Author Archives: dougdraper

A “Main Street Ontario” segment on The Standard will appear on TVO’s public affairs program ‘The Agenda’, this Wednesday, June 12th at 8:50 p.m.

A News Commentary  by Doug Draper, a former reporter at The St. Catharines Standard, now publisher of Niagara At Large

Posted June 11^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Henry Burgoyne, a member of the Burgoyne family that founded The St. Catharines Standard in the late 1800s and the best publisher I think a journalist could hope to work for. The Burgoyne family sold the paper in 1996,and, to put it mildy, things were never the same.

Twenty-one years ago this spring, most of the reporters, photographers and copy editors at The St. Catharines Standard, including this journalist, were out on a first ever strike against the new owner of the more than century old newspaper that, for many of us, was not about wages or benefits.

It was about to protect were left of the resources we needed to cover news in the region well, and it was about saving the very heart and soul of the newspaper itself.

In my view the strike was mostly a failure in that successive owners of the paper over the past two decades, beginning with the now former media baron Conrad Black, took a newsroom that once employed more than 40 full-time people and cut it down to less than 10. 

A culling of that magnitude made it  it virtually impossible to give areas of coverage  like education, labour, health care, police and courts, the environment and even municipal governance the every-day-of-the week, every-week-of-the-year the attention they require to let the powers-that-be know that they are being well watched, and to give residents across the region the information they deserve and that they need to more effectively participate in a democracy. Continue reading →

A Citizens Group is Raising Concerns that the plan could lead to contaminating groundwater in Port Colborne and Surrounding Communities

Posted by Doug Draper on Niagara At Large

June 11^th, 2019

Niagara At Large is posting the following notice from a Port Colborne area citizens group about a public meeting scheduled for this Tuesday, June 11^th starting at 6:30 p.m. at the Brebeuf Hall on 300 Killaly St., East in Port Colborne.

The company proposing to deposit what it insists will be “clean fill” in open pits off Highway 140 is Port Colborne Quarries’ owner, Rankin Construction, that has arguably had a long-time record of being one of the better or best companies of its kind around when it comes to carrying out its operations in a responsible manner.

And in this case, the company insists that the fill it brings in will be tested before it is dumped in the quarries to make sure it is not contaminated with anything that is harmful to the surrounding environment including, water.

The problem the company has is that many citizens do not necessarily buy these assurances. Continue reading →

Canada to ban harmful single-use plastics and hold companies responsible for plastic waste

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announcing his Liberal government’s plan to phase out single-use plastics

“We owe it to our kids to keep the environment clean and safe for generations to com     – Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

“We’ve all seen the disturbing images of fish, sea turtles, whales, and other wildlife being injured or dying because of plastic garbage in our oceans. Canadians expect us to act. That’s why our government intends to ban harmful single-use plastic products where science warrants it,”                                                                   – Canada’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Catherine McKenna

Plastic waste washing up along the shores of our Great Lakes

   “The health of our oceans is vital to the economic, cultural, and social well-being of Canada’s coastal communities. We know plastic pollution harms Canada’s oceans, wildlife communities and economy. It’s a problem we simply can’t afford to ignore.”     – Canada’s Minister of Fisheries & Ocieans, Johnathan Wilkinson

A News Release from Justin Trudeau, Canada’s Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau,  Canada’s Environment Minister Catherine McKenna, and Canada’s Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, Jonathan Wilkinson

Posted June 10^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Plastic pollution is a global challenge that requires immediate action.Plastic waste ends up in our landfills and incinerators, litters our parks and beaches, and pollutes our rivers, lakes, and oceans, entangling and killing turtles, fish, and marine mammals.

Less than 10 per cent of plastic used in Canada gets recycled. Without a change in course, Canadians will throw away an estimated $11 billion worth of plastic materials each year by 2030.

We’ve reached a defining moment, and this is a problem we simply can’t afford to ignore.

That is why the Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today announced that the Government of Canada is taking additional steps to reduce Canada’s plastic waste, support innovation, and promote the use of affordable and safe alternatives. Continue reading →

“This Conservative government has taken Ontario back in time. It’s reversed progress on education and the environment. It’s made the lives of working people worse.” – Riley Peterson, the Broadbent Institute

News from The Broadbent Institute of Canada, a leading independent organization championing progressive change

Posted June 10, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Ontario Premier Doug Ford. A year later, are you better off than you were a year ago

One year ago this June 7th, Premier Doug Ford was elected on a false majority. 58% of voters chose a decidedly different course of action than the direction this government has gone.

This Conservative government has taken Ontario back in time. It’s reversed progress on education and the environment. It’s made the lives of working people worse.

To mark this one year anniversary, we’ve indexed some of the worst statistics of Premier Ford and his Conservative government.

See the full index here <http://broadbentinstitute.ca/one-year-of-ford>. If you find it helpful,  please share it on social media using the hashtags #FordIndex and #ONpoli . Continue reading →

Working for you to make life more affordable and protect front-line services

‘Over the past year, the government has kept the promises it made to the people of Ontario. They include restoring trust, accountability, and transparency; putting more money in people’s pockets; cleaning up the hydro mess; cutting hospital wait times; and making Ontario open for business and open for jobs.’

A News Release from the Office of Ontario Premier Doug Ford

Posted June 7^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

TORONTO — Today (this past June 7^th) , Premier Doug Ford renewed the government’s commitment to respect taxpayers, encourage job creation, and put people first on the one-year anniversary since taking office.

Over the past year, the government has kept the promises it made to the people of Ontario. They include restoring trust, accountability, and transparency; putting more money in people’s pockets; cleaning up the hydro mess; cutting hospital wait times; and making Ontario open for business and open for jobs. Continue reading →

“The best argument against democracy is five-minute conversation with the average (Doug Ford) voter.” – a play on a quote from Winston Churchill, with apologies to the iconic British statesman

A Commentary by Niagara At Large reporter and publisher Doug Draper

Posted June 7^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

“Wow! I’ll tell you. … Wow!

“Thank you so much my friends. … I will never forget the trust you have placed in me. …. This victory belongs to the people and tonight the people of Ontario have sent a clear message. … a message of hope and prosperity and a vision of a government that works for the people.”

Those were Doug Ford’s opening words to a hall full of cheering supporters a year ago this June 7^th, when his Ontario Conservatives won enough seats in the 2018 provincial election to be sworn in as a majority government – what he and his members continue to call a “Government for the People” – on June 29^th of last year.

So okay then friends (If I may be so bold as to use the same word he does to address us all), how are you feeling a year after an election that made Doug Ford Ontario’s premier?

One of Doug Ford’s supporters, overcome with tears of joy on the night of June 7th, 2018, after the results came in, showing that Ford had won a majority government

Are you feeling more hopeful and prosperous now? Are you feeling like you’ve finally got yourself a government you can trust? … A true “government for the people”?

And what “people” is Ford’s government is really working for?

Maybe it is working for the shareholders of corporations who were among the first to experience a little more prosperity from the government’s corporate tax cuts> Then there are all of the land speculators and developers who may benefit from the all of the environmental and planning rules and regulations that the Ford government is gutting so that they don’t get in the way of bulldozing and paving over just about any green area they want. Continue reading →

Niagara communities of Fenwick and Wellandport identified in expansion of choice and convenience

“By opening up more alcohol retail outlets across the province, we are not only making life easier for people, we are enabling growth and job creation.” – Niagara West MPP and Ford government member Sam Oosterhoff

News from the Constituency Office of Niagara West MPP Sam Oosterhoff

Posted June 7^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

FENWICK – The Government of Ontario is putting people first and improving

Niagara West MPP and Ford government member Sam Oosterhoff

choice and convenience by expanding sales of beverage alcohol to nearly 300 new retail outlets across Ontario – many opening this summer.

Today, Sam Oosterhoff, MPP for Niagara West announced that Fenwick and Wellandport are among communities eligible to host some of the new stores.

“These stores will provide consumers with greater choice and convenience, while offering craft brewers and wineries with greater reach and visibility,” said Oosterhoff.

“By opening up more alcohol retail outlets across the province, we are not only making life easier for people, we are enabling growth and job creation. Our government’s Open for Business, Open for Jobs approach is about promoting competition, and establishing fairness for everyone, from small craft brewers, cider and wine producers to the large beer producers.” Continue reading →

Ford Government’s “More Homes, More Choice Act” Guts Protections for Ontario’s Most Vulnerable Plants and Animals

Passed by Ford’s MPPs June 6^th – One Day after World Environment Day – the Act allows “those with a vested, short-term economic interest in sprawl development now have free rein to bulldoze, dig up and pave over the habitats of our most vulnerable plants and animals.” – Kelsey Scarfone, program manager, Environmental Defence.

