Niagara At Large

From the Council of Canadians 

(Niagara At Large is posting this piece from the Ottawa-based citizens group Council of Canadians, responding to a lack of funding for protecting the Great Lakes in the Ontario government’s March 27 budget.)

While the Ontario budget was released on Tuesday, there was no mention of funding for the Great Lakes. The Council of Canadians is calling on the McGuinty government to fulfill their promise of $52 million in spending for protecting the Great Lakes.

The Council of Canadians' Maude Barlow

“The Great Lakes are a commons – something that belongs to the Earth and all living beings – and are in dire need of funding to address invasive species, wetlands destruction, water withdrawals, multi-point pollution, climate change and other threats,” says Maude Barlow, National Chairperson for the Council of Canadians, “We need to invest in the Great Lakes now to protect it for current and future generations.”

During election campaigning MPP Laurel Broten of Etobicoke-Lakeshore riding outlined a $52 million plan to clean up the Great Lakes called the Great Lakes Protection Act. Continue reading →

 A Short Tribute by Doug Draper 

He was to the banjo what Jimi Hendrix was to the guitar and Oscar Peterson was to the piano.

One of popular music's greatest, the irreplacable Earl Scruggs

Unfortunately, but fortunately just the same, many people of an older age may remember him the most for his banjo playing in the theme song to the super popular 1960s TV show ‘The Beverly Hillbillies’. “Come listen to the story ‘bout a man named Jed. Poor mountaineer barely kept his family fed,” were among the memorable lyrics before Earl Scruggs punched in with a banjo solo that was mind-blowing for an instrument that had not much more stature than a vaudeville toy before he picked one up.

Earl Scruggs took up a banjo, like the late, great Paul Butterfield took up an equally under-rated instrument called the harmonica or harp, for short, and made it soar majestically and like a sconic boom, above guitars, string sections or any other musical backing laid down behind it. Continue reading →

By Fort Erie resident Paul Kassay

I wonder how many people took part in that so called “Town Hall meeting” in Fort Dreary the other night.  It was conducted as a kind of conference call  and lasted almost an hour. The idea was that callers were given a chance to speak directly to their senior elected officials and voice their beefs for all to hear.

Paul Kassay's depiction of the car wreck (with some thought given to the NASCAR track plan) that his town of Fort Erie, Ontario has become with one loss of job sites after another. Image courtesy of Paul Kassay.

My chance came after a wait that seemed an eternity. My question was; Why did not the OLG (Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation) coincide the closing of The Slots with the end of Horse racing season? “

Guess what ? I never did get on the program. I registered early and came on late, maybe too late. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper – A Brief Commentary  from Queen’s Park

It looks like the life or death of Dalton McGuinty’s Liberal minority government is now up to Ontario’s NDP leader Andrea Horwath.

Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath has a few very heavy days ahead of her

By Doug Draper

Let the war on younger people continue.

Seniors pension reform details in Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's March 29 budget.

In case you haven’t yet caught the news through The Globe and Mail and CBC, Canada’s federal government, through its March 29 budget announcements, is planning to move ahead with its plans to “reform” the Old Age Security pension program by pushing ahead the age of eligibility from age 65 to 67. Continue reading →

(Niagara At Large is continuing to post media releases it receives from Ontario’s party leaders and from Niagara area MPPs on provincial Liberal government’s March 27 budget. The following release is from the office of St. Catharines Liberal MPP and Ontario Environment Minister Jim Bradley.)

Strong Action For Ontario – Liberals Balance Budget, Protect Health Care and Education          

St. Catharines– The McGuinty government is taking strong action inthe 2012 Ontario Budget to tackle the provincial deficit while protecting seniors, health care and education in Niagara, St. Catharines MPP Jim Bradley announced today.

St. Catharines, Ontario Liberal MPP Jim Bradley

“Building a stronger Niagara and stronger Ontario is about making the right choices to protect what we’ve built together over the last eight years,” Bradley said. “But these are tough economic times that require difficult, but careful decisions. Rather than thoughtless across-the-board cuts, we are making appropriate choices to ensure that Ontario families are receiving the best possible services and the best value for tax dollars.”

Our government listened to Ontario families and developed a budget that reflects their priorities. We will protect and strengthen these priorities by: Continue reading →

(Niagara At Large is posting the following message from the office of Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak for our readers information.)

“Premier Dalton McGuinty took not an axe, but a butter knife to his budget.”- The Toronto Sun, March 27, 2012

March 28, 2012

QUEEN’S PARK– Ontario’s 600,000 unemployed will be saddened this morning to learn that Tuesday’s budget does nothing to give them hope, PC Leader Tim Hudak said today.

Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak

“The budget fails them on two counts,” Hudak said. “First, it’s not just the total absence of a jobs plan. It’s the fact that the budget actually makes things worse for the job creators who could help get our 600,000 unemployed men and women back to work.”

This is because the Liberals increased their tax load by canceling the promised next round of business tax reductions – in the midst of an economic downturn, Hudak said. Continue reading →

(Niagara At Large is posting the following public release from Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath for your information. With a minority Liberal government, and the NDP in a position to vote down the Liberal’s March 27 budget, triggering a provincial election if the opposition Conservatives join them in a non-confidence vote, you may wish to use the contact information in this post to express your views.)

Queen’s Park – New Democrat Leader Andrea Horwath called on Ontarians to have their say on the provincial budget released yesterday.

Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath

“We have been clear that in order for this provincial budget to be acceptable, it needs to work for everyday people,” said Horwath.  “Last October, Ontarians voted for positive change. In this minority government, New Democrats are taking this budget very seriously.”

Today, Horwath unveiled a website and toll-free number that Ontarians can use to tell New Democrats what they like and don’t like about yesterday’s budget.  Ontarians can have their say online at www.ondpcaucus.com/yoursay/, www.ondpcaucus.com/exprimez-vous/ or by telephone at 1-855-ONT-BDGT (668-2348). Continue reading →

By Preston Haskell

A front-page headline in the St. Catharines Standard readsPage Headline Standard reads: ‘Province Will Freeze Social Assistant Rages’.

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty takes it out on the down and out.

The Standard inserted an image of ‘The Great Impoverator’ into their article possibly to remind folks what kind of job he and his fellow dumb donkeys are doing. The Great Impoverator drives out Ontario Commerce and then throws the unemployed under the bus.

