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PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2004.
Letter to the editor
OFA president facing 'challenging task'
THE EDITOR,
One of the primary roles of
the Ontario Federation of
Agriculture is to
communicate successfully
with farmers and with
governments. This week
provides opportunities for
both, and as OFA president, I
find it a challenging task.
We are expecting to hear
from a lot of frustrated and
angry farmers as I tour the
province. These farmers are
just barely surviving a year
that saw the devastation of
BSE, a skyrocketing
Canadian dollar that has
undermined profitability and
an escalating regulatory
regime that could have huge
costs to the farm community.
Granted, Ontario farmers
have been brought under the
There are people who don't
like living in a small town. I
don't know why — I guess
they just don't get it.
People- sometimes claim
that there's little imagination
in small towns, but when
Sheila Richards and I began
approaching people in the
Brussels and Blyth areas in
1985 with the revolutionary
proposition of investing in a
community-owned
newspaper, dozens of people
accepted the idea and wrote
the cheques.
The founding of The
Citizen was based on the kind
of community solution to a
community need that has
helped build rural towns and
villages in this country for a
century and a half. People
have come together to build
schools, churches, arenas, to
invest in co-operatives to
process their products or
retail their agricultural
supplies, to create credit
unions, to start fairs and
festivals or professional
theatres.
This heritage in community
action is one of the few
advantages small
communities have over large
centres. If we don't forget the
lessons of our parents and
grandparents, we can find the
innovative ways to come
together to solve the problems
of today and tomorrow.
Critics of small towns
complain that everyone
knows their business. What
these people see as a lack of
privacy is often a display of
how much a community
cares. A community is like an
extended family and just as a
family relationship is more
intense than a simple
friendship, a community
relationship goes deeper than
mere acquaintanceship.
It's that kind of closeness
that means people throw
themselves into the volunteer
activities necessary to make a
small community function.
It's that kind of closeness that
federal Agricultural Policy
Framework and the benefits
that it is expected to provide,
but there are so many other
farm issues that must be
positively addressed.
OFA recently made a
presentation to the province's
standing committee of
finance and economics — our
opportunity to take the
farmers' thoughts and
concerns to government. We
used that meeting to paint a
vivid picture for the
politicians of why farmers are
feeling so dejected and
unrepresented in the halls of
power.
We stressed the realities of
farmers being squeezed to the
maximum by a system that
demands the highest quality
product for one of the lowest
brings people together to
honour those who do, as
Blyth and Brussels did to me
on Saturday.
A small town is often seen
as a place offering few
opportunities but that depends
on how you measure
opportunity. If you want to
work in research at a
university or in high finance,
you'll have to leave. But if
opportunity means making a
difference in your
community, there are more
opportunities in a small town
than anywhere else.
People take advantage of
this kind of opportunity all
the time. It may be as simple
as helping a neighbour get to
a doctor's appointment
because we in small towns
don't have the alternative of
public transit.
It may be person who never
dreamed of having leadership
ability who joins the Lions
Club, Legion or Women's
Institute and rises through the
ranks to become president. It
may be a shy farm kid who,
with the help of his
community, ends up
publishing a newspaper.
All that said,. there's no
doubt a small town or village
is not a place for the lazy to
live guilt free. Because there
are so few of us, we need
everyone to take the
responsibility to be involved
whether in their churches,
sports teams or youth clubs
and those who would rather
be passengers may feel
uncomfortable. Luckily, there
are so many people who do so
many jobs to keep our small
communities functioning.
I want to thank everyone
who played a part in
Saturday's celebration. There
were many others among the
100 or so in the room who
deserved similar tributes to
their contributions. Let's find
ways to celebrate all those
who make small communities
the special places they are to
live in.
prices in the world — we know
that because Feb. 7 was Food
Freedom Day in Canada, the
day of the year by which
Canadians have earned
enough income to buy their
year's supply of food.
E-mail
a hoax
say OPP
By Bonnie Gropp
Citizen editor
Huron OPP are advising
people not to become alarmed
about an e-mail message that
has been circulating the
area.
Sr. Const. Don Shropshall
said that while there have
been different variations of
the story, the most recent tells
of two women outside a
restaurant in Auburn, who
were asked to try a perfume
sample, which turned out to
be ether.
"It never happened. It's a
hoax sent out to scare people.
There's nothing to worry
about.," he said.
Shropshall said he spoke to
the owner of the .restaurant
regarding the e-mail and was
assured that the incident had
not occurred.
What's particularly
upsetting, is that the e-mail
reads it is from the OPP.
Shropshall said he has
checked across the Western
Region and there has been
nothing issued.
"You can bet that if
something like this would
happen an official report will
be released through the
media."
The standing committee of
finance and economics was
also told that increasingly
farmers are being met with
regulations and management
systems — all adding to their
production costs with little or
no opportunity to recover any
of those costs. Meeting the
requirements of the Nutrient
Management Act could have
enormous cost implications
for farmers, and we can't get
answers to some of the basic
questions.
There have been vague
references to assisting
farmers with the costs of
compliance, but nothing
specific. What will the overall
costs be? What level of
government support will be in
place? When will it be in
place? Will funding be
available with sufficient lead
time? Farmers need answers
now if they are to maintain
confidence in their future.
The same can be said for
food safety programs. Our
governments keep insisting
consumers, both domestic
and international, are
demanding greater food
safety measures, but farm
organizations have looked at
what's necessary and know
farmers can't begin to pay
that bill.
It's going to be very
expensive, but there's no
indication of a public
willingness to help with those
costs.
We pointed out to the
committee a long list of
things governments could do
to reduce the burden being
placed on farmers. These
could be done with little or no
cost to taxpayers, but they
need immediate government
action to give farmers
confide,ice in their future.
Something as simple as a
fair definition of agricultural
use for property assessment
purposes is needed to halt
property taxes from
skyrocketing. Without the
government's intervention
with the Municipal Property
Assessment Corporation to
keep such things as maple
syrup production facilities
assessed as agricultural, an
industrial assessment
classification will send
property taxes out of reach of
farmers.
We tried to make the
elected officials from all
parties understand that they
have an opportunity and an
obligation to the farmers of
this province. We asked them
to act decisively on both
policy and funding questions
so that the stress of
uncertainty would be
reduced. We reminded them
that support for the farm
community is also support for
the 650,000 Ontario jobs that
depend on the agricultural
industry.
Over the next few weeks, as
we tour the province, I'm
certain that the frustratiOn that
farmers are feeling will be
evident. We want to get past
the frustration and the anger.
We want to hear farmers'
solutions, and we want to take
those ideas to our elected
officials.
Ron Bonnett, President
Ontario Federation of
Agriculture.
Keith Roulston
From the
Cluttered Desk
In praise of small towns A special day of recognition was held on
Saturday afternoon as community members
organized a reception to honour Citizen
publisher Keith Roulston, left, for his efforts on
behalf of small-town Huron County. In addition
to his role with the weekly newspaper, Roulston
was one of the founders of the Blyth Festival
and a driving force in the revitalization of Blyth's
main street. Ralph Watson of Brussels made
the presentation. (Elyse DeBruyn photo)