CWB support
To the Editor:
It is about time I took up the pen once again. It does not surprise me that the Rt. Hon. Ralph Goodale is feeling lonesome in his defence of and efforts to update the Canadian Wheat Board. He is alone because the vast majority of grain producers are enjoying a time of prosperity and satisfaction, generally speaking, with the day-to-day operation of the CWB. This same “silent” majority does not subscribe to all the illegal games played by a few vocal border runners, demonstrators, marketeers, etc.
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It is a proven fact that over the years the “silent” majority and everyone else has enjoyed better returns by having the CWB in place to market export wheat and barley for Western Canada.
It is a shame that the Reform party, including one particular maverick MP from Manitoba, held up Bill C-4 to the point where it is delayed. They thought that they could bluff the government into closure rules and taint Bill C-4, and they were hoodwinked by their own dirty politics. The Liberal government will not be accused of closure and CWB farmers will suffer the delay. Once again, “shame on you” to all Reformers.
You are not alone, Mr. Goodale. The “silent” majority is taking it (the CWB) for granted knowing that there are no pending immediate threats on the near horizon. …
If readers are so inclined, write a letter to your MP and tell him or her that you support the CWB.
– Lorne Radcliffe,
Cardale, Man.
CWB myth?
To the Editor:
This letter is in response to Mr. Norm Cobb’s response to a letter sent regarding a wheat sale to Russia. Mr. Cobb is a communications officer whose job is to help display the myth that the CWB is a marketing arm for western Canadian farmers. He is doing a good job for the Canadian Government.
What he cannot do is back up the fact that the CWB undersells wheat and barley to countries at not so premium prices. Mr. Cobb states that economists Kraft, Furtan, and Tyrchniewicz were given “full and complete” access to the CWB sales from 1980-1994 … Is the material given by the CWB verifiable by anyone in this country? No, because the CWB is exempt from the Freedoms of Information Act. Very interesting.
Also, don’t mislead western farmers by stating that the CWB is a monopoly seller of wheat and barley to the world. The CWB is only a monopoly Buyer of wheat and barley in western Canada. The CWB does not enjoy the luxury of the diamond cartel that sets the world price for diamonds. All the CWB is, is another player on the world market. The only power the CWB has is that it sells into markets that the Canadian government deems is a good deal. That is why all sales are so secret.
If the CWB can provide verifiable information or proof that they indeed have market clout, maybe the CWB would not have to spend millions of farmers’ dollars telling us how good they are at capturing premiums in the world market.
Also, if the CWB is so confident in its conclusion that it is the best thing for western Canadian farmers, put your money where your mouth is. Offer the option of a dual market, have every player involved in the grain industry bidding on our products like every other commodity in the world except diamonds, and then maybe all the hubbub about the CWB will finally end.
– Alex Herle,
Neilburg, Sask.
Postal strike
To the Editor:
Why do we let a small segment of our population hold us hostage? I am sick of an overpaid, unreliable, underworked postal service. Whatever happened to the old adage of an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay? Why can’t an employer be in charge of the business that they run?
It is too bad that some people are trying to get something for nothing. We would all be better off if everyone would take responsibility for their own actions and not look for someone to blame; or get a free ride at the expense of.
– Jim Latrace,
Lumsden, Sask.
Lost sentinels
To the Editor:
I refer to an article on Prairie elevators called “Wanted Dead or Alive: Photos of Prairie Elevators.” I do hope something is done in Saskatchewan.
I recall one June evening in 1949, when I was working for Bangnall Transport out of Wilkie, stopping on a height of land just east of the Leipzig turnoff on the old Number 14 highway. If I am correct, we counted over 50 elevators we could see in the distance.
I have checked an old 1946 Saskatchewan road map and in the area we could see Kelfield, Springwater, Duperon, Oban, Naseby, Lett, Salter, Cando, Red Pheasant, Ibstone, Thackeray, Adanac, Wilkie, Scott, Revenue, Tramping Lake, Broadacres, Phippen, Reford, Cathkin, Leipzig, Handel, St. Alphege, Wolfe, Cavell, Trayner, Landis and Palo.
Some of these towns had up to seven elevators. Many of these points have now disappeared because of rail abandonment.
I would doubt that in the same area there are now a dozen elevators remaining.
I do hope that something can be done to preserve a few of the old wooden sentinels of the plains.
– Dave Shury,
Battleford, Sask.
Animal stories
To the Editor:
Re: That’s Funny by Shannon McKinnon, page 85, Nov. 13.
