The Citizen, 2015-06-18, Page 1CitizenTh
e
$1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, June 18, 2015
Volume 31 No. 24
WEATHER - Pg. 18
Week of rain takes its
toll on rivers, crops
CYCLING - Pg. 10
Local cycling team raises
thousands to fight cancer
Publications Mail Agreement No. 40050141 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0
INSIDE
THIS WEEK:
Adjacent landowners protest new G2G Trail
‘Seeds’ to open
Festival season
People in motion
The Huron County Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics saw participants run
through several local towns and villages including Blyth last Thursday, stopping at the
Emergency Services Training Centre for a short break. The event raises money for the Special
Olympics and runs from Wingham to Goderich. The group marching in the name of this great
cause was one of the biggest in recent memory, including local police officers and Lions Club
members, among others. Leading the way and carrying the torch was Wingham’s Lloyd Carter.
(Denny Scott photo)
Several farmers with land adjacent
to, or straddling the proposed
Goderich to Guelph (G2G) Rail
Trail told North Huron Council
Monday night that they are
adamantly opposed to the project.
Neil Mitchell spoke first from the
group of concerned landowners and
said that, as a farmer who owns
property on both sides of the
proposed trail, the premature
opening of the trail could cause
significant problems for him.
“This splits our farm in half,” he
said before reading from a prepared
letter.
The letter states that the concerns
and comments of the majority of
landowners adjacent to the proposed
trail have not be paid attention to and
that the trail may not be the boon it’s
presented to be.
“While we understand that there
are potential benefits in a trail, there
are too many adverse effects for the
adjacent agricultural landowners to
support the trail,” the letter states.
“The concerns are not a simple case
of ‘not in my backyard’, for us
landowners next to the rail bed, we
are farmers and this will impact our
very livelihood.”
Neil explained that, on June 4 of
last year, the concerned landowners
contacted Huron County Council
regarding concerns they had and
were told they would be consulted,
but, more than a year later, they have
yet to be contacted regarding the
trail. Given the announcement made
by G2G Inc. that the trail will be
open on July 1, the lack of
consultation frustrated the
landowners.
“This announcement preceeded
any lease being signed,” Neil said.
“To insure the success of any
project, community involvement is
vital, yet G2G Inc. has never
contacted us as adjacent landowners.
The only contact the adjacent
landowners have had was a general
public meeting November 2013 and
two letters from the Huron County
Planning Department, one in 2014
and the other in May [of this year]
after G2G Inc.’s announcement.”
The group’s letter also pointed out
that announcements being sent to the
group are a one-way communication
and, therefore, not consultation.
“Further compounding the
problem is the fact that not all
landowners are receiving the small
amount of communication that has
been sent,” Neil’s letter stated.
The group calls attention to the
fact that farms are businesses and
running the trail will dissect those
businesses which seems to not be
considered a problem. They asked if
the same attitude would be adopted
if the path went through the middle
of a store.
“The farm properties along the
trail are businesses and must be
treated as such,” Neil said.
The group states that there will be
adverse affects from the trail to
adjacent farmers and states that
financial and safety implications are
their primary concerns.
“The safety of the users and
landowners is of the utmost
concern,” they said. “Heavy farm
equipment regularly crosses the trail.
How do we prepare for and prevent
potential accidents? How can
emergency personnel effectively
respond to a call for help on the trail
if they do not know where the victim
is or how to get to the individual? On
the topic of safety we also need to
consider wildlife and the safety to
species at risk in our area.”
The letter also points out that
regular use of such a trail could also
lead to misuse such as litter and
excessive noise and asked how
landowners are to deal with those
issues.
They also state that farm
businesses will be faced with
increased costs and increased
revenues.
Betty Glanville, another
landowner, stated that insurance
companies have stated that adding
additional public access to a farm
would result in increased liability
insurance and an increased cost. She
also stated that full fencing would be
required and provided a rough
estimate, $460,000 to $600,000, of
how much doing one side of the trail
would cost (40 kilometres of four
and a half foot wire fence with
barbed wire on top).
Glanville also stated that farmers
will see losses in income.
“Each farm will be affected
differently, but the main areas in
which revenue will be lost are
reduced yields, commodity-specific
contracts that offer premiums or
speciality crops,” she said, adding
that bio-security would also be a
significant risk.
Marie Mitchell spoke next and
said that in the group’s opinion G2G
Inc. seems to be releasing
misinformation to the public,
demonstrating it is unreliable and
untrustworthy.
The formal presentation ended
with the group urging council to take
a stance against the trail.
Councillor Trevor Seip spoke first
to the group and said he feels
With Canada Day approaching,
it’s almost time for a number of
businesses across the country to take
a day off – and The Citizen is no
different.
Both The Citizen’s Blyth and
Brussels offices will be closed on
Wednesday, July 1. No deadlines
will be affected, however.
Due to the mid-week holiday,
however, timely delivery will
likely be delayed slightly.
Because Canada Day falls on a
Wednesday, which is the day The
Citizen is mailed each week, most
subscribers will likely receive their
copy of the newspaper one day later
than usual.
The staff at The Citizen wishes all
of its readers, supporters and
community members a happy and
safe Canada Day.
The Blyth Festival begins its 41st
season with the political who-dunnit
of sorts, Seeds by Annabel Soutar.
Directed by Kim Collier, Seeds plays
at Blyth Memorial Hall from June 24
to Aug. 8.
Seeds is based on the case that
went all the way to the Supreme
Court of Canada: Monsanto vs Percy
Schmeiser. Schmeiser, a
Saskatchewan farmer, was sued by
Monsanto for growing a crop he
claims he never planted. But it’s not
a simple case of the farmer being
good and the transnational company
being bad; Seeds looks at the issues
from a larger perspective. This is an
unflinching look at the reality of
farming in the 21st century: No easy
answers, no spoon feeding.
A pregnant young playwright
travels to the town of Bruno to get to
the truth. What follows is her
extraordinary journey into the
community, into the courtroom, into
the laboratory, and into contem-
porary life on a working farm... all in
search of the real Percy Schmeiser.
Heading the cast is David Fox as
Percy Schmeiser. Very few
performers have spent as much time
on the Blyth Festival stage as Fox;
most recently as Walter in St. Anne’s
Reel last season. “When we set
about casting Seeds and needed a
fiery, dynamic, farmer of a certain
age, David was our first choice,”
says Gil Garratt, Blyth Festival’s
Artistic Director.
Garratt and director Kim Collier
spent a long time making lists of
possible young women who could
bring the same tenacity and spirit to
the stage as playwright Annabel as
Fox. When the idea of casting
Severn Thompson came to light,
they both immediately leapt on it.
No stranger to the Blyth Festival,
Thompson, in many ways, literally
grew up in the greenroom and has
appeared on stage at Blyth Memorial
Hall many times. She has
distinguished herself across the
country as one of the finest actors of
her generation, and has appeared in
leading roles and multiple seasons at
both the Shaw and Stratford
Festivals.
The cast also includes Keith
Barker, Rachel Cairns, and Jeff
Irving - all making their Blyth
Festival debuts – Jason Chesworth
from last season’s, Kitchen Radio
and Stag and Doe; and Tracey
Ferencz who last appeared at Blyth
in 2002’s Filthy Rich.
Playwright Annabel Soutar
learned about the documentary
approach to theatre while
studying English and Theatre at
Princeton University under
the tutelage of renowned American
playwright Emily Mann. Since
The Citizen
Celebrating 30 Years
1985~2015
July 1 delays delivery
Continued on page 3
Continued on page 20