Stelmach caves
By ignoring several major recommendations of the royalty review panel and taking half measures, (Alberta) Premier (Ed) Stelmach has capitulated to the international oil industry and missed an opportunity to display firm leadership.
His policy of appeasement will enable the oil industry to continue to reap higher profits in Alberta than they do in most other parts of the world.
The money that could have been used to eliminate waiting periods for health care, provide better education for children, assist municipalities in upgrading their infrastructure, and for other much needed social programs, will not be there.
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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.
Ordinary Albertans have every reason to feel betrayed. Alberta needs a government that will not hesitate to place a proper value on natural resources.
– William Dascavich,
Edmonton, Alta.
No longer new
If I don’t have any other reason to vote anything but Conservative whenever the election is called, the endless, nauseating repetition of “Canada’s new government” would be more than enough.
It is an obvious attempt to brainwash what they see as inferior intelligence in Canadian citizens. Stephen Harper is clearly contemptuous toward the great bulk of humanity, and he demands the same attitude from everyone around him.
This mantra gets repeated three times in Gerry Ritz’s piece in your Oct. 25 edition “Fiscal prudence, market choice”. In his little blurb in your Agri-Trade insert, Stephen Harper works it in. It is on a par with the worshipful way the Chinese used to speak of Chairman Mao, or the way North Koreans speak of “the dear leader.”…
But it is not only their constant reference to the “new” government that makes me see several shades of red. It is their willingness to distort the truth that makes me even angrier.
In the miserable travesty of a vote on barley that they presented us with, they gave us three options. The middle option was like asking a cold, homeless man if he would like a bed for the night. Or like asking a soporific sunbather if they would like to keep drowsing, or have a bucket of cold water thrown on them.
The answer was totally predictable. Ritz has been spoken of as an honest man. I don’t think he is. An honest man would acknowledge that there were three options, and only two of them were clear cut.
So they gave us three options, but then talk and act as though there were only two. Is that honest? I don’t like tricky people, and the Conservatives are tricky in spades. I voted for them last time. I won’t make that mistake again.
– John Beckham,
Winnipeg, Man.
Prudence lacking
The letter from minister of agriculture Gerry Ritz, dated Oct. 25, “Fiscal prudence, market choice” continues the same propaganda and misinformation agenda as his predecessor, (Chuck) Strahl.
While some time is spent on attacking my views, I will let the facts speak for themselves.
Yes, this year grain prices are much improved and we welcome that. However, the fact remains the Harper government’s initial price approval is at a snail’s pace as compared to the former government with Ralph Goodale as minister of finance.
It is therefore no wonder farmers are questioning ministers Ritz and (finance minister Jim) Flaherty’s tardiness as it might be related to the prime minister’s dislike for the wheat board….
The only credible study done indicates that the Canadian Wheat Board maximizes at least $600 million more collectively to farmers than would be the case under the open market.
The government has failed at every opportunity to refute those facts. Worse yet, they’ve shown absolute negligence on even doing internal studies to assess the impact of their proposed changes. Proof of this fact was established through testimony before the Federal Court on July 16, 2007 by the director general, marketing policy for Agriculture Canada who testified:
“Question: Did the government or the civil service or anybody retained by either do any analysis of how the amending regulations would function in the marketplace – are you aware of any studies of the kind I have mentioned to you?
Answer: No
Question: Was anybody retained to analyze that in the recent past?
Answer: No.
Question: Do I have your answer that as far as you’re aware, nobody within government has done any analysis of the kind I have described to you?
Answer: No.”
This is an abrogation of the government’s responsibility and goes to the very heart of “fiscal prudence.”
Mr. Ritz should acknowledge that the government failed to assess the fiscal prudence of marketing choice and that even though the government attempted through an illegitimate plebiscite to generate support for their effort to undermine the board, only 13.8 percent of those who voted supported the government’s efforts.
Such are the facts.
– Wayne Easter, MP,
Agriculture Critic,
Official Opposition,
Ottawa, Ont.
No gifts
This is in regards to the many ads in the paper showing farmers receiving miraculous gifts, i.e.: Strange Bang was Falling Swimming Pool.
Not only did these events sound impossible but they seemed downright outrageous. The fact they mentioned producers were receiving the anonymous gifts certainly made me suspect it was an advertising ploy.ÂÂ
Sure enough, a seed company has fessed up to the blatant lies. How can a company that admits to publishing lies ever be trusted?ÂÂ
Not only that but these strange “gifts” to farmers make it look like they are receiving handouts when in fact they didn’t receive a thing.ÂÂ
Are all the people who don’t see the final ad where the seed company admits the farmers never received a damn thing going to be saying, ‘well there they go again, getting more handouts’?
The amount of money this company is spending on advertising is probably enough to buy all those “gifts” and actually give them.
Why does this company need to advertise in the paper at all? I, like thousands of others, read the paper but I will never be in the market to buy treated seed.ÂÂ
So why are they advertising to me and everyone? Why not do a mailout to producers directly and take that enormous advertising budget and lower the cost of their product to the producers?
In my mind’s eye, I see a small producer and he is carrying on his shoulders all these other companies and dealers that keep piling on and he’s trying to balance that heavy load and on top of it all we have the consumer who expects the farmer to subsidize the cost of his daily bread.ÂÂ
We need to wake up before it’s too late and we just crush the producer into the very ground he tries to make our food from.
– Wendy Sidloski,
Weyburn, Sask.
