In recent years, Icelandic banks have been disproportionately involved in the financing of Atlantic Canada's lobster fishery. That banking system started to collapse in the fall of 2008. Coincidentally, demand for lobster started to drop as people reined in their recession-based spending and prices began to fall. The combination created a credit crunch for processors who were stuck with large volumes of unsold inventory.

Every year, processors in the Maritimes borrow money to finance inventory. The harvesting season is short and stored inventory is used to supply the market for months beyond the harvesting season, theoretically keeping prices high throughout the year.

The Icelandic financial situation coming in the midst of a global financial crisis received little attention in Canada except for those in the lobster industry. Until a year ago, the 21st century had smiled kindly on Iceland. It boasted the highest standard of living of any country in the world, according to the United Nations.

Following privatization of the financial sector in the early 2000s, domestic banks expanded aggressively in foreign markets like Atlantic Canada and consumers and businesses borrowed heavily in foreign-currency. Much of Iceland's economic growth/wealth had come as the result of a boom in domestic demand following the post-privatization rapid expansion of the country's financial sector.

In the growth period, Icelandic banks had been engaging in a practice known as maturity mismatching, the issuing of short-term liabilities (obligations that have to be satisfied in one to five years) in order to invest in long-term assets. The banks found themselves in a squeeze when they had to roll over the necessary funds to maintain liquidity. The Loans and other assets of Icelandic banks were more than 10 times the country's GDP. The island's currency, the króna, plunged in value, making it impossible for bankers, both private and central, to raise the cash necessary to continue funding their liabilities.

Unfortunately, unlike many other areas of the world where help from central banks provided short-lived relief, Iceland was forced to suffer a much more dire fate. Iceland's three largest banks collapsed in late 2008.

In Atlantic Canada, the C$1 billion a year lobster industry began to struggle in 2008 as it coped with a slump in demand in the United States and Europe that has since pushed landed prices down below $4.00 a pound, levels not seen in 25 years or more. The federal government has announced that it will help ease the situation this year by introducing a loss-reduction program that will compensate the most dependent fishermen for lower value landings in 2009.

A number of other help solutions have been advanced. Some people want to reduce the number of lobster licenses to increase the catch for those who remain in the industry. Some think the problem is simply a marketing problem. Others view it as a declining stock problem and still others believe the problem is rooted in the traditions of an industry that has changed little in the last sixty years.

The federal government has promised marketing funds and offered incentives for the development of new sustainability plans. In my view, those initiatives should be supported by product development that will add value to the catch and increase the yield per pound of lobster harvested.

In respect to marketing, few people outside this region know how to cook a lobster, let alone how to get the meat out of the shell. Lobster is a delicacy that can be adapted for use as an appetizer, included in a pasta dish, used to build a tasty-chowder or bisque or it can be served as the primary ingredient in a salad. One of the challenges with lobster is that it has a short shelf-life when alive. It either has to be cooked within hours of being taken from the water or it has to be stored in expensive holding tanks.

Another issue faced by both harvesters and processors is that lobster is perceived as a luxury food in a depressed market. People are shopping down the menu, not up so lobster takes a hit. To compound matters, some foreign importers are demanding certification of sustainability practices, certification of environmentally-friendly practices and traceability in terms of source, handling and storage practices. A compounding challenge when talking sustainability is finding a way to capture the full benefits of a healthier fishery as the lobsters move from one fishing zone to another including from Atlantic Canada to offshore Maine.

The economics of the industry are changing. It's possible that a new value proposition will have to replace the luxury label. Who knows, a food source that has been known as a luxury purchase for decades might find a new mantra as a nutritional star in an era of food safety and wellness promotion.

W.E. (Bill) Belliveau is a Shediac resident and Moncton business consultant. He can be contacted at bill.bellstrategic@nb.aibn.com

A medical isotope is a small quantity of radioactive material which is injected into people to detect, diagnose, treat or evaluate serious illnesses such as cancer and heart disease. Millions of these procedures are performed around the world every year with approximately 70 to 80% of them using a substance called Technetium which is produced in nuclear reactors.

