Halton Hills Newspapers

Acton Free Press (Acton, ON), May 31, 1967, p. 11

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pjf vv t 1- i it a busload of halton county farmers otnad the ontario and quebec farmers protest march on ottawa on wednesday of last week but they were not a part of the unruly mob that stormed the parliament buildings broke windows and scuffled with the mounties in an attempt to enter the house of com mons the halton delegation 46 strong ranging in age from 17 to over 80 years and representing nearly every type wf farming enterprise in the county was back at major hill park preparing to board the bus for home when the firedup quebec farmers spoiled the otherwise peaceful demonstration with an outburst that will long j jwnembered members of the halton delega tion back to milton that even ing we were after a little more sure future we would like to know where we are agoing chimed in ms wife we havent much control over the price of our products and it was wonderful to see the unity among the fanners there to day all working for the com mon cause the 360 cost of the bus was borne by the halton federation and the county milk commit tee a week earlier the two groups had called a meeting of county farmers when 100 at tended to discuss the protest march and agreed to join it the whole march was spark ed by the announcement of a new dairy policy but the farm ers admitted the idea had been contemplated for years be- over the lack of a milk subsidy and the ab sence of an overall dairy poli cy that would ensure the farm- era of a good future in their chosen occupation the halton group took thing 17hour trip to the nations capital to join thousands of other fann ers representing seven prov inces to press their demands on the government leaders and they took the day away from their work in the midst of a busy seeding season but none begrudged the time or the inconvenience i feel our trip was worthwhile summed up halton federation of agriculture president denzil lawrence thank you all very much for coming he told the busload at the end of the tir ing day the protest march termed the biggest mass demonstra tion ever witnessed on parlia ment hill in canadas history produced several firsts it was the first time the ontario federation of agricul ture the ontario farmers un ion and the union catholique des cultivateurs from quebec had organized together to em phasize their longstanding de mands for a better deal for the farmer it was the bestorganized peaceful demonstration ever seen in ottawa with the excep tion of the events after 3 pm when the excited quebeckers stormed the house it showed the government the farmers felt strongly enough i about their demands to take an entire day off work to demonstrate and on the local level it proved to the farmers of hal- ton th w togeth t ward a common goal whether they operated a beef dairy poultry hog or general farm ing operation if numbers count we did a lot of good today smiled mr lawrence as the bus rushed the 4ft tired but exhuberant haitons marchers haitons march to ottawa delegation included marshals denzil lawrence and george pelletterio and the following gordon jefferson doug ro bertson frank mcgibbon wel ly harris william rayner frank opstcen mr and mrs art plant glen colbeck mrs denzil lawrence mrs william mahon mrs george pelletterio bruce bawden walter eager mrs clarence mccready miss bessie smith mrs john gal- braith harold middlebrook bert davidson charlie david son gordon rognvaldson j mccullough ken ella floyd pickering harold biggar ed die brigden ray break grant williams tom alderson vic lawrence gordon sinclair tom boughton elmer fos ter fred workman and fred workman jr martin vander- boom mac alexander clar ence anderson guy wilson j e snow spencer wilson and mr and mrs brown j j oreen minister of agri culture and maurice sauve minister of agricultural devel opment face the crowd on parliament hill f quality ba products save you money gasoline motor oils dkncf fuel fuoloits stovo oils m sniewaat i oil burner finance plan 10 years to pay small carrying charges dependable service thompson fuels ltd phone 1532370 acton after hours 1532174 cause of discontent over the lack of an overall agricultural policy that would enable farm ers to plan their operation like any other businessmen a brief prepared by the three groups in charge of the mass demonstration reviewed the lack of assistance the gov ernment has given farmers and called for a farreaching agricultural policy covering a variety of fanning operations the halton bus picked up its first three passengers at pal ermo at 5 am wednesday an other 20 or so in milton at 510 and the final 20 at horn by by 515 am the 39 men and seven women settled down for a long ride to the nations capital as the bus pulled onto highway 401 within an hour group marsh al denzil lawrence was pass ing out name cards