A News Release from four of Canada’s major environmental groups – Ontario Nature, the David Suzuki Foundation and Environmental Defence and Earth Roots

Posted June 6, 2019 on Niagara At Large

ONTARIO — Today (this June 6^th) the Government of Ontario passed the More Homes, More Choice Act, a law that opens significant wildlife habitat to sprawl development through amendments to the Endangered Species Act, 2007 (ESA).

The amendments give new powers to the Minister to delay, limit and remove protections for at-risk species. Further, it creates numerous, overlapping pathways for developers and industrialists to dodge critical requirements.

These images are making the rounds on social media as the Ford government moved forward with plans to pull the teeth out of Ontario’s Endangered Species Act on behalf of developers bent on paving over what is left of our natural heritage. For Ford MPPs and supporters, it was mission accomplished this June 6th with passage of Ford’s “More Homes, More Choices Act.”

“The Endangered Species Act has been torn to shreds,” says Kelsey Scarfone, program manager with Environmental Defence. “Those with a vested, short-term economic interest in sprawl development now have free rein to bulldoze, dig up and pave over the habitats of our most vulnerable plants and animals.” Continue reading →

Now it up to the rest of us – today, tomorrow and onward into the future – to stand ready to protect and preserve the democratic freedoms that they stormed those blood-washed beaches for

The bloody battle unfolds for Canadians on the shores of Normandy, France on June 6th, 1944

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

Posted June 6th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

“You are about to embark on the Great Crusade. … The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower, General  and Supreme Commander of Allied Expeditionary Forces in Europe to the roughly 150,000 Canadian, British and American soldiers, sailors and airmen fighting on and above the beaches of Normandy, France on D-Day, June 6th, 1944

Seventy-five years ago this June 6th, roughly 21, 400 young Canadians joined many tens-of-thousands of their British and American counterparts in storming the beaches of Normandy, France in what many knew at the time was a do or die campaign against the forces of fascism and the murderous evil embodied in Hitler’s  Nazi regime.

At a cemetary in Normandy, France, some of the graves of Canadian soldiers who fell on D-Day, June 6th, 1944

Before that “longest day” was over, 359 Canadian soldiers would be killed along with thousands of their counterparts on five beaches – Juno, Sword, Gold, Omaha and Utah – stretching along Normandy’s Atlantic shore.

More than 5,000 Canadians would die before the Battle of Normandy would be over in mid-July, setting the stage for allied troops to push on to Germany and finally put an end to the Hitler holocaust the following spring.

One of the many good books written about D-Day.

Seventy-fifth anniversary commemorations of that do-or die campaign for freedom against fascism – originally dubbed ‘Operation Overlord’  by its allied planners and known to most of us as D-Day – have been taking place this June 6^th along the beaches of Normandy, France ,and in numerous cities and towns across Canada ,the United States, Great Britain and other parts of the world.

And compared to the earlier milestone anniversaries for what the Supreme Allied Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower also called ‘the Great Crusade’ – those held 25, 30, 40, 50 or even 70 years later – it is strikingly sad to see how few of the veterans who fought on those beaches or on any of the other battlefields of the Second World War are left to join in the ceremonies.

Most of them are gone now and as a veteran newspaper reporter in Niagara who covered many Remembrance Days and Second World War commemorations over the year, almost every single one of the residents of this region who were veterans of those campaigns, and who I came to know and respect over the years, are here no more.

Some of the young Canadians taking a brief rest as they fight their way inland during the Battle of Normandy, 75 years ago this June and July. More than 5,000 Canadians died before the campaign was over.

So it is up to the rest of us, and to younger generations of Canadians to stand on guard for the democratic freedoms they so bravely fought for.

I will admit that I  found myself thinking  of the selfless and heroic service of so many of these courageous men and women – members of what American journalist has called ‘the Greatest Generation’ –  many times over the last four or five years as I watched some of our politicians in Niagara  and some of those holding key administrative positions in government conduct themselves in ways that were an insult and an affront to the values of democracy and selfless public service that those great people fought and died for.

It often filled me with feelings of anger and disgust to watch this, and it is a reminder that we cannot take the democratic freedoms that were fought for on the beaches of Normandy for granted.

The best way of honouring those brave veterans is to promise ourselves and promise each other that we will pick up the torch and continue the fight to protect and preserve those democratic freedoms. 

If we truly value, as we should the democratic freedoms that we are fortunate to have, we dare not let these brave heroes who were willing to risk everything to preserve them down.

It is our duty to them to stand up for those values every single day.

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

June 6^th, 2019- Commemorating the 75th Anniversary of D-Day

From the Constituency Office of St. Catharines Ontario NDP MPP Jennie Stevens

Posted June 6^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

St. Catharines NDP MPP Jennie Stevens

Niagara, Ontario – NDP Critic of Veterans, Legions and Military Affairs, MPP Jennie Stevens, shows respect to the 359 Canadians who lost their lives on the beaches of Normandy and the 1,074 soldiers who were brutally injured in that same battle, 75 years ago.

“75 years ago, they left as ordinary people. When they marched onto the beaches of Normandy, they were forever changed – they became our heroes. What sets them apart is their unwavering service, and their willingness to risk, and for some, give, the ultimate sacrifice to each and every one of us,” says MPP Stevens. Continue reading →

Ontario’s Ford Government announced it was cancelling funding for Forests Ontario in April 2019

Canada’s Environment Minister Catharine McKenna

“The goal of planting 50 million trees across Ontario is inspiring, and I am proud our government can support Forests Ontario’s vision. By funding this tree-planting program, we are investing in clean air, a healthier environment, and more resilient communities as our climate changes.” – Catherine McKenna, Canada’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change

This Tree-Planting Program is One that Individuals and Communities in Niagara have and can continue to benefit from too!

News from the Government of Canada

Posted June 5^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Ottawa, Ontario – Canadians know that forests are vital to our future. Forests are “the lungs of the world,” producing oxygen we need to breathe and cleaning the air and water. They are also home to an abundance of plants, animals and other species. Investing in Canada’s forests creates a natural legacy for generations of Canadians.

Keeping forests healthy is also one of the best ways to fight climate change, because they absorb carbon pollution and protect against erosion in flood zones. However, forests are at risk as climate change increases the frequency, duration and intensity of forest fires, which release carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere, put communities at risk, and contaminate the air that we breathe. Continue reading →

A Message of Concern from Doug Draper, a veteran environment reporter and publisher of Niagara At Large

Posted June 5th, 2019 on World Environment Day

On this World Environment Day, I do not have a good deal more to offer in the way of a message than I did this past April 22nd, on the anniversary of the 49th Earth Day observed around the world, except to add this.

What is happening to environmental programs across the border in the United States, under Donald Trump, is horrible enough.

Here in Ontario, we now have a government in the grip of Premier Doug Ford and his Tory minions that is more regressive when it comes to environmental protection and conserving what is left of our province’s priceless natural heritage than any before or since Mike Harris in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

These images are making the rounds on social media as the Ford government moves forward with plans to pull the teeth out of Ontario’s Endangered Species Act on behalf of developers bent on paving over what is left of our natural heritage

And what Harris and his minions are doing to weaken and gut environmental programs and regulations is even more reckless and dangerous – so much so that, in my view, it borders on criminal negligence – because now, as eminent scientists around the world have concluded, we are staring down the barrel of massive biodiversity destruction and species extinction, and of a climate catastrophe that there may be no coming back from if we don’t take significant steps to address it NOW! Continue reading →

Ontario’s Ford Government Axed this Important Environmental Protection Program this Spring, along with Flood Management and Many Others

A Brief News Commentary by Doug Draper

Posted June 5th on Niagara At Large

Early this June 5th, the CBC posted some good news for our province’s environment and for everyone who lives in Ontario who need a healthy environment to live healthy lives.

The CBC report began as follows –

“The federal government is putting up $15 million over four years to rescue the 50 Million Tree Program which was cut by the Ontario government of Doug Ford in its last budget, CBC News has learned. 

Environment Minister Catherine McKenna will make the announcement just after noon on Wednesday in Ottawa, explaining how the new cash will extend the program for at least another four years. She said in a statement to CBC News on Tuesday that preserving the program will mean cleaner air, a healthier environment and good local jobs. 

“While Mr. Ford cuts programs that support tree planting, forest firefighting, flood management, and tackling climate change, we will continue to invest in a clean future for our environment, our economy, and our kids.”

Canada’s Environment Minister and Hamilton area MP Catherine McKenna is scheduled to officially announce this news later this June 5th

This journalist and veteran environment reporter at Niagara At Large applauds this move by Canada’s federal government.

I applaud it just as I condemned the move by Ontario’s Premier Doug Ford and his band of ant-environmental protection minions to axe  funding (provided by the former Ontario Liberal government) for a tree-planting program,  that is vital in so many ways, from providing habitat for wildlife to cleaning our air and reducing the carbon input to the atmosphere that is contributing to a climate crisis for present and future generations.

