Author Archives: dougdraper

From NAL publisher Doug Draper

Some of our Niagara At Large readers will remember that we began a segment on this site more than a year ago called ‘Sign Of Our Times’, featuring signs posted somewhere in our greater Niagara region that say something about our wild and crazy times.

We haven’t posted all that many signs in recent months that fit the bill for our Sign-of-the-Times segment until this one came along.

It was campaign sign for this Ontario election, and one that ultimately worked for Niagara Falls Liberal incumbent Kim Craitor because he won back his seat this October 6 in a tough race against Conservative candidate George Lepp and NDP candidate Wayne Redekop. Continue reading →

By David Boese

It’s the Economy stupid!

The ongoing Wall Street demonstrations, soon expected to come to Bay Street, have a lot to do with economic disparity and a lack of jobs.

The real phrase should be “it’s the Debt stupid.” The real problem facing our current economic malaise is that from individuals to sovereign states, we’re all carrying too much debt. Why is this? Well quite simply it’s the money supply or lack thereof, controlled by a handful of “Robber Barons” or more commonly know as “Banksters.”

When one per cent of the world population (private and corporate) control the financial destiny of everyone on the planet, greed sets in and power is king. Something isn’t working and a new monetary paradigm is the only answer to close the income disparity gap. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

Can a minority government work in Ontario?

To read the headlines in some of the newspapers the morning after this October 6th provincial election, you would think we are now on the verge of going to hell in a hand basket.

Indeed, The Toronto Sun ran a frontline headline reading; “We’ve Got A Liberal Minority – Welcome To Hell.” The front-page headline in The Globe and Mail read; Weakened Liberals, Divided Province.” A number of editorial writers argued that the last thing we need in a province facing a $14-billion deficit in a global economy where some countries are teetering on the edge of financial collapse is the possible instability of minority government.

To read some of the post-election night commentary, it’s as if we ve wandered into a haunted forest and the flying monkeys are on their way. Yet a minority government at this time could be a good thing and it has worked well in Ontario before. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

By now, any one of the few of us who have been paying the least bit of attention, knows the results.

A flurry of election signs in Niagara Falls

The reason I say “the few of us” is that less than half of us – a mere 47 percent of eligible voters making up the worst voter turnout in Ontario history – bothered to show up at the polls this October 6. Bloody pathetic and a curse on those who couldn’t take a few minutes out their day in front of the TV set to vote. To hell with them when they complain from now on about provincial government services being cut or about programs or policies the province may bring in that they don’t like. They have disenfranchised themselves by not voting.

For the rest of us, who still possibly care a little about this stuff, we’ve now got the first minority government elected in Ontario since 1985 when then Liberal leader David Peterson and NDP leader Bob Rae formed a coalition that arguably led to some of the most progressive legislative advances on social, environmental and other issues this province has seen to this day.

In Niagara this October 6, 2011, it is not surprising that the province’s Conservative leader won his riding in the west end of Niagara or that veteran Liberal MPP Jim Bradley won his in St. Catharines he ‘s been a pretty popular guy in since 1977. NDP candidate Cindy Forster won in a Welland riding that has been bedrock territory for her party going back to Mel Swart and continuing through to now retiring NDP icon Peter Kormos. Kim Craitor, a Liberal in Niagara Falls managed to fight off Conservative candidate George Epp and NDP candidate Wayne Redekop in a tight one there, and Conservative Party leader Tim Hudak easily won his riding in the west end of Niagara.

So what do you think? Does any of this still matter to you? Share your views in the comment boxes below and remember that we will only accept comments from readers who are willing to share their real first and last names. Put your names on the line like the candidates in this election did.

ST. CATHARINES, ON – Eva Bartlett, an Ontario activist with the International Solidarity Movement, who reported from Gaza while it was under bombardment by Israel, will be making an audio-visual presentation at 1 p.m. on Saturday, October 8th, in the Mills Room of the St. Catharines Library on 54 Church St.

Eva Bartlett

Bartlett will be speaking, of her two-year experiences in the Gaza Strip and the eight months she spent in the West Bank.  She will be joined by Moses Moini, of the Mennonite Central Committee and a Niagara resident, who recently helped organize the local settlement of two Palestinian refugee families fleeing the violence in Iraq.

The event is organized by the Niagara Coalition For Peace, a coalition of social justice groups that promotes news and issues of interest to anti-war, peace, and liberation activists and is a member of the Canadian Peace Alliance and Canadian Peace Congress. Continue reading →

Many residents of St. Catharines have received robo calls telling voters that Liberal candidate Jim Bradley has been in office too long and to vote for “Irene Lawall.” These calls were not authorized by either the local NDP campaign office or the NDP central campaign.

St. Catharines NDP candidate Irene Lowell

Throughout the afternoon our campaign office has received a number of calls from irate voters upset that our campaign would tell voters that Mr. Bradley has been in office too long and to support Irene Lowell.

“Despite running a positive campaign that is focused on making people’s lives more affordable, some party or group has chosen to play dirty politics,” Lowell said. “I want to assure residents that I don’t believe in using such tactics.” Continue reading →

Go Out And Vote!

A Brief Comment from Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper

Yes, many of us know that this provincial election hasn’t been one of the more engaging ones in history.

All one had to do was drive around the region and see the thin number of election signs compared to the forest of signs that decorated lawns in elections gone by. In my neighbourhood in Thorold, Ontario, I sometimes have to go driving two or three blocks before I see sign for a candidate from any of the parties. There are more realtors’ ‘For Sale’ signs on the lawns of peoples’ homes in my neighbourhood than there are election signs.

Yet, we face tough and challenging times in this region and province, and which ever party that is elected to govern Ontario for the next four years will have no choice but to face them with answers we can only hope are in the best interest of all of us who live and work here.

That is why it is important that you take a little time out today to vote as thoughtfully as you can for the candidate you feel is most capable of rise to these challenges in a region that has serious hospital service concerns and that continues to suffer from one of the highest unemployment rates in all of Canada.

As for you younger people out there who are struggling to pay record-high college and university fees, and to find employment that will afford you a quality life of your own, don’t stay home on this voting day. Don’t let us find out a few days from now that the voting turnout among younger people in their 20s was somewhere around only 30 per cent. It is your future. Vote for it!

As of the time of this posting, you have about eight hours left to do your duty as a citizen in the kind of  democracy too many people around the world are dying for.

(NAL foreword – If you are looking for something nice to do on the Thanksgiving long weekend, there is the great festival at the Ball’s Falls Conservation Area, chuck full of arts and crafts, and a good deal of history, hertage and other events for the whole family.  NAL is pleased to post the following media release on this annual event for your information.)

As the trees begin donning their fall colours, the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority is busy preparing for its long standing classic Niagara tradition with the 37th annual Ball’s Falls Thanksgiving Festival weekend.  The Festival will take place from October 7th to 10th at the beautiful Ball’s Falls Conservation Area in Jordan.

Visitors enjoy arts and crafts in scenic fall setting. Photo courtesy of Niagara Peninsula Conservation Auhority

This event is truly a favourite family tradition where visitors converge from far and wide to enjoy the many aspects of this fun festival.

