Yearly Archives: 2012

Posted by Doug Draper, publisher, Niagara At Large

 If you have been following the series of articles The Toronto Star is running this August on Marineland and some of the posts that have appeared on this site on concerns of the conditions for animals at that Niagara Falls amusement park, you may be saying; ‘Well that’s disturbing but what can I do about it?

Bears begging for food from visitors at Marineland in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Park owner John Holer was recently quoted saying in a Toronto Star story; “We taje care of the animals – better than I would take care of myself. File photo courtesy of the Toronto-based public interest group ZooCheck Canada.

 Well other than not supporting places like this with your money, which is ultimately the best thing people can do to shut down this place down as an animal circus, there is a lot you can do actually – starting with contacting your  MPPs and MPs and urging them to support tougher regulations for commercial sites like Marineland that hold marine mammals and terrestrial animals like deer, bears and buffalo. Continue reading →

By Dan Wilson

In 2003, Marineland tried – unsuccessfully – to sue me personally, and Niagara Action for Animals as a non-profit organization (because I was doing volunteer work for them at the time) for $250,000 because I was trying to raise awareness of the conditions of the animals at Marineland.

Dr. David Suzuki, host of CBC’s Nature of Things, in Niagara six years ago to raise legal defence funding for Marineland protesters.

We held demonstrations, we handed out literature, we erected billboards around Niagara Falls, we did television, radio and newspaper interviews, and we met with city councillors, the police and anyone else we could think of to help these animals.

City Hall despised us, the police defended Marineland, even after John Holer threatened to kill me, and even after his employees assaulted us and tried stealing our protest signs, sometimes while they were still in our hands and in one case knocking an 82 year old protester to the ground in the process. Continue reading →

By Mark Taliano

There are at least two visions of Canada.  The better vision belongs to Jean Ralston Saul, author of A Fair Country, and to progressive, forward-looking Canadians. 

It is a vision that embraces and respects the three founding pillars of our society: the Aboriginal, the French, and the English.  It sees strength in each pillar, and recognizes that the three interconnected yet independent pillars make Canada a distinctive society that has been, in many ways, a model for the world.  We have Quebec, with its culture and language preserved, a bilingual federal government, as well as Inuit-governed Nunavut, Nunavik, and native reserves.

Self-government in Nunavut and Nunavik strengthens rather than weakens who we are as a people. Northern aboriginal communities reinforce our sovereignty as a nation, rather than weaken it, by asserting our permanent residency in the far north, and the respect is reciprocated.  Chief Joseph Gosnell: “Once Nunavut had been created, I heard people say, “Now we are Canadian.”  Continue reading →

(Niagara At Large is pleased to share with you the following information around taking interesting journeys into our past as Canadian and American neighbours, for your information.)

Anthony S. Pitch Speaks at Buffalo Niagara Heritage Village August 27 at 7pm Award-winning author in town for War of 1812 Bicentennial

 Award-winning American history author and former international journalist Anthony S. Pitch (his photo is attached) brings his impassioned speaking style to Buffalo Niagara Heritage Village (3755 Tonawanda Creek Road, Amherst NY 14228) on August 27 at 7pm for his presentation, “The Burning of Washington and the Birth of the Anthem”.

Award-winning author, historian and journalist Anthony Pitch to speak on new War of 1812 book.

This event is part of the Buffalo & Erie County Naval & Military Park’s new Speaker Series, entitled “The War of 1812: A new look at America’s second war of independence.”  Admission is free and open to the public.  A book signing will follow his presentation.  For more information, the public may call the Park at 716-847-1773 ext. 10.

Pitch is a former international journalist who has authored books on American history for the past 30 years, including the award-winning The Burning of Washington: The British Invasion of 1814 and They Have Killed Papa Dead! about President Lincoln’s assassination.  Featured in PBS and History Channel documentaries on the War of 1812, among other projects, he is annually invited to speak at Fort McHenry on the anniversary of Francis Scott Key writing the national anthem. Continue reading →

A Niagara At Large Editorial by Doug Draper 

Ontario’s Community Safety and Corrections Minister Madeleine Meilleur says she “was in tears” when she read a series of stories in the Toronto Star this August, detailing charges of animal suffering by former employees at the popular Marineland amusement park in Niagara Falls, Ontario.

From an August 2012 protest rally in front of Marineland in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Photo by Doug Draper

That sounds touching and suggests the possibility that Meilleur is sincerely concerned about any living being , whether it be a whale, a dolphin, a sea lion or a bear, that may be struggling to survive in conditions that are less than humane. But tears, as we all know, can be wiped away with one brush of a hanky and are no compensation for taking effective action to address the circumstances that reportedly caused the Liberal government cabinet minister to cry in the first place. 

What Meilleur and the government of Dalton McGuinty ought to do right now, in the wake of a series of stories The Star has been publishing this August on the conditions of  animals at Marineland, is assemble a team of some of the best marine mammal and terrestrial animal experts on the continent to get to the bottom of what should be done to regulate the operations of facilities like this and whether keeping animals as exotic and complex as whales, dolphins and seals in captivity should be allowed at all. Continue reading →

Submitted to Niagara At Large from the Office of Andrea Horwath

“A year ago today we lost a great leader, a mentor, and dear friend in Jack Layton. As difficult as his passing was, and at times still is, I find comfort in knowing that his call for love, hope and optimism has inspired Canadians from coast to coast to coast. He set an example for us all. He brought us together.

The late leader of Canada’s NDP is being honoured across the country this August, a year following his untimely death.

This past year had some challenging moments for me as Leader of the NDP in Ontario’s first minority government in 25 years. There were times I would have picked up the phone and called Jack for some guidance and advice. He had always been a great listener, a relentless optimist and source of inspiration to me. I reflect on our many conversations as fond memories. I am very proud to have called him my leader and more importantly my friend. Continue reading →

By Dan Wilson

I’m still shaking my head at this one. Are they for real or what? 

So I have this friend who buys illegal smokes. Hmmm, let me rephrase that. I have a friend who has a friend who says he knows someone who buys illegal smokes. Much better.

Click on this image to move it to full screen. Photo by Dan Wilson

Anyways, the idea of driving an hour to an hour and a half (that’s approximately how long it takes to get from Niagara Falls to Caledonia) to save a few bucks on cigarettes always seemed a little… wasteful to me.

That was until I did a bit of research and found that you can purchase a bag of 200 illegal cigarettes for as little as $6 whereas the same amount of legal smokes costs between $70 and $100. Okay, that’s quite a savings. I learned something new today. Continue reading →

Conduct of Niagara Falls Humane Society And Ontario Society For Protection Of Cruelty To Animals Should  Be Investigated Too

 A Commentary by Doug Draper

Marineland owner John Holer was not as visible as he usually is this past Saturday, August 18.

There are children who don’t want to do Marineland. Here are a few at the August 18 rally in front of the Niagara Falls, Ontario park. Photo by Doug Draper

 While there were a few accounts of Holer sitting in his SUV, glaring at the protesters gathered along the shoulders of the road in front of his sprawling Niagara Falls, Ontario amusement park, he quickly retreated when approached by reporters. There was none of Holer’s usual driving back and forth repeatedly like a caged animal, doing his usual stare-down-the-protesters-as-if-to-intimidate-them thing. Continue reading →

A Submission from Niagara Land Trust executive director Natalie Kiers

(Niagara At Large is always pleased to post some good jnews like this when it comes our way.)