By the way, there are property owners and community groups and agencies in the Niagara area who use this tree-planting program to the benefit of all of us.

Niagara At Large will have more to say about this good news from Canada’s federal government and on Ford’s continued war against environmental progams – a war that threatens to steal our children’s future –  later this week.

Stay Tuned!

To read the full CBC report on this, click on – https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/50-million-tree-program-ontario-funding-1.5162571

To watch a video about Ontario’s 50 Million Tree Program, click on –

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 http://www.niagaraatlarge.com .

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

A New Report, written by Political Economist & University of Alberta Professor Emeritus Gordon Laxer, and published by the Council of Canadians

“In the midst of a climate emergency, many of us are scratching our heads as to why the government would buy such a white elephant where the math doesn’t add up and the environmental consequences are devastating.” – report author Gordon Laxer

A News Release from the Council of Canadians, a leading social action organizations based in Ottawa, Canada

Posted June 5^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Ottawa – On the eve of Canada potentially ratifying the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) and the Liberal cabinet deciding the fate of the Trans Mountain pipeline, a new report reveals that not only is this pipeline a dubious economic investment with disastrous environmental consequences, but it will be specially protected by the new NAFTA.

The new report, Billion Dollar Bailout, is published by the Council of Canadians. Written by Gordon Laxer, political economist, prolific author and professor emeritus at the University of Alberta, the report shows how the new NAFTA will allow the government to subsidize the pipeline further. Continue reading →

On Behalf of Province’s Developers, Ford Government is rushing this Bill through and could Pass it before the end of this week

‘The (government’s proposed) changes to the Endangered Species Act undermine clear scientific guidance and represent an attack on vulnerable plants and animals.’

These images are making the rounds on social media as the Ford government moves forward with plans to pull the teeth out of Ontario’s Endangered Species Act on behalf of developers bent on paving over what is left of our natural heritage

News from Ontario Nature, a non-profit advocacy organization for our natural heritage

Posted June 4^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

The Barn swallow is only one of numerous endangered species in Ontario that could suffer serious losses in habitat if Ford plans movement forward. Photo courtesy of Ontario Nature

QUEEN’S PARK — In a show of cross-party unity, members from Ontario’s three opposition parties held a joint press conference calling on government MPPs to vote down the controversial Bill 108, which would poke giant holes in Ontario’s Endangered Species Act.

At the press conference, the MPPs asked the PC government to do the right thing for Ontario wildlife by voting against Bill 108 this week.

“Ontario used to be a leader on conservation and biodiversity. We deserve a plan for endangered species that values scientific integrity and the precautionary principle. I’m calling on the government to press pause on this legislation, listen to the evidence and reverse the changes made in Bill 108,” said Liberal MPP, Nathalie Des Rosiers. Continue reading →

St. Catharines city workers piled sand bags around the historic lighthouse at Port Dalhousie this spring to protect it from what have become record high water levels in Lake Ontario. Photo by Doug Draper

“The ravages of climate crisis are evident all around us, and conservation authorities are trying to respond to record flooding in our watersheds with less resources than they had before.” – Monteith Farrell, Ontario’s NDP critic for Natural Resources and Forestry 

Posted June 4^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large 

QUEEN’S PARK – Doug Ford’s cuts to the Conservation Authority’s programs for youth jobs and flood management are taking away opportunities from young people, and putting communities in danger, said Judith Monteith-Farrell, NDP critic for Natural Resources and Forestry. 

A closer look at the sandbags piles around the base of the historic lighthouse in Port Dalhousie as Lake Ontario waters reach record high levels. Photo by Doug Draper

The NDP MPP for Thunder Bay-Atikokan said that the Ford government’s cuts to Conservation Authorities includes the Ministry of Natural Resources’ Summer Employment Opportunities Program for youth. 

“This program helped Conservation Authorities employ and mentor youth, and gain relevant experience for their careers,” said Monteith-Farrell. “Why did this government cut the Youth Employment Program?”  Continue reading →

Thirty Years Ago This Spring, on June 4th, 1989

One of the most iconic photographs of this grim episode in history. The person blocking the tanks on their way to Tiananmen Square became known to the world as “tank man.” Apparently, the fate of this brave person remains unknown 30 years later.

“One day I believe we will witness the arrival of freedom in the world’s most populous country. In my mind’s eye, I envision a memorial erected on Tiananmen Square to the heroes of 1989, perhaps taking the form of a weeping rickshaw driver with a wounded student.”                                                                                     – from a recent column by New York Times reporter and opinion writer Nicholas Kristoff, who was in China and witnessed the bloody crackdown first-hand.

A Brief Commentary by Doug Draper

Posted June 4th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Thirty years ago this June 4th, heavily armed soldiers and tanks for the communist government of China moved in on large numbers of unarmed students and workers who had been demonstrating in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square for a more free and democratic society.

Student demonstrators in Tiananmen Square in the days leading up to the murderous crackdown by China’s communist regime

What they were treated to instead was a horror show of violence and death as the forces of a dictatorial regime that has an iron grip on China to this day. Continue reading →

Fear and Loathing over a Trump movement that is sweeping a number of Western Democracies, including Canada

“The far right … has no answers for the young people, growing up worried about their future.” – British Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn, at a public rally in London, England this June 4^th, protesting U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to England

“He (Jeremy Corbyn) wanted to meet today or tomorrow. … I’ve decided not to meet with him.” President Donald Trump during a brief preference conference he and outgoing British Prime Minister Theresa May hosted this June 4th

A Brief Commentary by Doug Draper

Posted June 4th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Britain’s Boris Johnson and America’s Donald Trump – Two soulmates in the alt-right, nationalist movement.

As I dared to turn the cable news back on this June 4^th, to live coverage of U.S. President Donald Trump’s state visit to Britain, it seems more evident than ever – despite anti-Trump protests in the streets of London – that the far-right, populist forces of Trumpism are winning the day in Britain.

Pro-Brexit extremists like Boris Johnson, who Trump has already met during his visit, are on the verge of taking power in country and the Labour Party’s opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn, who Trump said he won’t meet with, appears to have a snowball’s chance in hell of winning any upcoming election.

(A Brief Update Here – Hours after this commentary was first posted this June 4th, there was news that Boris Johnson actually turned down an opportunity to meet face to face with Donald Trump, claiming that he had a Conservative leadership campaign to prepare for. The two talked on the phone for about 20 minutes instead. Hmm.) Continue reading →

“From tender fruits to vegetables, nuts, meats, etc., Niagara is a world leader in the production of someone the finest foods on the market.”                                                 – Niagara West MPP Sam Oosterhoff

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

Posted June 4^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

JORDAN STATION-Sam Oosterhoff, MPP for Niagara West is inviting everyone to celebrate Local Food Week from June 3-9, 2019. To kick off the week, the Ontario government has launched a new program to celebrate people and organizations across Ontario that promote local food.

The Local Food Champion program recognizes individuals, organizations and businesses who have demonstrated leadership in putting local food  on the tables of the people of Ontario.

“The Local Food Champion program is a celebration of our hardworking farmers, food processors and entrepreneurs who are committed to ensuring more local food is available for everyone in their community,” said Ernie Hardeman, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. Continue reading →

“Mr President, as we look to the future, I am confident that our common values and shared interests will continue to unite us.”- Queen Elizabeth to U.S. President Donald Trump, this June 3^rd, 2019

A Brief Commentary by Niagara At Large reporter and publisherDoug Draper

Posted June 3^rd, 2019 on Niagara At Large

I turned on the cable news on this unseasonably chilly June 3^rd Monday morning to mages of them standing there on the grounds of Buckingham Palace, to the sound of ‘God Save the Queen’ blaring in the background, like two aristocratic peas in a Brexit pod.

This June 3rd, Queen Elizabeth and her Royal family give U.S. President Donald Trump the full royal treatment

There they both were – she, the Queen of a fallen empire and he, the self-imagined king of one that is falling rapidly and, given how toxic it has become under his cudgel, possibly not rapidly enough for the peace and welfare of rest of the world.

And there was Prince Charles, standing there in the regal party like a waxen figure in a Tussauds museum – the long-suffering king in waiting who (I’m now almost embarrassed to admit) impressed me so many years ago for a heartfelt foreword he either wrote or had ghost written for a 1991 book of essays by eminent environmentalists and global thinkers called “Save the Earth.”

Trump marching along with a member of the palace guard while Prince Charles looks like he is trying to keep up.

Whether he wrote that foreword or not, there was Charles this June 3^rd, helping by his very presence to lather up the pomp for a U.S. president who could not run away from the Paris Climate Agreement his predecessor, Barack Obama, signed on to fast enough.

