France eyes oil-rich Atlantic seabed, Drug Bust, ACOA / Atlantic Innovation Fund Grants

France eyes oil-rich Atlantic seabed CBC, 17 Nov 2005

France wants control over a large section of oil-rich seabed in the Atlantic Ocean just off Newfoundland in what would be a controversial "leapfrog" over Canadian waters, according to a newspaper report.

The proposed area of French control, contained in a document presented to an international panel, is beyond the jurisdiction of Canada's current 320-kilometre limit, says the National Post.

[. . . . ] In 1992, an international tribunal awarded Saint-Pierre and Miquelon exclusive rights over a large corridor of water reaching south to the edge of Canada's 320-kilometre limit. [. . . . ]

Global governance . . . Soon, there will be a tax paid by the haves for the have-nots, (UN) I seem to remember. The world and global governance -- unfolding as planned.



"a two-year joint-forces investigation into an alleged drug smuggling ring"

10 Canadians among nearly 300 arrested as alleged drug ring busted -- face "drug conspiracy charges in the United States" -- more expected CP, Nov. 18, 05

Authorities seized more than 900,000 ecstasy tablets, more than 600 kilograms of marijuana, and $4.8 million US in assets. [. . . . ]

ACOA / AIF -- A Few Advantaged, Others Not

This covers Commercial and Non-Commercial Grants

Do you sense a skewing of what would be the usual process of business -- successes or failures -- through grants to commercial organizations?

Who decides that the commercial organizations named are the best business ventures to back with other people's money?

Are there any commercial organizations which are involved in the same or similar endeavours but who did not receive grants and what is the result? I know of at least one business negatively affected by this skewing -- government supporting the competitive business.

Whose taxes pay for the ACOA-AIF funds for the commercial organizations--businesses--that receive these grants? . . . The commercial organizations--businesses--that did not get grants. The rest of Canadians who pay for themselves, their business expenses and taxes and then must contribute to others' businesses in another area of Canada.

Think; every time a business manages to get some advantage--from any level of government--which others do not get, what is the result? For example:

* grants skew the research chosen to be pursued since governments may and can choose what will advantage re-election rather than for other good reasons

* tax advantage or dispensation on taxes -- e.g. Irving, LNG & St. John city council

* infrastructure which primarily advantages the business(es) which are using or will use it -- think the port built for orimulsion which will be used by and thus an advantage to a privately owned company, Irving -- LNG, though it was paid for through taxation of all citizens who were expecting it to be used for the orimulsion to be shipped in from Venezuela

* prestige / preferential treatment -- for one business over another or one sector over another -- gives greater credibility because of the government's imprimatur -- e.g. international business teams led by elected politicians and the attendant publicity paid for with taxes, since the government advertises these liberally

* special awards publicity -- e.g. announcement of awards publicized by the government through the media paid for by Canadians tax $$$

Then the businesses that did not get the same advantage are paying through their taxes for other people's business good fortune and grant advantage. Does that seem fair?

To whose advantage is it, then, to choose who will be the winners? And what is the advantage?

ACOA-Atlantic Innovation Fund (AIF): Proponent Name and Project Description Approved Funding (Phase II)

Approved and Announced AIF Projects By Province - Round II

New Brunswick: Non-Commercial Organizations

Centre for Nuclear Energy Research Inc. – Develop Instrumentation for Metal Corrosion Prevention $4,000,000
Institut de recherche sur les zones côtières (Université de Moncton) – Commercialization of High Pedigreed Arctic Charr Products $1,500,000
Université de Moncton – Design/Development Innovative Thin Film Smart Systems $2,700,000
Institut de recherche sur les zones côtières (Université de Moncton) – Technology and services for the shellfish industry $1,300,000
University of New Brunswick – Beyond Kyoto: Atlantic sustainable Power R&D Initiatives $1,000,000
University of New Brunswick – Develop Nanoparticle/glass-fibre Composites for Dental Posts $500,000
University of New Brunswick – Development of Value-Added Fiber Material $900,000
University of New Brunswick – Effluent Treatment System for Land-Based Aquaculture $1,400,000
University of New Brunswick Fuzzy Adaptive Survivability Tools for Intrusion Detection $1,200,000
University of New Brunswick – Novel Bioreactor for Wastewater Treatment $600,000
University of New Brunswick – Wireless eHealth Devices for Rehabilitation Field$1,900,000

New Brunswick: Non-Commercial Organizations Total $17,000,000

New Brunswick: Commercial Organizations

Apex Industries Inc. – High Velocity Machining of Monolithic Structures $5,500,000
Flakeboard Company Limited – Resin Application System $2,800,000
Innovatia Inc. – Development of Learner-Centric eLearning Product and Service $2,400,000
Spielo Manufacturing Incorporated – Mercury Project to build iLink product $1,900,000 [Spielo -- gambling related? ]
Whitehill Technologies Inc. – Applied Development Tool for Industry specific web based portals $2,800,000

