He has a comfortable lead going into the October 19 federal election, but Liberal candidate Ken McDonald would be the last fellow to take it for granted that he will win Avalon riding.
Instead, the self-employed appliance repairman and mayor of Newfoundland's largest town is employing his usual, below the radar, but well-planned and steady campaign of door to door canvassing to earn support one vote at a time.
The plain-spoken, easy going 56 year old has had a career of highs and lows when it comes to politics, and life for that matter. The past few years have laid opportunity before him. McDonald is fully appreciative of how far he has come.
A lifelong resident of the riding, McDonald started his appliance repair business in 1986. It taught him a lot. "I can remember times when I had to keep my paycheque in my pocket for a few days just to make sure the money was there," he admits. "You'd write it out, but you wouldn't cash it."
Eventually McDonald grew the company to the point where he could employ a couple of others, giving them an extra week's pay each year at Christmas as a bonus.
In 1993, he took a stab at municipal politics in his home town of Conception Bay South. At the time one of the fastest growing communities in Eastern Canada, CBS was making a tough transition from a rural way of life to a suburban one as a bedroom community of St. John's. The councils of the day were frequently embroiled in controversies and imbroglios caused by the rapid pace of growth and a scarcity of funds to keep up with the infrastructure to accommodate it.
McDonald resigned from council in August of 1996 when his fellow councillors refused to abide by all the changes recommended following an Auditor General's examination of the town's practices. A month or so later, the Minister of Municipal Affairs dismissed the entire council. McDonald was later acknowledged as the only councillor who didn't run afoul anywhere in the AG's findings.
But it wasn’t enough to get him re-elected in the following election. He ran at-large instead of as a ward representative.
"In hindsight I was lucky I didn't get elected," McDonald admits. "In July of 1997, Christine was diagnosed with cancer."
McDonald's wife died of the disease three years later leaving him a single father of their son John, who was then 13. He has since married again.
In 2005, McDonald took another shot at municipal politics. He ran for mayor against three big names in the community. He placed second to Woodrow French.
"After that election, I knew what I was going to do," says McDonald. "I was going to run to get on council at the next available chance."
That came with the next election in 2009, when McDonald returned to the chamber as a ward councillor. Before the next four years were up, he started canvassing to run against French again, who was by this time a provincial personality as well as a local one. "And that was my intent from day one," McDonald says. He won handily.
McDonald says he was drawn to municipal politics because it’s a way to help people, something he has enjoyed since his days as a member of the Lions Club. "You saw firsthand at that level how you can help people," he explains. "Whether it be giving a scholarship to a student or contributing to a wheelchair for someone who needed it. It really gave you a feeling that you were doing some good in the community. There are lots of organizations out there, whether it be the Lions Club, Rotary or Kinsmen who do absolutely fantastic work but I don't think any of them blow their own horns enough, because many people don't realize the good that they do in the community."
McDonald is blessed with a folksy way of getting on with people. He attributes that to his upbringing. "As a family we were no different than anyone else," he says. "We had lots to eat, but we didn't have lots of everything else. There no big luxuries. We didn't have a ski doo or a quad by the side of the door. We grew our vegetables, raised a pig or a bull and that's how we survived. We grew enough vegetables in our garden to do us from one year to the next; we never had to buy a potato. I think it showed you the value of things that you move on with in life."
McDonald says he was confident he would win the mayoralty when he ran in 2013. It came, he says, from having done a lot of work on council during his previous four years, returning calls, taking the time to attend events. "From the get go I knew it would be a hard battle to win it," he says.
McDonald also took stands that didn't always endear him with the rest of council, such as the time he fought to stop the town from ordering a man to tear down his new house because it was built three inches over a certain regulated boundary line.
"All that people expect of council is that you will try to help them in some way," McDonald says. "Some things you can't do... but for the most part people are respectful if you try to help them and that's what I've done from day one."
He sees no big difference in taking that approach to a federal level. "The issues may change," he says. "It may not be an issue of a ditch not being cleaned out or a pothole on a street, but it will be an issue of someone's unemployment getting cut off unnecessarily or a pension cheque gone astray... And bigger issues. It will be bigger issues but it will still involve people. And as I said it in my speech way back when I announced I was running for mayor, the one thing that you should never forget is that you're elected to serve the people. You are not elected to serve the corporates, you're not elected to serve even the leader of a party or to follow party policy on certain issues when it affects the people you are elected to represent."
McDonald says he agonized over the decision to run federally just two years after being elected mayor. “I was happy as anything being mayor and if I end up going back to being mayor on October 20th I’ll still be happy because I truly love the position of being mayor,” he says.
