Author Archives: dougdraper

A Submission from the Office Of Ontario Conservative leader Tim Hudak

(A short foreword from Niagara At Large – You follow what is such a senseless murder of an Ancaster, Ontario man and you are left with the hollow question – Why?!!! What did they kill this husband and father for? The truck he was selling? Whatever money he had in his wallet?

One individual has already been apprehended and charged with murder. Let’s hope whoever else was involved in this is apprehended as soon as possible so that they do not have time to move on and commit this nightmare on another innocent family.

NAL is running this particular piece because many people in the Niagara area, including Tim Hudak’s riding, became involved in the efforts to search for him and hopefully find him alive until his burned body was discovered this May 13^th.)

Murdered Ancaster, Ontario resident Tim Bosma in file photo with daughter.

On the murder of Tim Bosma, Ontario PC leader Tim Hudak, May 15, 2013 

I want to express my sorrow, and revulsion, at the murder of Tim Bosma of Ancaster.

Tim’s close-knit family had many friends in my nearby riding of Niagara-West Glanbrook. Uncounted numbers of my constituents volunteered to help in the search, which now has come to a terrible conclusion. Continue reading →

A Note from Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper

It has been a long, cold winter coming into a spring that has yet to warm up, and my fingers are getting a little sore from all of this tapping.

One nice Atlantic beach along the town of Chatham, on Cape Cod. File photo by Doug Draper

So dear Niagara At Large readers, it is time to take a few nice, long walks on the beach to both rest the mind and those sore fingers, and to put all of the craziness that makes up too much of the news we are bombarded with into perspective.

All of this is a way of saying that this site will slow down over the last couple of weeks of May before firing up again this coming June with what I want to be a more daring and edgier version of NAL. Continue reading →

A Brief Comment by Doug Draper

I was going to begin this one by asking how former Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty can live with himself. Then I quickly reminded myself that a jackal like this (with my apologies to jackals of the canine variety) can live with himself quite easily.

The arrogant creep that was – former Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty

Think I am being a little hard on the former premier here. Well, think about it again.

I mean here are many of the rest of us in this province, who this creep once claimed to care about , busting our butts. trying to keep enough of a job to put food on our tables. Meanwhile, McGuinty – still premier at the time – is deciding to undo plans to build gas-fired power plants in Mississauga and Oakville two years ago because the plans were up against enough ‘not-in-my-backyard’ protest from residents in those communities to possibly cost his Liberal government a couple of key seats in the legislature. Continue reading →

A Submission from the Office of Welland, Ontario Riding MP Malcolm Allen

Malcolm Allen supports Welland Canal (Seaway) Memorial

 Ottawa – M.P. Malcolm Allen (Welland) has written the government asking that they fulfill a long time commitment to build a memorial that would commemorate those lost while constructing the Welland Canal.

The Welland Canal, right into the 21st century, remains a major channel for shipping goods all over the world.

During the building of the Welland Canal from 1914-1932, 124 men tragically lost their lives while working in difficult and dangerous conditions. When the canal opened in 1932, the Federal Minister of Canals and Railways of the time committed to building a memorial to remember the sacrifice of those men. Unfortunately to this day, that memorial still does not exist. Continue reading →

News from Ontario’s Niagara Parks Commission 

Niagara Falls, Ontario, May 2013 – The Niagara Parks Commission (NPC), in partnership with the Friends of the Niagara Glen and the Niagara Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC), are pleased to announce the return of the ‘Spring in the Niagara Glen’ guided hiking tours and star-gazing event on Saturday, May 18.

An aireal view of the Niagara Glen area along the lower Niaara River.

Hiking Tours

At both 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., guests are invited to take part in free guided hikes into the magnificent Niagara Glen to explore and experience the blooms of elusive rare and unique spring ephemerals (flowers), along with the return of local birds and other wildlife. Spring ephemerals, such as Red and White Trilliums, Wild Columbine and Dutchman’s Breeches, are only in bloom for a short period of time each spring. From week to week, the variety of blooming wildflowers is constantly changing so you never know what you may discover. Continue reading →

A Brief by Doug Draper

I rarely ever said ‘yes’ to his decidedly right-wing positions on issues, but I never ever – not once – questioned his dedication to what little is left of this profession of journalism we both practiced, in our own ways.

Canadian journalist Peter Worthington

Peter Worthington, who died this May 12 at age 87, was an award-winning reporter with the Toronto Telegram – a late, great Canadian daily newspaper that died so sadly in 1971 – and he was one of a handful of Telegram journalists who went on to found The Toronto Sun as a Toronto version of a New York City tabloid that worked as an independent alternative to the surviving, more mainstream dailies, The Globe and Mail and Toronto Star, long before the ungodly likes of Sun Media and Quebecor came along. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

The last time I saw Alun Hughes was a year ago this spring at the opening ceremonies for the War of 1812 Bicentennial in Queenston Heights Park.

Alun Hughes, a passionate chronicler of our greater Niagara region’s history

He had already been diagnosed with a rapidly debilitating neurological disorder, yet it was no surprise that he was there, soaking in all of the bows to our collective history the event had to offer with that twinkle in his eyes and a smile.

Alun Hughes, a native of Wales and retired Brock University geography professor who was recognized as an honourary civic historian by the municipal council in his adopted town of Thorold, Ontario as recently as this February, died this Friday, May 10 with his wife Joyce Little and other members of his family at his side. Continue reading →

A Submission from the Office of Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath

Queen’s Park, May 10, 2013 – Andrea Horwath, Leader of Ontario’s New Democrats, says people want to see some accountability in Ontario’s Budget and their healthcare. That’s why she is calling for Ontario’s Ombudsman to have oversight into the health care sector.

Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath

“Ontarians told us they want clear, concrete change in health care. They’re tired of the Liberal government saying ‘just trust us’,” said Horwath. “Asking Ontario’s Ombudsman’s Ombudsman to have oversight into the health care sector is a fair and reasonable way to start building trust.”

“Families have seen their faith in the health care system shaken by chemotherapy underdosing, scandals at Ornge air ambulance and the government’s failure to guarantee home care wait times. We need to do better,” said Horwath. Continue reading →

What’s Saddest Off All Is That There Are Too Few Like Him – Another  Farewell To Niagara, Ontario’s Peter Kormos

A Brief Comment by Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper

A month and a half later, it is still hard to believe that Peter Kormos left us on a late March morning at age 60.

Peter Kormos in action at Ontario Queen’s Park legislature

He was such a dynamic presence in the life of the Niagara, Ontario and the province going back as far as his days as a student activist in the 1960s, that one almost expects him to be back up on his feet tomorrow, speaking out for everyone from young people struggling to pay the costs of going to college to university, to people being thrown out of work or seniors trying to live out their lives with some dignity on a fixed income. Continue reading →

A Submission from Niagara Action for Animals

(Niagara At Large is always pleased to promote the efforts of NAFA to find one of their furry friends a secure home, and it looks like Calvin, who is described as a friendly but shy cat, needs someone who is willing to adopt him as a member of their family as soon as possible. If you know of someone who is looking for a nice cat, please pass the following on.)

Calvin, who is about 2 years old, is neutered and has had his first shots.  Calvin showed up at a managed colony of cats and the colony caretaker is currently looking for a foster or permanent home for Calvin.

