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The Citizen, 2017-02-09, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2017. Editorials Opinions Publisher: Keith Roulston • Associate Publisher: Deb Sholdice Editor: Shawn Loughlin • Reporter: Denny Scott Advertising Sales: Brenda Nyveld 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 Canada RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO CIRCULATION DEPT. PO BOX 152 BRUSSELS ON NOG 1H0 email: info@northhuron.on.ca We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada. • The Citizen P.O. Box 429, P.O. Box 152, BLYTH, Ont. BRUSSELS, Ont. NOM 1 HO 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 AOC11a � ber Member CMCA CCNA AUDITED Member of the Ontario Press Council We are not responsible for unsolicited newsscripts or photographs. Contents of The Citizen are m Copyright So what are Canadian values? Dr. Kellie Leitch, MP for Grey-Simcoe, has been in hot water almost from the moment she declared her candidacy for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada because of her promise, if she becomes Prime Minister, to screen all refugees and immigrants for "Canadian values". Which brings about the question, what are Canadian values? On her leadership website Dr. Leitch lists five such values: equal opportunity; hard work; helping others; generosity; and freedom and tolerance. It's pretty hard to argue against any of these traits being desired in any Canadian — including a good many people who have been here for generations. Indeed in calling for equal opportunity, helping others and generosity, Dr. Leitch might almost be accused of putting forward an NDP agenda. Hard work? Centuries of experience show that immigrants almost always work hard. It's succeeding generations that tend to slack off. So why would anyone even propose screening immigrants for such universal values. It seems it's the "freedom and tolerance" value that is the concern of some Canadians that Dr. Leitch is trying to address. One person's freedom can be seen as a lack of freedom by others. While a Muslim woman may see herself as free to wear a hijab, others see the head covering as a sign of enslavement of women and want it banned. As for tolerance, perhaps we should be screening Canadian citizens, not just immigrants, to see if they tolerate people who wear different clothes, eat different foods and worship different religions. As for Christians, perhaps they could remember the admonition of Jesus that you should first take the log out of your own eye before you ask your brother to take the speck out of his. Tolerance begins at home. — KR Thankfully a mistake avoided Which is worse, a politician who breaks a key election promise or one who insists on fulfilling that promise even if it's a bad idea and few people even want the promise kept? Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is taking a beating from opposition politicians and media commentators after backing away from his pledge that the 2015 federal election would be the last campaign conducted under the so-called first -past -the -post system. But after a year of meeting with members of the public, the government found that most people aren't as worked up about the supposed inequities of the current system as the political junkies in parliament and the media. Most vociferous in their criticism of Trudeau's reversal are supporters of minority parties who wanted a proportional representation system adopted. By their way of thinking if five per cent of the people vote for, say, the Green Party, then that party should get five per cent of the seats in Parliament. Under proportional representation in the 2015 election the NDP would have gained 23 extra seats and the Green Party, 11. Small parties get even more power because proportional representation in a multi-party state nearly always brings about a minority government (as it would have in 2015), leaving the party with the most seats to bargain with small parties to cobble together a majority government. Winning that support usually means adopting part of smaller parties' agendas. Lost in the shuffle would be the concept that people at the local riding level elect the candidate they think will best represent them. Certainly people often vote for the candidate for the party they want to form the government but we've also seen cases locally where popular MPs or MPPs who we thought best represented our local interests won elections even though their party didn't. The proportional representation system lets parties, not local voters, select who will represent the riding if it's assigned to their party. Happy as they are to bash the Prime Minister for backing away from electoral reform, the opposition parties would probably have been furious if he had proceeded with another possible voting change. It was generally thought Trudeau favoured a preferential ballot system under which voters indicate which candidate is their first choice, second choice, third choice and so on. If no candidate wins a majority of first - choice ballots, the candidate in last place is dropped and those votes are distributed according to who was identified as the voter's second choice. Since the Liberals are preferable to more NDP voters than the Conservatives, and more likely to be second choice