Loading...
The Lucknow Sentinel, 1981-06-10, Page 6Page 6-Andurow Sentinel, -Welinestinty,,,sfuse 1041,10 wrotfitom Farmers need help Huron and Bruce farmers went to Toronto last Thursday to tell federal and provincial ministers they are in trouble and it's time the government do something. Farmers, pinched between soaring interest ratesland low commodity prices, are balancing periously close to bankruptcy. They are angry and the meeting sponsored by the Ontario Federation of Agriculture erupted into bitter words. Neither provincial agriculture minister Lorne Henderson nor federal counterpart Eugene Whelan would promise any immediate action. Henderson continued his defiant stand that interest rates are a federal policy and any relief should be provided by the federal government. Whelan continued his familiar song and dance about marketing boards being the only solution and how he hasn't heard the dairy farmers or broiler farmers are having problems. -Farm bankruptcies increased 75 per cent last year - a rate which far exceeds that recorded for general business, But these statistics do not reveal the serious reality. According to Ralph Barrie, president of the Federation, for every farmer who records a bankrupty there are at least 10 I; others who simply sell their land and move on before they 1. lose everything. If something isn't done to assist farmers soon, many will sell of their land and much of it will never return to food production. This will seriously reduce our ability to produce food causing higher consumer prices, for limited supplies of domestic produce or costly imported food. It may eventually create a shortage of food in Canada. The federal and provincial governments cannot expect farmers to continue much longer. Many are "enjoying" a 40 per cent decrease in their income while many union agreements won't settle for less than .a 17 to 20 per cent increase. Why shouldn't the farmers expect some form of financial assistance through this economic hardship when the pulp and paper industry and the automobile industry enjoy huge government handouts to bolster their financial picture? The politicians in our country should become as concerned about the farmers' economic plight before our ability to feed ourselves is lost. Suitable recognition Letter to the editor The Lucknow branch of the Can- adian Cancer Society really apprec- iates the community's support during 'our campaign this spring. We raised $3,135.65. • People gave generously of their • time as well. A special thanks goes to • the following canvassers: Marg Stan- • ley. Olive Warren, Bonnie Taylor, Beatty Irwin, Lori Stanley, Ann Aus- tin, Ruth Thompson, Betty:. • Emberlin, • Margaret Hamilton, Rob- , erta Whytock, Marguerite Sanderson, ,Beth Johnstone, •Hennie Hilverda, • Laura Lee Cayley, Kay Collyer, Jane Treleaven, Mary Cleland, Gladys Haz- eldon, Elaine Steer, Carroll McKim, Olive Irwin, Jim NcNaughton, Etta Struthers, Barb Ross, Lorna Guay, Debbie Wilson, .Ruth Pritchard, Shir- ley Bolt, Betty McInnes, Margaret MacDonald, Wm. G. Hunter, • Bill Ross, Marg Wilson, Kathleen Mac- Donald, 'Vernon Hunter, Alene Brad ley, Roy Finlayson,1 John Ritchie, Arnetta Thompson, Margaret Martin, Helen Thompson, W. Schmid, Noreen Montgomery, Art Gilmore, Mabel • Whitby, Molly , Passmore, Dorothy Brown, Donalda Moffat, and Belle Mole from town, as well as Shirley Brooks, Freda Button, Mary Lavis, Harry -Levis, Hannah Hartemink, • Katherine Howald, Muriel MacKen- zie, Rena Foster, Sharon MacDougall, Alice Doelman, Doris Eadie, Myrtle Percy, Grace Eckenswiller, Lorraine ... MacPherson, Joan Murray, Wilma Elliott, Bessie Maulden, Mrs. Cecil Humphrey, Tess Haines, GeorgiaCol- ling, Rovie Elates, Mildred Thomp- son, Thelma Godfrey, Alberta Munro, Georgia Mitchell, Dorothy Baines, J. Langlois, Nadine Danforth, Sheila MacDonald, Irene Emmerton, Ros- marie Oldenburg, Barbara Liddle, Mary Walden and M. Funston from •the country, We are grateful to everyone who • helped us during our daffodil prom- otion. • • Christina Jolly, Publicity, Canadian Cancer Society. 