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WHO’S HOT & WHO’S NOT AT ACADIA BY AL UM AS HE COPES WITH WRESTLING A $70 MILLION DEBT ALLIGATOR THAT PLAGUES THE VALLEY’S FINEST BAP- TIST UNIVERSITY, ACADIA PREZZIE RAY IVANY MUST BE MORE THAN A LITTLE PREOCCUPIED WITH BRINGING STABIL- ITY TO HIS SENIOR ADMINISTRATIVE RANKS. To that end, HR executive director Akihah Starkman is called upon as interim replacement for Neil Carruthers, the veep of administration since 2007. THE GROVES OF ACADEME Having previously worked under ‘Fabulous’ Floyd Dkyeman at Mount Allison’s external relations office, Neil entered Wolfville’s academic groves in 2002 as exec. dir. of campus planning. Given that he survived Killer Kelvin’s Reign Of Terror, and the Gail Dinter Gottleib lost years wandering in the desert, I’d say Neil’s loss is a big one for Acadia. Starting his new gig as Huron U. College CAO in Upper Canada on February 15, Neil happened on a career opportunity too good to pass up, suggests Acadia spokesthingy Scott Roberts, when asked to explain the departure. Also on the career upswing is Acadia’s University Librarian Sara Lochhead, who also toiled at Mount A. and who Ray appointed veep of enrolment & student services, a crucial portfolio, but perhaps a thank- TROUBLESOME TERA, FROM PAGE 14 On a personal level, Parker told me he has a lot a time for Tera. He added they had many discussions when he was doing the Tar Ponds thingy and Tera was doing the reporter thingy for the Herald. Parker said it speaks to Tera’s character that at the end of the workday she drew no daggers, held no grudges. Parker, having had those many Sydney Tar Ponds dealings with reporter Tera, I thought, would be an appropriate person to ask for his thoughts. It’s Parker’s interpretation that the same passion the Holland College grad demonstrated in her choice of career, and during her go-getter freelance days, that ultimately played a role in her departure from the Herald. He described Tera as an “indefatigable” person and journalist, but one whose judgement is often blurred by her passion for a story to the point where “she assumes people who disagree with her are ill-motivated.” Colleagues at the Herald say much the same thing. These are foot-soldier union brothers and sisters who feel Tera has been wronged. “No, we are not in the business of making mistakes,” noted one co-worker. “But what newspaper doesn’t make mistakes? Tera’s mistakes, at least, were ones 18 ATLANTIC CANADA FRANK FEBRUARY 16, 2010 of exuberance. There are reporters in the Halifax (Herald) newsroom, still, whose best day’s work constitutes nothing more labour intensive than rewriting press releases. That wasn’t Tera’s thing.” To wit, Tera supporters agree that management must inescapably share the blame for her undoing. “I’m not sure they fully appreciate how tough the Cape Breton bureau is to work,” said one co-worker. “There are management types who, believe it or not, think it’s a half-hour drive from Sydney to Meat Cove, a 20-minute drive from Sydney to Port Hawkesbury. They come aboard Tera, disown her now, but they were only too happy to hitch themselves to her when she won a journalism award.” As far as the story in question is concerned that was filed near the end of a 14-hour day, Tera told me. She blamed the Herald copy desk for the misrepresentations in her story, adding that unfortunately, her cellphone was kaput, which made communication between her and copy editor Bobby Burgess impossible. Maybe so. But there are others familiar with this saga who would argue that a component of a reporter’s passion for his or her job, is also the passion to get it right, and with Tera there came a cumulative effect that could no longer Hot: Sara. Not: Neil. less one. If enrolment remains low, Sara could v. well wind up, through no fault of her own, in the crosshairs of an impatient board. After all, Acadia’s former enrolment specialist, Paula MacKinnon-Cook, ended up launching a wrongful dismissal suit against the uni and Dinter-Gottleib, after Paula felt her Acadia exit was unduly hastened, a suit she ultimately lost in court (Frank 517, 574). In another turn of the revolving door, Geoff Irvine has left his exec. dir. gig at Alumni Affairs, having taken over for the ousted Steve Pound eons ago. In mid-December