Cheering For The OTher Team

Cheering For The OTher Team

Unlike everyone else in this city, I for one am not rooting for the Montreal Canadians. I don’t want them to win every game, I am not impressed with their new skills, and it would just make life easier if they went back to being a terrible team.

It wasn’t always that way.
Like all good Montrealers, I remember my first hockey game.
I must have been six or seven years old, and after months of begging my parents to take me to a game, my father caved in.

Clad in my Stephan Richer jersey, and my best pair of jeans, I was ready for a night on the town. The Canadians would be playing the Quebec Nordiques, and I of course was praying to all that was holy that the Habs would win.

I don’t remember who ended up winning, but I would like to believe it was our home team. For the next twelve years I was lucky enough to attend at least a dozen games a season, always rooting for those Montreal Canadians.

As the glory years of the Montreal Canadians fizzled into the past, and losses became more frequent than wins, I slowly lost interest in the game.

Fast-forward to the 2006-2007 season. As of right now, the Canadians are desperately trying to secure a playoff spot. Every point counts, this is hockey at it's finest. I should be as ecstatic as I was when I was six. Feeling like these are the first games of my life. It is a new NHL after all. I should be rooting for them to win, praying for them to bring home Stanley.

Times have changed, and I’ve become much more self interested with age. I now work at Baton Rouge, a restaurant that is just across the street from Bell Center. Whenever there’s a game, we’re busy. So busy in fact, that you forget your own name, and usually end up vomiting after the rush. I’m a bartender, but to make matters worse, since I’m still relatively new and part-time, whenever there’s a game or a show, I become a service bartender. That roughly translates into “working for no-tips”.

I make the drinks, the cappuccinos and the desserts for the waiters. The restaurant seats 500. That means 500 martinis, 500 beers, 500 apple cobblers, and 500 cappuccinos. It also means I am constantly running out of glasses, alcohol, and lemon wedges. I usually finish the night with minor cuts, a pulled muscle, and doused in a variety of liquids.
I get only a two-minute break, because if I’m gone for too long, nobody sitting in the restaurant gets a beverage. Sometimes, if I’m lucky, I have time for a bowl of soup.

While my fellow co-workers work just as hard, they have the benefit of leaving with over $300 in tips. I on the other hand get only a quarter of 2.5% of those tips. An amount that does not validate the blood, sweat, and tears of every pre-game rush.

When Montreal wins, the whole fiasco starts over again as people pile out of the Bell Center and into Baton Rouge to celebrate. I end up getting home at 1:30 am, still with homework to complete, and a class to get up for in the morning. At least when they lose, I can get home by midnight.

If Montreal makes the playoffs, that only extends my misery. I imagine with terror what will happen if we advance to the semi-finals, and the finals. I don’t want to think about winning the Stanley Cup, the idea gives me a panic attack.

So I apologize to my fellow Montrealers for my lack of enthusiasm. But for my sanity I need Montreal to lose Saturday night, and I need them to continue losing after that. Though, I guess I wouldn’t mind if they won on the road every so often.

Your Pet's What You Feed It

Your Pet's What You Feed It

Monkey is a cat without nine lives. He has a neurological disorder that robs him of all his nimble feline qualities. He is a cat that can’t leap, climb, or land on his feet. Watching him as he attempts to maneuver from one couch to another is like witnessing a tight rope act. Wobbly and unbalanced, there is a lingering doubt of whether Monkey will survive the crossing of the couch without taking a tumble.
Monkey’s disorder was passed on to him from his mother, and no veterinarian is quite sure of the cause. What is sure is that Monkey needs very special care, and a very special diet. Lucky for him, he was adopted by Diana Bokhari, owner of Naturalanimal and Pawtisserie, a holistic pet center in Westmount.

Besides his clumsy demeanor, Monkey also has severe diarrhea if fed grain. That means no dry food, and only raw meat from a specific lamb based diet.

This isn’t the first time Bokhari adopted an animal with special dietary needs. Her motivation in starting Naturalanimal arose out of her frustration to provide adequate care for her chronically ill German Shepherd named Kelly. After countless visits to the veterinarian, and a myriad of diets, Bokhari stumbled on to the book that changed her life: Food Pets Die For by Ann N. Martin.