If no home is found by the end of this week, he will have to be returned to the colony. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

I picked up a bumper sticker in an independent bookstore called Talking Leaves in Buffalo, New York a few years back that reads ( and there is no typo here); ‘Mall Wart – Your Source For Cheap, Plastic Crap.’

This is my idea for a slogan for cheap t-shirts that might bring a message home. Wonder if anyone would buy it? Doug Draper

It’s a line I am sure most of us can relate to since most all of us have done our share of buying cheap crap in discount marts, whether it be that $5 t-shirt or $10 pair of jeans.

This brings me to the more than 700 workers in Bangladesh who, for wages at or below 20 cents an hour, were producing garments for dozens of North American-based retail chains until  late this April when the multi-storey sweatshop they were toiling in collapsed and crushed them to death.

It is sad that it has taken a catastrophe on this scale to finally get more people across Canada and the United States thinking and talking about the deplorable conditions many around the world work in so that we may enjoy the lowest prices possible at some facsimile of ‘Mal Wart’. Continue reading →

A Submission To NAL from Ontario Nature

(A brief foreword from Niagara At Large – One would hope that the new Liberal premier, Kathleen Wynne, would care more about this than her predecessor Dalton McGuinty on this issue, so vital to Ontario’s ecological health. And where is the NDP and the Conservatives, who could collectively hold the minority Liberal government’s feet to the fire until it backed off further weakening this province’s legislation for protecting endangerered species. They seem to be almost nowhere, so far. Time for all good citizens to pay them a call.)

Ontario’s Spotted turtle is one of many species across the province that are at risk of disappearing if more isn’t done to protect them.

The Ministry of Natural Resources has put forward recommendations that would weaken protection for Ontario’s at-risk wildlife. Sweeping new exemptions to our Endangered Species Act (ESA) are on the table that would allow industry to dodge crucial protection measures.

With your support, Ontario Nature worked hard to make sure the Endangered Species Act was passed into law. However, because of budget cuts, the Ministry of Natural Resources has proposed that industrial activities be exempt from key parts of the Act.

Say no to further endangering already endangered species! Take action now! Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

Don’t know about you, but I have just about had it with Ontario and other governments – local, state and elsewhere across this continent – wringing their hands over gambling casinos and who is going to profit from the spoils.

Just keep dropping those coins in those slots suckers. We could use the money to fill potholes.

Gambling casinos are just another scam governments are using to pick the pockets of anyone sucker enough to haunt them, and who cares about those idiots anyway? If they are stupid enough to throw their money down slot machines or crap tables, why in hell should the rest of us care about them?

I mean, let’s put things in perspective here. In a province on a continent where there a far short of enough decent jobs for young people graduating from college and university with record-high debts, and where people are struggling to get access to decent social and health care services, we’re supposed to worry about where gambling casinos are located and what government is going to get the biggest cut from the suckers that frequent them? Continue reading →

A Submission from Niagara’s Regional Government 

NIAGARA REGION, May 6, 2013 –  May 5 through May 11 is Drinking Water Week, an opportunity for both water professionals and the communities they serve to join together in recognition of the vital role water plays in our daily lives.

For the second year in a row, Niagara Region’s water and wastewater services has partnered with the City of Niagara Falls and the Ontario Water Works Association to run a Drinking Water Week campaign across the region. The campaign focuses on celebrating our tap water and the importance of protecting this valuable resource at its source. Continue reading →

A Submission from the Canada/U.S. environmental coalition, Great Lakes United

Great Lakes United and the International Institute of Concern for Public Health (IICPH) released this May 6 the Great Lakes Nuclear Hot Spots Map, providing a detailed regional, binational view of nuclear facilities in the Great Lakes Region.

New Nuclear Site map for Great Lakes. Click on this map to blow it up to full screen to better view hotspots.

As the map shows, with the exception of Lake Superior, each of the Great Lakes has numerous nuclear sites related to nuclear power generation, most of which are located within one kilometre of the Lakes. This raises concerns about the cumulative impacts of radioactive releases over the years from so many sites. It also shows the numerous places where a serious nuclear accident could occur in the region. Continue reading →

Submitted by Joanne McDonald

It is time to Catch The Momentum and it will be an unforgettable experience.

The Momentum Choir in concert. File photo by Joanne McDonald.

Momentum Choir, a group of 50 singers with developmental disabilities is ready once again to wow audiences during two year-end concerts, Sunday, May 12 at 3 p.m. and Wednesday, May 15 at 7 p.m. at Bethany Community Church, 1388 Third Street Louth, St. Catharines.

Over the past year Momentum has packed numerous concert halls, auditioned for Canada’s Got Talent and recently, sang in Ottawa. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

America’s sweetheart Sarah Palin was back on centre stage again this May 3, soaking up one standing ovation after another from thousands of members of the National Rifle Association meeting this weekend in Houston, Texas.

Kristian Sparks, 5, of Kentucky accidentallly shot his two-year-old sister Caroline with a rilfe a parent bought him for his birthday.

I watched a clip of Palin on the cable news, all fired up as she used the event to blast U.S. President Barack Obama for “exploiting tragedy” by flying family members of the victims of the mass shooting last December at Sandy Hook Elementary School, where 20 young children and six of their educators were slaughtered, to Washington, D.C. this April and “making them a backdrop” in his push for some gun safety laws.

At the risk of being accused by the likes of Palin of exploiting tragedy further, Obama might also now point to an incident this April 30^th involving a five-year-old boy in rural Kentucky who accidently shot and killed his two-year-old sister with a .22 –caliber rifle his mother bought him for his birthday. Continue reading →

Lost Opportunities – Why Won’t Canada Nationalize Its Natural Resources?

By Mark Taliano

The fact that Canada is on the cusp of ratifying a corporate empowerment treaty with China — the Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Act (FIPPA), adds urgency to a discussion that will likely never take place on Parliament Hill.

The photo rain in the American media with a caption – ‘Resource-rich Canada looks to China for growth’. The questions we should be asking is growth for whom? And how many more Canadian jobs and resources will Harper give away next?

The nexus of concentrated media ownership, plus our neo-conservative government, means that the accepted political/economic agenda in Canada is necessarily insular, and often self-defeating.  To make matters worse, the government’s increasing control over the CBC means that the public and political narrative is becoming even more restricted.  Anything that threatens the dysfunctional marriage between subsidized “monopoly” capitalism, and government, is increasingly off the table.

Consequently, the government is wilfully blind to two “elephants in the room.”  The first is man-made global warming, and the second is resource mismanagement.  Both issues are intricately linked, and if the resource management/economic model were improved, we would have a better chance of addressing the overarching issue of catastrophic man-made global warming. Continue reading →

A Brief Comment from Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper

One can certainly understand why the federal Conservative government of Stephen Harper would want to yoke the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation – better known as the CBC – through more funding cuts and whatever other means.

After all, the CBC has continued to produce stories as recently as this past April, focused on the large numbers of super wealthy in this country evading taxes through offshore accounts and the Harper government’s foreign employment program and how it is running Canadians out of jobs.

You can only image how a control freak like Harper, who reportedly takes every step possible to control the words coming out of the mouths of his Conservative MPs, would respond to a publicly funded broadcasting organization generating this kind of information. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

Call it what you want. I call it a survival budget.

Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath still taking new Liberal government budget under advisement. Says she wants to hear from you.

