HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1975-09-11, Page 5r 4j r n
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GODERICH SIGNAL -STAR, THURSDAY, SEPI MV BEJ Ela 197 —*'AG
Did restructuring have c
"But the overall goal of the Government
of Ontario hasn't changed. That goal was
stated this way by Sam Clasky,' former
Director of the Regional•planning Branch.
"The Government of Ohtario believes
thaf the main way in which we can
preserve and strengthen our local com-
munity governments is by giving them
more to do. In practice, this means giving -
local governments more responsibility to
make decisions. But in order that local
government can exercise ' their poveers
effectively they must be , organized
rationally: In other words, by making local
government stronger in terms •af size,
population and finances, we are setting the
stage for a major program of , decen-
tralization of• political power in this
province." SIGNALSTAR; EDITORIAL
AUGUST 28, 1975.
+ -i- The • Huron County Committee of
Restructuring held a meeting August 28 in
Goderich to which all members of county
council were cordially invited. That's not
„ really unusual, Any and all membervof
council are welcomed at any and all
meetings of -committees under the present
Huron County system. They seldom come,
of course but the meeting in question
should not be construed as having sinister
overtones.
• Fact is, all corrirrrittee meetings of Huron
County Council are held in closed session,
aWay from the public and the press. What's
more, the minutes of those meetings are
not available for,,public scrutiny, and the
truth is that what news eventually reaches
the people has' been. has -red, rehashed and
actually at'ithor_•iz,ed for release in a kind of
catered-doW r report that seldom mirrors
• -.d e~true feelings, of: county council or even
,the committee. The ,tip of the iceburg, one
c( h say.
The often given 'for "the Com-
mittee system isthat i't gives"couricillors
an Opportunity to speak their minds,..freely
and without .fear of seeing their thoughts
(or out -of -context thoughts) in print for all
• to read. One wonders,, of course, if coun=
:.•cil's thoughts in committee sessionsare so'
irrational and radical that co print ,them
would.he`totall}y revealing.,.' or maybe so
intelligent and profound that to divulge
them would be risky.
Another reason is that since all members
•'of council .don't attend all committee
• sessions, it is conceivable that a report of a
committee r)f meeting could hit the Press
• bef.or'e all councillors have been informed
of what's happened. That's considered to
he an -impossible situation and there may
be•,ir.istification for the argument. But one
then wonders why committee reports could
net, be made public after- they've been
scrutiniied by all members of council.
But by far' the biggest reason given, by
county council for its "committee system",
is that it has always been done .this way
and that,seerns to be a good enough reason•
for county councillors year after year to
perpetuate the system.
And though under the present system
then, Huron citizens cannot question the
right or _wrong.of the meeting which took
place 'August 2R, it does open the way for
comment as to whether or not Huron
County Council is really interested in the
provincial government's prodding to
r•es•tr'uc•ture. Do the hulk of county coun-
cillor; think that because it has always
been done this way, it is the hest way.
Warden Ansen McKinley denied that
county councillors had a "closed mind" on
the question of restructuring, He said in his
press coeference (W'hich incidentally was a
first in Moron County to my knowledge) on
Tuesday, September 2, that council's mind
was quite open to restructuring but not
unless some benefits could be visualised
for the°people of Huron County because of
it.
And apparently county councillors could
see no benefits in either ofhe proposals by
the restructuring committee. They gave a-
"blanket no" to both proposals, according
to, the warden, although they could see
some need for the provision of more ser-
vices on a county -basis.
It seems, then, that the concern of
Wingham Editor Barry Wenger in his
recent editorial entitled "The right to
know'" was Unfounded. In his editorial, Mr.
Wenger suggested, that .if the 'councillors
"did actually get down to debating the pros
and cons of,, ,restructuring, the meeting
should have been open to the public". It
seems clear the pros' and cons of
restructuring were not discussed. In fact,
one could almost charge that the majority
of council for Huron had a pre -conceived
idea that restructuring was unnecessary.
