Yearly Archives: 2012

A Submission from the Niagara Falls, Ontario Chamber of Commerce 

(The following submission was received as new duty exemptions were kicking in this June 1, increasing the amount of purchased goods Canadians can bring back into the country from the United States without paying duty.)

Retail Council of Canada (RCC) together with four border community Chambers of Commerce are asking for the federal government to level the playing field for Canadian retailers, starting with the elimination of import tariffs (taxes) on finished goods.

“Start with what can be changed immediately and eliminate import tariffs,” is the message to Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty from RCC and the Chambers of Commerce of Surrey, British Columbia, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Altona, Manitoba, Niagara Falls, Ontario, and Fredericton, New Brunswick.  

“The government’s decision to increase duty exemptions on goods bought in the U.S. is salt in the wounds of retailers in border communities,” said Diane J. Brisebois, RCC’s President and CEO. “They already face too many obstacles to competition, such as import duties, as high as 18 per cent on sports equipment. Now Canadians are being offered yet another incentive to cross border shop.” Continue reading →

(The following editorial, featured at the top of editorial page of the Saturday, June 2 edition of The Buffalo News, offers one more take from our American neighbours on how wrong-headed it is for Canada’s Harper government to close the Canadian consulate office, located in Buffalo, New York and serving political and business leaders, and ordinary citizens on both sides of the border.

Niagara At Large is posting the first few paragraphs, followed by a link for the entire editorial from the last daily newspaper of any real quality and importance in our greater Niagara region. Now if we could only convince The Buffalo News to introduce a section on Niagara, Ontario news.)

From The Buffalo News Editorial Board

The closing of the Canadian consulate in Buffalo is a very troubling development.

The Canadian flag flies in front of Buffalo, New York’s city hall

President Obama’s effort to strengthen ties with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper manifested itself in the Harper-Obama Beyond the Border initiative, and now the implementation of that effort is at risk. This decision is extremely perplexing, to say the least.

The Buffalo Niagara Partnership, Western New York’s congressional delegation and everyone else upset by this decision are urging the Canadian government to reverse its course.

To read the full Buffalo News Editorial click on the following link and check out The Buffalo News regularly for more news and commentary on our greater Niagara region –   http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial-page/buffalo-news-editorials/article883975.ece  .

 (Niagara At Large invites you to share your views on this post below. Please remember that we only post comments by individuals who are also willing to share their real first and last names. Thank you for visiting Niagara At Large.)

(One of the very fine things about remembering the War of 1812 is that it gives American and Canadians in border communities an opportunity to come closer together in honour of our shared history. This post submitted by the Canada/U.S. Binational Tourism Alliance and by Carol Murphy of Burt, New York, located near Lockport in Niagara Country, reminds us of those ties that make up the  collective heritage of both our nations when they were still struggling to find their way, together and independently.  Niagara At Large is pleased to share it with you.)

Submitted by Carol Murphy from Burt, New York

This Friday, June 1, community partners assembled at Murphy Orchards in Burt, New York to dedicate a new 1812 Peace Garden reflecting “Peaceful Rewards for Fruitful Labors.” 

The historic McClew Farm in Niagara, County New York saw bloody skirmishes between two fledgling nations during the War of 1812

The garden is part of the new Binational Heritage Peace Garden Trail, which celebrates 200 years of peace and longstanding friendship between the United States and Canada. 

 “This Peace Garden was inspired by the profound peace and satisfaction of a farmer overlooking the results of a day well spent in hard, productive labor, conducted in harmony with the living earth.” advised Carol Murphy, owner and operator of this historic property.  “It is a simple garden, built around the 160 year old outdoor fireplace behind the large, brick farmhouse.  A bench faces the prevailing breeze of evening and offers a view of producing apple orchards, growing field crops and majestic, old cherry trees.  “Peace” rose bushes and perennial ornamental grasses border slate flagstones.  The Peace Garden has been planned to grow larger in future years, with the hope that its expansion will mirror the growth of world peace.” Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

If there is any chance there is a God looking over the best that Canada can be, then please God, bless them.

Former Canadian federal fishery ministers Tom Siddon and John Fraser. Image courtesy of the Hill Times at http://www.hilltimes.com/ .

When I say ‘them’ I am talking about four former federal ministers of fisheries for Canada – Tom Siddon and John Fraser, who both served in the Conservative government of Brian Mulroney, and Herb Dhaliwal and David Anderson, who served in the Liberal governments of Jean Chretien and Paul Martin – who have collectively written a letter late this May to the “Conservative” government of Stephen Harper, urging it not to rip all of the teeth out of one of Canada’s most important pieces of environmental protection legislation, the federal Fisheries Act.  Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

The funding for a rebuild of the West Lincoln Memorial Hospital in Grimsby, Ontario may still be on the table.

Grimsby, Ontario regional councillor Debbie Zimmerman

At least that is the suggestion Grimsby regional councillor Debbie Zimmerman says she got during a meeting this May 28 with the province’s health minister Deb Matthews.

“There was no outright ‘No’ to anything,” Zimmerman  told Niagara At Large this May 30 meeting with Matthews during annual ‘Niagara Week’ meetings Niagara’s regional and municipal councillors hold in and around Queen’s Park to lobby for the interests of this region. “I think it was a very positive meeting.”

That may give a glimmer or more of hope to the roughly 12,000 of residents in Grimsby, West Lincoln, Lincoln and other neighbouring communities who joined a rally one evening at the beginning of this May to let Matthews and her provincial Liberal government know they want this hospital to be rebuilt for the future of residents in their communities. The rally was a response to news that the provincial government was planning to deep six funding it had previously promised for a rebuild for the West Lincoln Memorial Hospital. Continue reading →

Submitted by Jonathan Seiling and Don Alexander

CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION TO WAR AS EXPERIENCED DURING THE HOSTILITIES OF 1812 – 1814.

THREE HISTORIC PEACE CHURCHES WILL DEDICATE PLAQUES , RESPECTING THEIR MEMBERS’  CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION TO WAR , ON A DEDICATION TOUR OF THE SITES IN THE NIAGARA PENINSULA, SUNDAY , JUNE 10, 2012.

