HEATHER BOA Bullet News CENTRAL HURON – Despite a quorum, the Municipality of Central Huron’s council asked its finance director to explain five scenarios for its 2013 budget last night.

The councillors who were at the information meeting decided to hold off until its April 2 council meeting to give direction to Terri Taylor to proceed further with any one of the scenarios ranging from no increase to a 7.92 per cent increase to raise the money required to run the municipality’s services and programs and maintain its assets.

“It’s difficult when we have three away to kind of get a feel of where council is,” said Jim Ginn, who is the mayor of Central Huron. The meeting was scheduled to start at 5 p.m., but by 5:30 p.m., four out of eight council members were absent. One more councillor arrived later into the meeting.

Taylor explained that the difference between the five scenarios was the amount set aside for tax stabilization reserve and for roads and bridges reserve. Reserves are like savings accounts, which are used to fund expenses anticipated in the coming years.

She said the consolidated tax bill sent to ratepayers will also be affected by an increased assessment and taxes required by Huron County and the school boards.

At the low end, the first scenario maintains the 2012 budget spending of $5.087 million. However, the increased assessment and taxes set by the county and school boards would result in a total 3.43 decrease on the consolidated tax bill. It puts aside $56,996 to the tax stabilization reserve.

At the high end, the fifth scenario calls for 7.92 per cent increase in spending, bringing it to $5,489,800. However, the increased assessment and taxes set by the county and school boards would result in no increase on the consolidated tax bill. It puts aside $56,996 to the tax stabilization reserve and $402,800 to roads and bridges reserve.

Alison Lobb, who is a councillor, said she would support a 7.92 per cent increase because it could build the reserves for future needs or be used to pay down debt, which would save interest payments in the future.

“I would speak to the one at the other end,” said Coun. Alex Westerhout, supporting a hold on spending by Central Huron.

“We’ve already increased our spending from $4 million to $5 million in the last two years, as far as raising tax dollars. That’s a 25 per cent increase and you want to increase it another 10,” he said. “Just because the assessment goes up doesn’t mean you have to spend money.”

 CENTRAL HURON - Huron County OPP officers have charged three people stemming from a traffic stop on March 17, 2013.  At 9:19 p.m. a green Chevrolet Cobalt entered a RIDE checkpoint set up at the intersection of Telephone Road and Bayfield Road.

Upon speaking with the occupants of the vehicle, officers determined a male passenger was failing to abide by a condition of his court release.  Officers arrested the male for failing to comply and a search incident to arrest led to the discovery of illegal drugs inside the vehicle.  A female passenger and a female driver were also arrested for possession of drugs for the purposes of trafficking.

As a result, a man, 38, from Central Huron has been charged with two counts of possession for the purposes of trafficking. He remains in custody.

The driver, 28, from Goderich, has been charged with two counts of possession for the purposes of trafficking.  She was released from custody and has a first appearance court date scheduled for April 29, 2013 at the Ontario Court of Justice – Goderich.

Also charged was a woman, 24, from Goderich.  She has been charged with two counts of possession for the purposes of trafficking.  She was released from custody and has a court date scheduled for March 25, 2013 at the Ontario Court of Justice - Goderich.

DRIVER FACING OVER 80 CHARGE

HOWICK – On March 19, 2013 at 9:12 p.m., an officer with the OPP Mount Forest Traffic Management Unit stopped a white Jeep on Harriston Road at Toll Gate Line.

Upon speaking with the female driver, the officer noted the driver had been drinking alcohol.  A roadside test was completed and the driver registered a fail.  The driver was arrested and transported to the Palmerston OPP detachment where she provided two samples of her breath.  Both samples were over the legal limit.

The woman, 41, from Howick has been charged with driving a motor vehicle with over 80 mg of alcohol and driving a motor vehicle with liquor readily available. A court date is scheduled for April 18, 2013 at the Ontario Court of Justice - Wingham.  Her driver’s licence has been suspended for an automatic 90 days.

Ontario Ombudsman André Marin. File photo

TORONTO – Ontario’s Ombudsman has decided against an investigation into the province’s decision to end a program that helps offset to fund the horse racing industry.

André Marin received more than 350 complaints about the province’s announcement last March, which stemmed from recommendations in the Drummond Report that were used to help shape its 2012 budget.

