House of Music Breathes life into a 

Musical Career for Quinton Hobson

By William Doyle-Marshall

   

   Quinton Hobson grew up in a house of people who are into music. His mother Gillian is a pianist and his dad Trevor worked with Radio Grenada. Consequently he was surrounded by his father’s music collection. This meant he grew up listening to his father’s music choices that included Celine Dion, Mariah Carey and Michael Jackson. Those individuals inspired Quinton to sing. “I guess I started to sing before I could talk, from what I have been told,” he confessed. Being influenced by his mother’s music teaching skills and his father’s music collection, those ingredients have propelled him on to the road to a musical career.

   “The Best In Me” is one of the early songs which he worked on creating with his mother Gillian. Talking about his musical travels thus far Quinton admitted his mom did the bulk of the musical arrangement then he swooped in and helped with the lyrics – his strong point. The song will be on an upcoming album, currently being created with the hope of release by the end of the year. Already he is thinking winning a JUNO like his producer Eddie Bullen of Thunder Dome Sounds. He doesn’t have to look too far away for motivation and examples.

   Reflecting on his first public performance Quinton believes it was in third grade about the age of eight when his teacher kinda forced him to sing. Many years later he admits that he didn’t really want to but it was to be part of a small ensemble so he caved in. But the real major performance was in a talent competition for the same third grade. Naturally he was victorious. And the memory of that success still evokes a natural guttural laughter. Since then Quinton Hobson has continued to win musical contests.

                                                                       Quinton Hobson

    For two years now Quinton has entered the North York Music Festival and walked away with top prizes. Last April he won in three different categories -- Disney Solo, Pop Solo and Musical Theatre. Last year he placed second, third and fourth in the same categories of the contest. “Winning a competition means money but really it was more of a kind of journey for me, I guess from where I was to where I am now so it’s like a check mark in my life because it was the first time of rally using my voice competitively in eight years. So it was a really important time,” Quinton recalls. He will be featured in a concert July 5t at Seneca College Residence and Conference Centre, 1760 Finch Avenue, East, Toronto. It is billed as “Quintessential” and “Exquisite” with the theme “Becoming Me”. The singer/song writer promises “it’s kind of going to be a narrative from who I was against who I am now. It’s me covering some of my favourite artistes as well as some of my original music. His favourite artistes include Gloria Estefan, Michael Jackson and Elton John. There is a surprise is in store for his Caribbean people. Quinton promises to make it a memorable evening for patrons. It is going to be a collaborative effort with two of his friends. His mom Gillian Hobson will join him along with Producer Eddie Bullen.

    Prior to the competition this young man simply performed in school and at church events but he did not consider his singing talent very seriously. His other interests pre-occupied him. He was an artist/drawer first because of his love for sketching, fashion and designing and later he became interested in writing. This meant he had his eyes on creative writing – screenplays, novels and books. While Quinton has no plays or books to his credit as yet, he is hopeful that will evolve. During a CHRY Radio interview on My Data Bag last Tuesday Quinton was asked what he visualizes doing in ten year’s. He hopes to get to use all of his three skills But getting into film seems to be his preference. He loves telling people what to do. This is part way to fitting into the role of a director. Pulling the rest of the required skills together should not be too difficult for this emerging singer on the Canadian scene.

No Pipeline through Native Lands

Canada needs better education, health care, a better society-- not a pipeline, says Thomas King

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By William Doyle-Marshall

“Now as far as sticking a pipeline through Native land, if the people don’t want that pipeline there, to hell with it, I don’t want the pipeline there either. Those things are not safe; they are leaky as hell. It’s another example of over-reaching, that humans do and I think this gets us into all sorts of trouble.”

Thomas King the Native Indian author, winner of the 2014 RBC Taylor Prize of $25,000 for literary non-fiction made the preceding comment in an exclusive interview Tuesday (June 17, 2014) at the Harbourfront Center. He and Leanne Simpson, recipient of the inaugural RBC Taylor Emerging Writer Award were there for a special event observing National Aboriginal Day (June 21).

 “Pipelines: yes, what we need is a pipeline, not better education, not better health care, not a better society, not jobs,” King continued. The multi-talented individual who was awarded $25,000 earlier this year for his book “The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America” noted that jobs come and go. There has never been a private company who has created jobs out of the goodness of their heart, he stressed. They don’t even create jobs because governments give them money but they create jobs because they need work done and they do it reluctantly because it adds to their overhead, King affirmed.

 “So that’s why we have layoffs. As soon as the production goes down to a certain point, companies lay workers off because they can’t afford to have them there because it hurts their percentage of profit and what I would say to them is: reduce the damn percentage of profit guys. Live like everybody else, be part of the society. I’ve got very little patience for the super-rich,” the prize winning author counselled.

