Love Sask. beef
I was born and raised on a cattle ranch in southeast Saskatchewan. Like many ranch kids, I saw my father work seven days a week, most days from dawn till dusk or later, to produce affordable meat for people.
He did everything in his power to streamline in order to stay viable over the years. He used old machinery. He didn’t take vacations. He didn’t hire help, running a ranch with, many times, over 300 head of cattle. He implemented all the protocols handed down to him by government over the years.
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This is a man who has devoted his life to producing food, a most fundamental and important pursuit. And now, as he enters his senior years, he is being treated as if his entire life’s work was and is of no value to the province or its citizens.
He is not even making the equivalent of minimum wage for all his hard work and man-hours. And his story is the story of too many independent cattle producers in the province. This is unacceptable to me.
I have lived in Alberta for the past four years, and I see a world of difference between how Alberta treats its cattle producers and how Saskatchewan does. The government of Alberta promotes its beef. …
Most importantly, it takes pride in its home-grown product. It knows the value of that product and of the people producing it.
And the people of Alberta take pride in it. They display bumper stickers declaring their love for Alberta beef. Restaurants proudly declare on their menus that they serve Alberta beef. …
In Saskatchewan, by contrast, the cattle industry and the cattle producers themselves are largely invisible. The government seems to take no pride in the quality beef being grown in its own province by its own citizens.
There is no promotion. There is no identity. There is no recognition of the importance of ranching to not only the economy but also to the western culture and identity of Saskatchewan as a whole.
Not only that, but the government of Saskatchewan seems to be happy to let the cattle industry slowly starve to death. It does nothing to take the pressure off cattle producers, who are not to blame for high fuel and feed costs or for low commodity prices.
They are working hard, doing their jobs to feed the world. And the thanks they get for all their hard work and effort is a government that doesn’t seem to care about them or the continuation of the industry, in general.
Why is nothing being done to raise the profile of Saskatchewan beef to the level of its neighbour’s?
– Jillian MacPherson,
Calgary, Alta.
Paper wheat
I have been thinking given the phenomenal escalation of world oil prices in the last year and the generally accepted fact that speculators have played a major role in these prices, one can only anticipate what would transpire in regards to grain price disparity in Canada that would transpire between actual farmgate prices farmers would receive and market prices if Canadian farmers were to lose the Canadian Wheat Board.
Who would be the real beneficiaries of such market freedom that Harper is calling for? Back to the days of paper wheat?
– Norm Dyck,
Grande Prairie, Alta.
Walked over?
It was interesting to hear that prime minister (Stephen) Harper condemned the “perversion of democracy presently taking place in Zimbabwe.”
Interesting for several reasons, one being the fact that just a few days earlier in Saskatoon the same Mr. Harper said with regard to changes to the Canadian Wheat Board that “anyone who stands in the way (of his proposed changes) is going to get walked over.”
I assume he is meaning this not in a literal sense, which is what is happening, and worse, to opponents of Mr. Mugabe in Zimbabwe.
Statements such as the above should send fear into the hearts of everyone regardless of which side of the CWB issue they may be on. Surely Mr. Harper is aware of the definition of democracy as government of the people, by the people and for the people.
There is no mention of ideology or the wishes of those in government. The people tell the government what their wishes are and the majority rules, and no one gets walked over.
That Mr. Harper would make inflammatory statements with a minority government makes one wonder what kind of dictator he would be with a majority. I would suggest that … statements from the prime minister should be celebrating the fact of Canada’s great record of democracy, or is he suggesting a change of policy with the outburst in Saskatoon?
Not only does Mr. Harper seem so contemptuous of anyone who disagrees with him but his minister of agriculture with his comments of the “tinfoil hat and decoder ring crowd” is in the same mindset. Perhaps Mr. (Gerry) Ritz is not aware that this very same crowd was part of the building of gas lines, electrical lines, roads and farm equipment when others did not think this a worthwhile endeavour.
These are the people who helped to make Canada the great nation it is today. I can’t think of any great accomplishment by those who called others derogatory names.
Perhaps during the next election we should do the Canadian thing and without riots or fanfare put an X beside someone else’s name.
– Horst Schreiber,
Ohaton, Alta.
Cheap barley
Re: In denial? by John De Pape (Open Forum, June 5.)
Poor John, you are so brainwashed that you do not realize what you are writing. Sure, malt companies will not build in Western Canada because they will have to pay for your barley. They will build where they can have cheap barley in other countries and sell you high priced beer made with some cheap barley.
I can see you drinking that beer and still be (complaining) against the CWB.
– Lucien Cote,
Donnelly, Alta.
Farm education
There have been countless articles and features in the media that blame North American governments for the rising price of agricultural commodities.
Others blame the price of wheat, barley, oats and rye for the rising costs of bread and other related food products.
When wheat was $4 per bushel, there was exactly seven cents of wheat that went into a standard one pound loaf of bread. A bottle of beer that was brewed with $2 barley contained six cents worth of grain.
Let’s assume that the crop that’s going to be harvested in September could yield $10 per bu. for wheat and $5 plus for malt barley, that should materialize into an increase of eight cents per loaf of bread and about seven cents on a bottle of beer.
There’s no doubt that rising agricultural commodity prices affect the price of food, however freight, labour, packaging and profit margins are generally the ruling factors.
It is, however, important that consumers realize that the North American farmer is generally the last person responsible for the complex chain of events that control commodity and food prices.
Most socialists believe that somehow or another, governments, at the flick of a pen or a computer keyboard, can exercise control over a worldwide system that keeps us fed, fueled up, warm in the winter and cool in the summer, and further assures that when we insert our credit card into the cash counter, real money will spew from the device.
I think that it’s important that farmers be heard by the media. In the time it takes to eat a sandwich or sip a beer, you can write a letter to the editor of a newspaper that educates the public as to what farming and ranching is all about.
God bless the North American farmer.
– John Hamon,
Gravelbourg, Sask.
Gas prices
We keep on hearing how the gas prices are out of control, but yet nothing can be done about it.
Nothing is further from the truth. The government could freeze the tax portion at 95 cents a litre. This would greatly help reduce prices. Put a 30 or 60 day freeze on gas prices changes.
This website has started a movement to try to bring people together and fight this situation: www.regroupower.ca. The actual oil producers are trying to do something to lower oil prices before the world economy collapses or the people starve to death. I believe it is our solemn duty to stand up and be counted.
– Mike Lapointe,
Toronto, Ont.
