Commoner Nov. 3, 2000

HALIFAX
WEEK OF NOVEMBER 3-9, 2000
COMMONER
FREE
Published by the University of King’s College School of Journalism
Nightmares on Penny Avenue
Fire bombing:
Three days
in a Spryfield
man’s life
By Sarah McGinnis
The Commmoner
The Commoner/SARAH McGINNIS
Winston Grey is thankfull he wasn’t at home when his house was firebombed early Saturday.
Battling Boudreau
in Dartmouth
PAGE 7
What your kid will
want for Christmas
PAGE 11
Winston Gray watches in panic as a ball of fire
comes towards him. Just as it’s about to hit his
house he wakes up, sweating and shaking. He’s
had the nightmare several times in the last few
days, always a fire-bomb hurled at his house. For
the last three nights, he’s been sleeping at a
friend’s. He knows going back to his house will
only make it worse.
*****
It’s Oct. 30, and he’s come back to his Penny
Avenue home in Spryfield. He unlocks the door
and cautiously walks in. Nothing’s changed.
Kitchen and dining room windows are still
smashed. Burn marks scar his hallway walls. The
smell of stale smoke hangs in the air.
“It’s just like the first day,” he mutters as he
walks down the hall.
He wanders from room to room. He thinks of
the peace and security he once felt in his home,
but now has lost.
He stops in front of a mirror blackened with
soot. “I never would have survived the fire if I’d
been here,” he says to himself. “I would have
died from smoke inhalation.”
*****
Twice in the last week someone has firebombed his house. The first time, three devices
landed outside and did little damage. The second
time, early Saturday, Oct. 28, two more were
thrown. This time, they smashed through the
kitchen and dining room windows, lighting fires
inside.
Luckily, Winston Gray wasn’t home that night.
*****
The story begins two days earlier, on Thursday. Winston usually doesn’t get home until late,
but today he climbs his back steps at 6:30 p.m.
He’s about to put his key in the door when he
notices the lock is broken.
Reaching for the handle, his heart quickens.
Please see ‘FIRE BOMBING’ page 2
If Van Gogh
only had a
Web site
PAGE 4
PAGE 2
THE COMMONER
Media promoted stereotyping
of Captain Spry’s land: historian
Residents disagree with ‘bad’ perception
By Jen Powley
The Commoner
Spryfield’s first residents, most of whom were
farming families, were hard-working, churchgoing people, says Iris Shea, a historian with the
Mainland South Heritage Society. “They would
always baptize their children,” she says, “even if
they had to take their horse and buggy to Halifax
to do it. It was like that until new blood was introduced.”
The largest influx of this “new blood” didn’t
arrive in the town, named after military engineer
Captain William Spry, until after the Second
World War.
“It was about this time that Spryfield’s reputation began to suffer,” Mrs. Shea says in an e-mail
interview. “What is strange is that the people of
Spryfield were always proud of their community
and did not see it as a bad place to live.”
The town (it didn’t become part of Halifax
until 1969) got its “bad reputation” largely from
the media and the talk of surrounding communities. “When I speak to people who grew up in
Spryfield during the 1940s and 1950s they have
nothing but good memories of life there,” she
writes.
The deputy managing editor of the Halifax
Herald, Frank de Palma, says his paper covers the
news happening within a community, both good
Fire bombing
Continued from page 1
Inside, the second door is kicked in. Winter
coats are strewn over the hallway. Paintings lie
smashed on his broken bed. Food has been taken
out of the refrigerator and put on the counter.
He’s been robbed.
Winston reaches for the phone and calls the
police. The voice on the other end says it will be
a while before someone comes to his house.
They don’t have a unit to free up he’s told.
He waits.
Anger wells up inside him as he peers at the
mess around him. His anger at being robbed
combines with his impatience at how long it’s
taking for the police to arrive. It seems like it’s
been an hour, maybe two, and they’re still not
here.
Breaking free from the despair of the house
for a moment, Winston goes outside to talk with
his neighbour. As they chat, he notices a steady
flow of people coming and going from an abandoned house one lot over, on Layton Road.
They’re probably buying drugs, he thinks,
eyes fixed on the dilapidated house. Maybe they
know what happened to his place.
He walks up to the abandoned house. “I
know you’re here to buy drugs,” he announces
to the youth-filled house, “but I would like to
know if you know anything about the breakand-entry into my home.”
“Piss off!” they yell. “We’re here to see Honky
— this is his crib.”
“I’m not going to stop until I find out who is
behind the break-in at my home,” he says.
But they tell him nothing.
As he leaves, a stream of teenagers pour out
of the house, half going up the street, the others
and bad, so people can gain a sense of belonging.
“We don’t have anybody on the ‘good news’ beat
in Spryfield, but we don’t have anybody on the
‘bad news’ beat either,” he says. “But the bad
tends to stick in readers’ minds more.”
Sister Joan O’Keefe, co-ordinator of Spryfield’s
Single Parents Centre, says only a small group of
people is involved in the recent incidents. “But
everyone is marked,” she says.
Sister O’Keefe says the problems found in
Spryfield, such as crime and poverty, are problems found in shades everywhere. “They are just
known more here,” she says.
Brian Tally, principal of Rockingstone Heights
elementary school, says what people think about
the community is not necessarily reality. “The
perception of Spryfield is not always correct,”
says Mr. Tally. “There are a lot of good people
here.”
Spryfield resident Marjorie Willison says she
thinks perceptions of her community are changing. Mrs. Willison, who’s lived in the community
for 21 years, said she was talking to two women
at Dalplex the other day. The women were saying
how they didn’t feel safe walking alone at night
in Halifax.
` Mrs. Willison says she piped up and said she
felt safe walking at night in Spryfield. “’Ya,” the
women replied, “but Spryfield isn’t the city, it’s a
community.’”
“I can’t lay down. I can’t run and
I’m not gonna hide.”
WINSTON GRAY,
SPRYFIELD RESIDENT
WHOSE HOUSE WAS FIREBOMBED
going down.
The police show up some time later. They talk
to him, look at his house, and leave.
It’s now 11:30 p.m. The sudden sound of
sirens jars Winston out of his sleep. Crawling off
the couch he grabs a jacket and heads outdoors.
In between a small grove of trees he sees
flames. They’re coming from the abandoned
house. The place where he confronted the
youths.
Winston watches firefighters battle the blaze
for a while before heading back inside.
Sinking back into the couch, he closes his
eyes, hoping tomorrow will come soon.
*****
Thud.
It’s 4:30 am. The noise startles Winston, but
it’s not enough to pull him from his sleep.
THUD.
He’s awake and off the couch. Scanning the
rooms, he comes upon his bedroom and sees
something behind the blinds.
Between the cracks in the blinds he can see
flames.
He calls the police, and again heads outdoors.
Spotting only a few sparks on the ground
next to the wall of his house, he goes back inside
to wait. This time the police come quickly.
As he talks with an officer, Winston’s knees
WEEK OF NOVEMBER 3-9, 2000
THE HALIFAX
COMMONER
Vol. 3
No. 3
The Halifax Commoner
is written and edited in
The Newspaper Workshop at
The School of Journalism
University of King’s College
Halifax, Nova Scotia
B3H 2A1
(902) 422-1271 ext. 153
Fax: (902) 425-8183
Faculty advisers
and instructors:
Michael Cobden
Tim Currie
Michael Creagen
Eugene Meese
Joan Westen
Issue editors:
Jennifer Fox
Jen Powley
Photo and Street Level editors:
Ken MacInnis
Sarah McGinnis
We invite your comments:
[email protected]
are shaking. He catches words like “fire-bomb”
and “attack” from the conversations around
him.
“I think someone might be blaming you for
the fire next door,” he’s told by a uniformed officer.
That’s enough for Winston. He grabs a few
things and heads to a friend’s house. He doesn’t
feel safe here anymore.
*****
“Firebombing …3 Penny Avenue…,” the
radio host announces. It’s Saturday. Winston is
only half awake, but knows whose house the
announcer’s talking about.
