Monday, December 22, 2003
Only in Ontario
Toronto even! And no one was famous or well connected - just kind.
Friday, December 19, 2003
File Under: “I never expected you to actually say anything..
From CBC web:
Premier Pat Binns said he’s not convinced that the Island is ready for a dramatic change to the electoral system. He has forwarded the report to a legislative committee for more study.
“I would not want to impose a change on an unwilling electorate. I’m not saying they are unwilling. But to this point they have not been engaged despite the efforts of commissioner Carruthers and everyone who has submitted briefs to cause a major groundswell of discussion by Islanders about this.”
Thursday, December 18, 2003
What did Tech PEI provide as grant?
MONTAGUE, PE - On-Line Support, Prince Edward Island’s premiere Customer Lifecycle Solutions Provider, has expanded into a new labour market in Montague, PE.
PE Premier Pat Binns describes the local company as a “giant success story”. Premier Binns went on to say, “Before, Toronto and New York had all the advantages, but no longer. Now the playing field is leveled, and Prince Edward Island is an equal player. On-Line Support President and CEO Ross Beattie couldn’t agree more. Mr Beattie added, “You don’t have to be in the same city, or even the same country to do the job. In a corporate world dominated by huge conglomerate, a small company like On-Line Support can take on the big guys and win.”
Montague’s largest employer is sending home most of its staff and moving other jobs to Charlottetown. On-line Support has lost a major client of its Island-based call centre service.
Forty people have been told they’ll be out of work after the holiday. Another 20 have been told to start reporting to Charlottetown.
Ken MacPhee, the chief operating officer at On-line support, said the company has no choice after large telecommunications company decided it doesn’t need an outside call centre.
No sign of the grant press release now at Tech PEI’s site.
Wednesday, December 10, 2003
Mella really couldn’t count!
Turns out, I was riight and Mella couldn’t count after all: see http://pei.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=pe_finances20031210 That’s about 600 bucks for every man women and child. Do me a favour and cover this yourselves. We have our own Tory tab of 5.6 billion to pay.
Wednesday, December 03, 2003
Easy decision include ignoring the right people
This story should strike fear in the hearts of most involved in the PEI tourist industry because the door has been closed to them:
http://pei.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=pe_culturetourism20031203
Wednesday, November 12, 2003
mucho thanko
I wanted to thank you for the Kingston Almanac but, looking at the last articles here in the Pub, wonder if this is the best place for thank-you notes.
Friday, October 31, 2003
A career in politics ends
What a curious thing to do in closing out a chapter of the the odd history of the Libs.
Tuesday, October 14, 2003
PEI in the UN
I had to laugh when I saw this. Through the combined forces of gossips and administrative incompetence, adopted children and adopting parents can find all they need to know by ignoring the official rules.
Monday, September 29, 2003
Juan???
What is going on, Craig? Where is your server that this blog is running? Also, who is reading this? Wayne? Are you there?
Saturday, September 13, 2003
The rest of the story…
It all ends, like so much in life, with Elsie Wayne…
“Former cadet won’t have to pay: Ottawa”, by Jennifer Pritchett, Whig- Standard
Saturday, September 13, 2003 - 07:00
Local News - An officer cadet who was kicked out of Royal Military College and billed $64,000 does not have to repay the cost of his failed education, the Defence Department in Ottawa says.
The Kingston college, the country’s only military university, maintains that Jimmy Hughes should be forced to fork over the cash.
The 23-year-old Prince Edward Island native received the hefty bill for his taxpayer-funded education after he was kicked out of the military just days before he was to graduate in May.
Over his five-year career in the military, he was caught plagiarizing, drinking and committing other infractions.
Though no one – not even Hughes – is disputing the fairness of his release from the Canadian Forces, RMC is trying to force the former cadet to foot the bill when it has no authority to do so, according to Defence officials in Ottawa.
“The problem… is that no one has the authority to agree with [RMC’s] recommendation because of the way the regulations are written,” said Commander John Roche of the director general of military careers in Ottawa.
“That [bill] will be thrown in the garbage. If nothing else, there was a misinterpretation of current policies. Nobody has the authority to force him to pay back anything and it was a mistake [for DND] for try and do that.”
