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Tuesday, February 21,2012www.metronews.ca

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Get yourOscarbody

On Monday, Brad Lees, 2, was thrown from the Story Bridge in Brisbane,

Australia, by his father, Jason Lees, pictured in the inset photo with wife

Danielle Cara Sutton. Jason Lees also killed himself in the incident. If you or

someone you know is experiencing a mental-health problem and is in crisis,

call the Crisis Line toll-free, 24 hours a day, 613-722-6914.

Outside Ottawa: 1-866-996-0991.

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‘Heartbreaking tragedy’Authorities say two-year-old victim not known to child-protection services Not known what motivated man, who was well-liked father, teacher and rugby ref

A former Ottawa resident cycledto the top of a bridge in Australiaand threw himself and his two-year-old son over the railing in amurder-suicide, media reportssay.

Jason Lees, 40, was an alumnusof Carleton University and Ridge-mont High School in Ottawa,according to his Facebook page.

Australian media say he was awell-liked teacher at AnglicanChurch Grammar School and aprominent international rugbyreferee. The Courier Mail report-ed Lees lived in Brisbane with hiswife, Danielle, and their son Brad.

The tragedy has sparked callsin Australia for a safety cage to beinstalled on the Story Bridge,where the incident occurred. Sev-eral people witnessed theincident, which happenedaround 3 a.m. local time. Reportsin Australian media say Lees’ fam-ily is distraught. Authoritieswould not comment on the statusof Lees’ relationship with his wifeprior to the incident.

Queensland Premier AnnaBligh called the incident “noth -ing short of a heartbreakingtragedy.”

METRO

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Conservative Sen. PatrickBrazeau is the clearfavourite and Liberal MPJustin Trudeau the under-dog in an upcoming charityboxing match, according toan online bookmaker.

Online casino Bodog.caputs Brazeau at -500 andTrudeau at +300 odds — forpayouts of 1 to 5 and 3 to 1on a win, respectively.

“Brazeau’s a bigfavourite to win,” saidBodog.ca sports-book man-ager Adam Burns. “We’resaying there’s an over 80per cent chance that he willwin this fight.

“Trudeau is a 3-to-1 un-derdog. What that meansfrom a gambling perspec-tive is you would win threetimes your money if hewins.”

Using media reports,Burns looked at their expe-

rience — particularlyBrazeau’s black belt inkarate — as well as theirphysical strength and physi-cal stature, he said.

“(Brazeau) might need tobe an even bigger favouritein this,” said Burns. “Eventhough they’re wearingheadgear and it’s Olympic-style and I know they’re notgoing to try to kill each oth-er, I wouldn’t be surprisedif Trudeau got knocked out

Chance Trudeau goes down: Bookie

Justin Trudeau

PAUL CHIASSON/THE CANADIAN PRESS

The Silly String melee at its peak.

JESSICA SMITH/METRO

Ottawa residents set silly recordMore than 600 people atthe CE Centre on Mondayestablished the worldrecord for the largest“streamer string fight” inthe world — a new categorynever contested before.

For a couple of minutesbefore their cans ran out,629 kids and adultsshrieked, giggled andsprayed the brightly

coloured foam — betterknown by the brand nameSilly String — into the airand all over each other.

Philip Robertson, an ad-judicator for GuinnessWorld Records, verified theproceedings and found 20people didn’t participatefully, but the 629 that didwas above the minimum250.

“That number was estab-lished with the records-management team, whospend hours and hours andyears and years and yearsstudying events of this na-ture,” said Robertson.

Guinness gets 12,000 ap-plications for new recordseach year and decides ifthey are interesting enoughto be counted. JESSICA SMITH

“The only oddsthat matter to meright now, withrespect to Mr.Trudeau, is the factthat we are atpolitical odds….Come March 31we’ll see who willdefy or beat thoseodds.”CONSERVATIVE SEN.PATRICK BRAZEAU

To scan 2D barcodes inMetro, download thefree ScanLife app at2dscan.com.

On the web atmetronews.ca

It’s been an upbeat three yearsfor Archie, but a bizarre CEOfeud is rocking the company

behind the comic. Scan code for story.

Canadians livingacross theborder from Detroit are rallying to putan end to whatthey call ‘TheWindsor Hum.’Watch atmetronews.ca/video

Sen. Patrick Brazeau

RYAN TAPLIN/THE CANADIAN PRESS

or least fell down once inthis fight.”

Depending on the betsthe casino receives, theodds may change, he said.

Brazeau was a little sur-prised at being favourite.

“I think that may be a lit-tle overrated because I wasconsidering myself the un-derdog,” he said.

As for knocking Trudeauout, Brazeau said, “That’spart of the sport and hope-fully part of the gameplan…. In boxing, some-times it only takes onepunch.”

But, first and foremost,he is fighting to raise mon-ey for cancer research inmemory of his mother, whodied from lung cancer in2004, Brazeau said.

All the money raised atthe Fight For the Curematch at the Hampton Innon March 31 will go towardthe Ottawa Regional CancerFoundation.

Ahead of next month’s charity boxing match,Bodog.ca has Conservative Sen. Patrick Brazeauas heavy favourite over Liberal MP Just Trudeau

Patrick Brazeau

Age: 37Height: 5’10”Reach: 70 inchesWeight: 183 pounds

Justin Trudeau

Age: 40Height: 6’2”Reach: 73 inchesWeight: 175 pounds

JESSICA SMITH@METRONEWS.CA

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Protesters in Gatineauheld a demonstrationMonday morning to askthe Quebec governmentto halt clear-cuttingundertaken for theAutoroute 5 extensionfrom Chelsea toWakefield.

A5X, the groupopposed to the extension,said they protested infront of the Gatineau of-fice of Stéphanie Vallée,parliamentary secretaryto Quebec Premier JeanCharest.

A5X member AnneWinship said Vallée wasnot in, so the group left acopy of a letter addressedto Charest demanding a

halt to the work.Winship said the

current highway designplan is outdated and apublic consultation isneeded before the cuttingbegins.

“People’s opinionshave changed in 25 yearsand so has road engineer-ing and taking theenvironment intoaccount,” she said.“They’re destroying somuch of the environ -ment.”

The government plansto destroy the forests andblast rock through morethan six kilometres ofland to build a four-lanedivided highway.

Man fallsfrom 10thfloorA 39-year-old man fell 10storeys from an apartmentbuilding Monday morningand was sent to hospital in

critical condition, para-medics said.

Paramedics received acall at 11:22 a.m. to anapartment building in the2000 block of Carling Av-enue. When they arrivedthey initiated immediatemedical stabilization, para-medics said.

METRO

Protesters rallyto save trees

JOE LOFARO/METRO

A Family Day skateMayor Jim Watson took to the ice on Monday as he hosted a Family Day skating party on the Rink of Dreams outside city hall. With the Rideau Canal skateway closed, the refrigeratedrink was a hotspot for families wanting to getsome ice time in downtown. An NCC Ice Hog,Ottawa Senators mascot Spartacat and the fire-department mascot Sparky also joined dozens of kids on the ice.

On. Ice

Novice skater Mayor Jim Watson gets a hand from

Lauren Casey, 9, left, and Madison Cholette, 8, as he tries

to skate on the Rink of Dreams for Family Day on Monday.

Museum staff votein favour of strikeAbout 150 workers at theCanadian Museum of Na-ture may soon walk offthe job after theirbargaining committeevoted 78 per cent infavour of a strike mandateon Feb. 15, the union rep-resenting them said.

The Public ServiceAlliance of Canada (PSAC)said a conciliation sessionis slated for Tuesdaybetween the union andthe museum. They saidworkers will be in a legalstrike position on March12. Researchers and main-

tenance workers areamong the affectedemployees.

Job security, shift workand scheduling are keyconcerns, the union said.

“We are hopeful thatwith this overwhelmingstrike vote, the museumwill get the message thatour members are seriousabout service to the pub-lic and not prepared to ac-cept concessions,” saidMax Joly, president ofPSAC local 70395 at themuseum.

JOE LOFARO

Group wants clear cutting offorests in Gatineau Park suspended

JOELOFARO@METRONEWS.CA

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More than 40 people, mostof them children, havefrozen to death in what hasbeen Afghanistan’s coldestwinter in years, an Afghanhealth official said Monday.

