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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1997-08-27, Page 5Arthur Black This love affair, a curious thing A tree never hits an automobile except in self-defense Old Canadian proverb A curious thing, our on-going love affair with driving automobiles. Especially curious when you consider what lousy drivers so many of us are. But don't take my word for it - ask your friendly local insurance adjuster. Or perhaps he or she's not so friendly anymore. Adjusting accident insurance claims will do that to a person. I don't know if you've had a car accident lately, but there's always a space on the insurance form where the driver is asked to summarize the details of his or her mishap in the fewest possible words. Here are just a few of the claims that have been turned in: / collided with a stationary truck coming the other way. In an attempt to kill a fly, I drove into a telephone pole. International Scene Farming — an endangered profession Most governments consider farming to be both an essential and endangered area of the economy, otherwise they would note so reluctant to remove any of the protection that has surrounded it for so long. Canada, for example, has fought and continues to fight against the United States to prevent any efforts by the latter to remove the high tariffs protecting some of our farm products or to dismantle the marketing boards that are the key characteristic of such products as chickens, eggs and milk. Given that there is no room for large-scale farming in Japan, the government of that country is determined to support the Japanese rice farmers to the extent that, in spite of cheap rice elsewhere in the world, the consumer pays a price that is six times that of the going rate on world markets. Even the United States, with its constant haranguing of the Japanese government on the matter, has had very little success in getting foreign rice into Japan. The Americans, themselves, are not exactly faultless when it comes to protecting their farmers. Ask the Canadian wheat growers out west who have tried to get extra wheal into the States for the making of pasta. In spite of the fact that buyers in that country like the quality of the Canadian wheat and would cheerfully buy more, Washington has I told the police I was not injured, but on removing my hat found that 1 had fractured my skull. The guy was all over the road. I had to swerve a number of times before I hit him. Sometimes the excuses offered by drivers have a 'physical disabilities' component: / was on the way to the doctor with rear-end trouble when my universal joint gave way causing me to have an accident. And sometimes the cause of the accident is right out of The X Files: An invisible car came out of nowhere, struck my car and vanished. The odd driver will try to enlist the sympathy of the insurance claims adjuster: I pulled away from the side of the road, glanced at my mother-in-law and headed over the embankment. Other drivers are quick to give credit to emergency support and rescue teams: / was thrown from the car as it left the road. 1 was later found in a ditch by some stray cows. And finally there are some accident victims who sound too confused to fill out a form, much less drive a car: Coming home, I drove into the wrong By Raymond Canon clamped'down hard on any increase of shipments from Canada. Take a look, too, at the Maine potato farmers whose worse enemy are the more efficient Canadian growers in New Brunswick. It doesn’t matter that the Canadians grow a higher quality potato, the state of Maine goes almost into apoplexy at the thought of more Canadian potatoes coming across the border. Some countries, notably the Czech Republic and New Zealand, have made a determined effort to reduce the protection of their farms. The latter have been at it for some time and have seen the producer subsidy equivalents drop from about 20 per cent of the value of production to less than a quarter of that today. While there was an initial drop in the number of farmers, there has recently been a turnaround and this number is now increasing. The Czechs have not been at it too long but already have seen this percentage drop from 53 per cent to 10 per cent. As I will be working in that country later this year, it will be interesting to see the effect it has had on the number of farmers and prices. For some years Switzerland and Iceland have led the world in the level of farm protection and it is not hard to see why. Both are small countries with limited farmland and both look at farming as an integral part of their economy. While the Icelandic government has reduces its supports by about 10 per cent over the past 10 years, the Swiss have hardly budged al all. Agriculture is one good reason why house and collided with a tree 1 don't have. Speaking of confused drivers, I am delighted to report that Sue Evan-Jones of Yate, England, has her driver's licence. Finally. She's been trying to get it for the past 27 years. During that time, Ms Evan- Jones has dropped the equivalent of $30,000 paying for 18 hundred driving lessons and wearing out 10 consecutive