Author Archives: dougdraper

The Easter Bunny Will Show Up At Our Doors With A Basket Of Painted Eggs Before We See Another New Hospital Built Anywhere In Niagara’s Central Or Southern Tier  In the Foreseeable Future

A Commentary by Doug Draper

Posted February 29^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Ontario’s Liberal government announced with fanfare this February 29^th that its recently tabled budget for 2016 includes an additional $345 million for the operation and upkeep of the province’s publicly funded hospitals.

That may sound like a lot of extra money but if you were to divide it up between the 154 hospitals currently operating in Ontario, it doesn’t amount to much more than putting a Band-Aid to someone in danger of hemorrhaging to death from multiple lacerations.

This billboard stands where at least some hope another new hospital will go in Niagara Falls, Ontario’s southwest end. File photo by Doug Draper

It adds up to less than $3 million extra dollars per hospital to be exact – around half of the $4.9 million in additional funding the province granted West Lincoln Memorial Hospital in the Niagara municipality of Grimsby two years ago this winter to upgrade its fire alarm, intercom, plumping, electrical, and cooling and heading systems, and to repair some of its walls and floors.

Never mind enough funding to build a new hospital in Grimsby, which is what the people of that area have really been wanting for years. Continue reading →

Province’s 2016 Budget Includes New Investments in High-Quality Health Care

News from the Government of Ontario

Posted February 29^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Queen’s Park, Toronto, Ontario – As part of the 2016 Budget, Ontario is proposing a new investment of more than $345 million to all publicly funded hospitals, including a one per cent increase to base funding, to provide better patient access to high-quality health care services.

Niagara, Ontario’s new super hospital – opened three years ago – in west St. Catharines

In 2016-2017, hospitals would receive:

• $175 million to provide patients with access to more services in new and redeveloped hospitals and for targeted priority services such as organ and tissue transplants
• $160 million to improve access and wait times for hospital services, including additional procedures such as cataract surgeries, knee and hip replacements and knee arthroscopies
• $7.5 million for small, northern and rural hospitals, which is in addition to Ontario’s $20 million Small and Rural Hospital Transformation Fund
• $6 million for mental health hospitals.

Continue reading →

A Column from Pelham Mayor Dave Augustyn

Posted February 29^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Niagara, Ontario – There was lots of excitement across Niagara and in Pelham last week following the release of the 2016 Provincial Budget.

Pelham Mayor Dave Augustyn

First, in their Budget, released last Thursday, the Provincial Government committed to extending GO Rail service to Niagara. After submitting our formal business case last spring, all are thrilled to have this commitment in a significant Provincial document.

The budget states: “Subject to agreement with freight rail partners, two-way, all-day rail services on the. Kitchener and Milton GO corridors, and extension of GO rail service to Niagara and Bowmanville.”

It’s as if the oft-repeated phrase of my colleague, Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati, came true: “It’s not a question of ‘if’ GO rail comes to Niagara, it’s a question of ‘when’!” Continue reading →

 Global Warming And Grassroots Activism Come Together At ‘This Changes Everything’ Film Screening This Coming March 1st In St. Catharines, Ontario

An Invite from the South Niagara Chapter of The Council of Canadians and the Unitarian Congregation of Niagara

Posted February 28^th on Niagara At Large

Niagara, Ontario – In December, at the International Climate Change meetings in Paris (COP 21), the newly-elected government of Canada announced to the world that our country was changing course.

No longer would Canada be a laggard on climate change mitigation, allowing our greenhouse gases to rise year after year. Instead, at COP 21, Canada’s new Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, Christine McKenna, announced Canada’s decision to endorse the call for a target rise in global temperature of no more than 1.5 degrees.

Later this week, from March 3-5, Christine McKenna and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will meet with the provincial and territorial First Ministers to begin to craft a national approach to climate change mitigation and limiting GHG emissions.

It’s not going to be easy. With the Harper government taking a back seat on addressing climate change over the past decade, individual provinces have chosen different ways to deal with emissions, with the result that we have a patchwork of initiatives across the country. Our federal and provincial and territorial leaders need to find common ground. Continue reading →

A Brief Comment by Doug Draper, From Outside the Tent

Posted February 27^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

In a U.S. presidential race where candidates are more interested in talking about each others’ over-active sweat glands or whether one candidate or the other has peed his pants, why focus on issues like jobs, economy and climage change when a former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan is joining the circus.

If you need any more evidence that the ‘American Dream’ has morphed into a national nightmare and that any remnants of what were the golden years of the American Century are dead, the freak show that is the Republican race to replace the Black man in the White House is it.

Indeed, what is happening to politics in the United States makes something the late satirist George Carlin said more than a decade ago ring even more true today; “When you are born, you get a ticket to the freak show,” he said. When you are born in America, you get a front-row seat.” Continue reading →

Add Your Name To The Petition Below!

From Doug Draper, reporter and publisher, Niagara At Large

Posted February 26^th, 2016

Niagara, Ontario – You don’t have to be a student or a person without a car, trying to get back and forth to a job somewhere in the region, to sign the petition Niagara College’s Student Administrative Council has posted on line, pressing our municipal leaders for better public transit services.

You can be someone who doesn’t have a car or would rather not use a car to do a little shopping, go out to a movie or get together with friends, or visit a loved one in a hospital.

All you have to do is be one of countless people across Niagara who think it’s way past time this region join the 21^st Century with transit services – and not just a Go Train service to and from the Greater Toronto Area – as seamless, accessible and reliable as those Waterloo and other regions across the province have had and are profitting by with new jobs and prosperity for many years now. Continue reading →

Building the Plan to Work Together to Save the Welland Hospital

An Invite To You  from the Niagara & Ontario Health Coalitions

Posted February 26th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

The Welland Hospital Site, serving the Niagara City of Welland and neighbourning communities, including Wainfleet, Port Colborne, Fort Erie and southern reaches of Pelham and Thorold.

Welland, Ontario – The Save our Welland hospital Campaign is holding an information meeting in the south Niagara community of Wainfleet.  There will be an update on the 2015 action plan.

Local residents are invited to bring their concerns and to discuss the 2016 action plan.

What: Community Meeting Regarding the impact of the hospital closure

Who: Niagara Health Coalition, Ontario Health Coalition, Save Our Welland Hospital

Speakers: Natalie Mehra,   Ontario Health Executive Director

Sue Hotte, Niagara Health Coalition

Where: Christ Anglican Church, 31970 Church St. Wainfleet

When: Monday, February 29, 2016

Time: 7 pm 

NOW IT IS YOUR TURN. Niagara At Large encourages you to share your views on this post. A reminder that we only post comments by individuals who share their first and last name with them.

Visit Niagara At Large at www.niagaraatlarge.com for more news and commentary for and from the greater bi-national Niagara region.

