Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1990-05-09, Page 4Tough decisions It takes a lot more courage to vote against something you support strongly than it does to vote against things you don’t like anyway. That’s why the decision by trustees of the Huron County Board of Educationlastweektoturndown the proposed 1990 education budget must have been especially difficult. But trustees decided they had to draw the line somewhere and a 22 per cent increase in education spending seemed a good place to start. The increase isn’t as outrageous as it might seem when you realize at leastpartofit is due toexpenses foisted on local boards by the province. Other boards have also faced the same kind of increases: Middlesex for instance bringing in a 14 per cent increase. The motion to send the budget back for reconsideration was made by John Jewitt of Hullettand Blyth. As a past chair of the board he is hardly an outsider and a rebel but he felt something had to be done. “While we have an obligation to our young people to help them, we also have an obligation to the ratepayers of Huron County, who, I believe are not enjoying the economic prosperity of their city cousins,’’ Mr. Jewitt said. Mr. Jewitt’s comments strike at the heart of the problem. In these days of increased competitiveness both for jobs in our own country and in an international economy, we must worry that we provide the best education to our children as they can get. And yet there is the economic reality that people only have so much money to spend. The last decade has seen the farm population in Huron plummet. This spring high interest rates have many farm families pondering if they can afford to plant crops or if now is the time to throw in the towel. Layoffs have been creeping into the urban workforce as well. For many years education has been sheltered from many of these economic realities but it can’t go on forever. When education makes up more than half of the annual property tax bill, a 22 per cent budget increase becomes just too big an item to accept. Of course everyone wants the best education they can get for tomorrow’s generation but there are limits as to how much of our resources we can devote to this one need, among many pressing needs. It took real courage for Mr. Jewitt and the other trustees to vote against this budget after devoting years to promoting education in the county. They should win the praise of county taxpayers for pointing out that while education is important, there are other problems in the community as well. The invisible campaign The future of Ontario could be shaping up this weekend but it appears most people in the province will barely notice. Saturday the 33,000 members of the Progressive Conservative party of Ontario will get their chance to elect a new leader for their party and everyone else will get to see a possible future premier of the province. Ten years ago it would have seemed unthinkable that the selection of a new leader of the Conservative party could be such an overlooked event in Ontario. This was the party that had ruled the province for four decades and there was no indication anything was about to change. But the close election of 1985 that saw the unthinkable and the Tories have to yield power to the Liberals, followed by the Liberal landslide two years later, has left the “Big Blue Machine’’ on the scrap heap. The party even had trouble attracting candidates for the leadership and had to settle for just two: former cabinet minister Mike Harris and relative newcomer Dianne Cunningham. Neither has exactly set the imaginations of Ontario voters on fire. And yet despite the party’s trouble, the new leader will be an important figure in Ontario politics. The party is a shell of its former self but it seems likely that if voters tire of the Liberal government of David Peterson, they will turn to the Conservatives, rather than the New Democrats, as the alternative. There are just too many areas of the province where the New Democrats’ policies are abhored or just ignored, for it to be likely to form a government in the near future. The problem for the party is to decide just what it is. There is the temptation helped out by Mr. Harris, to turn to a right-wing agenda including things like user-fees for doctor’s visits that may be popular with a large element of the party but will be unpopular with thevoters. WhatOntarianshaveshownoverandoverduring the long years of Tory rule before and the Liberal rule now, is that they want a moderate, middle-of-the road approach to government. If party members can find a candidate to provide that kind of alternative to Mr. Peterson they may someday return to the halls of power. Photo by Jennifer RoulstonAbandoned house Mabel’s Grill There are people who will tell you that the important decisions in town are made down at the town hall. People in the know, however know that the real debates, the real wisdom reside down at Mabel's Grill where the greatest minds in the town [if not in the country] gather for morning coffee break, otherwise known as the Round Table Debating and Filibustering So­ ciety. Since not just everyone can partake of these deliberations we will report the activities from time to time. MONDAY: Julia Flint was saying she’s glad she doesn’t live in Switzerland after hearing on the weekend that the Swiss men have voted again not to give women the right to vote in local elections. “Oh I don’t know’’, Ward Black said with a twinkle in his eye, “maybe you’d be happier. I heard one man over there say he wasn’t going to let his wife have the vote because she wouldn’t be any happier if she could vote.” Hank Stokes said that given the candidates we have to choose from, the guy just might be right. On the other hand, Tim O’Grady said, with that line of thinking maybe we should all vote in a dictatorship then we could all be happy not having to worry about who to vote for. “Humph,” Hank said, “with Mulroney and Wilson and John Crowe I thought we already had one.” TUESDAY: Billie Bean said what’s going on down on the Akwesasne Indian reserve in eastern Ontario and New York is really sad. “Why don’t they just send in the army and get peace back”, he wondered. “Sounds like they might have more weapons than our army” Hank said. WEDNESDAY: Tim was chuckling when he read that Mikhail Gorba­ chev was upset when he was booed and jeered at the big May Day Continued on page 5 The Citizen P.O. Box 429, BLYTH, Ont. NOM 1H0 Phone 523-4792 P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, Ont. NOG 1H0 The Citizen is published weekly in Brussels, Ontario by North Huron Publishing Company Inc. Subscriptions are payable in advance at a rate of $19.00/yr. [$40.00 Foreign]. Advertising is accepted on the condition that in the event of a typographical error, only that portion of the advertisment will be credited. Advertising Deadlines: Monday, 2 p.m. - Brussels; Monday, 4 p.m. - Blyth We are not responsible for unsolicited newscripts or photographs. Contents of The Citizen are © Copyright. Serving Brussels, Blyth, Auburn, Belgrave, Ethel, Londesborough, Walton and surrounding townships. Phone 887-9114 Editor & Publisher, Keith Roulston Advertising Manager, Dave Williams Production Manager, Jill Roulston Second Class Mail Registration No. 6968