A leader they can believe in

By Rachel Mendleson - Thursday, June 17, 2010 at 2:40 PM - 9 Comments

Photograph by Steve Simon

Growing up in Rome, Maurizio Porfiri often frequented zoos and aquariums, where he observed the collective behaviour of everything from ants to birds. “To me,” he says, “the fascinating part was animal personality.”

And as a science-fiction fan—he enjoyed the work of Philip K. Dick, who wrote Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?—Porfiri, who went on to study mechanical engineering, imag­ined a world where robots interact with nature. If the robot fish he’s built is any indication, his childhood fantasy may be edging closer to fruition: beyond merely swimming alongside its live counterparts, Porfiri’s cyberfish becomes their leader.

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'I would like the firing squad please. There are no mistakes.'

By Rachel Mendleson - Saturday, June 12, 2010 at 10:00 AM - 26 Comments

Francisco Kjolseth/AP

Update: Ronnie Lee Gardner’s execution went ahead and he was pronounced dead at 12:17 a.m. on June, 18 after being shot by a firing squad.

Just before midnight on June 17, barring any successful last-minute appeal, convicted murderer Ronnie Lee Gardner will be strapped to a chair in the special execution chamber in Utah’s state prison. A black hood will be placed over his head; a white target pinned above his heart. At 12:01 a.m., five anonymous sharpshooters will cock their .30 calibre rifles, and open fire.

The execution, if it goes ahead, will be the third by firing squad in the U.S. (and Utah) in more than 40 years. And it will have been Gardner’s choice.

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1970-2010 | David John DeGroot

By Rachel Mendleson - Thursday, June 10, 2010 at 5:00 PM - 8 Comments

Illustration by Team Macho

David John DeGroot was born on April 9, 1970, 30 minutes after his identical twin brother Stephen, in Trenton, Ont., but grew up in Thompson, Man. He was the youngest of four boys for Adrian DeGroot, a machinist who had immigrated from Holland, and his wife, Sandra. Close in age (brothers Adrian Jr. and Michael were born in 1968 and 1969), the boys were a handful, tag-team wrestling and pretending to be a rock band. Though their dad wouldn’t let them play ice hockey (“he said it was ‘too violent,’ ” says Michael), he encouraged them to get involved in lacrosse, which he coached.

The twins, pudgy little boys with magnetic personalities, played off one another like a comedy act, prompting what Michael describes as “knot-in-your-stomach belly laughs to the point that you can’t breathe.” Yet they were sensitive, too. “Dad always joked about Dave and I having hearts that were too big,” says Stephen. This was especially true of Dave, who, at age nine, was once in tears “because he didn’t know how he was going to support his wife and kids,” says Michael. Dave’s main physical difference was internal: when he was young, doctors detected a heart murmur. But due to his athleticism (after shedding his childhood chubbiness, he shone on the lacrosse field and the volleyball court), no one paid it much mind.

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Where 88 equals 499

By Rachel Mendleson - Thursday, June 10, 2010 at 12:40 PM - 1 Comment

Getty Images

Prudent puppies come when called. The same cannot be said of the deputies in the Russian parliament, who, despite being chided as Vladimir Putin’s lapdogs, appear to have a truancy problem. As a Russian television report has revealed, a recent Duma vote, in which new drunk-driving legislation passed 449 to zero, was not as well-attended as the result suggests. According to the report, a mere 88 deputies showed up to the May 19 session. That, however, didn’t stop those in attendance from carrying on: during the 20 seconds allotted to vote, members rushed around pushing the buttons reserved for their absent colleagues. As Ren TV observed, “One physically fit deputy has time to press nine buttons.”

Absenteeism among deputies, many of whom are Russian celebrities, is nothing new. In April, President Dmitry Medvedev issued a public chastisement: “For those who don’t go,” he said, “let’s change the legislation and let them go somewhere else.” After the TV report surfaced, top-ranking United Russia party official Sergei Neverov echoed the threat. “The Duma needs to get rid of the truant deputies,” he said. A video clip of the vote, meanwhile, spread like wildfire: it attracted 180,000 views on YouTube alone. This is one dog-and-pony show, it seems, that the Russian public doesn’t want to miss.

Heel, Fido. It’s for your own good.

By Rachel Mendleson - Monday, May 31, 2010 at 12:58 PM - 0 Comments

Getty Images

Rebels often live hard and die young. Such is the case for extreme athletes, out-of-control celebrities—and, according to a recent study, certain breeds of dogs. As a team of researchers from the University of Sherbrooke concluded in a paper slated for publication in The American Naturalist in June, “obedient (or docile, shy) breeds live longer than disobedient (or bold) ones.”

