Niagara At Large

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.)

News from the ffice of Niagara Falls MPP Wayne Gates

QUEEN’S PARK — This July 14^th in the legislature, MPP Wayne Gates said it’s time this Liberal government finally commits to year-round daily GO train service to Niagara Falls.

“The Liberals made it very clear during the campaign that they would expand GO service outside the GTA, explained Gates.

Niagara Falls MPP Wayne Gates at work in Ontario legislature

“In fact, during the campaign, the Chair of Cabinet promised to get the job done. He committed the government to delivering GO train service in 2015,” said Gates.

The speech from the throne earlier this month did not mention the government’s commitment to deliver daily GO service to Niagara Falls.

“Will the Minister of Transportation confirm that year-round daily GO train service will be delivered all the way to Niagara Falls in 2015? If he won’t commit, why not?” asked Gates.

(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.)

A Commentary by Doug Draper

As the legendary New York Yankee baseball player Yogi Berra was once famously quoted to have said; “It is like déjà vu all over again.”

With that in mind, what we’ve got going on in Ontario as of this July 14^th, 2014 is a Liberal government under the leadership of Premier Kathleen Wynne re-introducing the same budget it tabled this past spring. That’s right. The very same budget that triggered a provincial election that lost Tim Hudak his job as the province’s Conservative opposition leader and lost Andrea Horwath whatever influence the NDP had as the party that held the balance of power under a minority Liberal government. 

Now, thanks to Hudak’s total ineptitude as a political campaigner and Horwath triggering a spring election without a strong plan of her own, we have a Liberal majority government that gives Kathleen Wynne and her cabinet a helluva lot more power to call the shots in Ontario for the next four years. And here is hoping they call quite a lot of them in favour of building a decent jobs future for young people.

The latest employment figures, released by Statistics Canada earlier this July, show a province and country that has experienced stagnant job growth this spring, even while job opportunities for our American neghbours have continued to grow. Continue reading →

News from Avaaz, a global online citizens organization which NAL supports and which makes as its “democratic mission,” closing “the gap bestween the world we have and the world most people everywhere want.”

(A Brief NAL note on this – I don’t know if it is possible for people to get that outraged over anything that happens in Harper’s Canada any more. But the fact that a corporate interest could buy the silence of a duly elected municipal council with the gift of a $30,000 emergency vehicle is an assault on the democracy hundreds of thousands of Canadians have fought and died for, and should outrage us all. Hello, is there anyone out there who still cares any more, or am I just yelling down a black hole?)

Ontario northeastern town of Mattawa urged to accept funding to shut up about tar sands pipe.

 Pipeline giant TransCanada just secured an entire town’s silence with a $30,000 “gift” — preventing the town council from speaking out about a dangerous new tar sands pipe. But a massive uproar can still kill this dirty deal and win back the town’s voice.

Giant oil companies are fighting hard to snake these tar sands pipelines across our country — and deals like this let them plow through without resistance. But now the company is on the defensive and says that they will cut out the silencing clause “if necessary”. On Monday, this July 114th, Mattawa’s town council will meet and have the chance to demand they do just that. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper

I can’t even count the number of times in the last few months alone that I have watched a car weaving back and forth, either moving in the same direction in the lane next to mine or coming right at me in the opposite direction.

New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo has been tougher, to date, than Ontario has on a texting activity in cars that are killing almost as many people as killers with guns do.

Then there are the times I’ve aborted my decision to turn into my own driveway because I looked in my rear vision mirror and can see the driver behind me riding dangerously close to my bumper while looking down at something below their dashboard.

In almost each and every case and, yes, I make a point of looking over as they rush by, the drivers look like they are in their late teens or early 20s, and they are looking down as if they are playing with something around their crotch.

So it was as about as much of a surprise as waking up to the news that the mayor of Toronto has said or done yet another stupid thing to learn earlier this July that a survey of Ontario high school-age drivers finds that more than a third of them admit they are texting while driving. Other polls conducted on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border reveal that more than half of all young people under the age of 25 think there is nothing wrong with diddling their little texting devices while behind the wheel of a car. Continue reading →

Lets kill them all. The same idiots that feel it is okay to see a whale in a cement tub at Marineland won’t care anyway.

(A Brief Foreward to this post by NAL publisher Doug Draper – This one is about asking ourselves this. What kind of a speices are we humans? Do we not give a shit about any ther species on the planet? Is it all about us? If it is we are dead too, and we deserve to be! DAMN  US IF WE DON’T SCREAM TO OUR GOVERNMENTS AROUND THE WORLD TO SAVE ELEPHANTS. If we can’t even bring ourselves to stand up to save these magnificent fellow travellers on this planet, then God Damn us for sure.)

Just shot one of the world’s largest elephants, Satao, then hacked his 100 pound tusks out of his face with a machete.

At the current rate of killing, elephants may be extinct in 15 years, but this week if we act now we have an amazing chance to crack down on the illegal trade that fuels the slaughter.

Each day, 50 regal elephants are butchered just to make dinky ivory trinkets! The main culprit for this carnage is Thailand — the fastest growing market for unregulated ivory. And tomorrow the international body created to protect endangered species has a chance to sanction Thailand until it cracks down on the elephant killers.

Experts fear Thai leaders are mounting a propaganda campaign to dodge penalties, but it just takes Europe and the US to ignore their noise and spearhead action to end the slaughter.

