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a, Features

Cracks in the surface

by Caity Hui on

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I remember looking out over the horizon. The sun was just rising and rays of pink were kissing the calm blue of the Alboran Sea. My body ached as we ran down the beach towards our coaches standing at the edge of the lookout-heart pounding, feet digging into the sand with every step. It was day three of training camp.

I began my career in rhythmic gymnastics when I was five years old. During a recreational class at my local church, the head coaches of my former gymnastics club scouted me and brought me to join its provincial team. The training was tough, but nothing unexpected for an athlete. We practiced nine to 12 hours a week, travelled to competitions across Ontario, and, if we competed well, our team returned with medals. However, the definition of 'well' seemed to change over the years. While rhythmic gymnastics is judged based on three categories—difficulty of elements, artistic value, and execution of the performance—the interpretation of these categories is often subjective, leading to judging politics and what seemed like alliances formed by clubs.

This aspect of interpretation made competition difficult. While the sport primarily rewarded athleticism—the girls who had more difficult tricks and executed more challenging elements did tend to receive higher scores—its aestheticism left room for judgment beyond who could run the fastest, or who could jump the highest. Factors such as who captivated the audience, who smiled more, or whose costume was shinier, suddenly had an impact. When judging became arbitrary, looking good on the carpet became important. It was hot, and we were sitting in a circle on the soft carpets of the gymnasium. The ceilings of our high performance training facility stretched for yards, the air holding its breath in anticipation of the whiz of ribbons piercing the open space and the loud clack of clubs. It was unlike any other facility I had ever seen in Canada.

The older girls sat behind the younger ones, pinning their hair up in buns. By now, we were used to the sharp jabs of the bobby pins and mentally preparing for the morning warm up. One of our coaches approached us and took an older girl aside. I couldn't tell what they were talking about—more than half the team also spoke Russian—but Jessica* returned with red eyes and silently started our stretches. It was only several hours later that I found out Jessica had been deemed too large for the group she was competing with; it was her responsibility to shed weight over the next few weeks of camp. What didn't make sense to me was that Jessica and I were practically the same size.

Stemming from these situations is an ugly side of rhythmic gymnastics. In stark contrast to the elegance of bodies moving in tandem, or the breathless arch of a ribbon tossed into the air, lurks a dangerous pressure to maintain a slim physique and exude a perfect performance. Within my own team, I watched several girls struggle with mental health issues intertwined with the messages we were sent during training camps. Listening to a coach tell another gymnast to slim down can only make you wonder whether you should be doing it, too.

a, McGill, News

McGill Spaces Project holds second workshop on Brown Building redesign

by Laura Hanrahan on

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Participants discussed the planned transformation of the Brown Student Services Building in a workshop on Feb. 18. The workshop was hosted by the McGill Spaces Project (MSP), a student-led initiative seeking to reimagine spaces across McGill’s campus, the Brown Building Redesign Advisory Group (BRAG), a McGill Student Services committee, and the McGill Architecture Community Design Workshop class (ARCH 514), led by Professor Nik Luca. The groups presented the history of the Brown Building and outlined the ongoing plans to change it, which they dubbed “Operation Brown Building”.

According to BRAG Chair Mitchell Miller, the initiative began through a request from McGill Student Services.

 “Student Services started to have conversations about the reception areas, the posters and the signage,” Miller said. “We realized it was way out of the area of what we were able to do and that we need some support.”

The initiative hopes to change the dynamics of the building by making it a more welcoming, usable, and advantageous for students. 

“The main goal stemmed from seeing some underused or misused spaces and wanting to have this building [be] more of a space the students could take advantage of and use,” Miller said. 

  According to Alan Chen, director of the McGill Spaces Project, one of the biggest issues the building faces is poor allocation of its free areas.

“There are large nooks and crannies and transit spaces that are intended to have a variety of uses but have just become these trash spots for unwanted furniture and random tables,” Chen said. “We want to keep it as a transitory building, but at the same time find uses for these nooks and crannies that are awkward and feel out of place.”

Miller explained that the redesign would prioritize revitalizing the clinic space for health services and mental health services.

“The directors of those two units are very keen for [the spaces] to change,” Mitchell said. “It would be more of a redistribution—if there’s two waiting rooms, maybe combine them into one—and taking advantage of spaces and making them more purposeful.”