former Harbour View Seafoods owner and Clearwater toiler Geoff embarked on his new career as czar of the newly formed Lobster Council of Canada. Adios, Geoff, or as they say in Latin, “Vale!” Does Frank Know? atlanticfrank@eastlink.ca be ignored. Maybe if Tera Camus was just a simple plagiarist like Herald Yarmouth bureau chief Brian Medel (Frank 472), she’d still be on the Dennis Family payroll. Who knows? Last year, Tera virtually signed her own death warrant when she agreed in writing with Herald management that further miscues would mean a parting of the ways. As of this writing, the Whitney Pier native is planning an excursion from Sydney to Halifax to sit down with union bosses to discuss grieving her firing. Outside of that she has no immediate plans, other to stay in journalism, even if that means a possible move to the West Coast. “I have to be around the water,” Tera concluded. And the last word goes to Parker Donham, who told me while it is traumatic for a career journalist to be out of work, it is never the end of the world. “I don’t think journalists ever appreciate the skill set they develop over the years. There are opportunities to match that skill set, but you have to seek them out,” he said. Er, um, great to hear that news, think I’ll run my resume down to Jimmy Melvin Jr. Inc. Enterprises, I’m sure they can put a man of my varied experience to work in some official capacity.
TRENTONWORKS TRUSTEE TALK BY RAY L. RHODES I AM HEARING CONFLICTING REPORTS OF RECENT ACTIVITY ON THE TRENTONWORKS FRONT. A well-placed source tells me the Dexter government replaced financial consultants Ernst & Young and appointed an NDP-sympathetic lawyer as the trustee in bankruptcy for the idle Trentonworks plant. I understand insiders perceived the rumoured Dexter changeover as politically motivated, and not a reflection on Ernst & Young’s performance. But Ernst & Young exec George Kinsman dismissed the scuttlebutt on January 28, telling me categorically, “It is not the case. We’re continuing to act as the trustee in bankruptcy for Trentonworks. Ok?” According to another source, who is uniquely knowledgable on the subject, word began circulating just before Christmas that Dexter was about to orchestrate the trustee changeover and put another firm in charge of the idle railcar manufacturer. Despite talk of backroom intrigue, the official line on January 15 from a spokesthingy with the provincial Economic Development office has status quo the order the day. “No change has been made on the file,” according to Vicki Roberts. U.S. owner Greenbrier abandoned Trentonworks in May 2007 for Mexico, leaving about 300 Pictou County workers without jobs, without severance, and staring into a void made up of a multi-million dollar pension shortfall. Greenbrier hired former Sysco trustee Ernst & Young to sell the plant; in March 2008, after a buyer could not be found, E&Y became the court-appointed trustee, and Trentonworks filed for bankruptcy, citing $6.5 million in liabilities and $4.9 million in assets. The province, ahem, the taxpayer, is the largest creditor. Via the Economic Development office, in October 2008 the ruling Tory government handed trustee Ernst & Young $2.6 million to maintain the historic plant’s facilities and equipment. Last July, the Dexter government wrote off $5 million in bad debt associated with Trentonworks. Currently, I hear negotiations are ongoing with an unidentified offshore company interested in purchasing the plant. Stay tuned. Does Frank Know? atlanticfrank@eastlink.ca THE USUAL SUSPECTS BAG THE CASH BY MEG A. BUCKS TIME AND TIME AGAIN, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CASH THAT IS SUPPOSEDLY INTENDED TO SERVE THE GREATER GOOD OF THE PROVINCE IS INSTEAD FUNNELLED INTO THE COFFERS OF A FEW FAVOURITE COMPANIES. The January 25 announcement that ACOA has earmarked millions from its Atlantic Innovation Fund for a trio of private Nova Scotia companies — Dartmouth-based Ocean Nutrition, Composites Atlantic Ltd. in Lunenburg, and topical cream manufacturer Origin BioMed — is but the latest example in a long, long, line of them. In 2008 I calculated that Ocean Nutrition, founded by Clearwater fish baron John Risley in 1997, had received more than $50 million in government loans (all interest-free, some completely risk