August 16, 2012 – The Niagara Land Trust, a not-for-profit organization that conserves the natural heritage of the Niagara Peninsula today for future generations, has secured the long-term protection of the Smiths’ Christmas Tree Farm in Pelham via a conservation agreement.

Thanks to generous landowners, a conservation agreement has been secured for generations for this verdant tract of land in the short hills of Pelham, Ontario

The property consists of mature upland and lowland Carolinian forests, a white pine plantation, and is located along a tributary of the Twelve Mile Creek. The property hosts a rich abundance of plant and wildlife species including several which are provincially and regionally rare.

 On Wednesday, August 22, the NLT Directors, members and volunteers will recognize the donation of the conservation agreement by property owners Jim and Mary Smith in an announcement ceremony held on the property. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

As regular readers of Niagara At Large know, we honour the death of favourite artists here, and how can we leave out Phyllis Diller.

The one and only grand dame of stand-up comedy

Phyllis Diller, who rose from a young wife and mother in the 1950s to become a pioneer for women in the merciless field of stand-up comedy, died in her Lose Angeles home this August 20 at age 95. Her son Perry reportedly found her resting peacefully in her bed in the morning with what he described as a smile on her face, which seems only fitting for someone who, for more than half a century, brought so much laughter to a world where things are often not all that funny. Continue reading →

By Dan Wilson

“You can judge a nation, and it’s moral progress, by the way it treats its animals.” – Mohandas K. Gandhi

Ever since the St. Catharines Standard wrote a story about Baby Jane, a captive pilot whale with “suicidal tendencies” back in 1967, critics and animal rights advocates have been trying to dispel the myth that “Everyone Loves Marineland”.

An orca – popularly known as a ‘killer whaie’ – in captivity at Marineland. Photo by Dan Wilson

Baby Jane would apparently charge head-on into the metal bars of her holding tank, and then smash into the walls of it, “with blood gushing from a gash in her head,” writhing “wildly about” and trying to throw herself out of the water.

The paper had also reported that she’d been inactive since she “arrived” at Marineland (read: forcibly captured and put on display) and performers who swam with her regularly would swear she was crying.

A sad story. What’s even sadder is that, almost 50 years later, we still have places that keep animals captive for our amusement. Continue reading →

Whirlpool Jet Boat Tours focuses on increasing ridership with overseas tourism market

A Submission from Whirlpool Jet Boat Tours

(As many may know, the jet boat rides in the lower Niagara River have been a subject of concern for many people who do not believe these rides respect the river and its as a unique natural resource. Niagara At Large has posted stories on these concerns and will continue to do so in the future. In the spirit of fair play, NAL is also posting the following piece on these rides, submitted to the media by Whirlpool Jet Boat Tours.) 

NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE, Ont.– Whirlpool Jet Boat Tours’ reputation as one of Niagara’s premier attractions is building momentum in the overseas tourism market, drawing a growing number of international travellers to experience the one-of-a-kind adventure ride on the Niagara River.

Photo courtesy of Niagara Whirlpool Jet Boat Tours

The Niagara-on-the-Lake tour boat operator owes a large part of its success over the past 20 seasons to its emphasis on forging relationships with international travel companies and investing in overseas marketing strategies, says Whirlpool Jet Boat Tours president John Kinney.

“We attract a steady ridership from our home markets in Canada and the U.S., but our international visitors make up an extremely important share of our businesses each year as well,” Kinney says. “They’re drawn to Niagara by the same thing as our domestic passengers — the opportunity to safely experience a thrilling whitewater adventure that they can’t find anywhere else in the world.” Continue reading →

 A  Commentary by Doug Draper

Okay so which is it? Is the job picture improving in Niagara, Ontario or is it still in the tank?

Rick Dykstra, federal Niagara area Conservative government member, says jobless rates are looking up.

And if it is improving – if we are actually seeing “a record number of jobs” being created in Niagara – who or what deserves credit for that? Should we credit the federal government, the provincial government or a combination of both, or should we just be thankful to global forces that have seen a general upturn in job opportunities (reflected in recent July job figures reported for the United States) across the continent? 

If the jobs picture remains bleak in Niagara and other regions of the province, who should we blame for that? Should we blame the federal government, the provincial government or the vagaries of a world where global, corporate forces now rule? 

The confusion around answering this question at the moment is compouded by recent media releases from  Conservative MP Rick Dykstra, a federal representative for the Harper government in Ottawa, boasting that a “record number of jobs” have been created in Niagara and, of course, the government Dykstra worked for had something to do with that. Then, on this same August 16 date, you get a media release from the Ontario Conservative Party of Tim Hudak, arguing that “reckless overspending” by the province’s Liberal government has cost jobs in the province.

At first blush, when you read these releases, you ask yourself; ‘Are these people – all members of the same political party – casting these messages from different planets or is there some kind of a split-brain thing happening here? Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

Following the first of a three-part series in the Toronto Star this August 15 – a series investigating the conditions under which sea mammals at the popular Marineland amusement park in Niagara Falls, Ontario have no choice but to contend with – a provincial member of parliament is calling on the Ontario government to set tougher regulations for the treatment of these wondrous living beings in captivity.

Toronto Star does its number on Marineland in Niagara Falls, Ontario.

“Today’s (August 15) story about Marineland was truly heart wrenching,” said Cheri DiNovo, an NDP MPP for the Toronto riding of Parkdale-High Park of accounts by former Marineland employees of alleged lousy, life-threatening conditions for animals like ‘Larry’, a favourite harbour seal for park visitors who has reportedly gone blind due to skunky water conditions. “These allegations should be a wake-up call for the Ontario government to take the lead in regulating the treatment of sea mammals in Ontario. …

“How can we as a society put regulations on individual pet owners,” Di Novo asked, “but not on companies which use animals for entertainment?”

Allow this reporter who, two decades ago, wrote a series of stories for the St. Catharines Standard, chronicling concerns raised by former Marineland and employees ago, to take a stab at answering this rather naïve, however well-intentioned  question from the MPP.  Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

Kevin Smith calls it “the most contentious issues” he has yet to deal with before wrapping up his year-long stint as supervisor of the Niagara Health System with a set of recommendations to the provincial government on how and where the NHS should manage hospital services in this region for years to come.

Niagara, Ontario area doctors Chander Bhagirath and Ken Reddy, in foreground, urge Niagara Health System supervisor Kevin Smith and expert panel to keep maternity services at Niagara Falls and Welland hospital sites. Photo by Doug Draper

Where should maternity care services – pediatrics and obstetrics – be located in Niagara, Ontario in the years ahead?

Should they all be based at the new hospital complex the NHS is opening in west St. Catharines next year? Or should maternity care be split between the new hospital and two other hospitals the NHS operates in Welland and Niagara Falls. 

With medical staff in the NHS divided between “consolidating” the services at the the new hospital or splitting them between three sites, Smith has called on a panel of hospital experts to help him arrive at a decision where he warned during an initial meeting of the panel this August 14 that whatever decision is made, “someone is going to be unhappy” because there is no room for compromise between those two choices. Continue reading →

By Mark Taliano

“Canada, formerly respected throughout the world as a nation of peacekeepers and diplomats, succumbs to jingoist overtures from a militant P.M who seems oblivious to the realities of illegal warfare …” 

Iraqi war veteran Mike Prysner is a prophet.  He explains that he was the terrorist in Iraq, that the real terrorism is the occupation of Iraq, and that the real enemies are not overseas, but at home.