On the front page of the May 3 edition of The Toronto Star, the headline on Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne’s first budget since she was sworn in to the province’s top job a mere three months ago reads; “Liberal plan is too loaded for NDP to resist.”

And that appears to be the case. While Tim Hudak and his official Conservative opposition party – declaring that the ‘McGuinty/Wynne Liberals’ have already lost the trust of the Ontario people on a number of fronts, including the controversial spending of almost $600 million to move plans for gas-fired power plants out of Liberal ridings in Oakville and Mississauga – were ready to call an election before the budget was even tabled this May 2, Andrea Horwath say that she and her NDP want to review the details of the budget and get feedback from the public before they decide whether they join the Conservatives in voting Wynne’s government down. Continue reading →

A Submission from Dr. Michael Rachlis and fellow medical doctors from the Canadian-based group Doctors For Fair Taxation

As Ontario receives the provincial budget released on Thursday May 2, the discussions are decidedly unbalanced.

Dr. Michael Rachlis, a longtime advocate from the Canadian medical community for improving and preserving our country’s system of public, universal health care.

Tim Hudak’s PCs say we can balance the budget through deep spending costs and “eliminating the gravy.” The NDP would like more spending but has recommended little in the way of new revenue generation. The Liberal government insists it is making progress on cutting the deficit. However, no party has realistically looked at the role of new revenue instruments in achieving budget balance.

In last year’s Ontario budget, after a campaign started by our little group, NDP Leader Andrea Horvath demanded a raise of 2 per cent in provincial tax on income above $500,000. Then-premier Dalton McGuinty initially balked at the idea but finally put it into his budget and acquired the needed NDP support.

The government has estimated that the new tax bracket will raise $350 million to $400 million this year and more in the future. This income alone will help Ontario achieve fiscal balance earlier than otherwise. Even though common wisdom indicated that the new tax would be a hard sell, it was one of the most popular policies introduced by the Liberal government.

A Forum Research poll found that Ontarians supported the new tax by four to one. Even those who voted PC in the last provincial election supported the measure by two to one. NDP voters favoured the new tax by 10 to one.

As the government and opposition make their final plans for the 2013 budget, we think there are further opportunities to balance the debate and the budget. Last year, we had called for higher taxes on the top 10 per cent of tax filers, those with taxable incomes of roughly $85,000 or more. In contrast, the $500,000 threshold includes less than one-third of 1 per cent of tax filers. This threshold includes none of us and very few of the province’s physicians. Continue reading →

Molly The Great Dane Has Found A New Home

A Niagara At Large News Brief

Late this April we posted a short story on Molly, a lovable, one-year-old Great Dane, who unfortunately wasn’t fitting in with other, already established animals in her home.

Hey Molly. All the best to you in your new home.

That left Molly in search of a new one and we are happy to say that thanks to the good work of Niagara Action for Animals and its dedicated citizen volunteers, Molly has been welcomed into a new home here in Niagara.

Thanks to all of you out there who were looking out for new digs for this fine doggie and thanks, once again, to work of Niagara Action for Animals or NAFA for short – a long-time animal advocacy group in the greater Niagara region that has also taken its share of nasty comments over the years for its opposition to the exploitation of animals at circuses and zoos. Continue reading →

Some News and  Commentary by Doug Draper

Marineland – the 52-year-old amusement park that is a major tourist attraction in Niagara Falls, Ontario – filed a defamation suit against The Toronto Star, Canada’s largest circulation newspaper, late this April for $7 million.

Animal activists demonstrating in front of Marineland in Niagara Falls, Ontario. File photo, Doug Draper

The lawsuit against the newspaper is one of at least five that Marineland has filed in a St. Catharines, Ontario court since last year, after The Star began publishing what would be a series of stories, detailing a number of allegations made by former Marineland staff, about alleged cases of neglect or abuse of animals at the park.

The stories in The Star triggered a widespread reaction from people inside and outside of Ontario and saw what were regular weekend pickets in front of the Niagara Falls amusement park, which have been a mainstay for some 20 or more years, swelled from a few dozen to several hundred by the end of last summer, and culminated in some of the protesters breaching Marineland’s front gates and disrupting one of the marine mammal shows. Continue reading →

Submitted by Gail Benjafield 

Every year, WomEnchant, a local chorus of women, Niagara based in one sense in that many members come from the Niagara Region communities of St. Catharines, Fenwick, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Grimsby, Tintern, and a little further field — Hamilton, Dundas, Ancaster and Oakville, to sing for social justice causes and for church fundraisers.

Click on this poster to blow full screen for further details.

Our noted conductor, Laura Thomas, is a multitalented musician, deputy conductor of the Niagara Symphony Orchestra, leader of several choirs, leader of the Dundas Valley Orchestra, Broadband, WomEnchant and much more.

We have raised thousands of dollars for good causes — to name but a few: The Stephen Lewis Foundation for Aids in Africa, for various churches always in need of dollars to top off their good works, Earth Day songfests, Women’s Day events, the annual Take Back the Night in St. Catharines (work for abused women) and quite recently, the celebration at the B.M.E. Church in St. Catharines, Ontario for the 100^th anniversary of Harriet Tubman’s death. Continue reading →

A Brief Commentary by Doug Draper

I was one of those who wanted to give Ontario’s new Liberal premier, Kathleen Wynne, a chance.

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne arm and arm with her old boss Dalton McGuinty. So where is the “new government.”

I wanted to give Ontario’s first woman (not to mention openly gay) premier a chance. Not that I based my view on her gender or sexual orientation,

I based it on what I read of Kathleen Wynne and on a couple of one-on-one interviews I did with her, that I found very honest and refreshing, while she was a cabinet minister for the previous premier, Dalton McGuinty.

But it is beginning to look like we can no longer look past a growing scandal that Wynne’s former boss set off.  As much as Wynne’s p.r. flaks may hope we accept her as a premier of a “ new government”, the scandalous waste of taxpayers’ money on killing plans to build two new gas-fired power plants in Oakville and Mississauga is continuing to stick to her shoes, and those of her fellow cabinet and caucus members, like pig manure. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

A total of nine memorial services were held across Niagara, Ontario this past Sunday, April 28, to remember all those who have died in in the workplace in Niagara, across Canada and in other regions of the world.

The monument for dead and injured workers at Niagara, Ontario’s regional headquarters.

As much as working conditions may have improved on this continent, workers in Ontario are dying at a rate of about one per day and in Canada, they are dying at a rate of about four per day, said Bruce Allen, a Niagara Regional Labour Council representative and long-time executive member of the Canadian Auto Workers, Local 199, at one of those memorial services at Niagara’s regional government headquarters this April 28.

That is far too many workplace deaths when they are preventable, he said. Continue reading →

A Submission from the Office of Niagara Falls, Ontario Liberal MPP Kim Craitor 

April 29, 2013 – Ontario is improving access to long-term care for seniors in the Welland area.

Niagara Falls, Ontario Liberal MPP Kim Craitor.

The new Ontario government is awarding the building of a 96-bed long-term care home in Welland to Jarlette Health Services.

The new long-term care home, which will be built with the support of the government, will help more seniors receive care close to their families and in their community. The addition of 96 beds  will also free up hospital beds and shorten emergency room wait times. 

