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Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County
Volume 22 No. 15
Thursday, April 13, 2006
$1 (93c + 7c GST)
11111 Steckle
hopes
govt
listens
now
Time to
speed
it up
man tells
council .
By Heather Crawford
Citizen staff
There was a request from Chris
Lee of Walton to enable a reliable
economical wireless network in the
Walton community area which
would provide residents and
businesses with "high speed"
Internet access and other services
utilizing off-the-shelf hardware in a
scalable configuration.
Lee has been operating a point-to-
point wireless network in the area
for the past three years, he said in a
letter to council. "One access point
operates from Cook's Grain Elevator
to connect points within our own
network. We also have an access
point (AP) at 42852 Walton Road
that is used as part of out home
network and is used by visitors to
out events as a gateway for Internet
access."
Lee said there are approximately
400-500 people in the area using
dial-up and he thinks that's a good
market to offer high speed.
"While not everyone needs, wants
or can afford it this is a substantial
base of residents [not serviced]," he
said.
At the present time the bandwidth
available for a gateway is, according
to Lee, "too limited to add additional
clients without degrading individual
service to an unacceptable level."
He proposed that council
accommodate the Seaforth water
tower to "locate a back-hail antenna
connected to a gateway and as a
potential access point in the Seaforth
area."
Lee likened the advancement from
dial-up to high speed to the
advancement from kerosene lamps
Continued on page 6
By Keith Roulson
Citizen publisher
Huron County's renewed
emphasis on economic development
has gained momentum with approval
of a budget and the hiring of a
consultant.
At the April 6 meeting of county
council, a motion for a five-year
commitment for a minimum of
$200,000 a year for economic
development was approved by
council. The commitment affects the
2007 to 2011 period.
A 2006 expenditure of $200,000
was already approved during the
budget debate.
Meanwhile council approved the
hiring of Rick Hundy, former chief
administrative officer of the town of
Exeter to prepare an application for
funding under the Ontario Small
Town and Rural (OSTAR) program,
Rural Economic Development
category.
Scott Tousaw, director of planning
and development, said the
application process is complicated
and someone is needed to dedicate
the time to collect the needed
information and write the proposal.
He estimated it would cost $8,000 of
the consultant's time.
Some councillors questioned
whether the county's OSTAR-RED
proposal would overlap with similar
grants in places like Goderich and
South Huron. Tousaw said the focus
of the county's proposal is different
than those of the lower tier
municipalities.
Meanwhile North Huron
councillor Doug Layton praised the
value of having an economic
development officer in light of the
recent experience in his
municipality.
"I'm just amazed at what's
happened since we hired an
economic development officer,"
Layton said. While the municipality
has had an economic development
committee for years, it was very
unfocused, he said.
"Now it's an action committee. I
think you're missing the boat by not
having one," he told councillors.
Huron East councillor Joe Seili
said the plan is that each
municipality will look after
economic development at the local
level where it can gain directly. The
county will concentrate on
development that will benefit the
whole county.
By Heather Crawford
Citizen staff
A rally in Ottawa on Wednesday,
April 5, has Huron-Bruce MP Paul
Steckle hoping the current
Conservative government will start
paying attention to agriculture.
"[The throne speech on Tuesday,
April 4], outlining the government's
priorities, contained 2;449 words,"
he said at the first question period for
the new parliament. "Agriculture,
Canada's second largest industry,
was allocated a meagre 72 [words]."
Steckle went on to say that
agriculture was already excluded
from the prime minister's five top
priorities list and now it has been
relegated to less than three per cent
of the total agenda.
In a phone interview, Steckle said
despite the expected $5.5 billion
Harper's government promised
agriculture, "they still haven't made
any commitments to the farmers."
He said the Conservative
government is $1 billion short of
what the Liberals gave farmers when
they were in power.
Steckle had the opportunity to
speak with farmers at the protest on
Wednesday and said the rally was
formed out of desperation.
"[The farmers] were not there
because they wanted to be," he said.
"They were there because of a death
bed request for help. If we don't help
the farmers this time around then we
won't have to worry about helping
the next time because there won't be
any farmers."
Deciding whether or not
Canadians believe in a food policy
where Canadian farmers feed the
country is something Canadians
must decide, according to Steckle.
"If we do [want our own food
policy] then we have to step up to the
plate," he said. "We've been caught
by low food pricing, over-
subsidization in the US and
dispersing powers between two large
corporate giants in Canada.
[Farmers] are getting lower prices
than they did 25 years ago. That just
doesn't work."
Steckle thought the Ontario budget
was a step in the right direction.
"I think Leona Dombrowsky . did
come forward with some money. I
think she is prepared to follow
through and there is strength enough
for the federal government to
follow," he said.
Although the MP has agreed with
amending the Canadian Agriculture
Income Stabilization program
(CAIS) in the past, he does not think
it will work, at least not how it is
Continued on page
Locks for love
Kennan MacDonald, a Grade 5 student at Blyth Public School offered to shave his head to help
raise money for Locks for Love and the Canadian Cancer Society. Monday he got buzzed,
courtesy of Nicole Kerr, in front of students and staff. So far the school has raised over $500
for the cause. (Heather Crawford photo)
Economic development
gains momentum in Huron