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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2017-04-13, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, APRIL 13, 2017. Editorials Opinions Publisher: Keith Roulston • Associate Publisher: Deb Sholdice Editor: Shawn Loughlin • Reporter: Denny Scott Advertising Sales: Brenda Nyveld • Heather Fraser The Citizen is published 50 times a year in Brussels, Ontario by North Huron Publishing Company Inc Subscriptions are payable in advance at a rate of $36.00/year ($34.29 + $1.71 G.S.T.) in Canada; $160.00/year in U.S.A. and $205/year in other foreign countries. Advertising is accepted on the condition that in the event of a typographical error, only that portion of the advertisement will be credited. Advertising Deadlines: Mon. 2 p.m. - Brussels; Mon. 4 p.m. - Blyth. PUBLICATIONS MAIL AGREEMENT NO. 40050141 Canada RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO CIRCULATION DEPT. PO BOX 152 BRUSSELS ON NOG 1H0 email: info@northhuron.on.ca We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada. • The Citizen P.O. Box 429, P.O. Box 152, BLYTH, Ont. BRUSSELS, Ont. NOM 1 HO NOG 1 HO Ph. 519-523-4792 Phone Fax 519-523-9140 519-887-9114 E-mail info@northhuron.on.ca Website www.northhuron.on.ca AOCna tom. Member CCNA Member of the Ontario Press Council CMCA AUDITED We are not responsible for unsolicited newsscripts or photographs. Contents of The Citizen are m Copyright A faulty taxation system Over the next few weeks as they receive their tax bills, farm owners across our region will painfully experience the flaws in our method of supporting municipalities through property taxes. There has been a dramatic shift in the balance of local municipalities' assessment as the use of market -value assessment and the rapidly -rising prices paid for farmland send farm owners' assessment soaring. Just because your farm is worth more on the market than it was five years ago, doesn't mean that you can afford to pay taxes that are much higher. Farmers will be just the latest group of people to be hit hard by the faults in the system. Someone who may have owned the same home in an urban neighbourhood for decades may find their tax bill going up and up because neighbouring homes have been sold at much higher prices. Because the house is more valuable if it was sold, doesn't mean a pensioner can, or should, pay higher taxes. Similarly, some coastal residents in Nova Scotia have been almost forced to sell because wealthy people have build summer residences nearby, driving up their assessment. Fairness says we need to find a better system of taxation. — KR We're getting there Perhaps it's a sign of progress that little attention was paid to five federal by-elections last week when four women were elected and just one man. Probably there'd have been more publicity if four men had been elected and only one woman. Prior to the by-election all five ridings, three Liberal and two Conservative, had been held by men. The Liberals elected two women from Ontario and one from Quebec, even though the party's support dropped from the 2015 national election. One of two Conservative ridings up for grabs in Alberta elected a woman. We're making progress. More women are willing to run in federal elections. Federal parties are actively seeking women candidates. And the results of this election show that most voters are willing to support women candidates who are qualified, and who represent the party they want to support. Women are still under -represented in the national parliament with 246 male to 92 female MPs but momentum has been picking up. Nearly 100 years after women won the right to vote, more and more women are also winning the right to vote in parliament. — KR Different attitudes, powers Warfare, new and old, was in the news last week with the 100th anniversary of the battle of Vimy Ridge and the U.S. missile attack on a Syrian airfield demonstrating the mammoth differences between Canadian and U.S. power. Some Canadians, as usual, were a little wary that the ceremonies marking the Canadian success at Vimy, April 9, 1917, were somehow glorifying war. From the iconic, soaring, Vimy memorial to the tone of the ceremony, however, the Canadian attitude tends to be about the terrible waste of warfare, even as the 3,600 young Canadians who gave their lives to capture the ridge were remembered and honoured. In Canada, national pride in Canadian soldiers' capturing of the ridge that had previously been unassailable must be balanced with enough revulsion of war to show we're in no danger of becoming militaristic. Meanwhile U.S. President Donald Trump did perhaps the first thing in his term in office that could be called "presidential" when he ordered an attack on a Syrian airfield that may, or may not, have been the home base for an attack on a Syrian neighbourhood using chemical weapons. As both Republican and Democratic predecessors had done, he invoked Americans' self -declared right to strike militarily in any part of the world where it's felt to be in `America's interest". While presidents like Trump, and Barack Obama before him, may have difficulty getting their legislators to pass domestic legislation, they are free to send troops, missiles and attack drones into distant parts of the world whenever they want