phelps Dodge Corp., gotnews from its second-biggest shareholderthat it would be opposing a three-way com-bination due to the debt Phelps could takeon.

“I see that Xstrata today has announced anincrease in their bid to $63.25 a share,” Handsaid on the conference call.

“Our bid remains very competitive andshareholders of Falconbridge have to make achoice — they can take cash and leave thefuture benefits of participating in this greatfuture to Xstrata, or they can join with us increating the new Phelps Dodge Inco, whichwill be the world’s leader in nickel and thelargest publicly traded copper company inthe world, participating in all the synergiesand benefits in Sudbury and elsewherewhich the three companies will realize.”

Inco and Falconbridge have a lot in com-mon, including head offices in Toronto andside-by-side operations in Sudbury.

And they think they could save nearly$600 million annually by merging them.

But analysts say the chances of a marriagebetween Inco and Falconbridge dropped sig-

nificantly last week.Scotia Capital’s Onno Rutten pegged the

chances of Xstrata winning Falconbridge at100 per cent.

“I think this is probably going to do it,”said one source involved in Xstrata’s bid.

Xstrata chief executive Mick Davis speaksas if his takeover of Falconbridge was a donedeal.

“We’ll be reviewing all the assets when wetake over the company, but at the momentthere are none we have marked for sale,” hesays.

RAISED ITS OFFERInco has raised its offer for Falconbridge

three times, with the most recent increaseannounced July 16.

Inco’s bid is financially supported byPhoenix-based Phelps Dodge, which plansto buy Inco. Phelps’ chief executive officerSteven Whisler said Sunday’s offer is “thebest and final proposal that we will support.”

Hand said “this is our best and final offerfor Falconbridge.”

Inco’s offer, of $18.50 in cash plus0.55676 of an Inco share, was valued at

$62.65 per Falconbridge share yesterday,after Inco shares rose $2.35. Shares of Incoand Phelps rose yesterday, as the marketdecided the chances of them winning — andpaying for — Falconbridge were less likely.

Xstrata chief financial officer Trevor Reidsays Xstrata’s bid shows “a strong intent todraw this process to a close.”

Xstrata has reached a deal with InvestmentCanada, which asked the company to com-mit to certain measures to protect jobs andbase the nickel business in Canada, Reidsays. Approval is expected shortly.

Davis emphasizes Xstrata has a $7 pershare advantage in the bidding war. Thecompany bought 20 per cent of Falconbridgefor $28 per share in August, and so the aver-age price it would pay for all of Xstrata’sshares under its current offer is $56.44 pershare.

Davis says Xstrata’s offer is higher thanany other company can offer under realisticassumptions for metal prices in the future.

Some people close to the situation suggestit’s still possible Inco could raise its bid.

Under the current offer, Phelps could takeon up to $24 billion (U.S.) of debt.

22 • INDEPENDENTBUSINESS JULY 23, 2006

Xstrata ups Falconbridge bid

Newfoundlanders: a gutted people?

Seals reportedly eat the stomachsof cod and allow the remains tofloat down for the bottom feed-

ers. Our rural communities have sunkand are now being devoured by fishmerchants.

Government has announced a furtherdelay of the much-anticipated results ofthe fisheries summit — because ofscheduling conflicts. The premier isconvinced that Bill Barry, the man whojust finished a herring survey off thesouth coast, knows what he’s doing andwill have the answers. Turns out theyfound very few herring in three months— nowhere near enough for the

Harbour Breton plant to be viable.Nothing concrete is being done to

save the communities of the familiesthat are leaving in droves from ruralNewfoundland and Labrador.

What can be done? First, sue the feds for gross negli-

gence of a renewable resource — thegroundfish fishery — that’s been underOttawa’s management since 1955. Thenext order of business should be to sta-bilize the communities by whatevermeans until the fish come back orOttawa pays the price. Our federal min-ister needs to shake up the quota alloca-tions to ensure they benefitNewfoundland and Labrador — orCanada even.

What are the politicians up to? Thepremier says people may have to moveaway while the fishery or provincerecovers.

He adds: “We have not given up on

Harbour Breton.” Danny doesn’t haveto give up — the people have and aremoving. Federal Fisheries MinisterLoyola Hearn suggests that joint man-agement of the nose and tail betweenOttawa and the European Union shoulddo the trick. OK Loyola, I’m willing totake the bait if you can deliver 5,000federal government jobs for fishingcommunities until the stocks comeback.

FPI is more arrogant now than it everwas. The company’s execs won’t evensit and talk to the union until salariesare reduced by over $2 an hour. Thecompany that enjoys the benefit of ourcommon fish resources is now holdingthat license over the heads of the peoplewho own them. The union is “necessar-ily” quiet while communities fold. Themuch-hyped Barry or Penney takeoverof various processing assets of FPI isgone by the wayside and what do we

have to show for it? Another six monthswasted and another rural area decimat-ed.

The truth is we have given up and welack leadership to protect this valuablerenewable asset. The strong backboneshown when negotiating with big oiland Abitibi is not evident with fish mer-chants. This so-called Confederationthat has cost us so much was achievedby votes of rural Newfoundlanders thatsuffered under the merchants of WaterStreet. They picked the lesser of twoevils.

Here we are over 50 years later againdeciding between merchants andConfederation. The trading-fish-forflour that our fishermen endured hasbeen replaced by Ottawa bartering ourresources to oblivion. We are told thereare too few fish for too many fisher-men. It is easier to believe this rhetoricthan make the politicians do what is

responsible. Our collective guts have been

removed by federal and provincialpoliticians, union reps, and regionalleaders who lack the ability or desire tofix the problem. You’re not a trueNewfoundlander and Labradorian ifyou fail to protect and defend our rea-son for being here. Simple questions:Why is the province refusing to takelegal action against the Government ofCanada for mismanaging the stocks?Why is the federal government refusingto take custodial control and worktoward joint management?

We will be the only people to volun-tarily give up our sovereignty and thengo about eradicating ourselves. All forthe price of a question or two.

Sue Kelland-Dyer was a policy advisorto former Liberal premier RogerGrimes.

SUEKELLAND-DYER

Guest column

Inco Limited Chairman and CEO Scott Hand (L) and Falconbridge Ltd. CEO Derek Pannell. REUTERS/Mike Cassese

The Buchanan Northern Hardwoodssawmill in Thunder Bay will shut down indef-initely on Sept. 15, putting 225 people out ofwork. The news comes just days afterBuchanan said a birch pallet sawmill at the

same site would close, affecting 50 jobs.Vice-president Hartley Multamaki says the

closing is the result of low market prices forpoplar lumber, combined with the high cost ofenergy and reduced access to wood fibre.

Communications, Energy and Paperworkersunion Local 40 president Stephen Boon saysworkers were expecting some bad news, butwere surprised to hear of the outright closing.

— Torstar wire service

Thunder Bay mill closings to cost 275 jobs

JULY 23, 2006 INDEPENDENTBUSINESS • 23

The recent cabinet shuffle withinour provincial government,which happened just a couple

of weeks ago, included a move byPremier Danny Williams to relinquishhis secondary role as minister respon-sible for the Department of Business(a department he and his governmentcreated), handing over those ministeri-al duties to cabinet newcomer KevinO’Brien.

A change of minister doesn’t neces-sarily mean a change in focus anddirection for the fledgling department.However, it does perhaps signal aneffort to reenergize the departmentand bring its work more to the fore.

