Canada Leads Push To Get Farm Deal

Its so frustrating when you can see right through the media, but can't do much about it. What I mean really, is that this article to me seems like its twisting the truth. O.K, maybe it is true Canada is pushing the deal. But, I for some reason think that the journalist put that twist in there.

Just like FTA they knew would be an easier sell to Canadians if it was seen as a push from Canada, but really it was the U.S. I wonder if this is the same B.S that is happening once again, and in the end it will be signed.

Kevin

You are right Kevin, it is a pile of dung. It is the US trying to get everybody else to stop doing what it does and has no intention of stopping. Canada is playing the fawning pretensious lackey, running around trying to get things done for "big brother", please big brother let us get rid of the wheat board and the CBC and Petro Canada and our border patrol and on and on ad nauseum . The EU says "we reserve the right to keep our rural communities healthy and anybody who doesn't like it can F*** off". Japan says "don't come near us with any of that genetically engineered funky wheat white boy". But Canada and the USA are cautiously optimistic or as we say in Alberta "paranoid and stupid"!

We do need to end the US and EU subsidies. The way to do that is not by negotiating away our Wheat Board though. The way to end those subsidies is to align ourselves with all the other countries that are being actively harmed by them and force change.

As we saw at Cancun, smaller states can fight off attempts by big agri-business to take over through trade deals. We stood with the other smaller states at Cancun, and we should continue to do so. I don't think Martin will though...he's afraid of making Georgie mad at him.

Problem is, The United States and the European Union subsidize their farmers much more than Canada. The Canadian Wheat Board is NOT a branch of the government, it is merely a marketing board, kind of like a farmer`s 'union' to guarantee a good return for farmers wheat. Other supply management marketing boards in Canada also do the same for Canadian dairy farmers and poultry farmers, and the USA wants these boards dismantled. See, once again, in Canada the purpose of these boards is to protect Canadian farmers, give them a better return, and give them more bargaining power with the large vampire corporations. In the US, where there is no such protection, US farmers are enslaved in a serf like system, where the large corporations like Tyson Meats dictate to the farmers what price they`re offering, dictate the type of crop or livestock, and force the farmer to assume ALL of the risk. And of course, the returns are pitiful! And, our buddy, Stephen Harper, would like to see the dismantling of supply management marketing boards in Canada, in true form to his servitude to American corporate interests!

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Dave Ruston

<i>In the US, where there is no such protection, US farmers are enslaved in a serf like system,</i><p> So. . .because Western Farmers MUST sell to the Wheat board, and The Wheat Board dictates the price that farmers will sell it for, and if the farmers want to sell their crops privately they must buy it back from the wheat board (basically giving the wheat board money for a private sale) this makes the Canadian Wheat Board different ....How?<p> Because the serfdom is legislated, doesn't make it right.<p><p>---<br>"History does not repeat itself, but it does rhyme" Mark Twain <br />
"The greatest price of not participating in politics is being governed by your inferiors." Plato

It`s different because the Canadian farmer gets not only a better return, but also has a stronger bargaining position with corporations! You have American farmers coming up to Canada telling Canadian farmers not to switch to the US system or they`ll be sorry!

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Dave Ruston

Shouldn't wheat farmers be able to sell their own wheat privately if they want though?

I have another twist on our US relations.

Martin went out west to announce that the feds are going to help out the cattle industry by giving them $1 Billion dollars in aid.

Guess what ?? The US calls that a subsidy !!

Yep, we now have a whole different slant on what we can and cannot do for our farmers.

Makes me feel like kicking somebody in the crotch, namely Dubya. Again and again and again, until he gets the message.

Get out of my life !!


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"Arrogance in Politics is unacceptable"
Jim Callaghan
Minden, Ontario
705-286-1860
www.misterc.ca

Dave,

The US farmers told Canada not to allow Hog farms into Canada too but they didn't listen.

I'm not so sure I agree with the Wheat Board or any other governing board for that matter. Our farmers should be allowed to sell their crops where they want. (I do not believe they should be allowed to grow GMOs though.) I think farming needs go back to being a smaller production. Smaller cattle ranches, the local butcher, community participation again. I heard some farmers that were unhappy with the US packing companies screwing them out of BSE bailout $ and were making a killing off the farmers misery. At any rate, I buy my lamb directly from a local farmer and am going to start buying my beef and poultry direct too. If I can't find a farmer I'll try buying from the 4H club.

In a perfect world with 'nice' trading partners, i too would support farmers selling their wheat wherever and whenever,but our farmers need protection from the US, who heavily subsidize their farmers, and bully countries like Canada who have a certain advantage. The Wheat Board`s board of directors is made up entirely of western farmers, and the only costs deducted are the marketing costs.The rest of the revenue generated from sales is returned to the farmer. It`s like being in a union, you may not agree, but you pay dues because you reap the benefits of such an arrangement. Other supply management marketing boards that work well for Canadian farmers are the ones that support Canada`s dairy farmers. The farmers are united TOGETHER for the purpose of better bargaining power with the corporations. And one milk truck will take all of the milk from a group of farmers who, say, live on the same road or in the same township, and deliver the milk to local dairies and cheese factories. In the states, it`s not like that. You have 10 different trucks going to 10 different farmers who live on the same road, or in the same area, and take the milk to different markets, most likely far away. it`s not uncommon for a dairy farmer in Pennsylvania to ship his milk to Florida. Ontario`s milk stays in Ontario. This also cuts down on the burning of fossil fuels with all of those wasted trips! As for hog farms, funny thing, hog farms are one segment of Canadian agriculture that did not have supply management marketing boards, so it gives larger corporations more of a free hand to set up these large factory farm animal prisons, where holding tanks called 'lagoons' take in the raw sewage of hundreds, or even thousands, of pigs. These holding tanks have more sewage than cities of 1 million people, and they leach into water tables, pollution ground water systems. The stink from all around can be smelled for up to 12 miles away, and this lowers property values. And of course, because the animals are tightly packed together and get no exercise, and never see the light of day, they have to pump them full of steroids to beef them up, and pump them full of anti-biotics to ward off infections. In Virginia, 35000 miles of rivers have been polluted by large factory hog farms. And the methane from the sewage has, believe it or not, increased the acid in the rain. If you get rid of supply management marketing boards, like the wheat board, and start dividing farmers for the purpose of conquering like big business does, then the farmers will regret in in the future!

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Dave Ruston

Dave,

1. I'm always aiming for a perfect world.
2. Why do I see interviews with wheat farmers ticked off with the wheat board and the lack of freedom they have?
3. I also know a family in Manitoba that are equally ticked off with the way they're forced to sell their milk from their dairy farm. In some cases the milk gets dumped because they can't sell it on their own. They're not even allowed legally to give it to the poor. Why?
4. Are we having our first disagreement?