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The Citizen, 2013-11-21, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2013.Editorials Opinions Publisher: Keith Roulston Acting Editor: Shawn Loughlin • Reporter: Denny ScottAdvertising Sales: Lori Patterson & Sue Brindley The CitizenP.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; $130.00/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 November 23, 1961 The annual Firemen’s Ball was held at the New American Hotel. It was well attended, The Brussels Post reported, and it was also said to be a “most enjoyable evening” which included the music of Ken Wilbee and his orchestra. The Brussels Legion was set to hold several nights of Turkey Bingo at the Brussels Public School Auditorium on Dec. 1, Dec. 8 and Dec. 15. To play 15 games of Bingo for the night, the cost was $1. Nominations for a new reeve, councillors and school board trustees for 1962 in Grey were set to be held on Nov. 30. November 23, 1988 Although the victory didn’t come with as large a margin as past elections, Murray Cardiff pulled off another easy victory to win the Huron-Bruce riding once again, joining the Conservative Party’s majority government elected throughout Canada. Cardiff celebrated the victory at his campaign headquarters, stationed at the Brussels, Morris and Grey Community Centre. “It’s been a tough campaign,” an emotional Cardiff told his hundreds of supporters gathered at the centre on election night. “You’ve been wonderful.” Cardiff received 20,042 votes to 16,629 votes for Ken Dunlop of the Liberal Party, 7,743 for West Wawanosh farmer Tony McQuail of the NDP and 2,633 for Tom Clark of the Christian Heritage Party. Ron Nesbitt, who went by the nickname “The Biter”, had become one of Radford Construction’s most valued employees in the 14 months following the “Back The Biter” campaign. The monumental campaign was revisited by The Citizen two years after it began. The campaign was taken on by the Londesborough Lions Club, of which Nesbitt was a member, which raised $45,000 for a fully-equipped van to help Nesbitt live an independent life after a swimming accident left him in a wheelchair. In addition to the van that came as a result of the campaign, Radford Construction had also built a specially-designed work station to accommodate Nesbitt’s needs. November 23, 2006 Over 1,000 uniformed police officers and firefighters were in Wingham to celebrate the life of Dave Mounsey, a Huron OPP officer and Blyth volunteer firefighter who died in a single-vehicle collision. Also attending the funeral were Premier Dalton McGuinty and OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino, who presented Mounsey’s mother Sheila Stanway with a flag to mark Mounsey’s passing. Students and staff members were still on edge just one week after two Grade 10 students were seen walking the halls of F.E. Madill Secondary School wearing masks and, in an attempt to pull a prank, pointed a fake gun into one of the school’s classrooms. The pair were charged with mischief and were scheduled to appear in a Goderich court in January, 2007. They were also suspended from the school. The length of their suspension was not disclosed. The Centre for Renewable Energy was officially opened in its home just about Solace Spa in Brussels with a ribbon cutting ceremony. A dreary fall failed to spoil the harvest for many farmers thanks to what was being called an “incredible” summer. Brian Hall, alternate crop production systems specialist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, said that both corn and soy bean crops were coming in above normal yield expectations. “No doubt it has been a slow, painfully frustrating fall for farmers,” Hall said. “We haven’t seen one like it for quite a few years.” November 22, 2012 The Blyth Festival announced that the 2013 season would begin with a two-week-long remount of Dear Johnny Deere, the Ken Cameron-penned musical featuring the songs of Fred Eaglesmith. Alongside the announcement of the remount was word that Eaglesmith would be performing at Blyth Memorial Hall just a few days before the Dear Johnny Deere remount was set to begin. A discussion between Blyth resident John Elliott and Mike Ash, the superintendent of education for the Avon Maitland District School Board, resulted in the continuation of several Blyth-centred student awards, despite the closure of Blyth Public School. The talks began when Elliott was concerned about the future of the Norman Parks Garrett Scholarship, which had been given to graduates of Central Huron Secondary School, who had also graduated from Blyth Public School several years earlier. With the school now closed, Elliott feared the award would be lost. The award’s criteria was then changed to include students from the Blyth area, rather than graduates of the now-closed school. Several local residents were honoured with Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medals, including Joe Seili of Brussels, Neil McGavin and Graeme Craig of Walton. 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 Food goes global The term “food security”, normally used to discuss the problem of people with low incomes being able to keep food on their table, took on wider meaning last week with the announcement that Heinz Canada will close its Leamington plant, laying off 740 workers. Along with the previous closure of other food processing plants, it begs the question whether Canada, one of the most productive food-producing nations in the world, will depend on imports for a huge portion of its food supply. Food plants, such as the CanGro Foods plant in Exeter where vegetables were processed and the E.D. Smith plant in Seaforth, have been closing in Canada at an alarming rate and transferring their production outside the country. It may get even worse, some observers say, if the federal government proceeds to harmonize food packaging between Canada and the U.S., as proposed in the omnibus budget bill earlier this year. If Canadian food processors are faced with expensive retooling for new container sizes, Canadian plants may simply close and move production to the U.S., critics say. If all goes well, if the price of fuel to transport food around the world stays low, if we remain on good terms with our trading partners and there’s no war, consumers will likely save money. The shareholders of the companies (billionaire Warren Buffett bought a share of Heinz recently) will get richer. The hollowing out of our economy, however continues. Not only are jobs lost in the processing plants, but high-value crops are lost for farmers. Essex County farmers aren’t going to make as much growing corn and soybeans as they were growing tomatoes. We’ve just come through another Remembrance Day, however, and we seem to forget how fragile peace can sometimes be and how vulnerable we are when things go wrong. Our federal government thinks we need to spend more money on the armed forces to make us more secure, which is a valid point we should remember from the lessons of two World Wars. Shouldn’t we be as ready to spend a little more for food to have the security of having food independence? –KR When bullies have power The crusade against bullying has been a cause célèbre in the media since the deaths of several young people who took their own lives because they were tormented by small groups of hateful peers. Less mentioned is the larger problem when society itself bullies the less fortunate. Bullying takes place when the majority, whether in a group of kids in a playground or in a town, province or country, gives permission to the “in” group to harass and pick on individuals or an “out” group. Usually those who are doing the tormenting think they’re pretty cool, playing to the approval of the audience of their friends and supporters. So last month, for instance, Toronto Star columnist Heather Mallick used the occasion of Alice Munro winning the Nobel Prize for Literature by taking shots at the “yokels” of Wingham, jokes which no doubt were hilarious to her downtown sophisticated friends but were stereotypical and just plain mean. Noting the house Munro grew up in is not a national shrine, but occupied by a hairdresser, she took shots at small town hairdressers as “the cruellest hair dressers on this earth”. The derision against Wingham went on and on. There’s a whiff of bullying in the media fascination with the Rob Ford tragedy in Toronto, particularly with U.S. talk show hosts getting many nights’ worth of comic fodder to entertain viewers. But on a wider basis the worst example of bullying right now is the Quebec government’s proposed values charter that would ban anyone wearing religious clothing or conspicuous religious symbols if they work for the government or any organization that gets government funding. The government is playing to a significant part of the population that’s worried that immigrant groups like Muslims will make their province seem less like the traditional Quebec that they want. The party thinks it can win support in the next election by picking on the minority. Bullying in small gangs in school is a problem, but not nearly as bad as when it’s endorsed by the media, governments and society. –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.