McDonald says he would like for his parents to still be alive to see how far he has come. “Growing up, the mayors of the day were notable people in the community,” McDonald says. “I'm thinking, I came from nowhere and can be mayor of the second largest municipality in the province. It goes to show that anyone can do it. You don’t have to have a university education, you don’t have to be a doctor or a teacher or own a big business or be a CEO of a big company; anybody can do this. You just have to be committed to the job that it entails.”
Conservative candidate wants to rebuild bridges
Under normal circumstances, Lorraine Barnett would have a pretty even chance of winning the federal election as the Conservative Party candidate in Avalon Riding - assuming she won have gotten the nomination over the usual line of pretenders who might otherwise have sought it.
But there has been nothing normal about federal politics in Newfoundland since 2007 when then Premier Danny Williams launched an Anything But Conservative campaign against Prime Minister Stephen Harper, scorching the earth of any chances of the Conservatives electing a member in this province for years afterwards.
With nearly 10 years working in the federal minister’s Newfoundland and Labrador Regional Office and years behind her before that working with the Fish Food and Allied Workers Union and a development association on the Cape Shore, nobody in this election is better placed than Barnett to know the details of federal-provincial files and projects.
Reached by telephone in Trepassey where she was campaigning, Barnett said the election has been a great chance to reconnect with people she has met throughout the riding during her career.
But with the Big C for Conservative on her chest, Barnett knows she is facing a tough battle.
“It has been tough,” she allows. “But for me it’s about leadership, it’s about balanced budgets, low taxes and more money in the pockets of families. It’s campaigning not on running deficits but steady as she goes in tough economic times.”
Barnett says it’s important to have someone at the table in Ottawa. According to most polls, if the election was held this week the Conservatives would return to power with the most seats, though slightly behind the Liberals in terms of overall vote count. That leaves the prospect of Newfoundland going another four years without anyone to speak for it in the federal government.
“I don’t think we’ve been forgotten about,” Barnett says, reflecting on the lack of a political representative in the government for the past seven years. “I think what’s lost are the good things we are doing. The media has a tendency to report the negative stuff. I’m talking about the new CAT 3 instrument landing system at the airport that the federal government invested in that will make accessibility go from 93 per cent to 99, investments in Marine Atlantic, the new Canadian Coast Guard headquarters that is going to be built on the Southside in St. John’s to open in 2018, the loan guarantee for Muskrat Falls, the New Horizons for Seniors program, the funding that we get through ACOA. On a daily basis I see what is coming to this province. I think what is missing is someone at the table not only to push for more, but who can let people know we are doing okay. We could be doing better, but we need a voice at the table.”
Barnett says it’s impossible for Newfoundland to be best served by having a regional minister from another province.
“We need to have our voice heard,” she says. “Not only that but to rebuild that bridge between the province and feds. We need to rebuild our relationship, that’s very important. And I think if we got the right person, someone like myself – I’ve seen the tough times, I’ve lived through the tough times with the ABC - I know I can rebuild the relationship between the federal government and the provincial government and that needs to get done. Nobody is gaining anything from the way that this relationship has transpired.”
Barnett is hoping people realize the consequences of potentially going 11 years without a voice in the federal cabinet. “That’s my message at the door – it’s very important to have a Conservative elected,” she says. “And Avalon has a good chance to do that. I’m not a voice of inexperience. I know the files, I know the Avalon, I’ve lived here all my life, I know the people, I could be a good representative at the table.”
Barnett proved at the CBC Radio candidates’ debate that she isn’t the type to be pushed around. By many accounts she was the strongest performer during the event.
Like the frontrunner, Liberal Ken McDonald, Barnett comes from a humble background and has lived in the riding all her life. A single mom who went on to carve a career in economic development and government administration, she grew up in Patrick`s Cove on the Cape Shore, has lived in Holyrood and now makes her home with her husband in Paradise, which is also in the riding.
“I knowwhat it’s like to live in a rural community, where jobs are scarce and very seasonal,” she says. “I know what it’s like to be a single parent, struggling and trying to make ends meet. I know what it’s like to have the ear of ministers and to get things done. I’ve come up through the system, I know how things work.”
If the Conservatives are not re-elected October 19, Barnett’s job as the head of the regional minister’s office is gone. There is also no guarantee that she will get it back if they win and she is not elected. “There is no guarantee,'” she says. “It’s at the discretion of the next regional minister... I haven`t been promised one thing, nor would I want to be promised anything. I want to look people straight in the face and say at the end of the day I’m not being taken care of or compensated.”
Barnett says if she is elected she will be a voice for the people of Avalon and will be visible. “People first, government second,” she says. “But you don’t have to be stupid about it.”