If it had been otherwise, .far more than one
meeting would•have been needed to thresh
out a rejection.
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Now the real question must come forth.
Did council for the' County of Huron have
sufficient information in the reports
presented to them upon which to debate the
issue of restructuring?
Copies of Proposals A and B were
presented to members of the press when
they met with , Warden McKinley at his
press , conference. Each .report entailed
columns of figures and a map of the
proposed restructured areas. There was'ho
attempt made to •get • the feeling of the
people in Huron for the report, There was
no effort made to erase existing' township,
town and village boundaries to restructure
on '.a 'totally new. concept. There ' was no
imagination in. ,either, Proposal A or
Proposal B. There was not enough iletail
suggested, upon which to have arLhonest
debate, Only Ault statistics and a couple of
maps.
At the press conference, the question was
asked, whether the statistical data in ,the
reports had revealed anything new and
startling; or pointed up any weak or strong
points. Had any conclusions been drawn
from' the statistics compiled from all the
municipalities?
The answer was no .•„ except:- to re-
emphasize a need for more study into some
special services such as ' recreation,
policing, fire , protection, and possibly
garbage disposal on a county basis.
It really is no wonder. After pouring over
the pages for a while, it was easy to see
that in proposal A, the size of each of eight
areas averaged as close to -5,000 electors as
possible (3,931 to 6,375) with each proposed
area having seven, councillors and two
county representatives. Proposal B had 12
areas (the five towns •and seven others) ..
with size ranging from 1,575 electors
(Seaforth) to 5,358 electors (Stanley, Hay,
Zurich, Hensall and Bayfield). Anywhere
from five to nine councillors were
recommended for the areas hi—Proposal B
but each had two county representa es.
Total `revenue for areas in Proposal A
ranged from $1,033,311 to $2,196,456; in
Proposal B, total revenue for areas ranged
from $796,261 to $2,094,961.
The analysis of expenditures for specific
items (general government, personal and
property prot ction, transportation, en-
vironment, "health, social and family,
recreational and community, planning and
development, education): had . some in-
terestirfg comments. *For instance, • West
Wawanosh with a population of 1,257 spends
$3,703 for personal andproperty protection
while East Wawanosh with a population of
1,095 spends $11,805. And Goderich
Township spends $513 for recreation and
BYSh e e r
'community services while the neighboring
Town of Goderich spends $172,766, with the
Town of Clinton spending another $89,228.
It'should be pointed out at this juncture
-. that as Warden McKinley said, the figures
in that particular report are.most difficult
to assess fairly and in the proper per-
spective. It is true that federal, provincial
and local money is so'cbmpletely mingled
in, through and under all the figure's, it is
impossible to give a clear cut picture of
just what it really,goes to anyone for what,
'All the more reason then, to doubt the
strength of the proposals for the purposes
of a restructuring study. •
From the time the restructuring corn-
mittee swung into action until the two
proposals got to county councillors, about
five months time had elapsed. Much of the
statistical data was collected by Astudent,
Mr. Beverley Blake who visited the in-
dividual municipalities to get the in-
formation.
No doubt the restructuring committee
spent many hours digesting the figures,
discussing ways in which restructuring
could take place, considering what they
felt would be the reaction of county council
and discarding ideas until the two
proposals in their report were agreed upon.
There is even a good chance that the two'
proposals presented were not a unanimous
choice of the restructuring committee,
It is entirely, likely therefore, that the
-report was presented prematurely, before
'sufficient work could be done on it. And
now, the restructuring issue is all but dead'
in Huron County. But did it ever have a
chance to live in the first place? -That's• the
°question.
