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10 THE RURAL VOICE
John Beardsley
Say it ain't so
John
Beardsley is
a freelance
journalist
and crop
specialist
with Huron
Bay
Cooperative.
I am normally an optimistic
person by nature, but I am getting
terribly depressed by what I am
seeing in the provincial government's
dealings with its second largest
industry.
I have seen how the provincial
government toadies up to General
Motors and other industrial
businesses; how it always has enough
money for factories and casinos. Why
does the provincial government have
to be so patronizing with the
businessmen and women who have
invested their time, money and lives
in the agriculture industry? It is as if,
deep down in their hearts, the
politicians and senior bureaucrats
don't truly believe agriculture is
worth investing in.
Leona Dombrowsky held a news
conference at the Grain and Oilseed
Producers' convention in March.
Dombrowsky very carefully said that
she has never given any sign or signal
that they would proceed in any way,
shape or form with the Risk
Management Program. Dombrowsky
won't even call it by its correct name.
Dombrowsky will, if pressed, call it
"a business risk management
program" as if there were a whole
range of options being presented.
Neither the political nor the
bureaucratic side of government will
even discuss any type of long-term
risk management plan with farm
leaders. Dombrowsky will not
acknowledge that the Grain and
Oilseed Producers' plan is, in any
way, shape or form, anything that
Ms Dombrowsky
will be included in her government's
multi-year commitment to
agriculture.
So Dombrowsky seems to be
saying that she has a separate plan
that she is pitching to the feds.
Shelling out more "emergency"
funding, like a businessman to a
panhandler, sends the industry the
opposite message. It says that there is
no long-term commitment to the
agriculture industry, so you might as
well avoid the rush and get those
assets liquidated before the provincial
government's mismanagement of this
ministry causes the land prices out in
the boonies to plummet. (Don't get
me started on the greenbelt fiasco...)
It has been said, "Rural
communities cannot thrive without a
healthy agricultural economy". The
ironic thing is that Dalton McGuinty
himself said this, when he wanted to
become Premier (as quoted in
www.ontarioliberal.ca/platforndrural.
pdf). The provincial Liberals have
lived up to very little in the rural
platform, except for maybe
increasing the public's cynicism for
all things political.
It was great seeing "Prairie Giant".
CBC's documentary on the life of
Tommy Douglas. It was interesting to
see T. C. Douglas standing up for
farmers and hearing his speech about
the mythical place called
"Mouseland". The problem the mice
have in this not -so -fantasy land is that
they keep electing cats to run their
government. I guess what is really
irritating is that the McGuinty
Liberals have turned out to be a cat
masquerading in a mouse's clothing.
I truly thought Dalton McGuinty
was going to be different. Before the
last provincial election I attended a
meeting with McGuinty and several
farm families, at a dairy farm near
Clinton. Dalton led us to believe that
he would actually listen to farmers,
because they were the experts in their