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The Citizen, 1992-10-28, Page 1Farm__________I________Milestone________I______Entertainment Cream producers discuss industry's future at annual meeting Belgrave area couple celebrates golden anniversary Blyth Festival's action plan deemed a success See page 9 See page 10 See page 19 CitizenTheNorthHuron Majority say yes to constitution Vol. 8 No. 43 Wednesday, October 28,1992 60 cents If it were up to voters in the North Huron Citizen readership area, the constitution of Canada would have been renewed. Voters in Brussels, and Grey, Morris, Hullett and West Wawanosh Townships all voted YES Monday night while only the majority of Blyth and East Wawanosh residents voted NO . Overall, in the Huron-Bruce region, the YES vote also came on top with 52 per cent of the vote compared to 47 per cent for the NO vote. According to Carol Baker, who was one of the pollsters at the Huron-Bruce Elections Canada main office in Seaforth, 25,042 Huron-Bruce residents said YES while 22,728 said NO. Of those eligible to vote in the riding, 74 per cent voted. Here is the break-down for the North Huron municipalities: Brussels— 298 or 52 per cent of voters said YES, 275 or 48 per cent said NO Blyth—237 or 49 per cent for YES, 250 or 51 per cent for NO West Wawanosh—286 of 53 per cent YES, 250 or 47 per cent NO East Wawanosh— 251 or 47 per cent YES, 278 or 52 per cent NO • Hullett—448 or 52 per cent YES, 404 or 47 per cent NO Morris—-400 or 52 per cent YES, 369 or 48 per cent NO Grey—426 or 52 per cent YES, 399 or 49 per cent NO. There were 172 rejected ballots in Huron-Bruce. Buchanan promises rural financing plan An innovative rural loan pool program will be unveiled early next year, Elmer Buchanan, Minister of Agriculture and Food told the dele­ gates at the Agricultural and Rural Restructuring Group conference in Goderich Friday. Speaking to rural social scien­ tists, policy analysts and rural development officers from across Canada Mr. Buchanan gave no details of the plan but said it was part of his government's plans for rural development based on self- reliance, partnerships and innova­ tion. In a question following the speech, Mr. Buchanan said the pro­ gram would take money from with­ in the community and invest it back in the community. He said the skills to revitalize rural communities lie with the peo­ ple who live in those communities. The province is a partner in the revitalization through such pro­ grams as "10 Steps to Community Action" which helps develop local leadership and four rural economic development pilot projects, one being in Huron County. Key to regeneration of rural areas is the revitalization of fanning, he said. The commodity loan guaran­ tee program has helped provide farmers with much-needed credit at reasonable rates and on flexible terms, he said. In addition, innova­ tors such as Doug Avery, an east­ ern Ontario farmer who has developed new markets himself for value-added farm products and helped others in the area invade the New York State market has been assisted by the local OMAF office. Farmers Markets and co-operatives have helped develop new niche markets for farmers. Still, he said in response to a question "at the end of the day it depends on what you get at the farm gate." Interprovincial trade barriers get in the way of Ontario farmers maximizing their access to the markets, particularly with sup­ ply management in which other provinces get a bigger share of the Ontario market than Ontario farm­ ers often think they should. Thee government is in favour of shifting quota to where it makes the most sense, he said, though Ontario would not push hard for such changes because it would then appear to be in the same kind of bullying posture it is critical of the Americans for. After another question from a member of the Line in the Dirt group, Buchanan praised the group for the research it has done but did­ n't promise the kind of direct pay­ ment to farmers he said the group supported. It is difficult to find money he said. "We've been criti­ cized we didn't get more money in the budget," he said, "but every­ body got squeezed." Given those difficulties his ministry has to find innovative ways to get financing to farmers such as the rural loan pool. Liberal leader bashes NDP government By Lisa Boonstoppel-Pot It was an evening of NDP bash­ ing at the Huron Liberal Associa­ tion's annual meeting Oct. 20 in Goderich Twp. hall. Ontario Liberal leader Lyn McLeod discredited the present provincial government's abilities, integrity and agenda. "The government created chaos when they discovered the real world isn't the way they want the world to be," she said. "The gov­ ernment is pursuing an ideological agenda and have backed them­ selves into a comer they can't get out of." She said the NDP simply doesn't have the ability to manage the affairs of the province at such a critical time in history. Her greatest concern is how the government is handling the eco­ nomic situation. "The government pays lip service to the importance of job creation yet they march ahead to their own agenda without regard to labour," she said, referring to the proposed changes to the Labour Act. She said the Liberal party has tried to encourage the government to initiate studies on the changes to see how they will impact on jobs, but to no avail. "We told them to send the legis­ lation to a joint committee of labour and government," she said, "but the government seems deter­ mined to proceed." Another concern she has with the NDP is the agriculture budget. 'I remember hearing the premier talk about the $100 million he would provide to agriculture but what have we seen of that?" she asked. In her talks to people across the province, she said she's discovered people want a government to make tough decisions and have common sense. "I believe that's the future stance we have to take," she said. "We as Liberals want to offer common sense and that means dealing with the realities of the day." She said the Liberals have to make job creation and economic development their number one pri­ ority. "Liberals have to tum around the disastrous cycle where the cost of social programs goes up and the dollar goes down," she said. To achieve this goal, the party has set up a committee to look at the economic situation and discuss the restructuring of government, social policies, resource develop­ ment and world development among other economic related issues. She urged the Huron riding mem­ bers to get involved and make real the idea of grass-roots involvement. The last topic she addressed was the referendum. Though the votes have now been cast, it was still a Continued on page 6 LYN MCLEOD