Ensuring the right care, at the right time, in the right place supports the Ontario government’s Action Plan for Health Care and is part of The Way Forward in building a strong economy and a fair society for the benefit of all. Continue reading →

(Niagara At Large is posting the following for those who may wish to attend this service which, as we understand it, will be heavily attended and will require spill-over areas for those who may not be able to get inside the main reception centre. NAL’s best advice to those who wish to attend – Get there early!)

Thorold, Ontario – A date has been set for the public memorial service for Peter Kormos.

NDP political icon Peter Kormos, doing his real thing, speaking up for working people at a workers’ rally somewhere in Ontario, Canada.

The memorial tribute and reception for the Welland regional councillor and former longtime MPP will be held Saturday, May 11, at Pleasantview Funeral Home and Reception Centre, 2250 Hwy. 20, beginning at 1 p.m.

Peter Kormos died suddenly at his Welland home on Saturday, March 30^th at the age of 60. Cremation has already taken place.

 “It is intended to be open to the public,” funeral home manager Mike Guttin said of the memorial. Continue reading →

“Bangladesh, Bangladesh. Where so many people are dying fast. And it sure looks like a mess. I’ve never seen such distress. Now won’t you lend your hand and understand?” Relieve the people of Bangladesh.” –

 The lyrics from a song by George Harrison, 1971.

Want A Bargain? Want To Buy Cheap? Is It Worth The Disaster In Bangladesh?  – Let’s Please Not Say So. Down With These Sweat Shops. Shop For Made In Canada. Shop For Made In the U.S.A.  Shop Independent And Local!

A Commentary by Doug Draper

Turning on the television news this third week of April to images of bodies – dead and alive – being pulled from the rubble of a garment factory in Bangladesh while relatives screamed in grief nearby was heart-wrenching.

The hand and arm of this crushed Bangladesh garmet worker are there for the rest of us to see, if we choose to. I think of the young women who died in the Triangle Shirtwaste garment factory in New York City 102 years ago in similar slum conditions. When will it end? Is our craving for cheap goods worth all these lives?

The circumstances behind this disaster were disgusting and possible even criminal, and our hands aren’t clean either.

The poor people in that building, which they and those who ran the sweat shop inside knew was full structural cracks to a point of being dangerous, produced clothing many of us go out and buy in big box discount stores – with hardly a thought given to the conditions those who made the shirt or pair of pants we got for a quite a deal live and work in, until possibly this week.

This disaster – this horrid illustration of the conditions many people in under-developed countries have to work in so that we can get a so-called bargain and corporate retailers and their shareholders can super-size their already maximized profits, should bring it all home for us that that as “cheap” as those clothes seem to be, they come at a price, up to and including the deaths of those all but chained to benches, for 20 cents an hour, to make them.

And as much as we may try, we as the consumers of these products cannot just wash our hands and say it is none of our responsibility or concern. Continue reading →

A Submission from Niagara, Ontario’s Regional Government

NIAGARA REGION, April 24, 2013 – Niagara Region Transit will be alternating the departure times of its two routes that depart from St. Catharines. Niagara Region Transit will also begin the Fort Erie summer service.

Both of these changes will be effective on Monday, April 29, 2013.

St. Catharines route changes; 

• Affected routes: Route 55 from St. Catharines to Niagara Falls and Route 70 from St. Catharines to Welland Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

A new Forum Research poll, hardly the baddest ones to rely on, suggests that as much as talk of an Ontario election might be in the wind this spring, a majority of Ontario residents of voting age don’t want an election right now.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath – A new poll suggests most Ontario voters like her the most as a leader but would not necessarily vote for her party to form a government

But if for some reason the NDP and Conservatives agree to gang up on the minority Liberal government of Kathleen Wynne and there is one, the rest of the poll might have anyone speculating what would happen.

As far as the favourability ratings of the three main party leaders are concerned, NDP leader Andrea Horwath is at the top with 44 per cent, compared to Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne, who has gained some ground from 40 per cent this month from 34 per cent on the same poll in March, and Conservative opposition leader Tim Hudak who lags behind at 27 per cent. Continue reading →

Submitted by the Office of Welland, Ontario Riding MPP Cindy Forster

QUEEN’S PARK, April 25, 2013 – Laid off Vertis Communications workers who have been denied severance pay by their former employer converged on Queen’s Park where Welland MPP Cindy Forster raised their case in question period, and called on Premier Wynne to help.

Welland, Ontario MPP abd NDP member Cindy Forster

“On January 16, 100 plus people lost their jobs when U.S. owned Vertis Communications Company abruptly closed in Fort Erie,” explained Forster. “Since then, they have been fighting to get $2.4 million worth of pension plans, benefits and severance packages they are owed.”

US-based Vertis has declared bankruptcy. However, because the Canadian subsidiary of the company has not declared bankruptcy, workers are being denied severance pay under the Wage Earner Protection Program (WEPP), which normally offers benefits to workers of Canadian companies that declare bankruptcy.

“The provincial government is responsible for ensuring that workers get the severance rightfully owed to them by their employer,” said Forster. “Premier, you have a responsibility to act. What are you going to do to fix this profoundly unfair situation?” Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

It may have come a couple days late for Earth Day this April 22 but these days, any good news on the green front is a blessing – whenever it comes and however tentative it may be.

Science interns monitoring conditions at the Experimental Lakes Area in Northern Ontario.

This news – and we need to be cautious here until we know the money will come – involves an agreement the provincial governments of Ontario and Manitoba announced this April 24 to keep open the world-renown “Environmental Lakes Area” near the Manitoba border in northwestern Ontario.

You may recall that last year Canada’s Stephen Harper government decided it that it was going cut by the end of this March the roughly $2 million it costs to annually operate the ELA – a cluster of more than 50 pristine lakes that have been used by federal and provincial scientists, and other researchers around the world to generate research on everything from acid rain and phosphorus/algae pollution in rivers and lakes, to the impact of climate change on water bodies like the Great Lakes. Continue reading →

(We at Niagara At Large continue our tradition of posting pieces aimed at finding some of our fellow critters on this planet good homes.)

A Submission from Niagara Action for Animals

Molly is looking for a new home

Attention Friends of Animals. Please help us find Molly a forever home!

Molly is a one year old Great Dane with Harlequin/ Merle colouring.  

Molly was rescued approximately four months ago by a wonderful and caring family. Unfortunately there was an altercation between Molly and the family’s original dog who prefers to be the only dog of the house.

Molly’s family is devastated to give her up, but they truly feel it is in Molly’s best interests to go to a home with no small dogs. Molly is a happy puppy who is friendly and is good with children. Continue reading →

(A Brief Foreword by NAL publisher Doug Draper – This media release, from the office of Buffalo, New York area Congressman Brian Higgins, come right off the news this April 22 that Canada’s Royal Canadian Mounted Police, working in concert with intelligence agencies in the United States, arrested two men in Toronto and Montreal they allege had ties to al-Qaeda operatives in Iran while plotting an attack on a Via Rail passenger train running between Toronto and destinations in the U.S.

By chance or not, the arrest of the men was announced at an RCMP media conference that had all the trappings of one that was well-orchestrated and had been planned days in advance, and it came at a time when Canada’s Harper government began facing parliamentary debate over a government-sponsored counterterrorism bill that, as The Globe and Mail put it in a story this April 23, “seeks Parliament’s authority to curb civil liberties in the name of keeping Canadians safe.”

Hmm. At any rate, here is the media release form Congressman Higgins.)

