The Bellyaching And Whining Is Stopping….

… and politicians aren’t showing up to watch what’s going on…

More from Randy Hillier:

“The rural revolution continues to expand and gain prominence. Rural
associations that have adopted a common slogan and approach now stretch from
the Quebec border to the Bruce peninsula. A corridor of resolve and
determination will soon be paved and stretch unbroken across rural Ontario.
At the end of the path will be property rights and less intrusive &
accountable democracy.

The first meeting of the Glengarry Landowners on September 16 was a great
success. Approximately 250 people attended and the new association signed up
over 150 members. The LLA was invited to attend and address the large
audience. There’s little difference speaking at a Glengarry or a Lanark
meeting. The people in attending in Glengarry not only share the same values
and principals as the LLA: but also our resolve and commitment to fight and
defend our rights to ownership.

Attached is a commentary from the local radio station, and Jamie MacMaster’s
(GLA Director) address to the audience.

The LLA has made a firm and uncompromising commitment to support and help
the Glengarry landowners to restore accountable governments and ownership of
property rights. And they in turn support the LLA

The LLA welcomes the Glengarry landowners Association and look forward to
standing with them and delivering a loud clear message!

“THIS LAND IS OUR LAND – BACK OFF GOVERNMENT”

Randy Hillier
President, Lanark Landowners Association
tel 613-257-7968
Tel 613-267-6661
Fax 613-259-2741
http://www.marmora.org/liberty/LLA/
I do not accept e-mail attachments
—– Original Message —–
From: <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, September 22, 2004 1:07 PM
Subject: CJUL Commentary

The following commentary represents the opinion of the writer only and does
not necessarily reflect the views of the management of Corus Entertainment.

LANDOWNERS UNITE!

The Glengarry Landowners Association got together yesterday. Who? Well, you
may not be wondering for long. Their first public meeting took place last
night in Green Valley to raise a voice over three major concerns – the
Smithfield Project in Lancaster, high taxes and the paid EMS Coordinator
position in North Glengarry. It’s the kind of organization that taxpayers
love and politicians hate. You’ll notice there was no line-up of
politicians at the door. They will watch from a distance to see if buckets
of tar and feathers are being unloaded in the parking lot. Eventually,
political leaders will be forced to acknowledge the group. You know what
they say – if they are about to run you out of town and chase you down the
street, at least make it look like you are “leading” them. I applaud the
efforts of the group’s organizers but I am especially impressed with all of
the average Joes and Joannes (is that a saying? It should be!) who showed
up. With a huge democratic deficit in this country, last night’s get
together was refreshing and timely. The Glengarry Landowner’s Association
— remember the name.

Jamie MacMasters address to the GLA innaugural meeting
Green Valley – 16 September, 2004

Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen, fellow taxpayers. I’m Jamie MacMaster,
one of the Directors of the Glengarry Landowners’ Association. Before I
introduce my fellow Directors, I want to set some minds at ease. The GLA
is not affiliated with any political party or candidate; we do not support
any particular political creed. We are not a negotiating committee or a
debating society. We are, simply put; a group of property owners dedicated
to ensuring that governments are not intrusive, wasteful or unaccountable.

I want to thank you all, each and every one of you, for taking the time to
come here tonight. When I see this many people, who were willing to give
up their time to come here on pretty short notice, it tells me a few
things. First of all, it tells me that I’m not the only one who is damn
sick and tired of high taxes, government waste and government intrusion.
In other words: I’m not alone. The second thing a crowd of this size tells
me is that we’re going to be able to do something about it.

I’m going to spend a little bit of time with you explaining just what this
organization is all about: why we need you and you need us. Then I’m going
to turn the stage over to Randy Hillier, who is the President of the Lanark
Landowners’ Association. And if you’ve been following the press and the
media, you know how effective that group has been at taking on governments
about intrusion, waste and lack of accountability. Randy is also well
positioned to handle any questions you may have about our objectives, and
to ease any doubts you may have about the effectiveness of citizen’s
advocacy groups like his and ours. Judy Wilcox, who has just opened a law
office in Alexandria, is then going to talk to us about property rights we
don’t enjoy, and how groups like the Glengarry Landowners’ Association can
get the attention of Big Government. And we are going to conclude the
evening by asking you to purchase a GLA membership. Take one of these
signs home with you to send a message to all levels of government that (a)
there are a lot of us, and, (b) I have friends I can count on if you stick
your nose in my business.

You know, a couple of days ago I mentioned to my wife Louise that I had to
sit down and write a speech together tonight. She said “How long a
speech?” I told her, “about ten or fifteen minutes.” ” What are you going
to talk about”? And when I told her it was mostly about politics and
politicians, she said, ” I don’t know why you think you have to write
anything. I’ve heard you rant and rave on those topics for a good 45
minutes without taking a breath. And if you took out all of the swear
words I’m sure you’d still have a good 15 minutes of stuff you could use.”

But I’m not really going to stand here tonight and blame politicians. I
did that for at least thirty years and nothing changed. I bellyached and
whined but governments became more intrusive, more wasteful and less
accountable. And they’ve done it because we have allowed them to do it.
They’ve done it because every three or for years we troop down to the
ballot box and put our X in the place where we think it will do the least
amount of damage, and we think that’s all there is to democracy. And
they’ve done it because we have put demands on them: please count the empty
parking spaces in downtown Alexandria and the number of train whistles in
Apple Hill. And they’ve done it because our complaints don’t register,
because our individual voices aren’t loud enough.

