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Home My WebLink AboutThe Citizen, 2012-02-09, Page 1CitizenTh e $1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, February 9, 2012 Volume 28 No. 6 AGRICULTURE - Pg. 15Pork Producers holdannual meeting SCHOOL - Pg. 23Council denies waivingfees for school celebrationFINANCIAL- Pg. 6Financial section providestips for tax timePublications Mail Agreement No. 40050141 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0INSIDE THIS WEEK: Hudak in Blyth to open Thompson’s office ‘Dedicated’ $1.7 million to help county budget Getting grilled After the opening of Huron-Bruce MPP Lisa Thompson’s new constituency office in Blyth on Feb. 1, Thompson and Conservative Party leader Tim Hudak faced a barrage of questions from local media outlets about the election and the party’s plans for the future. (Shawn Loughlin photo) Several Huron County councillors aren’t happy with how Warden Bernie MacLellan has handled the budget thus far and they let him hear about it at the Feb. 1 meeting. MacLellan also brought forth a $1.7 million surprise to councillors that left many speechless. Goderich Mayor Deb Shewfelt first raised the issue, asking when the draft budget would be presented to council, saying that historically under previous wardens, the budget had been presented by mid-January. MacLellan responded by saying that there is no real guideline as to when the budget should be presented to council, just that the process has to be concluded by the end of April. He said that he was aware that a first draft would normally be presented to council by January, but that he was still reviewing it and planned on presenting a first draft to council later this month after some “fine tuning” had been done. MacLellan said he was going to take the “padding” out of many of the departments’ budgets, not allowing each department to forecast for its own future. This method, he explained, would give council a true representation of each department’s budget and would make balancing the year’s budget a simpler task. MacLellan said each department head could make a presentation to council, whether it be at Wednesday’s Committee of the Whole meeting or the second day of Committee of the Whole on Feb. 15. However, he said he was looking at bringing a budget forward that would have a modest one per cent tax increase across the county. Shewfelt, however, felt that council was being kept out of the process. “I appreciate what you’ve attempted to do,” Shewfelt told MacLellan. “But what if council feels we’ve missed a step here?” MacLellan said the budget process this year would be even more difficult than anticipated with the province clawing back another $500,000 in Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund (OMPF) dollars. Howick’s Art Versteeg agreed with Shewfelt, saying that he would have liked to see the budget earlier, feeling that he and the other members of council might not have as much time as they would like to review the budget line by line. Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh’s Ben Van Diepenbeek agreed, saying that the “cuts” MacLellan was making were made at his discretion only and other councillors may not agree with them, but that they haven’t been given the chance to make that opinion heard. “We have never seen what you’re cutting,” Van Diepenbeek said, “and we’re being asked to accept it without any debate. “We’re not going to know what was cut. Are we ever going to see Huron-Bruce MPP Lisa Thompson opened her two constituency offices on Wednesday, Feb. 1, one in Kincardine and one at 408 Queen Street in Blyth. Well-wishers and supporters crammed into the main street office in Blyth to see Thompson officially open the location and to hear provincial Conservative Party Leader Tim Hudak speak. Thompson, who grew up near Belgrave, was the perfect candidate to convert Huron-Bruce into a Conservative stronghold according to Hudak after MP Ben Lobb replaced retired Liberal MP Paul Steckle four years ago. “We knew taking Huron-Bruce would be an uphill battle but I’ve known Lisa for 10 years and I knew she could do it,” he said. “As soon as Lisa came forward I knew we were going to win this riding.” Hudak stated that Thompson’s experiences as a leader in agriculture and a mother as well as “never apologizing for standing up” made her the ideal person to represent the area. Thompson also received praise from the party leader who said she made quite an impact on her first day at Queen’s Park. “My first day after being elected standing up in front of everyone wasn’t easy,” he said. “It took awhile to open my mouth. “Lisa asked a question on her first day about the Kincardine Jail,” he said, adding that she impressed many people with that. Thompson has also focused on industrial wind turbines, a major factor in the Conservatives’ plans according to Hudak. He said the lack of local say and the way that wind developments seem to be splitting churches and neighbours is something his party wants to deal with. “Lisa knew it was wrong,” he said. “She is fighting against it to let neighbours and councils have their say and restore local council.” Hudak stated that Thompson “hit the ground running” on wind turbines and several other issues and said she will make the voters of Huron-Bruce proud. “She will be fighting for small communities and serving the good people of Huron County,” Hudak said. Thompson stated she has fond memories of growing up in the area and said that, while Belgrave was her home in the “heart of North Huron”, Blyth has proved very welcoming. “People are keen for change and it feels awesome to be welcomed in the way I have,” she said. Thompson outlined for the gathered community members how she hopes to affect change in the area including bring members of the caucus to Huron-Bruce so they can see what issue matters most. During an impromptu media scrum after the official opening in Blyth both Thompson and Hudak By Denny Scott The Citizen Continued on page 13 By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen Local teacher wins curling gold Maurice Wilson, Grade 6/7 teacher at Grey Central Public School, returned to work after a few weeks off, receiving a hero’s welcome and a gold medal around his neck on Friday. Wilson coached the Wilfrid Laurier University’s women’s curling team to a gold medal at the Karuizawa International Curling Championship in Japan and returned to work on Friday jetlagged and on very little sleep. Wilson, who had coached the team for three years, led a team with very little international experience to victory in Japan. In addition to being relatively inexperienced on the world stage, Wilson said his team also was by far the youngest team in contention. The journey began for Wilson’s group last year when they qualified for the championship in St. John, Newfoundland. In preparation for the international event, Wilson and his team began attending workshops with world- renowned curling coach Rob Krepps in Edmonton, Alberta, which were set up by the Canadian Curling Association. The team first attended one of these workshops in November. Wilson said the experience was “terrific”, adding that he had known Krepps for several years, but knew him as an opposing coach when his team would play against The University of Alberta. “We worked very well together, very well,” Wilson said. “After this whole experience I consider him a close friend and even a mentor. “I’ve been involved in curling for 30 years and I learned more in the last year than I did in all that time.” Krepps was involved with Canada’s Own The Podium initiative at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and Wilson said he and his team were the beneficiary of that knowledge and strategy. Over the course of this season, Wilson said, his team had participated in just under 60 high By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen Continued on page 13 Continued on page 12