A Year Round Go Train Service “Will Be Instrumental Both In Opening New Labour Markets For Niagara Workers And In Opening New Talent Pools For Niagara Employers.”

News from the Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce

Posted February 26^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Niagara, Ontario – The Ontario budget, released February 25th, contained a welcome sign of progress on the initiative to bring all-day, year round GO train service to Niagara.

The budget reads: “The Province will continue working with regions, communities, other levels of government, and private partners to design and select the next generation of infrastructure investments that will improve the competitiveness of Ontario’s communities, enhance productivity, promote innovation and develop new economic opportunities, such as: Subject to agreement with freight rail partners, two-way, all-day rail services on the Kitchener and Milton GO corridors, and extension of GO rail service to Niagara and Bowmanville.” Continue reading →

From Ontario’s New Democratic Party

Posted February 27^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Queen’s Park, Toronto – Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said that the 2016 Budget fails to deliver positive change for Ontarians. Instead of protecting vital services like healthcare and education, this budget will stretch household budgets and make it harder for seniors to stay healthy.

Ontario- NDP Leader Andrea Horwath

“I hoped the Premier would take this opportunity to listen to people, to focus on their priorities, like protecting and creating good jobs, halting cuts to education and healthcare, and stopping the sell-off of Hydro One,” said Horwath. “Unfortunately, it’s clear that this budget puts stretch goals ahead of the basics.”

New Democrats expressed deep concern about the impact of this budget on healthcare and seniors care. Not only does this budget make life more expensive for seniors, but it fails to reverse the cuts to hospital budgets that have meant cancelled surgeries, closed beds and the firing of nurses across the province. Continue reading →

Ontario Liberals’ Cap-And-Trade Tax-Grab Makes Life More Unaffordable For Families

News from Ontario’s Opposition Conservative Party

Posted February 25^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Queen’s Park, Toronto, Ontario – The Liberals’ cap-and-trade scheme puts a new tax on gasoline and home-heating that will make life more unaffordable for families across Ontario, Huron-Bruce MPP and PC Environment and Cap-and-Trade Critic Lisa Thompson said today.

“Climate change is a serious challenge that requires a credible plan that will effectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions while protecting Ontario taxpayers,” Thompson said.

“Unfortunately, the Liberal government has done the opposite. Kathleen Wynne’s cap-and-trade tax-grab will force Ontario families to pay more for home-heating and gasoline while providing no guarantees that the money will actually go toward cutting emissions.” Continue reading →

Proposed Law to Ensure Transparency, Accountability for Use of Cap and Trade Auction Proceeds

News from the Government of Ontario

Posted February 25th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

(A Brief Note on this News form NAL publisher Doug Draper – Anyone who has been following my reporting and commentary going back to my lengthy time as an environment reporter for commentary at a daily newspaper in Niagara two and three decades ago, knows how hard I have advocated for an end to the pollution that causes climate change and other serious damage to the life-sustaining resources on our planet.

But a cap-and-trade system for reducing emissions of climate change pollutants? Why not something far easier and less costly to administer, not to mention far easier to understand, like a carbon tax?

I don’t know many people, however intelligent, who understand what a cap-and-trade system is or how it works. And I think it should always be a red-flag moment when a government or anyone else tries to sell us something that is hard to understand because it could very well be a way of trying to pull a big fat, fast one on us. Continue reading →

“Brock and Niagara are great schools, so why can’t we get there in decent time?”

By Niagara College student and Hamilton, Ontario resident Katie Gray

Posted February 24^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Niagara, Ontario – Transit Riders of Niagara and Hamilton: Have you noticed all the ads for Brock University and Niagara College on bus stops throughout

our city? Have you ever wondered how long it actually takes to get to either by transit? If you attend a school in the Niagara region, and have to take public transit, you know exactly what I’m talking about.

File photo by Doug Draper

Currently, I’m gearing up for my second semester of travelling from East Hamilton to Niagara College’s Niagara-on-the-Lake Campus.

The total ride takes two HSR buses, the GO Bus (which drops me off at Fairview Mall in St. Catharines), a bus to downtown St. Catharines, and then finally the shuttle that takes me to my school. That is five buses, and totals usually two hours and 18 minutes, if all the connections line up properly. Continue reading →

Premier Wynne Unveils New Long-Term Strategy

“The appalling statistics on violence against Indigenous women reflect a reality that no one should have to endure. – Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne

News from the Office of the Ontario Premier

Posted February 24^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Queen’s Park, Toronto, Ontario – The Ontario government has released Walking Together: Ontario’s Long-Term Strategy to End Violence Against Indigenous Women. The strategy outlines actions to prevent violence against Indigenous women and reduce its impact on youth, families and communities.

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne

Premier Kathleen Wynne unveiled Walking Together today at Queen’s Park. The government has committed $100 million over three years in new funding to support implementation of the strategy, which it developed in collaboration with Indigenous partners of Ontario’s Joint Working Group on Violence Against Aboriginal Women. The government committed to the strategy as part of It’s Never Okay: An Action Plan to Stop Sexual Violence and Harassment, released last March. Continue reading →

“Erica is an inspiring woman (who) provides a fresh perspective on female empowerment.” – Women In Niagara Council Chair Ruth Unrau.

News from the Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce

Posted February 24^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Niagara, Ontario – The Women In Niagara (WIN) council with the Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce will be presenting a luncheon event to mark International Women’s Day to take place on Friday March 4^th at the Americana Conference Resort and Spa in Niagara Falls.

Keynote speaker Erica Ehm

WIN is pleased to announce Erica Ehm as they keynote speaker for the 16th annual IWD celebration.  Erica Ehm was the voice of her generation for a decade as one of the first hosts on Canada’s national music video channel, Much Music. 

Erica went on to be a songwriter, television contributor; author and creator of one of Canada’s largest independently owned online magazines – YummyMummyClub.ca.  Her numerous awards include Golds for Best Blog and Independent Publisher of the Year from the Canadian Online Publishing Awards, and Leading Women Building Communities Award from the Ontario Government.  Continue reading →

Canadian Wings for Life World Run finalist Blaine Penny to run in Netherlands as Niagara Falls prepares to host international participants in global running race for second-straight year

News from Wings for Life World Run

Posted February 24^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Niagara Falls, Ontario – February 23, 2016 – In just 10 weeks on Sunday, May 8, the Wings for Life World Run will once again showcase Niagara Falls, Ontario among 35 other locations around the globe hosting the single-day running event in support of spinal cord research.

Wings for Life runners racing under the mist of the Horseshoe Falls. File photo from 2015 run

The Wings for Life World Run is a truly global event with 101,280 participants taking to international starting lines during the 2015 event, and winning it can be a runner’s ticket to see the world. Male and female winners from each regional event are awarded the opportunity to participate at any Wings for Life World Run race location around the world in the following year. Continue reading →

Sign An Online Petition At Bottom Of This Post For Better Transit Services For Niagara

A News Commentary by Doug Draper

Posted February 23rd, 2016 on Niagara At Large

“It’s “terrible.” It “sucks.” It’s “abysmally poor.”

