Thoughts about tax gift
To the Editor:
In the May 6 issue of The Western Producer, I have read your story about the government of Saskatchewan and Economic and Co-operative Development minister Janice MacKinnon handing AgrEvo Canada Ltd. $450,000 to do research on developing a hybrid wheat.
I have mixed feelings about this grant.
On one hand, if this research is to be done I am happy to see that it is done in Saskatchewan.
But on the other hand, I have some questions that need to be asked.
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You have taken taxpayers’ money, Janice MacKinnon, $450,000, and gifted it to a wealthy international company. I am a taxpayer. Will this research cut my costs? I don’t think so.
In fact, you have already taken that money from me and all the other taxpayers so that cost is already established, plus if I was to access this hybrid technology, I would be buying new seed every year.
Will we see another $15 per acre technology fee scam? I see only increased costs.
Will I be able to grow more bushels of wheat?
The short answer no, I don’t think so and why would you want to grow more wheat?
I am receiving about the same price per bushel of wheat now as I did 30 years ago when I started farming. The market doesn’t want to pay a fair price in proportion to my costs, so why grow more wheat?
The long answer to “can we grow more wheat” is, this is Saskatchewan. I have grown Glenlea, Pitic 62, Norquay and other variety names I can’t remember anymore. I have been there, done all that. It is a no gainer, no brainer.
After years of trying to grow more wheat by pouring on thousands of dollars of fertilizer, spraying thousands of dollars of Hoegrass and other chemicals to control all the weeds that grew because of all that fertilizer, I have come to the conclusion that the limiting factors are water and weather.
A crop will yield to its first limiting nutrient and in Saskatchewan it is water. This is not Iowa, we don’t get 200 frost free days and nice soaker rain every night.
This is Saskatchewan, 1,000 miles from port, where we hold a 100-day mad rush to fertilize, seed, spray and harvest a crop between rubber boots time and time for felt socks.
I think we would be better off shipping a high value crop such as high protein, hard red spring or durum, the long distances to port. We as farmers have grown more and more wheat for less and less and we just can’t do it any more.
As for Janice MacKinnon and the $450,000, let me say this: For eight years I have had to listen to Janice MacKinnon and every NDP cabinet minister that had an audience belly ache and whine about the provincial debt and the interest cost of servicing that debt.
Meanwhile every government service I might use has come under attack.
They have attacked our hospitals, closing some, cutting back services, taken drugs off Medicare, allowed the College of Physicians and Surgeons to dictate how many doctors could graduate and rules that impact on small rural hospitals.
They have cut funding to rural school districts, which has forced my property taxes up through reassessment or changes to the grant formula.
They have unendingly raised my power and gas expenses, increasing my costs. Until recently my telephone bill was escalating but with recent changes to long distance billing, it actually came down slightly. It matters little because the monthly minimum is now as much as the bill used to be.
My vehicle licences are a third more than they were when the NDP took over, with less coverage.
Then there are the roads and highways, which except for the occasional patching, have been virtually abandoned. Rural municipalities are receiving almost no money for building or maintenance of roads.
After going through all this, Janice MacKinnon, if you have $450,000 to give to a rich company like AgrEvo, maybe balancing the budget and paying down the debt isn’t as important to you as you NDPers have been pretending.
– Victor Hult,
Waseca, Sask.
Little respect
To the Editor:
I’m a parent and school bus driver. The community my family and I live in is excellent.
I would like to see more teenagers going to church and less alcohol. The parents in the community do try to guide their children but they are under peer pressure from older teens.
As a bus driver I’m not respected as much as a teacher but still have some. The discipline I have depends on the principal, and the kids know it too.
One time I had spitting on my bus. All I said was, “no one has to be treated this way.” My bus was quiet for the whole route and the incident never happened again. When I got home from the route I phoned the parents and said I want that child to apologize to the victim or this incident would be reported to the principal.
With my son and bus kids, I don’t let anger go too far. Some kids just don’t like each other. The thing is to get along as best as possible. I find the kids nowadays don’t have respect for others, like it was when I was a kid.
I blame some of the TV programs and not enough religion taught. Economy is also a factor with both parents working.
– Pam Clelland,
Morse, Sask.
Missing potholes
To the Editor:
What’s all this nonsense about potholes on Saskatchewan roads?
