Hard times; Visible lotto; Great mind; Who gives?; Debt of gratitude; Change formula; Postal battle; Eliminate TB; Great abandoner; Hutterite friends
Hard times
My farm consists of some good grain land on which I generally grow feed.
Last year I seeded some canola and wheat to offset the low cattle prices with a cash crop. Fertilizer and chemicals were very high, fuel through the roof. I’m not into crop insurance.
It hasn’t hailed here for 30 years but hailed out 100 percent so I lost 100 percent plus flooding, nothing to salvage.
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Late season rainfall creates concern about Prairie crop quality
Praying for rain is being replaced with the hope that rain can stop for harvest. Rainfall in July and early August has been much greater than normal.
Now I have to pay those bills with these cattle prices. …
(Federal agriculture minister) Gerry Ritz stated in the Feb. 12 issue of The Western Producer that a lot of farmers are not in (the AgriStability) program. Maybe he should refund their $2,500 per year they paid their accountant to tell them they did not qualify for payment five years in a row….
In my spare time I clean feedlots. The government sponsors programs to try to eliminate me. I have done this for 30 years.
I’ve carried a lot of young farmers through 20 percent interest, which I lost on their bills and had to pay on my bills. BSE cost me some $50,000 in lost revenue.
This time around I am very sad because we are losing our young families and they won’t be coming back.
When I read Gerry’s Feb. 12 report, I thought, mister ,I know a pile when I see one.
– Murray Andres,
MacNutt, Sask.
Visible lotto
I totally agree with Mr. Jack Pawich in regards to “Lotto Draws” (Open Forum, Feb. 19) and so do many Canadians I have talked to. They do not trust the draws.
Would you give your money to a stranger to go to Vegas to gamble for you? They feel this is the same thing.
I feel we should stop buying and supporting 6/49 until they go back to showing their draws nationwide as they did back in the 1970s when 6/49 started.
– Cedric Schubrink,
Daysland, Alta.
Great mind
In the Feb. 19 Open Forum, Lorne Jackson attributes the current economic woes to the Chicago school of economics.
Fredric Von Hayek was the forerunner of the Chicago school of economics. He won a Nobel prize in economics. His ideas about the economy and markets have changed the world for the better.
For example, the idea of a common, ordinary lead pencil, which in its making requires the co-operation of thousands of people. You had people getting wood somewhere, people getting graphite in Chile, people putting up steel mills in order to get the steel that was used to band it.
There you have a spontaneous order, which nobody plans. And that is Hayek’s main point, that nobody plans it. It’s a human creation, but it’s a creation that arises without any individual human having created it. Each individual is able to make a decision about his own situation of which he sees best.
Some of the current economic woes are due to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. They are government institutions set up to give loans to people for houses that they could not afford. To provide lower interest rates and then raise them is government brilliance at its best. Good intention gone wild.
The private sector has some responsibility for the economic woes. The bundling of loans seems to be a flaw of regulations.
When a loan is made, it is the responsibility of the lender to ascertain the ability of the borrower to repay the loan. When the loan is bundled, the responsibility of the lender is sidestepped.
Hayek intellectually changed the world without really ever leaving the university. It was the power of his books, the power of his ideas as then captured by Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher that had changed things. His ideas provide an alternative to those that tossed communism out of Russia.
The old debates were about what the role of the market was, what was the role of the state. I think it’s now generally appreciated that it’s the market that harnesses people’s initiative best.
The real focus of progressive thinking is not how to oppose and suppress market forces but how to use market forces to achieve progressive objectives.
Eight professors and another 11 economists from Chicago went on to win Nobel Prizes. Hayek is one of the great minds of the 20th century.
– Clark Lysne,
Wetaskiwin, Alta.
Who gives?
This bailout of the auto industry is most interesting to observe. We hear of great hand wringing because the workers in the plants make $33 per hour, which comes out to $68,640 per year. They are being asked to give all manner of concessions, not to mention the retired workers who should forfeit their pensions for the greater good, after they have given their whole productive life to the company.
Now let’s check the upper echelons and major shareholders, who never have to dirty their hands and still make upper six figure incomes plus stock options.
May we ask what their hourly wage consists of? What are they contributing to these trying times?
– Jean H. Sloan,
Lloydminster, Sask.
Debt of gratitude
I believe we who are friends of the Canadian Wheat Board owe Stewart Wells and Paul Beingessner, as well as others too numerous to mention, a debt of gratitude.
You have been unflinching in your defence of the CWB with honesty, knowledge and courage.
We thank you.
– Lawrence Beckie,
Kenaston, Sask.
Change formula
AgriStability’s formula is ruined. (I am) calling to change it back immediately to cash numbers in reference years instead of accrual numbers so there is a margin. Change it back immediately, retroactive to include 2008’s claim year to stop the conversion of all farmers cash margin to an accrual margin.
AgriStability needs to stay cash numbers for the three reference years so there is a margin, to have AgriStability partially functional.
All federal parties knew of this disastrous change prior to our last federal election and all said and did nothing about it during the election and today too.