Yes, there the Prince was, with all of his years of paying lip-service to the environmental cause, greeting the arrival of a U.S. president who has done more since the first Earth Day, 49 years ago this spring, and then any of his predecessors in the White House combined to eviscerate his country’s once great Environmental Protection Agency and the clean air, water and land programs it was created to oversee. Continue reading →

Funding for Inter-Library Loan Program to Resume this June 1^st

A Brief News Commentary from Doug Draper, followed by Statements from Niagara West MPP Sam Oosterhoff and Ontario Library Services – South and North

Posted May 31st, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Ann McKibbon, a Wainfleet resident and professor emeritus at McMaster University’s medical school, was one of the book club members who had the police called on her at the constituency office of Niagara West MPP Sam Oosterhoff for protesting cuts to libraries. Her mother helped found the library in Wainfleet. Here, at the constituency office of Niagara Centre MPP Jeff Burch where members of the group met to discuss their experience at the Oosterhoff office, she is holding a book by Dr. Seuss. Oosterhoff quoted Dr. Seuss  earlier this May after he was out on the lawns of Queen’s Park, supporting an anti-abortion rally. Photo by Doug Draper

Of all of the many cuts Ontario Doug Ford ‘s self-described “Government for the People” has made to public services over its first 11 months – so many that it is getting harder and harder to keep track – few in recent weeks has received as much media attention as the funding cuts Ford and company have made to public libraries.

The publicity library cuts have received is in no small part due to the outrageous spectacle earlier this May of a group of mostly senior members of a Niagara-based book club staging what they called a “read-in” at the constituency office of Niagara West MPP and Ford government member Sam Oosterhoff, only to have police called on them.

Three police officers arrived to find the decidedly peaceful group of about 15 book club members standing around, each holding a book in their hands. To no one’s surprise, police concluded that the group had done “nothing wrong.” An apology was requested but about the most Oosterhoff would say in response is that the episode was “unfortunate” and could possibly have been handled differently.

Late this Friday, May 31^st afternoon, Oosterhoff issued a statement that at least some of the cuts to libraries, including inter-library loan services – have been rolled back. Continue reading →

A clean economy that works better for people

“It’s time to fight climate change like we actually want to win. But we also know that a plan that leaves workers or communities behind is no plan at all.” – Canada’s federal New Democrats

A Message from Canada’s New Democratic Party

Posted May 31^st, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh

Our plan to fight climate change will create at least 300,000 new jobs, save families money, and take on big polluters. The time for delay and denial is over – it’s time to act.

People across Canada are worried about the future. Flooding and forest fires are threatening our homes. Polluted air and water are hitting communities hard. And rising temperatures are threatening our farming and forestry industries. It’s clear there’s no time to waste. 

But wasting time is exactly what Justin Trudeau is doing. He talks a good game, but instead of getting results, he lets the biggest polluters off the hook.  Continue reading →

Scientists call for immediate action on biodiversity loss

“At a time when the Earth is losing species at 1,000 times the natural rate, it’s indefensible to leave the more than 230 species at risk twisting in the wind. The province of Ontario has a global obligation to protect biodiversity in the face of the key drivers of species loss – habitat destruction through industrial activity and development.”

A Woodland caribou. Photo courtesy of Paul Tessier and Ontario Nature.

News from Ontario Nature, a non-profict advocacy group for protecting and conserving Ontario’s natural heritage

Posted May 31^st, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Thunder Bay, Ontario — More than 75 scientists are calling on the Government of Ontario to do more to protect at-risk plants and animals.

As provincial decision-makers debate the future of species at risk today, scientists from Ontario and across North America are sounding the alarm about proposed changes to Ontario’s Endangered Species Act, 2007 (ESA).

Despite widespread public outcry, the changes, found in Schedule 5 of Bill 108, could become final as early as next Monday (this June 3rd) if they are passed during third reading. Continue reading →

The passage of this Ford government legislation would drive one of the last nails in the coffin for green spaces like Thundering Waters Forest in Niagara Falls and Waverly Woods in Fort Erie – both targets of unsustainable, smart-less, greed-driven urban growth – and ever more of our wetlands, woodlands and remaining natural heritage areas in Niagara

A Call-Out from the Green Party of Ontario

Posted May 31^st, 2019 on Niagara At Large

We all deserve a place to call home – people and wildlife.

But around the world, 1 million species face extinction due in large part to habitat loss.

In Ontario that includes the Algonquin Wolf, Boreal Caribou, Blanding’s Turtle, Golden Eagle, Butternut Tree and 230 others.

These images are making the rounds on social media as the Ford government moves forward with plans to pull the teeth out of Ontario’s Endangered Species Act on behalf of developers bent on paving over what is left of our natural heritage

BUT ANY DAY NOW, ONTARIO MPPS WILL VOTE ON BILL 108, GIVING BIG DEVELOPERS THE GREEN LIGHT FOR HABITAT DESTRUCTION. Continue reading →

The conversation about the Green New Deal in Canada is just beginning, but we know that it must create millions of jobs, fight injustice and inequality, and make our communities more liveable and safe.

How could this huge transition make life better in this country? These are the conversations we’re going to be having throughout the election period and in the months to come.

A Call-Out to All of Us from The Leap, a new organization dedicated to advancing systemic change in the face of our intersecting crises of climate change, inequality, and racism

Posted May 31st, 2019 on Niagara At Large

This June, The Leap is hitting the road to build a wave of popular support behind the Green New Deal in Canada.

Click on the screen immediately below to see and hear more –

Speakers in various cities include Maude Barlow, El Jones, Naomi Klein, Avi Lewis, Kanahus Manuel, Pam Palmater, David Suzuki, Ingrid Waldron, Harsha Walia, and more.

Continue reading →

Send Your Letter, Demanding a Real Climate Action Plan, to Canadian Environment Minister Catharine McKenna

“Canadians deserve better options (for addressing the climate crisis). And we’re running out of time to adopt them.” – Canada’s Green Party

A Call-Out from the Green Party of Canada

Posted May 30th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

This summer, for the first time in Canadian history, climate change will be a front-page issue. That’s because our momentous win (in a federal by-election) in Nanaimo-Ladysmith, British Columbia proved that Canadians want decisive climate action and real leadership.

BUT THE LIBERALS AREN’T LISTENING.

B.C NDP MP Kennedy Stewart and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May protesting Kinder Morgan tar sands pipe in 2018. The two were later arrested.

Their climate plan for Canada is a half-hearted, half-measure that won’t solve the climate crisis. Continue reading →

“We need to tax pollution, not people”, and “end subsidies for fossil fuels,.” – United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, this May 28^th, 2019 at the World Summit of the R20 Coalition, a UN-supported environmental organization, founded by former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres with one of the celebrated youth activists and climate crisis fighters in the world today, Swedish teen Greta Thunberg, who inspired young people around the globe this March to stage a student strike at their schools in a call to adults for climate action.

News from the United Nations on the Climate Crisis facing the World

Posted May 30^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

The idea that subsidizing fossil fuels is a way to improve people’s lives could not be more wrong, said UN chief Antonio Guterres in the Austrian capital, Vienna, because it means spending taxpayers’ money to “boost hurricanes, to spread droughts, to melt glaciers, to bleach corals: to destroy the world.” Continue reading →

Liz Benneian writes a letter to her Niagara MPP, Sam Oosterhoff, urging him to stand up for province’s endangered species

“The Ford government is falling in the polls and for good reason. People don’t want our natural resources gutted.”

– from an Open Letter to Niagara West MPP and Ford Government member Sam Oosterhoff from one of his constituents, Niagara resident and community activist Liz Benneian

An Open Letter sent to Niagara West MPP Sam Oosterhoff from Liz Benneian, a citizen activist and one of Oosterhoff’s constituents.

Posted May 299^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

An image from Ontario Nature, one of many groups pressing the Ford Government not to gut the province’s Endangered Species Act

I am a constituent who lives in Jordan Station who is asking you, for all the good it will do, to change the proposed Schedule 5 of the More Homes, More Choice Bill (108). There are many egregious parts to this Bill but the worst are the changes to the Endangered Species Act that will allow developers to pay to slay.

Do you realize that we have about 240 endangered species in Ontario already? More species are regularly being added to this list because our laws are already too weak to protect Ontario’s biodiversity.

This is not about saving the Blandings turtle or about bringing back the extirpated Karner Blue butterfly, it’s about devastating the already completely inadequate protections for this Provinces biodiversity which supports and sustains human life.

These images are making the rounds on social media as the Ford government moves forward with plans to pull the teeth out of Ontario’s Endangered Species Act on behalf of developers bent on paving over what is left of our natural heritage

The Ford government is falling in the polls and for good reason. People don’t want our natural resources gutted. Continue reading →

St. Catharines NDP MPP Jennie Stevens urges Ontario’s Ford Government to take action to prevent rent increases that would hurt large numbers of people

A News Release from the Constituency Office of St. Catharines NDP MPP Jennie Stevens

Posted May 29^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

St. Catharines MPP Jennie Stevens

St. Catharines NDP MPP Jennie Stevens stands up at Queens Park Wednesday morning, asking Ford’s Government to make necessary changes to prevent rent increases across the Niagara Region.

