Author Archives: dougdraper

A Commentary by Doug Draper

“Cling, Clang. Cling Clang. …
That’s the sound of the men
working on the chain gang.”
–    from the old Sam Cooke song, Chain Gang

Get used to the idea folks. If Niagara native and Conservative leader Tim Hudak becomes the next premier of Ontario, driving along a road or highway and watching prisoners dressed up in stripped pajamas and ankle chains as they clearing garbage or picking up garbage along the side of the road may become routine.

A chain gang in George, vintage 1941. Tim Hudak promises to bring them to Ontario if he become premier in 2011

You may even see them cutting grass in our public parks, the way the Conservative leader describes it.

It’s probably no big deal if you’ve spent a lot of time driving the roads way down in the deep south in Georgia or Alabama or Mississippi. You’ll be gong along and there they are, wearing stripped suits and ankle bracelets, clearing up the scrub and the daddy from Slaphole, Mississippi drives by with his son in the car and says; “Lookie der boy. Dat’s what you get if you lifts a can of tuna from the Piggly Wiggly.”

Now Tim Hudak is pledging to import that culture to Ontario, and isn’t it a good thing! Isn’t it?  After all, and as he imagines, every day spent in a prison in this province is like a day’s vacation at the Quality Inn, with yoga, writing classes, high-definition TV and all other sorts of fun. Continue reading →

(Niagara At Large is posting the following May 26 media release for our readers information.)

OTTAWA – Leader of the Official Opposition, Jack Layton announced this morning that NDP MP Malcolm Allen (Welland) will serve as the Agriculture and Agri-Food Critic in his shadow cabinet.

After serving as the Deputy Critic for Agriculture and Food Security in the last Parliament, Allen was honoured to receive the agriculture critic appointment.

“Obviously this is a huge honour and great responsibility to be named in this historic shadow cabinet. We will be sitting directly across from the Ministers responsible and hold them to account for Canadians every day,” said Allen.

Allen has developed relationships with multiple farm and agricultural associations and groups over the years and is looking forward to strengthening those in the coming Parliamentary session.

“My office has worked hard on the agriculture file for over 2 years,” said Allen. “We’ve met with many representatives from agriculture and farm groups, including developing a Private Members Bill with the support of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture.”

(Niagara At Large is running the following May 24 media release from the office of Ontario PC leader Tim Hudak for our readers’ information. These posts should in no way be interpreted to mean that NAL supports the views of the party or candidate that produced them. This is about putting the information out there and letting you use the comment boxes below as a town hall to share your views. So here we go with this latest one from a party that, when it was in power a decade ago, hardly kept up to spending the amount of money are hospitals needed at the time. Indeed, it was Mike Harris’s Conservative government that created the Niagara Health System that is such a source of controversy in this region today.)

Health Spending Under Hudak to Increase by $6.1 Billion

NEWS:

Ontario PC leader Tim Hudak today announced that his party’s top funding priority will be health care.  By the end of its first term, a Hudak government will increase annual investments in health care by nearly $6.1 billion while moving funds out of waste and administration and into care for people.

Ontario Conservative leader Tim Hudak

As someone with a young daughter and parents who are getting older, Tim Hudak gets how important our health services truly are.  His party’s plan will bring change that puts patients at the very centre of health care. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

One of the very first record albums I ever bought in my life, when I was around 12 or 13 years old, was something called “In The Wind’ by the folk group Peter, Paul and Mary.

Happy Birthday Bob. May there be many more.

Track after track, that early 1960s album still stands up as a great folk album from that wild and wonderful Greenwich Village era, but the two tracks that stood out the most for me were ‘Blowin’ In The Wind’ and ‘Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right’, both penned by a then very young immigrant to that Village scene who’d changed his name from Bob Zimmerman to Bob Dylan.

Those two songs, which I quickly learned how to play on a cheap acoustic guitar I owned at the time, were my introduction to Bob Dylan, and the rest is history. Whether it was Bob doing his own music or someone covering it – The Byrds with ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’ and ‘My Back Pages’ or Jimi Hendrix doing an epic take on ‘All Along The Watchtower’ – I was sold, as were so many others. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

Perhaps you’ve already heard the news and it is pretty dire.

According to an 89-year-old evangelical radio preacher in California named Harold Camping, the world is going to end this Saturday, May 21 when ‘Holy God will bring Judgement Day! So pack your bags folks, because in a few short hours, we are going away.

I went to downtown St. Catharines, Ontario this past Thursday to see if I could find an old by Gore Vidal at Hannelore Headley’s legendary local store, ‘Old & Fine Books’ on Queen Street and I actually passed a guy in the downtown, praying up at the sky with a sign beside him that read; ‘Judgement Day, May 21, 2011’. What struck me the most is that he had a shoe box at his feet where passersby could deposit money. And I could not help but wonder why he would need it. Continue reading →

A Foreword by Doug Draper

While many residents in south Niagara remain angry over the loss of emergency room services in their communities, Premier Dalton McGuinty and his Liberal government are investing more than $1.9 million to reduce waiting times at emergency rooms in St. Catharines.

St. Catharines Liberal MPP and cabinet minister Jim Bradley

The emergency rooms at the hospitals in Fort Erie and Port Colborne were closed over the past two years and wait times at the facilities in Welland and Niagara Falls have increased, according to a number of reports.

The news about funding for emergency room services in St. Catharines came to Niagara At Large in the form of a media release from the office of St. Catharines Liberal MPP and cabinet minister Jim Bradley. We are posting it below for your information and comment. Continue reading →

Niagara At Large is posting this May 20 media release from the office of Ontario Conservative Leader Tim Hudak for your information and comment.

NEWS:

GRIMSBY—Today, Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak, MPP Niagara West-Glanbrook, said a PC government will provide relief for families by removing the provincial portion of the HST from home hydro and heating bills, and the debt retirement charge from the family hydro bill. Taken together, these steps will give Ontario households $275 in immediate relief from rising energy bills.

Ontario Conservative leader Tim Hudak

Dalton McGuinty’s expensive energy experiments – like his smart meter tax machines and sweetheart Samsung deal – have caused hydro bills to skyrocket. What’s worse, he has also burdened families by slapping the HST on essentials like hydro, home heating, and natural gas. Families are also still paying a debt retirement charge for a $7.8 billion debt that should have been paid off by now. Continue reading →

A Foreword by Doug Draper

The Council of Canadians, an Ottawa-based citizens group, is urging the federal government to say no to plans by Ontario Power Generation to deposit nuclear waste at a site upstream from the drinking water supplies of millions of Canadian and U.S. residents in the lower Great Lakes.

