Tag Archives: Justin Trudeau
The man who changed Canada’s lobster industry and his $1B deal to sell Clearwater
In Nova Scotia, John Risley is arguably a household name, synonymous with the seafood industry and his many conspicuous possessions. On both fronts, his reputation is well earned. In 1976, he and his brother-in-law Colin MacDonald started Clearwater, a dumpy retail lobster shop on the side of a suburban Halifax highway. From that simple start, Risley fundamentally changed the Atlantic Canadian lobster industry — transforming it from a seasonal, afterthought business to a year-round, $3-billion sector where lobsters are shipped overnight by air to customers in Europe and Asia, a premise unheard of before Risley entered the industry. Along the way, Clearwater matured into a global seafood company. >click to read< 07:43
Sipekne’katik chief ‘optimistic’ about newly appointed fisheries minister
The chief of Sipekne’katik First Nation in Nova Scotia says he’s looking forward to a clean slate with the newly appointed fisheries minister. MP Joyce Murray, who represents Vancouver Quadra, was named minister of fisheries and oceans when Justin Trudeau unveiled his new cabinet Tuesday.,, Mike Sack said since the federal election, he has been “waiting patiently” for Trudeau to name a new minister. He adds he plans to reach out to Murray soon for a one-on-one chat. >click to read< 10:33
Politics: Lobster dispute, frustration with Ottawa could turn the tide on the Liberals in Nova Scotia
“Trudeau had the support of the First Nations in the last election. Not anymore. We’re voting NDP,” In rural Nova Scotia ridings such as South Shore-St. Margarets, where the fishery is a major employer, federal Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan is now fighting to keep her job,,, It’s just past the lunch break inside the main assembly shop at Yarmouth Boat Works, These $1.2-million state-of-the-art vessels, with kitchens, sleeping quarters, flat-screen TVs and showers, are meant to venture far out into the ocean and carry thousands of pounds of lobster back to land. Owner Steve Gee says while demand for new boats has slowed, finding skilled workers is hard, despite a good fibreglass technician getting $28 an hour, a decent wage in Yarmouth County. “I need 23 workers, but three showed up today,” he said. “Our latest job posting had 300 applicants, and not one of them was in Canada.” >click to read< 11:31
Expect more clashes like the Nova Scotia lobster dispute as Canadians’ rights collide
The ongoing dispute between a Mi’kmaq community and non-Indigenous lobster fishers in Nova Scotia seems like a throwback to a darker and more racist time. We were supposed to have come a long way since that time. So it might seem like this fishery dispute is a throwback, a sign of how far we still have to go in order to truly end racism towards Indigenous peoples and protect their rights in Canada. But unfortunately this dispute isn’t a throwback; it’s probably a look-ahead. This is because the Canadian approach to equality and Indigenous rights, an approach that is baked into our difficult-to-change Constitution and which has been taken up with gusto by the Supreme Court, is based on two opposing views of rights. >click to read< 09:45
Canada, Britain strike new trade, beating Brexit, incorporating expiring EU pact
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his British counterpart, Boris Johnson, announced the deal during a live video news conference on Saturday morning.,, Britain’s decision to leave the EU after its Brexit referendum means that the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, or CETA, will no longer apply to the country at the end of the year. The new deal preserves CETA’s key provision until a more comprehensive agreement can be reached later: the elimination of tariffs on 98 per cent of Canadian exports to Britain, which is Canada’s fifth largest trading partner with $29 billion in two-way merchandise trade in 2019. >click to read< 09:35
UPDATED: It’s setting day for P.E.I.’s lobster fishery after 2-week delay
Lobster fishermen are setting their traps from ports around Prince Edward Island this morning, after a two-week delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The spring fishery on P.E.I.’s North Shore and the eastern Northumberland Strait was delayed partly because some lobster processing plants in the region were not ready,, It will be a season like no other for fishermen: they’ll be asked questions about their health daily, are not allowed to share equipment and must wear gloves at all times. They’re required to thoroughly clean frequently-touched surfaces on board vessels, and to maintain a physical distance of two metres when possible. added photos, >click to read< 07:31