On Monday (May 27^th) a report was released, outlining the average monthly rental rates across Canada.

This report showed St. Catharines had moved up three spots, now making it the 9th most expensive city to rent in. The cost of a one bedroom rose 5.2 percent and the cost of a two bedroom rose 5 percent – well above what people’s wages rose by. Continue reading →

“We are really concerned about the impact of the $13.15 million (50.3%) reduction in funding for affordable housing programs over the next three years.  This shortfall is coming at a time when Niagara desperately needs affordable housing.”   – Niagara Regional Housing CEO Donna Woiceshyn

Niagara Regional Housing CEO Donna Woiceshyn

News from Niagara’s Regional Housing Board

Posted May 29^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

NRH Board Responds to Ontario Community Housing Renewal Strategy and Funding Shortfall

NIAGARA REGION – At its Board meeting on May 24, the Niagara Regional Housing (NRH) Board expressed concern that the Province has reduced funding for affordable housing programs in the new guidelines accompanying the Community Housing Renewal Strategy (CHRS) released earlier in the month. Continue reading →

“Dan’s leadership has provided an exceptional era at Niagara College and we look forward to the opportunities to express our appreciation in celebration of his accomplishments over the coming year.” – from a statement from Niagara College’s Board of Governors

A Statement  from Niagara College’s Board of Governors

Posted May 29^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Niagara College President Dan Patterson

Niagara, Ontario – President Dan Patterson, the dynamic, visionary and tireless leader of Niagara College, has advised the Board of Governors that he will conclude his tenure as president when his current term ends on June 30, 2020.

While he remains as passionate and energized about Niagara College as he was at the beginning of his presidency almost 25 years ago, Dan has indicated that he feels it is the right time to make a change, knowing the college is in a strong place and well positioned to meet the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead. Continue reading →

“This is just another example of Doug Ford dragging Ontario backwards. He’s prioritizing access to booze over access to books.”

A News Release from Ontario’s NDP and Official Opposition Party

Posted May 29^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

QUEEN’S PARK — Jill Andrew, MPP for Toronto-St. Paul’s and Ontario NDP Culture critic, was joined by library users and workers for a press conference today highlighting her motion calling on Doug Ford to reverse his library cuts.

Niagara Centre MPP Jeff Burch meets earlier this may with members of a Niagara are book club who had police called on them when they staged a “read-in” to protest cuts to public libraries at the constituency office of Niagara West MPP and Ford government member Sam Oosterhoff. Police concluded that the group had done nothing wrong, but an apology from Oosterhoff has not yet come.

Last month, Ontarians learned that the Ford Conservatives had cut funding to both the Ontario Library Service-North and the Southern Ontario Library Service by 50 per cent. Since then, layoffs have occurred at both library services.

“The heartbreaking impacts of Doug Ford’s cuts to libraries are already being felt,” said Andrew. Continue reading →

Greens Choose Michael Tomaino to run in Liberal-held Riding of Niagara Centre 

News from Canada’s Green Party

Posted May 29^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Michael Tomaino has been nominated to lead the Green Party in NiagaraCentre for the 2019 Federal Election.

Michael Tomaino grew up in Port Colborne, attended Notre Dame High School in Welland and graduated as a Pharmacist from the University of Toronto in 1991.  After university, Michael returned to Niagara to raise a family, once again calling Port Colborne his home.

Across Canada, from BC to PEI, we’ve seen the Green Wave surge. Thissame momentum is happening locally in Niagara, as issues of economic stability, clean air, water and land are top of mind. Continue reading →

‘The revelation about the Ford Conservatives ignoring requests for safe zones comes just weeks after PC MPP Sam Oosterhoff stood on the front lawn of Queen’s Park and vowed to make abortion “unthinkable in our lifetime.” Doug Ford refused to condemn Oosterhoff’s comments.’

A News Release from Ontario’s NDP and Official Opposition Party

Posted May 28th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Niagara West MPP Sam Oosterhoff’s recent declaration at an anti-abortion rally at Queen’s Park to make abortion “unthinkable in our lifetime” has raised questions among women about the future of their reproductive rights in Ontario. This in the backdrop of several U.S. states moving to make abortion all but totally illegal.

QUEEN’S PARK — Suze Morrison, Ontario NDP critic for Women’s Issues, is calling on Doug Ford’s Conservatives to approve applications for safe zones at abortion clinics without delay.

According to a news report, the Ford Conservatives have ignored a dozen requests from health facilities to establish safe zones. This flies in the face of legislation that introduced this right in order to protect women seeking abortions from harassment by anti-choice protestors.

“Women seeking abortion services should not be made to feel unsafe,” said Morrison. “That’s why it’s so important to respect the legislation that allows for safe zones — so women are not subjected to harassment and intimidation by anti-choice protestors. Continue reading →

A News Release from the Ontario Government 

Posted May 28^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large 

A Brief Foreword from Niagara At Large reporter and publisher Doug Draper – 

Kevin Strooband, the Lincoln County Humane Society’s executive director, with a friend

The following news from Ontario’s Ford government, that it is taking measures to ensure that “animals remain protected during the transition to an improved animal protection enforcement system” across the province, received a positive response from Kevin Strooband, executive director of the Lincoln County Humane Society in Niagara. 

“I am excited about this opportunity that we can continue to protect animals in our area,” said Strooband when contacted by Niagara At Large this May 27^th about news that the Ford government is introducing amendments to the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act that gives his humane society and others across the province that opportunity. 

Strooband, who recently received national honours from Humane Canada, the umbrella group for humane societies across the country, said the Ford government move shows that the provincial government recognizes that there are “robust and professional” humane societies in the province that can continue to do a responsible job of protecting animals. 

Now here is the News Release from Ontario’s Ford Government – 

This May 27^th, the government introduced amendments to the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (OSPCA) Act to ensure animals remain protected during the transition to an improved animal protection enforcement system. Continue reading →

“I promise to fight and advocate for the people of Niagara Falls, Niagara-on-the-Lake, and Fort Erie the same way I have advocated for them over the last six years (as a teacher, community activist and vice-president of the Elementary Teachers Association of Ontario Niagara).” – Federal NDP candidate Brian Barker

News from the Campaign to Elect Brian Barker, the federal NDP candidate in the Niagara Falls Riding

Posted May 28^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

(A Brief Foreword from Niagara At Large reporter and publisher Doug Draper – As we approach this coming October 21^st federal election in Canada, Niagara At Large will continue to post news that comes our way from all of the parties running candidates in the Niagara area.

You can also look forward to Niagara At Large running our own news and commentary on the issues at play and what is at stake in this federal election.)

Niagara Falls Riding federal NDP candidate Brian Barker

NIAGARA FALLS, Ontario –Brian Barker, the NDP’s candidate for the Niagara Falls Riding in the 2019 federal election, has been endorsed by two labour organizations, ETFO Niagara and Workers United.

Barker was endorsed by Workers United, the union representing striking workers at the Rainforest Café, on Tuesday, May 14th, the day after Barker received his party’s nomination. Workers United represents 10,000 workers across Canada, and 100,000 more across the United States in various sectors.

“Workers United Canada Council is proud to endorse Brian Barker, federal NDP candidate for the riding of Niagara Falls”, the union said in a statement over social media on the 14th.

“Brian is a teacher, a dedicated trade unionist, and major supporter of the Rainforest Cafe workers on strike.” Continue reading →

Ford’s Cuts to Municipal Services Were On for 2019. Now They Are Off, He Says, Until Next Year. Where is Ford Taking Us Next on this Bumper Car Ride? And is This Any Way to Run a Province?

“It is a relief that it is not happening this year,” says Niagara Regional Chair Jim Bradley, adding that vigilance remains in order.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford Suddenly puts the brakes on some controversial service cuts that threaten to hit municipalities hard

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

Posted May 27^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

With municipalities across Ontario rising up against him and his popularity among Ontarians cratering to historic lows for any premier in his first year of office, Doug Ford announced this May 27^th that his government is at least temporarily reversing cuts it was imposing this year to child care, public health care and ambulance and a number of other services delivered by municipalities across the province.

“We’re a government that listens,” Ford insisted during a brief scrum with Queen’s Park reporters after announcing that his self-described “Government for the People” would hold back on the controversial cuts. “We’re going to give the mayors (across the province) more time. We are going to work with them.” Continue reading →

Ford’s More Homes, More Choice Act will reduce homes for wildlife, and reduce choice for municipalities

Municipalities push back against Ontario’s Bill 108

News from the David Suzuki Foundation, Earthroots and Ontario Nature

Posted May 27^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

The Barn swallow is only one of numerous endangered species in Ontario that could suffer serious losses in habitat if Ford’s plans movement forward. Photo courtesy of Ontario Nature

TORONTO — The Government of Ontario is coming under fire from municipalities throughout the province for an omnibus bill that threatens to open up critical wildlife habitat to developers.

