Niagara At Large

Failure to act could make future pandemics more and more likely

“It may be politically expedient at this time to relax environmental standards and to prop up industries such as intensive agriculture, long-distance transportation such as the airlines, and fossil-fuel-dependent energy sectors, but doing so without requiring urgent and fundamental change, essentially subsidizes the emergence of future pandemics.”                 – global scientists representing the World Economic Forum

News from the World Economic Forum

Posted June 19^th, 2020 on Niagara At Large

Another tree in Niagara stripped away by heavy machinery in the last six months – this one in Thundering Waters Forest in Niagara Falls, Niagara – a home to significant wetlands in the Canada–U.S Niagara River watershed. Shame on those in authority in Niagara who are not speaking out about vandalism of our natural environment like this.

(A Brief Note from Doug Draper – Niagara At Large is posting this out of a call-out to people across this Niagara region that we have to change the way we do business in this region around planning communities have we have to work to vote in people to hold political seats on our local municipal councils and Niagara Regional councils who care about protecting what is left of our natural environment – ourr wetlands and woodlands and meadows and crop-growing lands – for our generation and for generations to come.

Those politicians who don’t give a shit – who support urbanizing places like Thundering Waters Forest and Waverly Woods – have got to go. In these pandemic and post-pandemic times, there is no longer any place for politicians who champion destructive plans like this in our future.)

The World Economic Forum COVID Action Platform

The Forum’s COVID Action Platform: Over 1,000 organizations are working together in response to the pandemic

Pandemics like COVID-19 could occur more frequently unless we stop rapidly destroying nature, a group of biodiversity experts has warned. Continue reading →

Close to 700 seasonal, migrant workers have tested positive. Two have died.

A Statement from Ontario Green Party Labour Critic Victoria Galea

Posted June 19^th, 2020 on Niagara At Large

Picketers were greeted with honks of support for migrants from people driving by St Catharines constituency office of Liberal MP Chris Bittle this June 13th. File photo by Doug Draper

We’re hearing stories of inadequate inspections, workers afraid to disclosetheir illness, and cramped living conditions without PPE (personal protective equipment).

But some of this isn’t new. Migrant workers are denied many of the basic labour and housing protections that we take for granted.

It’s time to discuss this two-tier system.

Migrant workers make up 42% of all farm workers. They leave their families in Mexico, Jamaica, and other countries to help keep food on our tables. Continue reading →

“Responding to the COVID-19 crisis calls for us all to confront the vested interests that oppose transformative change, and to end‘business as usual’.

“We can build back better and emerge from the current crisis stronger and more resilient than ever – but to do so means choosing policies and actions that protect nature – so that nature can help.”           – from an expert article shared this May 202 with members of the World Economic Forum, of which Canada is a participant

A Brief Foreword by Niagara At Large reporter and publisher       Doug Draper –

Please read this important article, prepared by world experts on pandemics and the environment, and think about what are left of the rich woodlands, wetlands and other green spaces still in the crosshairs of some developers and some of our politicians in Niagara who still have a 1950s notion of what constitutes good urban growth.

What a positive thing it would be – and what a hopeful tone it would at a difficult time like this –  if members of our current Niagara Regional Council formally adopt the language in this article as a vision for how our communities grow, and how we must work to save what is left of our natural areas as we re-imagine Niagara’s post-pandemic future.

• Doug Draper, daring to re-imagine a healthier Niagara for all

The following article was written by Global pandemic and environmental experts Professors Josef Settele, Sandra Díaz and Eduardo Brondizi, and Dr. Peter Daszak from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). It was shared this May 2020 with members of the World Economic Forum

Must Save Lives, Protect Livelihoods, and Safeguard Nature to Reduce the Risk of Future Pandemics

There is a single species that is responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic – us.

As with the climate and biodiversity crises, recent pandemics are a direct consequence of human activity – particularly our global financial and economic systems, based on a limited paradigm that prizes economic growth at any cost. We have a small window of opportunity, in overcoming the challenges of the current crisis, to avoid sowing the seeds of future ones.    Continue reading →

Vera Lynn was a young voice of a singer for the Second World War with warm, coming home safe songs like ‘We’ll Meet Again’ and ‘(There’ll Be Bluebirds Over) White Cliffs of Dover’

A Brief One from Doug Draper

Posted June 18^th, 2020 on Niagara At Large

Vera Lynn, during her Second World War era days

Most people reading this may not remember her, and I only do through my now late parents, but Vera Lynn was a youthful singer in Great Britain who helped allied troops fighting fascism want to finish it up and come home to their families and friends.

She was often called Britain’s “sweetheart” during those perilous years of war, and was a prototype for British singers like Petula Clark a few decades later.

Vera Lynn died this June 18^th at age 103, but not before one of those Second World War era songs went viral again with a younger singer virtually accompanying here at the Royal Albert Hall.

