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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2017-10-19, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2017. Editorials Opinions President: Keith Roulston • 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 The best, and worst, of times Sunday's dangerously stormy weather shut down the Festival of Wizardry a day early and brought complaints from some ticket holders, but from the viewpoint of benefit to downtown Blyth, the event was a huge success. Oldtimers would be hard pressed to remember seeing as many people in Blyth's main shopping district as there were Saturday afternoon. Thousands were taking part in the scavenger hunt or activities at Memorial Hall, and many took time to visit local shops, giving many merchants their best day of business in years. In a story in this issue, local business people used words like "absolutely amazing" and "unbelieveable" to describe the event. Dates have already been set for a return of the Festival of Wizardry in 2018. Here's hoping that lessons learned this year plus better weather will make the Festival an unqualified success next time. — KR Please, not already! Watching the television advertising designed to sway our votes for the 2018 provincial election, and even the 2019 federal election, is enough to make weary voters wonder if there's any escape from election campaigning. Progressive Conservative Party ads attacking Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne as "politically corrupt" have been airing for months now. More recently the Liberals have been striking back, questioning how supportive Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown is for the rights of women to have abortions if they choose. Further, third -party groups such as the union -backed Working Families coalition and the pro - Conservative Ontario Proud media group are preparing to jump into the battle to shape our perceptions. Meanwhile, Federal Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer launched an ad campaign promising to stand up for small businesses against the nefarious Liberals of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. These campaigns must work or those trying to influence our voting decisions wouldn't be spending millions to pay for them. Still, while the money may be well spent by the parties themselves, the constant campaigning tends to turn off more and more people from politics so that the number of people who actually turn out to vote keeps dropping election after election. Democracy is about more than just which party forms the government. It's about ordinary people participating in the governing of their country. Making people turn their backs on politics by constantly campaigning is not benefitting democracy. — KR We'll see what the PM's made of Two years ago about now, questions were being asked in the federal election campaign about whether Justin Trudeau was ready to be Prime Minister. With the complications developing in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) we're about to see if the Prime Minister is up for a challenge few would have imagined, back then, that any head of our country would face. The world changed with the election of Donald Trump as U.S. President, vowing as he did to tear up NAFTA. Until then the idea that a U.S. President would be against free trade seemed absurd. But with each round of the talks to renegotiate NAFTA bringing tougher demands from the U.S. government, demands even the American business community thinks go too far, there are some who feel Trump is setting up the negotiations to fail, and as is becoming his habit, to set up others as the bad guys for failing to give in to his demands. The more optimistic observers think that making tough demands is a negotiating tactic designed to make Canada and Mexico offer concessions in order to preserve the deal. Still others think the American tactics are designed to lead to separate deals struck between the Americans and Canada and the Americans and Mexico. These observers speculate the Americans think they can drive a harder bargain if they have one-to-one negotiations with each country. The weeks ahead will see how skillfully the Canadian government's negotiators can be in coming up with a deal that's good for Canada. It may require our government to have the backbone to walk away from the talks if the Americans want to impose conditions that will hurt Canadians. Only months ago it seemed impossible that Canada could make such a move, since the economies of the three nations have become so integrated after more than two decades of NAFTA. Recently, however, more and more voices have been expressing the unthinkable — that Canada cannot only survive without NAFTA, but might thrive. Only by being willing to face the possibility of a future of trade without NAFTA is the government likely to be able to stand up to a bully like Trump. Let's hope the Prime Minister, who has prepared well in advance of these talks, will have the courage to end the talks rather than take whatever scraps the U.S. is willing to toss to Canada. — KR Isn't it a little early for Halloween costumes? What Halloween costumes? klM66:ft 7 f?¢a5et4ur eorti. coin Looking Back Through the Years October 18, 1944 Jack Thynne was scheduled to sponsor his fourth annual concert and dance at the Brussels Town Hall. Proceeds from the evening would go towards buying cigarettes for local soldiers stations overseas during World War II. The dance was scheduled for Friday, Nov. 3 and admission was 25 cents. Mr. and Mrs. Frank Kerney of Brussels were all set to celebrate 50 years of marriage at a friend's home on the coming weekend. Kerney had been a barber for many years in Wingham before moving back to Brussels. The local Red Cross finance committee issued a thank you to the residents of Brussels who had raised over $66 thanks to the community's most recent "Mile of Pennies" fundraiser. The official opening of the seventh Victory Loan campaign was set to take place on Monday, Oct. 23 at 8:45 a.m. at CKNX studios in Wingham. The guest speaker that morning would be W. A. Beecroft, chairman of the Huron County National War Finance Committee. October 19, 1967 Murray Gaunt, the Liberal incumbent in the Ontario Legislature, won a decided victory over his Conservative opponent, Roger West of Wingham, and Jack Pym of Kincardine from the NDP in the recent provincial election. Gaunt received just over 9,100 votes, while just under 6,000 people voted for West and 905 people voted for Pym. He won a majority in all but three municipalities throughout the riding. Gaunt then made his way through parts of the riding as part of a victory parade, coming through Brussels around midnight, despite the rainy weather. Gaunt and his wife were said to be smiling, but drenched. "He was drenched and spattered by the elements, but there was no mud -slinging in the cleanly -fought campaign," reported The Brussels Post. The Majestic Women's Institute held its regular monthly meeting at the Brussels Library and heard a presentation by Mrs. Bill Nay from Gorrie, who spoke on her recent trip to the Expo in Montreal. She said it was the event's pavilions which she most enjoyed. October 14, 1981 Husband and wife Ted Johns and Janet Amos were ready to take on some new roles in the name of raising money to pay off the debt incurred by the expansion and improvement of Memorial Hall. Johns and Amos would play Aylmer and Rose Clark at the medieval feast dinner organized by the Blyth Centre for the Arts on Oct. 24. Johns and Amos would preside over the event that would see 150 seated at the hall for the special dinner. Len Rooney of Blyth was showing off his superior skills on the front page of The Blyth Standard after having caught a nine -and -a - half -pound rainbow trout at Port Albert. Rooney's skills surpassed those of all who fished in the community over the course of the fall, as his rainbow trout, caught on Oct. 9, was the largest caught there that season. Blyth Village Council had received a request for the placement of a new crossing guard at the corner of Hwy. 4 and King Street. In preparation of the potential placement of a crossing guard, staff was instructed to follow up with other municipalities regarding insurance, salaries and uniforms. October 22, 1997 Thieves hit Bainton's Old Mill and the Auburn Co-op through the night of Oct. 18. According to police, those responsible were able to pry open the door of the Old Mill and steal several leather and suede jackets valued at a total of $3,000. That same night, thieves broke into the glass front door of the Auburn Co-op and stole two nylon coats, valued at $40. The estimated damage to the door was $400. At 15 years old, the Brussels sewage treatment plant was beginning to show its age and was in need of maintenance. Peter Harrison of the Ontario Clean Water Agency and local system manager Henry Rouw said that to build a roof over the system's tank, and then insulate it, would cost between $8,000 and $10,000. Those options, they said, would be the most expensive, while simply repairing the heat tracing system would cost approximately $6,000. The Blyth Business Association was planning to use its fall banquet as an opportunity to look at the problems and opportunities facing downtown Blyth. As part of the program, Keith Roulston would be leading a session at the meeting in an effort to draw out creative ideas from the organization's members. A late evening chimney fire on Oct. 19 at a West Wawanosh Township residence didn't cause as much damage as it could have, according to Fire Chief Paul Josling. Firefighters were able to contain the blaze within the chimney, limiting damage to the rest of the home.