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Welcoming the cold
Editorial Comment
Roxanna Thompson
Deh Cho Drum
Thursday, November 22, 2007

There's nothing like a good dose of cold weather to get people in the North antsy.

If the stereotypes about Canadian winters are to be believed everyone hunkers down in their houses with a big pile of wood for their stove and are not seen again until the snow melts. But while some people don't enjoy winter a lot of people welcome it.

Maybe this is something that is unique to the North.

There seems to be a widespread feeling that if winter is going to arrive it might as well hurry up.

If the onset of winter means anything in the Deh Cho it's the dichotomy between freedom and isolation.

On one side are the communities where falling temperatures and water levels lead to ferry closures. In places like Fort Simpson and Wrigley you can drive around your community but unless you are springing for a helicopter ride or a plane ticket you can't go much farther.

On the other side, taking advantage of the winter, are locations like Nahanni Butte and Trout Lake, which finally get the opportunity to have road access to other communities. Sure you can still move in and out of these communities over the rest of the year but there's nothing quite like having a road.

So with winter closing its fingers around the Deh Cho and getting a good, strong grip, part of the population is hoping for cold weather so ice bridges will form while the other part is urging the mercury down so winter roads can be finished.

In how many other places in Canada can you hear people talking about how they hope it will get colder soon and stay that way?

Winter around here is expected to bring snow and cold temperatures in a timely manner.

The first to benefit from winter's snowflakes are the snowmobilers. As soon as there's just enough snow on the ground people are out zipping around. Not wanting to be left behind in the winter activities, this is the time of year that people set up a 24-hour watch on local skating rinks.

While ice for an ice bridge is one thing, ice for a skating rink is almost as important, if not more. With only so many months to pack their favourite winter sports into, hockey players, speed skaters and figure skaters are all eyeing the edge on their skates while curlers can't wait to feel the heft of a rock.

It's the smaller communities that often luck out in this race. With simpler outdoor ice rinks that don't require a whole building to cool to the right temperature, ice is on the ground faster.

Nahanni Butte is a poster child for ice creation this year. With snowmobilers already making their way across the river, a newly-constructed ice rink is drawing out most of the community. With pickup games happening almost every evening, the rink is the place to be right now in Nahanni Butte.

Winter just isn't right in the North without ice. So while the rest of Canada shivers through the onset of winter, Northerners are waiting for colder temperatures and ice with impatient arms.


No cheap laughs
Editorial Comment
Philippe Morin
Inuvik News
Thursday, November 22, 2007

If you've been to the Midnight Sun Recreation Complex lately, you've probably seen posters advertising an appearance by Rick Mercer.

Let me confirm it now. Yes, it's true.

The cheerful and sarcastic CBC comedian will perform two nights of standup in June as the main headliner at this year's eighth annual Petroleum Show.

So is Inuvik becoming more popular?

Has the petroleum show become big enough to attract "A-List" Canadian talent?

Not exactly.

Rick Mercer is coming to town because council is paying him $50,000.

(I guess once you bring Prime Minister Paul Martin to Canadian Tire on television, your get to charge whatever you like.)

Inuvik Mayor Derek Lindsay - himself a quick-witted comedian, as you all know - thinks it's a good investment.

He said Mercer will bring in more delegates, more attention and attract bigger sponsors.

And since the town's budget for the petroleum show is about $300,000, he it's not disproportionate to spend one sixth on a headliner.

"This will subsidize itself 100 per cent," he said on Nov. 19.

While I am a big fan of Mercer's comedy, I am surprised at the dollar amounts involved.

I mean, $50,000 for two nights? What's being planned for the 50th anniversary, Led Zeppelin?

While I look forward to Mercer's jokes, I think it's important to consider what else $50,000 could buy.

Could we have not paid for an extra recreation co-ordinator or a street cleaner to remove graffiti?

Maybe we could have spent the money on addictions counselling or assistance to local elders.

Whitehorse has some beautiful painted murals, how about one here?

If the petroleum show had to be scaled back a little bit and we hired the North of Normal theatre group instead of Rick Mercer - I think people would understand.

While Mercer will probably be hilarious in June, he'll be back in Toronto before the laughter dies down.

I just hope his appearance will have been worth the money.

***

Inuvik Drum editor Dez Loreen is on vacation and will return in early December.


Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Hire more firefighters

When Yellowknifer asked city councillors for a 2008 budget wishlist earlier this month, it wasn't surprising to see them ponder a number of lofty goals.

After all, wish lists are just that. They're not a list of needs but things to wish for. However, now that council is set to begin budget deliberations, the pipedreaming better come to an end.

The pressing needs must be brought to the forefront because there is one area in the city's budget that's sorely lacking.

