http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXXZRS-CjJM
-----------------
CANADA MILITARY- Wearing Red 2da- Videos-Nato Troops-158- In Honour Nato troops- Videos honour-God Bless
http://nova0000scotia.blogspot.ca/2013/07/proud-canadian-soldier-reveille-httpwww.html
-------------------------
Canada Dollar Rises as Sales Data Signal Faster Economic Growth
By Cecile Gutscher - Jul 18, 2013 4:04 PM ET Facebook Share Tweet LinkedIn Google +1 1 Comment
Print QUEUEQ
The Canadian dollar rose against all of its 16 most-traded peers, drawing strength from a government report pointing to a revival of economic growth.
The loonie, as the currency is nicknamed, erased a loss against its U.S. counterpart after wholesale sales rose at the fastest pace in more than two years in May, reaching a record on sales of fertilizer and food. The currency weakened yesterday after Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz said the nation’s economy has significant slack and inflation remains muted, pushing back the potential for an interest-rate increase. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said curtailing the U.S. central bank’s asset purchases remains linked to indications of economic improvement.
“Wholesale sales suggest there could be a bit of an upside to the rather soft expectations people had for growth in the second quarter,” Greg T. Moore, a currency strategist at Toronto-Dominion Bank, said in a telephone interview.
---------------------
CANADA- CHOCOLATE PRICE FIXING
‘Too sweet pricing deal’ puts chocolate giants in the dock
07/06 15:12 CET
Play/stop Video
Canadian competition regulators have charged two of the world’s biggest chocolate makers – Nestle and Mars – with price fixing there.
The Canadian arm of US company Hershey was also accused of involvement.
Canada’s Competition Bureau said Hershey has reported the alleged offences, cooperated with the investigation and would plead guilty to a single count of price fixing in return for a promise of lenient treatment .
Top bosses of Mars and Nestle have been charged along with the head of ITWAL Limited, a national network of independent wholesale distributors in Canada.
All said they will “vigorously defend” themselves against the allegations.
This all follows a five year long investigation which has resulted in Hershey, Mars and Nestle reaching previous legal settlements in civil class action suits.
A similar class-action suit in the United States is still making its way through a Pennsylvania court.
-----------------------
CHANNEL ASIA NEWS
In Canada, growth is expected to be "choppy in the near term, owing to unusual temporary factors," the bank said.
Despite ongoing competitiveness challenges, Canadian exports are projected to "gather momentum," which in turn will boost confidence and lead to more business investment, it said.
The Canadian economy will also be supported by continued growth in consumer spending, while a bit less is expected to be spent on new homes.
---------
---------------
Alex Colville Canada's Leading Realist Painter Dies In Nova Scotia
DATE: 17 JUL 2013
The realist painter's painter Alex Colville, whose scenes of everyday life made him one of the best loved Canadian artists of the 20/21 centuries, has died at the age of 92. Colville was considered by many to be Canada's leading artist with some of his work hitting the $1m mark at auction.
Alex Colville's was born in Toronto in 1920. His work bore more of an affinity to the American Precisionists of the 1930s like Edward Hopper, Grant Wood and Thomas Hart Benton than to the later hyper-realist genre of painting. His perfected compositions were based on an abundance of sketches and studies that were first brought into an abstract, geometric scheme. The drawings were made from the live model and proportioned according to the planned format. Only then did the slow and patient process of painting begin. Layer upon layer of thinned paint was applied to a primed wooden panel, and the opaque surface finally sealed with transparent lacquer. The process often took months to produce.(1)
Colville devoted intensive study to European painting. According to him, it took him many years to digest the impressions gained during two days spent in the Louvre. Yet he has also been deeply impressed by the American Luminists. Colville’s paintings were proof of the fact that a realism of content need have nothing in common with naturalism, that the serious realist did not unthinkingly reflect reality, but analyses it. It is this analytical cast of mind, Colville was convinced, that permits him to discover “myths of mundanity” — on the banks of the River Spree, by the seaside, in the circus, at sports events, on a boat or a highway, in a meadow or a swimming pool, in a telephone booth or a bedroom. Colville insisted that the mythical aspect of everyday life is not reserved for authors of the secular rank of a James Joyce, but that the contemporary painter can have access to is as well.(2)
Colville’s silent images were always static. Yet practically all of them told a story, in a brief, concise plot that didn't always have a resolution. Fundamental human situations were their both simple and complex themes: loneliness, isolation, parting, work, leisure, estrangement, love. The only subliminally dramatic, often melancholy laconism of content corresponded to the absolute precision of form by which it was conveyed. Like hardly another artist, Colville maintained the difficult balance between imagination and sober calculation, formal interest and social commitment. Behind the realistic surface of his imagery lurked the surreal – but a surreal that lacked every trace of theatrical staging or borrowing from psychoanalysis, whose new myths Colville deeply mistrusts. (3)
“No other modern painter was so unconscious of prevailing fashion and so indifferent to what’s new in the art world,” literary critic John Bayley said of Colville in his book “Elegy for Iris.” His son, Graham,, said his father passed away Tuesday at his home in Wolfville, N.S.
