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HALIFAX
COMMONER
FREE
Published by the University of King’s College School of Journalism
FRIDAY, JANUARY 27, 2006
East Coast
re-elects
the familiar
No beds
for the
addicted
PAGE 2
Why is
this winter
wimpy?
Election
night with
Alexa
PAGE 6
PAGES 8-9
PAGE 15
The rite of Spring Garden
Business owners
eager for change
at site of
old infirmary
BRODIE THOMAS
“Whatever goes
there needs to
contribute to the
continued vitality of
downtown Halifax.”
By BRODIE THOMAS
MICHELLE GERARD,
OWNER, ATLANTIC NEWS
T
he possibilities for urban
renewal at the old Halifax infirmary site excite Bernie Smith.
Smith, president of the Spring Garden Area Business Association,
spent the past week meeting with
city planners and other stakeholders in the project.
“We want interactivity,” says
Smith. “We want permeability.
Those are our criteria.”
The association has been planning its vision of the site for
months. This week the group had a
chance to share its ideas with other
interested parties, such as Dalhousie University and the provincial government.
The site under discussion is
much larger than just the land
where the infirmary once stood. It
also includes the Spring Garden
Road Memorial Public Library, the
courthouse on Spring Garden
Road, and two municipal parking
lots on adjacent Clyde Street, across
from the infirmary site. Smith
hopes these parking lots will be
used to construct more commercial
space.
“We’ve resigned ourselves to the
fact that the government is going to
get its hands on the infirmary site.”
Library
The province has been tossing
around the idea of building a new
library on the infirmary site. If the
new library is built on Queen
Street, it will free up the existing
library site for what Smith hopes
will be commercial development.
“Spring Garden Road peters out
is room for more than just a library.
The province has proposed building a liquor store in that area, and
the Justice Department has named
the infirmary site as one of ten possible locations for a new justice centre. Gerard is worried the new
courthouse may end up on the corner opposite her store.
The Justice Department “is set on a
major justice centre,” says Gerard.
“Whether or not that’s appropriate, I’m
not sure. Whatever goes there needs to
contribute to the continued vitality of
downtown Halifax.”
Bernie Smith shares Gerard’s
concerns about the proposed justice centre. He says law courts do
not meet business criteria in the
same way that a library does. He
says the library has been a pillar of
support on Spring Garden Road
because it is a recreational place.
Shops and apartments
Background information has been available for public view at the City Centre Atlantic on Spring Garden Road.
after Queen Street, and it doesn’t
provide a continuum,” says Smith.
He says it is easier to market an
area rather than a street. If there
were a constant flow of shops from
Spring Garden Road onto Grafton
Street, it would lead to more pedestrian traffic for both areas.
Like Smith, Michelle Gerard is
hoping new development will
mean more pedestrians in the area.
Gerard is co-owner of Atlantic
News, on the corner of Queen and
Morris streets. Her store is isolated
from Spring Garden’s foot traffic.
Her store’s reputation is what
brings customers out of their way
down Queen Street. She says she
has a lot to gain from the re-development.
Justice centre
Gerard says she’d like to see the
new library directly across from her
store. But with 1.4 hectares available on the old infirmary site, there
Tobin — A man, a can, a plan. See pages 12-13
PAGE EDITOR: ELLING LIEN
Instead of a new justice centre,
Smith has proposed building shops
that include studios and apartments. These would allow artisans
to live and work in the same space.
That still leaves the question of
what to do with the old courthouse.
Completed in 1863, the building is
an historic landmark. However,
Smith doesn’t see it fitting in with
his association’s vision of Spring
Garden Road.
Please see New page 3
PAGE 2
THE COMMONER
COMMENTARY
NINA CORFU
Better the devil you know
AINSLIE
MacLELLAN
viewPOINT
A
s the old adage goes, better the
devil you know than the one
you don’t. Maybe Maritimers just
have a soft spot for old sayings, but
it seems we followed this particular
one to a T, when it came to voting in
the federal election. Every single
incumbent running here won back
his or her seat.
Is it because we are in a constant
state of euphoric delight over how
we have been represented in Parliament since the 2004 election?
Doubtful. Is it because we are not
politically savvy enough to figure
out when it’s time for a change?
Hardly. It’s because many Mar-
itimers have a legitimate worry for
a future with “the devil we don’t
know” in charge.
It’s not that the Maritimes have
a particular aversion to socially
conservative values. Provincially,
Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and
Prince Edward Island all have
Progessive Conservative governments.
Pockets of Nova Scotia have
stronger Tory ties than others. Both
Nova Scotia premier John Hamm
and Peter MacKay, deputy leader of
the federal Conservative party hail
from the Conservative stronghold
of Pictou County.
And of course, there is the late
Robert Stanfield, born and raised in
Truro. The Nova Scotia premier and
leader of the federal Progressive
Conservatives from 1967 until 1976
was the epitome of a Red Tory.
That’s the brand of conservatism
that Nova Scotia has always gravitated towards.
So Nova Scotians may be seeing
red when they look at this Conservative government, but it’s not
because of the colour of the politics.
Prime minister-designate Stephen
Better a government
that jerks you around
than one that
doesn’t even have
you on the radar.
Harper has done little to endear
himself to Atlantic Canadians. His
infamous comment about Atlantic
Canada suffering from a “culture of
defeat” is not easily forgotten. Even
though Harper apologized early on
Faculty advisors and instructors:
THE HALIFAX COMMONER
Vol. #8
No. #8
The Halifax Commoner is published
10 times a year -- five weeks in
October/November and five weeks in
January-February. It is written and edited
by students in the Newspaper Workshop
at:
School of Journalism,
University of King’s College,
Halifax, Nova Scotia
B3H 2A1
Phone: (902) 422-1271 (ext. 143)
Fax: (902) 423-3357
We invite your feedback. Please drop us
an e-mail at:
[email protected]
Issue Editor:
Ainslie MacLellan
Dean Jobb — Instructor
Michael Creagen — Photography
Blair Purdy — Production
Joan Westen — Layout
Assignment Editor:
Heather MacLean
Photo and StreetLevel editors:
Shannon Long
Sean Phillip McCarroll
(Printed by Acadie Presse, Caraquet, N.B.)
PAGE EDITOR: TERRA DUNCAN
in the campaign on a stop in New
Brunswick, the Liberals still
pressed the idea that Harper does
not love Atlantic Canada.This is not
to say voters here based their idea
of Harper on Liberal attack ads.
Still, many are wary of his plans for
programs like the Atlantic Canada
Opportunities Agency, a federal
fund that many Atlantic businesses
rely on for projects.
Harper did capitalize on the
sponsorship scandal to weaken the
liberal hold on the east coast. The
Conservatives were up one seat in
the Maritimes, in the New
Brunswick riding of Tobique-Mactaquac. They also gained one seat in
Newfoundland and Labrador.
Their biggest gain was in popular vote, up around five per cent
across Atlantic Canada. Four per
cent of this was grabbed from the
Liberals. But this pales in comparison to the inroads the Conservatives made in Quebec, where the
sting of the sponsorship scandal is
harshest.
Perhaps after decades of closed
mines and factories, mismanaged
fisheries and slim-deal profits on
offshore oil and gas, Atlantic Canadians are just used to governments
jerking them around.
But better a government that
jerks you around than one that
doesn’t even have you on the radar.
The first thing trumpeted on the
news when Harper’s Conservatives
won? The end of western alienation.
Harper may have been born in
Toronto, and may try to play up his
family’s Maritime roots, but he’s
Alberta’s favourite adopted son. He
AINSLIE MacLELLAN
Will Atlantic Canadians end up missing the devil they know?
has fought and argued tirelessly
throughout his career for the interests of the energy industry in
Alberta. He was co-author of the
Alberta Agenda, a paper condemning federal transfer payments,
which were seen as robbing the
province’s wealth.
Harper is even credited with
coming up with the Reform party’s
original slogan, “The west wants
in.”
Well, the west is in. But the federal government’s viewfinder only
seems so wide. With the focus shifted west, the right-hand coast may
be left out in left field, wishing we
had our old devil back.
[email protected]
PAGE 3
THE COMMONER
NEWS
Gardens headed for winter revival?
Officials say safety
concerns must be
addressed
By TERRA DUNCAN
T
he Halifax Regional Municipality may open the gates to some
areas of the Public Gardens during
the winter months.
“We have discussed the
idea,” says Jeff Bray, capital district streetscape coordinator for
HRM. “But I do not want to give
anyone false hope. There is a lot
to consider and in the end, we
may decide to leave things as
they are.”
The gardens open in early May
and close by early November. Bray
says that the idea of opening them
during the winter months is part of
a three-phase management plan
aimed at improving conditions
within the garden.
The plan was made possible by
the Public Gardens Restoration
Foundation, which raised more
than $1,000,000 to help make
improvements to the gardens.
Bray says the first phase of
the project deals with bringing
the gardens up to snuff after the
damage caused by hurricane
Juan. The second phase deals
with the reconstruction of Horticultural Hall.
Horticultural Hall is the white
and green house located inside the
gardens, otherwise known as the
canteen. It is being redeveloped
into a public space.
Bray says the building may be
kept open year round for people
wishing to conduct meetings
and seminars. That is why the
city is thinking of allowing people to enter the park during the
winter season.
Brian Phelan, the superintendent of parks and open spaces for
Real Property and Asset Management division of HRM, says that letting people into the park during the
winter season has the potential to
cause damage.
Since the walkways are made of
compressed dust, Phelan says it is
impossible to plow them without
tearing them up.
He also says the city cannot salt
the walkways because the salt seeps
into the earth, damaging plants and
grass.
“Phase three of the plan involves
maintaining the work we have
already done to the park,” says Phelan.
“That is why we are concerned
about opening up the park to visitors while the ground is wet.”
Phelan says the walkways get
muddy during the winter season.
He is afraid people will veer off the
paths to avoid the mud, causing
damage to surrounding plants and
grass.
