Category Archives: Uncategorized

“The drugs enter rivers and lakes in Great Lakes region from treatment plants and sewage overflows, threatening aquatic life, University of  Buffalo scientists say

A News release from Charlotte Hsu, University of Buffalo

Posted September 5^th, 2017 on Niagara At Large

(A Brief Foreword Note to this from NAL reporter and publisher Doug Draper – Recurring  discharges of pollution  to the Niagara River this summer from Niagara Falls, New York’s municipal wastewater plant, news I’ve heard in recent years of a possible increase in toxic chemicals in fish and freshwater mussels downstream from major toxic waste dumps along the Niagara River, and now the following disturbing news I hope you all read from researchers at the University of Buffalo.

Unfortunately, all of this takes me back to my first years, more than 35 years ago, as a reporter covering emerging pollution issues in the Niagara River and Great Lakes.

And just as unfortunately, this time out we seem to have government bodies on the Ontario side of the Niagara River that are supposed to have some responsibility for environmental protection and conservation apparently  MISSING IN ACTION.

Stay tune to much more about these issues in Niagara At Large in the days and weeks ahead.)

BUFFALO, New York.— Human antidepressants are building up in the brains of bass, walleye and several other fish common to the Great Lakes region, scientists say.

In a new study, researchers detected high concentrations of these drugs and their metabolized remnants in the brain tissue of 10 fish species found in the Niagara River. Continue reading →

And will a new south Niagara hospital ever get built?

A News Commentary by Doug Draper

Posted July 12^th, 2017 on Niagara At Large

Niagara, Ontario – This July 11^th, Jim Bradley, the Ontario government’s veteran MPP for the north Niagara riding of St. Catharines, joined Niagara Health system representatives in announcing more than $1.6 million in additional funding to upgrade the system’s aged sites in the region’s south end, including the 57-year-old Welland Hospital.

St. Catharines’ Liberal MPP Jim Bradley (centre) joins representatives of Niagara Health, the region’s amalgamated hospital system, this June 11th for funding announcement. Photo from Niagara Health news release.

“By investing in renewing hospital infrastructure, the provincial government is helping to ensure our hospitals can continue to meet the needs of patients in comfortable, healthy and safe facilities for many years to come,” said Bradley during a gathering of Niagara Health representatives at the system’s newest and largest hospital site in St. Catharines.

“This investment brings the total to more than $8.5 million in Hospital Infrastructure Renewal Funding in the last four years which was used for building maintenance and upgrade projects,” added Angela Zangari, Niagara Health’s Executive Vice-President Finance and Operations and Chief Financial Officer. “Thank you MPP Bradley and our partners at the LHIN (Local Health Integration) for your ongoing support of healthcare in the region, and for working with us towards our vision of a Healthier Niagara.”

Left unsaid was any mention of the next provincial election, now less than a year away,  and any possibility that announcements like this may help the governing Liberals draw votes away from Andrea Horwath’s New Democrats as they face, what is shaping up to be, a tough, heavily funded fight with Patrick Brown’s Conservatives. Continue reading →

A Call-Out from the Alliance for the Great Lakes, a U.S.-based citizens group

Posted July 7^th, 217 on Niagara At Large

It seems like we keep hearing bad news about the Great Lakes lately.

Our Great Lakes – the largest source of fresh water in the world – from space. Where are you in this picture?

Major budget cuts to critical Great Lakes programs. Asian carp found just 9 miles from Lake Michigan. Huge harmful algal blooms in parts of the lakes threatening public health.

It’s easy to get down when you only hear bad news.

But, you know what? The Great Lakes region is 40 million people strong, and we won’t be deterred by the headlines. Our summers are the time when we celebrate water. And there is no better time than now to stand up for  the lakes, clean water, and the future of our communities. Continue reading →

Short of some last-minute miracle, the days are now numbered for our cross-border region’s last iconic store from the golden age of record buying

By Doug Draper

Posted June 29^th, 2017 on Niagara At Large

This year is turning out to be the roughest one yet in more than a decade of rough years for record stores and for those of us who love shopping in them for music.

It was almost 10 year ago to this day, on June 30^th, 2007, to be exact, that one of the most iconic record stores in Canada – Sam the Record Man’s flagship store on Yonge Street in Toronto – closed its doors for the last time after close to 50 years of spawning a chain of Sam outlets in St. Catharines, Welland and numerous other communities across the nation that were all gone by then.

Record Theatre’s main retail area, taken just around opening time recently, before things got busy. Photo by Doug Draper

Seven years later, in 2014, the last of the original Sunrise Records stores, including a very good one at the Pen Centre plaza in St. Catharines, Niagara closed, leaving just one major competitor, HMV, hanging on until early this year when it filed for bankruptcy and proceeded to close all its stores, including its last remaining outlet in this Niagara region.

Continue reading →

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An Invite from the Niagara District Council of Women

Posted June 8th, 2017 on Niagara At Large

Niagara, Ontario – On Friday, June 16th, the Niagara District Council of Women is bringing highly respected nuclear expert, Dr. Gordon Edwards, to Niagara as our guest speaker.

Are the Canadian and U.S. governments secretly shipping highly dangerous radioactive wastes across this Peace Bridge or other area border crossings? And are they doing it without even telling emergency responders on the Ontario and New York sides of the border?

Dr. Edwards will respond to concerns and questions about the potential shipments of liquid high level, extremely dangerous, nuclear waste containing Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) by road through Niagara.  There are many questions that have not been answered by the federal government or the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission:

• What is the nature of the liquid radioactive material to be trucked over our roads?
• Has highly radioactive liquid of this kind ever been transported before? Why now?
• How dangerous is this material in case of a major accident?
• Can leakage occur?
• Are there practical and affordable alternatives that would make these shipments unnecessary?