Barnett admits she was disappointed to see Danny Williams emerge again to attack Newfoundland Conservatives. Williams made a public plea this week for people not to vote at all rather than vote Conservative.
“It was very disheartening,” Barnett says. “People have fought and died for the right to vote. I am asking people to vote for me, I would love for them to vote for me, but if they choose not to, at least get out and vote. Don’t let anyone dictate to you that you shouldn’t vote.”
Gaskier council, resident differ over approach to cleaning up delinquent property
The town council in Gaskiers – Point La Haye is wrestling with a way to make a former resident clean up a dilapidated property in the community, but the action won’t come soon enough for Shannon Critch.
Critch and her husband John recently returned to the community after 22 years on the mainland. Their plan was to start a new business and build a new house. The first has worked out. Unfortunately for them, the second part is being affected by the land next door which has an abandoned house trailer with a yard and shed strewn with materials ranging from a bike and building supplies to vehicles and oil tanks.
“It is in a horrible state,” said Critch. “There is debris all over the property, along with it being blown on neighbours’ property. I approached council a year ago to try to have it cleaned up. They refused to take action.”
That isn’t true according to Mayor Pearl Kielly. Council has tried a number of times to reach the former resident, including sending registered letters, she said. The town has also consulted a lawyer and called in an official from the Department of Environment.
Kielly said the Environment official inspected the tanks and found they are safe, but advised the council to make contact with the owner to rectify the situation.
Kielly said she and council are trying. “We really can’t seem to get in touch with him,” she said.
Keilly explained that while the property owner is two years behind on his taxes, council’s policy is that it won’t confiscate property until the non-payment reaches five years. But council is looking at making an exception in this case, she said.
Still, council is being careful, she allowed. It doesn’t want to take action only to be sued by the owner afterwards for interfering with his property. The town has sent one more letter to the last known address for the man in St. John’s giving him two weeks to reply. After that, council will decide its next move, which could include demolishing the trailer and cleaning up the grounds, she said.
“It’s a sticky situation,” said Kielly. “You’ve got to be careful… I’m here (on council) 18 years and I’ve never run into this kind of situation before.”
Critch meanwhile, said she is having trouble getting council to respond to her. “I have contacted (Placentia – St. Mary’s MHA) Felix Collins and he has spoken to council also. I have no idea what else can be done. We have turned to social media if for nothing else but shaming council into cleaning up this property. This property is a hazard and eyesore for sure. Given how many tourists travel the Irish loop, it's an embarrassment to our little community.”
Local architecture inspiration for art exhibit
David Aylward had no idea when he was working construction jobs in St. John’s and Edmonton that one day the knowledge he was absorbing about building and architecture would find a place in his art. Indeed, Aylward didn’t even know then he would be an artist.
The fruits of what he learned though are evident in a haunting collection of paintings and models that the Witless Bay artist will exhibit at the Five Island Art Gallery in Tors Cove starting October 4.
Aylward, 28, says he had no idea why he gravitated towards the Fine Arts program at Grenfell College. He graduated from the four year degree program in 2013.
There was always some “family art” around the house when he was growing up, Aylward says. His aunt Sheila Harvey is a well-recognized and accomplished artist and a great aunt, Lol, also painted. But Aylward didn’t know he could draw or paint until around the age of 22.
“I’ve had a few jobs in my life,” he says. “I went to school in St. John’s for a while, I worked construction for a while, I worked out in Edmonton at a printing press and nothing was really hitting. Then one day I decided to give it a shot and I really liked it, the school over there was great and the people were great and I stuck it out.”
Aylward credits his fellow students at Grenfell for encouraging him to work in different mediums and styles, which helped him figure out what he wanted to do. By his fourth year, he struck on a style that his peers agreed was working for him.
The exhibit being prepared for the gallery in Tors Cove is an extension of that, a depiction of Newfoundland houses and scenes that seem to shimmer in their own light. Aylward’s traditional Newfoundland frame houses almost beg the viewer to step inside to see what’s been lost.
“I think it’s an accumulation of everything I’ve been doing,” Aylward explains. “I worked construction a lot locally and up around Edmonton, building new houses and restoring old houses. I think it gave me a perspective and an appreciation for that aspect of Newfoundland.”
Alyward says he a strong interest in environmental issues and the effect of development, subjects he explores in his art. And while he has travelled a fair bit and explored these themes in other parts of the world, the houses depicted in this series are uniquely Newfoundland, capturing traditional forms of architecture.
