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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2015-10-15, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 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 October 11, 1962 Murray Gaunt and the Liberal Party won the Huron-Bruce by- election. The 27-year-old candidate turned the riding red after 19 years of being under a Conservative Member of Parliament. Gaunt won a close election over Huron County Warden George McCutcheon. Gaunt garnered 6,922 votes, while 6,203 residents voted for McCutcheon. The seat was declared vacant after the death of John Hanna, who had passed away in March. Hanna had held the riding for a number of years for the Conservatives after taking it away from the Liberals back in 1943. The poll-by-poll results indicated that it was a close race in Blyth with 132 people voting for Gaunt and 122 voting for McCutcheon, while in Brussels it was a landslide, with 168 people voting for Gaunt and 308 voting for McCutcheon. Both men thanked those who voted for them on the front page of The Brussels Post. Brownie’s Drive-in Theatre in Clinton announced it was closing, saying the reason was “freezing”. October 17, 1979 Ethel Brown of Gorrie was named as the small community’s first-ever correspondent to The Brussels Post, beginning her time at the new position on Sept. 10. Members of the Brussels Santa Claus Parade committee were in the midst of planning for the year’s event, which was scheduled for Dec. 8. The parade was scheduled to begin at the CIL building in the village, and end at the Brussels Fire Hall. A sign was placed in the window of Murray’s Barbershop, owned by Murray and Ruth Lowe, informing potential customers that “it’s a boy” after the couple had their baby. Murray informed customers that they were free to drop by every four hours if they wanted to see him feed his new-born son. The Majestic Women’s Institute in Brussels celebrated its 40th anniversary with a special dinner and then a show at the Blyth Little Theatre. October 17, 1990 Bill and Mary Beth Mann were named winners of the 1990 Federation of Agriculture Award for an outstanding contribution to the world of agriculture in Huron County. Bill, a Moncrieff-area farmer who had passed away by the time the award was presented, and his wife Mary Beth farmed in Grey Township until 1986. The couple was praised by the federation for their involvement in the community. Bill was the president of the Grey Township Federation of Agriculture in 1977 and he was also a member of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture’s members and services committee. He was also a member of the Moncrieff Hall Board. Mary Beth said that she and her husband were so happy to live in such a caring community. “Bill would want you to know how often we thought of you,” she said in accepting the award. “We were fortunate to live in a community that cared.” At the same meeting, Brenda McIntosh was chosen as the federation’s new president. A tentative agreement was reached between the Village of Blyth and the Blyth Centre for the Arts, which would allow the entire first floor of Memorial Hall’s north wing to be used as the Blyth Branch of the Huron County Library. The agreement had been reached at a special meeting on Oct. 9 between Blyth Council, Blyth Festival General Manager Joel Harris and the centre’s Building Committee Chairman, Don McCaffrey. October 17, 2001 Murray Cardiff of Brussels was appointed as the new chair of the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Appeal Tribunal. Cardiff, who was involved with a family farm operation specializing in livestock, had formerly been the Member of Parliament for Huron- Bruce and had also acted as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and the Solicitor General of Canada. He said he hoped to change the tribunal’s format slightly to accommodate farmers in an environment they could appreciate. “I want to carry on with a hearing format where people will appear before us formally, but not so much so that they are uncomfortable,” he said. Jack Wilkinson, president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, told Huron County farmers that new food-tracing systems, allowing consumers to track their food from farm to plate, were becoming more important after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Wilkinson spoke to farmers at the annual meeting of the Huron County Federation of Agriculture. He added that farmers needed to ensure that they remain at top of mind in terms of the government, not getting pushed aside because of concerns over security. 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 In a perfect world The United Way of Huron and Perth Counties told Central Huron council last week that the “living wage” for the area is $16.47 and hour – or $60,000 a year for a family of four. Perhaps it is in a perfect world. For people who work for large employers, the government or non- profit agencies like the United Way, $16.47 probably doesn’t seem like very much. For many small businesses, such as merchants in the county’s towns and villages who are struggling just to keep operating, it’s an impossible amount to pay. The living wage is an attempt to pressure government into raising minimum wages and guilting private businesses into paying more. The thing that people comfortably employed with government or with agencies don’t realize is that many small businesses face a hard wall of not being able to generate enough income to pay that wage. Raise their prices you say? These businesses are already seeing people from their community shop online or go to the city to buy cheaper goods. We’re living in a world where nobody wants to pay more for what they buy yet everybody wants a higher income. It’s a recipe to see more and more jobs disappear from our communities. — KR One issue trumps all others A thoughtful voter has many things to consider in any election but one issue matters more than any other in the Oct. 19 federal election: which party will protect and strengthen the democratic structure of Canada. There are those who say that the economy is the only issue that matters because everything else depends on the ability of the government to pay for election promises and that ability depends on a healthy economy. But if we’ve learned anything in the last 50 years it’s that strong democracies tend to have the strongest economies. There are countries like Russia that claim to be democracies but where the government can manipulate the rules to undermine democracy to the point no party but the government has a chance to win. Their leaders have control but their countries aren’t as prosperous as Canada. Canada still has a democracy but the health of the institution has been eroded by those who believe so fiercely that they have the one, true vision for the country that they’re really acting in the nation’s best interest by changing the rules to benefit their party and disadvantage others or even by pulling electoral trickery like the robo-call scandal. We need to get back to a true democracy where the people we elect at our riding level are our representatives to parliament, not the government’s representatives to us. We need elected people making decisions, not party operatives in the Prime Minister’s office – something both governing parties have been guilty of over the years. Reinvigorating our democracy can be difficult. Parties have promised in the past to undo the excesses of their predecessors, only to adopt similar practices when they came to power themselves. Still, we must try. Generations of our fathers and grandparents fought to protect our democracy. We can’t sit idly by and let that precious gift be eroded. – KR They can’t help themselves Last Friday when U.S. President Barack Obama arrived in Oregon to meet with families of a mass murder of the previous week, 200 protesters told him to go home, accusing him of politicizing a tragedy to push for gun control. At the same time, another university in Texas was in lockdown because of a mass shooting. The President of the United States is often called the most powerful man in the world, but Obama is powerless to do anything to stop the slaughter of his own people because of the strength of the gun culture. One of the protesters, for instance argued that everyone should carry a gun. “An armed society is a polite society,” he said. Anti-gun crusaders can also get carried away. Here in Canada those who want more gun control often see hunters as a problem. But in the U.S. the pro-gun mentality goes far beyond hunting. Who needs assault weapons to hunt deer? You can’t lead people where they don’t want to go. Sadly, wise leaders like Obama will be stymied until Americans reject the gun culture. – 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.