This amazing medium has undoubtedly become a part of university life. This holds true — at least for me — particularly at times of distress (ie. exam time). From instructional and informative videos to entertaining videos, Youtube covers a lot of ground on our visual needs. It’s no wonder why many of us don’t watch much TV anymore.

This visually-satisfying medium hasn’t only contributed to our entertainment, but it has also brought success and fame for the individuals who provide us with their videos. These past few months, I’ve had the pleasure of attending gigs in Toronto held by real live “YouTubers” and solo artists David Choi and Kina Grannis. They, as well as many other musicians, started off posting covers (personal interpretations of other artists’ music) and originals of themselves in various creative manners.

Choi and Grannis determination, to date, has won over the musical love of more than a combined half million subscribers. Their work also has gotten them widespread success, including North American tours.

Our neighbours from below aren’t the only ones discovering success through YouTube. Everywhere-in-your-face Justin Bieber started off his incredible tween-crazed musical career with making videos from his home in Stratford, Ontario. So far, he’s been nominated for 13 awards from BET, MuchMusic and many other well-known award givers.

We also can’t forget the viral video, “Canadian, Please”, created by Andrew Gunadie and Julia Bentley. The pair from London, Ontario, issued the video just in time before Canada Day last year, which highlights the stereotypes and reasons why Canadians may be proud of their nationality. Another self-startup band, Fredericton’s The Arka Teks, are getting on the YouTube-musical-career bandwagon, as well. Their catchy hit song “I Know You Know” has gained over 200,000 hits and combines electro-dance with eccentric chords. It’s hard not to groove to their music on a hot summer’s day.

It seems getting a following through YouTube is almost mandatory now if you are trying kick-start your musical career.

What about all the other people who put in much effort in creating amazingly instructional and entertaining videos? What else do they get besides the number of subscribers and fans they get? Well, money is definitely a great incentive. Youtubers with a vast following of subscribers become ‘partners;’ YouTube’s advertisement program, which allows ‘partnered’ accounts receive money for every view they get on videos with an advertisement on the top right of a video/webpage. Some people aren’t partners, though their videos may be eligible for partnership if it generates many views.

And where does this leave viewers? There has been much controversy over copyright, partnership program and censorship, although viewers cannot do much about it. But you wouldn’t find yourself refraining from watching Lady Gaga’s latest video just because she got a few cents from three (or nine) minutes of your life.

In any case, YouTube has provided us the world through makeup tutorials, cooking shows, product reviews, documentaries and more, and the support of viewers gave the world Justin Bieber. I think that’s a pretty good trade-off.

I had been waiting for a bus on a stormy Saturday afternoon under the ineffectual TTC shed for a span of time during which at least three buses should have passed by. When one finally arrived, I was ready to forget this incident but made it a point to mention it to the driver. What happened next, however, was unforgettable.

The driver just nodded his head. The idea of an apology never crossed his mind. With no sign of regret or shame, he happily handed me the transfer slip and showed me the telephone number where I could file my complaint.

“Go complain here,” he said.

Customers are reminded to mind the service gap. Courtesy of Miguel Syyap

Great! He just gave me another incident that I can add to my book called “101 Bad Experiences with the TTC.” My existing list consists of drivers stopping the bus in the middle of the route for a Tim Hortons coffee, a ticket collector yawning his way through the day, a sleeping booth operator, a driver taking a detour to drop his favourite customer to her desired location and the far too many hints of racist behaviour that I see every day, only to be outnumbered by the incidents of the TTC’s inappropriate approaches towards customer service.

But it’s obviously no secret that I’m not the only one having a bad time with them.

In many situations, TTC drivers fail to realise that they are the writers of our fate. They control our ability to reach an interview on time, our ability to make a good first impression and can make or break our day. What they do realize is the fact that many people, including myself, have no other option but tom take the TTC.

And they thrive on our helplessness.

Just the other day, my professor mentioned to the class that a TTC operator who works overtime makes more than he does. It just makes me happy to know that people are finally being rewarded in the rightful way. After all, TTC drivers teach us some truly valuable life lessons; they teach us that life can be hard, cruel, inconsiderate, insensitive and unmerited. This is certainly more valuable than what the professors teach us, isn’t it?

