Loading...
The Rural Voice, 2003-01, Page 14Safe & Professional Dismantling of Barns & Wooden Structures • Insured • NOSTALGIC SALVAGE INC. I)annv Farrow 519-323-0175 565 Perth St. N., Mount Forest 1-888-643-8410 Oe'eyied SMALL TOWN FEEL...BIG CITY DEALS! Well Come To Your Door To Prove It! 2003 E450 CUB VAN In -Stock, 17 ft., Diesel. auto, air STK B1964 $41.999. ,?us Taxes) Nice clean truck, Sport Edition, V8, auto, air, P/L, P.W., power seat STKa 2759 '21 9 95 ■ Plus taxes) XLS, 4x2 with matching cap, 4.2 L, V6, auto, air, 38,604 kms. STKa 9939 $19.495. ,Phis Taxes Supercab, V8, auto, air, nice clean truck Peninsula Ford Lincoln Ltd. Sunset Strip, P.O. Box 894 Owen Sound, Ontario N4K 6H6 Tel (519) 376-3252 Fax: (519) 376-8030 Email: bp@pcninsulaford.com 10 THE RURAL VOICE Jeffrey Carter Absurdities in high places Jeffrey Carter is a freelance journalist based in Dresden, Ontario. Many things in this old world just do not make sense to folks raised in places where the realities of life are apparent. For these people, it's evident that the actions one takes have consequences. Farmers live and work close to life. To plant a field of barley when the soil isn't fit or to fail to provide the basic necessities to livestock is to invite disaster. Alternatively, when an effort is made to do things right, chances of success are improved exponentially. It boils down, to a large degree, to common sense. Sadly, this has been lacking in places where it's.most needed. Consider, for instance, the gun registry program in Canada. The estimated cost of the program was $2 million. Estimates of the actual cost range from $700 million to $2 billion. At $2 billion, it would be 1,000 -fold cost overrun. In all likelihood, the cost of the program was intentionally underestimated, perhaps to belay initial criticism. That still leaves a 100 -fold cost overrun. Naturally, the gun owners themselves have been blamed for intentionally submitting erroneous forms and tossing similar impediments into the wheels of government. Yet the weight of blame does not belong on the gun owners. The program design was essentially tlawed. Perhaps government bureaucrats saw the gun registry as a means to generate a little work for themselves. Unfortunately, there was a snowball effect and the thing got out of hand.