Daily Archives: March 11, 2010

From Alliana Kane, Acting Events Manager, Port Colborne Economic and Tourism Development Corp.

Festivals and Events Ontario has once again recognized Port Colborne’s Canal Days Marine Heritage Festival as one of Ontario’s finest by naming the event to the list of Ontario’s Top 100 festivals.

Port Colborne's Canal Days 2009 looking down the Welland Canal along a crowded West Street. File photo by Doug Draper.

The Top 100 is a designation created by Festivals & Events Ontario, and sponsored by VIA Rail Canada, which represents excellence for the province’s festivals and events industry. Winners were selected through a nomination process that included a predetermined set of criteria; Canal Days edged out over 3000 other festivals in Ontario, to obtain Top 100 status.

Festivals & Events Ontario is a professional association for the festivals and events industry in Ontario providing a network for festival and special event organizers to share information and resources. The association is involved with collaborative advocacy, policy development, marketing and the provision of educational opportunities for members.

“I am extremely proud that Festivals &  Events Ontario has recognized Port Colborne’s signature event, Canal Days,” Port Colborne Mayor Vance Badawey said.

Continue reading →

The City of Welland and Brock University signed a memorandum of understanding this March 10 that provides a foundation for the city and Niagara-based university to work together on future projects.

Onlookers applaud after Welland Mayor Damian Goulbourne and Brock University President Jack Livingstone sign 'memorandum of understanding' to work cooperatively on future projects. Photo courtesy of Brock University

“In signing the document … at Welland City Hall,” according to a media release circulated  by the university, “Brock President Jack Lightstone and Welland Mayor Damian Goulbourne also announced the partnership’s first initiative and a significant step forward.
“The University is agreeing in principle to a long term-lease of space to locate the Brock University Human Performance Centre in the Welland International Flatwater Centre. The Brock Centre will operate non-academic, revenue-generating activities that support the work of Brock’s Faculty of Applied Health Sciences. Continue reading →

By Dianne Giliforte

Get ready Niagara Falls!! Coming soon to your community – NOISE and POLLUTION.

Dick Juloksy owns a farm for race horses near the site for the proposed NASCAR speedway and is opposed to the plan. Photo courtesy of CARS

An application to establish a Motorsports Park at the intersection of Sodom Road and the QEW has been submitted to the Region. If this is not what you envisioned when you moved to your quiet rural abode or the quaint community of Chippawa, then start making your own noise now and make it loud and clear, since some politicians are hard of hearing.

Take a look at the travesty in Fort Erie and be afraid, be very afraid. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

The Niagara-based Preservation of Agricultural Lands, one of the oldest citizens groups dedicated to conservation in the province, has launched an appeal before the Ontario Municipal Board of a plan to build a NASCAR speedway facility on rural lands in Fort Erie.

PALS is concerned that decisions by the Town of Fort Erie and Niagara’s regional government that allow such a massive facility on more than 800 acres of agricultural lands outside the town’s urban boundaries literally paves the way for the loss of more of what remains of our rural lands to this kind of development.

Fort Erie’s town council sees the proposal by a consortium called Canadian Motor Speedway as a great economic and tourist opportunity for the municipality, drawing tens-of-thousands of racing fans to the region each and every time races are held. But not everyone in the town embraces the idea – at least not for lands outside Fort Erie’s urban boundaries. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

“There is only one word to describe our health system and it is chaos,” said Pat Scholfield of Port Colborne toward the beginning of a public hearing the Ontario Health Coalition held this March 9 in Welland, Ontario on the state of services in smaller hospitals across the province.

This sign loomed at public hearings over hospitals, though no Welland city councillors made a presentation at the hearings.

More than 250 people from across the Niagara region attended these bipartisan hearings – a series of which is taking place across the province – to address concerns people have over the loss of services at smaller and rural hospitals in Ontario.

The Niagara hearing featured presentations by more than two dozen individuals and groups, including two mayors (Vance Badeway of Port Colborne and Doug Martin of Fort Erie), the president of the Canadian Auto Workers’ Local 199, Wayne Gates, doctors, nurses, paramedics and others

Almost to a person, those who spoke at these hearings expressed concern for diminishing services at the hands of government bodies unresponsive to them. Some, including Badeway, also spoke of building new health system for their communities despite what is being lost through the province’s status quo. Continue reading →

By John Kennedy, grandfather of the late Reilly Anzovino, on behalf of his wife Phyllis, daughter Denise and the rest of Reilly’s family and friends

To Whom It May Concern … And it won’t be (Ontario’s premier) Dalton McGuinty or (the province’s health minister) Deb Matthews that’s for sure.

Reilly's grandfather, John Kennedy, her aunt Marnie Kennedy, mother Denise Kennedy and her brother Kain look on as Sue Salzer reads a message from the family to a public hearing in Niagara on our diminishing hospital services. Photo by Doug Draper.

