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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1996-09-25, Page 4Photo by Les Cook Letters THE EDITOR, How many times in my years as a municipal councillor in Huron County have I heard the question — "Who made these rules?" I am referring to the policies and guidelines of the County Official Plan. The first Huron County Official Plan was written over 25 years ago. As the document which has the broadest statement of the county's goals and objectives related to land use and development, it has served the community well. Huron County is now writing a new county plan. The plan will affect many aspects of our everyday lives such as the location of business, environmental protection, and economic development strategies, just to name a few. In the midst of the constant change that we are faced with today, we need a strong statement of community goals. The new county plan is our plan and the only way to make it our plan is to give our input. An opportunity for you to participate in charting the future of Huron County is available to you with a series of workshops. All workshops are open to all members of the community. You may attend one or more of these workshops as they will build upon each other. The workshop themes are based on values and issues idefftified by nearly 1,000 county residents who participated in the Community Action Kits or attended earlier meetings. The themes, location and dates are as follows: Agriculture (Oct. 3 - Goderich Township Community Centre, Holmesville; Nov. 25 - Hensall Community Centre); Natural Environment (Oct. 10 - MVCA Office, Wroxeter; Oct. 23 - ABCA Office, East of Exeter); Aggregates (Nov. 6, OMAFRA, Clinton); Economy and Employ- ment (Oct. 15 - Erb's Country Kitchen, Zurich; Oct. 30 - Wingham Town Hall, Wingham; Nov. 13 - Goderich District Collegiate Institute, Goderich); Community Services (Oct. 16, Clinton . High School), and Settlement Patterns (Nov. 7 and 28 From the files of the Blyth Stan- dard, Brussels Post and the North Huron Citizen 1 YEAR AGO SEPT. 27, 1995 Union Gas pipelines were com- pleted and being gassed up in preparation for new customers. Rain fell on Brussels Fall Fair though President Dorothy Cum- mings was confident about good numbers. Norman Parks Garrett Memorial Scholarship winners at Central Huron Secondary School were: Tina Burkholder, April Bromley, Paul Hesse ls, Brian Machan, Stephanie Lentz, Kerry Hallahan, Joseph Fraser, Jackie Caldwell and Jennifer Stadelmann. Brussels Public School students spent an afternoon picking stones at the lot which would become the new ball park and soccer field behind BMG Arena. Brussels Medical Centre wel- comed Dr. Alan Kosaric to the staff. 9 YEARS AGO SEPT. 23, 1987 Jeff McGavin tallied the highest aggregate score in his division at the International Plowing Match in Meaford, earning him the title of Junior Plowman of 1987. The Citizen earned top honours in the Ontario Community Newspaper Association competition, being named the winner of the general excellence in advertising category for papers with circulation under - Clinton High School). Remember, the squeaky wheels gets the grease. If you want your ideas discussed and perhaps incorporated you need to present them at one of these meetings. , Pat Down, Chair, Huron County Planning and Development Committee. 2,500. Following the phenomenal suc- cess of Brussels' 115th birthday celebration, the homecoming com- mittee donated $12,000 to commu- nity projects. Mark Olsen of RR5, Wingham, a student at East Wawanosh Public School, earned the Junior Sheep Showmanship trophy at the Bel- grave, Blyth, Brussels School Fair. Bowes Electronic Shop, Blyth offered Belcor televisions for sale. A 14 inch cost $249, a 20 inch was $349 and a 20 inch with remote control and stand was $469. Walton Bantam Boys ball team won the Western Ontario Athletic Association playoffs and Tri-Coun- ty Championship. Staff at Brussels Public School petitioned parents and the commu- nity for support of a school band which would be integral to the Grade 6, 7, and 8 studies. 