U.S. Iraq War vetneran Mike Prysner joints in anti-war rally.

Those who seek profit from war, the armaments industry that make the weapons, the media conglomerates that black out protests, the generals who lobby the politicians, the politicians who launch illegal wars of aggression, and ultimately, the people who fight the wars,  are the enemies at home, to which Mike Prysner is referring. 

Without exception, each of these “enemies” profits, to some degree or another, from cataclysmic war.

Lockheed Martin, when it successfully lobbies Canada to buy sole-source, untendered F-35 war planes, designed for offensive bombing operations, profits from war.  According to Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page, the price of the planes will be $C29.3 billion over 30 years, not the $C16-18 billion that the government promised. Continue reading →

A Brief Comment by Doug Draper 

What is wrong with Niagara, Ontario’s regional government? Why does it seem to almost always be afraid of its own shadow when it comes to taking a stand on issues that are no-brainers?

Whether it is a lack of courage to do what the Region of Waterloo did more than five years ago – to build a real, viable regional transit system in a two-tier municipal system not all that different than Niagara’s or to at long last create an amalgamated economic development service for businesses that might want to locate and create jobs here – this regional council too often reacts like a deer caught in the headlights. And almost always, it is a paralyzing brand of parochialism – as in local fiefdoms refusing to work together because they view their interests as superseding the interests of the region as a whole – that get in the way. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

There’s an old line that goes; “They shoot horses, don’t they?”

It’s a line I don’t like that applies horses that have become so badly injured or infirmed in the eyes of their owners that they are no longer earning their oats. So out comes the gun and BANG! It’s over.

Well, I’ve been putting off saying this because of some age old reverence I have for a once-proud federal agency called Environment Canada, but perhaps it is time that the same line applied to it. I mean what is the point of Canada pretending that it still has a federal agency that plays some real role in environmental surveillance and protection when that agency has had all of the guts it needs to get the job done ripped out of it?

So let’s be honest. If Canadians support a federal government that has little or no use for environmental protection – a government that goes so far as to call any individual or group that places environmental protection above unfettered tar sands expansion an “extremist” or “adversary of Canada” – why bother having a federal environment department? Why not shut Environment Canada down now and save the taxpayers of the country however hundreds of millions of dollars it is costing to keep this ghost of a once vital voice for our natural heritage running? They shoot horses, don’t they? Continue reading →

A Foreword by NAL publisher Doug Draper

Last year The Globe and Mail published a story about the difficulty new teachers, fresh out of teachers’ college, are having getting a foot in the classroom door.

One of the problems for newly minted teachers is demographics. There are simply fewer kids to teach in our elementary and secondary schools than there were a decade ago. Another key reason new teachers are having trouble getting hired, according to The Globe report, is that a goodly number of retired teachers aren’t really retiring.

Ontario Education Minister Laurel Broten

These retired teachers, some of whom were quoted saying that their retirement pensions were not adequately covering the cost of their retirement, were signing up with school boards in their areas for supply teacher positions. And with the backing of their unions and area school administrators who would rather take a chance with a veteran than a rookie, they are typically the first to be called when a staff teacher cuts out for days or weeks on end due to illness or some other reason. That has been leaving many new teachers missing out on what opportunities there are left these days to show their stuff.

For anyone who believes it is important to bring young people with new ideas and energy in to an area as important as the education of our children, a system that makes it hard for young teachers to get a foot in the classroom because teachers who have retired won’t retire enough to give new blood the right of way, ought to be a concern. Continue reading →

Posted by Doug Draper

“The past few years have been hard on our community.”

So stresses a note Elisabeth Zimmermann, executive direct of YMCA Niagara Region on the Ontario side of our greater region’s border sent to the regional government’s chairman, Gary Burroughs and his council late this July.

“Homelessness and poverty have increased 60 per cent, placing a greater strain on service providers and the government alike,” this note which every resident in this region goes on to say. “The latest reports indicate that Niagara continues to carry two to three percent higher-than-the-national average unemployment rate with plant closures and job losses reported on a seemingly daily basis.” 

“Niagara is also in the bottom five communities in Canada for lowest median Canada (and) with changes to federal unemployment rules, fewer Niagarians qualify for this insurance Previously in place safety nets have been removed by the federal government, causing a greater burden on provincial and municipal governments.

“This information is not new to you. We know that,” continues Zimmermann’s powerful note to our regional leaders and, indeed, it shouldn’t be. Continue reading →

(Niagara At Large would like to preface this post with an apology to the Niagara Land Trust, a dedicated group of volunteers working with other bodies across our region on nature preservation projects.

The information in this post was circulated in late June and somehow it slipped by us. NAL contacted Natalie Kiers, the Land Trust’s executive director early this August, and she graciously informed us that it is not too late to run it and she would be pleased if we did so. 

So grab your camera and head outdoors to see if you can capture an award-winning image of some of Niagara’s “winged jewels” before the September 17 deadline. Here are the details for the photo contest below.)

NIAGARA LAND TRUST 1ST PHOTO CONTEST – WINGED JEWELS OF NIAGARA

The Niagara Land Trust is pleased to announce its 1^st ever photo contest. From June 25^th to September 17^th, amateur and professional photographers are invited to snap pictures of butterflies, caterpillars, dragonflies or moths – Winged Jewels of Niagara and send in their photos.

The goal of the contest is to not only showcase the beautiful winged creatures out there but to encourage people to get outdoors to enjoy and appreciate nature and all that it has to offer.

“Areas all around southern Ontario have been experiencing some of the biggest springtime butterfly migrations in history, experts say we can continue to expect high numbers throughout the summer season.” says Natalie Kiers, NLT Executive Director. Winners will be featured on a poster which will be sold to a handful of local retailers throughout the region just in time for Christmas. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

She is a Canadian heroine whose actions during the War of 1812 helped drive back an invading American army.

One of the last photos of the first home of Laura Ingersoll Secord in Great Barrington, Massachusetts before it was torn down a century ago. Image courtest of members of Great Barrington Historical Society.

These days though, Laura Secord seems to be doing more to bring Canadians and Americans closer together as a delegation of officials and historians from Great Barrington, Massachusetts – a picturesque New England town nestled in the Berkshire Hills where she was born Laura Ingersoll in 1775 – meet with members of the Niagara-based  ‘Friends of Laura Secord’ group at her Queenston, Ontario homestead  this August 10. Continue reading →

(A brief foreword by Niagara At Large – So what do you think. Should we stay with the government-run LCBOs and Beer Stores or should we do what New York State and many other jurisdictions on this continent do, and allow the sale of beer, wine and other alcoholic beverages  in privately run stores?

Do you share the concerns some have that selling any beverage with an alcohol in it in a convenience store may make it easier for under age people or those with drinking problems to get their hands on alcohol? 

Do you believe the provincial government should continue to run LCBO and Beer Stores for the hundreds of millions they bring in each year for other services, like health care, or go for whatever immediate money it can get selling these outlets off to the private sector?