Roche said the Defence Department has no right to bill cadets in cases where the military chooses to release the member. Only those cadets who voluntarily leave the Canadian Forces are required to reimburse the military for their RMC education because they did not fulfil their promise to complete mandatory service after graduating.
While Roche doesn’t know if other cadets have received bills that they shouldn’t have received, Roche said that the Hughes matter has forced the military to take a closer look at five or six other cases where cadets were about to receive similar bills.
“If they haven’t already got them, they aren’t going to get them,” said Roche.
RMC officials are remaining tight-lipped about the issue and despite promises to provide more information yesterday, they released only a brief statement to the newspaper:
“The individual did not meet the standard and he has been released of the Canadian Forces,” said college spokesman Capt. Bernard Dionne of Hughes.
“RMC has made reasonable recommendations. His file is well-documented and fully supports the recommendations we’ve made.”
Even after National Defence officials in Ottawa overruled RMC’s recommendation and decided to rescind the bill yesterday, college brass refused to provide Hughes with an update about his case when he called the college requesting information.
“It would be nice if somebody from our side – preferably someone from the college – would talk to Hughes,” said Roche, who eventually called RMC from Ottawa to ask that someone at the college inform Hughes of the decision.
“The proper thing to do, having caused all this consternation to the young fella, would be to at least phone him and tell him it looks like there was a mistake made.”
But that didn’t happen yesterday.
As far as Hughes is concerned, he is still waiting to receive word from the military that his $64,000 bill – which includes $3,500 a year for tuition costs and roughly $500 per month in salary paid to cadets while studying at RMC – is bogus. The bill didn’t include accommodation, food, uniform, books and other costs associated with training Canadian Forces officers and putting them through RMC.
He didn’t find out about the Ottawa decision until a reporter called him to inform him.
“[The military] hasn’t told me anything,” said an elated Hughes after hearing the news late yesterday.
“It’s a pleasant surprise. I’m glad no one else is going to have to go through what I went I went through.”
He plans to take some time off before returning to school.
“I could go back to school right away, but I think I’m going to clear my mind and focus myself – maybe go on some kind of pilgrimage to find myself,” he said.
“Maybe I’ll go to Japan and teach English for a while. Go see some different cultures and get some self-awareness and that kind of stuff.”
Hughes had hired a lawyer to fight the bill for his failed military education.
Tory defence critic Elsie Wayne told The Whig yesterday that she was surprised to hear that Hughes hadn’t been kicked out of RMC long before last spring.
“I was quite shocked when I read the story of the things that he did do while he was in military college and remained there as long as he did,” she said.
“I would say that if you wanted to be an officer you wouldn’t do some of the things that he did. If you’re going to go to the RMC you should have standards and you should have high-level standards. You should know that before you decide to go there. If you’re not going to conduct yourself in a proper fashion while you’re there, certainly you’re going to be removed.”
However,Wayne is most concerned about the type of behaviour Hughes described in a Whig-Standard story as being commonplace at RMC.
“Certainly we’re going to have to take a look at this whole situation,” she said.
She plans to take the issue up with a defence committee in the coming days.
Friday, September 12, 2003
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Original Story in Full
Whig links rot fast so…
“Ottawa demands $64,000 from former RMC cadet”
By Jennifer Pritchett
Thursday, September 11, 2003 - 07:00
Local News - When Jimmy Hughes entered Royal Military College as a young recruit four years ago, he wanted to become a top-notch infantry officer.
But 68 days before he was to accept his diploma in May, he was kicked out of the military and the Defence Department slapped him with a $64,000 bill to cover tuition and other RMC expenses.
Hughes didn’t graduate.
Shocked and angry, he hired a lawyer to help him fight the military because he feels that forcing him to repay the college for an education he isn’t getting credit for is unfair.
“My life has changed,” said the Prince Edward Island native, who has spent the last six months working as a bouncer at The Brass, a downtown pub.
“How do you pay for a Porsche when you’re 23 years old when you have no education? Like what kind of job pays for that? I have no employable skills. I am an infantry officer. I can go to Africa and teach little kids how to fight, but I wouldn’t do that.”
Hughes, a self-confessed bad boy who frequently got into trouble for not following RMC rules, said the college is using him as a whipping boy, an example to demonstrate what happens to cadets who misbehave.
“They really are trying to prove a point with me,” he said. “They are saying that if you’re like me, you’re going to get it.”
