Times are tough, no time for sleep. Lobbyists for Supply Management ("SM") must earn their keep. NAFTA and TPP are on the rocks. Canada's SM is being stared down by the hungry wolves around the globe. Can SM survive?
Maxime Bernier likely lost the PC Leadership race because of his stance against SM; one of the first Canadian politicians to do so. You have to admire this guy's courage and fortitude.
Alberta's PC members introduced a motion debated at the 2018 PC Policy Convention to end SM:
“In
order to lower the cost of food for Canadians, strengthen the
agricultural sector and open more markets worldwide for Canadian
exporters, a Conservative government will phase out supply management
while smoothing the market adjustment for Canadian farmers,” reads the proposed change.
In one of the many other puff pieces designed to support SM, I chose to respond as follows:
Dear Alan:
I saw your article "Canada mustn’t cave on milk marketing" in Charlottetown's The Guardian newspaper on Aug. 26, 2018 (https://www.theguardian.pe.ca/opinion/columnists/alan-holman-canada-mustnt-cave-on-milk-marketing-236378/ ).
It appears that you tried to address all of the standard arguments against Supply Management. I would like to reply to each of those arguments, and add a few additional arguments on the other side.
Before I begin, I want to make full disclosure of my bias on this hot issue. I am a small flock chicken farmer, one of 60,000 or so non-Supply Management (ie. non-SM) chicken farmers across Canada. There are about 4,000 SM chicken farmers in Canada, which is just 6.6% of all Canadian chicken farmers. Small flock, non-SM chicken farmers have had our rights and freedoms stolen from us so that the SM chicken farmers can rule the roost, and impose tyrannical rules upon the non-SM chicken farmers. I call it *Chicken Apartheid* because SM allows the minority to dominate and persecute the majority. While your article and my response will focus on the SM dairy sector, I believe the other sectors of SM are as bad or worse than dairy.
1. You said, "It’s not like there are billions of dollars
involved...". I disagree. Canadians pay a premium (from 38% to
300% for Supply Management ("SM") commodities (eg. milk, cheese,
butter, chicken, turkey, and eggs) over what citizens in most other
OECD countries pay on the world's free markets. When the annual
tonnes consumed by Canadians are multiplied by the premium SM marked
up prices that Canadian are forced to pay, it's in the Billions of
dollars per year.
2. You say, "...these same free-enterprisers are not against farmers
collecting massive government subsidies...". I disagree. In
Canada, there are more lobbyists in the agricultural sector than
pharma, automotive, IT, tech, banking, finance, or any other
business sector. Lobbyists in SM are the largest and best of all
Agriculture Lobbyists. Those Ag. lobbyists are highly paid and very
effective at their job of keeping those subsidies flowing. The SM
system double dips in that governmental feed trough. SM is eligible
for most of those subsidies and governmental programs like most
other farmers, then also get to write their own laws and enforce
them on non-SM farmers and all Canadians as o how SM will control
and gouge Canadians and manipulate the system to their personal SM
advantage. There is a governmental panel that must endorse these SM
decrees, but it is mostly a toothless lap dog who does what it's
told to do, rubber stamping and approving almost everything that is
placed before it by SM lobbyists.
3. You say, "If Canada’s poor can’t afford to buy milk, then
increasing the subsidies to the poor would be a better use of tax
money...", rather than changing the SM system. In 2015, the
Ontario SM dairy industry dumped 400,000 litres of skim milk in
sewage lagoons so that they could maximize their SM profits. In a
June 2, 2016 article in the National Post, SM is criticized for dumping
tens of millions pounds of perfectly good skim milk as animal feed,
flushing milk down the municipal
sewer, dumping skim milk in pig manure composting pits, or similar
wasteful disposal. Ever since 2015, the skim milk dumping continues
almost every day, but the Main Stream Media have moved on to other
issues. SM says their hands are tied because the Canadian skim milk
manufacturing plants have been operating at capacity since 2015, so
SM claims there is no other solution. What they keep secret is that
SM operates the system so as to maximize profits for their SM farmer
members, not so as to serve the greater good of Canadians. SM lies
to the public by omission when they hide the obvious facts that they
could build additional skim milk manufacturing capacity, or the
liquid skim milk could be shipped to US powder milk producing
plants, or they could sell the skim milk to Canadian consumers at a
low enough discount price so as to clear any surplus, or donate the
skim milk to Food Banks, or run the SM system so that all dairy
products and by-products are balanced and have a ready market at a
fair price. Canadians have consistently wanted more butter than
what Canadian dairies can produce, and drink less and less homo and
skim milk because it's so expensive. SM selfishly obliges these
desires by charging up to 300% more than world prices for Canadian
butter, then imports cheap New Zealand ("NZ") surplus butter by the
tonnes, jacks up the low import price by 300% to sell NZ butter to
desperate Canadians, and uses the "buy low -- sell high" price
gouging profits on NZ butter to pay for the Canada-wide advertising
and lobbying about the goodness of Canadian butter and dairy
products. Sheer and udder [sic] hypocrisy!
4. You claim that SM is a "...system that provides high quality dairy
product...". Quality of milk is usually measured by: a)
contamination of milk with bacteria, b) BTSCC (bulk tank somatic
cell count ie. puss); and c) adulterants in the milk. Using data
from the Canadian Dairy Commission and USDA, in 2011-2012 Canadian
milk had an average of 239,556 BTSCC, while US milk was 197,000 so
US milk is 21% better than Canadian milk for BTSCC. When the
Canadian milk quality standards were tightened in Jan. 1992, the
number of incidents of adulterated milk in Canada from improper
antibiotic use significantly increased, likely as Canadian dairy
farmers tried to take the easy way out to meet the tougher quality
standards.
The quality of Canadian milk is mediocre, and variation between
Provinces, and month-to-month are outrageous. For somatic cell
counts (ie. puss) in the milk from Jan. to June 2015, Manitoba had
the worse milk in Canada, 17% worse than the Canadian average. BC
had the best milk, which is 14% better than the Canadian average
somatic cell count. The worst month for a Province was 45% more
contaminated than the best month. For bacterial contamination in
Canadian milk from Jan. to June 2015, the monthly variability across
all Provinces is 48%, which shows an out of control situation,
indicating poor dairy management. Nova Scotia had the worse milk,
208% worse bacterial count than the Canadian average. New
Brunswick had the best milk, which is 57% lower than the Canadian
average bacterial contamination. The worst month for a Province was
13 times worse than the best month. Again, totally out of
control. This poor quality milk wasn't dumped, it was sold to
unsuspecting consumers. Thank God for pasteurization. When we
compare the 1998 data to the 2015 data, there has been little to no
improvement over this 17 year period of SM mediocrity and/or negligence.
You claim that all milk sold in Canada is "...hormone-free".
However our SM system allows friends of SM to import BST milk from
the USA (a hormone banned in Canada which creates up to 21% more
milk when that hormone is administered to a cow). In addition,
there are credible reports of US drug companies delivering large
shipments of BST to USA farms that are near the US-Canada border,
then some Canadian dairy farmers or their agents cross the border,
pick up their illicit drug supply, and personally import it to
Canada for their dairy cows. SM knows about these chronic
allegations, but has done little to nothing to investigate or stop
it from re-occurring. Therefore claims that all milk sold in Canada
is BST-free are not to be believed.
