News feature: postcard from the ledge

An in-depth look at Ontario's manufacturing crisis

By Jamie Sturgeon
News editor, Humber Et Cetera
12-15-2007

On a frigid but sunny Saturday afternoon in late November, Ed Patersen pulled into the empty parking lot of auto parts-maker Dura in the cottage town of Bracebridge, Ont.

Patersen, a nine-year veteran at the plant and current chairperson of the Canadian Auto Workers Local 61 agreed to meet that day to discuss an unsettling topic to him and many others in town.

On Dec. 31, Bracebridge’s largest employer, Dura Automotive Systems, will permanently close its doors, leaving hundreds of workers without incomes, and a considerable void in the economy of the town of 15,000 roughly two hours north of Toronto.

The decision to close the plant was made in April, six months after the Rochester Hills, Mi.-based company filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States.

"We were just shocked. As soon as they mentioned the plant was closing down, production just went for a slide,” Patersen, 50, says. "I'm going to miss the people."

Times were not always this grim though.

In 2004, production at the plant was booming. Employment was at an all-time high with 535 workers churning out thousands of seating systems — what Patersen calls “sliders” — a week for General Motors and Ford vehicles.

"We were the main place," Patersen (photo right) says of the plant in Bracebridge. "They called us the centre of expertise. We did everything up here."

The plant was one of three facilities that made Dura's sliders, with a second located in Illinois and a third in Tennessee. It was also the company's main research and development centre since Dura took it over from competitor Meritor Automotive Canada Inc. five years earlier in 1999, according to Patersen.

Yet by early 2005, a host of challenging economic conditions began to beset not only the automotive industry but most manufacturers in Canada and the U.S.

High energy costs, spurned by surging demand for oil around the world, were beginning to cut into operating expenses in North America. At the same time, the loonie was quickening its ascent against the U.S. dollar, making it even more expensive to produce things in this country.

"When we were at our peak and the loonie was around 75-cents [U.S.], things were great," Patersen says. "When the dollar started escalating, especially in the last six months [with the Canadian dollar reaching parity with the greenback], it got worse and worse.

"They just kept letting contracts run out," he says. "And every time that a contract ran out, there'd be layoffs."

By the middle of 2005, five major North American auto part-makers had filed for bankruptcy protection in the U.S. It was also at this time that Dura announced it had lost a vital contract with major trading partner Lear Corp.

"We didn't have anything to replace it," Patersen says. "We kind of knew we weren't getting new business in. We were hoping and hoping we'd get some, but it never came."

By October 2006, Dura itself was seeking bankruptcy protection. In Bracebridge, successive waves of layoffs ensued at the plant as business dried up, Patersen says. The final round was completed this October with 40 of the most senior workers being dismissed for good.

Ivar Plavinskis, is one of the more recent layoffs. Plavinskis, 52, is a millwright who has spent the last 13 years as the custodian of the plant's machinery, ensuring the line ran smoothly.

Plavinskis’s home lies on the outskirts of town, where an enormous transport trailer idles on the edge of the lane leading up to his family’s home.

He’s fortunate. His future at least has some certainty, even if it comes at the price of moving across the country.

Plavinskis has found work maintaining a grain elevator in Nampa, Ab., a small town roughly 500 kilometres north of Edmonton. In two days, Plavinskis, with his wife and teenage daughter will set out in the transport for the long drive west.

"I'm disappointed but I'm not devastated that the plant closed," he says. "I'm a journeyman millwright. The term journeyman means, guess what, you go where the work is.

“I’m sad of course, but I’m still looking at this as an adventure.”

Yet Plavinskis says he sympathizes with the scores of workers who do not have the option of finding comparable work, especially longtime ones who have little training beyond the low-level labour required at Dura.

"I feel sorry for the people that went into [the plant] as there very first job and have no other experience in anything," he says. "They've spent the last 25 years working there and their only real skill is the ability to work a production line.

"For them, it's going to be incredibly difficult to find a job they feel is suitable. And trying to match the money is going to be impossible."

The average pay at Dura, like the majority of manufacturing jobs in Canada, was around $20 an hour. Almost a full dollar higher than the national average, according to the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC).

Yet it’s precisely manufacturing jobs that have been hit hardest from the impact of a high dollar and rising energy prices.The CLC reported in August that Ontario has shed over 160,000 high-wage manufacturing jobs since 2002.

More disconcerting though, is the anticipated doubling of that number over the next two years according to the Canadian Auto Workers.

Like dozens of other communities across the province that have seen once stable jobs disappear over the last few years, a challenging transition confronts many in Bracebridge.

Yet Patersen seems accepting if not welcoming of it. "I have no hard feelings for anyone up in that building," he says of the plant’s management. "I mean, you draw a line in the sand and that's it. You can be upset, but it's the way it is."

It’s a sentiment seemingly shared Dan Brooks, Dura’s vice-president and general manager in Bracebridge. "I'm very sad about the closure," the 52-year-old says in a telephone interview a few days later. "It was a great plant and a great group of people. And I'm extremely proud of how everyone has handled it."

As for the other two facilities south of the border, Patersen says they'll remain open for now, but he "doesn't know for how long, either."

Patersen's fate, he says, is now tied to the emerging resort and cottage industry in Muskoka. He is a bartender at Taboo Resort Golf and Spa, a waterside luxury golf resort where his wife also works as an event coordinator.

He's also mulling over the idea of returning to school at Georgian College in Barrie, where his daughter lives, to study hotel management and administration.

"What we've got here are resorts now," he says. "It's a service economy. If you check the papers, they’re looking for people."

Still, the majority of workers haven’t been as fortunate.

Of the 245 employees who have been laid off in the last year, only 30 have found other full-time work according to statistics released by the town in October.

Despite this, Patersen says there isn't a sense of urgency yet, noting the sparse use of the employment centre set up in town by the provincial government in the wake of the impending closure.

Severance pay, he says, is helping to soften the blow at present. "Right now there's not a lot of panic.”

"In six months to a year though," Plavinskis cuts in, "it's going to be a different story."

Opinion: Manufacturing meltdown requires new vision

Intensifying global forces are aligning to gut Ontario's manufacturing sector, yet Humber may have found a way the province can push back

By Jamie Sturgeon
News Editor, Humber Et Cetera

It was the classical sage Heraclitus that imparted to us at the very outset of civilization some two and a half thousand years ago that nothing endures but change.