The idea of an apology never crossed his mind. With no signs of regret or shame, he happily handed me the transfer slip and showed me the telephone number where I could file my complaint.

Now, since the TTC has failed to learn anything from its past I would like to put forth my suggestions:

First, ban Tim Hortons from operating any store on bus routes because their irresistible coffee forces TTC drivers to stop for a doubledouble.

Second, invent or hire robots to operate the vehicles. That way we won’t have to experience the disappointment of dealing with emotionless humans with zero consideration for anybody but themselves.

Third, if you have to hire humans,
hire some of the minimumwage-
earning sales staff from Wal-Mart or Sears who treat customers with better respect and dignity. Really, if you can’t do that, at least ask your staff to learn from them.

Fourth, stop paying your employees such ridiculous pay checks. It makes them feel like they own all of us.

Lastly, if you can’t do any of the above, and I’m pretty sure you won’t be able to considering in the incompetent staff and management of the TTC, do something, anything, that won’t make my daily commuting experience so horrible.

When I look back I realize the point of Mrs Lyndell’s punishment must have been to make me feel some sort of remorse for my actions, but instead I felt angry at the idea of apologizing to everyone. To this day, the idea of a public apology is a concept that remains strange to me, especially when it comes to public figures and their infidelities.

The latest public figure to fall victim to the pressures of society is Toronto’s very own Adam Giambrone. You know, the TTC Chair who’s running for mayor. Woops, make that was. Thanks to a 5’5 busty transgression named Kristen Lucas, Giambrone dropped out of the mayoral race about 17 days after he decided to run. Giambrone reportedly had an “inappropriate relationship with the young woman.” Translation: “I banged a hot 19-year-old on the couch in my office. On several occasions.”

He doesn’t owe anyone an apology except the people who are directly affected by his actions.

When the news broke of his affair, more seemed to surface (isn’t that always the case?). He admitted to having not just one affair, but to “multiple.” This clearly came as a shock to many Torontonians, including his live-in girlfriend Sarah McQuarrie. Some were appalled, while others squealed with glee at the new piece of juicy gossip that they could sink their teeth into. I’ll admit I was part of the latter, but only because I take personal joy in having a celebrity or political figure’s dirty laundry aired out for all to see. And not because I feel like they will owe me an apology for the deception.

The public gains nothing from the apology because they ended up rejecting it no matter what he said, with comments like “That was definitely rehearsed” or “His apology wasn’t even sincere.” In cases like these, the public acts like vultures; pick, pick, pick, until there’s nothing left but skin and bone, metaphorically speaking of course.

What makes me pity Giambrone is not the fact that he cheated and got caught, but the fact that he succumbed to making a public apology and he got emotional about it. He doesn’t owe anyone an apology except the people who are directly affected by his actions. That means McQuarrie, his parents (who thought they raised an honest man) and his campaign team (that is now out of work). And those apologies could be made privately face-to-face over a glass of whiskey or a latte. The public shouldn’t expect a public apology from him and should not take his actions to heart; he didn’t cheat behind

Oh, what’s that you say? You were mislead by a political figure? Please. If politics have taught the public anything, it should be that you never trust a politician.

Giambrone isn’t the first political figure to admit to having an affair. There was former Mayor of Toronto Mel Lastman, who back in 2000, admitted to have a 14-year extra marital affair with a woman, with whom he had a separate family with aside from the one with wife. Appalled? You shouldn’t be.

And who could forget the famous line “I did not have sexual relations with that woman,” by Bill Clinton

regarding certain sexual acts in the White House with Monica Lewinsky. Shocking? Hardly.

Everyone makes mistakes and has a right to learn from them, so let Giambrone learn his behind closed doors and let him get on with his day job as TTC chair. Quit asking, or worse, expecting public apologies from these people. It makes you look emotionally fragile Toronto, suck it up and move on.

Left to right: Yuri Navarro, Canadian delegate, The Infamous Yes Men, Taras Koulik, TRSM alum / Canadian delegate

What would be the global climate change consensus? How much would carbon credits cost? What would be the global carbon reduction goal? Who would pay the costs for carbon reduction? All of these questions were to be answered by an internationally binding agreement that would have shaped the way the world would operate for the next 40 years.

