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Copyright © 2001 Eastern Ontario Farmers Forum Inc. All Rights Reserved |
EDITORIAL
WHY THE GOVERNMENT DOESN'T TAKE YOUR LETTERS SERIOUSLY
By: Terry Meagher
Former Kemptville College
principal John Curtis became head of the crops section for the Ministry of
Agriculture and had to move from small-town Canada. He was amazed at the
volume of traffic and the seeming chaos around Metro Toronto. A senior
bureaucrat told him nobody should try to fix it because it all worked.
Agronomist and Farmers Forum columnist, John Madill, explained why
everything worked passably well. The thousands of individuals are much more
capable of patching together a such a complex system than any computer system
built by Microsoft, he said. Individuals, because of their flexibility and
creativity, are capable of making a faulty system or bad ideas work passably
well time after time.
Governments knows this. Indeed, the adaptability of the individual is the unspoken cornerstone on which governments depend. Yet a government in a democracy, wishing to remain long in power, tries to increase its chances by sedating large blocks of the population so they let the cat out of the bag. Closing access to information is one way of keeping the individual from knowing how incompetent or dishonest the people spending the money are. Tied with such secrecy is a good public relations campaign run full-tilt all the time.
People who attack Michaelle Jean for separatist sympathies have a point but her real function will be as a government photo opportunity. She’s young, pleasing to the eyes and a symbol of a rich man’s racial tolerance. Rich visible minorities and beautiful visible minorities have never had any trouble fitting in, but poor ones have.
The photo opportunity and stupid reporters are great assets for creating the impression that all is well in Lotus Land. When the United States opened to Canadian cattle on July 18, the Canadian government orchestrated a photo-op of one truckload of Canadian cattle crossing the border. The problem had been solved. CBC and every major news outlet in Canada said it was thus. But by August 2, only 155 cattle were crossing daily, compared to 4,000 daily in pre-mad cow times. Dairy heifers had no place to go and beef farmers had a record surplus of animals.
One of those "small irritants" is the U.S. subsidy on grain and oil seed crops forcing Canadian farmers out of business. As long as American farmers receive such subsidies the world price of corn and soys will stay artificially low. But farmers going bankrupt in Canada is a small irritant. The system is working: The supermarkets are full of food and business at food banks is brisk.
A month or so ago grain associations gave their farmers cards to take home, fill out and send to their Members of Parliament. A family at the kitchen table might think it has some impact writing to a member. But in truth the card is only a minor irritant and much more needs to be done.