Category Archives: Uncategorized

A Brief Comment from Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper

God bless us, he loved being mayor of Canada’s largest city and the third largest city in North America.

So much so that Rob Ford would continue to weather any amount of shame and humiliation through the last couple of years of outing his drug and alcoholic addictions, his palling around with nefarious individuals in the grey areas of the law, and so many other antics that made him a butt of late night talk show hosts across the world.

Rob Ford

As everyone who is not totally cut off by ear-bug bullshit must know by now, Rob Ford – diagnosed with an abdominal tumor earlier this second week in September that is serious and may be cancerous – bowed out of Toronto, Ontario’s mayoralty race and has left the challenge of ‘Ford Nation’ holding the mayor’s seat this fall to his loyal brother Doug.

I’ll be honest here. I never cared for the Ford agenda, which calls for cutting and taxes along with gutting more government services that so curiously are there to help some of the very recent immigrant and lower-income people that Ford has so successfully lured in support of his neo-con, post Mike Harris era nation. Continue reading →

News from the Office of Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath

Queen’s Park, September 10^th, 2014 – Andrea Horwath, Leader of Ontario’s New Democrats, vowed to fight the privatization of Ontario’s hydro system and campaign against the sell-off of public assets by the Liberals.

Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath

 “Resurrecting botched schemes from the Mike Harris days to privatize hydro will only drive up bills for families and enrich insiders,” said Horwath. 

The New Democrat leader said her party was launching a campaign aimed at preventing the Liberal government’s planned fire-sale of Ontario’s public assets and maintaining the province’s ownership of public hydro agencies and the LCBO. 

Horwath will be touring the province meeting with families, community leaders, labour, businesses and other groups about the impacts of the fire-sale on Ontario’s future. Continue reading →

A Brief Comment from Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper

I’m no football fan myself – never was and probably never will be – but I am a fan of the great city of Buffalo, New York and I join so many people in that city in celebrating this September 9^th’s news that the Buffalo Bills will stay.

The Buffalo News has confirmed that billionaire business leaders Terry and Kim Pegula, who have already made other development investments in the city as it transforms itself from a manufacturing to more of a high-tech research and business centre – not to mention a continental showcase for heritage and vibrant, revitalized neighbhourhoods – have purchased the Buffalo Bills football team and will keep it in the Buffalo area. 

This news comes after the death of long-time Buffalo Bills founder and owner Ralph Wilson early this year and months of nail-biting speculation over who would buy the team and where it might locate it. Continue reading →

News from Brock University in Niagara, Ontario

September, 2014 – Staff at Brock University are sounding the alarm on new job scams targeting students which could see them, among other things, being used as pawns in fraudulent activity.

Brock University’s landmark tower complex above the Niagara Escartpment in St. Catharines, Ontario

In one recent incident, a fraudster posing as an employer at a legitimate organization hired a student via email without any face-to-face interaction. On the student’s first day of work, their job description suddenly changed and they were asked to deposit a cheque and run errands for the employer who was suddenly out of the country. 

Alarm bells went off and the student didn’t cash the cheque. Instead, they followed up with Career Services staff at Brock who helped to verify with the real employer that no such person worked for the company and that the job offered did not exist. 

In another similar case, an unsuspecting student cashed a counterfeit employer’s cheque and conducted the errands they were asked to carry out only to be later told by the bank that the cheque was a fake and that they were on the hook for $2,500. Continue reading →

By Mark Taliano

In the 21 st century, we’re constantly being bombarded with information from a myriad of sources, including the internet, but in many respects, we actually know less.

In matters of war and peace, disinformation campaigns have effectively blinded us to realities on the ground, as permanent war destabilizes countries and murders multitudes throughout the world.

The 2003 ‘shock and awe’ bombing of Iraq, delivered by a Bush/Cheney administration that frightened the western world with stories about weapons of mass destruction and ‘mushroom clouds’ over America

Waving fraudulent banners of democracy, freedom, stabilization, humanitarian bombing, self-defence, and any number of other lies, illegal wars of aggression are being waged and international rules of law and order have been reduced to insignificance.

A multitude of lies and false pretexts were used to justify the on-going horrors of the Afghanistan and Iraq invasions, and yet for the most part North Americans, oblivious to the realities on the ground, seem to have forgiven the powers that waged these wars. Continue reading →

A Note from Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper

When we launched Niagara At Large more than four years ago, we also set off a running series on NAL called ‘Signs Of Our Times’.

The idea was to ask our readers and contributors to send us images of signs or posters they spotted somewhere in our greater Niagara binational region that say something about the crazy times we live in.

The series got off to a promising start with a number of interesting submissions. But like a lot of ideas – even some good ones – it fell to the side as our attentions were drawn to what seemed to be more pressing issues unfolding across the region at the time.

Yet if Ford can bring back the Mustang and vinyl records can make a comeback, maybe we can reprise ‘Signs Of Our Times’, including interesting bumper stickers this time around. 

Let me get the ball rolling with a bumper sticker on a car I parked behind a few weeks back to attend the Elwood Avenue Festival of the Arts in Buffalo, New York. I know I will catch some flack on this, but I believe this bumper sticker said it all about a movement south of the Canada/U.S. border that has emboldened angry fringe groups and hate-mongers and has sought to inflame the darker side of human nature. I include an image of the bumper sticker here.

Now I invite you to submit a sign of our times, if or when you cross paths with one with a message that resonates with the mad-hatter circumstances around us. If you have one and want to send it in for our consideration, send the image of the sign, poster or bumper sticker in a JPEG format, along with a short note on why you feel it strikes a telling chord to drapers@vaxxine.com .

(NOW IT IS YOUR TURN. Niagara At Large encourages you to share your views on this post. A reminder that we only post comments by individuals who share their first and last name with them.)

A Message to Readers from Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper 

When we launched Niagara At Large five years ago, we made a point of encouraging people across our greater region in Niagara, Ontario, the Buffalo, New York area, and beyond to join the debate on issues we post here.

At least Howard Beale stood behind his name and had rants that were interesting. We ask for something of the same here.

We also made it clear from the start that, unlike most online sites hosted by mainstream media outlets and others, we would stay true to traditional, and what we continue to believe to be well-thought-out, first principles of journalism that require each and every person who posts a comment here (what is the equivalent to a Letter To The Editor in a newspaper that is still actually printed on paper) to share their real name with their views.

We continue to embrace these principles for reasons of transparency and the same kind of public accountability that applies to this publisher, to public servants and to anyone else who posts or is part of a story or commentary here with their name hanging in the balance. Continue reading →

A Brief Comment by Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper

Let me start this one with a few words from the late, great American satirist George Carlin.

Are millienials and other younger generations supposed to care about the health care for greedy, self-aborbed people like this?

