The Leader-Post from Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada • 3

The Leader-Post Regina, Saskatchewan Monday, October 17, 1977 Local and Provincial 3 W1 tV 4(11 'afl. Limiting of farm size big issue for Liberals 1 1 teal IWi wsW WfEilirWiii Happy winner Gordon Pinsent, winner of the best actor award at the 1 4th sentations. (Photo courtesy Morris Stakiw, festival photo-Yorkton International Film Festival, joyfully hugs George grapher) Anthony, festival adjudicator, at Saturday's awards pre- rather through taxation measures which discourage over-expansion of farms. Jake Brown, dean of the University of Saskatchewan's college of agriculture, said despite all the economic expertise which now exists, no economist has been able to determine what size a farm must be before it is a viable unit. However, he said it is obvious from various studies that the economies of scale in agriculture are acquired before a farm becomes very large.

In other words, "you don't need a six-section grain farm to be efficient," Brown said. The growing size of farms is becoming a concern, Brown said, but he added he isn't sure whether it is serious enough to warrant legislation. "We have paid a lot of lip service to developing the family farm but really, they have been left on their own," he said. "A lot more can be done (to preserve the family farm) before legislation is required." But if legislation is inevitable, it should contain a few loopholes to allow some flexibility, he said. Boyd Anderson, Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities president, said the province needs a strong agricultural society but he didn't say whether he felt the restriction on farm size was necessary to maintain this.

"We might have to come to it but if we do, let us not be too restrictive," he said. Farms should be large enough "so they don't take incentive away" and so a farmer can give his sons and daughters a start in agriculture, he said. Other agriculture spokesmen tussled with the problems of beef producers who appear to be pulling out of three-year period of depressed cattle prices. Randy Konkin, executive-secretary of the Western Canada Cow-Calf Association, said, "We are finally getting away from this bug-a-boo about collective marketing." A beef marketing board which would control the supply of beef and exact a certain price for beef producers from packing houses would be a "means for producers to look after their own interests," Konkin said. It would be the difference between marketing beef to get the best price for it and simply sell it at the going rate, Konkin said.

With the low prices he has been receiving for his beef, the producer has been subsidizing everyone else in the beef marketing chain right up to the consumer, he said. Spurning the advice of civil servants and other so-called experts, Gary Jones, Saskatchewan Stock Growers' Associa By Yvonne Zacharias of The Leader-Post SASKATOON The ongoing debate in Saskatchewan over the need to limit farm size made its way into a Liberal party conif sence this weekend with delegates deciding farm size should be controlled through taxation measures which penalize the land baron. The issue turned out to be a key one in the three-day conference where about 90 Liberal delegates began molding new party policies and directions. With the guidance and expertise of 14 guest speakers, the delegates reached a consensus on a number of issues which will be placed before the annual Liberal party convention in early November. Important plank Cal Fensom, who presented to all delegates the position arising ut of a workshop on farm size, said he believed the issue of land use and farm size could be one of the most important planks of the Liberal party in the next election.

As a party believing in individual initiative, Liberals must correct the problems of the person who wishes to farm but is unable to do so without the help of his father, Fensom said. Noting there isn't any limit on the number of garages or apartment blocks a person may own. the group felt it would be inconsistent to place limits on farm size, according to Fensom. However, the group decided it is necessary to prevent land barons from gobbling small farm units and to avoid this, control on farm size was proposed by imposing high taxes on the farmer who has over-expanded. Fensom said in an interview the group did not reach a conclusion on how large a farm must be before it is too large and what taxation measures should be used.

The three agricultural spokesman asked to speak on the topic avoided taking a definite stand on whether the provincial government should move towards restricting farm size. Clarence Hookenson, Saskatchewan Federation of Agriculture president, came the closet to supporting government measures to restrict farm size, saying farmers must make more intensive use of the land base they currently cultivate rather than expanding. "We are not making the best use of our land," he said. If Saskatchewan wants to retain a vibrant rural community, "we have to take a serious look at farm size," Hookenson said. However, he suggested farm size should be restricted not by legislation but tion president, recalled thut government planners were saying in the early 70s the beef shortage would last forever.

This fostered numerous government incentives for farmers to get into the beef industry, causing a 30-per-cent increase in production since 1972 and forcing prices down. Once this happened, "one nation after another closed its doors to trade," he said. This caused a glut of beef to develop in Canada and prices dropped further. Though his organization is still a staunch defender of free trade, open markets and free enterprise, Jones said the decision by other countries to close their borders to beef imports made it decide that some protection against imports is needed here too. "We still believe in free enterprise but we can't be the boy scouts for the whole world," he said, explaining his organization's request to the federal government to restrict imports.