Before I go on I just have to say that the other political parties have had their turn at doing better and by looking at our deficit they demonstrate clearly that their only ability is to whine. They cannot even come up with a simple suggestion other than to ask us to vote THEIR sorry opposition donkeys into office! Continue reading →

(Niagara At Large is posting this media release from teacher unions in Ontario in the wake of the March 27 budget from the provincial government, calling on teachers  to accept at two year wage freeze, and calling on them accept some compromises with respect to their benefits, including having them pay more into their pensions in order to reduce the amount the pensions are topped up by Ontario taxpayers across the board.)

Ontario Secondary School Teachers' president Ken Coran

Toronto – When Minister Duncan introduced his budget today (March 27), he referred to contract negotiations in the education sector and said, “if no agreement can be struck to protect Ontario’s progress in education and health care, we are prepared to propose necessary administrative and legislative measures to protect the public from service disruptions…Respect will be our watchword when it comes to these negotiations. Respect for our public-sector partners. Respect for the collective bargaining process.” Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

So you say you want a provincial budget that takes the axe to spending? And you certainly don’t want to pay any more in the way of income taxes, do you?

A depiction of the "new" West Lincoln Memorial Hospital

So something has to give. And how about starting in Niagara with the multi-million-dollar rebuild planned for the Grimsby, Ontario-based West Lincoln Memorial Hospital, which happens to be in Ontario Progressive Conservative leader Tim Hudak’s riding of Niagara West-Glanbrook. Continue reading →

From the Office of Welland NDP MPP Cindy Forster

 (Niagara At Larger is posting this media release from Welland MPP Cindy Forster on the second day of a strike of Brock University Instructors in English as a Second Language that began on March 26. The decision to strike followed news that the University had found an “error” in the draft of a collective agreement reached with the instructors and their union, and therefore refused to sign that agreement.)

Queen’s Park– Cindy Forster, NDP MPP for Welland, expressed her support for striking English as a Second Language Instructors at Brock University.

Welland, Ontario Riding MPP Cindy Forster. File photo by Doug Draper

 “CUPE 4207-3 bargained in good faith with Brock University. Together they came up with a mutually acceptable collective agreement. That should be the end of story, but now the employer claims they didn’t cross their t’s and dot their i’s.” said Forster. “Smart people run Brock University. I find it hard to believe they’d make such an elementary mistake.” 

To avoid any further disruption to the lives of students and faculty Forster urged Brock University to put an end to this unnecessary labour dispute and to respect a fairly negotiated collective agreement. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

Listen up Niagara regional council. You now have a  guy with a no-B.S., kick-butt, suffers-idiot-remarks-lightly record on your hands.

His name is Peter Kormos, the former Ontario NDP member for the Welland Riding and once Ontario cabinet minister, who won a byelection this March 26 for a seat as a Welland respresentative on regional council.

Kormos beat out about half a dozen rivels, including former Welland Mayor Damian Goulbourne, who lost a bid in the municipal elections more than a year ago to win a regional council seat, then lost an attempt in December of 2010 to become Niagara’s regional chairman. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

The mayor of St. Catharines, Ontario says he plans to table a notice of motion at the next Niagara regional council meeting – calling for pulling the plug on a $80-million-plus plan to build and operate a new police headquarters in Niagara Falls.

The current Niagara Regional Police Headquarters in St. Catharines, Ontario. Should we keep it? Photo by Doug Draper

St. Catharines Mayor Brian McMullan confirmed his desire to table the motion following a March 22 Niagara regional council meeting in which he once again argued that whatever reasons there may have been for moving the police headquarters from downtown St. Catharines to Niagara Falls, at a capital cost totaling more than $80 million, have died.

Those reasons included the possible location of the Canada Border Service Agency in a new Niagara Falls headquarters, which now seems unlikely as the CBSA has yet, after more than a year, to agree it wants to locate there. Continue reading →

A Brief Comment by Doug Draper, Photos by Dan Wilson

 As we all know, we’ve been having some unusually warm weather lately following a winter that never was.

Grass fire in dull blaze in March in Niagara, Ontario. Photo by Dan Wilson

Lounging outdoors in t-shirts and short plants, watching tree buds burst around us is not the norm for this time of year in Niagara. It’s usually hard to find a grass fire this time of year too. Grass doesn’t burn all that well when it is either covered with snow or still all soaked with water from the snow melting.

Yet this past March 23, residents in the Thorold area of Niagara were treated to walls of flames, rolling through the fields of Beaverdams for a good hour or so before firefighters were able to bring the situation under control. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

 In a March 26 media release, Brock University calls it “a very unfortunate situation.”

Stricking Brock Univesity instructors. Photo by Doug Draper

 It certainly seemed that way – for the St. Catharines, Ontario-based university, for its students, for the instructors who are out on strike, and for those commuters using routes in and around the Merrittville Highway/St. David’s Road intersection where there seemed to be more than enough Niagara Regional Police directing traffic this March 26 than you might find at the scene of a train wreck.

The 30 to 40 strikers – all instructors in ‘English as a Second Language’ program and members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees – began picketing this March 26 in front of the main entrances of this university because, according to a few I talked to on the same date, all they want is some job security. All they want, they say,  is some decent compensations from a university that doesn’t mind paying its highest one per cent well into the hundreds of thousands of dollars taken from our tax funds and debt-ridden students each year. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper, Niagara At Large

Boy oh boy, the already well-endowed in the high-paid stratosphere really know how to look after their own, don’t they?  Don’t you wish you could wander in to some six-figure deal for yourself– all at the taxpayer’s expense?

Niagara, Ontario's 2011 'Sunshine Girl' Debbie Sevenpifer. File photo by Doug Draper

Take the case of Debbie Sevenpifer, now the former chief executive officer or CEO, of the Niagara Health System, the former Ontario Conservative government amalgamated body now responsible for most of the hospital services in Niagara, Ontario. In other words, take the case of someone who, just this past year, ran a hospital organization that experienced a disproportionately high number of C-diff deaths in the country and was subject last year to a professional survey of Niagara residents on its performance that was almost as negative in the responses received from the public as that done on Tyoto when its car’s were receiving world-side headlines for catastrophic accelerator-peddle failtures. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

Another two to three per cent annual wage increase for the police? The response to police union demands for an increase like that should be a flat no, says St. Catharines regional councillor Bruce Timms. The taxpayers of this region, he says, simply can’t afford it.