 Many of the early settlers in the Niagara Peninsula were attracted to the area by assurances of the colonial Government of Upper Canada that conscientious objection to war would be respected.

Niagara historian Jonathan Seiling poses next to the historical marker installed at The First Mennonite Church in Vineland, with the graves of the early peace church pioneers in the background.

Plaques that honour this part of the early history of Canada will be dedicated during a tour of three sites in the Niagara Peninsula, Sunday June10, 2012.

The three Peace Churches; Mennonite, Brethren in Christ and Quaker, were assured by the Militia Act that they could –as a matter of conscience– practice their peaceful ways. Continue reading →

A Submission from the Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce

(Niagara, Ontario) – The announced closing of the Canadian Consulate in Buffalo last week (May 25, 2012) by the Canadian government will be a setback for trade relations between Canada and the United States.

Great Niagara Chamber of Commerce CEO Walter Sendzik

“The Canadian Consulate in Buffalo plays an important role in fostering strong bi-national trade relationships,” explains Walter Sendzik, CEO of the Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce. “As a community that benefits directly from this trade with close to 30 per cent of all Canada-US trade passing through Niagara, the Consulate is a significant resource for one of Canada’s largest trade and commerce corridors.”

The Consulate is one of Canada’s largest and oldest diplomatic outposts in the United States. With the closure of the office in Buffalo, all consulate functions, including trade and business support services, will be moved to the Canadian Consulate in New York City. The move by the Canadian government to close a number of consulate offices in the U.S. is based on efforts to find savings within government operations. Continue reading →

By Mark Taliano

“Inverted totalitarianism comes into being not by design, but by inattention to the consequences of actions, or especially, inactions.  Or, more precisely, inattention to their cumulative consequences.”  – Sheldon. S. Wolin

Such is the case in today’sCanada.  Our inattention to the federal government’s control of information and its assaults on Charter rights, is inexorably leading us towards totalitarianism, and the cost of this inattention is very high.

Even the government’s ascension to majority status was tainted.  The as yet unresolved issue of electoral fraud is still on the back burner, and it may remain there, if the government, aided in part by corporate media conglomerates, succeeds in de-valuing the importance of the issue. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

How willing would the provincial government actually be to approve the building of a new hospital in south Niagara?

Niagara Falls, Ontario Mayor Jim Diodati

Ontario’ health minister Deb Matthews told Niagara representatives this May 28 that she’s not prepared to begin providing an answer to that question until they can provide her with more assurance that a new hospital is what their communities want and with a proposal on where that hospital should go.

“She made it clear that (the idea of a new hospital for Niagara’s southern tier) is not pie in the sky,” said Niagara Mayor, who attended the meeting with Matthews during the annual ‘Niagara Week’ in Toronto, “but she wants to be real that that this is what we and our communities want, and she wants a suggested location.” Continue reading →

By Doug Draper 

The way Harper’s dutiful foot soldiers put it, the Canadian Consulate in Buffalo, New York is little more than a front office for processing visas for foreign nationals and others. So why not close it and save the taxpayers of Canada a little money.

That plan, made public this past May 26, no doubt hits the mark for the Stephen Harper government’s core constituencies of neo-conservatives and libertarians who see government as an enemy that ought to be vanquished unless, of course, it comes to military procurements or any entitlements like seniors’ pensions or drug and health benefits that enrich their lives personally.

“I can assure the people in our region that this will certainly not affect – in any way – our historically strong relationship with our American neighbours,” said Niagara Falls MP and Harper government cabinet member Rob Nicholson in a written response to the local media following the May 26 news. “The reality is that with the increasing use of technology, there is less need for physical space and applicants can now increasingly apply and pay online, without ever having to visit a visa office. Our Government will continue providing better service at the best cost to Canadian taxpayers.”  Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

Cindy Forster, the provincial member of parliament for Niagara, Ontario’s Welland Riding, is planning to reach out to every constituent in her riding for their views on what they feel is working and not working when it comes to hospital and related health services in the region.

Welland, Ontario riding MPP Cindy Forster

Forster, who was elected as the NDP member for the Welland Riding in last October’s provincial election, told Niagara At Large she is preparing a survey that will soon be sent to every household in the riding which includes the communities of Welland, Port Colborne, Fort Erie and Thorold.

“We are going to ask (residents in those communities) about hospital services and we are also going to ask them for their views on health care in general, including home care,” said Forster, who was a nurse and area representative for the Ontario Nurses Association, including nurses working for the Niagara Health System, before she was elected MPP.

A key reason for the survey, stressed Forster, is to receive as much input as she can from residents in her riding about the recommendations released earlier this May by Kevin Smith, the provincially appointed supervisor of the NHS, for reforming the hospital system. Continue reading →

A News Brief by Doug Draper

Word is circulating on both sides of the border that Canada’s Conservative government is planning to close the Canadian consulate office in Buffalo, New York.

The office has, for decades, been an important cog in the wheel of cross-border relations for business, for heritage and culture, sporting events and for other interests and concerns Canadians and Americans alike who live, work and play on both sides of the border. 

Not much has been said by politicians and businesses on the Canadian side of the border, but according to a story on the front page of the Buffalo News today, business and political leaders in the Buffalo area, and all the way up to and including Charles Schumer, an influential U.S. senator for New York State, who was quoted in the paper saying; “I fully plan on pushing the Canadian government to reverse this decision. …. This office is an important resources for business throughout Western New York and ought to stay open for  business in Buffalo.”

Niagara At Large will be updating this post with more commentary before the end of the day.

A Commentary by Doug Draper

“Something’s happening here, What it is ain’t exactly clear,  There’s a man with a gun over there, telling me I’ve got to beware.”
– from the old Sixties classic ‘For What It’s Worth’  by Buffalo Springfield.

It seemed like almost every time I turned on the television news this past week I was treated to images of police outfitted in riot gear, clashing with protesters in the streets.

Young people protesting in the streets of Quebec. Where are the rest of us?

‘Must be Syria’, I caught myself thinking.  Nope. It was the streets of Montreal where, what started out about fifteen weeks ago as a student strike against proposed tuition fee hikes, has escalated into an all-out youth movement against a Jean Charest government in Quebec (and maybe against governments in general) that appears to be even unpopular than the Dalton McGuinty government in Ontario. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

The Heritage Committee of Thorold, Ontario has released a brochure that showcases 48 of the community’s designated buildings and sites – some of them dating back to the area’s history as a battleground during the War of 1812 and as a key mill town during the fledgling years in the history of the first Welland Canal.

