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a, Off the Board, Opinion

Kevin O’Leary’s legacy of ashes

by Christopher Lutes on

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Dragon. Shark. Mr. Wonderful. These are all nicknames of Canadian entrepreneur and TV personality Kevin O’Leary, the unfiltered personification of capitalistic inhumanity. More than usual, he has been artificially inserting himself into the nation’s headlines. O’Leary has offered the tidy sum of $1 million in investment to the Alberta energy sector in exchange for Premier Rachel Notley’s resignation—surely a panacea to counteract the estimated $5 billion that the Canadian economy has already lost with the drop in oil prices. Now, there are murmurs that he may run in the upcoming Conservative leadership race. At first pass, it might seem like a good fit: O’Leary has the name recognition of a Donald Trump, but he’s also poised himself as some sort of paragon of fiscal pragmatism. But to understand why this isn’t remotely true, one need only dig a bit into his history.

After getting an MBA at Western University and working in the sexy world of cat food marketing for Nabisco, O’Leary founded SoftKey International, a children’s game software company behind such classic titles as “Shelley Duvall’s Tales of Digby the Dog” and “Solitaire Antics.” O’Leary’s strategy of packaging SoftKey’s titles as superfluous freeware with paid software or selling them at bargain basement prices eventually worked well enough that SoftKey was able to acquire The Learning Company (TLC) in 1995.

 

 

He’s a celebrity now, living in a world where image is more important than actual achievement.

Under the next three years of O’Leary’s management, TLC ran a deficit of $1.1 billion, but managed to seem profitable through accounting practices that could generously be called ‘highly suspicious.’ O’Leary then sold TLC to the Mattel toy company for $3.6 billion, making himself a very rich in the process. This is seen as one of the most lopsidedly bad acquisitions in business history, kneecapping Mattel’s stock prices, and ended with the company’s shareholders suing management.

Since then, O’Leary has risen to fame as a television personality on Dragon’s Den and Shark Tank, where he’s built a reputation as a proponent of pursuing profit at all costs, the kind of guy who refers to himself as the “Voldemort of Capitalism.” His hedge fund, which is called the O’Leary Fund despite not being run by him—he doesn’t have the licence required to operate a hedge fund—has posted a 17 per cent loss since its inception in 2012. That’s a high rate of loss, even when the recent tanking of the economy is taken into account.

But none of that matters because most people don’t know his history. He’s a celebrity now, living in a world where image is more important than actual achievement. After seeing the kind of publicity Donald Trump has gotten in the US, O’Leary must feel like he has a reasonable shot at becoming the Canadian equivalent. He could not be more wrong.

For the Conservatives, he would be an unprecedented choice—a bombastic political outsider from a party that tends to pick buttoned-down career politicians. The Tories pride themselves on not rocking the boat too much, making their machinations when they’re outside of the public eye. This is a party that had Stephen Harper, the human equivalent of a toast sandwich, as its leader for over a decade. ‘Personality’ is a four-letter word to them, just like ‘compassion,’ or ‘refugee.’ More broadly, O’Leary seems ill-suited to potentially hold the reins on an economy that is supposed to benefit people other than himself. His entire ethos is based around toxic Randian ideas of self-sufficiency and unfettered liberty that don’t play as well in Canada as they do in the US.

Ideally, O’Leary runs for Conservative leader and does to the party what he did to Mattel and The Learning Company in the past, or what Trump is doing to the Republican Party in the present. But he won’t get that far—Canadian politics, thankfully, is not the place where bluster and fame trump performance record and intelligence.

 

 

 

 

Christopher Lutes is a U3 double major in Political Science and Economics. He is an Arts and Entertainment Editor at the McGill Tribune.

 

@McGillTribOp | [email protected]

a, News

Campaigning for SSMU special referendum sees controversy

by Regina Wung on

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Campaigning for the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Winter term Special Referendum is now in full swing, with the polling period fast approaching. This semester, SSMU Council has put forward two questions for consideration: One concerns a $5.50 increase in the mandatory SSMU base fee while the other proposes the creation of a seventh SSMU executive position, vice-president (VP) Operations. The two questions are independent of one another, allowing students to vote for one and against the other, if they so wish.

The special referendum involves a $5.50 increase in mandatory SSMU membership fees per semester. If passed, full-time students in the faculties of Arts, Architecture, Education, Engineering, Music, Management, Nursing, Physical & Occupational Therapy, Science, and Arts & Science will see their fees increased from $44.75 to $50.25 per term, and part-time students in the same faculties will see their fees increased from $22.44 to $27.94 per term. In the faculties of Law, Religious Studies, Dentistry, and Medicine, fees will rise from $33.56 to $39.06 per semester for full-time students, and from $16.83 to $22.33 per semester for part-time students. According to Zacheriah Houston, SSMU VP Finance and Operations, the funding from this increase will be invested in student services, and will extend the clubs fund by $25,000 as well as reduce the cost of the leases of Independent Student Groups (ISG) by 15 per cent.

