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The Lucknow Sentinel, 1982-04-28, Page 6editorial The LUCKNOW SENTINEL "The Sepoy Town" grtsbllsbsd. 073 Missing the point Ontario's agriculturai Minister Dennis Timbrell spoke in Chesley on rviondny and during a question period remarked , that the problems of Ontario farmers ' are not severe only "signifcant Indeed! Furthermore, Timbrell failed to real* that some farmers are unable .to plant crops : this spring because they simply do not have the money to • purchase seed and fertilizer and they cannot borrow the money for spring 'Seeding. • The financial crisis facing Ontario farmers seems to have evaded the newly appointed agricultural minister who has. yet to grasp. the real severity of the situation. Carl Spencer of the Canadian Farmers' Survival Association pointed out that while Timbre!!° issympathetic and concerned, he does not understand how serious the fainters' problems are now. The type of program Timbrell is suggesting.to assist'farmers will help over the long term but some farmers need. help'. immediately. Perhaps Timbre!' should tour the province and count the number of farms for sale. It's a good indication of the number'of desperate farmers who are trying to bail out by selling their farm, Depressed economic times however are not conducive to selling farm,property to farmers who wish to expand or to farmers looking for a start in the' industry, As Spencer pointed out it appears the minister will have to see more militant action such as the closing of the Ontario Food Terminal in Toronto last week by a 'farmers' demonstration. Surely the talks Timbrell Is holding with. farmers and farm groupsshould indicate the serious nature of the problems. But Timbrell seems to be missing the point. Employee theft immoral To the Editor: For quite a few years now we have been n inundated With the world wide complaint of "the high cost of living" and. "the cost of living has gone up';'. As anyone with any knowledge knows, the largest single contributing factor to the high cost of doing .business, or supplying goods or services, is the .high labour and fringe benefit eost..One has only to look at the dire results in the automobile industry of the greedy demands of the U.A.W.. and what they have done to drastically depress the U.S. and Canadian auto industry to the benefit of Japanese and other foreign manufacturers. One might even say this is both inutioral and irresponsible when all of society has suffered as a result. However, there is one other large contributing factor to our present high cost of livingthat is even more immoral and irresponsible. This was so ably put in a letter to the Sarasota Herald.Tribune recently,. and I,;ek it. was worth while enough to pass on to your readers. 'While the country and figures do not -apply to Canada, theycould be rewritten in the same relationship to our smaller population since the exact same conditions exist in our country, too: Sir: a rather upsetting article appeared in the March 14 Chicago Tribune, calling attention to the fact that about $40 billion is lost yearly by businesses as a result of crimes such as shoplifting, insurance fraud, and employee pilferage. In addition, and even greater indollar amount, is what is known as "time theft" amongemployees of U.S. companies, amounting to about $120 billion last year. This theft is the amount of time that American workers steal from their employers by arriving late on the job, taking long - lunches and coffee breaks, and • taking time. off ' for unwarranted "illnesses" and personal business. It is estimated that such' thefts amount to six 35 -hour work weeks. a year per employee. What do companies do to make up for these billions of dollars stolen from them in this way? They simply charge it up to the cost of doing business, which is passed on to the consumer in the price of the product or service they render. Everyone raises an enormous` howl over high prices today but apparently millions of people refuse to realize. that their conduct is the cause of much of it. It is pretty disturbing to think that people have slipped so far into these habits of stealing that they do longer regard. themselves as common thieves, and most of them would be highly insulted if they were called that, Yet, what else are they? . For too many years too many people have shrugged off this type of thievery as acceptable because it's :'just getting away with as much as you can','. This should give us much' food for thought. • Yours very truly, George A, Newbold, 4515 Naussau Rd., Bradenton, Florida. SHARON J, DiETZ • Editor PAT LIVINGSTON - Office Manager MERLE ELLIOTT • Typesetter JOAN HELM • Compositor tedtrees Lucknow Sentinel, Wednerds', April. 28r • 1462-1*nge b Business and Editorial Office Telephone 528.2822 Mailing Address e,O, Bo:: 400, Lucknow,, NOG 2110 Second Class Mail Registration Number 0847 Subscription rate, $14.50 per year In advance Senior Citizen rate,, $12.00 per year in advance U.S.A., and Foreign, S311.00 per year in advance Sr. at. U.S.A. and Foreign, $38.00 per year In advance by don carnpbeul On a' clear day, from the highest points of the Caledon Hills, one can see the glistening waters of Lake Ontario. °This is particularly, true on Sundays, when the industrial might of toronto rests, and the air pollution is diminished. In 1843 there was little to mar the view, and ° quite often Ian Jamieson would climb a sandy hill and look south by •east, over the endless tree tops, to the great expanse of water. On these occasions he questioned the course of his life. • "Man does not live by bread alone." The Reverend Duncan .Mac- Leod constantly reminded his people, but the late captain of the "Kingston Lass" did. not ponder on the needs of the belly, or indeed upon the profound statements of the Bible. Rather he looked back into his memories of other things which had sustained him, The sea had been his livelihood and both his friend and greatest enemy. It was a challenge which had absorbed him from, early childhood.. Thefamiliar creaking of timbers, the feel of the wind upon. the face, and the taste of salt upon the lips. would be hard to replace. By what strange urge does a man .castaside the role which had absorbed him since his early years? Ian Jamieson would reflect on this. strange phenomena as he sought to build a new life as a member °of the exiled' people. It was not too late to return to his - seafaring ways. The