Fisherman's Road

The following commentary was aired on CBC Radio’s Dec. 17 th Fisheries Broadcast by Gus Etchegary, who, at the age of 86, has more passion and drive than most Newfoundlanders and Labradorians half his age. I’m currently working on a book with Mr. Etchegary — The Rise and Fall of the Newfoundland and Labrador Fisheries . ••• Those who have been involved in the Newfoundland and Labrador fisheries — especially since the moratorium of the early 1990s — will be painfully aware of the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans’ almost total abandonment of its responsibilities regarding management of our vital groundfish fisheries. Documented evidence shows groundfish stocks in Norway, Iceland, Alaska and other fishing nations have been managed and conserved to a very healthy state, providing employment and good incomes to harvesters and processing personnel and contributing to their national economies. A good example is the healthy state of cod, haddock and caplin fisheries in the Barents

The following letter is p ublished in today's (Dec. 13th, 2010) Telegram: On reasons and Williams The questions remain: why did Danny Williams quit, and is he more popular than the two Js (Jesus and John Lennon) combined? The consensus around the hockey rink, that great Newfoundland microcosm, is that archenemy Craig Westcott pushed Williams over the edge, the final prick to the then-premier’s balloon-thin skin. Williams could no more handle a jab than he could blow fish kisses to Fabian Manning across a crowded auditorium, and there’s no question that Williams, near the end, had reached the breaking point. Less than three weeks prior to his Nov. 25 resignation, Williams “roared” at his rivals and the media during the annual premier’s dinner, according to a Globe and Mail headline. Williams said he expected the months leading up to the October 2011 provincial election would be the lowest kind of “gutter” politics, and he obviously had had enough. He ripped into Westcott fo

Inspired by Come Together , Geoff Stirling (seated at right) and his son Scott Stirling (seated at left), had a "profound" encounter in 1969 at a London studio with Yoko Ono and John Lennon, who was killed 30 years ago today (Dec. 8th, 2010). Come Together was a Lennon number that supposedly began life as the campaign song for acid-guru Timothy Leary's intended run against Ronald Reagan for governor of California. The song mesmerized Geoff and Scott, a Lennon fan. From the Londonderry Hotel, where the two were staying on vacation, Stirling telexed a note to Lennon. It said: "I've heard your Come Together . So here I am. Geoff Stirling." A few hours later, they were seated in Apple Studios, recording the first in a string of interviews with Lennon that Stirling would later broadcast on his Canadian radio stations. "I look back on that first interview and I realize how profound it was," Scott told Report on Business magazine in December 2004. "

I was asked by a national publication on Nov. 25 th , the day Premier Danny Williams resigned, to gather reaction from here on the ground in Newfoundland and Labrador. The publication did not publish the reaction, so I’m posting it here. “All those years of saying we have to thank Ottawa for this and that made us feel as if we exchanged one colonial master for another. Danny Williams’ greatest contribution, in my opinion, was destroying once and for all the Uncle Ottawa syndrome. He succeeded in making us feel proud of ourselves.” — James McGrath, former lieutenant-governor of Newfoundland and Labrador and one-time federal PC cabinet minister. ••• “One good thing about Danny going is we’ll get rid of the unhealthy occult political following that he’s had.” — Bill Rowe, call-in radio show host and author of the 2010 book, Danny Williams: The War with Ottawa . ••• “He wasn’t a demigod. He wasn’t a savior. He was a tough guy who was obviously successful in business and who knew hi