The Ombudsman assigned a team of investigators to conduct an in-depth assessment of the complaints and issues, interviewing dozens of horse owners, trainers and many other people whose livelihoods were affected by the decision. They also interviewed senior officials in the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) and reviewed a large volume of documents relating to the decision.

“We recognize that the government’s decision has created an enormous level of uncertainty in the horse racing industry,” Marin says in a letter sent to all complainants. Nevertheless, he says, the government’s decision was a matter of “broad public policy” and is “not the type of decision that would normally be subject to scrutiny by the Ombudsman.”

“The Ombudsman does not substitute his views for the judgment of elected representatives, who are responsible for setting broad public policy. Under the Ombudsman Act, his investigations focus on government administration,” Marin said.

The Ombudsman’s review found the decision was made after the OLG’s own strategic business review, which included stakeholder consultation – and it was considered by a committee of the Legislature as part of the 2012 budget bill. Since then, the Ministry continues to deal with issues of transitional funding for racetracks and the OLG has negotiated to retain slots at some racetracks after the program ends at the end of this month. Premier Kathleen Wynne announced additional changes March 8.

The Office of the Ombudsman has conducted some 30 systemic investigations since 2005, sparking numerous government reforms, including an overhaul of OLG lottery security and its investigations of “insider” wins.

Marin’s full letter can be found here.

The OLG provides $337.5 million yearly to the horseracing industry and $110.6 million to host municipalities, according to its 2010-2011 annual report. That year, it gave $613,000 to the host Municipality of Central Huron, $1.2 million to Clinton Raceway, which owns the building that houses the Slots, and $1.2 million for the horse people’s purse account.

Huron-Bruce MPP Lisa Thompson has said the end of the slots at raceways programs demonstrates that “Toronto Liberals” don’t understand rural Ontario.

A three-year transitional deal for Clinton, Western Fair, Hanover and Grand River raceways announced by the province last week, was short on details, like how much money would be contributed to boost purse accounts for race winners and how many race dates each track will be allocated. It is expected details will be released once the province has negotiated agreements with all not-for-profit racetracks.

Cynthia Moyers, Huron-Perth Landowners Association. File photo

HEATHER BOA Bullet News CLINTON – A group of local ratepayers in Central Huron want more opportunity to speak during council meetings, the president of the Huron Perth Landowners Association told the municipal council recently.

Cynthia Moyer presented council with a number of suggestions for change to the municipality’s procedural bylaw that were crafted by a group of local ratepayers during a series of meetings.

“The beauty of municipal governments is that close connection with the community, close connection with the ratepayers,” said Moyer, urging council to engage its residents whenever possible.

Among the suggested changes: increase time allotted to delegations from five minutes to 15 minutes; allow delegations to be added to the agenda once ratepayers know what’s scheduled to be discussed; remove discretion of the clerk to approve a delegation’s request to speak; and move question period to the front of the agenda so ratepayers can have input before decisions are made.

She asked council to consider striking a committee with representation from council and the public to continue its review of the procedural bylaw.

“The community understands how important rules are and essentially the rules on how you govern yourselves and the meetings is kind of a covenant with them. They can expect that what you’re going to do at every meeting can be consistent. And consistency is as important to them as is accountability,” she said.

Coun. Burkhard Metzger thanked Moyer for the “respectful” tone of her presentation, referring to an incident during the Feb. 5 council meeting when he chastised a ratepayer who asked a litany of questions, some of which were unrelated to the evening’s agenda.

“Today proved to me that an efficient presentation, a respectful presentation that funneled everything the group had discussed through Cindy came to us and we had a respectful discourse and everything went fine. That’s how this input works. The reason why it fell off the rails was because it wasn’t all that respectful when it started,” he said.

Council deferred further discussion on the draft procedural bylaw until staff had time to review the changes, including numerous housekeeping changes, suggested by raterpayers and changes suggested by Ombudsman Ontario Andre Marin in his recent report on closed-door meetings in Central Huron. He recommended the municipality’s rules holding closed-door meeting be consistent with the Municipal Act.

The next version of the draft procedural bylaw is expected to be posted on the municipality’s website, with an opportunity for members of the public to make comment in writing or verbally at a future council meeting.

Jim Ginn

HEATHER BOA Bullet News EXETER – Jim Ginn never planned to be a steward of rural property.

