The Rural Voice, 1983-05, Page 43ONE MAN'S OPINION
This and That
by Adrian Vos
As April Fool's Day is behind us we
look forward to the coming season.
Forgetting the winter that wasn't, we
look longingly at our tractors and when
we are prudent we change the oil,
lubricate the bearings and tighten up any
loose parts. We do this because all too
often we don't take time out for it when
rain threatens to delay our fieldwork.
For those of us who have livestock, it
is also a time to be careful not to neglect
our animals during the busy time of
spring. While experience has taught us
that money will be lost in a neglected
livestock building, we still tend to take a
chance, because when the weather is
good we must use the time to plow and
to harrow, to plant and to fertilize.
Spring for the livestock farmer is
walking a tightrope, always in danger of
falling off either on the barn side or on
the crop side.
Spring is also a season of hope. Just
as Easter gives hope in the religious
sense, so does the awakening of the land
give hope for material benefits. While the
earth is still black, in our minds, we see
the grain greening and then yellowing
and finally flowing into our grain bins.
The earliest • signs of the coming
food -producing season is not the swell-
ing of the buds, but the appearance of
newborn Iambs and kids.
Today there is no grass yet to mention,
but ewes lead their cavorting offspring
out into the fields anyway, where they
romp and dance, leap and prance,
generally having a ball.
Cash -crop farmers see a bit of light
shine through the dark cloud of the great
recession as prices ease slowly upwards
and pork producers are hoping the price
will remain stable for the remainder of
the year.
Yes, this is a time of hope for the year
1983. As a matter of fact it is a time of
hope for every year. Let's remain optimis
tic, for if we lose hope we lose all.
One of the most disappointing
happenings of the last few weeks has
been the shenanigans in the juggling for
position in the race for the leadership of
the Progressive Conservative party.
From almost any report we have heard
in the last six years we could conclude
that Joe Clark was a thoroughly decent
man. Yet, when it came to loading
meetings where delegates to the election
for leader were chosen, he publicly
condoned the dirty tactics used.
The Canadian public has been fed up
with the insensitivity of the present
federal government and most of us look
forward to a fresh breeze to clean up long
established, less than palatable, prac-
tices.
If this practice of buying delegate
votes is allowed we can only look forward
to a new PC leader with large amounts of
money, whoever he may be.
What bothers me is the lack of public
outcry. We have secret ballots for
elections to protect the democratic
process and prevent vote buying. But on
the smaller scale of party politics this
appears to be acceptable. Doesn't the PC
electorate understand that they are
undermining the democratic process we
are all so proud of?
What bothers me even more is that I
will have little choice left of whom to vote
for when the time comes. I would like the
Liberals out to give them time for a
thorough housecleaning. I can't vote for
the conservatives because they have
chosen the richest person as leader
instead of the best. That leaves me to
vote for the social -democrats who don't
stand a chance to form a government.
This in fact means I have been deprived
of my vote.
To me the future of democracy looks
bleak in Canada, unless the PC governing
body realizes the seriousness of the
situation and takes remedial measures.D
Adrian Vos. a regular columnist with
The Rural Voice is a freelance writer
from Huron county.
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THE RURAL VOICE, MAY 1983 PG. 41