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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2000-03-08, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8, 2000. C itizenIheNorthHuron ^CNA 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 Council P.O. Box 429, BLYTH, Ont. NOM 1H0 Phone 523-4792 FAX 523-9140 E-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 ioreign 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 E ditorial lzz:. ......................j Preserving democracy Huron County councillors deserve credit for thinking ahead to the council that will following municipal amalgamations and they deserve special credit for worrying about how best to preserve democratic principles following this fall’s election. With 26 municipalities being reduced to nine, county council will have only 18 councillors come December. As Blyth Reeve Mason Bailey pointed out, that's a big decline in the representation for local voters. How to preserve the sense that people have a say and are being heard, said Bailey, is a concern. It’s a concern speakers at Thursday’s county council session seemed to express. One after another councillors spoke about how to best keep councillors informed of the issues and let the public have input. It's the kind of struggle all of the amalgamated councils will have in the coming months. With municipalities widely spread in geographic terms (Grey and Tuckersmith Twps. in the same municipality), size (Blyth and Wingham lumped together) arid interests (industrialized Wingham with agricultural East Wawanosh), it will be difficult to properly represent the interests of all voters in this fall’s amalgamations. And this is a discussion that everyone should get involved in. The public has been incredibly apathetic about amalgamation but if they don’t make their voices heard soon, they may not be able to make their voices heard at all. Mistakes in setting .up the new municipalities may make it hard for the public to have input in future. Fortunately, if the debate at county council is any indication, local politicians are more concerned than the public about preserving democracy. Still, you as a citizen need to guard your right to be heard or you may lose it. — KR Photo by Bonnie Gropp So much for the people’s voice Over and over again, polls show the issue Canadians care most about is our healthcare system, yet last week Paul Martin totally ignored the voice of the people in promising only $2.5 billion to be spread between health care and education over the next few years. Provincial premiers like Ontario’s Mike Harris have a perfect right to scream that the federal government, for all it’s fine talk about the importance of publicly-funded health care, doesn’t put its money where its mouth is. Despite the supportive talk of Health Minister Allan Rock, the federal government is now in the position of having no moral authority to oppose the attempts of Alberta Premier Ralph Klein to introduce privatized hospitals in his province. The anti-tax lobby seems to have hijacked the national agenda. While the majority of Canadians said they’d gladly give up a tax break in order to repair the health system, the government instead chose to listen to those who wanted tax cuts. And despite the fact the health care crisis began because the government was trying to cut the deficit and the national debt, now that there’s a government surplus, there was neither significant funding for health care nor debt repayment. Those who argued for cuts to social services because of the urgency of reducing debt, now seem to have forgotten about the importance of the debt and want tax cuts instead. It’s ironic that with this budget, Paul Martin may have just killed his dream of becoming prime minister someday. Despite his claim that the middle class will benefit by the budget, ordinary people can see that the little money they’ll get back in tax cuts doesn’t do much compared to the need they see in health care and post-secondary education. Martin has shown himself instead as someone who listens to the rich, who have the most to gain from tax cuts, instead of ordinary Canadians who still, at this point in time, make up the majority of voters. — KR Now that’s Canadian culture Sometimes it seems culture must be spelled with a capital “C” as in opera or painting but culture is simpler than that. Take, for instance, the tragic death of curler Sandra Schmirler last week. Schmirler played a game, virtually unknown to people in most of the world — a game hopelessly out of fashion if judged by the dominant U.S. culture. Yet Schmirler touched Canadians, even those who never threw a curling stone. Her death dominated our news for days. She was part of what makes Canada unique, part of our culture. — KR Looking Back Through the Years From the files of the Blyth Standard, Brussels Post and North Huron Citizen March 12, 1975 Ontario Provincial Police esti­ mated the haul from two break-ins at Bainton Limited wool and leather factory outlet at $30,000. In the first incident, burglars entered through a lower-floor win­ dow then stole a quantity of sheep­ skin rugs. As the haul was not big the police believe it may just have provided an opportunity to learn the building’s layout. Two days later thieves made off with expensive leather and suede garments. Hullett council set up a warble fly spraying program. Blyth Bantams captured the Western Ontario Athletic Association championship. Concern over the plight of beef producers in Huron prompted the county’s federation of agriculture to call a meeting to try and come up with some answers. The situation was drastic as the low beef prices were causing producers to lose tens of thousands of dollars. Morris set its road budget at $126,104. Separate school board trustees increased their honorarium to $150 a month. Blyth Atoms won the WOAA title. March 7,1990 Blyth’s first Rutabaga Festival was scheduled to take place June 22-24, a meeting of several interest­ ed parties decided. The date which was one month after the May 24 weekend and one week before Canada Day was selected as there were no other attractions at that time. A public meeting was to be held in Brussels to consider the zoning amendment necessary to allow a Blyth developer to build an apart­ ment building on the Elizabeth Street property that was being used as a tennis court. Brussels village councillors heard about plans by local developers for a 31 -lot adult community to be built at the north end of the village. The large crowd at the March Madness Auction put on by the Blyth United Church bought over 180 items that were donated for the event. Profit hit $6,052. John Lowe of Brussels and Sherri Huether also of Brussels were the winners of the Junior and Senior award respectively at the public speaking competition between Grey Central and Brussels Public Schools held at the Brussels Legion. The Belgrave Arena was featured in a two-page story. The article focused on tthe facility’s link to the community as well as the fact that it still uses natural ice and operates debt free. The winners of the Legion’s annual district level speaking con­ test included Shannon Scott (sec­ ond in the Junior competition) of Hullett Twp. and Jodee Medd of Blyth (in the Senior division). March 8, 1995 The 14-year-old victim of a drive-by shooting, was back home and doing well. A meeting to begin planning for Brussels 125th anniversary in 1997 was scheduled. Clerk-Treasurer Donna White pointed out it may have been too late already to do some projects for the celebration. One such project was a history book for the village, but that takes a long time to put together and it appeared that there was nobody willing to head up a history book committee. The final budget was not yet passed but taxpayers did not need to fear a tax increase because of increased expenses from Huron County operations.