A Foreword by Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper
The following post comes from Niagara, Ontario’s regional government, which has a continued history of supporting sprawling, low-density residential development, mega-malls and strip malls along four-to-six-lane highways while, at the same time, trying to pass itself off as a smart, sustainable growth supporter.
Niagara, Ontario’s regional headquarters
And what does that have to do with promoting less car-free, carbon-reducing development that helps with climate change?
This is a regional government, that unlike ones in other regions of Ontario like Kitchener-Waterloo, can’t even get its bloody 21st century act together on a 21st century regional transit system because it is afraid that a couple of local municipalities that could not give a shit about the future of this region want to keep serfs tied to their own transit services. ‘Oh’, say most of the cowards on this Niagara regional council, ‘ we can’t talk about developing a truly regional transit system for Niagara because idiots on the council, who are against any form of amalgamating more services, will say no’ because they fear that their little fiefdoms might be next to be amalgamated.’
So as this regional government gets ready to celebrate the opening of a new mega-hospital for Niagara, in west St. Catharines, in the wrong location – health-care wise and smart growth/transportation wise – and continues to say no to any kind of change in governance that would make for better public transit and an arrest to further sprawling growth, this same regional government suggests it has climate change plans.
Really?
You can check out there media release on this below.
NIAGARA REGION, Feb. 12, 2013 – Niagara Regional Council endorsed the Community and Corporate Climate Action Plans on Feb. 7, which include greenhouse gas emission reduction targets and actions to meet the targets. These action plans will now be submitted for recognition of milestones two (target setting) and three (action planning), under the Partners for Climate Protection Program (PCP) through the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.
“Environmental stewardship has been, and will continue to be, an important part of Regional Council’s Business Plan priorities,” said Regional Chair Gary Burroughs. “The Region has taken a leadership role around climate change planning in Niagara, but the key to bringing any of those plans to life is our partnerships with our community, so I encourage residents to learn about and get involved in the Community Climate Action Plan.”
The Community Plan was developed by the residents through public engagement sessions, and will be implemented by action teams consisting of various community members and organizations. It focuses on reducing emissions by six per cent by 2016 and 10-15 per cent by 2030, from the 2006 baseline. The Region’s Corporate Plan, on the other hand, focuses on maintaining corporate emission levels at the 2006 baseline level by 2016 and a 10-15 per cent reduction by 2030.
“The Region has identified itself to be the green energy capital of Canada. I think this Action Plan is an opportunity to put words into action,” said Councillor David Barrick, Regional Council’s representative to the PCP program. “We need to start dealing with, and taking action on, climate-related issues now and this action plan will help us do that. I think the Region should take pride in their green efforts.”
The Region will continue to support the Community Climate Action Plan while it works towards the final stages of the Climate Protection Program, which include implementation and reporting.
The public is encouraged to visit http://www.niagararegion.ca to view the action plans and take an active role in working together to address climate change. Residents interested in getting involved in implementing the Community Climate Action Plan, can contact erin.britnell@niagararegion.ca.
(Niagara At Large invites all those who care to share their first and last names with their views to share them below.)
Niagara At Large 
Doug, well said, you expressed my feelings exactly, for too long we the people have been saddled with politicians that have a mind set of the nineteenth century, Luddites for want of a better word that is why nothing after 40 years has gotten done, transit of people around Niagara is not on their radar,where are the real leader’s? there isn’t any, they are a bunch of seat warmers and think they deserve their stipend from the tax payers . They are a bloody disgrace, where is Oliver Cromwell when we need him? I also would give the buggers the boot , and a dose of tar and feathers.
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I guess you guys missed the less than stellar results from the regional transit pilot? While I get the point that this region is backwards in many respects, regional transit is not something the masses want (hence the empty buses) and not something the taxpayers want to pay for (because of the empty buses). If you guys have a way to fund this without going into the pockets of people who can not use this system or who will not benefit from it directly, I am all ears.
My biggest concern is how badly these nuckleheads will screw up other opportunities contained within this initiative and how we the taxpayer will end up on the hook for the bill.