“A lot of these cultural crimes I’ve been complaining about can be blamed on the Baby Boomers. Somethin’ else I’m a little tired of hearin’ about. The Baby Boomers. Whiny, narcissistic, self-indulgent people with a simple philosophy:

“These people,” George continues, “were given everything. Everything was handed to them. And they took it all! Oh, they took it all! Sex, drugs and rock & roll, and they stayed loaded for twenty years and had a free ride, but now they’re staring down the barrel of middle age burnout and they don’t like it, they don’t like it so they turn self-righteous and they wanna make things harder on young people! They tell them to abstain from sex, “Say No To Drugs.” As for the Rock & Roll, they sold that for television commercials a long time ago… so they could buy pasta machines and Stairmasters and soy bean futures… You know somethin’… they’re cold bloodless people, it’s in their slogans, it’s in their rhetoric; “no pain, no gain” “just do it” “life is short” “play hard” “shit happens” “deal with it” “get a life.” These people went from “do your own thing” to “just say no.” They went from: “love is all you need” to “whoever winds up with the most toys wins.” And they went from cocaine to Rogaine.”

That just about summed it up for this post-Second World War baby boomer generation, which I am a less-than-proud member of by the way, at the time George spoke those words in 1994. Continue reading →

A Brief by Doug Draper

In the 2010 documentary film ‘Joan Rivers; A Piece Of Work’, Joan Rivers is seen in the first few minutes of the film looking over her schedule books, at one that is full of dates for a lady then in her mid-70s and saying; “that’s happiness.”

Joan Rivers

Then Rivers, who died this September at age 81, was featured in the same film pointing to a seclude book with dates that were blank.

“I’ll show you fear,” Rivers said as she pointed at those blank pages. “That is fear. If my book ever looked like this, it would mean that nobody wants me, that everything I tried to do in life didn’t work, that nobody cares. I would be totally forgotten.”

If you have never seen the film Joan Rivers; A Piece Of Work, which I saw for the first time at the Amherst Theatre in the Buffalo, New York area at the time it was released (it would never had made the screen in most of the crummy commercial theatres here in Niagara, Ontario) it shows a side of this lady, who some loved and some hated for her brand of comedy) that showed the sad side of the clown. Continue reading →

News from Port Colborne Mayor Vance Badawey

Port Colborne, Ontario – September, 2014 – Mayor Vance Badawey announced this past September 4^th that he will not be seeking a fifth term as Mayor of the City of Port Colborne.

Port Colborne Mayor Vance Badeway now seeking a Nagara regional council seat

However, Badawey will run for the city’s seat on Regional Council.

“I have thoroughly enjoyed my 17 years on City Council – 14 of which as Mayor/Regional Councillor. Our team has accomplished a great deal throughout this time,” stated Badawey. 

I sincerely appreciate the support we have received throughout my tenure. I would like to extend special attention and appreciation to those that have dedicated their time, through many capacities, to ensuring that the City of Port Colborne continues to be a community that offers the perfect balance between business and lifestyle.” 

“However, we are not done yet. After alot of thought and with the many leadership responsibilities I have assumed at the region, I have decided to accelerate that pace by dedicating my time to ensuring these projects move forward in the best interests of the City of Port Colborne and the Region of Niagara,” stated Badawey. Continue reading →

News from CATCH, an acronym for the Hamilton, Ontario-based watchdog group, Citizens at City Hall

(A Brief Foreword from Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper – It makes me damn sick and angry to write this. But after all the almost four and a half decades since the first Earth Day, with some of the most respected scientists, medical experts, ecologists and urban planners on this North American continent warning of the toll that spiraling use of carbon burning cars will have on our health and the health of the planet – not to mention the budgets of our towns and cities – we keep clogging up our roads with more cars.

That is why I am posting this piece by CATCH. It must be read and although it focuses on the Hamilton, Ontario slice of this problem, Niagara is right there in the data of the study produced by University of Toronto researches and cited here. As much as many of our Niagara municipal politicians have paid lip service to smarter growth in recent years, they continue to approve car-dependent, low-density suburbs and malls, etc. out into the corn and soy bean fields of this region. At the same time, they still do not have the vision to build a truly regional, affordable and accessible public transit system in this region. All we have so far is this embryotic and token “pilot” inter-municipal transit system that was almost designed to be a recipe for failure.

We have municipal elections happening in Niagara this October. Make sure you vote for those who will serve on our councillors as progressive, smarter growth, transit-friendly visionaries for the future.

Now here is the post from CATCH.) Continue reading →

A Brief by Doug Draper

In the lead-up to the U.S. Bush/Cheney administration’s 3003 invasion of Iraq, it is important to remember that there were some high-profile political voices in the United States that predicted the murderous mess still infesting that hapless region of the world today.

Ted Kennedy leaves his Hyannis, Massachusetts home for last time in late August, 2009. Photo by Doug Draper

One of those voices was the senior U.S. senator from Massachusetts Ted Kennedy, who died following a courageous battle against brain cancer five years ago this past August 25^th. 

In his memoir True Compass, completed in his final days and published a month (five years ago this September) after his death, Kennedy recalled his reasons for opposing the Bush/Cheney invasion of Iraq; “The administration had told ‘lie after lie after lie’ to per trigger and perpetuate ‘one of the worst blunders in the history of U.S. foreign policy’. The war failed the ‘last resort’ principles for reasons too obvious to dwell on here. … Continue reading →

From Doug Draper, publisher, Niagara At Large 

They’re not just barking when they call them the dog days of summer.

Even when there are things going on – and there certainly have been a lot of serious and disturbing things going on here and around the world this month – August has always been a time of year when people would rather enjoy the last few weeks of summer on the beach or flipping burgers on a barbecue than paying very much attention to the news.

In the 35 some years I’ve worked as a journalist, there has always been an unspoken rule among many of my newsroom colleagues (and one I happen to agree with) that you don’t choose August to come out with a story or commentary you hope will have an impact on discussion and decision making in the community because too few people will be around to read it. And the number of people who temporarily cancelled their newspapers in August because they were going away on vacation provided pretty clear evidence that the rule made sense. Continue reading →

A Brief by Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper

One of the first two books I read in my life that woke me up to the ugly reality of racial hatred in the United States of America were Black Like Me and To Kill A Mockingbird.

Bull Conner’s cops and dogs go after black people fighting for equal rights in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963

One would think that there has been some progress in racial relations in America since those two seminal books were published n the early 1960s, and that seemed be the case when America elected it’s first black president – Barack Obama – more than six years ago. 

Yet what you continue to watch is ignorant old white people, mostly uneducated and mostly from the Midwest and south of that country, and creeps like Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh, who embolden them with their hateful rhetoric – gathering at Tea Party rallies and screaming the line; “We want our country back!, which is code, of course, for we don’t want a black guy (notice I am trying to avoide their more popular “N” word – in our White House.

If we need any more proof that things still have a long way to go in race relations in the U.S. (and Canada, for that matter) check out the news around a young black man in Ferguson, Missouri earlier this August, 2014. Regardless of what he did in a convenience store around any shoplifting there, he was shot to death by a cop in that town, while unarmed, and left there like road food for the crows for several hours after. Continue reading →

A Brief Comment by Doug Draper

One might imagine Canada’s Tar Sands prime minister Stephen Harper wanting to ring their necks.

