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A Commentary by Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper

What if Hydro One customers – however hundreds of thousands of us there are across Ontario – all stopped paying our hydro bills until the province’s Liberal government finally agreed to drop its crazy to privatize up to 60 per cent of the utility?

I am not sure how you would organize boycott on that scale. Maybe someone who knows how to use social media to rally large numbers of people could figure that out.

But something needs to be done to stop Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne and her Liberals from moving forward with a privatization scheme you’d normally expect to come from a Conservative government tempered in the anti-government, free market ideology of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her most ardent Ontario disciple, Mike Harris. Continue reading →

News from the Niagara Parks Commission

Niagara Falls, Ontario, September, 2015 – The Niagara Parks Commission (NPC) has launched a new public awareness campaign designed to educate visitors and local residents on the impacts created by the feeding of waterfowl and wildlife within the Dufferin Islands Nature Area.

With the arrival of fall, new informative signs have been placed within Dufferin Islands, in order to help educate and reduce the frequency of feeding before the onset of winter. This is being done now, with the hope that the waterfowl and other migratory birds will begin to undertake natural migration patterns to their traditional winter habitat locations. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper

“This guy sounds like a Marxist. … He doesn’t even disguise it folks in this encyclical. …”

“Every other word seems to be about how unfettered capitalism is destroying the world. …. (According to him), the U.S. is guilty. Western nations are rich. They’re polluting the world, they’re destroying the climate, and they’ve got a duty to stop and give more money to the poor and so forth.”

“If the left can get to a Pope and corrupt an encyclical, they’re gonna be inspired to keep going and try to corrupt the whole thing.”

• From a burst of rants this past June 2015 by American right-wing radio show host Rush Limbaugh around the release of Pope Francis’ encyclical on climate change.

Sure is one tarrying picture Rush is painting for us, isn’t it?

Lefties corrupting the words of a Pope? And dare we ask, who or what will these devilish hordes try corrupting next?

Sounds like a scene right out of the original 1950s version of the horror flick ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’ – a film set right in the thick of the Cold War and communist scare, and one that had the communist boogeyman very much in mind.

In the middle of his rant, Limbaugh also noted in so many words that the Pope should stay away from “politics” and get back to praying on his beads and citing passages from the Bible – a sentiment I heard and read numerous times during Pope Francis’ recent American visit from individuals on the far right of the political and religious spectrum. Continue reading →

A Brief One  from Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper

On this last passing Sunday of September, I found the following message from Canada’s NDP Leader Tom Mulcair in my inbox.

Canada’s NDP Leader Tom Mulcair (right) says there’s no way he’d go for any post-election propping up of Stephen Harper

“There are no circumstances in which I would support Stephen Harper remaining prime minister,” declared Mulcair in September 27th note. “For ten years, he’s had the privilege of leading this great country, and he’s failed Canadian families every step of the way.”

“It’s time for change, and ours is the team that can get the job done.” Continue reading →

New from the Niagara Regional Native Centre

Organizers hope the entire southern Ontario community will join in on Oct 3 when the annual Pow Wow takes place at the Niagara Regional Native Centre, in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario.

The event will feature aboriginal dancers in traditional regalia as well as traditional food and craft vendors and educational opportunities.

This year’s theme is “Honouring our Sisters in Spirit,” to raise awareness of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women in Canada. We also want to Honour our Women in our community who stand strong in supporting and empowering others.

The event begins at noon with the Grand Entry, which involves elders carrying the eagle staff and veterans, as well as flag carriers and dancers from tiny tots to senior citizens, dressed in full traditional regalia. There will also be native drum groups from across Ontario. Continue reading →

Excerpts from Pope Francis’ Addresses To U.S. Congress And To The United Nations General Assembly

To U.S. Congress, September 23^rd, 2015

“I call for a courageous and responsible effort to redirect our steps and to avert the most serious effects of the environmental deterioration caused by human activity.”

Pope Francis stays true to his namesake, St. Francis of Assisi who preached about the duty of humans to protect nature.