Let’s give key European delegates, and the US, the global call they need to tune out Thailand and bravely lead the world to save the elephants. A final decision could be made tomorrow, so we have no time to lose — sign the petition, then send a message to the EU Environment Commissioner:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/hours_to_save_elephants/?bRUUpdb&v=41982
20,000 African elephants are killed every year, and the number of ivory products on sale in Bangkok trebled in the last twelve months. Government representatives to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) have the responsibility to keep the world’s rarest plants and animals alive, and when sanctions were applied to Thailand twenty years ago, it forced the country to pass critical wildlife protection laws.
Thailand says it’s hard to distinguish legal ivory from Thai elephants from smuggled African ivory, and that it has adopted an action plan to stop the ivory trade. But 20 years of delays and a recent military coup tell a different story. If we reach out to the ministers who set the position, we can get the votes needed to prevent Thailand exporting items like aquarium fish and exotic flowers.
Right now CITES representatives are considering whether to sanction Thailand for its failure to stem the ivory trade. Let’s make a call directly to key delegates and the EU Environment Commissioner now to ensure they make the right decision. Add your voice, then share widely:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/hours_to_save_elephants/?bRUUpdb&v=41982
Last year, the Avaaz community helped force Thailand to agree to ban the domestic ivory trade. But Thailand’s new military government has done little to show it will fulfil this promise or restrict this bloody business. Let’s show the strength of our community by issuing an enormous call to protect the lives of one of the world’s most precious species.
With hope,
Alex, Danny, Alice, Nick, Lisa, Emma and the rest of the Avaaz team
MORE INFORMATION: 
World famous elephant ‘Satao’ killed by poachers in Kenya (Forbes)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/mfonobongnsehe/2014/06/15/world-famous-elephant-satao-killed-by-poachers-in-kenya/
The ivory highway (Men’s Journal)
http://www.mensjournal.com/magazine/print-view/the-ivory-highway-20140213
Legal reform must shut down Thailand’s ivory trade (WWF)
http://wwf.panda.org/?209665/Legal-reform-must-shut-down-Thailands-ivory-trade
Elephant population too small to supply huge local ivory market (Bangkok Post)
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/418534/thai-elephant-population-too-small-to-supply-huge-local-ivory-market
Major increase in Thai ivory market shows need for action at wildlife trade meeting (World Wildlife Fund)
http://wwf.panda.org/wwf_news/?224690/Major-increase-in-Thai-ivory-market-shows-need-for-action-at-wildlife-trade-meeting

For more information on Avaaz click on http://www.avaaz.org/en/about.php .

 (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 office of Ontario, Canada’s Enviroonmental Commissioner Gord Miller

(A brief NAL note – Ontario’s Environmental Commissioner is non-elected and is an independent watchdog on the actions of our provincially elected representatives around their efforts, or lack thereof, to protect the natural environment we all need to sustain healthy living.)

July 9, 2014 – Environmental Commissioner Gord Miller says Ontario needs to get back in the game on climate change.

Ontaro’s Environmental Commissioner Gord Miller takes past governments in province to task on lack of climate change action.

“The latest scientific evidence shows that the pace of climate change is accelerating,” says Miller. “Extreme weather events have increased dramatically around the world. Here in Ontario though, the provincial government hasn’t even delivered on commitments it made seven years ago.”
 
The Environmental Commissioner today released “Looking for Leadership, The Costs of Climate Inaction,”  his 2014 report on the government’s progress in reducing greenhouse gases (GHG) and meeting the reduction targets contained in its Climate Change Action Plan.

• Download the report (.pdf)
• Find out more information

The report shows that the government will likely meet its 2014 target (a 6% reduction in emissions below 1990 levels) largely because of the shutdown of the province’s coal plants. “But it’s not going to meet its 2020 target,” says Miller, “because it has taken very little additional action to implement the Climate Change Action Plan it released seven years ago.”
 
The Environmental Commissioner points out that transportation, mainly cars and trucks, is the biggest source of GHG emissions in the province. “The 2007 Action Plan said the government would reduce transportation emissions by 19 megatonnes (Mt) by 2020. That goal, unfortunately, has now been cut by almost 80%. I have been given no reason why, and no explanation about what the Ontario government plans to do instead.”
Continue reading →

By Mark Taliano

The modern-day conflation of corporate and public interests forms the bedrock of what is likely the most dangerous ideology to afflict humanity.

The songwriter Jackson Browne wrote: ‘I want to know who the men in the shadows are. I want somebody telling me why. They can be counted on to tell us who are enemies are. But they’re never around to fight or to die.” Well here is Harper and a few of them.

Domestically, it creates a “predator” economic system which disembowels the public domain by creating “new” markets which unnecessarily imperil the public’s health, safety, freedom, and material well-being.  

Internationally, it manifests itself as corporate-driven imperial conquest which divides and ruins target countries as it destabilizes political economies globally.

Corporate profit is the foundation of this ideology. Beneath the lies of the corporatocracy is directionless profit-making that is oblivious to — if not contemptuous of — common sense and the public’s best interests. Continue reading →

News from the Niagara Health System, Niagara, Ontario’s amaglamated hospital service

July 8th 2014 – OneFoundation for Niagara Health System (NHS) is pleased to announce that Paulanne Jushkevich is joining the newly amalgamated organization in the role of Chief Executive Officer this August.

New Niagara Hospital Foundation CEO Paulanne Jushkevich

In this important fundraising role, Ms. Jushkevich will be responsible for the strategic and operational leadership of OneFoundation for Niagara Health System, ensuring that the mission of the Foundation is achieved. She will direct and oversee the effective development of revenue through the generous support of individuals and organizations interested in supporting the Niagara Health System (NHS) and the hospitals’ capital needs including equipment and buildings.

“As a supporting Foundation, our Board’s role is to ensure that we’re set up to fund the necessary equipment to maintain and advance the standard of excellence in healthcare throughout Niagara,” said Mike Watt, Chair of OneFoundation for NHS. “The first CEO of our new Foundation will not only lead development operations, she will set the trajectory for the new fundraising body to ensure its ongoing success into the future. Given her track record and exuberance to take on this challenge, we’re confident that Paulanne Jushkevich is the right person for the job.” Continue reading →

News from Niagara College in Niagara, Ontario

July 7^th, 2014 – A proposed motor speedway for Fort Erie has opened a world of opportunity for Niagara College students.

