The Rural Voice, 1989-06, Page 18cancon
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16 THE RURAL VOICE
PAYING THE PRICE
FOR FREE TRADE
If they haven't already, farmers
are about to begin paying the price for
voting in a free -trade government last
November.
First, on the bilateral Canada/
U.S. fret -trade front: despite reports
that it could spend millions over
several years on its Leamington
plant, food conglomerate H. J. Heinz
Co. of Canada Ltd. has warned it may
just pick up and move its ketchup
production from Leamington to the
U.S.
The reason? The Leamington
plant is no longer cost -competitive
with other Heinz facilities in North
America.
"With free trade, the geographic
area for Heinz Canada is now North
American," president William
Springer was reported to have told a
recent food industry convention.
"The options in Leamington are
straightforward. We either make
products ... cost competitive or move
production to Heinz plants in the
U.S.A."
Yes, Mr. Springer, that's a pretty
straightforward message. But it took
Nabisco Brands Ltd. president Ray
Verdon at the same conference to
put the knife in, then twist.
Having said that the free -trade
pact should be applied as a lever to
mobilize employees to cut costs,
which presumably means wages,
Verdon delivered the twist. "Nothing
clears the mind so much as the spectre
of being hung in the morning."
Is that "hung" as in "hung out to
dry," Mr. Verdon, or did you mean
"hang" as in being "sentenced to
hang"? I guess it makes no difference
one way or the other. Canada loses.
Now for the second bit of bad
news on the free -trade front, but this
time on the broader global scene.
On his recent return from Geneva,
Canada's key GATT negotiator
Germain Denis said he had what he
felt was good news on the agriculture
front: "reform ... including sub-
stantial and progressive" reduction in
agricultural subsidies and trade
barriers.
Denis suggested that would be
good news for Canadian grain, beef,
and pork producers who claim they
could have bigger exports with the
reductions, but it's not so good for
dairy and poultry producers who
benefit from import quotas and, in
the case of dairy farmers, subsidies.
But folks, these are just projections
and not yet facts. What we should be
dealing with is the present, right? It
helps us get our minds off fears for
the future.
Dr. George Brinkman of the
University of Guelph says that today,
in actual terms, farm income is far
below that of 1973 to 1975, and last
year, net Ontario farm income was as
low as it was in the Great Depression.
Not to be discouraged, folks! He
went on to say farm land and building
equity loss between 1981 and 1987
had been $29,127 billion. What's a
billion here or there?
Hell, Canadian farmers' loss in
equity alone amounts only to slightly
more than the total debt of Peru, Costa
Rica, and Jamaica, three of the Third
World's most indebted countries.
But the big world banks and
International Monetary Fund are so
scared of a total collapse that they're
working on bailouts and write-downs
for these countries.
Maybe Canadian farmers should
secede from the city states that control
all of Canada, then claim Third World
status for Canadian farm land.
Every cloud has a silver lining,
right?0
Gord Wainman has been an urban -
based agriculture reporter for 13 years.