Loading...
The Citizen, 1992-12-09, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1992. Your dollar counts What can one person do? That's the hopeless feeling we often have when we look at the major problems that face us. What can we, one little individual do to stop pollution to bring peace or keep our small towns viable in the face of globalizing trends. But this Christmas each of us will be making decisions that will effect the quality of our lives in small towns. With each dollar we spend on Christmas gifts, we'll be voting on the future of our communities. If we spend our dollars at home, they'll be helping to maintain the businesses we already have. Those businesses help support our schools, our hockey arenas, our hospitals, our playgrounds. If they stay in business we all gain, not only by having a vibrant main street, but by saving tax dollars we'd have to lay out from our own pockets to keep these services going. In the long run, the dollar that stays at home may just save you more than you can gain in the few cents savings of shopping elsewhere.—KR Nowhere to turn When the federal government brought down its economic statement last week much was made of the fact the government had few options. While there were calls to stimulate the economy, the government was handcuffed by concerns over the deficit, the conventional wisdom went. The irony, of course, is that the government is in a vicious circle. The more the government has cut spending, the more the deficit has gone up. As the country drops further into recession, less money is coming in from income taxes and the GST leaving the government further in the hole. The government worries about inflation caused by the increasing cost of imports if our dollar is too weak, but when it raises interest rates it makes the cost of carrying the country's debts higher, increasing the deficit further. The temptation for this government, as hinted at in the economic statements' plans to cut payments to the unemployment, is to blame social programs. While some right-wing supporters of the government are apt to blame the people who need help for their own problems, even moderates in the government worry about their inability to trim costs to a greater extend because so much of the budget is tied up in support programs. Perhaps it's time, however, to think how much worse this recession would have been if not for those very social programs that are making it hard for the government to balance the budget. It that 1.6 million unemployed had no income at all, if they didn't have unemployment or welfare benefits, we might have been facing the same homeless horde we see in archival pictures of the Great Depression. If people losing their jobs had no income, they would have to abandon their mortgages and the number of houses coming on the market would further drop the price of real estate. If not for medicare, they wouldn't be able to pay for doctors and go to hospitals, causing much more chaos in the medical services than there is from government cuts. Without social support programs, every job lost would endanger another job because so many jobs are involved providing everything from food, clothing and services to other people. If those people don't have money, the jobs of providing them the necessities of life will also be lost. The vicious circle becomes a snowball going down hill, gaining momentum as it goes, taking us into further financial problems. So while the temptation in the upcoming budget may be for the government to make cuts in basic support programs to help trim the deficit, it is a temptation that should resisted. Those "expensive" programs may be the best bargain we have in tough times like these. Peace on earth It is the enduring theme of the Christmas season: "Peace on earth, goodwill toward men" yet this Christmas millions of people have little to celebrate because of what war is doing to their lives. North Americans are giving a dream of peace to the starving people of Somalia this Christmas with the promised intervention of American and Canadian troops to halt warring factions preventing food relief from getting to starving people. Only time will tell if this was the right move. Hopefully the show of force will scare off the warlords and there will be little violence. It's always possible that the interference will only postpone a problem, or even make it worse, though it's hard to think there could be worse misery for the Somali people than they now face. At least there's hope. Photo by Lisa Boonstoppel-Pot Breaking through Looking Back Through the Years ONE YEAR AGO December 11,1991 Officers from the Wingham OPP were busy investigating three overnight break-ins at McGavins Farm Equipment in Walton, the Blyth Inn and the Bly th Legion. An attempt was also made to gain entry to the Blyth Mini-Mart The Maitland Motivators Toast­ masters of Brussels donated $100 to the newly-formed Listowel Toastmasters Club. THREE YEARS AGO December 6,1989 Don Bray was the recipient of a life membership to the Brussels Optimist. Mr. Bray was a charter member and a Past President of the Brussels Optimist Three Blyth firemen, Don Craig, Jim Howson and Clarence Bailie received 25 year pins from the Ontario Fire Marshall's office at a ceremony in London. Hugh, Peter, Paul and Phillip Feagan of RR 5, Goderich were named winners of the award in honour of the late Norman Alexan­ der of Londesboro whose work in conservation helped change farm­ ing practices in the county. The Feagan family were honoured for the conservation practices on their Colbome township farm. FIVE YEARS AGO December 9,1987 A number of local people were injured in motor vehicle accidents due to icy road conditions. Several were sent to hospitals in Stratford Letters THE EDITOR, Thank you for letting me write in your paper as a concerned farmer about Stable Funding. I have just received a sample client registration form put out by Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food. After carefully reading this form and 20 pages of rules and regulations for fanners to abide by, I was appalled and shocked that our Ontario government would try to implement such a crazy piece of and London. John Jewitt of RR 1, Londesboro was elected chairman of the Huron County Board of Education, after serving for the previous two years as vice-chairman. The weekly Wintario Draw, host­ ed by Greg Beresford and Faye Dance, was televised from Blyth Memorial Hall. legislation. Who benefits from Stable Funding? Certainly not the farmers. Nowhere in this 20 page proposed document do I see even one thing that will be for the farmer even though they will collect about $9 million. Two things in this proposed document are on page 19 under the heading Offence. It stated - Offence 53 1) a person is guilty of an offence if the person: a) Does not file a farm operations statement within the time required under this act. b) Does not pay a farm organization fee as required under this act or c) Contravenes subsection 8 (2) Penalty Continued on page 6 CitizenTheNorthHuron P.O. Box 429, BLYTH, Ont. N0M1H0 Phone 523-4792 FAX 523-9140 P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, Ont. NOG 1 HO Phone 887-9114 FAX 887-9021 The Citizen is published weekly in Brussels, Ontario by North Huron Publishing Company Inc. Subscriptions are payable in advance at a rate of $20.50/year ($19.16 plus $1.34 G.S.T.) for local; $31.03/year ($29.00 plus $2.03 G.S.T.) for local letter carrier in Goderich, Hanover, Listowel, etc. and out-of-area (40 miles from Brussels); $60.00/year for U.SJL and Foreign. Advertising Is accepted on the condition that in the event of a typographical error, only that portion of the advertisement will be credited. Advertising Deadlines: Monday, 2 pan. - Brussels; Monday, 4 p.m. - Blyth. We are not responsible for unsolicited newscripts or photographs. Contents of The Citizen are © CopywrighL Publisher, Keith Roulston Editor, Bonnie Gropp Sales Representatives, Jeannette McNeil and Merle Gunby Publications Mail Registration No. 6968 PAID Serving Blyth, Brussels, Auburn, Belgrave, Ethel, Londesborough, Walton and the surrounding townships.