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Last updated at 9:00 AM on 01/08/09

Worth watching
The Telegram


At his trial for heresy, the Greek philosopher Socrates said, "The unexamined life is not worth living."

He obviously didn't work in this province's House of Assembly, where the unexamined accounts were certainly worth something - at least in terms of financial gain.

As the trial of former MHA Jim Walsh goes on, the testimony simply boggles the mind. One individual bureaucrat - Bill Murray - filling out expense claims for an MHA, signing off on them, and then sending the claims up the line to get cheques issued.

The comptroller-general's office, which issued the cheques, unable to question any of them, no matter how peculiar.

Budgets kept on one single computer, then grossly overrun, rewritten and in no way accurate.

No oversight whatsoever, except for a secretive group of politicians who had ordered a senior House of Assembly official to carefully sanitize the public minutes of their deliberations, so no one could see what they were doing with either the cash or the rules.

A public official who said he would have handed over the secret minutes to reporters - if they had only guessed that there were secret minutes being kept, and asked for them.

Envelopes with cash - "tokens of appreciation" - being handed over to the bureaucrat who controlled the political piggybank.

Politicians who were paid mileage for trips they didn't take, and reimbursed for restaurant meals when the evidence shows they were actually somewhere else entirely. Who rented houses as offices in towns where they already had government-supplied offices.

Heck, half of them not only don't appear to be in any way penitent, but profess to feel abused that we let them build a system to cheat the public purse.

"It's not our fault! It's the fault of the lack of rules!"

Talk about blaming the victim - it's the logical equivalent of breaking in stealing someone's car stereo, and saying it's their fault for leaving their windows cracked open on a sunny day.

Fact is, they must have thought they were running a province of total rubes.

And it's that contempt that's the bitterest pill of all.

Premier Danny Williams may well have lived up to an election promise and brought the auditor general in to look at the books, but until then, not one single "honourable member" involved at the centre of the slimefest thought of taking a principled stand on the issue.

Socrates was wrong, at least in the short term.

For our provincial politicians and their constituency expenses gong show, the unexamined life was a lucrative one indeed. The only surprise in it all, really, was that, with the barn door fully open, the truffle pigs didn't help themselves to even more.

What can we learn from it all, as we learn more and more about the dishonest behaviour? Perhaps that, when we're told to just trust people in power to do the right thing, the examination should begin in earnest.

And what did Socrates learn about calling for a full examination of life?

He was executed.

OLIVER MOORE

HALIFAX — From Thursday's Globe and Mail
Last updated on Thursday, Sep. 03, 2009 03:07AM EDT


The Coast Guard will get nine new ships that allow it to stay on patrol longer under a $194-million contract announced yesterday.

The vessels, the first new patrol ships the Coast Guard has received since 1991, will be built at the Irving yard in Halifax. Delivery of the first is scheduled for 2011, with the remainder coming over the two years after that.

"We're upping our game, we're giving the Coast Guard ... greater capability," said Regional Minister Peter MacKay.

"This equipment is important to enable them to do the important job we ask of them."

Five of the ships are earmarked for Department of Fisheries and Oceans conservation and protection programs in the Maritimes, Quebec and Pacific regions. The remaining vessels will be used for security in the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway system, a joint operation with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

"It gives us a capacity for a vessel to go out for two weeks without coming back to shore," said Nancy Hurlburt, Coast Guard assistant commissioner for the Maritimes region.

"They're going to actually be able to go for a longer period of time, with dedicated vessels that are working on their programs, and have more of a presence on the water."

Each of the 43-metre ships will support a crew of eight, along with up to six Mounties or DFO officials. They are to have a top speed of about 46 kilometres per hour, with a range of 2,000 nautical miles, approximately 3,700 kilometres.

Assistant commissioner Hurlburt said eight of the ships will replace existing vessels, meaning the fleet will grow by one ship. They also plan to recondition three older ships, but have not decided which ones.

Fisheries Minister Gail Shea called the coming ships "a new model" for the Canadian Coast Guard. "With greater speed, broader range and the ability to operate in difficult environmental conditions, these ships will be more effective and efficient," she said.