The book presents an alternative to commercial pet food, namely home cooking food for pets, as well as concrete information on how to read labels and buy pet food if cooking is not an option. “As soon as I started cooking for Kelly myself, I noticed a difference immediately” said Bokhari.

Between Bokhari’s personal background in homeopathy and nutrition, and because of the results she saw in Kelly’s health, Naturalanimal was created. For the first time in Quebec, animal lovers had a resource for quality food and holistic care for their much-loved animal companions.

But just what constitutes quality food, and what is so terrible about the commercial brands found in grocery stores? Products such as Purina and Iams have faced a recent backlash against their food. Accusations of animal abuse and substandard quality have marred their names, and allowed alternative human-grade food to have a healthy share in the market.

All this health comes at a cost however. At the grocery store, average prices range from $0.25 to $0.35 per 100 grams of dog food. Naturalanimal, which sells their products at the suggested retail, range in price from $0.35 to $0.47 per 100 grams of dog food. That’s 34% more, enough of a difference to question whether human-grade food is a justifiable expense, or just another marketing tool.

According to Dr. Marc Vaillancourt, it is a marketing tool. He cited a study where a group of dogs of the same age, breed, and sex were separated into two groups. Both were given the same brand of commercial food, except one group was always given 25% less. The result? The group that ate 25% less lived two years longer, meaning it isn’t type of food, but quantity of food. “People are simply overfeeding their dogs, and feeding them the wrong kind of food for their age and breed”.

Purina is the largest producer of cat and dog food in the world, and according to Vaillancourt, finding the right Purina product is what’s important, not whether you buy it at a grocery store, or a specialty food store.

A quick glance around Vaillancourt office damages his argument however. His shelves are stacked with specialty food, not found in grocery stores. Both Iams and Purina have their respective veterinary brands, but then, there’s also Hills, Medi Cal, and Royal Canine. All three cannot be bought in a grocery store, and all three are significantly more expensive.

When asked what these foods are for and why they are so expensive, Vaillancourt explains that certain dogs or cats with certain health problems need these foods. He prescribes diets that “if they do not eat it, they will die.” As for the cost, “there is simply no comparison to the quality of ingredients”.
Perhaps there is a correlation between high quality human-grade food and health after all.

Human grade food does not use any by-products, nor so they use any unnatural preservatives. Bokhari says that by simply reading labels, one can tell if food is human-grad or not. “Look for terms like by-products, BHT, BHA, and ethoxyquin”, all have been considered to be cancer causing agents.

As for spending the extra dollars for human grade food, Bokhari says that “if you can’t afford high quality food, you shouldn’t have a pet,” a notion that her customers heartily agree with.

Mylene Pinard and Caroline Breslaw were both shopping for food at Naturalanimal.
Pinard comes from the Plateau. A long haul to Westmount just to buy a bag of cat food. She heard of Naturalanimal through friends, and since there are relatively few other places to buy human-grade food, she makes the trip.
“For me, if I can eat it, than my cat can eat it,” she says, “There has been amazing results, her coat is so beautiful, so I don’t mind paying extra.”

Breslaw has two cats, one of which she adopted from Naturalanimal. She says that she made the switch to human-grade food when she adopted her second cat. He was already eating Natural Balance, and seemed to enjoy it. As soon as she switched brands for her first cat, she noticed immediate results. “It’s wonderful for them, and I am more than okay with the price difference”.


But what exactly are animal by-products, and why are they deemed evil in the pet food world? Pamela Bellamy, a veterinary technician at Iams, is tired of being labeled as an evil corporation that harms animals. “I’m an animal lover, everyone who works here is an animal lover,” she says, “I feed my dogs Iams, why would I put something in the mouths of my beloved pets if it wasn’t safe?”

Francine Dupont, also veterinary technician, but at Purina Canada, echoes Bellamy’s statement. “We’re all encouraged to bring our pets to work, this is a pet friendly company, it’s simply a question of ethics, and I wouldn’t work for an unethical company.”

