Tiger Woods can come back as a golfer, no question. As a pitchman, though? Forget it, wrote the Toronto Star March 18.
“I don’t think we’ve ever seen anyone with quite this degree of decline and fall, with a recoverable position,” said Alan Middleton, professor of marketing at the Schulich School of Business at York University. “He’ll never have the attraction to sponsors that he had before – he’ll be automatically ruled out because of moral code issues, particularly in the US.”
“It’s got to be remarkable,” said Middleton [about the potential effects of Woods going on a new winning streak]. “If he’s just with the Phil Mickelsons in terms of performance, and not dominating, there’ll be a bit of weakening in his negotiating position for contracts, but also he’ll be a bit out of sight, out of mind with the media.”
Middleton notes that among his students, the younger undergrads in their 20s are much more inclined to shrug their shoulders at Woods’ fall. But that doesn’t cut across age groups, he says. “In the broadest terms, it’s a story about truth, trust and transparency,” said Middleton. “Tiger looked like he had all three, but then it turns out he didn’t. For the generations that grew up with him and had a stake in that, they’re not so forgiving.”
GO extends Newmarket bus service until June
GO Transit has agreed to run a reduced version of its 62 Newmarket B GO Bus until the end of June, wrote the Toronto Star March 18.
Service was slated to end April 3, and riders were urged to move to York Region Transit’s Viva Blue bus. But commuters protested, with the support of Newmarket-Aurora MPP Frank Klees, saying the change would cost them time and money.
YRT is also looking at options for GO customers who rode the Newmarket bus to York University, a service that ends at the end of April. YRT is considering a loyalty program to encourage riders to switch, general manager Rick Leary said.
Leave education dollars in aboriginal hands, says York prof
The proposal [in an editorial] to fund the individual aboriginal student and thereby bypass the band council ultimately undermines aboriginal aspirations for self-government, wrote Gabrielle Slowey, professor of Canadian and aboriginal politics in York’s Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, in a letter to The Globe and Mail March 18.
While a “number” of First Nations may misuse or misplace education funds, many more do not, as is evident by the increasing number of aboriginal students attending our academic institutions.
What indigenous students need is more support for their communities and their governance, more support in our academic institutions and less hype about misspending, wrote Slowey.
The answer to a colonial problem is not more colonialism. Let’s leave the funding in the hands of First Nations governments that are there to serve their people.
York grad starts supply business for fellow paraplegics
When Mike Johnson (BA Spec. Hons. ’05) was a teenager, he already knew he wanted to be an entrepreneur some day, wrote the Waterloo Chronicle March 17.
But when a spinal cord injury left him lying on a football field at the age of 16, unable to get up, it seemed like his dreams had been derailed. “It’s a life-altering injury,” he says today as he prepares to launch his online medical supply business.
Johnson, a paraplegic, has started SCI Supply, retailing and distributing medical products required by people with spinal cord injuries, such as catheters, drainage bags, gloves and underpads.
“I’m competing on customer service, and the fact that I’m experienced with these products, I use these products, and I look like the people I’m selling to,” he says. “My hope is they’ll find value in purchasing products from someone who knows first-hand what they’re about.”
Johnson, who also serves as the executive director of the Ontario Spinal Cord Injuries Solutions Alliance, says there are about 42,000 people living with spinal cord injuries in Canada, with at least one new occurrence every day.
Developers influence decisions: report
Municipal election contributions by developers, corporations and unions should be banned, according to a report from a coalition of environmentalist groups and individuals interested in the preservation of Lake Simcoe, wrote the Barrie Advance March 17.
“The sprawling pattern of development in the 905 region should make us think hard about the influence of development dollars,” said York University’s Robert MacDermid, a political science professor in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies and a well-known municipal election financing expert and a contributor to the report.
- A recent report looking at the influence of developer contributions on the outcome of municipal elections in Simcoe County has left Orillia and surrounding areas out of the mix, wrote the Orillia Packet & Times March 18. According to Campaign Lake Simcoe, they left Orillia and surrounding municipalities out because of their lower projected population and lack of development opportunities.
Robert MacDermid, a political science professor in York University’s Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies and expert on municipal campaign finances, helped do the research and compile the numbers for the report.
He looked at data from Orillia and surrounding areas, such as Oro-Medonte, but did not include those findings in the Campaign Lake Simcoe report because they didn’t share as much projected growth and development expansion opportunities as the five southerly areas. “I looked at that separately,” said MacDermid. “(Campaign Lake Simcoe) focused on the five municipalities where the developments were growing more rapidly.”
MacDermid said including other areas wouldn’t have changed the conclusions of the report, but would have shown that this problem doesn’t occur in every municipality.
Indian student club plans a dance competition for high-school students
The Indian Cultural Association at York University has announced Desi Dance Dhamaka, the first ever GTA-wide South Asian high-school dance competition, wrote Brampton’s South Asian Focus March 17.
Desi Dance Dhamaka will be held March 28 at York’s Sandra Faire & Ivan Fecan Theatre in the Accolade East Building. School teams consisting of 15 to 20 members will represent their high school and show off their dancing skills.
Seven high-school teams will put their pride at stake and compete for the title of the “best South Asian dance team in the GTA.” Shiamak Davar Institute Canada will be judging and performing at the competition. SDI Canada will also give out an award to the most exceptional dancer, with the winner to receive 12 free dance lessons.
Dance grad takes her teaching to Callander
Dance classes will be offered at the Callander Community Centre beginning at the end of the month, wrote the North Bay Nugget March 18. Celine Monforton (BFA Spec. Hons. ’08), a recent graduate of York University’s dance program in the Faculty of Fine Arts, will act as instructor. Monforton has taught, choreographed and performed throughout Ontario.
Motto contest remembered
50 Years Ago: York University offered $300 to the high-school student who suggested a Latin motto for the institution, wrote The Globe and Mail in its archives column March 18.
Mayoral candidate suggests road tolls to pay for subway expansion
Mayoral candidate Sarah Thomson says she’d use new road tolls on the Gardiner Expressway and Don Valley Parkway to fund a massive subway expansion in place of Transit City’s light rail network, wrote the Beach-Riverdale Mirror March 17.
“We must, as a city and as citizens, decide that we want to move Toronto forward, that we want a citywide subway system reaching out to the airport in the west, through Scarborough to the east, and up to Steeles and York University in the north,” said Thomson in a morning news conference unveiling the $13 to $14 billion plan.
- Toronto mayoral candidate Sarah Thompson is promising to extend the current subway system to Pearson Airport and York University, wrote The Canadian Press March 17.
She also wants to extend it east through Scarborough. It would cost roughly $11-billion. The money would come from a peak-hour road toll on the Gardiner Expressway and Don Valley Parkway, and private partners.
- Thompson’s campaign ideas were also reported on local radio stations.
On air
- Françoise Mougeon, associate principal academic & research at Glendon College, spoke about Premier Dalton McGuinty’s plans to attract more foreign students to Ontario, on TFO-TV’s “Panorama” March 17.
- Bernie Wolf, economics professor in the Schulich School of Business at York University, spoke about Toyota officials’ appearance before a House of Commons committee, on CTV News March 16.