ISSUE VOLUME 62 192008/02/21 THE UNIveRSITY OF WINNIPEG StuDENT weeKLY Bad, bad barricades! page 11 Community houses get the shuffle. page 3 What you didn’t know you wanted to hear. page 12 February 21, 2008 The Uniter contact: [email protected] 02 NEWS UNITER STAFF NEWS EDITOR : STACY CARDIGAN SMITH NEWS EDITOR : KSENIA PRINTS E-MAIL : N EWS @U N ITER .CA E-MAIL : N EWSPROD @U N ITER .CA MANAGING EDITOR News Jo Snyder » [email protected] BUSINESS MANAGER James D. Patterson » [email protected] Fed up with secrecy over SPP PRODUCTION MANAGER Melody Morrissette » [email protected] OVER 100 PEOPLE RALLY AT THE LEG TO SPEAK OUT people who look into it,” said Kyle Vincent, a PHOTO EDITOR CAMERON MACLEAN After marching from City Hall, protesters Colin Vandenberg » [email protected] BEAT REPOrtER marshal at Saturday’s rally. Since it was initiated in 2005, the SPP assembled on the steps of the Legislative Build- COPY & STYLE EDITOR has operated largely outside of the public view ing, where speakers offered various perspectives Jacquie Nicholson » [email protected] ielding picket signs and rattling jelly without parliamentary oversight from any of the on the SPP and its consequences. bean-filled maracas, Winnipeggers three countries. Speakers included Glenn Michalchuk of NEWS ASSIGNMENT EDITOR spilled out onto the street to protest Instead, the SPP’s main advisory body, the Peace Alliance Winnipeg, Debbie Jamieson of Stacy Cardigan Smith » [email protected] Wwhat they view as undemocratic attempts to fur- North American Competitiveness Council, con- the Canadian Labour Congress, and Winnipeg- ther integrate the economies and security systems sists of representatives from thirty of the largest North MP Judy Wasylycia-Leis (NDP), along NEWS PRODUCTION EDITOR corporations in North America. with other activists and academics. Ksenia Prints » [email protected] of the three North American counties. Over one hundred people marched from SPP “working groups” hammer out policies “Every time we assemble like we have today, and agreements covering a wide range of public we put a crack in that wall of secrecy that sur- COMMENTS EDITOR City Hall to the Legislative Building this past rounds the SPP,” Wasylycia-Leis told the crowd. Ben Wood » [email protected] Saturday. policy areas, and many are concerned that the The protesters demanded greater public pro-free trade attitude of the NACC will result Saturday’s demonstration took place in con- ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR consultation and parliamentary oversight of the in deregulation and the loss of valued public ser- junction with protests in cities all across Canada. Whitney Light » [email protected] Security and Prosperity Partnership, a tri-lateral vices like free universal health care. Organized with the assistance of the Canadian pact between Canada, the United States, and “It’s anti-democratic, simply because no- Action Party, all demonstrations are calling for a LISTINGS COORDINATOR Mexico that seeks to harmonize trade and secu- body knows about it and they’re proceeding referendum to be held on Canada’s involvement Kristine Askholm » [email protected] rity regulations across the three countries. with it [anyway],” said Kathy Kennedy, another in the SPP. Concerns abound that the proposed har- organizer. SPORTS EDITOR Kalen Qually » [email protected] monization could lead to a weakening of trade and environmental regulations, erode national BEAT REPORTER sovereignty, and force Canada to adopt stricter, Jenette Martens » [email protected] American-style military and security policies. “We want control over our resources, our BEAT REPORTER country,” said Kathy Kennedy, one of the orga- Cameron MacLean » [email protected] nizers of Saturday’s event. “(Our goal is) to give politics back to the BEAT REPORTER people,” said Jose Castellanos, a first-year film Dan Huyghebaert » [email protected] student at the University of Winnipeg and vol- unteer for Saturday’s protest. BEAT REPORTER James Janzen » [email protected] Government and business officials in all three countries have attempted to downplay the concerns of SPP critics. The jelly beans used in the protest are a THIS WEEK ’ S CONTRIBUTORS tongue-in-cheek response to comments made [SPP is] anti-democratic, Curran Faris, Aaron Epp, Jennifer Hanson, Kat Gallagher, last August by Prime Minister Stephen Harper Andrew McMonagle, Vivian Belik, Sam Mclean, at the SPP summit in Montebello, Quebec, stat- simply because nobody knows about it Kelly Nickie, Steph Christie, Sandy Klowak, ing that no harm could come to Canadian sover- Brooke Dmytriw, Robert Galston, Andrew Tod, and they’re proceeding with it [anyway].” Denis Vrignon-Tessier, Josh Boulding, JoVillaverde, eignty “by standardizing the jelly bean.” Adam Paleshaty, Chantal Degagne, Kelsey Clifford, The protesters claim that comments like —Kathy Kennedy, organizer Bredan Roney that allow officials to avoid addressing their VANDENBERG COLIN The Uniter is the