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The Times Advocate, 2008-10-22, Page 44 Times -Advocate Wednesday, October 22, 2008 CGNA f Editorial Opinion TIMES -ADVOCATE PUBLICATION MAIL REGISTRATION NUMBER 07511 We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada, through the Publications Assistance Program (PAP), toward our mailing costs. Canada CO Zift etroland Media Group Ltd. Deb Lord — Manager Scott Nixon — Editor CNA 2007 BLUE RIBBON The Times -Advocate is owned by Metroland Media Group Ltd. 424 Main Street South, P.O. Box 850 Exeter, Ontario NOM 1S6 • 519-235-1331 Doug Rowe - General Manager, Southwestern Ontario Division EDITORIAL What lies ahead? After the rather unsurprising federal election results last week, we find ourselves in the same spot we were nearly two years ago af- ter the last federal election a Conservative minor- ity and a Liberal party seemingly without direction. Most polls and pundits predicted a Conservative victory last week, with some even so bold as to sug- gest a majority, but in the end, the performance of the Liberal Party and their leader, Stephane Dion, was disappointing. Dion had to go and he made the correct decision Monday to resign for the good of his party. But who s next for the Liberals? Both Bob Rae and Michael Ignatieff have high profiles, but they both have a lot of baggage and drawbacks associated with their respective careers Rae for his time as NDP premier of Ontario, and Ignatieff for his decades of living in the U.S. and for his original backing of the Iraq War. Are these the right men for the job? With the liberal vote in this country split among four parties, is it inevitable the Conservatives are building towards a majority? Or will the Liberals be able to regroup under a new leader? The NDP have probably maxed out their popularity potential under Jack Layton and all the Green Party has managed to do is take votes from the Liberals. With no leadership and no money, the Grits won t be ready for another election for at least a couple of years. Sound like d j vu? Locally, 15 years of federal Liberal representation in Huron -Bruce ended last week when Conserva- tive Ben Lobb defeated Liberal Greg McClinchey by a considerable margin. When longtime Liberal MP Paul Steckle announced his resignation, it was clear the Liberal seat in Huron -Bruce was vulner- able, although it was felt the race between Lobb and McClinchey would be closer. It will be an interesting change to have new representation in Huron -Bruce after Steckle s 15 years. Hopefully Lobb, only 31, will bring fresh, new ideas to the table. But in the end, last week s federal election was mostly a waste of time and money. Harper managed to strengthen his minority somewhat, and he man- aged to end Dion s career as party leader. But was stroking Harper s ego worth hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars? Time for tough decisions It was editorialized in the Citizen newspaper in Blyth last week that it all comes down to an attitude change on the part of homeowners, and if they wanted to save money on taxes they would have to stop demanding that their leaves be picked up and compost them themselves. The editorial may be a realization that the all -you -can - eat -buffet of programs and services offered by govern- ment and government -funded organizations may be coming to an end, willingly or not. The board of directors of the Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority (ABCA) may have caught a glimpse of that last week when the ABCA budget was proposed with an overall increase of 10 per cent or $95,055. Since the Second World War, Canada has enjoyed un- precedented economic growth that allowed an expansion in services that made our lives com- fortable, healthy, safe and fun. But that prosperity was based on a mix of low prices for natural resources, especially oil, a growing labour force with low health care costs and little competition in Asia and Central and South America for both markets and jobs, none of which exists today. As the ratio of working to retired Canadians continues to go in the wrong direction, the options are going to be either raise the taxes or cut the services. The question isn t that conservation authori- ties don t provide valuable planning, flood prevention, environmental protection and recreational services the question is how of much them, plus libraries, health units and arenas can we afford to keep as well as police, fire, health care, roads, bridges and free lunch programs for the kiddies. Because there is also a fairly old fuse -panel in my cellar that should be upgraded to a breaker box, as well as a new front door to replace the one with holes in it, plus a couple of new tires for the truck plus the joist with some dry rot...and on it goes, as it does for everyone. But most of that isn t going to be done anytime soon, since the better half s job has been relocated to Wood- stock, a situation more and more people are facing. On top of increasing job losses, local residents in Hen- sall, Crediton and Exeter are facing bills up to $20,000 to pay for pipelines, sewers and water mains. Despite the always stated solution that the answer is more funding from the feds / the province / the munici- pality, the short version is whatever government name is on the cheque, ultimately it came out of one pocket, a pocket whose owner may or may not have a job anymore and at the least is looking at hefty increases for just about everything coming into the house. As was stated at the ABCA meeting last week, many of the costs and budget increases are fixed with even minor cuts to services leaving trees down across trails and unmaintained board- walks, raising liability issues. So if the choices are to continue to raise taxes on rate payers struggling to hold onto their homes or providing less service that could make those expecting barrier -free trails and well maintained boardwalks more vulnerable, it is time to ask, what can we afford and what do we need before the question/ decision becomes will it be the bridge or the hospital that is closed? If, as it was said repeatedly and loudly in the election, that we should pass on a better world to the next genera- tion, than it better be one that they can afford and not just one we think we deserve. PAT B BACK 40 VIEW OLEN About the Times -Advocate Address & Office Hours Time -Advocate, 424 Main Street South, P.O. Box 850, Exeter, Ontario NOM 1S6. 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Deadline: Friday @ 2:00 p.m. Website: www.southhuron.com E-mail Us TA e-mail addresses consist of the person's first initial and last name followed by @southhuron.com. For example, Deb Lord's e-mail address is dlord@southhuron.com Our general e-mail address is ads@southhuron.com. The Times -Advocate Team MANAGER Deb Lord ext. 103 ADVERTISING Deborah Schillemore ext. 112 CUSTOMER SERVICE Jennifer Skonieczny ext. 101 COMPOSITION Nikki Cyr ext. 101 Kelly Gackstetter ext. 102 EDITOR Scott Nixon ext. 105 REPORTERS Pat Bolen ext. 113 Ben Forrest ext. 114 ACCOUNTING STAFF Anita McDonald ext. 104 Ruth Slaght ext. 106 Marg Pertschy ext. 108 Heather Clarke ext. 111