The Keefer Mansion Inn in Thorold, Ontario, going back to the 18th century and owned by a founding family of the community that played a key role in the construction of  the first Welland Canal.

This brochure, produced by this dedicated committee of volunteers on a shoe string budget, is now available at Thorold’s Tourism Center at Lock 7, at its main library, at the Keefer Mansion Inn off St. David’s Road in the community, the Quebec Bank Gallery and City Hall You can also find it by visiting the Heritage Committee’s website   http://www.heritagethorold.com/designatedproperties.html   Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

If you dig history, heritage and fabulous architecture, then Doors Open Niagara is back – celebrating its 10^thyear on both sides of the Canada/U.S. border in this region, and you can once again soak in all the riches it has to offer for free. 

Two-century old Benjamin Long Homestead, at western head of Erie Canal system in Tonawanda, New York, is on Doors Open tour list

This event – scheduled to take place this spring between Friday, June 15 and Sunday, June 17 – offers residents who live and visit this region an opportunity to view some of the finest historical homes, institutions and historical site in Niagara for none of the charges that usually apply to these sites. It is a chance to remind ourselves, or possibly discover for the first time, how rich a history and heritage we have right here.

Doors Open Niagara, along with a ‘Heritage Peace Garden Trail’ launching in recognition of the 200^th anniversary of the War of 1812 that divided a fledgling United States and an evolving Canadian nation, before bringing us together in peace, is being sponsored by the Canada\/U.S. Binational Tourism Alliance, a not-for-profit organization representing businesses and tourist venues on both sides of the border. Continue reading →

A Brief Comment by Doug Draper

What a shame it is that Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, has declared a “firm and final end” to Canadian’s military involvement in Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

A member of the NATO force wades through about the only thing Afghanistan seems to have going for it – fields of poppies for its world-wide illicit opium trade.

(Niagara At Large is posting this release from the Buffalo, New York/Fort, Erie, Ontario Peace Bridge Authority on efforts to improve air quality, impacted by the emissions from idling trucks and cars at the bridge crossing. The impact on air quality from traffic congestion at this heavily used Niagara River crossing has been a subject of concern for residents on both sides of the Canada/U.S. crossing for many years.)

From the Peace Bridge Authority

BUFFALO, NY/FORT ERIE, ON, May 21, 2012– Today the Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority (Peace Bridge Authority) announced that it has engaged the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in order to exchange information on previous air quality improvements at the Peace Bridge corridor and also share ideas and best practices regarding future “green” stewardship opportunities at the port.

Traffic lineups at the Canada/U.S. Peace Bridge crossing.

 A Foreword By Doug Draper

At a time when too many of us feel a bit sour on the state of Canada – not that we don’t have some reason given the almost total lack of inspiration and hope for the future from our political leaders – it is important to remember that there are still plenty of good stories out there about the country and its people.

Niagara native and award-winning Canadian documentary producer Kevin McMahon.

This show is produced by a Niagara native and an old friend and colleague of mine from our days in journalism days going back to The St. Catharines Standard in the 1980s. His name is Kevin McMahon and as leader of Primitive Entertainment, a film company based in Toronto, Ontario, he has made some great award-winning documentaries on everything from our Great Lakes (‘Waterlife’) to Marshall McLuhan and the crash of this country’s Cod fishery. Continue reading →

By Mark Taliano

Words impact people and help to win elections.  The word “conservative”, for example, denotes “conservation”, and evokes images of environmental conservation, economic, prudence and so on. 

This word does not, however, describe our current federal regime, as it dismantles environmental protections, deregulates markets, subsidizes transnational corporations, bails out banks, and weakens the public sector at every turn.  The word that does, however, describe our current federal regime, is “neoliberal”.  Beneath the surface, the Harper regime, with its Reform party roots, is actually a “neoliberal” government. Continue reading →

 A Short Note from Doug Draper

“How do you mend a broken heart …”

Some who read Niagara At Large for heavier commentary on our greater Niagara region and beyond, may wonder why I take a few moments to remember Robin Gibb, who died of cancer this May 20 at age 62.

Yet sometimes it is nice to stop and pay tribute to people who have brought the world some joy through music, and we have been losing too many of them lately, including Levon Helm of The Band earlier this spring and only a few days ago one of the greatest singers from the 1970s Disco era Donna Summer. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

Believe it or not, Canada used to be a world leader when it came to environmental protection.

Many Canadians under the age of 40 may have a hard time believing that, given how much our country’s environmental protection services have been hollowed out over most of their adult lives. But back in the 1970s and 80s, Canada was truly a beacon on the green front.

This wack job of a Canadian Natural Resources Minister, Joe Oliver, might just as well be walking around with tomb stones in his eyes, as the old Steppenwolf song goes. Canada’s Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper lets this moron go around calling environmentalists enemies of our country. How nuts can you get.

Not any more.

One government after another, beginning with the Conservative government of Brian Mulroney and continuing with the Liberal governments of Jean Chretien and Paul Martin, chipped away at the budgets of Environment Canada and its sister agencies. Their services were sliced and diced to a point where they are barely a shadow of what they were when, a mere three decades ago, their scientists – our Canadian scientists, I must emphasis were doing leading edge research on a number of fronts, including toxic pollution in the Great Lakes that played a major role in motivating governments in both Canada and the United States to launch cleanup programs for savng treasured water bodies like the Niagara River from near ecological death. Continue reading →

 A Foreword by Doug Draper

We’ve got this great lady – Maude Barlow – from the not-for-profit citizens group Council of Canadians speaking out for the future of our Great Lakes  as possibly our last great advocate for protecting and preserving these waterbodies.

Council of Canadians chair Maude Barlow

 Yes we know that Nicholson and Dykstra and the rest of them from the Harper neo-con bunch we  now unfortunately have dictating policy in this country feel anyone akin to a  Maude Barlow or David Suzuki is “commie” or  an enemy of the state. According to them,  Barlow and  company are out to destroy Canaada as they and their tar sand friends want to shape it.

