HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 1993-10-13, Page 1PUBLISHED IN
LUCKNOW, ONTARIO '
Wednesday, -
October 13,1993
550
G.S.T. Included
Students at LCPS had great weather last Friday as they hosted the annual pumpkin race. On
the left Susie Steffen, Candice Hamilton and Erin Phillips pace themselves midway through
the course. Teacher Ruth Bell, dressed appropriately for the occasion, offers Heather Sande
congratulations on finishing the race. (Pat Livingston photo)
Poor turnout
by Pat Livingston
It may have been the good har-
vest weather, it 'may have been the
Blue Jays playing the opening game
against the White Sox. Whatever it
was, the result was a small crowd
of around 60 people who turned out,
at the all candidates' meeting spon-
sored by Line in the Dirt last week.
Six of the seven federal can-
didates in the Huron Bruce riding
made opening statements and
fielded questions from a panel and
the floor. Candidates were Murray
Cardiff, PC; Allan Dettweiler,
Libertarian; Len Lobb, Reform;
Tony McQuail, NDP; Paul. Steckle,
Liberal, and Henry Zekveld, CHP.
Absent was the recently declared
Rick Alexander, Natural Law.
Sitting on the panel were Grant
Collins, OFA; Art Simpson, NFU;
_Elliott Lowry, i .inrin...the_Diitrand
Dr. Vincent Amanor-Boa(1.u, one of
those involved in a study by the
George Moms Centre on the effect
the national pesticide regulatory
system has on Canada's overall
economy.
Lobb, Reform
Lobb said his party is a very
heavily agricultural based one, that
has put together a package con-
solidating over a dozen uncoor-
dinated support programs into three
major ones, designed to protect
producers from unfair foreign trade'
subsidies and from income fluc-
tuations beyond their control. He
referred to it as "sound, simplified
and a plan that is muchmore easily
followed by the taxpayers, the
agricultural community and our
trading partners abroad."
McQuail, NDP
McQuail believes "The most
important, crop we are raising on
our farms is our family and our
children. They are our future and as
a species the most important thing
we do is raise the next generation,
... build communities ... people
working together, sharing values
and also sharing equipment and
work." He stated that concerns he
•
at meeting
expressed in 1988 about the impact
of Free Trade have come true.
Steckle, Liberal
"The Liberal party remains true to
its roots and tradition of supporting
agriculture," said Steckle, referring
to the party's commitment to es-
tablish an "essential national
agriculture and food.policy. We've
committed ourselves to doing a
better job abroad of selling our
farm products. ... We have seven
major marketing positions in the
world today," he said, compared to
the U.S. with 600.
Cardiff, PC
Cardiff said his party believes that
a strong Canada. depends on a
strong agri-food industry. "Between
'84 and '92 we committed $32.3
billion to the sector. ... For the last
four years we've worked with the
agri-industry to develop a
comprehensive plan to take the
industry into the next century." The
PC'policy has four pillars - greater
market responsiveness, increased
self reliance, increased environmen-
tal sustainability and recognition of
regional diversity.
Zekveld, CHP
The CHP recognizes agriculture
as the mainstay of the Canadian
economy. They: believe that "i-
ndividual owner -operated farms are
a vital part of the social and
political fabric of our nation."
Agriculture is hurting because of
unfair competition from heavily
subsidized countries, said Zekveld.
"When it comes to free trade, we
want fair trade." They want to see
Christian values in all areas of
government. "If we come back to
the moral fabric of society, we are
going to have prosperity," said
Zekveld.
Dettweiler, Libertarian
Dettweiler said his party would
"steal only enough money from you
to run thebasic functions of
government" - police, .military,,
judicial system. "Taxation is theft."
They believe in "...giving people
the maximum •of choices, the
maximum of liberty ... not telling
people how to live their lives.....
equal opportunity for everyone.
While they recognize agriculture
has some unique problems, they
"won't use someone else's money
to bale out an inefficient business."
Registration fee is now
refundable under Bill 42
by Don Jackson
The Ontario legislature passed a
new act on Oct. 6 which calls for
most full-time farmers to make an
annual payment to a general farm
organization.
The Farm Registration and Farm
Organizations Funding Act,
introduced as Bill 42, was passed
following its third reading at
Queen's Park last Wednesday.
Huron MPP Paul Klopp said he's
been supporting stable funding
since it was first introduced a year
ago as Bill 105. Concerning Bill
105, Klopp said,"`.Over the winter,
it was generally agreed that it was
okay but we thought we should
change it from mandatory non-,
refundable to mandatory refun-
dable." He said it was easier to
introduce a new bill in the legis-
lature than to amend the original
one, so they created bill 42.
