Loading...
The Citizen, 2017-12-21, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 21, 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. Canada MAIL AGREEMENT NO. 40050141 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 1H0 NOG 1 H0 Ph. 519-523-4792 Phone Fax 519-523-9140 519-887-9114 E-mail info@northhuron.on.ca Website www.northhuron.on.ca ocna ab CCNA Member of the Ontario Press Council CMCA AUDITED We are not responsible for unsolicited newsscripts or photographs. Contents of The Citizen are © Copyright Put people first According to a press release this week, the amalgamation of the Health Units of Huron and Perth Counties has taken another step forward. No doubt this is to the satisfaction of the province and, also no doubt, will create concerns for Huron County residents. The province is finally getting its way after more than 30 years of trying — well, part of its way. The Ministry of Health's real goal is to have one health unit serving the area from Georgian Bay to Lake Erie. That's been a consistent goal of officials, through various Progressive Conservative, Liberal and NDP governments, since the 1980s. Local officials have managed to fend off the pressure year after year, decade after decade. The goal, of course, is always given as creating greater efficiency, but efficiency for whom? Through so many amalgamations strong-armed on local government agencies by provincial officials over the decades, local residents have learned to be wary. Too often service has become more distant from the people who need it, the bureaucracy increased, leaving people abandoned, and the costs didn't really go down. One particular provincial requirement keeps local councils revisiting the idea of combining health units: the requirement for a Medical Officer of Health for each health unit. Chances are that combining Huron and Perth, or even having one vast health unit for southwestern Ontario won't reduce the number of highly -paid professionals, however. Sooner or later there will be a claim that the workload is too heavy and extra people will be hired. They'll just be in offices farther away from the people in Huron County who need service. Huron County officials are in a tough spot. Perhaps they think joining Perth in a combined health unit will satisfy the province for a while. Here's hoping that they remember to put the people of Huron first in their decisions. — KR Good for them. What about us? Toronto opened a much needed subway extension last week. No one can deny Torontonians needed this and that they need much more mass transit to deal with their growing population. The only quibble for those of us living outside major Ontario centres like Toronto is, what about us? As the Premier celebrated the shiny new $3.2 billion line, rural municipalities like Huron East were learning that they'll have to get by with less in provincial funding from the Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund — $231,000 less in Huron East's case, and they've been told to expect similar cuts in coming years. Already Huron East gets less than half of what it once got under this program. Rural municipal officials may have looked longingly at the province's gift to Toronto subway riders to celebrate the opening. The province found $1.2 million to provide free rides on the line for the weekend. We who live in rural communities shouldn't begrudge Toronto receiving provincial and federal help to deal with its booming population. We would, however, like to think that we matter too, and that helping Toronto doesn't mean hurting small towns and rural areas. Annual cuts to our municipalities make it hard for them to maintain our current infrastructure, let alone expand it. — KR You get what you pay for Such is the consumer -centred world we live in that people seem able to compartmentalize their lives and never make the connection between cause and effect. Fans of the Ottawa Senators had a fit last week because the team's owner, Eugene Melnyk, hinted that he might move the team to some other city unless more fans show up to watch the team play. Last year the team's arena wasn't even sold out for the Stanley Cup playoffs. Irate fans took to Twitter using the hash -tag #MelnykOut, demanding a change of ownership. Sports team fandom is a strange phenomenon. Fans have a sense that the sports team belongs to them as much as to the person who pays the bills. If some star player leaves because some other team owner offers to pay him more money, fans blame the owner for being too cheap. The same thing happens when expensive free agents are signed by competing teams and their team misses out. But for the vast majority of fans, support doesn't extend to actually attending games. There was an interesting message sent to CBC News Network last Friday when fans were asked to respond to Melnyk's remarks. Though he lived near the arena, the fan said, he never went to games. It