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The Citizen, 1988-12-07, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1988. Opinion Farming uncertainties: weather and politics One of the difficulties of farming is dealing with the things over which you have no control. This year farmers have had a double dose of two of the uncontrollable items: weather and politics. Whether it was the greenhouse effect or not, farmers had exactly the kind of weather they didn’t need this year: dry when rain was needed to grow the crops and rain when dry weather was needed to harvest what little did grow. But almost as helpless a feeling as having to take what the weather brings must be having to sit back and watch negotiations like the current meetings on the General Agreement on Tarriffs and Trade (GATT) in Montreal, and know that your future may be being decided by politicians thousands of miles away who wouldn’t know what a soybean looked like or how to get milk if it didn ’ t come prepackaged in a supermarket. Politically it’s been a year for worry for the one segment of the Canadian farming community that is doing well: those with supply managed marketing boards. Despite assurances, many farmers in these commodities still aren’t confident that the future of their industries is protected under the Free Trade Agreement. Even if the government is right and commodities like milk, chicken, eggs and turkeys can keep strong marketing boards, the U.S. is mounting a strong attack under the GATT negotiations to kill all subsidies and “trade distorting’’ measures like marketing boards. Canadian farmers can only stand back and hope that trade negotiators in expensive suits, living in city condominiums can be trusted to protect the interests of farmers and not trade them off for advantages for urban industries with high-powered lobby efforts. Maybe the weather looks more certain for farmers. Canadian news needed Nowhere is the battle between public service and economics fought more regularly than in the world of news reporting. In some cases, the Canadian public has the right to ask if sound economics is providing them with the information they need. The proliferation of television and radio stations has made it hard in recent years for Canadian broadcasters to get enough Canadian sources of international news. Things such as the recent disafilliation of CKNX and CFPL radio and television from the CBC have created a need for other sources of foreign news than the good old CBC or the CTV. The answer for many of these independent stations is to pick up international news from U.S. sources such as the three U.S. television networks of the Cable News Network (CNN). At the best of times that may serve to give us the world viewed through the bias of American eyes but we may not suffer much for it. But last week Canadians found themselves on the opposite side of an issue from the U.S. The Americans were refusing to permit Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to enter the U.S. to address the United Nations despite its promise in the U. N. charter to allow people to enter the U.S. on U.N. business. The Americans, said Mr. Arafat had too many connections to terrorism to be allowed into their country. The Canadian government joined most countries in the world in condemning the U.S. action, not so much for the sake of Mr. Arafat but for the principle that people should be allowed to speak to the United Nations whether or not the U.S. as host country approved. It was one of those rare occasions when the Canadian and U.S. governments are on opposite sides of the issue. But how were we getting the news on this issue? In many cases our Canadian stations were picking up U.S. broadcasts from U.S. government sources and feeding them into Canadian homes, sometimes without bothering to tell people they were American broadcasts. Someone once said there are three sides to any story: your side, my side and the truth. One of the good things about the information age is that we can dip into other cultures and find out what people think. It can be good for us to hear what Americans think on some subjects. But it isn’t good to have American versions of the news masquerading as Canadian broadcasts. And it isn’t good that Canadian news outlets, in search of profits alone, can’t offer their patrons a truly Canadian perspective on such international affairs. Cut the gab Santa. Give me the goodies. The International Scene On the road to Mandalay BY RAYMOND CANON I don’tknow how many readers will recognize the title as being the title of a hit song way back in the so-called good old days but at any rate they may have a bit of trouble knowing just where Mandalay is. To get you off on the right foot I’ll tell you. It is one of the chief cities in the South-East Asian country of Burma which used to be part of the British Empire until it decided to exercise its option and get out when the Empire turned into the Commonwealth. Ever since World War II when somefiercefightingtook place in Burma with the Japanese, very little has been heard of the country. It lapsed into some form of a benevo­ lent dictatorship or guided democra­ cy or something in between and about its only claim to fame was that it contributed a secretary-general to the United Nations. His name was U N u which I fou nd rather strange until I discovered that U was Burmese for Mr. Being a very modest man he was quite content to be called Mr. Nu or the Burmese equivalent of it. However, Burman has been gett­ ing into the news vCry much of late and a for a good reason; the natives are getting very restless indeed. The army has had to be called out; there have been a couple of changes of governments and it is quite obvious that things are going to be in a state of flux for some time. One thing I find interesting about Burma is that it has to be about the best example I have ever seen of a country which has deliberately let itself getrun down. The land there is very fertile and for this reason the population is able to support itself from a culinary point of view at least on what it grows at home. There has been very little in the way of imports; there has been just about as little in the way of exports and nobody except a few masochists would ever think of going there as tourists. The hotels reflect the general decay of the country and, with all this neglect, it was only a matter of time until government services would reach the same decayed state and that is generally where the lid blows off. Since the army is and has been very much in evidence, the most likely explosion would likely come from this direction since armies have to be paid, fed and quartered as well. As soon as this starts to deteriorate, one group of officers or another will decide that they can run the country better. At that stage the next expression you usually hear is * ‘coup d’etat.’’ That is precisely what happened. One thing the army is not accustomed to is democracy and the replacement of a civilian regime by a military one does not by any stretch of the imagination bring such a happy state. That, however, is exactly what is on the mind of the Continued on page 10 The Citizen P.O. Box 429, BLYTH, Ont. NOM 1H0 Phone 523-4792 P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, Ont. NOG 1H0 Phone 887-9114 The Citizen is published weekly in Brussels, Ontario, by North Huron Publishing Company Inc Subscriptions are payable in advance at a rate of ST7 OO/yr ($38 00 Foreign). Advertising is accepted on the condition that in the event of a typographical error, only that portion of the advertisement will be credited Advertising Deadlines Monday. 2pm - Brussels. Monday, 4pm - Blyth We are not responsible for unsolicited newscripts or photographs Contents of The Citizen are © Copyright Serving Brussels, Blyth, Auburn, Belgrave, Ethel, Londesborough, Walton and surrounding townships. Editor & Publisher, Keith Roulston Advertising Manager, Dave Williams Production Manager, Jill Roulston Second Class Mail Registration No. 6968