Farmers’ tool
In an Oct. 11 letter to the editor, C. Kotylak suggests farmers are forced to use the Canadian Wheat Board as a tool to market their grain.
The CWB is not the only agency of its kind for Canadian farmers. Quebec producers voted to form a single desk grain marketing system for milling wheat in 2005. Ontario used to have a single desk system for its milling wheat until the board of directors of the Ontario Wheat Producers’ Marketing Board decided to open the market up about five years ago.
The tie that binds all three systems – the one in Ontario, Quebec and Western Canada – is that farmers have been the ones deciding the fate of their own grain marketing systems.
Quebec farmers have chosen to market as one, Ontario farmers favour an open market and so far, farmers in Western Canada keep electing a majority of single-desk supporting farmers to the CWB board of directors.
As a tool that farmers use to give themselves marketing power, the CWB has been capturing recent escalating grain values.
While most U.S. farmers sold the bulk of their wheat and durum before the recent price surge, the CWB has been making sales at these higher values. One only has to look at September’s Pool Return Outlook values to see that.
In fact, it is in the current world market environment that the value of these tools, an aggressive yet disciplined sales approach and single-desk marketing, is most apparent.
– Ken Ritter,
Chair, CWB Board of Directors,
Kindersley, Sask.
Rail cars
Re: WP, Oct. 17, p.1, “Farmers foot bill for rail cars”.
The rail cars that move products to ports are a lifeline for Canadian farm families. The Government of Canada strengthened that lifeline when we announced a new operating agreement with the railways to operate, maintain and refurbish the federal hopper car fleet.
Farmers’ grain will now be loaded in hopper cars that are in good condition and have no leakage, enabling farmers to get their crops to market without loss.
There’s a lot of good news in this announcement, but here’s the bottom line: Canadian farmers will save about $2 per tonne as a result of the maintenance adjustment to the revenue cap.
Because of this deal, Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway will continue to use these rail cars to move grain. Farmers will continue to benefit from the revenue cap. And the railways will pay whenever they use the cars for anything other than grain which will deliver a $10-$15 million benefit to Canadian taxpayers.
Eventually these rail cars will need to be replaced and when that time comes, the railways will provide new cars at their own expense. The agreement also means railways will be doing the maintenance on those cars to make sure they’re in good running condition and not leaking grain.
This government is committed to accountability and Transport Canada will be keeping the railways accountable with an annual public report on how the rail cars are used.
Farmers need rail cars to move their crops and this government is working hard to take care of their needs.
– Gerry Ritz,
Minister of Agriculture and for the Canadian Wheat Board,
Ottawa, Ont.
Not illusory
In the Oct. 18 issue of the Western Producer’s open forum, the chair of the Western Canadian Wheat Board made the observation that the prices that farmers receive in the U.S. for durum and barley are “illusory.”
I would be interested to know if that statement was an opinion of Mr. Ritter’s or that of the complete board of directors. Because if that is the opinion of the board, they all should be either fired or admitted to an institution ….
The facts are, last week U.S. elevators were bidding $18 a bushel for durum and $6 for barley. That equates to $18,000 for a 1,000 bu. load in the farmers pocket, no freight and handling deductions, no elevation charges, $18,000 in your jeans, and that is no illusion.
Ritter goes on to imply the majority of the durum growers contracted their durum at $7 a bu. How would he know that? Does the wheat board have spies in all of the elevators in the U.S.? The rhetoric that comes out of the propaganda machine at the wheat board is becoming more unbelievable every day.
For Mr. Ritter to imply that the wheat board (is) giving farmers more pricing options is illusory. The facts are Western farmers take what the wheat board gives them or go to jail, and that is no illusion.
– Herb Axten,
Minton, Sask.
New math
Re: the new math of Prairie South School Division No. 210.
We are now well into the new school year of the Prairie South school division and some questions have come to mind with regard to the math being used by the office and certain board members of this division.
The Board of Prairie South School Division informed the public that the June 30, 2007 closure of five schools located in this division was a cost saving measure.
It is rather ironic that now that these schools have been closed, the board has increased their mill rate. It is now my privilege to pay almost $500 more in school taxes because I have no school. Who’s doing the math here?
The board was also going to save money due to the decrease in staff salaries. Not one teaching or clerical staff member from Limerick School lost their position.
Does the board feel rural people are so naive we will believe that just because there is not staff at our school anymore we are saving a bundle of money? Look at your tax notice.
The first two weeks that the former Limerick students rode the bus to school, there was not enough seating on the bus for all the students and some were forced to sit three to a seat.
I wouldn’t think that a mathematical genius would be required to count the number of students using the bus and provide adequate seating for all. …
The board informed citizens at their public meeting that all of our children would benefit greatly from the number of choices and superior education that they will now be able to obtain in the larger schools.
I don’t think the quality of education or the choices offered to the students were ever issues in Limerick School. The quality of the education provided in this small rural school saw more than 80 percent of the students go on to higher education.
It should now be obvious to all of us that certain members of the PSSD Board would have benefited greatly from an education in a small rural school. Perhaps they would have learned their math.
Just as an aside, I wrote to PSSD in February after learning that the Limerick School was up for closure. I requested financial information regarding the current expenditures of the division as well as what could be expected in savings. The board did not even have the decency to reply to my letter.
Now that I am not expecting a reply, something tells me one may be forthcoming.
– Lil Auser,
Limerick, Sask.
