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By: Joni Miltenburg | Posted: October 04, 2008

Conservative incumbent Harold Albrecht came under fire at the Kitchener-Conestoga all-candidates debate Sept. 30, but he also drew cheers and applause from vocal supporters in the audience.
About 200 people filled the St. Agatha Community Centre to hear the four candidates jab and parry over their parties’ policies. The candidates fielded questions about the gun registry, electoral reform and post-secondary education, but the economy – particularly the beleaguered auto manufacturing sector – was front and centre.
The riding includes part of southwest Kitchener where the Kitchener Frame plant, set to close in 2010, is located. Several of the plant’s workers were at the meeting to ask the candidates what they would do to treat Ontario’s ailing auto industry.
Albrecht highlighted his party’s plan to invest in infrastructure, capital equipment and skills training for the auto industry. He also took a jab at the Liberals’ Green Shift policy, saying the manufacturing sector is energy dependent and can’t afford higher costs.
“If you think the carbon tax is going to help the auto industry, you’re sadly mistaken,” Albrecht said.
Liberal candidate Orlando Da Silva countered, saying there are already excise taxes on gasoline and it wouldn’t be taxed more under the Green Shift. Da Silva said the Liberals would introduce a $1-billion advanced manufacturing prosperity fund to invest in manufacturing and research and development.
Blaming “big oil” for soaring fuel costs and the high Canadian dollar, NDP candidate Rod McNeil said his party would support a shift to manufacturing more fuel-efficient cars that are in demand today.
Green party candidate Jamie Kropf pitched the need for an industrial strategy to shift manufacturing toward “green” technologies and create so-called green-collar jobs.
Albrecht made it clear he considers the Liberals his biggest threat, seizing opportunities to paint party leader Stéphane Dion and his Green Shift as “untested” and “risky.” But he was also forced to defend his own party leader. The other candidates criticized Stephen Harper’s decision to dissolve Parliament early, after passing a bill to set fixed election dates.
McNeil said voters should take the election call as an opportunity to turf Harper from office.
“Stephen Harper had a hissy fit and quit his job. I think we should give him his separation papers and a T4 slip and call it done,” McNeil said, drawing laughter from the crowd.
Albrecht repeated Harper’s claim that Parliament was dysfunctional, and blamed Dion for repeatedly threatening to bring down the government.
Kropf attacked all the main parties in Parliament for the way they do business.
“Anyone who leads by looking at opinion polls is not really leading,” Kropf said. “Great leaders lead by example … I don’t see that in our current crop of political leaders.”
Albrecht defended Harper’s leadership style, comparing him to the coach of a football team. He allows dissension within the caucus, Albrecht explained, but the party governs with a united front.
“If Canada’s going to move forward, it’s going to move forward as a united team,” he said, drawing loud applause.
The challengers also went on the attack over Afghanistan, decrying Harper’s announcement that troops would come home in 2011.
“If our troops can achieve their mission, they should stay there until they’re done. If they can’t achieve their mission, they should get out now,” Kropf said.
Albrecht was quick to remind the crowd that both the Liberals and Conservatives supported the mission, and the Liberals supported the motion to withdraw troops.
Both Albrecht and Da Silva appealed to voters based on their records. Albrecht told the crowd that the Conservatives have carried out the promises they made in the last campaign and have a record of proven leadership. Da Silva looked back to the Liberal governments of Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin, saying the Conservatives had squandered the surpluses the Liberals left.
For their part, McNeil and Kropf tried to turn their inexperience to their advantage. McNeil told them that he’s not a professional politician, but the NDP will defend the interests of those around “the kitchen table, not the boardroom table.”
Kropf said he has no illusions about the Greens forming the next government, but the country needs their voices in Ottawa, and promised to put his constituents’ interests before those of his party.

By: Joni Miltenburg | Posted: October 04, 2008

	FOOD FOR THOUGHT Wellesley’s Murray Bast and his son Lindsay held a screening of the documentary “The World According to Monsanto” in Waterloo Oct. 2. They argue it’s important for people to think about where their food comes from and what goes into it.