Council of Canadians director Maude Barlow

The wastes from nuclear power facilities in Ontario would be placed in underground tunnels a caverns only about a mile away from the shores of Lake Huron, and resident groups from both sides of the Canada/U.S. border have already begun expressing concern about this plan and any possibility of future leaks of the radioactive material into Great Lakes waters. Continue reading →

Foreword by Doug Draper

Niagara Falls MPP Kim Craitor is once again hoping to get the Ontario Liberal government he is apart of to pass a bill he has tabled that would assure both residents of and visitors to the province access to the shorelines of our Great Lakes.

A fenced-off stretch of Lake Erie beach in the Fort Erie, Ontario area.

The bill – titled the ‘Great Lakes Shoreline Right of Passage Act’ or Bill 32 for short – received second reading earlier this May and is the second or third of its kind that Craitor has tabled over the past four or five years. The others died on the floor of the legislature much to the disappointment of citizen groups like the Ontario Shorewalk Association with members in Fort Erie and other lakeshore communities.

Craitor’s bill is a response to efforts some shoreline residents have made over the years to, for example, fence off sections of beach right down to the waterline so members of the public cannot walk them. In a number of other jurisdictions across the border in the United States and elsewhere in the world, such practices are not allowed.

For the record, Niagara At Large is posting below the hansard from the Ontario legislature earlier this May, featuring Craitor’s arguments for passage of the bill.

GREAT LAKES SHORELINE
RIGHT OF PASSAGE ACT, 2011 /
LOI DE 2011 SUR LE DROIT
DE PASSAGE SUR LE LITTORAL
DES GRANDS LACS

Mr. Craitor moved second reading of the following bill:
Bill 32, An Act to create a right of passage along the shoreline of the Great Lakes / Projet de loi 32, Loi créant un droit de passage le long du littoral des Grands Lacs.

Niagara Falls MPP Kim Craitor

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Jim Wilson): Pursuant to standing order 98, the honourable member has 12 minutes for his presentation.

Mr. Kim Craitor: I’m extremely proud to have the opportunity to bring forward Bill 32, right of passage, and to have the right to be able to speak on it today.
Summer is coming. It will get warmer and warmer, and when it gets hot, thousands of Ontario families will head down to the absolutely marvellous sand beaches along the shores of our Great Lakes, beaches that are really wonderful most of the time. Continue reading →

Niagara At Large is posting, for our readers’ information, Wayne Redekop’s verbatim remarks accompanying his May 18 announcement that he is seeking the nomination to run as the NDP candidate in  the Niagara Falls riding in this October’s provincial elections. If he wins the nomination this June, he will be running against Liberal incumbent Kim Craitor and Conservative candidate George Lepp.

WAYNE REDEKOP SEEKS               
NEW DEMOCRATIC PARTY NOMINATION

I wish to announce my intention to seek the nomination as the candidate of the New Democratic Party for the Fort Erie-Niagara Falls-Niagara on the Lake riding in the forthcoming provincial election.

Wayne Redekop seeks NDP nomination in Niagara Falls Riding.

This will be no ordinary provincial election.  The results will determine how our government will respond to the challenges that we face as a province, as communities and as families and individuals.  Will the agenda of the next provincial government include measures that make life affordable for families and individuals, that invest in health care and education, that protect our environment and that ensure that today’s debt does not burden future generations? Continue reading →

Publisher’s Note – Niagara At Large is posting this May 19 media release from the office of Niagara Falls Riding provincial Conservative candidate George Lepp for your information.

NEWS:
Niagara Falls—Today, PC Candidate for the Niagara Falls Riding George Lepp announced that after years of failed Liberal hydro experiments, a PC government would remove the provincial portion of the HST from hydro bills.
In Canada, heating our homes is not a luxury.

Niagara Falls riding Conservative candidate George Lepp

Dalton McGuinty’s move to increase the cost with a surprise tax increase was grossly unfair. A PC government will remove the provincial portion of the HST from every home heating bill, including natural gas, home heating oil and propane.

A PC Government will also remove the so-called “Debt Retirement Charge” from residential hydro bills. Taken together, these steps will give a typical Ontario household $275 in immediate relief from rising energy bills. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

Two former Niagara mayors – Wayne Redekop of Fort Erie and Katie Trombetta of West Lincoln, are revving it up for runs in their ridings for this October’s provincial election.

Wayne Redekop addresses rally for better hospital care at Queen's Park last year. Photo by Doug Draper

Redekop, a lawyer in Fort Erie who was that town’s mayor until he left the job four years ago, is looking to be the NDP candidate in the Niagara Falls riding which will pit him against the Liberal incumbent, Kim Craitor. The nomination meeting for him to be that candidate takes place this June.

Trombetta lost her job as West Lincoln’s mayor last fall after serving two terms that had her presenting a strong voice around the Niagara regional council chambers on issues of concern to her area. She has been nominated as the Liberal candidate for the riding of Niagara West-Glanbrook, the same riding now dominated by the province’s Conservative opposition leader, Tim Hudak. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

What is it with community colleges in Ontario digging into our pockets and those of their students to pay for fundraisers for political parties in this province?

Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath is smoking the pikers in our publicly paid for college system out

Niagara At Large has just got through pillaring one college president, Georgian College’s Brian Tamblyn, as our very first ‘Creep of the Week’ for a new weekly column we are doing on people whose behaviour is so depraved, they deserve to be called creeps. You can read about his attempt to stick the public with the cost of a $5,000 political-fundraising event a few posts down on this site by clicking on http://www.niagaraatlarge.com.

And now we got more! Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

Bruce Power, the operator of a nuclear power station in the Owen Sound area of Ontario, has put its shipment of radioactive-contaminated steam generators through the lower Great Lakes, including the Welland Canal, on hold.

Radioactive-contaminated wastes won't be shipped through Welland Canal, at least for now.

That’s according to t CBC and other media reports this May 17 that go on to say that it was objections from U.S. regulators, and not a regulator in Canada, that has put the shipments of this radioactive waste through our lower Great Lakes, and onward through the St. Lawrence River to Sweden on hold. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

Welcome to ‘Creep of the Week’ – a new series we are launching at Niagara At Large that spots a hot lights each week on at least one individual who has done something creepy enough to warrant public pillaring.

Ontario college president Brian Tamblyn

This week – as we suspect will be the case from here on in this depraved culture we live in – there were plenty of candidates to choose from, starting with Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the French politician and suddenly sidelined top honcho of the International Monetary Fund who allegedly sexually assaulted a female worker at a swanky Manhattan hotel before trying to make a hasty flight out of the country, and Donald Trump, the bloated Manhattan billionaire and star of the wretched reality show Celebrity Apprentice, who teased us right up to May 16 that he might run for president against a Barack Obama he accused of being less than forthcoming about his place of birth and of possibly wangling his way into and through Harvard University’ law school with lousy grades.