5. The 17,000 or so SM farmers in Canada are just 8% of all Canadian
farmers, and just 0.05% of all Canadians. I agree that SM is
excellent for the 17,000 SM farmers who are the highest paid farmers
in Canada, as SM farmers earn 21% more than non-SM farmers on
average. While SM is excellent for SM farmers, there is is no proof
that SM is good for Canadians, and considerable proof that millions
of Canadian consumers and thousands of non-SM farmers suffer
significantly under SM's tyranny.
6. In 2015, US Bureau of Labor Statistics ("BLS", who surveys US retail
prices to calculate US inflation rates) shows "Milk, fresh, whole,
fortified, per US gal. to sell retail Mid-West in June 2015 for
US$2.835 per US Gallon. There are 3.785 litres per US Gal., so the
equivalent price is US$0.749 per litre. Statistics Canada Table
326-0012, Average retail prices for food and other selected items,
monthly shows June 2015 retail price of milk was CDN$2.49 per litre
(see Statscan). Bank of Canada shows the average US-CDN exchange rate in June
2015 was 0.8080 CDN$/US$. The US price converts to CDN$0.927 per litre.
Therefore I conclude that Canadian milk is 268.6% more expensive than US milk in June 2015.
The gouging by Canada's SM system has been consistent, both before
and after this June 2015 example.
7. New Zealand let their SM system run amok until there were just 3
dairies left standing in 2001, with a billion dollar corporation
called Fonterra (NZ's biggest dairy conglomerate) producing over 90%
of NZ milk. Does Canada have to destroy family dairy farms in the
same manner as NZ, or can we learn some lessons from NZ? Today,
about 95% of NZ's dairy products get exported. The NZ tail wags the
dog at this elevated level of export market shares. With only 5%
attention span of Fonterra for domestic markets, I suspect some
NZ'ers feel the export markets get the best service, quality, and
quantity, while the citizens of NZ get what's left over. When
Fonterra was formed in Oct. 2001, they processed 96% of NZ's milk
supply, and Fonterrra only had two competitors, Westland Milk
Products on the West Coast and Tatua Cooperative Dairy Company in
Morrinsville, Waikato. From 1990, NZ dairy exports have grown from
NZ$2.1 Billion to NZ$15.5 Billion in 2014. That's an average growth
rate of 8.8% per year, doubling and re-doubling in size every 8
years. In the same time period, Canadian dairy exports went from
CDN$196.5 Million to CDN$281 Million. That's an average Canadian
growth rate of 1.5% per year, doubling and re-doubling in size every
47 years (mediocre to sickly). Note that Canada and its SM system
had just 17% of the growth that NZ's dairy farmers enjoyed. That's
quite a difference! The other 83% of the potentially available
growth that Canada could have enjoyed was pissed into the wind by
SM's dysfunctional thinking and actions.
8. SM was invented so as to save Canadian dairy farms operated by
Canadian farming families. In spite of this lofty goal, the number
of Canadian dairy farms has dropped from 25,825 in 1993, to 12,430
in 2011; a 4% per year average drop, halfing and re-halfing every 18
years. SM has failed miserably on its most important mission. In
2014, there is only 11,962 dairy farms left in Canada, another 1.3%
drop from 2011. Like the passenger pigeon decimation in the early
1900's, the death rate continues as Canadian dairy farms become
merger & acquisition targets by Big Ag., or go out of business in
spite of SM's promises and because of their gouging of Canadian
consumers. This isn't good news, it's just how extinctions tend to
occur.
9. SM lobbyists are constantly surveying the Canadian consumers, so as
to nip any emerging problems in the bud. Many of these surveys are
quoted as alleged proof that Canadians support SM, but the only
thing these surveys truly prove is that most Canadians don’t
understanding SM. For example, in 1963 steroids & hormones were
banned in Canada, but 64% of BC consumers believe they’re still used
in SM products, and this myth upsets most consumers. In a 2014
survey by Chicken Farmers of Ontario (an SM lobby group), only 3% of
consumers realized that chicken is produced under SM, but thought
apples, beef, honey & wheat were SM products (not true). First we
must educate the public. Consumer opinions are only valid once
comprehension is achieved.
10. In Dec. 2015, the Food Institute at the University of Guelph
announced that food inflation in Canada is the highest in the world,
topping 4.1% in 2015. It will be more of the same for the near
future. While all food prices are on the rise, the SM commodities
(ie. chicken, turkey, eggs, and all dairy products) are leading the
inflation parade.
For example, for someone earning Ontario Minimum Wage between 1995
and 2005, the affordability of chicken dropped 31.7%. Since chicken
has historically been the cheapest meat available, if you can't
afford chicken, you are forced to become a vegetarian.
Health Canada reports that 7.6% of Canadians can't afford the food
they need to feed their families. In the North, rural areas, and on
First Nation reserves, 33% to as high as 80% of families have food
insecurity. For example, in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut a whole chicken
sells for $80 to $90, 4 to 5 times the price paid in Toronto ON,
making chicken unaffordable by most families. Many families in
Nunavut are forced to do their "grocery shopping" at the Municipal
Garbage Dump, cutting off the best parts from the rotting garbage,
bringing it home to cook supper for their starving family. The
Canada is the 7th to 11th richest country in the world, depending on
how you measure it. In spite of this, the United Nations Special
Rapporteur stated that Canadian aboriginals are worse off than any
other aboriginal population in the world. Shame on Canada!
11. Economists have determined that Canadian dairy farms and dairy
processing plants are the 2nd worst in the world for productivity
(ie. $/litre production cost of milk). SM has caused or contributed
to Canadian dairy farmers losing their way, and falling far behind
their dairy competitors around the world. If the SM life support
system was suddenly unplugged, the weak and frail Canadian dairy
industry would immediately (or slowly) die with little hope of
recovery. Every day that SM remains in place, SM farmers are
getting fatter, weaker, and closer to extinction.
12. In the end, you seem to be calling for a Royal Commission to fully
and fairly review the entire SM system that has been in place for 50
years, and make recommendations to improve or replace the system. I
can't agree more. Lets do it. Lets do it now.
--
Glenn Black President
Small Flock Poultry Farmers of Canada
A blog to communicate, discuss, and advocate for the civil rights and important role Small Flock Poultry Farmers can play (and should play) in Canadian Society. Small Flockers are on the side of justice & truth, and against privilege & power. Unfortunately, the more we compromise with privilege and power, the more we reduce the capacity for truth and justice.
Showing posts with label SM. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SM. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 29, 2018
Thursday, August 17, 2017
Supply Management's Zombie
 |
| One Zombie who Lived & Died for Supply Management |
The same is true for Canada's system of Supply Management ("SM").
In spite of this, the times are a changing. President Donald Trump has heard about the unfairness of Canada's dairy sector for American exports. He has forced the pending NAFTA re-negotiation.
Combine that with the May 2017 loss of Maxime Bernier, Quebec's favorite for the PC Leadership race due to his unwavering plan to kill SM, in spite of Quebec having more SM farmers than any other province.
Now, the Montreal Economic Institute has come out against SM. MEI's August 2017 report shows the consequences of SM on the rate of growth and GDP produced by SM and non-SM farmers. The MEI Report is a quick read, just 1 page, so well worth your time.
