Convicted soy king
may walk

The topsy-turvy case of a Montreal soy-powder tycoon and his feud with George W. Bush has undergone yet another unexpected twist. VitaPro CEO Yank Barry entered into a battle with the state of Texas after it cancelled a major contract he had with its correctional system to supply food for prisoners. Barry then organized a lawsuit to recoup the lost contract, only to have then-governor George Bush Jr. slam him with criminal charges for allegedly obtaining the contract through bribery. A jury found Barry guilty in August 2001, but it looks like he’ll be acquitted because the 950-page transcript resulted in 393 misreportings, 334 omissions and dozens of other inaccuracies he says weigh against him.

“I was convicted almost 15 months ago and I haven’t been sentenced,” says Barry from his home in Nassau, Bahamas. “There can’t be a sentencing because we can’t go to appeal, so it’s a mistrial or an acquittal.”

Barry also complains that the main prosecution witness, a convicted fraud artist named Pat Graham, testified wearing an orange prison jumpsuit and chains even though Graham hasn’t spent any time in prison. “They’ve swept everything under the carpet and now there’s a big lump there,” says Barry. Barry hopes to recoup millions he has spent on lawyers and plans to pursue the lost earnings from the cancelled prison contract if the charges get thrown out. Barry says he is mulling over an invitation to appear on Oprah alongside friend Muhammad Ali, and also plans to sell the Montreal-based VitaPro to a “big multi-national” within one year. : » Kristian Gravenor

Kyoto Q&A

The feds will ratify it, the big provinces hate it, but who really knows what the Kyoto Protocol is or how it will affect our daily lives? Those are some of the questions to be addressed at a series of workshops organized by the Urban Ecology Centre every week beginning last Tuesday, Nov. 5, and running each subsequent Tuesday evening until Nov. 26. Entitled “Understanding Kyoto,” the workshop series is designed to educate the public as to what Kyoto really means.

“What we want to achieve is getting the information to people,” says the Centre’s coordinator Lucia Kowaluk. “We have to understand that Kyoto is really just a very small step. It only signifies the beginning of a turnaround, the beginning of a commitment to repair our environment.”

Next Tuesday’s speaker will be Steven Guilbeault, director of Greenpeace Quebec and a climate change campaigner. His presentation, “Kyoto: the big picture, what are the requirements,” will look at what concrete measures are being undertaken to implement the accord, and what they will cost.

“Implementing Kyoto only involves pretty marginal costs,” Guilbeault says. “The 450,000 lost jobs that the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and Alberta are waving around are not actual jobs that exist now, they’re jobs that would be created after 10 years of growth if no country in the world ratified Kyoto.”

Each weekly workshop costs $5 to attend and takes place at the Urban Ecology Centre (3516 Parc). Call 282-8378 for info and registration. : » Patrick Lejtenyi

Seeing through Dumont

News flash: Mario Dumont is not cool. At least, not according to the coalition of Youth Against Dumont and Neo-Liberalism, a recently formed student alliance dedicated to educating the public about the evils of the “Action Démogogique” and their neo-con agenda.

“Dumont presents himself as a youth candidate, but L’Action Démocratique isn’t a party for youth, it’s a party for the rich,” says David Bernans, head spokesperson for YADNL. “It’s unfortunate, but I don’t think most youth are aware of what Dumont’s actual platform is. It’s our job to educate them. I think when young people start to realize what Dumont is proposing, then they’ll take a huge step back and go, ‘Whoa, wait a minute!’”

Insisting YADNL is non-partisan nor secretly funded by the provincial Liberals, Bernans says he is inspired by the way the youth of France rallied to help bring down Jean-Marie Le Pen in last spring’s run-off election against Jacques Chirac. “Dumont may not be a fascist like Le Pen,” says Bernans, “but he’s definitely to the right of guys like Mike Harris and Ralph Klein. It’s essential we don’t make a huge mistake and elect this man as the next premier of Quebec.”

The first meeting of Youth Against Dumont and Neo-Liberalism will be going down Wednesday, November 13, at 6 p.m., in the basement of Dumont’s old stomping grounds, Concordia’s School of Community and Public Affairs, at 2149 Mackay. Anti-Dumont-ites of all shapes and colours are encouraged to attend. : » Chris Barry

Angel >> Saving historic buildings from condo-fication Two mansions on Mount Royal’s western flank, built in the first decade of the last century, have been spared the ignominy of demolition in order to make way for more condo development. For now, at least. The Trafalgar-Gleneagles block, on Côte-des-Neiges south of the Boulevard, was officially classified historic this week, to the delight of conservationists, including Les amis de la montagne, and to the frustration of developers. The future of the building is now in the hands of the provincial Ministry of Culture, which has veto power over any future development. The two mansions remain boarded up.
Insect >> Montreal leading the child poverty pack This city still has the highest proportion of children living below the poverty line, reports the Canadian Council on Social Development. The estimated 24.9 per cent of the city’s children living in poverty is down from 1998’s reported 34.4 per cent, but remains well above the national average of 16.9 per cent. Critics say cutbacks on housing, education and health care have made the problem worse. The other top five cities for children living in poverty are Winnipeg (22.5 per cent), Edmonton (21.7 per cent), Toronto (18.3 per cent) and Vancouver (18.3 per cent ).