All posts by Cody Mackay

Upstream Battle: Lobby group proposes Act to “modernize” Aquaculture in Canada

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Efforts to overhaul the Fisheries Act have “stalled” according to Ruth Salmon, executive director of the aquaculture lobby group, the Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance.

The group has been pressuring the federal government to “modernize” fishing legislature to redefine fish farming as an extension of the federal Ministry of Agriculture. This proposal was brought to the British Columbia Ministry of Agriculture – which appears to be on board, according to documents obtained under the B.C. freedom-of-information law.

The Ministry recognizes the Fisheries Act as expired legislature, a “poor fit” that “lacks the capacity” to allow proper development of the aquaculture industry.

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2774808-Response-Package-AGR-2015-52977-Fish/annotations/285095.html

(*) What is the information? 

Briefing notes for Norm Letnick, the B.C. Minster of Agriculture. The document suggests provincial recognition that the Fisheries Act is a “poor fit” and the regulatory framework doesn’t allow growth of the aquaculture industry.

(*) From which department did these pages come?

British Columbia Ministry of Agriculture

(*) Why was this information helpful?

The document helped to provide a focus for the story and directed the questioning for Salmon and the Ministry.

Though the Ministry appears favourable towards Salmon’s CAIA proposal, and they slighted a question regarding their support for Salmon’s proposal, the government remains reluctant to be vocal in their support of rehauling federal regulations.

In an email response the Ministry said they’re aware of the CAIA’s proposal, though there are drafts being drawn up by the Strategic Management Committee – a group of provincial and federal officials from across the country –  to bring the aged legislation up to meet the with modern aquaculture industry.

Salmon argues the Fisheries Act was brought into existence “before aquaculture was even a concept” and that it shouldn’t surprise that aquaculture not a good fit for a dated Act.

There is “a lot of overlap,” Salmon says, and that they comply with 74 current pieces of legislation that are “conflicting” and “confusing” when considering aquaculture as a farming industry rather than a fishery.

According to Salmon, Canada has been “stalled for 13 years” while other nations benefit from federal policy on aquaculture that is cultivating a growing global industry that Salmon estimates is growing at a rate of “79 per cent per year.”

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2774808-Response-Package-AGR-2015-52977-Fish/annotations/285110.html

(*) What is the information? 

This document is from the same briefing note. It highlights the discussion of what a Aquaculture Act may provide.

(*) From which department did these pages come?

British Columbia Ministry of Agriculture

(*) Why was this information helpful?

The document helped to understand the depth of the issue and allow experts and Ministry to refer to what has been said about a proposed Aquaculture Act.

Most of Canada’s top competitors – the United States, Chile, Norway, Scotland, Ireland, New Zealand and Australia – have already enacted aquaculture legislation and Salmon believes it’s time Canada modernizes their fishing industry to change policy regarding aquaculture and increase provincial and federal oversight to encourage growth.

Easier said than done.

The complexity surrounding aquaculture policy and the Fishing Act isn’t new; many experts wouldn’t comment (better to say they couldn’t comment) because they are still grappling with the unclarity surrounding an industry in a grey area.

It’s an industry caught between two Ministries; existing as a fishery under the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, but persisting as farming.

Peter Tyedmers, professor of environmental science at Dalhousie, says a federal act will in no way “disentangle” the web of complexity involving the constitution.

He says the division of power and responsibility between federal and provincial governments add to the complex framework. Current government oversight under the Fisheries Act, he says, is a “crazy patchwork quilt” of competing jurisdictions. And that is the leading cause for confusion.

As an example, Tyedmers says provinces like P.E.I. have the authority to provide licenses and decide the size of the farm – a degree of governance with some sovereignty. Though, a federal Aquaculture Act would allow for further federal oversight and mingling into provincial jurisdictions.

“The people drafting this have enough sense to know that they cannot change the constitutional powers of the government with one act,” Tyedmers said. He defines the proposed Act as a “constitutional interpretation challenge,” one that higher courts may strike down based on the federal-provincial conflict.

