CBC Maritimes

Trade between the Maritimes and the USA gets shaken up by the soaring value of the loonie

Months ago - March, to be exact - the Canadian dollar was trading at 77 cents US. That made the products we export to the States - from lobster and wood to oil and software - attractive to American buyers.
Today, though, we're nearly at par. That makes a trip to Bangor or Boston look more affordable, but for Maritime businesses that depend on exports to the US for a sizeable chunk of their income, it's worrying.
Andrew Ludwig, is General Manager of Sticks and Stones Fabricating in St Stephen. The company won the 2009 New Exporter of the Year award in New Brunswick. It fabricates, sells and installs custom countertops made out of granite, marble and other natural stone and quartz materials. And it turns out the high loonie is having mixed results for the business.
We then spoke with Jim Stanford, who feels there are more concerning issues about the fact that this latest run-up isn't tied to economic realities. He's an Economist in the Research Department of the Canadian Auto Workers' union.


Determining when life ends might seem straightforward, but it's not.  For example,  are patients categorized as "brain dead"  really dead?   With advances in medical research the answers are getting more complicated - and they have implications for organ donors, their families and transplant recipients.
Brain death is a complex & fascinating area of research for Dr James Bernat, Professor of Neurology and Medicine at Dartmouth Medical School in Lebanon, New Hampshire. He talked about the changing definition of death.


   Arthritis has been called "the wear and tear disease", and there are more than one hundred ways it can develop - from minor inflammation in your pinky to debilitating cases of osteoarthritis.   In most cases no cure exists, but symptoms can be managed and there are ways to reduce the pain.
    Phone-in guest Dr Evelyn Sutton teaches in the Department of Medicine at Dalhousie University, and is Head of the Rheumatology Division & Director of the Arthritis Centre of Nova Scotia at the QEII Health Sciences Centre. She answered questions about arthritis.