HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2016-11-10, Page 1INSIDE
THIS WEEK:
SPORTS - Pg. 8
Centenaires drub Lancers
in Brussels game
POLICE - Pg. 11
Blyth native honoured
as Huron's top cop
PATENT - Pg. 14
Sparling-created vaccine
granted patent in China
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Volume 32 No. 44
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Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, November 10, 2016
A Sunday drive
The Brussels Agricultural Society held its first-ever ladies
night on Saturday at the Brussels, Morris and Grey
Community Centre, which was a busy location, as it was
also hosting a game between the Huron East Centenaires
and the Lucknow Lancers that night as well. The ladies
night featured great food and drink and a fashion show courtesy
of Marita's Fashion Boutique in Clinton and The Cowboy Loft in
Brussels, as well as a performance by hypnotist Jeff West who, in
this picture, took a group of participants and turned them into
sports car drivers before the crowd's very eyes. (Vicky Bremner photo)
MacLellan to serve on AMO task force
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Huron East Mayor Bernie
MacLellan is taking some of his
views about health care and its
evolving funding model provincial
after asking some pointed questions
earlier this year.
MacLellan has been asked to sit
on the Associated Municipalities of
Ontario (AMO) Health Care Task
Force after he openly questioned the
way health care costs seem to be
making their way down to the lower
tiers of government. The body has
just recently been created and some
of the questions MacLellan was
asking of the provincial government
earlier this year piqued the interest
of those at AMO, who wanted to
bring MacLellan on board.
In an interview with The Citizen,
MacLellan talked about some of the
issues that concern him, specifically
the fact that lower -tier municipalities
and upper -tier governments like
Huron County are regularly being
asked to fund health care projects.
MacLellan said that the process
began when he asked Huron County
staff to prepare a report on health
care funding in order to make a
presentation to the provincial
government.
Health care, he said, had always
been funded by the provincial and
federal governments. However, as
time has gone on and purse strings
have tightened there is plenty of fear
in smaller communities, MacLellan
said, that hospitals are going to be
closed. As funding has dried up, that
responsibility to keep hospitals
relevant and current has increasingly
fallen to lower tiers of government.
At the county level, MacLellan
said, it's rare that two or three years
pass without a request coming to
Huron County Council to financially
support a campaign for one of the
community's hospitals, usually to
the tune of hundreds of thousands of
dollars.
Earlier this year, he said, Huron
County Council contributed
$500,000 to the Wingham Hospital's
Our Hospital, Our Future campaign,
which came just a few years after the
county contributed $500,000 to the
Goderich Alexandra Marine and
General Hospital.
At the time, he said, councillors
said that other county hospitals
would be within their rights to come
to council with their hands out, as a
precedent had been set.
MacLellan said that it's
inappropriate for lower -tier and
county governments to have to use
property taxes to fund health care,
which should be covered by upper -
tier levels of government.
With AMO on board, MacLellan
said, he has high hopes for the task
force. The organization has "the
province's ear" on many issues and
if he and the rest of the task force
can make it clear that health care
costs should be borne by upper
tiers of government, perhaps a
burden will be lifted off of lower
tiers.
The task force's first meeting is set
for Nov. 29, MacLellan said, so very
little has been discussed thus far, but
he's eager to begin the process.
At Huron County Council's Nov.
2 meeting, council approved a
motion directed MacLellan to sit on
the task force, saying they'll be
lucky to have his opinion.
Warden's
awards
honour
locals
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Huron County handed out its
annual trio of Warden's Emergency
Services Awards last week and all
three winners had local ties.
Tyler Stewart, a Blyth native, was
named Police Officer of the Year,
while the late Steve Cooke, former
chief of the Central Huron Fire
Department, was named Firefighter
of the Year and David Wagner, a
member of the Fire Department of
North Huron, was named Paramedic
of the Year.
Stewart was honoured by
Inspector Jason Younan, who
introduced Stewart and his family at
the Nov. 2 meeting of Huron County
Council.
Younan said that Stewart began
his time with the Ontario Provincial
Police as a member of the offender
transport unit, bringing prisoners to
and from court dates and their
prisons.
After beginning his time with the
transportation unit, Stewart soon
became a Constable with the police
force in Huron County. He was
promoted in 2013, becoming part of
the Community Drug Action
Team, representing the Huron
detachment.
Younan said that Stewart played
an important role in a years -long
drug bust that had a huge impact on
Huron County. After spending time
on that team, he then moved on to
the OPP's organized crime unit
earlier this year, leaving Huron
County. Stewart now works out of
London.
Central Huron Fire Chief Dave
Renner spoke glowingly about
Cooke and his work on the
department. He also introduced
council to several members of
Cooke's family who were in
attendance that day.
Renner told councillors that
Cooke served as a local firefighter
for over 30 years and during that
time he was always proud to show
off the accomplishments of the
Central Huron Fire Department,
especially to firefighters from large
city centres.
His dedication to firefighting,
however, didn't begin and end in
Central Huron. Renner said that
Cooke would often travel to areas
where firefighter support was
needed, including the Meaford Fire
Department trial, the Goderich
tornado and the deaths of two
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