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NS: Coalition claims Georges Bank reports are tainted
[YARMOUTH, NS] — The NoRigs3 Coalition is claiming the reports recently prepared for the Nova Scotia government to assess socio-economic factors and technological changes since 1999 related to potential drilling for oil and gas on Georges Bank’s ecosystem were prepared by a pro-drilling firm with strong ties to the oil and gas industry. In a recent [...] More
NS: Coalition applauds move to extend Georges Bank moratorium
[HALIFAX, NS] — The NoRigs3 Coalition is applauding today’s decision by the governments of Nova Scotia and Canada to extend the moratorium on oil and gas exploration and drilling on Georges Bank to December 31, 2015. The coalition — composed of fishermen, fishing groups, environmentalists and Aboriginal groups — says it was the right thing to [...] More
NS: Coalition keeps close eye on Gulf oil spill
[YARMOUTH, NS] — Members of the NoRigs 3 coalition are among those intently watching as an oil spill along the Gulf Coast of the United States threatens to become an environmental disaster even larger than the Exxon Valdez 1989 disaster in Alaska. The spill — resulting from an oil rig explosion of the Deep Horizon — [...] More
NewsMakers
[DIGBY, NS] MLA questions why speaker’s office is not being reviewed: Last week the auditor general’s report revealed inappropriate or excessive expenses by Nova Scotia MLAs such as televisions and generators over a three-year period. This has left local MLA Harold Theriault wondering why the speakers’ office is not being looked at as well since [...] More
NewsMakers: Nova Scotias daily business briefs
Tall Ships gets a boost Home builders' profits to decline again in 2008 Travel drops between Canada and other countries Hurlburt to keep gathering information on Georges Bank drilling Aboriginal business success stories Realty companies merge in Annapolis Valley Biotechnology and Life Sciences Week Proclaimed in Nova Scotia Leading indicators rise again in August Wholesale trade rises again Almost half of Canadians would give up coffee for a month over their mobile phones The Bargain! Shop to open in Liverpool RIM ready to roll
HALIFAX - The province is investing $1 million in the Tall Ships Nova Scotia Festival 2009. The event will be the largest Tall Ships gathering in North America in a decade. Between 50 to 70 ships from 30 countries and up to one million visitors are expected. The festival is expected to generate an estimated $42 million in economic benefits and was recently named the top 2009 Canadian destination by the American Bus Association. Tall Ships takes place in Halifax from July 16th to July 20. A number of ships will then visit communities across the province as part of the outports program. - Staff
OTTAWA - Canadian builders can expect their second consecutive year of lower profits in 2008, as demand for new home construction weakens, according to a Conference Board of Canada study. "This slowdown is an overdue correction in the market, after housing supply outstripped demand for several years," said Michael Burt, Associate Director, Industrial Outlook. "We are now moving into a buyer's market, as home construction and sales activity return to a more normal pace." Following years of large increases in many markets, price appreciation has slowed considerably. New home prices are rising at their slowest pace since 2002. - Staff
OTTAWA - Overall, travel both to and from Canada declined in July compared with June. StatsCan says visitors made a total of 2.2 million trips to Canada in July, down 1.8% from the previous month. Travel from the United States declined 2.1% from June, continuing the downward trend observed over the last nine years. Both same-day car and overnight travel by American residents to Canada decreased in July from June. The number of same-day car trips fell 0.9% from June. When compared with July 2007, however, same-day car travel was down 19.9%. - Staff
HALIFAX - Richard Hurlburt, Nova Scotia's Energy Minister, will continue to gather information surrounding the issue of oil and gas exploration on Georges Bank. The minister was responding to news out of the United States that President George Bush had lifted the moratorium on oil drilling off the American coast. The moratorium on the Canadian side remains in place until 2010, and Hurlburt says that over the next year he will focus on having enough information for the government to make an informed decision. Norigs 3, a coalition of fishermen and environmentalists, has organized to protest any drilling on Georges Bank. - Staff
CHARLOTTETOWN - Two Cape Breton Aboriginal business people were recognized during the fourth annual Atlantic Aboriginal Entrepreneur Awards held in Charlottetown. Norman Morris, owner of Norman Morris Trucking in Eskasoni, received a Lifetime Achievement Award. Morris has operated his construction-trucking business for over 30 years, recently undertaking a multi-million dollar contract at the Sydney Tar Pond Cleanup project. Eskasoni businesswoman Brenda Googoo, owner of Brenda's Giftware, won the "Start Up Business of the Year" award. The awards show was hosted by Ulnooweg Development Corporation. - Staff
NEW MINAS - Owners Gary Morse and Michael Barnard of Homelife Valley and Ralph Stephen and Carl Sherwood of Royal LePage Atlantic announced today their merger in the Annapolis Valley region under the name of Royal LePage Atlantic. The merger marks the 11th brokerage location for Royal LePage Atlantic, making it Atlantic Canada's largest real estate brokerage. This latest addition brings Royal LePage Atlantic into the heart of the Annapolis Valley along with their sister offices in Kentville and Kingston/Greenwood.
