Hillier great at grandstanding

I read Randy Hillier’s letter in your November issue with great interest. It is interesting that he should accuse you of unfair reporting and partisanship “… expected in Tass or Pravda, but not in Canada.”

In the early days of the Lanark Landowners Association, I sent $500 to the organization because I, too, was concerned about policies and practices of the provincial government, in particular. The original wetlands legislation two decades ago was typical of Toronto thinking. It was even worse than expropriation without compensation. It essentially required farmers to maintain the wetlands without being able to use them in any way or use the land within 100 yards of the boundary.

This was followed by more legislation and regulation over time, which showed a remarkable lack of understanding of the rural economy. These policy views seemed to be consistent under all the provincial administrations over the last few decades. In any event, I supported the Landowners’ presentation of the plight of the rural economy.

Having said that, I was to find out very quickly that Randy Hillier’s view of democracy was much more in line with the thinking behind Tass and Pravda than he might like to admit. Not only did I not get a receipt for the money donated, but after the first disagreement with Mr. Hillier’s actions I was dropped from the mailing list and Mr. Hillier never answered any correspondence from that point on, nor was I ever sent anything on the organization or its activities.

As his public actions in the Carmichael case and his letter to the editor show, Mr. Hillier is great at grandstanding, but nobody should be confused about how he runs an organization. The way he cut me off actually makes Queens Park look good and that is not an easy thing to do at times. I suspect there are other readers out there who can attest to the level of democracy in his organization, as well as the shortcomings in the way he handles donated money. BF

Leonard G. Lee
Almonte

Editor’s note: Randy Hillier says all contributors receive a receipt unless they demand anonymity.

Write to Us: We welcome views from all readers. To be published, letters must be written exclusively to Better Farming and include the writer's name, address and telephone number to allow for verification. Letters may be edited, condensed or rejected. Due to space limitations, we suggest a length of less than 350 words.