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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2019-05-16, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MAY 16, 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 $380/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 May 16, 1968 The two-day music festival of the Blyth, Brussels and Belgrave Central Schools came to a conclusion with the presentation of a concert featuring the festival’s top performers at the Wingham District High School. The concert was interspersed with the final three portions of the competition. Dawson Woodburn was the festival adjudicator. A professor of music at London’s Althouse College, Woodburn said he was impressed with what he saw at the festival, especially the confidence and ability of the young area singers. Maitland Edgar was chosen to represent the Liberal Party in Huron at a special meeting held in Clinton. Edgar, a 39-year-old teacher at South Huron Secondary School, was given the Huron candidacy on the first ballot. This would be the second time Edgar found himself on the ballot. In 1965, he was defeated by nearly 1,300 votes by R.E. McKinley, who was the incumbent that year. May 16, 1973 Twenty-three Blyth youths raised approximately $600 through a bike- a-thon that saw riders make their way from Blyth to Clinton, Seaforth and Walton before returning to Blyth. The Blyth Teen Scene, as the group was known, raised the money for community betterment in Blyth. Thanks to an Opportunities for Youth grant from the federal government, Blyth would have a summer recreation program for the coming summer. The program planned to host a number of social activities throughout the summer for those of all ages. Activities were set to include a supervised playground and a coffee house with live enter- tainment, as well as films, tours, sports and other activities. There was big news for the community of Vanastra, as Glendale Mobile Homes Limited of Strathroy was planning on opening a new plant in Vanastra. The Blyth Little Theatre production of Mystery at Green Fingers was set to be on the stage on June 1-2. The play would be produced in the auditorium at Blyth Public School. May 17, 1995 Premier Bob Rae was in Huron County for the opening of MPP Paul Klopp’s constituency office in Goderich and said that the NDP’s approach to governing the province had resulted in a steady reduction of the deficit. On the horizon, however, he said that cuts being proposed by the Conservative and Liberal Parties, under leaders Mike Harris and Lyn McLeod, respectively, would severely impact services in Ontario like health care and education. He said that the “draconian” cuts being proposed by Harris and McLeod would be “too hard to bear” in Ontario. Blyth’s Kevin McDougall had just returned to his hometown after a six-month tour of Croatia on a peacekeeping mission there. McDougall said it was something he had always wanted to do and he had no regrets about going on the trip. The Belgrave, Blyth, Brussels School Fair would be celebrating its 75th anniversary and organizers were working to host a number of concerts in the months leading up to the fair that September. Organizers of the A Taste of Country Food Fair were looking for local producers to come forward and promote their products at the special event scheduled for Blyth on July 22. Committee Chair Keith Roulston said the committee really wanted the fair to be as representative of the food landscape of the county as possible, which is why many commodity groups were planning to have displays at the fair. Those planning to display at the fair included the Huron County Milk Committee, the beef producers, the egg producers, and the wheat, corn and coloured bean producers. May 21, 2009 After over 75 active years in the community, the Morning Star Rebekah Lodge 315 in Brussels was set to host its final meeting and close its doors. Dwindling attendance and a lack of new members were to blame for the decision to cease operations. Noble Grand Sister Sharon Freeman said that with between 25 and 30 older members, it was time to close the lodge with fewer than 10 members making it out to the group’s regular meetings. At the Wingham meeting of the accommodation review committee (ARC), regarding the potential closure of area schools, parents said they felt as though they were being misrepresented in the process. In addition, they said that comments made in local media by Mike Ash of the Avon Maitland District School Board were hurtful to them, suggesting that they were painting local high school students as being ne’er-do-wells, among other things. A play born in Blyth, written by Blyth Festival co-founder Keith Roulston and former Artistic Director Anne Chislett, Another Season’s Promise, was set to premiere at the Mengei Theatre in Tokyo, Japan, opening on May 21. 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 It’s worth a look, but . . . North Huron Council’s study of the possibility of developing the Hutton Heights subdivision south of Wingham is worthwhile but councillors need to be cautious about finding an economical way to proceed. Councillors are concerned about both a shortage of housing and a small tax base in North Huron and see developing the 15.5 acres for residential lots as a solution to both needs. As long as taxpayers don’t find themselves on the hook for financing a long-term development projected to cost more than $5 million, it’s worth exploring. Small municipalities are at a real disadvantage. Not only do they have a small assessment because of their small population and lack of commercial and industrial assessment, but they seldom have deep- pocketed developers ready to invest in new subdivisions. So taking the initiative to make it easier to develop land that’s already owned by the municipality makes sense. If putting planning in place nudges private developers to step forward then it’s money well invested. If, however, councillors persuade themselves that the municipality should get into the development business they are inviting financial disaster with cost overruns common in government projects and extend- ed paybacks. So have at it councillors, but proceed with caution.— KR The cost of bread and circuses While protests against the Ontario government’s cuts to education and other services continue, Premier Doug Ford seems bent on diverting angry voters with other goodies that seem free but have hidden costs. The Premier seems to think beer is the key to the hearts of many voters. During his election campaign it was the promise of beer for a buck, which fizzled soon after he made great fanfare about delivering on his promise. Now the big promise, delivered in both the speech from the throne and last month’s budget, is to have beer in corner stores so that people don’t have to travel to The Beer Store. The fly in the beer on this promise, however, is that it will cost taxpayers as much as $1 billion to deliver. The problem is that the three major brewers who run The Beer Store have a signed contract with the province that runs until 2025 that would compensate them for losses from any legislation that damages their profit. It’s logical that The Beer Store’s $2.3 billion a year in sales would be hurt if the province’s 9,000 convenience stores were allowed to sell beer. Several sources put that cost at $1 billion, money that could be used in education or dozens of other services being cut. The latest goodie tossed to Ontarians is a study of the return of higher speed limits on the province’s 400-series super highways. Provincial Transportation Minister Jeff Yurek has promised to explore the possibility of restoring 120-km/hr speed limits, after speed limits were lowered in the 1970s to reduce gasoline consumption at the time when Canada faced fuel shortages due to an embargo on oil shipments from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). The cost isn’t in tax dollars this time, it’s in lives. Faster speeds have been proven to cost lives as drivers have less time to react to unexpected dangers. Mohamed Hussein, a transportation engineering professor at McMaster University, says “Most research shows that if you are involved within a collision and you are driving more than 120 km/h, your chances to survive are almost zero.” Then there’s the fact that the decision to reduce speed limits in the 1970s was to burn less gas. At this time when we’re worried about reducing the effects of climate change by reducing carbon emissions, it seems counterproductive to make vehicles less efficient. Premier Ford can’t be blamed for wanting to divert attention from service cuts necessary to tame the massive deficit he inherited from the previous government, but these two cases of bread and circuses seem to be too expensive to be worthwhile. — KR With a bully on your side U.S. President Donald Trump played the bully again last week, slapping additional tariffs on Chinese imports to the U.S. when talks on a new trade agreement between the two countries weren’t proceeding the way he wanted. It’s a familiar Trump tactic against friends and foes alike. After all, many U.S. allies are still dealing with tariffs on their shipments of steel and aluminum he imposed last year. Those tariffs now stand in the way of Canada ratifying the new trade agreement between the U.S., Mexico and Canada that was negotiated last year. These tariffs are costing U.S. consumers and businesses a lot of money, yet Trump’s approval rate remains remarkably high, higher than Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s, for instance. Apparently a significant portion of Americans don’t mind the constant chaos their president creates or maybe they just like having a bully on their side. — KR &