The Rural Voice, 2005-02, Page 141
The
world's
problems
are
solved
daily
'round
the table
at
Mabel 's.
"Maybe we need to trap them in
airplanes to get their attention," said
George McKenzie the other morning.
He was mentioning how the farmers
protest on the 401 hardly got any
play in the Toronto media while the
wildcat strike at the airport that left
people stuck on airplanes for four
hours got national coverage.
"Maybe that's the secret," said
Dave Winston. "Keep the city people
on airplanes, make them eat airline
food and they'll give a little more
importance to farm -fresh food."
"I think I'd rather starve than eat
airline food," said George.
"So much the better," said Dave.
"If they got hungry they might
realize they actually need food."
Mabel's Grill
"Well hey, food's not something
really important they'd miss like
hockey," said Cliff Murray. "I mean
look at the attention the media pays
to the battle between the millionaire
players and the billionaire owners."
"Yeh, but look at what might
happen to those poor players who'd
have to take a million or two Tess if
the owners get their way," said Dave.
"And the owners figure they'll
lose less money if they don't have
any games than if they do," said
Cliff.
"Sounds like farming," grumbled
George.
"I hear some members of the
commons ag committee were on one
of those planes caught at the airport,"
said Cliff.
"Too bad it wasn't the prime
minister," grumbled Dave.
"That's what we need, get them to
hold a cabinet meeting somewhere in
the country then we move in and hold
the whole bunch hostage until they
actually pay attention to what's
happening out on the farm," said
George.
"Yeh but you know them: they'd
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10 THE RURAL VOICE
only meet in some swank resort and
they'd be so busy having fun around
the pool they might not even notice
we had them trapped," said Dave.
"They'd just be happy they didn't
have to deal with the press for a few
days," said Cliff.
"Yeh, I'm afraid there's just no
way we're going to get much help
from the politicians," said Cliff.
"We're just going to have to do it
ourselves."
"What do you think of this idea of
a mass cull of older cattle?", Dave
asked George.
"Oh, were they talking about
cattle? I thought the mass cull was of
older farmers," chuckled Cliff.
"Between the BSE situation with
cattle and sheep and the crop prices,
a lot of people are thinking about
packing it in."
"Sometimes I wish I'd been a
dairy farmer," said George.
"Too late now," said Dave.
"Haven't you heard that milk quota is
up to $29,000 for the quota for one
cow? You couldn't afford to get into
dairy even if beef prices came back."
"I can't believe the price people
are paying for quota in milk and
poultry," said Cliff. "Sometimes I
think these guys won't be satisfied
until they're losing money at the
same rate the rest of us are."
"I guess they're sort like the guys
who keep paying more to rent land
for crops when the price of the corn
or soybeans isn't going up," said
Dave.
"Right about now I wish I had an
iron -clad contract to rent my land out
to some cashcropper, said George.
"I'd make a lot more money that way
than planting crops."
"Won't do you much good if the
guy goes bankrupt," said Cliff.
"Yeh, then only the banks and the
receiver make any money," said
Dave.
"There haven't been many
bankruptcies yet," noted George.
"You've got to give the bankers
some credit."
"I'm more worried about them
giving me credit," said Cliff. "I'm
not sure whether I'd be better off for
them to give me more credit or cut
me off."0