Huron Expositor, 2017-01-18, Page 44 Huron Expositor • Wednesday, January 18. 2017
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Hockey is our gem
fter watching Canada lose
the 2016 World Junior
ockey championships in
a 5-4 shootout against their
archrivals, the Americans, I
began to think of how much
hockey means to this country.
Besides Canadians using the
.Vord eh, or how allegedly harsh
our weather is -when it comes to
sports, hockey as well as lacrosse
is what we are known for.
With about 30 medals in jun-
ior hockey, 16 of them being
gold along with winnin;old
eight additional times in the
Olympics, it's safe to say, we are
the most dominant hockey
squad in the world.
We take care of about half the
NHL population, citing from the
Globe and Mail-- it's at 47 per cent.
In our last issue of the Expositor,
the Mayor of Blue Water told Huron
East council that hockey numbers
Column
Shaun Gregory
all across the hoard are shrinking
compared to other sports. And
honestly that scared the crap out of
me, since I'm a big hockey fan and
all, but it made sense.
After the story went online, hun-
dreds reviewed the content from
various sources of social media
and one comment on Facebook
caught my attention. A concemed
resident said, "maybe because
letter to the editor
Frustrations over property rights
Letter to the editor:
The gallery was crowded with
concerned landowners at the
latest Huron County Committee
of the Whole meeting at Goder-
ich. They were there in support
of area farmer Bev Hill who gave
what Councilor Jim Donnelly
glowingly referred to as one of
the best presentations he had
ever heard.
Indeed, Mr. Hill spoke elo-
quently against the proposed
Huron Natural Heritage Plan, a
county concoction that launches
a shocking and unjustifiable
attack on property rights of Huron
County property owners. Here is a
synopsis from the gallery.
Mr. Hill presented clear ques-
tions about the HNHP. They
included: What is the need for it,
Who asked for it, Who will pay for
it, Who are the beneficiaries, and,
Will it affect private property rights.
Mr. Hill also brought to our atten-
tion that if the objective includes
increasing our forest cover, we
have already done that, demon-
strating landowner's responsible
management practices. Huron
County forest cover has increased
from 12.9% to 1 6.8% over the last
40 years, closing in on the ideal
presented by the County. Mr. Hill
used this fact to show that incen-
tives produce better results than
rules and regulations.
Planning Director Scott Tou-
saw's replies included that the
HNHP is driven by the Provin-
cial Policy Statement, is a
"refinement of existing policy';
beneficiaries are the public and
all of us, it is based on better sci-
ence and has basis in "robust
mapping" and "robust defini-
tion': And we all know who pays
for it - are the 6 year develop-
ment costs in the hundreds of
thousands, or in the millions?
And yes, Tousaw acknowledged,
it will reduce property rights.
Tousaw's argument from "sci-
ence" seemingly ran into trouble
with the discussion around the
proposed 120 meter buffer strip
surrounding natural features,
such as woodlots, streams and
meadows. The buffer strip
caused the most concern for
council members as they could
see its drastic negative implica-
tions for development, and they
voted to reduce it to the existing
50 meters for agricultural
settitigs.
SO TI IIS IS WI IERE it gets
interesting; if the buffer strip
was based on a "robust scientific
approach'; where is the evidence
and why can it he so easily
changed on the whim of coun-
cil, driven by economic
(several) families cannot afford for
their family to play hockey." at was
such a true statement, new equip-
ment runs you for about 5500-
S1000 and used is about 5300-$500
(hopefully your child doesn't have
a growth spurt yearly). When com-
paring travel hockey to local-regis-
tra- tion fees are through the roof
and then there is additional trans-
portation and gas. Has your bank
account stated "inst fiicient funds"
yet?
My question is for the govern-
ment of Canada, if we are produc-
ing the highest and most talented
players on the planet, for dear life,
shouldn't we be holding on to
that? We truly have something
sacred. Maybe it's the clean air
from the Rocky Mountains mixed
with a vast assortment of forestry
and farmland? Who knows?
The reality is we need to stay
active and keep this sport at arms
concerns? In fact, this recorded
event irrefutably exposes the
fickle and whimsical nature of
the Huron Natural Heritage Plan
and even county council.
But perhaps most telling of all
was how neophyte Warden Jim
Ginn continued the tradition of
sacrificing facts for personal
preference when he accepted
the expressly labeled "legal
opinion" of a municipal lawyer,
Peter Pickfield, as a solid legal
basis for county action, while
dismissing a well -researched
paper from highly regarded law
expert Elizabeth Marshall, All
Rights Research, as "...well, just
an opinion': Some quiet hilarity
ensued.
The sworn duty of Warden
Ginn - which includes protect-
ing the interests of his constitu-
ents - became a little fuzzy when
he claimed that the county or
municipality ':..absolutely has
the right.." to impose any
bylaws or actions it wishes on
private property. (In this he is
arguably absolutely wrong.)
Warden Ginn himself wanted to
see the 120M buffer zone
redo..d - but again provided
nothing other than his personal
opinion as a basis, rather than
hard evidence.
This raises the question - if a
reach, so we remain world-class
competitors We should freeze
Wayne Gretzky and Sidney Crosby's
DNA and reproduce hockey babies
for the future. I'm kidding, but I
believe we need to start a govem-
ment program where kid's who are
not as financially fortunate, are
funded. Even if your family can
afford the costs, we should have
hockey rinks open 12 months a
year, there should be regional
scouts for the government set to
study and boost the abilities of
hockey players in their assigned
areas. I know I'm exat4:eratingquite
a tad, however it's true, we have
something special and we should
preserve it in anyway possible.
Signing out from my living room,
Shaun AKA the guy who knows that
whenever hockey is brought up, the
maple leaf emblem won't fall far
behind in the conversation
councilor's personal bias has that
much impact on public policy,
why does a landowner's properly
presented interest get kicked to
the curb like some dirty refuse?
Essentially, Mr. Hill's excellent
presentation was summarily dis-
missed since council did not
understand that they have no law-
ful or democratic mandate to pro-
ceed with the HNHP. Does this
not show the flaw of the entire
procedure, making a mockery of
the democratic process?
It would be negligent to over-
look the notable comments of
Councilor Versteeg whose rather
condescending tone was not lost
on some in the gallery. He tried
to refute Mr. I lill's concern
around a lack of public notice
with the fact that the gallery was
full of property owners. Appar-
ently the councilor was unaware
of the fact that most of the pub-
lic was there as a result of the
efforts of the Huron Perth Land-
owner's Association, not the
co.;nty.
In a healthy democracy the
attitude of leadership is of
immense importance: deep lis-
tening is the Golden Rule, pater-
nalism is insufferable, arrogance
is infuriating, but sneering is
unforgivable.
John Schwartzentruber
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