Submitted by the Office of U.S. Congressman Brian Higgins

U.S. Congressman Brian Higgins, representing the Western New York/Buffalo area, on floor of Congress

April 22, 2013 – “First and foremost, I commend the work of Canadian and United States intelligence and law enforcement agencies for successful efforts to thwart an attack on our nations.   The US and Canada, linked literally and figuratively by bridges of peace, remain vigilant partners in our efforts to impede terrorists actions on our soil.  

 “Canadian authorities reported today that individuals, supported by al Qaeda elements located in Iran, had the capacity and intent to proceed with an attack along our border.  After receiving testimony about Hezbollah’s growing presence in the United States and Canada, including Toronto, last year I pushed through Congress and got signed into law legislation that requires the State Department to report on Hezbollah’s activities in the United States and Canada. Although Hezbollah and al-Qaeda are different entities, the rationale for this vigilance is the same. Continue reading →

A Brief from Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper

“Freedom, Freedom, Freedom …”

He belted out that word so passionately, with that ever-so-rich tenor voice of his,that you swear you could hear it ringing out across every hill and valley on the continent.

Richie Havens opening the legendary Woodstock festival.

It was a word Richie Havens made a refrain for the ages in his revved up take on an old gospel song – ‘Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child’ – as he opened the now legendary Woodstock Festival with a set that left him with sweat soaking the shirt on his back.

The ‘Woodstock Nation’, as Sixties hippie leaders like Abbie Hoffman took to calling music festival/makeshift community that came together, half a million strong, in the Catskills Mountains  of New York State in August of 1969, has lost another one of its great ones with the death of Richie Havens this April 22, at age 72 from a sudden heart attack. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

You have to marvel at the nerve of some of Canada’s business leaders.

A strong Canada? Stronger for Harper’s business elite, importing foreign labour to kill Canadian jobs.

Canadian businesses, as much as some of them continue to complain that they are not getting enough of a boost from senior levels of government, have benefited in this country from one round after another of corporate tax cuts, grants and subsidies, and they continue to benefit from roads, highways, airports and other  infrastructure paid for by Canadian taxpayers.

Yet some of these same businesses have no qualms whatsoever about using the ‘Temporary Foreign Workers Program’, established by the Conservative government of Stephen Harper , to replace Canadian citizens with foreign workers that they can pay far less and have no responsible for in terms of health, pension or any other benefits. Continue reading →

–         Gary Burroughs Says He Welcomes Solutions From Council And Public, Is Tired of Negativity

This Friday, April 19, Gary Burroughs, the Chair of Niagara, Ontario’s regional government, delivered his annual ‘State of the Region’s address at an event in Niagara Falls.

The Chair’s address highlights for Niagara residents the status of services the regional government provides and key initiatives it is working on to improve the quality of life for residents across the region.

As has been our policy in the past with address to residents from our political leaders, Niagara At Large is posting the entire text of Chair Burroughs’ address for our readers’ information. So here it is –

Thank you everyone and welcome – what a great turnout.

A very special thank you goes out to today’s event sponsor, Bob Watson and the folks at Pen Financial.

Niagara Regional Chair Gary Burroughs

I would also like to thank Cogeco for airing today’s event. Our media sponsors are key to sharing our message with both our residents and our businesses.

This is a fantastic location here at the Fallsview Casino and I thank the event organizers for putting this event on and affording me an opportunity to address not only Chamber members, but our broader Niagara community. Continue reading →

A Commentary from Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper

“If you aren’t part of the solution, you are part of the pollution.”

My father painted those words on a makeshift sign for me 43 years ago this April, I joined a few of my classmates at Centennial Secondary School in Welland, Ontario in a picket outside the gates of a polluting Union Carbide plant.

My first Earth Day – the first one in the world – in Welland, Ontario on April 22, 1970

It was April 22, 1970, the very first Earth Day observed by tens-of-millions of people around the world, which was pretty amazing given that there was no internet or social media or fax machines, for that matter, to transmit a rallying call from here to countries as far away as New Zealand and Australia within a matter of minutes.

“If you aren’t part of the solution, you are part of the pollution,” was one of the messages citizen groups like ‘Friends of the Earth’ sent out for that first Earth Day, and it one that seems more relevant today than it was 43 years ago given how badly most governments have let us down on the environmental file. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

“Peter left an indelible mark on this region, his community and the province,” said Niagara, Ontario’s regional government chairman Gary Burroughs.

A simple orange rose – the colour of the NDP – and cowboy boots, Peter Kormos’s trademark shoe ware, graces his seat in Niagara, Ontario’s regional council chambers for the last time before verbal tributes, and a moment of silence for him. Photo by Doug Draper

Burroughs went on, in a tribute this April 18, to honour Peter Kormos, a former Ontario MPP for the Welland Riding, and a regional councillor when he died suddenly this past Easter/April weekend at age 60, as a “consummate advocate for the underdog” and an elected person who “will forever be remember as a humble servant for the people of Welland.”

Welland’s mayor, Barry Sharpe, when on to point out that Peter Kormos reminded him that the people of Niagara were “strong, resilent and generous,” and the same was true of him, said Sharpe. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

Some may not care and some may not even know who Mike Trojan is, but the news of his “retirement” is no small deal.

Mike Trojan, CAO of Niagara, Ontario’s regional government, suddenly announces his retirement.

Mike Trojan has served as the chief administrator for years for a Niagara regional government with care and dedication. He has served as the chief administrator and the person who would have to feel all the pain, if things went wrong, for a multitude of vital services from water and wastewater treatment, waste management, public health, planning, housing and many others, to a region of more than 400,000 people.

But putting all that aside,if you can put all that aside,  this term of Niagara regional council, under the chairmanship of Gary Burroughs,  has seen a real turn against senior staff, even if a good guy like Burroughs has not agreed with it,  and we have seen the loss of number of what many inside the regional bureaucracy felt were the best of administrators, including others like Brian Hutchings and Mike Weir, moving out for positions Brock University and other places.

Now we see Mike Trojan leaving after what were a couple of closed sessions, including one this April 18 where his “performance” was once again under review. The public and press was given no explanations, even when they were over. You could wait around for more than an hour and go back into the council chambers and all you get is … ‘we can now approve bylaw 14,’ etc., etc., etc., then not a bloody word to us about something like this.’ Continue reading →

A Foreword by NAL Publisher Doug Draper

U.S. Congressman Brian Higgins, representing the Buffalo/Western New York area, has blown the whistle on a proposed piece of U.S. legislation that would charge border crossers a “toll” to people crossing the Canada/U.S. border for ‘homeland security’.

U.S. Congressman Brian Higgins, speaking for improving the flow of traffic across the Peace Bridge and other border crossings. File photo from the office of U.S. Congressman Brian Higgins

It is unclear how much of a toll border crossers would pay or whether this would include Americans coming back from a trip to Canada as well as Canadians taking a trip to the United States. But at a time when border communities on both sides of the border in Niagara, Ontario and Western New York are continuing to recover from both the economic and social costs of requiring passports and other identification to cross the border following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, do we really need a ‘security toll’ that might further turn visitors to both countries off? Continue reading →

(A Brief Note from NAL – Shortly after being sworn in as Ontario’s premier this winter, Kathleen said one of the things she wants to make more of a priority in the province is energy conservation and efficiency. On that note, the following post from the Toronto-based public interest group, Ontario Clean Air Alliance, is timely.)