These are just a sample of the kind of words I’ve been hearing for years and continue to hear, not only from college and university students, and graduates who need transit to get to a job in Niagara, Ontario, but from people of all ages who find Niagara’s unreliable, patch work of transit services inferior to services in other regions of the province and – that’s right – “abysmally poor.”

One of Niagara Region’s few “inter-municipal” buses makes a stop in Welland. File photo by Doug Draper

Earlier this February, I contacted Al Caslin, a St. Catharines regional councillor who was elected chair of Niagara’s regional government by a majority of the current councillors following the last municipal elections, to ask him about the status of a campaign he is leading to bring full Go Train services to Niagara.

I also asked Caslin if the regional government and Niagara’s local municipalites were making any progress on building a more integrated or amalgated bus system in the region. Continue reading →

A Brief Note from Doug Draper, Niagara At Large

Posted February 22^nd, 2016

Niagara, Ontario – One can only hope that most of the migrant workers who come to Niagara and other regions of Canada from poverty-stricken countries to make some money for their families back home are treated fairly while they are here.

It is not easy to tell because migrants are typically reluctant to speak out while they are here for fear of being sent hom or never invited back again. And you do hear the odd thing that is disturbing.

So how good it is that there is an organization of students at Brock University that serves as a watchdog body for migrant workers and is able to speak out in a way this vulnerable group of people fears it can’t.

This coming Wednesday, February 24^th, from 5 to 9 p.m. at the St. Catharines campus of Brock University in Thistle Room 246 (in the old iconic Brock Tower), the Brock chapter of Students Against Migrant Exploitation (SAME) is inviting all of us who want to come to a screening of El Contrato – a disturbing insight into the way at least some migrant workers have been treated in Ontario – followed by a group discussion all of us can participate in.

Continue reading →

This Clown Prince Of Reality TV And Multi-Billion-Dollar Hatemonger Could Become The Next President Of Our Neighbouring United States

A Brief One by Doug Draper, Niagara At Large

Posted February 21^st, 2016

You still don’t think this billionaire blowhard could be the next president of a country that has its finger on the hair-trigger of the most lethal nuclear arsenal the world has ever known – a country that can, given its strong economic ties and commanding lead as a trading partner with Canada, bring any government in Ottawa to its knees if a petulant, predatory mind like Trump’s were in the Oval to do so?

If you still don’t think so, you might want to think again.

And as distasteful as it may be to click over to American cable news channels like Fox, CNN and MSNBC, you won’t have to have one of these channels on for very many minutes to hear the latest news on Donald Trump eviscerating any and all rivals and critics as he charges his way to Washington like a fire-breathing dragon on a rampage. Continue reading →

Several Other Meetings On The Plight Of Our Hospitals Scheduled For Other Communities In And Around Niagara

An Invitation to You from the Niagara Health Coalition and its umbrella organization, the Ontario Health Coalition

Posted February 20^th , 2016 on Niagara At Large

PUBLIC ADVISORY 

Save Our Welland Hospital Public Meeting

Building the Plan to Work Together to Save the Welland Hospital

Welland, Ontario – The Save our Welland hospital Campaign is holding an

Welland Hospital in Niagara, Ontario

information meeting. There will be an update on the 2015 action plan. Local residents are invited to bring their concerns and to discuss the 2016 action plan.

What: Community Meeting Regarding the impact of the hospital closure

Who: Niagara Health Coalition, Ontario Health Coalition, Save Our Welland Hospital Continue reading →

News from Brock University 

Posted February 19^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

St. Catharines, Ontario – The Brock University scientist helping lead Canada’s research on Zika virus has been called to a global summit next month in Brazil, but first she will begin studies to see if Canadian mosquitoes can transmit the virus.

Brock University researcher Darrell Agbulos unpacks vials of the Zika virus in Brock’s CL3 Containment lab.

This week, carefully sealed containers of Zika arrived at Brock’s campus in St. Catharines, Ontario, sent by the Public Health Agency of Canada.

Over the next two weeks, medical entomologist Fiona Hunter and her research team will be growing the virus in cell culture so they can infect colony strains of Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus with the virus. 

They will be testing whether the virus can be transmitted between male and female mosquitoes during mating, as well as whether female mosquitoes can pass the virus on to their eggs.  Continue reading →

 Province Committed to Sustainable Black Bear Management

News from the Government of Ontario

Posted February 19^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

(A Brief Foreword Note from Doug Draper, Niagara At Large – How on earth would animals like this survive if we humans weren’t around to exercise “sustainable practices” to “manage” their numbers. We can’t even look after ourselves for God’s sake.

We kill more of each other each year in traffic accidents alone than the number of people who are injured or killed by bears in a hundred years!

And that doesn’t even come close to the number of people across Ontario and Canada who die prematurely each year from breathing the smog and other poisons we spew into the air.

But bears and wolves and coyotes. Now there is the real menace!)

Queen’s Park, Toronto – Ontario is expanding the spring bear hunting pilot to gather further information to assess concerns voiced by northern communities about human-bear conflicts, and to support economic growth and tourism in the north. Continue reading →

By Veteran Canadian journalist Nick Fillmore

The Final Part of a Two Part Series, Posted February 18^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Canada’s mainstream media are in a state of incipient meltdown. They no longer deliver the volume or quality of news that Canadians need to be informed about important happenings in their communities, let alone to participate in a healthy democratic process.

The corporations that own traditional newspapers, seeing their revenues and readership dissolve, have opted to cut jobs and slash the content that used to provide their product’s value.

News on the Internet: Everyone will get in on the act!

This is a serious problem for the way our democracy is supposed to work, and it is not going away. It is time for governments—federal, provincial, and municipal—to step up and find a way to make sure that Canadian communities once again receive the news and information they need to function properly.

I explained in an earlier column why it would be the wrong choice for governments to support the same media that are failing under profit-driven corporate ownership. Instead, the best solution to our growing news crisis is for governments to provide the financial support needed so that community-based Internet news sites will be sustainable. Continue reading →

Government To Open Up Wine Sales In 300 Locations, Starting With 70 This Fall

News from the Government of Ontario

Posted February 18^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Queen’s Park, Toronto – Ontario is increasing choice and convenience for consumers and supporting wine producers by making wine available on the shelves of up to 300 independent and large grocery stores. Following the historic introduction of beer in grocery stores last December, 70 grocery stores across Ontario will be able to start selling wine, beer and cider this fall.

