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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1992-03-11, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11,1992. Lean and very mean Local politicians are doing their best to keep taxes down these days but the jury is still out on whether they can make local government lean enough to offset new costs. It's certain, however, that government is going to be more mean. The situation at Huron County Council last week illustrates that the majority will rule and the minority is just out of luck these days. In an attempt to whittle down the possible tax increase for all taxpayers in the county, for instance, the county road committee proposed that the road rebate to urban municipalities should be reduced from 45 per cent of the amount urban taxpayers pay for the county road system to 40 per cent. It meant that the county's road requirements would be reduced by about two per cent but it meant that urban municipalities would have to come up with more money in their own budgets to pay for roads. The reduction in the road rebate was first accepted by council at the February meeting of council but urban municipalities had rallied and at the March meeting of council on Thursday, requested the issue be reversed. Rural municipalities were unanimously against any change, protecting the interests of their own taxpayers. There are more rural municipalities than urban ones for the reduced rebate stands. But the next issue was the closure of seven small branch libraries in hamlets dotted around the county. The savings in closing the libraries aren't large but right now every penny saved counts so the vote came down to all those municipalities that weren't losing a library voting for closures and all those that were, voting to save the libraries (exceptions were Brussels Reeve Gordon Workman who voted against closure, East Wawanosh Reeve Ernie Snell who supported the closures even though Belgrave library was included, and McKillop Reeve Marie Hicknell who was for closure even though Walton library is in her township). Badly outnumbered, municipalities with libraries in danger, lost their battle. It's shaping up to become a nasty situation as councillors fight for tax savings and it gets down to every municipality for itself. How, for instance, could the village of Blyth hope to protect the annual county grant for the Blyth Festival if it comes down to those councillors not directly involved start worrying only about saving money for their own taxpayers. Huron has made a lot of progress over the years through a sense of co-operation, a sense that we must do what is fair, even if it costs a little extra. If we're going to become so concerned now about the welfare of only our own taxpayers in our own municipalities, will we lose some of the good things we've built co-operatively. Saving money is a noble cause in these times of recession but let's hope this everyone- for-himself attitude doesn't get carried away. Ideology to the bitter end The ancient Greeks, who thought that the gods played practical jokes on mortals, would be sure something like that was going on if they saw the situation people in Ontario found themselves in these days. Here we are inflicted with a federal government bent on sticking to its right wing ideology no matter what the cost and a provincial government that is equally adamant in following a left-wing agenda. In the clash, the ordinary guy who just cares about having a job so he can pay his bills, seems to be getting hammered from both directions. We have a federal government that seems to be heading full-speed ahead into a North American Free Trade agreement with the U.S. and Mexico x^hen cur economy has been devastated by the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement. We have evidence the U.S. has no intention of living up to the spirit of the current agreement if it thinks it can win by intimidation, by filing endless complaints against Canada and dragging them through a long appeals process. We have a federal government so obsessed with a deficit, it lets the economy stagnate, which in turn puts pressure on the deficit because people need more social services and pay less tax. We have a federal government so worried about inflation, it increases the bank rate, that in turn drives up interest rates and endangers what has been optimistically called a recovery. Then on the other side we have the provincial government, supporter of the labour movement, that is determined to bring in pro­ union legislation at the same time as business is moving out of the country because Free Trade means they must compete with parts of the U.S. where there are weak labour laws and a minimum wage of $4 an hour. What we need here is some practicality. Let’s worry about jobs and feeding people first, then worry about ideology. Looking Back Through the Years ONE YEAR AGO March 13,1991 Brussels Livestock changed hands officially, and a new division of Gamble and Rogers took over sales activities. Blyth's branch of the Huron County Library moved location, into the larger north wing of the Blyth Memorial Hall. The new library branch was the result of co­ operation between the Village of Blyth, Huron County Library and the Blyth Centre for the Arts. Huron County’s new Museum captured a Design Award of Merit for former Blyth resident Architect Christopher Borgal. The Village of Brussels was fea­ tured as a segment on TVO's Ontario Lottery Live. A camera film crew spent a day filming activ­ ities about the village, including the action at the Brussels Optimist Atom Tournament. THREE YEARS AGO March 8,1989 The Ontario Provincial Police opened an Extended Service Office in the basement of the Brussels Public Library, hoping to establish more direct contact within the com­ munity. Darrell Uhler of Grey Central Public School was the first place winner in the Junior division of the Brussels-Grey Public Speaking competition. Sheri Huether of Brussels was the first place winner in the Senior division. FIVE YEARS AGO March 11,1987 Ontario's minister of agriculture and food Jack Riddell was unop­ posed in his bid for the Liberal nomination in the new provincial riding of Huron. Grey Central Public School cap­ tured all the top awards at the Pub­ lic Speaking competition with Continued on page 6 CitizenTheNorthHuron P.O. Box 429, BLYTH, Ont. 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