The festivities begin on Friday, October 7th and run through to Monday, Oct. 10th from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.  Admission is $6.00 per adult; children under 14 years of age are free when accompanied by an adult.  Friday, October 7th is Seniors Day with admission only $4.00 for seniors. Continue reading →

By John Bacher

‘Listen my children and you shall hear
Of the long ride of the century
In early October of 1905
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year’

Usually when people think of dramatic journeys in North America history, what comes to mind is Paul Revere’s ride to warn the American revolutionaries of impending doom in 1775 and Laura  Secord’s walk in 1813 to warn people on the other side of this conflict.

Jim Drury, a grandson of E.C. Drury, joins Ontario Premier John Robarts, Ross Zavitz, a son of Edmund. Zavitz,, and Rene Brunelle, the province's minister of lands and forests in 1968 in planting the 'one billionth tree' in honour of the historic Zavitz ride.

The drama and significance of these marathons, however, is a bit overblown. If they had not been taken the Americans would have enjoyed the virtues of our system of constitutional monarchy and  parliamentary government, while Canadians would have a mild  misfortune of experiencing the system of democracy termed by political scientists the “Presidential” model of republicanism.

More important than“Paul Revere’s Ride” for “the fate of the nation” (to use William Wadsworth Longfellow’s words), was a cycling trip taken by Edmund Zavitz in early October of 1905. He went from the Ontario Agricultural College ( now the University of Guelph) to the farm of E. C. Drury, at Crown Hill, north of Barrie. Continue reading →

A  Commentary by NAL publisher Doug Draper

I’ve been thinking about whether Niagara At Large should join the rest of the media in endorsing one of the parties in this provincial election, and I have a hard time doing it.

Former Ontario premier Mike Harris leading on his student and the man he endorsed to take his crown, Tim Hudak

There are a couple of reasons for my reluctance to endorse one party over another. First of all, not much in this provincial election –the most boring one I can remember in my 32 years as a journalist covering these things – has turned my crank. And second, I remain fiercely non-partisan, as much as some readers have tried, over the years, to peg me as a Liberal or an NDP. I ascribe to the old line by Groucho Marx that ‘I would never want to belong to any group (in this case, a political party) that would have someone like me as a member.’

Yet there is something I can’t endorse on the eve of this Ontario election, and that is any idea of a Conservative majority government lead by one of former Tory premier Mike Harris’s favourite pets – Tim Hudak.

I feel a bit sad saying this in the sense that I’ve sat down with Tim Hudak, one-on-one, on about three or four occasions over the years and interviewed him via phone more often than that, and I can’t help but like him as an individual and be impressed by his sharp mind.

There is something that won’t go away for me though – his close association with Mike Harris, who supported his campaign for the leadership of the provincial Conservative Party a year and a half ago, and stood on the stage with him when he won.  Hudak’s wife, Deb Hutton, was also an operative for Harris, working in his office as a senior advisor while he was premier. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

It was like a combination homecoming and love-in when Andrea Horwath’s bus rolled in to Niagara this October 5.

An exuberant NDP leader Andrea Horwath greets supporters in Niagara one more time. Photo by Doug Draper

“Thanks so much for coming back,” said one Niagara area resident as the NDP leader exchanged hugs and handshakes during the stop in Niagara Falls – one day before voters across Ontario go to the polls to decide who will be the makers and shakers at Queen’s Park over the next four years or (if we end up with a minority government) however long the government lasts.

Horwath, who was making her second trip to Niagara since this election campaign officially began and has been here several times to support candidates and residents fighting for better hospital care, was not interested in entertaining the media chatter about a possible minority government. She was more interested in talking to her supporters about a “momentum” she feels “is still growing” for her party as the hours before the polling stations opened ticked down. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

So who wouldn’t want to see a cut in prices at the gas pumps?

Well, just about everyone, of course, except the boys and girls running and owning shares in ‘Big Oil’. . And Ontario’s NDP leader Andrea Horwath – in keeping with her promise “to make life more affordable for you” -’is pitching a few ideas to keep those gas prices down.

One is to impose a weekly cap, to be administered by the Ontario Energy Board, to stop “gouging at the pump” and the other is to phase out the dreaded Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) on gasoline which would reduce the price by a few cents per litre.

Sounds good, doesn’t it? I got to admit that on the surface, it sounds good to someone like me, who remembers paying around 29 cents for a gallon of gasoline when I first started driving.a car. Those were the days, weren’t they? Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

As Ontario Election Day draws ever so near, there are the inevitable newspaper endorsements.

Those endorsements of one party or another will start coming out fast and furious now, and one of the first newspapers out of the gate is The Toronto Sun.

Now, I’ve got to admit that I have never taken The Toronto Sun as seriously as The Toronto Star, Globe and Mail or any one of a number of dailies across the province. Although, with the way the quality of news and analysis has sunk in far too many papers in this region and others, The Sun is looking better all the time and its endorsement piece – or should I say anti-endorsement – is worth a mention because it is a little unusual. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

The back-and-forth debate between the Conservatives and NDP over which one of the two parties is most likely to keep some of the promises they “borrowed” from each other for their election platforms continues.

Worker gets ready to remove emegency room sign at Port Coblorne hopsital more than two years ago.

Conservative leader Tim Hudak told supporters during a campaign stop in the Port Colborne/Welland area this October 1 that he will reverse the decision the Niagara Health System and Hamilton-Niagara-Haldimand-Brant Local Health Integration Network made under the Liberal government’s watch to close the emergency room at the Port Colborne Hospital site if he become Ontario’s next premier. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

The Conservative’s Tim Hudak must be sensing a chance to make some big gains in Niagara.

Tim Hudak, holding his daughter Miller, as he talks to vendor at St. Catharines market with wife Deb Hutton to his left and Tory candidate Sandie Bellows to his right. Photo by Doug Draper

With only five days left before Ontarians go to the polls, the Tory leader’s campaign bus rolled into Niagara this October in support of his party’s candidates in the ridings of St. Catharines, Welland and Niagara Falls. The only other provincial riding in the region is Niagara West-Glanbrook is already in Conservative hands and is likely a secure on because it happens to be Hudak’s own. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

On a clear day, you can gaze across the wide opening to the Niagara River from Fort Erie and see eight windmills along the shores of Lackawanna, New York, just south of Buffalo where the furnaces of the once mighty Bethlehem Steel mill used to roar.

Wind farm in Buffalo, New York. None of this for Ontario. We're too afraid to do this. Photo by Doug Draper

As the gull flies, these windmills are two or three kilometres away. Yet if you look hard enough, you can see their blades turning slowly in the breeze blowing off Lake Erie, generating enough electricity between the group of them for more than 70,000 homes.

I crossed the Peace Bridge recently and cut off the 190 beltway rounding Buffalo, onto a boulevard along the shores of Lake Erie to get a closer look at these wind mills. And as much as the wind-power naysayers in our region and province may not care to read them, here are a few of the things that went through my mind as I drove near. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

What is it with that pimple or whatever it is protruding from the left side of Conservative leader Tim Hudak’s chin. And why isn’t it bulging from the RIGHT side? I’m sure I’m not the only viewer who found it distracting.

And what happened to NDP leader Andrea Horwath’s hair? She always had nice hair but it looked like she spent her debate-preparation time having it streaked and slicked down with some kind of petroleum product. Hopefully it was not manufactured by BP.

