Niagara At Large

A Submission from the Office of Ontario Environment Commissioner Gord Miller

(Niagara At Large is pleased to post the following news from the office of Ontario Environment Commissioner Gord Miller, a provincially appointed, independent watchdog on environmental protection for the people of Ontario.

It must be stressed for those out there ready to use any reason to kill wind energy projects, that Miller makes it clear that he “fully support(s) wind power” as he releases this report. What the report speaks to, in NAL’s view, is the lack of consideration Ontario’s McGuinty government has given to the placement of wind farms.)

Toronto, October 2, 2012 – The Ontario government should put additional areas of the province off-limits to wind power projects to safeguard birds, bats and their habitats, says Ontario’s Environmental Commissioner Gord Miller, who released Part 2 of his 2011/2012 Annual Report, Losing Our Touch,today.

Environment Commissioner Gord Miller

“I fully support wind power. Together with energy conservation, renewable sources of energy such as wind are necessary to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and protect the environment,” says Miller.  “However, the use of wind power must be balanced by the equally important goal of protecting birds and bats. To accomplish that goal, we need to be smarter about where we place wind power facilities.”

The government has released guidelines for evaluating and reducing harmful effects on birds, bats and their habitats during the planning, construction and operation of wind power projects. The Environmental Commissioner praises the government for giving special attention to birds and bats as wind power development increases in the province, but notes “there are some significant shortcomings in the guidelines that continue to put birds and bats at risk.” Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

More time should be given to Niagara, Ontario residents to comment on something so important as changing the electoral boundaries they vote for federal and provincial representatives in, says Welland Riding MPP Cindy Forster.

Welland, Ontario Riding MPP Cindy Forster speaks for Niagara residents’ chance to have say in electoral boundary changes.

In an open letter to Justice George Valin, chair of a federal government Electoral Boundaries Commission, dated this October 1, the NDP representative for the provincial riding of Welland urged Valin to give Niagara residents more time to comment and grant them more than one public meeting on the subject. 

“Some areas in Ontario have two days of public meetings while the Regional Municipality of Niagara consisting of four different ridings and a population of 430,000 has one afternoon in Niagara Falls on October 29, 2012,” added Forster in her letter. “I would ask for serious consideration of more time on such a paramount issue to ensure people have an opportunity to make their views known on line or publicly. Please extend the deadline and more public meetings in the Niagara Region.” Continue reading →

By Doug Draper 

Whether or not you like the federal or provincial government representatives you now have, you may wake up one day and find out you are living in another riding.

Federal bureaucrats in Ottawa have recently drawn up new boundaries for electoral ridings across Canada and in Niagara, Ontario, it looks like the communities of Fort Erie and Thorold would be affected the most.  Continue reading →

A Commentary by Mark Taliano

9/11, Osama Bin Laden, Al Qaeda, Taliban. … The west creates its own monsters. And it’s happening again.

The setting is marginally different; this time it’s Iran, but the story is the same.  Accusations of nuclear weapons are filling the air, diplomats are withdrawn, the UN is ignored, and industrial warfare is on the cusp of murdering thousands. 

It is about oil and conquest, just like Iraq.  It is not about justice, a better world, democracy, or freedom. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

We already know that Niagara, Ontario suffers from one of the highest unemployment rates in Canada.

Image from online version of Niagara Community Observatory’s report on cost of poverty in the region.

Now – according to a research report released this September 26 by the Niagara Community Observatory at Brock University – we are learning that poverty in Niagara is costing the region’s overall economy $1.38 billion annual in lost productivity, health care, social assistance payments and other expenses. And that, say the report’s authors Doug Hagar and Sophia Papastavrou, is based on conservative estimates. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

In the strongest statement it has ever posted on the issue, the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies is speaking out against the confinement of whales and other marine mammals at amusement parks like Marineland in Ontario.

One of a number of protest rallies in front of Marineland in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Photo by Doug Draper

 The CFHS (believes that the conferment of marine mammals causes physical and/or mental pain and suffering, therefore fails to meet their health, behavioral and environmental needs,” reads the statement by the national organization which goes on to support a complete ban on parks like Marineland importing whales caught in the wild for exhibition. Continue reading →

McGuinty Government Argues It Is ‘Protecting Public Services While Eliminating Deficit’

A Submission from the Office of Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan

(Niagara At Large is posting the following release for our readers’ information. This announcement follows in the wake of a recently passed bill, tabled by Ontario’s minority Liberal government and supported by the opposition Tories, imposing a two-year wage freeze and strike ban on the province’s elementary and secondary school teachers.)

 Queen’s Park, Sept. 26, 2012,Ontario is planning to introduce and consult on draft legislation that, if passed, would restrain compensation for employees of the Broader Public Sector (BPS), as well as all executives and managers across the BPS and Ontario Public Service (OPS). 

Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan

The Protecting Public Services Act would, if passed:

• Restrain compensation for two years for unionized employees of the BPS and require employers to negotiate agreements that do not reduce services.
• Freeze earnings for two years for managers who are eligible for performance pay in the BPS, OPS and agencies so they would not earn more this year and next than they did last year.
• Introduce a permanent salary cap for new executives at no more than double the Premier’s salary. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper 

It was predictable given the parochialism that has been crippling progress for most of the 42 years the residents of Niagara, Ontario have been living with a system of governance that includes a regional council and 12 local municipalities.

Niagara Health System supervisor Kevin Smith outlining his recommendations this spring for restructuring Niagara, Ontario’s hospital services, including a recommendation for a new hospital in the region’s southern tier. Photo by Doug Draper

Kevin Smith, the supervisor the provincial government brought in to the region last year to try to mop up the mess former Niagara Health System CEO Debbie Sevenpifer and her board made of our hospital services, held a media conference last May to outline his recommendations for restructuring Niagara’s health care services for the future.One thing Smith could not recommend was physically removing the nearly completed super hospital Sevenpifer and company stubbornly decided to locate at a west St. Catharines site in Niagara’s north end and placing it in a more central location in the region where it should have gone in the first place. That would have required some kind of other-worldly levitating powers Smith has more or less admitted he does not possess. Continue reading →

Historical group to unveil plaque memorializing sacrifice of six U.S. coastguardsmen 99 years ago – and you are invited

This Post submitted to Niagara At Large by Paul Kassay

FORT ERIE, Ontario– It took six years and a lot of help from generous donors on both side of the border, but a small group of Canadian history buffs has achieved their goal of creating a plaque to memorialize the sacrifice of six U.S. coastguardsmen who sacrifice their lives during a Lake Erie storm almost 100 years ago.

The ill-fated U.S.Coastguard vessel that sank in a storm off Fort Erie 99 years ago, taking all its crew with it.

The plaque will be unveiled during a public ceremony Sept. 29 at 11 a.m. at Waterfront Park, in Crystal Beach.

“We’re so excited,” says Rick Doan, who, together with fellow Fort Erie residents Paul Kassay and John Robbins, is a member of the LV-82 Group. 

“The story of LV-82 is one of duty, courage and ultimate sacrifice.  It’s an important piece of local history and it will finally be publicly memorialized so that these heroes will not be forgotten.” Continue reading →

By Doug Draper 

For someone who loves records, it was like my inner child walking into the world’s greatest toy or candy store.

Sam the Record Man founder Sam Sniderman

Walking through the doors of the flagship Sam the Record Man store on Yonge Street in Toronto, Ontario in the 1960s and 70s was, for me, like the doors swinging open to the Emerald City. Inside was a treasure trove of delights for anyone immersed in pop culture at the time. I bought the first album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience there when it was barely released, after hearing  Purple Haze blaring from the store’s intercom. As I recall, I also picked up one of the earliest editions of Rolling Stone, with Hendrix on the cover, when the now-slick magazine was still being rolled out like a street sheet, on cheap newsprint, and you could barely find it anywhere else in Canada, except for that store. Continue reading →

A Brief Comment by Doug Draper

 By now, many of you who follow what is going on in the news probably know that U.S. Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney is in one dung pile of trouble over remarks he was caught making on video to a bunch of $50,000-per-plate rich dudes he’s counting on to finance his trip to the White House.