Unfortunately, as what usually happens within the UN framework, resolve and action, we’re stifled by empty rhetoric and political musing. No legally binding agreement was met and by the end of January. The countries that did sign onto the Copenhagen Accord could “implement mitigation actions” that would slow down the growth of carbon emissions. The world held its breath and then rolled its eyes at the conclusion of the Conference; a lot of talking without any action.

The irony was the scale at which this type of conference was held. 45,000 thousand delegates registered to attend a conference with facilities designed to hold 20,000 people. 45,000 people flew, drove, took the ferry or the train to Copenhagen. What would be interestingto know is the amount of carbon generated by the conference alone. Did the event need to be such a spectacle? It seemed at points like a pre-choreographed show that was well rehearsed and the delegates were simply extras helping out. It was one massive public relations campaign hosted by the United Nations to add credibility and try to show to the world that Governments do care about the environment.

Canada’s Failure to Act
While this credit may be due for countries like Denmark — a model for renewable energy implementation — it is shameful to look into my own backyard here in Canada and what our government does or rather fails to do. Our government doesn’t commit to any real carbon reduction initiatives, while provinces like Ontario, British Colombia and Quebec are mandating their own independent carbon reduction goals. So the question remains, that if the most populous provinces in Canada are supporting concrete carbon reduction goals, why isn’t our government?

Canada’s failure to act was recognized with the “Fossil of the Year” award at Copenhagen for building on two years of delay, obstruction and total inaction in the commitment to alleviate climate change. The only positive event Canada experienced was when the culture jamming group The Yes Men leaked fake documents from the Minister of Environment Jim Prentice’s offices that committed Canada to ambitious concrete climate change goals.

Our Generation
Still, all is not lost. Awareness is growing, and the ironic scale of the conference did have positive side effects, like the international persistent media coverage. For two and a half weeks the world paid attention to the issues: our oceans are in peril, the planet appears to be warming, ice is melting faster than predicted and the amount of carbon in the air is increasing. These are facts that everyone can agree on. The Boomers are leaving the younger generations with quite a mess, and it will take astute leadership and a commitment to take worldwide action.

Students and youth around the world must realize that today’s headlines are going to be their problems tomorrow. After leaving the shelter of university life you must go into the world and find where you can make a positive difference.

At the conference there was wave after wave of protests, typically involving young and radical people from all over the world. One protester I met had traveled the entire way from London, England in a carbon neutral manner, by bike, to join the protests. When asked why he was protesting, his response was that whatever the agreement is at COP15, it will never be enough.

Taras Koulik, TRSM alum / Canadian delegate, at a Danish Wind Power generation facility tour

The Future & COP16
What happened at Copenhagen can be viewed in many different ways. For me, it was an incredible experience that I will never forget. For a protester it may have meant nights in jail or smoke grenade throwing lessons. For a political leader it was listening to endless debates in the Plenary room between political combatants. For the world, it was a lot of hype and then failure in what could have been the agreement to set an optimistic action oriented tone for the second decade of the twenty first century.

COP16 will be held at the end of 2010 in Mexico. As an eternal optimist, I have hope that over the course of the year, governments worldwide can muster the courage required to make a commitment to their people and finally take action.

American broadcast news pays little attention to what is important for Americans to be informed of. Instead they base their content on what will get an emotional response from their audience. A finger in someone’s chili is a top story that will get a few follow up stories, and a politician’s scandal will become a national crisis that would need to have an update every day. These detractants can be they dangerous to politics because they confuse people about what the important issues are and can affect the outcome of an election.

Fox News is a perfect example of how bad American media can get; they pander to the extreme right for ratings, furthering the impact that extremism has on the American political system. Having Anne Coulter and Bill O’Reilly yelling about how single mothers are the cause of all America’s problems is attractive to them because it creates controversy. It just emphasizes the class divisions in U.S. society.

American media is also vulnerable to a number of influences. According to the Herman-Chomsky propaganda model, American consumers receive their media only after its been through four filters: ownership, advertising, news shapers and what they call “flak”.

Ownership and advertising restrict media content to reflect their personal views or the views of a group they would like to target. The news shapers filter refers to how journalists rely on experts to provide validity to their stories, but the owners of the media will bank-roll experts to express the view of their choice or will simply filter out any statements that do not coincide with the views of the company. Flak is negative feedback that media gets from powerful groups or people for printing a story that reflects badly on them; as a result, media is deterred from writing these kind of stories.