without asking for legislative permission. Living beside the world's largest superpower, Canadians are never far from being reminded how much our military power, and our attitudes, differ from our southern neighbour. — KR Letters Policy The Citizen welcomes letters to the editor. Letters must be signed and should include a daytime telephone number for the purpose of verification only. Letters that are not signed will not be printed. Submissions may be edited for length, clarity and content, using fair comment as our guideline. The Citizen reserves the right to refuse any letter on the basis of unfair bias, prejudice or inaccurate information. As well, letters can only be printed as space allows. Please keep your letters brief and concise. wompp. bria, qqcJ.. It's the 'Tax Time' chocolate Easter bunny. The CRA gets the first bite. Looking Back Through the Years April 12, 1944 The Montreal Life was pleased to announce the appointment of Gordon Augustine as the company's Huron County representative. He would be working out of a new headquarters situated in Blyth. Augustine had just returned to civilian life after spending the previous four years overseas with the Canadian Armed Forces. A successful Easter Sunday service was held at St. John's Anglican Church in Brussels. In addition to the traditional Easter service, Richard Wayne Whittard, the infant son of Mr. and Mrs. Harold Whittard of St. Catherines, was baptized as part of the service. April 13, 1967 A special "Centennial Salute to Brussels" program was due to be aired on CKNX television on April 19. The Brussels Post reminded residents to watch the tribute to the village. Huron -Bruce MPP Murray Gaunt again received the Liberal nomination for the riding. He was named the association's representative going into the next election at a meeting that was held in Wingham with over 600 people in attendance. Gaunt had been nominated for the position by Cal Krauter of Brussels. A large barn owned by John Wheeler was destroyed by an evening fire. The farm, which was occupied by Lloyd Machan just north of Brussels, was completely destroyed as a result of the fire, along with all of its contents. Lost in the fire were over 100 pigs, five dogs and over two tons of pig feed. The Grey Township Centennial Committee held its monthly meeting at the clerk's office in Ethel with Chairman Charles Thomas presiding over the proceedings. The meeting looked ahead to the planned centennial celebration for the community, which was scheduled for June 16-18. An unknown thief or thieves were on the village's "most wanted" list after two flags were stolen from the Brussels Branch of the Legion's flagpole. Both the Branch's Canadian and Centennial flags were stolen. April 15, 1981 Two hives of bees were stolen from the farm of Kaz Kiezik from behind his shed at his home just south of Londesborough. The Kiezik family made its living on honey from the hives, of which they had approximately 250 across two farms. Blyth Memorial Hall would soon play host to a special performance by Maureen Forrester, who was said to be the world's foremost contralto of the day. The concert was being hosted as part of the Blyth Centre for the Arts' annual winter concert series. With new sewer hook-ups on the way for Blyth, residents were told that they would have to do some indoor plumbing in order to hook into the system, rather than just access the system through their septic tank connection. Ed Harrison of the Ministry of Health told residents the connections would have to be made below the footings of the house, which, for a lot of home owners, would mean digging up the basement floor. April 16, 1997 Colleen Schenk of Wingham won the Progressive Conservative candidacy for the Huron -Bruce riding. It was expected that a federal election would be called on June 2. After the party held a series of town hall meetings across the riding in the previous weeks, Schenk said she had heard the concerns of residents straight from their mouths and was prepared to act on them if she was elected. "You told me you and your children need jobs and you need them now. You're concerned the health care system is going down the drain. You want to retain the Canada Pension Plan. You said our military needs boosting, not torn apart. You want equality for all Canadians," Schenk said to her supporters after she won the nomination. An early morning fire in Ethel gutted SS No. 11 School. Despite the best efforts of the Grey Fire Department, Fire Chief Gary Earl said that when firefighters arrived flames were coming out the eaves of the building and it was impossible to be saved. Earl said the fire was caused by plumbing repairs, which had been done the previous day. The fire, he said, was believed to have caused in excess of $175,000 in damages. Deloris and Bill Souch of Blyth were turning heads as they had developed a new soap that was said to be a marvel to those who suffer psoriasis. Not only was it getting results, but the soap was all natural. Rick and John Elliott of Elliott Insurance earned themselves some good karma by donating $500 to the Blyth Community Greenway Project. Directors were installed for another year of the local Canada Foodgrains Bank project. They included Bill Hallahan, Jim Phelan, Peter Slotegraaf, Ed Salverda, John Nesbit, Keith Loder and Eric Nonkes.