But after nearly 30 years of farming a 320-acre parcel nestled between Hwy. 8 and the Maitland River west of Clinton, Ginn lives by a code of responsible planning and management of land resources. He received the Countryside Canada National Award 2004 and the Ministry of Natural Resource’s Glen Hodgin Memorial Award and has involvement and founding membership in a number of local stewardship initiatives.

“To understand me, you have to understand my farm,” said Ginn, who was guest speaker at the Maitland Valley Conservation Authority’s (MVCA) annual general meeting recently.

The farm that once operated as a dairy farm and now yields purebred Red Angus beef cattle has a coldwater stream running through it, an intermittent stream that dries up in the summer months, an acreage of tall grass prairie and forest at all ends.

“I’m very fortunate to own this property. It’s beautiful. It’s not the farmstead that’s beautiful. It’s the back of the farm, along the river,” he said, passing around a book of glossy landscape photographs compiled by his two children. “The camera caught what I see: The beauty of nature and the changing scenes. All the pictures are of my farm.”

The spring following the purchase of the farm in 1985, he walked into a hardware store to replace caged and barbed wire fencing with electric fencing at his creeks, only to learn from the clerk that he could get a 75 per cent grant for the cost of fencing to keep cattle out of the stream. He liked the idea of funding but voiced aloud his concern that the land was too rough and treed for fencing by the stream and he’d have to install it at the top of the bank. That was when the clerk suggested he plant trees.

Ginn’s immediate response was that he was unprepared to give up 25 acres of his 198 workable acres just one year after purchasing the farm. But by then he was working alone, having lost his father just six months after the farm sale. And then he read an article in the Rural Voice that struck a chord with him. It was about planting trees in order to leave a legacy for your children.

So in 1988, he planted 18,000 trees along the banks of the stream.

“That’s where it all started from,” Ginn said.

Since then, he has installed fencing at both streams, built five stream crossings, retired fragile and marginal lands, moved into conservation tillage, reintroduced 36 endangered species such as sweet chestnut (bringing his tree count to 20,000), improved fish and wildlife habitat, decommissioned an old well and built a runoff containment structure, which was dependent on grants because it would not otherwise pay for itself.

Ginn said the investment in structures on the farm 25 years ago calculated in current dollars would be about $250,000, much of which was funded by grants.

Then 22 years after the original tree planting, he realized the economic benefits of land stewardship. A pine tree snapped off at the top, leaving a dry log that Ginn decided to cut down. That very tree from his woodlot resulted in about $36-worth of lumber.

“Thirty-six dollars isn’t a whole lot. But remember: Over the years, I’d planted 20,000,” he said. “It’s the dollars that add up in these projects.”

Ginn said the rate of return on trees, based on about a half-inch growth on the trunk yearly in a well-managed woodlot, is about six per cent.

“It amazes me that people are ripping out woodlots to try to farm land. Most people who are investing today would be more than happy with a six-per-cent rate of return. And yet they’re ripping out trees to try to grow a crop. At that rate of return, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense,” he said.

He said woodlots also create diversification on the farm, and can be managed in the off-season.

MVCA Jason Breckenridge presents the 2013 Conservation Award to Bill Van Nes.

During the annual general meeting, one of the MVCA’s director’s, Jason Breckenridge, announced Bill and Cindy Van Nes as winners of the 2013 Conservation Award.

The owners of St. Brigid’s Dairy Ltd., a 260-cow organic dairy farm in Morris-Turnberry have been involved in numerous stewardship programs over the years, including the Healthy Futures Program and the Huron County Clean Water Project. Their efforts have resulted in fencing to protect nearly five kilometres of watercourses, tree plantings to create 1.5-km of wind breaks, a manure storage decommissioning, clean water diversion projects with eavestroughs, and two wellhead protection projects.

During the evening, Deb Shewfelt was acclaimed for another term as the MVCA’s chair and Art Versteeg was acclaimed as vice-chair.

New MVCA vice-chair Art Versteeg and returning chair Deb Shewfelt.

HURON COUNTY – A Central Huron woman lost $32,000 in a recent on-line dating scam, says Huron County OPP.

Officers are investigating what’s referred to as the romance or dating scam, after a woman made a report to police yesterday.