1 • A couple of weeks agct, an interesting weekend celebration was held in the town of Clinton. Dubbed "Kloinpen Feest", the event recognized the presence of the hundreds of Dutch families who have settled in Western Ontario since the end of the World War II. The streets of the town were decorated with replicas of windmills and other peculiarly Dutch emblems and flags. Dutch foods were served and the parade on Saturday followed a thoroughly Dutch theme. - The entire event was not 'only imaginative, in that it departed from the more customary themes of early sum- mer celebrations, it also recognized the unique contribution these Canadians of Dutch origin have made to Canada. Kitchener -Waterloo has its annual Oktoberfest, dedicated to the German origins of that city; there are Highland Scottish games each year in places like Fergus and Embro; Listowel holds an Irish Paddyfest celebration. It is fitting that at least one Dutch feest should be included. Canada, a nation built on the efforts of immigrants from other lands, owes its very being to the hundreds of thousands of people who crossed the oceans to live here. Each additional group has made its own valued contri- bution to the building of our nation. However, few national groups have turned out to be better Canadian citizens than have the people from •the Lowlands. And we know of no other people who have been so ready to become one hundred per cent Canadian. 'We sometimes feel that our new neighbours from Rutland have a deeper appreciation of the freedoms we enjoy than do the rest of us who have three or four generations of Canadian life behind us. —The Wingham advance -Times. The LUCKNOW SENTINEL "The Sepoy Established 1873 E3„E P JOCELYN SHRIER - Publisher eport from• Queen.'g Park By Murray Elston, M.P.P. • [Huron -Bruce} Ontario Hydro Ontario Hydro has been given the •go-ahead by the Minister of Energy for •its long-delayed plans for a high-power transmission line to carry electricity from the Bruce nuclear generating complex across the farm- land of Southwestern Ontario. Last December, the Minister had called a halt to the planningprocess. On June 3, Ontatio Hydro released a report examining six options for delivering power from the Bruce nuclear power complex and improving the power supply capability in South- western Ontario. • Besides providing the, means to deliver the future power production of the Bruce 'B' station to major centres in °Ontario' and improve supply. to Southwestern Ontario, the alternatives also take into account Hydro'al interconnection capability with Ameri- can utlities. • Hydro is not recommending any of • the six alternatives at this time but is seeking public discussion and com- ment on the proposals between now and the fall. After the public discus- sion period is completed this fall, Hydro will prepare environmental assessment documents recommending a preferred alternative. These docu- • ments will then be subitted to the Minister of the Environment for hear- ings starting in January 1982. The line is to be in operation -by 1988. Ontario Agriadture • An Ontario program set up six years ago to underwrite $25 million in young farmers' loans has used only one-third of its budget because most farmers in financial trouble don't know about it or qualify for it. Although the Minister of Agriculture often uses the program as an example of how the province helps out farmers facing bankruptcy, only nineteen farmers have had their loans guaranteed in the past two years under the Ontario Young Farmers' Credit Program. On June 4, I attended a Toronto meeting Of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture on the topic of farm economic problems, at which farmers protested that they cannot compete with Quebec farms who receive much more financial assistance from their provincial government. They urged Ontario Government officials to prov- ide Ontario farmers with relief. The OFA proposed a three-point program designed to remedy agricul- ture's current economic situation. In the short term, the OFA is seeking a • suspension of foreclosures and forced liquidations by having cases heard by an independent review agency before foreclosure may be exercised. On a long term basis, the OFA proposes that the provincial government rein- state the Junior Farmer Establishment Loan Program. The OFA's interim solution calls for a provincial interest • rate assistance program that will guarantee that all short and inter- • Turn to page 70 1 el ft it • (2 w • It • vi a at Si et • la • SHARON J. DIETZ Editor ANTHONY N. JOHNSTONE - Advertising and General Manager PAT LIVINGSTON - Office Manager MERLE ELLIOTT - Typesetter JOAN HELM - Composition Business and Editorial Office Telephone 528-2822 Mailing Address P.O. Box 400, Lucknow, NOG 2H0 Second Class Mail Registration Number -0847 Subscription rate, SI3.50 per year In advance Senior Cittzen rate, 511,50 per year In advance , U.S.A. and Foreign, 523.00 per year in advance Sr. Cit. U.S.A. and Foreign, S21.00 per year in advance edtrees ,th By Don Campbell • Fall came to Richmond