British media may have similar influences, but media accross the road is a very serious matter. Factbased in nature, the British media is determined not to publish or disseminate anything that doesn’t have profound indications or consequences. They are firm believers that the media has a duty to the public to give the important information
without spins or filters. Being the purveyors of night for Britain and all of…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz….

It can get tedious at times while consuming British media and it can be, for lack of a better word, boring. The ontonous speakers and tame use of imagery makes the British newscasts more peaceful than engaging. My uncle listens to the BBC every night … he can’t go to sleep without it. This may be fine for older viewers, but it definitely alienates a younger audience. And without the media to inform them of current issues, the likelihood that they will vote goes down significantly.

Margaret Cho, an American comedian, has some hilarious things to say about the difference between American and British news. Check her out on YouTube.

Canada, on the other hand, has it right. They have found a happy medium between sensationalist and serious news reporting. Canadian media is likely to be susceptible to advertising in the same way as American media, but the other three filters to a lesser extent. Ownership in America is completely different than it is in Canada; American media ownership is by corporations like General Electric, who owns NBC, and other companies who are selling products other than media. While this means the views expressed in the media are less varied, Canadian media orporations do not have ulterior motives when disseminating their content.

Some people think that government ownership of the CBC may mean that it would become a lapdog to the government but I believe the opposite. Right now we have a Conservative government in office but that has not changed the CBC from proliferating leftleaning media. The CBC at least doesn’t have to feel pressured by advertisers.

Check out quality Canadian interviewers like Cabby for The Score, Nardwuar, Jessie Cruickshank for MTV or your old boyfriend George Strombolopolous for the CBC, who are all very entertaining TV personalities. If it’s more serious media coverage you’re looking for, then any news media outlet will suffice.

By next school year, the doors will open to the new varsity centre alongside a Loblaws.

Ryerson will boast an athletic centre that will put the one at the corner of Spadina and Harbord to shame.

This was not the first attempt Ryerson made to turn the Maple Leaf Gardens into an athletic centre. And it truly has been a rollercoaster ride.

Ryerson made headlines back in April of 2000 with the possibility of purchasing Maple Leaf Gardens and turning it into a home for the Rams hockey and basketball teams, a potential business school and residences.

It’s hard to fathom the business school located within the Maple Leaf Gardens, but at the time it was the only suitable option over the rapidly antiquing Victoria Building.

Sheldon Levy’s Master Plan envisioned a better Ryerson ensuring that the facilities evolve with its growing status as a prominent university.

With the relocation of the athletic facilities and sports teams to the Maple Leaf Gardens being a tremendous burden lifted, and the promise that the facilities will be welcoming to each stakeholder at Ryerson University, the opportunities that exist are any project planners dream.

The following are a few unofficial suggestions that reiterate both our school’s potential through this acquisition and conceivably how to solve some current issues.

Ryerson has a lack of study space, meeting space and places to relax

Even with the impending construction of the Student Learning Centre (SLC), many students feel an even more important issue needs to be addressed promptly: study space.

The growing demand for space becomes frustrating when, especially during exam periods, it can take up to half an hour to find an appropriate place to study at school, and more importantly, a quiet one.

The Maple Leaf Gardens redevelopment will be complete before the SLC, but waiting another year for additional study and collaborative space is a lifetime away for current students.

The redevelopment of Kerr Hall has been indefinitely postponed so any solutions would be makeshift until additional funding surfaces.

With most of the school’s resources tied up with the Maple Leaf Gardens, a feasible plan could be to cost efficiently convert the old RAC into study, meeting and lounge spaces, instead of keeping it as additional athletic space.

Many faculties are still scattered throughout the university or could use a change of scenery

While plans have not been set in stone for the exact usage of the Maple Leaf Gardens, with a little shuffling around, many faculties could find new life making do with whatever limited resources are left.

The nutrition program currently maintains a small area in Kerr Hall South and students don’t have an adequate area to collaborate.

With the relevance of nutrition and health, relocating into the Maple Leaf Gardens could provide an outlet for the nutrition program to collaborate with athletes, Loblaw and the community.

While the dance students have the Theatre School to call their own on Gerrard, they too could significantly benefit from a new upgraded home. Studios are in the works for Maple Leaf Gardens and the environment could suit their intense programs.

