Fertilizer price; Pink worries; Harper & ag; Harper & ag; Wiggle space; Sour gas wells; Give love; Spin doctors; Apology sought; Party system; Paying customers; Desperate acts; ALMS agenda; Wall & coalition
Fertilizer price
If the fertilizer dealers think that customers will pay double just to be loyal, they should look at it from the other end.
Would they pay double for their product if they knew that they could not get a reasonable return from it?
It sounds like some dealers are afraid they are going to be stuck with their expensive fertilizer. And why shouldn’t it happen to them? It happens to farmers many times when the cost of production outweighs the return.
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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.
Maybe this time they will understand our situation. Last time I looked around, all the big chemical and fertilizer companies were having meetings. That is one way they promote their products. My hat is off to Farmers in Progress.
– C. J. MacDonald,
Rabbit Lake, Sask.
Pink worries
Re: Pink could be the next golden crop (WP, Dec. 4.)
The fact that pink carnations, a derivative of cow cockle, are being released is worrisome to me.
The plant contains a toxic substance, saporin. At what level has the seed (been) compared to cow cockle, which has five percent in its roots?
In Ukrainian folk medicine, cow cockle root is used as an expectorant, diuretic and a laxative. It also is used to treat kidney and liver problems and externally it is used for skin problems such as eczema, plus rheumatism.
However, it can cause coughing, vomiting, pain in the stomach, it affects the nervous system, causing paralysis and the stoppage of breathing and even death.
It worries me that this plant will become a weed and find its way into hay fields and pastures.
On-farm feeding of livestock may be jeopardized though the contamination of grains or hay.
If pink carnation becomes a major crop, its seeds may cause the rejection of cereal crops as now is the case with ergot or deer and goose droppings.
This will be a problem in organic farming as spraying for weeds is not allowed. The only control would be to narrow the emerging crop.
Just as genetically modified rapeseed has become a problem, can pink carnations be far behind?
– Norman Harris,
Endeavour, Sask.
Harper & ag
… Prime minister (Stephen) Harper ignores the fact that a big majority of Canadians voted for his opposition. John Diefenbaker was the only one in my memory, in his 1958 election, who may have got a clear 51 percent majority but he did not have the support of the big business and he lost out in the next election.
As a World War II veteran of liberating northwestern Europe, living on a small mixed farm since my return, I believe in the democratic right of farmers to choose how the directors oversee the operation of the Canadian Wheat Board in orderly marketing of our overseas marketing of a quality milling grade wheat and barley, but Harper has already interfered with the Canada Grain Commission, who protect quality milling grades being loaded out of our terminals for overseas destination and has already lost three court cases for interfering with farmer elected directors’ freedom of speech and orderly changes to remove or disqualify many voters from voting in director elections.
Harper further ignored the state of agriculture in his speech from the Throne, not even a mention of the livestock problems, even though he got a big part of his candidates from Saskatchewan and Alberta.
– L. O. Jorgenson,
Abbey, Sask.
Wiggle space
By allowing Stephen Harper to prorogue Parliament, Her Majesty’s Canadian representative, Governor General Michaëlle Jean, has rescued his Conservative party out of a corner and has granted them wiggle space.
I anticipate that their next step will be a glitzy, generously financed media campaign designed to influence Canadians to vote Conservative at the next election. That election will likely take place if the government is brought down after Parliament resumes in January.
With … empty coffers in both the Liberal and NDP, the outcome of such an election is predictable: a majority Conservative government.
Canada’s constitution is well designed to ensure that the upper establishment is never put under threat, as it might have been had the opposition been given the opportunity to govern.
Of course, the opposition may choose not to bring the government down when Parliament resumes, in which case Canada’s upper establishment can remain confident that their status quo will be maintained under the stewardship of Stephen Harper.
– William Dascavich,
Edmonton, Alta.
Bank bailouts
In recent days we have seen the rapid fall of the stock markets. Many ask what caused this and why are they getting bailed out when so many people in North America never got this option.
What caused this were the speculators in industries such as oil, money markets as well as the housing industry. The very ones who caused the rapid increase in oil and housing now want help.
The banks that loaned them and in most cases overextended them now want the federal governments on both sides (of the border) to save them.
In past years, the governments turned their backs on agriculture, they turned their backs on the trucking industry and in many cases turned their backs on people in need. We have thousands of farmers wanting a better deal on fuel, fertilizer and chemical but does the government step in? No.
… Speculators and their banks drove up fuel and food prices for profit. The only reason that the United States put in support payments to their farmers was to drive grain and cattle prices down in countries such as Canada, so their speculators could buy cheap food stocks.
The damage they have caused should not be rewarded but condemned …
Is the government spending billions to Band-Aid an industry that will continue to fail? Will there be an end of this nation if the banks go broke? In some ways, it would be self-levelling if the governments simply said no.
Yes, this same thing happened in the 1930s but Canada pulled out ahead and regained far before the U.S. Further, our national debt is far less per person compared to the U.S. so why are we saving the people, who have put a screw into our farms and trucking firms for years?…
– Bob Thomas,
Regina Beach, Sask.