The song was ‘We’ll Meet Again’ – a perfect message for soldiers fighting on foreign fields in the 1940s, and a perfect one again for those of us who have been dying, during this ongoing COVID-19 nightmare, to get back together with good friends.

To watch a recently produced video of Vera Lynn, in several moments over the years, singing that song, click on the screen below –

Vera Lynn  was one of the last of the living icons from the Second World War era, and many of the people she sang her songs to – members of what have come to  be known as “the greatest generation” – are gone. Continue reading →

“Yes, our lives may never be the same as they were before, but that does not mean we are worse off. In some ways, we have been given the opportunity to rebuild aspects of our economy and our community so that it may better work for everyone. I hope as we slowly and safely start to recover and rebuild, we will do so in partnership and collaboration.”

– from Niagara Regional Chair Jim Bradley’s State of the Region address, June 18^th, 2020

The Regional Chair’s State of the Region Address, this one delivered virtually

Posted June 18^th, 2020 on Niagara At Large

“Good morning.

Niagara Regional Chair Jim Bradley

I want to thank each of you for logging in today to participate in this virtual State of the Region.

While I know meetings of this type have become common place over the last few months, I am personally looking forward to our next opportunity to gather as a  community and make the connections that some of us used to take for granted.

I also want to thank the Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce and all of today’s sponsors for making this event possible. I am grateful for the opportunity to share some thoughts on the state of our Region and how Niagara will emerge on the other side of one of the most challenging times that we have experienced as a community.

Finally, I want to thank Dr. Mustafa Hirji, the Region’s Acting Medical Officer of Health, and Ron Tripp, the Region’s Acting Chief Administrative Officer, for joining me as part of the discussion panel. I am looking forward to addressing the question from this chamber’s membership.

*COVID‐19 Impacts*

I want to begin my remarks today by addressing the impact COVID‐19 has had on our economy, our public health systems, and most importantly, our people.

(If you would like to watch and listen to Niagara Regional Chair Jim Bradley delivering this State of the Region address virtually, click on the screen immediately below.)

Many businesses are struggling to keep the lights on as doors remain shut and revenues are down. And unfortunately, we all know of businesses who paid an even larger sacrifice to keep the community safe and will never reopen after the pandemic is over. Continue reading →

It’s Official. Border Closing extended to all but ‘Non-Essential Traffic’ until at least July 21st

Keep Border Crossing Closed to Trumpland Until End of Year, If Necessary

A News Commentary by Niagara At Large reporter and publisher Doug Draper

Posted June 17th, 2020 on Niagara At Large

Thank You Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for the role you played in continuing to keep the Canada-U.S. border closed

Well, what can one say? We are living in post-apocalyptic times, after all.

As someone who has spent most of my life crossing the border to the United States, and has made many dear friends in “the land of the free,” I never imagined a time would come when crossing that iconic Peace Bridge between Niagara, Ontario and Buffalo would be closed to all but mostly commercial, “essential traffic” for going on four months.

You would have to go back 102 years, to the misnamed “Spanish Flu” pandemic of 1918, to know the real life-and-death impacts of anything like this.

There are many lessons to learn from the 1918 pandemic – not least of which are the disastrous consequences of declaring the health emergency over and re-opening “business as usual” way too soon –  but there is a self-described “stable genius” south of the border in the White House who thinks he knows better than any health experts do. Continue reading →

Will Ford’s Moves Put Biodiverse Gems Like Thundering Waters Forest in Niagara Falls and Waverly Woods in Fort Erie at Further Risk

“Instead of investing in recovery from the pandemic, the Ontario government is continuing its hatchet job on sound planning.” – The Canadian advocacy group Environmental Defence

A Statement by Environmental Defence’s Executive Director, Tim Gray, on the Ontario government’s proposed weakening of the Growth Plan

Posted June 16th, 2020 on Niagara At Large

Toronto, Ontario – Today (this June 16th)  the Ontario government resumed their attack on farms, sustainable cities, nature and affordable healthy living in the Greater Golden Horseshoe (GGH).

Let’s not let short-sighted politicians and greedy developers use the Pandemic and need to “get back to business” to destroy places like this – Thundering Waters Forest in Niagara Falls – for all time. Photo by Lori Monroe

The proposed changes to the Growth Plan include:

•  1. Removing all protection for endangered species and their habitats from the impacts of aggregate pits, quarries and way-side pits in natural heritage areas.
• 2. Considering the use of inaccurate population projections to guide future growth, even though their own Ministry of Finance has determined that census based projections show that only Peel Region and Toronto are exceeding Growth Plan projections, while every other region is attracting far fewer residents.
• 3. Extending the required period for municipalities to plan for growth until 2051, thus facilitating massive urban boundary expansions onto farmland and natural areas.
• 

  Let’s protect Ontario’s species at risk and in danger of disappearing forever. They are worth more than low-density urban sprawl.

Continue reading →