The woman reported she met a man through an online dating website, communicating with him online for five months and starting to develop feelings for him.  During this online relationship, the scammer sent her fake photos.  After gaining her trust, he then sent her further emails requesting she send him money because he was having custom difficulties while traveling overseas in Russia and China.  Through multiple transactions, the victim wired money to the fraudster.

The total value of money sent to the fraudster was $32,000.

The romance and dating scam is becoming increasingly more common.

Single or recently separated people are among the growing number of vulnerable population to be victimized through fraudulent means. This scam usually occurs through email, social media and singles dating websites.

The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) reports in 2012 there were 1,460 complaints of romance fraud, with 1,047 victims identified, resulting in losses exceeding $14.8 million.

Here are some tips to avoid being a victim of the romance and dating scam.

• Check website addresses carefully.  Scammers often set up fake websites with very similar addresses to legitimate dating websites.  Make sure you only use legitimate and reputable dating websites.
• Never send money or give credit card or online account details to anyone you do not know and trust.  A request to send money to a foreign country to a person you have never personally met should be a red flag.
• Be careful giving out personal information in an email or when you are chatting online.  Use the computer to your advantage.  Educate yourself, ask questions, and be skeptical.  Ask yourself, does this sound legitimate.  Is it normal for someone to declare their love in only a few letters or emails?

For information, contact the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at www.antifraudcentre.ca or 1-888-495-8501.  Alternatively, contact the Huron OPP Detachment at 1-888-310-1122 or (519) 524-1074.

HEATHER BOA Bullet News CENTRAL HURON – Central Huron council held two illegal closed-door meetings during 2012, the office of the Ontario Ombudsman has ruled after a six-month investigation triggered by a complaint.

Closed-door meetings held at the end of open council sessions on May 7 and July 22, 2012 contravened the allowable exceptions for the requirement that all municipal meetings be held in public. A third closed-door meeting was held for valid reasons, Andre Marin, the Ombudsman for Ontario, wrote in a 17-page report delivered electronically to Central Huron councillors on March 8. A couriered hard copy of the report arrived at town hall today, and its contents will be included in the council agenda for March 19.

In the report obtained by Bullet News, the Ombudsman outlined nine recommendations “which I hope will help council for the municipality of Central Huron meet its legal obligations with respect to closed meetings as well as generally improve its closed meeting practices.” His report comes after phone interviews with council members and staff, and review of relevant meeting minutes, bylaws and legislation.

Deputy Mayor Dave Jewitt, who chaired Central Huron’s committee of the whole meeting today, said he considers the report to be “constructive feedback” that council will need to consider.

“Council has an obligation to look at the recommendations where we see them and whether we should enact them. If they’re valid, and the concerns are met, them I think we would probably move forward with the recommendations,” he said.

Mayor Jim Ginn said, “I don’t particularly have any problem with any of his recommendations. How he got to those recommendations is a little different. But I don’t there’s any recommendations we can’t implement.”

Marin also pointed out that the municipality’s procedural bylaw that outlines the reason when council can hold closed door – or in camera – meetings is not in line with the province’s Municipal Act. Central Huron will consider the Ombudsman’s comments during its review of the procedural bylaw, which is currently under way.

At the May 7, 2012 council meeting, Coun. Brian Barnim asked his fellow councillors to add a closed-door session to the meeting in order to discuss what he said was a personal matter about an identifiable person. Council informally agreed to add the item to the agenda, although it did not take a vote to approve the addition, which is required by its procedural bylaw. According to the meeting minutes, it later went into closed session to discuss a personal matter about an identifiable person related to ERTH Corporation, a utility company in which the municipality is a shareholder.

Investigators from the Ombudsman’s office, who interviewed councillors and a few staff, found that two subjects ended up being discussed in closed session: a councillor designation to ERTH Corporation’s annual general meeting and a councillor’s concerns about the reporting style of a local journalist.

Discussion about the designation of a councillor to ERTH Corporation’s annual general meeting was cut short when staff advised that the subject didn’t fit into the closed meeting requirements. In open session, council voted to send Barnim to the ERTH Corporation’s annual general meeting.

The investigators found that a concern about a headline on a story in the local media did not involve personal matters and should not have been discussed in closed session. It also did not need to be dealt with immediately.

“Council should avoid adding items to the agenda at the last minute unless they are truly urgent and time sensitive so as to justify suspending the required notice procedures. When doing so, council should be careful to strictly follow the requirements of its own bylaw,” Marin said.