When it was first announced, therewere high hopes for the Department ofBusiness throughout much ofNewfoundland and Labrador’s privatesector, but there’s been limited buzzever since. Not that the departmenthasn’t been working hard and gettingsome things done — but most of thework gets relatively little notice orattention. News releases from theBusiness Department, for instance,have been few and far between com-pared to all the other departments.

There’s a high-level business advi-sory board linked to the departmentwhose job it is to provide advice to thepremier and the rest of government onmatters of economic development andbusiness in Newfoundland and Labra-dor.

But overall, you could say theDepartment of Business has beensomewhat of an enigma. Currently, itstwo main files are a provincial re-branding initiative aimed at creating aconsistent, recognizable, professionalimage and identity for Newfoundlandand Labrador; and the red tape reduc-tion initiative, shifted to Businessfrom another department last year.

On July 18, the newly appointed

O’Brien had his first speakingengagement as a minister at a lunch-eon of the St. John’s Board of Trade.He updated the businesspeople inattendance on the red-tape reductionand re-branding projects, and howthose fit into the mandate of thedepartment. But he also underlinedthe growing emphasis government isputting on business and investmentattraction, an objective which theDepartment of Business was set up tolead, but which has been slow in pro-gressing to this point.

Clearly, we as a province have workto do to build up business here. As aresult of our recent economic success,Newfoundland and Labrador runs therisk of becoming cash-rich but oppor-tunity poor. Our natural resources —oil primarily — are the major sourceof our wealth, while our private sector,which is the engine for self-sustaining

wealth creation, remains comparative-ly underdeveloped.

Without a doubt, we need a strate-gic, business-like approach to enhanc-ing our business environment andachieving value-added, sustainableeconomic growth in Newfoundlandand Labrador. This approach is neededboth in the development of our indige-nous private-sector businesses andalso attracting inward investment andcompanies to the province.

Just like Nova Scotia’s businessdevelopment agency, Nova ScotiaBusiness Inc., has helped entice thelikes of Research in Motion and otherhigh-value firms to locate their opera-tions in that province, we need to bemore out front in aggressively andstrategically attracting business toNewfoundland and Labrador.

Is our Business Department fulfill-ing that role? As an infant department,let’s give it a chance to get the ballrolling. But it certainly has somegrowing and maturing of its own to doif government hopes to rely on it as anagency that will actively help theprovince compete for national andinternational business.

“This is where we mean business”was the minister’s refrain throughouthis address to members of the St.John’s Board of Trade last week.

That was an encouraging messagefrom a department that has been flyingunder the radar, for the most part,since its inception. And now that thepremier has passed the portfolio to afull-time minister, expectations will beraised.

Certainly, the local private sector isanxiously waiting for the Departmentof Business to take a more prominentposition within government.

Ray Dillon is President of the St.John’s Board of Trade.

Expectations raised forBusiness Department

RAY DILLON

Board of Trade

particular favourite. When asked about the competi-

tion amongst cart operators (ru-moured to be stiff), George is thepicture of diplomacy. He has greatrespect for his competition, but feelsthere is room for his business too.“Everyone wants their company tobe the best. All I do is what I wouldexpect myself from another ven-dor.”

While he claims he’s never takena business course in his life, Georgesounds like a manual for opening asmall business. His educationalbackground in architectural designallowed him to design and buildexactly the cart he wanted. Whileattending university, he worked in arestaurant kitchen to make endsmeet — he brings that expertise tohis new business.

After coming up with the idea, heresearched every possible aspect ofthe street vending, meeting withsuppliers, government departmentsand even working for another cartoperator, all so he could get his headaround the business and its chal-lenges.

George says this preparation,combined with his energy, businessstrategy and good, old-fashionedgumption, will be a winning combi-nation for him.

George isn’t relying on the sightof a slowly roasting, fresh jalapenoand cheese sausage on the grill nextto a lightly toasted bun to bring inbusiness — it’s the memory of thelast one he served you. He is gam-bling he’ll draw you back.

Just like Nova Scotia’s business development

agency ... we need to bemore out front in aggres-sively and strategically

attracting business to Newfoundland

and Labrador.

Kevin O’Brien Paul Daly/The Independent

Looking forrepeat businessFrom page 21

24 • INDEPENDENTBUSINESS JULY 23, 2006

WEEKLYDIVERSIONSACROSS1 Drooler’s accessories5 “Mr. Hockey”9 Like a fox12 Bear droppings16 ___ et lui17 Hot: like an ___18 Soil turner19 Many voices20 Small Europeanmonarchy23 Tough24 First francophoneP.M.25 Qom’s country26 Head cavity27 Extension28 Work week whoop29 Inventor ofRingette: Sam ___30 Nfld. painter Mary___33 Longest-runningCBC radio show: “TheHappy ___” (1937-59)34 Haunch35 Cut covering38 Cured pork39 Grey (Fr.)40 Asian desert41 Foofaraw42 Self43 Seed cover44 “___ a fine seam”45 Make short cuts46 Sleepless48 Cousin’s mother

49 Units of power50 Large medicinedose54 Slender weapon57 Butter from a tree58 Collection ofweaponry62 Maritimes63 Makeover beam65 When Brutus wasbrutal66 Devon river67 Go on stage68 Pub rounds69 Ballet movement70 ___ and hearty71 Simple soul73 Delivery vehicle74 A cold one75 Closer to extinction76 Grand ___, N.B.78 Cajole79 European beetle80 Confused din ofvoices81 Painter of B.C.woods82 Enticed86 Aristocratic87 Not giving a fig89 Stopped a squeak90 Salt source91 Wild party92 Prov. that producesmore potash than anycountry93 Toboggan

94 Encountered95 Loch ___96 Family plan?

DOWN1 First swimmer acrossL. Ontario (1954):Marilyn ___2 Pelvic bones3 Un certain fromage4 The Book of ___(Vassanji)5 Hospitality establish-ment6 ___ and done with7 Wart cousin8 Flags9 Bundle (of wheat)10 Tender cut11 Japanese capital12 Knee to ankle parts13 Scintillating14 Helps15 “If at first you don’tsucceed, ___”19 Gaspé ski area: les___-Chocs21 Sword handle22 Math subj.26 Palatable28 Follow29 Agree30 Sound of relief31 Madras music32 Run ___ (wild)33 Searing surface34 Bookstore category

(2 wds.)36 Mine entrance37 Punches39 Larva40 Columbus’ birth-place43 At a distance44 Terrific!45 Retail lure47 Coup d’___48 What campers soakand stir49 Wimp51 German city52 Lowest point53 Untie54 Cullen of stand-up55 Large tropicalrodent56 Worthy of respect59 Close60 Wheel shaft61 Lustful look63 Quebec university64 Park of “Air Farce”65 Holly genus69 P.M. who gave usour flag (1960’s)70 Judy Loman, e.g.72 Storied74 Cause yawning75 Gypsy men77 Poverty78 Unit of gem weight79 Quebec film direc-tor Arcand80 Heat (water) until

bubbling81 One of N.W.T.’sofficial languages

82 Clothing83 Skier’s pick-me-up?84 If all ___ fails ...

85 Fake shot (hockey)86 Refusals87 Suffix for a doc-

trine88 Before: prefix

Solution page 31

ARIES(MAR. 21 TO APR. 19)You face the possibility of raisingyour relationship to another level.However, your partner mightdemand that you make promises forwhich you’re not sure you’re ready.

