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The Citizen, 2017-07-27, Page 4PAGE 4.THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JULY 27, 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 We need to learn from the storm The ramifications of the extraordinary June 23 rainfall that saw five to six inches fall in the area overnight will go on for some time. With climate change expected to bring more of this kind of dramatic rain events, we need to learn all the lessons we can. Writing in the current issue of our sister publication The Rural Voice, Lisa B. Pot outlines how some experiments in soil conservation in Huron County are helping moderate such deluges. Storm -water management structures installed by farmers in the Garvey Glenn watershed near Dungannon were generally successful in slowing the flow of the flood, letting the water pool for a few hours (but not long enough to damage crops) instead of rushing into drains and streams, eroding soil and filling Lake Huron with soil better left on farmers' fields. It will take a new way of thinking. For decades farmers wanted their land to dry as quickly as possible. With damaging rainstorms becoming move common, we need to learn new ways to manage the situation. — KR What do we trade for trade? As the federal government explores a new trading agreement with China, the thorny issue of how friendly you get with a country that ignores the human rights of its own citizens keeps arising. The death, earlier this month, of Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo, who was China's most prominent human rights and democracy advocate, once again is a reminder that China is not an open government. Liu had been serving an 11 -year prison term for "subversion" and had been moved to a hospital with terminal liver cancer. He had been thrown in jail several times previously for acts that displeased the Communist government. It's not as if Liu's is the only such case. There are lots of people in Chinese jails because they tried to fight for human rights. Meanwhile people in Hong Kong, who had promised they could retain democracy after their island was turned back over to China by Britain, are finding their democratic rights being steadily eroded. How do you balance practical, economic reality with standing up for morality? It's not the first time we've faced this question. Pierre Trudeau renewed diplomatic relations with China in 1970 at a time when the U.S. was still boycotting the Communist nation. This seemed less radical when U.S. President Richard Nixon, the former Commie -hunter at home, opened relations with China in 1972. The theory has been that dealing with China is the way to break down barriers and eventually make the country more open. It hasn't really worked out that way. What it has done is give western manufacturers a source of cheap labour that's unlikely to cause trouble because the government keeps them in line. It has also given North Americans lots of cheap consumer goods. For Canada, lecturing a huge power like China isn't likely to make the country's leadership change its ways. Still, there's something uncomfortable about seeking closer ties when it means we'll gain at the expense of people who make money for businesses here because they're not allowed the same civil rights — such as the right to go on strike for better wages and working conditions — we take for granted. — KR We have empty factories, too It was ironic that when U.S. President Donald Trump recently wanted to illustrate the importance of home-grown U.S. industry and the inequities of the North American Free Trade (NAFTA) agreement, he had a Caterpillar Inc. loader brought to the White House lawn. Canadians may remember that Caterpillar moved hundreds of Canadian jobs to the U.S. Trump made electoral hay pointing to closed factories across the U.S. industrial heartland and claiming that NAFTA was to blame because it unfairly stacked the odds against U.S. workers and companies. But U.S. media doesn't show that it's not only Americans who have lost jobs as the economy restructured. In 2012 Caterpillar demanded 450 workers at its London diesel locomotive plant take a 50 per cent cut in pay, then closed the plant and shifted the jobs to Indiana. In 2015 the company closed an office that had remained in London, moving 50 more jobs to the U.S. In 2014 the same company closed a Toronto plant that made tunnel -borers, costing 330 people their jobs. In 2014 H.J. Heinz closed its plant in Leamington, shifting production to the U.S. and costing 740 people their jobs. And, of course, locally we watched as the Volvo road grader plant in Goderich was closed in 2008 with the work going to a Pennsylvania factory. The company also closed a parts warehouse in Goderich and shifted work to Columbus, Ohio. Some 500 jobs went south. You want to see economic scars, President Trump? We've got lots to show you. And Canada's losses have generally meant gains for the U.S. Of course you don't win votes with balance, only by convincing people they're victims. — KR Something tells me our concerns wont mean much.. Ontario $15 minimum wage public input road show Looking Back Through the Years July 26, 1944 Approximately 4,500 people attended the Seaforth Lions Club's annual summer carnival, called the Seaforth Frolic. One of the main attractions of the night was a special performance by the Ipperwash Army Pipe Band, which played that night under the leadership of Pipe Major Norman Murray. Dr. Hobbs Taylor of Huron County announced that a new position of police magistrate would be created for Huron County. This would be a change for the county, as, for the previous 15 years, the job had been performed by the police magistrate of neighbouring counties. At the time, no indication was given as to who might be appointed to fill the position. Walkey's flour and feed mill in Harriston was destroyed by what was described as one of the worst fires in the town's history. In addition to the mill, the blaze also endangered the town hall, five houses and the business's connecting sheds. July 30, 1997 Janet Amos, artistic director of the Blyth Festival, was named Blyth's Citizen of the Year by North Huron Publishing. Amos was heralded for her work in returning to the Blyth Festival to "save" it after a few seasons left it with a large deficit it needed to overcome. After all of her hard work at the Festival, Amos was due to leave the position at the end of the season after working to help bring the Festival out of a deficit of over $225,000. The clock was ticking and the final touches were being put on the Brussels 125th anniversary homecoming, which was scheduled to begin July 31 with a concert, a beer garden and the annual Brussels Tigers fastball tournament. After All Season Repair, owned by Travis and Janet Koehler, was robbed, local residents and other area mechanics banded together to lend the family tools to ensure that the Koehlers could continue working and making a living while the robbery situation was cleared up with police. Neighbours like Hank TenPas and Don McNeil were among the first to come forward and help their fellow Brussels residents. Blyth Festival audience members were happy with the theatre's latest offering, called There's Nothing in the Paper, a first play from David Scott, who had served as the editor of The Huron Expositor for a number of years. Beverley Elliott, Dick Murphy and Vernon Chapman were actors in the play, which was said to be a "fun romp through rural life." July 26, 2000 Sometime over the course of the coming week, a new mural was planned to be unveiled in Brussels on the south wall of the Brussels Variety store. The mural was created by Bob Simpson of The Paint Shop in Clinton, the same man who created the mural on the new Brussels Fire Hall in the north end of the village. Members of the OPP were on the hunt for a lingerie thief who had reportedly entered two homes, one in Exeter and a second in St. Marys, and stole personal undergarments of female residents. Wayne Wheeler, a crop consultant with Howson and Howson, said there was still hope for crops, which were "doing well" despite some suspect weather. Some of the area corn being grown was starting to tassel, he said, which was a little behind where it was the previous year, but there was still plenty of time left for the corn to mature. Blyth residents were busy edging, mowing and weeding ahead of a visit from the national Communities in Bloom committee, which was due to visit on July 31. Judges from Quebec and Prince Edward Island were due to be in Blyth for the judging. July 28, 2016 The Brussels Tigers made history by becoming the first-ever Brussels Tigers team to win the team's own tournament. The tournament, which marked its 45th year in 2016, had been won by the Richie's Rockets four decades earlier, but it wasn't until 2016 that the tournament was won by a Brussels Tigers team. Tournament organizer and Tigers member Shawn Daw said it was a big moment for the team that would live on in its history. The countdown to the International Plowing Match in Walton was set to officially begin with a procession scheduled from the closing ceremonies of the Wellington County match to the Brussels, Morris and Grey Community Centre, the location of a soil transfer ceremony. Lynne Godkin, secretary of the IPM, was planning on running the distance. An accomplished runner and veteran of numerous marathons, the whole procession was her idea. F.E. Madill School student Ryan Jacklin was set to head to the Legion national track and field championships in Quebec after a gold performance at the provincials.