Author Archives: dougdraper

God Bless America. Someone Has To!

A Commentary by Linda McKellar

Posted July 17^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Christian Evangelists rest their hands on Saint Donald’s shoulders during a prayer breakfast in the White House.

I will never understand how people can claim to be “Christian Evangelicals”  while at the same time be so racist and so full of hate.

That does not reflect the god that most people believe in. Since Trump’s mother was born in Scotland, the Isle of Lewis, should he go back there? Poor Scotland!!!!!!

He is no further removed from a foreign land than three of these women. Since his current and past wife were immigrants, (the current one working without documentation before her citizenship) should HIS wives go back to where they came from and take Trump’s spawn with them?

He also managed to get Melania’s parents into the country….so much for his hatred of and pledge to stop chain immigration. Of course both were essential to the economy….elderly… the father a car salesman and the mother a factory seamstress. Continue reading →

Third-term MPP Michael Coteau takes questions about building a better Province of Ontario

Ontario Liberal Party MPP and leadership hopeful Michael Coteau

“The biggest waste we face in Ontario is the waste of human potential. Doug Ford is in it for tax breaks to the wealthy and big corporations—and cuts for everyone else. I’m in it for children and families, our future.”                                                                           – Ontario Liberal MPP Michael Coteau

News from Ontario Liberal MPP Michael Coteau’s Leadership Campaign

Posted July 17^th, 2019

St. Catharines, Ontario – Michael Coteau, a third-term Liberal MPP and former cabinet minister, visited St. Catharines (this July 16^th) for a full-house neighbourhood meeting with local residents

“Doug Ford says kids today aren’t worth the cost. That’s his message—Ontario doesn’t value you. I was that kid who was told someone like you doesn’t matter,” said Coteau. “And now, someone like me is taking a stand. Continue reading →

If Trump and his Angry Republican Mob Want to Throw them out, we Canadians can let them know they are Always Welcome Here

From left to right, U.S. Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Ihan Omar of Minnesota, Alexandria Occasio-Cortez of New York and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts. All American citizens. All women of colour. And all told by Trump to get out of America if they don’t like it, and “go back” to where they came from.

A Brief Commentary by Niagara At Large reporter and publisher Doug Draper

Posted July 16^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

They are young, well-educated, intelligent, progressive minded women – all passionate advocates for universal health care, for access to quality education, for good jobs and living wages, and for protecting our planet for present and future generations – and Donald Trump and his many Republican supporters are treating them like human garbage.

All four are American citizens (three of them born in the United States, and the fourth arrived in the U.S. from Somalia with her family when she was barely 10 years old) and duly elected members of U.S. Congress.

Yet much to the delight of millions of his Republican and Christian Evangelical supporters, Trump has tossed more meat to feed their cruel, hate-filled under belly by tweeting out one of the oldest racist tropes in the white supremacist playbook.

Trump tweeted out that the four U.S. Congresswomen – all women of colour, which is all that it seems to take these days to gin up the once-proud, and now disgraced “Party of Lincoln” – should get out of the United States and “go back” to where they came from because, according to Trump, they “hate” America anyway, apparently because they criticize its dear leader, meaning him. Continue reading →

On Thursday, July 18, the world will celebrate the 101st birthday of Nelson Mandela, a global icon of peace and equality who was the central figure in ending apartheid in South Africa.

News from Brock University in St. Catharines, Niagara

Posted July 16^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Dolana Mogadime, Associate Professor in Brock University’s Faculty of Education. Her great-grandfather, Henry Selby Msimang, was a founding member of a political group that became the African National Congress, later led by Nelson Mandela.

For Brock University’s Dolana Mogadime, educating others on Nelson Mandela’s legacy is more than just part of her job. It’s in her blood. Originally from South Africa, the Associate Professor in Brock’s Faculty of Education came to Canada at the age of seven.

Her great-grandfather, Henry Selby Msimang, was a founding member of a political group that became the African National Congress, later led by Mandela. Her mother, Caroline Goodie Mogadime, was recognized by the Canadian Museum for Human Rights<https://humanrights.ca/> (CMHR) for her contributions to Canada’s anti-apartheid movement.

On Thursday, July 18, the world will celebrate the 101st birthday of Mandela, a global icon of peace and equality who was the central figure in ending apartheid in South Africa. Continue reading →

Province’s Health Minister walks back Doug Ford’s comments on hallway medicine

A News Release from the Office of Ontario Official Opposition and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath

Posted July 16^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Ontario NDP and Official Opposition Leader Andrea Horwath

QUEEN’S PARK — Last week, speaking from Saskatoon, Doug Ford said his government has addressed hallway medicine, and would end the practice within a year. On Monday (July 15th), Health Minister Christine Elliott walked those comments back.

Official Opposition and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath released the following statement in response:

“Across Ontario, people are waiting hours and hours in emergency rooms, and laying on stretchers in hospital hallways because there aren’t enough hospital beds. Ambulances are forced to wait — sometimes for hours — to offload patients. And some patients are walking away from ER waiting rooms, never getting a chance to see a doctor, because waiting in pain and discomfort becomes unbearable. Continue reading →

Citizens in the Niagara town of Fort Erie, Ontario are fighting to save this green place – Waverly Woods – from being compromised or destroyed for a condo that cpuld go somewhere that isn’t as green with trees as this.

Why Aren’t More Citizens Across this Region Pressing their Councillors for More Effective Rules for Conserving Trees?

A New Commentary by Niagara At Large reporter and publisher  Doug Draper

Posted July 14^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Most of us are familiar with old line; “What if a tree falls in the forest and there is no one there to hear it?”

Well, what if a trees falls or, more to the point, an entire stand of trees is chopped down within ear or eye shot of a community of concerned citizens and there are no rules with enough teeth on the books to stop it?

The felling of this tree and others in Waverly Woods last year caused an outcry among citizens. File Photo courtesy of the group Community Voices for Fort Erie

There were at least two significant cases in this Niagara region this past November 2018 where citizens were faced with a case of trees they cherished being chopped down – one in the Waverly Forest area of Fort Erie where a multi-storey condo is on the drawing board, and one on the historic Randwood Estates property in Niagara-on-the-Lake where the current owner plans to build a new hotel, convention centre and recreational complex.

Tree cutting underway on the property of the Randwood Estate in Niagara-on-the-Lake last year. File Photo courtesy of members of the citizens group SORE (Save Our Randwood Estate)

And in both these cases and others like them, including a clearing of trees by developers in the Thundering Waters Forest in Niagara Falls to make way for a path or road, calls for action against the tree cutters were met with a response from authorities that upset and angered many of them.

In short, the response they received was that the tree and forest conservation rules on the books at the time, and are still the rules of the day at the Niagara regional government level, would do nothing to stop or to penalize the tree cutting that took place at these sites. Continue reading →

A Brief Message from Doug Draper 

Posted July 15^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large 

Our sweet white guy Dylan

I would like to offer a few lines of heartfelt thanks to all of the people out there who shared words of condolence after I posted a story about the passing this July 8^th of Dylan, a much-beloved feline member of my family for the past 20 years. 

The response to the story was overwhelming, including emails and phone calls my wife, daughter and I received from friends across the Niagara region and GTA, and as far away as Massachusetts and New Jersey, where the story was shared on social media. 

What I found most heartening in so many of the notes I received is that I may have succeeded in writing a brief story about Dylan’s life and death that came across as something more than just some person crying over the loss of his cat.   Continue reading →

Wednesday, July 17^th at 7 P.M. at the Victoria Avenue Public Library in Niagara Falls

From Karen Fraser, CEO, Niagara Falls Riding, Green Party of Canada

Posted July 15^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

On Wednesday July 17th at 7 PM, the Green Party of Canada, Provincial and Federal Niagara Falls Riding Associations will be hosting both federal and provincial Annual General Meetings (AGM) as well as the Nomination Meeting for our 2019 Federal Green Candidate.

* The meeting will be held at the Victoria Ave. Public Library  LaMarsh Room, 4848 Victoria Ave, Niagara Falls, Ontario L2E 4C5. Continue reading →

U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)Warns of Significant Harmful Algal Bloom, Which Are Toxic to People & Animals, in Lake Erie

“As climate change increases the threat of algal blooms, our efforts (to address (the harmful effects of this problem in the Lake Erie basin) must escalate proportionately.”                                           – Brian Higgins, U.S. Congressman

News from the Buffalo, New York Office of U.S. Congressman Brian Higgins

Posted July 14^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large 

Buffalo, New York area Congressman Brian Higgins

In a letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Congressman Brian Higgins (NY-26) is calling for swift action in response to new warning about toxic algae threatening the health of the Great Lakes and the communities around them.

Higgins letter calls on the EPA to accelerate efforts to combat Harmful Algal Blooms, writing, “Such a bloom may impact the health of the entire lake, including the eastern basin near my district in Buffalo, New York. As climate change increases the threat of algal blooms, our efforts must escalate proportionately.”

The green algae mass, seen from space as it grows in the western end of Lake Erie, and working its way to the lake’s eastern end off the shores of Buffalo and Niagara.