Phelan is also concerned about
safety. Back in the early 1900s Phelan says a child drowned in one of
the ponds while skating.
“We have to keep the ponds soft
for domestic birds like the mother
goose who lives here all year
round,” says Phelan. “I get worried
about the kids. You know them.
They see a bit of ice and they have
to walk on it.”
The garden staff breaks up sections
of the ice with a metal pole so the birds
can have access to water.
Phelan worries that children
will try and play on the remaining ice if they are allowed in the
park during the winter.
He says they are looking into
getting an electronic ‘bubble
system’ that will keep the water
moving so it cannot freeze.
Phelan says he isn’t sure when
the city began closing the park for
the winter. He knows the fence surrounding the park was put up during the early 1900s.
He doesn’t know the initial reason behind the closure, but he
TERRA DUNCAN
Alexa Swift gazes wistfully at the winter wonderland that the Halifax Regional Municipality closes annually.
thinks that it probably had something to do with protecting the
grounds.
Phelan says it could take two to
five years for the city to decide
whether it wants to allow limited
access to the park during the winter
season.
He says if access is granted, it
will only include the area around
Horticultural Hall and a few walkways leading to the bandstand in
the centre of the park.
[email protected]
BRODIE THOMAS
New justice centre
site undetermined
Continued from page 1
A pile of snow-covered rubble is all that remains of the old infirmary, possibly the site of a new justice centre.
PAGE EDITOR: MIN HUN FONG
It is too early to say what
might happen to the old courthouse on Spring Garden Road if
a new justice centre is built, says
Carla Grant, spokesperson with
the Department of Justice.
She also says the infirmary site
is only being considered as a possibility for the new justice centre at
present.
Two urban planning firms
have been hired to take the
information from talks held this
past week and incorporate it
into the final design plan.
Environmental Design and
Management Limited is based in
Halifax, and Urban Strategies is
from Toronto.
[email protected]
PAGE 4
THE COMMONER
NEWS
N.S. forestry solution not clear-cut
CONTRIBUTED
Major findings of Ecology
Action Centre report
By MARA BROTMAN
W
e have backed the Acadian
forest into a corner. It is gasping for air and current policy is
standing on its windpipe, says a
report released this week by the
Ecology Action Centre.
The centre is working with land
owners and logging companies to
reduce Nova Scotia’s clearcutting.
Currently, 98 per cent of wood harvested in the province is, or will
soon, be clearcut.
Biologist Minga O’Brien and
Joanne Cook of the centre
addressed the standing committee
on resources Tuesday in Halifax.
Cook strongly urged politicians
to eliminate forest management
practices
like
monoculture,
clearcutting, and pesticide spraying.
“We’ve had the opportunity to
speak extremely frankly and openly with the nine members of the
Nova Scotia legislature who deal
with resource issues,” she said.
“They are knowledgeable. Several of them own woodlots themselves, and it’s obvious that what
we said resonated with them,” said
Cook, standing beside a picture of a
forest massacred by clearcutting.
“We are really hoping that they recommend solid changes to the minister.”
Major overhauls to the forestry
system are needed, says the report
on Nova Scotia’s forest sustainability regulations. The report is based
primarily on the results of a March
2005 workshop with forestry contractors and woodlot owners, as
well as years of scientific studies
commissioned by the Department
of Natural Resources.
The Ecology Action Centre’s top
recommendations are for more
unevenly aged forests. That is, to
encourage the growth of shade-tolerant hardwoods and softwoods in
the same space. This diversifies the
forest, leaving it more healthy and
creating better quality hardwood.
Right now, the forestry industry
is focused on growing high volumes of softwoods in the quickest
amount of time. This practice exists
to feed the pulp and paper industry
of Nova Scotia.
“We’re dependent on a sector
that’s shaky at best,” says Cook.
“Mills are closing — nobody
predicted how fast this would happen. When you have the rising dollar, huge mills from Russia and
China, coupled with sinking
demand for newsprint, higher electricity prices, higher fuel costs in
general — the entire industry is
battered.”
A way to combat this failing
industry is to encourage the development of a “value-added” forestry
industry, a recommendation that
MLAs support. Value-added means
forestry products are refined in the
province and less raw material will
be exported from Nova Scotia. The
• The Acadian forest is unique.
No other place in the world has
the mix of hardwoods and softwoods like red spruce, sugar
maple, beech, and yellow birch.
• Recommend “unevenly aged”
management: no big gaps in the
forest, trees of different ages,
cuts of carefully selected small
groups of trees. No clearcutting.
• Restrict tree farms to a maximum of 25 per cent of the working forest.
• Support value-added, locally
refined wood products. Do not
rely on exporting raw materials.
• Dedicate public funding to
unevenly aged management.
This will increase the quality of
Nova Scotia’s wood supply.
• Herbicide and pesticide
spraying on publicly owned
Crown lands must stop. All logging on Crown land should be
certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, the highest international environmental standard
for forestry practices.
• The Nova Scotia government
must provide opportunities for
broad public involvement in forest policy.
• The government should provide greater incentives for environmentally responsible forestry
practices that maintain the
essential characteristics of the
Acadian forest.
- Mara Brotman
Upcoming events
The Ecology Action Centre report encourages responsible tree-pruning in
Nova Scotian forests.
economy will benefit as a result.
Charles Parker, MLA for Pictou
West, agrees.
“You know, with 98 per cent of
our lands being clear cut, we’re losing jobs, we’re hurting our environment, we’re hurting our tourist
industry. We’ve got to flip that
around and look at better forestry
methods. We’ll have a better economy.”
Minga O’Brien acknowledges
that the new report recommends
drastic changes. It asks the government to reduce clearcutting from 95
per cent to 25 per cent of Nova Scotia’s forest. But that may not be realistic. Some members of the legislature seem to think there is nothing
wrong with current policy.
The Ecology Action Centre will
have to work hard to convince
politicians like Gerald Sampson,
MLA for Victoria-The-Lakes.
Sampson described a tour he
took last year, sponsored by logging
company Bowater.
“We saw areas clear cut and
replanted; saw places naturally
reforesting themselves. After the
tour, I changed my ideas. Protected
areas are a must, but the logging
companies weren’t the big bad
guys I thought they were.”
In a poll done by the centre, 88
per cent of taxpayers say that Nova
Scotians do not like clear cutting,
says O’Brien.
“People’s attitudes are changing.
We’re recognizing increasingly that
the way we’ve gone, with all our
eggs in the softwood lumber basket
and the clearcutting is not sustainable. And it’s the people who can
bring pressure on politicians. We
don’t want to ram things down peoples’ throats.”
MLAs will study the report and
make recommendations to the minister of natural resources, Richard
Hurlburt. The Ecology Action Centre will continue its campaign to
reduce clearcutting.
[email protected]
PAGE EDITOR: CHLOË ERNST
Workshops/Lectures:
• Story Development Clinic
Jan. 28 and 29
420-4572
AFCOOP, 5600 Sackville
• Kebana: Japanese flower
arrangement
Jan. 31, 7-9 p.m.
496-8725
Saint Mary’s University McNally
Theatre, 923 Robie
• Plants for cold and flu
Jan. 31, 7-9:30 p.m.
404-7378
One World Cafe, 2412 Agricola
• “From Belgrade to Baghdad:
How the Uncorrected Media
Lies about the Balkans led to the
US Fiasco in Iraq”
Feb. 2, 12 p.m.
444-7595
Lord Dalhousie Room, A & A
Building, Dalhousie University
Presented by Scott Taylor
On Stage:
• Trying
Tuesday to Friday, 8 p.m.
Saturday, 4 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.
Sunday, 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
429-7070
Neptune Theatre Fountain Hall
• Prelude to a Kiss
Wednesday-Saturday, 8 p.m. and
Jan. 29, 2 p.m.
465-7529
Dartmouth Players Theatre, 33
Crichton
• Ron James - Gone with Ron
Jan. 29, 8 p.m.
Rebecca Cohn Auditorium
Sports:
• Oldtimers Hockey Challenge
Jan. 28, 6 p.m.
451-1221
Metro Centre, 5284 Duke
• Halifax Mooseheads Hockey
vs. Lewiston MAINEiacs
Jan. 27, 7 p.m.
Metro Centre, 5284 Duke
Music:
• Down With Butterfly
Jan. 28, 10 p.m.
492-3278
Khyber Club, 1588 Barrington
• SUNSCAD DJs
Every Monday
492-3278
Khyber Club, 1588 Barrington
• Feedback: The Coast’s Best of
Music Party
Feb. 1, 7 p.m.
429-6222
Pogue Fado, 1581 Barrington
• Mark Bragg and The Black
Wedding Band w/The Sweet
Tenders
Jan. 27
Stage Nine, 1567 Grafton
• Two Hours Traffic w/ Windom
Earle, Smothered in Hugs
Jan. 28
• controller.controller w/Ok
Go, Sharp Like Knives
Jan. 31
• Symphony Nova Scotia
“Happy Birthday Mozart”
Jan. 27, 8 p.m.
• Upstream Music Assoc. presents The Rosa Ensemble
Jan. 27, 8 p.m.
Sir James Dunn Theatre
• The Trews — ages 19+
Jan. 27 and 28, 9 p.m.
Marquee Club
• Euphoria
Jan. 28, 7 p.m.
PAGE 5
THE COMMONER
NEWS
Immigrant fed up with hotline
BRODIE THOMAS
By BRODIE THOMAS
M
icheal Mann is fed up with
Citizenship and Immigration
Canada’s 1-800 hotline.
The 32-year-old came to Canada
in 2004 with his girlfriend, Koreen
Millard. The two had met and fallen
in love in Australia, although Mann
is actually a New Zealander by
birth. He came to Canada on a visitor’s visa, but has since applied to
become a permanent resident.
Mann would like to begin working. He has had job offers, but he
cannot legally work here under his
current visa. He has been told he
cannot receive a work permit until
his permanent residence application is reviewed by an immigration
officer. According to current wait
times, that could take eight to 10
months.
