Bikers overtake lot

Popularity of scooter course on the rise

Humber’s motorcycle training centre is expecting to see an increase in the number of students enrolled in its scooter courses this season, said program manager Andy Hertel.

“It’s become really popular,” he said. “In two years we went from zero students to about 250 and I’m expecting that’s going to grow again this year.”

Program co-ordinator John Reed said people sign up for scooter training because they want to learn and do it safely.

According to its website, the motorcycle training centre is the largest of its kind in the world. It has 120 full and part-time instructors and trains about 3,000 students a year in courses ranging from basic to a pro-rider course.

The centre’s bread and butter is the basic rider course, which Hertel said gets about 2,000 students a year.

Students who complete the course learn the basics of riding, get a break on insurance and receive documents for their M2 license.

“Most people want to become safe out there,” said Marshall Richmond, an instructor at the centre. “I think that’s probably their prime goal – become a good rider and then secondary and tertiary goals are to get a licence out of it and a big insurance discount out of it.”

Hertel said rider training is key for all levels of riding.

“No matter what you end up doing with your riding knowledge and abilities, at some point you have to learn to ride properly, he said. “And if you go on to become a world-class GP racer or if you go on to become a moto-cross rider, or if you go on to just casually ride on the weekends with your friends, it all starts in the same place with rider training.”

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Jumping wages land in youths’ corner

Seasonal placements will now offer students more of an incentive

Hundreds of summer jobs will be impacted by the increase in Ontario’s minimum wage, said Karen Fast, manager of the Career Centre.

The jobs affected are provided through government run programs such as Summer Experience and the Federal Student Work Experience Program. They provide students with work experience in a government ministry related to their field of study.

“Those jobs are amazing because a lot of them are programs related to the students and they only pay minimum wage,” Karen Fast said. “Those government positions will definitely be affected, and would offer at least a reasonable amount of money to the students.”

The minimum wage in Ontario will be raised to $8.75 per hour from $8 per hour on March 31.

Fast said the biggest impact will be felt by students who work minimum wage jobs in retail.

“A lot of our students have part-time jobs in the retail industry,” she said. “That’s where I see this really benefiting those students because they’re going to see those increases because the employers have to pay them.”

The increase on minimum wage will not have a major impact on Humber faculty and staff because those wages are negotiated and not indexed to minimum wage, said Joanne Maguire, manager of compensation and benefits at Humber College.

Work-study students that get jobs at Humber are already paid over the minimum wage, she said.

“It impacts us in that we stay above it,” Maguire said, “But we don’t have to go and do a whole pile of increases on March 31 because even with the increase, nobody’s under the minimum wage.”

Amy Terrill, a spokesperson for the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, said businesses are nervous about the consequences on labour cost.

“It may force some companies to reduce numbers,” she said.

The minimum wage will jump to $9.50 per hour in 2009 and to $10.25 per hour in 2010.

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Torontonians can track carbon footprint

Toronto Mayor David Miller said the city will reach out to institutions such as Humber to participate in its new initiative to reduce the city’s carbon footprint.

Zerofootprint Toronto is an Internet portal launched locally last week to allow residents, businesses, neighbourhoods and community groups to measure, track and reduce their contributions to greenhouse gas emissions.

“The calculator is designed in a way that institutions can use it as well,” Miller told students and faculty during an appearance at North Campus last week. “It’s intended to build partnerships so the outreach is happening. I’m sure Humber will become a partner in the near future.”

The portal (toronto.zerofootprint.net) is a collaboration between the city and Zerofootprint, a Toronto-based, non-profit organization that provides services to consumers and businesses who wish to reduce their carbon footprint.

The online calculator asks questions about individuals’ travel, food consumption, and household energy use to measure their greenhouse gas emissions. The average Torontonian’s footprint is 8.6 tonnes.

“This tool, because it’s web-based, will allow people to come together in groups of common interest, which could be as simple as carpooling, or it could be – we have two or three groups in Toronto – local neighbourhoods where people got together to buy solar panels,” said Miller.

While Humber has yet to commit to using Zerofootprint as a tool to measure and reduce its carbon emissions, Humber president John Davies said the school has invested in reducing its energy usage.

“The power plant is mostly new over the past four years,” he said. “We’ve spent $6 million or $7 million into changing boilers and chillers.”

He added that the school has also installed light sensors in classrooms to reduce electricity consumption.

So far more than 50 organizations in Toronto have committed to using Zerofootprint, including York University and the Ontario College of Art and Design.

Ron Dembo, founder and CEO of Zerofootprint, said in a press release carbon emissions are at the core of the climate change problem.

“This site gives Torontonians a real, tangible method to tackle climate change,” he said. “We provide not only a free measurement tool - but more importantly, a course of action that they can take to reduce their own carbon footprint.”

Robert Hellier, program coordinator of the new sustainable energy and building design program, said carbon calculators are a useful tool.

“It does allow for awareness for people that have not though about it,” he said. “It makes a connection between someone’s lifestyle and the capacity of the planet to sustain life.”

Miller said the website will further the city’s goal of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent by 2050 over 1990 levels.

“It collects data. It allows us to look at the data and make changes in big picture policies,” he said. “That’s where getting institutions like Humber on board will help.”

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