U.S. Republican presential candidate Mitt Romney delivering his hell fire to those who can’t make the million-dollar club

By Doug Draper

The Canadian government is urging the United States Environmental Protection Agency not to remove the Hyde Park landfill – one of the most potentially dangerous toxic waste dumps in North America, located above the brink of the Niagara River Gorge – from its list of priority sites for special attention.

Just upstream, as the waters of the lower Niagara River flush under the Queenston-Lewiston Bridge, the Hyde Park dump – one of the most dangerous chemical waste sites in all of North America – sits on fractured bedrock just above the Niagara River gorge.

The Hyde Park dump in Niagara County, New York, a virtual hole in the ground that was used by the Hooker/Occidental Chemical Corporation in the 1950s, 60s and 70s as a graveyard  for at least 80,000 tons of some of the most toxic chemicals created by modern science, also contains at least a ton or two of the most poisonous strain of dioxin – the 2,3.7.8, tetrochlorodibenzo variety (alias TCDD), considered deadly in amounts invisible to the naked eye. An article in a 1982 article in Rolling Stone Magazine describe the Hyde Park dump as a “time bomb,” containing far more of the ‘Agent Orange’ chemicals that were ever sprayed as a “powerfully corrosive chemical defoliant” across the landscape during the Vietnam War. 

Yet now, the EPA – the lead environmental protection agency in the United States and normally a good one at that – is prepared to delist the Hyde Park dump as a site that needs priority attention. And of all the tens-of-of-thousands of toxic waste dumps across North America, this one needs priority attention! 

“So help me God, you can’t delist this site,” said Doug Hallett, a former senior scientist with Environment in a recent interview with Niagara At Large.”It wouldn’t take a great deal of disturbance, such as increased seismic activity or some man-made event, to release a chunk of that waste to Lake Ontario. ..; And if a couple of shovels full of that waste got into the lake, it would contaminate the water supplies around Lake Ontario for millions of people.”  Continue reading →

A Submission from the Office of Ontario Environmental Commissioner Gord Miller

(Just as a postscript here, this Niagara At Large publisher, who made my way in journalism as an environment reporter for the majority of my 33 years in the field, would like to congratulate Gord Miller, once again, for performing his appointed role as a brave watchdog for the Ontario public. His critiques of government failings have always been fair and well-reasoned, and all of us in the public should be thankful for that by supporting this  person of integrity as Ontario’s environmental commissioner.

Gord Miller’s final quote in this submission, referring to the “level of disregard and contempt” some ministries of the current Ontario Liberal government of Dalton McGuinty are showing for the rights of the public to have full knowledge and input into environmental decision making is particularly startling. Where are you on this, St. Catharines MPP and Ontario Environment Minister Jim Bradley? – NAL publisher Doug Draper)

Toronto, September 19, 2012 – Ontario’s Environmental Commissioner says officials in the provincial government are defying the will of the Legislature and ignoring the public’s right to be involved in the development of environmental policy.

Environmental Commissioner Gord Miller

In Part I of his 2011/2012 Annual Report released today, Gord Miller highlighted the government’s obligations under Ontario’s Environmental Bill of Rights, also known as the EBR. “The EBR is one of the most significant environmental laws of our time,” says Miller. “It gives Ontarians a toolkit they can use to make sure Ontario ministries are listening to their concerns and protecting their right to a healthy environment. But a number of ministries are frustrating the public’s right to know and be involved in environmental protection.” Continue reading →

A Foreword by Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper

I’ve expressed my share of doubts about the direction Tim Hudak and his Ontario Conservatives, but I think they are standing up for the interests of most of the province’s taxpayers on this one.

Ontario Conservative Party leader Tim Hudak

Hudak and his party are tabling an “Ability To Pay Bill” this September which is calling for what many municipalities across Ontario, including municipal governments across Niagara, have been calling for from the province’s Liberal government for past eight years – changes to an arbitration system that bases the wages and benefits of police, firefighters and other public sector workers on taxpayers’ ability to pay. Continue reading →

A Submission from the West Lincoln Glanbrook Wind Action Group 

Members of the West Lincoln Glanbrook Wind Action Group and concerned citizens will be massing outside the Niagara Region Wind Corporation’s public open house this coming Thursday September 20^th at 7:00pm to protest the forced industrialization and degradation of West Lincoln with the construction of forty-four industrial wind turbines in this rural agricultural community.

The WLGWAG will also be conducting their “Look-Up, Wake-Up” campaign where they float a tethered weather balloon to the same 572’ height of the turbines or equal to a 57 story skyscraper (higher than even the tallest building in the neighbouring City of Hamilton) in order to alert the citizen’s of Smithville and surrounding area of the size and scale of these massive industrial machines. Continue reading →

A Submission from the Office of Welland, Ontario NDP MPP Cindy Forster

Queen’s Park’s, September 18, 2012 – Cindy Forster, MPP for Welland, warned against the devastating impacts the McGuinty government’s plan to cut $4.2 million from programs that help prevent homelessness will have on the region.

Welland, Ontario riding MPP Cindy Forster

“I’d like to invite Minister of Community and Social Services John Milloy to come to Welland and see for himself the impacts these cuts will have on our community,” said Forster. “These cuts will only lead to increased demands for emergency shelters and emergency hospital care costing taxpayers much more than preventing homelessness in the first place.” 

In a June report, Community Services Commissioner Katherine Chislett warned these cuts will lead to increased suffering and increase the stress on an already overburdened social services sector. Continue reading →

A Submission from the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority

The Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority is pleased to advise that the Wainfleet Bog Conservation Area is now open for the public to visit.  Recently the site was closed following the discovery of a peat-fire in a remote section of the Conservation Area.  The fire is now extinguished and the site is now safe for visitors to enjoy.

A path through Niagara, Ontario’s Wainfleet Bog Conservation Area. Photo courtesy of Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority

The fire which was discovered on August 1, 2012 burned for three weeks before a team of MNR Forest Fire Rangers declared the fire out. Tony D’Amario, Chief Administrative Officer/Secretary-Treasurer of the NPCA said “we wish to express our sincere thanks to the Ministry of Natural Resources, Waterford Group Law Crushed Stone and the Township of Wainfleet Fire Department for their efforts. Continue reading →

 – Decision Leaves Millions Of Canadians And Americans Vulnerable, Once Again, To Hyde Park Dump’s Lethal Bite

By Doug Draper

It was and still is one of the most dangerous toxic waste dumps in all of North America, and it is located above the fractured bedrock near the brink of the Niagara River gorge in Niagara County, New York – upstream from drinking water supplies for tens-of-millions  of Canadians Americans living along and around Lake Ontario and St. Lawrence River.

A diagram of the Hyde Park dump above the Niagara River gorge in Niagara County, New York and the fractured rock that can deliver its poison to the river and Lake Ontario.

 It is the Hyde Park dump – a graveyard for the deadliest strain of dioxin (used as an ingredient in the killer defoliant employed during the Vietnam War,  and 80,000 tonnes of other industrial poisons produced by the Hooker Chemical Company (later Occidental Chemical) in Niagara Falls, New York – and the chemicals still remain buried there.