The Ombudsman’s office has oversight of provincial law, the Sunshine Law, requiring municipal councils to hold open meetings, with few exceptions. The office was established by the provincial government five years ago to create a new complaint process to help shed some light on the question of whether what’s happening behind closed doors is in keeping with the law. Prior to that, a citizen, councillor or member of the media concerned about the public being shut out of a meeting of a local government would have had to go to court to attempt to have his or her complaint heard.

On July 22, 2012 at the end of a committee of the whole meeting, Mayor Jim Ginn introduced a motion to go into closed session to ERTH Corporation. Personal matters as they relate to an identifiable individual, a proposed pending acquisition or disposition of land and advice that is subject to solicitor-client privilege were listed as the reasons for holding the discussion behind closed doors.

After investigation, the Ombudsman found three matters were discussion: a letter from a company the municipality had been in talks with over a solar energy project, a payroll error related to an employee, and a possible lease agreement.

The investigators found there was no specific legal advice for consideration by council. Instead, the topic was an update on a letter that had not been made available to the public. As such, it was not valid for discussion in closed session, the Ombudsman said.

The payroll error and lease agreement fit in with the requirements of a closed-door meeting.

On June 11, Barnim asked to add a closed session item to the agenda to discuss a personal matter. Council informally agreed. The subject of the closed session was not disclosed and no resolution was made in open session afterward.

The Ombudsman’s investigation found council discussion centered around concerns that an employee wasn’t being paid properly as a result of a payroll error and the matter needed to be resolved immediately. Since the employee’s salary as opposed to a salary range was being discussed, it was appropriate to be in closed session.

In closed session, council directed the chief administrative officer to follow up on the matter, without passing a more formal resolution. Marin said a formal resolution in the closed meeting should have been made to authorize the chief administrative officer to deal with the matter.

Here are the recommendations from the report (Read the full report here):

HEATHER BOA Bullet News CENTRAL HURON – Central Huron council held two illegal closed-door meetings during 2012, the office of the Ontario Ombudsman has ruled after a six-month investigation triggered by a complaint.

Closed-door meetings held at the end of open council sessions on May 7 and July 22, 2012 contravened the allowable exceptions for the requirement that all municipal meetings be held in public. A third closed-door meeting was held for valid reasons, Andre Marin, the Ombudsman for Ontario, wrote in a 17-page report delivered to Central Huron on March 8.

He outlined seven recommendations “which I hope will help council for the municipality of Central Huron meet its legal obligations with respect to closed meetings as well as generally improve its closed meeting practices.”

He also pointed out that the municipality’s procedural bylaw that outlines the reason when council can hold closed door – or in camera – meetings is not in line with the province’s Municipal Act.

At the May 7, 2012 council meeting, Coun. Brian Barnim asked his fellow councillors to add a closed-door session to the meeting in order to discuss what he said was a personal matter about an identifiable person. Council informally agreed to add the item to the agenda, although it did not take a vote to approve the addition, which is required by its procedural bylaw. According to the meeting minutes, it later went into closed session to discuss a personal matter about an identifiable person related to ERTH Corporation, a utility company in which the municipality is a shareholder.

Investigators from the Ombudsman’s office, who interviewed councillors and a few staff, found that two subjects ended up being discussed in closed session: a councillor designation to ERTH Corporation’s annual general meeting and a councillor’s concerns about the reporting style of a local journalist.

Discussion about the designation of a councillor to ERTH Corporation’s annual general meeting was cut short when staff advised that the subject didn’t fit into the closed meeting requirements. In open session, council voted to send Barnim to the ERTH Corporation’s annual general meeting.

The investigators found that a concern about a headline on a story in the local media did not involve personal matters and should not have been discussed in closed session. It also did not need to be dealt with immediately.

“Council should avoid adding items to the agenda at the last minute unless they are truly urgent and time sensitive so as to justify suspending the required notice procedures. When doing so, council should be careful to strictly follow the requirements of its own bylaw,” Marin said.

The Ombudsman’s office has oversight of provincial law, the Sunshine Law, requiring municipal councils to hold open meetings, with few exceptions. The office was established by the provincial government five years ago to create a new complaint process to help shed some light on the question of whether what’s happening behind closed doors is in keeping with the law. Prior to that, a citizen, councillor or member of the media concerned about the public being shut out of a meeting of a local government would have had to go to court to attempt to have his or her complaint heard.

