NDP taxes
To the Editor:
Grant Bunce in Open Forum (May 9) states that Premier Clark of the NDP (construed sometimes as the No Down Payment party) is only juggling what little he has to the best advantage. It is the taxpayers of B.C. who are juggling what little they have left after the NDP and Clark increased overall taxes in B.C. by 35 percent in their first two years in office.
Hydro rates and tuition fees increased astronomically under the NDP. But with an election in the offing, Clark brags of a freeze to help the poor. Clark is spending $220 million on experimental fast ferries, which at best could save 15 minutes in crossing to Vancouver Island.
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In year one of the NDP debt reduction plan, they planned to reduce debt by $414 million. He missed the target by $450 million. Clark sure knows how to handle money. Clark and the NDP have increased the total provincial debt by $11 billion since they took power in 1991.
Clark and company have paid $72 million directly into highway trades union coffers on a $1.1 billion project. Average wage on the project is $32 per hour, even if you just lean on your shovel. …
Last year, Mr. Clark announced he would downsize the civil service by cutting 2,000 jobs. This ended up in an increase of 1,400 civil servants, with all having contracts that just about make it impossible to downsize. …
Yes, Mr. Clark is a thorn in my side, Mr. Bunce. I hate having to pay his pension, rated value of $1.2 million, when he retires after wrecking our province economically just because he is clever in appealing to voters’ greed and envy. …
– R. H. Eldridge,
Victoria, B.C.
Reform works
To the Editor:
Barry Wilson’s weekly attacks on the Reform Party are really starting to become tiresome.
If the Liberals “are a government that has become flabby and arrogant for lack of opposition,” then perhaps he should blame the Bloc, since they are the opposition. I challenge Barry to compare what the Reformers have done as the third party compared to his precious NDP.
Western Canada has sent a large Reform contingent to Ottawa. Wilson, instead of respecting our wishes, has the ego to think his columns will change our vote.
He has no problems attacking Reform policy, yet had little to say about Bob Rae’s plan of Ontario spending itself out of debt.
He has little to say of Romanow’s boast that his debt reduction plan is much better than Klein’s, when young people leave Saskatchewan in droves to Alberta for employment.
My riding has sent a Reform MP to Ottawa.
Although in previous years the MP I voted for ended up in Ottawa, there is now a difference. My previous choices left me disgusted or downright embarrassed about my vote.
This is the first time in my life I can honestly say I am proud of my Member of Parliament.
– Dana Tumback,
Lancer, Sask.
Pinkeye option
To the Editor:
With reference to Dr. Jeff Grognet’s treatments for pinkeye in the May 2 Western Producer, another method should also be mentioned.
Since you have to wait 28 days on withdrawal of Liquamycin L.A., one might consider using an antibacterial ophthalmic ointment syringed onto the globe and conjunctival sac, then applying a jean patch (approximately a six- or seven-inch-diameter circle) with backtag cement to keep it in place over the entire eye.
This way the light does not affect the eye and cause irritation, the eye is protected, and the injections intramuscularly can be avoided.
We advise clients routinely to use this method, since they have to catch the animal for any treatment, and tell them by the time the patch falls off in three or four weeks 95 percent of the eyes (even terrible cases) look perfect.
– Dr. Margaret Mitchell,
Edmonton, Alta.
Court fines
To the Editor:
On page 3, April 4, Western Producer, court asks McMechan to write the CWB a cheque for $55,693 in compensation for lost returns. Now some of this grain exported to the U.S. was refused by the CWB.
Who is responsible for compensation on grain that the CWB refused to buy, but there was a market for it and farmers lost because of the CWB?
Also, we should remember the demurrage paid to ships waiting for grain at the west coast leads to lost returns for the CWB.
When labor unions strike, I have yet to hear any judge or CWB ask for compensation from the labor unions.
Who is the CWB? They are farmers’ money with no say in how the grain is sold or how expenses are to be paid.
– John Pokorney,
Tilley, Alta.
Dictatorship
To the Editor:
You’ve got it all wrong, PM Jean ChrŽtien. You are a prime example of why a democracy is becoming a dumb mockery because we have dictators like you in office.
I put it to you, Mr. Prime Minister, did you really help MP Nunziata get elected? Did the Liberal party pay for his campaign or elect him? No, the voters of his constituent elected him and for the precise purpose you expelled him for.
The MPs are elected to be the voice of the people and to advise you of what the people want. Not to follow you in blind obedience without question.
MPs are not answerable to you, but to the voters.
I applaud MP John Nunziata for having the guts to stand up against you and the caucus, to fight for his beliefs and for the voters. Deputy Prime Minister Sheila Copps showed that when push comes to shove she is a spineless jellyfish and a puppet of the PM’s.
What’s the matter, DPM? Did the thought of losing that high salary, luxurious expense account and extravagant pension get to you?
Come on voters, wake up, we need more people like MP John Nunziata and less like DPM Sheila Copps or any other MP who didn’t back up MP John Nunziata.
Signed sick and tired of the BS coming from our Parliament Buildings.
– Margaret Lawrence,
Pouce Coupe, B.C.
Crazy world
To the Editor:
Harassment of the farmers is not a good idea.
Abandoning the rail lines so that the railways can make bigger profits results in a lot of road damage. Will the railway people repair and rebuild the roads?