The Technetium isotope injection targets specific organ systems such as the heart or goes to specific disease sites in the body. Sophisticated imaging devices are then used to pinpoint the exact location of the disease and track its biological activity. The results of these tests better inform doctors on the state of a disease in patients, help identify the best treatment for them and then monitor response to their treatment.

The vast majority of the world's supply of medical isotopes is produced in nuclear facilities located in Australia, Belgium, France, South Africa, the Netherlands and Canada. Until its recent closure for repairs, the Chalk River plant in Ontario produced about one third of the world's supply. The shutdown is having a major impact on medical care throughout the world. To compound matters, Prime Minister Harper has announced that Canada will get out of the business in the next few years.

Every year, more than 46 million people around the world benefit from medical tests involving medical isotopes. The concern about production losses is that patients will not receive the vital testing they need to detect and treat life-threatening diseases at the earliest stages. Early detection increases the likelihood of better outcomes and survival. I'm told that delayed testing results in delayed treatment, puts patients at risk and increases the cost of treatment.

AECL shut down the Chalk River reactor on May 15^th after discovering a heavy-water leak. Officials estimate it will be at least six months before it´s up and running again.

Coincidentally, Mr. Harper has decided that the federal government will sell off Crown-owned Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. He plans to spin off AECL´s profitable nuclear reactor business as part of a major restructuring that would lead to private-sector ownership of the company´s research facility in Chalk River.

The stage for that policy-shift was set last year when Harper's Conservative government announced it would scrap two next-generation Maple reactors, meant to replace the aging reactor at Chalk River. The Maples were millions of dollars over budget and years behind schedule when the Tories pulled the plug.

"It was a difficult decision" said Harper. "But we can´t spend hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars and never produce an isotope".

A worldwide shortage of isotopes is causing suppliers to dramatically hike their prices. The cost of bone scans in Canada has soared by as much as 50% since May. It's expected that prices will rise again in August when Covidien, a large global healthcare company and diagnostic-imaging agent raises its prices by another 40%, all of this in a strained global economy.

I know nothing about the economics of isotope production but I do know that medical isotopes represent a $4 billion market. I find it difficult to accept the notion that Canada would abandon a market of this size when it has a one third share, demand is growing and prices are rising. There are few if any markets in the world that can boast $4 billion in revenues. There are fewer markets where Canada has a one third share and even fewer where prices are rising.

The extended shutdown of the troubled nuclear reactor at Chalk River has the U.S. government ready to invest millions to get back into the business of medical isotopes, a move that could eventually push Canada out of the business. An official from the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration said recently that the outage at Canada's Chalk River reactor, which traditionally has filled about 60% of U.S. demand, has prompted a "supply crisis" that has captured the attention of officials in the White House.

The U.S. has taken the hint from Mr. Harper's announcement that Canada is getting out of the business of isotope production. His policy may cost us dearly. The Americans weren't looking to abandon Canada's isotope supply until Harper forced them to do so. If the United States decides to make its own isotopes, there would be little incentive for Canada to reverse its non-production decision. If this major customer disappears, so might the nuclear scientists, technicians and researchers in Canada's nuclear industry. Remember the CF-105 Arrow!

If Canadians become dependent on the United States for medical isotopes, our dependence will likely increase cost for our hospitals, our medical system and ultimately taxpayers. Market value of AECL could also take a big taxpayer hit.

Is this good strategy or just another example of ideology run amuck?

W.E. (Bill) Belliveau is a Shediac resident and Moncton business consultant. He can be contacted at bill.bellstrategic@nb.aibn.com

Along with a few thousand other people, I had the privilege of attending the State Funeral of former Governor General Romeo LeBlanc last week. Romeo was a teacher, a journalist and press secretary to two prime ministers before he was elected to Parliament in 1972. He had served as Press Secretary to Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson and to Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau. In government, he served under various titles as Minister of Fisheries in three of Trudeau's Cabinets, becoming Canada's longest serving minister in this position. It was under his watch that Canada's coastal fishing zone was extended from 12 to 200 miles. He was also responsible for the strong role that Canada played in the Law of the Sea conferences from 1974-1979.