(1,2,3 Based on Art of the Twentieth Century, ed.) Ingot. Walther. Vol. I Taschen, Koln,
------------------------
Published on Jul 13, 2013
Canadian Forces Infantry Patrol near Kandahar Airfield
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noUxUofaFYQ
-------------------------
NOVA SCOTIA- Come and visit- Jun 26- Nova Scotia music baby- this year Nova Scotia’s Cape Breton Celtic Colours will be joined by the Nordic brothers and sisters of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Shetland/NOVA SCOTIA- Mi’kmaq, Black Loyalists, Acadians, Scots, Irish, Jamaica, Africa, China, India, German, Japan, Dutch – over 200 cultures and 2 official languages- French (Acadian)-English- come visit…CANADA PURE
http://nova0000scotia.wordpress.com/2013/06/26/nova-scotia-come-and-visit-jun-26-nova-scotia-music-baby-this-year-nova-scotias-cape-breton-celtic-colours-will-be-joined-by-the-nordic-brothers-and-sisters-of-denmark-norway-sweden-finland/
---------------------------
Saudi Gazette
OPINION
Canadian Muslims embrace Ramadan
Last updated: Thursday, July 18, 2013 6:20 PM
Mohammed Azhar Ali Khan
Canadian Muslims are embracing Ramadan with particular gratitude this year, because they escaped a possible disaster before the advent of the holy month.
Muslims had joined their fellow citizens of other faiths all over the country to celebrate Canada Day. In Ottawa, the Muslim Coordinating Council of the National Capital Region - which includes Shia, Sunni, women’s, youth and ethnic organizations from the Afar to Yemenis - arranged a picnic to bring Muslim families together to jointly enjoy Canada Day in a park. Federal, provincial and city politicians joined more than 500 Muslims, many of them children, as they had fun.
Then came the chilling news that police had foiled a terrorist plot in British Columbia. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police stated that John Stewart Nuttall, 38, and his spouse Amanda Marie Korody, about 30, had sought to set off an explosion to cause mayhem among the more than 40,000 people enjoying festivities, concerts, dancing and fireworks on the legislature’s lawns.
Nuttall reportedly converted to Islam two years ago, as did Korody. Their conversion was a riddle. They had been drug addicts, had had brushes with the law and were often on social welfare. Their motivation also seemed weird. They were reportedly upset by the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan.
But Canada did not attack Iraq. It did join the coalition’s war in Afghanistan but contributed to building roads, schools, etc. and ended its combat role. In any case Canadians protesting against a policy can express their opposition democratically and through their vote.
Furthermore, injuring or killing innocent human beings is totally against Islamic teachings. So why would converts violate a fundamental principle of their new faith?
The BC Muslim Association was shocked. “It creates this ill feeling in your stomach. Here we go again,” said president Musa Ismail. “We do not know these people, we’ve never seen these people. We are proud Canadians. These two individuals have nothing to do with Islam, as far as we know.”
Ismail was puzzled by the RCMP’s statement that the accused were inspired by Al-Qaeda. He said that Al-Qaeda’s actions contradict Islam and it is unfair to connect such actions to Islam.
BC Premier Christy Clark told the Legislature: “We will not let suspicion darken our hearts. Instead we will remain open-hearted, depending on one another, trusting in one another and we will not be seized by anger.”