Tearing down good elevators results in less grain storage! Will the grain companies provide alternative storage close to the production of grain?
Making equity of grain farmers available to the gamblers to play around with? On the commodity exchange? If our leaders want better ideas, they should ask the dumb farmers.
Now it’s global markets. Of course, Canada can only take a beating. Do you know how grim the world’s poverty is?
– Paul Kuric,
Vega, Alta.
CWB support?
In Mr. Fairbairn’s column dated May 2, he comments on the “border runners,” referring to farmers exporting grain without a Canadian Wheat Board permit.
Mr. Fairbairn is certainly entitled to an opinion, but as a newsman I would think that he would base his opinion on fact rather than rumors and hearsay. In his column he states, and I quote, “many farmers question whether these are primarily farmers at all, or more accurately would-be truckers and commodity brokers who want to make a few dollars acting as middlemen.”
I submit to you, Mr. Fairbairn, that very little of what you have printed has any accuracy at all.
As a farmer who has “been there, done that,” I can assure you that these people are indeed all hard-working farmers. I would wonder what commodity broker or trucker would risk the seizure of his grain truck and $2,000 fine to “make a few extra dollars acting as a middleman.”
Mr. Fairbairn also comments on the unwillingness of these farmers to “patiently wait for the democratic process to reconsider the law.” Mr. Fairbairn, the process which implemented the Canadian Wheat Board 53 years ago was certainly not a democratic one. It was simply implemented, and as a 40-year-old farmer, I don’t have another 53 years to wait.
“Meanwhile, the hundreds of thousands of farmers who support the CWB system of orderly marketing have little they can do to publicize their loyalty” (G. Fairbairn). Mr. Fairbairn, how many farmers are you talking about with this statement? 999,999? 352,000?
A simple call to the CWB would inform you that the total number of farmers under the benevolent umbrella of the CWB is, in round numbers, 120,000.
Alberta’s share of farmers involved is approximately 40,000, of which, according to the Alberta plebiscite, up to 68 percent favor dual marketing.
Saskatchewan’s share of farmers is approximately 20,000, of which, by conversation with Manitoba farmers, and by conservatively applying Saskatchewan and Alberta numbers, I am sure 50 percent support dual marketing.
By applying fourth-grade math anyone could show how these “hundreds of thousands” of supporters are in reality about 48,000. Throwing around bogus figures like “hundreds of thousands” by the media does nothing but confuse people who are trying to make informed decisions about this issue.
I agree, Mr. Fairbairn, with the closing of your column in which you say that these incidents must continue to be reported, but the statement about “fair and balanced reporting” certainly does not seem to be reflected in your column.
– Mark Melle,
Minton, Sask.
Whitetailed facts
To the Editor:
Perhaps Mr. Kirk Moffat should reread the articles in the Producer that quoted my views on the whitetailed deer situation.
At no time have I said that hunting licenses should increase to compensate farmers for crop damage. That is the position of the Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation as stated by Mr. Begin. I have been saying exactly the opposite. There should be lower licenses for antlerless hunters. There should be free tags for landowners where population control is needed.
Landowners should be allowed to keep this meat for their own use, not be forced to give it away.
To generate some funds to establish a compensation program there needs to be a change in the way the trophy deer hunt is managed.
Part of the control of this hunt must be turned over to landowners so they can benefit directly.
This past winter, SARM presented a proposal to Mr. Lorne Scott which outlined several of these ideas. I strongly support their proposal. SWF opposed most of its content.
Mr. Moffat also missed the point as to why we will post our land. This is one of the few things that landowners have control over in the hunting situation as it is now managed. When I say deer hunters will pay, I mean they will pay through reduced access to deer hunting, not directly in the wallet.
The SWF had a perfect opportunity to make some progress on this issue this winter but chose to oppose any new ideas, fearing they would lose their position as government’s trusted adviser on deer issues. I will not reward them for their lack of support by giving them free access to my land. There are other groups in society who appreciate this privilege much more.
As to hunters helping control deer population, this is a myth firmly held by some hunters.
They think they are doing me a favor by shooting at the deer on my land. The facts are that most hunters are after that trophy head and won’t shoot a deer or fawn. … What I am telling hunters by posting my land is, look we have a serious problem here; until you start helping me resolve it, sorry, you can’t hunt. The Minister has told us face to face that it is our problem. They have no money for us, look after yourself. That is what we intend to do.
– D. H. Voss,
Spiritwood, Sask.
Guns kill
To the Editor:
Cody Clarke states (May 2): “In Jamaica, Mexico and Russia it is nearly impossible to legally own a gun and yet they have the highest murder rates in the world.”
I can’t speak for Jamaica and Mexico, but Russia’s street crime levels have skyrocketed since the fall of the Soviet Union, but they have skyrocketed from a level of practically zero when there was strict gun control.
I must admit I don’t know whether it’s legal to own a hand gun presently but many people do own them. I have seen guns sold not only by individuals but in shops in Moscow in 1992-93.
Why did Clarke omit the U.S., whose crime rates are among the highest in the world? Washington has the honor of being the murder capital of the world, 75.2 per 100,000. This is twice as many as Moscow.
– Nick Verigin,
Castlegar, B.C.