“I really like the old style and representing the symbolism of what they might have,” Aylward says. “A new house has so much attached to it, but an old house has so much more, there’s more story behind it, there’s more feeling and emotion behind an old style house. I think it evokes more story and more imagination for the viewer.”
Not only are the materials different in older houses, Aylward points out, but in many cases so was the way they were built, often times with family and neighbours helping with the construction whereas today the process is more industrial.
The two model houses Aylward constructed for this series are based on houses that used to stand in Witless Bay. One was located across the road from where he grew up. He always liked looking at it, but never got a chance to see it inside until just before it was torn down a few years ago. “I snuck in there one Christmas and I got to see everything,” Aylward says. “There were old pictures on the walls and there were curtains still hanging up and the house still existed. It was really haunting. And from that moment I decided I was going to stick with that (idea) and I built a sculpture of it and I tried to represent the idea of what was inside the house from looking at it from the outside.”
Aylward made a conscious decision not to include an environment of land, or fields or ocean around the houses in this series. “I want the viewer’s imagination to kind of take over,” he says. “I find that if I put an environment around the house, that might take over instead of the architecture itself. But I have been told there is a ghostly, haunting, transparent look (to the work). I guess one of the main themes that I do want people to think about is development and history and family so maybe on some kind of subconscious level I’m trying to get that idea out.”
This new exhibition grew out of Aylward’s participation this past summer in a show at Five Island Gallery involving a number of artists called ‘Between the wind and the water,’ which was about resettlement. Aylward had a few pieces accepted for the exhibit.
Aylward has a great fondness for the gallery itself because of its architecture – an old Newfoundland school house lovingly restored by the Coultas family. He also likes dealing with the curators, Laura, Bill and Frances Coultas.
“I went up there (the first time) and I was really nervous,” Aylward says. “I brought some work with me and was figuring I would have to sell myself to them. But after a few minutes they were like, ‘Oh no worries, we’re going to take your work, we’re going to give you a show, we just want to speak about the details.’ There was no question in their minds that they were going to give me a show, which was really awesome of them.”
Aylward’s larger pieces sell in the $400 to $600 range, while the smaller water colours go for $200 to $350, depending on how they are framed. He also has smaller works available at lower prices. And the model houses, that will be part of an installation including a projector and light show? “I have no idea, because I am so emotionally invested in it,” says Aylward. “There’s about five months of work behind it. It’s going to be on the higher end of the scale. It’s probably going to be an amount that no one is willing to pay, so if they decide they will pay it I won’t have a problem selling it to them.”
The model houses look good enough to warrant display at The Rooms or even Canada’s National Art Gallery in Ottawa. Aylward is flattered by that suggestion. He would like to exhibit at The Rooms someday, he admits. “I’m working on designs for two more houses, so if I get a bit more exposure I might be able to get another show or two and maybe hook something there. The Rooms is a really nice art gallery,” he says.
Aylward is grateful for the support, including funding, he received last year for his work from both the City of St. John’s Grants for Artists Program and the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council.
Trepassey area economic development group defies the odds
One of the oldest economic development groups in the province is celebrating 40 years of service this month.
The Southern Avalon Development Association, based in Trepassey, is also one of the last of its kind.
In the ‘70s and ‘80s, the province was littered with such groups, all established with the goal of picking up the local economy in rural communities and regions. In the early 1990s, the Liberal government of Clyde Wells stopped funding the associations, diverting the money to Regional Economic Development Boards (REDBs), a brainchild of the Economic Recovery Commission headed by sociologist Doug House. The REDBs lasted about 20 years with all but a couple closing their doors two years ago when the provincial and governments stopped funding them.
Through all that change and government flip flopping, the development association in Trepassey has managed to soldier on, serving the nearby communities of Portugal Cove South, Biscay Bay, St. Shott’s and St. Vincent’s-St. Stephen’s-Peter’s River in addition to Trepassey.
Last week, SADA officials celebrated the association’s 40th birthday during the Annual General Meeting. About 35 people attended the event at the association’s Opportunities Complex, where it also stages a dinner theatre, one of many activities undertaken by the board to create work for local people.
The association’s daily activities are managed by coordinator Yvonne Fontaine, who took on the job in 2009. She’s the seventh person to fill the role and has been faced with some of the toughest challenges yet.
Fontaine noted the association has also had only seven different presidents in its 40 years, one of the longest serving being the late Ray Molloy of St. Shotts. Another St. Shottsman, who went on to create Emerald Sods and serve as a mayor in his community, Pat Hewitt, was one of the earlier co-ordinators.