Most Canadian commentators refused to link Nuttall and Korody to Islamic teachings or to the Muslim community. However, Federal Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, while applauding law enforcement agencies, reiterated that “terrorism continued to be a real threat to Canada.”
Most Canadians would agree, given that there have been several terrorist plots by Muslims in recent years in Canada. In April Chiheb Essaghaier and Ahmed Abbasi, former students in Quebec, were arrested for allegedly planning to derail VIA Rail to cause deaths and injuries. Raed Jaser of Toronto had been arrested for a similar terrorism plot. There were also others.
Most Muslim organizations have strongly denounced such alleged plots. Such groups have been working with RCMP and other Canadian authorities to promote better cooperation and to thwart violent tendencies. Most imams also are conducting active dialogue with youth and students and they regularly emphasize that Islam strongly prohibits destructive acts and encourages good citizenship and that serving their country and countrymen is a religious duty.
This is not a difficult message to send. Muslims of all ages see Islam as a religion of peace and tolerance and they are also deeply attached to Canada as a democratic, welcoming country. But some are angered by Canada’s joining the Afghan war, as the case of the converts shows.
Muhammad Robert Heft, a convert who heads the Paradise Forever Islamic Center in Toronto, says it is important to teach converts true Islamic values lest they become overzealous or get misguided by zealots. Canada has over a million Muslims. Even though only a few have attempted terrorism, the Muslim community recognizes that such attempts violate Islamic teachings, tarnish Islam’s image and harm the entire Muslim community and Canada.
In Ramadan, in particular, Muslim organizations such as the Islamic Council of North America, Human Concern International, Islamic Relief Canada, International Development and Relief Foundation and Muslim food banks throughout the country are providing food to people of all faiths through shelters, food banks and other agencies. Many Muslim organizations have arranged community iftars where they welcome Muslims and people of other faiths.
Last year Toronto lawyer Ziyaad Mia decided to give the coffee money he saved during fasting to the needy. This caught on and $40,000 was given to the Daily Bread Food Bank of Toronto. Now the movement is spreading to other cities.
Canadian Muslims are keenly aware that though they have problems, they are minor compared to those many other people face. In the blessed month of Ramadan when reward for good deeds is multiplied manifold, they want to assist their brothers in humanity in Canada and elsewhere.
— Mohammed Azhar Ali Khan is a retired Canadian journalist, civil servant and refugee judge.
http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentid=20130719173987
--------------------------
LITTLE MOSQUE ON THE PRAIRIE- MADE IN CANADA
Little Mosque on the Prairie
TV series
5.9/10-IMDb
7.9/10-TV.com
Little Mosque on the Prairie is a Canadian sitcom that aired on CBC, created by Zarqa Nawaz and produced by WestWind Pictures. It was filmed in Toronto, Ontario and Indian Head, Saskatchewan. Wikipedia
First episode: January 9, 2007
Final episode: April 2, 2012
Theme song: Little Mosque on the Prairie Ending Theme Song
Program creator: Zarqa Nawaz
Network: CBC Television
CNN Report on Muslim TV Sitcom
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uT-StoCB7k
COMMENT:
Lucailey 5 years ago
Can we say All In The Family. This is just the show we need to show us how laughably stupid racism is. C'mon the year is 2008 we need to be beyond racism by now.
-----------------------
Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz ibn Abdullah Al-Asheikh
By MUHAMMAD HUMAIDAN | ARAB NEWS
Published: Apr 8, 2011 19:05 Updated: Apr 8, 2011 20:41
JEDDAH: Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh has strongly warned against maltreating women in any form and said this is totally against Islam.
In his Friday sermon at Imam Turki bin Abdullah Mosque in Riyadh, the mufti said only bad people treat women badly.
"The psychological or physical abuse of wives, daughters and sisters is against the Islamic Shariah and the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)," he said.
Al-Asheikh warned husbands and fathers who take the salaries of their wives and daughters that they are committing anti-Islamic acts.
"The fathers who make it a condition to have their daughters' salaries before they give their consent for marriage are equally wrong. Husbands who force their working wives to share in home expenses are committing erroneous acts. Islam made it the responsibility of the man to spend on the house," he told the worshippers.
