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$1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, October 25, 2012
Volume 28 No. 42
MADILL - Pg. 28Awards handed out atcommencement AGRICULTURE - Pg. 32Huron County Federationof Agriculture meetsCARCARE- Pg. 13A guide to caring for yourvehicle in the fall/winterPublications Mail Agreement No. 40050141 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0INSIDE THIS WEEK:
Thompson ‘frustrated’ by McGuinty resignation
Parking concerns
persist in Blyth
Made-up for Halloween
The 10th annual Blyth Witches Walk was held at the Blyth Greenway Trail on Saturday and
there were several different scenarios playing out along the walk, including several young girls
(with interesting make-up jobs) toiling away in jail. Serving their time are, along with a friend,
from left: Monique Sluys, Amber Tugwell, Allison Rawlings and Shelby VanWanderen. (Jim Brown
photo)
The best way Huron-Bruce MPP
Lisa Thompson can describe her
feelings towards the sudden
resignation of Ontario Premier
Dalton McGuinty is that she’s
“disappointed”.
In an interview with The Citizen,
Thompson said that not only is she
frustrated with the sudden
resignation, but that the prorogation
of the provincial caucus is a decision
that affects hundreds of initiatives
being presented throughout the
province.
“It’s a cheap, selfish way to avoid
future scandal,” Thompson said
about McGuinty’s resignation. “I’m
disgusted. It’s a very easy way out
while locking the doors behind him.”
Thompson said that with the
prorogation of the caucus, any
motion that had been floored since
government reconvened earlier this
year is now “dead in the water”
including the four motions she
tabled in September regarding the
Green Energy Act and specifically
wind turbines.
Thompson is also frustrated, she
said, with the condition attached to
the prorogation by the Liberal Party,
saying that any cabinet minister
wishing to run for the party’s
leadership role would have to resign
from his or her cabinet position.
This, Thompson says, erases
hundreds of conversations and
progress that had been made through
MPPs discussing issues with cabinet
ministers if they wish to run for the
party’s leadership.
Thompson says she’s worried
about the kinds of meetings other
parties could be having during the
prorogation, saying that she and
members of her party can only react
once the caucus is brought back
from the break.
When she first heard the news,
Thompson said, she “felt sorry for
Ontario taxpayers” saying
McGuinty’s decision doesn’t put
them first, which should always be
the goal of a government in power.
Thompson said she was very
proud to be a member of the
Conservative Party after the
prorogation, as the party’s leader
Tim Hudak immediately sent a letter
requesting that McGuinty’s decision
be reversed, allowing politicians to
continue doing their job, despite
what McGuinty wanted to do.
Thompson said there was “so
much good work” being done in
many fields, including ongoing
negotiations with teachers and
doctors, that will all have to be
scrapped and begin again when the
legislature is brought back into
session.
Thompson says that despite the
prorogation, she and members of her
party are keeping up with day-to-day
activities as best as they can.
“It’s business as usual, but
[Hudak] didn’t even need to say it,”
Thompson said. “This makes me
want to work harder. There are some
issues that can’t wait until next
spring.”
Thompson says there will be no
change in the service being provided
at her Blyth and Kincardine offices
and she’ll continue meeting with
people from the riding and bringing
their concerns up the political
ladder.
Another one of the major issues
Thompson has been working on, and
will continue to work on, she says, is
the horse racing industry, which is a
major factor for Huron and Bruce
Counties.
For the moment, however,
Thompson is still wrestling with the
idea that McGuinty would leave
taxpayers in a lurch with issues still
to be discussed.
“It’s shameful, it’s absolutely
disgusting and it’s selfish,”
Thompson said.
Morris-Turnberry councillors want
it known they are not in favour of the
plan to have 15 councillors at Huron
County council.
At their Oct. 16 meeting,
councillors approved a motion to
send a letter to the County to say
Morris-Turnberry is not in favour of
the restructuring plan that was
adopted by the county at its October
meeting.
Nancy Michie, administrator
clerk-treasurer, explained that the
County had sent a letter to council in
August asking for its support for, or
opposition to, the bylaw to have a
15-member county council. Morris-
Turnberry had sent a letter saying it
preferred the recommendation made
in the report of George B. Cuff and
Associates Ltd. to downsize council
to just nine members.
Morris-Turnberry expected further
communication but with a majority
of municipalities supporting the 15-
councillor size, the county went
ahead approving the bylaw. It was
stated at County Council that
Morris-Turnberry had not replied.
“We were dumbfounded,” said
Mayor Paul Gowing when reading
that his council had not replied.
“We never got clarification so we
never had a response,” said
Councillor Neil Warwick who made
the motion to send the letter.
Gowing said the decision has been
made and the letter won’t have any
effect on that, but it will put it on the
record that Morris-Turnberry is
opposed to the 15-member council.
Councillors also approved a
motion to also tell the county
supports the Cuff Report
recommendation.
North Huron Deputy-Reeve and
Blyth Business Improvement Area
(BIA) council representative David
Riach brought forward some
concerns that Blyth businesses have
with a two-hour parking limit that
was imposed throughout North
Huron.
“The background is that a lot of
the theatre productions start and end
in the period the bylaw affects and
run two to two and a half hours in
length,” Riach explained on
behalf of the BIA. “This bylaw will
leave a feeling of haste and
worry about getting parking tickets
for the theatre patrons. The BBIA
has requested that the two-hour
signs be taken down to extend
parking.”
Councillor Archie MacGowan
said he understood where the
concern was coming from.
“It’s easy to understand where the
[Blyth Festival] Theatre is coming
from,” he said. “This was an
oversight on council’s behalf. We
have, however, had complaints
about existing businesses having
people parking in front of them for
some time.”
Councillor Brock Vodden said that
he didn’t see the reason for the
bylaw to begin with.
“For well over 100 years we’ve
gone without parking signs and my
preference would be to take them
down and forget about them,” he
said. “If it’s a problem with
employees parking in front of
businesses, I think we can deal with
that by speaking to them. I don’t see
that issue being a parking problem.
The spaces that are marked out have
stopped people from getting jammed
in and the two-hour limit is
irrelevant to that.”
Councillor Bernie Bailey,
however, was concerned about
previous complaints council had
fielded about the parking problems.
“I have the same concerns as
councillor MacGowan, employees
sitting in front of businesses can be a
problem,” he said. “I just don’t want
this to become another version of the
Greenway Trail with the ATVs,
having one group say they want it,
then a week later hearing from
another that don’t then flip-flopping
again the next week.”
Bailey said that taking the signs
down or reworking the bylaw would
be an issue that should be brought
up at an upcoming meeting between
North Huron Council and Blyth
businesses that will focus on the
Blyth Business Retention
and Expansion report presented
to council and the BIA in
September.
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
By Keith Roulston
The Citizen
M-T upset over vote exclusion