Author Archives: dougdraper

At The Very Least, An Official Letter of Apology to the Town of Pelham Is  In Order

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

Posted December 1^st, 2017 on Niagara At Large

I was driving along Lafayette Street in Buffalo, New York a few weeks ago – past some of the most beautiful homes you could ever imagine being built during the early decades of the last century – when I notice the car in front of me sporting a bumper sticker that read; ‘If you aren’t outraged, you aren’t paying attention!”

Yes, that’s what it read – “If you aren’t outraged, you aren’t paying attention!” – a message that seemed completely out of place in this idyllic old neighbourhood where it seemed to me, there was little, if anything, to be outraged about.

Sad to say, it is a message that rings all too loudly in certain settings back here in Niagara, Ontario, including one I attended this past November 29^th in Pelham, where the town’s council held a “special meeting” in a high school cafeteria packed with some 300 people. Continue reading →

A News Release from Niagara Health, Niagara, Ontario’s amalgamated system for hospital services

Posted November 30^th, 2017 on Niagara At Large

Niagara, Ontario – Niagara Health is pleased to share that the latest health system report measuring hospital performance across Canada shows we are a top performer in several areas.

Niagara Health’s St. Catharines area hospital site. File photo by Doug Draper

The Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) Your Health System 2016/17 report shows Niagara Health is a top performer – in the top 10 percent in Canada for at least the last three consecutive years – in four performance indicators:

• Obstetrical injury to the mother during instrument-assisted vaginal deliveries
• Readmissions to hospital for all patient types (medical, surgical, obstetrical and pediatrics)
• Percentage of residents whose condition did not worsen related to assistance with walking and other movement
• Number of long-term care residents whose mood from symptoms of depression worsened

Continue reading →

 “If you’re one of 13 million Americans to lose your healthcare coverage, and the millions more who will see their premiums explode because Congressional Republicans needed another $300 billion for their deficit-exploding corporate tax cuts, you’ll be taking a big hit on top of a big tax cut.” – U.S. Congressman Brian Higgins, representing Buffalo and other regions of Western New York

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

Posted November 30th, 2017 on Niagara At Large

As GOP leaders speed closer to passing tax legislation, Congressman Brian Higgins (NY-26) warned of the impact the bill will have on higher education and healthcare in America:

To access video of Higgins, speaking on the bill,  click on:

From Democratic Congressman Higgin’s address in Congress on the Republican Brian Higgins – Continue reading →

Find Out More In A Special Talk At Brock University – Wednesday, December 6th at Noon

An Invite from Brock University in St. Catharines/Niagara

Posted November 30th, 2017 on Niagara At Large

The Dec. 6, 1989 École Polytechnique massacre changed the conversation around violence against women, and led to the creation of Brock University’s Centre for Women’s and Gender Studies.

Brock University Assistant Professor Robyn Bourgeois, Robyn Bourgeois, an indigenous woman who was a victim of violence as a teenager, will deliver the Talk. Photo courtesy of Brock University

But Brock Assistant Professor Robyn Bourgeois, an indigenous woman who was a victim of violence as a teenager, says that despite nearly three decades of activism, violence against women is still very much a reality.

“While we certainly have more social awareness and, more importantly, more resources for those experiencing violence than we did in 1989, we still have a long way to go in Canada to achieve the goal of ending violence against women and girls,” says Bourgeois, also known by her indigenous spirit name Laughing Otter Caring Woman.

Two years after the mass shooting that killed 14 women, Dec. 6 was named the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women in Canada. Continue reading →

Plan Says Greenfield Can House 80,000!

“Most of the lands (targeted for sprawling development)  are drained by Twenty Mile Creek which flows through Smithville and Balls Falls to Jordan Harbour.”

News from Citizens At City Hall, a Hamilton Watchdog Group

Posted November 30^th, 2017 on Niagara At Large

The city’s newest expansion onto rural lands will accommodate three times the population of Dundas and consume more area than the aerotropolis. The next step in the controversial Elfrida Growth Plan is to gather public views on how much natural area should be protected for the headwaters of four streams.

Three options for watershed management will be presented at a public meeting on Wednesday December 6 at Valley Park recreation centre starting at 6:30pm. The 3100 acre L-shaped block lies east and south of the intersection of Upper Centennial and Rymal Road. It extends from Trinity Church Road to Second Road East and from Mud Street to Golf Club Road in upper Stoney Creek. Altogether it&rsquo ;s equal to about half of the built-up area on Hamilton Mountain.

Most of the lands are drained by Twenty Mile Creek which flows through Smithville and Balls Falls to Jordan Harbour. There’s also a substantial block of headwaters for Stoney Creek and smaller portions of the upper reaches of Hannon Creek and Davis Creek that both feed Red Hill Creek. Continue reading →

Patrick Brown and the Ontario PCs will make life more affordable for families by lowering hydro bills by an additional 12 per cent

A News Release from Ontario’s Progressive Conservative Party

Posted November 30^th, 2017 on Niagara At Large

This November 29^th, in neighbouring Burlington, Ontario, the Province’s PC Leader Patrick Brown  laid out the Ontario PC plan to lower the average hydro bill by an additional 12%. This would save the average household $173 a year on their hydro bill.

“Under Kathleen Wynne’s watch, families are struggling to pay their hydro bills,” said Brown. “We need to do better on hydro. Ontario families need a hydro bill they can afford. The Ontario PCs will deliver much-needed hydro relief to families by lowering the average hydro bill by an additional 12%.”

Hydro rates have tripled under Kathleen Wynne and the Liberals. Families pay $1,000 more today than they did when the Liberals took office. Continue reading →

So what was all  the condemnation of the Pelham mayor and his council at Niagara’s regional government level all about?

A Brief News Commentary from Doug Draper, reporter/publisher, Niagara At Large

Posted November 29th, 2017 on Niagara At Large

Niagara, Ontario – To listen to David Barrick and other members of the Caslin cabal on Niagara’s regional council all these months, you would think that the Town of Pelham was a fiscal time bomb ready to go off with such force, it might take the rest of Niagara – and most surely the credit rating it needs to carry on healthy business – with it.

Looking for this in the Town of Pelham’s books? The Canadian accounting firm KPMG’s independent audit of those books says it isn’t there. What does that say for those at Niagara’s regional council who spent months charging that it very likely is?

So you better believe I went out to the special meeting Pelham Mayor Dave Augustyn and his council held on the evening of this November 29th, where representatives for the Canada-wide financial firm KPMG were unveiling the results of an independent audit they were hired to do on the town’s books, to find out how big this fiscal bomb might be and when it might go off.

The only thing is that by the end of the KPMG presentation and a follow-up report by Pelham’s treasurer, there is no bomb – no unreported $17-million dollar debt, no legal hanky panky around a parkland dedication or anything else about dollars spent on development in the east end of the Pelham community of Fonthill that justified alarms going off over in Caslin land. Continue reading →

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

Posted November 28th,  2017  on Niagara At Large

Niagara, Ontario  – There’s a new role at St. Catharines City Hall to help guide large investments and major developments all the way from blueprints to ribbon cuttings. 

The City hired Margaret Josipovic as project expeditor to support businesses and investors with expansions, new developments and other investments in St. Catharines.

A few blocks of St. Catharines’ downtown streetscape, under construction and made more pedestrian friendly this past summer.