The government hasrecorded 41 deaths fromfreezing in three provinces— Kabul, Ghor andBadakhshan, said HealthMinistry spokesman Ghu-lam Sakhi Kargar.

All but three or four ofthose deaths were children,he said. Twenty-four of thedeaths were in the capitalof Kabul, mostly in campsfor people who have fledfighting elsewhere in thecountry.

Kabul has been experi-

encing its worst cold snapand heaviest snowfall in 15years, according to the Na-tional Weather Center. Itsaid the weather was to im-prove by the end of theweek.

Heavy snowfall in DayKundi province caused anavalanche late Sunday inthe Sang-i-Takht districtthat damaged three dozenhomes and shops. The ava-lanche caused no injuries,said Nasrullah Sadiqizada, amember of parliamentfrom the central province.

The hardest-hit havebeen people living in tentsin a number of campsaround the capital. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Afghan coldclaims morethan 40 lives

MUSADEQ SADEQ/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

A child stands with his father as they wait to receive

blankets and winter jackets at a camp in Kabul for

internally displaced Afghans.

Coldest winter in years forces locals into camps Number ofdeaths in capital city outrages public

Red Cross attemptceasefire in SyriaThe International Com-mittee of the Red Cross(ICRC) said Monday that itis trying to broker a cease-fire aimed at allowingemergency aid to reachpeople in the areas mostaffected by fighting in Syr-ia, where thousands havedied in an 11-month up-rising against PresidentBashar Assad’s regime.

An ICRC spokeswoman,Carla Haddad, said the Geneva-based aidgroup has been in talks

with Syrian authoritiesand opposition groups forsome time, but attemptsto negotiate a ceasefirehad begun only recently.Haddad declined to speci-fy when.

“We are currently dis-cussing several possibili-ties with all thoseconcerned, and it includesa cessation of fighting inthe most affected areas,”Haddad told The Associat-ed Press.THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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A report on how formersoldiers are told whetherthey have qualified for dis-ability benefits is the startof a wide-ranging look intoproblems plaguing veter-ans’ care, the veterans om-budsman says.

In his report intowhether veterans are givenenough information aboutwhy they are granted or de-nied disability benefits,Guy Parent found the gov-ernment is failing.

And failure so early inthe process can have adomino effect that Parentsays he intends to studyover the coming years.

“We needed to startsomewhere and I thinkthis is a good point,” hesaid in an interview.

The report releasedMonday reviewed a sampleof 213 disability-benefit de-cision letters sent between2001 and 2010, and found

that none clearly stated thereasoning behind the deci-sion. About one in five gaveenough detail for veteransto attempt to deduce therationale, but the remain-der came up entirely short.

Parent said providing in-formation to support a de-cision is fundamentallydifferent from simply pro-viding a reason for a deci-sion. Failing to providesupporting information fordecisions is at odds with

the Veterans Bill of Rightsand other federal laws, hesaid.

His report makes fourrecommendations. Theway the letters are generat-ed needs to be improvedand reasons for decisionsneed to be in plain English,

not medical or legal terms.It also says manuals

should be reviewed tomake sure adjudicators areaware of what has to be inthe letters, and a quality-as-surance system must be inplace. THE CANADIAN PRESS

Feds blasted over veterans’ aidVets not given proper reasons for

denial of benefits, ombudsman says

“Many veterans may be wrongly assessed and do not

pursue the matter further because the (decision) letter did

not reveal where the department’s decision might have

been flawed,” Veterans ombudsman Guy Parent says.

SEAN KILPATRICK/THE CANADIAN PRESS FILE

Third chargelaid in ‘couch

A Quebec man accused ofdriving a vehicle thatdragged a sofa carryingtwo of his friends, one ofwhom was killed, facesthree criminal charges.

Alex Labbe, 21, of St-Benjamin, had already

been charged with hit-and-run causing death and dan-gerous driving causingdeath. On Monday, theCrown laid a third chargeof criminal negligencecausing death in the Satur-day-night stunt that killedFrancois Hallee, 22.

He was freed on $2,000bail and, among severalbail conditions, must notdrink alcohol or drive acar. THE CANADIAN PRESS

Reaction

A spokeswoman for

Veterans Affairs MinisterSteven Blaney said he welcomes the report andintends to act quickly.“Cutting red tape and

providing hassle-free serv-ices to our veterans is min-ister Blaney’s top priority,”Codie Taylor said.

surfing’ death

07metronews.caTUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2012news

Opponents of the govern-ment’s online-surveillancebill say Canada should lookto its allies for cautionarytales before pushing aheadwith measures that woulderode Internet freedom.

Experiences in other ju-risdictions such as the Unit-ed States and Britain showno evidence of improvedcrime-fighting ability and“overwhelming evidence ofincreased surveillance,”said Micheal Vonn of theBritish Columbia Civil Lib-

erties Association.The Canadian legislation

would allow police, intelli-gence and Competition Bu-reau officers access toInternet-subscriber infor-mation — including name,email address and InternetProtocol address — withouta warrant.

It would also requiretelecommunication serviceproviders to have the tech-nical capability to enablepolice and spies to inter-cept messages and conver-

sations.The international exam-

ples demonstrate thatwhen authorities are givenmore powers to keep aneye on Internet surfers,they definitely use them,said Vonn.

“If you build it, they willcome,” he said.

The government insiststhe bill will improve Cana-da’s ability to work with itsinternational partners tofight crime and terrorism.THE CANADIAN PRESS

Surveillance stories RCMP to probeToewsthreatsThe RCMP say they’vebeen asked to investigatethreats made againstPublic Safety Minister VicToews.

The police force won’tdiscuss the nature of thethreats or whetherthey’ll actually open aninvestigation.

But a spokesman for

the minister says threat-ening communicationwere directed at Toews,which is what promptedthe call to the Mounties.

Toews has been thetarget of a sustained on-line campaign connectedto the introduction of anInternet-surveillance billwhich critics say could vi-olate people’s privacy.

Part of the campaigninvolved the publicationof the minister’s divorcerecords.

Over the weekend, theonline activist groupAnonymous posted avideo suggesting that the

heat on the ministercould intensify unless thebill is scrapped.THE CANADIAN PRESS

Vic Toews speaks

during question period

last Thursday.

SEAN KILPATRICK/THE CANADIAN PRESS

Foreign laws underscore need for caution: Critics

The growth of online retail-ers represents the biggestopportunity in a genera-tion, but Canada Post chiefexecutive Deepak Choprasays the post office needs tochange to survive as fewerletters get delivered eachyear.

Chopra says the organi-zation is going through itsbiggest upheaval since theintroduction of postal codesand machine sorting.

And while the number ofwindowpaned envelopeswith the latest Visa bill orbank statement are decreas-ing, the volume of yellow-padded envelopes witheBay purchases are on therise.

“We’re on the verge of amassive explosion in e-com-merce,” said Chopra.

Postal services aroundthe world are facing thesame trends that squeezetheir business, undercutrevenues and threaten toproduce mass layoffs. TheU.S. Postal Service says itmay lose as much as $18.2billion a year by 2015 with-out major changes. CanadaPost is also restructuring. Itopened its first new plant in20 years in Winnipeg and isretrofitting major opera-tions in Toronto, Montrealand other cities. Modernequipment is speeding pro-cessing times, but meansless manual handling and

tensions with unionizedworkers. THE CANADIAN PRESS

08 business TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2012

metronews.ca

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YouTube is enlisting Holly-wood’s help to reach a gen-eration of viewers morefamiliar with smartphonesthan TV remotes.

The online-video giant isaiming to create 25 hoursof programming per daywith the help of some ofthe top names in tradition-al TV. The Google-ownedsite is spreading its wealthamong producers, directorsand other filmmakersusing a $100-million US potof seed money itcommitted last fall. Thefund represents YouTube’slargest spending onoriginal content so far.