TAURUS(APR. 20 TO MAY 20)As changes continue, expectthings to get a little more hectic atyour workplace. An unexpectedtravel opportunity could open newcareer prospects.

GEMINI(MAY 21 TO JUNE 20)Confront the person who causedyour hurt feelings and demand a full explanation for his or her actions. You’ll not only recov-er your self-esteem but you’ll also gain the respect of others.

CANCER(JUNE 21 TO JULY 22)

That personal problem in theworkplace is compounded bysomeone’s biased interference.Stand your ground, and you’llsoon find allies gathering aroundyou.

LEO (JULY 23 TO AUG. 22)You don’t accept disapproval eas-ily. But instead of hiding out inyour den to lick your woundedpride, turn the criticism into avaluable lesson for future use.

VIRGO(AUG. 23 TO SEPT. 22)That former friend you thoughtyou’d cut out of your life is stillaffecting other relationships.Counter his or her lies with the truth. Your friends are ready tolisten.

LIBRA(SEPT. 23 TO OCT. 22) What appears to be an unfair situ-

ation might simply be the result ofa misunderstanding. If you feelsomething is out of balance, by allmeans, correct it.

SCORPIO (OCT. 23 TO NOV. 21)A stalled relationship won’t budgeuntil you make the first move.Your partner offers a surprisingexplanation about what got itmired down in the first place.

SAGITTARIUS (NOV. 22 TO DEC. 21)A co-worker shares some startlingnews, but before you can use it toyour advantage, make sure it’strue. The weekend favors familymatters.

CAPRICORN (DEC. 22 TO JAN. 19) Your usual conservative approachto family situations might notwork at this time. Keep an open mind about developments,

and you might be pleasantly sur-prised.

AQUARIUS (JAN. 20 TO FEB. 18) Plans might have to be put on holdbecause of a family member’sproblems. Don’t hesitate to getinvolved. Your help could makeall the difference.

PISCES (FEB. 19 TO MAR. 20) Relationships in the home and inthe workplace need your carefulattention during this period. Becareful not to allow misunder-standings to create problems.

BORN THIS WEEKYou have a keen, insightful intel-lect and enjoy debating yourviews with others who disagreewith you. You also love to solvepuzzles — the harder, the better.

(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

JULY 23-29, 2006

JULY 23, 2006 INDEPENDENTSHIFT • 25

If you’ve ever slipped into a Formula 1 cockpit, the S2000’s interior may feel vaguely familiar. The car is available at the Honda dealership in St. John’s. Paul Daly/The Independent

DRIVENFROM A CHOPPER TO A MOTOR HOME TO A PORSCHE 911 TO A RICKSHAW,

NEW INDEPENDENT COLUMNIST WILL REVIEW ANYTHING THAT MOVES

Ilike to drive. A lot. Over the yearsI’ve driven almost every make andmanner of machinery. Cars and

trucks, both new and old, and everystyle of motorcycle — motocross,cruiser, rocket and chopper. I’ve drivena backhoe and a front-end loader. Themotor home I drove cost more than myhouse, had a V-10 engine under thehood and a 21-inch colour television inthe dashboard.

I’ve taken the wheel on big powerboats, small boats, all kinds of snow-mobiles, quads and trikes. Every nowand then I’m offered the chance to do abit of stock-car racing and actuallywon the Media Challenge race a fewyears ago. (I would like to thank oursponsors, got a great team this year.)

It’s pretty easy to see I love machin-ery, but I still enjoy the simple pleasureof riding a bicycle. A few people whoreally know me can laugh because Ihave a collection of about 16 bikes andthat’s not normal, I admit. But hey, I dolike to launch my vintage canoe onoccasion or have a paddle in my littlekayak. Sometimes I’m lucky enough toride horses or take the evening air on apony cart, the original convertible.

The pony cart reminds me of a late-night episode around 20 years ago.There was an attempt to establish arickshaw service in downtown St.John’s (I’m not making this up), andupon leaving one of the finer east-endestablishments, I was looking fortransportation to the west end of WaterStreet and lo and behold there was arickshaw. To the uninitiated a rickshawis an ornate, light wooden cart withtwo long wooden handles attached to,and propelled by, a guy trotting along

in front. All the rage in Singapore andTokyo to be sure! But an absolute odd-ity and rarity on a late night on WaterStreet, which made it all the moredesirable. So I inquired about rates andthe runner was both surly and over-priced, but from what I know abouthorses, he showed spirit. So off wewent, he trotting and me fashionablyensconced in the rickshaw, tipping myhat to startled onlookers. A short waysahead was another rickshaw at a set oftraffic lights and I coaxed my runner

around a few cars to pull alongside theother chariot to have some sport. Inodded to the other passenger and weboth passed pleasantries and agreed it

was indeed a lovely evening for rick-shaw. The light turned green, the otherchariot pulled ahead and gained a fullmeasure in front, then I leaned forwardand roared at my overpriced, surlycharge, “On Donner, on Dasher, orRudolph or whatever your name is!Run like the wind and pass him!” Iinstinctively reached for the whip,which he must have cleverly hid, so Ileaned forward with my hat but could-n’t reach him and realized why thehandles were so long. Wily creatures

these rickshaw runners. Having wonthe race, I allowed him to walk a bitand catch his breath but insisted on afair trot upon approaching my destina-tion for the pretext of a fine entrance. Itipped him well and never saw a rick-shaw downtown again.

I presume he continued his studies,achieved a higher education, foundreputable work and held his head highwhen queried about his previousemployment and barked “Rickshawrunner, sir.” Now that’s something youdon’t see too often on a resume. I, onthe other hand, am listing rickshawracer on mine.

I’m actually on vacation right nowand around noon today my sister-in-law let me take her new Yamahamotorcycle for a spin. I cruised throughthe back roads down to the ocean andthought to myself, this is the life.

Within an hour I was invited to theoffices of The Independent and offereda dream job, the opportunity of a life-time.

Drive everything I can get my handson every week, have fun and share mythoughts. I got called up to the majorleague and I’m going to have a lot offun. Now I can sincerely say, “I want tothank our sponsors, we got a reallystrong team here at The Independentand I’m grateful for the opportunity.”

So, there’s a Porsche 911 that I’vehad my eye on for the past year, per-haps they’ll allow us all the pleasure ofknowing what it feels like to drive it.

Please, call me Woody.

Mark Wood lives in Portugal Cove-St.Philip’s and is responsible for the fail-ure of the rickshaw industry.

26 • INDEPENDENTSHIFT JULY 23, 2006

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Public drag racing

Carl Spiering is one of Canada’s fastest dragracers who’s dead set against drag racing —on the street.

The Jordan Station hot shoe, who’s in action thisweekend at Toronto Motorsports Park where he’ll beshooting for his second straight Pro Modified title atthe fifth annual IHRA Canadian Nationals, is“absolutely 100 per cent against street racing.”

But Carl Spiering is as angry at just about everylevel of government in this country — because ofwhat he considers sheer hypocrisy — as he is at thejerks who choose to do their racing in environmentswhere people — innocent people — are beingkilled.

“You know,” he said during a conversation wehad a few weeks ago while he was driving homefrom a meet in Michigan, “we live in a world that’spretty much driven by the auto industry. And theauto industry is driven by horsepower.

“What 16, 17 or 18-year-old kid who sees a com-mercial about one of the cars on the market thesedays isn’t going to want to race it? Or see how fastit will go, anyway?”