This past summer, Mann got a
temporary work
permit for a
summer job, but
only after driving
to the United
States border in
New Brunswick.
He was told border offices are
the only places
that can process
temporary work
permits.
Since that job
Koreen Millard
ended in September, Mann has been spending
time in his Lawrencetown, Annapolis County, apartment. He and Millard, a student at the College of Geographical Science-s, are now common-law partners.
Because Mann has been unable
to obtain a work permit, he and Millard are living off their savings, student loans and credit cards.
Faced with the prospect of spending long days without anything to do,
Mann started pouring over immigration regulations online.
In December, he found section
207 in the Refugee and Immigration
Protection Act stating that the common-law partner of a Canadian citizen who has applied for permanent
residence is entitled to a work permit.
As soon as he discovered this,
Mann called Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s 1-800 number. At
that time, the hotline and the mail
were Mann’s only way of dealing
with CIC. He had not spoken with
Micheal Mann has been living in Canada with his common-law partner since 2004, but is unable to get a work visa.
immigration officials face to face,
except at the border.
“I spoke to several people on the
1-800 number,” says Mann. “Many
of them hadn’t heard of section 207.
“Finally I spoke to someone who
had heard of it, and they said ‘no,
it’s totally up to the discretion of the
immigration officer.’”
Mann later learned that this
information was incorrect.
The agent on the phone also told
Mann that if he were the partner or
spouse of an immigrant or refugee
with a work permit, or the spouse of
a foreign national with a study permit, he would be granted a work
permit without question.
Mann was not satisfied with this
answer, so he continued to call the
CIC hotline. Each time he would get
a different operator with a slightly
different answer.
“I asked several people if there
were any offices I could go to where
I could speak with someone in person, and they all flat-out told me
‘no.’”
When The Commoner contacted CIC’s Halifax offices to enquire
about Mann’s status, we were told
he should come into the office as
soon as possible. Mann drove to
Halifax the next day, and that afternoon he spoke to an immigration
officer about his case.
Mann says the difference
between the phone agents and the
immigration officer was like night
and day.
“As opposed to everyone (on the
phone) saying, ‘No that’s wrong,’
when I asked a question, she actually looked everything up, and she
said, ‘Yes, you are completely right.
But before someone can grant you
(a work permit), someone actually
has to look at your application.’”
This means even though Mann
has sent in his permanent resident
application, he will not be considered an applicant until someone at
the case-processing centre in Vegreville, Alta. reviews his case. There is
PAGE EDITOR: SEAN MCCARROLL
currently an eight-month backlog
of applications, according to the
CIC website.
“It precludes
immigration clients
from getting the
accurate data they
need to make good
immigration
decisions for
themselves.”
LEE COHEN
Mann says he is satisfied with
the answer he received from the
immigration officer in Halifax, but
is concerned with the way his questions were dealt with over the
phone.
His problems with the CIC hotline are nothing new, according to
Halifax immigration lawyer Lee
Cohen. He says CIC’s offices used
to be open to the public on a regular basis. There were certain days of
the week when anyone could walk
in and get an informal appointment. That practice has since been
phased out and replaced with the
CIC hotline.
Cohen says it’s not unusual for
someone to get different answers
from different call centre employees on the same question.
“It’s hardly reassuring,” says
Cohen, “but more importantly, it
precludes immigration clients from
getting the accurate data they need
to make good immigration decisions for themselves.”
A spokesperson for Citizenship
and Immigration Canada, who
refused to be named, says 275 people
are employed at the CIC hotline centre in Montreal.The agents who work
the phones receive seven weeks of
training. They are monitored by
supervisors, and they receive coaching from the supervisors.
Several precautions are taken to
keep call centre agents up to date
on the latest developments in
immigration law.They receive “infoflashes” twice a week on the latest
happenings, according to the
spokesperson.
The spokesperson added that
CIC takes in about 225,000 applications per year, and it takes time to
process these applications.
Mann did not receive special
treatment, says the spokesperson.
Anyone is free to fill out an application for an appointment with an
immigration officer. It usually takes
24 to 48 hours to get a meeting.
Mann’s only hope now for a
speedy response is to have the minister of immigration intervene.
Mann and Millard spoke with all
four party candidates in their riding
during the election. The Liberal
incumbent, Robert Thibault, took
Mann’s name and application number
so he could write a letter to the immigration minister on Mann’s behalf.
But with the new Conservative
government now in power, Mann
may be out of luck — and out of
work — until August, when his
application is due to be reviewed.
[email protected]
PAGE 6
THE COMMONER
NEWS
A long wait for the waiting list
Anchorage rehab centre needs more beds
By AMANDA FRASER
S
teve Clark has struggled with
alcohol his whole life. Working
in hotel management, he was
always within arms’ reach of booze.
He says the quantity and quality of
what he drank was directly related
to the amount of money he had.
“As much as I could get is probably the best way to put it,” he says.
From 1981, his first year of university, to 1993, there were very few
days he didn’t drink. But for eight
years he was sober.
From 1993 to 2001, he attended
regular Alcoholic Anonymous
meetings and was even part of a
group that organized and ran AA
meetings at the Gottingen Street
Salvation Army.
Today he is still part of the meetings but not as an organizer. While
he can’t pinpoint the reason, in 2001
he started to drink again.
Over the next four years he was
in and out of detoxification programs at least 12 times. He eventually found himself homeless, staying with any friend patient enough
to take him in.
At 43 years old, unemployed and
without family to call on, he entered
the Anchorage program run by the
Salvation Army because, he says he
needed “long-term help”.
“I didn’t have anywhere to go,
no job to return to, no family to
return to,” he says.
He feels the Anchorage program
was his salvation.
“To be honest I’m not sure what
I would have done. Probably would
have ended up on the streets.”
While Clark was lucky and got
accepted into the program on his
first attempt, other addicts don’t
have the same experience.
Confronted with a demand
greater than it can handle, Anchorage, located on Gottingen Street in
Halifax, has 19 beds and a constant
waiting list of 15 to 20 men.
SEAN MCCARROLL
Larry Bird is learning to read the
Bible while living at Anchorage.
These men could be on the list
for a couple of weeks or four or five
months, says Rev. Terrance Jenkins,
the manager of Nova Scotia’s only
Anchorage program.
“There’s a big need in this city
for this kind of work,” says Jenkins.
The Salvation Army-funded program helps men over 18 overcome
addictions to drugs, alcohol and
gambling. Participants come from a
range of backgrounds but the
majority are incarcerated and have
the Anchorage program added as
part of a conditional sentence.
SEAN MCCARROLL
“The ratio for detox
applicants to beds is
ludicrous.”
— REV. JOHN DEN
HOLLANDER
It’s a six-month, live-in program
where the men are required to
attend daily life skills classes, covering topics like stress and time management. They also attend nondenominational chapel services
every morning.
Jenkins, a pastor for 29 years,
says Anchorage has a rehabilitation
success rate of 20 to 25 per cent. He
says addicts come to his program
because they “want more help than
the hospital can give.”
“Guys go to detox first, get the
drug cleaned out of their system. But
it’s still in their mind,” he says.“They
tell me,‘The spiritual part is the most
beneficial part of the program.’”
Sitting inside the chapel located
within the Anchorage building,
Clark says he chose Anchorage
because this time around, it was spiritual guidance he was looking for.
“All addicts are lacking spirituality,” he says. “They have a void and
alcohol and drugs fill the void.”
Anchorage’s high demand has
caused Jenkins to stop taking
names of men who are interested in
the program from the Nova Scotia
Correctional unit in Burnside.
“It’s a necessity because we’ve
got so many on the waiting list. It’s
basically like giving false hope.”
And the waiting list isn’t representative of the number of addicts
who want help.
Jenkins says those addicts from
the street who express interest in
Anchorage are not put on the list
because, without a fixed address,
it’s impossible to track them down.
While the program is the only
one in the province to openly combine religion with the rehabilitation
process, it has something in common with other detoxification programs in the Halifax Regional
Municipality – a waiting list.
Rev. John den Hollander, a
Steve Clark, a college graduate, says addiction does not discriminate on the basis of age, race or education.
prison chaplain who brings incarcerated men to Anchorage, says
when prospective clients are put on
a waiting list, he and Jenkins recommend other Salvation Army transitional housing and addiction support programs like Al-Care and
Freedom Foundation, as well as
detoxification programs throughout
the province. However, those programs are usually at capacity too.
Den Hollander says the provincial government has a responsibility to increase funding for rehabilitation programs and shouldn’t
expect private organizations to pick
up the slack.
“The ratio for detox applicants to
beds is ludicrous,”he says, referring
PAGE EDITOR: SHANNON LONG
to the 15 beds available at the Nova
Scotia Hospital that are meant to
service Halifax Regional Municipality’s population of almost 400,000.
Since Jenkins began running
Anchorage three years ago, he’s
increased the capacity of the program from 15 beds to 19 by converting classrooms into bedrooms.
The five-story building already
serves a multitude of purposes. The
first floor houses a lounge with
computers and a chapel. The second
and third floors function as part of
the Anchorage program. The fourth
is an emergency shelter and the fifth
is used by Corrections Canada.
“Private places like this can only
do so much,”he says.“If I could do it,
I’d take 30 people in here. But I can’t
because I don’t have the space.”
Clark, who began the program in
August, hopes to get his Anchorage
completion certificate in June 2006.
He relapsed this past December but
says Jenkins gave him a second
chance to start the program again.
Clark says faith in God and a
desire to remain sober will help
him overcome his addiction.
“I’m glad I’m here and I’m
thankful there are organizations
like the Salvation Army,” he says.“If
you want the help, they are here to
give it to you. If you don’t want the
help, there’s not much they can do
for you.”
[email protected]
PAGE 7
THE COMMONER
NEWS
Transgendered women
without shelter options
By BRENDAN DUNBAR
W
here does someone turn
when they need to leave an
abusive environment, but local
shelters cannot accommodate them
because of their circumstances?
