Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1999-06-02, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 2, 1999. C itizenTheNorthHuron Aocna {♦CNA P.O. Box 429, BLYTH, Ont. NOM 1H0 Phone 523-4792 FAX 523-9140 P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, Ont. NOG 1 HO Phone 887-9114 FAX 887-9021 Publisher, Keith Roulston Editor, Bonnie Gropp Advertising Manager, Jeannette McNeil Member OntarioE-mail norhuron@scsinternet.com The Citizen is published 50 times a year in Brussels, Press Council 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 $100.00/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. 09244 Canadian Publication Mall Agreement No. 1374990 E ditorial rrzzzzzzzr...:.......;.......'.....j Photo by Bonnie Gropp Sifting for truth Separating the reality from the political promises is one of the challenges for voters in any election campaign. When it comes to a party’s political record, however, it shouldn’t be so difficult — except if we’re talking about the current provincial election. One of the greatest accomplishments of the campaign of Mike Harris has been to create the belief that “We have done what we said we would do.” The ability to make the public accept this statement seems to be based on one promise: that he would cut taxes. All other 1995 campaign promises that have been abandoned along the way seem to have been accepted by the public as inevitable if he was going to make the tax cuts. Take, for instance, the government’s position on restructuring of local government. “I disagree with restructuring because it believes bigger is better,” Harris said before the 1995 election. “Services will always cost more in larger communities.” Yet since the election communities have been stampeded into amalgamation talks because of the province’s forced amalgamation of Toronto and the decisions of its appointed commissioners in places like Kent County where ’a decision no local municipality likes was imposed. Now local politicians, who sound remarkably like Harris did before the last election, are scurrying to put together amalgamations they don’t believe in to head off government action. In the 1995 campaign Harris said “It is not my plan to close hospitals.” In office, he appointed a commission that ordered hospitals closed. Back then he opposed opening more casinos but has opened several more casinos since and the provincial government has even overruled local zoning bylaws to allow race tracks to install slot machines. In this, the Conservatives are like the Liberals and NDP before them who in opposition decried government depending more and more on gambling revenue but eagerly expanded gambling when they came to office. Often parties change their election promises when they face the realities of government. Premier Harris may have been forced to change in order to carry out the reforms he felt were necessary and as such, Ontario voters may overlook the broken promises. They should vote with their eyes wide open, however, and not based on the myth Harris has been that rare politician who actually kept his promises. — KR Behind-the-scenes decisions While Ontario voters go to the polls to decide which political party will shape the future of our province, there are other, unelected bodies, which are reshaping the province with no accountability to the public. One of those commissions which is quietly issuing edicts which have a direct effect on the economy and lifestyle of rural Ontario is the Farm Product Marketing Commission (FPMC). Back in 1996 the FPMC ordered the Ontario Pork Producers’ Marketing Board to allow packers to deal directly with individual pork producers instead of having to buy through the central auction system operated by the marketing board. This opened the way for packing companies to contract directly with producers and changed the face of the pork industry. After the pork price collapse of last fall, however, many producers felt they’d been betrayed by the contract system. At meetings like the Huron County Pork Producers’ annual meeting, they passed resolutions calling for Ontario Pork to again become the sole sales agency for all pork and to end direct packer/producer contracts. At the annual meeting of Ontario Pork these resolutions passed by a wide majority. But since then the FPMC has warned Ontario Pork not to try to change the system. “Although we understand the pressure your board has been under by your grower body to eliminate direct producer­ processor contract,” a letter from the commission said, they were pleased Ontario Pork was still planning to allow contracts. But the FPMC warned against some other marketing changes Ontario Pork planned, saying the board should “not try to make changes that are outside the original intent of the commission’s marketing order.” In other words, it is a small group of appointed officials who will decide the future of the pork industry in Ontario, not the majority of pork producers. The commissioners do not have to explain their decision or who influenced it. Such absolute power is unacceptable.