With just a few days left until Bill 108, the More Homes, More Choice Act, reaches third reading in the Legislature, several municipalities are voicing opposition to Schedule 5 of the bill, which would drastically reduce protective measures in the Endangered Species Act, 2007.

The municipalities of York, Muskoka Lakes, Oakville, Aurora, Archipelago and Lennox-Addington have voiced their opposition to the bill, which would also reduce municipal planning oversight. Several other municipalities and townships will be considering similar motions this week. Continue reading →

Celebrity Scientist Bill Nye’s viral video mocks Critics of Carbon Pricing

‘Ontario’s Auditor General came out recently and said the (Ford government’s anti-carbon tax) ads would never have passed an independent review] for advertising standards because they neglect to “include all the relevant facts.”’

News from Canadians for Tax Fairness, a non-profit public advocacy organization based in Ottawa, Ontario

Posted May 27th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Ontario Premier Doug Ford slamming four-to-five cent per litre price on carbon pollution – what Ford and his cronies call a  “carbon tax” – that the federal government has put on gasoline.  as one way to address the climate emergency peoples around the globe are facing.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s anti-carbon tax campaign  is coming under fire from pundits of all political stripes.

The PCs launched their anti-tax crusade last month to protest the federal government’s carbon pricing system.

Highlights of the campaign have so far included television commercials and mandatory stickers at gas pumps falsely claiming the pricing measures will hurt Canadians despite non-partisan studies that have indicated otherwise.

Ontario’s Auditor General came out recently and said the ads would never have passed an independent review] for advertising standards because they neglect to “include all the relevant facts.” The AG also came down on the PCs for using the ads to criticize another level of government while presenting their own in a positive light. Continue reading →

In first eleven months as Ontario Premier, Doug Ford already enjoys  less public support than the Liberal’s Kathleen Wynne did at end of her five-year tenure

Doug Ford is almost making Kathleen Wynne look good now

“Premier Doug Ford is so unpopular he’s got to look up to see former premier Kathleen Wynne’s approval rating, a Mainstreet Research poll finds.” – from a May 24^th story in The Ottawa Sun

A News Release from Mainstream Research, a national polling firm in Canada

Posted May 25^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

FORD PC SUPPORT COLLAPSES, WHILE LIBERAL VOTERS PREFER TORY AS THEIR LEADER – MAINSTREAM RESARCH

Ontario Premier Doug Ford already cratering in the polls. Can the people of Ontario and the services they need take three more years of this premier and his “government for the people”?

Ottawa, Ontario – The governing Progressive Conservatives have slid to third, Premier Doug Ford’s favourability ratings have now fallen below those of Kathleen Wynne’s at the end of her tenure, while Liberal voters say that John Tory is their most preferred choice to lead the Ontario Liberal Party.

Those are the findings from Mainstreet Research’s latest Ontario survey. The poll surveyed 996 Ontarians between May 21st to 22nd, 2019. The poll has a margin of error of +/- 3.1% and is accurate 19 times out of 20.

“More and more Ontarians are turning away from Doug Ford as his support is collapsing,” said Quito Maggi, President and CEO of Mainstreet Research. “We have never seen an imcumbent premier reach these depths in popular opinion with barely a year into his mandate.” Continue reading →

St. Catharines Mayor and Niagara Regional Housing board chair Walter Sendzik

“Addressing the need for affordable housing is one of the most critical priorities for Niagara Region, as it is for communities across the country.”                                                                                     – St. Catharines Mayor and NRH Board Chair Walter Sendzik

News from Niagara Regional Housing in Niagara, Ontario

Posted May 25th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

NIAGARA REGION in Niagara, Ontario – Niagara Regional Housing (NRH) joined Chris Bittle, MP for St. Catharines, the Honourable Steve Clark, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Jennie Stevens, MPP for St. Catharines, Niagara Regional Chair Jim Bradley and St. Catharines Mayor Walter Sendzik to celebrate the completion and grand opening of their new affordable housing building.

Located at 527 Carlton Street in St. Catharines, the building was built with a combination of federal and provincial Investment in Affordable Housing program funding, municipal grants and the NRH reserve.  The Investment in Affordable Housing program encourages intensification of building sites to maximize the use of funding when it becomes available for new development. With this knowledge, NRH decided on a five-story building with 85 units, 13 of which are accessible.   Continue reading →

Niagara Centre MP Vance Badawey

“By working together with local community leaders such as the Hendersons (owners and operators of Henderson’s Pharmacy in Thorold), our government has been able to help kick-start the economy and create full-time, quality jobs in Niagara.”                             – Niagara Centre’s  Liberal government MP Vance Badawey

A News Release from the Constituency Office of Niagara Centre MP Vance Badawey

Posted May 25^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Henderson’s Pharmacy has been a locally owned business institution in Thorold, Niagara’s downtown for generations – a real survivor on online shopping and corporate chain store competition thanks to great staff and service to a large and loyal customer base. File photo by Doug Draper

Thorold, Ontario – When the middle class has more money in their pockets to save, invest, and grow the economy, we all benefit.  New numbers show that the Government of Canada’s plan for the economy is working.

This May 24th, Vance Badawey, Member of Parliament for Niagara Centre, visited Henderson’s Pharmacy in Thorold to celebrate the 80 years of contributions the Henderson family and their staff have made to the community.

Since 1939, the Henderson team has enthusiastically served residents, and has established a strong standing in the community for its many achievements in business and philanthropy. MP Badawey hailed the entire Henderson team as a shining example of a local small business continuing to thrive while improving the health and quality of life for Niagara residents. Continue reading →

Niagara Falls MPP Wayne Gates in Ontario legislature. file photo

“This is the biggest crisis facing us in our lifetime. Make no mistake about it. And do you know who gets it? Our kids get it. Our grandkids get it. … Do not allow old, white politicians to destroy our planet. That has to stop.”                                                     – from comments Niagara Falls NDP MPP Wayne Gates made earlier this May, 2019 in the Queen’s Park legislature in Toronto, Ontario

Posted May 24^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

A Brief Foreword from Niagara At Large reporter and publisher Doug Draper –

This May 13^th, following a motion tabled by Ontario’s NDP Official Opposition Party’s to join other regions around the world, including cities like St. Catharines and Hamilton that have already done it, and provinces, states and entire nations, and declare a “climate emergency” in Ontario, one of the party’s members, Wayne Gates of Niagara Falls, delivered some passionate words on the subject that Niagara At Large would like to share with our readers here.

Gates was particularly strong in his plea to people his age and older to start showing more concern in the climate crisis confronting us – the kind of concern he says he sees and hears when he meets and talks to young people in his Niagara Falls riding and other parts of the province. Continue reading →

“We again call on the Government of Ontario to defer the implementation of these funding cuts so that the Province and cities can work together on how to minimize the impact on the people we all represent, and the services they depend on.”

– from a statement released this May 24^th by Municipal Mayors Caucus

A Statement from Mayor Cam Guthrie, Chair of LUMCO, and LUMCO Mayors, including St. Catharines Mayor Walter Sendzik

Posted May 24th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Today (Friday, May 24^th), following a meeting of the Large Urban Mayors’ Caucus of Ontario (LUMCO), LUMCO Chair and Mayor of Guelph Cam Guthrie released the following statement:

This May, the City of Toronto launched a more public and province wide campaign to stop the Ford cuts to municipalities. Toronto Mayor John Tory had this to say about the campaign on social media – John Tory
‏
Verified account
@JohnTory
May 22
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Today, we’re announcing our next step in urging the province to stop the damaging, retroactive cuts to child care, public health, transit & EMS. We’ve launched a petition where residents can endorse Council’s opposition to these cuts & add their voice: http://toronto.ca/stopthecuts

“Big-city mayors from across Ontario continue to be alarmed about the Province’s unilateral, retroactive cuts to municipal funding after cities have already passed our budgets. We are also united in concern about Bill 108, which could put at risk cities’ finances and ability to provide parkland, community facilities, and well-planned neighbourhoods.

We understand the fiscal position the Government of Ontario is in, and we want to be a partner in its efforts to get its budget deficit and debt under control. We appreciate that Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Steve Clark attended our meeting today to speak with LUMCO mayors about municipal financial sustainability and Bill 108.

We again call on the Government of Ontario to defer the implementation of these funding cuts so that the Province and cities can work together on how to minimize the impact on the people we all represent, and the services they depend on. Continue reading →

Niagara West MPP Sam Oosterhoff has been asked for apology for call to police over seniors protesting public library cuts at his Niagara constituency office.