Premier Kathleen Wynne made the announcement today as the government accepted the final recommendations from the Premier’s Advisory Council on Government Assets, chaired by Ed Clark. These recommendations conclude the council’s review of the beverage alcohol sector. Continue reading →

By Ellen Perschbacher, University of Waterloo, Former intern at International Joint Commission’s  Great Lakes Regional Office, Windsor, Ontario

Posted February 18^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Microbeads are one way to clean your face, body and teeth and pollute the Great Lakes at the same time. Thankfully, there are alternatives.

microbeads in toothpastes end up causing serious health and environmental problems in Great Lakes

Microbeads are tiny, spherical plastic particles ranging in size from an invisible 1 micrometer to 5 millimeters and are a subcategory of microplastics pollution. The tiny plastic beads are manufactured and added to hundreds of personal care products including cosmetics, face washes, toothpastes, deodorants, hair coloring, shaving creams and sunscreens. Manufacturers include them for their “ball-bearing” effect to create a silky texture to their products.

Once applied to the body, most personal care products are rinsed off and go down the drain to wastewater treatment plants. Because the vast majority of these facilities are not equipped to remove such tiny particles, they are discharged directly into surface waters. In the Great Lakes, a 2014 New York State Attorney General’s Office report  found that 25 of 34 wastewater treatments plants discharged microbeads in their effluents. Continue reading →

News from the Office of Ontario PC Leader Patrick Brown

Posted February 17^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Queen’s Park, Toronto – This February 17th, Leader of the Official Opposition Patrick Brown alongside members of the Ontario PC Caucus outlined three recommendations the people of Ontario deserve to see represented in the upcoming budget, which is set to be released on February 25^th.

Ontario Progressive Conservative Party Leader Patrick Brown

These recommendations will be debated in the Legislature next week, after they are introduced through an opposition day motion.

The three recommendations are a credible plan to make energy affordable in Ontario, ensuring proper management of Ontario’s health care system, and a credible plan to balance the budget.

“I have been travelling every corner of the province and listening relentlessly to the concerns of average Ontarians. Most recently, this included knocking on doors and talking to constituents in Whitby-Oshawa,” said Leader Patrick Brown. “The most common themes I am hearing center around Ontario’s skyrocketing energy prices, cuts to front-line health care services, and Ontario’s unsustainable and growing debt.” Continue reading →

“I think newspaper readership is strongest  among people who are soon going to be dead.” — John Miller , former senior editor at The Toronto Star 

Part One of a Two Part Series., Posted February 17^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

By Veteran Canadian journalist Nick Fillmore

A flourishing, capable news media is the oxygen of democracy. In Canada, our traditional oxygen-providers, the mainstream corporate-owned newspapers, are dying. We need to come up with something better to serve our communities.

These presses, at the once independent, locally owned St. Catharines Standard, once ran off stories on issues impacting people in the Niagara region that won provincial, national and international media awards. They are long gone now. File photo by Doug Draper

Since the beginning of the year, we’ve seen papers in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, and Ottawa bizarrely merged; a potentially disastrous strike in Halifax. The Guelph Mercury’s last print edition. The closure of The Toronto’ Star’s printing press, and gradual shaving back at every paper in the country.

Not all papers are losing money, but none is flourishing. And none still provides the scope or depth of balanced news essential to a citizenry that wants to be engaged.

How has this happened? Continue reading →

By John Bacher

Posted February 16th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Niagara, Ontario – Currently those advocating “bio-diversity offsetting”, claim that it is intended to help farmers, not developers.

One of the remaining wooded wetland area in Niagara, Ontario. How long will it be spared from destruction for more sprawling development

However, in 2008 this concept was first put forward to assist an urban development proposal in Niagara Falls, Ontario known as “Thundering Waters.”

In November 2015, when Ontario’s provincial government had a public consultation on the review of its wetland policy, the only person who spoke in favour of the province changing the rules to permit such offsets was a developer associated with the same project.

In 2008, the reason why offsetting was proposed was that the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority (NPCA) had a policy to protect locally significant wetlands. It was proposed to “offset” the d destruction of a wetland area desired by the developer, by creating a new  wetland on a site damaged in the past by spills dumping conducted by the former Ontario Hydro (now Ontario Power Generation) Continue reading →

News from the Ontario Ministry of Finance

Posted February 16^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Queen’s Park, Ontario – Bill Morneau, Minister of Finance of the Government of Canada, Charles Sousa, Minister of Finance for the Government of Ontario and Mitzie Hunter, Associate Minister of Finance for the Government of Ontario announced this February 16^th that they have reached an agreement to work together to achieve their mutual goal of improving pensions for Canadians.

Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa

 Many Canadians are not saving adequately for retirement and, unless action is taken, will face a decline in their standard of living when they retire. The governments of Canada and Ontario have both prioritized improving retirement income security.

Ontario welcomes the federal government’s leadership in renewing a national dialogue to enhance the Canada Pension Plan (CPP), and is committed to continuing to work collaboratively with the federal government, provinces and territories to make progress on a national solution that addresses the needs of future retirees. Continue reading →

NDP Leader To Prioritize Job Creation, Protecting Healthcare, Building Equality, Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions, And Stopping The Sell-Off Of Hydro One

News from Ontario’s New Democratic Party

Posted February 16^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

 Queen’s Park – Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath opened the new legislative session by outlining her and the Ontario NDP’s priorities which include, job creation, fighting cuts to frontline healthcare, tackling climate change, stopping the sell-off of Hydro One and closing the equality gap that has grown wider under this Liberal government.

Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath

“As I’ve talked with families and small business owners, students and seniors over the winter break, I find myself hearing stories about two different worlds, two different Ontarios.

There is an Ontario where a small group of insiders with the ear of the Premier and the Liberal Party are doing just fine. And, then, there’s another Ontario – where hard-working people try to keep up, but keep falling further behind.”

This growing inequality is evidenced by the fact that since 2015 the Liberals have fired 1200 nurses and kept seniors waiting for long-term care beds. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper, Niagara At Large

Posted February 15^th, 2016

“When I look back on all the crap I learned in high school, it’s a wonder I can think at all.”

Of all the Paul Simon lyrics I’ve fallen in love with over the years, that one, from his 1970s song ‘Kodachrome’ is right up there near the top of the list.

The late Metis leader – known in some ciricles as the true ‘Father of Manitoba’ – Louis Riel

And the more I’ve learned since my years in school, the more that lyric rings true. I feel like I’ve spent most of my adult life undoing the crap I learned in school, including virtually everything I was taught in our Ontario public schools about the aboriginal people on this continent.

So much so that back in the 1960s when I went through most of my grade school years, I never would have imagined the day would come that I would open up my inbox, as I did this February 15^th, to a media release from the Prime Minister of Canada, paying tribute to ‘Louis Riel Day.

