Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1990-10-24, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 24, 1990. Opinion Taxpayers taken for a ride Canadian taxpayers are feel­ ing these days like the gullible older woman who fell in love with the handsome young man who then ran off with her money. The handsome young man for Canadians is Victor Rice, head of Varity Corpora­ tion. Varity is what remains of what was once the greatest name in Canadian industry: Massey Ferguson. When the company found itself in trouble early in the 1980’s, Victor Rice played on the patriotism of Canadians. How could we let this great Canadian institution go broke, he asked the Cana­ dian and Ontario governments? The governments agreed they couldn’t see the loss of all those Just hangin’ around jobs. They bailed out the com­ pany and because of the back­ ing of the two governments, other creditors agreed to back off on bankrupting the com­ pany. But recently Mr. Rice hasn’t been singing any patriotic songs. He wants to move the company to the U.S. to save money. He wanted to break the agreement under which he was backed by our governments, the* guarantees he would pro­ vide so many jobs in Canada. Last week, faced with a long court battle, the federal and provincial governments caved in. Rather than pursue the matter of Canadian jobs they agreed to let Varity off the hook for a $50 million fund to assist displaced workers. This lesson has cost the taxpayer $250 million over the years. With government scandals in the last few years we’ve come to regard business leaders higher than politicians. This should also be a reminder that there are business leaders who don’t care a fig for anything but themselves and will act with no sense of morality if it means profit. By any other name it's still greed The war of words is on as the negotiations of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) on reducing international farm subsidies grinds toward a conclusion. The fate of thousands of Canadian farmers is in the hands of negotiators they have never met, negotiators who are being urged by the big city media to abandon Canadian farmers in the name of cheaper food for urban consumers. The editorial writers of major urban papers have been on the attack in recent weeks, decrying any attempt to continue farm subsidies or non-subsidy supports for farmers such as marketing boards. The Toronto Star, for instance, Monday claimed the Canadian government had backed away from its supportfor subsidy reductions by continuing support for supply management. The government supported reduction of export subsidies which distort trade but that ’ s not enough for urban opinion makers. They’ll be satisfied with nothing less than the destruction of supply management systems. But supply management has little to do with subsidies or with distortions of trade. Supply management, on the contrary, allows farmers to have the same kind of controls on their production that all other sectors of the economy have. Nobody would suggest that the Toronto Star just keep letting its presses run 24 hours a day and take whatever it could get on the street for its surplus of newspapers; nobody would suggest that the major car dealers just keep turning out cars and take whatever the consumer would pay under a surplus situation. We don’t allow too many doctors or lawyers and reporters on papers like the Toronto Star are protected by unions that guarantee job security. By pledging to support the supply management system, the federal government is not caving in to a powerful farm lobby, as the urban papers are claiming but giving farmers the tools to be free of subsidies. The only support for a supply managed commodity in Canada is a dairy subsidy to keep the price of dairy products low to consumers. But urban opinion leaders from newspaper editorialists to economists to consumer advocates, want lower food prices at the expense of farmers (and rural residents who depend on a prosperous farm community for their livelihood). They see the killing of marketing boards as leading to cheaper food. They see reducing farm subsidies as reducing their taxes. They figure they can get something for nothing. But where is the food to come from if farmers can’t make a profit and there are no subsidies? Urbanites may think that food just somehow shows up on the supermarket shelf but somebody out there has to make it and that somebody has to pay his bills and earn a living (maybe not as good a living as the editorial writers and economists and consumer advocates, but a living just the same). We’ve had the cheapest food in the world for decades on the backs of farmers going broke because of over supply. But the number of farmers left is down to a precious few. If we lose many more we will either have to start importing our food or depend on a few huge companies to produce it, companies that will have the kind of market control the leaders of other industries have. But there is something morally disgusting about the demands of urbanites to drive more farmers out of business in the name of cheap food. It’s like the affluent person who envies the little bit his poor neighbour has and sets out to get it by hook or by crook. In that case, it’s greed and in the case of urbanites who want to destroy what few protections Canadian farmers have so they can get cheaper food, it ’s also greed. Destroying supply management will be good for urbanites in the short term. They not only save on taxes and save with cheaper food, they ’ 11 find lots of vacant farms for them to buy up cheap for weekend places. But they’d better be ready to get their hands dirty on those farms because it may be the only way they get food. There won’t be any farmers left. Mabel’s Grill MONDAY; Isn’t it nice to know, Billie Bean was saying, that even the SkyDome is losing money these days. And costing us taxpayers money. Ward Black complained. Tim O'Grady figures it must be a terrible blow to Toronto egos knowing that not only can’t the Blue Jays play ball well enough to win and the Maple* Leafs can’t score goals but now Toronto can’t even do the one thing it does well; make money. Billie says it’s so nice to know we’re paying tax money so over­ grown kids from California and the Dominican Republic can make mil­ lions of dollars a year. “Yeh,” said Hank Stokes, “but the taxpayers will gladly go along with that so they can watch baseball. Then they’ll complain about subsidies to keep farmers farming.” TUESDAY: As if we didn’t have enough troubles with the GST and the Senate, says Julia Flint, now we have to listen to the whole rehash of the October Crisis of 20 years ago. Ward says he thinks down in Quebec they must have learned from the Americans how to rewrite history. The Americans somehow turn it around so they never lost a war (they’re not far enough away from Vietnam yet) and down in Quebec they’ve managed to turn the guys who did the kidnapping and killing into heroes and turn Pierre Trudeau into a criminal. Yes, said Tim, and ever notice that nobody remembers Robert Continued on page 22 The Citizen. P.O. Box 429, BLYTH, Ont. NOM 1H0 P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, Ont. NOG 1H0 The Citizen is published weekly in Brussels, Ontario by North Huron Publishing Company Inc. Subscriptions are payable in advance at a rate of $19.00/yr. [$40.00 Foreign]. Advertising is accepted on the condition that in the event of a typographical error, only that portion of the advertisment will be credited. Advertising Deadlines: Monday, 2 p.m. - Brussels; Monday, 4 p.m. - Blyth We are not responsible for unsolicited newscripts or photographs. Contents of The Citizen are © Copyright. Serving Brussels, Blyth, Auburn, Belgrave, Ethel, Londesborough, Walton and surrounding townships. (*cKia BLUE ■ RIBBON AWARD Phone 523-4792 Phone 887-9114 Editor & Publisher, Keith Roulston Advertising Manager, Dave Williams 1990 Production Manager, Jill Roulston Second Class Mail Registration No. 6968