I am calling for a lobby for mandatory accrual income tax. Get the farm losses, base future farm support on yearly losses, which gets individual farm losses into Statistics Canada so no politician or federal/provincial party can ever again play with any farm program, deny the actual farm loss numbers (that) expose the size of the farm crisis each year, play with a stupid farm program and ruin it like they all did with AgriStability….
I want mandatory accrual income tax at the farmgate. No other program is needed or required. Don’t need crop insurance, don’t need any disaster program, don’t need to waste millions on administration of these joke programs. These administration monies could be flowing to farmers via accrual income tax losses to farmers….
Fix the numbers and most of the farm crisis will fix itself. Get the farm losses into Stats Canada and base future farm support on those yearly losses.
– Lloyd Pletz,
Regina, Sask.
Postal battle
Canada Post Corporation is ignoring both a government-imposed moratorium on rural post office closure and the wishes of its customers.
On Feb. 5 at the Rapid View Hall, the people of our community were told that the decision to close our post office, which is still being used by 146 families, had already been made without our consent.
Following the sudden and unexpected death of our postmistress last August, Canada Post immediately tried to pull our services and install green boxes. The grieving family fought to keep our post office and quickly found a suitable individual to fill the position.
Mr. Tjader Dyck was properly trained by Canada Post and has been working in the position and running Rapid View Grocery for the family, while awaiting sale of the store….
At the Feb. 5 meeting, … a vote was taken on whether we would receive green boxes or amalgamate with Meadow Lake, 25 kilometres away. The vote was in favour of green boxes.
However, the question was asked who wanted to keep the present services, and the vast majority of those present raised their hands. This vote didn’t interest the Canada Post employees….
We see billions of dollars pouring out of Ottawa, with the word infrastructure stamped on them. We’re not asking for every penny of it. We simply want to keep the services we now have. We use them and we need them.
Canada Post says that their mandate is to provide universal service at a universal price to Canadians wherever they live, but actions speak louder than words.
Many people think that we’re fighting a lost battle. I hope they’re wrong, and I hope it’s not a battle you will have to fight next.
If you agree with us, please let your MP know where you stand on rural post office closures and on how Canada Post is treating the citizens of the Rapid View area.
– Amy Kirby,
Rapid View, Sask.
Eliminate TB
Sixty-four years ago, my grandmother died of tuberculosis in a sanitarium just a couple of miles away from where the University of Victoria is now.
Since then, we pretty well wiped out TB in North America. But now, UVic faculty, staff and students are stunned by the reception of about 250 letters advising people that they have been exposed to TB and may be infected.
TB is back, now in drug resistant and extremely drug resistant forms.
This happened because we dropped the ball. We got rid of it here and did not finish the job overseas.
Canada already has excellent programs for TB eradication overseas. They just need money. And for that, they need political will.
Please write your MP a letter today and demand that our TB eradication programs be properly funded, now, while there is still time. Or, in another few years, your grandchildren and mine may die in the reopened sanitarium just a couple of miles from UVic.
– Leo Young,
Victoria, B.C.
Great abandoner
Michael Ignatieff has assumed the leadership of the Liberal party. There was no leadership convention and no vote of the members. He surprised everyone.
He abandoned his vows and helped to put Stephane Dion down. He abandoned his friend Bob Rae. Charles Adler calls him the “great abandoner.” He apparently will abandon any friend, any person, any plan or policy to advance his own ambitions.
It appears the back-room boys, the Liberal elite who call the shots, approved his bid for leadership and gave him the green light.
Michael Ignatieff is recognized as a highly qualified academic. But does he know anything about Canadians? Does he know anything about business? Has he ever had to meet the cost of a payroll payment?
The fact is he is an American and why he came north to take over our country is hard to understand. The fact is he was born in Canada but he lived in the United States for over 30 years. His home is in Boston. He has a house there and his wife lives there….
He’s simply not the person to ever become the prime minister of Canada. The public would never support him and neither would I.
– John Fisher,
North Battleford, Sask.
Hutterite friends
Re: article about the Viking Hutterite Colony (WP, Feb. 19.)
Our family lives a few miles from the Viking Hutterite Colony and very much enjoyed reading and learning more about them in the recent story in The Western Producer.
As Paul Wipf said, by opening up to the community at large and demystifying who they are, it does go a long way in acceptance.
Our family considers the Viking Colony and its members not only neighbours but friends. They are always eager to help in any way they can and share in friendship in a way that many rural people have forgotten.
My husband is in construction and has worked with them on a variety of projects and when we have needed work done like fencing, they’ve been here in a flash doing a first rate job for us.
Our dining room table is another example of the astounding talent of the members of the Viking Colony. When we were looking for a new table, Peter Wipf from the Viking Colony said they make all their tables, so we had a look and put in our order for our solid oak double barrel pedestal table.
There was just no comparing quality or price to what you’d find in any store. Also to have something handcrafted locally just seemed like the right thing.
From produce to poultry, one doesn’t need to shop elsewhere to find better quality.
We have made lasting friendships with the members of the Viking Colony and we are happy to have them as valued and contributing members of our community, but most of all welcome friends.
– Melinda Rauser,
Viking, Alta.
