Niagara At Large

“Upon being elected, a PC Government would scrap the controversial changes to sex-ed introduced by (Liberal) Premier (Kathleen) Wynne.” – Ontario PC Leader Patrick Brown

Posted August 29th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

A Brief Foreword from Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper –

Although Patrick Brown began his leadership of Ontario’s PC Party last year with promises to put the “progressive” back into the party’s name by making it more “modern” and “inclusive,” there are growing signs that he is drifting back to positions that appeal to core groups on the far right of social conservatism – groups that comprised a solid base of support for his predecessors in the Tory leadership, Tim Hudak and Mike Harris.

Ontario PC Leader Patrick Brown would nix new sex-ed curriculum in province

The following letter, circulated by Brown and his party this past August 24th to voters in the provincial riding of Scarborough-Rouge River where a byelection is scheduled for this coming Thursday, September 1^st, is the latest example of that drift back to the fringe right which may ensure that the party won’t win the next Ontario election either.

In the letter, Brown promises to scrap changes the current Liberal government has made to a  sex-ed curriculum for grade school students that had not been updated since 1998. The changes have received a strong negative reaction from members of the religious right and others, including immigrants from countries that keep a very tight lid on sex-related discussions and conduct. Continue reading →

“The message here is that humans have irreversibly changed our planet in a profound way. Whether we survive as a species or not, we will have left an indelible mark.” – says Martin Head, professor in Brock’s Department of Earth Sciences

News from Brock University

Posted August 29^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Niagara, Ontario – A Brock University geologist is among a group of researchers who believe humans have impacted the Earth in such a significant way that a new time period needs to be added to the planet’s official geologic timeline.

Brock University researcher and Eaqrth Sciencies professor r Martin Head

“The message here is that humans have irreversibly changed our planet in a profound way,” says Martin Head, professor in Brock’s Department of Earth Sciences. “Whether we survive as a species or not, we will have left an indelible mark in the geological record.”

Head is part of the Anthropocene Working Group (AWG), which presented its findings at a conference in Cape Town, South Africa Monday that the use of atomic bombs, oil, coal, fertilizers and other products have changed the Earth so much that the very working of the planet has altered.

The AWG told the International Geologic Congress that recent sedimentary deposit findings worldwide contain new minerals and rock types formed from human-made materials. This makes them part of an epoch, or period of time, distinct from the current Holocene period.

Head and the AWG says the new epoch, known as the Anthropocene, begins around 1950. The scientists are suggesting a mid-20^th century timing for the proposed “golden spike,” an internationally agreed-upon reference point in a section of sediment layers that signals the beginning of a new episode on the geologic time scale. In past epochs, spikes have come about following natural disasters such as asteroid collisions or a series of volcanic eruptions.

“The rise of plutonium 239 in the early 1950s seems to give the best global signal,” says Head, Chair of the AWG’s parent body, the International Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy. “It arises from increasing aboveground nuclear weapons testing at this time. It declined in the early 1960s with the Partial Test Ban Treaty in 1963.”

In addition to plutonium from atomic bombs detonated during the 1940s and 1950s, contaminants from fossil fuel combustion shot up in all areas of the globe around 1950. Likewise polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and other pollutants from fertilizer production.

A statement released Monday lists a range of recent changes to the Earth, including “marked acceleration to rates of erosion and sedimentation, large-scale chemical perturbations to the cycles of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and other elements, the inception of significant change to global climate and sea level, and biotic changes such as unprecedented levels of species invasions across the Earth. 

In its statement, released through the University of Leicester, the group says things like plastic, aluminium and concrete particles, artificial radionuclides and changes to carbon and nitrogen isotope pattern will leave a permanent record in the Earth’s strata.

Head says it may take up to three years before the Anthropocene Working Group finalizes its proposal, which it will then present to the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) for a vote on whether or not to include the Anthropocene on the world’s official geologic time scale.

According to the current timescale,.

Read more about the AWG proposal in The Brock News.

Visit Niagara At Large at www.niagaraatlarge.com for more news and commentary for and from the greater bi-national Niagara region.

Niagara At Large encourages you to share your views on this post in the space below the Bernie quote . A reminder that we only post comments by individuals who share their first and last name with them.

 “A politician thinks of the next election. A leader thinks of the next generation.” – Bernie Sanders

Recipients To Pick Up Payments At Local Offices

News From Niagara’s Regional Government

Posted August 29^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Niagara, Ontario – Niagara Region Community Services will not be mailing social assistance payments to individuals and families to avoid the possibility of payments being delayed by a possible postal strike.

Instead, recipients will be able to pick up their Ontario Works payments at their local Community Services offices starting August 30 between 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.  Niagara Falls clients will be able to pick up their cheques at the Niagara Falls Employment Help Centre.

Although negotiations at Canada Post are continuing, the Region cannot take the risk of having social assistance payments delayed by a labour disruption.

For recipients who receive their Ontario Works payments through direct deposit, payments will continue to be deposited into their bank accounts as usual.  However, statements will not be mailed and can be picked up at local offices. Continue reading →

News from Brock University

Posted August 29^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Niagara, Ontario – Samantha Nichols turned 12 during her first week at Brock University’s Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Summer Movement Camp. That was in 1996. This past Tuesday she celebrated her 32^nd birthday with the people who have become familiar to her in the last two decades.

“It’s always been Sam’s birthday during camp and we always do something special for it. On her 30^th birthday the students and campers made her a banner and signed it,” says Department of Kinesiology professor and Camp Founder Maureen Connolly.

A group of campers from the Autism Spectrum Disorder Summer Movement Camp at Brock University pose with officials from Brock, the Region of Niagara and Niagara Recycling, which has funded the camp for the past 20 years.

“This year, the mentors all wore Happy Birthday tiaras in honour of this annual celebration.” Continue reading →

Closing Down Parliament &  Protraying Environmentalists As ‘Enemies of the State’ Just Came With The Job

A Commentary by Linda McKellar

First, Stephen Harper, or Mr. Charm as I call him, was as citizen friendly and down to earth as a cobra.

Although not a prerequisite for holding office, Harper had zero charisma and no way to connect with the public – something very important for communicating with Canadian citizens and foreign leaders. That is one reason, just or otherwise, that so many were happy to see him go.

Several times he even refused to meet with the Provincial Premiers. He was secretive and autocratic, yet claimed he knew nothing of things like his aide’s pay off to one of his Senate appointments, Mike Duffy. Of course corruption is nothing new to any party. but he was an expert.

His policies were absolutely pro Bay Street. His election propaganda was right out of the U.S. Republican Party playbook with (just as one example of  very many) his backers demeaning his opponents (did Mulcair or Trudeau ever call him “Stevie”?) despite the fact that Harper was almost the same age as Justin Trudeau when he was first elected? Continue reading →

 “Water is life. It is necessary. Oil is neither. …What do we value as people?”

A Call-Out from Karl Dockstader, an Oneida First Nations community member in Niagara

Posted August 27^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

This Sunday, August 28^th at 4pm in Toronto at Allan Gardens on 19 Horticultural Ave, join supporters standing in “Solidarity with Standing Rock”.

More details can be found on Facebook: www.facebook.com/events/182590575494464/

A black snake is trying to coil around the Missouri River to choke out the water supply upon which the people of the Standing Rock Reservation are dependent.