The coursework for ARCH 514 is entirely based on Operation Brown Building, according to Luca, who explained that the class was acting as consultants for the operation.

“We’ve been hired and been asked to explore some questions, draw conclusions, and make some recommendations, and then BRAG can accept those recommendations and decide whether or not to pursue them, on what time scale, and to what extent,” he said. 

Lindsay Vanstone, a master’s student of Urban Planning and member of ARCH 514, highlighted that the class hoped to reinvent the overall branding of the building. 

“It needs to feel welcoming and so that it’s a student friendly building,” she said. “Somewhere you can informally sit down with somebody, do some work, just sit and read, or think.”

U3 Science student Anina Ratjen, who participated in the workshop, said that she believed that students do not typically use the building in this fashion. 

“The Brown Building is mostly a building I go through to take a little break from the cold when walking to class,” she said. “[I] would never think to come here to sit and do work [….] I think that if they can put these suggestions into action, it will be really beneficial for the students. Personally, I’d like to have more study space—large tables with chairs—because no one really uses the stand-alone armchairs that are here currently.”

There has been no date set yet for the redesign as the plans are still tentative, although some preliminary work is scheduled to be completed before the Fall 2015 semester. 

“If we come up with things that are easier to do in the short term, [like adding and updating signage], hopefully they’ll be done before school starts in the Fall,” Vanstone said. “Things that will take longer and require more investment, a different time will have to be sorted.” 

Right now, MSP, BRAG, and ARCH 514 are in the process of holding information workshops on the project, the next of which will be held on March 16 and 18.

 “It’s very much a ball to be tossed back and forth between the students, the community, and the stakeholders in the building,” Chen said. “It’s definitely a split—hopefully not a compromise, but more of synergy.”

a, Arts & Entertainment, Film and TV

Pop Rhetoric: In defence of the Oscars

by Sophie Jewett on

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The Academy Awards took place this Sunday, which means critics have begun complaining about who did and did not go home with the statue of a naked gold man. This criticism will likely build upon the backlash that occurred after the nominations were announced, with the argument being that The Academy’s problem is its lack of diversity. In some ways, this is warranted: The voting committee is made up of 77 per cent male and 94 per cent white members, resulting in a set of nominations that makes it glaringly obvious that there is an underrepresentation of non-white and female artists in Hollywood. 

The extensive criticism of the Academy has raised the question: Why are the Oscars still a popular thing? Art is subjective and it seems bizarre that the judgement about the year’s best films is dictated by a group of old white men. 

However, the Academy Awards have been a vital part of the entertainment industry for  the past 87 years—not simply because it awards the alleged best films of the year, but because the award process itself generates intense and widespread debate about the film industry as a whole. 

One of the most common debates is the seemingly inherent favouritism towards content produced for and by white men in Hollywood—and the subsequent criticism and outrage of this realization—is an instrumental push for change in the industry that would be less prevalent without the Oscars. A notable example of this is the attention given to the representation of Native Americans in the entertainment industry after Marlon Brando declined his 1973 Best Actor Award for The Godfather in a speech read by Sacheen Littlefeather. The Academy and those in attendance responded harshly to this unplanned interruption, but that speech succeeded in bringing heightened attention to the American Indian Movement.

The criticism and the praise that is dispensed in connection with the Oscars is a reflection of the issues that are discussed in society. It is in this constructive atmosphere of open discussion that the Oscars indirectly (and maybe unintentionally) create space for the discussion of social issues and their place in the world of entertainment. The hashtags #AskHerMore and #OscarsSoWhite are just two representations of the many debates the Oscars fuelled on Twitter.

In addition, the Oscars encourage both critics and the general public to engage in questions about quality movies,  filmmaking, and acting. Whether one agrees or disagrees with the choice of nominees and winners, people often feel inclined to take a stand and defend their opinion, consequently leading to greater critical expectations of films and the film industry beyond the best-dressed lists.

If anything, the Oscars should be criticized more for its lack of transparency about its selection process. An explanation for why the winners are chosen would enhance the public’s understanding of the criteria considered. With each winner announced at the ceremony, it would be helpful if there followed a short explanation about why the winner excelled in the category. This might further deepen the public’s knowledge of the process that decides the winners and make the Oscars debates more constructive. 