He feels strongly about this subject. “Governments allow us to buy these cars,” he

said. “They allow the companies to make them andto advertise them. But they’re not thinking theprocess through, because although they allow peo-ple to have these cars, they won’t allow them to usethem the way they’re designed to be used, which isto go fast.

“They’re fast cars that the government says youcan’t drive fast.”

Spiering says he has the answer to this contradic-tion: public drag strips (most in Canada are private-ly owned commercial strips).

“When there’s a social problem, governments tryto solve it by spending money on programs,” hesaid. “So if governments think street racing is a

problem, why aren’t they taking some of the moneythey have and building drag strips?

“And then, once they have the drag strips, theycould schedule mandatory, supervised, street racingnights. That way, if a couple of guys in hot cars meetup in the parking lot of a mall, and one says, ‘Hey,want to race?’ the other could say, ‘OK, see you atthe track.’”

Spiering says if people get into a street race andthere’s an accident and somebody iskilled, “they should never be allowed todrive a car again. But if there are placeswhere people can go to race, just like thereare places for people to go play othersports, then that would be a solution.

“Give kids a place to go and race andyou won’t have a problem with peopleracing on the street.”

Carl Spiering, 41 and married with twodaughters, doesn’t race on the street. Hedoes his talking on quarter-mile dragstrips all over Canada and the UnitedStates while scrunched behind the wheelof an Eaton Electrical-sponsored 1967Chevrolet Camaro powered by a 526-cubic-inch Hemi engine (2,300 horsepower) that cango down a quarter mile like Cayuga’s (whereToronto Motorsports Park is located, south ofHamilton) in 6.165 seconds, which translates into aspeed of 232.91 miles an hour.

In comparison, Clay Millican can take his glam-our-puss-class Top Fuel car down that same strip in4.633 seconds (317.05 mph). But while the Top Fuelcars are skeletal, skin-and-bones lightweights, thePro Modifieds are meat-and-potatoes muscle carsand people just love them.

In fact, the IHRA markets the cars as the “world’sfastest door slammers,” in that they capture the truespirit of hot-rodding.

Spiering, who’s nicknamed “the Big Dog,” fin-ished third last year in the Pro Modified division ofthe IHRA World Championship National Event Tourwhile competing in nine of the 12 events. En route,he won the Tarco Race Fuels Pro ModifiedShooutout and the IHRA ACDelco Nationals.

This year, he’s in sixth place going into this week-end’s event, the sixth of 11 races in the IHRA series(which includes a stop in Atlantic Canada at

Miramichi Dragway Park in Bellefond,N.B. on Sept. 16). However, he’s leadingthe pack of qualifyers aiming to competein this year’s Tarco fuels shootout (a spe-cial championship-within-a-champi-onship) that will be contested in Martin,Mich., during the Tarco Race FuelsNorthern Nationals Aug. 4-6.

Spiering always knew he’d be a worldchampionship-calibre drag racer, but hehad to walk before he could run.Following a short stint in a Pro Street-division Malibu back in 1991, he turnedto racing snowmobiles on grass to getsome competition experience and to builda resume.

He caught the eye of Bombardier, manufacturersof the Ski-Doo snow machines, who offered him afactory deal. He ran well for four years but thenwent back to the asphalt.

A succession of cars (a ’57 Chevrolet Bel Air anda ’64 Chevy II among them) brought Spiering to theend of the 2003 season when he had a chance to pur-chase a ‘63 Corvette Pro Modified. He struggledearly in 2004 but was coming on like gangbusters bythe end of the year, setting the stage for his 2005breakout season.

Which brings us to March, 2006, and the first raceof the season in San Antonio, Tex. He had a terriblecrash and destroyed the Corvette. He just about

destroyed himself in the process.“I had some broken ribs but I healed up real well,”

he said. “I was treated at the Brooks Army Medical Centre

there and what normally would take up to sixmonths to heal was OK after four-five weeks. Thearmy people talked to my doctors up here and madesome suggestions for medication — dietary supple-ments, that sort of thing — having to do with growthand the mending of bones.

“I’m fine now.” Spiering thanks his lucky stars he did something

else before that first race: he attached a HANSdevice to his helmet and credits it with saving himfrom severe head and neck injuries.

“I only got it (the HANS) the day before the acci-dent,” he said. “I decided at the end of last season toget one — no particular reason, it was just time —and I can tell you this: if I hadn’t been wearing it,none of this would have turned out the way it has;we wouldn’t be having this conversation.

“I hit the wall a ton — 19 Gs is the estimate (aforce of one G is needed to stand on the Earth) —and that can kill people. But other than the ribs, I hadno internal injuries so I was very fortunate. And, ofcourse, my head and neck are fine because of thatrestraint system.”

Spiering says the best thing that could happen tohim would be to win the IHRA Pro ModifiedChampionship.

“That’s my dream — to win the title,” he said. “Itwould allow me to do positive things for drag racingin Canada. It would give me a platform from whichI could make a contribution.”

Like lobbying governments to build those dragstrips, perhaps? He’d sure have the legitimacy,because he’d be a champion.

Which is something not too many politicians canclaim.

Canadian drag racer Carl Spiering says Canadian kids need a place to legally race. Above: assistants count down for Denis Belikov (left) and Ruslan Zuyev during the start of a drag race on a runway near the Siberian city of KrasnoyarskJuly 1. Non-professional drivers from Russia and Kazakhstan took part in the "Drag-Fight 2006" 402 m short distance race. Ilya Naymushin/Reuters

NORRISMCDONALD

TRACKTALK

JULY 23, 2006 INDEPENDENTSHIFT • 27

TTYYLLEERR HHAAMMIILLTTOONNTORSTAR WIRE SERVICE

Who killed the electric car? Was itGeneral Motors? The big oil companies?The U.S. government? Was it Professor

Plum in the library with the candlestick?A new documentary released June 28 in New

York and Los Angeles, appropriately titled WhoKilled The Electric Car? tries in Clue-like fashionto figure out why GM pulled the plug on its EV1electric vehicle program, which by most accountswas approaching success when the first prototypewas introduced in the mid-1990s.

“It was a revolutionary, modern car, requiring nogas, no oil changes, no mufflers, and rare brakemaintenance,” according to a synopsis of the film,directed by Chris Paine and distributed by SonyPictures Classics.

“A typical maintenance checkup for the EV1consisted of replenishing the windshield washerfluid and a tire rotation,” the synopsis continues.“But the fanfare surrounding the EV1’s launch dis-appeared and the cars followed. Was it lack of con-sumer demand as carmakers claimed, or were otherpersuasive forces at work?”

Thomas Edison built an electric vehicle as farback as 1890 using nickel alkaline batteries, andaround that time many of the cabs introduced onthe streets of New York City were powered by elec-tricity, not gasoline. Within a couple of decades,however, the internal-combustion engine and all itsnasty emissions and pollutants began to take over.The Earth got warmer and the rest, as they say, ishistory.

Interest has emerged from time to time in electricvehicles throughout the 1900s. During the 1970senergy crisis, the wean-from-oil movement spurredinnovation in electric cars, and in the 1990s a strictclean-air mandate introduced in California thatcalled for zero-emission vehicles was what led GMto introduce the EV1.

Eventually that California mandate got watereddown from “zero” to “low” emissions, and theautomakers decided to literally blow up their EVprograms and begin pursuing the longer-termdream — fantasy? — of fuel-cell cars powered byhydrogen.

GM, which leased out the EV1 cars it produced,called them all back after California changed itspolicy. The cars were crushed and shredded.