Both agree that their food is not human-grade. But their definition of human-grade is vastly different from that of Natualanimal’s.

“We can’t call our food human grade because it has by-products in it, but the term by-product simply means meat that isn’t muscle tissue,” says Bellamy. She goes on to explain that Iams complies to with Association of American Feed Control Officials, which dictates how animal food is labeled. “Anybody can call anything, anything, but we can back it up, we have standards, we comply with AAFCO” she says, making reference to the fact that it is possible that many of these human-grade food companies are simply using “human-grade” as a marketing tool, as there is no one to monitor them.

Bellamy also clears up the confusion surrounding by-products health value. It is in fact healthier for dogs and cats to eat by-products, because that is where most of the nutrients are found. Because cats and dogs are carnivores, in the wild, they would get their vegetable content from the stomachs and intestines of prey. “It is the organs carnivores eat first, followed by the stomach and intestines, muscle mass is what they would eat last” says Bellamy.

Bellamy states that Iams uses only natural preservatives such as rosemary, citric acid, and vitamin E, and that “only premium food is found at a grocery story, everything we use has a nutritional value.”

Despite all the varying range of advice, and the diverse choices of products on the market, there is one things that all the vets, holistic pet storeowners, and commercial brand representatives can agree on; understanding a label is necessary, and nothing can beat a home cooked meal.

Both dogs and cats are carnivores, and meat is what they need. No vegan diets, not a lot of grain, just meat. The freshest and best quality meat is of course found at home, and it is for that reason that all agree, if time allows, cooking for your animal companion is the best insurance to a long and healthy life.

Prostitution in Montreal

It seems lately that when it comes to prostitution, Montreal is always somewhere in the shadows.

Most recently of course was the arrest of local girl Nathalie McLennan, allegedly New York City’s highest grossing call girl of all time. She reportedly made $1.5 million US last year. Not bad for a Dawson graduate.

In May, Montreal was host to ForumXXX, a professional conference for those in the sex-trade industry. The conference was organized by a couple of former resident prostitutes.

Mary Gallagher, the legendary Montreal prostitute who was found murdered in 1897 was also in the headlines this year. Supposedly her headless ghost reappears every seven years on the corner of William and Murray Sts. This past June just happened to be one of those years.

June also saw the arrests of six individuals for their involvement in an under-age prostitute ring. The ring operated out of an east-end motel, and used minors as young as 12.

The sex trade industry is on the rise in Montreal. One local pimp, who prefers to go by the name Maurice Tremblay when talking about his escort business, says that “the market is saturated with girls, business isn’t as good anymore, there are too many girls, and too much competition.”

Tremblay is correct in his assessment. According to Statistics Canada, there has been 95% increase in prostitution arrests in the city between 1999 and 2003. He explains this significant increase on the rise of powerful gangs in the city. “Before 1999, there were only the biker gangs who ran prostitution rings, now we have strong Haitian gangs, and a few Jamaican gangs as well.”

Tremblay began his career in the sex trade as a web designer for Montreal escort sites. He then began to chauffeur girls; picking them up, and driving them to their next location. From there, he was given his own crop of ladies; Tremblay is now responsible for eight prostitutes.

When asked how he recruits, he explains the classified ad system. “I put an ad in Journal de Montreal asking for pretty young girls looking to make money”, from there he interviews candidates, and if he likes what he sees, offers them a job.

But just who are these girls? Where do they come from? Tremblay explains that the majority come from homes with sexual abuse where they are “already used to pleasing somebody they don’t like”. Most are young, between the ages of 18 and 23 (Tremblay’s organization is strict on age, they do not employ minors), and they are all looking to make money.

Unlike street prostitutes, escorts who work through an agency decide before hand what they are willing to do. Some don’t accept clients based on race, some don’t accept clients who want what is called the girl friend experience; kissing, embracing, and conversation.
Other girls are up for anything, and that, says Tremblay, is where the money is. “A girl who is willing to go to a party where there will be several men, for a whole evening will be making $120 an hour per guy” explains Tremblay.