Continue reading →

 A News Release to NAL, Courtesy of Karl Dockstader

Posted May 9th, 2017 on Niagara At Large

Tara Lanea Summers – Wishing her safe return home

Fort Erie, Ontario – The public is invited to come to the lighting of a 24 hour fire starting at the 6am sunrise on Wednesday, May 10th, at the grove next to the Fort Erie Native Friendship Centre on 796 Buffalo Road in Fort Erie to raise awareness for Tara Lanea Summers.

The thirty-one year old female resides in the Town of Fort Erie, Ontario but travels to the Greater Toronto Area concerning employment at the Woodbine Race Track. Tara Summers was last seen by a friend in Toronto on April 27th, 2017.

Friends and family of the Summers family are inviting members of the Niagara community to visit the fire at any time over the 24 hour period from May 10th at sunrise until sunrise the following morning to help raise awareness and support the Summers family. Continue reading →

A Statement by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

Posted May 7th, 2017 on Niagara At Large

The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today issued the following statement on the result of France’s presidential election:

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, speaking during a recent visit to Juno Beach in France where Canadians forces fought during Second World War

“On behalf of the Government of Canada, I would like to congratulate Emmanuel Macron on his election as the next President of France.

“Canada and France share a warm and historic relationship, rooted in our common history, deep cultural ties, people-to-people connections, and strong economic partnership.”

“ We also closely collaborate on important international issues as strong allies and partners with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, G7, G20 and La Francophonie. Continue reading →

A News Release from Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne and her Liberal Government

Posted April 28th, 2017 on Niagara At Large

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne. File photo

This April 27th, Finance Minister Charles Sousa released the 2017 Ontario Budget: A Stronger, Healthier Ontario, which includes significant investments in health care and education. Ontario’s first balanced budget since the global recession — thanks to a strong economy and responsible fiscal management — introduces free prescription drug coverage for everyone aged 24 and under, makes important investments to reduce wait times and improve access to care, helps students and makes life more affordable for Ontario families.

As a leader in economic growth, the Province is set to balance the budget this year and maintain a balanced budget for the next two years. A balanced budget means more funding for the programs and services people rely on most. Continue reading →

Job Switch comes as controversies continue to swirl around NPCA operations

A News Release from the NPCA

Posted April 26th, 2017 on Niagara At Large

Welland, Ontario – The Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority Board today announced the appointment of Mark Brickell as Acting Chief Administrative Officer, effective Friday, April 28.

“Peter Graham has done an excellent job as Acting CAO. He has taken on a challenging role, and has shown professionalism and commitment to the organziation the entire time”, stated NPCA Chair, Sandy Annunziata. “On behalf of our Board, I would like to thank Peter for his dedication and focus. I have every bit of confidence that Mr. Brickell will be able to continue moving the organization forward in the interim.” Continue reading →

“The demand for Social Housing has steadily increased since NRH began administering Social Housing on behalf of the Niagara Region in 2002.” Niagara Regional Housing Chair Henry D’Angela 

A Message from the Board of Directors for Niagara Regional Housing

Posted February 21st, 2017 on Niagara At Large

Niagara Regonal Housing Chair and Thorold Regional Councillor Henry D’Angela

Niagara Region, Ontario – The Niagara Regional Housing Board has appointed Dan Troke as the new Chief Executive Officer of Niagara Regional Housing (NRH). Troke will assume his new responsibilities March 6, 2017.

Troke has over 20 years of experience working in senior roles with extensive knowledge in Housing and Finance. For the last decade he has led major housing initiatives at a provincial level. “I am very excited to work with a community which is committed to providing affordable housing. The NRH team and its partners have worked hard to provide housing options and we will build upon that work for the people who call NRH their home”.

Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

Posted February 6th, 2017 on Niagara At Large

Niagara, Ontario – This Monday, February 6th at 6:30 p.m., the council for the City of St. Catharines will hold what may be one last public meeting on the contentious issue of ‘dual-duty representation’ before ending the evening with a yes-or-no vote on making dual-duty the way St. Catharines is represented at both the city and regional levels of government in the future.

We don’t need “dual-duty” politicians in Niagara. We need more politicians as dedicated to serving the interests of the people as the late St. Catharines regional councilor Mike Collins

It is a change, by the way, that could also have unforeseen consequences for the other 11 municipalities across Niagara in terms of who pays for what, in effect, will be six more full-time politicians in Niagara, and how much these full-time position could tip the balance of power in St. Catharines’ favour at the regional government level.\.

If this push by St. Catharines Mayor Walter Sendzik and however many other members of his city’s council and regional council to introduce dual-duty representation to municipal governance in Niagara succeeds, it will begin with the run-up to the October, 2018 municipal elections with voters from the six wards in St. Catharines electing two councillors for each ward – one that will represent them on the city council only (as they do now) and one that will represent them in a dual-duty capacity, at both the city and regional council levels. Continue reading →

The late Niagara MPP and conservationist Mel Swart “would surely be rolling in his grave to learn the NPCA has officially gone Rogue.”

An Open Letter to NPCA Chair Sandy Annunziataand others unfamiliar with Ontario’s Conservation Authorities Act

From Niagara, Ontario citizen Derek Jones

Posted January 25th, 2017 on Niagara At Large

Dear Sandy,

Your January 23rd “Statement” to the community – posted on the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority’s website – ends by quoting a “discussion paper” as if it were policy.

One of the many signs citizens held up this January during a meeting of the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority’s board of directors. File photo by Doug Draper

Seriously?