  “We’ve made great strides to improve our processes to support the building community and move developments along,” said Jim Riddell, the City’s director of planning and building services. “Adding the project expeditor to our staff further enhances our service and supports the good work our builders and investors are doing in our city.” Continue reading →

“I’m inviting the other leaders to get on the same page as Ontario families who don’t support the privatization scheme in hydro. It’s not too late.” – NDP Leader Andrea Horwath

News from the Office of Ontario  NDP Leader Andrea Horwath

Posted November 29^th, 2017 on Niagara At Large

Queen’s Park, Ontario  — This November 29th, Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath initiated debate on a motion that forces all three parties to vote on whether Ontario will keep Kathleen Wynne’s privatized hydro scheme in place – or start reversing course and bringing Hydro One back into public hands. Continue reading →

“The City of Port Colborne respectfully requests the Premier of Ontario to immediately appoint a Supervisor to take over the operations of the NPCA.” – from the motion passed this November 27th by Port Colborne City Council

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

Posted November 28^th, 2017 on Niagara At Large

Niagara, Ontario – Three tries this October and November, and finally we have a municipal council in the region that voted in favour of calling on the Ontario government to appoint a supervisor to take control of operations at the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority.

Motion calling for a supervisor to come in and clean up NPCA operations was tabled by Port Colborne city councilor Barbara Butters. It was the first of its kind to be passed by a municipal council in Niagara and possibly not the last.

St. Catharines’ City Council entertained a motion first a provincially appointed supervisor for the NPCA, but this October put it off in favour of asking its staff to study questions and concerns many Niagara citizens have raised about the way the run-amok Conservation Authority does business first.

Earlier this November, the Council for the Township of Wainfleet considered a similar motion and chose to put off giving it any further consideration until Ontario’s auditor general takes a look at the NPCA’s books.

Then this November 27^th, the Council for the City of Port Colborne voted five to three in approval of a motion for a provincially appointed supervisor tabled by Port Councilor and a former NPCA  board of directors member Barbara Butters and seconded by Councillor Angie Desmaris with some strong words of support from other councilors, most notably Yvon Ducet and Dave Elliott, who (in Elliott’s case) scolded representatives of  the NPCA for – to this day – failing to answer questions and concerns Niagara citizen Ed Smith, with the backing of many other area citizens, MPPs and area councilors, put to them more than a year ago! Continue reading →

Governments Also Called On To Accelerate Efforts To Protect Drinking Water And Eliminate Releases Of Untreated Sewage

A Call-Out from the Canada/U.S. International Joint Commission

Posted November 28^th, 2017 on Niagara At Large

In its First Triennial Assessment of Progress under the 2012 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (Agreement), the International Joint Commission (IJC) calls on Canada and the United States to set specific timelines and targets for making critical improvements to wastewater and drinking water infrastructure, reducing nutrient runoff and eliminating releases of chemicals of mutual concern.

The IJC commends the two federal governments for considerable progress they have made to accelerate the cleanup of contaminated Areas of Concern, set new loading targets for the amount of phosphorus entering Lake Erie to reduce harmful algal blooms, and establish the work groups and processes needed to implement the Agreement. However, the IJC finds that work needs to be increased in several key areas. Continue reading →

 Campaign raised $3,000 more than last year

A News Release from Niagara Health, an amalgamation of Niagara, Ontario’s hospital services

Posted November 28th, 2017 on Niagara At Large

Niagara, Ontario – Compassion, optimism and a commitment to achieving ambitious results. All of these things haven proven to be key components of another successful employee-giving campaign. 

Niagara Health employees proudly raised $78,714 during our United Way Workplace campaign in October.

Niagara Health team members, from left to right, Jackie Moore, Avia Whitehorne, Lisa Pepperall, Anna Cobian and Alicia Azzarello at the St. Catharines Site wearing blue T-shirts in support of the United Way Workplace Campaign which raised $78,714. Photo courtesy of Niagara Health

In addition to the generous one-time donations and payroll deductions, staff placed change jars on their units and purchased “A Healthier Niagara Starts Here” T-shirts to wear on Dress Down Fridays to show their support. Continue reading →

Audit Follows In Wake of Regional Government Charges of Financial Mismanagement by Town

Posted November 27^th, 2017 on Niagara At Large

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

Okay, so let’s hope that this Wednesday, November 29^th, the people of Pelham and the rest of us across the Niagara region finally get the answers to some very serious questions that have been raised about Pelham’s financial health and whether or not economic decisions it has made around land transactions and the building of a new community centre in the town could harm municipal tax payers and the credit rating of the whole Niagara region.

Port Colborne regional councilor and Niagara Region’s corporate services committee chair David Barrick led call this spring for audit of Pelham’s books

Questions and concerns about all of this have been swirling since at least as early as last spring when David Barrick, chair of the regional government’s corporate services committee and a Port Colborne regional councillor, won regional council support for a motion calling for an independent audit of Pelham’s books.

The issue has been raised a number of times at the regional government level, including again earlier this November during a heated session attended by a full gallery of Pelham residents demanding answers.

So let me repeat a hope that all of this will come to a head with answers to the outstanding questions and concerns this coming November 29^th at a special session of Pelham council scheduled for 6: p.m. at E.L. Crossley Secondary School in the Pelham community of Fonthill. Continue reading →

“People working in the Niagara media are our friends and neighbors and involved members of our region. Their work keeps us informed on local events and issues impacted our daily lives.” – Niagara Falls MPP Wayne Gates

From the Niagara Falls Riding Constituency Office of MPP Wayne Gates

Posted November 27^th, 2017 on Niagara At Large

Niagara Falls Riding MPP Wayne Gates

Niagara, Ontario – Niagara Falls NDP MPP Wayne Gates released the following statement responding to the announcement this November 27^th that TorStar and Postmedia (two of Canada’s largest corporate media chains) will close several local media outlets in the Niagara region:

“Niagara families have long been fortunate to benefit from a diverse media landscape with dedicated and talented professionals. Today, many of these journalists, editors, web designers and other media professionals received the heartbreaking news that their organizations will close and jobs will be lost—my thoughts go out to these professionals and their families as they cope with this difficult news. Continue reading →

NDP says Libs, PCs trying to out-privatize each other when it comes to hydro

 “Families deserve help with hydro bills. What the Liberals are offering is help for Hydro One to collect people’s money.” – Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath

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

Posted November 27th, 2017 on Niagara At Large

Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath

Queen’s Park, Toronto  – Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath is demanding that Ontario ban the use of pre-pay hydro meters that force families to feed the meter to turn the electricity on. Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals are defending a proposal to start installing the meters on Ontario homes.

The proposal is to spend $9.1 billion to install the meters on Ontario homes. The meters would skirt rules that prevent the privatized Hydro One from disconnecting people’s electricity in the winter. 

“With the pre-pay meters, Hydro One won’t have to disconnect anyone. The power will get cut off automatically if the customer doesn’t feed the meter,” said Horwath. “Imagine a family struggling to keep up with their skyrocketing hydro bills. There will be no option to come up with a payment plan, and no protection against a winter-time disconnection – the meter just runs out, and the home goes dark.”  Continue reading →

News from the Niagara West-Glanbrook Riding Constituency Office of MPP Sam Oosterhoff

Posted November 27^th, 2017 on Niagara At Large

Niagara West-Glanbrook MPP Sam Oosterhoff

Queen’s Park, Toronto – Sam Oosterhoff, MPP for Niagara West-Glanbrook today introduces his first Private Member’s Bill, the Compassionate Care Act. The Act would establish a hospice palliative care framework and begin to address the critical need for increased care in Ontario. 

Hospice palliative care helps people who are living with or dying from a serious, life-limiting illness, as well as their family and caregivers. The goal is to relieve pain and suffering, and to improve a person’s quality of life, regardless of the setting.

“I have been encouraged to see the genuine and meaningful care that is currently offered to those who are in hospice palliative care,” said Oosterhoff. “We need to spread the word about palliative care and to make it more accessible.”  Continue reading →

“Canada and the United States have a long history of maintaining successful bilateral relations, and I look forward to working towards strengthen those ties.”- Vance Badawey, Member of Parliament, Niagara

A News Release from Niagara Centre MP Vance Badawey

Posted November 27th, 2017 on Niagara At Large

Niagara Centre MP Vance Badawey

Ottawa, Ontario  – Vance Badawey, Member of Parliament for Niagara Centre, will be returning to Washington D.C., this week to meet with his American counterparts to discuss issues of trade and the current negotiations for changes to NAFTA.

