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s economist suntribune around the region thursday march 16 2000 3 farmers driving his combine to ottawa to publicize canadian farming crisis staff photosteve somerville british columbia farmer nick parsons is driving his combine tion for canadian farm families his trek brought him through prairie belle to ottawa to protest what he calls the crisis situa- york region this week bc farmers protest reaches york region by joan ransberry staff writer have combine will travel when nick parsons pulled into york region at high noon tuesday he was noticed driving prairie belle a 42metrewide massey ferguson 860 combine harvester parsons a british columbia farmer delivered a message a giantsized sign attached to the front of prairie belle says it all and is raising awareness everywhere he goes farm crisis very real for western canada family farms on thing is absolute parsons and his combine are not being overlooked he was noticed in saskatchewan in alberta in manitoba and hes being noticed in ontario when the combine is set on cruise parsons covers 22 kmh 14 mph not exactly lightning speed parsons admitted ive been on the road six weeks now he said when prairie belle crept along hwy 7 in markham there were no complaints instead of being annoyed that the monster machine was hogging the road motorists gave parsons a warm reception western farmers havent experienced such financial hardships since the dirty 30s farm bankruptcies are commonplace hope of recovery is dwindling parsons couldnt sit back and watch it take him or his farm community under at least not without a fight parsons left his farm and family in dawson creek bc feb 1 the ottawabound parsons will park his combine on the steps of the house of commons in ottawa and personally deliv er a message to prime minister jean chretien but chretien is not the only politician on parsons list using a cell phone in the cab of the combine parsons stopped in unionville and called york region and toronto police to arrange for a police escort to queens park in downtown toronto parson expects to be at the provincial legis lature this morning im getting a lot of support from the people of ontario parsons said the farmers here care about the western farm ers i am trying to raise awareness it seems to be working the farmers across this country are calling me their ambassador parsons knows first hand the plight of the western farmer economic reality has hit his 500hectare 1250acre farm hard his farm grows top quality grain and oilseed but grain prices have fallen to 1970s levels while the cost of operating the farm has risen since 1995 wheat prices have fallen by 50 per cent parsons said during the same time the cost of propane for his farm truck has doubled profits are eaten up by equip ment depreciation fuel fertilizer and seed parsons is calling for an annual farm subsidy of 50 an acre so canadian farm families can earn a decent living while at the same time maintain canadas edge on the world market but first things first parsons wants fed eral agriculture minister lyle vancliffe to resign hes inadequate parsons said his lack of concern in the last federal budget of the hardships on the land is unsurprising i want him out parsons has also written to chretien and queen elizabeth outlining the plight of prairie farmers once in ottawa parsons will tell the prime minister that his col leagues need respect were producing the most top quality produce in the western world we produce bread butter milk cheese and all meats we and not the supermarkets produce it parsons and his wife and two daughters immigrated to canada from england in 1991 the queen of england is the queen of canada too parsons stressed explaining his plea to her majesty farmers sons leave in large numbers as they see no future only heartache and demise parsons wrote to the queen the large multinational grain buyers and agri cultural suppliers and government cause us to be caught in a dictatorship regime while the trek across canada is slow moving and lonely parsons has no regrets i have no support vehicle i am totally on my own except for the goodwill and support of so many along my route parsons said but my character is such that i will never give up on my concerns for agri culture joan ransberry its not good practice to hire your family call it all in the family ill call it nepotism daughters and sons of the empire take note it doesnt matter what you do or how well you do it it makes the com moners restless a while ago a hiring in king township raised a few eyebrows the chief administrative officers son was hired for a management position in the townships recreation department and is now earning about 40000 a year the 41 year old sonmanager declined com ment on the matter instead referring me to his caofather because it was a personnel matter the cao- father said he couldnt legally make a public state ment i must point out that kings cao doesnt have to prove himself hes exceptional at his work and always has been if the apple doesnt fall far from the tree his son likely came to the job with plenty of knowhow but that still doesnt make it right if the caos son wants to work for a munici pality there are about 3000 towns townships and cities out there because kings top bureaucrat is his father king township should be off limits king township mayor margaret black remind ed me that a township policy dictates that the employees of the township shall not work in the same department with any other person to whom they are related including spouse parent child brother sister grandparent and inlaw in this case theres a catch the son doesnt work in the same department as his father related employees besides theres nothing unusual about more than one family member working for the town ship black said we have many related employ ees working here she said black is one of the more capable mayors in york region but like the rest of us black is not perfect she missed the mark on this one while the cao is not the direct boss of his son he is the boss of his sons boss this has the potential to be a touchy sit uation and it doesnt matter how its explained away nepotism damages staff morale for the most part hiring the kids doesnt work in private business and it doesnt work in government in whitchurchstouffville mayors and coun cillors children have scored summer jobs with the town the parents are teaching their children an interesting lesson in life the its who you know lesson is repeated often in stouffville the chairperson of whitchurchstouffville hydro commission solved a job vacancy prob lem he hired himself last year the commission opted not to renew hydro manager nicktatones contract in his place is hydro commission chair- person charlie jackson i hope jackson does a good job firing yourself would be a little tricky it doesnt matter how you cut it the playing field is far from level when the players are the rel atives of the rule makers and the rule keepers ipeppertree klassics 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