“I am convinced that we can make a difference and I have no doubt that the United States – and this Congress – have an important role to play. Now is the time for courageous actions and strategies, aimed at implementing a culture of care and “an integrated approach to combating poverty, restoring dignity to the excluded, and at the same time protecting nature”

To the U.N. General Assembly, September 25^th, 2015

“It must be stated that a true right of the environment does exist, for two reasons.” Continue reading →

A Call Out For Support from Zoocheck Canada’s director Rob Laidlaw On October 3rd, I will be leaving on a 700 km bike ride across New York State to raise funds to help Yupi, the Polar Bear, who has spent most of her life in the Mexican heat. This fundraiser of a ride is about helping Yupi the polar bear My last ride was dubbed the Big Bike for Ben and it succeeded in raising more than $7,000 for Zoocheck’s roadside zoo campaign. This ride is a bit shorter, and my smaller fundraising goal reflects that. I’d like to generate at least $3,000 for our efforts to help Yupi. We have raised $2000 thus far and need you to help us to meet our goal. If you can make a contribution, no matter how small, we would be extremely grateful. To support the Ride for the Wild, head over to Zoocheck’s website. To put the Ride for the Wild into perspective, I thought I’d let everyone know that I’m not someone who can effortlessly cover hundreds of kilometers in just a few hours of time. I’m a recreational cyclist with a 15 year old hybrid bicycle. I don’t have an elite road bike made out of space shuttle material, nor do I have special shoes that clip into the pedals and I certainly don’t have any sleek, skin-tight cycling gear. I admit some of it does look cool, but it’s not for me. I’m riding for the cause. I’m doing this for Yupi. I have no idea how long the ride will take, but I hope to do it as quickly as I can. The weather, state of the roads and trails, and my often quirky ankle will impact the ride’s duration. I’ll be making posts on Zoocheck’s Facebook page along the way to let everyone know how the ride is going (positively or negatively, but hopefully more of the former). I hope you’ll support my Ride for the Wild and contribute to Zoocheck’s important work. We’re one of the most effective wildlife protection groups in Canada and have a long track record of success, including rescuing animals, closing zoos, changing laws and policies, arguing in the courts and helping other individuals and organizations develop capacity. To support Yupi please head over to our donation page today or give us a call at the office (416.285.1744) to donate over the phone. For more information on the campaign to help Yupi the polar bear click on http://www.saveyupi.com/ . Thank you for your help. Cheers, Rob Laidlaw Director, Zoocheck

Zoocheck is a Canadian-based international wildlife protection charity (#13150 2072 RR0001) established in 1984 to promote and protect the interests and well-being of wild animals. Zoocheck works with a broad range of collaborating partners around the world.

Zoocheck endeavors to promote animal protection in specific situations and strive to bring about a new respect for all living things and the world in which they live.

For more information on Zoocheck Canada, visit its website at www.zoocheck.com .

Visit Niagara At Large at www.niagaraatlarge.com for more news and commentary for and from the greater bi-national Niagara region.

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A Brief from NAL publisher Doug Draper

Niagara Regional Government Chair Al Caslin’s endorsement of Rick Dykstra, a Conservative candidate running for a fourth term in the Niagara riding of St. Catharines, has raised at least a little ire in regional circles.

Niagara, Ontariio’s Regional government chair Al Caslin called out for endorsing federal Conservative candidate.

The endorsement, which was recently posted on Dykstra’s campaign Facebook site, has raised at least a few eyebrows in regional circles since it was raised by Pelham Mayor and Regional Councillor Dave Augustyn at a meeting of the Region’s Corporate Services Committee this September 23^rd and reported in a story in the St. Catharines Standard this September 24^th.

“Unfortunately,” said Augustyn (as he argued for a later-to-be-defeatedmotion he tabled to consider allowing residents across Niagara the opportunity to elect regional chairs rather than have chairs voted in by members of regional council) “party politics” has already become a part of governance at the municipal level. To further his point, Augustyn noted that Caslin “has blatantly endorsed a candidate running in this federal election.” Continue reading →

• Health Coalition Calls for Streamlined Public Home Care System. Raises Questions About Lack of Transparency in Contracted Home Care Companies

News from the Ontario Health Coalition – a not-for-profit citizens advocacy group

Toronto, Ontario, September 23^rd 2015 – Ontario’s Auditor General released a thorough and thoughtful review of the Community Care Access Centres (CCACs) that reveals in detail how impossibly complex the home care system in Ontario has become.

