Conservatives working
Re: “Proroguing of Parliament puts agricultural issues in jeopardy,” (WP, Jan. 7.)
The Conservative government knows Canadian farmers are essential to Canada’s economic recovery and that’s why our government and Canada’s Economic Action Plan are focused on getting more buyers bidding on our top quality Canadian products at home and around the world.
In the Jan. 7 edition of The Western Producer, Liberal agriculture critic Wayne Easter gives the impression that Members of Parliament only work when the House of Commons is in session. But while Mr. Easter spends parliamentary breaks relaxing at home and Michael Ignatieff flies off to his villa in France, our Conservative government keeps punching the clock and delivering for Canadian farmers.
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Going beyond “Resistant” on crop seed labels
Variety resistance is getting more specific on crop disease pathogens, but that information must be conveyed in a way that actually helps producers make rotation decisions.
If Mr. Easter needs to catch up on what we’ve done, he should talk to producers and listen to them.
While the House wasn’t sitting, we went to India and Hong Kong with Canadian cattlemen (association) president Brad Wildeman, who said this of our breakthrough beef-access deal: “[The agreement] significantly improves the bottom line for Canadian producers, and provides Hong Kong families with access to high-quality, safe Canadian beef.”
Canadian Wheat Board CEO Ian White had this to say about our trip to Morocco during the April Parliamentary break to push a free-trade agreement: “CWB sales are 75 percent of Canada’s total exports to Morocco, where couscous made from durum wheat is a staple food. This is extremely important to western Canadian farmers.”
In addition to reopening the Colombian market to Canadian beef during the May break, we also pushed free trade deals with both Colombia and Peru.
Gordon Bacon of Pulse Canada had this to say about these deals: “Free trade agreements with Peru and Colombia will help keep Canadian pulses competitive in these markets and open new opportunities for us.”
Those examples are just the tip of the iceberg. We’ve travelled to well over a dozen countries, some of them more than once, where we have identified key market opportunities.
Trade is vital for our farmers and a key part of our Economic Action Plan, which continues to drive the Canadian recovery. The vast majority of this work was done while Parliament wasn’t sitting.
While Mr. Easter relaxes at home and Mr. Ignatieff enjoys his French villa, Canadians can be assured that we’ll keep working hard to get more buyers bidding on Canadian agricultural products.
Gerry Ritz,
Federal Minister of Agriculture,
Ottawa, Ont.
Turbines and health
Re: “Wind turbine noise poses no health risks: study,” WP, Jan. 7.
The development of alternative forms of energy such as wind energy is laudable. I do question the American and Canadian Wind Energy Association’s review panel’s conclusion that there are no health risks posed by wind turbine noise to humans.
I assume the definition of health is global and includes such aspects as physical, mental, emotional and intellectual well-being and humans are seen as a collective from infants to seniors. From this assumption I harbour some serious concerns for the well-being of our children.
The panel may not have been aware of the research of Dr. Michael Merzenich and his multi-disciplinary team of experts at Scientific Learning in Oakland, California.
Dr. Merzenich is a neuroscientist and pioneer in brain plasticity; the study of not only how the brain learns but also that brain development is a lifelong phenomenon….
A discomforting aspect of his studies shows a three-fold increase in autism over the last 15 years. He and his team believe there are likely environmental factors affecting brain development at crucial stages.
There is documented proof that children living in close proximity to busy airports and expressways have lower intelligence. Any continuous noise or white noise from traffic, fans in our electronics, air conditioners, heaters, car engines etc., can have adverse effects on children genetically predisposed to autism and those hypersensitive to stimuli such as sound.
I encourage the experts to take a more in-depth look at the possibility of adverse health risks by wind turbines, particularly to our children. I would also suggest an arm’s length panel as opposed to one established by the ACWEA as there is the possibility of conflict of interest.
Jacqueline L. Chalmers,
Claresholm, Alta.
Prorogue comment
Judging by the uproar over prime minister Stephen Harper proroguing Parliament, it is apparent that a great many Canadians are still deluded into believing that the majority of MPs they elect serve any other purpose than to create the illusion that power lies with the common people.
The reality is that if MPs controlled Parliament, Canada’s wealthy corporate elite would not be able to use tax havens and loopholes to get away without paying their fair share of taxes, foreign takeover of Canadian enterprises would be banned, international petroleum corporations would not be getting away with scandalously low oil and gas royalties,…social programs and infrastructure replacement would be adequately funded, and the list goes on.
