Letters to the editor – February 5, 2015

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Published: February 5, 2015

INFORMATION APPRECIATED

I was glad to see an issue of the Western Producer dedicated to manure: storage, stockpiling, spreading equipment options, timing of incorporation, site selection for spreading, etc. These were common questions I received while working with the (Environmental Farm Plan) program. (Growing Forward 2) still provides funding on a cost shared basis in this area. Some provinces have offered manure management workshops as the value of this resource receives more recognition.

Certainly bale grazing and swath grazing have reduced the amount that some producers have to move each year.

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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?

It was also good to see what other provinces are doing with municipal waste. This is becoming a very significant cost in RMs that have a high residential component such as the one I live in.

All in all, it was an informative and useful issue. Hopefully, it didn’t get lost in the holiday rush.

Tom Brown,
Turtleford, Sask.

PROVINCEWIDE RECYCLING

I was disappointed to learn of the delay of the Multi-Material Recycling Program launch set to begin on Jan. 1. This long-awaited program is a critically important environmental accomplishment created through co-operation between provincial and municipal governments, and industry. To delay it risks losing it.

The goal of the recycling program is simple. This province-wide program will strengthen residential recycling and reduce the amount of waste — either by recycling or reduction — clogging Saskatchewan landfills.

We are all familiar with bringing home a recently purchased item wrapped in a large amount of cardboard and plastic and seeing flyers overfilling mailboxes. Much or all of this waste ends up in landfills as communities struggle to find money for recycling programs, juggling it against other municipal services and operations. Saskatchewan is littered with a patchwork of programs and growing, spreading landfills.

Everyone involved realized this was not good enough. The province, municipalities and industry all came to the table to find a way forward. Recycling regulations were enacted in 2013 and a multi-material recycling plan was approved.

Under the plan, businesses take ownership of the waste packaging and paper they bring into our communities by being financially responsible for their waste. If they cut down their waste, their responsibility decreases. Communities can apply to receive this funding for running an efficient and effective residential recycling program. Residential recycling catches more recyclable material and helps us achieve our goal of cutting the flow of waste into our landfills by 40 percent.

Saskatchewan communities recognized this benefit immediately; 314 urban and rural municipalities representing 68 percent of Saskatchewan’s population signed up to take part. They know the financial, health, and environmental costs of landfills too well.

Delaying the recycling program puts it at risk. If the delay is too long, municipalities will have to decide whether to increase taxes and fees to start or continue running their programs or be forced to simply abandon them. We need this program. We need to finish what we started — before it’s too late.

Debra Button,
President, Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association

Regina, Sask.

LAND SPECULATING

As an 88-year-old retired farmer I wish to comment on current lending practices by Farm Credit Canada to speculative land corporations. This does not bode well for land ownership by actual farmers, does not bode well for productivity, and if continued will mean government ownership on a vast scale, a modern version of a land bank, proposed by a former provincial government, which was rejected by an overwhelming number of farmers.

Western Canada was populated by families who came here to own land, not to rent it. Land is sometimes called a “seductive mistress” — treat her well, look after her natural beauty and assets and she will provide a living for you, your family and future generations. Abuse her, rob her of her riches and you will not be in business for very long.

Questions that need to be asked, and answered, right now:

1. If government bodies end up owning land, who rents it, under what conditions? Do you show your party card?

2. Is land fertility a part of land rental? If not, is there a temptation to mine a resource?

3. Who determines what shall be sown, who stores the grain, who sells it, who insures for failure? These decisions are usually made by farm owners or operators.

4. In addition to individuals like myself, what are the options regarding speculative lending by both federal and provincial ministers of agriculture?

It is knowledge learned by farming each acre, passed down through generations, histories of success and failures, sometimes costly, that makes a viable farm.

Land is as unique as individuals. What succeeds on one farm may fail on another. Land size alone means nothing.

Donald P. Swenson,
Moose Jaw, Sask.

BACK TO HAVE-NOT

Premier Brad Wall has plastered Saskatchewan with billboards claiming he has created the recent economic boom. But was any of this his doing? Did he create the cheap land and housing that attracted a few speculators from other places to come to Saskatchewan?

Now Wall is crying the blues due to falling oil prices after he bet too much of Saskatchewan’s prosperity on the oil and gas market. This is just like when he bet the prosperity of grain producers on the same type of private market when he and former Saskatchewan agriculture minister Bob Bjornerud did nothing to save the farmer-owned and controlled Canadian Wheat Board. Since he and federal agriculture minister Gerry Ritz killed the single desk, grain prices have gone down, and the windfall profits are going to multinational grain companies, all based outside of Saskatchewan.

This huge loss of grain producers’ income will cause a ripple effect in the Saskatchewan economy. Just as short-sighted is Wall’s foolish ideology of giving up control of Saskatchewan’s provincial pastures, the tree nursery, engaging in P3 projects and privatizing liquor stores. All which will transfer wealth out of Saskatchewan and put Saskatchewan citizens and their government deeper in debt.

It looks like we will be seeing a (former premier) Grant Devine cycle where premier Wall will return Saskatchewan taxpayers back to a have-not province.

Eric Sagan,
Melville, Sask.

HOW, WHEN, WHY?

To all North West Terminal shareholders:

The following is an excerpt of the North West Terminal Organization and Policy Manual: “In the event of a vacancy on the board, the Board shall have the authority to appoint a replacement until the next Annual General Meeting, at which time the shareholders shall elect a replacement for the balance of the term of such office”.

The board recently appointed a director to a term ending in 2017.

First, we would like to congratulate the board of directors on its choice of the director. That person is the same one that some of us had approached at an earlier date to run.

What we do question is the how, when and why.

How — the hand picking of the director by the board rather than allowing the shareholders to exercise their democratic right to vote for who they would like to represent them on their board.

When — this position sat vacant since April of last year so what was the urgency to get someone appointed just two and a half months before the annual meeting? Was it just coincidence that this appointment happened just four days after we submitted four nominations for directors to be voted on at the annual meeting?

Why — was this done to “fracture the slate” as one director commented?

We endorse their choice, what we question is the timing and the motive. Maybe you would like to ask the board members why they thought it necessary to take away your democratic right to decide who should represent you on your board of directors.

We encourage you to attend the North West Terminal Annual Meeting on March 18 to exercise your right to choose who you would like to represent you on your board of directors.

Submitted by past board members:
Bob Cumming, Unity, Sask.
Andre Blais, North Battleford, Sask.
Doug Sword, Unity, Sask.
Randy Miller, Landis, Sask.
Vern Schaab, Red Deer, Alta.

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