Back then, those of my generation who went to public schools in this province were taught that the Metis leader was a treasonous rebel who deserved to be captured and hung, as he was back in the 1880s with the blessing of Canada’s first Prime Minister, John A. MacDonald. Continue reading →

Tell the NPCA To Take Its ‘Biodiversity Offsetting’ Plan And SHRED IT!

From Doug Draper, Environment Writer, Publisher, Niagara At Large

Posted February 15^th, 2016

Tell Carmen D’Angelo and hisNPCA board, and the province to forget about playing ‘biodiversity off-setting’ games with our region’s vital wetland areas.

“I’d like to know how to stop this,” said former City of Thorold mayor and Niagara regional councillor Robin Brock during a public information meeting the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority held late this past January to address its plan to ask the Ontario government for permission to test something called “biodiversity offsetting” on some of what’s left of our natural wetlands here.

“I’d like to save you the time and the effort before you go on,” said Brock, warning that from her many years of experience in local and regional government, it it will likely cost a good deal of time and money (make that money collected from the rest of us in taxes) for all of the work by hired consultants and staff to obtain whatever provincial approvals, redesignating or rezonings of lands, etc. to get anything like whatever this ‘biodiversity offsetting’ is off the ground.

That doesn’t even count the groundswell of grassroots opposition which, from what I am gathering through all the traffic on social media, is growing every day.

And one of the items on social media that is receiving a huge number of hits is a short video produced by Niagara native Owen Bjorgan who is studying biodiversity at Guelph University,which I am going to post again for you to view right here, before leaving you with a list of NPCA board members and provincial represenatives to phone or email and follow up on Robin Brock’s call to stop this destructive idea in its tracks – right now!

The following is a list of those who sit on the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority’s Board of Directors, along with their email addresses so you can, if youwish, send them your views on this issue. Continue reading →

From Doug Draper

Posted February 14th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

There’s goes Bill, sneaking out on Hillary again. Only this time it is not for another woman – not on Valentines Day.

This time Bill Clinton is sneaking out to another Bernie Sanders campaign rally with an eye to voting for the insurgent candidate if he should become the Democratic nominee in the race for the U.S. presidency.

Hey, maybe that explains why Bill has been looking so “low energy” (as Donald Trump would put) while he has been out stumping for Hillary.

Well, what can you say to that?  Like Hillary once put it when asked about all of Bill’s sneaking around; “He’s a hard dog to keep on the porch.”  Only this time he’s gone off barking for Bernie.

Of course, this story is fiction, but no less so than most of what’s coming out of the mouths of Republican candidates Trump, Cruz and Rubio. Where is some truth anymore?

Here’s hoping e you’ve found a little warmth and happiness this Valentines Day

NOW IT IS YOUR TURN. Niagara At Large encourages you to share your views on this post. A reminder that we only post comments by individuals who share their first and last name with them.

Visit Niagara At Large at www.niagaraatlarge.com for more news and commentary for and from the greater bi-national Niagara region.

Naomi Klein-Inspired Film – ‘This Changes Everything’ Airs Thursday, February 18^th

Posted February 14^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

If you have not yet seen this brave documentary film or read the book by award-winning journalists Naomi Klein that goes by the same name and became an international bestseller after it was first published in 2014, CBC television is airing it for the first time on the tube this coming Thursday, February 18^th at 8 p.m. (Check your Cable server for the channel number for CBC stations in your region).

Naomi’s Klien airs for the first time as a doc on CBC-TV

Niagara At Large also wishes to remind you to join others in the community for a special, free screening of the film ‘This Changes Everything’ at the  Unitarian Congregation of Niagara, on 223 Church St. in the Niagara City of St. Catharines, Ontario at 6.30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 1st, 2016.

This screening, which offers a rare chance to see and discuss the film with others, is being hosted by The Unitarian Congregation of Niagara and Niagara South chapter of the nation-wide public interest group, The Council of Canadians.

Click on the following trailer for ‘This Changes Everything’ and try to strap a few climage deniers you may know to a seat to view it with you.

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The following is re from a CBC promo for its airing of the film this February 18^th –

“Filmed over 211 shoot days in nine countries and five continents over four years, This Changes Everything is an epic attempt to re-imagine the vast challenge of climate change.”

“Inspired by Naomi Klein’s international non-fiction bestseller This Changes Everything, the film presents seven powerful portraits of communities on the front lines, from Montana’s Powder River Basin to the Alberta Tar Sands, from the coast of South India to Beijing and beyond. Interwoven with these stories of struggle is Klein’s narration, connecting the carbon in the air with the economic system that put it there.”

“Throughout the film, Klein builds to her most controversial and exciting idea: that we can seize the existential crisis of climate change to transform our failed economic system into something radically better.”

NOW IT IS YOUR TURN. Niagara At Large encourages you to share your views on this post. A reminder that we only post comments by individuals who share their first and last name with them.

Visit Niagara At Large at www.niagaraatlarge.com for more news and commentary for and from the greater bi-national Niagara region.

Ontario to Modernize the Delivery of Community Safety

News from the Government of Ontario

Posted February 12, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Queen’s Park, Toronto – Ontario is launching public consultations across the province on the development of its Strategy for a Safer Ontario – a new blueprint for effective, sustainable, and community-based policing.

O.P.P. vehicle (Hwy 69 South.)
Photo By Marg Seregelyi 2008

The nature of policing and the role of police officers have changed since the Police Services Act was written in 1990. Policing has evolved as a result of advancements in technology, the increasing frequency of police interactions with vulnerable individuals, such as those suffering with mental health or addiction issues, and Ontarians’ enhanced expectations about oversight and accountability of law enforcement. Continue reading →

From Doug Draper 

Posted February 11^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

The Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority – a government body created by the Province of Ontario decades ago and stacked with board members appointed by municipal governments in the region – is floating the idea of destroying at least some of that’s left of Niagara’s natural wetlands to make way for more development.

Only about 10 to 15 per cent of Niagara’s wetlands – vital to the survival of many birds, fish and other wildlife – remain in Niagara and a regional ‘Conservation Authority” is now looking at “offsetting” to make way for development. Photo by Doug Draper

The NPCA says it is thinking of taking this idea to the provincial government for approval under the guise of something called “biodiversity offsetting” which involves (as best as one can determine from an explanation offered by Conservation Authority’s chief administrative officer Carmen D’Angelo at a public meeting this January) replacing some wetland for development and replacing it somewhere else with something the same or similar that someone would construct. 

More than 200 citizens attended the January meeting, many of them to express their concern or outright opposition to the idea. And when one citizen asked NPCA representatives flat out for a definition of “biodivesity offsetting,” one Conservation Authority member stood to say they do not yet have a full definition of the term.   Continue reading →

Scholarship Announcement –  $500.00 for Secondary Student available

News from the Niagara Peninsula Hawkwatch

Posted February 12th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Niagara, Ontario – The Niagara Peninsula Hawkwatch, NPH, is entering its 42^nd year of recording migrating raptors at the Beamer Memorial Conservation Area.

