Weekly Commentary

In the wake of the news of a Listeriosis outbreak at Maple Leaf Foods I observed in a 2008 commentary that it was likely that governments would bring in a whole new set of rules, claim it was thus doing something about food safety, yet most of those rules would actually have almost nothing to do with producing safer food.  I went on to predict that a goodly number of those rules would hit small, local processors the hardest, when ironically they have not been the source of most problems.
 

Many people are only now becoming familiar with a website called Facebook, due to the more than 200,000 Canadians who have joined a group protesting Stephen Harper’s decision to knock off work for several months by proroguing Parliament. 

I am starting to think that farmers have chosen the wrong profession in terms of economic return.  So too for factory workers, small business owners, store clerks, or just about anyone who lives pay cheque to pay cheque or has to create their own income.  I am also starting to wonder what it will take for those of us who do the wealth creation in this country to get off our duffs and actually stand up and do something about the way Canada is evolving (if I can use such a word).
 

In a hotel room in Guelph, hearings have been going on that will define the future of pork production in Ontario.  If the history of other jurisdictions is any indication, than if the appeal of an ill-conceived decision by the Farm Products Marketing Commission is not upheld then we could very well see the final nail in the coffin of independent family farm pork production in Ontario.