The Rural Voice, 2005-01, Page 60 0 0
0
Safe & Professional
Dismantling of Barns & Wooden Structures
• Insured •
NOSTALGIC SALVAGE INC.
Danny Farrow
519-323-0175 565 Perth St. N., Mount Forest 1-888-643-8410
"Fill your 2005 seed
needs with us"
At Hill & Hill Farms, we bring
more value to your farming
operation by offering seeds from
the following companies:
01773b
Consider these available varieties & genetics:
Roundup Ready Corn
Roundup Ready Soybeans
Liberty Link Hybrids
Bt Hybrids
Stacked Gene Hybrids
Speciality Soybean Contracts
Call Pete or Keith for further details
519-233-3218
2 THE RURAL VOICE
Feedback
We need each other
A Toronto resident of the Annex
near Bloor and Spadina, I whole-
heartedly support Jeffrey Carter's
November column "Urban needs rural
(and vice versa)" and his criticism of
Lawrence Solomon.
In fact, though, I would go further to
state that Solomon's attitude toward
rural life is more than flawed, it is
absurd.
The Urban Renaissance Institute's
Solomon was the editor of the failed
magazine The Next City. Allied with
those who operate Energy Probe and its
spinoffs which operate out of the same
venue not far from our house, Solomon
yearns for the privatization of just
about anything public. The very first
article in The Next City called for the
privatization of the TTC. Not
surprisingly he sees subsidies written
all over farm life, but never those given
to corporations — a very right-wing
American inflicting his views on
Canadians.
But not only Solomon is off centre
in Toronto. In the November Literary
Review of Canada Joe Berridge (like
Solomon a neighbour, and alas, one of
my former students) in his review of
John Sewell's new book, A New City
Agenda, points out that fishing, forestry
and farming contribute only two per
cent to Canada's GNP and that these
industries are pampered to the
detriment of cities. He asserts: "It is
hard to overstate how economically
unimportant the old (that is resource-
based) Canada now is."
This is obviously another absurd
statement for the obvious reason that
we have to eat. Measuring matters only
by money, the Gross National Product
is obviously another absurdity — a high -
paid banker "produces" far more than
any farmer. From Mr. Carter's
remarks, the Investing in People report
likewise seems to miss the point.
Now, as an urban activist and
teacher of urban matters, I do support
the view that large cities need special