He is particularly upset that he has watched fellow cadets at RMC become involved in serious scandals – several of which have resulted in criminal charges – and those cadets have not been billed for their education after they were booted out.
“I know people who’ve been charged with assault and kicked out and they didn’t get the bill,” he said. “It makes no sense.”
Hughes, who studied history at the college, admits he was not the model officer cadet, but he said he has never done anything criminal.
“I’m a good fella, but I always get into trouble for dumb little things,” he said.
In an interview this week with The Whig-Standard, he spoke candidly about his misadventures at RMC.
For Hughes, getting into hot water started almost as soon as he joined the military five years ago. Over the course of his career, he got himself into trouble for everything from drinking in the college dorms to giving new recruits alcohol to plagiarizing.
He said his reputation for trouble started even before he became a cadet at RMC. When he was doing his prep year in Quebec he got into a fight while socializing with his buddies. For that, he ended up being charged under the National Defence Act for drunkenness and conduct unbecoming an officer.
“So I came in [to RMC] with a bad note,” he said.
That set the tone for the rest of his time at the college.
Within days of arriving at RMC, he was caught drinking in the dorms. During his second year at the college, he was caught firing a flare into the water near Kingston Mills. For that misdemeanour, he got into trouble for misusing property and was fined $400.
In his third and fourth years, Hughes said he continued to be disciplined for not showing up for classes, physical training and medical appointments.
“And then I get into fourth year and they see all these little things that add up to a big file and they put me on counselling and probation,” he said. “I was a bad kid, but if I was at any other university, the stuff I did would be considered nothing.”
The final straw for Hughes came in March when he was caught plagiarizing a psychology paper. Within days, the chain of command at RMC found out about the cheating and he was kicked out. He was moved to a barracks at CFB Kingston and banned from campus.
“I know you shouldn’t cheat and to be an officer in the forces, that shouldn’t be in your values,” he said. “I shouldn’t have done it.”
It would be a mistake he would pay for dearly.
With less than two months to go before graduation, Hughes didn’t finish his courses or write his exams.
“I was screwed,” he said.
He was placed in the maintenance department and forced to do labour work, including repair jobs inside his fellow cadets’ dorm rooms such as washing their windows.
He was ordered to repair bleachers on the parade square in the days leading up to graduation day.
“I was supposed to be graduating fourth year and standing as an officer getting an award [for being the cadet with the top physical training scores] and I’m painting bleachers on the parade square,” he said.
“They had me set up chairs for the convocation and at 5:20 a.m. – the parade started at 7 a.m. – they had me set up the chairs for the officers in the parade. This was supposed to be my parade. They even wanted me to stick around and pick up the chairs when people were walking off the parade square and I said, ‘I can’t do this. Have a heart and let me go.’ I couldn’t handle that. It is frigging painful.”
He will never forget the pain he felt watching his friends graduate.
“I can’t even express it,” he said. “It’s a deep hurt that will never go away. I see my friends graduate and they’re off to start their careers and I didn’t get to walk through the arch with my buddies. I will live through it, but stress at the time was an all-time high.”
Despite the hurt and disappointment that came with getting kicked out and losing his career, Hughes has come to terms with the fact that he was released from the military for being a troublemaker, a cheat and a poor student.
“I understand that with all the stuff against me that it was a decision they had to make,” he said. “Maybe it wasn’t the right decision because I would have been a good infantry officer. As soon as I was released, I had 30 letters of recommendation from people that I did courses with, from captains and other officers – all sent to the director of cadets.”
But after the last several months, Hughes isn’t sure he believes in the military or in RMC any longer.
“I can’t stand the school,” he said. “I know what it stands for and what it should stand for, but it is not what it should be. There is a certain set of values that the college stands for, but the people in charge have let things slide to the point where it’s out of control. It’s way too far gone.”
He also takes exception to the fact that cadets at RMC have to go through similar disciplinary processes for minor and major offences.
“There are some things like the credit card fraud [that some cadets committed] that are pretty huge, but the problem is that the little things like missing a class we’re still being charged for that under the same legal procedure as the major stuff,” he said. “It’s kind of hard for a kid.”
Hughes, who will officially be released from the military today, plans to leave Kingston around the middle of the month and return home to Prince Edward Island. After visiting his parents, he plans to travel to Japan to teach English.
