Dear Editor
"Cap on trade?" Was that an error by John Cairns (Shutting the door on the year of the politician, News-Optimist Jan. 4) or was that what cons were really saying during the election? The environmental policy the NDP campaigned upon was called "cap and trade," a strategy of slowing industrial CO2 emissions substantially similar to what the Cons themselves had proposed a few years ago.
It is ironic the Cons have actually placed a cap 'on' trade here in the Battlefords and across the prairies. With the destruction of the single desk of the Canadian Wheat Board and across the prairies, we see the loss of a half billion dollar economic engine. Tens of millions will be lost from the Battlefords area alone. We farmers will lose the well-documented premium we get from foreign buyers and without our advocate we will pay out more money to the shareholders of CN and Viterra. I would have been much happier to spend that money in town.
Think that competition will raise the price of grain? No, a dozen new sellers will now have to compete to sell it first and the price will be lower than it should have been.
Think new processing jobs will suddenly spring up? No, the economics of processing and transportation remain the same no matter how chap the raw product gets. Bread and pasta will still be made in the same plants as they are now. A few believers may start some new enterprises, but simple economics tells us that the value of the jobs created must be much less than the drop in the price of the raw materials or the new plant will lose money before it starts.
One hope that we have is that, because the CWB was destroyed unlawfully and under NAFTA foreign countries can sue governments for profits they never made, we can successfully sue the federal government for the half a billion to $1 billion annual lost (real) income. Congratulations to all you taxpayers who voted Conservative.
Glenn Tait
Meota
Editor's note: While glad to give Glenn Tait an opportunity to air his views, his jumping off point was not, in fact, an error on the part of John Cairns. Cairns' sterling reputation for accuracy has been sullied by what was actually an unfortunate bit of tampering by his editor. His original copy, containing the phrase "cap and trade," was altered by me.
- Becky Doig