“Running an escort service is like any other business” he says. There are standards, there are rules, and there are consequences. Tremblay expects his girls to work a minimum of three shifts a week, either day shifts or night shifts. On a single shift, a girl is expected to go on four calls. “If a girl refuses to go on a call that would normally be okay by her standards, she is suspended for seven days” says Tremblay.

Other grounds for suspension include being overly intoxicated, using hard drugs other than speed, and smoking pot while in a small-enclosed space like a car.
Speed is allowed as it doesn’t give the twitches that cocaine does, and the pot rule is due to the smell. “Nobody wants a coked out girl smelling like trash,” says Tremblay.

“These girls are just like any other women at a job. They work hard, they listen to their employer, and they complain about what hours they have to work in a given week” he says.

According to Tremblay, it takes a certain kind of personality to work in this industry, both on the prostitution side and the pimping side. When asked how he is able to work in this industry he responds by saying, “I have no morals, I don’t judge actions as bad or good, and most importantly, I have no pity.”

Interview with Chris Ann Nakis

Chris-Ann Nakis, 48 years old, barely breaks the 5’2” mark. She is petite, but what she lacks in size, she makes up in volume of hair, which she explains she straightens only in the winter. The summer humidity is too much of a hassle for her.

Though small in stature, the respect she commands within the male dominated restaurant industry is overwhelmingly large.

As a recent inductee into the Who’s Who volume of 2005, Nakis solidifies her position in the Montreal community as the savvy businesswomen she’s always dreamt of being.
Modest by nature, and overwhelmingly busy by trade, sitting down for an interview with her was a production in itself.

Nakis invited me to her home for this interview. But that’s not unusual. She is renown for opening up her home to staff whenever and for whatever
She is equally feared and loved by her restaurant employees. She is both generous and fair, but as one employee said to me “Don’t cross her, whatever you do Steph don’t ever cross her”.

Her home in the Town of Mount Royal is of the standard layout found in that area. Large, open, and right out of the 1970’s. When I visited, there were three different renovation projects going on at the same time; the kitchen, the living room, and the alarm system. The alarm technician tried to pull a fast one. Nakis put him in his place quickly and efficiently.

The only daughter of a third generation Greek Family, Nakis says she always knew she wanted to be in the restaurant business. She describes restaurants as “an endless tunnel of creativity in any direction”.

Her grandfather came to Montreal in 1917, and after working in the shipping business, he decided to open the Cherrier Tea Room, which is still exists on St-Denis.
Her father, Paul Nakis, was one of six children. He carried the restaurant torch, and at fourteen years old was running Paul’s Sandwich Shop.

In 1953 Paul Nakis and his two brothers owned and operated the O-Select. A true family restaurant of the 50’s complete with milkshakes, juke boxes and club sandwiches, which his daughter proudly describes as “one of the better restaurants in the East End at the time”.

With two generations of restaurant operation behind her, Nakis knew this was the business for her. Though she flirted with the idea of journalism or even theatre, it was business that kept coming back to her. “ I always had the ambition to work for my father” she says “I wanted to take over his company and have a building that said Nakis on the side.”

Nakis now owns two Baton Rouges. The first one is in Complex Desjardins in front of Place Des Arts. She has almost doubled the sales in the five years since she has owned it. Ask her about her success, and she becomes humbled and shy. She accepts that her experience has something to do with it, but she truly gives the success of the restaurant over to the staff, the location, and the name Baton Rouge.

“I wouldn’t have invested in any other franchise” she says. Baton Rouge is the most successful franchise in North America right now, and that is what prompted the decision to go the franchise route and not with an independent restaurant. “I didn’t need the umbrella support of a franchise, I believed in Baton Rouge’s concept, and I am proud to be part of their family”.

Fifteen months ago Nakis bought a second Baton Rouge. This time in front of the Bell Center, where Moe’s restaurant used to be. “When I made a bid for the location a lot of people said Moe’s didn’t make it, what do you think you’re going to do?” But make it she did, despite the horribly bad timing of the hockey strike just months after the restaurant opened.

