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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1994-02-02, Page 1SEIP'S valu-mart 4 & 83 Exeter 235-0262 In our Flower Shop we have a unique assortment of Cacti Serving South Huron OM MI NMI NMI — I MN , SUBSCRIBE! If you aren't subscribing to The 1 Times -Advocate, you're missing out ' Use the coupon below and subscribe today! 1 Name: ' Addl ess City _ 1 Prov. ' Postal Code ' S1W BIPTtON RATES: Canada Within 40 miles - (65 km) addressed to non letter carner addresses $30 00 plus $2100 S T a Outside 40 miles - (65 km) or any letter I carner address 560.00 + $4 20 G.S.T Outside Canada -$99.00 (..+ see 40 oou.90 ' USE YOUR PREDIT CARD I ❑OOL7000❑ 1 UUQQQQQU Card No ' 1 1 1 1 I Expiry Date U Visa U Master Card Li Cheque enclosed Return to, TIMES ADVOCATE 1_424 Main St. Exeter, Ont. NOM 1S6 a� atm atter — — — 1 1 Inside Pay equity Board forced to'pay up page 3 Sleighs Traditional fun page 5 Volleyball Panthers host tournament page 15 H.O.M.E. Exeter to host figure skaters page 16 New trustee needed for Crediton CREDiTON - As of press time, Stephen Township council were meeting to discuss the appointment of a new trustee for Crediton. Crediton, a police village, re- quires two trustees to represent its interests at township council. At its January 18 meeting, Stephen coun- cil accepted, with regret, the resig- nation of Lloyd Roeszlcr from the position of trustee. With the next municipal election only a few months away, council agreed to fill the position with an appointment, rather than with a bye - lection. However, a name was being dis- cussed to fill the position as of Tuesday afternoon. Village staff were not releasing the name be- cause council had yet to approve thc nominee, and it was not known if the nominee would Ict his or her name stand. Man killed jumping from burning building 1LDERT`ON - A fatal fire is under investigation in Ilderton. About 2:45 a.m. a stove -top grease firc started in a nine -unit apartment building at 133 Main Street in thc village. Police say the fire quickly spread through the building. Victor Moir, 64, a tenant of the building, was killed when he lumped from a third storey window to escape the blaze. He was pm - flounced dead at University Hospital in London. Police say Ontario Fire Marshall's office representatives were at the scene late Tuesday morning begin- ning their investigation into the fire. Local service clubs had already began efforts to provide aid and shelter to those left homeless after the fire. LapAoo�, r IPPS 1 valu-mart 1 14* 83 Exeter 235.0262 T r FREE 1 675 Valu Plus Bread with purchase of any 4 L. bag of milk North Middlesex & Lampton Carnival opens this weekend Since 18 73 Wednesday, February 2. 1994 (84C + 6C ‘3 ) 90 Cf.qtt'-. Casino to join Winter Carnival events GRAND BEND - Casino -style gambling is coming to Grand Bend sooner than most people thought. No, a building permit for a 10,000 seat casino hasn't been granted, but a licence for 10 tables of gambling during the Winter Carnival arrived Monday. "We just got it this morning," said John Musser, chairman of the 1994 Grand Bend Winter Carnival, Monday afternoon. The permit allows the casino operation to be promoted as a fundraiser for the Winter Carnival. All proceeds after ex- penses will help the winter festival shake off the debt it usually has to pay off each year. • "This was an idea that came up way hack before Christmas," said Musser. The casino will be located in Gables Tavern on Grand Bend's Main Street and will run on the Carnival's second weekend, on Feb- ruary 11, 12, and 13. Gambling is limited to those 19 years of age and older, and the maximum bet is $10. Because this "This idea that upw Chris is a first-time event for the Winter Carnival, the licence limits the ca- sino to only 10 tables - nine for blackjack, and one for a wheel of fortune. The casino will be operated by B.J. Games Leasing Inc, who will provide all the equipment and deal- ers. Musser said he will be ap- proaching village council next week to ask about an exemption from the 3 a.m. event curfew bylaw. He said he would like to see the casino open until 4 a.m. each night. Musser said the le- galized gambling may be just the first of a series of events for Grand Bend. Not only is the Winter Carnival inter- ested in using it as a regular fund- raiser, but other local charitable or- ganizations are considering getting in on the action. Since charities are limited to us- ing casinos for fundraising only once a month, Musser said only four charities would be needed for a rotation schedule to make gam- bling a weekly event in Grand Bend through the summer season. W came a before Source of funds for emergency room doctors still unknown By Fred Groves T -A staff FXF.TF.R - Where's the money going to come from? The doctors staffing the emer- gency room at South Huron Dis- trict Hospital, and the hospital board came to an agreement last fall to keep the service going. That agreement said the doc- tors would be receiving what would amount to about $200,000 per year to keep the service intact. Threats of closing the emergency ward never mate- rialized. Now, the question arises as to where the money to pay the doc- tors the additional fee will come from. Hospital administrator Don Currell said South Huron had a surplus last year which has been carried over into 1994 to help pay the additional doctors fees. However, when that runs out the hospital board has to find more money 10 pay the doctors. "I don't think that's been deter- mined yet," said Currcll of where the money will come from. The biggest obstacle for South Huron and other Ontario hospi- tals is that they are waiting for the Ministry of Health to pro- vide the funding for the emer- gency room doctors services. "We arc having problems get- ting the minister to respond to us," said Currcll. He said the board has already extended the deadline for its 1994 budget. Usually it is Janu- ary 28 but that has been extend- ed a full month. The Ministry of Health which sets the hospitals' budgets is behind in announcing thc amounts. "They haven't told us what we'rc getting yet," said Currell. He added that the board will have to wait until the end of March - the end of the hospi- tal's fiscal year - to decide how it will pay for the