“The $5.50 increase will generate approximately $245,000 in annual revenue,” Houston said. “This additional revenue will go primarily towards increasing SSMU’s support for student groups, growth in mental health programming, and a greater focus on space improvements in the SSMU Building.”

According to Houston, without the fee increase, the services and improvements that SSMU Council have promised will have to be revoked, and students will potentially face cuts  to services. 

“If the referendum question does not pass, […] we will need to make approximately $100,000 in cuts to the next year’s operating budget,” he said. “These cuts will primarily involve reduced salaries, which translates into fewer available student staff positions and cuts to full-time salaries. These staffing cuts would result in reduced service, including slower room booking approvals and funding disbursements, and the continuation of overburdened executives who are inaccessible and unable to fulfill their campaign commitments.”

According to Houston, an increase in fees now will be able to sustain the SSMU over the next decade. In his opinion, students will not need to expect further increases in membership fees if the $5.50 increase passes.

“The reason that the fee needs to be increased now is that the SSMU has grown dramatically over the last 10 years, and we now have reached a point where we need to slow the growth of the SSMU and ensure that its current operations are sustainable,” he explained. “I do not think the fee will need to be increased again for as long as the SSMU’s operations remain relatively constant; I imagine this will be the case for at least the next 10 years.”

However, some students feel that the proposed increase is unnecessary. A “Vote ‘NO’ to the SSMU Membership Fee Increase!” Facebook event page has been created in opposition to the “Yes” Campaign’s own Facebook event page. A thread organized by the SSMU executives on Reddit has received a number of negative comments on the subject of the proposed membership fee increase. Many express a lack of confidence in SSMU’s contributions to student life. After reading through the referendum, U2 Economics student Fanta Kamara voiced her reluctance to consent to the fee increase.

“I do not think it is needed,” said Kamara. “We pay about $44 per semester in fees already—not including the extra charges for SSMU groups and activities such as the SSMU Equity Fee, Environment Fee, University Centre Fee [….] I’m not complaining about those charges because I think it’s all worthy; I just don’t see the need for an extra $5.50 per semester.”

The second question in this term’s referendum calls for the establishment of a seventh SSMU executive position. If passed, the VP Finance and Operations position will be split into two separate positions. According to the motion regarding the restructuring of executive portfolios, SSMU executives work upwards of 85 hours each week, although they are only contracted to work a maximum of 70 hours per week. Jennifer Moh, U3 Economics and International Development Studies, sympathizes with the SSMU Executive Council.

“Seeing that SSMU executives work 85 hours a week, I would be for adding another [executive],” said Moh. “An average person works roughly 40 hours a week and SSMU execs are working double that.”

For SSMU President Kareem Ibrahim, the introduction of a new executive is the most efficient solution to alleviating the current executive’s workload and serving the students.

“With a team that burns out annually and is stretched very thin, each portfolio consistently features areas in which not enough energy [is] dedicated, simply due to the sheer volume to which they have all grown,” he said. “SSMU’s capacity to deliver adequate services and satisfy student needs depends on a well-functioning executive team which is neither overburdened, nor with poor mental or physical health.” 

According to Ibrahim, in the event that the proposal to create a new executive position is rejected, the alternative options that remain mainly involve cutting student services. 

“Services that our students have come to rely on will have to be reduced in volume, and wait times and costs associated with these services will likely increase,” he said. “Another option we could explore is to hire more student staff, but this is not a great solution either, as these staff need to be trained and actively supervised; both of these tasks require a great deal of people-power, something which the SSMU is lacking at the moment.”

Based on the proposed structure of executive portfolios, the changes that would be taking place if the referendum were passed are relatively subtle. Kamara questioned whether the current structure necessitated change.

“There is a lot of overlap between [the proposed] VP Operations and other positions, which makes me slightly skeptical of the need for it, but I believe that a new SSMU position should be created if it increases the efficiency of SSMU,” she said.

SSMU Council was mandated to create a “Yes” Committee to organize the campaign. To maintain the neutrality of SSMU on this referendum, the SSMU executives were not able to speak as members of the executive council at the same time as they answered questions about the campaign.

“The executive committee was mandated to create a ‘Yes’ Committee in order to ensure that the time we are spending on this campaign is legitimate,” said Ibrahim, on behalf of the “Yes” Committee. “We are not allowed to use SSMU resources for our campaign, which makes sense, as that would advantage us over any other referendum committee, and our time in the office is a SSMU resource, since we are paid using SSMU funds.”

The campaigning period continues through Jan. 29, and the polling period will be open from Jan. 27 until Jan. 29.

a, Sports

From the cheap seats: 56th Woodsmen Competition leaves crowd pining for more

by Elie Waitzer on

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It was a perfect day for chopping wood. The crisp cold made the lumberjacks and lumberjills grip their axes tighter and the crowd huddled closely on the hard-packed ground breathing lungfuls of pine air. Kids climbed on snow mounds and men sipped coffee from their thermoses. In the distance, some students on cross country skis set off across the wide snowy fields of Macdonald Campus. 

The teams hunched over, primed to start their chopping, and the emcee counted down the start of the 56th annual Intercollegiate Woodsmen Competition.