The mufti also said it is haram (forbidden in Islam) when husbands ask their wives who request divorce to return the dowry before they consent to divorce. He also said burdening women with bank loans and letting them suffer the payment of installments is equally haram.
The mufti said polygamy, which is allowed by Islam under the condition of being just and fair, is not a loose right. "The first wife should have all her rights," he said.
He also warned against relying on matchmakers who draw a bright picture of the groom who may turn out in the end to be an unethical and irresponsible man.
"Matchmakers should convey a true picture of the groom and the bride," he said.
The mufti asked people to make the Prophet a role model in his treatment of women, citing a number of Hadiths that the Prophet never maltreated women.
"The Prophet was completely refined in the treatment of his wives, daughter and other Muslim women," he said.
The Prophet has said: "The best of you are the best to their wives; and I am the best to my wives."
The Ministry of Social Affairs has toll free telephone numbers in several cities and towns for women to report cases of violence against them.
------------------------
Karzai's Jirga Receives Strong Opposition From the Senators
TOLOnews.com By Rafi Sideqi 17 July 2013
On Tuesday, Afghan Senators said that by holding a Jirga, President Karzai is circumventing the National Assembly in an uncostitutional way. The Senators asked President Karzai to work to solve the problems of the country through the National Assembly and not Jirgas.
------------
GOOD 4 NDP PARTY OF NOVA SCOTIA 4 BELIEVING IN 2ND CHANCES- inmates helping disabled folks and animals (who have no homes) and disabled folks.... and also rebuilding old bikes 4 kids who have nothing.... that's so great....
Funding for inmate recycle, puppy programs approved
AARON BESWICK TRURO BUREAU
abeswick@herald.ca @CH_ABeswick
Funding was announced Thursday for two programs that aim to help rehabilitate provincial inmates while als o aiding the community.
Justice Minister Ross Landry announced the province wou ld provide $60,000 to keep the Working on Our Futures program operating for another year.
The program teams inmates with dogs under the care of the Nova Scotia SPCA.
In the past year, 12 inmates have spent large portions of their days at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Dartmouth helping to socialize some 70 puppies that were then put up for adoption .
“You can’t put people in jail and then expect them to be different when they get out if you don’t do something different with them," Landry said Thursday.
“The inmate in an institution has emotional needs and desires, and by working with these dogs, the dogs become socialized, but it also helps humanize the inmate."
Some $40,000 was also announced for the Re-Cycle program, which sees inmates fixing up damaged or abandoned bicycles that police agencies collect or are donated to the program.
Those bicycles will then be turned over to children in need around Nova Scotia.
“Initial evaluation of the program has been very positive," said Capt. John Landry, a guard at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility.
“The staff at the facility report improved offender behaviour and reduced tension in the day rooms where the program is held, which is a win-win for the o ffenders, the staff and the puppies."
While Progressive Conservative Leader Jaimie Baillie acknowledged that such programs may be “good," he said Thursday that the NDP government should concentrate on bigger issues.
http://www.imdb.com/media/rm48534272/tt0289791
Within These Walls (TV) More at IMDbPro »
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0289791/
Enjoyable TV-movie
Author: americangrl14 from USA
21 November 2001
Within These Walls was a good way to spend 2 hours. It is one of the better made-for-TV movies I have seen in a long time. Although it may not be true to the facts, I did find it to be uplifting and encouraging. The idea of inmates training dogs was not new to me, but seeing it brought to life was cool. I am glad to know that some inmates out there are finding new purpose, dogs are being saved and handicapped people are getting helped (even if it is only a few).
Joan is a hardened, emotionless criminal. Most of the other prisoners seem to be afraid of her and just leave her alone. Sister Pauline is a nun with a complicated past who wants to get a program started at the womens' prison where the inmates will train dogs for the handicapped. She believes it is a win-win-win situation. It takes a little work to convince the warden, but eventually she, as well as the female guard responsible for supervising the project, are fully on board. A lot of human drama among Sister Pauline and the women training the dogs takes place, as well. We quickly see many little ways in which the activity is changing all their lives.
