The Citizen, 2017-09-21, Page 1INSIDE
THIS WEEK:
MINISTER - Pg. 9
Brussels' Melville Church
welcomes new minister
SPORTS - Pg. 11
'The Citizen' pays tribute
to summer sports teams
CCRC - Pg. 31
Parking at Blyth centre
concerns councillors
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Citizen
Volume 33 No. 37
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Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, September 21, 2017
CE, THEN THERE' S/j/%(lllllll,IkIutfaitcr
Five years in the making
The 100th International Plowing Match and Rural Expo
kicked off in Walton on Tuesday morning under less -than -
ideal conditions as rain swept through the community. The
weather wiped out the parade, which has now been
rescheduled for Saturday morning, but the opening
ceremonies went ahead as planned and a number of
dignitaries from all over the province brought greetings to
the historic event. Brian Schlosser of the Brussels
Agricultural Society brought a little touch of Huron County to the
opening ceremonies by providing a corn stalk to cut instead of a
ribbon, a tradition that has been part of the Brussels Fall Fair for
years. Premier Kathleen Wynne, centre, and the Ontario Minister
of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Jeff Leal, right, all did their
part alongside members of the Craig, McGavin and Ryan families
to start things off in proper Huron County style. Events continue at
the Walton site through Saturday. (Denny Scott photo)
Goderich
claims
Project
Play win
Goderich Recreation Park has
won the 2017 Kraft Heinz Project
Play grand prize of $250,000
towards revitalizing the park after
making it to the final four last week.
The overhaul of the park will
include the construction of three
new baseball diamonds at the Ag
Park (the park's current name — it
will be renamed) which will include
updated seating for fans, covered
dugouts and a batting cage. The
proposal also includes plans for a
new soccer pitch that could also be
used for field hockey or a number of
other activities. All playing field will
be constructed with seating for fans
and proper drainage. In addition a
new skate park will be built adjacent
to the children's playground, as well
as a pavilion that will include
washrooms, storage areas and a
canteen.
The Project Play final four
projects garnered 766,294 votes,
with the Goderich park taking the
majority of the votes during the two-
day voting period.
The park, according to Steve
Hewitt's nomination, was in a sorry
state of disrepair before renovations
began. He said that the local high
school team refused to play games
on the park's diamonds due to safety
concerns.
The work that will now be
possible due to the Project Play win
will be the first improvements at the
park since 1977.
For more information on the park
or Project Play, visit the winner's
page at kraftheinzprojectplay.com.
Huron County commits to be part of SWIFT
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
After years of being non-
committal and back -and -forth
negotiations, Huron County Council
has voted to be part of the
SouthWestern Integrated Fibre
Technology (SWIFT) initiative.
In a recorded vote, council voted
8-6 in favour of the proposal,
ratifying the decision later that day
with a special council meeting.
Ahead of council's debate at the
Sept. 13 meeting, the Independent
Telecommunications Providers
Association (ITPA), which consists
of local telecom providers
throughout Huron County, spoke to
council about members' concerns
and their impressions of the SWIFT
project and the presentation made by
representatives to Huron County
Council at the previous week's
meeting.
Angela Lawrence of Hay
Communications told council that
while those behind SWIFT felt that
if Huron County decided to
participate in the program that the
local companies would then follow
suit, she definitively told council
they would not because they didn't
see any value in it whatsoever.
Lawrence directly addressed a
number of SWIFT statements in her
presentation, saying that the plan to
bring fibre optic connectivity to
Huron County is an "overbuild" of
what the local co-operative
companies have already achieved in
recent years.
She said that while much of
southwestern Ontario is in a position
where it needs more connectivity,
Huron is an outlier in that it is
blessed with good fibre
infrastructure.
The question remained, however,
how long it would take to get fibre
optic internet connectivity to the
"last mile" so that everyone in
Huron County, regardless of where
they live, would have access to high
speed internet.
Lawrence said that the SWIFT
model wouldn't achieve last mile
access until 2040, which councillors
agreed was much too far away.
Several of the local companies,
however, said they aim to be in a
position to deliver that service
within the next five years or so.
She also said that while 2040 is a
generation away, SWIFT had yet to
submit a business plan that would
support even that statement.
She presented council with a chart
of proposed SWIFT locations. The
list consisted of 25 locations from
Auburn to Zurich where local
providers had completed work on
fibre connectivity and all 25 of
SWIFT's proposed locations had
already been completed by local
providers.
Lawrence also stated that while
councillors have been seduced with
investment figures that could be as
high as seven cents of investment for
every dollar of return, she insisted
that money will not be spent in
Huron County.
However, she said that regardless
of the return on investment, if the
invested money is being wasted
overbuilding infrastructure that
already exists, what is the point?
She said that SWIFT had
expressed interest in some of the
county's "low -hanging fruit" like
hospitals, municipal buildings and
schools that would hurt the local
businesses, providing unsustainably
cheap services. She concluded her
presentation by saying that the local
providers would continue to serve
Huron County, but that they
wouldn't take part in SWIFT.
Roger Watt, Ashfield-Colborne-
Wawanosh Deputy -Reeve and the
county's representative on the
SWIFT committee, said he agreed
with just about everything Lawrence
Continued on page 28