She added that "planning" would begin in the new year on a number of major ships, including a long-promised Arctic patrol vessel.

Plans for increased Coast Guard capability were included in previous federal budgets, but yesterday's announcement laid out for the first time the number of ships, their design, the cost and the shipyard that will build them.

The announcement was made at the Irving Shipbuilding yard in Halifax. Workers in orange hardhats formed a backdrop as speakers addressed VIPs sheltered from the brilliant sun under a large tent.

Jim Irving, president of the firm, said that the contract would mean new hiring at the yard within the next year.

"Bring 'em back from Alberta, we're open for business," he said exuberantly.

Karl Risser, president of CAW local 1, was equally upbeat. He noted that, as with many of his colleagues, he was descended from people who had worked at the yard.

"There is a future for the next generation of shipbuilders," he said.

Tuesday, September 08, 2009
Dr. Alexandra Morton Calls for Canadian Fisheries Minister's Resignation
Dr. Alexandra Morton is a reputable British Columbian scientist working to conserve and protect wild salmon species on the Pacific Coast from the threats from fish farming. This is her letter to Canadian Fisheries Minister Gail Shea demanding her resignation as Minister for neglect of her duties and irresponsibility in protecting wild salmon from destructive aquaculture practices…



Dear Minister Shea:

On August 26 you sent duplicate letters to many people dismissing the impact of salmon farms on British Columbia. I can only imagine the response to collapse of the world's largest sockeye salmon river, the Fraser River, has come directly from Ottawa. Your letter provides stark insight into the Federal Conservative government's course of action.

With an entire ministry at your disposal you told the public:

"The coast wide scope of the decline that has occurred across all Pacific salmon species suggests that this decline is associated with much larger ecological events than localized salmon farming."

This is entirely inaccurate as there has NOT been a coast-wide collapse across all Pacific salmon species, quite to the contrary. The people of British Columbia are looking at a bull's-eye collapse pattern with good returns all around the dead center - which is our extremely valuable Fraser River sockeye.

Really interesting - even within the Fraser River, the Harrison sockeye, which scientists report migrate to sea via fish farm-free Strait of Juan de Fuca, are returning at twice the DFO forecast.

The missing Fraser River sockeye salmon were observed as smolts by DFO as they migrated in the river. They were abundant and large. They entered the sea in late spring 2007, turned north into a heavily industrialized salmon farming area, where I examined some of them as they were being infested with sea lice and then they disappeared. These are the only sockeye that collapsed to less than 10% of forecast.

While you are telling the public all salmon species collapsed coast-wide, your highest-ranking BC official is publishing letters in newspapers also telling us that fish farms are not responsible for the collapse because the lice species I and others counted on the young sockeye in 2007 are not found on farm fish. First of all, there were two species of lice on the sockeye smolts, the large salmon louse and the smaller Caligus. Second, the fish farm company on the Fraser sockeye migration route, Marine Harvest, frequently reports Caligus in their website data. Specifically they report 16.5 Caligus per fish for a total of 8 million breeding on the Cyrus Rocks farm early this July as our newest sockeye generation was passing that farm. Because Caligus frequently jump fish to fish this species is also a strong potential disease vector.

As he exonerates fish farms, he goes on to say he will work with First Nations and other fishermen to conserve sockeye. Minster Shea, you closed this fishery at the beginning of the season there has been extremely little fishing on this stock of sockeye. Your Ministry has absolutely no valid scientific or legal reason to omit fish farmers from the investigation and ensuing action to protect the Fraser sockeye.

You also wrote that DFO has "taken significant action" by "monitoring" farm lice and doing "ocean circulation studies." These are studies, not "significant action." Your letter tells people you can't protect our salmon with closed-containment farms until this is "practical and realistic" for the fish farmers with head offices in Oslo, Norway. Minister Shea, you work for the people of Canada. Your primary mandate is protection of our wild salmon and whatever else is going on in your office no one has rescinded this mandate yet.

