_ Farm crisis hits economy

The Agricultural Economics

Research Council of Canada has '

issued a number of statements
which, because of the Trudeau
austerity program and the wor-
sening of economic problems in
the country, underline the ad-
verse effect the crisis in agri-
culture may have on the entire
economy.

Dr. Gordon A. MacEachern,
President of the AERCC said,
“There are serious problems
confronting Canadian agricul-
ture that severely affect welfare
of rural people and the growth
of the overall Canadian economy
at this time.”

He claims there are three
. Ways to approach the question:
1) to maintain the present
Structure of Canadian agricul-
ture, with a speed-up in sales, or
grants and cash advances; 2)
encourage diversification from
wheat to feed grains and live-
_ stock production, requiring bet-
ter credit to farmers; or 3) to go
along and let the economic
forces work, “including govern-
ment monetary and fiscal re-
straint policy now operating”,
which would, of course, ruthless-
ly remove thousands more farm-
ers from the land, to join the’
growing unemployed in_ the
cities.

Dr. MacEachern calls for over-
all government agricultural plan-
ning based on world markét po-
tential, and the availability of
capital and credit to make it pos-

é

sible for Canadian farmers to -

meet whatever the market de-
mands, both on a long-term and
short-term basis. This is a sensi-
ble approach in the interests of
Canada. ~ et a OO te, ee Ba

Dr. MacEachern . states. that. a

By LLOYD MATTSON.

North and east of Regina some
85 miles, on the far side of the
Qu’Appelle Valley, is the File
Hills Indian Agency. File Hills
consists of four Indian’ bands,
ranging in size from Peepéekasis,
with 500 members, to Okanese,
the smallest in number, with
about 280. The other two bands
the Black Bear and Star Blanket.

During two visits to the area,
Mr. Bill Creeley, who served as
councillor and chief on Okanese
for a number of years, provided
the following information:

In 1945, when Bill came back —

to the reserve from overseas, via

Deer Lodge Military Hospital, .

about 400 band members lived

on Okanese reserve: Few band

members lived elsewhere. _
Today there are about 280

band members. Of these, 59 live ©

- on theireserve, with a family of
nine leaving in the near future.
The rest of the band who have -
not given up their. band rights

are scattered from Drayton Val-***

_ley in Alberta to Winnipeg.

There are 24 homes on the

reserve; 10 of these are lived in.
Although Indian Affairs builds.
new homes on the reserve for
the whole agency, many of these,
perhaps most, seem destined to
be ‘sitting empty, with the peo-
ple: living elsewhere. One new
house had been lived in two
months. Every window was

survey done by the AERCC in-
dicates there is a potential for
the export of farm produce, but
that Canada has not maintained
pace with other exporters of
wheat and grains because of
government policies, wihch he
classifies as a “lack of aggres-
siveness and strategies for great-
er market penetration.”

Boiled down to its essence, it
simply means that Trudeau’s ar-
rogant Winnipeg statement to
the farmers: ‘Well, why should
I sell your wheat?” is the be-all
of Ottawa’s policies.

Dr. MacEeachern more than

hints that the Research Council
may not go along with the gov-
ernment’s position that wheat
production must be drastically
cut, by stating: “The implication
for Canada’s agriculture is that
it may be in Canada’s interests
to act to retain more of our
wheat production potiential than
is frequently suggested, but with
some diversification to feed
grain and livestock.”
' This position is predicated
upon the conclusion that the
European Common Market’s re-
quirements continue to grow,
and that Canada can have a lar-
ger share of that market. It ne-
glects the vast potential of the
socialist camp and developing
countries. :

Dr. MacEeachern also points
to the fact that, although our
pork imports have increased by
400%, the beef population is de-
clining, there is very little in-
crease in livestock production.
The Trudeau restrictions, suppo-
sedly to control inflation, are at
the root of this problem, and are

“crippling the growth of an es-

“sential section of the Canadian

economy...” .

_-jobs are, elsewhere. Almost all

the adults would like to leave the
reserve. There is simply no way
to make a living. In five years
few will remain.

Okanese is nine by two-and-a-.

half miles. Of its 22% sections,
9 are cultivated with 5 sections
in crop this year. About 60 of
these acres are farmed by one
Indian, who uses borrowed ma-
chinery. All the rest is leased by
white farmers, almost ali by one
man. The band is paid a third of

~ the crop, but the Indians tend to

suspect declared low yields, es-
pecially when they have, in the
past, seen that the books showed
neighboring private farms to

-have far higher declared yields.

