EDITORIAL:                                           

OFA, Landowners a true
combined force for change

Hats off to the Rural Council of Ottawa-Carleton for achieving what everyone knew had to be done, but were less sure how to do it.

The Rural Council's Rural Rally, set to descend on Ottawa city hall as the paper went to press, boasted a talented array of speakers to let the city know they are an unhappy lot. And politicians know that while there may be fewer rural voters, the country folk generally continue to turn out en masse to cast their ballot while the city folk stay home.

In fact, there are optimists who are now saying out loud that rural voters may well hold the balance of power in upcoming elections, certainly at the municipal level and perhaps others.

And that is why it was with such delight that in scanning the list of speakers for the June 8 rally, we spied names from the Ontario Federation of Agriculture and the Lanark Landowners Association on the same page.

Both groups can be a force to be reckoned with. Individually, they have achieved much, on different days and in different ways.

Imagine then, the potential force that has been harnessed by this Rural Rally to remind city hall and its urban majority that they cannot condemn Queen's Park's "one size fits all" approach to city governments while adopting the same ill-starred strategy with its taxpayers populating the far reaches of what they proudly proclaim to be "the largest agricultural city in Canada."

Just a week earlier, Wyatt Williams and "Food Aid" showed what this city --any city-- can accomplish when all players get to play. They raised more than $108,000 in one day. The OFA and LLA are more likely to raise eyebrows. If that doesn't work, they may raise a little hell.

                                                FREE PRESS ADVOCATE