This is Badawey’s second visit to the American capital this year. Badawey travelled as a member of the Canada-United States Inter-Parliamentary Group in March where he participated in over 35 meetings over the course of three days.  Meetings covered a range of topics, including: the Great Lakes, transportation, economy, and cross-border commerce. Continue reading →

Patrick Brown and the Ontario PCs release the People’s Guarantee

PCs release plan to bring change to Ontario a full six months before the election

Posted November 27th, 2017 at Niagara At Large

Ontario PC Leader Patrick Brown releases a pre-2018 election platform, making tax cuts a major priority

Etobicoke, Ontario  – This past November 25^th,  in a speech delivered at the Ontario PC Party’s policy convention, Ontario PC Leader Patrick Brown unveiled the Party’s platform, called the People’s Guarantee.

“The People’s Guarantee lays out our vision and our plan to bring change that works for Ontario,” said Brown. “At its core it’s very simple. It’s a recognition of the need for change that works for you:  the people, not the insiders.”

The People’s Guarantee is the product of the most exhaustive and inclusive policy development process in the history of the Ontario PC Party. The process began in March 2016, and culminated in over 130 policy resolutions that were voted on and supported by party membership to form the basis of the plan. Continue reading →

“A democracy can’t exist without freedom of expression.” – from the ruling of Ontario Court Judge James Ramsay

NPCA, says Judge in his ruling, looks like “a body that has had trouble finding its way.”

A News Commentary by Doug Draper

Posted November 24^th, 2017 on Niagara At Large

Niagara citizen and retired Canadian Armed Forces officer Ed Smith, faced with an NPCA lawsuit, gets some justice in an Ontario court. File photo by Doug Draper

A pair of lawsuits filed against St. Catharines resident and community activist Ed Smith with heavy punitive costs attached to them – one filed by the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority and former NPCA CAO Carmen D’Angelo (now the CAO for Niagara’s regional government) and the other filed by Niagara, Ontario businessman William Montgomery – have h been dismissed by Ontario Court Judge James Ramsay.

Dismissal of the defamation suits, outlined in a written ruling signed by Judge Ramsay this November 23^rd,  follows arguments for and against the lawsuits, heard in a Welland court this past November 20^th and 21^st by lawyers for both parties.

They also follow a year-long odyssey that began a year ago this fall, after Smith, a 25-year, retired Canadian Armed Forces officer, shared a document he produced with St. Catharines regional councillor Brian Heit prior to a snap meeting called by Niagara Region chair, Al Caslin, for a council vote on hiring D’Angelo to the regional government’s top job as CAO – a position he was awarded by a majority of councillors following the vote. Continue reading →

“He was never comfortable being in the limelight and taking acknowledgement for all that he achieved and what he put forward. He was a very understated individual.” – Debbie Inglis, Director of Brock University’s Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute (CCOVI)

A Message from Brock University in St. Catharines

Posted November 24^th, 2017 on Niagara At Large

Niagara, Ontari winemaker extraordinaire Karl Kaiser. Photo courtesy of Brock University

Niagara, Ontario – The Brock University community is mourning the death of a national figure and longtime associate who helped forge Brock’s leading role in grape and wine research, while also turning Niagara into a world-renowned wine region.

Inniskillin Winery co-founder Karl J. Kaiser, an industry pioneer and a key figure behind Brock’s oenology and viticulture programs, passed away on Wednesday, Nov. 22. He was 76 years old.

Kaiser’s impact on the Niagara and Canadian wine industry is unmatched, and it was through his guidance and drive that Brock created the Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute (CCOVI) and the Oenology and Viticulture (OEVI) undergraduate program in the 1990s, said CCOVI Director Debbie Inglis. Continue reading →

Please read and Act on this Information, and share this information widely with your friends and associates

A Call to Action from the Ontario Health Coalition, a province-wide citizen advocacy group

Posted November 24^th, 2017 on Niagara At Large

The Ontario government is moving forward with legislation that lifts the ban on private hospitals, rolls private hospitals in with private clinics and renames them, offensively, Community Health Facilities, and makes it easier for private hospitals and clinics to expand and more difficult for the Minister to stop them.

This legislation was brought in with no prior public consultation. It is a massive omnibus bill that repeals or enacts 7 entire Acts, and amends more than 30 Acts. We were given 5 minutes to present to the Standing Committee on this massive piece of legislation. Now we have only four days to try to get the worst part of it withdrawn. Without due consideration of the consequences, the government is making a grave mistake that could easily usher in very significant new privatization and threats to our local public hospitals.

Please email or call your MPP and ask them to help withdraw Schedule 9 of Bill 160. They need to act by early next week. Continue reading →

A Brief from Niagara At Large reporter and publisher Doug Draper

Posted November 23^rd, 2017 on Niagara At Large

Niagara resident and community activist Ed Smith cleared of lawsuits filed against him by Conservation Authority and others.

Niagara, Ontario – Niagara At Large has learned from sources that two lawsuits launched within the past year against St. Catharines resident and community activist Ed Smith – one filed by the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority and former NPCA CAO Carmen D’Angelo (now the CAO for Niagara’s regional government) and the other filed by Niagara, Ontario businessman William Montgomery – have both been dismissed by Ontario Court Judge James Ramsay.

Dismissal of the defamation suits against Smith follow two days of arguments heard in a Welland court this past November 20^th and 21^st by lawyers for both parties.

Niagara At Large has also learned that Judge Ramsay’s written ruling will not be publicly released until late morning this Friday, November 24^th, and NAL will be sure to obtain a copy and a post a detailed report on the ruling, SO STAY TUNED!

What one can say at this point, is that this is good news for all citizens who engage in the democratic process across Ontario and Canada, and for the right we all have as citizens to hold our governments accountable.

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 binational 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

From Niagara At Larger reporter and publisher Doug Draper

Posted November 23^nd, 2017 on Niagara At Large

It is the Thursday of the last full week of November and that only means one thing for our friends and neighbours in Buffalo and Western New York and for millions of others across the United States of America.

An exact replica of the Mayflower – a gift some 60 years ago from England to the U.S, – docked in Plymouth, Massachusetts, where, as so many of us were taught as children, the Pilgrims  settled and celebrated the first Thanksgiving feast. File photo by Doug Draper

It is Thanksgiving, and for anyone on the American side of the border who visits our Niagara At Large site and for what few of you may check in to it today – because most Americans put aside any and all work on this day and, yes, even their computers and other digital devices to spend some quality time with their friends and family – I wish you a very happy Thanksgiving.

Along with my wife Mary and daughter Sarah, we share this day with fond memories of Thanksgivings we spent for many years with friends who gathered at Old Sea Pines, a wonderful Inn in the Town of Brewster on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Continue reading →

Wynne has already lent her signature to plans by China-base developers to encroach on a sizable amount of what’s left of Niagara’s provincially significant wetlands. What is she going to sign away next?

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

Posted November 22nd, 2017 on Niagara At Large

It’s  bad enough we’ve got the regional government we have in Niagara and a Conservation Authority that, in many area citizens’ view, isn’t worth a hoot.

In November 2015, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, second from left at table, joins Niagara Falls, Ontario Mayor Jim Diodati, just to the right of her, in Beijing, China for signing of ‘memorandum of understanding’ for China-based development proposal in Thundering Waters Forest in Niagara Falls.

Now we’ve got Ontario’s Premier Kathleen Wynne heading off on another “business mission” to, among other places, China.

