Open wide: Tareq Hadhad’s big reveal
Hadhad’s Peace by Chocolate is set to open in Halifax next week and the store looks to be as much a treat for the eyes as the candy is for the mouth. And there are new flavours—lots of them. Here’s a taste.
Butter takes a beating
Sylvain Charlebois stepped in it this week by telling us why our butter's been harder than usual during the pandemic. With all the baking going on dairy farmers were hard-pressed to deliver the goods, so many started feeding heart-unfriendly palm oil to the cows to bump up the fat content. The cows were content, but dairy farmers trampled Dalhousie University's Food Professor on social media. Quebec has sided with the prof and given palm oil the boot.
How do you like them apples?
Put an old NHLer, some tired fruit and vegetables and a savvy dragon together and what do you get? If the dragon is Dragon's Den regular Arlene Dickinson, it's the money to build an Annapolis Valley factory to turn surplus food into protein. Outcast Foods landed $10 million this week, half from Dickinson and half from BDC.
Ocean blue and cannabis green
Liverpool cannabis grower Aqualitas is walking the talk on sustainability by putting its pot in recycled plastic packaging salvaged from the sea. The producer has just made a deal with US recycler Sana. It already grows its plants hydroponically and uses koi fish to keep the water clean.
Fighting illegal fishing that goes unseen
Ecuador has a problem. Big, unlicensed foreign vessels sit offshore illegally hoovering up all the fish. One solution, the Dark Vessel Detection program, will put together billionaire Bluenose John Risley's money, an Ontario space technology outfit's expertise and some on-the-water enforcement to tackle the problem.
Fingers crossed for foreign workers
Pandemic travel rules aren’t just putting out entitled snowbirds. Farm and fish plant operators worry that next month Ottawa make it even tougher to get the usual 4,000 seasonal workers into the country and on the job when the employment crunch comes this spring.
Right whale, wrong place?
Not really. It’s that ships that are supposed to slow down, don’t. Whale backs tattooed by ships’ propellers are just one sign that the go-slow honour system isn’t working.
QUICK TAKES
Steele’s 2021 hat trick
That’s three deals in two months for Halifax-based Steele Auto Group. First Rob Steele grabbed a pair of dealerships in his second home, Texas. Then Royal Garage, with car lots across Newfoundland. This week it was Saint John, not St. John’s.
PEI’s culinary, curling couple get the win
Congrats to restaurateurs Kim and Liam Dolan, named entrepreneurs of the year by the Charlottetown Chamber of Commerce. It’s been a long road for Liam, who landed on the island from Ireland as a 19-year-old chef. Kim’s known as a curler as much as a publican.
PERSPECTIVES
LAMBIE: The cost of bristling with missiles
The sticker price for Canada’s new combat fleet has hit a high-water mark of $80 billion. Some of that is the cost of the options, including a top-end Tomahawk missile system.
FRASER INSTITUTE: Newfoundland’s golden
Higher prices for gold, reasonable development costs and at least a mining-neutral sentiment have put Newfoundland and Labrador in the top 10 places for the mining sector to invest.
That’s The Wrap!
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Back next Friday. Until then, have a bite of chocolate, but stay away from the Bitcoin, no matter what Elon Musk tweets.