There are scores of jobless workers in present-day Ontario who can vividly attest to that.

Far removed from the heady haze of ancient history, the province’s manufacturing sector now lies writhing under the old philosopher’s maxim.

Since 2002, Canada has lost roughly 290,000 manufacturing jobs, with Ontario absorbing over two-thirds of that sum.

The closing of a handful of auto parts plants as well as layoffs at automaker Chrysler in Brampton added thirty five hundred more names to the list of casualties in October alone.

One in seven of the province’s manufacturing jobs has been lost in the last five years.

The forecast is equally bleak. Between 100,000 and 150,000 additional jobs will likely be lost by the end of 2008, according to a report by JP Morgan Chase Canada last week.

The culprit? Well, there are many according to the muddled opinions of economists. A soaring loonie making Canadian goods more expensive on the international market is one.

The equally meteoric rise in the cost of oil is also putting pressure on firms’ operating expenses, resulting in layoffs. Oil, now trading in the mid-$90 (U.S.) per barrel range has been on a sharp rise since the beginning of the decade.

Yet the prime mover in the evaporation of Ontario’s manufacturing sector is the entrance of emerging markets like China and India into the global economy. Quite simply, it costs far less to make something in these countries than it does in Ontario.

This isn’t a new revelation, but the confluence of a high dollar, rising energy costs and increased competition abroad can be attributed to the muscling in of these new players, and it’s taking a far greater toll than ever before.

The suggested recourse from academia is for Canada’s companies to become more innovative and improve product quality and variety to gain a new competitive edge. A change that is much easier said than done.

Yet if this is Ontario’s solution, it begins with a more educated workforce that is skilled in advanced technologies. Thankfully, Ontario’s colleges may be helping the province make this transition.

Humber, among a handful of other schools, made the news last week for its efforts to promote a new polytechnic vision for post-secondary education.

Touted as a “third pillar” alongside universities and traditional colleges, Humber’s polytechnic vision is focused on investment into applied research. Its new green building technologies program may be an example of this.

It’s a vision that should be applauded and vigorously pursued.

As American folk singer Bob Dylan — another sage of a more recent vintage — aptly advices, “You’d better start swimming or you'll sink like a stone. For the times, they are a changing.”

-30-

News: Provincial election round-table

As results began to trickle in, we asked how you voted

From left: Mark Liotta, 20, Jamie Sturgeon (reporter), Mark Cumbo, 26, Mike Mitchell, 18, Garland Anthony, 21, foreground. photo/Drew de Souza

By Jamie Sturgeon, Humber Et Cetera
Oct. 11, 2007, 4:49 p.m.

Last night the Ontario Liberal Party won the provincial election by a convincing margin, taking 71 ridings out of possible 107, leaving the Progressive Conservatives with 26, New Democrats 10, and the Green Party once again shut out of Parliament.

As voting stations wound down the counting across the province, the Humber Et Cetera invited four Humber students to weigh in on how the did — or did not — vote.

Of the four that agreed to participate, three voted while one did not. Of those three, two voted Liberal and one NDP.

Marc Cumbo’s vote for the Liberals was more a vote against the PCs than in favour of the Liberals, he said.

“I voted primarily to keep the conservative candidate from winning in my riding,” the 26-year-old paralegal studies student and Humber Student Federation board member said last night.

Cumbo added that he expected Premier Dalton McGuinty and the Liberals to “marginally improve things” this time around. “Which is better than destroying things.”

The other Liberal vote in the group went to Mike Mitchell, an 18-year-old business administration student.

“I thought the previous years before the conservatives came to power, [the Liberals] had done a pretty good job anyways,” he said, adding that in general he aligns himself more with a Liberal outlook than a conservative one.

The lone New Democrat vote belonged to Mark Liotta, a 20-year-old general arts and science student.

“I voted NDP because I’m sick of Dalton McGuinty and his broken promises,” he said.

Garland Anthony, 21, did not vote yesterday out of a reluctance to participate in the current system, he said.

“I didn’t vote because of my ideology,” said the third-year film student. “I consider voting now a compromise. I don’t agree with any of the policies the major parties have to offer, so why should I give them my vote and help them win?” Anthony said.

Anthony added that he had intentions of voting in the electoral referendum also taking place last night, but found out too late that it was being held on the same date.

“I would have voted in the referendum and I would have supported it.”

The referendum, where voters were asked to decided by between the current system called first-past-the-post and a alternative system called mixed-member-proportional would see parties receive seats in Parliament based on their percentage of the popular vote as well as electing winners from individual ridings.

It’s a fairer system according to Cumbo, and may have persuaded him to vote for a smaller party had it already been in use.

“If we had the extra [option] on the ballot this time, I may have voted NDP or even Green,” Cumbo said. “But voting for either of those parties currently would have been futile.”

Yet, he also said that voting in any system was an important thing to do.

“You have to vote,” Cumbo said.

“Elections affect you. Even if you vote against somebody and not for someone else, like I did, you’re still affecting the way the province will be run.”

-30-

Editorial: Tory's instincts are right, his solution is not

The Ontario PC leader has dug his own grave by attempting to answer a difficult question on education with the wrong answer

By James Sturgeon, Op-Ed Editor, Humber Et Cetera

Progressive Conservative leader John Tory certainly painted himself into a tight corner over the past few months after pledging to publicly fund an assortment of faith-based private schools a cornerstone of his campaign.

His pledge to inject $400-million of public funds into private Hindu, Sikh, Christian, Islamic and Jewish schools alongside the annual ante for Ontario’s public and Catholic school systems has become his Achilles heel in recent weeks, creating a comfortable 10-point margin between his PCs and the leading Liberals.

His pledge has been denounced as divisive and politically motivated by both the NDP and Liberals.

Even members of his own party have broken rank to oppose to it.

It is little wonder than, that Tory backed off the promise on Monday, saying that, if elected premier, he would allow a free vote in Queen’s Park determine the outcome.

He shouldn’t have to worry about that.

The overwhelming opinion of political pundits across the province is unanimous; the damage caused by the issue has doomed him, even with Monday’s abrupt about-face.

Yet the promise did serve to expose a colossal flaw in Ontario's education system.

At the heart of Tory’s proposal was a purported allegiance to “fairness.” Fairness to the 53,000 private religious school students who must pay for the entirety of their education, while the 625,000 Catholic school students ride for free.