History is clearly repeating itself. In 1997, DFO scientists reported that the collapse of Canada's North Atlantic cod stocks, one of earth's greatest human food supplies, was because DFO ignored the science, misinformed the public, offered plausible but inaccurate theories, reprimanded scientists who spoke freely and took no action (1). No one in DFO was held accountable when Canadians lost this vast resource. Here in 2009, I would argue you and your department are ignoring the science, misinforming the public, offering plausible but unconfirmed theories and taking no action on a highly documented and obvious factor that reoccurs worldwide wherever there are salmon farms (2). You must be held accountable or it is clear from experience where this is heading.

The Fraser sockeye contribute far more to the economy and employment than salmon farms and they transport ocean nutrients into much of this Province feeding the trees that produce oxygen, remove carbon and help stabilize our climate. An enormous number of British Columbians live in the Fraser watershed and are breathing oxygen produced by salmon fed trees. These are planetary systems we literally cannot live without. First Nation women have written me in anger and anxiety at losing an essential part of their diet.

The very concept of farming salmon in net pens is unconstitutional in Canada because it attempts to privatize ocean spaces and own schools of salmon in the ocean. The industry appears in violation of many sections of the Fisheries Act. It breaks the natural laws of wild salmon, which never remain stationary. Your record of fish farm defense includes a recent assertion that the industry's by-catch of wild fish is not a "significant problem." And you refuse to acknowledge the science and act on the information that the fish farm viral ISA pandemic is spreading in imported salmon eggs (3).

article continued in next post

Reading the outpouring of articles, letters to editors, emails to me and the 17,000 signatures thus far on my letter to you asking simply that you enforce the Fisheries Act on salmon farms I don't think western Canada is ready to loose their fish like eastern Canada. The actions required are simple:

Within your investigation on the fate of our sockeye, require full disclosure of the health and stocking of every salmon farm in BC from 1986 - present and run analysis against health records in enhancement facilities near and distant from salmon farms, including the 2007 salmon farms from Campbell River to Port Hardy.
Close the fish farm fishery on the Fraser migration route just as you have closed commercial and sport fishing.
Apply the Canadian Fisheries Act to fish farms and start laying charges for violations.
Support the Canadian fish farmers who want to reinvent their industry on land, with an eye to siting these facilities in job-starved towns
Ensure that marketing of both farmed and wild salmon is maximized to benefit us all, instead of driving down the price of both
Remove your science branch from the political DFO body and reinstate the Fisheries Research Board - which was a cutting edge, world class, Canadian, scientific powerhouse. Start using, instead of muzzling, your scientists.
Form local area management councils compromised of the people who depend on wild salmon and understand the complexities of their regions.
Apply the phenomenal wealth of science now available to harness the salmon's own remarkably successful biology to restore our runs.
If you won't take these steps please resign along with your Pacific Region senior staff and make way for people who will honor Fisheries and Ocean's contract with the public of Canada, present and future generations, to protect our salmon. The enormous pink salmon return this year - fish that were allowed to go to sea without farm lice, is a clear statement by the fish themselves that British Columbia can have abundant wild salmon, even running through the biggest city in our Province, Vancouver, City of the Salmon.

Wild salmon are a gift on a magnitude far greater than any oil well, river power project or the few jobs from a Norwegian industry that imports fish from the south Pacific, throws them in our ocean and pulls out less fish.

Read the list of 17,000 people and counting who have signed my letter www.adopt-a-fry.org asking that you apply the laws of Canada to salmon farms. They are First Nation chiefs, business people, politicians, entertainers, environmentalists, stream keepers, they are the people of British Columbia, not a fringe group you can brush aside. Minster Shea, you have failed us in your response to the collapse of earth's largest sockeye salmon run and this is not all right with British Columbia.

Alexandra Morton, R.P. Bio
Echo Bay, BC

http://alexandramorto...

1) Hutchings, J.A., Walters, C. and Haedrich, R.L. 1997. Is Scientific Inquiry Incompatible with Government Information Control? Canadian Journal of Aquatic Science. Vol 52.
2) Ford, J.S. and Myers, R.A. 2008 A Global Assessment of Salmon Aquaculture Impacts on Wild Salmonids. PLos Biology 6(2)
3) Vike, S., Nylund, S., and Nylund, A. 2008. ISA virus in Chile: evidence of vertical transmission. Archives of Virology. Vol. 154. (note: "vertical" means via eggs)

Wanted: one fisheries auditor
Auditor will assess financial health of harvesting and processing sectors as part of 2010 restructuring

MOIRA BAIRD
The Telegram


The provincial Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture is looking for an independent auditor to scrutinize the financial health of the fishery.

