Lockdown

[zero]

So the Premier's conference is in my building today so my office (Ministry of Agriculture and Food building) is locked down TIGHT. I highly doubt their will be any whip cream pies to the face. I also suspect that my last remark triggered an inquiry by CSIS and someone will be at my desk shortly. Seriously though I would feel safer here than Iraq, they've got every possible exit manned and checked, no security badge no dice. And I forgot my badge this morning!! Anyways thought that was interesting and well we all know you're all boring and I come up with the interesting sh!t on here.

[guigsy]

so how'd you get in with no badge? kung fu? ::

[purple foot]

thats a sweet building the omafra building is. When i used to work there i biked to work and came in all sweaty with my raddedy ass clothes ready to work in the field. All the business types would look at me all uppity and i could tell they were thinking what i was doing there but i had the badge mother fu©cker! Take that you tie wearing ass sniffers!

[zero]

I hope I'm not a tie wearing ass sniffer. The whole place is like swarming with security and press, they did a conference at 10:30 and another later so it'll all be on the news tonight.

I guess Gerrard Kennedy made an announcement at the Ploughing Match which is a big rural event where politicians gladhand. They roundly and vocally booed him. BSE is just killing the family farm and this just showed a wholesale ignorance of the entire rural landscape. Like you need a farm to put food on the table to clothe your kids to send them to school. So I think they pulled this together on the fly to smooth things out. It's weird cause I have a conference call at 1:00 with Stephen Lewis, Avi Lewis, Chris Brown, a whole whack of heavyweights and we'll be talking about all of these related difficult difficult issues. Should be an interesting day no doubt.

[purple foot]

BSE is just killing the family farm

theres a lot more than BSE killing the farm. Corporations monopolizing seed stocks aren't helping family farms. that and the huge cost of inputs sends the everyday farmer packing. Luckily a lot of ranchers out this way can rely on oil and gas rental to get by but not every province has that luxory. saskatchewan and manitoba are quickly becoming a waste land as more and more young kids head to larger urban centers for money. the whole concept of "family farm" is quickly disapearing. Farmers who don't go big are forced to get another job to supplement the income or sell their farm altogther. A lot of "farmers" in alberta are guys who struck it big in oil and just want a ranch with a few head of cattle for kicks on weekends.

this BSE crisis is getting rediculous. Bush's way of snubbing canada for not supporting them in the war.

[AdamH]

Get the hell out of here. You don't have a conference call with THE Stephen Lewis?

I've talked to his daughter but never got full access to the man, the myth, the CBC and HIV celebrity!

[zero]

Yeah it went pretty heavy. Imagine him, his son, Chris Brown and a handful of other major heavyweight academics, journalists, politicians on one call talking about the implications of globalization for rural Ontario. I couldn't believe how well it went.