Canada Seal Hunt To Be Supported By A Song

This time of the year, the Canada Seal Hunt is always in the news. This time, at the suggestion of Senator Céline Hervieux-Payette, the senator and singer Jean Lapointe will consecrate a song to the seal hunters, on his next album.  

The initiative will be aimed as well at countering the groups who are putting the pressure 

on, to end the seal hunt in the eastern side of the country.

Mrs Hervieux-Payette estimates that the song entitled “La chasse aux phoques” (The Seal Hunt)

 represents a gift for the hunters of the Magdalen Islands, New

foundland and Labrador and for the North, as well as for all Canadians.

According to the Liberal Senator, the song sung by Jean Lapointe will also be broadcast in Europe.

The launch of Jean Lapointe's next album, entitled “L’eau” (The Water), will be first seen by its first audience on Wednesday, April 29th, 2009. 

Jean Lapointe is a Current Member of the following Senate committee(s):

Library of Parliament (Joint)  

Possible New Control Position For Chandler's Docking Bay

Last December 22nd, a serious storm had damaged the electronic equipment of the landing dock of Chandler, which the CTMA Vacancier uses, during the summer season.

So to avoid having the situation happen again, the new control position will be mobile. The cost of the bill will rise to $300,000 and the insurance company for the town of Chandler does not cover these types of damages.

The mayor, Claude Cyr, has requested for the Minister of Transport of Quebec to pay the total of this sum.

As always, the time is short, because the CTMA Vacancier will be starting its first voyage to Chandler around mid-June.  This is why the town is not waiting the cheque from the Minister for to launch the work involved.

The director of the Groupe CTMA, Gérald Leblanc, explained that a 'plan B' is on the table if the docking bay of Chandler is not repaired in time.

Pilot Project Winter Ferry Service Declared A Success

The pilot project for the first winter ferry services between Souris Prince Edward Island and Grindstone, Magdalen Islands has been a great success this past winter.  The amount of usage for the service was largely surpassed.

According to CTMA employees, many Islanders are hoping that the service will be offered once again next winter. Robert Sumarah couldn’t confirm if the service will be offered again.

Nearly 3000 passengers had used the new service in February and in March.  That is almost one and a half times more passengers than was expected by the Groupe CTMA.  The number of vehicles on the ferry was greater than 75% more then expected.

The director general of the Groupe CTMA, Gérald LeBlanc, estimated that the winter service must be maintained. He said that in his mind, they would not have any difficulties finding 5000 to 6000 passengers for this crossing.

Canada Seal Hunt : The War On Bad Information

The seal hunters of the Magdalen Islands denounced the bad information broadcasted by the International Foundation for Animal Welfare (IFAW).

The organization alleged said the hunt was funded by Quebec and that Ottawa decided the quotas by the function of the wholesale value of the seal products.  It was affirmed in a communication that the price of $30 for each pelt payed to the hunters of the Magdalen Islands at the start of the month was a subvention or subsidy of the province of Quebec.

The Vice-President of TAMASU, Paul Boudreau, who bought 20,000 of these pelts, affirmed that these allegations were false.  “It is completely false, the same as the majority of the information which leaves the IFAW. There, we can contradict them completely,” TAMASU has benefitted from an $80,000 subsidy, which he has noted allows the company to follow its research on the heart valves of the seal.

The IFAW confirmed that they said that Fisheries and Oceans Canada decided that the quota that would be authorized would be as a function of the markets, and this was what the authorities of the Minister gave.  They say that this last information highlights that the viability of the herd is at the heart of all the decisions.

The President of the Association of the hunters of the Islands, Denis Longuépée, denounced these tactics used by the IFAW. He precisely said that some members of the organization have gone on to film the hunt around the islands, but that they have not found any infractions in the method of the killings.

Photo: PC/Jonathan Hayward

$107,644 Funding For The Material To Restore The Church of Saint-Francois-Xavier of the Bassin

The Magdalen Islands Deputy, Germain Chevarie announced in the name of the Minister of Communication and Conditions of Women, Mrs Christine St-Pierre, that a financial aide of $107,644 has been accorded to the materials for the accomplishment for the work of restoring the church of Saint-François-Xavier of the Bassin on Amherst Island.

“We have the collective responsibility to preserve and give to the future generations, the inestimable heritage that constitutes our churches and our link to our culture.  It is why we follow our efforts to restore and put a value on the more significant elements of this unique heritage,” declared the Deputy, Mr. Chevarie.

The church Saint-François-Xavier is marked by the quality of its architecture at the original time and is anchored into te countryside.  In effect, the two bells in the facade of the building is distinct of the Archipelago churches during which the siding is fo the wooden shingles painted is typical of the traditional architecture of the Magdalen Islands. 