bearing thema fe sym j onglhe route the bus passed several other busloads of farm ers heading to ottawa for the same purpose the group rnattrd amiably with each other discussed the late seeding this year and swapped stories on how they managed to get away for the day in such a busy s tom broughton of bronte president of halton hog pro ducers said he was out feeding his 350 hogs at 430 ajn in or der to catch the bus by 5 feed prices are going up all the time he was saying but hog prices went down this year a floor price of 24 cwt on the first 100 hogs and a s3 subsidy on grade a hogs helped the small producer but wasnt much help to him and a dozen other large producers in the county who shipped half of haitons production of 22000 hogs last year ita time we went to the government and let them know how we feel suggested harold biggar of otakville it seems like they only listen to pressure groups these days they arrived on ottawas outskirts at 915 am to stretchtheir legs and headed for major hoi near the parliament butt idc perkrwes already e sea- or humanity when the halton group arrived and a new bus load of marchers was pulling in every minute or so officials used walkietalkies and run ners and a loudspeaker system to organize the groups and lo cal marshals were in charge of every so or so marchers elmer foster was kidding tom alderson because tom was dressed up you look too prosperous tom with a shirt and tie on youve got to look poor when you go out beg ging he joked the hahon group under the directions of marshals law rence ends george pelletterio rounded up a county banner and a couple of placards tack ed to stick haitons signs read consumers will pay more if the corporate sector takes over food production and farmers are efficient now lets have decent prices they busied themselves read ing the other signs around he park how does someone who does nothing do every thing wrong asked one sign while another proclaimed farmers are tired of turning the udder cheek a little dab wont do said another canadian producers net 25 cents an hour for their labors and thaw out frozen prices said others several ministers mainly from united churches in on tario were seen throughout the crowd the united church of canadas board of evangel ism and social service recent- lv passed a resolution calling on the church to support the farmers in their efforts to res ceive just returns for their product and the numerous clerical collars in the crowd bore out the fact many minis ters had taken the advice to i 46 halton county farmers joined the protest march at ottawa wednesday the ultimate march by joining the free milk was distributed to the marchers courtesy the on tario milk marketing board and the county milk commit tees the marchers ranged in age fiom children to grandmoth- icrs and about onequarer of them were women one stun ning girl with the kent county delegation looked like anything but a farmers wife she came in ai formfitting rather short flaming pink wool suit and wore dyed platinum hair over a heavily painted though pret ty face but due to their early ar rival the halton marchers had a long wait before the actual march got underway photographers and radio in terviewers circulate through the crowd parliament hill scene of unruly demonstration what started as a peaceful demonstration on parliament hill last wednesday afternoon turned into a mob scene that disgusted the ontario march ers who joined the protest of canadian agricultural policies windows in the doors of the main entrance to the parlia ment buildings were smash ed several demonstrators scuffled with rcaijp sticks were banged against the walls insults were hurled in french and commons guards locked the doors to the people for the first time in canadian his tory the unruly part of the de monstration lasted only a few minutes but several of the marchers stayed for three hours before tempers cooled and they sulked back to their homes across the river in que bec speeches of agricultural minister j j greene and min ister of rural development maurice sauve fired up the protesters as they stood in the hot sun in front of the capital building with the exception retreat through the throng of thousands who blocked their way the mess took hours td disperse just three small panes of glass were damaged in the me lee a taxi was rocked back and forth the demonstrators beat on the doors with their sticks a handful of mounties was almost powerless as they attempted tokeep order the crowd sang and hurled insults in french one man who had earlier menaced spea kers on the platform with a large mallet to which was af fixed a sign reading sharp qlafewloudfistshakingrqae marchers ivonwtbratrdislf acton ontario wednesday may 31 1967 15000 marchers long wait for short march haitons delegation of farm ers at ottawas protest march on wednesday had a long wait in the hot sun before they