But being more of a regional news and commentary site, we at Niagara At Large have decided  to place our first Creep of the Week crown on someone a little closer to home – a Mr. Brian Tamblyn, president of Georgian College with campuses in the Orillia-Barrie, Ontario area. Continue reading →

By Mark Taliano

If the best foundation for a strong democracy is an informed electorate, then the worst would be a frightened or uninformed one.  It is with this in mind that I am adding a dose of clarity to some muddied waters.

A recent Letter To The Editor in the West Niagara News argued that wind turbines are not “green”. There’s nothing new about this; I’ve seen the protest signs.  My first reaction was to juxtapose the image of wind turbines to Mountaintop Removal Mining in the Appalachian Mountains, or to compare them to images of exploding Japanese nuclear reactors.  The imagery is fair, and a picture can sometimes be worth a thousand words, but some would argue that it’s alarmist. Continue reading →

(Editor’s Note – The post below speaks to a picturesque stretch of federally owned land along the shores of Lake Ontario, hosting one of the last remaining stands of Carolinian forest and other natural riches. Many in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario and surrounding communities fought to preserve this land, where a military rifle range was in use during the first half of the last century, when a Toronto-based consortium wanted to transform some of it into a venue for summer music concerts. The Harmony Residents Group of Niagara-on-the-Lake would like the lands preserved as a nature park for the public)

By Randy Busbridge

Catching turtles to take home as pets, swimming in the lake when the red flag wasn’t up, skating on Four Mile Creek Pond  …  these are but a sample of the stories shared on May 11 during the “Rifle Range Memories” discussion hosted by the Harmony Group.

A 1956 photo taken on the lakeshore lands, courtesy of Randy Busbridge.

Speakers brought old photos, maps – even a replica of a bazooka rocket – to help illustrate their tales.  Most of all, they brought their memories.

Speakers recalled the former “Happyland Camp” facility for tuberculosis victims, fishing and hunting expeditions (including the Saturday night sport of shooting rats at the old town dump), and hours of childhood play on all parts of the “Army Lands”, as the Parks Canada Lakeshore Road property was known.  They talked about discovering the foundation of the John Secord homestead, and rumours of an old burying ground. Continue reading →

A Brief Commentary by Doug Draper

“Hey Draper, you buried the lead!

I’ve heard that one from an editor every now and then, when they felt I dumped some of the most important stuff in the back end of the story.

American writer Gore Vidal was never afraid to say it was, first and foremost, about oil.

I think I may have done a bit of that earlier this May with a commentary I posted entitled “The Killing Of Osama Bin Laden – Michael Moore Calls It An “Execution.” I Call It Justice,” which I still stand by and you still can find by srolling down the post for May on Niagrara At Large at www.niagaraatlarge.com .

Way down at the bottom of the commentary I quoted some words from one of the last legendary American intellectuals and gadflies from the past 60 years – one Gore Vidal – from a very brave book he wrote the year after 9/11 when, in patriotic fervor, everyone was all pumped up about going to war against anyone that may have hit the twin towers and Pentagon, called ‘Dreaming War – Blood For Oil and the Cheney-Bush Junta’. Continue reading →

A Brief Commentary by Doug Draper

What you have to do to get a little better health care in Ontario – especially if you have an arrogant blockhead like Deb Matthews for a health minister?

Jill Anzarut and her children Laila, 2, and Benjamin, 5. File photo

It was only after Anzarut went public with her plight this past winter, and Matthews and company were buried in thousands of angry email messages from Ontario residents and breast cancer support groups that the minister finally caved it. At one point this winter, following stories about Anzarut on the CBC and in larger newspapers like The Globe and Mail, not to mention all of the smaller media outlets (including Niagara At Large) that reported her story, Matthews quipped, in her own insufferable way, that she was ‘not going to let policy be dictated by a newspaper story.’ Continue reading →

A Brief Comment by Doug Draper

Okay, so someone in Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty’s office  looked Niagara up on the map recently and the premier and is planning a visit to the region this Friday,  May 13.

Premier Dalton McGuinty comes knocking on Niagara's door.

I just noticed as I was banging this out that we are actually talking about Friday the 13th which may be just as good a day as any for this premier to come knocking on our region’s door for the following events, according to the itinerary cranked out by his p.r. flaks.

First dear Dalton, who has done such a bang up job on the energy conservation front while he is driving around in an SUV, hasn’t he? – is heading down to the place in Niagara Falls, Ontario where ‘Big Becky’, that giant drilling device is apparently finished burrowing through another hydro tunnel, has done its work. The p.r. flaks write “media availability to follow,” but only if you “pre-register” which means they might say no to some of those who register. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

                                              “Ding, dong the witch is dead.”
                                                     – from The Wizard of Oz

“It is not natural to celebrate the death of someone, but somehow it seems natural tonight.”
–    Andrea Mitchell, a senior NBC television correspondent following U.S. President Barack Obama’s dramatic announcement this May 1 that Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden had been gunned down by a specially trained squad of American Navy SEALS.

Aside from our remembrances of those ‘Munchkins’ in the Oz movie, getting all joyous over a house falling down fatally on a wicked witch, most of us in this somewhat civilized world we live in have been brought up to view the death of someone as an occasion for sadness, and not one for dancing in the streets.

As a columnist who has so often been cast by supporters and critics of my views alike as a one of those die-hard liberal softies – a latter-day tree huggers and peacenik  – that was one of the first thoughts that flashed through my mind as I sat in front a television two Sundays ago and watched crowds of people gathering outside the White House and at ‘Ground Zero’ in New York City, cheering over the news that bin Laden had been killed. Should we be celebrating this thing?

Well, I have got to be honest folks. It was a question that lasted a nano-second before my mind flashed back to the terrorists attacks, masterminded by this psychotic monster, on September 9, 2001. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

In the week ahead, on May 17, 18 and 19, the Niagara Parks Commission is inviting members of the public to open houses to review its plans for the public lands this agency has been entrusted to preserve and protect along the Canadian shores of the Niagara River.

Photo courtesy of Niagara Parks Commission.

The NPC was founded in the late 1800s and remains a steward of public lands spanning the length of the Niagara River between Fort Erie and Niagara-on-the-Lake. The creation of this body was a stroke of vision by the Ontario government at the time. Similar scenic shoreline lands along this great river and the Horseshoe and American Falls, on the New York side of the border, were being chewed up for industrial development a century ago. There have been many New York environment and park officials who have said they wished leaders in that state joined Ontario in purchasing up lands along these spectacular border waters for the purposes of preservation. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

They flock to Marineland in Niagara Falls, Ontario every spring and summer.

