Good old paperback: 1, Sony eBook device: 0

Seeing as I own a book publishing firm, this week I decided to add a Sony Reader to my small collection of electronic gadgets. It joins my iPhone, which has an easily downloadable electronic book reading application - and a pretty neat one at that: you can change the font size and decide whether to have black print on a white background, or white print on a black background. The iPhone also allows you to turn pages merely by stroking the screen.

However, the iPhone has one obvious limitation, the screen is rather small for reading a book. I have therefore been interested in trying out larger ebook readers, those that are dedicated solely to books. The impetus to purchase the Sony Reader came from the fact that I was attending seminars in Toronto this week dealing with electronic books. I also wanted one becuase Boulder will henceforth publish most of its books in both paper and electronic formats, and it seems to make sense that I - as a publisher - should achieve some familiarity with ebook readers.

When the helpful clerk at the Sony Store in Toronto's Eaton Centre offered to charge me $280 for a Sony Reader - down from $375 - as well as $25 in free ebook downloads, I caved. It is certainly a handsome looking product - a light metallic red machine that can play music as well as present books. The principal advantage it enjoys over the iphone is undoubtedly its size; the paperback-sized screen is instantly familiar. It is also easy to use; I figured it out within ten minutes, so it can't be terribly confusing. The Reader comes in a simple leather case (like a dustjacket), and is held in place along the spine merely by thin piece of plastic.

There is one major downside to the Sony Reader, besides the steep price, one that became achingly clear to me two days after I'd purchased it. Perhaps I should have been more careful, but I am used to carrying my coffee and a book around with me on Saturday mornings. While taking it to the computer to download a book I dropped my brand new Reader; it plunged about one meter onto the hardwood floor. The case landed on its spine, forcing the reader out of its plastic strap and onto the hard surface. Now my Reader is broken, and the Sony store in St. John's is suggesting that I am solely responsible for the damage - even though the manager agreed that the protective case offers little real protection to the device in the event of an accident.

A few days earlier, I dropped my ancient paperbaack copy of Cancer Ward; I am pleased to report that it remains in tip-top reading condition. Not so my Sony Reader.

Cancer Ward - Fabulous then, fabulous now!

When I noticed a copy of Alexander Solzhenitsyn's Cancer Ward moldering away on one of my book shelves a couple of days ago, I realized that it has been - um, a little while - since I'd broken the cover of a book by one of the former Soviet Union's most incisive critics. Solzhenitsyn only died last year, but in many ways he'd become "yesterday's man;" the USSR is long gone and the human rights excesses of its paranoid regime are relegated to history (only to be replaced by new abuses by Russia's newest megolomaniac, Vladimir Putin).

However, as I dusted off my yellowing copy of Cancer Ward, I wondered whether this example of Solzhenitsyn's writings transends the era in which it was written - the late 1960s. I am delighted to report that it does; while its topics ostensibly concern medical care and oppression, the novel remains as alive today as they did forty years ago. In fact, it may even be a better literary read now because one is able to focus less on the politics and more directly on the characters themselves. Here, we learn about how people cope with death and stress, and how hope can transcend cold reality. Cancer Ward, which deals with the patients, doctors, and nurses who inhabit a hospital, also provides an intriguing perspective on medical bureaucracy and the power relationships between physicians and their wards. This was a subject Solzhenitsyn was well acquainted, having barely survived a bout with cancer in the mid-1950s.

Two thumbs up!

Let's hear more from Kate Nash

Kate Nash is the latest undiscovered (in North America) British musical gem, who by rights should already be a superstar at the tender age of 21. An incredible lyricist - listen to Pumpkin Soup, Foundations, and Mouthwash - she conveys a refreshing perspective about being a young woman today. One of my favourites songs is Caroline's A Victim - an edgy commentary on trying to be part of an "in crowd." Check her out on My Space http://www.myspace.com/katenashmusic