“I want the same two-year pay freeze for the police,” added Timms at a regional council meeting this March 22, “that (the province) is asking teachers for.”

“I think we all should respect the taxpayers and not just selfishly ask for more and more and more,” Timms continued of recent media reports that the union representing the Niagara Regional Police is using its latest contract talks with Niagara, Ontario’s regional government to ask for wage increases comparable to the 2.5 to three per cent yearly increases police forces of similar size are getting across the province. Continue reading →

 (Niagara At Large is posting the following March 23 release on federal funding for the community work of AIDS Niagara for our readers’ information.)

ST. CATHARINES, Ontario – On behalf of the Minister of Health Leona Aglukkaq, Rick Dykstra, Member of Parliament for St. Catharines, today announced support for a community-based project to improve knowledge and reduce the rate of HIV in that region.

St. Catharines, Ontario MP Rick Dykstra

“Through education and awareness programs, this project seeks to reduce the rate of HIV infection among high-risk populations including First Nations, Inuit and Métis,” said Mr. Dykstra. “Our Government applauds the work of AIDS Niagara as they continue to make great strides in addressing HIV and AIDS at the community level.” 

AIDS Niagara’s mission is to improve the quality of life for those infected with or affected by HIV/AIDS and to reduce the spread of HIV. Continue reading →

From Fiona McMurran
 
Dear Friends,

We are all concerned about the future  of the world’s water, and particularly about the fate of the millions of  people around the globe who lack access to clean water and sanitation. On the week of this  World Water Day (observed this March 22, there is one action you can take that might make a  difference. Continue reading →

NAL Hudak on Energy

 From the Office of Tim Hudak

 QUEEN’S PARK– Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak led a special Legislative debate this March 22 on another of his ideas for kick-starting private sector job creation – The Affordable Energy and Restoration of Local Decision Making Act, 2012.

Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak joins anti-wind farm rally on lawns of Queen's Park last year.

“Affordable energy is a building block of a strong Ontario that meets the expectations of its people: Excellent education, dependable health care and world-beating infrastructure,” Hudak said. “But to be able to pay for these things, we need to get the basics right. And one of those basics is affordable energy.” Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

If I were ‘King of Ontario’, one the first things I would do is give the royal boot to the head of the province’s Lottery and Gaming Corporation, Paul Godfrey, and his partner in gambling, the “honourable” finance minister Dwight Duncan, and replace them with Paul Collard.

Fort Erie, Ontario town councillor Paul Collard has a better grip on what to do about gambling mess than province does.

Who is Paul Collard, you may ask?

Well, Paul Collard is a councillor for the Town of Fort Erie, Ontario and after spending a half hour or so with him on the phone, I’m convinced that he may know more about the ups and downs of gambling industry than both Godfrey and Duncan combined, and he most certainly has a better feel for what it can do to dash people’s hopes and dreams.

Collard does not work in the gambling industry himself, nor is he a gambler, but he has two sons in their 30s, Ryan and Randy, working full-time in the industry. They are among the more than 200 people who will be losing their jobs at the end of this April when the OLG and its provincial government masters shut the doors on the Slots facility that opened with such fanfare in Fort Erie a mere 13 years ago. Continue reading →

By Dr. Gary Screaton Page

(This is the third in a series of articles by Dr. Gary Screaton Page that Niagara At Large is posting about some of the immigrants and refugees who have come to Canada to begin a new life after some often unimaginably brutal experiences they have suffered through in their countries of origin. In these posts, based on stories Dr. Page has learned from helping newcomers to the country in his border town of Fort Erie, Ontario, names have either been changed or last names have been omitted to protect individuals and their families and friends from any repercussions in their native lands.)

Human trafficking is one of the fastest growing crimes in Canada. A form of slavery, this crime often preys on immigrants and refugees who do not speak any English. Here is just one of their stories.

Dr. Gary Screaton Page

Nineteen-year-old Timea could not conceal the joy she felt as she boarded the plane for Canada. The agent who had hired her in Hungary and arranged for her flight told her she would have the choice of working as a nanny, housekeeper, or dancer when she arrived. With her education and entertainment industry background these opportunities sounded interesting to her. Not only would she be able to earn some money while travelling in Canada, she would also be learning first hand about Canadian culture.

Filled with a young woman’s sense of adventure, Timea disembarked and was met by her Canadian employers at the Toronto International Airport arrival gate. Quickly they whisked her away to her summer residence where Timea’s joy turned to horror. Continue reading →

By Mark Taliano

Sheldon S. Wolin, in his book Managed Democracy And The Specter Of Inverted Totalitarianism offers some particularly powerful points that resonate in Canada’s current political environment.

Voter management, (which is particularly timely with the current electoral fraud controversy) is a form of “managed democracy”.  It occurs not only when illegal voter suppression tactics are used, but also with the time-honored propaganda technique of repeating slogans.

When a slogan is constantly repeated, people make the assumption that it is correct, even though the assumption necessarily isn’t based upon evidence.  An example of this would be the repetition of the “corporate tax cuts” slogan.  Evidence shows that these cuts are not producing results, but people assume the opposite because they are bombarded with the message. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

A Niagara, Ontario citizens group dedicated to protecting and preserving our region’s heritage resources is hoping to strengthen its hand by joining forces with the 79-year-old Architectural Conservancy of Ontario.

Niagara Heritage Alliance President Val O'Donnell

The two-year-old citizens group, called the Niagara Heritage Alliance and made up of volunteer individuals and groups across the region, feels that signing on as a branch of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario (ACO) will benefit is efforts in a number of ways, says its president Val O’Donnell.

Those benefits include “instant charitable status, access to an excellent province-wide organization with a remarkable record (and) the opportunity to participate in all ACO activities, (and) to share the experience and expertise of others dedicated to the preservation of our heritage,” added O’Donnell in a recent media release. Continue reading →

A Media Release from Niagara Region

Niagara Region unveils new logo for this year's "Cultural Capital" Program. Image courtesy of Niagara Region.

March 21, 2012 – Niagara’s 2012 Cultural Capital of Canada Program was officially launched today at a ceremony at Niagara Region Headquarters attended by Niagara Falls MP and Minister of Justice the Honourable Rob Nicholson, Niagara Region Chair Gary Burroughs, and a number of Niagara’s political and cultural leaders.

