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The Citizen, 1996-11-27, Page 4Fall coat Photo by Bonnie Gropp Letters THE EDITOR, I would like to thank the staff of The Citizen for the excellent articles on drug awareness in the Nov. 20 edition. The information provided was a great community service and an example of the importance of having a local newspaper. Our SAFE week (Substance Abuse Free Environment) activities were the result of wonderful community co-operation — our local paper, Brussels Village Council, our schools, Huron County Health Unit, Huron County Addiction and Assessment Resource Centre, OPP, MADD, Brussels Majestic Institute, Brussels Legion Ladies, The Ark Youth, staff and volunteers. Our corporate sponsor was The Altamira Foundation. Two drugs with the greatest impact on Huron County are alcohol and tobacco. Education, awareness and responsible choices are our goals in the fight against substance abuse. Everyone is needed in the support of a healthy community. Thank you, Sue Gowing, President ARK Board of Directors. THE EDITOR, The Huron-Perth District Health Council has released its report outlining options for hospitals for the Huron-Perth area. Residents in our area are urged to obtain a copy, read the document and understand it clearly. Three options are proposed and although the "C" word (Closure) is never used, be aware of the following: Under Option 1 - the hospitals in Clinton, Exeter, St. Marys, and Wingham will be CLOSED as hospitals. Under Option 2 - the hospitals in Clinton, Exeter, Listowel, and St. Marys will be CLOSED as hospitals. Under Option 3 - the hospitals in Clinton, Exeter and St. Marys will be CLOSED as hospitals and Wingham will have a Chronic and Rehab focus only. The report prefaces the "Options" section saying, "The options rank favourably against the criteria previously established by the Task Force - but are no means final recommendations." Unless you wish to sit and let your hospital close, get involved, make your opinions known at the upcoming "Open Houses" and support your local community action group with your voice and your financial support. Art Clark, Wingham. THE EDITOR, The board of directors of the Seaforth Community Hospital offers its support to the process initiated by the Huron/Perth District Health Council in determining the three hospital restructuring options for the Huron/Perth District. The board is pleased that all three options released by the Task Force on Nov. 22 recommend that the Seaforth Community Hospital serve as a primary hospital with acute and chronic care beds, a 24- hour Emergency Department and continue to provide Obstetric/ Midwifery services. Sandra Smithers, board chair noted that a number of Seaforth hospitals strengths, central location in the Huron/Perth District; modern physical plant, and excellent physician status, were important Continued on page 7 PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1996 The North Huron Cn C itizen P.O. Box 429, BLYTH, Ont. NOM 1H0 Phone 523-4792 FAX 523-9140 P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, Ont. NOG 1H0 Phone 887-9114 FAX 887-9021 Publisher, Keith Roulston Editor, Bonnie Gropp Advertising Manager, Jeannette McNeil VERIFIED CIRCULATION PAID The Citizen is published weekly in Brussels, Ontario by North Huron Publishing Company Inc. Subscriptions are payable In advance at a rate of $27.00/year ($25.24 + $1.76 G.S.T.) In Canada; $62.00/year In U.S.A. and $75.00/year In other foreign countries. 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 p.m. - Brussels; Monday, 4 p.m. - Blyth. We are not responsible for unsolicited newscripts or photographs. Contents of The Citizen are © Copyright. Publications Mall Registration No. 6968 Revolution's scope now clear With last week's announcements of cuts in health care in Huron- Perth, and with ongoing discussions about vastly reducing the number of municipalities in Huron County, perhaps it is finally starting to sink in just how big a revolution people voted for when they elected the Mike Harris government with its "Common Sense Revolution". The warning bells should have gone off when the government gave itself unprecedented powers to reshape nearly every aspect of public life under Bill 26, the huge Omnibus Bill which amended many different provincial laws. Bill 26 gave the government the right to unilaterally dissolve municipal boundaries and amalgamate towns, villages and townships whether they wanted to or not. It gave the government the power to set up the commission that is now causing havoc in health care across the province. At the time, few people noticed the passing of Bill 26. There is traditionally a period after a new government is elected when people sigh with relief that the messy business of political campaigning is over for a while, and let the new government get on with its plans. Even the media tends to accept the decision of the voters and sit back and let the new government get on with its agenda. And after decades of not seeing many real changes no matter which government was in place, Ontario residents wouldn't have believed the government could ever envision such massive changes anyway. Perhaps realizing this, the Harris government moved quickly to push this huge bill through before people woke up to just how much dictatorial power it gave the government. At this moment there is only one government that has control in Ontario: it isn't your municipal council, it isn't your board of education, it isn't your hospital board, it isn't even your unelected district health council. All power over all forms of government in Ontario rests in the hands of Queen's Park. All other elected and appointed officials in Ontario are sitting back waiting for the Harris government to decide their future. The Harris "Revolution" appears ready to give us an Ontario that's almost unrecognizable from the one that we knew before the 1995 provincial election. There are people, even those who are protesting hospital closings, who still will say that we are forced into this action by the deficit. This is more than the deficit. It is more even than the 30 per cent provincial income tax hike Harris promised. The speed with which Harris moved after taking office points to a vision of a different Ontario that was in place before the election but wasn't revealed. Harris is still not revealing his vision but the new Ontario is becom- ing evident. The government has successfully isolated itself enough that, whether they like this vision or not, Ontarians seem helpless to prevent it. Only a massive uprising of the public has any chance of taking power back in our own hands. The hospital fight may determine whether the only view of this province that matters is Mike Harris's or if the rest of us are allowed some power to shape our lives. — KR Will Quebec media wake up? From the outside, it appears that the media in Quebec remains the lapdogs of the separatist movement and there will never be a chance to win the hearts and minds of Quebecers until something changes. There has been plenty of reason for the media to become disaffected lately. The kind of issues that have arisen in Quebec, are usually the sort that brings out the media as the watchdog of human rights, but perhaps the journalists are blinded by their own separatist leanings. Last weekend, Premier Lucien Bouchard barely survived a move by hardliners in the Parti Quebecois who wanted his government to strip rights from all but French speaking residents. Bouchard argued that his government must be in favour of civil rights, even as it worked to ensure that French remained the working language of the province. Eventually he won the day, but there remains a vicious streak among many party members that wants to exact revenge for the years when English Quebecers held sway in the province. Just as disturbing has been the revelation that two former FLQ terrorists have been given prominent jobs by the PQ government. Together, these events should create concern over just what kind of country Quebec would be if the separatists won a referendum.— KR E ditorial