This week the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued a warning predicting a harmful algal bloom in Lake Erie. Continue reading →

“Together, we must create a safer, more peaceful world, where the media freedom so central to healthy democracies and strong societies can flourish.”                                                                               – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

Somali-Canadian journalist Hodan Nalayeh, another light for peace and love put out by war and hate

A Statement by the Prime Minister on the terrorist attack in Somalia that killed Somali-Canadian journalist Hodan Nalayeh, July 14, 2019 Ottawa, Ontario

Posted July 14^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today (this July 14^th) issued the following statement on the terrorist attack in Somalia:

“On behalf of all Canadians, I offer my deepest condolences to the family, friends, and colleagues of Hodan Nalayeh, a Somali-Canadian journalist who, together with her husband Farid, was killed in the terrorist attack in Kismayo, Somalia. Our thoughts are also with those who were injured or lost loved ones. Continue reading →

A Brief Look at the History and the Current Status of Efforts to Protect  and Preserve this Watershed for Generations to Come.

And a Few Words on How You Can Stay Informed on the Restoration Work as it Continues

By Doug Draper

Posted July 12th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

The waters of the American and Horseshoe Falls spill to the lower Niagara River

It hardly needs to be said that the Niagara River and the numerous tributaries  draining  into it play a vital role in the quality of life, including the health and economic prosperity of people and communities on both sides of the Canada/U.S. border.

Yet we have not always shown this sprawling watershed the respect and the care it needs to continue playing that priceless role. 

By the middle decades of the last century, growing numbers of citizens and civic leaders on both sides of the border began sounding alarm bells about discharges of pollution to the Niagara River that, according to a report from one Maid of the Mist captain at the time, made the water below the Horseshoe and American Falls smell like “airplane glue”. Continue reading →

“President Trump’s damaging attacks on clean water stand in stark contrast to any claims of protecting the Great Lakes. The visible toxic algae blooms and green slime plaguing Lake Erie and other waterways in recent years are visual evidence that the Trump administration’s anti-environmental policies are moving the Midwest backwards not forwards.”                                                                                                     – Howard A. Learner, Executive Director, Environmental Law & Policy Center based in the U.S. Midwest

The following is from the Environmental Law & Policy Center, a public advocacy organization in the United States with a long history of addresses  issues affecting the health of  the Great Lakes

Posted July 12^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Environmental Law & Policy Center Rejects President Trump’s Claims of Protecting the Environment    

“The Trump administration’s anti-environmental policies are moving the Midwest backwards not forwards”

Statement By Howard A. Learner, Executive Director, Environmental Law & Policy Center, in response to President Trump’s remarks (this July 8^th, attempting to defend his environmental record at a White House gathering:

“President Trump’s damaging attacks on clean water stand in stark contrast to any claims of protecting the Great Lakes. The visible toxic algae blooms and green slime plaguing Lake Erie and other waterways in recent years are visual evidence that the Trump administration’s anti-environmental policies are moving the Midwest backwards not forwards.” Continue reading →

“They paved paradise, put up a parking lot. …”

– Joni Mitchell, from Big Yellow Taxi, 1969 

How much more of our natural heritage are we going to cover over with low-density sprawl like this?

A Foreword by Niagara At Large reporter and publisher Doug Draper

Posted July 11th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

To repeat one of those mangled phrases made famous by the late New York Yankees baseball legend Yogi Berra; “It’s like déjà vu all over again.”

It is a phrase that seems fitting in Ontario these days as the province’s current premier, Doug Ford, and his Tory government take us back a couple of decades to the dark years of Ford’s old friend and mentor, former Tory premier Mike Harris, when cutting and gutting policies and programs for protecting what is left of our natural heritage to unleashing low -density urban sprawl was the rule of the day. 

Doug Ford, then still leader of the opposition Ontario PC Party, in Niagara Falls, already pledging  to make Ontario “open for business” in the weeks leading up to the June, 2018 provincial election

Under a mantra of “open for business” (as if all our province and the regions in it are is venues for doing business), the Ford government has been changing rules and regulations in ways that make it easier for the greediest and most irresponsible and backward-thinking members of the development industry to have a hay day with lands that should otherwise be protected and preserved for farming and for supporting a health and rich diversity of life (including ours) on this planet.

Like Harris before him, Ford’s “open for  business” mantra is, among other things, a way of selling us on the idea that we have to make a choice between economic growth and environmental protection or that when it comes to our wetlands, for example, we have to continue accepting a balance between urban growth and what few wetlands or meadows or forests we have left. Continue reading →

“Doug Ford’s crusade against the environment has got to  be stopped. We’re already experiencing more floods, wildfires and tornadoes in Ontario, and if we don’t take action to fight the climate crisis, our children and grandchildren will pay an unthinkable price.”                                                                                      – Ontario NDP Energy and Climate Change critic Peter Tabuns

A Statement from the Ontario New Democraric Party

Posted June 10th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Doug Ford took advantage of the Wynne’s lack of transparency on cap and trade to drag Ontario backwards

Much of the light is out for green energy projects in Ontario while other jurisdictions around the world lead the way to a greener, cleaner economies

TORONTO – NDP Energy and Climate Change critic Peter Tabuns released the following statement in response to a National Observer report that Doug Ford secretly cancelled 227 clean energy projects as a result of ripping up Ontario’s cap and trade deal:

“By cancelling 227 clean energy projects Doug Ford has cancelled jobs, and signed off on even more emissions to feed the climate crisis.

Thanks to a National Observer report, we now know Doug Ford secretly scrapped a project that would have made a community centre in Etobicoke net-zero, cancelled a zero-emissions child care centre construction project, and stopped the conversion of  TTC busses to electric – along with hundreds of other projects. These investments lower emissions, fight climate change and create jobs. Wynne and the Liberals let us down – they should have been transparent about all the projects being funded through cap and trade.

Doug Ford’s crusade against the environment has got to be stopped. We’re already experiencing more floods, wildfires and tornadoes in Ontario, and if we don’t take action to fight the climate crisis, our children and grandchildren will pay an unthinkable price.”

A Footnote  from Niagara At Large reporter and publisher Doug Draper –

If you wonder why Niagara At Large is coming down so hard – with no apologies – on Ford, Scheer and the like, this is why

Ontario Premier Doug Ford (left) and Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, in 19th century cowboy costumes at the Calgary Stampede, with their tar pipe dreams and hopes of seeing their pal Andrew Scheer elected Canadian prime minister in October

This second week of July , Ontario Premier Doug Ford and his pal, Alberta t Premier Jason Kenney, gathered at the Calgary Stampede with some of their other extreme right allies, wearing 19th century cowboy costumes and vowing to keep Ontario, Alberta and the rest of Canada (if they can help get fellow climate laggard Andrew Scheer elected prime minister this October) stuck in the 20th century when it comes to continuing to produce, transport via pipes and burn up dirty energy that is ravaging what is left of a health planet for future generations.

As a veteran environment writer and environmentalist with a daughter in her 20s, I believe that we have to take the gloves off and slam back at these dangerous, morally bankrupt clowns, the dirty energy interests they represent, and all others who support them with their donations and their votes.

Federal Tory leader Andrew Scheer (left) sharing the stage with Ontario Premier Doug Ford. If and when these two win, the future of our planet is the loser

Collectively, they are complicit in placing the future of our children, grandchildren and all life on this planet in jeopardy.

The rest of us, whether we are journalists, politicians and public servants, members of the private sector or whatever our station in life, have got to stop Ford, Kenney, Scheer and their like before they do any more to damage and destroy efforts to protect and preserve the life-sustaining resources of the only place in this universe where we have a home.

For anyone out there wondering why this journalist, on this news and commentary site is coming out so aggressively against what Ford and his ilk are doing  in the areas of environmental protection, endangered species protection, conservation, energy, transportation and transit, and urban planning, that is the reason.

The future of my daughter and her generation, and generations not yet born is the reason.

Please join in the fight to stop the war on our environment by the likes of Ford, Kenny and Scheer, and Trump across the border.

There is no “planet B” and there is no other option but to stop playing nice with these dangerous dinosaurs and fight as hard as we have to until they and their tar pits and pipes, and the  greedy interests they represent are consigned to the ash piles of history.

In this October’s federal election in Canada, vote for the future of our planet.

Let’s hope and pray that our American neighbours do the same in November, 2020.

• Doug Draper, journalist, Niagara At Large

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NIAGARA AT LARGE encourages you to join the conversation by sharing your views on this post in the space following the bernie sanders quote below.

A reminder that we only post comments by individuals who also share their first and last names.

For more news and commentary from Niagara At Large – an independent, alternative voice for our greater bi-national niagara region – become a regular visitor and subscriber to nalNAL at http://www.niagaraatlarge.com .

“A politician thinks of the next election. a leader thinks of the next generation.” – Bernie Sanders

“The records for lakes St. Clair, Erie and Ontario are the highest for any month dating back to 1918.”                         – U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

A News Release from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Posted July 10^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Sand bags piled in an effort to hold off Lake Ontario’s rising waters at Lakeside Park beach in St. Catharines this spring. Photo by Doug Draper

DETROIT, Michigan –– The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District, announces that that based on preliminary data, new record high monthly mean water levels were set on Lake Superior, Lake St. Clair, Lake Erie and Lake Ontario in June.

The new record June levels are between three and four inches higher than the previous records for the month, which were set in 1986 on Lakes Superior, St. Clair and Erie and in 2017 on Lake Ontario.

