The Lucknow Sentinel, 1987-09-02, Page 3Lucknow Sentinel, Wednesday, September 2, 1987—Page 3
Full house fo.r411 Candidates meeting
By Anne Narejko
LONDESBORO - Foreign land ownership,
economic development, upgrading of
Highways 4 and 8 and the suitability of the
existing Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and
Food (OMAF) office were a few of the topics
debated by Huron riding candidates at the
all -candidate meeting held here on August
24.
MPP Jack Riddell, representing the
Liberals, Nico Peters representing the Pro-
gressive Conservative (PC) party and Paul
Klopp, representing the New Democratic
Party (NDP), were provided with the oppor-
tunity of making an opening statement and
then were faced with both verbal and writ-
ten questions from the audience which con-
sisted -of approximately 200 people.
The majority of questions centered
around Huron County's largest form of
employment - agriculture.
"Farming is an honorable profession and
we don't need to apologize to anyone for the
assistance which we need," said Mr. Peters.
He went on to tell the audience about the
damage which the farming community has
suffered, using Bruce County as an exam-
ple. Mr. Peters said . a person could drive
down a concession and not pass a house or
barn on that road.
"The roads that do have farms on them,
would have no one to see the smoke if it
burned down, and that's sad," he said. "And
what's to prevent that from happening in
Huron County? Nothing.
"The fun has gone out of farming," con-
tinued the man who got into the agriculture
business in 1980.
Mr. Peters said the budget played an im-
portant role in the reasons people moved to
town.
"Why pay tax on a building when you
wouldn't have to pay any if the building
wasn't there? Why should your children
have to bike for miles with other children
their age?"
Before ending his comments, Mr. Peters
told the attentive crowd what he hoped to do
about the situation he had described,
stating, "I'd like to change this scenario to
give Huron a future."
Next up was Mr. Riddell who used the
Liberal party's track. record as an example
of what has been done, and could be done,
for the people of Huron County and Ontario.
"Ontario has achieved progress. We
(Liberals) have set an agenda of reform and
backed it with action," he said.
In the education area, Mr. Riddell said a
new program has been instated which will
call for smaller classes in Grades 1 and 2
and more computer training will be offered
as we are in the "age of technology."
He also touched on the environmental
clean-up policy, assistance for senior
citizens and said the Liberals were not
"puppets of any particular interest group."
"We have brought openness, honesty and
integrity to government," said Mr. Riddell.
Time allocated for Mr. Riddell's speech
ran out when he reached assistance which
the Liberals have given the province in
agriculture over the last few years, but he
did have time to say they have increased
spending by 72 per cent in two years and
have introduced more than 80 new pro-
grams and initiatives.
Mr. Klopp's main focus was on assisting
the working people. He said the -NDP have
fought for the ordinary working people
before the election and will continue to do so
during and after the election.
"I'm running for the farmers, the small
business people and their families," said
Mr. Klopp.
Unlike the previous candidates, Mr. Klopp,
said he wasn't going to judge government by
how much more one has done than the other,
but he uses a marker of improvement.
"Have we seen a markedimprovement? I
don't think so," he said. "Farmers need bet-
ter income stability and a decent rate of
return..."
Foreign Land Ownership
Paul Greb, of the Dashwood area, asked
the first question of the night, 'directing it to
Mr. Riddell.
"Five farms that changed hands in
Stephen Township in the last year were
bought by foreigners," he said, before tell-
ing Mr. Riddell that he took exception to a
story which appeared in the London Free
Press which quoted Mr. Riddell as saying
foreign land ownership was no longer a
problem.
Mr. Riddell said this type of land owner-
ship has dropped to less than one per cent.
"The real fl has dropped off because
we closed the loop hole in the taxes which
foreign owners would pay. "We're monitor-
ing the situation and will stop it if it gets out
of hand," said Mr. Riddell.
However, he says those selling the land
are receiving a good dollar for it.
Mr. Klopps spoke to the question as well,
stating, "It has improved but the bottom
line is we have to set up a policy that says we
want people to farm the land. He used policy
which is implemented in Saskatchewan as
an example.
"In Saskatchewan, if you don't want to -
come here and farm it, you can't buy more
than 10 acres and that goes for corporations
as well."
The nextquestion asked each candidate if
they would support greater industrialization
of Huron County.
Mr. Riddell was the first to speak to this
saying we need something to keep the young
people here, but we should choose industries
which are compatible with agriculture so we
do not damage our present crops.
Mr. Peters said 80 per cent of farmers
hold off farm jobs and was also in favor of
more economic development. But to achieve
this, Mr. Peters believes the present Tier
standing needs to be changed.
The tier one standing does not provide
grants for businesses wanting to locate in
Huron County and is based on unemploy-
ment figures.
"A company was going to set up in
Wingham and would have employed 100 peo-
ple, but they were advised to move to the
Toronto area because of the unemployment
figures there," said Mr. Peters. "We need a
loud voice at Queen's Park to say, don't look
at my riding because of statistics, look at its
people ! "
Mr. Klopp said he looked at economic
development differently than Mr. Riddell
and Mr. Peters..
"If people have to work outside their
farms, they are taking jobs away from so-
meone else. That's why I said we must make
agriculture healthy."
He also said he felt it was inconsistent to
have a rural area with industry.
"It just doesn't work. It's time we treated
agriculture as a business."
OMAF Office
The Clinton OMAF office was the focus of
the next topic of conversation, with the
asker wondering if the candidate's party
would get the "ball rolling on a new and big-
ger" office.
Turn to page 7 .
Parking tickets.
Why you can no
to getaway
wthout
paying.
Sorry, but you had better think twice about filing those
slips of paper in your glove compartment.
Because new legislation means that either you pay
the fine, request a trial if you wish to dispute the
alleged infraction or your vehicle permit and license
sticker will not be renewed.
You decide which option. It's that simple.
Should you receive a parking ticket, the
ticket itself will tell you if the munici
pality issuing the ticket is using
the new legislation and what
your options are. All muni-
cipalities will be
using the new
legislation
by 1989.
For more information contact:
Communications Branch
Ministry of the Attorney General
18 King Street East, 5th floor
Toronto, Ontario
M5C 105
V
Ministry of
the Attomey
General