The Rural Voice, 1978-10, Page 20limmimmommimmomms
The Voice of A Farmer
by Adrian Vos
Asleep at the switch?
It appears that the government of Ontario and the oppostion
parties alike have been sleeping at the switch.
1 am referring to the question of foreign ownership of farmland
in Ontario. Maybe they have been concentrating so much on
attracting investment for city and resource development. that
they have lumped our foodland in the same category. If it was
just for development it would not be such a bad idea, but judging
by the sale of resources such as mining, oil and manufacturing to
foreigners, we can expect our already devel opefl agricultural
industry to go the same way.
We must realize that our agricultural land is the last of our
industries still owned by Canadians and we have to applaud the
four provinces that have passed effective laws to make sure that
this remains so.
It is urgent that the Davis government act now, before more of
our land is in corporate hands. It has been proven time and
again, both here and in the United States. that the family farm
can put food on the table for the consumer at a much more
reasonable price than any corporation. Even large family
corporations seldom last more than two generations before
breaking up into smaller units again. If. however. the corporate
giants succeed to corner the supply, they can make sure that
they are profitable, and the family farm will be dead for ever.
In the article on corporate ownership in this issue, we see that
the investors are in no hurry. Let's wait five years they say. or
ten years. In the end we will get it all. That is the disturbing facet
of this issue. It is not only the upwards pressure on land prices,
or the inability of the young farmer to take over Dad's farm.
However important, that is incidental.
What is important is that unless we. through legislation. put a
stop to it, we will lose Canada. The language issue that threatens
our existence as a nation is not nearlyasinsiduous as the issue of
corporate and more particular foreign ownership. A country
whose assets are owned by foreigners will be governed by the
interests of these foreigners and becomes a banana country. If
that sounds nationalistic, it is. But I don't see anything wrong
with nationalism. A country cannot remain a country without it. I
realize that to many the word "nationalism" is a dirty word -•
Don't let the ineterst of the international moneymen cloud your
judgement. Some of these moneymen have no country and only
one god, the golden calf. They try to equate the word with
"chauvinisme", which is, unreasonable devotion to one's
country. Chauvinisme is the American doctrine of "manifest
destiny" of a century ago, that even today sometimes resurfaces.
Or the German "Bei Uns is Alles Besser," (We have everything
better) of pre-war mentality.
I hope that the Ontario Federation of Agriculture will fully
investigate how widespread corporate ownership of our farms is.
Let's hope that our politicians try to head them off and begin an
official gathering of facts immediately.
The more land that is lost to the corporations, the harder will it
be to recover it. We need a law like Saskatchewan's, where the
non-farm corporation must divest itself of their holdings and we
need it now.
1PG. 20 THE RURAL VOICE/OCTOBER 1978
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