Six or seven transsexual women
in Halifax faced this problem last
year, ending up at a shelter for
homeless men even though they
identify and live as women.
EGALE, the national gay, lesbian
and transgendered watchdog group,
estimates that one transsexual a
month is killed in Canada because
of their transgendered status.
“Transition is a dangerous time,
period,” says Eric MacDonald, a
board member of the Nova Scotia
Rainbow Action Project, an organization that fights discrimination
against gays, lesbians, bisexuals
and transgendered people.
MacDonald says that transsexual women are especially vulnerable
to physical violence.
“Bashing of transwomen gets
mixed in with gay-bashing because
transwomen are perceived as drag
queens,” says MacDonald. “People
look at them and ask ‘Is that a boy
or a girl?’”
“Anyone who’s marginalized
sees their risk factors for violence
go way up,” says Lyn Barrett, the
executive director of Bryony House,
a Halifax shelter for women escaping domestic abuse.
Barrett also says anyone appearing to be a woman and who is experiencing partner violence is entitled
to a full range of services at Bryony
House, including counselling.
“A client doesn’t need to share
personal medical information with
the staff. If someone looks female,
Bryony House personnel will make
no effort to verify her physical sta-
tus,” says Barrett.
She adds that Bryony House has
sheltered one transwoman in the
past 15 years “that we know of,
because she was upfront about her
status.” Other transsexual women
may have stayed at the house without the staff’s knowledge.
Problems arise when the person
lives full-time as a woman but still
has a masculine appearance.
Women at the shelter who have
experienced abuse from men might
not want to share a room with a
male-bodied person, no matter
what the person’s gender identity
might be, says Barrett.
“Then we would have to sit
down with the transsexual woman
and see what she really needs,” she
says, although she knows of no
other shelters in the Halifax area
that might accept transwomen.
She hesitates at the idea of sending an early-transition woman to
Metro Turning Point, the Halifax
shelter for homeless men.
Metro Turning Point has no policy
regarding transsexual women, says
Mike Humphreys, the shelter’s director.
“We have taken them in, but
there are no single rooms, so no privacy,” he says.
Humphreys says that, although
they have had no major problems,
the shelter’s clientele is not open to
transgendered people. “We try to
get transsexual women out of here
as soon as possible,” he says.
It is then, when transwomen
who are early in their transition and
who need shelter and other services find themselves with no place to
go.
“We really need to work on this
with shelters in the city to find
places for people who fall between
the cracks,” says MacDonald.
[email protected]
Too many in N.S.
lack basic literacy
— skills survey
By ELLING LIEN
SEAN MCCARROLL
O
ne in three Nova Scotia adults
has difficulty reading and
understanding things like medicine
labels or bus schedules.
The findings are part of the
International Adult Literacy and
Skills Survey, an international
study of more than 23,000 Canadians. Participants were tested on
their proficiency in prose literacy,
document literacy, math and problem-solving.
“These results are a wake-up
call,”says Ann Marie Downie of Literacy Nova Scotia. “We are receiving confirmation that there are too
many people in Canada and in
Nova Scotia who don’t have the literacy skills they need to meet the
demands of everyday life.”
Instead of looking at whether or
not a person is able to perform a
task, the study focused on how well
a person can perform that task.
Proficiency was rated between
levels one to five, from lowest to
highest. For prose literacy, level one
means a person has difficulty dealing with any printed material. Level
two means a person can deal with
material that is well laid out.
Level three is the limit for
understanding and using the information people need for daily life.
Functioning at this level, according
to the study, leads to increased
employment opportunities and
greater community participation.
Forty-five per cent of Nova Scotians rated below level three for literacy. The national scores were
higher, with 48 per cent falling
below the threshold. Of all the
provinces, Nova Scotia was rated
fifth in the country.
Results from the survey indicate
seniors, high school dropouts and
immigrants whose first language is
not English or French had the lowest scores in the survey.
At a summit on adult learning
organized by the Nova Scotia
Department of Education last week,
a group of about 150 representatives of business, labour, government and community learning
organizations gathered to identify
and discuss the problems of adult
literacy. Nova Scotia’s Education
minister Jamie Muir was pleased
with how well Nova Scotia rated
alongside the rest of the provinces,
but recognized there was room for
improvement.
“We all share responsibility for
PAGE EDITOR: BRODIE THOMAS
The survey says Nova Scotia has the fifth highest literacy rate in Canada
upgrading our skills and those of our
fellow Nova Scotians,” Muir said in
his address to the Working Together,
Learning Together summit. “We all
have a critical role to play in building
Nova Scotia’s world-class workforce.”
Among the problems identified
at the conference was the stigma of
the word “literacy.” Ann Marie
Downie says for many, the word suggests an inability to learn. Another
difficulty is the distance required to
travel to adult learning programs.
Workplace education was one of
the focal points of the summit, and
greater collaboration between business, government and community
groups was encouraged.
Downie agrees that literacy is
essential for improving the economy,
but she warns against the idea that it
is the only reason to improve reading and writing skills.
She quotes the survey, which says
that 80 per cent of Nova Scotia seniors
are not literate enough to cope in
today’s text-focused society.
“If the government only focuses
on literacy for employment reasons,
that’s not a problem,” Downie says
about the number.“But if you look at
literacy for social reasons, it is.”
Literacy advocate and children’s
author Sheree Fitch believes reading
makes a difference in a person’s
ability to enjoy life.
Fitch, author of popular childrens books, There’s a Monkey in
my Kitchen and Toes in My Nose
and other Poems, agrees that literacy plays an important role in
improving self-confidence, health
and quality of life.
“If reading doesn’t add grace to
your life at some point, or make us
more human, then what is the
point?” she asks.
This Saturday she is hosting a
number of events at public libraries
around the city as part of International Family Literacy Day.
The central event is the “Read-AThon,” where families are invited to
come to the libraries to read together for 15 minutes.
“I like the umbrella of family literacy because more than just early
childhood literacy, or just adult literacy, family literacy includes everybody,” Fitch says.
She says part of the reason for
Family Literacy Day is to show families the one-on-one tutorial programs and the classes available at
the libraries. She hopes this will
encourage people of all ages to
improve their reading skills.
“Not everyone will read War and
Peace,” she says. “But that doesn’t
mean people can’t learn to love
reading.”
[email protected]
PAGE 8
THE COMMONER
POLI
Alexa stays in
the spotlight
The Commoner follows the Halifax
member of Parliament through election
day to her eventual victory
McDonough with the NDP candidate for the provincial riding of Halifax
Citadel Leonard Preyra after the votes were counted and victory secured.
All photos by Min Hun Fong
By MIN HUN FONG
A
lexa McDonough’s electionday preparations began Monday at a small office space in the
shopping centre on Bayers Road.
With renovations going on outside the building, the dingy mall
was hardly the ideal place for visitors. But McDonough’s campaign
manager, Ian Wayne, says the office
is the nerve centre of the New
Democratic Party campaign in Nova
Scotia.
Wayne says his job is to get the
NDP’s and McDonough’s message
out. This means organizing foot
canvassers to knock on doors, telephone pollsters who will spend the
last hours of the day trying to convince people to vote NDP, rides for
people to and from the voting stations – anything to get supporters to
the polls.
“We’re trying our best to get to
all the people we’ve talked to in the
last eight weeks in 12 hours,” he
said.
‘Cautiously optimistic’
Although pundits everywhere
have been predicting McDonough’s
victory for weeks, Wayne remained
cautiously optimistic.
“There’s no sure thing in politics,” said Wayne.
Adam Hardiman was working
the phones Monday. He has
been helping McDonough campaign since November. A master’s student in political science
at Dalhousie University, he said
the NDP appeals to him because
it is the most genuine of all parties.
“I must have talked to about a
thousand people today,” he said
with a laugh.“They all say the same
thing – people like McDonough
because of her integrity and her
commitment.
“She stands up for things that
matter to working people.”
“You take every
single election
seriously, you take
every challenger
seriously, and I had
worthy opponents”
ALEXA MCDONOUGH
And the faith of Haligonians in
her ability to lead can certainly be
seen in her growing list of accomplishments. McDonough, 61, has
long been a staple in Nova Scotian
politics beginning public life serving as party leader of the provincial
NDPs from 1981 to 1994.
She then moved on to federal
politics when she was elected
federal NDP leader in 1995
before she led her party to its
landmark year two years later,
returning the NDP to official
status by winning 21 seats.
McDonough, the first NDP
Member of Parliament elected
from mainland of Nova Scotia,
stepped down as party leader in
2003.
McDonough
says
Wayne
received a lot of new support
from disenfranchised Liberal
Rivals in the Halifax riding (from left) Andrew House (Conservative Party), Nick Wright (Green Party), and Martin
MacKinnon (Liberal Party) stop by the rally to congratulate McDonough.
and Conservative voters this
time around.
Although the office seemed to be
a hub of activity, the polls themselves were relatively quiet. Queues
were short and moved quickly, and
there was no sense of urgency at
any of the polls in the heart of
downtown Halifax.
The waiting game
After the polls closed, the final
stop in the campaign is the postelection rally. The venue Monday
night was the Atlantic ballroom
PAGE EDITOR: BRENDAN DUNBAR
in the Westin Nova Scotian Hotel.
The crowd trickled in as polls
closed and the votes were tallied.
The ballroom was wired for
media coverage with three television crews setting up shop at
the back of the room. Televisions
displaying running counts of the
vote tally were set stationed
throughout the room. A cheer
would arise occasionally as news
trickled in that the NDP had won
or were leading in a particular
riding. Nonetheless, the room
was surprisingly sedate until
McDonough’s arrival.
McDonough had opted to watch
the vote at home with her family
and so was absent from the rally
when the votes in her riding were
tallied. But the energy in the room
certainly rose up a notch when
news that she had successfully
defended her seat raced through
the room.
