‘You ask me what I want this year
And I try to make this kind and clear
Just a chance that maybe we’ll find better days.’
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Lyrics from a song by the Buffalo, N.Y.-based band, Goo Goo Dolls
A New Year’s Message from Niagara At Large reporter/publisher Doug Draper
Posted on New Year’s Eve, December 31st, 2024 on Niagara At Large
Will we have better days in the coming year?
When you consider at all of the political, economic and environmental forces rallying against us, there are so many reasons to fear that we won’t.
Here in Niagara, the Regional Council just recently approved a budget for 2025 with a staggering 9.6 per cent increase in property taxes – the third year in a row that a majority of regional councillors have slammed us with an increase well above the rate of inflation.
Between that and all of the greed among land speculators. developers and corporate landlords, and among so many in the house building and selling and grocery chain sectors, no wonder we have growing numbers of people joining the ranks of the homeless and lining up at food banks.
At the provincial and federal levels of government, we are witnessing failure after failure to protect and preserve access to quality public health care, to affordable post-secondary education, and to address the growing climate crisis and other threats to our natural environment.
On top of that, we have the current mess at the federal level around what leader and what party is going to lead us at a time when he have Trump across the border, threatening Canada with ball-busting tariffs and making not-so-funny “jokes” about turning our country into the 51st state of his MAGA America because- as he has put it – a majority of Canadians would love to be part of a United States with the likes of him in power.
But this is no time for despair.
There is something that we, the people, can all do together about all of this as citizens fortunate enough to be living in a democracy if, as American founding father Benjamin Franklin once said, we care enough to keep it and use it.
We can do more to inform ourselves in the affairs of government, we can lobby every chance we get for positive change and, last but not least, we can vote for political candidates who have a track record of representing our interests and concerns or, in the case of candidates running for the first time, make a convincing enough case that they will do whatever they can to address the challenges facing our communities.
At the end of the day though, it is up to us, collectively, to see that life in our communities is made better, not just for a few, but for all of us.
As far as trusting that politicians will do the job, I know there are a few who try. But to play fast and loose with a lyric from a Bruce Springsteen song, I have long ‘stopped waiting in vain for enough saviors to rise from the halls of government.’
Just spend a little time online watching municipal council meetings, or question periods at the provincial and federal levels and you will see what I mean.
I have not lost faith in the power that we have as people if we are ready and willing to use it in positive ways – ways that are not ugly or threatening or divisive – for the common good.
I still believe that we can work together for better days and I wish them for all of us in the 2025.
In that spirit, here is what I think is a good song for this New Year, written and performed by the Buffalo, N.Y.-based group, Goo Goo Dolls. To hear and watch the group perform it, click on –
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Wishing better days for all of us in 2025 – Doug Draper, Niagara At Large
(In memory of Mel Swart and Peter Kormos, who sat on municipal councils in Niagara before serving as two of the most passionate spoke-persons for the concerns of everyday citizens that Niagara has ever had during their years as provincial members of parliament. We need them or political leaders like them now, more than ever.)
NIAGARA AT LARGE Encourages You To Join The Conversation By Sharing Your Views On This Post In The Space Following The Bernie Sanders Quote Below.
“A Politician Thinks Of The Next Election. A Leader Thinks Of The Next Generation.” – Bernie Sanders
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