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The
THIS WEEK • Editorials • Art • Obituaries • Theatre
Citizen
Huron County’s most trusted independent news source
Thursday, September 2, 2021
$1.50 GST included
Volume 37 No. 35
Publications Mail Agreement No. 40050141 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0
Federal election now set By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen
Toe-tappin’ tunes The Brussels Farmers’ Market, which will run one more time this year on Sept. 24, brought out dozens of shoppers and numerous vendors last Friday and featured the music of “Cinnamon” Jim Lee, left and Ron Allin. The market is being run monthly this year on the community’s main street after it moved out of the
Brussels Four Winds Barn. Organizer Zoellyn Onn said it is an important community event and needed to keep going, though, with a truncated planning period, it was only able to be scheduled once a month since it opened on July 30. The market traditionally features music, produce, prepared food and a little something for shoppers of all ages. (Denny Scott photo)
Community drives school rates: Klassen By Denny Scott The Citizen The COVID-19 case count continues to rise across Huron and Perth Counties, with 24 new cases being reported across the area, nine of those being in Huron County. A cumulative total of 2,027 cases has been reported across the two counties, according to Huron Perth Public Health (HPPH), up from 2,003 last week. During a HPPH teleconference last Thursday, Medical Officer of Health Dr. Miriam Klassen said the majority of new cases have been in unvaccinated or partiallyvaccinated individuals, proving that the vaccination makes for less severe symptoms and a reduced chance of contraction or spreading the various strains of COVID-19. “I encourage [everyone] to take advantage of expanded vaccination opportunities,” she said during the call. While Huron and Perth County residents continue to push
vaccination numbers higher, Klassen said those not vaccinated are at significant risk. “Despite this great progress, COVID-19 continues to circulate in Huron-Perth and across Ontario,” she said. “The majority of new cases have been in unvaccinated or partially-vaccinated individuals.” She also said she expects to see more cases in vaccinated people, but only because of the sheer quantity of people getting vaccinated. With more than 10 million people vaccinated in the province, she said breakthrough cases will occur, though they will continue to be a much smaller proportion than positive results in partially-vaccinated or unvaccinated individuals. Klassen pointed out that the provincial dashboard is now looking more “green than yellow” referring to the now defunct colour system the province was using for its previous opening plan. She said there are areas that are showing improvement like
Waterloo and Grey-Bruce, which had large clusters that have since started to dissipate, but other areas like Middlesex-London have seen their COVID-19 rates rise and have moved into the red areas. “This is mirroring what we see in the province as cases are starting to rise again,” she said. “We have to follow safety measures.” She urged people to continue wearing masks, distancing, following hand hygiene recommendations and doing personal screening before going out. “If you have mild symptoms, stay home, get assessed and, if directed, get tested,” she said. The Delta variant of the COVID19 virus is more transmissible, she said, and will find its way to those who aren’t vaccinated, or can’t be vaccinated, if those safety measures aren’t followed. To help with the issue, she said that drive-through, walk-in and after-hours vaccination clinics are being organized by HPPH. Klassen also spoke to several
issues that could change the way the pandemic is evolving, including students heading back to in-person learning next week. She said that in-person learning is the best choice for students and that, with the vaccination rate and other layers of protection staying in place, like masking, students should be able to return to school. “We know there’s a downside to them not being in school,” she said. “We don’t want to minimize the risk of COVID but, in general, children suffer less from the disease.” She said that community rates of infection drive the school rates, and not vice-versa, so the way to keep children in school is to control spread outside of the school. While in-person learning is the preference, she did say it’s not the only option and that, when considered holistically, other solutions including at-home learning may have to be considered. “We have to look at the benefits Continued on page 18
With a federal election set for Monday, Sept. 20, the candidate list for the Huron-Bruce riding appears to be set with five people vying to be the area’s next MP. Please note that while this list was current as of Tuesday morning, the day after the deadline to register, the complete list of confirmed candidates was not set to be released until Wednesday, Sept. 1, so, the list may be subject to change. Incumbent Conservative MP Ben Lobb is running again in search of a fifth consecutive election victory. Lobb first ran for the Conservatives in Huron-Bruce in 2006, but was narrowly defeated by incumbent Liberal MP Paul Steckle. Lobb lost by just under 1,000 votes, earning the votes of 20,289 residents to Steckle’s 21,260. In 2008, Lobb won the riding after Steckle retired. He defeated Greg McClinchey’s 16,346 votes with 22,202 votes of his own. In the three elections since, Lobb has earned between 54.95 and 44.94 per cent of the vote, retaining his seat in 2011, 2015 and 2019. James Rice will be representing the Liberals in Huron-Bruce in his first attempt at the seat. According to his website, Rice grew up in Bruce County and went on to obtain a degree in Criminal Justice and Public Policy from the University of Guelph, followed by a law degree from the University of Windsor. While attending law school, Rice worked in the Assistance for Children with Severe Disabilities program at the Ministry of Community and Social Services before beginning a clerkship with the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories. Rice now serves as an assistant crown attorney with the Ministry of the Attorney General and, over the years, has been involved with Bruce-Grey Child and Family Services, the Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada and local agricultural societies. Jan Johnstone will be representing the New Democratic Party (NDP) in the riding. Johnstone had previouly run for the NDP, though has never won the riding. A 30-year resident of the riding, Johnstone has served as a school trustee for Kincardine and HuronKinloss for over 20 years. She now Continued on page 3