“At the very least the Premier should send a signal to women by booting him out of his caucus.” – Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) President Warren (Smokey) Thomas, responding to Oosterhoff’s anti-abortion stance

A News Release from the Ontario Public Service Employees Union

Posted May 23^rd, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Toronto –  OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas says Niagara West MPP Sam Oosterhoff’s beliefs concerning women’s rights are unacceptable and Ontario’s youngest ever MPP is not fit to serve in the legislature.

OPSEU President Warren ‘Smokey’ Thomas

“If there was ever an argument to have a mechanism to recall politicians in Ontario, Oosterhoff is a perfect example,” said Thomas.  “But at the very least the Premier should send a signal to women by booting him out of his caucus.”

Oosterhoff recently issued a chilling threat to the right of women to control their own bodies by saying he wants to make abortion “unthinkable in our lifetime.”  Earlier this month Oosterhoff brushed by a group of concerned citizens who came out to a public constituency meeting to ask the rookie MPP about his views. Continue reading →

Since its inception in 2014, Brock has handed out the $2,500 entrance scholarships to nearly 300 students.

News from Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario

Posted May 23rd, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Niagara, Ontario – It was a celebration of Niagara’s future.

For the fifth year in a row, but in a new format on campus, Brock University handed out more than $125,000 in entrance scholarships to graduating secondary school students from across the region Wednesday night.

More than 50 graduating secondary school students from across Niagara were presented with first-year entrance scholarships to Brock University during a ceremony Wednesday, May 22

Selected based on a combination of academic achievements, involvement in school and the community, as well as financial need, the Niagara Principal’s Awards were given to 58 students representing 29 public, Catholic and private schools. Continue reading →

Ford Cuts make “no economic Sense” and could lead to higher risk of illness and death, open letter says

The Full Letter from the Former Health Ministers is posted below

A Brief Foreword from Doug Draper

Posted May 23^rd, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Ontario’s slash and burn premier, Doug Ford, and one of his willing enablers, Health Minister Christine Elliott, like two peas in a pod in the provincial legislature

The cutting and gutting of health services by Ontario’s Ford government – not yet a year in power after someone winning a majority with well less than half the popular vote – have been week-after-week relentless, and they just keep coming.

What is more disturbing is that the Ontario’s premier, Doug Ford, and his ever so willing enabler, Health Minister Christine Elliott, often come across in look and manner as if they are getting some self-satisfying rush out of taking an axe to budgets that compromise health services vital to children, to seniors and to countless thousands of people in between. Continue reading →

“Respected for his knowledge and commitment throughout the policing community.”

A News Release form Ontario’s Niagara Parks Commission

Posted May 23rd, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Ontario Park’s new Police Chief, Paul Forcier

Niagara Falls, Ontario – The Niagara Parks Commission is pleased to announce the appointment and promotion of Paul Forcier, a thirty-year veteran of the Niagara Parks Police Service (NPPS), as its newest Chief of Police.

Born and raised in Niagara Falls, Paul Forcier’s interest and commitment to a career in policing began in 1988, following his completion of the Niagara College Law and Security Program and his hiring as a full-time officer with the NPPS, at just 21 years of age. By 1995, Forcier would be promoted to the rank of Sergeant and then Staff Sergeant in 2000. Continue reading →

The Curtains Are  Finally Closing In On                     Captive Marine Mammal Exhibits in Canada

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

Posted May 22nd, 2019 on Niagara At Large

The opening day of Marineland’s 58^th season came and went this May 18^th with the usual gathering of animal welfare activists demonstrating along a narrow stretch of land between the main road and a fence in front of the sprawling Niagara Falls, Ontario amusement park.

Missing from the mix on this opening day was John Holer, the man who founded Marineland and built it into one of Niagara Falls’ top tourist draws by the 1970s and 80s.

A year ago this May on, John Holer was reported to have been seen on the other side of the fence from the demonstrators on opening day, staring them down as he drove his SUV through Marineland’s parking lot. A month later he died at age 83.

Animal welfare activists demonstrating this May 18th, on opening day in front of Marineland in Niagara Falls, Ontario

The amusement park has continued without him, however, and a news release it issued the day following the May 18^th opening that boasted about the “huge crowd” of visitors flowing through its gates that “dwarf(ed)” the “small group of annual demonstrators.” Continue reading →

“For many seniors in my riding on a fixed income, it is hard for them to access affordable programs and services.”                            – Sam Oosterhoff, MPP for Niagara West.

News from the Constituency Office of Niagara West MPP Sam Oosterhoff 

Posted May 22^nd, 2019 on Niagara At Large 

Niagara West MPP Sam Oosterhoff

PELHAM in Niagara, Ontario  – Seniors in Ontario want to remain healthy, active and socially connected within their own communities. Seniors deserve to be engaged with and to live independently with dignity in their homes for as long as they can. 

“For many seniors in my riding on a fixed income, it is hard for them to access affordable programs and services,” said Sam Oosterhoff, MPP for Niagara West. “That is why we are announcing funding for projects that will provide local supports and services for seniors.” 

The Seniors Community Grant Program<https://www.ontario.ca/page/information-seniors-organizations#section-2> will invest up to $3 million in grants to partner with non- profit community organizations and municipalities across the province to co-ordinate and deliver local supports and programs to seniors in Niagara. Continue reading →

Niagara Centre MPP Jeff Burch

“Only Doug Ford would cut billions from municipalities and school boards, then spend millions more hiring private consultants to justify those cuts.”                             – Niagara Centre MPP Jeff Burch

News from the Constituency Office of Niagara Centre NDP MPP Jeff Burch

Posted May 21^st, 2019 on Niagara At Large

WELLAND— NDP Official Opposition Municipal Affairs critic Jeff Burch released the following statement regarding Doug Ford’s latest scheme to use $7.35 million in public money to have private consultants conduct municipal audits:

Ontario Premier  Doug Ford, and his government continue to download countless mllions of dollars in “Ford Taxes” on municipalities as he axes services at provincial level.

“Only Doug Ford would cut billions from municipalities and school boards, then spend millions more hiring private consultants to justify those cuts.

Ford’s plan to hire consultant auditors is nothing more than a publicity stunt, and a waste of money – especially since they’re just to re-doing work already done by each municipality’s auditors. Continue reading →

Ontaro NDP and Official Opposition Leader Andrea Horwath

Everyone is Invited. Whether you voted for Andrea Horwath or Not, this Town Hall is a good way to get engaged. All of Our Services, from Health Care to Education and Environmental Protection. Are at stake!

A Call-Out to All from Ontario’s NDP Official Opposition Party

Posted May 20^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

A Brief Note from NAL publisher Doug Draper – 

The Town Hall, hosted by NDP Official Opposition Pary Andrea Horwath and Niagara area NPD MPPs Jennie Stevens, Jeff Burch and Wayne Gates, will take place at the Best Western Hotel and Conference Centre on North Service Road (click on a link for a map below) in St. Catharines,  from 6:30 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, May 23^rd, 2019.

This Town Hall is a good chance for all of us to share our questions and concerns with a political leader in Ontario who is in one of the best positions to stand up to Ontario Premier Doug Ford and his Tories as they work to dismantle key services and rules and regulations for protecting the health and welfare of our communities, our environment and people who live and work in this province. Continue reading →

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres

“We need to tax pollution, not people. …Taxpayer money should not be used to boost hurricanes, spread drought and heatwaves, melt glaciers and bleach corals. We need a green economy, not a grey economy”  – United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres

News from the United Nations

Posted May 20^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Concluding a week-long visit to the South Pacific, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called on the world’s decision-makers (this May 18^th) to make “enlightened” choices on climate action because “the whole planet” is at stake. 

“Over the past week, I have witnessed first-hand the impacts of climate change in the Pacific Island States”, the UN chief said in a statement concluding his visit to the region. “They contribute very little to the global climate emergency and yet, they are the ones that are being most affected”.  

He did not mince words in saying that for some of them, “climate change is now an existential threat”.

Pointing out that entire villages are being relocated, livelihoods destroyed and people becoming sick from climate-related diseases, Mr. Guterres lamented: “The risks are all too real”.

He drew attention to his time in Tuvalu, where he saw “an entire country fighting to preserve its very existence”.   Continue reading →

Thanks to this iconic Canadian band for all of the     ‘Fine Mornings’ and ‘Sunny Days’ it has gifted us

A Brief Commentary by Doug Draper

Posted May 19^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Fifty years ago this May, as I was reminded this fine morning by another Canadian institution, CBC Radio’s Sunday Morning host Michael Enright, a band that would soon become another Canadian institution took the stage at a Toronto, Ontario music venue called the Rock Pile to make its performing debut.