McDonough arrived at around
10 p.m., moments after the
announcement of the results in
her riding. Camera crew trailed
after her and reporters desperately trying to get a clip amidst an
erupting crowd – McDonough is
PAGE 9
THE COMMONER
ITICS
McDonough gets ready to address the public.
undoubtedly well-loved in Halifax.
Some of the local provincial NDP
members were also in attendance
at the rally, including provincial
party leader Darrell Dexter and
NDP candidate for Halifax Citadel,
Leonard Preyra.
The win is particularly sweet
for McDonough, who saw support for her increase from the
last election where her closest
opponent, Sheila Fougere, came
within 1,100 votes of dislodging
her from her seat. This time
around, McDonough beat her
Liberal rival Martin MacKinnon
by more than 8,000 votes.
McDonough has now won the
same election for the fourth time
in a row — a significant achievement, as she is the first female
Halifax MP to do so since Confederation — especially since
Atlantic Canada tends to prefer
male MPs. Still, she manages to
sound genuinely grateful in her
victory speech to the crowd.
Taking nothing for granted
“You (must) take every single
election seriously, you take every
challenger seriously, and I had worthy opponents,” she told reporters
after her speech.
“It’s always been my approach to
politics that you don’t just have to win
the votes anew from election to election. I think you have to win people’s
trust and confidence every single day.”
She also expressed her dismay at
being the only woman elected in
PAGE EDITOR: BRENDAN DUNBAR
Atlantic Canada. A passionate
advocate of proportional representation in parliament, McDonough
has often spoken out on the need
for women and young people to
participate in parliament.
In the early hours of the vote
count, it seemed that McDonough’s
colleague in Central Nova Scotia,
Alexis MacDonald, might defy all
odds to beat Conservative Peter
MacKay to be the second female MP
elected from Atlantic Canada. But
while MacKay ultimately won the
day, MacDonald came surprisingly
close, falling short by just 3,000 votes.
Some disappointment but no real
surprises – that seemed to be the
story of Nova Scotia’s NDP Monday
night. The party on a whole did well
to increase their seats in parliament
from 19 to 29 all across the country.
Although McDonough calls Monday’s win a “tremendous victory,”
it’s anyone guess how long it will be
before she hits the campaign trail
again.
[email protected]
PAGE 10
THE COMMONER FRIDAY, JANUARY 27, 2006
POLITICS
MAUREEN HENNESSEY
My BF the MP
By JENNIFER PELLEY
T
elevision news camera crews
were crowded into the small but
comfortable living room with Scott
and his family. They had their cameras poised, hoping to capture the
telling look on his face as he was
declared the winner or the loser.
Everyone in the room was riveted to
the television. Scott sat with his
hands clasped, occasionally taking
a sip of soda from the glass on the
table beside him.
As polls came in that were
favourable for Scott, everyone
cheered and clapped their hands
before settling back into their tense
positions to wait for the next result.
Scott’s full name is Scott Simms
and he is the Liberal incumbent for
Bonavista-Gander-Grand
FallsWindsor in Newfoundland, which
includes most of the northeasterly
portion of the island. He is also my
boyfriend.
Our relationship is a strange
one, mainly because I am a journalism student at the University of
King’s College and he is a federal
politician.
Journalists are supposed to be
the unbiased voice responsible for
keeping the public informed. As a
general rule, journalists should not
be identified with any political
party. This is to protect their objectivity so they are not looked upon as
favouring one side over another.
But oddly enough, it was journalism that brought Scott and I
together almost one year ago when
I was 25 years old. I was working as
a reporter at the Advertiser, the
newspaper for the Exploits region
of Newfoundland. Naturally, I had
encountered Scott on numerous
occasions.
Although I had never really
talked to him, I still had an immediate attraction to this genuinely
warm and caring person. After professing this attraction to my editor,
Natasha Carberry, she made it her
mission to play matchmaker (which
she did with great proficiency, I
might add).
I was suddenly being assigned
to cover events where Scott would
be present and we built up a familiarity with one another. Then, I was
assigned a story that involved me
interviewing Scott about his stance
on several important federal issues
at the time.
After a hectic week of work,
Scott suggested we meet at a café in
Grand Falls-Windsor to do the
interview. I agreed. But instead of
doing the interview immediately,
we fell into a conversation that lasted three hours, leaving us only 15
minutes to scramble through the
interview. The connection was
immediate and a month later, we
were officially an item.
With this new development in
my life came the end of my political
reporting in Newfoundland for that
time. The obvious conflict of inter-
est that existed would have discredited my reporting and my editor
told me as such. I accepted this. I
knew I had found an amazing person in Scott and I was not willing to
give him up for a few political stories.
In Newfoundland, politicians
are celebrities and Scott was no
exception. In fact, he was probably
more recognized than most politicians because of his previous job as
a national weatherman on The
Weather Network.
If we ventured out on a Saturday
night for a cup of coffee, it was not
unusual for us to be interrupted by
any number of constituents who
could not restrain themselves from
discussing politics with Scott.
It was frustrating but not surprising. Scott sold himself in his
2004 campaign as being a politician
for the people of Newfoundland
and he was determined to live up to
his promise. As a result, he never
cut a conversation short and
refused to turn away an eager Newfoundlander who wanted the latest
scoop from Ottawa.
Scott had decided to run in
Newfoundland rather than in
Ontario, which is where he had
been living, because he wanted to
represent his own people in the
House of Commons.
His family, particularly his
mother (who passed away almost 10
years ago), was very political and
Scott grew up surrounded by politics. He has memories of watching
elections unfold with his mother
when he was only seven or eight
years old.
JENNIFER PELLEY
Simms gave his father, Reg, a kiss
after he was declared the winner on
Monday night.
Funnily enough, his family was
known for its unwavering support
for the Conservatives. When Scott
decided to run as a Liberal, feeling
that party was more in line with his
own beliefs, their loyalties shifted
in the blink of an eye. Today, they
are among the most staunch Liberals anywhere because of their support for Scott.
In the months leading up to
Monday’s election, Scott’s seat
seemed to be a given. On an hourly
basis, people approached him to let
him know they would be voting for
him and to assure him he would
have no problem getting re-elected.
The Tory candidate running
against him, Aaron Hynes, is not a
Newfoundlander (he was born and
raised in Ottawa) and many felt he
would not understand the issues
Newfoundland faced.
At a time when the entire country was questioning the Liberals,
Scott still seemed to rise above the
scandal and staleness that plagued
the party. When I left Newfoundland at the beginning of January to
start my second term of journalism
school, I felt relieved that at least
Scott would not face any major
challenges.
But about two weeks before
election day, Scott suddenly found
himself under intense pressure
from the Conservative candidate.
The reinstatement of the Gander
weather office, which the Liberals
had closed several years ago,
became a thorn in Scott’s side and
his political future was suddenly in
question.
The Conservatives had promised early on to reinstate the office.
But Scott had been working tirelessly since September to bring the
national ice centre — which would
provide ice analyses and forecasts
used to assist the movement of
ships in ice-covered waters — to
Gander. This would translate into
about 75 jobs for the town. Scott’s
point was to demand something
better than what had been there in
the past, which was why he lobbied
so hard for the ice centre.
However, the Liberals decided
to hold off on announcing the centre until late in the election. As a
result, Scott was accused of being
desperate for votes and using the
ice centre as a political ploy to gain
Gander’s support. He grew increasingly worried about the safety of his
seat. Gander and Grand FallsWindsor are the two major centres
in the riding and a loss in one of
those towns could translate into a
loss of the election.
But on election night Scott won
by a margin of about 5,000 votes —
a strong victory for him as about
35,000 votes were cast. That did not
mean he and his family were any
less nervous as they sat in his
father’s living room to watch the
poll results come in. There was
much nail-biting and cigarettesmoking as CBC News revealed the
results.
When Scott was declared the
winner, I was not an unbiased journalism student. I was a girlfriend
who happily wore her pride for her
boyfriend on her sleeve. He had
dedicated his life and sometimes
his sanity to the people of his riding
for the past year and a half.
During that time, I saw him glow
with delight when he successfully
lobbied to stop the deportation of a
Mexican woman. His efforts made
it possible for her to stay in NewPAGE EDITOR: AMANDA FRASER
MP Scott Simms and Jennifer Pelley on election night.
foundland with her husband and
two children.
I heard his voice crack when he
voted against same-sex marriage,
an issue he personally supported,
because the vast majority of his
constituents did not agree with it.
I felt the passion he had to fight
for the 80,000 people who live in
one of the poorest ridings in the
country. The unemployment rate is
almost 30 per cent and the average
individual income of those
employed is less than $20,000. Scott
often faced constituents who were
unsure where their family’s next
meal was coming from.
As far as I was concerned, Scott
deserved every vote, plus more.
Hoots and hollers
The camera crews captured
every whoop, hoot and holler in the
living room on Monday night. I was
sitting next to Scott when it was
announced on CBC that he had
won. I only had enough time to
quickly kiss and hug him and tell
him I was proud of him before his
father and sisters encircled the both
of us in a massive victory hug. A
huge smile was beaming from him
and the worry and stress that lined
his face over the past few weeks
seemed to melt away in that
moment.
His Blackberry started ringing
immediately, as did his father’s
telephone and his sisters’ cell
phones.
When Scott had a spare second,
the first person he called was his
11-year-old son, Jackson, who lives
in Kingston, Ont. When I took the
phone from Scott for a moment to
say hello to Jack, he told me his
“mind was gone,” he was so overcome with delight for his dad.
When Scott made his way to the
Knights of Columbus hall in Bishop’s Falls — his hometown — many
of his supporters and campaign
workers had gathered for a victory
party.
Upon entering the hall, he was
met by several hundred people, all
of them yelling and clapping. Scott
threw his arms in the air in victory
and began making his way around
the room, thanking everyone individually for their support before
making a speech.
“I do this for you, the people of
Newfoundland,” he said. “There is
no greater province than this one
and no greater people than those
who live here. You are my motivation and my support.”
That’s my boy.
