The Citizen, 2008-03-27, Page 19THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MARCH 27, 2008. PAGE 19.
Last week in Seaforth, the Avon
Maitland District School Board
honoured its 2008 Key Contribution
Award winners. Among them were a
few familiar faces.
Nancy Roe a teacher at Blyth
Public School was honoured with an
award highlighting her excellence in
the school board’s first goal, to
improve student achievement in all
areas of student learning, with a
focus on literacy and numeracy.
Roe was among eight recipients of
the award.
Jacob McGavin, a student at
Brussels Public School was
honoured for his excellence in the
school’s second goal, to develop
positive citizenship qualities in
students. McGavin was among five
recipients of that award.
Cheryl Peach, principal of
Seaforth Public School was
honoured for her use of board
resources, using them efficiently and
effectively. Peach was among four
winners of the award.
The Key Contribution Awards are
presented annually by the trustees of
the school board.
The first of, what organizers hope
to be a series of agricultural round-
tables took place last week in
Seaforth.
The brainchild of federal Liberal
candidate for Huron-Bruce, Greg
McClinchey, the event brought
together several Liberal hopefuls
and many local farm experts to
bounce ideas off each other to see
what works and what doesn’t. Just
over a dozen were in attendance to
take in the discussion.
McClinchey was flanked at the
round-table by Huron-Bruce MP
Paul Steckle, who doubles as the
Liberal vice-chair of the standing
committee on agriculture and agri-
food and Wayne Easter, Malpeque
MP and the Liberal party national
critic for agriculture.
Other Liberal candidates were
Orlando DaSilva of Kitchener-
Conestoga, Tim Fugard of Sarnia-
Lambton, Suzanne vanBommel of
Elgin-Middlesex-London, Thom
Noble of Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound
and Matt Daudlin Chatam-Kent-
Essex.
In addition, there were several
local faces at the table, including the
day’s host, Huron East mayor Joe
Seili and Huron County Beef
Producers president Harvey
Hoggart.
McClinchey said the inspiration
behind this afternoon was to get all
of the experts in a room together to
go over the issues.
Steckle said that Canada has never
had a problem finding money for its
priorities, and that agriculture just
has to be made into a priority.
There were several farmers who
brought up programs like CAIS,
saying they were flawed from the
beginning.
Although there were some who
felt it helped, the majority of farmers
felt that CAIS made government
funding too hard to attain for the
typical farmer, and that it was
misappropriated funding.
While there was talk of politics,
for the most part, the Liberal
candidates took the opportunity to
listen to the farmers, listen to what
was working and what wasn’t and
attempt to fix what they heard was
broken.
There was discussion of a
province-wide branding initiative
that would see Ontario foods all
carry the same logo for identification
for consumers.
“Advertising and labeling is the
first step, consumers are ready to
buy into that,” Steckle said. “At the
height of the BSE crisis, Canadians
bought Canadian beef. Consumersaren’t our enemies, they are walkingwith us hand in hand.”Easter admitted that the Liberalparty “took a kick in the butt” in thelast election, but that it is back and
strong.
Easter said that Canada doesn’t
have a food policy, it has a trade
policy, which is a big problem. He
also called it inexcusable that the
United States, with nearly $10
trillion of debt, finds the funding for
the farm bill, and Canada, a country
that prides itself on staying out of
debt, is saying it can’t.
“We can afford this program and
the United States can’t,” he said.
“We can’t afford not to now.”
Easter also said he would use the
word disaster to describe farming
today. He said that Canada pays
Canadians 90 per cent of each dollarin a disaster situation, and thatshould apply to farming, as it is adisaster.While the day largely belonged toagriculture, there was time for
politics, with Steckle and Easter
both taking time to criticize the
Conservative Party’s most recent
budget.
Steckle said he feels the riding’s
interests and the interests of farmers
will be carried to the highest levels
of government, hopefully, by
McClinchey.
Easter echoed Steckle’s
sentiments, relaying something
McClinchey once said to Liberal
leader Stéphane Dion. “Do not
forget that the keys to 24 Sussex are
buried in the dirt of rural
Ontario.”
AMDSB hands out Key Awards
Liberals tackle agricultural issues at round-table
Sharing thoughts
It was one big brainstorming session last week in Seaforth as several local farmers were
joined by six Liberal candidates and two MPs to discuss agriculture. Chair Greg McClinchey
said he hopes to have more round-tables over the next few months to get the issues out in the
open. From left: Wayne Easter, Liberal critic for agriculture and agri-food, Tim Fugard, Liberal
candidate for Sarnia-Lambton and Matt Daudlin, Liberal candidate for Chatham-Kent-Essex.
(Shawn Loughlin photo)
Please join us for a...
BEEF BBQ
DINNER and DANCE
By The Max Bent Band
SATURDAY, March 29th, 2008
Dinner 6pm-8pm Dance to Follow
at Brussels Community Centre
Brought to you by the
Huron County Beef Producers
For more information please call
Brussels Agri Services 519-887-9391
Kittie MacGregor 519-523-4368
Harvey Hoggart 519-482-9157
Happy Sweet 16
Hannah
March 25
Love from Mom, Dad,
Emily, Dawn & Tiffany
Buck & Doe
for
Brett Martin
&
Leanne Haggitt
Friday, March 28
Blyth Community Centre
9 pm - 1 am
$5.00 in advance
$6.00 at the door
Age of majority
Call
Christa 519-523-4342 or
Chad 519-523-9824
Blyth Rd., Auburn 519-526-7759
NOW LICENSED
UNDER LIQUOR LICENCE ACT
OF ONTARIO
Stickers Family Restaurant
Monday - 6:30 - 4:00;
Tuesday & Wednesday 6:30 - 8:00;
Thursday, Friday & Saturday 6:30 - 9:00;
Sunday 9:00 - 7:00
Saturday,
March 29
Rib
Dinner
5 pm - 8 pm
Friday Smorg. ~ 5 pm - 8 pm
Sunday Smorg. ~ 4 - 7 pm
‘STEP IN TIME’
VARIETY SHOW
SAT., APRIL 5, 2008
at SEAFORTH PUBLIC SCHOOL
2:30 PM & 7:30 PM
TICKETS: ADULTS $10, UNDER 18 FREE
LIMITED NUMBER AVAILABLE AT THE DOOR
Proceeds to Seaforth Hospital Radiothon & Cystic Fibrosis.
Presented by Sherry McCall & The Huron County Cloggers.
Tickets available at Nifty Korners, Pete’s Office Pro,
Winthrop & Walton Stores & Brussels Variety.
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen