Sunday, Sept. 30, was the last day of the food fishery  in waters  off Newfoundland and Labrador —  and a great day on the water it was.  Cliffs and sea stacks near Bay Bulls. A fine catch. Filleting cod on the shore of Bay Bulls with Loyola O'Brien. Peter Lewis paints on the water's edge.

The following letter to the editor is published in today's edition (Oct. 1st) of The Telegram.   When it comes to unprocessed fish, the provincial Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture seems to have an inconsistent policy. On the one hand, the province has rejected a request by Ocean Choice International (OCI) to ship unprocessed fish out of the province.  On the other hand, the government has allowed out-of-province buyers to purchase sea urchins directly from fishermen in Newfoundland and Labrador.  How does that make sense? But that’s not the only confounding question.  Fisheries and Aquaculture announced in August a review of the sea urchin industry to “determine whether the industry has sufficient processing capability and harvesters have sufficient outlets for their catch.” Currently, there’s only one licenced sea urchin processor in Newfoundland and Labrador — Wood-Pick Enterprises, based in Wareham, Bonavista Bay. The kicker her...



MP Ryan Cleary (St. John's South-Mount Pearl) speaks with striking workers on the picket line at the St. John's International Airport. The following letter to the editer is published in today's edition (Sept. 27th) edition of The Telegram: When y ou're an island, the airport is pretty damn important. The sea will always be an integral part of our heritage in Newfoundland and Labrador, but in today’s world, the air is how most of us travel to and from our beautiful island home. And for almost two weeks, dozens of hard-working employees at the St. John’s International Airport — the people who make this possible — have been on strike. This strike is about more than just wages. It’s about a very basic principle that’s important to all of us: fairness. It’s about ensuring we invest this province’s prosperity in creating decent, quality jobs for current — and future — generations of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. The provincial economy is hotter than ev...

I posed the following question today (Sept. 26th) to Human Resources and Skills Development Minister Diane Finley in the House of Commons:   Mr. Speaker, here is a scenario faced by a new mother in my riding. I spoke with her last night.   Doreen is a French teacher who has been on maternity benefits since January.   Two weeks ago, she was offered a part-time job of four hours a week teaching French from her computer at home.   But with the new EI changes she'll lose 50 cents on the dollar.   By the time taxes are removed from her paycheque she'll barely make enough to pay for diapers.   She won't make enough to pay for diapers. Why is the government punishing new mothers? Finley's response: Mr. Speaker, right across this country of ours we have, despite high unemployment rates in some areas, shortages of skills and labour. In many cases, the EI system has discouraged people from working. ...

"If we are to achieve results never before accomplished, we must employ methods never before attempted." — Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626), the first quote contained in former NL premier Brian Peckford's new memoir, Some Day the Sun Will Shine and Have Not Will be No more . ••• A. Brian Peckford (A is for Alfred) — NL's third premier — was in Ottawa Wednesday (Sept. 19) to release his second book. ( The Past and the Present, his first,   was published in 1983.) A small get-together was held in the office of NL Senator Norm Doyle, and New Democrats, Liberals and Conservatives all paid their respects, leaving with a $24 soft-cover copy. Top 2 Peckford quotes from the book: 1) "As a people or society we have in this century 'sold out' to those who would develop our resources for themselves and others without providing a fair return to the owners of the resources — the people of Newfoundland and Labrador. We are on the threshold of having perhaps o...