Heading out of his friend’s place where he’s
spent the past two nights, all he can think about
is that he has to go and check.
The smell of soot greets him at his house.
Windows are broken in the dining room and
bedroom. Scars on his hallway walls show
where the two fire-bombs landed.
Stuck into the frame of a mirror stained with
soot is a business card. It’s from the police.
They’ve already been here.
*****
A week goes by. Winston hasn’t been to work.
He’s a supervisor for the Halifax Regional
Municipality. He feels he can’t go back until he’s
feeling 100 per cent. After all, he’s the city’s
problem solver.
He hasn’t moved back into the house either.
He won’t until the windows have been reinforced and a security system installed.
But he will move back.
“I can’t lay down. I can’t run and I’m not
gonna hide,” he says.
“They’re doing this to shut me up. But I
won’t.”
*****
Halifax Regional Police are still investigating
the fire-bombings.
PAGE EDITOR: JEN POWLEY
WEEK OF NOVEMBER 3-9, 2000
THE COMMONER
PAGE 3
Senior drivers support refresher course
By Sarah McGinnis
The Commoner
Thinking back on her driving test at
a small service station 50 years ago,
Irene Boutilier is amazed she ever
got her licence.
After answering 10 questions
about the rules of the road, Mrs.
Boutilier remembers her evaluator
handing her the guidebook and
leaving the room.
“He said, ‘Here, study it because
you didn’t get one of them right,’”
she says. Mrs. Boutilier says she
then memorised the answers to the
questions he’d asked, giving the
correct responses when he returned.
She then passed the road test and
got her licence.
“I should never have gotten my
licence,” she says.
Thousands of drivers over 65
years old, like Mrs. Boutilier,
learned to drive in a different era.
Now, the provincial government is
encouraging them to take a refresher course so they can learn about
new rules, such as changes in signage, and how to compensate for
the problems of reduced vision and
slower reflexes.
Discount for seniors
Last Monday, the Hamm government proposed a program that
would cut driving registration costs
in half for seniors who complete a
refresher—driving course.
Nancy MacLellan, of Service
Nova Scotia, says the program was
proposed at a meeting two weeks
ago and is preliminary. She says
the agency still has to determine if
the discount will be for vehicle registration fees, a possible savings of
$57 every two years, or will also
include drivers’ licences.
Mrs. MacLellan adds that this
proposal is not meant to target senior drivers, but to better service the
aging population by responding to
their needs.
Mrs. Boutilier says she likes the
idea of a refresher—driving course.
“The point the government is
saying to people is, know when to
hang up the keys,” she says.
Loss of independance
The veteran driver, who says she’ll
admit to being 70, depends on her
car for shopping, volunteering and
visiting her daughter. She says it
would be devastating to no longer
be able to drive.
“It’s a big shock to the system
when you used to be able to drive
any place you wanted to,” she says.
“Now you have to rely on public
transportation or someone else to
drive you around.”
Pat MacLellan, also a mature
driver, says this fear of losing their
independence is probably one reason why seniors continue driving
for as long as they can.
Once they give up the wheel, she
says, they’re dependant on others.
PAGE EDITOR: KEN MACINNIS
The Commoner/SARAH MCGINNIS
“The point the government is saying is, know when to hang up the keys,” says Irene Boutilier.
Ms. MacLellan also likes the idea
of a driving refresher course, as long
as it’s not mandatory.
“We’re not the only ones who get
into accidents,” she says.
That attitude is backed up by a
recent Ontario government study
cited by Statistics Canada. It says
that based on the number of kilometres driven, older drivers get into
approximately the same number of
accidents as their 16- to 24-year-old
counterparts.
Statistics from the Nova Scotia
Department of Transportation and
Public Works seem to confirm this.
In 1998 the 25- to 34-year-olds
caused 4,757 accidents compared
with the 1,954 by their elderly
counterparts. These numbers do
not necessarily confirm that seniors are better drivers, however,
because there is no indication of
how many drivers are included in
each age grouping.
Joan Lays, president of the Canadian Pensioners N.S., says too often
seniors accept the blame for accidents.
“Every time a senior driver is
involved in an accident they automatically assume they were at
fault, when often it was due to
another driver’s stupidity,” Mrs.
Lays says.
She adds that many seniors
avoid driving at night and sometimes stay off the highway because
they are aware of their own limitations as drivers.
Irene Boutilier is one of those
drivers aware of her own limitations. She’s taken the defensive program, 55 Alive, three times in an
effort to improve her driving skills.
She adds that it’s not just those
over 65 who should brush up on
their driving skills.
“Everybody’s an aging driver
from the time they get their licence,”
she says.
“If you’re 18 or 19, 69 or 79,
you’re still aging.”
There will be a free driving workshop November 10 at St. Agnes
church from 1-4 p.m. Drivers of all
ages are welcome to attend.
55 Alive tries to keep seniors rolling
Driving schools say you should be
able to count two seconds between
the time the car ahead of you passes a
street sign or some other marker and
the time your car passes it. If you
can’t, you’re tailgating.
Matthew Todd, who teaches a
refresher course called 55 Alive, says
two seconds may not be long for seniors. Their reaction time can be so
much slower, he says, that they may
need to be four seconds behind the
car in front of them.
Another area Mr. Todd covers in
his course, which is run by the Nova
Scotia Safety council, is how medications can affect driving.
“Many seniors may be on medications,” he says. “We remind them that
medication of all sorts, antihistamines and over—the—counter stuff,
can cause drowsiness.”
Mr. Todd says he hopes the government’s latest push for driver
retraining through financial incentives will cause more elderly drivers
to sign up for his program.
While many drivers feel they
could benefit from 55 Alive, for some
seniors the cost of $40 per student
can be an obstacle.
“It’s a very good program,”
mature driver Pat MacLellan says.
“If it weren’t for the price I’d
take it again.”
Mr. Todd says cost isn’t the only
reason seniors aren’t flocking to his
course. He says many are reluctant to
attend because they are afraid their
licences will be taken away.
“Our objective is to keep mature
drivers driving as long as possible,
not take them off the road,” he says.
“We do not have the power or the
right to [take away their licence.]”
Above all Mr. Todd points out that
age doesn’t always mean someone
shouldn’t be driving.
“Even if someone’s 90 years old,
they could still be a good enough
defensive driver.”
PAGE 4
THE COMMONER
WEEK OF NOVEMBER 3-9, 2000
streetLEVEL
What’s the
biggest issue
in the federal
election?
Dennis Zylla
Spryfield
Retired trucker
“They’re destroying
health care by
taking away beds
and nurses.”
The Commoner/AMANDA CLEARY
Richard Rudnicki is a strong supporter of art on the Internet. With his journal entries posted, his Web site offers more than just viewing art.
Degas on your desktop
By Jen Powley
Faye Leights
North end Halifax
Housekeeper
“Child care,
because the
younger generation
all have to work.”
Paul Heckbert
West end Halifax
Bus operator
“Health care,
because it has
diminished so
much.”
Josh Murray
Dartmouth
Keyin College
student
“Funding for
education.”
The Commoner
On an obscure site, somewhere in the
Web’s world of interface and ethernet,
appear images of Lawrencetown artist
Richard Rudnicki’s paintings and drawings.
The site opens to a pastel self-portrait
of the 50-year-old artist, awash in blues
and pinks. Under the portrait is a brief
insight into what motivates Mr. Rudnicki’s art. “With my oil pastel portraits I’m
trying to find and show traits of the superior beings inside of us,” it reads.
Mr. Rudnicki, who set up his Web site
(www3.ns.sympatico.ca/rudnicki) this
summer, says it allows him to document
his work. “It’s like having a mini-show all
the time,” he says.
The former graphic designer is
among the growing number of artists
using the Internet as a forum for their
work — and not simply to increase the
chance of selling their wares. A number
of local artists see it as a way to communicate with a global audience. Other
members of the fine arts are less enthusiastic, wondering about the safety of their
ideas and whether the sites really do
impact sales.
