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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2006-03-23, Page 1Smiting faces It was a great day for family and fun as the Brussels Lions Club, as a precursor to its 60th anniversary hosted a family skating party at the arena on Saturday afternoon. Emmeline Cronin got some attention from her big sister Alyssa as she got toured around the rink in her stroller. (Vicky Bremner photo) The Citizen Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Volume 22 No. 12 Thursday, March 23, 2006 $1 (93c + 7c GST) Inside this week pg r Locals to compete • u in Toronto pg Brussels skaters • earn awards P2 8 Blyth PeeWees Pg need win Q Best Start worries PS. 1 council po rut College kids want ah• hat end to 'vacation' Grey chiefs say no thanks By Bonnie Gropp Citizen editor Huron East council should soon be receiving a request. from the Grey fire chiefAnd deputy chief regarding the recent increase in remuneration. Chief Calvin Semple said that they hope to attend a council meeting to ask that the money instead be invested into the fire hall .budget. "We don't want the money," he said. In February council voted to increase Brussels and Grey's fire chiefs' remuneration from $1,500 to $2,000 per year and the deputy fire chief's pay from $850 to $1,000 per year. Grey's deputy chief Dave Diehl said after learning of the increase he and Semple fold Huron East fire chief Marty Bedard and councillors Alvin McLellan and Mark Beaven that they would like to decline the increase. "With taxes as high as they are and farm incomes as low, we just felt it wasn't the time," said Diehl. "We got one last year too and we didn't want that one either." McLellan said he and Beaven mentioned at a council meeting that the Grey chiefs "weren't interested", but added that it really didn't bring any results. However, he said that the Grey firefighters have asked that the doors in the hall be replaced, something council has agreed to look at this year. I think the chief and deputy chief have some concern that if the doors are in bad shape there wouldn't be money to replace them," said McLellan. "We just don't think it's right for us to get more money now," said Diehl. "What we do is for the community, not for ourselves." • By Heather Crawford Citizen staff Farmers are frustrated with bureaucrats and they are not going to put up with it anymore. That was the message at the Thursday, March 16 meeting in Holmesville. "David didn't poke Goliath in the toe," one farmer quipped. "He hit him in the head with a rock." "Nice guys finish last," he added. . One woman said she didn't believe farmers should worry about informing the people who lived in urban centres. "That's [the. urbanites] job, not ours. The teachers on strike and auto workers they don't worry about what other people think, and neither should we," she said. "I have never been involved where agriculture has come together like they have now. We have a unified voice and we should use it." Paul Mistele, vice president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture said he heard of auto plant workers who slashed the management's car tires and then when the police showed up they slashed their tires too. "They didn't care. They put new tires on. Imagine if farmers did that? It would make the news across the country because it would be so odd. Farmers aren't like that," he said. "Maybe we should be:' he added to chuckling and applause from the packed room. "We shouldn't be here," Bev Shipley, Middlesex-Lambton MP said. "I remember the 1980s. We were filling up halls like this then." Shipley said the federal government responded to the crisis during the 19.80s. with programs. "They weren't perfect but they were workable," he said. "We don't have that nod." Shipley said that he did not want to see crowded halls filled with farmers 10 years down the road. "It would be all of us 10 years older because young people don't want to start farming and can't," he said. He added that a risk-management program needs to be put into action. "We do not need to study this anymore. We need to implement. We need to get the negative part of farming off of the news," he said. "We need to bring it back to the point where agriculture is recognized in this country." Shipley and Huron-Bruce MP Paul Steckle agreed that when agriculture is in trouble the rural community is in trouble. "When the farming community fails the rural community fails," Steckle said. "Already we are starting to see the main streets thin out. Our schools, our churches, our shops [all suffer]. We are not going to have what we thought." Some of the ideas Steckle put forward were modifying the Canadian Agriculture Income Stabilization Program (CAIS) and a food tax, both of which he raised during the election campaign in January. "It's about compare for share," he said of the food tax. "The value that a farmer receives is so small compared to what the customer pays." Steckle compared the tax to a tip a family would leave at a restaurant. "It is a voluntary tax that a customer pays to show their appreciation for the food on their plate," he said. ,"We don't need a tax," one farmer said. "There is enough money in the system now. What we need is political will." Steckle responded that he has that will. "It takes more than one though," he said. Steckle said he has travelled around the country bringing up the issue of a food tax to "get a feel for it." He said that it has always been the farmers and not the consumers who have opposed the tax. "I did not have one single consumer group opposed to a food tax:' he said. The idea that the politicians want to help the farmers but the bureaucrats are getting in the way was one of the major issues raised throughout the night. "Politicians come and go," Doug Eadie, president of Ontario •Corn Producers said. "It's the bureaucracies that stay the same." Several farmers asked Steckle to clarify why the bureaucracy appears to have control in Ottawa. North Huron hires new clerk The council of the Twp. of North Huron has announced the appointment of Kriss Snell as the municipality's new clerk- administrator. Snell replaces John Stewart who is retiring this spring. Snell is a graduate of Laurentian University and holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Law and Political Science Degree. He has 10 years of experience in municipal and provincial government. His provincial government experience includes being the - executive constituency assistant for MPPs Helen Johns (1995-1999) and Bert Johnson (2000-2002). He commenced his municipal government experience as the deputy-clerk in the Municipality of West Perth (2002-2003 and from 2003 to present has held the position of clerk for the -Municipality of North Perth. Snell commences his employment with the Twp. of North Huron on April 19. Snell was born and raised near Blyth and now resides with his wife Jodi and two children in Wroxeter. "Who is running the government anyway?" one-farmer asked. "I think we could take the same situation and apply it to the courts," Steckle said. "There are people who decide on the law but then the judges get to interpret that law. We get messages from the bureaucrats but then we also send messages back to them. I have done that on several occasions," was his response. "The frustration is right across _Canada. Not just in Ontario," he said. Stephen Webster, a Blyth-area farmer who is living out of his car near Queen's Park in protest of the farming crisis, phoned in to the meeting. Those in attendance heard Webster through speakers hooked up to the phone. "I think the government wants us to go home and not say anything," he said. "I believe we have the Ontario government scared and then we have to hit Ottawa. I think we can pull this off. We need to keep pushing." Webster read a letter he received from a worker at Toyota who gave his full support and offered anyhelp. He said other people throughout the city have been demonstrating that they hear his message. "I am just a foot soldier trying to get across the situation of the farmers. I believe we have the support of the city people," he said. When asked what support he needs he suggested a big rally in Queen's Continued on page 10 Farmers rally to take on Goliath