February provided no break in the winter weather.

After nearly 50 centimetres of snow fell on eastern Newfoundland in late January, February delivered extreme cold to the island and blizzard conditions to Labrador. High winds across the entire province caused whiteouts on roadways and led to record-high demand on NL Hydro, with the system supplying 1730 MW of power.

The Polar Vortex did not dampen all spirits however, with people performing “cold tests“, watching water instantly turn into frozen mist in Grand Falls-Windsor, and a bowl of ramen noodles freezing in place, chopsticks and all.

Eastern Newfoundland would be battered with snow again later in the month, with another Valentine’s Day storm adding another 40 cm on top of the deep snow already on the ground.

Throughout February, emergency shelters and warming centres routinely reached max capacity, as the most vulnerable attempted to find a safe place from the elements.

Other bouts of freezing rain and smaller snow storms would continue to pound the Avalon and south coast throughout the month.

Teaching Tensions

It was not just the cold weather that was bitter in February, as the faculty strike at Memorial University heated up. The strike continued in early February, delaying classes and facilitating a back-and-forth between the school and picketers.

On February 2, MUN announced they would resume nursing clinicals using non-unionized staff, with the school citing the risk of a delay in getting nurses into the province’s health care system. MUNFA deemed the move a “major escalation” of the labour dispute and prompted numerous rallies in solidarity with the association.

As the strike entered its second week, several signs and a building were defaced, with messages like “Do you love us Vivianne” and “Fraud” written in red paint. Shortly after, the faculty association and the administration returned to the bargaining table.

On February 10, a tentative deal was reached and five days later, students and faculty returned to the classroom.

The deal was ratified February 25.

All Aboard

The MUNFA strike was not the only trouble seen by the province’s education institutions.

On February 11, The Newfoundland and Labrador English School district suspended bus services, affecting 20 schools in the metro region, citing “fleet and operational concerns”. The district pledged to have all routes back on the road by February 20 while suspending their contract with Gladney’s Bus Service.

Progress was made over the next days, with more and more bus routes restored. A day before the deadline, 37 routes were still unserviced, but government was able to find a solution by February 20.

That would not be the end of the story however, as Gladney’s would launch a lawsuit against the district over the suspension.

It was later confirmed that Kurt Churchill, accused of murdering Jamie Coady in 2020, had been working with the company since Fall of 2022. When asked by VOCM, the school district would only say that there were a number of issues, events and discussions throughout the school year that led to the decision, adding it came down to the overall operation of the company.

Taking His Bow

In February, Newfoundland and Labrador said goodbye to one of its most iconic sons.

Gordon Pinsent passed away peacefully in his sleep at the age of 92 on February 25.

Pinsent was a household name across the country and beyond for his work as an actor and writer, garnering over 150 TV and movie credits in a career spanning more than six decades.

The Grand-Falls Windsor native rose to prominence for his roles in many Canadian shows and films including “The Rowdyman” (written by Pinsent) and “The Forest Rangers”, and would go on to star in “The Red Green Show”, “Due South”, “The Grand Seduction”, and as King Babar in the popular children’s television program, among many other critically and publicly acclaimed projects.

He was named as an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1979, and promoted to Companion in 1998, and was honoured with a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame in 2007.

Tributes from across the local, national and international media landscape poured in, with all expressing a fondness for The Rowdyman.

Unsinkable

It was early in the month when the VOCM studios were visited by a man who would make headlines around the world later in the year.

Stockton Rush, Founder and CEO of OceanGate Inc., would join VOCM’s Linda Swain for an episode of On Target, touting the state-of-the-art submersible, the Titan.

Rush shared images captured of the Titanic from a trip down to the wreck in the summer of 2022 and discussed plans to take another trip in June. A trip, as we now know, would claim his life and the lives of four others.