The fashion program could then perhaps move into the RTS giving it a more prominent address than the basement of Kerr Hall.

The opportunities to introduce new programs in the future

With a state of the art varsity centre, Ryerson could legitimately decide to start related programs: physiotherapy, sports therapy, homeopathy, etc.

It must also be stated that Ryerson is not by any means on shaky financial ground. Being fiscally responsible is something that President Levy has made us the envy of many other universities.

The spacing issue will not be solved overnight, but ultimately while the addition of the Maple Leaf Gardens won’t mean a Stanley Cup in the future for the Rams, it will undoubtedly rejuvenate school spirit and make it a reality that the best is yet to come.

This indifferent mentality must change.

There is no doubt that our country has prospered from its abundant supply of natural resources. But persistent complacency in the face of a shrinking manufacturing sector will inevitably serve to cripple Canada’s economy.

The country was never immune to the economic crisis. With almost 80 per cent of exports flowing south of the border, the meltdown in the U.S. housing market, coupled with a high Canadian currency, meant manufacturers were lucky if they survived.

Indeed, the global recession was, as Dr. Sherry Cooper, chief economist at BMO Capital Market, puts it, “unprecedented, synchronized and precipitous.” But it also exposed so many faults in the Canadian economy, some of which have been addressed but demand immediate action.

First and foremost, the recession in the United States – and later in Canada – merely revealed that Canadians were too dependent on North American trade. Both countries now realize that they must diversify their international trade basket.

Secondly, the Canadian manufacturing sector was already struggling to cope with a soaring Canadian dollar and competition from abroad. The recession simply shed light on a problem that’s been going on for far too long. Only now have politicians begun expressing concern over a high loonie.

And finally, the global recession has highlighted the need for more investment in education, research and development as well as a strong, flexible workforce.

Yes, the country boasts one of the strongest financial systems in the world, but on a broader scale, Canada lags behind many developed countries – including those in Europe and Asia – in innovation, the lifeblood of economic progress.

By depending too much on the same industries – financial services, natural resources and the public sector – rather than investing in value-added industries, Canada will never reap the benefits of a highly-competitive economy.

When it comes to Canadian contributions to the world economy, Research In Motion (RIM) is all we have.

With an unemployment rate at 8.6 per cent and job creation seen mostly in the public sector, Canada’s economic future remains wary. This isn’t to suggest that the economy will suffer or end up in a black hole. But by staying complacent, the economy (including Canada’s workforce) will never reach its full potential.

I won’t be surprised when students start heading abroad for work.

Stimulus packages may provide a shot in the arm, but serve little purpose in the long-run.

As economic power shifts to Asia, Scandinavian and Western European countries have invested in the high-education sectors – pharmaceuticals, healthcare, software, consulting and biotechnology – in order to stay competitive.

Canada needs to start looking beyond its borders and learn from the best. Only then should we really pat ourselves on the back.

To complement these developments we are excited to announce the launch of our full-service website www.thecommercetimes.com! On our website you can browse through the best of the Commerce Times’ past and current issues, find out about exciting upcoming events, take part in polls, and leave us your feedback.

Keep an eye out for our November issue because it brings the celebration of our first anniversary! Through trials and tribulations we have not only survived, but we have succeeded in attaining campus-wide readership and support! Thank you to the Ted Rogers School of Management and the Ryerson Commerce Society for their continued support.

The Commerce Times would also like to recognize and thank you, our readers. Without you, we would not be here. We encourage you to come out to our pub nights, the first of which will be held on Wednesday, October 7 at 9:00 p.m. at Ram in the Rye, raise a pint and get to know us. We look forward to hosting a number of events this year including coffee houses on our distribution days and BUS 100 workshops. One of our goals this year is to build our presence on campus, so remember to watch for us. We will be everywhere!

If you ever have any questions or comments please don’t hesitate to contact us at commercetimes@gmail.com.

Providing high integrity news and views that connect our students to the world beyond campus,

Amanda Parker, editor in chief, and Alyssa Friesen, managing editor

Fall admissions and enrolment are up, so the good news is more students than ever are part of the Ryerson community. The bad news, only those with cash in their wallets can stay. In theory financial aid services are in place to help students focus on their classes instead of trying to balance jobs, living expenses and added stress in their lives. However, many students who applied have found that the financial aid they qualify for is limited, while others have been turned down.