The records for lakes St. Clair, Erie and Ontario are the highest for any month dating back to 1918. Lake Michigan-Huron was less than one inch from its June record. Additional record high water levels are possible on all the Great Lakes and Lake St. Clair this summer. Continue reading →

Blue Communities recognize that water is a shared resource for all. Access to water and sanitation are human rights.

A Guest Story by Gary Screaton Page

Posted July 10^th, 2019 on Niagara Atia Large

Jericho House Youth Leadership, Justice, and Spirituality Centre recently marked yet another milestone. It became the 49th Blue Community in the country.

Blue Community, a program initiated by The Council of Canadians, the Blue Planet Project and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), recognizes that water is a shared resource for all. Access to water and sanitation are human rights!

Like other Blue Communities, Jericho House, located on Rathfon Road in Wainfleet, Niagara is committed to being free of bottled water and to advocating for publicly—not privately—owned water and wastewater services.

Among the resolutions passed that make Jericho House a Blue Community, is the recognition that it has a responsibility, “to promote the ethical treatment and preservation of water for this and future generations.”

Photo used by permission of Council of Canadians.

Board Chair, Wayne Badaway, seen here, signed the certificate as The Council of Canadians welcomed Jericho House as the newest Blue Community. Being situated close to Lake Erie and with a sizable source of spring water in the conservation area next to its teaching centre property, Jericho House, ably guided by Co-Directors Brother Bill Carrothers and Sister Jacquie Keefe, is committed to the responsible use of water. Continue reading →

Niagara Regional Chair Jim Bradley Announced as Honorary Coffee Break Chair

Niagara Regional Chair Jim Bradley

“We in Niagara have the most seniors on a per capita basis and many of us know someone with dementia or who is a caregiver. … The Alzheimer Society of Niagara Region is such a wonderful and important resource for us to have in our community. I encourage you to get involved and host a Coffee Break to help raise funds for this great cause and make a difference in lives of those with dementia.”                                                                                 – Jim Bradley, Niagara Regional Chair.

 A Call-Out for Support from the Alzheimer Society of Niagara Region

Posted July 10th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

The Alzheimer Society of Niagara Region needs funds more than ever, as over 10,296 people are living with a progressive form of dementia in Niagara and that number is projected to increase.

Niagara Regional Chair Jim Bradley found this “to be disconcerting and was deeply honoured to lend his assistance and leadership as Honorary Coffee Break Chair for the campaign kicking off September 19th at Regional Headquarters”.

“For as long as I have been at The Alzheimer Society Jim Bradley has shown his commitment and dedication to our organization”, states Teena Kindt, Chief Executive Officer for the Alzheimer Society Niagara Foundation. Continue reading →

Investment in Frontline Care will Give More Families More Choices

“Our government is protecting what matters most by ensuring families across Ontario have more choices when it comes to delivering their babies.” -Niagara West MPP Sam Oosterhoff.

A News Release from the Constituency Office of Niagara West MPP and Ford Government member Sam Oosterhoff

Posted July 10^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Niagara West MPP and Ford government member Sam Oosterhoff

LINCOLN- With more than 140,000 babies being welcomed to the world each year in Ontario, families are looking for more options when it comes to choosing their care. That’s why Ontario’s Government for the People is investing in frontline care by expanding access to midwifery services across the province.

This week, Sam Oosterhoff, MPP for Niagara West announced the government is providing an additional $225,842 to Lincoln Midwives; $448,101 to Sages Femmes Renaissance Midwifery in Niagara; and $665,163 to Niagara Midwifery in St. Catharines.

This is part of Ontario’s Government for the People’s investment of an additional $28 million to expand midwifery services across Ontario, which will help up to 3,400 more families access additional choice in primary care during a pregnancy, birth and postpartum. Continue reading →

 Our Sweet Buddy Dylan – June,  1999 to July 8th, 2019

A Tribute to a Friend  by Niagara At Large reporter and publisher Doug Draper

Posted Monday, July 8^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

As I write this, I am feeling empty. And I’m feeling a little afraid that I am going to key in some words that are way too maudlin and trite for a cat who seemed so wise and who composed himself with such quiet dignity.

I woke up at about 7 a.m. this Monday (July 8^th) morning and there was Dylan’s head, resting in the usual place, on the pillow right next to me with one difference. This time, he did not make a move to get up as he also always did when he saw me stir, to lead me to the place where I would fill his bowl with food.

One of Dylan’s favourite poses on one of his favourite places. (yes, one eye was blue and the other was green.)

Dylan had just turned 20 this June and he was getting pretty slow, as old guys do, and this Monday morning that beautiful heart of his just decided to give out. Continue reading →

One of the signs up at Happy Rolph’s Animal Farm in St. Catharines as urban beehives are installed.

“It’s through initiatives such as urban beehives and pollinator gardens that St. Catharines has taken a lead in protecting our environment for generations to come.”

News from the City of St. Catharines in Niagara, Ontario

Posted July 5^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

While St. Catharines’ Happy Rolph’s Animal Farm is already a hive of activity, the City is launching a new eco-initiative sure to create even more buzz at the beloved park.

The City has partnered with Small Scale Farms to install beehives at Happy Rolph’s in an effort to reverse declining honey bee populations. The City strategically located seven beehives on the west side of the pond, away from public areas so residents and bees can safely share the park.

City among first in Canada to install urban beehives. Photo courtesy of City of St. Catharines

“The City of St. Catharines is among the first municipalities in Canada to install urban beehives on its properties and we are proud to be their partner for this initiative,” said Renee Delaney, founder of Small Scale Farms.

“It’s through initiatives such as urban beehives and pollinator gardens that St. Catharines has taken a lead in protecting our environment for generations to come. By placing bees at Happy Rolph’s, Small Scale Farms and the City of St. Catharines hope to encourage residents to learn more about these fascinating insects.”

The number of honey bees housed by each hive will vary based on time of year. Small Scale Farms will provide bee keepers and maintain the urban beehives on behalf of the City. Any honey that’s extracted will go towards Small Scale Farms’ food assistance program. Continue reading →

“Now more than ever, we know how important it is to protect the health of our nature and ecosystems. … I encourage everyone to participate in this consultation to continue building resilient communities and protecting the environment.”                                  – Canadian Environment Minister Catherine McKenna

News from Environment and Climate Change Canada

Posted July 5^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Toronto, Ontario – Canada is addressing threats to Great Lakes water quality and ecosystem health and is working with partners and the public to protect this vital shared resource.

Today (this July 5^th), the governments of Canada and Ontario released a draft of a new Canada-Ontario Agreement on Great Lakes Water Quality and Ecosystem Health to coordinate actions to protect water quality in our Great Lakes.

To help develop this new Agreement, Canada and Ontario are seeking input from the public. The draft Agreement will be available for public comment between July 5 and September 4. A final agreement is expected in 2020. Continue reading →

Another Call to Action from One of the Wisest People on the Planet

A Brief Commentary by Doug Draper, followed by an address 16-year-old Greta Thunberg delivered late this spring at the Brilliant Minds Conference in Stockholm, Sweden

Posted July 5^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Her name is Greta Thunberg. 

She was born in the third year of this 21^st century and she is 16 years old.

And she is making more sense than most people over the age of 50, both in and outside of elected office or the business world, when it comes to what to do in the face of  one of the greatest threats, outside of a nuclear war, facing the future of all life on our planet.

Within the past year, this young Swedish activist has delivered calls to action that have been heard around the world as she spoke to delegates at the United Nations and to leaders of the European Union.

This past March, thousands of young people across Ontario went on strike form school for a day to march for action against the climate crisis. The rest of us need to join them.

Earlier this year, she inspired people her age and younger around the world, including her in Niagara, to march out of school for an afternoon and call on their adult counterparts to wake up and do something for their future before it is too late.

Niagara At Large is posting a  video of the full address Greta Thunberg delivered this spring to a large audience of high-profile makers and shakers, including former U.S. President Barack Obama, and innovative thinkers from around the world at the Brilliant Minds Conference in Greta’s home country.

Please click on the screen below and give it a listen, and make a pledge not to bland, not to compromise or find some “balance,” but to act now as if, as Greta has said, as if your house is on fire –

To read an excellent opinion piece published in The Globe and Mail this June 28th, titled ‘The World Needs More Greta Thunbergs’, click on – https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-the-world-needs-more-greta-thunbergs/ .

If you are wondering what the Brilliant Minds Conference is, for more information, click on –  https://brilliantminds.co/

NIAGARA AT LARGE Encourages You To Join The Conversation By Sharing Your Views On This Post In The Space Following The Bernie Sanders Quote Below.

 A Reminder That We Only Post Comments By Individuals Who Also Share Their First And Last Names.

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“A Politician Thinks Of The Next Election. A Leader Thinks Of The Next Generation.” – Bernie Sanders 

“Trump Is really a costume away from a full-on dictator.” – Bill Maher, American comedian, political commentator, television host

A Comment from Linda McKellar, a Niagara, Ontario resident who is a regular visitor to Niagara At Large

Posted July 5^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Bill Maher (host of the HBO political talk show Real Time) has a list of prerequisites for wanna-be despotic dictators –

• -Declaring the press enemies
  -Appointing unqualified family members to positions of power
  – Suggesting elections are rigged/suppressing votes
  – Rallies of sycophants
  – Uses his office for his own personal financial gain
  – A narcissist who puts his name and face on buildings
  – Aligns with other strongmen and dictators
  – Claims minorities are the source of the country’s problems
  – Has a state propaganda TV network
  – military parades

Now with his military parade, he only has one more on the list to go….a uniform with shiny buttons, unearned medals, and a big hat. Continue reading →

“Alarmingly, we have seen the Ford Conservatives take step after disturbing step backwards on safety measures and supports for injured workers.”