HALIFAX - Nova Scotia Premier, Rodney MacDonald has declared the week of September 19-26, 2008 Biotechnology and Life Sciences Week in Nova Scotia. The proclamation is in recognition of the growing impact that the life sciences industry has on the province's economy and on the overall well-being of Nova Scotians, and also coincides with National Biotech Week, a celebration of the imagination and innovation of scientists and entrepreneurs from across Canada. BioNova, Nova Scotia's life sciences association, is focusing on education and employee recognition for its Biotechnology and Life Sciences Week activities. - Staff
OTTAWA - StatsCan says the composite leading index rose by 0.3% in August after a 0.1% increase in July. The composite index has risen in four of the last five months, and it remained unchanged in June. Overall, 6 of the 10 components expanded, one more than in July, while 2 were unchanged and 2 declined.
Household demand has remained the most consistent source of growth in recent months. Sales of furniture and appliances grew steadily, helped by a steady housing market. Housing starts rebounded in August. Meanwhile, personal services have become the main prop to growth in services employment. Sales of other durable goods were an exception to the strength in household spending, reflecting slower auto sales over the summer in response to record gasoline prices. - Staff
OTTAWA - Wholesale sales rose 2.3% in July to $46.2 billion as increases across a number of sectors contributed to a fifth consecutive monthly gain. Price effects were minimal in July, as sales in volume terms rose 2.2%. July's gains were spread across six of the seven wholesale sectors, with food, beverages and tobacco products the only sector reporting lower sales. The largest contribution came from the "other products" sector, which rebounded from a 3.4% drop in June to post a 6.0% rise in July. Sales in this sector have increased significantly over the past year, mostly as a result of higher global demand for agricultural supplies.
TORONTO - Almost half of Canadians who own mobile devices confess they'd rather go without their daily java than give up their cell phones. A recent national survey of 1,003 Canadians, conducted by Angus Reid Strategies on behalf of Best Buy Mobile, showed that the three-quarters of Canadians who own mobile devices mean serious business when it comes to their shopping experience. Despite the advertising focus in the Canadian market on handset brands and style, only 4 per cent say their mobile phone brand is important to them. Conversely, most indicate the service provider is the most significant influence in their mobile purchase decision.
LIVERPOOL - The Bargain! Shop has confirmed it is opening a department store at the former SAAN site in Liverpool sometime in Nov. or Dec. at the latest. Michael Roellinghoff, President and CEO of The Bargain! Shop Holdings Inc., says, "I can confirm we are planning to open the Liverpool location and the opening isn't final but will most-likely be in Nov. or Dec." The Bargain! Shop purchased the assets of SAAN last month after the latter company went bankrupt. Roellinghoff says, "It's very exciting for a Canadian owned company that focuses on smaller markets, especially to make this acquisition." - Mark Roberts, The Advance
HALIFAX - Research in Motion cut the ribbon on its multi-million dollar technical support centre in Bedford. The company, manufacturer of the BlackBerry wireless communications tool, showcased the 160,000-square foot facility, off the Hammonds Plains Road, to the public on September 17. RIM received a $14-million five-year provincial payroll rebate to create 1,200 jobs. The facility has been in operation since June, and already employs 500. The talented labour force and the collaborative approach of the government and NSBI helped draw RIM to Halifax.
Questions asked about Georges Bank exploration moratorium
SHELBURNE - Will the Georges Bank moratorium on oil and gas exploration be extended or lifted, or will a full review be required before that question can be answered is something the Nova Scotia Department of Energy is just starting to work on. "We're just starting to put a research study together," said Matt Lumley, communications officer with the department. "The main question is can the fishery and offshore exploration exist side by side?"
According to legislation governing the current moratorium, which is in effect until Dec. 31, 2012, the provincial and federal governments have until June 1, 2010 to decide whether another panel review process is warranted before a decision is made on the status of the moratorium. "The most important deadline is Dec. 31, 2012," said Lumley. "That's the last day to make a decision and it's going to come fast."
Pointing out the 1999 panel review was actually started in 1995, "We're still four years out and it's time to get going," said Lumley. Opponents to oil and gas exploration on Georges Bank are also not waiting for deadlines to come and go.
Formally announced last week, the Norigs 3 coalition is made up of fishermen, processors, aboriginal groups and environmentalists. Denny Morrow, executive director of the Nova Scotia Fish Packers Association, is the coalition's volunteer chairman.