doctors. Last fall, when the doctors asked for the additional pay- ments, Currell said that due to the financial restraints, if the $200,000 had to come out of the regular operating budget it would result in services being delayed and even possible staff layoffs. The Ministry of Health. the Ontario Medical Association which represents the doctors and the hospitals' voice, the Ontario Hospital Association are in ne- gotiations over how to pay for emergency services. "The position the hospital as- sociation takes as far as the phy- sicians...it can't be done through the hospital funds," said Beth Witney of the ©HA. Both Currell and Dr. Linda Steele, chief of the medical staff at the local hospital say the Min- istry of Health won't respond to thcir inquiries about funding. in press releases issued Friday by Minister of Health Ruth Gri- er, she said the ministry islook- ing at a number of ways of re- solving the issue including additional and or alternative payment to doctors for emergen- cy room services. "The government considers this to be one of the important health care issues facing small areas. We have been working diligently the last few months with representatives of the doc- tors and hospitals to find a solu- tion," said the release. Earlier this month, the Huron - Perth Liaison Hospital Commit- tee wrote a letter to Grier, plead- ing for her to take action. "We arc dismayed at the lack of progress that has been made by your Ministry in resolving this problem." said the commit- tee in its letter. Grier's response was "we en- courage doctors in Huron -Perth to be patient and to keep talking past any set deadlines." In Goderich, doctors who staff the emergency room at the Alex- anu;ra Marine and General Hos- pital are in the same negotiations that Exeter doctors were last fall. They have asked for what works out to be about $170,000 per year. Although they original- ly had a January 31 deadline for withdrawing services, they have extended that a couple of weeks. "We agreed to cover their pa- tients if need be," said Steele. A Grand Bend's two-week Winter Carnival opens this Friday. The 1994 theme of Monsters, Myths and Magic will be represented well in a huge snow village being sculpt- ed in the Colonial Tavern parking lot. Other crowd -pleasing events include the annual sled -dog derby this Saturday Pinery, and demonstration and a at Sunday in the figure skating Oakwood Inn Sunday at 3 p.m. The closing weekend will be the busiest with everything from a chil- dren's party, the traditional waiter's race, a sno-bowl, to the ever - popular international snow sculpt- ing competition. 114 King of his castle, Paul Dawkins is the expert hired by the Grand Bend Winter Camival to tum tonnes of snow into a fantasy village. This year's children's village will feature two volcanoes (possibly with smoke), a dragon, a big foot in a cave, a spaceship, and the ever -popular slides. While past years have been plagued with thaws that have melted or curtailed snow village at- tempts, this year will be no trouble at all, says Dawkins. In fact, the castle centrepiece should be reaching record height this year. Billboard goes up opposite office MPP gets daily reminder of campaign against farm labour legislation By Adrian Harte T -A Editor CLINTON - Huron MPP Paul Klopp now has a dai- ly reminder not everyone agrees with his government's policies. A billboard was erected last week directly across from Klopp's constituency office on the main street of Clinton. Reading "Bob Rae wants to unionize the family farm, help us stop him", the billboard is spon- sored by the Ontarians for Responsible Government (ORG), a sub -committee of the National Citizen's Co- alition. The ORG started a campaign last year to set up 26 similar banners across the province, and has made headlines in the past with billboards describing the Pre- mier as the "Buffalo Business Boosters' Man of the Year" and with questions like "How Do You Like Socialism So Far?" As Thom Corbett of the ORG ex- plains, the issue now at stake is Bill 91, the legislation that updates labour laws as they apply to the province's farms. Few farmers are aware of the bill, how it will affect their operations, and those who are aware aren't happy with it, says Corbett. "Within a week of reading over the bill, we decided this was a bad deal," said Corbett, but says he finds it strange Klopp himself, as parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Agriculture and a farmer, "has said nothing against this bill". Corbett said the ORG also doesn't buy the province's argument that the legislation won't affect farm wages, and only applies to the largest farm operations. Farms with as few as two non-fainily workers could end up "It ce Bob have a large unio unionized, he said. A lot of present food and grocery unions are inter- ested in extending their influence to farms, he said. and suggested that is the main reason the government wants to push the legislation through. "It certainly won't hurt Bob Rae to have another Targe sector unionized," said Corbett, noting the NDP's core labour support has eroded in recent months, par- ticularly after the Social Contract. "Certainly the foreign growers will benefit because they'll have more cheap produce to flood this country with," he added. Although he said he doesn't oppose the right to unionize, Corbett said workers also need "the right not to join", but under the new Labour Relations Act, a minority of workers (40 percent) can force a union onto the majority, he said. Bill 91 will be interpreted under the labour act, Corbett added. A unionized farm economy will mean the threat of strikes; and will encourage operators to invest heavily in mech- anizati to to replace human labour, predicted Corbett. "They're going to pass a bill that means less jobs," he said. Unlike the Labour Relations Act, however, Corbett notes Bill 91 does away with the traditional contract settlement process. Arbitration will decide between the arguments of the union and the operator without haggling, or room for compromise. Corbett draws a strong parallel between this new Bill 91 and Bill 42 which was passed last year. Bill 42, the stable funding legislation, required all Ontario farmers ''Please see Billboard, page three. ertainly n't hurt Rae to i nother sector nized, 1 1