In spite of its pompous pageantry, the Oscars have come to play an important role in our cinematic culture. The awards process has the instrumental value of initiating debates on the social issues in Hollywood and the very essence of quality filmmaking. 

In a time when many independent and documentary filmmakers are unable to hold their own against increasingly big-budget blockbusters, the Oscars provide a powerful platform for the debate on quality films and their socio-political backdrop. In many cases it is the actors themselves that spark these debates, as Patricia Arquette did when she used her acceptance speech to address gender-based income equality. The criticism and debate surrounding the Academy Awards creates incentives for filmmakers to make bolder pieces targeted towards larger audiences in hope of creating next year’s best picture. 

a, Sports

10 Things: Handball

by Alex Sirois on

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  • 1)

    Handball is played on a cozy 40x20m court. Goals are scored by throwing the ball into the net or by ‘jumping’ in from outside the goalie’s six-foot crease. It is a fast-paced, full-contact sport that typically involves 20-35 goals per team each game.

     

  • 2)

    ‘Expulsim ludere’—expelled play—was a women’s sport in ancient Rome that is thought to be the precursor to modern handball. Handball was codified at the end of the 19th century in Denmark, and gained international recognition after it was played at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin.

     

  • 3)

    If a tournament game is not decided in regulation, there are a maximum of two overtime periods, clocking in at five minutes each. Should the game still be tied after overtime, the winning team is determined in a penalty shootout, with opposing teams shooting at each others’ nets from the seven-metre mark.

     

  • 4)

    Each team consists of seven players on the court and seven substitute players on the bench. Similar to those in hockey, substitutions can involve any number of players and can come at any time during game play.

     

  • 5)

    Resin is used to provide the players with a better grip on the ball. Though this is not officially allowed in the rules and regulations, players often apply resin to the outsides of their shoes in order to readily access it during game time to put a little extra spin on their trick shots.

     

  • 6)

    The 24th IHF (International Handball Federation) World Championships were held in Qatar. The host nation went on a historic run to the final before losing to the French. The French men’s national team also won an Olympic gold medal in London in 2012. Despite recent French dominance, Sweden holds the most IHF World Championship medals, with a total of 11.

     

  • 7)

    Canada has made only three appearances at the IHF World Championships, the most recent of which came in 2005. The sport remains unpopular among Canadians and the national team has struggled to improve over the years. Team Canada’s best result came in the 1978 World Championship, when it placed 15th out of the 16 teams that qualified.

     

  • 8)

    Salaries in handball have risen significantly in the past few years, with the top five earners making 11 million euros per year. Hans Lindberg makes the most at 11.1 million playing for HSV Hamburg, while Domagoj Duvnjak holds the record for the most expensive transfer fee when, at the age of 21, he was sent to HSV Hamburg for 2.25 million euros.

     

  • 9)

    According to IHF rules, to gain eligibility for a new national team a player cannot have played for another nation for three years in an official match. A large number of European stars had been naturalized just before the last World Champions, and only four of the 17 players on the squad were Qatari natives.

     

  • 10)

    Slovenian Dragan Gajic holds the IHF World Record for most goals scored in a single tournament with 71 in the 2015 World Championship. The record for the most fouls belongs to Croatia’s Igor Vori, who managed to rack up over 25 penalty minutes in just eight games.

    (Photos courtesy of bbc.co.uk; nmcollegeumang.org; ihf.info)

a, Student Life

How to hunt for housing options

by Audrey Carleton on

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With half a semester left to go, most students have to face the exciting yet daunting task of searching for off-campus housing options.  While the process of apartment hunting is stressful for a person of any age, it can be even more daunting for those with no experience.  Here are some common challenges first-years face when searching for their first apartment, along with some solutions to provide guidance.

  • What should I look for in an apartment?

    Things to look out for online:

    Before exploring apartment hunting websites, it is a good idea to know what you want in an apartment. Students who plan to host a lot of parties or events, for example, may value having a large common space like a living room or a kitchen. Students who dread the idea of moving truckloads of furniture into their apartment should search for fully furnished apartments, but these may generally cost more. These types of details are often listed online. Other key details to look out for in online apartment advertisements include price, square footage, number of bathrooms, location of nearest laundry utilities, nearby amenities such as grocery stores and transit stations—and whether or not utilities such as heating, hot water, or wifi—are included.

