magazine / ma05
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March/April 2005 issue |
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Reverberations
A miner’s daughter responds
I could relate so much to the story on prairie potash ("Salt of the earth," CG Jan/Feb
2005). I grew up as a potash miner’s daughter, always wondering how Dad was doing,
if he was OK and if he was coming home. I wasn’t the only one worrying — Mom
was too, especially in the winter, since Dad had to drive about 32 miles to and from work.
He always said the wages were good and it wasn’t that dangerous working underground.
When I got older, I finally got to tour the underground world. I thought that would be a
job I would like. It didn’t bother me to go down in the cage or to be in the pitch-black
darkness when the lights went out. I learned you just had to be careful, watching every move
you made, because you never know when you’re working with equipment and falling rock.
When I grew up, I left to find a job in the big city and never did apply at the potash mine.
In the 1990s, I moved back and am now a miner’s common-law wife in the Esterhazy, Sask.,
area. Living the life as an adult is much different than as a kid. I know and understand
the circumstances. I still worry a little bit, but not as much now. Living this life is wonderful
and knowing that my other half loves his job makes things even better.
Coralee McDonald,
Esterhazy, Sask.
A grazer is a grazer
"Back home on the range" (CG Jan/Feb 2005)
suggests that bison are environmentally sensitive creatures and cites, as proof, the condition
of the prairies when Europeans arrived. Some early journals note complete removal of forage
and total fouling of water bodies by the vast bison herds. Now these were not bad occurrences,
as the bison moved on and the environment recovered — indeed, benefited — from the natural
high intensity/ low frequency grazing. However, the bison moved on due to one or more of these
factors: the need to find fresh forage, pursuit by predators (both four- and two-legged), prairie
fires and weather systems. Other than weather, we are not likely to duplicate the environment
that held sway when bison roamed freely over the plains.
Bison, without the natural incentives to move on and in fenced environments, are no different
than other grazing ruminants. They must eat to maintain themselves and will overgraze the
same as any other grazer if not properly managed. For evidence of this, one need look no
further than some bison ranches where too many animals graze fenced pastures.
To hold up bison as the saviours of our remaining natural grasslands is misleading and does
a disservice to the good grazing management practised by ranchers who have used these grasslands
for the past 100 years.
D. Grant Griffin,
Cranbrook, B.C.
As a bison rancher in south-central British Columbia, I both enjoyed and disliked your feature
on bison. It was good to see an article covering the growth of the industry, but the statement
that there are only 1,000 pure bison and all others are hybrids is somewhat misleading. While
you can cross a bison with a beef cow, you do not always get a fertile offspring, and even
if you do, that animal may not give you a breedable offspring. So the likelihood of the whole
domestic herd being crossed is a little far-fetched.
I have had bison for more than 22 years and run a herd that is as close to a natural herd
as I can on a quarter section. With no cross-fencing and no separation of bulls or calves
from the females, the animals run as a herd year-round. We change bulls every six years or
so but do not breed for length or width. We try to produce good-looking animals that look
like bison.
I think you could have used the Canadian Bison Association as your source for information,
instead of a provincial one. We are not all old cattle ranchers who jumped into bison when
the going was good, and there are many of us who fight those who would change the animal
into a cow.
We’re doing our bit to save what we have.
Bernard Vere
Vice-president, B.C. Bison Association Merritt, B.C.
Flin Flon flap
"Split city" ("Mosaic," CG Jan/Feb 2005)
states that Lloydminster is Canada’s only border city. I believe you are wrong. Some
of my students live in Flin Flon, Man., and some in Flin Flon, Sask.
Some people in Flin Flon have a Manitoba driver’s licence, vote for Manitoba politicians
and pay Manitoba income tax. Some people in Flin Flon have a Saskatchewan driver’s
licence, vote for Saskatchewan politicians and pay Saskatchewan income tax.
Robert Hill
Flin Flon, Man.
Editor’s note: Lloydminster Mayor Ken Baker says
as far as he knows, no one has ever challenged this claim before. He adds that his city
has the distinction of being run under a biprovincial charter, which means it’s one
municipality with special conditions. For example, residents pay no sales tax in Lloydminster,
regardless of whether they live on the Saskatchewan or Alberta side. In The Canadian Encyclopedia,
it’s listed as Lloydminster, Alta.-Sask., whereas Flin Flon is listed as Flin Flon,
Man. The encyclopedia says that Lloydminster is known as the "Border City" and
is the "only single community in Canada split by a provincial boundary." In its
entry for Flin Flon, it says that "the Saskatchewan part is jointly administered by
the two provinces." Confused yet?
An all-Canadian boat
Once again, your photo contest (CG Jan/Feb 2005) has
showcased some high-quality work, but the boat in the winning picture of paddlers is a war
canoe, not a "dragon boat." There is a big difference.