YouTube believes it islaying groundwork for thefuture. While the numberof traditional TV watchershas levelled off in recentyears, more and more peo-ple are watching video onmobile phones, tablets andcomputers, especially the

18- to 34-year-old age demo-graphic that advertiserscovet. The idea is to create96 additional YouTubechannels, which are essen-tially artists’ home pages,where viewers can see ex-isting video clips and click“Subscribe” to be notifiedwhen new content goes up.THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Walmart raisesstake in online Chinese retailerWal-Mart Stores Inc. plansto buy a controlling inter-est in the fast-growing Chi-nese online retailer

Yihaodian. The big-box-chain operator has agreedto increase its stake inYihaodian’s holdingcompany to approximately51 per cent, Walmart saidSunday. The financialterms of the deal were notdisclosed and it must be ap-

proved by Chinese govern-ment regulators. Yihaodianhas been in business forless than four years. It sellsmore than 180,000products, ranging from gro-ceries to electronics toclothing. It has 5,400employees and a delivery

network across Shanghai,Beijing, Guangzhou,Wuhan and Chengdu. Wal-mart said the dealimproves its access to Chi-nese consumers who usesmartphones and socialmedia to shop. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Canadiansholding ontodollar billsIn the age of debit andcredit cards, Canadiansstill love cash.

That’s the conclusion ofan unusual survey by theBank of Canada, whichtalked to about 6,800 Cana-dians, including half whowere asked to record theirpurchases over a threedays. Findings revealedcash still accounts for 53.8per cent of all transactions,and if the purchase wasunder $25, that share goesto about 70 per cent.

“In particular, con-sumers prefer to use cashbecause they find it fast,cheap, safe against fraudand convenient for budget-control purposes,” it saidin a discussion paper.THE CANADIAN PRESS

Canada Post mustmodernize, says CEO

YouTube reaches out toTinseltown for viewers

PAWEL DWULIT/THE CANADIAN PRESS

What to expect

YouTube has attracted

Fast Five director JustinLin, who directs episodesof Community; CSI creatorAnthony Zuiker; and NancyTellem, former presidentof CBS entertainment.Several new channels,

such as the extreme-sports-focused Network Aand Spanish-languageTutele, have launched.YouTube hopes to havethem all up this summer.

$2.1 billion being put toward revamping service

Canada Post President

and CEO Deepak Chopra.

Market momentNatural

gas$2.68 US

No change

Gold$1,725 USNo change

Oil

No change($103.24 US)

No change(100.43¢ US)

DollarTSX

No change(12,458.30)

PRICES A

S OF 5 P.M

. FRID

AY

JAE C. HONG/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

In this Dec. 16

photo, crew

members work on

a costume at the

Maker Studios in

Culver City, Calif.

YouTube is investing

$100 million

in 96 new channels

with help from

Hollywood.

voices 09metronews.caTUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2012

@JustineDKD: OH MY GOD#ROLLUPTHERIM is back.#coffee intake about toquadrouple. Ottawa yourin trouble.

@theodotblog: RideauCanal Closure Due To IceHog Droppings, Not Tem-perature: Report

@onlygirljenn: 2nd half of#familyday- nap for littleone and I, hubs and bigboy watched

#princessbride @#mayfairtheatre. Then toysand dinner!

@Deepak350: Spent mostof the day clowningaround with my mom<3#FamilyDay is everydaythough

@thedonkelly: Family Dayis a great holiday andespecially fun when youdon’t have any family toruin it! #familyday

@BaileeReed: So why dono good artists come toOttawa, I mean it’s the cap-ital of Canada.

Local tweetsYOU AREWHAT YOU PIN

If Facebook is like a diary ofwhat my life actually lookslike (albeit a carefully curat-ed one), then Pinterest is myvision board for what I wishmy life looked like.

If you’re unfamiliar with this rapidlygrowing social-networking site, well,where have you been? Here’s how itworks: images of beautiful clothes,adorable animals, elegant homes andperfectly styled foodstuffs are virtually“pinned” onto thematic boards. Users

can edit and share their digital pinboards with fellowpinthusiasts who can then comment on, like and re-pin the images on their own boards and so on.

While a small percentage of the images are purelypractical — think “the best DIY drain cleaner” — themajority are simply things that are nice to look at. Thephoto-sharing site is especially popular among youngwomen (hi there!) who grew up tearing images out ofmagazines and tacking them up on corkboards to cre-ate aspirational collages. Taking this low-tech practiceand moving it online is both genius in its simplicityand its revenue-generating potential.

Not only is Pinteresteasy to use, it’s also hope-lessly addictive. I’ve stayedup until 1 a.m. browsingonline catalogues of stun-ning interiors because Idecided my home-decorboard absolutely neededsome new material. I catchmyself pinning at home,at the office, in transit ...heck, I’ve pinned 10 timesalready while writing thiscolumn.

Interestingly,Pinterest’s userdemographics in North

America differ vastly from those across the pond. Theoverwhelming majority of American users are females(83 per cent) using the site to post images fromfeminine interest areas such as fashion, hair and beau-ty, wedding decor, recipes, etc. In Britain, more than50 per cent of the users are males sharing very differ-ent materials, including SEO and marketing resources,web analytics and venture-capital-related items.Notwithstanding these differences, images concernedwith homemade crafts rank pretty high in both coun-tries. I guess you can’t deny the popularity of DIYtchotchkes.

While you could dismiss this photo-sharing site as afrivolous collection of eye candy, you’d be a fool not torecognize its potential. I’m sure plenty of companiesand brands would love to know that I have visitedwebsites and even made a couple of purchases as a di-rect result of something I stumbled upon onsomeone’s virtual pin board.

In January of this year, Pinterest became the fastestwebsite in history to break through the 10-million-unique-visitor mark and it’s growing exponentiallyevery single day. So are you getting nervous, Mr.Zuckerberg?

SHE SAYS ...JESSICA NAPIERMETRO

Read more of Jessica Napier’s columns at metronews.ca/shesays

“In January ofthis year,Pinterest

became thefastest website

in history tobreak throughthe 10 millionunique visitor

mark...”

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Revellers gatherin Rio for paradeRIO DE JANEIRO. This year’sCarnival celebrationsseem to have drawn someof the unlikeliest of fans.These “Smurfs” were someof the many revellers whodescended on Rio de Janei-ro to watch the elaborateparades of Carnival whichculminate on Fat Tuesdaybefore the start of the Cat-holic season of Lent.

MWN

Swivelling hipsfor 40 minutesPARADE. The main event ofthe Carnival takes place atthe Sambadrome, a citystrip flanked by standswith 80,000 spectators,where 13 samba schoolsperform with lavishmoving floats. Feathereddancers dance and swiveltheir hips nonstop for 40minutes to compete forthe prize of the parade’schampion. MWN

Out of the blue in RioGETTY IMAGES

Carnival facts

History. Carnival datesback to the 18th centuryand mixes the traditionsof Portuguese settlerswith the culture and his-tory of the African slavepopulation. The first pa-rade of samba schoolswas in 1928.What samba schools do.

Each school features up to6,000 drummers, dancersand other participants as

well as spectacularly dec-orated floats. The schoolsdevelop an allegoricaltheme with a speciallywritten samba song.Queens of the Night

Each school has a rainha,or queen, who leads thedrum corps. Usuallydressed in little morethan a huge plumedheaddress and high-heeled shoes, they are often famous actresses or models.

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10 scene metronews.caTUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2012

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Filming on a missionAct of Valor crew had their work cut out for them following the days of real-life Navy SEALs

“We wanted to show thatthese guys were human be-ings and not Terminators,”says Scott Waugh, the co-director of the unconven-tional new feature Act ofValor, an action movie star-ring real-life Navy SEALS.

“Originally, they turnedus down, saying that theyweren’t actors, and thatthey weren’t Hollywoodguys. “We told them thatwe only wanted them to bethemselves.”

Waugh is a formerstuntman and his co-direc-tor Mike McCoy used torace motorcycles for a liv-ing, so it’s no surprise thatthey were able to relate toa group of alpha-maletypes. Act of Valor grew outof documentaries the pairmade for the Air Force andthe Navy, but it’s a fictionalnarrative, featuring script-ed dialogue, plot twists,and actors in supportingroles (mostly as the terror-ist villains on the wrongend of the SEALS’ gun-sights).

McCoy says that the sto-ry is rooted in reality, how-ever. “Everything thathappens to a SEAL in thefilm has happened to a

SEAL on the battlefield.” In some cases, the line

between filmmaking andfield work blurred togeth-er: a scene where the SEALteam rendez-vous with anuclear submarine wasshot using the real thing.

“We waited until a trueinsertion operation wasplanned and then hoppedon,” says Waugh, who saysthat they weren’t given ex-act coordinates on thesub’s location until themorning of the shoot. “All

that stuff is real and shot inreal time.”