Earlier this month, the department issued a call for proposals for $400,000 worth of financial assessments of the harvesting and processing sectors.

Those assessments will help a government-appointed steering committee and its working groups make decisions on how to restructure and market the fishery.

Those recommendations are expected by mid-December, and are supposed to be in place for the 2010 fishery starting in April.

"It's a key piece," Fisheries Minister Tom Hedderson said in an interview Friday. "They have to have this crucial information in order to make recommendations as to how we can address the viability of ... either the harvesting or the processing sectors."

Representatives of the harvesters and most of the processors in the province have agreed to allow an independent auditor to assess their businesses.

"This doesn't mean looking at individual proprietary information or anything. It's just to assess the viability of the sectors," Hedderson said.

"It was key that we would, first of all, have an independent assessment done. That independent assessment would become the basis for a lot of the ... decision-making as we went forward."

The assessments, he said, should help to answer such questions as: are there too many harvesters for a particular species? Are some fishing enterprises viable, or are there ways to combine fishplants?

Hedderson said his department is evaluating those proposals submitted by Sept. 3, and he expects to select an auditor in "the coming weeks."

Since the province issued a request for proposals rather than tenders, it is not obligated to select the lowest-cost proposal.

"We want to get the best value, which means that we want to be able to match up the dollars that we're spending with the expertise that's required in order to get the job done," Hedderson said.

The estimated cost of the harvesting assessment - which employs about 13,000 people throughout the province - is $250,000.

It will provide a detailed look at markets, fishing costs, debt levels, investments and financial performance during the past three years.

In its call for proposals, the province says that harvesting study should examine fishing fleets by vessel size, fishing sector and fishing zones governed by the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization.

The cost of the processing sector assessment - which employs about 12,000 people at 80 companies operating more than 100 plants - is estimated at $150,000. It will analyze the cost of raw materials and supply, labour and packaging costs, selling and distribution costs, foreign exchange impacts and market prices.

In its call for proposals, the province notes there are 13 plants with licences to produce shrimp and 53 plants producing crab. The rest produce multiple species, mostly groundfish and pelagics (such as mackerel and herring).

The auditor must submit draft reports by Oct. 16, and final assessments must be completed by Oct. 30.

Announced in August, the six-member steering committee includes two representatives from the Fish, Food and Allied Workers' union, the Association of Seafood Producers and the provincial Fisheries department.

The province has set aside $800,000 for the committee's work, and Hedderson said the cost of the financial assessments is included in that price tag.

mbaird@thetelegram.com

Oliver Moore and Dawn Walton

Halifax and Calgary — From Saturday's Globe and Mail
Last updated on Saturday, Sep. 19, 2009 03:13AM EDT


Contract workers brought from Alberta to staff a New Brunswick energy project have retreated in the face of loud protests by local residents furious at what they viewed as carpetbaggers taking scarce jobs.

Protesters massed repeatedly this week outside the workers' hotel in Saint John, at times at odds with an injunction to keep their distance. The hotel's manager alleged that police had not intervened out of fear of starting a riot. Police, however, said they had not received a specific complaint they could act on.

On Wednesday, some of the protesters marched to another hotel, where Premier Shawn Graham was gathered with regional leaders. He did not meet with them and their passage through the city indicated mixed local feelings about their tactics.

They were buoyed by the honks of supporters driving by but lambasted by others. Shouting matches erupted between protesters and residents and beer cans and insults were hurled at the marchers, who were dismissed as “welfare bums,” before police separated the groups.

Paul de Jong, Alberta provincial director with the Christian Labour Association of Canada, said his union, which represents a number of the affected workers but has no standing under New Brunswick legislation, was trying yesterday to get in touch with its members to offer assistance. However, he said, the employer was being tight-lipped with information about their whereabouts, numbers and skill sets in order to protect worker safety.

