I almost gagged when I read your front-page article “Cold weather makes cattle greener.” I had to check and make sure it wasn’t dated April 1. Alas, it was the April 14 issue.
Attaching all these devices to cattle to measure for contributions to global warming seems somewhat foolish. For a true test of how much gas is expelled, they should be attached to the consumer of the byproduct. Go to a sports bar and add a beer to the steak ordered there. Or watch a federal debate on TV. No shortage of gas there.
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Supply management schism still dividing agriculture
Bill C-202 wound up pitting farmer against farmer for political reasons at a time when an unwritten law of Canadian politics remains very much in effect anyway.
John Bekeris St. Claude, Man. of Agriculture debate that the Conservatives will give farmers “freedom” to market outside the CWB whether they want it or not. His party’s platform ignores the principle that it is farmers’ decision to make, as it was in Ontario to end their single desk and in Quebec to create one. That the Conservatives have reverted to their anti-CWB form comes as no surprise. Stephen Harper’s hatred for the CWB dates back to his National Citizens Coalition days. His government has employed numerous tactics, some illegal, all unsavoury, to attack the CWB and he vowed to walk over anyone standing in the way. Walking over farmers’ right to determine the mandate of the CWB would be easily done by a Harper majority government.
The “freedom” Harper and Ritz offer is an illusion. The Ontario wheat board has virtually disappeared. Two years after losing its single desk the Australian Wheat Board no longer exists, absorbed by Cargill. The choice farmers would have is which multinational grain company they would prefer to take advantage of them. The majority of Prairie farmers understands the real choice and have strongly supported the CWB single desk in seven consecutive director elections. Farmers and indeed all Canadians deserve a government that respects the will of the people.
Bill Nicholson Shoal Lake, Man.
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