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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2000-11-15, Page 6PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2000. Federal candidates debate ag policies On the eve of a farmers’ march on Ottawa to protest lack of federal financial support, a debate on agri­ cultural policy in Huron-Bruce was relatively quiet and well-mannered. At the all-candidates meeting held at the Brucefield school, Wednesday, incumbent Paul Steckle had to defend himself throughout the evening from suggestions his Liberal government had failed to hear the pleas for help from farmers feeling the triple effects of poor crops, low commodity prices and lower levels of government support than their American neighbours. All three of his opponents, Mark Beavan of the Canadian Alliance, Ken Kelly of the Progressive Conservatives and Christine Kemp of the New Democratic Party, pledged to immediately help farmers if they were elected. Steckle said he would immediately provide the money for farmers if it was up to him and pledged to be on the busses heading to Ottawa to lobby his own government for greater support. “I’ve been there with the farmers of this county,” Steckle said as the evening closed, recalling he had attended the march to Ottawa to speak up for supply management before the World Trade Organization agreement. “I will be there with you tomorrow.” But Beavan wasn’t about to let Steckle off the hook. While he felt sorry for him, Beavan said Steckle was “not allowed to support your riding as you would have liked to” because of government indifference to the needs of farmers. Beavan said with a Canadian Alliance government there would be no need for a march on Ottawa because the party is committed to giving farmers help through safety net programs. Kemp too said the NDP has com­ mitted the $300 million that has been asked for by the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) on behalf of farmers. “Our money is on the table,” Kelly said in pledging $333 million in immediate support for farmers. But he went further, saying his party would ‘listen to farmers when they need help, not after they’ve had to take the drastic step of going to Ottawa.” Kelly criticized the AIDA program created by the federal government to help farmers in severe distress. “I’ve never seen a program so designed not to do what it was intended to do,” said the former vice-president of the OFA. The program, he charged in his summation, was designed not to pay out any money. Beavan had earlier also attacked the AIDA program saying only 42 per cent of the allotted funds had been given out despite the problems farmers face. But Steckle defended the program claiming the federal government had paid out more money in the shared-cost program, than farmers had so far received. He wondered what had happened to the provincial portion of the funds. Writer urges all to be watchdogs Continued from page 4 tanks, gasoline and chemical tanks, and with leachate from landfill - and hazardous waste sites. Of creating an ‘Environmental Crime Watch’ to stop careless handling and illegal dumping of excess liquid manure, pesticides, sewage sludge, toxic industrial wastes and other haz­ ardous wastes. Of establishing an effective water quality monitoring system throughout the region. Of all the stakeholders practising environ­ mental stewardship. If Steckle was the target of the other three candidates, Beavan took the brunt of criticism in questions from the floor. Bob Down, past pres­ ident of the Ontario Corn Producers told Beavan his organization had tried to get a definitive answer on just what support the Alliance would give to needy grains and oil seeds farmers. When Beavan answered with his attack on AIDA, Down reminded him he had still not answered the question. “If you're looking for a number tonight, I don’t have it,” Beavan said, saying he wasn’t going to say something he didn’t know. Gordon Hill, Varna-area farmer and former president of the OFA questioned Beavan on his commit­ ment to support supply management at the same time as the party sup­ ported the right of western farmers to have a choice to sell outside the Canadian Wheat Board system. Beavan said western grain farmers wanted the right to choose but that supply management would remain a compulsory program. Hill asked if he could name one marketing board that could work if farmers had the right to opt out of the board. “I have been involved with marketing boards for a number of years and I don’t know of any,” Hill said. Seaforth dairy farmer and former Huron Federation president Bill Wallace challenged Beavan on the pledge to only reduce Canadian agri­ cultural tariffs when other countries guarantee equal access to their mar­ kets for Canadian products. How, he wondered, would an Alliance gov­ ernment get around non-tariff barri­ ers erected by other countries. Beavan said unless those barriers were reduced, his government would not reduce Canadian tariffs. Steckle shot back that it was impossible to reduce tariffs and still claim to support supply manage­ ment. Earlier, in declaring his party’s commitment to free trade, Kelly took a shot at the Liberals. “We’re not the guys who lost Article 11,” he said of the article under the General Letter to the editor B.C. resident hopes Brussels stavs same THE EDITOR, I am writing from Nanaimo, B.C. where we receive your paper by mail, albeit a bit late. I have been reading with great interest about the amalgamation of Brussels into Huron East. Last Christmas, myself, my wife and our family spent the holidays in Brussels with her parents and family. I was overwhelmed by the commu­ nity spirit, and quality of life that you folks enjoy. We truly enjoyed our time there. We went on a hayride, tobogganing and several All