The Times Advocate, 2005-10-26, Page 44
Exeter Times—Advocate
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
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Editorial Opinion
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EDITORIAL
What now?
Wbat will the next step be for Hensall's dea-
malgamation committee? With a decision
y Bluewater council last week to not
allow the group to present its business plan at a Nov.
21 council meeting, the group is at a crossroads.
While council says it will listen to any of the commit-
tee's concerns regarding services in Hensall, Mayor
Bill Dowson said council would be giving the group
"false hope" if it heard a presentation on the busi-
ness plan.
Nevertheless, the deamalgamation committee
couldn't have been too pleased when they heard the
news.
As the Times -Advocate has reported on numerous
occasions, support for the deamalgamation commit-
tee in Hensall is huge. Residents voted 148 to three
at a public meeting Sept. 19 to have the committee
present its plan to council, the same plan council just
decided not to hear. On a previous petition, 93 per
cent of the population supported deamalgamation.
The Hensall deamalgamation committee has a
number of hurdles to overcome to reach its goal of
pulling out of Bluewater to once again become a
separate village. Chief among those challenges is the
fact there is no provincial legislation permitting dea-
malgamation. The province has shown no real inter-
est in deamalgamations and probably doesn't want
to open Pandora's box by allowing that first commu-
nity to separate.
And while the committee's business plan states a
separate Hensall is a fmancially viable proposition,
there are others who wonder if Hensall could really
survive on its own in light of increased provincial
downloading.
While council's decision last week may be a road-
block for the deamalgamation committee, one thing
is for sure — they won't give up.
Thumbs up ...
Kudos to the Huron United Way and its volunteers
for putting on a great event last weekend to raise
$18,000. Saturday's "Amazing Race" not only raised
money for the United Way, it was a fun event that
raised the profile of the scores of businesses in the
county who hosted the various challenges partici-
pants faced.
Whether it was ringing the Trivitt bells, digging in
the sand for tennis balls in Goderich, milking cows
or singing karaoke, the "Amazing Race" brought
something new to Huron.
The county needs more of these events.
Mw -
Health care a uniting factor
You want a good way to bring a community together
to rally around a cause? Just mention health care or
doctor recruitment and the people will come out in
droves.
We've seen it happen before in this area
(Grand Bend and Exeter, for example) and it
happened again in Zurich last week when
about 400 people filled the Bluewater
Community Centre to learn how they could
ensure Dr. Michael Hurley would open up a
doctor's office in Zurich (the Zurich Medical
Clinic has been closed for over three months
due to funding problems).
As you'll read elsewhere in this week's
Times -Advocate, those at the meeting were
told Hurley would open a family practice in
Zurich if the community covered the cost of the
building.
The annual cost? A measly $22,600, which includes
over $19,000 for rent and other expenses such as
insurance, accounting, legal costs and equipment.
What's more, Zurich residents were told the money
had to be raised immediately or they would lose
Hurley to another community.
And how did Zurich residents respond? By raising
over $53,000 within a day, a truly impressive figure
given the size of the community and the short time res-
idents were given to come up with the cash.
Also, the fact nearly half the town showed up for the
meeting demonstrates just how high Ontarians place
health care on their list of priorities. Let's be honest —
most of the time, getting more than a handful of people
out to a council meeting or some other type of public
meeting is next to impossible. People either don't care
or don't know about local issues or, if they do,
they certainly don't care enough to leave their
homes and attend a meeting. But when it
comes to health care, people show up in
droves with their wallets open. It may be the
one thing, besides hockey, that unites this
country.
But Zurich residents didn't simply hand over
their hard-earned money without asking
some tough questions of the meeting's presen-
ters, which included Bluewater Mayor Bill
Dowson and Zurich and Area Health
Association members Robert Westlake, Steve
Haberer and Cam Steckle. Of note, Bluewater
council, already dealing with one ward
(Hensall) that wants to leave the municipality, now has
another difficult issue on its hands — to decide
whether or not it will donate any money to Zurich
health care. Dowson didn't make any promises last
week, but said the issue will be discussed by council.
There are no doubt some people in Zurich who feel
council should kick in some money.
But the beauty of last week's meeting is how the
community came together and raised more than
enough money to ensure that Zurich once again would
have a doctor's office. Great things can happen when
citizens get involved in their community.
SCOTT
NIXON
AND ANOTHER
THING
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