HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2014-07-02, Page 44 Huron Expositor • Wednesday, July 2,2014
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Canada
editorial
Liberal majority will be useless
to rural Ontario
Welcome to Torontario.
That's pretty much what rural resi-
dents of Ontario face after the election.
Once again the folks of Fortress
Toronto, with the help of a few other
scattered locations, ignored all the Lib-
eral abuses of power over the past dec-
ade to hand them a majority.
And the heartland is left out in the
cold.
During their years in power, the Lib-
erals have alternated between ignoring
rural issues and stomping all over the
rights of people who make their homes
in the boonies.
Nobody is expecting any change to
this sorry state of affairs under a Kath-
leen Wynne majority.
In an interview with Sun Media this
last, Wynne promised her government
will listen to members of the
Opposition.
However, this government has never
listened to anyone north of Hwy 7 and
there's a snowball's chance that will
change any time soon.
Wyrme's record with rural Ontario is
illustrated in the agricultural portfolio.
The premier also served as agriculture
minister in her first term in the big
chair.
However, taking that post was token-
ism at its cynical best. The ministry has
accomplished zilch with Wynne in
charge.
The ministry's website shows that the
department is too tied up in bureau-
cracy -speak to bother with farm -speak.
Here's an example: "Ontario's agri-
food industry is ... poised for even
greater success, and with the premier
as minister of agriculture and food,
there is a unique opportunity to shine a
light on the strength and potential of
this sector ... We will work to bridge the
gap between rural and urban in
Ontario and support economic growth
for our agri-food industry!'
Those are great words if you ignore
they're meaningless if no one bothers
to walk the talk.
At least the ministry understands
the rural -urban divide. One of the few
times the premier/ag minister both-
ered to even mention rural Ontario
during the campaign was to deny the
existence of said gap. As the manufac-
turing sector disappears, Ontarians
must find work in other fields. Some
of those jobs could be on one of the
52,000 farms in the province or with
the 3,000 food processing operations.
The ministry recognizes that with
$10.8 billion in annual exports,
Ontario is a leading agricultural
export province. And yet the sector
gets zero to nil attention at Queen's
Park
The ministry has three goals to help
agriculture grow:
• Make Ontario a better place to do
business
• Increase competitiveness through
innovation
• Grow markets at home and abroad
And yet electricity — a key input cost
in agri-related enterprises just like
other businesses — continues to be a
market in disarray. Costs are in the
stratosphere and the Liberals have no
appetite for getting them under control
or for cleaning up the mess that is
Hydro One.
It's anybody's guess how the gov-
ernment might grow agricultural
markets. As food costs continues to
rise, markets are likely to shrink.
Producers are enjoying the finan-
cial benefits from these rising mar-
kets, but there is little confidence the
good times will roll for long.
Of course agriculture is only one
segment of life for folks outside urban
Ontario.
Premier Wynne has taken only
baby steps to fix the destruction her
predecessor brought to rural Ontario
with the suspension of landowner
rights in locating wind factories and
with the knee -capping of the horse
race industry and associated loss of
thousands of jobs.
These and many other issues need to
be addressed.
But there's fat chance any of them
will surface at Queen's Park
Column
Whitney South
Huron Expositor
Look before you leap
Whitney South
Huron Expositor
Since its invention in 1960s, to its rise in popu-
larity throughout the 80s and 90s, the Internet
has made the world a very different place.
Granting us the ability to share information
and technology all over the world, the web has
changed not only the way we communicate, but
also the way we live our everyday lives.
Few among us can say they're not regular
users of some sort of social media platform.
From Facebook to Twitter; Tumblr to Pinterest,
there seems to be no end to what you can do, or
how much time you can waste in front of a com-
puter screen.
The briefest touch of the keyboard can bring
up information on anything and everything.
Even news outlets have jumped on the band-
wagon, sharing live updates on stories from
around the world.
But with great power comes great
responsibility.
Taking in everything we read as truth is one of
the most common mistakes we can make these
days.
Stories detailing everything from the hidden
toxicity of toothpaste to the sudden death of a
popular celebrity plague the worldwide web,
passed on by those who truly believe what they
read must be true.
It's on the Internet after all.
With just the click of a mouse, rumors, gossip
and slander can be shared instantly.
Perpetuating misinformation is something
none of us want to be accountable for, and it's up
to all of us to use appropriate caution.
Heck, I've even had to have this conversation
with own father.
In essence, we're fueling the nastiest of gossip
circles, while relieving everyone of any account-
ability for their actions.
Some of the greatest Internet hoaxes include
everything from learning to charge an iPhone
with onion (2007), to much more serious stories
of organ thieves making the rounds in New
Orleans (1997).
When you really think about it, don't we have
enough to be concerned about without tales of
alien chickens and giant camel spiders in Iraq?
So before you hit that 'share' button, do a little
research.
After all, if we aren't able to tell fact from fic-
tion, how can we really hope to learn anything?
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