The Citizen, 2011-10-13, Page 1CitizenTh
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$1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, October 13, 2011
Volume 27 No. 40
SUPPER - Pg. 18Belgrave holds itsannual fowl supper FESTIVAL - Pg. 19 Archibald makes musicat Blyth Public SchoolSPORTS- Pg. 8Wingham Ironmen losetwice over holiday weekendPublications Mail Agreement No. 40050141 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0INSIDE THIS WEEK:
Thompson dethrones Mitchell in Huron-Bruce
Blyth pilot honoured on stamp
Resident calls for
Riach’s resignation
Embracing victory
Newly-minted Huron-Bruce Member of Provincial Parliament Lisa Thompson must have been
all hugged out after the celebration held at the Wingham Golf and Curling Club on election
night on Oct. 6. The PC candidate beat out incumbent Liberal Carol Mitchell by approximately
5,000 votes. (Denny Scott photo)
Blyth resident Bill Knott feels that
he was treated unfairly by Deputy-
Reeve David Riach and called for his
resignation during the Oct. 3
meeting of North Huron council.
During a recent interaction
between Riach, Knott and Knott’s
employer, Knott feels that Riach
abused his position and harassed
Knott.
He outlined what he felt was his
mistreatment and poor behaviour on
Riach’s behalf at the meeting.
He called for Riach’s resignation
at the Oct. 3 meeting and proceeded
to explain to council why he felt that
More Canadians are bound to
become aware of Blyth native Lorna
deBlicquy, a remarkable aviation
pioneer with the creation of stamps
celebrating Lorna’s career.
Stamp purchasers will also receive
a printed summary of the highlights
of Lorna’s career with an invitation
to copy the information and send it
along with correspondence featuring
the stamp.
As a child Lorna lived with her
family in Blyth where she was born
to bank manager Morrie Bray and
his wife, Nora. Along with her older
siblings, Layton and Phyllis, Lorna
was expected to always be on her
best behaviour, somewhat like
children of ministers or teachers.
Besides her father’s position in the
community, her mother set high
expectations for herself and her
children. She was known throughout
the community as Mrs. Bray, not
Nora.
Local historian Janis Vodden
recounted a story Lorna had told her
about a parent/teacher interview
which Lorna attended with her
mother. A take-charge woman, Mrs.
Bray said she had three questions for
the teacher: 1. “Is Lorna slow in
school?” 2. “Is Lorna going to
pass?” and 3. “Is Lorna giving you
any problems?” The teacher
answered, No. Yes. Yes.
“When I give an assignment,” the
teacher said. “Lorna gets at it, but
she doesn’t finish it for homework.”
To which Mrs. Bray asserted, “In our
house we don’t do homework.” End
of discussion.
Lorna had many fond memories of
growing up in Blyth, as she
described in a letter to Brock and
Janis Vodden in 2006.
“I have felt really privileged all
my life to be a Blyth native. Thanks
to everyone then in the village. I
wish to everyone now and in the
future the good fortune I had in
growing up in a small community
with a topnotch public school staff
and with Bert Gray as its thorough
and inspiring principal.”
Lorna later recounted that she had
been allowed to work at her own rate
in Blyth’s multigrade school, which
had worked well for her. She also
stated her belief that “repetitious
homework is counterproductive and
fortunately so did Bert Gray.”
By age 14 Lorna was strongly
committed to learning to fly. With
her parachute jump with the Ottawa
Parachute Club in 1947, she became
the youngest Canadian to skydive.
When Lorna earned her Private
Pilot Licence on September 14,
1948 at the age of 16, few career
opportunities existed for female
pilots. Completing her Commercial
Licence in 1952 and a BA in 1953,
her first career was high school
teaching, with flight instructing in
her spare time. She had found her
passion in aviation and she soon
moved to aviation as a full-time
career.