“We avoided CGI,” addsMcCoy. “It’s all real stuff,like in the action movieswe were raised on.”

That also means that theSEALs did their own stunts,which McCoy says was lessof a stretch than one mightthink. “The way they train,they’re the most physicallycapable people on theplanet.”

While Waugh and Mc-Coy acknowledge that re-

leasing such a pro-militarymovie into such a polar-ized political moment is arisk, they say they don’thave any agenda: their ad-miration for their subjectsand subject matter is sin-cere. “We had one goalwhen we started the film,”says Waugh, “and that’sthat the guys would stillwant to have a beer with uswhen we were done. AndI’m proud to say that we’restill drinking beer togeth-er.”

HANDOUT

Act of Valor is the product of a pair of documentaries made for the U.S. Air Force and Navy.

ADAMNAYMANSCENE@METRONEWS.CA

Shooting SEALs

The Act of Valor crew followed real SEAL trainingsessions and althoughthere might be concernabout revealing the identi-ties of these special opera-tions forces, the SEALs theyfollowed weren’t in an op-erational position, butmerely in training. Thefaces of the SEALs andtheir first names are usedin the movie.

Canadian film sound engineers lose out to Hugo

team at Audio SocietyAwards

Box office

Woody Allen’sromantic fantasyMidnight in Paris andAlexander Payne’sfamily drama The De-scendants have wontop screenplay hon-ours from the WritersGuild of America.Allen won for origi-nal screenplay. Direc-tor Payne won foradapted screenplay.THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

dish 11metronews.caTUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2012

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Houston items go upon the auction block

Singing legend was buried on Saturday and already her Bodyguard dress,earrings are up for grabs How much will these pieces of Whitney go for?

Well, that wasquick. She wasjust buried onSaturday, butthe vulturesare already cir-cling: It wasannounced on

Sunday that the black vel-vet dress and a pair of ear-rings Whitney Houstonwore in The Bodyguardwill be put up for auctionnext month in Californiaas part of a Hollywood Leg-ends auction.

According to celebrityauctioneer Darren Julien,Houston’s Bodyguarditems became available af-ter her death on Feb. 11.

“It proves a point thatthese items, they’re an in-vestment,” Julien told TheAssociated Press.

“You buy items just likea stock. Buy at the righttime and sell at the righttime, and they just in-crease in value.”

He continued: “It’s a cel-ebration of her life. If youhide these things in fearthat you’re going to offendsomeone — her life is to becelebrated. These itemsare historic now that she’spassed.”

Point taken. But herdeath is already so tragic.

Can’t we have an appropri-ate amount of time tomourn before everyonestarts to profit off of her?Say, a week?

Lilo to actually work? Lindsay Lohan is set tohost Saturday Night Liveon March 3, but the gig

didn’t come without a fairamount of begging andpleading, according toTMZ.

Sources say that withher community servicenearly complete, the trou-bled actress is hoping tokick-start her career come-back.

To that end, Lohanreached out to the show’sexecutive producer, LorneMichaels, suggesting theidea of her hosting again.This will be Lohan’s fourthtime hosting the program.

And I know you all willbe tuning for all of thewrong reasons.

THE WORDDOROTHY ROBINSONSCENE@METRONEWS.CA

A fan takes a photograph at the gravesite of Whitney Houston Sunday in Westfield, N.J.

ALL PHOTOS GETTY IMAGES

Lindsay Lohan

“It’s a celebrationof her life... Theseitems are historicnow that she’spassed.”

CELEBRITY AUCTIONEER DARREN JULIEN

Mark Wahlberg has foundan effective way to deter hiskids from getting tattoos:bringing them along tohis extremely painfultattoo-removal ses-sions.

“I don’t want mykids getting tattoos.And I wanted them tobe [removed] by thetime I did the Fighterbecause put-ting

makeup on and coveringthem up has always been

a pain in the butt,”Wahlberg says in

an interviewwith the Todayshow.

“I’ve takenmy two older

kids to the proce-dure so they see

how painful it isand what I have to

go through.”METRO

Marky Mark goesfor shock tactics with his children

Judi Dench’s eyes are dimDame Judi Dench admitsthat she’s been battlingmacular degeneration, aneye condition that’s causingthe 77-year-old to lose hervision.

“I can’t read scripts anymore because of the troublewith my eyes,” she tells theDaily Mirror. “And so some-body comes in and readsthem to me, like telling mea story.” But Dench, who’sundergoing treatment forthe condition, doesn’t have

any plans to give up acting. “As long as there is a pos-

sibility of working, I’m notgoing to retire,” she says. “IfI retire, nothing will workany more, and it’s hardenough as it is.” METRO

Should I put

wet under-

wear in mi-

crowave?

@margaretcho

Celebrity tweets

Packing

makes me

anxious. I

hate limiting my choices.

OK, I get it

— every-

one on

Twitter is

clever —

enough

already...@DanaDelany

@jimmykimmel

Found small

Chinese

person inside

my iPhone.

Apple needs to

address working

conditions.

@SteveMartinToGo

Mark Wahlberg

Dame Judi Dench

3life

14 wellness metronews.caTUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2012

Do your resolutions include

Explore what you want to be and how to get there.

Visit

to learn more

How Emma got thatred-carpet body

The Academy Awards are this Sunday, so you know celebs are busy working out to getready Personal trainer Armando Alarcon, who works with The Help star Emma Stone, tells

us how to rock the toned red-carpet look For all the jokes about plas-tic surgery and dangerouslythin actresses, manycelebrities today look tonedand tight because of onething: They exercise regu-larly. And they work hard atit. See for yourself February26th, on the red carpet atthe Academy Awards. Sureto be there is Emma Stone,whose film The Help isnominated for Best Picture.We asked her personaltrainer, Armando Alarcon,about her routine — andhow you can emulate it.

Maximize your body100 per cent The first tip is to never sin-gle out one exercise. Full-body training will makeyou use more muscle andburn calories.

“The body does notmove as one single entity,”says Alarcon.

“Constantly change yourroutine with a mix of Pi-lates, basic weightlifting,yoga and plyometrics com-bined into one so that thebody changes as a wholerather than one particularmuscle group.”

Identify, target andfix problem areas When standing tall, a man

will look stronger and awoman more elegant, buteveryone has a problemarea that can affect overallposture. Identify these andbring the body back to itsoriginal state before build-ing it back up again.

The most common prob-lem occurs when yourchest pulls you forward andyour back doesn’t have thestrength to hold the shoul-ders back, rounding theshoulders and causing asquatted forward lean ofthe head.

You need to focus onworking the back muscles(Pilates is great). Doing soalso flattens out the stom-ach and brings the chestand the shoulders back anddown and correctly alignedwith the head.

Weights don’t needto weigh you down The celebs use weights —well, light ones.

“Think of it this way:walking is good, jogging isbetter and sprinting isbest,” says Alarcon. “Addingfive-pound ankle or armweights to any exercise ishard as heck but causesmore of a burn, as it maxi-mizes the effort and short-ens the time needed to gainthe maximum amount ofmuscle. You can go from do-ing 20 reps to 10 to 15, andget the exact same results,”he continues.

If it’s bad, don’t eat itAlarcon doesn’t believe indiets. Allow yourself to eatwhat you want to eat or youwill crash.

His food rules are sim-ple: If you think it’s bad, itprobably is, so don’t eat it.If you think it’s too much,then don’t eat it all. What-ever your vice is — carbs,fat or salt — change it.

Then eat breakfast. Pro-teins. Vegetables and water.And a flat stomach will fol-low, which you can thentone up with ab exercises.Sounds like a lot of work?For the results, check outEmma this Sunday night.

“I am not built tolift weightsmentally. I do notlike lifting heavymetal over myhead. I have a lot ofrage, I guess, and itcomes out whenI’m hauling steeloverhead.”EMMA STONE, ON WORKING OUTWITH ARMANDO ALARCON

Actress Emma Stone

GETTY IMAGES

“I triple-Spank,which is not good.

Spanxreally,reallywork,

but youdon't

need to overdo it.It’s wonderful be-cause it gives youthe illusion of anhourglass with

the sand kind ofspread out.”THE HELP OSCAR

NOMINEE OCTAVIASPENCER TO TV HOSTELLEN DEGENERES ONCURBING HER CURVES

AT THE GOLDEN GLOBES

Quoted

Transgender kids get puberty-blocking drugs, sex-changinghormones; MDs say numbers

are rising

food 15metronews.caTUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2012

Angel Hair Tuna

Preparation:

1 In pot of boiling saltedwater, cook pasta about8 mins. or until tenderbut firm. Reserve somecooking water; drainpasta. Return pasta topot.