The finding, as the study asserts, reflects the product of more than two centuries of  “extensive artificial selection.” Beyond physical appearance and reproduction capabilities, humans placed an emphasis on behaviour traits, breeding for everything from fighting to guarding to companionship. In time, a spectrum of breeds emerged, each with a distinct temperament: hounds, for instance, are known for their hunting prowess; pugs, meanwhile, have become popular lap dogs.

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Feeling the bite of a cannibal joke

By Rachel Mendleson - Thursday, May 27, 2010 at 3:20 PM - 0 Comments

Mike Heydon / Getty Images

In tense situations, New Zealand Prime Minister John Key is known for remaining curiously upbeat. As an executive at Merrill Lynch in the mid-’90s, the cheerfulness with which he axed hundreds of employees inspired his co-workers to call him “the smiling assassin.” But after joking that he “would have been dinner” if he’d eaten with a Maori tribe in the wake of a land dispute, Key has landed in hot water—evidence, perhaps, that in politics, empathy is often a wiser tack than humour.

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What’s best for troubled teens?

By Rachel Mendleson - Thursday, May 20, 2010 at 3:00 PM - 25 Comments

Kristen Schmid/ St. Petersburg Times/ Zuma/ Keystone

Using boot camps or wilderness programs to treat youth suffering from emotional, behavioural or addiction problems is a divisive issue in the mental health profession. So a conference in Toronto this month that will include representatives of more than 100 such residential therapeutic programs—four are Canadian, the rest are U.S.-based—has reignited the debate about their efficacy, and the increasing placement of Canadian youth in these facilities.

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NATO and the spy from Estonia

By Rachel Mendleson - Thursday, May 20, 2010 at 12:00 PM - 0 Comments

Sicherheitspolizei Estland

When former Estonian senior defence official Herman Simm was convicted in 2009 of sharing NATO secrets with Russia, it wasn’t immediately known how much harm he’d done. But according to a classified NATO report, the consequences of his espionage, which spanned 12 years, were far-reaching indeed, earning Simm the dubious distinction of being the “most damaging [spy] in alliance history.”

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Scott Jefrey Pineo 1986-2010

By Rachel Mendleson - Thursday, May 13, 2010 at 4:40 PM - 6 Comments

Illustration by Genevieve Simms

Scott Jefrey Pineo was born on June 23, 1986, in Saint John, N.B., to Jefrey, at the time a carpenter, and Susan, who worked in an insurance agency. A happy baby with sandy hair and blue eyes (which later turned green), Scott was “always interested in what was happening around him,” says Jefrey. He was just out of diapers when his dad first took him brook fishing near their home in Morrisdale, a small community on the Saint John River. Holding a twig with some line tied to the end, Scott got a bite. Says Jefrey, “He caught a fish and he was hooked.”

An outgoing boy with an “abundance of energy,” Scott was drawn to the calming nature of the sport, and “the thrill of having a tug on the end of your line,” says Jefrey. When he was small, his family, which grew to include younger sister Jillian, moved to Grand Bay-Westfield, on the other side of the Saint John River. In the spring, the river would swell up over the banks, flowing under the railroad tracks and into roadside ditches near their house. With his cousin by his side, Scott “would be out there at the first crack of fishing season,” reeling in 10- to 12-inch trout, says Jefrey.

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Un-Happy meals

By Rachel Mendleson - Monday, May 10, 2010 at 11:57 AM - 1 Comment

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For more than three decades, Hollywood studios have benefited from their happy marriage with fast-food restaurants: movie-themed trinkets have become a staple of kids’ meals. But last month, in a bid to fight childhood obesity, Santa Clara County, Calif., passed a law to keep toys out of meals that don’t meet basic nutritional standards, becoming the first U.S. jurisdiction to restrict the relationship. “This ordinance breaks the link between unhealthy foods and prizes,” county supervisor Ken Yeager told CNN. So what could this mean for Hollywood?

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Charles Sorbie 1931-2010

By Rachel Mendleson - Thursday, May 6, 2010 at 1:00 PM - 1 Comment

Charles Sorbie was born on June 20, 1931, in Hamilton, Scotland, the youngest of five children to Charles Sorbie, who owned a small grocery business, and his wife, Hannah. An energetic boy with blue-grey eyes and dark, wavy hair, Charlie had a magnetic smile and an insatiable curiosity. His expansive memory made him an excellent student and talented thespian. Decades later, he could still recite Shakespearean soliloquies with confidence.

When Charlie was in his teens, cancer claimed his mother’s life. Though the loss was tough on him, he took comfort in the fact that she knew he’d gotten into medical school before she died. At just 16, he started at Glasgow University, where he also played on the rugby team. Charlie enjoyed working with his hands—growing up, he’d spent summers on Dytach Farm, milking cows and making cheese—and settled on orthopaedic surgery. He met Janet Wynne-Edwards, a doctor-in-training from the University of Aberdeen, at the children’s hospital in Glasgow. When they started dating, he knew he’d met his match in the self-assured, dark-haired beauty. Within months they were engaged, and on April 23, 1957, they were married.

