Sep 21 2023 — Paul Withers — CBC — With polls showing declining support, Atlantic Liberal MPs went on the offensive Wednesday, lashing out at federal Conservatives over their response to legislation introduced to enable development of offshore wind farms in the region. Conservatives objected to what Natural Resources critic Shannon Stubbs of Alberta dismissed this week “as another step in a long line […]
Jul 4 2023 — Paul Withers — CBC — Nova Scotia Power plans to burn heavy fuel oil at coal-fired electricity generating units after they close in 2030. The company intends to convert three coal-fired units at the Lingan Generating Station in Cape Breton to heavy fuel oil in 2030 and keep them operating until 2050, according to documents filed in its latest capital […]
Jun 26 2023 — Paul Withers — CBC — Scientists are monitoring dozens of sites in Nova Scotia and southern New Brunswick to see if the latest warm winter in Atlantic Canada accelerated the spread of slimy marine invertebrates. Six invasive sea squirt — or tunicate — species have become established in Nova Scotia in the last decade. Two more are believed to have […]
Jun 21 2023 — Paul Withers — CBC — Ocean temperatures in Atlantic Canada set record highs again in 2022, according to the latest assessment released by the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO). Results from the annual Atlantic Zone Monitoring Program show surface, intermediate and bottom temperatures were well above normal last year. “It was widespread. It was everywhere,” said Peter Galbraith, […]
Jun 16 2023 — Paul Withers — CBC — Canada has put $4.5 billion on the table to develop the Atlantic Loop, according to a federal source close to negotiations. The revelation was prompted by claims from Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston this week, echoing comments made earlier this year, that the proposed green mega-project is too expensive. An information package promoting the Atlantic […]
May 30 2023 — Paul Withers — CBC — Canada’s offshore accords with Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador are being updated to promote development of offshore wind farms, but it’s not clear yet whether any compensation will be paid to fishermen displaced by wind farms. Amendments introduced Tuesday in Ottawa by the federal government assign regulatory authority for wind power to jointly managed […]
May 26 2023 — Paul Withers — CBC — Federal Environment and Climate Change Minister Stephen Guilbeault is urging regulators in Atlantic Canada to consider oil industry profits before approving any fuel price increases to pay for the new clean fuel regulations coming into effect July 1. In a May 25 letter to independent regulators in the region, Guilbeault also singled out the region’s […]
May 25 2023 — Paul Withers — CBC — Exporter calls claims of growing Chinese influence at Halifax airport ‘kind of racist.’ A Nova Scotia member of Parliament is raising concerns about growing Chinese “influence and control” on the province’s lobster industry supply chain, especially at Halifax Stanfield International Airport. The Halifax International Airport Authority denies the claim. And a major Chinese seafood exporter […]
May 10 2023 — Paul Withers — CBC — Canada’s Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Joyce Murray admitted Tuesday the troubled baby eel fishery — known as elvers — “got out of hand” this spring, blaming poachers attracted by easy money. “We were enforcing the elver fishery. It just got out of hand, partly because of the ease of fishing and the value of […]
Apr 23 2023 — Paul Withers — CBC — Canada and the Philippines have signed a deal that clears the way for Filipino sailors to crew Canadian-flagged vessels for the first time. It’s an attempt to address a major problem on board Canadian ships. “Industry and other government departments have communicated to Transport Canada the need in finding qualified seafarers to assume various roles […]
Apr 5 2023 — Paul Withers — CBC — Canada expects to have an agreement in principle by mid-year to proceed with the Atlantic Loop electricity corridor, federal Infrastructure Minister Dominic LeBlanc said Tuesday in Halifax. Detailed “sensitive commercial conversations” are underway with utilities in Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, he said. “I’m very hopeful that those discussions will be fruitful and in […]
Mar 29 2023 — Paul Withers — CBC — Ocean temperatures off Nova Scotia hit record highs last summer, eclipsing the record-breaking temperatures set in the Atlantic a decade earlier. “It’s pretty alarming,” said Fisheries and Oceans Canada research scientist Chantelle Layton. Layton is part of the DFO team analyzing results from the annual Atlantic Ocean monitoring program in eastern Canada. Canadian scientists are […]
Jan 5 2023 — Paul Withers — CBC — Canada and the United States have, for the first time, failed to agree on a shared quota for the transboundary haddock stock on the Georges Bank fishing grounds off southern Nova Scotia. The two countries have jointly managed the haddock fishery — and two other straddling stocks — since 2000, but were unable to reach […]
Dec 15 2022 — Paul Withers — CBC — The parent company of the Sobeys grocery store chain says a cyberattack last month will cost $25 million. The grocery store operator disclosed the estimate in second quarter results released Thursday by Empire Co. “Empire estimates, based on available information, that the financial impact on fiscal 2023 annual net earnings will be approximately $25 million, […]
Dec 8 2022 — Paul Withers — CBC — Canada is lobbying the United States to add Atlantic mackerel to transboundary fish stocks jointly managed by the two countries on the East Coast — but so far has not landed an agreement. The appeal comes after Canada imposed a total moratorium on all commercial mackerel fishing in 2022 to rebuild the depleted shared stock. […]