The' Blyth Standard says giving a
"blanket no" to the proposals was "the
only smart move to make".. ,
"From what we've 'been' able to. learn,
-about the. proposals," says the. Standard
Editor Keith Roulston; "it seems to have
been the only smart move to make, The
principle behind restructuring still makes
sense. There are more municipalities than,'
are needed. There is a duplication of
services and some overspending on ad-
ministrative staff. And there is an unequal
sharing oj costs for some services, notably
recreation. But no one in all the discussions
about reorganization has the courage to go
out and do things right. Instead all they do
is tinker with the system, usually to the
detriment of 'all involved. In nearly all
regional setups as well as the proeosals in
Huron, numbers of people seethed to be all
that mattered, not the people •themselves.
nee m
We need so many people for a base, the
planners seemed to say, so we'll lump this
town and these townships together and get
it, I i makes no matter that these' areas
don't have .any comnron bond; they just
stick them together anyway."
"The idea of a common population base
is the most ridiculous part of the whole
affair," the Blyth editor continued. "The
only basis that can be adopted is one that
strengthens the existing community
boundaries. Each town .and village in
Huron now has an established trading,
pattern, built overmany long years:There
are definite patterns as to where people go
for recreation, for fire protection and for a
hundred other little service items. By
doing an indepth study ofthese•pattei ns, ft'
would be possible forthe council to come
up with a reorganization which would
reflect the presentb community structure.
There would- still be some problems in•
-
fringe areas wher"e one neighbour might
consider one town home and another might
choose another, but these would. be
relatively minor compared with the horrid
examples other reorganization schemes
have given us,"
"But pending a truly fresh approach to
the problem like°the one noted, the -whole
structure is better• left intact than ruined
with some thoughtless tinkering," the
editor decided.
In Barry Wenger's editorial "The- right
to know", he talked to Morris Township
Reeve Bill: Elston and wroth this: "Mr„,,,-
Elson
Mr.Elsotr says that the. concept' df restruc-
turing, as it has been discussed in Huron, is
. o- anticipate• dictatesth'
e provincials
government which_ require'�consolidat.ion•
:and hopefully more efficient forms of local
administration. In other words, to achieve
modernization in ' local control without U�
sacrificing all municipal -identity in a huge
regional system. UndeC , restructuring we
'might visualize a' common municipal`
council for a fair-sized town and its
surrounding villages and townships
rather than the combining of a city and two
or three 'counties into a regional ad-
minitration." •
And then Mr. Wenger added, "Perhaps
our vision of restructuring may be miles
away . from t re concepts of the Huron
committee." It oW°appears that certainly
the vision of The Blyth Standard, The
Wingham Advance -Times and The
-Goderich Signal -Star ,(and perhaps other
weeklies still uncommitted editorially on
'the matter) is entirely different from the
ideas of Huron County Council. The ideas
of the people maybe different too. There's
PEAR EDITOR
fid' K,.A, •
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(continued from page 4).F,
term or long term. plans for
nuclear power development in
Huron", Are 'there still plans
for a fossil fuel plant? •
I do not feel confident with
this supposed new policy
statement. -I'oo often we far-
mers have seen or heard the
word from government, only to'
have'•the exact opposite happen
.affer elections, or a few months
later.
Although I cannot speak for
the,Federation of Agriculture, f
am sure they are not confident.
And as a dir•ec"'tor of the Ontario
Bean Producers Marketing
Board., I can definiteTy3 .state
that we as a hoard are certainly
not confident that this
development ' is stopped.
Members of the Board have
already been in touch with Pr.
Porter and his group, The
Royal. Commission on Electric
Power Planning.
•It is very unfhrtunate'in the
society in which we live that we
allow an elected government to
permit Ontario Hydro to dictate ,
the how, why, when, and Where
off' industrial growth in the
Province ,of Ontario, And I am
very surprised that the
Minister of Energy, Dennis
Ti.mbrell has seen fit • to
overrule Ontario Hydro, No
doubt an ,election carrot to be
held for the people.
May 'I suggest. Mr. Ainslie,,
that if you and the committee
are confident t,hatihe plans do
not exist, then you are easily
misled,
If this 'letter' exists, then 1
would' suggest that it be
published verbatim. -
a Yours very truly,
Hazlitt.
misleading and unrealistic.
The producer must pay an
• enrollment fee on 100 percent of
his cow herd, and gets paid on"
S5 percent of his.cow herd.