“Unfortunately, it's been a very uncivilized protest if not downright unsafe,” he said, “I hope some calmer minds will prevail.”

The Alberta workers checked out of their hotel Thursday and some flew home Friday after days of pressure.

Spokespeople for the Canaport LNG facility in Saint John, a joint project of Irving Oil Ltd. and Repsol YPF, said yesterday that work on a third storage tank has stopped and they “do not know” where the workers are.

SNC-Lavalin was chosen by Canaport LNG to build the tank and contracted with Integral, based in Alberta, to hire a work force. Some local residents criticized the move, noting that the facility has received generous tax breaks from the city.

“It's immoral … if our tax dollars are good enough to subsidize it, we're good enough to work there,” said Andrew Dawson, regional representative of the Canadian Building and Construction Trades Association. “We have oodles of unemployed tradesmen that are more than capable and willing to do this work.”

SNC did not return a call seeking comment. In a statement, Canaport LNG said that they were gratified that “more than 85 per cent of the skilled workers” who have worked at the site have been from the Saint John area.

Mr. Dawson said the protests were not organized and were a spontaneous response by people concerned about their livelihood. He said there was no hypocrisy in the reaction, in spite of years of east-coast workers heading to Alberta for jobs.

“I've never heard of New Brunswickers holed up in a hotel and being bused to work while Albertans stand outside the fence asking for work,” Mr. Dawson said.

“They want to work, to the point that they're standing out front saying ‘hire me.' You can word this in a negative way, but I think people in a boardroom on Bay Street will look at this and say ‘wow, those people really want to work.'”

Others took a markedly different view. The issue burst into public view in Alberta Friday as the workers began arriving home and reaction was not long in coming.

Dave Rutherford, a right-wing talk-show host on CHQR radio in Calgary, expressed outrage and cited the mobility clause in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to defend the Western workers' right to be in New Brunswick plying their trades.

“This is supposed to be Canada. We're supposed to have freedom – apparently not in Saint John, New Brunswick. This is outrageous,” he told listeners.

One caller, an Alberta woman who said she originally hails from Saint John, shared his views.

“Unfortunately, people do not realize that the West literally holds up a lot of these provinces,” she said.

Business Monday, July 20, 2009
New EU seafood import rule worries Indian exporters
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From correspondents in Kerala, India, 02:00 PM IST


A proposed European Union (EU) guideline - requiring imported seafood to be accompanied by a 'catch certificate' issued by a competent authority - is worrisome, say India's seafood exporters.

The certificate will state the area from where the catch shipped to the EU was made, the method of fishing adopted, the trawler used and all processing details.

The new EU guideline, aimed at preventing, deterring and eliminating illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing activities, comes into effect from Jan 1, 2010. Indian seafood exporters were informed of this last October.

Currently shipments to the EU require only a health certificate and the results of a test showing products are free of banned ingredients.

The existing system, say exporters, is simpler than what's in store. Moreover, they fear, the official mechanism to issue catch certificates may not be put in place in time.

'We have got in touch with exporters in Thailand and Vietnam who also want more time to implement the new guideline. Their exports are more than ours,' said Seafood Exporters Association of India president Anwar Hashim.

'We are now planning to get in with the Chinese to see if they also want more time to meet this new guideline,' Hashim told IANS.

EU is the largest market for India's seafood products, accounting for nearly 25 percent of its exports (about 152,000 tonnes), valued at Rs.2,800 crore (Rs.28 billion/$574.5 million) last fiscal.

'The agriculture and commerce ministries have taken up the issue and we have to comply with the guideline. But we really want an extension of the deadline and we wish the EU gives us more time,' Hashim said.

The EU guideline comes in the wake of another, from Russia, that says all shipments to that country must carry an inspection certificate issued by Russian authorities from Aug 1.

Hitherto all that was needed was what was applicable for shipments to the EU.

Alex K. Ninan, a leading seafood exporter, told IANS the new EU guideline was more problematic than meeting Russia's requirement as more agencies need to work together.

'We are not sure if our authorities will be able to complete all formalities and get the mechanism in place before the current deadline expires because so many agencies have to come together to issue the certificate,' Ninan said.