We recently drove from Bethune to Moose Jaw. Not a pothole, although there were some rough spots. From Moose Jaw to the Alberta border, not a crack. The road was perfect, one of the best I’ve driven on.
From Swift Current to Rosetown and Saskatoon, the same thing. No. 11 from Saskatoon to Regina has many miles of rough pavement but no potholes at all.
I have not traveled on any secondary roads, but no doubt they are in bad shape due to the tremendous loads they carry for which they were never intended.
Give a little credit to our highway department and admit that for a province that has more miles of roads per capita than any other province, our maintenance is pretty good.
– E.C. Mortin,
Bethune, Sask.
Super super B
To the Editor:
Recently the Saskatchewan Department of Highways and Transportation has agreed to allow super super B truck trailer units (nine axle, 34 tire units) to haul grain on roads within Saskatchewan.
The amazing point is that with one additional axle, compared to a conventional super B, and by deflating their tire pressure, these truck-trailer units will be able to carry approximately 56 tonnes. That’s approximately an additional 12 tonnes in load compared to a conventional super B.
There will be people saying I’ve seen those trucks hauling fuel between Regina and Saskatoon and on the No. 1 Highway, so what’s the big deal? Well, the deal is that these trucks will not only be traveling on some of our better highways, they will also be on grid roads and thin membrane paved roads. Those grid roads and thin membrane paved roads that are in such good shape.
This new technology of reduced tire pressure and of increased number of axles is heralded to reduce, not eliminate road damage. However, this new technology has its drawbacks. It requires additional horsepower to pull the trailers and with that comes increased fuel use and more pollution. …
So who benefits from the new technology? Farmers will most likely pay higher freight rates to pay for the technology and the increased fuel consumption. The truckers will have more expensive trucks to pay for. The grain companies will get more grain moved per truck and there will be an option to elevator closures and rail-line abandonment – no matter how weak it is.
And the taxpayers, what benefits accrue to them? Well, they will most likely get the bill for more road damage.
It has become very apparent that the government has no plan to deal with rail line abandonment. I just wonder if I let some of the air out of my tires in my three ton, will the highways department let me haul an additional 50 bushels of grain legally?
– Kyle Korneychuk,
Pelly, Sask.
Bureaucrat jobs
To the Editor:
I have been making an attempt to figure out nuts and bolts of this AIDA program, created by government with help from what Agriculture Minister Upshall’s secretary told me was advice from Western Wheat Growers Association on how to design it.
Wheat Growers Association, whose side are you on? If I’m wrong, I apologize. If not, stick this program where “sunshine doesn’t shine.”
Oh sure, somebody is going to benefit all right, but it isn’t going to be farmers. Federal bureaucracy will probably create an extra 3,000 jobs in Ottawa to try and administer it. If you have a mailing address in Ontario or Quebec you will do all right with it in all likelihood. No wonder Mr. Vanclief wants everybody to fill out these forms. Look at the job creation being done…
Farmers will get blamed for being whiners. The government will probably eliminate another 8,000 to 10,000 farmers. They are being extremely pesky. Anyway, the nerve of these people wanting to make a living out of farming.
There are more important things to do with this so-called $1.5 billion. Create a bigger and more wonderful bureaucracy, impose a dumb gun law in Bill C-68. Think of all the wonderful jobs government can create in Toronto and Ottawa.
Doesn’t really matter that agriculture creates new wealth every year to the tune of $6 to $7 billion. No, this industry isn’t really important.
– Robert Butt,
Flaxcombe, Sask.
Health careÊ
To the Editor:
In response to a letter from Suzanne Romanuik, it amazes me how people think they should just snap their fingers and instant health care. So, she needs an operation and has to wait a week. If it was an emergency, she would have a bed in a minute, and by an emergency I mean an accident, a broken leg….
I had to wait six weeks … and it took all of that six weeks for necessary tests for me to adapt physically and mentally for the surgery.
After an eight-hour surgery with three surgeons and all the attending staff, 16 days in the hospital with the best of care and home care to assist as soon as I got home, and I didn’t have to write a cheque for one cent. Maybe S. Romanuik should go to the U.S. for her surgery and try paying that price.
I recommend that instead of wasting her time writing letters and making phone calls, that she accept the fact that we have the best health care in any country and we should appreciate its value.
– Allene Douglas,
Eatonia, Sask.