But there may still be enough Canadians around to say ‘Thank God we have Canadians like Maude Barlow.’

In that spirt, Niagara At Large is pleased to post the following piece by Maude Barlow and her (we should say our) Council of Canadians here.

Here is the post Niagara At Large is pleased to post (hope we don’t get arrested) prepared by The Ottawa-based Council of Canadians. Continue reading →

A Brief Comment by Doug Draper

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

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

By Doug Draper

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

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

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

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

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

NAL transit jenn,

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

A Short Foreword by Niagara At Large Publisher Doug Draper

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

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

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

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

From Port Colborne Mayor Vance Badawey

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

Port Colborne, Ontario Mayor Vance Badawey

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

From the Constituency Office of Welland MPP Cindy Forster

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

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

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

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

The public meetings planned are as follows: Continue reading →

By Mark Taliano

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Niagara At Large Brief

A few days back, Niagara At Large gave U.S. President Barack Obama a pat on the back for coming out in what is the socially conservative country he is now running for a second term of office in, and saying that he accepts same-sex marriages.

“At a certain point, I’ve just concluded that for me, personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married,” said Obama in an interview with ABC News this May 9. 

For those who may still not appreciate how groundbreaking a statement that is coming from “the leader of the free world,” Niagara At Large is posting the following video, bluntly titled ‘Beware of the Homosexual’ a portrait of homophobia at its worst. It was , produced in the U.S. as a ‘public service announcement” in 1961– the same year Barack Obama was born. 

For some of us pressing for social change on economic and environmental justice, and a number of fronts, it sometimes seems like we are making no headway and are, in some cases, drifting backward. 

On the issue of more tolerance for gay and lesbian people, however, a contrast between this abbhorent video, show to millions of people, including school children across North American, and Obama’s statement of May 9, we have taken a giant leap forward to the promised land of equality for all.

Check out the video – Beware of the Homosexual – by clicking on the image above

(We invite you to share your views on this post  below. NAL only posts views by individuals who are also willing to share their real first and last names.)

A Brief Commentary by Doug Draper 

Well, well, well, and what a surprise.

The elites among us always seem to find a way of landing on their feet, don’t they?

Former NHS CEO Debbie Sevenpifer lands new job in the GTA

The rest of us 99 per centers can lose our jobs, simply because someone with a Mitt Romney brain decided that the cost of having us on the job was standing in the way of shareholders’ dividends,  but the Debbie Sevenpifers of this world always seem to find a way of landing on their feet. 

I credit my friends at Bullet News for getting the exclusive on this one. This May 12, that online reported that Debbie Sevenpifer, who was the CEO of Niagara, Ontario’s Niagara Health System during a period when it lost an unprecedented amount of trust from the public, is heading to Toronto for a job as the chief executive officer of one of the GTA’s largest community institutions – the YMCA. Continue reading →

By Fiona McMurran

The May 11 editions of the daily papers across Niagara, Ontario announce that the Niagara Health System’s ‘It’s Our Time’ campaign to help fund the new west St. Catharines hospital has hit its $40 million target – indeed, exceeded it by $8 million — well ahead of the deadline. Much hard work and dedication has gone into that campaign, and its success is also an indicator of how much the residents of St. Catharines and its surrounding municipalities want their hospital to succeed. Congratulations to all concerned. 

Niagara Health System supervisor Kevin Smith floating the idea of a new ‘south Niagara hospital’ at a recent media briefing. Photo by Doug Draper

Today the mayors of south Niagara meet to discuss NHS Supervisor Kevin Smith’s proposal for a hospital for the southern part of the peninsula. There’s a great deal riding on what our mayors have put on the agenda. Will they restrict discussion to the question of a site for a new hospital, as Smith has suggested? Or will they be more wary?

On Monday, May 7, I attended the general meeting of the South Niagara Health Care Corporation, put together under the aegis of Port Colborne Mayor Vance Badaway. The meeting included a discussion of Smith’s draft report and its recommendations. At the conclusion, Mayor Badawey clearly stated that the issue to be discussed by the Mayors today was not whether there should be a new hospital for south Niagara, but rather where it should be built.

Mayor Badawey has long sought membership in the South Niagara Health Care Corporation from other south Niagara municipalities — Fort Erie, Wainfleet and Welland – and all of them are at last participating. My understanding – and I may be in error – is that neither Pelham nor Niagara Falls had been approached previously by the SNHCC, since those municipalities weren’t considered to be part of south Niagara, although Pelham Mayor Dave Augustyn is part of the South Niagara Mayors group.

Yet Kevin Smith’s report sets Niagara Falls, along with Pelham, within the catchment area for a possible south Niagara hospital. And therein lies a major problem. Continue reading →

A Brief Comment by Doug Draper

Well let’s give it up with two hearty high fives for U.S. President Barack Obama!

U.S. President Barack Obama takes the principled, all inclusive high road on equality for all.

This Wednesday, May 19 – a date that might go down in American history as surely as July 2, 1964, the date the Civil Rights Act outlawing major forms of discrimination against African Americans was passed – Barack Obama became the first president in U.S history to say he supports same-sex marriage. And as much as the president’s saying that does not automatically change the marriage laws across American, it is a bold overture for equal rights for all people in a country where you have got more than a few right-wing, homophobic, religious rednecks who will play this out, as a reason Obama is not fit to be in the White House, to its last string. Continue reading →

A Foreword by Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper

Great Lakes groups on both sides of the Canada/U.S. border are not going to let the Conservative government of Stephen Harper gut one of Canada’s most effective pieces of environmental protection legislation.

Canada’s decades-old federal Fisheries Act – a piece of legislation that was actually approved and embraced with pride by the former Conservative government of Brian Mulroney – is being “overhauled” by a Harper government that has, of late, been doing a great deal of scrapping and overhauling of environmental rules it feels are standing in the way of resource exploitation and development.  Continue reading →

By Mark Taliano

It was a day rich in unpleasant ironies.

On Sunday, May 5, 2012, a group of about 100 protestors rallied peacefully inOttawa, at the Parliament Buildings to protest electoral fraud and to demand a Public Inquiry.