Just sayin…..
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Greg, people in Niagara are not genetically different than anywhere else. if the transit system were amalgamated, coordinated regionally and delivered throughout the region and convenient/reliable, people will use it. The pilot project has grown significantly because whenever I use it at random times during the day and different days of the week, I have noted at least a dozen and many times more people on the buses with me. They tend to come from the shopping malls, although a few come in from the terminals. The difficulty right now is how the timing of the regional buses works with the timing of the arrival of other buses, and this is what I think they need to work on as well, as finding out from other communities in Niagara what they might want out of a regional transit service. That’s the purpose of the pilot.
And by the way, many taxpayers are paying for roads, parking lots, air pollution, accident clean up, and subsidizing the auto industry through direct grants to car makers that cannot drive or perhaps prefer not to drive. If drivers had to pay the full cost of their choice in transportation, there would be far less drivers on the roads. Perhaps I am also tired of paying for groceries and other consumer products from stores and malls that provide “free” parking to motorists, but I don’t recall any of these same malls offering to cover part of my bus or taxi fares. Your employer probably also pays for a “free” parking spot for you at work and pays you mileage if you have to go off somewhere while on the job, while coworkers that do not drive or get driven by somebody else to work do not get cross subsidized in a similar way. I think drivers had it far too cheap for far too long.
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Angela, consider gas taxes alone and how they are distributed to initiatives that are not transportation related at all. Unless of course you think, and do the math, that 40 cents + a litre is not enough. Plus the consumption tax on service and vehicle purchase. What about the jobs? Re: environmental/carbon emissions, that’s the result of political weakness resulting in the weak deployment of low emission vehicles.
What irks me? We have the mayor of Port Colborne suggesting that people should be able to bus to work in Niagara falls if they live in Port Colborne. If that is the mentality no wonder things are as screwed up as they are. He should be suggesting that people that work in Niagara Falls should live in Niagara Falls.
The buses are empty and why? Because the need does not exist. The region couldn’t give away free rides!!! Why it won’t work fiscally? Unlike Oakville/Mississauga there are large geographical distances between municipalities in Greater Niagara. The costs outstrip the benefits. Here in Niagara, if you want to travel from one region to the other, people should be taking Coach Canada or the Megabus. They are privately run, are self-supporting and do not depend on government resources. We have enough public service union employees feeding at the trough without adding more bus drivers to the equation. Let the private sector deal with this apparent need that you speak of. If it exists, they will fill the need. They may not be as convenient as you think they should be, but then I suspect nothing ever will be.
As a note of fact, municipal buses are subsidized through commercial property taxes as well as property taxes. Parking is a factor in that calculation.
Ask yourself this as a member of this society. Have you contributed more in taxes than you have consumed in government services all things considered? I am going to go out on a limb here. I get the sense that you are what I call a NET TAX CONSUMER. As a NET TAX CONTRIBUTOR, I find it incredible that people who pay less in taxes than they consume in services can come up with all these airy fairy ideas on how to spend public resources on initiatives that do not make fiscal sense. Ever wonder why we as a nation across all levels of government are in a fiscal mess. It’s because people demand more from government than they contribute. (of course incompetence of our politicians is also a major factor)
So yes Angela, if you are a NET TAX CONSUMER, your bus ride is being paid for largely by business and those of us who are NET TAX CONTRIBUTORS. I hope you appreciate and enjoy the ride.
Just sayin……
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The Stevensville area has 3,000 residents and many of their children are enrolled at Brock, the Region’s bus would not take a detour off the cloverleaf on Netherby Road to pick up any students at the Black Creek Community Centre, a two minute detour it is right by the QEW. our Transit system is designed to fail, that’s what they want.We don’t have the Fort Erie bus stopping here. failure is the result, that Region want’s. The Region expects our kids to go ten miles to Fort Erie Walmart to get on the bus, insane.