And why does Dalton McGuinty still look like Norman Bates?!

Other than that, the talking-point answers we voters were treated to during this debate are all available in the three leaders’ playbooks.  Just read ‘em online, and nothin’ more need be said. Continue reading →

By Mark Taliano and Tori Crispo

According to Conservative MPs Jason Kenney, and David Anderson, those protesting the extension of the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline — starting at the Alberta Tar Sands and continuing to the Ogallala aquifer in the Sand Hills of Nebraska, on to Texas to be refined, are extremists.

Pipeline protest on Ottawa's Parliament Hill. Photo courtesy of Mark Taliano.

Specifically, these “extremists” would be the large group of Canadian protestors from just about every demographic, who held a peaceful rally in front of The House Of Commons in Ottawa, on September 26.

The group included Maude Barlow, National Chairperson of the Council Of Canadians, and Senior Advisor on Water to the 63^rd President of the United Nations General Assembly. Canadian native groups were also there and well-represented.  Continue reading →

By Maude Barlow, Council of Canadians

(Niagara At Large is posting this piece that Maude Barlow, head of the Council of Canadians, ran this September 27 on  her national citizen organization’s website.
It is a piece that not only discussions opposition to plans to build a pipeline for pumping dirty oil from the tar sands in Albert to refineries in the southern United States, but the public protests against it and the arrests of peaceful protestors by police forces that are paid for by the public and supposed to be there to protect the public – not a select few of special interests.
More and more often these days, as the state of our economy and environment is growing worse and more of us are growing frustrated and angry, are police are being used by governments that have been bought off and paid for by Big Oil and other special interests, to use whatever means they have to in order to keep us in order. In other words, if you stay home and watch the sports channel or ‘Dancing with the Stars’, that’s okay. But if you go out and protest something your government is doing on behalf of thespecial interests, chances are you will be arrested. So stay home and shut up!)

I got arrested today for the first time today. Just before noon, I walked hand in hand with colleagues and friends, the steady and haunting beat of First Nations drums behind me, to a four-foot barrier near the front of Parliament Hill, erected to keep me and other protesters away from the doors of Parliament. I took a deep breath, stepped on the barrier and crossed over.

Canadian activist Maude Barlow being hauled away in cuffs by our police

We were on Parliament Hill to show our opposition to the extension of the Keystone Pipeline, which would take raw bitumen from the tar sands of Northern Alberta over prime farmland and the Ogallala Aquifer to a refinery in Texas. Keystone is only one of a number of pipelines planned or built to export bitumen to other places for refining. Together they resemble a snakes and ladders board game, taking more and more heavy oil, the dirtiest in the world, to communities and countries around the world. My concern is that we are exporting our dirty oil as well as the process to refine it, which also pollutes local water sources. Also, by investing trillions of dollars into these pipelines, governments and the energy industry are ensuring the continued rapid acceleration of tar sands development, instead of supporting a process to move to an alternative and sustainable energy system. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

An Ontario New Democratic Party government would re-open the emergency departments at the hospitals in border town of Fort Erie and nearby Port Colborne, said the party’s leader, Andrea Horwath, as she stood in front of Fort Erie’s Douglas Memorial Hospital this Saturday,  September 24.

Ontario NDP leader makes hospital stop in Fort Erie, Ontario. Photo by Doug Draper

“New Democrats will put patients first when it comes to your hospitals,” said Horwath, the first leader of the three major parties to make campaign stops in Niagara during this provincial election. “We will put patients first by making sure we re-open your emergency rooms here in Fort Erie and in Port Colborne.”

The emergency rooms at the hospitals in those two municipalities were closed more than two years ago in the wake of a so-called ‘Hospital Improvement Plan’ the unelected boards of the Niagara Health System, the body that the previous Conservative government of Mike Harris, and a Local Health Integration Network that the Conservatives launched and the governing Liberals saw to fruition without question. Continue reading →

By Emma Lui, Council of Canadians

On September 16, WGRZ News in New York State “confirmed the Niagara Falls Water Board is moving forward with plans to treat ‘fracking fluid’ at its wastewater treatment plant following a feasibility study performed by an outside firm.”

Niagara Falls, New York wastewater treatment plant where the toxic waste would go for filtering before being discharged to the Niagara River and Lake Ontario

WGRZ added that “The board’s plans, first reported in late-July, were to investigate the possibility of treating the fluid, which is a toxic byproduct of hydraulic fracturing to extract natural gas from the Marcellus Shale. Through a statement, the Board confirmed its study is completed and it is moving forward with the project:

Although the Niagara Falls Water Board has not advocated for drilling in the Marcellus Shale, should the State of New York allow drilling to proceed, and our wastewater treatment plant meet all requirements and regulations as set forth by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the Niagara Falls Water Board potentially offers a solution to effectively and safely treat wastewater produced from drilling and would help mitigate concerns about impacts on public health and safety and the environment.” Continue reading →

(Niagara At Large is posting the following media release on the return of a popular event, exploring the amazing migration of Monarch butterflies, for your information.)

Niagara Falls, ON – To celebrate the amazing two-way migration of the Monarch Butterfly from Canada to Mexico, the Niagara Parks Butterfly Conservatory will once again host Majestic Monarchs. This event will take place over two weekends, September 24 – 25 and October 1 – 2 as part of The Niagara Parks Commission’s new Harvest Fest event lineup.

Photo courtesy of Niagara Parks Commission

Each day, visitors can learn about the Monarch’s lifecycle and conservation efforts being taken here in Niagara. This event is great for families with young children, who will have the option to make their own free Monarch themed crafts to take home. Candy Monarch Butterflies will also be available for $1, with all proceeds directly supporting the Monarch program. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

It may not be on par with the transit system that was so tragically – one might say stupidly – shut down in this region some 52 years ago, but it’s a start.

Niagara Region's chair Gary Burroughs speaks at launch for 'pilot" region transit system

It is ‘Niagara Region Transit’, what our regional government describes as “an inter-municipal public transit service pilot program,” and hopefully it’s the start of a transit system that will serve every community in Niagara so conveniently, that a good many of us will be happy to leave our cars at home.

As I was driving my car this past September 16 to attend the official launch of Niagara Region Transit, I could not help but think back 52 years ago to when my father took my brother Dave and I on one the last rides on those trolleys that used to glide on the tracks behind my childhood home in Welland. Continue reading →

By Bill Augustine

Good morning Mr Draper.  I just finished reading your column (on the launch of a new regional transit system)  and it brought back a lot of old memories about Niagara’s old trolley car system.

A trolley moving south through Welland, over the Weland River, to the city's trolley statino before moving on to Port Colborne.

Port Colborne also had a bus service during the Second World War. It went defunct because people were  not trained to use transportation in the city. It mainly serviced the plant workers. Another reason was that the two companies that ran it could not afford to keep it up and so it went the way of the Dodo bird. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

Andrea Horwath will be the first leader of Ontario’s three main parties to venture in to Niagara during this provincial election.

Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath on a previous trek to Fort Erie hospital site. File photo by Doug Draper

Niagara south supporters of preserving acute care hospital service in that part of the region, while the NHS builds its future acute-care hospital palace in an isolated corner of west St. Catharines that just happens to be in a Liberal riding, are already using social media and whatever means they have to encourage as many people as possible to show up at a rally in front of the Fort Erie hospital when Horwath is there.

The NDP leader is expected to arrive at the hospital site this Saturday, September 24 at 12:30 p.m.

By Doug Draper

At the request of the Niagara Parks Police – a branch of the Niagara Parks Commission – the Ontario Provincial Police has been called in to investigate the possible misuse of money and services by individuals who have worked inside this time-honoured body.

Maid of the Mist contract helped fuel Parks Commission controversy

OPP Inspector David Ross,  a communications officer for the provincial police force, confirmed media reports yesterday that the force’s anti-rackets squad has been called in toinvestigate “some irregularities in the procurement of goods and services within the Niagara Parks Commission.”

The OPP began the investigation about a month ago, Ross said, and has already begun interviewing present and former staff of the commission. The investigation, he said, “is in its formative stage” and it may take a period of time that can not now be estimated due to the need to search through large volumes of paper work to get the job done.

The Niagara Parks Commission – a more-than-a-century-old provincial body charged with the responsibility of protecting and preserving what is left of the natural corridor and heritage sites along the Ontario side of the Niagara River – has come under more intense public scrutiny over the past decade, beginning with a highly controversial plan to build a gondola-like amusement park ride that would take people from the Table Rock area at the brink of the Horseshoe Falls and down into the gorge and back.

That plan was scuttled in the wake of public protest but then there were questions over plans to renew a contract for the Maid of the Mist operator without going to tender for other parties that might offer that famed ride through the rapids below the falls for a lower cost. Other allegations, many of them reported over the past year in The Globe and Mail, which went out of its way to use freedom of information legislation to file for internal commission documentation, include possible misuse of funds for travel, meas and hospitality expenses, including reports that one senior employee at the commission received a $3,970 discount for using a the NPC’s Queenston Heights restaurent for a wedding banquet.

Within the past year, the provincial government has brought in Fay Booker, now the commission’s general manager, to help restore public confidence in the NPC. Other senior managers have either left or been dismissed.

Booker and those working with her now have been striving to focus back on enhancing and promoting natural sites like the Niagara Glen, and heritage sites like the Laura Secord homestead property in Queenston. It will be important to see how much alleged past conduct at the commission will compromise their efforts.

(Share your views on this post in the comment boxes below. Remember to share your first and last name with your comment.)

By Doug Draper

Guess which party in Ontario is doing a great job of building and renewing hospitals in communities across the province?

Niagara's new 'regional hospital' under construction in the outskirts of west St. Catharines.

Why it’s the governing Liberals, of course.  At least that’s according to a media release circulated this September 22 by the Liberal Party’s central campaign office emphasizing that along with expanding services at existing hospital sites, the Liberals have been funding the building of 18 new hospitals across the province.

Among those new hospitals is the one the Niagara Health System, with the complicity of the province’s Liberal government, has been allowed to build in the west end of St. Catharines rather than in a more central location where it would be more accessible to all residents across our region.

With the daily newspapers in this region performing as willing accomplices, the Liberals sat back and allowed the NHS to move forward with its plans to build this major hospital complex there despite the fact that this location violates the Liberals’ own ‘Places To Grow’ planning policies to locate major public institutions like this in “urban centres” and despite the fact that it will cost the region’s property taxpayers millions of dollars to improve the roads and other infrastructure for a major facility that is almost out in the country. Continue reading →

A Brief from Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper

The Ontario Liberals now seem to be doing everything they can to run away from a statement that one of their MPPs, Dave Levac, a representative for the Brant riding and a recent parliamentary assistant to the province’s energy minister, recently made that a “carbon tax is on the table in Ontario “ for reducing greenhouse gases.

The province’s Conservative Party jumped on Levac’s comment, made to a Brantford newspaper this September 20, as more evidence that Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty, who they have branded as “the taxman,” is out to dump more taxes on our head.

In the wake of this fire storm, Levac, according to a story we are posting below by Toronto Sun Queen’s Park bureau chief Antonella Artuso, has now pressed a panicky foot down on the clutch and thrown his remarks in to reverse. He “misspoke,” the Toronto Sun now quotes him saying. “I confused a ‘cap-and-trade program with a carbon tax.” Continue reading →

(Niagara At Large is posting the following September 21 media release from the campaign office of Welland Riding Conservative candidate Domenic Ursini for our readers’ information.)

WELLAND– On a live chat hosted by the Brantford Expositor yesterday, Dalton McGuinty’s Junior Energy Minister, Dave Levac, confirmed that a carbon tax is on the table if the Liberals are re-elected on October 6th:

Welland Riding Conservative candidate Domenic Ursini

Question:  Just to clarify, if a carbon tax is being reviewed does that mean there’s a possibility it would appear in the next 4 years if the Liberals were re-elected? It seems like a really progressive policy to help supplement the Green Energy Act.

Dave Levac:  Jim: Yes there is a possibility that a carbon tax is on the table to evaluate, because it presently is.

A screenshot of Levac’s revelation from today’s live chat is available here:  http://scr.bi/pfRyTD

Dave Levac joins a long list of Dalton McGuinty Liberals who have confirmed that a carbon tax will be Dalton McGuinty’s next hit to the pocketbook of Ontario families. Continue reading →

(Niagara At Large is posting the following media release and letter to U.S. President Barack Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper for the interest of our cross-border readers in the greater Niagara area.)

From U.S. Congressman Brian Higgins

In a letter to United States President Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Congressman Brian Higgins (NY-27) is suggesting there is no better place than the Peace Bridge to release the Beyond the Border Action Plan.

Buffalo area Congressman Brian Higgins

In February the President and Prime Minister met and first declared plans to work on a Beyond the Border Action Plan which would include incorporating a shared vision on issues related to cross border security, trade and infrastructure. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

As much flack  as the Ontario Liberals have taken for the mismanagement of hospital services in Niagara, the party is claiming that it has been doing more to save hospital services that than the Conservatives or NDP would.

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty

Pointing to 28 hospital closures by the province’s former Conservative government and cuts to medical schools by a former provincial NDP government that led to shortages of doctors and nurses in the province, Premier Dalton McGuinty and his Liberals charged the following in a September 20 media release: “Based on their previous record, both the PCs and NDP would make the same mistakes again by closing down hospitals and cutting the number of doctors and nurses in the province,” said McGuinty. “Only the Ontario Liberals have a serious plan to continue moving forward, together, on health-care services. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

The idea of cutting both taxes and “wasteful spending,” all in the name of putting more money back in the pockets of “hard-working Ontario families” sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?

Ontario Conservative leader Tim Hudak

No wonder, then, that cuts to taxes and spending has been the mantra of Conservative leader Tim Hudak throughout this provincial election, and on October 6, it may just be enough to get him elected the next premier of Ontario.

Then again, maybe – just maybe – before the October 6 vote, more of us will ask those running in their ridings in this provincial election, particularly their Conservative candidate, what all of these tax and spending cuts are going to amount to. What may it mean in terms of cuts to jobs and to services that we may need or value? Continue reading →

By John Jackson

– With the following introductory note by Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper
–
Two years ago this past June, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton walked to the middle of the Rainbow Bridge between Niagara Falls, Ontario and New York and announced that negotiations between her country and Canada would begin to revise the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement.