[email protected]
PAGE 11
THE COMMONER
ARTS
Scavenging for art
Group turns trash into treasure
CHLOË ERNST
By CHLOË ERNST
O
ver the dozen years that the
Khyber Centre for the Arts has
rented its Barrington Street location, people have forgotten about
the crate of shoes, the stuffed
denim dummy and the Styrofoam
stalagmites stored in the maze-like
corridors of the basement.
And those are just a few of the
abandoned items.
“It’s like anyone’s basement who
has lived in a place for 10 years or
more,” says Geoff Tanner, one of
about 10 members of the Halifax
Scavenger Society. The society created their current Khyber exhibit,
“Re: objects; histories; mythologies,” on the premise of cleaning
out the basement.
By individually documenting the
pieces of junk and attempting to
research the history behind each
one, the artists are creating treasures
from forgotten items.
But the scavengers are not doing
it alone.
Visitors to the gallery participate
by offering their own history or
mythology of an item.
Dozens of Polaroid pictures
paired with manilla-coloured cue
cards cover the white walls of one
third-floor room. At least 30 people
have helped flesh out the histories of
items since the show opened on Jan.
9. A neighbouring room houses the
yard-sale mixture of goods that the
society is still working to document.
Once an item is documented, visitors are free to take the piece home.
One card pinned beside a
Polaroid of an abstract painting,
reads “I got drunk in proximity to it
once.” It is signed “Jody.”
Artist and scavenger Dennis
Hale researched the cardboard
packaging for Joyce Weiland’s lithograph,“O Canada,”which was found
in the furnace room.
The print of “O Canada”— with a
pair of lips representing each syllable of the national anthem — was
made at the Nova Scotia College of
Art and Design in 1969 and “likely
showed at the Khyber sometime in
1992,” Hale wrote on a cue card.
The scavengers started working
together last September. They
experimented with activist and
artistic events that included a musical-junk jam, a gallery performance
and social scavenging nights. However, all were already experienced
scavengers.
Tanner moved to Halifax about
eight months ago and started scavenging right away. He says he was
self-conscious for the first few days,
but he soon met other community
Robbie MacGregor examines a discarded record player that is part of the Halifax Scavenger Society’s exhibit “Re:
objects; histories; mythologies” at the Khyber Centre for the Arts.
scavengers.
“I remember about the third or
fourth day when it turned around, I
had seen some dumpsters that had
some amazing stuff in them. I went
home and got my bike trailer and
my roommate and we went back
and started climbing into a dumpster.
“I heard a ‘hello,’ and it was
PAGE EDITOR: JENNIFER PELLEY
Sonia (a society member), who was
already in there. It was like the community meeting place,” jokes Tanner.
The scavengers held their first
performance, called “Free for all,”at
the Eye Level Gallery in October.
They toured the city with their
bicycles, scouted out dumpsters
and collected everything from
lamps to coffee percolators from
Halifax’s curbsides — anything
they thought people would take.
They then lined up their finds
along the sidewalk in front of the
gallery for passersby to take what
they wanted.
“People would fill up their arms
with stuff and we wondered
whether it (would) end up in their
basement,” says Hale.
People viewed the performance
as a charity, says Hale — a concept
none of the artists and activists had
previously considered.
“Since then we’ve approached
things a little differently,” says
Hale.
The society’s continuing work is to
provoke thought about the city’s
anti-scavenging law, S-600 section
16, which threatens fines up to
$5,000.
“When it hits the curb it’s the
property of the city,” says Tanner.
But despite the law, the scavengers continue to check out discarded goods, not only because it’s
economical and environmental, but
also because it’s fun.
“I enjoy the activity of roaming
around the city, exploring all these
places that I wouldn’t ever
encounter in my day, where I’m
just going point to point,” says
Hale.
“Re: objects; histories; mythologies” wraps up on Feb. 11 with a
workshop to “repurpose” all the
items left undocumented and
unclaimed.
The orphaned items will be
made into art or given a new use.
In the future, the society hopes
to put the exhibit online so people
can continue to add to the histories
and mythologies of the Khyber
treasures.
But for those interested in scavenging themselves, Hale has some
good advice gleaned from looking
through piles of curbside trash
over the years.
“People throw out lots of things
that they don’t want that are still
useful,” he says, citing the example
of people throwing out a working
appliance to buy a newer item. And
there are two items Hale flags as
especially easily scavenged.
“Don’t buy a toaster or a coffee
maker,” he says.
Look to the curbside first.
[email protected]
PAGE 12
THE COMMONER
ARTS
Urban artist set to paint
By NINA CORFU
I
t takes Scott Tobin five minutes to
bike to the Westin Nova Scotian
from his studio in north-end Halifax. Tobin is sweating when he
arrives at the hotel lounge. He takes
a moment to greet the bartender,
orders a Stella Artois and settles
into one of the hotel’s couches.
Tobin is a clean-cut 33-year-old
with carefully trimmed hair and
one silver earring in each ear. He’s
“I did it for the same
reason anybody does
it. To get your name
up, to get famous in
the subculture, for
the adrenaline, for
fun and to stick it to
The Man.”
SCOTT TOBIN
wearing a brilliant white T-shirt,
baggy jeans and white skate shoes.
He is a tough-looking guy and yet,
there’s something in his face that is
both open and friendly.
He points to the gilded ceiling
above him, where whimsical white
clouds have been painted onto a
deep blue background. “This is my
work,” he says and grins.
The intricate green and purple
graffiti mural one block over also
has Tobin’s name on it.
When it comes to art, there’s not
much that Tobin can’t or won’t do.
His work varies from large, cryptic and colourful aerosol tags on
walls to smaller and more traditional paintings on canvas. Tobin has
been working as a professional
artist in Halifax for the past six
years.
“It’s been a long hard road but
I’m starting to get close to the
$30,000-a-year mark,”Tobin says. In
a few months he’ll be moving to
Toronto, the city of his birth.
Halifax will lose a bit of its
colour when he goes.
A quick walk to Pizza Corner in
downtown Halifax shows just how
pervasive Tobin’s presence is here.
His murals of flowers, animals and
vegetables cover the walls at the
Black Market, Mary Janes Smoke
Shop, the Blowers Street Paper
Chase and Venus Pizza – and he
says he’s itching to do more.
“I want to have the rest of Blowers Street locked down before I go,”
Tobin says. “There are a couple of
holdouts who’ve been dragging
their feet. But I don’t want to let the
dream die.”
It makes sense that Tobin wants
to make his mark on this city before
he goes. This is where he grew up.
He drew his first picture when
he was two years old. He says art
quickly became an obsession.“I had
street LEVEL
Scott Tobin says he tries to make “visual anti-depressants” with his art.
ants in my pants. The only thing
that helped me focus was to have a
paper and pen in my hand.”
When Tobin’s family moved to
Dartmouth, he was just getting
ready to enter junior high.
Question: What issue wasn’t discussed in the election campaign?
Terri Hamblen
Underwriting assistant
Patrick Doubleday
Electrician
Tanysha James
High school student
Rob Silver
Computer programmer
Angie Herman
Accountant
“To have discussed tuition more
because tuitions around here are
just going through the roof,
nobody wants to help the
students.”
“Education is my biggest thing.
I’ve got kids in school. We have
to pay more every year for
school supplies.”
“I’ll say gay marriage.”
“Lots of issues. I think there
was too much mudslinging in
this election. I think every issue
didn't get enough attention.”
“I don't know. I felt that most of
my issues were talked about, so
no.”
PAGE EDITOR: MARA BROTMAN
PAGE 13
THE COMMONER
ARTS
new town
zines into his own sketches.
Tobin continued to draw on
his own throughout high
school. Then, in 1991, he was
invited to paint his first mural
on the wall of a new grocery
store in New Glasgow. “I’d
never done anything other than
draw but my cousin put a plug
in for me. I had no action plan,
no photo and no sketch. I just
got up on the scaffolding and
freestyled a huge oil mural.”
The experience, he says,
made him fall in love with
“going big.”
“I went out, bought spray
paint and started doing graffiti.” For the next decade, Tobin
spent most of his nights painting illegal murals around the
city. “It was an obsession. I did
it for the same reason anybody
does it. To get your name up, to
get famous in the subculture, Scott Tobin says he’s getting close to the $30,000-a-year mark for earnings from his art.
and I try and do a wall or have a show every
for the adrenaline, for fun and to stick it to beautiful and makes people feel better.”
A glance at Tobin’s web site reveals that he chance I get.”
The Man.
He is showing some of his paintings at the
Eventually, business owners and city offi- has been painting a lot of flowers lately. He
cials began hiring Tobin to paint legal murals. says he is done with the illegal stuff and he’s Economy Shoe Shop in Halifax. One of the
In 1995, Tobin enrolled in the fine arts pro- committed to making a living as a legitimate owners of the restaurant, David Henry, says
the show is getting a great response. “People
gram at the Nova Scotia College of Art and artist.
Tobin designs album covers, T-shirts and are saying it’s good stuff. He’s an accomDesign. The school did little to discourage
Tobin’s graffiti-writing. In the summer of 1996 murals, but most of his income in the past plished guy.”
As for Tobin, he says Halifax has been
the school gave him full credit for illegally two years has come from selling paintings.
He says all kinds of people are buying his good to him, but he’s looking forward to the
painting freight trains.
Tobin doesn’t apologize for the illegality of work. “Small business owners; suburbanites; challenge of a bigger city.
“After spending this next year in Toronto,
his art. But, at the same time, he says he designers; people that work in clubs, flower
makes an effort to ensure that his paintings shops, insurance firms … it’s a really eclectic I’ll improve there in one year as much as I
would here in five. There’s nothing like comand diverse group.”
are a benefit to society and not a nuisance.
He doesn’t advertise much but word gets petition to make you better.”
“What I try to do is visual anti-depressants. I just try to make something that’s around.“I just try and be friendly with people
[email protected]
street LEVEL
That was when he began incorporating
the graffiti style he saw in skateboard maga-
Question: What issue wasn’t discussed in the election campaign?
