The Rural Voice, 1988-11, Page 12BAKER'S
NURSERY
For:
Hardy Shade Trees
Maples:
Emerald Queen
Norway
Red Maple
Columnar
Green Ash
Mountain Ash
Linden
Crab Apple
& More
Todd Baker, Assistant Manager
cultivating our stock.
BAKER'S
NURSERY
R.R. 2, Bayfield, Ont.
519-482-9995
Wholesale & Retail
"See us for windbreak material."
0 THE RURAL VOICE
THE ELECTION AND
THE FREE TRADE ISSUE
November already has one
Remembrance Day. If Brian
Mulroney wins that November 21
election, we'll have two.
Generations have observed the
traditional Remembrance Day on
November 11, commemorating the
end of the First World War on the
1 l th hour of the I l th day of the 1 l th
month.
In years to come, generations that
follow will mourn November 21 as the
day Canadians sold themselves down
the Yankee river of free trade.
My late father, who survived four
years in the mud and blood of that
"Great War," would always remind
me that the Canadian soldiers were
victors in more ways than one.
On Easter weekend, 1917, the
Canadian boys battled their way to the
crest of Vimy Ridge, winning the first
major battle for the allies in four
years.
The battle -hardened troops
distinguished the Canadian Corps and
in the process unknowingly won their
country its first taste of independence
from the British Empire.
Just 71 years later, with indepen-
dence in full bloom, Canadian voters
will unknowingly, or worse, know-
ingly, hand Brian and his boys the
mandate to chain us to the American
Empire.
Were he alive, my father would be
disgraced. I am alive, and if Cana-
dians commit this foolish act I will be
disgraced.
If this emotional appeal offends...
tough!
If anyone throws Brian's argument
back at me that free trade in fact will
enhance Canadian independence —
horse manure!
Fifteen years as an agriculture
reporter honed my sense of smell so
I could identify a pile of crap blind-
folded at a hundred paces.
The Americans have made no
bones about it in their Statement of
Administrative Action which accom-
panies the free trade deal. Successful
in only diluting Canadian marketing
boards and their import quotas, they
intend to finish them off later.
"The United States has not yet
succeeded in eliminating ... quotas
which still restrict U.S. opportunities
to sell in the Canadian market ... The
United States intends to seek further
liberalization with respect to agri-
cultural import barriers as a high
priority in our bilateral relationship
with Canada."
Them's the words, folks, used in
the leaked U.S. document. Let me
interpret: "further liberalization"
means a further dismantling of the
only barriers holding the flood of
American food from coming across
our border.
Canadian supply management
marketing boards, of course, have
been the only stable sectors in the
depression that has plagued Canadian
farmers for the entire decade.
Some Canadians may not like
marketing boards, but they're the
only thing standing in the way of
Canadians being beholden to Amer-
ican farmers and corporations to fill
our feed trough.
Those farmers who operate in
the so-called free market don't like
marketing boards because they're
exporting more to Uncle Sam than
he's shipping north. But listen for
their screams for protection once the
Canadian dollar rises close to par with
the American greenback.
I say that if you value Canadian
independence, on November 21 tell
Brian and his boys and girls to take a
hike.0
Gord Wainman has been an urban -
based agriculture reporter for 13 year.