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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1996-01-24, Page 4A picture of tranquility Photo by Janice Becker Looking Back Through the Years From the files of the Blyth Stan- dard, Brussels Post and the North Huron Citizen 5 YEARS/WO JANUARY 23, 1991 After placing first in the Western Ontario Junior Dance Champi- onship and third at the Central Canada competition, Peter Mac- Donald, of Brussels, and his part- ner, Suzanne Killing, were heading to the Canadian Nationals. Cornflower Blue was the first play announced for the upcoming season of the Blyth Festival The- atre. Peter Smith was artistic direc- tor. The longest running business, under the same name, on the main street of Atwood closed. Peebles Furniture Store ceased operation after 56 years. Blyth Venturers boasted mem- bership of eight. A 20-year reunion hockey game was held between the Belgrave Intermediates and Midgets with Brian Coultes and Larry Robinson taking the faceoff. Rick Packer of RR1, Londesboro and Paul van Veen of RR1, Ethel, were named to the Huron County Pork Producers Association. 1 YEAR AGO JANUARY 25, 1995 Huron-Bruce MP Paul Steckle warned the Christian Farmers Association that federal govern- ment cutbacks would affect agricul- ture and that these measures should have been taken years ago. OPP had no suspects after Old- field's Hardware, McNeils' Auto Body and the Brussels Legion were broken into. Patrick Hallahan took the Blyth Veterinarian Clinic Award for Senior Heifer while Jamie Hallahan earned the trophy in the Summer Yearling Calf class and Ryan Hal- lahan took the Intermediate Heifer category at the Hallrice 4-H Dairy achievement night. The Huron Plowmen's Associa- tion had two sites on their list as candidates in the bid for the 1999 International Plowing Match. Joe Semple of Grey Twp. and Ken Glanville of Winthrop had declared their intentions. Grey council doubled the dog licensing fees to $20. CHuMS service came to the Blyth and Brussels area. The Blyth Snow Travellors poker rally was cancelled until further notice. Two dairy cattle, bred by Fred and Jack Armstrong of Auburn, were involved in broken production records. One became the milk and protein production champ while another was the sire of a top milk producer. PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24, 1996 C The North Huron itizen 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 letter carrier In Goderich, Hanover, Listowel, etc. and out-of-area (40 miles from Brussels); $62.00/year for U.S.A. and $75.00/year for 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: 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 Rae's plan looks good now When former Premier Bob Rae announced his plans to retire from politics he suggested that his most controversial policy might someday be seen as a forward thinking solution to the problem of government cutbacks. He was talking about the "social contract" and many public servants may now agree. Faced with having to ctit a massive provincial deficit, the Progressive Conservative government of Mike Harris is looking at a complete overhaul of all public spending. Thousands of people will lose their jobs. While there's no doubt there will be some efficiency gains through the move, there will also be a reduction in service and a huge amount more unemployment. If 25,000 government employees lose their jobs (and perhaps more in school boards, hospitals and municipalities through cuts in provincial transfer payments), it will be more families to not be spending money and more people to be collecting unemployment insurance and, eventually, welfare. Rae's solution was different. He suggested, in his social contract proposal, that nearly everyone could keep their job if everyone agreed to take less. Stuck on the principle that a contract was a contract and employees should never negotiate less than what they had, public sector unions refused to go along. In fact the social contract cost Rae the support of the labour movement in the last election as the unions turned against him and indirectly helped elect the Harris government they now hate even more. When economists talk about how to deal with the problem of a seemingly permanent high unemployment rate (even companies making high profits are laying off employees these days), one of their proposals sounds amazingly like Rae's social contract. They suggest that people should share jobs: that people would have more leisure time in return for taking less money. The infamous "Rae days", in which employees got extra time off with no pay, was Rae's way of making this happen after he failed to get the support of unions. It made government dollars stretch further by sharing the pain rather than creating winners (those who kept their jobs) and losers. In the long run, we must find a better way than the current system of slashing employment. Companies that have "down-sized" by firing employees, have often found they were less efficient, not more, after the cuts because they lost their most precious resource: their staff. Even those left after this government cutback will be traumatized and worried about their future when the next round of cuts comes. Moreover the general air of gloom hurts the entire economy as people react to the sense of emergency and worry about their own futures. People stop spending and the government's revenues drop, necessitating even more government cutbacks and layoffs. Bob Rae tried to break that cycle with the social contract. It's ironic that while he may have screwed up in a lot of areas his most far- thinking proposal may have been the one that makes him reviled among those who should have been his staunchest supporters. — KR With friends like these . . . After a couple of months of stunned silence after the Quebec referendum, suddenly the air was filled last week with proposals for a "new" Canada that would keep the country intact. Sort of. From Bank of Montreal President Matthew Barrett to CRTC Chairman Keith Spicer to Reform Party Leader Preston Manning, the proposed solution to the crisis always seems to be the same — strip power from the federal government and give it to the provinces. Ironically, the proposals would give Quebec nationalists what they always wanted. The nationalists want a country of their own within the safety of Canada in a kind of "parallel" confederation that would give Quebec, as the homeland of French Canadians, a "partnership" with the rest of Canada. People like Manning have always rejected the idea of one province having special powers — so he proposes to give all 10 provinces the same powers. The result would bT 10 tiny countries loosely linked by a common government to provide monetary policy and national defence. To save the country, most of these policies call for its dismantling. It's a little like treating a patient with a brain tumour by amputating the head. With friends like these, who needs enemies. — KR E ditorial