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The Citizen, 2011-04-28, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2011.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 norhuron@scsinternet.com 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 $34.00/year ($32.38 + $1.62 G.S.T.) in Canada; $115.00/year in U.S.A. and $175/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: norhuron@scsinternet.com April 26, 1950 The fourth annual Oratorical Contest was held by the Bluevale Women’s Institute with students from Morris and Turnberry Townships competing for the prize of the R.E. McKinney Trophy. Members of the Brussels Boys and Girls Lions Club Band competed in the brass and reed section of the Huron County Music Festival in Goderich and came away with splendid marks, acclaim and warm words of encouragement from Brantford’s Frank K. Holton, the adjudicator. Joan Thomas was the winner of the $25 County of Huron Scholarship, while Gerald Cardiff was the winner of a $10 special award donated by the Goderich Bluewater Band to the second place winner of the solo brass and reed solo class. April 24, 1974 The Village of Blyth showed an operating deficit of nearly $5,000 for 1973, figures that were contained in the auditor’s report from A.M. Harper. The actual amount of the deficit was $4,757. The major reason for the deficit, said clerk-treasurer Larry Walsh, was the construction of the new water reservoir, which had not been included in the 1973 budget. Another contributing factor to the deficit was the government expenses fund, which was caused by the hiring of a full-time clerk, rather than a part-time employee. The Huron County Board of Education passed a record budget on April 22, which totalled $13,185,831. The budget was approved at a special meeting held in Clinton and it was up 9.24 per cent from the previous year (over $1.15 million). Municipal taxes would cover $3,091,559, while the remainder of the budget would come from provincial grants. Blyth Reeve Robbie Lawrie was one of 80 from Huron County who attended a special workshop in Goderich on local government and its functions. The workshop was one of several held throughout Ontario discussing sound planning and an open line of communication between county and municipal governments. April 23, 1986 Taxpayers in McKillop Township were facing a tax increase of five per cent for 1986. The township’s budget was passed at its regular April meeting. The Huron County Board of Education reiterated its position that area public schools would have the board’s full support, while independent schools would be offered the co-operation of the board through the use of facilities that are already available in the public sector. Despite tax increases at the Huron County and Huron County Board of Education levels, taxpayers in Morris Township saw no tax increase due to the township absorbing extra costs. Clerk-treasurer Nancy Michie said that Morris was able to absorb these costs because of a surplus that had been realized in the previous year. This $16,000 surplus came in contrast to a $26,000 deficit that the township realized in 1984. In addition, the tax rate had been raised the prior year in order to pay for the new township complex, but with the building now paid for, the money soon became available for other uses. Fire protection for the township was listed as costing $20,500 for 1986, which didn’t include $7,000 in capital costs for the Wingham Area Fire Board. Waste disposal costs were listed at $20,000 for the year, 60 per cent of which was scheduled to be provided by the Village of Brussels. May 14, 2003 The Brussels Agricultural Society was awarded an Ontario Trillium Grant in the amount of $11,500 to further its work with the annual Brussels Fall Fair. Rick Jamison Foreman of Camden, Michigan was charged given 15 years in jail for his role in the deaths of a Belgrave father and son. The 30-year-old man was sentenced in an Indiana court after pleading guilty to two counts of reckless homicide and one count of criminal recklessness resulting in bodily harm. The victims, John and Mark McCracken were killed when a semi-tractor they were travelling in was struck by a vehicle being driven by Foreman. Foreman had been drinking at the time of the collision. A young man from Ethel was facing charges when the carcass of a dead horse was discovered in the area. An OPP investigation showed that a Chevrolet Impala was being driven on Cardiff Road by one of two young men police had found walking in the area and the car had struck and killed a wandering horse. OPP said that the men left the scene of the collision, but eventually returned in order to drag the horse’s carcass off of the road. In the process of dragging the horse’s carcass over three kilometres, however, the vehicle overheated. When emergency crews responded to the resulting fire, the blood trail, leading to the horse, was discovered. 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 One vote, so many issues If you vote in Monday’s federal election, and let’s hope you do, you will have one vote to cast – but there are many issues to be considered. No matter which party wins the election, the government formed will say it has a mandate to do what it feels must be done, even the most obscure part of its platform. Party leaders have honed their speeches and election ads to a few key issues, yet by electing any one of them to office you’ll be buying a “tomorrow box” of policies – you won’t find out about them until some time down the line when the government introduces legislation which it will then say people elected it to institute. Listening to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the only issue that really matters in this election is giving him a majority government to ward off the evil threat of a coalition by the other parties. If elected, however, he will immediately say he has been given a mandate for many other things that Canadians may not have agreed to if the issue had been subject of a referendum question – say the spending of undefined billions for new fighter jets for the air force. This is why it’s important for voters to do some homework before they cast their ballot. No one can be blamed for wanting to avoid any party’s election ads which tend to give a simplistic “we’re good, they’re bad” message. Delve a little deeper, say through the party website, and you might find out things about what the party really wants to do if it forms a government. You can decide for yourself if these are things you want, or if you feel the party would be capable of delivering those promises if it formed the government. The future of the country hinges on the way you vote: both the short term of the next government’s term and the longer term living with the consequences of those policies. Make sure you know what you’re agreeing to. Make the best-informed decision you can make. — KR We’re neighbourly In Canada, we have a tradition of helping our neighbours when they’re in trouble. Apparently that includes the fiscal deficit the U.S. government finds itself in. Canadians should be worried that our largest trading partner is digging itself into a massive national debt, but perhaps we wouldn’t willingly be doing quite as much as we’re doing according to Munir Sheikh, former chief statistician of Canada and former federal senior assistant deputy minister of finance with the tax policy branch. Writing last week in The Globe and Mail, Sheikh pointed out that when it comes to U.S. companies operating in Canada, the benefit of recent corporate cuts goes, not to the company, but to the U.S. treasury. That’s because under the Canada-U.S. tax treaty any U.S. citizen or company earning income in Canada is subject to U.S. tax, but it receives a credit for any tax paid to Canada. Under the 2010 Canadian budget, Canadian corporate tax has been reduced to 16.2 per cent (with a further reduction of 1.5 per cent to come). The U.S. corporate tax is 34.2 per cent. So the minimum tax for a U.S.company is 34.2 per cent. A lower Canadian tax rate just means that the tax not paid in Canada will go to the U.S. government. Though it’s hard to calculate exactly how much this costs Canada, Sheikh says that if the taxable income of these U.S. companies is $50 billion, the U.S. treasury would gain $500 million at the expense of the Canadian treasury for every one per cent our tax rate is below the U.S. rate. At a rate that’s 18 per cent lower, that adds up to $9 billion we don’t have to spend on healthcare and other needs. The concept of having lower taxes is that companies will want to do business in Canada. The benefit, as well, is that companies are supposed to have more money to invest in making their companies more profitable. But Sheikh points out that this isn’t working. Theoretically companies should have more money to invest in advanced technology to make them more productive, but Canada is falling behind in productivity. So the biggest winner seems to be the U.S. treasury. Here’s hoping they say thanks. — 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.