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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Times Advocate, 2004-12-29, Page 5Wednesday, December 29, 2004 Exeter Times -Advocate 5 Opinion Forum News ROSS HAUGH BACK IN TIME 10 YEARS AGO Dec. 26, 1994 — Exeter Public Utilities Commission chairman Murray Greene has announced that the new man- ager Sherman Roth, currently manager of Elora Hydro will be working with retiring manager Hugh Davis "until the new manager gets established". Marjorie Johns, president of the South Huron Hospital Auxiliary recently presented a cheque for $25,000 to hospital board chairman Bev Skinner. 25 YEARS AGO Dec. 21, 1979 — Named citizens of the year in Exeter for 1979 were Marjorie Pollen and Harvey C. Pfaff. Usborne Township farmers Bob and Pat Down were recently presented with the Huron County Federation of Agriculture award for 1979. Receiving Provincial Honours at Saturday's Huron County 4-H Achievement Day at Stephen Central School were Judy Haist, Susan Fleming, Anne Glavin, Barbara Rader and Teresa Van Raay. At a recent professional development day for South Huron area teachers at Stratford, former Canadian Olympic star Abby Hoffman was the guest speaker. She said while the gap in endurance and strength between men and women in athletics has been narrowed to about 10 per cent in recent years, the difference in ordinary Canadians is much higher. The Lucan area farm of Allan and Liz Scott has been chosen as the site of the 1982 International plowing match. 40 YEARS AGO Dec. 23, 1964 — The Huron -Perth district of the Ontario Bean Growers Marketing Board elected their directors at the annual meeting in Zurich recently. Elected were Robert Allan, Brucefield; Fergus Turnbull, RR 1, Dashwood; Charles Rau, RR 2, Zurich; Winston Shapton, RR 1, Exeter, Alice McBeath, Kippen and Harvey Taylor, RR 3, Clinton. Sandra Skinner, a Grade 6 student at Usborne Central School won top honours in an area pub- lic speaking contest. Her topic was, "The assassi- nation of president John F. Kennedy." 45YEARS AGO Dec. 28, 1959 — Chester Mawhinney carving out his second career in municipal politics posted a large margin in winning Monday's three-way race for town reeve. Shipka residents crowded the local school Friday to hear the children's program and see a three -act comedy presented by the young people of the community. Hensall council has decided to combine four village positions when it replaces retiring clerk - treasurer P.L. MacNaughton. Applications are being called for an official who will serve as clerk, treasurer, tax collector and assessor. Garnet Hicks will represent Usborne Township on the South Huron District High School board. He replaces William Ellerington. 55 YEARS AGO Dec. 26, 1949 — Reeve A.J. Sweitzer enter- tained members of council and town officials at a turkey banquet at Monetta Menard's following the last regular meeting Thursday evening. Kirkton Postmaster G. H. Burgin says this has been one of the heaviest years for Christmas mail. 60YEARS AGO Dec. 28, 1944 — Hot dog. Billy "Banker" Gossman of Dashwood was at the Exeter branch of the Bank of Montreal Friday night to pay the taxes on his hotel in Dashwood. He tendered $66.16, all in dimes except for the 16 cents. Gossman runs a hot dog stand in Grand Bend in the summertime and the tax money represents a lot of wieners and buns. The dimes were brought to the bank in a fruit jar and due to the busyness of the bank, he was forced to roll the dimes before they were accepted. 80 YEARS AGO Dec. 27, 1924 — Jack Foote left Monday for Detroit where he has accepted a position as a motor mechanic with that city's fire department. Mr. E.O. Penhale has disposed of his 50 acre farm in Stephen Township to Mr. Ben Makins of the same township. Fred Cornish has moved into the residence at the rear of his store on Lake Road, Exeter North. Federal dollars flow to farmers in need By Andy Mitchell AGRICULTURE AND AGRI-FOOD MINISTER As 2004 draws to a close, many Canadian farm families continue to face considerable financial hardship which in many cases stretches back two years and more. BSE, drought, a strengthening dollar and other factors combined to put pressure on farm incomes across Canada. I want to emphasize how strongly the Government of Canada has responded to our commitment to support producers in times of trou- ble. Last year, a record high of $4.8 billion was paid out in government programs. In the first nine months of this year, farmers have received more than $3.1 billion in govern- ment support. On BSE, the Government of Canada has acted decisively to assist producers through this extra- ordinarily difficult period. In March, Prime Minister Martin announced $995 million in assistance to be delivered in 2004, through the Transitional Industry Support Program. So far, some $821 million has been paid to producers under TISP. On Sept. 10, I announced an additional $488 million package designed to facilitate the expan- sion of domestic slaughter capaci- ty, to address cash flow and liquid- ity issues faced by producers and to expand access to beef export markets. The cattle set-aside component of this package appears to be working very well. Cattle prices have increased since its implementation. Auctions are up and running in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec. To help producers across Canada manage business risk and deal with income decline, the federal govern- ment has set aside $5.5 billion over five years under the business risk management envelope. It is impor- tant to note that federal BRM fund- ing no longer has an annual cap. Funding is demand -driven and varies in response to producer need. For its 2003 program year, the Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization (CAIS) program has paid out nearly $355 million in interim and final payments - and millions more are being paid out each week. In fact, it is expected that once all applications are processed, well over $1 billion will