A Submission from the Ontario Clean Air Alliance

A New Leaflet from OCAA

People in Ontario use 50% more energy per person than their neighbours in New York State. That’s a big gap that can’t be explained away by a colder climate or other factors – the bottom line is that we are simply much more wasteful in our energy use. Continue reading →

(A week and a half ago, Niagara At Large posted a plea on this site from Lawrence Pinsky, one of our friends and Montreal journalist and long-time animal advocate, about the desperate plight of a dog named Amalia, who was hungry and being beaten by someone on the streets of Greece.

Amalia, right, and another rescued street dog, Capree, are on their way to loving homes.

Well, in a month where we have been bombarded with an extraordinary amount of bad news, Lawrence has some good news to share about Amalia, thanks to donations from some of you folks out there.)

Submitted by Lawrence Pinsky

Dear Friends, Thank you so very much for your generosity.

Donations have really helped to get Amalia off the street and has ensured that she is now getting her meds. I know she is doing better because I have just seen a picture of her and another of the rescues being walked. Amalia looks a lot happier than she did in the very forlorn picture of her living on the street just a couple of weeks ago. Continue reading →

A  Brief Comment from Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper with posts below from Wellandport, Ontario resident Catherine Mitchell and Niagara, Ontario’s regional government

Dalton McGuinty may be gone, but the ghost of his arrogance and lack of care for the concerns of ordinary continues to haunt us around trying to build a less costly, environmentally friendly energy future.

Then Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty pushing wind energy at the cost of giving local communities a voice in how these facilities should be cited in the best interest of everyone.

McGuinty, in league with his senior cabinet minister, including St. Cathairines MPP Jim Bradley, openly supported a Green Energy Plan that wiped out many of the opportunities local municipalities and their residents have to question a proposal for a major industrial project in their community. By doing this, McGuinty, Bradley (who was, more than a year ago, appointed environment minister by McGuinty) and company have possibly turned many who might otherwise support wind, solar and other green energy projects against them.

Indeed, there is a school of thought among at least some political pundits working for The Globe and Mail, Toronto Star and other mainstream  media outlets in Ontario that McGuinty and his government lost enough votes in rural municipalities in the last, 2011 provincial election to cost the Liberals a third majority government. … And a significant percentage of loss of rural votes had to do with McGuinty and company wanting to plant wind turbines and other green energy facilities near their backyards without giving them much or any say in the matter. Continue reading →

By Pamela Minns

The Niagara Heritage Alliance was formed several years ago and is an alliance of volunteers, individuals and organizations from communities across the 12 municipalities of the Region of Niagara.  NHA is committed to heritage preservation and enhancement – speaking with a unified voice on heritage matters.

The renown RiverBrink Art Museum in the Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario village of Queenston.

On January 21^st, 2012 NHA became a branch of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario.  ACO was formed in 1933 and this year they are celebrating their 80^th anniversary.  Since the 1930’s the ACO has helped save hundreds of buildings across Ontario and raised awareness of the importance of preserving our heritage.

Niagara Heritage Alliance is holding another one of their General Meetings at the picturesque RiverBrink Art Museum, 116 Queenston Street, in the Niagara-on-the-Lake Village of Queenston, Ontario – Saturday, April 27^th, 2013, beginning with coffee at 8:30 a.m. and continuing the program until 12 noon.  Everyone is welcome. Continue reading →

Submitted to NAL by Hospice Niagara

ST. CATHARINES, Ontario –Join us in celebrating 11 years of the Hike for Hospice Niagara on Sunday May 5th at Lakeside Park in Port Dalhousie. This Nationwide event brings together local communities in support of Hospice Palliative care to raise funds and raise awareness. All funds raised in Niagara stay in Niagara. To sign up visit our brand new hike website www.hikeforhospiceniagara.ca.

 What: The 11^th Annual Hike for Hospice Niagara

Where: Lakeside Park in Port Dalhousie

When: Sunday May 5, 2013 Continue reading →

An Ottawa Tribute To Niagara, Ontario’s Peter Kormos

By Doug Draper

Peter Kormos, a former Ontario MPP for the Welland Riding and Niagara regional councillor for the same city, is still receiving tributes in official circles more than two weeks after his death this past Easter weekend at age 60.

Welland, Ontario federal representative Malcolm Allen

And while the federal level of government was the only one Peter Kormos never held a seat  in during his decades-long service in politics, his spirit was in Canada’s federal legislature in Ottawa this Monday, April 15 as Welland MP, friend and NDP ally paid tribute to him during the first day of parliament since the Easter recess.

Allen eulogized Kormos as “a friend and champion of the little guy,” who fought tirelessly for “workers and the oppressed.” He credited him for his “political coverage” and “unwavering courage,” and ended by saying that “every community deserves a Peter Kormos.”

You can view Welland MP Malcolm Allen’s tribute to the federal apartment to Peter Kormos by clicking on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5xvLrorZQ8&list=UUPlbB-Es16zaprMM1W1-5sg&index=1 .

(Niagara At Large invites you to join in the conversation by sharing your views on the content of this post below. For reasons of transparency and promoting civil dialogue, NAL only posts comments from individuals who share their first and last name with their views.)

A Commentary by Doug Draper

Sometimes you have to wonder what it is that is so destructive and ugly about we humans as a species.

Martin, Richard, the youngest of three fatalities so far in the Boston Marathon bombings, who was there to cheer on his father running in the marathon. His sister has lost a leg in the attacks and his mother underwent brain surgery in the hours following the bomings. At least 175 others were wounded in the blasts.

I have tried and have not always been successful, as a journalist in this hacked-up and vanishing profession, to appeal to our better hearts – to stand up for peace and tolerance, and for the protection of the natural resources we need for our survival on this earth.

Then, just as I am trying to begin to appeal to that side of ourselves for an Earth Day commentary I’ve been working on for later this week, I turn on the cable news on CNN and MSNBC this Monday, April 15^th to horrific explosions in a place I love and respect for the friends I have there – in a place called Massachusetts that my family and I will be visiting again this May – a state I have close friends in and know to be place of peace-loving, progressive-minded people, and a world-class city of Boston.

All I could think of as this wonderful place was so violently violated was,  to borrow a line from Joseph Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkness’ about the darkest side of our nature was; “the horror, the horror.” Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

A report released this Monday, April 15 by Ontario’s auditor reveals that the cost of the province’s Liberal government’s scrapping plans to build gas-fired power plants in Oakville and Mississauga is much higher than the government has admitted up to now, according to a story on the front page of this Monday’s  Globe and Mail.

The outgoing Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty does a little photo op time with his old Liberal and St. Catharines MPP pal Jim Bradley, earlier this year.

The Globe story says that the estimated cost of cancelling plants has skyrocketed from $190 million for pulling the plug on both of the plants to somewhere between $250 million and $300 million for dumping the Mississauga plant project alone. The cost for pulling the plug on the Oakville plant was at least $40 million.

So we are now talking about at least a third of a billion dollars in Ontario tax money to scrap these energy plant proposals, which were drawing strong public opposition in two provincial ridings prior to the last, 2011 provincial election.