_ T.he.National Farmers Union
strongly insist that the base.
'level of the Ontario plan be no
less than. 70c per' pound• this
year, and would thereafter be
indexed to cover the full cost of
production including an
adequate return to labour and
capital,
The many producers
liquidating their herds will
produce shortages and we will
have another cycle. The con-
sumer does not benefit when
there is Tess Ontario produced
beef.
a ,
just no doubt that Huron County. Council's
ideas are not parallel with those of the
provincial government.
Sara ClasiCy's statement is clear: "The
Government of Ontario believes that the
main way in which' we can preserve and
strengthen our local community, govern-
ments, is by giving them more to db. In
practice, this means giving local gover-
nments morel ` responsibility to snake
decisions. But in order that local gover-
nment ° can exercise their powers ef-
fectively they mus be organized
rationally, In other`worcby making local
government stronger in terms df size,
population and finances, we are setting the
stage for a ipajpr program of decen-
tralization of political power in this
province." '
The key words are preserve, strengthen,
responsibility, y effectively, rationally,
decentralization. Mr, Clasky is,saying that
municipalities are to accept the respon-
sibility to restructure rationally so that
they can effectively preserve- and
strengthen themselves to permit decen-
tralization to take place.
° He's saying that old things must ' pass
away, even. old boundaries drawn up by
who knows who for what purposes. He's
saying the job must be done rationally,mot
emotionally. He's saying that centres of
community interest might take in the Town
of Goderich, some of Goderioh Township
and some , of . Colborne Township. He"s
saying itmight be more rational to put part
of Goderich Township; the village . of
Bayfield and some of Stanley Township
into one area; the rest of Goderich
Township, some of Hullett, "some of
Tuckersmith Township and some of
Stanley',' Township in with the town of
C1intbn,.He's saying.som:e•of Stanley, some.
of Tuckersmith, some of, Hay, some of
Stephen and some of; Usborne might be
lumped with Hensall; he's suggesting the
possibility of part of Hay, part of Stephen
and part of Usborne be an area with the
Town of Exeter.
The former' Director of the Regional.
Planning Branch, is urging the County of.
Huron to rethink their. entire situation, to
start with' a clean slate,' to study.,the pat-
tern .,of , people's lives _here, . to speak
courageously and openly, to act with
fearlessness and absolute confidence in
Huron's own ability, to govern wisely, in
accordance with the provincial thrust. He's
saying do this sort of thing and there will be
major decentralization of political power,
a''relaxation of Queen's Park grip on local
municipalities, the long -sought freedom to
receive money untied to specific needs and
spendable at local discretion for their own
priorities. •" '
-h +
It is remarkably true that Huron County
has been a Deader in many ways for other
' counties in the .province. Many services
have been amalgamated into a county-
wide scheme such as health, library,
welfare, planning,' building and plumbing
inspection, development. Many more
should be putt under county jurisdiction
such as policing, fire protection'recreation
and garbage'.disposal. County council has
seen these •needs 'and that's why Huron
County is in mdny ways, ahead in the
restructuring race.
But Huron dare not rest on its, laurels.
Warden McKinley alluded to the fact that
once more services are provided under a
county office, the stage might then be set in
Huron for further restructuring. But how
long will that take? Will it'the soon enough?
Shouldn't irr`rportant basic studies be made
now? Shouldn't, the public hpve something
to say? Shouldn't a concentrated effort be
made to'keep Huron County out in front, a
leader among leaders?
Bruce County -is moving towidchangeS,
for instances. Huron' County councillors
may argue that Bruce has been a step -
behind them when it comes to,progressivo
thinking and action in the• past. But. if
restructuring takes place as planned in
Bruce (already two, municipalities, Port
Elgin and Wiarton have approved the.
scheme) there will be some major steps
taken that will put it far outer ahead of -
Huron.