Willie Nelson and Neil Young workng together against Canada’s tar sands poison pipe

Put another way, I doubt we’ll be facing the spectacle of tone-deaf Harper sitting down in front of a piano any time soon and butchering songs by Neil Young and Willie Nelson the way he has butchered song by The Beatles. Fortunately, Neil and Willie are lining up for a place on a Stephen Harper shit list that will spare them that indignity.

This is all to say that I can’t take a little break from Niagara At Large this late August without posting a high five to two of my favourite rebel troubadours for getting together and doing a concert on farmland in the U.S. state of Nebraska this coming September to raise funds to fight a Keystone pipeline that would carry tar sands shit from northern Alberta down to refineries along the American Gulf Coast. Continue reading →

 News from the Office of Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne

 August 21^st, 2014 -Québec Premier Philippe Couillard and Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne met today and announced their commitment to reinvigorate and strengthen the relationship between the two provinces in order to reinforce regional partnership in central Canada.

Ontario, Canada’s Queen Park’s legislature

“Ontario and Québec share a long-lasting history of collaboration, which has led to great achievements in the past. Both provinces are committed to work more closely together and to revitalize the strategic relationship we have had for many years, since we share many common interests and priorities,” said Québec Premier, Philippe Couillard.

The two provinces form the largest economic region of Canada, with 20 million Canadians. Together, Québec and Ontario are responsible for approximately 56 per cent of Canada’s total GDP and 53 per cent of inter-provincial exports. Continue reading →

News from Dave Thomas, co-chair of the Niagara, Ontario chapter of the Canadian Cuban Friendship Associaion

Sunday, August 24^th, 2 to 6 p.m. . the Canadian-Cuban Friendship Association (CCFA) Niagara, will hold “A TASTE OF CUBA” a special social afternoon of Food (pig roast), Canadian and Cuban Music and Dancing.

St. Catharines Mayor Brian McMullan and Cuban Ambassador Garmendía Peña at a previous annual Taste of Cuba gathering

 Honoured guests will be Cuba’s Ambassador to Canada, His Excellency, Julio Garmendía Peña, Consul General Mr. Javier Dómokos Ruiz, other embassy staff and their families.

All local political leaders have been invitoed to come out and meet Ambassador Garmendia Pena and Mr Domokos Ruiz in a friendly get-to-know-you social atmosphere. The general public is also invited to attend to show local hospitality to a country whose people warmly gree more than one million Canadians each year. Continue reading →

News from the Alliance for the Great Lakes, a coalition of citizen groups on the American side of our Great Lakes

On Tuesday, August 26^th at 7:00 pm, the Alliance for the Great Lakes will host a panel discussion focusing on plastic pollution and the Great Lakes at the Lake Erie Seaway Trail Center at 4968 Lake Shore Rd, Hamburg, NY in conjunction with the Plastic Waters: from the Great Lakes to the Oceans exhibit.

 Marcus Eriksen along the Lake Erie shores in the Cleveland Ohio area, holding plastic polluting‘nurdles’ in his hand. He is currently holdng a plastic waters exhibit in the Buffalo, New York area. Photo by Hyle White, for the Great Lakes alliance.

The panel discussion will address the impacts of plastic debris found in the Great Lakes and potential solutions to this problem. Speakers will include: 

Dr. Sherri Mason, Professor of Chemistry and Environmental Sciences Program Coordinator at the State University of New York at Fredonia, whose ground-breaking research initially brought attention to the issue of micro-plastics in the lakes.

 Brian Smith, Associate Executive Director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment, has been actively in engaged in the proposed legislation to protect New York’s Great Lakes’ waters from plastic microbeads found in personal care products. Continue reading →

News from the Toronto-based citizen group, the Ontario Clean Air Alliance

Later this month, Canada’s premiers will be meeting in Charlottetown, PEI to discuss energy issues . This is a great opportunity for the Premiers of Ontario and Quebec to put their heads together and strike an electricity trade deal that can have big benefits for both provinces.

By importing low-cost Quebec water power, Ontario can save more than $600 million per year – or $12 billion over 20 years. By exporting power to Ontario, Quebec can increase its annual export revenues by more than $600 million. That’s serious coin that can be spent on schools and hospitals or deficit reduction in Quebec, and big money that can be saved by Ontario electricity ratepayers and businesses. Plus, Ontario avoids piling up another mountain of nuclear debt on its already sagging bottom line. Continue reading →

News from Ontario’s Niagara Parks Commission

Queenston, Ontario, August, 2014 – The Niagara Parks Commission (NPC) is pleased to announce the return of its Annual Harvest Barbecue on Sunday, September 7th.

A view of the Lower Niagara River from Queenston Heights with a monument to War of 1812 herione in the foreground.

The festivities begin at 4 p.m. on the patio of Queenston Heights Restaurant, located next to Brock’s Monument. NPC’s world-renowned chefs have once again created an irresistible menu featuring Niagara’s seasonal harvest, which will be showcased at six specific dining stations. Other popular tasting stations will include samples from Inniskillin, Jackson-Triggs, Peller Estates and Labatt.

All are invited to mingle and savour the delicious menu selections while enjoying live outdoor musical entertainment. Tickets are $40 for adults and $20 for children 12 and under (taxes and gratuity included). Cash bar is available. Tickets are limited. To reserve your space, please call (905) 262-4274. The menu, as well as further details on the event can be found online at www.niagaraparks.com.

Special draws are planned throughout the afternoon with prize packages of Sunday Brunch at Queenston Heights Restaurant, Niagara Parks Attractions Passes and several more surprises, for all those who attend!

The Niagara Parks Commission is committed to a vision of Ontario’s Niagara Parks as one that Preserves a rich heritage, Conserves natural wonders, and Inspires people world-wide. Founded in 1885, The Niagara Parks Commission is an Operational Enterprise Agency of the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport. Its mission is to protect the natural and cultural heritage along the Niagara River for the enjoyment of visitors while maintaining financial self-sufficiency. 

(Nagara At Large encourages you to share your views on this post. A reminder that we only post comments by individuals who share their first and last name with them.)

News from the Niagara, Ontario citiziens group Niagara Action For Animals

As an organization dedicated to advocating for animals, Niagara Action for Animals (NAfA) is very concerned about rodeos.

To highlight those concerns, we’ve arranged to have a billboard erected on Niagara Street in Welland (Ontario), just south of the Welland Exhibition Grounds where a rodeo is scheduled to take place. The billboard will be in place until August 18th.

The billboard sign

The whole rodeo industry is problematic as animals are transported to & from various venues and are compelled to participate in events like bareback riding, saddle riding and bull riding.

 We are opposed to rodeo because rodeo events involve the use of fear, stress or pain to make animals perform. Continue reading →

 By Doug Draper

“There’s some sad things known to man,
but ain’t too much sadder than,
the tears of a clown,
When there’s no one around.”

 Those lyrics from an old Motown song by Smokey Robinson came to mind after I was blown away with the news this August 11^th that actor/comedian Robin Williams was found dead in his California home – a victim of apparent suicide following what people close to him described as bouts of severe depression.

Robin Williams as the English teacher in Dead Poets Society, one of many engaging roles in film that touched so many of us.