Back row from left:
Wayne Toth, Coordinator, Niagara College Motive Power programs Azhar Mohammad, Partner and Executive Director, Canadian Motor Speedway,
Dr. Steve Hudson, Niagara College Vice President, Academic
Front row from left:
Ibrahim Abou Taleb, Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Motor Speedway,
Dr. Dan Patterson, President, Niagara College

Niagara College and The Canadian Motor Speedway have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that outlines a broad range of areas where the parties can create hands-on learning and research opportunities.

“This is a world-class attraction that will bring together everything from hospitality to engineering technology,” said Steve Hudson, Niagara College’s vice president, academic. “There are elements of this proposal that align with almost all of our areas of specialization – in both academics and applied research.” Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

In recent years, I’ve done a little consulting and marketing work for various individuals and organizations for which I have gotten paid.

Ontario’s new premier, gives the controversial former premier, Dalton McGuinty, a big hug during this July’s Throne Speech ceremonies.

I have almost always refused to do this for free since communications is how I make a living. But here is one time I am breaking the rule to give one piece of advice to Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, should she or one of her representatives happen to read this message.

Kathleen, you have just won a majority government many did not expect you and your Liberals to win, and you have a good opportunity to break with the past and get off to a new start that defines what you – not past Liberal, Tory and NDP government have done for or to Ontario, for better or worse.

I urge you to please stay as far away as you can from former Liberal premier Dalton McGuinty. And please – for God’s Sake – stop hugging him! Continue reading →

By John Bacher

The recent decision by the U.S. Obama Administration to use existing clean air legislation in that country to order a 30-per-cent reduction in heat-trapping carbon emissions by 2030, represents a blessed contagion of Ontario’s own shut down of coal phasing plants in this province.

Ontario’s Naticoke coal-fired power plant, once a target of possible New York State lawsuits for downwind pollution follow it, is now history, along with all other coal-fired plants in the province.

Protected against court challenges, the US government’s action shows the wisdom of tactics to reduce emissions recommended by the network of environmentalists that banded together in recent years to form the Ontario Clean Air Alliance.

Obama’s action finally gives the United States the salutatory quality of being a green super power. While those who advocated Ontario’s coal phase out were quite aware of our province’s relative small contribution to overall carbon emissions that are fomenting catastrophic climate change, they had faith that its good example would spread.. Now, in 2014, the year that the final shutdown of coal-fired power plants in Ontario was actually accomplished, it has. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

It was the summer of 1964 and if you were somewhere between the ages of 12 and 20 and plugged into the music scene at the time, it could not be more exciting.

My Uncle Don Draper, who worked as a projectionist in the Niagara, Ontario area in one of those grand old and long-gone Art Deco- theatres from the first half of the last century, was told by his managers that he was in for an exciting time too. But in his case and in the case of others screening films at the time, it might not be the kind of excitement he would like.

A movie was coming his theatre’s way, he was warned – one that had already been screened in a few select theatres across North America, and it had audiences of young teens literally ripping up the seats and screaming so loud the walls were shaking. So, at the very least, you may want to come to work with earplugs. Continue reading →

A Brief Commentary by Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper

One of the first things I took note of – in a good way – when Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne announced her new cabinet late this June is that she named a rather progressive-minded person, former Winnipeg, Manitoba mayor Glen Murray, as her Minister of Environment, and that she had changed the name of the ministry from the Ministry of Environment to the Ontario Ministry of Environment and Climate Change.

This one ice storm alone, in December of 2013, did a recoord $3.2 billion dollars in damage to prperty and business in Ontario, according to insurance industry figures. And the severe weather hits just kept on coming.

The Ministry of Environment and Climate Change? Wow, and the possible significance of this name changehardly got anything more than a mere mention in the mainstream media.

This, in itself, suggests that this premier may want to take climate change and the possible impacts human activities are having on the earth’s climate more seriously than most other political leaders have across Canada up to now. Continue reading →

News from Ontario’s Opposition Conservative Party

QUEEN’S PARK, July 3, 2014 – Premier Kathleen Wynne needs to detail precisely how her government plans to solve the serious challenges facing the province while protecting frontline services, Ontario PC Finance Critic and Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli insisted today.

Ontario Conservative Party critic Vic Fedeli

“Today’s Throne Speech leaves many troubling questions as to the direction Ontario is heading,” said Fedeli, specifically pointing to yesterday’s credit outlook downgrade by Moody’s.

Moody’s stated “the province is facing a greater challenge to return to balanced outcomes than previously anticipated.” (National Post, July 3, 2014).  This comes after BlackRock, the world’s biggest money manager, said it was on “high alert” for a downgrade and Ontario borrowing costs spiked to a six-month high the day following the election (National Post, June 13, 2014). Continue reading →

From the Office of Ontario Premire Kathleen Wynne

July 3, 2014 

(Niagara At Large is running the full test of Kathleen Wynne’s first Throne Speech as elected Premier of Ontario for our readers information, and we will have more to say about some of the content in this speech in the days ahead.)

Mr. Speaker, Honourable Members, All People Of Ontario –

We open the 41st Parliament of Ontario acknowledging the rich history of Aboriginal Peoples in Ontario, whose contributions to our great province go back centuries, well before the first European settlers and certainly well before the

Ontaro Premier Kathleen Wynne

first sitting of this House. It is on the traditional territory of the Mississaugas of the New Credit that we gather for today’s time-honoured tradition, and to reaffirm your government’s commitment to Aboriginal Peoples and to all people, as it builds Ontario up, and creates more opportunity and more security for every citizen in every region.

As the representative of Her Majesty The Queen, I bring greetings and extend warm congratulations to all 107 members of this assembly. You take your places today to give voice to Ontario’s wonderfully diverse peoples and regions.

We can all share enormous pride in the changing face of representation in our parliament, its developing balance in gender equality and racial diversity. Ontario’s 41st parliament reflects the election of more women to this chamber than any Ontario parliament before it, and your government is led by the first female Premier elected in the history of our province. Continue reading →

 News from Ontario’s Niagara Parks Commission

The Niagara Parks Commission is pleased to host the Battle of Chippawa Re-enactment, in commemoration of the 200th Anniversary of this important battle, July 5th & 6th 2014 at the Chippawa Battlefield. 