Ontario Auditor-General Bonnie Lysyk

In the preamble to her report, Ontario’s Auditor calls for a full review of home care that addresses the structural problems in the system. This recommendation has been repeatedly made by Ontario Auditors over the last decade. The Ontario Health Coalition agrees with this urgent need, and calls on the Minister to protect the public interest by ensuring that there are full public hearings and a process that limits the disproportionate power that provider companies have in policy reform for home care. Continue reading →

• Grocery Stores Can Now Submit Bids to Sell Beer

News from Ontario’s Liberal Government

(A Brief Foreword Note from Niagara At Large – Niagara, Ontario residents can cross the border to a Wegmans or Top’s grocery store in the Buffalo, New York area where they are free to buy a 12-pack of beer – and buy it for about half the price a 12 pack costs in Ontario for that matter.

How do you feel about the move to sell beer in grocery stores in Ontario? Share your comments on this issue at the end of this post.)

Queen’s Park, Ontario, September 23rd, 2015 – In a move that offers consumers more convenience and choice while maintaining a strong commitment to social responsibility, the Ontario government is now accepting bids from grocery retailers interested in carrying beer.

Premier Kathleen Wynne made the announcement today with Ed Clark, Chair of the Premier’s Advisory Council on Government Assets. This is a key step forward in the biggest change to alcohol retailing in Ontario since Prohibition was repealed nearly 90 years ago. Continue reading →

A Brief Comment by Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper

Earlier this September, on the CBC Radio program ‘The Current’, a conversation between campaign strategists for Canada’s three mainstream parties turned to the topic of NDP Leader Tom Mulcair and Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau and how much time they are spending during this election taking shots at each other.

A message to Justin Trudeau and Tom Muclair. How about spending less time tearing each other apart and more time talking about your vision for Canada’s future. Inspire us. Fire us up.

At one point during the discussion, the Conservative Party strategist said the ongoing flare-ups between Mulcair and Trudeau are just fine with him and, he’d be willing to ‘pour gas on the fire’.

And so it was at this past September 17^th Leaders’ Debate with Trudeau) and Mulcair ripping away at each other while Stephen Harper stood there looking on with no gasoline can in hand.

Harper’s strategy seemed to be not to do anything to interrupt his opponents while they are tearing each other’s plans and policies apart. And it was a good policy because it left Harper looking like the guy in charge and the others  looking like they are desperately fighting over the spoils. Continue reading →

A Brief Comment from NAL publisher Doug Draper

Shortly after this past August 2^nd’s federal election call, I made it clear that Niagara At Large was not going to do what most mainstream media outlets do.

I made it clear that NAL was not going to wait until the final days before people go to the polls to state a final position on the leader and party running for another chance to deconstruct all of the good things this Canada of ours has achieved and has yet to achieve as it approaches its 150^th birthday of its confederation two years from now.

Some readers of this site have argued (and some no doubt will continue to argue) that I hear out everything Stephen Harper and his Conservatives have to say during this election before writing them off.

To that I can only respond that I have seen and heard enough during the last nine years of this Harper government eroding our rights and running our country like a dictatorship to write it off forever. In almost every way – economic, social, cultural, environmental, you name it – this regime has been a disaster at home and abroad where, over and over again, it has sullied Canada’s longstanding reputation as a voice for peace and compassion around the world. Continue reading →

Commentary from Gary Screaton Page

I never thought I would see the day when Stephen Harper would admit that the Conservative Party does not have what it takes to run an election. So why do we think that if his party is re-elected they will run the country any better than they have run their campaign?

Is Stephan HJarper an ‘old stock’ Canadian?

If, you don’t think Harper has admitted his party doesn’t have the right stuff consider that he recently brought in Lynton Crosby, an Australian, to take charge of the campaign. Is doing so not an admission that no one in his party, at least in Mr. Harper’s mind, has what it takes to keep the election campaign on track?