MEI's graph (see below) shows the impact of SM on domestic production for SM and non-SM
agricultural products. Non-SM farmers who produce Soybeans, Wheat, Canola, and Pork
are good enough to compete on world markets, and are rewarded with significant exports.
Why can't SM farmers (Chicken, Eggs, and Dairy) do the same?
 |
| MEI's graph showing the impact of SM on domestic production for SM and non-SM agricultural products. Non-SM farmers who produce Soybeans, Wheat, Canola, and Pork are good enough to compete on world markets, and are rewarded with significant exports. Why can't SM farmers (Chicken, Eggs, and Dairy) do the same? |
In the same post, I outlined how New Zealand's Tegal Poultry has done the hard work to develop a Feed Conversion Ratio ("FCR") 31.9% better than Canadian chicken farmers. Canada's chicken industry used to be a world leader in quality and productivity before SM was invented. Ever since SM arrived, it has been resting on past laurels, slowly sliding into the swamp of mediocrity, where fat, dumb, and happy reign supreme. When the bogus Canadian FCR which artificially boosted the profit of Canadian chicken farmers was finally exposed and corrected, Canada is only 25% behind NZ's world leading FCR.
New Zealand ("NZ") used to have Supply Management, but eventually gave it up in Oct. 2011, when economic hard times pushed the NZ nation to the wall. From 1990, NZ dairy exports have grown from NZ$2.1 Billion to NZ$15.5 Billion in 2014. That's up 738%, or an average growth rate of 8.8% per year, doubling and re-doubling in size every 8 years.
In the same time period, Canadian dairy exports went from CDN$196.5 Million to CDN$281 Million. That's up 43%, or an average growth rate of 1.5% per year, doubling and re-doubling in size every 47 years.
Note that NZ's non-SM dairy system enjoyed 17 times greater growth than Canada's SM dairy system. Here is the greatest cost to Canada and Canadians; the SM imposed loss of opportunity, prosperity, and jobs; punishing all Canadians so that SM farmers, just 0.05% of all Canadians, can enjoy higher profits and no competition. The potentially available growth that Canada could have had was pissed into the wind by SM's dysfunctional thinking and actions.
Wednesday, August 9, 2017
Supply Management Confusion
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| Confusion about Supply Management kills any hope of intelligent debate |
In a survey by Angus Reid of 1,512 Canadians during June and July, 2017 just 4% of Canadians claim to understand a lot about Supply Management ("SM").
However, even this handful of self-proclaimed SM experts were confused about which food commodities are controlled by SM (ie. incorrectly including beef & pork under SM).
Worse, 52% of Canadians believe beef is supply managed, when it is not; and 51% of Canadians believe milk is not supply managed when in fact dairy represents about 80% of the entire system.
Based on this confusion, any survey that shows support for SM by Canadian consumers is a misleading mirage promoted by SM snake oils salesmen who have a pay cheque to protect.
For detailed results based on knowledge of supply management and support levels, click here.
For detailed results by age, gender, region, education, and other demographics, click here.
Confusion about Supply Management kills any hope of intelligent debate
Friday, March 10, 2017
Politicians Against Supply Management
I wasn't sure if it would happen in my lifetime, but there are a growing number of politicians who are against Supply Management ("SM").
I suggest all Small Flockers, friends, and SM abolitionists should get a $15 membership in CPC and vote for Maxime Bernier. Here is why:
Maxime Bernier is running for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada. He has come out as unequivocally against SM.
In a Financial Post Op-Ed piece, Maxime explained that:
The Liberals won't change their mind either, as Ag. Minister MacAulay said on Feb. 6, 2017 in the House. It was the Liberals who originally saddled Canadian with this SM mess. From Confederation to the 1970’s, Canadian farmers suffered under the unfair predatory business practices of large agri-food companies, both domestic and international, while opposing lobbyists fought for the hearts and minds of procrastinating politicians. After a growing number of unbearable crises, Bill C-176 was proposed by the Liberal government as a solution, but it became the longest debated piece of legislation in the history of Canada. In the end, two all-night sessions of parliament and a last minute amendment finally resulted in passing the bill at 6:40 AM on Dec. 31, 1971, creating Supply Management (“SM”). SM was designed to protect Canadian farmers from predatory business practices, and end boom & bust cycles. Unfortunately, SM has done the exact opposite.
Of course, I have tried to lend Max a hand, here, and here
Former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney came out 2 years ago against SM, suggesting a generous compensation package for SM farmers when it is abolished. Mulroney repeated his rally call against SM in a keynote speech on Feb. 2, 2017 in Edmonton AB.
My comment on Maxime and his anti-SM position was deleted by the censors at the Ottawa Citizen. Here it is:
Our local newspaper was also concerned about the growing controversy on SM, and wrote an editorial in support of SM. I countered with a Letter to the Editor
Max has SM farmers organizing against him by buying up memberships in all PC ridings across Canada so as to ensure Maxime doesn't win the CPC nomination.
If Canadians stay asleep throughout this leadership race, the organized SM farmers will exert an overwhelming influence, far more than they should, crushing Maxime. All politicians of all stripes will learns an infamous lesson that going against the SM lobby is suicide. If the SM farmers are allowed to buy the continuation of their multi-billion dollar SM boondoggle at $15 per membership, it is Canada and all Canadians who will lose. Nobody will make that same mistake for many more decades.
You have until 5:00 PM EDST on March 28, 2017 to spend $15.00 to become a member of the Conservative Party of Canada. The ranked ballot secret vote will be held on May 27, 2017 for all party members.
Today, SFPFC has endorsed Maxime. Personally, I have become a member of CPC. I intend to vote as a 1-issue candidate for Maxime. I ask all Small Flockers and their friends to do likewise.
I suggest all Small Flockers, friends, and SM abolitionists should get a $15 membership in CPC and vote for Maxime Bernier. Here is why:
Maxime Bernier is running for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada. He has come out as unequivocally against SM.
In a Financial Post Op-Ed piece, Maxime explained that:
"...Article 117 of the Conservative Party Policy Declaration affirms the party’s official support for supply management. As an MP and minister in a government that supported supply management, I was not in a position to question the party’s democratic decision, or cabinet solidarity. And so I went along with it like all my colleagues, even though I had grave misgivings about it for all these years."He recently told the growing lobby of farmers rising up against him that he won't change his mind.
The Liberals won't change their mind either, as Ag. Minister MacAulay said on Feb. 6, 2017 in the House. It was the Liberals who originally saddled Canadian with this SM mess. From Confederation to the 1970’s, Canadian farmers suffered under the unfair predatory business practices of large agri-food companies, both domestic and international, while opposing lobbyists fought for the hearts and minds of procrastinating politicians. After a growing number of unbearable crises, Bill C-176 was proposed by the Liberal government as a solution, but it became the longest debated piece of legislation in the history of Canada. In the end, two all-night sessions of parliament and a last minute amendment finally resulted in passing the bill at 6:40 AM on Dec. 31, 1971, creating Supply Management (“SM”). SM was designed to protect Canadian farmers from predatory business practices, and end boom & bust cycles. Unfortunately, SM has done the exact opposite.
Of course, I have tried to lend Max a hand, here, and here
Former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney came out 2 years ago against SM, suggesting a generous compensation package for SM farmers when it is abolished. Mulroney repeated his rally call against SM in a keynote speech on Feb. 2, 2017 in Edmonton AB.