Derek Soberol, founder of the Occupy Canada web page, was peacefully leading chants in front of the nearby U.S Embassy when he found himself arrested for allegedly “inciting a riot.”

Rally participant and witness, Yanna Green, observed that many of the police were not wearing badges or name tags.  Other officers, who did have identification, covered them with vests and refused to display them. Continue reading →

From Publisher Doug Draper

Beginning this May 7, Niagara At Large is taking a week off to reflect on where we are with this site and where we go from here.

While NAL is doing that, I will to thank our thousands of regular readers for your interest and support for this independent news and commentary site, and thank you for your patients while we do some resetting here.

In the meantime, we will continue to moderate and post comments on pieces that are already up on the site and we welcome any comments below on where NAL should go from here or what kind of coverage of issues and events you would like to see here in the future.

A Brief Comment by Doug Draper

Aren’t we Canadians nice? Aren’t we now? 

When it comes to white collar crime which, by the way, is known to do far more economic damage than a two-bit thief steaing some gum from a convenience store (not to condone that), we Canadians couldn’t care less.

Lord Conrad Black’s U.S. mug shot from 2005. Canadians could hardly wait to welcome him here.

By Marcia Carlyn

(Marcia Carlyn is one of many residents in Fort Erie, Ontario who have been fighting a now approved plan to build a condo in front of a publicly owned beach in the Crystal Beach area of the municipality. Opponents of the condo recently lost a court bid to overturn a January 2011 Ontario Municipal Board decision in favour of the 12-storey condo. 

The condo plan received the support of Fort Erie’s mayor, Doug Martin, and a majority on the town’s council more than two years ago, and also has its share of support from citizens in the community who believe it could help stimulate some economic growth in a Crystal Beach they say has been stagnant since the old amusement park by the same name closed two decades ago. The mayor, who hopes the May 2 Ontario Superior Court ruling will finally bring an end to the long battle over the condo, has argued from the beginning that he believes the development will help save the town-owned Bay Beach for the public rather than restrict access to it.

Niagara At Large is posting the following reaction to the court ruling from Marcia Carlyn.) 

Dear friends of Bay Beach … Very disappointing news.

A file photo of Bay Beach along the shores of Lake Erie on a hot summer day.

Yesterday the Ontario Superior Court of Justice rendered its decision on our Statement of Claim case which was heard on Feb 8th.  The Court dismissed the lawsuit filed by a group of Fort Erie taxpayers, giving the Town the go-ahead to proceed with its plan to transfer a large portion of the Bay Beach Lands to the Molinaro Group for the construction of a 12-storey condo tower.  Continue reading →

By Sue Salzer

(Niagara At Large is posting the following comments by Sue Salzer, a Fort Erie, Ontario resident and head of the Yellow Shirts, a Niagara citizens group fighting for quality, accessible hospital services in the region. Her comments follow in the wake of a May 3 report from Niagara Health Services supervisor Kevin Smith which, among many other things, recommends replacing the existing hospital sites in Niagara Falls, Fort Erie, Port Colborne and Fort Erie with one new hospital for Niagara’s southern tier. Now here are Sue Salzer’s comments.)

No matter what Niagara Health System supervisor Kevin Smith had up his sleeve in his May 3 announcement, very little damage could be perpetrated on Fort Erie and Port Colborne. The damage was done three years ago. Any proposal would have to be an improvement of local services.

Health care advocate Sue Salzer at a 2011 rally in front of Niagara Falls hospital. File photo by Doug Draper

I find great irony that the communities who have chosen to take independent and diverse actions, re the Niagara Health System, for the past three years are now expected to join forces and collaborate on a site for a new build. There will be unprecedented jockeying for position as each struggles to protect their home turf and rightly so. Either a referee or a mediator may be necessary.

On the losing end are Welland and Niagara Falls . Both communities struggled valiantly against the NHS’s Hospital Improvement Plan that called for all Maternity and Pediatric care to be removed to the new St. Catharines Hospital. As part of Mr. Smith’s May 3 release, we now see both services travel north next year and remain there until a Southern Tier Hospital is realized. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

(The following is just a first take on a very complex interim plan for the future of hospital services in Niagara, released by the Ontario appointed supervisor of the Niagara Health System this May 3. Niagara At Large will have more posts, including commentary and comments from residents across the region, in the days ahead.)

Kevin Smith, the provincially appointed supervisor for the Niagara Health System, wants to see the province build a new hospital somewhere in Niagara, Ontario’s southern tier.

NHS supervisor Kevin Smith unveils recommendations for future hospital services in region. Photo by Doug Draper

If that recommendation, contained in a highly anticipated document called “Interim Report to the Niagara Community on the Restructuring of the Niagara Health System,” unveiled by Smith this May 3 at briefing sessions with municipal leaders and the media, the supervisor said the opening of any new hospital for communities in Niagara’s southern tier would be coupled with the closing of the aging hospitals in Welland and Niagara Falls, and the old hospital sites in Fort Erie and Port Colborne that have already lost the emergency room services that once gave them full hospital status.  Continue reading →

A Brief Commentary by Doug Draper

You have got to hand it to the people of west Niagara for showing up in droves for their hospital.

A vision of the proposed new West Lincoln Memorial Hospital.

The West Lincoln Memorial Hospital, located in Grimsby, is by many accounts, one of the best run smaller hospitals in the province. Many living in the communities it serves, including  Grimsby, West Lincoln, Lincoln and Stoney Creek, and even many living outside those communities have had nothing but praise for the quality of care they receive at this hospital which is so determined to rebuild its facilities for the future. Continue reading →

From the Ontario NDP

Queen’s Park– Hamilton East–Stoney Creek NDP MPP Paul Miller called on the Premier in Question Period today to stand behind a decade of promises and rebuild West Lincoln Memorial Hospital in Grimsby.

Ontario NDP representative for Stoney Creek/East Hamilton, whose constituents are also served by the West Lincoln Memorial Hospital, located in the Niagara, Ontario community of Grimsby.

“The community has grown but the hospital has not,” said Miller. “Why are the Premier and his government turning their backs on their promises to the residents of West Niagara and Stoney Creek?”

On the cusp of tonight’s massive rally at Grimsby Secondary School, Miller asked the Premier what his message would be to the thousands he has chosen to abandon.