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Canadian Tire’s new heavyweight

By Rachel Mendleson - Thursday, May 6, 2010 at 8:40 AM - 2 Comments

El Universal/Zuma/Keystone

Since Canadian Tire first started advertising on TV decades ago, it has never relied on a celebrity to hawk its products or bolster its brand. So, as Canadians watched the opening round of this year’s Stanley Cup playoffs, they might have been surprised to see commercials for the iconic department store starring George Foreman, extolling the virtues of his line of environmentally friendly cleaning products. The household cleaners, featuring Foreman in his signature boxing stance, are being sold in Canada for the first time, exclusively through Canadian Tire.

According to Leon Dreimann, who has been working with Foreman to market his products since he first introduced his now-infamous grill 15 years ago, Canada’s “green” reputation is what prompted the former heavyweight champion to bring his cleaners north of the border. (They were introduced in the U.S. two years ago.) The success that Canadian Tire has had in selling the George Foreman Grill, meanwhile, made the retailer an obvious choice, he says.

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Was WWIII close?

By Rachel Mendleson - Tuesday, May 4, 2010 at 9:55 AM - 5 Comments

Michael Urban/AFP/Getty Images

In the late ’70s, in the throes of the Cold War, a series of secret underground bunkers were built in the former East Germany, the front line of what, at the time, seemed like an impending nuclear showdown. Many of the estimated 1,200 bunkers scattered across the former German Democratic Republic were built from scratch by East German or Soviet crews; others were former Nazi shelters, repurposed for a possible Third World War. But the recent debate about the significance of one such bunker, buried deep in the expansive wooded heather of Kossa, shows that, nearly 20 years after the Iron Curtain fell, the question of how close to the brink we really were remains.

Until recently, the Kossa bunker, which consists of 75 subterranean hectares, was widely accepted as an intended refuge for part of the East German army. But according to Olaf Strahlendorff, director of the Kossa Military Museum, which has been operational since 2002, it was much more significant. As he tells visitors, “This is where the Russians planned to conduct World War III.” Potsdam Military History Research Institute historian Torsten Diedrich, too, attributes a greater purpose, telling Der Spiegel, “Kossa was a command bunker of the Warsaw Pact.”

But to others, the suggestion that Kossa was anything more than a field bunker is unfounded. According to Mark Kramer, director of the Harvard Project for Cold War Studies, the location of the main Warsaw Pact bunkers “are well known, and they aren’t this one.” Despite the sophistication of Kossa’s communications equipment, Kramer says this site was “certainly not some strategic command centre that’s overseeing the entire war.” Likewise, Holger Herwig, Canada Research Chair in Military and Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary, says that unlike the Soviet bunkers in the GDR, which were destroyed in the early ’90s, those built by the East Germans remained intact, and their purpose well-documented. “There’s no secret about what Kossa was for,” he says.

The same can’t be said about more salient Cold War mysteries. Though the GDR archives, opened in the early ’90s, provided the broad strokes of the Moscow-led Warsaw Pact strategy for a Third World War, old Soviet archives remain closed and Soviet war plans have never been released. According to Ben Fischer, former chief historian for the CIA, the West, which relied primarily on technical intelligence collection methods such as satellites, was forced to draw conclusions accordingly. The result, he says, “is a sort of Swiss cheese. You have solid pieces and big holes.”

But more information is trickling out. As Kramer observed in a paper published earlier this year, Warsaw Pact training exercises that are now available in Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance confirm that, by the late ’80s, the Soviet military was under significant political pressure and was pursuing a defensive strategy. And recently declassified CIA documents reveal that, during the 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, the U.S. believed that the Soviets “had no desire to provoke conflict with NATO,” says Kramer. All of which suggests that, despite the temptation “to make things out to have been more dangerous than they were,” says Kramer, the Soviets never came close to launching a Third World War—whether from a bunker in Moscow, or one in Kossa.

Cleaning up the world's worst oil spills

By Rachel Mendleson - Friday, April 30, 2010 at 12:00 PM - 21 Comments

In the days since a BP oil rig exploded and sank in the Gulf of Mexico, vast amounts of oil have been pouring into the water. The damage is worse than originally thought: the U.S. Coast Guard has revised its earlier estimate, indicating that some 5,000 barrels of oil are spilling into the water off the coast of Louisiana each day. As the slick moves toward the fragile coastline ecosystems, the race to contain it is underway. On Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano declared the spill “of national significance,” pledging to devote “every available asset” to stopping it.