My comment on Maxime and his anti-SM position was deleted by the censors at the Ottawa Citizen. Here it is:
Truly, a rare bird; a politician who is against Canada's Supply Management (SM") System. A few years ago, SM lobbyists helped arrange an unanimous vote of support in the House of Commons. A chilling example of the power of the SM minority.We will see in time if the censors at the Montreal Gazette are just as ruthless.
Canada's Supply Management System for chicken, turkey, eggs, and dairy is a dysfunctional, inefficient, ineffective, and mediocre tyranny imposed on 35 million Canadians by just 17,000 farmers, their paid lobbyists, and political friends. The 17,000 SM farmers who "own" the Supply Management system are all multi-millionaires. They became multi-millionaires by stealing away the rights and freedoms of consumers and all other non-SM farmers.
I am a Small Flock Poultry farmer (ie. I'm a non-quota, non-SM chicken farmer). The 60,000 or so small flock poultry farmers in Canada is one group that suffers under the despotic control of the SM system for chicken, so that 2,700 SM chicken farmers (just 4.3% of all chicken farmers in Canada) can rule the roost. I call it "Chicken Apartheid". See our Blog http://canadiansmallflockers.blogspot.ca for the scary details.
Under SM, Chicken Apartheid has been in Canada for more than 4 decades. SM lobbyists and their propaganda press releases say SM "protects" Canada’s family farms. However, the truth is opposite of what SM lobbyists claim. For example, from 1966-2011 (the full reign of SM for chicken), 88% of Canada's chicken farms have disappeared. The SM chicken farms that are still here are now huge CAFO chicken factories owned by multi-millionaires. Similarly sad statistics exist for the other 3 tentacles of the SM beast (ie. dairy, eggs, and turkey).
SM farms (dairy, chicken, turkey, eggs) are just 8% of all Canadian farms, but SM farmers are the best paid of all Canadian farmers, earning 21% more than non-SM farmers. SM farmers and their deep pockets unfairly compete against all non-SM farmers for the same limited resources in farming (eg. farmland, tractors, animal feeds, Vets, Ag. specialists, etc.).
SM is bad for all non-SM farmers. SM is also bad for Canadian consumers.
In Dec. 2015, the Food Institute at the University of Guelph announced that food inflation in Canada is the highest in the world, topping 4.1% in 2015. It will be more of the same for the near future. While all food prices are on the rise, the SM commodities (ie. chicken, turkey, eggs, and all dairy products) are 37% to 300% more expensive in Canada than the prices paid by most of the Western world. The price gouging of Canadian consumers is designed into the SM system.
For example, for someone earning Ontario Minimum Wage between 1995 and 2005, the affordability of chicken dropped 31.7%. Since chicken has historically been the cheapest meat available, if you can't afford chicken, you are forced to become a vegetarian.
Health Canada reports that 7.6% of Canadians can't afford the food they need to feed their families. In the North, rural areas, and on First Nation reserves, as many as 63% of families have food insecurity. For example, in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut a whole chicken sells for $80 to $90, 4 to 5 times the price paid in Toronto ON, making chicken unaffordable by most families.
Two thirds of Canadian deaths are caused or contributed to by poor diets or poor nutrition. Getting rid of SM will help make better, more nutritious foods more affordable for all Canadians.
Now is the time to get rid of SM, before we have food riots, mass starvation, or rising epidemics of sickness.
Glenn Black, President
Small Flock Poultry Farmers of Canada
http://canadiansmallflockers.blogspot.ca
Our local newspaper was also concerned about the growing controversy on SM, and wrote an editorial in support of SM. I countered with a Letter to the Editor
Max has SM farmers organizing against him by buying up memberships in all PC ridings across Canada so as to ensure Maxime doesn't win the CPC nomination.
If Canadians stay asleep throughout this leadership race, the organized SM farmers will exert an overwhelming influence, far more than they should, crushing Maxime. All politicians of all stripes will learns an infamous lesson that going against the SM lobby is suicide. If the SM farmers are allowed to buy the continuation of their multi-billion dollar SM boondoggle at $15 per membership, it is Canada and all Canadians who will lose. Nobody will make that same mistake for many more decades.
You have until 5:00 PM EDST on March 28, 2017 to spend $15.00 to become a member of the Conservative Party of Canada. The ranked ballot secret vote will be held on May 27, 2017 for all party members.
Today, SFPFC has endorsed Maxime. Personally, I have become a member of CPC. I intend to vote as a 1-issue candidate for Maxime. I ask all Small Flockers and their friends to do likewise.
Friday, December 11, 2015
TPP Vs. SM
The TPP deal has been signed, but the new Liberal government is still considering if it's a booby trap left behind by the former conservative government.
Western Producer wrote a good article about the milky future of Canada's Supply Management ("SM") system for dairy. Many economists and Canadian farm leaders (including the Canadian Federation of Agriculture) question the sustainability of SM, and the sanity of continuing in its present form.
Our response to these issues is as follows:
Will anybody listen before it's too late?
Western Producer wrote a good article about the milky future of Canada's Supply Management ("SM") system for dairy. Many economists and Canadian farm leaders (including the Canadian Federation of Agriculture) question the sustainability of SM, and the sanity of continuing in its present form.
Our response to these issues is as follows:
Already, Canadians pay 38% to 300% more than what most of world pays for Supply Management foods (chicken, turkey, eggs, and dairy).
It will soon get worse.
This week, the Food Institute at the University of Guelph announced that food inflation in Canada is the highest in the world, topping 4.1% in 2015. It will be more of the same for the near future (see Agri007's Blog ).
The household savings rate of Canadians has dropped from 30% in 1980 to virtually zero for the last 10 years. In BC. they run at a -7% savings rate.
More and more Canadians have to make the tough choice of starve or freeze, as they can't afford to solve both problems simultaneously.
The 17,000 SM farmers have stolen the rights and freedoms of consumers and all other farmers so that their SM special interest group can become millionaires.
For example, the 60,000 or so small flock poultry farmers in Canada is one group that suffers under the despotic control of the SM system, so that 2,700 SM chicken farmers (just 4.3% of all chicken farmers) can rule the roost. See our Blog for the scary details.
As Canadians are squeezed more and more, do the SM farmers think they will find continued support for their ridiculous price gouging, or the arcane rules of SM?
Between 1990 and 2014, NZ’s non-SM dairy system enjoyed 17 times greater growth than Canada’s SM dairy system, primarily due to the export restrictions attached to our dysfunctional SM system by trade treaties. That has cost Canada and Canadians thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in lost tax revenue.
If Canada's SM system was efficient and effective, it might be worth all these excessive costs. However, SM chronically runs from mediocre to dangerous.
For example, 40% to 80% of Canada's chicken sold at retail stores is contaminated with deadly bacteria, viruses, or other pathogens. Canadian chicken farmers have a feed efficiency 25% behind the world leaders. Somatic cell counts and bacteria in Canadian milk swing wildly from acceptable to terrible, but on average Canadian milk is 21% worse than US milk for somatic cell counts (ie. puss in the milk).
Fortunately for SM farmers (and unfortunate for consumers), few Canadians understand the propaganda and trickery used to keep them asleep and in support of SM.