Under the new act, farmers whose
gross income exceeds $7,000 will
be required to file a fanning
business registration form with the
Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and
Food. The bill requires all farming
businesses that are required to
register to pay a farm organization
fee of $150 to provide education
and analysis on farming issues on
the behalf of farmers.
While the $150 must be paid by
farmers who are required to
register, the amount is refundable if
they apply for a refund. "It's rtfun
dable. You write out a check to the
organization of your choice and
then you can apply, for a refund,"
Klopp explained. "The point is to
force a farmer to join a farming
organization, then the onus is on the
farmer to have to explain, 'Why
don't I want to pay into this farrn
organization?".
There are .presently two farm
organizations that are acceptable,
under the new legislation. They are
the Ontario Federation of Agricul-
ture (OFA)• and the Christian
Farmers . Federation of Ontario
(CFFO). The Union des Cul-
tivateurs Franco-Qntarians (UCFO)
is the eligible francophone or-
ganization to receive funding. Other
farm organizations can apply to be
included in the stable funding
•turn to page 2
Continue fight against
mandatory JK in Bruce
The Bruce County Board of
Education is still fighting against
the province's plan to make Junior
Kindergarten (JK) mandatory by
1994.
Trustees passed a strongly -worded
motion Oct. 5 opposing the man-
datory program. The board is trying
to cover all its bases by also asking.
for exemption from providing JK
until 1997, and urging the province
to give the decision, whether or not
to offer JK, back to local boards.
Trustee Gord Thompson said the
Bruce board's opposition to man-
datory JK is "well-known" by
ministry officials. Last month, the
board was , invited to help the
ministry set guidelines that will
determine if , a board can have a
Questions and Answers three-year delay in implementing
During the two-hour long_ JK or not. Trustees and board of -
meeting, many questions were ficials were surprised; but pleased—g
posed . to the candidates. Their by the invitation. We're not
replies to five of those questions against the merits of JK, but it will
follow.
aaa two to three per cent to the
local tax bill," said Thompson. "If
I had my druthers there's other
ways I'd spend that two to three per
cent in Bruce County."
Thompson suggested that the $11/
million JK would cost the county
could be used more effectively by a
carefully ..targeted head -start
program for . primary . students 'and
by "unlocking employment oppor-
tunities" for one-third of high
school. students who go directly into
the work force.
So far the Bruce board has not
Made any provisions for JK at any
of its 23 elementary schools.
"If we don't get exemption (until
1997) our budget forecast is going
to be in bad shape," said property
chair Frank Eagleson.
Board chair Don Tedford sug-
te-d thr;r 1S gFOw-i-n
disenchantment with JK around the
-turn' to page 2
Question: Now does your party
plan to deal effectively with the
issue of the pesticide regulatory
system that is impeding the com-
petitive ability of the Canadian
farmer?
Zekveld - The Canadian farmer has
to be on par on the world market.
He does not get the same price and
has to pay more for chemicals
coming across the border. It is the
Canadian government's respon-
sibility to make it possible for
farmers to get the product as
cheaply as the states.
McQuail - The NDP have been
calling for a speed up in The pes-
ticide registration process in Canada
and for individuals to be able to
import pesticides from the U.S.
which have been approved ,there.
Lobb - We have no specific policy
on'pesticide registration. We see the
problem of balancing the emotions
of the environmentalist with the
•turn to page 11
Joint meeting of two
boards called historic
by Don Jackson
The Huron County Board of
Education (HCBE) and the Huron -
Perth County Roman Catholic
Separate School Board
(HPCRCSSB) held their first ever
joint meeting to bring concerns up
before Mike Faman minister
without portfolio with respon-
sibilities in education and training.
The two boards gave a joint
presentation outlining some of the
concerns towards education issues
in this area. This document set out
four areas of concern, which were
education finance reform, the role
of the parent and community and
advisory functions, policy and
program implementation re-
quirements and approaches to
shared services.
Each of these areas were listed as
the headings for a brief written
presentation outlining specific con-
cerns in these general areas.
At the end of the prq6entation,
HCBE Vice -Chair Graeme Craig
gave a summary of the points
brought up during the presentation.
"In summary our key points are as
follows:
"1. that significant education,
finance reform is required within
the lifetime of this govoa ment to
re -introduce systems of fdirness and
equity in the • distribution of
available resources; •
"2. that invitations to involve
parents and community in an ad-
visory fashion be focused on nur-
turing the local school and that a
provincial review be undertaken to
the role of local trustee and the
functions of the local school boards.
"3. that policy and program
implementation requirements con-
sider the unique needs of rural
Ontario boards and permit the
•turn to page 11