As the new Chair of the NPCA, please read, understand, and appreciate
the actual current policy, the Conservation Authorities Act. The mandate
for all Conservation Authorities in Ontario, is clear and consistent.

As NPCA Chair, you should be intimately familiar with this by now. Be
careful not to misinterpret the Act, or your own mandate. Be careful not
to misrepresent or manipulate the Act, to suit or support any deviant
political agendas.

The NPCA is, by it’s very nature, a Conservation Authority, not the opposite. Continue reading →

From Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper

Niagara At Large apologizes to subscribers for posting two pieces – one on upcoming budget meetings in St. Catharines/Niagara, and another on a special event coming up at the Buffalo Museum of History – with the date 2016 on them.

Those posts have already been corrected on the NAL site with the correct year included.

Thanks for your continued support of Niagara At Large as an independent voice for news and commentary in our greater Niagara region. Please continue to encourage your friends and associates to join our NAL readership. That is one important way you can help this site survive and grow as an alternative news site.

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

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

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

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

  A Tradition At The Buffalo History Museum Enjoyed                 For Over 20 Years

News from the Buffalo History Museum overlooking  Delaware Park

Posted November 22^nd on Niagara At Large

From Buffalo History Musuem train exhibit. Photo courtesy of Buffalo Museum of History

Buffalo, New York –  The Buffalo History Museum’s annual family event, “Train Day,” is a popular museum family day festivity that includes a tour of the 1900s replica model trains, artifact scavenger hunts, and train-themed crafts.”  Live music by Rail Barons Band is also featured.

The impressive train display includes 1900s replica model trains running on more than 200 feet of track, as well as a scale Erie Canal lock, and 100 miniature buildings portraying 19th century Buffalo and Western New York.
Continue reading →

News from McMaster Univerity in Hamilton

Posted October 4rth, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Hamilton, Ontario — Researchers at McMaster University and two American universities have taken another step closer to developing a much more effective, “one-punch” universal flu vaccine.

McMaster University researcher Matthew Miller part of team working toward a universal flu vaccine

Their latest findings, published online today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA (PNAS), build upon their earlier discovery of a class of antibodies capable of neutralizing the most dangerous types of Influenza viruses.

These antibodies, according to the researchers, essentially “train” the immune system to recognize a portion of the virus that does not change from year-to-year and, in doing so, can pave the way toward a universal vaccine that needs to be given just once and could protect against all future strains of the flu, including mutated strains. Continue reading →

From the Constituency Office of Niagara Centre MP Vance Badawey

Posted September 28th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

The following poster, for public consultation sessions scheduled for Friday, September 30th, was circulated for publication by Niagara Liberal MP Vance Badawey.

The sessions focus on two issues that have received a great deal of national discussion and debate since the new government of Justin Trudeau was sworn in late last year.

These sessions are another opportunity for Niagara, Ontario area residents to join in the discussion.

JOIN THE CONVERSATION BELOW – Niagara At Large encourages you to join the conversation by sharing your views on this post in the space following the Bernie quote below. A reminder that we only post comments by individuals who share their first and last name with them.

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

“Like the Keystone XL pipeline, which I opposed since day one, the Dakota Access fracked oil pipeline, will transport some of the dirtiest fuel on the planet.” – Bernie Sanders

A Statement issued this September 6^th by U.S. Senator from Vermont, Bernie Sanders

Posted September 7^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

“I Join With the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in Opposing the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Bernie Sanders during one of his presidential campaign rallies just a few short months ago.

“The major global crisis facing our planet today is climate change. The vast majority of scientists tell us that climate change is real, it is caused by humans and it is already causing devastating problems. They say that if we do not aggressively transition our energy system away from fossil fuels toward energy efficiency and sustainable energy, the planet we leave our children will be a much less habitable place.

Continue reading →

A Call-Out from Liz Benneian and the citizens group No Burn Niagara

Posted September 1st, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Niagara, Ontario – The community is invited to learn more about a proposed municipal and industrial waste incinerator in Niagara on Thursday, September 15 at 7 p.m. at the Gale Centre, 4171 Fourth Avenue, Niagara Falls, Ontario.

Liz Benneian, speaking at a public meeting this spring on an incinerator proposal for the Port Robinson, Thorold area of Niagara.

Liz Benneian, founder of the Ontario Zero Waste Coalition, will speak briefly and then the floor will be open for people to ask questions and discuss their concerns.

The event is being sponsored by No Burn Niagara, a citizen-led group that has been recently formed to bring attention to this issue and to offer solutions that are better for human and environmental health and the economy.

For more information, email mailto:noburnniagara@hotmail.com. Connect with the group on Facebook at No Burn Niagara.

Liz Benneian is Executive Director and Manager, Environmental Education, Ontariogreen. Click on www.ontariogreen.ca

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

Niagara At Large encourages you to share your views on this post in the space below the Bernie quote . A reminder that we only post comments by individuals who share their first and last name with them.

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

Posted by Doug Draper, Niagara At Large

August 18^th, 2016

A wire story that went around the world this past Wednesday, August 17^th featured what the Daily Telegraph of Great Britain rightfully described as “a heartbreaking image of a dazed and bloodied child circulating on social media shows the horror of what have become routine airstrikes in the Syrian city of Aleppo.

The five-year-old boy Omran Daqneesh was reportedly one of five children injured in the Russian or Assad (the regime airstrike this past August 17^th  night. But western nations, including Canada, have engaged in air strikes in that hapless country too, and as much as our leaders call them “precision strikes,” that is bunk. 