His honourable release will prevent him from joining a reserve unit for two years, he said.
“I’m trying to figure out where I’m going, but it’s like a shock. I had it all figured out. I wanted to be an infantry officer and to serve in the Canadian Forces.” Now, he said, that’s not going to happen.
More on Hughes from Whig
“Cadets who lose court martial don’t have to pay”
By Jennifer Pritchett
Friday, September 12, 2003 - 07:00
Local News - Jimmy Hughes might have been better off had he been kicked out of Royal Military College for committing a crime.
The Defence Department has billed the former officer cadet $64,000 for his RMC education after college brass released him from the military just 68 days before he was to graduate last May.
Hughes was caught plagiarizing, drinking and committing a variety of other infractions of rules governing cadet conduct.
His public criticism of the military has exposed a puzzling contradiction in the treatment of troublesome cadets at the storied institution, Canada’s only military university.
The Prince Edward Island native is fighting the government because he says it isn’t fair that he has to foot the bill when cadets who have been kicked out for committing more serious offences – including sexual assault and common assault – have not been forced to pay for their RMC education.
Taxpayers pay for the education of officer cadets at the college in Kingston, including paying them an annual salary and covering the cost of their room and board.
Capt. Bernard Dionne, a spokesman for RMC, said the total cost to the taxpayer of a cadet’s military education is not readily available.
Hughes, who admits he was no model cadet, was released after a trouble-plagued career at RMC where he regularly got into hot water. He has never been charged criminally.
He said military officials are using him as a whipping boy, an example to demonstrate what happens to cadets who misbehave.
But if Hughes had committed a criminal offence and had been released from the military as a result of a court martial decision, he probably would not have been ordered to pay the $64,000 bill.
Col. Claude Wauthier of the director general of military careers in Ottawa said he’s never heard of a single case where a cadet who has been released from the military as a result of a court martial has been billed for their education.
“We don’t see those cases for people who are released as a result of court martial so that tells me that if we don’t see the case, then there is no request for payment for education,” he told The Whig-Standard in an interview yesterday.
“There was not a single case that came through here. I know that for a fact because the director general of military careers is the authority for payback so that the case would have to be referred here.”
Wauthier acknowledged that the current practice may seem unfair to some.
“It certainly sends a mixed signal,” he said.
Cadets who are released as a result of a court martial have often committed criminal offences and have been released from the military as punishment for their crime.
Over the past three years, there have been several cadets who have been kicked out after a court martial decision found them guilty of an offence.
Former second lieutenant Darin Short was convicted in April 2002 of two counts of disgraceful behaviour, violations of the National Defence Act, for secretly videotaping a civilian woman having sex with him. He later showed the exploitive homemade pornographic video at parties around CFB Kingston.
At his court martial, a military judge told Short he was unfit to wear the Forces’ uniform and fined him $2,000.
Former officer cadet Jeff Kickham was convicted of assault causing bodily harm in January 2002 after he struck a fellow cadet three times in the face. Drunk and in a jealous rage over a female cadet, Kickham struck the cadet so hard that the victim required several stitches over his left eye.
Kickham was discharged from the Forces and denied his degree just days before he was to graduate.
But the directorate of military careers, the branch of the military that officially bills the cadets for their RMC education, has no record of any cadet who has been released as a result of a court-martial decision having been billed.
It means taxpayers likely never recovered the money they shelled out to pay for the unsuccessful military education of Short and Kickham.
RMC’s commandant, Brig.-Gen. Jean Leclerc, who makes recommendations to Ottawa about which cadets are billed and which ones aren’t, was not available for comment yesterday.
RMC spokesman Dionne issued a statement to the newspaper.
“RMC cadets are given an excellent university education at a significant cost to the taxpayer, in return for which they sign a contract agreeing to serve as an officer in the Canadian Forces for five years,” he said in the statement.
“When RMC releases a cadet from the CF for not living up to their contractual obligations, and further recommends all or some of the costs of the cadet’s subsidized education be recovered, it does so in order to exercise proper stewardship of the taxpayer’s dollar.”
Thursday, September 11, 2003
Missing Link
Me and the article it seems: http://www.thewhig.com/webapp/sitepages/printable.asp?paper=www.thewhig.com&contentID=42939&annewspapername=The+Kingston+Whig%2DStandard