Yet what of fairness for the 2.1 million public school students in Ontario who’s families would be on the hook for an enlarged separate system? Is it fair to fund a system that fosters exclusivity yet makes demands on all Ontarians?

“We still do need to address the issue of fairness and inclusion in our school system, and I stand by that,” he said shortly after the press conference on Monday.

He too is right, though. It is his solution that is wrong.

The opinion of this newspaper is that sooner or later, Ontario will be forced to grapple with the impossible task of funding all faith-based private schools, or none at all.

And, to cordially endorse a recent Toronto Star editorial, “On that day, Ontarians should be ready with a single secular public education system that will welcome all students, whatever their beliefs.”

Opinion: Future of Ontario's democracy rests with you

On Oct. 10, we face a decision that carries far more weight than who we elect to power

James Sturgeon
Op-ed senior editor, Humber Et Cetera
Sept. 27, 2007


Unbeknownst to at least a few of Humber's eligible electorate, Oct. 10 marks a watershed moment in Ontarian democracy.

There is, of course, the provincial election, where voters will head to the polls to determine who will govern the province for the next four years.

Yet also on the ballot will be question with a far greater scope: are you content with the current voting system, or would you prefer a new one?

This referendum is by no means anything to shrug at.

One outcome will entrench an archaic, outdated and unrepresentative system for the foreseeable future, while the other will serve to broaden representation in Queen’s Park and create a more stable policy trajectory.

The current system, called first-past-the-post (FPTP), is a colonial hangover from Ontario’s Dominion forebearer, Upper Canada.

Since 1792—over 200 years ago—FPTP has been our prevailing system, where the person who wins the highest number of votes within their constituency, wins that riding.

The alternative, dubbed mixed-member-proportional (MMP), is a blend of FPTP and proportional representation, a system where the number of seats in the legislature allotted to a given party reflects the percentage of votes they’ve received overall, irrespective of individual success in any one riding.

What does this actually mean, though?

To use an example, the Green Party, who are continually shut out of Queen’s Park because they can never muster enough votes in any one riding to win it yet have received between one and three per cent of the popular vote in the last two elections, would be guaranteed seats based on that percentage.

To be sure, the legislature’s 107 seats would grow to 129 to make room for MPPs who are awarded seats by the popular vote, leading some to decry the new system as more expensive and cumbersome (www.nommp.ca).

It may be at times, but so what?

Volumes could be written of examples of how MMP is a more stable—and democratic—model:
In every single nation that MMP has moved into, women’s participation has ballooned.

In Wales 50 per cent of their parliament are women; The Swedish Riksdag sits at 43 per cent; in New Zealand, 29, while just under 40 per cent of the Scottish Parliament are women.

Under the creaking apparatus of FPTP, only 18 per cent of Ontario’s legislature is female.

If you’ve caught on to the trend above, many of those nations have their political roots in British imperialism of the 18th and 19th centuries. South Africa moved into a form of proportional representation in 1980—well before the sickening Apartheid was abolished in 1994.

What’s more, MMP makes majority governments much more difficult to attain. No one party can dominate parliament in between elections.

This means that disruptive swings in policy like the massive tax cuts under the Harris conservatives in the 1990s followed by tax increases by the McGuinty Liberals will likely be replaced by greater co-operation between a broader party base, making for more stable and lasting legislation.

So why is Ontario holding on to this relic? Complacency?

A brief (and by no means absolute) sampling across North campus drew the usual blank expressions that are found when the unglamourous topic of politics is drummed up.

A few students—three of 12—had some inkling of the referendum between the two systems, but most did not.

On Oct. 10, you’ll be asked to make an informed decision on the future of Ontario’s democracy.

Whether you decide to vote for a particular party or not is your call.

But beyond your personal politics lies a civic responsibility to vote for the best way to administer democracy in Ontario, and that vote lies with MMP.

You can find more information on the referendum at Elections Ontario’s non-partisan website (www.yourbigdecision.ca).

GTA Business News extractions (2 articles)

I’ve realized that I am incapable of resisting the urge to post until the fall.

I’m adding two previously published articles from the GTA Business News – the ‘regional business journal’ I had the interesting experience of working for in the spring.

The first article focuses on Loblaws Co.’s impending development of Maple Leaf Gardens into a retail outlet and museum.

The second is on the online retailing evolution of Canada’s largest aquatic retailer. Yup, you guessed right. None other than Woodbridge's own Big Al’s Aquatic Services, Ltd.

Game on for Gardens makeover
By James Sturgeon, GTA Business News

April, 23, 2007 -- It seems that Loblaw Cos. Ltd. finally has a game plan in place to redevelop Maple Leaf Gardens.

After years of lying vacant aside from the occasional movie shoot, the historic arena at the corner Carleton and Gerrard Streets will begin it’s transformation in the coming months, according to Loblaw spokesperson Elizabeth Margles.

Margles confirmed last week that the grocery store chain plans to begin preparing the site for redevelopment this summer.

From there, the current plan would see the doors open on a 150,000 sq. ft. Loblaw retail venue, parking facility and museum sometime in 2009.

Questions surrounding the future of the iconic landmark began to surface again in late February when Loblaw’s held its annual investors meeting there.

Although no formal announcement was made by the company at the meeting, it was intended to make a point.

“We held the event there to reinforce our commitment to developing the site,” Margles said.

“They’re moving forward, that’s for sure,” said David Crombie, the president and CEO of the Canadian Urban Institute, the organization Loblaw’s is consulting with on the cultural preservation of the site.

“There was lots of work that needed to be done. There were many planning issues that had to be dealt with by the city.”

“It’s a lot better to do it right the first time around,” Crombie added.

The company acquired the building from Maple Leaf Sport and Entertainment in 2004.

That same year, Toronto city council approved a plan to designate and renovate the site into a retail location under Loblaw’s design.

But while there has been a flurry of speculations and proposals regarding a possible project ever since, there has been no significant activity there.

Yet Crombie said that delays were inherent in a project of this magnitude.

“People think this is instant and it’s not,” he said. “(Loblaw) had to go through the normal city hall mill of making sure everything is consistent with the city’s policies.”

“It’s major adaptive reuse of a cultural icon in this city.”

“I don’t think there have been any hindrances in the development of the site from our perspective,” Margles added.