The Government of Canada officially designated Niagara Region as a Cultural Capital of Canada for 2012 on October 14, 2011. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

Wasn’t it just a month or so ago that Kevin Smith, the supervisor appointed by the province to get the Niagara Health System in order, tossed out the idea of a new hospital for Niagara, Ontario’s southern tier?

The only new hospital Niagara is likely to get for many years to come - way over there in the former farm fields of west St. Catharines. Photo by Doug Draper

Well, we might just as well forget that idea, if it was ever one we could take all that seriously in the first place.According to a front-page story in this March 21^st’s Globe and Mail, the province’s Liberal government will be announcing plans by the end of the month to “axe” several hospital construction projects that are already on the books – all as part of austerity measures aimed at driving down a $16 billion deficit. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

I read the story that my journalist colleague John Robbins posted this March 20 on Bullet News, and I was outraged.

Niagara Falls MPP Kim Craitor

This story focused on the threats being leveled against Niagara Falls MPP Kim Craitor over the decision his government, the Liberal government of Premier Dalton McGuinty,   made to close ‘The Slots’ in Fort Erie, throwing more than 200 people out of work by the end of this April, and possibly leading to the end of many hundreds of more jobs at the Fort Erie Race Track within the end of this year.

If people in the Fort Erie area want to blame Craitor, who happens to be a Liberal MPP and whose riding happens to include Fort Erie, for the decision his government made, that is their prerogative. Yet there is no excuse – none whatsoever – for threatening that MPP or any other to a point where they feel afraid to set foot in any part of their constituency for fear of being physically attacked . Anyone who fires off those kinds of threats should be reported to the police and charged accordingly. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

(Publisher’s Note: This is one of those times where I started out with the idea of writing one story – in this case the labour dispute at a Niagara, Ontario humane society over plans to introduce a two-tier wage system – and could not ignore the other story which is the scarcity of funds the humane society receives from governments and other sources to provide those who work there to care for animals a livable wage.

The question that remains from both of these stories is this: Do we care enough about animals in need to properly fund the people we entrust to look after them?)

On the picket line, from left, Lincoln County Humane Society employees Sean Keating, Matthew McCalmont and Matt Huber. Photo by Doug Draper

It is a sad sign of the times for a growing number of young people entering the workforce.

You are 20-something years old, you apply for and are offered a job, only to find out that you will never be paid the same amount of money for doing the same work as someone who is already there. You are working on the bottom of what is called a “two-tier wage and benefit system” that more and more employers seem to be resorting to these days as another way to keep their costs down. Never mind that you may be coming out of school carrying a heavy debt and will be facing the same increasing costs of living as employees already working there at the higher wage.

 “No two-tier workplace” is the rallying cry of about a dozen Lincoln County Humane Society employees who have been on strike since this February when talks broke down between the union representing them and managers of the St. Catharines-based shelter for animals. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

Ontario’s Liberal government is planning to change the way it funds many of the province’s hospitals in an effort to improve patient care.

Ontario Health Minister Deb Matthews

 A total of 91 hospitals across the province, including all the hospitals still operating in the Niagara region (those in St. Catharines, Niagara Falls, Welland and Grimsby/West Lincoln), will be included in this new “patient-based funding model” to be phased in over the next three years, according to an announcement and background information released this March 19 by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.

“Our current funding model for hospitals is out of date and doesn’t reflect the needs of the communities they serve,” said Ontario Health Minister Deb Matthews as news of the funding changes were being circulated. “As part of our Action Plan we are implementing a system that funds hospitals to increase services where needed, deliver quality care more efficiently and serve more patients.” Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

“Columbia Records is proud to introduce a major new figure in American folk music.”

The album that started it all

The name of the album was ‘Bob Dylan’ and it was the first modest release by a young artist who, through the power of his lyrics and a daring blend of folk and rock sounds, revolutionized popular music for generations to come. The release was so modest, in fact, that it originally sold only a few thousand copies and the business suits at Columbia, far from being proud, were ready to dump Bob Dylan, even though the record cost less than 500 bucks to make. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

 To all of our Irish friends out there, have a great St. Patrick’s Day where ever you go and whatever you do to celebrate everthing green, including the coming of spring.

Happy St. Patrick's Day from the streets of Buffalo. File photo by Doug Draper

And isn’t it fabulous that this year, St. Patrick’s Day falls on a Saturday so that those of us who are so inclined can go on seamlessly – except perhaps a few hours of sleep – celebrating well into Sunday when our greater Niagara region plays host to the biggest, green festivities this side of Toronto, New York City and Chicago.

Those festivities rev up along Delaware Avenue and around the Allentown and Elmwood Avenue area in downtown Buffalo, New York where the bar hopping is well underway by noon and one of the largest St. Patrick’s Parade  on the continent starts marching northward up Delaware from the downtown at 2 p.m.

Whether you are Irish or not, it is a fun day if you don’t mind walking several blocks from where ever you find a place to park your car. If you go, I’ll be hanging around the corner of Delaware Avenue and Allen Street during parade time wearing an “Irish For A Day” button. Maybe I’ll catch you there for a pint or two.

From an Ontario PC Party Media Release

While Niagara Falls’ Liberal MPP Kim Craitor was announcing “great news” this March 16 about the province’s dccision to keep Casino Niagara open, Ontario PC leader was down the road a few hours earlier talking about the region’s bleak jobless figures.

Ontario PC leader Tim Hudak

Ontario is in the midst of a deepening jobs crisis, and nowhere is it worse than in the Niagara Region, said Hudak during a media briefing he held at a Commisso grocery store in Niagara Falls.

 “When it comes to job losses, this area is the second-hardest hit inOntario, with an unemployment rate of 10.2 per cent,” Hudak said. “All because this (Ontario Liberal) government has no plan for job creation, and is actually worsening the jobs crisis every day of the week.” Continue reading →

NAL casino a go

By Doug Draper

It was a pretty good turnout of media for an announcement that has been predicted for most of this week.

Niagara Falls MPP Kim Craitor confirms casino will stay open. Photo by Doug Draper

“Casino Niagara is here to stay. It is a done deal,” said Niagara Falls MPP Kim Craitor at the start of a media conference he hosted this March 16 in the lobby of the casino.