This dump full of chemical poisons – four times the volume that destroyed a neighbourhood called Love Canal in Niagara Falls, New York during the 1970s – is still siting on the brink of the Niagara River gorge, thanks to a U.S. court decision that opted for “containing” rather than removing and destroying them. The court decision made things a lot cheaper for Occidental and its petroleum company parent, but called for building barrier walls, wells and other containment structures around this massive dump that, according to U.S. environmental officials at the time, only had an effective lifespan of 30 to 40 years before they had to be replaced. And that was 30 years ago! 

To put it bluntly, the chemicals in this dump have already proven capable of turning the quality of water and the ecology for fish and other life forms in Lake Ontario upside down and could do so again if the containment structures break down and these poisons begin to ooze their way to the Niagara River again. Continue reading →

By Pat Scholfield 

Kevin Smith, provincially appointed supervisor of the Niagara Health System has released his final report….and it is basically a bad joke.

Niagara, Ontario citizen health care advocate Pat Scholfield

He recommends we build a new hospital in south Niagara and close all our other aging hospitals.Smith decrees that the new hospital be built in Niagara Falls. People of Port Colborne, Wainfleet and Welland do not consider Niagara Falls to be in the south. Look at a map. Niagara is shaped like a rectangle. The top two quadrants are in the north and the bottom half, the south. Niagara Falls is clearly in the north, but I will concede the more rural southern portion might just touch the dividing line. 

But this is a moot argument…because the chances of that new “south” Niagara hospital being built are slim to none. I am not a gambler, but I would bet a considerable sum we will not see this new hospital in my lifetime…and I plan on living another 20 years. Continue reading →

A Submission from Brock University

Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario ushered in a new era of research and community development at the institution today with the official opening ceremony for the Cairns Family Health and Bioscience Research Complex.

The newly opened, $112-million Cairns Family Health and Bioscience Research Complex. Photo courtesy of Brock University

 
The striking $112-million complex houses 76,000 square feet (more than four acres) of labs, purpose-built teaching and research space and cutting-edge facilities that have the potential to re-chart the future of the University and its surrounding communities.
 
The Cairns Complex is home to leading Brock researchers in biotechnology, green chemistry, plant pathology and health and wellness. It also houses BioLinc, a business incubator to support start-up businesses and capitalize on the innovative research happening within the walls of the facility. Continue reading →

A Foreword by Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper

A year ago this September, Kevin Smith, assumed the role of supervisor of the Niagara Health System, the provincially created body (a body conceived by the Tim Hudak/Mike Harris Ontario Conservatives, by the way) that public opinion polls showed a majority of Niagara residents had little or no  confidence in any more.

Niagara Health System Supervisor Kevin Smith. File photo by Doug Draper

That made for one hell of a job for Kevin Smith and one could not help but wonder why he -the CEO of a far more highly respected St. Joseph’s Hospital system in the Hamilton region- would even agree to take it.

Smith was asked by the Ontario Liberal government of Dalton McGuinty, who was by then  beleaguered by tens of thousands of citizen complaints about the mess they felt Niagara’s health services were and still are in to take a critical, objective look at a highly criticized ‘hospital improvement plan’  – a plan whipped together in haste four years ago by fired NHS CEO Debbie Sevenpifer and her board of Leon, Suiter and other sychophants, for the restructuring of Niagara’s hospital services  – north, south, east and west. 

There is no reason to believe – at least in my view, given the mess Smith inherited, which was kind of like taking over the wheelhouse of the Titanic after the ship it the iceberg – that he or anyone else could have done much by then with a plan that already saw the literal groundbreaking for a new one-and-a-half-billion-dollar new hospital complex in McGuinty cabinet minister Jim Bradley’s St. Catharines riding. That new hospital, where Bradley and company seemed so happy to enjoy photo opportunities for the local daily papers as Niagara Regional Police had horse riders and SUVs to hold back about a dozen grey-haired ladies from south Niagara wearing yellow shirts, went forward anyway. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper 

According to the latest in a series of investigative stories The Toronto Star has published animals kept at the sprawling Marineland amusement park in Niagara Falls, Ontario, the Canadian Association of Zoos and Aquariums – a self-regulatory zoo group Marineland is a dues-paying member of – has given the controversial park a ‘clean bill of health’.

One of Marineland’s ‘killer whales’ – more known as ‘orcas’ in the wild – up for a reward of food at entertainment time. File photo courtesy of Zoocheck Canada.

Inspectors for CAZA, adds this latest September 14 Star report – “only took a day for inspectors to give Marineland the thumbs up” – news that would likely not come as a surprise to anyone who has reported concerns about the condition of animals at this park for years to this group and to the Niagara Falls Humane Society and Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals with little or no hint from them that their concerns have any merit. Continue reading →

 By Mark Taliano 

Harper’s Canada slides towards totalitarianism while most Canadians look the other way… 

Naomi Wolf’s The End Of America, Letter Of Warning To A Young Patriot might just as well be named The End of Canada, since the Government of Canada, now re-branded the “Harper Government”, is following many of the steps that governments follow (in varying degrees) to transition away from democracy and into the murky world of totalitarianism. 

These, then, are the ignoble steps that Harper’s Canada is embracing to suppress the flames of liberty: 

 Invoke an External and Internal Threat. 

Harper sees the world outside Canada as a threat, so it follows that he sees the necessity of keeping Canada on a permanent war footing. At the June, 2011 Conservative convention, when asked by Macleans editor Kenneth Whyte whether we were “in a great conflict or heading towards one,” Harper responded, “I think we always are.”  (Yves Engler, Militarism On Rise In Conservative Canada). This world-view is the foundation for war-mongering. Continue reading →

Submitted from the Office of Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak (Ontario’s PC opposition leader Tim Hudak has been a long-time harsh critic of the Hamilton Niagara-Haldimand Brant Local Health Integration Network – known by many locally as the LHIN – and this provincial bureacracy’s support of the Niagara Health System and its controversial ‘Hospital Improvement Plan’ for hospital services across the Niagara, Ontario region. Here is the Hudak government’s latest stab at the LHIN.)

HUDAK ON LOCAL HAMILTON-NIAGARA LHIN: YOU CALL THIS PROGRESS?

GRIMSBY, September 12– Niagara Region residents can again have confidence in a world-class health care system, but only if we close down costly bureaucracies and use the money to directly serve local-patient needs, Ontario PC Leader and Niagara-West Glanbrook MPP Tim Hudak said today.

Ontario Tory Leader Tim Hudak

Hudak made the comments in front of the Hamilton Niagara Haldimand Brant LHIN. On Monday Hudak released Paths to Prosperity: Patient-Centred Health Care – the PCs’ latest white paper on bold ideas to tackle the roots of the problems local residents face with their healthcare needs. Continue reading →

Submitted by Nancy Cardillo, Forest Lawn Cemetery, Buffalo, New York

(Niagara At Large is pleased to post this one from our friends and neighbours in Buffalo, New York who are joining Niagara, Ontario in remembering the biccentenial of the War of 1812. This post invites all of us, on both sides of the border, to join hands across the border in a wreath-laying ceremony this September 14, on a Friday afternoon, at Buffalo’s Forest Lawn Cemetery for Commodore Stephen Champlin, a Buffalo area hero who served in the War of 1812. Here is the post.) 

Forest Lawn to Host Wreath-laying CeremonyAs Part of Navy Week Buffalo 

The grave in Buffalo, New York’s Forest Lawn Cemetary of prominent War of 1812 veteran Stephen Champlin. We are all invited in a public remberanance of this person of our shared history this Friday, September 14. Photo courtesy of Forest Lawn Cemetery.

WHAT:  Navy Week Buffalo Wreath-laying Ceremony

 Many important battles during the War of 1812 were fought right here on the Niagara Frontier, and several of Forest Lawn’s permanent residents – as well as the land on which Forest Lawn now sits – played an important role in this historic conflict.