Mr. Rudnicki says Web sites can provide insight into the mind of the artist and
the creative process. He says one of the
things he does on his site is post entries
from the daily journal he keeps. Visitors
are given the chance to see the context out
of which a finished piece came.
“When I go to an exhibit,” says Mr.
Rudnicki, “I’m almost more interested in
the sketches that came before the painting
than in the painting itself.” He continues,
saying that through the sketches you can
trace the development of an idea and
more closely understand the artist’s
vision.
Mr. Rudnicki would like to offer visitors to his site the same kind of insights.
The Commoner/AMANDA CLEARY
Jude Caborn doesn’t show her work on the Internet. Instead, she displays it in her home.
He describes this as “completing the communication loop.”
The Internet site also provides the
opportunity for comments and feedback
from other artists and the public, says Mr.
Rudnicki. Having a forum to exchange
ideas is important to him — the lack of
feedback, that is traditionally part of the
art world, is one of the reasons he left the
world of art in his mid-20s. He turned to
graphic design because it provided immediate response. He returned to painting
and drawing 25 years later because he had
become removed from the creative
process in his work and wanted to return
to it.
Forty-six-year-old Grand Desert resident Joe Purcell says he’s always been an
artist. On the site where his work is listed
(which is being reconstructed), appear 10
etchings he did in 1981. The etchings are
presented almost like they are illustrations for a story he wrote specifically for
the etchings’ online presentation, entitled
“Dreams of a Shaman.” The Web site
allows him to show them in that form.
Both artists say communicating their
impressions of the world, as portrayed in
their work is one of the reasons they went
online.
“Sharing your vision is why you’re an
artist,” says Mr. Purcell. “Now you can do
it around the world.”
Peter Dykhuis, director of the Anna
Leonowens Gallery at NSCAD, and a
painter himself, echoes this sentiment.
“Ideas need to be in circulation,” he says.
Please See ARTISTS Page 5
PAGE EDITOR: JEFF SUNDERLAND
WEEK OF NOVEMBER 3-9, 2000
THE COMMONER
PAGE 5
New Ross ready for liquor
By Amanda Cleary
The Commoner
New Ross residents are happy with last
week’s announcement that they will be
getting a privately-operated liquor store
within a year. They say it will be more
convenient for them and hope it will put
an end to bootlegging.
“I’ve already received calls from people asking how to put in a proposal and
from people seeking employment,” says
Councillor-elect Bea Larder.
She says people were concerned the
new store might be located in a vacant
building across from a local school, but
she says that is no longer a concern
because the guidelines for the new outlet
say it should be located within an alreadyexisting business. She hasn’t heard any
negative comments since. She says she
thinks a privately-operated liquor store
would benefit the New Ross community
by employing more people and making
liquor more accessible to consumers. The
only location she sees possible for the
store to go would be the Needs convenience store, the only convenience store in
New Ross.
Bruce Rogers, executive director of
retail services for the Nova Scotia Liquor
Commission, says New Ross will be getting a store, but the criteria haven’t yet
been established. He says there will be a
call for proposals early in the new year.
Prices will be regulated to match the
“If they’re gonna buy it, they’re
gonna buy it somewhere. We’ve
got lots of bootleggers around
here.”
—ELAINE RUSSELL, NEW ROSS RESIDENT AND CO-OWNER OF RUSSELL’S
SERVICE STATION
NSLC prices, but the owner will be given
a discount in order to help with operating
costs. Mr. Rogers says the location, the
amount of traffic and the experience of the
owner will be taken into consideration. He
says it could be a corner store, a gas station, or even a hardware store.
“We will just simply be calling for proposals and see what we get,” Mr. Rogers
says.
Elaine Russell, co-owner of Russell’s
Service Station in New Ross, didn’t realize she might be eligible to operate the
new store. She says she wouldn’t be
interested in submitting a proposal
because they don’t have the space that
would be needed. But she doesn’t see a
problem with liquor being sold out of
service stations or any of the other suggested outlets.
“If [people] want a bottle I don’t see
why they shouldn’t just be able to pick
one up,” she says. “If they’re gonna buy it,
they’re gonna buy it somewhere. We’ve
got lots of bootleggers around here.”
Donald Walker, New Ross Royal Canadian Legion Branch 79 president, says the
new store will be more convenient for the
legion. In order to serve liquor to its members, it has to hire someone to drive to the
closest liquor store, which is in Chester,
about a 25-minute drive away.
“It’s definitely a big inconvenience to
drive that distance and to find someone
that day to go out there with a half-ton
truck,” Mr. Walker says.
Mr. Walker also says that he hopes a
liquor store in New Ross will stop bootleggers.
“We do have bootleggers here,” he
says. “Maybe having our own liquor store
here would put them out of business.
Then it wouldn’t be as easy for teenagers
to get alcohol, which I think would be a
good thing.”
Mrs. Larder isn’t convinced that the
new liquor store will stop bootlegging.
She says the new store will be more convenient for tourists and licensed restaurants, but people will still buy alcohol illegally.
“Having access to a legal liquor outlet
should eliminate some [bootlegging], but I
don’t think it’ll wipe it out,” she says.
“From what I hear, they provide 24-hour
service, seven days a week and they deliver the beer cold.”
Artists disagree on value of Internet
Continued from page 4
The Internet is another way to present
images of original artwork, he says. “It’s
like a glossy magazine spread or slides.”
It allows access to what might otherwise
be inaccessible.
The Internet, says Mr. Dykhuis, is a
great promotional tool — but for non-digital art forms, such as painting, sculpture,
and drawing, the screen will never
replace the original. “Real is always best,”
he says. He points to the translucent layers of wax-based paint he uses in his own
work as an example. Images appearing on
a computer screen do not have the depth
or texture of the originals.
Not all artists have jumped at the
chance of putting their art online. Though
Musquodoboit Harbour artist Jude
Caborn (married name Skaling) has had
offers to join Web listings, she hasn’t. Her
lack of computer knowledge, and a lack
of time to gain it, influenced her decision.
She says the issues of safety and value
have also stopped her.
Hanging her work in her family’s bed
and breakfast provides permanent gallery
space for Mrs. Caborn’s work. “It’s prime
showing,” It’s easier to grasp the size and
feeling of the piece in person.
Mrs. Caborn says she is worried her art
could be reproduced without her consent
or knowledge. Unlike Dykhuis’s wax
based paintings which depend heavily on
depth and texture, Mrs. Caborn works in
water-based media, which can be more
PAGE EDITOR: JEFF SUNDERLAND
Submitted by Highway 7
Joe Purcell is online at www.highway7.com
easily reproduced. With today’s scanners
and high-end printers, people can download images, copy them onto watercolour
paper, and pass them off as prints or even
as originals. “Anyone has access to it,”
she says. “How would I know if someone
in England was selling copies of my
work?”
She says if she had evidence that going
online would increase her sales, she’d
consider paying someone to design a site
for her. But she hasn’t been convinced
that Internet galleries increase sales.
Xportfolio Internet gallery founder
Susan MacAlpine Foshay says she has
sold 10 pieces of art through her Web site.
The site(www.xportfolio.ns.ca), featuring
10 Nova Scotian artists, functions similarly to a gallery, says Ms. Foshey. For each
piece she sells, she takes the standard
gallery rate of 50 per cent. Her sales rate is
not as high as she would like, but she says
she hasn’t given enough time to promoting the site.
Ms. Foshay has sold artwork to
individuals who have never laid eyes on
the original piece they are buying. If
clients are interested in a piece she sends
slides to them, so they can see the work in
another form“I am amazed people will
buy without having seen it in person,”
she says. “But they do.”
Ms. Foshay opened a physical gallery
in Halifax three months ago to be able to
speak to local clients. But Mr. Dykhuis
says the Halifax market is saturated with
art. He says there aren’t enough dollars
spent on art in the community to support
the number of artists.