                                Thomas King, signs his award winning book for a fan

                              Leanne Simpson King Ph.D. with Thomas King

                                                          at Harbourfront Center

  With respect to industrialization of Native lands, advises one of the questions that is going to come up every year is: what are we going to do with Native lands? What are Native people going to do with their own lands? Pondering are we going to develop those lands or we are just going to let them sit in their natural conditions some place in between? The author, professor and community advocate says emphatically that is not a question he can answer, not is he happy answering, and he is definitely not comfortable answering. “That’s going to have to be answered by the people themselves and each Nation is going to have to answer that on their own,” he said.

   Commenting directly about the pipeline that has been sanctioned by the Cabinet of the Stephen Harper Government, King described it as a whole different thing. Hew notes a couple of problems with the pipeline. One is, an assumption by some politicians and capitalists that they are going to drain this planet of every ounce of oil and they are not going to slow down until it’s all gone. That view he considers really foolish. “I think we’ve got to back away from the kind of reliance that we have on oil; I think we have to develop other sources of fuel and we have to cut what we actually do, back,” King advises.

 With little hope that such action will be taken, the 2014 TBC Taylor Prize winner strongly exhorts action in this direction. “We are going to run right to the grave, right to the end and we are going to turn around and say ‘what the hell happen? How? Nobody said anything. Well, we have been saying things. Climate change, over use of resources, we live high on the hog, we are going to kill that poor hog before we’re done. The pipeline is just a symptom of that,” he explains.   

New Liberal Majority at Queen's Park

All Hands on Deck Needed, Kathleen Wynne

By William Doyle-Marshall

“We went into the history books tonight. I am proud to be standing before you at this moment – the first woman to be elected Premier of Ontario.” Kathleen Wynne, Leader of the Ontario Liberal Party made this pronouncement Tuesday night after her party won a majority – 59 seats -- to govern the province.

She faced off against New Democratic Leader Andrea Horwath with a ‘plan that makes sense’ and Progressive Conservative Tim Hudak’s offer to cut 100,000 jobs and replace them with one million private sector jobs. In the end Hudak lost ten seats in the Ontario Parliament to Wynne and he announced his resignation as leader of his party.

  Wynne who promised to have parliament reconvened within three days, acknowledged having spent her adult life fighting for the public good, to make life a little bit easier, a bit more fulfilling, better for people and she is not going to stop.

  “You all know I am a runner and you know when you are running a race, you look past the finish line. You have to run through the finish line and that’s what we are doing because the hard work is now going to start. Now we’ve got to move to implement our plan,” she affirmed in her victory speech election night.

 Premier Wynne promised to take to parliament her part’s budget which the people of the province endorsed with the resounding victory. It was the same budget that NDP Leader Horwath rejected and election was called. “The people of Ontario want us to get on with creating good, well-paying jobs; they want us to get on with building the transit and transportation infrastructure that we know we need; they want us to get on with making sure the full day kindergarten is available to every four and five year olds, everyone and that anyone who wants to go to university or college or training that they get 30% off their tuition if they qualify and they want us to get on with setting up an Ontario retirement and pension plan so people could retire with dignity and security,” she reflected.

  Wynne promised to build a solid future for all Ontarians. Now that the elections are over the Premier emphasized there is work to be done. “All of us now in Ontario have to work together to make sure this is the best place to live, to make this a better place to live, work and raise a family,” she added.

  Wynne admitted there are candidates and there are volunteers all over this province who worked very hard over the last 38 days and they did not get the outcome that they wanted. She thanked them on behalf of all the people of Ontario for everything that they did and for their absolute commitment because everyone is needed. “We need all hands on deck,” the Premier urged.

   Premier Wynne praised the leaders of the other two parties and admitted they all took their ideas to the people of the province, debated them, talked about them in all corners of Ontario. “The province and its democracy is stronger for that process,” she observed.

Wynne thanked Hudak for his leadership and wished him all the best as he goes into the next phase of his life after stepping down as leader of the Progressive Conservative Party following his failed attempt to form the government.

As the New Democrats lost a couple of their downtown MPPs, Horwath was pleased that here party made gains in other parts of the province. She promised to move forward as a strong caucus which she interpreted as her party’s mandate from the election. “People of Ontario know very well, as New Democrats are very strong and we fight very hard. We are going to make sure that 25% of the people in this province who voted NDP are going to be proud of having cast their ballots that way because we are going to look after their interest. We are going to look out for them day in and day out in the legislature,” the NDP Leader stressed.