PHOTO GALLERY
“A massive and potentially unprecedented environmental disaster” — Photos from the spreading oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico

In the meantime, BP is trying to contain it any way it can: in addition to using skimmers to remove the thickest substance, 76,000 tons of dispersant to break up the oil, and setting up miles of barriers to protect the coast, the company is experimenting with controlled burns—a last-ditch effort that carries environmental consequences. (Though burning oil changes its consistency, making less likely to coat marine life, according to the U.S. Coast Guard’s Rear Adm. Mary E. Landry, it creates a “black plume” of smoke.) Despite past experience with oil spills, there’s no tried-and-true way to contain them. Here’s a look at how the world’s top five marine oil spills were (or weren’t) contained:

5. ABT Summer: On May 28, 1991, there was an explosion aboard the ABT Summer, an oil tanker en route from Iran to Rotterdam. The ship, which was carrying 260,000 tons of oil, caught fire. After three days, it sank 1,300 km off the coast of Angola.* Because it was so far off-shore, there was no rush to clean up the damage; it was assumed that high seas would break up the large slick.

4. Nowruz Oil Field: On February 10, 1983, in the midst of the Iran-Iraq war, an oil tanker slammed into a platform at the Nowruz Oil Field in the Persian Gulf. The conflict delayed efforts to cap the ensuing spill, and an estimated 1,500 barrels drained into the water each day. In March, Iraqi planes attacked the platform, setting the oil slick ablaze. By the time the well was finally capped in September—an Iranian operation that killed 11 people—it had released some 260,000 tons of oil into the sea. The clean-up effort largely centered around the use of skimmers and pumps by Norpol, a Norwegian company.

3. Atlantic Empress/Aegean Captain: On July 19, 1979, two oil tankers, the Atlantic Empress and the Aegean Captain collided off the coast of Trinidad and Tobago during a tropical storm. The ships, which contained nearly 500,000 tons of crude oil between them, burst into flames on impact. Crews successfully extinguished the fire aboard the Aegean and it was towed to shore, but the blaze continued to rage on the Atlantic. After more than two weeks of firefighting efforts, an explosion sunk the ship, which had by then been dragged further out to sea. Dispersants were used to treat the spilled oil, curbing pollutants. In the end, an estimated 280,000 tons poured into the Caribbean—the record for a ship-source spill.

2. Ixtoc I: On June 3, 1979, Pemex, Mexico’s government-owned oil company, was drilling a 3.2 km deep oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, when the Ixtoc I exploded. The blow out, which occurred when the drill ran into high pressure, soon caught fire and caused the platform to collapse. A team of experts arrived quickly at the site, about 970 km south of Texas, but because of poor visibility and seafloor debris, it took divers until the following March to cap the well. In the meantime, between 10,000 and 30,000 barrels of oil poured into the water each day, totaling an estimated 454,000 tons. To slow the flow, mud (and later, steel balls) were dropped into the well. According to Pemex, half the oil burned when it reached the surface, and a third evaporated. Norwegian experts contained the spill using skimming equipment and booms.

1. Gulf War: In the first days of the Gulf War, Iraqi military forces opened the valves at the Sea Island oil terminal in Kuwait, releasing vast amounts of crude oil into the Persian Gulf. The spill, which began on January 21, consisted of up to eight million barrels (between 1,360,000 and 1,500,000 tons), making it the largest in history. Because of the war, clean-up was delayed, but an international effort did eventually get underway. Using smart bombs, Coalition forces were able to seal the open pipelines at the Al Ahmadi facility, and American and Dutch workers built ponds in the desert to store the oil they pumped from the water. Booms and skimmers were used to keep the oil away from the desalination plants, which provided drinking water to residents in the area. In the end, the spill was not as catastrophic as initially feared: roughly half the oil evaporated, two to three million barrels washed ashore and a million barrels were recovered.

(*Corrected from an earlier version, which erroneously stated that the ABT Summer sank 130,000 km off the coast of Angola.)

Even Harper’s son digs volleyball

By Rachel Mendleson - Thursday, April 29, 2010 at 4:40 PM - 3 Comments

Waterloo Region Record/ CP

Thanks to an unexpected visit by Canada’s first father last week, the Ontario volleyball championships were a considerably more high-profile event than usual. Stephen Harper was in the stands at RIM Park in Waterloo, Ont., cheering on his 13-year-old son Ben. Harper declined interviews; his spokesman told reporters, “This is just a dad here watching his son play volleyball”—which, considering the popularity of the sport, is becoming a surprisingly ordinary activity.

According to John-Paul Cody-Cox, executive director of Volleyball Canada, the star-powered tournament is part of a larger trend. While the organization doesn’t compile overall participation data, Cody-Cox says the national championships have ballooned from 530 teams in 2005 to 780 this year—a good measure of the “uptick in interest.” On top of “a huge boom” in travel teams, with parents increasingly willing to pay for tournaments, he says the sport has also experienced growth in recreational adult leagues.