The Canadian Intercollegiate Lumberjacking Association (CILA) holds four major events each year and the team with the most cumulative points is crowned the overall winner. On Saturday, McGill competed against Dalhousie, Sir Sanford Fleming College, Algonquin College, University of New Brunswick, and Dartmouth College in the second to last event of the season. The stakes were high, but Sebastien Latraverse, a third-year student in the farm management and technology program at Macdonald campus, was loose and limber among the lumber. 

“We practice every morning at six a.m., we do cardio, run through our events, [… and] basically just chop wood,” he said. 

Despite the pressure and the cold, every athlete competing was completely at home–especially when swinging an axe with all their might at a block of wood between their boots, or steadying a log with their bare fingers inches from a chainsaw. They held their axes in their hands with the easy comfort of a baseball player holding a bat, like extensions of their own bodies; but while a bat can only hit a ball, an axe can keep you warm and give you shelter. 

Unlike the major televised sports in North America, lumberjacking was not conceived of as a game. It’s a set of skills that supported our survival in the wilderness, in a time not so long ago. It’s not something you practiced for fun or for glory. It’s only a sport because one day, some person said to another, “I bet I can chop that tree down with this axe faster than you can.”

Out of the 14 events in the competition, the McGill women’s team won the snowshoe, swede saw, crosscut saw, quart split, and underhand chop events and placed first with the most overall points. The men came third overall, with strong performances in the single buck, snow shoe, and swede saw events. Latraverse was confident about the team’s position heading into the final CILA competition at Dalhousie in February.

“Overall we have a really good team this year, we get a lot of points in every event and that’s what counts,” Latraverse said. 

Not every event involved the cutting or chopping of wood. The most entertaining competition of the day was the water boil, a singles event where each lumberjack is given a small cedar block, a hatchet, and three matches and has to bring a cup of water to boil as fast as possible. The pole climb and the axe throw are pretty self explanatory—and pretty ridiculous to watch. 

Some of the coolest events are rooted in interesting history. Log decking, which involves maneuvering a log up a ramp using a peavey (a logging tool that looks like a trident split in half), was an essential skill for lumberjacks trying to float massive trees down rivers. The underhand chop, where the lumberjack stands on top of a log and must break it in half by hacking into both ends, goes back to before saws were invented and when axes were used to cut wood to the desired length. 

While McGill’s Woodsmen and Woodswomen are mostly Mac campus students, some Engineering students travel back and forth from the Downtown campus, and Latraverse encourages anyone interested to join. 

“A lot of people who have never used a chainsaw or held an axe, we show them what to do, and if you stick with it you’ll get it eventually,” he said.

WUSC McGill
a, Features

Sponsoring a community: The story of a refugee student at McGill

by Albert Park on

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There is an unmistakable trace of excitement in the voice of U2 Pharmacology student, Robert Ishimwe, as he describes his education at McGill.

“[I] couldn’t imagine all this five years ago,” he said. “Being among all these amazing people and resources—it’s like a dream.”

With a smile on his face, he elaborates on what his journey to McGill means to him as a sponsored student.

“We grew up, waking up to see the happy faces of the students who have gotten a chance to pursue post-secondary education in other countries—it’s something we dreamt of since we [were] children,” Ishimwe said.  

There is something unique, yet familiar, about Ishimwe’s narrative. Listening to his story brings back memories of being introduced to new faces for the first time in McGill’s crowded lecture halls. Despite how many diverse backgrounds, stories, and sensibilities existed in one room, the varying experiences of students were overshadowed by an infallible feeling of camaraderie of enthusiastic students freshly acquainted into the McGill community.

imwe was born in Rwanda. He came to study at McGill in 2013 through theStudent Refugee Program, which is part of McGill’s local World University Service of Canada (WUSC) committee, WUSC McGill. The organization is a Canadian non-profit working to provide education and employment opportunities to disadvantaged youth around the world.

On top of his studies, Ishimwe is the vice-president treasurer of WUSC McGill, and enjoys playing intramural soccer and volleyball. Around campus, he is often spotted buried in textbooks at McLennan-Redpath or exercising at the fitness centre.

Ishimwe grew up in the Dzaleka refugee camp in the Republic of Malawi, a country located in southeastern Africa. At the age of two, he was resettled in the camp with his family after they were forced to flee their country due to the Rwandan genocide. To this day, the camp holds around 20,000 people, including Ishimwe’s own parents. Residents are supported by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and provided monthly food portions, as well as free access to health care. The residents are not given the choice to leave the camp, with law enforcement surrounding the area.

a, News

Starvation in Canada: Food insecurity in the north

by Ashley Kong on

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On Jan 22, the Comparative Healthcare Systems Program (CHSP), a student initiative dedicated to study of public health and comparative healthcare, hosted a public health symposium on the theme of indigenous health. Speakers addressed food security and healthcare services in northern Canada, noting the alarming situations in indigenous communities in the north. 

According to Associate Professor of wildlife biology at McGill University, Murray Humphries, people living in the north often suffer from food insecurity.