Battles will be taking place each day at 2 pm, with a commemorative service Saturday evening at 5 pm on the battlefield.  This event is free to visit, with public parking and transportation available at the Legends on the Niagara Golf Course.  Please be aware that this battlefield has little shade, so please come prepared with sunscreen, hats, and/or umbrellas for shade and a lawn chair.

Continue reading →

A Note from Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper

On this week of Canada Day and 4th of July celebrations, Niagara At Large looks forward to a continued rewarding, online relationship with our readers in Western New York and other regions of the United States. 

These are some crazy and challenging times we are living in and we are all in it together.

NAL remains as convinced as we were more than three years ago, when this news and commentary ste was first launched,  that our Greater Niagara Region, made up of diverse communities on both sides of the border, can move forward in peace and prosperity if we all work together.

(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.)

 Brief Comment from Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper

The Canada Day edition of The Globe and Mail – dubbed Canada’s ‘national newspaper” for our readers out there from other countries – ran a feature piece called “147 Reasons To Love Canada.”

Late Canadian Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson

One of those reasons, stated a contributor to the feature, is Lester B. Pearson, who served as Canada’s Prime Minister 50 years ago, from 1963 to 1968. And this is what a contributor to the feature, Canadian scientist and author Steven Pinker, had to say about this remarkable person, who was born in the last decade of the 19^th century, and yet who left a legacy that has shaped the character of our country until this day.

“Deceptively dull, he (Lester B. Pearson) had a life of derring-do in sports, the military and diplomacy that would give James Bond a run for his money. He gave Canada many of the things it’s proudest of: universal health care, bilingualism, the abolition of capital punishment, non-involvement in the Vietnam War, and a national identity, symbolized by a new flag that was distinct from the Mother Country,” wrote Pinker. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

“One hundred and fifty years ago in Charlottetown and Québec City, our Fathers of Confederation first dreamed of a united Canada, prosperous, strong and free,” said Prime Minister Stephen Harper this July 1^st, 2014 in his Canada Day message to the nation.

“As we mark the 147^th anniversary of Confederation,” Harper continued, “we can proudly say that their great national dream has indeed come to fruition.”

Their great national dream has come to fruition? What did our Fathers of Confederation have in mind. A Canada that, in the second decades of the 21^st century, remains the only developed nations in the world to refuse to a sign an agreement to stop exporting a known toxic killer material like asbestos to unscrupulous pushers of this product in other countries?

Stephen Harper doing his Canada Day thing on Parliament Hill

 Did they have in mind a government so Neanderthal in its thinking that it would condemn science to the grave to prop up ideologies that lead them to also condemn any individual or organization calling for action around climate change?

Did they have in mind a government that would become more the war-monger and less the peacemaker that won Canada warm regards around the world in the post Second World War era of Lester B. Pearson?

Did they have in mind a government that tars those who speak up for the protection of our bounty of fresh water, forests and fisheries as terrorists or enemies of the state? Continue reading →

News from Niagara, Ontario’s regional government

June 27, 2014 – Individuals, families, businesses, school and community groups from across Niagara were honoured last night for their contributions to the environment through the 2014 Niagara Region Environmental Awards.

Niagara Region gives top environmental award to Paul Ruzycki, a native Niagara resident and Greenpeace activist who spent several tense weeks in a Russian prison this past winter, protesting oil drilling in the Arctic.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the awards, making them one of the longest-running of their kind by any municipal government in Ontario.

Regional Chair Gary Burroughs and other members of Regional and municipal councils presented the awards. “The protection, preservation and restoration of Niagara’s renowned natural beauty are of the utmost importance for present and future Niagara residents,” said Chair Burroughs, “This year’s Environmental Award recipients have admirably advanced this noble cause, compelling us to be better stewards of our resources, so it’s with pride that we honour their achievements.” Continue reading →

NAL Wilbert Dick

 A Note, released this past June 25^th, 2014, from the Office of Niagara Regional Chair Gary Burroughs

It is with deep sadness that I learned of the passing of a friend and former Regional Chair Wilbert Dick on Monday, June 22. On behalf of Regional Council, I extend condolences to his wife Betty and his three children.

Former Niagara, Ontario Regional Chair and Niagara-on-the-Lake Lord Mayor Wilbert Dick

Wilbert enjoyed an active political life serving as Regional Chair from 1985-1991 and as Lord Mayor of Niagara-on-the-Lake from 1977 – 1985. A long-time resident of Virgil, he was dedicated to his community well after his time in political office.

Wilbert will be deeply missed by all who knew him, served with him on Council and worked with him during his time at the Region.

The flags at Regional Headquarters will be lowered in his memory.

Gary Burroughs, Regional Chair  Continue reading →

News from Ontario’s Niagara Parks

Niagara Falls, Ontario, June 27^th, 2014 – The Niagara Parks Commission (NPC) is pleased to announce a full week of exciting events and activities which are to take place around the Canadian and U.S. Independence Day holidays. Join us over the next two weekends and enjoy the following –

Fireworks over the great Falls of Niagara

Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer meet-and-greets begin Friday, June 27; be sure to bring your camera and meet an iconic symbol of Canada’s identity. An RCMP Officer will be at Table Rock Complex from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. every Friday, Saturday and Sunday until August 31.

Fort Erie Friendship Festival – June 27 to July 1

The Fort Erie Friendship Festival kicks off on Friday June 27 and celebrates the 200 years of peaceful friendship between Canada and the USA. Events run until July 1, at Mather’s Arch Park in the Town of Fort Erie. Music, art showcases and kids’ activities will be ongoing over the five day festival. Continue reading →

A Brief Foreword by Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper

The shocking scenes that unfolded on the streets of Toronto, Ontario four years ago – in the late days of June leading up to Canada Day in 2010 – epitomize the worst we have to face in Canada with the autocratic federal government of Stephen Harper, and the then morally bankrupt provincial government of Dalton McGuinty.

