The Citizen, 2010-10-21, Page 26PAGE 26. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2010.With McKillop ward being a“hotbed” for activity with wind
turbines in Huron East, it was no
surprise that many questions hurled
at Oct. 14’s all-candidates meeting
in Winthrop had to do with the these
highly-debated entities.
Chaired by Graeme Craig, the
meeting was slightly different than
Huron East’s four other all-
candidates meetings in that both
incumbent councillors for the
McKillop Ward, Bill Siemon and
Andrew Flowers, had been
acclaimed to their positions once
again.
They were, however, on hand to
make opening remarks and answer
questions, should the public have
had any, but as they were acclaimed,
they were not necessarily asking for
votes, but assuring residents that
they were in good hands going
forward through the next four years.
Siemon said that in his last four
year term, the municipality had
“covered a lot of ground” and he
reminded those in attendance that he
is hardly new to the world of
politics, with this being his 24th year
as a representative.
Siemon said there are plenty of
issues to go around all of Huron
East, including the wind turbine
issue and helping out young people,
as well as seniors, who have been hit
especially hard throughout the
current recession.
Flowers said that he is proud to
have been involved with Huron
East’s Interim Control Bylaw, a
bylaw he first brought forward,
which helped put a halt to the St.
Columban wind farm development.
With the passing of the Green
Energy Act, however, that bylaw was
eventually rescinded.
Mayoral candidate Bernie
MacLellan, who spoke on a different
topic at each of Huron East’s five all-
candidates meetings for his opening
remarks, gave several examples of
situations over the past few months
where he needed prompt answers
and he got them, citing an example
of a complaint received from a
resident in Seaforth regarding the
seniors’ complex and a concernraised about Huron County’s newtendering documents. He said that hepursued the situations and gotanswers as soon as he could and that
he hopes to continue that trend.
MacLellan’s competition, Paul
VanderMolen, said that while he is
relatively new to the political game,
he is not afraid to take the concerns
of the ratepayers as far as he needs to
take them. He said he has a history
in politics, as both his grandfather
and great-grandfather served the
area in Ottawa.
“I’m not afraid to get dirty,”
VanderMolen said, adding that he
feels the job of the mayor is to be out
in the public, talking to the residents
and taking their concerns back to
council and eventually to Huron
County Council.
Candidate for deputy-mayor Chris
Lee of Walton said that it’s
healthcare in the area that concerns
him, which is one of his areas of
expertise, having been involved with
the Gateway Rural Health Research
Institute as well as the Huron
community Family Health Team.
He said he, too, felt that more
research into the health effects of
wind turbines needed too be
conducted, hopefully leading to “a
healthier and happier Huron East.”
Lee’s competition, current
Seaforth councillor Joe Steffler said
that what concerns him the most is
the declining population in rural
Ontario and that it needs to be
combated by industry and economic
development.
He also expressed concern with
the municipality’s bylaw dealing
with the low-frequency noise, which
is currently being discussed with
several other municipalities, saying
that it is a crucial step in moving
forward on the wind turbine issue.
For the question period, the
majority of the questions were wind
turbine-related, including somewhat
of a face-off between Catholic
Separate School Board Trustee
candidate Amy Cronin and HEAT
co-founder Rob Tetu.
At one of the earlier all-candidates
meetings in the southern end of
Huron East, Tetu asked Cronin about
her opinion on wind turbines, to
which she responded that she had noopinion. However, after doing someresearch, Tetu discovered thatCronin’s husband had sold a former
family farm to a wind development,
and brought up his findings at the
Brussels all-candidates meeting on
Oct. 12, despite the fact that Cronin
was absent.
Cronin responded to Tetu’s
comments the following night at the
Grey all-candidates meeting, where
it was Tetu who was not in
attendance.
So it was at the McKillop meeting
where the two were finally in the
same room to discuss the issue with
one another. Cronin said that while
her husband had authorized the sale
of this second farm (the Cronins live
on a pork farm just outside of
Brussels) between Seaforth and St.
Columban, she knew very little
specific information about wind
turbines, but that she would be
willing to learn, saying that if
adverse health effects are alleged,
then appropriate research has to be
done.
Cronin, who served on the St.
Ambrose restructuring committee in
Brussels, said that political issues
regarding wind turbines have very
little to do with being a school board
trustee, which several members of
HEAT disagreed with.
Cronin, despite standing for a
position related to the school board,
fielded the majority of the wind
turbine questions, as members of
HEAT were interested on her
opinions on various related topics.
Cronin’s competition, Jerry
McDonnell from Blyth said he
supported research into the issue as
well.
Both he and Cronin have several
children who have gone through or
who are currently in the Catholic
school system.
Avon Maitland District School
Board trustee candidates Wilhelmina
Laurie, Pam McLellan and Robert
Hunking all spoke on what they
intend to bring to the position of
trustee.
Hunking said his objective was to
make parents think, as he was made
to think after being involved with the
Accommodation Review processthat resulted in the closure of Blyth,East Wawanosh, Turnberry Centraland Wingham Public Schools. McLellan said that she still felt
that one person can make a
difference. While she has no
previous experience with the
education system, she said that
would stand to benefit her and the
area, as she can approach topics with
an objective mind. She called herself
an “ordinary person who is stepping
outside of her comfort zone.”
