Wind has picked up, no fog to be seen and cloud ceiling over 1800 feet. Still, the forecast does not have many yellow balls in it so wont get overly excited. Note to self: Must order some more vitamin D.

Noah has progressed quite the way since his last spot me. Looks like they camped in the abandoned Nutak harbor.

 Brandon Pardy usually has thought provoking columns in the Independent Newspaper, his latest is no exception.

Co ops should have been the direction taken on the coast years ago, I wont delve into why they did not, just to say much short sightedness and protectionism played a role, and not just from the Provincial Government.

There is still that chance of going Co Op, but much education and changes of attitudes are needed.

As to Brandon’s view of using ice free ports as a node for freight from the mainland. That is fine for ice free communities, and there are not many. But that still leaves all the communities on the north coast all iced up so to speak, with the possible exception of Rigolet.

So in the short to medium term that is a no go, perhaps in the long long term things could work that way.

I, and many others, would agree we have to shed the yoke that is holding us down, that is the Island centricities that everything must go through some Island entity for their cut of the pie.

I know in the past that Nunatsiavut Government has thought about, and maybe even looked at, direct shipping from Quebec to the north coast. Even thinking about there own shipping line to carry this out.

But it is not as simple as that. Again attitudes have to change.

Retailers with long associations with Island suppliers have to break the yoke. Then they have to establish new relationships with suppliers in Quebec or even Ontario.

Being a small market with only summer shipping would not help these negotiations, unless a buying co op or cabal was formed, you could include other areas of Labrador in that cabal, that would be no easy task but doable if the will was there.

For the short to medium term a sea and road route from Quebec cutting out the Island and using Goose Bay as a hub would work best for Central and Northern Labrador.

I say this not because I am a fan of  the Goose Bay business community, but because it seems to be the way that makes the most economical sense for us on the coast.

So all we need now is a shipping, retail, wholesale expert with a Gandhi  persona to come forward and take up the awesome challenge.