Niagara At Large

 By Doug Draper

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

By Doug Draper, Niagara At Large

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

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

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

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

A Brief Comment by Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper

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

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

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

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

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

Nagara Regional Police Officer Joe Mellen

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

From the Office of Welland Riding MPP Cindy Forster

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Buterfly milkweed in your garden may help save struggling monarch populations

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Commentary by Doug Draper 

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Foreword by Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper 

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

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

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

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

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

A Brief Commentary by NAL publisher Doug Draper 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

July, 2014

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

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

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

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

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

By Doug Draper

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

The crash mess on the Burlington, Ontario skyway bridge.

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

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

By Doug Draper 

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

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

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

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

News from Niagara, Ontario’s Niagara Parks Commission

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

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

Courtesy of Niagara Parks Commission

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

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

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

Dear Mr. Doug Draper,

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

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

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

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

News from the Office of Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa

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

Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa

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

From Karl Dockstader

Dear Sir,

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

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

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

A Brief Commentary by Doug Draper 

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

Our Great Lakes from a photo from outer space

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

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

A Brief Comment by Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper

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

Jane Goodal

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

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

News from the Canal Days Marine Heritage Festival

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

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

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

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

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

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

Click on this image to blow it up full screen

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

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

This Post contributed to NAL by Karl Dockstader

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

Click on this image to view it full screen

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

We are all contributing to this destruction. Continue reading →

By Mark Taliano

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

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

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

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

A Commentary by Doug Draper, Niagara At Large

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

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

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

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

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

By Doug Draper

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Click on this image to make it full screen.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

News from Ontario’s Liberal Government

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

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

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

News from the Office of Ontario PC Finance Critic Vic Fedeli

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa

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

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

News from the Office of Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath

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

Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath slams Liberal budget

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

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

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

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

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 →