'For instance, even the boat owner and the harbour nearest to where the catch has been made also have to work together. We need more time and I hope the central government will intervene and get us an extension in complying with the new guideline,' he added.

'Russia accounts for just Rs.300 crore of our exports, but exports to the EU will now cross Rs.3,000 crore. We are hoping that authorities have a pragmatic approach when it comes to certification,' Hashim said.

India exported 602,000 tonnes of seafood products, valued at Rs.8,608 crore ($1.76 billion) in 2008-09, an increase of over 11 percent in volume and nearly 13 percent in value over that registered the previous fiscal.


(Staff Writer, © IANS)

from ST john's Telegraph, local news section








LOCAL
Last updated at 11:43 PM on 18/09/09

DFO not hiding from debate: official
CORNER BROOK
CORY HURLEY
The Western Star


The Department of Fisheries and Oceans is refuting MP Gerry Byrne’s claim the feds are refusing debate on proposed amendments to the North Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) convention.

Friday, Nancy Bishay, the federal department’s press secretary, said thanks to this Conservative government, NAFO rules “finally have teeth.
“The fact of the matter is that we have strengthened Canadian sovereignty,” Bishay said in a prepared statement.

Last week, a panel of former bureaucrats within DFO told politicians and those interested in the fishery the amendments could allow NAFO member countries to be involved in managing fish stocks inside the 200-mile limit.

Liberal MP Gerry Byrne’s claims government is hiding from debating the convention, but Bishay said parliamentary procedure is clear.

“The amended NAFO convention was tabled in the House in June and studied in the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans, of which Mr. Byrne is a member,” she said. “The same people he’s quoting now also testified before the parliamentary committee.
“If he or his party had serious concerns, I would imagine they could have raised them then, or before now. If the Liberals are indeed serious about this, they can use an allotted Liberal debate day to debate on the floor of the House.”

DFO minister Gail Shea also disputes claims Canadian sovereignty and fishing rights are being compromised. Fisheries Minister Gail Shea issued a prepared statement to such regard last week following critics claims along those lines.

She said the government of Canada and the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) have had encouraging success in recent years enforcing rules on the high seas in the NAFO regulatory area. She also said achievements have been made in reforming NAFO and as a result rules are being followed and some fish stocks are showing signs of recovery.

Contrary to opinion of some critics, Shea said the amended convention in question continues to recognize and respect Canada’s sovereignty over its 200 mile exclusive economic zone.

The Telegram, NL, 10 26 2009




The Williams administration will immediately provide $600,000 to the Canadian Centre for Fisheries Innovation (CCFI), averting its potential closure.
Fisheries Minister Tom Hedderson said “it was important to ensure the continuation of this organization for our ocean industries.”
Hedderson made the announcement at a press conference this afternoon.
The continued existence of St. John’s-based CCFI was thrown into doubt earlier this year, when the feds declined to keep funding its core operations.
For more, see Tuesday’s print edition of The Telegram.



26/10/09

Federal funding to aid in upgrade of Long Cove marina
The Telegram, NL


The Isthmus Area Development Association will upgrade the Long Cove marina with more than $43,500 in funding assistance through the federal government’s Economic Action Plan.
“The Government of Canada recognizes the importance of maintaining community infrastructure, which in turn supports tourism growth and assists with economic development,” National Defence Minister Peter MacKay, who is the Minister Responsible for Newfoundland and Labrador, said.
“Projects like the further development of the Long Cove Marina show clearly how funding from our Economic Action Plan is building stronger communities across Canada.”
According to a news release, funding support for the project is provided through the Community Adjustment Fund (CAF), a key economic stimulus initiative of the Government of Canada's Economic Action Plan.
The federal investment is supporting the construction of floating docks and cribbing, a walking trail along the eastern side of the harbour to connect with the existing Sea View Trail, and enhancements to the marina entrance to provide access needed for additional berth space.
The expansion will enable the Isthmus Area Development Association, in partnership with the Long Cove Harbour Authority, to accommodate the growing demand for marina services and help attract more recreational boaters to the area.


05/11/09