Craig Halifax, president of the union representing Yellowknife's fire department says they're understaffed. The city was supposed to hire two additional firefighters next year but they were cut from the draft budget.

Without more firefighters, Halifax says the department risks being caught in a "life and death situation" where they won't have enough staff to effectively cover more than one fire at a time.

Without a contract since 2005 and in the midst of arbitration with the city, it would be easy to dismiss the union as simply trying to negotiate more favourable terms through the media, but staff shortages at the fire department have been chronic for some time now.

An operational review in 2002 found the fire department, with 16 full-time positions, was short by 12. The city hired four more the following year but the fire department has been stuck with 20 full-time firefighters and 20 paid-on-call volunteers ever since.

To illustrate how badly staffed the fire department really is, one needs to look no farther than Whitehorse, the capital city of neighbouring Yukon.

On the surface, staffing levels there appear comparative for its size. The city has 20 full-time firefighters and 30 paid-on-call volunteers to serve its population of 24,000, which is about 5,000 more people than in Yellowknife.

There are some big differences, however. Unlike Yellowknife, Whitehorse firefighters do not handle ambulance services. That's run by a separate division with the Yukon territorial government.

Not only that, but Whitehorse's firefighters have a lot more resources to draw upon in terms of bodies on the ground. Their department is bolstered by a mutual aid agreement with five outlying communities within an hour's drive of Whitehorse, all of which have volunteer fire departments with at least a dozen members each.

Most telling of all is the number of calls the Whitehorse fire department handles per year - 500, according to the department.

The Yellowknife fire department answers 3,500 calls a year, mostly for ambulance service and fires, and not just in Yellowknife but on the Ingraham Trail and Highway 3 as well. City hall has mismanaged the fire department for years. Their poor safety and training record prior to the deaths of firefighters Lt. Cyril Fyfe and Kevin Olson in 2005 will cost ratepayers to the tune of $300,000, which the Worker's Compensation Board ordered the city to set aside for a training fund following a court settlement last year.

It's up to city council to put the city's priorities back on track. Although a fieldhouse, a composting program, or a social plan to deal with downtown crime and addictions sounds nice, these aren't the city's immediate priorities.

The first priority of council is to make sure the roads are paved, the sewers work, and above all, the citizens are kept safe.


Nunavut's dike is bursting
Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News
Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Premier Paul Okalik has become Nunavut's version of the little Dutch boy and he's run out of fingers trying to plug the numerous holes in the territory's political dike.

And more holes seem to appear every day.

Okalik has more than his share of political slugs at his disposal, but they leave a slimy trail on everything they touch and don't have the consistency needed to stem the rising tide of dirty water.

Much like a desperate general trying in vain to prop up his crumbling front lines, Okalik has taken to ordering his reserves to the front in hopes they may somehow figure out a way to close the flood gates left open by a string of bad decisions.

But the most Okalik's captains will be able to do for their general is buy him some time, and time is quickly running out on this government.

Okalik, in addition to being premier and the MLA for Iqaluit West, also holds five different ministerial portfolios.

He simply cannot spread himself any thinner and, behind closed doors, probably came to the realization long ago that he has taken on too much to be effective on all fronts.

So, the premier continues on with his high-stakes game of Risk, moving the director of Nunavut's devolution division, John Lamb, up to replace the former executive assistant to Finance Minister David Simailak, let go after the top blew off the simmering pot of financial goo referred to as the Nunavut Business Credit Corp.

Not a bad move, really, considering Simailak has certainly shown he's in definite need of an extraordinary assistant, and the feds aren't prepared to enter into serious devolution negotiations right now anyway.

Okalik also moved four deputy ministers onto the Credit Corp's board to see if they can work a little magic during the next year to clean up the mess left behind by their predecessors.

Then you have the humour of House Leader Ed Picco jumping to defend embattled Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq, as at least two MLAs called for her resignation.

Picco shivers every time Okalik looks in his direction because he has no desire to reclaim his old portfolio of Health minister, so it's far safer for him if Aglukkaq keeps her position.

Equally humorous was Aglukkaq scolding members for hinting that a minister might show a bit of favouritism for their own riding.

Like that's never happened in the history of Canadian politics.

And, of course, while all this plays out, Community and Government Services Minister Levinia Brown keeps her head down and thinks to herself: Been there. Done that.

All that was missing from Iqaluit's political version of Barnum and Bailey this past sitting was an election on the horizon.

Were that the case, Rankin Inlet North MLA Tagak Curley would most certainly have stood in the legislative assembly, flashed his charming smile at Okalik and politely asked, "Ready for our rematch?"

Sadly, being so busy with all his fingers plugging holes in Nunavut's crumbling political dike, the premier wouldn't even have been able to give Curley his reply.