– Niagara Falls NDP MPP Wayne Gates

Tragic death in Toronto last weeks shows why Ontario can’t afford Ford’s steps backwards on health and safety

A News Release from the Constituency Office of Niagara Falls NDP MPP Wayne Gates

Posted July 5^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

QUEEN’S PARK — Wayne Gates, Ontario NDP Health and Safety and WSIB critic, and Guy Bourgouin, Ontario NDP critic for Trades, Training and Apprenticeships, are urging the Ford Conservatives to do more to protect workers after the tragic death of an 18-year-old following an on-the-job accident, rather than following through on Doug Ford’s plan to cut training, safety and protection for workers.

Vadim Buczel was doing work in a condo building in Toronto last week when he was electrocuted. Buczel died days later. A Global News report suggests the recent graduate was one of hundreds of unregistered electrical workers across the province. Continue reading →

“I don’t need your war machines
I don’t need your ghetto scenes
Coloured lights can hypnotize
Sparkle someone else’s eyes
Now woman, get away from me
American woman, mama let me be.”

• Lyrics from American Woman, the number one, 1970 hit by the Canadian rock band, The Guess Who

A Brief Commentary by Doug Draper, followed by a link to an epic live performance of ‘American Woman’ by The Guess Who

Posted July 4^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

By 1970, The Guess Who was already on a chart-busting streak like no other rock band from Canada had experienced up to that point with hits that had made America’s Top 40 Billboard list like ‘These Eyes’, ‘No Time’, ‘Laughing’ and ‘Undun’.

When ‘Americana Woman ‘, the title track for the band’s  third RCA album, was released as a single in March of 1970, protests against the ongoing War in Vietnam were in full tilt on campuses and in the streets of cities across the United States. And on May 4^th of that year, four students were shot and killed during anti-war demonstrations on the campus of Kent State University in Ohio.

‘American Woman’, which was not about a woman at all but about an America mired in a controversial war and looking for some support from its Canadian neighbour, soared up the Billboard charts to Number One and remained on the charts into the summer.

With the Lincoln Memorial in the background – for many Americans from days gone by, a symbol of freedom, equality and peace – Trump’s inner tin-pot dictator militarizes Washington, D.C. for the Fourth of July – possibly a message to the world that he is ready to kick ass with bullets and bombs if he feels like it.

With Trump in the White House and all of his reckless sabre rattling, his slams on Canada with damaging tariffs and the declaring of Canada (for reasons that possibly make sense only to him) as a “national security threat,” the song seems relevant again.

So on this Fourth of July in the U.S., with Trump militarizing Washington D.C.’s celebrations with tanks in the streets and fighter planes flying overhead, Niagara At Large is posting the following video of The Guess Who doing a very hot, lengthened version of ‘American Woman’ at a reunion concert it performed in the band’s hometown of Winnipeg, Manitoba one stormy night in June, 2000.

Click on the screen immediately below to watch and to listen –

Also for this Fourth of July, here is a great commentary by Mchaal A. Cohen, a columnist for The Boston Globe (not to be confused with the former Trump lawyer now sitting in jail for crimes he engaged in allegedly with you-know-who), titled ‘A Fraught Forth’ –

“Today is July 4th and every year on America’s birthday, the National Park Service hosts a celebration on the National Mall that is purposely non-political, non-military and, above all, fun. Continue reading →

A Beacon to the World No More

A Brief commentary by Doug Draper

Posted July 4^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

In front of an audience of hardcore supporters, hugging (or could he be mugging?) the American flag.

I am posting this with apologies to my many good friends in the United States, although maybe I don’t have to apologize.

I know that many of them are feeling more depressed and alarmed about the evil monster in the White House than those of us who at least have the comfort of viewing what is now going down in the once-proud land of  Abe Lincoln and Franklin Delano Roosevelt from the relative safety of another country.

For all of the bad and ugly in its history – slavery and racial segregation, the bloody and costly wars fought in far-off places like Vietnam and Iraq, the alarming rates of domestic gun violence and so on – America is, or at least was a land that spawned bigger-than-life leaders like Lincoln and FDR, and people who became heroes in my lifetime like Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy.

And there were great testaments to the country and to what, at the best of times, its leaders and people worked collectively to strive for, like the one written by 19^th Century Jewish American poet and activist Emma Lazarus, and immortalized on a bronze plaque at the base of the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor.

What would Emma Lazarus think now? What poem would she write about the plight of the migrants at the U.S./Mexico border?

“Give me you’re tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore,” Emma Lazarus wrote of those, often fleeing poverty or turmoil in their homeland, to start a new life in America. “Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Now the monster in the White House has said these things about masses of poor and tired people fleeing hardship and violence in their own countries, and hoping to cross the border from Mexico for that same dream of a better life.

“They are bringing drugs, they are bringing crime, they are rapists,” he said at the start of his campaign for the U.S. presidency. Once in the Oval Office, he went on to dehumanize and tar them as an “infestation.”  He called them “bad hombres,” “terrorists,” “animals,” “trash” and worse, as the mobs at his rallies yelled things like; “F—k these dirty-beaners “and “Shoot them.” Continue reading →

This Precious  Green Area in Niagara is One More   Target of Developers. Join the Ongoing Effort by Citizens in our Region to Raise Funds to Save It!

A Call-Out to All of Us from Marcie Jacklin, Community Voices of Fort Erie

Posted July 3^rd, 2-19 on Niagara At Large

One of the residents of Waverly Woods. They need a home too.

Fort Erie, Canada — Our heartfelt thanks to everyone who participated in Trivia Night this June to raise funds to Save Waverly Woods. I hope you helped fun as well as knowing that you were also supporting our efforts.

As mentioned last night ALL of the funds raised go towards our professional team – our lawyer, planner, ecologist, hydrogeologist, cultural heritage consultant. They are expensive but worth every penny. We need you to help us win the appeal.

Our next fundraising is called Moments in Time and will be a collection of reminiscences written by you! Details about this project can be found here: https://sites.google.com/view/communityvoicesfe/documents/moments-in-time?authuser=0

Let’s save some places in Niagara for others we are fortunate enough to share some time on this beautiful planet with.

So find a quiet place to think about why Waverly Woods is so special to you and submit your story to waverlymoments@gmail.com

To donate visit our donation site at https://www.forterievoices.ca/donation

Questions/comments/offers of help, please email cvferie@gmail.com.

NIAGARA AT LARGE Encourages You To Join The Conversation By Sharing Your Views On This Post In The Space Following The Bernie Sanders Quote Below.

 A Reminder That We Only Post Comments By Individuals Who Also Share Their First And Last Names.

For More News And Commentary From Niagara At Large – An Independent, Alternative Voice For Our Greater Bi-National Niagara Region – Become A Regular Visitor And Subscriber to NAL At Www.Niagaraatlarge.Com .

“A Politician Thinks Of The Next Election. A Leader Thinks Of The Next Generation.” – Bernie Sanders

A Percentage of proceeds from book sales between July 5^th & 7^th will go to funding low-cost legal services to people incarcerated in immigrant camps run by the U.S. Border Patrol

 A Call-Out for Support from Burning Books, an independent bookstore on 420 Connecticut Street in Buffalo, New York

Posted July 3^rd, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Burning Books has joined #BookstoresAgainstBorders – 10% of our proceeds from July 5-7 go to help separated families, detained families, unaccompanied minors, and others who are seeking asylum in the United States!

From Publisher’s Weekly:

Gretchen Treu, co-owner of A Room of One’s Own bookstore in Madison, is spearheading a fundraising campaign, #BookstoresAgainstBorders.

Treu is asking independent bookstores across the country to join A Room of One’s Own in donating a percentage of their sales during the July 5-7 holiday weekend to the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services [RAICES], a Texas-based organization that provides low-to-no-cost legal services to the people who are incarcerated in the immigrant camps run by the U.S. Border Patrol. Continue reading →

In Recent Times, this Niagara Falls, New York Wastewater Treatment Plant Has Been a Source of Major Spills to Niagara River

A major spill of dark, inky looking waste effluent from Niagara Falls, New York wastewater treatment plant two summers ago, during the height of the tourist season and plainly visible to countless thousands of Falls visitors on both sides of Niagara River. Some witnesses complained of strong odors coming off the waters.

“Niagara Falls residents and waterways have paid the price for outdated and overloaded (wastewater treatment) systems. …. This federal funding will help with protections during the most extreme (weather-related) conditions.”                                                  – Brian Higgins, U.S. Congressman representing the Buffalo/Niagara Falls, New York area.

By Doug Draper, Niagara At Large

Posted July 2^nd, 2019

Here’s some news that will hopefully benefit residents on both sides of the Niagara River, and downstream around Lake Ontario/

The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is finally providing more than $2.8 million funds in funds to upgrade the problem-plagued Niagara Falls, New York wastewater treatment plant, according to a news release circulated this July 1^st by the Buffalo constituency office of one of the area’s leading Democratic members of Congress, Brian Higgins. Continue reading →

What kind of Swine does the Ford Government have in mind for this Facility? 

