Bailey facts
To the Editor:
This is in response to a letter which appeared in the Open Forum on Aug. 14, under the heading, “Bailey’s roads.”
Harry-Jae Elder, Fillmore, Sask., begins his letter by asking the question, “Is not Roy Bailey, the current Member of Parliament for Souris-Moose Mountain, the same Roy Bailey that was MLA for Elrose in 1982 Grant Devine government?”
The answer is no, Mr. Elder, you’re not even close.
Mr. Herb Swan from Beechy, Sask. was elected MLA for Rosetown-Elrose in 1978, 1982 and subsequent elections.
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The Roy Bailey, to whom you make reference was elected MLA for Rosetown-Elrose in 1975. He never served in the Devine government.
You, Mr. Elder, are out of step by seven years and totally incorrect about service in the Devine government.
Mr. Elder then assumes that he is correct and states that I must share the blame for the conditions of our highways today.
It should be of interest to Mr. Elder that I have lived in Bengough, not Elrose, all but a few days since the 1982 election. You are not even close, Mr. Elder, you’re out by some 250 miles.
During most of the Devine government, I served my peers as an elected member on the Board of Education for the Borderland School Division (nine years). Three of the nine years, I also represented most of the Souris-Moose Mountain constituency on the Saskatchewan School Trustees Association, not an MLA in the Devine government. Once again, Mr. Elder, you are not even close.
Finally, Mr. Elder refers to the member of Parliament for Souris-Moose Mountain as a hypocrite.
The hundreds of students, teachers, trustees and thousands of constituents have answered that disgraceful accusation.
All that remains in this discussion is for Mr. Elder to openly and honestly apologize for his accusations through the same media that carried the false … characterization.
– Roy H. Bailey,
Member of Parliament,
Souris-Moose Mountain
Low prices
To the Editor:
Having been involved in the agriculture industry since 1953, this is the first time I have felt forced to take up the pen.
The reason is the 1997-98 CWB initial price.
We are now in a situation where the railroad gets more to haul a bushel of barley on government-owned cars to Thunder Bay or Vancouver than we as producers get to grow the same bushel with our own equipment and paying all input costs. The intent of the CWB appears to be to make the same true for wheat.
I have not been one to complain about something for which I have no solution.
The CWB employs thousands of folks, all of whom enjoy good wages, at the expense of the farmer. I always believe that if you pay someone, you can also fire them, and I believe that we as farmers can do just that if we get the co-operation of enough farmers.
I suggest that we all sell our wheat and barley off-board this year, grow none next year and see how many CWB employees we have in the 1999-2000 crop year. We can still grow canola, mustard, flax, oats, peas, lentils, canary seed, etc. and market it as we always have – “ourselves.”
In other words, let’s vote with our grain trucks and do this industry a favor. …
– Art Lambie,
Churchbridge, Sask.
N.Z. farmers
To the Editor:
Re New Zealand farmers more efficient without subsidies:
While subsidies are not the thing to do anyone any good, I do not see farmers selling farm produce at giveaway prices as going to save our country from falling apart because of rampant inflation. This part will have to fall on the part of our governments and labor unions.
Do we want a good country to live in or do we want a country that you take as much as you can and the hell with the rest?
If we are looking for an example then we should use Japan. They have no oil and are making a living maybe even lending money to Canada and their farmers always come first before imports.
Also, New Zealand spends very little for snow removal.
– John Pokorney,
Tilley, Alta.
Pig factories
To the Editor:
The Government is allowing “pig factories” to locate to rural Manitoba, as I am sure in other rural areas of the country. I live in a small town north of Winnipeg, called Broad Valley, in an area called the Interlake.
We are presently trying to fight the influx of these huge pig factories.
“Pig Factories” is an industry disguised as agriculture to enable them to operate under agricultural guidelines.
They are taking advantage of rural communities that do not have their bylaws in place.
At present, they do not even require a building permit or permit of any kind to start construction. They only require an environmental permit okaying their waste storage, which does not have to have a secondary entrapment in case of leakage.
Please understand, these Pig Factories house 6,000 pigs at each site. …
This is corporate farming. If they were a corporation, they would have to follow very stringent rules and regulations as to permits and environment.
If they did this, then why not locate beside the processing plants and also save on transportation costs? Why are they locating in rural communities?
For a safe abundant water supply which, if leakage occurs, they end up polluting.
They can relocate. But what are the residents left behind to do with contaminated water?
As a society, we have regulations in place now to protect us, i.e. where we can or cannot smoke tobacco, pollution regulations on vehicles, drinking and driving, gun regulations, and the list goes on.
Why does our Government have blinders on slack pollution laws for this industry?
All rural communities have to band together and stop this violation of our right to a clean, healthy environment. We cannot do it one community at at time or we will all lose.
If rural communities want or can accept this industry in their area, then by all means they can have them. But if the rural communities don’t want them, then they should have the right to say no! …
– Nancy Crawford,
Broad Valley, Man.
Milk cartons
To the Editor:
Something must be done to recycle milk containers.
Why is it that the dairies who sell milk in milk cartons and plastic jugs aren’t supporting a recycling program?
Many beverage containers are recycled, why not empty milk containers?
Twenty-nine million milk cartons and 14 million plastic milk jugs are used per year in Saskatchewan. The figures are from the Saskatchewan waste reduction council. All these containers are recyclable. Unfortunately they are hauled to landfills at considerable cost.