“If you are going to live in [Halifax]
you’ve got to make money on the road,”
he says. “If the Tragically Hip had never
left Kingston, would anybody have ever
heard of them?”
But both Mr. Rudnicki and Mr. Purcell
say financial gain is not the reason why
they have sites. “I don’t measure success
that way,” says Purcell, who supplements
his art with a salary from teaching at a
nearby high school. “If I did I would be a
politician or a pimp.”
“I want my work to be all over the
world.”
streetLEVEL
What’s the
biggest issue
in the federal
election?
Petronella
Vanderpol
South End Halifax
Retired stay at
home mom
“The seniors’ issues:
pharmacare.”
Blake Housser
Armdale
Small business
owner
“The debt. I pay a
lot of taxes to pay
the interest.”
Cyril Cassidy
South End Halifax
YMCA janitor
“Jobs, because too
many young people
are on welfare
today.”
Jennifer Weagle
Sackville
Paralegal
“I think health care
is the biggest issue
right now.”
PAGE 6
THE FEDERAL ELECTION
Fun facts
from party
platforms
15,891: Number of words in
the Progressive Conservative
platform
126: Number of times the
word ‘new’ appears in the
Liberal platform
115: Number of times the
words ‘tax,’ ‘taxes,’ ‘taxation’
WEEK 0F NOVEMBER 3-9, 2000
or ‘taxpayer’ appear in the
Alliance platform
35: Number of dollar signs in
the Liberal platform
11: Page number when Conservatives first discusses
health care in detail
10: Number of pictures of
Stockwell Day in the
Alliance platform
4: Page number when NDP
first discusses health care in
detail
3: Page number where typo
appears in NDP platform
(We wnat a new approach…)
They want to be your MP
Halifax
West
Dartmouth
Halifax
Hilda Stevens
Past president of
Canadian Union
of Public
Employees
Geoff Regan
Amery Boyer
MP of Halifax
West (93-97),
advisor to federal
cabinet minister
Owner of a human
resources management
company
Jordi Morgan
Former CBC-TV host
and C-100FM host and
producer
Kevin Little
Gordon Earle
Incumbent,
former provincial
deputy minister
of housing and
consumer affairs
United Church minister,
Chronicle-Herald columnist
Alexa McDonough
Incumbent, leader of federal
NDP since 1995
Bernie Boudreau
Appointed to the Senate in
1999, former MLA and
provincial cabinet minister
Wendy Lill
Incumbent, playwright
Paul Fitzgibbons
Charles Cirtwill
Policy analyst at
Halifax Chamber
of Commerce
Former manager of printer
Web Atlantic
Tom McInnis
Lawyer, former provincial
cabinet minister
PAGE EDITOR: JENNIFER FOX
WEEK OF NOVEMBER 3-9, 2000
THE FEDERAL ELECTION
PAGE 7
Showdown in Dartmouth
Bernie Boudreau wants to
steal Wendy Lill’s thunder
but the incumbent is ready
to weather the storm
By Ian Merringer
The Commoner
A challenge has been issued for Wendy Lill’s job.
Two political veterans are running against the
writer-turned-politician.
“I love it,” the New Democrat incumbent says.
“I’m a playwright: it’s very dramatic.”
Pundits across the country have been watching
Dartmouth riding ever since Bernie Boudreau
resigned his Senate seat and parachuted into the
race. But Ms. Lill is gearing up to prove that Alexa
McDonough was right when she said Mr.
Boudreau was going to get his “ass kicked.”
Ms. Lill is
working 10 or more
hours every day to
make that a reality.
“I’m canvassing morning, afternoon and
evening. And when
I’m not canvassing,
I’m on the phone,”
she says between
knocking on doors in
the Alderney Manor
retirement home.
Helen Fleet runs
down the hall to greet
Ms. Lill. “I’ve been an
NDPer since before
The Commoner/IAN MERRINGER David Lewis,” she
says.
Bernie Boudreau: “I intend
Bill Nickerson says
to work in Dartmouth.”
he’ll be wearing
orange on election
day. “I wouldn’t vote for Bernie Boudreau,” he
says. “The Liberals and Tories will do anything to
get your vote.”
Though Ms. Lill is the incumbent, her opponents have a more storied political history.
Tom McInnis, the Tory candidate, also boasts an
accomplished political past. He was a provincial
cabinet minister for 15 years in the 1980s and
1990s.
Judging from a copying of Chatelaine dated
1986 lying on the lounge table, Alderney Manor
residents know Mr. Boudreau’s and Mr. McInnis’s
past as MLAs.
The first chapter of Mr. Boudreau’s political
career ended in 1997. He started practising law
again after losing the leadership of the provincial
Liberals to Russell MacLellan, despite being
regarded as Savage’s most able minister. In 1999 he
was appointed to the Senate. He stayed there for
just over a year before resigning in early October
and announcing his challenge for Ms. Lill’s seat.
His political credentials include a stint as
provincial MLA from 1988 to 1997. He was minister of health and finance. Both Brian Tobin and
Jean Chretien have made appearances in Dartmouth in the last few weeks to lend their support.
Jordi Morgan, a former CBC-TV host, is running for the Alliance.
Ms. Lill is invigorated by facing two established
politicians from the ranks of theNDP’s traditional
foes. “What we have in Bernie Boudreau and Tom
McInnis is old-boy politics and I would love to be
the person who puts that to rest.”
She says her constituents feel insulted by the
PAGE EDITOR: JENNIFER FOX
The Commoner/IAN MERRINGER
Wendy Lill (left) and NDP-supporter Helen Fleet. Ms. Lill was campaigning at Alderney Manor retirement home
political manoeuvres that brought Mr. Boudreau
to Dartmouth. “As soon as the rumours started we
started getting calls.”
As Ms. Lill knocks on doors at Alderney Manor,
Mr. McInnis campaigns in the lobby. He points out
that Mr. Boudreau lives in Halifax West, across the
harbour from the district where he is running.
“Can you imagine me, a resident of Dartmouth,
going to run in Clayton Park?” he asks. “I mean,
really.”
In response, Mr. Boudreau reminds critics that
Alexa McDonough didn’t live in her riding when
she was provincial NDP leader.
He also says he and his family would consider
relocating if he wins the seat, but adds: “The
important thing is not necessarily where you sleep,
but where you work. And I intend to work in Dartmouth.”
He’s standing at Dartmouth General Hospital
in front of a 24-year-old X-ray machine to publicize
the Liberal promise to spend more than a billion
dollars to upgrade health-care equipment across
the country.
While he speaks to patients, Ms. Lill drops by to
criticize the Liberal plan for health care. She says it
offers no new money to the country’s beleaguered
hospitals.
“It’s important to show that the announcement
is made of straw,”she says when asked why she’s
crashed the press conference. “It’s heartbreaking to
know that right here in Dartmouth we have a hospital that has been turned into a glorified clinic,”
She says voters will remember Mr. Boudreau’s role
as a member of the government that introduced
amalgamation, casinos and HST. “He doesn’t just
have baggage,” she says, “He has freight.”
Mr. Bourdreau defended his candidacy, saying
the voters of Dartmouth will appreciate the influence he can bring to a federal cabinet. Chretein
recently appointed him as Nova Scotia’s representative in the cabinet. “I’m presently a cabinet minister. I intend to continue to be one. I will use every
bit of access that I have to influence cases,” he says.
But Ms. Lill questions the role he plays. “Since
Bernie Boudreau has been in cabinet we have seen
a decision come from the cabinet table which
awarded a ferry contract to a Norwegian company.
We have a ship-building industry here that is suffering.”
For Mr. Boudreau the central question of the
election is, “What kind of government do you
want?”
“There are only two choices,” he says “and
Wendy Lill’s party isn’t one of them.”
For Ms. Lill it’s simpler:
“I live here. I know people.”
PAGE 8
streetLEVEL
What’s the
biggest issue
in the federal
election?
THE COMMONER
WEEK OF NOVEMBER 3-9, 2000
Dancing
for the love
of ‘sport’
By Krista Hall
The Commoner
Susan Moulton
Clayton Park
Home support
worker
“Jobs and job
security.”