Regular visitors to Niagara At Large know that I’m a bit of a pop culture junkie who has posted pieces on some milestone happenings in that culture before. And in that spirit, I can’t help but join multiple millions of others across this continent in expressing sadness over the death, at age 63, of Robin Williams – one of the more brilliant and engaging pop culture figures of our time of our times who, according to the latest reports, fell victim to suicide following severe bouts of depression.

Joe Scarborough, host of an MSNBC Cable program called ‘Morning Joe’, put it well during the August 12^th edition of his show when he said Robin Williams was the acting and comedic equivalent of the legendary late guitar player/vocalist/songwriter Jimi Hendrix. It was, in my view, a perfect comparison since both seemed to draw way down deep, to wells of mysterious resources of artistry and genius most of the rest of us can only imagine tapping in to.

Many of us have our favourite television and movie moments with this talented man. I have many of my own, and among the ones that touched me the most was his role as an English teacher in the 1989 movie ‘Dead Poets Society’. In that film, he played an unorthodox teacher in a very stuffy and strict military academy for boys who had these magical ways of making the poems of Walt Whitman and others come alive with such soul that the students in his class, so bored with the rest of the academy, felt warmer streams of  blood coursing through their veins. .

I had a teacher like that at the Centennial high school I attended in Welland, Ontario the late 1960s and he happened to teach English. He also through the orthodox curriculum of the day away when he felt it was a good idea of finding some other way to get a young kid you never read a book, interested in reading a book for the first times in their lives. He would have us engage in exercises he conjured up and involving writing – one of them had us playing the role of a doctor or plumber or farmer or someone else, and argue why we should be one of the few that should be allowed in a fallout shelter that could only hold eight during a nuclear war – that excited every student in the class in a way I never saw every student in a public school room excited before. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper, Niagara At Large

This first week this August, 2014 – a month marking the beginning, 100 years ago, of a First World War that would result in the slaughter of millions of peoples’ lives – I went out to a memorial for that war near my present-day home in Thorold, Ontario, Canada.

Thorold, Ontario’s First World War memorial. Photo by Doug Draper

The sides of the memorial’s pedestal are carved with the names of more than 50 young men from the community, and they were young men barely out of their boyhood who did the soldiering back then, who died in that hellish four-year conflict that was fought for reasons many history scholars still don’t completely understand.

Thorold had a population of around 2,500 at that time, meaning that it is quite likely that no one in the community did not know, even if they were not directly related, to those young people who had their futures obliterated in a so-called ‘war to end all wars’ that became an industrial-age template for one blood bath after another ever since. Continue reading →

A Brief Comment by Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper

Say what you want about dysfunctional government and the hollowing out of newsrooms in America and in Canada, for that matter.

Richard Nixon, accompanied by his wife Pat and one of his daughters, Tricia, speaks at White House one more time before resignin the U.S. presidency in August, 1974

There was a time, some four decades ago, when both government and the media worked at their zenith to root out a leader who sought to undermine the democratic freedoms they were sworn, as institution, protect and preserve.

It was 40 years ago, this August 8^th, 1974 that Richard Nixon finally announced his decision to resign as president of the United States after more than two years of investigations into what had become known as the Watergate scandals – a snake pit of criminal acts that were unearthed following Nixon’s Republican administrations efforts to cover up a break-in of a Democratic National Committee office in June of 1972. Continue reading →

(A Brief Foreword Note  from Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper – What can one say. Joe Mellen, a 33-year-old Niagara, Ontario police officer who works to keep our streets safe, dies early this August 8^th morning on his way home from a night shift to his family, including his five and seven year old children.

Nagara Regional Police Officer Joe Mellen

It occurred on a section of the Hwy. 406 in the Welland area that is still under construction from the old two to four lanes. This construction area, to no fault of the Rankin Construction contractors that is working to make the four alanes a reality as soon as possible, involves periodic re-routes of chains that has left this reporter avoiding it many times after dark. Let’s hope that this four-laming of the 406 up to Welland’s Main Street is completed as soon as possible, as it might have more than four decades ago had the narrow parochialism of Welland politicians at the time, who never wanted this highway built in the first place because it might cause more Wellanders to shop at plazas in St. Catharines, not stood in the way.)

From the Office of Welland Riding MPP Cindy Forster

Welland, Ontario, August 8^th, 2014 – Statement by Welland MPP Cindy Forster on the death of Constable Joe Mellen Jr. of the Niagara Regional Police Service:

“I want to extend my sincerest condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Constable Joe Mellen Jr. of the Niagara Regional Police Service who was killed in a motor vehicle collision that left another person in critical condition in the City of Welland.

 Joe Mellen Jr. was a resident of Welland and I join with fellow residents and neighbours in mourning the tragic loss of this young officer.”

(Niagara At Large invites you to share your views on this post. A reminder that we only post comments by individuals who share their first and last name with them.)

News from the Western New York-based citizens group Buffalo Niagara RIVERKEEPERS

(A Brief Foreword note from Niagara At Large – The native plants featured in this wonderful new guidebook are just as available and as relevant to the environment and climate of Niagara, Ontario as they are to Western New York.

Please consider the possibly that growing native plants requires less energy and chemical fertilizers, and helps attract and keep alive native butterflies, birds and other species we need to keep a healthy web of life alive – all things that contribute to a healthy environment.)

Buterfly milkweed in your garden may help save struggling monarch populations

August 8^th, 2014 – As we enter the dog days of summer and wonder how much water your garden plants can actually drink season after season, consider this: Native Plants need less water! They also provide a multitude of benefits to the environment, as outlined in Buffalo Niagara RIVERKEEPER’s newest publication Western New York Guide to Native Plants for your Garden.

” Protecting water quality is a top priority for this administration.  The County is  happy to partner with the Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper to help print this important guide so that citizens can plan beautiful native gardens that will reduce pesticide use and also provide habitat for pollinators.” – Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz Continue reading →

News from the Canada/U.S. International Joint Commission

(A Brief Foreward from Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper – In my more than three decades of covering the IJC and reading its many news releases and reports, it has always been very diplomatic and cautious – sometimes too diplomatic and cautious in my view – on reporting on environmental threats in the Great Lakes, so my advice to you is to take what you read and can link to below very seriously.)

A recent satellite photo of the green toxic blob in the western end of Lake Erie off Detriot and Toledo

August, 2014 – A harmful algal bloom and  ‘do not drink’ warning issued Saturday for the Toledo, Ohio, water system has put a focus on IJC recommendations made as part of the Lake Erie Ecosystem Priority (LEEP).
The warning has since been lifted, but the threat of future blooms remains. Below, find information about LEEP, and other recently posted items on IJC activities. 