The announcement puts to rest any doubt that may have lingered through the past week about the fate of the casino – one of two operating in Niagara Falls, Ontario – and to the jobs of the hundreds of people who work there. It does little, however, to soften the blow for neighbouring Fort Erie where it was learned this March 14 that the provincial government will be closing the 13-year-old Slots facility in that border community at the end of this April – a decision that kills more than 200 jobs there and puts in jeopardy the adjoining horse racing track that counts on some of the revenue from the Slots to pay its way. Continue reading →

A Brief Comment by Doug Draper

I’ve never been much of a gambler but I’m willing to bet right now that the Ontario government has decided to keep both casinos on the Canadian side of the Falls open.

Niagara Falls, Ontario MPP Kim Craitor. File photo by Doug Draper

Why am I willing to place that bet? Because earlier this March 15, the office of Kim Craitor, the Liberal government MPP for Niagara Falls, released a notice to the media that Craitor will be at Casino Niagara this Friday, March 16 to make an announcement about Casino Niagara, which is the older of the two casinos in the Honeymoon City and the one most likely to close.

With emotions still raw in the Fort Erie end of Craitor’s riding over the Liberal’s decision to close the Slots facility there at the end of April, I am assuming that the Niagara Falls MPP would not want to be caught within five blocks of the Niagara River gorge, let alone right across the street from it, if he was there to announce the closing of one of the casinos. That’s this reporter’s bet anyway. Nothing much left to do now but  see how the dice roll.

 By Doug Draper

A few years back, Bob Prankard, a Niagara Falls, Ontario resident who was working for a not-for-profit relief agency called True North Aid brought some photographs  back from the northern Ontario community of Attawapiskat that made a profound impact on his son Wes’s life.

Wes Prankard, second from left, with fellow Camp Out supporters, from left, Sterling Ryan, Kai Absolom and Wes's sister Angel. Photo by Doug Draper

The photos documented the hardship this First Nations community was going through following a huge sewage backup that left many men, women and children without a home. “He looked at those pictures,” recalled Bob of his son’s reaction, “and said; We’ve got to do something.”

And Wes Prankard, now 13-years old, has been doing something ever since. Continue reading →

NAL meet on the bus again,

 Submitted by Jennifer Sinclair

(Niagara At Large is pleased, once again, to keep our readers posted on a unique opportunity this coming March 21 to ‘Meeton the Bus’ with some of your fellow Niagara, Ontario citizens  to support the region’s inter-municipal transit system and to participate in a discussion about ways of contributing positively to our communities.

The topic on this ‘Meeting on the Bus’ trip is ‘What is your vision of Niagara?’ and the fare is free because this trip is occurring on the same day – Wednesday, March 21 – CKTB Radio (610 AM) in St. Catharines, in cooperation with Niagara’s regional government, is sponsoring a ‘Free Transit Day’ all day from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. for all Niagara Region Transit buses operating between the three main hubs of St. Catharines, Welland and Niagara Falls, Ontario.

For times and locations for bus stops to join the ‘Meeting on the Bus’ event, click on the map posted below to enlarge it for those details.)

March 21 FREE Meeting on the Bus  

In support of the Free Transit Day initiative Meetings on the Bus will be holding our March monthly meeting on Wednesday, March 21^st.   The topic for our meeting is, “What is YOUR vision of Niagara?” 

This map shows the locations of bus stops and times of departure and return at each stop for those interested in particpating in the Meeting on the Bus event. Just click on this map to enlarge it to full screen.

Please share this invitation with your network and encourage everyone to come out and show their support for the Regional Transit.  In addition to the FREE fare everyone who joins us will get a FREE Meet on the Bus button. 

Please find attached a map with the itinerary for the Meeting.  We will be starting at the Downtown St. Catharines terminal and will travel to Welland and then Niagara Falls, picking up participants along the way.  If you choose to do the circle you will return to your starting destination within three hours.  Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

“It’s not a good day for us,” were Fort Erie, Ontario  regional councillor John Teal’s first words to Niagara At Large after he and other local representatives were told this March 14 that the Slots facility in his border town will be closed at the end of April, putting more than 200 people out of work.

 The stinging news came from the province’s Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation and was hardly unexpected following the OLG’s unveiling earlier in the week of a plan for “modernizing” the gaming industry in the province by closing down some older gambling facilities and locating a new casino somewhere in the Greater Toronto Area.

Still the confirmation that the 13-year-old Slots facility will be among the casualties hit Teal and others in the Niagara area hard and left them with some sharp words for Premier Dalton McGuinty and his Liberal government, along with worries that the century-and-a-half old Fort Erie Race Track, which receives some of its support money from the Slots, may be the next to fall. Continue reading →

Niagara At Large News Briefs

MALCOLM ALLEN, MP, WELLAND TO HOST TOWN HALL MEETING ON OLD AGE SECURITY

WELLAND– On Saturday, Member of Parliament for Welland, Malcolm Allen will be joined by NDP Seniors Critic, Irene Mathyssen and CUPE Pension Specialist Kevin Skerrett for a public discussion on the importance of Old Age Security.

Welland, Ontario Riding MP Malcolm Allen

The Conservative government in Ottawa is threatening the retirement security of all Canadians. A few weeks ago, PM Stephen Harper announced his government is considering a major cut to our Old Age Security program. He wants to increase the eligible age for OAS from 65 to 67. This town hall meeting will give members of the community an opportunity to voice their concerns and receive current information regarding this important issue.

 SATURDAY, MARCH 17    WELLAND, Ontario, 12 noon

Town Hall Meeting on Old AgeSecurity,  Council Chambers, Welland Civic Square.  60 Main Street East, Welland, ON Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

Now there is a great idea for addressing Ontario’s economic woes. Get more young people gambling.

Preying on the young. How much more desperate is Ontario going to get for gambling revenue?

 Let’s take a whole generation of young adults, many of whom are graduating from college and university these days with huge debts to pay off, if they can find a decent job to pay them off with,  and get them more engaged in buying lottery tickets and wandering into casinos to play the slots and crap tables.

