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The Citizen, 2016-05-19, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MAY 19, 2016. Editorials Opinions Publisher: Keith Roulston Editor: Shawn Loughlin • Reporter: Denny Scott Advertising Sales: Lori Patterson & Brenda Nyveld 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 RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO CIRCULATION DEPT. PO BOX 152 BRUSSELS ON NOG 1HO email: info@northhuron.on.ca The Citizen P.O. Box 429, P.O. Box 152, BLYTH, Ont. BRUSSELS, Ont. NOM 1H0 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 Canada ..ocna CCNA Member of the Ontario Press Council We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Periodical Fund of the We are not responsible for unsolicited newsscripts or Department of Canadian Heritage. photographs. Contents of The Citizen are © Copyright CMCA AUDITED Good luck with that! The provincial cabinet apparently approved a 57 -page Climate Change Action Plan last week and according to The Globe and Mail, which saw a leaked draft of the plan, one of the policies is to encourage people to switch to electric or geothermal heating systems from natural gas. That's going to be a hard sell if the province keeps driving up electricity costs. Even before the recent spate of increases in the price of electricity, many people who had installed electrical heat decades ago had converted to natural gas or furnace oil because the cost of electricity had become too expensive. The situation has only become worse in recent years as the province hiked electricity rates while rebuilding the power grid, giving out lucrative contracts to suppliers of wind, solar and nuclear energy and generally tried to persuade people to reduce their power use. After selling off large chunks of Hydro One to the private sector, the incentive to increase costs will continue as shareholders demand a good return on their investments. Persuading more people to heat with electricity or geothermal (which uses electricity to extract heat taken from the earth) may be good for reducing greenhouse gas emissions but there are few people who are so environmentally -minded that they'll gladly sign up for a more expensive energy source just to help the climate. If the government wants people to heat with electricity it must make the price more attractive. — KR Leave it to the people One of the things that attracted many people to vote for Justin Trudeau in last fall's federal election, was the promise that partisanship would be rolled back if his Liberal Party was elected. Now that Prime Minister Trudeau is tackling the issue of democratic reform, introducing a bill to set up a parliamentary committee to study democratic reform, it's time for him to deliver on his hope of non-partisanship by leaving the final decision on how (and whether) to change the way we elect a government to the people who do the voting. Even by naming who will be on the committee and giving the Liberals a majority of members, the government has created suspicions it's going to have the committee propose reforms that would most favour the future election of Liberal governments. This goes completely against the hope of less partisanship that attracted voters to support Trudeau. The only somewhat -valid reason to leave a change of the voting system up to parliament is the Prime Minister's promise that the 2015 election would be the last one conducted under the "first -past -the -post" system. This was a foolish promise. He should have promised only to explore alternatives and put them before the people in a referendum to choose which they preferred. Canadians have turned down reform proposals before in various provinces but it should be their choice of how they want to elect their government. Leaving the final decision to the voters would diffuse the fear of partisanship, restore confidence that Trudeau really wants less partisanship and leave the decision to the people who deserve to decide, ordinary Canadians. Mr. Trudeau, your reputation is on the line. — KR Something's got to give One of the attractions of Donald Trump for a significant number of U.S. voters is that they feel he will make America "great again" by putting their country first. In Russia, President Vladimir Putin maintains his popularity by giving people a sense of pride in their country again, annexing Crimea and supporting rebels in Ukraine, both parts of the former Soviet Union. In North Korea, thousands were in the streets last week following the congress of the ruling Workers' Party, praising dictator Kim Jong -un for standing up to the rest of the world. Chinese President Xi Jinping has been making his country proud by asserting China's right to expand its influence across the region. If all these leaders are playing to the desire of their people to be strong and not put up with any B.S. from the rest of the world, what happens when they go head to head and refuse to back down in the name of national pride? — 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. Looking Back Through the Years May 20, 1959 Paige Phillips, who had been attending teachers' college in Stratford, was awarded the Prince of Wales prize by the school. The award is presented annually on the basis of marks and was the school's highest award. Phillips had also won a teachers' college bursary in music, which she planned to use in the summer, when she would take a music class in Toronto. The second meeting of the Blyth- Belgrave Beef Club and the North Huron 4-H Swine Club was held at the Belgrave Community Centre and the guest speaker was John McCrea, who was associated with the Seaforth District Co-op. He spoke about diseases in cattle and swine before the meeting was closed. May 21, 1970 Barbara Muilwyk of Brussels Public School was named princess of the Belgrave, Brussels and Blyth School Fair. The RR4, Brussels resident was chosen from nine contestants who represented the Grade 8 classes of their school. David Johnston, a 93 -year-old Morris Township resident, died in a house fire. The fire destroyed the home of David's son Fleming, although Fleming was not home at the time of the fire. Firefighters say Johnston was asleep when the fire began. They said they believed the fire began in the kitchen, where gasoline fumes were ignited by a pilot light on the kitchen stove. Volunteer firefighters from Wingham battled the blaze for six hours before they were able to recover Johnston's body. Margaret Nichol of RR4, Brussels was among the 36 graduates of the St. Mary's School of Nursing for the year of 1970. Margaret also won the Outstanding Professional Develop- ment Award, which was presented to her by Mrs. E.T. Humphrey. May 14, 1986 A hard-working volunteer with years of experience with Blyth - based organizations was named The Citizen's Citizen of the Year for the Blyth area. Evalena Webster, the founder of the Swinging Seniors group, was chosen by the awards committee for her dedication to her community and active leadership. Webster's name, it was said by The Citizen, had become synonymous with the country supper program at the Blyth Festival. Webster and her comrades from the Blyth United Church were called upon to cater the second -ever opening night dinner for the Blyth Festival. The Brussels Lions Club celebrated a milestone in the life of the club with its 40th anniversary. As Bill Turnbull called the special meeting to order, over 200 people were in attendance and took their seats. Tax bills in the village of Brussels were set to increase by 6.2 per cent as the budget was finally passed. The majority of the increase came from the county level, as the municipal budget only increased by just under three per cent. One of the contributing factors was a surplus that Brussels carried into 1986, which was used to help offset the increase of taxes. A motion that had proven controversial was re -passed by Brussels Council. The motion would allow the Brussels Lions Club to replace the village's old wading pool with a new one. This came after the original motion was called into question due to procedural issues rising from a closed -to -the -public session and subsequent vote. May 22, 2002 After over a year of discussion, Huron East officially hired an economic development co-ordinator in the form of Bonnie Lafontaine, who was hired on with a one-year contract. Lafontaine had previous work experience with the United Way, as a councillor with Colborne Township and as a small business owner. Lafontaine had also dedicated some of her time to an ad hoc tourism committee in Goderich and with the Ontario Parent Council. Ontario Agri -Food Education Inc. unveiled its new teaching kits at a special event held at the Seaforth Agriplex on May 17. The kit consisted of a teacher's guide, career profiles and a video. Chair of the organization Pam Stanley was on hand for the announcement, which she said was an important one for Huron County. Rehearsals for The Outdoor Donnellys were underway and tickets were flying out the door for the outdoor show that was seen by over 9,000 people the previous season. The show was set to take place once again at the Blyth Fairgrounds. Audiences were set to be brought around town to view different vignettes by a tractor -drawn wagon. There were eight to choose from. Central Huron Council announced that the municipality would be contributing $100,000 to the Heart and Soul campaign, which was underway to build a new community centre in Blyth, which was utilized by many Central Huron residents.