This year in the Martlet, we’ve talked everything from Chairman Harper to ferry follies, oil spills to Comic-Con ills. Now the new year is rolling on in, and it’s time for us all to look back on some of the most interesting players in 2012 and figure out what they should do in 2013. Because making up others’ resolutions is a hard job — but someone’s gotta do it.
B.C. Transit and Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) Local 333
Negotiations have left workers without a formal agreement since the end of March. It’s no skin off our backs if drivers want to stay in mufti all season, but we’re all still keeping the transit cancellations page bookmarked in our smartphones as a result of the overtime ban. Meanwhile, busted buses are piling up in the yard. Forget the gym membership, guys — let’s see some concessions and a real agreement by the new year.
National Hockey League Players’ Association
Only seven years after the dreaded lockout of 2005, the dandy folks of the NHL and the NHLPA are at it again. Resolution after resolution is shot down as both sides refuse to give in. It looks like another cancelled season lies ahead, and as a result, we may just have to hop on the Seahawks bandwagon with our neighbours down south as they hunt for a playoff spot. Get it together in 2013, professional hockey hellions.
Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt
The cancellation of CFB Esquimalt’s annual Navy Lighting Contest has left a $20 000 hole (based on amounts collected in recent years) in the Mustard Seed Food Bank’s annual donation budget. While construction and maintenance on the base is probably pretty important, so are the people who depend on the donations and for whom the event creates a happy holiday. It would be awesome to see some other Mustard Seed–centric events at the base to make up for it in the new year. Maybe put on a first annual Family Day event with proceeds to families in need? And next year’s light-up better be epic.
UVic Students
Kudos to those who voted to keep Felicita’s as the Student Union Building pub name. Felicita Gomez, the pub’s namesake, was a SUB janitor between 1967 and 1996. Word has it that she touched the lives of many of the students at the time and was something of a legend on campus. When the UVSS decided to put the pub’s name to a vote, UVic students made it clear they didn’t want it to change. Felicita Gomez’s legacy lives on, one pint at a time. Keep on rockin’ in the free world of 2013, UVic.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Comox Valley RCMP officer Chris Backus recently rescued a man and his dog from the swift waters of the Puntledge River. Great job, Backus. If only the RCMP could be considered so heroic when it comes to women. The Star Phoenix reports that a November audit “revealed that women account for just one-fifth of the RCMP’s workforce, are more likely to drop out of basic training than their male counterparts and are altogether jaded by the promotional process.” In addition, only 65 per cent of Canadians think the RCMP is sensitive to the needs of women. The Mounties have a serious self-improvement project for the new year, we’d say.
From all of us at the Martlet, have a great holiday season and a wonderful new year. Keep your eyes peeled; we’ll see you again on Jan.10.