Lorna summarized her career in
“Canadian Ninety-Nines: Here and
Now” in 2006, as follows: “I also
earned a Commercial Helicopter
Licence which I never used, and a
Private Glider Licence which I used
with joy. Endorsements included
Seaplane, Class 1 Instructor,
Towing, Multi-Engine, Instrument
and Designated Flight Test
Examiner. Favourite aircraft
included the Canadian Fleet Canuck,
Twin Otter, Beaver with its big tires
The Wingham Golf and Curling
Club was as blue as it could be on
Thursday, Oct. 6 as the final votes
were tallied for provincial election
for the 40th Ontario Assembly.
Belgrave native Lisa Thompson,
Huron-Bruce’s new Member of
Provincial Parliament, beat out two-
term incumbent and Liberal Cabinet
Minister Carol Mitchell, and it
wasn’t the close race that many had
predicted.
Thompson beat Mitchell by 4,463
votes by the time all 234 Huron
Bruce polling stations were closed.
Thompson walked away with
19,126 votes throughout the riding,
42.7 per cent of the vote share, with
Mitchell getting 14,663, or 32.74 per
cent of the share.
NDP candidate Grant Robertson
received 20.93 per cent of the vote
with his 9,374 votes and Green Party
candidate Patrick Main took 1.72
per cent of the vote with 772 ballots.
Christine Schnurr of the Family
Coalition Party received 1.46 per
cent of the vote share with 655 votes
and independent candidate Dennis
Valenta received just 199 votes, 0.44
per cent of the vote share.
Liberal leader and now third-term
Premier of Ontario Dalton
McGuinty called his victory a
“major minority” with his party
securing 53 seats throughout the
province, just one short of the magic
number of 54 seats, which would be
needed to form a majority
government.
The evening was a tense one as
Thompson didn’t start out the night
on top, according to early polls, but
she slowly, yet surely, pulled away.
Advance polls from Wingham had
Thompson leading over Mitchell by
415 to 261 around 9:45 p.m., 45
minutes after polls closed, and the
gap continued to widen throughout
the night.
By 10:30 p.m., with more than
160 of Huron County’s 234 stations
reporting, the conclusion was all but
foregone as Thompson led by
approximately 3,000 votes
(Thompson with approximately
12,000 votes and Mitchell with
approximately 9,000) and the
margin only increased from there.
Holding a gathering at the Clinton
Legion, Mitchell was not present
when leading national media outlets
were declaring Thompson the
winner of the Huron-Bruce riding.
With just a matter of minutes until
her eventual election, Thompson
stated that if she did take the riding,
she would focus on listening to the
riding and making sure that rural
Ontario had a true-to-the-people
voice at Queen’s Park.
“I’m humbled and energized by
the support I’m receiving,” she said.
“I plan on putting my best foot
forward here. I’ve heard what the
people have said here and I know
what I need to focus on.”
Several issues that Thompson
repeated throughout the night were
the closure of the Walkerton Jail, the
cost of living increases that have
happened on the watch of the
previous Liberal majority
government and, an issue very close
to home for many Huron-Bruce
county voters, wind turbines.
“I plan on pressing for a
moratorium on turbines until health
studies can be completed,” she said.
“Wind energy is okay, but our
municipalities need a say in what
happens in their areas. We need to
bring that decision making process
and power back to the
municipalities.”
As far as changes from the last
representative from Huron-Bruce,
Thompson said that her career up to
this point will dictate where she
focuses.
“My career has always been
centred on agricultural and rural
economic development,” she said. “I
believe that capacity building and
development will be cornerstones in
how I address everything.”
The swing in the vote in Huron-
Bruce was a big one and Thompson
said that the key issues that led to it
are easily identifiable.
“This isn’t a time to hide the
facts,” she said. “I knocked on
thousands of doors and people are
concerned. They are concerned with
the cost of living and how energy
costs and taxes leave nothing in their
wallets. They are concerned about
hospital upgrades being delivered
and paid for in a timely manner and
they are concerned with wind
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
Continued on page 10
Continued on page 10
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
By Marilyn Dickson
Special to The Citizen
Continued on page 9