When some crisis finally wakes them up, Canadians will be shocked at first, then upset that this cheating, corrupt, and dysfunctional SM system was allowed to continue as long as it has.
Glenn Black, President
Small Flock Poultry Farmers of Canada
http://canadiansmallflockers.blogspot.ca/
Will anybody listen before it's too late?
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
Milked & Feathered
On the debut of the TPP trade treaty, economists showed that SUpply Management is a regressive system that hurts the poor, making food less affordable.
"Milked and Feathered: The Regressive Welfare Effects of Canada’s Supply Management Regime"studied the costs and discovered what everybody already knew: Supply Management price gouges the Canadian public, especially the poor.
The economists at University of Manitoba determined that the poorest pay $339 more per year because of SM. For the richest, it cost $554 per year.
After covering the high expenses of housing and food, there isn't much left for the poor.
People have been living hand to mouth for some time now. The pressure cooker is on the stove, the burner is on high, the pressure is rising. How much longer can Canadians continue before they explode? Perhaps the new Liberal government will give them hope to hold on a little longer.
Something must change, and it needs to change soon.
 |
| Supply Management is an old sick cow, and a chicken at death's door with Bird Flu. Money is leaking out the back end, driving up costs to unaffordable prices. Canadians can no longer afford this broken down, corrupt system Image: The Manitban |
The economists at University of Manitoba determined that the poorest pay $339 more per year because of SM. For the richest, it cost $554 per year.
After covering the high expenses of housing and food, there isn't much left for the poor.
People have been living hand to mouth for some time now. The pressure cooker is on the stove, the burner is on high, the pressure is rising. How much longer can Canadians continue before they explode? Perhaps the new Liberal government will give them hope to hold on a little longer.
Something must change, and it needs to change soon.
Friday, October 16, 2015
SM + TPP Debate Challenge
I hereby challenge the dark forces behind Supply Management ("SM") and Trans Pacific Partnership ("TPP") Trade Treaty to a fair & effective public debate.
I have been posting here and numerous other public media outlets on the Internet about SM for 3 years ( and more recently, TPP). Other spokespersons, propaganda artists, shills, and lobyists have been doing the same.
Unfortunately, the public is left guessing which side is telling the truth, versus spewing propaganda as paid shills for the puppet masters who stay behind the curtain, or ooze like slime in the dark.
I therefore challenge the opposing forces to come clean, to show themselves in public, to hold a regulated debate (ie. no shouting match, nor speaking over top of each other) so that all of Canada can see and learn first hand about Supply Management and/or TPP.
Who will take me up on this challenge, lay their cards on the table, and expose themselves and their smoke & mirrors propaganda to the full light of day?
Is there a national broadcaster or media outlet that will cover this debate so all Canadians, coast to coast to coast, can learn the truth?
I propose the following rules (subject to agreement by both sides, or mutual agreed on alternative rules):
I have been posting here and numerous other public media outlets on the Internet about SM for 3 years ( and more recently, TPP). Other spokespersons, propaganda artists, shills, and lobyists have been doing the same.
Unfortunately, the public is left guessing which side is telling the truth, versus spewing propaganda as paid shills for the puppet masters who stay behind the curtain, or ooze like slime in the dark.
I therefore challenge the opposing forces to come clean, to show themselves in public, to hold a regulated debate (ie. no shouting match, nor speaking over top of each other) so that all of Canada can see and learn first hand about Supply Management and/or TPP.
Who will take me up on this challenge, lay their cards on the table, and expose themselves and their smoke & mirrors propaganda to the full light of day?
Is there a national broadcaster or media outlet that will cover this debate so all Canadians, coast to coast to coast, can learn the truth?
I propose the following rules (subject to agreement by both sides, or mutual agreed on alternative rules):
- The broad topic will be Canada's SM System, and as SM relates to TPP.
- The 2 hr. debate will be done in the following sequential topics at 15 minutes each:
a. Farms and Farmers
b. Animal Welfare
c. Environmental Impacts
d. Farm Gate to Retail
e. Food Price, Choice, Quality, Safety, & Nutrition
f. Food Sovereignty, Security, Affordability, Availability, & Locality
g. Summary & Conclusion of Debater's Case
h. Adjudicator's Award of Debate's Winner & Reasons - There will be two opposing sides of up to 3 debaters each side (6 debaters in total). Each team can decide which debater on their team will take the lead on an issue or moment.
- There will be no heckling, barracking, points of information, or points of order permitted during the verbal debates. There will be no bad language nor bad behaviour (eg. no name calling against a debater or third party, no ad hominem
attacks, etc.) permitted in any of the evidence documents, nor the verbal debates. The Moderator can interrupt the verbal debate, or reject any of the documents submitted for any of these issues.
- Each team will submit their base position plus up to 5 questions for the opposing side to answer in writing, to both the Moderator and the opposing side.
- Each side will have 2 weeks to review the base case and questions posed (if any) of the opposing side, then submit to the opposing side and the Moderator their 1st Rebuttal case, answers to all questions previously posed, plus issue up to 5 additional questions for the opposing side to answer. The 1st. Rebuttal can only expand on the issues raised in the opposing side's base position and/or questions asked.
- On receipt of the 1st Rebuttal case and up to 5 questions, each side will provide within 7 days to both the Moderator and the opposing side their written answers to the questions posed, and may choose to submit a 2nd Rebuttal to the opposing side's 1st. Rebuttal. The 2nd Rebuttal cam only respond to the issues previously raised in the opposing sides 1st Rebuttal and/or the Q&A's.
- The only evidence that will be permitted during the debate will be the base case, 1st Rebuttal, questions submitted and answers provided, and the 2nd Rebuttals. If a debater tries to introduce other evidence during the debate, any participant (ie. Moderator, Debater on the pro side, or debater on the Con side) can object, and the Moderator will immediately rule on that objection to the allegation of unfair debate.
- To ensure decorum & effective debate, only one debater will be allowed to speak at any one time, without heckling by anyone. To enforce and ensure this debate rule, only one microphone will be live at any one moment in time. The Moderator will determine which microphone will be live.
- The Debate Adjudicator will be independent and unbiased of the issues debated, and the members of the debating team members. After the debate has completed, the Adjudicator will declare the winner and the reasons therefor. The Broadcaster may also do scoring by the live public present at the debate, and/or on-line via telephone and/or Internet; but these cannot be used to influence the live audience, nor those on the telephone or Internet (ie. independence must be maintained).
Tuesday, October 6, 2015
World's Best Lobbyists
The Trans Pacific Partnership ("TPP") trade deal has been finalized. Canada's Supply Management ("SM") System for dairy, chicken, turkey, and eggs has dodged the bullet again.
The TPP deal will cover trade with Australia, Brunei, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam, and USA; all of which generate 40% of the world's GDP, and have 800 Million consumers (11.4% of the world's population).
Under TPP, Canada's SM industry will give up 3.25% of the Canadian dairy market to additional imports, 2.3% for eggs, 2.1% for chicken, 2.0% for turkey, and 1.5% for hatching eggs. Truly trivial.
Canada's entire economy is just 3% of the world's economy, so these SM trade shifts disappear as a rounding error.
The government also negotiated the CETA trade agreement with Europe.
