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The
THIS WEEK • Editorials • Sports • Obituaries • Agriculture
Citizen
Huron County’s most trusted independent news source
Friday, December 9, 2022
$1.50 GST included
Volume 38 No. 49
Publications Mail Agreement No. 40050141 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 429, BLYTH, ON N0M 1H0
Staffing shortage persists By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen
A visit with Santa Brussels came together for its annual Santa Claus parade, a week later than usual, on Saturday evening. The floats, one of which contained Santa and Mrs. Claus, made their way down the village’s main street before returning to the Brussels Legion for some
community time and an opportunity for the younger residents to have some face time with the Clauses. It marked another great holiday night in the village, bringing out hundreds of residents for the annual tradition, which is always one of the best nights of the year in Brussels. (John Stephenson photo)
Huron Perth Healthcare Alliance CEO Andrew Williams doesn’t see things getting better at local hospitals in the near future, he told Central Huron Council at its Monday night meeting. Williams spoke to council after being summoned earlier this year for an update on the status of the Clinton Public Hospital, specifically its emergency department, which has been running at reduced hours since before the declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic. He said the staffing shortages and forced closures are being felt all over the country, especially in smaller hospitals, and Clinton is no different. The shortages expand to non-medical roles at the hospital, which, again, is not unique to the Clinton site. He told council that there are 79 people employed at the hospital, with 32 positions sitting vacant. Seven of the full-time equivalents are in the emergency department. When asked, Williams said he didn’t see the situation getting any better, especially if the entire healthcare system doesn’t take a new approach to filling in the gaps, like working together to service the community. Recruitment efforts are ongoing Continued on page 2
Blyth Festival plans seven-show season for ’23 By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen The Blyth Festival is returning in 2023 with one of its most ambitious seasons ever, including seven productions at both Memorial Hall and the outdoor Harvest Stage. The season will run from June 14 until Sept. 9, featuring a four-show full slate in Memorial Hall - Sophia Fabiilli’s Liars at a Funeral, Marie Beath Badian’s The Waltz, Chronicles of Sarnia by Matt Murray and The Real McCoy by
Andrew Moodie - and three outdoor productions of James Reaney’s “The Donnellys” plays, abridged and adapted for the Festival by Artistic Director Gil Garratt. The shows will have individual runs and then come together in August to offer theatre-goers several opportunities to see the entire threeplay saga over three consecutive nights. Reaney’s three shows - Sticks and Stones, The St. Nicholas Hotel and Handcuffs - will all be performed by one company of 10 actors,
Garratt said in an interview with The Citizen, telling the story of the Donnelly family from its early days in the area, leading to that fateful February night when several members of the family met their end. Each show will have its own two week solo run before August, when the three shows will be performed on consecutive nights twice a week, giving audiences the opportunity to witness the entire saga on back-toback-to-back nights. Garratt also notes that there is a
contingency built in for the outdoor shows that wasn’t in place for the last two seasons, meaning that the shows will be performed rain or shine in 2023. “I believe 2023 is the perfect time to re-ignite the telling of the Donnelly story in Blyth. At its heart, this is a story about grit, family, betrayal, the erosion of community, the rise of secret societies, the shadow of conspiracy and the limits of faith,” Garratt said in his season announcement. The show will also be filled to the brim
with Irish folk music, live horses, the return of our stagecoach (currently on display at the Lucan Heritage Museum), and chilling pyrotechnics in the night.” Garratt calls the ambitious project a “quintessential Canadian classic reimagined” in his announcement, saying he met with Reaney’s family and they have given him their blessing to work with the material and make it a good fit for the Blyth Festival audiences. Part of that process, Garratt said Continued on page 23
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