  Questioned about pulling the plug on the Liberal Government, forcing the election Horwath said it was the right decision to make at the time and the people have had their choice. Her party is prepared to work with that choice and make sure they deliver for Ontarians. The election gave voters an opportunity to make a decision Horwath continued and she emphasized, people of the province deserve the respect of being able to make a decision of how they are going forward. “They’ve done that tonight and I am very excited about getting to work back with them ,” Horwath said.

  The New Democrats were able to pick up a couple of seats and increase its popular support which is important because Ontarians know when the NDP are in their corner when it comes to the issues that are important to them and that’s what they do and the leader assured “that’s what we are going to continue to do.”

   “Thank you so much”. This was uttered by Wynne,  ten times amidst shouts of jubilation – applause and chanting -- before she actually got into her speech from the podium. The first woman elected Premier in the history of Ontario was visibly overjoyed at her victory in Tuesday’s Ontario elections, winning a majority mandate from the people. And even while expressing her appreciation to the voters, the Premier again had to remark “Thank you” another six times.
  “Thank you people of Ontario, for the choice that you made tonight”. That was followed again by another three ‘thank you’s’ and applause. “You did it, you voted for jobs; you voted for growth. Thank you for voting to build Ontario up.”

The Premier expressed her thanks to all of the voters in Ontario, for their strong mandate. Because of the trust they place in the Liberal Party of Ontario, Wynne was emphatic “we will not let you down”.  She was proud Ontarians have put their trust in her party to move this province forward with integrity. “We will not take you for granted,” she added.

 In thanking the 107 candidates on her party’s campaign team, Wynne acknowledged them as a fantastic group of people, whether they got the outcome tonight that they wanted or not.  She was proud to have been part of that team. The candidates and all the volunteers’ commitment inspires her every single day, the Premier disclosed. “This victory belongs to all of us, every single one of us and I am so proud to be standing in front of you as the first woman to ever have been elected as the Premier of Ontario,” Wynne added

Ontario Elections: Your children expect you to Vote wisely

Premier Wynne on Lookout for caring adults to make the difference in Student’s lives
By William Doyle-Marshall
Publicly funded education and ensuring that all students in Ontario in that system have equitable access to success is one of the things that has been at the center of Premier Kathleen Wynne’s political career.  She made this very clear Saturday during an address to members of the National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada downtown Toronto. Wynne outlined her party’s plan which she hopes will return it to govern the province on June 12.
   While the Premier is very proud of the advances that the Liberals have made in this province in the area of education, Wynne is not proud that there are still groups of children who are performing and succeeding at much lower rates than current statistics would suggest. In 2003 68% of students were graduating from high school. Now the number is 83%. The Premier promised to continue to work to target programmes and support the groups of children who really need it.
She reported that Aboriginal children, are graduating at a 40% rate from high school. “It’s shameful,” Wynne pronounced. Admitting that she recognized there is still work to be done, the Premier appealed for more participation by everyone involved in the education system. “It takes those people in our schools for those kids to get connected. It starts very early. A kid not going to university isn’t because of something that happened in grade 12. It’s more likely something that happened in grade one or grade two that didn’t allow them to have that as an aspiration and actually get there,” Wynne emphasized. She promised, if elected, her government will increase apprenticeship so more children would go into skilled trades. We’ll continue to support accessibility to university but we’ll have the people in our schools catch those kids before they lose their way. We k now from all the research that a caring adult is what can make the difference in a young person’s life and we have to have caring adults in our education system,” Wynne informed the media gathering.
 First Nations are graduating at a 40% rate from high school and this the Premier describes as “shameful”. We have recognized that there is still work to be done but that takes people. It takes those people in our schools.”

Premier Wynne identified manufacturing in Ontario as one of many problems that could keep her awake at nights. She identified it as an industry where many families have worked in manufacturing for so many years. Facing this shift from North American to a really global change, Wynne said Ontario has to be competitive. Manufacturing has been one of the parts of the backbones of Ontario, she noted. And that transition from advance manufacturing and all of the jobs that go along with whether it is auto sector, whether it is the agriculture and food processing, Wynne stressed her commitment to promoting that transition and getting Ontarians to the other side of this challenge they are facing. The 2014 Liberal Plan will include a number of initiatives to attract skilled immigrants to Ontario, provide more culturally appropriate health care and help more Ontario companies win business outside Canada. A re-elected Liberal government will also continue to invest in the talent and skills of Ontarians through initiatives like full-day kindergarten and the 30% Off Tuition Grant. Liberals will also partner with business and build new roads, bridges, highways, transit, schools and hospitals to create good jobs throughout the province.