A Commentary by Niagara At Large reporter and publisher Doug Draper

Posted July 2^nd,  2019 on Niagara At Large

In one of the latest releases pumped out by “Ontario News” – the Ford government’s equivalent of Trump’s Fox News propaganda machine-  we, the people of this province, were informed that the government is planning to invest an estimated $12 million of our tax dollars to build and operate what it is billing as a “state-of-the-art Swine Research Centre.”

I have to confess that I was still recovering from yesterday’s (July 1^st) Canada Day festivities and from a series of stories late this June about all of the relatives, friends and supporters now feeding from the trough after being appointed to one patronage post or another by Ford and company, so I had to read down a few lines of this news release to realize that it was about real pigs (as in the four-legged, hoofed mammal kind) and a facility intended to generate research that will assist the hog or pork farm industry.

It also didn’t help that the Ford P.R. flaks that produced this news release used the word  “swine” in place of “pig,” which is a name that I have always viewed as an insult to real pigs, which are much kinder, not to mention cleaner and smarter, animals than some people think.

Indeed, I found myself being rightly taken to task late this June by Catherine Ens, a leading member of Niagara’s animal welfare community, for insulting pigs by posting, along with a commentary I wrote on Ford’s “Government for the People” rewarding its partisan pals with various  public sector a picture of three real ones feeding from a trough. Continue reading →

Let’s Make A Pledge on this July 1st Canada Day, 2019 to Stand Together for a Sharing, Caring Canada

“Maybe I’ll be there to shake your hand
Maybe I’ll be there to share the land
That they’ll be givin’ away
When we all live together.”

– the chorus from the song ‘Share the Land’, written by Burton Cummings and recorded in 1970 by one of Canada’s all-time greatest groups, The Guess Who

From Doug Draper

Posted July 1st, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Unlike our American neighbours, we Canadians don’t seem to have much in the way of anthems for our country outside of the official one.

South of the border (or east, depending on your perspective), there are rousing, flag-wavers like “America, The Beautiful,” or for what remains of the lefties in Trump-land, there are sing-alongs like Woody Guthrie’s a “This Land is Your Land.”

We have Gordon Lightfoot’s “Canadian Railroad Trilogy” and “Four Strong Winds” by Ian and Sylvia,” but they seem more to me like great songs about the country than straight-up, two or three versus and a chorus anthems for Canada Day. Continue reading →

Our Planet and Our Children’s Future Finally Gets a Win against Ford Government’s War on our Environment

“Parliament has determined that atmospheric accumulation of greenhouse gases causes climate changes that pose an existential threat to human civilization and the global ecosystem. … The need for a collective approach to a matter of national concern, and the risk of non-participation by one or more provinces permits Canada to adopt minimum national standards to reduce (greenhouse gas) emissions.”                                                                                                     – Chief Justice George Strathy on behalf of the Ontario Court of Appeal

“Today’s (June 28^th) decision from the Ontario Court of Appeal again shows that all levels of government can and must act decisively to enact strong, enforceable laws to fight climate change.”                                                                                                               – a statement from the Canadian citizens group, Environmental Defence

“The courts are aligning with Parliament, Canadian municipalities and the public in confirming that national action is needed to tackle this climate emergency. There’s growing recognition throughout the country that Canada’s climate emergency must be met with national measures in line with the urgency and challenge of meeting our climate commitments.”       – David Suzuki Foundation science and policy director Ian Bruce

A News Commentary by Niagara At Large reporter and publisher Doug Draper

Posted June 28^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Finally, we have a win for our plant and our children’s future in an Ontario where Doug Ford and his Tories have done more to cut and gut environmental protection programs in its first 12 months than any other Ontario government has in 49 years since the first Earth Day.

This June 28^th, Ontario’s top court – the Ontario Court of Appeal – ruled against the Ford climate deniers’ efforts stop Canada’s federal government from imposing a price on carbon pollution at the gas pumps – what Ford choses to demonize as a “carbon tax” – as one of a number of actions aimed at addressing a global climate emergency.

“The need for a collective approach to a matter of national concern, and the risk of non-participation by one or more provinces, permits Canada to adopt minimum national standards to reduce (greenhouse gas) emissions,” wrote Chief Justice George Strathy in a June 28^th statement circulated on behalf of the Ontario Court of Appeal. Continue reading →

“The LCHS welcomes the opportunity to provide leadership in continuing to protect animal in all of Niagara.”                                 – Kevin Strooband, Executive Director and Inspector, Lincoln County Humane Society.

News from the Lincoln Country Humane Society in Niagara, Ontario

Posted June 28^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

In March 2019, the Ontario SPCA made a decision to withdraw from cruelty investigations within the province of Ontario, as of June 28, 2019. The LCHS, being one of its affiliates, was subject to this decision.

In keeping in line with its mandate to protect animals, the LCHS approached the Ontario government requesting to be part of the interim solution while a new system and legislation are being created.

The Ministry and the Solicitor General agreed and worked with LCHS and several other humane societies outside of Niagara to facilitate a working arrangement that would protect animals moving forward. Continue reading →

Ban Follows Decades of Animal Welfare Activists Lobbying for an end to Animal Circuses at City Arenas

“Niagara Action for Animals (NAfA) has been campaigning against animal-based circus in Niagara for as long as we have been in existence – 30 years plus.  It was one of our initial efforts. … THANK YOU to everyone who took the time to send an email to council on this. Your efforts paid off.”                                                   – from a statement circulated this June 25^th by Catherine Ens, director and founder of NAfA, one of Ontario’s longest lasting, citizen-based animal welfare groups

A News Commentary by Doug Draper

Posted June 27^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

St. Catharines City Councillor Karrie Porter put a motion on the table to ban animal circuses on city properties, and it has passed. It’s a first for Niagara after decades of citizen protests over these animal entertainment shows.

At long last and most mercifully for the sake of humanity and all animals big and small, the show won’t go on.

Not if is an animal circus show and the ringmasters and their sponsors want to stage it in one of St. Catharines arenas or any other properties the city owns.

After literally decades of animal welfare groups like Niagara Action for Animals (NAfA) lobbying for an end to animal circuses in St. Catharines and other municipalities across the Niagara region, St. Catharines’ council passed a first-of-its-kind-in-Niagara motion, banning animal circuses on city properties.

And this ban, as the quote above from veteran animal welfare activist Catherine Ens noted in the quote above, has been a very long time coming. Continue reading →

Strategy places people living with dementia and caregivers at its core

“Dementia impacts the lives of our families, our friends, and our neighbours. This strategy is a critical step towards preventing dementia, strengthening available therapies, and improving the overall quality of life for our seniors.”                                                   – Vance Badawey, MP for Niagara Centre

News from the Constituency Office of Niagara Centre MP Vance Badawey

Posted June 27^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Niagara Centre MP Vance Badawey

Welland, Ontario – Dementia is having a significant and growing impact in Canada, with more than 419,000 Canadians aged 65 years and older diagnosed with dementia.

Two thirds of those diagnosed are women, and as our population ages, the number of Canadians affected by dementia is expected to increase. Dementia affects not only the person living with dementia, but also their families, caregivers and communities.

This June 26th, on behalf of the Honourable Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Minister of Health, Vance Badawey, Member of Parliament for Niagara Centre, spoke about the release of A Dementia Strategy for Canada:

Together We Aspire<https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/publications/diseases-conditions/dementia-strategy.html> during the Age Works – Art of Ageing Forum held at Niagara College in Welland, Ontario. Continue reading →

 “Over 20 employers across Niagara have now chosen to become living wage Certified.  We are very pleased to see so many local employers who recognize the value and benefits of paying at least a living wage.”                                                                                   – Glen Walker, Chair, Niagara Poverty Reduction Network  

News from the Niagara Poverty Reduction Network

Posted June 27^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Niagara, Ontario – The Niagara Poverty Reduction Network is pleased to announce that Marmax Machine & Manufacturing <https://marmax-machine-mfg.business.site/> has become a certified living wage employer.

Living Wage Certified – Marmax Machine & Manufacturing in Thorold, Niagara

Marmax Machine & Manufacturing is a family owned and operated steel processing facility located in Thorold. They currently employ ten full time and one part time staff.

“We decided to become certified as a living wage employer because we have paid a living wage since we hired our first employee in 2007, who is still with us and is now our plant supervisor. We believe that all people go to work to earn a living wage and it has proven to be true that when employees earn a fair wage they put in a fair days work,” says Maura Blair, Office Administrator at Marmax Machine & Manufacturing.  Continue reading →

“We have seen this (Ontario) Liberal government make sure that they have taken care of their Liberal insider friends. … But we can tell you one thing my friends, we will make sure we bring government that respects the taxpayers. You know me. I’m for the little guy.”                                                                                              – then Ontario Conservative Party leader Doug Ford, campaigning in the June, 2018 provincial election.