There are the hordes of tourists and locals, including school and business groups, that come to this world-famous amusement park for what those Marineland commercials call “a whale of a time.” And there are those who come to hold placards on the busy road outside the park, bearing words like “Not Everyone Loves Marineland,” “Captivity Means Slavery” and “Whales Belong In The Ocean.”

Those bearing the signs more often receive homes of support from passersby than the odd driver who gives them the finger or throws an empty pop can at them. Yet the crowds keep in flooding this five-decade old them park that continues to make whales and other marine mammals, splashing in pools, one of its major attractions. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

Do we need one more reason to nix the idea of constructing a mid-peninsula highway aside from the cost and the environmental havoc it may wreak on the Niagara countryside?

This record-high price for a litre of gas in Niagara, Ontario is now typical of the ouch at the pump for car and truck drivers.

Well, how about the soaring price of gasoline and diesel fuel? And at more than $1.40 a litre for a regular price of gas at most stations across the Niagara region this May 11 (that is more than $5.50 a gallon for our friends on the U.S. side of the border), we are experiencing record-high costs for fueling cars and trucks that many energy experts say could hit more than $2 a litre or $8 a gallon within the next few years.

So why on earth would a majority of politicians sitting on our Niagara regional council and Tim Hudak, leader of the opposition Ontario Conservative Party, continue pressing the province’s Liberal government to move forward with a mid-peninsula highway plan that is now more than a decade old and has been all but shelved completely following environmental assessment reviews steered by the province’s Ministry of Transportation? Continue reading →

Niagara At Large is posting the following NDP media release and hansard exchange between the NDP’s health critic, France Gelinas, and Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty and his finance minister, Dwight Duncan, for your information.

Ontario NDP health critic France Gelinas

It should be mentioned that hospital boards like the Niagara Health System have not been subject to “freedom of information” legislation, requiring them to possibly disclose information about their services that may be applied for by the media or members of the public, under the current Liberal and former Conservative governments. Hospital boards have essentially been allowed to release whatever information they wish to about their operations and withhold the rest. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

This coming June 5, the lawns around the 19th century Willowbank historic site in the Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario community of Queenston will be grooving with the sounds of some of the best musicians on the scene today.

John Sherwood, a Niagara, Ontario original and one of the next best things in jazz piano to his late great hero Oscar Peterson, will be there, as will the Jay Reed Trio, Hamilton All Star Jazz Band and many others. At a cost of $40 for the day for the general public and $35 for members of ‘Friends of Willowbank’, it is one ‘jumpin at the woodside’ bargain, plus the proceeds go to keeping this wonderful old heritage building, dedicated to good art and architecture, going.

You can find out more about this festival and the artists performing at it by visiting Willowbank’s site at www.willowbank.ca. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

A provincially created board that has often knocked heads with Niagara, Ontario residents over hospital services in the region has appointed a new chair.

Ontario Liberals praise new LHIN health care appointments. Conservatives' Tim Hudak wants to blow LHIN away.

Mike Shea, a Hamilton area resident with a business background and long history of serving on public boards, will be in history and serving on public boards, will be replacing Juanita Gledhill as chair of the Hamilton Niagara Haldimand Brant Local Health Integration Network’s) unelected board.

The LHIN, as it is more commonly known by thousands of Niagara area residents who have been angered by its support for hospital restructuring plans in the region, is one of 14 such bodies that Ontario’s Liberal government established across the province in 2006 to help steer and coordinate the delivery of hospital and other health care services. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

As a grandmother of deceased Fort Erie teen Reilly Anzovino and other Niagara south residents looked on this May 5 from the gallery of the Queen’s Park legislature, the province’s health minister, Deb Matthews, continued to insist that hospital services are improving in the region under the management of the Niagara Health System.

Ontario Health Minister Deb Matthews - Niagara's hospital services are improving.

The Liberal minister also told Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath under questioning that recent reports that the NHS, the body responsible for operating most of the hospitals in Niagara, is moving to close up to 120 beds at the Welland hospital site are “completely untrue (and) based on unfounded information.”

Matthews added that “the focus on improving improving care in Niagara (including increasing visits to “urgent care centres” in Fort Erie and Port Colborne where the NHS closed hospital emergency rooms more than a year ago) is strong (and) it is showing results.” Continue reading →

A Note from NAL publisher Doug Draper

With the federal election over, Niagara At Large is slowing down for a few weeks this May so we can do some maintenance on the site and make some decisions for sustaining it for the future.

Having said that, let me make a few things clear. NAL will not shut down completely during this period. We will continue to post articles on any breaking news that simply can’t be ignored during this slow-down period, and we will post any time-sensitive pieces that are offered by contributing writers who have been so supportive of this site.

We will also continue to post comments from our readers on any and all news and commentary items we have posted here. And certainly, we asked all of you who have been kind enough to keep us in the loop on news events of importance to our greater Niagara region to continue sharing that vital information. Continue reading →

For the record, Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath asked Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty about news that up to 120 long-term care beds could be ‘slashed’ at the Welland hospital site, and this is how the exchange went this May 3 in the provincial legislature.

NDP leader keeps bashing away at Niagara hospital cuts

The provincial hansard on this subject reads as follows;

Ms. Andrea Horwath: My question is to the Premier. Niagara region families are reeling from the latest news of what this government is planning for local health care. The Niagara Health System is looking to slash anywhere from 75 to 120 long-term-care beds. Will the Premier tell us exactly how many long-term-care beds his government plans to cut in Welland? Continue reading →

A Comment by Doug Draper

Niagara, Ontario’s federal electoral map remains coloured with a patch of NDP orange surrounded by a sea of Tory blue as Stephen Harper’s Conservatives won a commanding 167-seat majority government this May 2.

Stephen Harper wins big. Will he accept win with humility or rule like an autocrat?

In Niagara, NDP incumbent Malcolm Allen reclaimed a Welland Riding stretching from south St. Catharines, through Thorold, Welland Port Colborne and part of Wainfleet, while Conservative incumbents Rick Dykstra, Rob Nicholson and Dean Allison won big in their ridings of St. Catharines, Niagara Falls and west Niagara,  respectively.

Early figures on the voter turnout across the country indicated that hardly four out of every ten eligible voters bothered going to the polls and only 40 per cent of those who did voted for the party that will now continue running this country for the next four years. And that is pretty pathetic.  It  hardly makes for much of a mandate for Harper and his parties despite the number of seats won.

The question now is this; ‘Will Stephen Harper accept with win with humility or will he lord it over us?’ After all, this prime minister has displayed a record of leading in a fairly autocratic, even with members of his own caucus, during his last five years of minority government. Continue reading →

A Brief Comment by Doug Draper

No doubt everyone knows by now that Osama bin Laden, one of the world’s most infamous terrorists, was shot and killed this May 1 by an elite squad of American Navy Seals in Pakistan.

