Why celebrate?
Celebrating Saskatchewan and Alberta 100 years? I don’t think so.
If you are celebrating Saskatchewan’s 100th year, you should know what you are celebrating. Not something that we should be happy about.
According to Readers Digest July issue, Alberta and Saskatchewan were separated by then prime minister Wilfred Laurier. At that time the premier of the Northwest Territories, Fredrick Haultain, wanted to keep these two provinces together to allow the West a better position in Canada.
After many letters trying to keep the two provinces together, the Canadian government of its day saw fit to divide and conquer, yes, divide and conquer the West.
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Worrisome drop in grain prices
Prices had been softening for most of the previous month, but heading into the Labour Day long weekend, the price drops were startling.
So I don’t think we should be celebrating our defeat. As leader of the Western Independence Party of Saskatchewan, I suggest we thank Jean Chrétien for allowing Quebec to vote on independence, therefore giving us that opportunity as well.
We need to push forward in binding together in the West to become a new nation. …
Some of the latest happenings in Ottawa give people no alternatives. In WIPS we are wanting the people to be able to vote on issues of such magnitude as same sex marriages and gun control through referendum voting.
If you feel this would cost too much, it will cost a lot more down the road if we do not do this. Are the present politicians afraid of what the people would want? I believe if the people of Western Canada were given the information, they would make the right choices and not be too harsh. …
I applaud Quebec and Ontario for caring for themselves. Now it’s time for us to bind together and get our freedom back that Haultain wanted for us. Then we can celebrate. We are in a great part of the world and for the freedom that has been given us, for that I am grateful. However, freedom needs to be fought for. Let’s move ahead here in the West and then we can truly celebrate.
– Gordon Elias,
Leader, Western Independence Party of Saskatchewan,
North Battleford, Sask.
Herbicide costs
This year for the first time I used a glyphostate product under the registered name of ClearOut 41 Plus for weed control. This product did an excellent job for me. The cost was slightly less than half the price I have paid for a similar glyphosate product.
Glyphosate weed killers are very essential as a cropping tool to control weeds, particularly if direct seeding and continuous cropping is part of your farming plan.
ClearOut 41 Plus is imported from the United States. Strict regulations apply in bringing it over the international boundary, involving much red tape and a great deal of inconvenience. The cost saving makes it worth the inconvenience and effort. …
But this is where the good news ends. Major agro chemical corporations have gotten together and formed an organization that operates under the title of Crop Life. A former Saskatchewan minister of finance serves as chairman and is the official voice for its members. This former minister is lobbying for the closure of the border to this glyphosate product that has great potential to help cash-strapped grain producers. He says that this product is a potential human health and environmental hazard and that the main line agro chemical corporations need the money for research.
Several questions beg to be answered. Is this just an attempt to eliminate unwanted competition? Have they been profiteering unlawfully at grain producers’ expense?
Could they be taken to court and charged with collusion under the federal competition act?
– George E. Hickie,
Waldron, Sask.
Tuition deal
The Aug. 11 edition of the Western Producer contains an article that describes a federal program that pays education costs for agriculture students to attend college and courses and pay for tuition, books and living costs.
In the example given, the student comes from a farm that has 500 cattle and a finishing feedlot plus other business.
He is enrolled in a two-year production program with a beef major. Educational costs covered by the program include up to two years at a community college or other courses for mechanics, welding, accrual accounting, general educational development and academics upgrading. In the example given, the student will get $16,000 for two years.
I’m not against students receiving financial help. In fact, I would like to see all students have free tuition and use Canada Student Loans to pay for living costs.
However, I strongly object to only certain students, in this case farm students, receiving such generous financial assistance while everyone else receives very little or nothing.
To take one of numerous examples, I know a student who is enrolling in Red River College in Winnipeg where he will take diesel mechanics, a one or two-year course depending on what he can afford. His only assistance is Canada Student Loan repayable financial assistance.
I object strenuously to our public money being used to help only certain people while everyone else does without. What is our country coming to? Don’t we have any principles anymore?
It’s time our politicians start being fair and operating on fair principles for all, not just a select few depending on who they were born to.
– Layne Hetland,
Spalding, Sask.
Missing P
Re: Pea plants pack a peck of P, page 57, WP, Sept. 8.
The alliteration in the headline is great but the article does much to make math mysterious.
It is reported that three bushels per acre of pea seed delivers eight to nine lb. per acre of phosphorus.
If the 40 bu. per acre crop at the conclusion of the article is the same as the seed, it will have 106 to 120 lb. of phosphorus.