     

    Things to look out for in

    person:

    An apartment can look great online but fall short in person. Some landlords hire professional photographers to take pictures for advertisements whom can easily take photos from a flattering angle to make a room seem larger. It is highly recommended to see an apartment in person before signing the lease for this reason. Additionally, there could be minor issues with rooms that are only visible in person, including structural problems like holes and other damages to walls, dirty carpets, or chipped paint. These may not be deal breakers to all groups, but if significant, should be discussed with the landlord to potentially be fixed.

  • Where to find apartment/house listings

    Many landlords will also post signs that say “A Louer” outside of an available apartment. Keep an eye out for signs like these when walking through neighbourhoods; they will often have the apartment size and the landlord’s phone number posted on them as well.

    However, some landlords do not post advertisements for every single space they manage. Upon seeing an apartment with a landlord, it is recommended to consult them about any other spaces they have of comparable size. This could potentially open the door to several more spaces that a group otherwise would not have encountered if limiting their search to the internet.

  • Rent

    Rent will depend mainly on the size of the space and number of tenants it can accommodate. The McGill Off-Campus Housing Survival Guide has a chart with average price depending on size. Prices can also vary according to location and amenities. The standard guideline with location is that the closer an apartment is to campus, the more expensive it will be. Additionally, the nicer the amenities a space has—such as balconies, washer/dryer or nice moulding—the more it will cost.

  • Parental involvement

    It is a good idea to discuss logistics of renting an apartment with parents before starting to look, especially if they are the ones paying for rent. Remember to discuss rent budget with parents and get an idea of monetary limits before looking for a space. Many parents have renting experience under their belts, and may have some knowledge to provide with regards to finding a good deal. It is not a bad idea to seek advice from parents and to keep them in the loop throughout the apartment-hunting process.

a, Arts & Entertainment

Album Review: Bent by Elephants – The Shore

by Jonathan Herlin on

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More often than not in The Shore, the lyrics are indeterminable—which is a shame because I’m sure that they would allow for a better understanding of this album. However, this is more than atoned for by Chelsey Walsh’s pleasant, wide-ranging, melancholic vocals. 

The sophomore release from this Montreal band is a musical elegy for companionship, romantic or otherwise. The titular first track, “The Shore,” evokes a profound feeling of advancing, yet incomplete isolation. The listener easily imagines the situation depicted by the album cover: Standing on a beach with only reflections for company, as if clinging to the ethereal memory of significant others while realizing the inherent futility of doing so. 

In terms of instrumentation, Eric Dew’s drumming is particularly praiseworthy. Dew incorporates unorthodox rhythms and time signatures, and often initiates unexpected tempo changes, such as on the song “Sideways.” The guitar, reverb heavy and distant, often relies on arpeggios, which are always agreeable but sometimes repetitive—both in style and in placing within the song. For instance, this technique often serves as a bridge around two or three minutes in. Because of its gain-heavy solo towards the track’s end, the guitar is at its most distinct and best on “The Hills.”

The album’s greatest failure is that its central theme is not approached from enough angles, and consequently, isn’t challenging enough. There’s more to being in love—one hopes—than melancholy, or even than anger. Where is the redemption? As demonstrated on “The Lonely Mile,” the hollow loneliness is too comfortable: “We loved each other but resented it/ We hated love but we expected it.”

 
 
 
 
 
 

a, Science & Technology

Fighting Ebola: Prevention, progress, perspectives

by Andy Wang on

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In an effort to raise awareness about the impact Ebolavirus disease (EVD) has had on thousands, McGill Students Fight Ebola hosted a conference last Wednesday, Feb. 18, featuring a panel of Ebola experts. The aim was to inform those interested in the problems and perspectives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) during the latest EVD epidemic, and fundraise for the fight against Ebola. 

Dr. Gary Gottlieb, President and CEO of Partners in Health—a healthcare organization combatting Ebola—operates on the belief that health care is a human right.

“The function of Partners In Health is one that has evolved to be focused on health systems strengthening in developing countries,” Gottlieb explained. 

Partners in Health focuses on forming strong connections with the local community by preserving a local healthcare system. Some of its services include care for HIV,  drug-resistant tuberculosis, and EVD. 