What remains consistent throughout expert opinion, lobbyists and government officials is the unclear, confusing mess of legislation that overlaps the aquaculture industry and fisheries.

“The complexity as a failure of government,” Tyedmers said.

____________________

Federal: Department of Fisheries and Oceans

**Received a call March 24 to add some to the request. She only added the word ‘proposed’ before ‘federal Aquaculture Act’ so that it may generate more hits, or be less specific as to get a better response.


**Received another call asking if I wanted private emails, because there may not be a lot of records and the emails will add much more.

Provincial: B.C. Ministry of Agriculture

http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2781073-Intake-Acknowledgement-Letter.html

**Acknowledged my request.

Municipal: City of Vancouver

http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2781074-Screen-Shot-2016-03-31-at-14-33-38.html

**Acknowledged my request.

Tariff elimination the biggest factor in growth of P.E.I. fishing exports

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A fisherman catches a brook trout on Prince Edward Island (Photo Credit: Government of P.E.I.)

Prince Edward Island continues to expand trading partners as fishing exports rise 150 per cent, over $70 million, in the last five years, according to data from Industry Canada.

P.E.I. may rank sixth in Canada in total fishing exports, but the smallest province champions the highest growth of fishing exports in the Atlantic region and second across Canada. At 28 per cent, P.E.I is second only to the Northwest Territories regarding overall growth of exports.

Like the rest of Canada, the United States is P.E.I.’s greatest trading partner, though despite high tariffs in Europe and Asia – some regions taxing upwards of 35 per cent on imported P.E.I. goods – the province has continued to increase its presence in global markets. 

Newly formed trade agreements will seek to eliminate tariffs with new trading partners entirely within the next several years and lead to exponential growth for the P.E.I. economy, according to former fisheries and oceans minister Gail Shea.

Shea believes the data is not an anomaly, and that and says both P.E.I. and national exports will see substantial growth in the following years, particularly in Asian and European markets.

 “In China the message from them has always been that they don’t have to sell us on the quality of Canadian fish. They can’t get enough, and there is a lot of room for expansion.”

She says that there shouldn’t be a worry for flooded markets because new markets are becoming more aware of the quality of P.E.I. seafood and places like Japan, China and France “will take whatever we can sell them.”

http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2764652-Seafood-Exports-2016.html

Japan remains a top importer for P.E.I., taking roughly $6 million worth of fish and seafood in 2011 and climbing to nearly $19 million in 2015 – a 323 per cent increase over five years.

Shea believes these growths can continue when the government passes the Canada-European Union comprehensive economic and trade agreement (CETA). A deal that will significantly lower tariffs on the European continent and open markets even further for the P.E.I. fisheries.

CETA is expected to slash 96 per cent of trade tariffs between Canada and the European Union and within seven years become completely duty free.

 Shea predicts countries like Belgium, which is a member of the EU, will follow suit in demanding more exports from P.E.I. fisheries. Exports to Belgium from P.E.I. have soared from $1.8 million in 2011 to $9.4 million in 2015.

Credit: Global Affairs Canada
Credit: Global Affairs Canada

She believes the current plans of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), in combination with tariff elimination, will mark a new era for the P.E.I economy.

“The world has become smaller and markets have become larger.” Combined with innovations in technology and transportation, P.E.I will continue to diversify its exports with the rest of the country.

Shea says that the 2009 economic collapse in the United States forced people to look for new markets and was “the silver lining in the clouds” not only for P.E.I. fisheries, but the entire country.

Roughly 85 per cent of Canadian fish and seafood exports were heading for the United States, but that number has fallen to around 65 per cent – though America still remains Canada’s greatest importer.

http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2764647-Trans-Pacific-Partnership-Prince-Edward-Island.html

 Though Shea says it’s because of new trade partners that the marketplace “better reflects what the market is worth.”

