The Election is Coming

[Joe-2]

I'm telling my conservative MP that the only way he's getting my vote is if 100% BSE testing becomes party policy.
Let's face it,BSE is a load of crap.The "sound science" behind it is questionable at best and outright fiction to any person that can think for themselves.
The only way I see of getting out of this trap is to grab a hold of the BS in BSE and use it against those that are using it against us.Test them all.
Trouble raising capital for slaughter capacity??? Lenders will be tripping over themselves to back slaughter facilities if and when we can supply the export market with "Guaranteed BSE TESTED,Hormone-free,Barley fed,White fat source verified Canadian Beef".While we're at it we can beat the Americans over the head with their COOL law.
AT LEAST THINK ABOUT IT!!!

[CattleAnnie]

Can't sleep.
I'm absolutely livid with rage ever since I read the report on the Conservative MP blocking the ability of Parliment to fine a business in contempt of Parliment.
What the h e double l is going on with their heads?!
First thing tomorrow morning, sending messages to MP, MLA, PM, CCA, BCCA, Feeder Coop, Auction Market, etc.
Then will attempt to contact every producer I know.
What utter insanity. If a business refuses to co-operate with a government request, and is not penalized for doing so, what power does the government have to punish offenses to law? It's a double standard, because I'm sure that if you or I was audited and refused to comply, no MP would step up to bat for our "privacy".
Complete rubbish.
Vote conservative? Unless they recant, not a snowball's chance in Hades.
End of rant.

[kato]

I've already written an email to my local MP. He knows he's lost this vote, and why.

While I was at it, sent another message to Bob Speller and Paul Martin. That one was about the testing.

People don't think they can influence policies, but they really can. It's an election year, the only time anyone listens to regular citizens. Let's make use of it by voicing our concerns. If anyone is ever going to listen it is right now!

Call up your provincial cattle associations, your local MP, and whoever else you can think of. We should be making more use of the media, as well. In the middle of an election, they absolutely love to get ahold of stories like this. Letters to the editor, calls to the radio, etc.

We've got only a couple of weeks to make some noise and turn this into an "election issue".

[almoy]

Politicians will promise you anything at election time. Then they are elected and forget about their promises or say they can't afford them. That is the case with the education tax on farmland in Sask.

[cakadu]

Maybe Kato has the right idea. All kinds of elections will be coming this fall and throughout the winter months for some of these organizations. Maybe it's time for people with the producer's interests at heart to step up to the plate and start getting elected to some of these director/board positions. It may take time and it has to be done properly, but maybe, just maybe, some positive, forward-thinking change can take place. There is no time like the present and as Ghandi used to say "you are the change you want the world to become".

[kato]

Oh yea... I also sent a letter to the CBC.

R-Calf learned a long time ago that the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Look how far that small group of noisemakers have gone.

It's time for us to make a little noise of our own. We've got a lot at stake here.

[cowman]

I wonder what the senate could have done if they got the figures? Anything? ...I doubt it? And the truth is Canadians really couldn't care less anyway? I don't think your average Joe in Toronto or Vancouver gives a rip about who got their taxes?
Before we all go out and shoot the Conservatives because they basically said why waste the time and money on a meaningless excercise, maybe we should remember who set up the program that the packers ripped off? And at the same time remember we are basically dealing with LIBERALS, who gave us such fiscally prudent things as Adscam, the Public Works scandal, the rip off gun registry thing and who knows what else?
You won't vote Conservative you say? Well then who? The Liberals? If you vote for them then you deserve to get screwed...again! Well maybe the NDP? Perfect...you just wasted your vote and got the Liberals again!
The only party that just might have a chance of throwing these rascals out(and hopefully bringing them to justice) is the Conservative party...and that is a fact!
So if you like how things have been going in this country the last few years, hold your noses and vote to get screwed some more!

[cowman]

Making this an election issue doesn't exactly mean we all have to vote for the Liberals. You are right cowman, voting Liberal would be a backstep.
However, letting Harper know that we disapprove of his political posturing tactic of letting the Packers go, when they were found in contempt of Parliment is important. I beleive that they saw it as an opportunity to prove the Liberals wrong and rushed in.
Our governments need to hear from us cowman. Even though you feel your voice is small, it is a voice, and that is what Democracy is about. Just look at the attention Cam Ostercamp is getting from a five page essay. If it does not change the policy of the mainstream cattle industry players, it sure has, and will get more, peeved and thinkin.

[cakadu]

I'm not so sure that we can say that the average person does not care where their taxes go. Many more people were asking about why the producer was not getting the money that was supposedly earmarked to help them get through this mess. If nothing else, it may have helped to open the eyes of a few people and that is never a bad thing.

The Conservatives (former Reformers) have their base in the West and by voting down the motion, they essentially were snubbing the very people that they were elected to represent. Even if it were nothing more than political posturing given that the election call should be coming some time in the next few days, they still had opportunity to look like they might be doing something for us.

Any vote that I am going to give, will mean one less for the Liberals. At the end of the day, it may not amount to much, but at least I exercised my right.

Maybe at no other time in history (I'm not THAT old) has there been a less clear choice for leadership in this country. It is not an easy choice to make because unfortunately, we have a pretty good idea about the outcome of this election. It may not be as big a majority as in the past, but it will in all likelihood mean a majority once again. Having said that though, it doesn't mean that I have to roll over and "waste" my vote.

It's high time we started making our political representatives actually represent us, which incidentally wasn't the Reform party first elected in? They were going to represent the grassroots? So much for that I guess.

[cowman]

Linda: I too have a lot of problems with the new Conservative party. There are quite a few things they expouse that I am not too keen on(especially their toady attitude to the USA)! And hey, I actually kind of like Jack Layton...he definitely thinks outside the box!
But the fact is the Conservatives are the only party that stands a snowballs chance of knocking off the Liberals...or at least making them sweat a bit!
I am totally appalled by the arrogant behavior of the Liberals. They have taken chicanery and blatant theft to new heights? I figure, whatever it takes to turf them, right?
I suspect Stephen Harper is a man of integrity, but he is also a practical politician? Politics is a very dirty business and sometimes it is necessary to get down in the mud with the other pigs if you want to win? I think a politician can either stick to his high minded principles, and never get anywhere, or he has to make compromizes and do what he needs to do? It's called "taking care of business"! Or "keeping your eye on the big picture"? Not pretty, but necessary?
As Leo Durocher said "Nice guys finish last"!