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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1987-02-18, Page 5THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1987. PAGE 5. After a year at the top Leona looks back After a year in the top political position in Huron County, Leona Armstrong still believes Huron County has the best system of government around. “We have the best part of two worlds, really,’’ the Grey township reeve and first lady warden in the county’s history said recently, lookingbackatherl986termas warden. “We’re not a region and yet we operate like a small region. ’' Asa proponent of the system, she says she is greatly disturbed by the negative publicity the county has been getting in county news­ papers through letters to the editor about the dispute with county librarian Bill Partridge, the acri­ monious departure of former Medical Officer of Health Harry Cieslar and the county’s plans to change the Huron County Library Board into a committee of council. 1 ‘ J keep thinking it was my fault, that I should have tried to nip some of these problems in the bud,’’ she says, “but as I look back I don’t think it would have made any difference no matter how we would have handled it. ‘ * People are too quick to criticize without knowing all the facts,’’ she says, indicating there are many things that went on behind the scenes that never came to light. “I really feel that each municipality elects good people to run their individual municipalities, so peo­ ple should haveenough confidence in them that they can run county business in an equally responsible manner.” The county system works through six committees and two boards (the library board and the board of health). “It’s my percep­ tion that the committee structure really works better than boards, having sat on both,’’ she says. “It’s only human nature that if people are involved in the process then they’re much more interested in it.” When the committees of council report to the whole county council each month they bring recommen­ dations, but the whole council gets to vote, she says. The reports from the boards, however, are just for information for the councillors. The decisions have already been made by the boards. The council­ lors can still ask questions, but they have no chance to change the outcome of the board’s delibera­ tions. ‘‘Sitting at the front as Warden, when the board reports came, It was the beginning of a hectic year when Grey township’s reeve Leona Armstrong accepted the key of office from outgoing Warden Paul Steckle in Dec. 1985. After her term Mrs. Armstrong is a firm believer in the county system. you’d see everybody just sort of sit back on their chairs,” she says. As Warden, she would ask if anyone had any questions, but people seldom did. When a committee report came to council you’d see people perk up again and take an interest, she says. Because people hadtovoteon the recommenda­ tions in the committee reports, they had to be more knowledge­ able. They had to answer for their decisions. That’s why she’s hoping that the Ontario Legislature will pass the private bill changing the Library Board into a comittee of council. That would leave only the board of Health as an independent board. But with health, she says, 80 per cent of the funding comes from the province while the library gets 80 per cent of its funding from the county level. Mrs. Armstrong is a supporter of the administrative staff of the county and feels that despite the fact the politicians are only part- time while the staff is full-time, the councillors are in control of the county government. Every piece of correspondence is directed to the proper committee that should deal with it, she says. “I firmly believe that it gets dealt with, that it doesn’t get buried.” Copies of all correspondence come to the whole council, along with the recommendations from the com­ mittee. The power of the warden within the system varies according to the personality ofthe person filling the warden’s chair, she says. The warden sits on every committee of council, butis still just one member of the committee. As well, the warden is the chairman of the executive committee made up of all committee chairmen. “A warden could really say this is the way I want it to be, but it’s not my style to come on strong like that,’’she says. Other wardens might leave the warden’s chair to speak to motions, but she left it to the chairmen of the committees to explain the information to council. One of the few times she did get involved in discussion turned out to be one ofthe few problems she ran into. Last February the executive committee decided that with so many new councillors at the county level for the first time, study sessions should be held. The committee decided (“It was a wrong decision’ ’, she says now) that the study sessions should be closed to the public and press. When the executive committee’s decision came before council, one councillor asked why the sessions would be closed and she explained thecommittee'sdecision. “Itwasa very poor choice of words of mine that I said that we didn't want our new people to be intimidated by the press, and I knew as soon as I said it that I had said the wrong thing.” When the comments hit the press the flack started to fly. The Exeter Times-Advocate, in an editorial, called for her resigna­ tion. “Itwasquitea blow”, she says. “1 thought, now after this I’m just going to keep my mouth shut, and let the appropriate people who have thought this through do the talking. I guess I’m not a good enough politician to think ahead what I should say and how I should say it. I either say what I think or I just keep quiet, so normally 1 just keep quiet. I’m a background person.” Mrs. Armstrong’s yearatthe top was the culmination of a long-held dream. “I guess I’ve always had it in the back of my mind,’’ she says, although she never even thought of running for council until neighbour and former reeve Charlie Thomas came knock­ ing at her door only hours before the nomination deadline in late 1974 to convince her to run for council. He made it easy for her to say yes, even gathering the necessary signatures on her nomi­ nation papers. She called her husband Jim at work, asked for his opinion and he told her to give it a try. Later she moved up to deputy She took a chance in 1982 reeve and later still, when Reeve Roy Williamson resigned to be­ come superintendent, she took over the top job in the township in mid-term in 1982. With an election comingupattheendoftheyear anyway, she figured it was a good chance to see if she could handle the job for a short period. “I really firmly believe that if any of the councillors had said they wanted to be reeve, I would have said ‘fine, I don’t need it.’ ” The idea of stepping up to warden, to fill the same chair as her father Harvey Johnston had in 1952 when he was reeve of Morris township and became warden, was always there from the point she became reeve on, but it took a luncheon with Elsie Karges, Reeve of Listowel, to convince her to take thechanceandgofor it. Over lunch she told Reeve Karges “I’ve given up on it because I just think 1 haven’t the qualifications to really doagoodjob.” ButtheListowel reeve convinced her that with the county administration in Huron county she had nothing to fear, that the county staff would make her look good. She took the warden’s chair in December 1985, the first woman warden in the county’s history and immediately got thrown into a massive workload. “I knew it was going to be busy, but in my wildest dreams I didn’t expect it to be quite as busy as it was,” she says. The job of warden is more than a full time job. Days were crowded with meetings; meetings of county council itself, of committees and boards, and of the Huronview management board. Then there was the social side of things, with the warden expected to be at dinners and make speeches and cut ribbons. She bowled, road bicy­ cles, walked a dog and learned how to use a chain saw in a log-sawing competition, all in the name of representing Huron county. Nights and weekends were often used up in official duties meaning that the whole Armstrong family had to be supportive because their schedule had to be adjusted to fit hers. Her busiest day was April 13, 1986 when she had eight different commitments. “I took each day as it came,” she recalls. “I didn’t try to look too far ahead.” Complicating the early part of her term was the five year salary review for county staff. When there weren’t other committee meetings, there were salary nego­ tiating session, with each staff member coming in with all the facts and figures to prove he was vastly underpaid. It was a frustrating procedure, but an excellent way to meet the staff and learn about their jobs, she says. Several three-year contracts were signed from those negotiating sessions, so the cur­ rent warden, Turnberry Reeve Brian McBurney, doesn’t have to go through that process. Despite the hard work, the long hours and the fact she often didn’t see muchofherfamily, “Iwouldn't have missed it for a million dollars. “It’s really a good feeling to have set a goal for yourself and have reached it. Being the first lady warden was very special to me and we perhaps could be the first father-daughter warden combina­ tion in the province.” The crisis in farming... the European version BY RAYMOND CANON Last week we looked at the deplorable state of agriculture in the United States, brought about in part by a subsidy program that has risen from $2.7 billion in 1980 to $25.8 billion in 1986. However, the Americans are downright pikers when it comes to subsidizing their farmers; the championship in the free world must go unreservedly to the European Common Market which has left North America far behind in its efforts to look after its farmers. The world “pamper” comes immediately to mind. It is when you see what has happened on the other side of the ocean that you realize that the word ‘subsidize’ has taken on new meaning. One has only to look at the storage bins stretched all over Western Europe, bins which are crammed full with 18 million tons of unsold wheat as well as 1.5 million tons of butter, equally unsold. Nearby are a further million tons of beef and one can be excused for wondering where it is all going to end. This situation is currently so bad that the storage costs ofall these surpluses is just at the point of rising above the stored value of the produce itself. To make matters worse much of the butter that is stored has deteriorated into butter oil while the grain is degenerating into something that defies description. Yet, in spite of all this the farmers ofthe E.C.M. are bringing all the land they can find into production in order to get as much acreage under cultivation before, as they believe, the E.C.M. government will extend its quota on dairy cows to grain acreage. It is the belief of the farmers that, when the quotas do come, they will be based on the number of acres under production in previous years. Needless to say while all this is going on, the surpluses get greater and greater. The root cause of all this confusion, if that is the word you want to use, is the C.A.P. or Common Agriculture Policy of the E.C.M. which attempts to guaran­ tee farm revenue regardless of the domesticorforeign demand for the products. The cost for this policy has been put at well over $20 billion. If 1 can put it another way, thismoneytakesupnolessthan 3/«ths of the entire E.C.M. budget and, if allowed to continue it will mean that the organization will run out of money some time later this year. Inspiteofallthis.thegluthas not translated itself into lower prices for European consumers, only, it seems, for foreign custom­ ers. European housewives pay at least 50 per cent more than world prices for the butter they buy in the stores while the domestic price of grain is no less than 33 per cent higher than the world price. This must be galling especially in Germany which has one of the most inefficient farm sectors in all of western Europe. One interesting question. Spain is in the process of joining the European Common Market. At the presenttimeithasa large farm sector but one which makes the Germans look efficient. The poten­ tial in that Mcditerrranean country for modernization is enormous and when it does come, what will happen to the rest of the Europe, already groaning under the large surpluses to which I referred earlier? In a decade Spain could be growing even more cereals than the French which have the most efficient farm community on the continent. Added to that is the large wine industry in France and need 1 mention that the E.C.M. also has overproduction of wine, which means that the Italians and the French are frequently at each other’s throats. Now they will both have Spain to worry about. There is a bit of light at the end of the tunnel. As I write this there appears to be some sort of agreementinthe E.C.M. to cut both the dairy and the beef surpluses. For openers milk pro­ duction is to be reduced by almost 10 per cent over the next two years although in all likelihood the reduction will be in the neighbour­ hood of 6- 7 percent. In addition the support price paid for beef is going to be reduced by about 11 per cent for those farmers who cannot sell their meat on the open market. Next in line is the question of what to do with those 18 million tons of wheat. All this is a small beginn­ ing; the E.C.M. is going to have to do a great deal more if the surpluses are even to be kept at the present level. WhiletheE.C.M.istryingto solve its problems at home, it is engaged in an ongoing battle with the Americans which makes our disagreements with them look like a minor squabble at a Sunday School picnic. However, it cannot helpbutaffect Canada which is one of the great exporting nations of theworld. What will come out of this hassle is what we will look at next.