We invite you to share your views at the end of this post)

Submitted to Niagara At Large by Ontario’s opposition Progressive Conservative Party 

Submitted to Niagara At Large by the Niagara Parks Commission

(Niagara At Large is an independent news and commentary site which, among other things, is dedicated to promoting the historic and cultural heritage of our greater Niagara region. In that spirit, we are pleased to share advance news of the following event, commemorating the bincentennial of the War of 1812)

 26^thAnnual Siege of Old Fort Erie

War of 1812 Re-enactors at Old Fort Erie. File photo courtesy of Niagara Parks Commission

 Niagara Falls, Ontario – Staff at The Niagara Parks Commission’s (NPC) Old Fort Erie are preparing the final details for the 26^th Annual Siege Weekend at Old Fort Erie on August 11 -12, 2012. Canada’s largest battle re-enactment weekend portrays the excitement and drama of the War of 1812 with an action packed schedule of events planned for the entire weekend. Continue reading →

A Brief Comment by Doug Draper 

Whenever I try to make sense out of some of the madness in this world we live in, or at least try to find some reason to laugh in or at it, I often find myself turning to the gospel according to George – the late, great U.S. satirist and winner of the 2008 Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, George Carlin.

George Carlin

This is Carlin’s take on it, which some of us north of the Canada/U.S. border might identify with as well, at least so far as the references to lawyers, judges and politicians are concerned. Continue reading →

A Brief by Doug Draper (and something a little lighter for a long holiday weekend)

Okay, I admit it. I have this  incurable thing for Marilyn.

 Earlier this year, I wrote a column mourning my lost chance, 60 years ago this June in Niagara Falls, to have my photo taken with Marilyn Monroe when I was a mere babe of one and she was in the Honeymoon City filming a movie called ‘Niagara’. And now I can’t let this August 5 go by without a mention of the 50^th anniversary of her death at age 36. Continue reading →

(Niagara At Large is posting the following August 3 submission from Ontario’s opposition Conservative Party for our readers information.)

“The solar inverter plant in Toronto hasn’t opened… Samsung hasn’t signed a deal for its module plant in London… the blade plant in Tillsonburg was supposed to employ 300 people but there are fewer than 35 people at work there… While the (wind tower company) has been open since March of 2011, it hasn’t received a single order from Samsung, and that’s the whole reason it came here…” “Within the last eight months, the (Windsor-Essex) area has seen the sudden closure of new facilities run by Silken SA, Uni-Solar and Windtronics… resulting in the elimination of 190 real jobs and hundreds more prospective positions…”

 – from July 31 CTV and Windsor Star coverage of our “very strong” renewables sector

August 3, 2012

 “VERY STRONG” RENEWABLES SECTOR? NO, A COSTLY BUST; PC ENERGY CRITIC VIC FEDELI

NORTH BAY – Energy Minister Chris Bentley is sadly mistaken if he really believes his government’s wind and solar experiments on taxpayer life-support are “very strong”, as he recently claimed, Ontario PC Energy Critic Vic Fedeli said today.

 “Even when they’re up and running, these projects are kept afloat by massive subsidies which pay producers between double and 10 times the going rate for electricity,” Fedeli said. “They are driving energy costs to among the highest in North America, pushing manufacturers out of Ontario and leading to power surpluses that we must export at huge losses.” Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

A glimpse of our lower Great Lakes, with our greater Niagara region nestled between Lakes Erie and Ontario, from space.

Environmental Defense, a citizens group based in Toronto, is asking all of us toprovide feedback to Ontario Environment Minister Jim Bradley and theprovince’s Liberal government by this August 7 on anything we would like to see changed in the government’s milestone Great Lakes Protection Act.

“Generally we like the act and strategy, but there is always room for improvement,” said the group’s water program manager Claire Malcolmson in a recent news release. Among the things in the act, unveiled for public review this past June, the group would like to see ramped up is more concrete actions for protecting and improving water quality, wetlands, beaches and shorelines. It would also like to see First Nations and Metis people given more say in decision making around Great Lakes protection actions. 

While a number of Canadian and American Great Lakes group have praised the Ontario act since its unveiling this spring, Malcolmson says “we need to make sure the act is strong enough to protect the Great Lakes’ wild species and human inhabitians from current and future stresses.” Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper 

Yes, I know many of us don’t hold lawyers in very high regard unless one of them happens to be a beloved member of our family.

‘His Lordship’ Conrad Black’s 2005 mug shot

On just about any scale, in any survey or poll conducted on the least trusted professions in Canada and the United States over the past 20 or so years, lawyers are right down there, swimming through the bottom sludge with politicians, insurance  agents and, yes, journalists.

Yet this journalist – however trusted or untrusted I may be – is going to take a chance and say cheers to more than 80 Canadian lawyers – all specialists in immigration law – who have shown the courage and the moral fortitude to challenge Canada’s Stephen Harper government that it played no role in allowing Conrad Black, a conficted criminal, entry to Canada earlier this year on a residency permit. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

Let me begin with a question. Who owns the Great Lakes?

Public is fenced off from many stretches of beach behind private homes along Lake Erie in Niagara, Ontario. File photo courtesy of Ontario Shorewalk Association.

You might respond by saying that the answer to that one is simple. We all do. Or if you want think about these waterbodies the way our Native North Americans friends might, you may say we don’t own them. We are just borrowing them from our children.

Well, on the Ontario side of the Great Lakes at least, and possibly in a number of U.S. states around the lakes, you would be wrong on both counts because these waterbodies – as in any access to them along most of their beaches –  are apparently the monopoly of people who own property along them. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper 

What if the regional council for Niagara, Ontario began talks on its yearly budget and hardly anyone from the taxpaying public showed any active interest?

Dave Augustyn, Pelham, Ontario’s mayor, regional councillor and chair of the regional government’s budget review committee, wants citizens across Niagara to get more involved in calling the shotes on region’s next budget..

That’s pretty well the way it’s been for most of the 42 years Niagara’s regional government has been in existence. And it has been so even though the regional government’s portion of taxes range somewhere around 40 and 50 per cent of the total property tax bill, compared to local municipalities that consume about a third of the property tax pie, and the province that takes about 15 per cent for education.

It is a sad comment on how little too many of us care about what our municipal governments are doing to our pocketbooks and the services they are mandated to deliver that year after year, it is not unusual to see only a half dozen Niagara residents – usually the same half dozen residents – participate in any way whatsoever in the regional council’s budget discussions. Continue reading →

“The United States was founded by the brightest people in the country – and we haven’t seen them since.” —  American writer Gore Vidal

From Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper 

Five years ago we lost Norman Mailer. Earlier this year we lost Christopher Hitchens, and now Gore Vidal.

American writer Gore Vidal

It may not matter to all of those people who can’t read or think past a tweet or a two-sentence note from a “friend” on Facebook, talking about the nice pair of shoes they bought, but it may mean something to any of you who are left out there who appreciate the value of having a few writers around who have some real thoughtful gravity to them, whether you agree with their views on not.

It is that kind of probing, searing, kick-out-the-jams-and-go-for-it gravity that our troubled world has lost once again with the death this July 31 of American writer Gore Vidal at age 86. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

Ontario’s agriculture minister Ted McMeekin has called on his federal counterpart Gerry Ritz to provide funding support to farmers in Niagara and other regions of the province  who’ve been damaged by this summer’s extremely dry weather.