Both Harper and McGuinty never off-loaded a hint that they gave the thread of damn about how mostly peace abiding Canadians were being treated in those streets during a G20 summit, where world leaders met and negotiated deals we were never made privy to.

Harper and McGuinty employed cops from all over the country for hundreds of millions of our tax dollars to keep the rest of us away, at whatever cost to our civil rights, from what our leaders were doing to broker deals for their corporate partners. Continue reading →

If some of you across Niagara heard the news this June 26^th that Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper has chosen Elizabeth Dowdeswell to serve as Ontario’s next Lieutenant Governor, you may be thinking; ‘Hmm. Didn’t she make the odd mark in this region?’ And you would be right.

Elizabeth Dowdeswell, a former Envronment Canada bureaucrat who joined in overseeing Niagara River cleanup programs, named Ontario’s new Lieutenant Governor

Once upon a time, back in the late 1980s, if you were around then and were actively interested in pollution issues affecting the Niagara River and Great Lakes, Elizabeth Dowdeswell, already a seasoned government bureaucrat in other fields, had been elevated under the then Conservative government of Brian Mulroney to serve as a senior administrator for Environment Canada’s Onario region office.

Among her duties – and this is where her connecton to the Niagara region came in – was to partner with Ontario and U.S. bureaucrats in overseeing progress on a Canada/U.S. agreement to reduce toxic pollution in the Niagara River.

And this is where one story about Dowdeswell by this reporter, who was covering environmental issues for The St. Catharines Standard at the time comes in. Continue reading →

A Post from Niagara veteran heritage advocate Pamela Minns

Farewell to Michael Chan!

Ontario’s new minister for protecting heritage, Michael Coteau

With a new cabinet being named by Kathleen Wynne, Premier of Ontario, June 23, 2014, we have a new Minister of Tourism, Culture & Sport Michael Coteau – MPP Don Valley East.

Born in Huddersfield, England in 1972;  Coteau’s father is from Grenada and his mother is British.  He came to Canada with his parents in 1976, graduated from Carleton University and taught English in South Korea. 

He was a Toronto District School Board Trustee for Ward 17, winning elections in 2003, 2006 and 2010.  As a Trustee, Coteau advocated for better student nutrition, increased digital technology in the classroom, and the community use of school space.  In addition to his work as a Trustee, he served as the Executive Director/CEO of a national adult literacy firm, and worked as a community organizer in the Malvern area of Scarborough, Ontario. Continue reading →

News from the Ontario Health Coalition, a citizens’ health advocacy group based in Toronto

(A Brief Foreword Note from Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper – For anyone in the greater Niagara region in Ontario who has expressed concern about hospital and other health services in this region, the appointment fo a new Ontario health minister should be of interest.

Ontario’s new Minister of Health, Dr. Eric Hoskins

The former health minister for the province, Deb Matthews, has now been sworn in as the Minister Responsible for the Poverty Reduction Strategy, President of the Treasury Board, and Deputy Premier under the new majority government of Premier Kathleen Wynne. She took a lot of flak from Niagara residents in recent years over decisions to proceed with the location of a new super-hospital for Niagara in the region’s north end, in west St. Catharines, and for plans to systematically reduce hospital services in more southern communities in the region. 

So here is a new Ontario Health Minister, whose background is outlined below by the Ontario Health Coalition. NAL encourages you to pay attention to who this new minister is and get engaged in decisions his ministry makes around hospital and other health services in Niagara and other regions of the province.)

June 24^th, 2014 – In a major cabinet shuffle at Queen’s Park, it has been announced that Deb Matthews is no longer the Minister of Health and Long Term Care. Dr. Eric Hoskins, MPP for St. Paul’s, will take over as Ontario’s Health Minister, while the new position of Long-Term Care Associate Minister will be assumed by Dipika Damerla, MPP for Mississauga East-Cooksville. Continue reading →

News from the Niagara Health System, Niagara, Ontario’s amalgamated hospital  services

June 24^th, 2014 –It has been a year of renewal for Niagara Health System. From the provincial government’s $26.2-million planning grant for a new South Niagara hospital and two Urgent Care Centres, to the success of new regional services, NHS continues its mission to build a world-class health system.

NHS experienced many other remarkable changes in the past year, including major shifts in the way we provide care, the opening of a new site in St. Catharines, the creation of a new board and the selection of a new CEO, President, Chief of Staff and other leaders.

All of these changes were highlighted today at the NHS Annual General Meeting and are featured in our 2013-14 annual report. Continue reading →

This Post was shared by the author Jack Veffer 

St. Catharines, Ontario – Niagara Author and Noted Speaker Jack Veffer will launch his new book “Science and Religion Is a Match Made in Heaven” at Jewellery Design by Catherine, 35 James Street.

Niagara author Jack Veffer

The book launch is scheduled from 6pm until 9pm. A reception will be held in Mr. Veffer’s honour. Mr. Veffer will be in attendance to talk about his new book and to answer questions. An additional “Meet the Author” session will be held on Saturday June 28 from 10am until 2pm at the same location.

Mr. Veffer’s autographical first book “Through the Eyes of the Child: Survival of the Holocaust” told his story as a child-survivor of the holocaust. Continue reading →

Niagara At Large is pleased to post the following advance on June 28th-June 29th War of 1812 re-enectman events, organized by the 2nd Lincoln Artillary group in Niagara, Ontario. 

By Doug Draper, Niagara At Large

Of all of the more than 1,000 arrests police made during the 2010 Toronto G20 summit, few received as much attention across the country as that of John Pruyn.

Riot cops dragging John Pruyn away. No charges ever laid. No Top Cop ever explained why.

While sitting under a tree at a peaceful rally on the lawns of Queen’s Park, Ontario’ legislative building, police wearing riot gear stormed the lawns where Pruyn, a now-retired Revenue Canada employee who had had one of his leg’s amputated a few years earlier following an accident on his hobby farm in Niagara, Ontario, had his artificial leg pulled off his artificial leg and dragged him off to a make-shift jail where hundreds of others were already being held.

