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The Citizen, 2018-03-15, Page 5Other Views Ignorance is not really blissful There's an old saying that goes Ignorance is bliss". These days it's apparently also highly -prized in political leaders. From Donald Trump to Doug Ford, there seems to be an attraction for many voters to the fact they are outsiders who know nothing about politics. Distrust of the people who have been running governments and political parties seems to be strong enough that people want to bring in a newcomer who has not been tainted by years of being too close to the system. Supposedly because he doesn't know what can't be done, he can get more done. Hmmm. The other night we watched the movie Catch Me If You Can in which Leonardo DiCaprio cleverly bluffs his way into making people believe he's an airline pilot and an emergency room doctor. It was fun to watch how he could fool the system — but I'm not sure I want to be either a passenger on an airplane with an untrained pilot or a patient of a doctor who never went to medical school. And yet when it comes to running a country or a province, apparently the less experience the leader has, the better. This celebration of ignorance is nothing new, really. I covered municipal councils for nearly 50 years and I saw many examples of councillors who valued their practical knowledge above the training of professionals. Eyes would roll when a drainage engineer entered the room, for instance. Engineers were "guys who try to make water run uphill." And there's no doubt that the backlash against "the elites" is, in part, deserved. Professionals in all fields can become arrogant, devaluing the concerns and opinions of everyone who doesn't have their training. Still, just because you have a medical specialist who won't shut up and actually listen to you Keith Roulston From the cluttered desk describe your symptoms doesn't mean you want to call in an orderly from the hall and have him take over your case. The problem with these darned professionals is that they often see complications we don't want to know about. So when the oncologist says there's a 50 per cent chance of surviving cancer with chemotherapy but someone proposing peach pit therapy says they have a sure cure, some people will take the "sure" thing. Similarly, when an outsider politician ignores the complexities of government and promises simply to "Make America great again" as Trump did, or to "Stop the gravy train" as Doug Ford's brother Rob promised at Toronto City Hall, it's tempting to believe that they can make it happen because they're coming to the situation without being blinded by being too close to the situation. Runaway political correctness has also led to a rebellion in which the guy who "tells it like it is" becomes the hero. People who are anything but politically correct become folk heroes, like Don Cherry, or are elected leaders like Trump and Ford. But simply ridiculing the silliness of things that are overly politically correct doesn't make the politically incorrect, correct either. While it might be the height of ridiculousness for the Toronto District School Board to drop titles like "chief' custodian because it feels the term "chief' should be THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MARCH 15, 2018. PAGE 5. reserved for the heads of First Nations, it's too easy for anti -political correctness to give licence to racist speech and action in the name of free speech. It seems for many, government is so screwed up that it's worth bringing in a disruptor from outside the system to blow up the whole thing so we can start fresh. This, of course, presumes that we're living through a terrible time in history. But does this perception really stand up? When Donald Trump was elected U.S. President and began dismantling everything that his predecessor Barack Obama had done, the U.S. had enjoyed eight years of recovery from the Great Recession. Yes, globalization and automation had seen some regions hurt economically, but unemployment had reached record lows. Much of the growth Trump has taken credit for in his first year is a continua- tion of a trend that began under Obama. Ontario voters in general are tired of the Liberal government that after 15 years in power has grown old and cynical. But though they want a change, things are not really so terrible that the whole system needs to be blown up. Employment is strong. Electricity rates are higher than we'd like, but we tend to forget that the main cause for this was not that there are too many wind turbines but the rebuilding of an electrical system that failed and caused a massive blackout during the previous government — a failure that helped bring the Liberals to power in 2003. Ask 90 per cent of the people in the world if they'd like to live in the U.S. or Ontario, places that supposedly need a disrupter like Trump and Ford, and they'd say yes. As for punishing the elites with a "screw you" vote for an ignorant outsider, the problem is that we all end up screwed. A mea culpa of the highest order Last summer, there were a lot of changes happening in North Huron with new staff being brought on and a new way of doing things being considered for services throughout the municipality. One thing that seemed to have slipped by me was that North Huron drastically changed the snow removal in Blyth and, when I say it slipped by me, what I really mean is a significant change in service level was buried in a Public Works Department report that wasn't addressed or discussed by council. Normally, before a council meeting, I will sit down and read through as much of its information package as possible. Whether that means munching a sandwich in one hand and flipping digital pages with the other or finding time to do it while at work, I feel it's important that I know what will be on the table at this particular meeting. Over the past several years, however, I've realized that a lot of council members don't do the same thing: they ask questions clearly answered in reports from senior staff, showing they haven't taken the time to come prepared. Well, this time, the lack of preparation was on me and, fellow Blyth ward ratepayers, I've got egg on my face and icy ruts on my street. In this week's issue of The Citizen, there is a story explaining that a 'snow removal schedule' was determined last summer. Under the schedule, Blyth will only receive snow removal three times a week: Monday, Wednesday and Friday regardless of snowfall events. So to all the people thinking that the snow removal in Blyth, which, in my experience, was the envy of the county at one point, has gone downhill this year, you're right, it has. Gone downhill, however, has a kind of passive connotation to it so maybe what I should be saying is the snow