The Canadian Cattlemen's Association, of which Jones is a director, has begun compiling an information program projecting grain prices, production levels and other relevant facts relating to the beef industry to help each beef producer make his own decisions. Glen McGlaughlin, Saskatchewan Wheat Pool research co-ordinator, said import quotas on beef are necessary to protect Canadian producers. "We may not need supply -management (through a beef marketing board but we need to manage the supply," he said. Nothing less Other industries such as the textile industry are highly protected from a flood of outside imports and 'i don't htink farmers should expect anything less." Taking issue with Jones, McGlaughlin said, "It is fine to talk about free enterprise but there must be some equity in bargaining strength." The beef producer is up against four retail chains controlling more than 90 per cent of food sales and four meat-packing plants controlling 60 per cent of slaughtering, he pointed out. He suggested a federal regulatory agency for beef producers which would simply co-ordinate all existing programs under one roof and a registry of beef producers to provide an information base and statistical monitoring of the industry.

The Liberal delegates word on the matter was they want as little government intervention in the beef industry as possible and the federal government should "tread slowly" on marketing boards. Pinsent named top actor at Yorkton film festival By Ken Cuthbertson of The Leader-Post YORKTON High Grass Circus, a National Film Board (NFB) Montreal production received the Golden Sheaf award as the best film entered in the 14th Yorkton International Film Festival. But it was another film, called Horse Latitudes, that stole the spotlight at Saturday evening's award presentations. Takes three prizes Horse Latitudes earned its producer, Rosebud Films of Toronto, the honor of three festival awards. The film took the prize as best travel and adventure film; director Peter Rowe won the best director award and, star Gordon Pinsent was judged winner of the best actor award.

Jackie Burroughs was the winner of the best actress award for her role as a lady veterinarian in the film, If Wishes Were Horses, by Insight Productions df Toronto. In giving Pinsent and Burroughs their awards, the three festival adjudicators-Toronto Sun entertainment editor George Anthony, Quebecois actor Andre Melan-con and film writer-director Don Owen -exercised their prerogative to create the categories after viewing the acting performances. Gordon Pinsent both surprised and delighted the crowd gathered at the Yorkton Regional High School auditorium for the awards ceremony by appearing personally to accept his honor. Pinsent was in Toronto filming segments of a television show when he learned late Friday of his selection as best actor by the Yorkton festival judges. His arrival in town just a few hours before the awards presentation was a well-guarded secret.

"Naturally, I'm delighted and honored to receive this award," Pinsent said. "But I came here to accept it if for no other reason than to serve as a reminder to Canadians that somewhere in this country there is a long-running film festival. "We still haven't incorporated film as a strong part of our cultural identity and I feel we should." Pinsent added that in creating the best actor and actress category, the judges at this year's festival have set a precedent that can only lead to better and healthier competition at future Yorkton film festivals. Pinsent won the best actor award for his striking portrayal of Phillip Stockton, a sailor who disappeared in early 1970 while competing in the world's first single-handed round-the-world boat race. Not long out of port, Stockton realizes he can't win, so he decides to cheat.

All winter, he sails in circles near the Azores, in the warm and windless horse latitudes. He keeps a fictitious log and files false navigational reports. The months at sea with only his conscience for company affect his mind. CBC television aired the film in mid-September. The winner of the Golden Sheaf award.

High Grass Circus, is the story of a tacky small-time circus that travels the bac-kroads of rural Ontario. A Saskatchewan production called, In The Spirit of Our Forefathers took the award as thet'estival's best promotional film. It was made by the Federation of Saskatchewan Indians'Cultural College in Saskatoon. In the other award categories, NFB Montreal came out the big.winner with four films taking six awards. They Sound editing and best arts films, Blackwood (NFB Montreal); Video editing and best sports and recreation film, I'll Go Again (NFB Montreal); Best animated film, Le Paysagis-teMindscapes (NFB Montreal): Best documentary film, Los Canadienes (NFB Montreal).

The other award winning films were as follows Cinematography: Cooperage (Mercury Pictures of Vancouver) Best experimental film Growing Up In Paradise (Canadian Filmmakers Distribution Centre of Toronto); Best nature and wildlife film Return of the Winged Giants (Dan Gibson Productions Ltd. of Toronto Best children's film: Taratata La Parade (Societe Radio-Canada, Montreal); Best informational film: VD The Disease You Love To Get (Tinsel and Sham Productions of Edmonton); and, Best TV drama: Honor Thy Father (CBC Toronto). The award-winning films were selected from 325 that were entered in this year's festival. The adjudicators viewed about 150 of them. The rest were pre-screened by festival organizers.

