HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1993-11-10, Page 6-New Ontario Minimum
Wage Regulations
The following new minimum wage rates take effect at the
beginning of the first week of January, 1994:
General (including domestics
New
Rate
Previous
Rate
and harvest workers) $6.70* (6.35)
Students under 18 6.25* (5.90)
Liquor servers 5.80* (5.50)
Hunting/fishing guides 67.00** (63.50)
Hunting/fishing guides 33.50# (31.75)
*hourly rate; **5 or more hour day; # less than 5 hours.
Maximum room and meal allowances in calculating the
minimum wage, applicable to general workers at the
beginning of January, 1994 are:
Room — private (weekly) 31.00 (29.40)
— non-private (weekly) 15.50 (14.70)
Meals— (each) 2.50 (2.35)
— (weekly) 52.50 (49.35)
Room & meals (weekly)
— with private room 83.50 (78.75)
— non-private lodging 68.00 (64.05)
Housing (weekly)
for harvest workers only
— serviced 97.15 (92.10)
— unserviced 71.70 (67.95)
For more information, contact your local Ministry of
Labour office.
CI Ontario
PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1993.
County council streamlines committee structure
When the 1994 Huron County
Council begins meeting in Decem-
ber it will have a new streamlined
committee structure.
Under the new committee struc-
ture adopted by county councillors
at their November meeting, there
will be only five committees of
council compared to seven at pre-
sent. The changes to the committee
result from a Strategic Planning
Committee which has been meeting
throughout the summer and held
two in camera meetings at Cen-
tralia College in July and Septem-
ber where councillors could give
Huron County is attempting to
get a $1 million JobsOntario grant
to help with the renovation of the
old Huronview building into sever-
al different office buildings, War-
den Tom Tomes told county
council Nov. 4.
The 1950 "Eastdale" wing has
already been renovated by the
Huron Day Centre and the Huron
County Health Unit already occu-
pies the 1967 wing. Under the
plans the Huron County Library
would renovate the 1953 wing.
The difficulty is that the build-
ings are supplied by a central heat-
ing plant in a part of the building
which is slated for demolition
because consulting architects have
said it would be too expensive to
renovate. New heating plants will
have to be installed during the ren-
ovation of the buildings.
***
With high prices for hard maple
logs the number of ''notices of
intent" to cut lumber have
increased 60 per cent this year,
County Tree Commissioner Joe
Gibson, in his annual report to
council, said the number of notices
increased to 219 from 137 a year
ago.
One conviction was recorded for
illegal cutting of trees with a
$2,000 fine. The publicity generat-
ed by the fine has created more
concern and care on the harvesting
of timber, Mr. Gibson said.
***
The county will send a letter to
the Huron County Federation of
Agriculture pointing out the impli-
cations of a tax strike proposed by
the Federation if there is not a
reform of the education tax system.
The Federation called for removal
Grey reeve
seconds motion
Continued from page 1
port when council had already
made a motion that it would take
no new grants. There is a need at
the CAS but other agencies also
have needs too, he said. He
expressed confidence the CAS
fundraisers would meet their goal.
(To the end of September $64,000
had been raised.)
Leona Armstrong, reeve of Grey
Township seconded the motion for
the support in principle and asked
that executive committee "look
favourably on the request (for
assistance".
But Bob Hallam, reeve of West
Wawanosh said money should be
going to programs to help children,
not provide fancy new offices. "If
the government wants to put up
fancy buildings let it pay for them."
The county, he said, is under strict
budget constraints.
The motion to give support in
principle was tabled after a motion
from Zurich Reeve Robert Fisher to
await the outcome of the meetings
between the clerk-administrator
and the CAS executive director.
their opinions on the process.
Under the new structure, the new
committees will be:
•Administration, Finance and
Personnel replacing the current
executive committee.
•Agriculture and Public Works,
combining the Roads Committee
and the agricultural aspect of the
old Agriculture, Planning and
Development Committee. In the
future, the implementation of the
Waste Management Master Plan
would come under this committee
and there is the possibility that the
inspection services of the Health
Unit could also be included, pend-
***
The welfare load in Huron Coun-
ty is shrinking slightly. There were
17 fewer cases and 27 fewer bene-
ficiaries in August, John MacKin-
non, administrator of social
services reported to the Seniors and
Social Services Committee. It rep-
resents a 2.64 per cent drop from
August 1992. With 2.28 per cent of
the population receiving welfare
assistance, Huron is the third low-
est municipality in the province. By
comparison, in Sault Ste. Marie,
9.92 per cent of the population
receives assistance.
***
With the retirement of the direc-
tor of Public Health Inspections Ed
Harrison, Klaus Seeger of Auburn
The HCBE trustees were present-
ed with a draft discussion paper
concerning alternate approaches to
staffing, at the Nov. 1 meeting.
The paler was presented by
Director Paul Carroll as a starting
point for cost cutting measures
needed to meet the demands of the
Social Contract and the board's
own financial difficulties.