Laurie, who has been involved
with the education system for over
35 years, said that she has run again
so that she can see her previous work
through its completion. After serving
on the board of trustees when the
decision was made to close Brussels
Public School, she said it is
important to her to see the transition
process through, to ensure that
students receive appropriate
education throughout the process.
On the topic of wind turbines,
VanderMolen took a different route,
saying that the problem in McKillop
was set up when Huron East was
amalgamated nearly 10 years ago
and the five official plans of each of
the wards were amalgamated into
one official plan. He said that things
were lost through that process so
now the municipality has been left
defenseless and despite the opinions
of some members of the public, the
wind turbine developers have done
nothing wrong and have simply
abided by the rules dictated by the
municipality.
VanderMolen said the problem
was the leniency in the rules in the
first place.
MacLellan agreed, saying that the
planning department inserted bylaws
regulating wind turbines with smallsetbacks (originally 350 metres).MacLellan said that originally, noadverse health effects wereanticipated and that councillors were
told that wind turbines were an
acceptable use of farmland at the
time. He said that no one ever
thought there would be hundreds to
turbines proposed throughout the
municipality.
Concerns were raised about
MacLellan’s conflict of interest
when it comes to wind turbines.
Because of the company he owns, he
has had to declare a conflict of
interest on the issue since it was first
brought to council last year.
With the Huron East voter’s list
taking a hit of several hundred
people, the municipality stands to
lose one of its three seats at the
Huron County Council table. With
the municipality potentially going
down to two representatives at
Huron County Council, if
MacLellan is elected and the issue of
wind turbines comes up at a county
session, he would have to declare a
conflict, leaving just the deputy-
mayor to represent the municipality.
HEAT co-founder Gerry Ryan
said this was of concern to him.
MacLellan said he didn’t think it
would be a problem, citing the
recent Accommodation Review
process that council faced. He said it
was an extremely important issue
that could potentially tear
communities apart (as it was said the
wind turbine issue would) and a
Brussels councillor, Frank Stretton,
had to declare a conflict on all of
those discussions due to his
employment with the school board.
MacLellan said he felt it would not
be an issue.
Candidate for deputy-mayor in
Huron East Joe Steffler said that the
Grey residents he had spoke to said
they didn’t have any big issues with
council, just a few pet peeves, and it
certainly seemed that way at the Oct.
13 all-candidates meeting at Grey
Central Public School.
The questions for candidates were
few and far between with residents
eventually “letting the candidates off
too easy” as meeting chair Leona
Armstrong put it.
Four people are running for the
two council seats in Grey Ward and
all of the candidates have roots
firmly planted in Grey Twp.
Dale Newman said that he
originally ran for a Grey Council
seat 40 years ago and he’s ready for
a return to municipal politics.
Newman is a past president of the
Brussels Lions, as well as zone
chair, who has served on the
Brussels, Morris and Grey
Community Centre board and the
Brussels Medical and Dental Board.
He also served two terms on Grey
Council.
He said he felt that economic
growth and growing the tax base are
what’s important for the
municipality going forward, saying
that he felt rural Ontario is “under
attack”.
Incumbent councillor Alvin
McLellan said that he has some
concerns with the Green Energy Act
and that the budget will be important
going forward into the next term.
McLellan said he is proud to have
been involved with the Walton
Landfill, which was slated for
closure in 2012, but thanks in part to
the efforts of Huron East Council, it
will now live through 2019 and
perhaps even longer.
Fellow incumbent councillor
Orval Bauer said he has been a Grey
resident for 50 years and fell in love
with the area when he would go to
Molesworth for service calls through
his job, eventually expanding in
Walton and Cranbrook.
Important issues for Bauer going
forward, he said, were the
accessibility issues throughout the
municipality, most importantly at
the area community centres and
attracting industry to the area in
order to grow the tax base.
Dianne Diehl, who is new to
politics, said that after serving on the
Grey Central Public School council
for 17 years, she felt she now has the
time to give back to the municipality
she calls home.
She said she doesn’t have a “beef”
with the municipality, just that she
thinks her thoughts could be helpful
going forward.
“My beef will be whatever you
want it to be,” she said. “My beef is
your beef and I’ll take it to council
for you.”
She said keeping taxes low will be
important going forward and that it
will be integral to be proactive in the
coming term and not reactive.
She said she’d like to see council
be brought out to the five wards of
Huron East and that the system in
rural Ontario works better if local
politicians aren’t told what to do by
upper tiers of government.
Steffler said that while Grey
residents may not have big issues, it
will be his job to address whatever
“pet peeves” the residents have.
He expressed his concern about
the declining population in rural
Ontario and said that economic
development is the key to reversing
that trend.
He cited the potential of Chinese
investment in a beef processing plant
in Brussels, saying those are the type
of projects that are going to keep the
municipality healthily going
forward.
Steffler’s competition, Chris Lee
of Walton, said that it’s important to
take the issues of the ratepayers as
Wind turbines dominate McKillop meeting
Four hopefuls vie for Grey seats
By Shawn LoughlinThe Citizen
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Continued on page 35