All of which begs the question – what more of our natural heritage in Niagara is she going to sign away next? Continue reading →

 “The privatized Hydro One is seeking a 20 per cent increase (in hydro rates).” – Ontario NDP Energy Critic Peter Tabuns

A News Release from Ontario’s New Democratic Party

Posted November 22^nd, 2017 on Niagara At Large

Queen’s Park, Toronto —In question period this November 21^st,, Ontario NDP Energy critic Peter Tabuns called on the Wynne Liberals to stand up for Ontario families and direct the Ontario Energy Board (OEB) to stop the privatized Hydro One’s plan to require pre-payment for power.

Hidden in Hydro One’s distribution rate application for 2018-2022 are plans to replace recently installed smart meters with pre-payment meters, requiring customers to pay for electricity before they use it and creating a loophole to new rules banning winter disconnections. 

“Instead of reducing its rates, as the government promised would happen, the privatized Hydro One is seeking a 20 per cent increase,” said Tabuns. “But there’s more. On page 2,038 of the application, we learn that Hydro One wants to install pre-payment meters, which require the customer to pay first before they get any electricity. Continue reading →

November 22^nd, 1963 – The Day They Shot Kennedy

A Brief Commentary by NAL publisher Doug Draper

Posted November 22nd, 2017 on Niagara At Large

“Murder will out,” says a line that goes back more than years to Shakespeare and more than three hundred years before that to Chancer’s ‘Cantebury Tales’.

Yet for countless millions of us who were around and old enough to remember where we were on November 22^nd, 1963 when he heard the news that U.S. President John F. Kennedy was shot and killed while riding in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas, the truth of that line with respect to that crime has never been – and may never be – fully realized.

A frame from a film produced in Dealey Plaza by bystander  Abraham Zapruder, showing U.S. President John F. Kennedy already hit with his wife Jackie holding him, just before another shot blows the top of his head off.

Lyndon B. Johnson, sworn in as president following Kennedy’s assassination, assembled what would come to be known as the Warren Commission to conduct an investigation and report on its findings which would boil down to the murderous deed being committed by a lone shooter named Lee Harvey Oswald. Continue reading →

“Bell calls it restructuring due to challenges in the media industry, yet only workers pay the price, while executive salaries and retention bonuses increase unchallenged.” Welland Riding MPP Cindy Forster

A Statement delivered by Welland Riding MPP Cindy Forster this November 21^st in the Ontario Legislature

Posted November 22^nd, 2017 on Niagara At Large

Welland Riding MPP Cindy Forster in Ontario legislature. File photo

Ms. Cindy Forster: ”I was deeply troubled to hear of yet more layoffs by Bell Media across Canada, with jobs being cut at TV and radio stations, including HTZ-FM in St. Catharines.

It is heartbreaking for employees and their families to be put through this so close to Christmas. Bell Media did exactly the same thing a year ago, affecting nearly 400 employees across the country. 

Now, Bell calls it restructuring due to challenges in the media industry, yet only workers pay the price, while executive salaries and retention bonuses increase unchallenged. One that was actually reported: a $900,000 bonus last year in addition to a $1-million salary. Continue reading →

Stay Tune To News On The Ruling And Our Analysis Of What It Means For The Future Of Citizen Participation And Grassroots Democracy In This Region

A Brief Update from Niagara At Larger reporter/publisher Doug Draper

Posted November 21^st, 2017 on Niagara At Large

This sign held up by an area citizen outside a meeting of the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority’s board of directors earlier this year.

Niagara, Ontario – It is all over now save for the ruling of an Ontario judge in a court case that could send out some pretty powerful messages on how far citizens can go in questioning what government bodies do with our tax dollars in this region.

That is how significant this case involving back and forth lawsuits involving one of the region’s most controversial public bodies, the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority, and its former CAO and now Niagara regional government CAO Carmen D’Angelo, Niagara community activist Ed Smith, who has raised serious questions about the NPCA’s operations, and a Niagara area marketing consultant Bill Montgomery, who has filed his own libel and slander suit against Smith and two St. Catharines regional councillors, Brian Heit and Kelly Edgar. Continue reading →

“When you consider the cost of student housing, penalties for cancelling or moving flights home for the holidays, and the other costs students have paid for out-of-pocket while Wynne let this strike drag on, $500 is an obvious disappointment to struggling students.”

A Statement from Ontario NDP Advanced Education Critic MPP Peggy Sattler

Posted November 21^st, 2017 on Niagara At Large

One of countless makeshift signs college students across Ontario held up during a province-wide teacher strike this fall that kept them out of class for five whole weeks. They paid their tuition at the beginning of the academic year. Will they be paid back for the academic time lost?

Queen’s Park, Toronto – Ontario NDP Advanced Education critic Peggy Sattler issued the following statement regarding the Liberal government’s failure to adequately help students returning to classes after the five-week long college faculty strike:

“Students worried about their ability to successfully cram five-weeks of missed coursework into a condensed two-week extension deserve a full tuition refund. New Democrats are extremely concerned that the government may be forcing students to drop out entirely if they want their tuition refunded. Continue reading →

“Workplace pensions play an important role in Canada’s retirement security system, but the country’s biggest companies are not making up shortfalls as fast as they could be. That increases risk for plan members and retirees, and could mean extra costs to the public.”

A Report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

Posted November 21^st, 2017 on Niagara At Large

Ottawa, Ontario —Last year, Canada’s largest publicly-traded companies paid out four times more to shareholders than it would have cost to fully fund their defined benefit (DB) pension plans, according to new research released by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).

Thirty-nine companies on the S&P/TSX 60 maintain DB pension plans, amounting to one-third of all private sector pension plan assets in Canada. However, only nine plans were fully funded in 2016.

Together, the 39 companies oversaw a $10.8 billion deficit in their pension plans in 2016, while increasing shareholder payouts from $31.9 billion in 2011 to $46.9 billion last year. Continue reading →

A Call–Out to the Niagara community from the St. Catharines and Welland Canals Centre

Posted November 21st, 2017 on Niagara At  Large

Niagara, Ontario – The St. Catharines Museum and Welland Canals Centre is calling on the community to join in its woolly stand against the cold.

Help keep everyone in our Niagara community out of the cold this coming winter

From Saturday, Nov. 25 to Sunday, Jan. 7 the museum will collect warm woolly mittens, hats, scarves, socks and other gently used winter clothing for families and children in need through its annual Mitten Tree. All winter clothing donations will go to local families through Community Care of St. Catharines and Thorold and Out of the Cold.

“Our winters can be harsh,” said Kathleen Powell, museum curator. “There’s always a tremendous need for hats, mitts and other winter wear and we want to help keep children and families warm so they can enjoy the season.” Continue reading →

A Brief One from Doug Draper, reporter, publisher, Niagara At Large

Posted November 20^th, 2017 on Niagara At Large

Day of decision now near for legal suits involving NPCA and Ed Smith, shown in photo above, in Ontario court

Niagara, Ontario – A case involving a $200,000 defamation suit the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority and its former CAO and now Niagara Regional government CAO Carmen D’Angelo filed a year ago against St. Catharines resident and community activist Ed Smith finally began getting its day in an Ontario court in Welland this Monday, November 20^th.

And in the same courtroom, presided over by  Judge James Ramsay, arguments are also going back and forth over a counter suit for damages that Smith filed against the NPCA and D’Angelo earlier this year. Continue reading →

Wynne Government’s $500 cap on help for students is too low

News from the Ontario New Democratic Party

Posted November 20^th, 2017 on Niagara At Large

Queen’s Park, Toronto – Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath and NDP Education critic MPP Peggy Sattler say the $500 cap Kathleen Wynne has put on the fund to help students recover from the five-week long college faculty strike is too low.

Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath

The NDP wants students properly compensated for the personal financial costs of the strike caused by the Liberal government, and also wants colleges to be directed to offer further mental health and academic supports for students dealing with increased anxiety and depression.

