Milk Marketing Board among potential advertisers in Toronto high schools

From today’s Toronto Star editorial titled “Keep Ads Out of High Schools”:

“Toronto’s public school board is considering a plan to put television screens in the hallways of 74 high schools. For the average teenager, spending more and more hours every day in front of a TV, computer, smartphone, iPod, or videogame screen, this won’t seem like much of a change. But it is.

It begins to commercialize our public schools which are, for the most part, one of the few remaining commercial-free zones.

A report by school board staff, prepared for a trustee meeting Wednesday, touts the “student engagement opportunities” of big screens in schools – including showing school messages or the time remaining until the next class. Setting aside the fact that existing PA systems and a clock achieve the same ends, the company behind the screens—Onestop Media Group Inc. – is not an educational organization.

Connie Woodcock re-ignites raw milk debate in Toronto Sun, asking “have you ever looked inside a dairy barn?”

These days, Connie seems to be the one lone journalist left touting the DFO (Marketing Board) line. Here are some excerpts from her story and from the seventy-some comments that follow it:

Raw milk farmer Michael Schmidt shows writer David E. Gumpert the inside of his dairy barn.

“….. So it always amazes me to hear people extolling the benefits of raw milk — the taste, the extra nutrients, the purity, blah-blah-blah.

And even though everyone from Health Canada to your local health unit will tell you that’s not the case, Ontarians are beginning to buy the argument. Several online media polls show many believe in the right to choose what they eat, safe or not.

Farmer’s daughter and Toronto Sun columnist Connie Woodcock still dissing raw milk

It’s always illuminating to read the opinions of those who are virulently opposed to raw milk for one reason or another. This latest rant from Connie appeared just yesterday in the Kingston Whig-Standard where it’s called “Raw Milk Debate in Ontario Goes On“. Here are some excerpts from that column:

Michael Schmidt shows author David Gumpert his milking parlour on the eve of the court verdict.

“The whole acrimonious debate over raw milk and so-called “food freedom” amazes me.

Ontario dairy farmer Michael Schmidt’s not guilty verdict on 19 charges of selling raw milk is also being called a victory for consumer freedom, but really it’s a defeat for public health.

theStar.ca readers weigh in on Michael Schmidt’s comments on the milk board

thestar.ca ran the Canadian Press report on Michael Schmidt’s Tuesday Nov. 18, 2008 news conference. And now they’re starting to get some reader feedback on the issues. It’s the same story as excerpted in the post below. Here’s some of what readers have to say:

“What Bill Mitchell from the Milk Marketing Board said about the Health Department is dead wrong. The job of the Health Department is the safety assessment of food and drugs, NOT their development. There is a big difference between the two. The Health Department is not going to go around and invent new procedures for certified raw milk any more than they would go around and invent a new drug for say cancer. But if you give them a new cancer drug, or a new food processing procedure, they will tell you if the drug or the food is safe or not. That is their expertise. Bill Mitchell’s comment is an intentional diversion. They know the facts, or at least are paid big enough bucks out of our pockets that they should. The Milk Marketing Board has a statutory obligation to do the research on certified raw milk and submit it to the Health Department for a safety assessment. This is why Michael Schmidt will be taking the Milk Marketing Board to court.

Submitted By mclaren at 6:39 AM Wednesday, November 19 2008″

“Milk marketing board an albatross” — Michael Schmidt in press reports

Michael Schmidt and Sean McGivern at Queens Park press conference Nov 18, 2008. Click on picture to go to Sun Media video.

Here are two of the first media manifestations from Michael Schmidt’s press conference yesterday at Queens’ Park. Click on the picture above to watch a short video and read the accompanying story on the Sun Media website. And here’s an excerpt from the report by Canadian Press. We’ll have more on material that was released at the press conference later this week:

“TORONTO — Ontario’s milk marketing board is an “albatross” that has failed to deliver on its legislated mandate to protect small-scale farming and should be scrapped, farmer and raw-milk activist Michael Schmidt said Tuesday.