“I had no choice but to work. And when I did they used it against me! OSAP reduced my funds on the basis that now I had an income,” says Roman Kunin, a third-year finance student. “I don’t even deal with them now; it’s not worth it.”

Kunin’s issues with OSAP began in his first year when he applied for funding while living in close proximity to his mom. He applied for funding as an independent student, as his mom did not have the means to financially support him. But OSAP turned him down. Their basis: he lived too close to home.

“I was independent, but they didn’t recognize me as independent because I lived within 40 km of my mom. They treated me as if I lived with my mom, so I received less funding and had to work,” he says.

Another third-year student, majoring in entrepreneurship, has also been battling with OSAP since first year. The student, who wishes to remain anonymous, was left unsure how to pay the rest of the $5000 owing in tuition fees after OSAP gave them only $750. Two jobs and taking out a loan was their only option.

“I had virtually no financial help in first and second year short of my own,” the student says.

In order to pay their tuition, the student was faced with balancing 35 hours of work a week on top of a six-course load.

“Every second I wasn’t at Ryerson, I was working. My GPA suffered, but what could I do,” the student shrugs.

When the student brought their case to the Student Financial Assistance Center, they explained that they were not receiving enough OSAP funding and were struggling to keep up with work and school. The student was told, too bad, nothing could be done for them; OSAP determines how much money is allotted.

“The purpose is to supplement, not to replace, the financial resources that a student and their family, if applicable, are expected to contribute. It is not the purpose of student financial assistance to supply all the assistance a student may need to meet educational and living costs,” says Carole Scrase, Manager of Student Financial Assistance.

Ouch. For students with cases like Kunin, whose “contribution” is a 40 hour work week, those words equate to a death sentence.

It’s survival of the fittest and the grace of winning scholarships and bursaries that keeps many students alive. The good news is that this fall there are unique opportunities that students losing the battle against OSAP should seize. In August, President Levy announced an allocated $2 million, including $800,000 for student bursaries, to guarantee all endowed bursaries, scholarships, awards, and academic chairs.

“No qualified student should be denied access to a Ryerson education because of economic need,” said Levy.

Although Ryerson has increased the amount of scholarship opportunities, there are a few holes where students are slipping through the system. First, the only way to access this valuable information is online; the Student Financial Aid office directs students to a link to answer questions. Secondly, scholarships aren’t available to everyone, and they still don’t amount to the coverage that OSAP provides. And finally, in order to qualify for a Ryerson bursary, you must not have already qualified for OSAP.

President Levy has great plans for Ryerson, however some students are finding themselves all on their own in the middle of financial no-man’s land. So much for an oasis of aid; it doesn’t exist.

With society glued to computers and cell phones, the explosion of celebrity tabloids and dwindling attention spans, print newspapers soon might be the media’s newest doo-doo bird.

Scrolling through short, flashy articles has replaced thumbing through information-rich stories. Subscriptions and newsstands are vanishing as news goes online and is offered for free.

Many print newspapers are starting to make a revolutionary shift to become entirely digital products. Earlier this month, the 146 year-old Seattle Post-Intelligencer rolled off the press for the last time. The 117,600 weekly readers get their updates exclusively on seatllepi.com.

Today’s print newspapers face the grim specter of closing due to decreased readership in the digital revolution and scant advertising dollars available in the current economic recession.

In the midst of this old-media massacre, The Commerce Times has faced many challenges since its first printed issue in November 2008:

As the baby-of-the-bunch amongst Ryerson University’s various student newspapers, our team has learned that exposure doesn’t happen overnight. Without money for stands, our members hand delivered 5000 copies of the Commerce Times every month into the hands of students.

We are not affiliated with the Ryerson School of Journalism and have had a challenging time adding to our team of contributors in the shadow of our fellow newspapers. We have succeeded in despite of these challenges and can only attribute these strides to what we feel is a fantastic team.

Our team currently consists of 15 people, a large jump from two editors, three journalists and one designer. Our team and paper continue to grow steadily. We are launching our first website today www.thecommercetimes.com. Our first event this March 10th was a huge success and we will be hosting a similar event again in the fall. We hope that you have enjoyed the Commerce Times this year. We will be back in the fall.