The Huron Expositor, 1996-02-07, Page 1Agriculture
Farmers hear
how to fight back
st animal
groups.
page 2 .
Hockey
Will the planned
Triply A zone
hurt local junior •
and minor teams?
see pages 4, 9 & 10.
Your Community Newspaper Since 1860
Seaforth, Ontario
Briefl"We shouldn't be accepting any cuts to agriculture"
OMAFRA faced
Souch t Spear
on local
show with 35 per cent cut
hear thc government say one
thing and mean another."
The groups present listed a
• number of OMAFRA services
they use. 'They ranged from thc
use of the building for
meetings to secretarial. work
such as photocopying by the
staff. The possibility of a user -
pay system was presented lir
such services as.the use of the
building, staff; and equipment
Great c;mcem was voiced by
the Huron County 4-H -
progrun. Added up throughout
the year, the club.depends on
OMAFRA for. 1,000 hours of
Work. .441 uses the facilities,
equipment, and a large amount
of . secretarial work from
OMAFRA. The total cost of
running the Huron County
program- is S27,00.0, and with
S1,4 0 0 coming from
fundraising from the program,
representatives from 4-H were
Concerned about the future of
the dub without- OMAFRA. .
."We should keep OMAFRA
at any cost," a- rcprosentativc •
fropa the wheat ' producers
stated, adding that arty reduc-
tion in • the budget would not
make OMAFRA - useful to
an) one.
"If we're looking at a 35 per
cent reduction, OMAFRA will
be of no use to anybody," it
was noted by a participant.
"We have -to justify its exis-
.tcnme at the level of funding,
now. We must go to them with
read numbers. That', our first
step: to get the numbers."
"We shouldn't be •accepting
any .:uts to agriculture," _said
Jeanne Kirkby, adding that
agriculture is thc number two
in.ltr,try in Ontario. "It's Iikc
killing the goose that lays. the,.
golden egg...But.we have very WINTER'S HALF OVER - The weather has been frigid lately but
litflo time . to accomplish on the weekend marked the half -way -point of this winter.
an) thing - before' this hits us,"
Continucdon page :�
.
Scalorth country and
.western singer Kim Souch
.will -be -part of a Live televi-
sion taping this Sunday
• (Feb. 11) at. the Wingham
Heritage Theatre. Starch's
trio, Kim Souch and Bay
Side Blue,• will perlorn
from 2-5 pen at the: theatre
. where "Prime Time Coun-
try" is held each summer.
Thc- perlorivance will be
shown on , CKNR-TV's
nlry's In" show (chan-
and 10 locally) on a
Sunday night in grid to late
arch. .
ing to he fun," said•
•
n
ng is open tit the
id there is a "small.
alms charge. Sunday's
event will also include a
kcal history - of _country -
rnusic by Ernie King and
Earl Haywood, who are
working together to start up
a Canadian country music_
museum or hall of fame.
:Souch will perform lour -
of her original songs and
some cover- lune, for the
raping.
Mother of Blyth
• artistic director dies
• Thc .mother of Janet
Amos, the artistic director at
the. Blyth Festival, died
suddenly Wednesday while
attending a matinee [terror-
- rnaracc at the • Royal
Alcxandra-Thcatre in Toron-
to. • . •
Beth. Amos, H0, was a
veteran of stage and screen
• and still very much active in
the theatre, and had been to
- • lour auditions - in recent
weeks.
"It really is a gilt, that she
actually passed gently away
watching a play at 'her'
theatre," the Blyth director
told the •Sunday .Sine.
NY AMY NEILANDS
SSP News Stall
Huron • County- farm leaders
gathered in Chinon -last week
10 discuss the future of the
Ontario Ministry Of Agricul-
ture, Food and Rural Affairs
(OMAFRA). -
Faced with a proposed 35 per
cent cut -to the OMAFRA
budget, leaders from the coun-
ty's farm groups met at the
OMAFRA office to discuss
courses of action to take
against further cuts to agriculL
turc... -
After lacing a 25 per cent
reduction to the OMAFRA
budget in 1991, the -Progressive
- Conservative election promise
- was no further cuts to: the -
ministry.
Steve Thompson, president of
the Huron County Federation
of Agriculture (HCFA),
presented a -breakdown of the
present. 5451.6 million budget:
34.8 per cent of_ the budget is
tnadc up 01 the .Farm: T,ax
Rebate Program, 32 Ike cent is
_made up of transfer-paymcHL,--
Irom• GRIP, NISA and crop
• insurance, and 31 per cern .is
made up of direct operating "of
the ministry.
