Thursday, June 08, 2006
CANADIAN ARMY LOOKING FOR DRUG DEALERS IN FREDERICTON!!!
Minutes ago, I heard someone in the alley way. I stretched my arm outside and took this picture. They're lucky that I wasn't a sniper in Afghanistan???
Comments section is now working...
Blogger has been having a lot of problems lately. Maybe it's time to start my own little website? I got people ready to step forward with money to do it but we'll wait and see?
WILL ATLANTICA COME DOWN TO THIS???
I don't believe so because New Brunswickers are pasive people.
I believe that everything will be ok but one thing is certain! I'll be right in the middle of the action with my camera taking pictures.
Stay tune in this blog for hourly updates!
If they don't arrest me first?....lol
HERE PAPER SUPPORTS ATLANTICA!!!! SURPRISE....SURPRISE...SURPRISE...
Sure would have been nice to know how the HERE paper without having the Irvings as the owners would have handle ATLANTICA??? Sigh...We'll never know.....
More Atlantica Stories in HERE (Irving Owned Media)..
--
By Fern Bennett
Atlantica to the rescue...
Maybe yes...maybe no
Atlantica sounds like a city for super heroes, and according to some
that may just be the case. The Atlantica concept rose out of a sense of
injustice for eastern Canadian provinces and northern New England
states
due to economic prosperity coming to other parts of North America, but
eluding them. Its proponents are upset over the status quo and want to
do something about it. They claim that this geographical area's
problems
stem from being forced to trade on an east/west axis instead of a more
natural north/south direction simply because the area is carved up
between two different countries. Moreover, both areas have seen their
governments show greater favour to larger centres, in our case -
Ontario
and Quebec.
The advocates for Atlantica plan to come to our rescue, to bring
abundance and wealth. Sounds so good I could almost hug them. One
aspect
of the solution is to reconnect and strengthen networks between
Canadian
and American sides of Atlantica by proactively jumping on the
international globalization bandwagon, opening new markets on both
sides
of the border. While many business transactions occur over the
Internet,
goods still need to be physically moved from one place to another.
Therefore, the creation of a highway connecting Atlantica on a
north/south axis will enhance trade opportunities.
Moreover, developing the port in Halifax to handle Post-Panamax sized
cargo ships will shave a day's travel off European shipments to and
from
North America, giving this area an advantage. Maritime and Northeast
Pipeline has already forged a connecting network between the two
regions. (A network that takes Canadian resources into America for
production and distribution in the U.S.) Another weakness defined by
Atlantica proponents is what they term "public policy distress
factors,"
which are: 1. Size of government relative to the economy (a measure of
the burden the public sector places on the private economy) 2.
Government employment as a percentage of total state/provincial
employment (a measure of public sector efficiency) 3. Total government
revenue from own sources as a percentage of GDP (a measure of
dependence) 4. Minimum wage legislation (a measure of labour market
flexibility) 5. Union density (a measure of labor market flexibility)
(www.atlantica.org) I don't know about you, but items four and five
make
me very afraid. Not only do I no longer want to hug these supposed
saviours of eastern Canada, but I want to sound the alarm.
Current minimum wage legislation is woefully inadequate; however, it is
better than having no minimum wage at all. Do we really want to be able
to compete with places like China, and India if it means working longer
for less? Lower, or non-existent, wage laws may be a dream for the
business sector, but what about the majority of us who are working for
these businesses?
As for unions, how do we think labour laws favourable to the working
population came to be? It wasn't out of the benevolence of business
owners who decided one day that perhaps, shorter work-days/work-weeks,
higher pay, and benefits would make them sleep better at night.
While there are exceptions to the rule, generally speaking, business is
all about making money for business owners and shareholders. It's not a
holistic approach whereby corporate health and employee health are
accorded the same reverence.
Today, unions may have a bad name as some union leaders identify more
with company and personal interests than their fellow employees' needs.