got a chance to join the rest of the demonstrators for a isminute walk to the parliament build ings they stood from 10j0 ajn to 1245 pan in major hill park before they got into the parade some of the ladies had thoughtfully brought along small folding seats which made the wait a little more comfortable as the time went by the public address system blared out announcements and greetings were waved and shouted as new county groups arrived to join in the demon stration at 1130 am officials from the sponsoring organizations read speeches to the assembly of 6000 ontario and martimes farmers someone read the lengthy brief that was at that moment being presented to prime minister pearson min ister of agriculture j j greene and the governments agricultural committee of 11 other members dairy go with 00 living while they spoke ottawa po licemen motorcycle patrols and the unobtrusive r c m p kept an eye on the proceed ings one man thought to be an intoxicated outsider was escorted from the crowd but it was an otherwise peaceful morning in major hill park we will march off in coun ty groups as soon as the que bec delegation comes across the bridge from hull blared the loudspeaker at 12 noon it was a sight never to be forgotten as the thousands in the park heard an outburst of singing and looked out over the river to see the quebec farmers marching proudly ac ross the bridge the first group of uc c members broke out in a song alouette as they neared the park and a thunderous applause rose through the trees as the ont ario marchers greeted them with hurrahs and cheering and clapping it was 12 jo when the first quebec group arrived behind them stretched out another 8000 or 9000 other quebec farmers they kept pouring across the bridge laughing and shouting and waving their multicolored placards for a full 55 minutes as the quebec groups reach ed the park ontario groups were fitting into the parade continued on page bb bee farmers who crowded the official platform throughout the speeches all was calm un til just before 3 pm when the microphone was shut off and the officials left the stage instead of heading back to their buses like the ontario delegates the quebec group stormed over the platform and right up to the parlia ment building waving their placards and chanting we want 5 milk they marched up to the front door and looked as if they would enter the house but guards closed the heavy oak doors and as the crowd press ed onward the leaders were al most trampled in the crush when those up front realized they wouldnt get into the building it was impossible to ed at the rcmp many as they left grabbed tulips from the gardens surrounding the buildings the halton busload of far mers was oblivious to the com motion while it was happen ing they were marching back to major hill park to await the bus which was to take them home staff reporter roy downs who accompanied the busload to ottawa had stayed behind to watch the mob storm the house when the halton group left parliament hill when he returned to the bus and told the halton group about the commotion they could not be lieve it had happened after what to them had been a peaceful demonstration on the lawn crowd disappointed mike didnt appear leaders of three political parties were present when the ontario and quebec farmers loudlv emphasized their de mands on parliament hill on wednesday just two were ab sent prime minister lester b pearson and social credit leader robert thompson pc chief john diefenbaker was in the crowd while agri cultural minister j j greene gave a speech half in english and half in french tommy douglas of the n d p and real caouettc of the creditistcs were on the plat form during the hour of speechmaking although nei ther was called on for any comments caouettc shook hands with several quebec supporters who crowded the stage shouting his name and at one point at the end of the speechmaking a handful of quebec farmers hoisted him to their shoulders the halton people were dis appointed the prime minister wasnt on hand to witness their 15000man demonstrat ion mrs marlon lawrence wife of phe halton federation of agriculture president denzil lawrence of milton was quite disappointed that mr pearson was not there he knew weeks in advance that we were coming and we left our seeding to go to ottawa yet he was too busy to take a few minutes to see us several others on the home wardbound bus agreed with her including one lady who said im disappointed n him too and im a liberal nowl a slideout ovon for standup cieaninol exclusive frigidaire pull n clean oven ends downonyourknees cleaning drudgery cookmastar oven control starts cooksstops all automatically at times you select frigidaire filigree glass oven door is decorative see in as you bake ra39k oni only i so ranot with rottssfrk sptoal 19j0o 29 manning electric

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