The public is invited to join Forest Lawn, in collaboration with the U.S. Navy as part of Navy Week Buffalo, for a wreath-laying ceremony at the gravesite of Commodore Stephen Champlin, to honor all military personnel who served in the War of 1812. This event is free and open to the publi 

NOTE:  Stephen Champlin entered the U.S. Navy as a sailing master as the War of 1812 began. He commanded the schooner Scorpion in her capture of 
the British Little Belt during the Battle of Lake Erie and, later, was wounded when his ship was taken on Lake Huron. Retired in 1855, Captain Champlin was later promoted to Commodore on the retired list. He died in Buffalo in 1870 and is buried in Section F at Forest Lawn. Two ships have been named USS Champlin for him, as was Champlin, Minnesota. Commodore Champlin is the cousin of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry. Relatives of Commodore Champlin are expected to attend the ceremony. Continue reading →

Submitted by Gracia Janes

The public is invited to a free meeting in St. Catharines, Ontario this September 13 on one of the least talked about crimes in this region – human trafficking. 

The speaker for this meeting, to begin at 8 p.m. in the Mills Room of the St. Catharines Centennial Library on 54 Church Street in the city’s downtown, is Niagara Regional Police Detective Sergeant Craig Labaune , a passionate opponent of human trafficking, who  will remind us that    Niagara is not free from this world-wide  fast- growing blight,   and   expose human trafficking in Niagara   for what it is – “a crime against vulnerable victims!”.  Continue reading →

A  Commentary by Doug Draper

When Japan attacked a major American naval base at Pearl Harbour on December 7, 1941, then- U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt was quick to call it “a day which will live in infamy.”

Indeed, anyone old enough to remember that day, which finally and fully launched both the United States and Canada into a Second World War that ultimately destroyed the lives of tens-of-millions of people, will ever forget where they were when they heard the news about the attack on Pearl Harbour.

Just as no one old enough will ever forget where they were 11 years ago this September 11 when they heard about the attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York City and the Pentagon in New York, not to mention another planned attack on Washington, D.C. that was brought in a field in Pennsylvania when brave passengers crashed through a flight-deck door to thwart that jet’s hijackers. And we all know that we have been paying the price in weakened economies in the United States and Canada, a loss of freedom of movement and civil liberties, and in  fear – however real or fanned by fear-mongers – that we are no longer safe, wherever we go in our communities, from a possible terrorist attack. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

Congratulations once again to The Toronto Star for its continued coverage of allegations of animal abuse at the giant Marineland amusement park in Niagara Falls, Ontario from a number of the park’s former employees. 

Visible growths on a deer at Marineland. Animal activists who have visited the park say this is not an uncommon site. So where are the Marineland vets, Ontario animal welfare inspectors and Canadian zoo group CAZA? Photo courtesy of the not-for-profit group Zoocheck Canada.

In the latest in a series of articles stretching back over the past month, Star reporter Linda Diebel, along with colleague Liam Casey, the newspaper focuses on charges of abusive conditions not just for the marine mammals at Marineland, but for land animals like deer and bears in the park.

Charges that conditions for deer and bears at Marineland are substandard  – to say the least –have been made by former employees, animal protection advocates and some who merely visited the park and expressed upset at what they saw have been made for many of the 51 years the park has been promoted by its owner as one of the most popular attraction next to the Falls themselves. That same owner – Marineland founder John Holer – has always countered those charges with an insistence that all the animals in the park are well treated and, as he has been known to add, are treated with no less care than he would extend to himself and his own family. 

The latest Star story, published this September 8, 2012, begins with an account by Jim Hammond, the former land animal care supervisor at Marineland who resigned last year following what he described to be a less than humane death of a deer at the park. An excerpt from The Star story continues with Hammond’s account like this; Continue reading →

By Doug Draper 

On June 13, 2009, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stood in the middle of the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls and announced that officials from her country and Canada were finally going to get together in earnest and negotiate a new Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. It would be one that is more responsive to the environmental threats facing the Great Lakes today, she promised.

U.S. Secrectary of State announces plans to negotiate new Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement three years ago in Niagara Falls. Photo by Doug Draper

 Clinton’s announcement made for something else to celebrate aside from the 100^th anniversary of the signing of the Canada-U.S. Boundary Waters Treaty, which she had also come to the greater Niagara region to recognize. Environmentalists cheered the announcement that may only have been possible because the then-new U.S. administration of President Barack Obama, which Clinton is working for, punched through years of lethargy on the part of the former U.S. Bush administration, and federal and provincial Liberal and Conservative governments federally and provincially when it comes to addressing Great Lakes environmental concerns. 

And now here we are. It has taken more than three years, but this September 7 in Washington, D.C., Canadian and American officials signed a revised Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement and environmental groups on both sides of the Canada/U.S. border are applauding, with a strong message of caution. “While we praise the signing of this new agreement,” said John Jackson, interim executive director of the two-country public interest group Great Lakes United based in Buffalo, New York, “this is only the first step. No matter what the words on the pages say, this agreement will only be effective if the U.S. and Canadian governments act to implement it.” Continue reading →

 A Brief Comment by Doug Draper 

Well, hallelujah. The sun rose over an Ontario this September 7 that is continuing to keep Dalton McGuinty’s Liberals in a minority government vice grip.

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty fails to win back a majority to push his cost-cutting agenda forward.

Thanks to an NDP win in one of two September 6 by-elections in the ridings of Kitchener-Waterloo and Vaughan, McGuinty has been deprived of a majority government he claims he needs to push forward a cost-cutting agenda that is already putting the boots to funding for the homeless and is threatening to hurt more services for people on low and fixed incomes.

McGuinty needed to win both ridings to get back the majority he lost in last year’s general election and he has only managed to hold on to the seat in Vaughan. The blow to his majority ambitions came this September 6 in Kitchener-Waterloo with an NDP win that may be just as much of a blow to the Conservative Party leadership of Tim Hudak. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

A Brief Foreword to this Commentary – With a recent series of articles by Toronto Star reporter Linda Diebel bringing attention back to the questions and concerns over the conditions of whales and other mammals at the Marineland amusement park in Niagara Falls, Ontario, many have asked if there are not better ways to get close to these great creatures without keeping them in captivity.

A humpback whale – one of nature’s gentle giants – off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. File photo courtesy of the Dolphin Fleet.

In the case of whales, dolphins and seals, one option is the many whale-watch excursions that are available on the east and west coasts at a price, quite often, that is less than what many families people who travel hundreds of miles pay at that at Marineland’s front gate.

I was about to write a piece encouraging people to consider whale watches as an alternative to places like Marineland when I looked through the old files of stories I wrote about Marineland when I was reporting on this park as an environment reporter at the late-great St. Catharines Standard two decades ago and thought; why don’t I just reprise this column from October 1996. Continue reading →

A Brief Commentary by Doug Draper 

Fifty years ago today – that’s right, all you aging baby boomers out there, a full half century ago this first week of September! – four young guys from Liverpool walked into a recording studio in London, England and laid down the first tracks for a musical revolution that would reverberate around the world, and would continue to influence pop music to this day. 

The four guys were John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr and the band was The Beatles, and among the few songs they recorded during those early September days was one that would be released in October of 1962 as their first single. It was a Lennon-McCartney composition called Love Me Do. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

On the days in and around this past Labour Day weekend, tens of thousands of rotting fish washed up along the Lake Erie shoreline.

