SERVING MAPLETON AND MINTO
THE
COMMUNITY NEWS VOLUME 52 ISSUE 41
1 Year GIC - 2.32% 3 Year GIC - 2.35% 5 Year GIC - 2.45% Daily Interest 1.25%
638-3328
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2019
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Candidates address agriculture, electoral reform, broadband, gun control at Moorefield meeting By Aryn Strickland
91Run benefits mental health
Emergency run Participants braved cooler weather on Oct. 5 and took off for the Emergency 91Run from the Palmerston fire hall. The run is organized by Minto Fire, with all proceeds donated to mental health initiatives. ABOVE: Participants begin the 5km 91Run race. LEFT: Among the participants were, from left, Lincoln and Bethany Dirksen of Harriston and Lincoln’s cousin, Caleb Furtney of Walkerton. Photos by Jaime Myslik
MOOREFIELD - PerthWellington federal candidates went head to head on policies at the Maryborough Community Centre during an all-candidates meeting on Oct. 3. Six candidates are running to represent the riding. Conservative John Nater is seeking his second term, having been first elected in 2015. Farmer and small business owner Irma DeVries is running for the Christian Heritage Party (CHP), retired business owner Roger Fuhr for People’s Party of Canada (PPC), former radio show host and current Rotaract board member Geoff Krauter for the New Democratic Party (NDP), United Church minister Pirie Mitchell for the Liberal Party and chief of anesthesia at Stratford General Hospital and Western University adjunct professor Collan Simmons for the Green Party. About 70 people were at the meeting hosted by the Wellington Federation of Agriculture (WFA) and Mapleton Chamber of Commerce. The debate focused on the
agricultural industry, with questions about trade compensation following U.S. tariffs, protecting supply management and building infrastructure for transporting agricultural goods. But the meeting also included questions on electoral reform, rural high speed internet and firearm regulations. In opening remarks Simmons said, “I want to get something out of the way right away. The Green Party is not against farmers. We want to look at farming through the long lens of climate change and think about where we need to be in 20 years.” He said the effects of climate change would decrease the amount of arable land elsewhere in the world much sooner, so Canadian farmers needed to be ready to “feed the world.” In his opening remarks Fuhr explained the PPC, formed a year ago, focuses its platform on four principles - freedom, respect, fairness and personal responsibility - while its goal is “to provide a platform that will put Canadians first, not other people. Canadians must come first,” said Fuhr. When asked about provid-
ing Canadian farmers with full offset trade compensation, DeVries in turn asked, “what’s in the contract? What’s that going to cost us?” DeVries said she believes Canada needs tariffs “to regulate and keep a positive peace between our two countries,” adding the CHP is advocating a re-examination of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Fuhr stated that the PPC would decrease income tax to 10 per cent for farmers “along with corporate companies as well.” Krauter said the NDP would protect supply management and added governments should take a “consultative approach with Canadians” to making trade deals like the Canada-United StatesMexico Agreement (CUSMA) and Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) “instead of negotiating these agreements in secret.” Mitchell cited the “Canadian supply management,” system as the way to counteract U.S. farmers and foreign competitors’ tax advantages. Nater said the Conservatives would help SEE CANDIDATES » 3
Fourplex in Clifford approved after modifications to plan MINTO – A revised rezoning application for a residential fourplex in Clifford was approved after the developers agreed to make some changes to the proposal. Property owner Jordan Taylor, whose construction company will build the development, was seeking to rezone a 0.25 acre (0.1 hectare) property at Lot 161 on Elora Street from R1 to R2 residential. The original amendment included a site-specific exception to allow the construction of a fourplex dwelling with a reduced rear yard setback and to permit the required parking in front of the main building with no landscaped area in the front yard. At a Sept. 17 public meeting, neighbouring property owners raised concerns regarding buffering, density, compatibility, potential
for use as low-cost housing, grading, aesthetics and the out-front parking plan. Council deferred a decision on the application and directed staff to work with the applicant to see if the concerns could be addressed. At the Oct. 1 council meeting chief building official Terry Kuipers reported town staff met with county planners to discuss possible solu-
tions and also met with the applicants and discussed a compromise with the development. Kuipers explained the applicant agreed to address the concerns in the following manner: - buffering: the building is to be centered on the lot, increasing the side yard setback (at the rear of the units) from 10 to 18 feet.
The applicants also agreed to construct a six-foot privacy fence along the side of the building at the northerly property line; - density: the applicant will be maintaining the fourunit proposal, which may be of a higher density than the Official Plan, but complies with the density required in the Provincial Policy Statement;
- compatibility: though there is no multi-residential units adjacent to the property, there is a multi-residential property within the same block, as well as others in the area; - grading: the property is subject to site plan control which requires applicants to have an engineer design a site grading plan to accept off-site flows onto the prop-
erty, control and discharge them appropriately, while not allowing any additional flows off site. This process will also ensure the installation of all fencing/buffering/landscaping and lighting requirements; - aesthetics: the design of the building will be a conventional style, compatible to area building styles; and SEE FOURPLEX » 5
Homicide investigation continues in case of man reported missing from Harriston By Patrick Raftis GUELPH - Police continue to investigate the March 2019 death of a man reported missing from Harriston as a homicide. Wellington OPP responded to a report of a missing person at a location on Jessie Street in Harriston on March 12 at around 6:30pm. Police identified the missing individual as Jason John Brown, 43, of Kitchener. On March 13 the OPP was noti-
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fied by Durham Regional Police that Brown’s body was located on Stevenson Road North in Oshawa. A post-mortem was completed on March 15 and an OPP press release stated the death was being treated as a homicide. At the Sept. 26 Wellington County council meeting, a report from Wellington County OPP detachment commander Scott Lawson indicated investigators from the OPP and Durham Regional Police Service are
continuing to work together to solve the crime under the direction of the OPP Criminal Investigations Branch. The case is the only homicide listed in 2019 crime statistics provided by the OPP to the Wellington County Police Services Board. Other crimes under investigation by the Wellington County detachment’s Major Crimes Unit include two death investigations involving the use of illicit drugs or opioids and a death by firearm investigation.
WEEKLY WAG
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By Patrick Raftis
“When I hear somebody sigh, ‘Life is hard,’ I am always tempted to ask, ‘Compared to what?’” - Sydney J. Harris
The crime unit also investigated numerous sexual assaults, a child abuse case and a fraud investigation. One of the sexual assault investigations resulted in a search warrant being completed for the collection of evidence. The crime unit also worked with uniform personnel in relation to a high risk domestic violence investigation “which resulted in many criminal charges being laid,” the report states.
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