You can’t bomb populated places without causing collateral damage – without killing or severely injuring people who are down there on the ground, just trying to live their lives in their communities like you or I or our sisters and sisters or daughters and sons or this poor little boy.

Anyone who says you can is telling a lie. Continue reading →

A Statement by NDP Leader Andrea Horwath

Posted August 16^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Queen’s Park, Toronto – Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath issued the following statement urging the province’s Liberal government to resume respectful bargaining with doctors without undue delay.

Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath

“The Premier (Kathleen Wynne) must admit, this August 16th, that her Liberal government has broken trust with Ontario’s doctors and the families they serve. The result of this weekend’s vote is just the latest symptom of the growing crisis in health care under this Premier’s watch.

The Liberals say they need to take the coming weeks to reflect on their next steps, but they’ve had two and a half years and they’ve failed to get the job done. Now is not the time for the Premier or Health Minister to hide. Families across Ontario need the government to resume respectful bargaining with Ontario’s doctors without undue delay. Continue reading →

A Brief One from Doug Draper

Posted August 4rth, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Her name was Marianne Ihlen and she was a former girlfriend and the inspiration for one of Canadian-born poet/singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen’s earliest songs, ‘So Long, Mariane’, which was featured on his very first album, along with his classic ‘Suzanne’.

Marianne Ihlen was the inspiration for one of Leonard Cohen’s earliest great songs.

Marianne  Ihlen died this past July 28^{th, ,} at age 81 after a short battle with leukemia but her spirit will always live on in the loving lyrics of Leonard’s song.

“Come over to the window, my little darling, I’d like to try to read your palm. I used to think I was some kind of Gypsy boy before I let you take me home. Now so long, Marianne, it’s time that we began to laugh and cry and cry and laugh about it all again.”

Continue reading →

Joint Statement from Ontario PC MPPs On  Ontario Energy Board Decision

Posted July 29^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

The following is a statement from MPP John Yakabuski, Ontario PC Critic for Energy, and MPP Lisa Thompson, Ontario PC Critic for Environment and Cap-and-Trade, on the Ontario Energy Board’s July 28^th decisions to hide the costs of cap-and-trade on home heating bills:

“The Ontario PC Caucus is disappointed by the Ontario Energy Board’s decision to bury the cost of cap-and-trade in the Delivery Charge on consumers’ home heating bills. 

We have been clear all along that any plan to reduce carbon emissions must be transparent and accountable to the taxpayer.

Continue reading →

From Watchdog, an American-based citizens  group

Posted July 19^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

(A Brief Foreword Note from Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper – While ‘bad trade deals’ that kill decent-paying jobs is a huge issue in this U.S. election year, the amount of apathy among Canadians – with a few exceptions like Maude Barlow and the Council of Canadians – over the possibility that the new Trudeau government could sign a TPP trade deal the former Harper government played a role in negotiating is breathtaking.

However, if American citizens can defeat the TPP, it will make it harder for Trudeau to follow through on it since, as we know, Canada often follows the lead of the U.S. when it comes to global trade issues anyway.

That is why I encourage my fellow Canadians to support our American neighbours in killing this deal.)

Hillary Clinton opposes the TPP. Bernie Sanders opposes the TPP. Most Democrats in Congress oppose the TPP. So why did the delegates to the Democratic National Convention just block opposition to the TPP in the party platform?¹ Continue reading →

 “We have begun a political revolution to transform America and that revolution continues. Together, we continue the fight to create a government which represents all of us, and not just the one percent,” – from Bernie Sanders’ July 12^th endorsement speech in New Hampshire

“If you don’t believe this election is important, take a moment to think about the Supreme Court justices that Donald Trump will nominate, and what that means to civil liberties, equal rights and the future of our country.” – from Bernie Sanders’ July 12^th endorsement speech in New Hampshire

Posted July 12^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

New Hampshire, on August 1, 2015. Photo courtesy of REUTERS/Dominick Reuter
*Editors: This photo may only be republished with RNS-SANDERS-LIBERTY, originally transmitted on August 6, 2015.

(A Brief Foreword Note from NAL publisher Doug Draper – As one of many Canadians hoping that Bernie Sanders would become the next President of our most powerful neighbor to the south – a country that has an enormous impact on the lives of Canadians whether we like it or not. But for whatever reason, candidates that fall outside of the mainstream – even ones who clearly run on a platform that focuses on making life better for people who are struggling – have one hell of a hard time getting the support they need to win.

I believe I’ve seen it time and time again in the United States and Canada where too many citizens cast their votes for candidates that fall short of representing their best interests. Continue reading →

“I know a lot of people have been threatening to do this, but I really will” – Lena Dunham, American actress and creator of HBO series ‘Girls’, on moving to Canada if Donald Trump becomes U.S. president

A Brief One from Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper

Posted May 17^th on Niagara At Large

Get ready to brace yourselves my fellow Canadians.

Brace yourselves for the possibility of an influx of refugees in numbers Canada has not seen in the entire 149 years since Confederation.

And I’m not talking about more refugees from Syria and other countries in that tragic, war-torn region of the world, as much as many thousands more may wish to make Canada their new home.

I’m talking about what could be tsunami of refugees crossing our border starting this coming November 9^th – the day after the U.S. federal election, if and when Donald Trump defies the prayers of every last liberal and progressive-minded person in America and wins the keys to Airforce One, the White House and everything that goes with them, including, God help us, the so-called “football” containing the code for launching a nuclear attack.

Since the first days of this May, when the last of the contenders Trump spent the past 11 months verbally bludgeoning dropped out of the race, clearing the way for him to run as Republican Party candidate for the U.S. presidency, talk among Americans about moving to Canada if he wins has become more the norm than the exception in restaurants and bars, on talk radio and just about everywhere else when the Donald’s name comes up.