of us are part of the problem. All of us have to become a part of the solution by doing what is fundamen­ tally right for our environment, for our health and that of future genera­ tions. We just cannot afford not to do so. Many of you are already hard at work on improving our environment. Many of you have serious concerns. I hope my vision already is your vision or will now become your vision. With a serious commitment, plenty of good will, genuine co-oper­ Agreement on Tariffs and Trade that allowed Canada to bar imports of milk, eggs and poultry meat, thus giving supply managed commodities their ability to negotiate with proces­ Raising questions Federal election candidates were on the hot seat as the Huron Federation of Agriculture host­ ed an all-candidates meeting at Huron Centennial Public School in Brucefield on Nov. 8. From left: NDP Christine Kemp, Canadian Alliance Mark Beaven, Liberal MP Paul Steckle, PC Ken Kelly. Candidates debate health care Next to agriculture, health care questions were the most numerous when the Huron County Federation of Agriculture held its all-candidates meeting at Brucefield, Wednesday night. While incumbent Paul Steckle defended his Liberal government’s support for health care, the three challengers all pledged more money to improve a system they said was lacking. But at one point, when a question from the floor asked each candidate point-blank if they believed in two- tier health care and Steckle, Mark Beavan for the Canadian Alliance and Ken Kelly of the Progressive Conservatives all said they were opposed, Christine Kemp of the New Democratic Party reacted in disbe­ lief. “I’m shocked to hear all this,” she said, ticking off the contradictions of all three parties. Her research, she daily excursions. I was most impressed by the friendly businesses and personal services. The sidewalks and streets were kept snow free and clean dur­ ing the heavy snowfall. My concern is, will this quality of service, and therefore quality of life, still exist under the East Huron Council? Brussels, as it is today, is a slice of Canadiana. I certainly hope this would remain. Peter M. Lang Nanaimo, B.C. ation, wide support and focussed hard work we collectively can make our beaches, our rivers and our groundwater clean and safe again. Let’s just do it! Please join me in this endeavour and ask at least five others to become an ‘Environmental Crime Watcher’. Let me know of your projects planned or already underway. You can reach me by phone at 519-243- 1680, by mail at RR2, Grand Bend, ON N0M 1T0 or by e-mail at Kkmsbwise@acncanada.net sors. Article 11 was taken away with the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement in 1993. “When we took over Article 11 was lost,” said Steckle of the said, showed the Conservatives felt the health care system was in trouble and needed to be supplemented by private services. The Liberals had done nothing to stop the Alberta gov­ ernment from bringing in private hospitals in that province and the Alliance was led by Stockwell Day who was part of that Alberta govern­ ment. The NDP, she said, was strongly opposed to two-tier health care. “It will be our downfall!” Answering another written ques­ tion, Beavan said the Alliance would not only replace the $25 billion he claimed the Liberals had taken out of health care, but would-legislate long­ term funding so the provinces can rebuild the system. Kelly too said his party was com­ mitted to restoring funding to health care but he also looked ahead, saying nobody is preparing for the aging population and the added demands this will bring. “It’s time to start building for the future,” he said. Kemp said the NDP would not only return federal health care fund­ ing to 1993 levels immediately but would also institute a national home­ care program to help the aging popu­ lation stay at home as long as possi­ ble and would introduce a $2.3 bil­ lion national pharmacare program to help people with drug costs. Steckle disputed the dire talk of cuts, saying federal funding had already been returned to 1993-94 levels by 1998-99. Since then, he said, the government had pledged to spend $21.3 billion over the next Seaforth Medical Clinic 527-1770 FLU VACCINE CLINIC General Public Seaforth Medical Clinic Patients Only Wed., Nov. 22 & 29.......9 am to 1 pm Thurs., Nov. 23 & 30 ...6 pm to 8 pm Vaccine is available to all persons over 6 months of age free of charge. Liberals 1993 election victory just before the WTO was signed. His government went to work to try to get tariffs high enough for supply management to survive, he said. four years, a level all provinces have agreed to. Steckle says HRDC benefitted riding The Huron-Bruce riding has bene­ fitted through grants from the Human Resource Development Canada (HRDC) to the tune of $2 million a year, Huron-Bruce MP Paul Steckle told an all-candidates meeting in Brucefield, Wednesday night. Steckle said he had fought for funding for local projects from the controversial agency and “I have no apologies.” Mark Beavan, Canadian Alliance Party candidate said it was good to have such funds come to Huron- Bruce but “let’s keep money in tax­ payers’ pockets” by cutting taxes instead. “Some of these (HRDC) grants amount to corporate welfare.” Tax cuts may be fine if you have a job, said Christine Kemp, New Democratic Party candidate, “But if you don’t have a job and you’re try­ ing to start a business, tax cuts don’t do much good.” Many people are struggling to create their own jobs and tax cuts don’t help them, she said. Ken Kelly, Progressive Conservative candidate, said he had been involved in local training boards for 15 years and in the early period the local boards had some dis­ cretion on how funding was spent, but the Liberals had changed the way training money was allocated.