Hill like a gentle but seductive lady, intent upon slowly but surely overcoming, and • subduing the virile strength of summer. First she gave only a faint, feeble blush as she touched the maples, but as her inevitable corning • became • accepted, she • consumed the bush with the dominating fire of her presence and flamed in crimson:passion. Still the sound of the axe blade meeting tree rang out from the bush near Blake's Folly. Pierre-Bechard and his hired man, Hamish Murdoch worked as long as there was light in the sky, trying to cut, shape and trim timbers to complete the small log cabin before the winter. Hamish had grown fond of the rough French Canadian who struggled relentlessly to complete his task. When it • was dark -and Hamish returned to eat a meal and sleep in the Blake house, he left his thoughts, behind with the man who. spent the night in a small canvas tent. Bechard was an outcast because of religious prejudice of foolish men. A catholic weed in a garden of protestant teases! Blake, Murdoch and the MacCrimmons usually ate their evening meal together in the large kitchen of Blake's Folly. With the nip of fall in the air, the warmth of the large cast-iron stove was not allowed to die after the cooking of supper. When the table had been cleated, utensils washed and the MacCimmons retired to their "ain wee hoose", Hamish sat alone with his thoughts. William Blake was only sociable at the table. In the evenings he preferred other company, gad Hamish guessed that this was the whisky jug. So Hamish spent his nights sitting, thinking, and occasionally adding a piece of wood to the fire in the • stove. •• Solitude is not a companion for a soul whieh,is scarred with grief. It is a time when thoughts turn to the two dominant facets which govern all human minds. The hopes and joys which may come tomorrow, and the love which is dearest to the heart. As he gazed into the fire of the stove he thought deeply • about the love which was still dearest to his heart. In his , mind he pictured a little croft on a hillside purple with • heather, the happiness of crossing the stone bridge each night, and the music of the water which murmured across the pebbles. He picture4 another fire which had once burned in the croft; a peat fire, and a woman who waited for the coming of her man. In memory he heard the cries of greeting and the laughter of two barefoot children who ran down the path to meet him. He thought • too, of the blackened stones which were now all that remained of generations of loyalty to clan and chief. Had he stayed in Scotland, perhaps his loved ones may somehow have survived the eviction and the poverty, but Hamish was a proud, perhaps foolish man. In reaching out for a dream of Canada, he had found only misery and utter loneliness. His wife and children had succumbed to cholera and were buried in Quebec, somewhere on the • northern shores of the St. Lawrence River. Hamish remembered all these things and Wept. In his more practical and realistic moments, he derided his weakness and told himself he must strive to realize that dream which his family was denied. There must be a new purpose in life for Hamish Murdoch, he told himself. Aye, and if he was to find contentment, there must be • another love. In times of stark reality, he thought too of Katie MacQueen; It was on such a night, that a visitor came to Blake's Folly. Hamish heard the sound of the dog barking at his approach. There was the loud and somewhat inebriated •voice of Blake bidding the visitor welcome. "1 shall.be honoured, Sir, to give you food and lodging for the night." Whoever this stranger was, Murdoch told himself, • Blake was positive on first meeting that he could not possibly be a catholic. Blake appeared at the kitchen door followed by the stranger. "I -would be obliged Murdoch if you would go up to the MacCrimmon cabin, give my apologies to Mrs. MacCrimmon and ask her to please come back to the house and prepare a meal for our visitor." Blake said in a dignified tone of voice. For a few moments there was an embarrassing silence as Hamish and the newcomer looked at each other in amazement. Blake was forced into an introduction. "This gentleman is 'the Reverend Duncan MacLeod and this man is...Harnish." "This man is a dear friend of mine one of the Friends of Skye. It is indeed a happy • occasion and somewhat of a surprise. To think I should find three of my people right heref Please Hamish, by all means fetch Mrs. MacCrimmon, but also ask my friend Neil to bring his pipes. It will warm my heart to hear him play again!"