Fontaine says one of the things that saved SADA in 1992 when the province stopped supporting development groups was that it owned its building. SADA managed to rent office space to the entity that was supposed to replace it, the Irish Loop Development Board, headed by Bay Bulls councillor Harold Mullowney, who took a broader view of the value of development associations than did the agency which created his board.
“So for 16 years the Irish Loop Development Board rented space in our building,” said Fontaine, “and that was a really good revenue stream.”
An Employment Services Office, funded first by Ottawa and later by the provincial government, also rented office space. The province pulled funding from those offices a couple of years ago too.
“If we didn’t have this building we probably wouldn’t be around today,” Fontaine allowed. “It was a great revenue source. But now the zonal boards are all gone and Employment Services are all gone. The last few years have been really challenging trying to maintain the building and pay staff and create economic development at the same time. It’s hard.”
Depending on the number of projects it’s able to get going during the course of a year, SADA can have as many as 40 local people on the payroll, making it the biggest employer in the region. The jobs are generally not high paying and only temporary. They are also dependent to a large extent on government grants. But the bang for the economic buck is several factors times higher than equivalent amounts of money the two levels of government might spend within their own line departments.
The projects often also support local businesses in that they attract visitors to the area who spend money while they are there. A good example is the local dinner theatre.
“We’re in our third season now,” says Fontaine. “It’s a struggle because when you can only sit 50 people you don’t have the numbers (to make big revenues).”
But SADA uses it to boost local businesses by offering theatre guests a chance to visit the ecological reserve at nearby Mistaken Point, eat in one of the local business and stay in the local motel or bed & breakfast, and even get a massage. It also partners with the local Lions Club selling 50/50 tickets during the show with half the proceeds going to the Lions’ Sick Fund, which helps local people with medical expenses and the rest split between the Dinner Theatre operation and the Lions Club.
The Dinner Theatre is uniquely local. The play is written by Portugal Cove South writer Pearl Coombs and performed by five local actors, who also cook and serve the dinner to the guests during the play. About 40 other local people, including some artists, musicians and artisans, also volunteer their services, performing for free and helping to serve dinner and clean up afterwards.
Fontaine said the food that goes into the preparation of the meals is purchased from local stores.
“We’ve had over 700 people through (to the theatre) so far and we have three more shows to go,” she notes. “A majority of them are from outside the area. We’ve had them from all over – Trinity Bay, Bonavista Bay, different countries.”
SADA has also managed to survive by taking on the administration functions for groups that can’t afford their own full time paid staff, including the Mistaken Point Ambassadors and most recently, the Irish Loop Chamber of Commerce.”
Fontaine also applies for, coordinates and manages funds under the provincial government’s Community Economic Enhancement Program, a small fund designed to help rural workers top up their hours to qualify for Employment Insurance benefits. SADA does the same when it comes to student employment programs.
“You’re always trying to come up with ways to create economic development and create employment for people,” Fontaine said.
“A lot of people don’t know what we do,” she admitted. “When you’re so busy you don’t have time to toot your own horn… But we do do a lot of work behind the scenes that nobody can see.”
She credits SADA’s success to its volunteers.
“I hope we’re making a bit of a difference,” Fontaine said. “We’ll keep plugging at it. We’re here for the long run.”
Goulds athlete shows world class skills, attitude
She may be polite and well spoken, but Danielle Arbour’s fast and aggressive play has earned her a place in the lineup of Canada’s national Women’s Under 25 wheelchair basketball team.
Surprisingly, the Goulds native came to the sport late and is the only player from Atlantic Canada to make the squad, which participated this past summer at the World Championships in Beijing, China.
The 4’ 7” athlete has spina bifida, a birth defect that affects the spinal cord. Arbour can walk, but she has had numerous surgeries over the years, though she has not let that stop her from excelling in school or sports. She graduated from St. Kevin’s High School in 2013 with a diploma in French Immersion and is fluently bilingual. She also plays sledge hockey on Newfoundland’s provincial team and is an accomplished public speaker and singer.
Arbour started playing basketball less than five years ago. It came about unexpectedly. “I was an Ambassador for Easter Seals here in Newfoundland in 2011 and I got to meet a couple of Paralympians,” she explained. “One of them played wheelchair basketball and he told me to give the sport a try and I’ve been hooked ever since.”
Arbour later met a couple of coaches from the national team and was invited to Canada’s selection camp last December.
Her selection is all the more remarkable given that Newfoundland doesn’t have a wheelchair basketball team yet. Arbour plays at the Easter Seals building in St. John’s. Prince Edward Island asked her to join its provincial team at the Canada Games in British Columbia this past February.
On the national team, Arbour, who turned 20 this month, is noted as being a real team player who will do whatever it takes to win.