The EU says:
So what about the remaining 1% of goods that will still have custom duties & other obstacles? My guess is this refers to the SM products of dairy, chicken, turkey, and eggs. So close to 100% free trade, but SM wins again.
SM gave up virtually nothing for both of these trade deals, but did they get anything in return for this small concession?
Oh, YES!
The Federal Government had a solution for the SM beneficiaries even before they had a TPP deal. As soon as the TPP deal was announced, the SM benefit package was announced, even though we are supposed to be in a "caretaker" mode due to the Federal election. Canada's SM compensation package fully protects SM beneficiaries from any impact from both the TPP and CETA deal.
SM gets the following generous gifts from Canada:
How many other Canadians have similar guarantees in their jobs or businesses?
The details of these two deals are yet to be released. Some will be winners, while others will struggle under an increased burden. Many feel (me included) that these deals will be especially beneficial for the multi-national corporations who have little or no allegiance to Canada or Canadians. For example, starting from the signing of the Free Trade Agreement in Jan. 1988, then NAFTA in 1994, up until Aug. 2015, Canada's manufacturing sector has lost 503,000 jobs, a 25% loss in this important sector of our economy. In our agriculture sector for the same time period, Canada has lost 340,658 jobs, which is 36.7% of all the jobs in this important sector of our economy.
My complements to SM's Mafia Dons for finding and hiring the world's best lobbyists to protect their interest by whispering in the ear of all politicians and bureaucrats.
The TPP deal will cover trade with Australia, Brunei, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam, and USA; all of which generate 40% of the world's GDP, and have 800 Million consumers (11.4% of the world's population).
Under TPP, Canada's SM industry will give up 3.25% of the Canadian dairy market to additional imports, 2.3% for eggs, 2.1% for chicken, 2.0% for turkey, and 1.5% for hatching eggs. Truly trivial.
Canada's entire economy is just 3% of the world's economy, so these SM trade shifts disappear as a rounding error.
The government also negotiated the CETA trade agreement with Europe.
The EU says:
"The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) is a freshly negotiated EU-Canada treaty. Once applied, it will offer EU firms more and better business opportunities in Canada and support jobs in Europe."
CETA "removes 99% of customs duties & many other obstacles for business"The EU Summary says:
Canada will eliminate duties for 90.9% of all its agricultural tariff lines upon entry into force of CETA. After 7 years, the tariffs for 91.7% of agricultural lines will be eliminated. The remainder are sensitive products, which will either be offered as a TRQ (dairy) or excluded altogether from liberalisation commitments (chicken and turkey meat, eggs and egg products). The Canadian offer on processed agricultural products (PAPs) -for example wines and spirits, soft drinks, confectionery, cereals-based products like pasta or biscuits, fruit and vegetable preparations is of particular relevance because PAPs are among the main export interests of the EU and further market opening was one of the main EU negotiating objectives. With all but a very limited number of the Canadian tariff lines for PAPs now to be liberalised, the EU PAPs industry is expected to gain considerably from CETA.
So what about the remaining 1% of goods that will still have custom duties & other obstacles? My guess is this refers to the SM products of dairy, chicken, turkey, and eggs. So close to 100% free trade, but SM wins again.
SM gave up virtually nothing for both of these trade deals, but did they get anything in return for this small concession?
Oh, YES!
The Federal Government had a solution for the SM beneficiaries even before they had a TPP deal. As soon as the TPP deal was announced, the SM benefit package was announced, even though we are supposed to be in a "caretaker" mode due to the Federal election. Canada's SM compensation package fully protects SM beneficiaries from any impact from both the TPP and CETA deal.
SM gets the following generous gifts from Canada:
- $2.4 Billion to 100% protect SM farm income for the next 10 years of TPP coming into effect, and partially compensate for the following 5 years, for a total of 15 years of protection.
- $1.5 Billion to protect the value of SM farmer's quota (the same quota that was given to SM farmers for free)
- $450 Million for upgrading SM processing plants
- $15 Million market development fund to develop export markets for SM goods
How many other Canadians have similar guarantees in their jobs or businesses?
The details of these two deals are yet to be released. Some will be winners, while others will struggle under an increased burden. Many feel (me included) that these deals will be especially beneficial for the multi-national corporations who have little or no allegiance to Canada or Canadians. For example, starting from the signing of the Free Trade Agreement in Jan. 1988, then NAFTA in 1994, up until Aug. 2015, Canada's manufacturing sector has lost 503,000 jobs, a 25% loss in this important sector of our economy. In our agriculture sector for the same time period, Canada has lost 340,658 jobs, which is 36.7% of all the jobs in this important sector of our economy.
My complements to SM's Mafia Dons for finding and hiring the world's best lobbyists to protect their interest by whispering in the ear of all politicians and bureaucrats.
Friday, August 14, 2015
Why Support Canada's Supply Management System?
Perhaps it's time for Canada's Governments and politicians consider the consequences for
Canada and all Canadians from the dysfunctional and corrupt Supply
Management System running amok.
The Federal Government, all Provincial Governments of Canada, and all MP's unanimously support Supply Management ("SM") for dairy, chicken, turkey, eggs, & more.
If the SM system has morphed into a negligent, dysfunctional, and corrupt system that hurts Canada and Canadians, why do all of them continue to support SM?
SM is a small, yet extremely powerful, and well connected special interest group. Members of SM, and their lobbyists have the ear of all politicians and the mandarins in the civil service.
Agricultural lobbyists are the biggest fraction, best funded, and most intense of all Ottawa lobbyists. Like being addicted to heroin, the habit is hard to break.
Please consider signing our petition on Change.org
Kill Canada's Supply Management System Now !
The Federal Government, all Provincial Governments of Canada, and all MP's unanimously support Supply Management ("SM") for dairy, chicken, turkey, eggs, & more.
If the SM system has morphed into a negligent, dysfunctional, and corrupt system that hurts Canada and Canadians, why do all of them continue to support SM?
SM is a small, yet extremely powerful, and well connected special interest group. Members of SM, and their lobbyists have the ear of all politicians and the mandarins in the civil service.
Agricultural lobbyists are the biggest fraction, best funded, and most intense of all Ottawa lobbyists. Like being addicted to heroin, the habit is hard to break.
Please consider signing our petition on Change.org
Kill Canada's Supply Management System Now !
Friday, July 24, 2015
TPP Trade Treaty Tornado
Things are heating up in Hawaii for the Trans-Pacific Trade Partnership ("TPP") talks, now in the final round.
Some, like me, see TPP as a possible escape route away from the good intentioned Supply Management system that during the last 50 years, has slowly morphed into a terrible, dysfunctional, tyrannical Frankenstein monster.
Others, like me, have serious concerns about TPP being nothing more than fascist corporatism who shape and control TPP talks so they can control the world, maximize their profits, run roughshod over domestic industries, and enslave the people.
CNC News has done a reasonable summary of the TPP talks current status.
I suggest there is another alternative.
Fix Canada's Supply Management system.
Here is SFPFC's comments added to the other 600+ comments posted there:
Hopefully the public wakes up, studies the situation carefully, then let's their government know what should be done.
To hasten the process, here are some important email addresses for you.