IN PHOTOS: P.E.I. lobster fishers head out on setting day following delay – P.E.I. fishers hit the water early this morning to set their lobster traps. The season finally opened on May 15 following a two-week delay due to the coronavirus (COVID-19 strain) pandemic. >click to view< 13:22
Northern Pulp – Senators want full assessment of plan to dump mill effluent off Nova Scotia coast
A group of Independent senators is calling on the Trudeau government to do a full environmental assessment of a “dangerous” plan in Nova Scotia to take effluent from a pulp mill, pipe it 10 kilometres out into the Northumberland Strait, and dump it. In the Red Chamber on Monday, Sen. Mike Duffy called it “a looming environmental crisis in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.”,, Last week, along with Sen. Diane Griffin, a conservationist from P.E.I., they met with representatives of fisheries groups from all three Maritime provinces. “If this scheme is allowed to proceed, it could damage the fishery in the three Maritime provinces, Quebec’s Magdalen Islands, and beyond,” >click to read<18:25
North Vancouver MP Jonathan Wilkinson appointed minister of fisheries, oceans, and the Canadian Coast Guard
The last seven federal fisheries ministers have represented ridings in Atlantic Canada and one of them, Gail Shea, was appointed twice. But today, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed a B.C. MP, Jonathan Wilkinson, to take over this portfolio from Dominic LeBlanc. Wilkinson was first elected in 2015 to represent North Vancouver in Parliament. The last B.C. fisheries minister was Herb Dhaliwal, who held this position from 1999 to 2002. He was preceded by another B.C. MP, David Anderson, who was fisheries minister from 1997 to 1999. Wilkinson is also the minister responsible for the Canadian Coast Guard. >click to read<18:51
Fisheries Act – Prince Rupert council calls for parity with East Coast fisheries
With changes coming to the Fisheries Act, Prince Rupert city council wants to make sure independent B.C. fishers are included. “All we’re asking for is parity with the East Coast,” Councillor Barry Cunningham said. “The East Coast has more of a thriving fishery, even though at times it’s in disarray. It’s definitely more beneficial to the communities and the individuals on the East Coast, whereas, in our fishery on the West Coast, corporations are slowly gobbling it up.” Council moved to bring a resolution to the Union of BC Municipalities, stating owner-operator licences should be applied to the West Coast. It asks that amendments to the Fisheries Act,,, >click to read<09:27
“mansplaining” – John McDonnell channels Justin Trudeau by referring to ‘fisherpeople’ instead of fishermen
John McDonnell, Labour’s shadow chancellor, appeared to be channeling his inner Justin Trudeau yesterday when he referred to British fishermen as “fisherpeople” during a television interview. Labour’s shadow chancellor spoke of the need to protect the interests of British fishing fleets after Brexit, employing the unfamiliar phrase which drew comparisons to the Canadian Prime Minister. Mr Trudeau, notorious for his careful and sometimes strange use of language, recently told a young woman that she should refer to “peoplekind” instead of “mankind”, a decision he was criticsed for. >click to read< 11:24
Newfoundland and Labrador – What did we get for giving up MPRs under CETA?
The Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) is the trade deal Canada just signed with the European Union, and the signature for Canada was Justin Trudeau. Minimum processing requirements (MPRs) reflect an established right of a province to impose minimum processing requirements for fish landed at our ports. In the past, exemptions have been approved for the export of unprocessed fish when the market required it and/or when processing was not viable. No other province in Atlantic Canada had used MPRs for fish over the past number of years, except Newfoundland and Labrador. click here to read the op-ed by Keith Hutchings10:10
Dire warnings in the battle for Atlantic Canada’s lucrative northern shrimp
Nova Scotia fishermen and politicians are warning Ottawa about a possible repeat of the political meddling that led to the devastating collapse of the cod stocks in the early 1990s. This time, however, the problem isn’t cod, it’s northern shrimp. A federal panel reviewing the quota for Newfoundland’s north coast wrapped up the last of six public hearings Friday in Halifax, where 150 fishermen, processors, industry representatives and politicians packed a stuffy conference room. With hundreds of millions of dollars at stake, the temperature in the room went up as the presenters traded barbs over the fate of a lucrative industry that is only around 40 years old. Read the rest here 20:56