The aide furnished corresponds to 70% of the total cost of the project and will allow the restoration of the exterior finishing and the windows of the church.  It is overseen by the intermediator of the Council of Religious Heritage of Quebec who administers the program under the restoration of Religious Heritage of the Minister of Culture, Communications and the Conditions of Women.

Photo: Gérard Verdier (Amherst Councillor), madame Laurette Deveau, President for the Fabrique of the Bassin and Germain Chevarie

Recycling : Magdalen Islanders Are Leading The Pack

Magdalen Islanders, who have been pioneers in the matter of the recycling of throw away waste products, for over 20 years now, have passed the objective fixed by the Quebec Political Management of residual material. 

In 2008, the residents of the Magdalen Islands had recycled 62% of the domestic garbage in comparison to the provincial objective of 56%. 

Recall that each person of Quebec generates 1.7 tons of wastes per year, while each Magdalen Islander generates less than one ton. 

The result of this study shows that the industries and businesses of the Magdalen Islands are not doing their part.  Only 43% of their waste products are being recycled and saved from elimination of incineration. The National objective is 72%.

Canadian Government Has Restored The Channel Depth To The Grindstone Harbour

Magdalen Islanders will benefit from the improvements made to the port of Grindstone and financed by the Canadian Government. The Canadian Minister for Governmental Public Works and Services and Lieutenant of Quebec, the Honorouble Christian Paradis, had officially declared the work of dragging the harbour finished, on April the 8th, 2009.

This investment, in the order of 1.2 million dollars, has allowed the restoration of this essential channel to maintain it’s original depth of 6.6 meters.  This project was vital in creating employment and will contribute to stimulate the economy.  The Grindstone harbour is the only port on the islands that serves te entire population of the islands.

“Our government assures us of maintaining the commercial and touristic exchanges, all in supporting the local economy,” declared the Minister Paradis.  “The port of Grindstone is one of importance capital for the Magdalen Islands because the ferry service constitutes the principal link with the continent,” added the Minister. 

Situated in the heart of the Archipelago of the Magdalen Islands, the port of Grindstone is considered as a remote site according to National Marine Politics.  It is the only commercial port of the Magdalen Islands which has different wharves dedicated to different works.  It has docking stations for the petroleum ships, commercial ships, deep-sea fishing boats, inshore fishing boats, for each of the two ferries coming in from Montreal and Prince Edward Island and the Provincial docking bay for the Entry Island ferry. The ferry service from Souris, PEI alone transports around 100,000 passengers a year, according to CNW Telebec.

This news story has a distinct off islander view to the islands in general.  It originated through CNW Telebec and I don't believe the history behind it is completely valid. I don't believe that the PEI/MI ferry has ever brough in 100,000 passengers. But I could be wrong about this, if islanders who come and go as well as the tourists.  The numbers seem a little high to me.

A New Building and Development Code for the Magdalen Islands: New Regulation Directives

The Agglomeration  council for the Magdalen Islands has finally adopted  the new building and development code for the Archipelago during its regular public meeting, last Wednesday evening.

The revision of this document, which possesses more than 250 pages, took thirteen years to do. After long bouts of work, the priority has been given to agriculture, tourism and heritage in this new building scheme.

Mayor, Joel Arseneau, highlighted that the weak, superficial habitable regions of the Archipelago, being it is 160 square kilometers, has force the people to make compromises.

Industrial Park Projects for example, have been abandoned. “It is necessary to restrain the development of unmovable (projects)”, added M. Arseneau, who admitted that there will be a lot of work to implant the new regulations.

Someone Is Reading The Magdalen Islands Webblog

There are twelve votes from people who would like to have a Magdalen Islands newsletter sent to their email inbox. I'm working now on fitting an opt-in box on this and other sites. It is difficult because there are financial constraints. But I'm learning how to get around those tiresome little bugs, lol.

I have been studying at the Niche Profit Classroom and learning how to work in such a way that I can afford to stay and do things like create newsletters. I know that is not important in itself unless I put what I learn to practical use. I still have many things to learn but as soon as I get the optin box in palce I'll offer a news letter which will not only give the news of the week but also a few interesting stories. 

I wrote a story about Lorne Clark's last boat that some of you might be interested in. It is at the Iles-de-la-Madeleine weblog at today.  I've put a tourist weblog at Today.com because they pay for interesting information about any topic, They chose to accept my proposal for a regional weblog, Iles-de-la-Madeleine.  The link is Iles-de-la-Madeleine.  The URL address is http://iles-de-la-madeleine.today.com.

I've also been writing at a niche weblog called "All Things Horse" This is of great interest to me and it is an enormously popular site. This site is a wordpress site and offers more flexibility then blogger. 

I'm a member of Twitter.com and my profile is Gimme A Dream, and I can be contacted there amongst the 8 million plus other people using twitter.

 http://twitter.com/GimmeADream

Soon there will be other sites, depending on how long it takes for me to learn how to place the opt-in box on individual sites.