More than 24 hours later, John Pruyn was unceremoniously dumped back on the streets of Toronto, desperately wanting to make contact with other members of his family with no explanation for his detention and no charges ever being laid. His story drew shock and outrage nationally and internationally, and was read by tens of thousands when it was posted, for the first time anywhere, on Niagara At Large on July 7^th, 2010, more than a week after the G20 summit wrapped up. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Karl Dockstader

Last week the United States Patent and Trademark office decided that the Washington “Redskins” logo and name were disparaging to Native Americans in the United States.

As a First Nations person this is a satisfying moral victory on the one hand, on the other hand, this begs the question: Why hasn’t ownership decided to change the Thorold Blackhawks logo (for a hoockey team in that  Niagara, Ontario community)?

Much like the situation garnering national attention South of the Niagara River, Niagara has it’s own controversy over the Thorold Blackhawks logo. Local Niagara area Aboriginal community member Mitch Baird has been working hard to bring attention to the offensive logo and the town of Thorold will be removing it from the arena funded by taxpayer money. Team ownership is not as progressive it seems. Continue reading →

 News from Niagara Region

Niagara Region – June 18, 2014 – Niagara Region and the local area municipalities are working together to decrease acts of illegal dumping on municipal and Regional property. Regional Chair Gary Burroughs and Niagara-on-the-Lake Lord Mayor Dave Eke were on site at Homer Rd. and Glendale Ave., Niagara-on-the-Lake, to announce the re-launch of Niagara’s Illegal Dumping Campaign, which features signs that encourage the reporting of illegal dumping activities in illegal dumping hot spots throughout Niagara.

“It’s important to make it easy for residents to report illegal dumping. With our online reporting tool and new signs in illegal dumping hotspots, we can increase the awareness around the areas where people commonly illegally dump garbage and ultimately increase the public’s ability to report it when they see these activities taking place,” said Regional Chair Gary Burroughs. Continue reading →

News from Ontario/New York Niagara Falls Illumination Board

(A Brief  Foreward Note from NAL publisher Doug Draper – As I post this, I can’t help but think of how much has changed over the years in some ways.

The Horseshoe Falls, with nature’s rainbow over it, will be lit up in rainbow colours this June 20th night to ring in the World Pride Festival in Toronto over the next week. File photo by Doug Draper

When I was beginning my studying academic year in journalism at the Univesity of Western Ontario 36 years ago this spring and summer, one of the other students in our class of about 35 decided to take a chance and come out of the closet about his sexual orientation. It was a very risky and courageous act at that time that could have cost him a career in the field, although he was a brilliant person and I don’t believe he was hurt by coming out in the end.

Now here we are, 36 years later, and an organization working with major tourist industries aroound a world destination like Niagara Falls, Ontario and New York decide to light up the Falls in rainbow colours to honour the start of the International Pride Festival in Toronto – even at a time when that city’s own mayor continues to shun this event which brings so many visitors to Toronto.

But never mind the mayor. Sometimes you can say that things have changed in favour of more tolerance for all of our fellow citizens.)

Niagara Falls, Ontario, June 20^th – To officially welcome the WorldPride Festival to Toronto, the Niagara Falls Illumination Board will light Niagara Falls in the colours of the rainbow from 9:00 p.m. to 9:15 p.m., on Friday, June 20, 2014. Continue reading →

By Mark Taliano

Hanna Arendt describes a peculiar dynamic of mob mentality in her classic The Origins Of Totalitarianism that resonates with the world today.

‘Shock & Awe’ in Iraq, circa a decade ago. Where are those ‘weapons of mass destruction’ now?

She explains that “one could make people believe the most fantastic statements one day, and trust that if the next day they were given irrefutable proof of their falsehood, they would take refuge in cynicism; instead of deserting the leaders who had lied to them, they would protest that they had known all along that the statement was a lie and would admire their leaders for their superior tactical cleverness.”

This seemingly cyclical assumption is enslaving us today, and our inability to extract ourselves from its oppressive chains, and desert out “leaders”, is enabling some of the most heinous crimes committed by humanity.

Even worse, the act of manufacturing and perpetuating lies is now being entrenched in legislation. Susanne Posel explains in “How the NDAA Allows US Government To Use Propaganda Against Americans” : “ The US government has unbound the legal regulations against using propaganda against foreign audiences and American citizens. The intention is to sway public opinion by using television, radio, newspapers, and social media targeting the American and foreign people in controlled psy-ops.” Continue reading →

(A Brief Preface by Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper – Thanks so much to John Bacher for bringing the sad passing of Pat Potter, who was finally living with her husband Chuck in Gillmore, Ontario, to our attention. She is a reminder of the once very active, local citizen-based environmental movement we once had – unfortunately, so much more than we do now in this greater Niagara region and the Ontario/New York border communities neighbouring us. 

As an environment reporter with the then independently owned St. Catharines Standard, I felt honoured to get to know this person, along with others now gone like Margherita Howe, Laura Dodson, Peter Stokes, Doug Elliot, Janet Truckenbrodt, Gord Harry and Marilyn Gracey (mentioned in John’s post here), just to name a few, and their care and passion for making our communities better places for all of us to live in is sorely missed. Tragecially, and for whatever reason, we just don’t have that same critical mass of grassroots activism for environmental, conservation and heritage protection any more.

So, once again, thanks to John for sharing this memory of Pat Potter.)

Pat and Chuck Potter at their self-sustaining ‘earth home’ in Gillmore, Ontario

By John Bacher

In Queenston, Ontario, there is a small Anglican Church named the Church of Our Saviour.

Although officially it is of Christian inspiration, legend tells us. It was of more secular origins, intended as a pun. “The Saviour”, has a dual implication. The legend is that the name honours the heroic commander of the troops of the Battle of Queenston Heights, who perished in combat, Sir Isaac Brock.