However, Partners in Health does not have much in the way of disaster response. 

“Ebola was seen as an opportunity to accompany governments and to assist them by establishing ourselves in Liberia and Sierra Leone, and providing ongoing, sustainable health care,” Gottlieb said. 

He also explained that Partners in Health can only operate in countries when invited by the local government, making operations in countries with absent or unstable leadership incredibly difficult. 

Providing a global perspective on the impact of this epidemic was Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Canada President, Dr. Heather Culbert. 

Throughout the 20th century, because MSF has responded to numerous EVD outbreaks, it has been able to optimize its services to patients.  

“[MSF] is one of the few agencies that has a treatment protocol for Ebola,” Culbert said. “This includes contact tracing, containment, and education in the community.” 

A combination of factors has served to worsen the outcome of the epidemic, a situation that Culbert described as the ‘perfect storm.’ 

“There was never Ebola in West Africa before,” Culbert said. “People in West Africa didn’t know to look for it. There were no diagnostic facilities. People had never seen it.”

In these areas, burial customs involve bathing, handling, and moving patients’ bodies to their cities of birth. These practices provide an easy route for viral transmission, something that has resulted in the doubling of cases every month.

“[It’s like] fighting a forest fire with a water pistol,” Culbert said. “MSF [has been] forced into a position where we no longer refer to our healthcare facilities as treatment centres, but case management centres.”

This frustration was compounded by the fact that the World Health Organization (WHO) did not declare Ebola an international emergency until August 2014. At the same time, MSF was treating two-thirds of all Ebola cases in West Africa. However, MSF was met with increasing challenges when this late declaration from the WHO was met by fear from the international community. 

“Governments closed their borders and we had a hard time getting our staff and supplies in and out,” Culbert explained. “Some of our expatriates—when they returned to their home countries—were quarantined and stigmatized.” 

According to Culbert, reactions like this make it harder to find those willing to work and unite in the face of a threat like EVD.

Recently returned from Liberia, where he acted as the head for the Ebola epidemic for the WHO, was Dr. Srinivas Murthy, the night’s final speaker. 

Murthy emphasized the importance of completely eradicating EDV, right down to the last patient.

“It’s the getting to zero challenge that is going to be the most difficult and will take a concerted effort from all levels of the healthcare system,” Murthy explained. “But [it] is ultimately the final goal in terms of the Ebola epidemic.” 

The damage caused by EVD is multi-faceted. EVD has had huge socioeconomic effects on West Africa.

“One could argue that Ebola has set West Africa back an entire generation,” Srinivas said.

Employment has gone down by 60 per cent and schools have even been forced to shut down. EVD pushed what was already a fragile healthcare system into something that barely exists. Vaccinations have decreased while the mortality rates of other diseases such as HIV and tuberculosis have increased. 

Furthermore, maintaining a viable healthcare workforce becomes more and more challenging because those who contact and then contract the disease are usually healthcare workers, creating a hole in the healthcare system that desperately needs to be filled.

Despite tireless efforts by NGOs, progress still needs to be made.

 “The Ebola epidemic in West Africa is not over yet,” Culbert said.

a, Editorial, Opinion

Editorial: Past missteps, fee levies highlight demand for faculty executive accountability

by McGill Tribune Editorial Board on

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The Management Undergraduate Society (MUS) and the Science Undergraduate Society (SUS) both recently passed motions to institute new student fees aimed at improving the resources and spaces available to students. Due to McGill’s budgetary constraints that prevent the university from allocating money to building renovation and other student services not deemed essential, faculty executives have assumed the responsibility of putting forth referendum questions to increase existing student fees and institute new ones in order to pay for these initiatives. In light of previous mistakes and failures to meet many basic requirements of their positions, faculty executives need to make changes to increase their degree of accountability if they are to successfully manage these additional responsibilities.

Faculty executives have generally failed to fulfill their basic duties, including communicating openly with students, making information readily accessible, and abiding by university regulations. Several incidents to highlight include MUS financial documents and meeting minutes that have not been updated since November, the Arts Undergraduate Society’s (AUS) failure to secure alcohol permits for its Bar des Arts events, and a general lack of transparency and neglect of responsibilities among many faculty executives who fail to attend their office hours or reach out to their constituents. These incidents highlight the lack of coordination and responsibility on the part of many faculty executives, and leave us with low expectations for how they will manage growing financial responsibilities.