Dakota Access LLC and Enbridge are continuing their persistent effort to drain every last drop of black gold and turn it into carbon dioxide by carving up the territory of the Black Rock Native Americans with their newest iteration of the Keystone Pipeline-like black snake of destruction.

A rally by young members of the Standing Rock Reservation earlier this August against pipeline

Led by youth from their reservation, these people – original to the lands – are being supported by people across the globe who agree with their principles:

Water is life. It is necessary. Oil is neither. Continue reading →

A Brief Commentary by Doug Draper

Posted August 26^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

As you may already have heard, Calgary, Alberta area MP and defeated neo-con prime minister Stephen Harper has taken his final bow this August 26^th – exiting his seat in Canada’s parliament completely to move on to his next abomination in the private sector.

Harper’s long-awaited departure from Canadians’ collective lives may grant us some brief pause for celebration during these last lazy, hazy days before the Labour Day weekend and getting back to work.

And what a monumental amount of work current federal, provincial and municipal governments, not to mention we, the Canadian people, have ahead of us cleaning up the malodorous mountain of dung, domestically and globally, that constitutes Harper’s legacy as one of the worst leaders this country has ever had.

In a book of essays by prominent Canadians, published a year ago this summer and  titled ‘Canada After Harper’, the book’s editor and veteran journalist Ed Finn concludes that following a decade of Harper’s dictatorship; “the need for sweeping progressive reform is more urgent now than ever before.”

“Uncurbed global warming, pollution, and resource depletion threaten Canada (and) to continue, lemming-like, following the profit-obsessed path set by our business and political leaders will take us to the abyss. We are not just in a struggle for social, economic and environmental betterment, but for the very survival of future generations.”

“Canada’s fate is in the balance,” concludes Finn, “teetering between a future of worsening decline and a future of restored advancement, security, equity and climatic health. …. To succeed in reaching a future of renewed well-being, we need to get back on the path of progress from which we have been ruthlessly and recklessly misdirected. And as soon as possible.”

To no surprise, news of Harper’s departure was accompanied by a glowing statement about her former boss from interim federal Tory leader Rona Ambrose who, as one of his former environment ministers, demonstrated uncompromising zeal in gutting the federal environment department and what were leading edge environmental protection laws and programs.

Today (August 26^th, 2016), the Conservative Party of Canada joins all Canadians in expressing our utmost respect and warm wishes to Prime Minister Stephen Harper as he steps back from his role as the Member of Parliament for Calgary Heritage, and the Canadian political stage,” began Ambrose in her statement which I do not have the stomach lining to post any more of.

If you have it in you to read any more of this, you can click on Ambrose’s site at — http://ronaambrose.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/13653095_10153945453178525_9200714836389543942_o.jpg .

As for my parting words, I’ll do my best here to keep them clean and short – – Good riddance Prime Minister Tar Sands. It is good to finally see the back of you.

Visit Niagara At Large at www.niagaraatlarge.com for more news and commentary for and from the greater bi-national Niagara region.

NOW IT IS YOUR TURN. Niagara At Large encourages you to share your views on this post in the space below the Bernie quote. A reminder that we only post comments by individuals who share their first and last name with them.

 “A politician thinks of the next election. A leader thinks of the next generation.” – Bernie Sanders

‘This endeavour will create 220 new value-added jobs for skilled workers in Niagara Centre.’

News from the Constituency Office of Niagara Centre MP Vance Badawey

Posted August 26^th on Niagara At Large

Welland, Ontario – GE Canada reaffirmed its commitment to the City of Welland at the site of their newest “Brilliant Factory” in (the Niagara municipality of) Welland.

Niagara Centre MP Vance Badawey

Slated to open in early 2018, this endeavour will create 220 new value-added jobs for skilled workers in Niagara Centre.

“GE Canada’s Welland facility is the cornerstone to the Niagara Economic Gateway-Foreign Trade Zone,” stated Niagara Centre, Member of Parliament, Vance Badawey. “This is a prime example of all levels of government working together and leveraging the many resources and incentives in place to attract cutting-edge private-sector partners, like GE Canada.” Continue reading →

A Brief Commentary by Doug Draper

Posted August 24^rd, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Niagara, Ontario – For those of you who have not yet heard, the much-anticipated August 23^rd Public Meeting over a controversial plan to urbanize a tract of natural heritage known as the Thundering Waters Forest in Niagara Falls, Ontario was over before it began.

Celeste Smith, a young voice for the Indigenous community in the Niagara area, speaks to a gathering of residents outside Niagara Falls City Hall this August 23rd. She calls the coming together of native and non-native people to save the Thundering Waters Forest “beautiful.” Photo by Doug Draper

After all of the weeks of foreplay over this most important opportunity for members of the public to comment on the strength and weaknesses of a provincially required Environmental Impact Statement for this development plan, there was no Public Meeting at all.

In the minutes before the Public Meeting was set to begin on this past Tuesday night in August, enough Niagara Falls city councillors had the good sense to pass a motion tabled by Councillor Kim Craitor to hold the Public Meeting in a larger venue at a later date – this while residents packed the council chambers until there wasn’t a square foot left for anyone to stand, and others were forced to remain outside, chanting ‘Let us in’ while watching the sorry proceedings on a video screen. Continue reading →

‘With this report from the Ministry, it is hoped that the developers will digest it and give up on their plans.’

By John Bacher

Posted August 24^th, 2016 on Niagara At large

In an August 19^th, 2016 report prepared by Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry resource operations supervisor Ian Thornton, some alarms properly went off for 500 acres of the Thundering Waters Forest-Savannah now under threat of urban development.

A giant white oak tree in Thundering Waters Forest, in the Niagara River watershed in Niagara Falls, Ontario.

Hopefully, the report will put an end to the junk science that is being employed by paid contractors for the developers to destroy this precious natural refuge for a myriad of wildlife species in the southwestern end of Niagara Falls, Ontario.

The report should help speed the process where it can be purchased by the federal and provincial governments for a nature sanctuary administered by guardians in the greater Niagara area’s indigenous community.

Thornton’s report begins by condemning the developer’s Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for not undertaking adequate studies on bats. He deplores that “no acoustic monitoring was undertaken to confirm presence/absence of species at risk bats.” Continue reading →

News from the Ontario Government

Posted August 24^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Queen’s Park, Toronto – Driver licence fee increases come into effect this September to help maintain Ontario’s transportation infrastructure. Additional fees for reinstatements, replacements and commercial permits will follow effective January 1, 2017.

As of September 1, 2016:

• The Driver’s Licence Original and Renewal Fee, including the driver licensing fee as part of the Enhanced Driver Licence, will change from $81.50 to $90
• Vehicle Licence Validation in Northern Ontario will change from $54 to $60
• Vehicle Licence Validation in Southern Ontario will change from $108 to $120.

Continue reading →

“Our Waters, Our Future: Saving Scajaquada Creek” Expected To Have Over 200 Guests, With All Proceeds Supporting Creek Restoration Efforts

News from Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper

Posted August 23^rd, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Buffalo, New York – Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper announced this week that its 2nd annual waterfront event will raise funds to clean up the impaired Scajaquada Creek.