A Wellesley father and son are hoping to get people thinking about their food supply and what goes into the food they’re eating.
Murray Bast and his son Lindsay sponsored a screening of the documentary “The World According to Monsanto” at the Princess Twin Cinema in Waterloo Oct. 2.
Bast is the founder of Bio-Ag Consultants and Distributors, which sells a range of products – including natural feed supplements, probiotics and soil amendments – for farmers who don’t want to use pesticides and chemical additives. His son Lindsay is a naturopathic doctor at Greenwood Wellness Clinic, located on the farm.
Bast said the documentary, by French journalist Monique-Marie Robin, examines the history of the chemical and biotech giant, including ethical and health controversies it’s been involved in and its close ties to politicians and regulators.
Monsanto started life as a chemical company, notoriously producing Agent Orange, used during the Vietnam War, and PCBs, used in industrial coolants and banned in the 1970s.
Although it is still one of America’s top chemical companies, it has shifted its research focus to biotechnology and genetic engineering. Monsanto is the world’s largest producer of genetically modified seeds, and holds patents on many strains.
The senior Bast said he first looked at alternative products and farming practices when his children were small. His wife had health problems after giving birth to his eldest son, and his second son, Lindsay, was constantly sick as a baby.
“He would have horrible stomach cramping and the doctor would give more medicine to help with that,” Bast said. “And finally we went to see an old homeopath in Waterloo who gave us some stuff and said, quit feeding this child pasteurized milk. Feed him some raw milk. And, amazingly, his whole digestive system turned around.”
At that point, Bast turned his farm into an organic operation and started looking into other alternative ideas. He also stresses that it’s important for consumers to get to know the farmers growing and raising their food, even if they’re buying food labeled as organic.
“Sometimes I think farmers are organic just for the money – they’re organic by default and not organic by design,” he said. “I think people have to develop relationships with the suppliers of their food and know where their food comes from and ask questions of what farmers are doing.”
He argues we won’t know the consequences of genetically-modified foods for perhaps decades.
“We’re going to see … a whole generation of children being born with a whole new set of diseases that we had no idea even existed, because we’re going to change the molecular structure of the DNA in our bodies with all this genetically modified food we’re consuming.
“If you stop and think about the end of the Second World War, it took until the late ‘80s and early ‘90s until we started to tie some of these things like breast cancers and these other cancers to the chemicals farmers were using. It’s going to take probably a good 30 or 40 years until we see the effect of the GMO program.”
Lindsay Bast said the film was released in Europe about a year ago, but wasn’t publicly released in North America. When one of the staff at the clinic told him it was possible to rent the Princess Theatre, he and his father saw a way to raise awareness.
“People in general are a little more aware of where their food comes from and what happens to it,” he said. [But] probably the majority of people aren’t aware of how much genetically modified food they’re eating.”

By: Marc Miquel Helsen | Posted: October 04 , 2008

A new service level achieved by the Wellesley Fire Department could translate into lower home insurance costs for the township’s rural residents.
The department last month successfully passed tests to gain the Fire Underwriters’ Superior Tanker Shuttle Accreditation, which determines whether a fire service can supply an uninterrupted flow of water to rural areas at rates comparable to those areas in which fire hydrants are prevalent.
The new standard essentially means reduced risk to insurers.
While firefighters in urban areas can rely on fire hydrants to draw water from the municipal supply, their rural counterparts must rely on other sources, such as reservoirs and tanker trucks shuttling water.
To obtain the Fire Underwriters accreditation, in a Sept. 20 test Wellesley firefighters set up pumpers and portable tanks, hauling water from the Greenwood Hill pond to Crosshill Mennonite Church on Hutchinson Road and Lobsinger Line, and pumping roughly 940 litres (250 gallons) per minute.
Confident going into the test, township fire chief Dave Geil said he was pleased with the results, noting that the new accreditation should be a boon to taxpayers.
“Basically what they’re saying … is that any area that the Linwood station, the St Clements station and the Wellesley station takes care of is covered, so, I’m kind of thinking that’s the whole township,” said Geil.
Virtually the entire township – barring a small area at the top end of Wallenstein, near Floradale – fell within the eight-kilometre radius of at least one of the municipality’s three fire halls.
Geil suggested that homeowners consult with their insurance company and notify them that the township recently completed and obtained its Tanker Shuttle Accreditation, effective Sept. 30.
Prior to the accreditation, only the township’s urban areas, where fire hydrants are common, could qualify for this level of accreditation. Now, many of the rural areas should qualify for accreditation equal to locations with fire hydrants.
“[That] pretty much covers Kingwood, Crosshill, Linwood, Hawkesville, Wallenstein, Paradise Lake, Bamberg – those other areas,” said Geil.
With that in mind, Geil suggested that homeowners contact their insurance providers to determine whether their policies would recognize the new standard.
“That depends on each insurance company. How much? That can vary from insurance company to insurance company,” he said, adding that a township letter explaining the changes will be sent to homeowners in the near future.