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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1998-12-02, Page 7A turn at page Grey Twp. Reeve Robin Dunbar, left, presented Joel Hemingway as page to the session of Huron County council on Thursday. Also pictured it Warden Jack Coleman. It's not too late to make the perfect gift for that special someone! 25% off Christmas Unfinished Pine Come in and see our display of • sleighs • shovels • snowmen • swags • wreaths • lanterns • trees • trellises • garden stakes SALE THURS., FRI. & SAT. 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BLYTHE BROOKE ORCHARDS offers an excellent selection of apples including: • McIntosh • Cortland • Spartan • Gala • Empire • Ida Red • Russet • Northern Spy • • Jona Gold • Red & Golden Delicious Plus.... • Fresh apple cider pressed weekly • Apple butter • Apple Jelly • Seasonal produce Save money on top-quality produce when you buy direct from the farm For delivery or special orders call 523-4383 1 mile west of Blyth on County Road #25 vet c £7.38M333CI.VAC?aglifa'gtif' 47AcT THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1998. PAGE 7. Council supports cemetery restoration Continued from page 4 wither?" He explained that in a family business like a family farm the profit equals the return to labour, management and capital and it stays in the local community.. In a corporation labour is purchased as cheaply as possible and the profit is the return to management and capital and it leaves the community. His description of what occurs with vertical integration and concentration has particular relevance to hog farmers today. When four companies control 40 per cent or more of the market you no longer have price competition.. To use hogs as an example, when one major buyer stops buying this is the signal to the others to exit the market as well and let the price plummet. The family farmer takes a beating but the vertically integrated operation makes up its losses on the sale of its live hogs with the increased margin on its packed and processed product. It reaps an additional bonanza at the expense of family farmers when their losses in the live market become its gain at the packing plant. Heffernen ended by saying that Transnational Food Corporations have taken over the control and regulation of the food system from national governments. In the U.S. they are now saying only 20 to 30,000 farmers are needed to run the globalized industrial food system and are talking of how to drive the remaining 720,000 commercial U.S. farmers from agriculture in the next five to 10 years. He said the faith community must get involved and get consumers involved by helping them understand that this is a food issue not just a farm issue. The second speaker was Dennis Howlett, director of Ten Days for Global Justice. He said that the farm crisis is part of a larger global crisis. We are seeing an appalling increase in the concentration of wealth and power and the resulting social and environmental damage. But there is an alternative vision growing which traces its roots to the biblical concept of Jubilee. It is becoming a global movement with Jubilee campaigns now in 40 countries working to cancel the debts of the 50 poorest countries in the world. It is a recognition that these countries have already paid back much more than their original loans but that the monetarist policies of the Reagan and Thatcher governments laid an impossible interest burden on them. As well much of this debt was incurred by wealthy dictators and elites whereas it is the poor and middle class of these countries that are now being.squeezed to repay with disastrous social and environmental results. In Canada the Jubilee movement is an ecumenical project of a number of churches with a three- year program. The theme for the first year is "Release from Bondage" and seeks to address the slavery of debt bondage and sweat shops through the power of consumers to support ethical production practices in addition to a petition campaign to cancel third world debts. In year two "Redistribution of Wealth" internationally and in Canada is the focus. They will be addressing obscene corporate salaries, raising the minimum wage, job creation, sustaining social programs and a progressive tax system. Howlett said, "It is not wrong to have abundance, our creation is able to sustain life in abundance, what is sinful is great wealth where abundance is hoarded by the powerful and stolen from the rest." In the third year the theme is "Renewal of the Earth" which will look at ways to deal with global climate change, pollution and renewing our communities. "We are at a crossroads of Several Huron County council- lors, at their Nov. 26 meeting, voiced support for a group that has opposed the county's removal of a cairn marking the grave site of 124 former residents of the home. Concerned about the weathering of the tablets on the cairn, the coun- ty had earlier approved removal of the cairn, now in the middle of a farm field, and placing the tablets in the Huronview Chapel. But a group led by Reg Thompson, Rhea Hamilton-Seeger and Grace Adkins appeared before the Nov. 12 meet- ing of the Health and Seniors Com- mittee to protest the action. They asked the cairn be rebuilt and that suffering and hope. But as Apartheid and slavery were ended so to can this be done," concluded Howlett. The third part of the day's program was a panel discussion on "Biotechnology: The Promise and the Peril. John Langlois moderated the discussion between Dr. Gordon Surgeoner, Victor Daniels, myself and Peter Johnson. Views ranged from one holding that biotech is just another tool which can be used to improve yields and performance to calling it a "Titanic" misadven- ture which will lead to new diseases and major unforseen problems as have earlier technologies. The need for clear and accurate labelling was stressed. Daniels said people should write Health Canada and their MP demanding that they have labelling information which will adequately inform them. Concern was also expressed that with the growing concentration in the seed industry and the terminator technology that farmers are loosing genetic diversity in the agricultural system. During the panel discus- sion I suggested that one way to work toward a more localized food the entire cemetery be fenced off. For many years the only part of the cemetery that was fenced off was the cairn. The rest of the ceme- tery has been returned to farm fields since World War II. The idea that the cemetery was being used to grow crops upset Goderich Reeve John Doherty. "I don't think that is really a proper action to take," he said, arguing in favour of fencing the cemetery. "This disturbed me quite a bit," said Bert Elliott, reeve of Morris who said that he has made it a spe- cial project, since he was elected reeve in his township, to see all cemeteries were properly main- system would be for churches to help link hog farmers in their rural congregations with consumers so that both could get a fair price. The day ended with prayer. The day was video and audio taped and copies would be available from the Catholic Rural Life Conference, at P.O. Box 339, Dresden, ON. Yours sincerely, Tony McQuail. Canada has one of the highest rates of multiple sclerosis in the world. Multiple Sclerosis Society o Canada 1-800-268-7582 Give them a Christmas gift they'll cherish forever — a 1998 dated piece from the Cherished Teddies' collection by Enesco. Choose from an ornament, collector's plate or fanciful figurines for a gift that's uniquely memorable. Stop by today and see all the wonderful gifts in the Cherished Teddies collection. Cherished Teddies® by W OO taMed. "We should really respect these cemeteries," Elliott said. "They (the people buried there) are the people who helped found this county." Often, he said, these people worked under conditions we today couldn't even begin to imagine. Council authorized the Health and Seniors Committee to meet with the group and look at options for the cemetery. Writer among conference speakers 110 Queen St. N., Blyth 523-4700 *-. 0/996 Enov-o iorparacon 5ro.n. 0,996 Trio. a. Ow 105E ...a .1 an EW, visit our yob 4.44 .t MblwArldietar-Orn ".-633