In the midst of the War of 1812, we commemorate the saviours of Upper Canada, such as Brock, Laura Secord and heroic Native commanders, including John Brant, Tecumseh and John Smoke Johnson. These should awaken us in Niagara to the saviours of our own time, who rescued Niagara from the toxic threats of the time. One of these giants recently died, Pat Potter. Continue reading →

News from Niagara College

 (A Brief Foreword Note from Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper – In many graduate ceremonies at colleges and universities across Ontario and other jurisdictions across this country and continent these days, we are more and more often treated to the spectacle of the empowered at the upper echelons of these s-called institutions of learning bestowing honourary diplomas on the empowered at other institutions.

One must (or at least should) wonder about the young graduating students at these ceremonies who have worked hard and have often gone into great debt to earn their diploma as they face a very uncertain job world.

Meanwhile the wage gap between the empowered and everyone else, including younger generation who may never realize the opportunities their parents and grandparents had, grow ever wider. And here we have the spectacle of the elites rewarding fellow elites.)

Niagara Health System CEO at Niagara College graduation ceremnies with college’s president Dan Patterson after being awarded an hnourary diploma.

Niagara College Media Release – Healthcare, community services the focus of June 18 convocation ceremonies
Niagara College’s group of alumni is now 750 stronger after day two of its 2014 Spring Convocation Ceremonies on June 18^th .
The morning ceremony, featuring convocation speaker Kevin Smith, celebrated new graduates from the College’s School of Allied Health Studies. Smith, CEO of Niagara Health System and president and CEO of Joseph’s Health System, spoke of the vocation they have chosen to pursue in healthcare.

“In most healthcare systems around the world, the root of great quality care or healthcare services is recognizing that we are in a position of honour and privilege to help those in need,” he said.

Smith pointed out the importance human interaction with the patients and to see through the eyes of the patients they serve, even in their darkest moments.
“Science with compassion is what really defines amazing healthcare,” said Smith, who received an Honorary Diploma in Health Studies during the ceremony.
The afternoon ceremony celebrated graduates from the College’s School of Community Services. Guest speaker Katherine Chislett, commissioner Community Services, Niagara Region, passed on secrets of success to the new graduates.
“Your diploma matters, but not only for reasons you think it does … you have learned how to learn,” said Chislett, who received an Honorary Diploma in Community and Health Studies during the ceremony.

Social Service Worker graduate Ron Romeo, 43, received the Governor General’s Academic Medal for earning the highest average at the College with a 97.95% GPA. He recalled the challenges of going back to school as a mature student.
“When I started this program it had been almost 21 years since I had graduated from the College my first time around. I wasn’t sure that I would be able to handle the workload – assignments, exams, even sitting through a lecture,” he said, “Well I surprised myself and today… here I stand as a graduate.”

He noted that his daughter Caryss was always his inspiration. “Not only support her financially but to show her the importance of helping others and the value in helping to better the community that we live in.” he said.
Education advocate Lillian Montour, who is the chair of NC’s Aboriginal Educational Management Circle, was the recipient of the Niagara Award, presented to an individual whose contribution to life in the Niagara region is exceptional, and who combines service, innovation, and the ability to significantly improve the lives of the people in the community.

Montour is a strong advocate in education and a leader in the Six Nations community. She is also the longest-serving chair of Niagara College’s Educational Management Circle which is a community-based advisory group that provides the college with advice and direction on our aboriginal programs, services and partnerships.

More than 3,800 students will graduate this week during the college’s Spring Convocation Ceremonies which will continue until Friday, June 20 with a roster of distinguished speakers including Christina Milan, vice chair, Niagara Industrial Association and founder, MBS Quality Consultants (June 19, 10 a.m.); Michael Smith, celebrity chef, Food Network Host (June 19, 3 p.m.); Bill Blair, chief of the Toronto Police Service (June 20, 10 a.m.); and Paul Lemieux, host, MUCH (June 20, 3 p.m.).

This Spring Convocation Ceremonies will mark the first-ever classes to graduate from Sport Management (June 19, 3 p.m.), Culinary Innovation and Food Technology (June 19, 3 p.m.), and Game Development (June 20, 3 p.m.).

(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 Brief Comment by Niagara At Large publisher and environment writer Doug Draper

As much as some, if not many Canadians may be upset with this June 17^th’s decision by the Harper government to approve Enbridge’s Northern Gateway Pipeline, the god news is this.

Stephen Harper throws the tar equivalent of a spit ball at our present and our children’s future.

It could very well be the last straw for a Harper government that has already shown more than its share of contempt for everyone from young to seniors across this country. It could be the last straw for a government that has run rough shod over this country’s Native peoples and for our democracy by proroguing shutdowns of parliament whenever it has not wanted to stand up to questions from duly elected members of Canada’s opposition.

And most certainly in this case, it will be the last straw for a Harper government of climate change deniers that will do anything to aid and abet the most filthy tar sands land stripping for petroleum crud than sensibly make a transition to less environmentally damaging and more renewable sources of energy for the 21^st century. Continue reading →

A Brief Comment from Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper 

While Ontario Liberal Party supporters reveled in this June 12ths majority government win for their party, and however number of other voters just sounded relief that the Tim Hudak Tories did not win, Hudak supporters are now living through their own ‘Heart of Darkness’ version of “the horror.” 

In the last half day since Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals swept to victory with a surprising majority rather than the minority seats they hoped they might win to form a government, I’ve had a number of Hudak supporters email me with comments to the effect that this will send Ontario down the drain hole when it comes to over-spending, deficits and so on. One commenter that had the courage to share their real first and last name with Niagara At Large (as per our site’s comment policy) described Wynne’s big win as a “recurring nightmare.

Possibly no front page in an Ontario newspaper depicted the upset and anger of Hudak supporters and Liberal opponents more than the following one w are posting below. Check it out and share your views by following the link below it.

Continue reading →

A Brief Comment by Doug Draper

At a time when many of us here in Canada have been getting bummed out over senate scandals in Ottawa, gas-plant scandals at Queen’s Park, a provincial election in Ontario that has to be most un-inspiring in 50 years, here is a bit of news we ought to feel good about.

