An early warning to Canadians

Chinese Gluten appears to be the culprit in the Menu pet food poisonings which has claimed a dozen or so cats and dogs in North America, so far. Of course, we don't know how many more pets have been mortally injured by injesting food tainted with pesticide residue.

I can't help but ask if Canadians would stand up and make a little bit of noise about this scandalous situation if it had been apple juice rather than pet food that was found to contain deadly contaminants? After all, 100% of the reconstituted apple juice we buy (not to mention any other food products made from apple juice concentrate) are now sourced in China, as well.

That's right folks, as we continue to drive our own farmers into bankruptcy our governments and industry lull us into an enormously false sense of security that our food supply is safe and plentiful though they continue to sell their souls to the Chinese government.

Remember when we learned that manufacturing jobs were fleeing Canada in droves for the cheap and completely immoral backdrop of mainland China? We were told not to worry, our government was going to create a kinder and better Canada with high tech jobs for everyone..... H'mm, wasn't it Intel who just announced the replacement of North American operations with a planned new facility in China? So much for that "High Tech" salvation.

We have been deserted by our government. They, of the big, global economic minds, who spend more time worried about how they might look to their counterparts around the world than how they might expose the population of this once proud nation to complete subservience and dependency on the likes of China.

We got a sample of the disasters we can come to expect in the future, as these household pets provided us with a warning sign, of what's to come. It is time to stand up and demand that our governments immediately rethink this entire strategy. It is time that we reconsidered our ongoing sell-out to China and other world powers and instead, put these enormous amounts of public money, being spent in these foolish endeavours, back into Canada and Canadians.

We need our farms. We need the food that they grow. We must begin to support local farms and to pay prices in line with costs of production. We need our farmers to thrive - not barely survive. Why in the world is a country that grows more wheat than most of the rest of the world put together - buying tainted gluten from China - when there are huge stores of surplus wheat waiting to be given away to other foreign interests?

There used to be thousands of acres of apples in Ontario (and in many other parts of this vast land) which have now been ripped out. But for the princely sum of $15.00 per ton - apple growers cannot grow, pick and ready their crops for sale. Of course, all of those modern rules and regulations governing what can and can't be sprayed (which we know are not a part of production in places like China) have put them out of business. It is not that they should be allowed to poison our apples - it is that they should not be forced to compete with people who do!

Apple cider, which originated as the natural use for windfalls (those apples which had blown off the tree before being picked and which were therefore too bruised or otherwise not suitable for sale, as is) were juiced and turned into cider. Fresh cider and juice was a "windfall" for the grower.

Today, interfering governments, with little or no understanding of the industries that they control, prohibit the use of such fruit. If it has touched the ground, it may not be used. I wonder if the same rules are applied to all of that Chinese apple juice concentrate which is welcomed with open arms by these very same, double talking, holier than thou politicans and gladly poured down the throats of every Canadian child. Frankly, I find it despicable, dishonourable and unacceptable.

I would rather feed my children apple juice made from Annapolis Valley windfalls than from any Chinese apples.

3rd 4th and 5th generation apple growers are fighting a losing battle. All Canadians are losing as well.

I wonder which of those among us will lose the use of vital organs next - and I wonder which politicians among us have the guts and the decency to stand up and speak out against this shameful scandal.

The lives of those much loved pets might not have been given in vain if we could just use these events as a catalyst to start rebuilding the agricultural sector of a country which has all but abandoned the most important and essential social service of all - our food supply!