Loading...
The Citizen, 2018-6-7, Page 4PAGE 4.THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JUNE 7, 2018. Editorials Opinions President: Keith Roulston • Publisher: Deb Sholdice Editor: Shawn Loughlin • Reporter: Denny Scott Advertising Sales: Brenda Nyveld • Heather Fraser The Citizen is published 50 times a year in Brussels, Ontario by North Huron Publishing Company Inc. Subscriptions are payable in advance at a rate of $38.00/year ($36.19 + 51.81 G.S.T.) in Canada; $160.00/year in U.S.A. and $205/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: Mon. 2 p.m. - Brussels; Mon. 4 p.m. - Blyth. Canada MAIL AGREEMENT NO. 40050141 RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO CIRCULATION DEPT. PO BOX 152 BRUSSELS ON NOG 1HO email: info@northhuron.on.ca We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada. The Citizen P.O. Box 429, P.O. Box 152, BLYTH, Ont. BRUSSELS, Ont. NOM 1H0 NOG 1 H0 Ph. 519-523-4792 Phone Fax 519-523-9140 519-887-9114 E-mail info@northhuron.on.ca Website www.northhuron.on.ca ocna ab CCNA Member of the Ontario Press Council CMCA AUDITED We are not responsible for unsolicited newsscripts or photographs. Contents of The Citizen are © Copyright Amalgamation's flaw The situation that North Huron Township Councillors find themselves in regarding the future of the Wingham Police Service demonstrates one of the flaws of the amalgamations municipalities were strong-armed into joining nearly 20 years ago by the Mike Harris government. The majority of the councillors deciding on whether to approve a huge increase in the budget for the Wingham police department or instead switch to contracting service from the Ontario Provincial Police are from Blyth and East Wawanosh and are not directly affected by the outcome of their decision. They and their neighbours would not be affected by the higher taxes that would result from increasing the staffing of the police department. On the other hand, since Blyth and East Wawanosh already have policing from the OPP, they wouldn't be affected by any reduction of service that might occur if Wingham loses its own force. Councillors from Blyth and East Wawanosh should be credited with trying to do the right thing as best they can. They voted to continue the Wingham police department after the majority of Wingham residents who attended public meetings indicated they wanted to keep their own force. When a new budget was tabled that greatly increased the cost of running that department, however, councillors were back in the awkward position of trying to make decisions for someone else — something that didn't happen before amalgamation, back when each community controlled its own services through its own council. We'll be seeing this sort of conflict more often in other amalgamated municipalities in the coming years over services such as arenas. Recently in Bluewater, councillors from Hensall and Zurich, which will continue to have arenas, were in the position of deciding if the ice should be removed from Bayfield's arena. As arena use declines, more communities will face the same decision, with councillors from outside the community determining whether or not to keep arenas open. Municipal amalgamations were supposed to be about administrative streamlining, but taking decision-making out of the hands of the people directly affected and giving it to councillors with no skin in the game weakens the structure of the system. — KR Oh, the irony When the federal government announced a deal last week to buy out Kinder Morgan's interests and complete the twinning of the Trans Mountain pipeline, surely even Albertans must have paused at the irony of a prime minister named Trudeau coming to the rescue of the Alberta oil patch through government intervention. Liberals have been as rare in Alberta as dinosaurs ever since Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau declared the National Energy Policy in 1980 which viewed Alberta's oil reserves as a national resource rather than an Albertan one. In the most conservative of provinces, Albertans also have been strongly against any government interference in private business, let alone government ownership. Suddenly, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was buying a pipeline as a solution to getting it built despite the opposition of the government of British Columbia, thereby opening Asian markets for Alberta's oil. Only time will tell if this is a good or bad move by the federal government. Even Albertans, however, must applaud the political courage of Justin Trudeau in standing up for Alberta, a province that gives his party almost no support, against British Columbia where the Liberals may lose seats by building an unpopular pipeline. Whether this will win Trudeau Albertans' political support seems less likely. — KR Pray for the best A summit about peace should be an occasion for hope — but then seldom has peace depended on a meeting of the minds of two arrogant, unpredictable man -children as does next week's meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong -un. It's truly frightening to imagine what could happen when two unsubtle, prideful men "negotiate" such a complex, difficult set of issues as the U.S.'s demand for North Korea to get rid of its nuclear