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Home My WebLink AboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 1984-02-08, Page 6tOelMoir Sentinel • Wadneaday, FOISMmy' St 198#'4,014e. It's d ,, ult:notto.become even.nore. at then?Ay business' at Queen's ' Mara Lalo e haughty wa andthe. -- idly any res €aft kcal when=you loot w U t�h}e� cy■opunjtjry�,9's 7,.ativ ,hnc4e'le af[aias •li ed' Finance• Ministear: attempt to slander t � ►yt> singinformation from -lett nt to bei uliiiri ;leader of the=federal a Tint srl'"blithnue to rantand rave s .l?ime .Minister. Pierre Trudeau-,returns n. to Eastern Europeand announces he ll,Fcbi accept Lalonde's resignation . one wonders why the Tories Waste.. their breath. The allthe b . federal liberals of breach ,t fgQ�a � *$ y Safi `to promise no o impose wage and price controls in the 1974 election ca n Since that time they have continueec4 y'to 1 J i .M'Yy"Li �.+aiVf ... frautttr the public st for the` sake of their own self interes 4 iOn beet one;long . each of trust. The origin- al tee Paper de aid no legislation was contemplated to •, h make aageneral Use of Mettle mandatory. Indeed legislation was net contemplated; Ever;.since .the governmentC'has made metric mandatory through .Orders -in -Conned. The government's, Six and Five program began. with ,.a breach of contact All collective bargaining 'within the civil serviee, was suspended for the program's two year .period Just last week Energy Minister Jean Cretian announced in the! House;of Commons that the : just' under one cent a litre collectedeach .,.time you fill up. at thelgas:pump is not going, as promised, to finance an increase of public. ownership in they: energy sector .The money. will: now be used for "other purPeses: n government". TO cover the'budget deficit, to bail out lV tislin Trucial)* or for any Other purpose the politicians• happen to fancy: x ;, ° The Conservatives in Ontariod believe they have, a divine right tri rule handed' down from . on high:' Why should ' the members of the' commission to' study a proposed site for the dome stadium be paid : their fat wages to submit a proposal whin%. will close; lde Havilland and put 3,000 'people out' of work. Why should the taapajiers ,of Ontariopay for a study which did not even take into consideration an : industry situated .across" the road. The ` commission neverk. even consulted De Havilland. What kind of planning expertise is that? The Ontario government has been no better at keeping - promises than their federal counterparts. Consider 'their advocacy., of day care in the 70s when they 'built day care centres in municipalities around the province and indicated. they ;were firmly committed, to providing day care for everyone who needed the service. • Now they are saying the province has never had a policy of universal public day :.care and the 80, -per cent ; operating subsidy was a twisting of" the rules. 'The government is abdicating their responsibility, handing the -financial' burden . of the program they initiated and promoted, back to municipal. government, while they blame : the federal government for Pcutting transfer payments. i As Richard Gwyn points out in his national affairs column in The Saturday Star, government has taught Canadians to be cynical. They are no longer either shocked or surprised to learn a contract has been broken. Because they can get away with it, government will continue to break any promise they feel like. inter eat EDIT r' NOTE By Sharon Dietz The ;outlook for 84 'is optimistic according to the area businessmen who attended the 1984 edition of, the Canada Farms Show in Toronto list - week. The response to the show was good especially on th e Wednesday and Thursday when attendance was exceptional. Farmers were not only looking • • they were seriously interested'in the exhibits which e9uld mean a success - fes' year.• ahead;. �, ' ' The computer exhibits were espec- ially . interesting. There, is a' 'wide. variety of software available for farmers looking for farm manage- ment systems. Computer software has been developed for farm busi- ness use, which allows the farmer not only to record information, ' but. also to analyse it and apply it to their day to day farm management debisions. Lucknow's Juvenile hockey team has been successful in defeating • Teeswatier for the first time in, three years to take the OAA. champion- ship The, Juvenilealnow .enter'their (_ quarter 'final aeries' with Erin and it-• looks= as: though this year's Lucknow `hockey season could -stretch to all ,. -Ontario.. finals. The' prospects are there for the Midget 'team Which has had a consistent year. The Bantams and the Atoms also have good Chances for playoff action. Some of the best hockey tin. Canada is played in the Lucknow Arena so get out and support our minor hockey players, Come watch playoff action at its best! one foot in the furrow Few people would agree that the present recession in Canada has been worse than the Great Depression of the Dirty Thirties. Employment is high now but not as high as it was in 1935. Bread lines are long but not as long as they were in 1936. Bankrupt- cies have increased across the nation but fewer people are going broke now than in 1934, just SU years ago.. Except in agriculture. Statistics Canada recently released figures which prove beyond doubt that things are tough on the farm. Farm bankruptcies doubled across the Prairie provinces in A983 to the highest level ever recorded, up 16 per cent from 1982. Figures from the Consumer and Corporate Affairs show 3 Canadian farmers declared bankruptcy in 1983, compared with 410 in 1982. Ontario had the dubious distinction of leading the nation's provinces with 165 failures. Quebec had 125 bankruptcies in 1983. In western •Canada. Saskatchewan farmers were hardest hit with 62 bankruptcies, up from 30 in 1982. Manitoba failures hit '45 farmers compar- ed to 24 the year before and in Alberta, farm bankruptcies totalled 47 compared to 27 in 1982. • , Wheat prices across the Prairies in 1983 were at exactly the same level as they were 10 years ago while production costs have been climbing at an alarming rate. The escalation in production costs come from energy costs, fertilizer costs, equipme,it costs and labour costs. What other sector of the economic pie is getting the same price today as 10 years ago? Can you name any? The important steel and auto industries are getting more than double the price' received in '1973 and they are still in trouble. Yet , farmers are being forced to accept exactly that much: - Few people even remotely connected with agriculture agree with the confrontation tactics of . the Canadian Farmers Survival Association. This group has been more militant even than the peace organization. They have blocked roads and lanes. They have held penny auction. They have spirited-• -• livestock and equipment off farms and from, barns. They have thrown -dead animals on. the doorstep of .at least one bank. They have used hunger strikes to emphasize the 'plight of farmers Garfield Stephenson), vice president of the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool, admitted that the economic squeeze has led some farmers to confront bankers and stage demonstrations,. "We (wheat pool officials) ' do not think that is the way to solve problems but we are hard pressed tocome up with any other kind of solution," he said. "It's very difficult to remain rational when . a, farmer sees everythingle has worked for taken away." And there is the pathetic part of the whole story. . "....when a farmer sees everything he has worked for taken away." . How galling, how frustrating. how heart- breaking, eart- breaking,. to see this happening almost 500 times across this nation in 1983. And for bob trotter every farmer who has had to go bankrupt, there arejiisf as many, who got out by selling everything., paying of'the debts aiid walking away freini the lands . The pathetic part , of all is this: These farmers are usually young men with a 'spirt of adventure. They are the, innovative people. who • are willing to take a` chance. They are not the older men'and wotnen,'tonally. who have been on, the land• for', geneight* with the faith paid for and enough in reserve to weather. these present financial. <storms. They are the Men and women who shouild be staying on the land to .produce food for future generations, . The new bloodis being drained' and this is sad. ' The day will, come when Canadians will wish the young men had been given. help 'to stay in farming. • "Old MacDonald had a farm:...' the song. goes. Old...had...VVlieti the old ones leave,.who will take their; place??? -