What are these milk-producing cows going to eat if this drought drags on?

A Commentary by Doug Draper

What if one of Niagara, Ontario’s provincial representatives went out of her way to mail out a survey on health care to close to 50,000 of her constituents and more than 97 per cent of them chose not to respond?

Welland, Ontario MPP Cindy Forster finds out hardly anyone in her constituency is willing to participate in a health care survey

Apparently it does. And at least some inside the administration of the Niagara Health System – the decade-old body responsible for the management of most hospital services in the region – may find comfort in the fact that barely more than two per cent of the constituents served by Welland Riding MPP Cindy Forster bothered to respond to her request for information as she and her NDP colleagues continue to press the provincial government for more funding for hospitals.  Continue reading →

By Mark Taliano

 “The price of oil and quality of freedom”, writes New York Times columnist Thomas Freidman, “invariably travel in opposite directions. As the price of oil climbs higher in an oil-dominated country, poor or rich, secular of Muslim, the country’s citizens will, over time, experience less free speech, declining freedom of the press, and a steady erosion of the rule of law.  Neither Texans nor Canadians are exempt …. It is the ‘axiom of our age’.”

On this count, Thomas Freidman couldn’t be more correct.  Prime Minister Harper’s assaults on Canadian freedoms have been devastating. His assaults on free speech started quietly, first by muzzling, and then by firing federal scientists.

 Apparently, that wasn’t enough though, so he put the world renown Environmental Lakes Area, a base for 745 peer-reviewed scientific articles, on the chopping block. Continue reading →

Just a short note from Niagara At Large  on Canal Days -. This is one of the great get togethers in Niagara during the summer –  Canal Days in Port Colborne, Ontario is. All kinds of fun – craft shows, music, etc. in a fabulous canal, lakefront setting hosted by a community in Niagara, Ontario that had the presence of mind to celebrate its canal heritage rather than bury it. If you are in to just digging the best of the Welland Candal and our Great Lakes waters, and if want to top that off with a whole lot of fun, join the countless thousands who will groove out on this one. Now here is a media release and a link for additional information below.

The Canal Days Marine Heritage Festival offers activities and attractions that will enliven the senses. The Tall Ships gather in Port Colborne each Civic holiday weekend, for a four-day celebration of history and heritage. Explore the decks, try your hand at the wheel, or feel the spray as you cruise a Tall Ship on Lake Erie.  Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

Let the discussions over possible changes to the way Niagara, Ontario residents are governed at the municipal level begin – and let them begin NOW!

David Siegel speaks to Niagara, Ontario regional council about governance reform. Photo by Doug Draper

“You have over two years until the next municipal election, which may seem like a long time, but it is not,” David Siegel told Niagara’s regional councillors on July 26. “I think the timeline is to get started tomorrow.

Siegel is a longtime political science professor at Brock University, a respected expert on municipal governance across Ontario and is now the director of the Niagara Community Observatory that functions as a think tank for issues of concern to our greater Niagara region and is based at Brock. He has been invited by the regional government to provide them with some guidance as they navigate through what some consider treacherous waters – municipal governance reform that might to anything up to more amalgamation of services like public transit, and might even involve a fulsome debate on the amalgamation of local municipalities into fewer corporate entities or even one Region of Niagara.  Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

The decade-long drive for a full-fledged transit system for all of Niagara, Ontario has finally been put in the fast lane.

Niagara Regional chairman Gary Burroughs celebrates launch of pilot transit service in September, 2011. File photo by Doug Draper

“I have heard enough from residents of Niagara that we need a regional transit system,” Port Colborne Mayor Vance Badawey told fellow councillors at a meeting of the regional council this July 26 before tabling a motion asking for a report and recommendations to be produced by this spring of next year for launching one Niagara transit system for the region.

“We need an action plan for this,” said Badawey, adding that the three-year pilot project the regional government launched last year for a limited run of buses between Welland, Niagara Falls and St. Catharines “is not fully representative of what a regional transit system can be. … This is 2012. Look around at most, if not all municipal jurisidictions with populations over 400,000. They have regional transit.”  Continue reading →

By Michael Moore, Open Mike Blog, July 25, 2012

(NAL publisher Doug Draper – I have been thinking about making a few comments about guns and the tyranny of the National Rifle Association in America for days now, and still might. But you have got to stand back for a commentary by Michael Moore, who probed the gun culture in America in his Academy Award-winning film ‘Bowling for Columbine a decade ago. I don’t mind saying at all that I regard Michael Moore as one of the true voices left with a resonance that reaches back to the revolutionary call of the 1960s for a more just, and peaceful and loving world.

This provocative commentary by Michael Moore was posted this July 25 on the wonderful online news and commentary site  Reader Supported News. Please check out that site at https://secure.readersupportednews.org , become a regular subscriber and support it with a donation.)

Since Cain went nuts and whacked Abel, there have always been those humans who, for one reason or another, go temporarily or permanently insane and commit unspeakable acts of violence.

Michael Moore

There was the Roman Emperor Tiberius, who during the first century A.D. enjoyed throwing victims off a cliff on the Mediterranean island of Capri. Gilles de Rais, a French knight and ally of Joan of Arc during the middle ages, went cuckoo-for-Cocoa Puffs one day and ended up murdering hundreds of children. Just a few decades later Vlad the Impaler, the inspiration for Dracula, was killing people in Transylvania in numberless horrifying ways.

In modern times, nearly every nation has had a psychopath or two commit a mass murder, regardless of how strict their gun laws are – the crazed white supremacist in Norway one year ago Sunday, the schoolyard butcher in Dunblane, Scotland, the École Polytechnique killer in Montreal, the mass murderer in Erfurt, Germany … the list seems endless. Continue reading →

A Brief Foreword from Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper

For those of us who love visiting Niagara Falls and the Niagara River, and sometimes want a change from all of the casinos, high-rise hotels, gift shops, Marineland and other hyper-glitzy venues, you can’t do much better than a trip to the Niagara Glen.

The Niagara Glen overlooking the rapids of the lower Niagara River

A few miles downstream from the Horseshoe and American Falls on the Canadian side, the Niagara Glen and adjoining Whirlpool Forest is about as far away from the frazzle dazzle of Clifton Hill as you can get. If you are up to some on-foot physical exertion, take a walk down the open-air staircase. Take a walk down at the gorge face, and journey into a world of rock piles shaped by thousands of years of rushing water and erosion, and vegetation – some of which is growing out of faces in the rock – that is hundreds of years old. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper 

If you are into historic neighbourhoods and beautifully landscaped lawns and gardens, then you have got to try to be in Buffalo, New York for one of the greatest garden walk experiences in North America.

This classic Victorian home on West Delavan Avenue is a popular stop during Garden Walk Buffalo. It’s front and backyard gardens, along with a fish pond and brick paths leading to a ‘hidden garden’, has been featured in internationally circulated gardening magazines. File Photo by Doug Draper

Garden Walk Buffalo, scheduled for Saturday, July 28 and Sunday, July 29, is also the largest event of its kind on the continent, featuring more than 340 private and publicly owned gardens.