“Its people that are outside of the process that feel that we aren’t doing things when and the way they would want to see them done.”

Critics of the plan have bemoaned the idea of transforming the hockey shrine that housed the Maple Leafs for over 68 years into what is essentially a grocery store.

However, Margles was adamant that Loblaw’s was devoted to ensuring the building’s history is preserved.

“What we want people to understand is that we are absolutely committed to maintaining the legacy of Maple Leaf Gardens.

“We’re as much invested in the building as everyone else," she said.

"We’re Canadians, we grew up here too.”

According to Crombie, a critical component of the latest project is a proposed museum in the southeast corner of the building that would enshrine the history and grandeur of the Gardens into the future of the building.

“It’s a great story, and certainly Loblaw’s is dedicated to ensuring that story is perpetuated,” Crombie said.

Crombie also made clear that Loblaw’s plans to keep the complete external architecture of the building intact.

With a tangible plan set to get underway, Crombie said he anticipates that Loblaw’s will begin spreading the message about the development.

“They’ll probably start some drumbeat [next year] to let people know that the opening is coming,” he said.

“This is a big deal. The plan is to make it a magnificent store.”

Big Al's online move pays off big
by James Sturgeon, GTA Business News

May 5, 2007 -- Way back in 1999, Big Al’s Aquatic Services Ltd., a Woodbridge-based pet and hobby retailer took a gamble and began plying its wares through a burgeoning new medium in the Internet.

Today, the simplest of web searches on Google will provide all the evidence needed to see how that gamble has paid off.

Type ‘Big Al’s’ into any search engine and you’ll quickly find yourself at the homepage of Big Al’s, now Canada’s largest aquatic retailer.

Big Al’s operates 20 retail stores across Canada and the U.S., with five in the Greater Toronto Area.

However, perhaps the most tantalizing success of the company comes from its move into Web-retailing—which accounts for 15 per cent of overall sales now, making the 30-year-old company the largest online retailer in its field in Canada.

“Back in the early part of 1999 we realized online was growing tremendously,” said Dan Hamilton, the company’s director of Internet sales, and the mastermind behind the move.

“We had a basic website for the corporation but we realized that we had to take advantage of what is available online. It presented a big market for us to sell in.”

Hamilton set up a website that could offer store products to online customers, and established the delivery of ordered items through the Canada Post.

It was a move that “expanded (Big Al’s) reach beyond just the stores,” he said.

It was also a move that, in part, led the company to open up a colossal 106,000 square-foot distribution centre in Woodbridge in 2005 to handle Big Al’s store inventory as well as the growing number of online orders.

“It’s great,” Hamilton said. “We now have the ability to receive product, package and deliver direct to our online consumers.”

Yet Hamilton admits, the company wasn’t flooded with online orders at first, stating that the company received only about 26 in the first month.

That may have been a blessing in disguise according to Hamilton though, as the spectacular meltdown of Web-based retailing in 2000—the so-called Dot-com Crash— led to many major firms (mostly in the United States) dissolving.

“We got into it just before the bubble burst, but at the time we were just starting to grow. We didn’t have millions of dollars invested in development so we rode through it pretty much unscathed,” he said. “We came out the other side and have done pretty well.”

Hamilton went on to say though that the Dot-com Crash was important for Big Al’s in two ways.

The first was that despite the failure of some enormous companies south of the border, the concept of online shopping became imprinted on the mainstream consumer consciousness.

“People that maybe had never considered buying pet supplies online before said ‘Hey, let’s try that out,’” he said.

The second was that smaller players at the time, like Big Al’s, quickly filled the vacuum left by the departed giants like U.S.-based pets.com.

“In searching (for new suppliers), they saw there were other players out there. After the first year it really started to snowball.”

Hamilton said that over the last five years online sales have grown between 20 and 30 per cent annually, and that the company currently receives about 5,000 orders per month.

And while Hamilton did note that sales have begun to slightly plateau, the trend is still upward.

“The last year or two we have stabilized, but we’re still growing at a good rate. We’re just not seeing those double digit growth rates,” he said. “We’re finding the market in general, for everyone, is starting to flatten out just a bit.”

Part of that growth can be attributed to the growing list of products that Big Al’s carries at its Woodbridge distribution centre as a result, in part, of online feedback.

12,000 products are now listed in the company’s database, with about 2,000 items added in the last year alone.

“It opened the doors up on products that we didn’t have the demand for before, but now with the online (feedback) we do,” Hamilton said.

By tracking Web orders and receiving customer inquiries, the company is better able to get new products it knows its customers want without any guesswork.

“We get e-mails everyday from customers looking for products,” Hamilton said. “We can then offer a comparable product, or ask ourselves where is this product and why are we not carrying it?”

Another caveat of Big Al’s online presence is that it also helped build the company’s brand in areas where there was no brick-and-mortar retail store, and in turn, create the opportunity for the physical expansion there.

“We had customers that lived in Edmonton that would drive to our Calgary store to buy stuff, they then could go online, order it and didn’t have to drive three hours to get it to their house,” Hamilton said.

That was before Big Al’s opened up a store in Edmonton in 2002 though, a fact largely due to the company noticing through online orders that it was a market that could support a retail store.

Hamilton said that the same process—where Big Al’s brand presence online helped pave the way for a retail store—occurred in Montreal in 2004, and may do the same for Winnipeg in the near future if orders from the area continue to grow.

Hamilton went on to say that although Big Al’s has over 30 years of experience in the retail market, Web-retailing moves a lot quicker than conventional brick-and mortar operations.

“The online changes every year. What technology worked this year may not work the next. It’s always moving and you definitely need to stay out there—it doesn’t take long for you to be left behind,” he said.

“It means monitoring trends that are going on and getting out to conferences.”

It also means conducting—and paying for—research and technology as well as the manpower to keep pace.

With its latest hire of a Web marketing manager two weeks ago, Big Al’s currently employs over 20 full-time staff members in its online department, Hamilton said, to handle everything from order processing to marketing and site maintenance.

“I’m very happy with where we are right now,” he said, but added “there’s a lot more that we can do.”

While the success of the company over the last decade or so can not be wholly attributed to it’s online business—other areas, like expansion efforts, especially in the United States is a second factor—Big Al’s online plan was pivotal according to Hamilton.

