A News Commentary by Niagara At Large reporter/publisher Doug Draper
Posted August 28th, 2025 on Niagara At Large
Doug Draper, back in the days when reporters in Niagara still worked in newsrooms (this newsroom, the Burgoyne family’s at the once-proud Standard in St. Catharines. file photo,
My mother always used to counsel me to not be one of those people who just go through life complaining all the time, but to go out of my way, when I feel I legitimately can, to “give credit where credit is due.”
It is advice that in all my years as a journalist I have tried to take to heart, although I’m sure that some of those I’ve written about will never believe it.
With that, I believe I have gone out of my way to give credit to those who have deserved and in that spirit, I want to give a shout out to a majority on Niagara’s regional council who, earlier this August, did not cave in to what appeared to be a fair amount of pressure to grant a private developer 40 million of our municipal tax dollars for a sprawling, $1.8 billion residential complex along the shores of the Welland Recreational Canal, across from Merritt Island in Welland.
Far too many times, and for decades now, those across Niagara who are already established property owners Niagara have been fed the idea that growth is almost always good because it will increase the tax base and keep any increases in property taxes affordable for the rest of us.
We could be sure, the line from our elected representatives went on, that the ‘Golden Idol’ of growth – even if it is low density sprawl requiring all new roads, water and wastewater lines and that puts unsustainable demands on transit and other public services – would be made to pay for itself through the use of development fees..
Well, so much for that.
Through the last three years alone, existing property taxpayers, including residents who have been living in their homes and paying municipal taxes that have been going up, up, up for decades now, have been slapped with property tax increase that have ranged between seven and nine-and-a-half per cent – well above the rate of inflation and certainly well above any wage increase or any pension increase that seniors struggling to hold on to their homes and put food on their tables get.
So earlier this month, possibly stirring from a coma of their own making and sensing that there is a growing anger out here over such huge property tax increases, a majority on Niagara’s regional council voted down a request from a developer for a gargantuan $40 million grant to subsidies the building of that project it has planned along canal waters in Welland.
And with municipal elections coming up in a little over a year now – a time when we, the people, finally get our chance to hire those we want representing us on our regional and local councils, and fire those that we don’t – I think it is important to name those on the regional council who voted, unsuccessfully this time, to stick us with this $40 million bill.
Welland Mayor Frankl Campion, one of six members of Niagara Regional Council who voted to gift a developer an unprecedented $40 million in grants of our municipal tax money
They are Welland Mayor Frank Campion and St. Catharines Mayor Mat Siscoe (two Niagara mayors who recently endorsed Ontario Premier Doug Ford in his successful bid for re-election), Port Colborne Regional Councillor Vance Badawey (who recently returned to regional council after losing his seat as a Liberal MP for Niagara Centre in this year’s federal election), Port Colborne Mayor Bill Steele (a failed Doug Ford Conservative candidate), St. Catharines Regional Councillor Sal Sorrento (another failed Doug Ford Conservative candidate) and Welland Regional Councillor Pat Chiocchio.
Shame on them!
If you are checking boxes for those you don’t want to vote for in the municipal elections in the fall of 2026, you might want to keep these six individuals, among others you may already have on your list, in mind.
As for the majority of others on Niagara’s regional council, they certainly do deserve some credit for placing the concerns of everyday ratepayers ahead of the interests of land speculators and developers – at least this time.
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Doug Draper, Niagara At Large
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