Stormy times ahead for Newfoundland and Labrador

As a recessionary whirlwind whips northward through Ontario’s automotive heartland, the economies of Canada’s two petro-provinces are reaping the unwelcome gifts that come with blacked-out manufacturing plants and plunging oil prices.
Prospects for Newfoundland and Labrador closely mirror those of Alberta, as both provinces rely overwhelmingly on the oil industry for jobs, business growth and government revenue.
The ratcheting down of oilsands projects, such as mothballing of Suncor Energy’s $20.6 billion Voyageur expansion, directly impacts hundreds – if not thousands – of Newfoundland and Labrador workers, many of whom commute directly between St. John’s and Fort McMurray. With pink slips replacing pay envelopes for increasing numbers of migrants, the ramifications are only now becoming clear.
Some communities, such as Stephenville, had been cushioned from economic disaster with the closure of their main sources of employment, in this case a paper mill that closed in late 2005. Skilled workers were eagerly snatched up by Alberta recruiting firms, and the government of Newfoundland and Labrador was spared the messy task of finding new jobs for those who had been displaced.
Equally important as the jobs themselves were the remittances sent back east by migrant workers, which propped up the commercial sector of rural communities. Sales of pickup trucks, SUVs and recreational vehicles continued to climb throughout 2008, even as sales throughout central Canada slid during last summer’s period of $150 per barrel oil.
New car sales in 2008 within the province continued to exceed 2007 month-to-month figures until November when sales dropped to 1,662 units, the lowest number for that month since 2004. A measure of the health of the automotive market came in January when the St. John’s Chrysler and Mercedes dealership slid into receivership, with creditors claiming $19 million in unpaid bills from the firm.
A string of bad news stories has dogged the province since last fall, the worst being the pending closure of the Abitibi Bowater paper mill in Grand Falls-Windsor. The century-old plant is the only significant private sector employer in central Newfoundland, providing hundreds of jobs for mill workers and loggers. The port town of Botwood will also lose a significant portion of its economic base, as freighters will no longer load paper from its docking facility. For those who are losing their jobs, Fort McMurray is no longer an option.
Less significant is the slowdown in Labrador’s iron ore mining communities. Wabush Mines has laid off 160 workers, representing one third of its workforce, while in the neighbouring town of Labrador City a one-month-long shutdown of the mine owned by Iron Ore Company is planned for this summer.
Meanwhile, uncertainty swirls over Vale Inco’s planned nickel processing facility, which is planned for Long Harbour on Newfoundland’s east coast. Unexplained delays by the company in filing its development plan with the provincial government have led to concerns about the future of the $2.17 billion plant, which has already passed the environmental assessment stage.
According to the original 2002 timetable, Vale Inco was to have submitted its final development plan by the end of December. The province extended the deadline by three weeks, a date now exceeded by the company.
Questions also persist about the fishery this year, as processing companies grapple with the combined effects of poor prices in the United States and the collapse of Iceland’s banks, which had provided operating credit for several of the province’s largest firms.
The credit situation is so daunting that the Fish Food and Allied Workers Union – which is not known for its sympathetic attitude towards processors – raised the alarm. The union is demanding that governments step in to assist the companies; the alternative being that some fish plants may remain shuttered this year.
Certainly, Canadian banks might be forgiven for looking askance at offering credit, considering forecasts for key sectors of the fishery. Prices for snow crab, the mainstay of Newfoundland and Labrador’s fishing industry, are looking weak, although this could change by the time the season opens this spring.
The industry’s concerns originate with American restaurant market, which has been the mainstay for both lobster and crab; the recession has already negatively affected lobster prices, due to lower demand south of the border, and there are fears this will extend to crab.
So far, this list of economic challenges has not greatly impacted projections for Newfoundland and Labrador’s economy for 2009, which, despite the challenges, is expected to out-perform all other provinces except Saskatchewan. BMO is forecasting 0.7 per cent growth in real GDP, while Scotia Bank sees slightly lower growth, at 0.4 per cent.
The basis of this optimism lies with the strength of the province’s oil industry. Although annual oil production peaked in 2007 – gross output actually declined by 17 per cent in 2008 – and the billionth barrel of crude was drawn from the three existing offshore fields this January, the industry is expected to keep the economy bouyant during the next decade.
Even with $40 per barrel oil the provincial government is expected to record a surplus for 2009-2010, although Finance Minister Jerome Kennedy is warning that oil price fluctuations could push the government into deficit territory in the following fiscal year.
Fortunately, the government has prepared for bad times by consistently using unexpected windfalls in oil royalties to reduce the province’s debt. Its net debt is now expected to come in at $9.2 billion for 2008-2009, compared with the $10 billion forecast in the budget last spring.
Perhaps most timely for the province is construction of the Hebron oil production platform, which is set to begin in 2010, thereby providing fabrication jobs for hundreds of workers at yards and factories throughout the province. Hebron is expected to provide 1,000 direct jobs during its construction stage, and to generate $16 billion in royalties to the province during its 25-year life.
If both Hebron and the Long Harbour nickel processing plant proceed as planned, then the Newfoundland and Labrador is expected to weather the recession better than most other provinces. The housing market has emerged as one of the hottest in Canada, with prices increasing by over 30 per cent in 2008; there is no sign of this growth slowing dramatically this year.
Although these are reasons for optimism, thanks to the oil and mining sectors, the province has so far failed to diversify its economy away from production of commodities. Manufacturing, in particular, remains weak, aside from those companies supplying the oil companies, and is centralized almost exclusively in the St. John’s region.
An indicator of this is the unemployment rate, which is forecast to remain Canada’s highest, at 12 to 13 per cent until at least 2010, despite jobs growth in mining and oil.
The major challenge for the province’s government and business sector is to forge a path away from raw resource extraction, and to reverse the growing gap in economic fortunes between the vast rural areas and the urban communities of eastern Newfoundland and western Labrador.