official student newspaper of the University of concerns. Winnipeg and is published by Mouseland Press Inc. Mouseland “It’s insulting to the intelligence of the Press Inc. is a membership based organization in which students and community members are invited to participate. For more information on how to become a member go to www.uniter. ca, or call the office at 786-9790. The Uniter is a member of the Canadian University Press and Campus Plus Media Services. SUBMISSION OF ARTICLES, LETTERS, GRAPHICS AND PHOTOS ARE WELCOME. Articles must be submitted in text (.rtf) or Microsoft Word (.doc) format to [email protected], ‘Pegging the Vote ‘08 or the relevant section editor. Deadline for submissions is 6:00 p.m. Thursday, one week before publication. Deadline for advertisements is noon Friday, six days prior to publication. The A weekly roundup of all that matters electorally, south-of-the-border Uniter reserves the right to refuse to print submitted material. The Uniter will not print submissions that are homophobic, misogynistic, racist, or libellous. We also reserve the right to edit for length and/or style. base just seems to keep growing. Clinton, on CONTACT US » JAMES JANZEN General Inquiries: 204.786.9790 the other hand, admitted to having lined her BEAT REPOrtER Advertising: 204.786.9790 campaign with $5 million of her own funds, Editors: 204.786.9497 Fax: 204.783.7080 several of her staff are reported to be work- Email: [email protected] ing without pay, and two of her top campaign Web: www.uniter.ca bamentum. Obamarama. Obama- managers have been replaced. nia. Whatever. It’s there and the front-runner. LOCATION » Meanwhile, the Republicans seem to have Clinton campaign horses are Democratic voter Room ORM14 figured themselves out and manifested most of University of Winnipeg Oshaking. turnout has reached historic their weight behind John McCain. Mitt Rom- 515 Portage Avenue After winning a clean sweep of Louisi- numbers across the country and has trumped Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 2E9 ney dropped out of the race earlier this month ana, Washington State, Nebraska, Virginia, Republican balloters by hundreds of thou- after succumbing to the financial insanity of Maryland, the District of Columbia, Maine, sands in some cases. The excitement among MOUSELAND PRESS BOARD OF DIRECTORS: having burned over a million dollars per del- Wisconsin, and Hawaii, many by large mar- the American left for Obama and Clinton has egate earned. Mike Huckabee, however, who Mary Agnes Welch, Rob Nay, Nick Tanchuk, Dean gins, Barack Obama has pulled ahead of rival given the Democrats renewed legitimacy and Dias, Brian Gagnon, Devin King, Meg McGimpsey, has no mathematical possibility of success but Hillary Clinton in the Democratic race for the the media has focused most of its attention on Ben Zorn claims to have majored in miracles not math, presidential nomination. The party had been the party, who is favoured to win the Novem- For inquiries email: [email protected] has been playing out a feisty, and thrifty, cam- left without a clear frontrunner earlier this ber general election. paign grounded in conservative principles that month after Super Tuesday left the vote in a Despite having collected a larger amount has left the GOP slightly divided over several virtual dead heat. of the potentially fluid super delegate vote, of McCain’s more liberal policies. Some specu- COVER IMAGE Since then, Obama has been picking Clinton is going to have to not only win but late Huckabee is shooting for a vice presiden- “Portrait of Steve Powley” up voters from demographics who had previ- win big in the next round of primaries. Unfor- tial nomination and it’s clearly only a matter Acrylic on Canvas ously stuck with Clinton as well as many of the tunate for her, there’s two weeks between votes of time before he steps aside, especially after by Christi Belcourt lunchbox Democrats who had supported for- and Obama has proven to do well in states losses in Washington and Wisconsin this week now showing at Off the Map: Perspectives of mer candidate John Edwards. Millions of small where he has time to campaign and knock on and Virginia, Maryland, and DC before that. Land, Water and Metis People until March 1st donations to the Obama website have left the doors. Texas and Ohio, two massive delegate Romney has already backed McCain and has at Urban Shaman Gallery 203-290 McDermot. campaign swimming in money and his support pools, vote on March 4th, along with Rhode Check Listings for more details. asked his pledged delegates to vote for the Island and Vermont. contact: [email protected] The Uniter February 21, 2008 NEWS 03 Richardson College plans criticized at open house The rezoning process should be completed in “We have concerns about our clean air in- STACY CARDIGAN SMITH the next few months, with a public hearing in early take,” said U of W student and daycare user Ayma International NEWS ASSIGNMENT EDITOR spring, he added.