So how does Mr. Harper expect he will do better picking his next cabinet, if Canadians are daft enough to re-elect his party to lead the country again? Surely, running a campaign is easier than running a nation as diverse as Canada! Continue reading →

 By David Kowalski 

(A Brief Foreword from NAL publisher Doug Draper – It is time for Canadians to get their heads out of the tar sands and wake up! This is a health concern and contamination plague on the Great Lakes we count on as a source of drinking water that we should all care about on both sides f the Canada/U.S. border. So far, it is our American neighbours calling for action. When are Canadians going to get their heads out of the tar sands fog and care about this issue too? r have gone along with Harper completely in turning our back on environmental protection?)

Microbeads are tiny plastic spheres that are widely used in cosmetics and skin care products as exfoliating agents. 

When products containing the microbeads are washed down the drain, they enter the sewage system. However, the microbeads are not filtered out by sewage treatment and so they enter our waterways. Continue reading →

News from the Hamilton, Ontario based watchdog group Citizens At City Hall, better known as CATCH in the Hamilton area.

(A Brief Foreword note from Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper – This very same extreme weather report, courtesy of man-assisted climate change, could apply to our greater Niagara region. We could certainly use a watchdog group like CATCH here in Niagara to push our municipal politicians – many of them still living in the last century – along.)

May 1^st, 2015 – In the wake of the hottest March in global records, there are growing provincial and municipal efforts to address the impacts of climate change, including a major McMaster symposium next week on how to respond to weather extremes in Ontario. And in contrast to Hamilton’s refusal to fund additional climate staff, Halton is trumpeting its financial commitment in the opposite direction.

A recent look at weather conditions that snapped trees, downed electrical wires and caused millions of dollars of other damage in southern Ontario. Too bad we have too many loud voices on regional council in Niagara who call climate change a joke. This photo is here via NAL and was not part of the original CATCH piece.

The regional government that includes Burlington, Oakville and Milton highlighted climate change spending in its recently approved 2015 budget. That includes close to $6 million to strengthen response to “emergencies and urgent incidents including severe weather events” and to provide equipment for emergency warming centres. 

“Weather patterns have changed over the past few decades with more localized storm events of greater intensity occurring with greater frequency, such as the December 2013 ice storm and the August 2014 flood,” notes the region’s media release on the budget. There’s also $5 million set aside to prevent the kind of basement flooding that hit over 3000 Burlington homes in last summer’s record-breaking storm.

The majority of Hamilton council in their budget deliberations rejected a senior staff recommendation to support the current half-time climate coordinator with two staff to prepare adaptation strategies for extreme weather at a cost of $192,000. Continue reading →

News from Ontario’s Niagara Parks Commission

(A brief from NAL – If you have never hiked down the gorge of the lower Niagara River through the Niagara Glen, do it if you are physically able to walk down those goorge stairs to the rocky trails below. If you can do it, you will experience one oof the last areas along the Niagara River corridor that is as natural as it was when the first European explorers cast their eyes on it. Thanks to the Niagara Parks Commission for preserving it.)

Exploring the trails in the Niagara Glen. Photo courtesy of Niagara Parks Commission

Niagara Falls, Ontario, April 2015 – The Niagara Parks Commission is pleased to once again be partnering with Forests Ontario, as part of a province-wide free community tree planting event to be held on Saturday, May 2 from 10 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Participants will get the chance to directly support their community in a local reforestation project and learn about the benefits of trees, shade and green urban spaces. The NPC planting site is located directly across the street from the Niagara Glen Nature Centre at 3050 Niagara Parkway. Continue reading →

News from the Office of Welland Riding MPP Cindy Forster. 

(A Brief Foreword Note from NAL publisher Doug Draper – A sincere word of gratitude here for Niagara provincial legislature Cindy Forster for fronting a bill for supporting Canada’s veterans that is thankfully being greeted with non-partisan support at Queen’s Park. 

Having said that, here is another example, like climate change, education, health care and infrastructure renewal, of an area our provinces and municipalities are taking over funding for as our federal government backs away. 

We no longer live in what has been Canada for most of the past century and a half, but in a Harperland where the spirit of a true confederation of provinces and territories is all but dead.

As for the Harper government, how disgusting to use deaths of Canadians in uniforms to pass a bill that threatens all Canadians’ rights and freedoms, yet not offer our veterans the support they need when it comes to physical and pscholgocal challenges they are facing, along with the challenges of finding gameful employment in our country.)