Rotting fish along the shore. File photo

According to media reports,Ontario’s Ministry of Environment is still investigating the cause of the massive fish kill, which may or may not have something to do with sudden temperature changes in the waters or the lake and air sheds above it, or may be a result of a growing phosphorus contamination problem in Lake Erie which is robbing the lake waters of oxygen needed to support other aquatic life. Continue reading →

By Brent Patterson, Council of Canadians

(Niagara At Large has already carried a piece on this momentous announcement by Niagara College to ban bottled water on campus and talk to its students about the reasons for the ban and other, more environmentally and economically sustainable ways of protecting, preserving and consuming water. Now here is a follow up from the Ottawa-based public interest group Council of Canadians whose leader Maude Barlow was at the school earlier this 2012 to address this and other environmental issues.

 Wouldn’t it be great if Brock University and other public educational institutions in the greater Niagara region followed Niagara College’s lead? Wouldn’t it?)

Niagara College has 8,000 full-students, including more than 500  international students from more than 60 countries, studying at its four  campuses in southern Ontario: the Welland Campus in Welland, the  Niagara-on-the-Lake Campus in Niagara-on-the-Lake, the Maid of the Mist Campus  in Niagara Falls, and the Ontario Street Site in St.  Catharines.

Maude Barlow, head of the Council of Canadians, at Niagara College earlier this 2012. Photo courtesy of Council of Canadians

This past May, Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow  addressed faculty and staff at the College’s ‘Day of Reflection’ held at its  Niagara-on-the-Lake campus. Inside NC reported at that time, “The event’s  keynote speaker was Maude Barlow, who spoke about the global water crisis.  Blasting the ‘myth of abundance’, she noted that there is a finite amount of  water in the world and a dire need to protect our precious water supplies.  … Continue reading →

By Michael Moore, The Daily Beast, August 31

 A not-so-short introduction  to this Micheal Moore piece from Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper.

Don’t know how many of you on either side of the Niagara River border tuned in to the final hours of Republican National Convention this August 30, but if you did you might have witnessed an 82-year-old Clint Eastwood  behaving as if he is in the early stages of dementia, talking to a chair where he imaged U.S. President Barack Obama to be sitting so he could insult him in front millions of television viewers.

Aging actor Clint Eastwood tries talking to U.S. President Barack Obama in an empty chair at Republican National Convention this August 30. What is going on here?

As a long-time fan of Eastwood, going back to his earliest years in film as an avenging cowboy gunfighter through to more recent movie triumps like ‘Unforgiven’ and ‘The Bridges of Madison County’ and other more recent movie triumpths it was shocking to watch what lookcd like a full-blown meltdown. 

What is even more disturbing than this bizarre event is the ‘Alice in Wonderland’ rabbit hole many Americans seem to be following the ‘high plains drifter’ down. And have no illusions or delusions on either side of the Canada/U.S. border. As America slides down that hole, as I am becoming increasingly convinced it is because, let’s face it, many God-fearing, white suburban and working class Americans, who don’t or possibly can’t read a newspaper, want to get this  Black man or ‘negroe” or whatever they call him  s a ‘Muslim’, a European-style socialist who was probably born in Africa or some other foreign country – out of their  White House. As many a frightful ‘Tea Pary’ American screams, ‘we want our country back!’

Many Americans, and that came through loud and clear at the Republican National Convention where Clint Eastwood so sadly made an ass of himself, hate this president, and let’s have no illusions in Canada. We have a prime minister in Canada who can hardly wait for Obama to fall and his neo-con, Tea Party allies in the states to take over so he can shove his Keystone pipe through that country and not have to worry about any more progressive moves on energy, health care and other matters. Let the most vulturistic capitalists reign.

So here is Michael Moore’s piece. Take it in while you can because I am becoming increasingly convinced that the days of critical analysis in the area of news coverage on this continent are numbered. There are fewer and fewer news venues that have the guts to carry material like this and, unfortunately, most of the people who might support them are more interested in hockey and dancing with the stars or whatever other tabloid and reality television shit we are shoveled. 

Continue reading →

One Way We Can Do It Is By Giving Up The Big Chain Supermarkets –  As Often As We Can – For A Trip To Our Farmers’ Markets

By Doug Draper

People are often asking what they can do as individuals and families to make the world around us a little better.

Some of the homegrown bounty our local food producers have to offer at one of Niagara’s many farmers’ markets – this one in downtown St. Catharines, Ontario. Photo by Doug Draper

There is no one answer, obviously, but spending a little more time supporting the many farmers’ we are still blessed to have producing food locally is no small help. By supporting them through shopping for food at one or more of the many farmers’ markets across our region, we are helping to preserve the livelihood of our local farmers, reducing our dependency on food from other parts of the world, and keeping our money in our region’s economy.

Those were a few of the messages contained in the latest report released this August 30 by the Niagara Community Observatory, a Brock University-based organization that works with partners across the Niagara area to compile research on issues of interest and concern to those who make this region their home. Continue reading →

(One of the most community active student groups at Brock University is the Student Justice Centre which engages in many social justice issues, not just on campus, but across the province of Ontario and country. You might want to check out this Pow Wow and meet them, if not join their ranks. In the meantime, Niagara At Large is pleased to post this information from this dedicated group of campus activists.) 

Submitted by Tikvah Mindorff, a member of Brock University’s Social Justice Centre

Brock University will be hosting its first ever traditional Pow Wow demonstration.

This three hour event will give students an opportunity to witness what a traditional native gathering can be like. Although traditional gatherings can last for more than three days, the organizers wanted to start small and hopefully build in the upcoming years. 

Most universities across Canada have large Pow Wows each year that draw hundreds of people out to the event, some continuing the tradition for more than ten years. It is hoped that this year will be the start of a new tradition that will celebrate the strong native presence here in Niagara and also provide an opportunity for students to learn more about Canada`s First People. Continue reading →

(Niagara At Large is posting this piece from Niagara College for your information, and because this is no small news. When a college as large as Niagara is now, with two major campuses in Welland and Niagara-on-the-Lake and a number of satellite campuses, decides to take a stand against bottled water, that is – at the risk of repeating – no small news As you may know, there has been a push by the Council of Canadians and other public interest groups for many years to get people away from buying bottled water for two key reasons – a) almost every set of tests that has been performed over the past two decades by municipal, provincial, state and federal governents in both Canada and the United States has shown no significant difference between the quality of bottled water and municipal tap water, and b) the cost of bottled water is at least thousands of times higher than filling the same container up with tap water.

So now let’s leave it go to Niagara College’s August 29 media release.)

A Submission from Niagara College

Niagara College is tapping into a new sustainability initiative by
implementing a new ban on the sale of plastic water bottles on campus.

The news was announced to staff and faculty today at the College’s
annual Niagara Day event. The initiative originally stemmed from staff
recommendations aimed at boosting the College’s sustainability
efforts.

“There was an overwhelming response from staff and faculty to ban the
sale of bottled water on campus,” said Taryn Wilkinson, the
College’s environmental project coordinator. “Banning bottled
water has the obvious benefit of reducing waste from plastic bottles and
supports the notion that everyone has the right – not the privilege – to
clean drinking water, and it should not be sold as a commodity.” Continue reading →

A Commentary Doug Draper, Niagara At Large publisher

This August 2012 may very well go down as the worst month Marineland has so far had in its 51-year history – at least from a marketing point of view.

Hundreds of protesters line in front of Marineland in Niagara Falls, Ontario this August, Photo by Doug Draper

There has been the ongoing series of articles in the Toronto Star, detailing charges of animal abuse at the giant Niagara Falls, Ontario amusement park by former employees. And this August 26, for the second weekend in a row, there were hundreds of picket-waving protesters in front of Marineland, enjoying honks of support from cars racing by and chanting slogans about the park’s owner, John Holer, having “blood on his hands” to tourists heading for the park’s ticket gates. Continue reading →

Posted by Doug Draper, publisher, Niagara At Large

 If you have been following the series of articles The Toronto Star is running this August on Marineland and some of the posts that have appeared on this site on concerns of the conditions for animals at that Niagara Falls amusement park, you may be saying; ‘Well that’s disturbing but what can I do about it?