On September 1st from 6 to 9 p.m., Riverkeeper will gather supporters and partners at a special waterfront celebration at Marcy Casino, in Delaware Park. Scajaquada Creek runs underneath the building, making it an ideal location to acknowledge this challenged waterway’s history and to look forward to a brighter future.

Hoyt Lake off Scajaquada Creek with Marcy Casino (the historic old boathouse and restaurant) in Buffalo, New York’s Delaware Park. Photo by Doug Draper

“It has never been more important to stand up for our local waterways, and we need our community’s support to restore Scajaquada Creek to its full potential,” stated Jill Jedlicka, executive director of Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper.

“The creek has endured more than 100 years of abuse, yet still clings to life and is ready for restoration, and this September we will celebrate our vision for the creek’s bright future.” Continue reading →

View The Video – ‘Greater Than The Sum Of Its Parts’

Posted by Doug Draper

August 23^rd, 2016, Niagara At Large

Niagara, Ontario  documentary filmmakers Jon Lepp and Stacey Koudys are working on a documentary they are at least tentatively calling ‘The Paradise Project’ about the growing citizens battle to save hundreds of acres of forest, savannah and wetlands known as the Thundering Waters Forest in Niagara Falls.

Here is a quick note of introduction from Jon, followed by the latest installment of the project. Click on it and watch.

Hello folks,

Stacey Koudys and I are proud to launch our second webisode for our documentary The Paradise Project.

We hope you enjoy our webisode, “Greater Than the Sum of Its Parts”. Today is a really important day for Thundering Waters Forest.

Please come out to Niagara Falls City Hall at 6 pm this Tuesday, August 23^rd to show the Niagara Falls City Councilors that we do not want this forest to be developed into a private school or condos or parking lots!

Learn more about Jon and Stacey’s Paradise Project by clicking on – https://niagaraatlarge.com/2016/08/06/introducing-a-brand-new-save-thundering-waters-forest-website/ .

Visit Niagara At Large at www.niagaraatlarge.com for more news and commentary for and from the greater bi-national Niagara region.

NOW IT IS YOUR TURN. Niagara At Large encourages you to share your views on this post in the space below the Bernie quote . A reminder that we only post comments by individuals who share their first and last name with them.

 “A politician thinks of the next election. A leader thinks of the next generation.” – Bernie Sanders

Let Them Know You Care By Being There!

A Brief Call-Out from Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper

Posted August 23rd, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Many of you may already know about roughly 500 acres of forest, savannah and wetlands located in the Niagara River watershed in Niagara Falls, Ontario growing numbers of residents across the region have come to know as the Thundering Waters Forest, and what certain others in politics and in the business of .paving over paradise have in store for it.

There was some encouraging news in recent days that at least some people in the City of Niagara Falls Planning Department has some questions and concerns about a massive urban development plan for this area. But it is ultimately up to the politicians on the city’s council to decide whether or not to approve the development, and municipal councils have had a record of voting for a development project, against the concerns of their own planners plenty of times in the past.

That is why it is so important for members of the public to remain engaged in the Thundering Waters Forest issues and to make certain you let members of the Niagara Falls city council know how you feel.

One important time to do that is this Tuesday evening at 6:30 p.m. at Niagara Falls City Hall (you can find a map for the location for the city hall by doing a simple search on your computer).

Be there while it counts!

Poster courtesy of Niagara journalist and artist Julia Blushak

Visit Niagara At Large at www.niagaraatlarge.com for more news and commentary for and from the greater bi-national Niagara region.

NOW IT IS YOUR TURN. Niagara At Large encourages you to share your views on this post in the space below the Bernie quote . A reminder that we only post comments by individuals who share their first and last name with them.

 “A politician thinks of the next election. A leader thinks of the next generation.” – Bernie Sanders

Niagara Regional Councillor Paul Grenier Is Elected To The  2016 – 2018 AMO Board Of Directors

News from Niagara’ Regional Government

Posted August 22^nd, 2016 on Niagara At Large

(Note from NAL publisher Doug Draper – Beware the dog days of August. In the first version of this post I sent out earlier this August 22nd I had a typo in the headline, showing my old hometown of Welland – yes, the place where I was born and spent the first two decades of my life – as Weeland. I think Welland is going through enough problems in recent years without me doing a butcher job on the name ….. Sorry Welland! Now when are these dog days going to end.)

Niagara Region, Ontario– At the Annual Conference of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO), Paul Grenier, Councillor, Region of Niagara, was elected to the AMO Board of Directors, Regional & Single Tier Caucus.  As a member of the Board Paul will help set policy for the Association and serve as a key municipal leader in the Province.

Niagara regional councilor for Welland, Paul Grenier

“AMO benefits from membership from across the Province, and a Board that reflects the diversity of Ontario’s municipal governments.  To that end, I am pleased to have Paul on the 2016 – 2018 Board team,” said AMO President, Lynn Dollin.

“I look forward to advocating for municipal priorities on behalf of other Regional governments and the Niagara region over the course of the next two years,” said Councillor Grenier.

Niagara Regional Chair Alan Caslin added, “As a Regional Councillor, Paul’s local knowledge and action on waste management, social housing, and long term care will benefit both the Niagara region and other Regional and single tier governments across Ontario.” Continue reading →

The Last True NDP Leader In Canada

By Doug Draper

Posted August 22^nd, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Federal NDP Leader Jack Layton died five years ago this August 22^nd, 2016.

On August 20^th, 2016, two days before losing his brave battle with cancer, Canada’s then NDP leader left a an open letter to his fellow Canadians containing words that remain just as wise and inspiring today.

The letter – written in the context of a Harper government still clinging to power by dividing Canadians and by stoking feelings of greed, fear, anger and hate, ended this way – ended with the following words –

“Consider that we can be a better, fairer, more equal country by working together. Don’t let them tell you it can’t be done.   My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.”

Continue reading →

“Poor dental health can have a huge impact on health and economic wellbeing… We know (the costs) are significant and largely preventive.”                                                                                     – Lori Kleinsmith,  Chair of Niagara Dental Health Coalition.

A Call-Out from the Niagara Dental Health Coalition

Posted August 22^nd, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Niagara, Ontario – Members of the Niagara Dental Health Coalition are calling on Niagara MPPs to support the expansion of public dental programs to adults and seniors who cannot afford to pay for private dental health care.

OHIP does not provide health coverage to prevent and treat diseases of our teeth and gums. As a result, between two and three million people in Ontario do not visit a dentist, primarily due to financial barriers.

“We know that a patient presents at a hospital emergency room with an acute dental issue every nine minutes across Ontario,” says Lori Kleinsmith, new Chair of the Niagara Dental Health Coalition. Data from Niagara Region Public Health indicates that in 2015 there were over 2,300 visits to Niagara Health System emergency rooms, primarily presenting with tooth pain and infection, up three per cent since 2012. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper, publisher, NAL

Posted August 22nd, 2016 on Niagara At Large

(A NOTE from Doug Draper – An earlier version of this story stated that an “encouraging message” about new developments in the review/approval process for the controversial Thundering Waters Forest development proposal came from Niagara resident Ed Smith.

As it turns out, Ed Smith did circulate this message to numerous other residents across the region, including this journalist, but it was originally composed and sent out to  people by John Bacher, a Niagara resident and conversationist who has been engaged in protecting natural heritage lands in this same area of Niagara Falls for at least two decades now. My apologies to John and to our readers at large for screwing up the original source of the message.)

