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10 THE RURAL VOICE
John Beardsley
Unitg gets action
John
Beardsley is
former farm
director of
CKNX radio
and has been
involved in
agribusiness
for many
years.
Many agricultural organizations
are gearing up for farm rallies at
Queen's Park on March 2 and 9.
There have been many meetings
organized by various farm groups but
what I see is a real groundswell of
discontent and frustration. It looks to
me like the farm organizations are
finally getting the message that the
status quo just isn't good enough.
This isn't just a vocal minority
yelling for change, but a large
number of farmers who don't
normally go to meetings, or
participate beyond paying their
annual dues or check -off. This is a
powerful force, and one that I think
government is already sitting up and
taking notice of.
What is heartbreaking to me is that
politicians probably won't see the
personal turmoil that is going on in
50,000 farm kitchens across the
province. I remember a scant five
years ago talking about over 60,000
farms in the province. That one fact
tells a tale in itself about the attrition
in the farm numbers.
Farmers are pleased at the
coverage this latest farm crisis is
bringing about, yet it won't take
much to crowd it to the back pages of
the national newspapers. I was in
Ottawa recently and watched a
political incident occur which has
taken up a lot of airtime and
newsprint. It started with a minor slip
up by Paul Martin in answer to a
question about the recent assass-
ination in Lebanon. Martin said
Syrian troops were in Lebanon to
keep the peace. All the Opposition
parties jumped on him, saying this
statement was not only out of step
with international opinion but also
with his own government's position.
It received, I thought, more play
than it deserved, but it made good
television. The cameras were already
rolling for Question Period, and it
was a Canadian angle on an interna-
tional story. My point is not to choose
a side on this issue but rather to point
out agriculture has a long way to go
to get onto the agenda of the media.
This current farm financial crisis
can't be solved by, one or two rallies
even if the Premier comes up with the
$320 million in emergency cash.
Farmers need Tong -term, stable
funding that will allow individuals to
have the confidence to invest in their
industry. It is interesting to note that
one seed company reportedly has had
several million dollars Tess this year
in prepayments for this year's seeds
from Ontario farmers.
Quebec farmers have better farm
support programs, which means that
when crop prices plummeted this past
fall to 25 -year lows, they were
receiving almost twice as much as
Ontario farmers for their corn. Conse-
quently seed sales in Quebec have
increased by several million dollars.
It shouldn't take a rocket scientist to
figure out how the Ontario govern-
ment could remedy this inequality.
On a more personal note, I'd like
to make a tribute to my mother, who
passed away February 11. It was my
mother who indirectly got me involved
in agriculture when she convinced
my dad to buy a farm in Prince
Edward County, on the shores of
Lake Ontario, as a holiday retreat. It
was my summers spent doing chores
at a neighbor's mixed dairy farm that
gave me my first contact with
agriculture and the rural way of life.
She also taught me to fight
injustice, and not to take "No" as an
answer from governments for
something you know in your heart
needs to be changed. Downtown
Toronto is the place that politicians
love to brag of as a city that works. It
was only possible because people like
Barbara Beardsley stood up and
organized their neighbours to fight
the Spadina Expressway.
It gives me hope, when I see the
lack of respect our Government gives
its second largest industry, to know
that when a cause is just, it is worth
fighting for, and that the people
united will never be defeated.0