Plowing down the rural vote
With the prospect of a federal election already starting to work its magic on our normally level-headed politicians, this year's International Plowing Match on the "Flooded Fields of Friendship" on the shores of Lake Erie was a greater draw than ever.
Record rainfall and knee-deep muck did little to deter them from their appointed rounds. The show was closed on the first day, but the politicians still showed up; Premier Mike Harris and his caucus crammed into a machine shed on the edge of the mud bath.
The feds were there too. Three days later, a spry Jean Chrétien leapt into an IPM bullpen for Globe and Mail cameras, with that election gleam in his eyes - knowing full well that the Liberals, with 99 seats in Ontario, have nowhere to go but down.
It was plowing match politicking at its best, but farmers
should be looking beneath the smiles. Both Ottawa and Queen's
Park have redrawn the political landscape in Ontario, and
chances are the good that already-slim farm vote will get
slimmer.
Keeping a promise from his Common Sense Revolution, Harris has chopped 27 seats in the provincial Legislature, bringing the total from 130 to 103. The provincial electoral map will now resemble the federal one, which was changed last year. The Premier vows the move will save taxpayers $11 million. Farmers, however, who now comprise only three per cent of the population, could pay dearly. It's impossible to gauge the rural-urban vote split in Ontario with any accuracy; but a couple of points were made clear as Harris heaved the 27th chair onto a flatbed truck for the media photo-opp. at Queen's Park.
Northern Ontario is a definite loser, with six fewer seats on the new map. Farmers in Rainy River will now belong to a riding equal to one-third of the land mass of Ontario. In western Ontario, Grey, Bruce and Huron ridings will be collapsed into two: Bruce-Grey and Huron-Bruce. Under the new boundaries, Grey county council would deal with three MPs and three MPPs, hardly a cost-savings measure, says Grey-Owen Sound Tory MPP Bill Murdoch, who opposes the move. In eastern Ontario, Prince Edward-Lennox MPP Gary Fox will be forced to slug it out with fellow Tory Doug Rollins of Quinte, when their ridings are collapsed together; likewise for Middlesex riding's Bruce Smith and Peter North of Elgin. In other areas, rural areas are joined with urban, effectively silencing the farm voice. Agriculture Minister Noble Villeneuve's riding, for instance, will be carved into three, moving him from a strictly rural riding to one including the city of Cornwall.
Representation by population may be a lofty ideal, but it can't work in sparsely populated Canada; otherwise, the country would be ruled from the Golden Horseshoe. Mike Harris lamented the fact that the rains kept him from the politicians' plowing, where, at the '91 match in Lambton, he won "a bag of beans". Plowing up the electoral boundaries in rural Ontario may look good to the Tories' Toronto bean counters; but out in rural Ontario, it holds less water than a field of Haldimand clay.
Farmers and other rural Ontario residents still cling to an estimated 25 per cent of the vote. They should fight to keep it that way.
LETTERS
Positive approach
I wish to compliment you on the column "Plain English", by Ken Richards, in the July 16 issue.
The column conveyed the tone of affirmation and honouring of women, besides the entertaining poem. Thank you.
This positive attitude toward women stood out even more when our mail box yielded another Ontario farm paper on the same day, of the same date, which contained a cartoon and 'jokes' which I found offensive to women and children, though not intentionally, I'm sure.
I would like to offer my appreciation to you for the positive approach. I feel that if we are to make the world a better, friendlier, and safer place for all to live in harmony, we must intentionally respect each other and be more conciliatory in thought, word and action.
Bessie Vaneyk
Bowmanville
Twisted case
In the article "Container dispute pits paper against plastic",
Aug. 27 issue, there are statements we believe to be
misleading and distort the facts related to the corrugated
industry.
The article quotes unnamed grower representatives claiming the
corrugated industry is "twisting the numbers in a desperate
bid to save its market." Where are the examples of twisting
the numbers? We would like to see them.
We've made our study public so everyone can look at its
assumptions and conclusions. If Canadian Corrugated Case
Association's facts are wrong, as is claimed in the article,
we would like to see the underlying cost assumptions behind
the contrary opinions of the growers. We think growers and
other interested parties are entitled to know what these cost
assumptions are.
Let's get all the facts out on the table so that growers and
others can make appropriate and informed choices.
Steve Purwitsky
Executive Director
Canadian Corrugated Case Association
Button gets bouquet
Personal and professional thanks for Tom Button's excellent
article in the Sept. 10 issue, "Farming to feed the world".
It's this kind of quality research and presentation that I can
use to help my non-farming friends understand agriculture in
a balanced and unemotional way.