One of the very few political heroes I’ve ever had – the late U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy – had some inspiring words that are relevant to the way growing number of residents in Niagara, Ontario – now numbering in the many thousands – are standing up against plans for sprawling urban development onto hundreds of acres of green lands known as the Thundering Waters Forest in the southwest corner as Niagara Falls.

Twof of more than 100 Niagara residents who joined a delegation of residents this past spring, speaking out against the destruction of wetlands and other wildlife in the Thundering Waters Forest at a Niagara regional council meeting. File photo by Doug Draper

Robert Kennedy once said, and I paraphrase, that ‘every time a person stands up against something that is wrong or not in the best interests of present and future generations, they send forward a “tiny ripple of hope.” And if enough people stand up, those ripples can form a wave that can wash away the mightiest walls of destructive resistance.’

That is most surely a paraphrase of Kennedy’s more eloquently spoken words but it captures the essence of what he said during a trip to South Africa in the 1960s when future Nobel Peace Prize winner Nelson Mandela had been jailed for life for opposing a racist system called apartheid that was still plaguing that country.

And I believe that it also most surely speaks to the spirit of what is happening here where we have an impressive coalition of people unlike almost any I have seen in my three and a half decades of reporting on issues here – a coalition of youth, seniors and everyone in between, and of representatives of environmental groups, landowners groups, of the Aboriginal community and many others – standing up and saying “no” to any more destruction of what is left of Niagara’s woodlands, wetlands and savannah lands that have routinely been wiped out for development in past years. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

Posted August 21^st on Niagara At Large

It has been a long time since I have felt as proud to be a Canadian and as close to my fellow Canadians as I did on this past evening of Saturday, August 20th.

The Tragically Hip, with Gord Downie front and centre, perform the final show of their tour this August 20th in Kingston, Ontario.

That feeling of closeness and pride washed warmly over me as I took my place with thousands of others in the Meridian Centre in downtown St. Catharines, Ontario to watch what may very well be the last concert ever by Gord Downie and The Tragically Hip on a set of big screens.

The Canadian pavilion at Expo 67 represented one of the proudest years in post Second World War times for Canadians.

I can barely remember the first time I felt that kind of pride because I was still two or three years shy of being old enough to vote at the time. It was 50 years ago this coming year when my Canada – finally flying a flag of its own – was celebrating its 100^th birthday and we put on a spectacular party for the world called Expo 67. Continue reading →

By John Bacher

During the Second World War, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was famous for his great speeches.

One of them, which Churchill made following the route of Nazi Germany from Africa, gives one encouragement today. It included the now iconic words; “This is not the end, this is not even the beginning of the end. It is perhaps, the end of the beginning.”

It may be that the “end of the beginning” is now here for those residents in the Niagara, Ontario area who have been working to rescue five hundred acres of Thundering Waters Forest in Niagara Falls.

At high noon this past Friday, August 19^th, Niagara Falls’ Planning Department tabled information confirming that no vote by Niagara Falls City council would take place following a mandatory meeting taking place this August 23^rd and required by the province’s Planning Act if that vote has anything to do with permitting the destruction of natural lands in the Thundering Waters Forest.

A Public Meeting under the Planning Act, which is scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. at Niagara Falls City Hall, gives citizens a unique opportunity to influence land use planning.

Poster courtesy of Niagara journalist and artist Julia Blushak

Continue reading →

By Lawrence Pinsky

Posted August 19^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

(A Brief Foreword Note from NAL publisher Doug Draper – “What greater gift than the love of a cat,” wrote Charles Dickens a hundred and fifty some-odd years ago, and almost everyone who has ever had or continues to have a close relationship with a cat knows that to be true.

I know that stories like the one I am posting here from Lawrence Pinsky, who has been a friend going back to our days going on 40 years ago in journalism school, are sad to read or think about. I know that because I have lived through stories like this with feline friends of my own.

But I think they are important stories to tell and talk about because as sad as they are, they can also bring out good and humane things in us as we and other living beings strive to make the best of the short time we all have together on this green and blue ball circling around the sun.

From time to time, I’ve had people say ask me how a person can grieve so much over the death of a cat or a dog. After all they are not a person. To which I say that as much as I feel sorry for the person grieving over the loss of their furry friend, I feel sorry for the person who doesn’t understand or who has never experienced that grief, because they are missing out on something in life that is very nice and special.

Now here is Lawrence’s story about his journey with a close and loving friend of the feline kind.)

By  Lawrence Pinsky

In the early summer of 1998 my parents were feeling at a loss. Their last of two kitties, Bootsie, had died a little while before and, as my mom used to say, “Who wants to come into an empty house?!”

My dad was reluctant to have a new “pet,” perhaps because he didn’t want to suffer yet another loss.

Still, my mom was strongly inclined, and one sunny morning she made a visit to the local SPCA with a former girlfriend of mine. Continue reading →

By Nick Fillmore

Posted August 19^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

(A Brief Foreword Note from Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper – It is always an honour to post something from veteran Canadian journalist Nick Fillmore. He was one of my mentors when I was starting out in the field and was good enough to publish a couple of my articles on environmental issues in ‘This Magazine’ when he was the magazine’s editor. Thanks for everything Nick and thanks for trucking on when so many others in journalism have either sold out or fallen by the wayside.)

Dozens of athletes from Canada and thousands from developing countries have had a difficult time raising the money needed to train and take part in the Olympics Games in Brazil.

In Canada, more than two dozen world-class athletes were so hard up for support that they resorted to launching crowdfunding campaigns to supplement the money they receive from government and perhaps corporate sponsors.

On the tiny Pacific Island country of Nauru, judo participant Judoka Uera  had to hold barbecues and knock on doors to get the funds he needed. Getting to Rio fulfilled Uera’s lifelong dream.

However, hundreds of other athletes who had the same dream and could have qualified for Rio were unable to attend because of a lack of support. Continue reading →

By Karl Dockstader, a Niagara resident and member of the local Indigenous community

(The following post orginally appeared on Karl Dockstader’s Facebook site. A link to the site is included below.)

Posted August 19^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Niagara, Ontario – The Treaty of Niagara 1764 is the ratification of the general principles of the Royal Proclamation of 1763.

The principles of these agreements acknowledge that agreements between Indigenous governments and Canadian or Crown officials have some terms which fall outside of Canadian law.

Members of Indigenous community gather at July 2016 rally in Niagara Falls, Ontario to save Thundering Waters Forest. File photo by Doug Draper

This is why the symbolic use of wampum and oral custom is important. In order to honour the principles of these agreements governments have to uphold the honour of the crown and act in accordance with the principles of the covenant chain. Continue reading →

A Statement by the Prime Minister of Canada on the 74th anniversary of the Battle of Dieppe

Posted August 19^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today issued the following statement to mark the 74^th anniversary of the Battle of Dieppe:

“On this day – 74 years ago (on August 19^th, 1942) – thousands of Canadian soldiers, alongside Allied forces, launched a raid on the German-occupied port of Dieppe.

Death and destruction left on shores of Dieppe in August 2016

“Canadian and Allied infantry faced heavy resistance as soon as they landed. They fought through barbed wire, mortar barrages, and machine gun fire. Many never made it beyond the beach where they landed.