All that said, Ellen Burstyn is, as she always is, the glue that holds this piece together. The woman can act! She can play anything. This time, uncharacteristically, she is playing a rather unpleasant and unlikable (at least initially) character, Joan Thomas. Ms. Burstyn is aided nicely by Laura Dern (as Sister Pauline), never one of my particular favorites, but effective here. The actresses playing the guard, warden, and the other two dog-training prisoners are also quite capable.
I like the way that we get to find out bits and pieces at a time about Joan's and Pauline's pasts and why they are the way they are. We aren't just smacked over the head with it constantly. The filmmakers did a nice job of interspersing the dog training scenes with the scenes of interaction among the women. I felt like I was going through the emotional highs and lows with them. Ellen Burstyn has an uncanny ability to rip my heart out just by the look in her eyes, and she does it again in Within These Walls.
------------------------------
NHL players to compete at 2014 Sochi Olympics
Canada won gold at 2010 Vancouver Games
---------------------------------
We'll feed the world- there are more farms every year- new wineres, young folks steppin up to Nova Scotia
BUSINESS IN NOVA SCOTIA-
Feds kick in $3.3m to expand canola, soybean farming
July 17, 2013 - 7:13pm By REMO ZACCAGNA Business Reporter
Atlantic Canada could one day be known as much for canola and soybean yields as it is for potatoes and other agricultural products.
“Canola wasn’t always a big crop in Western Canada,” said Rory Francis, president of the non-profit Eastern Canada Oilseeds Development Alliance.
“As long as you put the right conditions in the market together with the right agronomics and the right research, it’s a big opportunity for this part of the world.”
The Charlottetown non-profit organization will undertake research this year to find varieties of the crops that will be conducive to Atlantic Canadian soil and climate conditions, and study how to get them to domestic and international markets.
To help in that endeavour, the federal government announced a $3.3-million investment Wednesday at a news conference held on the rooftop patio of the Halifax Seaport Farmers’ Market.
It is the third year in a row the government has provided funding to the alliance for its research projects, coming in at more than $7 million combined.
With the global population predicted to increase by two to three billion people by 2050, demand for food sources is expected to skyrocket, creating opportunities for farmers, said federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz.
In particular, Ritz said the soybean sector is “one of the fastest-growing opportunities for agriculture here in Atlantic Canada.”
“The Chinese market, alone, is taking several billion dollars worth of canola oil, but there is still growing demand in Europe for (non-genetically modified) canola,” he said in an interview.
“This is an ideal opportunity to get it in the ground here.”
According to Francis, canola production in Atlantic Canada increased by more than 305 per cent over the last several years, and now covers 56,400 hectares. Farm cash receipts now total
$45 million.
Exports of food-grade soybeans from Canadian farmers are valued at more than $50 million annually.
And all that comes at a time when canola prices are increasing.
“The profit margin on producing canola is very good right now,” Francis said. “The prices are good, the prices are strong, and (also) with soybeans. Oilseeds, in general, globally, the demand has been on the upswing, so that creates opportunities.”
Much of the alliance’s research will be focused on how to fit canola in the potato rotation so that farmers have a profitable alternative in years when potato yields are expected to be low.
“That has to be well done, well thought through, so that growers know with confidence how to fit these crops and this profit opportunity into their rotations,” Francis said.
“It’s always been the holy grail in how do we have a crop that’s compatible with potatoes and yet we make money in those years.”
The alliance will also look at understanding what the qualities of the oils are going to be and how they will differ from Western Canadian ones, because the climate and soils are different.
“It’s not just growing crops,” Francis said. “It’s really getting serious about understanding the biochemistry of the crops because that’s what the market is interested in as well.”
The alliance will examine ways to make the region a bigger player in European and Asian markets for food-grade soybeans and high-quality canola, and how to get the product there.
“How do we use the Port Authority and grain elevators here in Halifax to our advantage to make sure we’re getting the products to export markets successfully or to crushers in Quebec,” Francis said.
Alvin Keenan, president of the Prince Edward Island Federation of Agriculture, welcomed the funding.
“It’s extremely positive,” Keenan said. “I mean, … these are relatively new crops for Prince Edward Island and Atlantic Canada, and we need the research to help us develop varieties, so the growers can be more sustainable and help us learn how, in a rotation with other crops, … they work.”
---------------------
ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE
Solar boat catches double takes in Halifax
July 18, 2013 - 3:00pm By SELENA ROSS Staff Reporter
The MS Turanor PlanetSolar makes stop as part of scientific voyage
------------------------
MORE FARMS.... STARTING IN NOVA SCOTIA- ATLANTIC CANADA
A tough row to hoe for newbies
Beginning farmers face many unexpected hurdles but ‘we don’t regret a second’
EDUCATION REPORTER FRANCES WILLICK fwillick@herald.ca @CH_Frances
The property looked so idyllic when they bought it — the rolling hills, the fringe of trees, the 200-year-old farmhouse.
It was the very picture of tranquil, rural Nova Scotia life.
Martin McGurk and Gordon Tingley made the leap in 2 009, purchasing the property in Bear River, selling their Vancouver condominium and later moving across the country to chase their dream of living closer to nature and starting up a farm.
The two men settled on growing lavender as their primary crop. A low-cost choice, they thought, since it doesn’t require irrigation or s oil amendments. Plus, deer don’t like it, so there would be no need for a fence, they reasoned.
Hindsight has taught them a few less ons.
They soon discovered that their fields were full of natural springs.
“And lavender hates water," McGurk says.
That beautiful green fringe of trees? Hawthorns.
“They’ll take out a $200 tractor tire. The thorns can be four inches long ."
And that’s not even mentioning the rocks.
“Oh my gosh, rocks like you wouldn’t believe," McGurk says, as though they have been haunting his dreams for years. “Every year, you’re breaking a tiller blade on the rocks."
McGurk and Tingley’s entry into small-scale farming may have been rocky, but they have no regrets.
The pair now run Sledding Hill, a farm-based company that sells syrups, sugars, jellies and soap made from their primary crops, lavender and cayenne peppers.
“We don’t regret a second of it," McGurk says. “Both of us have the philosophy that if there’s one thing that feels worse than failure, it’s regret for not having tried something. We don’t want to have those regrets."
Next week, the two farmers will gather with more than 100 of their kind to share what they have learned and get a few pointers of their own .
Aspiring and established farmers from across Nova Scotia will meet on Monday in Bear River to teach and learn about everything from sheep shearing to flower production to pastured pork.
Event organizer Becky Sooksom says a 2011 agricultural census showed that Nova Scotia was the only province that had a growing number of farmers.
“We were seeing that a lot of beginning farmers are starting small-scale farms . . . and that there was a strong need among that group for training."
Sooksom says the fourth annual event, Celebration of Small-Scale Farming, is an ideal way for farmers to share their knowledge and for wannabe farmers to test the waters.
“For people with no farm experience or little farm exp erience to learn from another farmer who they know has b een in the trenches . . . there’s just nothing that beats that as an educational experience."
Despite mistakes early on, McGurk says support from other farmers has been invaluable.
“We would have made a thousand more if it hadn’t been for the advice and direction we got from other farmers."
He puts his teaching hat on for a moment and o ffers this advice to novices or thos e considering starting a farm:
• “ Take a long-term view. Don’t get discouraged if you make a mistake or something fails."
• “ Have a Plan B and C."
• “ Make sure you’re having fun. Because if you’re not having fun, I would say stop. It’s not going to get easier."
Admission to the con ference is $20, or $15 for students and farm interns. More information can be found at novascotia.ca/agri/cssf/.
------------------------
------------------
TAYLOR: Hopes rise for bees in N.S.
July 18, 2013 - 8:01pm By ROGER TAYLOR Business Columnist
Bees in Nova Scotia seem to be making a comeback of sorts.
There were 60 new beekeepers registered with the province this year alone, says Joanne Moran, bee health adviser with the provincial Agriculture Department. That brings the total number of Nova Scotia beekeepers to about 250.
Many of those new beekeepers have taken up the practice as a hobby, but Moran believes it may be a sign of the growing awareness of the importance of bees and a desire among people to become involved.
She estimates there are 19,000 to 20,000 hives in Nova Scotia, with about 50,000 bees in each hive during the summer peak.