And if this chit chat about; “I’m moving to Canada if he wins” continues to grow, one Niagara At Large reader sent us the following map that does about as good a job of depicting what our border crossings may be in for than anything else we’ve seen in recent weeks.

Iif this map is a fair reflection of what we may expect at the border if the narcissistic blowhard with his ties made in China. ‘Make America Great Again’ hats and the tacky orange comb over wins, maybe we are going to have to build a wall and sue President Trump to pay for it.

Either that or watch Canada’s population more than quadruple in a matter of weeks.

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.

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

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

Strong Follow-Through Is Now Needed

A Message from Ontario Nature, the Oak Ridges Moraine Coalition, EcoSpark & Earthroots conservation groups based in Ontario’s Greater Golden Horseshoe

Posted May 16^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Earlier this May, the Ontario government released its draft amendments to the plans that protect the Greenbelt, Oak Ridges Moraine, and Niagara Escarpment, and guide growth in the Greater Golden Horseshoe (GGH).

A farm in Ontario’s protected Greenbelt zone. Photo courtesy of Ontario Nature

These amendments are a promising move towards building ecological resiliency and healthy communities in an area under tremendous pressure from sprawling urban development. Bold leadership is now needed from the Province to quickly and decisively act on these good intentions.

In the face of climate change and a rapidly growing population, the government must defend water, nature and communities in the GGH so it remains ecologically viable and a great place to live.
Continue reading →

News from Ontario’s Niagara Parks Commission

Posted May 10^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

(A Brief Foreword from NAL publisher Doug Draper – Although it has become so costly to play golf at most courses that I can hardly afford to play the game any more, the price is still right at this wonderful par-3 course where I have fond memories of my father taking me to learn the game when I was mid-way through my teens.

Looking back at Niagara Park’s historic Oak Hall from the par 3 course by the same name. Photo courtesy of Niagara Parks Commission

In keeping with the spirit of the Niagara Parks Commission’s more than century old mission to preserve a corridor of green along the Canadian side of the Niagara River corridor, the Oak Hall course is also a nice, green place where the trees are tall and thick enough to block the view of the casino towers and other Vegas-like structures nearby. And you can still the roar of the rapids and Horseshoe Falls below.

It all makes for a very nice place in Niagara, Ontario to go.)

Niagara Falls, Ontario – The Niagara Parks Commission (NPC) is delighted to announce that its Oak Hall Par 3 golf course will open for the 2016 golf season on Friday, May 13. Continue reading →

A Call-Out to Our New York neighbours and other U.S. Citizens around the Great Lakes

From the Alliance for the Great Lakes, a citizens watchdog group in the Great Lakes basin

Posted May 10^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Dear Resident of the Great Lakes region,

Quagga Mussels – now more commonly known as zebra mussels – entered the Great Lakes some 30 years ago in the ballast of overseas ships and have done untolled damage to municipal and industrial water intake pipes and other underwater infrastructure, and to the Great Lakes fishery. Photo by Dave Britton, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

The U.S. Congress is at it again. An amendment that would significantly weaken

ballast cleanup rules, the main way to stop new invasive species introductions via ships on the lakes, has been tacked onto legislation in both the House and Senate.

All of this may sound familiar.

Thanks to your help, we fought off this bad bill last year, ensuring that provisions to clean up ships entering the Great Lakes continue to be in place. But, the bill has come back again and we need your help again to protect the lakes. Continue reading →

A Brief Commentary by Doug Draper

Posted May 3^rd, 2016 on Niagara At Large

There are people out there – you know who you are – who go out of their way to find and wear t-shirts with catchy or interesting words or sayings on them.

And I’m one of those people that likes reading them. It’s just one of the things I do while I’m out there, circling around the community, trying to figure out why I’m here and where it is I want to go.

I’ve yet to fully find answers to questions of why am I here and where I want to go, but I sure have read a lot of interesting sayings on t-shirts along the way. And one of the most interesting sayings I’ve read on a shirt lately is one worth all of us sharing and thinking seriously about.

It is a line attributed to one of my favourite people in the world these days, U.S. Senator and presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, and it goes like this – “A politician thinks of the next election. A leader thinks of the next generation.”

Yes!

I thought about that saying this past April 30^th, when there on the TV screen, CBC was broadcasting a live media briefing following a meeting Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, had with his Liberal Party operatives in Quebec. Continue reading →

“The decision to close the hospital must be rescinded and services restored.”

A Report from the Ontario Health Coalition, a province-wide citizens’ advocacy group

Posted March 19^th on Niagara At Large

Welland/Niagara/Toronto, Ontario – The Niagara Health System – an amalgamation of Niagara, Ontario’s hospital services – revealed a sliver of its hospital plans this March 19th.

The Welland hospital site’s days may be wondered without more of a public fight to save it.

In its email to the media, the hospital outlined its new proposal for an ambulatory care centre (outpatient clinics), an “urgent care” centre (walk-in clinic) and long-term care beds to be located in Welland.

The timing of the revelation is interesting. On Monday, Welland residents head to Queen’s Park to hold a Welland Hospital Awareness Day. Residents will raise the planned closure of Welland’s hospital in a media conference at the Main Legislative Building and will meet with MPPs and other officials at the Ontario Legislature to advocate for the hospital to be saved and the cuts stopped.