Apparently the dairies have no policy for recycling.
Why don’t the dairies, the city, the province and Sarcan work out a recycling program for milk containers, turn waste into a resource of value, help the environment and extend the useful life of landfills?
Many consumers recycle waste materials whenever there is an opportunity to do so. By recycling, they are taking up their responsibility to the community and to the environment.
Actually most of the leadership for reducing garbage and for recycling appears to be coming from residents in communities.
The authorities, both elected and appointed, often follow along.
The Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association and the Saskatchewan Rural Municipalities Association have expressed concern for many months about the large volume of recyclable materials dumped in landfills. Paper, milk cartons and plastic jugs are good examples of their concerns. Plastic is taking up to 20 percent of the space in many landfills.
All businesses as well as individuals have a responsibility to society to do their part in recycling and to reduce the waste that goes to landfills.
Many business leaders are taking on their responsibility and recycling waste materials. Some are even turning waste materials into marketable products.
The dairies have a responsibility to society to recycle their empty milk containers. Such a program is overdue.
– John McConnell,
Saskatoon, Sask.
Democracy
To the Editor:
The anti-CWB mentality as if under a hypnotic spell refuses to accept it as dual marketing on wheat or barley deliveries when elevator agents ask, “Board or open market?”
In fact, they consider such an arrangement as a CWB monopoly!
The anti CWB mentality begs for choice, yet when it comes to marketing grains other than barley or wheat, there is no choice but to sell through the open market. The choices available under the open market are much like those for a lamb between a coyote and a wolf.
If choice were truly vital to people like L. K. Berg (Aug. 7 OF), they would demand the CWB handle other grains.
L. K. Berg, like all subtle anti-CWBs, comes up with expressions like “a real democracy would have removed these grains from the Board’s monopoly long ago.”
Using the same argument, we can say “a real democracy wouldn’t allow private corporation to dominate the economy.”
Democracy is defined as government by the people and for the people.
In other words, democracy is a government consisting of individuals working together with their representatives to protect common individuals.
Private corporations are made up of individuals who favor enhancing the corporate structure. Corporatism is government by private corporate CEOs for private corporations.
To the corporate structure, most party MPs and MLAs are figureheads and people don’t matter.
Their historic way of doing business is in a manner which benefits corporate interests regardless of the impact on humanity.
This contrasts to ethical business and the customer.
This is thoroughly discussed in the book and tapes The Unconscious Civilization by John Ralston Saul, who has university degrees in history, economics and political science.
– Stuart Makaroff,
Saskatoon, Sask.
Cow bingo
To the Editor:
I say b.s. to those complaining that one can somehow rig playing cow-patty bingo. (“Cow patty bingos raise stink in some circles,” July 31 issue.)
In our case if Isaac II, our ox in training and community mascot-to-be, could indeed be trained to evacuate into a particular square consistently, I do not see that as a concern, considering the way we play the game.
In our situation we map out the squares one to 100 in numerical order on paper. Participants in the event pick those numbered tickets at random out of a hat. Participants’ names are recorded on paper of the squares they have picked.
By using our method of playing it dismisses out of hand the charge of rigging the game.
Incidentally there is an easy way of playing. At our 111th annual Oak Lake Agricultural Society Fair we used eight 10-foot steel corral panels to form one large square.
After panel erection we marked off the panels by chalk every two feet beginning at one end. Each square was therefore two feet by two feet.
When the animal evacuated we simply transferred the blueprint on paper to the enclosed area.
By pulling a string tight between the parallel marking on panels, we within one minute located the winning square and subsequently the winning ticket holder.
How did we get Isaac to respond? We kept him in an adjoining pen until our tickets were sold. We then turned him into the active pen at which time one of our committee members is said to have passionately recited a poem entitled “Ode to Cow Patty.” It ended thus: “Oh Isaac, sweet Isaac, please allay our fear, Lift your darn tail and put your — into gear.”
– Peter Galawan,
Fund-Raising Chairman,
Oak Lake and District
Economic Development Board,
Oak Lake, Man.
Socialist folly
To the Editor:
Stuart Makaroff’s letter in Open Forum of Aug. 7, “Farm CEOs,” reflects the all-or-nothing thinking of the socialist sector of this province.
Brainwashing from men like Tommy Douglas has left these people in a state of mind that cannot be reversed.
To say that corporate CEOs have disdain for human values is to say that anyone who believes in responsible business practice has no human values.
If corporate farming exists in this province today, it is for one reason, and that is to offset the false promises of organizations such as the CCF, the NDP, Co-ops and the Wheat Board.
To brainwash a farmer into believing that he or she can survive on a 500-acre farm that receives less moisture than parts of the Sahara Desert shows, in my opinion, little or no human values.
These socialist messiahs have … left us high and dry on the prairies.
Rail line closures, the loss of the Crow Benefit, a highway system that has all but fallen apart, the loss of the GRIP program and hospital closures all took place with the co-signature of Mr. Romanow and his followers.
These were all programs that protected the small family farm.
Perhaps had Mr. Makaroff’s socialist buddies learned management skills from corporate CEOs, our infrastructure system along with our social programs would still be intact today.
– John J. Hamon,
Gravelbourg, Sask.