Eric Smith
Dartmouth
Bus load counter
“Taxes. Even in poor
countries they don’t
have to pay.”
Jane Edgett has heard plenty of people scoff
at the term professional ballroom dancing.
“It’s a profession,” says Ms. Edgett. “The
public doesn’t treat it that way because
they’re not educated to know the kind of
training we go through.”
Ms. Edgett, president of DanceSport
Canada, was nominated for the 2000
Women of Excellence award for her 30 years
of coaching, judging and advocating for
ballroom dancing. She has also heard
doubts about its validity as a sport. But she
is the first to insist that it’s as intensive and
difficult as other sports seen in the
Olympics or on television. Her motive for
promoting the sport is to tell the public, and
sponsors, that ballroom dancing takes as
much dedication as any other sport.
“I’m the champion of my country, but
not a lot of people know it,” says Elizabeth
Zukow, a former student and now a colleague of Ms. Edgett. “In the dance world,
it’s a great thing but it’s not like I got a letter
of thanks from the prime minister.”
Ms. Zukow works at Ms. Edgett’s dance
studio in Halifax. She has won international awards in DanceSport, the name used for
competitive ballroom dancing. She says
people are amazed that she can make a living from ballroom dancing.
“People always ask, ‘Oh, you can make a
living doing that?’” says Ms. Zukow.
Ms. Edgett and Ms. Zukow may not
make millions like some other professional
The Commoner/KEN MACINNIS
Elizabeth Zukow and Jane Edgett are seeing their sport of ballroom dancing gain recognition.
coaches and athletes, but both women have
dedicated their lives to ballroom dancing.
Ms. Edgett has been a dancer her whole
life. She grew up in a family of five girls
whose mother ran a dance studio in Moncton, N.B. The girls would help mom run her
business every day after school.
Ms. Edgett spent her early years learning ballet and folk dancing. When she was
18, she travelled to Halifax to audition for
the Buchta dance troupe. She made the cut,
and for the next 10 years she performed and
travelled around Canada with the dance
troupe, appearing on the Don Messer
Jubilee show on CBC.
“It was a wonderful experience,” says
Ms. Edgett. “I think I saw every nook and
cranny of Canada.”
Through the years she has seen attitudes toward dancing changing. In 1997,
the International DanceSport Federation
(IDSF) was recognized as a full member of
the International Olympic Committee
(IOC). This doesn’t mean, however, that
ballroom dancers can compete at the
Olympics yet. The goal of the IDSF is to
make DanceSport part of the 2008 Olympics.
Up until the IOC recognition, Dance
Sport was considered an art. Because of this,
Selling the Seize
Joe Dunn
Herring Cove
Personal banker
“Health care.
Because of
cutbacks, it’s at its
lowest point.”
Ms. Edgett says it was impossible to get
sponsors to help with the costs of travelling,
costumes, training and coaching.
For example, she says the champion of
the most prestigious professional ballroom
dancing championship receives only $45 in
prize money.
But Ms. Edgett sees some good in the
lack of support. “It’s probably a good thing
within our profession that we grew up
poor,” she says. “We’re in it for the right reasons which makes us strive for that perfection. We’ve learned a lot by not having that
money stimulation.”
Part of what she has learned is how to
work hard. In any one day, Ms. Edgett
trains up to eight couples. It’s tiring work,
she says, but she’s chosen this career for
many reasons. She says she loves to travel
and to watch people become aware of their
bodies and their artistic side. But, most of
all, she loves to dance.
She says the best part of being nominated for the Women of Excellence awards was
reading the letters of recommendation from
her colleagues.
“To me that’s really precious,” she says.
“It doesn’t matter to me if I get the award
or not, because that’s an award of its own.”
The Seabreeze 1 is for sale.
It could be yours for a dime.
By Jeff Sunderland
Once your bid has been selected, you
will pay the Sheriff 10 per cent of the
agreed price, 10 cents on your dollar. You
then have the next seven days to come
This past August, the Seabreeze 1 cruiseup with the other 90 cents.
ship was seized by creditors in Halifax
So, what’s this ship that you’ve
and its passengers were stranded. They
bought really like? Built in Genoa, Spain
were sent home but the Seabreeze 1
in 1958, the old girl has seen her share of
remains in the harbour, adjacent to the
the seas, and is still going strong. At
CN railway yard.
19,047 tonnes, she’s not a small gal.
The Federal Court of Canada has
Looking to hold a party? Eight floors
ordered the sale of the ship by private
The Commoner/KEN M INNIS that will hold 1,500 people would allow
treaty, which means through the courts.
for quite a bash. The ship has all you’ll
Gibson Marine Consultants Ltd. of Mon- The Seabreeze 1 is stranded in Halifax harbour.
treal and Jacq. Pierot Jr. and Sons Inc. of New York are in charge need for a high-rolling night offshore of the town. Start at the Bacchanalia restaurant. After dinner your choices abound. For a
of the sale of the ship.
Will Moreira is the lawyer for the New York group. Although quiet romantic night there’s the Intermezzo Theatre. Looking to
he was unable to say much, because the matter is before the have a few drinks? The Seabreeze 1 is like a floating Liquor
courts, he did say the total of the creditor claims is “probably Dome. First swing by the Prelude Bar then on to the Serenade
more than she will sell for — but that’s not unusual in cases like Bar. For something a little quieter, check out the Fireworks
Lounge or the Carmen Lounge.
this.”
To finish off the night you have the choice of the Agitator
If you’re out there and wondering what the first step is if you
want to buy the Seabreeze 1, here you go. First, contact either of Disco or the Surprise Casino. Throw in air conditioning and two
the firms with your bid. The appraiser has not assessed the ship swimming pools and you could have the biggest travelling party
yet, so one dollar should put you in the running. Next, you have since Lollapalooza.
If you are interested in purchasing the Seabreeze 1, you can
to negotiate a deposit with the firm. Once that is settled sit back
until Nov. 30, or thereabouts. At that time both firms are to go contact Gibson Marine Consultants in Montreal (514-933-7371,
before the court with the offers they have received to pick the best [email protected]) or Jacq. Pierot Jr. and Sons in New York (212344-3840, [email protected]).
one.
The Commoner
AC
Roger Briand
Spryfield
Unemployed
“Family benefits,
because they’re
trying to get rid of
it.”
PAGE EDITOR: IAN MERRINGER
WEEK OF NOVEMBER 3-9, 2000
THE COMMONER
PAGE 9
‘I don’t need to fight,’ boy learns
Halifax Regional Police’s ‘Project Turn Around’ aims to help high-risk kids
By Lynn Devereaux
The Commoner
The day Pero Laframbois called Bruce
Mosher, co-ordinator of the Halifax
Regional Police youth program, telling
him about an “A” he received at school
was the day Mr. Mosher was sure the
program was working.
“This boy is one who, if things had
not changed a couple of years ago, might
have been in Waterville [correctional
centre] today. Now he wants to be a
police officer.”
Pero, 14, says that before the police
youth program he never knew where he
belonged in “the square,” which is what
he calls his Gottingen Street neighbourhood. “I wasn’t a leader and I wasn’t a
follower. I’m just Pero, and I just want to
live my life without having to fight.”
The Halifax police youth program
helped him learn to deal with his anger,
he says. “I tell kids now that I don’t need
to show my anger. I don’t need to fight,
because I know there are laws that are
there to serve and protect me.”
He says a few years ago, he didn’t
know how to control his temper. He
reacts to situations differently now. He is
in control, he says. And that is a big thing
for Pero because many bad things that
happened to him were out of his control.
He says he was abused physically,
mentally and verbally by family members and by an “upstanding community
member.” This left him feeling worthless,
with very little self-esteem. “I felt angry,”
he says, “but the project got me interested in school — before, I was ready to
quit.”
‘A sense of dignity’
Pero’s mom, Sharon Laframbois, says
the program was the best thing that happened to him. “I think Project Turn
Around has been a blessing,” she says.