Like Environment Canada and Canada’s Department of Oceans and Fisheries, Veterans Affairs Canada is rapidly becoming a body in name only.Harper might just as well be honest and get rid of it completely.

QUEEN’S PARK – This past April 16^th, 2015, Welland Riding NDP MPP Cindy Forster’s bill, calling for priority access to Long-Term Care for veterans, successfully passed second reading in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario with unanimous consent. 

“We have a duty of care to ensure that all veterans who have sacrificed on our behalf are given the care they need and rightfully deserve, regardless of when or where they served. The rules need to change to give priority to veterans regardless of service,” said Forster, MPP for Welland. Continue reading →

State of the Region Address by Alan Caslin Niagara Regional Chair, March 25th, 2015, Niagara Falls, Ontario

(A Brief Foreword by Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper – NAL has always believed in posting the annual State of the Region Address delivered by the Chair of Niagara, Ontario’s regional government unabridged, without the usual reporters and editors deciding what parts of it to highlight for you.

NAL and our readers will get our turn to praise or citicize the messages in the Chair’s speech soon enough. For now, here is the first State of the Region addressed delivered by Al Caslin, a St. Catharines regional councillor chosen by a majority of fellow regional councillors late last year to serve in the top political job in Niagara for the next four years.)

Niagara Regional Chair Al Caslin

Good afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for being with us today.

 A big thank you to Wade and the Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce for hosting today’s event.

I’d also like to congratulate Mishka Balsom, the GNCC’s newly appointed CEO.

It’s great to see organizations like the GNCC and area Chambers of Commerce working hand in glove with business to grow the Niagara economy and locking in jobs in across the Region.

I’d also like to acknowledge Bob Watson and Pen Financial for sponsoring today’s event. I must say, it looks like Bob may be competing with Meridian to be the Regional Chair’s favorite Credit Union.

Brian Merrett also deserves a big thank you and an Oscar for his performance. Brian was Niagara’s 3rd Regional Chair and I’ve been impressed by his continued commitment to Niagara and its residents.

Please hold your applause as I welcome a number of important guests here today.

I’d like acknowledge my colleagues on Regional Council in the audience today, including…

In addition, please join me in welcoming other public figures that have joined us today, including…

To kick off my remarks, I’d like to offer you a “Chair’s Eye View” of my first 100 days in office. Continue reading →

News from Ontario’s Conservative Party

(A Brief Foreword Note from NAL – Lest are not old enough t remember or choose not to remember, there were certainly enough provincial public sector emloyees who were paid and/or misspent big bucks under Mike Harris’s Conservative government in the late 1990s and early 2000s.)

QUEEN’S PARK, March 26^th, 2015 – The 2014 Sunshine List shows the Liberal government continues to allow public sector wages to rise at an unsustainable rate, to the detriment of all of the people of the province. 

The number of people on the list grew by 13.9% over 2013.  In actual numbers of people, this is the highest single increase ever – an inexcusable amount given the financial situation in the province. 

“The fact that the Sunshine List has grown again and so rapidly, proves the Liberals are not serious about meeting their deficit reduction targets, nor do they appear to be concerned about the implications of ballooning public sector salaries as they pertain to public service cuts and layoffs.  There is a direct correlation,” said Lisa MacLeod, PC Treasury Board critic. Continue reading →

Tom Rand, clean-tech venture capitalist, environmentalist, and author of “Kick the Fossil Fuel Habit” and “Waking the Frog” will provide a no-nonsense look at climate change with special emphasis on the economic opportunities involved in moving to a low-carbon economy.

Click on this image to enlarge it

A panel of local experts will be on hand to discuss issues specific to the Niagara Region and to suggest ways to get involved.

Come out and join the discussion. Everyone welcome!

No charge. Refreshments served.

Get your free tickets through Eventbrite (https://eventbrite.ca/event/16168758191/).

Tickets help us plan seating and refreshments but if it’s a last minute decision….come anyway.

 The Town Hall is sponsored by the St. Catharines Federal Liberal Association as a non-partisan, community-outreach event.