The currently approved government plan is that all inpatient hospital services and the emergency department will be closed down in Welland along with the closure of four other entire hospitals in Niagara, to be replaced by one hospital (at the southwest end of)  Niagara Falls (near the QEW and Lyon’s Creek Road.). Continue reading →

A Brief One from Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper

Posted March 18^th, 2016

To all of you who are Irish or who wish you were Irish for a day or four this time of year, I raise a mug of Guinness for a Happy St. Patrick’s weekend and first day of spring – this March 20^th – to one and all of us who make up the 99 %.

A few of the countless thousands gathered for a past St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Buffalo, New York. That parade is back this Sunday, March 22nd, starting at noon on Delaware Avenue. Maybe we’ll see you there.

As for the remaining 1 % – all of the tax-dodging billionaires out there – let’s raise our mugs again to not letting them crash the party. They’ve crashed more than enough decent-paying jobs and opportunities for the rest of us to live the middle-class dream already.

And speaking of the billionaires, here is to the only candidate for high office on the continent who has continued to wage a political revolution aimed at making them start paying their fair share and stop out-sourcing millions of good jobs.

That candidate is U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, who is now running for President of the United States and speaking of the Irish, here is a letter he sent to then British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher 36 years ago, when he was the Mayor of Burlington, Vermont, calling for the humane treatment of Irish prisoners in her government’s custody. Continue reading →

“A person who thinks only about building walls… and not of building bridges, is not Christian.”

A Brief One from Doug Draper

Posted February 18^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

As you no doubt know, Republican presidential hopeful and billionaire businessman Donald Trump has been vowing ad nausea to build a “big, beautiful wall” between his United States and Mexico to keep, in his words, all of the “rapists”, “murderers” and “drug dealers” out.

Trump has also repeatedly raised the idea of banning all Muslims from entering the United States on the grounds that some of them may be terrorists.

This February 18^th, 2016, none other than the head of the Roman Catholic Church – Pope Francis – weighed in on this bluster during a briefing with reporters on his way back to Rome following a six-day visit to Mexico.

“A person,” said the Pope, “who thinks only about building walls… and not of building bridges, is not Christian.”

Trump, being Trump, immediately shot back, saying, he once liked the Pope, but isn’t sure anymore. “A religious leader questioning someone elses faith is disgraceful,” said d the Donald.

Another one of America’s infamous  blowhard, Rush Limbaugh, added this on his syndicated radio show; “Given the Pope’s political leanings, I’m surprised he’s not out campaigning for Bernie Sanders (a Democratic presidential hopeful and self-declared ‘democratic socialist’). Then again,” added Limbaugh in his usual sarcastic style, “maybe Sanders is too right wing for the Pope.”

Click on th video immediately below to watch what the Pope had to sayand then, below that, feel free  to weigh in with your own views, remembering that Niagara At Large only posts comments by individuals who identify themselves by their real first and last names. 

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

“Over 350 Positions Will Be Available In 2016.” – NPC

(A Brief Foreword on this one from Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper – Why am I posting a notice on a Job Fair – something that usually shows up as a paid ad in the classified section of a newspaper – for free on a site like this?

Because Niagara, Ontario has one of the highest youth unemployment rates in the province and many other regions of the country at almost 13 per cent, according to Statistics Canada figures, this January 2016, alone.

That’s enough reason, in my view, to post this Job Fair Ontario’s Niagara Parks Commission is holding this coming Saturday for February 20^th for seasonal jobs If it helps even a few of our younger citizens find a paying job for the spring and summer months, I’m pleased to post information like this.)

News from Ontario’s Niagara Parks Commission

Posted February 13^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

The Niagara Parks Commission to Host Job Fair – Over 350 positions available in 2016

Niagara Falls, Ontario – The Niagara Parks Commission (NPC), one of the region’s largest employers with over 1,600 full time and seasonal employees, will host its second annual Job Fair on Saturday, February 20, at the Niagara Falls campus of Niagara College. Continue reading →

A Call-Out To All of Us from the Ontario Health Coalition

Posted January 27^th, 2016 on Niagara At Large

Join us on Monday February 1st, 2016 at 12 p.m. at Queen’s Park (main south facing doors) in Toronto to call for improved hospital funding.

One of the Ontario Health Coalition’s recent rallies for improved hospital funding

We’ve had successes and a big show of support in Hamilton, Windsor, Thunder Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, and Ottawa. Here are some photos from the rallies …on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ontariohealth/.  If you have pictures, please send them in. 

We will be sending (out) the OHC submission on Monday, February 1^st and will post the local coalitions’ submissions on the OHC website by Monday.

 To learn more about the Ontario Health Coalition and its province-wide citizens’ advocacy work visit –http://www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca/ .

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.

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

We Are Hewers Of Wood, Rocks, Coal, Asbestos And Tar Sands Goo – And Now We Have A Dollar Soon To Be Worth Little More Than Two American Quarters

“I think the selling of these resources is a sign of the weakness of the whole (Canadian) set-up. … Instead of developing what you’ve got, you seem content to sell it in its raw state.” – the late British journalist Malcolm Muggeridge

A Commentary by Doug Draper

Posted January 12^th, 2015 on Niagara At Large

As Canada’s ‘petro-lonnie’ sinks below 70 cents U.S. a the cost of vegetables, fruit and other imported products get harder for growing numbers of Canadians to afford, we’ve got a Bank of Canada chief who sits back and says he is not planning to do anything to pump up the dollar and the rest of us are just going to have to deal with the pain.

This same Bank of Canada governor – one Stephen Harper appointed hack named Stephen Poloz who a year ago this past November advised young people coming out of college or university with a huge debt and who can’t find a paying job to work for free – keeps reminding us, as other economists do, that the loonie, or whatever you want to call the metal slug that passes for a dollar in this country, tanks when the price for raw resources – particularly the undistilled goo from the tar sands – Canada sells on the world market tanks too.

