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The Citizen, 2011-05-26, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MAY 26, 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 May 24, 1950 The schedule for the Huron County Fastball League was released with the season kicking off with two games, one in St. Columban and the other in Brussels on May 23. Brussels hosted Winthrop on May 23 and the season wrapped up with Winthrop hosting Brussels on July 21. Brussels Public School was looking for a new teacher to teach Grades 3, 4 and 5. Applicants were to present their qualifications, experience and the salary they expected to be paid. The Brussels Lions Club Boys and Girls Band was holding a concert at the Brussels Town Hall on May 31. It cost just 35 cents to attend the concert with proceeds going towards new uniforms for the band. A three-act play was set to be presented by the Union United Church at the Brussels Town Hall on May 26. Admission for the event was 40 cents. May 22, 1974 Two Opportunities for Youth grants were approved in the community. One went to Evelyn Benjamins of RR1, Blyth to provide varied recreational activities for senior citizens in homes in Clinton, Seaforth and Goderich. The second grant went to Marsha McNall of Blyth who would use the grant for a project involving landscaping and planning for the Blyth Union Cemetery. Benjamins’ grant had a total budget of $4,900 while McNall’s grant totalled $4,375. The projects listed teams of six students each. The Huron-Perth Separate School Board was looking for a supervisory officer and a special education consultant for the 1974/1975 school year. A rift had begun between the Huron County Board of Education and the Huron County Planning Department. Members of the board of education felt that the planning department was not doing a good enough job of planning. The main issue named in the accusation was the planning for the Village of Zurich. There was set to be a 170-student expansion to Zurich’s public school, which board trustee Herb Turkheim said there was ample room for expansion, however, the planning department had not consulted with the school board on school facilities in the area, which had caused a problem. The Huron County Historical Society toured Craig’s Sawmill in Auburn as part a group outing the previous week. Over 200 residents participated in the tour which was organized by the Auburn Women’s Institute and William L. Craig. Blyth Minor Sports was holding its annual end-of-year hockey banquet on May 31 and the guest speaker would be Bill Long, a coach with the OHL’s London Knights. The film American Graffiti asked “Where were you in ’62?” and was playing at the Lyceum Theatre in Wingham. May 21, 1986 The money being offered up by the Blyth Agricultural Society now had some takers. The money, which was left over from the completion of operations, was distributed to the Blyth Horticultural Society ($200) and the Blyth, Belgrave and Brussels School Fair ($500). The remaining $1,600 was set to be divided amongst the four high schools that served the Blyth area. It would be used for bursaries for students moving on to post-secondary education. A feasibility study for the Blyth Festival took a look at the next 10 years of the Festival’s life. The study was presented to Blyth Village Council at its May 13 meeting. Murray Elston, Minister of Health was in Wingham where he stated that community-based healthcare would be a priority in the future. Elston said that moving forward, the government’s top healthcare priority would be to move ahead with the development of more community- based services. June 18, 2003 Seaforth Public School was about to adjust the boundaries for its catchment area, specifically shifting further south, as a result of numerous requests from families wishing to cross existing dividing lines. Boundary changes were to take effect Sept. 1, 2003 and would effect Blyth, Grey Central, Seaforth and Huron Centennial Public Schools. There was also the issue of students being grandfathered into the system. Former Walton Public School students who had chosen to cross those boundaries when the school closed in 2000 would be allowed to continue to do so until they moved on to secondary school. Effie McCall of Blyth was made an honorary member of the Exeter/Bayfield Red Hat Society after donating several of her well- known hats to the organization. Area dart player Andy Lubbers competed in a dart tournament just prior to the National Championships in New Brunswick, where he and his partner were bounced in the semi- finals. Lubbers finished in ninth place in the men’s singles competition. The Blyth Men’s Slo-Pitch League had to call it quits due to a declining number of players. 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 Lower power bills by magic The saying goes that there’s no free lunch, but politicians keep thinking voters will line up for one anyway. Such is the case in Ontario Progressive Conservative Party leader Tim Hudak’s recent solution to high electricity bills. Hudak promised last week to get rid of the “debt retirement charge” on our electricity bills. This charge was set up by the Progressive Conservatives under Mike Harris when they dismantled the Ontario Hydro monopoly and created competition in the generation of electricity that now allows for things like the privately-owned Bruce Power, farmer- owned solar electricity projects and wind farms. The problem is Ontario Hydro had a massive debt from years of building expensive atomic power plants and it had to be paid somehow. The decision was to adopt a user-pay system in which people who used electricity would pay for the debt. Somebody has to pay that debt. Hudak wants us to think “poof” the charge is going to disappear, but it’s going to reappear on our tax bills. Ah, but Hudak has the answer for that too. He’s going to take the HST off our electricity bills to make them cheaper. It’s an aim he shares with Andrea Horwath, NDP leader, who also plans to cut that tax. Except that if you’re busy putting more expense onto taxes and at the same time you’re proposing to cut taxes, where does the money come from? Hudak has the answer of course: the magical “cut the bloated bureaucracy” solution in which we can have everything we want and only the rich, lazy bureaucrats will pay. We heard this before under Harris, and ended up with government services in disarray. Hudak is one of those politicians who thinks that voters can only grasp simple solutions to what they perceive as their immediate problems and can’t be bothered trying to understand complex, long-term issues. It’s a cynical view – but too often one that seems to be rewarded by the electorate. — KR Give the kids a chance There are two ways of looking at the influx of young, inexperienced Members of Parliament who were elected in the surprising NDP sweep of Quebec ridings: the hopeful or the cynical. It’s easy to choose the cynical view given the way the Quebec voters seemed to choose the equivalent of “none of the above” in voting for NDP candidates they’d never even heard of over more experienced candidates from the Bloc Quebecois, Conservatives and Liberals. Then there’s the famous story of Ruth Ellen Brosseau, who didn’t visit the riding she was running in, doesn’t speak French fluently, and didn’t cancel her plans to go to Las Vegas to celebrate her birthday just because an election was called – and yet still won. It seems to make a mockery of the political system – even more of an insult to Parliament than all those Bloc MPs Quebec voters sent to parliament whose biggest aim was to frustrate the rest of Canada. It remains to be seen what people like Brosseau and 19-year-old student Pierre-Luc Dusseault from Sherbrooke, the most celebrated of the NDP winners will contribute to Parliament but there’s also the possibility they can offer something fresh to a body that is too often dominated by people who have worked their way up through political organizations, learning a cynical view of human nature. Instead, Brosseau brings the unique experience of becoming a single mother at 17, deciding to keep her baby when her boyfriend wanted her not to. She finished high school, partly through correspondence, and sometimes worked two jobs to support herself and her son. Now 27, she was assistant manager of a Carleton University bar earning $29,000 a year when she agreed to represent the NDP in the Berthier-Maskinonge riding. Though her background may not seem to justify her earning $157,000 a year as an MP, she probably has more in common with the ordinary Canadian than yet another lawyer being elected. Here’s hoping she can bring a fresh, grassroots perspective to the House of Commons. — 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.