“In the air, Royal Air Force and Royal Canadian Air Force fighters and bombers waged one of the most intense air battles in the whole war. Continue reading →

News from the Government of Ontario

Posted August 19th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Queen’s Park, Toronto – Ontario is providing more than $16 million to help patients receive quicker access to care in hospital emergency rooms across the province.

The province will provide funding to 20 municipalities across Ontario for 300,000 dedicated emergency room nursing hours at 49 hospitals this year.

Dedicated nurses will work exclusively on receiving low-acuity patients from ambulances, which will allow paramedics to respond to other 9-1-1 calls in the community rather than waiting in the emergency room.  Patients arriving at hospitals by ambulance with life-threatening conditions continue to be given priority by hospital staff. Continue reading →

Posted August 18^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large by NAL publisher Doug Draper

Dozens of truckloads of high-level, liquid nuclear waste may soon be crossing the Peace Bridge from the Chalk River nuclear facility in northern Ontario and through Niagara, on route to a processing plant in South Carolina.

The Peace Bridge crossing between Buffalo/Western New York and Niagara, Ontario. File photo by Doug Draper

According to a front-page story in this August 18^th edition of The Buffalo News, the shipments may begin as soon as this September if a lawsuit quickly filed against the U.S. Department of Energy by a coalition of Canadian and U.S. environmental groups doesn’t stop them.

 “It is terrifying for us to hear that the government is willing to endanger the lives of so many by the shipments of this highly dangerous liquid radiioactive waste through our community and those of others,” Lynday Schneekloth of the Sierra Club’s Niagara, Western New York was quoted saying in The Buffalo News story. Continue reading →

“Health care workers are a keystone in our society. They deserve to be treated well or we will lose them.”

By Linda McKellar

Posted August 17^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

(Linda McKellar, a retired nurse who emerged as an outspoken opponent of health care cuts at a time in the last decade when the Niagara Health System was moving to close hospitals in the Niagara municipalities of Fort Erie and Port Colborne, shared the following commentary with Niagara At Large in the wake of Ontario physicians rejecting a new agreement with the provincial government this August 15^th on fees.)

How many workers in industry or other services would go two or three years without a contract?

Doctors and patients rally for health care in from of Queen’s Park legislative building in Toronto this spring

Would industrial workers go on strike? Postal workers? Teachers? Cab drivers?

Now, have doctors ever completely withdrawn their services? How about nurses? There are several reasons for this.

1 – Health care workers are ESSENTIAL! Continue reading →

KILL Ontario BILL 205, NOT CORMORANTS

A Plea against the shooting of Ontario’s Cormorants from ZooCheck Canada, a Toronto-based public advocacy group all creatures big and small

Posted August 17^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

(A Brief Foreword Note from NAL publisher Doug Draper – Here we go again, dear readers. It’s age-old North American solution we humans too often apply to any wild animals we feel is getting in our way – Shoot them!

In my many years as an environment reporter, I’ve covered this business of people who fish wanting to kill of cormorants a number of times because the anglers believe the birds are eating to much fish. It was often almost impossible to convince these advocates for shooting the birds that development along creek, river and lake shores that destroy spawning grounds and other wildlife that the birds feed on, combined with discharges of pollution to waterbodies, have more to do with declining fish populations than the birds they want to kill.

Please read the following information from ZooCheck and contact your member of provincial government and the government representatives identified below to stop this outrageous bill to blow away cormorants.)

A cormorant in flight

On May 18, 2016, Ontario MPP for the Sarnia-Lambton riding, Robert Bailey (PC), introduced Private Member’s Bill 205, Fish and Wildlife Conservation Amendment Act (Double-crested Cormorants) 2016 that, if passed, would allow the uncontrolled hunting Double-crested cormorants across the province by anyone at any time. Continue reading →

“The only correct actions are those that demand no explanation and no apology.” – The late Boston Celtics president and basketball coach Red Auerbach

“By the time most people say ‘I’m sorry’ it is already too late.” – American book author and financial advisor Ken Poirot

A Commentary by Doug Draper

Posted August 17^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

I turned on CBC this August 16^th to the news that our Canadian government has apologized for something again.

A monument at a cemetery in Churchill, Manitoba with the names on it of the many indigenous people who died after a forced move from their homes by the Canadian government in 1956.

This time it was for an injustice committed 60 years ago when the federal government of the day – a Liberal government under the helm of Louis St. Laurent – decided to swoop in on more than 250 First Nation Sayisi Dene people, drag them from their homes and take them on what one of the survivors called “a plane ride to hell” to some barren place way up in northern Manitoba where many of them froze or starved to death – all for apparently culling too many caribou in a place where these people they had been living and hunting for their survival long before the first white settlers showed up.

Hmm. Didn’t I just hear another news report just a day before this one about a culling of wolves in the Banff, Alberta area because the animals were said to be getting in the way of affluent white people wanting to hike in the woods. Maybe we should give some people a plane ride out of there.

But I digress. Continue reading →

News from Niagara Falls MPP Wayne Gates

Posted August 16^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Niagara Falls, Ontario – Niagara Falls MPP Wayne Gates and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath have announced their plan to lower hydro costs for Ontarians.

Niagara Falls MPP Wayne Gates

“Due to policy decisions by the Wynne government, we now live in an Ontario where people are being forced to choose between buying groceries, purchasing prescriptions or paying their hydro bill,” stated Gates.

“Since (Ontario Liberal Premier) Kathleen Wynne took power four years ago, hydro bills have increased over 50% which is ten times faster than inflation—we have to step up and offer an alternative.”

In an announcement at this week’s AMO (Association of Municipalities of Ontario) conference in Windsor, Horwath outlined the policies an NDP government would implement to help reduce hydro costs for Ontarian families and businesses. Continue reading →

“I want to assure the people and patients of Ontario that their access to physicians and the health care system will not be affected.” – Ontario Health Minister Eric Hoskins

A Statement from Ontario’s Minister of Health

Posted August 15^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

This August 15th, Dr. Eric Hoskins, Ontario’s Minister of Health and Long-Term Care, issued the following statement:

“It is disappointing that the Ontario Medical Association (OMA) membership

Ontario Minister of Health Dr. Eric Hoskins

did not ratify a historic four-year tentative Physician Services Agreement that would have offered the province’s physicians, for the first time, an opportunity to have a seat at the table where decisions are made about spending and the future of our health-care system.

The tentative agreement also strengthened the quality, access and sustainability of health care in Ontario, while providing predictable annual increases to the physician services budget. Continue reading →

“We will meet with Kathryn McGarry, (Ontario) Minister of Natural Resources (MNR), about increasing the protection of the Fonthill Kame.” – Pelham Mayor Dave Augustyn

News from Pelham Mayor Dave Augustyn

Posted August 15^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Niagara, Ontario – This week, Town of Pelham Councillors Gary Accursi and John Durley, Town CAO Darren Ottaway, and I will attend the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) Conference in Windsor.

Pelham Mayor Dave Augustyn

The annual three-day conference offers a range of learning sessions and networking opportunities and organizers expect more than 1,300 delegates.

While at AMO, your Pelham representatives will also directly advance your interests with the Provincial Government through meetings with various Ministries.

First, we will meet with Kathryn McGarry, Minister of Natural Resources (MNR), about increasing the protection of the Fonthill Kame.