Arbour enjoyed the trip to China, where Canada placed fourth, competing against Great Britain, Australia, Germany, China and Japan. “It was so cool, a different world altogether,” Arbour said of China. “The language barrier was kind of difficult at some points, but the people were very friendly and couldn’t do enough to help us.”
The athletes stayed at a complex designed for people with disabilities. Arbour’s ability to speak French helped her bond with a couple of team mates from Quebec. The whole team is close, she said. “We’ve all become like a family in such a short amount of time… It’s really nice.”
Arbour also enjoyed the calibre of play in Beijing. “It was very competitive,” she said, noting many otherwise able-bodied people, including some who cannot play the sport standing up because of injuries, participate in wheelchair basketball.
Arbour has a couple of more surgeries to get out of the way then intends to get a job and return to school next year. She is also looking forward to the national team’s try-outs and training camp later this year.
She is grateful for the world that wheelchair basketball has opened for her. “The experience so far has been incredible,” Arbour said.
Former oil company PR staffer nabs NDP nomination in Ferryland
A former public relations executive in government and the oil industry is the NDP candidate in Ferryland district.
“These days I am finished with the oil industry and I am pursuing politics (full time),” said Mona Rossiter, 53. “I decided to get off the sidelines and put my name in the ring for the provincial government. That is my full time commitment now, to get elected in Ferryland district.”
Rossiter is a volunteer with the East Coast Trail Association, and while she doesn’t live in the district, she noted her father is from Calvert and she owns a house there that she leases out as a vacation property.
“I had a 30 year career in the public, private and not for profit sectors – most recently I spent 20 years in the oil industry,” Rossiter said, pointing out the last 10 of those were in “contract management.”
Why is she running? “Where do I begin,” she said. “I really think we need a different kind of government in Newfoundland. I really think we need fairer, smarter, better government and I thought I have something to contribute because of that experience across those sectors, and I’m a woman – that’s another reason why. I think we actually need more women in politics at all levels.”
Rossiter said she has a master’s degree in political science. Her studies included women in politics. “So I thought, if not me then who, and if not now then when?” she said. “It’s important for me now to take that step.”
Asked if there are any issues important to her, Rossiter said that from talking with people in the district, quality of life issues seem to be their priority, including the economy, health care and child care. Infrastructure is also important for all the towns along the shore, she said. “People want to be sure that they can live in their communities and stay in their communities if they can,” she said.
As to how the NDP can address those issues, Rossiter said the party has a people centred approach. “The priorities that an NDP government will focus on is different from the other parties, because we know that everyday people have to be the centre of our policymaking, we have to look at it through that lens – how does it affect your everyday quality of life, how does it affect your job employment, and how does it help you deal with things like health care and home care, child care and minimum wage,” she said. “That’s the difference, the priority difference will be how the NDP affects our ability as MHAs to deliver the goods to our people.”
Rossiter declined to offer a view on the biggest issues facing the next provincial government, namely Muskrat Falls and a looming annual deficit of some $2 billion a year - an accumulating debt that will erode Newfoundland’s ability to fund health care, education, road maintenance and other services.
“You know what, those are questions you would be best to address to Earle McCurdy from a policy platform point of view,” Rossiter said. “But if we form a government we’re going to have to deal with whatever the economic circumstances are, but certainly the decisions that we make will have that different priority, different lens to make those decisions.”
Rossiter said she has never run for office before, but has worked “around party issues and campaigns,” contributing money, canvassing at the doors and making phone calls. The one campaign she did work on was years ago as a student when she worked for Hubert Kitchen who was running for the Liberals in St. John’s.
“So it’s going to be new to me, and I’ve got a good team of really capable women and men who are backing me to get me organized and supported,” Rossiter said. “Of course I’ll have to fundraise like everybody else, put my money together and my team together. But I think I have as good a chance as the other people who are running… It’s really hard with an incumbent but I think people really do want change, they want to see something different and they want to see their issues at the top of the agenda as opposed to add-ons or thought about after the fact.”
Rossiter said she understands that Chris Molloy, the party’s 2011 candidate who wanted to run again this time, was treated fairly by the party. “He had some confusion about what he needed to do, but I don’t know the particulars of that,” she said. “But I feel comfortable it was a fair process.”
Rossiter said that prior to filing her nomination papers she did have conversations with a number of people in the party, including McCurdy, to see what kind of candidate they were looking for and to discuss what she can offer. She is hoping the incident involving Molloy’s nomination papers will not affect support for her campaign.
