Rock record
To the Editor:
Don’t do as I do but do as I say. Jean ChrŽtien is having a terrible time with Alan Rock, a dictator of righteousness. We are reminded of the song “leave your guns at home son, don’t take your guns to town.”
In desperation, Jean shifted him into Minister of Justice where he almost brought down the government with his intolerable discrimination of Hepatitis C sufferers.
Alan Rock must never have learned the Golden Rule during his school days: “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Until he condescends to observe this policy, he will demoralize his portfolio.
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Growth plates are instrumental in shaping a horse’s life
Young horse training plans and workloads must match their skeletal development. Failing to plan around growth plates can create lifelong physical problems.
– H. W. Jackson,
Falher, Alta.
Straw era
To the Editor:
The day of the strawboard plant is over. It is about 70 years too late. Around the first world war, the main thing that was grown was grain. It was cut with a binder and threshed with a threshing machine.
So in the fall, straw piles dotted the landscape. Most of it was burned. We often counted over 40 straw piles burning at night in the early Twenties. From the time harvest started until November, there would be burning straw piles every night. Millions of tons of straw went up in smoke every fall.
There were quite a number of people that tried to find a way to make use of the surplus straw. Making building material out of it was in those days unprofitable. You could order a carload of lumber and have enough to build a house and barn and a granary or two for a thousand dollars.
We were interested in a number of things. One was to make fuel briquettes, but the advent of the combine meant there were no more straw piles, a lot of straw was burned on the fields.
Wheat is no longer king. … It uses a minimum of labor, but there is a high cost of equipment and a big outlay for fuel, fertilizer and sprays. Both plants and insects are building up a resistance to chemicals and that is creating further problems.
There are a lot of other options for farmers today, and new varieties of grain are developed with short straw. The ideal length of straw for cereal crops would be about 20 inches, so there would be no real surplus of straw. So a strawboard plant is no longer a viable operation.
– J. R. Clayton,
Killarney, Man.
Bilingualism
To the Editor:
A few days ago I heard the news that a group representing Saskatchewan Francophones asked that the provincial government declare Saskatchewan a bilingual province.
I would like to express my support for this suggestion. This move of friendship to French Canada would do much more than the Calgary Declaration to get rid of the mood of separatism which has troubled Quebec and Canadian politics for so many years.
Alberta should do the same, as well as Ontario and other provinces with a significant portion of French Canada in their midst.
– Allen Ronaghan,
Edmonton, Alta.
Drainage
To the Editor:
As a victim of illegal and unauthorized drainage for some thirty or more years, I am moved to respond to recent articles appearing in The Western Producer. I refer in particular to “Frustrated farmers take drainage into their own hands” (March 26, page 23) and “Landowners say Sask Water not enforcing drainage rules” (April 23, page 22).
While the headlines reflect the situation in east-central Saskatchewan, my frustration extends beyond the headlines and deals with the comments included in the articles that were attributed to the Minister of Sask Water, employees of his ministry and those farmers who “would rather get forgiveness than permission.”
What warrants comment is Mr. Sonntag’s remark, “Certainly there could be illegal ditching going on. If Sask Water is made aware, they have dealt with those cases every single time.” Obviously the Minister is in the dark. It is hard to believe he hasn’t been informed by his Yorkton office. Or am I missing something? Even the farmer who wishes to have forgiveness rather than permission, noted in the first article that “illegal drainage has continued. There are hundreds and hundreds of people out moving ground around, regardless of the moratorium.”