“Almost 10 per cent of the [Canadian] population [has] moderate to severe levels of food insecurity,” he explained. “In Nunavut, it’s 36 per cent. More than one in three households are in this state.”

Humphries shared his recent personal experience with limited food options during his time working on a research project in Old Crow, Yukon. 

“[There’s] only one place to purchase food,” he said. “Ten dollars for [a carton of] milk, $26 for [a jug of orange] juice, $16 for apples.”

Katarina Kunhert – U1 Sustainability, Science, and Society –  lived  in Inuvik, Northwest Territories when she was a toddler.

“In Inuvik in the 1990s, a box of mandarin oranges would cost $25 […] and it’s half rotten because it took so long to get there,” she recalled. “In Tuktoyatuk, which is an island a little bit further north, […] the same box of oranges cost $50, but now three-quarters of it is rotten [.…] If you were to buy the same box of oranges in Edmonton, then it would cost $6 and they’d all be perfect.”

According to Humphries, official statistics often do not reflect regional disparities between the northern and southern regions of provinces. The south is populated mostly by settlers, while the north is populated mostly by indigenous people. 

“The higher rates [in the north] are often concealed by the provincial averages,” Humphries explained. “Given that the statistics are particularly alarming for Nunavut, then probably it’s equally as bad in portions of Northwest Territories, Yukon, and especially the northern prairie provinces, northern Ontario, and northern Quebec.”

Currently, the Canadian federal government recognizes three main categories of Aboriginal Peoples: Inuit, First Nations, and Metis. About 1.4 million people in Canada identify as Aboriginal.

John Pringle, nurse and epidemiologist with a PhD in public health and bioethics explained that health is not only about physical well-being, and that food security is not only about having enough food.

“[There are] appalling rates of diabetes, suicides, substance abuse in these [indigenous] communities,” he said. “In [the] Northern Stores [grocery chain], it’s ridiculous how expensive food is; but you know, pop and chips are always on sale.”

According to Humphries, one of the leading causes of food insecurity in the north is difficult transportation.

 “Railways and roads in Canada […] are surprisingly restricted to the south,” Humphries said. “You see vast portions of Canada that are outside the realm of roads or real access. Some [parts] of [the north] are served by winter roads. These are the vast regions of the country that don’t get all-season access.”

Food procurement and retail in the north are currently oligopolized by a small number of corporations. Without competition, food prices stay high.

“The connection between food pricing and transportation costs is complicated,” Humphries said. “In the north, Northern Stores is affiliated with the Hudson’s Bay [….] However, northern residents are already protesting and organizing initiatives to curtail the monopoly [….] A lot of people in the north […] formed Facebook groups like ‘Feed My Family,’ protesting […] the cost of northern foods. Many communities are looking to generate their own cooperatives and food supplies, trying to put the costs down.”

Humphries also drew attention to the lack of health services for people living in northern parts of Canada. 

“In Old Crow, there’s a nursing station,” he said. “The doctor comes once a month. Most people who require hospitalization will go to Whitehorse, Vancouver, or Edmonton.”

Pringle, who worked at a nursing station serving First Nations communities in the Great Lakes District in Manitoba during the early 2000s, pointed out that services for Aboriginal Peoples are not only scarce, but also severely underfunded and short-handed.

“We should have [had] five nurses in that station, but we had two,” Pringle said. “We worked clinics all day and we were on call for emergencies all night, so there were times that we just never slept for days [….] We were getting burnt out. The nurse that worked with me actually died of a heart attack.”

Pringle remarked that the nurses working in these stations are often inexperienced. 

“[When] I just graduated from nursing [school …] I called Health Canada and they paid for me to […] work for at least a year in a First Nations nursing station,” he said. “Of course, when I leave [the Great Lakes District,] they’ll stick some naïve, young nurse to take over for me.”

At the end of the symposium, Pringle encouraged students in healthcare-related programs to join in the course of improving Canadian health services.

“Issues like these are seldom discussed in the academic world,” he said. “But really, we lose the radical reasons [for why] we want to be health professionals in the first place [.…] Keep the fire burning.”

a, Student Life

Uniting the chaos through sustainable changes

by Keara Campos on

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The McGill Environment Students' Society (MESS) is working to solve the lack of space for Environment students through sustainable initiatives, starting with the new MESS lounge. Upon receiving both basement space and funding from the School of Environment, the MESS council has been working to revamp the two rooms and couches sitting in the school’s building on Rue University. This redesign has catapulted further into different sustainable practices being undertaken within the space, such as a coffee co-op and alternative composting. 

Andi Antal, U3 Environment, commented on the importance of having a space for Environment students.

“We’re always meshed in with Geography students,” Antal said. “Because of that we don’t have our own identity.”

Antal also spoke about the approach to furnishing the rooms that will put sustainable practices into action. Most of the furniture and decor pieces have been bought or found at Value Village, and on Craigslist—even the espresso machine that will be used by the Coffee Collective is a second hand purchase. 