Red-Tailed Hawk soars above Niagara Escarpment

From March 1^st to May 15^th members of the NPH monitor and record the species and numbers of migrating hawks, eagles and vultures that pass over Beamer each spring.  On average 15,000 migrating raptors are recorded each spring.

An important part of our mission is public education. Every Good Friday the NPH holds a Public Open House at the Conservation Area. To heighten our education goals the Board of the NPH will be providing a $500.00 scholarship to a successful secondary student in 2016. Continue reading →

“While I am excited about what we have accomplished in the first 100 days, I know there is still much to do.” 

A Statement by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau 

Posted February 12^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large 

Ottawa, Ontario – The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, issued the following statement today to highlight the accomplishments made by the Government of Canada during the first 100 days of its mandate:

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

“When we were elected, we promised real change to improve the lives of Canadians – change based on what people from coast to coast to coast have told us they want. After the first 100 days, I am proud of the progress we have made towards that goal.

“As one of our first orders of business, we cut taxes for the middle class. We asked the wealthiest Canadians to pay a little more, so that more money could be put back into the pockets of middle class Canadians.

“In November, I was extremely proud to introduce our gender-balanced Cabinet. We know our country is enriched – and our government is more effective – when decision-makers represent Canada’s rich diversity. Continue reading →

A Brock Labour Expert Has Launched An Online Survey To Collect Data About Retail Workers’ Working Conditions.

News from Brock University in Niagara, Ontario

Posted February 11^th, 2016

“Anyone who works in retail in Ontario is invited to complete the survey (a link for which is included below),” says Kendra Coulter, Associate Professor in Brock’s Centre for Labour Studies. “It will provide important information about what people are experiencing personally.”

Working in the retail sector

The survey, launched this week, is anonymous and takes about 15 minutes to complete. It will be live until March 8, International Women’s Day. The survey is one component of a larger study Coulter is leading on gender and pay in retail.

The Ontario Pay Equity Commission awarded Coulter a grant to study the retail sector and the gender wage gap, which refers to the difference between what women and men are paid. In Ontario, women are paid 74 cents for every dollar paid to men. Continue reading →

An Invitation to All of Us  from the Canadian-Cuban Friendship Association of Niagara

Posted February 8^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Niagara, Ontario – The MacBain Centre, Community Conference Room at corner of McLeod and Montrose Roads in Niagara Falls will be the site this coming Tuesday, March 1^st, 2016 of Canadian-Cuban Friendship Association Niagara’s Annual General Meeting and  Public Night.

The event, featuring Javier Domokos Ruiz, Cuba’s Consul General as guest speaker, begins at 7 p.m. and everyone, including the general public and community leaders, is welcome.

 “Not only will Mr. Dómokos Ruiz analyze the historic reestablishment of U.S. – Cuba relations but where do we go from here? More importantly the 55 year long economic and trade embargo – actually a blockade – is still in place,” said Dave Thomas, CCFA Niagara Chair

The refrain is heard from every corner of Canada: “I must visit Cuba before the Americas return.” said Thomas. “This of course gives reference to the day Americans will be allowed to freely travel to Cuba by their own government. The expectation is the massive American tourism and investment will change the country forever.”
Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

Posted February 9^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Niagara, Ontario – At the recently opened Harriet Tubman Public School in St. Catharines, in a neighbourhood of the city where the 19^th Century heroine whose name adorns this elementary school once lived, hundreds gathered this February 9^th for the unveiling of a bronze statue to her.

Children look up at a statue of Harriet Tubman unveiled February 9th, 2016 at a St. Catharines school named after her. photo by Doug Draper

The unveiling of the statue of Harriet Tubman, who spirited hundreds south of the border out of slavery to freedom in Canada during the years leading up the American Civil Wars, is the culmination of the school’s ‘Welcome Harriet Tubman Home’ campaing and is one of many events taking place throughout our greater binational Niagara region this February – all in commemoration of Black History Month.

The life-sized statue of Harriet Tubman, seated in a chair and resting a book in her hands, was commissioned by the District School Board of Niagara from former Niagara residents and artists Frank Rekrut and Laura Thompson, who now live and own an art studio in Florence, Italy, which has been a mecca for artists for centuries. Continue reading →

• Coordinated Provincial Support Helping Newcomers Contribute to Ontario Society

“We know how critical the supports we are providing to refugees from Syria — and around the world — are to helping them achieve their dreams of working and raising a family in Canada. As they do, our economy and our society are forever enriched.”  — Kathleen Wynne, Premier

News from the Government of Ontario

Posted February 8th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Queen’s Park, Toronto – Ontario is helping to ensure seamless and coordinated support for the thousands of refugees settling in the province.

Another family of refugees arrives in Ontario.

By supporting settlement agencies and sponsorship organizations, the province is helping ensure the availability of services critical for refugees to start their new lives, contribute to economic growth and enrich the province’s cultural fabric.

Premier Kathleen Wynne was at the City Adult Learning Centre in Toronto today to highlight the support being provided to refugees to learn English and upgrade their skills to meet the needs of Ontario’s job market. The Premier also announced two further investments to help refugees settle and integrate into Ontario. The funding of about $626,000 over two years is part of the government’s commitment of $8.5 million over two and a half years to support refugees. Continue reading →

• A Powerful Film Documentary On Climate Change, Based On Naomi Klein’s Best-Selling Book

An Invitation from the Unitarian Congregation of Niagara and the South Niagara Chapter of The Council of Canadians

Posted February 8^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large 

Niagara, Ontario – On Tuesday, March 1^st at 6:30 p.m., you are invited to a free screening of the film documentary ‘This Changes Everything’, directed by Avi Lewis and based on the book by Naomi Klein.

Naomi Klein – Canadian activist and author of ‘This Changes Everything’ – the acclaimed book that inspired the film documentary by the same name.

All are welcome to this free-of-charge event. See the notice below for more information.

The Unitarian Congregation of Niagara and the Council of Canadians invite you to: This Changes Everything, a Powerful documentary by Avi Lewis and Naomi Klein

Free Screening at:  Unitarian Congregation of Niagara, 223 Church St., St. Catharines, Ontario,  6.30 p.m. Tuesday, March 1st, 2016

What if confronting the climate crisis is the best chance we’ll ever get to build a better world? This Changes Everything is an epic attempt to re-imagine the vast challenge of climate change.

“Our economic model is at war with life on earth.” 

Continue reading →

An Invitation from Niagara Secular Humanists

Posted Febuary 8^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Dear NSH members and friends:

Niagara, Ontario – Our next meeting will be on Tuesday, February. 9^th at 7 p.m. at the Unitarian Congregation of Niagara on 223 Church Street in St. Catharines (Ontario).