The youth program also helped him
get a summer job, which gave him something to be proud about, his mom says.
“He took his money and he would buy
me a flower, or pizza for supper,” she
says. “It gave him a sense of pride, a
sense of dignity.”
Pero and his mother credit the youth
program with changing his life. As
recently as yesterday he was offered
crack cocaine, Pero says. But he says the
program has given him the confidence to
say no. His mother also says the drug
dealers in their complex know he’s
involved with the police and they generally leave him alone.
Mr. Mosher says the youth program
targets high-risk kids. It approaches
them in two ways. First, it involves them
with police officers and introduces the
different roles in the department. For
example, one night a canine officer might
come in and the next night it might be
someone form the GIS department
(crime section). “The whole idea is to get
kids interested in policing as a profession,” he says.
The second thing this program
attempts to do, Mr. Mosher says, is to
explain the job of the police to the kids
who might only see them in a negative
PAGE EDITOR: AMANDA CLEARY
streetLEVEL
What’s the
biggest issue
in the federal
election?
Dave Ferguson
Fernwood
Navigator
“Health care. You
can see where the
holes are.The cuts
affect lives.”
The Commoner/LYNN DEVEREAUX
Pero Laframbois, 14, and his mother, Sharon, at their Uniacke Square home.
light. Many high-risk kids only see the
police in negative situations, Mr. Mosher
says.
“Kids say to the officer, ‘Hey, you’re
the guy that arrested my dad.’” Now
they get to see this same police officer in
a positive setting, he says, and that might
make all the difference in the world to
how these kids end up.
Ms. Laframbois says the project doesn’t work for everyone. “Some kids
around here are so used to seeing a
vicious cycle of life, that they can’t
understand when a police officer says,
‘Hey, I’m here for you’ — it’s a foreign
language to them,” she says.
Mr. Mosher says he can understand
where these kids are coming from. “I
grew up in the inner city. I grew up in
that square. I lived right here. I fought
my way to and from school,” he says.
Both Mr. Mosher and Ms. Laframbois
agree, though, that this project builds
confidence. “It lets them see there is
more to life than hanging out on the corner,” Mr. Mosher says.
Pero’s mom says the project has
changed his whole attitude towards life.
“A lot of adults have complimented me
on his behaviour. Lots of people — they
respect him,” and in turn, she says, he
shows other people love and respect.
When people tell her they wish the
change in him would rub off on some of
the other neighbourhood kids, she says
she knows Pero is on the right track.
“And that makes me feel good as a parent,” she says, and she smiles at her son.
Hold the
water,
please
Yvonne Epp
keeps her coffee
dry as she walks
down Queen
Street Thursday
morning. Metro
hasn’t seen the
sun since last
Friday and the
forecasts call for
more of the
same for days to
come.
The Commoner/KEN MACINNIS
Alexander Kholopov
Halifax
Retired professor
“The reduction of
the Canadian dollar.
Canada is for sale.”
Tarek Abouamin
Armdale
Photographer
“Do not vote
Alliance. It’s the end
of multiculturalism.”
Sherry Fiander
Spryfield
Unemployed
“Health care. You
can’t get to see a
doctor when you
need to.”
PAGE 10
THE COMMONER
WEEK OF NOVEMBER 3-9, 2000
Kids act out violence
Police recruit high
school actors to
teach teens about
dating violence
By Amanda Cleary
No more
listening,
police tell
media
The Commoner
By Lynn Devereaux
One in four junior high students
are abused by their boyfriends or
girlfriends, Const. Ian Burke tells a
room full of junior high students in
Clayton Park. He’s here with a
group of St. Patrick High School
students who are performing plays
at local schools as part of the Halifax Regional Police’s anti-bullying
program. The goal is to let students
who experience relationship abuse
know there is help for them if they
need it.
Const. Burke says, the Halifax
Regional Police decided to ask
interested St. Pat’s students if they
would perform a play to junior
high schools across Halifax
Regional Municipality. There are
three different casts, of St. Pat’s
students, each with six actors.
The performers begin by
describing their situations at home.
They go on to talk about meeting
their boyfriends or girlfriends and
about their relationships. In one
monologue, played by Sasha
LaPierre, a girl doesn’t treat her
boyfriend with much respect. In
fact, she admits to pawning the
clothes he buys her and says she’s
only with him because she likes his
best friend. In the end he beats her.
“I deserve to be yelled at and I
deserve to be made fun of,” she
Radio scanners in Halifax will no
longer be able to pick up police
radio messages when the Halifax
Regional
Police
Department
switches from analog to digital
technology, within the next year.
Const. Brenda Zima, police
spokesperson, says she knows it
will create a problem for the news
media who rely on scanners for
immediate information, but it is an
inevitable result of upgrading
police radios.
In some places across Canada,
says Const. Zima, the police have
shut the media out completely. In
other places they have handed over
police radios.
The Halifax Regional Police are
looking for a solution somewhere
in the middle, she says. To cut off
the media completely from police
information would be a step backwards, she says, because the police
use the media to inform communities. “Good relations with them are
critical.”
Const. Zima says, they are looking for media input on the change.
But, she also admits it is a matter of
controlling the access to police
information, she says. “Privacy is
the whole issue, that’s the reason
anyone moves from analog to digital.”
The Commoner
The Commoner/AMANDA CLEARY
St. Pat’s High School students performing an anti-violence play. From left : Martha
Blackler, Jeff Forbes, and Lauren Klein. On the ground, Nadejda Neklioudova.
says. “He had a right to be angry
with me, but no one, not even me,
deserves to be beaten.”
The play also shows that people
can be abused verbally and that it
isn’t always men abusing women.
Lauren Klein says she decided
that it was a good experience being
able to help people and helping
them to open up. “I know [dating
violence] exists and I know that it’s
a problem. And when I saw the
script I knew that it would be really effective,”she says.
Const. Burke thought an antibullying hotline was needed so
children could tell someone when
they were in trouble. The line has
now been operating for a year, and
has had more than 1,000 calls.
Const. Burke says he receives
reports from students, kids, parents, teachers, administration and
even bullies themselves. He says
the bullies recognize they have a
problem and want help.
“They don’t have to tell me their
names if they don’t want to,”
Const. Burke says. Keeping the
callers anonymous is a very important part of the program, he says,
because they are more apt to call if
they don’t have to give their
names.
Const. Burke says he received
two reports of dating violence after
the first play. Depending on the
situation and the desires of the students, he will send a mediator to
help, or one of the officers will go
to the school to speak to the kids as
a whole. He already has trained 20
volunteers and policemen to help
with the mediation process.
Halifax Regional Police Antibullying hotline: 490-SAVE (7283)
What Saskatchewan folks know about Nova Scotia
By Krista Hall
The Commoner
This week the Commoner tackled
Saskatchewan in our “What does
the rest of Canada know about
Nova Scotia?” search. People in
Saskatchewan are busy folk with
not a minute to spare for an easterner with an itch to find out what they
know about Nova Scotia. Out of 30
calls, six people volunteered a
moment of their time.
You can imagine how relieved we
were when Margaret, from Kenosee
Lake in Carlyle, (50km west of the
southern Manitoba border), agreed to
participate. At first Margaret, who
works at the Kenosee Inn, said she
didn’t know anything about Nova
Scotia but when pressed, she offered,
“Water, rocks and red soil.”
Margaret said she’d never been to
N.S. but that her grand-daughter
went to university “out there.”
“Oh really, what university was
that?” We asked.
Mount Allison,
Margaret replied.
Margaret, here’s a little F.Y.I. If you
ever visit Nova Scotia don’t expect to
find red soil or Mount Allison. The
former is a trademark of P.E.I. and the
latter is located in Sackville, New
Brunswick. But thanks, Margaret, for
at least trying to help.
Judy, from Little Amyot Lake in
Beauval, which is in the northern part
of the province, had an advantage
over Margaret. She’d been to Nova
Scotia and her husband is a native of
New Brunswick.
