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The Citizen, 2019-08-22, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 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.huroncitizen.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 August 22, 1968 Murray Hoover came out on top of the Brussels Agricultural Society’s annual field crop competition for his barley, while Douglas Fraser topped the mixed grain category. The competition was judged by Norman Schmidt of Mildmay. Residents were urged to support their local firefighters by attending the donkey baseball game scheduled for Aug. 24. The firefighters would be taking on a team comprised of local Lions Club and Legion members. August 22, 1973 The Blyth Standard was honoured nationally with two Canadian Community Newspaper Association Awards, handed out in Calgary, Alberta the previous weekend. The Standard earned a silver medal for its editorial page and a bronze medal in general excellence in its circulation class. The Clinton News-Record was also honoured with three awards in its circulation class for 1972. Standard Publisher Keith Roulston had been the editor of the News- Record until June, 1972, when he made the move to Blyth. The Blyth Board of Trade was working on finalizing plans for a sidewalk sale as part of the annual reunion of the Huron Pioneer Thresher and Hobby Association. In addition, Board President Keith Roulston was looking for paintings for the art sale, also planned for that weekend. The Blyth Agricultural Society would hold a pork barbecue on Sept. 1, welcoming people to enjoy not only the meal, but to also watch the Blyth Softball League game that night, as well as a performance by the Blyth Little Theatre at Blyth Public School to round out the night. August 23, 1995 The Walton TransCan continued to grow, attracting 6,000 spectators to the small community for the fourth year of the races. Organizer and property owner Chris Lee said that 650 racers took part, which was an increase from the 500 who were there the previous year. Blyth Village Council pledged to clean up the abandoned CPR rail line running through Blyth. Councillors toured the line on Aug. 16, coming to the conclusion that the line would be ideal for a walking trail. At council’s Aug. 21 meeting, Councillor Doug Scrimgeour said developing the line into a walking trail would be a big improvement in the community. “The arch is an architectural wonder with its cut stone construction,” he said. A draft plan, designed by Clerk John Stewart and Phil Beard and Kevin Coultes from local conservation authorities, would be presented to council at its Sept. 5 meeting. The design would establish a system of walking and hiking trails, as well as areas for fishing, picnics and recreation. In the hopes of fulfilling a long- time dream, Luann Taylor, Ken Hesselwood and their children were working to open Luann’s Country Flowers in Blyth in the former home of Wilson’s Health and Gift Centre. August 20, 2009 Over 25,000 made their way to the Walton TransCan, despite the hot, dry stretch the community saw in the days leading up to the races. Hot, dry weather can often spell disaster for a motocross event, but Walton was spared any problems with course conditions as a result of the weather. Organizer and course owner Chris Lee said he was fully prepared to see a decrease in attendance of between 10 and 15 per cent, based on pre- registration numbers. However, with over 25,000 people attending, the event matched evenly with the previous year, which was a good one for the annual event. While the event was a success for organizers, several locals also found success on the track. Mitchell Godkin of the Walton area finished 11th in the supermini amateur class, while Cody Richmond of Brussels finished just behind Godkin in 12th place. Two Brussels hockey players, Cody Subject and Matt White, found themselves the victims of a scam, unfortunately flying all the way to France in order to make that discovery. The two young men flew to France to take part in what was billed as an international hockey tournament to showcase their skills to professional scouts. However, once they arrived, they found a number of problems, including that the tournament wasn’t properly sanctioned and a number of local teams were not allowing their players to participate. While the 60 players from Ontario formed their own teams and played games among themselves, the trip turned out to be one big disappointment, according to one of the player’s parents. Peel Police were still investigating the incident, unsure if the services weren’t rendered because of fraudulent means or whether the contracts were entered into in good faith and something broke down along the way. 