2 In skillet, heat oil andlemon rind over medi-um heat until sizzling.Mix tuna with 15 ml (1tbsp) of reserved pastacooking water. Stirlemon oil into pastaand add tuna, heatingmix gently. Add lemon

Ingredients:• 130 g (4 1/2 oz) angelhair pasta• 15 ml (1 tbsp) olive oil• 15 mL (1 tbsp) gratedlemon rind• 30 mL (2 tbsp) lemonjuice• 2 cans (85 g each) flakedlight tuna (garlic and hotpepper flavour)• 250 ml (1 cup) halvedgrape tomatoes• Lemon wedges

THE CANADIAN PRESS H/O

juice; stir in tomatoes.Serve with lemon. THECANADIAN PRESS/ CLOVERLEAF/ ADAPTED BY EMILYRICHARDS (EMILYRICHARD-SCOOKS.CA)

I wanderedinto RainbowFoods on amission topick up datesugar and

ended up with lunch.Offering healthy and

hard-to-find ingredients,this shop also has a “freshfood department” that pre-pares such things as soupsand brownies daily on site.

Zucchini Kale Soup wassimmering in the soup pot.It was scented with cuminand curry and filled withchunks of sliced zucchiniand kale. The cashier re-vealed that it is one of themore popular soups.

The rainbow salad wastoo pretty to ignore. Redcabbage, grated carrots, yel-low and red peppers, andcelery covered all but bluein the rainbow of veggies. Itwas fresh and crunchy, butin order to be perfect, itneeded a dollop of dressing.

For dessert, I opted for

Auntie Loo’s vegan walnutcoffee cake. It was a gener-ous square of cake that wasmaybe better the day it wasbaked.

The only items lacking atRainbow Foods are a few ta-bles and chairs to better en-joy this healthy feast.

A salute to colourfuleats at Rainbow Foods

Rainbow Salad ($3.99), Zucchini Kale Soup ($4.29) and Coffee Cake ($3.49).

SHARI GOODMAN

Store offers more than just healthy and hard-to-finditems Try its ready-made soups, salads and desserts

Rainbow Foods1487 Richmond Rd.

613-726-9200

Quick solo lunch: Yes

(take-out only)

Price range: $$

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

LUNCH RUSHSHARI GOODMANFOOD@METRONEWS.CA

Ingredients:• 1 cup all-purpose flour• 2 tbsp brown sugar• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice• 1 tsp baking powder• 1/4 tsp baking soda• 1/4 tsp salt• 1 cup milk• 1 egg• 1/3 cup canned pumpkin• 2 tablespoons Mazola VegPlus! canola and vegetableoil blend• 1 tbsp lemon juice• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract• Mazola Veg Plus! canolaand vegetable oil blend forskillet/griddle

Apple Cider Syrup• 1 cup apple cider or juice• 1 cup BeeHive corn syrup• 2 tbsp butter • 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon• Dash ground nutmeg• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

ShroveTuesdaytwist

The day beforeLent is knownfor pancakes,which are madewith ingredientsthat are often re-stricted duringthe 40-day fastPreparation:

1 Combine flour, sugar,pumpkin pie spice, bak-ing powder, baking so-da, salt in bowl.

2 In separate bowl com-bine milk, egg, pump-kin, oil, lemon juice and

vanilla. Beat with whiskuntil smooth. Add todry ingredients, stirringjust until blended. Donot over beat.

3 Heat skillet on mediumhigh heat, adding smallamount of oil. Portionapproximately 1/4 cupof batter on griddle, re-peating to fill griddle.Cook pancake until bot-tom is brown and tophas bubbles, about 2minutes. Flip pancakesand continue cookinguntil bottom isbrowned. Repeat untilall batter is cooked.

4 Syrup: Combine ciderand corn syrup insaucepan over high.Bring to boil, reduceheat; cook 15 mins. un-til syrupy consistency.

5 Add butter, cinnamon,nutmeg and vanilla.Serve over pancakes.

NEWS CANADA/ ADAPTED BYEMILY RICHARDS (VISIT EMI-LYRICHARDSCOOKS.CA)

16 relationships metronews.caTUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2012

I love my baby daddy but…“You’re funny,” myboyfriend/baby daddy saidto me after I told him Icould see myself living withhim six days a week.

But I wasn’t being funnyat all. I was telling him thetruth. I truly don’t see howmarried people do it.

In fact, I wish marriedpeople would speak upmore often about how theylive with someone everysingle day, hopefully for therest of their lives.

There are so many booksout there on being single,but no books out thereabout the truth about mar-riage and how to live withsomeone.

I hate to admit this, butit would be ideal if myboyfriend/baby daddy couldlive next door to me.

Don’t get me wrong: Ilove this man more thanany man I’ve ever been

with, and I want to spendthe rest of my life with him.It’s just that I also want abreak, at least one night aweek. It isn’t feasible, eco-nomically, for us to affordtwo houses next to eachother. However, it is feasi-ble that he rents a place,which he does, to be closerto his own children’s schooland so he can be there fortheir after-school activities.Even after we had our baby,I told him I’d pay for him tokeep it.

As it stands, he sleepsthere two nights a week,and I really look forward tothose two nights a week. Imiss him like hell, but it’s agood kind of missing, andafter those two nights, Ican’t wait to see him again.Meanwhile, I get to wearsweats and eat pizza, with-out care. (As a side note, I al-ways dress sexily to bed

when I’m with him. Just mytip to you ladies!)

I’ve been a single motherfor five years now. And I’vedone it. And done it well.Plus, these married friendsof mine — not all of them,but a number of them —don’t seem all that happy intheir marriages.

I truly believe if theytook a break from each oth-er, one night a week, theirrelationships would be bet-ter.

Once, after having coffeewith a friend, she saw herhusband’s car in the drive-way, and her face dropped.It literally dropped. Shesaid, “Oh, great. Now I’mnot going to get any workdone.”

And I thought, God, ifthis is what marriage is, orwhat living together is like,then count me out.CONTRIBUTED BY:

Our Mommyish writer explains why she needs space

BE SOLD ON YOURSELFDear sisters, I have been trying to meetnew people through variousdating sites for a while now.I’ve made a few good connec-tions too; always talking, hav-ing a good time, wanting tohang out more (and the girlusually suggests it). But itseems to fizzle fast. Sheeither is too busy or someother reason, but then theyappear on my list of ‘online’people when I go back tothese sites...Am I not being forwardenough, or too forward by ex-pressing interest? What elsecan I do? Thanks!Wondering what I do.

Andrea: Dear Wondering, Start by patting yourself

on the back for at least go-ing on sites and meetingnew people; that’s half thebattle. Next, go home, kickyourself really hard in theshin, open an umbrella in-doors and whistle thetheme to Knight Rider. Thisis the magic spell to makeany woman fall madly inlove with you.

Not. My point is that you can

put yourself out there andget some positive feedback,but there’s no trick to makeit pan out longer than that... other than good old con-nection. If you haven’t

found it, you haven’t foundit. What women find madlyattractive are confidenceand congruence. I shouldn’thave to explain confidenceto you, because if I do, youdon’t have it. Congruence,though, is when yourthoughts aren’t alignedwith your goal. For in-stance, you’ve dressed thepart and even say the rightthings, but your body lan-guage and tone say thatyou’re desperate, whichmeans you’re not 100 percent sold on yourself orwhat you want, and shewon’t be either. Improveyourself in whatever wayyou think is necessary, thenstop wondering and enjoywho you are.

Claire: Dear Wondering,If you’re getting dates,

you must not be one ofthose weirdos I met during

my brief tenure on one site,who called themselveshotnight69 or romeo-foru462. Congrats!