Controversy and public outrage surrounded the TPP deal when it was accepted by the Canadian government last fall, especially regarding the dairy industry. But when asked whether TPP and CETA are the right decision for P.E.I. fisherman Shea chuckles and says “oh good lovins yes, very much so.”

Nevermind the Seattle sound: Twenty-five years after Nirvana’s breakout album

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Left to right: drummer Dave Grohl, singer Kurt Cobain, and bassist Krist Novoselic.

Years before hipster cafes, the Super Bowl and the trailblazing rap of Macklemore, Seattle was an untamed haven for underground talent. The expansive grunge scene was born from teenage angst — a sound unique to the Northwest and relatively unknown to other parts of the country.

Then it was murdered.

Nirvana released their second studio album Nevermind on Sept. 24, 1991, and to some Seattle sound purists, it was the day the music died. It was an album that ignited the powder keg of the 80s new-wave punk rock scene in the Northwest.

An album of scratchy and screaming vocals; hard and fast drumming; and unforgettable riffs.

Nevermind dominated the airwaves and was the album that broke the Seattle music scene to the world. Kurt Cobain was lead vocalist and lead guitar; Dave Grohl, now Foo Fighters frontman, hammered the drums; and Krist Novoselic slapped the bass.

They were garage-band heroes turned international rockstars — frontmen in charge of a world they knew nothing about.

Lisa Nichols, a writer and editor from Portland, Oregon, says “you can’t overemphasize how much grunge changed everything that was happening at the time. Hair metal bands had to be due for their last gasp anyway but Nirvana and the rest of the Seattle bands firmly closed the coffin.”

Disenchanted, displaced youth were captured by Cobain’s raw lyrics and tempered soul, and American businesses wanted in on the subterranean subculture.

This was a scene that was born in the underworld. Was made to live and die in dive bars and dark basements. For purists like musician and journalist Mark Goldberg, “Nevermind killed grunge.”

Throughout the rest of the 1990s, particularly after Cobain’s death in 1994, and into the 2000s, grunge lived on as a fad; and like all fads, it was due for a funeral.

“Grunge became such a mainstream fad that the scene around it had no choice but give up,” Goldberg said.

“Labels started signing bands left right and centre who were barely ‘grunge.’ And a lot of bands just adopted grunge to cash in,” Goldberg said. “Many other bands got major label deals and the pressure to sell by the label ended up causing them to make repetitive, dull records.”

In an interview with CNN, Chris Cornell, lead vocalist and songwriter for Soundgarden and Audioslave, says the Seattle music scene was traditionally “anti-commercial” and “anti-every-institution-that-supported-commercial-music.” And the rise of corporate investments and major labels, in essence, tainted what once was.

On Grohl’s 2014 music documentary Sonic Highways, Cornell added that after Nirvana’s success “the scene was no longer there.”

“Everyone that I knew was out making records and touring,” Cornell said. His quote followed quickly by Seattle music producer, Jack Endino, saying “Pre-money, pre-drugs, pre-business … there was a lot of fun that happened.”

By the turn of the century, Goldberg says, grunge lost it’s soul, is deceased and “irrelevant in the 21st century.”

“Seattle still has a scene but it’s as diverse as any other normal city’s now,” Goldberg added. But for grunge, Goldberg says once the public wanted a piece, they got it and what was special about that unique sound is gone.

For grunge historians and rockers, though, there’s always optimists like Grohl.

Grohl believes the spirit of grunge is still going strong. In 2013, when asked if grunge ‘would make a comeback’ he told a redditor: “If you mean loud ass guitars, loud ass drums, and screaming ass vocals? That never went away ding dong.”

__________________________

Document Questions:

1) Youtube Clip: Nirvana 100 Greatest albums of Rock and Roll. I found this by searching through Youtube clips about Nirvana’s Nevermind album and trying to place sound within the article so the listener can get an idea of how the music sounded and add to the impact of the article. I think it’s quite helpful in providing the reader with the chance to listen in the story.