Our speaker will be Kelly Kush, owner of the Niagara Cannabis Club. Her topic will be “Medical Benefits of Marijuana.”

All are welcome and the cost is $4 for non-members and free for NHS members. Light refreshments will be provided.

For more information on Niagara Secular Humanists and its upcoming events click on http://nsh.humanists.ca .

NOW IT IS YOUR TURN. Niagara At Large encourages you to share your views on this post. A reminder that we only post comments by individuals who share their first and last name with them.

Visit Niagara At Large at www.niagaraatlarge.com for more news and commentary for and from the greater bi-national Niagara region.

Public Opposition To NPCA’s “Biodiversity Offsetting” Idea Is Mounting

A News Commentary by Doug Draper

Posted February 5^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Niagara, Ontario – A citizen’s movement is growing in Niagara and beyond to crush any plan by of all government bodies – the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority – to destroy what is left of the region’s natural wetlands to make way for housing and other development.

Only about 10 to 15 per cent of Niagara’s wetlands – vital to the survival of many birds, fish and other wildlife – remain in Niagara and a regional ‘Conservation Authority” is now looking at “offsetting” to make way for development. Photo by Doug Draper

On a nippy Wednesday night, late this January more than 200 people – some of them aging environmentalists like me, but many of them young and determined not to let governments do more to wreck any more of this planet for their future – drove the dark country roads of Lincoln and surrounding communities to a meeting room in the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority’s Ball’s Falls Centre for Conservation for an “information session” on something the NPCA’s board and top brass are calling “biodiversity offsetting.”

After the NPCA’s chief administrative officer Carmen D’Angelo put good front-line staff at the Conservation Authority through close to an hour and a half of making presentations about geography and biology that had little or nothing to do with what the people had come to address, many in the audience were growing fed-up. Continue reading →

A Short One from Doug Draper, NAL publisher

Posted February 4^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

If been following my commentary on Niagara At Large for a while you may know that I’m a complete sucker for cats, especially ones as regal as this guy.

Tigger the Cat has become quite the celebrity in Niagara, Ontario

I’m talking about one of Niagara, Ontario’s most majestic tabbies – a feline known an ever growing fan base out there as Tigger, who turns eight this Saturday, February 6^th with a birthday party at the store where he serves as ambassador and loving friend to those who work there.

You are invited to join in celebrating Tigger’s birthday on this February 6^th between the hours of 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. at the Pet Valu Thorold store in the Niagara, Ontario community of Thorold at its 9 Pine Street North location in the same plaza that includes a Foodland grocery store outlet. Continue reading →

From Canada’s Green Party

Posted February 4^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Friend, Justin Trudeau and the Liberals are signing the TPP today. We have to stop them from ratifying it.

Today’s signing is a big step towards the ratification of a risky trade deal that hurts Canadian workers and Canadian sovereignty. The TPP will put corporate profits above consumer security and cost over 55,000 Canadians their jobs.

Tell Justin Trudeau and the Liberals that the TPP is the wrong deal for Canada.

Click on the underlined words below to add your voice to the petition.

Add your name today. Craig

Craig Cantin Deputy Executive Director Green Party of Canada

(NOW IT IS YOUR TURN. Niagara At Large encourages you to share your views on this post. A reminder that we only post comments by individuals who share their first and last name with them.)

Visit Niagara At Large at www.niagaraatlarge.com for more news and commentary for and from the greater bi-national Niagara region.

Ontario Health Coalition Submission to the Standing Committee on Finance & Economic Affairs – February 1st, 2016

Priority Recommendation: Stop Devastating Hospital Cuts & Restore Funding to Average of Other Provinces

Hospital global funding increases have been set below the rate of inflation since at least 2008. Since 2012/13 global hospital budget funding levels have been frozen. In sum, this means that global hospital budgets have been cut in real dollar terms (inflation-adjusted dollars) for 8 years in a row.

Ontario Health Coalition’s executive director Natalie Mehra at podium outside Queen’s Park following submission to provincial legislative committee on hospital funding.

This is the longest period of hospital cuts in Ontario’s history and there is no end in sight. The evidence shows that the hospital funding formula and austerity measures that have cut global hospital budgets in real dollar terms for almost a decade, have resulted in a dramatic reduction in needed services. By key measures, Ontario now ranks at the bottom of comparable jurisdictions in key measures of hospital care levels.

As a result, hospitals large and small in every geographic region of Ontario are cutting needed services. Hospitals are now at dangerous levels of overcrowding; staffing levels have dropped precipitously; and patients are suffering as they are forced to wait longer and drive further to access care and are discharged before they are stable.

A sampling of recent cuts:

• North Bay – 30 – 40 beds closing and 140 staff positions to be cut.
• Brockville – 17 Registered Nurses cut affecting departments across the hospital.
• London – up to 500 surgeries including hip, knee, gall bladder and others cancelled until next fiscal year due to inadequate funding of surgery budgets.
• Woodstock – hip, knee and other surgeries cancelled til next fiscal year.
• Trenton – virtually all surgeries cut and closed down along with half the remaining acute care beds.
• Minden – the hospital CEO is speculating openly about closing the Minden hospital.
• Niagara – five entire hospitals to be closed and replaced with one.
• Windsor — > 160 nurses and staff positions to be cut affecting departments across the hospital.
• Kitchener-Waterloo – 68 staff positions to be cut affecting departments across the hospital.
• Midland – at risk: birthing, cafeteria, OR closure 2 days per week, ICU beds to be cut, along with beds and other services.

Continue reading →

News from Niagara Health System, Niagara, Ontario’s amalgamated hospital system

Posted February 3^rd, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Niagara, Ontario – Niagara Health System is pleased to announce that we will continue to operate the Extended Care Unit (ECU) at our Welland Site and make the unit an integral part of our planning for the future.

The Niagara Health System’s hospital site in the Niagara community of Welland, Ontario

NHS had been in discussions about the possible sale of the licence to operate the ECU beds with other not-for-profit long-term care operators. After various opportunities were examined by NHS, our Board of Directors approved a recommendation at a recent meeting to maintain the licence for the ECU beds.

“We are committed to keeping these beds in Welland,” says Dr. Barry Wright, Chair of the NHS Board of Directors. “The Extended Care Unit will be incorporated into our future planning efforts as we explore how to best use our resources, services, and partnership opportunities to support and respond to the greater healthcare needs of residents.” Continue reading →

News from Brock University in Niagara, Ontario

Posted February 3^rd, 2016 on Niagara At Large

St. Catharines, Ontario – A yearly event that brings together 30 community organizations along with scholars, activists and citizens will be held at Brock University Saturday, February 6th, 2016.

