South Peace Historical Society

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  • Table of Contents

    • Part 1: First Nations of the Peace River Region
    • Part 2: The Fur Trade Era
    • Part 3: Transportation and Communication
    • Part 4: Old Timers and the Price of Land
    • Part 5: Dawson Creek: The Story of the Community
    • Part 6: Mysteries, Adventures and Indian Legends
    • Part 7: Arts, Crafts and Recreation
    • Part 8: Agriculture
    • Part 9: Church Histories
    • Part 10: Schools
    • Part 11: Health Care
    • Part 12: Industries and Enterprises
    • Part 13: Policing the Peace
    • Part 14: Pouce Coupe, Rolla, and Other South Peace Communities
    • Part 15: Chetwynd and the Fort St. John Area
    • Part 16: The Alberta Peace
    • Part 17: Natural History of the Peace River Region
    • Part 18: Interviews with Old Timers
    • Part 19: Remembering Our Veterans

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BN08-40: MPs to Examine Farm Crisis Jan. 12

Recent History – 2000

Jan. 5, 2000, by Mark Nielsen, Daily News Staff

A search for solutions to the farm income crisis will bring two Reform Party MPs to the B.C. Peace. Prince George-Peace River MP Jay Hill and Reform Party agriculture critic Gerry Ritz (Battlefords-Lloydminster) will host a public meeting next Wednesday evening, Jan. 12. It will be held at the Farmington Community Hall, 7 p.m. start.

Figuring out why there is a farming crisis is easy. Hill points to heavy subsidization of European and American farmers, causing a world-wide drop in commodity prices. The hard part is finding a solution.

“I think that everybody, including the farmers themselves, recognize that just the ongoing subsidization by the taxpayers is not the long-term answer to the problem,” Hill said.

Hill and Ritz want to find out what ideas farmers might have for solutions to a crisis that has seen some commodity prices drop by more than half in the past four years.

The meeting will also help arm Reform with the ammunition to put pressure on the Liberal government to do something about the farmers’ plight.

“We see this as one way in which to strengthen our arguments in parliament,” he said. “By being able to tell the government that look, this isn’t just Reformers that are saying this, this is through consultation with grassroots farmers across western Canada.”

And with Ottawa so far away, Hill said it’s also an opportunity for farmers to voice their concerns.

“All too often when an industry like the agricultural sector is faced with a cash crisis like this, there’s no money for these farmers to travel to Ottawa to state their case,” Hill said. “So we want to try and give them every opportunity to come forward and just inform us as to how serious the problem is.”

This article is taken from the Peace River Block Daily News, Dawson Creek, with the permission of the publisher. The Daily News retains all rights relating to this material. The information in this article is intended solely for research or general interest purposes.

« BN08-37: Wheat Yields in the Peace Good, Protein Levels Low

BN08-41: Farmers Frustrated – Tell Reform MP’s »

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