And the whole event, complete with a detailed garden-walk map and shuttle buses from neighbhourood to neighborhood where gardens are located, is absolutely free! Continue reading →

An Open Letter To Niagara, Ontario Regional Councillors

From Neil Switzer, Chairman of the West Lincoln Glanbrook Wind Action Group

Honourable Chairman and Councillors

Before Niagara officially brands itself as the “Green Capital of Canada” Regional Council should ask itself “Would Kitchener/Waterloo today initiate  their “Tech Triangle” branding with RIM’s  current state of financial affairs?”  Likely not without looking rather stupid or totally out of touch so why then would the Niagara Region want to hitch their reputation to an industry with an even worse financial outlook?

If you think RIM is in bad financial straights check out Vestas Wind Systems, the world’s largest wind turbine manufacturer and proposed supplier to the West Lincoln and Wainfleet wind projects. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

Welland, Ontario Riding MP Malcolm Allen, the federal New Democratic Party’s agriculture  critic, says it is time for Canada’s governing Conservatives to do something to address what is turning into a crisis for farmers in the Niagara region.

Many of these corn stocks in a parched field in Thorold, Ontario are barely a foot high, and it is late July! Photo by Doug Draper

The federal government should be prepared to provide economic assistance to due to this summer’s unusually dry conditions, not cut funds, Allen said.

In a July 24 media release, the federal representative noted that “in Ontario alone, the warm and dry weather has caused one of the worst droughts in history. In parts of Niagara,” Allen added, “there has only been 40 to 60 per cent of normal rainfall since April 1, and despite some rain last week, many crops are already irreparably damaged.”  Continue reading →

By Gary Screaton Page

The headline reads, “Big plans for mental health care.” That news would be good news if it wasn’t so bad. 

Niagara Health System hires renown pyschiatrist Dr. Edgardo Perez

For more than fifty years what were once “normal” human issues–childbirth, excessive drinking, obesity, difficult children, criminal behaviour, among others–have become medical conditions. Men and women who drink excessively are “ill”. Fat people are “obese” and have “hormone imbalances.” Criminals who molest children, serially murder, and the like are “misunderstood,” “victims of abuse,” “mentally ill”, or with some exceptions—some but not all—anything but responsible for their behaviour. Medicine is redefining the problems of society. Thus the “bad news” I mentioned earlier. Continue reading →

A Commentary’

Submitted by: Monte McNaughton, MPP

Over the past several months, I have had the opportunity to meet with hundreds of people involved with the Ontario horse racing industry. I have visited horse tracks from Windsor to Kawartha and from Fort Erie to Sudbury.

One thing I have heard at every stop is that Dalton McGuinty and Liberal Finance Minister Dwight Duncan’s decision to end the successful slots-at-racetracks agreement marked the beginning of the end for Ontario’s horse racing industry and with it over 60,000 direct or indirect jobs at a time when we already have 600,000 unemployed men and women here in Ontario. Continue reading →

By Mark Taliano

Not long ago, groups of peaceful protestors and other assorted disenfranchised people camped without permits in public parks throughout the world.  Reactions from authorities differed, but generally there was huge anxiety and concern, sometimes provoking military operations. In the United States, extraordinarily repressive legislation was crafted to disempower and crush the occupiers.

Typically, camping without a permit doesn’t provoke such seemingly excessive reactions.  The question arises then: What does provoke this reaction?

The answer lies in the fact that the occupiers, and protestors worldwide, have hit the electrified third rail of power. Continue reading →

By Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper

If you are a Niagara, Ontario resident and receive at your door each week a copy of a newspaper called Niagara This Week (they call it the Post in Fort Erie, the Town Crier in Niagara-on-the-Lake and whatever else in the Lincoln and Grimsby area) you may notice something missing in the Thursday, July 19 edition.

In 2004, Paul Forsyth (left), Doug Draper and Doug Youmans earned Niagara This Week a national newspaper award for a series on a controversial plan to build an amusment park ride at the Horseshoe Falls in Niagara Falls, Ontario. It was quite an achievement for a paper that, at the time, was less than a year old.

For the first time in years, there will not be a weekly column by yours truly, Doug Draper.

There won’t be one next week or in the weeks after that either, because Niagara This Week – a TorStar/Metroland publication run out of the GTA – has decided to drop the column, and put a quick and unceremonious end to a relationship I have had with Niagara This Week since its launch eight years ago this spring.

Because my column for Niagara This Week often dealt with issues that were heated or controversial, there will no doubt be some who jump to the conclusion that it was nixed for that reason. I almost wish that was so because it would make for a more interesting story, but that is not the case at all.

The reason had to do with something that is far more mundane in today’s world – cost-cutting measures. Continue reading →

Submitted To Niagara At Large by the Binational Alliance and Binational Heritage Peace Garden Trail – July 19, 2012

This Sunday, July 22 at 2 p.m., dignitaries and community members will be joined by former U.S. President James Madison and his wife Dolly at the Hull Family Home & Farmstead Site in Lancaster, NY for the official rededication of the Hull House 1812 Heritage Peace Garden and dedication of a new historical marker provided by a grant from The William G. Pomeroy Foundation.

The historic War of 1812-era Hull House in Lancaster, New York.

President Madison will be joined by Ebenezer Walden, former Mayor of Buffalo (1838), in providing brief remarks during that event as to their experiences during the War of 1812, followed by a musket salute from a contingent of soldiers from the 23rd Regiment U.S. Infantry.

The Hull House Peace Garden was inaugurated in August 2011, and is being rededicated as the 12th of 23 Peace Gardens that make up the new Binational Heritage Peace Garden Trail launched by the Binational Alliance and community partners from across the Southern Great Lakes as a legacy project for the Bicentennial of the War of 1812. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

So you say you don’t believe in the kind of radical climate change that can trigger record heat warnings and drought.

Open-air fires banned due to drought

Well, it doesn’t matter whether you think climate change or not. Niagara, Ontario and many other regions of eastern Canada and the United States are now experiencing record-setting heat waves, combined with smothering smog conditions and a lack of rain that is threatening to cause billions of dollars in crop damage, push up food prices for many months to come and turn our properties in to tinder boxes for any spark that comes along. Continue reading →

A Foreword by NAL publisher Doug Draper

In an age when growing numbers of individuals and groups around the world are pointing to public transit as more environmentally friendly alternative to cars, you may already know that Canada’s Via Rail has recently announced cuts to its rail transit services, including those running between the Niagara, Ontario region and the Greater Toronto Area.

This recent announcement came before a not-for-profit U.S. group called the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, ranked Canada 11^th out of 12 industrialized nations around the world when it comes to the use of public transit and other technologies to conserve or reduce the use of non-renewable energy. Continue reading →

 By Doug Draper

 The Canadian and U.S. governments are installing new technology at the Peace and Queenston-Lewiston border bridges and along car and truck routes approaching the bridges in an effort to reduce wait times for people crossing the border.

A line-up of traffic – and this isn’t even a big one – at the Peace Bridge crossing at Fort Erie, Ontario and Buffalo, New York. File Photo

 “Canada and the United States are taking action to promote the safe, secure and efficient movement of people and goods across the border,” said Nicholson. “This technology will make cross-border travel easier for Canadians and facilitate trade by providing reliable, up-to-date information to help drivers plan and choose the fastest crossing.” Continue reading →

By Will MacKenzie

As an observer of politicians and politics for the past 47 years, I have come to the conclusion that in order to bring about political reform in this country, we must start with electoral reform.