Over half this year’s crop is
uncombined in the fields, either

standing or. lying in swathes.

Band granaries are full; grain is
piled in the fields. Grain was

sold in July. None of this year’s

crop was moved. The money for
the July sale, some $900, is in
Ottawa. :

‘Two sections of fenced pasture
feed eight horses. Efforts to have

-Indians Affairs advance money

smashed. Floor tile was loose..

and warped. Deterioration was
underway. UBT ERO FiaileS

Young people are not staying
and will not be staying on the
reserve; they will be’

to stock it with a cattle herd
have failed.

Every cent of individual in-
come on the reserve this year
has come from government pay-
ments of one variety or another,
with three minor exceptions.
Three young men have received
some wages for house-building;
.the chief and two councillors get
wages of $35 monthly each; six

‘men picked roots and rocks for

the renter for a couple of weeks

Bolstering Dr. MacEachern’s
statement. about the importance
of agriculture to the whole econ-
omy are a press release and a
paper prepared by the Council,
Stating that agriculture and en-
terprises directly related to it
generate 42% of the Canadian
gross national product, agricul-
ture contributing close to 26 bil-
lion dollars to the Canadian
economy.

The Agricultural Economics
Research Council states that
“the role of agriculture to the
Canadian economy is multi-
dimensional in nature.” Because
of the specific type of products
produced within the agricultural
economy, which are the raw ma-
terials for a vast range of manu-
facturing, as well as the fact that
farming is a user of a wide var-
iety of manufactured goods, in-
cluding chemicals, machinery,
transportation, etc., it is an er-
ror to evaluate agriculture oniy
by examining its direct output
and the value it adds to the gross
national product, without taking
into consideration the effect of
agriculture on the demand for
other products.

For example, in 1967 Canadian
agriculture produced $4.4 billion
worth of products. Exports
amounted to $1.1 billion. Costs
approximately $1.3 billion. In
(inputs) were $2 billion, leaving
the same year the consumers
spent $10.5 billion on food and
beverages (retail), but the value
of this food produced in Canada
was $5.9 billion. Therefore,
leaving aside imports, this
means over One billion dollars
of raw agricultural products gen-
erated. $5.7 billion dollars for
food retailers alone.

a

The people need flour; they
have thousands of bushels of
wheat. They are not allowed to
have their wheat ground at a

flour. mill, but are informed that -

» government relief is-designed to

\

the this spring. All other money has ©
ere’ the come from working elsewhere.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—NOVEMBER 21, 1969—PAGE 4

take care of flour needs. Relief .

assistance is far from generous.
Relief for a single man is in
goods amounting to’$15 every
two weeks—$30 a month.

One immediate reason people
move to the city is that welfare
there assists them more than on
the reserve. Payments in the city
are in cash, whereas on the re-
serve they often consisted of sti-
pulated orders of flour, bacon,
tea, lard, beans, etc. as

For people leaving the reserve,
housing is a number one prob-
lem. Indian Affairs will not build
off the reserve, nor will they al-
low good new homes to be mov-
ed to neighboring villages or
urban centres. New houses de-
preciate unprotected, while peo-
ple abandon them to crowd into
inferior quarters.in the cities.
‘What ‘choice: have they?

On’ the other three reserves of

the File ‘Hills. agency, the same .

general problems seem to pre--

‘vail, although. conditions vary

‘somewhat from: band- to’ band.
Black Bear, for -example; - sold
half their’ Reserve land, 18 sec-
tions, bought cattle and _ started
a piggery..Also, they have an
allotment scheme in effect for
land ~iuseage; each. individual
makes His own’ leasing: arrange-
ment.‘Few::farm their own land.

Peepeekeesis uses the land. al-
lotment scheme also. Star: Blan- ..

ket operates similarly to

Okanese.

The arrogance of the CPR
knows no limits. Its application
to get out of the passenger
business undermines Canadian
unity and threatens the jobs of
thousands of railway workers.
Prime Minister Trudeau has
given the green light by public-
ly intimating that his govern-
ment will not “strongly oppose”
the CPR’s application. :

The further development of
Canada as an independent na-
tion depends upon the provision,
extension. and other improve-
ments of all types of transport.
These are decisive if we are to
open up new areas in the north-
land and to overcome regional
disparities.

