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Home My WebLink AboutThe Citizen, 1995-03-01, Page 4Photo by April Bromley Looking Back Through the Years From the tiles of the Blyth Stan- dard, Brussels Post and the North Huron Citizen 28 YEARS AGO MAR. 2, 1967 Mrs. George Wheeler and Mrs. Carl Hemingway displayed the Centennial Quilt of the Brussels Horticultural Society on CKNX television. The Brussels Legion was the scene for an educational lecture on dental health. Dr. Stewart MacGre- gor also discussed plans to obtain dental services permanently in Brussels. Residents braved bad weather to attend a presentation of the Brus- sels Figure Skating Club. The annual show entitled "Colourama" featured 50 local skaters. Shirley Brown was the guest at the regular meeting of the Walton Women's Institute. She discussed her experiences while teaching at an outpost in the northern portion of Quebec. The top bowlers were Marion Machan and Dave Hastings. A 1963 Volkswagon was priced at $795, while a Ford Sedan cost $495. SEVEN YEARS AGO Mar. 2, 1988 Brussels area youth Peter Mac- Donald was named the Most Out- standing Male Athlete in Grey Township. Peter, along with partner Kerrie Shepherd of Blyth, won the gold medal at the Canadian Nation- al Figure Skating Championships. Ruth Struthers of Ethel was selected as the Most Outstanding Female Athlete in Grey Twp. Her many accomplishments included a gold medal in speed skating at the Special Olympics. Winners of the public speaking contest at the Brussels elementary school included: Lori Ann Black, Andy Overholt, Laura Cousins, Carla Johnston, and Holly Dauphin. The Blyth Beavers and Cubs celebrated Scout-Guide Week with their annual banquet. The boys enjoyed free skating at the arena, a pot luck dinner, and a singsong led by Wayne McClinchey. In hockey action the Blyth Tykes coasted to a 9-2 victory over Huron Park. Darryl Bromley and Cory Shannon led the team with two goals each. Miles away at a tournament in Shallow Lake the Blyth Midgets claimed an overtime victory that captured them the WOAA crown. Letters THE EDITOR, The Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Ontario SPCA) is offering a free Animal Alert Sticker to pet owners. The attractive sticker alerts people to the fact that there are animals inside the residence. This information is important and could save your pet's life should an emergency situation arise. The adhesive is on the front of Continued on page 5 PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1, 1995. C The North Huron itizen eNA P.O. Box 429, P.O. Box 152, BLYTH, Ont. BRUSSELS, Ont. NOM 1H0 NOG 1H0 Phone 523.4792 Phone 887-9114 FAX 523.9140 FAX 887-9021 Publisher, Keith Roulston Editor, Bonnie Gropp Sales Representatives, Jeannette McNeil and Julie Mitchell VERIFIED CIRCULATION The Citizen is published weekly in Brussels, Ontario by North Huron Publishing Company Inc. Subscriptions are payable in advance at a rate of $23.00/year ($21.50 plus $1.50 G.S.T.) for local; $33.00/year ($30.85 plus $2.15 G.S.T.) for local letter carrier in Goderich, Hanover, Listowel, etc. and out-of-area (40 miles from Brussels); $62.00/year for U.S.A. and Foreign. 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: Monday, 2 p.m. - Brussels; Monday, 4 p.m. - Blyth. We are not responsible for unsolicited newscripts or photographs. Contents of The Citizen are Copyright. Publications Mail Registration No. 6968 Playing the regional game Finance Minister Paul Martin must know he's come as close as he could to a good budget — all the right people are complaining. The Reform Party is complaining he didn't cut enough while the Bloc Quebecois says he cut too much. And all the provincial premiers are complaining that their province got hit too hard. Premier Bob Rae blasted the budget, saying it will cost 90,000 jobs in Ontario. The Quebec treasurer says Ottawa is trying to hand the province its debt. Saskatchewan complains that eastern farmers got favoured because dairy subsidies were caught 30 per cent while the grain transportation subsidy will be cut entirely (though he conveniently forgets there is a $1.6 billion one-time buyout to grain producers). It's an old game: looking good for your own votes by blaming the feds for all that's wrong. Bob Rae needs somebody to fight when the election comes up in Ontario. By blaming the federal Liberals he also tars the opposition Liberals with the same brush. Quebec wants to make the federal government look bad so people will vote for separation. In the west, blaming the east for everything has always been comforting. But in their complaints the premiers are pointing out the greatest long-term danger of the budget Mr. Martin brought down: loosing the strings that hold Canada together. Canadian voters turned down the idea of a decentralized Canada when they voted against the Charlottetown Accord but what didn't happened through constitutional reform, has now happened through budgetary restraint. The budget proposes to turn over control of health care, education and social services to the provinces. It is what the provinces have claimed they want for years now, except that the feds are not going to give them as much money to run the programs as they all dreamed about. But Mr. Martin wasn't terribly honest when he delivered his budget. He suggested that there will still be national standards in health care and education, that this will be a win/win situation with more local control but the same universal access we have always had. But when the provinces control health care, for example, it's not hard to imagine that the health care system in right-wing Alberta will be very different than in NDP-run Saskatchewan next door. Mr. Martin has perhaps yielded to the inevitable in creating the kind of decentralization that the provinces have wanted for years. But unless the provinces can now get together and come up with mutually-agreed national standards for education and health care and social services, we may end up with 10 little countries pretending they still are part of one big country. Quebec may have won its independence, even if the referendum is lost. Alberta may be independent too. The question is, now that Mr. Martin has yielded to the inevitable, will Canada be next? Will the forces that are always pulling this country apart be stronger than the federal government which has tried to string it together? Will the regional game-playing shown by the premiers eventually lead to the destruction of the country? Mr. Martin has, to borrow the phrase of a former prime minister, "rolled the dice" big-time.--- KR Repeating old mistakes Whether or not Huron County will be affected by the move by Ontario Education Minister Dave Cooke to reduce the number of school boards in Ontario remains to be seen, but let's hope he doesn't repeat the same mistakes as Bill Davis more than 25 years ago. In a television interview recently, Paul Carroll, Huron County Director of Education, pinpointed exactly the danger of the move. Huron, he said, is still trying to recover from the decision to kill off local school board in favour of a county board back in 1969. Lost was a tremendous sense of volunteerism in the local schools, a sense of ownership, Mr. Carroll said. Back then you probably knew all the trustees at your local elementary school. They were your neighbours. They worked for nothing in the interest of the community. Suddenly the schools became distant places, even when they were in the midst of the community. The recent move to school councils is trying to rebuild the sense of ownership we once took for granted. Today you arc lucky if you personally have met the trustee from your area of the county. If Huron was forced to join, say, Perth, the governance of the education system would be even more distant. Schools would suffer again. In large cities there may be too many boards, with trustees paid too much. Here, amalgamating boards would be a tragic repetition of history. —KR E ditorial