removal in Blyth has been cut. Yeah, actually, cut is the perfect Denny Scott Denny's Den word because it was an action and a decision provided by North Huron Council. Snow removal has always been an interesting thing in Blyth. A few years back, I wrote stories about an outgoing and incoming Blyth supervisor in the North Huron Public Works Department and both spoke about the importance of snow removal in the village. Both spoke about the job as a point of pride, as well as a necessity. Blyth, in case you haven't noticed, has some fairly narrow roadways, necessitating not only precise, but persistent snow removal. Failure to do so, according to both of those men, would result in vehicles being parked too close to passing traffic and sidewalks being inaccessible. Anyone who tried to get around Blyth this winter knows that they were certainly proven right in their assessment. But when people in Blyth complain about the snow removal this year we're not just complaining about a schedule. You know what, sidebar here: scheduling snow removal has to be the stupidest thing I've heard of in quite awhile. What if a blizzard hits on Tuesday? What if you have a five-day blizzard? I'm sorry, but you can't schedule snow removal. You budget for what you anticipate and hope you have to plow less. Anyway, we're not just complaining about the lunacy behind scheduling snow removal, we're also complaining about aspects of snow removal on the days that it does happen. For example, last Wednesday I had a Blyth Business Improvement Area (BIA) meeting at 8 a.m. The BIA has been meeting at 8 a.m. since it was formed and it has never been a problem in the winter until now. I parked and went to the meeting and came out to find myself plowed in an hour later. It used to be that, by the time these 8 a.m. meetings happened, the major roads in the municipality were cleared. Heck, even on those early layout days when I came in at 6 a.m. I could always park somewhere near our office, even if it had to be on County Road 4. Nowadays, I'll get to work at 9 a.m. and the side streets aren't plowed. Thank goodness I've got the four-wheel drive. I know others who have had to be pushed out of parking spots on County Road 4, a major thoroughfare, due to late plowing blocking them in. The lateness of the snow removal lends itself to other problems as well, including huge icy ruts created by some of the snow melting before it's cleared from the road. So while news of the thrice -weekly snow removal schedule not getting out falls on my shoulders, I have to be honest and say that, if council and staff were considering such a drastic change to snow removal (and trust me, it's drastic) they first needed to talk to the ratepayers first. Much of the blame for this un- announced decision falls to them. This, plain and simple, is a reduction in service to try and balance the budget and I can't think of a single person who would agree to cut the snow removal budget while having the municipality pay nearly $20,000 for flower purchases and maintenance throughout the municipality. And as for area -rating snow removal — anyone travelling north through North Huron likely travels on County Road 4, making it a municipality -wide responsibility. Bring back our snow removal. Shawn Loughlin Shawn's Sense A penny saved... The act of budgetting for anything has always been a balancing act. When it comes to government, the trick has always been to treat ratepayers fairly while also sufficiently planning for the future. You can't keep taxes too low and bankrupt yourself, but you can't overtax, only to have money sitting in the bank doing nothing. This is Huron County, so we're not talking about massive year -over -year budgets. Things are a little more reasonable around here, but there is still plenty of debate regarding whether we're paying too much for what we receive and whether those who handle those dollars are doing the best that they can. Recently, an area of concern has been recreation centres. With electricity costs rising drastically in recent years, small town councils have found that serving their communities with an arena is becoming almost impossible. Between skyrocketing budgets and decreasing activity, the bills at the average Ontario arena are becoming harder and harder to pay. Huron East Council has heard the call from a division of the municipality that seems to need help and has stepped up to the plate. In recent years, council has authorized increases to the community centres' budgets while asking all other departments to do without increases. They have also taken deficit -busting measures by issuing special levies to the municipality's three centres and financing capital and equipment purchases for them, whether it be through general taxation or through vibrancy funds paid to Huron East by a trio of wind turbine companies. It's with these measures in mind that Huron East staff pushed back last week as those on the Seaforth Recreation Committee were insistent in asking for $10,000 to replace the Seaforth and District Community Centre's upper viewing room floor. The centre, like centres in Brussels and Vanastra, received a four per cent increase to its levy this year. In addition, each centre received more money to continue paying down its debt. The Seaforth centre will receive $20,442 this year, which is the same amount it received last year (although its year -over -year deficit still increased by over $7,300 in 2017). In addition, the municipality will pay $90,000 this year for a new ice machine. This, however, does not seem to be enough. Council has asked the committee to pay for the $10,000 in floor repairs from its reserves, which currently total over $68,000. The committee has pushed back, however, and feels that the municipality, through general taxation, should pay for those improvements. Reserves are necessary. Whether you're a municipality saving in case a fire truck breaks or an average Huron County homeowner with a fridge on its last legs, you need some money in the bank. However, if you're a community centre that's crying poor, you can't have enough money to cut your deficit in half sitting in the bank doing nothing while you take taxpayer money both coming and going. The Brussels, Morris and Grey Community Centre is receiving much of what the Seaforth centre is: the four per cent levy increase, the deficit -busting levy and $60,000 for a new condenser, but its deficit is going in the right direction and it isn't asking taxpayers to pay for projects so it can squirrel away its money. Our community centres need our help. We need to use them and we need to keep them alive, but most taxpayers aren't rich either. If the centres are truly in crisis, we can't have our pockets picked just so they can have a mountain of money for a rainy day.