Doug Ford

“Doug Ford has been making it rain first-class tickets on the gravy train for friends and family of his inner circle. This reeks of nepotism, with paycheques, power and favours for Ford’s inner circle, while everyday Ontarians get nothing but cuts.”                                                              – Ontario NDP MPP Taras Natyshak

A Commentary by Niagara At Large reporter and publisher Doug Draper, followed by news releases from Ontario’s Official Opposition (NDP) Party at Queen’s Park

Posted June 25^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

There was a time when the odd government out would actually try to hire what they believed to be the best individuals out there – regardless of party affiliations – to fill key posts.

More often than not, though, such posts – however important they are and however much skills and smarts are need to do the job well on behalf of the public – are gift wrapped and doled out like boxes of sugar candy to political friends and supporters, and even to relatives who apparently don’t have the wherewithal to make a go of it in the private sector or what some would call the “real world.” where most of us are doing our best to scrape by.

A poster that one of the province’s largest labour organizations, the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU), posted on social media earlier this year.

There is  no arguing here that Ontario’s former Liberal government, led first by Dalton McGuinty and finally by the ever so demonized Kathleen Wynne, rewarded its share of plum jobs and seats on agencies and commissions to its partisan pals on the taxpayer’s dime.

And Ontario’s current Premier, Doug Ford, sure didn’t shrink from raising hell fire over that when he was running in last year’s provincial election.

On at least one occasion, candidate Ford called Wynne and her Liberals “corrupt” as some supporters aped the same “lock her up” chant Trump’s rally crowds still use against Hillary Clinton. If his so-called “party for the people,” forms a government, Ford vowed during the election campaign, “the party with taxpayer’s money will be over.”

“We have seen this (Ontario) Liberal government make sure that they have taken care of their Liberal insider friends,” Ford so smugly and self-righteously said. “But we can tell you one thing my friends, we will make sure we bring government that respects the taxpayers. You know me. I’m for the little guy.”

Oink, oink.

Over the last 12 months since Ford and his phony “Government for the People” have been in power, we’ve had one report after another about Tory Party friends and supporters  receiving, as some opposition critics put it, tickets to board Ford’s gravy train.

So much for Ford’s pledge to put an end to a political party’s “insider friends” having “a “party with taxpayer’s money.” So much for making appointments that put the interests of “the little guy” first! Continue reading →

(Niagara At Large is pleased to to post the following article – one that contains messages that NAL believes everyone in this Province of Ontario needs to read and give careful thought to given what has been unfolding in recent months at Queen’s Park – from Caroline Schultz, Executive Director of Ontario Nature, one of the most dedicated and well-respected conservation organizations in North America.

This article is posted in Niagara At Large this June 26th, 2019  with the permission of Ontario Nature. It  was originally published and is now featured in the current summer, 2019 issue of the organization’s award-winning magazine, ON Nature.)

Humanity’s Legacy

By Caroline Schultz

“We are at a fork in the road for where we stand as a species.”      -Al Gore

Caroline Schulz, Executive Director, Ontario Nature

Earth is in the midst of the Anthropocene epoch. Human activities are changing the planet at an unprecedented rate in ways that affect every sector of society.

We have gone from being one of many thriving species to an increasingly dominant and destructive one. But our health, our moods and our survival remain inextricably linked to the health of our world.

Despite the broad awareness of the impact we are having on our environment, on May 2, the Government of Ontario tabled an omnibus bill that, under the guise of increasing housing supply, would eliminate crucial protections for the province’s most vulnerable species and their habitats. Continue reading →

Buffalo/Niagara Falls Area Congressman Brian Higgins Announces $450,000 in Federal Funding for Niagara Falls International Airport Grants will Support Runway/Taxiway Improvements 

News from the Buffalo, New York Office of Congressman Brian Higgins 

Posted June 26^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large 

U.S. Congressman (serving the Buffalo, Niagara, New York area) Brian Higgins

Congressman Brian Higgins (NY-26) announced two federal grants to the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority<http://www.nfta.com/> (NFTA) for improvements at the Niagara Falls International Airport<http://www.niagarafallsairport.com/>.

The grants were awarded by the Federal Aviation Administration, under the US Department of Transportation. The first grant is in the amount of $135,000 and will go to removing trees that obstruct two of the airport’s runways and approach surfaces.

The second grant for $315,000 will support the design phase for reconstruction of portions of taxiway pavement that have reached the end of its useful life.  Continue reading →

It is extremely important that the governor join the attorney general in her lawsuit to bring the strongest possible case against this misguided Canadian (Enbridge) oil pipeline tunnel that is risking our Great Lakes water and economy.

One of many protests against this Enbridge pipeline in Michigan. Citizens there are concerned that a leak from this pipe, carrying crude from the Alberta tar sands, could do major damage to the Great Lakes from Lake Huron on down.

A Call-Out to all Great Lakes residents form Jim Lively, program director for the Groundwork Center, a Michigan-based citizens group

Posted June 26^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

URGENT: ASK MICHIGAN GOVERNOR  WHITMER TO JOIN ATTORNEY GENERAL NESSEL’S LITIGATION TO DECOMISSION LINE 5

The Line 5 pipeline issue has arrived at a critical juncture: Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has boldly announced her intention to keep her campaign promise and file legal action to decommission Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline later this week.

However, (Michigan) Governor Gretchen Whitmer has not yet indicated that she’ll join Nessel’s legal filing, and is continuing to leave open negotiations with Enbridge for a dubious oil pipeline tunnel under the Straits of Mackinac. Continue reading →

A Report on Ombudsman’s Findings from  Investigation into circumstances surrounding hiring  of former Niagara Region CEO Carmen D’Angelo and his contract with Region is now being prepared for public release

Ontario Ombudsman Paul Dubé is close to releasing his report on the Niagara Region CEO hiring affair

‘Complaints about municipalities – which were added to the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction in 2015-2016, along with school boards and universities – increased 20%, to 3,002. As in previous years, almost all were resolved without formal investigation (the sole new investigation launched, into the controversial hiring of Niagara Region’s chief administrative officer, is ongoing) – but the report cites several cases that resulted in improvements to local administration.’                                                                                        – from a June 25th, 2019 news release from the Office of the Ontario Ombudsman

A Brief Foreword e from Doug Draper, followed by a news release from the Office of  Ontario Ombudsman Paul Dubé on the Office’s 2018-2019 Annual Report

Posted June 25^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Almost 10 months have passed since Ontario Ombudsman Paul Dubé agreed to launch an independent investigation into the 2016 hiring of Carmen D’Angelo, then the CEO of the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority (NPCA), to the top municipal job in Niagara – chief executive officer of Niagara’s regional government.

A team from the Ontario Ombudsman’s Office has spent the past 10 months investigating questions circulating around the hiring of former Niagara Region CAO Carmen D’Angelo, and ongoing questions around his t contract with the Region. The findings of that investigation are now close to being  released.

With the release of his annual report this June 25^th – outlining one of the busiest caseloads of complaints the Ombudsman’s Office has invested in its 43 history – Dubé also let it be known that a report on the findings of that investigation into the D’Angelo affair is now being worked on for public release.

Dubé’s investigation into this highly controversial matter may never have been launched without the following:  

• an outpouring of questions and concerns raised by citizens across Niagara – at least some of whom  who questioned D’Angelo’s hiring from the moment they learned his name was on the list for the job;
• a handful and, unfortunately, largely outnumbered group of Niagara regional councillors who demonstrated the wisdom and the courage to vote against the hiring of D’Angelo in the first place;
• and without dogged digging by the news media, most particularly by the St. Catharines Standard, its lead investigative reporter Grant LaFleche and by reporter Bill Sawchuk, who regularly covers regional council.

Continue reading →

‘A Better Niagara hopes (Fort Erie councillor Nick Dubanow’s motion) itstarts a wave of similar motions across Niagara. We can’t let what happened during the last term of Regional Council ever happen again.’

News from A Better Niagara, a region-wide citizens group

Posted June 25^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

This June 23rd was International Whistleblowers Day.

“The purpose of whistleblowing is to expose secret and wrongful acts by those in power in order to enable reform”                                   — Glenn Greenwald (American journalist and author).

Town of Fort Erie cCouncillor Nick Dubanow plans to table motion for municipal whistleblower protection for the first time in Niagara

Fort Erie Councillor Nick Dubanow’s motion to create the first municipal Whistleblower protection in Niagara will be discussed by his Council on July 15 2019. We hope Fort Erie residents will let their councillors know how important this issue is to them and will also turn out to support the motion on July 15th.

Think about all the secret contracts, the corruption of hiring practices, the tainted behaviour of certain Councillors, Board members and senior managers, at the Region and NPCA, during the last term of Council. It is likely that much of it could have been prevented if people within the system felt free to raise those issues without fear of losing their jobs. Unfortunately, that was not the case. Continue reading →

“It’s wrong to punish students who are speaking up for themselves and their future by speaking out against Doug Ford’s education cuts. The NDP is calling for the $1,500 sidewalk chalk cleanup bill sent to high school students to be cancelled.”                 – Ontario NDP House Leader Gilles Bison

A Commentary by Doug Draper

Posted June 24^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

This Ontario premier is apparently out to teach some teenage chalk drawers a lesson or two about democracy in Ford’s Ontario

Do you know what happens to anything you draw with chalk on the surface of a sidewalk or parking lot when we have the kind of rainstorms we’ve been having across Ontario now for the past three months?

The chalk washes way and whatever message or masterpiece you have drawn for all passers-by to see is gone with the rain.

