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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2008-10-02, Page 7The Huron County Federation ofAgriculture held its all-candidatesmeeting last Friday night with five ofHuron-Bruce’s six candidates present to butt heads over the issues before the polls open. All of the parties were represented on Sept. 26, with the only no-show being Dennis Valenta, an independent candidate who sent his regrets for not being able to make it. Opening statements were heard from Ben Lobb of the Conservatives, Greg McClinchey of the Liberals, Tony McQuail of the New Democratics, Glen Smith of the Green Party and Dave Joslin of the Christian Heritage Party. QUESTIONS Stephen Thompson, the president of the Huron County Federation of Agriculture, posed the questions to the candidates for the first hour of the meeting. Many of the questions surrounded the agriculture sector, given the audience was largely comprised of farmers. The first question con- centrated on the risk manage- ment program. In response, Lobb cited his party’s successes with the Growing Forward program and the Conservatives’ consistent support of farmers. McClinchey agreed, saying that the Liberal party will continue to support RMP as it has in the past, however stating that a one-size-fits- all approach is not the answer. “We’re going to listen to farmers on this one,” he said. Joslin, McQuail and Smith all spoke in support of RMP as well. The manufacturing sector was also of great concern to the Huron County Federation of Agriculture. Its recent troubles, in Huron County especially with lay-offs being announced at Wescast in Wingham and Volvo in Goderich are an area that the federation asked candidates about a possible solution to. McClinchey cited that over 180,000 people are now without jobs due to the economic downturn in the manufacturing sector, something he blamed the Harper Conservative government’s free market approach for. Joslin said he felt the problem was the Canadian market being over-regulated and overtaxed, saying thatOntario is a very difficult region tostart a small business in andproposed getting the government outof the way.He said his party’s concept of a free tax would help to make the manufacturing sector in Ontario a much more friendly place for companies. Other issues explored by the federation involved pen- sioners and the Canadian family farm and food security. Food security in recent years has dealt a significant blow to farmers in the area starting with BSE and continuing to the recent listeriosis outbreak in Canada. McClinchey questioned the current workload of inspection officers, saying “Right now we have more inspectors checking for lead paint on toys than we have looking at the food we eat. I’m not trying to downplay the importance of inspecting toys, but I am trying to upplay inspecting the food we actually feed our children.” McClinchey said that he currently has a jar of olives in his home that reads product of Canada, while olives do not grow in Canada, calling this mislabeling, unacceptable. Smith also found the importing of goods unaccept- able, considering the wealth of resources Ontario has on its own. “The reality is that the farmers feed the cities and they should be rewarded for that. Just from my personal experience, a lot of products that are hitting supermarkets are sometimes coming in from other parts of Canada or the U.S.” he said. “The Green Party would really support the beef and pork sectors in Huron-Bruce. We would have local distribution going to the restaurants and the supermarkets.” Compensation for ecological goods and services was also raised. Candidates were asked how they would compensate farmers for whateverecological goodsand services theirparty wouldprovide if theywere in power. McQuail, who is involved in the ecological farm movements and is also an environ- mentalist, said that adaptation is key. “We’ve talked about how wonderful we all are as farmers and how hard done by we are by society and that’s a long-standing song and dance. But as farmers, we depend on the environment, we depend on the water cycle and the mineral cycle, we depend on the biological community of the soil and it’s in our hands to make it work and to make it work well and to make it sustainable,” he said. When the questions about the riding’s water supply were asked, both Lobb and McClinchey cited North Huron deputy-reeve Murray Scott’s home project as a great example of what can be done in the riding by making use of local conservation authorities and government programs. FLOOR QUESTIONS The first question from a member of the audience dealt with infrastructure costs being downloaded onto ratepayers. Lobb raised his party’s infrastructure plan totalling $60 billion, which he says is the single-highest infrastructure plan since the Second World War. The next question dealt with the human rights commission, a particular sticking point with Joslin. Joslin calls them kangaroo courts, citing examples where commissions had been used to go after several Evangelical Christians, calling human rights commissions fascist thugs. McQuail admitted to knowing very little on human rights commissions and cited political propaganda junk mail as a form of citizen harassment, attacking Lobb and the Conservative party. “What you need to ask yourself in this upcoming election is, if your local Conservative candidate approved these, what does this say about his judgment and if he didn’t, what does it say about who will be running this Huron-Bruce riding?” McQuail asked. Lobb responded by saying heknew nothing about the mailings andthat if it were up to him, he wouldstop the junk mail as well, addingthat he had recently received maildealing with McQuail, furthering hispoint that this junk mail is sent out without the candidate’s knowledge. “Tony’s leader has also sent these out, surprisingly enough to him likely. Everyone sends these things out. They’re paid for by the taxpayers, I say we get rid of them all anyway. They’re pointless and all parties do them,” Lobb said. The gun control bill was also a topic of discussion. The bill, introduced by the Liberals was actually dismissed by McClinchey, following in his mentor, Paul Steckle’s footsteps. “I don’t think it’s any secret, the Liberal Party of Canada is the one who created the gun registry, so obviously they supportit. I do not,” he said. “I am a gun-owner myself, I am a sportsman and I make no apologies for that.”The support forgunowners was unanimous with all of the candidates sup- porting a fair bill that would see responsible gun-owners keep their guns. The closing question dealt with the environ- ment, an issue embraced by all candidates with the exception of Joslin who said, “(The Christian Heritage Party) does not accept the current climate change alarmism.” THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2008. PAGE 7. Morris-Turnberry councillors agreed, at their Sept. 23 meeting, to proceed with an agreement with North Huron to share the cost of a new waterline along Amberley Road, east of Wingham. Nancy Michie, administrator clerk-treasurer, explained that the water line was needed to service a new building on the Joe Kerr Limited property on the south side of the road in Morris ward. Originally the two municipalities had agreed to build a new waterline for the Wescast plant all along Amberley Road but that line had never been installed. The new proposal is to build the line to attach to a water line on CornYn Street in Wingham, with considerable saving. The cost is estimated to be $35,000 to $50,0000 with each municipality picking up half. Councillor Mark Beaven argued that properties that will be passed by the water line should pay for the installation. “I can’t support taxpayers in the country paying for a water line,” he said. Water should be provided on a user-pay basis, he said. But Jim Nelemans, deputy-mayor, argued that many of the properties will not benefit by the waterline going by their property. “I’d say any new business should pay but not the businesses that aren’t getting any benefit,” agreed councillor Bill Thompson. Michie explained that Wescast was promised a water line when the two municipalities were negotiating to have the plant built locally so they can’t now be charged. “I don’t think there is any choice to proceed with the water line,” said mayor Dorothy Kelly, who also pointed out the line is important for future development of the area. Councillors passed a motion to proceed, but included a phrase to look for cost-sharing opportunities. Candidates debate issues at HCFA event BEN LOBB PC candidate M-T council agrees to proceed with NH on water agreement GLEN SMITH Green Party candidate DAVE JOSLIN CHP candidate TONY MCQUAIL NDP candidate GREG MCCLINCHEY Liberal candidate By Shawn LoughlinThe Citizen By Keith Roulston The Citizen Mon. - Fri. 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. Sat. 9 a.m. - 1p.m. Service Dept. Hours Mon. - Fri. 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Sat. 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.357-2323 cullencars.ca With Rising Fuel Cost... 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