Time and place:   April 22, 2015, 7 to 9 pm, Holiday Inn and Suites Parkway Conference Centre,   327 Ontario Street, St. Catharines, Ontario 

Contact  Jane Dywan  jdywan@brocku.ca 905-641-5185

(Niagara At Large invites your comments on this post. We remind you that we only post cmments from individals that share their real first and last names.)

A Brief Commentary by NAL publisher Doug Draper

We can begin two millenniums ago with the brutal execution of Jesus of Nazareth, whether you embrace him as the ‘Son of God’ or in a more secular manner, as one of the most courageous and compassionate voices for peace and caring for one another on the planet.

Russian social justice advocate Boris Nemtsov murdered in Moscow, and who cares?

More recently, we humans have witnessed the gunning down of other brave voices for peace and tolerance, including Gandhi, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Robert Kennedy, Harvey Milk, and the near killing of Pakistani teen Malala Yousatzay, who fortunately lived to receive the Nobel Peace Prize this 2014 for her efforts to ensure young girls around the world have the same opportunity as boys do to get an education.

Then, this late February, there was the brazen assassination of Boris Nemtsov, a fearless campaigner for democracy in his native Russia and critic of that country’s corrupt, thuggish leader Vladimir Putin.

Canada’s tough-talkin’ prime minister, Stephen Harper, mouthed the usual words of condemnation for this crime. Yet despite all his Rambo-like posturing aimed at pandering to Canadians of Ukrainian descent and partisan base that eats up the illusion of leader kickin’ ass, Harper’s sanctions against the Putin regime don’t dare go so far as cutting off Russia’s state-owned energy gaint Rosneft and Russian Railways chief Vladimir Yakunin, two of Putin’s old-time fellow crooks and cronies. Continue reading →

A Brief Foreword to this News from NAL publisher Doug Draper

It should come as no surprise that Niagara is one of the very few regions in southern Ontario that will not see the provincial government host a public consultation session in the weeks ahead on what to do to address climate change.

Signs like this have dotted the rural areas of Niagara, Ontario in recent years – a message that if you want to generate energy from wind here, get out of town

Click on the appropriate link in the Ontario Government News Release below to review the list of regions that are included for a consultation session.

Niagara’s regional government made it clear more than a year ago that it is completely behind two of this region’s local municipalities – Wainfleet and West Lincoln – in their bid to keep wind energy farms out of their jurisdiction. And the regional government gave the province no reason to believe that it would not extend the same support to any other local municipality in Niagara that wishes to be a dead zone for green energy facilities.

Further to that, Niagara is falling many years behind other regions across this province that already have in place centralized, seamless systems of public transit accessible to all residents. In fact, there are a number of vocal members on Niagara’s regional council opposed to building a truly regional transit system – a position that militates against convincing Go Transit to provide more regular services to the region. Continue reading →

A Brief Commentary by Doug Draper

When will Canada have a prime minister who even comes close to U.S. President Barack Obama when it comes to addressing climate change?

U.S. President Barack Obama includes call for more action on climate change in State of Union address.

More than 90 per cent of the most reputable climatologists around the world now agree that carbon emissions from human activities are contributing to atmospheric that could lead to catastrophic quality of life and economic impacts for those of us, and our children and grandchildren, still living in the last half of this century – impacts that are already causing trillions of dollars in damage to property, food crops and other vital necessities in our collective lives now.

Yet in Canada, we have a Harper government that continues to view any conclusion that human activities are impacting on climate as a joke and views taking any action to significantly reduce carbon emissions from tar sand operations and related activities as, what Stephen Harper recently called, a “job killer.” Continue reading →

News from Ontario’s Niagara Parks Commission

Niagara Falls, Ontario, January, 2015 – For 70 years The Niagara Parks Commission’s Floral Showhouse has been a beloved part of the Niagara Falls experience for Ontario residents and international travellers alike.

Escape winter’s cold and enjoy a bit of spring at Niagara Park’s Floral Showhouse

The perfect complement to any visit to Niagara Parks, The Showhouse will be unveiling its annual spring display this weekend, featuring stunning arrangements, as well as colourful and lush greenery to help brighten your day.