"We could eliminate any one
program completely and we
would still be short 35 per
cent," said Thompson, adding
-that unfortunately the one-third
that will be cut will likely be
the "people out in the field.
doing things; the people who
deal with you,, who work with
you."
"We're here to find out what
•OMAFRA can do without," he
said. "Can there. be a cutback
of 35 per cent and still provide
a meaningful level of service?
.Cuts of this magnitude cause
me personally a great deal of
concern. Especially when we
February 7,_ 1996 -. 75 Cents Plus GST .
GREGOR CAMPBELL PHOTO
take heart - jhe full moon
Finance minister says protests 'part of democratic process'
PATRICK RAFTIS PHOTO
PROTESTERS BRAVE THE COLD - About 50 area OPSEU members, teachers, snow
plow operators and others protested in the cold Thursday night outside the South Huron
Recreation Centre prior to the Huron PC Association annual meeting where Ontario Finance
Minister Eniie Eves was speaking. Eves agreed to talk with an OPSEU spokesperson.
BY PATRICK RAFTIS
SSP News Staff
Five minutes with the minis-
ter of finance' and a refund on
their S25 dinner tickets was
enough to keep OPSEU pro-
testers on the outside at the
Huron Progressive
Conservative Association
annual meeting. Thursday.
About 50 arca OPSEU mem:
hers, teachers. assessment
office employees. snow plow
operators and others from
Grand Bend, Goderich,
Clinton and thc surrounding
area had waited in thc hitter
cold since about 5 p.rn.,
Thursday, for the arrival of
Ernie Eves. provincial finance
minister in the Mike Harris
Conservative government.
"Why is Mike Harris forcing
a'strike?" protesters asked the
Tory faithful as they passed
through the demonstrators to
enter the South Huron
Cotnmunity Centre in Exeter.
where thc dinner meeting was
being held.
Shouting slogans like. "Hcy!
Hcy! Ho! Ho! Mike Hams has
to go." and "Thc only good
Tory is a suppository," the pro-
testers moved their peaceful
demonstration into the lobby
around 6:30 p.m, some time
after Huron Tory MPP Helen
Johns had passed through the
crowd al the front door.
Many of the protesters had
purchased tickets lo the S25 -a -
plate Tory dinner and were
planning to move their protest
right into the event until party
officials struck a deal with the
group, granting two of their
representatives a five-minute
audience with Eves in return
for their agreement not to dis-
rupt the meeting. Protesters
agrccd to the arrangement.
with thc proviso that their tick-
et money be refunded.
Protesters quickly cleared thc
lobby after Eves emerged from
a brief meeting with
spokesperson .Ron Elliot, from
London and another OPSEU
representative. -
After the meeting, Eves said •
although he docs not sit in on
OPSEU_ negotiations, he is pre-
pared to bring forward the
issues raised by the protesters,
in cabinet, "and they (the pro-
testers) seem to be relatively
satisfied with that." •
Eves was asked if he was get-
ting tired of running into
protests everywhere he goes.
"That's part of the democratic
process. Everybody has the
ability or right, and they
should have, in a peaceful
manner, to make their point of
view known. It would he a
pretty, poring place if we all
agrccd on everything," Eves
said.
"I understand their concerns..
I understand where they're.
coming from. Thc government
halm do what it thinks is best
for'Onlarians as a whole. And,
sometimes, that means making
not -so -nice decisions for pans
of society." Eves added.
However, the protesting civil •
•servants don't•tind the govern-.
merit that understanding. •
"We've got many particular
problemswiththis .eovern-
menl. We're here to grecs Ernie
Eves. He's having a fund-rais-
ing dinner tonight and we wain
the Conservative government
to negotiate with our bargain-
ing teams and harmer out a
collective agreement. What the
Conservatives. want to dosis
force a strike in the Ontario
public service," said Elliot. •
Despite steadfast • Tory
resolve in the face of protests
on other -issues; Elliot said .he
felt OPSEU demonstrations
could have an• impact on the'
government's decisions. -
"Hams had promised to go to,
Windsor on February 8. We •
planned a large demonstration.
He was going to take
(Education Minister John)
Snobelen with him and now .
that's cancelled. It's very rare
for a Conservative cabinet
minister to be ahlc to come
into Southwestern Ontario.
Normally, they do it secretly
anymore to avoid Ihc demon-
strations. We'd just as soon the
story stay in Toronto and never
leave that city," said Elliot.
Elliot said if the government
carries through with proposed
cuts of up to 30 per cent in the
civil service, it would he
unable to operate.
Continued on page 3