For the last eight years, we effectively used AMO and “Niagara Week” meetings to urge the Province to enhance the Area of Natural & Scientific Interest (ANSI) protections of the Kame. Continue reading →

“How can one be compelled to accept slavery? I simply refuse to do the master’s bidding. He may torture me, break my bones to atoms and even kill me. He will then have my dead body, not my obedience. Ultimately, therefore, it is I who am the victor and not he, for he has failed in getting me to do what he wanted done.” – Mahatma Gandhi, on India’s struggle to break its colonial ties with Great Britain

A Statement by the Prime Minister of Canada On India’s Independence Day

Posted August 15^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today issued the following statement in recognition of India’s Independence Day:

“Today, we join the people of India and members of the Indo-Canadian community in celebrating India’s 70^th Independence Day.

“Canada and India unite in our shared traditions of democracy and diversity. Together, our nations stand as a testament to the fact that countries can prosper not in spite of their diversity, but precisely because of it.

“It has been a pleasure to meet with Prime Minister Modi, and I look forward to working together to further strengthen the relationship between our two countries, and to collaborating on global issues, including peace and security, climate change, and gender equality.

“On behalf of the Government of Canada, Sophie and I invite all Canadians to reflect on the significant contributions that Indo-Canadians have made to our national fabric, and wish all those celebrating today a happy Independence Day.”

NOW IT IS YOUR TURN. Niagara At Large encourages you to share your views on this post. A reminder that we only post comments by individuals who share their first and last name with them.

Visit Niagara At Large at www.niagaraatlarge.com for more news and commentary for and from the greater bi-national Niagara region.

“A politician thinks of the next election. A leader thinks of the next generation.” – Bernie Sanders

By Doug Draper

Posted August 14^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

For a while there, Patrick Brown actually had me wondering if he just might be more open than his Tory predecessors were to charting a political course that takes the protection our environment into consideration.

But not anymore. Now he has lost me.

Ontario PC Party leader Patrick Brown expressed renewed interest in constructing a mid-peninsula highway through Niagara.

After 15 months of trying to convince the rest of us that the word truly “progressive” belongs back in the “Progressive Conservative Party” name after Mike Harris and Tim Hudak took a cudgel to it, he has dialed right back to the Harris/Hudak era with his declaration to a business group that he is open to resurrecting the idea of constructing a multi-lane highway through the middle of the Niagara Peninsula between the Hamilton-Halton area and the Fort Erie-Buffalo border crossing.

It was just last March – barely nine months after he was chosen leader of Ontario’s PC Party after Hudak resigned the post following the party’s failure to win the 2014 provincial election – that Brown delivered a keynote address to a general meeting of party delegates that gave reason to believe he wanted to strike a significantly different tone than Harris and Hudak, and former federal Tory leader Stephen Harper when it comes to environmental issues.
Continue reading →

We Still Have Time To Tell Government We Want What’s Left Of Our Wetlands Saved!

By John Bacher

Niagara, Ontario – A new “White Paper” from the Ontario government – titled “Wetland Conservation Strategy for Ontario” -marks another sorry stage in a provincial consultation process whose key goal appears to be to weaken one of the strongest cornerstones for effective land use planning across the province.

This is the establishment of what are termed Provincially Significant Wetlands”, (PSWs). Once these areas are identified, largely through a point scoring weighted towards maintaining the habitats of rare species, they are protected from what the policy terms, “site alteration.”

The basic wetlands policy of no site alteration – meaning no shopping centers, residences, parking lots on wetlands – has been in effect since 1992. It is far stronger than the protection of other natural habitats. These habitats include dry forests, non-PSW wetlands, thickets, alvars, prairies and savannas. Usually, these habitats essentially on a big scale are termed legally Provincially Significant Forests. In Niagara, like most upper tier or single tier, municipalities in Ontario, they are termed Environmental Conservation Areas (ECAs). Continue reading →

“A college-level course that provides an introduction to the Niagara River watershed through weekly classes.”

News from Buffalo Niagara Riverkeepers, a non-profit citizens group

Posted August 14^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Experiential learning opportunity will educate college students and adults about local environmental issues in Erie and Niagara counties

Buffalo, New York – Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper announces that registration is now open for River Academy, a college-level course that provides an introduction to the Niagara River watershed through weekly classes in stream science, environmental stewardship, and habitat restoration.

River Academy is an exciting opportunity for professionals and citizens to learn through hands-on field experience, lab exercises, field trips, and guest lecturers, and provides an opportunity for students to obtain college credits.

River Academy explores current environmental issues impacting the Niagara River watershed. Local experts and guest lecturers include representatives from governmental agencies, community organizations and the private sector. Continue reading →

A Brief Message on the Value of this Project from Doug Draper

Reposted August 12^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

“Thundering Waters is one of the last few remaining forested swamps in Canada,” notes a new website for what Niagara, Ontario filmmakers Stacey Koudys and Jon Lepp call ‘the Paradise Project’ – a link to which Niagara At Large will share with all of our many visitors here.

“These wetland communities have a higher density of life form than any other habitat in the country and are among the rarest,” the website, which supports a video Stacey and Jon released online earlier this August, continues.

Niagara At Large gives its full editorial support to Stacey and Jon’s project and to their ongoing work on what will be a full-length documentary film on a growing movement of citizens in Niagara to save a signficant piece of what is left of this region’s natural heritage from the buzz saws and bulldozers.

Their efforts, along with those of rising numbers of others, is a welcome, invaluable response to a lack of information and to misinformation from too many of our elected municipal councillors and from tax-funded agents like the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority – a body that has become such a bad joke of the time-honoured voice for our natural places that it once was, that its time to press the Ontario government to scrap it and have the conservation areas placed in its trust turned over to provincial parks officers. Continue reading →

Posted August 12^th, 2016 on Niagara At large

A Foreword by Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper –

After yet another week of Trumpzania that has seen the Donald – more unhinged than ever as he called Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton “founders of ISIS” and suggested that the “2nd Amendment people” (code for gun-toting NRA supporters) may be able to do something about Hillary if she becomes president and starts appointing Supreme Court judges – this letter from American documentary filmmaker Michael Moore could not land on Trump’s daughter’s desk soon enough.

Niagara At Large is continuing to post the odd piece on this train wreck of a U.S. election because – a) NAL has a readership on the American side of the border, b) many of my American friends and loved ones are terrified at the possibility of this dangerous nut job becoming the next president and leader of the free world, and c) any person with an ounce of sense in Canada and the rest of the world, regardless of their political leanings, should be terrified of that possibility too.

It is a fear this NAL publisher happens to share, and  we are far from  alone in feeling this way.

Continue reading →

“TechBoomers is a prime example of how a business can launch and make a name for itself in Niagara, and we hope that their story inspires others to take part in Ignite Niagara.” – Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce CEO Mishka Balsom 

News from the Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce in Niagara, Ontario

Posted August 12^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Niagara, Ontario  – After launching in January 2015, local tech start-up TechBoomers.com is proud to announce that it is expanding after winning Ignite Niagara, a business pitch competition put on by the Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce and Innovate Niagara and sponsored by Meridian Credit Union.

Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce CEO Mishka Balsom

As a tech website that aims to help older adults learn about how to use technology, this milestone marks an important moment in the company’s journey thus far.