This is a scandal, and while it has become all too easy these days for partisan opponents of any government to hurl out the word scandal, it is a scandal. And it is one that metastasized before Dalton McGuinty, the previous leader of the provincial Liberals and premier for Ontario, decided, so suddenly retire from politics a year ago this past winter. It enveloped the then-Liberal government energy minister . Continue reading →

A Post from Hamilton, Ontario’s Watchdog Group – Citizens at City Hall – better known as CATCH

(Niagara At Large is posting this because it is an issue that is not going away for our greater Niagara region.

There is still a critical mass of politicians in the Hamilton and Niagara region who want to cut a new mutli-lane highway through this region – through some of what is left of the best food-growing lands in Ontario – above the Niagara Escarpment to connect the GTA with the U.S. border, around more car and truck traffic.

As we approach another Earth Day, can we not find 21st century alternatives to ever more trucks and car?)

City Out Of Step With Province

Ontario Transporation Minister Glenn Murray

From CATCH, Hamilton

A speech last week by the Ontario cabinet minister who oversees transit, road building and other major infrastructure indicates that Hamilton councillors are significantly out of step with provincial policies. City positions on the aerotropolis and the mid-pen highway, and council’s lack of enthusiasm for LRT, are clearly not shared by Glenn Murray, the man selected by Premier Kathleen Wynne to direct both the Ministry of Transportation and the Ministry of Infrastructure.

Murray’s keynote address to the Transport Futures conference provided details on provincial government spending priorities for the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) and the reasons behind them. While his comments were not specifically critical of Hamilton’s direction, it was clear that the Wynne government has a very different transportation and planning vision. Continue reading →

A Comment from Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper

For better or worse – probably worse – I have always been one of these people whose mood shifts with the weather.

So I may be one of the last people who should be picking up the morning paper to bad news during a week, and I’m talking about this past second week of April when we should have been enjoying a little spring, but instead we had ice pellets, puddles of freezing water and winds so chilly you’re were forced to put your winter coat on.

Enough of the cold, icy stuff.

Then you open up the newspaper or turn on the radio and television news to reports about hundreds super-rich Canadians shovelling their money into off-shore havens to avoid paying their fair share of taxes, and a federal government who claimed they didn’t know about these individuals doing that. Continue reading →

A Message from Canada’ Green Party 

(This April 11, Ontario’s NDP environment critic urged Ontario’s government and the province’s environment minister Jim Bradley to launch a full environmental review of plans to pipe tar through the Great Lakes region of Ontario, and received a vague response that Niagara At Large will highlight in a commentary in the next couple of days.

What is important to consider for the moment, and as the federal Green Party says, if we had a spill of a magnitude or higher of that now occurring with this tar sands material and accompanying toxic chemical fluids in the Great Lakes, it could potentially threaten the water supplies for many millions of Canadian and American residents downstream, including residents in Niagara who receive their drinking water from the Great Lakes. 

Please be sure to click on the map of where this pipeline is proposed to run through our Great Lakes region, including upstream Lakes Huron and Michigan, and ask yourself if you think it is okay for our federal and provincial governments in Canada to say no to a full environment assessment before this project is allowed to proceed.)

Ottawa, April, 2013 – The Green Party of Canada condemns the new public debate suppression requirements put in place by the National Energy Board (NEB) at the request of Harper’s Conservatives.

Canada’s Green Party leader, Elizabeth May

 “Ten-thousand barrels of dilbit, a mixture of bitumen and toxic diluent, were spilled in Arkansas last week. Citizens in Toronto and everywhere along Enbridge’s Line 9 have legitimate concerns and tough questions to ask the NEB. Muzzling their opposition is against basic principles of natural justice. These new barriers to free speech would not stand up to judicial review,” said Green Leader Elizabeth May, Member of Parliament for Saanich-Gulf Islands. Continue reading →

Submitted to NAL by the Niagara Parks Commission 

Niagara Falls, Ontario – In celebration of Earth Day, The Niagara Parks Commission (NPC) is pleased to once again host a number of events on Saturday, April 20, to encourage a greater appreciation of nature and our environmental surroundings.

Overlooking the rapids of the lower Niagara River in the Niagara Glen. File photo courtesy of Niagara Parks Commission.

 Join us and take part in the following programs: 4th Annual Friends of the Niagara Glen Earth Day Event, Niagara Glen Nature Centre, 3050 Niagara Parkway, Niagara Falls, Ontario, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

 The Friends of the Niagara Glen invite everyone to gather at the Niagara Glen Nature Centre for free guided tours of the Glen, home to Ontario’s greatest concentration of Species at Risk. Tree plantings, geocaching demonstrations and a photo scavenger hunt will also be offered. The Friends Group and their partners will also be showcasing various displays and educational materials about their conservation efforts. Those planning to spend the day are encouraged to bring their own bagged lunch, refillable water bottles and appropriate footwear for rugged terrain. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

Oh, now he is sorry, is he? And he really wants to “apologize.”

Gord Nixon apologizes to the Canadian people .. oh sorry did I get the wrong picture… that was Richard Nixon apololgizing to the American peope, right? And some of us may remember how much that was worth. Oh jeez, sorry. Got the wrong Nixon here. We wiill get the other Nixon from the bank in a photo below.

This rare baring of the corporate ass is coming from Gord Nixon, the president and chief executive officer of the Royal Bank of Canada, but only after it finally took a few whistleblowers from his bank and Canada’s CBC news network (and thank God it is still around) to expose RBC’s use of a bogus Canadian Foreign Workers Program administered by the Stephen Harper Conservative government to bring workers from other countries into Canada to replace our jobs for less wages and pay.

So now Thee Man from one of the big, multi-storey banking towers in Toronto – you know the ones where these soulless buildings with their one-way glass tell the rest of the world outside, as the late American author Norman Mailer once said of these corporate monoliths; ‘Whatever happens in here, we reveal nothing’, is apologizing. Continue reading →

A Submission from the Office of Niagara Falls Liberal MPP Kim Craitor

April 12, 2013 – Ontario is making it easier to travel between Toronto and Niagara Falls this summer by once again running regular weekend and holiday GO Train service between the cities. 

GO Trains will run on the following days: 

• Victoria Day long weekend
• Friday evenings, Saturdays, Sundays and holidays between June 29 and September 2
• Thanksgiving weekend Continue reading →

A  Commentary by Doug Draper

Going on almost two years following the purging of the former Niagara Health System board – Debbie Sevenpifer, her bunch hacks, Betty-Lou Souter, Paul Leon and so on – the province’s hand-picked supervisor, Kevin Smith, has announced a new board.

St. Catharines MPP and Ontario Liberal cabinet minister Jim Bradley has always been a good friend of Sevenpifer, Souter and the Niagara Health System

And what can one say, except that we can only hope it is  not a case of – to paraphrase that old Pete Townsend/The Who song – ‘meet the new board, same as the old board.’

Unfortunately, the new board very well could be just as unaccountable to the public across this Niagara region as the old board it is supposed to serve as an advocate for hospital services for all of us who live in Niagara. There is nothing that this Liberal Kathleen Wynne government has done to make it more accountable.

Did the Kathleen Wynne/Dalton McGuinty/Jim Bradley government respond to any requests from Niagara locals to have an elected Niagara Health System board? The answer is no.

Did they ever think that it might be a good idea to appoint more doctors from the NHS or even one bloody nurse, given the reported stress and burnout nurses are reported to be facing across hospital systems in this region , province and country, to this board? Once again, the answer is no. Continue reading →

By Delila Jahn-Thue

Princess’ 5^th birthday party is today. Having run out of sleep, I’ve been up since 5 a.m.