Prior to the awards ceremony, the Saskatchewan government sponsored a dinner for the festival delegates and guests at the Holiday Inn. Afterwards, the festival closed out with a dinner and dance at the Yorkton Hungarian club. A large crowd turned out to listen and dance to the music of the Yorkton Regional High School band and to watch entertainment provided by the Balatron Dance Group of Regina and a Yorkton children's gymnastics group. Pleased The' chairman of the 14th Yorkton International Film Festival, Elwyn Ver-mette, said he was well pleased with the way the five-day festival went. "It's always tough to try to co-ordinate a large number of events and people like we had to this week.

It's like conducting a symphony orchestra that only gets together once every two years and has no chance to practise beforehand," Ver-mette said. "That's why. over-all, I'm very pleased with the way things turned out." HardPage ') Indian position supported other means. There is too much hand- Judges had tough job SASKATOON (Staff) Following an impassioned speech by David Ahenakew, Federation of Saskatchewan Indians (FSI) chief, delegates to a Liberal party conference this weekend supported Indian land claims and the chief desire for Indian self-government. Though these two principles may be politically inexpedient, Gordon McKen-zie, a Liberal delegate outlining the consensus of a workshop on Indian problems, said they are responsible positions.

McKenzie said he has always viewed the Liberal party as a reform party but "wc have lost touch with that" in the past few years. Before reaching their conclusion, delegates heard Ahenakew argue that the RCMP, the courts and the social welfare system aren't working for Indian people. Need own institutions He said Indians should have the right to develop their own institutions to deal with their problems. "Only Indian governments and their people can solve the problems," he said. Ahenakew said people commonly recognize three levels of government federal, provincial and municipal but "they better get used to the fact there is another level of government, Indian government," which is separate from the other three and encompasses some aspects of them.

After covering a wide range of social and agricultural issues, the conference ended on a high point with Liberal Leader Ted Malone describing the conference as the start of the process of developing a positive strength of purpose for the party. However, "it isn't the end of a process but the start of it," Malone said. The party must begin fashioning policies to be ready for the 1979 provincial election, he said. And "we can't take wishy-washy stands," he said. The conference touched on the subject of law and order with three guest speakers suggesting ways of improving the judicial system and lowering the crime rate.

Crime is increasing. Serge Kujawa. policy and planning director for the provincial attorney-general's department, said, and he blamed the increase on the current definition of success as wealth and power. With these values, people ho have little power and little wealth seek these things through robbery and violent actions, he said. By cheating in business deals, income tax and insurance claims, "we have been setting a bad example," he said.

He also blamed the dozens of sociology courses in universities which he sees as doing harm because they provide a rationale, a scientific explanation, for crime. In the case of the young offender, "we show how sophisticated and tolerant we are by saying the fellow never had a chance." However, this reasoning abolishes a sense of personal responsibility and a sense of right and wrong, he said. In a workshop discussion, Kujawa suggested the offender is being coddled too much by the judicial system through light sentences, probation, parole and holding and bottle-warming." But Melanie Lautt, a sociology professor at the University of Saskatchewan, took a different approach, saying courts, jails and other institutions within the corrections system have "no impact whatever on the crime rate." Prevention best Though the construction of jails goes over well with the public, she suggested governments should place their dollars instead into a system of preventing crime through expenditures on support systems for broken families, help for single parents and other social measures. Tackling crime before it occurs instead of after "isn't a visible thing but it is less costly and more useful." Brian Grosman, Saskatchewan Law Reform' Commission chairman, said a key problem in the justice system is that the courts are being clogged with traffic violations and other minor offences, pre- venting them from dealing with the more serious offences. He suggested a screening process to strain out the petty offences and have them dealt with out of the courts and in a less adversary way.

ln addition, he said the severity of a sentence to an offender does not inhibit others from committing the crime but the likelihood of being caught is a deterrent. "Rather than catching the odd criminal and sentencing him severely, we should be catching most of the criminals," he said. By Ken Cuthbertson of The Leader-Post YORKTON As soon as you hear the 14th Yorkton International Film Festival had 325 entries in its 12 official categories, the question that naturally springs to mind is how did just three festival judges make decisions on them all? Your immediate assumption is that the judges Toronto Sun entertainment editor George Anthony, film writer-director Don Owen and Quebecois actor Andre Melancon sat and watched all 325 films. Had some help But to be truthful, it was like the Beatles used to say, they got by with a little help from their friends. The friends, in this case, were the organizers of the film festival open to any film under one hour in length.

