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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1995-02-08, Page 27Engagement George and Elizabeth Procter of R.R. 5, Brussels, Ontario, are pleased to announce the engagement of their daughter Katherine Jane, to Mr. Michael Dale Klages, son of Terry and Anne Klages of Chesley. The wedding will take place in Knox United Church, Belgrave, on Saturday, February 18, 1995. Following the ceremony, an open reception will take place in the Belmore Community Centre at 9:00 p.m. Please accept this as your invitation to attend. Star of Les Miserables Singing Songs From. "Les Miserables *Man of LaMancha And other show favorites SUN. FEBRUARY 26, 7 P.M. BLYTH MEMORIAL HALL Tickets $20.00 at BLYTH DECORATING, ERNIE KINGS 93 LTD. (Wingham) or Call (519) 672-1967 1:1111.i .-1111V • PARK THEATRE :NE . - GODERICH 524-7811 "Two ENTHUSIASTIC THUMBS UP! I THINKTHIS IS ONE OF THE YEAR'S BEST PICTURES." GINI ShAi l.. ',MCI I Si SI ST Fri.-Thurs. Feb. 10-16 Fri. & Sat. 7 & 9 pm Sun.-Thurs. 8 pm LONG DISTANCE? CALL 1-800-255-3438 FOR TOLL FREE MOVIE INFO :51 ;.11 t'5 ei ri :43 Friday & Saturday ONLY 7:00 p.m. r-! 114 JunIc3r t? art LYCEUM SATEtE Phone 357-1630 for 24 hour movie information Starts Friday February 10, 1995 Street Fighter Fri &.Sat 9:00 p.m. Sun - Thurs 8.00 p.m. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1995. PAGE 27. Minister outlines NDP accomplishments not been for the Social Contract." The recovery mode continued through 1993 and into the spring of 1994, leading to economic expan- sion, he says. Statistics supplied by the provin- cial government show Ontarians witnessing a drop of 2.9 per cent in the output growth in 1991. The fol- lowing year, the percent change was an increase of .5 per cent, than another 2.1 per cent in 1993. The government forecasts a per cent change in output growth by 4.5 for 1994 and maintaining a level of around four per cent until 1998. "We have set a target of two per cent inflation to help sustain the growth," says Mr. Ward. "Private sector consultants have suggested that Ontario will lead the country in growth and I believe we will lead the G-7 nations." Job creation has been a priority with the NDP, developing 186,000 positions in the last 11 months, says Mr. Ward, and plan 142,000 per year from '95 to '98. "This is the fastest rate of growth, sustained over the longest period, since 1988." Mr. Ward listed several areas were Ontarians still require assis- tance in the job search: youth can't find their first job, some adults who really want employment are still having trouble finding it, jobs are changing radically with new tech- nology, older workers who have lost their job need help and the recurrent question concerning the length of the work week and job sharing. "Our next goal is to make sure our people have the necessary skills for the changing world," says Mr. Ward. Partnerships The government has developed several partnership programs dur- ing their tenure to create co-opera- tion, says Mr. Ward. "The jobsOntario initiative has created 600 to 700 jobs in Huron County." The jobsOntario Capital program has invested $14.7 billion, in sup- port of private-sector jobs, in areas such as road, bridges, school and hospital construction, he says. The Ontario Training and Adjust- ment Board will work with a $1 billion budget to help 370,000 peo- ple maintain and improve their skills. jobsOntario Training has assisted increases and the Social Contract." companies to grow through training "There would have been 40,000 and teamwork while jobsOntario laid-off in the public sector if it had Community Action has put local Sep. school bd. accepts tenders With the construction of St. Anne's Catholic Secondary School in Clinton well underway, numer- ous tenders were accepted by the Huron-Perth Roman Catholic Sepa- rate School Board at the Jan. 23 meeting. All tenders include PST and GST and arc subject to verification by Ellis-Don Construction Ltd. and C.A. Ventin Architect. Ltd. The tenders included: Cameron Glazing, $90,870; S.T.S. Security and Communication Systems Ltd., $91,772.16; Ray Twist Ornamental Iron Craft Ltd., 525,214; Superior Floor and Wall Ltd., S82,601.57; J.A. McDonald for drywwall and acoustical ceiling, S122,648; Shear Metal Products, S39,536,50; Donal- co for sprayed. fireproofing, $11,485; Concdfd for a handicap lift, S10,570; Nansai Corporation for lockers and washroom compart- ments, S34,685 and S5,4(K) respec- tively; Northern Roofing, $194,895; Gordon Electric, $419,069; W.E. Saunders and Sons Painters, S65,113.78; Arpro Con- struction for folding partitions, $21,667.50, Barwood Flooring Ltd., $88,809.18 and Weber Archi- tectural Products Inc. for door hard- ware, $73,468.90. Credits were approved to go to the Redamax copper tube boiler, $900; Fulton steam boiler, $1,800 and $3,650 to delete the water soft- ening system. The board's 10 appointments to the Special Education Advisory Committee were Deborah Culliton, Vivian Mills, Eugene Dufor, Janet Culliton, Joan Hill, Trudy Bardoel, Carolyn Carter, Cathy Hubbard, Betty Crowley and Neil Murray. Bernard Murray, trustee for St. Marys, Downie and Blanchard Twps. will represent the board on the tri-board steering committee. Several staff adjustment were made including hiring Kevin Den- stedt as a probationary teacher, approving the part-time leave of absence from September 1995 to August 1998 for Tina Doherty, appointing Ron McDonald to the position of Acting Department Head from Jan. 24 to June 30 and hiring Karen Mavity for the secre- tary position. growth into local hands, he says. Community Action helps resi- dents plan their future and develop community assets. "We want to encourage a climate for business growth." Services The health care system is a