“Everything we need is already made, we don’t want to produce anything more,” Antal said. “If we buy used, we’re contributing to reduction of waste [because] those items [aren’t] ending up in a landfill [and we’re] extending the lifecycle of the material good. Recycling is a mitigator but doesn’t actually address the issue of things being overproduced and in turn things being over consumed.”

Within the student space, MESS is also hoping to put a second initiative into action: The vermicompost. In conjunction with Campus Crops, a student run urban gardening initiative at McGill, the MESS team is hoping to set up the compost, which is a process by which worms are used to recycle organic waste. Eventually MESS is looking to set up a how-to workshop on composting for other students interested in waste reduction—whether that is with their own vermicompost or more simple but different ways to compost while on campus.

Antal is also leading the MESS mural design project, a rolling submission-based contest for a mural that will cover two small walls in the basement area of the lounge. This is a way to engage students more actively with the space, amd assure the space is representative of the environment community. 

“My major role in it is more the artistic stuff,” Antal said. “Having environmentalism and art as two of my major interests, I’m always trying to find ways to merge [them] and have them work together because I think they can [both be] really powerful.”

One of the final, tastier sustainable initiatives being introduced is the Coffee Collective Co-op, an independent student run group that will work to give students a cheaper alternative to specialty coffees on campus. 

Chelsea Kingzett, U2 Environment student and MESS External Representative to the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Council, explained that they will be sourcing from a Montreal company called Union as one way of keeping the co-op locally based. They’re also eliminating the option of the to-go cup in order to encourage students to bring tumblers with them, or stay in the lounge with their coffees in reusable cups. 

“[The] MESS council decided unanimously to share [the] space with the Coffee Co-op,” Kingzett said. “[So] it will be a coffee bar located in […] the MESS lounge. It’s going to be a program run by volunteers […] as a break-even operation. Basically, we’ll charge the amount to source beans for the next batch.”

By reducing coffee waste and using the vermicompost bins, the program will run as a zero waste operation. 

Although the efforts focus on sustainability, Antal and Kingzett both note that the projects ultimate goal will be to unite the school of Environment together as a community.

“Having the environment lounge will give students a space to come together, cross paths, and talk about different stuff they’re doing or even just meet people,” Kingzett said. “People […] want more events and more opportunities to interact with [other] Environment students and we’re hoping this space will facilitate that.” 

a, Opinion

Jaywalking: Another side of street crime in Halifax and Montreal

by David Watson on

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Halifax is in the grips of a terrible crime wave, or so the Nova Scotia Legislature seems to believe. Last month it voted for a dramatic increase in fines for a certain offence in order to punish Haligonians—yes, that’s really what they’re called—for their criminal ways. But the targets of these stiff new penalties are not who you would expect. They’re not gangsters, drug dealers, or even drunk drivers—they’re jaywalkers.

Thanks to a recent bill passed by the Nova Scotia government, jaywalking could now be punishable by a fine of $697.50, with additional penalties of $1,272 and $2,422 for subsequent offences. The hefty fines are part of the province’s effort to reduce the number of collisions and pedestrian injuries on Halifax roads.

While the bold move has no direct impact on McGillians—except those who may be heading home to Nova Scotia in the summer—the idea that jaywalking fines could be increased to almost $700 in a Canadian city should be terrifying to Montreal residents. If jaywalking is really a crime, then the average Montrealer is on par with Al Capone. But hopefully, if Montreal city officials have even an ounce of common sense, $700 jaywalking tickets will never become a reality in the city.

As critics of the bill have pointed out, the new fines are completely disproportionate to the gravity of the offence, especially in light of the fines levied for other road-related offences. Raising the jaywalking fine to almost $700 makes it higher than fines for much more dangerous conduct, including drunk driving, texting and driving, and driving 30 km/h over the speed limit in a school zone. Jaywalking can be perilous and therefore merits a ticket, but imposing fines bigger than those for much more dangerous offences distorts the incentives for perpetrators.

 

If jaywalking is really a crime, then the average Montrealer is on par with Al Capone.

The bill raises the issue of whether higher fines are an effective deterrent at all. The logic of the province’s Legislature rests on the flimsy assumption that pedestrians are generally aware of how much a jaywalking ticket will cost them, and will adjust their behaviour accordingly. Unless the issue makes headlines, as Nova Scotia’s exorbitant fine has managed to, most pedestrians are likely to be unaware of how much a jaywalking ticket costs. In Montreal, the fine is a modest $15; in Toronto, it can vary from $35 to $90. But unless that information is common knowledge, it’s unlikely to have an effect on pedestrian behaviour in either city.

Such a steep fine will also undoubtedly make the police hesitant to give out tickets, as jaywalking is a petty infraction. In this case, the punishment is disproportionate to the harm of the crime. This would be especially troublesome in Montreal: This city’s cops already wear camouflage pants and decorate their squad cars with more stickers than a first grader’s spelling quiz. Handing out $700 jaywalking tickets is one of the few things that could make people take them even less seriously.