News of the al-Qaeda leader’s death, announced to the world by U.S. President Barack Obama in a late-night statement, sent countless thousands of American citizens gathering in the streets, including outside the White House and the former site of the World Trade Centre towers in New York, to celebrate. Continue reading →

By Herb Kah

When I listen to the noise of what has led up to this federal election in Canada and the conditions that prevail, in our country and in the U.S.A. as we head to the polls, I am reminded of William Butler Yeats’ prescient words;

“Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.”

Stephen Harper is fond of saying that this is an “unnecessary election”.  I beg to differ and, perhaps, so do the more than two million citizens who have voted in the advanced polls and, thanks to Rick Mercer, the many young people who have attended the rallies urging their peers to vote. These are glimmers of hope that defy Yeats’ words, but the din of fanatical partisanship and fear mongering threatens to extinguish these little lights. Continue reading →

Foreword by Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper

The Niagara Health System – that unelected body responsible for operating most of the hospital services in this region of Ontario – went around assuring local municipalities it was committed to “community based hospitals.” It made those assurances to municipal councils in Niagara Falls, Fort Erie and other municipalities in this region, right up to about three years ago, when it released its so-called “Hospital Improvement Plan.”

Welland Hospital target of public health care cuts and privatization plans.

When that controversial HIP was release, it became clear that the information this journalist was receiving from hospital insiders and trying to report to a mostly complacent public before then, was that the NHS would eventually be consolidating most hospital services for this the region, including those for Fort Erie, Port Colborne, Welland and Niagara Falls, at new hospital complex, to be located in west St. Catharines. Continue reading →

 By Dave Toderick

There was an editorial in my local newspaper last week which made me both laugh (for its total misunderstanding of the topic) and despair (because of the seriousness of the issure) at the same time.

Will Elizabeth May and her Green Party gain any ground in this federal election?

The gist of the editorial was that the Green Party would be hurt in the upcoming federal election by the cold spring in Canada, because the cold weather proved that global warming isn’t happening. Climate denier columns appear regularly in this paper, as they do in much of the mainstream media in Canada and the United States, and I normally laugh and despair privately, but with the election just days away, I felt compelled to respond.

In my letter to the editor, which was published, I wrote: Continue reading →

A Niagara At Large News Brief

The entire span of the Peace Bridge between Buffalo, New York and Fort Erie, Ontario was illuminated in royal hues of blue, red and gold this April 28 and 29 to observe the Royal wedding gala of ‘Will and Kate’.

British Princes Edward and George join 1927 opening ceremonies for Peace Bridge. Photo courtesy of Peace Bridge Authority.

That is right. Folks. For two nights in a row, the arches, truss and spine of one of North America’s busiest border crossings were aglow in the colors of the ‘Royal Crest’ of the British monarchy in honor of the marriage this same day of the future king and queen of England.

The Buffalo and Fort Erie Peace Bridge Authority showed the royal colours in response to numerous requests from monarch followers, not just in Canada, but on the American side of the border, which suggests that not all of the ‘United Empire Loyalists” fled to what was then known as Upper Canada more than two centuries ago during the American war for independence.

This was not the first time the Peace Bridge has interfaced with British royalty, by the way. When the bridge was officially opened in 1927, Prince Edward of Wales and the Duke of Kent, Prince George, joined dignitaries in the U.S. and Canada in attending those ceremonies.

(Visit Niagara At Large at www.niagaraatlarge.com for more news and commentary on matters of interest and concern residents in our greater Niagara region and beyond.)  

A St. Catharines, Ontario Yoga Studio is hosting an event this May 1st to support funding for Hunters Syndrome.

Hunters Syndrome is a rare genetic disorder affecting mostly young people, including the nephew of the Yinyasa Flow Yoga studio teacher, Linda Summers is part of.

To learn more about this event, how you can help battle this disorder, and about the virtues of yoga exercises in general, view the video included for the studio and produced by Vickie Fagan and her fine Fagan Media Group in the region which Niagara At Large is pleased to work with on promoting matters of interest and concern to readers in our greate Niagara region and beyond.

Video courtest of Fagan Media Group. You can contact Fagan Media Group at www.faganmediagroup.com .

A Commentary by Doug Draper

“No one gets out of here alive”
– Jim Morrison of The Doors

I’ve just turned 60 and have found myself wondering whether all the things I’ve felt so passionately about when I was a younger guy – from environmental issues to a just society – are worth taking up whatever time I may have left fighting for.

After all, I’ve got books piling up on the floor that I haven’t read yet, and one or two I would like to write myself. I’ve got my great aunt’s beautiful old stand-up piano in my home, just waiting for me to spend a few hours saddling up to, and I’ve got a couple of guitars I would like to spend a bit more time learning how to play.

If sometime in the meantime, someone comes along in one of those white overcoat and says; ‘We found a cancer, Doug, and you’ll be lucky to last the year,’ I’ll be sorry I never finished reading all of ‘Moby Dick’ or learning to play the piano lines properly to ‘Let It Be’.

This brings me to one of the more recent issues we’ve tried to talk about on Niagara At Large – the issue of climate change – and how frustrating it is to try to have a rational conversation without having those who think climate change is some kind of a conspiracy, just as the ‘birthers’ in the United States who are convinced President Barack Obama was not born in America, think and is therefore a result of a conspiracy to put someone of coloured skin, with an exotic name, in the White House. Continue reading →

“I hope you love birds too. It is economical. It saves going to heaven.”
–    the 19th Century poet Emily Dickinson

“I realized that if I had to choose, I would rather have birds than airplanes.”
– Charles Lindbergh, firs person to cross the Atlantic Ocean in an airplane shortly before his death in 1974

By Doug Draper

Think of what this world would be like without the sight and songs of birds.  Far less vibrant of life, of course.

The presence of birds speak to the diversity of life on this planet and speak to the quality of the water, air and other natural resources necessary for sustaining the life of us all. On this Earth Day, we would do well to remember that if something goes wrong for the proverbial ‘canary in the coal mine’, we may all be in serious trouble.

We humans love to think of ourselves as the cleverest species on this planet – we can always find a fix for the oil spills, nuclear leaks and other messes we have unleashed through lack of foresight, shoddy regulations, etc., can’t we? But at the end of the day, the quality of our lives and our very existence depends on the same air, water, tree cover and other natural features birds and other creatures on this earth need to survive.

So be mindful to the lives of birds among us and learn more about them a special traveling exhibit from the Canadian Museum of Nature that is coming to the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority’s Ball’s Falls Conservation Park, beginning this April and running through Sept. 5 of this year. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

Just when we may have thought that the war between the Town of Fort Erie and some of its Crystal Beach area residents over plans for a controversial condomium tower is done,  another battle has begun.