They arranged to have volunteer film enthusiasts prescreen every one of the orginal entries. This eliminated about half the films. With the rest, there was no other way other than to have the judges view them. "It wasn't too bad this time," George Anthony said. "I guess we only watched about 15(1 films." A faint smile was the only indication Anthony that was being facetious.

"Actually, we saw that many titles. We didn't watch that many complete movies though. if a film was going to be good, you could usually tell in the first five minutes or so. And of course, if there was any disagreement among the judges, we watched the whole film," Anthony said. I guess Don (Owen) and Andre i Mekmcon found it hard to sit and watch that many films, but it didn't bother me.

I'm used to watching a lot of films." Anthony, whose Greek-immigrant father owned a movie house in Montreal, grew up with his eyes glued to a screen. my father owned a movie house, I had lots of friends to watch with," Anthony recalls. When he eventually got into journalism, he landed a job with the now defunct Toronto Telegram. The owner of the paper, John Bassett, knew Anthony had a background that made him familiar with the entertainment world, so whenever someone was needed to substitute on the entertainment beat or to come up with an article in a hurry, Anthony got the call. The Telegram folded 1971 and a group of former employees started their own morning paper in Toronto, The Sun.

Anthony was encouraged to take the entertainment editor's job and did. The rest is history. The Toronto Sun is one of the success stories of Canadian journalism. With a little luck and a lot of pluck it has carved out a spot for itself in the competitive Toronto market. In no small way is the success of the paper due to its columnists who are often known as much for their own eccentricities as for what they write.

Anthony fits the mold. He's a bear to work because, as he says, he learned from working at the Toronto Telegram that if he said no to an assignment, he could also say goodbye to a job. Anthony handles a daily entertainment column, serves as the paper's film critic and does all the major show business interviews. That's in addition to his freelance broadcast work. He's always gracious, always dapper and always on the go.

He regularly attends the film festivals on the circuit, in places like New York and Cannes. Anthony didn't achieve his success by being lazy or shirking work. This same dedication to whatever he's doing was evident in his attitude towards judging the films at Yorkton. Late Friday, after all of the required films had been Anthony insisted on seeing several others the prescreeners had eliminated. "There were a couple I heard about and wanted to see for myself.

One of them was a film on Toller Cranston. As it turned out the film wasn't very good, but I had to see it for myself just to be sure." "It's not as if we were givingout a large cash award or anything. It's just that if you love the movies you can't take a chance that you might have missed something," Anthony said. The procedure the judges followed in screening the films'was to rate each one individually and to give it a point total. Afterwards, the films in a category were compared by score and the ones with the highest point totals took the awards.

Strong opinions It sounds easy, but according to Anthony, it wasn't. "All of the judges have very strong opinions on what's good and what's bad. Sometimes a film's subject bores you, so you have to force yourself to watch it and evaluate what you saw in terms of whether or not it worked. That 's the main criteria as far as I'm concerned does the film work?" he said. The festival rules allowed the judges to withhold the awards in any categories in which they felt there was no worthy entry.

They could also create categories, as they did in ordef to honor Gordon Pinsent and Jackie Burroughs. Active role for government SASKATOON (Staff) While standing four-square behind private enterprise. Transport Minister Otto Lang advocated a more active role for government the production and export marketing of agricultural products. Lang told a group of delegates to a provincial Liberal party policy conference Saturday that the Canadian Wheat Board concept and techniques should be considered as a vehicle for the exclusive export marketing of other commodities. By using the Canadian Wheat Board almost exclusively for export marketing and leaving the domestic market for grain largely outside the board's activities, the government has taken advantage of the open market domestically "and yet we have the ability in the export market to deal effectively with our customers and not be subject to their machinations." The wheat board concept "may have application in relation to other products for a variety of reasons," he said.

These are products where "we may be domestically-minded and where we may not want to lose the freedom of open marketing but where they may be some advantage thinking about the board kind of technique for exclusive export marketing." He named the failure to develop adequate pork markets as one problem which might be overcome by such a board. "If one independent producer or packer put all their money into developing a park market, his competitor or any other of us could sit back and watch the development and then seize part of the market the moment is was developed." However, to develop a market, it may be necessary to set up some sort of exclusive export marketing board, he said..