Moreover, deterring jaywalkers can be achieved in much more effective ways. In 2010, when the Toronto Police Service wanted to change pedestrian attitudes toward the offence, they focused on increased enforcement of the existing fine. The police cited enforcement and awareness of existing laws as the keys to deterring dangerous pedestrian practices, and to great effect.

Tighter enforcement of jaywalking laws is a much more effective deterrent than exorbitant fines because it better addresses the philosophy behind jaywalking. What makes jaywalking a daily occurrence around Montreal isn’t the lack of a large fine, it’s the minimal risk of getting caught. Jaywalking is like internet piracy: You don’t download 10 episodes of Game of Thrones because you think the penalty for piracy is too lenient; you do it because you’re confident the Royal Canadian Mounted Police won’t show up at your door to drag you off to wherever Canadian Guantanamo is (Winnipeg?).

Increased road safety is an important goal, and one which will benefit pedestrians and motorists alike. But when cities like Halifax or Montreal attempt to address the issue of jaywalking, they should stick to methods that have proven effective—like increased enforcement—and steer clear of exorbitant fines. Students certainly don’t need $700 jaywalking fines here: After all, if a McGill student really wants to be arbitrarily charged $700, they’re always welcome to buy a Canada Goose jacket, get the latest iPhone, or head down to the bookstore for a textbook or two.

 

 

 

David Watson is a second year political science student and (very) minor league hockey player. He enjoys music, dogs, and eating entire boxes of Kraft Dinner in a single sitting.

 

@McGillTribOp | [email protected]

 

 

 
SSMU Building at McGill
a, News

SSMU considering new provincial student federations, AVEQ and UÉQ

by Sara Cullen on

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The Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) has been involved in the early formation of two new provincial student associations. A formal presentation by each of the organizations, L’Union Étudiante du Quebec (UÉQ) and the Association for the Voice of Education in Quebec (AVEQ), will be given at the Jan. 28 SSMU Council meeting, after which one will be chosen to be presented to the student body and voted on during the regular Winter Referendum period.

There is only one main student federation, the Association pour une Solidarité Syndicale Étudiante (ASSÉ) that exists in Quebec. The Fédération Étudiante Universitaire du Quebec (FÉUQ) fell apart in the spring of 2015. McGill was one of the founding members of the FÉUQ, but has since joined and left three times. As a result, McGill has not been affiliated with a student federation since 2006 and is looking to join either UÉQ or AVEQ. Both federations are relatively new, and SSMU Vice-President (VP) External Emily Boytinck has been involved in their formation. 

“UÉQ has mainly focused this semester on the associations who are affiliating,” Boytinck said. “They ran a couple of affiliation campaigns, some of them passed, some of them didn’t. UÉQ […] wanted to essentially focus more on getting people affiliated first and then [work] towards developing policies whereas AVEQ has taken the opposite approach, so I’ve been really active with AVEQ this semester.”

Problems with the FÉUQ stemmed from the proportional voting system, which allowed for larger organizations to easily dominate the council. Despite SSMU being the fourth largest association in Quebec,  membership was not ideal, according to Boytinck.

“As an anglophone association, you just don’t have nearly as much power within these organizations,” Boytinck said. “[This] is why, when I was helping with the formation [of the other federations], I really pushed for an equalization of power at the congresses among sizes […] so that every association was able to have their voice heard.”

Boytinck noted that the FÉUQ and ASSÉ have different approaches to student representation.

“The ASSÉ is notably the most radical [federation]; it does a lot of grassroots mobilization, and was super active in the 2012 strike,” Boytinck said. “[And] then you have the FÉUQ which was very government-oriented and very focused on the more corporatist channels. Those two are such fundamentally different approaches to advocating on behalf of students that they did conflict a whole lot.”

Boytinck stated that UÉQ and AVEQ are a good middle-ground between the FÉUQ and ASSÉ. 

“[At] SSMU […] we do a lot of mobilization, but we also want something legitimate and representable to the government,” Boytinck said. “[SSMU] was so in between it didn’t make a lot of sense [to join FÉUQ or ASSÉ….] I think it will benefit the whole student movement if there is a good mobilizer—something in between, and something that focuses a lot on the more corporatist lobbying aspect.”

UÉQ and AVEQ differ in their voting schemes, with UÉQ adopting a double-majority system and AVEQ following a one-association-one-vote scheme.

“The UÉQ has pushed for what they call a ‘double majority system,’ so it goes through a semi-proportional vote first and then it goes through a one association, one vote,” Boytinck said. “So it has to go through both to pass. The only problem I saw [with that] is that is still gives big associations the power to combine their voices and act as sort of gatekeepers.”

UÉQ and AVEQ also have different fee levies. UÉQ will cost students $4.50 per student per semester, and AVEQ will cost $3.50 per student per semester.

In order to inform the various student societies at McGill about the two federations prior to the referendum period, Boytinck has presented both the UÉQ and AVEQ at faculty association council meetings across campus.

Arts Senator Erin Sobat explained that Boytinck outlined the importance of affiliating with a provincial student federation at the Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS) Council last semester.