Toledo, Ohio Water Crisis – IJC Lake Erie Report A Template For Solving Toxic Algae Blooms That Shut Down Region’s Water System

The International Joint Commission (IJC) today expressed empathy for Toledo area residents affected by water contamination caused by toxins from excessive algae growth in Lake Erie. The IJC reiterated its call for action on reducing nutrient loading that contributes to the hazard. Continue reading →

New from the Alliance for the Great Lakes, American Rivers, Environment Ohio, Freshwater Future, Lake Erie Charter Boat Association, Lake Erie Waterkeeper Inc., Ohio Environmental Council, National Wildlife Federation and the Sierra Club

(A Brief Foreward from NAL publisher Doug Draper – On the growing pollution mess in Lake Erie, I continually hear and receive far more expressions of concern from American individuals and groups, even though Lake Erie is a shared resource that is a vital source of water to millions of Canadians, including those living in Niagara, Ontario communities, too.

A stretch of Lake Erie at Long Point in Niagara, Ontario, already not in the best of shape

Where are my fellow Canadians on this one? Are we going to wait until we have your own Toledo, Ohio crisis until we join our American neighbours in the call for action to protect the health of this irreplaceable Great Lakes resource?)

August 6^th, 2014 – Although the immediate crisis in the city of Toledo has passed, the threat to drinking water supplies in Toledo and other Lake Erie communities has not.

The same factors that led to nearly 500,000 Lake Erie residents not being able to drink the water for two days will return until measurable reductions in nutrients, particularly phosphorus, are implemented on a clear and swift timetable. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper 

The Burlington Skyway has finally been re-opened, just in time for the work week following the August 2^nd to 4^th holiday weekend in Ontario, but not before die-hard proponents for a “mid-peninsula highway’ argue for the need for it again.

Proposed rought for Mid-Pen Highway with a couple of options for entering and exiting at the west and east ends.

According to an August 2^nd story in The Hamilton Spectator, at least a couple of elected members of that city’s council pointed to an incident that saw a dump truck, with its bucket up, slamming into the Skyway’s structure and shutting it down for the better part of four days as a reason for an “alternative” highway to keep all that QEW traffic unsnarled.

To quote a few lines from The Spectator story; “Two city councillors, Sam Merulla and Brad Clark, argued Friday the crash is a reminder of the need for a controversial, long-planned mid-peninsula highway.”

“Clark argued in an email to a resident the city will see traffic “chaos” more frequently without an alternate corridor that runs from the border to GTA via Hamilton.” The Specator story continued. “Merulla agreed. ‘This really brings into focus how we’re held hostage by a single incident on a single transportation corridor,’ he said.”

Apparently there are still political relics from the 20^th century out there who just can’t give up on the unimaginative idea of constructing g a large swath of asphalt above the Niagara Escarpment – right through some of the best farm country in Niagara, Ontario, and through woodlots, wetlands and other environmentally significant features along the way. In fairness to Hamilton, Niagara has some of those political relics here too who insist on reprising the mid-peninsula highway idea many of the rest of us keep hoping is, for all time, a tumor in remission. Continue reading →

A Foreword by Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper 

A drinking water crisis at the western end of Lake Erie in Toledo, Ohio offers the most dramatic warning yet that a lake serving as a source of tap water for millions of Americans and Canadians, including most of us living in Western New York and Niagara, Ontario, is facing serious environmental troubles.

U.S. President Richard Nixon and Candian Prme Minister Pierre Trudeau sign ground-breaking 1972 agreement for addressing Great Lakes pollution. Lake Erie algae pollution at the time was a major driver for this agreement.

You may have heard by now (because it has made top-of-the-hour, national news on both sides of the Canada/U.S. border since the first days of this August) that close to half a million residents in City of Toledo, located along the southwestern shores of Lake Erie, have been told not to drink or use any water from their tap for food preparation because it is contaminated by a toxin from the lake that could destroy their liver.

The toxin that rendered Toledo’s tap water for some five days up up this August 4th, even when boiled, highly dangerous to drink is festering in the slimy, green algae that has been blooming in ever more greater quantities in Lake Erie for more than a decade now. And it is so eerily reminiscent of a time in the late 1960s and 70s –years leading up to my time as an environment reporter at a newspaper in Niagara – when there was so much algae smothering the waters of Lake Erie that scientists declared the whole water body to be on the verge of being “dead.”

The plague on Toledo’s water supply should also serve as a message to all of us about what two or three decades of placing environmental protection lower on the list of our national priorities can do to a resource as vital and massive as the Great Lakes. Continue reading →

A Brief Commentary by NAL publisher Doug Draper 

At the risk of having some of you dump on me for saying this, I have never been a big fan of the ‘Support Our Troops’ logo many of Canadians and Americans have stuck on the bumpers of their cars over the past 14 or so years.

Canada’s verson of the U.S. ‘Support Our Troops’ sicker. Well where are we now Mr. Harper, when those who have come home need our support?

To me, ‘Support Our Troops’ has been code for support our governments’ decision to send some of our young people to war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But what about supporting our troops – all of them volunteers and not drafted – when they come home. In the United States, they constitute one of the highest groups of the unemployed in that country (compared to the Second World War, when employers went out of their way to employ veterans) and are committing suicide at a rate of about 18 a day due mostly to post traumatic stress disorder from their combat experiences.

In Canada, it isn’t much different for the veterans from continuous deployments in Afghanistan. official statistics show that anywhere between about 10 and 20 veterans in Canada are now dying each year. And a recent CBC report shows that the back-up line for veterans who need help for their disorders can run as long as four to six months. Continue reading →

Fort Erie, Ontario, August 1^st, 2014– The staff and volunteers at The Niagara Parks Commission’s (NPC) Old Fort Erie are preparing the final details for the commemorative 200th anniversary of the Siege of Fort Erie on August 9-10. Marking the significant anniversary of this important battle, events will portray the excitement and drama of the War of 1812 with an action packed schedule of events planned for the entire weekend.

O.d Fort Erie re-enactment. File photo by Niagara Parks Commissio

 The Siege of Fort Erie re-enactment will begin on Saturday, August 9 at 10 a.m., when the public are invited to visit the Fort and camps on the battlefield grounds. An official opening ceremony is scheduled for 7 p.m. that evening, followed by General Drummond’s night assault on the Fort, which will take place at 8 p.m. With over 1,000 registered re-enactors taking part in the two-day event (see attached itinerary for full details), the annual Siege of Fort Erie event has become the largest battle re-enactment in Canada  Continue reading →

An Open Letter from the Office of Former Ontario Conservative leader and Nagara West-Glanbrook MPP Tim Hudak

To Hon. Bill Mauro, Ontario Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry

July, 2014

Dear Minister Mauro; RE: Deer Hunt in Short Hills Provincial Park

Congratulations on your new position. I look forward to working with you in your new capacity as (Ontario) Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry.

Robin Zavitz and one of her children kneel near a deer that fell dead on her Pelham property this past 2013 during an Ontario approved deer hunt in Short Hills Provincial Park. File photo by Dan Wilson

Minister Mauro I am writing to follow up on the conversation we had, shortly after your swearing in, regarding the deer hunts in Short Hills Provincial Park. I have written to your predecessor, David Orazietti, regarding this issue on multiple occasions. I am asking, once again, for your ministry to end these hunts in the interest of public safety.