Farmers rely on bees to pollinate their crops, so any sign the bee population may be in trouble has negative implications for Nova Scotia’s multibillion-dollar agricultural sector.
The bee mortality rate this spring averaged about 17 per cent, down from a few difficult years that had an average mortality rate of about 35 per cent, says Moran. It is an improvement, but that still isn’t the 12 to 15 per cent mortality rate for bees that “over-wintered” in Nova Scotia about 10 years ago.
The lack of an extended cold spell last winter probably worked to the bees’ advantage, Moran says. That and the fact that bee experts are finding better ways to battle the parasitic varroa mite.
It has caused damage to the bee population and has been a major industry concern, Moran says.
Most importantly, beekeepers are learning how to maintain strong bee colonies, especially heading into winter. The healthier the bees, the stronger the colony and the better chance the bees will be able to battle the mite and winter weather, says Moran.
During the cold months, the bees huddle together and create a ball that will feed off a frame in the hive. Once the food runs out, the cluster will move on to another frame, Moran says. But if the weather is too cold, the bees won’t be able to move and will starve.
Sierra Club Canada says heavy pesticide use is to blame for bee kills, especially in Ontario. The environmental group is pressing political leaders to ban pesticide use.
The organization has singled out Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, also the agriculture minister, and has asked her to raise the pesticide issue at the annual meeting of federal, provincial and territorial agriculture ministers today in Halifax.
While aware of the pesticide issue in other provinces, Moran says it doesn’t appear to be a major concern for Nova Scotia beekeepers. There have not been any reports of extraordinary losses “for any reason” in this province.
Dave Sangster, executive director of the Wild Blueberry Producers Association of Nova Scotia, says his membership relies heavily on bees to pollinate the crop. Sangster says wild blueberry producers harvest about 18 million kilograms of blueberries annually, but he fears the crop will be “a little light” this year.
Poor weather in early June meant the bees weren’t active and the pollination period wasn’t as successful as it previously has been.
There is a growing demand for bees, Sangster says, because more blueberry farms are being created. The last two years, blueberry growers have been allowed to import Ontario bees to help with pollination. This year, about 5,000 hives were imported to Nova Scotia, Sangster says.
Although the honeybees are an important part of the blueberry business, he says the growers rely on all kinds of pollinating insects, and some growers have started importing the bumblebee to do some of the work, especially in early spring.
“The bumblebee seems to be a little heartier than the other bees and moves around more in the damp weather.”
Blueberries have become an important food export for Nova Scotia, with the frozen product being shipped around the world. For those interested in learning more, the association will be hosting its annual field day Saturday at its Debert headquarters on Dakota Road.
Any beekeeper with more than 50 hives is considered a commercial operator. Moran says keepers make their money by renting their bees to farmers during the pollination period and then harvesting the honey, and some sell beehives to help supplement their income.
--------------------------------
Nova Scotia MP believes wineries hold key to a revitalized future
JANE TABER
HALIFAX — The Globe and Mail
Suzanne and Doug Corkum produce 5,000 cases of wine every year from the grapes they grow on 25 acres in Nova Scotia’s verdant Annapolis Valley. Yet the Sainte-Famille winemakers, who are one of the producers of Tidal Bay, Nova Scotia’s premier white wine, can’t keep up with demand.
So they’re making an offer on a nearby piece of land that will help them expand their harvest – and hopefully double production. Ms. Corkum, who first planted Marechal Foch grapes in 1980, says they need more fruit.
video
Video: Tasting Canadian organic wine
Canada Competes
Video: Selling wine in China means battling counterfeits
It’s a good problem and not one unique to the Corkums. Every grape grown in the province is used; the 12 grape wineries can’t keep their wine on the shelves. The industry needs an injection of entrepreneurial energy and expertise.
Enter Scott Brison, the Liberal MP for the area, and a commission tasked by the Dexter government with figuring out how to halt the hollowing out of rural communities as industry, jobs and young people move to cities – a Canada-wide trend. Mr. Brison thinks the commission should focus on the small communities that dot the Annapolis Valley, with the wine industry the catalyst to growth.
If he has his way, a targeted influx of immigrants from the economically depressed winemaking countries of Europe – Spain, Portugal, Italy and even France – will “turbo-charge” the viticulture industry.