Hillary Clinton stands on Rainbow Bridge to announce plans to revise Canada/U.S. Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. File photo by Doug Draper

More worrisome than that, there is concern that the agreement (the first version of which goes back to the 1970s) could be weakened rather than strengthened when it comes to controlling the discharge of pollution to the lake waters, the introduction of invasive species that could devastate native wildlife in the lakes basin and a number of other concerns. The Council of Great Lakes Industries, a collation that includes among its members some of the largest chemical and petroleum corporations in the world (including, Dow Chemical, BP, Shell and Imperial Oil) are now actively lobbying governments in both countries to have the terms “zero discharge” and “virtual elimination” of pollutants, two of the guiding principles of the Great Lakes agreement for the past three decades, removed from any revised agreement. Continue reading →

The Ontario Health Coalition and its Niagara chapter have organized a number of all-candidate meetings on health care, including three in Niagara.

The OHC is a not-for-profit citizens coalition, lobbying for quality health care, accessible to all residents in the province.

If you are interested in attending one of these meetings for the purposes of simply listening or asking questions of the candidates running in this provincial election, here are the dates, times and locations for the Niagara meetings:

·    St Catharines All Candidates’ Meeting
Tuesday, September 20th at 7pm, Port Dalhousie Legion, 600 Ontario, St , St. Catharines.
·    Welland All Candidates’ Meeting
Tuesday, September 27th at 7pm,Welland Lyons Hall, 414 River Road, Welland. 
·    Niagara Falls All Candidates’ Meeting
Thursday, September 22nd at 7pm, Gale Centre, 4171 Fourth Ave, Niagara Falls.

Just as a footnote – the Ontario Health Coalition media release listed no meeting for the Niagara West Glanbrook riding where Conservative leader Tim Hudak is the MPP.

A Brief by Doug Draper

The Kennedy curse is a phrase that evolved in the wake of the assassinations of the late President John F. Kennedy and his brother Bobby two decades after the death of their older brother Joe in the Second World War, and so many of the other tragedies that have haunted this iconic American family since.

Kara Kennedy Allen gone at 51

The latest is the untimely death this September 15 of 51-year-old Kara Kennedy Allen, the only daughter of the late Senator Ted Kennedy who met his end two years ago this past August following a brave battle with brave battle with brain cancer. Kara, who looked like she has won her battle with a lung cancer she was diagnosed with in 2002, reportedly died from a heart attack.

My family and I were on one of our many visits to Cape Cod two summers ago when we heard the news of Ted Kennedy’s death.  Knowing most of the back roads on the Cape like the back of my hand, we were able to get around the police barricades on the roads to the neighbourhood where the Kennedy compound is located. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

“Well, well, well, they’ve arrived,” said Debbie Zimmerman with one of the eight brand new “Niagara Region Transit” buses parked behind her in the lot of Niagara, Ontario’s regional headquarters.

Debbie Zimmerman, Grimsby regional councillor and former chair of the region, speaking at the launch of Niagara Region Transit. Photo by Doug Draper

Zimmerman, a Grimsby regional councillor who was chair of Niagara’s regional government a decade ago when she and at least enough of those who sat on the region’s council at the time, embraced a vision of a transit system that would serve all of Niagara.

This Friday, September 16, the first step in that vision has come true with the official launch of Niagara Region Transit, an inter-municipal bus service that does more to connect people across this region through a transit service since a cross-Niagara trolley system went out of service some 50 years ago.

A decade ago, said Zimmerman, Niagara’s region began “falling behind” other regions in the province in a number of areas, including pushing forward with progressive public transit systems. She reminded listeners at the launch for this new system, that it is only in a pilot stage and that this pilot “depends on the success of this system. … This is our future folks. We need a (region-wide transit system) to keep this region (of Niagara) working.” Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

That beautiful little yellow car with no gas-powered engine in it was back in front of the regional headquarters for Niagara, Ontario again and this reporter is marking the date the date of its return – Thursday, September 15 – down in my diary.

St. Catharines regional councillor Tim Rigby takes his turn riding in prototype electric car Niagara industires could help build here. Photo by Doug Draper

If I sound a bit giddy, I make no apologies and I’ll tell you why. It was the first day in my 40-plus years as a driver of gas-powered cars that I was taken for a spin in a fully functioning electric car – one that doesn’t use an ounce of gasoline from the moment to the ignition key turns the car on to the moment it turns it off.  And as a reporter who began covering environmental stories more than three decades ago, I don’t mind telling you this is something I’ve been waiting for. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

It is almost always a good day when a park for the public is opened or, in the case of Rotary Park in St. Catharines, Ontario, officially re-opened following years of community effort.

Entrance to Rotary Park's Friendship Garden and flower-decked Rotary Wheel. Photos by Doug Draper

That was certainly the case this September 15 – one of the last sunny warm days of summer – when more than 100 local Rotarians and others gathered for a celebatory ribbon cutting for a 32-acre park that was closed shortly after it was first opened 1983.

Rotary Park, located between Pelham Road in St. Catharines southwest end and a picturesque stretch of the Twelve Mile Creek valley and Niagara Escarpment, was a retired landfill site when Rotary Clubs in the area and the City of St. Catharines entered an agreement to convert it into passive parkland. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

Do you think we are overrun with municipal politicians in Niagara, Ontario? Are you one of the people out there who feel we have far too many?

Niagara Community Observatory head David Siegel outlines policy brief on regional governance

If so you may be interested in downloading the latest Policy Brief produced by the Niagara Community Observatory, a Brock University-based research body that works in concert with members of the surrounding community to produced research on current and emerging issues in Niagara.

According to the eight-page brief, released this September 15 and titled ‘Representation on Municipal Councils in Ontario’, there is no doubt that Niagara has the larges number of local and regional politicians of 10 regions across the province that still have two-tier system of regional and local councils. There are a total of 125 councilors in Niagara, to be exact – one for every 3,419 residents in this region compared to York, another region with a two-year system that has 76 councillors or one for every 11,746 residents.

Yet reducing the number of councillors in Niagara may require making some “radical changes” in the way we select our councillors and, contrary to popular belief, won’t do much to reduce municipal spending. Continue reading →

A Niagara At Large Brief

There was another rally this Tuesday, September 13, on the state of Ontario’s hospital services at Queen’s Park.

Niagara's Yellow Shirt troops at Queen's Park

Some buses of residents from Niagara, joined the noon-hour rally, including members of the citizen-based ‘Yellow Shirt Brigade’ from central and south Niagara, who have spent the last three or more years lobbying for fair access to acute care, including emergency services, in Port Colborne, Fort Erie and other hospital sites in their area of the region.

Will this latest rally – one of many that have been held in the past – do any good? If you were there or wish you were there in a show of support, Niagara At Large invites you to share your thoughts below.

A Note from Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper

As  publisher of one of the all-to-few online news sites that asks its readers to link their real names to the comments they post, it is necessary every once in a while to remind our growing number of readers why we have that policy.

