The Rural Voice, 1991-11, Page 3general manager/editor: Jim Fitzgerald
editorial advisory committee:
Bev Hill, farmer, Huron County
John Heard, soils and crops extension
and research, northwestern Ontario
Neil McCutcheon, farmer, Grey County
Diane O'Shea, farmer, Middlesex Cty.
George Penfold, associate professor,
University of Guelph
Gerald Poechman, farmer, Bruce Cty.
Bob Stephen, farmer, Perth County
contributing writers:
Adrian Vos, Gisele Ireland, Keith
Roulston, Cathy Laird, Wayne Kelly,
Sarah Borowski, Mary Lou Weiser -
Hamilton, June Flath, Ian Wylie-Toal,
Susan Glover, Bob Reid, Mervyn Erb,
Peter Baltensperger, Darene Yavorsky,
Sandra Orr, Yvonne Reynolds
marketing and advertising sales:
Gerry Fortune
production co-ordinator:
Tracey Rising
advertising & editorial production:
Rhea Hamilton -Seeger
Anne Harrison
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BEHIND THE SCENES
by Jim Fitzgerald
General Manager/editor
If an announcement came on the radio
tomorrow that General Motors, Ford, and
Chrysler had decided to close up all their
Canadian plants and shift production to the
United States, and import the autos needed
for the Canadian market from the U.S.,
there would be deafening howls of protest.
That's because we all have a fair idea
of the devastating effect such an announce-
ment would have on this country's econ-
omy. There would be massive layoffs in
the auto industry and its suppliers, follow-
ed by a bloating of unemployment rolls,
and a collapse in consumer spending
because workers wouldn't have money to
spend. That would lead to an even bigger
increase in personal and business bank-
ruptcies, a heavy draw on unemployment
insurance, to be followed later by a huge
jump in welfare payouts when UIC
cheques ran out. That in turn would have
to be met with large increases in taxes to
cover the welfare payments.
As the effects of such a collapse rip-
pled through the Canadian economy, hund-
reds of other sectors would be adversely
affected. For instance, real estate values
would plummet as unemployed families,
unable to keep up their payments, would
be forced to dump their homes on the mar-
ket at fire sale prices. This in turn would
threaten equity values, erode the potential
retirement incomes of our senior citizens,
and could even affect the viability of some
of our weaker banks and trust companies.
Our savings, our investments in Canadian
companies, even our pension plans would
be in jeopardy.
Of course, Canadians would also howl
at the large tax increases needed to support
health care, education, and social services
on shrinking revenues, and would demand
(and eventually get) tax cuts from embatt-
led governments. It would certainly mean
cuts to some services that we now take for
granted. Even those publicly supported
professions — which now feel insulated
from the free market and inflation — such
as doctors, teachers, and university profes-
sors, would eventually have to take pay
cuts, reductions in fringe benefits like
pensions, etc., and might even face layoffs.
Seems kind of far out, doesn't it? Ri-
diculous? And yet, that is precisely what
could happen if Canadians and their gov-
emments continue to travel down the free
trade path, and now — in a new threat —
give in to the Americans at the General
Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)
talks, presently being negotiated among
101 other countries in the world, in
Brussels, Belgium. It would mean the loss
of a large part of our agriculture industry
which puts $5 billion into Ontario farmers'
pockets each year, and stimulates the Ont-
ario economy to the tune of $20 billion a
year. Unfortunately, not enough Canadi-
ans realize that food production is the se-
cond largest industry in the province, and
its loss could cause the devastation out-
lined above.
A "deal" is expected to be made this
fall at GATT, and "Article 11" which is
not very well understood by the general
public, is on the table. It gives countries
like Canada the ability to match production
of certain farm commodities with domestic
demand, and sets the prices the farmer will
receive for these products. Consumers
don't know that farmers have no control of
the retail price, which can be considerably
more than the farm gate price.
Supply management has worked very
well in the past 25 years in Canada, both
for the farmer and the consumer. It gave
consumers a stable, safe, and nutritious
supply of dairy and poultry products at a
reasonable price, while giving farm
families a fair rate of return. The result
has been no excess production for tax-
payers to buy up and dump on the world
market at fire sale prices, as is the case
now with American and European farmers.
It allows some imports, in the event there
are shortages here, but keeps Canada from
being a dumping ground for other coun-
tries who can't get their act together.
Yet, supply management farmers are
fearful that Prime Minister Brian Mul-
roney will buckle under to American
demands to end protection of our Canadian
farmers under Article 11. It would allow
Americans to use Canada as a dumping
ground for their dairy and chicken pro-
ducts, and would, in effect, transfer bil-
lions of dollars into the U.S. economy,
killing thousands of farms, closing hund-
reds of processing plants, and giving us the
terrible scenario above.
Already we are seeing some of the
devastation caused to our economy and
rural communities by the collapse of grain
and oil seed prices, the result of an unfair
grain trading war between U.S. and
European farmers.
We cannot allow it to happen to our
dairy and poultry industries as well. If
you've never had a strong reason in the
past to speak to your Member of Parlia-
ment about the future of this country,
surely now is the time. All this talk about a
new constitution will be meaningless if we
don't have a strong economy on which to
base it. We must stop the sellout of Cana-
dian agriculture now!0