Mr. Carroll stated the reason for
the paper was to have open and col-
laborative planning. "Education
restructuring must be undertaken
through provincial-school board
consultation, school board-employ-
ee and school board-community
consultation."
"Some of the changes may
include a smaller board and fewer
staff with more pupils per teacher,"
he says.
Everyone involved in the process
felt the changes should be dis-
cussed in the most public forum
possible allowing emotions and
anxiety to be dealt with, he says.
A recommendation made in the
paper suggested a systematic
review of staff complement and the
organization of the Education Cen-
tre, Learning Resources Centre and
support staff throughout the sys-
tem.
Mr. Carroll says he hopes much
of the adjustment can be made
through normal attrition rather than
requiring layoffs.
"It is hoped that the restructuring
will include a provision for retrain-
ing and re-skilling any individuals
who find their current position
redundant," he says. "Our goal is to
minimize, if not prevent, job loss."
Mr. Carroll says the paper is not
a solution to all the problems faced
ing the recommendations of a study
currently under way.
•Health and Seniors, combining
the Board of Health and the Huron-
view/Huronlea component of the
present Seniors and Social Services
Committee.
•Planning and Development,
combining the planning and devel-
opment portion of the Agriculture,
Planning and Development com-
mittee with the waste management
master plan. Once the plan is
adopted the waste management
portion would be included in the
Agriculture and Public Works com-
mittee.
director of public health inspection.
***
The last meeting of the 1993
county council term will be Dec. 2.
Election of the 1994 warden will be
Tuesday, Dec. 7 at 2 p.m. The first
official meeting of the 1994 council
will be Dec. 8 at 10 a.m.
Huron Tourism, a development
of the tourism groups of the Com-
munity Development Areas has
been formed in conjunction with
the Huron County Planning and
Development Department. The
county has given permission for the
name "Huron" to be used in the
group's name.
***
The county will tender for its
insurance needs after 1994. In the
meantime, council voted to contin-
ue to use Frank Cowan Company
as its insurer because a quote from
OME didn't meet the county's
requirements. The cost of insur-
ance, none-the-less, will drop to
$122,906 this year from $139,429
last year.
by the board but one measure to
cushion the financial blow in 1994.
The paper will be distributed to
all groups associated with educa-
tion and to those affected by the
proposed changes.
71-ustees see
video from
province
Pat Semi, a co-op resource teach-
er made a presentation to the
HCBE at the Nov. 1 meeting, out-
lining the success of the co-op edu-
cation system in Huron County.
She says there are presently 600
secondary and adult students in the
system who earn a total of 1200
credits each year.
A policies and procedures manu-
al has ben developed for co-op
teachers and it will be available
through the board.
*****
Huron County Director of Educa-
tion Paul Carroll presented the
board with a short video from the
Premier's Council on Health, Well-
being and Social Justice.
The video outlined the connec-
tion between a health community
and education. It suggested the par-
ents need to work in tandem with
the schools to develop a health
community.
It also suggested that education
needed to recapture its former share
of the provincial budget. "Studies
have shown that students with a
higher education tend to have a
healthier life and therefore require
less from health services."
Continued on page 21
•Social and Cultural Services,
would combine the present Cultural
Services Committee with the Social
Just like homeowners, Huronlea
and Huronview are turning to con-
venience foods to shorten meal
preparation time, Wayne Lester
administrator of the two homes for
the aged told Huron County Coun-
cil Thursday.
Mr. Lester was responding to a
question from Goderich Reeve
John Doherty who wondered "how
much down to earth home cooking
goes on." That question was
prompted by a question a month
ago from Brussels Reeve Gordon
Workman. Reeve Workman had
been told that the two homes were
still preparing their own food but
under questioning from Reeve
Doherty, Mr. Lester explained that
some elements of food preparation
Services function of the present
Seniors and Social Services Com-
mittee.
are being purchased to save time.
The homes have purchased frozen
vegetables in the past, he said, but
now "we are anticipating the elimi-
nation of time-consuming prepara-
tion of casseroles." The homes will
still cook roasts and meats and has
state of the art cooking facilities but
"we want to minimize the time in
preparing food before you cook it,"
Mr. Lester explained. It's the same
kind of shortcuts that people have
been taking in their own homes for
years, he said.
One of the areas the homes are
looking at is the time-consuming
peeling of potatoes. Even though
there are peeling machines in use, a
lot of time is still used in cutting
out the eyes once the peeling is
done, he said.
County council briefs
County seeks jobsOnt. grant
of education taxes from property has been appointed the acting
and suggested, in a resolution for-
warded to the Ontario Federation of
Agriculture, that if the government
doesn't act, the OFA should lead a
withholding of the education por-
tion of the property tax.
If there was a tax strike, munici-
palities would have to borrow
money to pay education taxes. ***
HCBE studies staffing
Some convenience foods served
at county homes, councillors told
Getting ready
Lenora Davidson of Blyth UCW prepares for the annual
clothing sale and silent auction held at the Blyth United
Church on Nov: 3 and 4.