great concern to many, says Mr. Ward. "We are not spending less, but re- allocating the resources. We are moving to more community-based services to keep people in their homes longer. Hospitals still receive 33 per cent of the budget." The provincial government is having to deal with a great deal of external pressure from Ottawa, he says. "We are owed $86 billion in transfer payments and we must wait on proposed changes to the social security policies and post- secondary education cuts." Internal pressures come from an aging population which will require more health care and drug benefits, an increasing demand for afford- able day care, and skills training, he says. "Long-term social assistance recipients must also be helped." Plans are being developed, says Mr. Ward. The budget The $40 billion deficit now faced by Ontarians was built up over the many years since the war, he says. "We reduced the deficit by 30 per cent in two years. It is the first time in 50 years government spending has dropped for two consecutive years." "The NDP have also decreased the cost of running the government by 16 per cent, from $7.5 billion to $6.3 billion." "The NDP will have a balanced operating budget in 1998, allowing the government (of the day) more flexibility," he says. Public input Several taxpayers in attendance reminded Mr. Ward about the effects of cutbacks on hospitals, particularly on smaller community hospitals, such as in Huron County, which have a greater sensitivity to fmancial restraints. Mr. Ward acknowledged that there have been shocks to the sys- tem, but says the government should be able to maintain services without any further cuts. There is the necessity for small hospitals to top up doctors' fees to ensure emergency room and on-call services, says Marg Makins, chair of the Clinton Hospital Board The low volume of emergency or on-call duties required by rural doctors do not allow comparable billing for the service, as high-vol- ume facilities. Rural communities are treated unfairly by the OHIP pool and the Ontario Medical Association refused to address the problem, she says. Rural doctors only make up five per cent of all physicians. "The money used to top up doc- tors' fees is taken from a surplus built up for the purchase of new equipment. Our surplus is almost gone," says Ms Makins. "If we run a deficit, we would be required to lay-off people in areas such as housekeeping or records to pay the doctors fees." Agriculture budget South Huron farmer Bob Downs expressed concerns that agriculture had taken hefty cuts in the last few budgets, saying the reductions were greater than in other areas. "The government has come out with some initiatives to assist farm- ers, such as FarmPlus and the Com- modity Loan Program," says Mr. Ward. The payouts to farmers, in the last three years, are the highest in 10 or 12 years. The agriculture budget is down, but more of it is going to farmers, he says. Responding to a suggestion that the bureaucracy be cut, Huron MPP Paul Klopp said positions are being reduced, the size of the head office in Guelph is being cut and more people are getting out in the com- munity to work with the farmers. Support of the arts Hoping to ensure a balance between the economic support and the survival of the arts, Listowel District Secondary School drama teacher and new member of the Blyth Festival Board of Directors, Carol Oriold questioned govern- ment support. "For every $1 which goes to sup- port the arts, $6 is brought into the community," says Mr. Ward. "It has a positive effect on society and should not be neglected." Admitting to cuts in the Tourism and Recreation Ministry budget, Mr. Klopp suggested local arts groups should look into funding through the jobsOntario Communi- ty Action program. By Janice Becker The 25 to 30 people who attend- ed the pre-budget consultation meeting in Clinton an Jan. 30 received an extensive outline of the work the provincial NDP party has done since their election in 1990. Brad Ward, Minister without Portfolio in Finance addressed the gathering, saying it was good to get out among the real people, to let the people of Ontario know what is going on and to receive input because the budget affects every- one. Mr. Ward is touring the smaller communities while Finance Minis- ter Floyd Laughren visits Sudbury, Thunder Bay, Sault Saint Marie, Ottawa, Windsor, Hamilton, Lon- don, and Kingston. This is the third year of public forums on the budget, says Mr. Ward, and we have tried to give the province what they have asked for. "In 1993, the people asked for a tough budget and they got it. In 1994, they asked for no new taxes and that is what we gave them." "There have been requests that the provincial debt no longer be held by international bond holders. In February of this year, the gov- ernment will issue Ontario provin- cial bonds so the debt can be held within the province," he says. Battling the recession "We were in the worst recession in 1990, since the 30s and we developed a three-phase economic plan to combat it." The first step was to battle the recession by stimulating business investment, he says. (A govern- ment) cannot spend its way out of a recession. The government set up an anti- recession fund, providing money for infrastructure works and a man- ufacturing recovery program. Though jobs created through infrastructure monies might be short-term work, the benefits would be long-term, he says, by maintain- ing the internal structures of the province. The manufacturing program pro- vided assistance for the companies to get over the hump of the reces- sion. In 1992, the second phase of the recovery began with positive eco- nomic growth, says Mr. Ward. "We wanted to be in a position to assist in the recovery and this resulted in the 1993 budget, tax