That was one of the barely disguised messages that came out of the report and recommendations Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation chairman Paul Godfrey, joined by the province’s Finance Minister Dwight Duncan, introduced this past Monday, March 12 for “modernizing” the gaming racket in Ontario. The report identified as one of a number of weak points in Ontario’s grip on “gaming customers” the fact that young people in their 20s and 30s make up the smallest percentage of casino visitors and lottery ticket purchases. All the more reason to make the province’s gambling opportunities available online and at grocery store and other retail checkouts, and to develop other strategies for luring in more young players. Continue reading →

From the Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce, March 13

(The following post is one Niagara, Ontario business group’s reaction to news from Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation chairman Paul Godfrey this March 12 that the OLG is recommending locating a new casino in the Greater Toronto Area and possibly closing one or more existing casinos. A decision on the fate of one of the two casinos in Niagara Falls, Ontario could be decided as soon as this coming Friday, March 16. The OLG’s plan also leaves the future of the Fort Erie, Ontario Racetrack and adjoining Slots venue on the ropes.)

Niagara, Ontario – After a review of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation’s (OLG) plan to modernize the gaming industry in Ontario, which includes the opening of a new casino in Toronto and shuttering the slots at racetracks such as the Fort Erie Racetrack, the future of Niagara’s gaming industry is in doubt.

OLG chairman OLG unveils plan that could significantly downsize gambling operations in Niagara, Ontario.

A Commentary by Doug Draper

(The following commentary was written in the wake of news earlier this month that the province’s Liberal government is asking elementary and secondary school teachers to accept a two-year freeze in wages and a cut in some of their benefits, including the number of banked sick days they can cash in on upon retirement, to help beat a monster $16 billion deficit down.)

In a well-worn book on my shelves called ‘Teaching as a Subversive Activity’, there is a recommendation for teachers I believe makes as much sense now as it did when the book was first published 43 years ago.

Ontario Education Minister Laurel Broten is now asking teachers to accept what MPPs have agreed to again - a wage freeze.

The recommendation made by the book’s authors Neil Postman and Charles Weingartner, who collectively had many years of experience teaching in elementary and high schools, and in Postman’s case, teaching teachers at New York University, goes like this; ‘Require every teacher to take a one-year leave of absence every fourth year to work in some field other than education.”

The authors of the book went on to explain why taking a job doing almost anything else from driving a cab to stocking shelves in a retail store might do teachers (who, after all, have spent a good deal of their lives in a school, moving from one side of the desk as students to the other side as teachers) some good every once in a while. “Such an experience,” they wrote, can be taken as evidence, albiet shaky, that the teacher has been in contact with reality at some point.” Continue reading →

By Mark Taliano

 On Sunday, March 11 rallies were held in about 30 cities across Canada to protest the infection of electoral fraud that tainted the 2011 Canadian federal election.

Ontario residents gather in Toronto to protest robo-call scandal. Photo by Tori Crispo.

The Toronto rally of about 2,000 people was hosted independently by Occupy Canada moderator Jonathan Allan, and featured numerous speakers, including Sherif Azer, Assistant Secretary General of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights.
 
The rally started at Yonge and Dundas Square, the heart of consumerism, and ended at the old City Hall  and the Cenotaph, the hearts of freedom.  Electoral fraud is a direct, frontal attack on democracy and freedom, so the setting at the Cenotaph was particularly poignant.
Continue reading →

A Niagara At Large Brief

If we Canadians think we are much better than our American neighbours when it comes to race relations, consider the life of would-be National Hockey League star Herb Carnegie.

Herb Carnegie

Carnegie, who was born in Toronto, Ontario and died there at age 92 this March 9, was honoured with the Order of Ontario and Order of Canada during his lifetime, but he never was able to realize his dream of playing in the National Hockey League. That is because he was barred from playing in the NHL in the 1930s and 40s because he was black.

In the United States, even major league baseball finally opened the doors to Black Americans in 1947 with the signing of Jackie Robinson to the Brooklyn (now the Los Angeles) Dodgers. Yet Carnegie’s formidable talents as a player were confined to a number of teams in the then Quebec Provincial League, winning numerous Most Valuable Player Awards, until he retired from hockey in 1953. Continue reading →

A Brief Comment by Doug Draper

Is it time to turn the clocks ahead one hour already? Damn!

They call it “daylight savings time,” and I don’t get it. If it means having to get used to getting up in the pitch black again to feed the cats at 7 o’clock in the morning – just as I was starting to enjoy the sun rising at that hour  –  then where does the daylight part come in?

I’ll be thinking about that when I get up in the dark this March 11 to feed the cats and do what we all have to do on that date – turn every damn clock in the house ahead one hour so we can begin an extra hour of light in the evening, when it is still technically winter and too early in the year to start the gardens or sit out under a tree reading a book..

I’m all for doing what we used to and waiting another three or four weeks to turn those clocks back when it’s warmer outside and there is more daylight to enjoy in the evening and the morning. What do you think?  

By Doug Draper

An already struggling Niagara Falls, New York has received some news that could deal the city yet another serious economic blow.

One of the cargo carriers from the Niagara Falls, New York Air Force base.

The city, which has suffered more than its share of job losses in recent decades with the erosion of its once mighty manufacturing base, was informed this past March 6 that U.S. Pentagon cuts could mean the loss of 845 jobs, including 580 part-time Air National Guardsmen positions, at the Niagara Falls, New York Air Reserve Station, according to a recent story in The Buffalo News.

The cuts could also reduce the number of the U.S. Air Reserve Station’s  C-130 cargo planes – aircraft people on both sides of the Canada-U.S. borders have sometimes seen lumbering in the skies overhead – from 11 to eight in the year ahead.

 Word of possible big cuts at the Niagara Falls, New York Air Force Base has been brewing since the start of the year when U.S. President Barack Obama outlined his desire to finally make some cuts to military spending after a decade of war in Afghanistan and Iraq. The U.S. Congress also has a target to cut the military budget by $487 billion over the next 10 years. Continue reading →

(Niagara At Large is posting the following March 9 media release, prepared by the province’s New Democratic Party, for our readers’ information.)

 Horwath lays out NDP’s budget priorities
Ontario needs a balanced approach to balancing the books

Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath

Queen’s Park – NDP Leader Andrea Horwath says the goal of the upcoming provincial budget must ensure the financial well-being of families who make our province work and laid out her priorities for the upcoming budget in an open letter to Premier Dalton McGuinty.