I’ve been that girl — theone who loses interest. Itmeans you’re either doingor saying something to putme off, like the guy whotalked dirty within sevenminutes of meeting, or theone who smoked in my facewhile telling me what baddrivers women are. Or elseit means that the chemistryjust isn’t there ... yet. We’veall been there, and we’ll allbe there again, so you’renot alone. Don’t lose confi-dence, just step away fromit all once in a while, untilyou feel good again. Andnever tell a woman you’redating what you’ve just toldus; never feel sorry foryourself or wonder aloudwhy things haven’t worked.Try doing the opposite ofwhat you’ve been doing onyour next date —ask ques-tions about her, listen morethan you speak, laughwhen she expects it ... inother words, get to knowher before you reveal your-self too much, but be warmthroughout. Chicks digthat. TWO SISTERS, 20-SOMETHING ANDREAAND 30-SOMETHING CLAIRE, OFFERTHEIR DIFFERING VIEWS ON YOUR RE-LATIONSHIP ISSUES.

TWO SISTERS

ANDREA & CLAIRE RELATIONSHIPS@METRONEWS.CA

Dear Butler,When at dinner and one feelsa sneeze coming on, how doyou handle the situation?Sneeze into the napkin? Turnyour head and sneeze intothe napkin? Then there is thenose blow. Turn your headand blow into the napkin orleave the table to take care ofit? Does one even use theirnapkin? Very confused here.Arthur

Dear Arthur,Lets first deal with the

easy part of your question.The dinner napkin is never,under any circumstances,used as a handkerchief, soblowing your nose intoyour napkin will never be

an acceptable option. Should you ever need to

blow your nose while at thetable, you should always ex-cuse yourself from the tableand ideally blow your nosein a Kleenex or handker-chief, far enough away sothat the others at the tabledo not hear you.

Now, as for sneezing atthe table. Remember thatsneezing can spread germs.If you must sneeze at thetable, grab your napkin,cover both your mouth and

nose, put your head downas close to your chest aspossible and try to pushyour chair back from thetable before sneezing.

It is even better if you areseated in a position that al-lows you to turn your headaway from everyone.

In any case, try to neversneeze in someone’s direc-tion, or in the direction ofthe food.HAVE A QUESTION? EMAIL CHARLES ATASKCHARLESTHEBUTLER@METRONEWS.CA.

CHARLES THE

BUTLER

ASKCHARLESTHEBUTLER@METRONEWS.CA

FOR MORE, VISITCHARLESMACPHERSON.COM

SNEEZING AT THE DINNER TABLE

The dinner napkin should not be

used for blowing your nose.

ISTOCK

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RRSP seasonis the onlytime of yearI ever rec-ommendstampedingto the bank

as quickly as possible to setup an RRSP account ormake a contribution. Eachyear you have until March 1to contribute to your RRSPand have it count for theprevious tax year.

Wondering what the bigdeal is with RRSPs? Simplyput; the RRSP is the singlemost powerful tool Canadi-ans have to save money for

retirement.Contributions are fully

tax deductible and theygrow tax-deferred untilwithdrawal; typically whenyou retire. The greater theamount you contribute, themore income you get todeduct from your tax re-turn. Rather than forkingover thousands of dollars intaxes to Revenue Canada,you can invest these saveddollars within your RRSP.

The law of reinvested re-turns states that more mon-ey grows larger and fasterthan less money; when in-vested in a portfolio that isproperly allocated based onyour personal needs. Thus,keeping more of your mon-ey, rather than paying it outin taxes, significantly in-creases your nest egg.

When you’re starting

out, perhaps a new career,buying a home, or raising afamily, tax deferral is veryvaluable. It allows you tomaximize your savings op-portunities even thoughyour budget might be tight.

Nearly anyone can havean RRSP. Individuals cancontribute up to 18 per centof their income, up to$22,450 for tax year 2011,and the limit can some-times vary depending onyour pension program at

work. If you can’t maximizeyour RRSP limit, you cancarry-forward the contribu-tion room indefinitely.

Start contributing regu-larly on pay day and in-

crease your contributionsannually until you reachyour maximum limits.Check whether your em-ployer has an RRSP or pen-sion plan you can

participate in.I know there are compet-

ing priorities for your mon-ey, but paying yourself first,using an RRSP, will save youthousands of dollars.

Want to retire on a tropical island? Start tucking away some money from every paycheque.

ISTOCK

FUN AND

FRUGALLESLEY SCORGIEMONEY@METRONEWS.CA

What’s all the RRSP fuss about?“I know there arecompetingpriorities for yourmoney, but payingyourself first, usingan RRSP, will saveyou thousands ofdollars.”

More money grows larger and faster than less money —so start saving And who doesn’t want to pay less taxes?

With the RRSP deadlinelooming on Feb. 29, someCanadians may be scram-bling to find funds to con-tribute.

The ideal scenario is toset money aside for RRSPson a regular basis. “The bestplan is to contribute a fixedamount monthly,” saysPaul Lermitte, a Vancouver-based certified financialplanner with AssanteWealth Management.

The monthly amountgets automatically deduct-ed from your bank account.

Then, if at some point dur-ing the year you get a workbonus or inherit money,you can top up your contri-butions.

Not having a ready stashof cash to invest is just oneroadblock stopping peoplefrom contributing to anRRSP.

Here is how to overcomethat obstacle and others.

Can’t scrounge up a dime.If you have raided your pig-gy bank but still can’t comeup with money to invest,consider taking out anRRSP loan. “Borrow an af-fordable amount for one

year, maximum,” says Ler-mitte. “Then pay back someof the loan with the tax re-fund the RRSP generates.”

Spent too much at Christ-mas. If you blew your budg-et buying gifts for everyoneon your list, you could endup mired in credit card debtleading up to the RRSPdeadline. “That doesn’tmean you shouldn’t buyChristmas gifts,” says Ler-mitte. “But it is a sign thatyou should start reining inyour holiday spending.”

Missed the deadline. Hop-ing there is a grace period

post-deadline? Unfortunate-ly, there isn’t. But arrivinglate to the party can be anopportunity in disguise.

“If you miss the dead-line, that’s OK,” says Ler-mitte. “What you need todo now is get a certified fi-nancial planner to help youstart planning right awayfor next year.”

When the time comes,try not to wait until the daybefore the deadline to handover your cash; the sooneryou can do so, the betterprepared you will be.

Waited too long to start. Ifyou are 10 years or more

away from retirement andyou finally have a goodchunk of change to investin your first RRSP, it mightbe worth your while, buttalk to your financial advis-er to make sure. The closerto retirement you are, theless time you will have totake advantage of com-pound interest. Also, youmust start withdrawingsome of your RRSPs at 71.

“If you’re less than adecade away from retire-ment, you’d probably bebetter off making non-regis-tered investments like atax-free savings account,”says Lermitte.

WAVEBREAK MEDIA/THINKSTOCK

RRSPGUIDE

metronews.caTUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2012

JANEDOUCETFOR METRO

Knowledgeis powerfor womenIn her book It’s YourMoney: Becoming aWoman of Independ-ent Means, Gail Vaz-Oxlade cites a USAToday study thatreveals 70 per cent ofwomen are afraid theywon’t have enoughmoney when they areold.

But that’s the Unit-ed States, you mightsay. The prospects arebetter for Canadianwomen. Right?

Maybe not.Statistics Canada hasreported that 40 percent of women olderthan the age of 75 whowere living on theirown had incomes be-low the poverty line.Part of the reason isthat many still believedealing with financesis a man’s job.

“We can paint thispicture with fresher,more vibrant colours,”writes Vaz-Oxlade.“But to do it, (women)have to understandhow money works.And we have to bewilling to take chargeof our own financiallives.”

Financial expertscaution women not torely solely on theirpartner to managetheir money.

“Knowledge is pow-er,” says Teresa BlackHughes, a certified fi-nancial planner withRogers GroupFinancial inVancouver. “Womenshould be a contribu-tor (to the financialconversation), too.”

Women tend tohave morerelationships thanmen and more peopleto take care of. “Thiscan distract themfrom the focus of look-ing at the numbers oftheir lives,” she says.

At the very least,every woman shouldhave a chequingaccount in her nameonly, maintain ahealthy credit ratingand have a “pay-your-self-first” investmentplan.

If your life circum-stances change, it willbe necessary to reviewinsurance policies,consider tax implica-tions to your new sta-tus, and revise yourretirement and estateplans.