State your name or stand down as the worthless coward that you are

It seems particularly necessary to restate this policy at a time when an Ontario election is revving up and a growing number of individuals are tempted to take advantage of the anonymity of the internet to fire off particularly disparaging remarks about some of the candidates and parties, and those who support them, without their names being attached to their stink bombs. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

If you happened to be one of the last Canadians or Americans to cross the Peace Bridge in the hours and days leading up to the terrorist attacks of September 9, 2001, chances are you crossed without having to produce so much as a driver’s license.

Photo courtesy of Peace Bridge Authority

Well, those days are certainly gone. A driver’s license will get you nowhere at any of our border crossings and a birth certificate will hardly get you through either.

One of the realities of this post 9/11 world is stricter security at what has long been regarded as one of the world’s most open and friendly borders, and nothing less than a passport will get you through. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

Tuesday, September 11, 2001 – a day that most of us, now over the age of 20, will never forget where we were when we first heard the news. A day that (to borrow the words the late U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt used in the hours following the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor) “will live in infamy.”

So much has been made of the fact that 9/11, as it will forever be remembered, began as such a beautiful, late summer day with a bright and shining sun rising in blue, cloudless skies over most of the northeaster United States and southeastern Canada. And I know I wasn’t the only one who was feeling more on the upbeat side on that sun-swept morning as I sat down in a diner for a cup of coffee with some friends before going to work.

Then, a few minutes before 9 a.m., I heard the cries of “Wow” and “Oh My God” in that Thorold, Ontario diner where the screen on the wall was always turned to CNN back then, and my friends and I looked up to see clouds of black smoke rising from one of the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in Manhattan. Continue reading →

(Niagara At Large is posting this for our readers across both sides of the border’s interest.)

BUFFALO, New York/FORT ERIE, Ontario – Today (September 9) the Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority (Peace Bridge Authority) announced that on September 11, 2011, the Peace Bridge will be illuminated in commemoration of the thousands of civilians and first responders who lost their lives during the tragic events of 9/11.

The bridge span is set to be lit in a patriotic American red, white, and blue color scheme commencing at 8:00 p.m. (EST) and continuing until 1:30 a.m. (EST) the following morning. In addition, the official flags of the New York City Fire Department (NYFD) and the New York City Police Department (NYPD) will be flown in the U.S. Customs plaza beginning that same day.

“The Peace Bridge is a symbol of harmony between our two great countries and it provides an ideal setting to remember and honor all of those individuals and families who experienced the pain and anguish of September 11th,” said Authority Chairman Anthony Annunziata. Continue reading →

By Fiona McMurran

It’s official: the HIP Review (that the Minister of Health insisted be termed an “evaluation”) is no more.

The NHS's new supervisor Kevin Smith - Could he pull this region's hospital services out of the fire?

It was laid to rest this morning, September 9,  at the third meeting of the NHS Tripartite HIP Review Committee at the LHIN (Local Health Integration Network) offices in Grimsby, with unanimous approval of a recommendation from Port Colborne Mayor Vance Badawey to the Board of the HNHB LHIN, calling for the process to be shelved in light of the appointment of Kevin Smith as Supervisor of the NHS. The Tripartite Review Committee will continue to be a resource for Smith’s investigation; the Committee’s work to date, and in particular the Terms of Reference, will be of considerable help to the Supervisor.

There were no tears of mourning. In fact, when Chair Bob Lawler adjourned the meeting, I saw nothing but smiles all around. My colleague, Pat Scholfield, and I agreed:  for the first time in years, we have genuine cause for hope. Smith’s short, direct and honest presentation of his observations to date gave us all confidence that we can look forward to a hospital system that actually fulfils its mandate of caring for the clinical needs of the residents of the whole Niagara. Continue reading →

(Niagara At Large has previously posted a full address by Wayne Redekop, the former Fort Erie mayor running as the NDP candidate in the Niagara Falls riding, and covered his nomination meeting. NAL did not make it to the nomination meeting for that riding’s Liberal incumbent, Kim Craitor, and has yet to post a full address by him on the issues, as he sees them, in this provincial election. Therefore, to provide some balance, we are posting the following remarks Craitor made this September 6 during the opening of his campaign office in the Fort Erie, Ontario end of the riding. Regardless of your political leanings, we hope you find them informative.)

Good afternoon. It’s wonderful to be in Fort Erie. And a perfect place to kick off my 2011 campaign for Niagara and Fort Erie’s Future.

Kim Craitor, Liberal incumbent for Niagara Falls riding, opens campaign office in Fort Erie, Ontario

I love this town. I spent a lot of time working here when I was working for the Unemployment insurance office  here on Jarvis Street for 10 years and so did my wife Helen, when she worked for over 10 years at Gilmore Lodge
So when the riding was redistributed last term in 2007… I was delighted to have the chance to represent the citizens of Fort Erie’s communities of Ridgeway, Crystal Beach,  Stevensville, Black Creek, and of course Fort Erie itself.

I was surprised and disappointed when the former member, Tim Hudak decided not to contest his home riding and run against me in 2007. But it was not to be. He obviously went to a safer place and the rest is as they say… is history!   And here I am, back again. . Absolutely delighted to continue to represent the citizens of Fort Erie for four more years. Continue reading →

(Niagara At Large is posting the following media release from the Niagara Health System, on the status of the C. difficile outbreak that has cost the lives of more than 30 people in NHS hospitals since this spring,  for our readers information.)

Niagara Falls C. difficile outbreak declared over
Tuesday, September 06, 2011

The Niagara Health System, in consultation with Niagara Region Public Health, today declared the C. difficile outbreak at the Greater Niagara General Site over.

Niagara Falls hospital site

(Niagara At Large is posting this article on the trouble with Local Heath Integration Networks in Ontario with the permission of Ted Ball and Quantum Transformation Technologies)

By Ted Ball

Apparently there is something in the DNA of the Ontario healthcare delivery system that causes service provider organizations and their leaders to “hate the funder” – which of course is the Ministry of Health & Long Term Care. Everybody hates MOHLTC. It’s a rule, or something.

Ted Ball

However, in the McGuinty Government’s first term, they decided to devolve power and authority out of the powerful/faceless bureaucracy occupying the Hepburn Block at Queen’s Park in downtown Toronto. Instead, they decided to shift the functions of health system planning/funding and accountability to fourteen “local networks of healthcare service providers” where the boundaries reflected patient flow patterns.

This was radical change. Instead of centralized silo-management/control, Ontario was shifting to system-management, at the local community level. The vision was to create integrated and “seamless” health services at the local network level where “evidence-based decision-making”, rather than politics, would drive decision-making. Continue reading →

By Mark Taliano

Most people who get arrested aren’t exactly thrilled.  But that isn’t the case in Washington D.C.  As Amy Goodman, producer and host of the public radio program ‘Democracy Now’ notes, “They’re carrying on the proud tradition of civil disobedience.”  And so they’re smiling.

Recent demonstrations on Canada's Tar Sands outside White House

These protestors are forming a “Keystone” of objections to the proposal to pipe crude from Alberta to drought stricken Texas, a land where currently one of seven people uses food stamps, where the governor denies climate–related scientific facts, and where hollow assurances of pipeline safety are embraced. Continue reading →

(Niagara At Large is posting the following September 2 media release for our readers’ information.)