Ignite Niagara is an annual event that allows local up-and-coming entrepreneurs to showcase their ideas in front of a panel of judges, competing for a business services prize package that assists them in getting their business off the ground.

This recent success has paved the way for TechBoomers’ first major expansion, with plans to hire three new full time staff members. TechBoomers proudly calls Niagara its home, and has fully embraced the support of the local community on its path to success. Continue reading →

A Brief Message on the Value of this Project from Doug Draper

Posted August 12^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

“Thundering Waters is one of the last few remaining forested swamps in Canada,” notes a new website for what Niagara, Ontario filmmakers Stacey Koudys and Jon Lepp call ‘the Paradise Project’ – a link to which Niagara At Large will share with all of our many visitors here.

“These wetland communities have a higher density of life form than any other habitat in the country and are among the rarest,” the website, which supports a video Stacey and Jon released online earlier this August, continues.

Niagara At Large gives its full editorial support to Stacey and Jon’s project and to their ongoing work on what will be a full-length documentary film on a growing movement of citizens in Niagara to save a signficant piece of what is left of this region’s natural heritage from the buzz saws and bulldozers.

Their efforts, along with those of rising numbers of others, is a welcome, invaluable response to a lack of information and to misinformation from too many of our elected municipal councillors and from tax-funded agents like the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority – a body that has become such a bad joke of the time-honoured voice for our natural places that it once was, that its time to press the Ontario government to scrap it and have the conservation areas placed in its trust turned over to provincial parks officers. Continue reading →

A Note from Niagara Action For Animals in Niagara, Ontario

Post August 11^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Dear friends of Animals – many of you knew Brian Calvert, who passed away suddenly on Monday, August 8th.

The following info regarding Brian’s memorial services….. The first one is on Saturday August 13 – 11:00 a.m. at the Unitarian Congregation of Niagara, 223 Church St., St. Catharines, Ontario (officiated by a good friend of Brian Calvert, working with the family to create a meaningful celebration of Brian’s life).

On the SAME day, at 4 p.m. a second service at UNICAMP for those who can’t make it to St Catharines in the morning.

He was a good supporter of many animal and environmental causes and he will be missed.

Niagara Action for Animals is a non-profit, all volunteer charity devoted to ending all forms of animal cruelty through education, direct action and legitimate protest.

NOW IT IS YOUR TURN. Niagara At Large encourages you to share your views on this post. A reminder that we only post comments by individuals who share their first and last name with them.

Visit Niagara At Large at www.niagaraatlarge.com for more news and commentary for and from the greater bi-national Niagara region.

“A politician thinks of the next election. A leader thinks of the next generation.” – Bernie Sanders

Province Supporting 11 New Bridge Training Projects

News from the Government of Ontario

Posted August 11^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Queen’s Park, Toronto – The province is investing $3.35 million over two years through the Ontario Bridge Training Program to help internationally trained professionals find jobs that match their skills and experience.

The investment will support 11 new bridge training projects that will:

• Improve access to career assistance services for internationally trained immigrants, for example career mentoring, employment events, language skills-training and a micro-loan program.
• Help employers recruit, hire and retain internationally trained immigrants, with networking events, an online recruiting service and employer workshops.
• Identify newcomers’ transferrable skills and alternate career pathways through, for example, mentoring events and the promotion of entrepreneurship.

Every year, Ontario’s Bridge Training Program helps over 6,000 internationally trained professionals get the help they need to find jobs that match their skills and experience. Increasing immigrant employment rates is key to growing the province’s globally connected economy. Continue reading →

Say No To Building Over Thundering Waters Forest

By John Bacher

Posted August 10th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

As far as environmental protection goes, June 30th, 1992 must be recognized as a ‘Day of Infamy’ in Niagara, Ontario.

It was a day that saw the first cut in the Thundering Waters Forest-savannah complex in Niagara Falls – a place in the region that 12 years earlier had been recognized as an environmentally sensitive area in a joint study by Brock University and Niagara’s regional government.

A news photo of some of what was left of a sprawling forest off Oldfield Road in southwest Niagara Falls, Ontario in 1992. This clear cut by developers played a role in driving the Ontario government to pass tougher tree cutting legislation in the province. File photo

The assault on this area clear cut into oblivion a 35 acre block of wetland old growth forest north of Oldfield Road in Niagara Falls. The block hosted, among many other natural features, towering Pin Oaks and rich vernal pools providing habitat for amphibians. Continue reading →

Statement from Ontario PC Energy Critic John Yakabuski on Ontario’s electricity rates

Posted August 10^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Queen’s Park, Toronto – The following is a statement from Ontario PC Energy Critic John Yakabuski on Ontario’s electricity rates:

“(This August 10^th) we learned that Ontario Hydro One customers officially pay the highest residential electricity rates in North America, after our province’s fast-increasing rates surpassed Hawaii’s.

Blame for this sad news rests solely with the (province’s) Liberal Government. It would not have been possible without their 13 years of scandal, mismanagement, and waste within the energy sector. Continue reading →

An Invite To You from Ontario’s Ministers of Municipal Affairs & Natural Resources and Forestry

Posted August 10^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

A Brief Foreword Note from NAL publisher Doug Draper – For everyone out there in Niagara, Ontario and elsewhere in the province who cares about protecting and preserving what is left of our wetlands, forests and other natural places, please read the following from the Ontario government and take advantage of the opportunity to lend your voice by way of sending that same government your input.

The Invite from the Ministers –

Queen’s Park, Toronto – On May 10, 2016, Ontario released proposed changes to the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe, the Greenbelt Plan, the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan and the Niagara Escarpment Plan.

Due to high interest in the review and in response to requests made by several municipalities and stakeholder organizations, we are extending the deadline for comments on the four proposed revised plans to be submitted.

The deadline to provide input on the four proposed revised plans has been extended to October 31, 2016. Continue reading →

News from the Ontario Clean Air Alliance

Posted August 10^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Toronto, Ontario – According to a new report prepared for Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO), energy efficiency investments can reduce Ontario’s electricity demand by 31% by 2035.

On the other hand, the report notes that if the IESO’s conservation budget remains at its status quo level, Ontario’s electricity demand will fall by only 12%.

Any way you cut it, improving energy efficiency by paying a fair price for conservation measures, creating opportunities for a wide variety of organizations to lead efficiency efforts and helping consumers maximize their savings makes economic and environmental sense. Continue reading →

You Can Listen To The Radio Interview Here

A Brief News Note from Doug Draper

Posted August 9^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

On a Niagara radio morning program this August 9^th, local documentary filmmaker Jon Lepp called a plan to bulldoze over a large tract of forest, savannah and wetlands in Niagara Falls for urban development “short-term thinking,” and he urged listeners to join growing numbers of area citizens in killing the plan.

Lepp, who is producing a documentary on the battle to save Thundering Waters Forest with fellow filmmaker Stacey Koudys, discussed the need to save this natural area on 610 AM CKTB’s Tim Denis program. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

Posted August 9^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

I am posting a statement released this August 9^th by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau celebrating “National Peacekeeping Day” in Canada, but I can’t do it without speaking to actions by Trudeau’s Liberal government that risk making a mockery out of Canada’s historic role – pre-Stephen Harper era – as a peacekeeping nation in the world.