of Conservatives than the NDP, they're likely to be more successful when only two names are left on the ballot. If this system had been in use in the last election the Liberals would have gained 90 more seats. Probably the real reason electoral reform was dropped is that more and more people were calling for the government to seek approval from voters through a referendum before such sweeping changes were made, and it was obvious that so few people really wanted reform that the effort would fail, meanwhile costing the country millions. So instead of bashing Trudeau, perhaps we should thank him for putting this issue to bed. No reform is preferable to bad reform. — KR Will you and your husband be contributing to an RR$P this year? "PLEASE PLAY AGAIN". Looking Back Through the Years February 9, 1944 Many fine costumes were on display at the annual ice carnival held at the Brussels Arena. Judging of the costumes began at 8:30 p.m. that night. The evening also included races. Donelda Willis claimed the title in the girls under -12 race, while Laurie Cousins won the boys under -12 race. The new 12 -sided Canadian nickel was said to be made of chromium steel, which meant it would be white and shiny and easily distinguishable from copper coins. The new Canadian nickel coins would be issued to residents in 1944. The Walton Farm Women were scheduled to meet at the home of Mrs. William Turnbull on Feb. 16. The topic of the night's discussion would be sanitation in the home and would be given by Mrs. Turnbull. February 16, 1967 The young lady who would be voted as the successful candidate to represent Brussels as the Centennial Queen would be crowned at the upcoming Hi -T dance at the Legion Hall on Feb. 18. Changes were on the agenda for Brussels as the former Budnark building was set to be demolished to make way for the construction of the new Brussels Medical/Dental building. Frank Wilson, Mel McCutcheon and William Stephenson were all confirmed as new members of the Western Star Lodge No. 149 Brussels. At the meeting, Elmer Bean of the Listowel lodge served as the guest speaker for the night. At the meeting there were also visitors from lodges in Teeswater, Wingham, Seaforth, Monkton and Listowel. February 11, 1981 A Belgrave family was left without a home after an early morning fire completely destroyed their home on the Ninth Concession of East Wawanosh Township. Lottie Scott and her three children were taken to Wingham and District Hospital as a result of the fire. One of the children, Karen, was transferred from Wingham to London for care because she had suffered extensive burns on 40 per cent of her body. Fundraising for the family had already begun, as a skating carnival held in the Belgrave area had raised over $200 for the family. The Belgrave Kinsmen were set to canvass the community and raise money for the Scotts in the coming days. New Blyth Councillor Bill Manning again raised an issue he felt was important, saying he felt council was overpaid. At the time, councillors were making $9.38 per hour, which he said was more than most people in the private sector were making at their jobs. Helen Gowing pushed back, however, saying that local councillors attend many additional events on their own time and are not paid. After Huron -Bruce MPP Murray Gaunt announced that he would not seek re-election in the March 19 election, there was plenty of interest from those who wanted to represent the local Liberal Party. Murray Elston, a 31 -year-old Morris Township native, was one of six men who put their names forward for the vacant position. February 12, 1997 Students throughout Huron and Perth Counties had reason to celebrate as they had hit the 100th day of school for the year. Students at Walton Public School, including Marcie McClure, Scott Somerville and Crystal Gibbons were pictures on the front page of The Citizen jogging for 100 seconds and engaging in other activities like jumping jacks and skipping rope to help mark the annual occasion. While the provincial government had billed "funding shifts" as being an "even swap" between the provincial and local branches of government, Huron County officials estimated that the downloading would cost local residents. Officials with the county estimated that local taxpayers ended up with 40 per cent more expenses as a result of the "mega week" announcements than they were responsible for before. County Treasurer Ken Nix told Huron County Council that property taxpayers would have to pay over $12.1 million more through municipal and county levels than they had to before the changes had been implemented. Co-operation between the eight Huron and Perth County hospitals continued as part of the Huron Perth District Health Council, which aimed to keep the local hospitals viable amidst wide restructuring with upper -tier healthcare costs. Chair of the Clinton Public Hospital Board of Directors, Harry Lear, told the 300 people that had gathered for the meeting at St. Anne's Catholic Secondary School that while there had been tense moments for all along the way, it was the support of one another that was keeping the process moving in the right direction. These discussions came at a time when it was announced that funding to local hospitals was going to be cut by seven per cent by the Ministry of Health.