A depiction of what the condo tower might look like on Fort Erie's Bay Beach.

Papers were filed on behalf of a group of Fort Erie taxpayers in the Ontario Superior court of Justice in Toronto this April 20, launching a lawsuit against the town and Hamilton-based Molinaro Group of developers. The six individual taxpaypers and a property firm – Dr. Norma Nowak, Patricia Murrett, Derek Crain, Orma Bleeks, Linda Campbell, Robert Lund and D & L Land Property Ltd. – and all named as plaintiffs in the suit, are hoping to have the 12-storey condo project “declared illegal,” according to a media release circulated this April 21 by other residents in the community. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

On the eve of this Earth Day, April 22, 2011, I can’t help but think of some of the people we had in our midst who fought for a healthier environment – people who are no longer with us and who cared deeply about the kind of future we are leaving others if we don’t clean up our act.

The late Niagara environmental activist Sister Margeen Hoffmann was always asking where the vision is

They are people like Margherita Howe and Laura Dodson of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario who, as leaders of a group called Operation Clean in the 1980s, were instrumental in pressing the governments of Canada and the United States to sign agreements to reduce the concentrations of toxic chemicals in the waters and wildlife of the Niagara River and Lake Ontario.

They are people like Lynne Matthews of St. Catharines, who led the fight to close the leaking Glenridge landfill site atop the Niagara Escarpment and have it converted to a sprawling natural park where plaque is displayed in her honour today. And they are people like Gord Harry, a former mayor of Wainfleet who did some great conservation work as a veteran staff member of the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority. I’ll never forget the triumphant smile on Gord’s face when he took me on a tour of the Wainfleet Bog area after the NPCA helped acquire these unique lands for public posterity.

There are so many others of course, and you may wish to share their names and accomplishments with us in one of the comment boxes below this story.

One of the other great people I think of is the late Sister Margeen Hoffmann, an activist nun from the Franciscan Order and leader of the Niagara Falls, New York-based Ecumenical Task Force who worked with groups on both sides of the Niagara River on addressing shared environmental challenges. One of the lines from The Bible that she quoted the most was; “Where there is no vision, the people perish,” and I on this Earth Day, we should also be asking ourselves where the vision for the future is. Continue reading →

A Foreword by Doug Draper

For those of us who’ve been waiting all the long, cold winter to get outdoors and enjoy the sights and sound of spring, don’t forget the annual migration of hawks, eagles, falcons and vultures through the Niagara region.

A juvenile bald eagle soars over Niagara. Photo copyright courtesy of Jamie Head.

Hawkwatching, which takes in all of these other great birds from hawks to eagles, is becoming an ever more popular past time in this region, especially at this time of year when the birds are migrating north again. If you are lucky, you might catch a rare photo like the one a young Niagara, Ontario resident Jamie Head took this past March over the Mel Swart Conservation Park in Thorold of a young bald eagle soaring over the waters of Lake Gibson.

One of the very best places to enjoy watching these birds over the Easter weekend is the Beamer Memorial Conservation Area – one of the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority’s fine green sites – on top of the Niagara Escarpment in Grimsby. Continue reading →

By Mark Taliano

Canada’s leadership debates were significant more for what wasn’t said, than for what was said.

Even the framing of the debates was significant because a party with considerable support was excluded due to a trifling corporate media rule.  The absence of Elizabeth May’s voice colored the whole debate. Environmental issues were dealt with in a very cursory fashion, even though their importance to Canada and the world is paramount. Continue reading →

The following commentary originally appeared in the online publication  called Canada Uncut, and is being reposted here for our readers with the permission of Canada Uncut. You can visit that publication’s site at http://canadauncut.net/facts/the_banks.php

Studying Tax Shelters is difficult. The point of these shelters is secrecy. But Professor Leo-Paul Lauzon, of the University of Quebec’s School of Management, did his best. His study of tax avoidance by the five largest Canadian banks (RBC, TD, Bank of Nova Scotia, BMO, and CIBC) found that:

·    These five banks have a minimum of 89 official subsidiaries in tax havens – this suggests the existence of more that have gone undetected.1
·    The data from their financial statements reveals that they have cumulatively dodged at least $16 billion in federal taxes between 1993 and 2007.1 That’s $16 billion that could have paid for better healthcare, more environmental safeguards, education, help for seniors, badly needed infrastructure and social housing, a national day-care strategy, and countless other necessary programs and services.
·    Tax dodging by banks is on the rise. 41% of that $16 billion was lost in the last four years of the study (between 2004 and 2007).1 This corresponds to approximately 30% of the big five banks’ total tax obligation avoided. Continue reading →

(If you want to so do something more to conserve water and help the Earth, Niagara At Large is pleased to run the following media release from the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority for our readers.)

The Niagara Peninsula Conservation Foundation will host a truckload sale of rain barrels on Saturday, April 30th from 9 AM to 1 PM in the parking lot of the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority’s offices at 250 Thorold Road West in Welland.

The Niagara Peninsula Conservation Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to raising funds to assist the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority (NPCA) in support of local conservation initiatives that cleanse our water, provide habitat that promotes wildlife diversity, promote education about the importance of our environment and offer opportunities for people to enjoy their natural world. Continue reading →

(Niagara At Large is posting this media release about a nice Easter weekend event you may wish to enjoy, for your information.)

Niagara Falls, ON – The Niagara Parks Commission’s (NPC) Floral Showhouse is pleased to once again feature a seasonal favourite – The Easter Flower Display – a Niagara tradition for over 60 years. The popular added feature of real chicks and bunnies on site will also return, a treat for kids and adults alike during the next two weeks.

File photo courtesy of Niagara Parks Commission

The Floral Showhouse features eight different displays each year, so you can return again and again to discover paradise right in the heart of the city.
The show will be ready for the weekend of April 16 – a beautiful place to bring the family on Palm Sunday. Continue reading →

Niagara At Large is posting the following media release, dated April 15, on the province’s decision to make Go Train service to Niagara “permanent” during the summer’s month for our readers information. 

Weekend GO Train service to Niagara Falls will once again make it easier for residents and tourists to visit the region this summer.

The Summer GO Train to Niagara is quickly becoming an annual tradition – marking the start of summer. This year, the Ontario government is pleased to announce permanent Summer Go Train service in Niagara.

“I am pleased that Summer GO Train service is now permanent”, said St. Catharines MPP Jim Bradley. “An annual Summer Go Train service provides our region with a new tool to attract visitors to award-winning wineries, restaurants, and celebrated tourist attractions” Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

Chalk one up for Niagara’s new regional chair Gary Burroughs and his council when it comes to allowing individuals and groups to speak before full meetings of the council.

