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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2017-11-16, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 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 Bill 148 must be changed The greatest indictment of Premier Kathleen Wynne's Liberal government has been that it is so urban -minded it can't see the needs of the rural areas that make up most of the province. No better illustration could be made than the potential of the Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act (Bill 148) to destroy the rural volunteer firefighting system. Volunteer fire departments have been a typically rural answer to a community need since the first villages grew out of the bush nearly 200 years ago. Departments have seen great advances in equipment and firefighters have become much more professional in their training, but the role of the volunteer, ready to drop everything when the fire call sounds, has remained essential in providing fire protection for the vast majority of Ontario's communities. That could be no more if Bill 148 becomes law without changes. The harm, explained Central Huron Fire Chief Dave Renner to his council last week, is that under the bill volunteer firefighters are classified as municipal employees and because they are "on call", they must be paid three hours a day at the municipal rate. Across Ontario this could cost various municipalities from $1-$2 million each. Central Huron Treasurer Terri Rau told her council it would mean a 17 per cent rax rate increase for her municipality's taxpayers. The Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs and the Association of Municipalities of Ontario have both called for Bill 148 to be changed to allow volunteer fire departments to continue to operate as they have, with firefighters compensated only when they actually fight fires. If the government doesn't correct the situation taxpayers will either be hit with massive tax increases or will find their fire protection dangerously reduced. The simple thing is to change the bill to recognize the realities of rural Ontario life. Is this government capable of seeing that? — KR Making the rich pay isn't easy Looking Back Through the Years The release of the "Paradise Papers" that revealed some 3,000 wealthy Canadians used legal off -shore trusts to avoid paying taxes has once more illustrated the difficulty of getting the rich to pay their fair share of the tax burden. One of the reasons that the gap has been increasing between the wealthiest two per cent of the people and the rest of the population, is that the ultra -wealthy can afford to hire the cleverest accountants and lawyers to avoid paying taxes. There's also been a race to the bottom among countries seeking to boost their own economies by attracting other countries' wealthy to invest their millions by offering low taxes. Outraged politicians and editorialists have demanded that the federal government do something to make these wealthy Canadians pay their share of keeping Canada a great place to live. If only it were that easy. Just ask both Liberal and Conservative governments of the last two decades. If you come up with a new way to get the rich to pay taxes, their advisers will find a new solution to avoid it. It's left to the rest of us, those who can't afford high-priced advisers and don't have excess money that can be easily moved offshore, to shoulder the burden of paying for government services. The answer is for all countries to adopt a co-ordinated taxation system that doesn't let the rich play off one country against another, but that's unlikely to happen. Until then we regular taxpayers, politicians and editorialists may rave all we want but the rich will still avoid paying their fair share of taxes.— KR Scolding doesn't work With the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Vietnam last week and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in the Philippines earlier this week, there were plenty of opportunities for world leaders to get together, and plenty of calls from western critics for their leaders to set dictators straight. Too bad it wasn't so easy. Here in Canada, people wanted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to solve the problem of the Rohingya refugees simply by telling Myanmar civilian leader Aung San Suu Ky to stop the persecution of the Muslim minority, threatening to withdraw her honorary Canadian citizenship if she doesn't see the light. Oh yes, and Trudeau should speak to Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte and get him to stop his outside - the -law battle against drug traffickers which has been estimated to have resulted in up to 12,000 deaths, many of them of innocent people. And just for good measure, persuade China's President Xi Jinping to stop civil rights abuses in his country. Certainly Canadians don't want their Prime Minister to remain silent about the wrongs going on in the world but scolding by the leader of a relatively small country, sadly, will have little real effect. Even U.S. President Donald Trump, who prides himself in being the world's most powerful man, has learned how little that power really means. — KR November 15, 1944 A dance was scheduled to be held at the Brussels Legion on Nov. 24. Ken Wilbee and his Orchestra would be providing the entertainment for the night. Admission would be 35 cents that night. Eighty bags of milkweed were gathered by the students of Brussels Public School to aid in the war effort. The help of school children from across the country was enlisted to gather milkweed pods, which were filled with fuzz that would fill life rafts during the war. November 16, 1967 Dick Harris was famous for the production of his fields, which yielded a potato weighing three pounds, three ounces, grown on the 7th Line of Morris Township. Anticipating that readers weren't going to believe the size of the potato, which was said to be able to feed an entire family, the potato was on display in the window of the Thompson and Stephenson Butcher Shop. The Brussels Lions Club held its regular meeting, but under the direction of Past -President George Mutter, who stepped in to cover for President Cal Smith, who was ill that night. The November meeting of the Brussels Horticultural Society was scheduled to be held on Nov. 20 at the Brussels Public Library. At the meeting, the topic of discussion would be the creation of custom Christmas decorations just a month ahead of the holidays. November 11, 1981 The first sewer hook-up in Blyth was connected to the home of Bill and Lynne Logue on Wellington Street without incident. "We were not without water and in less than one day, the hook-up and connection were complete, the tank was emptied and filled in and inspection completed," said Lynne. The backhoe work for the sewer hook-up was completed by Tom Cronin and Lyle Youngblut worked on the plumbing. The Huron County Board of Education voted to change its levy collection schedule. Rather than collect twice a year, the board had decided to collect four times. As for Blyth's contribution to the board, the March installment would have to be borrowed because it will be due before the first installment of taxes would be due in the village. As a result of the board of education's decision to move from two collections to four, Blyth Village Council said it would consider following suit with its tax collection going forward in order to avoid further borrowing in the future. A number of prizes were handed out at the village's annual Halloween dance. Fran and Dave Cook were honoured for their costumes of Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy, while Floyd and Liz Herman were also honoured for their costumes as Bert and Ernie from Sesame Street. November 19, 1997 While most of the newly -elected municipal councillors throughout Huron County were in the midst of preparing for the inauguration, Morris Township candidates were busy waiting on the results of a recount. The recount, which was scheduled for the evening of Nov. 19, would determine who would fill the remaining two council seats between candidates Neil Warwick, Edna McLellan and incumbent John Duskocy. According to the initial results of the election, just six votes separated the three candidates. McLellan and Duskocy were tied with 278 votes each. Both were behind Warwick, who was determined to have garnered 284 votes. Sixteen -year-old Janet Bosma was honoured by the Western Ontario Conservatory of Music. She captured top honours in the Grade 3 Theory examination She was also in line for the silver medal from the school, which was given to the student with the highest marks in each grade in each province. Bosma, who had been taking piano lessons since Grade 4, was due to receive her silver medal on Nov. 15 in London at the school's convocation ceremony. Ross Taylor of East Wawanosh Township was honoured by the Maitland Valley Conservation Authority for serving a quarter- century as a director with the organization. Authority Chair Ivan Suggitt made the presentation at the authority's annual general meeting, which was held at the Belgrave Community Centre. Derek Hunt of Seaforth was bestowed a rare honour through his work with the Brussels Cadets when he was promoted to chief warrant officer, the highest rank for a cadet. As area teachers worked to rally support in their opposition of Bill 160, newly -elected school board trustee Colleen Schenk spoke at a "Hug a School" event at Brussels Public School. The informal event aimed to galvanize teachers, parents and students in their support of the teachers' stance, asking those in support to wear apple -green ribbons.