free), payroll rebates, loan guarantees, gifts and more. As of last week, that total sits in the neighbourhood of $53 million, give or take. Composites Atlantic makes components for aircrafts, space shuttles and the like. Founded by Maurice Guitton in 1988, its newest influx of government funding, about $1.9 million, is to be used to develop a cost-efficient hollow core, all-composite strut for the airline industry. It’s the third time the company has received funding from the Atlantic Innovation Fund, for a total of $4.4 million in provisionally repayable loans. The loans are provisionally repayable because if the particular project being funded doesn’t make any money, the government loses its investment. Since 1996, Composites has received an additional $3.3 million from other ACOA pots, and $9 million from the province, which has a 50 per cent ownership stake in the company. The other half is owned by French aerospace giant EADS. It’s the first time Origin BioMed, which makes over-the-counter remedies to relieve diabetic pain and cold sores, has received cash from this particular fund. It’s getting $3 million spread over three years to develop new topical treatments for other ailments. Just like Composites Atlantic, the province of Nova Scotia is heavily invested in Origin, to the tune of $3.7 million. How much equity in the company that dollar amount represents for the taxpayers of Nova Scotia, I cannot say. But it is significant. To date, ACOA has also provided Origin with another $1.8 million in tax-free loans. ACOA mouthpuppet David Harrigan says these companies, and others like them, get repeat business from ACOA because they represent the cream of the crop, “the best possible projects.” David says that every application submitted for consideration for AIF funding is vetted by an arms length board for quality and commercial potential alone. Not a moment’s thought is wasted on whether the applicant has received funding before. “There’s no way we would penalize a company simply because it has submitted a successful application before,” he says. Alright, try this one on for size. Say there are two great projects. One’s from Ocean Nutrition, which has benefited from an obscene amount of government largesse, and one comes from a little guy without the proverbial pot, window, etc. What then? “We rely on the recommendations of the advisory board ... nobody’s penalized ... every project is based on its own merits,” he says. ‘Already repaying’ A company’s past repayment history doesn’t enter into it, either, because research and development is so time consuming that there’s a chance money given out eight years ago hasn’t yet yielded a profitable product. But, he helpfully points out that Ocean Nutrition is “already repaying” some of its past contributions. Considering a chunk of every paycheque I’ve earned since high school has made its way to Risley&Orr Inc. — not to mention the fact that Ocean Nutrition’s Omega-3 food additive can currently be found in orange juice, salad dressing, breakfast cereal, frozen yogurt, brownies and bagels the world over — I would bloody well HOPE that Ocean Nutrition is already repaying its debt to the Canadian taxpayer. In an interesting bit of timing, a Canadian Press story concerning ACOA’s tendency to keep doling out its cash to the same cast of characters appeared just nine days before the latest AIF announcement. In the story, scribe Michael Tutton reveals that six companies and one university-affiliated corporation have received cash from ACOA every year, like clockwork, since 1989. The most notable local company in this pack is John Bragg’s Oxford Frozen Foods, which has received $12.4 million in that time period. Perhaps more disturbing is that a staggering 82 other companies have received cash in at least 10 of the last 20 years, for a total of $203 million. CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE FEBRUARY 16, 2010 ATLANTIC CANADA FRANK 19
Page 1 and 2: MORE MORE SOUTH SOUTH END END PONZI
Page 3 and 4: ATLANTIC CANADA FRANK HALIFAX, NOVA
Page 5 and 6: POOR DR. ISLAM’S WORKPLACE, HOMEL
Page 7 and 8: LOOSE LIPS SINK BISHOPS BY CARDINAL
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Page 11 and 12: THE BIG BLUE KAHUNAS GIVE MR. BAILL
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