The Rural Voice, 1998-11, Page 38News
seriousness of the situation, Blake
said.
"We really need the information
to back up our arguments."
Already Derby Township had
declared itself a disaster arca and
three other Grey County townships
are considering similar action. Five
townships in Bruce County have also
declared themselves disaster areas.
Ken Kelly, vice-president of OFA
urged rural municipalities to declare
a disaster situation if they feel there
are economic problems because of
the drought. "I don't want to have
people angry because we were able
to get help for some people but we
couldn't get help for others.
For Grey County farmers the
drought problem is compounded by
low commodity prices because of
surplus production elsewhere. Kelly
said it reminded him of the 1970s
when farmers were urged to gear up
to produce food for the starving
people of the world but nobody
thought how poor people were
supposed to pay for the food. Now,
he said, farmers were increasing
production to serve markets in the
Pacific Rim but Asia's financial
problems meant products meant to go
to Asia have been backing up in
North America and driving prices
down.
At the same time Canada is
preparing for the next round of
World Trade Organization talks and
the Federation is urging the federal
government not to promise more
concessions until other countries
match what Canada has already done.
Canada is now spending 17 per cent
of what it agreed to spend under the
last round of WTO talks, Kelly said,
while the U.S. is spending 57 per
cent. Canada has been a world leader
in reducing tariffs and letting the
agricultural products of other
countries in while many other
countries haven't moved as fast on
tariff reductions as they promised.
With talks coming up between the
federal and provincial governments
on safety net issues, Kelly said there
is a real opportunity to get
governments to improve the current
system because of the low
commodity prices and two major
weather-related disasters in eastern
34 THE RURAL VOICE
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