“Students were forced to put their lives on hold for five weeks because the premier and her Liberal government sat on their hands and watched the faculty strike escalate,” said Horwath. “Students have paid the price for the premier’s inaction – they paid academically, emotionally and financially. $500 will simply not be enough for many students to recover from the chaos the Liberal government has created.” Continue reading →

The Open House All Good People Need To Attend is this Monday, November 20th in the  Memorial Room of the  Gale Centre on 5152, Thorold Stone Road in, Niagara Falls, Ontario  from 5 to 6:30 p.m.

A Call-Out from Niagara community activist Linda Babb

Posted November 20^th, 2017 on Niagara At Large

Niagara, Ontario – Remember January 2016 when Bruce Timms, a St. Catharines Regional Councillor who was then Chair of the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority’s board of director and remains a board member) and the boondoggle NPCA attempted to con everyone into thinking biodiversity offsetting could be a pilot project focused on Thundering Waters?? 

Less than 10 per cent of Niagara’s wetlands are left. Some of them are located in Thundering Waters Forest in Niagara Falls – an area now targeted for urban development.

That’s what started our “fight” – immense gratitude to those who stood up and spoke out and all the tireless efforts since then to preserve the land!!! Too many to name! 

Bruce Timms had to retract that nonsense. 

The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) stepped in later and increased the protection.  Every one of you has done your part in keeping this issue front and centre – thank you.  Now we face a “modification” to the plan.  Be very aware – the “modification” is merely another CON.  Continue reading →

 Why Does One Feel  So Unwelcome and Alone in these Council Chambers?

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

Posted November 17^th, 2017 on Niagara At Large

Niagara, Ontario – I walked in to Niagara Region’s council chambers this November 16^th, where the seats in public gallery were packed with people from the Town of Pelham.

That’s the way it usually seems to go at Niagara regional council meetings these days.

The public gallery is either crammed to standing room only with people, there for the airing of a single issue that is rankling them, then leaving en masse after that one and only issue they came for – on an agenda chalk full of other affairs in need of public attention – has been addressed.

Or more often than not, a whole council meeting takes place with a public gallery virtually empty of people, leaving the councillors to say and do whatever, with hardly anyone outside of some regional staff and a few members of the news media physically there to look on. Continue reading →

“These students feel despair as they watch their futures slip away. They worry how they will ever manage the increased debt they will have to take on to complete their programs.”

From Ontario’s New Democratic Party

Posted November 16^th, 2017 on Niagara At Large

(A Brief NAL update – Since the Ontario NDP circulated this news release, college faculty across Ontario voted overwhelmingly earlier this November 16th to reject offers on the table, so the strike drags on, leaving one to wonder, at this point, why the colleges and the Ontario government aren’t announcing plans to refund students for what inow so obviously is a lost semester of school.

If, for example, you pre-paid someone to provide maintenance of landscaping services at your home and they then did not show up and deliver the services, would you not expect a refund? Why should it be any different for students left out in the cold?)

Queen’s Park, Toronto —In question period on Wednesday, NDP Education Critic Peggy Sattler was determined to get answers for college students concerned that the strike at colleges throughout Ontario is costing them financially. She also raised concerns about how the impact of the strike on students’ career, family, financial and life plans is negatively affecting their mental health. Continue reading →

The Lies Our Teachers Once Taught Us About the Now Celebrated Metis Leader

A Statement by the Prime Minister of Canada on Louis Riel Day with a Foreword from Niagara At Large

Posted November 16th, 2017 on Niagara At Large

Canadian Metis leader Louis Riel, once vilified in our high school history books, now celebrated

A Brief Foreword by Niagara At Large reporter and publisher Doug Draper – There is a book I would invite everyone who has been dragged through the public school system in Canada and the United States to read called ‘Lies My Teacher Told Me’ by James W. Loewen.

This best-selling book, first published in 1995 and updated at least once in 2007, deals mostly with ‘lies’ or ‘myth’s taught in American schools about a host of historical events from Christopher Columbus and the Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving to the Vietnam War – but the book came to mind for this Canadian  this November 16th as our country’s current Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, circulated a statement (posted below) on Louis Riel Day. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

Re-Posted this November 15^th, 2017 on Niagara At Large

(The following story was originally posted on Niagara At Large this November 10th, just before the Remembrance Day weekend when many of us were understandably focused on other solemn matters. Due to the significance of this news, NAL has decided to posted it here again.)

Niagara, Ontario – A former Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority employee – sued by the NPCA this September for allegedly breaking an agreement she signed when she left the body a year ago not to “disparage” it in any way – is fighting back with a lawsuit of her own.

According to a “Statement of  Defence and obtained by Niagara At Large and filed on her  behalf in an Ontario Superior Court of Justice in St. Catharines  this November 7^th, Jocelyn Baker, who was employed at the NPCA for more than 23 years before being terminated in November 2016, is taking the Conservation Authority to court for $200,000 in damages for allegedly defaming her, $200,000 in damages for alleged breach of contract, and additional “punitive, exemplary and aggravated damages to be determined by the court.”

The NPCA board of directors during a session earlier this 2017

The Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority, which earlier this year launched a defamation suit against Niagara, Ontario community activist and retired Canadian Armed Forces officer Ed Smith, sued Baker this past September$164,000 after Welland Riding MPP Cindy Forster read an email she sent her in the Ontario legislature as part of a call the MPP was making to the provincial government for more transparency and accountability at the NPCA, and a thorough, independent audit of its operations.

One of the many signs citizen protests have commonly been holding up outside of NPCA meetings. File photo by Doug Draper

In the email to Forster, Baker raised concerns about allegations of ongoing cases of workplace harassment at the NPCA. Baker charged in the email that while still working at the NPCA, she “personally experienced and supervised employees who regularly experienced workplace violence, harassment (sexual, gender and family status), unwanted comment, conduct, and behaviour, including bullying. All of this behaviour by members of senior management.” Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

Posted November 15^th, 2017 on Niagara At Large

Wainfleet Mayor April Jeffs, an NPCA board member, votes with her council to wave aside a motion calling on the Ontario government to appoint a supervisor to oversee operations at the Conservation Authority. Jeffs will run as the Ontario Tory candidate in the Welland riding in next year’s provincial election.

A motion by Wainfleet councillor Betty Konc, calling on the Ontario government to appoint a supervisor to oversee operations at the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority, was deferred by the municipality’s township council this November 14^th.

A majority on the council, including Wainfleet Mayor April Jeffs, who is a member of the  NPCA’s board of directors, voted to wave aside Konc’s motion until the province’s Auditor General completes and produced the results of an audit on the Conservation Authority – possibly sometime late next year.

More from Niagara At Large on this development and what it may mean for those campaigning for change at the NPCA later. Stay Tuned.

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 binational 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 Call-Out to Public from the Niagara Parks Commission

Posted November 15^th, 2017 on Niagara At Large

The two century old Bertie Hall, with historical links to the Underground Railroad.

Fort Erie, Ontario – The Niagara Parks Commission will host a Public Information Centre (PIC) on Wednesday, November 22, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., at its Old Fort Erie Visitor Centre, to seek input on an upcoming heritage evaluation study of Bertie Hall (657 Niagara Boulevard, Fort Erie), which will assist the Commission in its long-term planning and conservation of the site. Continue reading →

A News Commentary by Doug Draper

Posted November 13^th, 2017 on Niagara At Large

Niagara, Ontario – A month after St. Catharines’ city council got the jitters over passing a motion to clean house at  Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority that has lost the confidence of many citizens and politicians across the region, a Wainfleet councillor is hoping to get a majority of her fellow councillors to support a similar motion at this Tuesday’s, November 14^th, township council meeting.