And they’ve done it because we don’t enjoy any property rights; The Charter
of Rights and Freedoms is absolutely silent on that subject. It wasn’t an
oversight. Trudeau and company left that out on purpose, because they
understood very well that the inclusion of property rights in the
Constitution would not allow Big Government to flourish. And Mulroney and
his crew had eight years to change things and they did nothing about it.

If property rights were in our Constitution we wouldn’t have DFO officers
sneaking up and down our ditches, looking for manure runoff while cities
like Kingston purchase permits to dump sewage by the swimming-pool-full
into our Great Lakes. We wouldn’t have MOE inspectors keeping
surveillance on manure piles and sawdust heaps while the smog level in
Toronto pollutes a radius of 100 miles from the city core. And we wouldn’t
have greedy municipal governments reaching into our pockets and increasing
their tax revenue by 90% in a three-year period; and you have to pay,
because if you don’t pay your taxes they simply take your land

So, it’s our fault, but we’re going to do something about it.

Within the last few months some local issues arose that brought a small
group of us together. These issues had to do with waste of our tax
dollars. In North Glengarry it was Council’s decision to set aside more
than sixty thousand dollars for an Emergency Services Co-ordinator’s
position. In South Glengarry, it was that Council’s decision to forge
ahead with construction of Smithfield Hall.

At the same time, up in Lanark, the Lanark Landowners’ Association was
taking on different provincial ministries and enjoying success. So, a few
of us took a drive up to Perth and met with Randy Hillier and Bill Duncan.
They convinced us that, not only could something be done about intrusive,
wasteful governments, but also it would be easy to do so. “Just get a few
main issues that hit everyone, hold a public meeting, and they’ll come.”
“And don’t worry about getting Council on-side, a good number of the
members of Lanark council are card-carrying LLA members.”

You see, what the LLA recoginized from day one was this: Politicians want
to get elected and re-elected, so, it’s a simple matter of tying their
election prospects to doing what you want them to do. Let’s face it, we
haven’t been very good at giving politicians any sort of direction, have
we? We’ve left it up to them to decide the issues and to implement the
processes. Up to now it’s been our own fault.

So, we’re going to supplement and improve the democratic process by giving
our politicians the direction they need, and I really feel they want. How
can they say “NO” if we don’t attend council meetings? How can they say
NO to the stupidities that the provincial and federal governments keep
dumping on us unless we tell them “Stand up and say NO, we’re behind you.”
You know, there’s an expression they use in the Caribbean: “Do not be
surprised when you put a pig in your palace, if it continues to act like a
hog.” At first glance this seems to be a not-too-gentle poke at
politicians. It’s not. It points the finger right at us.we get what we
deserve, and we get bad government because we don’t get involved, because
we think that that X on the ballot is all we have to do.

Now, our Directors along with several other members have developed a plan
of attack: I guess it would be called something nicer in government lingo –
goals and objectives perhaps. We are committed to stopping the Smithfield
Hall project in South Glengarry. Neither the municipality or the province
should be spending our taxes on projects like this, especially after being
hit with a health care surcharge that is going to cost the average
Glengarry family another five or six hundred dollars a year. We are
committed to stopping the appointment of a salaried emergency services
co-ordinator in North Glengarry; we feel that emergency response should be
coordinated by the fire department, police and ambulance services; we pay a
huge portion of our taxes to protection of persons and property. There is
no good reason why emergency response procedures are not drawn up and
continually evaluated by these professionals. And I can back this
contention up by reference to the Police Services Act and the attendant
Regulations that deal with Adequacy and Effectiveness Standards. And
finally, we are demanding that municipal tax revenues in North and South
Glengarry be “rolled back” to 2001 totals.

In the short term, we are going to support only those politicians who – by
their track record and public commitment – support these notions. (1)
Government should not be intrusive or wasteful; (2) Politicians should
spend our money as if it was their own; (3) Upper level governments can,
and should, be told “NO”; (4) That Property Rights must be included in the
Constitution.

And we are going to come to the aid of any GLA member who becomes a victim
of the intrusive stupidities of federal or provincial governments.

And if you don’t think there is any cause to be concerned about intrusive
governments, think of this, and think of what it has cost you. Twenty
years ago I could go hunting groundhogs without worry of Criminal charges
because I didn’t have a stupid white sticker stuck on my Dad’s .22 rifle.
Twenty years ago I could put in a septic system for less than $2,000, not
$15,000. Twenty years ago I could buy a beef and have it slaughtered and
butchered without the government taking care of me. And if there is anyone
here tonight who would rather buy inspected beef, that’s fine, I support
you to – it’s all about choice. Twenty years ago I could buy eggs from my
neighbour and I didn’t need the government to save me from God-knows-what
by having then graded. And twenty years ago, if anyone would have told me
that, one day, governments would be monitoring the water use from private
wells and were thinking about taxing folks for overconsumption; I would
have laughed in their face. Think about that and the direction we’re going.

Now I want you to look around this room. Think of the number of households
that are represented here tonight. And think of the close results of the
last Municipal elections when one candidate was elected by an eight-vote
margin. And you don’t think we can make a difference? These are the folks
who are willing to help you; all they ask in return is that you help them
when they need it.

Ladies and gentlemen, I picked up this hat in New Hampshire this summer.
It’s got the state motto on it: Live Free or Die; I’ll be happy as hell to
be Free Before I Die. Thank you very much.”</[email protected]></[email protected]>

There IS HOPE For This Country Yet!!