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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1996-01-17, Page 4Winter coat Letters THE EDITOR, After a review of the concerns regarding the Home Care movelhe Huron County Board of Health hopes to ensure that proper information is available to the public concerning the move which will occur the week of Jan. 25. The facilities at the Health and Library Complex are fully accessible. Anyone wishing to replenish supplies may do so at a ground floor, wheelchair accessible supply area. Offices are located on both the first and second floors with a fully accessible hospital style elevator directly off the foyer. The Long Term Care Reform Act speaks to the concept of a one-stop access for community based health related services. The Health and Library Complex accomplishes this by providing offices for the Public Health programs, Huron Addiction and Assessment Referral Services, Placement Co-ordination Services, Home Care and the opportunity for community based nursing, therapy and homemaker agencies to locate their offices on the premises. In fact, the board is in negotiation with some of these agencies who wish to rent space there. The renovations which resulted in the Health and Library Complex were first discussed some 10 years ago when the county was making decisions on whether to build a new Huronview or to renovate. In 1993, the county was successful in obtaining $1 million from the province to renovate the now Health and Library Complex for the use of all components of the Health Unit. Most specifically, though it was to house Home Care, indeed space was allocated for all the agencies such as Community Nursing Services and Town and Country Homemakers. The idea was to have a one-stop access for health related agencies. This was the province's wish so they put up just under half of the money with the county coming up with the remainder. The Huron County Home, Care Program will have more space in the Health and Library Complex than they have now. They will also have access to common meeting rooms and staff lunch room facilities. Home Care's move is planned and expected. It was always part of the plan that the Home Care offices would move to the renovated premises. There will be no increase in cost to either the county or the province with this move. The Board of Health is currently in negotiation with the landlord about the lease arrangements. The savings in utility costs alone of approximately $10,000 once Home Care moves out and we can go to minimum utility requirements, will go to offset the cost of the move. Once the negotiations with the landlord over the lease are complete, the rent payments will go to the county for the space occupied in the Health and Library Complex. The total cost of rent and utilities currently paid per square foot exceeds the current rent per square foot charged by the County. Ron Murray Chair, Huron County Board of Health. THE EDITOR, And the battle rages on. We lose a lot of time and money fighting about our differences. Why not focus on what we have in common. No matter what race or colour, we are people first. We are the only spiritual beings with the ability to think and should use it to help one another to find peace. To make war by seeking power by one group over the other is a futile exercise. Territorial and material gain Continued on page 5 PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 17, 1996 C The North Huron itizen • CNA BLUE RIBBON AWARD 1995 P.O. Box 429, P.O. Box 152, Publisher, Keith Roulston BLYTH, Ont. BRUSSELS, Ont. Editor, Bonnie Gropp NOM 1H0 NOG 1H0 Phone 523-4792 Phone 887-9114 Advertising Manager, FAX 523-9140 FAX 887-9021 Jeannette McNeil The Citizen is published weekly in Brussels, Ontario by North Huron Publishing Company Inc. Subscriptions are payable in advance at a rate of $25.00/year ($23.37 + $1.63 G.S.T.) for local; $33.00/year ($30.85 + $2.15 G.S.T.) for local rotter carrier in Goderich, Hanover, Listowel, etc. and out-of-area (40 miles ;rom Brussels); $62.00/year for U.S.A. and Foreign. Advertising is accepted on the condition that In the event (34,- 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 Cultural Revolution hits Ont. Trying to run a municipal government in Ontario these days must make local politicians feel a little like the Chinese did under the Cultural Revolution of Chairman Mao Tse Tung — everything that was the right thing to do under the former NDP government is now the wrong thing to do under the Conservatives. When Mao unleashed his Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution, people who had been servants of their government suddenly found the rules had changed and they were suddenly the enemy. In the crazy world of Ontario politics the situation may not be quite so threatening, but it is as confusing. Huron County, for instance, is still dealing with the economic repercussions from retroactive pay-equity settlements instituted by the past NDP government while it must deal with the funding cuts of the current Progressive Conservative government. The county is gearing up for a revision of its official plan as required by the Planning Act revisions under the NDP (the law that is still in effect) but the Harris government has vowed to scrap the changes. The county is preparing a county waste management strategy that leans heavily on increasing the amount of material that is recycled, and thus kept out of the landfills, and the province is cutting funding to the Blue Box recycling program. Municipal officials could get whiplash trying to keep up with the changing directions of the provincial government as voters first elected a government more left-wing than ever in history, then replaced it with the most right-wing government in at least a half-century. Hopefully Ontario is not going to be stuck in the kind of pendulum that Britain or British Columbia has experienced in times past where the government alternates between left and right, each party bent on undoing all the efforts of its predecessor. — KR Morality a must in trade Prime Minister Jean Chrdtien upset some Indian government officials and some of the 300 Canadian business leaders on his trade mission to southern Asia on the weekend when he suggested Canada may have to put some controls on importing products made by child slaves. The Prime Minister was embarrassed into dealing with the child labour situation by 13-year-old Thornhill resident Craig Kielberger who travelled to India to publicize the plight of children, some of whom had been shackled to looms to make carpets. He introduced some of the victims of this practice to the Canadian media travelling with the prime minister. Pressed by reporters, the prime minister remarked that perhaps Canada would have to look at implementing a policy similar to one in Germany that requires businesses trading with Asian countries to insert a clause in all contracts that child labour cannot be used. Indian government officials were, of course, appalled, saying such restrictions would be "neo-protectionist" trade barriers. An Indian newspaper quoted one unnamed Canadian businessman as saying the "rime minister's remark was an "ominous development in an otherwise successful visit". As the world moves closer to free trade and companies move beyond the regulatory arm of national governments, there must be some way of enforcing a moral standard. Canadians would never think of reverting to slavery 160 years after it was banned here, yet we are buying products made by children sold into bondage. We wouldn't allow Canadian businesses to use child labour, but we have Canadian businesses who are importing cheap products that can be marked up for substantial profits. Many would prefer Kielberger to just go away. They prefer to keep selling and keep buying those products with the clear conscience of not knowing that they were created under such conditions. If, however, we consumers save money in our shopping list, if Canadian businesses make large profits on the backs of the child labourers we are just as guilty as those who chain them to the looms. Trade and human rights arc difficult companions. Canadians cannot expect everyone in the world to live like them. We cannot expect our Mini1119n1 wage laws to apply in Third WorldFpuntries. We can expect, however, that slave and child labour have nb' part in products on the Canadian marketplace. Commerce and profit cannot come before humanity. — KR E ditorial