First of all, thank you to everyone that is working passionately at getting our Fort Erie hospital or what they call “small town facilities” secured. Please forgive me if I sound a little bitter but I woke up this morning again…. a grieving grandfather who has lost his beautiful, sparkling granddaughter Reilly! My granddaughter, who I hugged not knowingly (for) the last time on Christmas Eve.

We all watched Reilly in amazement like we always did, tell us about school and her future plans….. and how happy she was to see her friends and family for Christmas Break. (It was) a visit that was cut short because, and I will try to be nice… of maybe, the McGuinty government’s negligent thinking and paying out millions to restructure our small town health care. … 40,000 people (in Fort Erie when, during the summer, the Buffalo area and other U.S. summer cottagers come in) is apparently considered a small town now?? Continue reading →

By Hillary Beney and Nikki Caperchiono

(Two close friends of Reilly Anzovino, a Fort Erie, Ontario teen who died following a tragic traffic accident in her hometown this past Boxing Day, could barely contain their tears as they asked tearful listeners at a public hearting in Welland this March 9 if Reilly might still be alive today had the province not shut down the emergency rooms in Fort Erie and Port Colborne.)Reilly was not only an amazing daughter and sister, but also the best friend anyone could have asked for.

Denise Kennedy, mother of Reilly looks on as two of Reilly's close friends hold back tears after delivering a message during a public hearing on hospital services in Niagara, as Sue Salzer, a Fort Erie advocate for hospital services in south Niagara looks on.

When she walked into a room, her angelic smile and beauty took over. She was artistic, beautiful, funny, clumsy, smart, passionate and outgoing.

She was the best prom date (anyone) could have asked for. She brought laughter into the lives of everyone she knew. We have all felt as though Reilly had a greater purpose in life, this may just be it.

On December 26th, Reilly passed away in a tragic car accident. Each and every one of us can remember the exact moment when we received the news and the overwhelming rush of heartbreak and disbelief.

What happened that night forever changed our lives and our outlook on this community? We believe that this irrational decision to close down emergency rooms within the area played a big role in the death of Reilly.

The closure of the emergency rooms forced the ambulance to travel a greater distance and ultimately cost Reilly valuable time. In those critical moments we lost the girl who would buy you lunch, when you ran out of money, lend you her clothes if you had nothing to wear and run to your house, in a heartbeat when you needed her just because you had a bad day. Continue reading →

By Linda McKellar

(from a presentation Linda McKeller delivered during public hearings hosted this March 9 by the Ontario Health Coalition in Welland Ontario, as part of a series the not-for-profit, province-wide coalition is holding in regions across Ontario on concerns over service cuts to our hospitals.)

I have been asked to give a presentation representing the point of view of a group who have been reluctant to speak out due to fear of repercussions – the front line nurses.

Retired Niagara nurse Linda McKellar testifies at public hearing about diminishing hospital services in Niagara. Photo courtesy of Donna Frankson.

By way of introduction, I was a nurse for 40 years, the last 25 in Welland ER (emergency room), so I feel I can speak accurately about the conditions.

Conditions in the entire hospital have gotten progressively worse. The staff attitude has become one of despair and frustration and public opinion of services has gone down the toilet. This started with cutbacks and closures under the Conservatives and now continues under the Liberals. Care has suffered horribly.

These initiatives didn’t work then and they won’t work now. Continue reading →

(From an address Dr. William Hogg presented to public hearings hosted this March 9 by the Ontario Health Coalition in Welland Ontario, as part of a series tof public hearings he not-for-profit, province-wide coalition is holding in regions across Ontario on concerns over service cuts to our hospitals.)

By William Hogg, MD

Hello everyone.

Dr. William Hogg, a retired Fort Erie physician, speaks on concerns over cuts to Niagara's hospital services at public hearings in Welland, Ontario.

I’m a retired doctor who has done acute emergency work – and taught it on both sides of the border.

Today I’ll try to translate a tiny part of the grievous loss of Ms Reilly Anzovino into a plea and rationale for local Medicare repair. In June of last year, concerned about the Niagara Health System’s depredations, I sent a series of short notes to NHS – warning of deaths to come. SURELY to come – should the small town Emergency Departments in our region’s southern tier be shut down?

NHS did not acknowledge my early warnings. It did not care enough to act humanely for any of the critically injured or sick people in our area. | NHS just ploughed ahead unwisely. Both emergency rooms WERE closed. And deaths HAVE happened – unwarranted and wrongful deaths! Now – the kinds of deaths I predicted and warned of happen during so-called ‘TIME-critical’ emergencies.

They can come on in a split second. They can happen anywhere. At home. On a country road. In ambulances. If a ‘far away’ hospital IS reached, disability or death may still occur – even there. Continue reading →