CEN Nee + TAREE RRR MERE NT NMR SOS TINDALL RTM NOR OE : | : i It’s time to rid society of primary producers CANADA’S LAST Living Non-Economist was found in a Glen Valley blueberry patch with his bum pointed at the sky. He had a sore back and welcomed the in- terview. Asked why he was picking $5.50 a kilo blueberries for 80 cents, he said, “‘Because it teaches a fundamental lesson. which is that primary production is of so little value it hardly matters. “This shows why berry farmers do not deserve to drive BMWs or take holidays in Cancun. Pro- sperity would ruin people like farmers. They aren't used to it. They would never handle it. **Prosperity is the preserve of herds and shoals in middlemen who sell to each other with a pro- per regard to their need for prof- its. The berry industry profits people in the advertising ‘dustry, who tell the public why they are lucky to get berries for $5.50 a kilo. ‘*The berries profit government bureaucrats, who conduct studies of why blueberry farmers are not @S prosperous as government bu- reaucrats. The berries provide lucrative contracts for en- vironmental researchers who report gloomily that insect pests have become endangered species because of the spray program. They urge that blueberry produc- tion cease, in the interests of the moths and other bugs, and that all the farmers be retrained as caretakers at daycare centres. **Economists earn handsome fees making charts which show the effect of subsidy on blueberry production in Novosibirsk extend- ed to the year 2010, assuming no alteration of government policy in the Soviet Union. These results are so shocking that scores of people in the universities write theses on the subject. _ **Behold this little fruit, my friend, this little powder-blue morsel of savor, sharing with good Stilton cheese the honor of being the only food colored blue which ever passes over the tonsils of man. How little you appreciate the prosperity it brings to our na- tion. ‘*} have mentioned only a few of the classes of people to whom it brings either wealth or fame. There are many others. “*Think of the Customs officers hired to peek into tourists’ underwear bags in search of smuggled Novosibirsk blueberries. ‘*Think of those politicians, retired by popular demand, who now serve on tribunals in Ottawa, determining whether or not foreign blueberry growers are ad- hering to the protocols of GATT, SCAT, HOOT and other interna- tional treaties. ‘*In all that array — and | have named but a handful of the sec- tors of society to benefit from ’ blueberries — there are only two beneficiaries who have neither university education nor union or professional society protection. These are the English Starling and the blueberry farmer. “You seem to have little sym- pathy for primary producers."’ **It would be misplaced. For almost half a century the trend has been to reduce the role of Paul St. Pierre PAULITICS & PERSPECTIVES primary production in the gross national product. It is suggested we may soon be able to complete- ly eradicate primary production of all kinds — blueberries, timber, steel, sockeye salmon or gypsum to make cement. “The economists will explain to you that an irritant will thus be removed from the otherwise smooth and effortless functicning Post-Industrial society. Primary producers tend to be individu- alistic, stubborn and often intrac- table and there can be little doubt we would be better off without them. **Once they are exterminated, the truly productive forces of the modern economy can come into full play. All the multitudes in service industries will be able to service one another. Those who have entered the new information society will be free to communi- cate with one another more and more about less and less until eventually everybody will be com- pletely informed about nothing. “*There will no longer be blueberries or fish to eat, lumber to build houses or nails to stick the boards together. But our in- formation about our lack of all these things will be complete and rapidly transmittable. “In the Information Society, which is succeeding the Post- Industrial Society, mankind finally is achieving the Irish solution to full employment. We are going to live happily ever after taking in one another’s washing and, in the old Irish tradition, talk a lot about it.”’ “‘Won’t people be hungry and cold without any primary pro- ducts?” “Of course they will but look at the employment to be provided by their very discontent — more social workers will be needed, more psychiatrists, more doctors, bigger and better football stadiums, longer and noisier tele- vision shows. All these and more will be needed to keep the popula- tion’s mind off its cold and hunger.’’ **You have still not explained why you are picking blueberries and getting sunburned.”’ “1 am picking blueberries because it costs less than buying them, because | want to eat them, because I believe there can be hard winters even in the Age of Information and because | believe the Information Society is a OICBC AND YOUR LOCAL POLICE. Friday. September 21, 1990 - North Shore News - 9 Pollution discussed NORTH SHORE. air pollution problems will be clarified at oa Tuesday, Sept. 28 workshop at Windsor Secondary School. The free air poilution workshop is a combined effort of North Shore Continuine Education, En- vironment Canada and the Lynn Canyon Ecology Centre. Discussion will centre on the composition of air pollution on the North Shore and pollution control methods. The workshop begins at 7:30 p.m. The school is located at 931 Broadview Dr. in North Van- couver. Call 98 .-8888 to register. Caring for the Disabled If vou are a caring person looking for a fulfilling career in the health field. consider training for a career as a Personal Care Attendant for the Disabled. There is still time to register for our October ; : : 1990 program. NOTHING UNEXPECTED... Graduates of the program work with the NOTHING UNEXPLAINED... physically disabled of all ages to help them live independently in the community. The program offers practical and classroom training, beginning October !. Student Joans are available. Call Capilano College Health Programs now at 984-4947 or come to the — information meeting on Tuesday, September 25 _ — at 7 p.m. in Room H204 to learn more about it. 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