New Brunswick: Commercial Total - $17,000,000

New Brunswick: Total - $32,400,000

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Newfoundland and Labrador: Non-Commercial Organizations

College of the North Atlantic – Wave-Powered Pumping of Seawater $400,000
CNG International Marine Institute – Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) Centre of Excellence (CoE) $4,000,000
Memorial University of Newfoundland Inco Innovation Centre $13,100,000
Memorial University of Newfoundland Modeling/Simulation of Harsh Environments $3,200,000
Memorial University of Newfoundland Nfld. and Labrador Pharmacy Research $3,200,000
Memorial University of Newfoundland RAVEN-Remote Aerial Vehicles for Environment-monitoring $1,300,000
Memorial University of Newfoundland Botanical Garden Inc. – Research/Development Ornamentals for Atlantic Nursery/Greenhouse $1,000,000

Newfoundland and Labrador: Non – Commercial Total $26,000,000

Newfoundland and Labrador: Commercial Organizations

Baader-Canpolar Inc. – Multi-spectral Machine Vision Automatic Food Inspection $2,900,000
CHC Composites Inc. Composites Insertion Program - Sikorsky $3,700,000
Natural Newfoundland Nutraceutical Inc. – Natural NL Nutraceutical Product Development/Commercialization Centre $3,900,000
Rutter Technologies Inc. – Advanced Marine Technology Initiative (AMTI) $1,400,000
International Communications and Navigation Ltd. – Research/Development of Integrated Shipboard Info System $1,000,000

Newfoundland and Labrador: Commercial Total $12,900,000

Newfoundland and Labrador: Total $38,900,000

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Nova Scotia: Non – Commercial

Acadia University – Atlantic Centre for Global Change and Ecosystem Research $1,500,000
Dalhousie University – Advanced Processes for Infrastructure Health Monitoring $1,500,000
Dalhousie University – Molecular/statistical tools to improve tree breeding $600,000
Mount Saint Vincent University – eLearning in Communities of Practice $2,100,000
Nova Scotia Agricultural College – Nutritionally Enhanced Dairy Products $1,900,000
Saint Mary’s University – Geomatics Development of Time-Space Activity Data $2,500,000
Salmon River Salmon Association – Aquatic/Terrestrial/Agriculture CKD Liming Project $400,000 [I thought the Salmon River was in NB ?]
St. Francis Xavier University – Biogeochemical-Physical climatic Processes Centre $3,000,000
University College of Cape Breton – Petroleum Applications of Wireless Systems (PAWS)$5,600,000
St. Francis Xavier University – Gemini Surfactant Technology Research Facility $3,500,000

Nova Scotia: Non-Commercial Organizations: Total $22,600,000

Nova Scotia: Commercial Organizations

Abridean Inc. – Abridean Wireless $2,100,000
Acadian Seaplants Limited – Develop extracts from marine plants for Agrifood Industry $1,500,000
Composites Atlantic Limited - Development of composite struts for aeronautics $700,000
Diaphonics Inc. – Voice Biometric Speaker Identification System $2,700,000
Immuno Vaccine Technologies Inc. – New Peptide-Based Vaccines $3,800,000
Martec Limited – Chinook – Advanced Tools to Evaluate Explosives/Gas Dynamics $2,400,000
Oxford Frozen Foods Limited – Environmental Technology And Precision Agriculture Initiative $1,600,000
Scotian Halibut Limited – Develop Certified Halibut Broodstock $2,700,000
Sepracor Canada Limited – Develop Manufacturing Process for Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient $2,700,000
Techlink International Entertainment Limited – Dataceptor on a Chip System $2,700,000 [Look into gambling / gaming June 24, 04, News Junkie Canada, and Techlink's contribution.]
Navitrak International Corporation – Airborne Real Time Geographic Information system $2,100,000

Nova Scotia: Commercial Organizations Total $25,000,000

Nova Scotia Total $47,600,000

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Prince Edward Island: Non-Commercial Organizations

University of Prince Edward Island – Develop Atlantic Centre For Comparative Biomedical Research $2,000,000
University of Prince Edward Island – Institute for Bioresource Innovation $6,200,000

Non – Commercial Total $8,200,000


Prince Edward Island: Commercial Organizations

Atlantis BioActives Corporation – Development of New Pharmaceutical Products $4,000,000
ChitoXanSys Limited – BioChelation Applications Development For Surface Activated Crustacean Shell $1,600,000
Diagnostic Chemicals Limited – Development/Commercialization New Reagents/Methods – PEGylation of Biomolecules $3,000,000

Prince Edward Island: Commercial Total $8,600,000

Prince Edward Island Total $16,800,000

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Pan-Atlantic

Association of Atlantic Universities - Establish an Atlantic University Commercialization Network $3,600,000

Pan Atlantic Total $3,600,000

Grand Total $139,300,000

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