Den Rice

He/Yeti Principled individualist, economic and military historian with a lengthy background in the agriculture industry. Living on permanently ceded territory.

[John Smith @yonkojohn]

Canada will lose our industry to the USA all because Canada refuses to budge on the Quebec Dairy Industry Cartel, so until then buckle up buttercup! Canada pays a huge price all for Quebec!

[Den Rice @RexNhongo2]

@GasPriceWizard Manipulating the futures markets will only get you so far.

[Den Rice @RexNhongo2]

@Martyupnorth It's remarkable that Ford insists that provinces other than Ontario take the hit. It's no coincidence that he's not calling for an end to auto exports.

[Den Rice @RexNhongo2]

@sopranoinswfl @JesseKellyDC Incompetence.

[Den Rice @RexNhongo2]

@JesseKellyDC Unforced error is a great way to describe the unfolding catastrophe.

[Den Rice @RexNhongo2]

@FoodProfessor It's borderline dishonest of the SM lobby to make no distinction between import quotas at the processor level and import quotas at the retail level. It explains why Land O Lakes milk is unavailable in Winnipeg.

[Den Rice @RexNhongo2]

@Nostre_damus Good luck collecting the money.

[Den Rice @RexNhongo2]

@Nostre_damus No one's going to allow multi-billion $ ships to be sitting ducks for a missile strike.

[The Food Professor @FoodProfessor]

Just had a great conversation with a Quebec dairy farmer about the future of supply management and quotas. That’s right—Quebec. He reached out.

He gets it.

He understands what I’ve been advocating for over the past 25 years: the system needs to change. We exchanged some excellent ideas. He told me his proposals are routinely shut down by marketing board officials—mostly older farmers who resist change. Shameful.

As I’ve said before, dairy farmers aren’t the problem. The problem lies with those running the marketing boards.

[Den Rice @RexNhongo2]

@Handre There's plenty to criticize re US policy in Vietnam, but to blame the Khmer Rouge on the bombing campaign is ludicrous. They had every intention and the means, thanks to Mao, to take over Cambodia, bombs or no bombs.

[The Food Professor @FoodProfessor]

Wrote for La Presse for 25 years—without compensation. Was proud of it.

My column was discontinued this Spring after I posted a message on Facebook expressing concern that Ottawa’s media tax-credit program could compromise editorial independence by encouraging pro-Liberal and anti-American narratives.

This week, I was stunned by a column from Francis Vailles in which he essentially wrote that he never imagined he could hate Americans—all Americans—so much. Vailles is a respected and talented columnist whom I have read regularly for years.

Although La Presse stopped publishing my work, I continue to pay for a monthly subscription because I believe Canadians should support independent journalism whenever they can. But Vailles’ comments shocked me. Even more troubling, his column became one of La Presse’s most-read articles of the week.

He described feeling repulsed when seeing an American flag in a movie and abandoning online chess games upon discovering that his opponent was American. These are deeply personal expressions of hostility toward an entire nationality.

Democracies need free, independent and balanced media. This was not balanced journalism. It normalized hostility toward another country and risked encouraging readers to feel the same way.

Our democracy is increasingly unhealthy. Canadians have been bombarded with biased messaging for years now, and the problem appears to be getting worse. La Presse is certainly not alone.

I do not know how we get out of this mess. But I hope Canadians will eventually receive more balanced information—reporting that helps them understand what is actually happening in the world, rather than commentary driven by hostility toward Americans, or anyone else for that matter. A columnist’s responsibility is to inform and challenge the public.

This crossed the line into pure advocacy.

[Den Rice @RexNhongo2]

@StealthQE4 Trouble in the stock and oil markets has usually made Trump back down. Maybe he thinks he can win the war faster that oil stores will run dry, but I wouldn't bet on that.

[Den Rice @RexNhongo2]

@PissedOffEagle @StealthQE4 Nagasaki was one city. Are you proposing to do this to an entire country? Do you think Iran's neighbors are going to be happy living with the fallout, literally?

[Den Rice @RexNhongo2]

@StealthQE4 The whiplash to oil producers and shippers must be becoming unbearable by now. I'm shocked that we have not seen some massive defaults.

[Jason Kenney 🇨🇦🇺🇦🇮🇱 @jkenney]

As someone who speaks French and supports the broad goal of official bilingualism, I think this kind of regulatory over reach is hugely counter productive.

It’s an effort to impose a false reality on the private sector in communities with small (in some cases tiny) francophone populations.

This sort of thing undermines public support for bilingualism in general.

It’s costly, pointless, and will create unintended consequences.

It imposes huge new costs on the private sector when our economy is struggling, and we should be focussing on a prosperity / productivity agenda.

When banks can’t find enough francophone staff in a place like Yarmouth, don’t be surprised if they close rather than pay massive fines to service a small community.

Trucking firms in Edmonton have a hard enough time finding English speaking drivers / staff. How are they supposed to hire French workers in a city where 1% of the population are francophones, all to provide french service where there is no demand?

The fines these and other businesses will be forced to pay will just increase prices and be passed onto consumers, when the government says it’s focussed on reducing the cost of living.

It’s stupid policies like this that make many Canadians feel like Ottawa is out of touch with reality.

[Den Rice @RexNhongo2]

@NotaliaMateo Few premiers are more delusional than this nut.

[The Food Professor @FoodProfessor]

On a radio show today…

Me: “The U.S. didn’t appreciate the fact that governments—not consumers—banned American alcoholic products. That distinction matters to them.”

Host: “Well, all Canadians wanted the ban…”

Me: “Are you sure about that?”

[Den Rice @RexNhongo2]

@WallStreetApes Kids will routinely learn about the evils of Hitler, but never Mao or Stalin.

[Den Rice @RexNhongo2]

@ClydeDoSomethin Wasn't there a movie a while back where some kid thought he could talk to the dead? At least most people acknowledged that is was fiction.

[Den Rice @RexNhongo2]

@ClydeDoSomethin Most Canadians are willing and happy to let them get away with it.