Short Hills Provincial Park is not a large conservation area in a remote part of our province. This park is just over 650 hectares and situated in the heart of the Niagara Region. Hikers, cyclists, fishers and horse-riders enjoy the park. The park includes a wheelchair accessible path system that encourages the public to enjoy this natural area. The park is even home to a boy scout camp, where hundreds of children have learned about nature. Surrounded by up to one hundred homes, this is no place for hunting. It is with good reason hunting has not been allowed in this park before the aboriginals claimed treaty rights. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

Driving the QEW highway between the New York border and Toronto area is no fun at the best of times.

The crash mess on the Burlington, Ontario skyway bridge.

You can some up the all kinds of words and phrases to describe a drive on the QEW, to and from Toronto, at the best of times. ‘Gridlock’ and ‘white-knuckle driving’ come immediately to mind. But this long August 2^nd to 4^th long weekend it is bound to be even more of a mess with four full lanes of the Burlington Skyway shut down. 

This August 1^st, a guy driving a dump truck, who has since been charged with impaired driving, went wipping up the Burlington Skyway bridge with the back bucket of his truck up and seriously damaged some of the steel structure on the bridge. By all accounts, movement on the QEW anywhere near the bridge has been hell for drivers since. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper 

A Buffalo, New York area Congressman is raising concerns about possible dangers of shipping liquid nuclear waste across the Peace Bridge and the shared waters of millions of Ontarians and New Yorkers, and he is urging the U.S. government to do a full environment review before any such shipments are allowed.

The Peace Bridge, one of the major Canada/U.S. crossings in North America. File photo by Doug Draper

Congressman Higgins told fellow Congressman in Washington, D.C: Mr. Speaker, I rise to express my serious concerns with the Department of Energy’s proposal to transport liquid nuclear waste from Ontario’s Chalk River Research reactor to the Department of Energy’s Savannah River site, across several states and over the Peace Bridge, which is in my Western New York Congressional district.”

“Unlike spent nuclear fuel, which can be safely transported in solid form,” Higgins continued, “in liquid form, it is more radioactive and complicated to transfer.” Continue reading →

News from Niagara, Ontario’s Niagara Parks Commission

(A Brief Foreword by Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper – The Journey Behind the Falls is, quite truly, one of the most iconic Niagara Falls attractions since Niagara Falls became a major tourist attraction or ‘honeymoon city’ around the world over the last 150 years. How great it is that the Niagara Parks Commission, an Ontario body, is keeping this attaction, featured in such films as Hollywood’s 1952 film Niagara, starring Marilyn Monroe,  alive. So check it  out – go do your onw tour there – and keep it alive!)

Niagara Falls, Ontario – The Niagara Parks Commission (NPC) is proud to celebrate the 125^th Anniversary of its Journey Behind the Falls attraction and will mark the occasion with a month-long celebration highlighting the popular tourism site and its importance to NPC and visitors from throughout the globe.

Courtesy of Niagara Parks Commission

 In 1889, NPC undertook the construction of the first tunnels behind the Falls, for the attraction the Sheet of Falling Water, where lantern-carrying guides brought visitors up-close and personal with the massive cataract.

Over time as the brink of the Falls receded, tunnel extensions were required, until 1944 when a new tunnel was constructed, some 18 metres behind the original passageway. These new concrete-lined, lit tunnels are still in use today. In 1951, an observation plaza was added and in 1990, the heavy rubber raincoats and boots previously provided to visitors were discontinued. These were replaced by light, biodegradable yellow rain ponchos which can now be kept as a souvenir. Continue reading →

(Niagara At Large received this note from a caring student named Mehmet Emin Boyacioglu, earnestly asking NAL to post this invitation to a Saturday, August 2^nd, forum on the tragic events unfolding in the Israel/Gaza region of this world, so here it is.)

Dear Mr. Doug Draper,

I am a graduate student at Brock University and I am organizing a documentary screening and discussion with the help of some concerned residents of St. Catharines.

Another family in the Gaza area says goodye to a loved one

We want to have an informative event about the history and current situation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict where everyone would feel comfortable sharing their opinions in a respectful discussion regardless of their political stance.

We are hosting a documentary screening and discussion session on Saturday, August 2nd at 1 pm at the St. Catharines Public Library (Mills Room). Continue reading →

News from the Office of Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa

July 30^th, 2014 – Ontario is moving ahead with a first-of-its-kind mandatory provincial pension plan that would build on the strengths of the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and support long-term economic growth.

Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa

In light of the federal government’s ongoing refusal to enhance CPP, the Ontario Retirement Pension Plan would take a balanced approach to support workers in the province. It would especially help middle-income earners without workplace pension coverage and would be cost-effective, responsible and designed to meet the needs of a 21st century workforce. Continue reading →

From Karl Dockstader

Dear Sir,

I am writing in support of the call for an inquiry into Missing or Murdered Indigenous Woman and Girls, and want to know what you and your colleagues plan to do about it as the Minister of Justice and the Canadian government respectively.

When you look at the history of these lands, if you go back far enough there was a period where First Nations were the sole human inhabitants. At the heart of these nations’ governments were the women in the communities. They were and are given special leadership status that recognizes their unique ability to give life and nurture healthy communities.

Now this land is called Canada and is controlled by men. The Prime Minister, yourself, the leader of the opposition, most MP’s, CEO’s, most decision-makers in the modern culture of Canada are men. Modern Western society is rooted in this tradition and while no doubt strides have been made to improve the social and economic status of women in Canadian society there are still glaring discrepancies. Continue reading →

A Brief Commentary by Doug Draper 

It has been a year this July since the greatest Canada-U.S. group dedicated to speaking out for the Great Lakes had to give it up for lack of support, and what a void they have left.

Our Great Lakes from a photo from outer space

Great Lakes United, known as GLU to many during its three some decades of existence, was an almost miracle of existence – a coalition of diverse groups of environmentalists, Native people, recreational groups, and governments on both the Canada and U.S sides of the Great Lakes that gave a shit about the future health of lakes that served as sinks for the largest supply of fresh water in the world. 

There has been nothing to replace this improbable coalition called Great Lakes United until this time and perhaps, given the lack of interest most contemporaries have for protecting these waterbodies, there never will. After all, if all you now give a shit about is replacing your social media ipod or whatever it is for the latest gadget, why would you give a flying fig about the quality of water you are drinking in the Great Lakes. Continue reading →

A Brief Comment by Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper

 The legendary Jane Goodall, one of the greatest researchers on animals and advocates for animals of our time, recently called the Vancouver Aquarium down on its continued captivity of whales and dolphins.

Jane Goodal

 “The capture, breeding and keeping of cetaceans world wid has come under increasing public scrutiny due to recent high-profile stories being released from industry insiders,” Goodall said in a May, 2014 letter to the Vancouver Aquarium that has somehow only surfaced two months later.

“The scientific community is also responding to the captivity of these highly social and intelligent species as we now know more than ever, about the complex environments such species require to thrive and achieve good welfare, Goodall continued. “Those of us who have had the fortunate opportunity to study wild animals in their natural settngs where family, community structure and communication form a foundation for these animals.” Continue reading →

News from the Canal Days Marine Heritage Festival

The Canal Days Marine Heritage Festival (scheduled for Niagara, Ontario’s Port Colborne city from this coming August 1^st through August 4^th, 2014, l offers activities and attractions that will enliven the senses.