“I wouldn’t say it is the single greatest business decision we’ve ever made, but it was a big, big decision for the company to make,” Hamilton said.

“There is still huge potential there.” he added. “We’ve only scratched the surface.”

"Experience is one thing you can't get for nothing." - Oscar Wilde

Summertime siesta

The weather is simply way too nice; the overwhelming appeal of patios and campfires means JS 2007 is temporarily adjourned.

The summer is at long last upon us and the urge to write has diminished significantly with its arrival.

Yet as always, there remains much to write about and much like Jack Black in 2002’s Orange County ( in the scene when he and Colin Hanks are speeding down some Californian highway toward Stanford in Hank’s last-gasp attempt to get in), “I’ve got all these ideas, man!”

The ebb and flow of 'news' continues to lurch forward regardless of our leisurely summertime distractions:

There will be many developments and events to occupy one's meandering thoughts over the next few months which will surely stoke the fire for future postings.

For now, I'm headed for the backyard with a book (The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins) and a cold drink. For the next couple of months at least, I'm hopeful that page time will win out over screen time.

I'm back at Humber in the fall, and am tremendously excited to be taking over the op-ed desk at the Et Cetera -- you will doubtlessly be able to find a link from here to the online page once we get our feet under ourselves in the newsroom.

See you then.

Easy,

-JS

Oh uh, PS, I encourage you, dear reader, to immediately order a subscription to the National Post.

"I've got a question for you. No, I've got something to say ...
dude, I get these ideas man, these ideas burnin' through my skull, buddy!"
-Jack Black in Orange County

Sports: Humber settles for bronze at Final Eight

A late offering from the end of the men's basketball season in March.

(Second-year guard Jadwey Hemmings, who had a great tournament, is seen to the left.)

Oshawa 03-08-07 -- Emotions were mixed after the Humber men’s basketball team beat the Algonquin Thunder 62-52 to capture the bronze medal at this year’s OCAA Final Eight provincial championships at Durham College in Oshawa last weekend.

Humber assistant coach Chris Cheng said the staff and team were “a little disappointed” with coming in third.

“We didn’t accomplish the goal we wanted to accomplish,” Cheng said.

“We came up short,” said second-year guard Kerlon Cadougan. “But it’s all right, that’s how it is.”

Head coach Darrell Glenn said nerves played a factor in how the Hawks finished. A combination of inexperience and the pressure of being two-time defending champions made the team a bit jittery.

“It was a lot for some of our guys to carry,” he said. “For many of them it was their first time being in this experience, and with being asked as much as we (the coaches) were asking for from this young team.”

It was a promising start to the weekend on Thursday, as the Hawks defeated the Niagara Knights 85-69 in the quarterfinals.

Hawk’s second-year guard and player of the game Jadwey Hemmings had a monstrous outing, scoring 19 points, grabbing 13 rebounds and dishing out 4 assists.

“He stepped up and showed why he’s our best all-around player,” Glenn said.

Four other Humber players also scored in double figures. Guards Mackenzie Milmine and Kerlon Cadougan netted 17 and 11 points apiece, while forward Chris Thompson scored 11 points while pulling down 8 boards.

Backup guard Jonathan Tyndale’s 12-point effort rounded out a Humber offence that Niagara simply couldn’t keep pace with.

“I’m that guy that’s supposed to come off the bench and just spark it,” Tyndale said. “I took it upon myself to get it going so the guys can feed off that energy.”

The Hawks faced a tougher opponent in the semifinals on Friday night, the fifth-ranked St. Lawrence Vikings.

Humber lost a close contest 72-68 on a night where they got to the line only 10 times while allowing the Vikings to score 21 points on free-throws.

“We were tight,” Glenn said. “That’s the way we were the night before and we never really shook that. I remember Chris [Thompson] saying to me after the first game that he was nervous the whole game – that’s a little unusual.”

Cadougan echoed Glenn's sentiments.

“We should have won that game,” Cadougan said. “We were too amped up against those guys.”

The loss wasn't due to a falloff in production though. Hemmings was outstanding again, scoring 18 points, while registering nine boards and five assists. Thompson also added 12 points and nine rebounds, while Milmine scored 15.

It wasn’t enough though, as St. Lawrence’s top three scorers of Milton Holness, Mathicu Riendeau and Jonathan Braun combined for 56 points.

“We got out-hustled,” Glenn said. “I would have rather lost knowing we had played our best game. I don’t think they played the Humber team that (we’ve) been all year.”

The loss meant Humber would have to settle for a bronze medal match-up against Algonquin on Saturday.

“This game is always hard to play, because you really have the mindset toward one goal,” Cheng said. “But we stayed positive.”

Humber came out strong in the contest, taking a 29-28 lead into the second half, and didn’t relinquish the lead the rest of the way.

Thompson and Cadougan led Humber’s offence with 14 points apiece, with Hemmings contributing 11 points, six boards and five assists in another solid effort.

“Overall it was a good season because our guys got exposed to not always winning all the time,” Cheng added. “It will hopefully give them some motivation this summer.”

Indeed, there's an air of optimism despite the bittersweet result of this tournament. Humber is likely to be a much more formidable opponent this time next year, with no less than ten players returning for the 2007-2008 season.

“This core of guys now have some great experience,” Glenn said. “If we can add a couple more key pieces and still have this core who will be in their third year, I’m really excited about where we’ll be.”

Yet, the focus for Humber’s players now will be final exams more than free throws according to Cadougan.

“I’ve got a test to worry about now," he said. "We all do.”

News: Regional business paper folds after two issues

Publication suspends operations after five weeks, decision infuriates staff

The first issue hit newsstands April 21st, the last employee left the offices of the GTA Business News two weeks later on May 7th (disclaimer: it was me).

"More than being a tad unjust to staff that was hired only weeks ago, it bespeaks of an egregious lack of foresight on the part of the owners in understanding what it takes to run a newspaper," said a reporter who refused to be identified.

"I'm mean, some people had turned down other great opportunities to work here, and after just weeks of full scale operations they decide to pull the plug? It's brutal," said another employee who also refused to be identified.

A lack of advertising interest is believed to have prompted the newspaper's decision to shut down. According to sources, there was not a single paid ad in either of the paper's two printed issues.

The GTA Business News was distributed to over 250 locations between Oshawa and Burlington and north to Newmarket, with a circulation of approximately 25,000.