JANE DOUCET

Removing roadblocks for RRSPs

Have you contributed toyour RRSP yet? The dead-line for contributing andusing it on your 2011 in-come tax return is Feb. 29.Here are ways you can do it:

All at once: At this pointin time, your only choice isto make a lump sum con-tribution. Whether it’s be-

cause you have an unevenincome flow, you forgot, oryou don’t have a retire-ment plan in place, “we doknow that in February,people stress about mak-ing a contribution,” saysPeter Drake, vice-presi-dent, retirement and eco-nomic research, FidelityInvestments Canada. “If

you’re in that situation,it’s better to do somethingthan do nothing.”

Loan: You might also con-sider borrowing money.“This is still a great way forsomeone to get money in-to retirement savings,”says Henry. Most bankshave special RRSP loans.

For example, “We can setup a catch-up RRSP line atScotiabank to help youcatch up on any unusedRRSP contributions,” saysHenry. But paying off theloan as quickly as possibleis recommended.

Throughout the year: Reg-ular contributions (weekly,

monthly, etc.) are the mostconvenient and effectiveway to contribute, says An-thony Williams, vice-presi-dent of academic affairs,Canadian Institute of Fi-nancial Planning.

If structured properly, itjust becomes a regular billpayment and you won’tmiss it. YLVA VAN BUUREN

Various ways to pad your retirement

rrsp guide 19metronews.caTUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2012

® Registered trademarks of The Bank of Nova Scotia.

Richness is:

scotiabank.com/5yearplan

Scotiabank’s 5 Year Plan. You define richness. With a 5 Year Plan that lets youadapt to anything, we can help with the money part.

A spousal RRSP is a regularRRSP with one importantdifference, says Mike Hen-ry, senior vice-president ofretail products, Scotiabank:The person making thecontribution is doing so intheir spouse’s name.

“This lets couples divideup their retirement incomeas a way of minimizingtheir overall tax liability inretirement. It’s really usefulin that you can help bal-

ance up the income loadand try and keep eachspouse in a lower overall in-come tax bracket in retire-ment.”

A spousal RRSP is an in-come splitting strategywith the objective of reduc-ing the cumulative familytax bill, according to Antho-ny Williams, vice-presidentof academic affairs, Canadi-an Institute of FinancialPlanning.

Through their workinglife, the person with thehigher income can shift in-

come to the person in thelower tax bracket, saysWilliams. When you bothretire, rather than have adisproportionate pool ofRRSP income, you have

equal amounts, saysWilliams. If you need$50,000 of household in-come, you would pull$25,000 from each plan.

“From a tax perspective,

that’s much better thantaking the entire amountfrom the one.”

Here’s what you need toknow about spousal RRSPs:

A person can contributehis or her entire RRSP al-lowance into a personalRRSP, put it all in a spousalRRSP, or split up the contri-bution.

Once money is in aspousal RRSP, it becomesthat person’s money —even though the other per-son makes contribution.

The contributor gets the

tax deduction. Any withdrawal is taxed.

The contributor will gettaxed if the money is pulledout during the attributionperiod, which is three cal-endar years from the contri-bution. Otherwise, theowner will get taxed whenthe money comes out.

At the same time,spousal RRSPs are just oneway of doing spousal split-ting and, really, you shouldlook at how they fit intoyour whole retirement sav-ings plan, says Williams.

YLVAVAN BUURENFOR METRO

Spousal RRSPs — divide and prosperSecurity

While the tax savings isone reason to choose, theother, says Peter Drake,vice-president, retirementand economic research, Fi-delity Investments Canada,could be described as

emotional. “If the higherearning spousecontributes, then therecipient is going to havesome income inretirement, along with oldage security, CPP, etc.,”And that provides a nicefeeling of security.

4sports

20 sports metronews.caTUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2012

Slide overMVP candi-datesClaudeGiroux,HenrikLundqvist,Evgeni

Malkin and the Sedins.With 15 points in his pastsix games, Jason Spezzahas earned himself a seatat the table among theNHL’s elite. The Sens’ No. 1

centre is putting togethera run reminiscent of lastseason’s second-half finishby Anaheim’s Corey Perry,which propelled him tothe prestigious Hart Tro-phy.

There are several rea-sons for No. 19’s successin 2011-12:

1. Maturity. The 28-year-old has lost his trade-mark chuckle and istaking hockey and lifemore seriously. For thefirst time in his eight sea-sons in Ottawa, he hasbeen given the ‘A’ on apermanent basis and he’sleading by example. Spez-

za — who, along with wifeJennifer, are expectingchild No. 2 in mid-March— is also a “go-to” voice inthe dressing room, bothwith teammates and themedia.

2. More shots. Onceknown as the ‘Spezz Dis-penser’ on the strength ofhis superior set-up skills,the Mississauga native isshooting more than inpast seasons, averagingthree per game. His 27goals is tops on the club.You could argue Spezzashould have even moretallies, as he ranks fourthleague-wide in missed

shots with 90. His current87-point pace would giveSpezza his most produc-tive season since 2007-08when he racked up 92.And that was when he hadthe luxury of 40-goal menDany Heatley and DanielAlfredsson on his wings.

3. Defensively responsi-ble. While the 6-foot-3Spezza consistently bringsfans out of their seats withhis dazzling stickhandlingabilities, he has had a pen-chant for giveaways. How-ever they have becomeless noticeable this sea-son. Under coach PaulMacLean, Spezza has fo-

cused more on protectingthe puck and winning keyfaceoffs. Spezza is the onlyNHL pivot to take morethan 1,300 draws this sea-son, winning 713 of them.

Spezza’s 19:51 of icetime per game ranks him32nd among forwardsleague-wide, which makesthis season’s accomplish-ments all the more re-markable. Whether hecaptures the Hart Trophy,which is awarded to play-er deemed most valuableto his team, Spezza hasclearly stepped up in2011-12, taken charge andbecome “the man.”

THE HOCKEY

NEWSMURRAY PAMOTTAWA@METRONEWS.CA

Spezza proving he’s an elite player

‘Everyone did their job’Karlsson, Spezza score two goals apiece as Senators dominate the New York Islanders

Erik Karlsson had a simpleexplanation for Ottawa’sdominant performanceMonday.

“Everyone from offenceto defence did the job to-day,” the all-star defence-man said.

Sure looks that way.Karlsson had two goals

and fellow defencemenChris Phillips and Brian Leealso scored to lead the Sen-ators to a 6-0 victory overthe New York Islanders.

Jason Spezza also scoredtwice and Craig Andersonmade 28 saves for Ottawa,which has won threestraight and four of five.The 21-year-old Karlssonadded two assists and leadsNHL defencemen with 57points.

“We all contributed to-day, especially Andy andthe way he played in goal,”said Karlsson, who has 12goals and 45 assists in histhird NHL season. “Every-one did their job.”

The Senators (31-22-8)

moved within two pointsof first-place Boston in theNortheast Division and onepoint behind Pittsburghand Philadelphia for fifthplace in the Eastern Confer-ence playoff race.

Karlsson opened thescoring 1:08 into the firstperiod with his 11th of theseason on a sharp-angleshot from the corner to the

left of Islanders goaltenderKevin Poulin. Spezza, whohas seven goals and eightassists in his last six games,made it 2-0 just 27 secondslater.

Islanders coach Jack Ca-puano then yanked Poulinfor Al Montoya, but Ottawakept pouring it on.

Karlsson made it 3-0 at14:03 of the first with a low

shot from the slot. It wasthe fourth career two-gamegame for Karlsson, Ot-tawa’s first-round draftpick in 2008.

“My goal is to keepworking hard,” he said. “Alot goes into being success-ful for 82 games plus theplayoffs in this league. I’mstill learning all the time.”

Phillips added a power-

play goal at 9:37 of the sec-ond and Lee posted his firstof the season at 9:49 of thethird.

“We are focusing welland playing playoff-typehockey,” said Phillips, whoplayed his 1,000th NHLgame earlier this month.“It’s what we need to dothis time of year.”THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Nick Foligno, left, and Chris Neil watch a shot by Senators teammate Chris Phillips cross the goal-line.

BRUCE BENNETT/GETTY IMAGES

SENATORS ISLANDERS

6 0

Sports in brief

Manny Ramirezfound a taker inOakland — at abargain price.

The suspendedslugger agreed ona minor leaguecontract Mondaywith the Athleticsthat is worth ap-proximately$500,000 US ifhe’s added to thebig league roster.

The A’sannounced thedeal and saidRamirez is expect-ed to report tospring training bythe end of theweek, in time forOakland’s firstfull-squad work-out Saturday. Heis a non-roster in-vitee.