A customized email, ready to send as is, or you can modify it to suit your personal insights:
Email your opinion to All Federal Party Leaders
Alternatively, you can contact the Leader of your choice:
stephen.harper@parl.gc.ca
thomas.mulcair@parl.gc.ca
justin.trudeau@parl.gc.ca
Elizabeth.May@parl.gc.ca
Some, like me, see TPP as a possible escape route away from the good intentioned Supply Management system that during the last 50 years, has slowly morphed into a terrible, dysfunctional, tyrannical Frankenstein monster.
Others, like me, have serious concerns about TPP being nothing more than fascist corporatism who shape and control TPP talks so they can control the world, maximize their profits, run roughshod over domestic industries, and enslave the people.
CNC News has done a reasonable summary of the TPP talks current status.
I suggest there is another alternative.
Fix Canada's Supply Management system.
Here is SFPFC's comments added to the other 600+ comments posted there:
There are about 17,000 Canadian farms that work under Supply Management, which are just 8% of all of Canada's farms.
Federal and provincial governments have delegated special powers to these 17,000 farmers, who have used those special powers to become multi-millionaires by gouging Canadians with over-priced foods.
Under Supply Management, 17,000 farms get huge benefits while 35 million Canadians suffer, forced to pay 38% to 300% more for eggs, chicken, turkey, and dairy than what the rest of the world pays.
Other Canadian farmers, such as the 60,000 or so small flock poultry farmers in Canada, have their civil rights stripped away and are oppressed by a small special interest group of 2,700 Supply Management chicken farmers (just 4.5% of all Canadian chicken farmers), so the SM minority can have their 99.97% market share monopoly on chicken.
The Canadian governments should change Supply Management rules, so that it serves the Canadian people, not the 17,000 special interest multi-millionaire farmers.
Glenn Black, President
Small Flock Poultry Farmers of Canada
http://canadiansmallflockers.blogspot.ca/
Hopefully the public wakes up, studies the situation carefully, then let's their government know what should be done.
To hasten the process, here are some important email addresses for you.
A customized email, ready to send as is, or you can modify it to suit your personal insights:
Email your opinion to All Federal Party Leaders
Alternatively, you can contact the Leader of your choice:
stephen.harper@parl.gc.ca
thomas.mulcair@parl.gc.ca
justin.trudeau@parl.gc.ca
Elizabeth.May@parl.gc.ca
Monday, May 25, 2015
Chicken Bone Soup
The crushing of Canada's Middle Class, the poor, and Small Flock Poultry Farmers continues unabated. The millionaire Supply Management ("SM") beneficiaries, who aim to soon be billionaires, continue to receive the unjust benefits that their lobbyists have arranged for their Special Interest SM Mafia Masters. Will these crushing conditions have any impact on the Fall 2015 Federal election in Canada?
If Canadians don't wake up from their long, deep sleep, the abuse will continue.
Agriculture has the most active corp of lobbyists at both the Federal and Provincial levels; far greater than any other sector of the economy.
Supply Management ("SM") lobbyists constantly whisper into the ears of politicians and bureaucrats, befriending them, supporting them financially and otherwise. Is it any wonder we continue to have a SM system that benefits a select few while the public is kept in the dark and a propaganda-induced coma?
Some cracks in the palace walls of the SM castle can already be plainly seen by all who look. Click on the link to read one or many examples under that topic:
Eventually, a small but significant shock event will occur from some unknown source. That exogenous shock will suddenly accelerate the growth rate of those 8 SM cracks which previously grew naturally. When one of those 8 cracks meets another crack, significant structural weakness will eventually occur in those SM walls. The walls of the SM temple will then be weak enough to pose a danger, and a solution. For at that time, those weakened walls of SM can be more easily breached and removed, freeing Canadians from their oppression by the SM Mafia.
Canadians have the primary role and natural strength to defeat the SM powers that enslave and persecute them. First however, Canadians must wake up and learn the truth of how they have been abused and oppressed by the SM Mafia and their dysfunctional systems.
Who knows. A modern day Joshua may arrive to help topple the SM castle walls of today, perhaps similar to what happened to Jericho in 1,400 BC.
The timing of this awakening is unclear. It could happen in time to impact this Fall 2015 election. The Conservative Government of today certainly hopes that the citizens stay asleep in the dreamy work of propaganda they have created.
The sooner the Canadian citizens awake, the better. SFPFC will be ready to share and help the awakening, whenever it occurs.
If Canadians don't wake up from their long, deep sleep, the abuse will continue.
Agriculture has the most active corp of lobbyists at both the Federal and Provincial levels; far greater than any other sector of the economy.
Supply Management ("SM") lobbyists constantly whisper into the ears of politicians and bureaucrats, befriending them, supporting them financially and otherwise. Is it any wonder we continue to have a SM system that benefits a select few while the public is kept in the dark and a propaganda-induced coma?
Some cracks in the palace walls of the SM castle can already be plainly seen by all who look. Click on the link to read one or many examples under that topic:
- Lack of Affordable Food
- Contaminated Food that causes food poisoning
- Mass Produced Food from Far, Far Away (instead of locally grown food)
- Nutritionally inferior & unhealthy foods foisted upon innocent Canadians
- Environmental degradation from CAFO factory farms
- Biosecurity epidemics and financial losses caused by CAFO factory farms
- Corruption &/or Fraud
- Misleading propaganda, half-truths, and self serving lies
Eventually, a small but significant shock event will occur from some unknown source. That exogenous shock will suddenly accelerate the growth rate of those 8 SM cracks which previously grew naturally. When one of those 8 cracks meets another crack, significant structural weakness will eventually occur in those SM walls. The walls of the SM temple will then be weak enough to pose a danger, and a solution. For at that time, those weakened walls of SM can be more easily breached and removed, freeing Canadians from their oppression by the SM Mafia.
Canadians have the primary role and natural strength to defeat the SM powers that enslave and persecute them. First however, Canadians must wake up and learn the truth of how they have been abused and oppressed by the SM Mafia and their dysfunctional systems.
Who knows. A modern day Joshua may arrive to help topple the SM castle walls of today, perhaps similar to what happened to Jericho in 1,400 BC.
The timing of this awakening is unclear. It could happen in time to impact this Fall 2015 election. The Conservative Government of today certainly hopes that the citizens stay asleep in the dreamy work of propaganda they have created.
The sooner the Canadian citizens awake, the better. SFPFC will be ready to share and help the awakening, whenever it occurs.
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
Power of the Powerless
The Chicken Mafia, their bureaucrat supporters and enablers, and the cheerleading politicians believe that Small Flockers and consumers are powerless. They believe that they own and control Small Flockers and consumers as their pawns, to be used and abused as they please.
They may want to reconsider their flawed assumptions.
Just because we all feel powerless, doesn't mean it's true.
Humans naturally go along to get along. It's easier that way. It's protective. It's less complicated.
If there is any path through the woods, regardless if it goes in the right direction or not, it's easier to follow the path, rather than blazing a new trail through the woods. Once we've gotten to the other side of the woods, we can always circle around to go the direction we had wanted to travel in the first place. Somehow, that makes sense to most people.
However, that logic doesn't work forever.
Eventually, things get so bad that we are no longer willing to travel the path of least resistance in the wrong direction. Sooner or later, we realize this is just wrong, and somebody has to do something about this terrible situation.
That moment comes every century or so, when things are so screwed up, somebody eventually decides to push the reset button.
Adam & Eve had it happen to them.