The displays in the popular greenhouses are regularly changed for visitors’ enjoyment, with eight seasonal plant exhibitions showcased throughout the year. The annual spring display features a variety of vibrant Primula, Calceolaria, Cyclamen, Cineraria, Schizanthus, tropical plants and shrubs. Continue reading →

News from the Office of Ontario Environmental Commissioner Gord Miller

Toronto, Ontario, January 13^th,. 2015 – Ontario’s Environmental Commissioner says he’s adopting a wait-and-see attitude towards the government’s Conservation First philosophy.

Ontario Environmental Commissioner Gord Miller

In releasing his 2014 Energy Conservation Progress Report “Planning to Conserve”, Gord Miller praised the shift to considering cost-effective conservation before building new generation or transmission facilities. “Conservation has long been undervalued, and last year the government made significant progress in changing that by reorienting its energy policy.”

Miller pointed to a number of positive changes in conservation policy: Continue reading →

By John Bacher

In the 2015 Greenbelt Review one of the most important objectives should be to expand the Greenbelt on lands within the watershed based borders of the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority (NPCA.)

Some of the last of Niagara’s natural spaces left in the provincially protected Greenbelt.

These lands are the agricultural and environmental protection -zoned lands within the southern part of the City of Hamilton, the western edge of the County of Haldimand and the entire Niagara Region. This area is the southern edge of Ontario’s Greenbelt.

The lands of the southern Greenbelt are of considerable agricultural environmental and cological significance. They contain virtually all of Ontario’s grape and tender fruit lands, asource of healthy nutrition. Through the middle of this Greenbelt, even in urbanized areas such as the cities of St. Catharines, Niagara Falls and Hamilton, there is a still forested Niagara Escarpment. Continue reading →

By Karl Dockstader

Buffalo, New York – In the midst of the latest polar vortex in the first week of this January, 2014, renown environmental activist Walter Simpson addressed a crowd of more than 50 people that weren’t deterred by the frigid Buffalo weather.

This energy-generating wind farm is located along the shores of Lake Erie in Buffalo, New York, and is planned for expansion. Meanwhile, Niagara, Ontario has said no to green energy generators. File photo by Doug Draper

Weather is a topic that is common in a city boastfully proud of its hardy ability to persevere in extreme weather but when Walter Simpson addressed the weather it was with caution. With an image of a science fiction like wall of snow crashing across the Buffalo cityscape and the words “Knife Edge Snow Storm” showing, Walter openly questioned why there wasn’t more press about how obvious the connection was between climate change and the deadly November, 2014 Buffalo snow storm.

As part of the Sierra Club Niagara/Western New York’s Writers Circle, Walter Simpson shared his “Case for Renewable Energy” and encouraged everyone to think beyond the usual dollars-and-cents approach to thinking about energy. He talked about externalities and the unintended consequences of continuing to drag our feet about the man made changes to our planet. Continue reading →

Newspeak is the fictional language in the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, written by George Orwell. It is a controlled language created by the totalitarian state as a tool to limit freedom of thought and concepts that pose a threat to the regime.

By Nick Fillmore

Canada is not Orwell’s imaginary society where peoples’ every thoughts and ideas are controlled by The Party, but our own powerful elite has pushed our media closer to censorship and a propaganda-feeding machine than I ever imagined possible.

Our elite include the wealthy, corporate executives, private media, and the Harper government. As Orwell wrote in his novel, the elite understand that if they have strong influence over media they can limit serious criticism of the tremendous changes they impose on ordinary people.
  
All but one of Canada’s 118 daily newspapers and all four of its private television networks support the business-dominated ideology of the elite and the Harper government. The CBC has some excellent, independent minded programming, but CBC management is so terrified of Stephen Harper that it doesn’t allow the boat to be rocked.

Of course journalists are allowed to write stories that are politely critical of the Harper government, one of the links in the chain of power, but far too often stories focus on the government’s strategy to overcome an image problem.
For instance, consider The Globe and Mail’s front page treatment on Monday of the demotion of Veterans Affairs Minister Julian Fantino. Instead of talking about how the change will allow the government to improve services for veterans, it dealt entirely with Stephen Harper trying to improve the image of the government going into an election. Continue reading →