As I write this at 7:30 on Monday morning, before the final day to cast our ballot, not even the best pollsters, newspapers, radio or TV anchors will predict who will guide the ship after all our votes are counted this week.
What were the big, hot topics? How Canadians did or will do reducing and controlling the COVID-19 virus is probably our main focus although some will disagree. Getting our economy rolling again is in everybody’s mind but people have to get safely back to work first. Also, are we looking at a short term fix to our economy or are we focused on a long term sustainable solution?
A reduction in food prices is an election promise of one party. I guess that party doesn’t know that our Food Freedom Day (the day that if the average worker’s wages all went to pay for groceries, all the food needed for the year would be paid off) is reduced by a day or two every year. The 2021 Food Freedom Day was Feb. 9.
There already has existed for years a COP, or cost of production, for everything farmers produce or consumers eat, from milk, to beef, to wheat to make flower, to corn to make corn flakes, to Stevia.
The COP includes interest on what farmers pay on their borrowings, cost of repairs for everything from fences to combines, fuel costs, taxes on land, wages paid to employees, rent paid to property owners, feed cost for animals, veterinary costs to keep animals healthy, trucking costs for everything trucked in or off the farm and I could fill two or three pages with everything that is included in the COP formula.
The Canadian government has COP costs and has kept records of costs for years. In analyzing COP many products like milk and the bottom least efficient farms are not included in the average COP.
Although there still remain some climate change deniers, climatologists worldwide have logged many years of data and have warned us that our planet is warming up at an increasing speed that within a few years will be irreversible. Although it will be neat to grow your own oranges in the backyard in the Ottawa Valley, California will become a desert and food prices will not only skyrocket so only the rich can afford to eat, but grocery shelves will cease to be filled with food at any price.
Canada is still the most desired country in the entire world to live in.
Let’s pray that our new team of leaders in parliament maintain Canada as the best place in the world for every reason. Let’s work with whoever gets elected to assist them in keeping our little piece of heaven the best place to live.
Chris Judd is a farmer in Clarendon on land that has been in his family for generations.
gladcrest@gmail.com
