Get back to work and stop playing political games on our dime
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).
Like many farmers our balance sheet seems to show an unending list of rising input costs and an income column which seems incapable of keeping up with those costs. The truth is that many families and businesses are facing similar kinds of pressures. Three stories that unfolded around the holidays show how backwards our priorities are in Canada.
The first took place just before Christmas; the fired former head of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation came to a settlement of $747, 925 with the Ontario government. She had sued the government for wrongful dismissal after being made the scapegoat for the government’s continued mishandling of the OLG. No doubt her lawsuit had some merit since instead of accepting its own responsibility the government went after her. But the thought that a contract for such a position was negotiated without an escape clause for the government, resulting in a payout of almost ¾ of a million dollars is obscene. No working person in this country, whether a farmer or any other category would ever be afforded such rich conditions of employment - unless of course they were a CEO in the private sector.
A recent study by the Centre for Policy Alternatives has found that CEO payments in Canada have outpaced inflation by 70%. So while companies were shedding jobs and putting people out of work the CEOs running those companies, many given huge tax breaks without a single string attached, were racking it up. Between 1998 and 2008 CEO salaries grew at a rate of 70 per cent higher than inflation, while the average wage earner LOST 6 per cent to inflation. Many of these people are only in their positions by accident of birth or connections, I have met some of them, for the most part they are no smarter, or more deserving than anyone else. If you remember your history, the Family Compact is still alive and well in Ontario.
We are a country quickly losing touch with our values. And it is no wonder. We have a government that is facing heat over several issues in Ottawa. Rather than respecting democracy and staying in the kitchen and facing the heat the government just shut down our Parliament and gave themselves an extended 2 month Parliamentary holiday. There are very serious questions about what our government ordered the good men and women of our military to do. None of those questions are about the average solider serving in Afghanistan, despite government pretence. Every single question relates to what the government knew and what they promoted. However, like schoolyard bullies suddenly confronted with their own misbehaviour they went running to their mommy, or in this case the Governor General. Now just so we are clear, proroguing Parliament is not all that uncommon an action. But never before has it been used to shut down an investigation into possible government wrong-doing. Nor has prorogation been for such an extended period of time. Normally if a government wants to change priorities they would prorogue say 24 hours before the next sitting of the House, not 3 months. Now, despite all the government - and let’s call them what they are – lies, this government has taken its marbles and gone home; meanwhile, all government bills, including such big ticket items as their anti-crime bill are dead at the government’s own hands, all committees are suspended and will not sit, including the agriculture committee at a time when some of our primary livestock sectors are on the brink. The government has knocked off work for months, but you and I will still be paying their salaries. Anyone who has watched this government run roughshod over farmers and their democratic rights and then brag about it should not be surprised by this government’s action
In any other country there would be people marching in the streets over a government that is attempting to muzzle all who question it, for these are the tactics of some of the world’s most questionable governments. Yet in Canada we sit back and dream of Olympic hockey gold, when the real gold of this nation, which we create as farmers, as workers and as citizens slips through our hands. At some point we average people are going to have to get involved in changing our country before it gets too late.
Grant Robertson is the senior elected official with the National Farmers Union-Ontario. As Ontario Coordinator Robertson is also a National Board Member of the NFU. Grant and his family farm near Paisley, Ontario. The author can be contacted at coordinator@nfuontario.ca
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