Who were the people leasing these vehicles?Tom Hanks, Mel Gibson and Ted Danson, amongothers, many of whom appear in the movie and talkfavourably about their electric cars.

Other commentators in the film include con-sumer advocate Ralph Nader, Frank J. Gaffney Jr.(deputy assistant secretary of defence under U.S.president Ronald Reagan), and Joseph Romm, aformer assistant secretary at the U.S. Departmentof Energy and author of The Hype AboutHydrogen.

Actor and environmentalist Ed Begley Jr. is alsoshown in the movie poking fun at the auto industry.

“The electric vehicle is not for everybody,” heannounces during some sort of outdoor gathering.“It can only meet the needs of 90 per cent of thepopulation.”

Scott Miller, a utilities consultant in California,attended a pre-screening and left this comment onmy Clean Break blog (http://www.cleanbreak.ca):

“The upshot for most viewers will be that it isnaïve to think that the societal benefits of techno-logical advances alone will mean that they willever make it to market.

“If the implications of an advance means loss offuture business to a paradigm, the key players ofthat paradigm will lobby to kill it,” Miller com-mented.

The paradigm? Big oil.Similarly, the auto industry has an interest in per-

petuating the manufacture of vehicles that requireroutine, costly maintenance.

“In a sense the EV1 was dead on arrival,” contin-ues Miller. “If, in the future, a car is ever releasedfor lease only, stay away. It’s a sure sign the manu-facturer wants ultimate control and they think theycan eventually crush it out of existence.”

Yes, the EV1 and others at that time were sever-al times more expensive than a comparable car. Thedriving range was horrible. It took hours to chargeup. And there was the question, which remainsvalid today, about merely shifting from one form ofpollution (emissions from tailpipes) to anotherform of pollution (emissions from power genera-tion plants that use fossil fuels).

All barriers to contend with, but are they goodenough reasons to abandon the idea of electric carsaltogether?

GM’s official response to the movie is that,despite cancelling the $1-billion EV1 program, itnever completely abandoned research in the area. Itblames lack of demand for the EV1’s demise,pointing out that of 5,000 people on a waiting listto buy the vehicle, only 50 followed through to alease. Over a four-year period, only 800 vehicleswere leased out. This low demand made it difficultto get replacement parts from suppliers, the compa-ny said.

“We did what we felt was right in discontinuinga vehicle that we could no longer guarantee couldbe operated safely over the long term or that wewould be able to repair,” according to GMspokesperson Dave Barthmuss, adding that muchof the technology behind EV1 has gone to supportGM’s hybrid-electric and fuel-cell programs.

Wherever blame lies, there is a silver lining tothis story. All evidence indicates there’s an electriccar revival in the works, and it appears to be gain-ing momentum.

One spark has been the growing popularity of thehybrid-electric car. With their hybrid models,Toyota, Honda and Ford have raised the profile ofbattery technology and the role electricity can playin improving mileage and reducing our dependenceon fossil fuels.

But more important, hybrids such as the ToyotaPrius have served as a platform on which to build.Groups such as the California Cars Initiative andPlug-In Partners Coalition, companies such asConcord, Ont.-based Hymotion Inc., not to men-

tion “hybrid hackers,”third-party companies orindividuals who are modi-fying today’s hybrids, areproving that the cars can beenhanced to rely more onelectricity and less ongasoline.

What we’re talkingabout here is the concept ofa plug-in hybrid. They’rebasically today’s hybridswith more powerful batter-ies that can, as an option,be plugged into an electri-cal outlet for charging.

The U.S. Congress is try-ing to support the ideathrough legislation, whilePresident George W. Bushhas embraced the concept and routinely touts it inhis energy independence speeches.

Since most people have short commutes, the ideais that a person could drive their hybrid mostly inelectric mode, with the gasoline component kick-ing in for longer highway drives. The car alsowouldn’t have to rely on regenerative breaking tocharge the battery, but rather could be plugged inovernight or “topped up” at a local charging sta-tion. A plug-in hybrid is essentially an electric carthat, if necessary or desired, uses gas as a backup.

At first the big automakers turned up their noses

at the idea. Toyota bor-dered on hostile, dismiss-ing the concept outright.But heightened publicpressure, which hasentered the U.S. politicalarena (the issue hasn’t hitthe radar in Canada), hasthe big carmakers singinga more co-operative tune.

DaimlerChrysler hasalready built prototypes,Ford Motor Corp. chiefexecutive Bill Fordrecently said he’s “keenlylooking” at plug-in vehi-cles, and Toyota did a U-turn last month byannouncing it would“advance its research and

development of plug-in hybrid vehicles.”The result over the past two years has been a

flood of interest in new battery technologies, with afocus on advancements in Lithium-ion and next-generation ultracapacitors.

Companies such as Toshiba, A123 Systems,Altair Nanotechnologies, Eestor, Valence, andCanada’s Avestor and Electrovaya are leading thepack with new battery technologies that willimprove the performance, safety, mileage and costof hybrid or electric vehicles, as well as reduce thecharge time from hours to minutes.

In the past 18 months, an unprecedented $175million (U.S.) in venture capital has gone directlyinto battery technology companies that see plug-inhybrids as the future of automobile manufacturing.

And it’s not just plug-ins. Some entrepreneursand even established automakers are putting bigmoney behind the development of pure electricvehicles, such as the EV1.

Mitsubishi has said it will come out with an all-electric car by 2010 running on advanced Lithium-ion batteries. A Toronto company called Feel GoodCars has started manufacturing low-speed electricvehicles and has licensed a new ultracapacitor-based battery system that could lead to highway-grade electric cars within a few years.

Meanwhile, a Silicon Valley-based venturecalled Tesla Motors wants to become the next great“all electric” U.S. car company.

Last month it raised $40 million (U.S.) in financ-ing from some of the highest-profile names in thetechnology world, including Canadian and ex-eBaybillionaire Jeff Skoll, PayPal founder Elon Musk andGoogle co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

Tesla is named after Nikola Tesla, the Croatian-born Serb who invented alternating current andother electricity-related innovations. Given thatTesla’s 150th birthday will be celebrated today, it’sno coincidence the company is expected to releasedetails soon of a high-performance electric sportscar it plans to manufacture. Its long-term vision isto produce low-cost family vehicles based on thesame technology.

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If you’re like me and lucky enoughto have a garage, you’re probablyalso stupid enough to keep every-

thing but a car in it. Even though I livein a “nice” neighbourhood, the guyacross the street had a car stolen a cou-ple of months back.

The only thing worse than havingyour car stolen is getting it back. Like amate who goes on a bender and hassome lost weekend, you don’t knowwhere it’s been, what it’s seen or whodid what to it. I knew someone who hada vehicle stolen and had itreturned right at the 30- daypoint. One more day and theinsurance would havedeclared it officially gone.She was inconsolable.

My father used to put ourcar in the garage. I don’tknow how he fit a stationwagon in there, but I doremember having to scoochacross to whichever side hadthe most room, and squeez-ing through the door liketoothpaste.

My mother refused to putthe car in the garage; my dad took thatas some kind of woman driver weak-ness, but I knew she just didn’t want toget her coat dirty. I once read that toaim the car properly, you park the carwhere you want it, then tie a tennis ballfrom the ceiling to hit at the centre ofthe windshield. That never would haveworked when I was a kid; we wouldhave taken down theball to play with it.

I’m never going toput a car in mygarage, but it wouldbe nice to not have tosend in a search partywhenever the kids goin to find something.This weekend isTaking Back theGarage time.