Profile: Coach Glenn guides players on and off court

My last article from this year's Humber Et Cetera (published April 5):

There was a point last year when Chris Thompson, then in his rookie season as a forward for the Humber Hawks men’s basketball team, was on the brink of failing a course.

A philosophy class had got the better of him and it was clear to Thompson he was in trouble. Fortunately for the health and fitness student, head coach Darrell Glenn was in his corner. The third-year coach arranged for a tutor to get Thompson through the rough patch and back on track.

“He’s school first,” Thompson said, while doing schoolwork in the coach’s office last week. “We’re always in here doing our homework,” referring to the many student athletes found in the office on any given day.

Along with his bench boss duties for the Hawks, Glenn is Humber’s only academic adviser for varsity athletes, a job he relishes as much – if not more – than coaching basketball.

“As much as I’ve coached, for me, it’s more about teaching. I look at myself as a teacher first, because that’s what I am. That kind of transfers itself into me as a coach,” he said.

Glenn, also a teacher at Oakwood Collegiate secondary school in Toronto, is working through his second-year as an academic adviser at Humber. It’s a role he assumed after former men’s basketball coach and academic adviser Mike Katz left to coach at the University of Toronto in 2004.

When Katz left, the position seemed to get lost in the shuffle. However, Glenn quickly realized during his first year at the helm of the men’s basketball team that the void needed to be filled.

“We started to see a pattern among a lot of teams that we needed somebody here to help,” Glenn said.

That pattern was players being declared ineligible to play because of spotty school attendance from first-year athletes and poor performances in the classroom, according to Glenn. The solution was simple, reinstate the adviser role with a dedicated staff member on campus to provide some guidance.

“There needed to be somebody here for at least half the day that can look after the needs, or at least monitor academic progress,” he said.

After discussions with Humber athletic director Doug Fox last year, Glenn arranged to reduce his teaching load at Oakwood and become a paid academic adviser for Humber Athletics.

For Glenn, it means his mornings are spent teaching at Oakwood and afternoons spent at Humber helping varsity players, like Thompson, develop strategies for success. It begins with academic orientations at the beginning of first semester and continuing with informative workshops throughout the school year.

“Darrell’s run a number of sessions on time management, career development, financial advising – he’s tried to not just do academic advising, although that is his primary concern – but if a kid’s having problems then how do we arrange, get on top of this quickly and help this kid survive,” Fox said.

The biggest problem, according to Glenn, is the lack of appropriate preparation at the secondary school level for the pressures and demands that college brings.

“Let’s face it, I see this as a teacher, high school doesn’t prepare students for college or university in my opinion. High school does a lot of hand-holding. You get here and it’s every man for themselves and it’s a huge adjustment,” he said. “Some kids don’t make that adjustment well.”

Over the past two years, Glenn feels he’s making some progress. Thompson, for example, is now an honour roll student.

“We look at those kinds of successes and say, ‘Hey, this is working.’”

“There’s always gratitude,” Thompson said. “If there’s anyway we can help Coach, we try and help him as much as he helps us, whether it’s on the court or off the court. We’re all really grateful for what Coach does.”

Glenn stresses that he’s a resource for all varsity athletes though, not just those he coaches.

“This year, I’ve tried to build a better relationship with other sports. I’m starting to build a better rapport with other athletes, and they’re starting to feel more comfortable coming to see me about various problems.”

Fox said having Glenn fill the adviser role is a part of Humber’s plan to develop complete individuals.

“Our theme is building champions,” he said. “It’s building champions on the court and life as well. We’re trying to build people that walk out of here graduating with good grades and that are employable and with the proper character development.”

As for Glenn, his focus now is providing players with the guidance and advice they can use to get through final exams. Beyond that, he remains committed to Humber’s goal of preparing its athletes for the challenges they’ll face even after they graduate from school.

“We’re focused on preparing them for the next phase of their lives, when they leave Humber.”

- JS

Review: Smith's latest an unfulfilling pursuit

Pulled from a class assignment on arts reviews, a bit stale since the movie has been out for awhile but it was just released on DVD at my local Blockbuster, so thought I'd check it out:

In 2001, the author and journalist Barbara Ehrenreich published a book that documented a personal and investigative sortie of hers into the world of America’s working poor.

Ehrenreich’s book retraced a grueling three-month campaign where the author waited tables in the Florida Keys, scrubbed the bathrooms of Maine’s rich, and succumbed to working at a Wal-Mart in Minnesota, all in the author’s attempt to unearth just how the poor manage to get by.

What she found was “a thousand desperate stratagems for survival.”

Ehrenreich’s book is a marvelous tale of the human spirit’s indefatigable impulse to carry on. Cue the segue.

Fortunately for those who haven’t read her book or actually experienced the dearth of poverty first hand—which I hope is the very large majority of you—The Pursuit of Happyness starring Will Smith, provides a palatable if somewhat clichéd substitute for Ehrenreich’s revelation. With much less effort, too.

The Pursuit of Happyness is based on the real life story of San Franciscan Chris Gardner, a poor and downtrodden salesmen who—with what is seemingly his last death kick—manages to miraculously land a lucrative internship and eventual job at a downtown brokerage firm.

Yet in the process, Gardner’s wife leaves him, he and his son become homeless, Gardner faces tax seizure capped by a little jail time to round out the gamut of blows dealt to him. However, this being a story fit for a motion picture, Gardner and son emerge victorious after he gets the job, and both go on to enjoy a comfortable life free from want.

OK, heartwarming. Uplifting…I guess.

If your moral compass points you toward the pursuit of money as the panacea to life’s challenges, this will inspire you.

You’ll relate to the epiphanal moments of the picture, when Gardner sees a Ferrari outside of his future brokerage, and decides then to go after the internship; or when, as the intern, he follows a client home one night to pursue a deal only to become stupefyingly enamored by the client’s sizable house.

Do not get the wrong impression, big houses and nice cars are, well, nice. But they’re not the sole ends of happiness in themselves, are they?

Yet there is something to be said about the reaffirmation of the American Dream here. Afterall, after living for so long in the nightmare shadow of it, Gardner’s vindication is worth watching, and it’s nice to be told that meritocracy is still alive.

To sentimentalize things a bit further, Gardner’s son is played by Jaden Smith, the real life son of father, Will—in a savvy ploy to tug at the heartstrings of the Academy perhaps (to little avail).