Moreover, media tend to represent strikes in a negative light whereby
strikers are viewed as rebel rousers threatening the health of the
company. However, if it weren't for unions, where workers collectively
unite and withhold their labor, our working conditions would be more
reflective of sweat shop conditions one sees in the developing world.
It
would be better to band together and demand that their labor conditions
rise up to our standards than to have ours devolve toward theirs.
If you are a business owner you can welcome Atlantica with open arms,
but if you work for someone other than yourself "BEWARE" - the vultures
are hovering. The APCC are hosting a conference in Saint John from June
8-10 called "Reaching Atlantica: Business Without Boundaries."
Concurrently, "Resisting Atlantica" will also take place in Saint John.
Which side will win, has yet to be determined.
In a perfect world, they would both be winners because fair (not free)
trade could produce economic prosperity for both sides of the border,
and employees and business owners could share the benefits of business
prosperity.
One thing for sure, is that we cannot count on our government to step
in
and protect the public's interest, not because the government has
forgotten its role, but because government has been co-opted by
capitalism. Politicians bow to corporate pressures because of favours
owed for financial support, and because they have bought into the myth
that what's good for business is always good for people. Saint John is
in need of superheroes, but only if those heroes regard people as
dearly
as they regard profit.
Comments welcome at: t184u@yahoo.ca
THE IRVINGS ARE BEGINING TO BRAINWASH THE READERS ABOUT ATLANTICA!!!
NB Telegraph-Journal | Provincial News
As published on page A1/A2 on June 8, 2006
Atlantica: Back to the future
Vision for new trade bloc harkens to history
Click to zoom (Provincial Archives of New Brunswiick)
Scene at the foot of King Street and Market Slip in Saint John, ca. 1885. The corner building in the foreground is Campbell Berryman’s hardware store. A door or more to one side, James McConnell kept a boot and shoe store.
By David Shipley
Telegraph-Journal
SAINT JOHN - Hundreds of business professionals and bureaucrats gathering in Saint John today will be looking to the past in order to plan for a better economic future for Atlantic Canada and New England.
Together they will be talking about Atlantica, more formally known as the International Northeast Economic Region, an idea which has been on the minds of CEOs, think tanks and to a lesser extent, politicians in the region for more than five years.
Though its name, Atlantica, sounds like a lost exotic city waiting to be discovered, the regional trade bloc concept potentially represents something much more real:
Prosperity, booming economies, growing populations, increased immigration and a renewed sense of hope for the have-not states and provinces of the East Coast.
The ideas sound simple: improving transportation infrastructure to move goods to and from the United States, developing energy policies that will draw commerce and boosting tourism.
But there are challenges and obstacles.
The idea will form the basis for the discussions which will take place during the Reaching Atlantica: Business Without Boundaries conference in Saint John this week. The conference begins tonight with an opening reception and kicks into high gear Friday with sessions geared toward tourism, energy and transportation.
At its core, the Atlantica concept represents a focus on the historic north-south trading relationships which once made New Brunswick and its regional neighbours economic powerhouses.
Advocates of the Atlantica concept argue it will address some of the roots of the economic decline in the East Coast, which can be traced back to the period just prior to Confederation.
Before Confederation, the Reciprocity Act of 1854 created free trade in a host of goods between Canada and the United States, powering the economies of the Maritime provinces and New England states.
Among the goods flowing through the border were grain, flour and breadstuffs, animals, meats, fruit, fish, poultry, tallow, coal and lumber. Between 1854 and 1865, trade between Canada and the United States doubled.
For New Brunswick, the period was a high point for prosperity, with lumber mills fuelling the booming shipbuilding industry in Saint John. The development of rail lines turned Moncton from a rural agriculture-based community to a major shipping hub for the Maritimes.
But protectionist forces in the United States succeeded in killing the act in 1866.
Unable to get a new agreement, the Canadian government led by Sir John A. Macdonald decided to reorient trade from the Maritimes from a North-South axis to an East-West one.
