Niagara At Large

A Brief Comment by Doug Draper

I almost bought one of those “Disco Sucks” t-shirts back in the 1970s, But not quite.

Those shirts had become a cliché so quickly during the hyper buck-making market that consumed the counter culture” of the 1960s (if there ever was such a thing as a counter culture of the sixties) that it was looking like the ‘Disco Sucks’ crowd was just as interested in cashing in as the people who were making the Disco music they claimed to despise so much. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

Jeffrey McGuire – you might just as well get used to that name – is going to be this Niagara, Ontario region’s new chief of police.

That is the word being pushed out this May 16 from the region’s mainstream media with not much more than two-thumbs up from Thorold, Ontario regional councillor and NRP police board chair Henry D’Angela saying the board “is delighted” McGuire accepted the position.

John Pruyn, a Thorold, Ontario amputee, former Revenue Canada employee and hobby farmer, is dragged away by police during the G20 summit in June of 2010 for sitting under a tree on the grounds of Queen’s Park, and detained for more than 24 hours in a makeshift cage. McGuire made no apologies for the actions of police but neither he or anyone else in policing authority apologized to John Pruyn after dragging him off and caging him with no charges laid and no explanation.

“The board is particularly impressed with chief-designate McGuire’s combination of strong operaiont and investigative experience, coupled with his outstanding trak record in working with diverse communities, and his skills in conflict resolution,” added D’Angela who has absolutely no background in policing.

On the subject of “conflict resolution,” McQuire  was among the first mouthpieces for the Toronto police two years ago this June who was quick to support the policing conduct during the G20 Summit proceedings in that city. Later, everyone from the civil liberty lawyers to Ontario’s ombudsman Andre Marin characterized many of police actions as an assault on democratic rights in this country.  Continue reading →

NAL transit jenn,

One Of Niagara At Large’s Great Friends Is Urging You To Meet The Commuter Challenge

A Short Foreword by Niagara At Large Publisher Doug Draper

Let me just say this before I leave it to a young and enthusiastic fellow Niagara resident and public transit supporter Jennifer Sinclair to say the rest.

Click on this image to draw it up to full screen for your view.

The following is about all of us getting out of our cars, if we can, and find some other way of getting back and forth to work, and so on. If we can’t do that, then  maybe we ought to examine why. Do we live in a sprawled out, low-density neighbourhood away from the cores of our towns or cities, or what?

Those of us who do live in those lower density, way-out-of-the core subdivisions may not regret the decision to live there. But at the same time, we have no real right to complain about the higher costs of gasoline and car/truck insurance.  If that’s our lifestyle, then we have little or no right to complain. Continue reading →

From Port Colborne Mayor Vance Badawey

There has been a great deal of attention given to providing equitable access to health care in South Niagara with an intention to enhance overall regional health care within the Niagara region.

Port Colborne, Ontario Mayor Vance Badawey

As mentioned at our last meeting of Council, collaboration is critical!!

Moving forward, our entire team is focused on delivering equitable access to health care and ensuring it is done in an efficient manner. We look forward to working in collaboration with representation from all South Niagara municipalities, most importantly, physician representation from those communities.

We have a desire to develop a critical and acute care pathway that is based on best practices and builds on the work we have already completed here in the City of Port Colborne.

We absolutely must develop an appropriate and equitable critical care pathway that meets best practice standards, STEMI protocols, and attracts physicians that will want to practice in Niagara. Continue reading →

(Niagara At Large is posting the following note from the Ottawa-based citizens group the Council of Canadians, spirited on by its dedicated director Maude Barlow, about the City of Niagara Falls, Ontario and its efforts to protect and preserve our precious water resources.)

Jeff Guarasci, the community development coordinator with the City of Niagara Falls, has written us to let us know that the municipality “has adopted the Blue Community initiative”.

Niagara Falls, Ontario council deserves some credit for caring here.

Niagara Falls is a city of more than 80,000 people located in the Golden Horseshoe Region of Southern Ontario.

To become a blue community, a municipality must:
-respect water as a human right,
-stop the sale of bottled water on city property,
-commit to keep drinking water and waste water treatment and distribution publicly owned and operated. Continue reading →

From the Constituency Office of Welland MPP Cindy Forster

Cindy Forster wants your thoughts on the future of hospitals in Welland and Port Colborne. The MPP for Welland expects constituents to have their say at two upcoming public meetings.

Welland Riding MPP Cindy Forster holding town halls for public on proposed hospital service changes for Nagara, Ontario

“We’ve been hearing a lot from the government-appointed Niagara Health System supervisor,” Forster said of Dr. Kevin Smith’s proposal to close all existing southern tier hospitals in favour of a single new facility. “It’s time we heard from the people who will be most affected by his recommendations.”

Forster is committed to ensuring the Liberal government knows exactly how people in Welland, Port Colborne and Wainfleet feel about the future of their hospitals.

The public meetings planned are as follows: Continue reading →

By Mark Taliano

 For a man who has contributed immeasurably to Canadian society,  Dr. David Suzuki has been persecuted more than most. 

During the years of the Second World War in the 1940s, he was incarcerated with thousands of other Japanese Canadians under the War Measures Act and its racist deliberations.

David Suzuki, Canadian environmentalist and host of the award-winning CBC program ‘The Nature of Things’. Photo courtesy of the CBC

Now, he and a multitude of other Canadians are being smeared by a federal government that views opposition to its policies as radical, extreme, and somehow anti-Canadian.

History has not judgedCanadakindly in the first case, nor will it judge us kindly in the second case.

We need the voices of Suzuki and like-minded Canadians now more than ever to counter-balance the federal government’s efforts to nurture scientific illiteracy in its pronouncements and policies.  Louder scientific voices are needed because the earth’s changing climate (caused by humans), is exacting huge environmental and economic expenses daily. Continue reading →