Those actions include Canada’s relatively new Trudeau government’s plans to follow through on a deal reached between the former Harper Conservative regime and brutal Saudi ditators to sell military vehicles manufactured in the London, Ontario area to Saudi Arabia – armed vehicles of the like the Saudis have already used in violent clashes with citizen protesters in that Middle East country.

According to a front page story in the August 1^st, 2016 edition of The Globe and Mail, the Trudeau government has also watered down the wording in its own policy papers for screening countries Canada sells military equipment to for human rights crimes and other offensive behavior. Continue reading →

“I have been asked to be the next CEO of the Ontario Real Estate Association, Canada’s largest provincial industry association.” – Tim Hudak

A Statement From MPP Tim Hudak

August 9^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Queen’s Park, Toronto – “When a really good opportunity comes along, you grab it. That’s how I got into the world of public service. And, now, it’s why I’m taking my leave.

Niagara, Ontario area MPP leaving elected office in September

In 1995, I had the opportunity to run for the PC Party in Niagara South. I ran because I believed the province desperately needed change and I wanted to make a difference.

Every step along the way, I have been guided by a clear sense of purpose: smaller, more focused government, a strong economy and greater opportunity for all.

It was an honour to serve in the Cabinet of Premier Mike Harris, the most courageous and effective Premier Canada has seen in a lifetime. We made the long overdue decisions to balance the budget; we paid down debt and we lowered taxes. As a result, Ontario led North America in private sector job creation. Continue reading →

A Brief Heads Up from Doug Draper at Niagara At Large

Posted August 8th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Niagara, Ontario – n case you missed getting this news on Facebook earlier this August 8th, Jon Epp, one of two of Niagara”s up and coming  documentary filmmakers along with Stacey Koudys, will be on the Tim Denis Radio Show on

Documentary filmmaker on CKTB Radio this Tuesday morning – August 9tth – to discuss citizens battle to save Thundering Waters Forest

CKTB 610 AM this Tuesday, August 9th at 7:50 in the morning to discuss the duo’s ongoing work on a documentary – dubbed the ‘Paradise Project – on a growing citizen movement in this region to save the Thundering Waters Forest in Niagara Falls from urban development.

If you miss the CKTB interview with Jon, Niagara At Large will do its best to get a podcast link for it on our online news site here as soon as possible this Tuesday.

I have a feeling, however, that the ratings will be high for this radio segement, given the growing numbers of citizens joining the fight to save these hundreds of acres of forest, savannah and wetland in Niagara Falls from development by a China government-sponsored agent with the support of a number of our municipal politicians.

Those who should listen the most to what Jon and others in the community have to say on this issue include our municipal and provincial political representatives in Niagara, along with the politically appointed board members and executive administrators of the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority. Continue reading →

Watch and Share This Video By Jon Lepp & Stacy Koudys and Join the Fight to Save what is left of Niagara’s Natural Heritage

A Foreword by Doug Draper, NAL publisher

Posted August 6th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Niagara, Ontario – After too many years of watching too many of our municipal politicians in Niagara give the high five to too many plans by developers to pave over ever more of what is left of this region’s precious natural heritage, it is heartening to see growing thousands of citizens across the region finally standing up and shouting ‘NO!’ to this destruction.

Stacey Koudys and Jon Lepp working on their Paradise documentary project. Photo by Doug Draper

The last draw for many of us came around the turn of last year with the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority – a body that no longer has any business using the word “conservation” in its name – trotting out a “biodiversity offsetting” scheme that is code for destroying provincially significant wetlands to pave the way for more urban sprawl.

The last draw has also come with a proposal by a Chinese government-sponsored firm that goes by the name GR (Canada) Investment Co., Ltd. to build what it rather perversely calls a “Paradise” development on lands that include hundreds of acres of forest, savannah and wetlands near the southwest corner of Niagara Falls.

Political neanderthals and bullies like Niagara regional government chair Al Caslin and St. Catharines regional councilor and Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority chair Bruce Timms and their cabal have tried their best to discourage, frustrate and otherwise run down the clock on the citizen push for natural heritage preservation. Continue reading →

Come Hear What Karl Dockstader Has To Say!

A News Brief

Posted August 5^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Niagara, Ontario – Karl Dockstader, a Niagara Falls resident and member of the local indigenous community, will speak in St. Catharines this coming Tuesday, August 9^th about the ongoing battle to keep hundreds of acres of forest  and wetlands in the Falls from being sacrificed for sprawling urban development.

Karl Dockstader addresses a recent rally to save Thundering Waters Forest

Dockstader will be speaking about the importance of saving what has come to be known by growing number of concerned Niagara residents as the Thundering Waters Forest at the Mahthay Café in downtown St. Catharines  at 7p.m. on August 9^th.

“Little known to many people is that (City of) Niagara Falls planning procedures allows for the virtual destruction of ‎ one of the few remaining great forested areas in the city,’ says Dockstader. “The only way to stop it is to speak out as concerned residents of Niagara‎.”

The future of the Thundering Waters Forest within the Niagara River watershed in the southwest end of Niagara Falls is hanging in the balance with plans by a Chinese government-based firm called GR Investments to build a billion-dollar residential and commercial development there.

One of the best upcoming chances for stopping this destruction, says Dockstader added, “is to appeal to the sensibility of Niagara Falls city councillors at the statutory public meeting being held at Niagara Falls City Council on August 23rd at 6:30 pm.

To stay up to date on the issue and to get more details people can follow our efforts on: www.facebook.com/groups/SaveThunderingWatersForest

“This Thundering Waters Forest, and all the living things that walk, fly, crawl‎ and grow in and around it, needs us to speak for it now,” says Dockstader. “ If we don’t then we will have to explain to those who have yet to be born why we let a Chinese owned development company and it’s supporters pave over their birthright.”

A giant white oak tree in Thundering Waters Forest

Listen to a recent interview with Karl Dockstader on Brock University’s radio station by clicking on the following link – http://www.cfbu.ca/aud/TW_KD.mp3

Karl Dockstader is a Niagara Falls resident and an member of the local Indigenous community deeply concerned with environmental issues.

NOW IT IS YOUR TURN. Niagara At Large encourages you to share your views on this post. A reminder that we only post comments by individuals who share their first and last name with them.

Visit Niagara At Large at www.niagaraatlarge.com for more news and commentary for and from the greater bi-national Niagara region.

“A politician thinks of the next election. A leader thinks of the next generation.” – Bernie Sanders

 He Was A Voice For The 99% Long Before The Term 99% Was Around

Posted August 4^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

A  Foreword by NAL publisher Doug Draper –

News of Mel Hurtig death this August 4^th at age 84 first entered my inbox fittingly from the office of Maude Barlow, chairpserson of the Council of Canadians, the nation-wide citizens advocacy organization Hurtig founded more than three decades ago.

Mel Hurtig, bookseller, publisher, activist and founder of the Council of Canadians

Mel Hurtig was also one of the first Canadians of any note out of the gate to oppose global trade agreements like the North American Free Trade Act (NAFA) because he knew then what growing numbers of others have come to know the hard way – that these were not fair trade deals that respected good paying jobs here.

They were deals that allowed corporations to shut down manufacturing and other operations here, throwing tens-of-thousands of people out of work – and move to countries where they could pay slave wages, rape the land of resources and pollute the planet without fear of penalty. Continue reading →