On July 22, 2012 at the end of a committee of the whole meeting, Mayor Jim Ginn introduced a motion to go into closed session to ERTH Corporation. Personal matters as they relate to an identifiable individual, a proposed pending acquisition or disposition of land and advice that is subject to solicitor-client privilege were listed as the reasons for holding the discussion behind closed doors.

After investigation, the Ombudsman found three matters were discussion: a letter from a company the municipality had been in talks with over a solar energy project, a payroll error related to an employee, and a possible lease agreement.

The investigators found there was no specific legal advice for consideration by council. Instead, the topic was an update on a letter that had not been made available to the public. As such, it was not valid for discussion in closed session, the Ombudsman said.

The payroll error and lease agreement fit in with the requirements of a closed-door meeting.

On June 11, Barnim asked to add a closed session item to the agenda to discuss a personal matter. Council informally agreed. The subject of the closed session was not disclosed and no resolution was made in open session afterward.

The Ombudsman’s investigation found council discussion centered around concerns that an employee wasn’t being paid properly as a result of a payroll error and the matter needed to be resolved immediately. Since the employee’s salary as opposed to a salary range was being discussed, it was appropriate to be in closed session.

In closed session, council directed the chief administrative officer to follow up on the matter, without passing a more formal resolution. Marin said a formal resolution in the closed meeting should have been made to authorize the chief administrative officer to deal with the matter.

Recommendation 1

The Municipality of Central Huron should ensure that discussions that take place in closed session under an exception to the Municipal Act’s closed meeting requirements are limited to those matters that council is permitted to discuss in closed session under the exceptions in the Act.

Recommendation 2

Council for the Municipality of Central Huron should avoid adding agenda items at the last minute unless they are truly urgent. In cases where an item comes to council’s attention after the agenda is prepared, efforts should be made to amend the agenda prior to the meeting. When adding an item at the council meeting, the requirements of the procedure by-law should be followed.

Recommendation 3

When proceeding in camera, council for the Municipality of Central Huron should pass a resolution that provides a general description of the subject matter to be discussed.

Recommendation 4

When directing staff during an in camera session, council for the Municipality of Central Huron should pass a resolution that clearly states the direction being given.

Recommendation 5

The Municipality of Central Huron should audio and/or video record all in camera meetings and store such recordings in a confidential and secure fashion for future reference.

Recommendation 6

The council for the Municipality of Central Huron should follow a practice of reporting back publicly after a closed meeting, in at least a general way, on all matters considered in camera.

Recommendation 7

The Municipality of Central Huron should amend Section 10 of its procedure by-law so that the wording of the exceptions to the open meeting requirements is in keeping with the language of s. 239 of the Municipal Act.

Recommendation 8

The Municipality of Central Huron should revise its procedural by-law to formalize its practice of providing notice to the public of meetings by posting the agenda on its website the Friday prior to the meeting. It should also ensure that the by-law provides for notice to the public of all meetings, including special meetings.

Recommendation 9

All members of council for the Municipality of Central Huron should be vigilant in adhering to their individual and collective obligation to ensure that council complies with its responsibilities under the Act and its own procedure by-law.

File photo courtesy of Clinton Raceway.

HEATHER BOA Bullet News CLINTON – Summer standardbred horse racing at Clinton Raceway will continue after a tentative three-year transitional funding agreement was reached with the provincial government today.

However, Premier Kathleen Wynne’s announcement of transitional funding to Western Fair, Clinton, Hanover and Grand River racetracks was short on details, like how much money would be contributed to boost purse accounts for race winners and how many race dates each track will be allocated. It is expected details will be released once the province has negotiated agreements with all not-for-profit racetracks.

“We’re further ahead then we were a week ago, that’s for sure,” Ian Fleming, manager of Clinton Raceway, said. The racetrack has applied for 20 race dates this summer, which is one more than last year.

“They’re still discussing what the purses sizes will be but they say they’ll be competitive so you take them at their word that it should be good,” he said, after attending a press conference at Grand River Raceway in Elora, where Premier Kathleen Wynne made the announcement.