Brian Liekens
Civil engineer
Cailly Sharples
Care coordinator
Jamie Gaudet
Student
Debra Leigh
Student, former CEO
Oliver Maass
Protected areas coordinator
“If you really want to know I
don't believe half of it anyway,
so it doesn't matter how much
you discuss it if it’s not right.”
“Health care. Private funding.”
“Old people. Because
everyone’s getting old so most
of them will want government
support. And also student
tuition.”
“Geez, a lot of stuff. Tuition for
students, for one thing, my
daughter goes to university.
And also poverty issues.”
“I guess my major issue right
now is Kyoto - climate change and environmental issues
generally. ”
PAGE EDITOR: MARA BROTMAN
PAGE 14
THE COMMONER
EDUCATION
Outlook bleak for rural schools
NINA CORFU
By NINA CORFU
T
he principal of River Hebert
District High School will have to
say goodbye to an institution that
has been a part of his family for at
least two generations if a special
committee decides the school
should be closed.
“People have been talking about
what we should do with the River
Hebert schools for a long time,”says
Larry Beardsley, the principal of the
high school.
This time, the Chignecto-Central Regional School Board has set a
deadline for a decision to be made
on whether the River Hebert District High School will close.
Beardsley’s father was the principal of the high school when
Beardsley attended as a teenager. In
1982, the year his father retired,
Beardsley became vice principal.
He eventually went on to act as
principal for 20 years. He will retire
in June – three months after the
final decision on the closing of the
high school is made.
River Hebert, near Amherst in
northwestern Nova Scotia, has been
in decline for decades. The town of
1,200 was built on a coal-mining
economy. When the mine shut
down in 1980, people started to drift
away. Today, a tiny post office, a
combined library and medical centre, a run-down Co-op store, two
schools and a smattering of windworn houses barely cling together
to make a town.
River Hebert District High
School was the first rural high
school built in the province of Nova
Scotia. The original three-story
building was constructed in 1947.
Two additions were made in subsequent years; one in 1955 and one in
1976. Eight years ago, six top-floor
classrooms were closed due to
declining enrolments. Seven regular classrooms and three double
classrooms remain.
The number of students at River
Hebert District High School and the
River Hebert, N.S.— It would cost the school board $3 million to amalgamate the elementary and high schools.
neighbouring River Hebert Elementary School has dropped by one third
since 1993, according to a school
board review published last summer. The student population in River
Hebert is expected to decline from
258 in 2006 to 231 in 2010 – almost
half of what it was in 1993. This year,
no grade in the high school will have
more than 28 students.
Numbers aside, there is still a
chance the high school might not
close says Gary Clarke, one of three
board appointees on the eightmember closure committee. “One
of the options that the committee is
putting forward is the amalgamation of the elementary and high
schools.” This would require renovations estimated at $3 million.
On the other hand, the school
board would save almost $400,000 if
the decision was made to close the
high school and bus students to
Amherst. Grade 7 and 8 students
would be bussed to E.B. Chandler
School in Amherst and students in
grades 9 to 12 would be relocated to
Amherst Regional High School. A
River Hebert-area student living
furthest from Amherst would
spend slightly more than one hour
on the bus each way.
Beardsley says he doesn’t want to
comment on the future of the River
Hebert schools until the closure
committee finishes its report. But he
is clear on what the community
wants. “They want their school
here.”
Beardsley says a lot of people
have been speaking out at community meetings.“They think students
need to have the small rural high
school experience,” he says. “Students feel comfortable here and our
teachers go out of their way to help
them.”
Bearsley says regional exam
scores are a good indicator of the
quality of education at his school.
He says the average mark at River
Hebert District High School on the
last Grade 10 academic math exam
was higher than any other group in
Cumberland County.
“We can’t argue with declining
enrolments,” Beardsley says. “However, when they start talking about
quality of education… sure, we
don’t offer extended French or the
international baccalaureate program, but I think our quality is as
good as anybody else’s,” he says.
Carolyn Wilson, the River
Hebert librarian, says she’s worried
River Hebert kids will be lost in a
new school. “The kids have a name
here. In Amherst they’ll be nothing
but a number,” she says.
Wilson has lived in River Hebert
her entire life. She says she doesn’t
want to see her home turn into a
ghost town. “I’m hoping and praying that the school will stay.”
If the school goes, Beardsley
agrees, the town of River Hebert
may not survive.
“People aren’t going to stay if all
of their kids can’t go to school
here,” Beardsley says. “If parents
have little ones at the elementary
school and older kids in high
school, they’re not going to put their
kids on the bus. They’re going to
move to Amherst,” 27 kilometres
away.
[email protected]
LYDIA BOGERT
Website urges students to stay in N.S.
By LYDIA BOGERT
N
ot everyone is cut out for university. Now young Nova Scotians who want to enter the labour
force and stay in-province have a
new resource to scope out their
options.
The Department of Education
recently updated the Career
Options website, used in junior
high and high schools across the
province to present students with
their post-secondary choices.
Holly Dunn with the Department
of Education says this is an important step, because so many young
people leave Nova Scotia in search
of work elsewhere, believing their
prospects lay farther West.
“Career Options is there to make
students aware of opportunities in
Nova Scotia - and parents alike - so
they don’t default to Ontario,” says
Dunn.
In fact, more people between the
ages of 25 and 34 are leaving the
province than coming in, according
to Halifax’s annual labour market
report from Human Resources
Development Canada.
The website is a recent addition
to the Career Options guidebook,
including labour market outlooks
for 313 occupations in Nova Scotia.
Information on the website
includes job availability and
requirements for positions from
aquaculture operators and funeral
directors to butchers and teaching
assistants.
Don Church, a guidance coun-
sellor at Gorsebrook Junior High
School in Halifax, uses the program
when presenting his Grade 9 students with post-secondary options.
“It seems that everyone is being
geared towards university nowadays,” says Church. “I believe students should look outside of university, too. They need to know there
are different career choices.”
Church says there is an extensive job market in Nova Scotia,
including technical jobs. “If more
people would consider alternative
career paths, more young adults
would stay in province.”
Dunn says it’s important to
begin the career search process
with students as young as 14,
because many students start then to
streamline their school courses to
PAGE EDITOR: HEATHER MACLEAN
meet their post-secondary goals.
In November, the Nova Scotia
Career Options guide was distributed to Grade 9 students provincewide. It contains similar information as the Career Options website.
“The students just grab them,” says
Church.
“With Career Options, students
can explore all sorts of different jobs
and take courses to prepare them for
a job, technical school or university,”
he says.
At Gorsebrook Junior High
School there are students from all
different economic and social backgrounds. “Some young people are
already thinking about financial
needs,” says Church.
“I use Career Options to show
them that they can do something
Guidance counsellor Don Church
peruses the Career Options guide.
interesting to them, stay local and
still make money.”
[email protected]
PAGE 15
THE COMMONER
NEWS
SHANNON LONG
Weather experts
weigh in on
warm winter
By SHANNON LONG
A
tlantic Canada’s January thaw
had a lot of people talking –
while it lasted. Was this the effect of
climate change or a natural stretch
of weird weather? Read on for three
very different perspectives from a
scientist, a Farmer’s Almanac editor
and — why not? — the groundhog.
The Scientist
The old saying “you can’t control
the weather” may be a bit shortsighted. If human activities like
burning fossil fuels are increasing
gases in the atmosphere that affect
the climate, then maybe we really
do control the weather.
Over the last century there has
been an average temperature
increase of around one degree Celsius, says Kyle McKenzie, Atlantic
regional coordinator for the Canadian Climate Impacts and Adaptation Research Network or CCIARN.
“It doesn’t sound like a lot but it
is statistically significant. And you
look at the period of time over
which that average changed — geologically speaking, that is an incredibly short amount of time.”
The primary effects of climate
change are changes in temperature,
precipitation and winds, but
McKenzie says the Atlantic region is
experiencing more of the secondary
effects — more storminess, more
winter storms, more storm surges
and greater coastal erosion. He says
these changes are being driven by
two factors: a rising sea level and
more energy in the atmosphere.
The earth’s climate is largely
determined by the amount of
greenhouse gases present in the
atmosphere.
McKenzie
says
researchers have found a direct correlation between carbon dioxide
levels in the atmosphere and the
earth’s temperature.
He says events such as volcanic
eruptions can change the amount
of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
“That was the greenhouse effect
at work on a very natural scale, but
of course that scale was over a much
larger time frame,” says McKenzie.
“What we’re concerned with now is
with human intervention – we are
driving it at a much faster rate than
it’s ever changed before.”
McKenzie says climate change is
not just about warmer weather. Climate models suggest variability will
increase, so in the future we may
see bigger swings with unusually
warm and cold periods.
“And it’s when we get those
unusual cold spells that people who
don’t know much about the issue
tend to dismiss the whole concept
of climate change. They say ‘well
this is proof that the climate is not
changing,’” McKenzie says.
“Global warming is a problematic term and many people in the
mainstream media can’t quite kick
(it).” McKenzie says we are experiencing climate change, NOT global
warming.
The Farmers’ Almanac
The Farmers’ Almanac, published annually since 1818, has an
Kyle McKenzie, Atlantic regional coordinator for C-CIARN, says Atlantic Canada could see more stormy weather.
uncanny ability to predict longterm weather. It uses a mathematical formula that takes into account
sunspot activity, planetary positions
and the moon’s effect on the earth.
Peter Geiger, editor of the 2006
Canadian Farmers’ Almanac, predicts what he calls a “polar coaster”
winter, with large fluctuations of
warmer and colder weather.
Geiger admits that January’s
warm spell was “an unusual stretch
of weather.” January’s mild weather
has been warmer and longer than
the almanac predicted.
“But we haven’t seen the end of
winter,” Geiger warns. In fact, the
almanac predicts a mild beginning
to winter in Atlantic Canada, but
says the bulk of winter will be
unusually cold with lots of snow.
If the almanac’s calculations do
not consider the effects that gases
in the atmosphere have on temperature, McKenzie says it is reasonable to assume that human activities, which increase gases in the
atmosphere, may change the reliabilities of their predictions.
