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The Citizen, 2019-04-04, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, APRIL 4, 2019. Editorials Opinions President: Keith Roulston • Publisher: Deb Sholdice Editor: Shawn Loughlin • Reporter: Denny Scott Advertising Sales: Brenda Nyveld • Heather Fraser The Citizen P.O. Box 429, BLYTH, Ont. N0M 1H0 Ph. 519-523-4792 Fax 519-523-9140 P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, Ont. N0G 1H0 Phone 519-887-9114 E-mail info@northhuron.on.ca Website www.northhuron.on.ca Looking Back Through the Years CCNA Member Member of the Ontario Press Council The Citizen is published 50 times a year in Brussels, Ontario by North Huron Publishing Company Inc. Subscriptions are payable in advance at a rate of $38.00/year ($36.19 + $1.81 G.S.T.) in Canada; $180.00/year in U.S.A. and $205/year in other foreign countries. Advertising is accepted on the condition that in the event of a typographical error, only that portion of the advertisement will be credited. Advertising Deadlines: Mon. 2 p.m. - Brussels; Mon. 4 p.m. - Blyth. PUBLICATIONS MAIL AGREEMENT NO. 40050141 RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO CIRCULATION DEPT. PO BOX 152 BRUSSELS ON N0G 1H0 email: info@northhuron.on.ca April 4, 1968 The Cousins Creamery and dairy business was officially sold to Huron Food Products Ltd. Delford Turnbull had been appointed manager and would assume his duties immediately. Wayne Klein, an accountant with the Brussels branch of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, was the guest of honour at a special dinner at the New American Hotel in Brussels. There, he was presented with a gift ahead of his transfer to a branch in Lindsay. The Brussels Lion Club welcomed members from the Lucknow club to their meeting. There, the members heard from guest speaker Guinoz Kahashi, a Clinton High School teacher who was originally from Jamaica. April 4, 1973 Area farmers met with their local politicians, asking for province-wide comprehensive land-use planning and compensation for affected farmers. The 8th Liners, champions of the Blyth Rural Broomball League, won the Western Ontario Broomball Association championship, topping opponents in the tournament held in both Seaforth and Blyth the previous weekend. The locals won by a 1-0 margin, beating Keadi to win the championship. Keadi had triumphed over another team from Blyth, the Blyth Flyers, in the semi-finals before meeting the 8th Liners in the final game of the tournament. After 10 years as the clerk- treasurer for the Village of Blyth, Irvine Wallace tendered his resignation, effective April 30. Blyth Dairy announced that prices would be rising. Prices for most products would rise two cents per quart, according to the local dairy. The increase came as a result of an increase to the price being paid to farmers, which came into effect April 1. April 5, 1995 A 42-year-old resident of RR1, Ethel and a 43-year-old from Seaforth were among several charged in the takedown of a major crime network. The investigation and subsequent arrests were carried out by five different police forces. The investigation kicked off with a Crime Stoppers tip about a rural garage that was allegedly taking in stolen vehicles, stripping them down and then selling the parts. As a result of the investigation, police would eventually recover $250,000 worth of pickup trucks from the accused. Along the way police also purchased nearly $30,000 worth of counterfeit bills and $136,000 worth of drugs and pipe bombs from those accused. John Jewitt of RR1, Londesborough was the choice of the Huron Liberals going into the next provincial election. Jewitt won the nomination over three other candidates, Sharon Wurm, Doug Garniss and Rick McInroy. Jewitt was nominated to represent the party by Muriel Murphy, who said Jewitt had all the qualities needed to win the election. He also was a man who had deep Liberal roots and strong moral convictions, she said. Long-time Liberal Simon Hallahan seconded Jewitt’s nomination. The Huron County Board of Education approved its 1995 budget, which included a 10.1 per cent hike over the previous year’s budget. The increase was said to be due to changes at the provincial level in equalized property assessment, grant reductions and increased associated with benefit costs. Citizen Editor Bonnie Gropp was honoured by the Ontario Community Newspaper Association for her weekly column, The Short of It, as being the third-best column in the province for 1994. Gropp was judged against 53 other entries, coming up just short to Monte Sonnenberg of the Simcoe and Nanticoke Times and Rick Drennan of the Cambridge Times. April 9, 2009 Huron County Council appointed Dr. Nancy Cameron as the county’s new medical officer of health with a start date of April 6. “We are honoured to have her,” said Huron County Warden Ken Oke of South Huron. “With so many areas looking for a medical officer of health, this is a very good thing for the county and we secured one in under a year, so we’re quite fortunate.” Huron County Council refused to take part in a study that would determine the need for a crosswalk in Belgrave. This came after Morris- Turnberry Council sent a letter to the county stating that an engineer’s study on the subject would cost between $3,000 and $4,500, which Morris-Turnberry and North Huron hoped the county would share with them. Karen and Allan Webster of Morris-Turnberry had just returned from a mission trip to Mississippi to help rebuild the community in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Karen said that she did painting while there, cooking some meals in her spare time. Compared to the loss and suffering residents had experienced at the hands of the hurricane, she said she didn’t feel they accomplished anything special. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada. We are not responsible for unsolicited newsscripts or photographs. Contents of The Citizen are © Copyright Provincial cuts must end The party running Ontario’s provincial government may change, but the challenge of small rural municipalities having to do more with less through the Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund (OMPF) funding goes on and on. It was reported in last week’s Citizen that all county municipalities except Goderich received decreases in provincial OMPF funding. Huron East will receive $179,000 less from OMPF this year than last. This will be offset for this year by special one-time provincial funding, which will deliver $9.5 million to lower-tier municipalities within the Huron-Bruce riding. In the case of Huron East this will mean an extra $604,816 in funding this year, more than the OMPF cuts from last year but a fraction of the $2.5 million in its cuts since OMPF was created. The current Progressive Conservative government of Premier Doug Ford shouldn’t bear all the blame for such cuts. For years the Liberals under former Premier Kathleen Wynne announced new programs that would make the provincial government appear progressive, but funded these goodies with huge deficits and cuts to funding to municipalities. The current government inherited a huge mess, which it has made worse with its own plate of goodies including gas tax reductions. The solution is not to squeeze municipalities which must provide the bread and butter services like good streets and roads and garbage collection and disposal. The province’s one-time funding is a good start. Here’s hoping by next year the province delivers a plan for stable funding that allows municipalities to properly plan for the services required by local residents. — KR Much ado about very little The latest attempt by Quebec’s provincial government to ban government workers from wearing clothing related to their religious beliefs shows the human urge to force other people to do what we want them to do and it shows no sign of letting up. Now labelled a “secularism bill”, the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government’s new proposal continues the same sorts of restraints against religious accommodation as bills discussed by previous Liberal and Parti Quebecois governments. Women who work in the civil service, such as teachers, can’t wear religious head scarves. Men can’t wear turbans, skull caps or other displays of faith. At least the CAQ government has removed one example of hypocrisy by declaring the crucifix in the provincial legislature will be taken down. Previous proposals would have kept that Christian symbol on the legislature wall by claiming it was a cultural symbol of the province’s past, not a religious symbol. All of this would appear silly if it weren’t so dangerous in turning people against people. A bit of cloth, no matter what it symbolizes, shouldn’t turn people from individuals, with all their strengths and weaknesses, into representatives of groups that are seen as not like “us”. And in the long run, it doesn’t matter much anyway. For instance, nearly 30 years ago there was a great debate in Canada about whether Sikh officers should be allowed to wear their turbans and keep their beards while serving in the RCMP. The first Sikh officer received death threats when he sought to change the Mounties’ dress code. For many, it seemed as if the world would end if he was allowed to keep his turban instead of the familiar Mountie stetson. Canada didn’t fall apart. Few people probably have ever seen a Mountie wearing a turban. Most of us have probably forgotten the controversy. What’s disturbing is that this issue continues to be important enough with Quebec voters that government after government keeps bringing the discriminatory legislation back. A piece of religious clothing is such a little thing that people should be able to get past it and see people as individuals, not representatives of a religion. — KR It’ll only hurt a little bit It was no April Fool’s Day joke when the federal government’s carbon tax kicked in April 1 in provinces that haven’t taken significant actions to cut carbon emissions. Opposition screaming, however, makes it seem a bigger issue than it really is. The federal government cleverly sent out reminders last week that through its Climate Action Incentive there is a rebate available for families in provinces like Ontario that have no provincial carbon tax or cap and trade system. In Ontario, a family of four can get $307 back. The theory, supported by hundreds of economists, is that we’ll see the extra 4.4 cents on the price of a litre of gas when we fill up our cars and trucks and figure out ways, such as buying vehicles that burn less gas, to save us money. The same with home heating. At the same time, the rebates will guarantee we still have money to spend on family needs. It’s a small price to pay to help solve a big problem — certainly better than proposals put forward by opponents to the carbon tax. — KR &