The Brussels Post, 1975-12-17, Page 3their
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Let the government that closes hospitals collect sales tax
the Editor
by was. sewer petition reader asks
I would like to know why, when the Brussels
council was presented with a' petition from
property owners, asking for a Plebescite on
the sewers, containing 309 names or
thereabout, be reported in, the ,paper as "over
200 names". •
Why was such an important petition
shelved? Surely with that number of conerned
property owners many of whom are on fixed
incomes and old age pensioners, whose way of
living will be greatly affected by such an
enormous financial burden for the rest of their
lives the petition deserves consideration.
If council is supposed to represent the
people, why does it hesitate to let property
owners have a vote?
What has gone wrong with Democracy in
our Village?
Doris McDonald
Should be vote
On December ,8 a petition with over three
hundred signatures was handed to the
Brussels council asking the council to hold a
plebiscite on the installing of the sewer 41:4
system.
I feel with this high percentage of the voters
asking for a vote that one should be held.
Wm: Wheeler
Where's democracy?
I am a senior citizen who has spent the •
greater part of my life in Brussels. Like many
older people I often find myself reflecting on
"The good old Days" gone by. I remember
the' time of the vote on the Brussels
• Waterworks. It was a big issue and it carried,
not by a big majority but it carried. The land
owners had their say, their decision. This was
in the days of the Roy Cousins councils.
Today sewage is an issue. Over three
hundred land owners have signed their name
to a petition asking the Brussels council to
have a vote before sewage becomes a reality
in Brussels. The London Free Press December
10th reports the presenting of the petition to
Brussels council. It also reports verbation.
. Brussels Reeve Jack McCutcheon said
hOwever, council will not put much weight
behind the petition but is willing to meet 'with
concerned residents to explain further what
the system means to them" unquote.
Incredible! Oh for the good old days when
council let the voters have a say. Congratula-
tions, Roy Cousins and your real democracy
lovers. We need more men like you fellows.
Ian McDonald
T axpayer writes
Being a Tax Payer we think the sewers in,
Brussels should come to a vote.
Mr. and Mrs. Geo. D. Hislop
Brussels,
Reader defends
hockey association
I would like to answer the letter from the
interested citizen who was so interested they
could not sign their name. First I would like to
say there were eighteen bantoms signed up,
one being our son.
As they can only dress seventeen players
per game, they all agreed one would sit out a
game so as to give everybody a chance.
Now can you tell me why we as parents
should be happy to see a first year pee wee
move up and make two boys to sit out each
game? After all their money is just as good as
anybody's.
Now about the other two boys. First
through the efforts of the B,M.H.A., and
permission of second year bantam players
they were able to get enough boys to sign for a
midget team. They talked a boy into playing
goal who had never played goal before.
Now in a small town like Brussels you would
think that if a first year bantam goalie would
help the midgets everybody would be happy,
but no, one parent was not, then the trouble
began.
Judging the capabilities of the players in
question or who they belonged' to was not the
issue. The thing that was voted on was they
needed another goalie, not a forward or a
defensem an. As far as B.M.H.S. taking
advantage of any of the boys situations, they
have over 100 boys to look out for, maybe not
all good hockey players, but they all should
have a chance.
Before I close I would like to add if this
interested person did • as much for minor
hockey as the one s in B.M.H.S. do they
would not have time to' write letters to the
paper.
Delores Wheeler
(Editor's Note: --- The writer of the
following letter, Arthur Carr, has been
associated with, or publisher of The
Palmerston Observer for .the past forty
years. He has served eight years as a
municipal councillor in his home town, and
held various offices, being at one time on
the Board , of DirectOrs of the Police
Governing Association of Ontario, In 1967
the Palmerston Lions Club honoured him
with a bronze plaque inscribed to testify to
his devotion and service to has community.
In the fiscal year spanning July 1974 -
1975, the Canadian Community Newspaper
Association selected him for the distinctive
honour of "Citizen of the Year." He has
lived in close contact with ,Ontario
Government created fiascos including, the
desire of the City of Toronto and the C.P.R.
to bury millions of tons of garbage in 'Minto
Township, adjacent to Palmerston and
Harriston. He has experienced the frustra-
tions of having a home town equipped with
a sewage treatment plant of the aerated
sludge variety, seeing it unconditionally
condemned by Queen's Park, and
insistence that his small town spend a
quarter of a million dollars on a lagoon
system that would not operate, and would
destroy hundreds of acres of prime farm
land.)