“The idea here is to build critical mass in the Nova Scotia wine industry and to take it to another level while at the same time bring in more immigrants – to revitalize our rural communities with the influx of new and productive immigrants,” Mr. Brison says.
Although he acknowledges his idea needs a lot more study, he sees it being modelled on a similar program used just after the Second World War, in which the Nova Scotia and federal governments collaborated to bring Dutch farmers to work underutilized land.
“There was an opportunity to acquire or in some cases lease the land at the time – and the same could be said today,” Mr. Brison says.
Winemaking skills are easily transferrable, even across the Atlantic Ocean. And there is historical precedent: In the late 1800s, when most vines in Europe were destroyed by pests, winemakers left France in search of fertile, vermin-free ground. That’s how Chile’s wine industry was born.
“We need fresh blood and it’s not just enough to bring them here, there has to be something for them to do,” Mr. Brison says. “It’s worth a try.”
Mr. Brison hopes specific ideas like his – not just generalities – will make their way into the commission’s interim report, due out in April. The commission is consulting across the province now.
Ray Ivany, the chair of the Building Our New Economy commission and president of Acadia University, is intrigued. Like Mr. Brison, he believes Nova Scotia’s traditional industries – fishing, farming and forestry – could be tweaked in ways that add economic value. “There’s an idea that has merit in that it represents a different trajectory,” he says.
He notes, for example, that trap-caught shrimp [as opposed to the less environmentally sound practice of trawling] from Guysborough County sells in Toronto at a premium price because it is from a sustainable fishery.
“You are drawing on all that knowledge, all of that traditional, cultural understanding of the sea and fishing, applying it in a different way and creating more wealth,” Mr. Ivany says.
Immigration will be an important ingredient in the commission’s success, Mr. Ivany says. So will attracting and keeping entrepreneurs.
One commissioner, John Bragg, made his fortune growing blueberries in tiny Oxford, in northern Nova Scotia. His business has attracted young professionals to his head office in the rural area, although he says they could find jobs anywhere in the world. He believes it’s the lifestyle – no commuting or parking issues, a good school, and amenities like a golf course and ski hill nearby – that keeps them there.
“I have this theory that we can do a tremendous amount in rural Nova Scotia working one town at a time,” Mr. Bragg says. “And I take that from the leader of Walmart, who was asked, ‘How do you run [your stores]?’ … and he says, ‘I have no idea. We just run them one at a time – and we run them well one at a time.’ ”
Mr. Bragg and Mr. Ivany both point to the Cape Breton village of Inverness, where golf entrepreneur Ben Cowan-Dewar built a golf course, created jobs and revitalized a struggling community.
“Ben is doing something [former Liberal cabinet minister and senator from Cape Breton] Allan MacEachen worked at for 50 years, to try and bring some life to that community – and he’s doing it,” Mr. Bragg says. “Ten years ago, people would say there would be no hope for it [the community].”
Nick Jennery, head of the Winery Association of Nova Scotia, shares Mr. Brison’s view that it’s all about critical mass. This week, his association released figures showing the industry contributes $200-million annually to the Nova Scotia economy. In 2011, 1,264 tonnes of grapes were harvested, compared to 56 tonnes in 1987. And there’s room to grow. He says investors and wine growers from Ontario, Atlantic Canada – and Europe – are all welcome.
“We don’t have enough,” he says. “We can’t grow enough.”
--------------------------------
PETER MACKAY IS CANADA'S NEW MINISTER OF JUSTICE- HELL YEAH!!!!!
Peter MacKay Kian MacKay Nazanin Afshin-Jam MacKay
ONE BILLION RISING- WE REMEMBER- Breaking the chains of abuse globally-
We remember and globally standing up against the systemic abuse of girls, boys and women, padeophiles, the monsters who continue 2 slither under the laws meant 2 protect the innocent- WELL GUESS WHAT FOLKS.... VICTIMS MATTER..... IN CANADA WE MATTER...
Married to a monster 'Life with Billy' and the story of Jane Hurshman
http://janestafford.blogspot.ca/2007/12/janes-life-with-billy-1.html
----------------
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.