Ballots should have a space for “none of the above.”

The various political parties are too entrenched in their ways and ideology to change to meet the needs of the citizens of today.

The political parties will not change unless forced to. All one needs to do is look at the federal Liberal party and one can see the intense reluctance to change. Continue reading →

By Dan Wilson

Two recent news stories affirm the callousness and cruelty that is humankind. Both involve the exploitation, maiming and killing of animals by their owners, and sadly, both incidents are perfectly legal and supported by most people in our society.

An image from a CBC video of the latest chuckwagon mess at a rancid circus event for cowboy rednecks called the Calgary Stampede. These people care for horses the way plantation owners in the old American south said they cared for their slaves.

The first story is about the practice of tripping horses for human entertainment at rodeos south of the border. 

A video by SHARK (Showing Animals Respect and Kindness) was posted online depicting horses at the Jordan Valley Big Loop Rodeo in Oregon being lassoed and then tripped to show off the cowboys’ roping skills. Here’s the link:

http://eugeneweekly.com/blog/oregon-rodeo-horse-abuse

Did you watch the video? If not, please watch it right now: http://youtu.be/zmp8pkbU03I

Did it sicken you? Yet people in attendance are heard cheering and applauding. I don’t know how anyone could think this is fun to watch, but apparently lots of people – normal people by society’s standards – do. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

 My wife Mary recently returned from her first trip back to her homeland of Italy since leaving there with her family as a young child and one of the first things she discussed was the culture shock she felt after she got back down on the ground here.

Less than a year after the ribbon cutting for a three-year-pilot inter-municipal transit system in Niagara, Ontario, some reginoal councillors already want to pull the plug on it. File Photo from September, 2011 by Doug Draper

What she was talking the seemingly endless maze of roads and highways, with cars and truck buzzing in and out of clogged asphalt lots for box stores and strip malls, and in and out of the dead worm roads and cul de sacs for those those low-density, residential zones we so loosely describe as “planned communities” or “family-oriented neighbourhoods.” Continue reading →

A Brief Note from Doug Draper 

“I can’t get no, I can’t get no … no satisfaction, no satisfaction! ”

Those words were among the first heard around the world by a London, England-based band called The Rolling Stones.

A cpver of one of their earliest albums

It was 50 years ago this July that The Rolling Stones, fronted by Mick Jagger, an ever-menacing survivor and blues/rock guitarist and composer Keith Richards, the late Brian Jones, bassist Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts, played their first gig in a club in their hometown of London.  A couple of years later, they were performing their gritty brand of rock and blues around the world. Continue reading →

Tim Hudak – A Statement On Tragic Pelham Car Accident 

The following is a statement by Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak on the deadly car accident that took place on Regional Road 20, west of Fonthill:

“On behalf of the Ontario PC Caucus, it is with great sadness that we learn the news of those involved in this most tragic and fatal car accident.

Ontario Conservative Leader and Niagara area MPP Tim Hudak

“As the MPP for Niagara West-Glanbrook, it pains me to know that an accident of this magnitude has happened here in my own riding. I know all residents are in mourning. Devastating news like this truly hits our small town, and close knit community, hard.

“I want to acknowledge the brave EMS staff, fire fighters and police officers, who with such professionalism and care, arrived at the scene of this terrible accident to bring calm, resolve and reassurance to those left distraught and in fear.

“I know families will hold those impacted by this tragedy in their prayers.”  

(A Note from Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper – As a hopelessly addicted newspaper reader, one of the first sections of any newspaper I turn to is the editorial section, and what  I often check out first, even before I read the paper’s editorial opinions, are the letters to the editor.

To me, and as a columnist whose faults at least sometimes include being too wordy or long-winded, there is nothing I enjoy more than a letter to the editor that, in more than two or three paragraphs on an issue, just plain nails it.

Such is the case with the following letter to the editor, in my view, from the July 13, 2012 edition of The Globe and Mail, one of the last great daily newspaper left in Canada and, thankfully, not owned by Sun Media. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper 

I’ve got to be honest. I’m getting kind of tired after all these years of writing about the nonsense coming out of the Niagara Health System.

Road widening and other costly infrastructure work underway near new NHS super hospital in west St. Catharines, Ontario. File photo by Doug Draper

There again, it is hard to let the story appearing on the front page of July edition of the St. Catharines Standard and its two Sun Media companion papers, the Niagara Falls Review and Welland Tribune. The story begins like this; There might yet be hope for pediatrics and obstetrics services with south Niagara’s hospitals. .. “Where there’s life, there’s hope,” Niagara Health System supervisor Kevin Smith said.

Well, excuse me Mr. NHS supervisor, but there is plenty of life in Niagara, Ontario’s southern tier to justify keeping pediatrics and obstetrics services there. There are more than 175,000 people if you include Niagara Falls in the mix with Welland, Port Colborne, Fort Erie and Wainfleet, and they were never told those services would be taken away until the NHS’s so-called ‘Hospital Improvement Plan’ was tabled four years ago this summer by the system’s former CEO Debbie Sevenpifer and her board full of brown-nosers and sycophants. Continue reading →

A Brief Note from NAL publisher Doug Draper

During this relatively slow news period in July and August, this publisher will take a little more time to walk whatever open beaches we have left for the public to walk on in Niagara and, yes, I will be walking a few along the shores of my dear old home away from home, Cape Cod.

A favourite beach along the shores of Cape Cod Bay. Photo by Doug Draper

Therefore, we are going to kind of join the rest of the summer set in taking a little more easy during what we in the news business sometimes call ‘the dog days of summer.’

That does not mean Niagara At Large won’t be posting news and commentary on issues of interest and it certainly does not mean we will not be posting your responses to posts on this site or some of the news and commentary pieces we receive from contributors. It just means that we will be slowing down a little to do a little reflecting and recharging of our minds for what will likely be some challenging times ahead for our region, our country and for the world most of us wish to live a safe, peaceful and prosperous life in. Continue reading →

(Niagara At Large is posting the following release from Health Canada for our readers’ information. The study is a response to ongoing concerns expressed by residents living near industrial-size wind turbines about the potential negative impacts of these facilities on their  quality of life and health.)

July 10, 2012
For immediate release

OTTAWA – Health Canada, in collaboration with Statistics Canada, will conduct a research study that will explore the relationship between wind turbine noise and health effects reported by, and objectively measured in, people living near wind power developments.

“This study is in response to questions from residents living near wind farms about possible health effects of low frequency noise generated by wind turbines,” said the Honourable Leona Aglukkaq, Minister of Health. “As always, our Government is putting the health and safety of Canadians first and this study will do just that by painting a more complete picture of the potential health impacts of wind turbine noise.” Continue reading →

A Submission from Ontario’s Niagara Parks Commission 

Niagara Falls, Ontario, July 11 – The Niagara Parks Commission (NPC), in partnership with the Parkway Artist Guild (PAG), is pleased to announce the return of the annual Art in the Gardens event at the Niagara Parks Botanical Gardens. On July 14^th and 15^th, from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m., PAG artists will be on hand to showcase and sell their local artwork while demonstrating their skills in the beautiful setting of the Botanical Gardens.

