Search Results for: Canada

BY MJ DESCHAMPS

COMMONLY used in industrial and outdoor environments – and exposed to direct heat and ultraviolet light, PVC coatings can very easily be weathered; losing tensile properties, colour and durability. Coatings manufacturers and their clients are increasingly using heat stabiliser additives as a result.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE SECRETARY General of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has marked the tenth anniversary of the September 11 attacks by calling on member states to improve passport issuing controls.

Raymond Benjamin told a, ICAO symposium on ICAO machine readable travel documents, biometrics and security standards that great progress had been made during the past decade in improving passport standards: "Practically all states now issue machine readable passports and more than 100 issue [electronic] e-passports."…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS

BETWEEN rising costs for raw materials and a global push towards more environmentally-friendly production, label converters and equipment manufacturers are becoming increasingly focused on getting things done right the first time; and getting them done quickly, at that.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE WORLD Trade Organisation’s (WTO) disputes settlement panel will assess whether a feed-in-tariff favouring renewable energy production in Ontario, Canada, breaks global commerce rules banning governments giving certain special treatment to domestic businesses. Japan brought the case complaining long-term pricing guarantees offered by the Ontario’s system depend on a proportion of green energy being produced in Canada.…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS

GROUP buying’ is the new Internet-based system for food manufacturers that allows them to sell direct to consumers, potentially bypassing retailers altogether. Offering bargains appealing to post-recession frugality and tapping into the popularity of social media, ‘group buying’ deal-of-the-day websites such as Chicago-based Groupon and Washington DC-based LivingSocial are becoming increasingly popular for all consumer goods and services in Europe and north America, and spawning niche imitators specialising in food and drink.…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS

The Québec provincial government has decided to grant yet another funding

extension to the consortium of investors trying to breathe life back into one

Canada’s last remaining asbestos mines.

Guy Versailles, spokesman for the Jeffrey Mine in Asbestos, Québec, said that he

is "confident" that the financing needed to go ahead with the planned

underground expansion of the mine will be in place by 1 October.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has launched a Euro EUR1.5 million study into concerns that European Union (EU) animal welfare and food safety rules could harm the global competitiveness of EU meat and other livestock sectors.

Brussels has asked research teams to bid for a major study comparing compliance costs for EU and non-EU country meat producers.…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS

CANADA’S last major, fully-operational asbestos mine is in danger of being shut down "indefinitely" come November, due to unresolved labour issues.

LAB Chrysotile in Thetford Mines, Québec is the last year-round asbestos operation in the country, and is currently responsible for the bulk of Canada’s CAD90 million (USD 95 million) chrysotile asbestos sector.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A CANADIAN oil company has been subject to the first major conviction under the country’s 1999 Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act. Calgary-based Niko Resources pleaded guilty to bribing a Bangladeshi energy minister, being fined Canadian dollars CAD9.49 million (USD9.99 million).…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS

IT might sound like science fiction, but airport managers really are exploring the use of robots to boost security at airports. Partly this is because for some potentially extreme events, it is better to put a robot in harm’s way, rather than humans.…