Delila

Chicken defrosts for birthday lunch and butter softens for a bunny cake, I hope. We expect family and are under a storm watch. Today is yet to be written.

Spring calves come steady now with yesterday’s #18 being my stand-out favorite. Princess named him “Diaper Boy.” He’s jet black, except his bleach-white tail, bum and underbelly. Oh incontinent one stands out from his siblings whose bums match the rest of their bodies. Diversity is a glorious gift.

My son has found great meaning trenching water away from the barn toward the culvert. He uses two specialized tools: his favorite caragana stick or a garden hoe. His work is exquisite. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

Coming right off the depressing news that Ontario and the rest of Canada suffered a net loss of 54,000 jobs this March, we’re now getting reports that one of the country’s wealthiest banking corporations is moving to replace some of its Canadian employees with cheaper labour shipped over from India and other countries.

Canada’s big banks just keep shoveling it in , with record profits, while the rest of us fall further and further behind.

The Royal Bank of Canada, which last year recorded the highest increase in profits over the previous year (more than $2.2 billion or 73 per cent over a 12 month period beginning in the fall of 2011) of all five major chartered banks in the country, is replacing at least 40 of its Canadian employees in Toronto with foreign workers.

All of this, according the CBC, which was the first to break the story over the April 6/7 weekend, is taking place under a “Temporary Foreign Worker Program” set up by Stephen Harper’s Conservative government to allow companies to hire from abroad if they can’t find qualified Canadians to do the job.

Now correct me if I am wrong, but haven’t we been hearing the federal government and a number of companies in this country saying that they can’t find enough Canadians with the training or qualifications to fill the jobs out there for a while now? And how can that possibly be when there are more young Canadians than ever before – young people who are anxious to land jobs – graduating from our universities and colleges in every conceivable field? That doesn’t even take into account the number of older, skilled workers in Canada who, through no fault of their own, have lost their jobs due to restructuring and recession and are also anxious to get back into the workforce. Continue reading →

QUEEN’S PARK, April 8, 2013 – Today in the Ontario  legislature – the first day the legislature has been back in session since Peter Kormos’s passing – Welland MPP Cindy Forster offered the following statement on the passing of former Welland MPP Peter Kormos.

Niagara, Ontario’s Welland riding MPP Cindy Forster

“On March 30, 2013, the Welland riding, the Niagara region and constituents across this the province lost a friend, colleague, mentor and a fiercely outspoken advocate committed to the values of equity, fairness and justice.

 “Peter Kormos represented his constituents and the people of this province for more than a quarter of a century as a city councillor, an MPP and, finally, a regional councillor, and he represented them well. His loyalty to his constituents was unwavering and theirs to him. Continue reading →

By Lawrence Pinsky

Very rarely do I twist arms but friends, this is one of those times. And, yes, I have no shame!

Amalia may not understand you unless you speak Greek, but he urgently needs your help anyway.

I am trying to help a dog, Amalia, in Greece, to get her to safety. She is living on the street and is being beaten occasionally by someone. A rescue group has taken her on but, for lack of resources, is unable to get her to safety though.

I have been sending some money and pestering them, I must admit.The vet took xrays and found she had a fracture to her hip. Not serious, at this point, but painful. She is now getting meds from a volunteer and she is improving but they still can’t get her off the street–and that’s the key need.

I am quite invested emotionally in Amalia and am asking if you can send the rescue a modest donation by paypay. No amount is too small. I would deeply appreciate anything you can manage. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper

“Only the little people pay taxes.”

–         the late American  billionaire and hotelier Leone Helmsley, who was later convicted and sent to prison on charges of tax evasion.

If you are one of the “little people” in Canada who was fortunate to have any kind of job or pension that produced income for you this past year, you are also among those required by law to file a tax return to Canada’s revenue agency by the end of this April.

Canada’s blind as a bat revenue minster Gail Shea. If she doesn’t know who the country’s biggest tax evaders are, what else doesn’t she know?

You might also know that even if you made as little as $20,000 this past year, which leaves a single person in this country hovering around the poverty level, you have had to give at least some of that income back in taxes. With that in mind, how not nice it is to turn on the CBC or open a newspaper over the past week to reports that at least hundreds, if not thousands of the wealthiest individuals in Canada are able to get away with paying little or no taxes at all by transferring vast sums of money to off-shore tax havens in the Cayman Islands, Barbados and elsewhere.

To make matters worse, the information behind these news reports did not come from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), which is supposed to be acting fairly, but determinedly to make sure everyone is paying their fair share of taxes. It came from a Washington, D.C.-based coalition of news reporters called the International Consortium of Investigative Journalist which received a massive leakage of documents exposing tax evaders in the United States and numerous other countries, including more than 400 rich Canadians who have been exporting their money to foreign tax havens. Continue reading →

Submitted by the organizers of Garden Walk Buffalo

(A brief note from NAL – You know the spring weather has finally begun to arrive when you receive media releases from the great group of volunteers responsible for the annual Garden Walk Buffalo, one of the largest and most popular neighbourhood garden tours of it kind in all of North American.

Niagara At Large is always free to promote this free event, which always takes place the last full weekend in July and which not only showcasing gardens, but classic architecture in some of the most historic urban neighbourhoods on the continent.  NAL will post more on Garden Walk Buffalo as the weekend for it approaches.) Continue reading →

This Post from the Toronto-based citizens group Environmental Defence

TORONTO, April 5 – New undemocratic rules are creating a barrier to public participation in upcoming National Energy Board (NEB) hearings into the proposal for Enbridge’s Line 9 oil pipeline. For the first time, members of the public who want to send a letter with comments to the NEB about a pipeline project must first apply for permission to participate – by filling out a 10-page form that includes a request for a resume and references.

Proposed route for tar sands pipeline

This problematic new process stems from federal Bill C-38 – the omnibus budget bill last spring that gutted federal environmental laws. Enbridge’s proposal for its Line 9 pipeline could allow dangerous tar sands oil to be shipped east through an aging pipeline that crosses some of the most heavily populated parts of Ontario and Quebec. This is the first new pipeline proposal to be up for approval since Bill C-38 passed last year.

“The new rules are undemocratic. They attempt to restrict the public’s participation in these hearings and prevent a real dialogue about the environmental impacts of the Line 9 pipeline project,” said Adam Scott of Environmental Defence. “Canadians should not have to apply for permission to have their voices heard on projects that carry serious risks to their communities.” Continue reading →

A Brief Message from Niagara At Large publisher Doug DraperAs you may know, Canada’s Harper government has decided to pull its funding from the Experimental Lakes Area (ELA) in the northwestern Ontario district of Kenora – an area that has served for more than four decades as a research site for studying the impacts of a changing environment, including climate change, on the Great Lakes and other vital freshwater resources.

Council of Canadians leader Maude Barlow speaks out for Experimental Lakes Area at Ottawa media conference

What is so tragic and so anger-provoking, quite frankly, is that it only costs about $2 million dollars a year to keep research projects at this cluster of small lakes going. That is hardly a fraction of the billions of dollars the government was moving to spend on over-priced fighter jets before critics forced a review on that venture or the mutli billons of dollars in revenue the government is losing each year to off-shore tax evasion schemes. Continue reading →