was more convenient to sit at home in his comfy pyjamas and watch games on his TV for free — and he even got better replays. This person perfectly expressed the disconnection of the modern consumer who wants what he wants when he wants it, but has no realization that if someone doesn't actually pay for a product or program, it won't be there next time he wants it for free. — KR Looking Back Through the Years December 20, 1944 The students of Brussels Public School were celebrated for their holiday play, which was called The Land of Dreams Come True, a three - act operetta, presented by the children of the Junior grades. The Senior students presented the Christmas cantata Bringing Up Santa. December 16, 1981 One hundred and eleven people signed a petition, which was presented to Blyth Village Council, asking for a crossing guard at the corner of Queen and King Streets on school days. Jack Blake and Jack Caldwell brought the petition to council. They had requested a crossing guard at the intersection years ago, but finding no traction with the council of the day, they felt it was appropriate to gauge the community's interest in the safety measure. The winners of the holiday Lite Up Blyth contest, which was sponsored by the Blyth Board of Trade, were Grace Castle of Clinton and Fran Cook of Blyth. A refugee family from Laos had arrived in Blyth at a time when they were able to see snow for the first time. After spending the previous two years in a refugee camp, the family of six was happy to be in Blyth, safe and cold. December 24, 1997 The Hanover Barons were in Brussels for some Junior C hockey action. They took on the Brussels Bulls, but were sent home losers of a 3-2 contest. Fran Bremner and her team of Linda Saur, Laurie Procter and Lynne Logue finished the Brussels Ladies' Curling Club's December draw in first place with a robust total of 40 points. The Blyth Festival held a Christmas pageant at Memorial Hall and former Festival Artistic Director Janet Amos and frequent Festival contributor Ted Johns both performed as part of the hotly - anticipated holiday program. Blyth Village Council's resolution regarding education tax reform was again up for debate at council's Dec. 16 meeting. Also at that meeting, Councillor Doug Scrimgeour was appointed as council's representative on the OPP Community Policing Committee. Morris Township Council Chambers were overflowing for a special meeting at which fire boundaries for the outskirts of Brussels would be discussed. Representatives from fire boards in Brussels, Blyth, Wingham and Seaforth all attended the meeting. After several hours, the Brussels fire area was determined, including fringe areas around the village that would then be covered by the Brussels Fire Department. There was one problem at the meeting and that was regarding first response and the perception that the Wingham Fire Department would be responding to some fires where residents felt the Brussels Fire Department would be closer. December 22, 2016 Regional Tourism Organization 4 (RTO4) made a presentation to Huron County Council on the topic of Blyth and its impending boom with the renovations at Memorial Hall, the opening of a new Tim Hortons, the plans for Blyth Cowbell Brewing Company and the vision for the Canadian Centre for Rural Creativity. Economic Development Manager Natasha Fritzley presented council with a report that suggested a number of changes to the county's tourism practices and priorities moving forward in order to capitalize on all that was happening with Blyth. She also suggested a co -funding relationship between the county and RTO4 that would result in a tourism destination initiative. To help usher in 2017, members of the Blyth 140th committee were in the midst of preparing for a New Year's Day event at the Blyth and District Community Centre that would help kick off the village's anniversary year. The event would be the first of 140 throughout the community that would help mark the most important year in the community's history. Representatives of the Dave Mounsey Memorial Fund were in Brussels to place a new defibrillator at the Brussels Legion. The machine was placed at the Legion in the name of Ross F. Whittard, a World War II veteran from the village who was killed in Italy while serving his country. A report from Huron County's Economic Development Department forecasted that hosting the International Plowing Match in Walton in 2017 would cost the county at least $550,000 between direct costs and staffing time. Alyssa Gowing of Belgrave was profiled in The Globe and Mail for her economically -conservative lifestyle and using it as a path to homeownership for even someone as young as the 22 -year-old. The story on Gowing, the daughter of Paul and Jacquie Gowing, generated discussion online among hundreds of thousands of readers of the newspaper and sparked intense debate over quality of life in tough economic times.