Sobat additionally noted that affiliating with a provincial federation would have helped SSMU in November when submitting a question regarding international student tuition deregulation to the McGill Senate.

“[McGill is] actually lobbying the government for deregulation and so if we are concerned about our students and how that will impact them, it’s difficult for us to lobby McGill on that,” Sobat said. “Currently we are missing that voice for the provincial government to be able to have an impact or an influence on policy.”

Nicolas Lavallée, secretary-general of the Fédération des Associations Étudiantes du Campus de L’Université de Montréal (FAÉCUM), commented on the organization’s role in creating UÉQ. 

“First of all, we were looking for a credible organization to carry students’ voices to government officials,” Lavallée said. “We were looking for a goal-oriented organization that prioritizes education, research and students’ living standards. UÉQ represents for us an association that advocates with research-based arguments.”

Although Boytinck will continue to work with the UÉQ and AVEQ this semester, SSMU has not financially endorsed or fully committed to either federation as of yet. 

“SSMU notably has not put any money towards either association, which meant that for UÉQ, we didn’t actually have a vote or a seat on the board right away,” Boytinck said. “I’m going […] to one of the first big [UÉQ] meetings in Quebec City this weekend. It’ll be the first time I get an update back, and I think that then […] we’ll get to start working on some policies […] which is good because I do think that SSMU members want to know what we’re affiliating to.”

Last spring, UÉQ hired full-time coordinators for their federation. AVEQ had not hired any full-time staff until recently. 

“AVEQ, just last weekend actually, hired [staff]. They had some money inflowing because they had their first affiliation with the Concordia Student Union,” Boytinck said. 

After hearing from both federations on Jan. 28, SSMU Council will take an informal vote on which federation will be presented to students on the Winter Referendum. The federation may be selected by Feb. 11, and one question will be submitted for approval. 

“[When Council votes on [the federations] they’re going to be voting on whether or not it’s a fair question to pose to students in the referendum—not whether or not we support it as a Council.” Sobat said.

Sobat commented on the likelihood of selecting one federation over the other.

“I would say that given the trends between anglophone and francophone schools, and smaller and larger associations, […]the AVEQ looks more like an association […] that the SSMU would move to join,” Sobat said. “But the first [vote] is the SSMU Council’s, and that’s a unique decision; it’s never really happened that there’s been two [federations] at the same time.”

a, Fact or Fiction, Science & Technology

Is Blue Monday real?

by Stephanie Fehertoi on

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Aside from being the title of a classic dance hit by New Order, the phrase “Blue Monday” is often used in reference to having feelings of sadness and anxiety upon returning to work in the beginning of the week; however, one specific Monday was singled out in recent years as being the bluest of them all: The third Monday of January.

This day was determined by Cliff Arnall, former part-time psychology lecturer at Cardiff University in the United Kingdom. Arnall’s work was commissioned by a travel agency searching for the most depressing day of the year in order to market vacations. Claiming to be mathematically calculated, his ‘formula’ took into account January’s gloomy weather, the post-holiday slump and its associated financial debt, the stress of the New Year, resolutions, as well as motivation (or lack thereof).

Other companies soon picked up Arnall’s Blue Monday as a depressing truth for PR purposes, but it was eventually met with criticism. Many pointed out that Arnall’s equation is nonsensical with no real scientific basis, and the factors he used to create the formula are ambiguous and unquantifiable. Indeed, Arnall does not even state the units of measurement for his formula.

“I believe strongly that pseudoscience (like this equation) regularly presented as genuine science in the mainstream media harms the public understanding of science and psychology,” wrote Dean Burnett, a professor at Cardiff University, in The Guardian in 2012. 

Burnett further explained that it is impossible for a reliable set of external factors, like those used by Arnall, to influence a population at the same time every year. 

Arnall himself has denounced his whole claim, as Blue Monday picked up attention in Britain, continuing to trend in headlines and social media even today, 10 years after its creation in 2005.

“I’m pleased about the impact if it means people are talking about depression and how they feel, but I’m also encouraging people to refute the whole notion of there being a most depressing day and to use the day as a springboard for the things that really matter in your life,” Arnell said to The Telegraph in 2012.

Despite this, many might agree that January boasts some of the saddest days, especially as temperatures dip and school or work begins again. This might be attributed to cases of Seasonal Affect Disorder (SAD). This is a condition in which people’s moods are negatively affected by seasonal patterns, such as shorter and darker days in the winter.

The Canadian Mental Health Association notes that sufferers of SAD might experience fatigue, sadness, apathy, depression, and in extreme cases, suicidal ideation. As much as four per cent of Canadians become clinically depressed in the winter, while 10 to 15 per cent suffer from a milder form of SAD called sub-syndromal SAD. This seasonal mood change occurs because human serotonin levels are influenced by light, as the receptors in human retinas activate pathways responsible for making serotonin.