Wainfleet Township Councillor Betty Konc

Wainfleet Township Councillor Betty Konc is planning to table a motion calling on the Ontario government to appoint a special supervisor  supervisor “to take over the operations of the NPCA.”

“If a supervisor is not appointed within two months,” continues the wording of Konc’s motion, “this council requests a meeting for the purpose of dissolution of the (NPCA’s) board (of directors).”

The motion also calls for the Township of Wainfleet – one of 12 local municipalities in Niagara that is funding the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority’s operations with local tax dollars – to appoint its own member to the NPCA’s board of directors, following next year’s municipal elections. Continue reading →

“Thank you, Paul for always being an inspiration, a teacher, and a guiding hand. You have always given us a reason for hope.”

A Tribute by Jay Burney, a long-time environmental activist and environmental writer in Western New York

Paul MacClennan, who died ths October at 91, was the last environmental reporter for the Buffalo News—and he was a champion of environmental causes for decades.

Once upon a time the Buffalo News had a full time environmental reporter. That person, Paul MacClennan, passed away October 2, at the age of 91.

A few years ago, veteran environment writer Paul MacClennan attended for a ceremony as a special spot in the Times Beach nature preserve near Buffalo’s outer harbor was named in his honour.

He retired in 1991 after a last few years when the paper, and many newspapers, were transitioning from a community-interested benefit to a corporate business. At that time he told me that he would probably be “the last environmental reporter” because of that transition. Continue reading →

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

Posted November 13^th, 2017 on Niagara At Large

 St. Catharines, Ontario – An 85-year-old promise to honour 137 men who died building one of the greatest engineering marvels in Canada was fulfilled with the unveiling of the Welland Canal Fallen Workers Memorial in St. Catharines, Ont. this past  Sunday, November 12th.

The Gates of Remembrance, inscribed with the names of all 137 fallen workers at the Welland Canal Fallen Workers Memorial, unveiled on Sunday, Nov. 12, 2017.

Construction of the fourth Welland Canal took place between 1913 and 1935 and the loss of life on the project is believed to be the largest of any federal government infrastructure project in Canadian history. Continue reading →

A Call-Out from the Niagara Health Coalition, a chapter of the Ontario Health Coalition

Posted November 13^th, 2017 on Niagara At Large             

Ontario Health Minister Eric Hoskins promised to keep the hospital in Welland, Niagara open. Let’s make sure it is! 　

Raise your voice to make sure the Welland Hopsital site stays open

One Voice working together to save our hospitals services and urgent care centre.

Hear reports from our local politicians, Save Welland Hospital, the Niagara and Ontario Health Coalitions.

Give us your input and help plan our next steps to maintain and enhance our health services in South Niagara.

Town Halls –

Wainfleet: Thursday, November 16 , 7 pm, Wainfleet Fire Hall,31907 Park St., Wainfleet Continue reading →

“This is a challenging time for everyone, but particularly for students. … They deserve our support.”

News from Ontario’s Advanced Education Minister Deb Matthews

Posted November 13th

Deb Matthews, Minister of Advanced Education and Skills Development has issued the following statement:

Since the strike began, I have been clear that my focus is on students and their learning. I have had the opportunity to meet with a number of student leaders and their provincial associations. I have heard from them about hardships students are experiencing as a result of this strike. Students have been in the middle of this strike for too long and it’s just not fair.

While every student’s situation is unique, all students are struggling with continued uncertainty. They are worried about how to pay for unexpected costs like additional rent or canceling long-standing travel plans to be home with family. They’ve told me they are stressed about when they will be able to complete their studies or if there will be any extra help when classes finally resume.

That is why I am requiring that colleges establish a dedicated fund with all the savings from the strike.

The fund will be used to support students who have experienced financial hardships as a result of the strike. I will work with students and colleges starting immediately to develop the parameters of the fund. We need to work out the details together and we will do it quickly.

I have just spoken with student leadership from the College Student Alliance and have asked them for their advice and for feedback from their membership. I’m looking for the best ideas about how to make sure this reinvestment directly benefits students who have faced hardship.

This is a challenging time for everyone, but particularly for students. So, in the coming days, I look forward to working directly with student leaders and colleges on how we can lessen the impact of the strike on students. They deserve our support.

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 binational 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

Who Will Stop The Next War? Who Will Start It?

Posted by Doug Draper on Niagara At Large

November 11^th, 2017, one day after the 100^th anniversary of the Battle of Passchendale that snutted out thousands of young lives on all sides in a  ‘War to End All Wars’ that slaughtered more than nine millon.

“The First World War, boys
It came and it went
The reason for fighting
I never did get
But I learned to accept it
Accept it with pride
For you don’t count the dead
When God’s on your side.

When the Second World War
Came to an end
We forgave the Germans
And then we were friends
Though they murdered six million
In the ovens they fried
The Germans now too
Have God on their side.

I’ve learned to hate Russians
All through my whole life
If another war comes
It’s them we must fight
To hate them and fear them
To run and to hide
And accept it all bravely
With God on my side.

But now we got weapons
Of the chemical dust
If fire them we’re forced to
Then fire them we must
One push of the button
And a shot the world wide
And you never ask questions
When God’s on your side.

In a many dark hour
I’ve been thinkin’ about this
That Jesus Christ
Was betrayed by a kiss
But I can’t think for you
You’ll have to decide
Whether Judas Iscariot
Had God on his side.

So now as I’m leavin’
I’m weary as Hell
The confusion I’m feelin’
Ain’t no tongue can tell
The words fill my head
And fall to the floor
If God’s on our side
He’ll stop the next war.”

Who will stop the next war?”

– Lyrics from Bob  Dylan’s song, ‘With God On Our Side’

Who will start it? Maybe this man, with his “deplorables” cheering him on as he takes them, and the rest of us, to their great reward – with God on their side.

For more on the horrible destruction in lives that wars take, here are some links to click on –

Link for Sunday Edition piece below – http://www.cbc.ca/radio/thesundayedition/the-sunday-edition-october-29-2017-1.4374949/the-world-remembers-honours-the-dead-of-world-war-one-1.4374963

The World  Remembers site click on – http://www.theworldremembers.org/

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 binational 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

By Doug Draper

Posted November 10^th, 2017 on Niagara At Large

Niagara, Ontario – A former Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority employee – sued by the NPCA this September for allegedly breaking an agreement she signed when she left the body a year ago not to “disparage” it in any way – is fighting back with a lawsuit of her own.

According to a “Statement of  Defence and obtained by Niagara At Large and filed on her  behalf in an Ontario Superior Court of Justice in St. Catharines  this November 7^th, Jocelyn Baker, who was employed at the NPCA for more than 23 years before being terminated in November 2016, is taking the Conservation Authority to court for $200,000 in damages for allegedly defaming her, $200,000 in damages for alleged breach of contract, and additional “punitive, exemplary and aggravated damages to be determined by the court.”

The NPCA board of directors during a session earlier this 2017

The Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority, which earlier this year launched a defamation suit against Niagara, Ontario community activist and retired Canadian Armed Forces officer Ed Smith, sued Baker this past September$164,000 after Welland Riding MPP Cindy Forster read an email she sent her in the Ontario legislature as part of a call the MPP was making to the provincial government for more transparency and accountability at the NPCA, and a thorough, independent audit of its operations.

One of the many signs citizen protests have commonly been holding up outside of NPCA meetings. File photo by Doug Draper

In the email to Forster, Baker raised concerns about allegations of ongoing cases of workplace harassment at the NPCA. Baker charged in the email that while still working at the NPCA, she “personally experienced and supervised employees who regularly experienced workplace violence, harassment (sexual, gender and family status), unwanted comment, conduct, and behaviour, including bullying. All of this behaviour by members of senior management.” Continue reading →

“I am committed to stable hospital funding that, at a minimum, matches the rate of inflation plus population growth, and that meets the unique needs of each community.” – Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath

News from the Ontario New Democratic Party

Posted November 10^th, 2017 on Niagara At Large

Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath issued the following statement regarding the Patient Ombudsman’s report, released today:

“Ontario’s first Patient Ombudsman report gives us a hint about the systemic issues that are plaguing health care in Ontario and impacting patients.

Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath

During their 14 years in power, the Liberals have amassed a wait list for seniors care that’s more than 32,000-people long. We have sick people in this province being treated in hospital hallways, shower rooms and lounges. The gridlock in our hospitals is causing long waits and confusion over discharges – and that’s evident in the Ombudsman’s report, which reported discharges, alternate level of care and homecare services concerns more than any others.

The last Conservative government cut 6,000 nurses, closed 28 hospitals and slashed 7,000 hospital beds.  The Wynne Liberals let us down with further cuts and years of budget freezes – including short-changing hospitals by $300 million in this year’s budget alone. Continue reading →

How Much More Of This Dangerous Screwball Can The World Take? Is There Still A Future To Believe In?

A News Commentary by Doug Draper

Posted November 9th, 2017 on Niagara At Large

One year ago this January 10^th, people around the world – at least those of us who couldn’t make it until the wee small hours when Hillary Clinton finally made her consession – to the stunning news that America’s 21^st Century answer to a P.T. Barnum pitchman on steroids won the keys to the Oval Office and one of the world’s most powerful offices.

Elmwood Village, near a polling station in Buffalo, New York on January 8th, 2017, in the hours before the stunning news that Trump won. File photo by Doug Draper

The day before – election day – I crossed the border to Buffalo to visit friends and take in the atmosphere as people lined up at the polls, and a few moments from that day may stay with me for years to come.

The first was a visit to Buffalo’s Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo where a group of family members and friends were gathered inside a mausoleum at the final resting place of Shirley Chisholm – a U.S. Congresswoman who, in 1972, became the first Afro-American woman to run for President – to pay tribute to her historic run before going home to witness what they hoped would be the election of the first woman president of the United States.

A group of family and friends gather at the final resting place in Buffalo, New york of U.S. Congresswoman Shirley Chosholm, who was the first Afro Americaan woman to run for U.S. president in 1972. It was election day 2017 and this group went home hoping to celebrate the electon of the first woman to the U.S. presidency. Before sunrise the following morning, the hope had died. File photo by Doug Draper

They were already in a celebratory mood when they asked me to take a picture of them with Shirley Chisholm’s name chiselled in the marble above. Beside Chisholm’s name were the words ‘Unbought and Unbossed’, her campaign slogan which reminded me of one of my favourite Bernie Sander’s slogans from his 2016 insurgency run for the presidency – ‘Billioniaires Can’t Buy Bernie’. Continue reading →

‘The biggest reasons for the population decline are the destruction of bee habitat, the increased use of pesticides and the impacts of climate change.’

News from Brock University in Niagara, Ontario

Posted November 9^th, 2017 on Niagara At Large

Restore it and they will come. But they won’t stay for long if conditions are not right.

This is what Brock University bee expert Miriam Richards and her research team found in their recently published study of bee populations living in a landfill-turned-nature park in St. Catharines.

Brock University Biology Professor Miriam Richards examines bees collected at the Glenridge Quarry Naturalization site in St. Catharines. Photo court3esy of Brock University

In 2003, when a former landfill located near the University reopened to the public as the Glenridge Quarry Naturalization site, the professor of biology and her team set up 30 bee traps for their study. Continue reading →

Featuring Niagara Community Activist Ed Smith as Keynote Speaker

Posted November 9^th, 2017 on Niagara At Large

Tickets $25.

Contact:Angie Desmarais 905-835-5021

WHEN

Friday, November 10th, 5:30 p.m. cocktails, 6:30pm dinner thru to  9:30pm

WHERE

Brebeuf Hall
300 Killaly Street East
Port Colborne, Ontario L3K 1N9
Google map and directions

For an earlier news commentary Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper posted on this fundraiser and the reason Niagara At Large is supporting it, click on – https://niagaraatlarge.com/2017/11/07/you-are-invited-to-a-fundraiser-friday-november-10th-2017-for-cindy-forster-the-niagara-centre-ndp/ .

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 binational 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

“Don’t tell me that corporate Americans are the job creators.  The American people are the job creators.  The record will show clearly that when there are high wages, there is high demand.  And when there is high demand in the economy, there is high growth in the economy.” – Congressman Brian Higgins

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

Posted November 9^th, 2017 on Niagara At Large

(A Brief Note from Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper – Those of us on the Ontario side of the Canada-U.S. border should be pressing our politicians to take the same position Buffalo, New York area Congressman Brian Higgins is taking here when it comes to corporate tax cuts and automatically branding all corporations as “job creators.”)

Buffalo, New York area Democratic Congressman Brian Higgins

Buffalo, New York – U.S. Congressman Brian Higgins (NY-26), Vice Ranking Member of the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee, has introduced an amendment to the GOP tax bill to put in writing the $4,000 boost guaranteed to American workers by the backers of the bill.

Higgins’ amendment is based on the promise by Republicans that the $1.5 trillion reduction in the corporate tax rate proposed in the GOP tax bill will lead the average American family to receive a $4,000 raise.  Under the Higgins amendment, if wages do not increase consistent with the promises made, as measured by the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, then the lower corporate rate would not be allowed to go into effect.

During his introduction of the amendment, Higgins said, in part, “The White House Council of Economic Advisors issued a report arguing that the $1.5 trillion corporate tax cut will accrue to the benefit of middle Americans – they actually said this, ‘that cutting the corporate rate from 35% to 20% will get an annual increase for every American of between $4,000 and $9,000 a year once fully into effect.’  Continue reading →

“One of the lessons learned from the current opioid crisis is that we need good research to clearly identify the appropriate use of medicinal cannabis and to limit potential harm.”

News from McMaster University

Posted November 9^th, 2017 on Niagara At Large

Hamilton, Ontario – Medicinal cannabis has been legal in Canada since 2001, but there is still little research proving its effectiveness. A new research centre has been launched by McMaster University and St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton to address the issue.

The multidisciplinary Michael G. DeGroote Centre for Medicinal Cannabis Research (CMCR) will focus on conducting research, sharing evidence-based information and creating a network of professionals interested in further understanding medicinal cannabis.

The e leaders of this initiative, from left to right, James MacKillop and Jason Busse and medical advisor, Dr. Ramesh Zacharias. Photo courtesy of McMaster University

Leading this initiative are co-directors James MacKillop and Jason Busse and medical advisor, Dr. Ramesh Zacharias.

MacKillop is a professor of psychiatry and neurosciences at McMaster’s Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, and director of the Peter Boris Centre for Addictions Research at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton. Busse is an associate professor of anesthesia for McMaster’s medical school and a researcher for the Michael G. DeGroote National Pain Centre. Zacharias is a pain specialist, medical director of the Michael G. DeGroote Pain Clinic at Hamilton Health Sciences and assistant chief coroner for Ontario. Continue reading →

It Might Just Do More To Infuriate People.      Why Not Change the Site Location for the Development Project Instead?

A News Commentary by Doug Draper

Posted November 7^th, 2017 on Niagara At Large

It has become a common tactic for trying to keep alive a product or plan that has taken on so much baggage by way of opposition and negative publicity that its fate may be in jeopardy – change its name.

Thus we had the blue-eyed sheiks in Alberta change the name of the tar sands to “the oil sands” and, more recently, to “oil patch” which almost makes it sound as innocuous as skipping though a raspberry or blueberry patch, doesn’t it?

A garbage dump became a “landfill” and then, just to take little more of the sting out of it for people who don’t want a dump near their backyard, names like “secure landfill” or “sanitary landfill” are sometimes used.