The 12-time all-star is due toserve a 50-gamesuspension for hissecond positivedrug test beforehe can play forthe A’s.THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

sports 21metronews.caTUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2012

Springis in the air

JULIO CORTEZ/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

MATT SLOCUM/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

MORRY GASH/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Yankees Phil Hughes, Boone Logan

and CC Sabathia stretch during practice.

Albert Pujols answers a question

during a news conference on Monday.

With most teams opening their training camps this week, there is plenty going on in baseball

Quick hits

Here’s what was going on

in major league training

camps:

Prince Fielder entered theTigers’ increasingly crowd-ed clubhouse Monday, theday of Detroit’s first work-out for pitchers and catch-ers. Fielder and MiguelCabrera both came tocamp early, along with ahandful of other positionplayers.Mariano Rivera hinted2012 could be his finalyear in the major leagues,saying he won’t announcehis long-term plans untilafter the season. The NewYork Yankees’ 42-year-oldcloser says he has reacheda decision about whetherhe will retire or return in2013, but said he won’t re-veal it until “maybe Octo-ber.”Albert Pujols says hewon’t look back as hemoves to a new baseballhome. On Monday, he re-ported to his first trainingcamp with the Los AngelesAngels, arriving a weekearlier than he planned sohe could begin bondingwith his new teammates.Bryce Harper arrived atspring training with thesame goal he had last sea-son: to make the Washing-ton Nationals’ opening-day roster. Nationalsmanger Davey Johnsonsaid the 19-year-old is“still in the mix to have anopportunity.”A.J. Burnett was happy toescape from New York. “Itwas fun the first couple ofyears. Then it got like, ‘I’mnever going to get out ofthis funk,’” he saidMonday, a day after theYankees dealt him to thePittsburgh Pirates for apair of low-levelprospects.THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Tampa Bay Rays catcher Jose Molina

attends a workout on Monday.

DAVID GOLDMAN/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Detroit Tigers first baseman Prince Fielder talks to the media as he arrives early to spring training on Monday.

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Read everyMonday & Wednesday.

The cost of screaming ‘hurry’Skips’ vocal cords take a beating at women’s curling championship

Heather Nedohin knowsit’s coming. It’s just a mat-ter of when.

The Alberta skip washoarse by the second day ofthe Canadian women’scurling championship. Sheexpected to be croaking outsweeping calls soon.

A skip’s voice takes abeating over the course ofthe Scotties Tournament ofHearts.

It’s not just 20 ends ormore a day of callingsweepers on and off thestones that strains theirvoice boxes.

They use tone and vol-ume to communicate theurgency of the situation.Their vocal cords competewith skips yelling on other

ice sheets and also withbursts of applause and ring-ing bells from spectators.

The skips often soundraspy in post-game inter-views. Some larynges holdup better than others. Ne-dohin’s larynx does not.

“Because I’m ridiculouswhen I scream and I do ittoo much,” she confesses. “Ioverdo it.”

Curling lore includes in-stances of skips trying towork around their voicesgiving out.

When Russ Howard losthis voice at the 1989 Brier,he tried using radio com-munication devices withhis teammates, but theCanadian Curling Associa-tion wouldn’t allow it.

Ontario skip BryanCochrane was given per-mission by the CCA to use awhistle at the 2003 Brier be-cause he had a pre-existingvocal chord disorder.

Skips often combinehand signals with verbal in-struction, and those signalsare a backup if their voicequits.

“We play in a lot of curl-ing rinks throughout thecashspiel season and theyare loud and echo and arenoisy, so we do have a lot ofhand signals that we use,”B.C.’s Kelly Scott said. “Evenin an arena, you can’t shoutover the cheering and ap-plauding at times.

“We do default back tosome hand signals. The

sweepers always know tolook up and keep check-ing.”

How the skips feel aboutwhat’s happening on theice is projected to boththeir teammates and thespectators via their voices.

Nedohin wears her emo-tions on her sleeve and inher voice. Her shouts arethe loudest and highest onthe musical scale withMarie-France Larouche ofQuebec a close second.

“All week, I scream andsometimes it’s a little bithigher or a little bit lower,”Larouche says. “It’s veryhard. At the end of theweek sometimes, I miss myvoice.”THE CANADIAN PRESS

Alberta skip Heather Nedohin calls a shot against Ontario.

JONATHAN HAYWARD/THE CANADIAN PRESS

play 23metronews.caTUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2012

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1 Above5 Stick out8 Take out of themanuscript12 Carry on13 Fire residue14 Holly15 Poisonous ever-green17 Put away for arainy day18 Seek restitution19 Funny, in an O.Henry sort of way21 Ersatz chocolate24 Huff and puff25 Prayer ending26 Sieve30 Business deg.31 “The Age of Anxi-ety” poet32 Past33 Potpourri of a sort35 Rorschach test pic-ture36 Cincinnati team37 Mustard-familyherb38 Urban problem41 Hot tub42 Bedouin43 Robinson Crusoe,e.g.48 Hammer’s target49 Ultra-modernist50 Money51 Rote of footballlore52 Talk on and on53 Syringe, for shortDown

1 Acapulco gold2 Actor Kilmer3 Previous night

4 Logic5 Nephrite6 Work with7 Michael Jackson hit8 Repudiate9 Verve10 Jeans-makerStrauss11 Biz bigwig16 Gist20 Reddish horse21 Bivouac22 Early pulpit23 Paper quantity24 Portends26 Holding affection-ately

27 Chip’s cartoon pal28 Ids’ counterparts29 Deteriorates31 From the begin-ning34 Fit for farming35 Limb37 Tax pro38 Foundered39 Say grace, e.g.40 Bar41 Unkempt one44 Vast expanse45 Week fraction46 Kreskin’s claim47 Pi follower53 Barbie’s

SudokuCrossword

How to playFill in the grid, so that everyrow, every column andevery 3x3 box contains thedigits 1-9. There is no mathinvolved. You solve the puzzle with reasoning andlogic.

Monday’s answer

Send a

You can now post your kiss,and read even more kisses,at metronews.ca/kiss.

BigRedDog, Who wouldhave thought petting yourdogs would turn into a lifetime together? We’ve beenthrough more in one yearthan most couples gothrough in a lifetime, and iwouldn’t have changed notone moment. Love to loveyou & want to want you4evr4alwys <3 AMEN!ESTR0GEN

MY KNIGHT AND HERO You came into my life when Ineeded you the most, youopened my soul andbreathed life back into me...Iowe you forever, and withthat I will have you foreverin my heart and soul, i missyou but I know you are withme...I have stayed with youlike you asked,,,my heartaches for you all the time....Iam your lady till the end oftime. YOUR LADY

JR, How many famous peo-ple in your head?! you canprovide any one so smart ilove you!!! RR

KISS

Monday’s answer

Today’s horoscopeFor today’s crossword answers and for ex-panded horoscopes, visit metronews.ca

Aries March 21-April 20Speak your mind today and don’tworry too much who might be of-fended.

Taurus April 21-May 21 Don’t be secretive about your so-cial and professional ambitions –let everyone know what it is youare hoping to achieve.

Gemini May 22-June 21You will be intensely ambitiousover the next few days. Go for it!

Cancer June 22-July 22Can you afford to sit back and looksmug as the plans you made a fewmonths ago begin to pay off? Yesyou can.

Leo July 23-Aug.23

This is a good time to start some-thing of a business nature.

Virgo Aug. 24- Sept. 22 Are you looking at a situation withclear eyes, or are you seeing whatyou want to see rather than whatis truly there?

Libra Sept. 23-Oct. 23 You must pace yourself sensiblytoday, even if you think you canlabour from dawn to dusk withouta break.

Scorpio Oct. 24-Nov. 22 All things are possible and if youwant something enough you willfind ways to get it today.

Sagittarius Nov. 23-Dec. 21 Don’t turn your back on some-

one who needs help, even if theyhave been less than helpful to youin the past.

Capricorn Dec. 22-Jan. 20There is no point losing your tem-per with someone whose beliefsyou profoundly disagree with.

Aquarius Jan. 21-Feb. 18Make a decision and stick with it.If you chop and change you coulddo yourself a great deal of dam-age.

Pisces Feb. 19-March 20 Anew moon in your sign means anew beginning – but what kind ofnew beginning is entirely up toyou.

SALLY BROMPTON

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