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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2015-07-23, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JULY 23, 2015. Editorials Opinions Publisher: Keith Roulston Editor: Shawn Loughlin • Reporter: Denny Scott Advertising Sales: Lori Patterson & Amanda Bergsma The Citizen P.O. Box 429, BLYTH, Ont. N0M 1H0 Ph. 519-523-4792 Fax 519-523-9140 P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, Ont. N0G 1H0 Phone 519-887-9114 E-mail info@northhuron.on.ca Website www.northhuron.on.ca Looking Back Through the Years CCNA Member Member of the Ontario Press Council 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 N0G 1H0 email: info@northhuron.on.ca July 26, 1962 There were 28 contestants in the Russell Oats field crop competition, sponsored by the Brussels Fall Fair Board. Harvey Craig of Walton won Group A with 90 points, while Brussels’ Gordie Knight won Group B with 93 points. The 21st annual fall term of Goderich Business College was set to open in September, with both senior and junior courses being offered. Water restrictions were being imposed on Brussels by the Brussels P.U.C., asking citizens to water their lawns and gardens only between the hours of 7 and 9 p.m. in order to conserve the village’s water supply. Descendents of the late John and Charlie Hemingway held a family reunion at the Shakespeare Theatre Park in Stratford on July 21. The two pioneers of the family first came to Canada, settling in Burlington, from Yorkshire, England, in 1831. Meals were enjoyed as part of the event, followed by races and games, which were carried out under the watchful eye of Don Hemingway. July 25, 1979 Brussels had been labelled as a friendly community by 19-year-old Elisabeth Back. Back had spent some time in the village as part of the Lions Exchange Program. She stayed with Jim Knight. She said she was very interested in visiting Canada and found people to be very friendly. She was also astounded at the size of the homes and the cars in Canada, compared to those of her homeland Finland. AnHi Kuvsela, Back’s boyfriend, also enjoyed his stay in Canada, although he was stationed with a family in Thunder Bay before travelling to Brussels for a visit. He said he couldn’t believe how many lakes he could see in Canada. Another exchange student who called Brussels home for a few weeks was Donald Lindo, a 21-year- old bank clerk from Jamaica. Staying at the home of Bob Rowe, Lindo spent most of his time shooting pool, attending a baseball game and at the disco. “I think the atmosphere is healthy,” Lindo said of Brussels. “The vegetation is really lovely. There’s a lot of farms and friendly people.” Lindo also complimented Brussels on its clean roads. Ross Procter, a farmer from RR5, Brussels, was one of the featured speakers at the first-ever Ontario Beef Congress, which was held in London. He said that it was a good time for farmers to get out of the business, if they wanted to, because it was a great time to sell. “If you’re in the cow business and you don’t like it, there’s no better opportunity than now to sell them,” Procter said. July 25, 1990 Nico Peters, a 39-year-old Tuckersmith farmer, officially became the first person to announce his candidacy for the Huron riding’s Progressive Conservative nom- ination. Peters had already run in the 1987 election, losing out to Liberal Jack Riddell. Riddell, however, announced that he would not run again in the next election. Who would be representing the Liberal Party in Huron, however, was still a mystery, as five candidates were running for the nomination, with the decision to be made Aug. 9. The Brussels Bulls Junior C team announced that it had new coaches going into the new season. Team President Steve Coulter announced that Scott Pettigrew of Wingham had been named the new head coach of the team. Assistant coaches were to be Tim Fritz and Hugh Hanly. Fritz had previously been known as a star of past Bulls teams. July 25, 2001 The County of Huron found itself “in the money” after a Healthy Futures for Ontario funding request was approved to the tune of $2.5 million. The amount is half of the estimated $5 million for the entire project, which was aimed at improving and protecting the surface and groundwater throughout Huron County. Water levels at the Blyth reservoir were so low that Town of Blyth water officials made their way throughout the community telling residents to turn off their water, effectively issuing a watering ban. The ban was said to be in place until the end of August at least. Bill Bromley, Blyth’s roads operator, told North Huron Council that he feared that if a fire emergency was to occur, there wouldn’t be enough water to effectively extinguish the fire. Thousands of firefighters from all over the province were scheduled to make their way to Blyth in the next few days to take part in the Ontario Firefighter Convention from Aug. 3- 6. Blyth Fire Chief Paul Josling said the convention is a great opportunity for members from all over the province to get together, train, play games and remember fallen firefighters. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Periodical Fund of the Department of Canadian Heritage. We are not responsible for unsolicited newsscripts or photographs. Contents of The Citizen are © Copyright We have to work harder If we, as individuals, aren’t blessed with being born rich, we have to work harder. If our communities don’t have the natural advantage of being beside a lake or near a large city, the community has to work harder to thrive. There are examples of communities working to create activity in both Blyth and Brussels this weekend. In Blyth, the Blyth Business Improvement Area will turn main street into a day-long street fair on Saturday. Sunday, Brussels will host its second Old-time Jamboree. It takes extraordinary efforts by individuals and groups to make these kinds of community activities happen. The burden can be lightened by sharing the load among more people. Help make your community more vital by helping out at these and the many other events in our local area. If you can’t help, then at least attend. When we live in communities like ours our biggest advantage is full participation by our residents. — KR Tying the hands of leaders At a recent Global Forum conference in Toronto, Sergio Marchionne, chief executive officer of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles read Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne a lecture on how global manufacturing trumps politicians who might want to make a difference in a jurisdiction like Ontario. Referring to things like the proposed provincial pension plan and the cap and trade system adopted by Ontario, Quebec and California to reduce the production of greenhouse gases, Marchionne reminded Wynne all such programs have costs. “They don’t come for free. They cost money. You start adding up the bill.” And when it adds to the bill for a multinational manufacturer like Fiat Chrysler, it can mean the company decides to take its manufacturing where the costs are lower. This is the reality we accepted when we embraced free trade and globalization. Politicians can promise to make life better for the people of their province or country but they have no leverage over multinational corporations which either get their way or move to a less expensive jurisdiction. The companies can have the best of both worlds: manufacturing in a Third World country but selling freely within a First World country like Canada that must guarantee access to its markets because of free trade agreements. Activists can push for a “living wage” of $15 (or $21 an hour as the mayor of Vancouver suggests was necessary in his city) but if governments try to impose these levels of compensation, companies can move plants to countries where people make that much a week. Even local companies that might not move may be put out of business because they can’t compete with cheap imports. The days when governments can take bold steps to improve the lives of the ordinary citizen as they did from the 1940s to the 1970s have been fundamentally altered by global trade. Governments and their citizens are going to have to accept that they may have more cheap consumer goods but they don’t really control their own destiny anymore. – KR Self-inflicting wounds When Canadian provincial premiers met in Newfoundland last week, Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall blasted eastern premiers’ attempts to tie strings to their approval of the Energy East Pipeline. Within hours, a major oil spill from the rupture of a nearly-new pipeline in northern Alberta reminded everyone why there’s so much unease about pipelines. If you must move oil, nearly everyone agrees pipelines are the safest way to do it. The use of railways to move oil due to the lack of pipeline capacity is environmentally dangerous and, as we saw in Lac Megantic two years ago where more than 40 people died and the centre of the town was destroyed, is dangerous to human health and life. Yet the pipeline companies need to literally clean up their act if they want to reassure people living near the route of pipelines, whether they’re needed to get oil to the west coast or the east. The Nexxen Energy pipeline that burst last week had a spill detection system yet the 31,500 barrel spill was found by someone on foot patrol. If pipeline companies want support they must do a better job. – 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.