Babylon had their moment.
The Pharaoh thought everything was going great, then this guy called Moses showed up.
Even the Romans had the Visigoths get uppity in 376 AD, sacking Rome. Who saw that coming?
After World War II, the Russian Empire took over many small countries and force them under Communist governments. The people were terribly oppressed, but the oppression continued, firing squad ran up a huge bill for bullets, so they eventually invented Gulags and slave labour, reducing the cost of munitions and getting free stuff from political prisoners and their families imprisoned for the slightest, whimsical reason.
People under Communist rule were propagandized, and told what to think and believe. Slogans and right thinking was freely provided. If you were a little slow on coming up with the right answers, a few decades in a Gulag were applied to sharpen your skills with constant remedial training programs.
People put the right signs with the right slogans in their windows, because they had to. At the public meeting they were coerced to attend, they were expected to say the right thing. They were required to vote the right way in "free" elections where the outcome was known years in advance. Kids were taught to watch their parents, and turn them in to the government Secret Police if they spoke against the government's official position. Like in George Orwell's novel 1984, war was peace, truth were lies, freedom was slavery, and so on. People were forced to live lies.
Some people got so good at living the lies, they no longer were aware of the truth.
People learned to say and act exactly as they were required to do. Go along to get along.
Fortunately, they didn't yet have the Thought Police.
Family and friends sometimes spoke in double entendres, to hide and share their true feelings. They came to know and trust each other more and more, having sufficient incrimination on each other that they could not expose the other without convicting themselves. Eventually, they risked smuggled books, listening to forbidden free radio broadcasts, and the creation of Samizdat by secretly copying and sharing these forbidden thoughts.
Finally, in Oct. 1978 Vaclav Havel wrote his famous and powerful essay "The Power of the Powerless"
This essay helped people to understand the lies they lived, and why they did it. It showed them a way out.
The people thought they were weak, but in reality they were powerful.
Eventually people realized that some truths were worthy enough to suffer for. They were no longer willing to go along to get along.
Eventually, thousands of people were in the streets every evening, protesting these lies they had been forced to live. The government sent their elite troops to quell the demonstrations. The government ordered these troops to fire on the crowd so as to end the protests, but the troops refused to obey the orders. The government fell within the week. Next, the Berlin Wall was breached, and existed no more.
We are not yet at one of those crossroads, but we passed the big yellow diamond road sign alerting us to the intersection that we are quickly approaching.
Supply Management ("SM") for dairy, eggs, chicken, and turkey in this great country of ours is a lived lie, deceiving thousands of Canadians, if not millions. The SM system doesn't live up to the SM Mafia's propaganda. The henchmen of the SM Mafia live the lies and promote the lies every day, for that is how they earn their pay cheques.
This Blog of Small Flockers is similar to the secret writings of Samizdat. Nobody admits they read this Blog, but the Internet pageviews keep counting up as these ghosts come back for the latest sample is cooked up and served to them via this Blog.
We have not yet had the galvanizing essay on SM that rallies and catalyzes the public. When that essay appears, the SM goons will feel forced to react. They will attack without mercy. Fortunately, the sleeping public will be awakened by the noise and confusion created by the SM henchmen. Most people will not see the essay, nor understand the meaning. However, they will know and feel the SM response. That response will be the force that awakens them from their long, 50 year sleep.
That day approaches soon.
We need to prepare ourselves for the day when that event arrives.
They may want to reconsider their flawed assumptions.
Misguided Assumptions
Many people feel they are powerless.Just because we all feel powerless, doesn't mean it's true.
Humans naturally go along to get along. It's easier that way. It's protective. It's less complicated.
If there is any path through the woods, regardless if it goes in the right direction or not, it's easier to follow the path, rather than blazing a new trail through the woods. Once we've gotten to the other side of the woods, we can always circle around to go the direction we had wanted to travel in the first place. Somehow, that makes sense to most people.
However, that logic doesn't work forever.
Eventually, things get so bad that we are no longer willing to travel the path of least resistance in the wrong direction. Sooner or later, we realize this is just wrong, and somebody has to do something about this terrible situation.
That moment comes every century or so, when things are so screwed up, somebody eventually decides to push the reset button.
Adam & Eve had it happen to them.
Babylon had their moment.
The Pharaoh thought everything was going great, then this guy called Moses showed up.
Even the Romans had the Visigoths get uppity in 376 AD, sacking Rome. Who saw that coming?
After World War II, the Russian Empire took over many small countries and force them under Communist governments. The people were terribly oppressed, but the oppression continued, firing squad ran up a huge bill for bullets, so they eventually invented Gulags and slave labour, reducing the cost of munitions and getting free stuff from political prisoners and their families imprisoned for the slightest, whimsical reason.
People under Communist rule were propagandized, and told what to think and believe. Slogans and right thinking was freely provided. If you were a little slow on coming up with the right answers, a few decades in a Gulag were applied to sharpen your skills with constant remedial training programs.
 |
| Two-faced lies and propaganda of totalitarian governments, and Canada's Supply Management System |
Some people got so good at living the lies, they no longer were aware of the truth.
People learned to say and act exactly as they were required to do. Go along to get along.
Fortunately, they didn't yet have the Thought Police.
Family and friends sometimes spoke in double entendres, to hide and share their true feelings. They came to know and trust each other more and more, having sufficient incrimination on each other that they could not expose the other without convicting themselves. Eventually, they risked smuggled books, listening to forbidden free radio broadcasts, and the creation of Samizdat by secretly copying and sharing these forbidden thoughts.
Finally, in Oct. 1978 Vaclav Havel wrote his famous and powerful essay "The Power of the Powerless"
This essay helped people to understand the lies they lived, and why they did it. It showed them a way out.
The people thought they were weak, but in reality they were powerful.
Eventually people realized that some truths were worthy enough to suffer for. They were no longer willing to go along to get along.
Eventually, thousands of people were in the streets every evening, protesting these lies they had been forced to live. The government sent their elite troops to quell the demonstrations. The government ordered these troops to fire on the crowd so as to end the protests, but the troops refused to obey the orders. The government fell within the week. Next, the Berlin Wall was breached, and existed no more.
SM Vs. The Sleeping Powers of the People
So much for the history lesson.We are not yet at one of those crossroads, but we passed the big yellow diamond road sign alerting us to the intersection that we are quickly approaching.
Supply Management ("SM") for dairy, eggs, chicken, and turkey in this great country of ours is a lived lie, deceiving thousands of Canadians, if not millions. The SM system doesn't live up to the SM Mafia's propaganda. The henchmen of the SM Mafia live the lies and promote the lies every day, for that is how they earn their pay cheques.
This Blog of Small Flockers is similar to the secret writings of Samizdat. Nobody admits they read this Blog, but the Internet pageviews keep counting up as these ghosts come back for the latest sample is cooked up and served to them via this Blog.
We have not yet had the galvanizing essay on SM that rallies and catalyzes the public. When that essay appears, the SM goons will feel forced to react. They will attack without mercy. Fortunately, the sleeping public will be awakened by the noise and confusion created by the SM henchmen. Most people will not see the essay, nor understand the meaning. However, they will know and feel the SM response. That response will be the force that awakens them from their long, 50 year sleep.
That day approaches soon.
We need to prepare ourselves for the day when that event arrives.
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