Bears begging for food from visitors at Marineland in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Park owner John Holer was recently quoted saying in a Toronto Star story; “We taje care of the animals – better than I would take care of myself. File photo courtesy of the Toronto-based public interest group ZooCheck Canada.

 Well other than not supporting places like this with your money, which is ultimately the best thing people can do to shut down this place down as an animal circus, there is a lot you can do actually – starting with contacting your  MPPs and MPs and urging them to support tougher regulations for commercial sites like Marineland that hold marine mammals and terrestrial animals like deer, bears and buffalo. Continue reading →

By Dan Wilson

In 2003, Marineland tried – unsuccessfully – to sue me personally, and Niagara Action for Animals as a non-profit organization (because I was doing volunteer work for them at the time) for $250,000 because I was trying to raise awareness of the conditions of the animals at Marineland.

Dr. David Suzuki, host of CBC’s Nature of Things, in Niagara six years ago to raise legal defence funding for Marineland protesters.

We held demonstrations, we handed out literature, we erected billboards around Niagara Falls, we did television, radio and newspaper interviews, and we met with city councillors, the police and anyone else we could think of to help these animals.

City Hall despised us, the police defended Marineland, even after John Holer threatened to kill me, and even after his employees assaulted us and tried stealing our protest signs, sometimes while they were still in our hands and in one case knocking an 82 year old protester to the ground in the process. Continue reading →

By Mark Taliano

There are at least two visions of Canada.  The better vision belongs to Jean Ralston Saul, author of A Fair Country, and to progressive, forward-looking Canadians. 

It is a vision that embraces and respects the three founding pillars of our society: the Aboriginal, the French, and the English.  It sees strength in each pillar, and recognizes that the three interconnected yet independent pillars make Canada a distinctive society that has been, in many ways, a model for the world.  We have Quebec, with its culture and language preserved, a bilingual federal government, as well as Inuit-governed Nunavut, Nunavik, and native reserves.

Self-government in Nunavut and Nunavik strengthens rather than weakens who we are as a people. Northern aboriginal communities reinforce our sovereignty as a nation, rather than weaken it, by asserting our permanent residency in the far north, and the respect is reciprocated.  Chief Joseph Gosnell: “Once Nunavut had been created, I heard people say, “Now we are Canadian.”  Continue reading →

(Niagara At Large is pleased to share with you the following information around taking interesting journeys into our past as Canadian and American neighbours, for your information.)

Anthony S. Pitch Speaks at Buffalo Niagara Heritage Village August 27 at 7pm Award-winning author in town for War of 1812 Bicentennial

 Award-winning American history author and former international journalist Anthony S. Pitch (his photo is attached) brings his impassioned speaking style to Buffalo Niagara Heritage Village (3755 Tonawanda Creek Road, Amherst NY 14228) on August 27 at 7pm for his presentation, “The Burning of Washington and the Birth of the Anthem”.

Award-winning author, historian and journalist Anthony Pitch to speak on new War of 1812 book.

This event is part of the Buffalo & Erie County Naval & Military Park’s new Speaker Series, entitled “The War of 1812: A new look at America’s second war of independence.”  Admission is free and open to the public.  A book signing will follow his presentation.  For more information, the public may call the Park at 716-847-1773 ext. 10.

Pitch is a former international journalist who has authored books on American history for the past 30 years, including the award-winning The Burning of Washington: The British Invasion of 1814 and They Have Killed Papa Dead! about President Lincoln’s assassination.  Featured in PBS and History Channel documentaries on the War of 1812, among other projects, he is annually invited to speak at Fort McHenry on the anniversary of Francis Scott Key writing the national anthem. Continue reading →

A Niagara At Large Editorial by Doug Draper 

Ontario’s Community Safety and Corrections Minister Madeleine Meilleur says she “was in tears” when she read a series of stories in the Toronto Star this August, detailing charges of animal suffering by former employees at the popular Marineland amusement park in Niagara Falls, Ontario.

From an August 2012 protest rally in front of Marineland in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Photo by Doug Draper

That sounds touching and suggests the possibility that Meilleur is sincerely concerned about any living being , whether it be a whale, a dolphin, a sea lion or a bear, that may be struggling to survive in conditions that are less than humane. But tears, as we all know, can be wiped away with one brush of a hanky and are no compensation for taking effective action to address the circumstances that reportedly caused the Liberal government cabinet minister to cry in the first place. 

What Meilleur and the government of Dalton McGuinty ought to do right now, in the wake of a series of stories The Star has been publishing this August on the conditions of  animals at Marineland, is assemble a team of some of the best marine mammal and terrestrial animal experts on the continent to get to the bottom of what should be done to regulate the operations of facilities like this and whether keeping animals as exotic and complex as whales, dolphins and seals in captivity should be allowed at all. Continue reading →

Submitted to Niagara At Large from the Office of Andrea Horwath

“A year ago today we lost a great leader, a mentor, and dear friend in Jack Layton. As difficult as his passing was, and at times still is, I find comfort in knowing that his call for love, hope and optimism has inspired Canadians from coast to coast to coast. He set an example for us all. He brought us together.

The late leader of Canada’s NDP is being honoured across the country this August, a year following his untimely death.

This past year had some challenging moments for me as Leader of the NDP in Ontario’s first minority government in 25 years. There were times I would have picked up the phone and called Jack for some guidance and advice. He had always been a great listener, a relentless optimist and source of inspiration to me. I reflect on our many conversations as fond memories. I am very proud to have called him my leader and more importantly my friend. Continue reading →

By Dan Wilson

I’m still shaking my head at this one. Are they for real or what? 

So I have this friend who buys illegal smokes. Hmmm, let me rephrase that. I have a friend who has a friend who says he knows someone who buys illegal smokes. Much better.

Click on this image to move it to full screen. Photo by Dan Wilson

Anyways, the idea of driving an hour to an hour and a half (that’s approximately how long it takes to get from Niagara Falls to Caledonia) to save a few bucks on cigarettes always seemed a little… wasteful to me.

That was until I did a bit of research and found that you can purchase a bag of 200 illegal cigarettes for as little as $6 whereas the same amount of legal smokes costs between $70 and $100. Okay, that’s quite a savings. I learned something new today. Continue reading →

Conduct of Niagara Falls Humane Society And Ontario Society For Protection Of Cruelty To Animals Should  Be Investigated Too

 A Commentary by Doug Draper

Marineland owner John Holer was not as visible as he usually is this past Saturday, August 18.

There are children who don’t want to do Marineland. Here are a few at the August 18 rally in front of the Niagara Falls, Ontario park. Photo by Doug Draper

 While there were a few accounts of Holer sitting in his SUV, glaring at the protesters gathered along the shoulders of the road in front of his sprawling Niagara Falls, Ontario amusement park, he quickly retreated when approached by reporters. There was none of Holer’s usual driving back and forth repeatedly like a caged animal, doing his usual stare-down-the-protesters-as-if-to-intimidate-them thing. Continue reading →

A Submission from Niagara Land Trust executive director Natalie Kiers

(Niagara At Large is always pleased to post some good jnews like this when it comes our way.)

August 16, 2012 – The Niagara Land Trust, a not-for-profit organization that conserves the natural heritage of the Niagara Peninsula today for future generations, has secured the long-term protection of the Smiths’ Christmas Tree Farm in Pelham via a conservation agreement.

