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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2018-01-04, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JANUARY 4, 2018. Editorials Opinions President: Keith Roulston • Publisher: Deb Sholdice Editor: Shawn Loughlin • Reporter: Denny Scott Advertising Sales: Brenda Nyveld • Heather Fraser The Citizen is published 50 times a year in Brussels, Ontario by North Huron Publishing Company Inc. Subscriptions are payable in advance at a rate of $36.00/year ($34.29 + $1.71 G.S.T.) in Canada; $160.00/year in U.S.A. and $205/year in other foreign countries. Advertising is accepted on the condition that in the event of a typographical error, only that portion of the advertisement will be credited. Advertising Deadlines: Mon. 2 p.m. - Brussels; Mon. 4 p.m. - Blyth. PUBLICATIONS MAIL AGREEMENT NO. 40050141 RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO CIRCULATION DEPT. PO BOX 152 BRUSSELS ON NOG 1H0 email: info@northhuron.on.ca It's a chicken and egg problem A small story in the Dec. 21 issue of The Citizen highlighted again the difficulties that hamper attracting immigrants to Huron County. Stacey Haugen, a graduate student from Waterloo, noted that although local groups sponsored refugees to come to Canada and provide accommodation and a welcoming, helpful community, "Typically, these refugees end up going to the cities" for the types of services we don't have in Huron County. Although refugee sponsors try their best, the newcomers seek communities where they can be comfortable speaking their language until they learn English and where they can observe their religion. There's nothing new in this. If you go back 160 years, emigrants from Scotland, Ireland and England tended to settle near people from their own background, creating distinct Scottish communities like Kincardine, Irish communities like Dublin and communities with stronger ties to England, like Blyth. Sometimes whole settlements would be populated with people from one county back home. The brave first few Dutch immigrants to our region following the destruction of their homeland in World War II made Huron attractive for later waves of emigrants from Holland who knew people here. It's natural for new immigrants to want to move to cities where there's already an established community of people like them to help them settle in. The problem is this creates a chicken and egg situation for rural communities that would like to attract new immigrants. Unless you have people from the immigrants' background, they'll go where they're more comfortable, yet you'll never get that population base to build on if there aren't people brave enough to live beyond the comfort of a community of peers. Unless something changes, the divide will grow between cities that become more and more ethnically and culturally diverse and vanilla - shaded rural areas. For now, finding a way to make immigrants feel at home in rural towns and villages seems a problem with no solution. — KR Say hi to the great experiment As Ontario enters 2018, its citizens are being thrust into a huge economic and political experiment by Premier Kathleen Wynne's Liberal government. The riskiest part of the experiment, the part that could hurt the province for years to come if the Premier has guessed wrong, is her decision to raise the minimum wage from $11.60 to $14, an increase of 21 per cent overnight between Dec. 31 and Jan. 1. Oh, and there's also an extra week of vacation pay — another two per cent. The Premier points out that there were people working for the previous minimum wage who had to turn to food banks to get by. No doubt there were. She seems to think most employers can pay more without batting an eyelash, and that the extra money flooding into the economy will create new prosperity. Since we have no choice, we'd better hope she's right. It's too ghastly to think what could happen if thousands of small employers really can't afford to pay 23 per cent more and go out of business, sending thousands to the unemployment line. The other part of the experiment is whether this bold move can help the Liberals survive the June 7 provincial election. A recent poll showed the Liberals have surged from dead last among the three parties into a dead heat with the Progressive Conservatives. Premier Wynne is betting thousands of lowly -paid workers will thank her by voting for her. Then there's the race to see if any negative consequences of this cynical election strategy will hold off until after the government hopes to be re-elected. If the experiment goes badly, one almost wishes the Premier would get re-elected so she's the one to clean up the mess. — KR There was no good decision Many Canadians must have squirmed back before Christmas when our representatives at the United Nations abstained from voting on a General Assembly motion to censure the United States for its decision to declare Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The Canadian government is opposed to the move by U.S. President Donald Trump. As Adam Austin, a spokesman for Global Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, said "Canada's longstanding position is that the status of Jerusalem can be resolved only as part of a general settlement of the Israeli -Palestinian dispute." And yet rather than join the 128 countries that condemned Trump's move, we abstained. Morally, it might have