The Citizen, 2015-12-10, Page 14PAGE 14. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2015.
Mason named 2015 Blyth Citizen of the Year
Honoured
Blyth’s Nellie Mason has been named Blyth’s Citizen of the
Year after being nominated for the award by a fellow
community member. Mason is seen here last year sitting on
a bench that has been placed at the Blyth Greenway
Memory Garden in her honour, thanking her for all of the
work she does there. (File photo)
Unemployment down
across the region
Nellie Mason has been named this
year’s Citizen of the Year for the
Blyth area.
While Mason largely keeps a low
profile, nominators said, her
contribution to the Blyth
community, and beyond, reaches
people far and wide.
One nominator said that Mason is
a “very busy woman” but added that
she always finds time to volunteer
wherever she’s needed.
Over the years, Mason has helped
to bake pies and biscuits for both the
Blyth United and Trinity Anglican
Churches, also assisting with
catering jobs and sewing when it is
required.
Mason had also been involved
with the Blyth Horticultural Society
for years, contributing much of her
time simply “for the love of
gardening” as one nomination reads.
She has also pitched in at the
cemetery, putting her gardening
skills to good use there as well.
The Blyth Greenway Trail and the
Memory Garden have both received
a lot of care from Mason, through
her work as a member of the Society,
which has since disbanded.
Current plans are underway for a
new Friends of the Village group that
would take on some of the jobs that
had previously been handled by the
Horticultural Society.
In fact, at last year’s Memory
Garden remembrance and dedication
service, a bench was placed at the
garden in Mason’s honour.
In an interview after that service,
Bev Elliott, who has been involved
with the garden for years, said that
Mason’s involvement and passion
for the garden couldn’t be
overstated.
Elliott added that Mason is such
an important part of the Blyth
community who is always willing to
pitch in and help, especially at the
Memory Garden – so it only made
sense that that is where she would be
honoured.
Mason was nominated for the
award, which is handed out annually
by The Citizen and its parent
company North Huron Publishing,
by a fellow community member. She
was then chosen from amongst a
number of nominations by a panel of
the previous five Citizen of the Year
Award winners.
Recent winners of the award are:
Marion Hallahan, 2014; Barb
Bosman, 2013; Steve Howson,
2012; Kay Hesselwood, 2011; Jean
Nethery, 2010 and Brock and Janis
Vodden, 2009.
Nominations for the 2016 Citizen
of the Year Award will be accepted
early next year.
The unemployment rate fell for
both the Stratford-Bruce Peninsula
economic region and the province in
November, 2015. While the local
region experienced a 0.2 per cent
drop in the unemployment rate, 6.1
per cent to 5.9 per cent, the province
saw a slightly higher drop of .04 per
cent from 6.8 per cent to 6.4 per
cent.
In the region, employment fell
(-1,100) from 134,600 in October
2015 to 133,500 in November, 2015,
with a small increase (+600) in part-
time work and a decrease of (-1,700)
in full-time work.
Drops in both the region’s
unemployment rate and
participation rate (the number of
labour force participants) partly
explains the drop in the employment
numbers. The participation rate fell
from 58.3 per cent to 57.7 per cent.
An increase in construction
(+1,400) contributed to the
additional 300 jobs gained in the
region’s goods-producing sector
over the past month. Recent
announcements for planned
expansion of Hayashi Canada Inc. in
Stratford and a new Foodland in
Wiarton, along with construction of
the new Marine Emergency Duties
and Training and Research Centre at
Georgian College in Owen Sound,
will likely see continued growth in
jobs. This increase in the goods-
producing sector was offset with
losses in manufacturing
(-1,500) over the past month.
The service-producing sector,
including educational services,
health care and social assistance and
accommodation and food, lost 1,400
jobs. This loss, from 20,900 to
18,100, can mainly be attributed to
2,800 less people working in health
care and social assistance.
Additional losses of 400 jobs each
were in transportation and
warehousing, educational services
and information, culture and
recreation.
The Four County Labour Market
Planning Board is one of 26 non-
profit organizations in Ontario that
play a leadership role in labour force
planning.
Some important discussion
pertaining to the future of Brussels
will be taking place at next week’s
meeting of the Brussels/Huron East
Community Development Trust.
The meeting will focus on the
replacement of the logs at the
Brussels Dam – one of the Maitland
Valley Conservation Authority’s
stated projects for 2016.
The Authority had told Huron
East Council about the project in the
fall, stating that ideally the new logs
should be ready for installation in
the spring of 2016.
The project will cost $25,000,
which will be a significant burden
on the Authority’s budget, the
representative said at the meeting.
Councillor and Trust
representative John Lowe says that
the Dec. 17 meeting will be a great
opportunity for those interested in
the Brussels project to come out and
pledge support for the dam and its
future.
Stewart Lockie, Conservation Co-
ordinator for the Authority, will be
attending the meeting, while the
Brussels Lions, Optimists and
Legion have all been invited as well.
“The project is important for those
in and around Brussels,” Lowe said
in an e-mail to The Citizen. “We
look forward to having our ‘lake’
every summer and hate when it
looks so barren during the early
spring, late fall and winter months.”
The next meeting of the Trust will
be held on Thursday, Dec. 17 at the
Brussels Library at 7 p.m. and
anyone interested in the future of the
dam are encouraged to attend.
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Wishing you all the best of the holiday
season from the
Council and Staff of North Huron
Holiday Office Hours
Municipal Office
December 24-27 CLOSED
December 28-31 8:30 am - 4:30 pm
January 1 CLOSED
January 4 8:30 am - 4:30 pm
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Dam log replacement
to be discussed Dec. 17