Author Archives: dougdraper

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 →

A Foreword by Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper

In the wake of a new report by the not-for-profit ‘Ontario Health Coalition’, charging that more than 10,000 people across the province are desperately waiting for home care services, Ontario’s NDP is calling on the Liberal government to scrap competitive bidding for home care services.

Ontario NDP health critic slams government on home care

Competitive bidding for the province’s home care system was introduced more than eight years ago by the former Ontario Conservative government of Mike Harris, despite naysaying from then Liberal opposition leader Dalton McGuinty. But when the McGuinty formed a government in 1983, it allowed the bidding to move forward and one of the first victims was the Niagara chapter of the Victoria Order of Nurses, which had been providing home care servces across the region for the better part of a century.

The VON lost the bidding in a highly secretive process (where not even the cost of the bids was made public) to a private sector firm that hired many of the VON nurses back for lower wages and benefits. Continue reading →

(Niagara At Large is posting below a media release circulated this April 4, 2011 on the long-gun registry. In the release and in statements Prime Minister Stephen Harper delivered during a short stop in the rural Niagara municipality of Wainfleet, he vowed to get rid of the decade old gun registry “once and for all” if his government is re-elected.

In a CBC Radio report, it was noted that the Harper Conservatives are targeting the federal riding of Welland, of which Wainfleet is a part, because in the 2008 federal election, the NDP incumbent, Malcolm Allen only won by “a few hundred votes. Allen joined fellow NDP members and Liberal MPs last year in supporting the continuation of the decade old gun registry, which also has the support of many police departments across the country.)

Niagara At Large welcomes you to share your views on this issue below this post. Please remember that we only post comments on this site by individuals willing to share their first and last names)

An April 4. 2011 media release by the Conservative Party of Canada.

Today (April 4), Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that a re-elected Conservative Government will introduce legislation to scrap the long-gun registry once and for all, and establish a hunting and wildlife advisory panel to ensure that government decisions are based on sound science and balanced advice.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper in Wainfleet, Ontario. Photo from Conservative Party of Canada website.

Prime Minister Harper pointed out the Government’s strong record of support for law-abiding farmers and hunters.  “Our Government has long opposed the wasteful and ineffective long-gun registry,” Harper said.  “We must stop targeting law-abiding gun owners, and instead focus our resources on real criminals.  That’s why a re-elected majority Conservative Government will scrap the wasteful and inefficient long-gun registry once and for all.” Continue reading →

A  Commentary by Doug Draper

“Canadians enjoy a great privilege that many of them take for granted and don’t realize how appreciated it should be. That privilege is democracy.”

–         Karim Ahmed, a new generation Canadian and native of Egypt, now residing with his family in St. Catharines.

You could almost hear a collective sighs of “oh no” a” from many Canadians a week ago this Friday when word circulated that the federal government was brought down in a non-confidence vote, triggering another election.

Neda Agha-Sultan, a 27-year-old Iranian woman, was shot through the heart two years ago, ralling for the chance Canadians have to vote in a fair and open election.

That’s the reaction this columnist has received over the past week from many in this region. “What a waste of time and money,” one person told me. “I’m so fed up, I’m probably not even going to vote,” said another.

This March 26, as Prime Minister Stephen Harper met with Government General David Johnston to officially dissolve parliament for what will be a May 2 vote, CBC TV played a news piece noting that “people (across the country) are feeling a little less than inspired about another campaign.”  A political science student at Nova Scotia’s Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova told a CBC reporter that “no one” in his classes were talking about the election “because it doesn’t seem to matter.” Another young woman told the reporter she is “not really excited at all (about the election) because I don’t really follow politics all that much.” Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

Fifty years ago today, residents living in the Black Creek area of Niagara, Ontario were startled to find an American submarine forced to surface in their community due to the shallowness of the creek waters.

An American sub, on a covert mission, gets tangled up in reeds in Niagara, Ontario's Black Creek. Image courtesy of Paul Kassay.

The  sub allegedly crossed the Niagara River from a port upstream in Buffalo, New York and was on a Cold War-era surveillance exercise when it got tangled up in the mud and reeds in Black Creek. Authorities on the Canadian side of the river quickly reported the incident to Ottawa, and then-Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, furious over what he regarded as a serious breach of Canada’s sovereignty and an act of provocation on the part of the United States, responded with a hotline call to then-U.S. president John F. Kennedy. Continue reading →

(For our readers information, the following is a March 31 media release from Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath, two days before ‘World Autism Day’ this April 2)

QUEEN’S PARK – NDP Leader Andrea Horwath says the McGuinty government is ignoring its own Autism Intervention Program guidelines and is allowing children to lose their therapy prematurely and languish without proper supports.

Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath

“Children with autism and their families are being given the short shrift in Ontario,” Horwath said.  “They are victims of a process that is deeply flawed and terribly unfair.”

Horwath found problems in the government’s Autism Intervention Program (AIP) after filing a Freedom of Information to obtain details about the review of the government’s controversial benchmarking policy.   Benchmarking deems whether a child is making sufficient progress to remain in IBI therapy.

In the $118,000 contract to review the benchmarks, the government’s hand-picked consultant, Dr. Louise LaRose, reported that no psychological data from assessments existed.  This runs afoul of Ministry of Children and Youth Services guideline for the AIP, requiring final assessments before ending a child’s IBI, Horwath says.  It validates the concerns parents across the province have raised with Horwath about missed assessments, arbitrary terminations and lack of fair and transparent protocols, she said. Continue reading →

A News Brief by Doug Draper

It is hard to believe we still don’t have a shovel in the ground after all the many years of discussing the need to build a twin span for the Peace Bridge.

Buffalo, New York area Congressman Brian Higgins makes pitch for expanding Peace Bridge crossing.

The talk has been going on for so long that had someone simply dusted off the blueprints for the original Peace Bridge, built in the 1920s, when serious talk of a new span more than a decade ago, we could, by now have six or bridges just like the original one, serving one of the busiest border crossing areas in all of North America.

Political representatives on both sides of the Canada/U.S. border have pushed over and over again for some movement on constructing a new span. The latest push came this March 30 from U.S. Congressman Brian Higgins, who represents Buffalo, New York area.

For the information of our readers, Niagara At Large is posting a media release from the office of Congressman Higgins below.

Congressman Higgins Meets with U.S. Secretary of Transportation to Discuss Peace Bridge

On Wednesday, March 30 Congressman Brian Higgins (NY-27), a member of the House Foreign Affairs and Homeland Security Committees, met with United States Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood to discuss the Peace Bridge project in Western New York. Continue reading →

By Mark Taliano

I’d be more inclined to vote for the Green Party Of Canada if they’d simply change their name.

Green Party leader Elizabeth May barred from federal leaders' debates

The million or so supporters of the party don’t seem to mind, but the name evokes connotations of hippies and Flower Power, or some kind of marginalized movement, and the Party is substantively quite different.

Its philosophical basis of environmental stewardship means it is opposed to subsidies for the fossil fuel industry and the nuclear industry on the basis that such incentives are counter-productive to a balanced and sustainable economy that serves the public well being.  Translation? They’re concerned about long-term public welfare rather than short-term corporate profits.  The party sees what science sees, which is that if we don’t transition right now to non-carbon and non-nuclear sources for our energy needs, then we’re making a catastrophic blunder.  (The Japanese nuclear catastrophe should be enough of an incentive to move away from nuclear, and, by extension, carbon fuels, but some federal parties don’t share that opinion.)

Aligning themselves with this mandate, then, are Green Party policies which include their opposition to further corporate taxes cuts, but also initiatives such as their opposition to increases in E.I premiums.

Monies generated from these policies would help make alternate energy sources mainstream, create countless jobs and industries, and render the economy and the environment more sustainable.

Green Party voices deserve a spot at the televised leaders’ debates, and they deserve a spot in the House of Commons.  We owe it to ourselves, and to our democracy.

Maybe they’ll even change their name to something more suitable.  How about The Progressive Party Of Sustainable Growth?

Mark Taliano is a Niagara resident and frequent contributor to Niagara At Large.

(Share your comments below on the decision by a “consortium” of broadcasters to exclude Green Party leader Elizabeth May from the federal leadership debates to be televised later this month and visit Niagara At Large at www.niagaraatlarge.com for more news and commentary on matters of interest and concern to residents in our greater Niagara region and beyond.)

(Niagara At Large is posting this March 29 media release from Niagara College on the Ontario budget for your information.)

Niagara College is pleased with the funding for literacy, instructional
equipment and 60,000 new postsecondary places announced today as part of
the 2011 provincial budget.

Niagara College president Dan Patterson

“The government is equipping Ontario colleges to train the graduates
we need to grow the province’s economy,” said Niagara College
President Dan Patterson.

“It is vital that we support students in achieving basic skills and literacy, and provide them with the equipment they need, to develop the cutting edge job skills required by employers.” Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

Virtually every provincial program, including health care and education, could be the targets for possible cuts as Dalton McGuinty’s Liberal government aims to beat down a projected $16.7-billion budget deficit for the coming year.

Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan

‘Slash and burn’ was a phrase many critics, including the Liberals, tagged on the former Conservative government of Mike Harris when it made numerous deep cuts to environment, education and other programs across the province in the mid-to-lake 1990s. While clearly trying to assure the public there will be no repeat of a scenario like that, the McGuinty Liberals are nevertheless undertaking a review of all programs with an eye to finding areas where they believe cuts can be made without compromising the quality of front-line services. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

In what is very likely the last budget the Ontario Liberal government of Dalton McGuinty will table  before this coming October’s provincial election, the Liberals and opposition Conservatives and NDP have been quick this March 29 to offer their spin.

Niagara At Large is offering you the media releases it has received from Ontario Liberal cabinet minister and St. Catharines MPP Jim Bradley, and from the province’s Conservative leader and Niagara area MPP Tim Hudak, and NDP leader and Hamilton area MPP Andrea Horwath.

We will leave it to our readers, for now, to wade the releases below and share their comments. Just try to remember to abide by NAL’s comment guidelines and be civil in your comments and share your full name.

Ontario Liberal Party  Media Release, March 29, 2011

Niagara Families to Benefit from Budget’s Focus on Protecting Education and Health Care

McGuinty Government Invests in 60,000 new higher education spaces, 90,000 more breast cancer screening exams

St. Catharines – The 2011 Ontario Budget continues the McGuinty government’s support of Ontario’s economic recovery. The budget focuses on eliminating the deficit while protecting education and health care, St. Catharines MPP Jim Bradley announced today.

Liberal cabinet minister and St. Catharines MPP Jim Bradley

“Strategic investments in education and health care lay the foundation for more and better jobs, increased productivity and a better quality of life for all our families in Niagara.  We have a plan that is on track to eliminate the deficit while protecting the gains we have made in our schools and hospitals,” Bradley said.

Niagara College and Brock University will benefit from the 60,000 new post-secondary spaces that the government is funding, while keeping education more affordable for students.

The McGuinty budget expands breast cancer screening in Niagara to reach women between the ages of 30 and 49 who are at high risk for breast cancer due to genetic factors, medical or family history, and support additional exams for women aged 50 to 69 who are currently covered under the program. Province wide there will be 90,000 more screenings funded. Continue reading →

A View by Port Colborne, Ontario Mayor Vance Badawey

There has been a great deal of healthy discussion with respect to Economic Development within the Region of Niagara. My intent is to not get caught up in looking back at what was, rather, to move forward to what will be.

Port Colborne, Ontario Mayor Vance Badawey

To achieve economic recovery we must all contribute, and be focused on, a Regional economic strategy, steering the economy in a direction which builds on our strengths.

“There exists a myriad of valuable resources throughout Niagara.
It’s time to bring them all together and move forward.”

To accomplish this, it is critical that all 12 municipalities, the Region, education institutions, organizations and the private sector work together and contribute to a strategy with NIAGARA in mind versus a parochial mindset. We have a great deal to offer collectively versus individually. There exists a myriad of valuable resources throughout Niagara. It’s time to bring them all together and move forward.
It has already begun. Continue reading →

A Niagara At Large prologue to an important commentary by veteran environmental activist John Jackson

Two years ago this coming June, U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton stood out in the middle of the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara, for an event celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Canada/U.S. Boundary Waters Treaty that led to the creation of the International Joint Commission.

Hillary Clinton, on the Rainbow Bridge two years ago, promises an updated Great Lakes agreement. File photo by Doug Draper

During that moment, on June 13, 2009, Clinton declared that her country was committed to working with Canada to renegotiating the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement that has so much to do with honouring the promise of the 1909 Boundary Waters Treaty to protect and preserve one of the largest natural basins of fresh water in the world.

“We have to update (the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement) to reflect new knowledge, new technologies and, unfortunately new threats (to the Great Lakes),” Clinton said.

Almost two years after Clinton made those remarks on the Rainbow Bridge, millions of residents in the Great Lakes basin, on both sides of the Canada/U.S. border, are still waiting for that updated agreement.

Niagara At Large is posting a piece by veteran Canadian environmentalist John Jackson on this subject.

By John Jackson

The review and renegotiation of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement has now been going on for almost seven years. We still don’t know when it will come to a conclusion with the signing of a revised Agreement between Canada and the United States.

Our Great Lakes from space. Photo courtesy of Kevin McMahon from his documentary film Waterlife.

Early in the review process, it became apparent that there was a consensus among the governments and stakeholders that the GLWQA as last amended in 1987 needs to be updated to reflect new threats to the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River ecosystem and our advances in understanding the problems in the basin, and to commit to solutions to these problems. This understanding, however, of the massive threat to the well-being of the Great Lakes basin and its inhabitants has not sufficiently concentrated the minds of the governments on renegotiating the Agreement and getting on with its implementation. Continue reading →