The Rural Voice, 1979-01, Page 21accept higher beef prices.
He said, "Everything from the line of
machinery I maintain to my interest rates
has risen dramatically over the last few
years."
Mr. Brown pointed out consumers
believe that beef prices are too high even
though when beef prices are related to
today's higher incomes they are just about
half of what they were in 1950.
Carolyn McDonnell, national coordinator
of the beef information centre, recom-
mended that the industry must keep its
costs competitive with other meats and pay
close attention to merchandising to show
that beef fits in with today's lifestyle.
Hydro up 7 per cent
Rates charged to customers served by
Ontario Hydro's rural retail system will
increase an average of seven per cent in
1979.
Ontario Hydro said today that the
increase is necessary to recover the higher
wholesale cost of power as well as slight
increases in retail distribution costs.
Increases in wholesale power costs for
municipal utilities and direct industrial
customers were announced last month.
It was also announced that as in 1978,
bills based on metered energy will continue
to be reduced by an anti-inflation discount
during 1979. It now seems certain that the
high sales of energy to the U.S. and better
than predicted performance by the nuclear
plants will result in excess 1978 earnings as
measured by the AIB guidelines. The
discount as adjusted from time to time will
ensure that the rural retail system's share
of this excess is returned to its customers
during 1979.
The effect of the increase on individual
customers will vary depending on their
consumption and classification. For
example, a typical rural residential cust-
omer's monthly bill of $38.25 will increase
by approximately $3.
Deputy Minister of
agriculture attacks CAC
for blaming farmers
A top civil servant in Agriculture Canada
has attacked the Consumers Association of
Canada for blaming farmers for rising food
prices.
Gaetan Lussier, deputy minister of
agriculture, recently told the Ontario
Soya -Bean Growers Marketing Board that
suggestions put forward by the consumers'
group would destroy both the agriculture
industry and would mean the end of jobs
for a number of Canadians.
The association asked for a reduction or
elimination of all import controls on food, a
move which could destroy "the agriculture
industry in Canada, which employs one of
every four Canadians directly or indir-
ectly," the deputy minister said.
The consumers' group was also con-
demned for a letter they circulated at the
first ministers' economic summit in Ottawa
The letter criticized farm organizations
which guarantee farmers that their in-
comes will at least cover their production
costs.
Mr. Lussier said suggestions in the letter
"to reduce food prices demonstrates their
(the Consumers' Association) lack of
knowledge of the reality and importance of
agriculture in our country."
The deputy minister pointed out Canada
has lower food prices than any other
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THE RURAL VOICE/JANUARY 1979 PG. 21