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Ossis: not really an ethnic group

By Rachel Mendleson - Thursday, April 29, 2010 at 2:20 PM - 1 Comment

Getty Images

On Oct. 3, 1990, Germany celebrated its official reunification; after the emotional destruction of the Berlin Wall, East and West came together as one, blending economies, societies and cultures. But nearly two decades later, differences linger. In a labour court in Stuttgart last week, a judge ruled on a case that cuts to the very core of subtle hostilities that continue to divide the country.

The case, which German media watched closely, concerned Gabriela S., a 48-year-old bookkeeper born in the former East Germany. Arguing that her background made her part of a distinct ethnic group, she claimed that a window manufacturing company’s rejection of her 2009 job application constituted illegal discrimination. For its part, the company, which had scrawled “Ossi”—a sometimes insulting term for East Germans—along with a minus sign on her resumé, denied any ill intent. Insisting that “Ossi” was meant in a positive manner, they said the minus sign referred to her credentials, which were inadequate. But the woman, who has lived in Stuttgart since 1988, remained unconvinced, telling Der Spiegel, “What else can it mean? Even the word ‘Ossi’ is not acceptable in this context.”

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The sad decline of the Irish pub

By Rachel Mendleson - Wednesday, April 28, 2010 at 2:00 PM - 1 Comment

Richard Cummins/ Lonely Planet

When Joe McGuinness decided to open an authentic Irish pub in Halifax, the Dubliner says he “spared no expense trying to duplicate the atmosphere.” Everything that appoints Durty Nelly’s—from the light fixtures to the chairs to the mahogany bar—was shipped over from the Emerald Isle. But while business booms at the Halifax establishment—in its first year, sales exceeded $2.5 million—pub culture in Ireland is fading away.

Increasingly, exported replicas of Irish pubs, which have been cropping up everywhere from Estonia to Dubai, are a homage to what was, rather than what is. Thanks to anti-smoking legislation, changing habits and the economic downturn, the country’s traditional gathering places have seen better days: since 2001, domestic drink consumption has fallen by 21 per cent; 833 pubs have closed in the last three years; in the past 18 months, 15,000 industry jobs have disappeared. Kieran Tobin, chairman of the Drinks Industry Group of Ireland, recently described 2009 as “the worst year for our industry in living memory.”

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Eldon Ralph Perry 1953-2010

By Rachel Mendleson - Thursday, April 22, 2010 at 11:00 AM - 8 Comments

Eldon Ralph Perry was born on Aug. 28, 1953, to Samuel and Winnie Perry in Twillingate, Nfld., near Samson Island, the tiny fishing and logging community where they lived until the mid-’50s, when residents were relocated to Little Burnt Bay, on the mainland, to give them better access to services. The youngest of 17 children (seven were from his parents’ previous marriages), Eldon was a “cute little boy” whose quiet warmth and humour made him well-liked, says sister Joan. A tight-knit family that ate dinner together at one long table, the Perrys were shaken when, in 1963, cancer claimed Winnie’s life. With Samuel often away logging, Joan, just 16 at the time, took over raising Eldon and his brother Bruce.

The boys, who were two years apart, adapted well. They were huge hockey fans and dug out a makeshift rink, buried under mounds of snow, almost daily. Thanks to Bobby Hull, Eldon and Bruce became lifelong Chicago Blackhawks supporters. Since Montreal and Toronto were more popular in the Perry residence, this made for lively Saturday nights. In fact, when family and friends gathered to watch Hockey Night in Canada, says Bruce, the TV room was “like a sports bar.”

After high school, Eldon took a drafting course at a college in nearby Lewisporte. Faced with limited job prospects, he set his sights on Labrador City, where the Iron Ore Company (IOC) was hiring. For his 18th birthday—the minimum age to work in the mine—his dad bought him a plane ticket. “It was a big thing for a young fella,” says Joan. On Sept. 3, 1971, days after his arrival, Eldon started at IOC as a general labourer in the open-pit mine.

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Isn't Fidel great?

By Rachel Mendleson - Thursday, April 22, 2010 at 9:30 AM - 5 Comments

On Oct. 16, 1953, while on trial for leading the attack on the Moncada Barracks—which laid the groundwork for the Cuban Revolution—a young Fidel Castro famously told the court, “Condemn me. It doesn’t matter. History will absolve me.” Apparently, the Cuban government can’t wait that long. Amid continuing reports of the now-retired leader’s frailty, the regime has bankrolled a documentary that seeks to portray Castro as just short of divine. He Who Must Live, a miniseries that began airing on Cuban TV last month, remembers the 83-year-old, who served as Comandante en Jefe for nearly 50 years, as a man who did so under constant threat, surviving an alleged 638 assassination attempts, largely perpetrated by the U.S. Says Ann Louise Bardach, an American journalist and author of the 2009 book Without Fidel: A Death Foretold in Miami, Havana and Washington, “This is the kind of pre-emptive eulogy for the Maximum Leader.”