have been paid out. For 2004 CAIS, more than $150 million has already gone out to producers in interims and special advance payments. Production insurance - formerly crop insurance - is another impor- tant tool to help producers manage business risk. Premium costs for production insurance are shared by governments and producers. For the 2004 crop year, it is estimated that the federal contribution to this program will be $370 million. Another useful financial tool that is extremely popular with produc- ers is the Spring Credit Advance Program and the Advance Payments Program. These pro- grams provide interest-free loans up to a maximum amount to help producers meet immediate cash- flow needs to cover seeding and storage costs. For 2004, producers were advanced a combined $866 million under both programs, saving more than $5.5 million in interest costs. While the Government of Canada is responding to the needs of pro- ducers, we realize we need to work together to deal with the long-term decline in farm income. To this end, I have asked my Parliamentary Secretary for Rural Affairs, Wayne Easter, to lead a process to better understand the factors contributing to competi- tiveness and the income prospects of Canadian farmers. Some excellent ideas came out of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture Farm Income Symposium which Wayne and I were able to attend last month. I gave delegates my personal com- mitment to support this initiative, and to work with industry on this important issue. It is critical that we create an environment in which producers are able to earn a living. On behalf of the Government of Canada, please accept my best wishes for the Christmas season and the next year. Reports released on ways to protect water AUSABLE BAYFIELD — The Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority (ABCA) is pleased with the results of two significant reports released to outline how Ontario will protect its sources of drinking water. The Ontario Minister of the Environment, Leona Dombrowsky, released the final reports of two source protection committees responsible for providing advice to the government on how to ensure there is enough safe clean water for all users hi the province. "The ABCA was pleased that rep- resentatives from Conservation Authorities had the opportunity to serve as members on both commit- tees," said chairperson Teresa Ondrejicka. "Conservation authorities have been managing watersheds in Ontario for over 50 years," she said. "As a result we were able to provide considerable scientific expertise about managing water in Ontario." The reports released were from the Source Protection Implementation Committee and the Technical Experts Committee, both established a year ago by the gov- ernment and included participants from the private and public sectors involved in water use and protec- tion. The committees' final recommen- dations provide advice on how to plan and implement source water protection, ways to finance this important work and a process to assess the current and future threats to water resources in Ontario. The advice from these two reports will be used by the Provincial gov- ernment to finalize source water protection legislation expected to be introduced in 2005. "We are proud that conservation authorities have had this opportuni- ty to make such a significant contri- bution," said General Manager Tom Prout. "We look forward to working with other organizations such as agricultural, municipal, environ- mental and private sector in devel- oping these recommendations into local watershed -based source water protection plans." Source protection is all about managing the influences on our water sources in order to ensure that there is a sufficient supply of safe, clean water for everyone now and in the future. Conservation authorities are responsible for co- ordinating source protection plans in their watersheds. The committees' reports are post- ed for a 60 -day public comment period on the environmental Bill of Rights Registry at http://www. ene.gov. on. ca/envi- sion/env_reg/ebr/english/index. htm. OPP 2004 Festival RIDE update ORILLIA — The Provincial Traffic and Marine Section of the Ontario Provincial Police has released OPP RIDE statistics for the third week of the festive sea- son's driving initiative, for all OPP jurisdictions in the province of Ontario. From Dec. 10-16, a total of 88,980 vehicles were checked at roadside checkpoints. A total of 110 12 -hour suspensions were issued and 53 persons were charged with alcohol related Criminal Code dri- ving offences. The OPP issued 53 Administrative 90 Day Drivers Licence Suspensions during week three of the five-week campaign. During the first three weeks of the 2004 OPP RIDE campaign, a total of 251,359 vehicles have been checked compared to 298,159 in the same period of 2003. Persons charged with impaired driving offences for the same three weeks have also decreased from 273 in 2003 to 187 in 2004. Twelve-hour suspensions have been issued to 379 drivers so far in the 2004 campaign compared to 632 in 2003. Twenty-seven people have tragically lost their lives in collisions this year compared to 31 in 2003. The OPP wants to remind motorists to slow down and stay safe during the frequent winter storms that occur all win- ter. Increasing the dis- tance between you and the vehicle you are follow- ing may mean the differ- ence between a serious collision or a close call. If the roads are snow cov- ered and slippery, plan ahead and allow more time for travel.. Remember — arrive alive, don't drink and drive. Letters to the Editor The Times -Advocate welcomes letters to the editor as a forum for open discussion of local issues, concerns, complaint, and kudos. By mail: P . 0 . Box 850, Exeter, Ontario NOM 1S6 By fax: (519) 235-0766 By e-mail: e d i - tor@southhuron.com Please include your name and address. Anonymous letters will not be published. The Times -Advocate reserves the right to edit letters for brevity.