Thanks to generous landowners, a conservation agreement has been secured for generations for this verdant tract of land in the short hills of Pelham, Ontario

The property consists of mature upland and lowland Carolinian forests, a white pine plantation, and is located along a tributary of the Twelve Mile Creek. The property hosts a rich abundance of plant and wildlife species including several which are provincially and regionally rare.

 On Wednesday, August 22, the NLT Directors, members and volunteers will recognize the donation of the conservation agreement by property owners Jim and Mary Smith in an announcement ceremony held on the property. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

As regular readers of Niagara At Large know, we honour the death of favourite artists here, and how can we leave out Phyllis Diller.

The one and only grand dame of stand-up comedy

Phyllis Diller, who rose from a young wife and mother in the 1950s to become a pioneer for women in the merciless field of stand-up comedy, died in her Lose Angeles home this August 20 at age 95. Her son Perry reportedly found her resting peacefully in her bed in the morning with what he described as a smile on her face, which seems only fitting for someone who, for more than half a century, brought so much laughter to a world where things are often not all that funny. Continue reading →

By Dan Wilson

“You can judge a nation, and it’s moral progress, by the way it treats its animals.” – Mohandas K. Gandhi

Ever since the St. Catharines Standard wrote a story about Baby Jane, a captive pilot whale with “suicidal tendencies” back in 1967, critics and animal rights advocates have been trying to dispel the myth that “Everyone Loves Marineland”.

An orca – popularly known as a ‘killer whaie’ – in captivity at Marineland. Photo by Dan Wilson

Baby Jane would apparently charge head-on into the metal bars of her holding tank, and then smash into the walls of it, “with blood gushing from a gash in her head,” writhing “wildly about” and trying to throw herself out of the water.

The paper had also reported that she’d been inactive since she “arrived” at Marineland (read: forcibly captured and put on display) and performers who swam with her regularly would swear she was crying.

A sad story. What’s even sadder is that, almost 50 years later, we still have places that keep animals captive for our amusement. Continue reading →

Whirlpool Jet Boat Tours focuses on increasing ridership with overseas tourism market

A Submission from Whirlpool Jet Boat Tours

(As many may know, the jet boat rides in the lower Niagara River have been a subject of concern for many people who do not believe these rides respect the river and its as a unique natural resource. Niagara At Large has posted stories on these concerns and will continue to do so in the future. In the spirit of fair play, NAL is also posting the following piece on these rides, submitted to the media by Whirlpool Jet Boat Tours.) 

NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE, Ont.– Whirlpool Jet Boat Tours’ reputation as one of Niagara’s premier attractions is building momentum in the overseas tourism market, drawing a growing number of international travellers to experience the one-of-a-kind adventure ride on the Niagara River.

Photo courtesy of Niagara Whirlpool Jet Boat Tours

The Niagara-on-the-Lake tour boat operator owes a large part of its success over the past 20 seasons to its emphasis on forging relationships with international travel companies and investing in overseas marketing strategies, says Whirlpool Jet Boat Tours president John Kinney.

“We attract a steady ridership from our home markets in Canada and the U.S., but our international visitors make up an extremely important share of our businesses each year as well,” Kinney says. “They’re drawn to Niagara by the same thing as our domestic passengers — the opportunity to safely experience a thrilling whitewater adventure that they can’t find anywhere else in the world.” Continue reading →

 A  Commentary by Doug Draper

Okay so which is it? Is the job picture improving in Niagara, Ontario or is it still in the tank?

Rick Dykstra, federal Niagara area Conservative government member, says jobless rates are looking up.

And if it is improving – if we are actually seeing “a record number of jobs” being created in Niagara – who or what deserves credit for that? Should we credit the federal government, the provincial government or a combination of both, or should we just be thankful to global forces that have seen a general upturn in job opportunities (reflected in recent July job figures reported for the United States) across the continent? 

If the jobs picture remains bleak in Niagara and other regions of the province, who should we blame for that? Should we blame the federal government, the provincial government or the vagaries of a world where global, corporate forces now rule? 

The confusion around answering this question at the moment is compouded by recent media releases from  Conservative MP Rick Dykstra, a federal representative for the Harper government in Ottawa, boasting that a “record number of jobs” have been created in Niagara and, of course, the government Dykstra worked for had something to do with that. Then, on this same August 16 date, you get a media release from the Ontario Conservative Party of Tim Hudak, arguing that “reckless overspending” by the province’s Liberal government has cost jobs in the province.

At first blush, when you read these releases, you ask yourself; ‘Are these people – all members of the same political party – casting these messages from different planets or is there some kind of a split-brain thing happening here? Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

Following the first of a three-part series in the Toronto Star this August 15 – a series investigating the conditions under which sea mammals at the popular Marineland amusement park in Niagara Falls, Ontario have no choice but to contend with – a provincial member of parliament is calling on the Ontario government to set tougher regulations for the treatment of these wondrous living beings in captivity.

Toronto Star does its number on Marineland in Niagara Falls, Ontario.

“Today’s (August 15) story about Marineland was truly heart wrenching,” said Cheri DiNovo, an NDP MPP for the Toronto riding of Parkdale-High Park of accounts by former Marineland employees of alleged lousy, life-threatening conditions for animals like ‘Larry’, a favourite harbour seal for park visitors who has reportedly gone blind due to skunky water conditions. “These allegations should be a wake-up call for the Ontario government to take the lead in regulating the treatment of sea mammals in Ontario. …

“How can we as a society put regulations on individual pet owners,” Di Novo asked, “but not on companies which use animals for entertainment?”

Allow this reporter who, two decades ago, wrote a series of stories for the St. Catharines Standard, chronicling concerns raised by former Marineland and employees ago, to take a stab at answering this rather naïve, however well-intentioned  question from the MPP.  Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

Kevin Smith calls it “the most contentious issues” he has yet to deal with before wrapping up his year-long stint as supervisor of the Niagara Health System with a set of recommendations to the provincial government on how and where the NHS should manage hospital services in this region for years to come.

Niagara, Ontario area doctors Chander Bhagirath and Ken Reddy, in foreground, urge Niagara Health System supervisor Kevin Smith and expert panel to keep maternity services at Niagara Falls and Welland hospital sites. Photo by Doug Draper

Where should maternity care services – pediatrics and obstetrics – be located in Niagara, Ontario in the years ahead?

Should they all be based at the new hospital complex the NHS is opening in west St. Catharines next year? Or should maternity care be split between the new hospital and two other hospitals the NHS operates in Welland and Niagara Falls. 

With medical staff in the NHS divided between “consolidating” the services at the the new hospital or splitting them between three sites, Smith has called on a panel of hospital experts to help him arrive at a decision where he warned during an initial meeting of the panel this August 14 that whatever decision is made, “someone is going to be unhappy” because there is no room for compromise between those two choices. Continue reading →

By Mark Taliano

“Canada, formerly respected throughout the world as a nation of peacekeepers and diplomats, succumbs to jingoist overtures from a militant P.M who seems oblivious to the realities of illegal warfare …” 

Iraqi war veteran Mike Prysner is a prophet.  He explains that he was the terrorist in Iraq, that the real terrorism is the occupation of Iraq, and that the real enemies are not overseas, but at home.

U.S. Iraq War vetneran Mike Prysner joints in anti-war rally.

Those who seek profit from war, the armaments industry that make the weapons, the media conglomerates that black out protests, the generals who lobby the politicians, the politicians who launch illegal wars of aggression, and ultimately, the people who fight the wars,  are the enemies at home, to which Mike Prysner is referring. 

Without exception, each of these “enemies” profits, to some degree or another, from cataclysmic war.