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 One ‘little’ decision It probably didn’t seem like a big deal when a 23-year-old in London last week decided she could still drive home even though she’d had too much to drink. We now know that it wasn’t a “little” decision at all. The driver in question went the wrong way down a one-way street, lost control of her car, hit a house and broke off the natural gas pipe serving that house. After neighbours pulled her from the car, the leaking gas exploded. Seven houses were destroyed and several others damaged. Residents of 100 homes had to be evacuated. Seven people, including police and fire personnel, were taken to hospital. The city’s resources were strained dealing with the repercussions of the incident. It’s been estimated the cost may reach $15 million. The young driver has been charged with four counts of impaired operation causing bodily harm and impaired operation with a blood- alcohol concentration above the legal limit. Here’s hoping that rather than feeling sorry for herself, she understands what damage her “little” decision caused and realizes she’s lucky things weren’t even worse. Miraculously, no one died in the incident. We can point fingers at this foolish, careless driver, or we can look at our own driving behaviour and the consequences we’ve fortunately escaped. What if someone unseen had been coming when we passed a “slow” driver when the highway markings said we shouldn’t. What if we’d lost control when we were so sure we could safely drive faster than a highway speed limit we thought was too slow. What if a child had run into the street as we stretched the posted speed limit in an urban area. The lesson we can learn from that London driver’s enormous mistake is that we need to imagine the worst, rather than the best, that could happen when we take a chance while driving. We’ve all made mistakes. We can all make fewer mistakes by thinking more clearly. — KR This legislation’s a bad sign Aug. 30 is the deadline for gas station operators in Ontario to become supporters of Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s war against the federal carbon tax – whether they like it or not. Under the provincial government’s Federal Carbon Tax Transparency Act, gas pumps in Ontario must display a sign that shows the federal carbon tax adds 4.4 cents per litre to the price of gas now, and rising to 11 cents a litre in 2022. If they don’t display the signs, individual operators could be fined up to $500 each day, or up to $1,000 a day for subsequent offenses. Corporations could be fined up to $5,000 a day, or up to $10,000 a day for subsequent offenses. (And this from a government that claims it wants to cut red tape for businesses.) It’s surely one of the most outrageous abuses of power in Canada’s political history for the government to threaten to fine businesses if they don’t help the government promote its partisan political message. The stickers are even dishonest because they don’t mention that Ontario households get a carbon tax rebate of $307 from the federal government. Accuracy of the signs aside, it’s the fact that the clout of the government is being used against gas station operators that’s most disturbing. That such autocratic legislation could be one week from implementation says something uncomplimentary about Ontario residents who have let their Premier get away with such bullying.— KR Is this law worthwhile? Behind the “gotcha” politics of the SNC-Lavalin affair, raised again by last week’s finding by the Ethics Commissioner that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau broke the rules when his office interfered with Minister of Justice and Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould, lies a needed discussion of the worth of deferred prosecution agreements (DPA). The Prime Minister’s office had urged Wilson-Raybould to drop criminal charges against the engineering giant in favour of a DPA. DPAs have been used to reprimand, while also changing bad behavour, of large companies in the U.S. since the 1990s and in Britain since 2014. In the U.S., giants such as Boeing and General Electric have reached agreements to correct bad behaviour, often paying big fines and agreeing to clean up their act. In Britain, the engineering arm of Rolls-Royce paid a fine of $1.1 billion after admitting to paying bribes to foreign politicians to win contracts. That’s the charge against SNC-Lavalin, too. If it’s convicted (and despite all the fuss the company is still facing prosecution), it would be barred from bidding on federal contracts for 10 years, perhaps putting the jobs of thousands of workers at risk. The DPA debate in Canada is tainted because the company is a big Liberal supporter that lobbied to have the government adopt DPAs, and the legislation was sneaked into effect hidden within the budget. Never the less, DPAs have often been used (40-60 times a year in the U.S.) because it’s often difficult and expensive to convict deep-pocketed companies. Should SNC-Lavalin not be convicted, using a DPA might seem to have been smart policy after all. — KR &