Will Danny party like it's ... 2009?

As another bracing Canadian winter sails towards its inevitable conclusion, Canada’s political wunderkind plans to celebrate the rights of spring with a party marking Newfoundland and Labrador’s new status as a “have” province.
Details remain tightly sealed under a cloak of secrecy, but we can be certain that it will feature Danny Williams in vintage form: the word “pride” and the term “masters of our own destiny” will be sprinkled liberally in speeches before rapturous crowds at hockey arenas stretching from St. John’s to Happy Valley-Goose Bay.
Or will he perhaps forgo the tour and limit himself to a televised address to the masses, citing “budgetary constraints?” Certainly, there must be some niggling doubt in Williams’ mind about whether the multitudes will show up should he arrive in their midst, and, if so, whether some of those in attendance might have a few choice words of their own for Danny.
After all, Williams was elected because he was perceived as a highly competent businessman who could presumably work the magic required to diversify Newfoundland and Labrador’s one-trick pony of an economy – hewers of wood, fishers of cod, diggers of iron ore, and suckers of oil.
From the time of Williams’ election in 2003 to the federal election in 2008 his government gained significant political capital via the ritual flaying of two prime ministers, first Paul Martin and then Stephen Harper. The domestic audience loved the spectacle, so much so that few people bothered to seriously question how the fundamentals of the economy were faring.
Now, five years into Williams’ term as premier, and in the midst of a worldwide recession, people are starting to wonder what – in reality – his government has achieved. Is Danny Williams the Lehman Brothers of Canadian politics?
Since taking office, the province has seen no significant growth in manufacturing and there are precious few signs that the economy will reduce its dependency on extracting natural resources. In fact, these sectors were in a state of decline long before Canada’s economy joined the recessionary vortex last year.
In 2003, the province had three paper mills; it will soon have only one, with the closure of the century old Grand Falls-Windsor plant this spring. Labrador’s two iron ore mines are shedding jobs, and there are lingering questions about whether Vale Inco will actually build its much-anticipated nickel processing plant in Long Harbour, as announced last fall.
As for the fishery, while it is too early to predict prices for 2009, the prognosis is not good. Much of the industry has relied on snow crab, but with softening markets in the U.S. – as consumers eschew eating in restaurants – fishermen may find it difficult to pay their crews, let alone turning a profit on crab.
Then there is the oil industry. Lost in the hoopla of $150 per barrel oil last year, and the announcement that the Hebron project will proceed, was the sobering reality that crude production peaked in 2007, and is forecast to decline year after year unless new commercially viable oil fields are discovered. Unfortunately, the last viable field was found twenty-five years ago, despite the expenditure of hundreds of millions of dollars on exploration efforts since the mid-1980s.
To make matters worse, a flood of Newfoundlanders who had found jobs in Alberta’s oilsands projects are expected to return home in the wake of layoffs in that province.
The government is anticipating a budgetary surplus for 2009, but even Williams has admitted that a return to deficits will likely occur in 2010. So what will his message be to the growing numbers of unemployed and economically distressed workers as he celebrates “have” status – perhaps “Party like there’s no tomorrow?”