“I think of the oceans, lobster and
seafood.”
“Anything else?”
“Well, there’s lots of beautiful
landmarks. It’s just a really nice place
to go.”
Wayne works at the Western
Development Museum in North Battleford, a city in between Lloydminister and Saskatoon. He said the
Atlantic Ocean and the fisheries were
the first thing to pop into his head,
but upon further reflection he said,
“tourism.”
“Isn’t that where the Cabot trail
is?” he asked. “I think of the marvellous views I see of that trail on TV.
I’ve never been out there but I want
to come.”
We invited Wayne to Nova Scotia
to enjoy the wet weather we’re so
often plagued with when he said
Saskatchewan was “cool, but nice”
for this time of year and hadn’t been
doused since August.
Our final participant was Doug, a
pilot from La Loche, 644 km north of
Saskatoon. His father grew up in
Truro. He said he thought of “rolling
hills, rocks and nice, outdoor stuff.”
Doug just might have an opportunity to learn more about the Maritimes because he said he’s considering moving to Nova Scotia to work
for Air Nova.
PAGE EDITOR: LYNN DEVEREAUX
WEEK OF NOVEMBER 3-9, 2000
THE COMMONER
PAGE 11
Top toys for 2001
For more than 50 years, the Canadian Toy Testing Council has guided parents’ toy buying choices. Last Monday, the council released this year’s toy
report, just in time for parents’ Christmas shopping.
Highlights in the report are the Children’s Choice and Best Bet awards.
The council bases its assessments on design, function, durability and play
value. The testers are what make the toy report count: they’re kids. The toy
council distributes toys to families and then monitors children’s response.
Children’s Choice Awards 2001
Active Play
Air Hogs Hydro Rockets/Spin Master. A
water-powered rocket. Age: 8+
Magic Doorbell Playhouse/Little Tikes
Co. A toddler-sized playhouse with
doorbell that makes six different sounds.
Age: 18 months to 3 years
Arts and Crafts
The Commoner/JEFF SUNDERLAND
Woozles manager Trudy Carey checks the safety of toys sold in her store
against ratings listed in the annual Canadian Council’s Toy Testing report.
Store rejects Barbie
for ‘magic’ of felts
■
Manager favours classic hands-on toys,
opposes mainstream electronic gadgets
By Jeff Sunderland
The Commoner
You won’t find LEGO or Barbie at
Woozles toy and bookstore, in Halifax, but if you’re lookin for felts,
you’re in the right place. Woozles
doesn’t do the “commercial
thing,” says Trudy Carey, the manager and buyer for the store.
Ms. Carey has worked at Woozles since it opened 22 years ago,
and says the type of toys they
carry has a lot to do with a different philosophy on toy buying.
That different philosophy is putting quality first and then making
sure that the toy is hands-on and
that a child will play with it for
more than five minutes.
The Canadian Toy Testing
Council released this year’s toy
report on Monday. Barbie and
other mainstream toys are on the
list but so are dozens of toys that
Woozles does carry.
Ms. Carey says the best way to
measure the success of a toy is its
year-after-year sales. One of the
items that has continued to sell are
felt boards. The store has a large
selection and is waiting for
Feltkids Enchanted Kingdom, one
of this year’s Best Bet award winners, to arrive. She laughs and says
felt boards have been around since
she was young but kids still love
playing with them. The felts stick
as though by magic. And children
PAGE EDITOR: KRISTA HALL
can create their own stories, using
their imagination.
She says the council’s report is
respected within the toy industry
and accurate in its ratings. “Mainly because they let kids play with
toys. “Everything that they put in
there is good quality and has longterm play value,”she says.
Ms. Carey says she always tries
to get a copy of the council’s report
because a lot of parents use it as
their guide to buying toys.
“Parents...want quality toys for
their kids,”says Ms. Carey.
Because the report comes out so
close to Christmas, she says she
doesn’t use it as an ordering
device but more as a check list to
see how well she did in her buying.
She says she also uses the
report to check on toys that
received bad ratings. On the odd
occasion when she has one of
those items in the store, she stops
ordering it.
Products that have the toy testing council’s approval usually
have the council’s blue and gold
sticker, with a teddy bear in the
middle, identifying them.
For a full copy of this years toy
report and hours of interesting
reading on toys check out the toy
testing council’s Web page at
www.toy-testing.org. If you have
stories about toys, please write us
at [email protected]
Make Your Own Lip Balm/Klutz Inc.
Age: 8+
Making Faces/Roylco. Test your creativity making paper mache face masks. Age:
4+
A Book of Artrageous Projects/Klutz Inc.
An activity book using historical art techniques. Age: 8+
Computer Software and Games
Jumpstart Phonics Learning System/
Knowledge Adventure. A learning kit
including videos, workbooks and CDROMs. Age: 3+
Roller Coaster Tycoon/Hasbro Interactive. This CD-ROM game gets kids to create their own amusement park. Age: 9+
the easel with these washable body
crayons. Age: 3+
Crayola Colour Wonder/Binney &
Smith. These markers only work on the
special paper that accompanies them.
Age: 3+
Noris Club 12 Poster Colours/StaedtlerMars. Washable poster paints. Age: 5+
Sculpey Fridge Critters/Polyform Products Co. Make your own fridge magnets. Age: 4+
Shrinky Dinks Book/Klutz Inc. Create
on plastic then bake and save forever.
Age: 7+
Computer Software & Games
Age of Empires II/Microsoft Canada.
Learn history by battling through this
CD-ROM. Age: 13+
Hot Wheels Crash/Mattel Media. This
CD-ROM lets kids be stunt car drivers.
Age: 5+
Pajama Sam 3:You are what you
eat/Humongous Entertainment. Food
fighting CD-ROM style. Age: 3-8
Plumo on the Farm/Micro-Intel. Take an
interactive tour of a farm. Age: 3-6
Construction Toys
Construction Toys
LEGO Championship Challenge. Build
your own soccer field game and then
play it. Age: 7+
LEGO Duplo Little Forest Friends. Create
your own story with this LEGO set. Age:
2-4
LEGO Arctic Polar Base/LEGO Canada.
Build an Arctic adventure complete with
snowmobiles and polar bear. Age: 8-12
LEGO T-Rex Transport and All-Terrain
Trapper/LEGO Canada. Build your
own dinosaur trap. Age: 7-12
Developmental Toys
Developmental Toys
Twirlin’ Whirlin’ Garden/Fisher-Price
Canada. An activity mat with toys and
music. Age: 6 months to 1 year
Whoozit Activity Spiral/Manhattan Toy
Company. Activity toy that wraps
around cribs, strollers and more. Age:
birth+
Educational Toys
Educational Toys
Little Smart DJ Jazz’N Jam/VTech Electronics Canada. The ultimate starter kit
for DJs of the future. Age: 3-6
Little Smart Muttzart’s Symphony
Sounds/VTech Electronics Canada. This
stuffed puppy plays music and more
when played with. Age: birth to 1 year
Non-Stop Girl/VTech Electronics Canada. A learning laptop for kids. Age: 6-10
Are We There Yet? Auto Travel Card
Game/Are We There Yet? Inc. A box of
questions to keep kids occupied in the
car. Age: 6+
Brain Quest 1st Grade Math/Workman Publishing. Bookmark sized
math puzzles for kids. Age: 6-7
Brain Quest 2nd Grade Math/Work-
Imaginative Play
Babipouce Rose/Corolle. A basic baby
doll. Age: 6 months to 4 years
Bebe Do/Corolle. This doll specializes in
sleeping and has eyes that open and shut.
Age: 3+
Large Carry Bed/Corolle. Great for carrying dolls around. Age: 3+
Best Bet Awards 2001
Active Play
Easy Store Activity Gym/Little Tikes
Co. Portable play structure that’s easy
to store. Age: 18 months to 4 years
Arts and Crafts
Body Crayon Book/Klutz Inc. You are
man Publishing. Similar to above but
for ages 7-8.