*4 *
The working of minds centred at
Queen's Park seem quite strange, in fact,
completely incomprehensible to residents
of small towns: Countless thousands of
dollars are spent on projects that seem
borderline ridiculous.. We read of the vast
sums spent to preserve the Niagara
Escarpment. Yet we are also seeing small
hospitals being closed because costs of
operations are allegedly tOO high, and the
small hospital inefficient:To residents of
small towns' this absolute and titter
nonsense, . Few of us, (or let US be kind) very few of
as, will ever use the "nature trail" and
Walk front Owen Sound to St: Catherines.
Yet every One of US, and every one near and
dear to tiSi wiii Sortie day Use a hospital. If
that hospital is 40 to .90 Miles away, what
Oppbttunity Will we have to spend a feW
hours each day with a friend or loved one?
How happy will that loved One be, miles
and miles froth home totally surrounded
by unknown, and seemingly uncaring
strangers? What added expense will
families already tragedy smitten have with
car mileage, and work hours lost? What
additional hazards will there be on our
highways when minds, preoccupied by
worry, st art to guide a speeding auto a
half 'a hundred miles or more?
There are so many points in favour of the
small hospital that to me their closing is
absolutely unthinkable. It has been proven
beyond all reasonable doubt that big cities
are bad places to live. In these large cities,
violence, air and water and every type of
pollution, including moral, seems to
flourish. The very milk of human kindness
curldes.
Conversely the small town, with its
intimately co-ordinated town council, with
the 'butcher, the baker, and the small town
loans maker sharing the responsibility of
maintaining and improving the life style,
has become the ideal home-site. The
perfect place to raise your family. The very
best place for the young to pattern their
sets of values of ter those they see
displayed around them. Why an elected
government centralized in Toronto is
seeking to destroy the small town is
absolutely beyond the comprehension of
any thinking person. Why are they trying
to enlarge something that has been proven
bad, and destroy something that has been
proven priceless?
The only possible explanation can be
that otii elected representatiaves have
through utter lethargy abandoned 'their
duty of decision making, preferring to set
up commissions, and listen to career civil
servants and other such' dreamers,
allowing them to make the rules and
enforce them.
All of this must stop, and we must stop it
right noW. Net tomorrow, or next week not
next election, but today. We must devise
some system other than the overthrow of
the government by tette, Some syStetn we
all can work at to convince these Toronto
based adriiiniStratOrS that we Want,- and
must have, our small hospitals', all of them
presently ekisting,, and more' built and
enlarged. All that have been closed
re-opened, re-furbished, and te-staffed.
One way would be to hit the 'Government
in its most sensitive spot. We have' in
mind, not the seat of the Meniber's
trousers, but very close to that spot. The
wallet in his hip pocket. Let us all let our
Government know that we want our taxes
spent where they will do the most good for
the most people. Here is a suggestion.
In every small town there are at least
several dozen merchants who are collecting
hundreds of dollars in sales taxes. In most
small towns there are manufacturers who
are collecting, and paying, the 12% tax to
the Receiver General of Canada. Let these
folks file their returns as demanded, on the
date specified. Instead, of attaching a
cheque, they append a note stating that the
cheque has been made payab le to the
hospital of their choice,
The administrator of the hospital cashes
these cheques and deposits them in a
special account, so that the merchant has
a. cancelled cheque, proof positive that he
has not diverted the tax money for his
personal betterment, but had indeed put
,his tax money where he wants it to be
spent. Possibly he has broken some legal
technicality. But be has certainly not
committed theft, bore false witness nor
coveted his neighbour's ox, nor broken any
of those ten marvellous rules of this game
of life that old Moses received and passed
on to us. It is hard to picture a jury of
twelve of his peers finding that man guilty
of any moral misconduct. Mord probable,
the jury might strike a medal commending
him for his action.
So let's get with it. Form a committee in
each of our towns, whether our hospital is
threatened or not, Let's cut Queen's Park
sales tax revenues to an extent that will
surprise them. Let Us show them that we
want our hospitals. That we prefer there to
greenbelts, nature trails, research into our
lavatory habits, or subsidizing, someone to
publish a book of blank pages. Let's get the
Car dealer, the corner druggist ; the heat at
Our hotel, the service station Operator, the
printer and the photographer all Writing
cheques to their hospitals inStead of the
Treasurer Of Ontario,
By golly! It has to work!
Ahd thanks. or your time in reading this.
Arthur Cart
_tHE BRUSSELS POSt o DECEMBER i7 0 1915
Armlommoomoo*