A joint undertaking of the Interior Ministry, Institute of Police Sciences and state-approved filmmakers, He Who Must Live is the culmination of millions of dollars, some 240 actors, 800 extras and reams of archival footage. The eight one-hour-long episodes took three years to complete. “There’s no question this is the biggest television blockbuster they’ve ever done,” says Bardach. It’s a tribute, says Dalhousie University professor and Cuba expert John Kirk, that’s fitting of a man who is “seen as the Nelson Mandela of Cuba, but multiplied by a factor of three or four.” To others, however, it’s a calculated attempt to spin Fidelismo at a time when the government, now headed by Castro’s younger brother Raúl, is becoming increasingly unpopular. In a country where free speech is limited, says Ismael Sambra, a former Cuban journalist who spent five years in jail before being exiled to Canada in 1997, the government “knows how to manage the media to inspire compassion . . . to justify their position against the enemy and the opposition.”

In filming the series, director Rafael Ruiz Benítez says he used a variety of genres to “give the viewer more information about the facts.” One problem, however, is that the central “fact”—that Castro survived a staggering 638 attempts on his life—is being dismissed by many as fallacy. To be sure, there have been more than a few efforts to off the Comandante. In 1975, a U.S. Senate committee report found “concrete evidence” of at least eight CIA-led plots, which include Mafia figures, Cuban dissidents, and everything from high-powered rifles to poison pens. As recently as 2000, Luis Posada Carriles, a Cuban-born ex-CIA operative, was arrested in Panama City with 200 lb. of explosives, apparently planning to kill Castro while he delivered a speech. Cuba expert Robert Wright, who teaches history at Trent University, says Cuban ministries are completely closed to researchers, making it “well nigh impossible to get Cuban documents”—or verify the film’s bold claim. (It’s also made in the 2006 British documentary 638 Ways To Kill Castro.) But according to Bardach, who has done extensive research on the subject, the true figure is likely in the “double digits, not triple digits.”

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The Games get more political

By Rachel Mendleson - Thursday, April 15, 2010 at 1:24 PM - 0 Comments

Bruce Bennet/Getty

During the Vancouver Olympics, Canadians basked in the collective glory of patriotism; even party politics gave way to communal revelry. But now questions have emerged about whether government officials, many of whom enjoyed free tickets or priority access to Olympic tickets, deserved VIP status at the party.

In Ottawa, Conservative senators and MPs bought 211 tickets (including 76 for hockey—and four for the men’s gold medal final) from the block reserved by Canadian Heritage, while opposition representatives steered clear of the benefit, arguing that politicians shouldn’t get to jump the line. The Tories have since accused the Liberals, who were in power when the multi-party agreement regarding tickets to the Vancouver Games was struck, of being hypocritical for not purchasing from the block. Joyce Murray, Liberal critic for the Olympics, dismissed the charge as “petty politics.”

Meanwhile, in Vancouver, a report indicates that the city spent $36,155 on tickets for city councillors and park board trustees—over $10,000 more than it spent on seats for local athletes and Olympians. Ellen Woodsworth, one of three city councillors who declined free tickets, has ripped the program as a waste of resources. But Nelson Wiseman, a Canadian politics expert at the University of Toronto, says “it’s not wholly unreasonable” for local politicians to receive free tickets because they are heavily invested in the event. And he doesn’t have a problem with MPs getting priority access either. “They are VIPs,” he says. “As long as they paid for their tickets, it’s kosher.”

An Olympic presence has long been important to government—whether or not Canada plays host. Sheila Copps, the heritage minister under Jean Chrétien, says that at the time, the Liberals offered free Olympic tickets to a delegation that included the minister of state for sport, opposition critics and parliamentary assistants. “What better way to build support for sport investment,” she says, “than to have parliamentarians see how the investment is spent?”

Gary Brian Mittelholtz (1954-2010)

By Rachel Mendleson - Thursday, April 8, 2010 at 4:37 PM - 1 Comment

Gary Brian Mittelholtz was born on May 28, 1954, in Toronto, Ont., the only child of Norbert Mittelholtz, the owner-operator of a metal fabrication plant, and his wife Irene, who did clerical work. An approachable, easy-going boy with blond hair and blue eyes, Gary became fast friends with the other boys on the street in Etobicoke, where he grew up. Despite his protestations on the first day of school, before long, says friend Drew Palin, “you couldn’t keep him away from the place.” From a young age, he lived up to his surname, which is German for “middle of the woods.” At his family’s cottage on Otter Lake, near Parry Sound, Ont., he learned to snowmobile, swim and fish—but skiing was his favourite.

Gary met Teresa Bruce when he was still a teenager. Teresa, who attended a nearby high school, says she was drawn to his gentle demeanor, and the way in which his receding hairline made him look “like a little man.” He had gone on a few dates with one of her friends, but that relationship never got off the ground. “I stole him,” she jokes. Though he wasn’t the type to gush, it was obvious he was smitten with Teresa, who became “an expansion of [our] group,” says Drew. Gary took her to dances, and coaxed her onto the slopes. “I was afraid,” she says, “but he’d always try and get me to go.” He proposed over a dinner in Dec. 1975; two years later, they were married.

After high school, Gary settled on broadcast journalism. It was an obvious choice for Gary, who, as a child, had conducted mock radio interviews; in elementary school, he strung up antennas in the backyard to pick up signals from around the world on his short-wave radio. He took a few courses at the University of Toronto before enrolling in the radio and television program at Ryerson Polytechnic, which helped land him a job as a radio technician at the CBC. But he yearned to be on-air, and in 1982, he got his first hosting gig in Thompson, Man., on the CBC program North Country. His family, which by then had grown to include daughters Christine and Erin (sons Brendan and Rory followed shortly after), spent summers on Otter Lake, winding down in the boathouse sauna before dinner. In the winter, Gary taught the girls to downhill ski, supporting them from behind as they held the rope tow on the bunny hill at nearby Mystery Mountain.

Sensing that if he stayed in Thompson for too long “he might get stuck,” says Teresa, Gary accepted a job in Saint John, N.B., co-hosting The Rolling Home Show, which later became Mainstreet. Gary impressed his listeners and colleagues with his “quiet professionalism” and warm, gentle voice, says retired CBC producer Harvey McLeod. “He sounded like someone sitting next to you, having a cup of tea.” And though he could be prone to fits of laughter, which would leave him red-faced, with tears streaming down his cheeks—on one occasion, just before a live interview with a nun—he always regained his composure in time.

The Saint John area provided plenty of opportunity for outdoor exploration. Gary went cross-country skiing on the trails behind the family’s home in Grand Bay-Westfield, a rural town about 20 minutes outside the city, and became familiar with the picturesque backcountry of Goshen, near Sussex, N.B. When the kids were growing up, he struck a deal with Poley Mountain: for several seasons, in exchange for season passes, he rigged up a transmitter to broadcast pre-recorded information about the hill to drivers through their car radios. Though he was “not happy to see the snow go,” says Christine, Gary enjoyed summers too, kayaking on the Saint John River, running marathons and taking the family to the cottage on Otter Lake.

His love of nature often spilled into his professional life. Gary constantly pitched stories that involved the outdoors—everything from tracking the salmon run to exploring caves. In 2007, he began documenting his adventures on his podcast, Doing Stuff Outdoors, introducing himself to listeners as “Gary the outdoors guy.” A bit of a perfectionist, he waited until he found the right music for the opening before airing the first episode. (A song his son Brendan wrote eventually made the cut.)

In Dec. 2008, after changes at the CBC ended Gary’s run on Mainstreet, he retired. He bought the River Valley News, fulfilling the promise he’d made to the previous owner before she died. When he left home, it was rarely without a camera (in case he stumbled upon something newsworthy), and he spent hours on the computer in the basement, meticulously laying out pages. Gary forged strong bonds with grandkids Ava and Will, and took to the backcountry trails with his skiing buddies almost daily. Every spring, as the snow in New Brunswick melted, they’d travel to the Chic-Choc Mountains in Quebec’s Gaspé Peninsula to extend the ski seasons, says friend and fellow skier Carl Dyker.

He recorded the March 3 edition of Doing Stuff Outdoors a few days early because, as he told listeners, he was getting ready for some hut-to-hut skiing in the Chic-Chocs, which he described as “real backcountry.” He documented the adventure thoroughly; Brendan suspects he had enough tape for “several episodes.” But the next program never made it to air. On March 13, Gary was cross-country skiing with his buddies on the trails in Goshen. It was a nice day, and Gary had threatened to take a nap in the snow. So when he collapsed, his friends thought he was just joking around. But they soon realized he was in trouble. Gary had suffered a massive heart attack. He was 55.

When reality bites

By Rachel Mendleson - Thursday, April 8, 2010 at 9:40 AM - 32 Comments

Photograph by Andrew Tolson

During his final year at the University of Ottawa, Justin Cantin had one goal for his first job after graduation: not to wear a uniform. Ideally, he hoped to put his undergraduate degree in history to work in a museum or doing research. But after graduating last December, in the aftermath of the most severe recession in decades, reality hit. With $45,000 in loans, the 23-year-old moved back in with his mom in Mississauga, Ont., and started sending out resumés. He soon broadened his search to include part-time jobs, factory positions—“whatever would give me a paycheque,” he says. Last week, he landed a warehouse gig in Waterloo, Ont. Though relocating for a manual labour job is not something he ever imagined he’d do, he says, “It’s better than nothing.”

