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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1995-03-15, Page 4Citizen 2NA The North Huron eA P.O. Box 429, P.O. Box 152, Publisher, Keith Roulston BLYTH, Ont. BRUSSELS, Ont. Editor, Bonnie Gropp NOM 1H0 NOG 1140 Phone 523-4792 Phone 887-9114 Sales Representatives, FAX 523.9140 FAX 887.9021 Jeannette McNeil and Julie Mitchell 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, Llstowel, 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 VERIFIED CIRCULATION Letters THE EDITOR, I have a beef that I think should be looked into. This past winter I have been forced to drive a lot more due to my health. I have driven in good and very bad conditions. It seems that other drivers you meet on the highways are better drivers and they don't need headlights. I have been driving for 22 years and I'm not sure in that time the countless times, that I have encountered an oncoming car or truck that has had one headlight out or none. Do these people realize the danger they put themselves in and others? I feel the police should be watching for this more as it will make the roads safer, and heavy fines and maybe points should be taken away as most of these people know that their lights have been out for sometime. I am not saying that lights don't burn out but I do know that we have people in the area who have been driving for several months now with no replacements to burned out lights. Also, signal lights on cars are standard equipment and some think that cars arc meant to stop on a dime. If they turn right or left without signalling they don't give the person behind a hope in hell of stopping. I don't think that all drivers have "ESP" to know what the driver ahead will do. This is worse than not wearing a seat belt and should be enforced more. I'm sure across the province it would reduce a lot of unnecessary accidents. David K. McArthur. THE EDITOR, When it arrived in myinailbox, I wondered whether the election style pamphlet from MPP Paul .Klopp, was paid for by him, NDP party, or if perhaps as a taxpayer, I also had contributed. I was curious enough to phone Mr. Klopp's office, which informed me that the taxpayers had indeed paid the bill. Now, perhaps I'm wrong, but to me this seems inappropriate, since the pamphlet takes some jabs at the Liberals and Lyn McLeod, as well as the Conservatives. Don't get me wrong, I'm not fan of the Liberals or Conservatives, but it just doesn't seem right to use taxpayers' dollars for political propaganda. To top things off, the author of the pamphlet insults my intelli- gence by telling me that our NDP government was the first to cut the cost of government in Ontario in more than 50 years. It now costs $1.2 billion less to run government than it did three years ago." Now even I who doth detest our NDP government, would cheer for them if they had spent $1.2 billion less than the Peterson Liberals before them. But that is not the case. That would make them right wing. (Conservative, Reform, Family Coalition, Libertarian). No, the NDP way of lowering the cost of government is to first escalate spending to new records, and then take a bow and ask for cheers when through great restraint they cut back to levels which are still higher than that of any previous government. Nice try though, Bob and Paul, you can still fool some of the people some of the time. I especially like the line in• the pamphlet which reads "Under their leadership (the Conservatives) spending soared. Now they want to cut and slash..." Do I read correctly? Are the NDP condemning soaring spending? Further on in their election Photo by Jeannette McNeil pamphlet, we are told that "the Bob Rae government is controlling spend and living within our means in order to preserve the services and programs you and your family depend on." One thing is for sure, the NDP definition of "living within our means" is different than for many families in Ontario who have to face reality and live with balanced family budgets. Oh well, good luck Paul and Bob. You're going to need some. Allan Dettweiler. THE EDITOR, In response to a February 22, 1995 article in The Blyth Citizen, page 1, several points need clarifying. The payment of the 1994 village grant to the Festival was held back at the direction of the reeve until such time as the ongoing account between the village and the festival was finalized. At the regular council meeting of Feb. 20, Festival representatives indicated they had no idea what the questionable $6,000 was all about. In the fall of 1992 Village council and Blyth Festival representatives, accompanied by their solicitors, met to settle an outstanding account which arose during the construction of the Dinsley Street Garage building and the link addition to Memorial Hall. The outstanding lawsuit relating to the construction at the Dinsley Street Garage building was settled. The Festival agreed to pay the contractor his $6,000 holdback. Because of the financial position of the Festival at the time of payment and advice from