The father and son tandem do a commendable job of retelling Gardner’s story. Smith’s (Will) performance is as ever, workmanlike and professional, but not especially noteworthy. Jaden Smith is also passable in this picture; not quite the twinkle of a star yet, but there may be a future for the kid.

All in all, The Pursuit of Happyness is a reassuring story about the triumph of the human spirit over seemingly impossible circumstances. Gardner fought tooth-and-nail out of homelessness into a life of comfort; something we can all relate to on some level, and admire.

Yet it’s difficult to get past the clichéd rehashing of a tired parable, and if one would like to get a true glimpse into the triumph of the human spirit over impossible circumstances, reading Ehrenreich’s book is the more worthwhile pursuit.

-JS

Editorial: Dodging a bullet with current teachers glut

Ontario's teaching colleges see record number of applications, fortunately, none mine


Unlike more than a few of my peers, the latest survey on the number of would-be educators applying to Ontario’s teaching colleges this year provided a bit of relief for me.

The Ontario College of Teachers reported two weeks ago(March 13) that a record 16,000 undergraduates are currently being assessed by college registrars for next fall, while fewer than half that figure will eventually be accepted.

Teaching was a professional option I seriously considered a couple of years ago, as I pluckily thought about what I’d do after college.

In light of the study, I’m glad I didn’t.

The report revealed that although figures for admittance were tight across all subjects, most openings were – surprise, surprise – in the maths and sciences, as well as French studies; disciplines that I, being a history graduate, have almost no training in whatever.

The report states that the prospects for liberal arts majors, like history or English, are faring considerably worse, as a rash of new hires a few years ago has refreshed current staff levels in those areas with young teachers that aren’t going anywhere soon.

Beyond my initial relief from ducking that bullet, the findings had two other effects on me: the first, being that the report confirmed a suspicion I had developed during my undergrad years. And secondly, I find the current direction of education in Ontario somewhat disheartening.

The suspicion began with a simple question. I began fielding this almost immediately after my first lecture at Queen’s during my first September in Kingston: walking back to residence with a few engineering friends, I was asked, “so, are you gonna teach, than?” As if there was no other practical use for a history degree beyond converting it into a job teaching others about history (so they could presumably grow up, go to school…rinse and repeat).

It’s a question that, until recently (as I pursue a career as a journalist), I frequently had to answer for.

Beyond the fury this typically invoked in me, I began to form a realization; if I was cornered into answering the ‘history question’ time and time again, it was likely that the hundreds of other history students at my school were too (and, I would learn, they were).

If they didn’t have designs on teaching before, they were slowly being told that there were few occupational alternatives for history grads outside of education.

Add to that assumption that roughly half of the one-million or so university students in Canada in 2004 (another record [Stats Can]) were enrolled in some kind of liberal arts program (social sciences or humanities) and to me, a maelstrom for teaching college applications was forming.

Roughly two years on, and the proof is in the pudding.

Aside from the sheer glut, I found the findings a bit disheartening as well. As mentioned, applicants with math, science and technology backgrounds are finding greater success in being accepted to teaching colleges as well as getting jobs – a reflection of the current economy, according to a source in the study.

The University of Toronto, one of the largest education schools in the country, is currently enlarging its numbers in those “high-priority subject spheres,” at the expense of liberal arts positions, the study said.

But will this lead to a reflection worth seeing?

Although not as tangible as say, a bridge or medical research, the social studies provide us with equally valuable ends – history, culture, context and purpose are things that a society can not easily function without as much as bricks and mortar, adequate medical care or broadband communication.

My personal relief that I didn’t choose to throw my lot in with the recent graduates facing a problem that isn’t likely to dissipate in the near term, is in part replaced with a bit of anxiety. I find the waning of esteem for subjects like history, English and other social sciences disquieting.

However, there may be a silver lining for both the poor folks left at the gates, as well as the disciplines in decline within Ontario’s education colleges.

The report also said that the current situation is the opposite of what was happening a decade ago when there was a dearth of teachers and the humanities held a more prominent place in the curriculum.

There is hope than, that it may just take a bit of time before both problems resolve themselves.


-JS

It is possible to store the mind with a million facts and still be entirely uneducated. - Alec Bourne

Editorial: Web works -- I've got a job

Roughly six months ago, I set out to establish some kind of presence on the Web in order to attract prospective employers, and eventually get a job. I landed on Google's Blogger on the advice of some friends, and several postings later, guess what?

It has worked.

I'm thrilled to write that I've been hired as a journalist/photographer by the newest publication to enter the Greater Toronto Area's media milieu, the GTA Business News.

The GTA Business News is a recent start-up news service that will cater to the thousands of small businesses and individual entrepreneurs across the Greater Toronto Area that are the nuts and bolts of Ontario's economy.

The organization plans on publishing a print version bi-weekly beginning April 20, as well as develop a dyanamic online presence that will be updated regularly.

I'm cognizant of the fact that I'm straying a bit from the mandate of JS 2007 with this post, I'm not in the habit putting up the type of personal fare better reserved for a journal or something. However, it's a justifiable lapse to anyone who may have taken a moment to read the earliest postings on the site (found here and here) .

When I started this in October of last year, my explicit goal was to develop an online resource that editors (or any person looking to hire, for that matter) could access easily in the hopes of getting me a job. Twenty-five weeks later, the blog has delivered admirably.

But more than this, my experience serves as a guidepost to anyone entering the media field(s)--the print era for news media is ending; any organization beyond the most marginal of community newspapers has begun the transition from print across the digital divide that will one day (sooner rather than later) see the complete disappearance of print news in any significant way.

It's not particularly alarming or surprising to many, I know, but I'm a little disquieted that (a) there isn't more emphasis on being prepared for this transition at the j-school level, and (b) more young journalists (at least where I am) aren't developing a great deal of Web-familiarity (as producers, not consumers -- i.e. maintaining web logs, or are familiar with the standard caveats of Web2.0) .

At any rate, the link for GTA's own website will be up soon--once the site is functioning; you can be sure to find it here.

-JS

Nothing endures but change.

- Herclitus

World/Opinion: Gore to the fore (a call to arms for Al Gore)

On why Al Gore should be the next president of the United States

An op-ed piece written for an assignment (read: not published), but worthy of being blogged -- and it's my blog, so I can do that kind of thing (which is pretty cool, right):

Al Gore, left, at the Academy Awards in Los Angeles. (CBS)

An epochal opportunity has come to the fore in recent weeks for both a man, and by extension, the world.