If 26 lb. per acre comes from the soil and eight to nine lb. comes from the seed, where does the remaining 72 to 85 lb. per acre of phosphorus come from?
If the missing P comes out of the air, that may explain why peas do not respond well to phosphorus fertilizer.
– Allan Liggins,
Coquitlam, B.C.
Sheep issues
The article in the Aug. 11 edition, “B.C. sheep producers get no compensation,” brought out the two main problems annoying sheep producers for many years.
In the 40 years we have raised sheep, much volunteer time has been spent trying to form a cohesive association to speak for the producers provincially. The B.C. Sheep Federation, which represents a few regional associations, would be much more effective with a more active and larger membership, particularly since the pioneer organization, the B.C. Sheep Breeders Co-op, has faded into the past.
More sheep producers must realize the value of guardian dogs for flock protection. We have successfully used two breeds of these dogs for about 10 years. Great Pyrenees and Maremmas have saved us many hours of herding.
We graze during the summer 100 ewes on 500 acres of woodland and have kept losses to a minimum. There are resident bears, coyotes and occasionally a cougar passes through the ranch.
So to sum up, the dilemma we have seen, too many producers creating their own problems by trying to go it alone and never in a fair position to request government assistance.
– Geoff Bodman,
Pinantan Lake, B.C.
Restless legs
Further to Dr. Clare Rowson’s Sept. 8 column about restless legs syndrome, many RLS sufferers manage their sleep-disturbing leg twitches by exercise alone.
For 50 years I’ve managed my RLS by walking for 30 to 45 minutes every evening. If my legs awaken me, I do 30 vigorous calf-stretching toe touches, holding for several seconds on each bend. The more sedentary your work or lifestyle, the more RLS will intrude on your rest.
Researchers believe RLS may also result from peripheral nerve damage, such as from repeatedly numbing the lower extremities during winter activities. Yet neither doctors nor researchers ask patients if they ever suffered frostbite, which leads me to suspect what doctors attribute to heredity may in fact be due to family members living and playing in similar climate, such as prairie winters.
Who among us has not repeatedly numbed, even frozen, feet waiting for a bus or skating too long on a pond?
Dr. Jonathan Fleming, co-director of the sleep disorders program at the University of B.C. hospital concedes perhaps doctors should ask RLS patients if they ever suffered numb or frostbitten lower extremities. RLS is more prevalent in North American and Western Europe.
Both the RLS sufferer and his or her spouse endure sleep deprivation to the point where fatigue and irritability can cause job loss, even divorce. Separate beds can benefit both spouses.
– Claudette Sandecki,
Terrace, B.C.
Gas prices
Are you enjoying the price of the gas of the day? Will you remember the government of the day, when it comes time to vote?
Have you requested your rural municipality, town council, MLA, (to) request both provincial and federal governments, on your behalf, to get rid of all taxes on fuel? If not, why not?
If every person, every day would phone their MLA, they would receive hundreds of calls daily. Do you think something would not be done? Or are you waiting for a $2 per litre price?
– Howard Shaver,
Fort Qu’Appelle, Sask.
Whiz wizardry
Re: Changing the name of Cheez Whiz, I don’t sell dairy products, however I do buy them on a daily basis. Kraft Cheez Whiz has been around since 1952, it’s a household word, a high quality product with a fine flavour and great texture.
One of the fondest memories of my youth is visiting my Grandmother Hamon and being treated to Ritz crackers covered with Cheez Whiz, and an olive to top the hors d’oeuvre. …
If you look at the label carefully, Cheez Whiz spread contains milk, whey powder, mustard flour and spices. Are these not all agricultural products that can be produced on Saskatchewan farms?
Kraft has a good reputation …. Why does anyone want to mess with that?
What is it about Saskatchewan that we all fear successful corporations? My dad used to tell a story about a Saskatchewan farmer who … boarded a train and went to visit his cousin in Minneapolis.
They were walking down the street when a guy drove by in a Lincoln Continental. The American says: “Gee, someday I hope I can own a car like that.”
The farmer looks at his cousin and says: “Someday, that guy will be walking, just like we are today.”
That story pretty well sums up Saskatchewan mentality.
Instead of trying to win a pointless battle with Kraft, why don’t dairy producers come up with a product equal or better than Cheez Whiz? Keep in mind that baking a pie isn’t anywhere as easy as selling it, contrary to what they tell you at farmer’s union conventions. As for Cheez Whiz, if it’s been around for 53 years, that says a lot right there.
– John Hamon,
Gravelbourg, Sask.
