HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1991-09-25, Page 1Fair fun
Photos and results
from 130th Brussels Fall Fair
See page 8
In the cards
Card, toy collectors get
special show in Blyth Sunday
See page 3
VOL. 7 NO. 38 WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1991.60 CENTS
Dinner for three
Scott Armstrong, ot Brussels, gets three times the tun fairgrounds last Wednesday in Brussels. The occasion was
when he stops to feed these little goats during a visit the 130th anniversary of the Fall Fair.
through the animal exhibits that were on display at the
High School teachers ratify 5.5% increase
The Huron County Board of Edu
cation (HCBE) and its almost 300
secondary school teachers repre
sented by District 45 of the Ontario
Secondary School Teachers' Feder
ation (OSSTF) announced that a
new collective agreement for the
1991-92 school year has been rati
fied.
The agreement calls for a 5.5 per
cent increase in grid salaries
retroactive to September 1, 1991.
As of that dale the minimum and
maximum teachers' salaries will
$28,852 and $62,415 respectively.
Allowance for extra degrees and
positions of responsibility received
increases of zero percent and 3.0
percent respectively.
A tentative agreement was
reached at a special board meeting
on September 9 in a recorded vote
of nine to six. Trustee John Jewitt
said at that time that he supported
the recommendation not because he
thought the people of the county
could afford the increase, or that
the teachers had earned it. "I sup-
Festival attendance down 7%
The hard realities of the the
recession showed up in the atten
dance totals of the Blyth Festival
this season where, despite adding
more performance, overall atten
dance dropped seven per cent from
last year.
Unofficial year-end statistics
show that attendance for 107 per
port the agreement because I think
it is the best we can do and I don't
see how we can do any better."
Goderich trustee Norm Pickell
disagreed saying that with the lay
offs, plant closures and wage
freezes presently occurring in the
formances this year stood at 39,500
compared to 42,500 for 101 perfor
mances last year.
Festival communications director
Jane Gardner said the effect of the
recession seemed to be that people
were coming to the theatre less
often: people who used to see four
performances this year saw two.
county, the board should exercise
restraint and teachers should set an
example.
The board and teachers were
pleased that the tentative agreement
was reached prior to the expiration
of the old one.
Still, she said, there was a bright
side. Although the Festival's
research into who made up this
year's audience is incomplete, she
felt there were many new visitors to
the Festival this year, particularly
for Sean Dixon’s The End of the
World Romance. Under the eco-
Continued on page 27
Reform Party
readys for
Huron election
When voters go to the polls in the
next federal election in Huron-
Bruce, they'll have a new party on
the ballot. The Reform party of
Canada has decided to set up a rid
ing association after 150 people
attended an inaugural meeting in
Clinton last Thursday night.
Norm Gurr of Southamption,
who is acting president of the new
party in this riding, said he was
pleased with the attendance at the
meeting, and surprised by the phe
nomenal growth of the Reform
Party in Ontario and Huron-Bruce.
The riding runs from Grand Bend
in the south to Southampton in the
north, and includes all of Huron
County and half of Bruce.
"It started (here) only four
months ago with seven people and I
agreed to help out. But my phone
hasn't stopped ringing since. We
now have over 200 members in this
riding," Gurr said.
Gurr, who retired four years ago
as an elementary school principal
in North York, said the Reform
Party has 90 organizations in the 99
federal ridings in Ontario, and
expects to be represented in them
all in time for the next federal elec
tion expected in late 1992 or 1993.
Gurr said the new party, which
was started by Preston Manning,
the son of a former Albertan as a
populist movement in Alberta in
1987, only voted last January to
expand into other provinces.
Gurr told the meeting the other
night that the Reform party wants
politicians to be more responsive to
the wish of the people. Members of
Parliament would find out what the
wishes of the electorate were and
then go to Ottawa and vote their
constituents wishes. "(MP Murray)
Cardiff can't do that now. He has to
vote along party lines, no matter
what he or his constituents think,"
Gurr told the meeting.
MPs would spend more lime in
their ridings than in Ottawa, Gurr
told the meeting, listening to what
their constituents have to say and
then go to Ottawa and vote those
wishes instead of along party lines.
If they didn't the voters could
"recall" the MP and force him/her
to resign.
The Reform party also supports
more free votes in parliament said
Gurr, and is also in favour of more
referendums, where the public
would have a direct say on legisla
tion, especially on major moral
issues such as abortion, and capital
punishment, and social matters
such, as immigration, language,
and constitutional change.
Gurr cited Switzerland where
voters have four chances a year to
vote in referendums.
"They would be easy to have.
We could have terminals in every
town hall, just like the lottery ter
minals we have now. People could
go in and their vote would be
instantly recorded," said Gurr.
"The present politicians are
destroying the country. They didn't
ask the Canadians what we thought
of the constitution, or Free Trade or
the GST. We've lost 350,000 jobs
because of high interest rates, high
taxes and the national deficit. Cana-
Continued on page 26