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The Citizen, 2004-04-15, Page 1Spring car care Pg. 11 issue begins Break-in in Blyth e Citizen Brussels and northern Huron County Volume 20 No. 15 Thursday, April 15, 2004 $1 (93c + 7c GST) Inside this week Grey hit hard in budget By Andrea Hruska Special to The Citizen Students making a difference M-T residents discuss official plan Pg. 6 Pg. 7 P WLS gets grant g• -I money „_„, Woman tells of Pg. 10 volunteering irt_ Haiti Producers told it may be time to think small But he did re-iterate it several times throughout the question period. Asked if smaller is better why there is no premium for a smaller carcass, Ishoy said, "because at the packing level and feeding level we're not listening to the consumer, For a variety of reasons they're saying put smaller cuts in front of us." That prompted someone to suggest that should a premium to put on smaller carcasses, the industry would have more of these than could be slaughtered. Ishoy felt tttat was the wrong outlook. "At some point in time we're going to have to take a step back and listen to what people are saying." Comparisons were made to the pork industry and a grid. Ishoy said he believed a grid was a good thing. With its new processing plant, which could be up and running by early summer, Gencor, said Ishoy would like to get "out of the box. We want to get out there and figure out why the consumers going to want our product." This is not to say that Gencor will refuse to take big cattle. "A packer in a huge plant doesn't make money without something in there. If we only have big cattle we're going to keep buying them. There's overhead. We have to turn on the lights." The recent crisis has brought to light something important to the industry, said Ishoy. "We exported the packing business out of this country. There are things I think we can learn from this (BSE crisis)." Ishoy said competition is good, but trading rules similar to Canada's largest neighbour are needed. Currently, non-NAFTA countries can. ship into Canada, 76,000 tons of meat. As time went by, however, Supplementary permits were allowed, which displaced some of the processors. Some packers then started to ship into the States, so 50-60 per cent of the processed beef was going there. "Imported meats were coming in. Americans were buying cattle here and the producer got caught in the middle." Last year Ishoy said, 130,000 tons of meat came in to Canada. "The good news is, we're going back to the 76,000 tons which means 56,000 tons extra that Canada can produce." He noted that the value of the hides had .also been lost because there • was no cow plant here. "Ontario has the best quality hides in the world. Hides from Ontario are some of the most sought after. They make great seat leather for those fancy cars." He spoke of new technologies in the rendering side of the industry such as composting. "This is going to be a reality. It will at least stop costs." If there could be a positive to BSE these types of initiatives may be it. "Out of adversity comes activity and activity makes us stronger." Ultimately, however, support is needed from all levels through the chain. "That will take time to develop." And it may need to start with producers. "At the end of the day we need to stop worrying about the individual and think about the whole. We have to forget about whether the packers pay more for a 1,200 or 1,500-pound animal and listen to the consumers." Saying there's no "silver bullet solution", Ishoy said change is needed and the status quo must be redesigned. "We will go broke with too much reliance on one customer. Let's try and find a way to reduce our dependence on the U.S. market." Not one ratepayer filled a seat last April 6 -for the Municipality of Huron East's public budget meeting and the budget was passed. Throughout Huron East, Grey Ward, with the 2004 general taxation increase listed as 33.03 per cent, will be hit the hardest. Other overall general taxation, increases are Seaforth at 9.23 per cent, Brussels at 29.04 per cent, McKillop at 28.48. per cent and Tuckersmith at 27.37 per cent. , Councillor Mark Beaven expressed concern that -"the three rural wards are affected far more than the two _ urban areas." Councillor Joe Steffler pointed out that perhaps "not so many 500-acre farms and more homes (in that area) would be better." Deputymayor Bernie MacLellan. who attended budget meetings at the county level, explained that "this is how things have to be to get out of the whole we're (Huron County) in." According to MacLellan, taxation can only change if the province_ realizes how bad things are getting. "These downloads may have helped their books but they have certainly hurt the province." Council spent a great deal of time discussing deficits from recreation' and daycare facilities. In mayor Joe Seili's absence, MacLellan shared comments the mayor had previously expressed about feeling "disheartened" over the deficits. "Whether (the facilities) are over or not, we just pay the bill. There is nothing to make them tow the line." Continued on page 21 Boys play in Czech tourney By Bonnie Gropp Citizen editor A Brussels family left Monday for 10 days in the Czech Republic. Chris and Adam Corbett, 15, sons of Charles and Abi, competing in the spring classic hockey tournament in Slaney and Prague as members of the Major Bantam Triple A Lakers. According to the boys' mother. the father of a teammate is a scout - for the Vancouver Canucks. He knew of someone whose son had played in the tournament last year and mentioned it to the coaches, players and parents of the Lakers. "We just decided to go for it," said Abi. The costs are covered by the players, who did a lot of fundraising through the year, and the parents. The Corbett brothers were helped with sponsorship from both the Brussels Optimists and the Lions. Cost for each person is $1,600. which, Abi said, covers everything Continued on page 2 A break-in occurred in Blyth, this time at Blyth Building Supplies Ltd. Gary Courtney said when he arrived at work on Monday around 6:50 a.m., he realized that the deadbolt to the door- -had been twisted off, meaning the break-in occurred between Sunday night and early Monday morning. A police report confirmed that 5200 was taken from ihe office area and Courtney said no other damage was clone to the building, aside from the broken deadbolt. Courtney said, as of Monday, there were no leads as to who the thief or thieves were. They're off A cool, but clear day allowed little ones to take part in the annual Easter egg hunt held at the Blyth Greenway Trail on Saturday afternoon. With two having their sights, and sunny smiles on the treasures it was a race to the end. (Vicky Bremner photo) By Bonnie Gropp Citizen editor It may be time for the beef industry to consider that bigger is not necessarily better. Or at least not as far as the consumer's concerned. Mark Ishoy, GM of Gencor spoke_ at a BSE update hosted by the Huron County Beef Producers on April 7 in Brussels. His message was, that industry has "consistently" heard from consumers that they want smaller cuts of meat. "But we keep producing 700-800 pound carcasses. If we market 600- pound animals for a year it would take 15 per cent out of the market and beef consumption may go up because we're listening." Farmers may take less he admits but it would move more animals through the system. One producer wondered, however, how they could make any money if they feed down. "I don't pretend to understand the economics of the feedlot at this time. but maybe they'll pay more money if there's a happier consumer." However, he admitted that there were no guarantees. "Can I stand here tonight and prove it'? Absolutely not."