The main tower at Brock University’s St. Catharines campus in Niagara, Ontario

The ninth annual Niagara Social Justice Forum will include 12 knowledge-sharing and relationship-building workshops. This year’s theme is ‘Building Solidarities.’

Hosted by the MA Program in Social Justice and Equity Studies and the Social Justice Research Institute, the event is planned by graduate students and faculty members.

“Students in the SJES program are always looking outward in an attempt to create tangible impacts within our communities,” says Carissa Taylor, currently pursuing her degree in the program. “The Niagara Social Justice Forum gives us the opportunity to focus our passion for social justice into an event that will leave a lasting impression on the community, even if we ourselves do not stay here after graduation.” Continue reading →

• ‘The Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority Is Keen To Open Up Wetlands To Development’- Ontario Nature

A Commentary by from Ontario Nature, a charitable organization representing 30,000 members and supporters across the Province of Ontario

Posted February 3^rd, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Toronto, Ontario – This past Tuesday, February 2^nd, 2016  was World Wetlands Day – celebrated around the globe each year to raise awareness about the importance of wetlands. It’s a perfect day to consider the storm that is brewing over wetlands in Niagara.

A wetland in southern Ontario – In Niagara, Ontario, the Region Government’s Conservation Authority is targeting them for developement

Wetlands provide critical habitat for wild plants and animals, including more than 20 percent of Ontario’s species at risk. They play a vital role purifying water, controlling floods, reducing erosion and mitigating climate change. These benefits, provided for free, are valued at over $51 billion per year in southern Ontario alone.

Yet wetlands have long been vilified as useless swamps and sloughs – dark, damp, unproductive places to be drained and paved over without a second thought. Sadly, we have lost over 70 percent of our wetlands in southern Ontario and these losses continue. In some places, like Niagara, the loss exceeds 90 percent.

What little remains of wetlands in the Niagara region, such as the provincially significant Frenchman’s Creek wetland complex near Fort Erie, merit protection. But many local politicians, and even the local Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority (NPCA), are keen to open up wetlands to development. They speak of ‘balancing’ environment with other interests, such as housing. Continue reading →

1. Featurng Speaker Mark Shantz, Executive Director of Garden City Co-Op in Niagara, Ontario

An Invite from the St. Catharines & District Council of Women

Posted February 3rd, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Free Public Meeting:Wednesday February 10^th, St. Catharines Centennial Library 54 Church Street in downtown St. Catharines, Ontario at 7:30 p.m.

• Why are food Co-operatives valuable to the community and     society ?
• How does Garden City  Food Co-op work?
• How do members benefit?

Speaker,   MARK SHANTZ  Executive Director of the Garden City Co-op will “dig into” these questions and help “spread the word” on this important St. Catharines food experience and service .

Sponsored by the 17 Federated Group members of the St. Catharines and District Council of Women, a public interest organization based in Niagara, Ontario

For More Information : Find us on Facebook by googling our name.

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 Please Sign the Petition on the Link Below

A Call-Out To All Of Us from the Canadian chapter of Humane Society Interational

Posted February 3^rd, 2016 on Niagara At Large

The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (OMNRF) has introduced a proposal to relax restrictions on the killing of wolves and allow the unlimited killing of coyotes across most of Ontario in an ill-informed effort to enhance moose populations.

But in reality, these measures will not save moose populations and will place wolves and coyotes at greater risk.

HSI/Canada, alongside a coalition of wildlife protection groups, have made a formal submission to the OMNRF, opposing its wolf and coyote-killing proposal and suggesting that they instead provide non-lethal solutions to protect moose. This would include cracking down on poaching, further limiting moose hunting, and providing better research and monitoring of moose populations.

Tell OMNRF’s minister Bill Mauro and Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne that you wish to see effective, humane protections for moose rather than the killing wolves and coyotes in the process.

Please take a little time to clink on the following link from Humane Society International and add your name to the petition – https://action.hsi.org/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=104&ea.campaign.id=46731&ea.tracking.id=website&_ga=1.263912837.887342131.1454492673 

NOW IT IS YOUR TURN. Niagara At Large encourages you to share your views on this post. A reminder that we only post comments by individuals who share their first and last name with them.

Visit Niagara At Large at www.niagaraatlarge.com for more news and commentary for and from the greater bi-national Niagara region.

A Brief One from Doug Draper

Posted February 2^nd, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Ted Cruz – the Tea Party Senator from Texas who was born in Alberta, Canada to an American mom – came from behind to beat the so-called frontrunning contender Donald Trump in the State of Iowa Republican race for the presidential nomination this February 1^st,.

Trump spent much of January pounding away at Cruz’s Canadian birth (at one point calling him an “anchor baby) in an effort to argue that he might not be eligible to run for an office where, by law, the President must be a native American. But in the end, the tactic didn’t work and Trump, who brags about always being a “winner,” fell to second place, raising the possibility that Cruz might crush him again next week in an all-important New Hampshire primary that sets a strong tone for the remainder of the presidential race.

The New York Daily News – a Manhattan-based tabloid that has mocked Trump’s candidacy since its start last June – published another attention-getting front page on the bombastic billionaire’s campaign follies, as it is want to do.

My parting question is this. Does the outcome in Iowa make Trump, who is famous for calling others who don’t finish first a loser, a loser? I doubt his inner narcissist would ever let him tell.

NOW IT IS YOUR TURN. Niagara At Large encourages you to share your views on this post. A reminder that we only post comments by individuals who share their first and last name with them.

Visit Niagara At Large at www.niagaraatlarge.com for more news and commentary for and from the greater bi-national Niagara region.

A News Commentary by Doug Draper in Niagara, Ontario

Posted February 1^st, 2016 on Niagara At Large

“We are trying to build a better community for our children,” said St. Catharines Mayor Walter Sendzik on behalf of his council as he began his 2016 State of the City address before a large luncheon gathering at Club Roma this past January 29^th.

St. Catharines, Ontario Mayor Walter Sendzik delivers his ‘State of the City’ address with his grandfather’s lunch pail sitting in the foreground. Photo by Doug Draper

With those words, Sendzik walked over to a table near his podium and picked up a lunch pail that once belonged to his grandfather who emigrated to Canada during a time when events in his native Poland made life there very difficult and dangerous.

Sendzik said his grandfather, like all too many other immigrants, weathered his share of indignities which, in his case, included being called a “Pollock.” But he stood outside the gates of a factory in St. Catharines until they finally hired him and he carried that lunch pail back and forth for all the many years worked there.

That lunch pail, added Sendzik, sits in a place in his office as a reminder of what his and other immigrant families endure as they work to build a better life for their children.

Communities like St. Catharines have been built, in no small part, by people who came to them after “escaping tyranny elsewhere,” said Sendzik, and “in this community, we should not tolerate it when someone says (to an immigrant or refugee); ‘You are a terrorist. Go home.’” Continue reading →