Indeed, the Minister is aware! When told “if the government and Sask Water would enforce their act, there wouldn’t be a problem,” the Minister responded that he was unaware of corporation employees, who were not following the act, and called the allegations new and surprising. Well, I’m surprised. I’m surprised how he can say this and get away with it. Resign, Mr. Minister! …
For starters, correspondence from the local Sask Water office indicate that some 500 drainage complaints have been received. In fact, the Sask Water office has received some 300 to 400 pieces of correspondence from our group of Concerned Ratepayers of Churchbridge RM alone during the last four years. …
There are numerous landowners within the area who are and have been victims of unauthorized and illegal drainage. Last fall, 1997, ten landowners complained to Sask Water about the drainage occurring within the area – during a time of a supposed three-year moratorium on all drainage. Sask Water put everything on hold. The irony of the situation is that I have a form, circulated by the PFRA to farmers along the northeast boundary of the RM, to determine the advisability of pumping water back from the Lake of the Prairies.
There is supposed to be an act in place (The Sask Water Act), but who do you get to enforce it? The Premier? The Minister of Sask Water? The Minister of Justice? The Ombudsman? The Minister of Environment? Sorry. I’ve tried them all. …
The drainage act is in place, but it is all a joke. It is not enforced. At the present time a seat-belt blitz is on. How about an illegal-ditching blitz?
Does illegal drainage belong under the Rural Crime Watch Program? Turn In Poachers? Perhaps. There is a $5,000 fine for illegal ditching….
– Paul Kendel,
Langenburg, Sask.
TV inflation
To the Editor:
On television news, it was revealed that Canada’s inflation rate was 0.7 percent.
In researching I found out in 1985 our TV viewing cost $20.56 for three months. … In February 1998 it was $34.15 per month, which is $102.45 for three months.
In 1985 there were only 12 channels available while in 1998 there are 60. This is five times more. However, most are not needed and there is overlapping and we pay five times more. For this money we get four channels of shopping and advertising.
There are many other avenues for advertising and the public is bombarded almost day and night from newspapers, magazines, flyers, radio, TV, city buses, benches and even clothes to wear.
Then there are three sports channels, four unnecessary French channels, five news channels, two 24-hour weather channels (seven other channels give news, weather, sports and advertising as well), two country channels and one Spanish channel as well! Oh yes and the comedy channel, almost devoid of jokes but lots of smut. Of course there has to be a speed channel, isn’t speed considered a sport?
If we want movies, they are over and above the $34.15 a month we now pay. So much for inflation. For that extra money we now have channels filled with sex, violence, cheating, shooting, bombing etc. Then we wonder why we have so much crime and why our children have so much trouble growing up.
This whole scene represents inflation of social problems as well as financial inflation.
– F.R. Cameron,
Winnipeg, Man.
Antibiotic fees
To the Editor:
It was with real concern that I read April 19 about farmers being irked about antibiotic test fees. Of course they have a right to be concerned about fees, but more important than the fees is that they are injecting antibiotics into animals that humans may eat or drink their milk. Physicians who keep abreast of new findings know that antibiotics can harm the immune systems to every part of the body – not to just the sore they are trying to heal or the infection that is dragging humans or cattle down.
I was given megadoses of antibiotics for a sore on my leg last year. When antibiotic pills failed to heal, I was given intravenous dosages of antibiotics three times a day, and I became lethargic, listless and not taking any interest in life or living. When the antibiotics were taken away, I became my old self, but only because I went on a regime of anti-oxidants and healthy foods. I’m sure we humans are part and parcel of the animal kingdom.
Just because antibiotics are available is no reason for dosing them indiscriminately and passing antibiotics down through the food chain.
– Mrs. Madelon Truax,
Beaverlodge, Alta.
Milk prices
To the Editor:
Re: Milk purchased in the U.S. (April 9 Western Producer), which says that in Whatcom County in Washington, near Abbotsford, B.C., milk is about $1.40 Cdn compared to $3.15 in Canada.
Well, about the same time, I priced milk in Great Falls and it was $3.12 U.S. for oneU.S. gallon, which is 3.78 litres and would cost around $4.56 Cdn.
At that time, milk was selling around $3.36 Cdn for a four-litre jug of milk in Medicine Hat or Lethbridge.
So we all need to head to Washington for milk and to Europe for farm machinery for a better deal, where labor is much cheaper.
– John Pokorney,
Tilley, Alta.
