Tag Archives: Newfoundland

Development

Cortes Social Profit Forum 2025

On Tuesday, October 14th the Cortes Island Foundation invited island nonprofit and public service organisations to attend a Social Profit Forum hosted at Hollyhock. This all-day event was well attended and featured presentations by two representatives from “local economy” projects with successful track records: Tara Janzen from the Shorefast Institute for Place-Based Economics and Andrew Greer from Purppl, a consulting group that advises clients who wish to establish “regenerative enterprises.”

Ms Janzen gave a slide presentation describing the successful economic re-invigoration of a small Newfoundland island called Fogo. Mr Greer offered some tools for turning social profit goals into specific business plans and strategies, using examples from the Okanagan area.

Attendees were invited to come up with ideas and concepts for place-specific economic development on Cortes Island, with the goal of providing living-wage jobs that would allow — among other things — local kids to grow up and remain in their home community instead of having to leave in search of gainful employment. The theme of the day was how to create a local economy that provides employment, investment, and income to benefit the community, rather than importing labour and goods and benefiting distant shareholders.

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Finances, Tourism

Folk U: Chatter the matters

Tune in on October 10th for a special episode of FolkU radio, where we listen to an episode of another talk show, Chatter That Matters, by Tony Chapman. This episode features a conversation with Zita Cobb about the story arch of her home in Newfoundland, Fogo Island. This is a discussion about tourism, circular economies, community, and rurality. Introduction by Manda Aufochs-Gillespie.

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Cost of Climate Change, Tourism

Should We Still Travel? Reflections from a Warming Canada

In response to people who do not believe climate change is a real issue—and to those who think we should eliminate all long-distance tourism. 

A Personal Journey Amid Crisis

I am in the midst of my third trip across Canada.

We are living in a society that appears to be critically damaging the lives of future generations through a combination of overconsumption and the overproduction of greenhouse gases. This is not just a policy issue—it’s a moral one. I see the signs of global warming all around me—and they are getting worse.

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History

How did settlers get to British Columbia?

Europeans knew about North America for over a century before they began settling here. Basque, Portuguese, French, and English fishermen regularly sailed to Newfoundland and Nova Scotia in the 1500s and 1600s for the rich offshore cod harvest. They often camped on the beaches but rarely stayed through the harsh winters. At the time, most Europeans lived in smoky, windowless huts heated by an open fire on the floor—hardly an incentive to brave even colder conditions overseas.

Archaeologist William Gilbert, working at Cupids in Newfoundland, suggests a few changes in homes construction changed everything.

“Recently it has been suggested that the late 16th century innovations such as fireplaces, wooden floors, glazed windows and woolen and felt clothing may have made it easier for Europeans to adapt to and survive during our cold northeastern winters. The first successful colony was established at Port Royal in Nova Scotia in 1605, followed by Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607, Quebec City in 1608, and Cupids in 1610.”

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Energy, Environment

Wilkinson warns Poilievre’s resource approval plan will end ‘in court on an ongoing basis’

By Natasha Bulowski, Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is pledging to create a “one and done” system for resource project approvals and rapidly approve 10 projects he says are stuck in the “slow federal approval process.”

To achieve a maximum approval wait time of one year, Poilievre said he will eliminate the Impact Assessment Act and create one office and one assessment process to handle all regulatory approvals across all levels of government.

This proclamation comes a few weeks after Prime Minister Mark Carney announced his intent to streamline the approval process for big infrastructure projects in response to the trade war with the US. Carney said his plan, with a similar slogan to that of Poilievre’s — “one project, one review” — would aim to get projects approved within two years. 

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