Sour gas wells
Alberta’s Energy Resource Conservation Board (ERCB) will set a bad precedent if it decides to approve the drilling of sour oil wells approximately 3.7 kilometres from the Tomahawk School of 140 students and 20 teachers southwest of Edmonton.
The wells are expected to have concentration levels of 160,000 parts per million of hydrogen sulphide. The gas is lethal at 750 ppm.
The Parkland School Division is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars that could have been spent on education, defending the health, safety, and possible lives of its students at the Tomahawk School. The school division thinks sour wells should not be allowed within seven kilometres of any school, but that request to (Alberta) energy minister Mel Knight and education minister Dave Hancock was denied.
The lawyer for the energy company Highpine, Gavin Fitch, boiled the company and government’s arguments down to a simple statement, “Mr. Chairman, I believe the science is clear: the risk associated with the drilling and completion of these wells is acceptable.”
If the ERCB approves this application to drill within 3.7 kilometres of kindergarten-to-Grade 9 school, what does this say about the core values of our society? To whom is this risk acceptable? The community says this is not an acceptable risk. The school division, teachers, and parents say this is not an acceptable risk.
Oil companies and oil patch workers measure the risks they are willing to take. Both have a right to accept the risk that they deem is acceptable. But if we are to have a just society, communities, families, and individuals must be able to exercise the same rights as oil companies, to control the risks they are exposed to….
Knight and Hancock need to be reminded; you can’t teach respect without first giving respect. Respect the safety and lives of our children and the respect you give them today, they will willingly give away later in life.
– Joe Anglin,
Rimbey, Alta.
Give love
What do you make of our prime minister’s call to consume, so that as citizens we might turn the economy around, just in time for Christmas?
I, for one, am tired of equating citizenship with consumerism. Even when we do consume, we need to be responsible citizens, supporting an economy that upholds community values and wholeness. The economy of consumerism needs to shift focus, supporting local and family businesses that encourage knowing our neighbours rather than supporting those companies that believe in the bottom line.
The idea of giving and receiving gifts at Christmas is rooted in God blessing the world with the gift of Jesus. And in response to his needs, and the hope a baby brings, the community came together.
Can you buy love? No, we share love. Citizenship is about living in relationship; and relationships cultivate care for the vulnerable…. The promises of God are for all of God’s children …. Please consider carefully how it is you’ll give love this Christmas.
– Jan Richardson,
Drumheller, Alta.
Spin doctors
Some 20,000 farmers and ranchers in full control of 500 head of marketable cattle each, selling through an accredited agent that represented all of them, would be in the same position as a single person owning 10 million head of cattle to sell to multiple buyers.
It would put them in position to set whatever price they require to get a cost of production plus profit price. To think we would be better off as an individual with freedom to choose who we sell to is a ludicrous thought when compared to those 20,000 farmers and ranchers selling through a single desk agent in their favour.
This is the position western Canadian grain farmers are in with the Canadian Wheat Board single desk selling agent.
This freedom to choose doctrine preached to the farmers to convince them to get rid of the … wheat board is untrue spin doctoring of the most heinous kind. It is coming from the owners of the so-called free open market that is no longer free and open because of vertical integration of agri-business. …
Hopefully farmers are not hood winked by slick propaganda that encourages them to believe the open market would be better for them than the wheat board.
– R. E. Kennedy,
Simpson, Sask.
Apology sought
The Canadian Wheat Board election is over. Farmers have made a strong statement in support of the single desk.
In the last few days of the election, the federal Conservative party saw the writing on the wall and started running scared.
I received a letter from my MP, Andrew Scheer, urging me to vote for my opponents, David Schnell and Phil Lewis.
This type of letter was sent out by several MPs in this and other districts. It appears that these MPs got their hands on the confidential voters list. It is upsetting that our federal members of Parliament chose to interfere in the democratic process whereby farmers choose their farmer elected directors. Is it not enough that they appoint five of our 15 directors?…
What is most upsetting is the personal attack used in the letter by my member of Parliament, Andrew Scheer. Mr. Scheer alleges that “Mr. Flaman shamelessly shirked his responsibilities to the farmers who elected him.”
This is a defamatory statement made without basis by someone who knows little about the CWB or the business of farming. Mr. Scheer’s background is that of a page in Ottawa and a restaurant worker in Saskatchewan prior to being elected to represent the people of Regina Qu’Appelle. Since then he has chosen to listen to a minority segment of the industry and he has adopted the ideological position of his leader, Stephen Harper, as the basis for his reckless attitude towards agriculture, the CWB and me personally.
Mr. Scheer should apologize to the people who pay his wages.
– Rod Flaman,
CWB Director District 8,
Edenwold, Sask.
Party system
The party system used in our democracy is impotent. It is time to realize that no party’s policy can satisfy the nation totally.