Her father still plays an important role in her life. He is often seen at both restaurants counseling his daughter. “We’re always talking business, we’ll talk business before family” she says. Her relationship with her father hasn’t always been easy but it’s always been supportive. “My father was and is a restauranteur, and he didn’t always have time to help me, but he always directed me to someone who could.”

Coming from a Greek family with a brother, one would expect the son to carry on the family business. When asked about this, Nakis becomes defensive and describes Greek men as “weak bowls of jell-o” who’ve been pampered and taken care of their whole life. “It’s often the Greek girls with stronger personalities, and the men can scream, slam their hand down, and pretend they are saying something important, but they are just ignored.”

Nakis describes her restaurants as her home, and when a client sits down to a meal, they are visiting her home, and so are treated with the hospitality and caring that one would expect when visiting a good friend.

Listen to Nakis in a staff meeting before a busy night and that is exactly what she tries to impart on her staff. She has no time to be boggled down by details, “if a client wants a Bloody Caesar made half with tomato juice, half with Clamato juice, and a jumbo shrimp on the side, so be it” she says, “I am here to give you the best steak you have ever tasted,
and if it’s not and we’ll change it, I’m here to make sure you have a good time”.

She is a woman who works twelve-hour days, somehow found time to raise a daughter, and be married twice. She owns her own home, and a sporty car. By all modern standards she is a success.


I ask her is she’s happy, if the dream of her younger self has come true? Nakis takes a deep breath, and slumps in her chair; “I like what I do, but sometimes you have to sacrifice your life to meet your goals.”

The Cost of Progress

Fuel prices are through the roof, and that’s exactly where Jonathon Porritt thinks they should stay. “The era if cheap oil is over” says Porritt, chair of the Sustainable Development Commission in the U.K.

. “We need to see prices kept high in order to drive this change in consumer behaviour, to drive investment in new technologies” said Porritt in a recent BBC 4 interview.

The last 50 years saw cheap fuel, which led to accessible and convenient transportation. Cars were affordable forms of transport, and road trips were a feasible idea for college students. No more.

DeAnne Julius, the former chief economist for the Royal Dutch Shell Group is of the doesn’t always agree with Porritt. In the same interview, she argued that technological change . Julius considers the current state of oil to be an extreme case of what the world has already seen, and what will continue to be seen. “We’re likely to see big spurts and big falls,” she says. Julius predicts that costs will soon plummet and are “more likely to be $30 to $40 (USD) a barrel” as opposed to the current average of $60 USD per barrel.

Porritt isn’t so easily convinced. The worst thing a government could do would be to fold under the pressure of its citizens and artificially lower prices. Four years ago the U.K. faced a similar fuel problems, protestors took to the streets, and fuel prices dropped. A short-term solution to a far greater problem.

It is just that kind of short-term thinking that scares Porritt. He believes in long-term solutions, and using the current situation as a catalyst for change. It is in new forms of energy that nation’s will progress. “The countries that understand future economic prosperity lie in maximum efficiency of energy sources” says Porritt.

The issue of energy consumption is an ongoing problem, and only through mass changes in the consumer market can results be expected. “High oil prices are not necessarily a bad thing, if we plan for it” says Porritt. “People are already thinking about what car to buy next, and they’ll think fuel efficient, not gas guzzling SUV”.


But, just what are these technological evolutions Porritt is so sure of, and will they be available to the consumer any time soon?

Global Electric Motor cars, a division of Chrysler, is just one company hoping to provide a solution. The US based company manufactures cars that run on six 12V deep cycle batteries and a five horsepower engine. Though unsuitable for highway use, these powerful electric cars have already been approved for city-road use in 25 European countries, and 32 states.

Mark Johnson, the government and international sales manager of the company, affectionately calls them the “neighbourhood vehicle, perfect for getting around the city, picking up groceries, or dropping the kids off at school.” These neighbourhood vehicles come in four models and range in price from $7000 USD, to $9000 USD.

Though not yet approved for road use in Canada, some towns in the US have already begun using them for municipal purposes. Hemstead, NY, in central Long Island, was the benefit of Global Electric Motorcars awareness program. 77 electric cars were donated to the town to be used for public safety, and the Water and Parks department.

