Huron Expositor, 2006-02-01, Page 5c
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Opinion
The Huron Expositor • February 1, 2006 Page 5
Letters to the Editor
Reader dissatisfied with response from MPP
on health premium funds question
To the Editor,
I contacted my MPP Dec. 22/05. I asked where are all these new health
premium funds going. You remember - the provincial Fiberals were going
to hire 8,000 nurses and not raise taxes. Well yes, that health tax. I
received a very quick and well -researched answer.
But, when I suggested that Central Huron is coughing up a little more
dough than what I was being told, I got, "We're basing out numbers on
facts, which something you are adverse to do." Ya, I don't understand our
tax system.
Now according to our MPP, only 2,270 who work full-time are paying
an average of $300. So, some $681,000. Yes, that's right, no self-
employed, no one who is retired and on a pension - only those who work
full-time. Not those who work in some type of seasonal gig for say seven
or eight months. No, not those -_ just the 2,270 people who in Central
Huron work full-time.
So, I dug a little deeper. Ontario in its on-line budget, is putting some
$33.3 billion to health care. There are 12.5 million people in Ontario so
the province is spending about $2,664 per person in health care. That
would mean some $20 million in Central Huron.
But, our hospital is receiving less than $1,000r person. Its March
31/05 budget shows revenues from the province is $66,358,815 with a total
income of $8.2. million.
Also, this new health premium is generating some $2.4 'billion, so $2.4
billion divided by 12.5 million people is $192 per person, or $1,440,000 of
new tax dollars coming from Central Huron on average. And, I was only.
suggesting some 4,000 people are paying $3000, so about $1.2 million.
Now, I was told very clearly our MPP wanted nothing to do with my
suggestion. I was wrong about how much this new health tax was gener-
ating as income.
So, if you are going to contact our MPP, if you are a senior and are pay-
ing tell your MPP. And, you could also ask, why, with all the funds being
spent elsewhere in Ontario, we even have a concern that our hospitals in
the area are not getting the proper funding.
So, if you do contact our MPP, expect to be wrong and adverse to the
facts. We're paying more than we're getting back!
Russell Heath
Clinton, Ont.
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Collapsed roof at agriculture implement bulidi
causes flurry of roof shovelling in 188.1
JANUARY 28, 1881
On Saturday last, the roof of O.C.
Wilson's Agriculture implement
wareroom, a long building in rear
of, and attached to his store gave in
under the weight of snow upon it
and fell in with a fearful crash. The
sides of the building spread out
and the roof split in the centre and
the whole building became levelled
to the ground. Mr. Wilson himself
was in the building at the time and
had a remarkable escape from
instant death.
As soon as it became known on
Saturday that the roof of O.C.
Wilson's wareroom had fallen in,
the citizens generally, as with one
accord, hied to the roofs of their
buildings and snow shoveling was
a fashionable occupation during
the afternoon.
JANUARY 26, 1906
The ice in the Palace Rink was
badly damaged by the recent thaw
but, with the existing cold weather,
it is hoped to have it in good work-
ing order again soon.
Part of the Egmondville dam
gave way before the force of water
on Monday night. We do not know
how this will affect the' season's ice
supply, as all the ice used in the
town has been procured from the
dam for several years.
JANUARY 30, 1931
Quite a large number of men and
boys of Walton and vicinity held a
meeting in the Workman Public
hall on Tuesday night for the pur-
pose of organizing a football team.
Over 600 residents of Seaforth
and the immediate vicinity availed
themselves of the opportunity
given by the Directors of Avon
Chests Limited, to visit their facto-
ry on Friday afternoon and
evening, January 23rd.
Margaret Habkirk of Hensall is
making good recovery from her
accident of a few weeks ago when
walking she stepped in a deep rut
made by autos near Sherrit's gate
at the east end of our village, frac-
turing bones which had to be put
in a cast.
JANUARY 27, 1956
Damage, which Fire Chief Scott
estimated at $500 resulted when a
roast of meat became overcooked in
a stove in the apartment occupied
by Junior Storey, in the Thompson
Block on Friday afternoon.
Firemen extinguished the blaze
which followed without laying a
line of hose.
The McKillop Municipal
Telephone System marked a mile-
stone in its history on Thursday at.
the home of Mr. and Mrs. Willis
Van Egmond, on No. 4 Highway in
Hullett Township, when the first
new dial telephone was connected
to common battery service for the
system by John Kellar, lineman of
Seaforth.
Action to- provide water to
Egmondville residents will be held
in abeyance until an opportunity
has been provided of discussing the
matter with the Department of
Municipal Affairs, it was revealed
at a meeting of Tuckersmith
Council and Egmondville ratepay-
g
ers on Monday evening.
JANUARY 29,1981
Seaforth resident Hugh Malcolm
Thompson, 68, of 19 John St. was
killed instantly Monday morning
when he was crushed by ice and
snow which fell from the roof of his
home.
"A complete success" was the way
the organizers summed up the
14th annual winter carnival by the
Seaforth Optimist club.
Seaforth Community Hospital,
along with other in Huron County
in Clinton, Exeter and Goderich, is
not affected by the illegal strike by
non-medical staff in a number of
Ontario hospitals. Although sup-
port staff in Seaforth are members
of the Canadian Union of Public
Employees, the hospital is not part
of an association of hospitals which
was formed to negotiate collective-
ly with their workers.
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