Christmas

I don't like Christmas very much.... in fact I don't think I like Christmas at all. I don’t mean to go all Scrooge on everyone, but Christmas is just one of those days/seasons that drives me ever closer to that edge of insanity that I so carefully try to avoid.

My dislikes starts the day after Halloween. That is when the music, or at least what is called music, starts to be blasted over every speaker in every mall and store in the country. It is bad music played by poor musicians over lousy speakers. I once heard someone say that there was some very good Christmas music but that it never gets played. I believe that perhaps with the exception of Handel’s Messiah good Christmas music may be an oxymoron.

Along with the music come the decorations (I have always wondered when the stores hide the decorations from January to October- but perhaps it is better that I don’t know - if I did, I might be tempted to destroy them). I know they are put up to get me into the mood to buy presents and therefore do my bit to sustain the economy but seeing Christmas decorations up the first week of November does not put me in the buying mood. By the time that I force myself into a mall to look for a present, I am so sick and tired of seeing the silly things that I want to run out of the store before I buy anything.

I have always been curious who the marking genius was who decided that playing Christmas music in a food stores was a good thing? Does someone, anyone think that I am going to buy more romaine lettuce in mid November if I hear Christmas music?

The closer it gets to Christmas the more likely it is that I will have to walk an extra 10 minutes from where I parked the car to get to the bank at the mall, the more likely it will be that it will take me 15 minutes longer to get home because the traffic is suddenly worse (where do all these people come from?) and the less likely that I will wait in line to buy something that I thought I needed. (Today I was going to buy a pair of warm socks for my trip to Sudbury – but the line up at Marks was so long – I didn’t bother).

Along with the music and all of the other in-house hype to buy comes the expectation and the promise that this is the season of love and joy, of families being together and of sharing. Everywhere one turns one is reminded what a wonderful time of year this is. However, for countless thousands of people in this country that is simply not true. For so many this is the season to despair, to be desperately lonely or to, at least for another year, realize that you and the people you care about will have to do without. For so many it is a time when they feel they have to accumulate even more debt so that they can compete with others around them. Get rid of the damn music and all of the ads and TV programs that are trying to sell a lie of mythological proportions. Family and good food and being together are important. But they are important every day and we don’t need (or at least we should not need) bad music to tell us so.

I like being with my grandkids; but I like being with them anytime. It is fun to watch them open their stockings; but it is just as much fun playing with them in the park. Hell just give me the 10 days off work and I will visit them. I don’t need a reason and I am reasonably sure that both I and everyone else would be a lot less tired and probably in a better, more relaxed mood if we didn’t have the music in our ears for seven weeks.  Bah humbug!!!

Market Boards

In the next 12-18 months there will be a lot of talk about why Canada needs to get rid of the various marketing boards such as the Milk Marketing Board or the Egg Marketing Board. The conversation is already starting to pop up here and there on various news and current affair programs. It is being raised by “pundits” who argue that they are just neutral observers. They are in fact highly biased reporters, some of whom have an almost evangelical belief in the neo-liberal agenda.

Their argument is quite simple (and quite misleading). The market boards control the price of milk and therefore milk is costing the consumer more than it should. They compare the price of milk in the USA which is according to the Globe and Mail (Waldie Globe and Mail, Nov. 23, 2010) is sixty cents less for a litre than it is in Canada. Those same commentators don’t mention that milk is cheaper here than in New Zealand which has gotten rid of their managed marketing system. They don’t talk about what the other advantages of market boards are.

 

Marketing boards (or supply management boards) were set up approximately 40 years ago to ensure that farmers would have a consistent access to the markets, to ensure that the market was not flooded with too much product and to ensure that consumers had access to affordable product that would be consistent in price.

 

The argument for us to change the rules is that some other countries don’t like our rules. They (right now it is the Pacific Rim Countries) are saying that if we don’t get rid of these “unfair” rules, then we will “not be allowed” to join some of the trade negations that are presently underway. In other words if we don’t play by their rules, we don’t get to play in their sand box. And that is a fair point. The question that begs to be asked is why do we want to play in their sandbox or perhaps even more importantly, who wants to play it. The answer for those who are opposed to marketing boards is quite clear. The manufacturing sector wants access to larger markets. Because there are more people employed in this sector their needs should supersede those of the farmers.

 

I remain unconvinced that the needs of 20,000 people (who may get a manufacturing job) are more important than 4,000 people (approximate number of Dairy Farmers in Ontario). I don’t think that kind of math is useful. The job of the government to recognize conflicting needs and then to work on ways of both groups getting the maximum benefit out of any negotiations.  I fail to see how making it harder for dairy farmers to make a living helps them. Getting rid of supply management systems will only help those who want to produce milk on factory farms and those who want to import milk from the USA. It will hurt the small dairy farmers.

Of course the practical argument is powerful – we all want to save money. It is pretty hard to argue with the concept that international borders should be open to all who want to travel or trade. But that is not the way the world works. All countries have trade restrictions. We need to be careful that we don’t give up something important (family farms) for the possibility that some international company (and their Canadian workers, if they company decides to stay in Canada) may benefit at some point. Marketing boards will disappear unless we accept that there is a cost to living in Canada. Supporting small, perhaps slightly inefficient family farms is part of that price.