TRURO, N.S. – Two Manitoba-inspired resolutions on farm issues were among 10 debated at the triennial conference of the Federated Women’s Institutes of Canada.
A motion asking the federal government to not allow the sale of the dairy hormone BST, was carried. Manitoba Women’s Institute president Audrey Greer told the delegates that as a dairy farmer she was well-qualified to speak on the topic.
“As a management tool it allows farmers to milk fewer cows and gain a higher production.
“But it’s a high-cost drug and farmers may not be further ahead to use it.”
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Her opposition to BST was supported by four other speakers and the delegates easily approved the motion requesting a moratorium on the drug. The federal government is trying to decide whether to authorize sale of BST this year.
Reflectors needed
Another Manitoba delegate, Joyce Johnson, spoke out to support a resolution urging railway companies to put effective reflectors along the sides of all freight cars for better visibility at night. She told the FWIC this was not a frivolous motion. On the Prairies there is a grid road every mile and there have been many accidents and close calls from people driving into the side of moving trains at uncontrolled intersections. The motion was carried.
In other motions that were approved the FWIC urged the Canadian government to:
- Ensure the 1996 census measures unpaid and volunteer work.
- Pass laws restructuring tax deductions for child-care expenses into one benefit to allow families to make a choice in child care.
- Enforce suggested guidelines for new reproductive technologies to protect the rights of the child, the family unit and the female.
- Take action to fight illiteracy.
nRatify the United Nations treaty on the rights of children.
- Petition the UN to make rape a war crime.
- Not grant parole to prisoners convicted of more than one serious offence or who repeat such crimes.
One resolution got applause. It suggested MPs be required to wait until age 65 before starting to receive pension payments.
A resolution that was defeated urged the federal government to “assist all those willing to work to become gainfully employed, and initiate a minimum income for all Canadians as a means to make economic recovery the number one priority for our country.”
Although Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island delegates voted in favor, most of the other delegates did not. Several delegates from British Columbia said they could not support this because it would be too costly and debt and deficits should be governments’ top priority.
FWIC expects to both raise and spend less money in 1994 than in 1993. In the budget approved by delegates the national organization will spend $123,767, resulting in a $30,847 loss for the year.
Also in a deficit position is the Hoodless Homestead. It is the former home of the founder of the women’s institutes, Adelaide Hoodless, and is run as an historic site in southern Ontario. Expenses were $28,943, about $8,816 over revenue. At the FWIC meeting in Truro, delegates raised $2,133 towards the running of the homestead.