Indeed, many economists have warned that Canada’s long history of selling off our raw resources rather than developing them into finished products ourselves makes the country’s economy particularly vulnerable when markets and prices for those resources take a significant fall. Continue reading →

Statement By Prime Minister On Release Of The Final Report Of The Truth And Reconciliation Commission

December 15, 2015, Ottawa, Ontario

The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, issued the following statement after receiving the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission:

“The Indian residential school system, one of the darkest chapters in Canadian history, has had a profoundly lasting and damaging impact on Indigenous culture, heritage, and language. As a father and a former teacher, I am overwhelmingly moved by these events.

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

“Seven years ago the Government of Canada apologized for this abhorrent system. The apology is no less true, and no less timely, today. The Government of Canada ‘sincerely apologizes and asks forgiveness of the Aboriginal peoples of this country for failing them so profoundly’.

“Today, on behalf of the Government of Canada, I have the honour of accepting the Commission’s Final Report. It is my deepest hope that this report and its findings will help heal some of the pain caused by the Indian residential school system and begin to restore the trust lost so long ago. Continue reading →

Statement by The Prime Minister Of Canada On The Speech From The Throne

Ottawa, Ontario, December 2015 – The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, issued the following statement this December 4^th. marking the delivery of the Speech from the Throne in the Senate Chamber: “Canadians have told us they want a real and fair chance at success.

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

To provide real change, we will deliver a tax cut for the middle class, introduce a new Canada Child Benefit, and create jobs through new investments in public transit, as well as green and social infrastructure.

We will work with the provinces and territories to make post-secondary education more affordable, begin to develop a new Health Accord, and enhance the Canada Pension Plan.“Canadians want to live in a country where a clean environment and a strong economy go hand-in-hand.

We will fight climate change, with the provinces and territories, as Canada works to put a price on carbon and reduce carbon pollution. We will also invest in clean technology and introduce new environmental assessment processes that seek and consider public input, with decisions informed by scientific advice. Continue reading →

 News from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

Ottawa, Ontario, October 29^th, 2015 – The new federal government has plenty of room to raise the taxes of Canada’s one percenters, according to a new study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).

The study, released in the wake of a federal election that handed the Liberals a majority government, concludes there is plenty of room for the new government to make good on its election promise to raise the top marginal income tax rate on those earning $200,000 or more to 33%. In fact, the findings suggest there is room to do more higher up the income scale.

How Much Income Could Canada’s Top 1% Pay?, by internationally respected CCPA Research Associate Lars Osberg, shows Canada’s richest now pay a lower tax rate than in the 1990s even though their share of total income has increased dramatically. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper

Here are a couple of front-page stories in one of Canada’s national newspapers that should have most people in Ontario saying enough is enough with teachers unions and their over-the-top sense of entitlement to our tax dollars.

Ontario’s Education Minister Liz Sanders says it is just about compensating the teachers unions for their negotiating costs

These stories should also cause people like me to be more cautious about giving Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne and her Liberal government the benefit of the doubt when so many others out there say they are the same secretive, arrogant, morally bankrupt bunch that they were when Dalton McGuinty was their leader and, for the better party of 10 years, the province’s premier.

If your head is still spinning from the federal election and you are just catching up to what else is going on, let me give you the gist of the two Globe and Mail stories (I’ll provide links to them below) laying out the information uncovered by reporters for the newspapers. Continue reading →

•  Over 40 Local Artists with Strong Ties to the Buffalo Region Participate

News from the Buffalo History Museum

Buffalo, New, York. October 20, 2015 – For the seventeenth year, Paint the Town, the social celebration of art, history, and community will take place at The Buffalo History Museum.

Buffalo History Museum located in the city’s scenic Delaware Park area. Photo by Doug Draper

The fundraiser will feature both live and silent auctions, and will include a wide range of artworks by over 40 artists with strong ties to the Buffalo region. A “cash and carry” Clothesline Gallery that features smaller unframed works is featured; guests may purchase Western New York inspired art at a set price. Continue reading →

In the wake of an unwanted legal battle with the Harper government, Mississauga, Ontario resident Zunera Ishaq finally gets the right to take the Oath of Canadian citizenship, just in time to vote in the federal election

A Brief Commentary by NAL publisher Doug Draper

I just happened to have CBC’s National News channel on this October 9^th as images were being shown of Zunera Ishaq taking the Oath of Citizenship just minutes after the ceremony actually took place in her adopted hometown of Mississauga, Ontario.

You may very well know by now that Zunera Ishaq is the woman who has been fighting what one can only hope is the outgoing Conservative government of Stephen Harper to where a facial veil, known as a niqab, during the citizenship ceremony. Continue reading →

News from the Niagara Health Coalition

Further to information posted earlier this October 5^th on health coalition candidate debates scheduled in Niagara, Ontario in the days ahead, the Niagara Health Coalition – a regional arm of the Ontario Health Coalition – has a third debate scheduled for the Niagara Centre Riding this Thursday, October 8th.

The Niagara Health System’s Welland Hospital site.

The debate for the Niagara Centre Riding, which spans Welland and parts of Port Colborne, Thorold and Wainfleet, will take place at 6:30 p.m. in the Community Room of the Welland Arena on 501 King Street in Welland. The arena is across the street from the Welland Hospital site.

The two other debates scheduled for Niagara, Ontario take place this Wednesday, October 7^th and Thursday October 8^th in the ridings of Niagara Falls and St. Catharines respectively.

The details of where and when for those debates are –

Niagara Falls: Candidates’ Debate on Health Care Issues – All are welcome!