The Tall Ships gather in Port Colborne each Civic holiday weekend, for a four-day celebration of history and heritage. Explore the decks, try your hand at the wheel, or feel the spray as you cruise a Tall Ship on Lake Erie. 

Nestled at the juncture of the Welland Canal and the Lake Erie north shore, Port Colborne is a working marine community, with rich nautical history and welcoming hospitality. At the height of summer, the entire city takes time to celebrate the reasons why this picturesque town has grown and prospered – our marine heritage and our connection to the St. Lawrence Seaway and the seafaring world at large. Continue reading →

News from Dylan Powell and the Niagara, Ontario citizen group Marineland Animal Defense

NO Tanks, NO Tankers – Community Rally Planned for Saturday July 26th at Conservative MP Rob Nicholson’s Office in Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls, CANADA – In response to the Harper Administration green lighting the Northern Gateway Pipeline Project, Marineland Animal Defense will be joining with community groups on Saturday for a rally out front of Conservative MP Rob Nicholson’s Office (2895 St. Paul Ave Niagara Falls).

Click on this image to blow it up full screen

The Community Rally is set to run from 1-4pm and will feature local speakers Fiona McMurran (Council of Canadians) and Karl Dockstader as well as information connecting the West Coast pipeline back to issues of local resource extraction and pipelines like Enbridge Pipelines 9, 10 and 11 here in Ontario.

As Minister of Defense, Rob Nicholson holds an important position within the Harper Administration and Marineland Animal Defense along with the South Niagara Chapter of the Council of Canadians, Wild Niagara, the Niagara People’s Social Forum and Boot Out Hate have all joined together to raise awareness in the community about Mr. Nicholson’s role, as well as, to hold him accountable for supporting a proposed pipeline project that is opposed by scientists, dozens of First Nations communities, and the majority of British Columbians Continue reading →

This Post contributed to NAL by Karl Dockstader

Is oil the only thing left of value these days? Is cheaper better? Do we need to ram through our Mother the Earth’s abundant resources so we can “compete” with cheap overseas products? When will enough be enough?

Click on this image to view it full screen

There is so much to be grateful for in the land for many of us, and yet we are eating out of boxes and bags fixed with a logo marketed just for us, instead of demanding healthy tasty local food. We are filling up landfills with our Timmies cups after our lengthy idling in line in the drive through. We are paving through forests to populate areas like the Muskoka’s with our SUV and generators for second and third homes.

We are all contributing to this destruction. Continue reading →

By Mark Taliano

Nothing much has changed since 1492, except the weapons are far more devastating, and the hypocrisy is much deeper.

Growing numbers across Canada protest bombng of Gaza’s Palestinians. A ‘Gaza Solidarity’ rally is planned for Friday, July 25th in front of federal Conservative St. Catharines MP Rick Dykstra’s constituency office.

Manifest Destiny now extends overseas with the U.S Empire’s on-going embrace of the “might is right” doctrine, and its perpetuation of war crimes to advance imperial conquest.

Israel, a strong ally of Empire, is thought to be a spearhead for U.S hegemony in the Middle East, and the rules of international law and peace are being defied on a daily basis as Gaza shakes beneath the terror of daily bombardments. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper, Niagara At Large

Never mind locusts, great white sharks and hungry packs of wolves and hyenas. 

When it comes down to it – when we get tribal and let the darkest side of our nature drive us – we humans have proven over and over again that we can be the most destructive force on the planet. And our propensity to kill doesn’t seem to be governed by how intelligent or civilized we think we are either.

The smoldering wreckage of Flight 17 in east Ukraine among the most recent expressions of our capacity, as humans, to destroy.

In his book ‘The Nightmare Years’, chronicling the rise of Nazism in the 1930s, the late journalist and historian William Shirer reports how “with increasing fascination and horror, I watched Hitler crush freedom and the human spirit in Germany, the country of Luther, Kant, Beethoven, Goethe, persecute the Jews and prepare to massacre them, destroy all who opposed him, and drag this great nation toward war, conquest and destruction. To my consternation most Germans joined joyously in this Nazi barbarism.”

But this is most certainly not about singling out Germany, which has turned out to be a country less militaristic than many others these days, and which also has some of the toughest laws in the world against hate crimes. This is about the whole lot of us, collectively, as a species. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

It is quite rightly billed as the largest garden tour in America. And it is free!

One of the many Buffalo neighbourhood homes that opens its yards to GardenWalk each year. File photo by Doug Draper

But GardenWalk Buffalo, which celebrates its 20^th anniversary this Saturday, July 26^th and Sunday, July 27^th, it is much more than that. It is also an opportunity to experience some of the very best urban landscape and architecture any town or city on this continent on this continent has to offer. Continue reading →

News from Catch, the Hamilton, Ontario-based group called Citizens at City Hall

(A brief foreword note to this news from Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper – Although handpicked stooges for the Harper Government, through the rubber stamping federal Energy Board, has given its approval to this, let’s continue to put pressure on the new majority Ontario government of Kathleen Wynne applies a full environmental assessment review, at the provincial level, to this plan to pipe this toxic crud from Alberta’s tar sands through our Great Lakes region.

The Great Lakes are a source of drinking water for tens of millions of Canadians and Americans, and as a fishery, recreational and tourist draw – let alone a habitat for countless species of wildlife – are vital to the health and economies of Ontario and several U.S. states that surround them. A pipeline project that could pose a significant risk to the Great Lakes should not be decided by a Harper government with an open record of gutting environmental protection efforts at the behest of its tar sands.

 Residents across Great Lakes region must not allow Harper’s pro-tar, anti-environment government to have the final say on piping this toxic material through one of the world’s largest, life-sustaining sources of fresh water.)

A Line 9 worksite occupation launched this past July 17^th is only the latest challenge to Enbridge’s plans to expand the flow in its Sarnia to Montreal pipeline and begin shipping diluted bitumen from the Alberta tar sands.

There was a similar action earlier this week in Etobicoke, and the Chippewas of the Thames First Nation has won the right to appeal the March National Energy Board decision that had seemed to clear the way for the controversial project. Continue reading →

News from the Welland Riding’s federal NDP representative Malcolm Allen

WELLAND, Ontario – On July 19^th, New Democrats across the country will be honouring Jack Layton for the National Day of Action by speaking with voters in the riding about the importance of tackling climate change.

Click on this image to make it full screen.

“Jack was a fearless advocate when it came to protecting the environment,” said NDP MP Malcolm Allen (Welland). “It’s an honour to celebrate Jack’s birthday by taking on an issue that was close to his heart. We will never forget his commitment to the environment and our responsibility to the next generation.”

