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The Citizen, 2012-06-14, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 2012.Editorials Opinions Publisher: Keith Roulston Acting Editor: Shawn Loughlin • Reporter: Denny ScottAdvertising Sales: Ken Warwick & Lori Patterson The CitizenP.O. Box 429, BLYTH, Ont. N0M 1H0 Phone 523-4792 FAX 523-9140 P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, Ont. N0G 1H0 Phone 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; $115.00/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: Monday, 2 p.m. - Brussels; Monday, 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 June 24, 1965 The annual meeting and election of officers for the Huron-Bruce Progressive Conservative Association was set to take place in Wingham on June 25. The event’s guest speaker was to be Ronald K. McNeil, M.L.A. for Elgin. McNeil had been elected to the legislature on three different occasions and was very prominent in farm organizations across the province. McNeil was an “outstanding” farmer in Elgin County. The new Brussels Legion Hall was set to officially open on June 25 with a parade taking place ahead of the open house later that night. Victor Hinton of M&H Auto Wreckers of Brussels was injured extensively while burning off copper wire. Hinton’s hand was severely burned and he also suffered burns on one side of his face and neck. Hinton was able to come home just days later, however, he had to wait several days to know if a skin graft was going to be necessary or not. Mr. and Mrs. Fred Becker of Kitchener purchased the Queen’s Hotel in Brussels from Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Leek, taking possession on June 21. The Beckers had purchased an apartment building in Listowel and were planning on living there. The Brussels Ladies WOAA softball team won their season opener against Goderich by a score of 13-12. After trailing by six runs in the first inning, Brussels stormed back to score nine runs in the game’s final inning to win the game. June 17, 1987 The Citizen picked up two national weekly newspaper awards from the Canadian Community Newspaper Association. The Citizen won a blue ribbon award for tabloid newspapers with a circulation under 2,000 and placed third for best editorial on a national subject. The awards were to be presented in July in St. John’s Newfoundland. John Ainley, the great-grandson of Yorkshireman William Ainley, who founded Brussels in 1855 under the name Ainleyville, had confirmed that he would return to the village to help celebrate its 115th anniversary. Homecoming Committee secretary Mary Lowe confirmed that Ainley would be arriving in the village on July 4 and staying with good friends of his, Jack and Mary Bryans. Ainley would be travelling with his son Dwayne and several grandchildren as well. The 13th season of the Blyth Festival was officially opened with a gala dinner and a performance of Girls In The Gang, a musical by John Roby and Raymond Storey. June 15, 1994 At their June 8 meeting, members of Blyth Village Council agreed to proceed with the preliminary engineering phase for a sludge treatment and storage facility. OPP officers seized more than $100,000 worth of marijuana from a Hullett Township man’s home on June 7. OPP officers said they had received multiple tips regarding the property which eventually yielded approximately 250 potted plants. Reports said it was the biggest area drug bust in years with the crop being found in the home, backyard and barn. Representatives from the West Wawanosh Landfill Coalition came to the June 7 West Wawanosh Council meeting asking for support, both moral and financial. While the group didn’t receive any financial support, council said the group would have a verbal show of support, as well as access to township records and assistance with obtaining information they may have needed from county or provincial government bodies. Jack Fischer of Bluevale was honoured in Toronto for his commitment and contribution to Bluevale, as well as Turnberry and Morris Townships with a Senior Achievement Award. “There is no one who deserves this honour more than Mr. Fischer,” said Turnberry Township Clerk- Treasurer Dorothy Kelly. June 14, 2007 Janice Henry, president of the Blyth Legion Ladies Auxiliary, was named Blyth’s Citizen of the Year after making it possible for thousands of dollars to be raised throughout the community, both publically and behind the scenes. One nominator called Henry “a very quiet supporter of many who are less fortunate in our community. Only those people, know how much she does.” A new tradition began in Blyth as the Blyth Festival had hosted the first-ever am920 Ontario Open Country Singing Contest. Organizers said the performers were pleased to be able to perform in a professional venue. The intersection of Base Line and Londesborough Road was a cause for concern at Huron County Council as a number of collisions had taken place recently at the corner. Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh Councillor Neil Rintoul said air ambulance had been called to the location twice that year and it was only June. “I don’t have the answers, but I think we have to do something,” Rintoul said. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Periodical Fund (CPF) for our publishing activities. We are not responsible for unsolicited newsscripts or photographs. Contents of The Citizen are © Copyright An imbalance of power In a world where corporations are growing ever larger in order to get global scale, and government is more distant from the ordinary person, who is to stand up for the little guy? Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh Council met with angry ratepayers looking for help to fight against the Kingsbridge-2 (K2) wind development, which would add 142 large turbines and the associated infrastructure to the relatively small Kingsbridge-1 project, built by EPCOR Generation. As one ratepayer said, the development has the ability to change the way people live in Ashfield. But if there is an imbalance of power between individuals and the developer, the gap is almost as big between the municipal councillors they are turning to for help and the owners of the project. As Councillor Barry Millian pointed out, council is standing up to a multi-billion dollar international company. EPCOR became Capital Power Corporation, builder of the current project, which is owned by Atlantic Power Corporation, headquartered in Boston. In such circumstances, citizens and the municipality might look to the provincial government to regain some balance of power but the government of Premier Dalton McGuinty, looking for a quick fix to get rid of coal-fired electrical generating stations several years ago, decided to stack the odds in favour of developers of industrial-scale wind farms by taking any planning control from local municipalities. The government further invested itself in wind farms when it saw attracting builders of renewable energy equipment as part of an industrial strategy. It signed a $7 billion deal with Samsung Group, a South Korean multinational conglomerate company, that would give the company $437 million in incentives over 25 years if the company is able to bring 16,000 jobs to the province. Capital Power is backed by Samsung Renewable Energy Inc. in the K2 project. The province is clearly in the court of the corporations. Those who have studied failed states versus healthy ones say a key factor is that people must have a sense of control over their own destiny, and when they don’t, must have the ability to turn to some authority that can address their sense of injustice. By stacking the odds against residents in the midst of industrial wind projects, the McGuinty government has undermined one of the key elements of a healthy democracy.— KR Who’s obstructing Parliament? People who fully support Prime Minister Stephen Harper or who haven’t been paying attention, will think the 1,000 amendments to budget proposed by the New Democrats, the Liberals, the Bloc Québécois and the Green Party is just more wasteful game playing. The game playing, however, began with the government when it introduced the 425-page omnibus Bill C-38 that went far beyond budgetary measures, lumping in issues such as changing environmental laws. It was a blatant attempt to get a whole raft of legislation through Parliament under the time limits usually given for debate on the budget. On Monday, Commons Speaker Andrew Scheer ruled 871 of the amendments were in order but lumped them in such a way that MPs will vote on them a maximum of 159 times. Still, it will mean 24 hours of debate and voting. Chances are, with the government’s majority, that the bill will pass. Still, the government must make sure it has enough members in the House at all times to win any vote, because defeat on an amendment to the budget, considered a “money bill” is a defeat of the government. The omnibus Bill C-38 is an abuse of power. Even former Progressive Conservative ministers John Fraser and Tom Siddon released an open letter on the bill, with Siddon calling it “a travesty”. Former Reform Party, then Conservative, MP Bob Mills was so outraged he travelled to Ottawa to support Green Party Leader Elizabeth May in her protest of some of the parts of the bill that attack environmental legislation. Canadians must pay attention to the futile attempts to thwart this bill. Democracy is lost when the people sleep. — 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.