Now is the time to implement a system where elected representatives represent, and are accountable, to their constituency, not a political party. It is time to bump political parties to the level of lobbyist.
Some federal issues should be dealt with on a more local basis due to regional differences. More responsibility and taxation shifted to the provinces, municipalities/counties, towns and cities from the federal government is required.
A strong national government may be required on the global stage, and to arrive at national standards, however, our day to day activities are best managed locally.
– Garrett Osborn,
Big Beaver, Sask.
Paying customers
It would seem to me there is a general rule that is followed in every industry and trade everywhere in the world: you pay for what you get. Pay more, receive more in return. Pretty simple.
It doesn’t matter if you are buying a chair at a furniture store or shipping a carload of wheat down the tracks to Vancouver.
Don’t get me wrong. I hate seeing the freight deductions on my grain cheques just as much as you do. But if we want better and more timely service from the railroads, we will just have to pay more for it, or at least come close to what every other railroad customer is paying.
Why would or why should CN and CP give better service to a lower-paying customer? A customer who fights relentlessly to have railway revenues capped?
The complaints about rail service never seem to stop, but no one is willing to pay more to try and cure the problem. I understand, however, there is a point to be made for revenue caps, because of the federal government’s and taxpayers’ “investments” in the railways, which these days is a whole other can of worms.
But so long as CP and CN are companies who rely on balance sheets and report to shareholders, we, the farmers, will likely have to get used to rising freight costs.
That is, unless they bring back the old Crow Rate and subsidize grain shipments again, and that’s not going to happen anytime soon.
– Dallas Bryan,
Central Butte, Sask.
Desperate acts
Here we go again.
So desperately does the Harper government want to see the death of the CWB that they can’t help but interfere with the democratic process as outlined in legislation.
Case in point was the barley plebiscite held just over one year ago. Among their many illegal and manipulation acts, three stand out as being the most bizarre.
First they put a gag order on the CWB so they could not defend themselves against the many allegations brought forward.
Secondly, they came up with a ballot which violated voting rules and thirdly they attempted to withdraw barley from the CWB through a regulatory amendment instead of passing it through parliament as outlined in the CWB Act. Concerned farm groups took the Canadian government to court and understandably won all three cases.
Well, guess what? It has been reported that only days after receiving their ballots to elect five board members to the CWB, a number of farmers received letters from their MPs instructing them on how to vote. …
Can you blame farmers for throwing up their hands in disgust and frustration or do you suppose that’s exactly what the Harper government wants to achieve?
Which leads me to my next question. Just why are we over in Afghanistan fighting for democracy?
– Don Bamber,
Oyen, Alta.
ALMS agenda
Worried yet? You should be.
The Alberta Livestock and Meat Strategy has the potential to absolutely destroy the cow-calf producers in this province and our minister of agriculture won’t even consider our concerns.
Indeed, he has blatantly snubbed Alberta producers by implementing an agency to oversee the beef industry while refusing direct representation from the affected producers.
Many opinions have been offered about ALMS from “consider ways to exit the industry,” to “mandatory” to “full compliance” and on and on. Obviously our minister is not listening or has the opinion that there is really only one guiding light who is all knowing and intends to use or abuse the power of his office to prove it.
However, under the guise of health and food safety, we are seeing a far more sinister presence rearing its ugly head and this is the issue we would like to address….
When government uses mandatory regulations to affect the day to day operations of a business, to transfer the value of one sector of an industry to another without compensation, to directly determine who must exit an industry or force people to sign away their rights under the Privacy Act by withholding much needed support, democracy no longer exists.
If this strategy is passed it is the seed for, at best, dictatorship. The only question remaining is, which sector of our society will be next?
Minister (George) Groeneveld, since common sense doesn’t seem to hinder your approach at all, we can only wonder what the real agenda could be.
Is your lack of action in regard to a potential monopoly situation being developed in the beef industry only a sign of things to come?
Certainly the family farm doesn’t appear to have any significance whatsoever in your brave new world.
– Stephen Shwetz,
Woodland Ranchers Association,
Smoky Lake, Alta.
Wall & coalition
(Saskatchewan premier) Brad Wall doesn’t know coalitions are legal and within the constitution. (Prime minister Stephen) Harper should, for he presented the idea to the governor general in 2004 when he hoped the Martin government would fall.
Many cherished Canadian social programs were introduced when the NDP supported the Liberals….
Wall discounts the fact 62 percent of voters cast ballots for Liberal, Bloc and NDP as compared to the 23 percent for Harper. Harper supporters call the Bloc separatists, and sovereignists and the coalition “a deal with the devil.” Name-calling is an attempt to smear, degrade and influence public opinion against the coalition and Quebec MPs….
Harper’s arrogant and dictatorial ways caused this situation….
It is undemocratic to prorogue Parliament, leaving Canada with no government and allow Harper with his big money to spend weeks propagandizing Canadians.
I’m proud to support the coalition MPs for taking this united action to make parliament work for Canadians.
– Joan Bell,
Saskatoon, Sask.