2) Youtube Clip: Chris Cornell on Seattle’s grunge era. I knew I wanted to get the voice of Cornell in the story, and I did so through interviews he’s done with Grohl and CNN. Though, I thought it would be neat for the reader to check in and see at least one of those interviews. I believe it’s helpful as a visual element to accompany the source text.

TorStarCorp struggling in digital age: reports $169 million operating loss, 2015

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Photo credit: (MARK BLINCH/REUTERS)
Photo credit: (MARK BLINCH/REUTERS)

In their most recent financial report, TorStar Corp numbers show that the company’s operating profit fell significantly from $-72,000,000 in 2014 to $-169,000,000 in 2015 — meaning the overall value of the company’s assets is in fast decline.

Investors beware, it’s an uncertain and questionable time to have major shares in news corporations such as TorStarCorp; a time where the financial position of the company is up in the air due to falling revenue from print advertising, rising operating expenses and shrinking profit margins year-to-year.

With massive cuts and amalgamations by media organizations like PostMedia, Rogers and Bell media, it should be no surprise that the Toronto Star should follow suit. The operating profits at the corporation have fallen considerably within the last year alone — from $-72,000,000 to $-169,000,000, a 235% decrease.

TorStarCorp Stock Prices


Toronto Star (Torstar Corp.) Stock by CodyMacKay on TradingView.com

Source: TradingView

These figures not only depict a significant fall in the value of the company, but aid in the overall “firesale” of the Canadian news industry. The firesale being the mass liquidation of Canadian media organizations and deadliest factor in the information-gathering industry.

The concerning numbers should not be shocking to investors, when put in the context of what’s happening in the industry elsewhere in Canada, though they should start raising questions about the stability of one of Canada’s elite major news corporations.

Lorenzo DeMarchi, executive vice president and chief financial officer at TorStarCorp, understands the concern but is quick to contextualize the company’s fallen value to the Canada-wide market fall.

“It’s a decrease in the theoretical value or estimated value of your assets,” DeMarchi says. What he means is it’s not an actual dollar expense, it’s an invisible expense that means the company is worth much less than what it was last year. It’s a decrease in the value of the company in a time where costs of production are rising and revenues are noticeably smaller.



Source: TorStarCorp Management’s Discussion and Analysis (Third Quarter Report, 2015).

“The numbers display the pressures on the newspapers industry. The value of the assets in the newspaper industry are worth much less,” he said. “The readership is still quite strong, what really has been effected is digital advertising. We are trying to figure out the digital future.”

DeMarchi’s final point is one that echoes throughout the news industry, one heard all too well by other major organizations facing mass layoffs and significant cuts to media production due to the switch to digital mediums.

The move to digital, he admits, was the largest motivating factor behind the launch of their tablet app, Star Touch, as an attempt to stay relevant and adapt in recent times.

Ian Lee, market strategist and business professor at Carleton University, reinforces DeMarchi’s point. Lee says TorStarCorp’s questionable statistics are not unique to the company, but a reflection of the downturn of the news industry across the nation.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/markets/stocks/summary/?q=TS.B%20-T
Stock summary of TorStarCorp by Globe and Mail Markets.

“It’s the emergence or shift from a print model or physical to the digitization of everything,” Lee said. This is a transformation, Lee says, that is obvious when looking at the significantly fallen operating profit margins for TorStarCorp.

Specifically, Lee says, this severe spiral affects post offices, deconstructs print media and all manner of business in the print industry, particularly advertising.

“These transformations are drivers of change. They aren’t necessarily inside the industry, but they are, in fact, forcing corporations to respond to these drivers of change outside the industry.”

Lee says the financial growing-pains that TorStarCorp and other organizations are going through are the same trends that have been dissolving the industry for the last five years, they’re just becoming much more obvious.

For TorStarCorp, and other media organizations in Canada, these fast-falling numbers point to one clear concept: adapt — and adapt quickly.