Dear Editor
It seems Gerry Ritz was getting high praise for his ministerial efforts at his recent Lloydminster fundraiser (Regional Optimist, Dec. 26). This shows the Conservative disconnect with reality is alive and well in Battlefords-Lloydminster.
His gleeful destruction of the Canadian Wheat Board costs this riding alone about $30 million per year. It looks like the absolute loss of the protein premium in wheat in the inaugural 2012-13 open market crop year may have cost us closer to $100 million. Don't go blaming that on the recent high price of corn, because it has been at or near record prices since July 2010.
His next big projects are the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement and the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Canada is hugely dependant on trade, but the costs of these deals are colossal and the benefits are often illusory. CETA will increase the cost of prescription drugs to Canadians over $1 billion per year, hamstring the ability of municipalities to determine their own construction and service strategies, hand near complete control of seed and crop ownership to corporations, pry apart our supply managed farm sector and more. Explore the NFU and the Trade Justice Network on the Internet for the downside of these trade agreements.
Most interesting to a farmer like me is the quote from the CETA text that permits companies to seize everything I have on the mere suspicion that I may have somehow infringed patent.
Glenn Tait
Meota