“I don’t think there was an incident, really,” she said. “I think the process was fair and I think people who support the NDP are going to look for a good candidate to get behind and I think I am that candidate, I think I can bring their issues to the House of Assembly and I think I have a good policy sense so that I am able to contribute on that level as well… I think there is strong NDP support on the Shore and I think I can mobilize that support behind me. We stand for all the same things, Chris and anybody else for the NDP… And my values align with the NDP so I think I’ll be a good candidate who can represent them.”
From women in army trucks to those who 'see' bears, tourism groups welcomes all
The Southern Avalon Tourism Association celebrated a milestone this past summer when its 175,000th visitor walked through the doors of its visitor centre next to Foodland in Bay Bulls.
SATA has operated the centre for over 11 years. “We worked out a deal with Sobey’s that basically we put lots of people on their parking lot here at Foodland and they help us to stay here,” said treasurer Bill Luby. “It’s also good for the whole community.”
Luby said staff at the centre inform tourists about any services they might need while travelling the Irish Loop, including food and accommodation businesses, tour companies, heritage and ecological sites, and the east Coast Trail.
“This is what we’re here for,” said Luby. “It’s non-profit, membership driven and we heavily promote our members.”
The centre employs four to six students a year at the centre. “And this year I went directly to the College of the North Atlantic and told them I had a management position here as coordinator of the information centre and they gave me their top student, Eric Trudel,” Luby noted. “ I was really happy because he was in the Tourism Management Program and he hit the ground running. It worked out really well.”
Trudel helped the centre provide travelers with an Irish Loop visitor’s app for their phones, updated SATA’s website and got the association on Twitter.
Luby said the Bay Bulls centre may the only one in the world that can boast it has helped visitors from every continent. “I’m saying that because last year six scientists from Antarctica came here, the forgotten continent,” he said. “They went out on a couple of whale tours because they wanted to see how the whales behave up here.”
On the day of this interview, the centre had seen visitors from Chile and Poland, as well as many British who had arrived in St. John’s aboard a luxury liner. A couple of weeks earlier, a woman from Austria arrived driving a 1977 Mercedes Benz army truck refurbished into a camper. She had had the truck shipped to Vancouver, drove it across Canada and ended her stay by visiting Ferryland before returning to St. John’s and having the vehicle shipped back to Austria.
Many tourists check in at the centre on their way back too. “Most have had a very happy experience,” Luby said. “But just a few weeks ago two women came back and they were ticked off. They said, ‘You said there were no bears on the East Coast Trail… We saw one outside Witless Bay on the trail and we took a picture of it before we ran away.’ They stuck this smartphone in my face and I said, ‘Mam, that’s a Newfoundland dog. That’s not a bear. It might lick you to death.’”
Luby said people visit the Irish Loop for all sorts of reasons, including the whale and puffin tours, the Colony of Avalon archaeological site and the fossils at the Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve. “There are quite a number of people who search for their Irish roots,” he added. “They come here looking to find perhaps which cemetery may contain a certain family name… And we put about 100,000 people each season on the east Coast Trail alone… And they get hungry and they want to go kayaking… there’s lots to see and do.”
St. Mary's Bay councils come to aid of plant workers
Several dozen workers who didn’t get enough hours of work to qualify for employment insurance benefits at the Deep Atlantic Seafoods fish plant in St. Mary’s this past summer are finally getting help thanks to the efforts of local town councils.
Many of the workers were laid off as early as April, reportedly because the plant’s owner could not source enough crab from fishermen. The workers went without income until a few weeks ago when councils in St. Mary’s, Gaskiers-Point la Haye, Riverhead and St. Vincent’s-St. Stephen’s-Peter’s River managed to secure provincial government funding for community work projects. The money is being provided under the Community Economic Enhancement Program.
Gaskiers-Point La Haye Mayor Pearl Kieley said her town council has created jobs for 13 of the plant workers in her town. “They’re doing work around the community including renovations to our Community Hall,” Kieley said. “And they’re cleaning up around our water line system. They’re kept busy and at least they’ll get their stamps for this year.”
St. Mary’s Mayor Keith Bowen doesn’t return telephone calls so it’s unclear how many plant workers the council there has managed to employ with the CEEP funding. Kieley reckoned the number at a dozen. St. Vincent’s-St. Stephen’s-Peter’s River is employing about 13 people, she said, while Riverhead has one.
Kiely said a couple of people in her community didn’t manage to get CEEP work so she is hoping the town can get funding for another project. When people can’t get enough hours of work during the summer, there isn’t much work locally at other things that they can pick up, she noted.
Kiely is worried about the future of the St. Mary’s plant, which is the main employer in the region, though many workers have moved on to jobs in other places the last few years or taken jobs locally working in home care. She is also worried that given the state of the provincial government’s finances, it may be harder to get CEEP funding next year.