Two airplanes colliding in midair is called a “near miss,” a grade school student who used to be called a slow learner is now sometimes referred to as marginally exceptional, and he or she are no longer called a loser if they come in last at something. Better to call them “the last winner.”

So it makes perfect sense to change an urban development plan for portions of the close to 500 acres of woodlands, wetlands and wild grasses that make up the Thundering Waters Forest in Niagara Falls, Ontario – especially when that plan has drawn such a weighty archive of stories about the public opposition to it – from Thundering Waters to the “Riverfront Community Master Plan.”

A number of young people in Niagara camped out for a week this summer in Thundering Waters Forest to draw more attention to plans they oppose to urbanize parts of it.

Word of the name change began circulating across the region through a recent message the City of Niagara Falls’ Planning, Building and Development Department sent to members of the city’s municipal council. Continue reading →

A Brief One from Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper

Posted November 7^th, 2017

‘There’s a lover in the story
But the story’s still the same
There’s a lullaby for suffering
And a paradox to blame
But it’s written in the scriptures
And it’s not some idle claim
You want it darker
We kill the flame’

–         From one of Leonard Cohen’s last recorded songs from 2016, ‘You Want It Darker

A whole year has passed since Leonard Cohen left this world for some other mysterious place that may not be as bathed in sunshine and luminous blue skies as some would have us believe. It may, as Leonard imagined in one of his last songs, be darker.

Leonard Cohen died on November 7^th, 2016 and as a tribute to him, an amazing cast of artists, from Elvis Costello and K.D. Lang to Lana Del Ray, Ron Sexsmith and Sting, gathered in Montreal this November 6^th for a concert celebrating his life and brilliant library of poetry and songs. Continue reading →

“A renowned international scholar, an award winning teacher, an engaged citizen of the community and the world, and a warm and generous spirit.”

Some Sad News from Brock University

Posted November 7th, 2017 on Niagara At Large

Brock Professor Zopito Marini

Niagara, Ontario – Brock University is in mourning after the passing of Professor Zopito Marini, a beloved teacher and academic colleague who died suddenly while travelling overseas on Oct. 23 in his hometown of Montebello di Bertona, Italy.

A prolific researcher who was so popular with students that The Student’s Guide to Canadian Universities listed him as one of Brock’s favourite professors, Marini won numerous awards for teaching excellence during his career. He was also a recognized international expert in sociocognitive development, writing and lecturing on such issues as family and school conflicts, bullying and victimization. Continue reading →

News from the Niagara Falls constituency off of Wayne Gates

 Posted November 7^th, 2017 on Niagara At Large

Niagara Falls MPP Wayne Gates

Niagara, Ontario – This November 7^th, Wayne Gates, MPP for Niagara Falls, partnered with Insurance Bureau of Canada to donate carbon monoxide alarms for the homes of Niagara Falls residents and to raise awareness of the dangers of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Niagara Falls MPP Wayne Gates“I’m happy to partner with the Niagara Falls Fire Department and the Insurance Bureau of Canada to distribute these CO alarms and raise awareness about the issue of carbon monoxide in homes,” said Gates. “Now people in the community can call our friends at the Niagara Falls Fire Department and receive a CO alarm free of charge.” Continue reading →

Fundraiser Will Feature Key Note Speaker &          Niagara Citizen Activist extraordinaire Ed Smith

A Few Brief Words on this Event from Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper

Posted November 7^th, 2017 on Niagara At Large

When Niagara At Large was emailed the information for this Cindy Forster fundraiser a few weeks, back the person who sent it followed up with a phone call and said to me; “We know you are a journalist and you can’t get tied into partisan politics, so we’ll understand if you don’t want to post this.”

Welland Riding MPP Cindy Forster

So let me start this by making one thing crystal clear to those out there who will inevitably say something like this about my running this post – ‘Some journalist he is. You see he’s got partisan ties – probably hides a membership card for the New Democratic Party in his back pocket.”

Writing someone off as an “ideologue “or a “special interest” or a “partisan taking political shots” has become one of the more common tactic that the scoundrels among us use these days in an effort to divert attention away from their deeds and discredit their critics – and it doesn’t work with me!

I am not now and never have been a member of any political party and to paraphrase one of my favourite philosophers, the one and only Groucho Marx, I would never want to join any political party that would have a person like me as a member. Continue reading →

What Will Any New Trade Deals Do To What’s Left Of Decent Jobs in Canada and the U.S. This Time?

A Brief Commentary by Doug Draper, followed by a short video presentation with a message that should give us all cause for concern

Posted November 6th, 2017 on Niagara At Large

They’re off to lands of cheap labour and weak environmental and labour rules, trolling for new trade deals. What will that mean for the rest of us this time?

As Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the United States of America’s President Donald Trump separately, but simultaneously spend the days ahead, trolling around the Far East for new trade deals, there is something everyday people on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border should keep in mind.

With the possible exception of Japan, both men are dealing with countries that pay their workers peanuts and allow industries to operate in zones of weak environmental and labour protection regulations, so if past trade pacts our leaders have signed with counties that host sweat shops are any example, we have every reason to be concerned about any deal that might sell us down the river this  time. Continue reading →

“The democratic freedoms that so many of us might take for granted – the freedom to express ourselves, to participate in cultural, religious, and political activities, to come and go as we please, to associate with whom we please, and to pursue a safe and happy life – are all due to the sacrifices of Veterans and those who serve today. …Let us be thankful. Let us never forget.”

A Column from Dave Augustyn, Mayor of Pelham in Niagara, Ontario

Posted November 6^th, 2017 on Niagara At Large

Remembrance Day services at Old Pelham Town Hall in Ridgeville

Niagara, Ontario – The weather this past Sunday, November 5^th  was mostly dreadful. The leaves on the ground and the chill in the air reminded us that Autumn was upon us.

But the rain – at times nearly torrential – reminded us of what soldiers endured in the trenches in far-away lands.

And yet, Pelham residents took time to gather with members of the Royal Canadian Legion and the Ladies Auxiliary, the 613 Army Cadets, the Pelham Fire Service, and others at the Cenotaphs at Centennial Park, Old Town Hall, and Peace Park and during a special church service at Fonthill United to commemorate and remember the sacrifices of Pelham’s Veterans.

Each Remembrance Day it is right to remember those brave men and women who have served, and who continue to serve our country during times of war, conflict, and peace. Continue reading →

Ontario Health Coalition Calls on Provincial Government to Provide More Details on its Future Plans for Home Care Services

News from the Ontario Health Coalition, a non-profit, non-partisan citizens advocacy group for quality public health care

Posted November 6^th, 2017 on Niagara At Large

Toronto, Ontario – A leaked presentation from the Ministry of Health revealed by CBC this November 6^th indicates that the government is planning some sort of public home care agency for personal support work in the home.

The Ontario Health Coalition has been advocating for public home care since the 1990s and reacted with cautious optimism to the news.

“The devil is in the details,” said Ross Sutherland, R.N., M.A., chairperson of the Ontario Health Coalition. “If the government is planning public home care, this is great news. If they are planning to somehow have a public agency compete with the private corporations in home care, it will not help.” Continue reading →

“The creation of a strong, accountable, and multi-party committee of dedicated parliamentarians will help us ensure that our national security agencies continue to keep Canadians safe in a way that also safeguards our values, rights, and freedoms.” Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

News from the Office of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

Posted November 6th, 2017 on Niagara At Large

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

Ottawa, Ontario – Canadians have been clear that they want – and need – our national security and intelligence communities to continue to be responsible and fully respect the rights and freedoms guaranteed to all citizens.

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin TrudeauThat is why the Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today announced the establishment of the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians, a multi-party committee that includes representatives from both the House of Commons and the Senate. Continue reading →