Al Gore, the effusive champion of climate change awareness, has before him the chance to win the next United States presidential election in 2008, and in turn, spearhead international efforts to defuse humanity’s looming climate crisis.

For both Gore and the planet, the portents are numerous that the 2000 presidential candidate should try his hand again next year.

The former vice-president has become the indisputable icon of a reinvigorated green movement, after his global warming documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, won best documentary honours at this year’s Oscars in Los Angeles on Sunday.

Even more dramatic is Gore's Nobel prize nomination on Feb. 01.

He is one of the most popular figures in America right now, while his political adversary in 2000, President George W. Bush, is a lame duck that will leave office in roughly 100 weeks with a legacy history is sure to punish.

What’s more, any Democratic candidate for the presidency in ‘08 will surely benefit from an American electoral mood that seems likely to treat Republicans the same as it did in the mid-term elections last November –- by handing them their pink slips --according to the British magazine, The Economist.

For the planet –- or at least the parts of it we humans value most –- a President Gore could mark the first step in a doubtlessly long and labourious process of recasting current industrial models along less pollutant and more sustainable trajectories.

With clear evidence of polar melting and weather distortions now, it’s become an international imperative (this week marked the beginning of the “broadest scientific investigation yet” into the implications of polar melting, according to a Reuters report, involving 60 national governments).

Global warming is no longer the overwrought fears of altruistic scientists -- it has become the central issue for several governments; the next federal election may hinge on the issue here in Canada.

The threat of submerged cities (like Tokyo, New York and Amsterdam to name a few), and increased frequency of destructive weather patterns like Hurricane Katrina (that leveled New Orleans in 2005) has forced even the most titanic emitter of all, America, to say that it must find substantial energy sources beyond oil, as Bush himself suggested in the last State of the Union address.

It says here that the Democrats should be vehemently urging Gore to run again.

He is the party’s ideal candidate: he’s the figurehead of the most pressing issue of the coming decades, is riding a wave of unparalleled popularity, and still has plenty of political capital in Washington, DC, as a former vice-president.

It too, would be a mistake for Democrats to believe enough American voters are progressive enough to elect the party’s other leading candidates, Sens. Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama (Ohio polls indicate Clinton is favourable there, but what of even more traditional swing states?).

What’s more, as president, Gore could be a powerful trigger for the rest of the world –- including China and India -– to take necessary measures to overcome the gravest threat civilization has ever faced outside of nuclear war.

For the sake of the planet’s inhabitants, it’s an opportunity we hope he accepts.

-JS

"Leaders keep their eyes on the horizon, not just on the bottom line."
- Warren Bennis

Feature: The Long Tail and the new media marketplace

Rest assured, things have been happening since the previous post, just not online.

Allow me to introduce you to the Long Tail, the underpinning idea for the feature article I'm working on currently for Humber's Mag World:

Think back to your first memories of the Internet, around 1995 or '96. Remember the rigid formatting, neon backgrounds and absolute lack of functionality found on the average abomination passing itself off as a website? Me too.

Nowadays, everyone is well aware of the mammoth progress the Web has made in becoming the revolutionary force it was hailed as during its ascent into the mainstream in the mid-1990s.

We do so much online that the Internet no longer merely augments the the real world, large tracts of our physical activities have moved into more virtual environs. Think about the amount of people that bank online now, or get their news; the Web almost certainly factors into even the most conventional person's media sources.

The chart to the left (courtesy of Economist magazine) shows how many blogs have burst forth into existence since they began tracking this in 2003 - 25 million at the beginning of 2006!

As you may or may not be aware, Technorati is now tracking over twice that volume -- 55 million active blogs. This isn't an isolated phenomenon, its a revolution (er, or is that evolution?).

Blogs are but one example of how the so-called Web2.0 is reshaping media demand, as it intices consumers to stray further from mainstream content toward a world of niches.

The problem is, how best to conceptualize this new structure of demand. Chris Anderson, Editor-in-Chief of Wired, provides some clarity: The Long Tail.

Anderson articulates the concept of the Long Tail in his book, which you'll find a link to on the righthand side of the screen. Or you can check out Anderson's blog for some background.

In the article, I'll try to shed some light on how the dynamics of the Long Tail hold deep implications for magazine publishers (as well as the rest of Old Media). I've only begun trawling through my research, and haven't vetted my notes enough yet to give an in-depth explanation here.

But briefly, the Long Tail idea says that with the broadening base of non-traditional information and entertainment sources found on the Web, old guard media is in decline (think YouTube vs. Warner Bros., or Rolling Stone vs. a hundred blogging superfans also at the same concert).

Major media firms are losing marketshare to these medium, small, and mirco-competitors that comprise the lower end of the product demand curve, or tail (see graph below).

Through the democratization of the means of production and distribution (because costs continue to fall through tech. advancement), these smaller players are increasingly siphoning off the bread and butter of Big Media -- consumer eyeballs and the ad dollars chasing their wallets.

In aggregate, Anderson shows, there is an almost equal amount of value in the tail, comparatively, with the head. What's more, demand is increasingly shifting away from the head, down the tail, as these niche players improve content and gladly offer it up on the cheap, even freely (motivated by the 'reputation economy,' a buzzword for a later post).

I contacted National Post media critic Warren Kinsella two weeks ago to bring my article closer to home, and he's managed to succinctly cobble together the idea better than I in his column from Feb. 15.

Kinsella was working on a similar story (the Spin interview) when I contacted him with the idea, which then found its way into his column; he gave me my due props during the interview, crediting it to "some weird ESP thing happening," (or maybe media folks are collectively beginning to click in?).

At any rate, it's a work in progress that I'm pretty excited to polish up and get into Mag World. Alongside Mr Kinsella, popular culture prof. Mark Federman at the University of Toronto has aided me immeasurably, and I'm looking forward to an upcoming interview with Naomi Angel, senior editor of Capital Mag -- one of those 'tiny giants' Anderson says will thrive in the new media marketplace.

Like I said, the wheels are turning ...

Check back around mid-March for the finished product.

-JS

“Almost anything is worth offering on the off chance it will find a buyer.” -
Chris Anderson and a maxim of Long Tail economics.