The Globe & Mail could use a fact checker, too!

Howdy!

James Adams writes a piece of fluff so missing in content and ideas that I'm surprised it wasn't published on a cotton ball. In a nutshell he writes as his lede (or lead, or first line, I'm not a journalist so I have no freakin' clue what the difference is): "Cape Dorset, an island hamlet of about 1,100 people off the southwestern shore of Baffin Island, is 'Canada's most artistic municipality,' according to a statistical study released yesterday in Toronto."

Umm, if he had bothered to read anything, he would have remembered how the very same person (Kelly Hill of Hill Strategies) touted the Plateau as Canada's most creative neighborhood! In that press release Mr. (or is it Ms.?) Hill wrote "Nunavut’s X0A region is the most creative rural area in Canada. This area, encompassing Baffin Island (Iqaluit, Cape Dorset, etc.), has 230 artists among 6,700 total workers, for an artistic concentration of 3.4%. This is over four times the national average of 0.8%"

Notice how significantly that sentence is different from this one penned by Mr. (or is it Ms.?) Hill yesterday "Cape Dorset, Nunavut, with almost one in four labour force workers in the arts, is the most artistic municipality in Canada. The artistic concentration in Cape Dorset (23%) is: ... almost triple the concentration of artists in 'Canada’s most creative neighbourhood' – the H2W postal area on Montreal’s Plateau (8.0%); and almost 30 times the national average of 0.8%."

I don't know who pays for the things that Mr. (or is it Ms.?) Hill writes, but I can save you some money; in June Mr. (or is it Ms.?) Hill will write that according to data published in the 2001 census Montreal is the most creative large urban centre in Canada, or it might be that PEI is the most creative province, or it might be that Canada ranks 14th in a list of most creative countries. Whatever it is could you please refrain from throwing your money willy-nilly at Mr. (or is it Ms.?) Hill, and instead go buy yourself some tickets to see a dance company, or a painting, or a couple of books, or heck just go see a freakin' movie instead. The artists in Canada are woefully underpaid, desk jockeys like Mr. (or is it Ms.?) Hill making money at the expense, and in place of artists should be forced to live in Nunavut without any income, training, or prospects and we can then watch to see how creative they get.