The Horseshoe Falls from Niagara Park’s Table Rock area. Photo by Doug Draper

This year, the art show will also feature a free Children’s Paint Corner. Children of all ages are invited to try their hand at basic painting techniques with the help of a skilled PAG artist. All art supplies will be provided. Just bring your imagination. 

The Niagara Parks Botanical Gardens is located at 2565 Niagara Parkway, also home to the popular Butterfly Conservatory attraction. Continue reading →

A Brief Commentary by Doug Draper

Opponents of plans by Canada’s Harper government and its corporate masters to build the Keystone pipeline from the Alberta tar sands to Texas and the Northern Gateway pipeline from the same hell hole of a place to the Pacific coast in British Columbia now have another powerful argument in their favour, courtesy of Enbridge Inc.

An aireal shot of the awful mess a leaking Enbridge oil pipeline made of the waters of Michiigan. The Calgary-based oil company is expected to pay $800 million or more in an attempt to clean this filth up, although some experts wonder if the ecosystem will ever fully recover in our lifetime.

In case you missed the July 10 nightly news broadcasts on CBC and numerous American channels, the Calgary, Alberta-based petroleum firm was blasted in a report prepared by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board for its negligence in a major oil pipeline leak in Michigan two years ago. And it speaks to exactly the kind of concerns raised by environmental groups that have been written off as fear-mongers and enemies of Canadian interests by Harper and company over their opposition to the Keystone and Northern Gateway pipeline. Continue reading →

By Willy Noiles 

At what point does the public’s right to know cease? It’s a question I’ve been asking myself ever since a story appeared on the front page of one of Niagara, Ontario’s local daily newspapers detailing how the bank took over St. Catharines Mayor Brian McMullan’s home.

Brian McMullan, St. Catharines, Ontario mayor and chair of Canadian and U.S. cities around the Great Lakes advocating for the lakes, signs an agreement with Ontario Environment Minister and St. Catharines MPP to safeguard the lake waters in Quebec City a few weeks ago.

What point did publishing this story serve? Firstly, it was hardly ‘front page news’ according to the usual definition because the bank seized the property back in April and the story was running two-and-a-half months later. If it had been any other story about an event that took place two-and-a-half months ago, the reporter would’ve been lucky if it appeared on page four, if at all.

So why did the story warrant front page? One almost wonders if it was done to publicly embarrass the mayor. Continue reading →

A Foreword by NAL publisher Doug Draper

I have got to be honest. I had my doubts, at first, whether remembering a blood, 200-year-old conflict between what was then a fledgling United States republic and an Upper and Lower Canada still under the yoke of the British Empire was a great way to “celebrate 200 years of peace.”

Americans and Canadians gather together at Georgia Peace Garden Ceremony for War of 1812

Yet the more I watch this bicentennial of the War of 1812 unfold, the more I come to the conclusion that this is one great way for two of the friendliest democracies in the world realise how fortunate we are to inhabit a continent together. My wife and I crossed the gaborder a few days ago, as we do almost every one or two weeks of the year, and we did the usual grumbling about wait times at homeland security and customs. But that is bullshit compared to what other parts of the world have to go through.

We are fortunate, we Canadians and Americans are, that we have this bond, although some on the extremes may not agree.

Here, this past July 4 in Georgia, in the community of St. Marys, the folks in that community dedicated a ‘Peace Garden’ to remember those who fought and died on both sides in the War of 1812.

Here is a submission from the Canada/U.S. Binational Business and Tourism Committee on this event.

Buffalo/Niagara/Georgia – On Wednesday, July 4, dignitaries from Canada and the U.S.

joined  community leaders in St. Marys Georgia to dedicate their 1812 Binational Heritage Peace Garden. St. Marys Garden is now the 10th of 23 Canadian and U.S. Peace Gardens that make up the new Binational Heritage Peace Garden Trail: a special initiative to commemorate the Bicentennial of the War of 1812 and 200 years of peace between Canada and the U.S.

The Georgia War of 1812 Peace Garrden

St. Marys is Georgia’s southernmost coastal city, and is the first Binational Peace Garden to be located beyond the Southern Great Lakes.  This community has many binational stories to share, from its Acadian history to the War of 1812 Battle of Point Peter that took place between January 11 and 15, 1815.  

The garden, originally the St. Marys EarthKeepers Memory Garden, is situated next to historic Oak Grove Cemetery.  It will be dedicated at 1 p.m. with a number of guests including Binational Alliance Executive Director Arlene White from Niagara, Canada, Robert Pengelly, Consul from the Canadian Consulate General in Atlanta, State Representative Jason Spencer, R-Woodbine, Civic, Business and Tourism Leaders, and a Navy Color Guard.  Both countries’ national anthems will be sung, and permanent signage for the garden will be unveiled.

 According to Alex Kearns, Chair of the St. Marys EarthKeepers and coodinator of the St. Marys Peace Garden project “This effort represents a wonderful economic and tourism opportunity for all of the communities involved. St. Marys has a deep connection to Canada through our history and our tourists and we celebrate this chance to further strengthen those ties by celebrating 200 years of mutual peace and cooperation between nations.”    

Beyond the Binational Peace Garden Trail, St. Marys Peace Garden is also paired with one in Fort Erie, Ontario, located along the Niagara River, at the mouth of Lake Erie, and the site of some of the most significant battles of the War of 1812.  Old Fort Erie, one of Canada’s historic sites operated by the Niagara Parks Commission, dedicated their Peace Garden on June 29 at the launch of the 26th Annual Binational Friendship Festival, with recognition of the special sister city relationship that has come about as a result of the Peace Garden initiative.

“The 1812 Bicentennial was definitely the catalyst for this project.  When we began in 2008, we had no idea how many communities would be interested in creating peace gardens or if we would have enough gardens to make a trail.  But by 2010 the initiative had grown beyond the binational Niagara Region to communities across the Southern Great Lakes.  With the inclusion of St. Marys, we have far exceeded our initial vision, and now anticipate more peace gardens along the Eastern seaboard and new opportunities to demonstrate our shared history and the many trade and tourism connections we have binationally throughout the U.S. and Canada”, advises Arlene White, Executive Director of the Binational Alliance, and Project Lead for this initiative. “We expect more than 60 bicentennial themed gardens will be launched by 2014, and we will continue to work with binational communities to create new peace gardens with a variety of binational peace themes in 2015 and beyond.” 

Other Peace Gardens being dedicated on the trail this year include: 

May 27 Victor, NY  

June 1 Burt, NY 

June 15 Leamington, ON 

June 16 Grimsby, ON, Sacket’s Harbor, NY 

June 21 Tecumseh, ON 

June 29 Fort Erie, ON 

June 29 Youngstown, NY 

July 19 Windsor, ON 

July 20 Colchester, ON 

July 22 Lancaster, NY 

Aug 9 Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON 

Aug (tbd) Lewiston, NY

Aug 26 Black Rock, Buffalo, NY 

Sept 1 Winery, Colchester, ON 

Sept 8 Olde Sandwich Towne, Windsor, ON 

Sept 15 Kingsville, ON 

Sept 22 Botanical Gardens, Buffalo NY 

Sept (tbd) Niagara University, NY 

Sept (tbd) Thamesville, ON

Oct 13 Amherstburg, ON – 2 sites 

Go to http://NAL July 4 to learn more about this legacy project.

(Niagara At Large invites you to share your thoughts on this post.)