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Well, okay Greg, I still think your thinking is pretty skewed, as people who drive are indeed subsidized at a rate of five times that of those that use transit from the public purse. See Littman, various studies of Manitoba Centre for Sustainability, Pembina Institute, etc. I am, sorry. i do not use YOUR highways, YOUR free parking spots in malls, YOUR parking garages, YOUR roads, etc. but I pay for them when I have to pay MORE for my groceries, etc. because YOUR free parking is more important than giving people reasonably priced goods and services … I am sure that the taxi company I have to pay to go almost anywhere in this region where transit doesn’t go pays more than its share for these things, while charging me on average about ten times the cost on a per kilometer basis to go anywhere than what it costs to drive in the same place.
As for implying I am a tax consumer, what do you know about me? I think you make a lot of inferences. I think you are a tax consumer too. I am sure you get free medical treatment, drive on our roads at no direct cost to you, went to public school at no direct cost to you, had the benefit of police or fire services available to you in the event of an emergency at no direct cost to you, and if you went to post secondary, your education while it did cost something to you, the majority of it is still paid for by the taxpayer, like it or not. If you want to say you make it on your own, then pay out of pocket every time you go to a doctor, use the roads, expect the city to plow you out on your street after a snowfall, etc. If you have a small business, chances are you take advantage of many deductions and loopholes not available to the general working public, such as fifty percent of business meals, mileage, some of your training, etc. By not paying taxes on your income there, OTHERS are picking up the tab, so don’t come back to me with your attitude about how you pay so much taxes. Maybe you can be like some of my neighbours that pay very little taxes (other than their consumption taxes and property taxes) but get less than $20,000 a year to support their families in a minimum wage job. If you are making good money, you are indeed making it off the benefit of others, regardless.
I am also one that suffers from COPD as a result of car emissions alone (which adds to the health care system), because of the heavy traffic congestion in this town. I never smoked or lived with smokers nor did I work in chemically exposed environments, so this is all from cars and to a lesser extent industry. In a Pembina Institute study of 27 communities across Ontario, Niagara ranked the worst in air quality, pays the most for roads per capita and the least per capita on transit. I think if you looked at K-W which has a comparable geographic challenge, their community leaders have saw it fit to put light rail in place as well as bus rapid transit within communities to allow people to get places without having to own and maintain a car. As I stated before in this column, about thirty percent of Niagara residents are non drivers (among those who are old enough to drive). So, are you suggesting they continue to be denied the good jobs because they don’t drive (or can’t as it seems with many people I bump into)?
As for the so called lack of use of the regional transit, I doubt you ever took any of these buses or rode any of them. If you want to know how many people use them,,I can tell you. I take them three to four times a week and on average there are about 12 – 15 others on the bus with me. Most of them get on at the Pen Centre or Seaway Mall or around Brock, but it is being used … and the numbers will continue to grow. The more people promote the inefficient movement of both goods and people in Niagara by assuming that EVERYBODY drives and MUST drive in order to even feel they belong in this community, the more uneducated and unknowledgeable I will view them. People like you are simply not in step with the twentieth century, let alone the twenty first. You say you run a business. I bet you don’t even hire non drivers and you subsidize those that work for you by paying for parking spots for them at your business, covering mileage and parking and so forth, and if you happen to have somebody that doesn’t drive or buses it into work or even uses a bike, my bet is that you do not confer the same financial benefits on them.
Finally,you need to consider that anytime even YOU can be suspended from driving for any myriad of medical conditions that can prevent you from being able to drive either on a temporary or longer term basis, and in that case, you need to consider how YOU will get around.and believe me, you will swallow your words above … I know several people who recently lost their licenses due to medical concerns, visual problems and such, and who regret their earlier opposition to having a good transit system.
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Angela, I am not a NET TAX CONSUMER, considering that my taxes, not including consumption taxes, exceeds more than I consume in all levels of government services by a number of degrees. So my health care, if that’s what you want to call it, police services if that’s what you want to call it and all of those other things you referred to are indeed not free to me at least. I pay for everything and cover off the subsidization of those services to those who don’t. The fact that you refer to the reception of these services as being free is somewhat disturbing and consistent with the point I was making. Add to this the fact that I do not make demands on society or the government to supply me with services and benefits. Correction, yes you will hear me comment on why it takes over a year to complete some heath related tests here in Ontario that would take a week to complete in the US.