Lori Jamieson
Cambridge
lori.jamieson@sympatico.ca
...and brick
On behalf of the Ontario wheat growers and their crop
insurance program, I would like to express some concern with
Tom Button's article, "Wheat insurance falls short" in the
Aug. 27 issue. The article reported that the aggregate revenue
lost on the Ontario wheat crop to production shortfall was
$100 million, the crop insurance payout would be approximately
$14 million and the title suggests that this is unacceptable.
The $100-million loss is still considered to be accurate.
However, the story also stated that about 46 per cent of the
acres were insured. This would imply that loss on insured
acres was about $46 million. On the payout side of the issue,
the Crop Insurance Commission recently announced that, in
addition to reported payouts, a quality factor of 65 per cent
would apply to wheat of over 10 per cent fusarium, which would
raise the total claims to $15 million. Did crop insurance fall
short? I don't think so. The crop insurance plan will cover a
significant portion of the economic losses which were incurred
on insured acres. The plan is not designed to cover every
dollar of loss.
In summary, Ontario is fortunate to have an optional crop
insurance-market revenue program under the Canada-Ontario
Safety Net Agreement, and the producer still maintains the
right to participate or not, based on the individual's
perceived value of the plan.
Terry Ross
The Ontario Wheat Producers' Marketing Board
Chatham
[Ed. Note: The newest Crop Insurance Commission estimate puts wheat claims at $24 million.]
back
Phone line upgrade widens 'net
By ROBERT IRWIN
For years, along with many farmers, I have deplored the sorry state of rural phone service. Well, last month Bell Canada announced upgraded telephone service for some 490,000 rural customers in Quebec and Ontario. Details of this and other Bell changes are available through Bell's press releases page which is accessible through their home page.
Bell's announcement must be gratifying for everyone at the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA), whose research and lobbying efforts with both Bell and the Canadian Radio and Television Commission have moved us another step forward. "Electronic communication and information sharing is the way business is going to be carried out," says Gary Davison, chairman of the OFA Rural Affairs Committee.
Davison, who operates a beef feedlot near Port Colborne, says he has attended meetings involving commodity boards and other farm organizations where initially few participants had an e-mail address to exchange with others in the group.
Invariably, each time the group meets, he says, the number with e-mail jumps. "At the pork board there are now only two directors without e-mail," he says.
Davison's own phone lines support fax and Internet and he's no stranger to e-mail. Unfortunately, he can't get on the Internet and savour the goal he's been struggling for, a difficulty he shares with many other rural computer users. Bell is still leaving some stranded with party lines so the struggle isn't over but there was more good communication news for many Ontario and Quebec communities last month as Internet Service Provider (ISP) netROVER, followed other ISPs by slashing rates. Unlimited Internet access time for a modest $16.67 a month is now available around centres like Chatham and Kitchener. Price isn't the only consideration when choosing an ISP. It's nice to get a commitment about the maximum number of subscribers they assign per modem. If the ratio is more than 10:1, chances are you'll sometimes experience busy signals when trying to log on. Some ISPs cut corners by limiting the number of news groups they carry. At last count, there were more than 15,000 news groups, so it's a good idea to choose someone who carries your favourites. One netROVER feature I like is their Network Operations Log established to keep their users informed about problems on the net at all levels of responsibility. Anyone who can remember back to Sunday, Sept. 15, 1996 will recall that many web sites were difficult to reach.
That day, I was thinking bad thoughts about my own ISP until I saw the netROVER bulletin advising that a Sprint router had failed in the Toronto area. Their log is accessible to anyone through their website.
If you're near a tiny isolated community wondering whether Internet will ever reach you, check out Mississauga-based CANCOM, a Canadian success story. Their Internet Outpost Network launched in 1995 now serves almost two dozen communities across Canada.
Cited in the September issue of the respected US Internet magazine Boardwatch, CANCOM is apparently the only organization in the world using two-way satellite technology on a large scale for Internet. Hookups at speeds of 28,800 BPS are common but they can even provide bandwidth required for fast cable modems.
In Ontario, service has already reached Wawa, Parry Sound, Geraldton, Elliot Lake, EarFalls and Chapleau. The $80-million-a-year company has set up schools and small computer stores as ISPs. CANCOM claims, depending on bandwidth and service requirements, an investment of between $15,000 and $85,000 will allow a small-town entrepreneur to become a satellite ISP.
Happy with a farm computer program? Feeling vitriolic about a web site or ISP? Your comments are invited. Write to rirwin@hawk.igs.net