    As June 12 gets nearer all three major political parties are pumping up the volume so you would favour their proposals. The New Democratic Party plan under Andrea Horwath, wants to bring back physical education teachers to keep children healthy and active. The party promises to invest in health and physical education initiatives. This would include hiring up to 1,000 new health and physical education teachers by the end of the party’s mandate.

  Horwath promises. Creation of an “Open Schools” fund to prevent school closures and extend after-hour programs. Should the party form the next government in the province, it plans to let school boards apply for funding to help keep schools threatened with closure open. Making necessary renovations, to use under-utilized space for other community uses, is an integral part of the NDP plan. “Schools can also apply to the fund to increase free and low-fee access for non-profit groups to use school space during evenings and weekends,” Horwath promises.

The Progressive Conservative Party is campaigning hard on its plan to axe 100,000 public service jobs and replace it with 1 million new private sector jobs to be created by his corporate friends. But he has not provided real answers on how this will be done. His major plan is to reduce taxation for corporations which he boasts will result in jobs creation. But critics and labour leaders have said over the years reduced taxation never results in job creation. Ontario's trades-regulating body is seen by Hudak as a job-killing bureaucracy and the Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak would abolish immediately on becoming premier. Speaking at a campaign stop recently, in East Toronto, Hudak attacked the Ontario College of Trades as a self-serving creation of the Liberals to reward their union friends. "We don't need an expensive government bureaucracy to tell people where to get their hair cut," Hudak said.

Hassan Yussuff, President of the Canadian Labour Congress wants every voter to know that all politicians are not the same. When you exercise your franchise on June 12 be absolutely certain that you select a candidate who believes in fairness and has your interest in mind at all times. So vote wiisely. Your children's future depends on it.

Archbishop of Port of Spain in Toronto

Archbishop Harris Meeting T&T Diaspora in Canada

By William Doyle-Marshall

When Trinidadian clergyman Joseph Harris, was ordained Archbishop of Port of Spain, he was informed that his duties were not confined to the City of Port of Spain. As a Bishop he was ministering for the Catholic flock wherever. That advice has been on his mind for a while and as he grew more and more concerned about the Trinidadian Diaspora he wanted to be certain that they did not follow the tradition of easily losing their roots. So his current visit to Canada is motivated by that belief.
Speaking in an exclusive interview Friday at the Caribbean Catholic Center in Toronto, headed by fellow Trinidadian Reverend Carlyle Guissepi, the Archbishop noted “there are lots of people who, when they leave home forget their roots and their religious roots.” Since the Caribbean Catholic Center is run by the Holy Ghost Father and he is a member of that Order, the Archbishop thought it would be good to come up and just meet the people in the Diaspora, talk with them, animate them as far as possible and give them a sense of hope and encourage them to remain Trinidadian do not become too much people from the north.

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Archbishop Harris

In addition, the Archbishop is here as an emissary for the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception fundraising team. They are presently engaged in a major restoration project of the cathedral costing approximately $70 million (TT) $15 million (Canadian). With this venture on their hands, the team members have asked Archbishop Harris to say a word for them out here. Before flying out to Manitoba Archbishop will say the homily Sunday at the Caribbean Catholic Center on College Street (at Ossington Avenue) in Toronto where members of the Caribbean community frequently participate in church services.

Emphasizing the need to provide ongoing religious counseling, Archbishop noted that many of the country’s best minds have left and have not gone back. He believes part of the problem is ‘a lack of patriotism’. He is of the opinion that nobody can be a patriot unless they love the land on which they stand. Archbishop Harris said many nationals, especially Afro-Trinidadians, have never loved the land. “We have always viewed it as part of our shame. It was there that we were made to work cruelly made to work under the lash, the hot sun, dehumanized to a large extent and so for many people the land has never been something that they have loved because it has been a symbol of all that dehumanized.”

   In responding to the concern of getting T&T nationals who are residing out of the country to provide some help, Archbishop Harris said “people have to come back and people have to show a love for the land from which they came. Come back to Trinidad to work in Trinidad for a while. Spend a month, spend two weeks, come back and do something. Give something to this land from which you cane.” He cited a national of Trinidad and Tobago who is now a doctor residing in the United States of America and is currently engaged in organizing projects that offer opportunities for volunteers – a way of giving back to the country of their birth.

“I think the example of seeing people who love Trinidad and Tobago enough to want to come back and give back to Trinidad without looking for any recompense is something – that example in itself is something that will help Trinidad but we don’t see it,” he explained.

Archbishop Harris is the second national of Trinidad and Tobago to be appointed to the position in the capital city of the twin island nation