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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1987-04-08, Page 18PAGE 18. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8, 1987. Blyth student wins poster contest A grade two student at Blyth Public School has placed first in her division of the annual Huron County Farm and Home Safety Association poster contest, one of only a handful of winners selected from the more than 300 entries in the contest. Toni Richmond of Blyth was the winner in the Kindergarten to Grade 2 division of the county-wide contest, while Julie Bell and Farm Don't count on grant programs for funds, says Pyke Continued from page 1 signthattheboardhas done the best job possible. The Federation had originally wanted changes in the bankruptcy act rather than the review sytem, she said, because that would help small businessmen as well as farmers. Of the thousands of bankruptcies ayear in Canada only a few are able to negotiate with creditors to stay in business so something in the system needs improvement, she said. Animalwelfareisahottopic, she said and it will be a difficult problem for farmers to get their sideofthe story across. Shehad taken part in a debate in Simcoe county with Vicki Miller, animal rights activist and the television crews dutifully recorded Ms. Miller’s arguments but began packing up to go home when Mrs. Pyke got up to rebut her points. Tom Hughes of the Ontario Humane Society has worried that farmers are giving Ms. Miller and her supporters too good a platform together message out, she said but the issue is important to farmers. There is a whole range of opinion in the public about animal welfare all the way from those who won’t support animal experimentation for new cosmetics to those who think that animals and man are equal and man shouldn’t kill animals for food or clothing. For extrem ists a code of practice for animal protection on the farm doesn’t mean a thing. Any exploit­ ation of animals is too much. On the special grains program she said most farmers don’t like the $1 billionsubsidybutiffarmers can’t get their price out of the market the only other place to get it is out of subsidies and if they don’t, there won’t be many farmers left when the world-wide price war subsides. Negotiations of how the $1 billion should be split up were hard, she said, with the western provinces unhappy that any of the money was coming to eastern Canadaatall. “Itwas news to them that grain was grown in Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes,” she said. She said Federal Agriculture Minister John Wise had insisted the formula be worked out because the government might have to do it again and again (“I counted four agains,” she said. Still the word is out that farmers shouldn’t count on another grant program. “It’s a difficult situation to subsidize farmers but ask them not to change their cropping patterns to take advantage of the grants,” she said. She said the OFA had met with the Ontario Treasurer Robert Nixon to urge him to continue the Ontario Farm Finance Interest Rate Rebate OFFIR and to lower the current interest rate from eight percent. Farmers have to make use of these programs, however, she said or the Federation will have a hard time arguing to have them extended (Huron county provided about 10 per cent of OFFIR Michael Atkinson, both of Clinton Public School, placed second and third respectively. In the Grade 3-4 division, Stephen Bachert of Seaforth Public School placed first; Andrew Hern of Exeter Public School was second; and Danny Van Driel of Clinton Christian School and Jeff Musgrove of Turnberry Central tied for third. applications last year). On free trade she said some urban M.P.s had seen free trade as a way to get rid of marketing boards and said farmers must not only put pressure on their own MPs to protect farm interest but she suggested farmers should “twin” their counties with members of urban ridings to keep those MP’s informed. She said farmers had to In the Grade 5-6 division, first place went to another Seaforth student. Kerri Bachert; while Mark Lynn of Usborne Central placed 2nd and Mindy Sue Bell from Hensall Public School was 3rd. Daryl Graham of Brookside Public School was the winner in the Grade 7-8 division; with Crystal Jones of Hensall Public and Kerry Manders of Usborne in 2nd and 3rd place respectively. Three students from Brussels Public School, Andrew Exel, Sonya Albert and Elizabeth Harris receiv­ ed Honourable Mention awards, as did Janice Marie Young of Col- borne Central School. stick together and protect each other, not let commodities with smaller numbers like chicken producers be traded off. Since free trade will be an “all or nothing” and the Mulroney government has made it such a large part of its agenda agree­ ment, she said, there will be pressure to get a deal no matter what the cost. East Wawanosh Federation of Agriculture last week in Belgrave. Les Caldwell [centre] remains as secretary-treasurer while Donald Dow is the vice president. Scott re-elected Ralph Scott was re-elected president of the East Wawanosh Federation of Agriculture when the group held its .annual meeting in Belgrave Thursday. Donald Dow, RR 3, Wingham was acclaimed as vice-president. Les Caldwell, RR 3, Blyth remains as secretary-treasurer. Names as line directors were Darryl Wood, RR 3, Blyth; Ian Scott, Murray Scott, RR 1, Bel­ grave; Len Palmer, RR5, Wing­ ham; and Leo Glavin, RR 1, Lucknow. Robert Charter, RR3, Blyth was named as auditor.