Unfair?

[cakadu]

The points you raise are valid, farmerson and I think we need to look at more than just the revenues that come from oil and gas. There are definite costs to extracting the oil, not the least of which is that it is non-renewable.

By the time this does become an issue, many of us will have long since departed and I wonder what we are leaving for future generations? Undoubtedly there will be far different forms of energy to power vehicles. There are always costs to what we do and I wonder what the true costs of all this oil and gas extraction will actually be.

[ivbinconned]

"The oil and gas industry is exploiting that resource to their benefit"!!

Using the term "exploit" betrays your bias, sounds like the NDP mentality in my province where we have blocked such development and left it in the ground and exported our kids instead. The oil and gas industry has UTILIZED” that resource, to the great benefit of all Albertans. Those farms and ranches that have had activity on their land have enjoyed a direct benefit and without such would not be viable. Some even use the funds to invest in Saskatchewan….thank God.

But my concern is not only about money and revenues. When I see farmers jailed for trying to sell the fruits of there own labor and men being thrown in jail on trumped up firearms charges as happened the other day in Ontario and after 17years of the West trying to send Ottawa a message like we never have before and getting insulted by the prime minister and the CBC every election, and seeing 75 year old men who have paid taxes, been very productive all their lives and offering to pay for their hip replacements then having to wait months and months to even see a specialist, this makes me mad.

When I see Albertan’s being ignored when electing their own senators, and the WESTERN beef industry slowly but surely over time falling subservient to foreign interests with the feds showing little concern, all the while allowing them to operate in OUR country in a manner that they are NOT allowed to in their own country…we are betrayed!! When Alberta cash goes now to Quebec to help keep their beef industry viable…I am appalled.

President John Kennedy said nothing politically happens by accident…every thing is planned, no matter how it may appear. Could it be that the bring down of the western Canadian beef industry has been a “plan”…judging by the lack luster efforts of our federal government to resolve it …..

There is no valid argument to suggest that Western Canada would not be better off today if under self government. Separating would be the best thing that ever could happen to the socialist governing elite in Ottawa who have only held on to power because they are able to prop up their failed policies by robbing those who can not defend themselves under the present system. They would have to face reality, as we all should.

My friends, “Rising above the prevailing mediocrity requires of the individual that he or she recognize that a good society stems exclusively from the habit of right thinking and doing on the part of its citizens… To rise above mediocrity is nothing less than aligning one’s self with reality, that is, participating right now in an input of thoughtful, responsible citizenship that makes an increasing take-out possible not only for self but for generations to come.”

Now finish your coffee and get to work.

[dolin]

well, we paid 245.00 for the start,plus percentage of the sells.40000 not 400000 farmers

[cakadu]

Thanks for the clarification dolin. There is still money paid in and the UPA does some pretty good things, from what we were shown.

The exploitation for the oil comes in the form of water being taken out of the hydrological cycle forever, environmental and wildlife habitat forever being altered, reclamations not being carried out or more imporantantly - not enforced, scarce water resources not being protected - all those things that money will not be able to fix, no matter how much of the stuff you throw at the problem.

We are fortunate to have the oil, but what happens when it runs out? You and I will not likely be here when it does, but future generations will be - what will we have left for them to inherit? Money isn't everything and I would say other than buying the essentials for life it is not good for much more - nor will it ever be.

If your grandchildren or great-grandchildren have no potable water available from the tap, or can't drive out and see wildlife and birds - at the end of the day, what have we really accomplished?

[cowman]

Linda: What happens when the oil runs out?...I would suggest to you that long before you(or maybe even I) are gone there will be very many alternative sources of energy? The "oil age" is rapidly coming to an end and could be replaced at any time if there was the "will"to do it? Unfortunately in this world, money calls the shots?
On another note... I hear a rumor you are running in Div. 5 for councillor...any truth in that?

[wd40]

Iwould hope that before someone runs as a local politician they would take a trip around and get a reality check.

For one the only reason there isn't wide spread use of alternative fuels and ouils is because the oil companies want to use up what is here.
SEcondly, no one really knows for sure how much world oil there is. It's all conjecture. It may be replenishing it self as fast as we use it.

[bombay_43]

Perhaps a visit to this site, will enlighten those who want to know more about the Quebec Farmers Union.

Dolin, it is my understanding, that it was a voluntary union not too long ago. Is this true? I have read that over 95% voluntarily signed into this union.

http://www.upa.qc.ca/eng/index_flash.asp

[dolin]

if we don t pay ,we don t have 70 per cent return taxes of school and municipality.so we don t have a choice.

[ivbinconned]

%70 return of property tax if we all belong to the same organization! What a blessing that would be in Saskatchawan where we pay the highest property taxes in Canada.
Doesn't sound like divide and conquor to me which is the way we do things in the west.

Another site we can use to find out how things work in Quebec is www.financiereagricole.qc.ca

However you need to be able to read French...can anybody here do that???

[cakadu]

One of the reasons that alternative fuels are not popular is because of their high cost - still well over $1/litre, so they are not economical from that standpoint.

Alternative fuel production would be an example of how to get some activity back into the rural areas and help with rural development. A company that is making a canola or soy based fuel, for example, generally has it's plant within a 150 km radius of its source.

The bio-based economy is going to bring a much needed injection into the rural economy.

Big companies like Shell, for example, have invested in alternative fuels, so there are some big dollars going into this type of research.

Cowman, in answer to your question - yes.

[ivbinconned]

Cakado; you said there is more to consider than oil or money...yes you are right. Here is the perspective of another Canadian not happy with a Canada that he can not have one bit of influance on because he is from the West.

What is Fascism? To quote Mussolini " Nothing outside the state,above the state,against the state, everything to the state, for the state, in the state." Sounds kind of like what Canada has become. No property rights, state control of the methods of self defense, confiscatory taxes about 60-70% of gross income. They have risen 1380% since 1961 according to the Fraser Institute. State managed food production. Forty to fifty per cent of all people working for the state in one way or another. Severe erosion of individual rights by the state. Every facet of your life controllled and taxed in some way by the state. Three million people in Alberta and the ROC bear a burden and must comply with over 400,000 pages of laws rules and regulations of our lives. People are locked up for selling their own property. People are locked up or fined for expressing their opinion. The media is under strict state control. Witness CHOI FM in Quebec. Witness people being locked up for speaking inside a bubble zone around abortuary's. Witness election gag laws. All Albertans have had to register their wells and dugouts with the government, and have been told by Ralph Klein that the government owns their water. When will men and women of Liberty Stand Up ... Soon I hope.----IF YOU HAVE NOT SUFFERED ENOUGH IT IS YOUR GOD GIVEN RIGHT TO SUFFER SOME MORE.------

[cowman]

Good for you, Linda. Good luck.
Got to agree with you ivebinconned! Get awful sick of the government telling me everything I've got to do, so I won't be a burden on the state! Example" I must wear a seatbelt because if I get injured it will cost medi-care too much to treat me! Or can't smoke because I'll cost the welfare state too much...don't smoke but would like to make my own darned choice!
Medi-care took away a lot of our personal freedoms and further advanced the cause of the nanny state!
Another thing that really bugs me is I have to be "politcally correct" or else! Can't speak what you believe anymore...mustn't offend you know? So if you have a belief that abortion is murder you sure had better not say it, as you might offend the murderers!
Or this totally foolish idea that everyone can do any job? So you get some little bit of a girl going to be a roughneck on a service rig? Absolutely ridiculous! And yet you can't state the obvious or the "thought" police will be after you!
This is turning into one silly country.