Lack of sunlight is often associated with the disorder, and light therapy is increasingly being used to combat symptoms. In fact, two public libraries in Winnipeg and one in Edmonton will soon install new sets of sun lamps to help those with SAD. Similarly, Montreal’s Quartier des Spectacles includes “Luminothérapie” art installations every winter to brighten public spaces, and the McGill Psychology Students’ Association recently added a ‘happy lamp,’ to their office (located in Stewart Biological Sciences Building, room N7/8). Other methods of prevention include exercise, spending time outdoors or near windows, and seeking counselling.

While it is definitely fiction that some arbitrary date in January is the saddest of the year, many do understandably feel blue during winter months. Especially here in Montreal, it is important to remember to embrace this cold season by enjoying winter activities like ice-skating or skiing, spending cozy nights in with friends and hot drinks, or even by simply admiring the snowfalls that make winter so beautiful.  

a, Out on the Town, Student Life

Kicking back at L’Entrepôt

by Liz Willcock, Hailey MacKinnon, Audrey Carleton, Keara Campos, and Julie Vanderperre on

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L’Entrepôt is a resto-bar famous for it’s $4.95 per meal menu. This past Sunday, the Student Living team took a fieldtrip to the trendy Mont-Royal neighbourhood to see what all the hype is about. Below are reviews from the section’s editors and contributors about what are must-tries and what can be passed up on. Have a restaurant you want us to review before you commit to it yourself? Email us at [email protected].

Liz Willcock, Staff Writer

When I first walked into L’Entrepôt, everything seemed vaguely familiar, but it wasn’t until I opened their menu that I put two and two together. Anyone who’s ever been to Whistler, British Columbia, will recognize L’Entrepôt as the Montreal equivalent to The Furniture Warehouse (commonly known as Fernies.) This restaurant on Avenue du Mont-Royal Est is almost identical to the time-honoured Whistler establishment, with big wooden tables, leather bar stools, and most importantly, the everything-is-$5 menu. Although I was skeptical the cheap food might mean we would lose out elsewhere, L’Entrepôt still has a cozy ambiance and reasonably large portion sizes. I got the Union Square salad, filled with ramen, avocado, chicken, and lettuce. It had a really tasty ginger soy dressing that made the combination of ramen and salad feel a little less weird for me. Although it was a little on the salty side, my $5.75 bill made me forget all about it.

Hailey MacKinnon, Editor

I’m pretty much always up for fish tacos—anywhere, anytime—so L’Entrepôt was appropriate for my next venture. I was pleasantly surprised with what I was served, especially for the price, as others have mentioned. The dish came with three fish tacos that were nicely battered and filled with corn, tomatoes, peppers, and a lime—all topped with a chipotle and mayo sauce. Though it didn’t live up to the likes of a similar dish (with a similar price) at Montreal’s also famous, L’Gros Luxe, it was still a satisfying meal in a relaxing hangout. Pro-tip: They only accepted cash and Visa, so don’t expect to use your debit card—although for $4.95 plus tax, you could probably pay for your meal with change rescued from under the couch cushions.

Keara Campos, Contributor

L’Entrepôt boasts a laid-back aesthetic with a homey interior and a patio area in the summer. I ordered the “Works Burger” which was a standard burger with cheese, tomato, lettuce, bacon, onions, and mayo. It was definitely good value for the amount, especially since it came with cream of broccoli soup as a side; however, keep in mind that because prices are affordable, the food isn’t necessarily amazing. It was an average burger without any twists, no house sauce or special ingredient—akin to a burger at a family BBQ due to the simplicity—though it would be hard to mess it up. Overall, the meal was less memorable than the conversation that was had. It’s not a place to visit for the food per se, but rather the atmosphere and good pricing.

Audrey Carleton, Staff Writer

L’Entrepôt maintains a casual, social vibe that allows the establishment to straddle the fine line between a bar and a restaurant. I ordered the Quinoa and Apple Salad, consisting of romaine lettuce, quinoa, and slivers of cucumber, avocado, and Granny Smith apple. It was topped with soy-honey-lime dressing, sweet corn salsa, and toasted almonds, and was both large and filling enough to have costed twice the price at any other restaurant. While quinoa is my go-to carb addition to make any salad more filling, I found the sauce saltier than preferable. The corn salsa was a nice addition, but what made the salad was the toasted almonds, which gave it a memorable crunch. Likely due in part to its wallet-friendly prices, the restaurant was nearly full at 2 p.m. on a Sunday afternoon, which calls to question how full it typically is in the evening. To be safe, making a reservation in advance is advisable.

Julie Vanderperre, Managing Editor

Even on a Saturday afternoon in the dead of winter, L’Entrepôt was convivial and crowded with groups of friends gathering together for a weekend meal. The vibe is casual with album covers plastered on the walls and a skater feel. I ordered the roasted turkey sandwich, which came on cranberry sourdough bread, stacked with cheese, lettuce, and dripping with honey mustard. The sandwich was tasty, although it didn’t compete with my Thanksgiving leftover turkey, cranberry, and sweet potato leftover sammies. I ordered it with a side salad, which was a very simple bowl of mixed greens with vinaigrette. While it was nothing to write home about, the meal was satisfying and worth the price, and I would definitely head back with a group of friends again for some beers and burgers on the cheap.

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