Speaking on behalf of Norigs 3, Morrow said the federal and provincial ministers of fisheries, the environment and energy should use the 1999 panel report as a starting point to decide if the risks and recommendations outlined in the report should be re-examined, or whether the moratorium should be extended for another 10 year period. If the ministers decide there have been significant changes, they should initiate another impartial review patterned after the process during the late 1990's, said Morrow.
From Norigs 3 point of view, probably the most "significant change" is the fact that the haddock stocks on Georges Bank have rebounded from an all time low in the early 1990s to a 50 year high, said Morrow. While the fishing industry in general is facing the same problems as other manufacturers, such as high petroleum prices and a soft U.S. economy, the fisheries is still the economic backbone of southwestern Nova Scotia.
"The lobster fishery is steady. Groundfish on Georges is at a 50 year high. There's good scallop stocks and good landings for swordfish and tuna," said Morrow. If the moratorium was lifted and petroleum resources found on Georges Bank, "It won't help the people of Nova Scotia heat their homes, or fill up their cars, boats or trucks with gas," said Morrow, and it's unlikely many jobs would be created.
"I don't understand where all these jobs are going to come from," said Morrow. "Look at Guysborough. Eight years later and there's not even a handful of jobs and they had a pipeline come ashore. Guysborough didn't turn into Fort McMurray." If offshore exploration and production ever did become a reality on Georges Bank, it's very unlikely a pipeline would come ashore in southwestern Nova Scotia, said Morrow, because the market and the population base just isn't here. Rather it would go the other way to Boston where the major markets are. - Coast Guard
Group re-organizing to protest exploration on Georges Bank
YARMOUTH - A movement to ban oil and gas exploration on Georges Bank in the 1980s and late 1990s has been mobilized again, this time calling itself Norigs 3. A coalition of fishermen, aboriginal groups, processors and environmentalists that spearheaded efforts to retain the moratorium prohibiting oil and gas exploration and development on Georges Bank in the late 1990s intends to promote extending the existing moratorium beyond the 2012 expiry date.
The Norigs 3 coalition includes lobster fishermen from southwestern Nova Scotia and around the Bay of Fundy; fishermen who harvest cod and haddock and other groundfish species on Georges Bank with hook and line mobile gear; scallop, tuna and swordfish fleets; the two seafood processing associations in the province; aboriginal groups and members of environmental organizations.
Denny Morrow, executive director of the Nova Scotia Fish Packers Association, will chair the coalition. Morrow says he also expects participation from New England fishermen and environmental groups in Norigs 3 since there is a moratorium on the U.S. portion of Georges Bank that also extends to 2012.
The existing moratorium was first established in 1988 and was extended to 2012 after an extensive panel review process during the late 1990s. That three-person panel produced a report in 1999 after commissioning scientific studies and after holding numerous consultations to receive public input and information from the fishing and petroleum industries. Norigs 3 says the report weighed the risk to the fishery and the unique, sensitive marine environment on Georges Bank against the potential benefits of a natural gas discovery and recommended that the Nova Scotia and federal governments extend the moratorium for another period.
The federal and provincial legislation that extended the moratorium through to 2012 specifies that the two governments must decide whether another panel review process is warranted before June 1, 2010.
Last winter Richard Hurlburt, Nova Scotia's minister of energy, and the MLA for Yarmouth in southwestern Nova Scotia - an area heavily dependent on the fishery - opened the debate on Georges Bank by saying it is time to determine whether fish and oil and gas development can co-exist on Georges Bank. He raised the issue well in advance of the expiration of the moratorium, saying this wasn't a decision or debate that should be left to the 11th hour.
Georges Bank is located at the entrance to the Gulf of Maine and Bay of Fundy. The Norigs 3 coalition says it is one of the most productive spawning and feeding areas for fish, shellfish, marine mammals and seabirds in the Atlantic Ocean. Georges Bank falls under the jurisdiction of both Canada and the United States. The smaller Canadian portion produces important commercial landings of scallops, haddock and cod, lobsters and other species that provide many fishing and processing jobs concentrated in the southwest Nova Scotia region. It is the one area of the Canadian North Atlantic that has seen a recovery of groundfish stocks. The biomass of haddock on Georges is now the largest on record for the last 50 years.
Morrow says that the federal and provincial ministers of fisheries, environment and energy should use the 1999 panel report as a starting point to decide if the risks and recommendations outlined in the report should be re-examined or whether the moratorium should be extended for another 10-year period. If the ministers decide that there have been significant changes, they should initiate another impartial panel review patterned after the process during the late 90's. The new panel would be responsible for collecting the relevant scientific information, coordinating any further research and would hold consultation sessions to gain public input before producing further recommendations on the moratorium beyond 2012. - The Vanguard