The Niagara Parks Commission receives support
to replace incline railway – Key piece of tourism infrastructure will be fully accessible, carry more people, and be open year-round

Niagara Falls, Ontario– The Niagara Parks Commission (NPC) is pleased to announce it will receive additional support from the Government of Ontario to replace its aging incline railway with a more modern, year-round and accessible system to provide service between the Park and the Fallsview tourism district.

Niagara Park's incline railway will be replaced with better, more accessible model. Photo courtesy of Niagara Parks Commission

Considered Phase II of its Table Rock Redevelopment Project, this new incline service is intended to enhance the overall guest experience of Niagara. It will provide improved links between a number of tourism facilities and the Park, and a safe pedestrian crossing over the Niagara River Parkway into Queen Victoria Park. This redevelopment will also meet accessibility standards as outlined in the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 (AODA), by allowing visitors with disabilities full and safe access to both levels of NPC’s Table Rock complex, the Park and the viewing area adjacent to the Falls directly from the Fallsview area. Continue reading →

“Let me tell you how it will be,
There’s one for you, nineteen for me.
‘Cause I’m the taxman. …”

– from the song Taxman by George Harrison

A Commentary by Doug Draper

With only five weeks to go before we go to the polls in a provincial election, one of key strategies of Tim Hudak and his Conservatives for winning election is clear. Weld Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty’s name and image to the word “taxman,” and say and do everything possible to paint him as one of the most notorious collectors of taxes in the province’s history.

The Ontario Conservative's Dufferin- Caledon MPP Sylvia Jones joins Tory Welland Riding candidate Domenic Ursini, unveiling the 'Wheel of Tax' at a Welland shopping mall.

That strategy was in full evidence this past week with the pre-election unveiling in Niagara of the Conservatives’ so-called ‘Wheel of Tax’, mimicking one of those big spinning wheels you can find on a midway at an amusement park. Spin this ‘Wheel of Tax’, featuring the world taxman curling three times around McGuinty’s grinning face, and you can’t help but lose. Where ever that pointer lands when the wheel stops spinning, you fall on the 15 per cent HST (harmonized sales tax),a “new water tax,” a “carbon tax,” an “income tax hike,” a “new school board property tax” or something called a “sneak eco tax.”

“No matter what the wheel lands on, Ontario families will lose with the taxman,” stated an August 24  news release put out by the campaign office of Domenic Ursini, the Conservative candidate involved in a wide-open race in the Welland Riding with the retirement of the riding’s longtime NDP representative Peter Kormos. “Ontario families have been clear,” added Ursini in the media release. “It’s time to stop the ‘Wheel of Tax’ once and for all.” Continue reading →

The province’s New Democratic Party leader, Andrea Horwath, has joined the City of Niagara Falls and numerous citizens across the Niagara region in calling on Ontario Ombudsman Andre Marin to investigate the mismanagement of hospital services by the Niagara Health System.

NDP leader Andrea Horwath speaking to reporters at a recent protest rally over superbug deaths at Niagara hospitals. Photo by Doug Draper

Niagara At Large is posting the NDP leader’s letter to Marin below and also encourages you to visit this site for another story, posted this September 1, that provides more information on how you can contact the Ombudsman’s office with your concerns.

 Dear Mr. Marin,

On behalf of Niagara residents, I am writing to express my deep concern over the state of the Niagara Health System.

For several years, the loss of emergency rooms, key health care services, and infection outbreaks have led to a loss of public confidence in the Niagara Health System. The government’s repeated assurance that health care was getting better in the region – while things were clearly getting worse – only diminished trust further.

The Ontario Government has finally acknowledged a serious deficiency by appointing a Provincial Supervisor to take charge of the NHS. Since the government’s appointment effectively places the NHS under the direct control of the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care, and your purview, I urge you to undertake an immediate investigation into the Niagara Health System.
Your office has the independence and track record to provide Niagara families with an understanding of what’s not working in the Niagara Health System and how it can be fixed.

Sincerely,
Andrea Horwath, MPP
Leader of Ontario New Democrats

A Niagara At Large Brief

Around and around it goes. That classic carousel in Port Dalhousie, Ontario’s Lakeside Park overlooking Lake Ontario.

Port Dalhousie Carousel. Photo by Doug Draper

On Labour Day long weekends – the last official weekend of summer – this carousel has long been a popular draw for young families, and for people of all ages with a kids heart who enjoy taking that magical five-cent ride. And this coming Sunday, September 4, you can save your nickels between the yours of noon and 5 p.m. and take the ride for free, thanks to Escarpment Views magazine.

Niagara At Large is posting below a media release from the City of St. Catharines where that Port Dalhousie carousel turns on those Sunday free rides. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati and his council will be calling on the province’s dogged ombudsman, Andre Marin, to do what the mayor hopes will be a fearless, independent investigation of the Niagara Health System.

Niagara Falls, Ontario Mayor Jim Diodati

Niagara Falls’ council was among the first in Niagara, Ontario to call for the NHS’s new hospital complex, now being built in west St. Catharines, to be located in a more central location for all the region’s residents, and even if it wasn’t located in Niagara Falls. But the NHS refused to listen to it or to hundreds of doctors in the region who petitioned, and even took out full-page newspaper ads, calling for the same thing.

Diodati said any probe by the ombudsman should look at the reasons NHS bulldozed ahead with its decision to new hospital complex, costing more than a billion dollars, in west St. Catharines, and who is possibly benefiting financially from that decision. “I say follow the money,” the mayor said. Continue reading →

A Foreword by Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper

The office of Ontario Ombudsman Andre Marin didn’t waste much time wading in to the Niagara Health System mess after the province’s appointment of a supervisor – St. Joseph’s Hospital CEO Kevin Smith – to try to untangle this train wreck.

Ontario Ombudsman Andre Marin

This includes the right to probe the NHS board’s infamous ‘Hospital Improvement Plan’ and the real reasons behind the tragic decision to build the only new hospital complex for which this region is likely to receive funding for decades to come in west St. Catharines, rather than in a more a more central location for all Niagara residents. It also includes any special perks NHS administrators may have received from contractors and mismanagement of funds for buyout packages for former NHS CEO Debbie Sevenpifer and others. Continue reading →

A  Brief from Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper

We may be off to a pretty good start.

NHS board chairman Paul Leon should do the honourable thing and resign

When was the last time you remember a member of the NHS’s hand-picked board inviting members of the public to email them with their concerns? So let the new supervisor know you are out there folks by sharing with him the years’ of concerns so many of you have expressed at public meetings, at rallies on the lawns of Queen’s Park and so on, but that the NHS’s insulated and arrogant board never chose to take all that seriously because, in so many words, they knew what they were doing and you didn’t. Continue reading →

A Comment from Preston Haskell

The Niagara Health Coalition has held 5 town hall meetings throughout Niagara regarding the quality of health care in our hospitals including the C Difficile and other serious infections plaguing the Niagara Health System.

Preston Haskell

At each and every meeting the local politicians and health care authorities were invited.

For the most part there was a fairly good turnout of MPP’s, Mayors and Councillors present to hear, speak and mingle with concerned citizens and those who have lost love ones.