Avoiding the question, the Premier referred to Minister of Health Deb Matthews who in turn did not provide an explanation to the residents of West Niagara. Continue reading →

By John Bacher

Behind closed doors and without media attention a major battle has been going on for the past three years between the provincial government, conservationists, developers and municipal governments. The last open expression of what was going on was a massive demonstration by the building industry in front of the Niagara Regional Council to hear attempts to constrain urban growth boundaries. The protestors came out to hear the condemnation of the province by then planning consultant and now planning director for Fort Erie, Rick Brady.

Another sign of our times in Niagara – more low-density development proposed for what is left of our green space. Photo courtesy of John Bacher

What is at stake is the application of the provincial Growth Plan to the Niagara Region. The Growth Plan was developed by the provincial government in order to compliment the protective policies against sprawl of the Greenbelt. The Greenbelt’s goal is to safeguard its “protected countryside” in perpetuity from sprawl, although its plan concedes that this may not be possible and will be periodically reviewed.  Continue reading →

Niagara At Large is pleased to post the following ‘Action Alert’ from the public interest group Ontario Nature for your information and for you to follow up on if you share the concerns of this organization that budget decisions being made right now by this minority Ontario Liberal government could spell the end for some of our endangered wildlife in this province. 

Action Alert – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Right now, crucial decisions are being made on the provincialbudget 2012.

The Boreal Owl - one of the many great creatures struggling to survive in Ontario.

The Ontario government has introduced a new budget bill called Bill 55 (Strong Action for Ontario Act).

This is no ordinary bill. Buried in this hefty document, hundreds of pages in length, are a series of changes (or amendments) that strike at the heart of Ontario’s Endangered Species Act (ESA) and other vital environmental legislation. Such changes threaten protection for the province’s biodiversity as well as our most vulnerable plants, animals and ecosystems. Continue reading →

By Mark Taliano

The Wall Street meltdown in 2008/2009 triggered the Great Recession, and led to a tax payer funded bailout of two trillion dollars.  Despite the losses, attributed in large part to a poorly regulated financial system, Wall Street continues to lobby against regulations in a world where self-interest trumps economic and social good.

It was during this same time that Prime Minister Harper assured us that our financial system was stable, and that we need not worry.

Well, he wasn’t telling the truth.

The Canadian Center For Policy Alternatives recently discovered that the bank bail-outs inCanadawere much larger than thought.  Canadian banks received $114 billion in bailouts during the recession, which is 10 times the amount that Canadian taxpayers spent on auto bailouts in 2009.  Continue reading →

A Brief Commentary by Doug Draper

Imagine if you or I or most of us, for that matter, showed up at the Canadian border with a criminal record to a point where we had spent time in prison, had no Canadian citizenship and expected to drive right through with the intention of residing and possibly doing business in Canada.

Thanks to Harper/Nicholson government, ex U.S. convict Conrad Black will be allowed in Canada

How far do you think we would get? Probably not much farther than the first gate Customs and Immigration officers would open to turn us around and send us back to where we came from. 

Well not if you are ‘Lord’ Conrad Black and the Stephen Harper Conservative government in power – as much as it pretends to be tough on crime, allows the former media baron in with a “temporary resident pass” from Canada’s Citizenship and Immigration department. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

If anyone thinks that Niagara, Ontario’s regional government doesn’t give time to economic development in this region, think again. Our regional councillors have all kinds of time to horse around over who or what should operate a truly effective economic development operation for Niagara.

Well, at least it's a job in Niagara, so take it. . Photo by Doug Draper

Who cares if it takes them months or even years to get past the parochialism that keeps doping and making anemic any real progressive for Niagara as a region,  if it could only truly speak to the rest of the world with one voice and one set of rules and hoops to jump through for businesses that may want to invest and create jobs. While we are waiting for our municipal leaders to decide whether they should place the interests of Niagara at large over those who run a fragmented complex of economic development and tourism agencies in their local communities –  there are still jobs out there in a Niagara, Ontario region that can certainly not be proud of nursing one of the highest jobless rates for any region in Ontario or Canada. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

A university in St. Catharines, Ontario is named after him and more recently a stretch of Highway 405 running through Niagara was renamed General Brock Parkway. And now, in the ceremonial passing of a bill this April 24, the province has named a day in his honour.

A portrait of General Brock

The day has been named Major-General Sir Isaac Brock Day and will, according to the legislation, be observed each year, from here on in, on October 13 which was a fateful date for  this region’s most beloved general.

It was on October 13, 1812 that Brock was mortally wounded while leading a charge up Queenston Heights from a village by the same name below. His troops would eventually chase an invading American army back across the border in this, one of the early key battles of the War of 1812. The invaders  had cut Brock down from the Heights where a 153-year-old monument also stands in his name. Continue reading →

 (Niagara At Large is posting the following public announcement from the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority for our readers information. This has long been a popular day for families with young children, by the way, and it takes place in a very pretty location in the tree-filled hills of Effingham.)

The Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority invites anglers of all ages to join us at St. Johns Conservation Area on Saturday, April 28^thfor the opening of Trout Season.  The season officially kicks off at 12:00 noon with Thorold Mayor Ted Luciani and NPCA board member Mickey DiFruscio making the first cast.

File photo of St. John's Trout fishing day. courtesy of Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority

Admission to the event is free.  The Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority has provided fishing opportunities at St. Johns since 1963, stocking the pond with rainbow trout each year.  This year we are pleased that the Fonthill Lions Club will be providing some financial assistance to help with the stocking costs.  The event provides an opportunity for individuals and families to experience the outdoors and enjoy one of the most spectacular natural areas in Niagara. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

In its latest budget, Canada’s Harper government is once again slashing the budget for CBC.

It is awful that this once proud public Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is seeing its funding slashed again, but there is nothing most of us can do about it. And why?  Because most of us who bothered to vote in the 2011 federal election in Canada helped elect a majority Stephen Harper Conservative government that never liked the CBC and is now having its way with it.

