Canada: Nova Scotia exports up 50 per cent in first half of 2014: APEC report - by Kelly Shiers

Nova Scotia’s economy has been buoyed by gains in export sectors, despite factors such as weakening employment and retail spending and a slowdown in home construction being felt across the entire region, says a report released Wednesday.

“In general, it’s a pretty soft economy across the region, including in Nova Scotia,” said Fred Bergman, senior analyst with the Atlantic Provinces Economic Council.

“Nova Scotia benefited from strong growth in natural gas exports. … Part of it was from Deep Panuke being on stream this year and also the Sable Project producing at a higher level.”

In its economic update for the region, the think-tank said total exports in Nova Scotia increased 50 per cent from January to May.

There has also been an increase in lobster and wood pulp exports.

Lobster fishery exports increased by 43 per cent to May of this year, compared to the same period in 2013. While the United States is the largest importer by far, there are growing sales to Asia over the past five years.
Sales will benefit from weekly shipments of live lobster from Halifax Stanfield International Airport via Korean Air that began May 25 and are expected to continue to the end of August, the report says.


Read more: Nova Scotia exports up 50 per cent in first half of 2014: APEC report | The Chronicle Herald

Sweden to request EU and WTO to impose ban on unregulated import and sale of live lobster from US and Canada

The American lobster

Sweden will apply to the European Commission and the World Trade Organization to impose a ban on the unregulated import and sales of live American lobster from the United States and Canada.

The Swedish government hopes to enact the ban by next summer, with Norway and other neighboring countries to follow Sweden’s lead. An exemption for importers who have a closed system for boiling lobsters is being included.

The proposal lists three major reasons for the ban: American lobster (Homarus americanus) carries several contagious diseases that could spread to native populations of European lobster; American lobster is a hardy species that can travel long distances and can compete for food and shelter with the native European lobster; and there is a risk of hybridization with native European lobster, which may result in negative genetic effects with consequences for Swedish and other European stocks.

The EU Commission is currently developing a proposal for an EU Invasive Species Strategy. It is unclear whether the proposal will include new import restrictions. It is also uncertain whether the American lobster will be included in any list of invasive species.

Individual member states may not restrict trade and the spreading of invasive alien species based on current regulations for Plant Protection, Animal Health and Welfare and Use of Species in Aquaculture.

However, in 2003 Sweden succeeded in implementing a ban on live freshwater crayfish based on the Species Protection Ordinance that regulates entry of live freshwater crayfish in Swedish legislation and was approved by the EU Commission.

EU-Digest

ChronicleHerald.ca Now, America is everyone’s promised land - by Jim Meek

For the complete report from the ChronicleHerald.ca click on this link

Now, America is everyone’s promised land - by Jim Meek

A century ago, most of the summer people traveled here ( Canada, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia) from south of the border. This week, all eyes were looking southward. How could any nation, even a wildly unpredictable one like the United States, produce a Sarah Palin and a Barack Obama in the same election campaign? In response to the crisis, Obama may well attempt to emulate one of his heroes, Franklin D. Roosevelt, who regulated the financial and banking industries during the Depression. With Roosevelt and Lincoln as his presidential ancestors, Obama has steep monuments to climb. And as if that doesn’t make his job tough enough, he also has to carry the legacies of Martin Luther King Jr. and Muhammad Ali. At least that’s my crackpot theory.