The war canoe was developed in Canada to teach larger numbers of new paddlers; it carries
14 paddlers and a coxswain. The dragon boat has 20 paddlers plus a coxswain and a drummer.
In the Canadian boat, the paddlers kneel on one knee, whereas in the Chinese boat, they sit
and use very short strokes. The war canoe, at 160 to 200 pounds, can be lifted by two men.
The dragon boat can’t be carried by all 22 crew members because of its weight. The
war canoe is also much faster and very tippy, and it requires far more skill.
It is sad that the unique Canadian sport of war-canoe racing, which grew and developed from
our early transportation history, is not more widely appreciated. Dragon-boat racing attracts
far more participants today. It’s easier, has a mystique about its legends and receives
financial support from large Canadian companies. But the irony is that the Canadian sport
provided the expertise in training, course set-up and officiating to introduce dragon boating
in this country and produce its top performers.
Barry Rice
Nelson, B.C.
Turn right for wealth
Aritha van Herk leaves the impression in her article ("Imagine one big province," CG Jan/Feb
2005) that the economic and social differences between Alberta and Saskatchewan are due
to the geographic boundary which was drawn between them. I submit that the differences are
due to political history. Had the people in Saskatchewan been electing right-wing, business-oriented
governments for the past 70 years like Albertans have, they would probably be more prosperous
today than Alberta.
Saskatchewan has a greater diversity of resources than Alberta, but its socialist governments
were incapable of economically developing these resources.
It was Alberta’s farmer government, to which van Herk refers, that convinced the federal
government to give control of resources to Alberta and Saskatchewan. The problem was, unlike
Alberta, Saskatchewan did not use control of its resources to advantage. Saskatchewan will
continue to be a hinterland as long as the people keep electing socialist governments.
Herman Schwenk
Coronation, Alta.
Words in haste
Among the photographs in "World views" (CG Nov/Dec
2004) are two pictures of the fence that separates Israel from the West Bank. The brief
commentary accompanying one of the photos is problematic in that the security fence crudely
characterized as an Israeli "land grab." No mention is made of the Palestinian
terror that occasioned its building or of the significant effectiveness of the fence in reducing
terror.
The exact route of the fence is quite controversial, both within Israel and without, and
is being altered in response to an Israeli Supreme Court ruling. To provide no context whatsoever
and to engage in hyperbole is not a credit to your fine magazine. A picture may be worth
a thousand words, but that is no excuse for not choosing one’s words carefully.
Simon Rosenblum
Director of Public Policy
Canadian Jewish Congress,
Ontario Region
Mapping issues
On the map "Alberta and Saskatchewan: The view in 1905" (Jan/Feb
2005), you state that Edmonton is the capital and the biggest city in Alberta. The capital
it may be, but it is not the largest. The Greater Calgary Area surpassed one million people
in 2000, and Edmonton will do the same this year. The City of Calgary proper should pass
one million this year. Edmonton has yet to reach 800,000. Calgary is the fifth largest population
centre in Canada (after Toronto, Montréal, Vancouver and Ottawa); Edmonton is the
sixth.
Ted Fisher
Leduc, Alta.
The map identifies 22 areas of interest in Saskatchewan and Alberta, including the tar sands,
yet fails to draw attention to the vast areas of clear-cutting, the most dominant feature
on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains. The oversight is so obvious, it forces one
to speculate on the reasons for its omission.
Geoff S. Ghitter, Ph.D. student
Department of Geography University of Calgary
In Tune with the Times
I would like to commend Contributing Editor Monique Roy-Sole for her superb 3-page review
of the magazine’s history “In Tune with the Times” (CG, Nov/Dec
2004), in which she quoted a 1939 article “Poland’s fight for freedom” … by
Lawrence P. Burpee, the magazine’s founding editor. “He offered historical
and geographical context for Poland’s wartime plight but didn’t mask his feelings
on the nation’s treatment by Germany and Russia. “Someone said to me, ‘Why
should I fight for Poland?’ Well, there are a number of reasons, including the not
necessarily remote one of self-preservation in a mad world. But after all, is not this
a homely illustration of the situation facing us today: You go for a walk and come upon
a big bully choking the life out of a small boy. Will you take a hand in the fight — or
will you pass by on the other side? Remember, you can help the small boy. He is not dead,
only desperately hurt.”
This quote really shook me up, and brought to mind "the situation facing us today" in Iraq.
Our forefathers went to war 65 years ago to "help the small boy", but that approach is not
so simple today. Nevertheless, the present policy of soothing talk and appeasement cannot
continue indefinitely. As Gwynne Dyer noted recently: "If the US does not change course,
the other great powers will eventually give up on the waiting game and move to counterbalance
and contain American power" (gwynnedyer.net).
As Canadian peacemakers, I believe it is imperative that we do everything we can to "help
the small boy", while at the same time, staying engaged with our American friends and letting
them know how we feel about the present Iraq conflict.
W.H. Wolferstan
Victoria, BC
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