So since our federal government is in the spirit of cutting and gutting the CBC, why not at least do it with some sense of what should be left as a national broadcaster? And that should mean cancelling CBC on television, including Peter Mansbridge and The National, which have become a pale image of what The National and accompanying Journal once were when the late, great Barbara Frum had something to do with them. That show, and all of the dumb hockey violence that CBC seems to like to broadcasts, along with programs like the ’The Lang & O’Leary Exchange, featuring that male pig who cares only about money and that idiotic female co-host who thinks he’s cute or something, can disappear overnight. Who gives a frig about that? Continue reading →

Ontario Liberals Balance the Budget, Create Jobs, Protect Health Care and Education

(Niagara At Large is posting this one for our readers information from the Ontario Liberals, It particularly slams the Tim Hudak Ontario Conservatives. No mention here of NDP Leader Andrea Horwath.),

Queen’s Park– The Out of touch Hudak PCs abandoned Ontarians by voting against the Ontario budget’s strong action to balance the books, create jobs, and invest in families, said Liberal MPP Yasir Naqvi.

Ontario Liberal MPP Yasire Naqvi slams Tim Hudak

“The Ontario Liberal plan makes the right choices and takes strong action to balance the budget, grow the economy and create jobs,” said Naqvi.  “The Hudak PCs keep making the wrong choices – opposing the budget before reading it and trying to force a costly, unnecessary election that puts the economy at risk.”

“While Ontario Liberals worked hard to find common ground to pass the budget, the Hudak PCs abandoned Ontarians from the get-go, refusing to offer a single suggestion” said Naqvi.  “Instead of rolling up their sleeves to make this minority government work, the Hudak PCs are willing to put our growing economic momentum at risk with a costly, unnecessary election.” Continue reading →

A Brief Commentary by Doug Draper

We’ll there we go. Ontario’s Dalton McGuinty government will survive to kick us in the butt – well, at least most of us, except for McGuinty’s most wealthy and privileged friends – another day.

Ontaro Premier Dalton McGuinty

A Statement from Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak

The following statement may be attributed to Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak, in response to today’s announcement by Premier Dalton McGuinty and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath:

Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak

“I would like to say I am surprised by this deal but I’m not.   What I am concerned about is the direction of Ontario.

“The choice made by the Premier today leads us further down the same failed path we have been on for the last eight years.  This is the path of more spending, more taxing, and no plan to create a better climate for private sector jobs.  It tinkers with small change when what we need is big change. Continue reading →

A Foreword by Doug Draper

 Niagara At Large is publishing the full text of the following April 23 post from the Ontario Public Service Employees  Union   ((OPSEU) should   ast be of interest to residents in the Grimsby, West Lincoln, Lincoln areas of Niagara, Ontario, where the province’s Liberal government of Dalton McGuinty, together with his finance minister Dwight Duncan, are proposing to cancel funding for a new West Lincoln Memorial Hospital in Grimsby.

It's okay for Ontario Liberal Finance Minister Dwight Duncan to go for a new hospital build in his Windsor area ridiing, but to hell with west Niagara. That should sound familiar to old opponents of the west St. Catharines hospital site.

Isn’t that NICE? What follows is the post from OPSEU on this. By the way, before you get down to the OPSEU piece, check out a few online biographies on Dwight Duncan. What you will find is that this guy has never held a real job and has been on public welfare for most of his adult life. Sorry for the aside. Here begins the OPSEU piece. Continue reading →

By Mark Taliano

 Never mind the Charter Of  Rights And Freedoms which, according to former P.M Chrétien, celebrates and unifies Canada as “un pays de tolérance par excellence”.

P.M Harper recently had more important matters on his plate, namely, the “courtesy call” from Li Changchun, head of propaganda, and Member of the Communist Party of China’s Standing Committee of the Politburo. According to Forbes magazine, Li Changchun apparently “controls what 1.3 billion Chinese see, hear, and speak.” Continue reading →

 (Niagara At Large is pleased to post this media release from some of our good neighbours in Buffalo, New York for your information. Here is another opportunity to enjoy the fabulous architecture in that city.)

 BUFFALO, NEW YORK– A collaboration between Buffalo, NY area sites designed by Frank Lloyd Wright: the Darwin Martin House Complex, the Graycliff Estate, Forest Lawn’s Blue Sky Mausoleum and the Fontana Rowing Boathouse has resulted in an exclusive new tour offering for 2012:  All Wright All Day.

The century-owned Martin house in Buffalo, New York, designed by the legendary American arrchitect Frank Lloyd Wright

Building on successful day-long sessions designed for last year’s National Preservation Conference of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the four Buffalo-area Frank Lloyd Wright sites are now proud to offer to the general public this full-day immersion in the built environment that Wright created for the region. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

Oh my dear God – not that I am all that religious – do I ever miss Margherita! I’d  be one of those she might call a “stupid bastard” if I didn’t.

Margherita Howe, always listening but never ready to say yes to B.S. - A photo courtesy of the Howe family.

I miss being able to call her up today – this time around Earth Day, 2012 – and asking her how she feels about Canada’s federal government walking away from environmental protection reviews on major public works projects that may impact on what’s left of our natural resources. I miss asking her how she would feel about the so-called natural resources minister for Stephen Harper –  Joe Oliver or whatever the frig his stupid name is – calling people who advocate for environmental protection in this country a bunch of villains or enemies of Canada, or whatever other Fox New/Rush Limbaugh-induced rhetoric Harper and Oliver clamp on to for describing anyone who has the democratic balls to disagree with them. Continue reading →

A short tear or two by Doug Draper

 “I pulled into Nazareth, was feeling ‘bout half past dead, I just need some place where I can lay my head.” –  from the song ‘The Weight’ by The Band.

For those of you whose unique voice sang those lyrice, you know where I am going already with this one, don’t you. I am going to the death of Levon Helm, who was so much of the heart and soul of ‘The Band’, one of the most legendary groups of the rock era of the past 50 years.

Levon Helm, enjoying what he liked to do best.

 Levon Helm, the only American (and, by all accounts,  a proud southern American) of a group, including lead songwriter and guitarist Robbie Robertson,  died this April 19 at 71 following a long and courageous battle with cancer.