Ted Cruz, the Tea Party, gun nut senator for Texas, blows away Canada.

Ted Cruz – a Texas Tea Party Senator who, among other things, has joined the likes of other American extremist wackjobs like Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Donald Trump and an enormous number of others of their ilk, in questioning whether U.S. President Barack Obama was born in the U.S. or Kenya (code for we don’t want a ‘nigger’ in our White House) – has officially revoked his Canadian citizenship.

This is news we Canadians should greet as great. Continue reading →

A Brief Comment from Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper

Despite all of the cutting and gutting corporate boards have done to the resources newsrooms need to properly get to the bottom of the news without fear or favour, fearless investigate reporting is not completely dead in Canada.

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford with Ontario Tory leader Tim Hudak at ‘Ford Fest’ barbecue a few years ago. Hudak has more recently distanced himself. What fairweather friends.

On that score, two thumbs up to The Toronto Star for winning one of Canada’s most prestigious news awards – the 2013 Mitchener Award – this June 11^th for its reporting over 2013 on the Toronto mayor Rob Ford train wreck. 

It took a great deal of courage for any newspaper in Canada’s largest city to follow up tips it received on the nefarious activities of the mayor, knowing that there would be retributions, including cutting the paper off from the usual p.r. info. Coming out of the mayor’s office, and all of the accusations of biased reporting, etc. the paper knew it would endure.

In an age when newspapers are unfortunately on their hands and knees for readers and advertising, pursuing any story that could cost a loss of readers and advertisers is heroic.

In awarding The Toronto Star its top prize, the Michener Awards Foundation judges noted that the newspaper revealed the “crack cocaine video… despite intimation and an organized campaign trying to undermine the credibility of the reporting.

The judges said the paper went on to uncover behaviours that “led the council of Canada’s largest city to remove all powers from the mayor, leaving him as a figurehead.”

So once again, congratulations to The Toronto Star and a thumb’s up, while I am at it, to The Globe and Mail for being generous enough to print a story on The Star’s win in the front section of its paper this June 12^th. It has hardly ever been the case that newspapers in Ontario or Canada acknowledge awards other papers win.

(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.)

An Election Commentary by Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper

We’ve all heard the old line that if you don’t vote; you have no right to complain.

Tim Hudak at one of Ontario Tory’s leadership conventions as his old boss Mike Harris leads him on.

There is certainly some truth to that line with at least one caveat I would put you who I hope will go out and vote and vote in this June 12^th’s Ontario election, and the caveat is this. If you vote for Tim Hudak’s Tories and they form the next provincial government, you have no right to complain.

And you will complain, if not in the first one or two months following the swearing in of a Hudak government, then sometime with the next one or two years as you begin to feel the impact of the public services you want and need eroded, and you begin facing escalating user fees and municipal taxes to make up for a loss of revenue due to ill-advised tax cuts Hudak is promising at the provincial level.

This is a certainty because anyone who lived through the Mike Harris/Tim Hudak Tory government years from June 1995 to April, 2002 (when Harris resigned from elected politics and Ernie Eves took over as premier for the next two years), should remember that practically no service or individual or group in the province was not negatively impacted by a Harris/Hudak slash-and-burn program that rolled out of that government’s so-called ‘Common Sense’ manifesto. Continue reading →

A  Final Election Brief from Niagara At Large

To avoid the nigmare of a Tim Hudak Tea Party government in Ontario vote strategically in your riding this June 12th.

In Niagara, Ontario, that means voting for NDP MPPs Cindy Forster and Wayne Gates in the Welland and Niagara Falls ridings respectufally and Liberal MPP Jim Bradley in the St. Catharines riding.

In other ridings across Ontario, determine what NDP or Liberal candidate is most likely to beat the Tea Party Tim candidate in the Conservative camp and vote for them.

For additional information on why you should vote for any candidate other than one in the Conservative Tim Hudak camp like on https://niagaraatlarge.com/2014/06/11/urging-ontarians-to-vote-strategically-a-hudak-government-would-be-a-disaster-foryoung-seniors-and-most-everyone-in-between/ .

(Share your comments on this post below.)

A Commentary by From Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper

For the better part of the past two years since the last Ontario election, all we’ve been hearing from Tim Hudak and his Tea Party Tories is how corrupt and scandalous all of this gas plant crap involving former Liberal premier Dalton McGuinty has been.

Ontario Tory Leader Tim Hudak at recent photo op, with skids of fake Canadian dollars behind him, at rejected Mississauga gas plant site.

It has been scandalous alright, to the tune of more than a billion dollars of our provincial tax money wasted on cancelling two gas-fired energy plants in Mississauga and Oakville because a critical mass of NIMBYs (Not in my backyard people) from those two communities were threatening to dump two of McGuinty’s Liberal MPPs out of office before the last Ontario election. And if the Ontario Provincial Police and others have grounds to charge McGuinty with misappropriating our funds and/or destroying documents that might have shown he did, by all means lay criminal charges against him. Continue reading →

A Post from Nick Fillmore 

Nancy White performs Hudak song in support of One Big Campaign – We need your help too! Singer-songwriter Nancy White, known for her edgy and often hilarious songs on CBC Radio’s Sunday Morning program for several years, has written a great song about Tim Hudak.

 Nancy came up with ‘Tim, we did the math!’ to help One Big Campaign with its fundraising to try and stop Hudak from winning the election. The link is below.
The link also takes you to our site, where you can please make a donation to support our campaign. We need your support. Help us pay for phone calls to in key ridings where we are asking people to vote against Hudak. This campaign could make the difference.

Nick Fillmore is a veteran journalist and social activist based in Toronto and a good friend of Niagara At Large. We encourage you to visit his site at
Journalist / Social Activist http://nickfillmore.blogspot.ca/ . To learn more about the One Big Campaign to defeat Tea Party Tim and his extremest Tories and how you can support or donate to it visit  http://one-big-campaign.blogspot.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.)