Letters to the editor

BSE & trade

The BSE situation between Canada and the United States is entirely about politics. The science of the matter is clear-cut and, with politics removed, BSE is a relatively minor issue that can easily be controlled within common sense protocols.

The problem is that when politics are injected into the matter, as they must be, then common sense is the first victim.

BSE, in its present context, is entirely about trade relations, along with a wide range of other issues between Canada and the U.S. Sadly, the tactics being employed by both the Canadian industry and our politicians are premised on logical, reasonable argument … and not likely to be terribly successful in the short run. While I am generally a fan of the United States, I am also fully aware of how they operate in international relations and why. What is poor little Canada to do?

Read Also

Agriculture needs to prepare for government spending cuts

As government makes necessary cuts to spending, what can be reduced or restructured in the budgets for agriculture?

Let’s first examine the word “poor.” How poor are we? We have three things that are elemental to U.S. long-term existence: energy, water and food.

Folks, we absolutely have the hammer if we are bright enough to use it. But, given that our federal leadership is, by and large, born, raised and moulded by their origins in southern Ontario, don’t expect any sort of wide-focused recognition of our inherent strength, nor any appetite to use it soon. Maybe Quebec isn’t entirely out to lunch.

– Darrell Dunn,

Calgary, Alta.

TLE update

I am writing in response to an opinion/open forum item carried in the Western Producer on May 26, entitled Rural Sask. sacrificed for politics. That item discussed in some detail issues related to Treaty Land Entitlements in Saskatchewan.

As the minister of First Nations and Métis Relations, which is the department responsible for the implementation of the province’s TLE agreements, I would like to comment on that item in order to correct some of the misunderstandings that could result from it.

First let me explain that the TLE process exists because not all First Nations received the land that was promised to them when they signed the treaties with Canada. The TLE process is designed to remedy proven shortfalls and ensure that the First Nations receive what they were promised.

The province’s role in the TLE process is clear and based on the provincial government meeting its legal obligations pursuant to the Natural Resources Transfer Agreement, 1930. Under the NRTA, the federal government transferred to Saskatchewan all crown lands, minerals and other natural resources within the province subject to conditions. One of those conditions requires Saskatchewan to provide unoccupied crown lands to enable Canada to fulfill its TLE obligations under the Treaties with First Nations.

Since there is not enough unoccupied crown lands in Saskatchewan to fulfill outstanding TLEs, the province has entered into agreements with Canada and a number of First Nations, who experienced a shortfall of land, to provide money to those First Nations to purchase private and crown lands which are transferred to reserve status.

TLE agreements ensure that the interests of all citizens in the province are protected in the TLE process. One example of this is the stipulation that all land sales must be made on a “willing seller, willing buyer” basis. This ensures that the landowners/lessees of land selected for TLE agree to the purchase before it can proceed.

While lands available for selection and purchase by entitlement First Nations include crown and private lands, some crown lands are available for sale only in certain circumstances, such as heritage property, provincial parks, recreation sites, ecological reserve and lands protected through The Wildlife Habitat Protection Act. … When the TLE process is fully concluded, reserve land will comprise less than three percent of the provincial land base….

Officials in the Department of First Nations and Métis Relations and other provincial agencies have provided the author of the item with information on the TLE process on several occasions and are prepared to meet with him again to discuss his specific concerns. My officials are also prepared to share information with any other person or organization interested in receiving more information regarding TLE.

– Maynard Sonntag,

Saskatchewan Minister of First Nations and Métis Relations, Regina, Sask.

Techno tricks

I’m a third generation farmer and I’ve been around long enough to accept without argument that we live in a technological society. Every time I turn on my computer or any time my car suffers an electronic problem, I am reminded of this.

Our world, the world of our children, is nothing like the one our grandparents grew up in. That having been said, one must acknowledge that not all technology is a boon to society or the greater world around us.

Witness the collapse of the cod industry. Advancements in technology have made it possible to out-fish the environment’s ability to reproduce itself.

For the most part it’s not technology itself which is the problem, it’s how we chose to apply such knowledge, or perhaps more importantly, who we chose to listen to – the guy saying great things are possible, or the guy saying the king has no clothes.

There is more to life than the pursuit of an ever-expanding economy.

This leads me to comment on an article presented by Russell Jeffrey (Opinion, June 2.) The article as I understand it is that new proposals for plant breeder rights will stimulate investment in new technology, which will span new opportunities, growth, and good times.

While it is never stated, the focus of such technology is the development of new seed types, which are genetically modified.

Opportunities always abound with or without new technology. What we need to ask ourselves is where do we apply our efforts; to whose vision of the future do tie our fortunes and those of our descendants?

There was another article in the same publication entitled “Monsanto defends GM rat study results.” Apparently rats fed a diet of GMO corn had smaller kidneys, and blood compositions different from rats not fed the corn. These differences where called “inconsequential.”

Statements like these cause me to question assurance made by the GMO industry regarding the safety of their seed products. Just because we can do something does not mean it’s safe, that we understand what it is that we are doing.

Albert Einstein used to argue that the fundamental principle of science is that it understands what is happening. There is no one alive that can say this of GMOs…

Given the haste in which we seek to accumulate new wealth, I worry that we forget that life is more than a technological trick, and I wonder why we have chosen to abandon our academic house of learning … in favour of corporate giants who have a huge appetite for profit and marketing skills akin to voodoo magic.

You who believe in this new seed technology answer me this: what is memory, how does it work?

– Wayne James,

Beausejour, Man.

Scheer responds

In response to Steve Merifield’s letter in these pages (Open Forum, May 26), I would suggest that he double check his facts.

The Conservative party has no alliance with the Bloc Quebecois. We are a federalist party, intent on preserving national unity. It is the Liberal record of adscam that is damaging national unity in Quebec. By keeping the hated Liberals in power, the NDP is helping fuel separatism in Quebec.

The NDP has voted with the Bloc over 67 percent of the time in Parliament. The NDP are far more closely aligned with the Bloc.

Mr. Merifield is right on point; I did refer to the NDP/Liberal deficit budget deal as a “deal with the devil.” The NDP are keeping a corrupt government in power, in exchange for massive amounts of unplanned spending. They are bringing this country close to deficit spending and are keeping a party under criminal investigation in power. If that doesn’t constitute a deal with the devil, I don’t know what does.

To suggest that trying to replace a corrupt Liberal government is against national unity is to buy into the Liberal spin that only the Liberal party can keep the country together. It also buys into the Liberal idea that the Liberal party itself is more important than our country. If the NDP was truly concerned about corruption and mismanagement, it would … vote against the government.