“It’s a lot of money for these three towns after coming in,” Kiely said. “If the plant doesn’t open next year, I don’t know what will happen.”
Stella Maris' success proves small schools make good things happen
In 1979, when Kevin Ryan started teaching in Trepassey, enrollment at Stella Maris Central High and Holy Redeemer Elementary totalled 732 students. Today there is one school from Kindergarten to Grade 12, Stella Maris Academy, which serves students from St. Shotts to Portugal Cove South. The student population is 40.
“There were lots of families and lots of children,” Ryan says of his early years teaching in what was one of Newfoundland’s busiest fish processing towns. “It’s a different scenario (now).”
The fish plant and trawler fleet was closed in 1991, taking hundreds of jobs. Many working age residents had to take their children and move away for work on the mainland. But Trepassey and the towns around it survived.
Ryan argues a small school is not necessarily a bad thing. “All of my students who did public exams this year did very well,” he notes. “Ninety-eight per cent of the kids succeeded here because they’ve got a small school. Like they say, ‘good things happen in small schools.’”
Though he is principal, Ryan reckons he spends 70 per cent of his time teaching. Much of the administrative work he does after hours at home.
Last year, Ryan taught all three levels of the World Geography course in a multi age classroom. “They (the students) beat the provincial average by nine points,” he says. “And five of those people had over 90.”
Ryan says even though the school is down in enrollment and there aren’t as many teachers as years ago, Stella Maris is still able to offer the curriculum students need to move on to post-secondary education after they graduate. To accomplish that, Ryan, who includes himself among the school’s 5.8 ‘teaching units,’ has to work a little harder and plan a little harder.
Some high school courses, including honours math, French and some of the sciences, are offered by distance education. But the students do well.
“There’s an attitude and the attitude is we’re here and we’re here to stay,” Ryan says. “Just because we haven’t got the numbers doesn’t mean we can’t do well.”
There is no Kindergartner this year, but a student has signed up for next year. The school runs four home rooms: Kindergarten to Grade 3 in one room, Grades 4 to 6, Grades 7 to 9 and everything higher in the fourth room. Stella Maris has been operating with multi age classrooms for years. Kindergarten students generally stay for the full day and thrive. The older students seem to benefit from serving as role models for the younger students.
“The younger you are, the more benefit you get,” Ryan adds,” because you see the older ones doing similar things to you, but at a higher level.”
This year, Ryan is teaching Grades 7, 8 and 9 math the one time. He expects the younger students will pick up a lot of the concepts the older students are learning and by being exposed to it for a couple of extra years, they will excel by the time they reach Grade 9. “There’s something to be said for the multi-aging,” he says.
In a school of 40, everybody knows each other, Ryan adds. If someone is down, there is someone to pick him up. “It’s almost like family,” he says.
The principal, who commutes from Fermeuse every day, is confident that as long as there are students in the region there will be a Stella Maris.
“I’m very confident of that, not just because of the distance, but because of the geography,” Ryan says.
Trepassey is flanked on both sides by 20 to 30 kilometres of windswept barrens –between Cappahayden and Portugal Cove South on one side and from Trepassey to Peter’s River on the other. It doesn’t take much snow to create blizzard conditions. That would mean a good many days during winter when students would not be able attend any school in Ferryland or St. Mary’s if they were to be bussed that far.
“There are an awful lot of parents who have said to me they would never put their children on a bus on those barrens in the winter time,” Ryan admits. “And in my estimation they would lose more schooling than they would gain. There has been absolutely no talk of amalgamating or closing this school.”
The above average achievement extends beyond academics to the gymnasium and sports field and to things like art, public speaking and music. Stella Maris students routinely win regional and provincial awards for their talents and efforts.
“It is a special school,” says Ryan. “It is a special place. It is heartwarming. I could have retired quite a while ago. This is my 38th year and teachers generally retire after 30 years. I keep coming back because this is an awesome place to teach students. You see so much going on it’s amazing. And I suppose as long as I can still see the lights coming on in students’ eyes, it will keep drawing me back.”
Over the years, many Stella Maris students have gone to great success stories, Ryan says. “People have graduated Stella Maris who became doctors,” he says. “There are three that I know of. And there’s two lawyers and more engineers than you can shake a stick at.”
Ryan says the students know that once they graduate they are probably going to have to move on to somewhere else for work. That influences their efforts too. Most move on to post-secondary education or training.
The principal is expecting good things from this year’s classes too.
“We’ve been defying expectations for years,” says the principal. “It’s done differently… but the results speak for themselves.”