As I read the above mentioned article, I had to smile a little as we had a billy goat on our farm who was also in the habit of bunting one over when you were bent over doing many farm chores. He did it to me a time or two too until I cured him of it, although he sure tried to get me a few times after that too.
I watched him one time and as he was about to put me over I turned, grabbed him by the horns and swung him around in a circle a few times and when I let him go, he was dizzy and staggered around as if he were drunk. When I saw him coming at me, I just bent over a little, put my hands out in front of me as if to grab his horns and then hollered “Haah!”
He then just shook his head and ran away and left me alone.
I had also read this past summer where a cowboy had tried to club a cow into taking a calf and had gotten some flak from the readers over being cruel to the “poor cow.” I don’t think that some readers know how frustrating it is when a cow will not take a newborn calf. A number of years ago I also had a cow, this being her second or third calf and would not take it. After carrying the calf onto some dry straw in the corral a few times and having thought that it finally took the calf, when I returned a couple of hours later, the cow had rolled the calf into a puddle of water and stomped it into the mud and drowned it. That cow sure was not around the farm very long after that.
Too many people think that cattle are lovable little things like their dogs and cats that are their house pets. I have a very different perspective about them, in that they are still wild animals which need to be watched at all times, especially a cow that has just had a calf. They also have a mind of their own, like the one who would not cross the railway tracks one fall. After all the other cattle had crossed the tracks, no matter how we chased it, it still would not cross. Finally, after about an hour, it ran into a slough of water and I just followed it into the water, put the rope halter on it and then dragged it all the way home with a small tractor right into the barn from where a few days later it went into the truck and to the Auction Mart.
I had also raised pigs for a number of years, and when I mixed pigs together from different herds when I bought them, they fought for a few days. Many times I needed to spray them for lice and mange and this by accident cured their fighting, as the pigs then all smelled the same. I have also used this same method when cows were fighting – spray them with some insecticide and they all smell the same, curing the fighting.
This also caused another problem, as they did not know which calf belonged to which cow. It sure was funny that summer to see four calves drink from one cow and when it was dry, go to another one and suck it dry until all the calves had their fill. This went on all summer and the cows and calves did not find their right mothers. It did not harm the cows and the calves were as good as any that I weaned any fall. I thought that I would write this, as I had seen an article in your paper where one rancher had problems with their cattle fighting and did not know how to stop them. The insecticide that I used was mixed with diesel fuel and one needed to be careful and not spray too much on a particular animal as some are allergic to fuel oil and will lose all their hair. Diesel fuel may be used by itself as it has a very strong odor and very little needs to be put on an animal.
I hope that you will print a few of the above stories as they may help other cattlemen. …
– Michael Bartolf,
Oxbow, Sask.
Car allocation
To the Editor:
The Plato Sask Wheat Pool Committee held its annual meeting Nov. 12. One of the speakers following the meal was the manager responsible for car allocations. What seemed to emerge from all the bafflegab and excuses was that although Sask Wheat Pool has never taken cars from this line and redirected them to Kindersley (“flexed them” in the jargon), there appears to be a bias in the system or an understanding between the Pool and CN that the concrete terminal will take priority.
Why else would the Kindersley terminal have gotten over a hundred cars in the first two weeks, while Plato hasn’t had a train in a month? He admitted that there were certain shipping situations, that in his opinion, required the terminal to be given priority because of the large investment involved.
What the bureaucrats from Regina had better understand is that people are getting fed up with the direction that SWP is taking. SWP itself grew out of this kind of dissatisfaction, and if people have to re-invent the wheel and start over to look after their needs and their communities, they will.
When supposed producer-owned companies start to show blatant disregard for their members, alternatives like short-line railways and small, efficient farmer-owned handling facilities begin to make a lot of sense.
– Doug Bone,
Elrose, Sask.
Farm income
To the Editor:
Reading the Nov. 20 Western Producer, there are so many articles that I would like to touch on, but the long-overdue article on farm income by NFU and Wild Rose is a breath of fresh air. Keep up the good work. If our government were willing to keep inflation in check, there would be no need for government support for farm income which is not much good anyway. When wheat sold for 20 cents a bushel, I bought three boxes of corn flakes for 25 cents. Now try and buy one box of corn flakes for one bushel of wheat. A few years ago the NDP of Saskatchewan lost the election over farmers not able to buy farm truck plates for large trucks. I hope the same thing happens here, it’s time for a change.
For those that envy the farmer spending 16 to 20 hours in a pig barn, they should trade jobs for two or three weeks with farmers and find out what it’s all about and then grumble about farmers not doing their share in taxes.
– John Pokorney,
Tilley, Alta.
