This letter is in response to the article and the editorial by David Meyer. Mr. Meyer purports that the call to stand up and have your voice heard holding a placard is too much. I ask him then just how does a farm citizen get their voice heard? I would think that phone calls, email, writing letters, asking for meetings would be the correct way to do this. Between me and thousands of other Ontario farm citizens we have done this to death and we have been dismissed. We are called names and humiliated by arrogant politicians who care more for big foreign interests than the needs and concerns of the people who elect them. I have concluded the only way left is to protest. Every single protest and rally and information meeting that I have attended with the groups in opposition to the Green Energy Act has been organized and controlled. Our local group OBWF consults with the police and asks for their attendance to help us stay safe and to prevent others from making up stories about what we do and how we do it. Our goal is to have our voices heard because we feel we have no other options. Protest does not come easy to the people involved. Many of my neighbours and community members had never participated in a protest in their lives and found it hard to put themselves out in public but they did so out of need. Everyone participates with the understanding we will be peaceful, perhaps loud, but peaceful. We want the sitting members of the Liberal Party to know that for every one of their electorate that is out in the rain and cold there maybe 10 perhaps a 100 more at home that feel the same way. Our protest was only to be held outside and we wanted to attend the meeting to ask questions and listen to what the candidates had to say. When an organization holds a public meeting instead of rushing to cancel, due to the presence of protesters, they should try and make contact with the group protesting. This especially should be done when the folks protesting are their neighbours and fellow farmers who have many of the same concerns as they do. I remember a time when farmers stood together and protested and blocked major highways and drove farm machinery to the city seats of government because the government would not listen to their desperate needs and concern. I love that I live in such a democracy that invites us to be heard in creative ways when the doors are shut in our faces. The all candidates meeting in Arthur on September 14th was held in spite of the cancellation and attended by 5 of the 6 candidates. All candidates were invited and assured by the moderators this meeting would be held with the same format and rules as any all candidates meeting should be. The questions were written and evaluated and grouped for repetition. 36 questions were submitted 17 were asked. We asked for the percentages on the topics just to make sure the agricultural aspect of the meeting had been maintained as this was the intent of the this meeting. 47% of the questions were agriculture focused questions. I am proud to be part of OBWF and Wind Concerns Ontario and saddened by the fact that I feel I had no choice but to join them to protect myself, my family, my farm, my community and my Ontario. I encourage all Ontarians to vote, get involved learn about the issues and make your government work for you, the reason they exist in the first place. Thanks to the Wellington Advertiser for giving us the opportunity to voice important concerns even when you dont agree with usit is democracy at its best.
Heather