The exception was St. Catharines were only Councillor Len Stack attended and ‘got an ear full’.

Councillor Stack stated “My heart goes out to all those families who had to endure such severe abuse in a place where you would normally think you’re safe.” Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

A month after a fire ripped through the historic Welland Club in this Ontario city that goes by the same name – Welland – there is still no news on what caused it.

The historic Welland Club in its ravaged state today

Was it a lightning strike, as one Niagara Regional cop guessed might have done possibly fatal damage to this most wonderful, stately 1911 building overlooking a shady park along the Welland Canal, or was it arson or something else? Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

It’s official. The province’s Liberal government has chosen the person to come in as “supervisor” and take control of a Niagara Health System that, in many Niagara residents’ views, has been so badly mismanaged it is about to implode.

Kevin Smith, the NHS's new supervisor

That person is Kevin Smith, who is currently the president and CEO of St. Joseph’s Hospital in the Hamilton area and who, according to his resume, has years of experience in the management of hospital and healthcare services.

The appointment of Smith, announced this August 31 by Ontario Health Minister Deb Matthews, comes less than three weeks after the health minister finally agreed to bring someone in to take control of the many services in what remains of six hospitals the NHS has been responsible for operating across the Niagara, Ontario region over the past 10 years.

The appointment means that the existing NHS board, directed by its current chair Paul Leon and former chair Betty Lou Souter, is sidelined while the supervisor moves forward with his job. It also means that Ontario’s ombudsman, Andre Marin, could launch an investigation if he receives enough information from Niagara residents that this hospital system has mismanaged its duties and the many millions of our tax dollars entrusted to it each year to deliver adequate health services to the residents of this region. Search for Ontario Ombudsman and click down to contacts for Marin if you wish to be one of the many who will surely file complaints and urge him to launch an investigation.

Kim Craitor, the Liberal MPP for the Niagara Falls riding who has long been a critic of the way the NHS has operated area hospitals, told Niagara At Large he is pleased with the appointment. “This individual (Smith) is held in great respect for his expertise about hospitals,” said Craitor, adding that the former provincial Conservative government also brought him in to supervise hospital systems in Ontario that were having serious problems functioning on their own.

Not everyone is pleased with the announcement, however. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

Posted August 30th,  2011 on Niagara At Large

Normally I love stories about boats. So I turned to one that appeared recently on the front page of the St. Catharines Standard – a God-awful excuse for a newspaper that gets stuffed in my door for free every Friday whether I want it or not – and my love for boat stories started to capsize.

New Algoma ship en route  from shipbuilding docks in China

It was a story that began on a very upbeat note about the christening in Port Colborne, Ontario this past August 25 of a brand new ship called the Algoma Mariner, owned by the St. Catharines-based shipping corporation Algoma Central. To the extent that this time-honoured company is still willing to invest tens-of-millions of dollars in new ships to ply our Great Lakes and waters beyond is a good thing. No doubt.

Then I turned to page five of the newspaper where the story about the christening of the Algoma Mariner continued and the subheading at the top read: ‘Ship built in China’, and I hope I’m not the only one who read that heading and reacted with something like – ‘What?!! Made in China again? Can’t we build anything here in our own country anymore? Does everything have to be imported? Even ships? Canada was once a proud shipbuilding country, for God’s sake!’ Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

Ontario’s no-nonsense Ombudsman Andre Marin should be the one heading up an investigation of the Niagara Health System and the way it has been managing the region’s hospitals, says Niagara Falls NDP candidate Wayne Redekop.

Wayne Redekop speaks at health care media conference while Niagara labour council president Dan Peat looks on

“What we need is an independent investigation and the perfect person to do that investigation is the ombudsman, who has a record for cutting through all of the government nonsense,” added Redekop, a former mayor of Fort Erie who is running in this fall’s provincial election and who was speaking at a media conference the Niagara Regional Labour Council held in Welland this August 30 on health care concerns in the region.

All that the people of Niagara got from Ontario’s governing Liberal Party, said Redekop, was the recent promise of “a review” of the NHS in the hope it may take the heat off its members, including Liberal MPP Kim Craitor, who had been calling for an investigation of the NHS for some time. Continue reading →

On this day – August 27, 2011 – of Jack Layton’s funeral, Niagara At Large is posting the following images taken in recent days by Niagara news photographer Joanne McDonald outside Toronto City Hall where thousands came to pay tribute to Canada’s late Opposition Party leader .

Click on this image and others below to enlarge them to screen size. Photo courtesy of Joanne McDonald

In the first photo, the words; ‘Jack Layton was the reason I started to vote’ are written in chalk on a wall behind a makeshift shrine of flowers. In the same photo, one sign reads; ‘Jack – Inspiration for a Generation’.

Let’s all hope that this inspiration lives on!

Photo courtesy of Joanne McDonald

Indeed, let’s hope that if anything good comes out of Jack Layton’s passing, we will see new generations of Canadians become more interested in politics, either by becoming more actively involved in our democratic system by voting and by being more engaged in the day-to-day decisions of our governments, or by running for political office themselves. That would be one of the best ways the spirit of Jack Layton and everything he stood for could live on.

(We invite you to share your thoughts in the comment boxes below.)

Photo courtesy of Joanne McDonald

A Commentary by Doug Draper

Something surprising happened during this past spring’s Canadian election. For the first time in a long time, more young people seemed to be involved.

Flowers and other tributes continue piling up in front of Jack Layton's Toronto constituency office.

We often hear or read news stories about young people in Canada and the United States being so turned off with politics that they don’t vote. In recent years, people under the age of 25 have had an even more pathetic record when it comes to voting than the rest of us older types do. And yet, it is there future that is mostly at stake when it comes to choosing leaders that will make vital decisions about education, environmental protection and a host of other issues.

In this past federal election in Canada, I thought I saw a growing number of young people showing an interest by going to all-candidate meetings and staging ‘get-out-and-vote’ rallies, and I also got the impression that Jack Layton had more than a little to do with it. The federal New Democratic Party leader’s charisma and his message for a better future appeared to resonate with younger people who he went out of his way to speak to in his farewell letter to Canadians, written a few days before he died from cancer this past Monday, August 22. Continue reading →

A Brief by Doug Draper

In an age where it takes something akin to a multi-million-dollar laser show to draw a crowd, it is nice to know there is still a place in this world for a floral clock.

Niagara Park's time-honoured Floral Clock. Photo courtesy of Niagara Parks Commission

The Niagara Parks Commission’s 61-year-old Floral Clock – built by Ontario Hydro and located along a stretch of the Niagara Parkway between Queenston Heights and the City of Niagara Falls, is maintained by Niagara Parks’ horticultural staff and continues to draw cars and buses full of visitors despite its relatively passive nature. Continue reading →

By Mark Taliano

It’s hard to create a strong democracy when we’re surrounded by media bias, but it can be done.  At least in Canada, we’re not terrorized by Death Squads late at night.

Rioters in London, England recently clash with police.

One way to restore a strong democracy is to fight this bias.  A disproportionate amount of media,  for example, have been painting political protests in a negative light by emphasizing the violence to the detriment of the less publicized and more ubiquitous raisons d’etre of the protests: social injustice. Continue reading →