I have more than a few regrets in my life, and one of them was not getting down to Woodstock, New York, along the Hudson River, a few years back to enjoy Levon and his band (a group of musicians  long after The Band) performing, as they did virtually every week on a Thursday or whatever the night was. I had heard that it was a wonderful show and I actually called down there to find out more about it. As it turned out, I got Levon’s wife Sandy was on the phone, and I still remember her saying being nice enough to call me “sweetie” which is one of those very nice things Americans sometimes do when they like having a conversation with you is call you a sweetie. Continue reading →

(Niagara At Large is please to post these Niagara Parks Commission Earth Day events for our readers in the greater Niagara region in Niagara, Ontario and Erie and Niagara counties, New York and beyond.)

 The Niagara Parks Commission is pleased to announce a variety of events that will take place on Saturday, April 21 in celebration of Earth Day.

A past Earth Day flower plant sale., photo courtesy of Niagara Parks Commission

 2nd Annual Spring Plant Sale

10 a.m. – 12 p.m.

The Niagara Parks Botanical Gardens and School of Horticulture will be holding its 2nd Annual Spring Plant Sale on Saturday from 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. in front of the Butterfly Conservatory. A variety of plants will be on sale, all grown on-site at the Botanical Gardens. NPC staff and Master Gardener volunteers will also be available to answer any questions. Quantities are limited, so be sure to arrive early for the best selection. NPC will be offering special discount admission to Butterfly Conservatory that day, with proof of purchase: $3 off for adults and $1 off for children, as well as a 25% discount on any purchase over $25 in the retail shop.

3rd Annual Earth Day Event with the Friends of the Niagara Glen

9 a.m. – 2 p.m.

At the Niagara Glen Nature Centre, the Friends of the Niagara Glen will be holding their 3rd Annual Earth Day Event from 9 a.m. – 2 p.m. The group and their partners will be showcasing various displays and educational materials about their conservation efforts. Members will also be providing guided hiking tours of the Glen, which is home to the greatest concentration of Species at Risk anywhere in Ontario. Those planning to spend the day at the Niagara Glen are encouraged to bring their own bagged lunch and refillable water bottles.

The Niagara Glen Nature Centre will be open for the day, where you will find members of the Niagara Land Trust (NLT) selling recycled rain barrels ($50 each), in partnership with www.RainBarrel.ca, to help raise funds for their ongoing preservation work. The NLT is a non-profit charity that works to preserve Niagara’s ecological, agricultural and cultural landscapes today for future generations.

(Niagara At Large is posting the following ‘Action Alert’ and appeal to citizens to voice their concern for our readers’ information. This post has been circulated by Great Lakes United, a Canada-U.S. environmental groups, angler and recreational groups, Native communities and other parties around the Great Lakes basin.)

ACTION ALERT! U.S. and Canadian voices must be heard on hazardous waste licensing near the Great Lakes

Our Great Lakes from space. Image courtesy of Kevin McMahon, producer of the documentary film 'Waterlife'

Voice Your Concern regarding the Ontario Ministry of Environment’s Proposal to Exempt Transportation of Hazardous Waste from Licensing Requirements
 
The Ontario Ministry of Environment is proposing to exempt waste haulers transporting hazardous waste from the requirement to obtain a license before commencing their operation. This exemption will also apply to transboundary waste haulers. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

There may be a good number of you out there who don’t care all that much for the New Democratic Party’s Ontario leader Andrea Horwath. But let’s give her a bit of credit for one thing.

Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath

The water I am talking about is the province’s ability to charge income taxes – a form of tax based on people’s ability to pay. And yes, that is one heck of a lot to ask anyone to do these days – to contribute, based on their ability to pay, to a pool of tax money for essential services like health care, education, policing and so on. Continue reading →

From Niagara College

(Niagara At Large is posting this April 17 media release from Niagara College in Niagara, Ontario for our readers’ information)

The Niagara College Foundation announced today that it has successfully
completed its Building Futures Campaign, exceeding the original
$16.5-million target by more than $1-million.

Applied Health Institute under construction at Niagara College's Welland, Ontario campus. Photo courtesy of Niagara College

Launched in 2008, the campaign has raised $17.7-million for new
facilities, equipment and learning resources, and scholarships and
bursaries. With matching funds from the provincial government’s former
Ontario Trust for Student Support program, the campaign’s total impact
on student learning and success is $21-million.
Continue reading →

(Niagara At Large is posting this one from the Niagara Parks Commission in Ontario for our readers’ interest.)

Niagara Falls, Ontario – The Niagara Parks Commission (NPC) is pleased to announce that it has two of the tallest flowers in the world growing on site in the Floral Showhouse, which are expected to bloom within three to five weeks.

Photo courtest of Niagara Parks Commission

The Amorphophallus titanum, or Titan Arum, is a massive bell-shaped flower up to three metres in height. Aside from its size, the Titan Arum is also known for its unique smell. After flowering, a single leaf emerges in the place of the blossom, which is the size of a small tree, standing up to six metres tall and five metres across. This flower is exceedingly rare to see. Until 1989, only 21 flowerings were recorded to have occurred in botanical gardens worldwide. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

 “Dance band on the Titanic, Sings ‘Nearer My God to Thee’, The iceberg’s on the starboard bow, Won’t you dance with me.” –   from Harry Chapin’s 1970s album ‘Dance Band on the Titanic’.

One hundred years ago this Saturday, April 14, the world’s greatest ship – considered a masterpiece of technology in its day that “not even God could sink” – steamed forth proudly and possibly arrogantly, at a high speed at the time of more than 20 knots, toward an iceberg that just happened to be one of this earth’s many and possibly more minor creations.

The iceberg some allege to be the one that sank the Titanic and the lives of some 1,500 of its passengers and crew. Could one like it still be out there, waiting for the rest of us?

 A Commentary by Doug Draper

Say what you want about Ontario’s Health Minister Deb Matthews.

Ontario Health Minister Deb Matthews, being crapped on by the province's doctors now

There are a good number of people across this Niagara region – this columnist included – who has had their beefs with Matthews over the Niagara Health System, and almost anything else that has to do with health care in Ontario.

But let’s at least give Matthews credit for asking for a wee bit of restraint from our doctors – a group or professionals who most if not all of us have a great deal of respect for, but who have not done too badly during a pretty economically depressed decade with salaries now averaging $362,000 and ones that have increase. Continue reading →