“The people of Ontario expect politicians to work together to make their lives better,” said Horwath. “We’re putting forward some concrete ideas that we hope to see reflected in the next budget and telling the Premier we expect him to put people first.” Continue reading →

By Dr. Gary Screaton Page

(Niagara At Large is pleased to post another  in a series of articles by Dr. Gary Screaton Page, a Niagara, Ontario resident and a chaplain with the Niagara Regional Police Service who also assists immigrants and refugees to Canada.  In this series, he recounts the experiences some of thse newcomers he has assisted faced in their homelands and it has been necessary not to give the full name of some indiv. in their homelands.)

To become involved in the political process is not only a right for Canadians, it is a duty. Not to participate is a slap in the face to those who gave their lives that we might be free to vote for the candidates of our choice. In Romuald’s homeland, politics can be deadly.

Dr. Gary Screaton Page

 Leaving the university and his students behind, Romuald headed home. As he rode along, the wind blowing through his hair, his thoughts turned toward home and the coming election. Romuald believed he had the support he needed to win a seat in the Senate. Little did he know that what lay ahead would change his life forever.

 As Romuald neared home, he didn’t see the rope strung across the roadway but he did feel it strike hard against his chest, knocking him from his bike. Dazed, disoriented, and bleeding from hitting the ground so hard, he was unable to fend off his attackers as they fell upon him. Pushing his knee into Romuald’s back the first assailant shouted at him as he pressed a gun against Romuald’s temple, “Stay down or I’ll kill you!” Continue reading →

 An Announcement from the Port Dalhousie Conservancy

(NAL is posting the following March 8 announcement from the Port Dalhousie Conservancy, a St. Catharines, Ontario area citizens group that has been fighting a development group’s plans to build 17-storey condo tower complex, dubbed Port Place, in the heart of a designated heritage district.

This announcement is a response to the recent news that the developers have decided not to move forward with a promised 415-seat theatre that would have been part of the Port Place project and may build a grocery store instead.)

MEDIA ANNOUNCEMENT

DROPPING PORT THEATRE WOULD COMPROMISE REVITALIZATION AND REQUIRE FULL NEW APPLICATION

Conservancy Would Welcome Scaled Down New Application Consistent With Planning Policies

The old Port Mansion, located in the heart of a designated 'Heritage District', would be completely levelled as part of the 17-storey condo tower project . Photo by Doug Draper

 St. Catharines, March 8, 2012. The Port Dalhousie Conservancy has concluded that removing the theatre and/or making other major changes to the Ontario Municipal Board-approved Port Place proposal, will require a full new application and public meeting process. This conclusion was reached based on meetings with the City’s senior Planning staff, a review of the OMB decision and attendant By-Law and advice from lawyer Jane Pepino.

Three years ago, following a marathon hearing, PDVC won OMB approval of virtually 100 per cent of their proposal despite vigorous, and extremely costly, opposition by the community and the City. At the OMB, PDVC insisted the theatre would work even though they were told by expert witnesses that it would not be successful or profitable and, they were alerted about the likelihood of a downtown Performing Arts Centre. Suddenly, it has been reported that they now see the theatre as a liability and they want to drop it. Continue reading →

A Brief Foreword by Doug Draper

Each year for more than two decades now, Niagara, Ontario’s regional government has honoured individuals, families, businesses and other groups in the region for their efforts to protect and preserve our environment.

Here is your chance to nominate an individual, business or group you feel deserves to be recognized for their green efforts. Niagara At Large is pleased to post the following message about these awards, including a link you can click on to obtain more information about the awards program and nomination forms. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

Ontario’s government needs to be doing more to reduce greenhouse gases and prepare residents and businesses in the province for the impacts of climate change, says Ontario Environmental Commissioner Gord Miller.

Environmental Commissioner of Ontario Gord Miller

“Climate change is one of the defining issues of our age and it is already having an impact on our lives,” said Miller this March 7 as he released a report at Queen’s Park called ‘Climate Ready, Ontario’s Adaption Strategy and Action Plan, 2011-2014.

The report, which shares none of the doubts a legion of deniers out there do that climate change is a real thing that is being driven significantly by human activies, stresses that climate change is already producing a higher frequency of extreme and damaging weather, from high winds and ice storms to flooding rains followed by pro-longed periods of drought, that is translating into hundreds of millions of dollars of damage and insurance losses. Just one flooding rainstorm in Hamilton – lasting only two hours in July of 2009 – caused between $200 and $300 million in destruction to homes and other property. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown's council pushes for state-wide fracking ban.

This Monday, March 5 the council of Niagara Falls, New York passed resolutions banning fracking waste within city limits and calling for a state-wide ban on fracking, and this Tuesday, March 6 the council of Buffalo, New York passed its own resolution, urging the state’s governor Andrew Cuomo to impose a ban on fracking in the state.The Niagara Falls, New York resolutions, in particular, ensure that plans will not move ahead to use the city’s wastewater plant to treat and dump any of the toxic fluid into the Niagara River above the American and Horseshoe Falls. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

Mayor Paul Dyster and his five-member council in Niagara Falls, New York voted unanimously this March 5 to place environmental protection ahead of any monetary gain with a city-wide ban on chemically-contaminated “fracking” waste that would have been discharged through the city’s wastewater treatment plant to the Niagara River.

Niagara Falls, New York Mayor Paul Dyster says city has not forgotten Love Canal disaster.

At the same March 5 meeting, the council also agreed to send a resolution to New York State  Governor Andrew Cuomo, calling on him to impose a state-wide moratorium on fracking or hydraulic fracturing for natural gas until, reads the resolution, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency makes public “specific details on the dangers and possible environmental impacts of such operations.”The council’s passage of the resolutions was greeted as “great news” by Andrea Duncan, a Niagara Falls, Ontario resident who joined numerous Niagara Falls, New York at the meeting and earlier made a presentation to the council, saying; “Metaphorically speaking, why turn Niagara Falls into a giant toilet and flush the residual toxic waste over the Falls?” Continue reading →

A Niagara At Large News Brief by Doug Draper

If you are among those concerned about the potential impact of chemically contaminated “fracking” waste our health and environment, decisions this March 5 and 6 could help determine whether this waste ever gets dumped into the waters of the Niagara River and Lake Ontario.

One of many demonstrations in New York State in past year overr fracking.

By Doug Draper

The largest local Chamber of Commerce in Niagara, Ontario has merged with a region-wide chamber in a bid to build a stronger voice for business in the region.