Both the SUS and MUS referendum processes—which further increased the amount of responsibility held by faculty executives by implementing new fees—were plagued by procedural errors and problems with engaging students. The SUS held a ‘redo’ referendum regarding the two student fees after a blunder that occurred during the Fall referendum, in which the fee questions were mistakenly run under online ratification guidelines instead of the proper procedures for a referendum. SUS was forced to rerun the questions in the Winter referendum despite having already implemented the fees with the Deputy Provost’s office. Moreover, the SUS faculty executives did not effectively inform students of the mistake, demonstrating a serious lack of accountability and transparency. The MUS fee, while passed according to the proper procedures, was inadequately advertised, with many management students interviewed by this newspaper stating that they were unaware of the referendum and the new fee.

Faculty executives need to make changes to increase their degree of accountability if they are to succesfully manage additional responsibilities.

The fees levied by the MUS and SUS constitute significant sums of money, and while the building projects being undertaken are ambitious and—if executed well—beneficial for students, they are also long-term endeavours. This means that the projects will pass through the hands of several executives before they are finished. The high turnover rate of faculty executives increases the chances for poor coordination and distortion of the long-term vision. These additional obstacles are not encouraging, especially in light of previous failures dealing with the referenda that preceded these fees.

These past errors necessitate a change in how faculty executives are held accountable going forward. Referenda should be highly publicized in order to maximize student engagement with the questions at hand. This requires faculty executives to advertise important referenda more actively so that all students are made aware of potential fee increases, and to make themselves available to fellow students who may have questions or concerns.

In addition to fulfilling these basic responsibilities, all faculty executives should review their bylaws and constitutions, or create a committee to do so, as the SUS has recently done. Many of these documents are egregiously outdated, resulting in confusion and difficulty allocating responsibility among the different executives. Updating their constitutions should help to reacquaint executives with what their individual responsibilities are and can help to improve overall performance.

Furthermore, students themselves must also seek to hold their faculty executives to higher expectations in order for any changes to occur. The recent fee increases that directly impact students’ wallets may hopefully provide the impetus for students to pay closer attention to their faculty executives and hold them to higher standards.

a, Off the Board, Opinion

Off the board: Our Wednesday night affair

by Cassie Lee on

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McGill students have recently found themselves a steamy new Wednesday night mistress. It would appear that weeknight beer-drinking types have left Gerts, a McGill institution,  in favour of a newer, larger establishment—Ace Bar and Grill. This Winter, Gerts has felt the painful backlash of its once loyal customers leaving its  bar in favor of a new spot.

Just two months ago, a Wednesday evening at Gerts could see wait times of up to an hour for the popular establishment; now the ’90s throwbacks echo coldly across the vacant tables and empty pitchers. Gerts has always been a shoulder to cry on after particularly difficult midterms—a safehouse from the turbulent student world—yet now it’s just some bar we used to know. 

 Enter Ace.  Once a hotel bistro, it is now a shiny new venue draped in mystique and nuance. It has adopted and improved on the specials that students loved at Gerts. Ace claims to have more alcoholic drinks than Gerts, more seating than Gerts, a daring serve-yourself coat check, and mysteriously relaxed bouncers.

So began our epic love affair. The sangria is closer to jungle juice and no bouncers attempt to convince you that they’re already at capacity when you know four people totally just left. 

But aren’t students afraid of getting hurt again? Gerts’ fatal flaw was in taking advantage of our loyalty and friendship. It believed that it was the only bar that students would keep coming back to. Gerts served drinks obviously low in alcohol content, banned our favourite songs, and ruthlessly pushed students away with its cold, endless lineups. It was probably always about the money. Gerts has hurt us, and not in the usual ‘morning after’ kind of way—but with the kind of hurt that drove us into the arms of another bar.

Is Ace prepared to take on the baggage that Gerts left behind? We must confess to our own flaws: Our obsessive playing of Bruno Mars songs, and our notorious under-tipping. And when Ace is bent over cleaning vomit off the washroom tiles week in and week out, will it question its commitment to this relationship? 