Apparently, Ontario Doug Ford and those in his so-called “Government for the People” don’t know that, or  don’t want to know that or don’t care, because now they are billing a group of high school students a total of $1,444 for cleaning some words they chalked on the sidewalks of Queen’s Park during a recent demonstration against ongoing education cuts.

There are reports that the kids – and stories on this matter say they were kids between about the ages of 10 and 18 – did not follow all of the rules around holding protests on the lawns of Queen’s Park, and some even chalked things on the sidewalks that were deemed by some to be “profane,” including the image of a hand giving the middle finger above Ford’s name. Continue reading →

Niagara Falls MPP Wayne Gates

“When you look at your priorities, your priority is to give a billion dollars to a corporation so he can sell booze in corner stores. Wouldn’t it make more sense to invest in our kids and grand kids so that they can get a post-secondary education so they can take care of themselves, their family and their community. Let’s invest in their future.”                                                                   – Niagara Falls MPP Wayne Gates.

From Niagara Falls MPP Wayne Gates’ Facebook Page

Posted June 24^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

A Brief Foreword from NAL reporter and publisher Doug Draper –

In its continued war on services and opportunities for young people in Ontario, Premier Doug Ford’s self-described “Government for the People” is cutting assistance for young people struggling to pay for a post-secondary education in the province as one more way to put money back in the pockets of his wealthy bakers.

These cuts to the Ontario Student Assistance Program – a program that has been in place for decades to help young people from lower-income families pay the costs of a college or university education – prompted Niagara Falls NDP MPP Wayne Gates to recently produce and post the following video message, which speaks for itself.

Click on the screen below to listen and watch –

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“A Politician Thinks Of The Next Election. A Leader Thinks Of The Next Generation.” – Bernie Sanders

Ontario Student Assistance Program Cuts Hit College and University Students Hard

“Doug Ford is dragging Ontario backwards with his callous cuts to OSAP. Instead of investing in young people, he is ripping away financial assistance, ensuring that only the wealthiest Ontarians are guaranteed the bright future promised by post-secondary education.”                                                                                                       – Chris Glover, Ontario NDP critic for Colleges and Universities

News from Ontario’s Official Opposition and New Democracy Party

Posted June 24^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

NDP calls for OSAP grants to be reinstated

QUEEN’S PARK — Chris Glover, Ontario NDP critic for Colleges and Universities, said it’s simply wrong for Doug Ford to plow ahead with cuts to the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) — especially now, as students share their stories of the devastating consequences. Some of the many students who have learned just how much financial assistance Ford is ripping away from them joined Glover at Queen’s Park on Monday.

When Daniel Mutton found out his OSAP had been reassessed, his first thought was that he would have to drop out. He had already used $6,000 of the $13,500 he was promised for his final term at Niagara College, where he is training to become a mechanic.

Now, because his mom’s pension is just $2,000 higher than originally calculated, he is losing roughly $5,500. Now his parents are considering using their line of credit to help Mutton complete the term. Continue reading →

Ontario’s Unpopular Premier Cancels Annual Canada Day Festivities at Queen’s Park, claiming that the event has turned into a costly bust anyway.

At Queen’s Park on Canada Day’s gone by

A Brief Commentary by Doug Draper

Posted June 24^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Ontario Premier Doug Ford, whose popularity numbers in the polls have already tanked lower than Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne’s during her last year in office, has cancelled this year’s Canada Day festivities on the lawns of Queen’s Park.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford decides to give this year’s Canada Day festivities at Queen’s Park a pass

And this time, I find myself in the rare position of wholeheartedly agreeing with Ford’s decision to cancel or cut something.

Pulling the plug on the festivities at Queen’s Park, means that Ontarians don’t have to spend a Canada Day that should be an occasion for celebrating what makes this country great – our natural and built heritage, and our public health care, education and other services we have for our young, our old and our most vulnerable – with a premier who, with the help of his party hacks, has been working at warp speed over the past 12 months to shred so much of that.

And Ford doesn’t have to face yet another gathering of Ontarians where loud, sustained choruses of boos become a story on the news. Continue reading →

‘It’s summer
Summer time is here
Yes it’s summer
My time of year.’

-lyrics from the song ‘Summer’ by the great funk band War

A Brief Summer Solstice Note  from Doug Draper, Niagara At Large

Posted June 21st, 2019, the first day of summer

This spring turned out to be  kind of a drag, and was downright depressing at times with all of the rain and unseasonably cold temperatures. Almost the whole month of May and most of this June were so unspring like, I am looking across my backyard now at neighours who are finally able to get out in their gardens and put their tomato plants in.

Cheer up though. Or at least try to.

This Friday, June 21st at 11:54 a.m., it officially turned from spring to summer, and all over our region of Niagara, and across the border for our friends and neighbours in Buffalo, New York,  the sun has been shining oh so brightly as we entered the new season and it  has been warm enough to  sit outside.

Or how about a nice long walk along a favourite beach?

Then there are all of those great summer songs, like one of my favourites by one of the  best of the best old funk  band called War. The song is called “Summer” and you can listen to it as we celebrate the first day of summer by clicking on the screen below.

Have a great summer and keep on visiting Niagara At Large, and encourage your friends get online with NAL too –

NIAGARA AT LARGE encourages you to join the conversation by sharing your views on this post in the space below the Bernie quote.

A reminder that we only post comments by individuals who also share their first and last names.

For more news and commentary from Niagara At Large – an independent, alternative voice for our greater bi-national Niagara region – become a regular visitor and subscriber to NAL at www.niagaraatlarge.com .

 “A politician thinks of the next election. A leader thinks of the next generation.” – Bernie Sanders

Applications are now being accepted for the Equity and Inclusion Advisory Committee, Anti-Racism Advisory Committee and LGBTQ2+ Advisory Committee

“Our diversity is one of our greatest strengths and we are hopeful to see more people and new volunteers on these committees as we work together to become one of the most dynamic, innovative, livable and sustainable cities.”                                                                                                    – St. Catharines Mayor Walter Sendzik

A News Release from the City of St. Catharines in Niagara, Ontario

Posted June 21^st, 2019 on Niagara At Large

St. Catharines City Hall

Niagara, Ontario – The City of St. Catharines is recruiting members for three new advisory committees focused on making the city a more inclusive and equitable place for everyone to live.

Applications are now being accepted for the Equity and Inclusion Advisory Committee, Anti-Racism Advisory Committee and LGBTQ2+ Advisory Committee.

Applications can be submitted online at www.stcatharines.ca/committees<http://www.stcatharines.ca/committees> and are due by Friday, July 5, by 4 p.m.

The three new committees will report to council through the City’s Social Sustainability Committee. Continue reading →

“While It’s True That The Words ‘Homo’ And ‘Fag’ Are Hurtful And Unacceptable, I Think What The LGBTQIA+ Community Needs To Hear Doug Ford Say That These Words Are Homophobic.”

“I Don’t Know Why Mr. Ford Agreed To Give A Golden Ticket On His Gravy Train To A Man Whose Social Media Feed Was Homophobic.”                                                   – Ontario NDP LGBTQ Issues Critic Terence Kernaghan

An image from an Ontario NDP website

A Statement from Ontario’s NDP and Official Opposition Party

Posted June 21^st, 2019 on Niagara At Large

QUEEN’S PARK — NDP LGBTQ Issues Critic Terence Kernaghan Released The Following Statement In Reaction To Doug Ford’s Media Comment On Tyler Albrecht’s Social Media:

“I Understand Doug Ford Has Quietly Called The Slurs Used By His Agent-General Appointee To New York ‘Hurtful And Unacceptable.’ While It’s True That The Words ‘Homo’ And ‘Fag’ Are Hurtful And Unacceptable, I Think What The LGBTQIA+ Community Needs To Hear Doug Ford Say That These Words Are Homophobic. Continue reading →

“Minnie is a tremendously lucky cat, and now, with 8 lives left, this sweet cat will be happy to be reunited with her family soon.” – Kevin Strooband,  Lincoln County Humane Society.

A Report from Kevin Strooband, Executive Director, Lincoln County Humane Society in St. Catharines

Minnie road 50 kilometres on a truck before jumping off, onto the QEW where she was spotted by passersby

Niagara, Ontario – This past Thursday, June 21^st, in a heroic effort to save a cat on the QEW, two passersby stopped and corralled a loose, fearful, domestic short haired, black and white cat.

They had just watched her jump from a moving truck. Fearing injuries, they brought her to a local veterinarian and were advised to attend the Lincoln County Humane Society in St. Catharines. They did so. Continue reading →

Canada’s first cannabis grads make history at Niagara College

Spring Convocation Guest speakers Carolyne Watts and Mike Crawley receive special honours on day four of ceremonies

News from Niagara College in Niagara, Ontario

Posted June 21st, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Niagara, Ontario – On June 20, the first cohort of 23 students from the Niagara College’s trailblazing Commercial Cannabis Production graduate certificate program were among 600 graduates to cross the stage on day four of NC’s 2019 Spring Convocation ceremonies.