Pat Scholfield, a citizen health care advocate, barred from speaking at a regional council meeting last fall and pleased to see delegations now welcome back

At its April 15 meeting, the council scrapped a restriction the former council of Peter Partington approved last fall that would have all-but barred members of the public from speaking before the full council unless they received a green light to make a presentation from a majority of councillors. The restriction, included in a “procedural bylaw” passed last fall, directed citizen delegations to take their concerns to “standing committees” of the council that are typically held scheduled during weekday mornings and afternoon, and do not include a full complement of directly elected councillors and local municipal mayors.

The restriction raised strong concerns from a number of individuals and citizen groups across the region that felt it was unfair on at least a few grounds, beginning with the fact that, in many cases, they would have to take time away from work to appear before a standing committee. Many also said they would prefer to take any information and concerns they have to the full council, in front of the same Cable 10 Cogeco cameras the councillors also use to get their messages across to a wider audience. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

The years-long battle between many of the residents of the Township of Wainfleet, Ontario and Niagara’s regional government to construct water and wastewater pipes through the municipality to solve problems with leaking private septic systems is officially over. Continue reading →

Here is some breaking news Niagara At Large is pleased to share with you on Wilbur the pot-bellied pig as a follow up to our recent story on this guy needing a home.

Enjoy your new home Wilbur

Great news, Wilbur has been adopted!!
He was adopted to rescue farm in Waterloo.
Thank you to all of you for your help on getting him the exposure needed to find his new home!

Regards,
Kevin Strooband
Executive Director

Lincoln County Humane Society

By Doug Draper

“The ball is now in her court,” says Port Colborne, Ontario Mayor Vance Badawey following an April 12 meeting he participated in with Ontario Health Minister Deb Matthews over the state of hospital services in Niagara.

Port Colborne Mayor Vance Badawey

“The minister has an opportunity to be a part of our team. … to be part of the solution,” Badawey (who joined Niagara regional chairman Gary Burroughs, Niagara Falls MPP Kim Craitor and the mayors of Fort Erie, Welland and Niagara Falls) told Niagara At Large during an interview this April 14. “The time to do it is now.”

In letter Badawey sent to Matthews and shared with Niagara At Large, he went on to conclude that “together, we feel we can continue to make needed changes and focus on strengthening the quality of health care in the region, in turn, ensuring equitable access of health care services for all Niagara residents.”

“This is an opportunity,” the Port Colborne mayor wrote Matthews. “We hope you seize it.” Continue reading →

(Niagara At Large is posting the following April 13 media release from the campaign office of Welland Riding NDP candidate Malcolm Allen. This site will post releases from other candidates – NDP, Liberal, Conservative or Green  – that we receive for your information.)

Welland – Recent revelations that federal dollars were redirected away from maintaining and improving border infrastructure shows the Harper Conservatives’ contempt for border communities, says the Welland Riding’s NDP incumbent Malcolm Allen.

NDP Welland Riding incumbent Malcolm Allen

Yesterday, a leaked report revealed that the Auditor General slams the Conservatives for using $50 million of the Border Infrastructure Fund – meant for “investments to reduce border congestion” – for unrelated G8 projects. They include $275,000 on public toilets far away from the summit site, $100,000 on a gazebo an hour away, and $1.1 million on sidewalk and tree upgrade 100 kilometers away. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

The family of Fort Erie teen Reilly Anzovino, whose death following a traffic accident more than a year ago has raised serious questions about the Niagara Health System’s decision to close emergency rooms in Fort Erie and Port Colborne, will receive the provincial funding  support they need  for legal representation at an Coroner’s inquest into the tragedy.

Reilly Anzovino

Reilly died at age 18 following a car accident on Highway 3 between her hometown of Fort Erie and Port Colborne. She was still alive while she was being ambulanced to an emergency room at a hospital in Welland because the emergency rooms at the hospitals in Fort Erie and Port Colborne were closed months earlier, in 2009, by the Niagara Health System responsible for managing most of the hospital services across the region. Continue reading →

By Dan Wilson

“No! No different! Only different in your mind. You must unlearn what you have learned.” – Yoda to Luke, The Empire Strikes Back

I have this friend. He’s a great guy, concerned about the environment, social justice issues, local and international politics, sustainable living, heritage preservation and so on. He has so much integrity, passion and commitment that he started an online newspaper, devoting most of his free time and energy to inform and educate the masses (and he doesn’t even get paid for it!).

He’s also a huge animal lover. For as long as I can remember he’s written about issues concerning animals. He’s always condemned local and national acts of animal cruelty. He’s called for stronger laws to protect animals we call pets from abuse. He’s written against the insidious past-time known as sport hunting. And he’s been a relentless pain in the butt towards those who keep whales in captivity.

He supports local animal rights groups when they hold their protests and vigils, advertises and covers various lectures and symposiums to enlighten the public on animal issues, and even features animal adoptions on his website. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

Ontario’s Health Minister Deb Matthews is apparently willing to consider an independent review of the Niagara Health System and its ‘Hospital Improvement Plan,’ according to Niagara Falls MPP Kim Craitor, who joined Niagara regional chair Gary Burroughs, and the mayors of Niagara Falls, Port Colborne and Fort Erie during a meeting with the minister today.

“It went well,” said Craitor of the meeting with the minister attended by Burroughs and Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati,  Port Colborne Mayor Vance Badawey and Fort Erie Mayor Doug Martin.

“She is prepared to look at … an independent review,” Craitor said,  although a decision on moving forward with a review or a more full investigation, which was what the Niagara region’s council and seven local councils across the region asked for, remains in the air.

”I thought is was a very good meeting,” said the region’s chair, Gary Burroughs, during an interview with Niagara At Large.  She is at least considering a review of the Niagara Health System’s ‘hospital improvement plan’ and “she will get back to us,” said Burroughs, addin that he is  “extremely hopeful” that the meeting with Matthews will lead to an independent review. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

There is a classic old Three Stooges film about the three knuckleheads pretending to be plumbers and botching things up so badly in a house they were working on that water started squirting out from electrical appliance in the place.

Hey, knuckleheads! Who's running this place anyway?

When one of the house servants goes to turn the stove on and water comes showering out of the elements and bursting from a light fixture on the kitchen ceiling, he lets out with the words; “This house has sure gone crazy.”

These days it seems like Fort Erie, Ontario – a border community in Niagara I used to think had its act together as much as any municipality can in an age when so many municipalities across the continent are facing some pretty serious economic challenges – is a municipality that has sure gone crazy. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

Every time I’ve written a column that speaks to being kind to animals, I’ve always been able to count on at least a few of you saying; ‘What are you getting so soppy about? They are only animals.”