In all this confusion, while walking down McTavish Street, I can’t help but to let my eyes linger on that one window Gerts has in the corner. I know it misses us. Gerts’ increased social media presence, for example, and events like this Wednesday’s “Ninegria,” which boasts sangria for only nine dollars during the day with the hashtag #therealsangriawednesday #bringinitback are clear signs that Gerts can’t live without us. More subtly, Gerts hosted a “Friends” marathon last week, trying to come off as casual, but the message still comes across loud and clear—Gerts wants us back.

Like every utopia laden with ample seating and satisfying beverages, the magic can’t possibly last. Soon, weaker cocktails and increased prices will be introduced  at Ace along with bouncers who act like airport security. 

While Ace may be intriguing and mysterious, Gerts is comfortable and safe, and there’s something about your student bar stays with you. Ace is a great place, but it’s not the place. It was a fun affair, but its popularity is short-lived. 

Maybe this was the space that we both needed—a chance for us to show Gerts that we are more than just some sloppy Wednesday night. But with all forgiveness comes compromise; stronger drinks, smaller lines, and friendlier bouncers. I’ll admit, the last month at Ace has been fun, but I’m ready to settle down with the bar next door to Leacock. 

a, McGill, Montreal, News

Cities We Need conference highlights importance of municipal autonomy

by Philippe Dumais on

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The McGill Institute for the Study of Canada (MISC) opened its 20th annual two-day conference on Feb. 19, focusing on the challenges cities across Canada face.  Elected officials from cities across the country, scholars, and representatives of non-governmental organizations gathered to discuss topics including governance, culture, infrastructure, citizenship, and social justice.

The conference opened with a panel of mayors who discussed governance.  Mayors from Mississauga, Yellowknife, Stratford, Halifax, and Châteauguay unanimously pointed to the lack of consistency across municipalities in the political powers they have over their jurisdiction.  The mayors agreed that consistency and predictability should be the norm in intergovernmental relationships. Attendees also discussed the municipal ability to perceive its own taxes to secure sources of revenue that are independent from provincial or federal subsidies.

Mark Heyck, mayor of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, highlighted this issue echoed by many of his colleagues.

“We have a completely different situation from province to province and from territory to territory, there is no uniformity in what [is] abided by each of us,” Heyck said. “It is time to have a national conversation about municipalities.”

Dan Mathieson, mayor of Stratford, Ontario, also argued that the infrastructures under the responsibility of municipal governments were unstable, given municipal budgets and their capacity to secure independent and predictable sources of revenue are currently insufficient.

Mathieson cited the case of the University of Waterloo, Stratford Campus, which needed $10 million for its operations.  The federal government refused to fund it, but gave $20 million to the University of Alberta through the Western Diversification Fund. According to Mathieson, this is a reflection of the lack of consistency municipalities across Canada are dealing with.  

“The system is broke [sic],” Mathieson added. “There [are] over 2,000 communities in this country and you shouldn’t expect the communities to adapt to new ways of doing things each and every day.”  

Mayor of Châteauguay Nathalie Simon explained that the current fiscal and political arrangements between levels of governments are impediments to municipal development.  

“The most difficult obstacle is certainly the absence of cohesion among the provincial government and the relevant federal agencies,” Simon said. 

She explained that asking for budgets and permissions from both levels of government represents a drag of resources that could be invested in services to the community.  

“If we want to keep up with the current challenges in a dynamic, prosperous, and attractive community, things must change, cities must be recognized as government of proximity,” she said.

Simon also cited the example of Rogers Telecommunications Corporation, which decided to build a new antenna despite municipal regulations.  In doing so, Rogers acted upon the approbation of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, as well as other relevant agencies, but ignored prior urban planning established by the municipality. 

Director of the MISC and McGill communications professor William Straw explained that the conference was prompted by the sense that interesting policy initiatives addressing challenges in Canadian life are currently being developed in cities.

“McGill is an urban university and, more and more, scholarship at McGill reflects on what it means to be a university in a big city,” Straw said on McGill’s role in the city discourse. “McGill is also an university in which people think about cities across all disciplines, from medicine to agriculture to arts. I think it’s important that McGill highlight this aspect of its identity.”

Straw explained that McGill’s location in downtown Montreal and its increasing institutions on urban life and research should be a larger part of its identity.

“I think McGill […] has to think more and more of itself as an urban institution,” he said. “I hope this conference will help that.”

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