Niagara College’s first ever Cannabis grads. June 2019. All photos courtesy of Niagara College in Welland, Ontario

The first of its kind in Canada, the program was launched in the fall of 2018 to meet a significant demand for qualified, professional workers in Canada’s pioneering cannabis industry. Continue reading →

With Doug Ford in the wheelhouse, no amount of cabinet shuffling will make a difference. The iceberg is out there, looming just over the horizon, with the words; ‘Three More Years and You’re Sunk’ written on the place were you are going to collide and go down.

A Commentary by Doug Draper

Posted June 20^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

With recent polls showing Doug Ford scoring popularity numbers lower than those of almost any other Ontario Premier at this early stage of their tenure, he has shuffled and even swelled the number of seats on his cabinet from 21 to 28.

Let me repeat the last part of the above sentence so that it has a little more time to sink in.

The same Doug Ford who has spent the past 12 months cutting and gutting a host of public services, including health care, education and environmental protection, and who has chopped Toronto’s city council in half and is not threatening to shrink the number of municipal councils and councillors in Niagara and other regions of the province, has just increased the size of his cabinet from 21 to 28! Continue reading →

Ford changes cabinet, doesn’t change direction

Ontario NDP and Official Opposition Leader Andrea Horwath

“Make no mistake: It was Doug Ford that ordered supports to be ripped away from children with autism. It was Doug Ford that decided that thousands of teachers and education workers would be fired. And it was Doug Ford that ordered the cuts to OSAP, legal aid and so much more.”                                                                  – Ontario Official Opposition and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath

A News Release from the Office of Ontario Official Opposition and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath

Posted June 20^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

QUEEN’S PARK — Official Opposition NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said with Thursday’s cabinet shuffle, Doug Ford is attempting to throw his own cabinet under the bus for executing cuts that he ordered.

“The problem over the last year wasn’t who was executing Doug Ford’s cuts — it was Doug Ford’s cuts. Today, he had a chance to change direction. Instead, he’s throwing his team under the bus for decisions he made, and changing the roles people will play in executing his failed agenda. Continue reading →

Can you imagine how big a deal it would be if an entire continent announced a plan to abandon the filthy fossil fuels that are choking our skies with carbon? It could really happen — and soon! But we urgently need a massive show of public support from the whole world for the plan,”                                                       – from a Call-Out to all of us from Avaaz, a global campaign network made of of citizens from around the world

A Call for support from the global ciitizens network,  Avaaz

Posted June 19^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Dear friends,

This is HUGE — Europe’s leaders are about to decide whether to END carbon pollution completely!

If they do it, it’ll be a giant leap towards a safer climate for all. But dirty energy blockers, like Poland, are already trying to derail the plan — and it’s up to us to defend it.

We urgently need a massive show of public support from the whole world for the plan — so let’s build one, and we’ll deliver it to all the key governments before EU leaders meet in days. Add your name now to join the call for 100% clean energy to meet the climate emergency! Continue reading →

“For the Trudeau government to approve this pipeline after declaring a climate emergency makes about as much sense as pouring gasoline on a burning fire.”

A Brief Statement from Greenpeace Canada

Posted June 19^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

In response to the federal Cabinet approval of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion Greenpeace Canada Climate & Energy campaigner Mike Hudema said:

“For the Trudeau government to approve this pipeline after declaring a climate emergency makes about as much sense as pouring gasoline on a burning fire.

“The climate crisis demands an all-hands-on-deck response to meet the demands of science and justice, not another multi-billion dollar subsidy to the oil industry to make the problem worse. Continue reading →

Close to 60  Members of the United States Congress have joined the call for launching an impeachment inquiry into the allegations of obstruction detailed in the Mueller Report against President Donald Trump

A Statement from  Buffalo, New York Area Congressman Brian Higgins

Posted June 19^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Buffalo, New York area Congressman Brian Higgins

“Obstruction of justice is an impeachable offense. The multiple instances of obstruction laid out in the Mueller report necessitate that the House launch an impeachment inquiry.”

“It is our responsibility, as Representatives of the people, to seek out the facts. Beyond the verified instances of obstruction detailed by the Special Counsel, over the past several months, the President has stonewalled every Congressional request and forbid government employees from complying with congressional subpoenas.”

“These actions further seek to obstruct the transparent and lawful government Americans deserve, representing a deliberate irreverence for the Constitution that forces the House to exercise its impeachment responsibility as set forth in Article 1.” Continue reading →

Niagara Falls NDP candidate Brian Barker is running in the Niagara Falls riding in this October’s federal election.

“If you want to create good jobs in Niagara and across our country, you do it by investing in clean, renewable energy to create permanent, high-paying employment opportunities.,”       – Niagara Falls federal NDP candidate Brian Barker

A News Release from the Campaign to Elect Niagara Falls NDP candidate Brian Barker

Posted June 19^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

NIAGARA FALLS – Niagara Falls NDP candidate Brian Barker affirmed his opposition to the building of the Trans Mountain pipeline and criticized the Trudeau government for their “hypocrisy” following the federal government’s announcement of the Cabinet’s approval of the Trans Mountain expansion project. Continue reading →

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

Trans Mountain Expansion will fund Canada’s future clean economy, Trudeau government says

“We have a responsibility to ensure that the decisions we make today move us toward a cleaner, sustainable economy. Major resource projects can move forward, but only if we do so in a way that protects the environment and respects Indigenous rights.”                                                                                                           – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, June 18th, 2019 

A News Release from the Office of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

Posted June 18^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

(A Foreword from Niagara At Large – NAL will have much more news and commentary on the federal Liberal government’s decision to support this controversial tar pipe expansion and what it may mean for the future of Canada’s economy, environment and efforts to address the climate crisis in the days and weeks ahead, as we approach this fall’s federal election.

Stay tuned.)

Discussion and debate around this pipeline is bound to figure prominently in the outcome of this October’s federal election.

The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today (this June 18th, 2019) announced that the Government of Canada has approved the Trans Mountain Expansion (TMX) and that every dollar the federal government earns from this project will be invested in Canada’s clean energy transition.

The environment and the economy go hand-in-hand. When we create prosperity today, we can invest in the clean jobs, technologies, and infrastructure of the future — and help Canadians benefit from opportunities presented by a rapidly changing economy.

The key to creating prosperity is finding new markets for our businesses to sell their products and services. Nowhere is the need to diversify greater than for our energy sector, where 99 per cent of our conventional resources are sold to one market — and often at large discounts. Continue reading →

Join Us this Wednesday, June 19^th at 6:30 p.m. at the Niagara-on-the-Lake Community Centre

An Invite to all from The Friends of One Mile Creek, a group of citizen volunteers working to  revitalize the water, wildlife and natural environment of the One Mile Creek watershed in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario.

Posted June 18^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Veteran conservationist and environmental consultant Jocelyn Baker is featured speaker

At the June 19 meeting of Friends of One Mile Creek (FOMC), special guest speaker Jocelyn Baker will talk about building sustainable communities, using the One Mile Creek watershed plan as an example.

This is our first FOMC public meeting in several years. We’ve invited speakers to talk about the success of past conservation activities in Niagara on the Lake (NOTL) as well as building sustainable communities and current stewardship opportunities.

We’re pleased to invite Old Town residents and others interested in natural conservation to the meeting in the Mori Nursery Room at the NOTL Community Centre at 6:30 pm on Wednesday, June 19. (Speaker starts at 7 pm). Continue reading →

Walk  takes place on Saturday, June 22^nd, 2019 in Niagara, Ontario

“This is an appropriate way to honour Laura Secord’s legacy and bravery. This year, let’s follow in her footsteps to raise awareness and opportunities for women and children who are victims of war.”                                                                                                              – Valerie Pringle, FLS Honourary Chair / Ontario Chair, Trans Canada Trail Foundation Board

An Invite to You from Friends of Laura Secord

Posted June 18^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Niagara, Ontario – Each year in June, the Friends of Laura Secord host the Laura Secord Walk along the Laura Secord Legacy Trail from Queenston to Thorold (in Niagara, Ontario).

It’s an annual event that recreates her heroic 32 km journey to warn the British of an impending American invasion. Since its inception, thousands of people have walked all or part of the trail to commemorate her legacy. 

his year, we plan to make Laura’s walk even more meaningful. The Laura Secord Walk 2019 will support War Child Canada in their efforts to help thousands of women and children in war-affected areas, through the generational impacts of education, training, and justice. Continue reading →

Burlington’s mayor (Marianne Meed Ward) describes it as “welfare for developers” and an analysis by Environmental Defence found it largely aligns with the requests made to the province by the Ontario Home Builders Association”

This Ford Government legislation also guts protections for Ontario’s heritage sites and endangered species

A News Commentary from Citizens at City Hall (CATCH), based in Hamilton, Ontario

Posted June 17^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s ‘More Homes, More Choices’ Act gets raked over the coals in the Hamilton/Burlington area. Are there no critics of this legislation at the municipal level in Niagara?

It “came out of nowhere”, changed thirteen statutes, and was pushed through the provincial legislature so fast that city staff could only tell councillors after the fact about the multiple problems it imposes.

Dubbed by the Ford government “the more homes, more choice act”, Bill 108 upends Hamilton’s downtown secondary plan, imposes severe challenges for municipal efforts to rationally plan and pay for growth, and makes it more difficult for citizens to challenge new development.

The winners appear to be land developers and speculators who can avoid the current comprehensive land planning process and have been given new rights to push for urban boundary expansions. Continue reading →