Regarding the subsidization of drivers and cars, there are alternatively many studies that have proven that if the government used gas taxes exclusively for road related infrastructure there would be huge surpluses. What does that tell you? Tells me that as a driver the taxes I am paying on fuel is supporting other non-vehicle related services.
Angela, how do your goods get to the stores if there were no roads? How would emergency services work without roads? The list goes on….. Ask yourself this…. how much cheaper are the goods in stores located in municapilities or areas where parking is not provided for free. We’ve all seen them….. the parking meter. I would argue that there is no different so your analysis is flawed in my opinion.
I’ve seen the buses driving around empty. Everyone has. Everyone is talking/laughing (half-heartedly) about that. The riderership stats published by the region support that. Hard to argue about that!
I regret that you and those like you are not able to drive. If I found myself in that situation, I would ELECT to work and shop very close to where I live. Not depend on the government and NET TAX CONTRIBUTORS to ship me around wherever I would like to go. Only to hear them complain about the inconvenience.
Re: clean air – well there are a lot of causes for that some of which are not vehicle related. With respect to the vehicle related causes, I think we can agree that the government has bowed to big oil and delayed the development and introduction of low/no-emission vehicles. We all know they exist.
Again, consider the jobs, HST on insurance, vehicles and vehicle re-sales, services. Do you have any idea what would happen if that evaporated? The services you enjoy would be further eroded.
The only time a regional transit system works is when it is required. It is only largely required when a given municipality requires acess to a workforce and is unable to accomodate said workforce locally. That is not the case here in Niagara. It should NOT be designed to take people shopping from region to the other or to a job that they could otherwise live closer to. I work too hard to pay the taxes I pay to afford that type of luxury. The KW scenario you referred to is different from us in the Niagara Region in that regard. They needed access to a workforce.
George, it is regretful that the transit doesn’t make the stop you referred to, but ask yourself this. How many other people experience the same? What’s this service to do, make X number of stops all along the way? Like a school bus perhaps, where I have literally witnessed them stopping every few houses! Travelling the 10 miles you referred to is a small price to pay for a quicker overall ride all things considered in my opinion.
Just sayin…..
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The one stop I am talking about is right on the Fort Erie /Niagara Falls border and is a good ten miles from Wal- Mart we are not asking for door to door service here, also 800 senior citizens live in the Black Creek leisure park, after paying a life time of taxes for,your schooling and bus transportation you are an ungrateful brat.I am alright attitude !! does not cut it.
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Well George, reducing this conversation to name calling I guess is your option. However, I am a little old to be called a brat and have paid a lifetime of taxes as well which have exceeded by a two-digit factor everything all levels of government have done for me since my birth. Of course that doesn’t include the taxes my parents paid before me as well. So no Mr. Jardine, I am and have not been a burden on our society and a benefactor of the taxes you paid.
Back to the issue, no one told you or anyone for that matter to move out into the middle of nowhere, which Stevensville qualifies as. Perhaps Port Colborne or Welland or Niagara Falls would have been a better selection given their proximity to services, entertainment, schools and municipal public transportation. I know many people that consider these types of things when selecting a place to live.
Again, my point is; how many people all along the route can say the same thing you are saying? Before long a 45 miinute trip is going to turn into a 4.5 hour trip. I did not intend you to take my statement (door-to-door) literally. However, there are likely 10 stops similar to yours that can be made to accomodate other people like yourself along the way. Then the complaint would be how inconvenient the trip is because it takes toooooo long!
A 10 mile drive is a small price to pay for faster OVERALL trip times for ALL users of any system that is put in place. The 10 mile trip can be considered taking ownership for ones decision to live in that remote area. And that’s what I am talking about!
Just sayin…..
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