The London Free Press last week noted
six major recommendations for a
restructured Bruce County: eleven
representatives elected within each.of the
six prgposed government units; a two year
term for warden; the establishment of
waste dispoal sites across the county; each'
of the six amalgamated, governments tp
provide their own police protection;
building and plumbing inspection ad-
ministered by the county; a county in-
. dustrial commissioner.
+±+ ' I
Time and time again the Government for
Ontario -has urged the people td be
responsible, to accept the challenge to
restructure in their own way to suit their
own needs and to administer " more ane ..-.-
mdre of their own ' affairs. "13ut the in --J
dications have always been there that this
restructuring must be done with vision for
'the future, recognizing that the old ways
are not necessarily the best ways. Charges
and modification of changes are needed
before Mother Ontarierwill hand the reigns
of responsibility oyersto her children.
Warden Anson McKinley said in his
' press conference that a set of criteria must
cane from provincial and federal'
government before local governments can
reorganize. On. they contrary; the local '
governments should be developing their
own set_. of . criteria tailored to their own •
needs, showing-_se.nior' governments- how
they can make it work effectively and then
asking for the legislatiok to put it -into
common practice for the benefit of their •
own•people, Instead of Ottawa and Toronto,
Setting the pace in Huron County, let's
have Ottawa and Toronto step to the local
tune. That's government, °"by,,the people,
for the people".' .
County "councillors were quite right . in
finding nothing in Proposal A or Proposal
13 of sufficient benefit to the people of
Huron to warrant restructuring along
those dines. But! to discard the restruc-
turing admonition so lightly in favor -Of 'a
few more county -wide services, is to shirk
responsibility and leave Huron County
Open for restructuring from outside its
borders. Surely the issue is important
enough to seek public opinion through ,
questionnaires or interviews designed to
determine people's habits, needs and
wants. Surely improvements can,.be' made
where representation is concerned, both at
local and county, levels. Surely there is .
need to abolish some of these imaginary
lines in Huron County, which pit neighbors
against each other and sometimes .hamper
logical, orderly growth and services.
The Provincial Government won't be
satisfied with the excuse that it's always
been done this way in .Huron County. One
day, maybe sooner than some expect, the
provincial government's pleading for local
initiative toward restructuring will end. It
will have to end to allow the province to get
on -with its master plan. The changes could
then be. swift and drastic, ,cotrrpletety
disruptive and possibly wrong. But, they
will lead to other changes that • will be '
workable for Huron .•. or what's left of
Huron. And the people of that time will
have local autonomy and representation
such as the present Huron County Council
has often talked about but was too
reluctant to go after:
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Propsa1 A
'VF1J e
I)ea r Edifor,
Thd stated objective of j.he so-
calIM Ontario Beef Calf
income Stahilizatio'h Program
is to encourage a steady supply
of Onatario produced stocker
calves,
However, the low support
price .guarantee of 50c per
pound for stocker calves is
G. Austin,
•'! NFU
Irish frim(!
Dear Editor,
I write . to thank you for so
very kindly. publishing my
second letter and my
photograph in'. your paper. I
now feel, looking out of your
pages, that I have met many,
many of your readers:
'My particular thanks go to
Mrs, Mary Rivett, Apt. 2, 182
Newgate Street, Gode"rich, 'vho
not only sent me a copy of your
newspaper but also beautiful
photographs of your lovely
town. All of this is most in-
teresting to me.
I would also like to thank
Mrs. Amy Davidson, 58
Dalbeatti,e Ave., Weston,
Ontario, for a tiny brooch she
sent me of your Canadian flag,
J wear it constantly and it is
.greatly 'admired. The ad-
miration leads on, of course, to
conversation about Goderich
and Ontario's Dungannon 'and
arouses much interest 'amon'g
, our peclple here. .
You will, I think, be pleased
to knbw that through letters to
the press and a B,B,C.„appeal, I
have discovered a 'clan rof
Malliaghs right irt” our town'. A
Mrs. Bogle, daughter of the late
William Malliagh, is a direct
descendant of the family. whose
(contiritted on page 9)
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