weapons while North Korea worries about its security from U.S. invasion. The first choice of each of these leaders seems to threaten destruction of the other. Both seem to have fragile egos that mean they cannot lose face by accepting compromise. President Trump, at least, also seems unprepared for such important negotiations. Observers note that the U.S. State Department has been short-staffed since his administration took power, with expertise missing in many key international issues. What's more, Trump and his closest cronies seem to distrust the "experts" anyway, counting on his brilliant gut reaction instead. The world can only pray that nothing happens during the June 12 meeting that makes the situation even worse and leads to war. — KR Looking Back Through the Years June 11, 1958 Brussels Village Council set its mill rate for the year, which was 68 mills for residential properties and 73 mills for commercial land, which was unchanged from the previous year. D.A. Rann was installed as president of the Brussels Lions Club, taking over the chair from Robert Walker. Jim Armstrong was installed as the club's Tail Twister for the coming term, alongside his assistant, Charles Thomas. June 14, 1978 Two young Blyth women, Betty Konarski and Lori Hesselwood, were set to begin running a new sports program for school children aged Kindergarten to Grade 8 throughout the summer. The women were buoyed by a Young Canada Works grant that enabled them to fund the program through the summer months. Manchester officially lost its historic name when village trustees voted to change the name of the community to Auburn. The request had been made by the Ontario Geographic Names Board, asking that Auburn have only one official name as far as the records were concerned. Village Council handled the request at its June meeting. Chair Warner Andrews presided over the meeting with the help of the village Clerk, Frank Raithby. In its letter to council, the board stated that since the police village was not incorporated, the board could authorize a name change to reconcile the discrepancy, which had come to their attention just recently. It was also reported that in 1978 Auburn was the name commonly used to refer to the village, so a lengthy transition from one name to another was unlikely. Blyth had hosted another successful March of Dimes campaign thanks to the hard work and effort of Blyth residents Joann Macdonald and Joan Chalmers. The two women reported that the village raised just under $600 for the year through the campaign. June 12, 1991 The 17th installment of the Blyth Festival was set to open on June 13, with Two Brothers by Ted Johns leading the way. Not only would Johns' play kick off the Festival season, but a new exhibit of art entitled, the Contemporary Folk Art Exhibition, was set to open. This exhibition coincided with the release of a folk art book edited by Auburn -area artist Bev Walker. Over 400 pigs were lost in a Morris Township barn fire. Volunteer firefighters from both Blyth and Wingham were called to the blaze at the home of Leo Sanders shortly after noon on June 6. Blyth Fire Chief Paul Josling said that by the time the departments arrived, the barn was already engulfed and many of the animals had perished due to the extreme heat and smoke created by the fire. Only 16 sows were saved and it was estimated that the fire caused between $50,000 and $60,000 in livestock loss. June 12, 2008 For the third straight year, HealthKick Huron worked its magic in introducing medical students from the University of Western Ontario to the world of rural medicine. The program aimed to put the students through the paces of rural hospitals and medical offices in the hopes of attracting them back when they graduated from their respective programs a number of years later. Allison Foran, Elizabeth Randle and Audra Smallfield were the three students enrolled in the program in 2008. HealthKick's Rosie Grobbink said the program had been successful in previous years, but that the 2008 installment was its most successful yet, with 48 applicants applying for just 24 positions. The speed of vehicles travelling on Queen Street through Blyth had again become a concern for North Huron Council. Clerk -Administrator Kriss Snell said he felt there might be some merit to designating the village's main street section as a community safety zone, which would reduce its speed limit to 30 kilometres per hour. He also indicated that traffic signals at the intersection of Blyth and London Roads could also help the speed problem uptown in Blyth. After a night of passionate arguments in favour, the proposal to allow hunting on Sundays in Morris- Turnberry, however, was turned down. Councillor Mark Beaven said he strongly supported the municipality allowing hunting on Sundays, explaining that it's a good family activity and because of busy schedules, Sunday sometimes would be the only day that all members of a family could be together. Jim Nelemans, however, disagreed, saying that if Sunday was the only time a family could be together and they decided to take a walk through the bush together, they shouldn't have to worry about being shot during their walk. He added that many times hunters had trespassed on his land without permission to hunt.