“We have maintained as a government that we want to have a sustainable horse racing industry,” Wynne said. “We’re working to ensure the dates for the 2013 racing season will be in place and provide long-term stability to the industry.”

To watch video of the press conference, visit online.

Woodbine Entertainment Group, the province’s largest horse racing provider and operator of Woodbine and Mohawk racetracks, signed an agreement on Jan. 23, 2013.

Following recommendations from the Horse Racing Industry Transitional Panel (HROTP), the agreements will also integrate horse racing with the provincial gaming strategy to ensure future revenue streams for the industry.

HROTP, made up of former cabinet ministers Elmer Buchanan, John Snobelen and John Wilkinson, released its final report on Oct. 23, 2012. Up to $30 million will be available for the Horse Improvement Program in 2013. HROTP, the Ontario Racing Commission and members of the province’s breeding industry are discussing the allocation of these funds.

“There is a full range of jobs that is supported by this industry and I understand that,” Wynne said.

The Clinton Raceway is still waiting for a lease agreement in principle to be finalized with the Ontario Lottery Corporation (OLG) for the Beech Street site in Clinton. OLG had expected to finalize the agreement by Feb. 28.

The provincial government will end the province-wide Slots at Racetracks program March 31, 2013.

File photo courtesy of Clinton Raceway.

HEATHER BOA Bullet News CLINTON – The manager of Clinton Raceway expects to hear good news when Premier Kathleen Wynne makes an announcement on the future of horse racing in the province today.

“I’m hoping they’re going to announce there will be racing at all the not-for-profits this summer,” Ian Fleming said, in an interview this morning.

He tried to wrangle some indication of where the future lies when he got a call from the Horse Racing Industry Transition Panel member John Wilkinson to say he should be at the meeting at Grand River Raceway in Elora to hear the announcement scheduled for noon today. However, he said Wilkinson was “tight-lipped.”

He anticipated the meeting would give the green light to  a 20-race season in 2013.

In order to receive transition funding, racetracks will have to meet accountability and transparency requirements.

The raceway is still waiting for a lease agreement in principle to be finalized with the Ontario Lottery Corporation (OLG) for the Beech Street site in Clinton. OLG had expected to finalize the agreement by Feb. 28.

The provincial government will end the province-wide Slots at Racetrack program March 31, 2013.

Burkhard Metzger, who is the new director representing the Municipality of Central Huron, Dave Frayne, who is the returning chairman representing the Municipality of South Huron and Perth South; and Mike Tam, new vice-chair representing the Municipality of West Perth took part in the Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority’s annual general meeting recent.

The board of directors of Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority (ABCA) re-elected Dave Frayne as chair at the Feb. 21 annual meeting and the board elected Mike Tam as vice-chair. Frayne, a councillor with the Municipality of South Huron, represents South Huron and Perth South on the board of the local conservation organization. Tam is a councillor with the Municipality of West Perth and represents that municipality on the board.

The conservation authority also welcomed Burkhard Metzger to the board as the new representative for the Municipality of Central Huron.

Ausable Bayfield Conservation works closely with landowners and residents in the watershed to protect soil, water, and living things by creating awareness and taking positive action together. The local agency is unveiling the new Watershed Report Card, which is released every five years, at the annual Conservation Awards evening on Thursday, March 21. For more information, phone the office at 519-235-2610 or toll-free 1-888-286-2610 or visit abca.on.ca for information.

The Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority is an independent, corporate body established under Ontario’s Conservation Authorities Act. Local municipalities identified the need for such an organization in 1946 to deal with serious problems of flooding, soil erosion, water supply, and water quality. Twelve member municipalities appoint the members of the local board of directors that governs ABCA.

This local conservation agency is the first of 36 conservation authorities formed across Ontario. Ausable Bayfield Conservation’s area encompasses the drainage basins of the Ausable River, Bayfield River, Parkhill Creek, and the gullies that drain directly to Lake Huron, from an area north of Bayfield to an area south of Grand Bend. The 2,440-square-kilometre area of jurisdiction is largely rural with a population of about 45,000. A group of 34 community members met over a 12-month period to create a Conservation Strategy to guide the organization and blaze the trail for a mission and vision for the work in the watershed. Its mission is to protect, improve, conserve, and restore the watershed in partnership with the community and its vision is for healthy watersheds where our needs and the needs of the natural environment are in balance.