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2 - Orono Weekly Times Wednesday. April 13, 2005 ORONO WEEKLY TIMES - 5310 Main St., P.O. Box 209, Orono, ON LOB 1M0 Email: oronotimes@rogers.com or Phone/Fax 905-983-5301 Publisher/Editor Margaret Zwart Sports and Display Advertising - Donna Wood Front Office and Classified Advertising - Rosey Bateman Subscriptions $29.91 + $2.09 GST = $32.00 per year. - Publications Mail Registration No. 09301 • Agreement No. 40012366 Publishing 48 issues annually at the office of publication. •'We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Publications Assistance Program (PAP) toward our mailing costs. OCHS. v ipv «ms'W CüIlÜClSt Th, Orono Weekly Times welcomes letters to the editor on subjects of interest to our readers. ta rotlïned'wl £££' Rip-offs by any other name So, The Gomery Commission has released some information information on the Sponsorship scandal. The GTA newspapers describe the release as sensational! Well, maybe. Are you surprised by the news that "rogue elements ot the Liberal party were diverting taxpayer money into the coffers of their own party, and making a number of the friends of the Liberal party- into wealthy men? As one prominent resident of Orono (who happens to be a leader of the local cafe Riffraff) stated "who thinks that is news?" . . ,. , , There is a name for these activities now being investigated. In polite circles it is called patronage. In the environs of the cafe, we hear more descriptive words such as FRAUD, HIGHWAY ROBBERY, and other unprintable terms. Patronage has existed in Canada from the beginning. Much of the land in this area was given to friends of the Crown. Our first prime minister, Sir John À.Macdonald was justly famed as the father of our fine democracy. He was a remarkably intelligent gent; he was wise and determined, a judge of good whiskey, and, he was an expert on getting large sums of money from the wealthy for silly schemes, such as The Canadian Pacific Railway. That railway, which saved Confederation, was built on insight, hard work, vision, payola, and patronage. . . , So patronage and bribery is not new. What is new is that the witnesses in the Gomery Commission are trying to convince convince us that Jean Chrétien, Alfonso Gagliano, and their helpers developed new and better methods to rip off the Canadian taxpayer, and thus moved the patronage take from thousands to millions. The total bill will'be closer to the billion billion dollar mark. . To put that figure in perspective, in the most recent year tor which figures are available, lobbyists in Washington reported spending 15 billion dollars "to influence government actions". That is the amount of money spent legally in the U.S.A., by big corporations, and by unions, to get their own way. So , The Gomery Commission may end up proving that the "rogue" Liberals are not only crooks, but they are small time crooks Several spokesmen from the Province of Quebec are bewailing the possibility that all this may "tarnish Quebec's reputation for honesty in political activities." Our advice to those spokespeople is, "Don't worry, your reputation now is exactly the same as it was last year, or in the 1980 s, when "Honest Brian" and his cronies were dishing out patronage, and government contracts" Will that stop the current bunch of Conservatives in Ottawa from shouting for Martin's scalp? We certainly hope not. However, if anyone thinks that "patronage" stops at the Ottawa River, they are mistaken. Anywhere there is a politician, politician, there is a possibility of, "You scratch my back, 111 scratch yours". Even here in beautiful downtown Orono, we see that phenomenon. phenomenon. For example, is it a coincidence that one of the two newspapers that service this municipality receives much of the advertising dollars ( $2,000 a week) from the Municipality of Clarington, and the other receives little to none? It seems ironic that the lucky newspaper isn't even based in Clarington. That newspaper is unlikely to be critical of municipal events, because its mission is to distribute flyers, and to make profits. A local paper, that covers the local news, could be potentially dangerous to one, or more, of our elected officials. For example, a local newspaper may question why salaries are skyrocketing in the hallowed halls of Clarington. So, is the placement of ads really a coincidence? Did Paul Martin really "not know"? That leading spokesman for the local cafe Riffraff says; "They are all the same". He is wrong. In politics, as in any other field, there are a few very good, and very honest, people. people. There arc also frauds. In between, as is the case in all walks of life, there are those who are simply too weak to resist the backscratchers. We can do something about it. At the next Federal, and Municipal elections, you should spend the time to find out which is which, and vote the strong people in and the frauds and weaklings out. Over time, that will encourage good, capable, and honest people to run for office. Letters to the Editor Grass roots rally or OFA love-in? Dear Editor: We should have known the so-called grass roots rally held on March 6 in Port Perry, was really going to be an afternoon of light entertainment when there was a $10 cover charge at the door. You didn't have to pay the $10, but then you couldn't vote. Maybe our political parties should consider consider this approach to democracy? democracy? Brian Doidge made a credible credible presentation on the shortfalls shortfalls of the recent government announcement of agricultural aid. Sadly, after Brian spoke, the rest of the afternoon was a dog and pony show with OFA (Ontario Federation of Agriculture) representatives doing damage control on their inability to condemn the embarrassingly low aid package, package, and their failure to go through with the April 12th March on Ottawa. A new matter of a united voice, rather than one voice, was inti'oduced and a chart was used to show us how it would be much better - mostly because OFA was to be in charge. Suggestions that the Lanark Landowners Association Association (LLA) should be included was totally dismissed out of hand. This did not sit well with many in the audience, audience, who voiced their disap proval with reasoned arguments. arguments. However, the chair thought this discussion should take place after the vote. Some might argue that discussions discussions usually take place prior to a vote, but who am I to quibble? There were two ballots, the first for a rural revolt (taken LOVE-IN see page 4 Rural revolt Dear Editor: On March 22nd, over 300 angry, frustrated farmers gathered gathered at the Finch, Ontario Community Center. The vice president of the OFA (Ontario Federation of Agriculture) and regional directors of the Corn Producer and Soyabean Boards made presentations. During and after these presentations, presentations, the farmers verbally attacked these leaders, criticizing criticizing them for failing to act on their promise made four years ago. That commitment involved putting in place a commodity price support program program similar to the Quebec system. Farmers also lashed out saying that the boards and OFA must stop "pussy footing" footing" with, and cow-towing to, the government as this is not getting any results. The message message was to get down to hard union style bargaining with government. Negotiate on the basis that there will be serious consequences should government government fail to meet the farm/rural demands. It was argued that withholding withholding the growing of food would not work since wholesalers REVOLT see page 4