No matter whatyour reasons are forreclaiming yourgarage, this is thetime of year to do it.There is only one wayto clear a garage. Take everything outand pile it on the driveway. Everything.This will take a couple of hours, anddraw a crowd of little kids from all overthe neighbourhood. Don’t chase themaway. You are about to give them allkinds of junk to take back to their owngarages.

Start four piles. In the first pile,

which will be the largest, start gather-ing garbage. Rakes with no tines, wornout brooms, mouldy hockey gear, binsof rusty hinges (don’t ask), the driver’smanual for a ’76 Pinto, wet sidewalkchalk, broken baby swings (the baby is11) and bungee cords with no bungeeleft in them. Separate but in this pile arethe old paint cans and oil containersand leaky things that go to the specialcollection place.

The second pile is the eureka pile.It’s where you say “Hey, I’ve been

looking for this!” It’s the fourmm socket you thought wasmissing from the set, thebicycle pump, six needles forthe pump, the fielder’s mitt,the Bee Mop bucket, the newcan of WD40 the kids took, 4half rolls of duct tape and thehamster cage. Put this rightinto the garbage pile, beforethe kids decide they want anew hamster.

The third pile is stuff that isgoing back in. Think long andhard about what makes it intothis pile. My father had 13

snow shovels, some dating back to theCivil War. Nobody needs 13 snowshovels.

The fourth pile is better than garbage,but nothing you need to keep. You canhave a yard sale, but that’s a lot ofwork. That little crowd of kids will carteverything away for you like army antsat a picnic. Let them. Your kids proba-

bly brought half thestuff they’re takinghome from theirgarages.

Sweep all the leavesand dirt and bugs outof the whole garage. Ifyou don’t already havethem, put up lots ofhooks. The less on thefloor the better. Hoseout your garbage cansand blue boxes. This isthe worst time of yearfor bugs and grosscritters; no, that’s notrice under yourgarbage bags.

With all this newfound space, youmay even be tempted to use yourgarage for its original purpose. Not methough. Even with it all spanky clean, ifI put the car in there, I’d look outsideand be convinced the car had beenstolen.

www.lorraineonline.ca

Taking backthe garage

LORRAINESOMMERFELD

POWERSHIFT

NO MATTERWHAT YOUR

REASONS AREFOR RECLAIMINGYOUR GARAGE,THIS IS THE

TIME OF YEARTO DO IT.

JULY 23, 2006 INDEPENDENTSPORTS • 29

My pre-teen friends and Ialmost always caught moretrout when we dared venture

further from the beaten path. Theheightened sense of adventure was abonus, both in the sense of being in thewilderness, and in pushing beyondwhat parental permission allowed.

In our own minds we were explorersand expert anglers. In actual fact wewere very lucky not to have gotten lost— and worm-drowning tanglers wouldbetter describe our fishing skills. Butwe had wholesome fun, learned stuffyou could never learn in a classroom,and discovered sweat equity.

When I was old enough to get ahunting licence I, naturally, went hunt-ing. Over the summer I read The DuckHunter’s Bible and few more borrowedtitles that time has erased from mymemory. The Duck Hunter’s Bible stillholds a prominent position on myshelf, but for nostalgic reasons only.

Although the author was a fountainof knowledge on hunting the mainwaterfowl flyways, with huge spreadson decoys and duck boats, the slimpickings here on the Rock were wayoutside his worldview. We are just alittle too far east of the Atlantic flyway.

My first September and October ofduck hunting taught me three impor-tant lessons: take theoretical huntingknowledge with a grain of salt; don’tattempt to feed your family on ducks;and buy the best boots you can afford.

I rambled everywhere ducks wererumoured to be hiding. I recall a par-ticular late October morning vividly.My intelligence gathering and eaves-dropping had produced enticing suspi-cions of a pond far from civilizationwhere ducks frolicked and playedwhile awaiting departure for the sunnysouth.

I knew enough about map and com-pass to get from A to B in partsunknown, so I planned a route. It wasa horrendous hike through soupy bog,thick woods and around rocky, floodedshorelines. After four hours of trudg-ing, my hunting buddy and I topped aridge overlooking the secret pond.

There were ducks, lots of them,more than we had ever seen in oneplace … sweat equity.

Twenty-five duck seasons havepassed since that day. There’s a berry-picking road that goes very close to thepond and an ATV trail finishes the job.Somebody has a nice tidy cabin atwater’s edge. The ducks don’t gatheranymore. People don’t even bother topick berries there anymore. It’s gettingharder and harder to earn that sweatequity.

I first fished for salmon on the GreatNorthern Peninsula in the early 1990s.I abandoned the crowded pools of BigFalls and the Exploits in search ofsweat equity. My quest guided me to

Castors River.Castors River flows from the pris-

tine hills of the Northern Peninsulainto Castors Pond, which meets Route430 (Viking Trail) at its run-out. Theriver continues its journey, meeting thesea at a small picturesque fishing com-munity that bears its name. Thirty min-utes of vigorous canoe paddling acrossCastors Pond gets you to the run-in.

Castors is one of those wonderfulrivers that holds fish everywhere, notjust in crowded holding pools. It’s a

midsized wadeable river that causesyou no fear for your life even in highwater; a wonderful place to introducechildren and beginners to wildernesssalmon fishing.

Anglers might wade and fish forhours with little or no human contact.The river is lined with old growthspruce and fir, mixed here and therewith a dash of hardwood. The furtheryou wade upriver, the more remoteand isolated the experience becomes.About three hours wading takes you toSpruce Pool, so named for a hugeoverhanging spruce that shades a deepchannelled turn in the river. Thesalmon gods must have had a hand inthis one — a more perfect salmon rest-ing area I have yet to discover.Backpacking a tent and sleeping bag

up to Spruce Pool is sweat equity at itsfinest.

At least, that’s the way it was.There’s now a forest access road thatgoes within less than a kilometre ofSpruce Pool and an ATV trail thatshortens the walk to 15 minutes. I wasthere just last week. The place is likePippy Park. Somebody even cut downthe salmon-shading spruce tree. Nomore sweat equity at Spruce Pool.

I have to question the value of whatI suppose is well-meaning economicdevelopment. People earn dollars cut-ting wood fibre for the paper mills.That’s fine, but the mills are downsiz-ing and might pull out of Newfound-land altogether. Castors River is blem-ished forever as a wilderness river!

Are our environmental and econom-

ic strategies short-sighted? I recentlyfished in Ireland where there is zerosweat equity. Irish anglers wereintrigued by my stories of wild wilder-ness rivers. They asked me how theymight fish here. I’m guessing that inour urbanized and digitized world,wilderness might be worth far morethan paper and blueberries.

And shouldn’t sweat equity be abirthright when you live on a big rockout in the North Atlantic with only ahalf million other brave souls?

Paul Smith is a freelance writer livingin Spaniard’s Bay, enjoying all the out-doors Newfoundland and Labradorhas to offer.

[email protected]

Sweat equityIt’s hard to get off the beaten path these days, laments Paul Smith

PAUL SMITHThe Rock Outdoors

A LITTLE OF YOUR TIME ISALL WE ASK. CONQUERING THE

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Rod Hale having a cast at Spruce Pool. Paul Smith/The Independent

When you hear the name Ring and the St. John’sRegatta, you probably think of Paul, Randy or thefamous “Skipper” Jim. You can add Bernadine to

the list. Bernadine Ring may be new to you but not to the

shores of Quidi Vidi Lake. This year Bernadine will partici-pate in her 25th Regatta, set to line up to the stakes with herCentral Dairies crew for the first ladies’ race on Regattamorning, slated for Aug. 2 (weather permitting).

