Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1999-11-10, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1999. C itizenTheNorthHuron Aocna 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 Roulston Editor, Bonnie Gropp Advertising Manager, Jeannette McNeil Member Ontario Press CouncilE-mail norhuron@scsinternet.com The Citizen is published 50 times a year 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 $100/year in other foreign coun­ tries. 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 newsscripts or photographs. Contents of The Citizen are © Copyright. Publications Mail Registration No. 09244 Canadian Publication Mail Agreement No. 1374990 Lost in the north E ditorial I ' . ~........zz...□ A reeve from northern Huron used to complain that at county council. Huron seemed to stop at County Rd. 25. For frustrated municipalities in the south end of the county, that idea might be inviting about now. ■ Amalgamation seems to have slowly percolated up from the south of the county. First the Exeter-area muncipalities of Exeter. Usborne and Stephen had their plan approved. Next it was Hensail, Zurich. Bayfield. Hay and Stanley, then Clinton. Hullett and Goderich Twps. Parts of the north have been successful: West Wawanosh. Ashfield and Colborne had their plan approved last week. Grey and Brussels have agreed but their decision to seek a larger union with McKillop, Tuckersmith and Seaforth has slowed the process. In the mid-north, however, confusion reigns. Morris and Turnberry have called off their marriage. Howick wanted to maintain its bachelor­ hood from the beginning. The one plan that's in place may not get coun­ ty approval because Wingham is trying to hold a gun to the head of coun­ ty council to make the county pick up the costs of disbanding the Wingham police force. The anger and frustration at county council last Thursday was barely contained — sometimes not even that. It's not just that Wingham, which a year ago was asking the county to help it keep its force, is now using the county’s solution as a way of ransoming a tax saving. Councillors who have put together successful amalgamation plans, also fear the chaos in the north may pull down the whole made-in-Huron amalgamation process. With Morris. Turnberry and Howick going it alone, and with the future of the North Huron proposal in question because of Wingham's actions, councillors worry it’s exactly the kind of situation that could bring a provincial commissioner in to sort out the problems. A commissioner, they fear, could throw out all the approved amalgamation plans and come up with his/her own, such as a one-tier government. North Huron residents have always prided themselves in their ability to co-operate and there are plenty of good examples of the value of that co­ operation: such as some of the first area fire boards and communities ral­ lying to keep arenas open. Yet on this issue there’s little co-operation. Even where there is, such as the pairing of Blyth, East Wawanosh and Wingham. partners might have second thoughts watching the way Wingham has tried to turn the county’s attempt to help it keep their police force into a power play to get the county to pay to shut it down. Southern areas have a right to be cross with the north. Let's get it together, folks.— KR The truth will out Right-wing reaction to Finance Minister Paul Martin’s announcement of how he plans to spend an estimated $95 billion government surplus over the next few years shows a decade of calls for government cuts in order to fight the deficit were really just an excuse to slash social pro­ grams. For years right wingers said Canadian governments were burdening future generations with debt because of the growing deficit. If we really wanted to protect social programs, they said, we must kill the deficit and reduce the debt. So when Martin announced a projected $95 billion sur­ plus one would have expected calls for him to use all the money to pay down the debt. With that argument, one could have understood com­ plaints about Martin’s plans to spend more on programs. Paying down the debt faster in the long-run would give the government more money to use on programs instead of spending it on interest payments. Instead the biggest complaint of right-wingers, from Ontario Treasurer Ernie Eves to The National Post, was that Martin didn't use more of the surplus to cut taxes. Cutting taxes would not pay down the debt, would not hurry, the day when government could spend less on interest pay­ ments and more on programs. And who would benefit from tax cuts? Rightwingers claim ordinary Canadians are suffering in comparison to Americans yet a Statistics Canada study published last week showed Canadians families earning $50,000 a year, pay less of their income in taxes than Americans making $40,000U.S. Americans only keep more of their money than Canadians over the $75,000 income level, and even then additional costs like medical insurance leave the Americans worse off. Who benefits from tax cuts? Only the very well- off, the kind who tend to hold right-wing beliefs. — KR Photo by Janice Becker Looking Back Through the Years From the files of the Blyth Standard, Brussels Post and North Huron Citizen Nov. 7, 1979 The search for a dentist to locate in Blyth continued. Mason Bailey, a member of the Blyth board of trade committee looking into the issue, told council that finding a dentist to locate there was not an easy matter. The Blyth Centre for the Arts was proud to announce that a premiere showing of The World's Children produced on location in Bolivia, Nepal, Peru, The Phillipines and Hong Kong, was k/be an added highlight of the Puppetmongers Powell puppet show at Blyth Memorial Hall. Blyth village council unanimous­ ly voted in favour of accepting the new assessment for Blyth under section 86 of the assessment act. Howard Harris of the area assess­ ment office and Brian Allen went over the assessment study council had requested. Jane and Scott Robinson had spent the last six months tending eight barrows (castrated boars) for their entry into the largest agricul­ tural fair in the country. Nov. 8, 1989 It was decided that the 81-bed northern unit of Huron view would be located on the Morris Twp. farm of Bill and Marie Turnbull, just south of Brussels, at Huron County council meeting. Costs were just starting to be tal­ lied for this new addition to the vil­ lage, and Donna White, assistant clerk-treasurer, told council that the extension of the sewers had been estimated at $21,000. The Huron County Library Board approved the move of the Blyth branch to expanded quarters in Blyth Memorial Hall, once renova­ tions at the Hall are completed. After months of seeking a com­ promise position on the future of the abandoned CP Rail line from Guelph to Goderich, Huron County Council approved a policy that would see the rail corridor remain in the hands of senior governments. The George Menzies Endowment Fund was given to the following former Brussels students at the F.E. Madill commencement: Shannon Rice, Cindy Bernard. Gary Martin. Katrina Somers, Cherida Gamiss, Marjorie Campbell, Michelle McNeil and Jody Boynton. Nov. 9, 1994 Brussels took the first step toward getting natural gas service when village council passed the first two readings of a bylaw to give the natural gas franchise to Union Gas. Several area schools were to be the benificiaries of junior kinder- garden grant allocations or capital projects, approved by the Huron County Board of Education. Huron County council confirmed that the three potential landfill sites in Colbome Twp. had been dropped from the list of candidates. However, landowners couldn’t completely relax, until all the other sites were proven unacceptable. The county's bridge across the Maitland River on County Rd. 15 was to have a new name, honouring the retirement of the man in charge of building it. The bridge, which was called the Colborne-Goderich ,Twp. Bridge, was to be named the Robert Edgar Bridge.