The real power in Ottawa lies with the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, a non-partisan organization made up of about 150 chief executive officers of leading Canadian enterprises. They maintain a force of several thousand lobbyists in Ottawa who like to call themselves “government affairs consultants.”
Their function is to influence government policy in favour of their clients and to maintain a constant vigil to ensure that the power and interests of the corporate elite are not infringed.
They accomplish this by arranging “information” meetings with government representatives, their aids, senior civil servants and their advisors. They may also “entertain” their targets in various ways with a view to achieving their co-operation.
It is my conviction that the major decisions in Ottawa originate in private corporate boardrooms. Parliament serves merely to rubber stamp them.
William Dascavich,
Edmonton, Alta.
Missed opportunity
I just finished reading the article titled “Solution requires sincere, honest words,” (WP, Jan. 7), a comment on the future of food security by Martin Entz. Unfortunately, Martin does not heed his own words in the last sentence of the article suggesting to choose our words wisely.
The article begins well and I thought we might be privileged to a good thought-provoking piece that was going to offer some concrete ideas about allowing the poor and hungry access to food. Instead, Mr. Entz launches into a sermon about the evils of corporations and other topics unrelated to food security.
Making the multinational corporations to be the big bad bogeymen that are at fault for all our hunger related problems is certainly not a wise choice of words, as it takes away from the real issue.
Also, I don’t understand how using “precious water to irrigate corn for feedlots” contributes to decreased water use efficiency or lack of food security. My experience tells me that the best way to increase food security is to offer hungry people the tools they need to take matters into their own hands. This starts with making sure they can live healthy lives through access to clean water, medicines, education and land.
Unfortunately, Mr. Entz missed an excellent opportunity to help the rest of us to understand the situation.
George Lubberts,
Nobleford, Alta.
Canadian emissions
I have a bone to pick with Christopher Lind on his column, “Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me” (WP, Dec. 17.)
I won’t argue with his opinions of the tar sands because I have no personal knowledge of the operation. If the truth were known, I suspect his knowledge of the subject is as limited as mine.
I do, however, dispute his statements concerning carbon emissions. He says the average Canadian creates five times that of an average Chinese. How many Chinese have to heat their homes through winters several months long in temperatures anywhere from minus 20 to minus 45 degrees?
Toronto might have public transportation with little need to travel very far. What about the parts of the country where people must travel many miles every day in the course of making a living?
Carbon emissions created by agriculture can not be compared either. How much food does the average Chinese farmer produce compared to an average Canadian farmer?
That food helps feed people in many parts of the world including China. You clearly can not compare emissions on a per capita basis.
China is reluctant to take measures to cut emissions. India is reluctant to reduce emissions but they expect huge reductions by North America as well as giving many billions of dollars to developing countries.
I have serious doubts about the accuracy of measuring carbon emissions but Canada produces a very small percentage of the world total. If our emissions were cut by half, it would not make a measurable difference to the total.
So, Mr. Lind, I am not ashamed of Canada because of our climate change policies.
I do, however, feel a twinge of shame about the direction we have allowed political correctness to take our country.
Roger Brandl,
Fort St. John, B.C.
Elvis or Hayek?
Re: Hayek and durum, WP, Jan. 7.
It is always fun to read non-academics like Rolf Penner of the Western Canadian Wheat Growers worshiping at the altar of academics whose message they like.
In this case Mr. Penner is bowing to the Austrian philosopher of corporate enterprise F. A. Hayek. There is just one little problem with this.
The 30 years of deregulation promoted by Hayek and his followers has created a global financial meltdown and a generation’s savings have been swindled away in stock market scams.
And there are good reasons to think there may be much worse to come.
The only way Mr. Penner can pretend there is even the remote possibility of a free market in grain is to ignore the fact the world’s grain market is dominated by just four large private corporations.
At the risk of pricking Mr. Penner’s innocence, I would point out these corporations are huge bureaucracies and they make a profit buying grain at the lowest price possible from farmers, then flipping it to make a profit for their shareholders and owners.
The Canadian Wheat Board was in fact founded by farmers to address this defective marketplace. Contrary to Mr. Penner’s claim, the CWB has always contended with commodity exchanges and the other forces of the private market manipulated by these four giant corporations.
Professor Hayek died in 1992, and his ideas and policy prescriptions died with the global financial meltdown. In spite of all the efforts of prime minister Stephen Harper to turn back the clock, Mr. Penner has a better chance of seeing Elvis at the local supermarket than of seeing the ideas of professor Hayek implemented again.
Ken Larsen,
Benalto, Alta.