The band, called Lighthouse and made up of a line-up of horn and string musicians built around a more generic four-piece rock band and lead singer, was introduced that night by non other than one of the most legendary musicians, composers and band leaders in jazz, Duke Ellington, who ended his intro with a play on lyrics from one of his own classic songs; “I am beginning to see the light … house.”

From left, Duke Ellington, one of the towering figures of jazz music, with Lighthouse co-founders Skip Prokop and Paul Hoffert in May, 1969, when the ban performed live, for the first time, at a club in Toronto, Ontario. How cool is that!

Lighthouse was fronted by the late great drummer Skip Prokop, keyboardist Paul Hoffert and guitarist Ralph Cole, and featuring a huge cast of great musicians  from the late singer Bob McBride (whose voice can be heard on such hits as ‘One Fine Morning’ and ‘Hats Off To The Stranger’, and sax players Keith Jollimore, Steve Kennedy (both of whom went on to play with another hot Canadian band, Dr. Music of ‘Sun Goes By’ fame) and Howard Shore,  who went on to front one of the earlier  the Saturday Night Live bands  and later became a three-time Academy Award winner for the music he produced for the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Lighthouse always could fill a stage. Read more about the band’s history below.

Continue reading →

Ed Smith, a St. Catharines citizen activist and retired Canadian Armed Forces officer who spent the past four years demanding openness and accountability from the old NPCA board, will now take a seat on the new board.

One of the Appointees is St. Catharines citizen Ed Smith, who defeated a lawsuit filed against him over the past four years by the old Bruce Timms/Sandy Annunziata board of the Conservation Authority

Smtih was sued after airing a list of questions and concerns about the way the NPCA’s last boards and mangers were doing business with millions of our tax dollars

A News Release from the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority

Posted May 17^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

The Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority (NPCA) welcomes four new members to its Board of Directors, following a Niagara regional council decision this May 16th.

The newly appointed Board members are Bruce MacKenzie from Town of Grimsby, Ed Smith from City of St. Catharines, Leah Feor from Town of Fort Erie, and John Ingrao from City of Welland. They will replace outgoing members and Councillors Jeff Jordan, Brian Heit, Tom Insinna, and Pat Chiocchio.

Four new Niagara citizen appointees from St. Catharines, Welland, Fort Erie and Grimsby will soon be sitting on the NPCA board.

“We are extremely grateful to the outgoing members for their commitment and dedication to the NPCA since their appointment at the beginning of this term,” says Dave Bylsma, NPCA Board Chair. Continue reading →

“This is excellent news for steel and manufacturers in Niagara Centre, and across Canada. …”It was extremely stressful for steel producers, manufacturers, workers, and for families. This is a big win for everyone, having tariffs lifted, with no quotas attached.” – Niagara Centre MP Vance Badawey

A News Release from the Constituency Office of Niagara Centre MPP Vance Badawey

Posted May 17^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Niagara Centre MP Vance Badawey

Welland, Ontario – Niagara Centre MP Vance Badawey is thrilled this (May 17^th) afternoon, after almost a year of tariffs applied to Canadian steel and aluminum are cancelled.

“This is excellent news for steel and manufacturers in Niagara Centre, and across Canada,” Badawey said after receiving word from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Hamilton this afternoon.

Trudeau was in Hamilton to make the announcement. Standing strong was what Canadians expected of his government, he said, and “that’s what we did. This was a real Team Canada effort.”

“This was top of mind for me, for all of us, this past year,” Badawey said. “It was extremely stressful for steel producers, manufacturers, workers, and for families. This is a big win for everyone, having tariffs lifted, with no quotas attached.” Continue reading →

Former Media Baron Conrad Black, whose Hollinger corporation holdings once included The St. Catharines Standard, receives full pardon from Donald Trump for decade old convictions in U.S.

A Commentary by Doug Draper

Posted May 17th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

“Dear Doug, Nothing is ever really lost, even if it disappears temporarily. One just has to keep bouncing back until sanity prevails.

“No one can work backwards into the future. You make a very special difference in the lives of those around you. Please don’t lose hear, Doug. Lynne.”

During Doug Draper’s years as an environment reporter at The St. Catharines Standard. When Conrad Black’s Hollinger corporation took ownership of The Standard and dozen of other daily newspapers across Canada, the environment beat disappeared at most, if not all of them, as newsrooms were hollowed out to fatten profit margins.

I received that nice note from a very nice lady named Lynne Matthews who was president of the Glenridge Landfill Citizens Committee, a community group in south St Catharines that played a strong role in shutting down the city’s dysfunctioning Glenridge Landfill site on the crest on the Niagara Escarpment and having it transformed into the naturalized park that it is today.

Lynne, who died in 2005 and had her name deservingly placed on what is now the Glenridge Quarry Naturalization Site for the role she played in this now popular recreational area’s creation, sent me the note after Conrad Black and his then giant Hollinger media corporation assumed ownership of The St. Catharines Standard, where I worked at the time, and dozens of other newspapers across Canada. Continue reading →

“Since Doug Ford tabled his budget (early this past April), municipalities throughout Ontario have been hit with cut after cut. Now, cities are forced to choose between making deep cuts to municipal services or increasing taxes on families… One way or another, people throughout the province are paying big for Ford’s cuts.” – Ontario NDP and Official Opposition Leader Andrea Horwath

A Brief Foreword by Doug Draper

Posted May 17^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

How real is Premier Doug Ford’s repeated claim to Ontario residents that he is “putting money back in our pockets.”

Since Ontario Premier Doug Ford and his self-described “Government for the People” tabled their first major provincial budget early this past April, their self-serving propaganda service called Ontario News has been issuing one news release after another talking about how the government has made cuts to services to put money back in the pockets of those of us who live across the province.

But how much, if any, money that Ford and company cut from budgets at the provincial level is really going to go into our pockets?

What if the services being cut at the provincial level are simply being downloaded to towns and cities at the municipal level, then passed on to home and business owners through property taxes? That is, of course, unless municipal councillors want to be the bad guys and cut the services altogether. Continue reading →

“Speaker, I want to apologize. The member (Niagara West MPP Sam Oosterhoff) had a chance to apologize on behalf of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario for the way they were treated.” – Niagara Centre MPP Jeff Burch, from a statement he made in the Ontario legislature this past Tuesday, May 14th

Members of a Niagara area book club at the Welland constituency office of Niagara Centre NDP MPP Jeff Burch last 10th, discussing how the police were called on them while they protested Ford government cuts to public libraries at the Beamsville constituency office of Niagara West MPP and ford government member Sam Oosterhoff earlier in the week. Photo by Doug Draper

A Brief News Commentary by Doug Draper

Niagara West MPP Sam Oosterhoff has been asked for apology for call to police over seniors protesting public library cuts at his Niagara constituency office.

Posted May 16th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

More than a week has passed since staffers in the Beamsville constituency office of Niagara West MPP and Ford government member Sam Oosterhoff called the police on a group of about 15 seniors and book club members from across the region who had come to Oosterhoff’s office to hold what they called a “read-in” to protest recent funding cuts Ford, Oosterhoff and company are making to Ontario’s public libraries. Continue reading →

Old Storybook Tells Tale Of Children’s Concern For Caribou  

Students Created The Book To Express Their Fear That Coastal Caribou Could Disappear

A News Release from Ontario Nature, a province-wide advocacy group for protecting and preserving Ontario’s natural heritage

Posted May 17, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Thunder Bay, Ontario – The Recent Discovery Of A Children’s Storybook About Saving Caribou Shows That Fear For The Animal’s Future Is Not New.

A Woodland caribou. Photo courtesy of Paul Tessier and Ontario Nature.

Nearly 20 Years Ago, Elementary Students At Schreiber Public School Wrote The Book To Voice Their Concern That Caribou On The Slate Islands Off The Northern Coast Of Lake Superior Could Disappear.

Mirabai Alexander Was One Of Those Students. Growing Up In Rossport, And Now An Ecologist Working For A Conservation Organization In Thunder Bay, She Reflects On A Time When There Were More Than One Hundred Caribou Estimated To Live On The Slate Islands. Continue reading →

“As three young owners who have come up through the ranks in the restoration and construction industry, we understand the importance of earning enough to get by.” –  ServiceMaster Restore of Niagara co-owner Justin Callon

News from the Niagara Poverty Reduction Network

Posted May 15th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

The Niagara Poverty Reduction Network is pleased to announce that ServiceMaster Restore of Niagara <https://www.svmrestore-stcatharines.ca/> has become a certified living wage employer.

ServiceMaster Restore of Niagara now certified as a “Living Wage Employer in the Niagara region.
Photo courtesy of the Niagara Poverty Reduction Network.

ServiceMaster Restore of Niagara is a full service restoration company that provides property owners and insurance companies with the highest quality emergency restoration services. They have been serving the Niagara region for over 50 years. Continue reading →