As Cantin struggles to adjust his expectations, he can take comfort, however cold, in the knowledge that many of his peers are doing the same. Though it’s been months since Canada’s economy returned to growth, recessions have a way of bearing down hard on youth, even long after they’re officially over. Predominantly employed in industries like retail and food service, which depend on consumer demand, or in unions where seniority rules, youth tend to be first on the chopping block when the economy goes south. This time was no different: since October 2008, more than 190,000 jobs for young people have disappeared; unemployment among 15- to 24-year-olds rose to 16.3 per cent in August 2009, almost double the overall rate.

Although jobs are slowly coming back—as of February, youth unemployment had dropped to 15.2 per cent—what’s on offer is hardly the stuff from which middle-class careers are made. Thanks to the disappearance of manufacturing jobs, hiring freezes and the delayed retirement of workers, for many the reality is a spell of unemployment or a low-paying gig—both of which can have lasting consequences, derailing careers for years to come. While it’s impossible to know how much their future will be shaped by the Great Recession, one thing is clear: the generation raised to believe in the limitlessness of their own potential has just been dealt a very unlucky blow.

Continue…

Watch your speed, it’s an emergency

By Rachel Mendleson - Thursday, April 1, 2010 at 9:00 AM - 1 Comment

Photograph by Istock

When responding to medical emergencies, paramedics say that exceeding the speed limit is just part of the job. But how fast is too fast? Citing safety concerns, Island EMS, the company that operates ambulances on Prince Edward Island, has tightened its cap on speeds—despite the fervent protestations of the paramedics union. “We’re not talking about these people wanting to be cowboys,” says union spokesman Bill McKinnon. “We’re talking about professionals who have always had discretion and used it wisely.”

The dispute began last November, when Island EMS introduced a policy further limiting speeds. Relaxed slightly in February, it now prohibits ambulances from going more than 10 km/h over the speed limit in town, and more than 20 km/h over it on highways. According to Island EMS general manager Craig Pierre, speeding is a safety hazard which, on narrow P.E.I. roads, doesn’t necessarily result in an earlier arrival. “When you’re travelling fast you have to brake harder,” he says. “Slower, more controlled driving actually gets you there in the same time.”

McKinnon, who claims the cap is more restrictive than in other Canadian jurisdictions, says the union was unable to find a single accident in P.E.I. involving an ambulance in emergency mode directly related to speed. As well, he cites an incident in New Brunswick when an elderly patient died after paramedics, prohibited from exceeded a speed cap, didn’t arrive in time. “We’re really concerned that a similar incident will occur here,” he says. (Ambulance New Brunswick, a subsidiary of the company that owns Island EMS, has since reviewed its policy and relaxed the caps.)

Unable to reach a compromise, the parties have called for government intervention. A communications officer for P.E.I. Health Minister Carolyn Bertram says that, for now, she is staying out of the conflict. But after discussing the issue with Island EMS earlier this month, Bertram told the Charlottetown Guardian, “From what I see, [the Island EMS policy] is ensuring patient safety.”

Here comes the sun, and some OJ

By Rachel Mendleson - Thursday, April 1, 2010 at 9:00 AM - 0 Comments

Evoking emotion in a one-minute commercial spot is tough. But a new ad for Tropicana, shot in the remote town of Inuvik, N.W.T., is eliciting plenty—and not all of it positive. The ad, which first aired during the closing ceremonies of the Olympics, captures the reaction of the town’s residents when, in the round-the-clock darkness of winter, an enormous helium balloon, emitting a powerful 100,000 lumens of light, is hoisted into the sky. As they bask in the glow, bottles of Tropicana orange juice are dispensed. “On January 8th, we brought the sun to Inuvik,” read the words on the screen. “Because we believe brighter mornings make for brighter days.”

According to Dale Hooper, vice-president of marketing for PepsiCo Beverages Canada (which owns Tropicana), the response has been “unbelievable.” Online, the video has been viewed over 60,000 times; in a matter of days, a Facebook page dedicated to the ad accumulated some 35,000 fans. “We just made movie stars out of people from Inuvik,” he says. But it’s an honour that not all residents are pleased to accept. “I don’t like the way we’re portrayed in it,” 17-year-old Molly McLeod told the Inuvik Drum. “It’s like we’re so out of touch and here’s Tropicana coming to our town to save us.” An editorial, meanwhile, points out that the ad “erroneously” claims to have been shot after 31 days without sunlight. In fact, the sun peeked up on Jan. 6, “days before the film started rolling.”

According to Mayor Denny Rodgers, however, these comments don’t reflect the majority view. On top of giving residents what he calls an “ah moment,” Tropicana invested $25,000 in community programs and provided an opportunity to showcase the town. “They’re up here shooting a commercial for orange juice,” Rodgers says. “But I look at it as, ‘What’s in it for us?’ ”