Cheers: to lightening the load on the courts. This week, the provincial and federal governments announced that a whole host of federal offences — all of which meant that alleged offenders had to appear in court — will now be handled by ticketing instead. It doesn’t mean you can’t get your day in court — you can choose to contest your case. It just means, if you want to, you can pay a fine and avoid the court process and the cost of legal representation. The cases include everything from some environmental and fishing offences to navigation, shipping and transportation offences. Just one more option to try and keep court time available for the cases that really need court time.
Jeers: to a dog-and-Newfoundland-pony show. Tuesday Sept. 12, there was an early warning: “The Honourable Gerry Byrne, Minister of Fisheries and Land Resources, will make an announcement relating to Newfoundland Pony preservation near Hopeall, Trinity Bay, tomorrow (Thursday, September 13). Minister Byrne will be joined by the Honourable Sherry Gambin-Walsh, Minister of Service NL and MHA for Placentia-St. Mary’s, and Jack Harris, president of the Newfoundland Pony Society.” The next day, the announcement itself: “The Department of Fisheries and Land Resources has issued a 50-year agricultural lease for approximately 10 hectares of Crown land near Hopeall, Trinity Bay, to the Newfoundland Pony Society to ensure the continued preservation and care of this important and unique species.” To put things in context here: there are 38,495,140 hectares of Crown land in this province. For the next 50 years, the government has leased out 10 of those — or .000026 per cent of the available Crown land. And that took two cabinet ministers and a road trip?
Jeers: to more paid road trips. We’re not even going to get into Minister Byrne’s trip to Pynn’s Brook two days earlier to “view and discuss research projects.” But picture this in your mind’s eye: “Minister Byrne viewed the harvest of winter wheat…” He’s outstanding in his field. (Byrne also saw a truck.)
Cheers: to a reel good time. The St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival is getting set to start its 29th festival in just a few weeks. The festival has over 3,000 participants a year, and will run from Oct. 17 to 21. Short films, documentaries and feature films will be featured throughout the festival at the LSPU Hall, along with special screenings at The Rooms and Scotiabank Theatres in St. John’s. If you want to see what’s new and different from film directors and producers both here and internationally, it’s worth your while to track down the program and take in some of the offerings.