Though the signing of the Free Trade Agreement in 1988, and later NAFTA in 1994, eliminated many of the trade barriers which rose after the end of the Reciprocity Act, the legacy of more than 100 years of transportation infrastructure geared toward east-west trade remained.
While the Atlantica concept looks to the past for examples of the benefits of a north-south trading relationship, it's also looking to the future.
With globalization a reality of the business world, Atlantica as a region is poised to become a crossroads in trade between Asia, Europe and North America.
With a new generation of massive container ships now travelling from Asia through the Suez Canal and over the Atlantic to the east and with overcrowding in major ports such as New York, the port of Halifax is poised to become an eastern gateway for trade.
From Halifax, trade will flow by road, rail, and by sea to smaller ports in the region such as Saint John. From Saint John, goods could travel by improved road links through Maine to the U.S. markets. Goods can also flow through Atlantica to central Canada, making the region a gateway for North America.
Stephen Kymlicka, a policy analyst with the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies, said investments in transportation infrastructure will mean hundreds of millions of dollars for the port of Halifax and billions for the entire region.
"For a container to come in and get loaded on a truck or a train is worth about $1,000, when you add all the benefits together. So what we say is that it's not unreasonable for the port of Halifax over the next few years to double its capacity. If they do that, it's an additional $550 million for the economy," he said.
"If we're talking about $100 million (in benefits to the port), we're talking about literally billions for the economy as a whole."
But it's not just the port or big business that will benefit from the Atlantica concept, he said.
"By expanding these corridors, we have multiple options where we don't today. If you're looking at northern New Brunswick, virtually everything goes to Montreal right now. If you have no time constraints, maybe you can put it on a train and in three months later you get something down into lower New England," he said.
"But if you can open a real north-south corridor into Boston, then that opens new markets so all of (companies) that are captive to single buyers in Montreal now have options and can start developing their firms straight across Atlantica."
Atlantica is also a recognition of the growing trade relationship between Atlantic Canada and northern New England.
In a report prepared for the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies, Mr. Kymlicka noted more than 15 per cent of Atlantic Canada's foreign trade is with northern New England. That trade grew by more than 19 per cent between 1999 and 2004, while Atlantic Canada's trade with the rest of the world grew by just over seven per cent.
Goods headed to northern New England include footwear, forest products, agricultural products, distribution services, fishing products, and power generation transmission.
In addition to cross-border trade, Atlantic Canadian companies are also making significant investments south of the border. Companies such as Aliant, Emera, Connors Bros., McCain Foods and various enterprises owned by Irving Oil and J.D. Irving, Limited all have a stake in the northern New England market.
Neville Gilfoy, publisher of Progress Magazine, has been one of the most vocal supporters of the Atlantica concept. While the major ports and cities along the transportation corridor from Nova Scotia through New Brunswick and into Maine stand to gain from improved trade access, other businesses will also benefit, Mr. Gilfoy said.
At its core, Atlantica is about Canadians and Americans working together to compete in a globalized market, he said.
"That's what Atlantica is - American companies partnering with francophone-owned companies in New Brunswick to do business in Germany and actually take a bigger chunk of global market share," he said.
Anthony T. Eyton, a former senior federal government bureaucrat with the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and now a trade consultant, said while Atlantica was an interesting concept, a major hurdle for it will be finding money to pay for transportation infrastructure upgrades.
"The amount of investment involved in improving infrastructure is quite enormous and is enormous in the context of the size of the economies of Atlantic Canada and the northeastern United States," he said.
"Those are big expenditures of tax dollars."
Mr. Eyton said Atlantica will be worthwhile even if all it accomplishes is closer ties between the Atlantic provinces.
"The individual economies of the four provinces of Atlantic Canada are so small that they do not have economies of scale, but together they would have."
Tomorrow: The ties that bind - how improved transportation links will bolster the region.
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