— KR Looking Back Through the Years From the files of the Blyth Standard, Brussels Post and North Huron Citizen June 6, 1979 Fire destroyed the old Blyth Cheese Factory. An abandoned house in Hullett Twp. was destroyed by fire. The owner had checked his cattle in the field the night before and had not noticed anything amiss. The farm was located at Lot 1, Cone. 13. Blyth taxes jumped 10.8 percent. Hullett students received track and field awards. The champs were: Connie Huggert, Neil Rodgers, Larry Hunking, Theresa Knox, Charles Gulutzen, Susan Govenlock, David Plunkett, Jerry Hogarth, Nan Loseriet, Pam Loseriet, Paul Plunkett, Brian Dale, Darlene Gulutzen. Candystripers at Wingham hospi­ tal received award for their work. They were: Juanita Draper, Gail Caldwell, Diana Sowers, Carol Rutter, Janet Storey, Kim Owen, Janice Hill, Lori McPherson, Lisa Hamilton, Elizabeth Brydges and Melanie Scott. The Ontario Youth Secretariat allotted $1,116 to Maitland Valley Conservation Authority to employ 22 students for the summer. The UCW garage sale netted $1,142.34. Returning to the Blyth Festival were Angela Gei, Kate Trotter, Peter Snell and Layne Coleman. New faces were Anne Anglin, Mary Anne Coles, Seana McKenna, Richard Budzinski, Peter Elliot and Sam Malkin. June 7, 1989 Faced with statistics that showed by 1996 Huron County would have run out of places to put its garbage, Huron County councillors approved participation in the sec­ ond phase of the Waste Management Master Plan study. Brussels councillors voted on issuing license for a north-end busi­ ness to operate a- poolroom and arcade after a large delegation of neighbours appeared to complain about the noise from an unlicensed facility already operating at the site. Seven Blyth Guides earned their All-Round Cords. They were Maridale Bromley, Kim Ferguson, Tina Burkholder, Jennifer Cucksey, Laurel Campbell, Karen Bernard and Erica Clark. Brussels teachers, Idella Wilson and Margery Huether were the guest of honour at a retirement tea. Research was underway for a Brussels Community Economic Development Strategy, compiled by Rose Marks. B-Line Boomers won the Brussels Optimists slo-pitch tour­ nament. Letters THE EDITOR, Stealing from the dead. How low can you go? Someone in this community, at any rate, has recently sunk to this depth! On May 8 we drove 185 miles to honour with a large pot of geraniums, our loved one, who has rested in peace for almost 10 years, in the Blyth cemetery. By May 12, the geraniums had, reportedly, vanished. This is a desecration and a dastardly deed! Hopefully, the thief, who is responsible for this disgraceful robbery, will suddenly find enough conscience to return the flowers to the peaceful and sacred plot from which he or she snatched them. Vivienne Stephens won a bronze at the OFFSA track meet. June 1,1994 Jane Hall was installed as Noble Grand of the Morning Star Rebekah Lodge. Bernice Passchier of Blyth was accepted by the Mennonite Central Committee to work in China as an English teacher. Betty Archambault was named president of the Huron West District WI. Nine students were tops at the Blyth track and field event. They were: Darrell McDougall, Matthew Morrison, Shanda Loder, Christian Black, Jeremy Van Amersfoort, Ashley Taylor, Jamie Black, Tammy Walker, Steven Van Amersfoort._____________________ We’ll see. Marg Marks. THE EDITOR, Well it’s almost here and we will be casting the votes that will define who we are as a province and as a society. I offer you some personal observations and deeply held convictions and feelings. Under the plans put forward by the Conservatives we would head into fiscal disaster if the American economy does not equal the unprecedented growth it has shown in the past four years. Mike Harris has painted himself into a fiscal straight jacket. If our friends to the south experience an economical downturn, the pain and suffering we have just gone through will seem like child’s play. Mike Harris is knowingly putting our future in desperate peril so that he can bribe us now.-. Mike Harris’ Common Sense Continued on page 6