The Rural Voice, 1992-01, Page 12OAC
JANUARY
CONFERENCES
for people from rural areas
and agribusinesses
Location
Royal Canadian Legion
John McCrae Branch
919 York Road, Guelph
10:00 - 12:00, 1:00 - 4:00
Jan. 7, 8, 9, and 14
PROGRAMS
Sustaining Resources In Agriculture
Tuesday, January 7 - Alternate Support
Systems For Agriculture
A M. - • How Severe Are Farm Problems
• Current Agricultural Policy Issues • How
Production Based Subsidy Type Programs
Detract From Sustainable Agriculture
P.M. - • Alternative Support Systems for
Farmers - Education, Environmental
Stewardship • Options for Survival in
Agriculture
Wednesday, January 8
Production Agriculture in Ontario
A.M. - Perspective on Efficiencies in Ontario
Agriculture • Soil & Water Resources
• Farmer's Attitudes Towards Agricultural
Sustainability • Food Safety
P.M. - • Future Directions • Future For
Production Agriculture • Consumer
Attitudes Toward Organic Foods
Thursday, January 9
Rural Community Development
A.M. - • Rural Community Development
• Nutrient Management & Water Quality
P.M. - • Rural Community Development
• Improving Agronomic Practices
Tuesday, January 14
Crops Update for Agribusiness
A.M. - • Spelt • Mechanical Weed Control in
Cereals • Weed Competition with Barley
• Cover Crops • Purple Loostrite • Herbicide
Additives
P.M. - • Plant Biotechnology • Assure
• Seed Corn Maggot & Leafhoppers
• Sprayer Technology • Hard Water &
Roundup • Pinnacle • Effects of Zero -till
Corn and Soybean
Registration for all programs
begin at 9:50 a.m.
Fees: 1 -day $20, 2 -days $35,
3 -days $45, and 4 -days $50.
Submit fees and completed form to:
W. S. Young, OAC Conferences,
P. 0. Box 1121, Guelph, Ont., N1 H 6N3
Phone: (519) 824-4120, Ext. 3933
Fax: (519) 824-0813
Make cheques payable to
the University of Guelph.
8 THE RURAL VOICE
WHAT'S HAPPENED
TO DEMOCRACY?
Keith Roulston, a newspaper publisher
and playwright who lives near Blyth,
is the originator and publisher of The
Rural Voice.
As this column is being written, the
fate of thousands of Ontario farm families,
the prosperity of the communities they live
in.and the future of the rural lifestyle are
all being decided in GATT (General
Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) talks
thousands of miles away from our snow -
clogged concessions — and there's not a
thing that those farmers affected can really
do to influence the outcome.
Globalization is the by -word of the de-
cade and to listen to economists, business
leaders and some politicians, it's looked on
as a great step forward. If you look on it
from the point of view of a believer in the
marketplace, it may be that. If you're
concerned about democracy, it may be a
great step backward.
Over the centuries, our ancestors have
fought to try to bring some control to their
own lives — not to have their lives
changed by the whim of some king or
dictator or employer. We fought two
World Wars supposedly to make the world
safe for democracy, but today we're being
asked to give up what controls we have
won in the name of globalization — and
we're supposed to smile and say it's a
good thing.
Reading the urban press, you'd think
that Canadian farmers were a very power-
ful bunch of people when it comes to
lobbying governments, but even if they
were as good as they are made out to be,
farmers could do little to affect what is
happening to them at present. It's all
beyond control, not only their own but, to
a large extent, that of the politicians they
might be able to influence.
Canadian farmers have much to gain
and much to lose in the GATT negotia-
tions. It's likely that some of our farmers
will be winners and others losers in the
outcome. Our grain farmers want an
end to the international subsidy wars in
order that markets can stabilize, so they
hope the talks will succeed. But pressure
is also on to force markets to open up,
even if they aren't contributing to any
international surpluses. So, even though
Canadians are basically minding their
own business in producing milk and
eggs and chicken and turkey, we may be
forced to abandon our marketing boards
and the border controls necessary to make
them work. Our politicians seem to be
fighting hard to keep Article 11 in place,
but they appear to be fighting a losing
battle.
So it goes in so many areas of our lives
today: the structure is being changed so
that power is shifted from legislatures to
board rooms where political pressure can't
be exerted by the ordinary little guy. The
great unification of Europe, for instance, is
proceeding before the political structure is
even in place. It's being pushed forward
by multi -national businesses that want an
end to the red tape of crossing borders with
their goods and services. It's being imple-
mented by bureaucrats who are beyond the
influence of the person in the street in
London or Rome, who have most of their
dealings with lobbyists from the multi-
national businesses.
Free trade in Canada has taken power
to set the rules we live by out of the hands
of Canadian politicians, and thus away
from the influence of the voter. Competi-
tiveness is the key word and in a world
where money can shift around the world in
micro -seconds, where industrialists can
close a plant and move to some more
favourable economic climate, how much
independence does a country have? Can
we have an independent policy on the
environment if it means that living up to
those environmental standards will cost a
business more, when it can easily move to
a country that is less stringent? Can we
strive to make the lot of the worker better
if the extra regulations will drive business
out of the country?
And in the agricultural sector, if there
is to be one set of rules for all countries —
whether they have few regulations on
pesticides, or no minimum wage or can
grow two and three crops a year — how
are we in Canada to compete? If we can't
do anything through democratic action to
alter the conditions we must live in, do we
really still live in a democracy? Have we
actually reverted to the days of Robin
Hood, where the land was ruled by a
clique of barons who decided how much
tax the peasants should pay — only now
the barons are international business? Is
globalization the way to the future, or a
retreat to the past we thought we had
escaped?0