Before, during and after the funeral, hundreds of tributes were paid to the former Governor General but perhaps the greatest tribute is found in the crowd of more than 2,000 people who traveled to the tiny, picturesque village of Memramcook to pay their respects to Romeo. They came from across Canada to the first state funeral ever held in Atlantic Canada and likely the biggest event ever held in the village of Memramcook, with the possible exception of the 1999 Francophone Summit. The funeral was attended by national media, it was broadcast nationally by CBC Television and it was sprinkled with familiar faces from academia, business, government, politics and the fishery.

Eulogies were delivered by former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and Dr. Naomi Griffith, renowned scholar, historian, author and former Dean of Arts at Carleton University in Ottawa, one of the first women in history to hold that post. Especially moving was the stirring tribute paid to Roméo by his son Dominic, Member of Parliament for Beauséjour. Mr. LeBlanc told mourners, packed into Saint-Thomas Church that his father was deeply proud to serve as a federal cabinet minister, senator and Canada's 25th Governor General. "The country has lost a devoted Canadian who did his best to serve with humility and compassion," he said under the 169-year-old church's domed ceilings. Dominic LeBlanc, who represents his father's former riding in the House of Commons, also remembered the former Governor General as a devoted family man who put his two children, daughter Geneviève and himself
first.

Romeo LeBlanc was the first Acadian and the first Atlantic Canadian to become Governor General of Canada. He was a man of many achievements but his most important was the fact he never lost sight of who he was or where he came from. He ended his days in Grand Digue just twenty minutes northeast of Memramcook.

Former cabinet minister Marc Lalonde, who recruited Mr. LeBlanc to serve as a press secretary for Prime Minister Lester Pearson in the 1960s, told people his old friend never let Ottawa change him. Hundreds of others would vouch for that statement.

Dignitaries attending the funeral, headed by the LeBlanc family included the current Governor General Michaelle Jean, Lieutenant-Governor Herménégilde Chiasson,
Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Premier Shawn Graham, the Honorable. Peter MacKay, Minister of Defense and the Honorable Greg Thompson, Minister of Veterans Affairs. Members of Parliament Michael Ignatieff, Brian Murphy from Moncton, the Honorable Bob Rae, Geoff Regan, Scott Brison, Denis Coderre, Ralph Goodale, Michael Savage and Justin Trudeau all paid their respects.

They were joined by former premiers Frank McKenna, Bernard Lord, Camille Theriault and Brian Tobin from Newfoundland and Labrador, Chief Justice Ernest Drapeau and Judge Rideout. Former cabinet ministers included the Honorable David Dingwall, Andre Oulette, David Anderson and Andy Scott.

Provincial cabinet ministers Mike Murphy, Bernard LeBlanc and Ed Doherty were joined by David Alward, leader of the Opposition in New Brunswick, Cy LeBlanc, MLA from Dieppe, Claude Williams, Kent County, Percy Mockler (now a senator), former cabinet minister Omer Leger, prominent businessmen Denis Losier, Jim Irving and Dick Carpenter, former lieutenant-governors Marilyn Trenholme and Mona Freeman from Nova Scotia, Senators Fernand Robichaud, Al Graham and Joyce Fairburn from Saskatchewan.

Academia was represented by Yvon Fontaine, President of the l'Université de Moncton and Dr. Donald Savoie, author and holder of the Clément-Cormier Chair in Economic Development at l'Université de Moncton. They were joined by former journalist Claude Bourque,
Member of the Order of Canada and Robert Pichette, author, historian and former Deputy Minister to the late Premier Louis-J. Robichaud.

The most visible dignitary at the funeral was National Chief Phil Fontaine, who attended mass in full headdress. He was joined by a number of First Nation chiefs including Chief Jesse Simon from New Brunswick and Chief Lawrence Paul from Nova Scotia. The fishery was represented by lobster fisherman Ronnie Cormier, former President of the Maritime Fishermen's Union when my brother was Executive Director and Jim Jones, Director General of Fisheries & Oceans Canada.

Last but not least was a distinguished and esteemed gentleman from Ottawa, Kevin Fram, Executive Assistant to Roméo LeBlanc when he was Governor General and close friend to Dominic LeBlanc. Romeo will be missed by all of us who knew him.

W.E. (Bill) Belliveau is a Shediac resident and Moncton business consultant. He can be contacted at bill.bellstrategic@nb.aibn.com