driving instructors. The first time she tried the test she ploughed the car into a construction site. The second time, she cut off a car that was trying to pass her. One of those ... striped cars, you know? With the flashing lights on top and POLICE written on the fender? The third time Sue Evan-Jones tried the test she knocked over a small army of traffic cones. But as I say, that's all behind her now. Sue Evan-Jones finally passed her test. Which must be a relief for her husband, Dave. He's a police traffic control officer. Could be worse. He could have been an automobile accident insurance adjuster. Switzerland has not given serious consideration to joining the European Common Market in spite of strong pressure from other sectors of the country to do so. The ECM has been notorious for its subsidies but it cannot come close to what the Swiss government does for its farmers. Because the latter still have strong voting power in that country, things are unlikely to change, at least in the short term. However, farm subsidies or their reduction are only part of the total agriculture picture. Another important aspect is whether the world will be able to feed itself when the population rises to the 10-11 billion mark by the year 2050. That is about double what it is right now and warning signals have been hosted by a number of organizations including the United Nations. Demand for food can be controlled mainly by restraining population growth but for a number of reasons this is not easily come by. One efficient way is for countries to become richer; birth rates tend to drop when this takes place. However, families that lift themselves out of poverty tend to buy more meat which puts greater demands on grain production. It only takes two kilos of grain to produce a kilo of chicken, but the same amount of meat requires no less than seven kilos of grain. A Final Thought Education is what you have left over after you have forgotten everything you have learned. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST27,1997 PAGE 5. Northern warmth It's a long way, up there to Timmins It's a long way to go. It's a long way, up there to Timmins To the sweetest gal we know. This past weekend, our daughter was maid of honour for a college friend, one of the most delightful people it has been our pleasure to know. Unfortunately, we're not able to see her as often as we would like, as she hails from Northern Ontario's golden city of Timmins, but distance was not going to keep us away on her wedding day. Travel by plane might have made more sense, but as my claustrophobic tendencies make me prefer an option where I can pull over and escape close confines if necessary, we did the run by automobile. And though a tedious trip on four wheels may be exhausting, there is really no better way to enjoy the majesty, the diversity of this wonderful province in which we live. It has been many years since I have seen the sights north of Parry Sound, so it was that as we wended our way along the winding Hwy 69, I developed the typical twisting tourist neck. From side to side I turned taking in the changing landscape and lifestyles. From the wealthy habitats of cottage country, to the ramshackle buildings of desolate rural areas it was fresh and new to someone familiar with the rich farm lands and manicured yards of this area. Unquestionably the beauty of the Ontario north is all-natural, with the lush forests and clear waters of quiet lakes. But it is the vastness that is so daunting as you travel miles and miles away from civilization before encountering another town or village. Accustomed to the more populated south, we had a brief scare after passing on one gas station, then discovering that that was our last chance for at least 60 miles. Shortly after arriving in Timmins, 1 began to feel what a unique life they experience, isolated from others by hundreds of miles. Hiat may be the reason why the people are so friendly. I have never been treated so well, enjoyed such warm hospitality as I did in Timmins this past weekend. Everyone we met went out of their way to see that we had everything we needed. We were treated not just as guests, but as honoured guests. And what made this so memorable was that it was not about them following the rules of social etiquette; it seemed more a natural graciousness. Their efforts were sincere, but not overly effusive. Everything was done with style, but not flamboyance. One resident referred to it as northern warmth. And there's no doubt they have to generate as much of that as they can. Winter temperatures can hit 50 below, though they tell me it's "a different cold", drier than what we experience here. Snow can fall as early as August and slay until May, so my warrior was delighted that his opening query to new acquaintances, "So you have a snowmobile?" typically set off long, enthusiastic conversations. Thus adding this enchanting feature to the long, long drive, it is unlikely that I will be visiting Timmins on a regular basis. But I certainly was grateful for the excuse to experience this part of Ontario and appreciate the wondrous scope of this vast province.