A deer, among the tombstones, looks over the nest of a mother goose in a Buffalo cemetery. Photo by Doug Draper

I can almost understand from a rigid Christian point of view – read the first passages in the Book of Genesis in The Bible where it is basically spelled out that humans will dominate the earth and the rest of life is road kill –why every time someone like me comes along and argues for more compassion for the lives and survival of other creatures on this earth, there are those out there who say I am being a bleeding heart, and let’s just go on exploiting and hunting them. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

Whether all those Niagara, Ontario residents who have questioned the need for a new police headquarters like it or not, regional councillors are moving forward with plans to build one, for a cost totally tens-of-millions of dollars, in Niagara Falls.

This regional police headquarters in downtown St. Catharines will be demolished.

At a committee-of-the-whole meeting this April 7, a majority of the directly elected representatives and local mayors sitting on the council voted in favour of plans to build the Niagara Falls headquarters and a new district office for the Niagara Regional police in St. Catharines for a total cost of $83 million.

One of the few objectors – St. Catharines Mayor Brian McMullan – put up a vigorous fight over the past few years to keep the headquarters for the NRP in the downtown of his city, where it has been located for more than 40 years. McMullan was visibly upset at the April 7 meeting to learn that the cost of the new headquarters has jumped up from about $300 to $370 per square foot and that there is no longer any reason to believe that the local office of the RCMP and federally operated Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) may not be sharing the facilities. Continue reading →

By Mark Taliano

Life is full of ironies, but at times like this, it seems we have more than our share of them.

Harper in the Welland Riding this April with a tractor from John Deere, a company that has closed its operations in this region under his watch, looming in the background.

Let’s face it, Welland’s manufacturing base has been totally decimated by trade agreements endorsed by both major parties, but some Wellanders (possibly a majority) will still vote for these parties.  Regardless of the amount and number of tax breaks, tax havens, and bailouts, corporations will and do leave for sunnier climes where labour, health, and environmental concerns don’t shackle them. It’s called economic colonialism, and there are more losers than winners in the equation. Continue reading →

(As many of you may already know, Niagara At Large has a soft spot for animals looking for a good home and, in that spirit, we are posting this piece about Wilbur, a homeless pig we’ve received more than a few emails about over the past week.)

By Linda Crabtree

There is a young pot-bellied pig at the Lincoln County Humane Society on Fourth Ave. in St.Catharines, Ontario who badly needs a home – and fast – before he has a nervous  breakdown.

Wilbur is one nice pig who needs to find a loving home away from barking dogs.

He’s been there for several weeks and he’s in the same room as the big
dogs. The barking is deafening and this poor fellow is taking it as
best he can. To those I have written before, I went to see him today (April 7) as I only live two blocks from the Humane Society.

His name is Wilbur and he’s only two years old. He is housebroken and has been neutered. His beautifully sculpted, rotund piggy body weighs about 200 pounds. He should weigh less, I’m told. He
needs to do some walking. It’s hard to connect with his little piggy
eyes in the environment he’s in but you can tell he’s upset. Who
wouldn’t be. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

Well, here is one for the Fonthill Kame – one of the most distinctive and environmental rich resources of land in our greater Niagara region.

One of the many cold water streams running down from the Fonthill Kame and making up the headwaters of the Twelve Mile Creek flowing into Lake Ontario.

A combination of Dave Augustyn, the mayor for Pelham, Ontario and his council, and, this April 6, Niagara’s regional government’s ‘Integrated Community Planning Committee voted a resounding “no” to a baffling attempt by the province’s Ministry of Natural Resources to reduce or fragment boundaries for protecting ecological integrity of a Fonthill Kame-Delta that has been designated as “provincially significant.” Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

Our greater Niagara region is one of those blessed places in the world where a rich diversity of food can be grown. But if we don’t go out of our way to purchase the food grown by our local farmers, that bounty may one day be gone.

A sad sign of the times in Niagara. Peach trees were torn out on this farm in west St. Catharines when a processing plant for the fruit in Niagara was closed due to overseas competition. File photo by Doug Draper

Just think about how vulnerable we may become if lose our local access to something as key to our survival as food and become dependent on other regions around the world for it? Bad enough we are so dependent on regions of the world – many of them now so unstable – for oil.

A report prepared a year ago this past March by the Niagara Community Observatory at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario concludes that although “consumers are becoming interested in local foods,” many of us continue to go to big chain grocers to buy that is imported more cheaply from other countries. But at what cost to a local-food producing industry that we could possibly lose forever if we don’t support it? Continue reading →

A Commentary courtesy of Maude Barlow and the Council of Canadians

Canadian taxpayer dollars slated for fighter jets demonstrates Prime Minister Stephen Harper is “not” here for Canadian interests or the environment, says the Council of Canadians.

“For the cost of 10 fighter jets, the Canadian government could power a million homes on green electricity,” says Andrea Harden-Donahue, Energy and Climate Justice Campaigner with the Council of Canadians. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

‘Welcome to The City of Niagara – Population 427,421’.

How about that for a greeting sign, my fellow Niagarians?

This commentary is willing to give up this sign, about a hundred metres away from his home, for one 'City of Niagara' if it might mean a more promising future. Let's at least have a good, open discussion about it.

I was born in Niagara, Ontario almost 60 years ago to this day and I sincerely hope that before I die here, I see signs featuring those words and an whatever the population figure happens to be at the time at every gateway leading into this region – east, west, north and south.

Enough of the same kind of talk I heard when I was a kid growing up in Welland and you had all of these folks arguing that if the two counties and 26 municipalities we had at the time were amalgamated down to one regional government and 12 local municipalities, all of these towns and villages like Crowland and Humberstone and Fonthill and Beamsville and Chippawa would lose their identities, and would probably end up getting short-changed on services too. Continue reading →

(Niagara At Large is posting the following two media releases from the Niagara, Ontario-based Citizens Coalition of Greater Fort Erie, a group battling plans to build a giant NASCAR track on rural lands in the municipality, for our readers information.)

SPEEDWAY CONSORTIUM DELAYS APPEAL DUE TO LACK OF COMPLETED STUDIES, April 4, 2011

Fort Erie, ON – The consortium hoping to build a motor speedway in Fort Erie is not ready to face-off before the Ontario Municipal Board and instead, has requested that the OMB delay the prehearing originally scheduled some time ago to take place on Friday, April 8th.

Architects' rendering of how the NASCAR speedway stadium may look in rural Fort Erie.

The OMB is charged with conducting appeal and review hearings in order to examine all facets of a proposed development project and ultimately rule on its’ viability for the community. The prehearing represents the first phase in this process. Continue reading →