Johnson predicts that they will become essential for city dwellers. “Already all military branches in the (in the US) use our cars” he says, “people are green, it’s just a matter of time”.

Perhaps he is right, it is just a matter of time, and money.

Botox

Say the word Botox and an image of a tightened, expressionless face appears. The household name in plastic surgery is on the frontlines of our societys’ obsession with anti-ageing, but it may also have inadvertently found itself on the frontlines of a legitimate medical use.
The Mackay Rehabilitation Center in partnership with the McGill University Health Center is host to the Saliva Management Clinic; the first of it’s kind in Quebec, the second in Canada. Dr. Sam Daniel is director of the clinic, and the man responsible for saving the life of an infant child who was drowning in his own saliva. The family has asked to not have their name published, Dr. Daniel simply referred to the infant as Mikhail.
Mikhail was born with CHARGE Syndrome, an acronym referring to children born with specific birth defects. Saliva secretions had been pooling in his lungs since he was born, causing numerous bouts of pneumonia and literally drowning the boy from the inside out.
For six weeks after his birth he was in an intubator, with a tube inserted down his throat into his lungs. A number of attempts to remove the tube were unsuccessful, and witnessing their infant sons suffering and ultimate decline tortured his parents.
“His parents almost put an end to treatment,” says Dr. Daniel, “watching Mikhail suffer became to much for them”.
After the considering and ruling out all other medical procedures, Dr. Daniel presented Mikhail’s parents with an experimental option; botulinum toxin injections, commonly known as Botox.
The use of Botox in resolving saliva management issues had never before been used on a child younger four years old. Dr. Daniel was not sure it would work.
“Everyone told me you’re crazy, don’t do it” said Dr. Daniel, “I didn’t even know what side effects there’d be.”
At eight weeks old, young Mikhail became a clinical trial and success. Dr. Daniel injected the Botox into a number of his saliva glands, thus paralyzing them.
Within two weeks of Mikhail’s Botox injection, the infant was removed from the ventilator and released from the hospital. Mikhail is now eight months old, and has just received his second injection. According to Dr. Daniel “it is still too early to tell if he’ll require Botox every six months or not”.
There are hundreds of saliva glands in the human mouth; Dr. Daniel injects only the four major ones with Botox. The use of this drug for saliva management issues is still fairly new and there are no set dosages. Dr. Daniel prefers to use multiple small doses over a period of time, as opposed to a larger dose that may cause excessive dryness in the mouth.
The Botox is injected using a guided method where electrodes placed on the cheek guide the needle to saliva glands and not muscle tissue. A local anesthetic cream is rubbed into the cheek, and the procedure takes less than a minute. The results become apparent after two weeks, and each injection can last anywhere from six to nine months, depending on the child.
Because this procedure is so new, the Canadian government does not provide coverage for it. “Botox isn’t covered for saliva problems,” explains Dr. Daniel “it costs approximately $360 a vial, or $250 to $300 a dose”.
Saliva management issues such as drooling are common but stigmatized in our society, which is why Dr. Daniel is a strong advocate for the Clinic, and making the public aware of this problem.
Children who suffer from saliva management issues are turned away from daycares, have trouble making friends, and are often plagued with medical conditions resulting from the saliva management issue.
Samuel Chayer-Lapointe, 15, was a chronic drooler. His teachers told his parents he would be unable to find employment at 16 due to his drooling. He had no friends growing up because few children wished to play with his saliva-drenched toys. Dr. Daniel met with the Chayer-Lapointe family a year ago, and began to treat Samuel with Botox injections. Now, one year later, his drooling has almost stopped, and with it the social ramifications “family life, the life of Samuel is much easier now, thanks to the injections” says his mother.
Botox has had a colourful history, and it’s wide array of uses are still being discovered. From its’ beginnings as a research tool for neurological disorders, to the 1989 FDA approval for eye muscle disorders, and finally to it’s well known uses in plastic surgery. Only the future will tell what else this drug will be used for.