New Democrats are also calling out the Conservatives for their failed record on the environment; particularly, Stephen Harper cancelling the Eco Home Retrofit Program that helped cut emissions and saved money on energy bills for Canadian families. Continue reading →

From Catherine Ens, veteran Niagara, Ontario animal activist and founding member of the non-profit Niagara Action for Animals

Niagara Action for Animals (NAfA) will once again host the Niagara Walk for Farm Animals.  Last October we raised over $8,000 for Farm Sanctuary. We hope that we can encourage some Niagara-at-Large folks to to donate, or indeed, register to walk!

Farm Sanctuary is the largest farm-animal shelter in North America.

Farm Sanctuary operates three sanctuaries and runs the largest farm-animal rescue and refuge network across North America. Over the years, more than 8,000 animals have called Farm Sanctuary home, and they have found safe and loving placement for nearly 3,000 more. The animals who come to their sanctuaries have been rescued from factory farms, stockyards, natural disasters, and abuse & neglect cases. When you Walk, the donations you raise help us rescue, feed, administer urgent care, and provide permanent homes for farm animals! Continue reading →

Niagara At Large is pleased to post this news from Niagara, Ontario’s RiverBrink Art Museum, one of the region’s best venues for exhibiting and advancing the arts in our small piece of what can be, at the best of times, and when we get our shit together and reach out foor the best in ourselves, this wonderful world.

QUEENSTON (NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE), Ontario – On Sunday July 27 at 2 pm, RiverBrink Art Museum hosts an Artist Talk with John Abrams. The museum is currently exhibiting his Land Mark Combine (2000 – 2001), on loan from the Robert McLaughlin Gallery.

Renown artists John Abrams to speak at RiverBrink Art Museum in Niagara, Ontario.

Mr. Abrams holds an MFA from York University and is an associate of the Ontario College of Art and Design, Toronto. He carries out an active practice as a painter, sculptor and filmmaker.  A founding and current member of Loop Gallery in Toronto, he exhibits there on a regular basis and is also an active A Space Gallery member. His work may be found in both public and private collections in Canada and internationally. Abrams is represented by Boltax Gallery, New York. 

Landmark Combine (2000 – 2001) is a multi-panel installation of paintings depicting both natural and man-made landmarks. Niagara Falls taken from an elevated position is the central image, and this iconic landscape is paired with forty small landscapes. The individuality of each landmark is muted by the red underpainting visible throughout, a strategy that aligns the paintings with cinema and photography. As Abrams explains “my project engages the language of painting as a way of interpreting the language of film, not dissimilar to the way a book is made into a film or a script is turned into living theatre.“ Continue reading →

News from Ontario’s Liberal Government

Queen’s Park, July 15^th 2014 – Ontario is moving forward with its plan to help reduce auto insurance rates, by introducing legislation that would, if passed, protect the province’s nine million drivers and fight fraud in the auto insurance system.

In case some of you so locked into your fucking social media sites don’t know, this is the Queen’s Park legislature. You might want to engage sometime.

As the next step in the Auto Insurance Cost and Rate Reduction Strategy, today, the government is introducing the Fighting Fraud and Reducing Automobile Insurance Rates Act, 2014, a combination of two pieces of legislation that died on the Order Paper when the 40^th Parliament of Ontario was dissolved. The bill, if passed, would protect consumers and continue its crackdown on auto insurance fraud by: Continue reading →

News from the Office of Ontario PC Finance Critic Vic Fedeli

QUEEN’S PARK, July 14th, 2014 — Premier Kathleen Wynne’s 2014 Budget recklessly puts Ontario’s teetering finances in greater jeopardy, Ontario PC Finance Critic and Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli warned today.

“Today’s budget, the same one the Liberals introduced on May 1, risks a credit downgrade which could increase Ontario’s borrowing costs by billions of dollars, siphoning even more money out of frontline services,” Fedeli said.

Fedeli also noted that the budget, which was labeled by Maclean’s as “a unicorn budget built on delusion,” immediately sparked a credit watch from Moody’s Rating Service, who called it a “credit negative.” A credit downgrade will have real consequences, he said.

“Economist Jack Mintz has calculated a 1 per cent increase in interest rates will add as much as $3 billion annually to our costs that will take money away from health care and education.”

The incredible irony that the Liberals hope goes unnoticed by Ontarians is that cuts are already taking place right now under their watch, Fedeli continued.

“Nearly 300 nurses have been fired across the province, including 40 in my hometown of North Bay, where several teaching layoffs were also recently announced,” said Fedeli, also pointing to other cuts for physiotherapy services and cataract surgeries for seniors.

“This government has been pretty indignant about being opposed to cuts — but the truth is our frontline services are being eroded right now because this government can’t keep its fiscal house in order. “

The Premier’s Ontario pension plan scheme, meanwhile, is of great concern to businesses with a survey by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business finding more than half of their members would have to cut staff if implemented, Fedeli added.

“With energy rates already the highest in North America, the small and mid-sized businesses that drive Ontario’s economy can’t afford this added burden,” he said.

“The bottom line is that this pre-election budget is no more credible, realistic or logical today than it was on May 1.”

(Niagara At Large invites you to share your comments on this post below.)

Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa

A Budget Report from the Office of Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa
July 14th, 2014 -2014 Ontario Budget Moves Forward With Plan to Create Jobs and Grow the Economy, Build Modern Transit and Infrastructure, and Help Ontarians with Their Retirement, While Balancing the Budget by 2017–18Ontario is moving forward with its plan to build opportunity and security for today and tomorrow.

The 2014 Ontario Budget, tabled today by Minister of Finance Charles Sousa, takes immediate action to create jobs by investing in a highly skilled workforce, building modern infrastructure and transportation networks, and supporting a dynamic and innovative business climate. Continue reading →

News from the Office of Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath

Queen’s Park, July 14^th, 2014 – The Liberals today re-introduced a Trojan Horse Budget that will sneak in massive public asset sales, leave families paying higher bills, while opening up new loopholes for CEOs. Ontarians voted against austerity, but Bloomberg News says this budget foretells the “biggest cuts since [Mike] Harris.”

Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath slams Liberal budget

“Reading this budget feels like Groundhog Day. The Liberals have introduced a Trojan Horse budget that sneaks in all sorts of nasty surprises for families,” said Andrea Horwath, Leader of Ontario’s New Democrats. “The Liberal budget leaves families falling behind. It opens new loopholes for CEOs and opens up Ontarians to the deepest cuts since Mike Harris.”

 Statistics Canada announced that last month 34,000 Ontarians lost a job, and manufacturing employment hit its lowest point since 1976. In spite of the ongoing failure of the Liberal plan, the budget is the same document the Liberals introduced in May, and does nothing to address the province’s jobs crisis. The budget commits $2.5 billion to the same old corporate tax handouts that have failed to create jobs.

“The Liberals insist their plan is progressive, but the Minister himself is saying he’s looking for new cuts and plans to put public assets on the auction block,” continued Horwath. “Ontarians voted against austerity. Scratch the surface of this Trojan Horse plan and you’ll find a plan that leaves Bay Street better off but leaves folks on Main Street out of work and out of pocket.”

(Niagara At Large invites you to share your views on this post. A reminder that we only post comments by individuals who share their first and last name with them.)