Cheerios Play Book Bingo Game/Briarpatch. Bingo style board game can
be played with illustrated tiles or cereal. Age: 3-4
Imaginative Play
Barbie Airplane and Barbie Pilot/Mattel Canada Inc. Sold separately, Barbie
takes to the skies. Age: 5+
Feltkids Enchanted Kingdom/Learning Curve Toys. Traditional felt mat
with fairy tale flavour. Age: 3+
Baby Kika and Baby Doll Night
Set/Chicco. A baby for kids to play
with and look after. Age: 3+
Pikachu Radio Control Car/Tiger Electronics. Pikachu takes to the streets in
this radio controlled car. Age: 8+
PAGE 12
Halloween
insurance
cleans up
By Ian Merringer
The Commoner
Selling candy and costumes aren’t
the only ways to make a buck from
Halloween. Acting students from
Dalhousie University entered the
commercial frenzy this year by selling — of all things — insurance.
Twenty-one students in the graduating class knocked on hundreds of
doors, offering homeowners insurance against the minor vandalism
that happens when monsters roam
the streets.
For $2 homeowners could save
themselves from cleaning up toilet
paper in trees, smashed pumpkins in
driveways and eggs thrown against
houses. Those who bought insurance
could call on Nov. 1 and the students
would take care of any exterior Halloween damage.
Peter Horn, a fourth-year student,
says there was no risk analysis done
ahead of time to assess how much
cleaning up they might have had to
do in the morning.
“I didn’t know what to expect,”
he says. “I was hoping we wouldn’t
have too much work to do.”
The students met the morning of
Nov. 1 to have breakfast and wait. A
central dispatcher was taking calls
from homeowners wishing to make a
claim.
The result? One smashed pumpkin and more than $250 raised. “We
were expecting a little bit more
work,” says Mr. Horn, “so it was a bit
of a relief.”
Money raised was for a trip to
Toronto in January when the graduating class will go to audition for
upcoming parts. Mr. Horn is organizing fund-raising activities for the
trip. He says the students take the
trip every year to promote themselves and line up work for the summer.
This is the first year students
raised money by selling Halloween
coverage. Mr. Horn says some people weren’t expecting to have much
to clean up, but most people seemed
amused and almost half the households bought coverage or made a
donation. “They seemed to think it
was inventive,” he says. One canvasser knocked on the door of a
house that was hosting a dinner
party and earned $40 for performing
soliloquies and monologues.
Mr. Horn says the money raised is
only a portion of what the students
need to go to Toronto. They’re also
planning an auction at Argyle Bar
and Grill on Nov. 19, and they sell
suckers for a dollar in downtown
bars on Saturday nights.
Despite the success of the venture,
Mr. Horn says he’s not entertaining
thoughts of giving up acting to
become an insurance salesman. “For
sure not,” he said, “For sure not.”
THE COMMONER
WEEK OF NOVEMBER 3-9, 2000
After ploughing through platforms
I’m ready to return to ignorance
I’ve been a bad Canadian. I’ve neglected my duties as an informed voter
by relying on papers and Air Farce
for political guidance. But no more.
This election I resolved to read the
platforms of all the federal parties.
(All right, that’s a lie. I read only
the platforms for the major parties,
and not the Bloc, since it isn’t running
in Nova Scotia.)
Yes, the Alliance party wants to
cut taxes and the NDP wants to
improve health care. But since it takes
24 pages for Joe Clark to tell us what
he’d do for the country, there must be
promises that aren’t making the
pages of the Globe and Mail.
The Progressive Conservatives:
the Tories are big on words, small on
graphics. No pictures of Mr. Clark
grace the pages. Perhaps he worries
he can’t pull off pictures of himself in
a wet suit.
The Tories, who relate everything
back to taxes, must have abandoned
the animal lover vote. Instead, they
decided to support northern hunters
by promising an increase in seal quotas and promising to fight international bans on seal products. I’m
guessing Greenpeace hasn’t made
party contributions.
JENNIFER
FOX
viewPOINT
New Democrat Party: Alexa
McDonough wants to save Canadians from disease, unemployment,
lack of education, bad air. The ideas
are noble, but how will she pay for
them?
Though other parties make promises in areas that are typically social
democratic concerns, the NDP does
have one promise all its own.
“Oppose any move to adopt the U.S.
dollar as Canada’s currency.” I’m not
sure if that’s a real threat, but it’sgood
to know the NDP has me covered.
Alliance party: Is there a reason
Stockwell Day needed 10 pictures of
himself within his party’s platform? I
realize he’s the newest federal leader,
but after picture five, where he is running in the snow, I get the point that
he’s young and energetic.
By declaring marriage a union of
one man and one woman, it’s safe to
say that the Alliance party isn’t after
the gay and lesbian vote. But Mr. Day
wants to do more than define marriage, he wants to put his nose into it.
“We will encourage conselling in
any uncontested divorce where there
are children involved.”
So a couple decides the marriage
just won’t work. A divorce is the best
thing for them. But the would-be
prime minister wants them to go to
counselling. Will he pay for the counselling the kids will need to recover
from their traumatic childhood?
Liberal party: Prime Minister
Chrétien can’t bash his government
like other parties. Instead he wins the
pander-to-the-middle-class award.
“A new Liberal government will
establish a one-stop all-Canadian
Web site. It will jump-start efforts to
meet the growing demands of Canadians seeking local on-line shopping
as well as public information and
services.”
You may not have a house or a
computer, but if you did you could
buy your stuff from a Canadian store.
Now that I’ve seen the different
visions of our country, I shall make a
vow: the next time I follow an election I’ll do so by sticking to the editorial cartoons in the newspaper.
Letter to the Editor
Not wearing lights ‘careless or stupid’
Re: “Cyclist feeling the
pain of driver’s inattention” (Oct. 27).
I am sorry for the pain
he suffered when he was
hit by a car, but I have a
few comments, queries
and suggestions.
Any cyclist riding a
bicycle at night (guess
what?— it’s dark at night,
sometimes even pitch
black) without lights is
careless or stupid or really doesn’t give a damn.
Maybe that particular
intersection is well-lit, but
Mr. Hutchinson was not.
How do cyclists think
motorists are supposed to
see them at night if they
don’t have lights? Drivers
are not part of a superman elite who possess
night-vision powers. We
are just ordinary human
beings, constantly reacting to the changing scene.
Don’t surprise us by suddenly showing up, apparently out of nowhere,
without any form of
announcement. What do
you think will happen?
We may be able to react in
time, but then we may
not. If you were a betting
The Commoner/Jennifer Fox
Dave Hutchinson says even if he dressed like an Christmas tree he’d have been hit by a car. Howard D’Arcy says
there might be fewer bike accidents if cyclists wore lights.
person, where would you
place your money?
Motorists are used to
contending with a barrage of lights, moving
and stationary. Bicycle
lights front and back
would at least give
motorists an opportunity
to react.
There was no mention
in the article whether the
motorist in question was
charged with any violation. If not, is there a message for Mr. Hutchinson
and all cyclists?
Mr. Hutchinson says
he is not mad at the driver of the car for causing
him so much pain. That’s
decent of him. But did he
give any thought to how
the driver felt after the
accident? Better Mr.
Hutchinson put his kind
thoughts into equipping
himself properly and
legally for cycling.
Question to motorists:
how many cyclists do you
see at night displaying
lights? My answer: very,
very few.
A simple suggestion to
Mr. Hutchinson and all
cyclists who travel Halifax’s busy streets at night:
give motorists and yourselves a chance — display
a light front and back.
Mr. Hutchinson states
he could have been
dressed like a Christmas
tree and still would have
been hit. I don’t think so.
It would be a great
help to all motorists and
cyclists if cyclists would
simply obey all the laws
of the road. We share the
same roadways. I suppose we should be thankful we don’t have to share
the sidewalk with them.
Howard D’Arcy
Halifax, NS
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PAGE EDITOR:SARAH MCGINNIS