The greater part. of all the
railway facilities and air ser-
vices are publicly owned. Sub-
stantial highway transport ser-
vices are operated by, or under
contract to, the railways. The
CPR stands outside of this, and
is not publicly owned.

In the interests of national
development, it is necessary to
nationalize the CPR, including
its highway transport and air
services and pipelines. The na-
tionalization of the CPR would
make it possible to create a
publicly - owned transportation
system, fully modern, covering
rail, road, air, water and pipe-
lines, with the public good as
the aim, and not private profit
as its purpose. Such nationaliza-
tion and integration makes it
possible to guarantee jobs to all
its present employees.

The all-round development of
our country, including national
unity, demands that transporta-
tion be considered as an instru-
ment to assist in achieving that
objective. A publicly-owned uti-
lity can be used by the federal
government to stimulate econo-
mic activity, to make sure activ-
ity possible in designated areas,
and to take many steps directly
‘in the interests of the nation.

- It can’t be denied that there .

is a need to adapt and change’

“services because of the enor-

mous changes that have taken
place ‘with rapid urbanization,
the epening of new areas of raw
materials extraction, and up-
surges of certain kinds of eco-
nomic activity.

Obviously alternative means

‘of transport can be used in an

integrated publicly-owned sys-
tem. Buses, trucks and planes
come in all sizes. The efficient
coordination of air, bus, truck
and railways would become pos-
sible to meet all problems.

The agreement of 1880 be-
tween the government and the
CPR Syndicate, contained the
objectives of national policy, i.e.,
the unity of Canada. The subse-
quent act of 1881 clearly de-
fined the CPR as an instrument
of national policy. Therefore it
is impossible to agree that the
railway business is just like any
other business.

Enormous «grants. of land,
money, and mineral rights have
enabled the owners of the CPR
to own or to exercise a control-
ing influence in a large number
of industrial complexes, mineral
extraction, © commercial — and
portfolio investment operations
which, together, comprise a
veritable industrial and commer-
cial. empire outside the field of
railway operations. _Consider-
ably more than half of the rich
actual- earnings of the CPR —
amounting to many tens of mil-
lions of dollars yearly — were

_ nues. The CPR acts solely i1 the

_ to run on CPR lines to prov:

‘and sell, the CNR would eitht

-nice tidy plum for the

made from fields other ~
tarnsportation. :

The CPR has not proven
its lines are either inefficien!
uneconomic. The figures
mitted by the railways t0 ©
MacPherson Royal Commis
were 46 percent and 51 per
above the figures used by
Royal Commission in compute ©
variable costs and overhead. Ti ~
Royal Commission, for examPt"
estimated that it cost $87 Oe
lion to move export grain an 5
of western Canada. The cP |
and CNR came up with te |

figure of $129,500,000. No om |
could file an income tax ¥ seal’

such a discrepancy, but the
ways have never explained ™
nor has an explanation bee

sisted upon.

’ The CPR classifies a low j
turn on capital investment
“uneconomical,” in fact a “1058
ignoring whether or not the 6”
vices provided are in the ™
tional interests. Freight give
higher return on capital,

therefore the CPR wants to!
pudiate its obligatious to pro
ide adequate passenger serv
in order to gain in freight 1

interests of its biggest shal
holders and bondholders.

to develop where many towns
and smaller centres, incl
areas with potential for fut
economic development expat
sion, are left with virtually. ay
passenger and rail service. Som’
of the. potash-producing 4 as

a

in Saskatchewan were et |
time slated for rail line 4 th
donment. ; q

js j°

If the CPR’s application N
granted, presumably the C
would then assume all passené

services. But, since it would hav”

that service, or over lines ff
CPR would propose to abant

have to pay a fee for operatit

on the CPR lines, or t0.- a
some of the CPR property ©
right at today’s high prices:

which got the land free if
first place.

We will then have a sit

for what is classified aS f
“low income” passenger S& t!
es, while the CPR concentté ae
on the gravy. Then the “free ©.
terprise” lovers will have 4 Pp
paganda field day “proving 4
the government is inefficient |
business as compared to priva
ownership.

The application: of the
should precipitate, the WI
and most united demand, P@ a
cularly from. the workers ae
farmers, for the immediate
tionalization of the CPR, ¥
out compensation.

a
‘CAUSE AND EFFECT

Ours is a sovereign nation

Bows to no foreign will

But when they cough it —

Washington

They spit on Parliament Hill.
“seh ays, Walle