Lockheed Martin, when it successfully lobbies Canada to buy sole-source, untendered F-35 war planes, designed for offensive bombing operations, profits from war.  According to Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page, the price of the planes will be $C29.3 billion over 30 years, not the $C16-18 billion that the government promised. Continue reading →

A Brief Comment by Doug Draper 

What is wrong with Niagara, Ontario’s regional government? Why does it seem to almost always be afraid of its own shadow when it comes to taking a stand on issues that are no-brainers?

Whether it is a lack of courage to do what the Region of Waterloo did more than five years ago – to build a real, viable regional transit system in a two-tier municipal system not all that different than Niagara’s or to at long last create an amalgamated economic development service for businesses that might want to locate and create jobs here – this regional council too often reacts like a deer caught in the headlights. And almost always, it is a paralyzing brand of parochialism – as in local fiefdoms refusing to work together because they view their interests as superseding the interests of the region as a whole – that get in the way. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

There’s an old line that goes; “They shoot horses, don’t they?”

It’s a line I don’t like that applies horses that have become so badly injured or infirmed in the eyes of their owners that they are no longer earning their oats. So out comes the gun and BANG! It’s over.

Well, I’ve been putting off saying this because of some age old reverence I have for a once-proud federal agency called Environment Canada, but perhaps it is time that the same line applied to it. I mean what is the point of Canada pretending that it still has a federal agency that plays some real role in environmental surveillance and protection when that agency has had all of the guts it needs to get the job done ripped out of it?

So let’s be honest. If Canadians support a federal government that has little or no use for environmental protection – a government that goes so far as to call any individual or group that places environmental protection above unfettered tar sands expansion an “extremist” or “adversary of Canada” – why bother having a federal environment department? Why not shut Environment Canada down now and save the taxpayers of the country however hundreds of millions of dollars it is costing to keep this ghost of a once vital voice for our natural heritage running? They shoot horses, don’t they? Continue reading →

A Foreword by NAL publisher Doug Draper

Last year The Globe and Mail published a story about the difficulty new teachers, fresh out of teachers’ college, are having getting a foot in the classroom door.

One of the problems for newly minted teachers is demographics. There are simply fewer kids to teach in our elementary and secondary schools than there were a decade ago. Another key reason new teachers are having trouble getting hired, according to The Globe report, is that a goodly number of retired teachers aren’t really retiring.

Ontario Education Minister Laurel Broten

These retired teachers, some of whom were quoted saying that their retirement pensions were not adequately covering the cost of their retirement, were signing up with school boards in their areas for supply teacher positions. And with the backing of their unions and area school administrators who would rather take a chance with a veteran than a rookie, they are typically the first to be called when a staff teacher cuts out for days or weeks on end due to illness or some other reason. That has been leaving many new teachers missing out on what opportunities there are left these days to show their stuff.

For anyone who believes it is important to bring young people with new ideas and energy in to an area as important as the education of our children, a system that makes it hard for young teachers to get a foot in the classroom because teachers who have retired won’t retire enough to give new blood the right of way, ought to be a concern. Continue reading →

Posted by Doug Draper

“The past few years have been hard on our community.”

So stresses a note Elisabeth Zimmermann, executive direct of YMCA Niagara Region on the Ontario side of our greater region’s border sent to the regional government’s chairman, Gary Burroughs and his council late this July.

“Homelessness and poverty have increased 60 per cent, placing a greater strain on service providers and the government alike,” this note which every resident in this region goes on to say. “The latest reports indicate that Niagara continues to carry two to three percent higher-than-the-national average unemployment rate with plant closures and job losses reported on a seemingly daily basis.” 

“Niagara is also in the bottom five communities in Canada for lowest median Canada (and) with changes to federal unemployment rules, fewer Niagarians qualify for this insurance Previously in place safety nets have been removed by the federal government, causing a greater burden on provincial and municipal governments.

“This information is not new to you. We know that,” continues Zimmermann’s powerful note to our regional leaders and, indeed, it shouldn’t be. Continue reading →

(Niagara At Large would like to preface this post with an apology to the Niagara Land Trust, a dedicated group of volunteers working with other bodies across our region on nature preservation projects.

The information in this post was circulated in late June and somehow it slipped by us. NAL contacted Natalie Kiers, the Land Trust’s executive director early this August, and she graciously informed us that it is not too late to run it and she would be pleased if we did so. 

So grab your camera and head outdoors to see if you can capture an award-winning image of some of Niagara’s “winged jewels” before the September 17 deadline. Here are the details for the photo contest below.)

NIAGARA LAND TRUST 1ST PHOTO CONTEST – WINGED JEWELS OF NIAGARA

The Niagara Land Trust is pleased to announce its 1^st ever photo contest. From June 25^th to September 17^th, amateur and professional photographers are invited to snap pictures of butterflies, caterpillars, dragonflies or moths – Winged Jewels of Niagara and send in their photos.

The goal of the contest is to not only showcase the beautiful winged creatures out there but to encourage people to get outdoors to enjoy and appreciate nature and all that it has to offer.

“Areas all around southern Ontario have been experiencing some of the biggest springtime butterfly migrations in history, experts say we can continue to expect high numbers throughout the summer season.” says Natalie Kiers, NLT Executive Director. Winners will be featured on a poster which will be sold to a handful of local retailers throughout the region just in time for Christmas. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

She is a Canadian heroine whose actions during the War of 1812 helped drive back an invading American army.

One of the last photos of the first home of Laura Ingersoll Secord in Great Barrington, Massachusetts before it was torn down a century ago. Image courtest of members of Great Barrington Historical Society.

These days though, Laura Secord seems to be doing more to bring Canadians and Americans closer together as a delegation of officials and historians from Great Barrington, Massachusetts – a picturesque New England town nestled in the Berkshire Hills where she was born Laura Ingersoll in 1775 – meet with members of the Niagara-based  ‘Friends of Laura Secord’ group at her Queenston, Ontario homestead  this August 10. Continue reading →

(A brief foreword by Niagara At Large – So what do you think. Should we stay with the government-run LCBOs and Beer Stores or should we do what New York State and many other jurisdictions on this continent do, and allow the sale of beer, wine and other alcoholic beverages  in privately run stores?

Do you share the concerns some have that selling any beverage with an alcohol in it in a convenience store may make it easier for under age people or those with drinking problems to get their hands on alcohol? 

Do you believe the provincial government should continue to run LCBO and Beer Stores for the hundreds of millions they bring in each year for other services, like health care, or go for whatever immediate money it can get selling these outlets off to the private sector?

We invite you to share your views at the end of this post)

Submitted to Niagara At Large by Ontario’s opposition Progressive Conservative Party 

Submitted to Niagara At Large by the Niagara Parks Commission

(Niagara At Large is an independent news and commentary site which, among other things, is dedicated to promoting the historic and cultural heritage of our greater Niagara region. In that spirit, we are pleased to share advance news of the following event, commemorating the bincentennial of the War of 1812)

 26^thAnnual Siege of Old Fort Erie

War of 1812 Re-enactors at Old Fort Erie. File photo courtesy of Niagara Parks Commission

 Niagara Falls, Ontario – Staff at The Niagara Parks Commission’s (NPC) Old Fort Erie are preparing the final details for the 26^th Annual Siege Weekend at Old Fort Erie on August 11 -12, 2012. Canada’s largest battle re-enactment weekend portrays the excitement and drama of the War of 1812 with an action packed schedule of events planned for the entire weekend. Continue reading →

A Brief Comment by Doug Draper 

Whenever I try to make sense out of some of the madness in this world we live in, or at least try to find some reason to laugh in or at it, I often find myself turning to the gospel according to George – the late, great U.S. satirist and winner of the 2008 Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, George Carlin.

George Carlin

This is Carlin’s take on it, which some of us north of the Canada/U.S. border might identify with as well, at least so far as the references to lawyers, judges and politicians are concerned. Continue reading →