Bernadine, granddaughter of “Skipper” Jim Ring (seebelow), started rowing in 1979.

“One day my cousins said they were going for a spin soI thought I would join them,” Bernadine tells TheIndependent.

Few people could have predicted that the rookie oar-swoman would have such an impact on the sport.Celebrating her silver anniversary this year, Bernadine hashad tremendous Regatta success and is a familiar face in theladies’ championship race. What’s so special aboutBernadine is not only the fact that she had so many appear-

ances in championship races, but that she has never wonone.

The sacrifice, dedication and hard work that goes into asingle year of competitive rowing is enormous but to con-tinually do so for 25 years without a championship is phe-nomenal. Bernadine has been close to winning a champi-onship. “Too close,” she says, most recently with JungleJim’s in 2003, losing to OZ FM by three seconds. She hasalso missed championships due to factors beyond her con-trol. Bernadine had a respectable showing with OZ FM in1987 (the first year OZ FM rowed), but due to a wristinjury stood lakeside in 1988 to watch OZ FM win theirfirst of nine championships.

Although she says that was “very hard,” it didn’t affecther love for the sport. If anything, it made her hungrier fora win. She also learned never to let an injury get in the way

of her dreams. For three weeks in 2003, she rowed with afull-length cast on her leg, the same year she was runner upfor the Kim Stirling Memorial Trophy.

“Just being involved and the great people I have metmake it worthwhile,” Bernadine says of where she finds themotivation year after year. New and younger crewmembersalways make for a challenge, she says. Bernadine’s crew-mates reflect those feelings and Bernadine is labeled as oneof the hardest workers on the lake. Unfortunately,Bernadine says this may be her last year rowing, but shewon’t be too far from the lake. She’s considering coxingand may return at the master’s level.

Bernadine Ring is a class act. She may have plenty ofsilver medals around her neck, but she will always be achampion in the eyes of her fellow rowers and coxswains atQuidi Vidi Lake.

RegattaRings

Rower Bernadine Ring Photo by Paul Daly/The Independent

Saturday, July 29th, will see the144th running of the HarbourGrace Regatta. Both local and out-

of-town crews will be out for goodshowings as it is just four days shy ofthe Royal St. John’s Regatta. Check backfor highlights! The Placentia Regattawas to take place on July 22, but resultsweren’t available prior to TheIndependent’s press deadline. Checkback next week for news and results.

New rowing shells

This year sees 11 new shell sponsors comeonboard for the Regatta. Six shells will racethis year: Smith Stockley II (Smith

Stockley), Stroke of Power (NewfoundlandPower), Miss India (Molson Canada), NTVNetwork (Stirling Communications), Catherine M(Alec G. Henley and Associates) and The Ranger(Neville & Butler). Other sponsors with shells yetto be named: Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro,Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, MemorialUniversity of Newfoundland, Corby DistilleriesLtd., and The Telegram.

‘Skipper’ Jim Ring

“Skipper” Jim Ring’s involvementwith the St. John’s annual Regattabegan in 1929, when he rowed in

the Intermediate Race with a crewfrom his beloved Quidi Vidi Village. In1981, his Smith Stockley crew rowed9:12:04, beating an 80-year-old recordset in 1901 by Outer Cove fishermen.Ring’s crew won gold medals that hadbeen presented to the RegattaCommittee in 1910 by Lord Warden,

to be awarded to the crew beating the9:13:80 record.

Skipper’s last race (at the age of75) was a championship win in 1987, afitting way to end a remarkable career.From 1938 to 1987 he steered in atotal of 61 races, including 29 firstplaces (7 championships). He wasinducted into the Regatta Hall of Famein 1988.

— Source: www.stjohnsregatta.org

Harbour GraceRegatta

30 • INDEPENDENTSPORTS JULY 23, 2006

JULY 23, 2006 INDEPENDENTSPORTS • 31

Solutions for crossword on page 24

Solutions for sudoku on page 24

HOYLAKE, EnglandBy Dave PerkinsTorstar wire service

It is said, and almost surely true, thatwhen Roberto De Vicenzo won theBritish Open here at Royal Liverpool

in 1967, his purse was less than his legalgambling winnings.

De Vicenzo earned £2,100 for winningthe Claret Jug, more than $10,000 inCanadian money back then if memoryserves and it occasionally does. But healso had wagered on himself in the legalgambling shops that proliferate and themost commonly agreed upon amount is£60 at 50 to 1. Or maybe it was £50 at 60to 1. Either way, he won 3,000 quid, so thestory goes, a lot of money in those days.

All of which makes this one more rea-son to love and honour the OpenChampionship more than any other golftournament. The golf course may bebrown and dried out and absolutely noth-ing like the lush, trimmed jungles backhome with their soft, shot-catchinggreens and precision yardages and so on.You either get it or you don’t when itcomes to links golf and the world’s greatlinks courses and lots of North Americansdon’t get it, obviously. That’s their prob-lem.

Ah, but the betting, all entirely legal,adds another welcome element of sport-ing chance for spectators we don’t getback home. Why, at the 2002 Ryder Cupat The Belfry outside Birmingham, abookmaker paid for rights to set up a bet-ting shop on the golf course and cus-tomers were betting matches almost shotby shot.

Every Open town has a bet shop ortwo. Or six. So, a couple of betting sto-ries, if you please, the first from RoyalBirkdale eight years ago, where the hotnews a night or two before the Open wasthat former champion Tom Lehman haddamaged his shoulder while doing ahandstand with his children. Lehman saidit skewed his swing, but he’d do his bestand, as a recent champion, he didn’t planto skip the world championship of golf.

Fair enough, except a man strollingthrough Southport an hour later, pokinghis head into the bet shop because theearly evening greyhound races werebeckoning, noticed Lehman still favouredin a two-ball match. The bookmaker had-n’t reacted to the news about Lehman’sshoulder. The wanderer did, though, emp-tying his wallet on Lehman’s opponent.

Lehman naturally made what seemed amiracle recovery and shot a first-round71, but just when the banking-assistant e-mail was about to be sent home, he wentsouth, shot 79, missed the cut. The betwas won.

Inside information, though, isn’talways as good as you might think. Acouple of years later, in Lytham, thatsame man and another Canadian journal-ist followed a prominent PGA Tour pro-fessional, and former Open champion,into a bet shop. The player in question(who shall remain unnamed) hadn’t beenplaying well, but there he was at the win-dows, pushing banknotes at the clerk.

Well, the Canucks thought, this is ourlucky day. He must be feeling good andlook at his odds. He’s 100 to 1. We’ll berich. So we bet him in a two-ball game,bet him in his three-ball game, bet him towin the tournament and saved each way,as the lingo describes place and showmoney. Then we went out and watchedhim shoot 74 and eventually finish 80th.Honk.

A few weeks later, here came our heroto the Canadian Open and, on the practicerange and off the record, we replayedthings to him. “We saw you poundingaway and thought you knew something.What happened?”

“Oh, hell, I wasn’t betting on myself,”he said. “I couldn’t beat anybody, the wayI was playing.

“But there were a couple of other three-ball games I liked and I thought I’d take ashot, just for fun.

“I love taking a little action at theBritish Open.”

He isn’t the only one.