From left to right, Nancy Diamond, chair of the St. Catharines - Thorold Chamber of Commerce), Al Simpson, treasurer of the St. Catharines - Thorold Chamber, Steven Megannety, co-founder and director of the Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce, and Mike Watt co-Founder and chair of the Greater Niagara Chamber signing the official documents to complete the merger.

The merger of the St. Catherines-Thorold Chamber of Commerce with the Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce occurred at a joint meeting of the two chamber’s board of directors with the signing this March 1 of a joint agreement that integrates  all of the more than 1,100 members of the STCC into a year-old GNCC that now represents more than 1,300 businesses across Niagara.

“Our goal is to establish the strongest business voice possible to advocate for business and prosperity in Niagara with all levels of government,” Mike Watt, chair of the Greater Niagara Chamber, told Niagara At Large following the signing of the merger agreement. “We have some issues here as a community that we need to deal with to prosper and GNCC wants to wants to wade into these debates,” Watt, who is also a senior executive at Niagara, Ontario-based Walker Industries, added. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

Niagara is already world-famous for the Falls and for its title as the ‘Honeymoon Capital’. And more recently, the Ontario side of our greater Niagara region was named by Canada’s federal government as this year’s ‘Cultural Capital’, partially as a nod to however many local artists and art centres we have here, and to the many commemorative events that will unfold across the region for the bicentennial of the War of 1812.

Niagara hydro facilities a source of clean, renewable "green" energy.

Yet why stop there? The late Joe McCaffery, who was mayor of the Niagara city of St. Catharines some 20 years ago, began almost every speech he gave with the declarations that the city  was the ‘Rowing Capital of the World’, the ‘Recycling Capital of the Universe’, the ‘Doughnut Capital’ because of the disproportionately large (or should I say enlarging as in fattening)  number of doughnut shops per capita, the ‘Polka Capital’ because Canada’s “Polka King” Walter Ostanek lives in the city, and on and on. I think that if a bunch of revelers stumbled out of a pub on St. Patrick’s Day and swore they say a herd of unicorns galloping through the streets of downtown St. Catharines, Mayor Joe, as he was affectionately called, would have wasted less time than it takes to down another shot of Irish Whiskey to declare the city the Unicorn Capital too.

So along with the ‘Honeymoon Capital’ and ‘Cultural Capital’ and ‘Wine Country’ and whatever other brand I may be missing at the moment, why not dub Niagara, Ontario Canada’s ‘Green Capital’? Continue reading →

 A Commentary by Doug Draper

In America, apparently it is okay to use the nation’s airwaves to call a female university student a “slut” and even to invite her to post sex videos of herself online, as long as you are Rush Limbaugh and you have the captains of the country’s Republican Party kissing your ring as if you are the party’s Godfather.

Neo-con radio talk show kingpin Rush Limbaugh

The relentless, rancid ranting of this vile, hate-mongering excuse for a radio talk show host – which unfortunately poisons the airwaves above communities on both sides of the Niagara River thanks to the WBEN station in Buffalo, New York which continues to carry the syndicated Rush Limbaugh Show – reached another low this past February 29, if that is even possible. Continue reading →

 By Mark Taliano

Hybrid cars and privatized health care share one commonality: they’re both too expensive. 

Apart from that, they’re worlds apart. Hybrid cars represent a wonderful, forward-looking technology.  Privatized health care, on the other hand, is regressive and exploitative.

An article by Thomas Walkom, published this past January 24 in in the Toronto Star and titled “Why Ontario’s bid to cut health care costs could backfire”  highlighted a key difference: He cites  Dr. S. Woolhandler, a professor at Harvard Medical School, who says, All (studies) showed that for-profit hospitals cost the government treasury more – by about 18%.  The evidence of higher cost is irrefutable.” Continue reading →

NAL robo calls Niagara,

 By Doug Draper

 The kind of ‘dirty trick’ robo-calling that seems to have slithered its way into last spring’s federal election in Canada also surfaced in a Niagara riding in last fall’s Ontario election.

Former Ontario St. Catharines (Ontario) Riding candidate says robo-calls 'slandered her integrity'.

Irene Lowell, who was the NDP candidate in the provincial riding of St. Catharines, first found out about the recorded calls when riding constituents contacted her campaign office in the final days of the October 6, 2011 provincial election to complain about them.

 Lowell said she and her campaign manager were told by constituents that calls were urging voters to support her rather than the Liberal incumbent Jim Bradley because he “has been in Toronto far too long.” And what troubled Lowell the most is that who ever made the recording said the calls were coming from her campaign.

“They weren’t coming from us at all,” Lowell told Niagara At Large during an interview this March 1, and “I felt so bad for Jim (Bradley) that I went straight to Jim’s office. … He wasn’t there,” she added, “so I just let his staff o that I had nothing to do with this. I am not that kind of person.” Continue reading →

NAL nexus,

Niagara At Large is posting the following March 1 media release for our readers on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border.

BUFFALO, NY/FORT ERIE, ON– Today the Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority (PBA) and Niagara Falls Bridge Commission (NFBC) – in conjunction with respective Canadian and American Customs agencies, as well as numerous community groups, regional organizations, and area attractions – announced a new marketing campaign to educate Western New York and Southern Ontario residents on the ease of border travel through enrollment in the NEXUS program and proper use of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology.

You can wait and wait at a border bridge crossing in the lines to the right or apply and receive a NEXUS card and sail through the clear NEXUS booth at left.

“Our region already has more combined NEXUS and Enhanced Driver’s License (EDL) registrations than any other location along the Can-Am border,” said PBA General Manager Ron Rienas. “However, our outreach work is far from over. By educating additional residents on the benefits of these programs, we can ensure even faster border travel for motorists, and also reduce congestion on area bridge crossings.” Continue reading →

 By Doug Draper

It has been “the elephant in the room for years,” said Niagara Regional Chair Gary Burroughs, but this year the region’s council will face it head on.

Niagara, Ontario Regional Chair Gary Burroughs

The elephant Burroughs was referring to is “governance reform,” added Burroughs during his annual ‘State of the Region’ address to a large gathering in Thorold, Ontario this February 29, and it is “one of council’s top business plan initiatives.”

Though a potentially thorny and controversial issue,” he told the gathering hosted by the St. Catharines-Thorold Chamber of Commerce, “I strongly believe this exercise is about respecting our differences while maximizing our limited resources, and using them as effectively as we can for taxpayers, certainly. … but also for leveraging investment from public and private sectors.” Continue reading →