Wednesday October 7, 6:30 p.m., Gale Centre Arena, 4171 4th Avenue, Niagara Falls.  Sponsored by: Niagara Health Coalition and the Retired Teachers of Ontario (RTO/ERO) District 14.

St. Catharines: Candidates’ Debate on Health Care – All are welcome!

Thursday October 8, 6:30 p.m., St. Catharines Library (Mills Room), 54 Church St. St. Catharines. Sponsored by: Niagara Health Coalition and the Retired Teachers of Ontario (RTO/ERO) District 14.

Visit Niagara At Large at www.niagaraatlarge.com for more news and commentary for and from our greater binational Niagara region.

(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.)

News from the Canada/U.S. Chamber of Marine Commerce

Ottawa, Ontario, September 30^th, 2015 — As the debate continues both at home and abroad on carbon offsetting measures, the Chamber of Marine Commerce is urging stakeholders and governments to carefully consider the environmental advantages and the competitive challenges faced by the bi-national Great Lakes-St. Lawrence shipping industry.

Another ship moves through the Welland Canal system in Niagara, Ontario

The call comes as the Ontario government develops details of a new cap-and-trade system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and federal government negotiators head to Paris in December for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meeting.

Stephen Brooks, President of the Chamber of Marine Commerce, said that some past Canadian and U.S. regulations arising from international environmental commitments didn’t properly differentiate between domestic and global shipping. Continue reading →

By John Bacher

From now until October 19^th , the Province of Ontario is engaged in an important public consultation concerning the governance, funding, and roles and responsibilities of Ontario’s Conservation Authorities.

A Trail curling through the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority’s Balls Falls Conservation Park

This is an important matter since Conservation Authorities, including the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority, have a very important role to play given where they exist – in the formerly deforested regions south of the Canadian Shield.

Just as doctors and mental health and other care workers seek to safeguard the health of human populations, Conservation Authorities are responsible for the wellbeing of our watershed-based ecosystems. In comparison however, Conservation Authorities have tiny budgets. Continue reading →

A  Commentary by Doug Draper

Those jet boats roaring up and down the white-cap waters of the Lower Niagara River are making news again.

A citizens group along the lower Niagara River shows their opposition to the river being used by jet boats. File photo

It’s been a long time since I have read or heard much from anyone on either side of the Ontario/New York State border about noise, erosion and other environmental impacts they say us caused by these powerful vessels as they race loads of tourists through the whirling waters of the lower river.

Then this past September 10^th, on the front page of The Buffalo News, was a story about the jet boats, featuring complaints from residents on both sides of the river about noise and damage to docks and other property they say the boats are leaving in their wake. Continue reading →

A Call to Action from the Sierra Club Niagara Group in Western New York

All are invited to attend a CLIMATE RALLY in Buffalo: Rise Up for Climate Justice! 

WHEN: Thursday, Sept. 24 at 5pm; *Festivities at 4pm The same day Pope Francis meets with the U.S. Congress and is expected to call for moral action to address the injustice of human-caused Climate Change as laid out in his recent Encyclical.

WHERE:  Niagara Square in Buffalo, NY  MAP with Metro Rail stations & Bus routes, Click Here

Continue reading →

• The Globe and Mail Would Not Invite Her, But May’s Green Team Has Found Another Way In 

News from the Green Party of Canada

Ottawa, Ontario, September 17^th, 2015 – Elizabeth May, Leader of the Green Party of Canada (Saanich – Gulf Islands), participates in today’s (this Thursday, September 17^th) Globe and Mail Leaders’ Debate using new, real-time video technology in partnership with Twitter Canada.

The Green Party’s Elizabeth May Finds Another Way To Join The Debate with the Conservatives’ Stephen Harper, the NDP’s Tom Mulcair and Liberal’s Justin Trudeau

During the economic themed debate, May will respond to questions posed by the debate moderator in real-time via Twitter. The debate will focus on the economy including energy and housing, taxation and jobs.

Ms. May will take media questions prior to and immediately following the debate. Debate details provided below: Continue reading →

A Niagara At Large  News Brief

Niagara At Large is pleased to post the following for this valuable service operated by students for students at Brock University.

Here is a few lines from the Centre’s website followed by an invitation to meet members of the Centre and consider joining them as a volunteer.

The Student Justice Centre seeks to educate the student body about racism, sexism, homophobia, and other forms of prejudice, while advocating for equity through campaigns, programming and workshops. 

We provide a safe space on campus where students can be who they are without fear of judgement. Our staff are trained to provide Peer-to-peer support to victims of injustice, including those who have experienced assault, harassment, discrimination, or prejudice.

​Finally, we address food security by operating the only food bank on campus.

For more on the Student Justice Centre and the services it provides click on http://www.brocksjc.com/ .

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

(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 Call Out from Canada’s Green Party Executive Director Emily McMillan

Elizabeth May and the Green Party will be excluded from Thursday’s (September 17^th) leaders’ debate, but that is probably what Stephen Harper had in mind when he hand-picked the Globe and Mail to host it.

Green Party Leader Elizabeth May

Tell the Globe what you think about their decision to interfere with the democratic process by arbitrarily excluding Elizabeth May. Fill out our online form and add a personal message to be emailed to Phillip Crawley, Publisher and CEO of the Globe and Mail.

Polls show that over 80% of Canadians want Elizabeth May to be included in all the national leaders’ debates. The Globe and Mail didn’t get that message – make sure they get yours. Tell them how you feel: greenparty.ca/tell-them-how-you-feel

Thanks, Emmily McMillan Executive Director Green Party of Canada

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

(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.)