Xtreme: a fun league

1.866.686.8100humbervalley.com

“You have to see it to believe it.”“The accommodations are magnificent.”

“Canada’s best kept secret.”

Two of his Peterboroughteammates, Steve Downieand Jordan Staal, are also atthe national junior camp andRyder would love for all threeto make the grade.

Ryder played a couple ofgames in the Xtreme hockeyleague in St. John’s beforeleaving for Alberta. When hegets back to St. John’s, heplans to rejoin his local mateson the ice. Brother Michael,as well as other standoutplayers from the province,are playing in the league, setup to give high-calibre hock-ey players a good game in thesummer.

“It’s fun to play in thatleague. The talent is great and

it’s nice to play with theboys.”

FLAMES CAMPRyder heads to the Petes’

training camp the first weekin September, followed bythe Flames’ camp. While hewon’t be sulking if he has toplay another season in theOHL, his goal is to earn a jobwith the Flames.

“I’ll go to the Petes’ campfirst and then to Calgary’sand hopefully that’s whereI’ll stay.

“If not, it’s back to Peterborough because I can’t play in the AHLbecause I have one year left of junior.”

From page 32

Betting the Open is a British tradition

By Bob WhiteFor The Independent

If Daniel Ryder was even a littlesuperstitious, he might think the starshave aligned for him at this week’s

training camp with the national juniorteam in Calgary.

First, he had the opportunity to whiphimself into game shape last week at theCalgary Flames development camp,where Ryder and several other Flamesdraftees, including fellow Bonavista-native Adam Pardy (who was sidelinedwith a foot injury), were evaluated byCalgary coaches.

Ryder, who was picked by the Flames74th overall in the third round of the2005 NHL entry draft, is hoping to makethe Calgary club this September, and hefeels he has a good crack at it.

The last time a player from

Newfoundland and Labrador played forTeam Canada at the World Juniors, it wasin 2000 in Sweden — the same countrythat will host the 2007 event. And thatplayer from 2000 happens to be Daniel’solder brother, Michael, who helpedCanada to a bronze medal.

“It would be cool for that to happen,”says Daniel Ryder from Calgary. “Imean, I’m excited to get this chance andit would be great to make the team. Notmany people get the opportunity to repre-sent their country and it would be sweetfor both of us to do that.”

When asked if his sibling passed onany advice prior to the junior camp,Ryder says there were words of encour-agement, but nothing specific. Suffice tosay, he knows what’s at stake and under-stands hard work will pay off, just as ithas throughout his blossoming career.

Ryder is coming off a superb season

with the Peterborough Petes, whom heled to the Ontario Hockey League cham-pionship and a trip to the Memorial Cup.

The Petes’ top scorer in the OHL play-offs, Ryder won the Wayne Gretzky 99Award as the league’s playoff MVP with15 goals and 31 points in 19 games. Hehopes the attention his team earned, andthe awards bestowed upon him, willbring added attention to his game fromboth the national team and the Flames.

Ryder says he was a little bit rustywhen he arrived in Calgary, but after thefirst two days of the Flames’ camp, he’dregained his stride and touch, and expectsto leave a good impression withCalgary’s management.

He participated in the same camp lastsummer, but didn’t get invited toCalgary’s main pre-season camp in thefall. This year, Ryder expects to attendthe main camp and would love nothing

more than to make the big club.“I’m hoping to get my foot in the door

and show them I can play,” Ryder says.“I’m back in the swing of things now andhopefully this summer will be a good onefor me. All the coaches are here and themanagement so this is a good time toshow what you got.”

Ryder is staying at a university dormwith the rest of the Flames’ prospects,sharing a room with Pardy, and he’ll stayin the same place for the Team Canadacamp.

He says he’ll have an edge, focusobtained from the Flames’ camp, and hehopes to use it to make the junior squad.

“These two weeks will be pretty hec-tic, but they’re also going to be veryimportant,” Ryder said. “This is what it’sall about.”

INDEPENDENTSPORTSSUNDAY THROUGH SATURDAY, JULY 23-29, 2006 — PAGE 32

Soccer is growing in popularityacross the country, and thisprovince is no exception.

Numbers are up, new fields are beingcreated, and our provincial teams fromall age groups are competitive at thenational level.

And we do all this with the disad-vantage of short summers, long win-ters and poor year-round training facil-ities.

Other provinces — Nova Scotia, forexample — have several first-classindoor facilities where athletes cantrain 12 months of the year. It’s toughto compete with that, although ourteams have a reputation for overcom-ing these challenges and giving oppos-ing provinces a tough match on thepitch.

And it’s so darn expensive to take ateam off the island to national andinternational competitions — anotherconstant challenge.

Still, minor soccer is a relatively

cheap sport and volunteers from asso-ciations across the province do a greatjob letting kids have fun, no matterwhat caliber of athlete they are.

One recent project that should helpdevelop players , at least on this side ofthe province, is a so-called metroleague for youth teams in several dif-ferent age groups, from 16 and underdown to 10 and under.

Just about every association thatplays soccer on the Avalon (St. John’s,CBS, Paradise, Mount Pearl, Goulds,Torbay, Bay Bulls and CBN) hasentered teams in each age group, andthe plan is to have associations taketurns hosting the different age groups

on rotating weekends.As one who has been involved in the

league, I admit it has not been asmooth ride so far.

However, the idea is great and Iencourage all participants — no matterhow frustrating it is when games arecancelled, teams pull out at the lastminute, referees fail to show up andthe weather wrecks schedules — toremain patient and let the growingpains teach all of us how to best pro-ceed with this idea.

•••Having two kids in soccer, as well as

other sports, I’ve travelled to virtuallyall parts of the island and Labradormany times over the past few years.I’ve met many parents just like mewho spend a lot of time (and money)on their kids.

And no matter what sport it is, I seemany of the same parents. Same faces,different season and different

arenas/fields/courts.It’s a far cry from when I was

younger, when a trip to St. John’s for agame was as big as a trip to NovaScotia is these days. Now there’s regu-lar travel back and forth to St. John’s(and many other locales both near andfar) for practices and games.

Most sports these days have eitherfully transformed into 12-month oper-ations or are on their way there. Backin the day, sports had seasons, and thatwas it. It was virtually unheard of toplay hockey in the summertime.

These days, it’s weird if a playerdoesn’t lace them up at least a coupleof times through the warmer months.It’s not uncommon for players to be onskates as much as they were during thewinter.

It’s great for kids to play them alland have some fun with the differentsports. But there comes a time (and amoney crunch) when, like it or not,kids have to choose to concentrate on

one sport — especially those youngathletes who have the ability to play ata more advanced level.

Then you have different sports com-peting for the same athletes. Theinevitable clashes between schedulesbecomes all the more prevalent when asummer sport plays through the winterand a traditionally winter sport keepson trucking through the summermonths.

And remember, outside of the capi-tal city region, there are declining pop-ulations, meaning there are fewer kidsto make up teams.

In the end, our kids have lots ofopportunities to play sports, stay fitand make new friends. We, as parents,have lots of opportunities to spendmoney on gas, food, hotel rooms,equipment, registration fees and mis-cellaneous items.

Now that’s a good balance.

[email protected]

All-season sports

What it’s all aboutBonavista’s Daniel Ryder, currently training in Calgary, hopes for a spot with the Flames this season

See “Xtreme,” page 31

Brothers Daniel and Michael Ryder. Paul Daly/The Independent

BOB WHITE

Four-point play

2006-07-23

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Transcript of 2006-07-23