felt good to be righteous and give President Trump a poke, but whether the motion passed or not, nothing was going to change his decision. Meanwhile, irritating the vengeful Trump at a time when renegotiation of NAFTA is already going badly, could help scuttle the deal — perhaps costing many thousands their jobs. Governing brings uncomfortable choices, even making you follow a path you'd prefer not to take. — KR The Citizen P.O. Box 429, P.O. Box 152, BLYTH, Ont. BRUSSELS, Ont. NOM 1H0 NOG 1 HO Ph. 519-523-4792 Phone Fax 519-523-9140 519-887-9114 E-mail info@northhuron.on.ca Website www.northhuron.on.ca Canada .,Qcna � • CCNA We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada. Member of the Ontario Press Council CMCA AUDITED We are not responsible for unsolicited newsscripts or photographs. Contents of The Citizen are © Copyright Looking Back Through the Years January 8, 1958 The Brussels Lions Club was set to host its annual concert and dance at the Brussels Town Hall on Jan. 17. Music would be provided by the Dillabough Sisters, described as "five versatile young ladies" who played piano, banjo, guitar, accordion, drums and violin. Regular contributor to The Brussels Post, the Kansas Farmer would also be on hand to entertain audiences that night. The Ontario Farm Union held its most recent public meeting at the Ethel Hall. Varna's Bob Taylor, director of the Huron County branch, was on hand for the meeting, as was Sam Bowman of Elora, the editor of the union's newspaper. January 4, 1978 A front-page story in The Blyth Standard discussed Blyth's sister village in Australia, a discovery made by Australian Erwin Windel, who came to Canada for a holiday. Windel hailed from Clare, which is just outside of Blyth, Australia, so when he was in Canada, he decided to make the trip to Blyth, Canada to see the place for himself. The Australian Blyth, according to Windel, was actually smaller than its Canadian counterpart, with only 350 people calling Blyth, Australia home, compared to Blyth, Canada's population of 800. He did say, however, that despite its size, Blyth, Australia was home to a hospital. A number of problems facing the sewage disposal system at Blyth Public School were said to have been solved. A number of recommendations had been made by Acting Medical Officer of Health Dr. Brian Lynch and, if those conditions were met, the school would be considered to be satisfactory. The Blyth and District Community Centre Board appointed a new manager. Russel Cook was set to take over the duties from Gary Richardson effective Dec. 17. Cook was not unfamiliar with the job, as he had served as the centre's manager for a number of years prior to 1977. The cost for basic telephone services rose with the official takeover of Bell Canada of Maitland Teleservices Limited. Rates for a private line in Auburn rose over 50 cents per months as a result of the takeover, while rates in Blyth went up 40 cents per month and 35 cents per month in Brussels. January 9, 1991 The newly -installed GST was going to have an impact on the Huron County Board of Education, said Bob Allan, the Director of Education and Secretary/Treasurer of the board. "This goes beyond the dollars and cents figures," he told the board of trustees at a meeting in Clinton. "There is going to be a huge impact on the administrative work that is difficult to quantify, but will be quite substantial in terms of hours." Members of the Wingham OPP were busy over the Christmas and New Year's holidays, as they stopped nearly 1,000 vehicles throughout the community during their festive RIDE check program. Only three drivers were charged for being over the legal limit. If everything went according to schedule, it was estimated that tenders for the Huronview North project in Brussels could be called for as early as March. With final drawings of the new home for the aged due to be complete by the middle of January, project architect Gail Lamb estimated that construction on the building could begin as soon as April or May. At a meeting of Hullett Township Council, councillors decided they would be paid the same in 1991 as they had been in 1990, keeping remuneration at the same level. Reeve Tom Cunningham was set to earn $1,900 for 1991 for his work as reeve, followed by $1,700 for Deputy -Reeve Joe Gibson and $1,600 for each councillor. January 3, 2008 Brussels was about to be celebrated with the publishing of a new book. Main Street -Brussels was set to celebrate the village's history, an idea spawned from the Doors Open -Huron East project and the Huron East Economic Development Corporation. With warmer temperatures on the horizon, area Ontario Provincial Police officers were warning snowmobilers to stay off of the trails because it simply wasn't safe, especially near rivers and lakes. Jack Lee was on hand to drop the puck for a special hockey game between the 1972 Ontario Minor Hockey Association (OMHA) PeeWee champions and the 1993 OMHA Bantam champions. The 1972 championship team won the contest by a score of 5-4, but the main attraction was a special guest appearance by long-time NHL player Bob Probert, who spent time signing autographs for adoring fans. The OPP were busy investigating the theft of a number of dogs from a Blyth -area kennel. Sometime between the hours of 1:30 a.m. and 8 a.m. one night just before Christmas one or several suspects were alleged to have stolen 10 babies from the kennel.