one acre he had acquired .for his store amid the new settlement had not been fully cleared, and the log premises were only half erected. Jamieson still carried on his business from the wagons which had hauled his goods from Toronto. A few quick . negotiations and a change of heart would lead him back down the Sixth Line to .away of life more familiar than the new earth which had been chosen by the Highland people. Inthese moments of contemplation and nostalgia, Jamieson battled with his soul. At thirty five years of age, he had little to show, except a small accumulation of wealth for his:rovings across the seven seas. His wealth of course, could have bought him some land in his native Scotland. Not enough to compete` with the chiefs and lairds who had evicted their clansmen in the interest of their own greed, but sufficient to supply 'a man's needs to the end of his life. There might have been ,a'croft deep in. the glen and Jamieson often fantasiz- ed . about the woman. who might have lived beneath its thatched roof. There were thoughts too, about the children who might have been raised to .know only the solitude of life amid the mountains. The fact that there was no one to perpetuate the Jamieson blood, troubled the air -mariner. On one occasion, when Jamieson looked ..over the `'green roof of the forest, towards the great lake, he n the �urwow arrived at a' permanent decision. He told himself, that yesterday was gone, . today was reality, and tomorrow would be fashioned according to his own heart. Where was a man to search for his true identity? "Man cannot live by bread alone", , and * 'neither can he turn inwardly to live only for himself, True contentment can only be found in sharing everything one has with those one holds most dear. If there is no family, no wife and no child, one must turn to the people who are most compatible with one's asperations and ideals. Jamieson was ' awakened from his reminiscen%es by the sound of pipes, driftingacross the Caledon hills: The sun Was setting behind the trees, and from the small settlement below him,, the blue smoke from wood fires swirled slowly upwards into the air of a warm summer's evening.. At that moment,: Jamieson realized that the spirit of the Scottish nation does not live only amid the mountains,' banks and braes of the traditional land. It is carried in the hearts of exiles and the heritage persists though. they may travel to the four corners of the earth. Thus, Jamieson walked back to the place which would soon bear the sign "Ian Jamieson - General Merchant", to serve the needs of the Friends of. Skye. by bob trotter Wouldn't it be fine if all those people and those organizations taking. potshots at farm marketing boards would cease and desist and start a justifiable public' outcry against the awesome centralization of power in the rest of the food industry? First, it was the consumers asso= cation a few years back: Successive presidents kept carping at marketing boards saying they' contributed to the increase in food costs. Then came the economic council and 'a special committee demanding less control . in the Canadian mark- etplace. This presitigious body, with some of the great economic brains of the country behind them, suggested farmers had so much control through marketing boards that prices could be manipulated. * . Recently, it was the president of the grocery manufacturers association saying, much the same things. The president palled a truce not long ago, though, He said marketing boards were established and perhaps it would be better if they were accepted and worked with, instead of against. But whatever power farmers have been able to achieve, through legislM• tion and marketing boards, cannot be equalled by the tremendous power now being amassed by the four or five major food chains in Canada. Jack Riddell, Liberal .agriculture 'critic in Ontario, said this reduction in compe- tition Can only lead to higher food prices and a reduction in food sup- pliers: If 'you supply food to one of these huge groups, you will supply exactly what they want when they want it. Not only that, but you will supply it at their price, not yours. If you don't, they will simply go someplace else to get' it and the volume will be so . great that, without that account, you will be out of business. What the food chains are doing is not illegal. Nothing in any legislation says they cannot get together for buying purposes. • It is not their fault. It is the fault of weak, stupid, toothless laws. Can you blame these hard=headed' business- men? They are simply doing: their job' to get bigger returns for their share- holders. The province of Ontario has` asked the federal Department of Consumer and Corporate Affairs . to investigate these new alliances in the food -buy- . ing-and-selling industry. While civil servants are searching to see if there is a breach of the Combines Investi- gation Act, the big corporations continue to concentrate their buying. power. The House fiddles while consumers burn and farmers continue to defend their marketing boards. Buying groups have been a trend in the food chain for years. They are all jockeying to get the biggest clout. Superniarket chains now have more than 60 per cent of the Canadian food market. They are most heavily concen- trated in Ontario where they control 75 percent of the market. Nobody can stand up against that kind of power in the hands of only a few people, not even farm marketing boards. 1 know of 'no other way farmers can even attempt to compete. They are being -forced into theformation of more and more supply -management situations. Right now, the feathers industry - eggs, chickens, turkeys - 'milk andtobacco have gone to sappy management and quota systems. They set their price on a cost-of=production formula which is constantly being tested and revised. These fomulae have been question- ed, sometimes found wanting, and usually changed when the checks and balances have been applied. These cheeks and balances have been impos- ed by legislation, Farmers, to my knowlge, are not ripping off con. sumers. • Or, if th'ey were, they have been fedorcedinto changing. But ilittle or no legislation exists to prevent the concentration of buying power being amassed at of the legislaother entiond the a, there is,food is uselchesins, What ' it's time to do: something about it by putting some teeth, some guts, into the laws which are supposed to be regulating latige corporations.