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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2015-09-03, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 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 September 12, 1979 Brussels Council decided to send a number of letters to home-based businesses, informing them that they were contravening a zoning bylaw by maintaining a business in a residential area. The decision came after a lengthy discussion at the council table. Council had received a number of complaints about various things in connection with the businesses. Council agreed to take the complaints seriously. Several Brussels-area farmers captured some awards at the Canadian National Exhibition. In the shorthorn cattle classification, Bodmin Colonel 54J, owned by Bodmin Limited of Brussels, was determined to be the grand champion bull of the agriculture show. In the competition’s swine category, Van Brook Rambler, owned by Jan van Vliet of Brussels, was judged to be the champion boar. The champion sow also belonged to van Vliet. Brussels Village Council filed requests to donate to the Huron- Perth Lung Association, the Nepean flood fund and the Oxford- Haldimand disaster relief fund. The reason, The Brussels Post reported, was that councillors believed that area churches had already donated to the three funds. September 12, 1990 Zurich-area farmer and federal NDP representative Paul Klopp triumphed in the Huron riding in what was called a “huge upset” at the polls. Klopp, a former municipal councillor and a past-president of the Huron County Federation of Agriculture, was said to have rode the wave of NDP success across the province that saw the Liberal Party, led by David Peterson, lose 58 seats across Ontario, including Peterson’s own. Klopp tallied 10,000 votes to top Ken Campbell of the Conservative Party, who had 9,066, and Jim Fitzgerald of the Liberal Party, who had 6,653 votes of support. It was a visit to Belgrave two weeks before the election, Klopp said, that made him think he, and the NDP, had a chance of winning the election. He visited a retired couple in Belgrave and the male half of the couple told Klopp to save his breath, as he already planned to vote for Klopp and he didn’t need convincing. The NDP deserved a chance to run the province, the man said, and it was something Klopp heard repeated over and over again during his travels. While it was still too early to tell, Klopp’s name had been mentioned as a potential candidate for the position of Minister of Agriculture. As part of the same election, Bruce MPP and Morris Township native Murray Elston was being mentioned as a potential successor to Peterson, who had resigned following his defeat. Perfect weather over the weekend in Blyth boosted the attendance at the annual reunion of the Huron Pioneer Thresher and Hobby Association, with many saying that the 1990 crowd was a record. The 70th annual Belgrave, Blyth and Brussels School Fair was set to take place at the Belgrave Fairgrounds. At the time, the fair was the only school fair remaining in the province. It was set to begin that afternoon, with a parade of children at 1 p.m., followed by the exhibition of a number of different items contributed by students. September 12, 2001 The 40th annual reunion of the Huron Pioneer Thresher and Hobby Association was deemed a success as over 14,000 people passed through the event’s gates over the course of the three days. Secretary Marian Hallahan said that while many of those who attended the reunion were local, there were people registered from the United States, Holland, England and France. One of the most important parts of the reunion was when Huron- Bruce MP Paul Steckle presented Beatrice Hallahan, widow of event co-founder Simon Hallahan, with a certificate celebrating the event’s 40th anniversary. Beatrice was due to turn 100 in just a few months. The Brussels Agricultural Society was set to host the annual Brussels Fall Fair, which would be the 140th in the event’s history. The theme for the anniversary fair would be “Down Memory Lane” and displays and themes would reflect the history of the surrounding community. As Hullett Central Public School prepared to open for yet another school year, the institute would be welcoming five new teachers to the roster. Two local businesses decided to officially join forces as Elliott Insurance of Blyth and Nixon Insurance of the Belgrave/Brussels area amalgamated and would operate out of the Blyth office. Brussels Mennonite Fellowship welcomed a new pastor in the form of Brent Kipfer, who was the church’s first non-interim pastor in several years. 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 Somebody has to lead David Blaney, Brussels representative on Huron East Council, made a strong defence of the value of economic development last week. Some councillors had questioned the return on the municipality’s investment in economic development. It’s easy to see why. There are few transformative gains like auto plants to be made in Huron County. But as Blaney said, economic development here is achieved one entrepreneur at a time, one innovative idea at a time. Somebody has to encourage our small businesses, lend moral support and advice to our communities to combat what sometimes seems like impossible odds. Economic development costs are a small price to pay for giving our small businesses leadership. — KR More than one deficit Politics being politics, when Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau last week promised to spend billions on infrastructure and said he was willing to run a small deficit to do so, the news immediately became about the deficit, not infrastructure. Someday, though, whoever forms future governments must deal with the deficit in infrastructure. Most people living in Canada today have enjoyed an easy ride on the massive amounts that taxpayers in the 1950s and 1960s spent in building new highways, bridges, and water and sewer lines. Here in Ontario for instance, the Progressive Conservative governments of Premiers Leslie Frost and John Robarts, with financial support from the federal government, rebuilt and paved thousands of miles of roads, taking Ontario into a new age of transportation. But in many cases we’re still living off those investments. In Toronto, for instance, the Gardiner Expressway, built in the 1950s, is literally falling down. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities has estimated that Canada’s municipal infrastructure deficit is $123 billion. Downloading from the federal government, beginning with Paul Martin’s budget-balancing efforts in the 1990s, and by successive provincial Progressive Conservative and Liberal governments in Ontario, has shifted this burden to the municipalities, the level of government that has the least ability to raise the money needed for repairs. We often hear that it’s wrong for governments to spend money today that future generations will need to repay. Isn’t it just as wrong, however, to let roads, bridges, sewers, etc. deteriorate so that future generations must pay for the repairs? Someday soon federal and provincial politicians must step up to the plate on infrastrucure. – KR Be honest Speaking on the CTV television program Canada AM last week, a spokesman for the Fraser Institute, unveiling a study that said Canadians are seeing too much of their income swallowed up by taxes, claimed his group was simply a research, not a political, group. If so, he might have been more honest about the figures the Institute quotes. According to the Fraser Institute, the average Canadian now pays 41.8 per cent of his or her income in taxes. As a comparison, it says, back in 1961 when Canadians paid just 33.5 per cent of their income in taxes. But the comparison might as well been about comparing the price of a 1,000 square foot 1950s bungalow to a 3,000 square foot modern house. Shortly after that 1961 tax year mentioned, the government of Lester B. Pearson introduced several programs such as universal health care and the Canada Pension Plan that transformed Canada. Few Canadians today would want to do without those programs. If you want a fair comparison between the great low-tax world of 1961 and today, for instance, we need to add in how much it would cost families if they didn’t have universal healthcare. The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation in the U.S. puts the average annual cost for employer- backed health coverage in 2014 at $16,834. As for CPP, many right- wingers consider this a payroll tax rather than saving for our old age – in other words something we’ll get back with interest. Despite the Fraser Institute’s views, few Canadians who remember 1961 would want to return to those “good old days” – even if they saved eight per cent of their income on taxes. – 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.