40 YEARS AGO SEPT. 5, 1956 Enrollment at Brussels Public School reached 122. The charge for services at the Brussels barbershop were: 75 cents for a hair cut; 85 cents, brush cut; 40 cents, children; 50 cents, town children on saturday; 15 cents, head rub; 50 cents shampoo and 20 cents, singe. Some of the movies showing on the big screen were: Underwater with Jane Russell and Richard Egan; Gunga Din with Cary Grant and The Violent Men with Edward G. Robinson and Glen Ford. Looking Back PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1996 C it izen The North Huron cn P.O. Box 429, BLYTH, Ont. NOM 1H0 Phone 523-4792 FAX 523-9140 P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, Ont. NOG 1H0 Phone 887-9114 FAX 887-9021 Publisher, Keith Rouiston Editor, Bonnie Gropp Advertising Manager, Jeannette McNeil PAID The Citizen Is published weekly in Brussels, Ontario by North Huron Publishing Company Inc. Subscriptions are payable in advance at a rate of $27.00/year ($25.24 + $1.76 G.S.T.) in Canada; $62.00/year In U.S.A. and $75.00/year In 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 Pitting us against each other For more than 20 years the deep thinkers in Queen's Park have been trying to reorganize Ontario's municipalities into some form of regional government with a lot of resistance. The 1996 version of the plan has managed to pit one community against another instead of the people against the provincial government. Regional government cost Bill Davis' Tories seats in rural Ontario and weakened their hold to the point where the Liberals formed their first government in 40 years in 1985. Soon the bureaucrats were bringing the topic up again, this time as reorganized counties. Again the attempt was beaten back. Now, under the Harris Tories, someone seems to have read Machiavelli. The government is telling municipalities 'reorganize yourselves or we'll do it for you'. That has set the fox among the chickens. Look, for instance, at last week's proposal by the Town of Goderich to amalgamate with all of Colborne Twp. and part of Goderich Twp. in a new municipality called — surprise, the Town of Goderich. (The plan was based on the fire agreement area for the Goderich fire department — Blyth better not be listening.) The plan was announced without, apparently, even discussing with the townships because they immediately rejected it. But it did bring pressure on the townships. They're discussing Goderich expanding its boundaries to take over some of the townships. The townships, meanwhile, also want to discuss amalgamating with Clinton. The province's ultimatum is going to cause all kinds of frictions, particularly because there are different needs and visions between larger and smaller communities. Towns like Goderich see themselves as the top of the evolutionary ladder and see the surrounding townships as land waiting for development as the town moves inevitably toward city status. The townships worry that, even in Huron County, the province's largest agricultural producing county, the interests of farmers will be lost to those who see farmland as undeveloped land. The only rule that seems to be operating in this amalgamation game is "who's got the most clout". To make amalgamation successful, however, not just politically convenient, there seems two prime prerequisites to any new municipality: 1. it should respect the current community as the most important unit in our society next to the family; 2. it should either be all urban or all rural or have an equal balance of each so that the interests of one group aren't subservient to the other. If we can reorganize on these guidelines we may gain something by amalgamations. If not, we're going to meet the province's wishes of fewer municipalities, but we'll be poorer for it. —KR Less isn't more in ridings Premier Mike Harris's announcement he intends on proceeding with reducing the number of ridings in the province is another victory for economics over representative democracy. Locally, for instance, it will mean that whoever is the MPP after the next election, will have to cover an area from Exeter to Port Elgin, instead of the current Huron County area. Where only a couple of elections ago there were two people serving parts of the county, now we'll have one member trying to serve all of the county plus most of Bruce. There are those, such as The Toronto Star, who see this as a step forward: they've always thought rural Ontario had too much representation. The value of this new setup depends on what your view is of the role of a member of parliament. If you see members as representatives of the government, whose job is to explain government policies to the people of the riding, as the Harris government seems to, then it won't hurt to have fewer MPPs. If you see the votes of MPPs as a representative of the relative size of populations, then larger ridings are only just. Urbanites see rural ridings with fewer voters- 'et the same representation as them and get upset. What urban critics, and apparently Mike Harris, don't see is that there is a special relationship between rural voters and their MPP, the kind of one-to-one assistance epitomized by Murray Gaunt when he was the local MPP It's the kind of public service that will be much harder to deliver when ridings are larger geographically. — KR E ditorial