The almanac has been less
accurate at times when there have
been volcanic eruptions, Geiger
says. He agrees that this is because
eruptions release gases into the
atmosphere, which raise temperatures.
The Groundhog
So our climate is changing and
we can look forward to a cold winter. But don’t dismay — Farmers’
Almanac editor Geiger predicts
that Shubenacadie Sam, Nova Scotia’s famous groundhog, will not
see his shadow on Feb. 2.
The Groundhog Day tradition
began in medieval Europe, where
the day was known as Candlemas
Day - a Christian festival where
candles are lit on the day that falls
halfway between the first day of
winter and the first day of spring.
The old saying goes, “If Candle-
Energy rebate catch-22 for seniors
By LYDIA BOGERT
S
eniors in Nova Scotia can now
apply for rebates from the
province for revamping their old,
inefficient home-energy system.
The province instigated the
Seniors’ EnerGuide program, since
in Nova Scotia there are a lot of old
houses owned by seniors - and with
skyrocketing energy prices and
increasing environmental concerns,
old means bad.
The province is offering rebates
of up to $1,000 for renewing their
energy systems and $150 rebates for
the initial home-energy audit
improvements.
But according to Halifax
Atlantic’s NDP MLA, Michele Raymond, there’s a catch.
“Although this plan will probably benefit the environment, I don’t
“The program misses
the boat a bit for
seniors.”
— TYLER FIELD,
CLEAN NOVA SCOTIA
think it does a lot to keep seniors
warm cheaply.
“Many seniors who may want
newer systems won’t take advantage
of the rebate offerings due to high
property taxes and low incomes,”
Raymond says. “They don’t have
the money to invest from the start.”
Seniors who qualify for the
rebates must be either single with
an income of less than $25,000, or
have a combined family income
below $40,000.
“These are people with fixed
incomes who have very little disposable income. These are people
who budget down to the penny.
Expecting them to invest in an
uncertain enterprise is a pitfall of
this program,” says Raymond.
Clean Nova Scotia is one of
three organizations working in conjunction with the province to help
see this plan through.
Tyler Field, program coordinator
at Clean Nova Scotia, sees some of
the program’s downfalls.
“The program misses the boat a
bit for seniors,” he says.
Field says, many seniors want to
get their homes assessed and make
PAGE EDITOR: AINSLIE MACLELLAN
necessary alterations, but are discouraged by the lack of up-front
financial support.
“Many seniors can’t borrow
money and pay it back,” he says.
“They don’t have access to funds in
general.”
Even if seniors decided to invest,
they might not receive any reimbursement for more than 18 months.
“Some seniors feel a lack of
security,” says Field.
In fact, there is no assurance that
seniors who apply to the EnerGuide program would get a dime
back from the province.
That’s because after the initial
assessment, seniors have up to 18
months to make changes to their
home-energy systems. A followup assessment is then required,
when an organization like Clean
mas be fair and bright, winter has
another flight. If Candlemas brings
clouds and rain, winter will not
come again.” If the groundhog sees
its shadow it must be sunny, so
more winter is predicted and vice
versa.
The Groundhog Day festival in
Wiarton, Ont. attracts 20,000
tourists each year with activities
such a fishfries, hockey tournaments and parades.
Residents of Wiarton insist their
groundhog, Wiarton Willie, is accurate 90 per cent of the time. But a
study of weather data for more than
a dozen Canadian cities over 30 to
40 years shows that groundhog predictions are accurate only 37 per
cent of the time.
Despite
potential
climate
change, a cold winter, and roller
coaster weather, Geiger thinks we
will see an early spring. So no matter who you believe, let’s hope his
prediction is right!
[email protected]
Nova Scotia determines whether
the changes made show significant
energy-saving and environmental
improvements.
If all goes well, a provincial
rebate would follow.
John Muir with the Department
of Energy says the province anticipates upwards of 1,000 seniors to
participate in this program.
“They will save money depending on how much more efficient
their system is,” he says. But he
does admit that someone could
spend a lot of money and not receive
a rebate at all.
According to Field, the most costefficient and effective changes are
adding attic and basement insulation.
Even these changes could cost upwards
of a few thousand dollars.
In a press release, Nova Scotia’s
energy minister, Cecil Clarke, says
this program was implemented to
help reduce harmful greenhouse gas
emissions and give seniors a break.
[email protected]
PAGE 16
THE COMMONER
NEWS
Taking their truth to the Bessies
TERRA DUNCAN
By TERRA DUNCAN
G
areth MacDonald has just finished voting. He’s not a hypocrite. He won’t tell somebody to do
something he isn’t willing to do
himself.
“It’s important to vote,” says the
21-year-old political science and
Canadian studies major at the University of King’s College. “But it’s
even more important to make an
informed vote.”
MacDonald and Paul MacLeod
have been getting a lot of media
attention since they first aired their
30-second election commercials
during The Daily Show with Jon
Stewart. The commercial space,
which costs $40, was purchased by
the student union and awarded to
MacDonald and MacLeod for winning a contest held at the university.
The three commercials – entitled
Healthcare, Iraq and Voting Games
– are designed to encourage young
people to cast ballots by exposing
them to two characters who are
both uninformed and unintelligent.
“At one point, during the commercial Iraq, my character says ‘I
think that when the truth comes
out, Gomery is going to find that
yes, we did go to Iraq,’” says MacDonald. “Which makes absolutely
no sense.”
At the end of the commercial the
words “If you don’t vote, they
decide who wins,” appear at the
bottom of the screen. MacDonald
and MacLeod hope that this will
Gareth MacDonald and Paul MacLeod sit in the Wardroom on election night waiting for the results.
help drive home the idea that, by
not voting, young people are letting
people who are less informed
decide on the fate of their country
for them. They also hope that it will
encourage young people to become
more informed themselves.
Now, the Television Bureau of
Canada has invited MacDonald
and MacLeod to submit one of their
commercials to the Bessies Awards.
The Bessies are an annual celebra-
Intrepid Crossword Part II
Across
1. 48 down’s nemesis.
8. Better known as fish hawks or sea hawks
13. Dwight Eisenhower’s nick
14. Ancient Greek life force
16. West of the pics
17. Shapes; i.e. a piece of wood
19. Boxer Oscar de __ ____
22. Us as subject?
23. Stringed instruments of the ancient
Greeks
24. 48 down used this logical method often
to foil 1 across.
26. Indefinite article for vowel sounds
27. Lake in Northern Italy
Here are the answers to last week’s
intrepid crossword!
28. Passionate
30. Express a view
32. Relating to monkeys
34. Hill-maker?
35. Opposite of all
37. Sub. rescuer
38. Present participle suffixes
39. Goes with: al- and –lo
40. Quench
43. Small drink
45. Rose growing place
47. Find one of these in a church or at a hiphop show
50. Dyslexic Santa saying?
51. Rah!
52. Bodily therapy
53. Wrinkly 80’s movie hero, or a celeb.
news show?
55. Enemy
58. Four-piece Canadian Rock/Pop band
60. Minks and beavers were hunted for
these
61. Yogi’s addicted to these baskets
64. The result of germinating and drying
grains.
65. Euro. Space Agency, in short
66. Thompson of Caroline in the City
67. Usually made of coral
68. Brand of chocolate, or to cuddle
69. Biggest in the family of brass instruments
71. Obtained from worm cocoons
74. Michael Jackson’s 3D adventure
75.
76.
78.
79.
80.
Disposable ball-point brand
Found often on memo headings
German pronoun
Birds; type of heron
Unbeliever, or Bowie album
Thousands of thousand
Alright
Practice again
Heston’s nemeses
MDs assistants
Virtue of the Small
Christmas
Hawaiian Island
Manning of the Colts
M
Balancing the inner ear
As in –saw, and look
Fleiss’ colleagues
Brand of brandy
A Caesar amongst many
In G, for one.
5 down’s bosses
Tim Roth’s colour as a narc
Theater sound abbrev.
A setting for Dickens
US tax agency
She said, “Let it be”
Flip through a book?
Lube
PAGE EDITOR: LYDIA BOGERT
[email protected]
Still think you’re an absolute genius?
By Min Hun Fong
Down
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
15.
18.
20.
21.
24.
25.
29.
31.
33.
36.
41.
42.
tion of the best in Canadian English-language television advertising. If selected, MacDonald and
MacLeod could win a trophy,
national recognition and a place on
Canada’s Bessies Show Reel.
“I was extremely surprised
because I had never heard of the
Bessies,” says MacLeod, a 20-yearold journalism and contemporary
studies student. “We’re really excited and we think it’s going to be a
really good time.”
The Bessies will be held in
Toronto on Apr. 28. The King’s student union hopes to help fund the
trip but MacDonald and MacLeod
are responsible for their own food
and lodging.
“We plan on applying to different societies for funding,”says Dave
Jerome, the external vice president
of the King’s student union and
organizer of the initial election
commercial contest.
“We think it’s great that the
commercials have been so well
received and we want to help
Gareth and Paul as much as we
can.”
When asked if they plan on
making commercials for a living,
both MacLeod and MacDonald say
that they have other things in mind
for the future. MacLeod plans on
submitting a film to the Halifax
Film festival while MacDonald
hopes to pursue a career in sketch
comedy.
“I love making people laugh,”
says MacDonald, “but just so you
know, an uninformed vote is no
laughing matter.”
44.
46.
48.
49.
50.
54.
56.
57.
Tire metric
In the past
Doyle’s hero?
Brazilian currency
The best defense
AC/DC’s tribute to Nobel
Schwarzenegger snoozer
3.14159 + E
Try to solve this!
59. Boorish
61. The common ppls?
62. A game, or fish, or a great date
63. Wooden box, or a junker?
70. Exclamation of frustration
72. Bluff
73. Range (as in, abilities)
77. Thanks, in an English vernacular

halifax commoner - Archived Student Publications from the

Transcription

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