the solicitors, the $6,000 cheque was issued through the Village, to be reimbursed later. At the October 1994 meeting to discuss the Joint Use Agreement the following individuals were present: Festival representatives (General Manager, Susan Moffat and Vice President, Don Continued on page 5 PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15, 1995. Not only money runs out The current dispute between Canada and Spain over fishing quotas for turbot highlights the issue that is often overlooked in our obsession with budget deficits: there's an environmental deficit too and it is even more irrevocable than the fiscal shortfalls. We have screwed up the environment in the Atlantic. Desperation and greed led to over-fishing which has cleaned out the fish stocks of many types of commercial fish. Huge factory ships have been ever more "efficient", virtually vacuuming up the fish and processing them right on board. Canadians, from ordinary fishermen in Newfoundland, to fisheries officials in Ottawa, are as guilty as the rest of the world in the demise of the fish stocks. The big companies with their big ships, wanted to maximize profits. The small fishing boat crews wanted just to keep working, at least to get enough weeks of work to be eligible for unemployment insurance. All ignored the warning signs that nature could only be pushed so far. Today we are paying the price for the ignorance we displayed in past decades. The cod stocks are virtually gone. Other fisheries are also closed. The turbot is the only fish stock left. Fishermen from poor areas on both sides of the Atlantic, are desperate to keep working. Trawler owners, with a huge investment in ships, are pressed to find fish somewhere to repay their investment. Money is driving us to do absolutely idiotic things. It has apparently led the Spanish fleet to seek smaller and smaller fish, a recipe for disaster for the long-term fishery. But European leaders don't want to deal with the conservation and environmental issues, only with the financial and political ones. Whether or not Canada has much moral right to protest the actions of others, something has to be done to save fish stocks. It's interesting, however, to note that the very people who worry most about a country's financial deficit, are the most unwilling to believe that there is an environmental deficit — that nature can only be pushed so far. The consequences, however, are even more serious — not just the bankruptcy of a country, but losing the sustainability of life on the planet. Until we begin to give the same kind of importance to cutting our environmental deficit as we do the the budget deficit, stories like the turbot war will continue and people like the Newfoundland fishermen will continue to suffer. — KR This is how it's done It's interesting that the federal government wants to tell the provinces how to do things, and the provincial government thinks the municipalities can't be trusted to run their own affairs, but if anyone can give lessons on fiscal management, it's your local township, village or town. The excellent financial position of Brussels, reported Monday night, brought to mind how much things have changed over the years. At .about the same time that federal and provincial governments started getting in trouble 20 years ago, the municipalities began to greatly improve their situation. Remember back to 1975. Township roads were often blocked with snow for days, not just because winters were more severe, but because roads weren't built up as well as they are today. In towns and villages there were many streets that were unpaved and street lighting was abysmal in many corners of town. We had aged arenas that a year later would be condemned. Both Blyth and Brussels were without sewage treatment facilities. The financial situation wasn't much better. When Blyth village council decided to replace the roof on a condemned Memorial Hall in 1974, they had to debenture the debt. Last year Brussels was able to build a new fire hall without borrowing. Today most councils have capital reserve funds for just such an expense. There is very little municipal debt for capital programs at a time when senior governments arc borrowing for day-to-day operations. Most municipalities pass a borrowing bylaw, allowing for the borrowing of money from the bank to meet short-term cashflow shortages, but these days that is seldom used. Councils have built up healthy working capital reserves (in Brussels' case S107,000) so they can finance their own operations and save their taxpayers money. There are indications these days are about to pass. Federal government transfer cuts to the provinces will likely be passed on to the municipalities through cuts to unconditional grants (Brussels, for instance, gets $73,000 this year) and road grants (Brussels gets S50,400, many townships much more). Our municipal politicians and staffs have proved themselves wise money managers in the past and if anyone should be able to deal with the situation, they should. — KR E ditorial